Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 390 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

_* T cannot understand it. I— 12 ‘*On the other hand, if he is perfectly hon- est in what he claims, then we must do our best to get the better of him in fair trial. ‘‘We have several good points to start from, and as many good claims to present; and, as I said, I think our chance is good. ‘Besides, I understand that a suit for ejectment requires two verdicts; and if such is the case, then our chances are better still. ‘“‘At any rate, I, for one, will fight it as long as there is a cent’s worth here to fight for.” ‘Oh! we must win!” Mr. St. Clare ex- claimed. ‘‘ We cannot afford to lose! There are a hundred families in the town who do not own a cent’s worth besides what they have here, and for this Mexican to win would beggar them all. We must win!” “To be sure we must!” both the ladies in- sisted. ‘Still, even though we should Cibuta John decided, ‘‘ we would still be in possession, and we would try to force our own terms with this worthy Don.” And thus the conversation ran on, cover- ing the ground at length which has been gone over in the preceding chapters, and speculat- ing upon what the future was likely to bring 0 forth. looked around for something with which to All agreed that the present indications drive the hook a little deeper into the wall to foretold exciting times in the near future for | make it more secure, it being but a small one, the people of Ante-Bar. _and his eyes falling upon some lumps of ore Too many conflicting interests were at which lay upon a shelf near at hand—pieces stake to admit of a quiet settling of the which he had collected and saved on account mooted questions of rights. And, above all of their peculiar shape or richness, he made these, and far more difficult of adjustment one of those answer his purpose. were the passions of love, hate and revenge With it he gave the head of the hook three which animated the actors. or four light blows, then slipped the ribbon After a while Mr. and Mrs. 8t. Clare re- over it and stepping down, dismissed the in- tired, leaving Cibuta John alone with the cident from his mind entirely. ideal of his heart, and when he bade her: Barely had he turned, though, to execute good-night and left the house, the hour was his first intention of putting out his light, quite late. when again he heard the dagger drop to the He went at once to the Dewdrop Inn, and | floor, with its sharp and peculiar ring. to his room. Cibuta John was amazed. Then, after removing his outer garments | He turned around instantly, half inclined and his boots, and putting on a dressing- | to believe that his ears had deceived him; | | The Giant Cupid. He had discovered that the hook, although securely imbedded in the wall, could quite | easily be turned; and it occurred to him that perhaps some sudden jar had turned it suffi- ciently to allow the ribbon to slip off. At first thought, this looked possible; but, then, he had felt no shock to the house, and he reasoned that it would have required no slight jar to cause the hook to turn, Then another idea presented itself. Perhaps, in hanging the weapon up, he had not placed the ribbon over the hook carefully, or had accidentally turned the hook, and— But, he remembered that he did hang it up carefully. Then came still another suggestion, which It was this: Perhaps some servant in the house had taken the dagger down to look at it, and, in lose,” | putting it back upon the heok again, perhaps in haste, had not hung it there as securely as it had been before, and consequently it had now slipped off, This looked so reasonable that Cibuta John accepted it as the true explanation of the affair. Before hanging the dagger up again, Cibuta gown, he lighted a cigar and sat down to en- | but no, there upon the floor the silver dagger joy a quiet smoke before going to bed. lay. Wor some time he sat buried deep in Again he picked it up, and again were his thought, turning over in his mind the events eyes drawn to the strange inscription which of the day and considering plans of action | it bore upon its side. for the future. This time, however, there was apparently One thing he resolved to do, and that was, ‘ no mystery in regard to the cause or manner to accept the warning of Mother Wolf. of its falling. He had not lived for a number of years in| The ribbon was still attaehed to its handle, Mexico without learning how treacherous the and in the loop of the ribbon was a part of average Mexican is, and he felt that there was the hook, which was broken. every reason for him to keep a sharp lookout It had quite evidently been broken by Ci- for Don Juan Bartolo. | buta himself, when trying to drive it further At last he finished his cigar, and was about into the wall with the lump of ore. to put out his light, when of a sudden he ‘* Well,” our hero remarked, addressing heard something drop upon the floor behind the dagger, ‘it is rather strange, my little him. It was not aheavy object, but it gave mystery, that you will not remain where I forth a clear, metallic ring. | place you. Instantly Cibuta looked around, and there ‘‘'This time, though, I suppose it is I who near his feet he saw asilver dagger—adagger am to blame. No doubt 1 broke the hook, which had just fallen from the wall where he , by pounding it to make it more secure. had kept it as a souvenir; and as he picked it ‘Where shall [ put you now? Let’s see— up, the familiar inscription met his eye: Ah! Here is just the place for you.” And “ The silver dagger’s work is ended, he stepped to the other side of the room, Blood shall ne’er more stain the brand; where there happened to be another unoccu- A ain forenon Se nadine pied hook. Tis te ee This Ee bbe a eeyte a table upon which Cibuta kept his books, papers, etc., CHAPTER XII. | and in order to reach it he Sat tana the NATURAL? OR, SUPERNATURAL? | table out of his way. “Ts is strange,” Cibu‘a John said aloud, | This was soon done, and in a few moments as he held the dagger in his hand and gazed the silver dagger occupied its new place on at it: ‘‘ | worder how it came to fall?” And | its master’s wall. he glanced up te where it had hung. ‘‘There, | guess I shall have no further There was the hook it had so lately occu- _ trouble with you,” Cibuta thought. But he pied, still in its place, and on the handle of | was mistaken. the dagger was the ribbon by which it had He was just in the act of pushing the table been suspended from the hook, still in per- | back to its place as that thought ran through fect order. his mind, and barely had it found birth there How the weapon had come to drop from when the table struck the wall, giving it a its piace, was a mystery. slight jar, and causing the silver dagger to And, the silver dagger was a mystery in make a sudden turn, slip out of the ribbon itself, by which it had been supported, and fall to It had a history; and that history was like the table, point downward. a wild romance as the reader of the first! Cibuta John was not by any means a su- book of this series will remember. _perstitious man, but in this instance he knew Cibuta John examined the hook, then the not what to think. ribbon on the dagger, and then the dagger —__If he had been surprised and amazed be- itself; but he could not discover the key to _ fore, he was now thunderstruck. c the mystery. Three times in quick succession the dagger What had caused the dagger «o all? had now fallen from its place, and it was, to He could not decide. | pees very least, strange. ; ‘It is strange, very strange,” ue muttered. | alling point downward as it this time did, Ah!” ; it stuck up ia the soft wood of which the table was made, pinning beneath it a news- + A new discovery caused the exclamation. ; PiyV! . was no doubt the true solution to the puzzle. | | | aD — eS a ee paper which happened to be lying where it struck, Mitts First of all, Cibuta looked to find the nat- ural explanation of this third freak, and he soon found it, or at least he soon arrived at 4 conclusion, forming a theory which he wns satisfied to accept as the explanation. — ,., By its two previous fails, and the habGiihe consequent to picking it up and putting it in place again, the ribbon around the dagger had become loosened; and the weapon being just a trifle out of balance when hung upon the hook, the jar from the table had caused it to turn; and as soon as it did so, it slipped from the ribbon and fell. Nor was this all. Cibuta John picked the dagger up again, and as he did so his attention was drawn to the paragraph in the newspaper inte which the point of the weapon had cut. The article, of which this paragraph was a part, was ashort sketch of fiction, and the place where the dagger had passed through the paper perfectly underscored these words: ‘life or death—”’ Cibuta read the whole paragraph, but taken as a whole, there was nothing in it. Nor did any other part of it have the power to impress itself upon his mind like those three words. It was now growing decidedly interest- ing. Taking up the paper, Cibuta turned it over bo pee what was the result upon the other side, If anything, it was even more s‘artling than the first. There, underscored in precisely the same manner, was a sentence complete. It was this: ‘* Take warning !” In the other parts of the paper the marked words conveyed no significance whatever. With the dagger in his hand, Cibuta John sat down to think. Was this all natural, and the mere result of chance? Or, was there some supernatural influence at work? He was unable to decide. He was by no means a superstitious man, as we have said before, but here was some- thing which he could not understand. He read and re-read the inscription on the side of the dagger, read and re-read the marked words in the paper, and the more he read the more he wondered, What could it mean? He thought over all he had ever heard con- cerning the weapon he beld in his hard, and all that he knew to be true in its history; and its past was so weirdly strange that he was ready te believe almost anything that could be said of it, or anything with which it had aught to do. For a long time Cibuta sat deeply buried in thought—so long, in fact. that at last his head began to nod and his mind to wander off into that mysterious country called ‘* Dreamland.” Two or three times he partly roused up, but his head would fall forward again, and finally his-chin rested upun his breast and he slept. And, as he slept he dreamed. He was in a large pavilion, all the sides of which were open to the air, and which was lighted by a hundred fancy paper lanterns, with here and there a lamp and reflector where additional light was necessary. Nor was he alone. A great crowd of peo- ple, ladies and gentlemen, both American and Mexican, were present, and it seemed to be a grand occasion. Sweet waltz-music filled the air, and happy, smiling faces were seen on every hand. He recognized the place at once. It was the ver erected at Ante-Bar for the coming great event—the wedding. This he thought in his dream, a fancy within a fancy—as it were. Then came a break in the thread, and then presently another scene followed. He was still in the pavilion, and standing beside him was his happy, blushing bride, Nettie Hucklebee. Then came another break, and presently another scene. It seemed that some great excitement had just ceased, and all was confusion. He was standing in the midst of a circle of pavilion that had been | =~ Gomicbooks