Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 523 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

a ie te Reynard of Red Jack. 15 moment later she was looking into the dark place from which Talbot had lately emerged. The prospect ahead did not deter Coral, She now produced what no one would have thought she possessed—a small dark-lantern whose bull’s-eye was capable of throwing a pow- erful light. Coral took a final survey of the room behind her, and then stepped across the threshold of the secret door, closing it firmly and commit: | ting herself to the dangers of the unknown and undergroun4 trails. The little lantern threw out light enough to show ber the walls of the narrow corridor into which she had stepped, and as she followed it she often cast the light over the ground in search of signs that the passage had been trod- den before. In truth, Coral of Red Jack had witnessed Talbot’s emergence from the chambers, our romance she had gathered evidence of the existence of a hideous vault somewhere beneath the house, but late suspicions of foul play had put her doubly on her guard. Coral proceed1d over the taken by the soldier-hater, She followed the corridor in all its zigzaggings and at last by the merest accident discovered the niches in the wall of the pit. Some one had been there before her for there were foot-marks at the bottom of the wall. The girl contemplated these a few moments, and a smile spread over her almost colorless fa same trail lately ce, ‘*T think [ have found theend of your journey, Captain Talbot,” said she, throwing the light up the wall and revealing the steps cut in the stone at regular intervals, ste 8 lead to and what have you where they end? Coral had come too far to turn back when further discovery invited her to proceed, Her curiosity had been raised to the highest possible pitch, and, then, she had invaded the cavern on a startling mission. After awhile Coral coolly fastened the dark lantern to a belt she wore, ‘‘Tf 1 venture nothing I am sure to fail,” she murmured, placing her hands in one of the niches. “Tum going to see what is above me. I be- lieve I am on the right trail, and as there is a life in peril I sball push forward to the end,” Hana over hand the heiress of Red Jack went up the perpendicular wall. Her light gave her but little assistance now. lt showed the dull rock here and there and told her where to reach for a higher hand-hold. She reached the top when she least expected and imitating Tough Talbot drew her body up and rested, The little Jantern showed her the narrow wall which she had gained, bat it could not send its light to the bottom of the pit which lay beneath, . Coral tried again and again to penetrate the darkness that ensbrouded everything below, and to see what it held in its keeping, but all her efforts failed, ‘“The secret is here!” she exclaimed. ‘I am sure [ have reached the dungeon of the Man of Red Jack. In God’s name, who does it hold now in its merciless grip?’ Coral leaned over the innermost edge of the wall. For a second she held her breath and then she sent ber voice down into the blackness which no human eye could pierce. ‘Darrell! Darrell! Are you there?” A weird wild echo came back to her—nothing more. Coral felt her heart in her throat, and her hands trembled on the top of tie stone wall, ‘If you are there, Darrell, for heaven’s sake send up an assurance!” sbe said again after a ause, The following moment there came up from the depths below a sound which seemed to emanate from the heart of the earth itself, ‘‘ T—am—here!” mit The girl on the wall uttered a joyful cry, As she could not see the bottom of the pit she was spared the spectacle the gloom held in its clutches. She did not see the human figure that leaned against the wall of the dungeon with upturned face and eyes ready to start from their sockets, Unseen, too, were the hands uplifted along the wall, and the parched cracked lips from between which had come the answer so full of agony— **T—am—here!”’ ‘Tt can’t be a dream!” ejaculated the man in the dark as he kept his eyes fixed on the spark of light far overhead, ‘' Some one asked meif I were here. I heard the voice distinctly—not like one appears to hear voicesin dreams, Iwas wide awake then; I am sure I am sonow.” “Courage, courage!” caine down even while he finished. ‘‘I am Coral and I will save you if it be in my power.” ‘You help me, girl?” he answered. ‘I am in a dungeon whose walls are as smooth as glass. t seems as deep as the infernal pit. They let me down with ropes, and the descent seemed to occupy hours,” ‘ Coral shuddered at the task before her, but did not despair. subterranean | More than once before the date of | ‘‘ Where do the | ‘** You will find the three arrayed against you if you make a move in my behalf,” came up from below. ‘‘ What day is this?” ‘* Tt is Thursday.” ‘* Where are the soldiers?” ‘They went away yesterday.” 66 All?” sc Yes.” A short silence followed, ‘‘1ls that all you know about them?” asked | Darrell. ‘Tt ds ail,” ‘** No news has come back from their march?” ** None,” | ‘*'Were Ford Faverell and Tough Talbot in Red Jack all day yesterday?” ‘TI did not see them,” ‘* Then the deed was done! May the curse of | Heaven alight on the fortunes of those wretches!” cried the prisoner of the trap. ‘‘ They silenced me when I held salvation in my hands, Don’t I know now that a dark secret of some kind is to be kept, cost what the keeping may? ' Coral?” | ** Darrell?” | ‘*Mark for me a way out of this hell, but don’t imperil yourself. I want to turn on the | banded conspirators of the Yellow Hillis.” | ‘* You shall!” exclaimed the girl. ‘*T want to see the hand of vengeance fall on heads it has sought for years. But it may strike down one close to you, Coral.” “Let the blow fell the guilty!” was the prompt response. ‘‘l am going back now, Keep up a stout heart till you see my light on | the wall again!” The man below sent up assurances that he ' would not despair again, and the light then vanished. | ‘**Found, and living!” cried the girl, as she began to descend by means of the niches, ** Left to die by inches im a pit! Could any torture be more dastardly than this? I see the hand that throws the card in this game of in- famy, and I think I also see the motif. But while I can baffle, the play shall not succeed. I care not who would profit by the conspiracy. The prisoner of the underground trap shall not rish where he is. My hand will come between im and his foes!” She went back over the trail she had followed to the strange pit in the dark, and at last stood in the light that streamed into Don Diamond’s private room, Five minutes later, Coral stood in a small apartment in the upper part of the house, It was a regular museum, On shelves along the wall were hundreds of specimens of gold and silver-bearing rock, and here and there hung lassoes of various makes and of all lengths, These latter caught the young girl’s eyes at once, t them, taking the long e She began to in coils down now and then and critically examin- ing their length. ‘* These two must reach him,” she murmured, selecting a brace of lassoes small in thickness but doubly strong. With the coils in her possession and with tri- umph in her eyes Coral Isft the museum and Fhe back to the apartment with the secret oor. She did not think that the house of the nabob was without spies, for she went cautiously from room to room, sometimes on tiptoe as if there were ears on the alert. Coral of Red Jack turned to lock the door when she had entered Don Diamond’s room, but ere she could turn the key the portal was ushed open and she looked into the yellowish ace and gleaming black eyes of Sejio! The gaze of the nabob’s servitor fell instantly on the lassoes on Coral’s arm, She felt that her mission bad been betrayed, ‘* Ha! what’s to be loo now?” laughed the mixed-blood, and then he stepped inside and shut the door. Blood mounted to Coral’s temples and she Sa the lassoes back from his outstretched and. **Touch me not!” she exclaimed, giving him look for look. ‘ Follow me or lisp a word of betrayal to the master you serve and by the hecseee abcve us! you'll die like a dog of your iu The cords slipped to the floor as Coral con- cluded, and the step she took toward Sejio drove the yellow curse beyond the door which was coolly locked in his teeth. CHAPTER XX, THE SECRET OUT, As a matter of course, an atrocity like that of Vulture Gulch could not long remain a se- cret, The old saying ‘murder will out” was to have a speedy exemplification in the Yellow Hills, for three days after the events of the fore- gceing chapters a number of cavalry galloped into Jack, The soldiers were led by a young man who had seen a good deal of western campaigning, and who was known as an Indian-fighter, In less than ten minutes after the arrival of the troop the whole camp knew that fifty dead men in blue uniforms lay in the heart of Vul- ture Gulch, and that nearly every soldier had been scalped, This was not news to some of Red Jack’s citi- zens, but all received the startling information with the same manifestation of surprise and horror, | Big Faverell said that such a catastrophe could not be possible, and it seemed to take the oaths of half a dozen soldiers to convince him to the contrary. The young leader of the soldiers was certain that a band of marauding and blood-thirsty young bucks had committed the wholesale mur- der. The scalping of the dead put the crime on the Indians beyond the shadow of a doubt, and all he had to do was to discover the butchers and then make his report, . He would not attempt, to avenge the dead, No, he was not strong enough for that. The Government would deal with the red-skins, and Uncle Sam who had thrown clods so long at the scarlet villains would now cast stones, Don Diamond listened to the young captain’s report with a face calculated to deceive the most searching. He said that Red Jack would assist the troops in every way in its power. He railed out against the Indians in this case, as the reader knows, innocent of any wrong doing, and threatened to hang the first one who showed his face in camp. ‘“ By the way,” said the major. ‘I presume the Government will now give up hunting for Nicholas Norway the Lust Detective?” **T would think so,” replied the cavalry cap- tain. ‘“‘He has cost us fifty brave men and much time and money,” ‘* What could his mission have heen?” Don’t you know?” Don Diamond shook bis head and assured his guest that he had never thought much over the missing ferret’s business, “IT don’t know that it is a state secret, though the knowledge cametome in a private man- ner,” was the reply. and Captain Bartholow drank off a glass of Don Diamond’s best wine to give movement to his tongue, ‘‘ Nicholas Nor- way was a man who became a Secret Service de- tective near the close of the war, He was em- ployed by the Government in hunting a man who was supposed to have discovered some gold- mines situated in National ground. This secret holder was a Mexican, but a man who was as hard to catch as the Irishman’s traditional flea, ‘* During the detective’s chase he came acrcss a strange chain of crime, the particulars of which I do not happen to have, believe how- ever that the Mexican was hounded for his secret from place to place, that he was followed by human shadows sworn to wrest from him the mystery he held. The Government was inter- ested in these mines because it wanted to work them in its own interests, and as the Mexican was supposed to hold what he had with the in- tention of bringing the United States to his own terms, the authorities at Washington put Nicho- las Norway cn his track. The officie! detective was one of the keenest men in Uncle Sam’s em- ploy. It is known that he struck the Mexican’s trail at length, that he chased him from place to lace, that he even followed him through the exican rebellion against Maximilian, often sharing the same blanket with Captain Pedroz, as he was then called, But the secret still re- mained safe.” “Where did be lose his game?’ asked Major Diamond. ‘*In Southern Arizona, Captain Pedroz was killed there.” ‘* Killed?” echoed the Nabob of Red Jack, ‘** Assassinated by the men who had dogged him from trail to trail and through half of the camps of the Southwest. In his meanderings Captain Pedroz had changed his name a score of times. He took a new name wheuever it pleased him to do so, When the knife found bim in Arizona he was masquerading as Don Lopez, a gentleman of wealth and leisure.” Don Diamond looked at the young officer, but meade no observation, He seemed almost cer- tain of a continvance. ‘* Nicholas Norway came back with bis report. One would think that baving run bis prey down at last he would be discharged from furt! er ser- vice in the case; but not so, The Government seemed as anxious to discover who killed Pedroz as it had been to unearth the man’s Mapa ta Se secret. The detective was sent back to the trail. He was told to begin where the Mexican had been found dead among the cacti and nct to call his trail ended till he had worked out the whole puzzle of crime. Nicholas Norwey was on this mission when he nares det some bere between Red Jack and Cut-throat Canycn, ‘* Tt is said that the Government has never been known to show the same persistence in a similar case,” concluded Bartholow, accepting with a smile the wine Major Diamond pusbed toward him as he paused. ‘ In Europe such pertinacity on the part of a Government would cccasion 10 comment, but on this side of the Atlantic it is incomprehensible. It is believed that the man who followed Captain Pedroz till they finally finished him profited by the secret he kept so well, but of this nothing is definitely — (COMUNE cS micboo +e: a? ia 7 aan ) \ | “ot