Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

eS A —— —— - — ——_ Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. 25 He bowed his head, and the tears fell from his eyes, and he suffered himself to be led away without the slightest protest or attempt at re- sistance, He was taken into one of the cabins—not the one at which he was captured—and was given a seat there, ‘*T reckon you must be tired,” observed Dan Lasher, ‘‘ after your long tramp and your hard icb of playing snake, and you will need rest, “here is a heap more before you, too.” The exasperating sneer that accompanied the remark had no effect upon the old man this time, The little cabin room was nearly bare of fur- niture, and the stuff that was there could hardl be called furniture, it was sorude and wretvhed, | A seat was there, however, for Timothy Mar- | low, and it was placed in a corner where he could be well propped up, as he seemed to be scarcely able to hold himself upright. In spite of his care, he did dislodge a pretty He did not look then like the tall and athletic big stone, which went rattling down the slope, | individual who was known in those bills as Top- and immediately attracted the attention of two { notch Tim, nor did he have the force and _fire of the outlaws, who turned quickly, and looked } that people always associated with the Mad in the direction from which the sound had come. | Parson; but looked like a poor, weak, broken- Fortuzately, the Mad Parson had just then | down old man, who had notbing to live for, and reached a clump of bushes, behind which he | but little life remaining in him. squeezed himself into as small a compass as pos-| After Dan Lasher had left him, he continued sible. to maintain the same demeanor and to present The outlaws saw nothing to account for the | the same broken-down appearance, though bis falling of the stone, which was by no means an | mind aud body were both really stronger just unusual incident, and they turned away and re- | then than they had been for several days, sumed their smoking and loafing. His second shock—that of his capture—had More careful than before, if possible, was | sobered and steadied him again, and he clearly Timothy Marlow when he again began to crawl perceived that he had foolishly and Pace na down the slope. thrown himself into the hands of the scoundrel, The rifle was in his way; but he managed it | who had carried off his daughter. as well as he couid; though, if he had known | Both he and she were in a bad scrape, and he how useless it was, he would probably have | had surely made a botch of his attempt to aid dropped it in disgust. her; but there is always hope while tbere is life, He at last reached the basin without any | and he was still deterinined, in spite of the odds further accident, and there new difficulties and | against him, to use his utmost efforts for his perils confronted him, own deliverance and bis daugbter’s, There was an open space between him and Therefore it was that he kept up the weak, the cabins, and, if he could get to them safely, | listless, and broken-down style that had struck it was hard to tell what would happen then, as | in on him when he was seized and bound by the it was only certain that he would bein con- | outlaws. tinual danger of discovery. His hope was that they, perceiving his demor- Keeping the nearest cabin between him and | alized condition, would guard him carelessly, the men who were loitering about, he made a and that be might, by watching his chances, be quiet but quick rush, and succeeded in reaching | able to free himself and help Susie. it safely. When he had full possession of his senses, he Not daring to circle around it, or toshow | had good reason to believe that he was equal himself at either of the ends, he tried to peer | to almost any emergency, and, as he was utter- throuzh the chinks of the logs at the rear, and | ly fearless, the present disaster could not crush listened intently and patiently, but neither saw | his hopes. nor heard anything toreward his efforts. He was guarded, however, by two of the out- Satisfied that he could learn nothing there, he laws, who remained in the room with him, and watched bis chance, and succeeded in gaining | who were both well armed, while he was the rear of another cabin. weaponless and bound. There he looked and listened, until he heard a Aftera while food was brought in to him, slight sound of movement inside, and fancied | which might have been breakfast or dinner, that it was accompanied by the rustling of a | and in quality and quantity it was sufficient for woman’s dress. either, and the Mad Parson, whose hands were If there was a woman there, it must be Susan | loosed for the purpose, enjoyed it and satisfied Marlow, and the old man believed that he had | his hunger, followed the right trail and come to the right | It might have seemed strange to his guards spot. | that such a broken and infirm old man should This discovery excited him to such an extent have such an excellent appetite; but they were that he had to sink upon the ground and press» his hands to his head, that he might allay the _ and their wonder was not excite fever in his blood and settle his brain forfuture , After the meal his bands were tied again, and action. | he was left alone until evening, when a good He was aroused from the partial stupor supper was brought in to him, and the same into which he had fallen by the cracking of a | process was repeated, twig near by. He noticed that this time his hands were tied Rising suddenly to his feet, he found himself | loosely and carelessly, the guard who did the face to face with Dan her, job being then considerably inebriated, and it There could scarcely be a doubt that the occurred to him that he might manage the gambler was at the head of the gang which had | cord so that he would be able to free himself if carried off Susan Marlow, and the Mad Parson’s | he chose to do so, blood boiled at the sight of him, With his lomg and supple fingers he could On the gambler’s face was a look between | touch the knot, and he contrived to loosen it so a sneer and asmile, that was very exasperating. | that be could easily pull his hands out. ‘“Where is my child?” fiercely demanded Then he waited and watched for chances, Timothy Marlow. ‘* What have you done with His guards overlooked him too closely to Rive my daughter, you scoundrel?” him the least opportunity for escape, until Dan *¢ She is here,” quietly answered the gambler, | Lasher came in and ordered the two men to fol- with a sneer that could not then be mistaken for | low him with the prisoner, ‘ asmile. ‘*She is here, and is safe and sound, Timothy Marlow was led to the cabin where sofar. I bave got ber, andI mean tio keep her.” : he had been captured, and where he had fancied This atrocious statement, and the tone in that he heard the rustle of a woman’s dress, which it was uttered, drove the Mad Parson — It was quite dark when he entered the cabin; frentic. _ but an oil-lamp, which was nothing buta lighted His caution disappeared, the sense that had | wick floating in a pot of grease, gave light lat-ly returned to him suddenly deserted him, enought to enable him to see his daughter seated and ke was again ‘as mad as a March hare.” in a corner of the room, and to perceive that He qnickly leveled his rifle at the gambler she was sad, but defiant and determined. anil pulled the trigger; but it snapped harm- Susan recognized her father at once, and arose lessly, , and started toward him with an exclamation Dan Lasher laughed aloud, and blew a whistle that hung from his neck. The old man raised the rifle by the muzzle, and was about to use it asa club, when he was seized from behind by two strong men, and was , immediately overpowered. ‘Tie him!” ordered the gambler, and Timothy Marlow was helpless in the hands of bis daugh- ter’s captors. There was no shelter, except a few shrubs and | an occasional jutting rock, and the broken stone was loose and liable to be dislodged and to roll down at the steep places with a noise that would inevitably attract the attention of the outlaws. Such was the task that Timothy Marlow was to undertake, and he would not have had sense enough to shrink from it, even if he had been less determined than he was to get down into the basin, He sallied forth from behind the rock, stretch- ed himself on the ground, and began to crawl down the slope, It was literally a crawl, and not even a creep— the craw! of a snake or a worm—as he was com- pelled to lie flat where there was no sort of shelter to shield him from view, and he was also compelled to move with the utmost care, lest he should dislodge a stone and give warning | of his approach, Lasher turned upon her fiercely, and she sbrunk back into ber place, The gambler directed the guards to go out, and they went, leaving him alone in the cabin with his two prisoners, Surely there could be no danger for him in that, as One was a woman, and the other was an old man, bound and helpless, and both were uvarmed, $ He seated himself where he had a good view of both—thbe Mad Parson in one corner of the little room, and bis daughter in another—and looked at them with a smile of satisfaction that might easily have been mistaken for a sneer, - ‘ CHAPTER XXXV. THE GAMBLER’S STORY. THe Mad Parson’s spirit was completely broken when he found himself bound and help- less. “ ys (Aw . } - Dea < accustomed to seeing hungry peop eat largely, in which joy and sorrow were mingled; but Dan }. i * é a +. " & > ae , ‘You perceive, Mr. Timothy Marlow,” said he, ‘‘as I told you, that I have got your ree ter here, safe and sound. She is mine, and I mean to keep her. Perbaps I will marry her, and perhaps, to put it mildly, I will do the other thing.” ** You villain!” cried the old man; but Susie’s warning finger quieted him, **Go on, if you want to. Hard words break no bones, They may age you, and can’t hurt me, As'I said, it 1s all in the B te It will depend on how she behaves, Just now I am in- clined to treat her well, if she don’t cut up rusty, Isuppose you would like to know wh Tam such a villain, as you call me, though am no villain, Timothy Marlow—only a man who is going to get even.” “To get even?’ What do you mean by that? demanded the old man. ‘*TIs it possible, Timothy Marlow, that you don’t know me? Have you never looked at me closely ?” A gleam of intelligeuce shot from the old man’s eyes, but it was not sufficient to betray the knowledge suggested. “Well, that beats me,” said the gambler. ‘I would never have supposed that you were so stupid. I was almost sure tbat you would know me the night you came into my place, when you came to pray, and remained to play, and beat my bank so badly.” ‘** Who are you then?” muttered the old man. “Timothy Marlow, when you were preaching the Gospel at Anoka, you knew a nice young man there named Harvey Varick.” The gleam that shot from the old man’s eye then was that of complete intelligence; but it died out fo igh and he listened in the dazed and feeble way that had lately stuck to him. “Yes, Timothy Marlow, you knew tbat young man then, and you did him a deadly wrong. ‘*T did right; I did my duty.” *‘So you thought, I suppose, in your bigoted, hard-headed way; but it was a deadly wrong to him, I was Harvey Varick, though I have changed so much since then that you did not know me when you saw me in Topnotch, I was in love with a girl in that town, who was of avery good family, and belonged to your church. I loved her with an intense and pas- sionate love, such as I could never give toany | other woman. It seemed to me then that withb- out her my life would be worthless, and without her if has been broken and ruined, I was a gambler then, but young in the profession, and would have quit itand followed better courses if [could have married her, She encouraged my suit, and ber parents knew of no objection to me, and all was going sweetly aud smoothly, when you interfered.” , ‘*T did my duty as a Christian,” muttered the © old man. \ . **Confound such duty! ‘You made an infer- nal idiot of yourself, and destroyed all my hopes of happiness. You learned that I was a gam- bler, and you went to the girl and her parents, and told them that I was a man of bad charac- | ter, with whom she could not be trusted, That set them against me, and she wrote me a letter, saying that she would never wish to see me again. When I called at the house I was re- fused admission, and when I met her on the street she would not speak to me, So we were separated, aud my hope of a new and better life | was blasted. That was your doing, Timothy Marlow.” | * I only did my duty,” muttered the old man again. er It was an officious and intermeddling kind — of duty. Then I had a duty to perform, too, and my duty was that of revenge. I swore by my ruined hopes that I would get even with you, and more than even if 1 could, I could no onger see the girl I loved; but there was an- other woman whom I could see, and 1 wet her | often, and she, too, was taken with my band- some face and dashing ways. That woman was the wife of the Methodist minister at Anoka. She was your wife, Timothy Marlow.” The Mad Parson shivered as if be had teen seized by an ague, and Susie uttered a choking cry. ; | ** When she left you,” continued the gambler, Be | ** you could never find out when or how she left, or with whom she had gone, as I had managed matters so well that I had never been seen in her company, and I was then far from Anoka, I, 4 " . * oF o ad H vk’ ‘ and nobody but I, knew what bad become ca ee pleased with her.” qa. ‘* What did you do with her?” feebly inquired the old men, Va Anoka, and after that she was mine, todoasI — x, “9 ae av ‘> ‘* T treated her well, as I became very fond be O88 her, and surrounded ber with plenty of comforts She had no cause to complain of and luxuries, me, and she never did complain.’ “ Where is she now?” “In her grave, She lived but about th years after she left Anoka, that the doctors could give a name _ to, but 4 faded away. and died calmly and peace ee $ She bad no disease i ly, Ms es eal with every attention that could be bestowed upon her. I treated that woman well, Timothy ia Marlow, and had the satisfaction of know ti Oe “COMIc 200 SS) aaa {