Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 379 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

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SS a | Nts “Yon ‘have said enocugh—more than enough, “That we'll do, though half the town comes | glimp’ of a sneaker out yender, but ef I did he tdi “Mercy!” muttered Iceberg Dave, rising from his | to the front!” bardly grated Frank Spartan, | melted an’ run so durned deep into the airth we ah ‘seat. “ When you see me again, those brutal | thinking of Amelia and of the poor unfortunate | couldn’t ketch even a smell o’ the warmint—not | | words will be blotted out in .his heart’s | within those walls. a smell!” zs “blood!” ‘*Say three-thirds, pard, an’ you come heap ‘* Better be too careful than too careless!” ‘‘ Wait!” and the widow also rose erect, her | nigher the truth,” and Howling Jonathan turn- | quietly said Davidson, as the tall detective was + ‘brown eyes glowing, her face flushed, her breath | ed toward the man. named, ‘‘ There isn’t much to be learned by | coming Suiick and fast. ** Wait until I have said ** Let it be so—Id fight half the world, rather | s ying on.us; still, ’d rather have it on our own | ye ‘a few wards more, David. And I swear to you | than give one foot before the devils who want | side. And now, Mr, Spartan, if you will kindly l jana ‘that they are even more true shan those I have | to lynch a crazy man!” grant us a few moments’ private conversation, | it allready uttered. If you doubt, look into my “Don’t, pard—don’t sling them out so wicious | we’ll try and decide our course of action,” | bet e earabile lam sing, I could never tell a | like as them, ef you ain’t tryin’ to make me| ‘‘I have but one line—fight for that poor devil Mh ie to you—now !” break my neck fer takin’ up the wrong side!” | in yonder as long as I can joe a trigger or tied And so, their eyes meeting, their hands clasp- | pathetically muttered the Holy Terror, ‘“‘I handle a knife!” coldly uttered Frank, Leh ed, she spoke on: come to these parts to rake in the boss fightin’- “That of course” was the calm response. bl j ie ote Until those words were uttered, I loved—or | cock 0’ the range, an’ yar I be with him on my | “I’m the last man on earth to counsel you dif- DAT ‘believed I-still Joved—Frank Spartan. I know | side o’ the range. Durn sech luck, anyway!” ferently, and I say now what is superfluous, | rh hf my mistake now. I know that I never loved ‘*You can desert to the enemy just as soon as | perhaps: that I mean to defend my prisoner to | jim as T-am capable of loving aman! But the you please,” shortly uttered the young man, | the death, no matter what may be the odds ‘aes feeling { had for him then changed all at once to | half-suspicious of this red-haired cyclone, de- | brought against me.” ash deepest, bitterest, most relentless hate!” spite the risks he had run on that side of the | ‘‘That settles it, then! *and Frank S artan | “Are you sure, Mercy?” slowly asked Iceberg | matter. : impulsively caught the detective’s hand, with * Dave. ‘* Not with my consent,” quickly inte more fervor than he might have shown but for Lae “As sure‘as Iam that you love me!” the detective, before Howling Jonathan could an- | a feeling that he had dene the man wrong in his | ' ‘He said no more, but his big gray eyes closed | swer the hasty speech. ‘‘ Keep all you get, is a nee am | ret as though he was afraid to gaze longer into those | mighty good motto in a case of this sort, and as “With me, it is business; with you, mainly Fr, glowing orbs. good a spy as you have proved yourself is not to | sentiment, though I feel inclined to think ycu ) te i And there was a curious little tremor in her | be thrown over one’s shoulder without cause, will fight just as hard as I or my men will when hh tones as she said: “Don’t borry no trouble, Lengthy,” grinned | the pinch comes. I make no effort to dissuade | A ‘‘T intended to have said more, David, but I | Hank, broadly. ‘I ain’t so easy chucked away | you, though if we are not strong enough to keep ae ~wannot—just now. fam afraid to trust myself, | when they’s so much fun in the air as they is | the mob off, you and your friends would only a and for the same reason you say you are afraid | this blessed night—no sir! An’ I stick to the side | add a few more victims. If it comes to the as ab ‘to trust yourself!’ whar they’s the fewest mouths to git away with | worst—if you see that all hope of standing the 16k His eyes opened, he gave a quick, painful | the most chuck, J do!” | gang off is lost—I trust you will have nerve = prt gasp. He gazed keenly, searchingly into her ‘Tt is just a mob, or have they got a leader’| enough to do what will take even more courage 4 eyes, but they never flinched from him now. | whose voice they will follow without stopping | than to stand and fight against odds to the death: at Though she had never dreamed of such a result | to argue the matter?” I trust you will draw off and leave the rest to Pa) —though she had enlisted him as her champion ** Got him—you bet! An’ that’s what makes | me and my men. ' todo her foul work, and brought all her cunning, | me so durned sure we'll hev red-hot fun afore As he uttered the last words, Davidson moved trained arts into play the better to effect her | the sun comes up.” back to the door, unlocked it, stepping inside ur widow Mercy Watkins had never ‘*Not Iceberg Dave, I hope?” and there came ; with his men and closing it behind them. | "ue thought toreward him with more than a smile or | a grayer shade into the face of the detective, a This was done so quickly and smoothly that ; Vt two, a few soft words, and then drop him with | more sober tone to his voice. before Frank Spartan could divine his purpose a little langh at the blind credulity of his sex. ‘David, fer sart’in! I was gittin’ skeart that | it was accomplished, and the beavy slabs only bys ~ But since that interview began, she had come | he wouldn’t j'ine in the dance, by the way he | gave back a dull echo as he flung himself against 4 + to realize how a man can love, even though the | chipped in back at The Mint, but he’s thar, an’ them. ; object of his adoration be wholly unworthy. | he weighs a solid ton every time he hits the I wouldn't, pard,” and Jonathan Hebrew ae ‘And before she realized ber peril she was caught | crowd with a word!” tappec the excited man on the arm, dodging a bid in the same trap she had set for Iceberg Dave. ‘‘ What does he advise? What line is he lay- | trifle as Frank Spartan wheeled upon him with PER Suddenly Teabere Dave dropped her hands, ing out?” a fierce curse, his right hand tightly clinched. ’ . : | ‘stepping back a pace. ‘Waal, boss,” and Jonathan rubbed the moby ‘What does he mean? If this is a trick of re - eae afraid, Mercy! So much afraid that [ | tip of his nose with a dubious air. ‘* You see any sort—” ¥ é | cnteed dare not ask-if what I saw in your eyes is the | couldn’t walk right up and shake the hull truth why, I’m the one to blame,” frankly cut in 5, truth. Stop! I must not hear you say—it would | out o’ the critter, an’ yit make sure I could git the Holy Terror with a light laugh, that did ig | be more: than my nerves would stand, and Pll | back here to report on my own legs.” more to check the threatened blow than any id ‘need them all before this night’s work isdone. I| | “‘ But you have an idea?” other guard he could gee have selected. io will go now. When I come back, youcan be} ‘Two, three couple of ’em, boss!” was the | “It’s a trick o’ my hatchin’, an’ ef it don’t pan ee ep -suie my work is done—that Frank Spartan will | prompt response. ‘‘ Though I couldn't be sure I | out way up, then I’m ready fer to take the s t. ve never again laugh at you or your prayers!” etched onto the hull programme, I found out | quincekonces, 5 ieee, wee is et Fe He stepped forward and gathered her to his | this much: They was goin’ to take Perry Blair, ‘“* Explain, if you please, sir! : a ‘heart. His hot lips touched hers once, then he | fu’st. Ef you would listen to reason,asbecalled | ‘When you give me half a chance, I'll do it \ ts released her, catching up his hat, and turning | it, an’ let go your grups without makin’ too big | so quick it'll make your head swim all over, | mast p ans —-- — -—*..) ee ee 4 « 28 And ‘would have captured the prize long ago. so, to learn the truth, I brought her here. ‘*Tt was not hard to pump the milk-and-water fool. She was only too ready to speak of him, when I said that he had been my friend in the days gone by. She never once suspected the truth, poor fool! ‘*You know what she told me, since [ve already hinted at it. But even yet I would not believe it, and when Frank Spartan brought them back to My House this evening, I took him ‘ captive, much as I did you, and had a long in- terview with him in the back parlor.” She paused, apparently to regain her breath, but Ieccberg Dave could see that she was nerving herself to utter still harder confessions. He sat motionless, but his heart was filled with seething passions. ‘*T said I would be frank with you David, and Plitry to hide nothing,” she added, with a short, hard laugh. ‘‘ When I stood face to face with rank Spartan, I felt my wild love fairly boiling ver, Like a fool I fairly flung myself at his head, only to be coldly repulsed! I did more—I even kegged that he would take pity on me—that he would forgive my folly of the past and take me away with him, to begin lifeover again. And shhe—laughed at me!” ** He'll never laugh again,” coldly muttered the gambler. “T told him all I had learned from Amelia Moskan, asking him if it was true. He admitted it. I made him own up that she swore she would never marry him until her father died, or until Franz Moskau was found. And then I played my last card. **T told him that I could put him on the right track. I told him I was able to show him Morris Grant, but would do so only on one condition. I ‘told him she was being worn out by the weary life they led, and that a few months more of the ‘same would bring her to the grave. He admitted ‘as much. He pretended to love her better than life, but when I offered to tell all, to put her weary search to an end by showing them Morris Grant, if the would give her up and take me away with him, he only laughed me to scorn and ‘said the price was far too much to pay even for her precious life!” the key in its lock, ¥ pana 3 the door and vanish- ‘ing before she could speak another word. She dropped into a chair, one hand pressed to her heart, her eyes swimming, her breath rapid, her _ voice low and glad: ep eee Howling J onathan. ** Ah, that is a man—a man to the very core! And I? Bah!” with a short laugh: ‘‘I never knew what love meant until now !” CHAPTER XVIII. JONATHAN PUTS UP A LITTLE JOB. ‘* THE pot was bubblin’ over then, but now it’s mighty nigh to run over it’s hull bigness—I tell you,” Even as Howling Jonathan uttered those words, the little party collected in front of the stone house in which Perry Blair and the sup- posed Franz Moskau were confined, caught the sounds of the growing storm with a distinct- ness which even the leastexperienced one among them all could not misinterpret. There were isolated yells, shouts, and brief, fierce outbursts, any or all of which might read- ily have come from a4 party of drinking roister- ers, bent on ‘‘ painting the town red,” but to keen ears there was barely perceptible a low, indistinct murmuring sound joining all these to- gether, which spoke even more clearly. . “They mean business, [m thinking!” mut- tered the tall detective, his brows contracting, his voice growing hard and cold. ‘* Business clean up to the han’le, boss, or I hope I’m a liar!” and Howling Jonathan grin- ned and chuckled and sauiiea tis lips as though he already tasted the rare feast which was be- ing prepared for them. ‘‘ Be durned ef I’ve got ary ‘nother word to spit out ag’inst Good Leather. She’s showin’ herself the pure quill, an’ chucker full o’ fun then a bob-tailed cat kin play the fiddle! Good Lawd! ef my teeth don’t xo back onto me too soon, [ll weigh a solid n afore the moon grows old! Come to set ’em up one by one, she ery got so many fu’st- class chiefs, but take em as a lump, an’ she kin shell out *nough fightin’ men fer to ration a hull army—now I tell you yes /” ** Bluffing won’t take the trick, you think?” ** Not to-night, pard,” promptly responded Howling Jonathan. ‘* They’ve got the deck- head, ar’ know jest what our hand calls fer. They’ll make a grip fer the hull porker, an’ ef we want even the tail, we’ve got to shet our teeth an’ hang on to it wuss than grim death to a dead sinner.” a row, all right; you wasn’t none on ye to be hurt in wind nor Jimb. But ef we wouldn’t do that, an’ ’sisted on kickin’ up a row, why they was to take him anyway!” **That was his main point, then?’ ‘*Perry Blair cums fu’st. Then, the pards of Ugly Dan could do what they durned pleased with the crazy critter. He didn’t keer one way nur t’other. e wouldn’t lift a hand to hendcr ‘em, nor he wouldn’t pull a pound weight on the rope ef it was hangin’.” S Catching comes first!” muttered Frank Spar- tan. y was some talk ’bout sendin’ a depyda- tion over here to talk the matter over afore they come in full force, but I didn’t wait to take that allin. Things begun fer to smell mighty sul- phury in my neighborhood—come less’n a inch 0’ gittin’ trompled on by a lot o’ roughs that set off hot-foot fer somethin’ or ruther—an’ I took a walk back here, to—” His voice was growing less distinct and steady as he uttered the last sentence, his gaze being bent intently in one direction. Then, as he broke off speaking, one hand closed on the arm of the detective and crouching low in the shad- ows, the two men stole silently away. With no little interest the rest of the party watched them, trying to divine what was in the wind. They could see them creeping along to- ward a patch of still deeper shadow, into which they entered, to be lost to view for a few min- utes; long enough to awaken both doubtand ap- prehension in more than one breast, ‘* Brag is good, but Grip-tight is better to bank on!” muttered Frank Spartan to his party, with a hard, bitter cadence. ‘* You don’t reckon they’ve sloped?” **1¢ looks like it to a man up a tree,” ‘Tf he is cross-eyed,” laughed one of the de- tectives, catching the purport of their whisper- ings. ‘Don’t you think it, pard. Davidson hasn’t come all this way to grip a man and then drop all holds just because a few hornets begin to buzz about his ears. He'll give up Perry Blair—when he’s dead,” Even as the man spoke, Frank Spartan saw the two figures come back from the shadow and his doubts grew weaker, though he said nothing. “JT thunk I did when I didn’t, an’ that’s what’s the matter with the old man’s eyes!” rowled Howling Jonathan, in a tone of sub- ued disgust. ‘* I could ’a’ tuck oath I ketched boss!” grinned the Howler, with a confidence that in a measure calmed the excited map. ** An’ then, ef it don’t suit your idees to a t-y ty, you kin begin chawin’ on my ear jest as quick as you durn pee. We kin hev a little fun, ‘ Oe ee sde< ‘ > : €O imiKe mn JOOKS.-CO —— = Lee A oad — - — —