Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 380 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

as 22 —— oo first shot at him, he took a snap-shot at her horse’s head, aiming at the eye. The bullet pierced the brain of the ill-fated beast. With a scream of pain that was al- most human, the horse made a tremendous bound into the air, and came down all ina heap. On the rise of that vault the Golden Ser- * pent’s weapon exploded. The Tiger heard a quick “zip!” and felt as if a bee had stung him on the ear, The next instant the woman came flutter- ing almost at his feet. Je sprung forward to catch her, and so ‘break her fall; his humanity, even in that moment of deadly personal peril, rot for- | szotten. But the distance was too great. She struck the ground with a dull thud, and so | lay stunned. The situation suggested a bright thought ‘to Hugh. He was already in the saddle. ‘Pick her up, and hand her to me!” he | ‘We'll use her to bluff her crowd | «cried. with!” In a twinkling the Tiger ‘‘ caught on,” | and springing forward, he snatched up the inanimate body and placed it in Hugh’s arms. But now a shower of bullets came _ buz- zing about their ears. It was lucky that they were fired running,else even then the cur- | rent of events might have been turned into a channel which would have carried our friends to a quite different goal. With a bound the Tiger alighted in the saddle with his face toward the croup. He had practiced this mode of riding in anticipation of just such an emergency; and __ horses. | Then her heart leaped to her lips in the now it stood him in good stead. Out came a revolver in either hand; and ‘as his horse leaped away, following the lead of that ridden by Hugh, he fired a return ‘salute at the outlaws which gave them a | Roland for their Oliver! The certainty of his aim dropped the lieu- tenant and the man immediately following him; yet so well disciplined were the out- laws, and so intent were they on rescuing - their Queen, that, albeit nothing cools the | ardor of men like the loss of their leaders, | even this did not check, even for a moment, their determined pursuit. Tiger Dick had never been more hotly pressed than now, when he gained the shelter of a rampart of rocks by the very skin of his» teeth. After dropping the foremost of his pursu- ers, he restored his weapons to their holsters; and twisting his body and seizing his horse’s wriggle which reversed his position—a ma- neuver common to the circus-rider. Now he could give attention to what was going on among his friends. Don Giacomo had been in advance at the start, the others waiting for Tiger Dick’s in- dorsement of his suggestion before following him toward the rocks. But in his mad panic Lispinard de Morgan had lashed his horse into a frenzy almost | equal to his own, and was now several leaps ahead of the don. Dick heard the don shout out to the fran- tic dude: ‘To the left! to the left! Caramba/ there | is no shelter that way!” Dick saw the Spaniard was right, and a second time indorsed him, ‘““'To the left!” he shouted. ‘© To the left!” repeated Judge Littlejohn, | passing the order. But in his headlong flight ‘‘ye daintie dude ” had gained too much of an advantage for his own good. He was already commit- ted to the right pass, while, deaf to the mean- ing of the cries in his rear, they only added to his terror. Those following him went to the left in the wake of the don. Lispinard discovered his error only when his horse reared before an impassable barrier. The animal pivoted on its hind legs, so that ‘*ve daintie dude” clasped it about the neck with both arms to prevent slipping over the croup. When the horse came down, its fore feet ‘were considerably lower than its hind feet; and it saved itself only by a desperate scram- ble backward. The effect was what might have been ex- pected. ‘‘Ye daintie dude” shot over its ~ What madness! | When we haven't a man to spare!” all to lose so good a man as Hugh. mane at the withers, he executed a leap and | ' willing to meet death in a bold fight, but he | had a keen contempt for ye daintie dude and | for all of his kidney; an | to him to feel that he was being sacrificed for Serpent, still insensible, on the ground, and | turned to the defense of their position, draw- | threatened Hugh; but in his political life he i The Golden Serpent. head, and rolled down the rocks to a lower had not got over the habit of counting men level. by noses, looked at him blankly. This accident happened in full view of the ‘*'We can’t ee aman from this posi- others. tion,” said the Tiger, a little more reaseun- ably. Then lowering his voice so that the woman should not hear him, he added: " zm ae shall probably be eaten up alive, as it is!” ‘* Benoni Spike!” screamed his affectionate spouse, ‘‘ what are you doing shivering here, when every man is needed at the front?” ‘‘ But, Huldy!” pleaded poor Benoni, ‘‘ I never shot off a fire-arm in my life; even if I had any weapon, which I bave not.” Abigail drew her horse upon its haunches, so that the others sped past her. Unmindful of this and of the coming dan- ger, she appealed to Hugh. Her love for him gave him precedence to all other men in her eyes. It seemed to her that he could do whatever was to be done. **Oh, he will be killed! he will be killed!” she cried. ‘‘ Do something to save him!” It was perhaps natural that Hugh should not reason out the working of her mind. Jealousy obscured his usually clear percep- ‘* You! Oh, no! There is ro danger of tions, so that it only seemed to him that she | your having anything that belongs to a man/ was willing to sacrifice him to the chance | If I don’t put you in petticoats, once for all, of saving this limp and languid parody on | if I ever get you back home, then my name’s manhood. not Huldy Spike!” ‘*It is always so,” he reflected. | Still she had not the courage to volunteer care only for light heads and light heels!” to act in his stead. Secretly she was ‘‘ mor- And gazing at her with intense bitterness, | tally afraid” of anything that went off with he said: a& pop. | ‘*T will do what I can.” When it came to fencing with a jaw-bone, Then, transferring the Golden Serpent to | she could hold her own with the best of ’em. But that kind of warfare never drew blood. | Abigail was of better metal than either of her parents. She had her mother’s pluck, tempered with her father’s gentleness, each manifesting itself in a little different way. Give me a weapon!” she cried, to the | | Tiger. ‘‘ Although a woman, | am not en- sent him to his death! tirely useless, I have some skill with a re- | A moment she was breathless. She turn- | volver, and a human target will not unsteady _ ed her eyes toward the approaching outlaws, ay to-day!” ‘*Women Tiger Dick, he wheeled into the right pass. | ‘* Hold!” cried the Tiger, realizing what | he was about to attempt. ‘‘ You are going to certain death!” ‘That isn’t always the worst cf evils!’ replied Hugh, spurring on. Then Abigail realized that she had perhaps who, on foot, had been left somewhat behind er eyes blazed, her lips were compressed, _by the superior fleetness of the fugitives’ | her figure was drawn to its greatest hight. The half-conscious thought that prompted her words was that, in defense of her love, she could steel her woman’s sensibilities to any act. Dick gazed at her admiringly ‘“‘ Take this,” he said, presenting her with arevolver. ‘‘ We may need your help in the last extremity. Butnot now. Make it your business to keep under cover of these rocks, and do not think of mixing in the struggle until you see men coming through that pass. In that event, your greatest safety will lie in exposing your life boldly. Remember, you ce nothing to hope from the mercy of those evils!” cry: ‘Hugh! Hugh! oh, Hugh!” CHAPTER XXVII. BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH. In the mad solicitude of that moment she would have wheeled her horse into. the right pass, and followed him, but that Dick seized her bridle-rein and swept her horse along with his. ‘* Halt!” shouted the Tiger. ‘‘ We must stop here and hold those fellows in check. The girl dimly comprehended what he alluded to, and with a shudder hardened her heart against all womanly weakness, All this adjustment to their several posi- tions did not take thirty seconds of time. That interval had brought the outlaws once more within pistol-range. The lieutenant was once more on his feet and at their head, the blood streaming over his passion-distorted face making him look the enraged fiend he was. Dick’s bullet had stayed him at a time when seconds were worth more than dia- monds, but had not ‘‘ bowled him out.” “Charge!” he shouted, ‘* We'll have their heart’s blood! There's two of ’em! Pick ’em up, boys!” And they rushed forward to capture Hugh and ye hapless dude. é A good man gone to save a mighty poor one! That’s what I call throw. ing herring to catch sprat, with a vengeance! This bitterness was called forth by a vivid realization of what it might mean to them The Tiger, like most men of his class, was it was wormwood so worthless a fellow. He leaped from the saddle, laid the Golden ing both revolvers. ‘I’m with ye, my boy,” cried Uncle Billy, cheerfully, as he ranged himself at the ; Tiger's side. ‘‘ Dispose of me in the most | Lispinard’s fall had not deprived him of advantageous manner. If I’ll do best to stop | consciousness, though it must be confessed it up a breach in the wall, in I go!” had considerably mixed up his ideas—such as ‘‘Stay where you are, and make every | he had! : shot count!” rephed the Tiger. ‘‘ Remem- Covered with dirt—alas! his once immacu- ber that this is no dress parade. We must | late shirt-bosom was a sight to weep at!—his get as many of those fellows ready for | clothes torn by cruel bramble and bush burial as possible.” through which he bad shot as if propelled by ‘I'd rather vote em!” said Uncle Billy. | a catapult; with blood on both face and He was not imsensible to the peril that | hands, and divers and sundry bruises on al- most every part of his person; he scrambled to his feet, with the one idea that he must run with might and main. In his bewilderment he took no thought of direction; and it was lucky for him that he did not. If he had run away from the men of whom he was in such mortal terror, he would have put himself hopelessly beyond the reach of succor. As it was, he rushed headlong toward them. thereby retracing in a measure, though had formed the habit of never losing the ap- pearance of jolly content, no matter what the odds against his party. Judge Littlejohn was not so collected. ‘Can nothing be done?’ he cried, appeal ‘ing desperately to the Tiger. | ‘Put as much lead into those fellows as you can, and keep as much out of yourself as possible!” was the Tiger's epigrammavic direction. | “But, Mr. Cole?” persisted the Judge, anxiously. ‘Surely you wil! not leave him | on a lower level, the course over which hie to perish in so noble an enterprise!” his horse had borne him in the wrong direc- ‘It’s the price we pay for the privilege of | tion. being rid of che other fellow!” said Dick, Since the thers bade fair to escape, the with bitter cynicism. rage of the outlaws, fanned to fury by the It was plain that he was ‘‘ mad.” contempt of rude men for effeminacy, cen- The Judge, who, after all his dealings | tered upon this one left apparently in their with degenerate and worthless humanity, ' power. . etn Sas Pilon: Eom : EVOOKS, CONn? =