Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. him; but this time he had returned somewhat earlier than usual. Not that he was yet entirely in his right mind, or that be had any clear perception of what he ought or ought not todo; but some- | thing that he could not explain had sent him home. His uneasiness evidently increased when he came in sight of the house and saw no light there. Susie always had a light burning for him when he was away after dark; but there was no light then, nor was there any sign of life on the plateau. After pausing for a moment, and pressing his forehead with his two hands, asif to collect his scattered senses, he hastened toward the house. Before he came in sight of the shattered door he stumbled against something that was neither | a log nor a stone—something that had a | queer feeling which sent a shiver Ben him. Dropping to the ground he felt of it, and dis- covered that it was a corpse, asit was surely a | man who was cold and did not stir, and who was | clearly incapable of motion, The Mad Parson struck a match and held it to the face of the corpse, recognizing at once the features of Simon Marvel. With an exclamation of horror and fear he | arose suddenly and started toward the dark and | de-olate house, | Hardly had he taken half a dozen steps, when he stumbled against the battering log, and at the same time discovered another corpse. Pausing only to satisfy himself that it was the | body of a man, he arose aguiu, and then the | nature and extent of the calamity began to dawn upon him. The fallen log, the shattered door, the two | corpses Outside, told a terrible story, and yet they did not tell all that he wanted to know. What had become of his child? Had she been killed, or—perhaps worse—had she been curried away? What scoundrels had been guilty of this out- rage? he old man entered the cabin, struck a match, and looked around. Nothing was to be seen there but ruin and desolation. There was not even a lamp that he could light, Nearly everything that had not | been carried away was destroyed. Susan was surely not there, and Csesar was not there, What had become of the dwarf? Had he, also, been captured and carried away by the unknown marauders? No—if he had been there, he would have per- ished in defense of her whom he worshiped with | an almost slavish adoration. Nothing was more certain than that Cesar would never have been | taken alive. Therefore the marauders must have come and > done their dastardly work when he was absent. But why bad he not returned? What had be- come of him? OE If Unable to straighten these matters out in his perplexed and bewildered brain, the Mad Par- son picked up a blanket, carried it ont, and wrapped it around the corpse of Simon Marvel, | as if for the purpose of protecting it from any further harm, Then he returned into the house, struck some more matches, gota rifle that had been over- looked by the raiders, found some ammunition, and started out to search for his daughter, but without the faintest idea of whut direction he should take, or what he should do. : He pressed his hands to bis forehead again, in an effort to recall his still scattered senses, and then descended the plateau, to attempt the im- | ible task of finding a trail in the darkness. | Again he was as he had been when he left his | home two days previously—his mind astray, his | wits wool-gathering, and apparently incapable | of rendering any service to his daughter or any- | body else. hat, then, had become of Ceesar, the brave and faithful Cesar, who would never have left his mistress in the lurch if he bad known her | danger and had been able to help her? _ In the deep and narrow gulch into which the | Topnotch toughs had vainly endeavored to fol- low Timothy Marlow, a man was working, about the middle of the afternoon, in a rather peculiar fashion. Px | The worker was a dwarf, and that dwarf was unquestionably Ceesar; but, what was he do- | ing?” oe a niche or recess at the side of the gulch, which was not deep enough to be called a cav- ern, he was picking away at a yellow quartz vein of rock with a hammer and a cold chisel, and was striking off from the vein, or digging out of it, lumps and splinters of a metal muc yellower than the quartz that inclosed or held i t. As he chipped off the bits of this yellow metal, he picked them up carefully, and deposited them in a canvas bag, which was then about half filled, nee . They were precisely similar, with the excep- | tion of a little miner’s manipulation, to the nug- | gets and splinters which Timothy Marlow had been in the habit of disposing of at Topnotch and Tolbert, and which had made people won- der where his bonanza could be. The bonanza was right there,in a gulch so narrow and deep that the sun’s rays scarcely penetrated it except at high noon, It was so well hidden that it was sure to es- cape observation except in the event of a very close and careful search, and yet it wasa verit- able bonanza, the gold-bearing quartz being so rich that ths precious metal cropped out and could be chipped off with a cold chisel, as Caesar was chipping it then. In fact, the lode had never been worked in any other way, though it promised to yield an abundant harvest of wealth under regular min- ing operations, if any such should ever be un dertaken. As the dwarf carefully deposited the yellow bits in his canvas bag, he chuckled and laughed, and seemed to be talking merrily to himself, though of course he uttered nothing that could be understood. The truth was that Cesar had discovered that there was a temporary scarcity of money at the home on the plateau, and the fact was firmly impressed upon bis mind that there was no liv- ing without money. The Mad Parson having been afflicted with one of his annual disappearances, Ceesar natur- ally supposed that it devolved upon him to fur- nish the family supplies, and he knew where and how to get the values which might procure everything that was wanted. So he had easily gained permission from Susie to take the hammer and the cold chisel and the canvas bag, and make a draft on the rich bank in the gulch, He had already secured enough value to last the family on the plateau a long time; but the work pleased him, and down there out of sight of the sun it was not easy to note the passage of the hours. So he kept on, working busily, and chuckling and laughing and talking to himself, as was his fashion, Time paeees and the day was nearly done, when he began to seem to comprehend the flight of time and to realize the fact that he ought to go home. Then he secured the canvas bag upon his body, buckling it under his coat, put the cold- chisel in a pocket, took the hammer in his right hand, and started on his return to the plateau and Susie, chuckling and laughing at his suc- | cess in getting gold for the use of herself and her father. act had he step out of the recess in which Topnotch Tim’s bank was located, when he heard something that startled him. That is to say, he heard it in his uliar manner, every noise or movement in his vicin- ity being conveyed to him through the muscles | and nerves of his body, which largely made up, if not fully, for his loss of the sense of ogg) Instantly the dwarf threw himself down, wit his ear to the ground, as if he could really hear, and for several minutes he lay there and seem- ingly listened. hen he arose, there was no more chuckling and laughing, but bis face had assumed a very serious look, and he pressed both his hands to his forehead, as if something had happened to daze and bewilder him. Then he moved up the gulch, slowly, cau- tiously, and evidently with a desire that his presence there should not be suspected by any person who might possibly be about. Keeping close to the southern wall of the Ich, he not only did not desert the shadows of hat side, but also used for concealment every rock, bowlder, or clump of bushes that came in his way, covering himself all the while as care- fully and completely as any hunted ‘‘ varmint ” might have done, Twice in the course of his concealed and tor- tuous passage he dropped to the ground as he had done before, laid his ear to the earth, and listened with his muscles and nerves, Working his way in this fashion, he finally, as darkness was coming on, arrived near the pass by which Topnotch Tim and himself usually entered the gulch. It was not really what might be called a pass, being merely a break or gap in the rocky for- mation, from which a steep and rather danger- ous path led downward, The gap was difficult of discovery, and Cesar had pai that it was known to nobody but the Mad Parson and himself. Yet there he saw, emerging from the gap, and starting down the steep and difficult path, not only several men, but something more, CHAPTER XXXIT. THE DWARF’S DOOM. CATCHING sight of that procession, Ceasar suddenly sunk down behind a rock, and waited to see all that there was to be seen. Darkness was coming on, as has been said, and in that deep and narrow gulch darkness came quicker than elsewhere; but the dwarf’s eyes, possibly to make up for the lack of his other senses, were preternaturally keen, Through a rift in the fallen masses of rock that sheltered him, he could easily see, in spite LLL ee eee een nec cncnnn cnc ncmm eee - > - iden ee a ys of the growing darkness, the procession that started from the gap and began to defile down the descent, and he used his eyes for all they were worth. This is what his eyes told bim, aided by the muscles and nerves which bad their own way of imparting information to him: ut of the gap came, perhaps, ten men, though Cesar was so excited at the moment that he did not attempt to count them, and had but an indefinite idea of their number. First of the procession was a man whom tbe dwarf knew well, as he had visited Topnotch during the recent excitement there, and that man had been pointed out to him in a way to cause him to he remembered, The man was Dan Lasher—Handsome Dan, though his beauty was sadly worn and faded just then—and he held by the arm, evidently with a grip that was not intended to let go easily, a young woman. The young woman was Susie Marlow. As Cesar caught sight of her, be gave a great gasp, and his weazened face turned as red as fire, and he shivered as if a chill had struck him, and be half raised himself, but then sunk down again, mumbling what, if they were ar- ticulated, might bave been curses. The dusk could not interfere with his vision, as his eyes could see in the dark like those of a cat or any other wild animal, He saw that Susan Marlow was not only gripped by the arm by the gambler, but was also secured by a rope or cord, which was fast- ened about her waist, and held by one of the men who followed her. As Cesar saw that, he gritted his teeth, and the blood rushed through his veins, and his muscles swelled, Her face was pale and set, making her look years beyond her age; but it could be seen that she was fearless and ready to take advantage of any chances of escape that might offer. As Cesar caught sight of that sad spectacle, he crouched down behind bis rocky shelter, as if to restrain himself from rushing forth to ber rescue, and groaned and writhed in the intensity of his passionate agony. He reached around to his hip-pocket and drew out a revolver, which he examined greedily, but not hopefully. It was only a five-shooter, and Susie’s cap- tors were double the number of its loaded cham- rs. Some of those men, as well as their leader, he knew by sight, if not by name, and he knew them for daring and desperate rascals, who were quick on the trigger, and before whose deadly aim he could not expect to stand for a mo- ment. If he should open fire a them, he would surely be dead before he could shoot twice, and that was not the way to help the young lady whom he idolized. If he was to help her at all, his onlv hope would be to follow her captors and watch and wait for his chances. So he halted behind his barrier of rock, Frit ting his teeth, and grunting and growling a wild beast. Dan Lasher descended the steep and difficult path slowly and carefully, never relaxing his grip of Susie Marlow’s arm, and the rope around er waist was firmly held by a staiwart and sure-footed man above. Thus they reached the base of the declivity, where they halted a few moments, and then went southward up the gulch, Handsome Dan in the lead with his prisoner, and the others bring- ing up the rear so solidly and formidably that an attack upon them by one man would have been too foolhardy a thing to even think of. As they up the gulch, Cesar emerged from his shelter, and followed them cautiously — and silently, creeping along the side of the rocky wall, and covering himself behind the rocks and bowlders and Siaeape of shrubs and stunted trees that intervened between him and the party he was pursuing. : is excessive caution did not appear to be necessary, as darkness had then settled down in the gulch, though there was still plenty of day- light out on the bills. ; ilence was proper enough, considering the style of men the dwarf was pursuing, but con- cealment was not required, Yet Cesar kept himself concealed, much asa panther might have done when following its ex- pected prey, but was no less swift and certain - his pursuit than the panther would have een. Dan Lasher and his comrades knew where © they were going, and knew just how to reach their destination. Therefore they tramped sturdily and steadily up to the le They could not bave turned aside if they had wished to, as the sides of the gulch were impassa- ble, and there was no exit— nothing to do but to go straight ahead until the gulch should ter- minate or open out somewhere. So they trudged on, until the darkness grew | ‘a to be as thick and black as if it had been boiled down. .* Still they trudged on, occasionally stumbling . r ate ey turning neither to the right nor — : é ; Gcom oF Eboo! s.com ye - - pe, Oe le | a ee NS