Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 484 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

= re *% ary A -agood word for me,” he thought. io Saag His tears of agony rained upon the pallid face before him. ‘‘The funeral is to take place to-morrow,” added Mrs. Meadows. ‘‘Can you be here?” ‘Probably not. I do not know what mo- ment the pursuers may arrive. Perhaps to- night, but doubtless early in the morning. I cannot allow them to afflict the souls of my dead mother and father by capturing me and taking me to prison. How about the funeral expenses? After all that bas been spent in vain to clear me, will there be money enough to pay all just claims against the family?” "Ample, Gordon—ample! If not, I shall gladly make up the difference!” ** Then I have no further concerns here, Mrs. Meadows. I leave all to you. I am going away never toreturn. My sentence was for twenty years, you will remember, and I could not reconcile myself to it. You will hear in due course that I cut myself clear of their handcuffs and chains. You believe in a heaven, as you have so often taught me—in that heaven to which my father and mother bave gone! I will endeavor to meet you there, Mrs, Meadows!” Pressing a farewell kiss upon the dead face before him, he wrung the hand. of Mrs, Meadows, and fled precipitately from the house, A few moments thereafter he was again mounted, and riding away at random, For along time he took no note of anything around him. His chin rested upon his breast, and his eyes stared into empty space, without any sign of thought or perception. Suddenly he started, rousing himself as if a servant had bitten him. His eyes had encountered a brilliant gieam of light from the windows of a large farm-house he was approaching. In front of this farm-house were numerous horses and carriages. Various persons were moving about the premises, on the steps and the drives, The first impulse of Gordon Vorce was to rein his horse about and fly at full gallop. His second—which he acted upon—was to ride nearer. Soon he was near enough to one of the men in the door-yard to address him. ** What's going on here?” he demanded, in the same hoarse voice he had first used in speaking to Mrs. Meadows, _‘*Going on here?” echoed the man, in aston- ishment. ‘‘ Where did you come from, stranger, that you should ask such a question? Miss Thurston has married her gallant captain!” Gordon Vorce reeled in his saddle. Miss Thurston had been his betrothed at the commencement of his trouble. Now she was the bride of another! How little cared she for the tragedy which had wrecked his whole existence! CHAPTER XXIII AN AWFUL SITUATION, RESUMING progress in dazed silence, Gordon rode away as if his pursuers were already at his heels. His horse was panting for breath and covered with foam before he became conscious of what he was doing. ** He’s had too much work already,” he then mused. ‘I must halt for the night, But where, and with whom?” He scanned the neighborhood around him, re- flecting profoundly. ‘* T can’t recall a soul hereabouts who‘has said é ** Let’s see, a couple of miles will bring me to Judge Walk- er’s. I hardly think he’s home from bis circuit, Every foot of the place is known to me. I can creep into some shed until morning,” Having reached this conclusion te rode slow- ly forward. It was getting late when he reached his desti- nation, ‘* Of course they’re all abed and asleep,” he said to himself, as he scanned the dark and silent dwelling. ‘So much the better! Ill put the horse under the shed, and pass the night in the straw-stack near him.” He disposed of himself and the horse in accor- dance with this purpose, The straw-stack he had mentioned was an un- usually large one, flat on the top, and so high that it would not be easy to see the intruder when he bad once lain down upon it. Effecting an entrance into the barn, Gordon secured hay and oats to feed his horse later. Then be gained the top of the stack. _ Strangely quough, the fugitive had not been in this position five minutes when a man on a fleet horse came dashing into the yard and dismounted, with startled intensity. Gordon Vorce He knew not why he was so interested in the stranger, nor why all his thoughts at that mo- ment were of the *‘ black horseman.” . Probably the stealthy movements of the new- comer had something to do with these sug- Beptions. ** Suppose he should be that man!” The Lnonaht almost choked Gordon Vorce. ' If the horse had been a black, instead of.a white, Gordon would not have hesitated to feel that he was in the presence of the man for whose crime he had been so terribly punished. How he watched and listened! Throwing his reins over a post, the unknown aout, toward the house as noiselessly as pos- sible. Gordon Vorce slid from the straw-stack and followed him, taking care not to reveal his pres- ence. At the rear door of the house the unknown knocked cautiously for admittance. ** Who's there?” called a voice from within. ** Tt’s I,” was the answer. The grinding of a lock and bolt were heard, and the door was opened. ‘* Come in,” pursued the voice. ‘* No, father! I haven’t the time.” The new-comer sat down on the door-step, with a nervous and thoughtful air. Gordon caught a view of the interior, as he | crept near under cover of some friendly bushes, | It was lighted dimly by a candle, | An old man had been walking to and fro there in his stocking-feet, with a face as white as death. This man was Judge Walker—the judge who had so lately sentenced Gordon to twenty years’ imprisonment. ‘* You-—you are surprised to see me here, I suppose,” resumed the son. ‘No, Albert,” returned the judge, advancing | to his side, and Jeaning against the door-post. | ‘*T suppose you are in trouble. meso. Certainly, you wouldn’t be here at this hour on your wed ing-night if everything was as it should be! You’ve heard the news, of course!” ‘* News? What news?” ‘* Why, that Gordon Vorce has escaped!” ** You don’t mean it!” ‘The news has been Seep ig ares all up and down the valley, and especially to me!” ‘** But how escaped?” The judge briefly gave the particulars, as they are known to the reader, and added: “Then you bad not heard of this? You're here for some other reason?” ‘Yes, father! There’s an awful row going on at Thurston’s!” ** What sort of a row?” “There was aman there who recognized me | as the ‘black horseman!’ There’s not a moment | to lose! They’re after me! I must havea fresh | horse, or they’ll have me!” ‘Unfortunately l’ve none to give you,” re- turned the judge, with forced calmness, ‘ Ive ne just arrived from the Circuit!” he son looked terribly anuoyed. ‘You must find me something, father, or I | tS sess: ee shall be captured,” he said, with savage stern- | I ness, ‘‘and if lam 2 vga tg I'll squeal and dis- | him to a place of safe-keeping, and you'll soon ce you forever! author of all those crimes including the murder which has been so fatal to the Vorce family. I | will swear that you knew of Gordon’s innocence! I will swear that you knowingly sacrificed Gordon to save our own reputation!” ** Well, do so,” replied the judge. not deny it! As well die now as later! Captain Ready, the Red Ransomer. ,It was the hand of the sheriff which struck aside Gordon’s weapon sufticiently to save the life of Albert Walker. What the sheriff wanted to do, naturally enough, was to bring the young assassin to justice, and at the same time spare the inno- cent victim from taking the law into his own hands. Pity the result did not respond to this inten- tion. Instead, the interference of the sheriff led to the criminal’s escape. Realizing that the ball had missed hin, young Walker leaped backward into the house—in- stead of rushing the other way, in which the sheriff was so well prepared to receive him—and the next instant he had fled out of a back door, gaining such a start that it was possible for him to lose himself to all pursuit in the darkness, The judge made no attempt to resist arrest, but three days later he was found dead in his cell at the county jail, and the verdict of the coroner’s jury did not attempt to decide whether his death was owing to grief and shame, or to poison. As to Gordon Vorce, he did not wait to re- ceive the congratulations of the shermff and others at the discovery of his innocence, or to take the usual steps to secure a “ pardon” for a crime he did not commit, but hastened to pursue the fugitive assassin. With what result, no one knew. Neither he nor Albert Walker were ever Your face tells | seen again in the neighborhood which had been so fateful to them. CHAPTER XXIV. NICK FINDS HIS BEST PARD, © THE joy of Nick Peddie, as he gave himself up to the guidance of the friendly hand of his res- cuer, can be imagined, ‘*Have no fear,” whispered the unknown. ‘We shall have no difficulty in leaving the camp. I have the countersign for the night.” Nothing more was said until a sentry had been encountered and passed, and the couple were clear of the robbers. ‘* We shall soon reach the spot where I have left a couple of horses,” then resumed the un- known. ‘‘ How are you feeling, Mr. Peddie?” ‘* Rather sore in body and not a little worried in mind,” answered Nick, who was greatly as- tonished to see that his name was known to his rescuer, ‘*T cannot cure the soreness,” said the latter, “but I think I can dispose of the mens You are fretting, no doubt, in regard to Mr. Hamlin in view of the situation in which you left him?” Nick assented, wondering more and more at the knowledge of his deliverer, ' ‘‘Well, Mr. Hamlin is allright. I have taken will avow that Iam the | have the pleasure of meats, him again.” At this moment was heard the alarm for which Nick had been listening from the very moment of his escape from the tent in which he had been confined. ; ‘‘ At last!” ejaculated his deliverer, still re- “T will | Seay yh enigar g from the scene of excitement Iam. behind him, ‘ They’ve hardly been as prompt uld tired of all these terrors and horrors. The | to detect your absence as I eri at they wo death of Mr. Vorce, who was m schoolmate, | be, and to look for us now will e like looking has given meashock from which I can never for a needle in a haystack,” recover. Yes, avow your assassin! To think that I sho of such a son! Yes, avow that you are the ‘black horseman,’ and that you are the mur- ilt, wretched nd. Be derer of the man for whose death Gordon Vorce | known. is now a hunted fugitive.” The sentence was interrupted by a cry as of some ravening beast of prey! ‘“‘ Heavens! what’s that?” cried Albert Walker, springing to his feet. | i At the end of another minute the couple be the father reached the horses in waiting. ‘Are you strong enough, Mr. Peddie, to mount without my assistance?’ asked the un- ** If not—” : ; ‘Oh, Tecan readily manage it,” replied Nick, ‘The mere thought of being free again makes me as strong as a giant.” He hastened to mount the borse he found at his disposal, and his rescuer, taking possession Ere any answer could be given, Gordon Vorce | of the other, led the way still further from the stood before the two men—deathly pale, impla- | cable, terrible! “This for my father!” he cried, leveling a revolver at ths son. A oy gat succeeded, and Albert Walker gave himsel Op for dead, so near was his assailant, but the ball from Gordon’s weapon merely his side. : The truth was, Gordon was not alone. There bad been others concealed in the bushes which bad sheltered him—a number of men, and at their head the sheriff by whom Gordon had been arrested on the river-road, as related. Why these?” Simply because of a suspicion on the part of the sheriff. On hearing of Gordon’s escape, he had said to himself that the first step of the fugitive would be to wreak a terrible revenge upon Judge Walker, | What, in good truth, was more ewe es ‘Let others look for bim where they will,” said the sagacious sheriff to himself, “1 will look for him at the judges!” f In pursuance of this idea, he had placed him- self on the watch. Imagine, therefore, the emotions with which Nick. | the sheriff and his associates had listened to the | too, is just as horrible revelations cropping out of the confi- dences of the father and son! “ The son the real] assassin! The father an accessory after the fact! ! j ; ; } | ' ' ' | ; | Vor deeply, Iam really at a loss to og declared | robber se a f ‘‘ Remembering how weak you must be from vour personations of Mazeppa and Captain Haskell,” resumed the unknown, “I took the risk of bringing the horses pretty close to the camp. We'll walk them a minute or two, and then strike a jog.” ‘*Somehow your voice seems familiar,” ob- served Nick, scanning the figure ahead of him with new earnestness, now that it was outlined against the horizon with considerable clearness, ‘May I ask if you have ever talked with me before to-night? “Yes; yesterday afternoon.” ‘“‘ Ah! you are the good friend who loaned me a horse, as I had begun to suspect?” — : His guide assented, such being indeed the case, ‘Need 1 say how grateful I am for this re- lease from that robber camp, sir? I would like to know the real name of the man to whe” I am so much indebted. Will you give it to me?” “Yes, in confidence. It is Gordon ce. ‘‘T thank you, Mr. Vorce—how much and how ‘* What you have done for lamlin, to me as if the gentle- man were my father or brother. I sig ie deep- ly that the splendid horse you kindly loaned me has veen killed without any fault of mine—” ratifyin “That's all right, Mr. Peddie,” interrupted ‘ =a co fas oh ae we ae _ 49% ‘¢ : ‘ . i *.. ee ; [ ‘a ; i” - | Wee! ; -