Beadle's Dime Library No. 415 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

at Nettleton’s. - Sey vs ~ sume ae ‘ a a . —— ---- = —————_ —_—_——— ee THE STORY OF THE PARCHMENT. “BEFORE you go,” said Neat, ‘‘ I would like more light on the oy. ea of this parchment.” ‘‘Hot Heart will tell you. Let me speak of it no more, for my heart is heavy.” Red Jaguar spoke pathetically, and then straightened himself and became again the war- rior. He glanced at the sun, and added: ‘- Let no one wonder if Loyola is seen no more She goes with me to Mexico, We hoped to go in triumph, but it is not so to be. Pale-face searcher for secrets, farewell! Hot Heart, may all good fortune be yours! Say a good word fcr me to the rose of Coast Castle. Brother, farewell!” ‘' Farewell, chief, and may you be happy!” replied the Fire-Eater, earnestly, 4 Jaguar pressed his hand warmly, and then turned and walked away with a stately tread. They watched him in silence. Fifty yards away he turned and waved a graceful farewell, and then disappeared among the trees, Detective Neat drew a long breath and looked more melancholy than ever. ‘‘Il’d like an explanation,” he said. ‘Of course 1 suspect a good deal; I know that Red Jaguar is a descendant of the old Aztecs, or some contemporary tribe, and that the parch- ment related to his people; but there ‘s a good deal of fog on my mind. Will you enlighten me?’ ‘Yes; and you shall hear a good deal which will never be told to any one else. It would be a terrible blow to the Nettletons to know Paul’s real character.” ‘‘T will be as silent as the grave. I have had two cases here. One was to find the parchment; I have found it—iu ashes. The other, and the real cause of my being at Clifftown, was to learn who killed Palmer Hague, and I have learned.” ‘““Hal Who was it?” ‘Our precious friend, Garth Griffith, and he was hired by Don Esteban Villegas, ‘Hague’s false friend. Garth was to kill Hague on the way to the wedding, for Villegas wanted Miss Nettleton; but through a slip-up, Garth did his work later. I su ted the Bush-Wolf; found that the fatal bullet fitted his rifle; overheard bim and Villegas talk; and had the matter down fine. Garth is dead, but Villegas will be arrested as the instigator of the crime. But about the parchment!” Hot Heart sighed and said: ‘‘T first heard of it when, some months ago, I found a friend of mine ying at the foot of a cliff, in Mexico, dying. His name was George Temple Bennett. He lived long enough to tell ‘me that for some time he and one Paul Nettle- ton had been searching Aztec ruins in Mexico for the strange articles to be found there. They had made one wonderful discovery. ‘‘ Breaking into a ruin they bad found there a tomb in which one, and only one, Aztec chief had been placed. Among other things they found there a parchment upon which was writ- ten strange characters. As they did not know its value they spoke of it freely, and a strange story was soon told. ‘There was a legend that, at the time the Aztec power was declining, some great chief had died. Shortly before it had become plain to that unhappy people that they must yield to the Spamiard’s heavy hand, and a vast amount of treasure in various forms was buried secret- ly. Only three men, of whom one was Mopte- zuma, knew where it was buried, and it was agreed that the secret should be kept amon; them, each man, as he neared death, revealing the secret to his eldest son. ‘‘One of the trio was a learned man, and he originated a secret cipher which should tell all ith the idea of having a copy in the hands o each of the three. These copies were made, each describing the peg a of the vast treasure minutely; and to the account Monte- zuma added certain counsel to his people. ** The es said that the unhappy monarch’s copy was burned by an impious Spanish soldier, and that a second member of the trio was killed in battle and his copy somehow lost. Neither of these men lived to tell his secret to @ son, or re- lative, though the latter had left a key to the cipher. , ‘But the first of the trio to die had been him who was buried in the death-vault. He had died when all the Aztecs were conf and alarmed, and his copy of the secret was buried with him by Montezuma’s order. He had not transmitted his secret to any one, and the Aztec monarch, eid beset by the gs niards, neg- lected to provide a new holder for the parch- ment. ‘* You will thus see that owing to the war and overwhelming of the , none of the three men told the secret to any one else, and of the three copies, one was burned, asecond lost, and the third buried with the chief. So ran the legend, and itis easy enough to believe, when we remember how the Spaniards wronged and harassed the Aztecs. ‘¢ For generations it had been said among the yeh dwindling survivors of that people ‘that if they knew where the tomb was, and the on Nee ? ye — . . a — ————————————— —— a | ort t Fleart, the Detective Spy. archment had resisted the hand of time—which, ecause of the way it was prepared, they believ- ed it would—they could obtain the buried treas- ure and hear the words of counsel and wisdom | to me, a part of the time. The nature of the | Paul dug so low that Red Jaguar, being below, recorded by Montezuma. cipher bad been retained among the descendants of that chief who was killed in battle, but with- out a copy of the parchment he could not find the treasure, and the key was useless. * this legend, and know the value of their discov- i Sl — —— nn mead ** Providence watched over Peters, however. Under the ruins were secret vaults. Red Jaguar had found them and lived there, unknown even In burying Peters, saw him: and tbe chief ‘ook the buried man down, found life in him, and has actually brought Peters around. Paul was once in the ' vaults, but Red Jaguar had made a secret room ‘‘ No sooner did Nettleton and Bennett hear | fer the wounded man, and he was not found. ‘*Red Jaguar tol. me this secret yesterday, ery, than they took the parchment and fled, but | asking me to care for Peters when he was gone. Paul was villain enough to push Bennett over a | The latter is mending rapidly, and can be moved cliff to his death, so that he could have all. ‘*This was the story Bennett told me. died; I buried him and came here toawait Paul’s return, but he spent some time elsewhere before he came here, trying in vain to read the cipher. Finally, he hit upon the plan of having one learned in such matters assist him, so he sent for Professor Hazlitt and both came here. How zealously Hazlitt entered into the task you know. ‘‘In the meanwhile, Red Jaguar had also come here to await Paul’s return, as I was doing. Red Jaguar, though of mixed blood, was of Aztec descent, and the present holder of the key to the cipher. With him it was a sacred duty to recover the parchment, for not only would the immense fortune be recover- ed, but Montezuma’s words would be known to his descendants. Loyola is of the Aztec blood, and though she came into the commodore’s fam- ily naturally enough, she soon became the ally of Red Jaguar when he appeared. ‘* When the parcbment was stolen from Paul, nobody was more surprised and alarmed than Red Jaguar. He settled upon Hazlitt as the thief, and with Loyola’s aid, boldly visited the au = 2 and tried to find the parchment. ag failed. Then they tried again, and turn- ed the whole house upside down, drugging all there. To avert suspi ion, the chief drugged Loyola before he left the house, ‘After this, everybody knew the parchment was not at Coast Castle. But where was it? ‘*Zenobia Hague, half-insane, hating Barbara Nettleton, and anxious to do something to in- jure the family, went near the house the night of therobbery. She saw Rosa Strong, Talking cunningly, she prevailed on the girl to admit her secretly, ‘so she could see Miss Nettleton.’ Rosa weakly complied. Zenobia went in, saw Paul place the parchment in the drawer, wrenched the latter open and stole the parch- ment. What she had secured she did not know, and becoming frightened at something, she left the house, went back to Clifftown, and flung the parchmeut in a box as a useless article. ‘“When Rosa heard of the robbery she was frightened out of her wits. The hue and cry made about it, caused tho silly girl to think she had committed a great crime in admitting Ze- nobia. Lacking courage to confess, she deter- mined to flee. She prevailed upon Joseph Jig- son to take a horse and carriage and drive her to Spur City, where she has since been in hiding. “Thirty-six hours ago I heard that she was there, and who had carried her. I saw Jigson. He was in sore mental trouble, because was supposed drowned and he dared not explain otherwise. I made him confess yesterday, when I visited him in the garden, and then went to Rosa and secured her confession. When I knew - er tia ali secret visit, I felt sure she was the ief, ‘**Red Jaguar had arrived at the same conclu- sion through pure detective work; your suspi- cions, Mr. Neat, were aroused by Zenobia’s fa tale before the magistrate in which she spoke of having seen Rosa; and a few words dropped by rr gr herself, put Garth Griffith on the ack, ** There was a general] rush for the parchment. Garth won, stole it and fled, but was hotly pur- sued by Red Jaguar and the rest of us. We have seen the end here, and the parchment is gone forever. Paul has lost the coveted fortune and his life, and Red Jaguar will never realize the lofty hopes he had for his race. Poor fellow! I pity him most of all.” ot Heart ceased, and there was a brief silence. Then Neat aroused and said: ‘‘One word about the occasion when you were taken before Huglife the magistrate. Don’t blame me for that. I never believed you guilty. I suspected there was a plot against you, and gave the plotters rope to hang them- selves. It was because I believed you innocent that l insisted on your going on bail. I have since worried the t-uth from Garth; he was hired by Don Esteban to swear that he saw you oY ig into Nigger Arm, but his courage ai ‘*The Bush-Wolf was hired by two men to kill me,” said Frazer, gravely, ‘‘ but his bargain has proved a bad one for him. eee of Nigger Arm, do you know where Bill Peters is?” ** Isn’t he drowned?” **He never was in Nigger Arm. Asa servant of Paul Nettleton he, of course, knew about the parchment. Paul feared he would talk about it, so he decoyed him to the ruins, shot and buried him here. I ofterward found the fatal revolver, but suspected nothing. He | to Coast Castle any time. ‘* Now, Mr. Neat, Paul Nettleton is dead, and though we must tell the main story of the parch- ment, in humanity’s name we will keep from his relatives the fact that he murdered Bennett, and tried to do the same with Peters. I know the latter will consent, for the commodore’s sake, and it would kill poor old Commodore Nick. It is bad enough, as it is.” ‘*'You can rely on me, Mr. Hot Heart—” **Call me Frazer. My real name is Maurice Frazer. Hot Heart, of course, was only an alias assumed while I played the absurd part ofa fire-eater, which I did, so that no one need won- der what I was doing near Clifftown. As a reckless adventurer, [ escaped the notice of in- quiring minds.” ‘“Very well, Mr. Frazer, as I was about to say, my lips shall never betray Paul Nettleton. His misdeeds have recoiled on his own head, The fact that he is dead will be, in itself, a se- vere blow to those who are as noble as he was evil.’ Let the record of the yellow gapcumness and the events it brought about, closed by a glance at the state of affairs a year and three months after the date of our story. Detective Neat had done his work well, and though greatly puzzled by the mystery of the parchment, he had scored. some success by actual coe work. Don Esteban Villegas, driven from Coast Castle by Miss Nettleton, fled to the South, was pursued by Neat and shot in a fight with the officer. He lived to confess that Palmer Hague had been shot by Garth Griffith at his instigation. His two tools, Lopez and Jose, had accompanied him in his flight and made good their escape. Zenobia went back to San Francisco, and was heard of no more. Professor Hazlitt was almost heart-broken by the loss of the parchment, but he continued his erudite labors as before, in other places. Rosa Strong returned to Coast le, and she and Jigson were freely forgiven. They, Welch and Mrs. Drake, continued in the com- modore’s service. Rosa is still wooed by both Joseph and Tim, but she has not accepted either. As Red Jaguar intimated, Loyola disappeared that eventful day and was never seen at Coast Castle again. Commodore Nick did not want to see her. When he knew it was she and the chief who had drugged his whole bousehold, and tore everything up in such style, he wanted no more of Loyola. Garth Griffith was buried in the Timber and no one mourned for him, but Paul rests under an elaborate stone. His relatives never knew of his crimes, while his conduct at Coast Castle —— to make them more reconciled to his eath, Bill Peters proved himself a heart ofoak. He recovered from his wound, and, so attached was he to his old commander, the commodore, he never breathed a word of the truth. People were allowed to think some wounded him, Coast Castle was soon made a double mansion. This change was made necessary by the fact that both Barbara and Leona married. Miss Nettleton became the wife of the man she saved from hanging once upon a time, and people have almost forgotten that Frazer was once called Hot Heart or Fire-Eater. Of course Leona married Philip Warburton, and she no longer regards him as a thief. He has stolen but once, and the article taken was Leona’s heart; but as he gave his own in return, she fully forgave him. Frazer and Warburton manage the ranch, and Commodore Nick, perfectly satisfied with his “‘ two sons,” as he calls them, is always hap- py. He and Bill Peters smoke and tell stories, and watch the children, who have appeared, ride upon Jack Jet’s back. The ex-Fire-Eater often thinks of Red Jaguar, and hopes that be is well and prosperous, but 23 with | stray vagabond © over the memory of the noble chief will always ~ “ ie: hang a vail of sadness. He can well understand _ what a blow the loss of the parchment was to a man of such lofty nature and ambition as ani- mated the descendant of tfe old Aztecs, THE END, comic JOOKS 4 2