Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 374 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

waved his hand toward his followers. ‘* But this is not the place for such explanation.” ‘*Show me to it, then,” said Mark. The Vigilantes drew back 2 pace as the ac- cused stepped upon the porch. ‘‘Show me my new accusers,” he exclaimed sending a piercing look through the crowd. ‘‘ Tn time, in time,” was the reply. A moment later Mark left the porch and met the Vigilantes who closed :ilently, but respect- fully about him, and looked to Captain Claude for orders. “Ts it to end thus?” exclaimed Adele drawing back from the sight with pallid face. ‘‘ Merci- ful heavens! am [ to be left alone here by the noose of the Vigilantes of Custer? Is he to die with our oath but half-fulfilled? They will give him no chance—they never do here, | am told. Claude Cressy believes every man guilty; the noose has made him merciless!” She was alone in the room, and the door had shut upon Mark and his bronzed guards. She did not see the pair of black eyes at the win- dow, nor the figure crouched like a tiger at the sill. ‘Quartz Kid was right. That woman has much to do with this game against us,” said this person. ‘She is Mark the Unknown’s pard, and ten to one that her hand brought back to him to-night the iron dagger. What a beauty she is when her eyes flash as they’re flashing now. Lam going to face her. Captain Claude and his pards are bound to hold the man they have just marched away, and I will interview this blood tigress from the Hast.” The man who was Major Blister left the win- dow and sprung upon the porch. He was eager to reach the girl left behind by the Vigilantes; his face was flushed with excitement and his eyes fairly blazed, His first rap started the beautiful Adele; she was at the door in an instant, ‘¢Canit be that they have released him al- ready?” she said, to herself, and then she opened the door to see the Sport of Two Cities standing in the lamplight. ‘* Major Blister, I believe?’ she said, strange- ly calm in a second, but with a singular gleam in the depths of her eyes as she held the door open. ‘* You wish to see me else you would not be here. Come in, Major.” Puzzled by her suavity and coolness, the Cus- terite walked in, the door was closed behind him, and he found himself face to face with the unknown girl, ‘* Your friend has left you,” he said, and then before she could reply he took a step forward and looked almost fiendishly into her face. ‘*Thar’s no use beatin’ about the bush,” he went on. ‘‘ They call you Adele; you are the confederate of the man who carries the iron dagger. You have followed him hyer to help him use it against five men—two of whom are already dead—killed by it. You went to Sid- ney as the shadow of one of my men a week ago—you sent ahead of him a certain dispatch to a certain man in New York. You are hyer playing the role of blood tigress against one of the most desperate men that ever threw an ace —Major Max Blister. Thehero of the iron dagger is roing now to his doom. The hand that finished Poker Perry and Nieht Owl Ol ll never strike again. The letter he sent ter ther Dolores saying that hed wager five hundred ter ten that Vd feel that infernal bowie between my shoulders inside o’ ten days we'll make a lie ter all Custer afore morning, Look me in the eye, girl, and tell me who he really ar’, By the flames of Tartarus! m ther wrong man ter play against, W har’s ther dagger you took from my room awhile ago?” Adele drew back from the face that almost touched hers, ‘* Not so fast my white pantheress,” cried the Major, and his hand ried at her wrist. ** Open your mouth to ery for help, and I'll introduce you to a silken hand whose clutch is terrible!” The girl still recoiled, and the next moment she placed the table between he: and the Sport by a dextrous spring, ** Now my crimson-dyed Satan,” she said, with a victorious laugh, ‘* we will have an interview, but I will be the questioner. Stand where you are! At the first move on your part, I will end your trail in this room, Vaw Tam Adele: Tam bound to hate five men living or dead, while I have life. Ifthe Vigilantes of Custer take the life of the man they have marched away, I will take yours! The iron dagger will perform its mission even though its possessor leayes the traii. Aha! don’t you know me, Major? Look at me well.” The girl leaned forward, a silver-mounted re- volver in her hands, and smiled in the des- perado’s face. « CHAPTER X. A MAD irl ce THE rt.of Two Cities found himself in the power a whose demeanor told him that she would not hesitate to carry out the threat just made, He saw that he hadencountered Adele at the wrong time, and her laugh rung strangely in ears unused to it. “We will wait here for a report from Mark and his captors,” said Adele. “As 1 have told vou, Major Blister, if his life is taken by the | Vigilantes you will drop dead where you stand. Have patience. The report will come soon.” The man of Custer bit his lip and looked into the woman’s face. ‘*Did you think I would lose sight of you?” suddenly asked the girl. ‘‘ New York is many miles from the Black Hills, but distance and dis- guises are nothing tome. Why, I have been at your heels fora year, Major. Other eyes looked after your pards, but I took care of you. I knew all the time that the iron dagger had been made—l saw it fashioned, with the movable handle and the double edge. It was made for five men—all friends of yours. It has found the hearts of two; the others shall not escape!” Major Blister growled something like an oath, and then raised his hand. “If you think you can carry out your work, KO ahead!” he said, between madly shut teeth. * This is a game at which more than one can play. You may cash my checks on death’s counter, girl, but there are others.” ‘Wild Alaric and Gideon Goldbird?” cried Adele, ‘** More than those!” was the answer. ** A league, eh?—a league formed since you left New York? Would you have me believe this? I am not to be driven back bya threat. The league you hint of isa myth. ou forget that I have watched you for a year. No, Major Blister: threats will not dull the point of the avenging knife. Aha! my messenger is com- ing!” At that moment the door behind the city sport was opened gently, and a bit of paper eh ange forward and fell upon the table before dele. Max Blister started forward and watched her narrowly, while she opened it with one hand. ‘*They are very anxious to have you at the accusation,” she said, glancing up at her pris- oner. ‘‘lam going to let you go. Remember if the blood of eh Cressy’s prisoner is shed to-night, yours will flow before sun-up. There is to be no child’s play in this game, Major. You will go down and face Mark the Unknown, as yea call him; there may be a rope about his neck even now. If it tightens, beware! There is the door!” Major Blister saw the door standing ajar, as he stepped back. The eyes of the girl were still fixed upon him, and he tried to give her a look of defiance as he withdrew. He expected to encounter on the porch the person who had delivered the message received by Adele. That individual had disappeared, without giving the Major even so much as a glimpse of bim. ‘* She is a fool to let me off thus,” he laughed to himself, as his feet touched the little porch in front of the house. “ This is opening the trap for the wolf. My dear Adele, if this is the game of vengeance you play, you show a poverty- stricken hand to your bitter enemy!” He sprung from the porch, and turned his back on the house, ** Hello! You here?” he suddenly exclaimed finding a boyish figure at his side. si came back ter find you, Major,” was the reply. t What are they doing with him, boy?” asked Blister, anxiously. ‘* Nothing as yet.” ‘Whar are they?” ‘‘ Under ther big tree at ther edge of Custer.” The boy was our young friend, Quartz Kid, and Major Blister uttered an exclamation of disgust over the last words. ‘* Did they send for me?” ** Not exattly. Captain Claude told me to come back an’ see what had become of you.” ‘The girl got a message.” ‘The deuce she did!” ejaculated Quartz. Who delivered it?” ‘* T could not see,” ‘* Man or woman?” “I tell you I don’t know,” snapped the Major. ‘* T saw the paper fall on the table, and she told me that they were waiting for me.” Quartz Kid looked puzzled, and exhibited a good deal of uneasiness, It was evident that he was much interested in the person who had de- livered the message, and after a minute’s silence he said to the Major: “You know whar ter find the party. I be- lieve it’s my duty ter go back.” ‘¢ What for?” ‘*For your good, perhaps. I am playin’ de- tective now, an’ you know I’m no slouch at the business. Didn't I find Mark the Unknown an’ the girl for you? and the person who went ter Sidney in the stage with Gideon an’ sent a tele- gram ahead 0’ him ter New York?” ‘You did that, Quartz ” ‘‘Then let me go back without askin’ any questions. You know what to do when you get ter the big tree.” Quartz Kid, who had come to a halt, glided away before the Major could make reply, and in a moment had disappeared. Blister watched him a second, and then went on. “ T did not get to ask him whar Alaric is, but I will find him with Captain Claude and _ his pards,” he said to himself. ‘‘He and I must ’ t ~ Maior Blister. the Sport of Two Cities. are ae oa ae a 0 a ee er 9 —_—_——_——.- ——- —__ -_—_—__— fight this game to the end. Gideon can do us 7 " * » dp 7 y -~%* no good till he gets back from New York. ‘* Tf he ever comes back.” Major Blister halted and looked around, He heard the five words with wonderful dis- tinctness; they had seemingly been spoken at his very elbow, but nobody was to be seen. The Sport had reached the outskirts of Custer where the houses were scattering, but the bril- liant moon that hung in the heavens like a rounded shield of burnished silver enabled him to see for some distance around. For several minutes, with a heavy six-shooter cocked in his right hand, Major Blister watched for the possessor of the voice that had startled him, © scanned every shadow, eyed every object with sharpness, ready to send a ball whistling through the first living thing he saw. ‘“'Whoever you are,” he suddenly hissed aloud, ‘‘I am hyer to say, you lie! Gideon Goldbird will come back from the traps of New York to belp us play a dead game among the Black Hills. He waxes his mustache an’ plays the dandy sometimes, but for all that he is a tiger. Come forward an’ show yourself. We are alone hyer. By the eternal soul! I promise you that we will meet fairly, with any weapon you choose, an’ no seconds to fool the time away!” The Major’s words were wasted on the air. Nobody came forward in response to his chal- lenge, and laughing derisively in, as he hoped, the face of his foe, he went on again with the revolver still ready for the encounter. A short distance from the spot Major Blister came suddenly upon a group of men RS greeted him with exclamations of recognition, and the hand of Captain Claude the Vigilante, gripped his arm. ‘We've been waitin’ for you,” said Claude Cressy. ‘' The boys yonder ar’ guardin’ Mark the Unknown. e want you to say that he is the man who killed Poker Perry.” **'You do?” ejaculated the Major staring into the Vigilante’s face, and then he ground his teeth behind the last word. ‘*‘ Whar is he!” He was led forward and halted before a tall man who stood erect with his arms calmly fold- ed upon his chest and a cool gleam in his hand- some black eyes. ‘““TPve met many a man in thering of death like we hev this one,” whispered Captain Claude, ‘* but never one exactly likehim. I b’lieve we hev ther person who gave Poker Perry the iron blade, but you see we want somebody ter swear ter it, Major. It won’t do ter hang him with- out an oath from somebody.” Major Blister seemed to recoil an inch when the gaze of Mark the Unknown fell upon him. The prisoner stood just without the shadow of the tree whose stoutest limb could tell the story of more than one deed of the Vigilantes, His sombrero was thrown back, revealing his won- derful black eyes and handsome face, and his at- titude was wild grace itself, “So you have come at last,” be said to the Custer sport. ‘‘ These men have been waiting on you.” ‘** Well Lam here,” said the Major boldly. “TI am ready to proclaim you the wielder of the bowie that dropped Poker Perry without warn- ing in his tracks ” “IT thought so.” And Mark threw a quick glance at Captain Claude and his men who had crowded forward waiting to hear the Sport’s testimony. ‘‘Gentlemen, you will now listen to the testimony of a man who saw nothing of the slaying—a man who is to-night a bunted mur- derer in the shadow of the very dagger that was taken from the breast cf the man called Poker Perry.” ‘‘ A confession when he knows laughed the Major. ‘*Captain Claude, did you search that man?” te No.” ** Search him!” said a voice behind the Vigil- ante captain. “Wild Alaric!” cried the Major. ‘*[ say search that man,” continued the men from Camp Coyote. “In aninner pocket you will find wrapped in paper the iron apes which took the life of Poker Perry. I am hyer ter swear that a woman who is now in Custer stole ther bowie for him this very night. He will net deny it if pinned to the wall, Gents, if thar ar’ no bowie wrapped up on his person Wild Alaric will leave Custer between two days. Search that man!” Captain Claude stepped toward the prisoner, who quickly threw cne hand to his breast, ‘*T have in my possession a knife fashioned from iron,” he said, coolly, ‘‘It is an instru- ment of vengeance and as such will not be sur- rendered to this court, Yet, for all this, Cap- tain Cressy, no man dare swear before his Maker that he saw me tale a human life.” A bitter laugh rung from Major Blister’s throat at this. He wheeled upon Claude Cressy, the Vigilante while it still echoed, and threw up his bronz right hand. ‘I dare!” he exclaimed. “I am hyer ter swear that the blood of Poker Perry is on the hands of that man! He came to Custer for it, an’ it warshed. Ask Wild Alaric, fresh from the mountains, what kind of knife was found in sO much!” (E()/ 1] SS (C boo