Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 365 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

Keen ___ Keen Kennard, the ©! the Shasta Shadow. away with an ejaculation of satisfaction, but paused a few yards from the spot. ‘* Let me see; what is the next move now?” she said, aloud. Tt isa long trail back to the men I can trust, but it must be taken. They will open up this mine for me, but my hand must not ap- pear init. The ah nabobs of ’Frisco must not suspect that Lown the long-lostOphir. Oh! you devils in broadcloth! the day of vengeance has dawned! Queen Moro will soon stand over you with the mask taken from her face; then the work—my work—will be done.” She started down the mountain-side and, over * the trail pi traveled by the man she had left . behind in darkness, if not in death. Nothing seemed to tire that persistent venge- ance-hunter. The stars went down and the winds of approaching morn fanned her cheeks. Still she kept on. For a long distance she hurried over a trail, which, if closely followed in all its deviations would land her in Red Eye; but she turned aside ata certain place, as if she knew the w ay. Morning came and found Queen Moro resting at last. The daylight as it penetrated the mountain copses, fell upon her well-molded figure and the black mask. alf awake, she leaned against a pine with her face still toward the West. A few feet away the trail turned abruptly. Suddenly the Sacramento mystery started up, and laid her hand upon the revolver within easy reach, ** Don’t draw that shooter,” said a rough voice as four men stepped into view. ** We hold ther drop on yer, Queen Moro, an’ we propose ter see under that bit o’ black! It is Red ye’s boom agin. Lift yer mask, woman, or by ther heavens above! we'll shoot it away!” Queen Moro did not lift a hand. CHAPTER XXXIV, NEMESIS. Tue silence of half a minute followed tho last sentence of the man from Red Eye. Queen Moro found herself faced by men who looked over their leveled weapons with the cool eyes of practiced desperadoes. ‘* This is a desperate game,” the leader went on. ‘* We started out ter find Dave Dastard, known ter us for years as Dropshot Bluff, but we hey found you with yer infernal mask on. Take it off, or we will proceed ter handle ther tri igger in a fatal manner!” ot for you,” said the woman calmly. ‘I lift ka mask before the men I have sworn to Men of Red Eye, you can shoot!” Kill me aatehiee I stand and never know the fate of the hunted Mormon elder.” ‘* Do you know it?” asked the eager toughs, ** Ay, that I do.” “Whar is he?” ‘‘ Where I trust the feet of a Red Eye pard will never tread!” was the answer, The men exchanged meaning glances, j Ai yer tell, Queen Moro?” ‘No! ‘“Then take yer kivered face awa Ce me ef I'll shoot a woman after all. clar ov. Red Eye. Ther old camp ar’ dauits now, an’ ther cabins ar’ blackened logs.” ‘* You fired the camp?” “Burnt it up! We hed ter wipe out ther taint ov Dave Dastard’s name in some manner, so we gave Red Eye ther match! Woe ter ther man himself ef he falls inter our hands!” The woman smiled and said nothing. ‘‘Keep yer trail,” the desperado went on. ‘‘ Stand aside, boys, and let ther Sacramento witch pass by.” — men who had lowered their revolvers tepped to one side, and straightened against the rod y wall of the mountain trail. Queen Moro looked into the eyes of each as she came on but no words were spoken. The leader of the little band waved hera mute farewell, and that was all, but the men watched her until she had passed out of sight. “Forward!” cried the leaden “We shall find Dave Dastard if the mountains hev ter be scoured from top ter base! Forward!” With eager exclamations the men sprung for- ward again, watched by a young couple who from a spot above the trail had witnessed the halt and the release. “The roughs of Red Eye, Floss,” said the young man who looked into the face of the fair girl at his side. “Those men have never really hated me. I am going to get rid of this accursed gold secret which has been the bane of my life. ey have hunted for it long enough. rete Several minutes later the rpughs of Red Eye were suddenly confronted by Gilbert and Floss and all showed their great epee ‘* Tf you will follow me I lead youstraight to the doors of Ophir,” said the youth. ‘‘I said I would throw the secret at the feet of the first men I met, and my resolution shall be kept.” ‘Sail in, Gilbert,” was the reply; ‘‘ but re- member that we want no fool game now.” The long shadows were falling once more when the yo gold-hunter halted at the pile of bowl- ders on the side of the mountain, and turned to the men who had patiently followed him. EE Pa Re Re ee ne a ee ee Se ne ee ee ee ee ** Here is what you have hunted for ever since I came back to Gold Y ois Camp nearly starved and insane,” he said. hese stones cover the entrance to the lost bonanza, It is all plain to me again; the route is in my head as vivid as the day I ‘drew it, before the fever and the de- lirium came,” The men of Red Eye set up a wild shout of ecstasy and began to throw the stones hither and thither, while Gilbert Golden and Floss stepped back and looked on. In a short time the mouth of the corridor stood revealed, and one of the roughs who was about to enter, ‘drew back with a startling cry. ‘* The ‘place i is inhabited!” heexclaimed. ‘ By Jupiter! thar’s a human bein’ in thar!” tilbert stepped forward with a laugh. ‘** That mine has not been opened since we left it,” he said. « But it’s inhabited now, all the same. Some- body else go in. DP’d sooner crawl under ther blazin’ wall ov hades.” Gilbert Golden dropped before the entrance himself. ‘**Tll go in,” he said, fearlessly; and the next moment he had disappeared. Several seconds passed away, while the pards of Red Eye listened, and then came a loud cry from the corridor. ** Haunted!” cried the roughs, drawing back. All at once Gilbert Golden fell half-way out of the hole, muttering a name that startled all. ** Dropshot Bluff!” In an instant half a dozen revolvers were thrust into the opening, and dark fingers seem- ed to press the triggers, ‘If the man in there is the alcalde of Red Eye, you shoot on your peril!” a voice said. The men wheeled instantly and saw the tall figure of Keen Kennard, the Shasta Sleuth, in the narrow trail. Their revolvers instantly fell. ee | p oap for a person who has an indisputa- ble right to Dave Dastard,” continued the gold detective. “She cannot be here just now on account of a fall she recently sustained at the hands of that man. “Vera?” ‘‘Edna Boynton, as she must now be called. The Gentile League has passed out of existence, but her hunt has never lagged. [ am no wom- an’s champion now, but I say that Dave Das- tard, if he is in that cavern, shall be turned over to the huntress from Mormondom!” ‘*She shall have him,” was the reply of the band. ‘Vera the sorceress shall deal with tho demon who deserves more than death. We'll bring him out!” There was no need of this, strange tosay, for at that moment one of the most hideous of human faces ever seen BEpenS at the opening and Pheer recoil heaven’s name, where is this merciless Gentile girl?’ said the man at the hole. “I am Daye Dastard, Iam blind!” ‘* Blind!” echoed half a dozen men. ‘* My eyes are on fire yet. They were burned out by the infernal torch of the demoness from Sacramento, Queen Moro! Iam sufferin’ a thou- sand deaths. Lead me ter ther Yankee major’s child,and tell her to give me thecontents of her re- volver. But first, if you can, stand this masked witch before me and let me leap straight at her throat. This is ther long-lost El Dorado; this is Gilbert’s famous mine; but heavens! it is death ter me!” Strong arms held the sightless desperado whose face showed the terrible work of Queen Moro’s torch, and Keen Kennard walked away. “Wait for me,” he said. Twenty minutes afterward he reappeared ac- companied by a man and a woman who rode the same horse, the woman pale but brilliant- eyed supported by her dark-faced companion. “Dageer Johnny an’ Vera!” exclaimed sey- eral of the pards, From the first the e be: of the Mormon hun- tress were fixed on shot Bluff, and when the horse was reined Hi fore him he started forward. “Hyer I am, helpless—blind—dyin’ a thou- sand deaths!” he cried. “I am ther Mormon elder who planned it all. I am Dave Dastard who, because your mother refused to leave her husband for him, shot your father first, an’ then at night burned the house over his head with his family bound within it. That was Mormonism, Edna; but ah! you know it. You have settled with Thunder Tom and Grim George, my pards that night; deal now with me! The men looked at Vera the beautiful sor- ceress and drew back expecting to see her drop the blind wretch in his tracks, “Not yet,” she said, ‘“ r ng my hand is to inflict vengeance, I hold it ou must o to Utah, to the scene of your i ous crime, ave Dastard—to the home of the Gentile League!” e man shrunk away with a shudder. ne o,no! Kill me now—where I stand!” he eri ‘* Not for the world,” said the rite dak ‘* Blood for blood where blood was shed !” Dave Dastard groaned. “Your hand at my throat was not destined ee — — _ to sweep me from your atti,” ” Vera went on. “Found half dead by Keen Kennard and Dag- ger Johnny, Iam here to mete out that ven- pe lon oe delayed. You go back to Mormon- dom! say so, the pards of Red Eye—once your aves be your esco The dark-faced, merciless Tooking men with one accord said sternly. “We will!” Reader, with your permission we pass by a period of ‘ten days. Deep in the shaded heart of the sierra a num- ber of men headed by a woman on horseback are pressing southward. In their midst rides a stalwart man, with bandaged eyes and scarred visage. Every now and then a curse and a groan breaks over his lips. Suddenly he raises one piercing cry and reels in the saddle, A dozen hands are put out to catch him, He is lowered to the ground and the bandage taken “This man is dying,” says one of the men,glan- cing at the woman who is still young and beauti- ful. ‘“‘He can never be taken to Utah.” ‘The rope, then!” says the woman, coolly. In less than two minutes a rope has been pro- ee and the noose drawn a Git the man’s neck It is then thrown over a limb near by, and the other end is attached to the woman’s saddle. ‘*This is the end of the greatest devil of the three!” she says, solemnly. ‘This is the doom of Dave Dastard, the hunted Mormon elder!” The horse is spoken to and starts forward, the man held up by the dark-faced roughs of the sierra rises from the ground as the rope tight- ens. A moment later he swings in mid-air with the woman glaring at him from her saddle! Tt is blood for blood, though not within the boundaries of Mormondom, and Dropshot Bluff, or Dave Dastard, is left for the vultures of the sierra. **T doff my masks, all-of them, forever,” says the huntress, “ I am now Edna Boynton once more." Still another scene, six months later; but we will let an extract fr om one of the San Fran- cisco papers tell it:— ** MURDER AND SUICIDE, “ Last evening, just after business hours, a woman wearing a black mask made her way unannounced into the private office of Messrs. Bowie and Belt, bankers, and after a few loud words, which were heard by several pare 3 in the building, shot them both, and then, with the same weapon, sent a bullet thr ough her own heart, The door of the private of- fice was found to be locked when an entrance was attempted, and the woman’s position showed that she had turned the key. The victims of this demon- ess were dead when found, and in the woman's bo- som was @ paper saying that she was Inez Hernan- do, a Mexican woman who years ago frequented the gold camp owned by tho bankers, then miners; that she had committed a ey crime, and that for it she had been branded by the camp proprietors. An ex- amination of the dead woman’s face disclosed the terrible truth of her statement. Across her fore- heac, in livid letters, was the word “ THIEF,’ and on each cheek the lar ge letter “*T’’. The ‘disfigure- ment was hideousness itself, not a trace of what at one time had been a beautiful face, remaining! “The confession found’on the woman stated that she had intended to ruin the two bankers by the as- sistance of gold ina manner not described, and then take their hves, To this end she had found a lost gold mine deep in the sierras, but others got a hold on it, and baffled this end. Then sbe came to San Francisco with the plan carried out last night. “Tf her story be true, and there seems no reason to doubt it, for several old miners in the, city recollect the branding, she took a terrible revenge for a ter- rible deed, and the killing of Colonel Bowie and Ma- jor Belt for a wild episode of mining life, stands at the head of San Francisco crimes,” Among the thousands who read this account of Queen Moro’s vengeance was Keen Kennar the Shasta Shadow, who afterward discovered that Colonel Belt was Floss’s uncle—which dis- covery told why Queen Moro hated the girl. The Shastan saw the masked face at last. The men who held the gold mine against the masked huntress were the mutineer pards of Red Eye, and she had been forced to turn from them to finish her vengeance with the revolver, To this day, despite its growth since then, San Francisco has not forgotten the doom of the bankers, and many of her citizens recollect the branded face of Queen Moro, and the shudder that passed over them while they viewed it. Back from the sierras, Gilbert Golden settled down to peaceful life with the specter of alt to haunt him no more, and with Floss M for his wife. Keen Kennard, who, for once in his life, failed to carry out a vow, went back to the Shasta pm but a few ‘months later he “ ndlledianp up went South, and soon afterward intro- duced Edna Boynton to Gilbert as Mrs. Ken- as for Oaeer Johnny, he got a share of the long-lost Ophir, and where it vields its vellow riches At is found a new Red Eye, but its boss is not a hunted and desperate Mormon elder. Dagger Johnny fills that position. THE END, Gomicbooks