Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 383 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

Se ee ee eed ee ae ee aces = — - - 4 - 12 Silver Sam, Detective. uggs of re, came in at this juncture with a letter in his hand. ** A man who was goin’ off on the kyars gimme this letter for you, Miss Kate,” said he, ‘‘and I cculdn’t seem to git around no sooner.” Kate uttered a joyful cry as she took the let- **She isa woman through whom I expect to get a pile of money.” ‘*T know that; but I want to know what she is to you outside of that. Is she a married woman?” sé Yes.” ‘You ought to understand, Andy Birkett, The route he had taken was so seldom travel- ed that it was a remarkable circumstance to find signs of anybody but himself there, The other person, if he had been disposed to be friendly, and bad no sinister motive, would have hastened forward to overtake the man in advance of him and claim his companionship. Mt ‘*Tt is father’s handwriting!” she exclaimed, ) that I ain’t keen to have you fooling around any But this one had seemed studiously to lag be- ann, 1 **T ani sure it is.” woman, married or unmarried.” hind ata carefully regulated distance, as if he s tk She tore it open, glanced over it hastily, and “Why, Bet, how can I fool around this one? | were simply dogging the steps of the other. D | 4 handed it to Sam Slevin, while the tears stream- | Sheis here in your care, and 1 never see her any- Having settled it in his mind that he had been ! He ec down her cheeks. where but here, and you know that it is always ; followed, Andrew Birkett determined to ascer- | But they were tears of joy. on business.” tain who had followed him and for what pur- | The letter was signed by Dick Herries, and ‘* Yes, and you keep me cooped up here, ever | pose. | t} was in these words; somany miles away from anybody, working Therefore he turned back. »! “My Deak Kare:— like a mule, while you are flourishing around In doing so he did not follow the double trail | ¥ “IT have been in Butte two days, but have had | and having a good time where I can’t begin to | again, but took a roundabout course until he i good reasons of my own for not coming to see you. | watch you. 1 tell you I am getting tired of it, | came once more in view of the cabin at the ¢ | “i have struck it rich, and am going straight asa | and won’t stand it much longer. You’ve got to | mouth of the canyon. i eM ed ey See Rn wou leat hee and spoke | ‘nish up that bnainess, if it is busines, and take cies Sewtit | i! Hic oe ’ ;, | me to butte or somewhere, and set me up as a . ' eee ward. ang nin 2100 to. enon, that bes lady. Youare rich enough for that now, and MAKING A BOTCH OF IT. " man’s. I don’t mean to stand any nonsense.” WHEN Sam Slevin, following the man whom R! ‘ [have also seen Andrew Birkett, and have set- ** All right, old girl. will do the best I can. | he had shadowed from Butte, came in sight of ’ ‘ vel part of my score with him, Have struck him | It stands me in hand to settle that business as | Bet Rawson’s cabin, he was soon aware of the a\' i! fox a big pile at poker, which I will carry away with | soon as rere ora I dropped quite a pile of | fact that Andrew Birkett had reached his desti- an Rrra fe ; ; vet | Money a little while ago, nation. | 1 ‘Bick maon oe We Fay wont Oe ie ‘* How was that?’ asked the woman with a| The sight of the two horses that were hitched | ; me, and will send for you.” suspicious look and tone. outside of the cabin was sufficient to decide that. Mi ‘‘A stranger who came up from Bannack | point, ° i ; beat me out of ten thousand dollars at poker.” As no person was in sight, and night was com- i CHAPTER XVII ‘*Ten thousand dollars! Immortal Cesar! | ing on, he soon settled upon the course he should wie \ 4 Sa) TMi tee f That was a pile to slip out of your hands. Were | pursue, Rl) ARDREW WORRETES : EEF EPIEION. | you drunk? Were you crazy? I thought you | He rode aside in'o a wooded glen on the side l; SprinG@ had fairly opened, and the hills and | could play the game. How did you ever get | of the valley opposite to the cabin, where he Hl! valleys were beginning to grow green and blos- | knocked out to that tune?” | tethered his horse and prepared some supper for | \/ somy. . ‘** 1 took the man for a tenderfoot and thought | himself. | ' The brooks and creeks were no longer filled | I had a sure thing.” Then he made his way on foot over to the | i to overflowing with melted snow, and the roads | ‘*Immortal Ceasar! Have you really got to | cabin. nt an trails were rapidly drying up and becoming | be as soft as that? It is hard for me to believe In crossing the valley he was surprised to see Kt, passable. it. Ifthat’s the way you take care of your! what mounds of snow were still left there, and f “hen it was that Andrew Birkett, without in- | money, Andy Birkett, you need to have me | justly concluded that they had been trought if forming any person but Josh Cattermole of his | around to look after you.” down there by slides in the early spring. Rs Ceparture and destination, sallied forth from! Bet Rawson prepared supper, grumbling and There was a light in the cabin, dimly seen Hi Butte and struck off into the hills, | snapping a little as she did so; but Birkett paid | through a nearly closed shutter, and the two ’ He was evi ently bound on a journey, as he | scarcely any attention to her. horses were still hitched outside, i was well mounted and armed, and he led an; After supper he went into the other room, and Therefore it was reasonable to suppose that ) yt Indian pony that was heavily loaded and care- | remained there about half an hour. Andrew Birkett was inside, and that the ones Hi; faily packed. The Rawson woman listened against the par- | of his expedition to that out-of-the-way place i}! Dut he did not get away as secretly as he | tition and with her ear to the keyhole, but got | could be ascertained by a little judicious es- | vit coubtless fancied he did. little satisfaction out of that performance, the | pionage. or some time he had been constantly shadow- | partition heing particularly close and solid. As he approached the cabin it gratified him to ; ce), and all his movements had been closely She could hear the sound of sobbing, and a | perceive that there were no dogs about, as even \ \-atehed by Sam Slevin and his faithful hench- | woman’s voice raised in reproaches and suppli- | a toy terrier might have proved troublesome to ; inan, Muggs of Muggsville. _ cations, but nothing distinct or definite. him just then. hi Hardly had he got out of sight of the camp The man’s voice seemed to be calm and per- He moved as noiselessly, however, as if every oe when Slevin, also well mounted and armed, set | suasive; but it was pitched in such a low key | step might arouse an enemy, and at once ap- ip forth to follow him. that no words reached the ear of the listener. plied himself to the task of endeavoring to see a 57, The young man’s wounds were then entirely Yet Bet Rawson’s face darkened as she stood | or hear what was going on inside. i ] healed, and he had fully recovered his strength. | there, Seeing, as he soon discovered, was quite out - id) He was also actuated by an eager desire to “If he plays me false,” she muttered, ‘or | of the question, and hearing was almost equally pos HH follow a trail and unearth a secret that seemed | even tries to play me false, I will have the | unsatisfactory. | (i to be more than ordinarily interesting. heart’s blood of both of them.” The cabin was not only very stoutly built, \ a Andrew Birkett followed the route which his When Birkett came out, he looked pale and ; but was so thoroughly chinked and daubed that | htt emissary had taken in the depth of the winter; | worn, as if the interview had been a trying one | no light came through any cracks, a little oy hl but it was then much more pleasant and less | to him. being visible at the shutter crevice, through ih perilous than Josh Cattermole found it. ‘* How are things now?” asked Bet Rawson. which nothing of the interior could be seen, Mh) After him, but at the distance of a few miles ‘She nearly worries the life out of me,” he | Voices within could be heard from the out- i in the rear, rode Slevin. _ answered. ‘‘I don’t suppose that I am much | side; but they were pitched in so low a key, a The trail had not previously been traveled | softer hearted than most folks—” owing to the wich of Birkett and Bet Rawsonto * P that serie and the horse-tracks were plain ‘* Nobody else supponee it,” interjected Bet. keep their conversation from passing through I enough on he soft ground, ‘* But it pulls me down to see a woman cry as | the partion that only a confused murmur reach- FR Therefore the pursuer had no difficulty in fol- | she does, and to have to listen to her reproaches, | ed Slevin. lowing it and in keeping the distance he had | It drags the heart from me.” He was convinced, however, that one of the oe prescribed for himself. ‘Mine never dragged much out of you,” she | voices was Birkett’s, and another was that of a i é: He camped at the camps of the man he was | remarked. p woman, ut shadowing, and invariably dropped back when ‘* Oh, you never cry and beg. You generally It was reasonable, therefore, to suppose that ie he happened to come in sight, of the object of | order a thing instead of asking for it, and you | he was on the trail of the Margaret Tellson for wil his pursuit, are aiways able to take your own part.” _ | whom he was ‘searching, and of whose where- mt Birkett went steadily forward until he reach-| ‘‘ You may bet your life on that! Andy Bir- | abouts Birkett was presumed tobe aware. a ed the cabin at the mouth of the canyon where | kett, and I mean to do it. How does the busi- Anxious to get an inkling of what was going «\ Josh Cattermole had his exciting experience | ness scheme work?” on in there, be shifted his position several times, i! with the avalanche. ‘There is going to be bother about it, but no | moving carefully and noiselessly; but no change i There he halted, hailed the house, and was | serious difficulty, hope. I must get a power of | brought him any appreciable benefit. lam welcomed gladly, if not with much emotion, by | attorney from her, and it has got to be done in An additional disadvantage was found in the hey Bet Rawson. a legal fashion. She says that she is willing to | fact that the cabin had but three sides thet i) He hitched his horses, and proceeded to un- | do anything that will take her back to her folks, | were accessible, the fourth being set closely i load the pack pony, on which he had brought | and that will do it, as I tell her. But I can’t | against the rock. ae a supply of provisions and other necessaries, | take her to Butte to go through the legal for- If any person should happen to come out while ~ . gueh as Josh Cattermole had brought on his | mality, and I don’t want to take her up to | he was there, it would be difficult, if not impos- i ea sled, , Helena or anywhere else. So I shall have to | sible, for him to conceal himself, , ia The woman helped him carry in the stuff, | find a man who will come out here and do the He decided that he would run that risk, and \ and but few words were spoken between them | trick for money, and that is what I mean to do.” | he waited and listened until the entire cessation 7) until they were both inside with the door closed. | ‘Go and do it then, and I give you fair notice | of conversation and the darkening of the cabin A oF Then she mixed for him something hot and | that you had better hurry up.” convinced him its occupants had retired for the strong, such as she had mixed for his emis-| The next morning Andrew Birkett set out to migee ‘ sary, and settled herself to hear and give the | return to Butte by the route which he had fol- hen he recrossed the valley to the glen where +h news. lowed in coming to the canyon. he had left his horse, wrapped himself in his a ’ “How is she ?” gine Birkett, pointing, as But be had not gone far when he noticed some- | blanket, and got such sleep as the chilliness of a Cattermole had, at the partition. thing peculiar about the trail he had made. the night allowed him. / Foe “ About the same,” answered Bet Rawson.| It was double. At dawn the next morning he was astir, and ie There hain’t been much change to notice; but Another horse had added to the trail shortly | after a_ hasty breakfast he k up a position S she seems to get more mopish all the while, and | after it was made. from which he could see without being seen aij] , - Me I think it is doubtful if she will last through When Birkett came to the last camp he had | that passed in the neighborhood of the cabin. a the summer if she is kept cooped up there,” used before reaching the cabin, it was easy for He had not long to wait before there wes : > 5 ** Josh told me that you were afraid that she | him to discover the fact that one other person | something to be seen. | might go out of her mind.” had stopped there, A woman came out of the cabin, got some if | ae ‘Sometimes [’ve had a notion that way; but | This was just what he wanted to know, as it | wood from a small pile near the door, and car- ) the biggest fear is, I should say, that she may | was enough to satisfy him that he had been fol- | ried it in. ‘ ) go into a hole in the ground.” lowed. Then the chimney began to smoke in a lively i, ‘*T must settle the business, then, as soon as Andrew Birkett was no fool. manner, and doubtless breakfast was being pre- ‘a ible.” If he had not been unusually s he would | pared. ; : 2, t: ‘*That’s what you’d better do, Andy, and | not have been alive then and out of jail. After a while Andrew Birkett came out, Icol-- | . pid have no nonsense about it. I’m getting tired of | He was also versed in the ways of the men | ed up at the sky, sauntered about a few minutes, . --—s this sort of thing, and my patience won’t last | who traversed the Western wilds—the crooked | and then went back into the cabin. ie * much longer. o is she, anyhow?” as well as the straight men. In the course of an hour he came out again, 1 ates a ¥ \ «} = : : “F be « | a s > > eat or, 4