Beadle's Dime Library No. 395 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

oF a & | \ —_ * ' ‘ ‘leaving the | brother, pet al f : 5 + 4 & Deadly Aim, the Duke of Derringers, o~., one among the wealthiest men of his age. But there his prosperity ceased. His home was an unpleasant one, for his wife had grown sour and hardened by that unnatural rivalry, increased by failing health. One after another their children sickened and died, until, when Helen Wellspring was borne to her grave, ' but one remained—she who was to become the central figure in a strange and desperate fight for gold. Long before this period, Romulus Wellspring had business enterprises in half the principal cities of the Union, and a dozen beautiful homes in as many different localities, His love, always strong, now concentrated itself on Portia. Jealously he watched her, fearing lest she, too, | should wrested from him by the hand of * death, magnifying her slightest pec Samy into dangerous illness, petting and coddling her | asonly a man of his nature can, Though she | grew stronger as she grew older, he could never _Yresteasy. In his eyes she was ever an invalid, ' on whom a frosty breath must never blow. And it was mainly for her that he built his beautiful house and formed his lovely grounds near New | Orleans, where Portia passed all save the very | hottest months of the year. 3B During these years Romulus Wellspring was | not permitted to wholly forget his brother or | _ his brother’s wife. At brief intervals he would | _ receive some token from them, perhaps only a | word or a —— phrase, but each one calculated to deepen the breach between them. Three sey- fie eral times strong opposition grew up against his business, each one engineered if not entirel concocted by Remus; each time he conquered, - though not without hard work and great ex- > Then came a long silence, and it was fully a year afterward that Romulus learned this was owing, no doubt, to the death of Ellen Well- spring. By close inquiry he learned that Remus was egy breaking up in constitution if not in mind, but he felt only a grim satisfaction at the tidings. - It was retribution. ws Three years later Remus died, leaving—still 4% | the coincidence was maintained—a single child, - and she a daughter within a few weeks of Por- tia’s age, named Marcia. If not actually poor, _ she had but a trifle left her, comparatively ite ing: a small plantation near the Missis- . drat River, with barely enough slaves to carry f on. _ She was more enterprising, or else possessed a meeker spirit than her mother, for soon after the death of her father, she wrote to his twin itifully mey-maiange her situation, beg- ging him to help her bury the past, or at least to grant her an interview in person. She felt that e would not refuse this favor, and so he might — her almost as early as the letter reached im, _ She made the visit, but too late to intercept her uncle. As the easiest method of averting what must prove a disagreeable scene, Romulus _ Wellspring fled in hot haste, only returning to _ the city when informed of her departure. Twice “. more rcia endeavored to meet him, but as often was she foiled. And then her real nature revealed itself. She not only wrote him an abusive letter, but actually caused her side of the almost peascen failure to be published in me sy the papers, making him out a scoundrel of the ey) Very t water. The assault on himself he ‘ie have overlooked, but it was coupled with one on his wife and family. In it all, there was %, _ but the shadow of truth, but even a ghost of that sort has teeth that bite deep and pain- y ~~ e . aes igh the lawyer who attended to all of his more dubious work, Romulus Wellspring _ guarded against any further attacks of this sort, -. and thanks to Silas Cramp, he had heard noth- rt fag . ae < _» |. Urgent business called him from Fairview to $St. Louis in late spring and while there he was -guddenily taken ill. At first glance, the doctor : “a called in feared it was a case of cholera, but the alarming symptoms soon moderated, though patient alarmingly weak. The * | strong, hale and hearty man of business laughed h ‘y take thought for the future. y - Romulus Wellspring not been a five-fold million- to scorn the roundabout hint that it might be as well to send for his daughter and begin to It was but a pass- ing indisposition, and long ere the child could _- reach him he would be on his feet again, sounder than ever. And so he believed while saying, -. too, but as the days and nights passed on, each _ one Jeaving him weaker and less inclined to a * ~~ MA laugh at what the result might be, he summoned Silas Cramp to him, and in the end: bade his old -- Jawyer and far-away relative hasten to fetch wi FO to his bedside. *Not that I’m going to knock under, mind rs. ou,” he muttered with all his old obstinacy. _. * Til outlive every mother’s sonof you! But a . gight of her sweet face will be worth more than ee all e drugs in your pharmacy, doctor!” A very distant relative indeed was Silas - Cramp—so distant, that the tinge of kindred ‘blood would never have been thought of, had ¢ ‘ aire. It was only wheng in an humble, yet te. - geemingly playful mood one day, the old lawyer ing of Marcia Wellspring for several years when \ this chronicle opens. §.°4 . - 4 i ’ .* f . -_ —_ f ; Disa 2 4 a at Ay .} s %& oe) % ed ie his carefully-arranged proofs before ellspring, that the latter admitted the possi- bility of kinship. ‘‘ It may be, Cramp,” was the careless reply. ‘** Keep on claiming, if you find any pleasure in so doing. But don’t take to building air-castles on the kinship. All the good you or yours will ever get out of me, lies in your skill at picking and stealing during my lifetime.” This was too blunt not to be genuine, and as Silas Cramp lived only for gold or its equivalent he turned his never idle wits into a different channel. a fine, manly, handsome-looking woo and win the proudest heiress in all the land, and setting him, bade him make the most of his opportunity while Romulus Wellspring was absent from home. It would be none the harder task that Portia was ignorant of the very remote rela- tionship. Rufus was nothing loth, since Silas provided him with plenty of money the better to enable him to hold his own in the Southern capital; and had he possessed one-half the wits that filled that foxy head, he might have succeeded in his pursuit, for chance gave him a most favorable introduction to Portia Wellspring, and he was really a fine-looking fellow when sober and in good-humor. Unluckily for Rufus, however, he happened t> meet Portia in the city one afternoon, when his wits were all tangled up with strong drink and heavy losses at the gaming-table-, If he had accepted her first polite rebuff, all might have been well, even then, for drinking was no sin, if not actually fashionable in those days; but he was ever ugly in his cups, and in- sisted on her taking lunch with him. She re- fused, he insisted. The upshot was his actually trying to force her to comply, and his drunken grip on her arm was so severe as to draw a cry of pain from her paling lips. hen—the ground seemed to fly up and strike Rufus full in the face, hurling him into the mid- dle of the street! He struggled to his feet, only to see Portia Wellspring hurrying away from a tall, graceful fellow, whose shining hat was lifted above his curling locks of jet, whose costume was rich and in the hight of the then fashion. And as his hand mechanically sought his painfully smart- ing face, the red blood solved the mystery of his a “Struck—you struck me, curse you!” Rufus snarled, viciously, diving a hand between his collar and the back of his neck, plucking forth a glittering blade, at the same time crouc ing for a leap upon the man who had disgraced him, according to manly etiquette. = And t ask pardon of my glove for so dishon- oring it, you cur!” the champion of beauty cried his eyes flashing, his lips curling as he turned upon the bleeding rascal. ‘Tl cut your heart out for that blow!” grated Cramp, leaping forward, only to fling ine his hand and shake his tingling fingers with a howl of mingled pain and rage. His first and most natural impression, seeing a spout of smoke issue from the swiftly elevated hand of the other, and hearing a sharp report, was that his fingers had been shattered by the derringer ball. Instead, the bullet had torn the blade from his grasp by flattening on the steel against the guard, bits of lead breaking the skin of his hand and adding pain to the benumbing shock | ‘‘ Not with that knife, you cur,” laughed the sharpshooter, mockingly, as the short but ter- ribly effective weapon vanished from his hand, to be instantly Oy aced by a fresh one. The street was fairly well occupied by citizens hurrying to and fro, all of whom were arrested by the sound of an affray, but not one offered to interfere. None of them had the authority even if the will was present, and there was no peace officer within sight. ; And then, few men who knew him at all, would care to interfere with Duke Hare iiiget when his blood was fairly aroused, as now. e was slow to rouse to fighting pitch, but when that happened, he had such a marvelous tact in handling his favorite weapons—neat, substantial tools which had given him his significant title of “Deadly Aim,” and ‘‘The Duke of Derrin- gers,”—that any sober man would prefer a lit- tle time to set his house in order before courting his fate. * More than half-drunk, partially blinded by the blood that flowed from his bruised nose and the clean cut under each eye, Rufus Cram quickly ‘recognized The Duke and shrunk hack with an involuntary cry that was hardly one of deadly defiance, The Duke laughed musically, but with con- tempt in every tone, as he saw this pitiful flinch- ing. The derringer dropped from his hand and he stooped to pick up the slender, flexible cane which a” had dropped on leaping to the rescue. ‘‘T shall have to do penance for a month for stooping so low, you miserable cur,” he said, his voice cold and cutting, distinctly audible to every oue within eyeshot, advancing toward the shrinking wretch, bis left. hand closing on Cramp’s collar, st him to obey the order given at the same time. » : A f 7 : We vs 7 ‘ > He had some oe of his son, Rufus, | fellow, fit to | mercy. | deep-laid plans against the Wellspring millions ‘*On your knees and to his son, who heartily coinolided with all he beg, you scoundrel! Swear you will never again dare to even accost that lady, much less a her as you did a minute since! Down, I sa owerless in that iron grip, Rufus Cramp . was forced to his knees in the middle of the street, and then, amidst the laughter and cheers | of the crowd, that limber cane fell in swift strokes, each one feeling like a rod of hot irom wrapping about his person. So intense was the eg so thoroughly demoralized was the wretch y his double defeat, that his feeble remnant of manhood fled and he roared and begged for The Duke of Derringers gave him a push that the glorious prospect fairly before | sent him sprawling in the dust, tossing both cane and gloves after him with a gesture of contempt, then turning on his heel and moving leisurely away, outwardly as cool and compo as ever. This was the incident that Silas Cramp could never get his son to fully reveal, though common rumor spread the report until he gleaned a tolerably correct idea of what had really occur- red. And this was why Rufus Cramp failed in his first stroke for the hing. pie millions, Several times since then he had met Portia but she, too, had heard how cravenly he had acted, and though she ever treated him with »oliteness, there was a sort of pitying contempt in her manner which Rufus was quick to de- tect, though, to do her justice, Portia strove to conceal the sentiment whenever thrown into his society. Shortly after that, chance—or fate—threw Rufus into contact with Marcia Wellspring, the sole surviving member of the other branch, and almost before he was aware of his danger, he was over head and ears in love with the girl. Only for his possessing considerable of the Same avaricious spirit which moved all the actions of his father, Rufus would have pressed his suit more hotly, would have lost no time in making Marcia his wife: and this he might easily have done, just then. It wasshortly after Silas Cramp paid her that warning visit, and she was feeling very lonesome, much discour- aged, and found it only too easy to fall in love with this dashing young fellow. Shedid admit. that his love was reciprocated, and would have cheerfully named the important day, but Rufus: unaccountably refrained from pressing that ‘ delicate point, He was in love, and really wished nothing better than to marry Marcia, but— While Rufus was dallying with his fate thus, chance again took a hand in the game, by throwing one of his intimate associates ashore at the little landing nearest the plantation where Marcia Wellspring lived. Chance brought Rufus to the landing, where he was somewhat embarrassed to meet and be recognized by his. chum, Kyte Darley. Of course there was nothing for it but to take Darley back to the plantation where he himself was staying; and of course southern hospitality made Marcia press the gentleman to stay. Kyte Darley was nothing loth, for he had an eye for beauty, and Marcia was indeed beauti- ful in face and figure. And Marcia seemed to. the full as much pleased with this tall, athletic Southerner, whose clear if dark complexion was so different from the sallowness so common among men of his race, There was a charm in his quiet, almost sleepy demeanor that seemed to soothe her fiery, impatient spirit. His voice was so musical, his politeness so flattering yet. never obtrusive, his admiration so genuine, yet. so modestly vailed! All this Marcia frankly confided to Rufus, possibly in order to show him that there was yet a chance of his losing the prize he so ve- emently vowed he most longed to possess, yet plainly shrunk from securing bwvont all chance of losing, possibly because she was in sober earnest, Hither way, she had the satisfaction of making him terribly jealous. Cutting his. own visit short, he took Kyte Darley away with him, mentally vowing that he should never more invade his little Garden of Eden. He returned at the first opportunity, resolved to dare all for the sake of love, but now it. was Marcia’s turn to fight shy. She would not listen to him when he begged her to name the day for their wedding. She insisted on his first bringing his father to see her, vowing that without his full approval, she would never marry the son. It would bea sin to bring dis- sension into the family! F | Of course Rufus refused to believe in this. She was fickle. She had fallen in love with that infer- nal blackleg, and caught at the first pretext to sever their engagement that she might turn to Darley. But she should never marry him! He ' should die the death of a dog! He would hunt him out and slay the villain! And when he parted from Marcia, Rufus hag firmly resolved to do this, let the consequence be what it might. But little by little his valor oozed out at his finger-tips, and when he did meet Kyte Darley next it was simply to go on a howling apree with him, winding up with empty pockets and too-full head. Long before this Silas Cramp had confided his Sa ee Ses Fe he « OSes AIL “SG “ie. We : » nF | (E() a oxo) fd — @ See