Beadle's Dime Library No. 387 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

——— bal, bee ee ee so dee A Dark Durg, the Ishmael of the Hills. tT LL LLL LL RRR LL LLL an end between the lovers from that moment on. He would give no reason for the sudden change, It was so to be, and no argument could change his mind. Rex Stuart left the house, hardly conscious of his actions. But with time came cooler reason- ing, and the result was to be seen on this even- ing, when Precious Wingfold stole from_her home and met him for a ride through the pleas- ant evening, where they could talk without fear of being watched or eavesdropped. But even now the talking was almost alto- ether on his side. He learned that never before ad Precious Wingfold loved him more wholly and sincerely, but still she told him that their fond hopes could never be realized, And only bitter, silent tears answered his queries as to what terrible thing had come between them. And then, something which he had until now driven from his mind as worse than ungenerous, came back to the lover, He had time and again seen Damon Wingfold call at the house of his cousin, sometimes accom- panied by his hopeful son, Earl; at others alone. And until the past two weeks, he knew that no communication had been held between the cous- ins. What more natural than to connect the two? What more natural than to believe the cousins had made up their past differences, and resolved to cement them by wedding their heirs? It was this maddening suspicion that led to his putting that pointed question; but when Precious gazed into his eyes with tears in her own dark, lustrous orbs, he felt guilty as miserable. “Tf you know how nearly crazy I am, Pre- cious, you wouldn’t blame me for speaking harshly,” he muttered, as a dark figure flitted across the street ahead of their horse. ‘I came back so full of joy and triumph! The future looked so bright before us! I would not have changed places with any man on the footstool, then! And what was it [ came back to? What was my greeting when I hastened to you, my promised wife?” ““T knew nothing of it until the next day, Rex,” was the sobbing response. ‘‘I only learn- ed by accident that you had called.” ‘‘ But when I forced my way into the house— when I did see you—how much better was it?” he muttered, almost savagely. A little hand clasped his wrist, dark, tearful eyes looked into his with a pitiful pleading, an unsteady voice uttered: ‘Do you think it was my choice, Rex?” ‘*T don’t think—I can’t think! I only know that you sat in silence while your father forbade me the house. I only know that you only hid your face and sobbed when I begged you to come to me, as you once promised, to give me the right to protect and cherish and care for you before the whole world. And I know that I had to go away without one cheering word from your lips. And knowing this, Precious, what could I think? What am I to think?” ‘“* Anything save that you are less dear to my heart now than you were on that evening when you first whispered your love in my ears,” pas- sionately murmured the maiden, her dark eyes flashing with sudden fire as she frankly met hi puzzled gaze, ‘“ And yet you say that we must never meet again!” er eyes drooped, her figure sunk back, her voice came lower, sadder, but still firmly: ‘It is better so, Rex. Our dream is but a dream. Wecan never be more to each other than we are at this moment.” “T must know why you think this, Precious,” he responded, his tones low and firm. ‘ You say you still love me, yetin the same breath you declare that we must never meet again. ive me your reasons, and I can answer you better than I can now, when all is a miserable puzzle.” She sat in silence. He could feel her figure quivering with suppressed agitation, though her sobs were inaudible, ‘‘ Tf not from your lips, Precious, I must learn all from those of your father,” he added, still holding his mad emotions under check, A gasping cry escaped her lips. , ‘Not of him—he is so ill—so weak and broken down by the horrible weight of— Rex, will you not take my solemn pledge that there is a bar- rier between us which not even love can tear own?” ‘‘T will take nothing ‘but a full explanation, Precious,” he replied, though his tones grew softer as he realized how great a trial she was undergoing. ‘‘Itismyright. it is only fair to you. If I took your vague speech for final, the time might come when I would learn to mis- judge you, For your sake, I again ask you to tell me everything.” ; : Another brief silence, during which he could feel that Precious beige Sap was nerving herself for the ordeal. Then she spoke: “You are right, Rex. You must know all— all I can tell you.” *“* For your sake, even more than my own, Precious.” “It is very hard to put into words. ery poor brain has been so confused and bewildered, that I cannot clearly understand it all. I only know that father has got into trouble about some money, and that uncle Damon is at the bottom of it.” + Se a LL a eee ‘him to the wall. ‘*Tncle Damon? Not cousin Earl?” quickly asked Rex, that vague jealousy leaping into sudden life and activity. ‘* Both, I may say,” came the answer, in a less steady tone, ‘‘ though it is uncle against whom father is the most bitter, and who is pressing Just why, or just how, I can- not even ‘guess. I only know what father told me that day, after you went away—that unless he could raise thirty thousand dollars before the last day of this month he was ruined.” **Only that?” and there was an echo of intense relief in the voice of the young man as one arm stole around her trim waist. ‘‘ I am strong and smart enough to work for you both, Precious— work so hard and successfully that even your father need not feel hampered, much less ruined! Bah! if there is nothing worse behind—” ‘* But I thought you were poor, Rex?” with a sudden hope. ‘‘I never once imagined you could raise so large a sum in so brief a time.” ‘*Nor can I, Precious,” he replied, more qui- etly. ‘“ But I can keep my wife and her father in comfort, if not in affluence, until his talents win back his property. Why, pet, that very property will bring more than the amount you name, even at a forced sale.” She shook her head sadly. “Tt is all gone. Mortgaged, or sold—I don’t know just how, but it is no longer ours, And unless that amount is raised before the month expires—oh, Rex!” and her enforced composure again gave way. ‘Only this evening he told me—with such a terrible light in his poor eyes! —that unless he found the money he would never live to see the date expire. And—I saw in his eyes— Sobs choked her voice, but it was easy enough to complete the broken sentence. Rex Stuart knew enough of Maurice Wingfold to feel sure he had the grit to end his own life, provided the emergency was as serious as Precious evidently believed. But was it? Was it not a cunning trick Mi seer them, through the love of this poor chi He thought of gay, reckless, dashing, profli- gate Ear] Wingfold, his father’s idol, and grat- ed his teeth viciously. ‘*Damon Wingfold is your father’s creditor, then?” he asked. ‘“‘Have I not said enough, dear Rex?” falter- ed the poor girl, flinching from the ordeal. ‘‘ Not while a single cloud remains between us, Precious,” was the firm, almost dogged re- sponse. ‘If I am to be of any service, I must wih everything. Surely, you have nothing ()—- He choked back the word, but his meaning was already too clear. It cut to her very heart, but she was a true woman, and she loved him with a perfect faith. Perhaps it was just as well, after all, for it lent her the courage she so sorely needed. ‘“*Hrom you, Rex?” and she smiled faintly through her tears. He began a muttered apology, but she gently touched his lips with one gloved hand. “Tt is only natural. A man sees so much more of the world than a girl does. And you have been treated so shamefully, too!” eee he attempted to speak, and again she checked him, ‘* Let me speak while I have the courage, Rex. It may fail me again, and I cannot re- main out much longer. I left poor father lyin very low—in a stupor that terribly resemble death. If he should die!” ‘* He will not die, Precious. He will livemany long years yet.” _ Faint and indefinite consolation, but it served its purpose and checked the coming burst of hys- teria, lending the maiden strength to continue: ‘Tt was only last night that I learned the worst, Rex. ncle Damon was there, and he spoke plainly—too plainly !” ‘‘Offered to cancel the debt, provided you would wed his hopeful son, I suppose?” sharply muttered Stuart, his handsome face flushing hotly, his teeth snapping together, his big blue eyes gleaming. “If I would consent, he would place the money in my hands the moment the ceremony was complete, to use as I saw fit,” slowly uttered pares Wingfold, each word issuing with diffi- culty. Her lover was silent. He had anticipated just such an answer, and he dared not trust his voice just then. With a savage jerk of the lines and vicious cut of the whip, he sent the g horse trotting on at full speed, threading the de- serted streets with more rapidity than discre- tion. . A little hand clung to his arm. Dark eyes ea pleadingly into his hard-set countenance. e could feel Precious trembling beside him, but he could not, would not turn his gaze upon her, just then. ‘* What could I say, Rex?’ she murmured, her voice barely audible above the muffled rumble of the wheels over the loose sand. ‘* He is my father. I am all he has to love and cherish in this world. If I were to desert him in this hour of terrible trial, what would be his fate?” Still silence, though those strong hands were steadily quelling the fright they had awakened in the good horse. Softer, still more tremulous, more pleading, came that gentle voice: ‘* He is old and almost broken down with grief and pain. He has not asked me to make the sacrifice. He only lies and moans painfully im that awful stupor. He knows he cannot raise the money. He swears he will not live to meet, , disgrace—and worse! Oh, Rex! that awful man told me to choose between an honest hus- band and a hung father |” Rex Stuart turned toward her at these words, but her face was now hidden in her hands. Evi- dently she fully believed this all. ‘*Debt is no hanging matter, Precious,” he said, softly, wishing to console her, but still feel- ing his own wrongs the most keenly. ‘‘ Damon Wingfold, even though he be your uncle, is a scoundre] to the very core, and would sooner lie than tell the truth, even where naught was to be gained by so doing. He is trying to scare you into a marriage with that drinking, blusterin bully, his son. But it shall never be while I draw the breath of life! Tll kill them both first!” It was a lucky speech for the sorely-shakem girl, for, as it bade fair to endanger her reak love, it lent her courage and strength to face him again and banish all such mad thoughts, ‘Not even that would save poor father,” she said, brushing away her tears and speaking firmly, almost caldly. ‘“You must not ever dream of such a terrible thing, Rex!” ‘*Then let them keep out of the way,” dog- gedly. ‘‘You have promised to marry me, Your father gave his consent, and even named the day on which we might wed. Nooneor two men shail come between us now, or I will fight them, and fight to the bitter end!” ‘* Even if I go against you, Rex?” ‘*' What do you mean by that, Precious?” She did not answer him immediately. The words that rose to her lips were terribly hard to speak, and had she been less miserable, had her feelings been less highly wrought, she could not have uttered them. ‘It must be, Rex,” she said slowly, painfully. ‘¢ Unless father can raise that money before the last week in this month, I will raise it for him. Imust! He is my father. It is my solemn duty to save him, now that he 1s so old and weak and miserably broken down.” ‘**'You will marry Earl Wingfold, Precicus?” slowly asked Stuart. ‘To save my poor father from the rope, I must |” ‘You told your uncle as much, I suppose?” She shook her head quickly. ‘‘T could not say the words, though I did try. He understood me, I think, for he went away smiling—the evil wretch!” Great as was his chagrin and pain, Stuart could hardly keep from smiling at this truly feminine outburst. It was so intense, so ear- nest. Now that the worst had been said, Precious Wingfold, still loving this stalwart, handsome young man as not every woman is cayable of loving, felt a wish to comfort him in his misery : and so feeling, she received renewed strength and composure. ‘You are young, and will soon learn to for- get such a poor, silly girl, Rex. You have all the world tefore you, and in time you will find one to love and cherish and—’ ‘*T have found her, Precious,” was the quiet reply, as one strong arm stole around her, drawing her unresistingly to his bosom, as the good horse came to a stand-still, most conven- iently. A sobbing cry escaped her lips, and the tremor which ran through her yielaing form, told him lainer than words bow wholly she Was his in eart, if never to become his in person. And in that moment every ghost of doubt and jeal- ousy fled forever from his mind. Never again would he doubt her, even though circumstances apreeree more black than those of the past few ays. you are mine, Precious, and not all the rascals in the world can take you from me, I am sorry for your father. I will do all that lies in my power to get him through this cloud; but not even he can take my promised wife from me!” ‘*Tt must be, Rex!” and she faintly sought to free herself. ‘It will be—precisely as I have sworn, dear- est,” with a low, glad laugb. ‘‘Something il} turn up to foil that old vulture and his hopeful! son. If not—lI’ll turn it up, and them with it, sure!”’ ‘“Tf the old dream could only prove true! If the golden phantom which poor father hes chased so long and vainly might prove a real- ity!” murmured Precious, no longer trying to shrink away, a dreamy bliss stealing over her and soothing her poor. overtasked brain. “Tt may—who knows? And I may he the very one to run the phantom down!” he laughed lightly, but with an undercurrent of earnest- ness in his speech. ‘‘I have heard something about it, but I’d like to know more. There may a-- “Robbery! Murder!” came floating through the night, from just around the corner, where the scattered houses stood dark and deserted. Gomiebooks