Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 483 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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. a “ey oy ' a _ » When she skipped down the bank and got aboard. —— ing mournfully and silently over his disappointed expectations, and his friend being so imbittered by the vile and successful trick which had been | played on him, that he could scarcely trust him- self to utter a word. They could only hope that the party headed by Jim Maybie might have had better luck than they. Ih was night and quite dark when they ap- proached the village; but they saw ahead of them a man and a woman riding toward them. The woman proved to be Martha Gibbs, and her escort was Charley Taintor. She had gone to Staceyville, to continue an » unsuccessful search, according to the directions J —<tyy —— vw of Betty Marks, for Mr. Henning and Mr, Stan- niford, and the landlord had insisted on accom- panying her when she decided to return home, Fiush Fred’s spirits went up like a balloon when he caught sight of Miss Gibbs, and he greeted her warmly. “We have lost the Queen of Hearts,” said he, ‘‘ but here is the Queen of Spades, and if we could find the Queen of Diamonds, I believe we could sweep the board and all be happy yet.” ‘‘T can tell you something about the Queen: of Hearts as well as the Queen of Diamonds,” re- lied Martha Gibbs. ‘‘I have just been to taceyville, under orders from Miss Marks, to look for you two, and it is a great blessing that I have met you.” She gave a brief, but at the same time a full account of the meeting with Eva and compan- ions, and of the subsequent action of Miss Marks. ‘‘ We both believed,” said she, *‘ that they had gone to the river to take a boat, as the road they were following led away from Judge Stacey’s, and Betty said that she would go wherever Eva Bramwell went, and you may depend upon it that she will.” ‘‘May Heaven bless her!” exclaimed Ben Stanniford. ‘It is a glorious thing to know, whatever may happen, that my dear girl has one good and true friend near her.” ‘‘The Queen of Diamonds is a cart-load of jewels in herself,” declared Flush Fred, ‘‘ and would bet my last dollar that our queen full will beat the game yet. How long is it since you met them, Miss Gibbs?’ The school-teacher stated the time as well as she could estimate it. ‘* We may be able to catch them,” said Fred. . “They have a big start of us; but a steamboat ~ don’t pass every hour. i } te . ~ are you off to?” See Miss Gibbs safe home, Charley, and God bless you both! Come on, Ben! We must ride for all we are worth,” Mica few minutes they galloped into Stacey- ville, where they ordered fresh horses on the in- stant, picking up a bite to eat while the saddles were beivg changed. Andrew Bates came mounted. ; “ark What's up?” he wanted to know. ere hurrying to them as they Fred Henning told him in as few words as sible. ‘Wish you luck!” said the capitalist. “I ould be glad to go with you, but lam getting too old for that betes oper work, Don't you Want some mone ‘**No, [ have scoagh for both. We will leave you here to hold the fort, and you must not let _ the Staceys get on top again.” __ te Through the then peaceful village, and out pmto the quiet country, Fred Henning and Ben Stanniford galloped like mad, eager to reach the river before the persons they pursued could as Fred had said they must, ‘* for “ get away. __ They rode, _ all they were worth,” but were oo late. Tt was near midnight when they reached the river, and there was no steamboat in sight, nor any person visible about the landing. They sought vuhe man who had charge of the little warehouse there, and with some trouble Sueceeded in arousing him. ga! It was a discouraging story that he told _~ ies a .. Judge Stacey had come there that night, with his son and Colonel Jeff and a young lady, want- ng a boat, and they did not seem to care Whether it was an up or a down boat. -They were in luck, as the Starlight soon came in sight, bound up the river, and a swinging e 5 v antern brought her in to the landing. Judge Stacey and his party went aboard, leay- ng their horses there to be sent home. ‘ Was there nobody else?” inquired Fred. _ “Yes, thar was a woman who rode up just-in ime to ketch the boat.” ** Who was she?” -_ *Can’t say as I know her; but she left her a _ boss here, to be_sent to Marks’s, near taceyville, and I reckon she was Miss Marks. _ They war jest goin’ to pull in the gang-plank it was mighty queer—them folks comin’ here at hight, and hurryin’ off like that, without a bit of baggage. But I’ve heerd that thar’s been _ Strange goin’s on about Staceyville, and mebbe on _ that was of ’em.” _ “© How long since the Starlight left here?” _ __ “Not moren’n a bit ago,” was the indefinite Buswer, ‘If ’twasn’t so dark, you might see directly toward the landing. | Flush Fred, the River Sharp. ! | par up yonder. Do you want to ketch er’ ‘* Right bad,” ° | ‘That'll be easy enough, I reckon. It’s a good ten mile around the bend, and about three mile across, with a decent road, It ought to be easy to head her off, and you kin git a skiff at the woodyard up thar.” Fred Henning gave the man some money to pay him for his trouble, had the road pointed out to him, and he and Ben Stanniford were off again, galloping like mad to cross the bend. When they got across, they blessed the kind Providence that had made the Mississippi so crooked. They saw the lights of the Starlight in the river, and she was below them! They hastened to the cabin at the woodyard, and roused up the owner. ‘“ We want a skiff in a hurry,” said Fred Hen- ning. ‘* We want to board that boat which is coming up.” ‘*) kin bring her in here,” answered: the man as he rubbed his eyes. ‘‘ We don’t want to get her that way. We want the skiff.” ‘Who are you? I don’t know you. I can’t | let a skiff go to strangers who may never bring | it back.” Hove | [tis likely that we may never bring it back, | and so lam going to pay you its full value be- | fore we start. We don’t know you, either; but | yon beiong here, and we are going to leave ' these horses with you, to be sent to Charley | Taintor, the hotel man at Staceyville. What do _ you value the skiff at?” | The man named a sum that was. surely big _ enough, and Henning paid it without @ mur- niur. - Then they hastened down the bank and got into the skiff, Flush Fred taking the oars and | pulling out upon the dark and turbid river like a& man who was accustomed to that kind of work, | It was then easy enough tocatch the Starlight, | which came steaming slowly around the bend | against a strong current. |. The skiff was pulled to her starboard quarter, | just abaft the wheel, and was made fast there. As the boiler-deck of the steamboat was nearly level with the water, the two friends only had to step aboard, ‘*You must stay here and watch the boat, Ben,” said Benniis. ‘“*T will go up and get Miss Bramwell and bring her down to you, as I fancy that I can manage that business better than you can.” ‘“What am I to do then?” inquired the younger man, ‘* You are to take her ashore, and make your way up the river as well as you can until you find a shelter or ateam. I will get off at Boli- var, and will be sure to find you unless you meet me there.” There was silence on the boat, the deck-hands asleep, and even the engineers and firemen drowsing at their posts, when Flush Fred set out to perform his mission. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS, Jup@r STAcry’s escapade had been executed according to the information given by the man oo landing to Fred Henning and Ben Stan- niford, The party had not passed Stag be NEL ap as the road they were following outside of the village, and they had no wish to enter it, Eva Bramwell frequently asked her uncle and cousin where they were going to, but got only evasive answers or rude rebuffs. Finally she settled down to the conviction that they did not mean to tell her, that she was nelpless in their hands, and that she could do nothing but try to resign herself to her fate. The chance meeting with Miss Marks and Miss Gibbs had inspired her with some hope, but what could either or both of them do to aid ber? If it had been Ben Stanniford and his friend, she might have expected sometbing. Judge Stacey and Tom knew well what she believed or suspected concerning them; but she was in their power, and when they could get her beyond the reach of the obnoxious individu- als who had been making trouble at Staceyville they fully expected her to submit to their will. As they bad no fear of pursuit, believing that their route and destination were known only to themselves, they were not in such a hurry as were two men who followed them later, When they reached the river and Judge Stacey began eagerly to make inquiries concerning a boat, their purpose became plain to Eva. The Starlight had just come in sight from be- low, and the man in charge of the landing, obeying the instructions of Judge Stacey, pre- pared to signal her. ‘* Are we going on that steamboat?” demanded the young lady. “Yes,” her uncle answered, ‘‘ What for? Where are we going to?” “You are going where you will be safe and out of the way of trouble.” “‘ Are you and Cousin Tom going, too?” ‘* Of course we are, to take care of you.” —— ss ee “But we have not a bit of baggage. Howcan + 25 as I gO with nothing to wear but what I have on? ‘“You can pick up something before iong. Money can settle all those questions.” Eva burst into tears. It was not so much the prospect of a deficient wardrobe that troubled her, as the fact that she was being taken away from the vicinity of Ben Stanniford and his friend, who had come to Staceyville expressiv to be near her. They could not follow her, as they would not be able to even guess whither she had gone, The steamboat, after whistling in answer to the signal, thrust her nose in at the landing, and a plank was run out, and Judge Stacey and his companions filed down the vank and went aboard, Just then Betty Marks rode up and dismount- ed hastily. After a few words to the landing man, she ran down the bank and boarded the Starlight, which immediately backed out and went on up the river. Miss Marks. was: in no hurry to register as a passenger. Indeed, she did not enter the cabin until Judge Stacey had finished that operation for himself and bis friends, and had gone aft toward the ladies’ cabin. Then she entered ber name at the clerk’s office and paid her fare to Memphis, as she believ that the Staceys would go as far as that city. As Judge Stacey and his male companions had not lately had what they migbt call a square meal, and therefore possessed keen appetites, they hastened to make up for lost time in the victualing line. By ti ping a waiter and a cook, they got a good cold lunch served up to them in the middle of the cabin, and the bar supplied them with drinkables. that suited them. They invited Eva to join them; but she de- clared that she could not eat a morsel, and they left her to sulk in the ladies’ cabin, Of course there was no need that they should beni a watch over her, as she was safe, and could not get off the boat except by sump into the river, an act of desperation of whic they did not consider her capable. While they were fortifying their inner men, the enemy was stealing a march on them. Betty Marks, who bad been watching their Bp reget a closely, slipped around on the guard, entered the ladies’ cabin near the stern of the boat, and presented herself before the disconso- lated Eva, That young lady was surprised and overjoyed at seeing her, and eagerly inquired how she had got there and where she was going to. Betty briefly explained how she had got there, and declared that she was going wherever Eva went, and that she meant to stick to her through ae and thin, in spite of everything and every- y. “That is not all,” she added. “‘ Martha and I guessed that you had been taken to the river, and I left her behind to bunt up Mr. Henning and Mr. Stanniford and put them on the track, You may be sure that they will find a way to follow us, and eatch up with us somehow.” ‘“*Youare really a friend in need,” cried Eva. ‘* How good you are tome! What have I done to deserve such a sacrifice you?” “Tt is no sacrifice, my dear. It is nothing but fun to me, and if I am not sharp enough to get ahead of those relatives of yours, | am mis- taken in myself. You know that I am fond of you, and Mr. Stanniford, who loves you, is a particular friend of Mr. Henning’s.” ‘Whom you love!” suggested Eva. “To speak the honest truth, my dear, I have never loved, and shall never love, any men but Fred Henning: though he does not care for me, except as a friend. But we have no time for this kind of talk, Eva, Ycur uncle will be com- ing back here directly, and he will put a stop to it. ‘* Perhaps you had better get out of the way before he comes, and he nay not know that you are on the boat. ‘* What would be the use? He is bound to see me before long, and I may as well have it over with. I want to astonish him, you know.” Betty Marks had her wish. When they bad finished their luncheon, Col- , onel Jeff and Tom gravitated to the bar to get something to smoke, and Judge Stacey, after cautioning bis son to leave liquor alone, went back to the ladies’ cabin to look after Eva, When he saw her seated on a sofa, in familiar and earnest conversation with a lady, it occur- red to him that she had struck up a very sudden friendship. : When that lady looked up and faced him, and he recognized Betty Marks, he was so aston- ished that he was ready to drop to the floor, and was quite unable to express bis emotions. Was it possible that this was the same woman from whom he bad parted so rudely in the neigh- borhood of Stacey ville? | How and when had she got on that boat, and what was she there for? These were questions which he would have been glad to ask her; but his dignity, com- ges with his wrath, would not allow him to 80. : Eomichboo Cc KS (E(@) . ob.) 4 wa ’ ~ 7 -