Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 390 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

+... The Mexican’s eyes flashed fire, and hotly 8 The Giant Cupid. threaten me! Leave the house, and at once! You have now shamefully disregarded both the conditions by which you were to merit my respect, and I despise you instead. You are not worthy of my hatred, | simply dis- dain you. Go!” Miss Hucklebee’s loud and angry words brought her friend, Mrs. St. Clare, into the room in haste. ‘‘What is the trouble, my dear?’ she asked. ‘*I have been insulted,” was the reply. ** And not only insulted, but threatened /” ‘‘ Insulted and threatened! By whom?” ‘‘And why will it depend on me, senor?” ‘* Will you not consider that I have injured you, when you have to surrender all your property here?” ‘“Oh! That would injure me, most cer- tainly; but if the law decides that you are in the right, I, for one, shall give you your full due.” ‘*Oh! Then you intend to resist my claim, eh?” ‘‘ Why, to be sure I shall. Would I not be foolish to give up all I possess, and beg- | gar myself, unless forced to do so? If you take your case to court, senor, we will meet you there. But, though we are at war on a ‘“By that person, whom I have just or- matter of business, 1 can, and shall, continue | dered to leave the house.” And Nettie to treat you civilly so long as you deserve to pointed toward the Mexican with scorn. be so treated.” | ‘*Then, sir, why do you not go?’ Mrs. ‘*But suppose I win the case, senorita? , St. Clare demanded, Then you will hate me, certainly.” “T am going, ladies, I am going,” the ‘Not so, senor.” Mexican said, as he moved toward the door; ** Not so!” | and on reaching the door he paused for a ‘‘No, ILshall abide by the decision of the | moment to add: court, senor, and of course you will do the | And you, senorita, remember what I same. 1 would speak to you as civilly the , have said. You shall be my bride, by fair day after my defeat, as I do now. As the , means or foul. 1 have sworn it!’ opular saying has it, * Business is business.’ The moment he was gone, Nettie fell faint- Social intercourse is something else.” | ing into her friend’s arms. ‘*But, senorita, you are bound to lose. | My claim cannot be disputed.” | CHAPTER VIII. “That remains to be seen.”’ ! A DUEL BY MOONLIGHT. “And if you do lose, then by your own’ WueEn Don Juan Bartolo left the house, he confession I shall have injured you; and by was in a towering passion. injuring you I shall break one of the condl- He had failed miserably in the scheme tions you name, and shall forfeit your re- which he had come to Ante-Bar purposely to spect. carry out, and not only had he failed in that, ‘Senorita, I hope you will not allow me but he had greatly overreached himself and to break that condition. I had rather lose exposed his villainous plans. my right hand than lose your regard.” It had been his intention to magnify his ‘‘Senor, I fail to understand you. You power to Miss Hucklebee, show her that she hint again that I have the power to control would become a beggar as soon as he could your action in this matter, I fail to seein get his claim settled, and thus prey upon her what way my influence can change your de- fears; and then when he had carried the termination. Pray explain yourself.” came far enough, he intended to confess his With a suddenness that almost alarmed love and ask her to become his wife, and her, and that surprised her beyond measure, thus save her from. the ruin which threat- the Mexican threw himself upon his knees at ened. the young lady’s feet. Such were his intentions, and so he had ‘‘Senorita,” he cried, ‘‘could you not done; but it had not worked as he intended guess—could you not see—that I love you? it should. The climax had been reached al- You are the very light of my life! I have | together too abruptly, and the effect had not loved you ever since the first moment I saw | been what he had anticipated. o1 four months ago, and my object in call-! Then, when he learned that the young ing here to-night was to lay my heart at your , lady was affianced to another, he lost all con- feet and beg you to accept it and become my | oa of his temper and ruined his chances wife. Senorita, I love—” But here he was forever, stopped. Now, no course lay open to him but to “Senor, get up—do get up!” Miss Huckle- ' steal the girl and force her to become his bee exclaimed. ‘‘Do not make yourself , wife. ridiculous.” | That he resolved to do, ‘‘Ridiculous! Ridiculous, and because I ‘Ten thousand curses upon the handsome stoop to confess my love to so radiant a be- angel!’ he cried. ‘‘She shall be mine, I ing as yourself! I am proud of my posi- swear it!” tion. ' His passion was no doubt genuine enough, ‘Senorita, I love you—pass3ionately and but he saw that he could never hope to win devotedly love you. To claim you for os the girl by fair means. bride would ee me the happiest man in all| As for Cibuta John, when he thought of the world.” ‘him he clinched his hands and ground his In vain did the young lady try to stop teeth in fury. him, He was bound to be heard. He should never marry the girl, that he ‘‘Say that you will be mine,” he cried, , resolved. ‘¢and I will give up all claim to the property ; ‘‘ Curse him,” he muttered, ‘‘I will seek a you hold. I willdo more. I will give up | quarrel with him and remove him from my all claim to the town. I will give the people | path.” of Ante-Bar a clear title to the property they | The Mexican was no coward, but his in- now usurp. I—” ' tense rage now made him foolhardy. ‘Senor, stop /” He was determined to put his rival] out of Finding that she could not make the Mexi- | the way, and he did not stop to reason the can stop by words of entreaty, the young | result to himself if he succeeded in doing it. Jady sprung to her feet and commanded him lie had gone too far now to draw back. to do so. He had uttered threats which could not be Don Juan did stop, and rose to his feet. recalled. He must go ahead, or else back “ You must stop, senor,” the lady added. | out and lose the prize. «¢T will not hear you—I have no right to ‘* By all the fiends!” he cried, ‘‘Cibuta hear you.” Jobn shall die!’ And he forthwith set out ‘““You have no right to hear me! Are , to find him. ou—” He went first to the Dew-drop Inn; thence ‘‘T am the affianced bride of another, sir.” | to the post-office, which he found closed; ‘‘ Heavens and earth!” the Mexican cried, | from there to Bob Burdock’s store; and then now in passion. ‘‘ Can this be true?” to Bill Twicker's saloon, where he entered as ‘‘Of course it is, sir. You have forced me | shown, and there the object of his search -to make it known to you.” was found. | ‘* May I ask who the happy man is?” Without a word he crossed the floor to “He is Mr. John Jones, of this place.” where Cibuta John stood, and before any one ‘‘He whom the people call Cibuta John?” | could guess his intention he struck him a “The same.” stinging blow in the face with his glove. “Great Jerusalem!” cried Bill Twicker, he hissed: excitedly, ‘‘that settles it! This ends th’ ‘‘ By heavens, it shall never be! He shall | claim biz, pards, an’ ends it fer good. Bar- never claim you for his own! You shall be | toly-roly-boly is a dead Greaser, fer sure!” wine, by fair means or foul! I swear it!” And so thought every one present, ‘Sir!’ now in plain English, ‘‘you’ For an instant Cibuta John did not act, — but stood and gazed at the Mexican in sur- prise, while the latter, with his hand ready upon a weapon, returned the stare. This lasted but a moment, though, and then the reaction came. And it came with a vengeance. Cibuta John’s arm shot upward and out- ward like a bolt of lightuing, taking the Mexican under the jaw and sending him crashing over chairs and tables to the further end of the room, where he dropped to the floor almost insensible. ‘‘How is that fer high?” cried Jeff Par- sons, ‘‘ High as a kite!” returned Tom Billings. ‘Th’ cuss must be crazy!” declared Jem Patterson. “Tl bet. he’s half-silly now, anyhow,” said Bill Twicker. ‘‘I wonder what in th’ world he could ‘a’ been thinkin’ about?” “Give it up!” ‘“‘ He struck th’ wrong man that time, fer sure!” ‘* Bet your life he did!” ‘“Do you know what he means by his ac- tion, friends?” Cibuta John asked. ‘*No; what does he mean?’ came the query. ‘‘Hie means that he wants me to fight a duel with him.” ‘*Th’ deuce he does!” ‘‘That is what he is after, exactly.” ‘‘ Wal, fer Heaven’s sake, fight him, pard, an’ let his want be filled. Ill bet he won’t want th’ same thing twice. Oh, you jest gratify him, pard, by all means, an’ send him on his way rejoicin’. We'll back ye, pard, an’ back ye agin’ th’ hull Mexican na- tion, if necessary.” So spoke Bill Twicker, and the crowd ac- quiesced in what he said. It was the public sentiment to a dot. It was some minutes before the Mexican could pick himself up and shake himself to- gether as he had been before, but at last he did so, and then he made the attempt to draw a revolver. Cibuta John was entirely too quick for him, though. He had the drop on him be- fore the Mexican could realize it. ‘*Now look here, Mexican,” he said; ‘‘ if you are thirsting for gore, | will see to it that your appetite isappeased as soon as pos- sible. You shall have all the fight you want, and a Jitthke more. You must understand, though, that we do not allow any indiscrim- inate shooting here, and the quicker you get your hand out of that pocket the better it will be for your health. You can thank your lucky star that you are alive, anyhow. If I had struck you a little harder you would never have come to in this world again, and it was only that 1 had a doubt of your sanity that hindered me from doing it. Why, I never saw & man so anxious to commit sui- cide in my life before! Say. what have you got up your back, anyhow? What have I done to you? What did you strike me for?” ‘‘T struck you because I hate you!” the Mexican answered, hotly. ‘1 struck you because I want your life! This world is not large enough to liold us both, and one of us must die!” ‘‘ Well, that is news to me,” Cibuta John declared, ‘‘I never had the least idea that I was crowding any one, | can assure you. Why, J do not require a great deal of room for myself, and you are welcome to all the rest of creation. You can have miJes to my inches. Just allow ine to have enough elbow- room to get around comfortably, and I am as happy as a sun-flower. It seems rather queerious how you have got the idea into your ugly mug that 1 am in your way. If you want more room, vou lop-eared cur, why don’t you take yourself off to the plains? There you could have whole miles to prance ‘round in, Say, though, just explain your- self aud give us an idea where your pain lies. What is it that is biting you, anyhow?” The Mexican was fairly white with rage, The Prickly Pear’s taunting words angercd him more and more. ; ‘You American pig!” he cried, ‘‘I will eat you! Are you not man enough to meet me, after I have publicly insulted you? You are acur! You—” ‘‘ There, say no more about it,” said Cibuta. ‘“‘ Just give me an idea what you want, and I will be right with you. I am one of the most liberal cusses you ever met. You may have it all your cwn way. Just name the (Eo paliceleveve) .<S ad