Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 512 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

+. ** It was one of the things I can’t forget. ‘ 18 Captain Velvet’s Big Stake. guardianship goes on. You know the history of Mona, As her sleuth-hound—she has employ- ed many before you,Captain Velvet—you did not go into the case blindly, I would like to ask you, were it not too much impertinence, if you are to be paid out of the wealth she expects to clutch, ‘*T would answer you plainly, Captain Duff,” and the detective looked squarely at the man before him, ‘‘I do not expect to touch a dollar of Vetla’s fortune.” ‘*Of Vetla’s! Ho! ho!” exclaimed Duff. ** What about the other one’s bonanza?” ‘* You mean the one who is lost—the child torn from Mona, the almost blind, years and years ago?” “ Yes,” ‘If she is found, there will be enough for both.” “| think so, If she is found |” ‘* She has been missing—” ** Kighteen years, three months and—” Duff reflected a moment—‘ and twelve days,” ** You are exact?” ** That is one of my virtues. Lost for eighteen years, and you expect to find her—for the woman who talks of nothing but vengeance and justice.” Dun Duff left his seat and leaned against the table. Folding his arms upon his chest he look- ed down at the man who regarded him com- placently. *“Why didn’t you play eee first hand in Sacramento?” continued uff, ‘*I cannot think tbat a man who has played go-as-you- pease sleuth as long as you have would leave he city without calling on the person who ought to know something. Ordid you follow me to No Man’s Ground?” The last sentence sounded like a challenge, There was nothing between the two men but a little space. Captain Velvet rose and stood at one end of the table and so near Dun Duff that a hand put forward would have touched him. **My profession is the following of men,” ke spoke coolly. ‘‘I was on trails when my stir- rup was found and restored. I am Mona’s sleuth now. The woman has been unfortunate. Her last hound was a Mexican who must have deserted her cause for he never made a report,” “The man is dead,” came over the lip that barely moved. “Hal you seem to know,” The man’s name was Vorgas, I wish you had asked Boss Nevada about him before his madness took him to Sacrameuto, But never mind the Mexi- can shadow, Captain Velvet, You were saying that Mona has been unfortunate, Do you mean her partial blindness?” **Captain Duff is aware of what I mean,” was the response. ‘* You askif [ have followed you? Does it look thus to you after what has happen- ed lately?” ** Tt does,” “Then know that I am here because Mona sent me and because you are where you are to- night.” Eve met eye midway in the little space that separated the detective and his prey. The lamp burning on the table in a few inches of Gideon Goldbar’s left hand threw up its light on the faces of both, “‘T likea frank man. By Jove! I delight in him,” exclaimed Dun Duff, ‘ You shall have an equal frankness for answer. I am playing my own game for my own ends, no matter what they be. They cross the designs of this woman who sits in darkness ond sends out sleuth after sleuth, waiting for her enemies to be dragged bound into her presence, I know Mona the Mad. Captain Velvet, you should have seen the man of the chair before you left Sacramento. You should have taken Colonel Bluff, the crippled Croesus of California, to the abode of this vengeance-hunter whether he wanted to goornot. But youfollowme. You dog my steps to No Man’s Ground. Yon shadow Dun Duff instead of Colonel Bluff’ What secret do I carry that I must be hunted thus?” ‘The secret Mona wants. You know who took the child—you know what has become of the third piece of the dagger. Colonel Bluff has the point, Mona the blade, and Julius got the hilt at the pawnshop of Mardoni in Sacramento, And my mission is to fit the three pieces to- gether in the interests of justice!” CHAPTER XXIII NORGAN KEEPS HIS WORD. ‘“* At last, old fellow! Many’s the horse I’ve straddled in my time, but never one Jike you. By Jove! I believe I could turn you back from the edge of Sacramento where I am, and go to the mountain stable as swiftly as I’ve come down here.” It was getting night over the capital of the Golden State, and the roads leading therefrom, rnonning in every direction, like spokes from a _ hub, were losing themselves in dense shadows as it were. _ Tbe man who addressed the foregoing words to a well-limbed black borse had just ent-red Sacramento by one of these ways. showed more signs.of fatigue than did the ae LA é J NC CT LC ttt See ee ; 55 ye re a Ae ie ee 5 5 animal that carried him, and while he spoke, he patted the bot neck and ran his fingers through the long mane, Abead of him were the myriad lights of the city. Far behind were the fewer lamps of Satan City, for the rider was Norgan, the as- sayer of No Man's Ground, He had reached the end of his journey. Boss Nevuda’s favorite horse had carried him over the mountain-trail, He had swung through the canyons at a wild gallop, and had threaded the mazes of wood and valley with the keen eye of a thorough scout, lt had been a long, bard ride, for what? To place in the hands of a cripple a sealed i g taken from a man supposed to be dead— siled by some unknown terror, in a secret mine on No Man’s Ground. Norgan passed on into Sacramento and the = FE seemed to come nearer and grow more plentiful. Nobody was lying in wait for him, for no one could have known that he was on the way. Sacramento was not unknown to Norgan. He rode up one street and down another, as if he knew where he was going. At last he looked at a lot of trees that almost hid even in the daytime the best-known house in the city. ‘*The end of the spin!” ejaculated Norgan. ‘**T begin to feel that 1 have executed my trust but of course it will not be fully carried out till I have placed the treasure in his hands,” He rode up to the foremost trees and dis- mounted, Then he placed one hand under his coat as if to make sure that he had not lost the parcel sealed with crimson wax, smiled to himself, and went up the walk between the trees. In a few seconds the home of Colonel Bluff loomed between him and the few stars that seemed to hang like balls of fire in the depths of night. ‘** My first visit tothe Croesus of the chair,” muttered Norgan. ‘*‘ And I would not be here now if a dead man had not sent me,” He went up to the door and found the modern knocker, which he jerked with a good deal of impatience, It was an hour when Colonel Bluff expected no visitors, and. Norgan learned this to his chagrin, for he had to ring again and again be- fore he beard the slightest signs of life about the house, A key turned in the lock at last, and the mes- senger from No Man’s Ground iooked into two shining eyes set in the almost expressionless face of a strange woman. ‘Nina, the mute, I know,” thought the as- sayer, and then he touched bis hat and asked whether Colonel Bluff was at home. A close scrutiny was the only reply he got but it was evident that the woman understood him. To his surprise she stepped back and held the door open in silent invitation for him to enter, Had she guessed jin her shrewdness—Nina, the dumb, was shrewd—that he bad come from Satan's City? Norgan was taken through the same passages once trod by our old acquaintance Johnny Jumpup, and N'na paused at length and inted toward a closed door, After this she vanished before Norgan could ask if the man of the chair was alone, and be had naught to do but to go ahead, Emboldened by bis success, the chemist of No Man’s Ground turned the knob and pushed the door open, He saw before him a room pervaded by a soft light which fell stronger on a table than else- where, and stepping inside he found himself in au apartment with another. This person occupied a chair with two high wheels which rose above the arms, The chair was drawn close to the table, and the man was drawing circies in red ink on a map whicb lay in the lamplight. Of course Norgan saw before him the Crip- pled Croesus of California. His entrance bad not disturbed the man at the teble, and struck by the scene he stood sev- eral minutes a few inches beyond the door, At length he grew tired of this and went for- ward, purposely making a little noise as he did SO. He had not reached the table when he saw an upturned face and met a pair of penetrating eyes fixed upon him. ** Well,” said Colonel Bluff, taking in the bysical man at a glance, “‘ whatis it, my man?” Norgan, by this time, standing with bis hat off, drew still nearer, and the man of the chair gave a slight start. “You've got mountain grime on your clothes!” he cried. ‘*T think I ought to have it there.” Another look. **You are from the camp?” “i J am,” ** Who are you?” “Tam Norgan.” “‘The assayer! I see, Take a chair. No, stand where you are if you are not tired.” ‘““I am not tired,” rejoined Norgan, keeping bis place, LTT OTL nn ‘* Well, what is the news up there?’ asked the crippled nabob, and at the same time one of his bands covered the last circle on the map, oe by design or accident Norgan could not te **T think I have something that will answer that,” was ths response, The messenger from Shasta Land put his hand in his bosom and brougbt forth the message. At sight of it—the red wax and the ribbon— Colonel Bluff’s eyes seemed to catch fire, and a tremor passed over his frame, As Norgan extended the packet the man drew back in bis chair and looked from it to the mes- senger, ‘* First,” cried he, with a gesture of avoidance, ‘*do you know that that parcel was not to be delivered till after a certain person’s death?” ‘*I do, That person is dead,” replied Nor- an. . He got a strange look from the eyes before him, and the band that stole forward to take the message fell back again. ‘** In the second place, do you know that if the seal of that parcel bas been broken, you are liable never to leave this house alive?” ‘‘T know that, too,” said Norgan, promptly. ‘‘The seal will speak for itself. My duty will not be done till you have taken the message. Will you take it?” The hand that resembled a serpent’s head in its movements came forward again. This time it took the packet from Norgan’s. hand. The messenger let out a sigh of relief, To his surprise the man in the chair laid the parcel on the table, and, strangely enough, it fell within the red circle on the map, ‘You will find a dvuor at the end of the hall to the right,” Colonel Bluff went on. ‘‘ Beyond it are refreshments. If you will go thither and make yourself at home, I will call you by and by. The assayer wanted nothing better than this, The last few hours of the long ride had been very trying, and he was ready to fly to a glass of stimulating wine and something more solid. Touching his bat again to Colonel Bluff, he withdrew, and went down the hallway beyond the room. **Dead! And the sealed secret has come!” exclaimed the cripple of the chair, when he was. alone, and his hand picked up the packet, which he hegan to examine very closely. He turned it over and over, and his eyes lost their gleam anc caught it again several times, At length he held the waxen seal near the lamp till the heat softened it, when be began to disengage the ribbons with eager fingers. The second covering of the precious contents of the packet was a thin oiled skin of some kind. It was wrapped with silk thread, which was speedily unwound, All at once the paper inside was seen, It was carefully folded square and no longer white, Colonel Bluff paused bere and looked at it some time, as if he feared to go to the end, ‘“Pish! I’m a man. Why not?’ he cried ‘*] haven't played all my cool hands to stop ata paper. He is dead, Norgan says, and this is wby the message is here.” He laughed at the end of the sentence, caught the folded packet with a firmer clutch and wrenched it open. A moment after, Colonel Bluff'’s eyes were fixed on the few words of writing be was hold- ing under the lamp, and while they mastered them his teeth met and remained closed like well-matched gladiators, His color came and went; his mouth twitched nervously at the corners; bis hands seemed to lose color as his face did. He did not speak for five minutes. ‘‘Tt is well that be is dead!” ke exclaimed. ‘*T man who failed as he failed bad no right to live. Now I show my hand, Now the man who has been wedded toa cbair for years—the Crippled Croesus of California—becomes the —_ silencer of the land of gold!” e crushed the paper in his hand, and ran bis chair a few feet from the table. Then he caught a green cord that wrogr> from the ceiling along the wall, and jerking it down once, beld it there for a second before releas- ing it. A a moment there were footsteps in the ball, and aman with the graven countenance of a route appeured, = be ga Diabolus,” commanded Colonel Bluff. The man fell back. If he could have spoken, he would have ac- companied the recoil with an exclamation of astonishment. ” ‘*You understand me? The time has come !” continued the millionaire cripple. ‘‘I have received a message that would stir the dead. Bring Diabolus to the door, saddled and bridled, then come up here for me. You have yet to learn who you have been serving, Go!” Another look with starting eyes, and the mute turned on his heel. . He was down-stairs when Colonel Bluff his head into the hall and cclled Nor. ; comicbook put. i SS eee “ ~~