Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 41 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

Both Gold Dan and the Mexican girl listened, somewhat at a loss to account for the noise, From the sounds one would be apt to imagine that a whole regiment of cavalry was prancing by in the street. “Hallo, what’s that—soldiers?”’ the plainsman queried. ‘“‘That is what it sounds like,” and as she spoke the girl rose from her seat and advanced toward the window, with the intent of seeing the cause of the unusual sounds, But before Kate had taken three steps across the room, the door of the saloon was thrown open suddenly, and the Mexican host of the Castle of Durango, Michael Castana, rushed into the apartment, evidently much excited. He closed the door Lehind him, and uttered a guttural excla- mation as his eyes fell upon the person of Gold Dan. ‘Aha! I thought so!” he cried, hastily. ‘“‘Caramba! I knew it the moment I saw them! Fly at once!” and with these words, Castana rushed to the rear door of the saloon and flung it open. The plainseman watched him in astonishment. ‘Fly, fly; there is no time to lose!” the Mexican cried. ‘e Fly 1”? ‘Yes; you have not a moment to lose!” ‘“ Why the deuce should I fly?” “Your life would not be worth a moment’s purchase, if they discover that you are here!” ‘* They—who?” ‘““The Mormons—the Danites, and John Clark is at their head !” By this time Kate had reached the window, and, looking forth upon the street, saw that her father’s words were only too true. ‘Yes, yes!” she exclaimed, in haste. ‘It is John Clark, and all his Destroying Angels with him—fifty, at the least!” The plainsman did not seem to be very much alarmed. He drew his revolvers, and glanced at the charges carefully, placed them upon the table before him, and then began to pick his teeth, unceremoniously, with a straw, which had been lying upon the table, a waif from the brush-broom used by the waiter to remove the crumbs. “Oh, ob!” cried Michael Castana, in profound amazement, as he looked upon this man of ice, ‘ will you stay here to be murdered in cold blood?” ‘Can I make any thing by attempting to fly?” Gold Dan asked, quietly, answering one question by asking another, after the fashion of a Yankee lad. “But they will kill you, sure, if they find you here!” Cas- tana exclaimed. ‘They are armed, every man of them, and they have force enough to sweep the town. It is madness to remain here!” «‘ And madness to attempt to escape by flight, if they are really after me and bound to have my scalp. They are mounted, and I am not, and if they mean business, and John Clark is half the man he is reported to be, the chances are a hundred to one that the house is closely surrounded on all sides—that is, if he knows that I am here.” “The house does seem surrounded,” the girl added, scanning the situation without, eagerly, from her post at the window. ‘There is nothing to be gained by attempting to fly,” Gold Dan observed, discussing the matter as coolly as though his life or death did not tremble in the balance. ‘‘ Here I have the advan- tage of fortifications. My seven-shooters are good for twenty- eight lives, if every bullet tells, and as I’ve had some experience in this sort of thing before, I won’t be apt to waste many shots. If it is to be a struggle for life, I'll sell it as dearly as possible, and these Danites are better men than I take them to be, if they push the attack after I’ve dropped five or six of the boldest of them.” This bold and calculating fellow never seemed to think that, by any possibility, he could be hit. Both of the Mexicans gazed at the plainsman in wonder. What manner of man was this, who not only proposed, single- handed, to face fifty men, but even believed that he would prove the conqueror in the fight? Ah! there have been giants in valor in our wild western land! Heroes as great as those old-time “sharps,” whose praises blind Homer has sung in deathless verse! “Tt is madness; fly, fly!” Castana urged, almost unable to believe that he had heard rightly. : “Oh, no; I know my game, and I'll play it with a bold hand,” the plains:..an replied, in his easy way, rising as he spoke and sitting carelessly on the edge of the table. ‘I'll die, if die I must, game to the last, and if I am doomed to the happy hunting-grounds, the way won’t be so lonesome, nor the journey seem so long, if I have John Clark and a half-a-dozen of his Destroying Angels to keep me company. Besides, do you think that the men of Corinne are going to stand idly by and see me butchered in cold blood? Not much!” The Mexican shook his head. ‘Qh, there are too many of them, and all the railroad men are away attending to their work. It will take a bold man to face the Danites in your behalf.” ‘ t But bold men there were in the town that mcrning. It is a trite saying, and generally proves true, that when great emergencies arise, the man comes forward to meet them,” and in this case hardly had the words left the Mexican’s lips, when the side-door of the saloon was opened abruptly, and a shock- haired, huge-bearded head, surmounted by a frightful bad hat, was protruded into the apartment. es I know’d it!” the ake of the head cried. “(I would have bet all the rocks from hyer to the gay old town of Cinnabar onto it! Pard, they air after you; tooth and toe-nails, the Mormon galoots! Cavortin’ in the squar’, air they, an I Gold Dan. | 25 s’picioned that an antelope ’bout your size was meat they were a-sp’ilin’ for. I heerd that you were in hyer, and Ive jist passed the word around town, and though, mebbe, we won’t be able to count noses with the cusses, yet we'll gi’n ’em a lively tussle for their money!” And then the Red-Dog giant marched himself into the room, and those within noticed that he fairly bristled with weapons. ~~ Such a reinforcement was not to be despised. . Search the annals of the wild western border, and not one, but a dozen instances will the seeker after knowledge find, when one or two men, armed with desperation and nerved by the thought that almost certain death stared them in the face, have confronted a host, and not only baffled the murderous attack, but severely punished the assailants. All noise without had ceased, and the Mexican girl at the window, with anxious eyes, watched the movements of the Mor-, mons. The force of the Danites had been somewhat overestimated; there were not fifty men in the party, but there were at least thirty, beside the leader, Long John Clark—each and every man armed to the teeth; revolvers belted to their sides, broad-bladed knives thrust sheathless through their leather belts, and sone few of them carried rifles slung over their shoulders. The coming of the Danites had been entirely unexpected. They had ridden at a gallop into town, halted right in the center of Corinne, just before the door of the Castle of Durango, dispatched six men to hold the upper entrance to the town, just as N had already left behind them six more to guard the lower road. There was no mistaking the meaning of these ominous prepara- tions. The Mormons meant business! Attracted by the unusual sight, the good folks of the town began to gather timidly in the street and stare at the fierce armed men, but all kept prudently near their doors, They realized that the Danites came with bloody intent. A conflict might begin at any moment, and stray bullets are no respecters of persons. That the Mormons came in search of Gold Dan, was the natural thought of all who had witnessed the exciting scenes which had transpired on the night when the Mormon, Googer, had perished by the hand of the secret assassin, and therefore all the more reckless spirits of the town, the bold souls who chafed under the stern Mormon rule, began to feel of their weapons and to wonder what show they stood ifit came to a hand-to-hand encounter with the Destroying Angels. The burly Red-Dogite fuirly represented the sentiments of many a rough fellow in the town of Corinne that day, when he declared his readiness to stand by Gold Dan unto the last ex- tremity. With the advent of the railroad men and their satellites into the town, the spirit of resistance to the Mormons had deepened and widened much, and now, on this occasion, although the Danites were out in strong force, more than one bold Gentile felt inclined to risk a quarrel with them so that the question might be fairly decided whether Corinne was Mormon or Gentile, CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SECRET SLAYER. “WHat are they doing?’ Dan asked, after the entrance of the-man-from-Red-Dog, taking up his revolvers which he had placed upon the table and approaching the window where the girl stood. ‘Sitting motionless upon their horses—looking about them; that is all,” Kate answered. : The three men approached the window so that they could command a view of the street, and yet not near enough to themselves to the gaze of the Mormons. As the girl had said, the invading band were sitting quietly upon their steeds in the center of the street, merely looking vacantly about them as though no tusiness of moment had brought them thus armed and equipped into the town of Corinne. “Pardner, they hev got their weather-eye open for you, the tarnal Turks!” the-man-from-Red-Dog exclaimed, in a hoarse whisper in the ear of the plainsman. And the Mexican was also of this belief, for he n head significantly. ae But the Danites were keeping a wary eye about them, for all of their seeming carelessness, and the appearance of a single man upon the street, in addition to the crowd already attracted by the unusual sight, was the signal for instant action, “There he is!” said the Danite chief, in his deep voice; “go for him, boys!” And at the command, two men separated themse the rest, dismounted from their horses, and soddeniyiega tas of old Joe Cripples, who had just made his appearance from the door of a small saloon situated right opposite to the Castle of roan This on astonished the lookers on, who couldn’ life of them, imagine in what way the "harmless old nttocd a injured the Mormons. Despite the angry cries of Cripples, the two Danites him up to John Clark, and the dark instrument of brains vengeance surveyed him with a look that was full of fearful menace, ‘“‘Lemme go! What are ye ‘bout?’ Cripples cried, struggli helpless as a child, in the iron gripe of his wilotngy nn ‘“ What on earth do they want with the old man?’ Gold Din cried, in amazement. ‘TI really must go outside; I reckon that they are not after me after all.” ‘‘[’m with you, pard!” the Red-Dogite cried. “And T’ll watch you from an upper window!” the Mexican COM IEDOOT -€O 0 @