Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 345 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a 4 ~ ae by te S inaiiiedll tlin , Y tas 1 De to and fro after her customary fashion rarely silent or motionless save when soun asleep in her bed. Besides these twain, the room and house orgeeie’ to be wholly deserted. Touching Barry on the arm, Frank Dymock moved toward the stables, where they secured a couple of stout and heavy horse-blankets. ‘“Those two precious rascals must be some- where about the ranch, and a single screech from Skinny Polly would put them on their guard. That we can’t afford. IDve twisted a rope for the big devil’s throat, and a sudden death by knife or bullet won’t satisfy me!” ‘* You tackle her, and I'll answer for the old man. But don’t forget that it’s the use of their tongues we want, first and foremost. Without them, we could hardly scent out the head ras- cal. For a month we've tried to smell out the secret, but all to no purpose!” Dymock nodded silently, and they glided back to the door of the bar-room. Scarcely had’they gained it, when Polly came to the entrance and looked out as though watching for the ranchers to come back. And before she could realize her ril, Dymock flung the heavy blanket over her awh twisting it about her shoulders, and trip- xing her up with more dexterity than care for coe precious bones, he effectually stifled all outcry, though she fought desperately asa wild- cat. Barry Carlsworth leaped into the room and clapped a cocked revolver at the head of the as- tounded host, muttering: ‘‘One word above your breath, and out goes your light!” lie There was no trace of lightness or jesting in his voice or manner, and Clem Stokeley made the best of a bad matter by yielding at discretion. It did not take Frank Dymock long to over- power Polly, and when she was firmly bound and masated. he hastened to treat the cripple to a dose of the same medicine. Then he said: ‘* Better go and call in the boys, pard, They shall hear all we get out of these lame ducks, as the shortest way of getting at the heart of the secret. Make haste!” Little need of that warning. Barry Carls- worth knew that they were playing their last and heaviest stake in the game. If they should lose it, they were ruined for all time. And if the other ranchers should come up before the trick was fairly turned, the chances would once more be against them. In less than two minutes the ranchers filed silently into the bar-room, and the door was closed behind them, one man being selected to keep watch and give notice of any one drawing near the place. Skinny Polly was placed in a chair beside her husband, and standing in front of them, Barry Carlsworth spoke weet ‘*The game is play out, as far as you two are concerned. There are men prepared to swear enough against you to provide you with a home for the rest of your years, where your board and lodging won’t cost you a red cent. And there’s only one thing that can save you from it, too!” There was no reply, because both of the cap- tives were securely gagged; but those who watched them so keenly, saw that they were rapidly weakening, and would be only too glad to accept any reasonable offer. “We can get along without you, so far as roving the counterfeiting and the stealing goes, bet as we believe you were led into the muss by still worse heads, you shall have a chance to turn State’s evidence, if you will agree to—” He paused, almost laughing aloud at the ludi- crous haste with which they both nodded their heads, choking and ti up in their vain en- deavor to Still, he did not care to trust them too far, at first, where so much was at stake, and he added in cold, stern tones: ‘*-You shall have that chance for your lives, if you serve the cause of justice to the best of your ability. Now 1 am going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them truth- fully, as you hope for clemency. You can nod or shake your heads, as the case may require. ‘¢-You know who is at the head of this gang of crooks?” They nodded vigorously, ‘Ts it Alva Bohee?” — A still more emphatic shaking of both heads in the negative cleared away what few doubts still lingered in the minds of the ranchers. ‘‘Can you take oath the chief rascal is Victor Vanderlyn?” . ; - Nods in the affirmative, so vigorous in the case of Polly that only the quick aid of Barry Carls- worth kept her from pitching forward on her face from the chair. ‘Ts Colonel Vanderlyn now about the prem- ises? Is he not at this moment in the secret lace where the coining is carried on? Is not Demas Fee in his company? Are you willing to show us how we can effect an entrance without first alarming them?” rapidly asked Barry, to each of which questions there came affirmative nods until it seemed as though the rapidly oscil- lating necks must give way beneath the strain. ii Continue as well as you have begun, and we will promise to get Dc out of this scrape as lightly as possible. Now I am going to set your a Masked Mark, the Mounted Detective. lips at liberty, Polly, but if you attempt to give | A ———————————— —— ——— . = ~~ 7 ‘ “= the alarm by word, sound or action, woe be unto you! You understand my meaning?” She nodded once again, and stooping, Barry cut the thongs that held her ankles together; but he hesitated when he came to remove the gag. On second thoughts he resolved not to risk it while inside the house. It was barely possible that the woman might try to foil them, after all, and there was too much at stake for taking any unnecessary chances, aving a guard over the old cripple, he led Polly outdoors and to the stables. e set her tongue free, and she rapidly explained the work- ings of the secret pha ng describing the man- ner of entering and leaving it, from either the indoor or the outside entrance. After this full confession, the way was plain, and little time cut to waste. The gag was re- oe and Polly taken back to the side of her usband. She was bound to the chair, and then the party hastily completed their preparations for the capture of the chief criminals. Frank Dymock passed into the room where the corpse of Dike Roberts had been placed, and rapidly stripped off his outer clothing. Then, dressed in the bloodstained shirt and the crimson marked mask, he led half of the men outdoors and to the secret entrance described by Polly Stokeley. While he was thus engaged, Barry Carlsworth opened the cunningly arranged trap in the kit- chen, and a9 silently into the pit. For some little time he remained thus, before giving the sign for his allies to follow him. When they did, all was dark, though they carried lights with them, covered so as to wholly absorb the bright rays. Frank Dymock found the arrangements of the hidden passage al as Polly described them, and found no difficnlty in gaining the further end, or in unlocking the secret door which led into the counterfeiting den. This done, with his ear bent and cagerty listening for the agreed-upon signal from i arto ag he waited as pa- tiently as might be. Not for long. He heard the voice of his mate, and then the wild ejaculations of the surprised rascals, wig mg by the crash of the shat- tered lamp. e flung open the door, and un- masked his lamp, showing like a grim and ghastly phantom to the bewildered criminals. Not for more than an instant. Then, desper- ate, knowing that all was discovered, that only s ned flight could save him from imprisonment if nothing worse, Colonel Vanderlyn drew a re- volver and leaped forward, trying to break away— Only to stagger back as the bloody phantom hurled his light full into his face, then lea for- ward and clutched him with a force and deter- mination such as only healthy flesh could dis- play. Fiercely they struggled for a moment, then both went down together with a sullen thump—a thump that blended with the muffled report of a revolver! A hoarse, gasping cry and curse commingled —and Frank Dymock leaped to his feet, leaving the big ex-soldier lying on the floor, writhing like a scorched reptile! His own weapon had exploded oy the shock of the fall, and sent a bullet through his side, al- most direct for his heart. Prompt as Frank Dymock, Carlsworth, as Masked Mark, leaped upon Demas Fee, pre- pare for a desperate struggle, for he was de- rmined to use no weapons against the brother of the maiden whom he loved; but he was most delightfully surprised. The young man, realiz- ing that all was lost, made only a feeble, me- chanical resistance, and before any of the ex- cited ranchers could come to the assistance of the two pards, the victory was won and both criminals helpless; one handcuffed, the other gasping painfully on the earthen floor where his eblood was rapidly forming a pool at his side. Barry Carlsworth kept Demas Fee in his own care, and with a sign to Frank Dymock he re- turned to the upper chamber, turning his ca tive over to a couple of stout men. He quickly produced ropes, by the aid of which the giant outlaw was lifted up through the trap and borne into the room where Dike Roberts had been unmasked but a few hours defore. Hewas placed upon a few blankets, and despite his sav- age snarls of hatred, the two pards, still in their disguise of Masked Mark, knelt beside him, seek- 4 stanch the flow of blood. ey were thus engaged when the outer door was flung open by a strong hand, and a figure stepped over the threshold to be greeted with sharp ejaculations of wonder and rise, “Three of a kind, or I’m a liar right from head-waters!” cried Kingsland, as he leaped to his feet in wild amazement. There stood a third Masked Mark! CHAPTER XX. MASKED MARK RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. He paid no attention to the startled cries and looks of the ranchers, but stepping hastily inside, closing the door behind him, he warmly grasped the hands which both Barry Carlsworth and Frank Dymock extended toward him, quickly uttering: ‘* You have done nobly so far, but there’s still 27 more to do before we can be sure we’ve won the game. There’s a party coming in this direction, who have been hunting for me—” ‘* If those who took your track at the Jump- off, there’s little to fear from them, though there may possibly be one or two ‘goats’ among them,” interposed Carlsworth. ‘‘It won’t answer to run any unnecessary risks,” was the swift, stern reply. ‘ Straighten up the looks of things here, and when they come in, as of course they will, we can make sure none of them can work mischief while all is being ex- . plained tothem. Lively! They will be here in a minute or two!” Naturally encugh, seeing how perfectly the trio seemed to understand each other, the first idea of the ranchers was that this third Masked Mark must surely be Alva Bohee, but in vain did they try to recegnize his voice. He was either some other person, or taking great pains to disguise his veice. Or, might it not be that there was some peculiar arrangement about the cunning mask that produced that nasal twang? They were willing enough to work, however, let the mystery of the triple masks turn out how it might, after the glimpse of the truth which had been given them, and Colonel Vanderlyn, seemingly rapidly sinking from the effects of his wound, was carried into the adjoining room, whither the body of Dike Roberts had been placed. The blood-stains were hastily covered up and Clem Stokeley was unbound and set at liberty with the understanding that his life de- nded on his keeping silence in regard to what. ad or was about to occur. Polly, less to be trusted, was concealed in the other room and placed under guard, as well as left with her jaws gagged. The three men in masks took up their station in the same room, leaving Kingsland to take charge of affairs in the other until the proper time came for them to appear. The news brought by Masked Mark number three proved to be correct, and five minutes later the two parties were united in the bar- room, the latest arrivals suspecting nothing of what had happened within those walls since they rode away. and from the calm, stolid manner in which Clem Stokeley smoked away in his great chair, even the most suspicious might well have doubted the truth if told. It was not a difficult task, after all, for of the entire party, Marsh Stokeley alone belonged to the gang of crooks. And he was too slug- gish and slow-witted to make an offensive movement before a couple of revolvers were rear 4p to his head and stout thongs applied to his arms. When the men of Rackabout Range under- stood just how the case stood, they were eager to prove their honesty and fidelity, even under lead of the very man whom they had so recently been hunting to kill. They at once. sent off all their horses, and posted guards around the building to warn them in ample time of the approach of the other party. The three men in masks, accompanied by several of the more prominent men of the Range, paid Colonel Vanderlyn a visit. They hoped to gain a confession from him before death claimed im. At first the prospects were far from bright. The wounded man, deceived by the fictitious strength produced by the strong stimulants they poured down his throat, allowed naught save bitter curses and revilings to pass his lips. He denied that he was guilty. He defied them to prove any crime against him. Even when he was confronted by the evidences of coining which were found in plenty in the secret chamber, he defied them to connect him in any way with it, more than that he knew such a chamber ex- isted. And he declared that whatever the Stokeleys might say against him, was simply hatched up in hopes of clearing themselves of the worst charges. But then, as his own fierce outbursts weaken~_ ed him, and he was sternly refused any fresh stimulant, his rapidly growing weakness con- vinced him that he was indeed in a bad way. With his strength, faded away his defiant ferocity, and breaking down, he made full and free confession of his many crimes. He admitted being head and front of the gang of thieves and counterfeiters which had infested Rackabout Range. He admitted that he was the actual owner of the house and all its contents; that the Stokeleys only acted as his servants. This was as far as he would go at first, stoutly denying that he knew anything more about the murder of Oren Bohee than all the Range knew; and he was just being confronted with Demas es when word came oat a strong party of horsemen was approaching the hoabe: trom the South. - . Feeling sure that this party could be none other than that which had set out on the trail of Masked Mark and his prisoner, Alva Bohee, under leadership of Jehudi Fee, a trap was hastily prepared for at least the chief criminals among them. It bas already been shown how the three most prominent in the party were captured, bh Barry Carlsworth and Frank Dymock, thoug a couple of stout men were in the other room im eCoA TICE royal KS com