Beadle's Dime Library No. 415 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

= ae actual looks, and the incident was of importance in only one way; it showed that Hot Heart was for the time away from the old convent. It was a chance to search for his lost revolver by day, which he would not miss, He excused himself and went quickly, but se- cretly, tothe ruins. All there seemed as on the previous day, but as he looked more closely at the smaller building—the only place where Hot Heart could find a roof to shelter him—he saw that a new door had been placed at the entrance, and painted to resemble the weather-beaten stone blocks of which the walls were made. ** Curse my stupidity in not seeing it before!” J he said aloud; ‘* but the deed is done, and there’s no good in grieving. I'd like to store gunpowder under it and blow the man to pieces; I feel that he is destined to do me harm.” He made a circuit of the Hermit’s quarters, and was tempted to try and effect an entrance but remembering that time was passing, enter the ruins of the main building. Everything seemed to be as he had left it. The flat stone still lay over Peters’s grave. He raised it and found the earth undisturbed. The ‘revolver, however, was not to be found. He oe the place thoroughly, but without re- » He then devoted some time to removing every particle of crumbled earth which he had before gseattered about. In digging the grave he had carried the waste dirt to the water and dumped - itin, and when the fine pieces were put away, there was nothing to betray him in the mere appearance of the plave. ‘ evertheless, -he was nervous and ill at ease. He had dug the grave and shot its occupant almost under the windows of Hot Heart’s strange abode. Could it be the Hermit had remained ignorant of all that had been done? OF The rattling of a stone caused him to start tily. He looked up quickly. There, in the h in the wall, the Hermit himself, 4 looking at him quietly. his face, but the Paul felt the color leavin new-comer nodded in a frien y, way. ** Taking a look at the ruins?” “ Yes.” le word; he . Paul managed to say the could not have spoken more under any pres- - ‘Rather a romantic spot.” is os,” The Hermit sat down on a projecting stone of the wall. ‘I’m lord of this domain,” he said, quietly. -“ Bought it for a song, and find that it answers my purpose well. Some ple wonder at m taste, but we can’t all dwell in marble halls. rh. take it you are Mr. Nettleton, junior?” "Yes, that’s my name,” ___ ** Been traveling, eh?” For some A hel _ The Hermit did not seem in the least quarrel- gome just then, On the contrary, his manner ‘was so quiet and easy that Paul began to gain courage and recover his usual outward » - = re, Fine place the commodore has over there.” ae: 2 For region it is.” | < a vig so. you have a wedding there to- Cag'® "st Yes.” Dm not invited I” Paul could not, to save his life, have told whether there was a sting behind these care- ‘ Jessly-spoken words. He felt angry that a stranger should dare refer so familiarly to his __ gister’s approaching union with Palmer Hague, but eth was pany By Aiea? ree not ~ pect anything a e tragedy of the previous I night, he dared not make objection. “YT have not been given a list of the invited ests,” he replied, after a pause. ‘‘ Besides, I w no one here.” _--—s ** Youll find them a mixed population, in | every way. There is Hague, the groom of to- _ night's joyful occasion; Don Esteban Villegas, the Mexico nabob who lives to the south; Philip ve eee ne an honest young fellow who is your ioe ather’s overseer; Mrs. Drake and Rosa Strong, who are servants in your honored sire’s house; | Welch and Jigson, male servants of same, and suitors for Rosa’s hand; aud Garth Griffith—do you know him?” __ * Never even heard of him.” ol “ae € a Py is a ‘ a vt ‘* A half-breed; low-browed, hang-dog-facod and wey’ a good man not to know. Avoid nim! sin bushes and out-of-the-wa places, like a sneaking wolf. Indeed, he is er called the ‘ Bush-Wolf.’ Know es) ar?” pits sc re) n os ** Indian chief; rules over the handful of red- skins about here, and calls himself a Mohave. _ What's in a name? He may be a Pawnee, _ Shawnee or Knock-knee for all I know. Queer Bo. blade that Indian servant of the commodore’s aris | The Hermit sat there and talked ' Jessly, almost constantly; sho knew a deal more about around Coast Castle, than was to ’ . == i uietly, care- ng that he ple in and expected. Hot Heart, the Detective Spy. He could see little regarding the Fire-Eater’s | Paul wished himself away, but there sat the Fire-Eater in the breach, and in the way. ‘‘T barely know that my father has an Indian servant whose name is Loyola; a woman he picked up years ago on the coast of Mexico,” said Paul, answering the last remark of his aes ar» ‘* Exactly. You'll find there’s a heap of fun in her.” ‘* She seems rather surly to me.” ‘* Youth is perennial with her, and she is as young and coy at sixty as she was at sixteen.” Paul looked keenly at the man. If he was jesting, there was not a thing about his face to tray the fact, but the commodore’s son could not believe the words were serious. The man seemed to him like a mocking Lucifer. Suddenly the Fire-Eater arose. ‘You'll excuse me,” he said, *‘ but I must re- tire to my den now. I’m glad to have met you, Mr. Nettleton, and I feel sure we shall be better ee before a year and a day. Good- !’ At the last word he smiled, waved his hand, then disappeared from the breach in the wall. He went at once to his strange dwelling-place produced a ponderous key and entered. No once bad he looked back, but when inside he glanced out of one of the curious little windows and smiled quietly. ‘‘Mr. Nettleton is going straight home. course he will enjoy life there, and not the least enjoyable feature will be Loyola, the Indian woman. AsI said, Paul will find a heap of fun in her /” ‘CHAPTER IV. AN INTERRUPTED WEDDING, PavuL NETTLETON went home in anything but an enviable frame of mind. He had seen Mr, Frazer Hot Heart, and nothing had been said to indicate that the latter suspected that a man had been shot down at that very spot but a few hours before, but Paul was not encouraged thereat. Judging by what he had seen of the Hermit he believed him to be a deep, wily, dangerous man, who could hide bis feelings and oo been only, perhaps, to spring an accusation on his helpless victim when least expected. ‘“*Oh! if he was only dead and buried, like Bill Peters!” Paul muttered the words through his teeth, and his hand worked nervously on the butt of the revolver which bad replaced the lost one, ‘*Tt would be a reckless thing to do,” he thought, ‘‘ but that man may bring me to the _, if I let him go on. There was some- hing villainous in the way he talked to me. That nonchalance was all put on—I think—and I’m afraid he suspects!” Truly, it was a heavy mind he carried back, and he lost no time in trying to convince the commodore that Bill Peters been drowned in Nigger Arm. If trouble threatened him, he ought, at least, to have his father of his way of thinking. Again he failed. The elder Nettleton refused to believe. ‘* Don’t tell me that Peters has been laid low by Nigger Arm!” he said, g tting a trifle angry at Paul's persistence after awhile. ‘‘If there’s anything wrong, I’d quicker believe Bill has met with foul play.” Paul was too startled to reply, and as Barbara swept into the room the subject was dropped. The afternoon was memorable for two things. The first of these was the arrival of Paul’s pest, Professor Hazlitt. When he appeared aul’s friends were astonished. They wunder- stood that he came merely as a friend, but be seemed a most remarkable associate for a gay young man. He was well advanced in years, with vory gray hair and beard; a little, old gentleman who looked as though he might have been dried and preserved from some former age; and, in- ee P of being gay and lively, as the commodore had expected and hoped, he proved to be a man of very few wo A more taciturn, silent man Nick Nettleton had never seen, and an iceberg could not have been colder. When he did speak his language was that of an intelligent, educated man; but he plainly preferred not to speak at all; and his monosyllabic way of answering questions amounted almost to rudeness, Every one except Paul declared that a strange man, a semi-mute, an iceberg and a mystery had descended on Coast Castile. What in the world could Paul want of such a person? He answered the question simply: ‘‘The professor is shy, especially in the pre- sence of ladies, When he gets well acquainted he will thaw oat and be as genial as any of us.” But Leona gave her opinion to Barbara in these words: ‘“When the Arctic icebergs thaw Professor Hazlitt will; and as for his shyness, it’s all moonshine, Depend upon it, Bab, the professor is a deep one. I feel as though the air of Coast Castle was tainted with deep and deadly mys- tery since he came.” Line But the learned man seemed oblivious to all this, and sat around as calm, well-behaved, and Sessler almost as silent, as though he had been a statue. The second of the two events before men- tioned naturally drew attention from tke pro- fessor. That evening Barbara was to become the wife of Palmer Hague, and great was the coufusion and excitement among the female inmates of the house. Leona and Miss Nettleton’s maid, Rosa Strong, were in constant attendance on the bride-elect; Mrs. Drake, the housekeeper, wept: fitfully, yet copiously, as women will on such scale & ul occasions: and even Loyola, the Indian woman, showed interest. This is saying a good deal for Loyola, who was usually as silent as Professor Hazlitt. Darkness fell at last, and the hour for the ceremony grew near. The guests began toarrive. The best people of Clifftown came, and so did Don Esteban Villegas, the Mexican noblegwho lived just south of the ruined convent, and prided himself om being descended from Esteban Manuel de Vil- legas, the Spanish poet of the seventeenth cen- tury. Among the last to arrive were the minister and the groom. Palmer veto a was a slightly-built young man of gentlemanly manners and some fortune. He had known Barbara in San Francisco, and whem the Nettletons came South to settle, he came too, bought a ranch, visited them often and be- came the girl’s accepted lover, This was about all that the other neighbors knew about him, or could, either, There were some who thought that Barbara. did not love him very warmly, but that was her affair, not theirs. At the appointed hour the minister arose to perform the ceremony. The bride and groom took their places. The spectators, especially the younger ones, were very much moved, They gy something of interest. hey were not disappointed. Just as the minister opened his lips to begin the ceremony, footsteps rung on the floor with force, which seemed sacrilegious at that mo- ment. All looked to see the cause of the disturbance,. and then into their midst strode Frazer Hot Heart, the Fire-Eater, booted and spurred. In- vited or not, he had come to the wedding! But Mr. Hot Heart removed his hat with care— less politeness, and lightly remarked: ‘*Sorry to interrupt the festivities, but as it’s against the law for a man to have two wives, I thought Dd drop in. It was no trouble; I was ssing. It was a startling speech tospring upon a wedding party, and only a trifle toned down by the fact that there was no positive assurance awe the strange man meant all that he con- veyed. Commodore Nettleton was among those who thought he did not, and he moved forward a step, a red flush rising to bis cheek, to show this intruder that he could not come there and insult the Ay Very likely it was the trick of a dare-devil to be avenged on those who had slighted him whem sending invitations, But Barbara moved quicker than her father. She sprung away from Palmer Hague and to- ward the unwelcome guest. ‘What do you mean?” she cried, and it almost seemed that her voice was an eager one, ‘* Excuse me,” he coolly replied, “but I thought maybe you wasn’t aware that there was another wife.” ‘* Again I say, what do Palmer Hague already a wife? ‘One, Pll be swore. Possibly a dozen.” The groom strode forward, his face almost purple with rage, ‘*It is false!” he shouted. ‘‘ You scoundrel, replied Hot you lie!” “That settles it,” tranquill Heart. ‘‘ Weshall have to fight. Name your weapon—revolver, knife, sword or rifle. You'll excuse me if I don’t thrash you right here, for: I’m sure the ladies would object.” And he bowed gracefully to those last men- tioned. ‘* You shall have all the fighting you want!” declared Hague, hotly. you mean? Has ‘‘Thank you; I thought very likely yow would join me in a I’m sure I'll enjoy if, But the old commodore came to the front at this point, his anger at fever heat. ‘How dare you come here with this trumped- up tale?’ he shouted, as though directing sailors in a squall. He raised his huge fist, and would have shaken it in Hot Heart’s face, but Barbara caught the hand and prevented the gesture. ‘“We want the truth, father!” she said, her voice ringing out as clearly as though she was a judge, sitting on the bench in a case wherein she had no personal interest, ‘‘ Mr. Frazer,'you have intimated that Palmer Hague is already a married man. Tell me what grounds you have for making the charge.” The Fire-Eater bowed politely, at the polite address, but Hague again interrupted furiously. ‘* What!” he cried, ‘‘am I to stand here and. little picnic of that kind. oo (E(0) EGOMIcHoOo - _~* ——— 4 “Ss “~. ——