Beadle's Dime Library No. 407 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

1 4 - + 0 ———— ee | | | Neg - ar Of ike, & : Captain Coldgrip’s ‘“This is the last of the New York sleuth- hound,” he said between his teeth. “It isa ‘worse fata than the one to which we sent Jack Javert, There is no revenge like Injun Nick’s! I would not have thought of this last play, but Nugget Nox ¢hinks of everything.” The fire leaped on, getting further from the revengeful red who showed no disposition to re- join his band. ) He could not see beyond the rolling volume of smoke and the hissing tongues of flame as the latter destroyed the grass, but he could picture in his fertile imagination a blanched buman face above the ground, and two eyes appealing to Heaven for help. ‘*Captain, are we to go on?” said a voice at his side, and the Indian looked into the face of his chief of torture, Nugget Nox. Tl] throw one-half of the peg ‘find’ at your feet for this!” Injun Nick exclaimed clutching the bronzed sport’s arm as he leaned toward him. ‘‘See how the fire tries to get at the boss tracker of America! It isrushing upon him with the fury of a horde of tigers! is pays all the debts [ owe Captain Coldgrip. He never thought of this when he was dragging me across the continent in a palace car. New York and its courts were in his mind then, not the Grande Mesa and a doom like this! I wish I could stay here until I could see nothing ahead but a biackened waste; but the new game awaits us. From this hour we can play for the Spanish bonanza with no fears of Claude Cold- grip. Yes, we will move on, Nugget Nox. Ju- — Pluvius! was there ever a vengeance like njun Nick’s?” ‘Thar never war!” said the man, who tyrned away with a final glance at the fire sweeping on like a sea of flame. Injun Nick wheeled his horse and turned in his saddle. ‘*Some time I will come back, captain!” he shouted, as if his words could reach the doomed detective faraway. ‘‘I have marked the spot, and I can find itat night if necessary. Injun Nick will one day look — his work, and it will be when he holds the key to the lost Ophir. Three cheers, men of gold, for the revenge of the Scarlet Hercules!” Injun Nick took off his hat and whirled it above his head in the faces of his band. A dozen sombreros were lifted at the signal, and the next moment three ringing cheers rose above the roar of the fire! ‘‘That ends the play!” cried the captain, rid- ‘ing to the head of the band. ‘*‘Once more we move upon the bonanza big enough to make fifty men millionaires!” A dozen spurs touched the heated rowels of as many steeds, and the fiends of mountain and plain were once more on the gallop. Their backs were to the fire now, but every now and then their red leader threw a victorious look over his shoulder. The mesa was fast being burned over, for the rass was dry, and yielded readily to the es. Injun Nick felt that he had scored one of the wh Wises will de Ged?” be asked, Nuceot N n t en @ as ugget Nox, after a backward glance at the fire. * The chief of torture thr be «Tt is all over now,” voi lh > dear look east CHAPTER XTI. THE TRAIL OF A MUMMY. In the mean time, a somewhat thrilling event connected with our story had happened else- where, Let us see what it was, and, in order to do so, ‘we must go back to San Tonquin. The court established by rold Chick for the examination of strangers had not been produc- ‘tive of satisfactory results. The sudden departure of Injun Nick and Cap- tain Coldgrip had stripped the town of persons of this sort, so that the mad pards found nobody on whom to wreak vengeance for the murder of Major Micuel. ld Chick waited at the Red Lizard until he lost his patience, and then took his departure, outwardly very anxious to avenge the landlord’s death, but inwardly caring very little for the unfortunate major. . He regarded him only in the light of a rival adventurer, which indeed he was, another of those men whose overmastering desire was to find the long-buried millions of the Padre’s Pal- ace Mine, Major Miguel had tried te play a bold hand against a person who was his superior in strength, agility and cunning, and the play had terminated disastrously for him. __ In short, the owner of the Red Lizard had att & prey to the tiger ferocity of Injun Gold Chick went straight to Padre ’Selmo’s little hut after leaving the hotel. As we know, he was not the first person who had visited it in search of the Mummy of San ‘Tonquin, and if he expected to find” Imo at ome, he was doomed to disap The little hut, with its few articles in confu- pointment. sion, had not been visited since Injun Nick’s de- Pparture, and Gold Chick did not think it neces- sary to spend much time there. * as - ‘a p el al . . od : 5 ‘aR ‘‘Something has frightened Father Anselmo off,” the sport ejaculated. ‘* He is not a man to leave without cause. Can it be that he really possesses the key of the Spanish bonanza, as re- port says, and that he has fled to it when he found somebody hot on the trail.. I have a little time on my hands. Tunis is on his way to Santa Fe to tell the captain that ’Selmo is miss- ing, and that Gerta wants to visit Santa Fe in person to see Colonel Smilax, alias Jack Brown, of Brown’s Valley. Now, I am going to see what kind of a sleuth-hound I make.” A moment later Gold Chick had the door of ‘Selmo’s hut behind him. ** Nearly one year ago ’Selmo turned up miss- ing, and remained away for seven days, He had San Tonquin turned upside down during his absence, and when he came back nobody got any satisfaction from him. He was last seen to enter the church, and when he reappeared, he came out of it.” Gold Chick walked to the little church with words like these falling from his lips, pushed the door open and istered. / Captain warig as the reader will recollect, ee there before him, but he was not aware of this. Gold Chick found the interior of the church dark enough for the use of a match; he struck one as he advanced up the narrow aisle, and saw objects with tolerable distinctness. ‘This may be profanity, but I can’t help it,” he said with a slight chuckle. ‘'I would invade the realm of the dead for a key to the Padre’s Palace. I want to find what men have died for. Don’t I know that the Spanish Mine is nota myth? Nobody believes it is but a lot of fools and cowards.” Gold Chick advanced to a little alcove behind the altar. It was carpeted with a kind of mat- ting, which was well worn but still intact. He lit one of the little candles found by his match, and then took up the matting. A board flooring rewarded his labors, and one apparently without any cracks. he keen eyes of the mine-hunter glistened as he moved his candle over the floor and inspected every square inch of its surface, Here and there he struck it with the hilt of his bowie, and listened attentively to the sounds produced, At last his eyes caught a new gleam, and the next moment the point of the bowie was in a crack scarcely perceptible to the keen- est he A Wi i have to outwit Satan when they beat Gold Chick!” broke from the sport’s lips, and then he moved a board, with the strong blade of the eight-inch bowie as the motive power. Three minutes later, with a force almost trans- figured by triumph, Gold Chick was looking into a dark opening large enough to admit the body of a man. His ane gleamed with unmistakable victory, and he looked like a man who had suddenly dis- covered a mine of wealth. Gold Chick held his little candle into the place, but its feeble light could not dissipate the rkness. “Pll get at the bottom of this find, if it ends in China!” he exclaimed. ‘I don’t say that I have found the Padre’s Palace, but, by Jupiter! Pve made a discovery unknown to San Ton- uin. . He lowered the trap back into its place, and dashed from the church, not for help, but for a coil of black rope, with which he soon re- turned, determined and full of hope. Once more Gold Chick leaned over the trap in the little alcove. e uncoiled the rope and Gropped it into the pit, retaining one end in his and, His heart gave a sudden throb when the lasso touched bottom. The San Tonquin sport next proceeded to se- cure one end of the rope to a stationary fixture near by, and the next minute he had equipped himself for an adventure of some kind, , With several little waxen candles in bis - ets, and his bowie held firmly between his teeth Gold Chick caught the rope and lowered himself resolutely into the opening. Stygian darkness closed about the sport as he descended hand-over-hand until he had reached the end of his cord. ‘Just rope enough!” chuckled Gold Chick when he stood on solid ground and caught his breath, for the descent had heen rather rapid. ‘*T don’t know what this find will amount to, but I’m in for all thar is of it, gold or no gold.” The next moment he had struck a match and lighted one of the candles, . ard walls surrounded him on three sides and the gold sport could not repress an exclamation when he found on them marks of iron tools. In a little while Gold Chick was moving down a narrow corridor whose low ceiling made him stoop. Every now and then he stopped to examine the walls and not infrequently he gave utterance to ejaculations of joy. ' Gold Chick believed himself in luck. AW at once a puff of air—strange for that weird See AP es out his candle. The Tonquin sport gave vent to an oath of vexation an peakshedl h eenet for a match. Then another curse was heard més, : * = 0 + : ‘§. ~~ . é A > et aod a? 2 a) ie I Nerve. il ee discovered that he had used the last one, and “rams he possessed no means to prosecute the unt! Gold Chick swore roundly and in bad humor as he ransacked his pockets fora lucifer. He cursed his stupidity in not bringing more matches, and the wind which had extinguished his candle came in for a good share of abuse. ‘* Hang it all! [ll go ahead in the darkness!” he suddenly exclaimed. ‘I'll make the best of a poor ‘hand’ as I’ve done many a time before, If this is the Spanish Mine, I can afford to lack a few lucifers. Here goes! I’m a dandy in the dark, for I’ve got the eyes of an owl!” Once more Gold Chick was moving down the dope, deeper and deeper into some unknown ace. e If one could have seen him he would have noticed an expression of stern resolution in his eyes. He carried a naked bowie in his right hand ready for any emergency that might oc- cur. Gold Chick kept on until a noise checked m. : It was a slight noise like that made by the falling of a stone on a hard natural floor. Of course it was enough to bring the San Ton- quin sport to a halt. He leaned against the wall at his right and listened. , ‘Tam under San Tonguin, as near as I can calculate,” he said to bimself. ‘* There’s more than one man there who'd where I stand. Gold Chick, you have found the millions of the Spanish discoverers. You are the lucky man of a thousand. What's the use of hunting for Father ’Selmo now? As a sleuth-hound on a gold-trail, I’m a premium suc- cess! For more than ten minutes Gold Chick lis- tened for another sound, but none came. He was a hundred yards from the lasso be had left dangling in the shaft. Should he go back or advance? If he had been supplied with matches he would not have hesitated a moment, but what could he do in the dark? The way back was almost straight; he could find his lasso by feeling the wall of the corridor he bad traversed. ‘*T’ll go back for a light,” he said. ‘‘ What’s the use of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth when you can strike a find like this? Now, with Gerta kept from meeting Colonel Smilax, and the key to the Padre’s Palace in my hands, I’m the reigning nabob of America. J ehosaphat! I could jump over the Red Liz- ard!’ He turned to go back, when the strange noise | again assailed his ears. This time it did not ing stone. Gold Chick leaned forward with every sense on the alert, and his bronzed fingers got a firmer grip on the bowie handle. panied by a dazzling flash, drove him back. He uttered a cry of horror! The air about him seemed on fire and the fumes of sulphur almost stifled him. For the moment Gold Chick, brave as he was, was in an agony of terror. The sudden light died away as quickly asit bad flashed into existence, sport. ‘‘ In the name of wonder—” é He stopped abruptly, for a I'ttle flame had sprung into life, an Gold Chick leaned forward — and watched it increase in strength. As he did so, he saw that it was burnin against a wall about twenty feet away, an while he looked he saw the outlines of a huge © hand pierced with two daggers, whose hilts shone as if set in diamonds, exclaimed the San Tonquin sport. He was answered almost before he had ceased to ak. It was a little figure scarce] with closely shaven head and a skin as the parchment covering of a mummy. Gold Chick’s distended eyes became fastened — upon it from the first, for he had discovered — that he stood in the presence df the runaway padre Anselmo. When the sport recovered from his astonish- — ment his first thought was to rush and seizethe © Mummy of San Tonquin; but he restrained himself with an effort and ccntinued to look _ on. All at once the light shining on the wall grew dim and the dagger-pierced band vanished, In its place appeared the well-defined head of a Spanish friar of a past century, and not unlike — Father ’Selro’s. “Tl su 1” exclaimed Gold Chick. ‘When my lin in fan touches him the old fellow will jumpcut _ years’ hide. Here goes for busi- of his hundred ness and sport.’ The of San Tonquin tip-toe, his padre, and lided forward cn cS pa Eomichoo ive his head to stand | have the sound of a fall- .. he next moment a thunderous report, accom- | ‘*Ts this Satan’s workshop?” exclaimed the ‘“T see the magic—where is the magician?” ‘ at once in the light of the fire appeared a — figure which almost drove the gold sport back. — five feet in hight — yellow as _ rprise the Mummy and end this jug- | com P ’ aM, > ha oe ae v: 4" y oat . “<a TT?) —— aoe ¢. 4% vt» \ é - >» * i a 4 4 ma lee] - Y VE Soa he ers f, amd * e"“ | > ~ % 5 a es fixed on the little ff€ure of the is fingers moving nervously as if = as the gold hunter ‘ eager to close on their prey. Rete to '