Beadle's Dime Library, No. 406 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

- gap and over the edge of the steep cu 2 flew along—‘‘ let go their heads!” The young man who drove would have been extremely handsome but for a certain cruel look in his dark eyes, and a way of compressing his lips under the black mustache when he whipped up his horses, that gave him the air of one who struck to hurt, every time. His friend was smoking a cigar and leaning lazily back as they bowled rapidly along, enjoy- ing the rapid motion, till one of the horses shied at a white mile-post by the roadside, and the dark man, with a furious oath, cut his team so cruelly that the blonde man exclaimed: ‘* For heaven’s sake, Stone, don’t! They might run away.” ‘* Run away be—” Mr. Stone uttered a curse of peculiar maligni- ty: and jerked at his horses’ bits while he flogged m savagely with a whip that had a piece of wire twisted into the snapper. ‘*Runaway? I'd liketo see them. I’d break their cursed jawbones!” he cried, passionately, ** Tl teach them to shy!” And they dashed on, the horses jerked so sav- agely that they were dancing over the road, when they heard a shrill, angry scream from a cross-lane that entered the road a little way ahead. The next moment the colossal form of a huge elephant made its appearance close by, the beast throwing his trunk aloft above a huge pair of tusks, and trumpeting shrilly! Stone’s friend uttered a cry of terror; the horses gave a furious plunge to one side, drag- ging Stone half out of the buggy; and then, with a squeal of mortal terror, away they went down the road opposite to that from which the elephant had come, full speed, running away to all intents and purposes, despite the utmost ef- forts of their driver, whose face had paled, and whose best skill was bent to the one purpose of wa the team straight—if he could. e horses were fairly mad with fear, and the elephant came after the buggy with rik strides, trumpeting in the same angry one, “Qh, my God! Stone, we'll be killed!” cried the fair man, and he clutched the rail of the buggy as if to leap out. Stone made no ng ot He was too busy hauling at his horses to keep them straight in the road, which described a curve, as he knew, and ended on a railway bridge about a mile off, over a fifty-foot cut- ting. Ww here the elephant had come from, how the brute got there, Stone never heeded. It was there, and his horses were going to take him in- to destruction, if he mi the narrow bridge. Awry went the buggy like a flash, and the blonde man was white as a sheet with fear, ut- tering craven lamentations, till his friend hissed viciously out of the side of his mouth: ‘*Shut up, you cursed coward! Do you want to scare them worse?” The blonde was silenced and sat there, cling- ing to the rail, till at last he ventured to look back up the road. : The elephant was still there, but he saw beside it a crowd of wagons and people, while a single figure on horseback was crossing the fields, leap- ing fences in the way, cutting across the chord of the curve taken by the road, and trying to get ahead of the buggy. Then George Leonard turned to look ahead in, and the team had come to the top of a siope, at the bottom of which was the rai cutting and bridge across it. The bridge was broad enou to pass, but at the entrance there was no fence to guide a runaway team toward it, and an- other road led aside so raters: that it was a toss-up whether the team would not h for two vehicles o for the tone was livid as he saw his ny | t he managed to say, in broken, jerky sentences, as he tugged at the reins: a en you can’t do anything—else—jump! Curse them! I'll break their necks as—well’smy own!’ Leonard was just preparing to jump when a new actor came upon the scene. A lady on a chestnut horse came flying over the rail fence into the road, and in another mo- ment was galloping by the horses. “Let go their heads!” she screamed, as they Stone might not have obeyed, had he not be- n to weaken from his intense exertions. He id relax his grip. | The lady was age (! on the side of the gap, alloping on, and he heard her talking to the Forecs, 500 hingly, while she patted them en- y, not attempting to check them. spt on the side of the gap, and as they neared it, with her riding-whip she kept fleck- ing the near horse on the side of the neck to keep him from swerving. In two moments more they thundered over the bridge, full speed, and came to a steep hill on the other side, up which the now foaming team toiled, at a much slower cre “Steady, boys! steady! So, so! Gently, gently! + teady! W’oa!” cried the lady ahead in clear, girlish tones, as she patted and soothed them, till they slackened to a trot. ) Then she turned round on Stone the very ‘ vast wealth, and had nothing to do butspend it; pretty, saucy face of a girl of eighteen, framed , and Stone, his mentor in the arts of spending, in short, curly hair, and called out: with wits and audacity for capital. ‘** Now, young fellow, now’s yourtime! Pull | ‘ Colden A. Stone, Mining Broker,” was the them up; they’re pretty well tired out!” _ title of his business card, but he lived chiefly by Stone immediately gave a savage jerk to both | the fluctuations in stocks and the follies of the reins, and set his horses to rearing and plungiug public that attends at horse-races and backs again, when the girl screamed: | favorites. “Not that way, man! You're not fit tohave: And he lived well, judging from his teams horses! I ought to have let you break your and diamonds, neck, and served you right. Gently, gently! So, | ‘‘ Ay, ay,” he went on, as he walked his foam- so!” | ing horse slowly across the bridge, and looked at And somehow or other, under her soft voice the place of their escape, ‘‘ it wasn’t much the and gentle touch the mad team came to a stand- | girl did, after all, She’s riding all the time, and still, trembling all over, blown, with heaving has a good horse. If we had gone over, it flanks, covered with foam, and Leonard ex- | would have been all their fault, with their brute claimed, fervently: | of an elephant. I’m going to get even with ‘* Thank God! I thought we were gone!” | those men for frightening my team. You see if Stone, on the other hand, looked savage and | I don’t do it, George.” mortified to the last degree, though he said: For the saving of his life he had no thanks, **Madam, P’m much indebted to you, whoever —— you are; but as for those confounded circus CHAPTER II. | ae fel atliointesd him with a merry laugh POP HICES'§ SHOW, as she held up her whip, saying: . THE town of Popokus is celebrated, all over “Take care, young fellow! take care! I-be- foo Mone Eo rt of ge State of New York, for Then, as the two young men were too mane circus. dumfounded to answer, she went on, with a Popokus is known as a “good two-day stand for a wagon show” in the business, though it bi of her wet = 4 ‘ “T’'m sorry King Philip frightened your team : and I’ve done my best to prevent harm; but you does not pay for the monster concerns that have more than a thousand hands on the pay-roll, At ordinary times it will send any circus out ought to have known we were coming. Our bills have been through here for a week. Good-day, f its limits with gentlemen. Hope you won't suffer any ill con- | Of its limits with a full treasury, and the facto- sequences from your accident.” ries are forced to suspend business when the shows come into town. But on the evening after the adventure of She inclined her head slightly, wheeled her PRmCEy Siena TOW Jey86 cioes Sy sir eto Stone and Leonard with the elephant, Popokus was all agog with delight. be a beautiful, slender, thoroughbred oe one oe just starting off when Stone said, burs Two shows had come to the town at one time, and occupied green lots exactly opposite to each other, where two brass bands discoursed rival] melodies, wheretwo stentorian-voiced men stood at the gates roaring the praises of their shows, till even their lungs failed, and they were re- duced to hoarse whispers; while the populace, ' in bewilderment as to which show was to be the best, vibrated from one side to the other, and had to be run in by mam jorece end persuasion combined, as the ‘*‘ outside men” got a chance at them, Stretched along the top of one show was a broad canvas streamer that read: ‘Pop Hicks, Kine or SHOWMEN.” On the other side was a gigantic face, meas- | uring twenty feet from chin to forehead, with ‘*Excuse me, miss, but we owe you our lives. If you had not come up when you did, we might have gone over the bank.” She tossed her head slightly. ‘** Oh, that’s nothing. know the road, and father told me to cut you off. DPve no time to stay here. Good-day.” “But at least,” cried Stone, “tell me your name, that I may know you again.” She laughed at him in a way that embarrassed the bold sport, who, now that he saw she was exceedingly pretty, had resolved, in his own | phrase, to ‘‘ make a mash for all he was worth.” | ‘*My name?” she replied, curling her red lip. ‘*Oh, what are you giving me? If you want to know, come to the how and bring your friends. We want a few diamond-pins in the reserved seats to light up the house.” | the legend; ‘ that,” station iGtanty. sufficient for «@ BraGan BOWNSSE’s SHOW OF ALLSHOWS.”’ She laughed outright. Around these central legends were grouped ‘Well, you’re sick, young fellow,” she said, | pictures of horses, lions, tigers, elephants, birds, frankly, ‘“‘My eyes won’t pay for reserved | acrobats and riders execu ng marvelous feats, with legends attached ; and it was so herd for the simple folk of Popokus to decide which show was the most worthy of patronage, that most of them actually stayed away from both. It was ng near eight o’clock, the hour for the performance to begin, and still the tents were by no means full, when a stout old man, with a round, merry face and snow-white hair, bustled past the entrance of “ Pop Hicks’s Show,” and said to the hoarse-voiced man outside; “Whoop ’em up, Billy ; whoop ’em up,” The touter replied in a rueful whi . ‘“‘Guv'ner, I’m played. They wont whoop for acent, Hain’t no voice left.” The old man—it was Pop Hicks himself— looked keenly at the crowd in front and over at seats, and your diamonds may—thatis, if they’re real, of course.” | . Stone instantly drew his from his bosom and held it out, saying: ‘Take it, my love, and keep it in memory of | me. Isay, what is your name?” The man thought, from the frank way of the girl, that she was coquetting and willing to talk with him, but when he held out the diamond she colored high, and answered haughtily: ‘‘I’m not your love, sir. Keep your old paste pins for yourself.” Then without another word she wheeled her mare and galloped away across the bridge up the road, down which they had come. At the end of this road, where it crcssed the turnpike, they could now see gathered quite a | the rival show. crowd of vehicles and ee in the midst of | The touter on the other side had ceased to bel- which the giant form of the elephant towered. low, and his arms waved in a frantic manner, while his lips moved, but no sound came from them. ‘‘ He’s gone too, Billy!” chuckled Pop Hicks, ‘* It’s that circus we saw the bills of, as we age Popokus,” remarked George Leonard, as e pulled out a field-glass from under the car- riage seat and took a Jong survey of the group.*} with a grin. 5 ‘They’re breaking up now and moving on, an Then as he looked at tite people. still hesitat- the girl’s going back to them. I say, Colden, ing between the shows and the open space forehead, and jest the ll work don’t she ride pretty, and isn’t she a regular witch? Iswear I’ve a mind to go to that show for fun, just to get acquainted with that girl. She’s a ant Stone curled his lip slightly as he turned his horses round to walk back. | ‘Ride? Of course. That’s her business. Yi she’s confounded pretty. I guess I will goto the show, George. But you haven’t got a chance.” ‘* Why not?” inquired George, nettiled. ‘Why not? Because that girl knows the ropes, you bet. Those circus women alldo. It’s the stamps she’s after. Didn’t you see her eye glitter when she saw the diamond? [ll get round that girl yet, my boy.” George Leonard flushed slightly as he answered his friend: ‘We'll seo about that, Colden. DPve got a word to say too. She looked at me twice as much as she did at you.” | Stone smiled rather contemptuously. ‘*Go ahead, dear boy. I won’t interfere with your little game. But Ill bet ycu an even thousand I cut you out.” | They were a precious pair; George Leonard, the son of a rich mine-owner, who had inherited | in a dense crowd, he struck muttered: ‘Stoopid — stoopid! Why, that’s racket to catch ’em. Hold on, Billy; em. He dashed into the inclosure again, rushed into the tent, crossed the ring at a run, and came tearing into the space behind, where stable and peongs Feary i Rea tite ere, boys e cried. **Who’s r von who's ready? All of you—I want you!” ae The performers were gathered round, with old coats thrown over their tights, and the sta- blemen were giving the last touches to the har- ness when he entered. Tom Fowler, the bareback rider, a little dap- per fellow with a waxed mustache, jumped up to answer: e I'm ready, guv’ner. What's the racket?’ ‘Get out, the whole caboodle of you,” said Pop Hicks excitedly. ‘You've got five min- utes left. Ride like Old Scratch round the tent and whoop up the guys, They don’t know where to go, sir—don’t know,’ by gosh! Whoop ’em up, boys, whoop ’em up! Show Bownsse a trick in show business, at’s it, my boys. Old Pop’s hard to beat.” nd in fact the quick-witted men and women Eomicbooks