Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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and the arrival of Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. A tall man suddenly appeared, as if he had come up the trail, and savagely attacked the as- sailants with a long stick. His appearance and manner were sufficient, without the sound of his peculiar and well-known voice, to cause him to be recognized as Timothy Marlow, ‘¢ The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” he shouted. ‘Scatter, ye scoundrels! You did not know that I was on your track; but I tell you that nothing you do or think of doing is hid from me. Scatter, ye scoundrels! Hunt your holes, ye coyotes! Begone, before Satan gets hold of me and tempts me to murder you!” They did scatter, running as if for their lives, fairly tumbling over each other in their haste to get down the trail, the wounded man ha!f-limp- ing and ee. in the rear of the pack, and leaving a trail of blood behind him. The Mad Parson stepped quickly to where his daughter and her friends were standing, and looked inquielsinaly. at Blanton, who hastened to explain his presence there as be had explained it to Susan. Doubtless Mr. Marlow considered this expla- nation rather ‘‘ thin,” as he glanced quizzically at the explainer. ‘* It is strange,” he said, ‘“‘ that such a man as ou should become bewildered and lose his way. t would scarcely have believed it possible. Have you had supper, Susie?” ** Not yet, father.” ‘‘Come and eat with us, Mr. Blanton, and then I will put you on your way home, so that you cannot miss it,” ' ii meal, which the engineer enjoyed greatly, Mr. Marlow made no allusion to the re- cent invasion of the plateau, but spoke ri 3 of the new mining company, the growth of Top- notch, and other indifferent matters, After supper he led Blanton down the trail, and accompanied him a considerable distance. Having gone as far as was necessary to enable the young engineer to find his way home, Mr. Marlow halted and spoke to him seriously, fas- tening his lurid eyes upon him with an earnest and intent gaze. ** You are a fine young man,” said he. ‘* You have plenty of brains and energy and industry, and your habits seem to be good. I hope you are also honest,” ‘‘T believe I am honest,” answered Blanton, ** T have never been accused of being otherwise.” **T pelieve you are honest, too, and you may come up here again if you want to.” ‘“‘ Thank you, Mr, Marlow.” “s -night. Keep to the right when the trail forks, and you will soon get home,” CHAPTER VIII. TRAILING FOR GOLD. Dreapwoop Daver’s plan for the capture of Susan Marlow had been tried after the apparent failure of Sandy McGuckin’s scheme to intimi- date the mine-owners. It is here called an apparent failure, because the officers of the mining company had shown no disposition to allow themselves to be intimidated. he threatening and blackmailing letter had been duly concocted and written by Sandy with the assistance of his Hebrew confederate, had been signed with an ominous skull and bones, had contained a direction that the answer should be sent to the care of Bart McGinley, and had been forwarded by mail to the superintendent of the mine. No answer had been received, and the con- irators were left to infer that the mine-owners either regarded them as beneath their notice, or were secretly endeavoring to discover the writer of the letter. In view of these discouraging circumstances, the next best thing was to try Deadwood Dave's plan, which seemed to be both feasible and easy. The unexpected presence of Burch Blanton, opnotch Tim, had caused the attempt to end in disaster, all that Soy of them got out of it being a bad wound in the leg, which Sandy McGuckin had difficulty in carrying home. : His wound would be likely to lay him up a few weeks, and during that time his comrades would have to care for him, as well as to lack his aid. The big fellow duly reported the failure of his attempt to Dan Lasher, who was discouraged, but not dishearteded, He sneered at the account that was rendered to him, and readily accused his tool of incom- petency. “Tt seems to be a solemn and serious fact,” said he, ‘ that you and your crowd are afraid of the man you call Topnotch Tim. This is not the first time, as I have learned, that he has driven zon before him like a flock of sheep, If he was e devil, or a ghost, he could not scare you any more.” “‘Thar’s somethin’ mighty queer about him,” insisted Dave. . ‘““There is something very queer about you, that makes you scare so easily, and I am afraid that you are a set of cowards.” ‘*How could he ha’ found out that we was goin’ up thar, Mr, Lasher, so’s to foller our trail nd strike us jest when he got ready?” “Bah! A man witha stick! You would be afraid of your own shadow.” é 2 town. ‘** But thar was others up thar—two men with the girl.” “There it is again!” exclaimed handsome Jack. ‘‘That is worse, if anything, than your cowardice. You are too careless to conduct such an affair. You don’t seem to have a bit of forethought. If you were going to steal a horse, now—” ‘*What! Mesteal a horse?” You needn’t get angry, I was only sup- ing a case. If you were going to steal a orse, for instance, would you not carefully look about, to make sure that nobody was guarding or watching the horse?” **Reckon I would, if I was goin’ to steal a hoss,” ‘Yes, you would spy out the surroundings closely, to make sure that you were safe. When you want tu steal a woman, ought you not to be at least as careful as when you steal a horse?— that is, mean, if you were going to steal a horse?” **Y reckon we orter been more keerful than we was, Cap,” ** Indeed you ought. You roughed into that business llkeafool. You should have made sure that she was alone and unprotected. You have lost a good chance by your carelessness and you may never get such another.” ““Thar’s another scheme we're goin’ to try, Cap. We've been plannin’ it out fur some time, ana we mean to work it keerfully.” “* To get the girl?” ‘*To worry Topnotch Tim. He’s got a dig- gin’s somewhar in the hills, and it must be mighty rich, as he has brought an abundance of gold to Our scheme is to foller him when he goes out thar, find the diggins, and chouse him out of it.” “‘That is a good scheme, Dave, if it can be made to work. But you may meet him, and then he will scare you out of your wits and drive you back to town!” ‘* Not this time, I reckon. of that.” ‘*Suppose, Dave, that you should fail to find the diggings, but should find the man you call Topnotch Tim, and suppose, then, that instead of letting him scare you to death, you should just knock him down and tie him well, and put him io a safe place.” ‘* What sort of asafe place? I'd be afeard to kill him, and that’s a fact.” ** Put him where I can get hold of him, and I will attend to the rest of the business. I will pay you as much for that as if you got the ir girl. ‘“Tt’sa go, Cap. Whether we find the dig- in’s or not, we’ll do that very thing. It’ll be a urned good trick to git him out of the way, anyhow.” | ‘**'You will need some help, as one of your gang is laid up. Get two men who are not likely to be afraid of Topnotch Tim, and I will furnish the money to pay them,” ‘**That’s correct. har’s the money?” ** You are ready enough for that part of the business. But you sball see that I mean to be liberal.” . Handsome Jack handed his tool another sum of money, and accompanied it with a parting injunction: ‘**T want you to earn this, Dave, as well as to spend it, pay well for good work, but insist upon getting what I pay for. I know your style, and I he you fair warning that I will stand no trifling.” ‘*T ain’t arter no triflin’, Cap. Tl do the best I can.” ** Go on and do it, then.” Deadwood Dave left the presence of his some- what imperious employer, fully determined to do the best be could in the matter that had been committed to his charge, as he was pretty well convinced tbat it would not be safe for him to do anything else, : Aaron Isaacs had already been sneaking and spying about Topnotch Tim’s place up the moun- tain, carefully noting the old man’s outgoings and incomings, and he was of the opinion that he had “‘ got it down pretty fine.” Since the attempt to capture his daughter, Mr. Marlow had remained at home and about home much more closely than before, as he per- ceived that it was really dangerous to leave Susie there alone. | He never went out at night any more, and that was one point which Dan Lasher bad gained by the attempt that failed, as the Mad Parso did not visit his establishment to get contribn- tions from the faro-bank for the new Baptist church, When he had sneaked and spied as much as he thought necessary, Isaacs informed his comrades of the proper time to begin operations, and they prepared themselves as if for a desperate enter- prise, Deadwood Dave had found no difficulty in securing two available men, who were glad of the He to get good pay for doing crooked work. The party of five reached Topnotch Tim’s home a few hours before noon, as they wished to miss no chances, _Though the old man was rather irregular in his habits, Aaron Isaacs had noticed that he usu- We've had enough ae > L- 5 =. 2 ally left the pareed, and took the route that CE — ————————————————— — — — ————— was supl to lead to his diggin’s, at either about ten o’clock in the morning, or shortly after noon. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes the dwarf went alone; but they never went to- gether any more; one of them always remain- ing at the house, saacs would have followed one of them, and would have endeavored to steal the discovery from his comrades; but he had been inspired with such a dread of Topnotch Tim, that he was unwilling to run the risk of encountering him alone. The five toughs concealed themselves carefully where they could see any person who came down from the plateau, and waited as patiently as they could, but not without a certain degree of nervousness and uneasiness, as Topnotch Tim had declared that nothing tbey did or thought of doing could be hid from him. They were as determined as they cculd be, however, that they would not allow him to scare them off the track this time, or to get the better of them in any way. Fortunately for their nerves and their peace of mind, they were not obliged to wait long for their quarry, It was a little after ten o’clock, as they judged by the sun, when the Mad Parson came down the trail that led from the plateau, When he reached the bottom of the ravine, he looked around, as if to make sure that nobody was in sight or watching him. Then he crossed a ridge, and turned his steps northward and upward, Aaron Isaacs, who was regarded as the best trailer and the most accomplisbed sneak of the party, had been detailed to follow the old man as closely as he could,the others keeping at a lit- tle distance behind the scout, but within signal- ing. reach, he Mad Parson led them a difficult chase. At that locality the mountain was a series of | hills and hollows, ridges and ravines, rugged, but risin Rena and beyond the tangle towered Topnotch Peak, which was supposed to be inaccessible. Up and down went the leader, now lost to sight, and again visible on a hight, but always pressing forward in one direction, asif he had a known and definite point to reach. It was fortunate for the toughs that he never turned and looked backward, as he might have caught sight of Aaron, who was at times in- cautious in his eagerness to keep the quarry in sight, Saanbe hurried on, stopping only now and then to signal to his comrades, until he reached the crest of a steep and sharp ridge, when he halted and beckoned to his friends as if imploring them to make haste, They did make haste, and all four were quite breathless when they reached the crest of the ridge. When they got there, they found Isaacs look- ing disappointed and perplexed, as if the affair had not turned out to please bim. “It is the queerest thing,” said he, ‘I don’t know what to make of it. He came hae ridge, and stopped a moment right here. n he went down. He must have gone down, as I would have seen him if he had gone either way on the ridge. I hurried up here, and signaled to you, and that is the last of him.” tthe foot of the ridge was a gully which might well be called a gulch, it was so deep and narrow, and beyond it rose the rugged moun- tain-side that reached up to Topnotch Peak. ‘** Mebbe he got out o’ sight afore you’d climbed the ridge,” suggested Deadwood Dave. ‘‘How could he?’ answered Isaacs, kept him in sight when the chances were worse than this, If he had gone eitber up or down the gulch there, I must have seen him, the devil shot him ont of sight.” ‘*T reckon that is jest what's the matter,” ob- served Bad Lands Ben. “If it ain’t the devil, it is somebody in the almighty line o’ business who helps him.” ““That’s all durned nonsense,” said Isnacs, ** Let's go down into the gulch and see if we can get sight or trace of bim?”’ They descended the steep side of the ledge, finding the descent pretty difficult, and looked up and down the gulch and all about them, but saw notbing of the Mad Parson, and could not find the slightest trail or trace to show that any person had been there, CHAPTER IX, STALKING BIG GAME. THE five toughs were so badly discouraged by their discovery, that they were obliged to: treat the disap ance of Topnotch Tim as a conundrum, and give it up. They sought up and down the gulcb, and looked carefully amorg the rocks and hollows, but saw no sign of him, He had disappeared as sudcenly and com- ag as if the earth had opened and swallowed — im, \a As he had unquestionably disappeared, and as it was useless to search for his alleged ** dig- gin’s” without his leadership, the toughs sadly climbed back to the crest of the rid , where — ” j | \ “i \ * ‘ “7 . “Pya <S Gomicboo Gol ae