Beadle's Dime Library No. 392 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

ee . 5 a \ - tered x : wT Oey The Lost Bonanza. | oe “Tdo. Ihave interviewed him an’ read him like a book. He has detectives in his pay look- in’ for me because I told him that I had found the girl he wants dead! I admit that this is the most gigantic game I ever played; but look at the stake, boy! Three millions an’ more! Whew! Do you think you’re near Golden Gate Kate?” : The boy’s eyes glittered, which seemed answer enough for the chaparral colonel. ‘She isn’t a thousand miles from hyer,” he said, with a smile. ‘“‘ You’re a pretty keen fox, Idaho; but ve an idea thet you got some ov yer cunning from that lean reynard, Pious Phil o’ Trigger Bar. When I’ve raked in ther three an’ a quarter T’ll come hyer, mebbe, an’ let you out.’ ‘*Let me out?” echoed Idaho Ivan, his eyes dilating with wonder. ‘*‘ What do you mean?” Colonel Tarantula went toward the table and placed one hand upon it. ‘* In this room, but not at this table, died the man who named this house,” continued the col- onel. ‘* This table isa coffin. See!” At that moment the faro-table parted in the middle lengthwise, disclosing an interior that seemed to be lined with dark plush. Idaho Ivan involuntarily drew back. ‘* Come! there is to be no escape,” said Colonel Tarantula, and his grip tightened on the boy miner. ‘“This table holds its victim securely until some one familiar with its secret sees fit to set him free. It has held prisoners before—men who have been hunted for all over Frisco. Ah! my mountain ferret, the table has opened for ” Idaho Ivan felt a cold sensation at his heart. He saw no mercy in the eyes that laughed tiger- ishly at him, as he recoiled from the death- trap. a Thar’s three an’ a quarter millions at stake, remember that!” exclaimed Colonel Ta- rantula, and the young miner was lifted from the floor before he could inaugurate resistance. It was a terrible moment. ‘*Say I don’t hold the winning hand, will yer?’ cried the Texan. ‘‘ Inter ther faro-coffin £0, Idaho, while I rake in the whole lay- out!’ The end of the boast was the last thing the boy heard. He was crushed into the opening x a power that a man could not have resisted. merciless band was closing like a vise at his tauroat. It was suddenly withdrawn, and then darkness and suffocation followed! All this terrible experience was contracted in- to the bounds of a minute. ‘With my fingers on ther bonanza who shall foil me now!” said the man who stepped back, The next moment a sound like the shutting of a door struck his ear. ‘‘ Jupiter Pluvius! There’s some one at large in the house!” He sprung to the lamp and turned if out, then, with a heavy revolver in his right band, he went to the door and listened. ‘‘Thar’s a man in the house!” he muttered. ‘Who can it be?” He did not think of Ruby Rob. CHAPTER XXXL TIGERS IN THE DARK. THERE was something thrilling in the man waiting in the gloom of the infamous house, for a repetition of the sounds that had struck his ears. Colonel Tarantula was no coward; he had played many strange games in his lifetime, but not one had been a game of cowardice. The mechanism of the faro-table held the es a. Pha ee fast, and in a minute the colonel ost entirely forgotten him. He was ab- sorbed in the 6 now before him, and was waiting revolver in hand for the man who had undoubtedly entered the House of the Crimson Trump from the rear, The door at which he stood was slight] ajar; y the door it looked into the hallway entered on the street, and nearly opposite the door at which the Texas cool-blade stood, was another opening into a room equipped with a second un- used faro-table. Colonel Tarantula knew the interior of the house perfectly. Although he had not inspected it for several years past, he could go all over it in the dark, and he knew the traps that had helped to make it one of the most dangerous buildings in San Francisco. For several minutes after he had reached the door, Colonel Tarantula heard no sounds. He stood in the dark ready to launch himself, tiger- like, upon the first comer. After awhile he saw a flash like a match leap- _ ing into life amid the densest gloom, but it went out as suddenly as it had come into being. ‘“*T was right,” muttered the colonel. ‘‘ Some one who is playing for the Frisco millions is in the house.” . The next moment he oe the sound of a footstep. It was in the hall directly before him. He straightened in the doorway, put up the revolver, and silently drew a knife. “This is better than the dropper. It talks in As fer the sport in the hali, his eyes flashed whispers, but it is deadly, all the same,” he! brilliantly. His clothes showed marks of the said. Each second seemed ten minutes to the colonel now. The unseen man, whoever he was, was making slow progress in the dark. It was evi- dent that he had removed his boots. At last a hand was laid on the jamb of the door—the one touched by Colonel Tarantula’s shoulder! It barely touched the man from Texas, ‘** This is ther room whar ther table trap is,” said a voice. The sound of these words went through the colonel like a knife. He had heard them before and he knew where. Suddenly he drew back from the door, clutch- ed his bowie’s hilt more firmly, and then threw himself forward like a lion. He seemed to know exactly where to leap. He could not have hit the unseen target better if he had sprung at it in daylight. ‘* Jupiter! hyer’s a tiger!” said the man struck by the Texan in the dark. ‘** You can bet yer life—a royal Texan tiger at that!” grated Tarantula, and his strength forced his antagonist across the hall and up against the wall although that antagcnist was his physical superior. | t seemed to take the attacked man halfa minute to recover, and that time brief as it was threatened to be fatal to him. Then began the real struggle for the mastery; the two men grappled and began to fight like beasts matched in the jungle’s heart. They went down upon the floor and writbed there, each trying all the while to loosen the bowie he carried. Such a combat within its walls the House of the Crimson Trump had ney- er seen before. A battle like this could not last long. During it all neither of the men had spoken, but their hot breaths had fallen thick and fast upon each other’s cheeks. At last Colonel Tar- antula found the hilt of a bowie. It was not his own as the first touch told him, but what cared he for that? Poa, it ig’ | he whipped it out only to find a han asp his wrist to pre- vent the blow he intended to make. The Texas whirlwind shut his teeth hard and jerked his arm loose. A sharp cry followed his success and hard upon it he struck where he thought the heart of his enemy ought to be! The blow dealt with all his power was follow- ed by a sharper cry, and the next moment the two men were apart, the colonel erect, with the strange knife in his hand and ready for a renew- al of the combat if the blow already dealt had not sufficed. Where was his enemy ?—Dead? For several minutes the only answer was silence, then a slight noise near the front door made the colonel turn in that direction. ‘**Some men ar’ born fools!” said a rough voice. “‘Colonel Tarantula, I am _ in prime fightin’ condition an’ dark as it is, P’ll bet a thou- sand thet I hev ther drop on yer!” Colonel Tarantula started. ‘“IT did not settle him!” he grated. } ~ Ruby Rob is ready to renew the duel while I can't without a rest.” The next moment the chapparal king quietly drew his revolver and crouched on the floor. ‘‘T think I know whar my target is,” he said between his teeth as be moved the weapon for- ward till his arm was straight. All at once the dark hall was filled as it were with a vivid flash and a loud report. P Colonel Tarantula had fired at the foe in the ark. The shot was accompanied by a heavy fall but no death-cry or groan, then all was still again. ‘That man must be a wizard,” said the as- tonished Texan, as he waited with his finger ou the trigger for the result of his fire. Silence again! Colonel Tararitula stood up hardly breathing. It was the most singular, and perhaps the most terrible adventure of bis life, At last he went forward to the door that opened into the second faro room. He crept inside with no noise, as he thought, and was about to change front when the door closed with a bang, and he was a prisoner in the room! Captain Rob was still a lively corpse, and decidedly he was on top again! An oath of amazement rattled from Colonel Tarantula’s throat.. ‘* This beats all my wildest games!” lated as his Pe, Een first thought was to open the door and shoot ge ge into the face of the man supposed be holding it. ‘For once in my life, I have encountered my equal. I was a fool for not shooting this man the night he robbed me in Taos years ago,” At that moment the hall outside became brilliantly lighted. Ruby Rob had turned on the gas thus revealing the door and giving him a chance to guard it for the appearance of the Texas sport on the inside, Colonel Tarantula saw the light over me e transom and understood his enemy’s action, was now the tiger in the cage. ; / desperate struggle which bad just been con- cluded. Ruby Rob had entered the famous house from the rear after leaving the cab, into which Idaho Ivan had forced him at the revolver’s muzzle; as we have seen. A frequenter of San Francisco’s faro resorts a few years previous to the date of cur story, and the companion of one Lion Dick, a former owner of the house, he knew it as weil as did Colonel 4 Tarantula. For some time he watched the door that had closed upon the beaten Texan, and the revolver clutch in his right hand was ready to move up and cover the man daring enough to \ open it. ‘“* This is a two-handed game, colonel,” he sud- denly called out. ‘‘ Since you’ve transferred it. from Satanscrown ter Frisco, ’'m willin’ ter play it out hyar.” ‘** Tt shall be played out!” came from the room beside the hall. ‘*The coward of Satanscrown — dare not meet me face ter face an’ bowie ter bowie in ther hall under ther gas. I’ve got yer bowie, Captain Rob, but accept my challenge an’ [ll toss it ter yer over ther transom.” ‘* Never mind, colonel,” laughed the man in the hall. ‘‘ Don’t be so eager for a fight, Mebbe. ye we'll meet on better terms hyerafter.” Pe: **'You an’ me?” “*'Yes, my chaparral tiger.” ** Never!’ ** Oh, well, suit verself!” was the reply, in the én same laughing but sarcastic strain. “ Tm al- yt ways on hand when I’m wanted, but just now I . can’t oblige yer, colonel,” ‘\ ‘*Coward!” hissed the fierce-eyed man, stand- ie ing in the light that came through the transom. “n ‘*Tve killed better men than you among ther ~ Taos Greasers!” "ee There was no answer, and the words died away ae > in a hiss. io Goa If Colonel Tarantula could have looked be- yond the door at that moment, he would have seen Ruby Rob spring forward witha smallcoib of rope in his hands. “4 At one end of the cord was a slip-noose like a. Age lasso, and all at once the bronzed hands of the We Satanscrown boss threw it over the door-knob, drew it tight, and held it with all bis strength. a The Texan tough heard the jar of the knob om: ” * . wy Ps Pare. bin a - 7 - —— the inside and seized it instantly, but quickas. he was the Colorado sport was quicker, and in a a flash the other end of the rope was secure to the: Zz ; oe ee of the stairs that ascended from. es: e@ ball, ' oa ‘‘ A rope’s no slouch even in Frisco, colonel,” came down from the transom, ‘‘ When you get < to ther end ov this little gold-game, please count. yer chips an’ I'll cash ’em all! Colonel Tarantula. This was erga! reached up and caught thedoor-frameoverhead. — Then, gripping his pistol-barrel with his teeth, __ he drew himself byte looked through the tran— r. som. It was not likely that Ruby Rob was ex- pecting a play of thiskind. In amoment the colonel saw his foe half-way up the steps,and his a figure was a splendid target. under the gas. ec?! Up went the revolver as the man from Texas drew himself up with one hand,and nerved him- self for the shot. OB: ale “It ismy game yet! Allthe princesofHades can’t eucher the chaparral king!” The muzzle of the weapon almost touched the = transom glass, and the finger of the colonel was at the trigger when Captain Rob moved. Wy eee ‘Ah! Tll catch you in a moment!” he said. In a moment something else happened, D3 RA All at once the man on the stair seemed tosee the ferocious face and the gleaming eyes pressed almost against the transom. . ald, ‘**Ha! is thet yer game, colonel?’ he laughed ~~ maliciously, and then before the chaparral tough could play, the transom was shattered around him, and he dropped to the floor like a man shot dead! a ee ‘* By Heaven! he beats lightning!” grated the _ colonel, as he picked himself up after one of the —s_— luckiest escapes of his life. ‘‘The gamefor the three millions is getting hot!” 1 ae 4 : The man in the went up the steps inte srl ve darkness, . | ae ‘‘T will have my own way now,” he said,in triumphant tones. “If the heiress of the Golden io Gate is in this house I will find her,” ree He turned down the narrow corridor that led from the landing and found a door. The mo- ment he touched it his keen ears caught a sound from the inside. a ‘* Mountain Moss?” he asked. Les “Tamhere! Ah! youare not Colonel Taran- tula! that is not his voice,” said the person be yond the door. | { ‘“‘IT have found her ag’in!” ejaculated Ruby ~ Rob. ‘Open the door,” he said. i ‘**I cannot. I have no key.” bey “Then, stand back!” ine As he uttered this command, the Satanscrowm = sport stepped back a pace and gathered his strength. ‘““Thar’s only a door between me an’ three millions,” he murmured; then like a Titan he dashed at the portal. | ty JOO com <=) (E