Beadle's Dime Library No. 562 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

_ showed that be was only half aw Lone Hand, the Shadow. | distinctly to the ears of the Lone Hand, anda sarcastic smile curled his lips as he saw the guard thus complacently neglect his duty. ‘‘ That flusk of liquor was probably drugged,” he murmured. ‘ The stranger is in league with the friends of the cowboy in the jail, and it will not be long before this other sentinel will be sound asleep, and then the road will be open for a party to rescue Gallagher; the sentinels being asleep, it will be an easy matter for a gang to approach the jail without danger of alarming the town.” That the Lone Hand had calculated shrewdly was soon apparent. Within ten minutes from the time that the first sentinel sunk into slumber the second man began to nod, e did not attempt to struggle against the slumber which was overcoming his senses, only yawned a half-a-dozen times in a manner which threatened to dislocate his jaws, then allowed his head to rest against the wall of the jail, and in a few minntes was sound asleep. ** There is no doubt that the flask of liquor was drugged,” the Lone Hand murmured as he noted the total abandonment of the watcb. Fifteeu or twenty minutes passed away and then Whispering Ben made his appearance, He had evidently been concealed somewhere in the neighborhood, all ready to come forward when the sentinels sunk to sleep under the in- fluence of the drugged liquor, : He sauntered carelessly up to the sleeping men, and spoke to them in an ordinary tone. ** Hullo, boys, how goes it?” he asked. Neither of the pair answered, ‘““Oho!” exclaimed Whispering Ben, with a chuckle of satisfaction, ‘‘Il reckon these two fellows are so sound asleep that it would take acannon to wake them up. A mighty queer way this is to keep watch, but these Texas sharps have funny ways of doing business,” Then Whispering Ben went on up the street. ‘*Now he has gone to give warning to the friends of the cowboy that the coast is clear,” the Lone Hand muttered, as Whispering Ben disappeared in the distance, ‘Tne question now arises, how shall I act under these circumstances? Will it be wise for me to attempt to arouse the town, and so inter- fere with the attempt to rescue Gallagher, or shall I allow matters to go on just as if 1 had no knowledge of the affair?” The man-hunter pondered over this problem for a few minutes, ‘The chances are great that I will not be able to induce GalJlagher to make a confession even if I succeed in keeping him in the jail. That he is one of the Red Wolves of Wichita I feel certain, and that the outlaw band will be instrumental in effecting his rescue is more than probable, but it is pretty sure that the cowboys of the neighborhood will be roused to aid in his escape; the outlaws will keep in the background and pull the wires, “Tf I interfere, I shall, in all probability, have to do it single-banded, for there will hardly be time to raise the town, and if a big gang vomes, and it is more than likely that there will be twenty or thirty in the party, I shall have my hands full; if there is a fight the lives of inno- cent men may be sacrificed, so, upon the whole, I think I had better remain quiet and allow mat- ters to take their course, ‘* Gallagher will be of more use to me out of the jail than in it.” ‘ At this point the meditations of the Lone Hand were interrupted by a shrill whistle, the sound coming from the direction in which Whis- pering Ben had gone, : ‘** Aha! that is intended for a signal evident- ly!” the man-hunter exclaimed. ‘The whistle is to show that the coast is clear.” The Lone Hand bent his ear to the ground; he was listening for the sound of horses’ hoofs, Soon his anticipations were rewarded, and in a few moments after the tramp of hoofs came to his ears, a large body of horsemen rode down ie ateeet and halted a hundred feet or so from the jail. There were fully thirty in the party; cow- boys, evidently, to judge from their dress, but each and every man wore a rude mask of some kind so their faces could not be seen, After coming to a halt, five of the party dis- mounted and approached the jail; they had their revolvers out and the hammers were raised as though they meant business. Two of the men placed themselves in front of the sleeping sentinels, and the other three ap- roached the door upon which one of them nocked. It was soon apparent that the jailer was also sound in slumber’s chain for it was only after repeated knockings that he was roused. f the sentinel’s sleep had bean natural they surely would have been alarmed by the noise, but as it was they slumbered on, the knocking having no effect whatever on them. At last, from within the jail eame the voice se Black Jack Thompson, the guardian of the a : : ‘Hello! wot in blazes are you kicking up all that racket for? Who is it?” The tone in which the man me plainly e. ae er a ac ee UU UEEEUEEEEEEE mmmmsarnmmeenne cn Taeee tne ee a a a ea a a a ea a *‘Tt’s Bud McCracken, let me in!” one of the disguised men responded, giving a tolerably good imitation of the marshal’s tone. The jailer was still stupid with sleep, and not disposed to be critical; having no suspicions that anything was wrong he did not hesitate to comply with the command. - The moment the door was opened the masked men thrust the muzzles of their revolvers in the face of the jailer and the leader of the party cried in stern, determined accents: ‘* Throw up your hands!” ‘* Hello! w’ot in blazes does this mean?” cried the astonished guardian of the calaboose as he backed away from the portal, closely followed by the cowboys. “We have just come to pay you a little call and at the same time save you from having any more trouble looking after this prisoner whom you have in the calaboose hyer. We will take charge of him,” ‘* Wa-al, blame me if this ain’t the kind of a riffle!” the astonished Blac Thompson exclaimed. ** Yes, it is a regular surprise party, but these little things will bappen every now and then, Weare in a hurry, so trot out Gallagher! We reckon we can take as good care of bim as you can, and he will be a durned sight better off, anyway.” **Gen’lemen, I ain’t the kind of manto kick up a fuss when the odds are ag’in’ me,” the jailer remarked, with an air of great dignity. ** And since you bave come for Gallagher, and got the deadwood on me in this hyer surprising way, thar ain’t nothing for me todo but to let you have him, ‘* But I want you to understand, gen’lemen, that [am doing it under compulsion, and that if I nad half a chance I would make the biggest kind of a fight, for that is the kind of a hair-pin T am!” “Oh, yes, everybody who is acquainted with you knows that you are all wool and a yard wide!” ‘‘And warranted to wash, gen'lemen, too, every time!” And then the jailer, having relieved his mind by this declaration, unlocked the door of the inner room, and Reddy Gallagher made his appearance, ‘‘ These gen’lemen have come arter you, Gal- lagher, and as I ain’t disposed to plav the hog, Um going to let you go with them,” Black Jack Thompson anvounced. ‘*T am very much obliged to you, old man,” the cowboy said. ‘* And | hope that if you ever get into a hole like this, you will find some one to do as much for you.” ** Oh, that is all right, and now that you are out you had better | itafore the town gits onto at or else thar will be the biggest kind of a ueerest Jack The cowboys, with the prisoner, retreated as fast as possible, vanishing in the distance like so many ghosts, The jailer closed the door of the calaboose, and all was quiet again. The Lone Hand rose from his lair, ** Well, I think I know who led this gang to- night,” he murmured. ‘‘ But whether I will be able to make any use of the knowledge isa question; it is my impression that I can,” _ CHAPTER XXVI. SANDY HEARS PLAIN TALK. _WHEN Greerville woke up next morning and discovered what had taken place great was the amazement of the town, It was the old story over again; the cowboys and the citizens never got on well together, The cowboys looked upon the settlers in the light of a lot of intruders, and the citizens re- garded the ranchers as a set of lawless barba- rians who ought to be driven afar off into the wilderness, There were a few hot-heads who talked about getting up an “outfit” to pursue Galiagher, ut the better sense of the community was op- ed to any such proceeding, were marshal, Bud MeCracken, tersely ob- served: ‘* Gen’lemen, it is all bosh to talk about any- thing of the kind. We might as well try to hunt for a needle in a bundle of hay. In the first place we don’t know who the parties are who did the job, although the chances are big that the Triangle men had a hand in it, but we cannot prove it, and even if we could, I reckon any attempt to make them onsible would turn out to be a bigger job than this hyer town of Greerville could handle.” The words of the marshal had good, sound sense at the back of them, and finally the citi- zens came to the conclusion that it would not be possible for them to do anything about the matter. As it happened, Sandy MacAlpine and his pard, Eddie Livingstone, came to Greerville that morning, and as their ranch was on the direct road to the Triangle estate, the pair was questioned as to whether they had heard any horsemen pass during the small hours of the morning. Neither of the pards could give any informa- tion though, . Fine. ie ¢ yee 4 ta SY ov ——— —$— eS eee ee i a Both were sound sleepers, and nothing had occurred to disturb them during the night. As Sandy explained: ‘“*A regiment might have ridden by without our knowledge. After a man has worked hard in the fields all day he is not likely to be awakened during the night by anything short of a thunderclap.” After discussing the matter with the group of citizens who had accosted them, the pards sauntered into the saloon of the Lone Star. Hotel. Old man Anderson was behind the bar, and he spe at the pair in rather a surly manner as they entered, The saloon was empty at the time; almost everybody in the town was on the street, en- gaged in discussing Gallagher’s escape. ‘*Good-morning, Mr. Anderson; how do you find yourself this morning?’ Sandy asked in his usual genial way. **T reckon I am pretty well,” the landlord answered, rather shortly. ‘“‘Give us a couple of glasses of ale,” said MacAlpine, placing a dollar upon the bar. He had noticed the coldness in Anderson’s manner and he wondered what had got into the old man. The ale was placed before the pards, and as the landlord pushed the change over to Sandy he remarked: ‘** How are you getting on, MacAlpine—making much money out of your ranch?” ‘* Well, no, I cannot say that I am at present,” Sandy answered as he sipped his ale. ‘It is not to be expected at first, you know,” he ex- plained, ‘‘ It takes time to get a ranch up so as to make money out of it,” ‘* But we will get there all the same one of these days!” Eddie Livingstone declared. ‘* But while the grass grows, the horse starves,” the landlord observed, grimly ‘Oh, it is not so bad as claimed. ‘*Oh, no, not by a jugful!” his pard added, emphatically, ‘Then you are making a living out of the raneb? ‘** Yes, that is true.” *“And a few dollars over; fully enough to swear by!” Livingstone declared: he had a strong belief that a man should always put the best possible face upon matters. ‘Sandy, you are a man whom I have allers had a Rood opinion of,” exclaimed the landlord, abruptly. ‘*Tam glad to hear it,” the young man re- plied, somewhat astonished by the declaration. ‘“*T have always taken you to be a good, square man,” the host added, ‘* Well, I have always done my best to de- serve such a reputation,” MacAlpine replied, ‘** Now, I am no fool, you know,” ‘Oh, no,” Eddie Livingstone exclaimed. ‘‘No one who knows you would ever make the mis- take of thinking you to be one.” The young man knew that his friend desired to stand well witb the old man, and so he resort- ed to this bit of flattery. ‘¢ Why I made the remark is so that you will understand that I am up to snuff,” the landlord continued, ‘‘I know what little game you are trying to play. ‘ Little game?” questioned Sandy MacAlpine, | with an innocent air. ‘* Yes, I bave not been asleep, you know, while the thing bas been going on.” ““T don’t think I understand what driving at,” the young man observed, ‘*Oh, yes you do!” the landlord retorted. ‘‘ It is no use for you to attempt to pull the wool that!” Sandy ex- over my eyes. You have been after my gal, . Maggie, ever since you struck the town,” ‘“Oh, yes, that is perfectly true,” Sandy ex- claimed in the frankest manner possible,, “I have not made any secret of it, you know, but have been fair and above-board. I think Mag- | gic is the nicest gir] I ever saw, and I should be elighted to marry her one of these daysif she ~ d make up ber mind to bave me.” ‘*Now, see hyer, Sandy MacAlpine, I am going to talk to you likea Dutch uncle!” old man Anderson declared, shaking his right fore- finger impressively at the young man. 21 you are bi Pg as ge he et i we I, i" * $. : \ ‘ * sf a ya) od - ] « ‘ ¥ , ‘ ite wee away, I am all ready for it,” Sandy re- arn Now I have not got anything ag’in’ you per- sonally,” the landlord declared, ‘S Well, I am glad to hear that.” ‘* But I don’t think that it is right for aman situated as you are to come arter my gal,” “T am not rich, I know, but I reckon that’ I will be able to give Maggie a comfortable home,” : : = , put yourself in my place,” the old man repianeih ‘* Suppose you bad a gal like Mag- gie and there were two men arter her, One poor, and struggling to git along, and the other’ rich enough to buy half of Greerville; wouldn’t you be apt to favor the second man rather than M, . " cf 5 ‘— » : h 4 ‘ ws a the first, s’nosing in all other respects both men — were equal?” ‘© T reckon ing of Alex Wallace, the Triangle ranchman, He is rich, or is thought to be, and you would. Eboo we "com > > ae / | / Ss. = Ne a % I know what you are driving at!” Sandy exclaimed, annoyed. ‘‘ You are speak-—