Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 512 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 much stock in the report; be had tired of such reports, ‘What does Colonel Bluff say?’ was a ques- tion beard often on the streets and in the corri- dors of the Sacramento hotels when the alleged discovery was discussed, Some said that ‘*‘the colonel” had not ex- pressed an apintc®, others were just as positive that he had denounced the whole thing as a fraud, and a third party declared that if the Captain Velvet’s Big Stake. “Colonel Bluff, eh? ha, ha!” began the man | were dilated, and the fingers of her other hand who came in with bis hat, a broad-brimmed affair with a snake-skin for a band, already in his hand. ‘‘A capital pleasure, this, I ou. ut here you are, willing to see Johnny Jump- up, who wants to see you, ho, ho!” The jolly but singular way in which his visi- tor finished his sentences increased Colonel Bluff’s wonder, and before the man paused he gentlsman in question had an opinion, he was | had decided that they bad never met before, very likely to keep it to himself. It was strange that so mauy people should speak of Colonel Bluff in connection with the re- ports from No Man’s Ground. Who was he? Without further preliminaries, let us see. In the quietest Sly of Sacramento stood a house larger and finer than its immediate neigh- bors. In front it was guarded by trees whose foliage almost hid it from the eyes of passers- by, but for all this everybody seemed to know who liyed beyond the wide doors, Colonel Bluff never walked out, because with him walking was a physical impossibility. A paralytic affection of the limbs kept one of the best known men in Sacramento if not in California ina peculiar chair which he could wheel about the house. He looked about fifty years of age. Beneath his gray eagle-like eyes he wore a full grayish beard which was broken a little to the left of his mouth where there was an old scar on which hair would not grow. Colonel Bluff was handsome. , Aside from the wheeled chair, no one would have thought that he was the victim of a physical infirmity, for his disease had left no traces on his face and none were visible in his looks. It was generally agreed that be had an un- limited amount of wealth at his command, and some people said that he had roughed it more than any other man in the Golden State. ’ Now and then he was seen on the street, some- times ing gs ag chair with his own bands, at other times being pushed by a man who was never seen to speak to him. - On the occasions of his gppeepaute in public, he was sure to be observed and stared at, but ple went no further, Colonel Bluff seemed to inhabit a world pecu- liarly his own; but, when he did unbend, rumor said, he was the most sociable of men, It was the first night after the arrival of the reports from No Man’s Ground. ne excitement was at its hight, and le went out of their way to pass Colonel Blutt’s house and to wonder what he thought about the story. Why should he think anything about it? What did be know about No Man's Ground and its treasure? Colonel Bluff occupied his chair in a small room on the ground floor of his house, It was teu o’clock at night, Before him, resting on the arms of the chair, we smooth board, and a map almost covered it. he map had been drawn in ink, and there were lines running hither and thither like the lines of a survey. Colonel Bluff held a pair of compasses in one hand, and leaning over the board, he marked off a circle on the map. Not satisfied with it, he shook his head and made another that took in more space, then contrariwise he mad a third within the smaller of the other two, but shook his head again and looked puzzled, ‘The fools may jabber, but, the wise man knows!” suddenly laughed the Sacramentan, leaning back and holding the compass where it had stopped at the completion of the last line, ‘¢T know more to-night than all Sacramento, and I hold in my hand the greatest secret a Californian ever carried, The time hasn’t come yet. The period of grace has not expired—I don’t care what they say about the ‘ find’ in No Man’s Ground, It’s a wonder somebody doesn’t come here to see what I know and to seek that which [ guess J’m able to keep. Ha! ha! I know what they're talking about in the hotels and on the streets, Till bet my last eagle that maps of Shasta Land are in demand just now; but what will itavailthem? Nothing!” Colonel Bluff had barely answered his own question when the door behind him was opened, and he looked around to see who had entered. “What is it, Nina?” asked the colonel. A large and fine-looking woman glided to his chair, and, as the Sacramentan looked up, her fingers moved rapidly before his face. “A man, eb? What is he like, Nina?” The fingers worked again and a smile stole over Colonel Bluff’s face while be listened. . he guess [ll see him,” said he, ‘* Show him SE et The woman withdrew, and the Californian pushed his chair to a table into a drawer of which he thrust the map with his compass works thereon, Then he turned the chair toward the door and began to wait for the visitor the woman had announced. _ He did not have to wait long for Nina’s face was seen for a second as she ushered the visitor ‘into the room, then the door shut and two men were face to face, down TTT Tw gg EOE =e © Johnny Jumpup, as he called himself, was neither tall nor plump. fle was not over five feet, and his frame was devoid of any surplus of flesh. He wore rather fanciful clothes, a riclopen jacket, with ser- pentine silver lace trimmings, rather wide pantaloons with a gold stripe down the outside of each leg, and a velvet-covered belt in which were prominently disposed two silver-mounted revolvers. The man bimself did not look to be over thirty. His only facial adornment was a jetty mustache that covered his mouth and then branched off on either side to end in a waxed point—waxed for the visit perhaps. “I’ve introduced myself, colonel,” continued Jumpup, taking a chair which seemed to invite him. ‘Though I come to you a total stranger I presume you don’t want to be bothered with references, ha, ha!” Colonel Bluff shook his head. ‘* No,” answered he, and then the gray eyes looked the little man over again, ‘‘ Why am I indebted to you for this visit, Mr. Jumpup?” ‘* Mister Jumpup! by Jove! Ill tell that to the boys, sometime!” exclaimed the caller, break- ing into anotber of his Gees laughs. ‘I’m generally ‘ Johnny’ where ’m known best, and that’s nearly everywhere, ho, ho! Sometimes, when I have these duds on, I’m ‘ Don Johnny, but, there’s no Greaser b in this mortal frame, colonel, not .a drop! Why am I here, eb? It’s about the find—the one all Sacramento is talking about, just now. I’ve got a good deal in thar, if it isn’t ver large, be, he!” and Johnny Jumpup tap his forehead signifi- cantly. *‘Do you mean the reported discovery on No Man’s Ground?’ asked the colonel, stealing a glance toward the table where he bad deposited the map. ‘* That’s it.” ‘* What do you know about it?” “T? You're the man supposed to know some- thing, ha, ha, ha!” The Calfornian’s face gota sudden shadow while Johnny’s features were touched witha smile. : * Did you come here to question me?” put the colonel, in no good humor. “‘ Just a little, colonel,” was the frank con- fession. ‘‘I want something to do, and I like to pep ac who has money and sense. Just now, about all the wealth I possess in this world I carry on py hake, and it’s not t ng me. n very t, either. I want to go to No Man’s Ground as Colonel Bluff’s representative —a sort o’ secret emissary, ¢ ed with the mission of adding to bis wealth by investing him with some good claims in that new El Do- rado. I’ve been through nrine suits, mine bat- tles and bonanza grapples. They do say, colo- nel, that Johnny Jumpup,” here the man lowered his voiceand leaned toward the man who seemed to have been struck by his cool audacity—* they say that Johnny Jumpup is a man o’ men when he serves a g master, and when there’s dust in the game he plays." Bluff had on his tongue a sharp ie wid and a quick dismissal; but be held both back. Some- thing about this man with the singular name appeared to arrest bis attention. Igo alone if I go,” continued Johnny, “I carry no superfluous baggage with me, no wife, be, he! for if there’s one man in this world ‘heart whole and fancy free,” as they say, ’m that chick.” ‘Why have you come to me?” put the Sacra- mentan, ‘Don’t you know there are a dozen men as rich as I am who would like to have claims in No Man’s Ground, if there is any truth in the rumors?” ‘*T know all that. I am here because I want to serve Colonel Bluff, and no one else. Am I the man you want?” ‘Do I want a man?” “You do! Ask me not how I know this, for, by Jove! I won’t tell you, ha, ha! Colonel poe ou know you need a cool, clear-headed indi dent and I know that that person is Johnny Jumpup.” | ‘* Not now,” said the colonel, firmly. “When?” and Johnny was on his feet, “Come here to-morrow,” “* At what hour?” ** At ten.” ‘Tl be here.” Colonel Bluff, of Sacramento, was alone in his room again, ‘‘ Has fate sent me that little man?” he ex- claimed. “It may be fortune’s doings. [’m sure [ don’t know which. I—” The door broke his sentence, and as he looked around he felt the hand of Nina on bis shoulder. The woman was colorless, her big black eyes . ‘ z » bad . CJ ES ch... Tk. oe eee -& Com '. 2 9F ie +m weal assure | Thought I'd find you engaged, he, he! | a ——EE————EEE = EESanannmwenenmenrnnmemmmmmmmeemmemcee er a eee o’ miles away?” were moving rapidly before his eyes, ‘‘Great heavens!” exclaimed Colonel Bluff. Re She says: ‘For God's sake don’t trust that man! CHAPTER I, DUN DUFF AND PARD, WHEN Johnny Jumpup found himself on the outside of the Bluff mansion, he laughed one of his strange laughs, and started rapidly off, ‘*T did even better than I hoped, he, he! I got inside; not only that, but 1 got to see the man himself! Will he change his mind before to-morrow, or will he send me to No Man’s Ground as his secret emissary? I incline to the opinion that I will get the mission, The portress did not.seem to know who she bad admitted till I was beyond the door, and then didn’t she nearly look me through? Maybe she thought she bad seen me before, ho, ho, ho!” The little man in the slashed jacket kept u his walk till he turned into a second-class hotel. ‘Ts my pard in?’ he asked over the clerk’s desk, as he passed by, and having received an affirmative nod, he kept on up-stairs to a room bearing the number 82 on the door. “Well, I’m back,” announced Jumpup, dis- turbing a figure at the front window—that of a man taller than be and with broader shoulders and a finer face. ‘*So I see,” returned this individual. ‘* You didn’t stay long, which fact informs me that you found the guardians of the crippled nabob too much for you.” —_.. ‘‘ Wrong you are, captain!” grinned Johnny, drawing nearer. ‘‘There are few who beat me with cords of my own cutting. I have been there !” A look of pleasure at once lit up ,the listener’s eyes, ti ; ” . pa yen get beyond the door? ‘* And saw him?” | ** And saw him.” ** Johnny Jumpup, you are worth your weight in gold!” ‘* Which would make me worth twenty-six thousand dollars, Not a pauper, by any means, he! he! he!” The man who had been called ‘‘ Captain” could hardly wait for Don Johnny to finish his lane ; ‘What is he like?” he asked, ‘“‘Give me a picture of Colonel Baldy Bluff as he looked to you in the lamplight of bis own home.” Jobnny did so. He drew for his companion a word picture of the man he had just Jeft, and then did the same for Nina, the portress. He was listened to with rapt attention. ‘‘- You have seen the only Colonel Bluff in ex- istence,” was the comment, when Johnny got through. ‘I would say from xoue description that time has dealt cleverly with him,” ‘* He’s a man o’ men to his legs.” ‘‘ Yes; you refer to the disease that has made him a cripple for life.” ‘**That’s what I mean, captain, He’s got to pass his life in that chair, but, for all that he knows a good deal about what is going on be- yond the house, and Colonel Bluff in Sacre- mento can play some hands that will be felt far away. os bo you think so, Johnny?” asked the lis- tener smiling. : ** Don’t they all say so?” was the quick retort. ‘* Didn’t I pick up bere and there to-night that the crippled nabob is a man 0’ power—o’ power, mind you, in more than one gold camp hundreds ** Let him be so. But, how did you succeed? You made known your mission?” “Ofcourse did” . ** Well, with what result?” ‘*T have a final audience to-morrow morning at ten.” ** He went even that far, eh?” ** Even that far,” echoed Johnny. ‘‘-You must be on hand to the minute, John- ny,” announced the captain. . ‘** ll be there!” A moment’s silence followed. | ‘Who let you in?” was the sudden question. ‘‘ The woman I have described.” * “Oh, yes. Thad forgotten, You saw no one else?” ** Not a soul.” ; “You did not catch a we og of the man who wheels bimself about in bis chair?” ‘“‘ Not a glimpse.” Once more, I say that you have done admirably. I could not have done better my- self. Don’t forget the appointment to-morrow, Tt must be very sure in its results. I have no further orders for you to-night, Johnny.” Jumpup reappeared soon afterward in the bar- room below, with a long Spanish nine between his teeth and clouds of smoke about bis head. He strolled to one end of the long counter and resting his elbow upon it seemed to fall into a smoker's reverie. If ever a man showed himself to be at peace with the world that pergon was Johnny Jumpup in the restful attitude he had assumed, ecom 4 “ge Oe ad. CRED | Ebooks