Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 508 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

0 La a 4 i ‘ Po y i . . tye ’ . ‘ +5 i v. ee ty Mi 2) ‘ : { beast ' Se ae or ke -& . : A dj 7 f Sat ; 5 ¥ ; Topnotch Tim, the Mad Parson. ‘When I want your help, [ will let you know, What I pay you foris to do my work and hold your tongue.” big worm as Deadwood Dave may turn when it is trodden on. That particular worm did not turn just then, but looked as if the weather might become somewhat sultry for Handsome Dan, if the worm should ever happen to get on top of him. ‘‘T won’t be likely to keep him there long, ob- served the gambler. ‘‘Indeed, I may get through with him to-night.” ne If you do, what then?’ eagerly inquired ave, ‘‘ What then? Why, that’s all.” ** Not quite all, Cap, When yeu git through with him, suppose you turn him over to us fellers,” ‘** What do you want him for?” ‘* We've got a grudge ag’inst him, too, and we want to make him tell us whar the diggin’s is that he gets his gold from,” ‘““{f you ever make that man squeal, David, ou will do something that I don’t believe any- y capable of doing. Well, you will be wel- come to him when [ am through with him. Come, now, we will go right up there. Where are your partners?” ‘‘ They’re handy. I can git holt of them right away.” : ‘‘ Have them ready at McGinley’s, then, within half an hour, and we will start from there,” Deadwood Dave hastened to obey the orders of his employer, and Handsome Dan made some preparations tbat were a little peculiar, He opened a trunk and took out a package of papers, from which he selected a few and put them in his pocket, He also provided himself with two revolvers and a belt of cartridges, Then he went to McGinley’s saloon, where Deadwood Dave had with some difficulty got his followers in working order, with the exception of English Bill’s partner, who was already too drunk to be of any further service to the com- bination. Such as the gang was, it was acceptable to Dan Lasher, who accompanied them up the mountain trail, Deadwood Dave taking the lead, and looking as important as if he carried the en- tire enterprise upon his shoulders, It was a tedious tramp at night, and Dan was not the only one of the party who felt that he would be glad when it was ended. When they reached the point where they left the trail to go to the cabin, ben Staples sniffed and declared that he smelt smoke, and others smelt it too. ** Somebody has been settin’ the woods afire,” remarked Dave; ‘‘ but that bain’t got nuthin’ to do with us,” lt was not until they reached the place where they had left their prisoner that they discovered that it had something to do with them, Tuey stopped suddenly, with various ejacula- tions of amazement and anger, mostly profane. ‘* What’s the matter?” inquired the gambler, ‘** Tt’s gone,” answered Dave, who seemed to be quite stupefied. ** W bat is gone?” ‘‘The cabin we shut him up in. It is burnt down. Come and see.” Going on a little further, they came to the site of the cabin. Nothing was to be seen there but a pile of ashes and a few smoldering loge ‘*Tt’s all burnt up,” said Dave, ‘‘and Top- notch Tim has been burnt up with it.” **T am notso sure of that,” remarked Dan Lasher. ‘* You know that he is very smart, and 1 bave heard you say that the devil or something else helps bim.” Making a light, they examinel the ruins carefully, and soon discovered the body of a man near the edge, partly covered by ashes and charred wood, It was burned beyond the poe Ny. of recog- nition, and they gathered about it and wondered who it was. ‘“T don’t think it is tall enough for the old man,” said Lasher. ‘‘ Perhaps it is the chap you left in charge here,” **How could it be him?’ demanded Dave. ** He was outside, and t’other was inside. En- glish Bill could git away from the fire easy enough, and Topnotch Tim couldn't.” Yet there was no means of identification re- maining, and the truth was left to conjecture. After puzzling themselves about it a while, the party returned to Topnotch. CHAPTER XI, A SCARE AND A SEARCH. CsAR, the dwarf, had remained at the house on the plateau with Susan Marlow when her father went into the hills. W batever the object of the Mad Parson’s expe- dition may have been, he surely knew he was followed, and it was highly probable that he be- lieved he had baffled his pursuers. For once, at least, his calculations were made in vain, and the result proved that even he could be easily trapped. When he was caught he might, by a cry, have summoned his daughter and Cesar, and there ' ean be no doubt that they would have worried his adversaries to some purpose; but he was un- | willing to involve them in his cifficnlties, always Dan Lasher should have known that such a| believing that he could easily extricate him- ) himself. Yet they were bound to miss him in the course of time, and it may be supposed that they would have preferred a little peril to a good deal of anxiety. Since the attack by Deadwood Dave and his fellow-toughs, either Mr. Marlow or Ceesar had always remained at home with Susan, and her father trusted the dwarf almost as fully as he trusted himself. At least, there could be no doubt of Ceesar’s courage and fidelity. His inability to hear and speak was of course a drawback to his usefulness; but the sense of hearing seemed to have been to a considerable extent merged in the senses of seeing and feel- ing, which had become so intensified that they often seemed to take the place of the Jost sense. When Mr. Marlow was expected to return from his expedition, Susan was seated in front of the cabin with ber sewing, and the dwarf was there also, both looking and listening for the father and friend. ' Suddenly Ceesar threw himself down in his usual style, with his ear to the ground, as if he could hear what was going on at a distance, and arose with a look of alarm and anxiety. ** Is it not father?” she asked with her fingers. Ceesar shook his head, and indicated that there were, in his opinion, several people in the ravine or thereabout. ‘*“Are they going to try it again?” she de- manded, as the circumstances broughf to her mind the previous attack. The dwarf thought that they were about to try it again, and he so expressed himself in his way. ‘* Bring the rifles, then,” she ordered. He brought two rifles, and they considered themselves prepared for an emergency. Before starting toward the west end of the plateau to meet the expected attack, Csesar threw himself down and laid his ear to the ground again. This time his hairy face expressed surprise when he arose. ‘** What is the matter?” she asked. ‘* They are not there,” he telegraphed. ‘‘ They must have gone away.” ** Perhaps father bas come along and scared them off.” The dwarf shook his head sadly, as if he con- sidered that an improbable supposition, f Mr. Marlow had really done what Susan suggested, he ought by that time to have been there with them; but neither her listening, nor Ceesar’s more acute sense of feeling, could then detect the presence of any pei son near by. ‘* At least there is no danger,” she said. ‘‘We will put the rifles away, and will wait for father,” They did wait, and their apprehensions in- creased as the time passed by, and the expected one did not return to them. he hour for his return had been fixed when he went away, and when it had long since pass- ed, but he had not come, the conviction was forced upon them that something bad happened to kim, and of course the something must in- volve peril. Though they knew that he was accounted crazy, they also knew the limitations of his mental disease, and were well aware of the fact that as far as they were concerned, he had never broken his word or failed to keep his ap- pointments, ‘‘Are you sure that there were several men down there?” Susan Marlow asked Caesar, Yes, be was sure. ‘“TIf they had meant to attack us again, and father had come and driven them off, as he did before, we would have seen him here long before now. lam afraid, Cesar, that they may have been lying in wait for him, knowing that there was but one way by which he would be likely to come up here, and may have done him some eat harm,” . _ The dwarf’s look showed that the same appre- hensions bad taken hold of bim, ae us go and seek him,” his busy fingers said. Susan Marlow was quite as eager to go as Ceesar was, and the start was speedily made. The house was closed and locked as well as it could be, and they took their rifles and sallied forth, descending at the west end of the plateau into the ravine below. , No person was there, and no sign of a recent encounter or disturbance of any kind was visi- e. Then it was that another of Ceesar’s senses came into play—one of those which helped to atone to him for the lack of speech and hearing. He got down on all-fours, and snuffed about the grouud like a hunting-dog. ‘*He was here,” he telegraphed to Susan. ‘“Then they have got him,” her fingers said sadly. ‘‘It was just about the time when he was to have come home that you felt those peo- They have captured him and ple down here. there any chance to fol- carried him away. low them?” «* + | om mt” ——EE —— —— a. - = = 9 as Cesar, who had been listening intently with his eyes, put down his head again, and emelt about vigorously, apparently endeavoring to distinguisn and separate the various human scents about there, After a while be struck the trail of Deadwood Dave’s party, and beckoned to Susan, She took the two rifles, and left him free to follow the scent as well as he could, There was much of the dog about him, but more of the man—not enough of either for the full attainment of the end he bad in view. He struck the trail pretty mucb as a dog might strike it, but could not follow it as a dog might bave followed it, his progress being slow and hesitating, The darkness would have prevented the acut- est trailer from tracking the steps of even so large a party, and the scent was evidently not sufficient for Ceesar. Susan Marlow was in despair. She stopped the dwarf, and asked him, hold- ing her speaking fingers near his face, if he was sure that her father had been down in the ravine, and that he was there captured and car- ried away. Cesar could net be certain of all that; but be had vo doubt, as he ussured her, that there had been several men stirring in the ravine, and that they bad speedily gone away. If Mr. Marlow had not fallen in with them and been captured by them, he would have reached his home long before that hour, as he never failed to return when be promised to. This was reasonable enough, and Susan per mitted the dwarf to continue the quest, though she had no confidence in his success. It took him into the trail that led to Topnotch and there he soon became utterly bewildered, as his sense of smell would not allow him to dis- criminate among the various people who had recently traveled that route, ‘This is of no use,” said Susan, ‘' We will have to go home and wait for daylighbt.”. But Ceesar was by no means ready to abandon the effort, and he went on down the trail, ausing now and then to sniff about, as if e suspected the men he was following of having turned off to the right or the left. If Mr. Marlow had been captured, it was not at all likely that he would be taken to Topnotch, where he was well known, and it was reasonable to presume that bis captors had some other desti- nation. Finally, however, the dwarf was compelled to confess that he was completely at fault, He shook his head sadly, intimating that it i be useless to pursue the search any fur- er. **'We must go home, then, and wait for day- light,” said Susan. ‘‘To-morrow we will raise a party, and my father shall be hunted and found, no matter where he may be,” Again Cesar threw himself down with his ear’ to the ground; but this time his face and man- ner were full of jcyous excitement when he arose. ‘* What is it?” eagerly demanded Susan. ; nus gave the sign which he used to indicate her ather. ‘*That is too good news to be true,” said she; but it was true nevertheless. In a few moments the tall form of qimoreys Marlow came striding up the trail, and then daughter was clasped in his embrace. CHAPTER XII. THROUGH FIRE TO FREEDOM. “We were afraid that we had lost you, father,” said Susan Marlow when her first t port of joy had subsided. “We were terribly afraid that we had lost __ ape had been way- carried off by a ou, as Caesar was sure that id down in the ravine, an party of men.” s r was right,” answered the old man as he patted the ungainly dwarf on the head, ‘** He was quite right about that, as he always is when his wits arein good working order, I have had a rough experience; but you see | am safe out of the scrape,” ; ‘** But your clothes bave been on fire, father. and [ can now see that your bair and beard ar scorched. What does it mean?’ \ ‘* We will go home, my dear, and get some- thing to eat, as I am fearfully hungry, and then I will tell you all about it.” Not until he was safe at home, and had eaten a hearty supper, did Timothy Marlow begin to Re his recent mysterious absence. hen he seated himself in a comfortable chair, lighted an unclerical pipe, and gave a full ac- count of his abduction and escape. Partof this the dwarf got hold of by watahing intently the lips of his master and friend, an the rest was condensed into sign language for him by Susan. The old man could not tell the whole story, however, as part of the occurrences that led to his escape were beyond his sight and hearing, and he could only guess at them from what he observed afterward. | | The truth was that he owed much to the neg- ligence of English Bill. | That tough citizen was in } his comrades returned to Topnotch, and he > sGomirchooks high feather when |