Beadle's Dime Library No. 429 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

\ A a reas) ered; but for the known, I will search for him by—Carey—Tom Carey—Hair Trigger Tom, of Red Bend.” The surprise of the governor was momentarily visible in his face. ‘Tom Carcey—Huir Trigger Tom of Red Bend —though I know nothing of his hailing from our sister burg—are you sure that you are making no mistake—that vou would recognize your son if you were to see him?” “s Prust a father’s eyes for that.” ‘‘ How many years since he left you?” se Ten.” ‘¢ And you are sure that Tom Carey was or is ‘your son?” “ Very sure!” “ And. yet there is a rumor that Hair Trigger ‘Tom is in thiscamp now, Nay, more. If it be correct, you have seen him dozens of times over. In fact, you came with him. The man whom good judges pronounce to be Carey is this self- same Woburn—the young man from Boston who ‘was the center of the little disturbance at Char- ley Shiffler’s.” ‘Wrong, wrong, all wrong. He is not my son; ¢bat man is simply what he professes to be. Do you think I have not watched him?” ** How then did he get away from that ruffian to-night? No ordinary man could have done the trick so neatly.” “‘T do not know; I thought perhaps you help- ed him. Iam only sure of what I say.” Then Darelle’s cough, which had not troubled him during the excitement, came back, and Governor Shaw, fairly puzzled by what he had heard, satin silence while the old gentleman was racked and shaken. CHAPTER XI. A LIVELY CORPSE. HART HAWKINS had a fair start on the occu- sede of the cabin, and made a rapid run for the appy Home. As he came up the two men who had jeaped from Leona’s window were just dis- appearing among some shanties that lay fifty yards away. As it was not his:circus, so far as he knew, he did not attempt to follow, knowing that the chances of being able to overtake them were very slender anyhow. He was proceeding more leis- urely toward the house, wondering what the racket might be, when some one dashed up, a revolver in his hand. Just as prom tly Mr. Hawkins had him cov- resent he only drew his thumb back, leaving his finger uncrooked. Very fortunate was it that he did so, since, on ‘tthe click, the other spoke: “That you, Hart? “‘ Good glory, yes! What in creation, Sam, are you doing out here? Who’s been tramping on your toes hard enough to set you on the war- h ?” ‘‘Hush! Take kiver, an’ you kin spread yer lay-out an’ give mea chance to talk. Reckon no one saw you come?” ; ‘*‘ Don’t care if they did. Come along, eng if you haven’t any more blood in your eye, It’s a blazing good thing there weren’t two of you. It’s part of my religion never to shoot at one man until he develops his theory; but for two, that came at me the way you did, T’d have gone for them, red-hot. Pity! Thought I saw a chance for fun. What have you been doing with that revolver?” He knew Sam too well to really expect an an- swer, but he had to talk—the situation would _ have brought questions out of a wagon-tongue and made a store-box 2 gives As they entered the Happy Home quietly and drifted with the rush, they reached their room without question or interruption. Then Loftus opened his budget. ‘‘T war hyar, yer see, an’ heard ’em in ther next room after ther ole man; an’ jest chipped. Must ’a’ bin a gang. Some ov ’em after ther leetle woman. ‘Pears like a permisc’us mix. You'll find one salted, jest whar I dropped him, an’ mebbe that'll show who’s on it.” ‘You heard them? Who the thunder is ‘them?’ And what sort of work is it, anyhow? I’ve been dropping to a kind of a game to-night, cand I guess this is part of it. See anything of Ec. Shaw around since I left you?” i He’s out thar now,” answered Sam briefly inting through the window from which he had mee A in . “What's ry as Ht Cussed ef he -ain’t pickin’ up my corpse ‘* You're serial, old man. Never heard you tall quite so free as you have been doing this evening. Let’s go out again and look at the body. It won't 5, to be sitting round here like a pair of humps ona log. They'll begin to sus- pect we had a hand in it, and that’s the last thing I want’em todo. I’m going to close up my box, pack my kit, and run another sort of ame for a bit. I think maybe I see money in it; and there’s not much on cards with the gang, of pikers that holds out at Diamond Char- 4ey Ss. if Go slow, pard! They’s a bettin’ crowd thar ef yer hit’em in ther right sign. They was o a little ter-night, on ercount ov ther sudden death ov Bob Bailey: but they’/] come ’round. ‘By to-morrer you'll see em ready ter stack up ocx fe rere EE __ chips fur all they’s wu’th. Stick ter yer game, pard, an’ don’t turow away good money fvolin’ round Eg. Shaw.” ‘* Ah, yes; but methinks I see something bet- ter in the air. Jl let you into it when I start to build my hand, Hist! How’s that? Hair Trigger Tom of Red Bend. 11 Home, and dealt fary as long as I could get a bettor at Charley Shiffler’s, this evening. I left | there some ten minutes ago, as Charley will be Ears | open and mouth shut. We won’t go out just | yet. door.” that when Shaw entered the room of Sidney Darelle he did not hear even the faint murmur of voices that might have warned him, The conversation given in the preceding chapter was for the most part, pitched ina low key, yet the listeners got the most of it. It was un- dignified. mean looking, and all that; but the two had little compunction or shame, and heard with an intent to profit for everything that was in it. There was only a little more than has been narrated. The cough shook the old gentleman, and between the spells his voice sunk to a husky whisper. ) ‘“*There,” he said, finally. ‘‘I have given you—ough!—the outline of my story, and to- night I have not the breath to say more. To- morrow I will—ough—tell yousomething of our plans for the future; and you, perhaps, by that time, may be able to suggest something. Par- don me if I say good-night, Leona again; and then try to get some rest,” » “I understand, and will not linger. Are you sure you are willing to stay alone? If you There seems to be something going on next | happy to tell you if you ask him; and Hoopnagle knows me from A to Ampersand, and will tell you allabout me. That much as explanation of who I am. lf you’re not satisfied, Brother Butcher, why, just come for me. There will be _ the most interesting little circus that Bad Luck The two had been speaking in a low tone, so | _ a-doubting. ever saw; and she’s seen some lively ones, I ain’t I’ve been here before.” There were some men there who appeared to be ‘‘hot” over the attempted outrage, but as yet there was no general uprising of the camp, or the bluff might not have been alto- ether a safe one, is recognition of Bill utcher showed that he was not altoyvether a siranger, and his references were so first-class that it was hardly ena to hunt them up, while what he said about Tommy Tough deep- ened the impression in the minds of several outsiders that the story the young man told was true. They iigenliered his grim jest, or ridiculous earnest, about the ax, and came for- ward. Tommy, himself, grew more and more uncon- cerned. He leaned back witb his eyes fixed on nothing particular, and unless Hawkins was very much mistaken whispered softly a few | words that were intended cnly for him: IT must look in on | riffle. wish company—though to be sure, there is no | chimed in with an idea of his own, yet it was further danger with one of the villains dead and the other a prisoner—I am at your ser- vice,” ‘*Ah! one dead, another a prisoner! | easier given than taken. You | said something of this before but in my excite- | | p! geon-holes of rooms of which the Happy Home ment—ough—l did not fairly understand you. Perhaps it would be best if I were to exam- ine them. It is possible that I could identify them.” ‘Just as you choose. But I would not trouble myself about it before morning. They will keep.” Darelle coughed, coincided, and said good- night, the governor taking bis departure, much to the relief of Hart, who was anxious to get out | but did not want to miss any of the conversa- tion, unimportant though it was. He coul was only momentary, since the old gentleman followed Shaw, entering Leona’s room, which gave them a chance to slip out quietly and make their way out of the door at the other end of the narrow hall. If their tread was stealthy, and their actions suspicious, there was no one to watch and comment. Every one was gath- ered in the bar-room, when there was a con- fused medley of talk going on, a goodly share of it centering around Tommy Tough, who above all was talking in an aggrieved voice. ‘“ Why, you know how ‘tis yerselves—gosh! Wa’n’t I thar when Jake brung ther lantern; an’ didn’t I say I heard ’em a-groanin’, an’ ax fur an ax ter knock ’em in ther head; an’ wa’n’t I fu’st man out, an’ when I cotched hold ov Eg. Shaw by mistake along ov him a-bendin’ over ther corpus, didn’t he jest knock me end over end world ’thout end an’ say, thar’s yer burglar? An’s that any reason fur puttin’ on a tight necktie an’ sottin’ up a bucket fur me ter kick at; Eg. Shaw sed he hed it in fur me; an’ ’tain’t likely he’d be worryin’ much ef he hed made a mistake. Gosh, no. But bring him hyer, bring ‘em all hyer, an’ see ef it ’tain’t jest ez 1 say.” Tommy had been in considerable danger, the nature of which his remarks explain; and he wasn’t altogether out of it yet. There was a rope festooned around his neck, and three or four of the hard citizens of the Bar were ready to pull on it. As the governor bad remarked, there was a right smart chance for a hanging-bee, and he had evidently forgotten all about it, as he did not put in an appearance. Hawkins came up quietly and looked sharply at the young fellow, a smile quickly spreading over his face. ‘* Hello! What dizzy nonsense is this? Let up on it, I say, till we can find out a little more. hy, this is Tommy Tough, from Red Bend, and he wouldn’t hurt a flea. There’s been some mistake about this, sure. You hear me?” ** An’ who in blazes be you? Mebbe’yer’ a side pard of hissen? Blamed ef yer b’longs round hyar. Go fur him, boys, an’ see what he’s made ov. The most prominent of the hard citizens aire out this appeal. If he hadn’t been olding on to Tommy, he would probably have acted himself. Fortunately for the little ageciongpd if the words were intended to launch the crowd at him, they also put him on his guard. With a motion rapid as light his hands disa pase and reappeared, only now they each held a de **Easy, my noble lords! Don’t bite till you consider exactly how much you are competent tochew. I’m not altogether a stranger here, and if you'll come my way, you will find where I live. Iarrived from Red Bend, via Rat Trap, myself, to-day. I am stopping at the Happy 1 kin make ther But, foller Eg. Shaw ef yer wants ter git at ther bottom ov ther shenanigen. Gosh, yes!” Hart Hawkins started at the advice. It ‘* Never mind me, pard. Shaw had disappear- ed, and it probably would not be easy to get again on his track. Besides, there was a corpse, that had been carried into one of the little oasted. He wanted to see it, first; and as the crowd, from the talk that was going on, had no use for him, and were discussing Tom Tough in not follow at once; but the delay | | | rr LL = > = a calm, business-like manner, there was no reason why he should not go to look. He did so, under the guidance of Jacob him- self, whom he caught at tho other end of the room, The result was a surprise. There were enough traces of blood to show that it had been there; but now, the body had disap- peared. ‘‘That’s right. Fool around Tommy Tough, who is next door to an idiot, and chuck the corpse into a dark hole, for his Pate to come and carry away. Say, what did he look like? Did any one really know him?” ‘* He vas ’ein stranger in der camp, [ see’s dot midt mine own eyes. Den who vould pe foolin’ roundt mit him vhen ter poys shpot anypoddy fu’st dings. - ‘‘ That's it, prezactly. It was just a case when you wanted to keep your eyes open a little, to rake in the chances. If somebody had been watching there might bave been a show to get at the gang that was in it. I tell you, gentle- men,” turning to the eager spectators who were crowding up to look at vacancy; ‘‘[ tell you, there isa gang. Leastwise, somebody was in it with the corpus; and that somebody belongs at the Bar. Else why go to the risk of getting the body away? Somebody was afraid it might be recognized as a pard of his, and that jsomebody isa man of nerve. It’s not my say so, perhaps, and maybe I’m a fool for putting a little chip in on this game; but if you want to find out something big just get to the bottom of this thing, wal scratch out who toted him off. That's all.’ Hawkins had said enough to revive interest in the body—that was now missing—and turned away. He found that Tommy Tough had been tacitly acquitted, since the tough citizens had trans-— ferred their attentions to the other room. ‘* Young man, hadn’t you better slope?’ was his question, as he was about to pay the lamb from Red Bend. “T b’long hyer, an’ dassn’t fur fear they'll spect me ag’in. But, Mr. Hawkins, ain’t you a- droppin’ ter what I tole yer a bit ago? some *un like you’d take hold, it might be a savin’ ov my neck; an’ I’m cl’ar anxious ter know what war goin’ on ez raised all this racket. And an- other thing: I ain’t jest so sure that gerloot war dead. They took Eg. Shaw’s word fur it, an’ mebbe ther corpse eloped itself. They’s men thar ez would trail a gopher through a chap- paral, an’ they’s all afeared ter foller long 0’ thinkin’ they’ll find too much, Now, dry up an’ sherry, er you'll hev °em comin’ back at me.” “You're about right, Tommy; I never saw that you could play cards worth a cent: but I must say you have a head on you for some other things; though why you should be telling me all this ain’t so plain. Tommy grinned and winked. ‘* Mebbe thar ain’t a lady in ther case; an’ when she am, you can count on Hart Hawkins takin’ an eentrest. You an’ me may run pards in this thing yit. Say,” and his voice sunk into the thinnest of whispers, “‘thar’s big money agoin’; try an’ find out who’s theold man. Oh, glory!” | m GOMIGDOOCKS dey don’t know. Dey gives demselves away der com