Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 374 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

8 re sits data **Tjook in thar,” he said turning to Major Blister. ‘* The peep-hole is not large, but it let me see all that | saw.” Flushed with eagerness, the Sport of Two Cities stepped forward and applied his eyes to the place designated by the boy. For several moments he saw nothing definite, then he re- coiled all at once with a light cry. ‘‘ We have run him down!” he said. ‘' Look in thar, Alaric, and spot the man seated at the table. It is Mark the Unknown.” Wild Alaric was not slow to obey the com- mands of his master. He sprung to the window and looked into the house. ‘*Ts thet Mark?” he asked when he turned to Major Blister again. ‘* Tt is the man whom we arrested for killin’ Poker Perry.” “It is not the person who came to Camp Coyote the night before the iron dagger killed Night-Owl1 Oil. That man bad gray eyes, an’ be- sides he was not so large as the person in thar.” “Thar ar’ two of them—we know that now,” said the Major. ‘‘ The man in thar is Mark the Unknown. [ll wager my head thet he never left Custer. He has made this house his home ever since Poker Perry died.” ‘*T should not wonder. What is to be done?” “‘ He must be cornered!” cried the Major. **Tn this house?” ** Whar he is! in’ a desperate game.” “T never forget that!” said Wild Alaric be- tween his teeth. ‘‘ Whar is the girl? Quartz Kid saw her with the man in thar awhile ago, Heavens! she has joined him now. Look in thar, Major. Thar’s ther woman thet is in this ease.” Alarie stepped back and gave his master a chance to see the young woman who had joined the man at the table. Major Biister applied his eye to the shutter and looked for a minute. ‘*So that is the woman who went to Sidney in the same stago that took Gideon down!” he ejaculated. ‘ Sheisa beautiful creature, by my life! Rouse her, an’ you'll find a tigress in your front. Thet’s my judgment of thet Black Hills Cleopatra. They look alike! Did you notice the resemblance, Alaric?” The pard from Coyote nodded. ‘“* We have but ter drop the word in Custer that Mark the Unknown is back, ter have this shanty surrounded by a mob of cool men,” the Jtojor went on. ‘‘ Custer now believes thet we jet the right man go thet night. Pve worked uo a cool case ag’in’ him since then. I hev »ainted Poker Perry in colors that don’t exact- y b’long ter him, an’ Custer wants blood. Thar’s nothin’ like workin’ up a sentiment, Alaric, when it’s ter one’s advantage ter hey it worked up. Iam goin’ ter fetch ther Vigilantes of Custer down upon ther man in thar.” Major Blister spoke with a resoluteness that made his eyes flash. ‘*T don’t want him ter see my band in it at first,” he went on. ‘‘ We must deal with these two men one at a time. Alaric, you nn’ the boy will watch this house. I will rouse ther Custerites.” ' Major Max Blister glided away, and left ‘Wild Alaric and Quartz Kid to watch the house. He went direct to the Dolores. where he con- fronted a handsome man who was smoking in a chair, and apparently waiting for something to turn up. ** Well, our man’s come back!” whispered ‘the major. ce Yes. ” , Lf a I - th The Custerite left the chair, looking into Blis- ter’s face. ‘‘Do you know where he is?” he asked. ‘¢T’ve got watchers on the spot now.” ‘That's enough,” was the reply. ‘If you will wait for me here Pll have the boys ready in ten minutes.” ‘“*T'll be hyer!” Major Blister saw the man leave the hotel and his eyes followed him with a triumphant - gleam. Everybody knew Claude Cressy, the captain of the Custer City Vigilontes. A sport him- self, gambler, miner and genteel rough, he had swung the noose all over golddom and it was he to whom Custer owed her better days when scenes of bloodshed were few. He was no man’s confederate, played no dark games; he too pride in igen down violence, and at tinies, it is said, pad the noose with too much haste. He picked out his men, his Vigilantes, wherever he was. He knew the material he wanted, and he was never at a loss to find it in the gold and silver camps of the West. Majér Blister saw this man leave him with the assurance that he would soon return with the men who had on more than one occasion restored quiet to Custer. He was not mistaken. One by one stern-looking men dro into the reception-room of the Dolores. or the most part, they wore dark shirts and had their pants in their boots. Max Blister knew them all— = at Claude Cressy’s avengers of blood. When one dozen had drop in quietly the Major felt a hand on his arm and he looked . into the face of the captain of the Vigilantes. “We ar’ ready,” said Claude coolly. ‘Now Remember that we ar’ play- | Blist show us the whereabouts of thisman who slipped through our fingers a week ago.” The Sport of Two Cities was only too eager to show the Vigilantes to the house watched by Alaric and Quartz Kid, He believed that he | was about to solve tho mystery of the iron dagger ; at any rate Mark the Unknown, and its un- | inside of ten days. | ' | | doubted owner, had been run down and that was enough. ‘‘Come with me! Ill show you this cool devil!” he said to Claude. ‘‘I don’t want my hand to appear in this arrest at present,” ** Tt shall not,” said the Vigilante with a smile. ** Only show us our man.” The eager men had already reached the front of the hotel and Major Blister was about to lead the Vigilante away, when the clerk called to him, ‘‘ There’s a letter here for you, Major. ’Pon my soul l nearly forgot it.” ** A letter?” Max Blister felt the words come to his lips without effort as he started toward the man who was holding up a letter between thumb and finger. “Who delivered it?’ he asked as he took the message. **T can’t tell you, Major, I found it lying on | the register awhile ago.” Major Blister looked at the envelope with eagerness mixed with considerable suspicion. ‘By Jehu! thar was no gray-eyed man to steal this letter \’’ he exclaimed. Then he tore the pocket open and drew out a little piece of paper. ‘Short and sweet, clerk, The Sport said nothing but held the paper up in the lamp-light and read: ‘*Wive hundred dollars to ten, Major Blister, that you'll feel the iron dagger between your shoulders Will you take the bet?” Major,” laughed the That was all. ‘* Yes!” thupdered Major Bhster in tones that startled the Vigilantes boyond the door, ‘‘ By heavens! I’ll take twenty bets of that kind. I’m not to be frightened by a threat like this. Five hundred ter ten, ch?’ T’ll reverse the wager. Whar’s Captain Claude?” ‘‘ Here!” said the Vigilante stepping forward. ‘‘ Some infernal fool wants ter bet me that Pll feel the iron blade between my shoulders inside ten days,” cried the Sport. “‘I want yon ter bear witness, cap’n, that I take the bet. Now, sir, if you'll follow me I'll show you the fool who sent this letter hyer. I can do it!” Crushing the message in his hand Major Blis- ter strode madly to the door and threw himself before the dark-shirted men of Custer. ‘So that is Major Max Blister?” said a man who reached the clerk’s desk as the Sport struck the walk. ‘¢'That’s the Major. his hands this time.” ‘* Yes and one he will lose!” was the muttered answer as the ye rd walked away, and car- ried off a steely glitter in his strange gray eyes. CHAPTER IX. IN THE TOILS., UNDOUBTEDLY there was ‘‘a woman in the case.” If Gideon Goldbird, at that moment the ten- ant of an underground dungeon, hundreds of miles away, could have seen the young woman who stood beside the man in the little shuttered seb in Custer City, he would have racognized er, She was the identical person who occupied the darkest corner of the stage during his journey down to Sidney—the woman who had signed ‘* Selah” to the dispatch which had preceded him to New York. There was a striking resemblance between the woman and her companion; they both had black eyes and their faces seemed to have been cast in the same mold, Neither suspected that they were watched; there was no thought of Quartz Kid and the men he had led from the saloon to the closed window. ’ The man who sat at a little table, upon which lay an object, carefully wrapped in paper, look- ed up into the face of his companion, and asked more than one question with his eyes. ‘‘ No,” said the girl, with a smile, ‘‘I had no trouble getting it,” and her eyes fell upon the paper-wrapped article. ‘They left the room together, and I had but to raise the window, spring into the room and seize it.” 4 Many thanks, Adele.” ** Tt is a terrible-looking thing.” The man smiled grimly. “Tt does the work. It is the agent of ven- geance,” he said. ‘It is no respecter of per- sons. It kills in camp and in city, Ah, the fools! they had me once. They had me in the lee ae of Poker Perry, my last victim; the <nife was sticking in the floor at his side; but I walked off coolly, for they could not get the boy to identify me.” ‘* As the man who took the letter from him!” exclaimed the girl. ‘‘ Major Blister wanted to bring the two deeds together.” ‘* He can’t do that, Adele,” was the quick an- swer. “I am not the man with gray eyes. He’s got a strange bet on oT, the Sport of Two Cities. *S See! mine are black.” And he lifted his bright black orbs to Adele as if for inspection. “ Is there no way to get the field clear for us?” ‘* What do you mean?” ‘¢ Can we not send this other vengeance-hunter back to New York or somewhere else?” * T am afraid not, Mark.” “Then we must work fast. He will do more than take letters if he suspects that I am at work to exterminate this league of two cities. The message you sent John Leopard will cause him to hold Gideon Goldbird. That man’s blood ought to oe vengeance enough for them. The Broadway detective did not suffer as we have. ‘‘ Hoe suffered a hundred deaths, he says,” said the girl. ‘‘Perhaps. If there is a place in New York more horrible than the dungeons of bell, it is be- neath Mother Redbird’s infamous trap. But you know what we have endured, Adele,” the man laid his hand on the girl’s wrist. ‘* To wipe out this league of five, | would go to the uttermost ends of the earth—I would endure, if possible, a thousand deaths. Think of it. I had just come back after an absence of years—” ‘‘Say no more,” exclaimed the girl, drawing back with a perceptible shudder. ‘* Don’t let me recall the horror of that one black night in my life’s history. I know who are responsible for it—that is enough! I have sworn to help you in this scheme of vengeance Let that suf- fice. Even to this day a cold shudder takes pos- session of me when I think of that crime.” ‘“No more then if it pains me,” the man said, pushing back his chair and putting the paper- covered article into an inner pocket. ‘‘I am going down-town to see this fine-feathered Cus- ter peacock in his head-quarters. J wonder if he has heard from Gideon Goldbird?”’ The girl said nothing. She stepped back and looked at the man, and while she gazed her eyes seemed to glow with admiration for he was a handsome dark-faced athlete who would com- mand attention anywhere. ‘Do not be gone long,” she suddenly said, springing to his side, ‘You are not afraid, Adele?” he answered. ‘‘Not afraid, but there are two against you now. Major Blister has been joined by Wild Alaric, the desperate of the desperate—the man who brought him news of Night-Ow] Ol!’s fate at the hands of the iron dagger.” ‘¢ Ah! never fear for me!” laughed Mark the Unknown, throwing one arm tenderly about the girl and drawing her gently to him. ‘‘ When I am no match for Major Blister, and his pard, I will drop the coil of death, and go back to the Indian jungles. Fear not for me, Adele, ha ha, ha!” The next moment the man released the young girl and went to the door, ; ‘¢ Hark!” exclaimed Adele, clutching his arm. ‘We have been found at last.” Mark stopped and throw a look toward the door after the manner of a tiger brought sud- denly to bay. ‘itis truce. There are men outside,” he said. ‘They are on the porch.” As she spoke the last words, Adele threw her- self between Mark and the door, The man’s black eyes flashed suddenly with defiance and his hand carted forward to push the + irl aside, At that moment a quick step reached the door from the outside—aud the next instant a light rap sounded in the room, “T will openit. Stand back!” said Adele in a resolute whisper. Her hand was already on the knob, and turn- ing the key quickly in the lock she opened the portal. ; “‘ ood-night, miss,” said a voice. ‘‘ Sorry to trouble you at this hour, but business is busi- ness. Ve have business with the gentleman who is with you just now— Ah! thar he is!” At that moment the speaker who was Claude Cressy, the Custer City Vigilante, caught sight of Mark standing by the girl, and he immedi- ately turned his attention to him. ‘Tam here,” said Mark the Unknown stepping ast the girl and presenting his splendid figure in the lamplight to Claude and his backers, ‘““We have determined to take you into cus- tody again,” said the captain of the Vigilantes, A strange smile began to play with Mark’s lips, and the girl who looked up into his face expecting to see it a trifle pale, saw only the old lig tin his eyes. : ‘As you choose,” he said coolly. ‘May I ask what the charge is?” “The old one—the killing of Poker Perry. Adele kept back With difficulty an exclama- tion of horror. Mark noticed it, and touched her slightly. , : ‘“‘Keep ‘cool,” he said in a low whisper. “This is a part of the game’ against us—that is ” Then he looked over Captain Claude’s shoul- ders and saw his dark-shirted men. ‘“f ynderstand. You are the acknowledged Vigilantes of Custer,” he said. ae “We are the men who sometimes administer the law here,” was the reply. ‘* There are sev- eral things which you must explain satisfactor- ily to this body of men,” and Claude Cressy Eomicboo (E