Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 380 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

‘“- You'll Yarn!” said Handy Hank, with con- 1 viction. } His positiveness, his brevity, everything showed that there was no appeal. To the ele- gant, the wsthetic, the beperfumed dudy-~-doo, this degradation was worse than death. ‘‘T chan’t cook! indeed I can’t!” he protested, ; but without hope. : Unmoved, the sturdy outlaw once more spit on his hands, rubbed them together, and ad- vanced, Lispinard shrunk before him in dismay; but a lauthing robber gave him a push that thrust him fairly into Hank’s arms; and he wasseized | in a manner which needs no particular descrip- \ tion, and started on his tiptoe march about the camp. ‘““Fall in! Fall in!” shouted the delighted i road-agents. And the whole roistering mob fell into line be- hind the executioner and his victim, beating tin pansand canteens, and whistling the Rogue’s ch, ‘‘No sogerin’!” yelled one of their number. ‘‘Every man does his duty. The ladies, they’re excused,” And quickly seconded by others who fell in with his humor, he approached the prisoners, who were looking on helpless to relieve their aang and pressed cans and sticks upon them. | Of course the Hon. Benoni Spike was afraid ; to offer the slightest opposition. Truth to tell, f he was not particularly averse to paying off : some old scores against the La rp who had so often treated him with superciliousness, Uncle Billy Hodgson offered only a feeble pro- ? test. ‘* Now, really, boys, this is too bad!” ‘‘A blasted shame, pop! We know that!” Ny laughed the robber who yet thrast a tin plate and a mutton bone into his hands, But the fellow who assumed the task of whip- et ping Senator Littlejohn into line encountered his stern judicial eye. ‘“ What!” cried that eminent Counselor of State, ‘do you fancy that I will consent to make myself ridiculous, by participating in your villainous buffoonery?” ‘‘ That's the rule o’ this hyar camp, boss,” re- plied the road-agent, with a swagger. The fact was, that under the Olympic light- . nings of this old terror of malefactors he was i! already beginning to lose heart. , “Tt is evideut,” said the Judge, with slow scorn, ‘*‘ that you do not know me!” And coolly turning his back upon the fellow, eo — is he walked over to the fire, and proceeded to fh pour himself another cup of coffee. ) Hugh as quietly maintained his dignity, to the not slight satisfaction of Abigail. ti ‘* T decline taking any part in this demonstra- tion,” he said. F And as he stood with folded arms, lookin steadily into the eyes of the men who surround ‘ him, he was a rock of moral force against which ‘hs they did not care to batter. un “Oh, this is shameful!” cried Abigail under her breath, seizing his wrist with an uncon- } scious tension of grip. \ ‘* Let me lead you to the tent,” he said, refer- 4 ring to a canvas structure whic afforded seclu- sion to the ladies, ‘‘ All this is unfit for you to witness.” ‘‘No! no!” she protested, vehemently. ‘I Wy would not desert my worst enemy under the ‘ persecution of these wretches!” Wy It was the-rousing of her woman’s champion- ny ey of unjust suffering. ; uddenly, with the speed of a Diana, she dart- i ed across the a apeper ey | space, and confronted ey _ the cook and his agonized victim. h ‘“Stop!” she cried, for a moment spurred out ri of her maidenly reserve and timidity by a noble ts emotion. ‘Are you men, or cowards, that it , takes a score of such burly ruffians to heap in- ie sult upon a man who has not a tithe of the if strength of any one of you? And how can you, we with a spark of generosity. or self-respect, de- if scend to such meanness? hat has this gentle- M.* man done to deserve such treatment at your im hands? I am ashamed of you, if you have no } shame for yourselves.” Me She stood before them like a young queen, her Ve ch so recently pale with fear, now bright with the crimson of right royal indignation. | ‘How her eyes blazed! How her nostrils quiv- ered! How her bosom heaved! How her voice vibrated with tense scorn! {| Swooping down upon him with such fiery im- petuosity, she fairly took Handy Hank’s breath away. th Ho let go his hold upon poor Lispinard, and : stared at her, mouth agape. _ " The men stopped their charivari, and break- ia ing the line of march, hurried forward to see f how their leader would come off in a “ chin- ot: choppin’ mill” with the spirited young lady. ‘i dy Hank acqui himself ingloriously it from the first. He was taken completely aback; and before he could recover his self-poss sion, Abigail took her protege by the arm, with ae a brief: ** Come!” And indeed she led him out from the midst of the Philistines without opposition. a a 8 iE ile a al MRM See Cannel RA Ri se NR tie. 9 A Bac LR el ti sare i a a a SD a OE a A eS The Golden Serpent. CHAPTER XVI. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. For the first time Hugh Cole felt a pang of jealousy. If there is anything that will steal into a woman’s heart and supplant the glance of a hero, it is the sigh of a martyr. Of what avail that he face,all the Gorgons in her defense, while she sheltered this pretty fledgling under the wing of her woman’s pity? As for the boys, they looked at one another, and then at Handy Hank, and burst into a roar of laughter at his discomfiture. Then one of. them swung his hat, and shouted: ‘* Three cheers fur she! Hip! hip!” And the tribute was paid with a heartiness and unanimity which showed that Abigail had made conquest of them all. Even Handy Hank laughed, as the boys pro- ceeded to pelt him with such chaff as their rough wit suggested. On one side of their nature these rude fellows were like children. They might persecute ruth- lessly from sheer exuberance of spirits, without malice. What they sought was, not pain to the butt of their ridicule, but sport for themselves. Lispinard de Morgan accepted the succor of a woman with the readiness of a mean spirit, glad to escape in any way. Nevertheless he was deeply chagrined at having been so d ded in her sight. He allowed himself to be led away with hanging head, and shrunk from Mrs. Spike’s effusive sympathy with some petulance. Divining his feelings with a woman’s quick insight, Abigail drew her mother away, and then strove to set things to flowing in their old channel. While thus engaged, she was waited upon by Handy Hank, with all his fellows at his back. The ex-cook doffed his hat respectfully, as he ent) oa before her, and said: ‘* ‘You'll excuse me, ma’am, but the boys has laid their heads together over this hyar case, and struck a gineral average, the which J calls it the handsome thing. We let up on his nibs in the matter o’ walkin’ Spanish, bein’s as you're contrary; but no galoot don’t refuse bis oats in in this hyar camp, an’ git off scot-free. You’ve got to draw the line some’er’s, an’ we draws it at standin’ his reg’lar racket—ftwo days’ pot- wrastlin’!” ‘You mean that Mr. De Morgan must cook for the camp for two days, as the penalty for com- plaining of his food?” ‘¢ That’s the size of it, ma’am.” “Very well! It shall bedone. Andas I too think that the decoction you served as coffee was vile in the extreme, I will incur the same pen- alty and will assist him.” ‘* That’s your own look-out, ma’am.” But when at the following meal Hugh saw her enter upon her duties, he was less acquiescent than Handy Hank. The outlaws had gathered about to see the lily-fingered exquisite make his first essay at his new office, prepared to guy him mercilessly. He, as ignorant as a child in such matters, could do nothing but the lifting, under Abigail’s direction, and the. gingerliness with which he handled the grimy utensils, and the rueful faces he made, convulsed the spectators with laughter. And now Hugh lost his head. Jealous of Lispinard, it was but a step to being in a rage with him for precipitating this new complication. He wanted him to pay in the bitter coin of humiliation the full penalty of his infraction of the law of the cuisine. é Why should Abigail identify herself with him in this. Could it that she really cared for him after all? With a crimson flush on his cheek, the flash of anger in his eyes, and the quiver of it in his voice, he tried to dissuade her. ; ‘‘He has brought this upon himself by his folly,” he said; ‘*‘ and there is noreason why you should share it with him. Let him get out of it as best he can,” The girl looked directly into his eyes with a surprise that angered him the more. ‘But he cannot do what they require of him,” she said, with a restraint in her voice, the significance of which Hugh did not stop to read. ‘So much the worse for him. He should not have got himself in such a predicament, Noone else complained, though there are, perhaps, as dainty palates as his.” A dash of color appeared in her cheeks. She dropped her eyes to the ground, and in a still lower voice asked: ‘¢ Would you bave me desert him entirely?” ‘Desert him?” he repeated, catching fiercely at the word, as altogether out of place in con- nection with one who bad no sort of claim upon her. ‘And why not? Is he any better than any one else?” Now she lifted her face, suddenly grown pale with still scorn, and gazed steadily at him with that contraction of the eyes which expresses contempt. Her lip curled and quivered in a withering sneer. er voice, always heretofore so soft and flexible, was now as hard and cold as ice. “Mr. Cole,” she said, ‘‘ you have strangely misunderstood me—and I you !” _ Swiftly she turned to leave him. Terrified with a sudden nameless panic, the like of which he had never experienced before, he sprung after her with a single word. ** Abigail!” Over her shoulder she threw at him a glance that chained him to the spot, and struck dowm the hand he had extended to detain her. Then she went back to Lispinard, and busied herself with him as if nothing had happened. Hugh stood dumb, And this was the woman he had loved—a veritable tigress, he thought. It did not occur to him that this might Os the measure of her love for him; that it was possible she had set him so high above other men, that the discovery that he was only a man after all, with a man’s: ordinary selfishuess, had swung her over to the other extreme. The fact was that she felt that she had been cheated, as if he had willfully deceived her; and for the moment she despised him from the depths of her soul. How dare such a fraud call her Abigail! Well, it was a blessing that she had detected him in time! This thought sustained her when other eyes: were upon her; but in the still watches of the night, while her mother slept, she lay awake, with streaming eyes and swelling throat. Hugh was in despair. He could not eat what. she had cooked. It would have choked him. Whata dolt he had been! Why hadn’t he offered to supplant her, taking upon himself the tasks that had fallen upon prey ot The mag- nanimity of such a course could not have failed to touch her heart and confirm the good opiniom she felt sure she had formed of him. But now all was lost. She ranked him even below the outlaws in meanness, because more intelligent. And he who had so cleverly evaded all the snares spread for him by her mother, had dug this pit with his own hand! She spoke to him in exactly the same tone with which she addressed Judge Littlejohn! Mrs. Spike was not long in discovering the new turn of affairs, and could scarcely contain her satisfaction. But other matters pressed upon their atten- tion. The Queen of the Road-Agents, who had been away from the camp for some days, re- appeared. Could they learn what disposal she designed to make of them? To show what her mission had been. and what had come of it, will necessitate a return to the Seat of Government. CHAPTER XVII. BETWEEN EMINENT POWERS. ‘* ARE we returning to barbarism? An un-- precedented outrage! The Ruffians of Silver Riffle in i brigandage. Italy and Mexico. outdone! The Joint Committee of the Legisla- ture captured and hurried away to mountain fastnesses! A reporter of the Chronicle among the victims!” With such a flourish of trumpets did the Chronicle announce to the world the latest sen-. sation, ending with a characteristic toot on his own little born; since no editor was ever shocked into overlooking an opportunity to tag the name- of his paper to any event likely to attract popu-— lar attention. Then followed a graphic description of the capture, every detail of which came frcm the fertile imagination of a pale and red~ yed young man, who sat at a corner of the sub-editor’s » table in his shirt-sleeves, at midnight, beneath a flickering gas jet, driving a lead-pencil at light- ning speed, and whipping his flagging wits with the fumes of a strong cigar, with the pros- ct of a whisky-straight as a night-cap when he had filled a stipulated space with entertain- mE reading matter. , he facts at his command were, that the committee had been forcibly taken from the coach by parties unknown, for a purpose equally unknown. But it was manifestly impossible to expand so meager an array of facts to filla column and a half; so the confiding ys was informed that there was an organized resistance to the investi- gation, in which a handful of desperate men threw down the gautitlet to a great and power- ful commonwealth. The question was, would the civil authorities be able to cope with this re- bellion in miniature, or would it be found neces- to call out the militia? Out of this romance the enterprising journal ‘“‘ coined money,” while the dear public enjoyed. a season of agreeable excitement. Meanwhile His Excellency was closeted with the local Chief of Police, supported by the Head of the ’Frisco detective force. The outcome of this putting of official heads together was the secret flitting of a flock of de. tectives, like birds of the night, under cover of the open dispatching of a posse of officers to the scene of outrage. _ ; They found that Silver Riffle presented the appearance of an informal indignation meeting.. Loudly and profanely did the solid citizens re- pel this libel on the fair fame of the camp. It was even fg Ne to go up to ’Frisco and ‘tear out the lying sheet!” ‘¢ We've cleaned out that infernal nest of rat- eaters; an’, by thunder! we don’t go back on the record!” affirmed Captain Ledyard, as he- held his glass suspended on its way to his lips... Eomilecbooks Cc co Aa i oss.