Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 367 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

a Foe ee - ° - ~ = oe ee a . & | | i] ~~ —@ — a a arene ree ©_2 iste . cf . “= . —“y Pe 9 : ai ‘ 3 — ~ --. 28 the red glowing coals of fire in a little pit be- neath. ‘‘T can trust you, I see,” laughed Aces-and as the turned away. His next search was made in the direction ~where Nor’ West Nick and Turk Elder so adroit- ly captured the other two guards. He did not know just where they had taken ae their sta- tions, and though he passed directly over the spot where the capture had taken place, the moonlitht was not sufficiently clear to show kim the few telltale signs retained by the flinty soil. And so, occasionally sending forth his low, quavering whistle, he passed on—to meet his doom! As he uttered his signal again, his roving eyes caught a glimpse of the little fire built in the timber, and with an angry curse he strode for- ward. He meant to agin ee rebuke the reck- lessness of his sentinels, believing that they had kindled the fire, but before he could obtain a fair view of the strange scene in the little glade, a dark form parted the shrubbery and shot through the air at his throat, So swift and deadly was the attack that he had time neither for drawing a weapon nor for uttering a warning yel to his men. Sinewy fingers met about his throat with a vise-like ip. The weight of his foeman hurled him Seine to the ground, and his head cok Pe against a rock, his strained muscles relaxed an he lost all consciousness. Only for a few moments, but those sufficed to place him wholly in the power of the man whom he hated and feared more than all others on earth—Dan Brown of Denver! “Don’t kill him, pard!” huskily cried Sol Scott, as his strong hand caught his brother de- tective by thoarm. ‘‘ Hold him as security for our loved ones! His life must answer for their safety!” “Never fear for me, pard,” and Dan Brown laughed coldly, hardly, his face pale as that of a corpse, but his blue eyes glowiny vividly. ‘* An easy death is not for the likes of him!” With a savage force, the detective broke the fastenings of the belt about the waist of his cap- tive, tossing it with its weapons to one side. Tt fell where the clear moonlight fell upon it, glancing back from the polished metal mount- s; but none among the party noticed this fact then, nor would they have given the fact a second thought if they had, so great was their excitement over this lucky stroke of fate! ‘Tt is the durned cuss, sure enough!” chuckled Enoch Dodge as he bent over the captive, just now beginning to show signs of recovering his scatteredsenses, ‘‘ Better snap the darbies onto him, mate. He’s too big game fer to run any resks with!” ‘“ Not yet,” and Dan Brown laughed—a laugh that sent the cold chills racing over his prisoner, so full of deadly hatred and vengeance was his voice. ‘‘ Let him see where he is and in whose wer, first. Let him feel how utterly helpless e isin the hands of aman! Let him have one taste of— Ha! you are waking up, Mr. Aces- ’ and?’ With a strength that was lent by the excite- ment of the moment, the Denver detective lift- ed him into the air with one hand, shaking him as a bulldog might shake a terrier, then setting him upon his feet so that they stood face to face with nothing to inter between their eyes. And though he strove with all his will and nerve 1o meet that blazing gaze, the eyes of Aces-and had to droop, had to sink and cover themselves with their lids. A hard, bitter laugh parted the lips of the de- tective, and utter scorn filled the tones in which he uttered the words: ; , ‘ And it is a craven cur like this that sets him- gelf up against the Royal Flush! A pitiful imi- tation of a man—a miserable hound without a spark of courage or grit—bah!” Aces-and flushed hotly, then turned ashen pale again. Those words cut him tothe quick, and served to spur his flagging courage. ‘Man enough to defy you and all your crew of bloodhounds, Dan Brown!” he snarled, vi- ciously. ‘‘ Man enough to laugh in your face— to remind you that if you have taken me by a clumsy trick, your wife and your children are still in my power!” ‘** They will not be so long,” coldly retorted the detective. - . They’ll be worth precious little to you when see A Royal Flush. XA returned to report? Why are we here in his ' was on its usual level. And when it gets back place, unless he told us where and how to find | you?” there, you’ll never feel right until you’ve asked the old man’s pardon for those hard words of Aces-and made no reply to these bitter words. | yours!” He felt that they had a foundation in truth, and | ) him. He cast aswift glance | ‘‘I ain’t whinin’,’ his heart faile around him, his gaze momentarily arrested by the gleaming point where his belt of weapons lay. <A brief flash in his eyes, then they quickly turned back to the face of his captor. ‘*¢ All tae same, you dare not kill me. On my life hinges the lives of your loved ones. If I do not return within a certain length of time to the place where they are held cap—” ‘* To the little room beyond the main cavern, over Peg a why don’t you say?” sneeringly de- manded Dan Brown. ‘‘ Never mind where they may be,” sullenly. ‘* They are under the hands and eyes of twenty good men, each one of whom is sworn to kill them rather than run the faintest chance of their vr You may kill me, but even in death I will have my revenge—curse you all!’ ‘Twenty, less three, why don’t you say?” mockingly. ‘‘Johnny-jump-up is past striking an oneey no matter how weak and helpless. And right in here we have two more of your boasted score—two of the good men and true who would suffer death rather than betray their trust! Bah! you cowardly cur! They are like rou; ready to sell their own souls for a red cent, much less the hope of cheating the hangman! ‘* Scott, old friend, trot out Tim Warden, and let him sing his little song of freedom over again, where it can blister the ears of Aces-and! Make the cur come. Make him tell over where Johnny’s Infant has our children in charge. Show Aces- and how completely his big game has gone bu’st! Give him a glimpse of—” While the half-crazed detective was uttering these words, Aces-and began to realize how com- rego the tide was turning against him. He new that unless he could give these men the slip, his course was run; that worse than a score of deaths would be visited upon him for the bit- ter wrongs he had committed. He knew how cunning, how bold, how terrible the Royal Flush had often provenitself. He had heard enough to be sure they were fully acquaint- ed with the steps he had taken to insure his re- venge in case of disaster. They would recapture the children. They would surprise his men at the cavern. They would kill him, by tortures too frightful even to imagine. They would win the big game, and he would be worse than foiled, even in death. Unless— One swift, covert glance at the belt of weap- ons. If he could only reach that—only fire one shot to put his men on guard! And in utter desperation he struck Dan Brown a double blow with his clinched fists, tearing himself free and darting to the belt, uttering a wild yell as he did so. e gained the spot, caught at the nearest revolver butt—only to fall in a quivering heap as a bright gleam of steel hissed through the air, hiding itself in his neck! With a hoarse curse, Dan Brown recovered himself and leaped to the spot, grasping Aces- and—only to stagger back with a low groan. ‘Dead! And with him dies all hope of rescu- ing our wives! May God forgive you for this, Enoch Dodge—lI never can!” CHAPTER XXI. JOHNNY’S INFANT PASSES OUT. ‘“Wuat else was they to do?’ slowly asked Enoch Dodge, his hard face pale and grave, his tones e TPER just a trifle as he stood before his bosom friend. ‘* Would it ’a’ bin better to stan’ by an’ let him go free to finish up his deviltry?” ‘Anything but his death!” slowly muttered Dan Brown, one trembling hand clutching at his own throat, where something appeared to be choking him. ‘‘ Alive, even if a cripple, we would have had a hold on those hellhounds of his! Dead—it may be their doom as well!” ‘It would ’a’ bin ef the p’izen critter hed got hold o’ the gun he was reachin’ fer,” soberly re- torted Dodge. ‘It wasn’t to fight or to ’fend hisself he wanted it wu’st. It was to burn pow- der that’d tell his gang to kill an’ murder. ho I leave fer you to tell!” The gaunt member of the Royal Flush turned away, hiding his face from the clear tnoonlight, so that not even his friends could see how deep and bitter those words had cut him. Nor’ West Nick was squatting beside the body — —_—_—_—_£{_{_£_=_=££_ ‘* Drap it, Nick,” coldly uttered Enoch Dcdge. He shook his shoulder mb inf as a hand touched it, but the grip tightened, and he turned with an angry ejaculation, to face Dan Brown instead of the fat member of the Royal Flush, as he had e ted. That pale, haggard face bore a strangely softened look. ere were tears in those keen, blue eyes. Thestrong voice quivered and sound- ed husky as the words passed his lips: ‘*T was mad, old friend, and knew not what I said. Forgive me. Blot them out of your memory, and—” What a change came over that rugged ccun- tenance! What a glorious light leaped into those gray eyes! And as his bony hand grasped that of his friend—the one living creature whom he fairly loved—the ex-mayor of Grenada almost danced for joy. ‘‘Lord love ye, lad, J never noticed it! It glanced off like rain-drops on a duck’s back, an’ never left no more ’pression then them! I know- ed you didn’t mean ’em, but all the same, they cut clean through my fool’ heart wu’ss then a thousan’ knives. Fer you to fault me, lad—” His voice choked up, and wringing the hand of Dan Brown with an energy that almost cracked its bones, Enoch Dodge turned away again. ‘Tt is unlucky, sure enough, but we are no worse off than we were before Aces-and—may the foul fiend make his bed this night!—came this way,” uttered Sol Scott, speaking for the first time since the chief of kidnappers made his desperate break for liberty and revenge com- bined. ‘‘ If those other scoundrels haven t given us the slip during the excitement!” ‘* They're right whar you want ’em when you want ’em, boss!” called out faithful Turk E!der, who had immediately fastened upon the two captives, one hand gripping each throat to check all possible warning, the instant the approach of Aces-and was noticed. “Tf that yelp of his hasn’t alarmed the hounds!” muttered Dan Brown, who, ever since his loved ones were proved to be in peril, had apparently wholly changed his nature. ntil then he never seemed to think failure ossible. He never desponded, no matter how lack the case, how heavy the odds against his triumph. But now—he was gloomy, forebod- ing, doubting, fearful. ‘**T don’t think that,” promptly responded Sol Scott. “If the alarm had spread, we weuld almost wey hear something of it. Ihave heard nothing. All is silent in that direction,” with a glance toward the cavern, Dan Brown seemed to feel a rebuke hidden in these calm words, and a momentary flush passed across his pale features. His tones were more even than before, though they still contained a deep regret for what had happened. ‘*Tll try to think it’s all for the best, mate, though I could wish that demon still lived. meant to make him Jead me through his gang to our dear ones. I could have guarded them while the rest of you closed in on the outfit. But he is dead—more my fault than that of any one else, tco!” Enoch Dodge turned quickly and his gray eyes shone, as he said: ‘Ef I promise you that ak same riffle even Pa Dan, will you fergit your hard feelin’s to’rds the ole man? Will you wipe out the thought that give that cuss birth?” “Not a curse, old friend—I didn’t mean—” “Tt sounded mightily like one, anyhow,” and Dodge smiled faintly, as be suffered his hand to be grasped and shaken. ‘‘ Call it what you like you know what I mean. Ef Ill give youa dead sure show to git through them imps 0’ Satan, will you fergit 1t all?” “Tf you will forgive, dear fellow!” was the broken response, Enoch Dodge laughed softly, and _ his sinewy fingers closed around those of his friend, His tones were cheerful and as of old, then. ‘‘ Lord love ye, lad, that was done afore the hot words was dry onto your twolips! I knowed it wasn’t your sober self that said’em. Isee they cut you nigh as deep as they did me, even when you was hottest. I was a fool fer noticin’ be kin make that { they fall into your han be sure of that,” | of Aces-and, examining the nature of his hurt | ’em at all, but sence I hev, we'll drap it now fer ds “Not alive—don’t you laughed the es i with an eye that was true and critical as that of | good an’ all. er think it, you hound!” a professional. Right at the base of the skull ‘Look ye, Dan, Time’s a-passin’ in a heap Bits. He might have said more but he felt that | the keen-pointed missile had entered, severing | hurry, an’ they’s lots 0’ work to be did afore is arms, and the | the spine and producing instant death. the sun comes up. Fu’st, you want tolook after the kids, as the easiest job o’ the two. Ef you 2 apaaty grip tightening upon 4. old fea “here 9 kin git along *thout my help in this, why— | r came chilling back to his heart. He It was by far too merciful a doom for such a felt that he must not say too much, else those | ruthless villain, but he was beyond the reach of re, tt CC LLL LLL LDL LLL LL Mi! terrible fingers might shift to his throat. And | his enemies now, and Nor’ West Nick rose to ‘We can, of course, if there is need,” was the tT: then— his feet just as Enoch Dodge uttered those response, as the ex-mayor of Grenada hesitated. ie ‘‘ Johnny-jump-up said much the same, but he | words. ““They’s only three o’ the critters, ef that ite changed his tune before the end,” coldly laughed | __ ‘It’s the gospel you're listening to, pard,” and | warmint @idn’t lie, which I'm nigh ready to | -_- Dan Brown, as he felt the sudden quiver thatran | his fat paw fell heavily on the shoulder of the | take oath he was tellin’ a straight story fer to ag along the muscles of his captive. half-distracted detective. ‘“‘I saw the same | save his precious neck! "You kin easy pause | ie ‘‘A lie! He never knew the meaning of the i ag my gun was ready to wing the devil, | them. An’ when you come back hyar, Dan, the sss word fear! He would spit on you before—bah!” | and I held my hand. opeing powder would | ole man’ll give ye a key to the place whar the ee with a short, harsh laugh. ‘ I’m a fool to mind | tell the rascals we were at hand, and then good- © two madams is locked up. | “If you can—if you can_place me between | them and those hellhounds, Enoch—Tll be your willing slave until death!” huskily uttered Dan Eommicbookstco — a — = _ ~ ——s by to our chances of getting the ladies and children out of the grip of those imps of Satan! You know this—or would if your poor brain SS SS SS 4h i your words. Johnny is safe enough!” i" ** And you know you are lying when you say that,” was the cold retort. * y has he not ~*~ _< inn as ow . . : : : ee om > x —