Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

— itt a - be - ~ ad am 22 Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. ‘‘T never have the faintest idea, I can only guess that he wanders about in the mountains until his mind comes back to him.” ‘* Don’t he tell you, when he gets back, what he bas been doing?” ‘* Ha knows nothing about it. The period of his absence is a blank to him. But I know that he has always been able to take care of himself, and that he has always come home safe and well. That is the only consolation I have. I cannot stop him or restrain him, and can only wait pa- tiently for his return.” ‘*Tt needs something more than patience, I should say. What has become of your handy man the dwarf?” ** He had to go “gg this morning, but I ex- pect him back soon. I don’t think there is any danger, Mr. Marvel, Tell me the Topnotch news.” ‘* There is nothing newin Topnotch, Business is dull, except with the whisky-shops, which are doing more than they ought to. It has got to be the rowdiest place I ever saw, and I guess that my father and the rest of the Tycoons are beginning to think that their style of running things has been a mistake.” “That is what my father has thought all along. Gambling is a bad thing, of course; but there are other ways of getting rid of bad things short of breaking seanle’s heads, Why, dear me! speaking of heads, Mr. Marvel, you have been here all this time, and I have not thought to ask about your head that was wounded in the fight at the mine. How is your head?” ‘*My head is all right. How is your heart?” ‘My heart? What do you mean? I came out of the fight all safe. I was not wounded in the heart.” ** Not then, perhaps; but I thought you might have been touched at some other time, and that it was a tall young fellow who had wounded ou. “What do you mean, Mr. Marvel?” ** Burch Blanton is the tall young fellow I was speaking of.” The girl’s vivid blush told that the shot had struck home. ** Seriously, Miss Marlow,” said Simon, ‘are you gon to marry Blanton?” ‘“*] believe that he is expecting me to marry him,” she meekly answered. ‘*So itis settled. I thoughtso, Well, Burch is my best friend, and is a very fine man. don’t know a finer man of his inches, and he has plenty of inches, too. Ienvy him immense- ly; but I knew all along that there was no chance for me.” ‘**'No chance for you? You co me again. What do you mean, Mr. Marvel?” ‘** You can guess that easy enough, I mean that I am very fond of you, myself, and have been since I firstsaw you. Iam still fond of ou, though I know that you are going to marry lanton, and always will be, I suppose. You know, Miss Marlow, that a fellow can’t help that sort of thing.” **Can’t he? I hope he will make the best of it, then. IL want you to like me, but am willing to admit to you that I love your friend Blan- ts one that he, or nobody, must be my bus- and. es t is all right, Miss Marlow. IT envy Bureh—that’s all. I should think it would worry him to know that you are left here alone.” “T sup it would, if he knew it; but he does not happen to know that I was left alone to-day.” ** He does not come here often, then?” _“* He was here day before yesterday, the night after the aight, and he is to come here to-night. He can seldorn get away from the mine in the daytime, you know.” **T am glad that he is coming to-night, as I want to feel that you are safe.” CHAPTER XXX, DEATH AND CAPTURE. Suste MaRwow rose hastily, and stood in an attitude of listening. She did not lay her head to the und in Ceesar’s style, as if the vibrations of the earth could give her the information she wanted; but it was oe that her nervous nature was strained intensely in the act of listening. _ There is somebody coming!” she cried eager- ly. ‘‘Perhaps it is Mr. Blanton—no, it is too early for bim. Perhaps it is Caesar. Surely it cannot be father.” Suddenly she started back with! a cry of rm. ** My God! it is neither of them!” Simon Marvel, who had followed her gaze with his eyes, saw several men who had ascended the plateau and were hurrying toward the house through the trees. It needed but a glance to assure him that neither Blanton nor Caesar was among them, The same glance told him who and what they were, “Wo are lost!’ he exclaimed. ‘‘ Miss Mar- — dow, ag men are Dan Lasher and part of his She had seen them plainly enough, and she knew that escape was impossikle. If her father or Blanton or Cesar aad been oo SUMS. SV’ U’OO Se there, there might have been some hope of re- sistance; but what could she and Simon Marvel do against those men? But resistance to the last extremity was what she decided on immediately, and she hastened to take the only course that was left to her. ‘* Into the house!” she cried. ‘‘ We can fight them off there, if we can do it at all.” Into the house they went, and the door was closed and barred quickly, and each picked up a rifle and prepared for desperate work. But they were only two—a young woman who was not supposed to be accustomed to the use of weapons, and a young man who did not pretend to be a fighter. What could they be expected to do against a dozen strong, well-armed and determined ruf- fians, led by so resolute and implacable a man as Dan Lasher? Their only hope was that the cabin might serve as a fortification until they could kill off or drive away their assailants. In that case, however, it would be necessary that the door should oppose a firm resistance to the assault, and for that resistance the raiders had come prepared, They had picked up the trunk of a young tree as they came along, and that was to open the way for them. As soon as they saw Susie Marlow and Simon Marvel run into the house, they hurried forward, with the view of giving them as little time as possible for preparation. As they wheeled around in front of the cabin, a couple of shots were fired from the window, and one of the assailants tumbled over. This would never do, and steps were at once taken to put a stop to it, as Dan Lasher had men enough for all the purposes of his expedi- tion. More than half of them, in obedience to his orders, leveled their rifles and opened fire on the window and every other part of the build- ing where a bullet could possibly penetrate the interior. This fire wasso rapid and heavy and effec- tive, that the two forlorn defenders of the cabin could not even think of endeavoring to tan- swer it, but crouched below the flying missles, erpeotne momentarily a struggle that could only end in one way. In the mean time the men who carried the log did not lose a minute. hey rushed at the door, and the first blow of the battering-ram shattered it and made the whole cabin shiver. The second blow burst: the fastenings of the door, and drove it inward, where it fell with a crash among the furniture. Susie Marlow and Simon Marvel, who had expected this event, started up instantly, and fired desperately and effectively at the rush of the raiders; but they were as straws in a whirl- wind, and were immediately overwhelmed. Savagely they were seized, their rifles were taken from them, and they were dragged out- side into the presence of Dan Lasher and his ruffianly gang. Handsome Dan looked at them with a cruel expression of malignant satisfaction. ‘Yon have been acting like a pairof fools,” he said, fiercely. ‘‘ You know well enough that you had no chance to escape us or to fight us; yet you have tried to do it, like a brace of con- demned idiots, and have done harm that you will have to pay for. Do you know that you have killed one man, and badly hurt two more? Don’t you suppose that you have got to suffer for that?” Neither Susan nor Simon made any answer, but looked straight at him, expecting the worst, and fearing it not. Dan Lasher, by the way, did not at that time deserve his name of Handsome Dan. As has been said, he had outgrown it, and the artificial aids of civilization had been called in to repair the ravages of time; but, since he had been driven away from Topnotch, and had taken refuge in the hills, he was without those aids, and had been compelled to lead a rougher existence than was agreeable to him. Consequently his hair and mustache showed the lack of their accustomed dye, and in his a were the evidences of years and a hard ife, ‘*So you won’t talk,” he said, with a sneer. ‘Very well; I reckon I can do the talking for the family, and I see before me the very ones I have been wanting to get hold of. I have caught them both together, and have killed two fine birds with one stone. Here is the young Tycoon, son of the man who broke me up in business, and drove me into the woods. I came near hanging you once, young chap, and missed it by a scratch. Do you think Iam likely to miss it again?” ‘“‘T was not afraid of you then,” stoutly an- swered Simon, ‘‘and I am not afraid of you now. You may do your worst, and may be sure that you will pay for it sometime. But you surely can have no grudge against this oung lady, who had the right to defend her ome. The gambler 9 aan Susie Marlow, and the expression of his face was more malevolent than ever. : aa i 7 : : 7 ; : * r Py ‘ wwe, -~ ; 3 i Dd Me dks _ *+'g4h. AS my ‘No grudge against her?’ he said, with a bit- ter sneer. ‘‘ Well, perhaps no, and perhaps yes. Suppose she might help me to work out a grudge against somebody else? I’ve been wanting her, and now I’ve got her, and I mean to keep her. You are prettier, too, my girl, than I had ex- pected to find you, and that is no small thing to say. Better looking than your mother was, I do believe.” Susan shuddered as she looked at him, and a new terror drove the blood from her face; yet she stood up boidly, and spoke firmly. **What do you know about my mother?” she demanded, ‘““What doi know about her?” chuckled the gambler. ‘* Well, my dear, what I don’t know about her would scarcely be worth finding out, You are her living image, except that you are rettier, and lam glad that I have found you. don’t doubt that we will get on tugether, and you may give me a kiss to begin with,” He advanced toward her, and was about to take the girl’s face between his two hands, when Susan struck him with her open band a blow that made his cheeks tingle. ‘‘Curse you for a spitfire!” he angrily ex- claimed, as he raised his clinched fist, Simon Marvel, who had with difficulty re- strained his indignation thus far, could hold in his temper no longer. Jerking himself loose from the man who care- lessly held him, he drew a revolver which had not been discovered on his person, and fired at the insolent gambler. The hasty shot, unfortunavely, was not well aimed, The bullet struck Dan Lasher’s shoulder, and the only effect was to make him jump and swear. Before Simon could pull trigger again, he was shot down by one of Lasher’s friends—suot rig bt aged the heart, and he never knew what burt im. Susie Marlow burst into tears when her rash but faithful friend fell dead before her eyes. ‘Tt was a pity to waste him like that,” said Handsome Dan, ‘I had another use for the young fool, and it would have paid me better to keep him alive a while longer. He ougbt to have had better sense. Now, boys, if there is any- thing here that you want, burry up and get it, as we must be off.” The ‘* boys” eagerly availed themselves of their leader’s permission, and hastened to pillage the house. Scarcely anything of value was left when they were through with it, and all but Dan Lasher were loaded with miscellaneous plunder, The dead man was left there with Simon Marvel’s body, and the wounded had to go on after a fashion, without much help from their comrades, As for Handsome Dan, he was employed in securing and leading away Susie Marlow, whom he gave to understand that she was his pris- oner, and that thenceforward she would belong to him. She clinched her teeth and said nothing, strengthening herself for endurance, and so she left the plateau with her captors, CHAPTER XXXL THE PARSON AND THE DWARF. TuHE sun set splendidly, bathing the plateau in a golden glory. : All was peace and quiet then, as no living person was there by whom or about whom any disturbance could be raised. ' The shattered door and the dismantled cabin told of riot and rapine, and no words were need- ed to corroborate the testimony of those mute witnesses. Other mute witnesses were ontside—the ruf- fian who had been shot from the house, and the brave but unlucky Simon Marvel. The outlaw lay partly under the battering-log near the cabin-door, but Simon had fallen into one of Susie Marlow’s flower-beds, and his pale face was surrounded and beautified by bright blooms. The mare and her colt came to the edge of their inclosure, and looked over the fence as if they had some comprehension of the calamity. They actually seemed to shudder at the sight of the motionless men on the ground, and both ‘‘ nickered” plaintively as they turned away, but they did not lose their appetite for — After the sunset and the twilight, kness settled down upon the hills and the valleys, pe sate the peaceful plateau and the quiet ead. Then a tall man, with a long staff in his hand, came up from the trail and hastened toward the cabin. It was Timothy Marlow, the Mad Parson, the father of the girl who had been captured and carried away. He never came home without a certain feeling of uneasiness, and on this occasion, owing to his peculiar mental condition, the feeling was intensified. _ But, was not Ceesar at home, and was not his daughter thereforesafe? sy. He had gone away, as Susie informed Simon Marvel, on theanniversary of the loss of his wife, and nobody knew what had become of ' 4 —— y . 7 vy . I tae \ 2§ <S _GOom