Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 523 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

ctY I} Y > ' / Reynard of Red Jack. 11 the Gulch, and what followed was a scene over which we gladly draw the vail. In the midst of the masked butchers was a veritable giant in physique, who, seizing the arm of a comrade, whirled him in bis tracks, ‘Have you forgotten that one has escaped?” cried he, pointing to the opening to the cavern, ‘* Wscaped?” SE ap ‘Yes, the leader of the soldiers is somewhere onder. You told him about the cave and he ae fled to it for safety. While he lives the secret of our work here, and the other secret, too, is not safe.” These words drew an exclamation of rage from the other. ‘‘Come!” he cried, leaping among a lot of men who were plundering the bodies of their victims, ‘* The captain of the soldiers is in the cavern, He must be hunted down before our work is complete. No witness of this victory must live to put Uncle Samon thetrail. To the cavern at once!” Byrn There was a wild rush toward the opening in- to which Raymond’s horse had plunged, carry- ing him in a second from the moonlight of massacre into the darkness of despair. — The assassins rushed pell-mell, in their eager- ness, into the cave, and in a short time were ransacking it like a lot of bandits. ‘‘He cannot escape!” cried one, ‘Strike a light and let us bunt him down and finish the whole business. I know these underground rooms,” In a little while a dozen lights were to be seen here and there as the men scattered in their search for the cavalry captain, Raymond’s escape looked impossible. He was a stranger to the intricicies and the dark cor- ridors of the cavern, and his enemies, who doubt- less knew them well, had all the advantage of him, A sudden cry announced the finding of the captain’s horse. The animal bad been abandoned some distance from where he was found, and though no trace of Raymond was discovered, the find only further stimulated his hunters, They went everywhere, they pushed into dan- gerous places, crept along ledges of rocks and thrust their lights into dark abysses in search of the missing soldier. Where was Raymond? Tough Talbot, the soldier-hater, thirsted for Raymond’s blood, He had lured the troopers to their doom by a shrewd lie, and he it was who now wanted to finish the work with the death of the officer. ae. The captain had to make his flight in utter darkness, trusting nearly altogether to his hands. He soon found himself crawling along a narrow ledge of rock beneath which there seem- ed to be a fathomless abyss, His sword he had long since abandoned and was now armed only with a revolver, which he had resolved to cling to to the last extremity. ‘‘T want to live for the day of vengeance!” was his one thought when he thought of the massacre and of his own situation. ‘I know whose band is at the bottom of this devilishness and why. I listened to the wroug man, I gave ear to Cadron when T should have profited by Reynard’s advice. Where is Reynard? I look~ ed for him after the first volley, but he was already gone. Let me escape from the tigers now after me and I will pay my indebtedness of blood with compound interest!” Raymond caught some far-away sounds, and leaned against the rocky wall he was following and held his breath. Presently he saw far off a light like a witch’s lantern. It moved hither and thither, and then he saw another and another, till he knew what it meant. All at once he beheld a light in his rear! It seemed to be moving along the very ledge he occupied, and, as the lights in his front were approaching he stood between two fires and like a wolf caught by the jaws of a steel-trap! Above him towered, he knew not to wha hight, a smooth, perpendicular wall impossible to scale, Raymond crept forward but found no way back from the ledge, and the lhghts in front were so near that he could see behind them the figures of bis foes, He stopped and looked first one way and then another, Beneath all was dark, He might be standing over an abyss to drop into which would be certain death. For a moment he stood against the wall and watched the approaching lights. He drew his revolver and cocked it, as he seemed to measure the distance between him and the enemy. There was not a spare inch between him and the edge of the ledge, ‘‘Ha! [am undeceived at last!” he suddenly cried. ‘‘I see the man who approaches. de is Cadron no longer to me, but Tough Talbot,” and he glared at the nimble figure creeping along the narrow shelf behind the foremost light. A backward glance showed him that the other party was coming up, and that the trap was closing on him with terrible certainty. Raymond kept his eyes fixed on Tough Talbot till his blood seemed to boil. ‘‘Tll send you ahead of me!” he muttered, and \ then he raised his revolver and covered the scoundrel, A loud explosion followed the touching of the trigger, and a wild cry rung out. Raymond thrust the smoking weapon into his belt and swung his body over the ledge. The next instant he loosened his hands and fell down —down—down! CHAPTER XIV. BACK IN RED JACK, AT almost the identical moment of the occur- rence of these events in Vulture Gulch, a scene to which we must transport the reader was tran- spiring in Red Jack. The bands of the clock in Don Diamond’s pri- vate room were pointing to ten, the reddes- hour in the history of Vulture Gulch, when tht Dakota millionaire was disturbed by the opene ing of his door, At first he did not even look around, But in a moment the major felt that a srange presence had invaded his chamber, and when he stopped the penin the middle of a line, he dis- covered that an unexpected guest had come. Diamond fell back in his chair and stared at the person at the very edge of the table. He saw a pair of deep and cold gray eyes looking down upon him, and, on the table itself, rested a hand as white as the snow on the lofty peaks of the Yellow Hills, His visitor was a woman past thirty, perhaps, though there was a strangely youthful look in the finely-chiseled features, She was not unknown to the Croesus of Red Jack, though she had never before crossed his threshold, and the major’s look teld that she was the last person he would have invited thither. ‘*Gocd-night, major,” said she, a smile for the man’s astonishment playing with her lips as she uttered the salutation. ‘* I knocked, but pom as ze me no attention, so I came right in.” ‘‘Have a chair,” answered Diamond, in.the voice of a man who finds himself compelled to put up with a bad bargain. His visitor stepped back and dropped into the chair, which was so placed that it brought her face to face with the man, ** You will not come to see me,” she resumed; ‘therefore, when I have business with you, I must come to your house.” Business with him! Don Diamond looked searchingly at the woman as he mentally echoed her last words, This woman was Zeo-—Zeo, the Enchantress, some called her—but the major was not one of those who had fallen a victim to her wiles, She owned the only big mine outside of his own possessions of that sort, Her strike, called the Yellow Witch, was as good as the Chained Tiger, and, if his spies had reported the truth, it bid fair to rival the Bulldog. Zeo bad fol- lowed close upon his beels to the Hills. He had barely laid the foundations of Red Jack ere she was on the ground, and her luck or cunning, he did not know which, had made her rich, The Yellow Witch had been a veritable Naboth’s vineyard to Don Diamond ever since the rise of its fame. He had tried to buy the owner out, but she would not sell. Then he bad ventured, through certain men like Tough Tal- bot and Faverell, to frighten her off, but with the same result, ' ‘Now had Zeo come to sell out? Was she rich enough, and had she concluded to quit the country where she had no friends, but only secret enemies, who begrudged her every dollar she took from the ground? Grasping at this thought, Don Diamond wait- ed for Zoe to proceed, If she wanted to sell, she must say so, He was not going to appear anxious. ‘* Major,” suddenly continued the Enchant- ress, ‘‘ [ want some information, You served through the war—fighting in the armies of the East under all their leaders, from McClellan to Grant.” Diamond’s hopes fell. “You have my army record pat, madam,” answered Red Jack’s nabob, ‘* After the war you went to Mexico, and took service under the revolutionary leaders.” sé [ did,” The major seemed anxious from his prompt answers to get quickly at the gist of the woman’s business, ‘Well, after the execution of the unfortunate Maximilian, you came up into Arizona,” Don Diamond gave a sudden start. ‘*I? he exclaimed. ‘‘Isn’t it just possible that you may be mistaken?” ‘1 will convince you in a moment that I can- not be,” was the quiet response, although the gray eyes seemed to get an expressive twinkle which enlivened them, ‘Yes, you came up into Arizona, riding a fine roan horse. You settled first at Truxillo, then at Lariat-City, at which latter place you had trouble with a man named Lopez, the only native Mexican of promi- nence who heartily indorsed the empire.” By this time Don Diamond had experienced several changes of countenance, and he was exhibiting to Zeo a face quite white and very anxious and troubled, . He’ evidently wished the female mine-owner —————__-orn— an Er SS ne i of Red Jack at the antipodes or elsewhere, but he was careful not to consign her to any par- ticular place in audible tones, **T don’t intend to bother you with a long visit,” Zeo weni on. ‘* You may have private business on band of a nature far more impor- tant than mine can ever be in youreyes, AsI have said, I want a little information. What ever became of Luis Lopez’s little valise?” Don Diamond’s hand let the pen which it had held from the commencement of the visit fall on the table, ‘‘A strange question, I declare, madam!” said he with an enforced laugh. “What can qi sitting here hundreds of miles from Lariat City know of a Mexican’s luggage?” Zeo’s countenance, suddenly grown stern, did not relax, ‘*How do you think I came to know that Lopez had a valise?” she asked. ‘*T do not know,” She leaned toward Don Diamond and was about to speak, when the door opened, and a man-servant, who had been sent to the wine- cellar, arpeared, but halted when he saw Zeo, ‘* Ah! wine, is it?” exclaimed Zeo, eeeing what was in the servant's hands, Don Diamond impolitely growled an assent, ‘¢ }>}] drink with you!” she announced, Major Diamond obeyed. The man advanced, and looking sharply at Zeo, set the bottles on the table, As he drew back he received a gesture from his master which he acknowledged with the slightest of nods, and then vanished. Dianiond broke the seal of one of the bottles and brought two goblets from a sideboard in the nearest wall, As Zeo took up the bottle to fill her glass, she looked up into Don Diamond’s eyes, ‘Your wine brings me back to the name we have just mentioned,” smiled she, ‘I find the words ‘Ranch Lopez’ blown into the bottle. Is the legend in any way connected with the valise I’m asking about?” ‘*Not at all,” answered the nabob, assuming an air of coolness, ‘* You seem determined to keep me in the dark.” ‘* In the dark, eh?’ and the bottle fell back as Zeo leaned forward again. ‘*‘Do I have to freshen your memory, Don Diamond? Come don’t try to play with one who knows a good deal of the past. Maybe Ill sell out to you be- fore I quit this house, You want to wed the Bulldog to the Yellow Witch, and I may give my consent on easy terms, too, Now, don’t trifle when I can, in a word, convince you that I know something which approaches a state secret. Let mesee: We were at the Mexican’s valise, weren’t we?—at Don Lopez’s ‘ luggage,’ as you call it?’ There was no reply. ‘*It was a qneer-shaped valise, with a little chain pendent from the lock,” continued Zeo, the Enchantress, ‘‘When he came to Lariat City it dangled from his saddle, and he was known to set great storeonit. One night Lopez and the valise turned up missing. Strange, wasn’t it?” Zeo was heating alittle tattoo on the table with the bottom of her glass. ‘‘ When did this happen?” asked Don Dia- mond, She gave him a look of wonder, ‘**Do youask me this question, major?” she exclaimed. ‘* Where is your memory, man? lt happened, as you know, on the 15th of March—” | Something was heard to fall beyond the room, ‘‘ Never mind. I think I recollect the cir- cumstances,” Diamond assented. ‘*Of course you do.” replied Zeo, turning to him again, ‘* Now, Major Diamond, will y give me the contents of Don Lopez’s valise for a title deed to the Yellow Witch? That’s why I came here.” The Croesus seem to fall back out of breath. ‘‘T haven’t the price you ask!” he cried, | The Enchantress left her chair and bent for- ward, one of her transparent hands on the table the other about the arm of her chair, ‘*Don’t say that, Don Diamond. Don’t look into my face and declare that you haven’t the price Lask for the Yellow Witch. I say here, fairly in your teeth, that I know better. want my mine; I want the treasures of the black valise; | want them now! What is your reply—yes or no? When I sell I quit Red Jack forever. I remain here till I get my price. *“ Heavens! what a woman!” mentally cried the mine king, CHAPTER XV. WINE WORKS WONDERS, Wirth her gray eyes full of animation and her nerves strung to their utmost tension, Zeo s before Major Diamond waiting for the answer she had just demanded. ‘*You have the price; I the mine!” she went | on, ‘*A few papers for a bonanza! What makes you hesitate, Major Diamond? ref ey . ea you did not hold back when you saw the crater of Petersburg before you, but that, sword in hand, you led your men to destruction, Now #¢ You | / Py “+2 . an \ + , wt. Gomicbooks DI