Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 408) (1885 05 19)
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ii EIMTION, tht YY “itty eee, Vbdtddlbéclie Do 2) a IN , me //_ _@s ns aD? Aa a DANS May 19, 1885. WME) TD ail Rates. Copyright, 1885, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, V Single PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY BEADLE AN 3 i ol. a We 4 ADLE AND ADAMS Price, I. Number. No, 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. 5 Cents. No. 408. 4 hi Ad Vy: — SS ee SS. SOS OR, \) OLD JUMBO’S CURSE. BY PHILIP S. WARNE, AUTHOR OF “‘CAPTAIN ARIZONA,” ‘‘ ALWAYS ON HAND,” ‘ LITTLE OH-MY,” EPC., ETO, | Dae [7 j CHAPTER I, THE VOODOO WOMAN. SHorTLY after the close of the war, Jason Ash- mead led a rao gu of farmers from the State of Maine across the great plains into the heart of Colorado. They were steady-going, hard-headed Puritans, content to give a dollar’s worth of honest sweat 4(“BERE’S A BRAVE LAD TRUE!” CRIED THE PRIESTESS OF FORTU Me ) i ISS ¢ INE. ‘BUT IT's 1 METAP THAT'S TO BE RUNG ON THE ANVIL.” for ener nieeilen, they, past. taey Ce ~ighec> rather disposed to ‘squeeze the coin till the eagle
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— screamed” before letting it slip through their fingers. On their arrival in the Guich ** booming,” and in an hour the idea of trudging after the plow-tail was scorned, and every man of them saw himself a millionaire— in imagination | But the Powder Creek Gulch ‘ petered out,” ‘‘in a way "—to quote Bill Nye—‘‘I despise,” und one year from date our hunters of the golden fleece found themselves with both breeches pockets turned inside out—‘ bu’sted!” There were ‘ natural-born” miners in the Gulch, and they slung their kits over their shoulders to their pick-helves, lighted their lit- tie black pipes, gave a jaunty cock to their rag- ged hats as if in defiance of Fate, and ‘* stam- uck next time. Then Farmer Ashmead called his company to a serious consideration as to whether that sort of thing payed. ‘‘ Tt’s all very well for men who have nobody but themselves in the world,” he said; ‘* but we have women and children on our hands; and when it comes to a question of dragging them up hill and down dale through these mountains, New Eldorado it | chanced that they found the Powder Creek | { veded,” cheerily wishing one another ‘“ better Z Little Leather-Breeches. shrunk back with a shudder of horror and a quailing chill of fear, The old hag cackled in her hideous glee. ‘*Ha! ha! Did vou see it, my little ones? did ye see it, my pretty ones? Come all ye imps of darkness! here’s a pretty sight! His flesh to the fishes, his bones to old soul to the devil! Ho! he was a fine fellow, I tell you! No dying in bed for him! He died with his boots on! Tt was a bloody death! Ho! ye should have seen the blood, and the knife !— 10! Ho! a famous knife! Here it is! Do you see that black spot on the hilt? That's bl !— his heart’s blood! All the water that falls from heayen in a twelvemonth couldn’t wash that out! ‘* But the night’s going! Ha! ha! here you are, loveys! three! four! five!—” At each count she thrust her hand into the water and drew something forth. Presently she rose; anc lightning showed that she had a bag on her One! two! ack. Thus burdened, she tottered back to the crag | where we introduced her to the reader. In the valle lights of Gle She waved ale. I for one vote No! Weare farmers, and if we | harsh, shrill voice: keep to that, we shall know what to look out for. Now, ‘pe all know that ten miles down the creek there is as pretty land as lies out- doors. I propose that we take it up, and leave off this fooling.” This wise counsel prevailed; and fifteen years later, at the opening of our story, Glendale was a thriving little village, in nowise envious of the mining-camps which all about sprung up, flour- ished, and disappeared, almost in a day. So much by way of “ getting the lay of the land.” Now for the story. ‘‘Hal ha! ho! ho! The deyils are out to- night! How they writhe and hiss and spit their venom! Hear them howl with rage, and chat- ter and laugh with impish glee! Ho! ho! I’m with ye, my little ones! my pretty ones! Come down—come down! Fill earth and air and heaven! Ha! Beezlebub, old Mumbo Jumbo hails ye Prince of Darkness!” A vivid flash of lightning that seemed to rend the oe from zenith to horizon disclosed a hide- ous old hag standing on a pinnacle of rock over- looking a valley. Her bent form, her fantastic dress of flutter- ing rags, her withered and leather-brown face, her eyes twinkling with crafty malice, the one discolored fang that shut down over her nether lip, her fingers like the talons of some bird of prey—made up as hideous a creature as ever haunted the dreams of a half-crazy religious fanatic. : She supported herself with a long staff, a sapling roughly stripped of its leaves; huge brass crescents hung from her nose and ears, and her hair was built up in tufts on either side of her head, after the fashion of some of the savage people of Africa. Legend said that this was once a beautiful quadroon, driven to despair and enmity toward all mankind by the crueélties of race hatred; but another said that she had been a belle in New Orleans in her youth, and that it was a freak of madness that made her now play the Negro Voodoo woman. ‘ At all events, her speech was free from the patois of the slave, and her features were un- mistakably Caucasian. :. ‘‘Ha! ha! afair night! a sweet night! a night for such work as mine! Come with me, ye devils! Ihave a pretty sight for ye! Ye love murder, do ye? Sodo I! Ye love dead men— dead by the hand of violence? Ha! ha! come with me, my little ones! my pretty ones!” So chuckling to herself, she hobbled off in the darkness, picking her way with her staff, quite indifferent to the pelting rain and eddying blasts, until she ame to where a tumbling brook rested for a while in deep, still holes, ‘« Here’s a place for murder!” she whispered, hoarsely. ‘‘Ha! ha! here’s a famous place to whisper perjured vows! Ho! ho! here’s a place to leap out of the world, down! down! down! into the bottomless pit, where the devils dance in the flames!” Where a stunted tree, dra heavily with a vine, hung over the water, she knelt, parting | the leaves and gazing intently into the black water, waiting for a flash of lightning to illumi- nate the spot, ‘ It came presently, a long, quivering, zigzag stream of fire. Something gleamed white in the bottom of the pool One veholding it unexpectedly would have we : + Bes ‘ y ‘** Curses on ye all! curses, I say! | pesti- lence, famine and murder scourge ye, till youth withers in its bloom, while old age chides the lagging déath that will not free it from its mis- ery! "Cur tes on ye! curses! curses! curses!” darsely went out her voice on the blast, her execrations dying away in a sort of gurgle that horribly suggested strangulation. As ig in answer to her bitter curse, the heavens opened, and the earth shuddered with the reverberating thunder. An instant later one of the buildings in, the village was enveloped in flames, darting their blood-red tongues up toward the black and mut- tering heavens! ‘*Hal ha! ho! ho!” chuckled the witch. ‘“ The charm begins to work already! Didn’t I tell ye, my little ones, my pretty ones? It’s the mur- derer pleading with the devil that does it! Ha! ha! ho! ho!” ‘Hallo, you,old vagabones!” shouted a gruff voice close at hand. ‘* What have ye got hyar? Been stealin’, have ye? Come! trot it out!” The old hag turned, and a quivering flash of lightning showed her a man in the rough dress of the mountains, with his hat slouched down over his eyes and the collar of his coat drawn up about his neck while his hands were thrust into the side-pockets. “Ho! master,” sho cried, with no evidence of alarm, ‘‘is that you?, I know ye, Hank Drake. You're left-hand cousin to the devil! But I like ye all the better for that. You’re my kind, you . You've a liking for striking in the dark! Ha! ha!” “« Stow yer gaff, ye old buzzard! .What’s that you've got in that bag?” “Ha! ha! ho! ho!” cackledtheoldhag. ‘‘ Ye think it’s chickens, don’t ye? Ha! ha! Or may- be ye thiak it’s a lamb, or a suckling pig. Oh, no, my lad! I didn’t get it in the village. They don’t keep such things down there to steal. Oh, no! the devil gave it to me!” “Turn it out, and let’s see what it is, any- way.” : “Tt’s a friend of yours,” she said, with her malicious chuckle. Then stooping, she took hold of the lower cor- ners of the bag, and timing the movement with a vivid flash of lightning, she lifted the bottom and poured the contents out on the ground, say- ing: “Tt’s Tom Grayle! Ha! ha! ho! ho! He was a rare one, and a friend of yours! Ye didn’t think to meet me here to-night, did Ps ¢ The man stared with eyes distended with ter- ror at a mass of bones, the human character of which could not be mistaken. The skull fell so that it seemed to 9 rin at him. To work! to work! | now the flashes of | below appeared the twinkling | her staff toward it, crying in a | | until, with ghastly face, protruding eyes, umbo Jumbo, and his | | | With a shriek he rushed away in the darkness, | down the declivity, toward the village. The old hag caught up hér staff, and waving it toward him, screamed after him: ‘* Murder! murder! murder!” The rapid tolling of a church bellin the village now spread the alarm of fire, and dark forms could be seen rushing to and fro. Faintly in the occasional lull of the wind came | good health. the cry: ‘*Bire! fire! fire!” _ And there on the cliff stood the hag, shriek- ing: “Curses on ye all! It’s Mumbo Jumbo that execrates ye! Curses! curses! curses!” The shivering and shuddering wretch whom she had unnerved, no doubt by awaking bis con- science, rushed on headlong toward the ac ah chattering teeth, he s aggered up to the excited villagers. ‘“Hallo, Hank Drake!” cried one of them. ‘‘ What's the matter with ye, man? Ye look as if ye had seen a ghost!” “ Boys!” he gasped, pointing backward, ‘‘ it’s up thar! up thar! “Up whar? What is? What air ye talkin’ about?” ‘* Tt’s that old déyil’s dam! She done it!” ‘*Mumbo Jumbo?” ‘““Ves! yes! This hyer’s her work! She done it. She cursed ye an’ called down the light- nin’ hg Whemhe Had become a little more composed, he described the curse, but Omitted all reference to the skeleton the sight of which ad sostartled im. It was, plain that his auditors Were prepared for something of this sort. They Natehec With gloomy brows while the flames roared heaven- ward and the charred timbers crumbled and fell to a heap of ruins, Then rose murmui's of wrath, Which’swelled into open denunciation, “Boys,” said one man, presently, ‘‘ We've stood this thing about long enough. What's the matter with the widdy Mowry’s cow, I want te know? It ain’t two weeks since that old devil's limb cursed the widdy for stoppin’ her from stealin’ a loaf that she had set out to cool. ‘Yell want milk fur that bread!’ says she; an’ thar’s the critter with bloody milk a’ready. An’ then didn’t little Ben Darrach fall into the cellar ten days ago, with the chance of his never standin’ square on his pins ag’in in this world?” With this beginning the vindictive excitement waxed until it was proposed to go and “ tear her out.” Then there was a hurried shatching up of fagots, and, lighted by their lurid glare, the mob rushed up to the witch’s hut. Without stopping to see whether the door was fastened or not, they beat it in.and rushed into the hut. ‘* Boys, thar ain’t hide nor hair of her hyar!” said a in evident disgust at their disappoint- ment. ‘“Of course not,” said another. ‘‘ When it’s as easy to go up in the air as down in the ground, what kin you expect? She’d be a fool to stop hyar fur ye to pounce onto her.” ‘, Leva burn the old rookery down, any- way! nd the fellow applied the torch ‘under the eaves. But while the search had been in progress, a light spring-wagon with four sprited horses at- tached to it had dashed up, the driver swing- ing his long lash and yelling at the top of his voice, “Just in time!” he cried, as he drew bis horses in ‘so sharply that they reared and pawed the air, “Now go for’em! Lay ’em out! Ha-a- a-a-ah! ha! hafha!ha! ha!” . “The Mad Millionaire!” ¢ried one of the men. From the seat beside him a youth made a fly- ing leap over the whee), and springing upon the fellow who was about to set fire to the hut, he snatched the torch from his hand and dashed it to the ground. ‘¢ None o’ that, boys,” he said, with as/ nich assurance as if he had been a man among them. ‘““Who air you?” was the an mere formula of wrath, since a him perfectly well. His reply was prompt and. pointed. ‘Yours truly, Little Leather-Breeches!” And drawing a brace of revolvers, he stood between the mob and the witch’s hut, with coot determination stamped on his young face. demand—a present knew CHAPTER IL. AN OMINOUS FORTUNE, THE afternoon of the day following the night on which our story opens. A picnic ground! A have of girls such as the outdoor life of the West can produce—some pretty, some not so pretty, but none without freshness and rcesy ‘Por my part,” cried the rather haught Kate Ashmead, “I think he is altogether tos fresh! termeddling with men.” , ‘* Why didn’t your men put him down then?” reto Mary Dennison. ‘‘ Because couldn’t spell able ?” A boy of his years had no business in- — Wn aC) Y ine 4x +
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” ** Hold on, girls, interposed laughing Sadie Cartwright. ‘There is no use in your quarrel- ing over Little Leather-Breeches, The blushing Miss Briggs looks as if she had something to say on that subject!” ‘Sadie Cartwright, I think you are as mean as you can be!” **Oh! don’t make any mystery of it, my dear Belle. Everybody Bs that there is a fair prospect of your devoting the rest of your natural life keeping buttons on those famous buckskin unmentionables!” And the laugh went round at Belle Briggs’s | ‘ group, Was a young man whose virgin cheek expense, while Kate Ashmead’s eyes flashed scornfully at her. They rested on the most sensitive and lady- like face in the group; yet there were times when the girl asserted herself with a quiet dig- nity which mastered even headstrong Kate Ashmead. ‘* Still water runs deep!” the latter was fond of quoting. ‘‘One of these days you will hear from Miss Belle Briggs, mark my words! Ben Souder is nobody’s ool!” Ben was the village cobbler—the man who knew everything. e had, or, to the simple folk about him, seemed to have, all history, an- | cient and modern, at his tongue’s end; and he | could quote Scripture to prove that every event, discovery and invention, past, present and to come, had been foreseen and described “ as plain as the nose on your face,” if you only had the eyes to see it as he did. What he had said about Belle **Ef she one’t gits waked up—’ And he had finished his ominous prognostic with a mysterious shake of the head. So often had this been urged by Kate Ash- mead, peneayeed by oo rivalry, that every one had unconsciously come to half-expect some startling fulfillment. Kate was now casting about for some sarcasm when Sadie Cartwright interposed: ‘‘Hush! here he comes to speak for him- self!” All turned to see a youth of nineteen or twen- approach, dressed jauntily in a slouch red woolen shirt and buckskin breeches Briggs was: ty hat, with fringes down the leg. A leather belt held | a revolver at his back and a bowie-knife on his hip. For the rest, he had a frank, .cheerful face, and wore his blonde hair to his shoulders. ‘* See! the conquering hero comes!” shouted gay Sadie Cartwright. ‘‘ After this the parson will have to take a back seat, and Abe ver will be just nowhere! Poor Abe! Sheep’s eyes will go begging this winter!” 3 When will saucy Sadie’s tongue enable her to ride in her own turnout?” asked Little Leather- Breeches, entering into her spirit of banter, “Qh! anybody can answer that!” laughed the beauty, promptly. ‘‘If she keeps it a-waggin’ till she’s a little hoarse!” ‘* Meanwhile, I suppose you girls are off here by yourselves plotting mischief of some kind.” ‘Not a bit of it! We have been engaged in target practice.” ‘“With Cupid’s darts? enough at that already.” ‘*La! hasn’t he a sweet tongue! But we have been using a far more Headly weapon. Ever since last night there seems to he a general de- sire to qualify as a warrior’s bride!” “You don’t say! proficient?” “Halhalha! Justseehim! Oh! you needn't look at the bashful Miss Briggs! She handles a hymn-book more cleverly than a hair trig- er.” ‘Don’t believe her, Will!” cried Mary Denni- son. ‘' Belle beat us all.” ‘* Here comes the parson,” persisted Miss Cart- wright. about that!” “Down a woodland aisle came a very fine You are all skillful ‘* We'll see if he hasn’t a word to say | | And who has proved most | gentleman of about five-and-twenty with white | hands and long, slender fingers, dressed in cleri- cal black, and wearing mutton-chop whiskers and a white cravat. . He was accompanied by a middle-aged lady, who seemed greatly flattered by his attentions. “‘ Who is this young Fosdick, Mrs. Ashmead?” he had just asked. 7 Well. nobody rightly knows,” was the reply, ** You see, fourteen years ago the Indians made a clean sweep of the country north of here; and the day after the massacre a little chap rode in- to the Glen on a very big horse, and introduced himself as Willy Fosdick, but said that he was | enerally called Little Leather-Breeches. <A fittle girl, scarcely more than a baby, was mount- ed behind him, and the two were tied fast to the horse. She could give no account of herself; and when asked he said that she was not his | man, as she bent over his hand. Little Leather-Breeches. sister, but his little wife, and her name was Belle. Mrs. Briggs had just lost her twins by scarlatina; so she adopted them both. ‘* Quite a romance!” said the Rey. Mr. Vance, who had introduced himself asa divinity student seeking health in the West. And now, before Sadie Cartwright could as- sail him with her merry banter, there came an interruption from another direction. “T say, girls! here’s fun! Old Mumbo Jumbo’s comin’ this way. Now’s the chance to git yer fortins told.” The speaker, who was hurrying toward the had never never been violated by a razor. It was covered by a fine blonde down. He was what is known as ‘‘ shock-headed.” He was a prime favorite with all the middle- aged women of the village; but with the young girls— Well, Abe Seaver was a good fellow when you wanted anything done, he was so obliging. vs at d’ye say, Belle?” he asked, at once going up to Miss Briggs with open homage. Catching a.twinkle in Sadie Partwright’s eye, Belle flushed and replied inaudibly. ‘* Here they are!” cried a cheery voice, and a lot of young fellows, rough in dress, yet honest looking, made their appearance with a long rope. With a rush they swept down upon the group of girls, circling around them so as to wind them in the rope; and for a few minutes all was confusion, the whisking of draperies, and screams and laughter. This ros was broken in upon by the harsh voice of Mumbo Jumbo, crying: ““A gay world! a merry world! as if death and sorrow wasn’t always peeping over one’s shoulder! Ho! ho! we imngh today, but. to- morrow brings tears! The brighter the sunshine on one side, the blacker the shadow on the other ; and ye can look out of heaven into hell! That’s gospel! Can ye deny that, parson?” e laughter ceased, and the girls drew near- er to the gallants with whom they had got niore or less markedly paired off without any apparent design, while they gazed at the old hag with di- lated eyes and little shivers of dread made de- lightful by the sense of security. he stout young feliows who were not afraid of the devil in the person of an old woman pro- ceeded to coax her into good-humor, while they urged forward the girls, who were certainly not entirely free from superstitious fears. With the varying fortunes of the young peo- ple who are not intimately concerned in our story, we will not trouble the reader. Suffice it to say that they got amusement, embarrassment, bewilderment, joy and fear out of them. In his turn Abe Seaver stood forth with a red spot in either cheek and his breath hurried. ** Dark! dark! dark!” muttered the old wo- r ‘*-Your line of life is crossed before it reaches midway. The heavens did not smile on your cradle, my r boy! There’s mourning here, and pain—bitter ain and disappointment, worse than death. “hat’s life, ‘Ah the curse of it!” Her voice choked with passion and her old frame shook. The color all gone out of his face, Abe slunk fe ‘“*Tt’s all right,” he said to himself. ‘‘I ain't worthy of her, an’ that’s a fact!” The minister came next. On his face was a smile of kindly patronage. Instead of taking the silver he extended, old Mumbo Jumbo.looked into his face, and raising her hand with the palm toward him, waved him off, while she retreated without a word. Only a slight tightening of the lips, a quiver- ing of the nostrils, and a hardening of the eye, showed the minister’s chagrin. e recovered himself instantly. ‘““My good woman,” he said, ‘‘I have only sympathy and pity for you!” She made no reply, but looked at him steadily as he turned away. Some of the fellows, who liked a joke better than a sermon, snickered. ‘** The parson’s one too many for her.” Butalready Little Leather-Preeches had taken his turn. ‘““Here’s a brave lad and true!” cried the eg of fortune. ‘‘ But it’s metal that’s to 96 rung on the anvil. Here’s a dark wood filled with terrors; but if you have strength and cour- age, you'll find a fair country on the other side. ere’s gray hairs and honor, and a. woman’s tears and kisses—tears of pride and kisses of tenderness. But you'll find a scorpion under rose leaves, Beware! Its sting is swift and deadly !” ee - ep EEE oO eS eS) Little Leather-Breeches smiled with easy in- credulity. ‘* T should like to know what can be made out of that!” Belle went forward with a strange stillness upon her. Mumbo Jumbo looked into her face with a smile as she took her hand, and then dropped her eyes to the fair palm with its delicate tracery of creases, Then a startling, a terrible change came over her. ‘*Ha-a-ah!” she fairly shrieked, flinging the hand away from her. “It’s red with blood! Take it away! take it away! take it away!” And spitting upon the coin she had received. she threw it on the ground, and hobbled off as fast as her tottering limbs could carry her, still waving the startled girl off with her opposed palm, and muttering hoarsely: “ Away! away! away!” Belle turned round and gazed at her friends in piteous helplessness. Ail the color had fled from her cheeks, and a white circle formed about her mouth, Little Leather-Breeches threw his arm about her. ‘‘ What does she mean, Will?” she asked him, her voice seeming to die away with a sigh. Tl] yery soon show her what J mean? cried the youth, hotly. ‘Here, stay with Abe until I break every bone in her wretched old body, the dev—” But the girl’s slight frame swayed and her head sunk on his shoulder. She had fainted. She was immediately surrounded by friends, with ejaculations of sympathy, and everything was done to restore her to consciousness, Only Kate Ashmead stood aloof; and when Belle was herself again, save for white cheeks and lips, and a frightened, piteous appeal in her eyes, Kate whispered to a little circle who drank in the poison of suspicion open-mouthed: ** Pye said it before, and I say it again:—Ben Souder is nobody’s fool!” CHAPTER III. MURDER! THE great kitchen at farmer Ashmead’s was filled with a golden glow from the wide fire- sey with its pile of crackling, flame-wrapped 0 sprung forward and 7S, Tt was not that the night was cold enough for so roaring a fire. Indeed, to temper its heat the doors and windows had to be thrown open. But farmer Ashmead had been (raised in Maine, and he thought that a merry-making would be no merry-making at all unless the “boys and girls ” could dance in the firelight. Ben Souder was posted beside, the door lead- ing from the kitchen to the ‘* best room,” so that the ‘‘old folks,” sitting there in straight- backed Yankee sedateness, might have the bene- fit of the music—so called—which he worried out of a rather squeaky fiddle. But whatever it lacked in sweetness it made up in quickness of time, a little jerky because Ben despised the cider with which the dancers contented themselves. and would “steady his hand” with nothing short of New England rum. The young fellows ‘“‘hoed down” the rapid measure in their heavy boots as nimbly, if not as gracefully, as any French dancing-master, and now and then found their way to a sly cor- ner for love-making. But the girls, whenever there were two or three together, must have their gossip. * And the way she has been carrying on with the parson! I wonder that Will Fosdick stands it ” “Oh! Little Leather-Breeches ain’t afraid of the Pretty Man from the States! Lily-white fingers do to turn hymn-books; but Will knows Belle is too spirited to live on donation parties.” **Look! look! There comes Abe now! Just see how pale he is. And he is watching Belle and the parson like a hawk! I tell you! there's going to be mischief there before they get through with it!” The villagers were for the most part that sort of good folk who must have ideas driven into their heads with a beetle and wedge; but once in, they stuck. And the witch’s terrible prog- nostic had made a deep impression. From this vague suspicion of Belle, they goi to thinking that Abe had been hard used, though heretofore they had laughed at his lovemaking Then rose rumors of quarrels, which socn took definite form in stories of abusive lenguege and threats hurled at Abe, to which he submit- ted with the dumb humility of a dog. Who would have believed that all this fabric of misrepresentation was based upcn some ik
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natured innuendoes of Kate Ashmead and ieced. out by gossip, as it passed from lip to ip? Now, as Abe made his appearance, looking so wild, a buzz of eager tittle-tattle ran round the rooin, Belle saw him staring with wolfish menace at her partner, and signaling to her with a look of appeal. he saw the girls exchange meaning glances as they turned in the dance. Even from the “ best room” the older women came to the door to peer through. The girl’s cheek flamed searlet, and a bitter indignation burned in her eye. “What right has that lout to persecute me like this?” she cried to herself. ‘‘ And Will, if he cared a straw, would take him out and cool the ardor of his calf-love in the horse-pond!” And she flashed a blaze of scorn at poor Abe, that cafised him to slink from the room with his head on his breast and tears starting to his eyes. ‘Take me out of here, please!” she said to her partner. ‘ This room is suffocating!” The Rev. Mr. Vance was nothing loth. His heart was beating more rapidly than was its wont. The house was set in a grove and surround- ed with clustering shrubbery, and a few steps took them out of sight and hearing of the re- velers within-doors. Then the minister cla: the hand. that rested on his arm, and with an impulsive mo- tion passed his arm about the girl’s waist. ** Belle, cas Boag Sit he whispered, bending so as to bring his face close to hers, and peering into her eyes to catch their expression in the dim light that came to them from the house, the night sky being overcast. ‘Can it be that this great happiness is coming to me? I love—” But she tore herself from his clasp with a cry of exasperation, . “ You too?” she exclaimed, combined to annoy me?’ “To annoy you?” he repeated, in low, tense tones, ‘‘To annoy you with the declaration of my love?” ““A fig for your love! I tell you I am sick- ened by this nonsense; and if I am to be made an object for every fool to gape at, by a lot of 2 ge ve ut choking with anger and distress, she broke off and fled from him back to the house. The minister stood perfectly still in the darkness. No eye could see the expression of his are to know how he was affected by this rebuff. But Belle’s angry voice had been heard as far as the house, A moment later she aes at the door, pant- ng oe white with emotion, other figure was seen to follow her; stop- ping her just beyond the threshold. Seaver plucked her by the dress, whis- pering :— “Belle! Belle! one word! I have something that I must tell you!” As nd pi ed roan, ee tate srabernag out upon owing his face fairly y in its pallor and drawn with pain. * Everybody turned toward the door, and a buzz of wonderment and condemnation arose. ** Abe Seaver!” cried the tortured girl, whirl- ing, upon him with one foot on the threshold, ‘if you ever dare to speak to me again as long as you live, PU—T'llI—’ ut passion and pain choked her. She was stung beyond endurance, She knew her gossip- loving neighbors, and their narrow prejudices, She knew that all her life her treatment of Abe Seaver would be commented upon behind her back.’ Knowing this, and how entirely innocent she was of blame, the instinct of resentment from which we are none of us free blazed up; and as quick as light she struck him a stinging blow on the cheek with her open hand. With an exclamation of distress he shrunk back out of the range of light as quickly as if the blow had knocked him down, A ery of indignation came like an echo from the company in the room. The girl turned and faced them, with her eyes dilated and her lips apart, as if frightened at what she had done. She saw frowns of condemnation on every side. It seemed to her asif her life had been blighted by that one unlucky loss of self-control. he community in which she lived would make her an outcast, and Will Fosdick would Cespise her! ith a blended cry and sob, she turned and fe) like a hunted creature. Little Leather-Breeches had been in the “Has everybody angry rebuff of Abe Seaver. Then came the blow, the exclamations of disapproval, and the fight of poor Belle. ‘ar from being affected as she had supposed, he was in a rage with everybody who dared to judge her harshly. With a resentful blaze in his eyes, he sprung forward, shouldering everybody out of his way, whether man or woman, with equal want of ceremony, and so sped through the kitchen and out of doors like a flash. But he was too late to prevent a terrible calamity from involving the one in whom his heart was wrapped up! Down the road came a mad rattling of wheels and clatter of hoofs at full gallop, which drew up before the house at the moment that Abe Seaver stopped Belle on the threshold. As Little \cathenTinaains leaped through the door, another sprung into his place, shouting: “Come, good people! Down with your win- dows and to with your doors! The very hea- vens are going to clap together in less than thirty seconds! Listen! Don’t you hear the roar of the winds?” The speaker was the person who had driven Little Leather-Breeches up to the witch’s hut some weeks before in the nick of time, He was dressed in black, with a flowing cloak and a high-crowned, sugar-loaf hat. A mus- tache and pointed beard of black, and hair fall- ing to his shoulders of the same hue, together with a dark complexion and intensely black eyes that glitte with an unnatural light, made him a man of start ing aspect. ‘‘The Mad Millionaire!” exclaimed somebody. But several voices cried: ** Hush!” Then in the silence that fell was heard the roar of the approaching hurricane; but above it, cut- ting the listening silence like a knife, came the sharp ring of a pistol-shot. A spasmodic gasp passed through the room. Everybody looked at everybody else with star- tled questioning in their eyes. Then all shud- dered, as a woman’s piercing shriek seemed cenghs a2 by the whirling winds and swept from earth to heaven! “Tt is the witch’s prediction!” cried Kate Ashmead, and then shrunk shuddering, as she realized the implication of her words, The men sprung toward the door with angry ejaculations, an oath escaping the lips of one or two coupled with a threat in one case. With murmurs of distress and fear, the women — to each other, cowering and sobbing with dread. Then the house was invaded by the tempest. Windows rattled and doors slammed, and the whole building shook and strained under the fierce buffets of the Storm King. The women now screamed in terror, fearing a whirlwind in which all would be blown away to destruction, The men shouted, and one or two stopped to secure the windows and doors; but the rest kept on, fascinated by the horror of that pistol-shot. They found a man lying dead on his face, and a woman kneeling beside him who wailed: ‘“‘Oh! Iamamurderess! He is dead! dead! dead!” The man was Abe Seaver. The woman was unhappy Belle Briggs! Before them stood Little esther Breaches, gazing from one to the other as if stupefied. “best room,” playing the gallant to ‘a toothless CHAPTER IV. A WILD RIDE. ‘* A MURDERESS!” repeated one of the men, with an ugly scowl. ‘‘ The devil’s dam said it, and here it is to the letter!” Little Leather-Breeches started as if stung, and whirled upon the speaker. “What's that, John Boyce?” he cried, invol- untarily carrying his hand toward his back, and then remembering that he was not armed. ‘*You’ll not better it by being.over-ready to add another to it!” said the older man, severely, noticing the gesture. “In heaven’s name, what's this, neighbors?” cried farmer Ashmead, now coming up. ‘‘The jade has finished by putting a bullet through him,” was the reply. ‘Oh! no, no, no!” cried Belle, starting up. ‘I did not do it! Indeed!: indeed!” “We came upon her while the horror was on her, and before she thought of riggs. it; and it was she herself that first ‘put the brand of murderess on her!” ‘“‘Ob! but I did not mean that! He killed self. I saw the flash of the weapon. And then when he fell I screamed and ran here to him. I did not suppose that he would do anything so wicked as this. I did not mean to strike him; but he goaded me beyond endurance.” ‘** He'll goad you no more!” was the bitter reply. Some one had knelt beside the prostrate man, and was fumbling about his body to see if there were yet signs of life. “Lights! lights! bring lights!” shouted far- mer Ashmead. ‘** Here comes a light.” In that roaring wind, against which the men could scarcely stand, no candle or lamp could have lived for an instant; but some one had snatched a brand from the fireplace, and now came running, the blaze at the end of his fagot burning blue when it burned at all. Every once in a while it was blown entirely out, but to start into flame again at the shift- ing of the wind. It was brought under the lee of several men who stood close together, and gave forth an un- certain, flickering illumination. By it the man kneeling by Seaver was reveal- ed. It was the minister. He was very pale. Those about suspected him of interest in Belle; but none of them knew that words of love for her were scarcely yet cold on his lips. ‘‘ Friends,” he said, looking up and speaking with the gravity and the bush that death in- spires, ‘“‘ this isa sad business. .The man seems to be quite dead, and yet, strange to say, I find no trace of blood on him. By this time every one was chilled by the icy wind that seemed as if it drove fairly through one. ‘‘ Fetch -him indoors, boys!” said farmer Ashmead. ‘‘ Nothing can be done out here in the cold.” ‘*Give us a hand here, under his back,” said one who knelt to lift him. A volunteer sprung forward, but ere he had got hold of the other’s hand, the first exclaimed: “Ey! what is this? W hy, his back is all bloody! Hold the light here.’ e It was done, and troubled eyes strained to see what horror would be revealed. ie had burried ei con grea side, and clasped his arm despairingly. “Oh, sir!” she cried, sinking upon her knees, ‘you do not believe that I would do anything so wicked? so terrible? He shot himself, I de- clare to you! Iwas over there—see?—by that bush when I saw the flash!” But the man had stern Puritan blood in his veins. The bitterness of an iron creed had so permeated his nature that he knew nothing but the fierce justice of an eye for an eye! He shook off her suppliant touch, and bent forward to see what the torch would reveal. ‘“There itis! Do you see that, men?” asked one of the examiners. ‘What is it?’ asked farmer Ashmead. “He shot himself,” replied the other with sav- age scorn—in the back ‘‘ What’s this?” cried another. ‘Hold the light here. I struck something just now with my foot.” ‘ There it is! A pistol! finished him!” Eager hands picked it up. It was a beautiful little pearl-handled revol- er. ‘* Give it to me!” cried Little Leather-Breech- es, extending his hand quickly, as if to snatch It’s the weapon that v it. “ Not so fast, my young buck!” said the man, holding it out of reach. ‘‘ We'll know who it belongs to, first.” ’ “Tt is mine!’ cried Belle, in. wonder, not realizing what gravity lay in such a confession. “Oh, no, no!” mvt | Little Leather-Breeches, trying to stop her. ut it was too late. gg man who held the weapon laughed bru- tally. “No thanks to you for owning it,” he said. ** There’s a plenty that know it by sight; I, for one. I knowed it the minute I set my peepers on it.” Belle now stood with eyes dilated and lips apart, the picture of terror. that was closing about her. Indeed! indeed I am innocent!” She saw the net — “Oh!” she cried, wildly, “I am innocent! — The minister turned his eyes upon her. He — said not a word, but his white face and those sad eyes hurt her more than the cruel chuckle of the illiterate brute who gloated over the possession of that telling evidence against her. — ats peat a A a
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an ee Little Leather-Breeches. 5 “ Weyby—W inters—take charge of her!” said farmer Ashmead, sternly. ‘““Neyer! You shall not touch her while I live!” shouted: Little Leather-Breeches. With the spring of a panther he swooped down upon the man who held the revolver, dealt him a stunning blow, and, at the same instant, | snatched the weapon from his hand. With another tween the cowering girl and her foes. ‘Stand back!” he shouted, now fairly beside | himself with terror at what he—even he /—now | believed that the rash hand of his loved one had done. But love comes before law! human justice—no need of human_society— weighed a feather with him now. . With every man’s hand against her, he put himself at her side, She was a murderess? Be itso! He would be a murderer—her equal in that!—before a hand should be laid upon her in anger! ‘‘ Stand back!” he shouted, ‘‘ or, by the ever- living God, I will drop the first man that dares | to take a step forward!” They knew him. He daunted the boldest of them. Still he knew that he could not, single-handed, withstand them all for any length of time. Was there not one in all that knew her and him who would stand theix friend in this their | time of sorest need? Oh! if it were any one but Abe Seaver! He could have been counted upon to defend her, right or wrong. But it was he, the most devot- ed of the devoted, that her hand had beaten down to death! Little Leather-Breeches turned sick at the thought. His despairing eyes went round from face to face, and suddenly a light of eager relief broke over his countenance. “Barclay!” he cried, starting forward and extending his hand. ‘*T’m your man!” was the prompt response. And a figure leaped forward and passed him, with a great flapping, like the wings of a mon- ster bat. ‘The Mad Millionaire!” exclaimed a voice. ‘‘ The devil!” declared another. And all were suddenly impressed with the ap- propriateness of the suggestion, applied to that weird-looking person. , At that instant the snow came in a blindin flurry, extinguishing, the torch and wrapping all in profound darkness. “ After them, men!” cried farmer Ashmead, thinking to take advantage of that protection from Little Leather-Breeches’s aim. There was a rush and a fierce struggle. Little Leather-Breeches had the good sense to know that the killing of a single man at random would not help his cause, so he flung down the revolver and grappled with the first man who tried to rush past him. The Mad Millionaire seemed to have scarcely ten steps the start of the others; and yet he made such good use of his advantage that he caught Belle up in his arms, rushed with her to his waiting wagon, fairly threw her in, follow- ed himself, and was off as if riding on the hurri- cane. The excitement of the struggle seemed to set | fire to his distempered brain. He yelled to his horses, and shrieked with maniac laughter as, standing erect, he swung the long lash of his . whip round and round and sent it darting through the air, to crack over the heads of his | frightened beasts like a rifle-shot. hey were used to this. wild driving; but ' the snow blinded them, and the roar and rush of mighty winds maddened them, and they tore through the blackness unable to see the ound they trod on or any surrounding ob- jects, and kept in the road only by some subtle animal instinct of which human reason can give no account. They were running away, With no one to check them but that madman, who reveled in their wildest speed, reckless of the destruction they might be rushing upon. Belle, forgetful of all else but present peril, clung to the sides of the bounding vehicle, fear- ing every moment that it would be overturned and she hurled to a horrible death by mangling! | The blind instinct of fear made her shriek for help where there was no chance for it from hu- man hands; and so they rushed on through the blackness and icy chill! Down through the village they swept, with ever-increasing speed; then away toward the where dwelt the old crone, whom all had that night come to fear as a veritable emissary of the Evil One! And now the hissing lightning rent the black bound he mys himself be- | No regulation of | curtain of night, and the voice of the mighty Thod, the god of thunder, drowned the eerie shrieks of laughter of the imps of the tempest. Directly in their path the mad horses saw an object of hideous aspect. Her bent form, her flapping garments, the crooked staff she waved, shrieking: ‘‘Ha!t ha! ha! Come on to death! Come on to the mangling rocks! Come on where chasms yawn and crags lie in wait! Come on, to perish in the snow and cold! Come on! come on! wel- come ye! Ha-ha-a-a-a-ah! The curses I’ve scattered like the sower in seedtime are spring- ing up, a rare crop of the thorns and nettles of hell! Now shriek -and wail and pray to yer deaf Heaven! I answer ye! Fall to, my lads! Let every man strike his brother to the heart! Writhe in the death-grip! till yer thews and sinews crack! hoarse curse between yer gnashing teeth! ho! we'll have the fiends’ revel!” This horrid spectacle appearing in their path Grind the Ho! | as if it had started out of the earth caused the | frantic leaders to rear and paw the air, then | swerve sharply to one side; and in a flash the | vehicle slewed round and rolled over and over, | hurling the yelling madman and his shrieking | | hands touched him. victim to an invisible fate. The wagon lay a wreck. The horses, broken loose, coursed madly on into the darkness, the winds sweeping the clatter of their hoofs away. The unearthly cries of the insane driver ceased | abruptly, as did the terrified voice of poor Belle | Briggs. Amid the bellowing of the thunder, the roar- ing of the winds, and the crash of riven trees, no sound of living creature remained save the eerie strains of the witch's voice, screaming: ‘‘Ha! ha! ho! ho! The dead man’s, bones— dead by the hand of hate!—works te fierce | Blow ye bleak blasts | The touch of yer | will of the Tormentor! out from the frozen pole! breath is death! Fall ye dread bolts from the pitiless heaven! The wrath of the gods sears and blackens as it destroys! Scourge with yer scorpion whips the vileearth-worm, man! Bring revenge! revenge! revenge! to the witch they fear while they hate!” CHAPTER V. A FRUITLESS SEARCH. Tue struggle for the capture of Belle Briggs was a brief one. Satisfied of her escape from her human foes, Little Leather-Breeches awoke to her peril from the violence of nature and the eccentricity of the madman. So, shaking himself free from his assailants, he slipped away. With no one to fight pe nothing to fight for, the icy blast soon cooled the ardor of the crowd. Blinded by the snow, shivering and with their teeth chattering, those who were not called to the task of bearing the dead man scudded to the house. The minister staid by poor Abe, urging gentle- ness upon those who lifted him, lest some flick- ering of life might hold him to suffering, and so advanced himself in the respect of those who had looked upon him as rather effeminate. To spare the women the shock of that bloody horror, the body was carried to the granary, | where, a lantern having been lighted, the min- ister once more knelt and satisfied himself that life was indeed extinct. Then they went to the house, to find a wo- man quivering with terror, yet ready to do bat- | tle with a mother’s undaunted courage. It was Mrs. Briggs, who, having been up- | stairs, was ignorant of what had occurred, until the breaking of the storm frightened her into joining those below, where she learned the terri- ble suspicions that blanched all faces. ‘¢ What is this I am told?” she cried—‘‘ that my daughter has taken the blood of a fellow- creature on her hands! Who has started this monstrous slander? Why don’t you speak?” She had deen a quiet woman—a woman of many sorrows and gentle resignation. But now her low voice was high and ringing; her kindly eyes blazed; her hand, that soothed many an aching brow was clinched, Farmer Ashmead dropped his eyes. He had been, her friend for twenty years and more— ever since she was a light-hearted girl no older than Belle! The minister came to his relief. “My dear friend!” he said, endeavoring to take her hand. But she shrunk from him. ‘‘T want no soft words!” she cried. “ You cannot caress me with one hand and stab me with the other! Are you all my child’s accu- sers?. Tell me that!” ‘* Madame, she is her own accuser!” ' —such a monster! Strain yer muscles | | among the ‘** Her own accuser?” ; “‘ We found her kneeling beside the dead man, | and she called herself his murderess!” ‘But it cannot be true! She was beside her- self with terror! She could not have killed him with her own hand! Great God, men! you who have known her ever since her babyhood !—you who know that she never harmed a living thing in all her innocent life!—you cannot believe that she would suddenly develop into such a wretch You know that he was fond of her—everybody knows that—a poor simple | creature, good and kindly enough in his way, but not one to win the favor of such a girl as Belle. She may have told him so, and he in a mo- ment of despair, have made ’way with himself. Men have denis such things. Then what more natural than that, in her terror and Sorrow at what had happened, through her and yet leav- ing her without blame, she should call herself his murderess—meaning that she had driven him to it? Oh! it must be that!—it 7s that, and no other!” ‘‘ That was her defense afterwards, but—” ‘“‘She said it? she said it?’ screamed the mother, leaping toward him as if about to clasp his arm, and yet shrinking back before her ‘* Now God be praised!” Then turning to her friends and neighbors, with clasped hands and streaming eyes: ‘“You hear! you hear! She is innocent!” But with gentle dignity the minister recount- ed the facts as they had been witnessed, from the first appearance of Abe Seaver to the pick- ing up of the revolver known to belong to Belle. he mother listened at bay, her lips apart, her breath panting, her eyes Lard with defiant in- credulity. “Tt is not true!” she persisted. ‘‘If all the prophets of Israel were to appear before me and declare her guilt, I would not believe them! I know her better. Where is she? What have you done with her?” ‘* With the aid of your son, she was carried off by the Mad Millionaire.” “Will did it? Well, now, I am truly proud of him! It is not the first time he has protect- ed a defenseless woman from your heartless cruelty!” The men winced as she laughed in their faces. But then a wild blast swept round the house, causing it to fairly rock, and the snow beat against the windows as if it were being thrown by the’shovelful. ‘‘In mercy’s name!” cried the mother, now awaking to the other peril, “‘is it possible that you drove a helpless girl into such a night as this? Where were your hearts—you who are fathers with daughters of your own?” “It was not our doing,” said farmer Ash- mead. ‘‘She was snatched out of our hands by your son and an irresponsible lunatic, whom—” ‘“Where are my things?” cried the indignant mother. ‘‘ May God forgive you all for your iron hearts—I never will!’ She got her shawl and bonnet, refusing to lis- ten to the women who crowded about her, begging her not to go out into that terrible tempest. As she entered the kitchen Joe Weyby step- ped forward, saying: “Tf you’re aeenat to go, you don’t go alone.” “Tt’s low down, and that’s a fact, for a lot of hulking fellows like us to pitch onto a little girl!” cried Jake Winters. ‘ Mrs. Briggs, if Be will count me on your side, I'll be obliged e! ne infection of sympathy took rapidly oung men, though the older and less susceptible held out in unforgiving con- demnation. Murder was murder! Half a dozen stalwart fellows soon had their | coats buttoned up to their chins and their caps drawn down over their ears, and with a young giant supporting her on either side, Mrs. Briggs went out into the storm. They took her home, and then set out with | lanterns to look for Belle. The r “ stool-pigeons ” were sitting la- zily about the stove in Tuttle’s grocery, smok- ing his tobacco and ‘“‘ swapping lies.” “T swar!” drawled Sam Trueman, stretching lazily, ‘‘ I begin to think we’re goin’ to havea rough night to git home in.” “Pity we didn’t start an hour ago,” assented Andy Morrison, as the frame building shuddered under the buffets of the wind. ‘* Who ever knowed it to blow up such a bliz- zard without a minute’s warning?” Old-man Van Dyke remembered a similar case in °37; and drawing a black plug from his breeches pocket, and biting off a piece, he prov JNA
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ceeded to tell all about it, making it as much worse than the present storm as his imagination would permit, In the midst of his description they were star- tled by a series of yells, the clatter of hoofs and rattling of wheels, and the screams of a woman. ‘* Good heavens! what’s that?” They sprung to the door, to be blinded and have their breath taken away by the fierce as- saults of the elements, The light streaming through the door showed them a runaway team tearing by. ‘The Mad Millionaire!” ‘* With a woman in the wagon! be!” ‘* Whoever it is, her life ain’t worth two bits, out in a night like this!” ‘‘ We can’t stand hyer an’ let her perish?” ‘‘ What's the reason we can’t? The man that roes out in that blow had better git measured ur his coffin! That’s my advice!” While they stood debating the question, a dark object was seen to approach. It was some one staggering through the snow, swept now this way, now that, by the furious blasts. ‘** Look! he’s down!” ‘‘ Lend a hand till we snake him in hyer!” They rushed out, caught the fallen man by the shoulders, and set him on his feet. ‘* Hyer, friend! we'll soon have you in a more comfortable berth than this!” *Van,”—which was short for Van Dyke— ‘‘vowre just. the man I want to see!” ‘* Hallo! it’s Little Leather-Breeches! ia Cain air you doin’ out hyer?” “That’s you, Morrison, is it? And who’s this?’ ‘‘Sam Trueman, an’ don’t ye furgit it! But [ wouldn’t ’a’ b’lieved. you’d knock under, the little while this blizzard has been blowin’—hang ine ef I would!” ‘“‘Tt ain’t that,” gasped Little Leather-Breech- es, as they dragged him over the threshold, ‘“but Pve had an ugly wrench. I reckon it has nearly broke me in two!” ‘“ What you’re wantin’ is three fingers o’ rum,” said Old-man Van Dyke, with unswerving faith in his universal remedy. ‘‘ That’ll sefi you all right in no time.” ‘ What I want,” said Little Leather-Breeches to Deacon Tuttle, ‘tis every lantern you can scare up, and a good man each to carry them.” In a word he told them, not the whole truth, Who can it but that the Mad Millionaire had taken Belle in | his wagon and made off with her from the gathering at Ashmead’s. As they bustled about, each knowing where to get what was wanted as well as the proprietor himself, they made the natural demand: ‘* And whar’s they all? Hain’t they got no lanterns up to Ashmead’s?” ‘‘They may be along presently. But every minute counts in such a night as this, soT hur- ried on for i fellows.” ** And right you was! at the old stand!” ‘* Come, then!” ‘Hold on! We don’t start without somethin’ warmin’! I’ve seen more days than you have, boy. Give the old man credit fur knowin’ a leetle somethin’.” They drank all round, while Little Leather- Breeches waited impatiently at the door. ‘Now, then!” he cried, as they. approached, throwing open the door and leaping out, Old-man Van Dyke muttered something about youngsters, and followed less agilely. They went up the road as fast as they could make their way through the deepening snow and against the swirling wind, Little Leather-Breeches could not step with- out pain, for in his tussle he had received a bruise and wrench of the leg; but he kept on without murmuring. Two or three times ali of their lanterns were blown out at the same time, and they were left in total darkness. Then one had to take his lantern under his overcoat while another lighted it. So they reached the scene of the overturning of the wagon of the Mad Millionaire. ‘* Hyer’s something!” cried one. It was the vehicle already half-drifted over. ‘Blow me if it takes long to cover things up hyer! Hyer’s the wagon, but neither hide nor hair of any livin’ critter!” ‘‘Hold on! Hyer’s somebody! Dash the light! . Hold yer lantern hyer, Sam.” “T's a man—the Mad Millionaire!” ‘(He was pitched out when the wagon went over. It’s knocked him as stiff as a sledge- ‘It’s lucky for him that he wasn’t pitched You're sure to find us What | eS | fur off. ‘‘ But Belle Briggs!” interposed Little Leather- Breeches. ‘‘ Boys, tramp around here lively! She must be under the snow!” But no trace of her was found. ‘‘She must have been able to walk off,” said Andy Morrison. Belle! Belle! ‘But she could not go far. Belle!” And Little Leather-Breeches shouted her name at the top of his lungs. No response came. The others joined him in a united halloo, with the same depressing result. “She may have been thrown out somewhere along the way,” said Little Leather-Breeches, his heart sinking at the thought. ‘“Look a-hyer,” suggested Old-man Van Dyke. ‘The witch’s hut oughtn’t to be so very She might ’a’ made her way thar.” Our hero caught at this hope. rf They toiled forward up the steep to the witch’s ut. There were no windows in the hut: but the door was so ill-fitted that a ruddy glow of a brilliant fire shone through the chinks. “‘ Hallo within!” cried Little Leather-Breeches, rapping on the door, which was all the worse for the rude entry of the mob a few weeks before. ‘“What d’ye want?’ was the querulous de- mand. ‘‘Can’t ye let a poor lone woman bide in peace? Stay where ye are, with the curse of old Mumbo Jumbo, who has nothing to thank | you for but ill-usage!” ‘*You have to thank me that you have a roof over your head at all,” replied Little Leather- | All we want is | Breeches. ‘‘Come! open to us! to ask you a few questions.” The old beldam hobbled across the room, opened the door, and muttering inaudibly all | the time, turned her back on her guests, and hobbled back to the fire, where she crouched for | warmth, ‘Have you seen anything of a young girl— Belle Briggs?” asked Little Leather-Breeches, | glancing about, though he knew that there was no place in the hut where she could be secreted. ‘* What! the accursed one?” asked the old witch, glaring around at him, ‘‘she with the blood on her soul?” The men stared. They had heard the gossip about the woful prophecy. But now they saw Little Leather-Breeches turn ghastly pale, and shudder, Old Mumbo Jumbo sprung up, and seizing her staff, waved him off with it, crying: ** Avaunt, with yer names of etl omen! Have ye come here to darken my threshold and bring down the wrath of heaven on me? Go! go! go!” She advanced upon him menacingly. “Take yer bloody tracks from my door!” she shouted, so shrilly that the men retreated before her, with a superstitious thrill. “For God’s sake, let us git out o’ hyer!” cried Old-man Van Dyke. ‘‘ Thar’s nothing to be got in this accursed place but ill-luck!” It was enough for Little Leather-Breeches that he despaired of finding Belle there. ‘‘Come!” he said, ‘‘ We must seek her along the road. She must have been thrown out be- fore the wagon overturned! My God! what will become of her? Belle! Belle! my darling!” The last he whispered to himself, in an agony of despair. They began the search, kicking about in the snow and shouting her name. There was no hope of success. It was impos- sible to remain longer out in the cold. e were already becoming chilled and exhausted. How could they search on either side of the road for a mile for an object buried out of sight? Only Lite Leather-Breeches persisted in it, 7 ; ee rs relieving each other in carrying the ALEG ‘ mnire, Soon the boy became so exhausted that he had to be helped, and finally carried. So they met another party, the young men who had escorted Mrs. Briggs home and then gone forth in quest of her daughter. Hearing the report of those who had already gone over the ground, they were disheartened. By Joe Weyby’s urging they went a little fur- ther, but soon abandoned the hopeless task. “Tell save the hangman a mighty disagree- | able task!” remarked Jake Winters, gloomily. ‘¢ Well find her to-morrow, looking better than she would with her neck stretched!” Little Leather-Breeches was carried home, where Mrs. Briggs went almost wild over her accumulated sorrows. When the young men returned to farmer Ashmead’s with their report, Kate contracted her eyes with shrewd suspicion, poaninnampekenineins ee ay ae a a —_ “‘ Tt’s odd that they should find Mr. Barclay, and not Belle,” she said. ‘‘ Where could she have gone, if she escaped unhurt? Suppose W21l Fosdick got Tuttle’s crowd to help him spirit her off ¢ ‘“'hat’s more like it!” John Boyce assented. | The matter was discussed until everybody was | half-convinced. On the morrow a new complication arose. Abe Seaver’s body had disappeared! There were half-filled tracks in the snow under the lee of the granary; but where the wind had a fair sweep they were wholly obliterated. When informed of this, the minister stared blankly, turning alternately red and pale. “Can it be that we made a mistake, and he is yet alive?” he exclaimed. ‘‘If he has gone out in the storm in delirium and perished, I shall never hold myself free from blame!” “Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Ashmead to her husband, when they were alone, ‘did you ever | see such a soft heart? I shouldn’t wonder if he worried himself sick, if Abe is found dead in the snow !” ‘* Boys,” was a ruder, yet not less hearty com- ment, ‘that parson is no slouch! I thought the wind would saw me in two when we stood over Abe—an’ I ain’t no chicken!—an’ thar that preacher took it like a little man!” CHAPTER VI. A LIVING GRAVE! Wuen Belle Briggs awoke to consciousness, she found herself in total darkness. | The air about her was damp and had the chill | of the grave in it. “Oh! I am, blind! | light! And how dead and heavy the air is!” She had struggled to a sitting posture. She | now passed her hand over the surface of the ground, and found that it was sand. | ‘* Tt is the shore of a lake or river, But I can- | not hear the ripple of water. And this profound | darkness !—it cannot be night. There is not the faintest glimmer of light!” She strained her eyes to their widest extent, | without avail. ‘*No! no! Iam stone blind! Oh heaven! I shall never see again! Whatcanhave happened to me? “That fearful ride! over a Cliff, and the shock has paralyzed the op- tic nerve. | ‘‘But I must have help! I shall perish out I cannot see a ray of I must have been thrown here alone, without shelter or food, and unable to move a step without the fear of being dashed to death! ‘But if I return to men, it will be to be hang- ed! Why did I not tell some one when I discov- ered that I had lost my revolver at the picnic? Now, no one will believe it!” Still, where there is life there must be effort. She rose and began to grope about. Sliding one foot before her as she advanced, as a precaution against pitfalls, her extended | hands presently came in contact with the cold, damp, rough surface of a rock. It was sheer as high as she could reach. It must be the wall of a canyon. Putting her back against it, she strode direct- ly forward at right angles. ‘¢*One! two! three! four! five! six! eight! nine! ten! eleven! twelve! thir—” er foot struck an obstruction; her hands felt a wall like that she had just left. She shuddered at the fatal number thirteen! She proceeded along the wall, keeping one hand in contact with it. It was somewhat tor tuous, yet bore, as far as she could judge, in the same general direction. She tried to remember any canyon like this. There was a mountain gulch about a mile from | her home, not far from the hut of the old witch, which at this season was for the most part a “dry run.” “But what has become of the snow? If it melted while Ilay unconscious, the water-course should now be a rushing torrent.” While she reflected thus, she experienced that sensation of proximity which we have all felt in the dark when the face or head is brought | near an extended surface. ; It was the echo of her breathing against the rocky walls, ‘ ; This attracted her attention more particularly | to the sense of hearing, and she became con- | scious that her slightest movement was echoed, not in distinct repetitions, but as if the Di irat surfaces were so close that the original soun blended with the reduplication. Her imagination aoe: rb at this, and ver: erated it. She stopped in sudden fright. To oe excited fancy it seemed as if the walls that encompassed her were closing in about her. ' seven!
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her voice: “ Hel \”? The effect was terrifying—stupefying! It was as if her wild cry had filled the whole world— as if a thousand fiends shrieked the word back into her ears! She cowered to the ground, quivering in every nerve. ‘** And, oh, God! That was the especial terror of it. not see the danger that menaced her. But continued olsservation impressed her with the dead stillness of the air, which equaled the silence. It was not the freeair of heaven, which always has some motion, so that the cheek can feel a faint coolness, Then flashed upon her a revelation which caused her heart to leap with a thrill of delight such as she had never before experienced. ‘*T am not blind! no! no! I am not blind! Thank God! I shall live to see again the blue sky and the green fields and the golden sun- shine!” And with a wild sob of ecstasy she scooped up a handful of sand, leaped to her feet, and threw it into the air. Then she uttered a scream of delight. “Tt struck! it struck! I heard it distinctly!” To make assurance doubly sure, she threw several handfuls more, crying as she did so; ‘‘No! no! Lam not blind! The rock extends overhead! Iam underground! Lamina cave! That accounts for this rayless darkness! Oh! I shall see! I shall see!” She had been in caves before, thinking it great sport to explore them with candles, shrinking at each step with fear, though assured by her companions that a few steps more would fetch them to the end, when they could turn about and go back to the renewed beauty of the sunlit world. ‘* Even in the darkness I have only to follow along the wall,” she assured hersol’. ‘‘ If one way does not lead out, the other will. Solam perfectly safe.” She now hastened, moving as rapidly as she dared, with the necessary caution to avoid striking against some obstruction. ‘“ When [ come to where I can go no further, I shall know that Iam in the wrong direction, and can turn back,” she said, striving to thus fortify her courage. : So she groped forward through numberless windings, until the roof dropped so that she could no longer walk erect. ‘Yes! yes!” she panted; “ this is what I ex- pected, There is no use in going any further in that direction, That is the end of the cave, Now I have only to follow the wall back. I sup- pose I was near the entrance when I set out, and taking the wrong direction, have been walking away from it ever since, Of course I couldn't have been far from the mouth.” This reflection started a new train of thought. “But how did I get in here at all, I wonder?” But that question opened up such a dark vista of uncertainty that she feared to explore it. ‘‘One thing at a time,” she said, trying to laugh. ‘‘ When I find my way out, it will be time enough to ascertain how I got in.” She groped on and on for what seemed to her to be hours, though she assured herself again and again that of course that was an illusion born of anxiety—that it was, in fact, only minutes. Then it occurred to her that she ought to try to recall the irregularities of the way, to assure herself that she was retracing the path she had come. “And here I am going back with my left hand to the wall,as I came. That is to say, I I am blind! blind!” She could am following the opposite side. How thought- less!” And yet it sprung from the natural desire to have the right hand free to grope with, while using the left hand as a guide, which only re- quired to be kept in contact with the wall. With quickening heart, she immediately cross- ed over. And now rose a treacherous play of the imag- ination. One moment she thought that she had come upon some remembered landmark, but the next it all seemed strange. : “Tt is the strangeness of using my right hand, and of approaching the irregularities from the opposite direction,” she said, hurrying forward, and using both hands. Then she turned her attention to the footway. “Tt seems to be rougher,” she mused. “ But then it was broken in som@places.” Presently it occurred to her to turn round and go in the opposite direction. On a sudden impulse she shrieked at the top of | losing presence of mind and self-control]. Little Leather-Breeches. ‘*T need go but a few steps,” she said aloud, feeling a growing terror at the thought of los- ing a moment. ‘‘It will relieve me of this awful uncertainty. I cannot endure it another moment! O-o0-oh—” It was a quavering moan of terror; but she broke it off. ‘*No! no!” she whispered to herself, ‘‘ I must not yield!—I must be calm! The danger is in I will be collected!” She struggled heroically against the terror that was bearing down upon her, threatening to destroy all power of rational thought. With quaking knees she groped a few steps, her trembling hands feeling every inequality of the rocky wall. ‘*Yes! yes!” she said, *‘I recall this crevice. I remember that it hurt my finger when it slip- ped into it.” But the fact was, her fevered imagination was beginning to people the darkness with undefined shapes of horror. The place where the wall had dropped until it touched her head seemed to be ads Sc toward her like a living thing! “Yes! yes!” she whispered, hoarsely and turning, hurried so precipitately that she stum- bled and hurt herself, yet kept on with increas- ing eagerness. Presently she ran against an abrupt wall. was another terminus. ‘* This is the real end of the cave!” herself, breathlessly. ‘‘ Where the roof shut down must have been the opening. I should have gone as far as possible before turning back. But it is not too late yet. I can return.” She hurried back, now stumbling and run- ning against projections, yet on and on, heedless of the cruel bruises she received. For a little while she would follow one wall and then cross over to the other, with a fickle- ness of purpose which came of growing confu- sion. In one of these passages she found herself in an open a Then everything seemed to whirl round, and she lest all sense of direction, and groped about aimlessly. Then she cried aloud for help until the weird echoes frightened her “to silence. But the sounds did not die with her voice. The silences thus waked gave back fiendish, chuckl- ing laughter. Horror froze the blood in her veins. blindly, madly. She rushed against a wall, and fell, stunned and bleeding. She gathered herself up, and with her head spinning round and her knees tottering dragged herself on! on! on! whither she knew not. So, overcome with terror and exhaustion, she sunk to the ground and lay unconscious. From her swoon she passed directly into a profound sleep. When exhausted nature had thus recuperated, she woke slowly, feeling chilled and stiff and sore, She lay utterly hopeless, until her idly-roving glance chanced to range directly above her head, There she saw what thrilled her to her heart’s core—a gleam of light! a ray of heaven’s glad sunshine! She sprung to her feet, and shrieked: ‘* Help! help! help! oh, help! Is there none of God’s free creatures within the reach of my voice? Help! help! help!—in the name of heaven, help!” But even as she appealed to it, extending her arms in wild supplication, that faint, far-off beacon was blot ted out, “Tt was a delusion! I am going mad!” she cried, clasping her head in her hands. Then the chamber, in the center of which she had fallen and now steod despairing, echoed with a wild unnatural] laugh. ‘Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha! So you are there, are you? Come up, you little devils! come up! come up! I’ve been waiting for you and trying to spy you out for years and years! Are you there? Come up and show yourselves! Nobody’ll harm you!” ‘““T’m mad! I’m mad!” breathed the poor girl, her cup of misery now full. It she said to She fled CHAPTER VII. A VOICE IN THE DARK. Bot there was no escaping from the impor- tunity of the voice which rung in her ears, *T say, brownies, ghouls, hobgoblins, elves, fairies, whoever and ‘whatever you are, you needn’t be afraid of me. I’ve always had a fancy for you, and I wouldn’t mind an exchange of civilities, all in a friendly way, if you are nn Ol a agreeable. Ha! ha! I'm an odd Dick, myself; so you needn’t stand on ceremony with me.” he bewildered girl brushed her hand across her brow, listening as the voice rattled on. It sounded strange and muffled, and was so multiplied by the etheee that it defied every ef- fort to determine where it came from, though she turned her head in different directions. Still, that it spoke intelligibly gave it a.cer- tain human quality; and when it ceased sh« called tremulously: “Is it a fellow-creature that is addressing me?” ‘‘Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha!” it shrieked, so wildly that the frightened girl cowered and shuddered as she listened. ‘ That’s a good one! Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha! A fellow-creature! I should say not! I’m about fourteen times as tall as you are, and weigh at least a hundred times as much. I say! do you know that I eat more beef every day for dinner than your whole body would make? But then you needn't be. afraid of me. [I’m not hungry just now, Ha! ha! ha! ha! But there! that’s chaff. If you only knew it, I’m the best friend you little folks have got. And I’m a right jolly fellow when you once come to know me. Won't you let me see you? Do you livedown there without any light?” “Surely, surely this is delirium!” moaned oor Belle. ‘‘ But my strait is so desperate that Twiges not lose the most unpromising hope of succor. ** Who are you?” she asked aloud. ‘‘P'm the modern Rip Van Winkle! You re- member Rip? He hobnobbed with some of your folks years ago. But he wasn’t a jollier fellow thanlam! Just try me! Won't you come up and let me see you?” ‘God knows I cannot escape!” sighed poor Belle. “*Can’t escape? Why, what’s the matter? I thought you folks could go anywhere you want ed to—down into the ground, or up into the air, just for the wishing. What can’t you escape from?” ‘* Prom this living tomb!” “Oh! — ina tomb, are you? Well, that’s queer ! © you bury your folks alive? We bury our folks that way sometimes. Ha! ha! But then it’s a bad way to. plant ’em, so we try not to, asarule. You see, they can’t come up, like carrots and such, and they don’t like tostay down! That’s a matter of taste, though. Do you know?—I fancy I shouldn’t mind being yuried alive. But I'd want a trap-door, so that I could come up o’ nights and skirmish around in the church-yard, and make folks’s hair rise! Wouldn't that be a rig torun? But, say! you don’t seem to enjoy that sort of thing, do yon? I wish I could help you out. I like to make everybody comfortable, I do. Oh! P'ma right good fellow, as I told you, when you come to know me!” ‘‘Oh! can you not help me? Iam lost in this horrible place! If you would but lead me once more to the light of the sun, I would give you a life-long gratitude!” ‘* Well, thatis queer! down there with you?” ‘My folks? How should they be? I am entirely alone!” ‘‘They’ve gone off and left’ you, have they? Well, that just shows! I reckon all mortals are pretty much alike, though I did think that no- thing could quite equal the scalawags we have on top of the earth! I say!—I can’t do much for you myself. I’m a no-account fellow with a crick in my cranium, so they say. But I know a young chap that’s greased lightning on things that nobody else can do; and if you don’t mind waiting a bit, I'll have him here in two jerks of a lamb’s tail. He'll fetch you through, you may depend!” fn a clear, rational moment Belle would have known that this was human help, and would have sent word to her friends. But in her half- delirious state she was like one in a dream, who is not surprised at meeting the weird creations of superstitious fancy. ‘‘Oh! if you can send one to my aid,” she sighed, ‘I will be ever grateful to you.” ‘* Allright! Here goes! Keep your heart up until I get back! Ha! ha! ha—a—a—ah! ha! ha! That’s a good one, thatis! I wonder what the little cuss is like, anyway!” The concluding sentences did not'reach Belle’s ears. The last she heard was the dying away of the demoniac laughter. The voice did not seem to recede in the corri- dors of the cave, but ceased as if it vanished out of the air close to her. So once more she told herself that it was a cheat of the imagination, ‘Tt cannot be that there are spirits other than Ain’t all of your folks Ob, no!—
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human souls,” she said, struggling to keep the mastery of her reason. ‘‘ Nor am I asleep and dreaming. No! no! it is the flightiness which comes of weakness.” She sought to steady herself. something to fix her eyes upon. the gleam of light, and looked to see if it would reappear. Yes! there it was again! and thor gh she be- If she only had | She recalled | Little Leather-Breeches. Leather-Breeches? He's the man for my money! Say!” and he lowered his voice to a mysterious whisper, ‘‘ don’t you give it away; but— Eh? | You understand?” And winking and bobbing his head rapidly, he poked her in the side with his finger, with a os look, and throwing back his head, | shrieked out his wild laugh once more. lieved it an illusion and that it would presently | vanish as it had done before, she gazed at it as a castaway on the lone ocean stares at a dim speck on the horizon, which may prove to be a sail, or only a film of vapor which will shortly dissipate in the air. ai ut it is blue!” she suddenly cried aloud. | ‘* And see! there is a point of light in the middle | of it! It is the sky!—it is the blue sky! [ have | heard that, looking up from the bottom of a well, | one can see stars in the daytime! Yes! yes! it is no illusion, but a glorious reality! I see the tiling heavens once more, and that is my star i promise!” A wild ecstasy thrilled through and through her. A flood of grateful tears sprung to her eyes. Shedashed them away, lest for an instant she should lose sight of that shimmering point of hope. So there, on her knees in the darkness, with her hands clasped as in prayer and her eyes straining upward, she waited, panting and sob- bing and murmuring— ‘Oh God! you are good to me! You will send deliverance in your own time and way!” While she waits thus, let us explain the source of the voice with which she has been holding | converse. The blizzard having blown itself out by mid- night was followed before morning by a furious | rain-storm, which washed away every trace of suow, At dawn two parties went in search of Belle Briggs—one consisting of her friends, and the other of the vindicators of the law. The distracted mother insisted upon being one of the former party, and as her despair increas- | ed with the evidence that there was no trace of | Belle to be found, she toiled among the crags, | frantically crying her name until she was car- ried home completely exhausted. Those under the lead of Jason Ashmead met with no better success, and both parties were equally jeered by old Mumbo Jumbo. Meanwhile, almost himself again after a night’s rest, Little Leather-Breeches had gone out alone, resolved if he found the girl alive to take her beyond the reach of the Jaw at all haz- ards. Apparently little the worse for his fall, the Mad. Millionaire had gone in search of his run- away horses. / By the middle of the afternoon he had not | met with any better success than the others in their more important quest; but his fortune took him into the heart of the hills, where, as he | was about to step over a hole upon which he had come unexpectedly, he heard issuing up through it the muffled sounds of a human voice. His diseased imagination at once caught at this, a glance into the black orifice showing him that it was the opening into some subterranean chamber. : ‘* Ho! it’s brownies!” he cried, eagerly. ‘I’ve wanted to see them all mylife. Now’sas gooda time as any to make their acquaintance. speak to them!” So he knelt and thrust his face close down over fhe hole, entirely cutting off the light that streamed through it. He rose from his interview with Belle believ- ing that it was some underground spirit in trou- ble, and went in quest of Little Leather- Breeches. He did not find © “il! Fosdick at home, but the distracted mother sa’ rocking her body to and fro, or paced the floor, or was now and then forced to lie down for a few minutes by the sympathetic women who surrounded her. At sight of the Mad Millionaire, she sprung up and seized hold of him. ‘*What have you done with my child?” she screamed. ‘‘ Where is she? last! You tore her away from all who loved her! Where is she now?” The lunatic took the contagion of her excite- ment as tinder ignites from a spark. ‘* Yes! yes! yes!” he cried with the rapidity of lightning, fairly dancing. ‘‘That was a famous ride, with the devil at the end of it! Ha! ha!” ** You fiend!” cried the mother, enraged at his laughter, so that she shook him with all her strength. ‘But I say!” he cried, Little ** where’s ‘ec Pil ; You were with her | Then glancing around at the other women who shrunk from him with fear, he sidled up to her and whispered in her ear: ‘*Tt’s ail right, between you and me and the | Little Leather-Breeches is the best Eh? he’s the one to fix it all | graveyard. man in the ¢ rcus. right!” Then the mother began to tremble with a wild hope. She too suddenly became apprehensive of the women, as seizing him with both hands | she whispered back: * You have found—” ‘* Ha! ha! ha!” he shrieked, throwing his head back, and then winking and nudging her again, added: ‘‘What some folks would give their eye-teeth to find! But, mum’s the word! Where’s Little Leather-Breeches? I can’t man- age it myself, what with the crick in my head, you know.” ‘*God bless you, you faithful creature!” sob- bed the mother, overcome with the new hope. **Oh, be careful! Do not trust any one. They are all her enemies! Do not even let it be known that you are in search of Will, or you may be followed. But you will find him some- where among the hills. You must search un- ceasingly until you do find him.’ So, “building better than he knew,” he left the mother with a priceless boon of joy and gratitude, while he went back to the hills. The sun had almost touched the horizon when he came upon the object of his search, looking haggard and desperate. ** Hello!” he cried. ‘' Yowre just the chap I'm looking for. I say!—I haven’t found the horses yet, but I’ve found what I’ve never lost. Ha! ha! ha! You don’t believe in witches and devils and. fairies, do you? Well, there’s the witch over yonder among the crags. You can’t deny that she told you all this trouble about the murder beforehand; and it’s my opinion that she had a hand init. It would be an easy matter for her to make you all believe that Abe Seaver was shot, when it wasn’t him at all, but only one of her familiars that had taken the form of his body, and lay there as if he was dead. You see, she couldn't spirit off a real body, but if it was.a cheat, I reckon it van- ished before Ashmead and the rest of them had got half-way to the house. ‘* Tf that isn’t the business of a witch, I don’t know what is. ‘* As for devils, you can see them dancing in the fire any stormy night, and hear them shriek- ing and laughing down the chimney. “But now, Pve got something else to show you—something that you don’t get a chance to see every day. I’ve been on the lookout for them all my life, and this is the first time I ever had the ghost of a show to get at one of them. ‘“We'’re all very independent when we're all right, ain't we? But when we get into trouble, we're glad of some one who will help us out. ** And now, who do you think has got into a hole— Ha, ha, ha! That’sa good one. Intoa hole! Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha!” ‘*Look here, Barclay!’ said Will, wearily, ‘*T haven’t any time to listen to your nonsense! What has become of Belle Briggs? That’s what I want to know.” ‘*Oh, yes! Belle Briggs. It was queer about that, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t have believed she had it in her. She was always so quiet, you know. But then you can never tell.” Little Leather-Breeches turned away in de- spair. ‘* But, say!” continued the Mad Millionaire, following him up. ‘ You’re a good fellow, You'd help anybody out of a scrape, wouldn’t you? Well, I’ve found a fairy shut up in a tomb under ground. Her folks have actually buried her alive—I don’t know what for; she didn’t tell me, But there she is, and she asked me to help her out. That’s the queerest thing I ever Lvard. I always thought thatthese ground folk could come and go as they pleased, and that they preferred to stay down there. But I suppose she knows best whether she feels com- fortable. So I told her that my head-piece wasn’t, good for much, but I knew a likely young fellow who would be glad to render: her any services that lay in his power; and that if he couldn’t find a way of getting her out, there was no use in looking to any one else. So I’ve come for you. Now’s your chance to see a ee ——EE I thought you wouldn’t want to regular fairy. I never saw one before, my miss the sight. self.” ‘* Barclay,” said Little Leather-Breeches; “come, be a good fellow and try to think what happened after you left Jason Ashmead’s’ house with Miss Briggs.” It was plain that he was not impressed by what he considereé one of the madman’s va- garies. But the Mad Millionaire was full of his one idea, and he urged it with every argument he could think of, going over the details of his in- terview when Little Leather-Breeches showed his incredulity, until our hero, impatient at having this nonsense, as he supposed, thrust upon his grief, repelled him angrily, and shook him off. But soon after he was alone something that had been said came back with startling force. His attention once arrested, the whole situation suddenly flashed upon him in a new light, and he stopped abruptly with a cry of wonder. The next instant he was flying back toward the spot where he had left the madman, shout- ing his name at the top of his lungs. he Mad Millionaire quickly forgot his disap- ointment, and delightedly led Little Leather reeches to the crevice in the rock. Trembling in every limb, our hero knelt with the setting sun shining full in his face. He had not time to speak, when a wild cry came up from the opening. “Will! Will! oh, Will! thank God, you have come at last!” CHAPTER VIIL. AN UNKNOWN FATE. Wirth his heart in his mouth, Little Leather- Breeches asked: ‘** Belle, darling, is it you?” ‘Yes! yes!” she panted. nearly died of fright!” “Well, it is all over now,” he said, sooth- ingly: “Oh, I am sure it is, now that I have you with me.” “But how did you get down there in so strange a place?” ‘‘T’m sure I don’t know.” “Try to think. You were with the Mad Mil- lionaire, you know.” ‘Yes. I shudder at that fearful ride! But I do not remember how it ended. I must have lost consciousness. When I came to myself I was in this terrible place all alone!” ‘*T think you were thrown from the wagon.” “That may be. I feel bruised and sore.” “Then you must have got up in a half-con- scious state and sought shelter from the cold in the mouth of some cave. But I do not know of anything of the kind anywhere near our home. Do you?” “No.” ‘* However, the first thing to think about is how to get you out. Can’t you find your way out as you got in?” ‘““Oh,no! I have wandered about in the dark ness until I am nearly wild! This is the only gleam of light I have seen since I have been in this horrible place!” ‘* Well, we must try some other way.” Little Leather-Breeches reflected. *‘ Belle,” he said, after a pause, ‘‘ you need not suffer any more anxiety, for now that I know where you are, you are perfectly safe. But it will be impossible to get you out at once. You cannot be got up through this small opening, nor can I get to you. And it is probable that, with a light and proper means of keeping track of the ground you have gone over, you can find the way out much sooner than I could find the way in to you. ‘** But first, you must be hungry.” ‘“‘T have been too greatly frightened to think of hunger, though I am weak and faint for want of food But I am famishing with thirst! If you could get me some water first!” ‘* You will not be afraid to be left alone?” **Oh, no!” ‘* Well, I will be back as soon as possible.” He rose, to find the Mad Millionaire staring at him in wonder. Little Leather-Breeches felt that it would be safer to leave the lunatic in his delusion than to tell him the truth. _ He therefore got rid of him on the pretext that he had frightened the fairy by his wild laugh, and with the promise that, when he had got her out, and she had got used to human beings so as not to f@r them, he would tell her a her rescuer was and ask her to let him see er. The Mad Millionaire thereupon resumed the **Oh, Will, I have ems
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| | | | a flask in which he always carried spirits for usé in emergency, and dropped it bay i the >t gro so that e could catch it in the lap of her diess, ln the same way he gave his match-safe and materials with which to build a fire. Then he left her, to get food and the means of effecting her escape. Rushing home as fast as he could through the gathering twilight, he found his mother by adop- tion surrounded by several sympathizing neigh- bors. By his instruction she got rid of them with a woman’s nice tact. They doubtless suspected that something lay beneath this polite invitation to leave, but they went, expressing their sympathy. Then Mrs. Briggs bustled about getting warm clothes for Belle, while Little Leather-Breeches put up food and candles and a ball of twine, She plied him with a flood of questions, but he told her indefinitely that he had found Belle hiding in a cave where she was safe from pur- suit. He packed everything in a long bundle, which | ‘was small enough the other way to be got through the opening. Then Mrs. Briggs was about to get ready to accompany him, but he dissuaded her. ‘“‘If you were seen going out with me,” he said, ‘‘ every one would know that we had found her, and it would be the easiest thing in the world to follow us. But, alone, I can easily elude pursuit, even if the truth is suspected.” It was a hard struggle for the loving mother to forego the opportunity to see her outcast child, age the last time for she knew not how long. She charged Little Leather-Breeches with an almost endless message. It would be impossible for him to remember half of it. ut its whole purport was love and confidence in her i:nocence; and Little Leather-Breeches repeated enough of it to make Belle weep tears of gratitude and feel that all would not be lost so long as she retained her mother’s love. She exchanged her wet clothes for dry ones and ate heartily, and it revived her strength and courage. Then Little Leather-Breeches instructed her how to fasten one end of the ball of twine toa jagged point of rock, and explore the corridors, paying out the string as she went, so that she could always find her way back. He had also supplied her with some flour tied in a bag, so that, by striking it against the wall she could mark the various corridors as she en- tered them, and thus might avoid going down the same one twice. **And now, dearest,” he said, finally, ‘‘ keep your presence of mind, and you can do this as well as if I were with you. When you reach the mouth of the cave, come directly to the knoll northwest of the witch’s hut, about a quarter of amile. That is where I am now. I will wait here, so that you will be sure to find me, whether you come back above or under ground.” * Oh, Will! how good you are to me! If I ever get out of here alive, I will show you how I love you!” : t “Tt won't say good-by, my darling—only, has- en! She threw a kiss oe in his direction, though, the night having fallen, she could not see his face. ut he could see her, in the light of her fire and the candle she carried; and he saw the brave smile with which she left him, Then she went down the corridor, the light of her candle was swallowed up, and the muffled echo of her footsteps died away. He waited breathlessly, his heart now beating S0 wildly with anxiety that its dull thud in his ears drowned every other sound. **God protect her!” he whispered, feeling a cold chill of dread creep over him. For a moment he blamed himself for letting her go out of his sight. To what nameless ter- pn had she gone with that hopeful smile on her ips?” But then reason told him that this was the only way, and he tried to control his fears. till he waited, staring down into the cavern at the waning fire, and fairly counting the min- tes utes. As the time passed his mind became agitated with a conflict of wild hopes and fears. Every once in a while he thought that he heard footsteps, not in the gloomy cave, but near him among the night-shrouded crags. Then he would start up with a glad cry of re- lief. She was coming! A bound, and she would be in his arms! But it was only the dropping of a twig, or the Joosening of a stone from its place. Little Leather-Breeches. search for his horses, and our hero got water in | He would turn again to his agonized vigil, only to stare at the embers slowly crumbling and burying themselves in white ashes. ** This will never do!” he cried, at last, ‘‘ She has been gone for hours! Something has happen- edtoher! Oh, why did I notfind means of getting to her, instead of leaving her to face these hidden perils alone?” He was nearly crazed with suspense. An icy sweat stood on his forehead, yet his brain seem- ed on fire. He kept repeating to himself: ‘“My God! my God!” Not a sound had come from the cavern, the voices of nature whispered about him. Then suddenly a wild, agonized shriek filled the cave with blood-curdling stridor! Only “Good God!” he cried aloud, quivering fh | every limb, as he pressed his face close down over the opening. Not a sound followed. Then his whole soul leaped from his lips in the wild cry: ‘*Belle! Belle! me!” His blood was frozen by the horrible response. The cave echoed and re-echoed with a round of fiendish laughter. Something like the wing of a monster bat fluttered for an instant below, and the dying embers were wholly extinguished. He stared into the darkness, dumb! Belle! in God’s name, answer CHAPTER IX, CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD. For a time Little Leather-Breeches lay flat on the rock, so frozen with terror that he hardly breathed. Then he woke the wild echoes of the cavern with his cries. “Belle! Belle! Belle! What has happened to you? For God’s sake, speak to me!” But not a sound answered him, Then wild frenzy seized him, and leaping to his feet, he fled down the mountain-side as if pursued by a legion of fiends. In the horror of that moment he lost all pre- sence of mind, and rushed on at a pace that would have been perilous even in the daytime. Now he tripped over a twig, sprawling his length, tearing his clothes and bruising and lacerating his flesh. Up and on again, tostep into a hole and crash once more to the ground. Before he reached the level land, he looked as if he had passed through a desperate life-and- death struggle. . His clothes were in tatters, his hat was gone, he was covered with blood and dirt. So he rushed headlong into the presence of his ado;ted mother, “Will! Will! for heaven’s sake, what has happened? You have found her? She is dead? : Jr is it that those fiends have got possession of ier?’ “| have no time to explain,” he cried. “I > An thm wetetas B asthe. and ropes, and more can- dles, It was lucky that, besides hunting, he had | given a great deal of his time to prospecting, and so had some mining-powder in the house. Of this he took what he thought he would want, and slung it over his back with a coil of rope. Candles and matches he thrust into his pock- ets. Then, before setting out, he looked to the loading of his revolvers, ** Will, what are you about to do?” cried the widow, alarmed by this warlike preparation. *T am going to fetch Belle to you, living or dead, as I find her, if it costs me my life!” he cried, almost breaking down with grief, as he thought of the more terrible contingency. “You are not going to fight all of those men?” ‘**Men or devils, I am going to fight every- thing that stands in my way to-night!” “*T shall go with you, Will!” ‘No, mother, you must not. ‘You can do no good, and—” } “IT can prevent you from rashly putting yourself in the grip of the law. Will, you are all that I have left. I can’t bear to have you too under the ban.” “There is no danger of that, mother. not going to fight our neighbors.” ‘‘ Whom are you going to fight, then?” ba | don’t know. Wheever Tas Belle in their wer, ‘* What do vou mean?” “You must not ask me now. I will tell you everything when I come back.” Little Leather-Breeches wished to spare his Iam 9 mother the horrible uncertainty that haunted him. “Trust me,” he pleaded. ‘‘ And above all, do not detain me! There is not a moment to lose!” *“My son, what is the meaning of this mys- tery?” ‘Tt is only in kindness to you jthat I do not tell you now. Waituntil—” “Why are you so terrified; and whom have you been struggling with?” ‘““Tt isn’t that. It is only that I have been running, and have had two or three ugly falls in the dark. There! if you want to do the best for Belle and every one, stay here in the house, and let me go without any more delay.” And the mother, more and more bewildered, afraid to oppose him and afraid to let him go, finally yielded. It was the darkest hour just before dawn. | No one was yet astir in the village, and Little Leather-Breeches’s aim was to get off unobserv- ed. He got away to the hills, and then striking a light, searched for a crevice into which he could tamp his powder, so as to enlarge the hole enough to admit his body. Without knowing what danger he was rush ing into, he was resolute to face it alone. ‘*There is no time to drill holes,” he said. ‘* This break in the rock will have to serve.” He charged it with powder, and then tamped it in solid with some reddish, sandy clay. Then he lighted the fuse and ran to a safe dis- tance. By this time the dull glow that had appear- ed in the east while he was at work was streaked with red, and the fleecy clouds were taking on the iridescent tints of mother of pearl. For a moment all was still, save the sighing of the wind and the monotonous ‘‘Caw! caw!” of an early crow that was slowly flapping over- head, Then, as the east began to quiver with tremu- lous light, came a puff of white smoke, followed by a roar that woke the hills to wrathful rever berations. High in the air tossed the fragments of rock, to return to earth in a pattering shower. Little Leather-Breeches ran forward, crying: ‘“*Tt won’t do to have another such upheaval, or I shall have the whole village up here to see what is going on!” But it proved to be unnecessary. The aper- ture had been enlarged enough to admit the passage of his body easily. Fastening a rope to a spur of rock near by, he dropped the free end into the black hole. ‘*T may never see the sunlight again!” he said, a chill of apprehension creeping over him, when the moment was at last come to descend. He looked about him. A wild desire seized him to wait and see the sun rise. But he thought of Belle and the unknown cause that had cut short her cry for help. With a sense of self-reproach that he could waste an instant, he swung down into the hole and slid down the rope into the darkness. Too late he reflected that he ought to have lighted a candle, so that he could see about him as he descended. However, he reached the floor of the cavern without incident, and all about him was as still as death. He looked up, to see the stars shimmering lambently through the opening. Then he struck a light. There was the fire, its embers black and scat- tered about. “That, at_least, was done by some human hand,” he reflected. Then he turned to the string which led away into the darkness of one of the corridors. He was about to follow this, when an irresis- tible longing to take a last look at the world he had left behind before plunging into the dark rep turned his eyes to the opening over- read. Then his heart leaped! Just as the setting sum nad illumined his face the night before and called forth a glad ery of recognition from Belle, so now the rising sun fell upon another face, its owner kneeling on the opposite side of the orifice. ‘**Mumbo Jumbo!” he cried, involuntarily. ““Yes, my dearie!” replied the old witch. ‘* What are ye doing down there?” “The blast has called her out, bad luck to her!” he muttered, trying to think how he could get rid of her without the danger of having her attract the attention of the villagers to what she had discovered. ‘Ha! ha! ho! ho!” she chuckled. ‘‘¥ecu're caught in there like aratin a trap, ain’t you, my lovey?”
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LO This was a new mogmoesion. ‘‘Confound her! there is no telling what may come into her crazy noddle! Suppose she takes a notion to shut me up in here?” This opened up a new source of anxiety. Lit- es: tle Leather-Breeches felt that ill-luck dogged his Ry. | footsteps. rn “T say, Mumbo Jumbo!” he called. i - ‘* Say what you’ve got to say quickly; for ’'m in a hurry to be off,” answered the hag. ‘* Were you thinking of going to the village?” “Well, that just depends.” ‘Tf I was in your place, I wouldn’t do it.” “Oh! You wouldn’t, eh?’ ae No. ” ‘* Well, that’s no reason why I shouldn't.” ‘But you remember that I saved your hut from having the torch put to it.” ‘That you did, lovey!” ‘* That shows that I’m your friend, don’t it?” ‘* All the more reason why I shouldn’t trust you. It’s our friends that betray us. We're not fools enough to let our enemies get the a chance!” KE ‘* But I have no wish to betray you; and it’s We only good advice when I tell you not to get in i] the way of the villagers just now. Remember, a they’re not very well pleased with what hap-~ oe. iat pened last night.” ie. ** Are you well pleased with it?” ee. ** At any rate, ’'m not disposed to vent my spite on you for what I don’t like about it.” ‘Oh! you ain’t, eh? Ha! ha! ho! ho!” And the old hag chuckled to herself like a malicious ghoul. ‘* Will you go home and wait until I come for ps you? I have something that I want to say.” “Oh! PU go home fast enough; but if you have anything to say this side the grave, now’s yer time to say i!” ‘‘ What do you mean?” cried Little Leather- Breeches, alarmed at her voice. ad ‘** Life’s a weary pilgrimage till ye come to we the end on’t, and then we all wish that it wasa : ey day’s march further on. Ha! ha! ho! ho! we're W.- brave in the morning; we lie basking in the sun at noon, but when night comes on—when the darkness begins to gather, then we shiver with dread, and try to recall forgotten pray- ers!’ She looked down at him with a wicked smile, her eyes glittering with snake-like cunning. Her hand came into view over over the ori- fice. Something flashed-in the sunlight. Then ‘it was no longer clearly distinguishable, as she reached down through the opening. ‘*Good Heavens! that was a knife!” cried Little Leather-Breechés, his heart leaping into his throat. ‘* Hold on!” he cried, aloud. about there?” nS uae yo out of harm’s way, lovey!” “Stop! What are you doing?” He feared to ask her if she was cutting the 7 rope. If he was mistaken, he dreaded to put the thought into her crazy brain. “Ha! ha! ho! ho!” she chuckled. ‘It’s dead men’s bones that does it. I’ve been in luck ever since the spell began to work. His flesh to the fishes, his bones to old Mumbo Jumbo, and his soul to the devil! But he was a brave fellow was Tom, and he died with his boots on! And now he brings grist to my mill! Come here, little loveys, and look. Here’s another of them! Ha! ha! ho! ho! Here’s a brave lad that’s not afraid of death—not he!” ‘*Good Heavens! what can I do?” cried Little on Leather-Breeches, within himself. “One!” cried the old hag. ‘‘Ho! ho! this was made for hanging men with! It’s a thou- sand pities to Spe it! And we’re in want of wre more, instead of less, now that the pretty, ten- aie der-handed and tender-hearted misses are taking to the sport! Ho! it’s rare sport, this sending men out of the world!” Little Leather-Breeches gazed up at the old witch as if fascinated. It seemed as if he could scarcely breathe, not to say speak. But a quivering of the rope caught his eyes, and sent a thrill through his heart, “Two!” said old Mumbo Jumbo, ‘Ha! hal ho! ho! like a rat in a trap!” oi ee ae a ie zw raise = Ri a age Se ee os “What are you Phra wee ST Rts ere sa hess x eee , ae nn aa wishthy a ee | ry he cried, ‘‘ or I will shoot you!” e whipped out his revolver with the full | purpose of carrying out his threat. AN t ‘Ha! ha! ho! ho! three!” And the rope dropped, coiling about him like a snake! He shuddered with horror! The thing, was done beyond recall! He was stupefied. He no longer felt any desire to execute his threat. He would have shot her to prevent the catastrophe; but to seek such a revenge would now be futile. She chuckled at him, cursed him, and then withdrew her face. He was alone! Then, recovering himself, he, shouted to her wildly, hoping against hope to move her to pity. But it was too late. She was gone. ere was nothing left him but to seek Belle, no longer with the hope of being able to restore her to life among men! But the old hag only cackled: _ CHAPTER X. HANDS UP!” “CONFOUND such a country! Last night we were buried in the snow, and to-day we are hub-deep in mud! [I say, driver! is it this way the year round, out here?” ‘Waal boss, I judge we’ve got about as much climate to the squar’ inch in these hyer parts as anywhar between the two frog-ponds.” “Fm! it looks like it!” ‘* Tt ain’t often as the doctors growls.” te Eh?” The outside passenger, who sat muffled up to the chin, started and looked sharply ss at the Jehu. He thought that he detected some covert sig- nificance under the words spoken. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, Hen Halladay chuckled softly. ‘* Waal, boss,” he said, looking out of the cor- ner of his eyes at the man at his elbow, ‘I thought as you had a kind o’ saw-bones way with ye.” ‘* How do you make that out?” asked the pas- senger, his eyes quickening with curiosity. ‘Waal, ye see any one could tell that you got yer livin’ by craft.” ** Craft?” ‘“*Head-work. So I says, says I, he ain’t no gospel-slinger; he pays as he goes. He ain’t given to swappin’ lies fur to cheat widders an’ orphings; he don’t have the cheek o’ that sort. He don’t dress the politician, nor come the soft- sawder with an ax to grind. But he looks as if a good fat fee wouldn’t turn his stomach; so I judge he’s a salivater.” The passenger smiled, but did not gratify the stag river’s curiosity. ‘*T guess the chances are that he has caught a glimpse of my instrument case,” he said to him- self. “Are we going to strike some dinner before long?” he asked. “Waal, stranger, at this rate, I judge we'll make the Glen not fur from sun-down.” The passenger settled himself further down in- to his muffler and grunted his discontent inar- ticulately. *‘Confound a man who will go to the world’s end on a fool’s errand!” he reflected, moodily. ‘* The boy’s rubbed out, as they say, P hao ago; and as fe health, bah! this one infernal ride has used me up more than a year’s practice at home!” Turning to the driver, he asked; “Tsay, friend! do you know anything about the massacre that took place out here a dozen or fifteen years ago?” ‘‘ Fourteen by the watch, stranger! Waal, ef I don’t, thar’sno use in your goin’ further for information!” ‘‘- You know all about it, I suppose?” — ““D’yesee that thar groove that ye kin lay yer finger in?” The driver took off his hat and held over his head so that his passenger might satisfy himself that this was no exaggeration. The stranger was content with merely looking at the spot. ‘““Waal, that thar means massacree! They laid yer humble sarvant out as white as tripe; an’ it was fool’s luck that I didn’t git my hair raised.” “Then perhaps you can tell me if there were any other survivors.” : “T jest kin, boss, ef I’ve a mind to.” “ Have you a mind to?” “T hain’t nothin’ ag’in’ it.” ‘¢ You would oblige me greatly.” ‘Waal, boss, thar was jest twokids that come through that scrimmage with hides that would hold water—two kids, the Mad Millionaire, and yer humble sarvant.” “Kids?” ee ‘Young ones.” “* Children.” “No! Who told ye?” “T gathered it from your somewhat enigma- tic expressions.” ‘“Smart boy! Go to the head o’ the class!” ‘* Who were these children?” ‘Now ye’r’ gittin’ me!” *“You don’t know?” ‘“‘Bein’s as I was jest put onto the hine. I hadn’t been in the place an hour, when it was whoop! crack! bang! an’ the devil to pay! They didn’t leave nothin’ o’ that thar burg but a grease-spot an’ a hole in the ground!” “* But the children escaped?” ‘t Somebody had the good sense to tie "em to a hoss an’ then cut the critter loose. He run ’em out without nary scratch, which shows that hoss-sense beats the human.” ‘* What has become of them?” “They fetched up at the Glen, an’ a good wo- man adopted ’em both.” “At Glendale?—the very place we are ap- proaching!” “* Exactly !” ‘* But was there no attempt made to trace the parentage of the children?” ““Who'd give it away, with everybody what knowed huntin’ their hair?” ‘You spoke of a mad millionaire.” ‘‘Clean gone, boss! He got a tap on the knowledge-box, like I did. I managed to crawl into the bushes, whar they found me laid out the next day. He must ’a’ had ’nuff sense to git r away in the woods; but when the folks in the Glen come up to reconnoiter, they found him peesin’ away ata minin’ claim, as crazy asa bed- ug, the which he hain’t been no better ever sense. Thar wa’n’t no one to dispute his title, an’ the claim panned out big money, while ye couldn’t make grub-stakes anywhar else. He’s sharp enough to look after the pay-dirt, but that’s all. , *€ An’ now, boss, you’ve pumped me dry.” Without a word the passenger handed over his pocket-flask. The stage-driver laughed as he accepted it, ‘* Stranger,” he said, ‘‘ you’d win the heart of a lime-kiln, you would!” ‘* You haven’t told me the name of the people who adopted the children.” ‘* A widder, boss, what answers to the name ¢ Briggs. They call the boy Little Leather- reeches. ‘* Waal, I sw’ar!” The ejaculation was called forth by the sud- den coming upon a solitary horseman, as the sage swept round a bend in a densely-wooded glen. The stranger had a carbine at his shoulder, and cried in ringing command: ‘* Hands up!” The prancing and snorting stage-horses were drawn up, and out of the surrounding thickets appeared other horsemen, ‘\H’m! it seems that we are to have a taste of true Western life,” said the passenger, coolly, having complied with the order of the road- agent. “That's right, stranger. Take the thing quiet- ly, an’ it’ll save stickin’-plaster !” “Do you observe a peculiar limp in that | | horse?” asked the stranger, as the road-agent advanced. 1 **T jest do!” ; ‘“‘Tt may be worth remembering.” he “T don’t see what good kin come of it.” bam ‘* We may see it again some time.” ** An’ spot the rider?” a Yes. ” ‘Boss, you air a cool hand! before?” ** No.” ‘*Waal, you’d better stay. This hyar is jest the country fur such as you.” “Tsay, Johnny! stop yer chin-music, an’ feel about that gent’s clothes for his war supplies,” ‘**Pard, I hear ye!”. And the driver complied, but, having passed his hands over the body of his passenger, was forced to report: —< Ever been West a Ie ‘ you think he can on 2 just now we'll troubl there.”
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Little Leather-Breeches. “He speaks in a disguised voice,” mused. the passenger, as he got down. The inside passengers were called out and made to stand in a row. Then the road-agents ‘‘ went through” them with a celerity which bespoke practice. Meanwhile, the gentleman first introduced to the reader quietly observed the men, all of whom were masked, and their horses. *‘ And now, gentlemen,” said the chief of the outlaws, ‘‘I wish you a pleasant good-after- noon! hen you report this outrage, be kind | enough to say that I treated you with courtesy.” | The road-agent dashed away down the road. The despoiled passengers got into the coach and continued on their way. Some were grumpy; some took it philosophi- cally, laughing at it as a joke; the outside pas- | senger was thoughtful. But their misfortunes were not over yet. An unlucky rut wrecked a wheel, so that, after a night of unmixed discomfort, they entered the village of Glendale just at the break of day. The outside traveler registered himself at the | tavern as Doctor Denslow, of Rochester, New York. At breakfast he was treated to a detailed ac- count of the tragedy that had occurred two days previously. Vithout committing himself, he drew from | his loquacious landlord an account of Little Leather-Breeches. He then went to call upon Mrs. Briggs. The poor woman was in a high state of nerv- ous excitement. A sleepless night, followed by the suspense and uncertainty of the new mys- tery as to Belle’s fate, was too much for her. Instead of obtruding his business at such a time, he was considerate enough to look to her well-being. ‘** Madam,” he said, ‘I have heard of your distress, and have come to see if I cannot be of service to you. I am a physician of many years’ experience in the city of Rochester, and I think I may say of fair success. Giving way to your trouble as you are doing may be follow- ed by serious consequences to your health. I beg that you will be advised by me, and allow me to prescribe a composing draught.” ** Oh, sir!” cried the poor mother, ‘‘if a kind Providence has sent you to offer some protec- tion to my misjudged child, it will relieve me sale! than anything you can do for me person- y. And clinging to his hand with a sudden con- fidence in his Shsposition and ability to befriend her and hers, she gave vent to tears. “Depend. upon it, my dear madam, your daughter shall have considerate treatment, whatever the facts may prove to be.” In an hour he had the distressed mother in bed, sleeping profoundly, under the care of a kind neighbor. Returning to the tavern, he was arrested on the threshold by a furious clatter coming down the road. ‘Waal, I sw’ar!” ejaculated mine host of the Glendale Tavern. ‘Ef hyer ain’t the Mad Mil- lionaire, as spick and span as if nothing had happened!” nd down the road came a wagon, drawn by four horses, the driver standing up and cracking his long whip out over their heads, as he laughed: ‘*Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha! Here we are again! Hallo, neighbor Costar. You see, I’ve found them! Richard is himself again!” ‘*Consarn his pictur’! It’s the same old rat- tle-head, every time ye see him!” said the stage- driver, who was lounging before the door, But Doctor Denslow was looking intently at the horses, and then with penetrating scrutiny at their driver. “Ts that the man you call the Mad Million- aire?’ he asked, as the team went by. ‘Tt ain’t nobody else,” was the reply. ** And those are his horses” “Whose else should they be? They stood "him ata thousand dollars a span.” “Do you notice anything peculiar about the nigh leader?” \ ; ‘Only this—thar ain’t nothin’ in this hyere section that kin touch it! It’s the best o’ the four, by all odds.” ** As a saddle-horse?” ad Yes.” **Pxactly. Well, do yowobserve that it has been. hurt?” : “'That’s so, boss. Itlimps. I reckon it had a fall night before last, before they got over the scare from that blizzard.” “Have you recently seen an animal that limped in that way?” “ Eh?’ | and muttered: 11 ‘‘In short, didn’t I call your attention to | that particular horse only yesterday afternoon?” | “You? Me? That hoss? Yesterday after- noon?” The stage-driver stared at the animal, then at the speaker, and back again, in bewilderment. Doctor Denslow smi with a peculiar signi- ficance, and waited in silence for the other’s | mind to make the proper associations. After a long stare at the horse in question, the | stage-driver fixed his eyes on the face of the | doctor in a steady look of inquiry. Then he blew a prolonged whistle of surprise, | ** Dang my skin!” ‘What's that?’ demanded the landlord, his | interest piqued. The Mad Millionaire wheeled his horses and | came down the road again at a spanking pace, as if making the home stretch on a race-course, Before the door of the tavern he drew them up | in magnificent style. ‘* Well, gentlemen,” he said, a shade of anx- | ious inquiry passing over his face, ‘* I have my | beauties back again—a little the worse for their | tear through the storm, but better than I dared | to expect. I hope others have been as fortunate. What’s the good word from the search for Miss | Briggs?” > A lot of the villagers were before the tavern, | listening open-mouthed to the account of the | attack on the stage. From them the Mad Millionaire got only sul- len frowns and wrathful mutterings. They were not quick to forgive him his share in the escape of the murderess. He smiled nervously and drove on. ‘* And the same voice—disguised, of course?” | continued Doctor Denslow, looking at the stage- driver. Hen Halladay scratched his head nervously. | ** The deuce and all, boss,” he said, presently, ‘that can’t be! The man’s as crazy as a bed- | bug—has been so these fourteen years.” ‘Not so crazy but that he seems to havea | keen eye to the main chance,” persisted the doctor. “What is this hyer?’ again urged the land- | lord. ‘‘ Let us into it, Hen.” ‘*T leave it to the doctor hyer,” said Halladay, shrinking from the responsibility. ** You are better known to these am,” said the doctor. ‘‘ Besides, go to bed.” And he walked into the tavern without more | } yple than I | propose to ado. | Hen Halladay was at once besieged; and ten | minutes later, when the Mad Millionaire re- | turned to the tavern, he was stop and drag- | ged out of his wagon by an intensely excited mob. | “Gentlemen! gentlemen! what is the meaning | of this?’ he cried. ‘* You infernal road-agent!” was the retort, ** you'll mighty soon find out! The fool dodge is played out, and won’t go down any longer with | this community!” / The passengers of the robbed coach being ap- | pees to, identified the horses as those ridden | »y the road-agents; and though there was some doubt as to the voice being the same as that of | the disguised man who pulled up the coach, the more the matter was discussed, the more general | became the impression of its identity. ““That’s his ‘ pocket!’” cried an indignant, be- | cause unlucky, miner. ‘‘ That’s why, while the | rest of us, as hasn’t had the sense to chuck our | picks an’ pans down the nearest prospectin’-hole | an’ pitch in an’ see what we kin git off the top 0’ the airth—that’s why, while the rest of us have been scratchin® a poor man’s back these | fifteen years, he’s drivin’ four-in-hands ’round | the country, whoopin’ ’er up all the time!” It was notorious that the country had been in- fested by road-agents ever since its first settle- ment, and though the Vigilantes had cut off a straggler here and there, the leading spirit had always managed to elude capture. So now only one voice was raised in behalf of the Mad Millionaire. “Friends,” said the Rev. Mr. Vance, “1 beg of you to proceed with caution. The evidence | seems to me very inconclusive, when you come to consider that this man has lived in our midst | for years, and has never before fallen under sus- | picion of any kind. I appeal to you, sir,” he | continued, addressing Doctor Denslow, who had come down in not the pleasantest humor from an ineffectual attempt to sleep. Somehow Belle Briggs had got to running in his head, though he asked himself impatiently what concern he could have with a total stran- ger, accused of murder. ‘“*T appeal to you, sir,” urged the minister, ‘ to pass upon his sanity.” | ** This light will betray me. “* Tf IT am summoned before the proper author- ity, I wil] do that with pleasure,” growled the | doctor, who was not partial to ‘‘the cloth.” ‘* Meanwhile, my impression of this section is that it is rather bloodthirsty all round!” With this cold comfort the minister turned away, and the Mad Millionaire remained in the hands of the mob. CHAPTER XI. A NEST OF OUTLAWS. For a moment after the rope fell into his hands Little Leather-Breeches was fairly stun- ned, The necessity of keeping Belle’s whereabouts a | secret had led him to keep even Mrs. Briggs in ign>rance of where he had gone. His only chance of succor then from the out- side world lay in the curiosity of the Mad Mill- ionaire. If he returned to see what had become of the supposed fairy, Little Leather-Breeches could make himself known. But this involved the betrayal of Belle. Then our hero remembered that there must be another way out—the way by which Belle had | found her way in. ** Here is the string!” he exclaimed, catching | sight of it. ‘‘ With its aid I can thread the laby- rinth as I directed her to do.” He then recalled the wild shriek which had filled him with fear as to her fate, and leaving the problem of escape until he should have found her, he set out at once down the corridor into which the clew led. Carrying his revolver at full cock, he held the candle above his head in the other hand, and so advanced, on the alert for a surprise. He soon came to where Belle had dropped the | ball when she fled from the old witch. After that there was nothing to guide him, | and chance led him to take the passes before which Belle had hesitated, and down which Mumbo Jumbo had made her appearance. But there were innumerable ramifications in this branch of the cavern, and he did not pro- ceed far over the way by which the witch had returned. He had advanced for full half an hour, care- fully marking his course so as to know what passages he had visited and the direction in which he had gone through them, when he perceived a murmuring sound, as of voices in | conversation. careful!” said he. By keeping hold of the string, I can always find my way back, even in the darkness. I will mark this spot, so as to know it again when I come to it, and then count my steps.” He dia so, and then blowing out his candle, ‘““Now then I must be , proceeded in the darkness. As he advanced the sounds became more dis- tinct, until he became sure that there were sev- eral men talking excitedly. ‘“‘They are our enemies!” he exclaimed, at once identifying himself with Belle. ‘ They have traced her to the cave, and captured her!” With a sudden swelling of the heart, and a determination to fight for her to the death if necessary, he gripped his weapon more firmly, and crept forward. Presently he discerned a dull glow, and turn- ing an angle, came in sight of a torch stuck in a crevice of the cavern wall. But the speakers were not within range of his vision; and the abundance of light showed that this was but one of several torches by which the chamber was illuminated. Little Leather-Breeches paused and listened. ‘*T tell ye what it is, pards,” said a voice which Little Leather-Breeches recognized as Hank Drake, ‘‘ we’ve got to handle our irons mighty gingerly, or we'll git our fingers burnt.” “It wasn’t such a bad scheme to use the luny’s hosses to pull up the coach with,” replied another, whom also our hero identified. ‘ That gent had a sharp eye in his head; and by the | way he spotted them critters, he’ll know ’em ag’in when he sees’em. Ha! ha! ha! it'll be a joke if he drops onto the luny and jugs him, and maybe stretches his neck!’ ‘The parson knows what he’s about, an’ don’t you furgit it! It was the Mad Millionaire that rin off the gal; an’ ef he kin git him ina box, he'll come the honey-fugle psalm-singin’ an’ prayin’ dodge over him, an’ make him spit out what he done with her, before he puts him on the straight shute to glory.” ‘* But, say! that wasa bad kink in that Seaver affair. What do ye suppose has become 0’ the galoot?” ‘“T'll tell ye some other time—after we find out!”
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12 ** But dead men don’t git up an’ walk off.” **No more they don’t. Therefore he wa’n’t dead.” “It ain’t like the parson to bungle things like | that.” ‘* We all make mistakes, Johnny. Tf + n't, nobody ’d ever git caught. Then whar’d be the use for Vigilance Committees?” ‘* Say, pard! this hyer will be a mighty good place to emigrate from ef Seaver gits off an’ blows on us. He had us piped down fine, an’ no mistake.” **So much the worse fur him! It was curi- osity, ye know, that made all the trouble in the world.” ‘“* But, Hank, how was it that the parson man- aged to shunt the thing off onto the leetle gal?” ‘Waal, that was more luck than anything else. Ye see, he found her little barker at the ” ey whar she lost it, and was soft enough to | . | got him; or rather he’s got you! weapons on the ground; but be careful not to eep it jest because it belonged to her. ** Sweet on her, eh?’ ** Slightually!” ‘*But how in thunder did he come to put her in such a box, then? way of showin’ his affection!” “Waal, ye see, she give him the mitten in a way that was calculated to r’ile any man.” * You was hangin’ around whar you had the chance to hear it?” ** Yes.” ‘“*T thought it was your duty to pick him off?” “Ef I gotthechance. Butthe parson seen his opportunity, an’ went fur it. He put a stopper on the blab-mouth, an’ got the leetle gal ina hole at the same time. Then he calculated to lid- | Little Leather-Breeches. | and without utterin dor. Little Leather-Breeches retreated backward, | keeping his weapon trained on his victim; and the other followed him, step for step. g a sound to attract the at- for him to attempt to find and rescue Belle and | tention of his comrades, advanced to the corri- | | So they reached an angle, passing which they | would be in darkness. Our hero knew that | would lose the advantage he held as long as his mark was visible; so he passed cut of sight, but in a whisper commanded the other to halt, when he had come so close that he could almost have | reached him with his extended hand. ‘**Tve got you, you arch villain!” he whisper- od: ‘‘andif you utter a sound, Pll blow your cheating Judge Lynch! A pretty leader of road- agents you are! All you want is to get Little Leather-Breeches into your den! Well, you’ve Put your That was a mighty queer | run her off an’ have his way with her, after | all,” ** An’ now she’s the deuce knows whar, an’ Abe Seaver is spirited off ditto! What do you suppose that crazy coot done with her, any- way?” ** Ask me an easy one!” ‘* Hold on, pards! Hyar comes the Cap!” The conversation was brought to an abrupt conclusion, and the speakers, of whom there ap- wared to be a dozen or more, moved 1urriedly, like eye-servants preparing to receive their master, Little Leather-Breeches stood in the dimly- illumined corridor with mouth agape. In the few minutes while he had listened, there had been opened up to him a deep and damnable plot of villainy. Whom did it involve? The very man against | whom he brushed every day!—his neighbors, ‘whom he had never dreamed of suspecting of such a thing! But he learned that the scream he had heard had not been caused by Belle’s capture by the conspirators. They had just expressed igno- rance of her whereabouts. There was one suspicion which he hesitated to entertain until it had found confirmation in the sound of the voice of the new-comer. In his eagerness he forgot the danger of being | detected by some one coming to a point where | they could see down the corridor in which he | was, and crept further forward, ‘*Come, my men!” said a brisk voice, so dif- ferent from the genteel drawl for which he had listened that he scarcely felt sure that it could be the same, ‘‘ there is no time to be idling here. The Mad Millionaire is in the calaboose, where he can be got at any time in the next twenty- | What lies immediately before us, is | four hours. to find Abe Seaver and to head off this young bantam, Little Leather-Breeches. Wecan man- age him without much difficulty, I fancy, if we once get our hands on him, He is virtually an outcast; and no one wil) take the trouble to look him up, if he mysteriously disappears. He is now somewhere; either looking for Belle Briggs, or keeping her in hiding; I am not sure which. In any case, all I ask is to get him once safely in ourden. Nobody tells any tales who once gets in here!” And the speaker finished with a laugh. ‘‘ He!” muttered Little Leather-Breeches, scarcely able to believe. the evidence of his senses. ‘‘ Well, of all the wolves in sheep's clothing !—” Without warning a man suddenly appeared before the mouth of the passage, and stood star- ing at him b!ankly! Our hero’s wits were never wool-gathering. Taken by surprise, he instantly conceived the only a that would protect him from be- trayal. Like a flash his revolver flew up so as to cover a spot directly between the outlaw’s eyes; and ‘with the other hand he beckoned to him. The man turned pale, realized his situation, try to get in a snap-shot on me, Remember, when you get ready to shoot, 1 may not be just where you expect to find me, as you cannot see me, though I can see you.. And if you were to make a mistake, you would never have a chance to retrieve it in this world!” White to the lips, the outlaw captain drew his revolver and laid it on the ground at his feet, without a word. He knew when he was ‘‘ down.” Having seen his bowie placed beside it, Little Leather-Breeches lighted a candle, and then commanded his captive to pass him and walk on in advance. The discomfited villain did as he was bid, still without a word, They had proceeded but a few paces further, when our hero discovered that what would have proved an advantage had the disappearance of the captain passed unnoticed, was destined to prove a mistake. Voices were heard calling from the chamber | they had just left. about | ‘* Hallo. Cap! where have you gone to? What are you doin’ in thar in the dark?” With the quickness of light Little Leather- Breeches sprung forward, ** Tell them that it is all right, and that you don’t want to be interfered with!” he whispered, holding his revolver in unpleasant proximity to the captain’s temple. “Tis all right, boys!” called the captain. ** Just attend to your own affairs, and I'll at- tend to mine.” But even as he spoke a flood of light came down the passage; and at tke angle where our hero had compelled the outlaw captain to dis- arm himself appeared a group of bis followers, one of them bearing a flaming torch. Instantly Little Leather-Breeches blew out his candle, But the precaution was ineffectual. The ruddy light from the toreh brought him and his captive out in bold relief against the black background of rayless space beyond. At a glance the whole situation was revealed to the astonished rogues. ‘“ Wal, I swear!” cried one, with an oath, ‘ef that’s what you call all right, I should like to see something that was all wrong!” ‘** Crowd against the wall and let me pass you; or you are a dead man!” fairly hissed Little Leather-Breeches. And so terrible was the intensity of his men- ace that the man whom he held in his power sprung aside. Little Leather-Breeches flashed by, and so es- caped the danger of getting a shot in the back. Now he was able to face his enemies; and still holding their chief under cover, he cried: ‘Now, men, it must be plain to you that I have your captain. There are enough of you to make mince-meat of me in short order; but you can’t do it intime to prevent me from laying him out, “And you, sir!’—to the captain—‘‘ recom- mend discretion to your men, if you value your life.” ‘* What do you wish me to do?” asked the out- law, to gain time to think up some way of out- witting the boy who had trapped him so clever- ly. *‘Order your men back into the chamber where I came upon you.” ‘* And what do you propose to do with me?” During the moment that had passed since the outlaws came upon him, Little Leather-Breeches had entirely changed his plans. With the necessity of guarding his captive every instant, and exposed to ambush. by the outlaws in a cavern the windings of which he knew nothing about, while they might know all about them, he knew that it would be hopeless in such a situation he brains out, as you deserve, but that it would be } take her safely to the outer world. But now that he could face all the world and prove her innocence, he had but to effect his own escape to command the whole force of the vil- lage to return and search for her. So he answered without hesitation: ‘*T propose to march you out past all of your men, and carry you a prisoner to town!” ‘* And do you fancy that I will prefer the cer tainty of hanging to the chance of being fatally shot here?” ‘**No. You will count upon the chance of es- caping me somewhere in the passage through your men or after we have left the cave.” ‘* You are very shrewd.” ‘*] am also getting impatient!” The captain of the outlaws understood this hint; but just as he was about to turn to his men and give them the required order, Little Leather-Breeches saw his face suddenly lighten, as he glanced past our hero in the direction oj | posite to that where his men stood. At the same time, a low ejaculation escaped | from some of the men; and their captain's eager look was reflected on their faces. Like a flash Little Leather-Breeches whirled round, and saw at his back a man whose blank look of bewilderment showed that he had just made his appearance at that end of the corridor, and was at a loss what to make of the scene be- fore him. Little Leather-Breeches recognized in him a crony of Hank Drake’s; besides, the evident pleasure with which the outlaws had hailed his appearance was sufficient proof that he was one of them. It was plain, then, that the lad stood between two fires; and only the promptest action could save him from capture, if not death. He saw his one chance, and leaped for it with- out an instant’s delay. With a lightning snap-shot he senta bullet into the brain of the last intruder, and springing to- ward him, snatched the torch out of his hand before it fell to the ground. Then he turned, to receive the captain of the outlaws with an equally effective bullet, if he found him in the act of trying to leap upon him; but that worthy knew too well the wonderful activity of the boy he had to deal with to try to capture him empty-handed. Instead, he bound- ed toward his men, shouting: ** A revolver! a revolver! ver!” They rushed forward with vindictive yells; and, knowing that he could not cope with them, Little Leather-Breeches sprung away, now forced to trust to his star of destiny. The windings of the passages gave them little opportunity to fire at him, though they im- proved what there was of it. He ran what seemed to him a mile, without the faintest idea of direction or anything save that certain death was behind him, whatever might lie before, when suddenly he ran into a small chamber, which was nothing more than a swell in the passage, and discovered that it con- tained a lot of open powder-kegs, which to his hurried glance seemed to be full of the com- bustible. His thought was that, by a circuitous route, he had come back to the outlaws’ retreat, and that escape lay just beyond. What then was his dismay to see some one rushing toward him with a blazing torch held above her head! But before he had lifted his revolver with that fatal aim which would have carried swift death to any one opposing his progress, he dis- covered that it was not an outlaw, but the witch to whose malice he owed his imprison- ment. She glared at him with a wild shriek of fury, and it seemed to be her purpose to thrust her torch into his face. However he had no time to bother with an old beldam, besides that at the same instant he caught sight of something on beyond that sent his heart into his mouth with mingled delight and terror; and deftly dodging her, he kept on, while she continued toward the chamber con- taining the powder. His pursuers reached the other entrance to this fatal chamber in time to see what it con- tained, and to divine the purpose of the insane creature who thus held their lives at the merey of any whim that might cross her distraught fancy. ‘“‘ Back! back!” she shrieked. ‘Ye shall not desecrate the temple of the god!” She waved the torch over her head until it seemed impossible that no dropping spark should fall into one of the open kegs, Give me a revol-
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_ ears so cleverly. _ my pretty murderess! _ thumping her staff on the rocky floor, and fell, consciousness leaving from terror as from the shock. Sein - — - - —— With cries of terror they turned to fly. _ Then the poor, crazy creature was thrilled with an insane triumph. “Ha! ba! ha! ha-a-a-a-a-ah!” she shrieked. “Now is the hour of my long-waited-for tri- umph! world under this mountain of rock! I come to you, bringing my tens of thousands And she plunged her torch into an open pow- der-keg! ” CHAPTER XII. THE WITCH’S LAST BLOW. BELLE found herself in an immense and 1n- | tricate labyrinth, but saw nothing to startle her save the vast, still solitude. She therefore entered upon her attemy ‘o thread the maze with hopefulness. If the worst came, and she failed utterly to find her way out, she knew that the opening could be enlarged so that she could reach the outer world through it. ‘“ Will is at the other end of the string!” she | kept saying to herself; ‘“and with him there, I have nothing really to fear.” So she buoyed up her courage until she had exhausted one great ramification of the cavern. | Before death claims me I will bury the | B’elzebub, | waited, ‘*Who’s that?’ she asked herself. can’t be another with her? How could they get in? I’ve always feared these endless windings would admit some one to my temple. I must block the passage—that’s what I must do! I’ve been a fool to put it off solong. They mustn’t see this light!” And dashing the torch against the rock, she “There } weird spectacle, while the old witch went through a ceremonial such as was probably never seen anywhere except among the lowest order of savages. It consisted of .a chant in‘ unintelligible jar- gon, often accompanied by a rude, hopping | dance, while she went round and round the dais, extinguished it, leaving herself in total dark- | ness. Then turning her face down the passage in | the direction whence the voice came, she cried: ‘‘ Eh? what’s that? <A light!” It was a faint illumination of the wall of the corridor, so faint that it had not been percep- tible while her torch cast its brighter glow. ‘* Pll see my enemies, at any rate!” she mut- tered. Shuffling forward, she discovered the dying embers of the fire Belle had built. She also found that the cries came from over- head. ‘It’s some one at the chimney-top! Oh! I Finally, as she stood before a black opening | know that well!” she cried, her ugly face lighting which led she knew not where, she was over- wered with a sense of weariness and a long- ing to see once more the face that linked her to life and love. Several hours—it seemed like days to her!— | must have passed since she left him. **T ought to return, if only to reassure him,” she said. ‘‘ He must be anxious at my long ab- sence. Besides, I must be not far from the chamber where he is waiting.” Even as she thus debated with herself, she saw an illumination of the rocky walls down the corridor before which she stood hesitating. “Oh! it is he!” she cried, with a sudden thrill | of wild delight. ‘‘ He has for me, and resolved to fin Will! Will! Will!” She sp forward, heedless that the rapid movement blew her candle out, Tn her assurance that the next moment would see her leaping into his arms, she threw away the now useless taper. ‘‘Ha! ha! ha! ha!” she laughed, hysterically. “Oh, Will! Will! my darling!” ‘Ha! ha! ho! ho!” came the mse, in a rasping tone that curdled her bl with ter- ror, ‘I’m yer darling, am I? I’m yer Will! I’ve open arms for ye, Thave! I’ve a love-kiss for ye that ye’ll not soon forged Ill bite my one tooth through yer lip! How’s that, my deary? Ha! ha! ho! ho!” And there before her, at the other end of the black vista, stood the hag she had always feared, though more than ever since that horrible pre- diction of the fate that was so soon to overtake ot tired of waiting his way in to me! her. Mumbo Jumbo stood holding a torch above her head and clinging to her with the other hand, while she peered at the maiden with a Sage * bo ke Spanish [ er about her like ish [moss e imbs of a dead tree. “4 stood aghast, terror chaining her feet tc the spot. “Ha! ha! ho! ho!” chuckled the old _ * Ye’re there, with the blood on yer soul! Wou d @ like to see yer victim—the fool ye sent to his ong reckoning because of hislovefor you? Ho! here’s a fine world! We're turning the Scrip- ture round in these modern days. It’s a blow for a kiss now; and it’s the woman that gives the blow! Well, that isn’t so bad. Generally it’s lies and perjury and shame and sorrow in return for love, with the woman the sufferer. But come with me, my deary. I’ve had a ten- der spot in my heart for you ever since you showed yer pretty pluck, and set them by the here’s bad blood among them yet, and it’s bound to be let out by one or an- other before they’re quit of it. Come with me, Ha! ha! ho! ho!” And the hideous old wretch hobbled ws an chuckling with ghoulish glee. For a time e stood monster as if fascinated. Then with a shriek of abject terror she turn- _ ed and fled down the passage. The wicked laughter of the old beldam fol- to her feet; but as she darkness she stumbled her, as much ee Beet with lips apart and | _ fluttering breath, staring at the approaching with relief. ‘‘ There’s no harm in their amusing themselves there. Cry away, mydear! But Tl] give you a little start, if there’s superstition in your soul.” } waving her staff over the blaze, and dropping things into it. Every time she passed before the enthroned skeleton she would prostrate her- | self before it. From time to time she would descend and wave her staff over the frightened girl, or back and forth over the stark body at her feet. At such times she would fix her glittering eyes | upon Belle, and her voice would be infused with | the harshness of bitter condemnation. At last she withdrew into the darkness of one | of the corridors, but presently returned, bear- ing a chalice, the bow] part of which was made of the top of the skull of some small animal. Holding this, she prostrated herself before the skeleton. Then she descended, approaching Belle, drawing a knife as she came. ‘The god will do nothing until he is propitiat- ed with a feast of human flesh and a draught of human blood!” she said. ‘‘Ha! ha! ho! ho! It’s arare charm I’m working now! Did you And taking off her cloak, she beat the last | ever smell the odor of burning flesh—human waning embers out with it. flesh, I mean? It’s sweet!—ho! sweet! that’s a Then she advanced boldly into the darkened | matter of taste! But the gods all like it. Queer chamber, and looked er She now recognized Little Leather-Breeches’s voice, ‘“Ha! ha! ho! ho!” she chuckled, ‘it’s our | | to strip the clothes from his breast. brave young lover! better! mysterious uncertainty overhanging the fate of his love! We'll have him down here next! Ha! ha! it’s dead men’s bones that does it! All my luck is coming at once, after all these weary years of waiting! But I must get ready to re- ceive him, It won’t do to let him get back, to lead all the world in on me. No! no! whoever enters the witch’s den must never leave it alive!” She hobbled back in the darkness to where she had left Belle lying in a swoon. There she relighted her torch and stuck it in a crevice in the wall. She then picked up the unconscious girl, throwing her over her shoulder as if she were a sack of grain, and so hobbled off with her down the corridor. We have seen that she was in the upper world in time to cut off Little Leather-Breeches’s escape from the the trap into which he had low- ered himself. The spell works better and | taste—eh? I say! blood’s a rare drink, though. Maybe you never drank any? But blood’s the ' wine of life, you know.” He'll not stay above ground with this | " | her | yer lover had followed you into the witch’s den, Returning to where she had left Belle, she found the girl just recovering consciousness. Our heroine opened her eyes on as goenge a scene as ever appealed to the superstitious fears of mortal. She was in the midst of a vast subterranean chamber, illuminated by a fire burning on a tri- pod, or three-legged brasier. This stood on a sort of natural dais, which oc- cupied one side of the cavern, forming a plat- form higher than her head, the sloping sides of which had been wrought by art into rude steps. At the back of this dais, and resting against the wall of the cavern, stood a throne of most hideous construction. It was fashioned out of the glistening white bones of dead animals! The framework—legs, seat and arms—was made of leg bones. The high back was “ her- ring-boned ” with ribs radiating from vertebre. The seat and overhanging canopy were made of shoulder-blades and the flat bones of the pel- | vis. At intervals all around the edge of the dais, like the foot-lights of a theatrical stage, were placed the skulls of cattle. Before the dais, in the center of the cavern, was a chair made of the horns taken from these | stop! you wretched creature! skulls, She knelt beside poor Abe’s bedy, and began ‘A rare charm!” she muttered, recurring to urpose. ‘“‘ Ye didn’t know—did ye/—that to see what had become of-you. Well, he did. Ha! ha! ho! ho! they’re all coming toit! It’s the spell of dead-men’s bones that does it! “Now, I couldn’t meet him in the natural way, could I? No! no! he’d be one too many for this o’d rack of bones! But the god can manage him! The charm will cast a sleep over him. Then he'll be helpless, and I'll fetch him here and draw off his blood and burn his flesh to work new spells with. Oh! Ill have the whole lot of them under my thumb before I’ve done pic them! Curse them! curse them! curse them! ‘‘Look! look! Hasn’t he a fair white breast? There’s not_a scaron it, That’s what the god likes best. Ye know, Jehovah would only have firstlings without blemishes. Well, now, you'd | wonder they’d be so particular, when they only smell the stench from the burning. But they like the heart best. That’s queer, ain’t it?” She drew the back of her knife down the breast bone, then from this line outward to the na: on the left side. o! ho!” she chuckled. ‘ Here’s carving | for ye! I reckon that'll do it cleverly.” e fi Pe a phen reversed the knife, prepared to cut e : Upon this fearful spectacle Belle gazed dumb- ly. She strove to cry out, to deter the wretched creature; but her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth. She tried to close her eyes, to shut out the hor- ror; but she was fascinated. The witch drew the point of her knife over the last line she had made, sow cutting through the skin, though not deeply, as if only an experi- mental cut. A moment after the knife had left it, a fine crimson line appeared. Then drops of blood oozed forth, and ran down over the y. That broke the spell that had thus far chained Belle’s will. She uttered a piercing shriek. **See! see!” she cried. ‘‘ He is alive! blood flows! TI tell you, he is not dead! The Stop! _ Do you not see that you are cutting into a living man? You Belle awoke to consciousness to find herself will be a murderess! seated in this chair, bound to her place. At her feet lay the body of Abe Seaver, ghastly and dabbl brasier, stood the old hag, Mumbo Jumbo, wav- ing her staff over the blaze, and muttering some crazy incantation. Looking beyond the witch, Belle saw seated on the throne what chilled her blood more than all the rest. It was a human skeleton, perfectly articulat- ed, and posed as with ghastly life! On its head was a crown made of teeth: its left hand was extended, grasping a long, lance- | | The witch looked up with surprise. Alive?” she repeated. ‘‘ Why, of course. Do with blood. On the dais, beside the | you suppose I would try to draw blood from a dead sg And the god is like a lion—he wouldn’t have carrion. It’s the quick flesh he wants, Oh! ee a dainty lot! Ye wouldn’t believe it! Ha! ha! ho! ho!” “But this is horrible!” cried poor Belle. ‘I You can- never heard of anything so terrible. It is murder of the most aw- not beso wicked! al Marae ted the old hag, looki e 0 ooking there'll be two of us eb “Murder!” re witha grin. ‘“ 2 ; . ; z ne ~~ {Bon! te F Me ae Ae _ 7 i | * ee Mead - *
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Sr epee [= ie EE eS oi - — = ; we EV TPT PSS. d ~ P URE But you’re young. What wrongs have you to avenge? But I, now—I who have a hell of re- collection, well, that’s different. I’m old Mum- bo Jumbo, Ye wouldn't believe, to look at me, that I was once as young and pretty as you— that I had lovers— Ha! curse them! curse them all, I say!” Thrown into sudden rage, she lifted her knife, as if to plunge it into the heart of the inanimate body stretched before her. But just then her attention was diverted by a confused sound—a murmur of echoes which re- verberated through the cavern. ‘* What’s that?’ she cried, starting up. She stood listening, while the sound increased. First was distinguishable the clear, sharp crack of firearms. nen the echoes revealed a Babel of excited voices. Lastly could be made out the clapping sounds of rapid footfalls. Belle’s heart ee a great Sout. Anything in the shape of human life would be preferable to seclusion with this malicious lunatic, She shrieked: ‘Help! help! help! oh, help!” ‘* No, there is no help!” cried the witch, with a burst of wild excitement. ‘In yonder corri- dor [ have stored enough giant powder to blow this mountain to atoms! Do you suppose I would permit a lot of wretches to invade my temple and desecrate the altar of the godt No! Better that we all be buried together! And leaping up the rude steps of the dais, she snatched a brand from the brasier and ran with it toward the passage from which the approach- ing sounds seemed to come. **Fool! fool!” she repeated, bitterly, “ that I have so long delayed cutting off this avenue for unholy invasion! Now that the charm has just begun to work!—now that my wearily-waited- for revenge is being slaked! No, no; it shall not be! Before their sacrilegious hands shall break the spell of dead men’s bones, let us all perish together |” As she ran with the blazing torch, her hideous face illuminated by its ruddy glare, she looked like a fiend of destruction. Helplessly bound, Belle could only scream: “Stop her! stop her! She is going to blow up the cave!” She twisted her head round, to see who first wig! enon where the old witch bad gone, The voices became louder and louder, and the fall of footsteps more distinct, until she was as- sured that there was a life and death race in progress through the black corridors of the hor- rible place. Again and again the air quivered with the sharp, clattering echoes of pistol-shots. Then a dark figure dashed past old Mumbo Jumbo, who was just disappearing in the black mouth of the passage. Belle heard voices cryin “Kill him! kill him! capes!” Then arose the shrill scream of the witch: ** Back—back, ye devils! Ha! ha! ha! ha!” We are lost if he es- The laugh was a wild shriek of rage and tri- umph. it was followed by cries of terror and warn- ing in the deep base of masculine voices. en rose a yell of fear, and an instant after came a roar as if the solid earth bad been riven to its center. Blended with the terrible concussion, Belle was conscious of a voice quite ‘near her, utter- ing words that were unintelligible to her; then she knew dimly that a pair of arms were thrown about her, and lips which thrilled her with delight were pressed to hers, while a Joved voice murmured. her name. She strove to respond: ‘© Will! Will! dear Will!” But the sound died on her lips, She struggled only to see him, feeling that it might be the last of earth—that the witch had effected her terrible revenge. But everything faded out. The ray roof of the cavern seemed fallen upon her, crushing and smothering her. Then came the blank of un- consciousness. a A word will finish our story. When Doctor Denslow came to know a little more about the situation, he began to think that he’might have made a mistake about the iden- tity of the Mad Millionaire and the road-agent leader. A more careful examination of the lunatic satisfied him that this was so. During that examination he learned all about the “fairy,” and was not slow to see that it must be someti more thana madman’s fanc to aa Little ther-Breeches so mysteri- Cusy. Little Leather-Breeches. He raised a Sgr of men, and had himself led to the spot. The blasting told its mute story, the cut rope causing even the good doctor to scratch his head for some time in perplexity. But a happy remembrance of the part the witch had played in the whole matter gave him what he thought was a clew; and going at once to her hut, he searched it, and found an entrance to the cave at the back of her chimney, far enough up the flue to be out of sight. While they were preparing to enter here, the earth was shaken by a terrific explosion. Hurried by this portentous occurrence, they plunged in, and after threading a short pas- sage, came to the witch’s temple. ‘he sight that there awaited them filled the more ignorant with superstitious fears; but Doctor Denslow only saw that there were three ante in the chamber who might be alive or dead, Abe Seaver lay on the floor; Belle sat bound in her chair: and Little Leather-Breeches lay with his head in her lap, clinging to her as with the grip of death. The doctor soon satisfied himself that none of the three was dead, though all were uncon- scious, doubtless from the force of the concussion. His medical skill brought Belle and her lover round without much difficulty; and leaving them in each other’s arms, he addressed himself to Abe Seaver. He was in a worse way; but he recovered con- sciousness, and had the strength to make it known that Belle had had nothing to do with his being shot. The last thing he remembered was seeing her approaching him; so the shot must have come from the opposite direction. But more than that, he knew a quite different motive for the shot. He had discovered that the supposed minister was an impostor, indeed, the captain of a band of road-agents; and his ted Sg had been to warn Belle and save her rom the humiliation of having received the love addresses of a man who was soon to be un- masked. He died, with Belle holding his hand and weeping her regrets at her mistaken treat- as of him, and her gratitude for his unselfish ove. The scene of theexplosion was terrible beyond description. Among the torn and charred and mangled remains, some few were recognized when they had been been dug out and carried out to the light of day. The Rev. Mr. Vance was not disfigured. As he lay awaiting burial, his serene face looked like that of a good man laid to rest. Old Mumbo Jumbo had been blown to atoms. Her history died with her. In Little Leather-Breeches Doctor Denslow recognized a nephew of his wife, to make more careful inquiry into whose fate had been a part of his errand West. But in the Mad Millionaire he found a subject for his professional skill; and by a notable tre- panning wide ge succeeded in restoring him to reason, when it transpired that he was Belle Briggs’s father. Little Leather-Breeches is a hero in his sec- tion of the country, and every one for miles around—save and except Kate Ashmead!— loves his beautiful wife, Belle. THE END. DIME DIALOGUES AND SPEAKERS FOR SCHOOL PXHIBITIONS AND HOME ENTERTAINMENTS. Dialogues, Nos. 1 to 32 inclusive, 15 to 25 popu lar dialogues and dramas in each book. Each vol- ume 100 pages 12mo., Speakers, Nos. 1 to 24 inclusive. Each speaker 100 pages 12mo, containing from 50 to 75 pieces, YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERIES, Dime Book of Winter Sports. : Dime Book of Summer Athletic Sports Dime Gents’ Letter Writer. Dime Book of Etiquette. 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Half-Dime Singer’s Library 1 Waoa, Esta! and 59 other Songs. 2 CapTain Curr and 57 other Songs. 8 THE Garnsporv’ Hat and 62 other Songs. 4 Jounny Morean and 60 other Songs. 5 [ur Stee You Wirth A FEATHER and 62 others, 6 GEORGE THE CHARMER and 56 other Songs. 7 Tas Betis or Rockaway and 52 other Songs. 8 YounG FELLAH, YOu'’RE Too Fres# and 60 others 9 SHy Youne Grru and 65 other Songs. 10 I’« THE GOVERNOR'S ONLY Son and 58 other Songs, 11 My Fawn and 65 other Songs. 12 Comm’ Toro’ TUE Rye and 55 other Songs. 18 Tae Rouickine IRtsHMAN and 59 other Songs. 14 Orp Doe Tray and 62 other Songs. 15 WHoa. 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Re . abi The Capt Published liwery Tuesday. Each Issue Complete a BEADLE’S« H ALF- DIME* LIBRARY. nd Sold at the Uniform Price of Five Cents. No Double Numbers, — BY PHILIP 8. WARNE, 6T Patent-Leather Joe; or, Old Rattlesnake, the Charmer. 175 Capeatn Arizona; or, Patent-Leather Joe's Big Game. 198 Captain Mask} or, Patent-Leather Joe’s Defeat. 219 Desapard, the Duelist; or, The Mountain Vompires, 688 A Tough Boy} or, The Dwart's Revenge. 868 Little Tornado; or, Vhe Outcasts of the Glen, B78 Little Jingo; or, the Queer Pard. 888 Little Oh-my 3 or, Caught in His Own Trap, 401 Little Shoo-F ly; or, A Race for « Ranch, 408 Little Leather-Breeches ; or, Old Jambo’s Curse. 0 Three Jolly Parda, SUZ Jim Gladden’s peputy. 62T The Jolly Pards to the Rescue. BY CAPTAIN FRED. WHITTAKER. 15 The Sea-Cat 3 or, The Witch of Darien. 29 The Dumb Page or, The Doge’s Daughter. 48 Dick Darling, the Pony Express Rider. 150 Lance and Lasso; or, The Children of the Chaco, 154 The Sword Munters; or, The Land of the Elephant Riders, 159 The Lost Captain; or, Skipper Jabez Coffin’s Craise to the n Polar Sea. 200 e Boy Bedoutins3 or, The Brothers of the Plumed Lance, 214 Wolfgang, the Robber of the Rhine. 249 Milo Wanderer. 265 The ages, Tamer} or, The Ledgue of the Jungle. 881 Black Nick, the Demon Rider, 805 California Joe’s War Trall. BY BUCKSKIN SAM (Major Sam. 8S. Hall) 284 Old Rocky’s “‘ Boyees;” or, Benito, the Young Horse Breaker. 246 Giant Georges or, The Ang’l of the Range. 275 Arizona Jack ; or, Giant George's Purd. 297 The Tarantula of Taos; or, Giant George’s Revenge. 807 The Strange Pard; or, Little Ben's Death Hunt. 818 er-waeom Ker-whoo? or, The Tarantula of Taos, B27 Creeping Ca 882 Frio Fred; or, The Tonkaway’s Trust. 844 The Fighting Trio; or, Rattlesnake, the Tonkaway. B49 Wild Wolf or, Big-Foot Wallace to the Front. 857 The Ranch Raiders; or, The Siege of Fort Purgatory. 864 Snap-Shot, the Boy bernie. 875 Chiota, the Creek; or, The Three Thunderbolts. 881 Bandera Bills or. Frio Frank to the Front. 892 Romeo and the Reds; or, The Beleaguered Ranch. 404 Little Lariat; or, Pecan Pete's Big Rampage. 414 The Daisy from Denver, 427 The Three Traflers; or, Old Rocky on the Rampage, Bluff Bill; or, The Lynx of the Leona, 455 Little Lone Stars or, The Belle of thé Cibolo, BY EPWARD WILLETT. 167 Asa Scott, the Steamboat Boy, 199 Featherweight, the Boy Champton of the Muskingum, 228 Ozark Alf Lm Featherweight Among the Outlaws. 282 The Typo etective ; or, Wessel, the Boy Tramp, 295 Feurless Phils or, The King of Quartzville. $11 The Roving Sport ; or, The Prise of Chuckaluck Camp, 22 Nemo, the Detective; or, Kit Kenyon’s Vendetta, 840 Clip, the Contortionist; or, The Montana Vigilantes. BY J, ©. COWDRICK,. 860 Silver-Mask, the Man of Mystery. 869 Shasta, the Gold King; or, For Seven Years Dead. 420 The Detective’s Apprentice; or, A Boy Without a ame, 424 Olbuta John; or, Red-Hot Times at Ante Bar. 9 Sandy Sam, the Street Scout, 467 Disco Dan, the Daisy Dude. 490 Ree ey Bill 'e the Bootblack Bravo, 506 Redlight Ralph, the Prince of the Ront. 514 Bron iwa Bilt ‘a Boodle. 524 The Engineer Metbetives 586 Broadway Billy's * Ditikilty.” BY JO PIERCE. 39T Bob o’ the Bowery or, The Prince of Mul Street. 41S The Vagabond Detecti? ety Bobs eam, 452 Hotepur Bob, the Stroet-Boy Detective” sek 460 The Lawyer’s Shadow; or, Luke's Legacy. age 4 aunty Joe, the Young Horsé-King, : urly m™, the Youn 304 Five Points Phil. ite aulora oa q ack Ja ra, the Butcher Ro: 516 Tartar "Tim; or, Five Points Pte Mer voneto. 526 North River Nat, the Pier Detective, 588 Wrestling Rex, the Pride of the Sixth Ward. $41 Jeff Flicker, the Stable Boy Deteetive, BY CAPT, MARK WILTON, 256 Young Kentucky or, The Red Lasso, 270 Blizzard Ben; or, The Riot at Keno Camp. 256 Josh, the Boy Tenderfoot. BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID, zo Blae Dick a The relearn Ven; jeans. e n rates; or, The League o} vil’s Island, 18¢ The Helpleas Mand; or, Backwoods Retribution, 289 The Gold-seeker Guide; or, The Lost Mountain, BY MAJOR MENRY B. STODDARD, £x-8cout. $06 Neck-Tle Ned; or, The Dug-Out Parda, 346 papier Raphael; or, The Swordsmen of Zacatecas, BOL KA -Glove Kit, the Dandy of the Rockies. BVS Kid-Glove Kit and Pard; or, The Gold King. 406 The Mad Man-Hunter; or,’The Mystery of @okten Galch. 606 Powell’ Pard; or, The One-Armed Glant BY BRACEBRIDGE NEMYNG. Ialand Jim; or, The Petts the Family. n of th 0 Rival Athletes. Jack Harkav ‘ay ia N, Pit te omer, the Animal King; or, The Round the World t, the Caddo; or, The Red and White Pards, BY ALBERT W. AIKEN, 11 The Two Detectives; or, The Fortunes of a Bowery Giri. %6 Abe Colt, the Crow-Killer. 79 Sol Ginger, the Giant Trapper. 268 Joe Buck of Angels and Hi« Boy Pard. 447 New York Nat. A Tale of Tricks and Traps'in Gotham 458 New England Nicks or, The Fortunes of a Foundling, 464 Nimble Rick, the Circus Prince. 498 Taos Ted, toe Arizony Sport. 510 Cool Colorado, the Half-Breed Detective, 515 Cool Colorado in New York, BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE. 86 Dandy Rocks the Man ‘rom Texas, 90 The Drend Rider; 01, The Texan DueHst, 99 The Tiger of Tos; or, Dandy Rock’s Ang@. 115 The Mad Miner; or, Dandy Rock’s Doom, 181 The Golden Hand; or, Dandy Rock to the Resens. 164 Dandy Rock's Pledge; or, Hunted to Death. 178 Dandy Rock’s Rival; or, The !iaunted Maid of Taos. BY CAPT. J. F. C. ADAMS, 84 Oregon Sol; or, Nick Whiffles’s Boy Spy. 46 Glasa-Eye, the Great Shot of the West. ~ 54 Ned Hazel, the Boy Trapper. 56 Nick Whiffies’s Pet; or, Ir The Valley of Death. 60 The White Indian; or, The Scout of the Yellowstona 70 Old Zip’s Cabin; or, The Greenlorn in the Woods. 81 Lichtning Jo, the Terror of the Prairie. 85 Buck Buckram; or, Bess, the Female Trapper, 247 Old Grizzly and Hix Peta; or, The Wild Huntress. 251 Light-house Lige; or, Osceola, the Firebrand. 257 The Lost Wuntera; or, The Underground Camp. 288 The Scalp King; or, The Human Thundervolt, BY ROGER STARBUCK, 25 The Boy Captain; or, The Pirate’s Daugnter. 114 The Black Schooner; or, Jib Jank, the Old Tar. 259 The Golden Harpoon ; or, Lost Among the Floes. 848 Fire-Heela; or, Old Skinflint, the Death-Shadow. 854 Rie Horn Ike, the Hill Tramp; or, The Odd Parda 861 The Phantom Light-house, 870 wrcaker Ben, the Reef-Runner, BY WILLIAM R. EYSTER, 190 Nandy Darke} or, ‘The Tigers of Hich Pine. 210 Faro Frank} or, Dandy Darke’s Go-Down Pards. BY COLONEL DELLE SARA, 108 The Lion of the Sen} or, The Vailed Lady. 186 Cool Desmond 3 or, The Gambler’s Big Game. BY HARRY &8T. GEORGE, 80 Roaring Ralph Rockwood, the Ranger, 44 Rattling Rube; or, The Nighthawks of Kentucky. 59 Old Hickory 3 or, Pandy Ellis’s Scalp. 108 Daring Davy ; or, The Trail of the Tiss Wolt. 166 Hickory Harry; or, The Trapper: Brigade's Spv, 172 Thunderbolt Tom; or, the Wolf-Herder, BY JAMES L. BOWEN 107 One-Eyed Sim: or, The Abandoned Forest Home, 110 The Black Steed of the Prairies, A Story of Texas. BY C. DUNNING CLARK, 185 Captain Paul; or, The Boy Spy of the Mountafns, 280 The Yankee Rajah; or, The Fate of the Black Sheree. BY GEORGE ©, JENKS, 485 Git Thar Owney, the Unknown, 492 Git Thar Owney’s Pledge. 518 The Demon Doctor. BY CAPT. ALFRED B. TAYLOR, U. 8S. A. 191 Buffalo Billy, the Boy Bullwhacker; oz. “Phe Boomed Thirteen. 194 Buffalo Bill’s Bet} or, The Gambler Guide. BY CHARLES E. LASALLE. 50 Burt Bunker, the Trapper. 52 The White Buffalo. A Tale of the Northwest, BY JOHN J. MARSHALL, 40 Roving Ben. A Story of a Young American, 8% The Outlaw Brothers; or, The Captive of the Harpea. BY WM. G. PATTEN, 489 The Diamond Sport: or. The Double Face of Bed Rock. 519 Septats Mystery 3 or, Five in One. 681 Dalsy Dare, the Sport from Denver. BY MAJOR E. L. ST. VRAIN, 292 Sancho Pedro, the Boy Bandit. 801 Leadville Nick, the Boy Sport. 812 Redtop Rube, the Vigilante Prince. 8838 Brimstone Bob, and His Lightning Horse Quartetgg, 852 Tombstone Tom, the Arizona Boy of “ Sand,” 859 Duranve Dbave, the Yun iiss n © restler, 871 mtngeelt Ohris, the Young Hurd-Shell Detective 880 Avalanche Alf, the Foothills Guide. 890 Jaguar Joe, of the Mount.in Mail-Line, BY EDWARD §&, ELLIS, ‘ Jones; or, The Captives of tha Frontier, 10 Nat Todd: or, The Fate of the Sioux Captive, 21 The Boontier Angel. oy Minera: or, The Enchanted Teland. LA The Hunted Hunters or, The Strange Horsemas, ari are Half-Blood; or, The Panther of the Plaine, he H=ge Munter ; or, The Steam Prairle Man. BY MAJOR LEWIS W. CARSON, 278 The Three Tra ra The Mount»t 888 Indian Joe} or, The White Spirit of the + ae BY W. J. NAMILTON. 68 The Red Brotherhood; or, The Twelve Avengem 4 66 Single Hand; or, A Life fora Life. iy 72 Mad Tom Western, the Texan Ranger, vl 887 Ben Bird, the Cave King; or, Big Pete’s Scoop. e BY JACK FARRAGOUT. 815 Ned, the Cabin Boy. re 350 The Bea BS recress; oF, The Boy Shipper : BY FRANK DUMONT. “iy 120 The Branded Hand; 1, The Man of Myutar, ; 127 Wild-Fire, the Boss of the Road. bs 140 Blue Blazes, or, The Break o’ Day Boys of Rody Soe | 171 Ebony Dan} or, The Rival Leagues. ¥ 185 Evil Eyes or, The Vultures of the Rio Granda, an BY LIEUT. H. D. PERRY, U. 8. N. 176 The Boy Runaway; or, The Buccaneer of the Ray, 180 The Sea Traller; or, A Vow Well Kept, 192 Captain Kits or, The Mystery of Montauk Poimt £5 BY HARRY HAZARD, } 828 Arkansaw Jack; or, The Scourge of the Minas, % 829 Red-Skin Tomy; or, The Demon’s Trail, y $42 The Mountain Devil; or, Yellow Jack, the Outlaw. BY COL. A. F. HOLT. 4 899 Black Buckekin; or, The Masked Men of Death Canpem 419 Kenneth, the Knife-King. 485 Little Lightfoot, the Pilot ot the Woods, ; BY J, W. OSBON. 469 The Rival Giants of Nowhar’. ‘a 498 Cactus Burr, the Man from Hard Lack, ; ’ 587 Old Buckeye, the Sierra Shadow j ty BY FREDERICK DEWEY, 818 Cimarron Jack, the King-Pin of Rifle-Shote, & 478 Tangemund, the Desert Detective. ae $42 The Canyon Parda. 7 MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORS, ‘td 4 Pe nome Itunters, By Capt. Mayne Reid amd 9 Adventures of Baron Munchausen, . 12 Gulliver’s Travels. By Dean Swift, 14 Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. 16 Robinson Crusoe. (27 Illustrations.) 18 Sindbad the Sailor. His Seven Voyages, 22 The Sea Serpent; or, The Boy Robinson Crasoa By Juan , wis 88 The Ocean Bloodhoundy or, The Red Pirates of the Carribees, By 8S, W. Pierce. 86 The Boy Clown; or, The Queen of the Arona, By Frank >. Finn, 88 Ned Wylde, the Boy Scout. By Texas Jack. 51 The Boy Rifles; or, The Underground Camp. By Avchis @. Irons. 95 The Rival Rovers; or, The Freebooters ~" the Mlssissippi. By Lieut.-Col. Hazeltine, 98 Robin Hood, the Outlawed Earl; or, The Merry - /on of Green- TR wood. By Prof. Gildersleeve, FS 105 Old Rube, the Hunter; or, The Crow Captive. Dy Captain Hainilton Holmes. 112 The Mad Hunter; or, The Cave of Death. By Durton Sasa. } 124 Tippy, the Texans or, The Young Champion, Ry George NY Glevaon, 128 The Young Privateer}; or, The Piraic’s Stronghold, By Harry Cavendish. 148 Sharp Samy or, The Adventures of a Friendless bov, By 3. a Alexander Patten. ¥ 227 Dusky Darrell, Trapper: or, The Green Ranger of the Yel- ‘ lowstone. By Edward Emerson, 261 Fergus Fearnaught, the New York Boy. By George L. {= Aiken. 266 Kiltb’ar, the Guide; or, Davy Crockett’s Crooked Trait - By Ensign C. D. Warren, ¥ 298 Red Claw, the One-Eyed Trapper; or, The Maid of the Clim ' By Captain Comstock. 817 Peacock Pete, the Lively Lad from Leadvilic. By Ibex tenant Alfred Thorne, 828 The Sky Ive*ective; or, A Boy’s Fight for Life and Hones, By Maior Mickey Free. 4 850 Red Ralph, the River Rovers or, The Brothers Re venge. By Ned Buntline. 865 Baltimore Ben, the Bootblack Detective. By A. P, Morris. 874 Gold-Dust Tomy or, Ben’s Double Match, By George H. Loree, 876 California Joe’s First Trafl. By Colonel Thomas Hoyer Monstery. 418 Billy Bombshell, the Cliff Climber. By F, 8. Winthrep. 440 Little Foxfoot, the Gold Bowie Kid, By Arthur C, Griasom. ; 475 The Black Ship. By John S, Warner, ' 484 Comanche Pick and His Three Inyinciblea By Henry J. Thomas. 528 Wizard-Arm, the Dandy Sport, By Arthor F. Holt. 582 The Cowboy Duke. By Edwin Brooke Forrest. A New Issue Every Tuesdays The Half-Dime Library ta for sale by all cewsdealom, Seo ~s cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. m BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishera, BN 98 William Street, New Werk an
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2 A LS SF LES TS Published Every Tuesday. Each Issue Complete and Sold at the Uniform Price of Five Cents. BY EDWARD L. WHEELER. Deadwood Dick Novela. 1 Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road. 20 Double Daggers; or, Deadwood Dick’s Defiance, 28 Bulfalo Ben; or, Deadwood Dick in Disguise. 85 Wilda Ivan, the Boy Claude Dowal. 42 Phantom Miner}; or, Deadwood Dick’s Bonanza, 49 Omaha OL; or, Deadwood Dick in Danger. 5B: Deadwood Dick's Eagles; or, The Pards of Flood Bar. 78 Deadwood Dick on Deck; or, Calamity Jane, the Heroine. 77 Corduroy Chartie; or, Deadwood Dick’s Last Act, 100 Deadwood Dick in Leadville, 104 Deadwood Dick’s Device; or, The Double Cross Sign. | 109 Deadwood Dick as Detective. 129 Deadwood Dick's Double; or, The Ghost of Gorgon’s | Gulch. | 188 Blonde Bills or, Deadwood Dick’s Honte Base. 149 A Game of Goldy or, Deadwood Dick’s Big Strike. 156 Deadwood Dick of Deadwood}; or, The Picked Party. 195 Deadwood Dick's Dreamy; or, The Rivuls of the Road, / 201 The Black Hills Jezebel; or, Deadwood Dick’s Ward. 205 Deadwood Dick's Doom; or, Calamity Jane’s Last Ad- | venture, / 217 Captain Orack-Shot, the Girl Brigand. 221 Sugar-Coated Samy or, The Black Gown. 282 Gold-Duat Dick. A Romance of Roughs and Toughs. 268 Deadwood Dick's Divides or, The Spirt of Swamp Lake. 268 Deadwood Dick’s Death Trail. 809 Deadwood Dick’s Mig Veal; or, The Gold Brick of Oregon, B21 Deadwood Dick's Dozen; or, The Fakir of Phantom Flats. 847 Deadwood Dick's Ducats; or, Rainy Days in the Dig- | gings., 851 Deadwood Dick Sentenced; or, The Terrible Vendetta. 862 Deadwood Dick’s Claim; or, The Fairy Face of Faro | Flats. 405 Deadwood Dick in Dead City. 410 Deadweed Dick’s Diamonds ; or, The Mystery of Joan orter. 421 Deadwood Dick in New York; or, A © Cute Care,” 430 Deadwood Dick’s Dust; or, The Chained Hand, 448 Deadwood Dick, Jr. 448 Nickel-Plate Ned; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Defiance. 458 Sunflower Sam, o! Shasta; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Full Hand. 459 Flush Fan, the Ferret; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Big Ronnd- Up, 465 Philo Fly, of Phenix; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Racket at Claim 10, 471 Bozeman Bill; or, Deadwood Dick Jr's Corral. 476 Mumboldt Harry, tue Hurricane; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Dog Detective. 481 Moll Mystery; or,. Deadwood Dick Jr. in Deadwood. 491 Prince Platol, the King of the West; or, Deadwood Dick | Jr’a Compact. 496 Monte Cristo, Jr.: or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Inheritance. 500 Deadwood Dick’s Diggings or, Dr. Death-Grip’s Swoop. 508 Deadwood Dick’s Deliverance, 515 Deadwood Dick’s Protegee. 522 Deadwood Dick’s Three. 529 Deadwood Dick’s Danger Ducks, 584 Deadwood Dick’s Death Hunt. 589 Deadwood Dick Jr., in Texas. 544 Deadwood Dick, Jr., the Wild Weat Vidoeg, | : Other Novela by E. L. Wheeler. 26 Cloven Hoof, the Buffalo Demon. 82 Bob Woolf; or, The Girl Dead-Shot. 89 Death-Face, Detective; or, Life in New York, 45 Old Avalanche; or, Wild Edna, the Girl Brigand, 638 Jim Bludsee, Jr., the Boy Phenix. 61 Buckhorn Bill; or, The Red Rifle Team, 69 Gold Rifle, the Sharpshooter; or, The oy Detective, 80 Rosebud Rob ugget Ned, the Knight. 84 Idyl, the Girl Miner} or, Rosebud Rob on Hand, 88 Phetograph Phil; or, Rosebud Rob’s Reappearance, 92 Canada Chet ; or, Old Anaconda in Sitting Bull’s Camp, 96 Watch-Eye; or, Arabs and Angels of a Great City, 18 Jack Hoyle the Young Speculator. 17 Gilt-Edged Dick, the Sport Detective 21 Ciuanamon Chip, the Girl Sport. +> Bonanza Bill, Miner. 8 Kone Bob the King of Bootblacks, 1 Solid Sam, the Boy Road-Agent, a Ferret, the New York Detective; or, Boss Bob’s oo. New York Nell, the Boy-Girl Detective, Nick of Nevada} or, The Sierras Scamps. rank, the Buckskin Bravo, Fritz, the Bound-Boy Detective. 18 Fritz to the Front; or, The Ventril 226 Snoozer, the Boy Sharp; or, The Arab 286 Apolle 1eill, the Trail Tornado. 240 Cyclone Kit, the Young Gladiator, 241 Sicrra Sam, the Frontier Ferret. 248 Sierra Sam’a Secret; or, The Bloody Footprints, 255% Sierra Sam’s Pard; or, The Angel of Big Vista, 258 Sierra Sain’s Seven} or, The Stolen Bride, 278 Jumbo Joe, the Boy Patrol; or, The Rival Heirs, 277 Denver Doll, the Detective Queen. 281 Denver Doll’« Victory. 255 Denver Doll's Decoy ; or. Little Bill’s Bonanza, 291 Turk, the Boy Ferret. 296 Denver Doll's Drift; or, The Road Queen. 289 A No, 1, the Dashing Toll-Taker. 808 ’Liza Jane, the Girl Miner; or, the Iron-Nerved Sport. 825 Kelley, Hickey & Co., the Detectives of Philadelphia, 880 Little Qu!ck-Shot; or, The Dead Face of Daggersville. 884 Kangaroo Kit; or, The Mysterious Miner, 889 Kangaroo Kit’s Racket. 848 Manhattan Mike, the Bowery Blood. 858 Firat-Class Fred, the Gent from Gopher. 868 7 poke Jim, the Gold-Gatherer; or, The Lottery of 2 rear bates Ce sonn uist Hunter, etective, 872 Yreka Jim’s Prize, 878 Nabob Ned; or, The Secret of Slab City. BS2 Cool Kit, the King of Kids; or, A Villain’s Vengeance, B85 Yreka Jim’s Joker; or, The Rivals of Red Nose, 889 Bicycle Bens or, The Lion of Lightning Lode, 894 Yreka Jim of Yuba Dam. 400 Wrinkles, the Night-Watch Detective. 416 High Hat Harry, the Base Ball Detective, 426 Sam Slabsaides, the Beggar-Boy Detective, 484 Jim Beak and Pal, Private Detectives, 488 Santa Fe Sal, the Slasher. 486 Sealskin Sam, the Sparkler. BY COLONEL PRENTISS INGRAHAM, Z The Flying Yankee} or, The Ocean Outcast. 17 Ralph Roy, the Boy Buccancer; or, The Fugitive Yacht. 24 Diamond Dirk; or, The Mystery of the Yellowstone, 62 The Shadow Ship; or, The Rival Lieutenants. 75 The Boy Duellst; or, The Cruise of the Sea- Wolf, 102 Dick Dead-Eye, the Boy Smuggier. 111 The Sea-Devil ; or, The Midshipman’s Legacy. 116 The Hussar Captains or, The Hermit of Hell Gate. 197 Little Grits; or, Bessie, the Stock-Tender’s Daughter. 204 Gold Plume; or, The Kid-Glove Sport, | 216 Bison BILL, the Prince of the Reins. 222 Grit, the Bravo Sport; or, The Woman Trailer. | 229 Crimson Kate; or, The Cowboy’s Triumph, 287 Lone Star, the Cowboy Captain, 245 Merle, the Middy ; or, The Freelance Heir. 250 The Midshipman laetinecr 5 or, Brandt, the Buccaneer. 264 ape Floating Feather; or, Merle Monte’s Treasure siand. 269 The Gold Ship; or, Merle, the Condemned. 276 Merle Monte’s Cruise; or, The Chase of “The Gold Ship.’’ 280 Merle Monte’s Fate; or, Pearl, the Pirate's Bride. 284 The Sea Marauder; or, Merle Monte’s Pledge. 287 Billy Blue-Fyes, the Boy Rover of the Rio Grande. 804 The Dead Shot Dandy ¢ or, Benito, the Boy Bugler. $08 Keno Kit; or, Dead Shot Dandy's Double. 814 The Mysterious Marauder; or, The Boy Bugler's Long ‘Trail. | B77 Bonodel, the Boy Rover; or, The Flagiess Schooner. B88 The Indian Pilots; or, The Search for Pirate Island, 887 Warpath WILL, the Boy Phantom, 898 Seawall, the Boy Lieutenant. 402 Iavdor, the Young Consptrator ; or, The Fatal League. 407 The Boy Insurgent; or, The Cuban Vendetta. 412 The Wild Yachtsamany; or, The War-Clouu’s Cruise. 429 Duncan Dare, the Boy Refugee, 488 A Cabin Boy’s tek: or, The Corsair. 487 The Sea Raider. 441 The Ocean Firefly) or, A Middy’s Vengeance. 446 Haphazard Harrg or, The Scapegrace of the Sea. 450 Wizard Will; or, The Boy Ferres of New York. 454 Wizard Will's Street Scouta, 462 The Born Guide; or, The Sailor Boy Wanderer. 468 Neptune Ned, the ae Coaster. 474 Flora; or, Wizard Will’s Vagabond Pard, 488 Ferrets Afloat; or, Wizard Will's Last Case, 487 Nevada Ned, the Revolver Ranger. 495 Arizona Joe the Boy Pard of Texas Jack, 497 Buck Taylor, King of the Cowboys, 508 The Royal Middy; or, The Shark and the Sea Cat. 507 The Hunted Midshipman, 5611 The Outlawed Middy: 520 Buckskin Bill, the Comanche Shadow, 525 Brothers in Buckskin. 580 The Buckskin Bowers. 585 The Bue askin Rovers, 540 Captain Ku-Klux, the Marauder of the Rie. 5645 Lieutenant Leo, the Son of Lafitte, BY CHARLES MORRIS, 118 Will Somers, the Boy Detective, 122 Phil Mardy, the Boss Boy. 126 Picayune Petes or, Nicodemus, the Dog Detective. 180 Detective Dick; or, The Hero in Rags. 142 Handsome Harry, the Bootblack Detective, 147 Will Wildiire, the Thoroughbred. 152 Black Heras, Wi!) Wildfire’s Racer. 157 Mike Mervy, the Harbor Police Boy. 162 Will Wildfire in the Wooda, 165 Billy Baggage. the Railroad Boy. 70 A Trump Card; or, Will Wilifire Wins and Loses, 74 Bob Rockett; or, Mysteries of New York. 79 Bob Rockett, the Bank Runner. 88 The Hidden Hand; or, Will _Wildfire’s Revenge. 87 Fred Halyard, the Life Boat Boy; or, The Smugglers, 89 Bob Rockett; or, Driven to the Wall. 96 Shadowed ; or, Bob Rockett’s Fight for Life, 206 Dark Paul, the Tiger King. 212 Dashing Dave, the Dandy Detective. 220 Tom Tanner; or, The Black Sheep of the Flock, 225 Sam Charcoal the Premium Darky, 285 Shadow Sam, the Messenger Boy. 242 The Two “ Bloods”; or, Shenandoah Bill and His Gang. 252 Dick Dashaway ; or, A Dakota Boy in Chicago. 2 The Young Sharps: or, Rollicking Mike's Flot Trail, 274 Jolly Jim, the Detective Apprentice. 289 Jolly Jim’s Job; or, The Young Detective, 298 The Water-Hound; or, The Young Thoroughbred. 805 Dashawny; of Dakota; or, A Western Lad in the Quaker t y. 824 Ralph Ready, the Hotel Boy Detective. 841 Tony Thorne, the Vagabond Detective. 858 The Reporter-Detective; or, Fred Flyer’s Blizzard, 867 Wide-Awake Joe; or, A Boy of the Times. 879 Tarez. the Leveler; or, The Bloods of the Boulevard. 408 Firefly Jack, the River-Rat Detective. 428 The Lost Finger; or, The Entrapped Cashier, 428 Fred Flyer, the Reporter Detective. 482 Invincible L an, the Pinkerton Ferret, 456 Billy Brick, the Jolly Vagabond. 466 Wide-Awake Jerry, Detective; or, Entombed Alive. 479 Detective Dodge; or, The Mystery of Frank Hearty. 488 Wild Dick Racket, 501 Boots, the Boy Fireman ; or, Too Sharp for the Sharper. BY JOSEPH E. BADGER, JR. 2 Yellowstone Jack 3 or, The Trapper. 48 Black John, the Road-Agent; or, The Outlaw’s Retreat, 65 Hurricane Bill; or, Mustang Sam and His Pard. 119 Mustang Sam }j or, The King of the Plains. 186 Night-Ilawk Kit; or, The Daughter of the Ranch, 144 Dainty Lance the Boy Sport. 151 Panther Paul; or, Dainty Lance to the Rescue. 160 The Black Giant; or, Dainty Lance in Jeopardy. 168 Deadly Dash; or, Fighting Fire with Fire. 184 The Boy Trallers; or, Dainty Lance on the War-Path, 208 The Boy Parda; er, Dainty Lance Unmasks. 211 Crooked Cale, the Caliban of Celestial City. 810 The Barranca Wolf; or, The Beautiful Decoy. 819 The Black Rider; or, The Horse-Thieves’ League. 885 Old Double Fist; or, The Strange Guide. 855 The King of the Woods: or. Daniel Boone’s Last Trail, 449 Kit Fox, the Border Boy Dotective. BEADLE’S«H ALF- DIME* LIBRARY. No Double Numbers. BY BUFFALO BILL (lon. Wm. F. Ooedy) 8 Kauasans King; or, The Red Right Hand. 19 The Phantom Spy: or, The Pilot of the Prairie. 55 Deadly-Eye, the Waiaves Scout. 6S Border Robin Heod; or, The Prairie Rover. 158 Faney Frank of Colorado; or, The Trapper’s Trost, BY OLL COOMES. 5 Vagabond Joe, the Young Wandering Jew, 18 The Dumb Spy. 27 Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide. 81 Keen-Knilfe, the Prince of the Prairies. 41 Lasso Jack, the Young Mustanger. 58 The Border King; or, The Secret Foe. 71 Delaware Dick, the Young Renger Spy. 74 Hawk-eye Marry the Young Trapper Ringer, -——<— 4 46 Silver Star, the Boy Knight. 58 Eagle Kit, the Boy Demon. 168 Little Texas, the Young Mustanger. 17S Old Solitary, tie Hermit Trapper. 182 Little Hurricane, the Boy Captain. 202 Prospect Pete; or, The Young Outlaw Hunters. 208 The Boy Hercules: or, The Prairie Tramps. 218 Tiger Tom, the Texas Terror. 224 Dashing Dicks or, Trapper Tom’s Castle, 228 Little Wildfire, the Young Prairie Nomad, 288 The Parson Detectives or, The Little Ranger. 248 The Disguised Guide; or, Wild Raven, the Ranger, 260 Dare-Devil Dan, the Young Prairie Ranger. 272 Minkakin Mike, the Boy Sharpshooter. 290 Little Foxfire, the Boy Spy. 800 The Sky Demon ¢ or, Rainbolt, the Ranger. 884 Whip-King Joe, the Boy Ranchero. 409 Hercules; or, Dick, the Boy Ranger. 417 Webfoot Mose, the Trump Detective. 422 Baby Sam, the Boy Ginant of the Yellowstone. 444 Little Buckskin, tue Young Prairie Centaur, 457 Wingedtoot Fred} or, Old Polar Saul. 468 Tamarac Tom, the Big neem Boy. 478 Old Tom Rattler, the Red River Epidemic, 482 Stonewall Bob, the Boy Trojan. BY T. C. HARBAUGH. 28 Nick o’ the Night; or, The Boy Spy of ’76, 87 The Hidden Lodge; or The Littl: Hunter. 47 Nightingale Nat; or, Tne Forest Captains, 64 Dand ack or, The Outlaws of the Oregon Trak, 82 Kit Harefout the Wood-Hawk. 94 Midnight Jack ; or, The Boy Trapper. 106 Old Froaty, the Guide; or, The White Queen, 128 Kiowa Charley the White Mustanger. 189 Judge Lynch, Jr: or, The Boy Vigilante. 155 Gold Tr r, the Sport; or, The Girl Avenger. 169 Tornado Tom; or, Injun Jack From Red Core. 188 Ned Temple, the Border Boy. 198 Arkansaw ; or, The Quen of Fate’s Revenge. 207 Navajo Nick, the Boy Gold Hunter. 215 Captain Bullet ; or, Little Topknot’s Crusade. 231 Plucky Phil; or, Rosa, the Rei Jezebel. 241 Bill Bravo; or, Tie Roughs of the Rockies. 255 Captain Apolle, the King-Pin of Bowie. 267 The Buckskin Detective. 279 Old Winch; or, The Buckskin Desperadoes, 294 Dynamite Dany or, The Bowle Blade of Cochetopa 802 The Mountain Detective; or, The Trigger Bar Bally. 816 Old Eclipse, Tromp Card of Arizona, 826 The Ten Parda; or, The Terror-of Take-Notice. 886 Big Benson; or, The Queen of the Lasso. 845 Pitiless Matt; or, Red Thunderbolt’s Secret. B56 Cool Sam and Par; o- The Terrible Six. 866 Velvet Foot, the Indian Detective. 886 Captain Cutlass; or, | he B ccaneer’s Girl Foe. 896 Rough Rob} or, The ! win Champions of Blue Biases, 4i1 The ‘Bilken ,mano3 or, The Rose of Ranch Robin, 418 Felix Fox, the Boy Spotter. 425 Texas Trump, tie Border Rattler. 486 Phil Flash, the New York Fox. 445 The City Vampires; or, Ked Rolfe’s Pigeon. 461 One Againat Fifty; or, The Last Man of Keno Bar, 470 The Boy Shadow; or, Felix Fox’s Hunt. AT? The Excelsior Sports or, The Washington Spotter 499 Ringle Sight, the One-Eyed Sport. 502 Branded Ben, the Night Ferret. 512 Dodger Dick, the pln ty of Detective. B21 Dodger Dick’s Best Dodge. B28 Fox and Falcon, the Bowery Shadows, 588 Dodger Dick, the Dock Ferret, Dodger Dick’s Double; or, The Rival Boy Detectives, LATEST AND NEW ISSUES. 546 Captain Cactus, the Chaparral Cock, By Lieut. A, K. Sima, BAT Sandy Andy} or, A Good Man Down. By P. 8. Warne, 548 Mart, the Night Express Detective. By J. C. Cowdrick. 549 Deadwood Dick on His Mettle. By E. L. Wheeler. 550 Lafitte’s Legacy; or. The Avenging Son. By Col, Prentiag Ingraham. 551 Nick Nettle, the Boy Shadow. By Jo Pierce. By T. C. Harbaugh, ar qriel. bp tag By David Druld, i] odeer Dick’s Desperate Case. 554 Deadwood Dick, Tae in Gotham, By E. L. Wheeler, 555 The Creole Corsair. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. 556 Lariat Lil; or. The Cast fora Life. By Pbilip 8, Warne, bbT Broadway Billy’s Death Racket. By J. C. Cowdriek, 558 The Sure-Shot Pardsa By Arthur C. Grisson, 559 Harlem Jack, the Office Boy Detective. By Jo Pieree, 560 Pawnee BIll, the Prairie Shadower. By Col. P. Ingraham, 561 Deadwood Dick in Boston. By Edward L. Wheeler. 562 Blundering Basil, the Hermit Boy Trapper. By O))] Coomes, 568 Dodger Dick, the Boy Vidooq. By T. C. Har’ avgh, Ready May 8. 564 Powder Phil, the Boy Miner, By John W. Osbon. Ready May 15. 565 Kent Kingdon, the Card King. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. Ready May 2. 566 The Secret Service Boy Detective. By Charles Moria Ready May 29. 567 Deadwood Diek, Jr., in Philadciphia, By Edward & Wheeler. Ready June 5. A New Issue Every Tuesday. The Half-Dime Library is for sale by all newsdealers, Ove cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of slx cents each, BEADLE AND ADAMB, Publishers, Oo 98 William Street, New Yerlle