Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 383 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

*- _ ee - = - ee wre ™ 22a = a > ee ea Se ee ee so : ~ * — ~ _ Silver Sam, Detective. tioned to you had no relation to your affairs, except in so far as I hoped by its means to get a hold on Andrew Birkett and force the truth from him; but this discovery puts a new face on the affair, and since the woman I was seeking proves to be your wife and Kate’s mother the duty of rescuing her from the clutches of that scoundrel becomes more pressing than ever.” ‘Come, then!” eagerly exclaimed Dick Herries. ‘‘ We must not lose a moment. accomplish his purpose since he has dis- covered the loss of the paper.”’ ‘‘T don’t believe he will get ahead of us much,” replied Sam. ‘‘ There is a short cut through the hills, and Muggs knows it, I be- | We will | lieve, if I should fail to find it. start at once, and will ride constantly, night and day, as far as we can without killing our horses.” There was nothing to hinder this, as An- gus Dameron, though still helpless and speechless, was otherwise in such a fair con- dition of health that he could safely be left to the care of Dr. Kline and Kate. Hasty preparations were made for the jour- ra and before nightfall the party set out, t was composed of Dick Herries, Sam Slevin, Matt Grace, Muggs, and two good men of Whitewood, a force that was be- lieved to be quite sufficient for all possible emergencies. . They struck into the hills toward the north, taking the route which Silver Sam was following when he was unexpectedly recalled. CHAPTER XXXVIII. ‘‘FOR THE NEW AND THE OLD!” Ber Rawson was more restless than ever after the departure of Josh Cattermole. She seemed to be possessed by an unquiet spirit that would not allow her to stay in- doors, or to take her ease in any manner whatever except when night and weariness drove her to bed. There was a perpetual frown on her face, and her vocabulary of profanity was ex- hausted in mutterings that were closely con- nected with the name of Andrew Birkett. She no longer took any interest in her household affairs, and had scarcely patience enough to cook the necessary meals for her- self and her prisoner. | ~~ When she was outside her strolling was merely an aimless ‘‘rampage,” except when she took her station on an elevation that commanded a goud view of the trail that led toward Butte, down which she looked long and anxiously. She looked as if she was expecting some- body, and she was, if her wish could have been said to amount to an expectation. She was looking for Andrew Birkett, and for ‘‘ Beauty,” and she hardly cared which of them should chance to come, but was anx- jous to see one of them, that an end might be put to the suspense which was worrying and wearying her. In the mean time she did something so ‘strikingly unusual that it vastly astonished one other person. That person was the prisoner behind the partition. Bet Rawson took her out, made a compan- ion of her, left the door of her room. un- locked, and otherwise treated her as a free woman and a friend. More than that. She took her out of doors, cand walked with her, and encouraged her to stroll about, to inhale the balmy air and en- joy the soft spring weather, | Thus the color speedily came back to the oor prisoner’s face, and the light dawned fh her eyes again, and she began to regain her lost activity. Margaret Tellson, as she was known there, was not slow to express her surprise at this change in her treatment. “T want you to get strong again,” an- sswered Bet Rawson, ‘‘ We are both waiting —you and I—to be set free, and I reckon we're waitin’ for somethin’ that won’t come to us unless we make it come.” ‘** What do you,mean, Miss Rawson?” ‘‘T mean that we're swindled, unless I miss my guess worse than I ever did afore. Andy Birkett - you to sign that paper, and he promised that he would come back here to take me away and send you to your friends, | Ican foot it. ) that'll be the upshot of the business, you | | said Sam, ‘‘that the business I have men- | He ain’t goin’ to do either of those things’ He now pretends that he’s lost the paper, and that is to stand as his excuse for breakin’ his promise.”’ ** Merciful Heaven!” ‘*If we want Heaven to be merciful tous, Mrs. Tellson, we’ve got to be merciful to ourselves. If he means to trick us that way, and I hain’t the least doubt that he does, our game is to light out of hereand get even with him. be.” ‘*But how can we get away from here— two women, and afoot?” “Just now I'm waitin’ for Beauty, who ought to be gettin’ out here about this time. If he goes back on me, as I reckon he will— everybody goes back on me—we will have to look out for ourselves. If he comes, his horse will do to carry you away, and he and If he don’t come, and I reckon and I will have to foot it. For that scheme I want you to get strong and healthy, and it | seems as if we ought to pull through.” That was what it was bound to come to, as Bet Rawson said, and that is what it did come to, In vain she waited for Andrew Birkett, or ‘Beauty,’ and in vain she gazed from the best point of view down the trail that led to Butte. Neither of them appeared, and no person was visible coming from that direction. ‘‘ Everybody goes back on me,” said the Amazon at last. ‘‘Come, Mrs. Tellson, you and I must strike out for ourselves.” ‘* What can we do, Miss Rawson?” “I will tell you what I mean to do. I mean to take you to your friends, and then I mean to get even with Andy Birkett. And if I don’t get even with him for good and all, may I be everlastin’ly chawed up!” ‘*But it is so far to anywhere.” ‘We will take it easy, my dear. When- ever you get tired we will stop and rest. But you seem to be pretty strong now, and we will take plenty of victuals, and needn’t be afraid of man or beast when about.” Bet Rawson took her rifle with plenty of ammunition, carrying also much the larger portion of the provisions with which the two women were loaded. So they started on their long and uncertain tramp. They were not. long in discovering that it was no child’s play, and it proved to be more ainful and uncertain than they had expected it to be. The trail was not particularly plain, even to experienced eyes, and Andrew Birkett and Josh Cattermole had traveled by certain landmarks and signs which were well known to them, rather than by following previous tracks. But the two women had no such aids, and the tracks, such as they were, had been near- ly obliterated by the rains and the spring vegetation. Consequently, they had not gone far when they missed the trail and lost their | ney hey then traveled, as it happened, in a sort of a circuit, coming out at a point which Bet Rawson declared they had certainly passed before. ‘We are lost!” exclaimed Mrs. Tellson. ‘‘ We will die of starvation here in the wil- derness, and there is no hope for us.” ‘* Well, I'l be durned!” wus the response of her bewildered companion. But it was better to keep moving than to remain idle, and they pushed on into the hills again. If we don’t do that, Bet Rawson ain’t _ the sort of circumstance she takes herself to No doubt that villain will take other steps to | yeu ! *m | The camper was a rough-looking mount- aineer, probably a prospector; but he re- ceived them kindly, though with surprise which he did not attempt to conceal. Bet Rawson told a portion of their story in a few words, and his sympathies were imme- | diately enlisted. ‘‘Sit right down by the fire,” said he. ‘You're welcome to everything I’ve got, and I’ll do the best I can to make you com- _fortable. When you’ve had a good rest, all you’ve got to do is to tell me what you Hen and it'll be done, if Jack Marvine car , Go: it,.’ | Bet Rawson thanked him heartily, and the two women availed themselves of his kindly offer, resting near the fire while Jack Mar- vine went to cut some boughs with which to make them a better couch. He was still absent when Bet Rawson heard the sound of horses’ feet in the valley below. She seized her rifle and jumped up, facing the sound. The thought of discovery and pursuit by Andrew Birkett was haunting her, and she ‘could not bear to be pounced upon by him in her forlorn condition, when she had so miserably failed in her attempt to follow and find him. But there he was, right before her eyes. Three horsemen were coming rapidly up the valley. They were Andrew Birkett, Josh Catter- mole and Alf Sanders! Birkett uttered a cry of delight as he ap- proached the fire and came. in full view of the two women, ‘Here you are, now!” he shouted. ‘I dropped onto your game, my lady, quicker’n ashot. You stole off and carried away my property. But she’s here, I see, I’ve got her now, safe enough.” “No, you hain’t!” stubbornly replied Bet Rawson. ‘Do you think so? You will learn better right soon. All’s over between you and me, my lady. You’ve broken the bargain, and now you may go to blazes. But I mean to | have her.” Mrs. Tellson screamed and crouched down, but Bet Rawson stood her ground. She saw a chance to ‘‘ get even”’ at last— | to revenge herself for past slights and pres- ent insults. ‘‘No you won’t,” was her determined re- | ly. | pu: I won't hey? We'll settle that mighty uick.”’ i She raised her rifle to her shoulder, and a vengeful gleam came into her dark eyes, ‘*Clear out of this, Andy Birkett! If you don’t get away from here, I’ll send you to. kingdom come.” e answered her threat with a scornful laugh; but it was an unnatural laugh, and | he hesitated. | “I’m not going to stand any foolishness, Bet Rawson. You don’t mean it.” ‘‘T mean business from the word go, you liar and swindler. If you come another foot nearer to me, J’ll bore a hole through your head as sure as I’m a livin’ woman,” Mrs. Tellson crouched on the ground, frightened out of her wits. : ack Marvine, coming down the hill with a load of boughs, dropped it and hurried to the scene; but he had left his weapons at the camp, and could do nothing until he reached them. Josh Cattermole and Alf Sanders spoke to the companion, urging him not to be too rash. | But he was wild with rage, and gave no heed to their words. ‘‘Come on, boys!” he shouted, as he spurred As the night of that day drew on, Mrs. | his horse forward. Tellson was so completely broken down by weariness and anxiety that she declared her- self unable to go any further. Bet Rawson pulled the trigger, her rifle cracked, and Andrew Birkett reeled and fell. “That’s even for the new and the old!” Just then Bet Rawson caught sight of a| she cried, as she grounded the smoking light a little further up the narrow valley | weapon. through which they were passing. ‘Tt must be some camper’s fire,” said she, ‘« Anyhow, it’s human critturs of some kind, and we can’t be any worse off than we are now. Brace up, Margaret, and lean on me CHAPTER XXXIX. STRAIGHTENED UP. NEAR the close of a hard day’s travel, and if you want to. We've got to reach that just after they had_ passed the crest of a diffi- light, anyhow.” They did reach it, and found it to be a fire built by a solitary camper for the purpose of cooking his supper. cult ridge, Silver Sam and his men entered ' the head of a ravine on the other side. As they descended the ravine, it became deeper, until the hills almost shut off the 200) com (E | A CT cL TTT ne Ag i ee IOI EIDE ae <sy( ele) aaa