Beadle's Dime Library No. 562 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

28 - Pig ENS - their lips showed the Lone Hand immediately that they were white men, masquerading as In~ dians. ‘Only two of them!” the man-hunter mut- tered, grimly, and his fingers tightened upon his revolvers, “Well, if the court knows herself, and she thinks she does, I reckon I will be able to take | those fellows into camp before they are many minutes older,” ‘** You kin jest bet that we did this job up in good style, and no mistake!” the foremost one of the two cried. The Lone Hand pricked up his ears, and a grim smile came over his stern features. And it was no wonder, for the voice revealed to him that the speaker was no stranger—in fact, be might be said to be an intimate acquaintance, for it was the cowboy, George Hardacre, ‘* Yes, it takes two galoots about our size to do a trick of this kind up brown!” the second man responded, Again the Lone Hand smiled. As he expected, the second man was as well known to him as the first, being Hardacre’s pard, Reddy Gallagher. ‘It seems fated that I and these fellows should run counter toeach other,” the man-hunt- er muttered, “*T reckon the captain will he satisfied with the way we have attended to this job, although he seemed to think we were kinder losing our grip ’cos we didn’t lay out that durned L, Hand,” George Hardacre remarked. ‘Oh, we will fix him now afore we git through with him, and don’t you forget it!” Gallagher declared, ‘‘ But he is one of the galoots that you don’t want to take any chances on, you know. The next time we go for him we jmust fix it so that thar won’t be no slip- up! ‘‘That is so; we must settle him for good, The captain’s got it in for him, and he willnever be satisfied until be is Jaid out,” ‘* We must work a trick for him like this hyer one that has settled Sandy MacAlpine’s hash, You see we did the job without any break,” Gal- lagher remarked. ‘** Yes, I drew a bead on him, and put the ball right through his heart; and I would like to serve allthe rest of these durned settlers tho same way!” Hardacre exclaimed. These few words showed the Lone Hand ex- actly what had taken place, The stranger, Armstrong, had acted as a decoy to lure Sandy MacAlpine to his death, and now that he under- stood all the circumstances, he regretted bit- terly that he was not able to interfere before the attack was made, so as to save the young man. ** At least I can avenge him!” he muttered through his firm-set teeth, The time for action had come, Rising as noiseless as a ghost from kehind th clump of junipers, be bounded forward with rapid strides toward the astonished ruffians, A cock2d and leveled revolver was in each hand, and loudly his stern command rung on the air: ‘* Hands up!” Not a moment did the ruffians hesitate, but Lone Hand, the Shadow. The cowboy placed his weapons upon the ground, ‘Straighten up and fall back five paces!” the Lone Hand commanded. George Hardacre obeyed, ** Now, Gallagher, place your weapons on the ground,” The man complied without a word, and then executed a retrograde movement similar to the one performed by his corapanion, Then the Lone Hand took his seat upon a rock, and, with his left hand, fished outa pair of hand- cuffs from his pocket and threw them at George Hardacre’s feet. The two scoundrels were amazed at this; they gazed in astonishment at the handcuffs, and then looked inquiringly at the man-hunter. ‘* Hardacre, have the kindness to snap those bracelets on the wrists of friend Gallagher!” ordered the Lone Hand. ‘* Wot in thunder do you want to do that for?’ the ruffian growled, ‘ a Never mind the why and the wherefore; do it! Hardacre obeyed. The man-hunter produced another pair of hastens and threw them down before Galla- ier, ‘* Now, Gallagher, as one good turn deserves another, put them on Hard: cre!” ‘*How kin I with these hyer things on?” the cowboy growled, holding up his wrists, **Oh, you can do it if you will try,” the other replied. ‘* Come, oblige me now!” here was @ menace in the voice, so the ruf- fian, ina clumsy way, snapped the ‘ bracelets” on the wrists of his fellow villain, ‘* There, now, I reckon I have got you two men just about where I want you!” the man- hunter remarked, in accents which betrayed de- cided satisfaction. CHAPTER XXXV, “WANY A SLIP "TWEEN CUP AND LIP.” THE ruffians glared at the handcuffs for a mo- ment, then looked at each other, and then at the Lone Hand, ‘You don’t exactly understand this sort of thing, eh?” the man-bunter queried. ‘*No, blamed if I dol” George Hardacre growled. ‘‘Itisa kind of game that never was “played on me afore,” Gallagher added. ‘‘It is a sort of prisoner’s base,” the Lone Hand remarked, dryly. ‘‘The fact is, boys, you are now in the hands of the law, and you need not think you can slip out of the hole this time as you slipped out of the calaboose, Light- ning does not strike twice in the same place, you know, and you cannot play that game again. will take care that you are safely kept until the rangers Ing you off to stand trial, and, to my thinking, the chances are good that you will both have to swing for this day’s work,” At this point there came a sound which caused all of the three to start with surprise, It was a groan from Sandy MacAlpine. ‘*The man is not dead, by ai] that is wonder- ful!” the Lone Hand exclaimed. The ruffians were astounded, as they had felt certain that the young man was dead. flannel shirt he carried a large leather pocket book, which was stuffed full of folded papers and money—more papers than cash though by far—and the bullet, which bad been designed to take his life, was imbedded in the pocketbook, ‘‘There is many a slip between the cup and the lip,” the Lone Hand observed when this discovery was made, ‘‘ And you can thank your lucky stars that your assailant aimed straight for your heart, for if be had not the chances are big that you would have been in the other world by this time,” ‘‘A miss is as good as a mile, you know,” Sandy MacAlpine replied, rising to his feet as he spoke with the assistance of the other’s hand, for he was still weak from the shock he had sut- fered. ‘‘And I reckon I am worth about a dozen dead men,” Then his eyes fell upon the [ndians—as he supposed, ‘* Hello, you have got the bucks, haven’t you, and wera there onlv two of them?” he exclaim- ed in surprise, ‘* Well, I am astonished! I thought there was a dozen, at least!” ** These are no Indians, but a couple of cow- boys in disguise, George Hardacre and Reddy Gallagher,” the Lone Hand replied. ‘*Come over and take a look at them,” The two proceeded to the cowboys, and the two men rose to their feet as they approached. ‘* You are right,” Sandy MacAlpine remarked, as he gazed in the facesoft thetwomen, ‘ And I must say that [ never was more astonished in my life.” ‘*These two men laid in wait on purpose to kill you,” the Lone Hand explained, ‘* And you were lured to this spot expressly to give them a chance to assassinate you. How was it that you and your pard came here with that stranger?” ' Then Sandy MacAlpine told the story of the treasure, ‘**The old rascal,” the Lone Hand exclaimed, when the young man finished. ‘‘ His story was all bosh! That the hollow under the rocking stone has been used as a treasure-house by out- laws Ido not doubt, but he knew well enough that there wasn’t any treasure there now. It was merely a scheme to get you here so as to give these scoundrels a chance to assassinate you,” ‘* Well, there has been trouble between us,” Sandy MacAlpine admitted. ‘That is, I have been threatened by them. They came to my place the other day, and threatened to Jay me out, but my pard, Eddie Livingstone, managed to get the drop on them with a double-barreled shotgun, and drove them off.” ‘* What was the excuse for the attack?” asked the man-hunter, fixing his keen eyes on the faces of the prisoners as he put the question. ‘Well, I don’t exactly know,” the other re- plied. ‘‘I never had any trouble with them be- fore, but they came to my place, apparently, for the express purpose of kicking uparow. Of course, there has always been bad blood, more or less, between the settlers and the cowboys, and I suppose these fellows went for me on gen- eral principles.” ‘*' Yes, but from the trouble that was taken to arrange this trap, if appears to me that there is Poe more than mere class spite at the bot- t, wu np went their hands instanter, They were too ‘“‘T reckon you two fellows better march | tom of it,” the Lone Hand remarked thought- ee old birds—had lived too long on the frontier not | down the valley for about a hundred paces, | fully, watching the faces of the prisoners intent- | ci. to understand that the new-comer ‘‘ meant busi- | then sitdown and make yourselves comfortable, | ly as he spoke. | es ness,” and that if they hesitated to obey the | while I see what can be done for MacAlpine.” ‘** Yes, it would seem so,” Sandy MacAJpine he: injunction, or made a movement as though they The cowboys understood that this was a com replied. be meditated drawing their weapons, which they | mand, and so, being in the toils, they did as ‘Have you any bitter personal enemy who ‘a had replaced in their belts after recharging | they were bid. has reason to desire your death?” the man-hun- ie them, their lives would not be worth a mo- aving then got them at a safe distance, so | ter asked. aA ment’s purchase, that there would not be any danger of either of ‘* Not that I know of.” ! Pe ‘*Now I want you to understand that you | the two surprising him while he examined the ‘I say, don’t either of you two fellows want Ky two fellows are in a tight place!” the Lone | prostrate man, the Lone Hand thrust one of his | to make a clean breast of it and turn State's evi- | ed Hand exclaimed, sternly. ‘‘f am on the war- | revolvers back in its holster, secured the wea- | dence?’ the Lone Hand asked. ‘*The man who * path, bigger’n a wolf, and if either one of you | pons which he had compelled the cowboys to | does so will be apt to get off with a light punish- » rile me, you will feel my teeth in a way that | place upon the ground, and hurried to where | ment.” : | os you will not like. : Mae Atgine lay upon the grass, ‘*T reckon you know all thar is to the thing y ‘*Hardacre, I will begin with you. Take| He had arranged the situation so that while | now!” George Hardacre declared in a defiant > your weapons out of your belt and place them | he bent over MacAlpine he could still keep bis | manner. ‘‘ We did try to do MacAlpineup, and ae on the ground, Don’t attempt any monkey | eyes upon the cowboys, although disarmed and | no mistake, but as long as we didn’t come it, I | ONS business, for I will bore a hole right through | fettered as they were, there was not much dan- | reckon that it isn’t a hanging matter, nohow | aan rou on the first sign of treachery; and, Gal- | ger of their trying to either escape or to attack | you kin fix it!” | RN agher, you keep perfectly quiet—don’t move, | the foe who had conquered them so easily. ‘** But an assault with intent to kill is worth +h if you value your life. Remember that many As the Lone Hand bent over the young man | five or ten years in the State Prison, and that is ian a good man has/been shot because he was a_lit- | MacAlpine stirred andsopened his eyes, what both of you will be likely to get unless you es tle careless when another fellow had the drop " Hello, hello!” the Lone Hand cried, ‘‘ you | are wise enough to lessen Died punishment by be on him!” : are showing a good deal of animation for a dead | confessing who arranged this plot to decoy Mac- : - ‘‘ All right, captain; I know when [ amin a | man.” Alpine here so that he might be killed,” the man- .- tight place, and you kin bet your life that I Then up rose Sandy MacAlpine to a sitting | hunter remarked, sternly. | ot won’t give you no chance to plug me if I kuow | posture; the man-hunter, remembering the cow- ‘* Ah, thar wasn’t any plot!” the cowboy de- ie myself, and I reckon I do!” Gallagher de- | boy’s boast that he had shot the settler through | clared, stoutly. ‘‘ My pard and myself got wind pe clared. the heart, opened his shirt—he had noticed that | that MacAlpine was coming up this way, and 4 la an extremely sullen way George Hardacre | there were not any signs of blood on the flannel | we jest got ourselves up in this Injun rig so as ; Bet took the revolvers from their holsters, This | to denote that the young man was wounded, to lay him out, and have it charged to the red- v was the critical moment, **T thought I was done for,” MacAlpine said. | skins if the other galoots got sight of us.” | With bis hands on his pistols, oh! how he | ‘IT was sure the ball pierced my chest, but, ‘*That is not true!” the young man exclaimed, . longed to give battle to the vigilant foe, who had | strange to say, I feel all right now, excepting | promptly. ‘*Tt was not possible for any one to 1) . succeeded in obtaining such an advantage, but | that i am a little dizzy as though I had received | know anything about this trip, unless they were - although the cowboy was no coward, yet he did | a shock.” posted in regard to it by this man Bishop, in ad- A not dare to attempt to bring on a fight when The skin on the young man’s chest was un- | vance,” Se gap under such a disadvantage, but if the | broken but there was a black and blue spot just ‘* Yes, I understand that, for I tracked Bishop ee Lone Hand had betrayed the slightest sign of | over the heart, as though he had received a | to your house, and kept watch until you three a irresolution, Hardacre most certainly would | violent blow there, started on this expedition, then trailed you rs have attempted to resist, Further examination disclosed that Sandy | here,” the Lone Hand remarked, But the man-hunter was watching his men so ; MacAlpine hed escaped death by an accident closely that neither one dared to disobey his | which seemed almost miraculous. commands, In a secret pocket in the under side of bis This announcement made the listeners open their eyes in astonishment, and the cowboys, in particular, looked at each other as much as to | af estas Nig 8 a hens tae GOmMmIic 900 <S (e(o) Y eg