Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 374 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

Major Blister, the Sport of Two Cities. ed in the darkness toward the table. All at once his limbs lost their strength, and striking one of the stools he fell forward in a swoon. CHAPTER VII. QUARTZ KID’s “ DISCOVERY.” ‘‘Tr is strange I never had a second letter sent mo by the person who sent the one the gray- | Here a week has passed since | eyed man took. the theft was followed by Poker Perry’s death by the iron dagger. No dispatch yet from Gid- eon. I give him till to-morrow night.” ‘‘The regular stage is due now.” “Yes, If the telegram does not come to Sid- ney in time to catch it, itis to be brought up by special messenger at my expense, I have ar- ranged all that,” The speakers were Major Max Blister and his | pard Wild Alaric, and they occupied the little | room over the saloon to which Gideon Goldbird had been attached in the capacity of waiter and general utility man. The sun was dropping behind Custer City, and the regular stage from Sidney was due | with its usual adventuresome load. The mystery of the iron dagger had not been | solved, and the Sport of Two Cities had it still | in his possession. At the moment we reintro- duce the pair to the reader the quaint but terri- | ble instrument of death lay on the little table before them, The man called Mark the Unknown had quiet- ly disappeared and Quartz Kid, who had played detective to the best of his ability, had failed to find any traces of him or of the gray eyed man who had stolen the letter, While the two worthies speculated on the sin- ular events that mystified them the stage from Sidney rattled by in a cloud of dust, and Major Blister muttere tion. ** Something at last perhaps,” he said. ‘‘ Now we will wait. If a message has come the clerk at the Dolores will fetch it up here in person, Ten minutes will determine it, Alaric.” Five minutes did so, At tae end of this time a low rap sounded on the door, and Blister sprung up to open it and eet the somewhat dudish face of Mr. Si Slin- um, clerk of the Dolores. The young man ex- tended a light brown gens which the Major clutched eagerly, and bore back in triumph to his companion. ‘* There’s gold in Gideon tore the envelope open, ‘He didn’t want to go —long trip, you know—but when I made it a command he never growled, Aha! here we are.” Just then the Sport drew the telegram forth and spread it open on the table. “Still here.—GIDEON!’” he read aloud, and | then turned to Wild Alaric,withalaugh. ‘‘ What | do you say now?” he went on, ‘‘ You say that Fred Ferret had gray eyes; so has the man who robbed Quartz Kid of the letter.” **T stick to it.” ‘** But Gideon says that the Broadway detec- tive still inhabits the cell under Mother Red- bird’s trap.” ‘IT can’t help that. Iam the only one of the boys who saw Fred Ferret in the daytime. I marked his eyes particularly. They were gray, | If [ ever see them again, I will know them.” “But they’ve quit shining! says so!” exclaimed the Major, striking the pa- per as he finished. Wild Alaric picked up the dispatch and look- ed it over word for word, then he dropped it and took up tho iron-handled dagger, * This ugly thing killed Night-Owl Oll inCamp Coyote an’ Poker Perry in Custer. At one place a gray-eyed man was seen; at the other a man with black orbs.” . ‘* Yes, yes!” cried the Major, leaning forward, “ How do you reconcile them?” Wild Alaric slowly shook his head. ‘*T tell you,” he said, suddenly letting the dag- ger fall, ‘‘we must hunt those two men be- yond the limits of Custer. Many days have passed since the two terrible blows dealt by that outlandish knife. It disappeared myster1- ously after the killin’ of Night-Owl Oll, an’ the next i heard of it, it wasin Perry’s bosom, I am not hyer to doubt the truth of that dispatch. It came from New York. Gideon ought to know what he talks about; he is on the ground.” ‘‘ He has seen the skeleton of the Broadway Spotter,” said the major. ** Granted. when he comes back. Was he to follow it soon?” *“ Right away. He is on the road now.” ‘« As I have said, these two men, the one with black an’ the one with gray eyes, Must bé look- ed for beyond Custer,” continued Alaric, ‘‘We have searched every hole and corner for them hyer.” : ‘¢Do you think they are working together?” ‘TJ do not know,” said Wild Alaric doubt- ingly. ‘‘There must be a third party some- whar—the ts who sent you that one letter by bps cid.” “Td give a thousand to know its contents!” exclaimed Major Blister. ** Perhaps it was a letter of warnin’.” ** From whom?—against whom?” an exclamation of gratifica- | That dispatch | He will confirm the dispatch | Wild Alaric laughed. ‘* Time or that iron dagger will tell,” he said gayly. ‘*Since last night, Major, 1 have been tryin’ to get at this mystery. Somebody is on our track, that is as certain as fate. There are two deeds, which to speak plainly, need aveng- in’—first the Delancey affair in New York, next the treatment of Fred Ferret in Mother Red- bird’s trap. That Broadway Spotter madc it so hot for us, you know, that we hed to turn on him, an’ finally leave the city. Ho was slowly but surely clearing up the Delancey mystery. He had an interest in it.” ‘*'Yos; there was five thousand dollars’ re- ward,” ‘* His interest was greater than money,” caid Alaric, ‘‘ Ralph Delancey had a daughter.” ‘** A young girl who was away at school when it happened.” Wild Alaric nodded. “That girl came to New York after the— robbery, an’ shortly afterward, an’ before we entrapped Fred | ‘erret, disappeared. Delancey had also a brother who came back after a ten ears’ stay in India, the day after the affair. 1 batons we never suw him.” ‘*T never did,” said the Major. ‘‘He kept himself secluded. But what are you going to make out of this recollection? Are you tryin’ to figure out, Alaric, that one of these two strange men who appear to be on our track, is this Delancey?” ‘Draw your own conclusions,” said Alaric, with a smile. ‘‘We have been found by two men who are workin’ against us,one with an iron dagger, the other, thus far, with bare hands. We've got to turn an’ fight, Major,” and the speaker’s hand slipped across the table like a serpent and seized Major Blister’s wrist, while their eyes met. ‘‘ Thar is something devilishly unpleasant in bein’ hunted by an instrument like that iron dagger,” he wenton. ‘‘ Night-Owl O]l knows what it is, sodoes Poker Perry. When it comes down it kills. It has found us at last, Major; thar war five ov us a little while ago; now we ar’ three, an’ one is two thousand miles away. I’m for takin’ the offensive. I’m for takin’ up arms agin’ this iron dagger and its wielder—ag’in’ all who hound us to-night. You an’ I have been cool an’ terriblemen before now, We can be thus again. You've got to give up your love affair for a few days. es, you've got _ to think very little of your little Cleopatra for a et!” he said, as he— while. Can you do that, Major?” ‘* By heavens! I can do anything,” said the Sport of Two Cities, through his clinched teeth. ‘* By some avenger we have been found. It is vengeance for the doom of Fred Ferret, or blood for the Delancey affair,” ‘That is certain,” nodded Wild Alaric. ‘‘T wish we knew for certain which it was,” the Major went on, ‘*The two meny whoever they are, may be working together.” ‘Tf they are they must be met an’ thwarted,” grated Alaric. ‘ Let this play—this wild West drama—be called the play of four desperate men, you an’ I, Major, an’ the man with black eyes, an’ he with gray.” Major Blister caught up the terrible suggestion and burst into a coarse laugh. ‘* By Jehu! we'll make it such to somebody’s cost, Alaric!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ Come! let’s go below an’ seal our resolve in a glass. I’m as dry as a fish out o’ water. [ll let the Dakota Cleopatra go for a spell, but I must see her be- fore we turn on these two hunters.” ** Not for long, Major.” ‘For ten minutes,” laughed the Sport. Three minutes later the two men stood side by side before tho bar in the bar-room below. The place was almost deserted, and even Quartz Kid was not in his chair in his accustom- ed corner. Twice they drank discomfiture to the terrible enemy then on their track, and suddenly Major Blister turned to Alaric and exclaimed, in a whisper: “The dagger! we left it on the table up- stairs!” ““T will get it,” and away Wild Alaric went, disappearing in a moment. The Major waited a minuta, and then theman from the mines burst into the room, ‘* It is gone!” he said in a low voice, that made the Major recoil a step. ‘*Gone—the iron dagger?” ‘Gone! thar war nothin’ on the table but this iece of paper. The person who took the blade eft it behind.” Major Blister snatched the paper from Alar- ic’s hand and went toward the lamp at the end of on counter, wheré, with distended eyes, he read::- *T will see you later, gentlem:n! “THE Iron Daaaer.”’ ‘Great Heaven!” cried Blister, looking at Alaric. ‘‘The same thing that happened at Camp Coyote has happened here—the dagger has been stolen. Come up-stairs.” Wild Alaric followed at his pard’s heels, and the two men re-entered the little-room over the | bar. ‘The thief didn’t come up the steps,” Major ~ in here; there is no doubt of it, Blister said. ‘‘ He entered at the window. See! it looks down over the sloping roof. He came He was watch- eT el a several streets of Custer and stopped at last no 7 ing us all the time. The avenger of blood is in Custer City at this moment; he—” At that moment the door flew wide open, and the boyish figure of Quartz Kid bounded into the room. The two men sprung toward him at the same moment, ‘* Well, ’ve made a diskivery at last,” said the boy. ‘“ Thar’s a woman in the case.” ‘* A woman’ echoed the two pards, CHAPTER VIII, FIVE HUNDRED TO TEN. Wurtr Major Blister might have suspected that a woman was in some way connected with the dark work of the iron dagger, the announce- ment made by Quartz Kid sent a thrill through him. His companion, Wild Alaric, was no less astonished, cad the boy found himself confront- ed by two excited mon. In less than a minute Quartz Kid had beem dragged to the table, and made to take a seat on one of the stools, ‘* Now, give us the whole lay-out,” said the Major, ‘‘ You have discovered that there is a womai: in the case, eh? Go on!” ‘* Give a fellow a chance ter catch his breath won't yer?’ exclaimed the boy. ‘‘ ’m not used. ter hevin’ my diskiveries jerked out o’ me in this manner. I made ther last cne without re- sortin’ ter thet means, an’ I don’t count myself much ov a detective, either.” Much against their will, the two men were obliged to let Quartz Kid take his own time, and this he did with aggravating leisure. ‘You see,” he began at last, ‘‘ ve suspected a certain woman bein’ up ter something myste- rious in Custer for some time. She went dowm ter Sidney in the same stage that took Gideom Goldbird off, an’ came back in the next one. While thar she went ter the telegraph office an’ sent off a dispatch. Kinder curious, wasn’t it?? ‘Hades an’ horns! I should say it war!” ex- claimed the Major, ‘‘ Did you go down in that stage!” **No; we went ter see Poker Perry’s corpse that night, you know. But I reckon I had a friend over ther stage-wheels all ther same. Well, since that woman came back I lost sight ov her until a little while ago. I saw her with the man who war arrested for killin’ Perry.” “Ts he in Custer?’ and the Major's hand closed on the boy’s arm, rena dy **That’s all we want to know about your dis- covery, Kid. Show us thisman.” *To-night?” ‘Right away! He an’ this woman are leagued together, but by the eternal heavens! we'll break their bands!” “What is this woman like?” asked Wild Alaric. ‘* Describe her to me.” ‘‘As women run nowadays, she’s pretty,” said Quartz Kid, ‘‘ Inever saw such eyes.” “Black?” ' | ‘** Black as midnight, an’ full ov fire! I won- der that Gideon didn’t suspect anything on the way ter Sidney. He must have seen her, for she was in the stage.” ‘*The fool! hesaw nothing,” grated the majcr, madly. ‘‘He must have been asleep, But go on an’ tell us what she is like.” ‘*She has a medium-sized figure, a good face, and the whitest an’ prettiest hands I ever saw on a woman,” * Young?” ‘* Perhaps twenty.” Wild Maxie gave Major Blister a quick look as he said: “That would be about her age now.” ! The Major turned to the boy again. ; “Where did you leave her? Lyi ‘Tn a certain room with Mark the Unknown, 7 as Custer calls him since his arrest.” a “Come an’ show us,” said Alaric. “If you have solved the mystery, Quartz Kid, well }cad you with dust, Jam eager to lock into thefaco of the man who was keld awhile fer the death of Perry.” A minute later the two desperadoes and theiv ! young guide were on the street below. They had looked to their revolvers and found them +f all right, and the boy saw a terrible expression of determination on the Major’s face. . “This woman is goin’ ter give there two sports trouble—I know it,” he said to hireself, ‘She didn’t go down to Sidney in that stagelby accident, She went because Gideon went awry, an’ I'll bet my head thet her dispatch beat the old fellow ter New York. I’m not so anxicus to find the man who wor held for Poker Penny's murder as Tam to see ther Satan-eyed per cm who mesmerized me out o’ the Major's letier. But mebbe the two ar’ connected in some rene ner. I believe the Major thinks they ar’.” ; Quartz Kid guided the two sports yiree > ae me | front of a small frame house that stecd back from the sidewalk a few feet. +4 ‘**T’ve watched that house for three days an’ — ii nights,” said the young detective in a whisper, **Tt is one o’ the few buildings in Custer theB6 — have shutters. Ha! thar is still a light in the room whar I left them. Come this way.”’ een He led the men to a closed window on one . side of the building, and touched the shutter, ,, it y — comicbhoo (E <