Beadle's Dime Library No. 387 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

‘ 30 ‘their attack a success. They charged—to find the nest still warm, but the birds had flown! ‘** By torch-light they took up the trail, but it was slow work over such rocky soil, and it was léng after day-dawn before they came to the pdint where Sterling Coin was hurled over the cliff. Being on the death trail, nothing could escape their eyes, and co they discovered the body lving in the gulch. It wasoneof the party they were following. Even though dead, it had — eos = a scalp, and John had sworn to take them all, to burn as a sacrifice over the ashes of his murder- _ ed family. ’ * J ‘** John was the first one to reach the body, and as he bent over it he recognized the man I had begged him to spare, for my sake. Though so frightfully mangled, with seemingly every bone in-his body crushed to splinters, the face was al- most unmarred. And—yonder lies the living witness to the truth of my words!—there was yet life lingering in the } oor devil! ** John left one brave in watch over the injur- ed man, sending another back to bring the med- icine-woman, or another nurse if she could not leave with safety tome. With the remainder of his party, he kept on in pursuit of the fleeing assassins. ** It would be too long to tell the story as John ‘told it to me, many long years afterward. Enough that the white men, thinking themselves safe enough, stopped at fresh diggings to increase their store of gold, as four of them believed, But Damon Wingfold and his confederate, whose name [ will not yet speak, plotted for chances by which those four men might be murdered and their shares be divided between the twosur- ‘vivors! ‘* Tt chanced that the Indians were discovered in time for the enemy to throw up a rude stone fort, and a long, desperate fight ensued. John jed three charges on the fort, only to fall back as he saw his braves cowed by the rapid and dead- ly fire. And then he settled down to reduce the wnemy by starvation. ‘* The white men dug a cache and buried their gold, then managed to steal out and flee. They gained some little distance before their desperate attempt was discovered. Chase was made, and all save the two most guilty of all were slain. They escaped—for that time!” With a gasping moan Precious Wingfold sunk léwer beside the let on which lay Humpy Dick, or Sterling Coin, as he should now be call- ed. She knew now, what she had long since be- sun to féar, who the confederate of Damon ingfold must be—her father! The deformed gently pressed her hand, but ‘there came no answer. He lifted the vail suffi- ciently to gaze upon her pale face, when a wild ery brought Milo Garth to his side. The poor girl had fainted. Milo Garth picked her up in his arms and bore her from the chamber, back to the second en- jJargement. He laid her on the skins, then re- turned to his prisoners. A word answered the hunchback, and he fell back on his pallet, quiet, reassured. ‘“* John had the dead men brought back to the little fort,” resumed Milo Garth, in his old, hard, cold tones. ‘‘He unearthed the gold, and af- ter scalping and marking the dead, he buried them in the same spot. He leveled the fort to the ground, then retraced his way to the spot where Sterling Coin was left. And this is the reason, Damon Wingfold, why you found only festering bones where you counted on recover- ing your buried treasure! This is why you fled again from the hills, empty-handed, believin the gold for which you had dyed your so blood-red was lost forever! ‘*‘ Better for you, perhaps, had you rétained that belief. Better for you, | enarare had you not reasoned yourself into thinking you had made an error in the spot, thanks to the terror you were in when you hid the gold and fled through the night! ‘John found Sterling Coin alive, though if he ever recovered his strength and senses, he would be a cripple. He found me living, gain- ing strength daily, but out of my mind. And for many long years I was a madman; not raving, but silent, shy, avoiding even my best friends. ‘¢ Never mind all that John told me of those ears when I came back to my senses, after a ong and perilous iness. Enough that the lon ago was plain to my brain—that I could recol- lect perfectly everything that had happened to me up to the shot which you, Damon Wingfold, fired that black day—while all the rest was a blank. ‘* As soon asI was strong enough to travel, Jobn took me to the spot where he had hidden the gold you abandoned. It belonged to. me, he said, simply. If I had never regained my senses, it would have been buried with me. For he told me, on asking, that Sterling Coin was a madman who had wandered away, years ago, none knew whither. ‘*T took a portion of the gold and made my ‘‘ Everything was altered bere, as well. The old house was gone. My old neigbbors had moved away or died. I was a perfect stranger and as a stranger I made inquiries here and there until Icame across one family who re- membered Milo Garth and his young wife, More as a misty dream, however, than as a reality, for they never once suspected they were then speaking to Milo Garth himself! ‘““My wife had married again, believing me dead. AsI afterward learned, the story ot that ill-starred expedition was published far and near, according to the version which you, Damon Wingfold, gave eut. The Indians had massacred all save yourself and brother. And with the names of the lost, mine figured promi- nently, as the victim of both bullet and fire! ‘*Who was itmy wife married? You know the name I heard, Damon Wingfold!” hoarsely uttered Milo Garth, his dark face for the first time showing outward traces of fierce rage as he strode forward and stood over the cowering wretch, who expected to be crushed to pulp be- neath those heavy feet. Only fora few moments did Milo Garth per- mit his savage hatred to break down his en- forced composure. He turned:away from thle criminal, and as he resumed his story, he stood facing Rex Stuart and his mates. ‘“‘Having murdered the husband, Damon Wingfold woos and wins the wife. That was the next blow I was dealt. Do you wonder that I love him so ardently? Do you marvel that I at once set about hunting him up, though it was long and weary work, for he had vanished from the city where he had made such noble amends for his crime! ‘‘Here and there, through State after State I sought him, only to fail. My gold gave out, and I was forced to go back to my hidden treasure for more, And there I met John, still faithful, still true! old friend whom I shortly afterward recovered through John, I believe I would have set down the whole world as too evil and treacherous to be worth the living in! **John brought me to where Sterling Coin was living in a cave—this very one. He was deformed, as you see. He was crazy, as you may have heard. But through all he was hon- est and true, and soon we were even firmer friends than even while both were sound and ourselves,” ‘“‘Tt was your care and teachings that made me what 1 am now, daddy,” faintly smiled the cripple. ‘‘I wasa wild beast, then. You ten- derly nursed back the faint spark of reason un- til 1 have my brain again. If I ever forget that, may God forget me!” The two strange men interchanged looks that told how deep and fervent was their love for and confidence in each other, but then Milo Garth turned again to the gold-hunters, whom he seemed to look upon as a jury before whom he was pleading this case. **One day while coming back from my hidden treasure, I fell in with a rae of htunters, who astonished me by saying that the Wingfold bro- thers were at that moment living in Denver! Think of it! Almost within arms’ length of me, while I had been hunting for them in a hundred cities thousands of miles away! Only for him and for an | a ———————— _ —— Dark Durg, the Ishmael of the Hills. SS SSS SS him on the spur of the moment, and as such I | Was pronounced an outlaw. 'which I never was Iwas hated like I was charged with crimes of a mad dog. _ tool whom Damon W ingfold used in some of those and request an answer such as you would | were you on the jury-stand and this black | very deeds of blood and outrage. ** Now, gentlemen,” his voice growing coldard even as he gazed at the gold-hunters, who were listening with an almost painful interest to his strange, tragic story. ‘‘l ask you one question, ive is- tory unfolded before you. ** But first, try to imagine all that Sterling Coin and I have suffered through the crimes of Damon Wingfold. Bear in mind not only our physical sufferings, but our mental tortures as well. Think of what his lot is in life!” pointing ‘toward Sterling Coin, who feebly, slowly rose to | full. his feet, exhibiting his frightful deformity in ‘‘ Before that dastardly deed, he was tall and straight and comely as the best man among you all. Think of what he is now. Try to weigh the years he has lost, his mind worse than a blank. “Look atme. An outlaw. An Ishmaelite. A gas on my head. A man robbed not only of 1is name, but honor, freedom, save asa fugitive, wife—robbed of everything that makes life love- ly and precious! ‘“‘ Cast into the scale the long years when my brain was clouded in madness. And bear in mind, also, that poor half-breed, John, Think of his family, butchered without mercy! Think of the little babe whose brains were dashed out even as it lay on its dead mother’s bosom! “Try and bring all this to view, and then look at yonder wretch! Look at his craven face! See him shrink and shiver as I speak! ** And now tell me—is Damon Wingfold inno- cent or is he guilty?’ Milo Garth moved aside and passed an arm about the trembling form of Sterling Coin, coldly, seemingly unmoved, as he awaited the response. The gold-hunters gazed upon the livid, fear- contorted face of the moaning wretch opposite, and the last faint doubt was dispelled from their minds. They could not speak, but Milo Garth stepped forward and removed their gags, as though he felt that they had had time enough to consider the case, ‘*Guilty, the cnr!” grated Louis Knapp, his honest face flushed with just indignation, and ‘* onilty ” echoed his two mates, Rex Stuart was silent, but Milo Garth did not heed that. A hard, grating laugh parted his lips as he strode forward, saying: ‘““You are tried and found guilty, Damon Wingfold! Now—vengeance |” CHAPTER XX, THE GOLD PHANTOM MATERIALIZED. ““HavE mercy! Spare them, even as you hope to receive mercy when the day of judgment for your own actions comes!” Precious Wingfold rushed into the rock-cell— a chamber of judgment, it might also be called —and fell on her knees before Milo Garth. Her clasped hands were uplifted. Her pale face was wet with tears, far more bitter than she had ever shed before. Her hair fell in rippling ‘¢ How I managed to escape awakening their | masses down her back, broken from its confine- suspicions, I know not to this day. My brain | ment. Her attitude displayed her magnificent seemed on fire with thestartling news. Sonear! So soon to be met! To—what? **T dared not stop to think over that part. I knew that if I lost an hour, my enemies might again escape me. And so, without even stop- ping to tell Humpy Dick—for so he called him- self now—whither I was bound, I set out for Denver. **T found Damon Wingfold. It was no diffi- cult task. He was known to every citizen, it seems. I found him, and before I could utter a word or even call him by name, he recognized me! Heshouted for help. He yelled out rob- ry A murder! Hedrew a revolver, and tried to shoot me down. And when I grappled with him, tearing the weapon from his hand, men came in and overpowered me. ‘*'You have heard of what followed, for the story was published far and wide. Damon Wingfold swore that I had assaulted him. That the weapon they found in my hand was mine. That I tried my best to murder him, and was only foiled by his great agility and wonderful nerve. ‘6 Some officers took charge of me, and I was oing quietly with them to prison, when a mob om gather, raised, as I afterward learned, by Damon Wingfold, through one or two of his paid dependents. He feared to have me brought to trial on the charge he bad made on the spur of the moment, lest I cover him with shame and bring his own neck perilously near the noose, by telling the true story of the lost cache. ‘* Not until the mob everpowered the officers and tore me from them did I fight for myself. Not until they raised the yell for blood did I way to Denver. I found a fine city where last | strike a single blow—and only then in self-de- I had seen but a few huts, tents and shanties. But I did not linger long there. I bought de- cent clothes, fitted myself out and started for the city in the East where I had left a young wife waiting for my return with a fortune! \ RE Se en re | defense. I swear this by the God whosits in the | heavens above us this day. ‘‘T escaped, with blood on my hands, Damon Wingfold called me Dark Durg, p cause that was the first name that v4 ' » ad v bly be- | as ad to! — form to admiration, and if she had been a pro- fessional actress, making a study of ‘‘ effect,” she could not have succeeded more perfectly. Milo Garth started back a little at her sudden entrance, his face growing even colder and harder than at first. But as he looked upon the maiden and saw her streaming tears; as he listened to that passionate, yet trembling appeal; the frown slowly faded from his face and the ghost of a smile came to his thin lips. _ He stepped forward, taking her hands. He would have raised her to her feet, but she re- sisted him. ‘*Not until you have granted my prayer—not until you have said you will temper justice with mercy! Spare them—or let your blow fall upon my head, as well!” ‘ ‘I strike only those who have struck me. Miss Wingfold,” replied the Ishmael of the Hills, smiling as he gazed upon her beautiful face. ‘I have received only kindness through you. I owe to you the life of my one friend.” As he turned his gaze toward Humpy Dick, so Precious turned toward the deformed, her voice stronger, more hopeful as she uttered: “Tf you are grateful, as you said, I beg of you to join with me in my prayer for mercy! Show yourself a man, true and noble! Forget the ter- rible wrengs you have suffered—rise superior to the frightful past, and as my friend, my brother, join me in begging this man to have mercy cn those who have wronged him and you! Do this —save them—and 1 will devote my life to mak- you have received at their hands:” Sterling Coin took her hand and lifted it to his ips. He said nothing in words, but there was a gravely questioning light in his eves as he lookrd into the face of his comrade. Dark Durg avoided meeting that gaze, though his voice was softened he spoke to Precious: “That I am not all evil, not all hard ard ‘comicbooks y i ing what amends I can for the terrible injuries