Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 525 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

-— ~_ swung away in pursuit. 20 Fresh Frank, the Derringer Daisy. next day, w’ich war what we ’spected frum ther | outstart. Ef we kin only figger it out ter git along ourselves Pll be thinkin’ ther run ov luck _are better ner it looks.” **Tt don’t seem as though foot of living man ‘ever pressed that ground. Are you sure we have made no mistake?” ‘¢ Ef [sabbe what ye’r’ drivin’ arter thar ain’t hin no mistake so fur. When 1 know a thing I’m bettin’ on it that 1 know it. Ef arything hez gone wrong it’s ther mountings theirselves, Don’t it look ez though thar’s a piece dropped off, over yonder; and a piece er two piled up ‘thar? Sence you an’ l’ve be’n hyar ther hez bin a shakin’ up, er ’m a bald-headed liar, Now, don’t yer furgit it,” Dave slapped his thigh vigorously as he spoke, ‘and pointed with his left hand. Raleigh followed the gesture, took in the ‘points of the landscape, and was more than half -convinced, It gave him a shock, An earthquake in these ‘regions was the very last thing he had thought of as standing between him and his buried treas- ures, Men he could fight, but if fate was going to take a hand and play in the game against him, what hope month there be for him to win?’ ‘* Tt does look something that way; but nota word of that to the men, I made a mistake in organizing so large a party. With you and Old Sirene I might have accomplished the work with more safety and less expense, Wecan stand a sudden attack better, but for a siege or flight, if we find an enemy in force, we are all the worse off, especially in this Heaven-forsaken country. The willfulness of that girl governed my plans, and then she ty > into safety just when the danger began. blessing that she is not here if we have trouble in finding the can- yon of the cache.” ‘¢ Find it er not, this byar ain’t no good place fura gal, Wekinrustle’round fur ourselves, an’ be all right, but it’s diff’rent with weemin. But thar ain’t no use ter chin ary longer now. To-morrer night we'll know all about it,” With this assurance the conference closed. With the menin their present mood it did not do for the two to be seen talking by themselves too long. The trip had already taken longer than was expected, and the difficulties in the way were just beginning to show themselves. If they once suspected that the major was either losing his grip, or growing doubtful of his course, there was no tolling what sort of an -emeute might follow. Had they known, or bad Major Raleigh known all the facts in the case, they might not have felt easy about waiting for the solutions of the morrow. There was no danger in sight, ‘and no surface indications that it was coming, but there was a hand behind the curtain that was beginning once more to pull the wires, In other words, Raimondo was on the track. When he returned to the Banzos Hacienda with half a dozen of his own men, whom he had found waiting for him at an appointed spot, he learned that the ladies, with no escort save a young vaquero, were out on the plain. It gave him the double opportunity he longed for, and witbout any hesitation or disguise, he The men who win, in that country, are the men who need not fear to face the world, Of Tomasso (the real), he knew but little; when he came across the body of the bear lyin in his way his respect for that bumble and ate oo unknown youth increased apout a hundred- old, He did not yet anticipate any serious resist- ance, but if it seemed to be coming he was quite ready to meet it cautiously. A man who could _ a bear in single combat might even slay im, But when he cautiously, if hastily, approached the spot where a stand could be made to advan- tage, and recognized the voice of Fresh Frank, he stopped instanter, He began to think there had been a mistake somewhere, and he had no desire to set himself up as a target for Mr, Fox- ton’s marvelous shooting when there really seemed to be no need for it. There were some men on the plain above whom he had signaled. These men knew both Rboda Raleigh and the Fresh Sport, and would, if they captured them, hold until he came to take them out of their hands, It was a trap as good as any he could have set, since the fugitives could not come out above or below without capture, and could not remain in any great length of time without starvation. This, more than actual fear to risk the prom- ised bullets, caused him to wait so patiently. “Tf our friend above,” he thought, in sub- stance, ‘‘takes them it will put him in good bumor, and hardly make him a whit more ex- tortionate. In any event a night in the bar- ranca, perched on that narrow trail, will do as much toward bringing Madelaine back to her senses as anything I know of.” A short time after dark he heard the faint notes of a fusilade above. They ceased almost as suddenly as begun, - He doubted not that the crash of firearms meant the death of Frank Foxtcn, and with him out of the way there - could be no trouble about the rest, He was going upward quite gayly when he heard the voice of the Fresh Sport, ** Sorry for you, Don, but I’ve been there and that’s a fact. I couldn’t think of letting you up an inch higher. If you understand what is good for you, you will keep your linen untorn until to-morrow morning. We are going to vacate this camp just about daybreak, and after that you can have it to work at your pleasure.” The Don cowered back into the shadows, He did not redescend, but he kept himself invisible, wondering row the always lucky Mr. Foxton bad got himself out of the remarkably bad box he had dropped into. When perbaps an hour had passed away, without sign or sound, be made a cautious effort, and reached the top of the barranca, The fires had burned down, and Mr. Foxton and the rest had quietly taken themselves off. There was just one living thing there and Raimondo came very near to missing that. When he had found his friend, John Wilson, lying there, trussed up like a foul for the spit, he recognized that his antagonist had a fund of resources to draw on that was even larger than he bad expected. The captain of the Black Eagles was raving. The worst of it was that he knew nothing of how he had been foiled. One minute he held the drop on Fresh Frank; and the next he knew here, Vainly the two hunted around for a few mo- ments. They could find no signs of a trail ex- cept that made by Wilson’s own men in their panic-stricken retreat. By mistake they followed that for some little distance, and then fell upon a survivor, who was cautiously returning to see what had become of bis captain. There came very near to being a case of mu- tual misunderstanding, but fortunately for each other recognition began before the shooting, and then Captain Wilson had a chance to express his opinion, which he did without any hesita- tion, ‘* Looks rough, boss,” was _ the man’s answer; ‘but it war ther best ITcould do. Thar wasa hull regiment kim down on us ter once, an’ they shot like blazes, Bart hez it in his thigh, an’ Dandy hezn’t much ov an arm left ter speak ov. It war jest blind, hog luck thet helped ’em ter git out ov range, an’ I bin a bindin’ ’em up ever sence, Jest as soon ¢z I could leave ’em fur a leetle I come sneakin’ back ter look what hed become ov you. Angels wouldn’t, er couldn’t, hev done no more, I warn’t furgittin’ you, but ther big chance war thet you hed gone under; sol jest stayed py ther neardest, w’ich I knowed war livin’,” ‘*And you mean to say you didn’t see any- thing of where tihe regiment went to, They weren’t hardly angels; but I'll swear they didn’t leave any tracks.” ‘* Nary thing did I seeov them, I war too Ly t ain’t no easy job takin’ up a trail at midnight, onless yer know whar they’re goin’ ‘i ‘“*That’s a fact,” said Wilson, turning to the oor, ‘* Unless you can tell which way they intended to head after leaving the barranca, we may as well camp for the night. We can cast around here till dayhght and not find a thing to travel on, I suppose I must look after my boys. As I’m in the same boat 1 can’t swear at them for getting scooped, and [ only hope they’re not as bad as the first report.” i ci idea came to Raimondo. He spoke sud- enly: ‘** How many men have you within an easy gitepee er you could gather before morn- ing ‘* Eight, without the two that are Jaid off for repairs, Do you want us?” ‘Yes, To try to follow the trail to-night is useless; but there isa chance to get first to the other end of it and gather all in together. The way it looks now, it bas been fortunate that we failed; bat who would have suspected that the child would go off in such a mad chase?” ‘Your game then? Speak it out quick, and speak it out square. You don’t want to tr any foolisnness with the boss of the Blac Eagles. Remember, I was in waiting for you here; but I don’t back your cards until I know that it pays me to throw up my own hand.” ‘*Toss itup then. The man knows where to lay his hand on half a million. I furnish my own men—we capture him on the ground, and divide the spoil. The foolish girls are following him, and we save them too,” “Ttsa bargain, though you get the biggest share of the spoils. It’s lucky I don’t take much stock in the other sex, or I’d drive a harder bargain. In two hours you can be ready for the road, and you want to take mighty good care that you don’t lead me intoa snap, IfI find you play me false Pll kill you anyhow, You’ve told me so many lies with this bonanza business in your brain that I never know when to believe you, so Ill keep my eyes open all the time.” But Raimondo was trying to make an honest deal, at last, and intended to be as good as his word. He received the threat witbout flinching; and a couple of hours later took the lead with- out hesitation, riding straight as the crow goes, No wandering for him among the foot-hills, So it happened that Major Raleigh was out- paced, and that in the canyons beyond more than one enemy lurked, waiting for him to un- earth his treasure before making their swoop, CHAPTER XXII, HEADED OFF. ANOTHER day’s journey hardly bettered the position of the explorers, though the major knew they were nearing what should be the end of their journey. It was a day of hard travel and slow pro- gress, Twice they had to own themselves beaten at oue point and retrace their steps some little dis- tance to try from another. ad not Destin Dave found a spring gushing from under a syd in the most arid of mountain wastes, just at the time and place be ; rophesied, there might have a mutiuous work in the little camp that night. Very good men of their kind had Raleigh gathered together, and very good wages bad he promised to pay them; but they were groping somewhere in the dark, Americans will follow to the end and back again when they know where they are going and pass their word. When they begin to feel that they are, so to speak, being led by the nose they sometimes make things very uncomfortable, That was the trouble here. Raleigh had engaged them to take possession of a mine, and had frankly stated there would be a spice of danger about it. He agreed to run the risks with them, and if it turned out that it was unwise or impossible either to take or hold the bonanza, that be hinted at, be would lead them in retreat, and their pay would go on until they got back to their starting-point, They were ready to start ou the back trail now, Had Rhoda been with them it might have been different. With a delicate young lady along it all seemed like a picnic. When she oron d off it made the danger more plain] visible, and the bardsbip a great deal more dif- ficult to bear. If Destiny Dave had not been known, and the major suspected, to be bad to fool with it is more than likely the discontent would have been spoken a great deal more freely, There were some ex peeee ons of pleasure when they heard what Raleigh had to say after the day’s march was over; and all but the outside guards were gathered in the center of the camp, ‘*One day more at the outside, and then when there is avother march, it will be toward home, There are landmarks enough to recog- nize, but I won’t deny it, boys; there has been a shake-up that has turned things well topsy- turvy since I was here. To-night, though, Dave and I can see things pretty straight, and have got up a programme to correspond. The wagons will be corraled here, with a guard; and the rest of us will goon, If the road turns out to be as good as we hope, it won’t take long to get everything bunched together again. And I wouldn’t wonder if, by noon to-mvurrow, we had reached the end of our journey. The distance is nothiug, if we can make the time.” ‘* An’ ef we don’t strike a bigger snag than we've seen yet,” chimed in one of the boys. ‘¢ Bf I know beans we struck Injun sign ter- day, an’ yer gen’rally hits ther reds less than twenty-four hours later. Ob, thar’s a heap ov fun about this byar picnic; but fur glory it don’t pan out wu’th a cent,” ‘‘Don’t be so doleful, Dan,” laughed the major. ‘Everybody else feels good all over, No Indians are going to attack us. There can only be a small squad here, anyhow; and if the guards will keep their eves open, Ill insure against any attack. If you feel like it, sta with the wagons to-morrow. I'd leave you here and take a scout abead witb Sirene or Dave, but I know you are all dying to see what the promised land is like.” ‘“‘Ef yer feels like it,” retorted Dismal Dan— as he began to be called of late, ‘‘ you’d better do it, then. Pop on double guards to night, and to-morrow go it alone, an’ go it mighty keerful. I feel it in my bones that some one hes an eye on this leetle train; are all goin’ ter make ther riffle?” | Dismal Dan spoke as though he meant it, and his warning impressed the major; for the man was an old plainsman. It was no secret that they were on Indian ground, and though the promise of Rattlesnake to Rhoda might mean a good deal as far as she was concerned, Raleigh was not so sure that it would hold after she had RT out of the expedition. He answered slowly: ‘Tf won’t hurt anything to sleep with one eye open till we find out how the land lays, though et don’t seem to me that the danger is any greater than common, I'd sooner have a tribe of red-skins than half a dozen mountain outlaws to rustle with, As to the double guard—lI might have suggested it some time ago; but I don’t want to put more on you boys than I must. To-night I sooner would than not, Dave will tell the guard off, and he and 1 will keep watch with you, You can rest assured GEomicbooks “~_——— ce ed oe pes