Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 454 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee RR EA TT TT Te EE a a aE. A A SR eS _——— “Then I may bave a chance to catch them.” you needn’t try to do it for me any more. would rather haveno help than such as you have been giving me.” “Ail right, Mr. Jonas. I would rather work for no pay than such as I have been getting from you.’ svi The same day witnessed a little collision between Horace Exton and Herman Jonas. ‘““You are as much to blame as anybody for the loss of life and property in Oro Fino,” said the Englishman. ‘* How so?” demanded Herman. ‘You might have stopped the whole trouble by speaking to those cowboys of yours when they started it.” ‘“They were no longer working for my father, and I had nothing to do with them, I[ would not lift a finger, either, to save a rascal from hanging who deserved hanging.” “You were careful enough to keep your own skin out of the scrape, and so you stood back and egged the others on. You will get into trouble yet, if you don’t drop that sort of thing.” ‘‘ You are more likely to get into trouble than | I am, Horace Exton. A man who is using land | “What other two folks of the kind in this | ae as “T don’t believe you will do it, though, and | district ride a bay horse and a black? What | and bitter grudge against Tom Halsey. i ; | | a oe oe i ' The Night Raicer. other woman can ride like Vic Halsey, or has got the pluck for that sort o’ thing?’ | ‘ 21 ‘‘T happen to know that Si Jonas had a mean Tom had a piece of land that Jonas wanted right bad- ly; but they couldn’t come anywhar near agree- —_—_ -” Smart Aleck had been asked that question so | in’ on the price, because Tom didn’t want to sell often of late days that he was tired of it, and it | it, and the Jew swore that he would get that worried him that he was not yet able to answer land, anyhow.” it. He had looked about among the female pop- ulation of the Oro Fino district, and had care- fully inquired concerning them, but had been unable to hit upon any person who could begin to answer the description of the girl whom he chased to the cliff. ‘‘T don’t know,” he answered, ‘‘but I say again that I mean to do my best to find out.” “Tf youdo find ’em,” suggested the ranch- man, ‘'I hope you’il go kinder easy.” ‘“ What do you mean by that?” ‘Why, if they should turn out to be Jack Halsey and his sister, ’d rather that some way could be found to let them off; as I’ve got no sort of hard feelin’s against those two. Tell ’em to quit the business, and, if they want anythin’, let 'me know, and they'll be welcome to it.” ‘‘ Well,” remarked Sander in a tone of dis- gust, ‘‘ I suppose I won’t be able to get the idea that don’t belong to him is not doing much for | out of your head that those two may be the cat- law and order. Your turn will come before long. ‘“The sooner the better. If you try to fool with the Hole in the Ground, you may get your- self into a hole in the ground, CHAPTER XXVIII. TOM’ HALSEY’S FATE. Simon JONAS’S prediction concerning the recurrence of the cattle-stealing in the Oro Fino district had a s fulfillment. The night of the day succeeding Jack Halsey’s release and return to his ranch witnessed another raid, but not upon the Jonas stock, Pete Jackson being again the sufferer, People might naturally have supposed that Halsey, having been so lately put in dead] peril, his character still resting under a cloud, and his trial upon a serious charge impending, would have been inno hurry to renew the cattle- stealing business, or to excite any further suspicions concerning himself; but that was not the style of reasoning adopted by his enemies, They said—and this was especially the reiter- ated declaration of the Jonas faction—that his guilt was proved by the fact that the raids had ceased while he was locked up, but had begun again as soon as he was released. ews of the depredation on the Jackson Ranch reached Aleck Sander at Oro Fino at a late hour of the morning after it oc- curred. Intending to lose no chance that might help him to a solution of the mystery, he rode out there as soon as possible, but did not reach the ranch until late in the afternoon. | As it was then too late to begin any active operations, he accepted a cordial invitation to spend the night there and talk the matter over. Pete Jackson, a big, good-natured, easy-goi old settler, had views upon the subject whic mg agreed in some respects with those of imon Jonas, but differed from them widely in other respects, As he and the detective sat together over their whisky and pipes in the evening, the ranchman expressed his opinions in a aood huniered style, but rather guardedly. {don’t know who they may be who have been running off cattle about here,” said he, ‘‘and I don’t even pretend to guess; but if the should turn out to be Tom Halsey’s boy an | ‘They are not Tom Halsey’s boy and girl,” broke in Smart Aleck. vege ' hope so, ’m sure,” ‘* Can’t you believe me when I say that they are not?” ; “Well, 'd be glad to; but it’s queer if they ain’t.” ‘‘T believe you did not hear the evidence I gave at the trial in Oro Fino.” ‘* 1 didn’t hear it, as I wasn’t there,” answered the ranchman; ‘but I heard about it, 1 ain’t sure that I caught onto all the p’ints.”’ ‘** Very likely you did not, and I want to give them to you.” ‘* Fire ahead, then, and I'll be glad to get it at first hand.” Smart Aleck told his companion the whole story of his connection with the cattle raids, considerably more fully than he had related it at Oro Fino, with all his doubts and suspicions and conclusions, and the effect was to puzzle the honest ranchman, but without materially chang- ing his previously-formed ideas. ‘It’s mighty queer,” said Jackson. ‘‘ Simon Jonas says that they have been playin’ a mighty peed peas but they must have been playin’ a durn sight smarter than I can Bet any notion of. That Jew says that they fooled you, and I know that they would have fooled me. The ‘int is, you see, that if they didn’t do the cat- ie n’ who did do it?” ‘*T don’t know,” answered the detective, who had often enough propounded that question to himself; ‘‘ but I mean to try to find out.” ; ' I would be glad to have the thing quieted down. | out the notion that has stuck to me for a long — tle-thieves.” ‘‘T hope they ain’t, you see; but, if they are, | | | I knew their father well, and [ would at any | time much rather help them than burt them,” This statement set Smart Aleck off on another He had been for some time anxious to learn the exact circumstances connected with the death of Tom Halsey, and he thought that he saw here a chance to get hold of what he wanted. ‘“ You speak as if you had been a friend of their father’s, he said. ‘‘So I was,” answered Jackson. ‘I’ve never been ashamed to say that I was a friend of Tom Halsey’s, I liked bim well.” ‘* Perhaps you can tell me, then, how he died, and all about that business—-what was the charge against him, and what was the proof of the charge.” ‘* T reckon you know well enough how he died. He was hung by a party of Vigilantes, or men who called themselves Vigilantes, because they said he had been caught in the act of stealin’ cattle. The rest of the business seems to me to be rather mixed.” “That is just what I want to know about, Mr. Jackson.” ‘ ‘‘ Well, I wasn’t thar, you see, and what I know is only hearsay; but Linquired around at the time pees carefully, and I remember all the p’ints 1 picked up. ‘*Thar war more or less cattle-thievin’ in this district at that time, and a sortof organiza- tion was started, with Si Jonas at the head of it, to ketch the thieves. ** One day he got ’em together—thar was eight or ten men in the band—and at night he led ’em to a place in the bills, whar he told ’em to hide and wait. ‘*‘They did hide and wait, and after a while Tom Halsey came along, drivin’ a bunch of stolen cattle. ‘“Thar war no doubt that they’d been stole. as the brand spoke for itself, and one of the Vigil- antes was the owner of the steers, so it looked like a clear case, '* Tom Halsey seemed to be sorter surprised when they jumped out and nabbed him, and he declared that he was all right, and the cattle were all right. ‘‘ He said that he had meta man driving the cattle, whose name was Zeke Streen, who said that he had bought the bunch, and he begged Tom Halsey to help him drive ’em a while, and Tom, bein’ a good-natured fellow, turned in and helped him. , ‘* Zeke Streen, so Tom said, had stopped for a few minutes a little way back, but would ketch up Por and then the business would be straight- ened up. ‘‘ They waited for Zeke Streen, but he didn’t come, and then some of ’em went back to look for him, but couldn’t find bide nor hair of him. ‘Tt stuck in tha’r craws that thar wasn’t no such man as Zeke Streen, and poor Tom’s story |. was so durned ridiculous, anyhow, that they said he was guilty, and strung him right up. ‘“‘That’s the way Tom Halsey died, and those are the p’ints that [ picked up at the time.” ‘‘The strangest thing about the business,” ob- served Sander, ‘‘ is the part that was taken by Simon Jonas.” ‘* Yes, that always looked mighty queer to me, sep T ain't the only man who has been puzzled y it. ‘‘ The question is, how did he know just where to take those men to, and just when Tom Halsey would be along with the cattle?” ‘* Thar’s two ways to answer that. In the first lace, I might say that somebody. must have lowed the business to Si Jonas, and so he knew just where and when to nab the thief. But thar’s another p’int that Vve often considered, and thar may be somethin’ in it.”. ‘*That’s what I want to get at, Mr. Jackson. Give me that.” . + : - ‘‘ And he did get it, after Halsey’s death. I have heard of that.” ‘So he did, and here’s the rest of the p’int. Thar was a man named Zeke Streen hangin’ around this district for some time, and Si Jonas had more or less to do with him. He left the country after Tom Halsey’s case was settled. Jonas said that cattle-stealin’ was stopped after Tom Halsey’s death. Maybe we might as well say that it was stopped after Zeke Streen lit out. Puttin’ this and that together, how does it look to you ri ‘There is another point to add to that,” an- swered the detective. ‘‘ Zeke Streen has been about here lately, and he has seen Simon Jonas, and he has a hold upon him.” Perceiving that the rancbman really sympa- thized with the Halsey side of the case, Smart Aleck detailed to him the conversation which he had overheard between Simon Jonas and Zeke Streen, and Pete Jackson was excited to fighting” itch, ee That's it!” heexclaimed. ‘‘ That straightens time. Si Jonas started that scheme to get Tom Halsey out of the rim 8 and Zeke Streen is the man he hired to belp him work it. We must get shold of that Zeke Streen.” ‘“T’ve been looking for him,” said Sander,. ‘and I mean to hunt closer. When I find him, I will also have to hit upon some way to make him tell what be knows,” ‘‘ He has got to be found, and you may call on me to meet all the expenses, and any other help- you want you will be welcome to, When we once get our grip on him, I'l) warrant that a. way will be found to make him squeal.” CHAPTER XXVIII. THE HOLE IN THE HILLS. At an early hour the next morning Aleck Sander was roused up and given his breakfast, that he might begin the search which he pro- posed to make at the Jackson Ranch, No person on the place had seen the cattle- thieves at the last raid, and the discovery of the theft had been made by missing the stock and noticing the manner in which they seemed to have been taken away. Therefore there was no ground for present suspicions of the Halseys or anybody else in particular. | Under these circumstances the detective be- lieved that the best thing he could do would be to endeavor to find the trail and follow it as far as he could, though Pete Jackson assured him that he would only waste his time in doing so. “Tf you find it,” said the ranchman, “ you will follow it until it strikes some road, and then you will be bound to lose it.” However, Sm Aleck was there to take chances, and he went with Pete Jackson and one of his best herders to hunt the trail. It was difficult at the start to discover it and separate it from the vast number of cattle tracks that were thickly scattered about, but it was finally got bold of, and was then care- fully traced until the tracks of the stolen bunch, with the horses of their drivers, formed a clear and plain trail of their own. After thanking his companions for their belp, Sander set out to follow this trail alone. He considered himself a good trailer, as he had done some very difficult work in that line, and was sure that. he possessed one impor- tant requisite for that occupation—the virtue of patience. or a considerable distance he had no diffi- culty in keeping the trail on horseback; dis- mounting occasionally to make sure of it whem he crossed rocky ground. This was all very well as long as the trail stuck to the plains and the w ; but in the course of time, as Pete Jackson had predicted it struck into a traveled road, where it was o course not to be distinguished from the tracks made by vehicles and other animals, Aleck Sander was not the man to be baffled. by such an obstacle as that. He did not believe that any cattle-thieves. would travel a public road far with stolen stock, and he was convinced that the particular thieves he was hunting must have a rendezvous or depot somewhere, to which they took the cattle wp ne them or sending them off to be d of... Therefore, he dismounted and pursued his search on foot, watching each side of the road. carefully to discover a trail branching off from it, and it was not long before he found one. A close examination of the tracks convinced him that it was the trail he wanted, as it was | about the same age as that with which he had started, and apparently about the same size, with the tracks of two it. Satisfied that he was on the right course, he mounted and went forward arog The trail led him into the hills, and he follow~ comicboo As + 2 —S od horses in and about © u Lam | — he = CO 4 «é ® ‘ P ‘ " if “y ® . ee ee ee ee eee a -