Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 389 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

‘Is Jim Sartine eatin’ in thar yet?” he in- quired, aC | suppose so,” answered Brandis. ‘‘ That’s a mean game they're playin’.” ‘What game?’ “YT reckon you wouldn’t ha’ got hold of it. Ilis friends have hung a couple of six-shooters under the table he was to eat at, and when he wits ova he’ll pull’em out an’skip. Thar’sa hoss ready for him.” ‘* Are you sure of that?” demanded Jep Jones, ‘Sure as I stand here.” Both the young men were struck at once by the possibility of the successful operation of such a scheme, The suggestion that was made to them ac- counted easily for the good temper of the Sandstonians and their confidence in the ability of their friend to get out of the scrape. Their resolution was instantly taken. ‘* Thank you, my friend,” said the civ-us man, ‘* We will go and Bs: up that game.” ‘** Unless it is too late,” suggested Brandis, ‘* We will try, anyhow.” They hurried back, made their way through the crowd as rapidly as they could without drawing particular attention to themselves, and pushed into the restaurant. — Jeptha Jones glanced quickly about as they went, and did not fail to notice a saddled horse standing near the door of the establishment. The restaurant was crowded, but by interest- ed spectators rather than by customers, although most of the tables were occupied. Of course the waiters experienced no little dif- ficulty in getting about and attending to their duties, and it was hard work for the two men from Arizona to push their way through the mass: but they succeeded in coming within sight of the table at which Jim Sartine was seated. They were just in time, indeed, to witness an extraordinary scene, They were not in time to make available the information which they had received on the street. Just then the meal was over, and nothing re- mained but to finish the drinks that were stand- ing on the table before the Rangers and their prisoners, Jim Sartine, who seemed to be in remarkably good spirits at the moment, emptied his glass qnicilys pouring the contents down his throat at a gulp. As he did so he dropped his napkin on the floor, and bent down to pick it up. For the space of a few seconds he was partly hid from his captors. When he rose there was a startling change in his attitude and demeanor. He did not rise to his seat on the chair, but jumped at once to his feet, tall, erect and threatening, with a cocked revolver in each hand, ‘* Clear the way!” he shouted, in clarion tones that rung through the crowded room. Clear the way! I’m off!” And he was off, It was wonderful with what celerity a clear path was opened for him, all the way to the door, through that throng of people. It was wonderful, too, how quickly it closed behind him as soon as he had passed. If the Sandstonians there present had been trained and drilled for the purpose, the man- eve could not have been more perfectly exe- cuted, The three Rangers were ‘so startled and amazed by his sudden appearance in his new role, that they were “struck all of a heap,” as the saying is, and several precious seconds were lost. When they had risen to their feet and drawn their weapons, they found an almost impene- trable mass of Jim Sartine’s friends between them and their late prizoner, who had then near- ly reached the door. Though the crowd had opered so quickly and easily to allow him to escape, there was no pas- sage through it for his foes. There was no attempt at violence, no resist- ance to the officers of the law, no threatening, not even any pushing—only a peaceable and good-humored crowd, to which the only objec- tion was that it was in the way, It was terribly in the way—so much so that the discomitted Rangers found themselves quite elpless. Their shouts and orders were unavailing, and they could not use their pistols for fear of injur- ing some tanbcenh peers Jep Jones and Walter Brandis had come upon the scene just as the prisoner was performing this great revolver act, and that was the first ‘and almost the last that they saw of him there. When the path was opened for him, they were unceremoniously thrust aside and hustled out of the way, as if it was generally known that they were his foes and must be kept at a distance, They shouted and called on him to halt; but that only made their position more evident, and caused them to be hustled in friendly fashion a little further away. It was as impossible for them to fire upon him os it was for the: Rangers to make the at- tempt. Indeed, if they had been able to do so, and Te —_———————————————E— eS aaa SC C—O Colonel Double-edge. had happened to hit him, they would have dis- covered the real temper of the crowd very sud- denly, as they would have been torn to pieces on the spot. Jim Sartine, in his swift passage through the throng, caught a glimpse of the face of Jeptha Jones, and darted at him such a Jook of hatred and promised vengeance as made the circus man change color, He might have executed his vengeance then and there; but he was as little able to use a weapon as his foes were, and he had no time to spare. He swiftly ran out of the restaurant to the street, jumped on the horse that was awaiting him there, and rode away at a pace that soon car ied him out of town, Heretofore there had been no noise to speak of—no cheering—no boisterous encouragement of the escaping prisoner—no excitement to in- dicate the deep interest felt by the crowd in the performance, No sooner was he mounted, however, than a deafening chorus of yells burst forth from the assemblage, and it seemed as if the entire popu- lation of Sandstone had turned out to view the exit of Jim Sartine. The unanimity of the crowd in everything that could be done to aid his escape was wonderful, if not admirable. As soon as he was known to be safe, the throng in the restaurant quickly and quietly dispersed, leaving the Rangers and their friends free to act. It was then too late for them to do anything. Jim Sartine was already out of sight when they reached the street, and they were forced to content themselves with grumbling and express- ing their disapprobation of the entire proceed- ing. The crowd, being then in the best possible humor, took their complaints and accusations in good part, and ahs them with pleasant banter about the loss of their prisoner, ‘That was the meanest kind of a game that you fellers played on us,” observed Burgess. ‘It was a smart game that Jim Sartine played,” answered one of the friends of the ex- marshal. *‘ Who could have thought that he was going to cut such a caper as that? We were all so surprised that we were struck of a heap and didn’t know what to do.” ‘Except to xe him a good chance to slide out,” suggested Burgess. “He scared us, you see, But, perhaps it is best for all concerned that he is off and away, as that was the easiest style of settling the trou- ble. The worst of it is that he stole the fastest horse in these parts, and you couldn’t get hold of anything that would begin to catch up with him. That is what makes us sorry.” Joe Burgess did not care to reply to this sort of talk, and went with his friends to the pote where no objection was made to them then. ‘* What are you going to do about it now?” inquired Jeptha Jones, * Nothing,” answered the Ranger. “If you men should hunt him and find him, you can call on us to go and take him; but I don’t believe that you will find him in Texas.” ‘Very well. For my part, I am going back to Arizona.” ’ **Do you suppose he will strike that country again?” asked Brandis. “He might. Like as not, anyhow,” ** We will go together, then.” « CHAPTER XXTX. A PICNIC SPOILED, SSOBRA was a typical New Mexican town, or yalage, or hamlet, or whatever it deserved to be called, That is to say, it was typical of the old style, being a small and ugly collection of adobe omen which might as well be called mud ovels, The inhabitants were mostly Mexicans and Mestizoes, given to chile colorado, tortillas, egarritas, aguardiente, laziness, dirt and fleas, to say nothin of still more objecticnable “ small deer ” that infested the houseEolds, The fact that they lived could only be ex- plained by the supposition that little was requir- ed to keep them alive, and their visible wealth was so small as to be nearly invisible. Yet in this miserable, sliabby, poverty-stricken settlement of Greasers, Devil Dick’s Arizona partner, the fastidious and dandified Ben Hill- man, had been sojourning for several days. It was not of his own inclination that he re- mained there, as may well be supposed, but be- cause it was no easy matter to getaway, and be- cause he could not settle on any other place of refuge at the time. Ben Hillman had been ree, descending in the social scale since he os th Devil Dick. _From the place of which he had spoken as his expected haven until the storm blew over he had _ been speedily wanderings thereafter he had I’m going there, gone from bad to meer until he was forced to “‘ bring up” at | Sobra. | ly as well as figuratively—and had their hte har ways of helping each other, into whic stranger could not valuable the last to be parted with—had gra the greasiest ized to know that the proper pi n'shment of a horse-thief is death, and all have given them any pointsin that Lus‘ness. = —_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_——— 0°00 _ nn eee eee > — — ragged and dirty remembrance of their former style about them. n fact, he had become a dilapidated and: disreputable specimen of a tramp, such as could have found favor nowhere except among the Greasers of Sobra, Even they had proved to be too much for * 4 Such wits as they possessed had been exercised in that direction, and much poverty had made them sharp. They were on their own dunghill, too—literal- - the- ope to be initiated. | Instead of gathering in their small coins, ac-. cording to his expectations, he was compelled to. witness their ad gps tar, of his store. rifle and revolver—the most: oods of*a man in his position, and. Sarai passed into the possession of the Greasers, and he was. His horse an left with nothing but his tattered garments, Instead of accumulating a sufficiency to give him a start in a better locality, he had lost. the little he owned, and was unable to get any-. where. In this emergency there was but one scheme: to which he could have recourse, He must steal away from Sobra, and must. steal psa to carry him away. ou There were but few horses in the hamlet, and that which had belonged to him was tlie most. available for his purposes. He resolved to steal] it, and took advantage of the last hours of a dark night to effect his ob-- ect, ‘ The theft was successfully executed, and he: had the horse saddled and bridled, ready for mounting, when he was struck by the absolute necessity of having a weapon. Accordingly he left the horse hitched, and went back to steal his rifle. The Mexicans, however, were mecre wide- awake than he had supposed them to be, They had ‘‘ dropped on” his theft of the horse, . and when he came back with the rifle they waited for him and nabbed him. After that there was only the question of a. few preliminaries between him and bis fate. Though the people of Sobra were Greasers of ind, they were sufficiently civil- «x°2s could not. For economic considerations. also, the best: thing for them to do with Ben Hillman was to- i him. ; e had got rid of all his possessions, and had / become a nuisance to even such a community as: that. If he remained among them they would be- obliged to support him. e could not get away except by robbery, and he had shown them that he was willing to rob. them, The theft of the horse and the attempted theft of the rifle furnished a fine excuse for getting rid of him in an easy and effective manner, It was only necessary that the proceedings. should be conducted decently and in order. The 'Greasers of Scbra were well enough ac- quainted with the simple methods of lynch-law courts, some of them having doubtless officiat- ed in such tribunals as the accused or suspected parties. In the early morning, as the sun was rising” over the hills that shut in the valley, they or- nized their court and began business with a rey consumption of aguardiente and cigarritas, quite in the style of more enlightened citizens of the Great Republic. Nothing could be plainer than the proof of — the crime, and the conviction and sentence of the criminal followed as a matter of course. It was decided that he should be hung from which he had stolen would be the immediate in- strument of his execution, The occasion was turned into a picnic by the ple of Sobra, the women and children com- ing forth from their hovels to witness the hang- ing, baking tortillas in the open air, and doing — their best to give an air of festivity to the event. It was anything but a picnic to Ben Hillman. He had been so miserable of late days that he had not cared what might become of him, and death had seemed preferable to such a miserable existence as he was likely to lead; but to le strung up by a pack of ignorant and filthy Greasers was tooshameful and wretched a death for a man of his antecedents and former preten-. sions and ambitions. \ He did not condescend to beg for his life, but. viewed the proceedings with a disgust which he driven forth, and in his | was unable to conceal]. The women, partly out of compassion, and ly for the sake of prolonging the picnic, rought him a breakfast of tortillas which he He wore the same stylish garments which he | was allowed to eat. sported ii Arizona; but there was only a He was also given, in response to his entreatics,. 21 m. “He had “tackled” them at various games, . but mainly at their favorite monte, and bad got. the worst of it right along. s the limb of a convenient tree, and that the borse — CONNIE NOOO KS com — SS ee et Sr = ——— 2 = —————Ee SS = = i