Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 512 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

~ ae) ae ier. eee yt 14 Captain Velvet’s Big Stake. **TDon’t you think you are on dangerous ground us well as the man under guard and in the sha- dow of the noose?” ‘¢ What have I done?” ‘‘That is true. What have you done? They already call you Duncan Duff's friend. Under tbe circumstances isn’t that enough?” ‘Dun Duff's friend?” echoed Gideon, laugh- ing shghtly over his emphasis, ‘‘I would like to see them prove that, miss.” Opal could not help staring at him. ‘Then they misjudge you,” she cried, ‘‘ Then ! t ey—” ‘Lama manof duty, nothing more,” he in- terrupted. ** And not his friend?” ‘* A man of duty, miss.” The beauty of Satan City lifted the latch and opened the door, ‘** We'll understand all by and by,” she spoke over her shoulder, ‘* You can go back to the trail if you are Mona’s sleuth-hound. But, you are under suspicion, You don’t belong to the Goths and they don’t like you. You are not a citizen of Satan City, and her people call you Duncan Duff’sfriend, There! Good-night, Mo- na’s sleuth-hound,” and while Gideon looked the door shut and Opal was gone. He stared curiously at the cabin a few sec- onds and then walked back. ‘* What does she know about Mona” he ejacu- lated under his breath. ‘I did'not expect this. Duo Duff is still wituin the sbadow. Boss Ne- vada’s madness, an unaccountable thing by the way, bas stepped between for the present. And Norgan the chemist of No Man’s Ground has gone post haste to Sacramento. Whosent him thither—the crazy master of thiscamp of bronzed devils? If so, what is the message he carries to Colonel Bluff imprisoned in his wheeled chair? To-morrow the tide may turn. It is at its flood now for Dun Duff. Ibis friend? By Jupiter! AsItold Mona, Il amaman of duty, and the prisoner now watched by several men tigers of the Shasta hills must not walk from the shanty to a noose of any kine. But where is Johnny Jumpup? I left him in the mine waiting in its gloom for the fuotsteps that followed us. Yes, where is my pard?” ‘** Captain, [ am here!” Though Gideon bad not put his query aloud, it had been answered in a voice that had a familiar sound, He turned to stand face to face with thé man about whose safety he bad just been thinking. “Captain, what sort of people inhabit this country?” continued Johnny Jaumpup with a countenance too serious for bis usual laugh. ‘* What kind have you found?’ Gideon Goldbar's pard took a lony breath, **T was left waiting in the mine, you know?” eae ‘* Well, I stood there in the darkness fully ten minutes after you Jeft. It was ticklish busi- ness—backed up ag’in’ a wall, waiting for you knew not what.” ‘*T would think so, Johnny.” ‘‘T began to think that maybe our ears had fooled us though mine never does that. I could not see my hand at my nose, and as for sound biess me, if 1 could hear the slightest. At last I did bear something. It was like the scratch of one stone ag’in’ another. I thought somebody was trying to write on stone in the dark. By and by the noise sonned: then a footstep came toward my post. Such was the silence that hemmed me in that I could have counted the steps of a cat if a cat had made the ones I was listening to, but it did not,” | Joonny Jumpup paused for breath. ‘* Look here, captain,” he went on suddenly throwing back bis head and running his hand up and down bis throat under his chin. ‘Do you think a cat would do this?” Gideon leant forward and saw dark marks on the man’s throat. ‘‘They are not scratches, Jobnny,” he ob- served. **T should say not, ba, ha,” it was his first laugh. ‘* Well, as [ was saying, the steps came eloser and closer in the dark, Eyes were no good, and what could I do with my hands? Eb? I moved about noiselessly as I thought best, but heavens, the thing was under me!” ‘* Under you?” exclaimed Mona’s sleuth-hound, ‘* Yes; nowhar else, All at once it sprung up, grazing me nearly the whole length of my body, and in half a flash I felt my throat im a clutch that made me see the whole planetary system onarampage., I’ve heard o’ grips before—Ive ont ae in my time—but none like that devil and, ‘‘ it was a hand, then?” ‘* Hand | call it—though I ought to say claw. Captain, I was pushed back, almost into that solid wall. It *peared to me that I could feel my head sinking into the stone, and my eyeballs seemed to drop out eee my cheeks, Get away at first I could not. I threw up my hands when Tecould and caught a pair of unseen arnis, and then, with all my might, [ struggled for Johnny Ju. :pup’s life, But the fiend beldon. With all the power of a demon vise the claws retained their hold, and [ found myself at last.sinking - into a pit filled with revolving stars. “When I came to again, I thought I was in i * © ich Oo ee BS ds Ses (Nish. gad Sai eas a rte Fe a eS _another world, for all was dark, and my head | was & house of torture. I got up and staggered ‘ away—groping my way down a dark corridor, without any ideas as to where I was going. Every moment I expected to have the demon of the mine at my back. But I found the moun tain air by chance, and then I pitched with a ery of joy into the starlight. Captain, all the ‘wealth of this land of mysteries would not | tempt me back into that pit of darkness and | death. Now, who is the woman there?” Gideon looked at Johnny Jumpup as if be had doubted the voice in which the query had been put. ** What woman?” he asked, ‘The one who clutched me down in the mine —the queen of that hell of eternal gloom.” ‘“‘T cannot say. It was a woman, then?” ‘*A woman. Go down yonder and stand where I stood, captain, Let her come upon you with the tread of tke panther and the grip of a vulture. Struggle with her in the dark, and sink at last into what you would call death. What does she guard in the mine? What is the secret she watches over? I would give my head to kuow.” The Man from the South made no answer. ck a has happened in the camp?” Jobnny asked. Food deal, and in a part of it I see the hand of the queen of the mine.” ‘** Tell me, Captain Velvet.” Gideon Goldbar gave Johnny an sccount of Boss Nevada’s madness, of the late scene on the Plaza, in short, of everything that bad occurred since their separation, **T can realize what Boss Nevada meant when he spoke of the Queen of Darkness,” cried Johnny Jumpup, at the end of the narrative. ‘*But he did not meet her in the same mine where she met me?” ‘*No,. ‘You recollect that Opal found him for dead in a chamber whose whereabouts she would not give us,” ‘* A secret chamber, eh? Yes, it must be so, Perhaps it connects with the mine we visited.” **T cannot say.” Johnny dropped his head and thought a mo- meut, ‘‘{ would like to know what took Norgan to Sacramento,” So would I,” said Gideon, “Could I catch him?” ‘*No; we must wait. We must see that Dun Duff does not die, for he owns a secret worth millions,” ee a ern ree ee - - CHAPTER XVIII. THH MAD BOSS. It was a Somewhat singular inquest of lunacy that was held on Boss Nevada between the com- pletion of the exciting scene on the Plaza and the first light of another day. It took place in Shasta Sam’s place, which a lot of men appropriated for the purpose. The master of No Man’s Ground had been es- corted back to his own shanty, where it had taken six men to lash him to his bed, and where he lay, in a deep slumber at last, and watched by miners and Gotbs detailed for the vigils, There was but one opinion among the men re- garding the stateof Boss Nevada’s mind, He was raving mad for the present, Some thought that the een of Darkness was a myth, the fiction of a diseased brain, and of the whole lot not oneargued with an plausibility that such a person could exist. If Johnny Jumpup bad been put upon the stand he might have spun a story which would have put another face on affairs, but no one thought of him, and he was obliged to have but one listener to his marvelous tale. The gold-hunters were not satisfied that Dun Duff should still live. They occupied a place to themselves at the in- quest, and took but little part beyond delivering a few opinions as to the probable duration of Boss Nevada’s lunacy. It was finally decided, just as day was break- ing, that, under the Code of No Man’s Ground, Dun Duff could not be tried for the murder of Nicol Macbeth until the prosecuting witness was able to testify. As this witness was Boss Nevada, whether he knew much or little, the trial would have to be | postponed. The question of bail was soon settled, and Dun Duff stepped from durance in the light of the rising sun a free man on his own recog- nizance. He could see that the change in his fortunes was distastefulto the hand of California Goths, He was regarded with lowering looks and muttered sentences, and some of the gold tramp3s—the whole crowd was little better than this—kept their hands suspiciously near their | belts while they eyed him. | All through the long and anxious day Boss Nevada lay strapped on his bed. More than once Opal stole in to look after his comfort, and toward evening be was permitted _ to sit up still under guard while she fed bim. ' There was something pitiable in the sight of the strong man tied like a mad-dog and closely y his companions. He seemed to reahze the state of affairs for eT a now and then he would look at his bonds and slowly shake his head. ‘*Norgan?” he said to Opal when the sun was disappearing behind the wooded cone of the gold mountain where it had disappeared day after day for countless ages, Tt was the first time he had spoken any one’s name since he had been brought to the cabin. Opal glanced at the guards who bad caught the name. ‘*Leave me alone with him for a spell:’ she remarked, and with a look at one another the men went out and stood at a respectful distance from the door, ‘Where is Norgan, child?” repeated Boss Nevada. ** Do you want to know? Don’t you recollect, captain?” e looked into the liquid depths of her ex- pressive eyes several seconds before he spoke again. ‘‘ Has Norgan gone?” he asked, Opal bent Meg head. ‘To Sacramento?” ‘*To Sacramento.” ‘* Who sent bim?”’ The beauty was afraid to reply for the re- sponse would recall the past on which he was clearly crazy, and she feared that an outburst of madness would result. Boss Nevada looked down at bis bonds again. ‘*T know what all these mean,” said he with a smile, ‘* They have secured me as they should have done to keep me from doing violence. I don’t think !m med now, yet I would not ask you to cut the ropes, gir!—not for the world, ‘You can talk to me like we bave talked together before the curse came to No Man’s Ground, and before I saw the Queen of Darkness,” tien involuntarily drew back, ‘* He iscoming back toit,” she thought. ‘* The captain of the Colonel’s league will never have bis mind again,” Boss Nevada watchea her as if he knew what was going on in her mind. ‘There! I have dismissed the woman to come back to Norgan,” he resumed with a slight gesture, ‘He has gone to Sacramento. To the Colonel, of course.” ‘*To whom else would he go, Captain Ne- vada?’ ‘* Prue, true,” with a nod of the head for each word. ‘Can it be that | sent him?” ‘Would he go for any one else?” ** No, no, girl.” ‘* Which horse did he take?” * Fleetwing.” “ Ah! Norgan knows a horse!” laughed the Boss of Satan City. ‘* He will not have to draw rein till he is ready to jump to the ground before’ the Colonel's house. I wonder what sort of message he carries? Ah! there can be but one!” he exclaimed before Opal could respond. ‘‘ But one message could ever take Norgan to Sacra- mento,” She did not seek to know what that message was, but with one of her hands in both of hiz she looked up in his eyes and waited for him to oO on, For the first time since his mad attack on the Plaza he seemed himself again, and his voice and words gave the girl hope for the future. But there was a lingering flash in bis eyes—the same one she had seen when she looked back and saw him in the grasp of miners and Goths, ‘*Put your band next to my heart, Opal,” he went on. ‘Put it under the shirt. There! that is right, child. What do you feel there?” “Nothing, Captain Nevada.” ‘*Ha! nothing?” “ Nothing but flesh, your own,” ‘‘ But you find a pocket in the shirt?” ‘Ves, I have found tbat,” ** Well?” ‘ ‘‘ Tt is empty.” . He looked incredulous for a moment. ‘¢ You would not lie to me, girl.” ‘¢- You know I would not, captain.” ‘‘ The pocket is empty! Ana Norgan is taking to Sacramento the message which was not to have been delivered till after my death !” iy gave utterance to a low cry of astonish- men ‘‘He may have thought you dead,” she said, recovering. ‘‘I am sure be did, for the note he left in bis cabin told me that he bad left you, as he believed, murdered in ‘the office.’ Norgan is faithful, captain.” The beauty of Satan City spoke the last words in a voice that brought a glow to her cheeks, which Boss Nevada caught and greeted with a smile, ‘‘We think well of Norgan,” he rejoined. ‘‘He thought me dead, and took the message. But how did he know it was there?” ‘*T don’t know,” answered Opal, shaking her bead, He turned his head and looked at the dull- brown logs of the cabin, as if he was trying to see beyond them where a man on a splendid horse was riding south like the wind. Opal said nothing to disturb him, but all at once his hands were jerked away from hers as if it had suddenly changed to a serpent’s head, and when be turned his face his lips w twitching -- Co aale 6) (0) % ‘ Ei MS bee. oS, , pe Fata A M