Beadle's Dime Library No. 392 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

—_— — 7 as I expected to find, I discovered that her fall had been broken by an awning, an’ thet she was taken up unconscious an’ y bruised. Curiosity led me to follow the three persons who had picked her up. I overtook them an’ got a look at the girl’s face. Jehu! it was the image of a face I once saw at Trigger Bar, but its own- er wore a boy’s clothes, After that I kept along- side. I saw the girl carried into a drug-store about a square from the faro-bank. There she recovered consciousness, an’ there I became cer- tain that she was the Golden Gate heiress.” ‘What settled your belief?” asked Agate Alf, who had been breathlessly interested in Cuban Con’s narrative from the first. ‘**T found a small tattoo—a deuce of diamonds on her shoulder, It was the same except in size as the mark found over the heart of the tongue- less man killed that night in Satanscrown. I aie that tattoo proves her identlty, eh, ate?” he Satanscrown sport could hardly nape Here was a stroke of fortune entirely unlooked for. Chance had come to the rescue where shrewdness had failed. ‘‘ Where is this girl?’ asked Agate Alf, with burning eagerness. ‘Where I left her,” was the sharp reply. “Cuban Con must be played with,” said the Satanscrown sport to himself. ‘‘ Mountain Moss must be found atall hazards. The gold bonanza is in my grip again.” ‘“‘T am willing ter play fair with you, Agate,” said Cuban Con at this juncture. “I have caught on ter a few things since [ went ter Satanscrown, an’ you kin bet that I’ve heard ov ther Lossing millions which b’long ter ‘a sarta‘n young girl who had a. tattoo mark put on her anoullet when she war a little more than a baby. But you’ve got ther hull fee ov ther game; and Captain Rob who has been on this trail for eight or nine years knows just how ter it ther big stake if he only had ther girl. Tl livide,” This was the proposition waited for by Agate Alf, “Done!” he exclaimed. ‘‘Thar shall be a fair divide. By Jupiter! Cuban Con, with our share you will be able ter break every ank in Frisco.” ‘““That’s what I want ter do. Ef I hev been absent from Frisco for several years thar’s some places hyer whose doors ar’ open ter me. Tt war ther luckiest event ov my life thet I war losin’ my pile when thet gold-mine dropped from ther third story window. I had her taken inter ther house ov my sister.” The CS LC CC ttt tata, ee ee ‘‘ Yer sister?” echoed Agate Alf and there was | an incredulous smile at the corners of his mouth. ‘My sister Anita,” said Con coolly. “The men who carried her thar did not see ther tat- too on the girl’s shoulder.” ** Good!” exclaimed feet Alf. ‘‘ When did you leave Mountain Moss last?” ‘¢ Late this afternoon.” ** How war she then?” “Conscious, but pretty badly hurt,” was the reply. ‘“‘She’s got an idea that she is worth many times her weight in gold—” ‘‘ Jehu! she must not get away from your sis- r.”’ “She can’t do that.” ‘It is singular that nobody who inhabits the house from whicn she fell has hunted for her.” “She was deliberately pushed from the win- dow by a woman called San Tonquin Maud— Colonel Tarantula’s friend, an’ the woman to whom he intrusted the girl, She will not hunt for her.” ‘*T would like to see the Golden Gate ‘ find’ ” csr iLL lll At ! said Agate Alf looking into Cuban Con’s eyes. | “*By Jove! Con, you come inter ther play just when we need a new trump.” The ex-whisky-seller of Patanbhr dwt laughed till his little eyes glittered like a serpent’s. ‘We will go an’ see our livin’ gold-mine,” he said hilariously. ‘ Anita has her orders to ad- mit nobody. She will obey orders. “You kin bet yer boots, Agate, that’ Mountain Moss ar’ jest whar I left her!” A minute later the two men passed from the hotel, triumph in the eyes of each. Agate Alf had forgotten all about Onyx Oli languishing at the unknown station, and he was so eager to reach Golden Gate Kate, that he left no note for Ruby Rob explaining in any manner his ab- sence, Cuban Con showed by his route and by fre- quent short cuts, that he was well acquainted with San Francisco, despite his sojourn among the distant mines. Strange to say, he led Agate Alf into Chinatown, and through the famous dark little street where but a few hours before Colonel Tarantula had turned on the man who had ‘* cornered ” him. At last Cuban Con dodged into another little street and ran up three steps before the door of | ‘‘ If she had remained till now.I would have set a darkened and plain-looking brick house. The door h There was no response. ‘* Anita is asleep,” said Agate Alf, ag’in’ orders.” ‘Jt is not that,” said Cuban Con, biting his Agate Alf, “If Colonel Tarantula should take \ | no bell, therefore the little onel Tarantula. Spanish-blooded sport was obliged to knock. | Kate an’took her from Anita who, by the way, “By Je- | rusalem! Cuban, your dragon has shut her eyes without a struggie.” ” gine “oOo. - PA a¥ Lost Bonanza. a all 3 ~~ e > lips, and he rapped again, but with the same re- sult ‘*Hollow me! I know another trail,” exclaim- ed the Cuban, and springing from the step he darted into the alley that ran along the side of the house. Agate Alf, eager but half fearful, was at his heels. In the rear of the house the two men found a high, close fence, which Cuban Con scaled with the agility of a cat, and the pair dropped to the ground on the other side. The next moment Cuban Con was at the back door. He did not stop to knock, but threw his weight against if and pushed it open. Agate Alf struck a match and drew a revol- ver. Cuban Con was already gone; he had reached a room beyond the one just entered, and as Agate Alf crossed the threshold with a flaring match, he heard him exclaim: ‘“*Thank fortune, Agate! Ther gold bonanza is hyer yet!” The following instant Agate Alf saw the out- lines of a bed, and then he noticed a figure ly- ing upon it. ‘Whar is Anita?” he asked. **Hang me! if I know, but what do we care so we have ther livin’ placer safe?” Cuban Con’s laugh was full of triumph and sounded strangely in that room. ‘Is this Mountain Moss?” And Agate Alf held the dying match over the face among the pillows. ‘‘No! by ther eternal heavens! this must be thet sister ov yours!” A wild cry welled from Cuban Con’s throat. He was at the bed in a second, but the. match had expired! ‘¢ Another match! quick!” he exclaimed. Agate Alf bunched four and struck them all atonce. The light springing up made a little torch, and illuminated the whole room. ‘** Hades an’ horns! it is Anita, sure enough!” cried Cuban Con after one look. ‘ An’ choked ter death, too!” | The picture that Agate Alf saw was horrible enough. The woman on the bed was black in the face. The two sports stared at her in silence for sev- eral minutes. ; “ Ther girl didn’t do this!” said Cuban Con at last. ‘“No!” was the quick reply. ‘This ar’ ther work ov Colonel Tarantula.” CHAPTER XXIX., ‘““HANDS UP” IN FRISCO, ‘Wat, you found her hiding-place ov course? T have been waiting for your report.” Agate Alf was back in the little room in the second-class hotel, and the man who confronted him was Captain Rob. ‘*] found whar Nugget Nell puts up at, but thet ain’t all ther news ’ve got,” said the sport, when he caught his breath. ‘*Give me that first.” He complied with the command, and then went on to detail his singular adventure with Cuban Con. Ruby Rob heard his man through with strange interest; at the climax he almost sprung from his chair. ; ‘* Anita strangled, and Kate taken away?” he exclaimed. ‘Of course that is Colonel Taran- tula’s work. We must find the trail at once. Onyx Oll should be hyer now.” ‘** He’s specially detained elsewhar,” said Agate Alf with a smile. ‘* Onyx was arrested at Leroy La Croix’s house for attempted blackmail, an’ ther station-house holds him at this moment.” An oath flew from Ruby Rob’s mouth. ‘The fool! he had to play the game he sug- gested. In the station-house, eh? Which one?” **T don’t know.” ‘ Let him reflect over his foolishness till morn- ing! You an’ [ must Be, on with 4he game Agate. The murder of Anita will be discove an’ the detectives of Frisco will try their hands on it.” ““Ther’s not much danger ov thet, cap’n. I thought o’ thet afore I left ther house, an’ Cuban Con agreed ter give no alarm till he heard from ” u. ‘“By Jupiter! that was a stroke of policy on your part, Agate,” exclaimed Captain Rob, “ If the detectives were to find Kate, the whole game might end in smoke after all. She fell from the window of the room where I had left her in the care of San Tonquin Maud, a woman whom I thought I could trust. I don’t know what happened to cause the fall, for when I went there last night, the window was broken, an’ Kate an’ Maud war gone! Maud is Nugget Nell’s half-sister, an’ hates her like wildfire.” Agate Alf started slightly at this revelation. ‘She has been hunting for our queen o Satanscrown for years,” continued Ruby Rob. her on Nell’s track. But we want to find Col- He is the person who found is really Cuban Con’s sister. You may be sure Agate, that she did not surrender the gold girl ‘‘The room shows that she did not,” said 20 a notion ter take Kate straight ter La Croix, ther nabob banker—” ‘* He won’t do that,” cried Ruby Rob. ‘* He will play fast now for the million stakes, an’ it will be a cool hand at that.” ** What is ter be done?” Agate Alf began to show signs of despair. He might have looked backward at that mo- ment and seen the result of the hunt for the bo- nanza girl. Jasper John had been shot dead between Trig- ger Bar and Tartarus Gulch by a man now sup- sed to be Pious Phil. Topaz Tom had fallen fore Colorado Carlos’s revolver, and Gold-dust James, the recruit who had stepped into Dia- mond Dave’s shoes, had met his fate at Colonel Tarantula’s hands! Onyx Oll was in anything but adesirable situa- tion, and he (Agate Alf) and Captain Rob were the only ones left of the six Jewels of Satans- crown. It was true that Colorado Carlos was dead at last; but Colonel Tarantula was in San Francisco playing a bold and seemingly success- ful hand for the three and a quarter millions, ‘Then, to crown all this, Pious Phil and Idaho Ivan were not far away, and Nugget Nell, a desperate though beautiful woman, had come to the scene of her great crime for a purpose as yet unknown. All this flitted through Agate Alf’s mind in a minute, as it were. e outlook was almost enough to make him recoil from the trail. He even wished that he had deserted hke Diamond Dave whose whereabouts were unknown. ‘*If we could get our hands on Gold Kate ag’in we'd rake in ther big stakes,” said the mountain sport to himself. ‘* But how ar’ we goin’ ter git her when she ar’ in Colonel Taran- tula’s hands? Captain Rob seemed to read the desperado’s thoughts at that very moment. ‘*Come! to work!” he exclaimed. ‘I have played some desperate games in my life, am’ some were worse than this one.” | ‘‘T don’t know whar they war,” ejaculated Agate Alf. ‘One was in New Mexico against the same man we are fighting now. He was Major Moss- back then, but now, as Colonel Tarantula, we shall beat him. You will show me the house where Kate was.” The two men left the hotel, and did not stop till Agate Alf had shown Ruby Rob the place where he and Cuban Con had made the startling discoveries already narrated. Two hours later Ruby Rob, with the shrewd- ness of a city detective, had cornered a certain hack-driver who was inclined to be stubborn. **You were hired to-night by a smallish-like man With a thin face an’ a brown beard?” said Captain Rob, eying the hackman closely. he pair were seated in a small room in the — — a saloon, and were the only occupants of the place. said the hackman. “Oh, you don’t, eh?’ grated the mountain tough. You drove him to a certain house, he went in and brought out a young lady. What lie did he tell you?’ The hackman drew back and threw a quick lance toward the door; Ruby Rob caught it instantly. : ‘“You don’t want to play the dumb game here,” he said savagely, and his bronze hand wrist. ‘‘I am just from where human life has no value. employed you to-night. If you do not, by the eternal heavens! I will leave you here dead!” . Words like these the thunderstruck driver a revolver came up over the edge of the beer- table and stared him in the face. **Go on! the woman he brought from the house?” ** He said she was his sister.” ‘‘ Aha! that is the game, eh?’ laughed Ruby Rob. ‘ Did she walk out?” ‘*No, he carried her. She seemed to be asleep.” ‘Well, you took them where?” ‘To California street.” | ‘“‘A long drive,” said Ruby Rob, but half ¥ The hackmanu nodded. ‘* You haven’t been back long?” ‘* Not very.” “We'll ge ter California street again.” ‘¢ 1d rather not.” You know the house? Don’tsay no, for you do.” ‘Yes, I can find the submissively. **'You don’t want to play me false,” were the sport’s next words, and his fingers released th man’s wrist. ‘‘ You want to take me to the the mountain sport stopped abruptly. ‘** What if it is?” he asked. “Have you never heard it before?” **T have.” o; ** When an’ whar?” **T drove a woman last night—I took her “comicbooks J el *“*T never take photographs of my customers,” — : 4 ‘You could not help noticmg this man. — leaping across the table, closed on the man’s _ What did this man tell you about ‘< aloud, | “ ‘Of course, but we'll go thar all the same, __ place,” said the hackman, — A ir he i ‘ - “mit * ol ht a 7 , ~~ "- &e id . eo) - . > - 43 <1 f . - p s wears 7 Pak. ee >! ‘ d ‘ You will tell me about this man who i. * - gs 7 wf Ms ne * > % ‘ % ow s = on »* +. » /-_ Y had never heard before, and with the last one, 7 len ‘ 1, “aaa *% a ya! + 2S bl 4 ni oP . & rT , - ew — Oe wt ‘é t 2 , ihe. # * ° ¥ * 7. : * + NR s i m 5 Ad gil he ° es house to which you drove Colonel Tarantula—” ‘‘Is that his name?” asked the hackman, as Ps. 4 a4 ao Py \ t A ied 4¢- 4 a | + * ep: