Beadle's Dime Library No. 51: Red Rob, The Boy Road-Agent — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

4 a‘? ¢3 2 el Neh : Beadle’s Dime Library. your friends?— raymond ‘killed ?” ‘“‘'No;' but he had ‘a terrible straggle with the. beams, His arm was crushed and broken by the panther’s, jaws, but he escapéd'and ‘has not’ been recaptured, yet. Your other friend is still in custody. Slyly and I have. been try- ing to find where he is incarcerated, but so far have failed.” Sheridan groaned ‘in spirit; and: relapsed into a painful silence. But at length he said : ‘Poor old man! he was one of the moblest- hearted men I ever met. I reverenced him, Zella,” ‘Yes, he was’ a noble-looking. old) man}, and my heart bled with pity for him when I saw him standing in the ‘ tiger-pit,’ waiting for the ferocious brute to be turned loose upon him. His tall form, his snowy beard, and_ stern, thoughtful face, made him an object of veneration to me. I knew; however, ashe stood. waiting, that he! had no idea of what was to come. I knew that he possessed no wea- pons, and this would render his destruction certain. My wits were put to work—I wanted to save that man. I slipped around and threw a knife into the pit. It saved his life, , With the weapon he afterward killed the panther; but oh, Mr. Sheridan! how my heart was wrung. with pity and sadness, when’ I saw the old man all covered with blood; and saw his poor broken arm dangling helplessly at his side, and his white, bearded face looking up at his tor- mentors, so sad, so. pitiful, in the glare of the torches! I wanted to rush into that horrible pit and help him—save him, but I knew I could do nothing: But God was with the innocent and just. He came to the old man’s assistance. When another beast was turned loose into the pit, the old man placed his shoulder against the stone wall that barri- caded the arched gateway opening into the pit. It toppled and fell, aud with a shout he leaped through the opening and escaped, ‘ ‘« Zella, is Leopold Hamallado your father?” asked Asa, as if suddenly startled from a dream. Zella’s face. became flushed, and in a little asperity of tone, she said: ‘‘ You have been questioning Slyly?” ‘I have not, Zella, upon. my word, and honor. ‘There is what led to the question. I found that paper in the book you sent me, and supposing it was also intended for me, I read it.” ) She took the cruel letter and read it, then burst into a flood of tears. ‘‘ Oh, heavens!” she moaned, with all the bitterness of despair, ‘‘ you will despise me now!” ‘‘ And why should I, Zella?” he asked, in a tone intended to pacify her sudden sorrow; ‘‘if the contents of this letter are true, you can’t help it.” ‘+ Tt. ig. true—oh, heavens, it. is too true!” she cried, wring- ing her hands in grief. ‘‘The man whom I have always considered my father told me but a day or two ago that I was not his child—that he had stolen me from my father, who, had married the woman he—Leopold Hamallado— loved, and thereby incurred his hatred. But this is not all he told me, but I will not repeat it. The letter tells it all, and but for one thing, Mr. Sheridan, I would have fled last night from the ruins to the Navajo agency.” ‘‘ And what was that one thing, Zella?” ‘The promise I made you—to come back and tell you of your friends and of the ‘ Phantom Aztecs.’ ” ‘‘ Heaven bless you, girl! 1 would have died here waiting for you,” Sheridan said, crossing the grotto and seating him- self by her side. ‘* Zella, I can not keep back the emotions of my heart longer—not if you despise me for my boldness. But to be plain, Zella, I love you!—I loved you from the moment I first saw your face at the window of the ‘ judg- ment hall.’ Zella, it would be all I could wish for on earth to know that my love is reciprocated.” ‘* Asa,” she replied—it was the first time she had address- ed him thus-—‘‘ perhaps if you were away from here, and were to calmly think over the little you know of me, you would change your mind and loye.” “Never, Zella,” he replied, half desponding, half hopeful; “Tam not a boy; I know my heart. Your situation, dear girl, makes my love all the stronger.” ‘‘ But I have been reared as the daughter of a Spaniard, and.that Spaniard is the leader of as notorious a set of out- laws as ever existed.” | ‘‘I care not for that, either. As 1 told you before—as this letter tells me—you could not help your situation.” “ But what do you know of me—of my character?” she , mod, But; ‘pardon me—++go on, Zella; was, Wal r gether in that horrible ‘ tiger-pit,’ “a3 Purity and innocence are written upon your brow, upon your;heart, and upon your soul. Zella, my own heart’s ine stinct.tells, me this.” .., “God knows,” she said, sadly, ut | have lived a spotless, life despite the society I have livedin. For ten years I lived with a Spanish lady at Albuquerque who was a mother to me in every respect. She seat me to a Catholic school, where I obtained a liberal education. As she had no children of her own, she wanted to adopt me, but my father objected, and finally dragged me off away.zp here, where, for some two or three years, he has been the leader of a gang of robbers— nearly all Spanish-Mexicans—who for. cruelty to captives have. no equal... They haye traps set all; through the mgun: tains for wild) animals; and whenever a bear or panther is, an innocent miner or hunter, when the two are thrown to- to the credit of these bad men: they have never, by word, or act, offered me the least ingult, or, uttered an immodest word in my presence. ..On the contrary, all. seemed to vie with each other in their endeavors to. make me happy and comfor- table in those dismal old ruins, _My supposed father told me that I was a little child when he stole. me away from my father. He said my mother was dead, but he refused to tell me where my father lived, and what his name is. But to come briefly to the point, I have been living these years with a band of lawless.men, and could you, Asa, conscientiously wed such a woman?” “This detracts nothing Hom my love for you, Zella. The sweetest flowers oft bloom amid the thorniest thistles, I know whereof I speak. My love is no boyish infatuation. For five days have I been studying this matter over, and my only fears were that you would not return tome here, I longed to lay, bare my, heart’s love,, I have now done 80, ‘and with this confession of love, Zella, I will repeat the ques- tion: will you be my wife?—mine to love always—mine to cherish and protect from this cold, cruel world?” The maiden’s eyes drooped shyly. A deep flush suffused her face; her lips quivered with the joyous emotions of her young heart, and in a low, tremulous tone, said: ‘Asa, my heart is yours.” Asa’s heart gaye. great bound of joy. He took her little’ ‘brown hand in his, and drawing her closer to his wildly- throbbing breast, imprinted upon her, _warm, ripe, red lips the seal of their betrothal. A deep silence. succeeded, and joy reigned supreme within that mountain grotto. Never did two hearts beat more joy- ous.in reciprocal love.., For several moments they sat motion- less and silent as if listening to the responsive yet silent com- munion going on between, their hearts, . The past, the pre- _ sent and the future with all their sorrows and dangurs, were forgotten in that moment of sweet, rapturous bliss. But this holy silence was suddenly broken— broken by the sound of footsteps ascending the rocky accliyity. ‘The next moment a sombrero appeared within sight above the stony ledge in front of the grotto, and beneath the hat ap- _ peared the dark, sinister eyes and wicked face of Leopold _Hamallado, whom Asa at once recognized as the Judge of the ‘‘ Phantom Aztecs.” — CHAPTER XXI. "N THE VALLEY OF THE RIO DEL LOS PINOS. Im the valley of the Rio del los Pinos, not. far from the San Juan, human’ voices could have been heard calling: to: each other from the depth of the deep, dark pinon forest. They were children’s voices; and with them were, now, and then mingled the deeper tones of men, the sturdy ringing blows of axes, the crash of falling timber and the barking of dogs. Drawing nearer these sounds, one would have. discovered. that they issued from an encampment that was teeming with busy life. White men and black; white women and black, were there, all actively engaged in some duty or other; while three or four children played “‘ hide-and-seek”. in the wood back of the camp. The men were at work in a little glade on the foundation of four or five log-cabins, which were, of themselves, evi- dence of permanent settlement. And that these settlers had traveled far:'to reach this secluded spot, was also evident from their covered wagons and jaded animals...The most, conspicuous of all, however; and that most. likely to, arrest: But. one thing can be said. yt caught, they secure it and shut, it up until they can capture _ Eomichbooks Elo)