Beadle's Dime Library No. 387 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

merciless, let this prove to you, Miss Wing- fold.” He took her hand and led her toward Rex Stuart, whom she had not given a second glance since entering the chamber, A touch of his keen knife set the lover at liberty, and Rex Stuart caught Precious in his arms, pressing his lips to her cold brow. But then the cyes of the maiden turned back to Milo Garth, who bowed his head slightly, taking ber hand once more in his. And thus he led her over to where, pale, fear-tortured, trembling like a leaf in every limb and every fiber, Maurice Wingfold lay anticipating pun- ishment for the crimes which had so unexpect- edly come to light. ** You ask me to show mercy, Miss Wingfold,” gravely uttered Milo Garth, as he pointed with one bony finger to the ashen face of the de- tected criminal. ‘‘ You ask this after hearing at least a portion of my story. Do you ask it after I say, as I do now, that the confederate of Damon Wingfold lies at your feet? Do you ask it when TI say that Maurice Wingfold aided to work all this wrong and injury against Sterling Coin?” : ‘‘He is my father,” faltered Precious, her ‘voice so choked with tears as to be hardly ar- ticulate. ‘“‘He is old and feeble. Give him time to repent, if he be really the guilty being you say!” ‘ . The avenger smiled faintly as he noticed the sudden change in her manner. It was woman- like, he whispered ‘in his heart. It is nature for them to cling to hope until the very last; and who would alter this? He stooped and removed the gag from the jaws of Sduries Wingfold, then rose erect, his arms folded, his eyes glowing vividly, hold- ing those of the trembling wretch as by fascina- ion. ‘‘ Have f falsely accused you, Maurice Wing- fold? Did you not plot against the life of your companions with Damon Wingfold? Speak!” ‘* Mercy! Spare my life!” gasped the old man, shrinking back. ' ‘‘ Answer me: have I falsely accused you?’ sternly cried Milo Garth. ‘* No—it is too true! I have sinned, but I am repentant! Spare me, and I'll be your slave for life!” ‘** or my sake!” murmured Precious, broken- ly. ‘For your own sake, I should say!” and her voice grew stronger, more steady, her eyes flashing with a light that was almost inspired. “*Spare them, and show the world how much reater, nobler, truer to all the precepts of Our ‘ather you are, than those who so hastily con- demned you! Revenge may be sweet for the first few moments, but the memory of it will grow more and more bitter as the days pass by, until you will hate and loathe yourself even as you hate and loathe these, Phe enemies of lon ago. Spare them, I beg of you—on my knees plead for their pid Show porte and I will ray for you night and morning % er ait teied choked again. Her head bowed, and she would have clasped his knees with her trembling hands had he not stooped quickly and raised her to her feet. For one moment he gazed into her eyes, then ently touched her white forehead wijth his cold fips. He placed her in the arms of Rex Stuart then stooped and cut the bonds that confin Maurice Wingfold. _ ‘“You owe your life to that sweet, pure child, Maurice Wingfold,” he said stig as he again rose erect. ‘If you ever forget the debt, may I be the one to freshen your memory!” Precious, with a sobbing ery, dropped to her knees beside the old his hands clasped in s ir tears mingling. nero Garth watched them for a breath, then turned on his heel and strode over to where Damon Wingfold was watching them all, his procnisheray eyes filled with a been light, is haggard face frightfully conto , though 6 principal emotion did not seem to be bodily ear, ‘* As for you, Damon Wingfold, who will dare bei ws er? Who will lift their voices in your behalf? And whom do you think I would isten to, even if such appeals were made?” he added, with a short, merciless laugh as he stooped and cut the thong that held the gag in lace. =e I don’t ask—I don’t beg—like that cur!” gas the other, viciously pars toward his half-brother. ‘‘ Killme—as I meant to kill you! I’m only sorry I failed—only sorry that I did not kill that cowardly forger at the same time! Better for you if I had, for then ha might have found your wife yet waiting and—”_ —. ‘‘ Utter not her name, you cur!” snarled Milo ely. GaMThee liniit was Maurice who married her! And that girl is your daughter, not his /” cried Damon, desperately. Maurice Wingfold had confirmed the words of his half-brother. He it was who met and fell in love with the fair young widow of the man whom—so he swore, and so he made them all he- lieve—he believed a victim to savage ferocity. He swore that Damon never told him the truth of that first stroke to win the golden treasure. Dark Durg, she nor Milo Garth had any suspicions that the future had in store such a boon for them, when they parted, the husband to join in the mad rush for the fabulous golden sands of Cherry Creek. He wooed and won her, while Precious was too young to remember that she ever had another father. Strangely softened, for the first time in so many long, weary years, beginning to realize that there was, after all, something in life worth cherishing besides vengeance, Milo Garth sat with his head bowed and his face hidden in his bronzed hands, listening to Precious—his child ! —pleading the cause of the evil man who had wronged them all. ‘To slay him would not obliterate the past, dear father. It would not give back the years of pain and madness. It would not straighten the form of this, your dear friend, my brother,” gently touching the bowed head of the deformed with her trembling hand. ‘‘ But it would fill my poor heart with sorrow and regret. It would make it very hard for me to look upon you, as I hope to do in time, as a kind, generous parent. For ever before my eyes, ever between you and I would rise a bloody phantom of—father! spare the evil wretch, I beg of you!” ‘Let time punish him, daddy,” softly mut- tered Sterling Coin, ** Make him confess his crimes, to be witnessed by us all when written down and signed with his own hand,” added Rex Stuart. ‘‘ Make him acknowledge his sins against you, both of the long ago and those of more recent days. Make’ him confess how he wrongfully accused you, how he set that mob to raise the cry of lynch- law, and tear you from the officers of justice. Make him admit that he has devised crimes since then for the express purpose of still further blackening your name. And when he has done all this, let him go his way. Be sure he will feel the punishment far more than he would death at your hands.” And so it was finally decided. And Rex Stuart took upon himself the duty of placing the alternative before Damon Wingfold. He entered upon the duty with a right good will, and before many hours he had a full con- fession written out and signed by Damon Wing- fold, admitting the attempted murders of years ago—but why repeat? Surely the story has been sufficiently outlined in these pages? But there was one point made by Rex Stuart which requires mention, although it was not set down in the written confession. He learned who held the forged notes through means of which Damon Wingfold hoped to force Precious to wed his son, Earl. And from what he had already learned of the matter, Rex knew that he could readily prevent them from ever coming to light, thanks to the GOLD PHANTOM, which Milo Saber had assured them should soon be materi- alized. Deprived of their weapons, given a scanty supply of food, Damon and Earl Wingfold were turned loose, to make the best of their way back to Denver, on foot, unless they should be so for- tunate as to fall in with some of their defeated, scattered ruffians. And when they went, Milo Garth bade Rex Stuart sally forth and tell gallant Jack Jones, who was still scouring the neighborhood with his men in search of his missing employer and *‘ the little angel,” where they might be found. And right jolly did the veteran become when he once more met Precious Wingfold. Many were the subdued ejaculations, many the smoth- ered oaths of amazement, that found birth as he listened to the strange story which Precious, sit- ting hand in hand with her smiling lover, told the old ‘* barnacle.” And with the first gleam of the next sun, a pay, set forth from the valley to unearth the sat, Stee to materialize the GOLD PHAN- And as they gathered around the yellow store which bad caused so much sin and suffering, so many sleepless nights, so much vain searching and seeking, they all forgot this while laughing over the graphic description Rex Stuart gave of how he unearthed the marvelous treasure so carefully cherished by ‘‘ Humpy Dick.” That wild delusion could only be accounted for by Dener ee that, even in his madness, Sterling oin retained a glimmer of the past. ‘No doubt he formed the skin bags, filled and buried them, fancying in his madness that he was concealin the gold for which his life had been attempted: And Milo Garth, humoring the harmless notion, never tried to show his crippled friend how he was deceiving himself, but furnished him with the gold that gave a color to his crazy boastings while the poison of Denver saloons burned in his poor brain. Our friends returned to Denver, and the sen- sation which was created by the publishing of the confession signed by Damon Wingfold, so numerously witnessed, will still be remembered by many whose eyes may scan these lines. And from that day “ Dark Durg” was at liberty to walk the streets in broad daylight, without fear of having the “‘ blue coats” prove too warm in He found Mrs. Garth a mother, though neither ! their attentions. / | Ae es the Ishmael of the Hills. ‘ ee Te i ee ooo ee EEEITEIIEInIIERIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEEnd ol But Milo Garth did not linger long in Denver. A few weeks, during which Maurice Wingfold was rendered almost happy by having Rex Stu- art place in his hands some papers which the old man immediately burned; during which there was a wedding, where Precious Wingfold—for, to avoid the troublesome questions which might follow the announcement of another name in a circle where she had been known for so many years, she retained that name—became Precious Stuart, and Rex became supremely happy, during which there was a funeral. For neither Damon Wingfold nor his son Earl ever reached Denver alive! A party of hunters brought in word of their death. They had been scalped and mutilated, but were still readily identified. Milo Garth smiled grimly as he heard the news, He knew that Telia thé half-breed, had at length kept his oath of so many years ago. The remains were brought to Denver snd de- cently interred by Maurice Wingfold, who was greatly changed of recent days. Perhaps he felt the coming shadow. It may be. For he never left Denver, as at first intended, with the bridal party, but faded and grew weaker and weaker until, with Precious and her husband and Milo Garth and Sterling Coin by his bedside, he closed his eyes and passed away. A more peaceful end than he really deserved, perhaps. But who shall say that he had not fully repented his sins before the Death Angel summoned him? Precious and Rex now reside in an Eastern city, with Milo Garth and Sterling Coin. The Gold Phantom has made them comfortabl rich, and they have their share of content an happiness. nything more? Yes—Moses Sawyer, the Droop-eared Daisy, returned to Denver on being set at liberty by Milo Garth, only to fall into the hands of an officer from California, who succeeded in per- suading him to return to San Quentin, there to ‘*do time” on the old charge. : THE END. ; Edward L. Whkeler’s Deadwood Dick Novels Beadle’s Half-Dime Library, 1. Deadwood Dick; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills. 20. TS lone Daggers; or, Deadwood Dick’s efiance. 28. Buffalo Ben; or, Deadwood Dick in Disguise, 35. Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Duval; or, The Brotherhood of Death. 42, The Phantom Miner; or, Deadwood Dick’s Bonanza. 49, 75. Omaha Oll; or, Deadwood Dick in Danger. Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; or, The Pards of Flood Bar. 73. Deadwood Dick on Deck; or, Calamity Jane, the Heroine of Whoo tel 8 77. Corduroy Charlie; or, The Last Act of Deed- wood Dick. , 100, Deadwood Dick in Leadville; or, A Strange Stroke for tees 104. Deadwood Dick’s Device; or, The Sign of the Double Cross. 109. 121, 129. 158. Deadwood Dick as Detective. Cinnamon ee the Girl Sport; or, The Golden Idol of Mount Rosa, Deadwood Dick’s Double; or, The Ghost of Gorgon’s Gulch. Blonde Bill; or, Deadwood Dick’s Home 149. Strike. 156. Deadwood Dick of Deadwood; or, The Picked Party. 195. Deadwood Dick’s Dream; or, The Rivals of the Road. 201. The Black Hills Jezebel; or, Deadwood Dick’s Ward, . 205. Deadwood Dick’s Doom; or, Calamity ~~ Jane’s Last Adventure. 217. Captain Crack-Shot, the Girl Brigand; or, Gypsy Jack from Jimtown. 221. Sugar Pelee a Sam; or, The Black Gownsof. Grim ch. 232, Gold-Dust Dick. 263. Deadwood Dick’s Divide; or, The Spirit of — Swamp Lake. 268. Deadwood Dick’s Death Trail; or, From Ocean to Ocean. 809. Déadwood Dick’s Big Deal; or, The Gold Brick of Oregon. 821. Deadwood Dick’s Dozen; or, The Fakir of Phantom Flats. The above are for sale by all newsdeal five cents a copy, or sent by mail on receirit-at six cents each. BEADLE AND ADAMS, PuBsisHErs, 98 William street, New York. Base A Game of Gold; or, Deadwood Dick’s Big migbooks:coO », ; -_ —- ouP “4 um ‘ ‘ t é - ap OS ee a a SS _ “whe? ix | «nr gem * : =e yh \ ath, ">