Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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26 ' that I had got even with you that far. But I | with whom Dan Lasher and some of his friends was not satisfied. even with you for the ruin of my life, and | felt acraving for more revenge. So I hunted you up. You were hard to find; but I struck you at last in Topnotch, and I think now that I am in a fair way to get all the revenge I want.” As Dan Lasher spoke these words, he gave Susan Marlow a look that made her face turn pale with fear, while her father’s face turned red as the fierce anger boiled up in his breast. ‘‘You don’t mean it,” gasped the old man. “‘Tt is not possible, After the mother, you surely would not—” “Take the daughter?’ calmly replied the gambler. ‘‘Of course I will. That is what I want todo and mean to do. That is just what Tam here for. The daughter is more to my taste than the mother was, and she will com- plete my revenge in a style that suits me.” ‘* But that is too horrible. You surely can- not mean it. Take my life. Torture me in any way you please. Let my end be as miserable as Satan may prompt you to makeit. But spare that innocent girl. She has never harmed ou, ** Don’t be silly, old man, I shall torture you in my own way,and I know just where the knife will cut the deepest. Perhaps 1 may marry her. It will depend on how she behaves, But I have got her, and I mean to keep her,” “You brutal, cowardly scoundrel!” shouted the old man as he started up from his seat. **Do you know what Ll am going to do to you” His he was first tied, and, except for the fire in his face, he looked as broken and helpless as he had arms were behind his back, just as when | oe Se to be when he was brought into one cabin, ** As you can do nothing at all,” coldly an- swered Lasher, ‘‘ it is not worth while for me to make a guess at what you are going to do.” ‘*T am going to kill you, you villain! Satan has saved me for this.” ** Be quiet, father!” implored Susie. ‘Do not anger him, or he may murder you.” ** Murder me?’ shrieked the mad prisoner, ““Murder me? It is J who mean to murder him!” The gambler got up one of his best sneers for the occasion. **Sit down, you old fool!” he said, a little savagely. ‘* You are helpless, and you ought to know it. I could break you like a straw.” ** Here’s your chance, then. Break me!” CHAPTER XXXVI. BLANTON ON THE TRAIL, It was but little more than an hour after Timothy Marlow had left his ruined home on the plateau, to begin the blind search for his daughter, when another man climbed the slope from the trail. This was a younger man than the Mad Parson, who would gladly have recognized him, had he come sooner, as Burch Blanton. He had taken the earliest, opportunity that his duties allowed him to visit his betrothed, and ip expecting to pass a pleasant evening up ere. When he had reached the level of the plateau, and was walking briskly toward the house, he was surprised at perceiving that there was vo light visible. -— ty —e fr ad ‘ a — =s “a ee = outs © + a ee a” ™~ he et . \ = ~*} ay At first he thought that he might be mistaken or that something hid the light from him; buta ‘nearer approach convinced him that the house was dark and apparently deserted. What was the matter? What had become of Susan Marlow and her people? Had they gone away and left the house locked? - There was nobody near enough for them to visit, and Susan, at least, had never been known to absent herself from the plateau after dark. It must be, then, that some disaster had oc- curred. Filled with fearful apprehensions, the en- gineer hurried toward the house, and stumbled, as Timothy Marlow had done over the body of young Marvel; but it was wrapped in a blanket, and he did not stop to discover what it was. Reaching the house, he found his worst fears confirmed. The door was open, and a light that he made showed him a picture of ruin and desolation within. Neither Susan Marlow nor any other living person was to be found, and the destruction that was visible told its own story. There could be no doubt that the place had been raided, and that Susan Marlow had been killed or carried off. Not killed, it was probable, as the raiders would not bave been likely to remove her body, but taken away, it might be, toa fate that was worse than death. _ Burch Blanton was wild with anger and ap- prehension; but he tried to calm himself and OP Who had porpetsdved th a whe _ Who perpetr this outrage, and what had become of Susan Marlow? ye His suspicions at once settled upon the outlaws = tes ‘ * a . + a ant . I had not even then sry got were known to have taken refuge. Two of them had recently been hanged, and as the Mad Parson had “‘ assisted” at that per- formance, the others might have wreaked their vengeance by raiding his home; or it might be that they had captured Susan with the in- tention of making her pay for the part she had taken in the defeat of their attack upon the mine. Whatever the motive, those mountain toughs were known be a powerful and desperate band, the more so since they had gained the aid and leadership of Dan Lasher. They were not only dangerous but were hard to find, and it would be useless for him to at- tempt to seek them in the night or at any other time. Where was Susan’s father at the time of the raid? Where was Ceesar, the dwarf? Neither of them, if they had been there at the time of the raid, could have been left alive, and yet there was nothing to show that either of them had met a violent death. Was it possible that the scoundrels had found the girl there alone and helpless? It occurred to the engineer that he had stumbled over something outside that had a peculiar feeling, and that he ought to find out what it was. Perhaps it was a bundle of cone or bed- ding, which tbe raiders had prepared, but had concluded to throw away, and yet it had not felt like anything of that kind. He took his light—a bit of candle which he had happened to bring away from the ee ge went out to look at the ‘ some- thing. Unrolling the blanket in which it was wrap- ped, he was not really surprised by the discov- ery that it was the dead body of a man; but he was more than surprised when he perceived that the body was that of Simon Marvel! A closer inspection showed that the young mean had been shot, and the conclusion was easy that he had been at the house when it was ut- tacked, and had been slain in endeavoring to defend Susan against her assailants. But it was not to be supposed that the raiders had taken the trouble to cover his body with a blanket, and who could have done that for him? This was a conundrum which Burch Blanton could not guess; but one thing was clear to him, and that was that he must give information of the disaster as speedily as possible to those who would be able and willing to help him search for Susan Marlow, and to avenge the murder of Simon Marvel. The outlaws, if they had done the fou) work, had accomplished more than two objects by their raid, and had got even with more than one of their presumed enemies, ; Even if the engineer should be able to find them, it would useless for one man to “*tackle” the band, especially on their own ground, Therefore he must hasten to get help. Covering the body of Simon Marvel as he had found it, he added something in the way of weight to keep the blanket in its place, and hur- ried away from the desolate house with a sorrow- ful heart, full of the darkest fears, but animated by a fierce desire to rescue Susie Marlow and avenge her wrongs, He almost tumbled down the slope in tis eagerness to get away from the plateau, and narrowly escaped serious injury that would have spoiled his usefulness for the purpose on which he was bent, As the night was intensely dark, and the trail by no means a broad and easy one, Blanton’s re- turn journey was not as rapid as the upward trip had been, though he exerted himself to the utmost to get forward as speedily as possible, He had come to the plateau on the wings of love, full of pleasant thoughts and joyful antici- ations; he was returning with a leaden heart, inwardly cursing the obstacles which the dark- ness and the rough trail placed in his way, ‘When he reached the mine, the first business connected with the search was there, and he at- tended to it as quickly as possible. He sent word to a few of the miners upon whom he knew he could rely, and requested them to join him in Topnvotch at once. Then he mounted the only horse at the mine and rode to town as fast as the animal could carry him. The first person to be seen was Jacob Marvel, whom he routed out of his bed at Burnbam’s Hotel, to inform him of the death of his son. , The old Tycoon was so completely broken down by this terrible intelligence, that he was at first quite incapable of action, and could not even fix his mind upon the subject sufficiently to decide what should be done. Then he was wild with rage, filled with an almost insane desire for vengeance upon the murderers of his son, but was still so excited by grief as well as by anger, that he was nearly useless for the purpose in band. ~ Blanton, however, attended to the most im- portant part of the business, and did so with the least possible delay. He sent word to the two Eaglesons, who were Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. routed out of their beds as Jacob Marvel had been, and who hurried to the hotel to get full details of the sad news, When these were furnished them by Blanton, Ben Eagleson was at once up in arms and eager for the fray. Nothing, he declared, would please him better than a chance to get at Dan Lasher and the nien in the mountains, whose presence there was a continual menace to the peace of the Topnotch district. If they could be in some way cleaned out, killed or driven off, the labors of the Marshal of Topnotch would be lightened considerably. 1 he wanted was a decent pretext or excuse for hunting them down and making a finish of the band. He was, also, more than anxious to settle with them, if they should prove to be guilty, for the murder of Simon Marvel, whose simple and straightforward ways had endeared bim to all who had really become acquainted with him. As soon as he had learned the particulars of the disaster at the Mad Parson’s home, Ben Eagleson went in search of Pete Gannon, no longer known as El Paso Pete, whom he easily found and brought to the hotel. Pete Gannon was also eager to go in pursuit of the sooundrels up the mountain, his ardor being increased by the remembrance of the ig- nominious treatment he had received at the hands of Dan Lasher, from whom he had barely escaped with his life. i He made an important contribution to the necessary knowledge of the situation in the statement that he had already sought and found the camp or settlement of the outlaws, and that he could easily lead a party to it. Jacob Marvel, who had at first been helpless and then wildly excited, had fallen into a sort of a stupor; but this statement of the detective’s aroused him, and he took a lively interest in the gS ap for the pursuit of the outlaws. is clear head, his first-rate executive ability, and the money which he freely offered for the equipment and reward of an expedition, speedil straightened out all the tangles, and enabled his | lieutenants to get everything in proper trim and train. Ben Eagleson and Pete Gannon hastened away to get together a sufficient force of good fighting men. While they were absent, the miners upon whom Burch Blanton had called for assistance reached Topnotch, and came to the hotel, where they were at once recognized and accepted by the old Tycoon as valuable auxiliaries, The night was then ended, as Blanton’s nip from the plateau up the mountain, together wit the subsequent explanations and arrangements, had taken a great deal of time. . When Ben Eagleson and Pete Gannon had re- cruited their forces, and the superintendent had attended to procuring the equipments and sup- plies for the expedition, the morning was so far advanced that it was deemed best for all to get their breakfast before they left Topnotch, Burch Blanton groaned inwardly and grum- bled audibly at these delays; but he knew that he had done all he could to start a speedy pur- suit, and was compelled to curb his impatience as far as he was able to, As soon as breakfast was over, Jacob Marvel set out with a party for Timothy Marlow’s ruined home, to bring away the body of his son, and the expedition of search and revenge started for the upper mountain in a different direction. CHAPTER XXXVIi. COMING TO A CRISIS. By common consent it was settled that Dan Lasher and his comrades, or at least the moun- tain men with whom he had taken refuge, and perhaps the entire band, were responsible for the raid upon the plateau, forthe death of Simon Marvei, and for the disappearance of Susan Marlow. As for the fate of the Mad Parson and the dwarf, that was a problem which nobody could do more than guess at. Therefore the haunt of the outlaws was the point at which the expedition must strike, and thither it started to go, under the guidance and direction of Pete Gannon. Others in the party had a more or less distinct idea of the location of the mountain camp and the route by which it might be reached; but the detective from the South was the only one who bad really been there, and who had noted the most direct and accessible way to get to it. It was useless to attempt to ride, as Gannon declared that the greater part of the route was entirely too rough for horses to travel, and so they went on afoot. As fate would have it, Pete Gannon was not so well acquained with the course as he had be- lieved himself to be, though he was loth to con- fess that fact, and did not confess it until the confession was fairly forced from him. Finally he could no longer doubt that he had lost his way, and he found himself in such a tangle that he was obliged to declare that he did not know where he was. More than one of the party had suspected as much, but all accepted the situation with rea- sonable equanimity, except Burch Blanton, who Eomicbooks. ‘ bi a - re tte tT oe —_ a ee ee Pe at ¥ ae it - F i vi - Aa