Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 535 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

on aes ee a = , — — at the end of that period his glasses became fixed at a slowly moving point on the trail toward Prospect. ‘* A lady, and riding this way!” he muttered, grimly smiling. ‘* La Masque, almost as a mat- ter of course!” CHAPTER XXIII. BEAUTY BROUGHT TO BAY, THE distance was considerable, but his glass was good and his eyes well accustomed to its use, ‘* A dark horse, and habit to mateh, green or otherwise,” he muttered as he kept the glass on the rider. ‘‘Sbe.rides like one on business bent, rather than for simple pleasure. Well, I reckon it is busihess!” He uttered the words with a low, hard laugh that spoke very little of love or other soft non- sense. Now that he was alone, safe from ob- servation, the self-styled ‘‘ Decorator” wore a look very different from the languid, half-bored expression which he had already made quite fa- miliar to the Prospect sports. ** A loose rein, but notin too big a hurry to overrun the trail,” he laughed, after another brief silence, keeping the object of his interest well focused as the distance grew less, Thanks to the aid of the powerful lens he could note every movement, almost every look cast to either side of the wild trail by the ap- proaching rider. These were many, and at times La Masque, as he decided the rider must be, drew her horse down to a slow walk as she rose to her full hight in the saadle to sean the ground on either side of the road, at points where it was possible for one not familiar with the Jay of the ground to wander from the direct line for Eagle’s Nest, **Sunday would croak worse than ever should he see as much!” grimly laughed Dandy Dutch as he closed his glasses, no longer feeling their assistance necessary. ‘‘He’d swear that La Masque was running a trap, not me, And I’m not so mighty sure but what he’d be right, too!” Not more than balf a mile of space divided the twain, now, and the detective deemed it wisest to cover bimself a little more securely. He backed down from his prominent lookout, seeking a denser clump of shrubbery where he could still watch the fair rider and yet be safe from discovery so far as her searching glances were concerned, La Masque was no longer urging her horse along at speed, and it was with very unloverly- like criticism that Dandy Dutcb followed her every motion from his place of espial. ** She’s out for conquest, sure!” he nodded as he noted that perfectly fitting habit of rich cloth with its tracing of gold embroidery, the turban with its yellow-tipped feather, held by a clasp that glowed and sparkled as the rays of the sun fell across it, the embroidered gauntlets and the gold-headed whip, ‘‘I’d give a penny to know whether it’s gudgeon or shark she thinks to land!” When almost directly opposite the point where Dandy Deutsch lay under cover, La Masque drew rein and came to a halt, lifting the neat pair of field-glasses from where they rested at her pommel, sweeping the trail behind her rod by rod, then turning the instrument to again scan the more prominent points on either side of the road. Dandy Duich strained his ears in hopes of catching an incautious phrase or ejaculation that might add to hs advantage, but if any such passed those lips, it was too guarded for his senses, And as her face turned almost di- oo toward him, his teeth met with a vicious click, La Masque worea thick vail, as though to protect her complexion from the noonday sun, but he had noticed her flinging this back for the purpose of using her glasses more accurately. As her gaze gradually veered his way, he count- ed on catching at least a partial glimpse of her face. Now he saw that the fair rider still wore her velvet mask, ‘**More wolf than lamb there!” he mentall decided, lying under cover without so much as stirring a muscle save those eraployed in draw- ing his breatb. Anxious as he was to have an interview with this faro queen, Dandy wanted to take his own time for managing that introduction, And lit- tle as he cared, sentimentally speaking, for the favor of this lady, he flushed a trifle at the mere idea of being discovered while playing the spy. ta Masque did not pause long, though her search was thorough as the nature of the ground would permit, Still holding the glasses in her whip hand, she gave the black horse free rein and moved along the rocky trail, vanishing from sight. f “Still the What-is-it!” muttered Dandy Dutch, when his keen ears could barely catch the receding hoof-strokes, rising from his covert and picking his way to the little hollow in which he had concealed bis horse, ‘* La Masque, plain enough, but what lies behind! Simply an ad- venturess, jumping at the chance of hooking a gudgeon, or—Silky Steele?” There was only one method of solving bis doubts, and leaping into the saddle, the detec- i | | ‘tt OE tive picked his way back to the trail, then sent his good horse forward at a rapid trot, rising in his stirrups to catch sight of the masked enigma in advance, This was not long delayed, and apparently at the same time La Masque caught the sound of his coming, for she was casting a glance back over her shoulder, and then her horse darted forward at a gallop. “If trap it is, trap it must be!” muttered Dandy, touching his good steed with the spurs at his beels, avd measuring his pace by that of the rider in advance. He was not quite ready to bring matters down toasimple test of speed. Time enough for that should La Masque actually try to run away from the horseman on her track, ‘‘ Risky, maybe, and Sunday would kick hard at the bare idea of letting ber pick her own battleground, but I’m running this end of the firm, just at present. If into the ground, I pay the costs!” That elevated stretch passed, the trail ran with tolerable directness between two high ridges fora mile or more, and a rider could sweep the road from end to end at a glance. ‘¢ She'll look back soon if— I knew it!” La Masque turned in her saddle and flashed a look back over the trail, as though the steady clatter of iron-shod hoofs had just come to her ears. She seemed to be in brief doubt, half- checking her steed, but then sending him on more rapidly than ever. Dandy Dutch flirted a snowy ’kerchief in the air, but if the signal caught her eye, it was neither answered nor beeded. Straight ahead she dashed, and as he saw the distance growin wider between ‘them, he also touched up his horse, smiling grimly back of his curly beard, ‘* A genuine love chase! How will it end?” More abruptly and after a fashion for which he was hardly prepared, keen though his wits were, and for once in his life the detective found himself taken unawares, La Masque had vanished around the abrupt curve in the trail, if anything pressing her horse to greater speed, and he followed with free rein to jerk up his horse with a little ejacu- lation of surprise as he caught the clear, stern accents; ‘* Halt, sir! Give an account of yourself, if you please!” eT Almost within arm’s length La Masque was sitting on her black steed, one hand keeping a stiff rein that backed the beast half way into the foliage that screened the rocky wall, the other covering her pursuer with a cocked re- volver. ; Though taken so completely by surprise, Dandy Dutch was not a man to feel at a loss for any great length of time, A severe touch of the curb checked bis horse, and even as the tor- tured animal reared in the air, its rider doffed his hat and lifted both hands above his curls, ‘‘Hands up and wholly at your mercy, Mad- ame La Masque!” he cried, blandly smiling straight into that leveled tube, ‘‘Hal” with a visible start. know who I am?” ‘*How could I mistake, after having once gazed upon that form? Even an infant can pick out the moon from among a million stars.” Bold as that flattery was, it came from bis lips with as much innocence as though be were the infant alluded to, and that glittering wea- n wavered and sunk from the level of his Fauatl And taking advantage of the seemingly involuntary act, Dandy Dutch calmly lowered his bands, though still leaving his head uncov- ered, ‘* How am I to Heels you, sir?’ with pt a shade of softness in her clear tones, ‘‘ As friend or foe?” , “Certainly not the last,” was his swift re- sponse. ‘If I may dare hope as much—as a friend, dear lady!” ‘Then, friend, turn back or pass on and per- mit me to finish my ride in peace,” said La Masque, her voice once more cold and unmoved, But the Decorator was not to be so easily de- feated after all the time and trouble he had spent in the effort to meet this strange woman face to face without the faro-table between them, and instead of meekly yielding to that cold rebuff, he softly uttered: “ Are friends so plentiful that you must drive them back at the pistol muzzle? Have you only enmity to give for friendship?” La Masque broke into a laugh that sounded hard and bitter, a hand going out witb a gesture of angry scorn as she said: ‘Rriendship? What measure can a woman like me expect at the hands of vour sex? I recognize you now, sir. I had the exquisite honor of dealing faro for your benefit last night.” ‘¢The honor was all on my side of the board, T assure you, lady.” ‘* Lady?” with a short, bitter laugh and a repetition of that scornful gesture, ‘‘ That title falls glibly enough from your lips, Mr. Andre Deutsch! But—if you really classed me among true ladies, would you have sent me that inso- lent note? Would you bave dared follow and waylay me as you have thisday done? No,a thousand times no! For all true ladies have some one to protect them egainst insolence, and “How do you et mare ne a a a, et Se eee eS ee ee . _ tinn"*dcrwetoo Se i i ST Se Ae ei a0) 19 i paw of your feather is but acraven after all!” Dandy Dutch bowed his head in silence tbrough this fierce outburst, the picture of bhu- miliation and meekness. And had he not taken the precaution to watch the movements of the speaker so long, he might bave ended by believ- ing ber in bitter earnest. **May I defend my actions, lady?” be asked, lifting bis head and frankly, steadily gazing into the flashing orbs to be seen through the twin apertures in that velvet covering. ‘ff you have any defense for your conduct, sir, the surest and simplest method of delivering it is to turn back and permit me to go my way without further annoyance.” ‘**T never knew a lady who was not innately cruel, and never more so than to the man who most adored and honored her,” quietly said the Decorator, yet with a thinly vailed fire back of his composure, ‘‘I hoped you might prove an exception to—” ‘‘ And hence a lady only in guise?” bitterly interposed La Masque, Dandy Dutch abruptly changed his course of attack, no longer sitting humbly before the woman who flung sucb sharp words in his face, but boldly facing her, his face flushed, his dark eyes glowing vividly, his tones clear and bold. “You bave no right to put such words into my mouth, La Masque, but since you have done so, Pll take the taste out by speaking frankly and to the point.” ‘*T decline to listen to those words, sir,” curtly, as she settled herself in the saddle, ‘* Your horse bars my path. Please make way.” ‘** It is hardly polite to deny 9 lady, is it?’ with a soft laugh. ‘* But you called mea hawk just now, and as‘a hawk can’t listen to reason, so D’lk vey by the name until I’ve cleared my record a trifle. “You did:deal faro for me last night, La Masque, but it was not love of lucre that drew ine to the Oasis. I saw you the night before. [ saw only your figure and one fleeting glimpse of your eyes, I did not even catch your voice, But it was enough to make me vow to win a word from your lips, if only a curse!” ‘* Will you give way, sir?” sharply cried La Masque, lifting her revolver from where it bad rested upon her lap. ** When I bave told you bow completely I fell in love with you, lady.” *“Then—on your own bead be it!” bringing the weapon to a level and pulling trigger as the silver drop covered his beart! CHAPTER XXIV. DANDY DUTCH BEGINS TO DOUBT, THE two horses stood almost touching, that ridden by the detective standing at right angles in front of the other, And as La Masque ex- tended her armed hand, Dandy Dutch could have knocked the weapon up or down by a sim- ple motion of his band, for those fierce words took long enough to pronounce for bim to realize her intentions. But he made no such attempt, gazing steadily into her eyes, nor flinching an atom even when that hammer fell—with a dull click as the cart- ridge failed to explode, A severer test of mortal nerve could hardly have been devised. A man may stand and re- ceive a death-shot without flinching or losing the reckless smile upon his face, but even one so steeled to meet death is almost sure to betray himself by a start when the signal fails to sum- mon hisdoom. Thatsimple snap is harder to bear than the actual shot, ‘ Your dealer carries mighty poor stock, La Masque,” laughed Dandy Dutch, softly. “ Try another shell, or—I can warrant my gun sure fire every time, lady!” With a swift motion he produced a revolver and held it out, butt first, toward the masked rider, Instead of taking the weapon, La Masque slightly recoiled, her voice plainly unsteadied as she spoke: **No—no, put it up, sir! I will not—I was mad!” ** Mad indeed, lady, if you thought you were on the point of killing one who had even the re- motest idea of insulting you,” bis own tones a little less steady than ordinary, * If you knew—if you could even faintly real- ize all I bave to bear and—” , Her voice broke, and dropping her faithless weapon, La Masque bowed her head and coverad her eyes, shivering as with suppressed sobs, Dandy Dutch flinched from this womanly ex- hibition, where he had stood unmoved while death seemed to stare him in the face, This was more than he had counted upon. This looked more like a true woman than - thing for which he had prepared himself infad- vance, and a flush of angry shame came into hia face» wor wass there when La Masque abrupt] flang back her head, forcing a faint tatigh ~~ her eyes met his, ** Never whisper this in the circles where the name of La Masque is known, Mr. Deutsch, un- less you are prepared to fight for your reputa- tion as a truth-teller!” she cried, her voice hard micboo a" « *e (@) | . - CSG