Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 380 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

24 — her down with it, until the wounded man lay supine. The effect was instantaneous, Hugh revived, and concluded his sentence as if there had been no break: ‘*_loved you!” ‘*Oh, my darling!” cried the girl, pressing her first kiss upon lips that were too weak to respond. With the true delicacy of a gentleman, Tiger Dick rose, feeling that he was an in- truder here. But a harsh, petulant voice grated upon those finer feelings. ‘* Abigail Spike!” cried her mother, ‘‘I’m ashamed of you! How can you make such an exhibition of yourself?—not to mention the state poor Mr. De Morgan lics in! Oh! it will break my heart! I felt toward him almost as if he were my own son!” She had her handkerchief alternately at her eyes and nose, while she bent over the prostrate dude. ‘‘ Will nobody see if any- thing can be done?” she pleaded. ‘‘ You, sir ’—addressing Dick—‘‘ you seem to know something about such cases,”’ The Tiger cast a hurried glance, which showed him that Uncle Billy and Judge Littlejohn were holding the outlaws at bay by sending an occasional shot at them through breaks in their rampart of rocks, and then knelt to examine into Lispinard’s condition. He rose presently, after a hurried inspec- tion, with an ejaculation of disgust. ‘Have you asmelling bottle, madam?” he asked. * Oh, yes!” cried the Major-General, pro- ducing it eagerly. She had the pungent salts always by her for use when her exasperation with the Hon. Benoni tcok her to the verge of hysterics, ‘* Here it is, sir!” ‘* Tfold it to his nose!” said Dick, dryly. The sarcasm in his manner was too marked te be overlooked. ‘‘ What, sir!” cried the lady, flushing ins dignantly. ‘‘Can you be so unfeeling?” ‘* There is nothing the matter with him but over-refinement,” said Dick, coolly. ‘*And he lying dead at your feet!” ‘‘Far from it. He hasn’t received a scratch.” ‘‘Then why does he lie there like that?” ‘‘He has been frightened into a fainting- fit.” ‘* Impossible!” ‘‘Put your. smelling salts to his nose, as I requested. Ill stake my reputation on the issue.” ‘‘T shall do no such thing! It would be an insult!” : ‘‘Not to that style of man.” ‘‘He is a gentleman, sir!” declared the Major-General, with an intonation that smacked of uncomplimentary significance. ‘With an elegant form!” said the Tiger. “Tf you will kindly turn in another direction for a moment, I will resort to another com- mon means of restoring persons similarly af- fected.” | ‘‘ And what means is that, may I ask?’ ‘* Loosen his corsets.” ‘Corsets! Sir, you are insulting!” ‘But truthful.” ‘‘Bxcuse me if I express a doubt—” ‘You shall have the proof without delay!” And kneeling, the Tiger ruthlessly dis- closed the secret of sweet Lispinard's elegant figure! Without further ceremony he took the helpless dude by the feet, and slewed him round, so that his head would lie lower than his body. ‘‘He will come to without your aid, madam,” he said, to the lady who now stood staring aghast. And turning away, he again knelt beside Hugh. ‘Oh! how thoughtless I have been!” cried Abigail, tremulously—‘‘ when something should have been doneatonce! Can you see where he is hurt and how seriously?” “I'm not dead yet!’ whispered Hugh, smiling at the Tiger. But the effort drove the blood still more completely from his blanched lips. ‘Perhaps you had better remove to a lit- tle distance” suggested the Tiger, to Abi- ail. ne Shall I be in your way? Can't I help you? Or—mustn’t | see?” —_——- ‘‘Tt is only that I wished to spare you the shock of the sight of blood.” “Oh! if that is all, I can stand it. [Iam brave. Try me! But can’t I help you in some way?” Her face was alight; her eyes were eager. ‘The idea of throwing such a woman away on that larde-dah!” reflected Dick, with supreme disgust. ‘* We shall see presently,” he said. With the skill of one to whom such work was familiar, he examined Hugh. He found a wound in the fleshy part of one arm. After a moment’s manipulation, he said: ‘No bones broken. No important ar- teries cut. Can you open and shut your hand?” Hugh essayed feebly. ‘‘ 'That’s all right,”’ said Dick. ‘‘ A simple bandage will make that as good as new in a few days.” ‘Here is a bandage!” cried Abigail. And switching round so as to face the other way, she tore a strip off the bottom of her skirt so quickly that the end was ac- complished before Dick knew what she was about. ‘A girl of a million!” reflected the Tiger, who liked people who were equal to emer- gencies without having to be instructed. “What a wife she’ll make! There’s only one other her peer!” And his thoughts went away to that Eden in Lower California. ‘‘We may have use for it presently,” he said, turning Hugh over on his face. He found his coat torn by several bullet- holes. Two rents in the skirts were of no consequence. the middle of the back. “Ah!” thought the Tiger. ‘‘ Here’s what the happiness of this poor girl turns upon.” He turned the coat up. “Oh!” cried Abigail, in a long drawn, quivering moan. There was blood in abundance. With his knife the Tiger cut away the clothing. He pressed his finger on a certain spot of the bloody surface. The wounded man uttered a low moan. With his handkerchief Dick stanched the flow of blood, and made a more careful ex- amination. ‘‘ Well?” gasped Abigail, whose patience would not wait. ‘*] think we are coming off with a broken rib at most,” said the Tiger. ‘“A broken rib!” repeated Abigail. ‘‘ Then the bullet has not gone—” ‘“Through him? No; not quite! It’s bet- ter luck than we had any right to expect. The wound is directly back of the heart, so it naturally makes him feel pretty bad just now. But when he recovers from the imme- diate shock he will brighten considerably.” ‘‘Thank God!” aspirated the girl, fervent- ly. ar A little nip of this will fetch that heart back to its work,” said Dick, producing a small flask from his pocket and presenting its mouth to Hugh’s lips. ‘‘The least drop in the world. When it gets to taking irreg- ular jig steps, it only wants a little coaxing to come round all right.” “eé Eh?” This ejaculation was called forth by a sharp vocal summons, reinforeed by a clutch on his shoulder. ‘“* Mira, senor /” Up to this point Dick had almost forgotten the masquerader, Don Giacomo, As for the don, he had been cursing his luck ever since he found that he had run into the old snare again; and on the appearance of the Golden Serpent in proper person, he would have taken ‘‘ French leave,” with Spanish variations, had an opportunity to escape presented itself; but as it did not, he was forced to stand by his new allies. And as his safety depended upon theirs, he was faithful to their interests. He was of questionable value as a fighting- man. Not but that he burnt powder freely enough. and fired so recklessly, that he was almost as dangerous to friends as to foes, But as a spy he was at home. He there- fore was the first to discover what he now called the Tiger’s attention to. Dick looked up to see the Golden Serpent But there was one almost in ee _____ a — Oe . SS ST But he kept so well to the rear, ; sitting erect, staring at him, while she gath- ered her scattered wits. During the sortie to the aid of Hugh and ‘* ve daintie dude,” she had lain where Dick had-left her, stunned by her fall. But now she had revived, and her glitter- ing eyes showed that the old venom was be- ginning to stir. She was ready to coil for another deadly spring! CHAPTER XXIX. A LEAP FOR LIBERTY. You may believe that it did not take the Golden Serpent long to grasp the situation; and she was on her feet as quickly as the Tiger himself. “So!” she cried, gazing about her, ‘*Madam,” said Dick, with his wonted politeness, ‘‘ I am under the painful necessity of holding you under restraint for the pre- A prisoner?” she cried, with tigerish scorn. ‘‘T should prefer that you would consider yourself my guest.” “Hah! I spit upon you!” Her eyes flashed round on the whole group, and returned to the Tiger. She actually spat at him; and then, before even he thought of such a thing, she turned and leaped over the barrier of rocks. ‘‘Good heavens!” cried Dick, for once thrown off his balance of imperturbable self- possession. ‘‘ She'll have broken limbs to pay for that bit of feminine spitefulness, if nothing worse.” And he rushed to the rampart, expecting to see the Golden Serpent lying helpless at the base of the rocks. But he was disappointed. Pipa had leaped without looking. She had no idea what awaited her below; but, with the headlong recklessness of her passion- ate Spanish nature she preferred death to the humiliation of remaining in the power of the man whom she now hated as madly as she had loved. : Fortune favored her; and Dick saw her scramble to her feet and make toward her men. x They received her with yells of delight. ‘‘She will be a greater accession to them. than a dozen men!” said Judge Littlejohn, regretfully. ‘* Still. we can’t very well shoot ] er,” ob- served the Tiger, quietly, divining his. thought. ‘* We have women to defend; and she is ag. deadly an enemy as the most ruthless ruftian of her gang,” persisted the Judge, ‘*No doubt,” admitted the Tiger, as cool- ly as he would have yielded a point in politi- cal economy. ‘‘ Ts this wise, then?” ‘* Judge,” said Dick, turning and looking him squarely in the face, ‘‘ you gentlemen of the bench sometimes hang women—for the protection of society, you say.” _‘* Anda very necessary defense it is,” in- sisted the Judge, with a slight assumption of doggedness. ‘*As much so as in the present case,” said Dick. ‘‘Which seems to me extreme. Mean- while, during our discussion, this particular offender is getting further and further away. If anything is to be done to stop her, it must be done at once.” His Honor spoke with impatience, It was plain that he was strongly disposed not to per- mit too fine scruples as to sex to interfere with the prudential requirements of the case. At the same time, he hesitated to do an act which, putting him in unfavorable contrast with his ex-road-agent, would not look well in the papers “Exactly,” said Dick, still unmoved. ‘* However, a different law holds out here, among men who have not the advantage of the civilizing influences of polite society. We don’t shoot women—as a rule!” The Judge flushed scarlet, and bit his lip. ‘“‘T wash my hands of the matter, what- ever comes of it,” he said, showing symptoms of sulkiness. ‘‘But, my dear Judge,” expostulated Billy, who never failed to respond to an appeal to gallantry, ‘‘a woman’s a woman, after all And when she’s so demnition good-looking, what are you going to do about it? In my estimation, that’s the only redeeming feature of the Jury System. It is especially adapted. - ol Eomicbooks EO