Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 484 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

6 ” * Captain Ready, the Red Ransomer. “‘IT marry?” exclaimed Mabel, with a tragic air. ‘‘Never! There is only one man in the world who could ever be aught to me, and he is perfectly indifferent to the love I lavish upon him.” The declaration was so pointed that Nick stir- red uneasily and then gained his feet, He preferred to thrust himself into the midst of the et throng at the inn, rather than remain alone longer with his companion. ‘* You are too young to talk in that way, Miss Pawler—too charming,” he added, with a grim- ace that was happily vailed by the darkness, ‘Surely, you cannot have been so weak and foolish as to cherish a single thought of me, after the plain talk I have had with you in Ironton.” **Oh, dear, no; but—” She hesitated, gasping for breath. resumed: ‘*T have tried to forget you, and I thought I had succeeded. But I had reckoned without your presence. Now that you are again by my side—no matter by what accident or fate—the love of other days comes back to me in a perfect torrent,” She threw her arms around Nick as she ceased speaking, and clung to him as earnestly as if she intended to hold on to him forever. “This is madness, Miss Pawler!” protested Nick, seeking to withdraw from her embrace; ‘nothing less than madness, not to speak of your conduct by a harsher name! Let us go to the house.” ‘*‘One moment,” pleaded Mabel, clinging to him. “Is it true that you are still unmar- ried?” bi ‘a Did I not say so?) Why should I lie about ** And—and you have never fallen in love with any girl?” ‘* Never; and it will be singular if I ever do, after a few such scenes as this!” The excited woman at his side clung still more firmly to him. ““Then what is to prevent us from becomin husband and wife?” she asked, with a voice an mien which showed that she was almost beside herself. ‘*‘Oh, Nick! you can never know how Ilove you! I know it is unmaidenly for me to talk in this way, but [ can no longer keep silent under the terrible agonies 1 have suffered. You cannot imagine the awful cioud under which I am living,” she added hurriedly, waving her hand toward the inn. “As an unmarried woman, I am constantly annoyed by these law- less people. Since you are going to the Dead Man’s Ranch, take me with you as your wife. I will be a true wife to you—” ““Heavens! Don’t carry this horrible scene further, Miss Pawler,” interrupted Nick, finding his voice. ‘*‘ Have you thought how it looks?” ‘*Yes—yes! ButI love you so wildly,” cried Mabel, again throwing her arms around his neck. ‘*Oh, do not cast me off! Donot despise me! We can be very bappy! Have pity upon me! . It cost Nick the exercise of nearly all his strength to tear himself clear of the girl’s violent clutch, but he did not hesitate to put her forcibly from him. *“*Enough of this,” he then said, ‘‘If you were the last woman in the world, I could not marry you! The fact that I do not have a par- ticle of affection for you—or even ordinary re- spect—is in itself an eternal barrier to the union you have so rashly proposed tome. I need say nothing, of course, of all the other opposing cir- cumstances—the cloud resting upon your parents and soon! Let us drop this dreadful folly and drop it forever!” ‘You will not marry me then?” she asked, with a sudden revulsion of feeling. **Certaimly not! Never!” ** You scorn and despise me?” **T am in a fair way to doso if this business is not soon ended.” ‘Then you shall never be the husband of any other woman!” bissed Mabel, drawing her form erect and glaring at him with blazing and men- acing eyes. ‘“‘I will have you killed on the spot! Throwing herself upon the startied and un- ded youth, with tae violence of a tigress, she clung to him tightly, and shouted with all the strength of her lungs: ‘*Help! Save me! Murder! murder!” Then she CHAPTER VII. A FIENDISH REVENGE. A’GRAND rush from the inn followed. A dozen men, Indians and trappers, with Pawler and his wife at their head, and a num- ber of them carrying lanterns, hastened to the spot where those wild cries had arisen, and from which they sti!l continued to come, ** Help! murder!” cried the cunning and in- famous creature, as she clung to Nick, resisting all his efforts to break clear of her. ‘Save me! An instant later a dozen stout hands laid hold of Nick as savagely asif he had beef a mur- er, ** Because I refused his proposal of marriage,” cried Mabel, panting for breath, ‘‘ he made this horrible assault upon me!” | It was in vain that Nick protested, endeavor- ing to obtain a hearing—as vain as had been his resistance, ' ‘*We must have quick vengeance for this business,” proposed an old trapper. ‘* This hound must die on the instant. To the nearest tree with bim!” ** Hold!” cried another. ‘‘ That would be too ** His merciful! Let’s burn him alive!” ‘**One moment,” proposed a _ third. horse is herein the shed. Let’s tie him to the back of his horse in such a way that his spurs will prick the animal to the bone at every jump, and send him into the wilderness—another Ma- zeppa!” ‘* Hurrah! glorious!” was the answer, with deafening yells of approbation. ‘Quick! Let’s to work! Our punishment must be prompt and certain!” The horse of the accused was led forth in the midst of the most horrible menaces and impre- cations. Then Nick was lashed with stout ropes to the animal’s back, the spur of his right foot imbed- ding itself in the flesh of the frightened steed, causing him to rear and plunge with all his might in his frantic efforts to escape. **That will do, boys!” cried the old trapper who had been prominent in these proceedings. ‘* Let go of him and stand clear!” The order was obeyed, the three or four men who had been necessary to restrain the mad- dened creature suddenly releasing their hold. What a terrible rush was that which suc- ceeded! The horse vanished in the darkness as if im- pelled by ten thousand demons! In a few brief moments the group of lynchers and the Rolling Tavern itself had been left out of sight behind. Only the wild roar and rush of the horse’s mad gallop fell upon his hearing. His first apprehension was of erg dashed against a tree, but the scene around him soon became less wooded and more open, Under all the circumstances, therefore, Nick was not quite hopeless. He believed the horse would eventually come toa halt from sheer exhaustion, and that he would then be able to extricate himself from the bonds in which he was so rigidly envel- oped. Mile after mile were rapidly left behind but not yet could Nick detect any alteration in the gait of his tortured steed, and by this time he had become keenly alive to the horrors of his situation. = Slowly but surely the cords with which his wrists and ankles had been bound were cutting to the bone. . At every bound the horse now made the pain caused the captive was excruciating. On and on sped the horse! On and on, as if he were as fresh as ever! It seemed an age sineady Nick since his de- parture from the Rolling Tavern. At length his bopefulness forsook him. He began to feel that the only chance now left him was the chance of speedy destruction. He noticed that the landscape around him had become hilly and broken, and it seemed probable that some precipice or ravine would soon bring him to a final halt. His suffering had now become so intense that he looked for this probable termination of his ride with positive impatience. Suddenly, just as a strange dizziness began to assail him, he heard the bark of a wolf at no great distance. Other similar sounds succeeded, and ere lon a chorus of these cries arose upon his trail, showing that a number of these fiendish crea- tures were pursuing him. How he shuddered at those cries. To be torn by wolves, while still alive, seemed the most terrible doom that could possibly be- fall him. Again he struggled with his bonds, but as vainly as before. They yielded a little, to be sure, but only as much as they had cut into his quivering flesh. At this moment, just as Nick was resigning himself to instant and certain destruction, a couple of rifle-shots fell upon his hearing. Then there was a grand tumble of horse and rider, and Nick became insensible, CHAPTER VIII, THE RED RANSOMERS. “Tat was a close call you had last night,” were the next sounds of which Nick became conscious. At these words he looked wildly around, He was lying in the broad light of day upon a rude couch of brushwood, which had been coy- ered with buffalo-skins, , A rough-looking man was standing over him, leaning upon a rifle. » ** A close call, I say,” resumed this individual, seeing that Nick had recovered hissenses. ‘‘ Not merely a close call from the wolves, but also from the tumble you had after the horse was killed under you!” Nick exerted himself to comprehend these observations, £2 Sy ** Who are you?” he asked. ““I'm a prairie kitten, | am, stranger,” was the answer: ** one of the original stump-pullers of the Rockies; a tall giraffe of the mountains; a wobbling angel of the solitudes! The more you ask me questions the less you’ll really know about me. My looks’ll tell you nothing to speak of, and my words are gammon,. Call me Dan, pard, and I'll answer to the name jest as readily as if it had been ’stowed upon me by my father and mother.” Nick realized that he had fallen into the hands of one of those outlaws who have every reason for concealing their identities, and none whatever for revealing them. ** Tt matters little who or what you are, Dan,” he declared. ‘* You have certainly rendered me a great service and I thank you.” e made an effort to sit up as he uttered these words, but his strength failed him, ‘* Heavens! what’s the matter with me?” be demanded, in startled astonishment. ‘*So much for playing Mazeppa,” answered Dan. ‘You ought to be thankful for being alive, instead of growling because you're as weak as a baby!” Nick sunk back upon his rude couch, literally panting for breath, **Do you expect to resume your travels, jest as if nothing had happened?” pursued the out- law. ‘* Those ropes have cut your ankles to the bone, and your wrists are as raw asa piece of beef, to say nothing of the gridironing your whole body has received from your head to your heels! We all agreed that such another spec- tacle had never come under our notice!” * All of you, Dan? You mean your family?” ‘Certainly, my ae and a high old family it is,’ answered Dan, with an air of merriment. Nick felt of himself with due care, and then drew a sigh of relief. ‘*T shall be all right in a day or two,” he said. ** Don’t you think so?” ‘No. Yow ll have to remain quiet at least a week, By to-morrow, at this hour, you'll be sorer than a boil.” ‘*Then I may as well take a look at my sur- roundings. Help me to a sitting posture, please, and I'll see where I am.” Dan complied, and Nick bent a long glance around him. That one look was sufficient. He saw that he was in a robber-camp. The site was an open space of fifty acres in the middle of a great forest of pines whose limitations could not be made out. In the midst of this clearing were a dozen huts and as many tents, all ranged in a neat and uniform manner along two principal streets. Seated around there huts and tents were sixty or seventy picturesque looking rascals, of differ- ent ages and colors, all engaged in cooking their breakfasts. Nick gave expression to the astonishment the sight caused him. ‘*T saw nothing of this last night,” he said, ‘* For the good reason that you were three miles from here at the moment I shot your horse under you,” returned Dan. ‘Several of our eK were with me, or we should not have been able to keep the wolves from eating you as well as your horse.” Nick realized how narrowly he had esCaped. **T hope I’m not ‘ out of of the frying-pan in- to the fire,’ Dan,” he declared. ‘* Your people will do me no injury, I suppose?” ‘* Not the least, if we’re satisfied you'll keep our secrets, Ah! the boys have noticed that ou have come to! And here comes the cap’n himself to bid you good-morning |” Nick looked in the direction indicated, and saw a man of singular and striking man ap- proaching. “Is that your captuin?” he asked, as a flush of excitement crept into bis pale cheeks, ‘* Ah! you've seen him!" cried Dan, He bad indeed! For the man approaching was one of those who at the Rolling Tavern, bad been prominent in sending Nick forth upon his wild ride! As Nick’s conscience was perfectly tranquil, the tremor of emotion cau by the captain’s approach did not linger. *‘Good-morning, Mr. Peddie,” greeted the robber chief, extending his hand. “I am glad to see you in a fair way to recover from ead horrible ride of last evening, and equally pleas- ed tobave a chance of asking your pardon for my share in that business.” ‘My pardon?’ stammered Nick, in amaze- ment. ** Yes, sir—your law, wringing Nick’s all a mistake on my part. woman imposed upon me.” ‘*'You mean the innkeeper’s daughter?” ‘* Yes, Miss Barter.” Nick smiled contentedly, as he returned the pressure of the hand offered him. ‘*That young woman deceived me as well as all the rest by her falsehoods,” pursued the rob- ber chief. ‘‘ Her acting was certainly a master- piece. I was especially bitter against you, as you doubtless noticed. Why? Because I have paying particular attention to the girl for rdou;” repeated the out- hand heartily. ‘‘It was: That worthless: (E(0) AMIE ooe ¥ ~~ ce ag ae tl