Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 532 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

16 enacted the role of Lady Panther among the gold-camps of California, Jack Javert, the Inde He recalled the electric button, by touching | which in his own house, he had sent Javert the sleuth shocked and nearly dead from the win- dow and into the street, What sort of death magic did not the witch of Gotham control? Once he was on the eve of dashing at the fair stretch of throat displayed to bis gaze, but in a moment he had altered his mind, Zubiano stepped back at last, and Captain Cinnabar by sudden impulse followed her up. ‘** Woman,” he cried, his intention reflected in his glowing eyes before his lips could announce it. ‘I’ve come to make ultimate victory certain for the League. You have thrown your zard and it has killed. You have used your black art to make Juliette lift her hand against her- self. Itis your last triumph.” “Hal say you so, Captain Cinnabar?” was the response, as the figure of the sorceress seem- ed to increase in stature, ‘You can’t go to he end of the game. I stand in your way!” The folowing moment‘the cleared the already cramped space between them and the hand which she threw up was instantly encircled by a bunch of brown fingers, He seemed strong enough to hold Ximena there with no effort on his part, and his blazing eyes withouta ray of mercy in them looked down at her with the cruelty and ferocious glare of a hawk, One of the woman’s hands was free and the captain’s grip appeared to burn its way through flesh and muscle below the other. ‘This is not the Sierra country, Ximena,” cried he. ‘‘ Here there is no Xerxes over-confi- dent to leave you for dead though lashed toa steed already shot. I am the executioner now. Iam the same Cinnabar who in other lands and under other circumstances handled enemies, men and women, without gloves, If you doubt it be convinced!” Tighter grew the inhuman clutch at Zubiano’s wrist; she was forced back almost to the wall. Not a ery escaped her welded lips.’ It was look for look, silent suffering and dead- ly defiance. ‘* Did you really think to win against me?” Janghed Captain Cinnabar, ‘‘ With Colonel Nero dead bebind you did you forget that his old captain was still in the way, The girl and her detective have failed to find you. They diln’t know where to hunt, Ximena: they were doomed to failure from the first.” The sorceress of Gotham threw up the hand ” he had left free and covered him with a point- ing finger. ‘Loosen your grip!” said she, at which he laughed. ‘‘ You are ina trap as fatal to your League as any you ever set for others, Unlock your fingers, Captain Cinnabar, for this is a game which more than one can play at.” He did not answer beyond giving Zubiano a look which seemed to tighteu the grip he had obtained. At that moment the woman looked up the stairs which running upward from the hall lost their landing in darkness overhead. **Zeo?’ she called, and her voice was lost above the steps and in the dim light there. In a second an answer came back. **T am here!” Captain Cinnabar turned bis head and caught sight of a pair of feet ov one of the steps, They were small and shapely and with the voice he had just heard told him that a young woman had answered the witch’s summons, Zubiano took another breath. “Light the pyramid, Zeo, and let us see whose victory it is,” she commanded in her same cool tones, Cinnabar of California felt a strange thrill pass through his brain, ‘‘Obey your mistress and I will throw her dead at the foot of the stair!” he sent up to the person near the landing. ‘Never mind, Zeo, You have but one duty to perform, Light the pyramid!” The chief of the Spider League saw the feet overhead disappear and then he heard the re- port of a match, “What studied deviltry is this? he asked, turning to the woman in his grip, ‘* Wait till the cone burns,” was the response. A light was now blazing at the top of the stair, an! Captain Cinnabar at one glance saw a young girl applying the tip of a flame to a lit- _ tle pyramidal shaped object which she held be- tween thumb and finger, {t was a scene which riveted his attention, for the girl was syIpb-like in figure and handsome, _ and her singular action was enough to hold him spellbound, Ximena or Zubiano was not watching the girl above as she was regarding him. The fire readily took hold of the cone. A grayish smoke rose from the apex and was blown away by the girl. It increased in volume till the whole of the pyramid seemed to be burn- ing though no flame was visible. ‘* Cast it from you, Zeo,” said Ximena, ‘ And, mind you, don’t miss the mark!” | Instantly the person on the steps leaned for- th and held the strange missile above her ead. Captain Cinnabar almost forgot his captive and the game he bad come to play. He saw nothing but the girl on the stair and the smoking object in her hand. It was a moment of terri- ble suspense, Suddenly the cone left the uplifted band and came down, smoking and twisting, toward him like a missile of destruction! ‘*'To Tartarus with the witch and her magic!” cried the Californian, and then the pyramid struck him on the breast where it broke, sepa- rating into a hundred particles, each of which at once clung to him like scorpions and all send- ing up all the time an odor, disgusting and suf- focating. At the same time Zubiano jerked back and was free before he could get a new grip, ‘* Fight it out with the secret of the witches, captain!” she laughed. ‘‘ The spider sometimes finds himself ina web as strong as his own. When you havea hand and a good one, don’t hold it too long before you play it.” She was on the lowest step of the stair when she finished her last sentence, and the hand he had lately held in a clutch of iron was covering him like a revolver, ‘*‘T am always armed!” continued Zubiano, ** Against the old League I am doubly protected, When you bave fought the death cone to a finish, know that Ximena still lives to pay every man of the Spider Conclave back!” Up the steps with the alertness of a gymnast ran the witch of Gotham toward the girl who with the coolness of an Amazon was lighting a second cone, Captain Cinnabar, driven back to the wall again, was trying to pluck the horrible pieces of he knew not what from his per-on. ‘No more, Zeo! The one is enough!” he heard the woman say, and then he saw her hand fasten on the young girl’s hand and draw it back. By this time the hall where he stood was filled res an odor which was rapidly overpowering im, ‘* Play your hand out, captain!” laughed Ximena, in derision. ‘‘If you fail now, re- member that the drama. closes soon,” The Californian started toward the stair with an oath on his tongue, ‘* Let him come up, Zeo,” said Zubiano. ‘I shall be pleased to see Captain Cinnabar where we stand.” But the madman did not advance far, With a fierce exclamation he stopped midway up the steps, and then fell against the wall. His eyeballs seemed to start from his head, his veins were on fire, and his lungs were filled with the fumes of the noxious vapors emitted by the deadly cone, Above he saw the triumphant eyes and the i face of the woman he had followed too ar. The former seemed to dance before his vision like demon stars, It was too much for even the brave Cinnabar of the Sierras Suddenly he threw himself almost headlong down the steps, and thence to the door, shea ole was now uppermost in his mind, He sent no words of future battle or ven- geance up to the woman standing beside her assistant in black magic on the steps, He seized the knob and summoned all his strength to the task before him, Cinnabar had the power of a Sampson, and knew how to put it to use. Now the door yielded, a cracking noise told of the breaking of the lock, and as he wrenched open the portal and threw himself out with an exclamation of joy as the night air struck him, he heard behind a double laugh of victory. CHAPTER XXIL, ‘““HYES LUKE JAVERT’S,”’ FAIRLY out of the house, but not yet alto- gether himself, Captain Cinnabar stood still for a few moments and inhaled the night air which cleared his lungs and restored his lost strength. Bebind bim was the house from which he had just fled from the power of the woman he had expected to crush. All question of Zubiano’s identity was now at anend. Ste was the woman who long before had played a memorable hand in California where she had been vanquished by Colonel Nero and the Spiders’ League. Cinnabar, who all along had had an opinion of his own, was now confirmed in it, and he saw that he had to face and to fight a creature whose oath of revenge, taken under the most terrible circumstances, and far from Gotham, would spur her on to something ‘esperate. If Ximena had killed General Raymont, would she not turn on Nora, the beiress, and by her tragic death prevent him, Captain Cinnabar, from touching a dollar of the millions which were the stakes of the game? __ With his brain fullof such thoughts as these, the Californian walked away. ‘* There must be sharp work now,” he said. ‘* Xerxes thinks he finished Lady Panther, when pendent Detective. he left ber lashed to her dead steed in the un- known valley. She is here, against us as before. Shall [ intrust this work to him? If vou want a thing well done, do it yourself, Isn't that good advice? But, confound it, ve just failed myself. Her devilish magic was too much for me, but then [ had not prepared myself for any- thing of that kind.” One hour later, the Californian caught up with a man who was hnrrying alonga street, and before the pedestrian knew he was seen, he | had a word whispered in his ear; ‘* Monte!” He looked around, and caught Cinnabar’s eye. Mi Captain,” he responded, ‘‘ What is it?” ‘* Let us go down to the house, You have made a discovery, Monte?” ‘‘T have, Does my face show it, eh?” Cinnabar laugbed, and the two soon after- ward entered a house, the door of which the Californian unlocked. Entering aroom in which we have seen the pair before, Cinnabar threw himself upon a sofa, while Monte of the dark face, leaned against the table and Jooked on, ‘*T have seen Nora’s sleuth-hound,” said the spy. Px At last—the true spy, Monte?” ac Yes,” ‘“*Tf I did not know something, I would be- lieve that Jack Javert had risen phoenix-like from his ashes,” Captain Cinnabar instantly sprung up, and in a second the sofa had no tenant, ‘* 1 know what happened,” Monte continued, with a curious smile, ‘* The house which held the detective in a trap caugbt fire accidentally, and was destroyed. Long ago the debris has been removed, and the owrer of the pereoy has received his insurance. We know that Cap- tain Pygmy, our deformed foe, escaped from the Web that beld him; but Javert, who fell from the window when you touched the electric button, did not fare so well.” ‘* Why all this, Monte?” exclaimed Cinnabar, with an impatient gesture. ‘*[ was just recalling two events,” grinned the spy. “I say, captain, that if I did not know that Javert the Independent Sleuth shared the fate of his trap, I would believe that he was still in Nora’s employ.” ‘¢ He cannot be!” ‘‘'That is true.” ‘* But what have you seen?” ‘*T have been to Nora’s house,” ** Inside?” ‘* Inside,” Well?” ‘*T went there as one who had something im- portant for the girl to hear.” ** As one who had information to sell, eh?” “Yes. I had a clew to the mystery which surrounds Raymont’s death. An intimation of my errand to the good-looking girl who opened the door got me beyond the threshold in a jiffy, and in a moment I stood face to face with Nora herself. At once I began my pretty little story with a glib tongue, but she raised her hand and checked me all at once, ‘I want some one else to hear you,’ said Nora, and I was conducted into another room where | found a gentleman who was introduced as Mr. Powers—a person somewhat interested in the mystery. The man sat cross-legged in an arm-chair, and all the time he watcbed me with the keenest of eyes, It didn’t take me long to discover that | was talking to Nora’s detective, and then I spun my story accordingly.” “Didn’t you wish yourself out of the trap, Monte?” ‘*\ thousand times I did for the first few minutes, but when I found that I could turn the visit to some eccount | was glad I was into it. I was put under a perfect cross-fire of questions when Thad made my statement with an offer to tell the girl something definite if she would make it interesting, which she showed a disposition to do until her detective took up the game, I think I did a good bit of work if I did not sell my so-called information. I saw Nora’s sleuth, and I know now whom we have to fight. Mr, Powers has Javert’s eyes, captain, and that 1s why I said awhile ago that if I did not know that his plans with himself went up in smoke, I would be inclined to think that just now he is playing the role of Mr, Powers,” Captain Cinnabar laughed over Monte’s words, but his face suddenly grew serious. ‘‘Ts Nora confident of ultimate success?” he asked, ‘¢ Under the eye of Mr. Powers she was cheer- fal,” ‘¢ How does the girl look?” ‘As beautiful as ever, if that’s what you mean,” . ‘You saw nothing of her lawyer friend?” ‘** Nothing.” ‘* Monte, I’ve seen the Queen of Witches since you left me here,” suddenly said Cinnabar, ‘** Ah! did you find Zubiano?” cried the spy, ‘“*T found her.” ** And kept your word, I presume? You found her dangerous and left her harmlessin the web.” A flush of mingled madness and disappoint- ment darkened Captain Cinnabar’s face. Ss Eomieboc (e(o)