Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 365 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

~ ~ oe ae "EB. OO Oo oe _ te = 66. — ade ee bs 1 —swered. . Me now. We will soon be the hunted instead Soft %. \ 2 es ‘behind with the pards of Red Eye?” 20 blood,” was the reply. ‘‘ You sentenced him to the most horrible of deaths—starvation in mid-air, and in the blackness of that death- pit. By-an’-by, perhaps, you would have mer- cifully cut the rope.” A grim smile appeared at the corners of the alcalde’s mouth. ‘* Perhaps,” he echoed as grimly, and then he went on looking over the outstretched revolvers of the Shasta Sleuth. ‘* You reached him afore life could leave ’im. You want ter take him from Red Eye.” “J want to, an’ I will!” said the cool head. “* Gentlemen, throw up your right hands an’ swear that you will make no move toward Ken- nard of Shasta for thirty minutes. This is man against man. I have dropped the role of Magic Merle. From this hour I play my hand as Ken- nard from the North, p with your right hands. If want the oath from each one of you. No foolishness now, pards of Red Eye!” The men glanced at Dropshot Bluff who was ating his teeth behind a pair of tightly drawn 1S. "The all saw that the man who confronted them had the dead drop on the crowd, and they felt that he would not hesitate to open his bat- teries if the oath was not taken. It was a moment of suspense. What would the alealde do? **Tt’s only for thirty minutes!—what is that?” muttered Dropshot Bluff, *' 1 kin then turn my human wolves loose upon him, an’ ther moun- tains won't hide him long. He may restore Gilbert but thet may be ter our advantage. We'll take ther oath.” The next moment his eyes made a sign to his followers, and the right hand of every man was was lifted in mid-air. ‘‘ Por thirty minutes only, boys,” said the al- calde, ‘* At ther end ov thet time we kin get even for this robbery an’ ther forced oath.” ‘* Yes; you can turn on Kennard then,” said the detective with a smile. “Then we all swear ter give yer thirty minutes ther start for thet?s what it amounts ter,” the alcalde answered, and a moment later the hands fell. Keen Kennard uttered no thanks; his eyes looked the triumph he had achieved over the desperate crowd, and quietly putting up his revolvers, he stooped and lifted Gilbert once more. The pards of Red Eye looked daggers at the Shasta Sleuth and more than one hand clutched the butt of a six-shooter, but not one was raised against him as he swung the youth to his shoul- der and stepped back. ‘** Cool as ice, an’ as desperate as despair!” said Dropshot Bluff when he saw Keen Kennard walking off once more with his inanimate bur- den; ‘‘at ther end ov thirty minutes we will throw ourselves upon his trail. Thar goes ther boy what shot Lige, an’ ther keeper ov ther bon- anza secret, an’ ther man who carries him off is ther greatest enemy Red Eye has to-night. Stan’ whar year’! Thirty minutes ain’t long.” In the glare of the lamps stood the pards of Red Eye waiting for the truce to expire. _ They could not see Keen Kennard cera — alse ‘ward his horse. He had discarded the ‘beard and was the smooth-faced detective once more. ‘* Back again!” he exclaimed when he reached the steed that recognized him. ‘' It was a close call back thar, but I got the drop on ther crowd. A man will take any kind of oath with a revol- ver grinning in his face. Thet has been my ex- erience anyhow, and the desperadoes of Red LD e are no exception.” e looked down into Gilbert's face and saw the eyes open and fixed upon him. ~ The boy was himself once more. “Tf your call was a close one, what must amine have been?” asked Gilbert in faint tones. “They hung me down that infamous pit to die ‘there of slow starvation. A short time before ‘you came, Keen Kennard, something struck me and passed on down.” + That was California Charley,” said the de- tective with a smile. A shudder over the youth’s frame, as he thought of the horrible fate of the Red Eye d, and his hand crept to Kennard’s wrist and tened there. ‘* T shall not be long on your hands,” he went on. *‘T want to go back to Ked Eye. I want you to arm me, I have no weapons now. I want to face those devils just for one minute!” The detective understood and laughed, “Tf you go back it will not be alone,” he an- ‘* But we are not going to talk of re- e hunters. If Iam not mistaken, we will thhave Red Eye at our backs howling for blood _ like a pack of Californy wolves.” ‘“There is just where I want them, so I can turn on the beasts!” cried Gilbert. “If you don’t want to fight Red Eye, Kennard, I shall not insist. Give me the weapons—that is all.” The detective’s horse was now carrying ‘* dou- ble” over the mountain trail, and the thirty minutes had about expired. Suddenly Gilbert exclaimed: -.#Ploss! In heaven’s name have we left her est er a | Keen Kennard, the Shasta Shadow. ** Don’t let her situation disturb you,” was the reply. ‘‘What if they should turn on her in their rage? I did not see her during the fight in camp. She did not come to me at my brief and and infamous trial. She came to Eye in an old wagon. I saw her once. Kennard, give me a revolver and let me go back to Floss.” ‘*No,” said the man from Shasta firmly. eS hand of Dropshot Bluff will not touch the girl. ‘** Ts she not at Red Eye?” ‘** She is not there,” **Thank Heaven!” Gilbert did not inquire where Floss was, and Kennard did not tell him that Vera had told him that she had gone off with Duncan one of the desperadoes of the bar. lor some minutes longer the horse continued over the mountain trail ata good pace which constantly increased the distance between his riders and the camp. ** How did they come at you?” asked Kennard breaking the silence at last. ‘** Dropshot Bluff came alone like he always does,” was the reply. ‘I expected no visit. I can not tell you how I got back to Red Eye. I only know that I went away with the strange woman called Queen Moro. I must have been mad — in the mountains, and with the fit on I wandered back to camp. Well, Dropshot Bluff camealone, as I was telling you. His first words were about the gold secret which it is believed I alone ss. It had all passed from my head. I eould not recollect anything about it. He badgered and abused me in return, accused me of willfully keeping the secret from Red Eye, and said that the time had come for business, He went away to be gone hardly five minutes when he came back with half of the camp behind him. The secret was demanded by the whole set with oaths and insult. I was pounced upon and dragged to the table where a piece of chalk was ps in my hand, and I was told to draw the iagram of the route to Ophir or be shot to pieces —all in ten minutes. ‘** In vain did I tell the villains that I was in- capable of complying. I told them that the secret came and went by turns, as it does; but they hooted my word and covered me with their revolvers. In my despair I racked my brains till ae seemed ready to burst with pain. I tried to divulge the secret. I would have flung it before them, glad to rid myself of the terrible thing that has caused me such misery, but I could not grasp it. In the despair which in- creased I threw the chalk upon the table. A howl of rage went up. I saw the revolvers thrust across the boards into my face. It was the most terrible moment of my life. On every side the infuriated men of Red Eye were de- manding the gold secret, or death. I had to do something. Suddenly a pistol in a certain belt caught my eye. I darted forward and jerked it out. The next moment it flashed in the faces of the Red Eye pards. [I hearda shot, a yell of pain and a dozen hands seemed to close on my throat. ‘* The wonder is that I was not shot to pieces,” continued Gilbert. ‘‘ May I never pass through such scenes again! I was overpowered after making ali im struggle I could, and hur- ried before a tribunal composed of the very men who had confronted me. I was toid that my shot had taken the life of Lightning Lige one of the worst men at the bar, and the law of the sierra is blood for blood.” ** Dropshot Bluff proposed the doom to which I was subjected. The trail was a farce. I was condemned before the tribunal met. I was pin- jioned and lowered into the shaft where you found me. Starvation in mid-air was to be my fate; but rare peg 4 blotted out my thoughts in the horrid pit. owe you life, Keen Ken- nard. We are more than pards from this mo- ment. Weare friends !” The man from Shasta smiled on the youth as he said: ‘* Please excuse me from close calls like yours, It isa good thing that you could not give the gold dogs the map. But what do you really think of it? Isometimes think, Gilbert, that the bonanza has no real existence.” ‘* A myth eh?” cried the youth. ** Something of that kind.” ‘Tt is tangible. I know it!” was the quick ex- clamation. ‘‘I saw its nuggets once myself when Max Mogalle, Floss’s father, and I were the last survivors of the gold-hunters. Itis a sight. I have seen it in dreams a hundred times since.” ‘* But you can’t see it now?’ asked Keen Ken- nard eagerly. i ** No, not now,” answered Gilbert. ‘‘ This is one of my forgetful nights. You will take me some time at the right moment, Kennard. I want to give you the map. No! I wantto lead you to the very gates of that wonderful gold paradise. I am going to do it, only I can’t recall the route now.” ‘* Try,” said the detective. Gilbert relapsed into a condition of deep men- tal silence and the horse bore them several miles before another word was spoken. ‘“‘It is useless. I cannot!” suddenly said the boy, lifting his head, ‘‘ But what do you think, Kennard? I must have been in a strange trance just now. I saw Floss as plainly as when I noticed her in Red Eye several nights ago. She was mounted but was not alone, Beside her rode the masked mystery of Sacramento—that woman who hates her and all her kin. M God! Floss has fallen back into her hands. saw it all as plainly as though they were now riding by us.” A wild expression was in the boy’s eyes while he spoke; it gave the detective fears of ap- proaching insanity. ‘* Never mind,” he said. ‘‘ If Floss is in Queen Moro’s hands, she shall be delivered. I promise you this, Gilbert.” “Thanks, Kennard, and I will give you the gold secret.” The wild look suddenly vanished, and Gilbert was himself again while the Shasta Sleuth con- gratulated himself that the crisis had passed, ‘*Hark! hear the noise ahead,” and Gilbert’s hand clutched the detective’s arm. ‘‘ Can it be that the wolves of Red Eye are in our front?” ‘*If they are anywhere they are behind us, What did you hear?” ** A man’s voice. There!” Keen Kennard leaned forward and listened. ‘* Banished from Red Eye! ho, ho, ho!” said a harsh voice. ‘‘I laughed in their faces when Dropshot spoke ther decree, an’ I told ’em thet ef my wounds healed they’d hear from this sierra bombshell. I’m on ther mend, thank for- tune. A daisy an’ a tiger rolled inter one is Dagger Johnny!” CHAPTER XXIII, Da Bi" For some time after hearing the voice which was unmistakably that of Dagger Johnny the banished pard, Keen Kennard and Gilbert did not move from the spot where they had halted. They expected to see the Red Eye pard ap- pear in the trail, but he did not show up, and his voice died away and finally ceased. ‘*T don’t care about meeting him,” said Ken- nard. “If he wants to strike Red Eye for banishing him, let him doit. It is wolf against wolf, Gilbert, and in hitting his foes, he will hit yours,” The ssor of the gold secret smiled. “Tl never ask him to do that, Kennard. I want nobody to take vengeance for me,” he said. ‘But do you know there is one thing I cannot get rid of?” ** What is that?’ The singular sight I saw while I was trying to recall the gold map awhile ago for you—Floss riding alongside Queen Moro, her prisoner once more.” ‘* T don’t believe in such visions, I never took stock in such things,” the Shasta Sleuth answer- ed in a cheerful tone. ‘‘ Dismiss it, Gilbert. When we find the girl she will not be in that woman’s hands.” ‘*T can’t get it out of my head,” persisted Gil- bert. ‘‘Tf she has fallen into Queen Moro’s hands what has become of Duncan?’ murmured Ken- nard, ‘* Vera says the two left Red Eye to- gether. But pshaw! Gilbert saw his fears as- sume shape—that’s all.” At that very moment two horses were moving along side by side, and upon each sat a represen- tative of the tender sex. The mountain was wild and desolate at that place, and the trail was sprinkled thickly with the cones of the pine. Gilbert Golden would have uttered a strange cry if he could have seen the two riders of the slowly-moving steeds. One of the females wore a black mask that reached to her mouth, and from behind a pair of glittering eyes watched the young and beau- tiful rider of the other horse, ‘* You didn’t think that I would turn Bp here when you left Sacramento to find Gilbert by any means?” said the masked woman, with a low laugh that was full of triumph. ‘‘ That old wagon which you bought in the gold camp took you safely into Red e, Floss; but I was not far behind you. My man failed me. Keen Ken- nard has disregarded the oath he took in the city. He has not found the lost og and I had to hunt it myself. I could kill this man from Shasta,” and her voice sunk toa hiss, “TI trusted him too far, and 1 could lean over and choke you, my bird.” Floss drew back with a shudder and saw the wf the masked huntress almost touch her cheek. ‘* Yes,” said the girl. ‘‘ You hate me and all my kin. You have told me this a hundred times, but yet you never told me why.” Queen Moro laughed scornfully and straight- ened = ae ‘““ Why should I? she continued, laughing again. ‘* It would be a story of wrong—otf per- secution-—if I did. ‘Your father—” Floss interrupted her with a singular cry. ‘* That is further than you have ever gone be- fore!” she cried, ‘*‘ Where is my father? Ah! I know—dead somewhere on the trail to the lost gold mine!” 4 ‘* Dead, as he should be!” said Queen Moro, bitterly. ‘‘ He saves meoneblow. As for you, ‘ CORME OOO KS (C in