Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 512 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

oe aw - — ee ow ene ees ee yaotain Velvet’s big It was getting late when the door of Opal’s | abode opened and let the girl out. Standing before the cabin a few moments she fooked across the Plaza and saw thealways open door of Shasta Sam’s ranch. The figures of men inside told her who were there, and she even fancied that she could dis- tinguish the Gold Goths from the citizens of No Man’s Ground, A murmur of voices came to ber ears from the place, but she could not make out a single word, ‘‘T mystified Norgan with my last declar- ation,” she smiled to herself, ‘‘ These men who clamor for blood should goa little slow. They are liaple to catch the wrong man, The keenest detectives do that sometimes. Here the only thing against Dun Duff is Boss Nevada’s accu- sation. As yet it bas not been substantiated by asingle proof. Howcan it be? They searched the man from the South and found on him the usual weapons. I don’t like Dun Duff, His eyes tell me that he came to No Man’s Ground with evil intent. He seems to be a genius of evil; but if he is innocent of this crime he ought not to suffer.” She left ber abode and went down the street till she reached Captain Nevada’s cabin. She rapped at the door, but got no answer. Opal was disappointed, af think I can convince the captain,” she murmured. ‘‘ He is always ready to listen to me. I need not tell him everything, but I can disclose enough.” : The beauty of Satan City repeated her raps, tut as there was still no answer she opened the latched door and looked in only to find the shanty empty. ‘‘T may find him elsewhere,” she exclaimed turning away. “I must see Captain Nevada before the trial.” Going back toward her own home Opal no- ticed a light in Morgan’s window. Curiosity took ber to the spot. Of course the little cabin was empty, but she saw that which could not have escaped any eye —the message left on the table by the chemist of the camp, Opal opened the door and went in. The ver osition of the paper seemed to tell that it had een left for the first comer, and she was that one. In asecond the young girl was reading the startling words in the lamplight, and at the end she fell back with a blanched face and a wild cry. For a second Opal appeared to lose her self- control With the message clutched in her hand she leaned against the wall and gasped for breath, ‘‘Another tragedy? My God! what dark ane has fallen over No Man’s Ground?’ came through her lips. ‘* Why did not Morgan spread the alarm before he went away? What sealed his lips?—a knowledge of the guilty secret?” The girl darted suddenly from the cabin and ran toward the end of the camp. ‘“To ‘the office’ first, to see for myself, next to the men who will have blood for blood, The change has come, We have had peace on No Man’s Ground a long time. Dun Duff and Gideon Goldbar, it is against you both that blood has been shed since your coming to us.” Opal did not stop until she had reached the place where Morgan made his discovery a short time before, ’ Overcome for a moment she halted at the door and caught her breath, Then, drawing a match across the stone-wall, she touched the flame to the wick of a little wax candle which sbe had brought with her, and leaned forward with the light in her hand, Opal soon fell back with a cry which she could not suppress, and the candle nearly dropped frou her hand. She had prepared herself for seeing a dead man on the floor of *‘ the office.” Norgan nad made this certain by the message be had left be- hind; but Opal saw nothing of the kind, Instead of such a spectacle, she saw the figure of a man against the gray wall of ‘‘ the office,” The face was turned full toward her, and de- spite the indescribable stare that looked from the eyes, Opal recognized the autocrat of No Man's Ground! She went forward with his name on her tongue. ‘‘ In God’s name, Captain Nevada, what has we gpa cried she. e stare seemed to give way for another look which was but little more intelligible, and as the man started from the wall he laughed strangely. ‘* You ain’t the Queen of Darkness, are you?” Boss Nevada exclaimed. ‘'No; I see you have the features of a Princess of Light, ha, ha, ha!” ‘Merciful heavens! is the Captain mad?” thought Opal. ‘*‘ What does he mean? Can it be that he has seen—” ‘‘Where did you come from?” broke in Boss Nevada, ending up with that same laugh which me chill at ag po Rok “Tam oun organ’s message on his table, kar I came hither at once,” ““Then you are not the Queen of Darkness? I am glad of that.” < teat et A LL LL, The girl put forth her hand, and laid it softly on Boss Nevada’s sleeve, She had previously placed the candle in a hole in the desk set half-way in the wall, and now she led the master of No Man’s ground to a stool which stood near the desk itself. He took a seat like a man under a spell, for he drew his hand twice across his forehead, as if to collect bis scattered ideas, and then shook his head mournfully. Opal watched him all the while. ~ ‘* Can’t you tell me what took place here?” she asked, at length. ‘‘ Here—here?” he repeated. ‘‘The Queen of Darkness, I tell you, child.” ‘When did she come?” Boss Nevada’s answer was a look into Opal’s eyes, and the showing of his teeth in an insane grin. The girl instinctively drew back. ‘‘The man is mad,” shecried. ‘‘I wonder if he really saw the Queen of Darkness, as he calls the woman who seems to possess him like a de- mon? It is not safe for meto stay here, for boy is no telling what freak the man may not take,” There was no longer a doubt of Boss Nevada's condition in Opal’s inind. What she thought at that moment cannot be told, but out of it all she knew that she was not safe in ‘‘ the office” with the madman of Satan City. To get away was no easy task. Her first move in direction of the door was checked by the captain of the camp, but Opal broke from his grasp before it closed, and in a second she was out of the chamber, running with all her might, It was back to the camp as soon as she could get there! Opal reached the Square to find it untenanted. Straight ahead she saw the open door of Shasta Sam’s saloon, and the same figures were beyond it. “T want to keep this tragedy from the Goths,” thought she, ‘‘If Captain Nevada was in either of the other mines, I could tell them, too; but he is in ‘ the office,’ which no Goth must enter.” She went toward the Shasta Ranch, hoping to call from it a prominent citizen of No Man’s Ground, but she was not accorded that privilege. Three giants in bronze and flannel came out ere she reacbed the door, ‘‘ The men I want!” ejaculated Opal, and in a second she stood before them all. ‘‘ Gentlemen, you are needed at the office at once!” cried thegirl, ‘* Captain Nevada is there without a sane thought in his head, Go to your master!” She bounded away without another word, and the Satan City trio, after gazing after her till she vanished, walked rapidly toward the secret wine of the mountains, ‘‘ Ts the girl that’s mad—not Boss Nevada!” said one. ‘* But we'll go and see.” And they went down to ‘‘the office” to find no trace of the man they sought. CHAPTER XIV. IN THE CRYPT, Ln the light struck for their search, the three inhabitants of No Man’s Ground looked at each other surprised and amazed. ‘¢ The captain isn’t here!” suddenly exclaimed one. ‘Of course not,” ‘‘]’m inclined to think there’s a hoax some- where,” ‘* Would Opal play a trick on us?” ‘‘Not a trick o’ this sort, I'm thinking.” ‘¢Tt would be too serious. No, the girl saw something oars awhileago. She would not have said that Boss Nevada was here crazy if she had nothing to back her up in it. We must search the mine.” ; Having agreed that this was the proper course to pursue, the three men went about it at once, Provided with a small but powerful dark- lantern which they found in the desk in the wall, they left ‘‘ the office” and filed down a narrow corridor which seemed to lead deeper into the bowels of the earth, ‘¢ Here is the crypt,” spoke the foremost, look- ing back at. his companions as he let his light fall upon a small iron door firmly placed in a wall before them. - ‘* Who knows the combination?” ‘‘T think I can open the door,” The iron portal was furnished with a burnished combination-knob, which fairly glittered in the light of the bull’s-eye, and the man who thought he could manipulate the lock, went to work im- mediately. ‘‘This isn’t exactly in keeping with the orders,” remarked one of the two watchers after a& minute’s work, The man at the lock looked up. “I know it isn’t, Tiger, but I call this an ex- traordinary case, Captain Nevada, our master, is supposed to be crazy somewhere in this mine, and it’s our duty to find him. ‘‘No man is to open that door but Boss Ne- vada and the persons designated by him,” ** That is true, but—” $6 oF urge necessity again, Lolas? ““T do, 7? be more I think of what Opal told ere se ca aie ee LC EN —_——-— —___-. —- —_- ————— —__—_--o- e__s ake, us, the stronger grows my belief that we ought to do what we are doing now.” Tiger took a long breath and stepped back. ‘* Go ahead,” said he, with a gesture, but this was pyar epoeek for Lolas bad already gone back to the combination. For ten minutes he worked with the patience of an expert. At last he looked at his companions with a smile of satisfaction, ‘“Tt 1s done, The way to the crypt of No Man’s Ground is open.” ‘* We are going onto forbidden ground,” said the ove called Tiger. ‘‘ No living man has ever crossed the threshold of that room but Boss Ne- vada. He alone knows what is there, and he has never told one of us, I’ve always bad, with the rest of the boys, a desire to explore the crypt, but allegiance to the Colonel and the oath we bave taken have held me back,” Lolas put his hand on the nickel knob and opened the heavy door a trifle, ‘““T recollect when this door came up from Sacramento,” he mentioned. ‘*I was one who helped to fit it in its iron frame in the stone. When it was there you know how Captain Ne- vada called all of us together and read the law of the crypt to us.” The two men who listened answered with affirmative nods, ‘‘ Now we break the rule, but only because we have to, If the captain is in the state reported by Opal we must take him to the old cabin and treat him there. The Goths must not be led to this place no matter what_has occurred. Dun Duff brings a shadow to No Man’s Ground, but he will soon be out of the way, And his pard with him [ hope.” Lolas swung the door back, and all three men leaned forward and looked in. ! The lantern’s bull’s-eye was brought to bear upon the interior of the forbidden mysterious mine-chamber of the bonanza king. ‘¢ We must go in,” resumed Lolas. ** Allof us ““ Why not? The crypt had several corridors, you remember, before the door was put in and three can reach them quicker than one.” ‘That is true,” Lolas the locksmith banded the lantern to one of his pards and crept into the silent chamber. Beyond the door he could stand erect, He was joined by his comrades and the three started across the low-vaulted room in which they found themselves. “Take the right-hand side first,” advised Lolas, and when be had progressed a few feet he stopped suddenly and exclaimed: ** Hello! what is this?” Ina moment the three pards of Satan City were bending over a box which lay on its side with the diene ahet top near by. A number of little packages lay around ap- parently as they had fallen from the box which appeared to have been overturned by violence. ‘*The Colonel’s treasures,” smiled Lolas., “The gold of the great bonanza of No Man’s Ground.” The outer wrapping of each package was buckskin as soft as silk to the touch, and as each one weighed at least a pound the box was a veritable treasury. ‘* This is not the captain. Come on!” laughed Lolas and the box and its late contents were left to themselves, é' The three men pushed into a dark little annex, the ceiling of. which they could not reach with uplifted hands, They showered the light of the lantern on the wails, and found half a score of niches, each one filled with little boxes covered with rust, for they were iron, “Heavens! what was that?” suddenly cried Tiger as a singular noise smote their ears. The pards stood spell-bound, There was no repetition of the sound, ‘‘What did it sound like to you, Tiger?” queried Lolas, ‘¢‘T dread to mention it.” “Do you think—” “That it was the door of thecrypt? Yes! yes!” “My length while his face lost its color, aud the lantern shook. In a second the men had left the annex and were hurrying toward the door. ! ‘‘T thought so!” cried Tiger pointing forward as he halted. ‘ Look for yourselves. Ne- vada or somebody else has shut us in here to die the most miserable of deaths!” Appalling as the words were they were not more so than was the situation as it looked to the three comrades. The iron door of the bonanza crypt which © they bad left ajar was now tightly shut, and he Lolas, the Hercules of No Man’s Ground, — tes it with his strength he found it as immov- able as a mountain of solid rock. The door had not shutof itsownaccord. That was impossible. It had been closed by human agency, from the outside, and the means cf opening it was there and nowbereelse! For several minutes a deep silence fell around the imprisoned men, haa They looked at one another without saying @ } Gomichboo Ss) God!” and Lolas went back almost his | (aCe) Nes iT - ; 1 ~~ , ee _ .