Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 416 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

| ~ Monte Jim, the Black Sheep of Bismarck. 3 -_-——_— paler as he saw the pointed hammer begin to raise beneath the firm pressure of the gambler’s finger. “Ths all a vile trick!” he snarled, his voice searcely recognizable as he perceptibly shrunk eway from the threatening muzzle, ‘‘That’s sol” echoed Frank Lisle, ‘It’s an infernal swindle from first to last.” ‘*But it won’t work! Vll have my money back, or know the reason why! If it was lost at a fair game, [ wouldn’t care; but this is a skin snap all through!” ‘‘On what grounis do you base your charge of foul play, Mr. Pennington?” quer asked Monte Jim. ‘* Because you lost? Didn’t you have ample warning that you couldn’t win?— that you would be skinned most thoroughly if you insisted upon bucking against the pa- ers?” a I don’t care a curse what you said!” snarled the young man, now fairly beside himself with rage. “| ain’t going to be gouged out of my money while my head’s hot! That slippery scoundrel rung in a cold hand on me, while you were chinning to give him an opportunity to play the trick. I know it! It was the queen of hearts that was marked by a little notch in the upper corner, like that, and—” As he spoke, the angry youth caught up one of the cards to illustrate, but as his eyes turned upon its face, his voice choked, kis jaw dropped, his eyes filling with a stupid bewilderment too great fur expression; for there was the queen of hearts, and there in the upper corner, was the tell-tale mark by means of which he had confidently exvected to make a rich addition to his little fortune at a single stroke. Monte Jiin deftly caught the card as it fell from his unnerved fingers, a quiet smile curling his mustache, ‘The queen is marked, sure enough! Most likely an imperfection in the trimming-knile— see!” and lifting the other cards, he held them so that all could see they were marked in pre- cisely the same place, and after the same fasb- ion, ‘‘ But only the qucen was marked at first! I ean swear to that, and so can you, Frank!” turning to Lisle, who nodded assent, though his handsome face flushed slightly before the quiz- zical gaze of the dashing sport, ‘‘In other words, Mr. Pennington, you thought you were betting your money ona sure thing. You saw the marked card, and felt sure you couldn’t possibly lose. Was that fair? If all things had turned out as you con- fidently expected, would you have listened to our complaints of foul play? Not a bit of it! You’d have claimed that money talks and ail bets go. You thought to skin us, and you got skinned instead. I warned you m-re than once that you couldn’t win at our own game, [ fairly begged of you to take your money and keep it in your own pocket. But you wouldn’t have itso. You hungered for our pile, and in- sisted on a deal. ‘* Well, you've gotit. Blinky threw the pa- rs for you, and you picked out the card you Felt sure would win, by the mark which you fan- cied your eyes alone had detected. ou lost, just as I warned you you would. And now ou’re kicking—a fact which I also predicted. You--the thoroughbred!” “Tm not going to be gouged out of my money!” “It is not your money any longer. You forced us to win it, and an army like you could not take it back against our will. If you insist on a row, you can be accommodated at any time; but you'll never invite another.” Frank Lisle tightened his grasp on his half- crazed mate, for asingle glance showed him how little chance they would stand of holding their own if matters should come to afight, Oneand all.of the party were ready to obey the slightest signal of their chief, and the odds were far too great. ‘‘Don’t be a fool, Al!” he growled, harshly, **We can’t fight them. Your money is gone, and you'll only throw your life after it if you make a break now.” : “True as gospel writ, Mr. Pennington,” echoed Monte Jim, with that annoying smile again lighting up his handsome face. “ Your wealth has gone where the woodbine twineth, but possibly it may prove a less serious loss than you now imagine. ‘“My present headquarters are at Bismarck, Your destination is the same, I believe. When your brain has cooled off a little, call on me there, and I may put you in the way of making your loss good. I say this as a friend.” Despite himself, Pennington was impressed by these words, or rather the manner in which they were uttered. He had time, too, to realize some- thing of his folly in acting as he had. The money was lost. His sure thing had fail- SL LL Ltt ed him. Instead of skinning the gamblers, he | had himself been fleeced by the marveloussleight- of-hand displayed by Blinky Scott, who had sub- stituted two marked cards for the others, be- neath their very eyes. He knew, too, that all honest rien could give but one verdict: served . him right! Allthe same, he mentally swore to be avenged on the dashing sport and his tools, as he allowed Frank Lisle to draw him away to their former seat; but before he could form any decisive plan ‘*I reckon you don’t know who I am, stran- ger,” drawled the rascal, grinning. ‘* Ask of action, the train paused at a station, and the | them,” with a nod toward the other occupants gang of three-card-monte players hastily left the | of the coach. coach, Frank Lisle attempted to utter some words of | ‘* Ask them who Curly the King of Bismarck, is?” Alva Pennington made a swift grasp at the aine, consolation, but with a surly growl, Pennington | fellow’s throat, only to have his arm knocked jerked away from him, and, leaving his seat, made his way unsteadily along the aisle toward the rear door of the coach. Frank Lisle made a movement as though about to follow him, but the scowling glance which Alva Pennington cast over his shoulder as he gained the door changed this impulse, and with to his seat and lighted a fresh cigar. | a shrug of his broad shoulders, he sunk back in- | aside so violently that it turned him half around; and when he wheeled to renew the at- tack, it was to find himself staring fairly into the broad muzzle of a heavy-calilered der- ringer. ‘* Simmer down, little cuss, ard you'll live all the longer for it'’ sneered the fellow, as the young man involuntarily shrunk from before the deadly weapon. ‘‘I don’t reckon you want Slamming the door behind him, Alva Pen-| this seat quite as bad as you thought you nington stood on the platform, staring moodily out into the darkness es the train thundered swiftly along, for a moment actually meditat- ing a headlong plunge into eternity. With bis money Veaitibadd his dearest hopes in life, as he te believed, and life seemed hardly worth the ving. Not for long, however. Ho was hardly rash enough to take his own life, bleak and barren though that now appeared tohim. And, strance- ly enough, the words spoken hy Monte Jim were again ringing in hisears. It was a wild, vision- ary hope. How could Monte Jim put him in the way of making his loss good? And even if he could, would he do so? “Tli hunt him out and see,” he muttered, turning his eyes from the dar!ness to the licht which streamed throurh the door of the coach beyond, ‘“‘If he’s only playing with me, it will be a dear jest to him!” A vivid lizht shot into his eyes, but it was not born of his recent thouchts. Something within the coach was responsible for the sudden alteration. Near tho center of the coach a younglady was s-ated, pressing close against the wall, shrinking from a man who occupied a portion of the seat with her. A look of annoyance, almost of ter- ror, rested unon her pale face, and Alva Pen- nington waited for no more, but opening the door, he strode hurriedly along the aisle, to be grreeted with a litile cry of joy from the pale lips of the young women. She was rarely beautiful, now that the color flashed back into her face. Her features were almost perfection in their clear-cut outlines. Her hair was dark, almost black, Her eyes, large and lustrous as those of a fawn, glowing jetty black in her agitation. Her arched lips showed crimson again, revealing twin rows of pearly tee h as they parted to address the young man who had hastened to ber rescue. Her garb was rich, but plain, admirably suit- ed to the wear peoey, she was taking, fitting her tall, graceful figure with a perfection that borrowed a portion of beauty from the charms it revealed, while concealing. ‘** Alva—cousin—I’m so glad you have return- ed!” she exclaimed, her voice rich and musical, despite its trembling. ‘‘ I have been so annoyed —this person—please ask him to remove to some other seat!” At the eager light which so suddenly filled her eyes and brightened her countenance—at her appeaJing motion as Alva Pennington en- tered the car—the man who shared her seat paoed swiftly up and took in the situation; ut his only evidence of this lay in the manner in which he straightened up his athletic frame leaning back against the cushioned seat an thrusting his white, shapely hands into his pockets as his magnetic eyes fastened them- selves upon the face of the new-comer. And a smile, balf-derisive, wholly insulting, curled his mustached lips as he encountered the angry pg accompanied the sharply-uttered speech: **'‘You hear what the lady says? Take your- self off! You have no right to intrude where you're not wanted.” ‘*'Who says so?” coolly demanded the fellow. - I do! Get out of that seat, or I'll put you out! “Well, now, you needn’t rush a man like that,” drawled the intruder, impudent’y star- ing up into the angry face of his adversary. % Give a man time to get into motion, won't you? Pennineton bit his lip sharply, for he began to suspect that he was being laughed at, and he took a swift measure of his man before pro- ceeding to extremities. There was scant comfort in this for one who was a good judge of human nature. Almost a giant in size, this man was “built from the ground up,” to use the expressive vernacular and even in his present angry confusion of mind, Pennington was wise enough to see that he would have his hands full, in case the fellow chose to show fight. But he, himself, was no physical coward, and with that particular lady looking on, he could not retreat, even had he felt the inclination. Sharnly he spoke again: ‘* Well, don’t be all night about it. Your presence annoys the lady. She asks me to re- move you, and I'll do it if I have to break your ee in the attempt! Get out out of that, will you ore —_—_—_—_—_—_—oooroOoOororr nnn rE ee es CC did!” CHAPTER IV. MONTE JIM TRUMPS THE KING. ALVA PENNINGTON was by no means a phy- sical coward, but he was a ‘‘tende foot,” and new to the rough and ready ways and means so familiar with the Occidental toughs into whose domains he seemed to be abruptly cast. Bred in a clime where the ban of the law rests on those who carry brutal weapons, he was not yet accustomed to this uncomfortably prompt habit of displaying pistols where he only thought of using his fists; but he was rapid] learning the lesson of ‘*the drop,” and thoug he shrunk back from the heavy-calibered p’ece of pocket artillery, his own hand mechanical] moved toward the secrct spot where his wee. | ver rested. Curly Kaine was better versed, however, for an u ly lig’t filled his magnetic black eyes, end his drooping mustaches curled fiercely as he grated: , “*Hands up and fingers empty, my dear fel- low! I’ve got you lined, and you’re my meat, if you try to pull a gun!” It was not easy to mistake these words, and Pennington hesitated, almost suffocating with r ge as he saw the gaze of his cousin resting upon him. For many reasons he desired her good will, to stand high in her estimation, to have her regard him as a hero ready to do and dare for her sake, against any and all odds; and tobe held impotent by one man, after this _ fashion, was bitter indeed. ‘Drop that pistol, and I can sweep the car with your big carcass!” he grated, half crouch- ing as though about to dare a shot and leap upon the insolent sport bare-handed. “That’s your talk. Stick to the notion, if it gives you any satisfaction. As for me, I never bother my head with little boys aside. If they show too much impudence—like you, for instance, in interrupting a very agree- — abie chat between this young lady and myself —I just take them across my lap and give them the measure of my hand, right where they can’t see the impress without the aid of a looking-glass.” Thoroughly enraged, Alva Pennington struck out swiftly, thinking to knock up the hand that — c unless they — get too much in my way; then I brush them | held the pistol and close with the sport before a shot could be fired; but once more he was ~ foiled by the lightning activity and great ‘ 4% strength of the man who claimed to be the Sed King of Bismarck. A sinewy hand griped his throat, shook him for a moment as a child might shake its doll, — into a then cast him heavily across the aisle vacant seat. Before he could arise to renew his desperate attempt, Alva Pennington was cov- ered by sharply: a ‘‘Simmer down and drop your nonsense, lit- tle cuss! Kcep the seat the derringer, and Curly Kaine cried range by this time.” **1’ll bave your heart’s blood for this!” Pennington, now fairly beside himself, nothing, caring nothing for the deadly wea which bore full upon his brain—~with thoughts only for the woman he loved, in whose eyes he was being so shamefully humiliated by this in- solent giant. ; ‘on I give you, and thank — your lucky stars that I am in a jolly good humor © this evening, or you’d be half-way over the * he’ * ¥: pcm * * = | ~~. a. + ~* Se * ” : 7m Ah ~ +i nt Lig? “ $ — - mt i. ‘“You make another move, and I'll scatter ge your brains all over the coach!” sternly cried Curly Kaine, his black eyes filling with an evil — light, his cheek turning white, not wit but as the signal of danger to all who his way. h fear barred The next moment would almost surely have — proven the last on earth for Alva Pennington, - e s ~_ be =) * in * ‘ = = * + +3 ‘> . 1 “Es. *. , + . ¥ ~ had not a strong hand shot over the sports shoulder and closed around the level weapon, turning its mvzzle upward as the trigger came back end the hammer fell. The lead tore its way through the roof of the car, and with a hissing. curse, Curly Kaine dropped the now — useless eenpon and turned upon the man who had dared snatch his Wictend his talons. What was it he beheld that sent such a ent shade of white into his face? . from beneath Nash a Aes _ 7 * POM a Cae ye , ¥ ee a ory A man, erect and smiling, with one -band Lp partially extended toward him, the fingers of which almost entirely concealed from viewa ~* Only this, and Curly Ecine — short derringer. Eomicbooks ve _ _— ) com