Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 374 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

) | - this is your trap, Wild Alaric, make the most of Major Blister, the Sport of T'wo Cities. ee ther iron dagger that cut me ther other night. I wish I could set Mark on their track, but he will not come in time.” ‘‘Tam here!” exclaimed Mark himself as he sprung forward, but Gideon did not hear him. The next moment the man with the iron dag- ger reached the spot where the dying sport lay, and his hand touched Gideon’s arm. ‘‘T am here, Gideon,” he said, lookin into the eyes that stared at him as if risen from the dead, ** You?— Mark?” ‘6 Mark!” ‘*By Jehosaphat! I wish I had a hand an’a bowie in it,” grated Gideon, ‘ But what’s ther use ov thet when I’m in this fix with death about ter throw ther winnin’ ace? So you have come, Mark?’ ‘* Yes! where are they.” * Alaric an’ Andros?” * The last two!” ‘“* FWoller ther corridor thet begins behind me. This cavern is a honeycomb of dens. I can only say, foller ther lead behind me. They went thet way—not very fast, for ther Major got ther worse ov our tumble from ther main room above! This place war intended ter be a trap for yer, Mark—Alaric’s trap.” ‘Tt shall be his last trap!” was the answer. “Tf yer want ter find’em, go! When you hev finished ther play let me see ther iron dagger thet has hunted us all down at last! Ar’ yer goin’?” ‘*T am gone!” Mark had sprung up and taken a long stride toward the corridor designated by Gideon. ‘‘ Watch!” called the handless sport after him. ‘‘ Tf they scent yer, Mark, they'll yet make this underground den Alaric’s death-trap!” A light laugh, full of fearlessness, came back to the pale one in the firelight, and Mark was about to leap into the corridor when a stern cry kept him back, ‘ Alaric’s trap it is, Mark ther Unknown!” Tho man of the iron blade turned quickly, and in an instant saw the person who had spoken these words. Not five feet from Gideon stood the stalwart figure of Wild Alaric, and if ever he resembled a tiger in aspect, it was then, His brawny arms, bare to the elbows, were thrown forward, and at the end of each was held a formidable six-shooter, which seemed to grin triumph in the avenger’s face! Near by, but leaning against the wall was an- other man, more ferocious in aspect than Alaric for his face was partly bandaged with a rec handkerchief, over which glared a pair of devil- ish eyeballs. Andros Ruby! ‘Yer took ther bait in Coyote, eh, Mark?” laughed Wild Alaric over the revolvers. ‘* Arter all, I made ther girl, Adele, my bait, for yer camo back ter visit her, an’ found ther letter an’ ther map. Ha, ha! beat this double, Sport, in ther long run, if yer kin! How is this for a trap, Mark? Throw up yer hands an’ step for- ward inter ther light. Ther deadliest revolvers in ther Black Hills cover yer now, an’ from ther jaws ov Alaric’s trap ther is no escape! Hands up!” Andros Ruby, who seemed consumed with im- patience, started from the wall. ‘his is the end of the iron dagger!” he ex- claimed. ‘Mark the Unknown, you have found the last men of the Gotham gang. You have come two thousand miles to feel the hand that always kills! Found in Custer, you_have followed me here. Behind me is Poker Perry, daggered in the shade of the Dolores, and Night- Owl Oll killed in Coyote. Yonder lies the only man that ever turned against me, and I have deprived him of the hands that caught my throat a few hours ago. I lost the iron dagger in Coyote, but I see you have found it. Good! There is nothing too terrible for Andros Ruby to do. I shall pierce your heart with the iron blade, and hang it above the door of Burt Browne’s cabin, now the home of the girl Adele! Hands up! as Alaric says, Mark! The last hand and the winning one is Andros Ruby’s!” The words died away in an echo far down the corridor behind the doomed avenger. The two pards who looked into Mark’s face saw his pie suddenly compress, but his eyes did not guail. “ Hands up for you, blooded fiends?’ he cried. ‘‘ [have never hunted you for this! If down e had it, Mark Delancey never surrenders!” CHAPTER XXXIV. PLAYING THE GAME OUT. Art the sound of the name, Andros Ruby sent out a wild exclamation. “Ts that your name—Delancey?” he cried. ‘‘T have told you!” was the reply. Gideon Goldbird, lying on the ground in the light of the fire, turned and looked into Mark’s face. wt Mark Delancey!” he muttered. ‘Ther brother of the man we finished in New York, when we went to crack ther steel safe. This is why he has hunted us with ther iron dagger, but Alaric an’ ther Major hev their drop on him now, au’ he’ll never play his game out.’ —_—_-~ i ——————— ——————————————————F___ OO thetic eee tn a Mark Delancey faced the two men with the coolness anc defiance of a hunter brought to bay. Phe weapons of Wild Alaric still covered him, and the fingers of the Sport were at the triggers. ‘‘ Well, Mark Delancey, you have played a cool hand up to this time,” laughed Ruby. ‘* You are the brother who arrived from India after Ralph Delancey was dead?” ‘*T am that man!” ** Now, we will show you that your last hand is played out. Alaric? ild Alaric threw his master a quick glance. ‘*Since your trap has caught the man with the iron dagger, I will let you finish him,” he went on. ‘There stands before you the man who found Poker Perry and Night-Ow1 Oll—the man who has been our shadow for months—the avenging brother of Ralph Delancey. Shoot him dead!” Mark Delancey saw the lips of Wild Alaric compress suddenly, and a wild light flashed ur in his eyes as they glanced again over the revol- vers. The next second there sounded in the cavern not the loud report of the Sport’s revolvers, but a piercing human cry, and the Major’s pard sprung forward and reeled against the wall! ‘‘ Heavens! who did that?” exclaimed Gideon, who had been waiting for the shot that would end Delancey’s trail. Wild Alaric had dropped already at the foot of the wall, and Andros Ruby, who started to- ward him, saw the hilt of a bowie above his back! “This is the work of the other accursed blade!” he grated, and a moment later he wheel- ed toward the entrance, ‘* Yes, this is my work at last, Andros Ruby,” said a voice, and where fire-light and shadow met, the Sport of Two Cities saw the figure of a man whom he recognized. ‘This is for my torture in New York,” con- tinued the new man who blocked the Major’s way. ‘*I am permitted to play at last when the game is almost ended the hand T have held these many months, Look, Andros Ruby! I cover you with a revolver. Throw up your hands!” ‘* By Jove! Fred Ferret has ther drop on ther Major at last!” exclaimed Gideon. ‘‘ He throws a bowie like an Injun. Now I will get pay for my missing hands. This is retribution, Andros Ruby. Youw’ll beat me yet through ther gates ov eternity.” Mark Delancey thus unexpectedly delivered, looked like a manina trance. The fall of Alar- ic before his eyes was the last thing looked for under the circumstances, and he saw with no yleasure that his rescuer was the Broadway Spotter. Andros Ruby, driven to the post, with his last pard lying at the foot of the wall, sullenly put up his hands. Fred Ferret advanced into the broader light with the revolver still leveled at the Major, bu once he threw a swift glance at Mark. ‘*T told him never to interfere with my game, but he has,” said the Unknown, under his breath. ‘‘ I warned him not to strike the men IT hunted. I have to show him that I am the avenger of Ralph Delancey. I hope, for Adele’s sake, that Wild Alaric yet has oat in him!” For several minutes Major Blister stood be- fore Fred Ferret, waiting for hisdoom. He did not see Mark come down upon him with the noiseless tread of a panther, and he was not aware of his presence till a hand dropped upon his shoulder, . Tt is I, Andros,” laughed the avenger, as the Sport turned to look into his face. ‘‘ We will now see who holds tha winning hand!” ‘*T do,” said the young detective. ‘‘ Unhand that man! Step back, Mark Delancey, or I will shoot the Major from your hands!” Mark, the Unknown, looked into the Spotter’s eyes and dropped his hand. Major Blister, ha between the two men, leaned against the wall and glanced at Alaric. Oh! for a mo- ment of that man-tiger’s interference! All at once the man on the ground moved slightly, and the next second, before he could be covered by the quickest weapon, Wild Alaric sprung up with a cry that made the cavern rin is revolvers had dropped from his hands, and the dagger, hurled with such terrific force by Fred Ferret, was still in his back. He looked like a madman when he turned upon the Broadway Spotter. “Charge, Major—charge!” he yelled. ‘‘ Down with the iron blades ov New York!” At the same moment he threw himself forward with terrible force, and straight at the young detective who had been watching Ruby. “Shoot thet tiger!” cried Gideon, from the floor, and the next second the cavern was filled with the smoke and report of a revolver. Wild Alaric fell against the wall but bounded away like a ball, and straight at the detective, who had been compelled to shoot on the instant. He reached Fred Ferret before another shot could be fired, and Gideon and Mark saw the two men grapple and totter away. jaws!” grated Wild Alaric. ‘‘ We will see who plays his hand out first, my New York fox! A My trap catches whoever comes between its. 29 ——. Ther grip ov Alaric is surer death than ther dungeons of Mulberry street. Aha! what's. this but death at yer throat now, Broadway?” All this, the sudden change in the wounded sport, the charge, the shot and the grapple, did not seem to occupy two seconds. It was start- ling enough to throw Mark Delancey forward, and his two hands descended like eagle talons upon Alaric, “Tl play it out, Alaric,” he exclaimed, and he attempted to separate the two men who were down with the fingers of the Major’s hand tear- ing at the New Yorker’s throat. ajor Blister was for the moment forgotten, and when Mark had jerked Wild Alaric from his antagonist, and was holding him out, he heard a cry from Gideon. ‘‘ You’ve let ther boss tiger ov the cage git py cried the handless rough, ild Alaric laughed in the avenger’s face. ‘‘ Gideon’s got it right, Mark Delancey,” he said. ‘‘ You'll hear from Andros yet. cave is honeyecmbed an’ my trap will yet get. ther best ov ther iron dag are I guess a part ov ther old gang will play ther game out after all.” ' Mark Delancey heard Alaric’s words with little concern. “One at a time!” he laughed in return. “It. was Poker Perry first, then Night-Ow] Oll, next. eer thar, now you, Alaric, and lastly Andros: uby! The reply was a startling one—the loud report. of a revolver from the corridor behind the Avenger! Mark Delancey released Wild Alaric, and reeled toward Gideon who instinctively threw up his bloody stumps. ‘““Thet’s ther Major’s old tactics!” said the mutilated Sport, as Mark pitched over him against the wall. ‘‘ Jehu! ain’t they playin’ ther game out lively?” Wild Alaric saw Mark fall and then started toward the man who had fired the shot. ‘*They shall know that I am the most danger- ous when the end is here!” cried this person who looked hideous with the red handkerchi bound about his forehead. ‘‘ Let Alaric die whar he is. There is vengeance yet in the grip of Andros Ruby.” Wild Alaric did not get twenty feet from the spot where Mark left him when the shot was fired. His strength seemed to leave him with- out warning and he dropped like a man smitten ‘with death. At the same time the Broadway Spotter who had just recovered from the terrible chokin administered by Wild Alaric started towar Mark Delancey lying on his face a few feet away. Youd better foller ther bronze devil thet did thet,” said Gideon, we tching him. ‘ He'll get ther drop on you in ther light, an’—” The sentence was broken by a second shot, sae Phe Ferret started back before be reached ark, **T told yer so!” said Gideon. The next moment the young detective sprung at the little fire and knocked it in every direc- tion. ‘* Pll hunt the last man in the dark,” be said» aloud. ‘‘ When 1 come back, Gideon, I'll be able to report the game played through.” ‘*T do know,” was the reply. ‘‘ The last tiger is the worst one after all. Bekeerful, Fred Fer- ret. Andros Ruby will turn an’makeit mighty hot for yer.” There was no reply, for the Broadway Spotter was gone, and Gideon Goldbird saw the two motionless figures that. were faintly revealed by the scattered embers of the little fire. For some time the handless sport lay on the aphex with the loss of blood gradually sapping is life, and the embers went out one by one, ‘Pll never go back ter Custer with a new mustache,” he said aloud to himself. an evil day when I tied myself ter Andros Ruby. Wal, what’s ther use ov squealin’ now. Thar’s no balm in Gilead fer Gideon Goldbird; but by Jupiter! I would like ter live ter hear Fred Ferret's report.” After a while he looked toward the dark cor- ridor and murmured: ‘¢ \q—like—ter—hear it—but—I—never will!” That was all. He had half-raised his body, but it fell back suddenly, and the messenger sport lay still. Two hours afterward a man stole into the little cave and stumbled over a human body. ‘* Helio!” he exclaimed. The next moment he struck a match and ig- nited a pine cone. There lay Wild Alaric with rigid limbs and staring eyes, and near him lay Gideon Goldbird —dead, Mark Delancey was missing. ‘‘Maybe he'll finish the Major yet!” laughed the man with the match. CHAPTER XXXV. THE IRON BLADE ONCE MORE, It was the fourth night after the tragic scenes: in Wild Alaric’s last underground trap, and Quartz Kid the boy spy of Custer was looking across a table in Camp Coyote into the face o our old acquaintance Cyrus Sl when “Tt-war . » emg Eomicbooks