Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 535 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

a a ey ag i ae # —ss wae = ie a 6 € : ’ * a? re. wu a ™ Dandy Dutch. charge through the opened way, following him to the steps, and huskily whispering in his ear: ‘* [ don’t reckon you ‘in tell a poor miseryfied critter where he mought find his lost Glory Ann? Ef you could jest—” ‘** Look out that I don’t send you to glory, free of charge, you yellow cur!” snarled the major, wresting himself free, and hastily descending the steps, pausing only long enough to flash an ugly glance through the shattered window. eanwhile there was silence within the bank, even glib-tongued Andre Deutsch feeling disin- clined to talk much just then. And softly whis- tling just above bis breath, the Decorator from Dead-Lift stood with his back toward the trio, gazing witk deepest interest at an engraving de- pending from the wall. Leonard Corwin had drawn a little back from his daughter and his nephew, his brows wrin- kled, his lips tightly closed, an angry and troub- led light in his eyes. Dudley was sullenly silent. Lida was plain- ly frightened. And Solemn Saul looked as uneasy asa fish out of water, when he returned after ushering Major Holly Gardenhire down the steps. Dandy Dutch seemed to divine the situation, turned though his back was toward the group, for, after a period of silence, he turned briskly. ** Awfully cheeky, isn’t it, for a stranger to chip in so brash?’ he ventured, with a smile that robbed bis speech of half its bluntness, as he added: ‘‘ But a spell seems to have dropped over you all, and neither of you gentlemen can see how deeply Miss Corwin is suffering from over-excitement. So, wouldn’t it be best to get her safely home?” ‘‘ Yes—take me home, papa!” Lida sobbed, rising from her seat and clasping her trembling hands on the banker’s arm, ‘I feel so strange- ly that—I fear I am going to be ill!” _ Shall I send for a carriage? Saul, you ras- ! ** Yes, sir, boss!” But before Dandy Dutch could add to his order, Lida herself checked him, declaring that it was not necessary. ‘*T would rather walk. You can go with me, father?” In her eagerness to postpone the explanation which she saw would be sought by her father of her cousin, Lida almost defeate | her own hopes, but Dandy Dutch proved an invaluable ally just then, bustling around as busy as a bee, going himself for the banker’s hat and cane barely granting him time to put these on and say a few words to Dudley Mann before hurry- ing them out upon the street. Those few words contained instructions to have the broken window repaired temporarily at once, and with anything but an amiable ex- pression resting on his face the bank clerk watched the little party move away. “Pll act as body-guard, you know,” laughed Dandy Dutch as they reached the street. ‘“‘A terrible fellow, that man-of-war, but I'll see that he does not venture too close to my precious convoy. Saul!” ‘¢ Yes, sir, boss!” ‘* Break your staff over the first head that dares come within its sweep! Break it in seven- teen pieces, if less won’t do!” ‘*Ef I only mought!” groaned the man in livery, holding the staff at arm’s length and dole- fully scowling at it. ‘‘?d borry my own pate fer the thing to crack it over ef you’d only let me do it!” ‘*'Too soft, Sunday, by half,” gravely nodded the Decorator, ‘‘ Your parents should have baked it harder while you were young, Tell "em so with my compliments, will you?” ‘Ef ’'m lucky enough fer to take that road, boss, sir,” meekly muttered the man of sorrow, with a fleeting glance upward, Dandy Dutch talked briskly, lightly, inces- santly, but confining his remarks solely to the banker as they walked on, There was no par- ticular point to what he said, but Lida felt very grateful to him. She knew his main purnose was to distract attention from herself until she could recover her usual clearness of brain, Busily as his tongue was wagging, the Decora- tor had eyes for all around him, as was present- ly proven. He dropped back a pace as they were passing opposite a saloon across the way, . hurriedly whispering: ‘The fellow has just slipped in that den. Go after him, and see that you bring him to my room at the hotel. Off wita you, now!” He resumed his position beside the banker’s daughter, and his perfect trust in his valet was evidenced by the fact that he did not even cast a glance after Solemn Saul as that yellow ap- parition strode across the street to enter the designated saloon. Saul Sunday paused just inside the door, glancing keenly around the room, ncting each person present and evidently forming no very favorable opinion of the place from its habitues, There were half a dozen men in the room be- sides the presiding genius behind the bar, and each pair of eyes were turned wonderingly to- ward that gorgeous vision as it half-filled the open passage. In silence at first, but then one burly fellow blurted out: ‘Waal I will be durned!” rrr rr ee ——— ns “ Stick out a finger an’ see ef it'll bite!” quav- ered another, slipping behind the burly fellow and peering over his sboulder in mock affright. ** Cheese it, gents!” sharply uttered the bar- keeper. ‘It’s only dry, and wants a drink— can’t you see?” , Solemn Saul shot a quick glance over his shoulder, like one who fears he is being watcbed, then a ghostly smile crept across his gaunt vis- age and the back of a bony hand was drawn across his lips as he strode up to the bar. ‘* P’izen, boss, an’ hot as hotter ef you've got it handy! ’Tain’t often I git a chaince fer to drink, an’ when I do I want it to scratch all the way down, an’ stay a-kickin’ when it gits thar!” ‘* Certainly, sir,” bowed the barkeeper, brisk- ly setting out a bottle and a number of glasses, a Didn't t tell you so, gents? I knew how it was from tie cut of his jib. Rest of the band long behind, sir?” ‘*Rest of—eh?” ‘* New thing out this way, sir, but bound to take. Knock ’em stiff, will the parade, even without the bearskin hat. Never had the East- ern frills before, Lut we’re growing to it—grow- ing in a mighty burry, is Prospect. Skim the cream, you will, if the rest of the band pans out as rich as the sample—yes, sir!” Solemn Saul stared blankly at the speaker, then looked into his nearly-filled glass, shaking his head with a faint sigh as he replaced the lat- ter on the bar without tasting its contents, ** Anything wrong, major? Surely you don’t want to spoil it with water?” ‘** Does it fect everybody the same way, boss? I’m dry as a fish in pickle, an’ [ thought it’d be jest a little ole heaven on airth ef [ could climb on the outside of a good squar’ snort, but— reckon [ll wait a weenty bit longer! I’m misery- full ’pough now, ’ithout goin’ clean crazy jest fer drink!” Solemn Saul edged away from the bar, glanc- ing from face to face of the self-invited bibbers as they emptied their glasses, his own counte- nance the picture of disgusted awe, It was the turn of the saloon-keeper to stare peony but one of the others, a trim-built, shabbily-dressed sport, laughed aloud, then said: **Tt’s hoss and hoss, with the deal against Mose. He took you for adrum-major, stranger, or the leader of a brass band, You thought he was off his nut, through drinking his own p’izen, Isn’t that it?” ‘‘ Look at his rig-out!” frowned the barkeeper. ** Tsn’t that enough to give a man the jim-jams and make him think almost anything?” Solemn Saul pe up the glass of liquor and emptied it at a swallow, heaving a mighty sigh of relief as be realized the mistake into which the barkeeper had unwittingly led bim, ‘*’Nough to make a body dream o’ ’Talian monkeys an’ lunatic ’sylums out on a holida spree, ain’t it?” he dolefully uttered, ranging his eyes over as much of bis person 1s he convenient- ly could without dislocating bis neck, ‘* Think I’d do it ef Iwas my own man? Reckon Td keep on givin’ little dogs fits an’ fits ef I could play any otber way? Then you don’t know me ef you do!” ‘*‘ What sort of a fake is it, anyway?” curious- ly asked the gambler, who proved to bs none other than the man whom Dandy Dutch bad bidden Saul fetch to bis rooms at the botel. ‘I saw you last night at the Oasis, along with a Sheeny—wasn’t it?” Solemn Saul gazed reproachfully at the speak- er; a man of middle age and medium size, with a peculiar countenance. His under jaw pro- jected so far beyond its mate that his teeth were always visible, and at times seemed in the act of eating bis upper lips. His cheek-bones were am and prominent, his little, deep set eyes of a yellowish green, his nose a diminutive pug, turning up so sharply at the end as to give one the impression that it had taken affright at those menacing teeth. So pronounced a peculiarity could not escape being marked, and as “‘ Under-shot” Dan Frick the seedy gambler was known throughout Pros- ct ‘** Tt’s heap sight wuss then a fake, pardner,” sadly uttered the man of many woes, shaking his head from side to side as he leaned heavily on bis staff while waiting for the barkeeper to make change. ‘It’s a cuss sot onto me fer the sins of another which— Mekbe you kin tell me whar I mought come acrost her?” his melan- choly visage lightening up for the moment, ‘* Glory Ann—Glory Ann Sunday it used to _ be, ‘fore she sloped with a handsomer man, Glory Ann Piety I reckon it is now, for that was the snake in the underbresh—Preserved Polycarp Piety, to spell it out in full—as’witched her away from her lovin’ busban’ that paid ten round dollars to the dominie fer to do the bitch- in’ that was to last through sickness an’ death an’— Strong emotion choked him, and the poor fel- low leaned even more heavily on bis staff, until the silver band ete way beneath bis grip and suffered the velvet ‘table to appear as if by magic. No fake, eh?’ laughed Under-shot Dan, de- risively, as he pointed at the tranformed staff. ** Out with the shells, pardner, and show Moses. ee ——__ ——_—-—- 10 Oo rr SE yet another wrinkle from the effcte Eastern Slope!” But Solemn Saul closed his table with a sharp click, driving its spike into the floor and leavin it to stand of itself as he strode forward an closed a strong hand on the gambler’s shoulder, saying: ‘*T want you, Daniel Frick!” CHAPTER VII. SOLEMN SAUL PLAYS PACK-MULE, INTENTIONALLY or by chance Solemn Saul made use of that formula so dreaded by law- breakers, and it was almost laughable to see how his words and actions affected his present companions, Under-shot Dan actually ‘ wilted” beneath his touch, while bis comrades shrunk away from both as though they feared mortal contagion. ‘*What—what for?’ quavered the man with the misfit jaws, his green eyes darting a brief glance up into that gaunt visage. ‘‘ Wer rocks an’ dingbats an’ boodle an’ the likes o’ them,” came the prompt response, as Saul Sunday relaxed his grip. ‘* Fer big pay ef the boss is in good humor, an’ you come up to the chalk-mark sot down into his ’magination, an’ you don’t make no slips nur—eh?” ‘Show your warrant or climb out o’ thfs!” harshly cried the barkeeper, tightening his grip on the neck of a bottle and sliding along toward the open end of the bar. ‘' He isn’t pritty for looks, but you can’t pull a friend of mine with- out leave or license—eh, boys?” Solemn Saul stared with drooping jaw at the speaker, dull wonder showing in every feature until even Frick broke into a sickly laugh as he felt himself safely out of that grip. ‘*Got ’em ag’in!” softly breathed the man in livery, shaking his bead in owlish gravity. ‘* Wonder is that why a doctor won’t never physic his own self? Wonder ef— Wait a weenty bit, pardner!” Uuder-shot Dan improved his chance to reach a rear door, through whicb he could dodge at will, then pane to look over a shoulder as Solemn Saul hfted his voice in that appeal. The color had returned to the gambler’s face, and there was a sullen resentment coming into his green eyes as he felt how awkwardly he had exposed his inmost fears. ‘Who was your dog last year this time?” he snarled, his teeth more prominent than ever as his lips curled back. Saul Sunday breathed a heavy sigh as be fell back to where his staff stood upright in the floor, Ins long fingers mechanically playing with the bright silver band that held the little table closed. His whole attitude was that ofa man bowed down by hopeless grief. His voice rE dripped incurable woe with every sylla- le, ‘*Me an’ my time don’t begin to be nigh out. it, A yaller dog at that! All it lacks is a tin ittle full o’ stones an’ a stout string! An’ them I’m lookin’ fer this every minnit—wuss luck me !” With a most doleful groan the man in yellow livery slid down tbe silver band, opening wide the miniature table, Ruane from his pockets the shells and the little joker, seemingly for- getting what he bad set out to accomplish, lost in his own misery. ** Nickels, dimes an’ dollars!” be feebly mur- mured, drooping over his ingenious outfit like one in the last stages of woe, but with me- chanically deft fingers, whose movements bade defiance to the sharpest eye. ‘‘ Take keer o’ the pennies an’ let the other feller rake in the pounds an’ take the kickin’s. Shove yer ducats in the bank that never yit went broke, an’ when a wet spell comes onto ye, you’ll hev the conso- lation o’ knowin’ right whar your good money is —even ef you cain’t pull it out ag’in! Here she goes an’ thar sheam, Over an’— Now ye see whar the valler dog comes in, pardner!” he sighed, as he deftly closed up his table and gazed gloomily into the half-scared, half-won- dering countenance of the seedy gambler, “ This isn’t putting no shingles onto my roof,” sourly said the proprietor, who seemed to have taken a peculiar dislike to the stranger whose remarkable appearance had led to a mistake which turned the laugh against the house, ‘If you want to run the place, hadn’t you better buy me out first?” “Rf it was all that easy you wouldn’t ketch me kickin’ so loud,” said Solemn Saul, tossing a © coin upon the counter. ‘‘The boss foots the bills, an’ that’s the one comfort as leaves life a- tall wu’th livin’”, Evenef a pore critter hes to keep wipin’ the salty tears o’ never-dyin’ misery- ation out 0’ both eyes to oncet, he kin make his- self b’lieve two an’ two makes six, an’ plant the extry in. his own private money-bank, So— pizen the gents once more, jest fer luck!” By this time even the most suspicious had grown convinced this odd genius was anything but an emissary of the law, and while emptying their glasses more than one rongh jest was shaped at the expense of Daniel Frick, Saul Sunday sighed softly as be gazed into that anger-flushed countenance, and there was a melancholy sympathy in his tones as ‘he ven- tured to add: m (E co oxox o) o es