Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 461 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

| , | . _ the stage, and from the a The Fresh ‘on the Rio Grande. 5 that; poker without the solid stuff wouldn’t be in the least bit attractive. ‘¢ But if I haven’t got money I have a buck- skin suit here which I would be willing to stake on the game. “It isn’t the best-looking rig along the Rio Rio Grande, but it is like a singed cat, a deal better than it appears. I tell you, pards, there is a heap of service yet in this suit, and I reckon any Jew in El Paso would be glad to givea * saw-buck’ for it.” ‘¢ Well, I don’t know about that; them durned old skinflints are never willing to give anywhere near what a thing is worth,” the first ruffian observed. ‘*‘ And ten dollarsis a heap of money.” ‘But I say, pard, much as I would like to take a hack at you with the keerds, I wouldn’t | go for to take the responsibility of loosening that ar’ lariat. The captain is a terror, he is, and, mebbe, he wouldn’t like it.” “eT don’t see what particular objection there can be,” the Fresh observed in his careless, jolly, off-hand way, which was so apt to win confi- dence. ‘You have my weapons—or rather your cap- tain has, and there are two of you, fully armed, so there isn’t the least danger that I, a helpless prisoner, would be able to escape. ‘‘[m just dying too to get a chance to skin you galoots out of your eye-teeth at poker.” This bold statement immediately excited the second ruffian, who was such aslave to gambling that he would rather play than eat. “Oh, you skin me! Oh, no, not much!” he cried, defiantly. ‘“ Why, if you had a million dollars I’d beat ou out of it so quick that it would make your ead swim!” ‘* Ah, now, you are only talking!” the Fresh exclaimed, ‘* You don’t dare to meet me in a good, square game of poker. By the holy nivale I would clean you out in no time, and that is the kind of man I am!” ‘‘T say, pard, whar’s the harm if we jes’ loosen that ar’ lariat a leetle?” the gambler asked, eager for the fray.” ** Oh, no, it would be as much as our lives are worth if the captain should hear of it,” re- sponded the other. ‘* Yes, but he isn’t likely to hear of it,” urged the Fresh. ‘Of course, 1 sha’n’t give it away, and you two galoots are not likely to do it,” ‘*T don’t see no harm inter the thing,” the second ruffian remarked. But the first man was firm in his opposition, and so the project was given up, much to the disgust and disappointment of the Fresh. re the reader has probably surmised, it was not from any desire to pass the time away, or to enrich himself at the expense of the outlaws that induced our hero to propose a little poker ame, . His sole object was to get them to loosen the lariat which bound his wrists so tightly te- getber. As long as that remained he was helpless, but if he could only succeed in getting the use of his hands again he had not the least doubt he would be able to get the best of the two ruffians who guarded him, He felt sure that the outlaw chief had not yet got through with him, for with his usual sharp- ness of vision, he had noticed a brief exchange of words between the captain of the Red Riders and the stockman, just before Jackson entered suliar way in which the two men glanced in his direction he came to the conclusion that the conversation was in re- gard to bimself. . He felt perfectly sure that Jackson was a fraud—that he was not astockman at all, but one of the Red Riders, who assumed to bea stranger in order to carry out the outlaw’s plans. So he had made a strenuous effort to get the use of his hands, but the caution of the first outlaw baffled him. For about an hour the three remained quiet in the shelter of the clump of bushes, the out- laws getting out their pipes and amusing them- selves with a smoke, while the Fresh racked his brain to devise some way of escaping from the snare into “which he had fallen, But any attempt was hopeless as long as his guards were wide awake and on the alert as at _ present. Time passed slowly away, but the long wait was at last brought an end by the appear- ance of the Red Riders, three in number, mount- ed, and making directly for the clump of bushes, The outlaws rose to their feet, and the Fresh followed their example. ‘* Darned if I ain’t glad ther captain’s come!” observed the first ruffian, and the other nodded assent. The horsemen came within about a hundred yards of where the footmen stood, then two of them halted, while the third, who was the out- law chief, rode toward the group. He reined his horse in at their side and bade the two guards join their fellows on the plain as the had something to say to the captive. The pair obeyed without a word, and when they were beyond earshot, the outlaw leader, ir a a TS totet ww ed Pas fixing his piercing eyes upon Jackson Blake, marked: re- | if he believed the speaker was in earnest, ‘‘ not that it makes much difference though as far as I ‘““Young man, you are in a pretty tight | can see.” place.” “Tell me something that I don’t know,” re- sponded the Fresh, with his usual coolness, im- | mediately. ‘‘ You take the matter mighty easy.” ‘‘ Would it do me any good to take it any other way?” ‘“No, I don’t know as it would. You are sen- sible as far as that goes,” the outlaw chief ob- served, thoughtfully. ‘‘ Who are you, anyway?” ‘‘My name is Jackson Blake, I am a sport from the Pacific slope, and out there the boys used to call me the Fresh of ’Frisco, as it was their opinion that salt wouldn’t save me.” ‘*] shouldn’t be ea nee if they were about right,” responded the bandit. ‘‘ You seem to be a pretty good man; how would you like to join my band?’ ‘* Well, I don’t know,” the Fresh replied, in a reflective way. ‘‘I have never done anything in that line. I suppose you make a good thing of it, but in the long run a bullet, or the hang- man’s rope is pretty sure to spoil the business.” CHAPTER VI. THE DIVISION. From the angry flash which came from the eyes of the masked man it was plain that he did not relish the candid speech of the sport. ‘* Well, I reckon there is always big risks in a big game.” ‘** You are about right there.” ae do you think; will you join our * Well, I don’t know but what I will be will- ing to risk it,” the sport replied. ‘* There isn’t any other opening for me just at present, and, I suppose, there is big money in your scheme, even if there is big risk.” ‘“Oh, yes, we generally do pretty well. By the way, are you a particular friend of the two ladies in the coach?” ‘* No, I can’t say that lam; I can hardly be called an acquaintance, as I never met either one of them until I entered the stage.” ‘* And the elderly man who looked like a stock- man?’ ‘* He is astranger to me also.” ‘* Did you learn the name of the ladies?” Quickly came the thought to the Fresh—was it wise for him to admit that he possessed the knowledge? But then what harm could there possibl in admitting it? Besides, if the stockman, Jackson, was in league with the Red Riders, as our hero suspect- ed, the fact that he was acquainted with the names of the ladies was probably known to the outlaw chief and by denying the possession of the knowledge he would get himself in trouble. These thoughts passed like a flash through the mind of the sport, so that he only seemed to hesi- ' ' ‘Well, you are willing then to join our band?” ‘‘Oh, yes, I will try it for a while, just for greens.” ‘*Perhaps you think you can play some trick on us,” the outlaw chief suggested. ‘* A trick?” “Yes, you will join the Red Riders simiply to be able to betray them to the authorities upon _ the first opportunity.” 'me to play!” our hero protested. ‘‘Oh, no, that wouldn’t be a safe gume for ‘“* And then, I reckon, you will not give me much chance to play any roots upon you until you find out whether I can be trusted or not.” ‘* You are quite right about that; and then too the vengeance we execute upon traitors is some- thing horrible—but you need not be alarmed, for I feel sure there is not the slightest danger that you will ever atterapt to betray the Red Riders of Rayon.” ‘‘Oh, you can bet on that, I reckon!” the Fresh cried, cheerfully, and yet bis quick ears had detected that there was a double meaning to thes h—a hidden menace. ; ‘“‘ Well, take care of yourself until [ see you again; my men will look after you.” And then, with a wave of bis hand as a fare- ' well salute, the outlaw chief rode off and joined from his eyes, or else a half Mexica his men upon the prairie. The Fresh watched him with keen interest. ‘That fellow is a Mexican I should suas for would be willing to take my oath that there is some of the durned mongrel blood in him, and like all his race treachery comes natural to him. ‘‘Heisup to some gum-game now; I don’t know what it is, of course, but I can feel it in _my bones that he doesn’t mean to play fair with tate for a moment before replying, and this he | adroitly accounted for. ‘*T was just trying to see if I could recall the names,” he said. ‘“‘I am not a great band at any foreign lingo, but I think I have got this thing all right and straight. The tall one is Isabel and the blonde one Margaret and the rest of their handle, Escobedo.” As he spoke the Fresh was watching iutentl the eyes of the outlaw captain, shining throug the holes of the mask, and he fancied that they gleamed in anger as his words fell upon the ears of the unknown. ‘* Escobedo!” repeated the outlaw chief, slow- ly; ‘‘ Escobedo! the name seems familiar to me, as I meh pe it is to you.” ** Oh, no, I never heard it before.” ‘* But as it is rather a hard name you will not be won 5 to forget it?” the stranger asked, ques- tioningly, and again the angry gleam shone in the outlaw’s dark eyes. This speech caused the Fresh to come to the conclusion that the Red Rider chief would be glad if the names of the ladies should not lin- ger in his memory, so, in a careless way, he made answer: ‘“Well, the odds are big that if you should tackle me in a week on the subject that I wouldn’t be able to tell you what the name was. I haven't a very good head for names, anyway.” **Ob, you are ~— yourself a great injustice by that statement, I am sure,” and the outlaw leader spoke in such a peculiar fashion, that the Fresb was immediately resinded of the paw of an angry cat, ‘‘Aha, I have managed to put my foot into it in some way,” he murmured under his breath, But the Fresh, with that wonderful self-com- mand over his features which he in such a great degree, did not allow his face to be- tray the suspicion which was in his mind, but answered in the most cheerful manner. ‘Tt is just as I tell you; I am death on faces, but names don’t seem to stick much in my mem- ra ” "t It is a pity,” the Red Rider chief remarked, with a deci tinge of sarcasm in his tone. Ws i io in time you will improve in this re- spec ‘* Yes, I hope so,” our hero answered, just as_ said: me. ‘*T must be on my guard, although the way things are fixed he has me foul and I can’t do much to help myself, but while there is life there is hope! I have been in a good many tight places in my time and lived to tell about them, and there isn’t really any reason why I should not succeed in crawling out of this scrape. Any way,I will makea good try for it, and mortal man can do no more. The outlaw chief halted when he reached the Red Riders and entered into conversation with them. The sport, watching the party with all his senses keenly on the alert, came to the conclu- sion that the conversation was in regard to bim- self, for he noticed that the attention of the group was directed to him every now and then. The chief seemed to say something which did not meet with the approbation of the two men who were on foot, for they appeared to be pro- testing. The Red Rider leader cut short the discus sion though he shook his clinched fist im the faces of the other with an emphatic nod in the direction of the Fresh as he did so, and then, with the other horsemen, rode off, heading down } | —————— EEE — the river toward El Paso. The dismounted men came slowly toward the sport, and his apprehension that something was amiss increased as he saw the fierce expression in their see ‘“‘T reckon they are bringing me my death- warrant,” the Fresh muttered to himself, as the ruffians approached. ‘But, although I ama prisoner and not able to fight for my life in a good, square, open way, yet I'll be banged if I am going to allow myself to be slaughtered like a blind puppy. ‘As I heard the old Frenchman say in the play once when I took in the theater in St. Lonis, hen the lion’s skin falls short, eke it out with the fox’s.’ ‘*T reckon the lion’s skin is ee durned scanty this riffle, and I'll have to throw in about a dozen foxes’ skins to make up forit.” _. When the ruffians came within about ten a of the sport, they halted and surveyed im in an extremely peculiar manner, just as if they bad a disa ble communication to make and were uncertain how to go about it. The Fresh, with his usual readiness, proceeded to help them out of the difficulty. ‘Say, it looks to me as if you two galoots had something to say to me and didn’t ex- actly know how to spit it out!” the sport ex- claimed, | The bravoes looked at each other, evidently et taken by surprise by this unexpected speec ‘‘ You needn’t worry your brains about the matter, but rip it out, anyway; I reckon I can stand it if you can, although I guess you are not brin ing me good news.” ‘Well, that’s a sure enough fact,” responded the first ruffian. ‘‘And I’m durned sorry for it, too,” added the other. The tone of voice in which the two spoke de- yy impressed the sport. . 8 Ebooks e 7 Je a com leoked from one to the other, and then | | ., 5 4 (+ Se na’, a 25- oe a 1 i r