Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 792) (1892 09 27)
The text was read from the page scans by machine (OCR), so it has mistakes and its columns may run together. See the pages · About this title · At the Internet Archive
Page 1
yer eee i mm Le x ala = ee \ \y \ A WANE =f ¢_ Nth S-= WIN A. SRR= Fo HE an Jay . \ TG a aa Sta ee Is eet TS Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y , Post Office. Copyrighted 1892, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, September 27, 1592. 7 ; ; 2.50 PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY BEADLE AND ADAMS. Price, No. 792, Dahl 5 Cents. Vol, XXXII, = ie Pa Mi The Tussle With Satan. The Story of the Ruction at See-Saw. BY ED. L. WHEELER, AUTHOR OF ‘* DEADWOOD DICK” NOVELS, ETO, CHAPTER I, SATAN SAM OF SEE-SAW. ‘¢ GoOD-MORNING, governor.” ** Ah! Good-morning, Mr, Bristol, Glad to see you.” Such was the exchange of greetings in the office of the Governor Woodlow one morning, and the two men shook bands warmly, Deudwood Dick, Jr., bad ontered quietly and found the governor busy with some papers At AND SO THEY PROCEEDED UP THE STREET TOWARD THE CENTER OF THE CAMP, 4 hisdesk, but the moment Dick spoke and the
Page 2
2 governor saw who it was, everything was ro K ri ell, I am here at your call, sir,” Dick re- marked. “And I am glad you came, too, I hardly hoped you would pay any attention to my re- quest this time,” “ Not pay attention to it! Why not?” “T thought perhaps Deadwood Dick the millionaire would not care to trouble himself further with detective work.” “Your thought was a mistake, governor. Not even riches can woo me from my chosen vocation, Wealth has only strengthened my hand by giving me another weapon with which to carry on the warfare with rogues.” ‘* Well, I am glad such is your determination, Dick, for you are wanted now, and badly, too.’ ‘* What is the case?” ‘* Not greatly unlike the one you handled for me at Danger Divide, perhaps, though it has less vital interest for me personally. There is about tha same class of rascals to be dealt with bere, if, indeed, not worse ones, and it will be no child’s play for you if you undertake the new aign.” “* My work has been anything but play, sir, and especially so the last few cases I have handled. I came pretty near to getting finished off up North there, as you may have heard, and as it issome time now since] have tried my hand Iam eager for something tostirup my blood, I spent several months down on the coast, re- cuperating, and that, together with several weeks at Bristol City, has given me pretty near a full balf year of idleness,” ‘Tam glad to find you so ready for excite- ment, and I think you will get it in this case— perbaps all you want, I did not know of another man to call on in the emergency. The case has baffled my own men, und two or three sheriff's and a score or more of deputies seem powerless to do anything. You can judge by this that it is no ordinary matter. In fact, there are some features about it which stamp itasa very 9x- traordinary case, But, I will give you the particulars and let you estimate it for yourself.” ‘* Yes, let me have the facts.” ‘The story 1s pot a long one. Off here to the north, up in the mountain fastnesses, is a com- ratively new mining-camp called See-Saw. t is, from all accounts, no exception to the rule, as mining-camps go; a pretty bard place, I have no doubt, but one in which law and order are still observed to a certain extent. It has one rich mine, owned by Henry Bancroft and several others. You have heard of Hancroft; a man of considerable importance in this Territory. ** Well, it was Hancroft who first called upon me for help in the matter, It appears this camp is under the fear of a single outlaw, a fellow known as Satan Sam, and it is said uf him that his name does not halt do him justice, He has terrorized the whole region, and it has become almost impossible to get anything of value to or from the camp in safety. So, Hancroft has re- quested me to send him that dare-devil detective who handled my case at Danger Divide—mean- ing you. What do you think about it, Richard?” ‘You said a moment ago there are some features which stamp the case as extraordinary. What are they?” “True enough; toe point escaped mé, Well, on two occasions they have come pretty close to nabbing the fellow, and might have done so had he not escaped them in a wonderful manner, He led the pursuers to the edge of a small lake, and ia plain view of them al) leaped off into the water, where he disappeared to rise no more. On the first occasion they thought the fellow was drowned, and the camp spent a night of rejoic- ing over the event; but, no! next day he turned up and robbed! the stage within a mile of the camp, You see, there is something mysterious about the fellow, Whatdo you say?” be Hee the lake been examined where he jump- ed in?’ _ * Yes; the men I sent there first, together with the sheriffs and their aids, madean examination, but they failed to find anything to explain away the fellow’s escape,” ‘* Perhaps he swam under water to the nearest shore.” “They claim not, At the point where he sprung in was a sheer precipice, so that he could not possibly escape on that side, while to remain under water long enough to swim the half mile to the other shore, in either direction, of course was impossible, It is claimed that he simply dived in, and that was the last of him, And he must have gone down, for if he had showed his nose anywhere some one would have seen it. and a volley of bullets would have been sent after him,” ’ a —————$—$—$—$————— ~e, ‘*1¢ seems peculiar, but I recall something of the kind; if I am not mistaken I think [ can soon explain the mystery of it all. But, is this Satan Sam alone? or has he a band of cut-throats around him?’ * “Some think he is alone, while others believe he is the head of a band, here isa band there at See-Saw,—a sort of secret society who call themselves the Scorpions of See-Saw; but they claim to be working against Satan Sam, trying to wipe bim out.” ‘* Are these Scorpions known to the citizens of the camp?” ‘* Not outside of their own circle, it appears, But, since their exact number is unknown it cannot be said how many or how few areiin the band. They claim to bea sort of Vigilance Com- mittee.” A soar no crimes have been laid to their doors, eh? ‘*T believe not, according to Hancroft’s state- ment, and my men support what he says. On the other hand they have performed two or three lynchings for the good of the camp.” ‘* Tt is strange these men have not been able to overhaul the outlaw, then, if they are so well organized,” ** So [ think, too; and I am of the opinion that the Scorpions and Satan Sam are working to- gether; if not, indeed, that he is captain of their band,” ‘*Tt looks strange, to say the least, that nobody knows anything about the personality of these Scorpions, if they are what they profess to be; and strange, tvo, as T said, that they fail to cap- ture the outlaw,” ‘On the other hand, it is thought they are operating with extreme secrecy in order not to allow the fellow to learn who they are.” ‘* Your men tried to find out something about them?” ** Yes; but failed,” ‘* Questioned the leading citizens?” ‘Yes; nearly every one; but no one would ad- mit any knowledge of the Vigilance men,” ‘*There is a case here, sure enough,” Dick decided, ‘Tl tackle it and see what will eome of it. By the way, what crimes bave been laid against this outlaw?” ‘*Two or three murders, and a score or more of bold robberies, He has become the dread of the camp, as I said before, and the whole region round about is in fear of him. Life and pro- perty are not safe, and Hancroft is about in despair.” “* Well, to sum up, what is wanted of me is to hunt down this outlaw and hand him over to the officers,” ; ‘That is it, We do not care anything about the Scorpions, since they are not feared by the citizens; but, if you find our suspicion is true, that they are in league with the outlaw, then they must be shown up,” At this moment of the conversation the door opened and one of the governor's aides appeared, ‘*An important letter, sir,” he said, extend- ing a sealed envelope to the governor. “g arog by messenger?” queried the gover- nor, as he glanced at it and saw there was neither stamp nor postmark, ‘* ‘Yes, sir,” The governor broke the seal and read it, As he read his face assumed a troulled ex- pression, and when he had done he banded the open letter to Dick. It read like this: ‘Camp OF Ser-Saw, May 12'h. ““GoveRNoR WoopLow:— “Tt has come to my eays that you have been asked to send Deadwood Dick up here after me. If you value the life of your prize detective, dun’t do t. He won’t be worth a straw against me, Be- sides, 1 have my hands full now with the Scorpions, and can’t entertain any more friends at present without somebody’s getting hurt. Just take this as a gentle hint and keep your pet at home, “Cordially yours, / \ Deadwood Dick looked at the the Crane looked at Dick. ‘* What do you make of it?” the governor asked. ‘‘Isn’t this getting somewhat integrest- ing?” f It begins to grow a trifle exciting,” answered Dick, ‘“*Is the messenger, who brought this waiting?” he asked of the man who had brought the letter in, ‘*T suppose so, sir.” ‘* Will you have him brought in here, gover- nor? I would like to em him a little, The governor gave the order, and the aide dis- appeared to fetch the man, but when he returned he came alone. mi He's gone,” he said, ‘‘ Can’t see anything of © Saran Sam.” governor and ‘ Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device. ‘Just as I expected,” said Dick, ‘*He wag not going to be caught if he could help it. Here is proof that Satan Sam is not acting alone,” ‘That is so! his message, it seems. That being the case, it does look as if our suspicion is the right one, that is, that the outlaw and the Scorpions are work- ing together.” ¥5 Exactly. And here is a clew to begin work upon. ‘* The letter?” ‘* The handwriting.” “Yes, [see, Bristol, you must sift this mat- ter and bring that fellow toa speedy reckoning. He has defied us both, now,” 1") try it.” ** Do you go alone?” ‘Entirely alone, sir. ! Not knowing what you me from Bristol City, and I'll set out from here at once without going back there.” ‘‘ You area strange man, Bristol, Here you are, a millionaire, and yet you 4 | not give up your business of rogue-catching, ou risk your life, and there is no reward worth the trouble; in fact, it would be an insult to offer you remun- erationnow., You are a strange fellow,” ‘*- You forget that my oath is registered to de- vote my life to the work of uprooting evil and to the task of bringing evil-doers to justice.” CHAPTER II. A PECULIAR PAIR, THE Camp of Sze-Saw was a wild hole, fullof wild characters. It was a comparatively new town, and its “‘boom” was atits height, Little need to describe the place in particular, since it was a “city” of the usual mining region sort. That its name was a peculiar one will not be denied. It was suggestive, nevertheless, when once its meaning was known, The camp had existed for a long time without any name at all, until finally, the discovery of the ‘‘ Big Injun’ wade a name for the place a necessity. The ‘* Big Injun” was the leading mine of the camp, now the very life of the place, and on find- ing they had struck it rich and were likely to be- come famous, the camp must have a name. Said one man: “Tn view of ther fact that this hyer camp has been one of many ups and downs s’pose we call et See-Saw and be done with et,” That suggestion was greeted with a howl of i ha and so the camp was named, es, a “city” of the usual sort, at the height of its ‘‘ boom” so there is little need for more par- ticular description. Here were the minés and the diggings, plent of cabins, shanties and tents, a fair-sized hotel, some stores, and saloons in abundance; the prin- cipal and leading one of the latter being the one cleped ‘The Tank.” The hotel was known as the ‘*Royal Roast,” kept by one Snickerson Snooks, Of thé other resorts nothing in particu- lar need be said. Of this camp, the bead was Henry Hancroft, He was a man between thirty and forty years of age, an active, athletic fellow, and one who held the reins with a tight grip. Manager of the Big Injun as well as part owner, he was also the mayor of camp, and his word waslaw. When any unruly cit disputed his authority, or tried to ‘‘ shoot up” the town, Henry ‘‘sat” on him promptly. And, as a general thing, it required but one ‘* sitting ” to bring about the desired effect, Day was drawing toa close and night was pre- paring to take possession when down through the gulch that led to this remote camp came a lone rider. He was a rough-looking fellow, roughly dressed, and was astride of about as homely & specimen of mule-flesh as was ever seen, The man was almost as sorry-looking, though so far as a casual survey could discover; but be was apparently no stranger to poverty, and he cerbaiory. was no stranger to dirt, He looked greasy and grimy, and he sat the saddle with the air of one who was afflicted with chronic lazi- ness, He was riding listlessly along, apparently pay- ‘ing little or no attention to anything; when sud- denly, something caught his eye, causing him to Maad jhe thi lacard posted t something was a p ona tree tehide the traile so close that no one could pass that way without seeing it, ‘“‘ Whoa, Spavins!” the man sung out,| ‘ Let’s take a look how,” : j i The mulé stopped witbout effort, and the man proceeded to read the notice, Tt was in these words: a He had some one to send with - wanted of me, | did not bring any one with | he seemed to be whole inlimb and sound in body — at this hyer, and see what et is, any- Be RNs
Page 3
“ NOTICE! '** To the Galoot who answers to the title of Drapwoop Diox JUNIOR:— } “You had better turn tail to and go right back. You are not wanted here, We mean to capture Satan Sam ourselves, and we do not want any he p. We have h-ard that you have set out for this plac», and not knowing you personally we take this means of telling you you are not wanted. af by Order of the President ‘THe SCORPIONS OF SEE-Saw.” “* What do ye make out o’ that, Spavins?” the man questioned his mule, when be had read, **Bt’s a darn peeculiar notice, now ain’t it? q ‘Ther Scorpions of See-Saw, eh? That ’ar sounds ‘as ef ethas asting toit, Waal, et don’t ’fect us, T reckon, Spavins, so we'll pus on, Gee-up!” By It required more of an effort for the mule to start than it bad to stop, but it got into motion 4 finally and carried its rider slowly along up the gulcb in the direction of the town. walkin’ sign fer some fire-water dispensary or other; if not, then 1l’d guess you ar’ a recruiter fer ther salivated army.” ‘‘Ha! ha! ha!” cackled the bummer. ‘‘ You hit all around ther spot, pard, but you don’t ripg ther bell nary a time, This ain’t none o’ them things you hava mentioned, but areg’lar private snap, an’ I’m workin’ et meself fer me own per- soval good an’ comfort. Guess again, pard, an’ see ef ye can’t hit et.” RS No use; ef et ain’t what I’ve said, then I give ; : et by *That’s what tother jackass did. Ha! ha! haw!” ‘See byer!” cried the man on the mule, ‘‘ Ef you mean thet ’ar fera jokeL fail ter see ther p’int, and ef ye mean et fer an insult to Spavins, my mule hyer, then I’m goin’ ter take et up, Do you bear me?” “Gosh! Don’t git riled, mister. I was only gittip’ off a joke, that was ell. Who ar’ you, “ Safe?” ‘Ye see, ther boys may think I have taken ye in on my snap, and they may take it into their heads that this is too much of a good psy es open fire on us. I don’t set upno claims to ¥ bullet-proof, ye know,” ‘Ob! 1 aon’t think thar is any danger, Thomas-thomas Thomas—I think that is more dignified tian Tom-tom Tom, You see, they probably wouldn’t open fire without giving some warnin’, aud the minute they say Stop, I’d close my yaup-trap instanter. 1 don’t think thar’s avy danger,” “All rigbt, then; we'll resk et, hyer goes!” \ The bummer.faced around at that, and step- ping out at aregular stride, beat upon bis “ tom- tom” with more than usual vigor. Mr. Balaam put bis mule in motion and fell in with thse procession, and when they had proceed- ed in this manner for a little distance he laid Now, then, ‘ When, at length, the miserable looking com- | anyhow? Let’s ueighbor a little together, ef you | back his head, opened his mouth, and began to bination entered the camp, night bad settled over | don’t mind. px name is Tom. tom aie sing: all, and the lights in the various buildings were * Pilgrims from yan! What a name! har feats Aa ‘ " . , i { aglow. did ye pick up sech a bandle as that, anyhow?” rea pow by Sroddtra his why Fr rena DE e The usual sounds were to be heard, as the new- comer approached, but there was one sound heard above others which was somewhat un- usual, Thigmight have been intended for a drum, but ‘there was nothing very drumlike about it ex- ‘cept the incessant beating. A boy beating with sticks upon a pumpkin could have made as much music. But, there it was; ‘‘ Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, Tub-a-dub, dub!” over and over and over again, dn one dull, monotonous strain that was harass- j ‘ing in the extreme. ‘*‘ Pilgrims from yan!” exclaimed the man on the mule, as he listened to it, ‘‘ What in all creation kin that be, Spavins? Must be ther war-drum to call ther citizens to ther council lodge, { should say. Sufferin’ mackerel! it’s enough to make @ man git up an’ slap his grand- dad, hang me ef et ain’t!” Slowly they pressed on, the dilapidated mule keeping time to the unceasing thump-a-thump, ‘and as they advanced the beating seemel to draw nearer to them, As mule and rider came into the light where it fell across the street from the windows of the ‘first shanties of the camp, the drummer was met, face to face, and the man onthe mule stared at ‘him in amazement. There was light enough to see and be seen, and the drummer stopped for a moment and the two disreputable-looking specimens surveyed each other leisurely and critically, What the man with the drum saw need not be described again, but what the man on the mule saw will bear ‘telling. What be saw was—a miserable specimen of the genus bummer. The fellow bad ona hat— ‘to begin at the top—that looked as if it might be a relic of ages past, so worn and sbapeless it had become, Then came an apology for a suit of clothes through which the bare skin could be seen in rumerous places, On the fellow’s feet were a boot and a shoe, and it was hard to say which was the worse for wear. There was, in the uncertain light, a honing of dank, tangled, matted bair appearing arounc under the edges of the old hat, and a beard of similar description covered the fellow’s face, Between bat and beard, in front, were to be seen ‘Howlin’ Hiram! What do yecall yerself, anyhow, stranger? Have they got any name rh fer ve byer? And what ia tarnation do ye 2 und on that ’ar keg fer? Come, enlighten me, bi %fore I keel over frum sheer curiosity.’ 2 The fellow with the beer-keg drum laughed, “Ha! ba! ha!” he chuckled, in a voice which ‘plainly showed that rnm had hollowed his shell <drummer-up fer some local guzzle mill—a sort o’ ‘* Hal ba! baw! Sort o’ stumps ye, does et? Well, et’s easy explained, fer my name is Tom, and when I begun ter work this hyer snap ther boys said Tom was out tumpin’ his tom-tom; an’ from thet et was only a step to Tom-tom Tom, See?” ‘* Yos, 1 see now. . But, whatis this snap you are workin’?” * Don't ye git aboard yet? Well, Tl ’splain et to ye: Ye see, I’m cbronically ’flicted with ther popular ailyment called poverty, and that bein’ ther case | baveon’t ther necessary to ante fer my spiritual provender, Hence, had ter hustle to git an idea to supply ther need.” ** And ye don’t mean ter tell me ye do et this way, do ye; by beatin’ on that empty keg?” * Prezackly, stranger! Whenever [ want ter indulge, all I have ter do is ter git out my tom- tom and march up an’ down ther street thumpin’ et, and et ain’t long ’fore somebody who gets tired of hearin’ it will buy me off at ther price ofahorn. Do ye lean-to now?” “Well, that’s ’riginal, by ther national ef et ain’t! But, et’s a wonder they don’t kill ye in- stead of born ye cff J should think et would get ter be tires®me after a while.” ‘‘ tia! that’s ther beauty of et! That’s whar I have got ther bulge on ’em beautifullee. They declare openly that I ain’t worth the powder to blow me over, and that I ain’t worth ther trouble of killin’ with a club; so, thar’s whar I have ’em, Ob! et’s a snap, and I’m workin’ et fer all I’m worth,” Again he paused to beat upon his ‘‘ tom-tom ” to let {he citizens know he was still around. “ Awd now what’s your call-by?” he demanded, when he stopped, ‘*My name?” said the man on the mule, ‘‘ Well, [am called Barnabas Balaam, I am a missionary unto the heathen, and that’s what has brought me here, It seems quite fitting that we should meet as we bave, What will you charge to escort me into the camp to the tune of your tom-tom and publicly introduceme? That’s all you will have to do; I’ll do the rest. What do ye say?” ‘“Show me a shiner, pardner, and et’s done, Couldn’t ‘ford to drop my regular snap fer any less, seein’ that I have been drummin’ fer twenty minutes or more, and it’s time somebody bought brought up a silver quarter which he handed to his new-found friend, greatly to his delight, The bummer looked at it critically, and put it in his mouth for safe keeping. And then be said; ‘‘Ev’s a bargain, partner, You stiffen up a little and have a little more style about ye, and Vl thump ther tom-tom aud escort ye into town safe?” And the old Huc. -a-buck hearing bim come, Cried Rum-a-tum, rum-a-tum, rum-a-tum-tum |” And so they proceeded up the street toward” the center of the camp, tbe muleteer bawling as loud as he could baw] and the man with the toni- tom beating as bard as be could beat, while the astonished citizens flocked to the street to learn what it all meant, By the time they had reached the Royal Roost and The Tank the crowd was great, and when they stopped there, in the center of the camp, the man with the tom-tom stopped his noise and cried out: ** Citerzens of See-Saw, bebold! "Low me te” interdoose Balaam and bisass, This is Balaam,”' pointing to the man, ‘ and this is the ass,” ind\ cating the mule, A howl of laughter greeted this, and the man on the mule waved his arms indignantly to en- ° join silence, ‘*Thou knavel” he cried, shaking bis fist at Tom-tom Tom, ‘* You bave meanly misrepre- , sented me! What said I about Balaam and bis ass? [say you buve meanly misrepresented me, Citizens, I am Barnabas Balaam, and this is my mule, Spavins; [ am not the Balaam of old, uor any kin to him 8o far as I know,” “Your humble pardon, pard,” craved the man with the tom-tom, ‘J ,ot it a little discoém- fuddied, that wasall, Well, you ar’ interdoosed anybow, and so our little compact ends, ril now go and lubricate, Adieu fer the present,” With that, and a roll of thesticks upon the so- called toro-tom, he bowed himself out of the crowd and entered The Tank. * Miserable specimen of a weak and degenerate race!” cried Mr. Balaam, with a wave of the band after him as he disappeared, ‘‘ See what rum bas done. Behold! a being once stamped with the likeness of bis Maker, now only a thing doomed to the eternal pit of perdition!” “A parson!” some one exclaimed, ‘© A sky-pilot sbarp!” cried out another, ‘Bet be’s run up ergainst a tough snag hyer, anyhow,” “You mistake, you mistake!” cried Mr. Balaam. ‘‘I am nota parson, you bet. Thet ‘ar ain't my Jay thisdeal, But, [’mamissionary unto the heathen, and that’s what has brought me 4, Tempt me not!” cried Mr. Balaam, ‘ Tempt mé4 not!’ ‘* He called us heathens,” some fellow remind- ed, ‘* What ort we ter do ter him ferthat?” ‘“* Make him take et back !” ‘Yas; makes him take water!” ‘“'Tunp him over to ther Scorpions!” “Make him take a dose of ther genuine: wouldn’t tetch et no sooner’n he'd take p’izen. Te a pair of pale, weak, watery eyes which looked | meup, All that labor’s wasted, you see,” here. I’m an advocate o’ temperance, I am, 4 like holes burnt in a blanket—to quote that old and I’m here to take the demon by ther neck Me simile, and just below the eyes, in the center CHAPTER III and choke him. Do ye neef I have come hyer i" foreground, was the end of a rosy nose that , to show ye that rum is only anotber word for 4 gleamed like a strawberry of largest; size. AN IMPORTANT ARRIVAL, ruip.” y But, this was not all, Hanging in front, sus-| THry were, of a truth, a peculiar pair. ‘Wants ter deprive us of our bitters!” cried Y ‘pended from his neck by a rope attached to ¢ach One was about as disreputable in looks as the | one fellow in genuine alarm. ‘ya end, was an empty beer keg, aud this: was the | other, the only difference being, now that it was ‘*He’s taken a big contract, one that he'll a: = “‘drum” upon which the fellow bad been beating | brought to notice, that the man on the mule did | never get through with,” answered another, a; ut with the sticks he held in his hands, . not show evidences of bard drinking. ; ** Won't ye ccme in and take somethin?” a ff : When the two had surveyed each other for a| Mr. Balaam went down into his pocket, and | third invited, ‘Ye look weak and and weary a 3 few seconds, the man on the mule cried out; after fumbling for some moments he finally | and in need of soothin’-syrup.” at to a dangerous extent, ‘‘ You don’t ketch on, do | *cordin to ther condisbuns.” . article!” ’ a ye, stranger. 1’m workin’ a snap hyer, I am, “ Aud you won't object to my singin’, will ‘That’s so! Make a convart of him an’ so dis- «and don’t ye forget it,” e?” arm ther crank!” Eee He laughed again, and gave several more | ‘To your singin’?” “Would ye delight to see me fa)l?” Mr, Balaam — x ot ‘thumps upon bis unique drum. “Yes, You see, the more noise we make the | solemnly demanded. “ Verily, I take nothing hy Rey “T fail ter see where the snap comes in,” de- | more attention we will draw. I am a singer | but water.” : ba clared the man on the mule, ‘I should call et | from a family of singers, you bet!” “Water! That’s ony, fit ter wash feet an’ | Ns hard work fer nothin’. But, mebby you ar’ “T don’t object, pard; but, do ye think et’s | dishes! Ask Tom-tom Tom ef et ain’t so. He
Page 4
4 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s. Double Device, Stranger, you had better give et up an’ slide out. “Say, what will ye take fer the mule?” one man called out, ‘““What will I take for Spavins? cried the temperance advocate, ‘‘ Money cannot buy him, gentlemen, Nothin’ but death can ever rt Spavins and me, Thar never was a mule Fike Spavins; thar will never be another when ‘he is gone, He is not fer sale.” Mr. Biluaam had a way of dropping into dialect and out again, whether it was noticed or not. ! When the crowd had indulged itself further OTF in the way of joking and jesting Mr. Balaam ty was invited to dismount and stay awhile, By this time Tom-tom Tom had reappeared upon the scene, Yas,” be cried, ‘ dismount and stay, by all , means, pard. Ef you can’t do us any good hyer et is pretty sartain ye can’t do us any harm, 80 ye ar’ welcome. By ther way, that shiner ye gave me done ther business up brown. Now I won't have ter beat ther tom-tom again this evenin’, ’tain’t likely.” The man accepted the invitation, and when he had given careful and positive directions con- ie cerning the care of his mule, entered the hotel. san Here he inquired for lodgings, but before he was answered there was a counter-question con- f cerning his ability to pay Inquiring the price, Mr, Balaam went through his various pockets until he had raked together money enough to meet the claim, when he was allowed to register and a room was assigned to m, It was time now for the stage to arrive at aw, and while Mr, Balaam was in conver- sation with Snickerson Snooks a shout was heard, and the stage came rolling into the camp, See-Saw had a stage twice a week, and as it made railroad connection at a distant point it had to be governed by railroad time, and hence F ¢ was after night when it reached its destina- on. The arrival of the stage in your mining-camp is an event of importance, and the whole popula- tion of See-Saw was out when the stage drew up in front of of the Royal Roost, There were several passengers to alight, but only one in whom we may be interested, This one was a young man, good-looking, ‘ supple and athletic, who sprung up the steps to the aeaet with a light and easy stride, ** Who is landlord here?” he asked cheerily. “T am, sir,” was the response made by Snicker- 90n. Snooks, *¢ All right; you are the man I am lookin for, I want you to put me down for room an b for a week,” i, “That's jest what I’m hyer for,” declared 5 Noooks, ‘ What sort o’ room do you want?— . : est, medium, or small? “The best you’ve got,” was the assurance, And the young man’s Sprearence bene his <P em ho or it. ‘I never travel second- tlass, sir. “That's all ri ht, sir. Hyer’s ther autygraff album; jest quill your call, ef ye please.” The young man drew the register to him, and in a bold, free hand inscribed the following: ‘* RICHARD M, BRISTOL, Bristol City, Ariz.” . “ Now,” he made inquiry, “is there a geatle- 8 man around here named Henry Hancroft?”’ ** Wull, I should allow thar is,” answered the landlord, ‘* Hancroft is mayor of this camp and ‘ " manager of ther Big Injun Mine,” ** He’s the man I want to find, Can you tell 1 me where | shall be likely to fall in with him Ve after supper? Supper is the thing of most im- vie portance now,” ** Why, he’s most gen’ly byer at stage time,” \ responded the landlord, looking around, ‘ He ay, 4 isa reg’lar boarder hyer, you know. Ha! thar \t, he is, now, Mayor, hyer’s » gent would like ter ly see ye,” Pee i A man came promptly forward, a man be- tween thirty and forty years of age, with a keen, shrewd face, a pair of piercing eyes, and one . who was not by any means bad-looking. ‘** A man to see me?” h ‘ better known as wood Dick, Junior.” ‘Ha! Deadwood Dick, eh? The governor gent you, of course, Well, I’m glad to see you; but I looked for you to come in disguise,” | _The mayor offered iit : ¥ ed heartily, his band, and it was grasp- “*T didn’t see the necessity of coming in any disguise,” was the response, ‘‘ I can adopt one, you know, if necessary, The day of disguises is past, to a certain extent.” s Well, it doesn’t matter, I suppose, But, you want supper, so I’ll go in with you and we’ll talk while you eat, Come right this way, Mr, Bristol,” The mayor led the way, and the two passed from the room. CHAPTER IV. THE INTERVIEW WITH HANCROFT, No sooner had the two disappeared than Barnabas Balaam made a move to follow them, when the landlord interfered. ‘* Hold on, there, sir,” he called out. ‘* Where are you vey SA ‘* Howlin’ Hiram!” exclaimed the temperance advocate, ‘‘ ain’t I in et, too?” “In what?” “Why, they’re aad fer supper, and that’s what I bave anted fer. I want ter draw ter fill, this band.” “ All right; but supper ain’t quite ready, and they have gone in there to talk a little, Ill tell ye when ther board is spread fer you.” ‘Kf that’s the case I’ll draw my belt in an- other hole and wait, See to et that I don’t get left, though, landlord, When you ar’ ready, I want to git in on ther ground floor, as et wur.” ‘* You won't get left, sir.” So, Mr. Balaam drew in his belt another notch and waited with what patience he could. Meanwhile, Mr. Hancroft had conducted his friend into the dining-room, where they took seats at the table to talk while supper was waited for, “So, you are Deadwood Dick, hey?’ Mr, Hancroft observed once again, as an opener. ‘* That is what I am called, sir,” was the an- swer, ** And you are the fellow who has been raising the inerry dickens with rascals of every stripe, ‘* That is the reputation I enjoy, sir. But, as I never care to talk about myself and my ex- ploits, suppose we take a look at the case for which I have been called here.” ° ‘* Just as you please, sir,” ‘*T understand you are troubled with an out- law, here, who wears tho suggestive name of Satan Sam,” Exactly.” ‘‘ The governor told me about some of his do- ings. Has he shown his hand of late?” ae No longer ago than the day before yester- ay. a Ha! and what did he then?” ® “Robbed the outgoing stage of a shipmetit of bullion,” “And did the peewee allow him to get away with it without making any attempt to take him?” ; ‘There was no ger, and not a soul knew the bullion was aboard, It was put in the box at night, and our agent at the other end had been told to look out for it.” ‘Then not even the driver knew about it?” “« Not even he, sir.” “Strange.” fb detective was thoughtful for some mo- ments, “Your agent at the other end isa man to be trusted, sir, of course!” “It we did not think so we would not trust him. Yes, he is to be relied on, At any rate we have confidence in him,” Another break, during which the detective was silent and apparently very thoughtful, In fact, before he questioned further, supper was annuunced ready. Scarcely sooner the announcement than Bar- nabas Balaam bounded into the room and made a dash for a place at the board, dropping into a chair opposite the mayor and his companion, ** Didn’t know but thar mought be a rush,” he remarked, ‘‘and I was bound nof to get left. Fog bungry to take ther resk of losin’ my ub, ; pA You'll probably get enough to fill you up,” assured the mayor. ‘‘Supper has been over these two hours, and there are only the stage- passengers to feed, you see, So, there was Teally no occasion for you to break your neck.” “Glad ter know that, anyhow; but, I was bound to be in at the first swipe, no matter who else got left. Now, age let my ontidy appear- ance affect your appetites any, gentlemen, fer I ‘sure ye nothin’ you kin say or do will "fect mine. I’m here on business, and there’s no time to stand on ettykit, or anything of that sort. Wade in and fill up, is my motto, ‘ ‘*Exemplify your motto, then,” the mayor: urged, laughing, The detective had not smiled, and had hardly taken any notice ofthe new-comer, His manner was still very thoughtful. “‘This case is a peculiar one, Mr, Hancroft,” he now remarked, ‘* You tell me the stage wag robbed day before yesterday, and a quantity of bullion taken, That buslion had been put aboard secretly, and not even the driver knew it was there. You had notified your agent at the other end to look out for it. He is a trusted man, and is not to be suspected. In spite of all, Satan Sam met the stage and carried off the bullion, That sums up wbat you have tuld me,” ‘* Yes, that sums it up, sir; but, had we not. better talk this over a little more in private?’ **Oh! that does not matter, These facts are: known anyhow, I suppose.” ‘* Yes, certainly; but—” “Then it does not matter. I shall not make: any attempt to work in secret on the case.” ‘*Well, if that is your plan, all right; but, really, I cannot see what good you are going to: do if you make yourself known 80 openly and. make no attempt at working secretly, ‘* Leave that to me, sir. I understand a society here, the Scorpions, are working in secret, and: have discovered nothing.” ** Well, that’s so,” ** Do you know who these Scorpions are?” ** Scorpions!” suddenly exclaimed Mr. Balaam,, as well as be could exclaim at all with his mouth filled as it was, and he held bis knife and fork both loaded with further supplies for his inner man; ‘* that reminds me of somethin’ I seen whem I was comin’ bere this afternoon,” ‘What did you see?” asked the mayor, in a tone of annoyance at the interruption, ** What did I see?” was the return, ‘I'll tell ye what I seen: It was a notice tacked up ona tree, and it was a warnin’ to a feller called Deadwood Dick, signed—Scorpions of See-Saw. It warned ther feller to turn face-about and git,, or words to that effect,” The detective appeared interested, ‘* Where do you say thisnotice was, my man?” he asked. ‘*Kt was on a tree a few miles out from ther camp hyer, I seen et as I was comin’ in.” sf Sony I did not see it myself, but it was too dark, of course, As I am Deadwood Dick, I would like to know just what it had to say to me,” “T thort et moughbt interest ye. Well, et said somethin’ to this "fect, as near as I remember et: That you was not wanted hyer, ’cause these Scorpions had made up their minds to capture Satan Sam the’rselves and they didn’t want no help from any outsider,” ’ ‘*So that is the case, is it? Well, considering that I arrived by night and could not see the notice, 1 am here,” “ This is news to me,” said Mr, Hancroft. ‘I had not heard anything about the notice.” ‘““What do you know about these self-styed Scorpions?” asked the detective. “‘T know nothing about them, sir.” ‘* They are against the outlaw. I understand.” ‘* Decidedly, sir, as such a notice as this would testify. But, who they are I know not.” **But, you suspect ‘* Well, it is pretty well understood they are some of our citizens here, but not a single one of them is known, They guard well their secret.” ‘*] should say so, Do you think they reall mean what this man reports having seen posted?” ““T guess they do; all the more reason why you should have come here in disguise. I can- not understand why you did not do so,” “Til tell Ried I thought these men, the Scor- pions, would be willing to allow me to work in with them in their efforts to capture tho rascal, I was acting upon the understanding I had of the case,” _ Well, [am disappointed in you, Mr, Bristol, I must say. You are not such a man as I im- agined Deadwood Dick to be,” ‘I’m sorry for that, Mr, Hancroft.” ** Howlin’ Hiram!” here broke in the temper- ance advocate, Mr. Balaam, ‘* Give ther young man a show, boss, Give him 4 show, and don’t discourage him right at ther start. Thet ain’t no fair, nohow,” “Suppose you attend solely to filling your regia suggested the mayor, in no gentle “*T can’t fill no faster’n I am fillin’, nohow. I’m gorgin’ et down as fast as it will go, in ther Pr American way. Et’s root hog or die, ays. Well, attend to your gorging, then, and do not the with what does mot comeera you. ne, ‘‘ Pilorims from Yan!” cried Mr. Balaam.
Page 5
4 Ch —— -sunk so low! Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s. Double Device. 5. Will you stay, Mr. Bristol? or are you going to “take the bint and retire from the field?” ‘‘Why, 1 shall stay, of course!” was the re- ‘sponse, ‘I may not be able to accomplish any- thing, seeing that this secret organization is vagainst me, but [’ll dowhat I can, I snpsors you desire me tu stay, and that you will do all _ycu can to help’me in the work.” “Ou, certainly, only I am afraid you bave weakened your chances by coming here so openly, However, that cannot be helped now.” ‘No; that is beyond remedy, if it needs remedy, Have you any clew that you can place in my bands that may be of service to me in getting upon the outlaw’s trail? Anything will be of use.” ‘We bave nothing whatever, If we had, we should not have remained go long idle, No; you will have to begin with nothing.” ‘‘Where is this lake the governor spoke -about?” ‘* Between two and three miles from here, off to the north.” ‘‘Can we go there to-morrow and take a look around?” “Certainly; but, little good that will do you.” ‘*T want to see the place, nevertheless, sir, I[ have undertaken this task, and I mean to push ‘it through if I can.” So they talked, and the meal progressed the ~while, Mr. Balaam was shoveling the food in at a prodigious rate, apparently eating egainst time. Nor did he finish till the detective had done and had left the reom, When, finally, be had filled up, he went out, “and later on be went forth to view the town, and, perchance, give a lecture on temperance, He seemed to have but one well-grounded idea, and that was his warfare against rum, CHAPTER V. PROSPECTIVE FUN INTERRUPTED. Anourt the time when Mr. Balaam set forth ‘from the hotel, the beating of the ‘‘tom-tom” was heard again. This was evidence that Tom-tom Tom had again become thirsty, and considering that no one bad bought him up that evening, he evident- ly felt justified in torturing the citizens further. He was coming down the street in the direc- tion of the hotel and the leading saloon, drum- ming away as though his very life depended upon his efforts, taking the middle of the street for bis march, and tbat dull, tuneless, monotonous ‘tum-a-tum was exceedingly grating upon sensi- ‘tive nerves. ** Poor, debased, misguided man!” cried Barn- -abas Halaam, 60 that those around him might hear, to see a human creature “* Whata pity weep for him; [ could in- I couk deed,” . Mr. ene and his detective were on the piuzza, and heard the remark of the temperance advocate, ‘It’s just his worthlessness that saves bis mis- erable life,” declared Mr, Haneroft, “If he were worth the trouble, somebody would have killed him long ago.” } *¢ Seems to me he would tire of it, if you were to 7 a drum it out once,” the detective re- marked, ‘The trouble with that is, siF, that some. weak-nerved citizen gives out before the bum- mer does. Only for that I think it would fetch faim. “Suppose you let him try it once, and see which will give out first. If it gets unbearable “to ary one, let that one take a walk for bis be. lth, You are mayor of the camp and a word trom you ougbt to be sufficient,” : “That is very gocd im theory, sir, but in ‘practice it would not work worth a cent; for, ‘you see, I ain not seldom the very one to give out first, And 1 am ia no mood to listen long to his infernal racket to-night, I can tell you.” One or two others hinted at shooting the dis- turber of the peace on the spot, but all im- mediately agreed that it seemed too much like mur.er to kill so harmless a “cuss.” Tho bum- mer did not possess a weapon, and rum had long ago sapped all the strength he ever bad, ‘Let me suggest somethin’,” spoke up Bar- Matas Balaam. * Well, what is it?” asked the mayor, ** Let some one buy the fellow up, and let him enter the den of iniquity to iudulge his deprayed appetite, Then will I enter, and pointing’ to him as an example, deliver one of my telling lectures against the evils of intemperance,” ‘‘ That's ther idee!” cried one man, “Et will be all your life is worth,” warned another. | reat) “ Why so, friend?” + ‘ * ¥ 1y / hee t+ : ‘ < eyes - ape at al i nel P - t “ts , ‘“ 4 ~ ' Tee ss = es 2 ‘* When you talk against likker you hit most of us right whar we live and have our bein’, ez et war, and anyhow I think they’ll bounce you out of The Tank in less’n no time.” ** Well, the fun will be allon your side, any- how,” declared the temperance advocate, ‘I aim willin’ to take all the risks,” ‘* Anything in. ther way of fun,” cried one man, ‘ {llante to buy Tom-tom off, and that will set ther ball ter rollin’.” ‘““All rigbt, let ’er flicker, pard,” another urged on, ‘*Here, Tom-tom,” the first fellow called; ‘fer ther luv ov mercy let up on that infernal drummin’ and Ill give ye the price of two doses, Let up, I say, and come hyer and git ther stuff.” The bummer stopped his noise and came for- ward, ‘*May ther mild-eyed goddess o’ Peace smile upon thee thou, good Samaritan!” the bummer cried, ‘1 didn’t know I was so thirsty to-night, but what I have had has only made me crave fer more, I feel immense, ’cept fer my thirst, and I reckon I was good fer drummin’ all night, ef need ’d been.” ‘* Wal, fer ther luv ov mercy put et away, and here’s ther tinkle to ante fer a couple o’ fill- ers, Don’t let’s hear ther darn thing ergain to- night, or you may git a chunk of lead next time.” “This byer will settle me, I know. This will fill me right up, and I'll crawl away and sleep ther sleep of ther innocent and good,” So, accepting the money, he unslung the tom- tom from his neck and with a bow to the crowd made right across the street to The Tank, ‘* Miserable, miserable, miserable mortal!” sighed the man of temperance, as he led the way after him, * Here is going to be some fun,” said Mr, Han- croft to his companion, ‘ Let’s step over and see it. The Tank is the leading place at night, any- bow, and you don’t see the townif you don’t take ‘All right; ’'m in for anything that promises amusement, There's no chance to do anything in the way of business to-night, anyhow.” ‘No; and I have doubts about your being able to do anything at all, Bristol. You made the mistake of your life by coming here without disguise. I’m afraid you will not accomplish anything.” : ** You have told me so before, For the pres- ent Jet us drop the matter. As this peculiar Mr. Balaam has hinted, would it not be well for you to give me a chance before you condemn me? I think so,” * Let it so be understood, then, I’m a blunt man, and perhaps too outspoken in my views. Don’t take offense, anyhow,” ‘*] never do, where none is intended,” By the time they reached the door of The Tank and entered, Tom-tom Tom had alread ranged himself at the bar and called for his favorite poison, having now put his tom-tom around upon his back after the fashion of a knapsack, Barnabas Balaam strode forward into the room in a tragic manner, and turning, pointed witb scorn at the man at the bar. ‘‘ Behold!” he cried. ‘* Manhood cast off, and the human sunk lower than the brute of the field!” Tom-tom was in the act of lifting bis glass, but he paused and looked around, ‘Does that ’er remark ’ply ter me?” he de- manded, ‘*Tt does,” was the answer. ‘““Then you had better take et back, that is all,” the bummer warned. ‘‘ Ef ye don’t thar may be a set-to byar.” “I never take back the truth,” was the re- oinder. ‘‘ See to what a state your appetite has rought you. What an example of the curse of rum! Men of See-Saw, look upon him!” The fellow was a picture of distress, sure enough. : Having once described him we need not touch upon that again, unless to say that in the full glare of the light he looked ten times more wretched than he had in the lesser light of the street. ‘ He attended to the draining of his glass, and after wiping his mouth upon his tattered sleeve, faced the temperance advocate. “Do ye know ye hev ’sulied me?” he de- manded, ‘“‘ { thought you past all sense of shame, or all spirit of resentment,” was the solemn retort. ** Wull, ye will find thet I ain’t, then. Now ye bev got ter take that all back or Pll mount ye; ye kin do jest as ye please,” “Thou poor wretch!” cried the man of tem- perance, pilyingly. ‘* Know ye not that rum long ago robbed you of all the strength you ever had? it is sol Judging by your size, the time has been, no doubt, when you were a powerful man; but that day is long gone by,” at oure a dad-ratted liar!” the bummer cried, He was angry, now, and squared himself for fight, brandishing his fists in a furious way. ‘* Keep your temper!” placated the temperance pia ary coolly, ‘‘ [tisrum that fires the brain and makes you rave, Let us reason the matter and prove it in a rational way.” “Then you take back what ye said, or I’m a dad-ratted—” ‘*T take back nothing,” was the interruption. **T am here in the cause of temperance, and you are a glorious subject fur the basis of a lecture.” Getting warmed up to it, the man was drop- ping all signs of dialect, and, no matter what he was now, it was evident toat at some time or other he had been a man of some education, "Yas, and you'll be a glorious subjeck fer ther horspittle, too, ef ye keep on that way,” cried Tom-tom, irately. Mr, Balaam waved him to silence, ‘‘Tam here in the cause of temperance,” he cried, ‘I want toshow you by example what rum will do for you, Behold!” pointing at Tom- tom, ‘‘ the remains of what was once a power- ful man—” ‘Yas, and what’s powerful enough yet,” cried the bummer, ‘“ This is fine return fer ther way I escorted ye into town this evenin’, ain’t et!” rs I paid you for the service,” he was remind- ed, ‘* But, boys, I made one mistake when T inter- doosed him,” cried the bummer, ‘ [said Balaam and his ass, ef ye remember, Ther four-legged critter out in ther stable is Balaam,” The howl of laughter that greeted this unex- pected sully was great, and Mr, Hancroft, and even his distinguished companion, joined in, As for Mr, Balaam, be took off his hat and put it under bis arm, making the bummer a most profound bow. **T acknowledge the shct,” he said humbly. ** You hit me that time, and I am proud to own that whatever rum has done to your body it has not yet quite shattered your mind,” _ ‘‘ And you'll find that et ain’t done so much damage to my body as ye might think,” the bummer cried. ‘‘Ef ye don’t believe et, jest. ketch on,” He presented himeelf in wrestling attitude as he issued the challenge, “But, it bas done damage incalculable to your appearance, sir,” declared the cold-water man. ‘* See the bloated form; the pale, weak eyes; the tell-tale nose; the rank, dank and alcoholic signature plainly written everywhere—” ‘Dad-rat yer imperdenco, anyhow!” the en- raged fellow cried, ‘I’m goin’ ter take you and wipe up ther floor with ye, see f { don’t! I won’t stand no sech talk from you nor anybody else! Clear ther road hyer, citerzens, and [ll show bim how much damage—” ‘* Hold on, hold onJ” cried the man of temper- ance, “I am no fighter, friend; no fighter at all, Idon’t want to bave any damage done to me, nor do I want to do damage to any one else. We can settle this matter without coming to blows, It is a mere question of right or wrong, regarding the argument I have offered. I'll put my strength of arm against yours to. prove whether it is better to drink water or rum,” Tl put ther strength of my arm ag’inst your nose, that’s whar J’ll put et,” snarled the bum- mer. ‘‘ You have ’sulted me, an’ you have got ter answer fer et, I don’t *low—” He was interrupted just there by a loud shout- ing without, and there came the sound of a rapid. discharge of pistol-shots, together with the beat of a horse’s hoofs, A break was instantly made for the door, tol learn who was “‘ shooting up the town,” : CHAPTER VI, IT SMACKS OF MYSTERY, WHEN some dare-devil spirit gives vent to his superfluous good-feelings by ‘‘ shooting up” the town, in your Western camp, it is not accordin to social ethics for him to kill anybody, an hence the crowd generally rushes to the street to learn who the shooter is, In this case, as said, there was a general break for the door on the part of those who were in The Tank when the shooting Degay: The first out were just in time to see a horse- man coming tearing down the street at a terrific pace, shooting as he came, and yelling at the top of his voice, Those who were not among the first were in time to see this dare-devil horseman as he dashed,
Page 6
- that, Tsu past the saloon, and were able to hear what it was he was so loudly shouting. “Take me if you can!” he was shouting. “* Defiance to ae all, and more defiance to Deadwood Dick! Here I am, Satan Sam the Outlaw! Ha! ha! ba!” He was going as rapidly as he came, and those who were among the last to pour out from the saloon beheld something disappearing in a cloud of dust, to the merry snapping and cracking of revolvers, It had all taken place in less time than it has taken the reader to follow these lines, ‘* Satan Sam!” was the shout that immediately went up. And immediately following that was the rat- tling of a score or more of ready revolvers as a volley was sent after the disappearing outlaw, The volley was nearly done, only a few tardy shots being beard, and the mad rider was almost beyond range, when there came a shot that was nese and more spiteful than any that had pre- ceded. And it was a shot which took effect. The skouting and firing of the disappearing horseman were suddenly checked, and in the dim light be was seen to throw up his arms, reel, and then fall from the saddle, “* He's hit, by ther great!” one man shouted, and instantly there was a mad stampede to reach the spot where be had fallen, These nearest were, of course, upon the ground first, where the wild rider was jaaeh) lying in * the dust with his life’s blood fast ebbing away. The horse had stopped, and stood near at band, trembling in every limb with fear and excite- ment, and as the crowi rushed up some men took charge of the animal while others gave ac- tention to the man, Tbere was not enough light, with the crowd around, for the man’s face to be seen plainly, so he’was lifted and carried to the front of a near- by store, By this time the whole camp was on the spot. ** Who is it?” demanded Mayor Hancroft,; who, with the detective, pushed his way to the front, ‘““ Why, he said he’s Satan Sam,” was the re- sponse, ‘‘ Ef et is him, he is done fer this time, sure enough. Stand out of ther light, boys,” “Yes, get out of the light,” the mayor or- dered. The crowd fell back so that more light was bad upon the form of the dying man, and the mayor and the detective pushed in and knelt be- side him, ** Disguised, ag I live!” cried the mayor, ‘Sure enough,” agreed the detective, * I'll remove it, The man hag on a false beard, which, in bis fall from the horse, had become disarranged. As the detective spoke he removed it, ‘* Bart Miller!” exclaimed those around, im- ari om & ‘* You know him, then?” questioned the detec- tive, ‘Know him!” they cried. ‘Wé6 know himas ' well as we know ourselves!” “Then it seems my business here is at an end, if this is the outlaw. There is no mistake about pose?” “‘ How kin thar be?” cried one man. “ Didn't he go past a-hollerin’ that he was Satan Sam?” ‘** But, who'd ever ’a’ thought et?” another put in. ‘*T—I—TIm not him,” the man faintly gasped. ‘Ha! he declares he’s not the outlaw!” cried the detective, “Which he naturally would say, to escape hanging,” observed the mayor. ‘His own words have given the lie to that, now,” ‘* Silence, all,” ordered the detective, “ and we'll hear what he has to say. It is plain that _ his time is short,” “Tt will prove itself,” said the mayor, ‘If he is Satan Sam, this is the last of him, and if not, * then we'll hear from Samuel again, that’s all,” ‘Yes; but, let’s get his last words, What have you to say, my man?” bending over the fa}jlen man, “T'm—r’m—I’m not Satan Sam,” was the faint response, ‘I’m only Barton Miller, and— and they all know me, I was only playin’ et off that way, and—and—” | ** And it has been a mighty dear play for you,” spoke up the mayor. ‘‘ No man but a natural born fool would bave undertaken such a thing, and I thought you bad good sense,” ‘* Let me hear his words,” the detective cried, now a little eres . ‘He bad some motive for what he did, an Te am sure of that,” cs Question him, then, while there’s life in him - “Why did you doit?” the detective asked, not uokindly. ¥ * le . ‘ Th ee a ete Sbsn ~~. " ‘ * tet ae! areas See ni bit Pa NT Ser 6 Deadwood Dick Jr.’s, Double Device. 7 ey e The msn tried to respond, but there was only be geste is explained very simply. But, whe ot him : a gurgie, and with a gasp he had passed beyond hearing. “Too late!” said the detective, rising. “I know he had a story to tell, but the poor fellow was taken off too suddenly to admit of it, Now, | who and what was he, citizens?” os Why, he was a sort of shiftless, dare-devil spirit who has been living here at the camp for some time,” ‘““What do you think about his being Satan Sam?” “I leave that for the crowd tosay. I'll give ati opinion later, if I haven’t given it al- ready. “Well, what’s the opinion of the crowd, then?” ‘*Et’s my opine that Bart Miller never was SatanSam,” spokeuponeman. ‘Ef he was, he was playin’ a deep game, that’s all,” ** And I know he wasn’t Satan Sam,” another declared, ‘* Ha! that is spoken in a positive way,” cried the detective, ‘‘ How do you know what you assert, my man?” ; “Vl tell ye Mr. Bristol. Ye see, one day when we got afterther cuss and had him lively ter git till we Jost bim at ther lake, Bart Miller was in ther party tbat was after him.” “If that is so the question is settled.” “And et is 80; I kin prove et by every man that was with us.’ ‘* Yas, et’s ther fact,” spoke up another of the crowd; ‘‘I was thar, too, and I kin swear to et.” Two or three others supported the statement. ‘*-You see,” remarked the detective, upon whom every eye was fixed and to whose words every man listened, since his reputation was not unknown there, ‘ the fellow’s dying declaration was the truth, mayor.” “Well, I could have told you he was not ot ai Sam; in fact, didn’t I as good as tell you ‘** Perhaps,” \ “Tl certainly did. Didn’t you hear me say to Bart that I thought be had more good sense than to play off such a part forfun? Bart Miller never had the caliber of Satan Sam.” ** Then, the question is, Why did he play the role ?” ** And I give it up.” ‘* Jest fer a little excitement, mebby,” one man siggcsed. ‘Bart was a sort o’ dare-devil, any- ow. “ He got left on ther fun, then, and bad, too,” spoke up another. “‘Ther poor feller got plugged fer everlastin’, and et was no revolver what done ther business fer him, either.” ‘You think it was a rifle, then?” ‘Sure. Didn’t you bear ther bark of et? No revolver talks in that toneo’ voice, I’m tellin’ ‘‘What’s the matter? What’s the matter? What’s the matter here?” So panted the voice of a new-comer upon the scene, and Barnabas Balaam was seen crowding to the front. “Look out who you're a-pushin’,” a citizen cried, ‘“‘or you may find out what’s ther matter ‘fore ye expect to, None of yer crowdin’, now!” ‘Pardon, pardon,” apologized Mr. Balaam, ** But, you know how it is when a man is ex- cited and fired with curiosity, and I’m in both states now I assure you. Who has been burt?’ While talking he had made no pause in his eae to get to the front, and now he had got ere, “A man killed)” he immediately cried, an- eae 8 g his own inquiry, ‘‘Ob! my! This is terrible! Another example of the evils of in- temperance and a warning that should be heeded by old and young—” ‘* Dry up!” was shouted at him, ‘ This had nothin’ t» do with drinkin’, and et ain’t no time ited ter ‘low you ter get off any palaver about et. There was no chance for Mr, Balaam to say more, and he would not have been permitted to say so much had he not done so accompanying his rush to the front when for the moment he drew attention. ‘* The question is not answered,” reminded the Western detective. ‘* Why was this poor fellow playing the role of Satan Sam? as it for a PE, was it only a foolish venture of his own ‘**T don’t see how that willvever be cleared up,” nded the mayor, ‘‘ You see, Bristol, he was a reckless fellow and one who would not hesitate about doing such a thing for fun if the idea occurred to him, Itis possible the idea did occur to him and that he acted upon it.” ‘* Very well, then; if we take that view of it No one responded to that. “You see, the man who fired the shot took him to be the outlaw, and so need have no fears about acknowledging his identity.” Still no one stepped forth to.confess it. ‘*Jf that man is in the crowd,” called out the mayor, ‘let him own to it, for it is all right, apyhow, seeing that it was a mistake. Don’t be afraid to speak up, my good fellow.” But, the ‘* good fellow” was not forthcoming. Nor could he be induced to admit the deed. And so the matter was left, perhaps a very simple affair, perhaps a very deep and mysterious one. And who could say which it was? CHAPTER VII, THE MERITS DISCUSSED, THE horse upon which the man was riding when killed was known, It was a speedy bay belonging to Snickerson Snooks, the hotel pro- prietor, This discovery naturally led to some investiga- tion in that direction, but it amounted to noth- ing of much importance, lt was found that Miller had had a horse of his own in the same stable, Having the reputation he had, of being some- thing of a dare-devil, it was advanced that per- baps, with his intention in mind of playing a trick, he had thought it best to take as speedy a horse as he could lay bands upon for the pur- pose, and hence his choice, Be the explanation what it might, it was not brought out, The body was taken care of to be prepared for burial, but gradually the excitement died away. It had served one purpose, however, and that had been, to break up for a time the quarrel be- tween Barnabas Balsam and Tom-tom Tom, They did not meet again that night. At the hotel, after it was all over, the detec- tive and Mr, Hancroft had a further talk about it and other matters, ‘* Then you admit that it baffles you, eh?” Mr. Hancroft observed. ‘“*Nothing to my discredit to admit that it does, seeing [am a stranger here,” was the re- sponse, ‘Perhaps not; but, I had heard such great things of you that I have rated you high. I suppose I still must give you time, Mr, Bristol.” * Rome was not built ina day, Mr, Hancroft,” ‘*So I have always understood, Mr. Bristol; but, if this case is to take as long as the building of Rome I think we may as well retire from the. field and leave it to Satan Sam,” ‘*Give ther young man a chance,” spoke up the landlord, ‘‘He’s a stranger hyer, you know.” by ; ‘¢ And one of your guests, eh, Snooks? Well, we'll give him a chance, of course. Mr, Bristol, I'll see you again to-morrow.” “ AH right, sir.” - Hancroft took his leave and the others took up the talk where it had been dropped, ‘“‘ Ther boss don’t seem ter be willin’ to give ye much of a show, does he, Mr, Bristol?” the land- lord remarked, ‘¢Ob! well, that does not matter,” was the re- sponse, ‘You see, this thing has become wearying to him, and he is impatient, that is ‘* T s’pose so; but et seem# to me he might give ye more time beforo be goes to talkin’ like he does, But, it’s no affair of mine, 1 s’pose, and I am out of it, What say, Mr. Balaam?” ‘Oh! it’s neither-here nor there with me,” was: the reply from that quarter, ‘‘I am interested in my warfere against rum, you know, and Bays, mighty little time to devote to anything e “You might devote all your time to something , else, fer all the good ye can do hyer.” “f sup so, but it isn’t my nature. How- ever, as | said right at the start, give the young man a chance and see what be can do, He hasn’t had time enough to get acquainted,” “* That’s 80.” : “And by the way, landlord,” Bristol spoke up, “* what do you know about the Scorpions of See-Saw?” ‘¢ Nothin’, sir, nothin’,” * Per aps you are afraid to tell what you do ow, ‘Ha! not me, sir! Et takes more’n a scor- a or a batch of ’em, to give Snickerson nooks a scare, you bet!” , “Then you do not know a single one of these fellows?” “‘ Not a one of ’em, sir.” ’ ‘*Do you know any one who does?” —
Page 7
, “Nary. I tell you, Mr, Bristol, them ‘ar a, Scorpions are wonderful sly fellers, all around, edi & and nobody can git onto ’em.” \ ‘*1t would seem so, and I pore there is no 14 use my trying. Still, I should like to make their } acquaintance, after the attention they have shown to me,” Don’t try to poke ’em out, young man,” spoke up aman who bad been listening to all. ** And why do you advise that, old man?” * Because, when a fellow fools with scorpions he is likely to get stung.” . “* Perbaps you know something about them, sir. ‘Not a thing, no more nor anybody else.” ‘*Then why your warning?” ‘“’Cause I don’t see any good tnat is ter come of et ter you. Ther Scorpions ar’ all right; et’s ther outlaw that’s playin’ ther mischief around, j Give all your attention ter him and you'll do,” ‘ ‘“*The way you speak leads me to suspect you 4 must know more about the Scorpions than you admit.” ‘Don’t think that er ’tall, sir. All I know about ’em is what everybody else knows: that they seem ter be friendly to’rds this camp but : pi’zen ’gainst Satan Sam.” ** May I ask who you are” ‘*My name is Ben Blunt.” “That's a < name, and, to guess by the ae I have had of you, I should say it fits you well, ‘* Folks tell me it does, anyhow. But, that’s nothin’ ter do with et. Ef No want any help in this hyar game you kin call ou me and [1 be thar,” ‘** You mean that?” ! a Cert.” “All right. I take maybe I will have to ca fore the game is ended.” ‘* Be et onderstood, though, that I don’t take no part against the Scorpions; I was talkin’ only ; *bout ther outlaw, Ef you want me to hook with you on this trail I’m right along.” ‘* Very well, Mr, Blunt,” was the response, as the detective turned to leave the room, ‘I'll see you again to-morrow.” | It was by this time late, and the detective re- ; tired for the night. | te at your word, and lon you to help me be- ‘ **What do you think o’ him, Blunt?” asked Snooks, as soon as his guest had passed beyond ‘ earshot, ‘Et ain’t so much what we think as etis what we know, when Deadwood Dick is ther subjeck,” was the response. ** What do you mean by that?” hd “Jest what I say. Ef Deadwood Dick don’t ketch on right off soon, with a whoop and a jump, don’t take et into your bead that he’s asleep, fer you may git left. That feller has got a reputation to back him.” bi ‘*That’s all so, I bave no doubt, but et hits me he _about ther same as et hits ther boss,” said Snick- io erson, ‘Et seems ter me he’d orter hev come b byer onbeknownst to any one.” “Trust him ter know what he’s about,” said Blunt, ** Well, don’t et look so ter you?” “Right on top, yas; but what’s underneath? Mebby he knowed these hyer Scorpions would be likely ter find out anyhow, so he wouldn’t give ’em no trouble.” ‘* Might be so, might be so, I don’t p’tend ter know much aboutet. One little thing 1 do know, though.” . “* And what’s that?” hoa “They all know Deadwood Dick now, and he ian _ ean’t make a move without givin’ °em every chance in ther world ter outdo him at et.” “Yas; but, ther cat don’t allus jomp ther way et looks, ye see, and he may have somethin’ else in mind, ! bave heard of Deadwood Dick often enough, though I never seen him afore, and ]’m willin’ ter wait an’ see what comes of ’et all,” “ Gentlemen,” here spoke up Barnabas Balaam, “what comes or doesn’t come, I am going to bed. To-morrow I must begin my warfare in eurnest, and I must be rested for the battle, All these minor things, such as outlaws, Scor- pions, and the like, are of no moment,” He rose as he spoke, and with a yawn moved toward the door. “Then ye do mean ter tackle ther hopeless job, do ye?” queried Snooks, ‘‘Is’pose ye have spoken fer a coffin,” * A coffin?” “Exactly, Ef ye push ther a too hard, ther chances ar’ they'll make ye ready fer plant- in’, 1'm only sayin’ this asa gentle hint, that’s al], Don’t ’magine that I'd threaten.” “Ob, no, I wouldn’t think that. But, I’m taking all the risks, My mission must be ful- filled, and only a coward would hang back, My Deadwood Dic . disturb the repose of the camp SE ee ee Sg... SS es k, Jr.’s, Double Device. al life has been given a willing sacrifice, and if it | night Tl try a shot plump at yer headlight be taken my labors are done. No, nothing must “ me in my work.” his was said with much dramatic force, and was accompanied with a flourish of the hand that was intended to be simply magnificent, ap- parently. Those present laughed, and Mr, Balaam was about to open the door when suddenly and witb- out warning the distracting thump a-thump of the tom-tom was heard and the temperance advocate stopped short. **Pallen man!” he sighed, ‘Must he again ay beating upon tbat thing? Is he so degraded that he must have more drink? Behold, a creature fallen beneath the level of the swine in tbe pans, Verily, citizens, your camp has one virtue,” ** And what's that?” “Patience, Without that, and much of it, some one would certainly rise up in bis wrath and slay that miserable creature.” Tom-tom Tom was coming, there was no mis- taking that, ‘*You bad better buy him up, Mr. Balaam,” one man in the room suggested, “And furnish bim with the means of ex- tinguisbing the faint spark of reason that re- mains in him? Never!” ““* But, you won’t get any sleep till some one buys bim up,” P “Then [ll have to grin and bear it, I suppose, unless it gets too very bad, when [ may—’ ‘ et have to give in and stand the treat, ey?" “Said I so? I was about to add—may have to get up and practice upon bim with my old horse pistol, There may be as much virtue in lead_as in silver, if rightly applied.” Tom-tom came ou, reaching the hotel, passed on down the street to the opposite end of the camp, and from there marched back again beating the while in his own inimitable way, and more than one citizen was by this time calling down maledictions upon his head. ‘** Verily,” cried Mr. Balaam, ‘SI believe I shall have to go out and give bim a drubbing myself, This is more than mortalcan ssand, I shall have to give him the proof that muscles fed upon water are superior to those soaked with rum, Verily, no man can stand this long and oes his patience. I wonder he has not been illed, ' CHAPTER VIII. THE SCORPIONS HOLD COUNCIL, On came Tom-tom Tom, pelting away with might and main, regardless of everything, evidently bent upon having the price of one more drink before he holed himself away for the night, But, the hour was late, and there were some citizens, tired and sleepy, who were in no mood to stand his noise long, And these were they who, as mentioned, were calling down maledic- tions upon his head as he came along, and it was evident they meant ‘ business,” “Put that danged thing away,” cried one, “ or I'm danged ef I don’t spit a nugget o’ lead at yer! ‘“ We hev bad enough o’ that fer one night,” shouted another. ‘Et won't take long fer us ter’ sae out and hang ye to a tree, and we'll do et, ‘“Oaly one more price, citizens,” the bummer asked. ‘I only want a taste ter go ter bed on, and you'll bear menomore, Only a little night- cap, and we’ll all go to sleep together,” ‘Put et away,” yet anotier called out, ‘ or I'll bore Wwe once jest fer luck, We ar’ sick of et.” ‘*What’s ther vse o’ wastin’ lead on me?’ argued the bummer, still beating away, ‘‘ You would only have the expense ofa funeral op your hands fer nothin’ at all.” : ‘** Et wouldn’t be but oncet, anyhow,” was the retort. ‘“* Now, last time, will ye let up on that racket?” / ° ‘* Jest ther price of one—” “ Bang—ping ny . There was the sharp crack of a revolver, and a bullet buried itself into the ‘ tom-tom” with deadlv force, ‘* Whoop!” yelled Tom-tom Tom, and be stop- playing instantly, ‘Hold on! I give in!” And he dropped his drum with wonderful haste, ** Don’t shoot no more!” Having let go bis instrument of torture, he beat a basty retreat in the direction of the saloon, to the amusement of the citizens who were there to witness it. He could not stand thar, “ You had better drop et,” cried the man who had fired, ‘Ef ye touch et oncet more this » \ eet / { 1 oy € taht | , P| : y f- Ve ‘ Lo ee nose, and a feller couldn’t miss et ef he tried, This thing has got ter be a degree tiresome, and I opine you bev worked yer snap to ther end,” ** Verily, I wonder it has not come to this long before,” observed Mr, Balaam. ‘It is to be hoped that will settle it for the night, What a victory for my cause, if I could only convert that fallen man from the evil of his ways, and make a sober man of him! Verily, that were a task worth living for, I'll try it; 1’ll begin upon him in the morning.” “Might jest »s well try ter make ther water in ther creek thar run t’other way,” one man retnarked to that, Mr, Balaam did not rejoin, but went on and disappeared, Gradually, fr-m that time, the lights went out one by one, and at last the camp was wrapped in darkness, The bour was late when silent forms stole silently forth from the camp and made their way one by one up the gulch, moving like veri- table shadows of the shadows which abounded, Once they hai entered the gulch, whero the blackness was impenetrable, they were lost to sight altogether, In the depth of a silent cavern a company of masked men was congregated, under the light oF a sipgle lamp suspended from above by a wire, The face of every one was hid from view, and the general appearance of all was concealed be- neath loose robes. Here a man might be in the presence of a friend and never know it, All were sitting silent as we first look vpon them, but presently entered another, when one from tbe group rose and spoke, ‘“* Well, we are all here now,” he said, “* Yes,” said the Jate comer, looking around, ‘all here, and I wasthe lastofthe lot, Couldn’t help that,” . e sat down, and the first speaker continued: ‘* Scorpions of See-Saw, we are bere on busi- ness, and that business is—to decide what is to be done with Deadwood Dick. In spite of our warning he is bere, and declares bis intention of remaining. What's to be done?” ‘** From what I have seen of him,” said one, “I'd say let bim stay. He'll never set the world afire with his smartness,” ‘*He may be playing deeper than we think, He has a Yepiitablon, you must remember,” ** T don’t see how he ever got it.” ‘The question is, what is to be done with bim here?” ‘* Let’s talk it over and see what it is necessary todo, No need for us to get alarmed, I fancy.” * Still, it is better to nip bis game at once, if we can find out what it is, than to give him the chance to get us on the hip; don’t you think so?” The man who had spoken first was evidently the leader of the band. Said he pow: ‘Before we proceed further, let me urge, as usual, the necessity for being very guarded in what is said, so that it will be impossible for the identity of any of us to become known,” ‘* Certainly.” ‘‘ Not that any one is likely to overhear, but it is the old saying that walls have ears, and pre- vention is Letter than cure,” * Every time,” ‘*So, let us be guarded, speaking iu any man- ner of roundabout way, so long as we under- stand one another,” This was assented to, ‘* Now,” continued the leader, “ let me give you my impression of Deadwood Dick, for I have taken care to observe him well since he came here, I have paid attention to the conversation between him and Henry Hancroft, and bave rized the man up pretty well. Srill, he may be deeper than | give him credit for,” ‘* Yes, it won’t do to takeanything for granted, with bim.” These two men had had the talk all to them- selves, so far, but now another put in his oar. ( “Et comes ter me,” said he “that ther cuss has put ther balter on his own neck by comin’ hyer so open and aboveboard,” “So he has, to a great extent,” agreed the leader, ‘‘We know him, and be is unable to ‘make a single move without our being well aware of it, and we can move to block bim,” ‘*Yas; an’ ther mayor went fer him about that, too.” ‘Sa he did,” said the leader, ‘‘ He took him to do for it, and his points were good ones.” ‘¢ What bad ther detective ter say to et?” “Said he knew what he was about, or words aEet effect, But, | tell you his argument was thin. ‘
Page 8
~ 8 - Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device. “Then you did not think he was so very great?” ‘* My opinion of him is small, You see, it is ope of two things: Either be has been over- rated, or he is playing off with a 18d in view. Iv’s one thing or the other, for it must be, 7 “ ** And you are inclined to think he has been overrated?” Tam,” ‘* And so am I,” “Some of his talk with Hancroft goes to prove it, The questions he asked were the same old questions the other detectives have asked. If anything, they were of less importance than some of the others,” “Then, as I said, what harm to leave him alone and let him do what he can? I am not greatly afraid of him for one.” ‘* We have no need to be afraid of him, or of any one; our only object is, to keep him off the trail till we have taken Satan Sam. Don’t you see? It’s the Scorpions and the detective both against the outlaw, and the Scorpions and the detective pulling against each other, See?” ‘* Yes, 1 see; that was a slip, Well, what is to be done?” ‘* How will it do to take Deadwood Dick and make a prisoner of him till we are done?” ‘*That can be done, of course; but, is it neces- sary? Since we have a guard over him, what harm can hedo? Besides, to make a prisoner of» him we have to show our hand,” ‘* Why not make a dead man of him and be done with it?’ demanded one who had been silent all along. ‘No, no,” the leader objected, ‘* no bloodshed if we can helpit. That is bad business, and it’s a big mark against a man if they bappen to get hold of him, No, we must not do that, unless in a figbt where it’s his life or ours.” ‘“That’s sound sense,” some of the others agreed, ‘*T propose this,” said the leader: ‘That we allow him bis liberty but keep him well under watch, and if we see anything suspicious about his movements, then take him and put him where he can’t do harm,” ** That will do,” ‘' One thing is sure: if he*dves not do more than he bas done already he is not going to be a very dangerous man to fight. have seen detectives before, and some shrewd ones, too, and Lam free to say that ’most all of them had the look of being a good deal smarter than Dead- wood Dick.” “Let it be settled tbat way, then.” * Are all in favor?” Every hand was raised in answer to the question, “That business is settled, then,” said the leader. ‘*Now, [ must call your attention to the fate of Bart Miller.” ‘*That was awful business, captain.” “Tt was the fellow’sown fault, I had had my suspicions of him for some time past, and knew our secrets were not safe with him, Let it be a lesson to you all, for I have means of knowing your movements when you least suspect they can be known, When the Scorpion sting is felt it means death,” ‘* We know that,” ‘Tt may be necessary, hereafter, to call you together by some other signal than the old one, If sc, you will have notice of the change, Now, our work of the hour is done, We are still to operate in secret; not a man of us must know anything of the Scorpions; we must work to cap- ture Satan Sam; we must take a hand in things at See-Saw to keep the camp purified, you know, And then, we must have a watchful eye upon Dead wood Dick.” CHAPTER IX. DEADWOOD DICK’S DEMAND, On the following morning See-Saw had cause for excitement. A raid had been made by Satan Sam during the night, and no less than three places of busi- ness had been robbed. First of these in importance was the mine office, where a quantity of money and bullion was on hand; the next was the office of a fellow who did something of a local banking business, The third, yet the first to be discovered, was the safe at the hotel, where Proprietor Snicker- son Snooks and his guests were in the habit of utting their valuables for safe-keeping. And in each case a clean sweep had been made and everything of any value taken, Nor was this all. / Ia each of the three places a notice had been left, the same in each case, reading like this: / “DEADWOOD DICK:— “This is the way I greet you. I carry on my work ae under your nose, and openly efy you, Now, what are you going todo about it? That is what the citizens of See-Saw will waut to know. ‘* Deflantiy yours, “SATAN Sam.” When this was brought to the notice of Mayor Hancroft he was wild. He demanded to see Deadwood Dick in haste, and when the detective came down from his. room he “‘ jumped upon ” him at once, ‘*See what has been going on while you slept!” he cried. ‘‘ Here the rascal bas dared to, come here and make three robberies right under your miles g0 tosay. Do you mean to allow this to go on The detective took it quite coolly. “You ought to have night watchmen, when you know there is danger,” he said. ‘I could not prevent this any more than you could, being asleep.” ' “That’s what was the trouble, you were asleep. You do not seem to be very wide awake yet. Do you think you can do aoythbing to re- cover what bas been taken and get hold of the thief?” ** Perhaps, if I can get hold of a clew—” “A clew be danged! That is what all de- tectives preach; they must have a clew or they can’t do anything. Why don’t you find a clew?” ‘*T have not yet looked for one, sir.” ‘*Then it’s time you did.” _- “Mr. Hancroft—” ‘6’ Well?” ** Just keep in mind the fact that I am not an employee of yours, but anu independent detec- tive. If you are not satisfied with the way I do my work just say so and I’}]—” * Drop out, hey? That would be an easy way out of an unpleasant thing where success seems dubious,” ‘*T had not saidso. I was going to say—I'll let you attend to it in your own way and Ill at- tend to it in my way. Then there'll be no rea- son for any quarrel.” ** Well, you seem to forget, sir, that you are in my employ in this matter, and that I have the right to expect something of you. Now, I ask again what are you going to do?” ‘‘Dm going to tell you, first, that Deadwood Dick enters the employ of no one. I am an in- dependent or nothing.” . / “Well, calling you that, what are you going to fe) ‘“* Well, I am going to demand the co-opera- tion of the Scorpions of See-Saw. It is under- stood that they are on the side of justice, and there is no good reason why we should not work together.” “* How are you going to reach them, not know- ing who they are?” “The same as Satan Sam has just reached me by es up notices where they can be seen.” ‘Well, I wish you luck, that is all,” ‘*And at the same time you doubt my meet- ing with any success,” ‘Yes, and very much, too, I have tried to gain the confidence of these men, but it seems all to no purpose, It can’t be done,” ‘« Have you tried it this way?” “* Well, no.” ‘Then you wou’t stand in the way of my try- ing it?” f Why, certairly not; do anything you please; but, Bristol, 1 tell you it is exasperating to have such a thing as this happen when I hoped by gear bey to bring the outlaw to terms in no me. “Well, I'll write out a notice or two, and then we'll go and take a look around for a clew,” The detective turned to the bar to do the writing, and the mine-manager followed him with his eyes, smiling in a way that bespoke the little confidence he had in Deadwood Dick, The detective was busy for some moments, and when he had done he posted one of the notices up there in the bar-room, * It was worded this way: ‘““To THE ScoRPIONS OF SEE-Saw:— “Tf you are honest men, as you claim to be, here is areasonab'e demand. I want you to admit me into your circle, so that we may work together in the hunting down of SatanSam. There is no good reason for your refusal, and if you do refuse 10 will be taken as evidence that you are. not what you claim to be, but really no better, than the outlaw himself. LTawait forty-eight hours for your deci- sion, — Deapwoop Dick, JR.” ** here,” he observed, as he turned away, | “we'll see what that will doin the way of mak- ing a start against Satan Sam,” _ The mine-manager was smiling still, ‘*{ hope it will prove useful to you,” he sais “but from what I ¢ Scorpions, Mr. Bristol, { think they will merely laugh at your demand and bid you find them out if you can,” ‘* What's this? What’s this? What’s this I hear?” So cried Barnabas Balaam, as he came bound- ig ines the room from the hall. e@ was wild-eyed and excited, and he spoke rapidly and with the greatest amount of much ado in bis manner, ‘They tell me the safe has been robbed,” he cried. ‘‘Is itso? Tell me, my friends, is it really so? Lucky for me I didn’t deposit my pocketbook there last night, mighty lucky.” Here wasa howloflaugbter. . . From the man’s manner, all who heard him supposed he had left his money in the keeping of the landlord. ‘Why, you infernal idiot,” cried the mayor, ‘if your money is, safe what need have you to balloo so about it? You make as much fuss as you could make 1f you had lost a fortune.” ‘‘Tt was the narrow escape that excited me, sir,” was the response. ‘‘ But, is it really true that this outlaw, Satan Sam, has been here’ again to despoil you? Mr. Bristol, I take it the camp looks to you to do something now, if you ever did, But, this is not in my line.” “* Shall we goand look at the places which aap been robbed?” the detective asked of Han- croft, ‘* Certainly, if aon think it’s any use.” ‘*T want to look around.” ‘¢ Very well, you may as well begin right here © where the safe has been robbed, for this is one, if you haven't forgotten.” ‘¢ T have already looked here, sir.” The man looked at bim in some surprise. ‘*T haven’t seen you near the safe,” he said, “That does not signity. Come on and we'll visit the otber places,’ It was plain to any thoughtful observer that the mayor had secretly a more favorable respect for Deadwood Dick’s ability. He had been with him every moment since he had come into the room, but he had not seen him so much as look toward the safe, yet here he de- clared he had made an examination there, ‘1 s’pose it’s no use fer an outsider ter ask to come along, is it?” asked Mr, Balaam, dropping partly into bis occasional dialect manner of speaking. ‘* You are welcome to go, sir, for what I care,” was the detective’s response, ‘I do not care how many come along.” ‘* Howlin’ Hiram!ef [ must drop back to early trainin’ and s» express myself, but you ar’a caution, Mr, Bristol. Here the men of See-Saw thought you was no good, but I told ’em to give yeachance. I’m betting on you, sir.” ** Don’t bet too heavily, that’s all, or you may lose your money, my friend.” + ‘*Tf I had plenty ['d bet it all, sir, Pilgrims from yan! but you havea way of doin’ things that gits me, and I reckon to opine that it gits the boss too. I mean the way you g things,” ‘You may know hg i mean, but I cer- tainly do not, sir, Come Mr. Hancroft, and we will go. Hancroft led the way, and he and the detec- tive set forth. ‘111 bet that fellow is a deep one,” said Ba- | laam, to the crowd, when they had gone, ** You think so?’ queried the landlord, ‘*T do, sir, See the way he took note of that robbed safe, yet he didn’t go near it, and didn’t seem to look at it, either. Don’t that tally with what we have heard about him?” “It pears to, that’s the fact,” ' ‘*Of course it does, I only wish my time was my own, I’d like no better fun than to follow him around and see him work up this case, But, my time is not my own. and I can’t take ‘*Most of us could spare ye, I reckon,” ob- served one old fellow whose appearance bespoke a bard drinker. ‘* And it’s a sure thing that Tom-tom could spare ye,” put in another, ‘** Wonder ef be will pound ther tom-tom any _ more?” questioned yet another, ‘1 would drop et, ef I was him, now,” ‘« He’s byer to answer fer himself,” the bum- | mer cried, at that moment comingin, ‘I think Pll have ter get onto a new snap,” he said, ‘¢ Bullets is too harsh for my narves,’ ‘* Better, my man, to leave the drink alone al- together,” said the temperance advocate, ‘* Why not join my standard and be a temperance man? Look at my appearance, sir, and then look at your own, and reason the matter carefully.” __ This comparison raised a laugh, for, truth to \ have seen of the work of the ~
Page 9
ry or’ fh. hp bf | =a = Kaen apa ES, ~<- = Sa _ ’ tell, except for the appearance of face, one was about as hard-looking as the other. ‘* Well,” said Mr, Balaam, “‘no more for the present. I’m going to follow up that detective and see what he does. But, by and by I'll be here on the Square to deliver my lecture, and I nee to have a good big audience,” ith a wave of the hand he was gone, leav- ing the crowd to make such remarks about bim as they were pleased to make. He was a man with a mission, and remarks did not do him much harm. They rolled off, apparently, like water from a duck’s back, CHAPTER X, THE WOMAN IN THE CASE, Mayor Hanocrorr and his detective, in whom, apparently, be had no great store of confidence, had gone off to the building where the local banking business was carried on, followed by quite a number of idlers. Barnabas Balaa’n now bent his steps in the same direction, and entered the little office not a great while after the others, This office was rnn by one Timothy Weeds, He wasa man past the middle age, and one ea to looking upon the dark side-of every- thing. And on this occasion the side he saw was dark indeed, for he had been robbed of his last dollar, almost, and his business was a wreck, No wonder hv was weeping in a corner, Timothy Weeds was a man who could not stand trouble philosopbically like some. He was broken utterly, now. ** Why, old man, not giving way like this!” cried the mayor, on entering. : ** How can I belp it?” the spare and trembling man responded, ‘ I am despoiled of everything, and my heart is broken.” “Tut! tut! It may not be half so bad as that, sir, Here is the great detective, Deadwood Dick; be may be able to help us out and recover your fortune for you. At any rate beis going to try it.” **T wouldn’t care so much for myself,” the man muttered, ‘‘but Tessie—I tremble for Tessie, What will the poor child do now?” **Don,t worry about your daughter, sir; this camp will take care of her.” ‘* What can the camp do to repair my loss?” the old man wailed. ‘‘I ventured my all here, to make a fortune, and I would have dono it only for this robbery. Oh! my curse upon Satan Sam!” ‘ We're bound to get him, sooner or later, and then we'll repay him for this, Cheer up, Weeds. There is a bright lining to every loud.” ota like to see it, Tt’s dark enough now, My money all gone, and notbing but toi. the prospect for my daughter when I amdead. It was the mee of my life to gather a fortune for her. And I had nearly done it, too, One year ie we could have gone away indepen- ent. y ‘Don’t take on like a baby, old man,” the mayor encouraged, ‘I tell you we are going to see you through, Cheer up, now, and let Mr, Bristol take a look around your place,” At that moment a young woman, radiant with health and beauty, came hastily into the room, her face all aglow, but at sight of the crowd she grew pale, and laid her band upon a chair for support, ** What—what is it?” shoe gasped. “‘ Don’t—don’t tell ber yet,” cried the old man, in a low tone, His tone, 'owever, was not low enough to prevent the words from reaching the young wo- man’s ears, / “Dear papa!” cried the girl, and she sprung forward and placed ber arms around him, as if to protect him from—she knew not what, The girl was young, vot over nineteen, and as she looked around upon the faces about her it was seen how lovely she really was, As the de- tective leoked upon ber, and their eyes met, ‘warm blood mounted to his face in spite of him- * self, Whether the girl noticed this at first or not, was uncertain, but 300n her eyes returned to him, and her own face recovered some of its lost color. ‘* What is it, gentlemen?” she asked, ‘* What bas papa done, that you are all here? 1 know he bas done vothivg wrong.” “Of course he basn’t, Miss Weeds,” hastened the mayor, ‘A great wrong has n done to him, though, and that is the reason we are here,”! “A wrong to him? What is 1t?” “He has been robbed. There, Weeds, it’s better to let her know the truth than to keep her worrying about it,” ‘“* Is that all?” cried the girl, her face brighten- ————— Ss — ing. ‘“*T feared it must be something terrible. hat do we care for that, papa? I still have you and you have me, and I am young and strong, you know,” ‘“* Ah! child, you do not know what the loss means,” the father sighed. ‘' This money was to have bougbt you education, and ease, and comforts, and all that; now, what is before you?” **Ha! ha! ha!” the girl merrily laughed, ‘*- You set more store by the money than I ever did, papa. It has been a great deal of trouble to you. Now tbat it is gone we'll be bappy with just what we have and not trouble ourselves about anything else.” ‘“ The father shook bis head, and a heavy sigh eacaped him, ** That’s the right kind of stuff, young woman, ef you will allow me to speak up an’ say 80,’ cried out Mr, Balaam. ‘“ You are of the right sort, and you areas rich as you can be, With good health and a spirit like that, you are superior to everything. Would that the cause of temperance bad a few like you to back it,” The mine-owner turned upon the crank witha scowl, ° **Can’t you stop ae on that string for one minute?” he cried. ‘If you can’t you bad et ed be getting out, for most of us are sick of t. “T have said my say,” responded the temper- ance advocate, ‘‘ You can’t deny that I bad good cause for admiration here,” **No; but you had no cause to wrivg in tem- perance in connection,” ** Well, ’'m done.” ‘That being so, Mr. Bristol, suppose you now give attention to the business which brought us here, to see if you cannot discover some clew to this rascally work, something that will put us on the trail of Satan Sam.” ‘*T have already done so, sir,” was the detec- tive’s response, ** You have done so” “ Yes,” ‘* Why, man, you have not moved out of your tracks since you stopped where you stand now when we first came in.” The detective smiled. “That is not saying that I have not made use of my eyes, sir,” he rejoined, ‘‘ There is no clew to be picked up here,” Tbe mayor looked at the detective in undis- guised astonishment, ‘* Well, if this is the way you do your work,” be said, “you are something of a curiosity, to say the least, What do you expect to find in the way of clew, anyhow? Do you look for a lock of hair? a button? a lost finger?” At that the detective only quietly smiled. * Such things are found in romance, sir, and occasionally something of the sort turns up in actual practice; but it happens too rarely to be depended upon. I have been looking for nothing of the kind. When this case is done you will be able to understand, anything that nay seem mysterious now,” : The mayor bent his gaze upon him searchingly, at that, but if he hoped to read anything in that face he hoped in vain, * Just what Isaid at first,” spoke out Mr, Balaam. ‘Give the young man a chance to sbow what he can do before ye condemn him, Seems ter me et looks as if he knows what he is about,” ‘* And if you don’t mind your own business and stop meddling,” cried the mayor, “ Pil attend to seeing that you are escorted out of town.” : * That settles et, boss; you won’t have to speak to me again,” So saying, the temperance advocate drew back and held his peace, merely observing what was done and said by the others, Miss Weeds was trying to comfort her father, while the others around were gaping idly about the room as if in hopes of discovering sometbing which the detective might bave overlooked. ‘Well, if you are done here, then, Bristol, we may as well go to the mine-office and see what is to he discovered there,” “ Yes, let’s go there, though I don’t expect much will come of it, Such a man as this Satan Sam is said to be is not going to leave tell-tale clews lying around if be knows it,” ‘* T believe you are right in saying that, But, come on,” ; They passed out and set off in the direction of the mine-office, the idlers following them, Mr, Balaam among the rest. “Mr, Weeds seems to take it quite to heart,” the detective remarked ag they went along, Yes, so he does, avd he’s not to be blamed for that. He’s a soft-bearted man, and his whole life is for bis daughter, As you heard Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, eee EEEEEEE——————————————————— Se o him say, he was working only to store up a for- tune for her,” “For which she seems to care little—for money, I mean,” “Bxactly, A queer girl is Tessie Weeds, and no mistake. She does not seem to be built on the usual plan,” ** How’s that?” ** Doesn’t seem to have any heart,” ** No heart! Why, man, I’d caijl her all heart, the way she soothed her poor father,” ‘* That isn’t just what I mean. I mean feel- ing, Any number of good fellows here bave tried to make love to ber, but she spurns them 1, “ That’s all right; there may be a lover in the background somewhere, you know,’ **T don’t know—rather, I mean to say, I do know; ber father bas told me that she is as free as a bird, Tbat she bas always been as careless about lovers, Does not seem to-bave any of the womauly passion in ber make-up,” ‘*You can’t make me believe that, sir. My guess is the right one, or—” “Or, what?” “The right fellow has not come along yet.” “That may be so, Anyhow, this camp must not let her suffer, no matter what comes to the old man,” ‘*If your camp would see to that, that she does not suffer, you must give all your care to the old man, then,” the detective expressed opinion, 68 WY. hy so?” t you see that her whole concern is for “Well, [don’t know but that you are right. I'll take that into consideration,” “You are a single man, I take it, Mr. Han- croft.” * Yes, fortunately,” “Ha! that word confirms my suspicion, sir,” “ What suspicion?” ‘“‘That you are ove of the suitors for her hand, There, there, it is no affair of mine of course; no offense meant.” ‘*No, I should rather say it is no affair of ours, sir, and the least said about it the better, T was glad for one thing, anyhow, if report be true, * And what is that, if I may ask?” “That you are a married man yourself, You brougbt more color to her face when her eyes met yours, Deadwood Dick, than any other man has ever been able to bring there. I say it afer: it’s lucky you area married man—lucky or me. y CHAPTER XI, MAKING A PROPOSITION, Tae detective laughed lightly over the mat- ter in which Mr. Haucroft was apparently so keenly interested, and they went on and entered the mine office, Their conversation bad been in low tones, so that no one of the idlers who followed them could overhear, and as they entered the office it was dropped eltogether, In fact, its purpose had been carried. And that purpose? The detective was not slow to read it, He had noticed the flush upon the gir!’s face when his eyes met hers, though he had not given it the same interpretation Mr, Hancroft had given it, Now, however, be saw there might be ground for the suspicion, Ard that being so— Well, Hancroft had been quick to make him aware that he knew Deadwood Dick to be a married man, and the hidden insinuation was that he would take care toh ve the young lady informed of the fact as soon as possible, At the mine-office there was nothing to be dis- sever more than had been found at theother places, The detective looked around a little mora closely, as it seemed to the mine manager, and certainly more to bis liking, but there was no clew to be picked up, as had been foreseen, The idlers watched the detective’s movements with interest. — Since his coniing there, many of his most dar- ing exploits bad been related by one and an- other, and he was looked upon as something of a demigod, And it was plain that there was disappoint- ment found with his admirers, for be was not the Deadwood Dick of their imaginings, There was lacking all that snap, that ‘ get-up-and- git” quality, with which they had dressed their hero in their minds, They were not pleased, Nor did they hesitate about expressing them- selves upon that point, when the detective had taken himself back tothe hotel ==
Page 10
10 ‘* Ht don’t seem possible he could git up and how! like they say,” one fellow observed. ‘‘ He seems as mild as milk an’ water,” ‘* Tigers have soft paws when they hold their nails in,” anotber reminded, ‘'I reckon detec- tives ar’ built much on ther same plan. This feller’s paws seem soft as silk, though.” “You ar’ right.” ** What do you think about et, stranger?” This to Mr. Balaam, as they were all strolling back in the direction of the botel. “Tt doesn’t interest me wonderfully much,” was the response, ‘‘ What I say is, give the young man a chance, I believe in giving every- y a chance. But, temperance must now claim my sole attention,” So, for the time being, the matter ended. When they reached the hotel the detective had taken a seat on the piazza, where he ap- ared as uncoucerned as though he had no usiness on hand, The mayor bad not returned to the hotel, but had stopped ayain at the office of the despoiled banker, where he found the father and daughter alone, the fair girl still endeavoring to reconcile him to his loss. Hancroft closed the door as he entered. ** This is really too bad, Weeds,” he said, “‘ but still it might be worse, ‘You and your daughter have each other yet.” ‘Just what I tell him,” cried Tessie. ‘‘ And what need we care for the money? I have outh and health, and ho has my love and help, hat more does either of us need, I should like to know?” _ “*Sbe don’t understand, she don’t understand,” sighed Timothy. ‘‘Money is the only thing worth living for in this world. If you have got money you have got all the rest.” “You think too much of money, papa,” the girl chided, ‘* Now that it is gone we will let it o and think more of each other. That will be tter, you know it will. No more worry, so long as we have plenty to eat and a little to wear. That’s all the very richest of them can have anyway.” “That is so,” agreed Mr. Hancroft. ‘ But, my friends, let me suggest a way out of all this trouble,” ‘* What is it?” asked Timothy. **] have spoken of it before, but now I feel that I may speak of it again and with more show of success. Miss Tessie, you know that I love you, for I have told you so,” ** And I have told you that I could not help it if you did,” answered the girl, provokingly. ‘“You have told me you could not love me in return, but that is all right. Ido not look for it right away, You are young, and the love will come fast enough when you come to know me better.” “T don’t believe it, Mr. Hancroft, I' have tried to love, lots and lots of times; but I have never got any further than papa bere, whom I love dearly, I don’t believe I'll ever love any- body else, I know what you are going to say next, but it’s nouse, My answer is no,” Hanecroft had before asked for her hand in marriage, ascan be gnessed, and the answer had been the same then. The girl knew what to Jook for now, ,; ‘*'You do sot know all I am going to say,” declared Hancroft, “Let me talk to your father for a moment now,” ** Tf you want to,” ‘‘AndIdo, Timothy Weeds” ** Yes, sir.” “Tf you will induce this heartless daughter of yours to marry me, I will make good to you every dollar you have lost by this robbery, sir.” Mr. Weeds roused up eagerly. ‘*Haven’t I tried it?’ he declared, ‘ When “keg offered before I talked with her about it, ut she said she didn’t love you, and that settled it. 1’m willin’ she should do it, but she won't,” ‘** And what bas love to do with it, so long as there is love enough on one side? I love ber enough for both of us, Now, Tessie, see here,” ** What is it?” **Do you really love your father?” “* Of course I do, sir, If I loved you half as well I’d marry you quick,” ‘Then, if you love him, will you not make him happy? You can make him doubly happy if you will only marry me.” ‘But, you wouldn’t be happy, and I’m sure 2 wouldn't, sir.” ‘IT not be happy! Td be the happiest man a ever heard of, And after a little you would happy. too,” “Tt is no use, Mr, Hancroft, I remember the, advice my mother gave me when she died, and I’m going to follow it to the letter, for [ could trust her in everything.” 6 ‘What could Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device. “ And what was her advice?” ‘* Not to marry unless I loved truly and well, no matter if I never married at all,” “Then, Tessie, see here: It is about time you made up your mind to love me, for I am cer- tainly going to marry you one of these days. Don’t shy off, now, for I mean it.” ** Maybe you will,” **Oh! 1 know 1 will, for you wil) scon come to love me a little, 1am sure. And now, Timothy, to you: As soon as Tessie will marry me I'll make good your loss, so do the best you can for me with the heartless little witch. know you are willing, and it ouly rests with our little lady.” “You might look further and fare worse, Tessie, girl,” said Timothy, in an argumentative way. *TI sup so, papa, but I don’t love Mr. Hancroft, and that settles the whole business for the Ervoeithe I wish I did, tor your sake,” ‘* Well, well, take your time to think it over,” said Hancroft, turning toward thedvor, ‘ But, Tessie, don’t let anybody else get in, ahead of me. Remember, I have the first bid.” ** Not much danger, sir,” **T don’t know; there are good-looking stran- gers about camp. By the way, don’t go and set your cap for that detective of mine, for he is a married man. I merely mention this by the way. - Mentioned it by the way, did be? It was second only in importance to the proposition he had made, and was one of the chief reasons for his having dropped in as he had done, And, as he made known the fact that Dead- wood Dick was a man of family, he watched to’ see what the effect would be. What he saw angered him nota little, The girl’s face grew pale for one single second, when the next moment it was burning red, and she turned away to hide her confusion, ‘*Curse the luck!” the man growled, as he left the room, _ ‘‘ Here she has been proof against everything and everybody all along, only to have her foolish little heart waken at the sight of that fellow’s good-looking face. Lucky for him he is married, for if he was.’t—” A. grim look finished it, He went to the hotel, where he found his de- tective on the piazza taking things in a very easy Manner. ‘* Well, I suppose yon have been thinking it ver,” he spoke, on coming up, He helped himself to a chair. ‘Yes, I bave been giving it a little thought,” was the response, ‘* Well, what’s the result?” ** Nothing,” “‘Confound it, but you are enough to exas- perate a saint! Do you mean to say you have- n’t a single idea or a single point to work on?” “That’s about the way it stands, sir. I sup- pose we'll go out there and take a look at that lake as soon as we have breakfasted, eh? Break- fast must be about ready now,” “Yes, we'll go out there, if you think it will do any good. The others went, but it amounted to nothing,” ‘* Their going does not answer for me. I must see a thing with my own eyes to understand it aright. Ha! bere is the breakfast gong. Let’s attend to that pleasant duty.” The boarders filed in, among them Barnabas Balaam, He got to the tdble with a skip and a jump, and "ai sure of a place where he had command of the array of dishes in every direction. “‘Never get left, is my motto,” he declared. ‘“*T have bad experience in this line, and I have found it’s first come best served, ’most always, so I’m generally with the first. Anchor your- selves, gentlemen,” _He was again opposite Mayor Hancroft and his companion, the detective, and paid attention to what wert said, now and again putting in a word bimself, He was a character, this same Balaam, and some there were who were ready to agree with Tom-tom in the remark he had made about the mule in the stable being Balaam, CHAPTER XII. AN AMAZING CONFESSION, “Verily, verily, verily!” exclaimed Barnabas, when he ap’ upon the piazza after break- fast was over. ‘‘If I hadn’t been born a tem- erance soldier I do believe I should turn detec- ve, ‘“‘ Ha! ba! baw!” the laugh which greeted that, you do as a detective. You'd make a better stove-blacker’s helper.” ‘*Maybe I would, but ‘after leteniog to the , | convereation I have just beard between your mayor and Deadwoou Dick, I am all on fire to see that wonderful Jake that » man don’t drown in, If they don’t forbid, I believe I'll accom- pany them there,” A gvod many of the crowd were of the same intention, so nothing was raised against that. ‘* But,” said'ove man, *‘ what about the tem- perance lecture? Ther cause will suffer while you’re gone, ye know,” “TI know, I know, but I’!l fight all the harder to make up for it when I come back. Ob! I must see that wonderful lake, you know, for nothing delights me so much as water — water first, last, and all the time!” - The matter bad been talked over at length at the table, as may be understood trom this. It was a puzzle to understand bow the outlaw, leaping into the Jake as he was said to bave done, and not reappearing, came out alive. And, as or Hancroft and the detective talked these things over at length, the curiosity of all bearers was aroused, and no wonder Barnabas’ Balaam desired to accompany them out to the wonderful sheet. When they appeared upon the piazza he promptly accosted them. ‘*T say, gentlemen,” said he, ‘‘ would you like to make the heart of a poor man glad?” “How can we do that?’ queried the detec- tive, ** Dl tell you, sir. You are going out to that lake, and after all I bave beard said of it I am filled to the chin with curiosity to see it, too. Will you allow me to go along with you on my mule Spavins?” : “* Why, you are welcome to go, as far as I am concerned,” was the assurance, ‘‘l have no objections,” ** May heaven bless thee, and may the cause of temperence never wane!” cried the gladdened Balaam. ‘* What has this got to do with temperance?” asked the mayor. ‘It has tu do with me, sir, and I have to do. with temperance,” was the explanation offered. The mayor ordered borses for himself and the. detective, and Balaam saw to getting out his. mule, while many others busied themselves in making ready for the little excursion. Finally they were ready @nd set forth. The mayor and the detective rode ahead, Barnabas Balaam following on his mule, and the others coming on after him. It was a rugged trail, a part of the way, but: finally they reached their destination all in good order, and there was the lake spread out at their feet as they halted upon a ledge from which the outlaw was said to have leaped. This ledge was a dozen or fifteen feet above the water, and represented what may be termed a promontory, a high cape, and it projected to a point near what would have been the middle of the lake had it been round, . ‘* There,” said the mayor, pointing, ‘‘ s where the fellow disappeared, as near as I can locate.” ‘* Yas, that’s about ther spot,” others support- ‘*- You say he dived in?” “Straight in.” ** And was seen no more.” “Not asign of him, though the men waited here half an hour or more,” Mr. Bristol bad dismounted and stepped to the edge to look over. He saw the face of the cliff was a sheer desce \t, and the whole line of the lake’s coast was visible from this point, ‘Tt is very strange,” he had to confess, **So everybody agrees,” was the response from the mayor. The detective walked along the edge of the cliff, taking a critical survey of everything. The others had remained mounted, looking from where they sat, most of them looking only at the detective to note his every movement, Barnabas Balaam, seated on his mule in a stolid way, looked around at everything but ay- parently without the least idea of trying to solve the mystery which had brought them there. Finally the detective returned to the horse, shaking his head. be “Do you give it un?” 6 NC the mayor, ‘¢ Yes, for the present, I do,” was the answer. ‘* It gets ahead of me completely, sir.” ** Humph!” ed ‘Tt would get ahead of any one,” declared > Mr. Balaam, ‘If that man jumped in there in the manner ae say, he isin there yet. That is the long and the short of tie whole mystery,, gentlemen.” ‘Not so,” corrected the mayor, “for he bas been seen many times since, and bas been up to some of his old evil tricks,” \ ““Can’t help it, sir, he is in the lake yet, % 7 ¥ , LAE Nt ch ot ; ere ee Ra See A ee el aaa 4 i .
Page 11
no other than Tessie was drowned.” ‘* Heavens! what a thick head you have, sir!” the mayor cried. ‘It was only last night that the three robberies were committed at the camp. Where are your wits, if you ever had any?” At that Mr. Balaam rubbed his chin in a re- flective way. * “Then I don’t understand it,” he confessed. “If he is in the lake yet, he surely must be drowned; and if he isn’t in the lake, then he must be a double being. Ha! have I not bit it? Is he not both dead and alive at the same time? Study on thet, my friends.” His extreme simplicity excited laughter, and he looked from face to face as if to discover what they were laughing about. He was a character, this same Balaam. We have said so before, And, there was something more about him than appeared on the surface, His manner of speech seemed to change with his every change of mood. * You had better pive up ther idee of be- comin’ a detective,” said one man. ‘I guess temperance fits you a good deal better, and even that is several sizes too big for ye,” “Ob! I don’t know,” remarked Mayor Han- croft, partly aside, ‘‘ there seems to be plenty of room vacant on the detective ladder, and not very high up, either. Don’t let them dis- suade you from it, my friend. There is always pet for talent in every profession. Eh, Bris- ‘* Assuredly,” answered the detective, soberly. He appeared thoughtful, the detective, and nothing was said for some moments that might divert his thoughts, Finally be came out of his reverie with a shake of the bead, and mounting bis horre he turned his back upon the lake and signified his readiness to return to the camp, * Well, what has the visit aves you?” asked the mayor, ‘It bas shown me that this case is deeper than I had any idea I should find it,” was the re- sponse. ** Ts it too deep for you, sir?” ss It may prove so, but I do not give it up ‘* What will be your next move?” **T shall now wait to hear from the Scorpions, in response to my demand.” The mayor smiled in an amused way, if not indeed in a half-pitying manner. His opinion of Deadwood Dick could be read in his face. If the detective noticed aught of this he did not appear to do so, but rode back to camp in what appeared to be a thoughtful mood, It did not seem that he was doing anything worthy of his reputation here, Upon reaching the hotel he found a caller there awaiting bin, He was much surprised to see her, for it was eeds, the daughter of the banker. The girl seemed to be a little nervous in man- ner, but she was outspoken in what she had to Say, as the detective soon discovered, to his Be caine g ie ‘ pits want 8 with you in private, Mr. Bristol,” she “fondly = . f ‘“* Well, this sitting-room is about as private a lace as { can offer you,” she was answered, ‘If we talk in low tones we shall not be over- heard.” ‘I want toask you if there is any hope that papa’s fortune will be recovered, Do you think 80? “T will tell you privately, Miss Weeds, that I think there is strong hope just now,” was the rey: mn pat would Mayor Hancroft have thought of at ‘Tam glad to hear you say it, sir, and I be- lieve in you, I will not ask you what your hopes are based on; I will take you at your word, Now, will you answer another question truthfully?” ‘*T will answer it truthfully or uot at all.” “Oh! Iknow I can trust you. Tell me, are you a married man?” The detective hesitated, and a puzzled ex- pression came upon his face. And little wonder, ‘* Why do you ask that?” he inquired. : on? very personal reason, sir,” was the re- spou “Well, I promised to answer you truthfull or not atall. Iam not married, Miss Weeds, ‘““T believe you Mr. Hancroft said you sir, were, but I would not believe him on his oath, I mistrust him greatly,” Maybe it was the man who was killed last night who has been playing his part since ho —_—————— Eee OO = Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, ‘Now, tell me why you are interested,” the detective requested. ‘Tam interested because I—because I—love you,” came the answer, and as the confession came from her lips her words sunk to a ss and her eyes sought the floor, while the hot blood mounted to her cheeks and made her pretty face rosy red. The detective was for a moment speechless. ** You lovs me?” be finally managed to utter. ** Yes, I love you.” She now raised ber earnest eyes to his, and he saw in their clear depths how thoroughly in earnest she was. Once before he had felt his blood quicken at sight of this handsome child-woman, and now his pulses tingle and his breath came as if by quick- ened gasps, y ** Let us sit down here,” he said, ‘* This mat- ter may be a serious one for both of us, and we must, at least, have it out here and now, We must bave a thorough understanding. I know rs are deeply in earnest in what you have said. \ CHAPTER XIII. THE SECRET ENGAGEMENT. Ir was a serious moment and an exciting one. The young girl’s firgers twitched nervously as she toyed with a corner of her neat jacket, and the detective showed more nervousness than was to be looked for in Deadwood Dick, ‘¢ What has led you to make such a confession as tbis to me?” the detective asked, when they had taken seats, ‘* My heart,” was the prompt response, “ And, oh! Mr. Bristol, you can do me a great favor if you only will, whether you care for me in return or not. Will you do it?” “What is the favor?” ‘* My papa is urging me to marry Mr. Han- croft, and I detest the man. Can’t you hurry up and restore papa’s money 80 there will no longer be that-reason why I should marry him?” ‘Tf you do marry him, will that restore what your father has lost?” ““Yes;I bave not told you about that, He has promised that if I will marry him he will make good all papa has lost, But, I cannot do it—I will not do it. You can help me if you will, [ know you can,” ‘* You seem to have great confidence in me.” ‘“Yes, 1 have. I am sure you know more about this thing than you let folks find out.” ‘“*T am glad for your good opinion of me, any- how. But, it is impossible for me to restore the stolen money at once. I'll tell you what I could do, however.” ** What is that?” “Jf you know how much your father’s loas is I can lend you the amount ubtil the stolen money is recovered, Will that serve your pur- pose as well?” ‘*T do not know about that,” was the frank re- sponse, ‘After the humiliating confession 1 have just made to you, Mr, Bristol, it would not be proper for me to accept it that way.” “It is, unfortunately, the only way I can help you atonce, But, Miss Weeds, let me hear your story. Seems to me you must have more to tell ne, ‘* What do you mean?” “ Well, you have come to me with a wonder- fully strange confession fer a girl to make, What has brought it about?” “Love at first sight, sir,” was the frank but blushing answer, ‘Well, well, but this is refreshing!” the. de- tective exclaimed, and he laughed fightly. * Do not imagine for a moment that lam making fun,” be hastened to say; ‘‘the oddity of it strikes me, that is all.” ** Tt is unusual, isn’t it?” * Well, it is, rather, How in the world came it about?” : _“T sball not answer till IT have asked another question and had an answer to that, sir.” ‘* Very well, ask your question, then.” ‘You have told me you are a single man,” “So Tam; that is the truth.” “And free to marry?” ‘* Certainly,” “Then, do you think you could love mea lit- tle, just enough to niake me your wife and give me a chance to make you bappy?” ‘Lbis fairly took away the voung man’s breath, and he rose and paced the floor, to keep his ex- citement within bounds. “This beats all I ever beard of,” he said, “Miss Weeds, you are as frank and open as the broad daylight, and I cannot doubt your earnest- ness in this matter, I certainly hope you are in earnest, anyhow,” 1Z ‘*Then you do—you think you can—” She was trying to get at the question, eagerly, gladly. ‘Tl know I can,” was the assurance, ‘' The first sight I had of you my heart went out to you, and now [ love you madly, This is the solemn truth. It has been, as you called it, love at first sight.” “Oh! IT am so glad!” the girl cried, rieing and taking his hand, ‘‘I know we shall be happy. But, l have dove more than my part, and now I leave you to do the re-t, You will think I am too awfully bold for auything,, won't you?” ; ‘“*T believe you are as pure as the purest wild: flower that grows in this vane Tessie.” ** Ask my father, if you dou t it,” was the re-- sponse, ‘Ask anybody and everyboly who knows me,_ I defy them to say one word to my discredit, The worst I have ever been guilty of in my life is wbat I have been guilty of withim these few minutes.” “*T believe you, Tessie, But, your story. You have one to tell, know. I never heard of a. girl’s taking the step you have taken, It is some- thing new, decidedly, is it not?” ‘Perhaps so, and I suppose it is; but, why should not woman have the same right as man, where such vital matters are at stake?” — ‘*T see no reason, Tessie, except that it looks out of place to see a woman making the first ad- vances in a love affair.” “Then you condemn me for what I have done?” ‘* Decidedly not. You had more courage than I, it seems. It is only because it is 0 unusual, so surprising, that it claims notice, But, your story, your story; for you have hinted that. you have one to tell.” ‘*T will tell it now. It is only a simple one, but it will accoynt for all that may seem. strange and out of place in my conduct, In doing what I have done I was only following the advice of my dead mother. That sounds: very strange to you, no doubt.” ‘Well, yes, it does.” “*My motber was not happily married. She did nct marry the man she loved. Papa was. good to her, whey lived as bappy as married folks usually do, I suppose, but my mother’s heart had been given to another, and she never’ saw the object of her affections but once, and then only for a moment. She did not know his. name,” ‘ “That is strange enough, truly. It sounds: like fiction—like the unique plot of some love. romance,” “I believe there are stranger things in real life, Mr, Bristol, than were ever dreamed out by our story-tellers, But, let me go on, My mother always believed that her experience would some day be mime; that is, that I should some time meet the man whom I would love madly at first. sight, and she always warned me not fo let the opportunity passif the experience ever came, She warned me that it would haunt me all my days it I did.” ‘* And the experience has come?” ‘“As you know, 1 am going to be perfectly frank with you, Mr. Bristol, The moment my eyes met yours my whole soul went out to you, and I loved you madly, devotedly, Then, for the first time, I was able to appreciate the heart- hunger which my poor mother suffered all ber: days, Mind, not a word of, all this so that papa can learn of it; he never knew—never could sus- ct.’ ‘*T understand,” “And that is all, I have never felt the least. regard for any man, though I have been sought. by many, until [ saw you. Then you know what happened, I have not disregarded m mother’s warning. Now, my future is wit you. What do you think of me anyhow?” / This wild flower’s innocence was charming, ‘*T have already told Nae what I think of you,” was the response. ‘I love you, I think we understand each other fully, Tessie, You will marry me, of course, as soon as my business here isdone?” zat ‘* Whenever you desire.it,” ‘« Was there ever a courtship go strange!” the detective exclaimed, ‘Little did I dream, when I came here, that here I should meet my fate,” “ “T only hope we are making no mistake,” said the child-woman, ‘ Now, that is all, and I will return to papa, But, Mr. Bristol, what. do you suppose Mr. Hancroft’s idea was in tell- ing papa and me you were married?” Perbaps he foresaw that something like tbis- might happen.” ‘*That must have been his reason, I suppose. But, Dick—may I call you by that name?!—I must- tell you that lam raid of Hancroft, and I ‘
Page 12
eS es or. = - — et gare nD en gg —— = J . —r?. Fhe ne: ate oS ow ge ea ad = ~~ - - 12 Deadwood ‘want you to protect me against him. do that?” “ Yes,” ‘“‘ He thinks be is sure of me now, since he is able to offer papa help in money matters, What should I do? Ought I tell him Iam en- gaged to you?” ‘**I would keep that a secret yet, Tessie. Tell your father, but no other, And in regard to money, I can repair your father’s loss, it that is 80 important to him, You may tell him so,” ‘*T will, Are you sure you love me Dick?” ‘* Don’t you suppose I know whether I do or not, little one?” There, in the privacy of the sitting-room, the lovers exchanged their first kisses, after which ‘Tessie hastened away with her face all aglow and a new light burning in her peerless eyes. The detective walked the floor for some min- utes after she had gone, as if unable to believe he had not been dreaming, “This beats any experience I ever had,” he said to himself, ‘The little thing is as fresh and innocent as she is pretty, no doubting that, And she has beard that I am married, eb?” A cloud came over his face for a moment, ‘“‘ That is awkward,” he said, ‘Trouble may grow out of it, if 1 am not careful, I love the girl, and must have her, but— Well, I must take care, that is all, I shall be glad when this case comes to an ending, now,” After awhile he went out to the piazza, where he took his usual seat and idled the time away. Will you Meanwhile, going straight home, Tessie said | to her father: “Papa, I am ready to give you my answer jow,” Timothy looked up, and seeing the glowing face of bis daughter, quickly exclaimed; “* Then a have made up your mind to Mr. Hancroft “T have made up my mind fully never to wmarry him, papa. There, do not look so angry. You know you cannot change me when once | ‘say my mind is fully made up. The truth is, I am engaged to somebody else,” ** Kogaged?” ‘“* Yes, papa, and to the first and only man I ever loved,” **And who is it? How long have you been keeping this matter from me, my child?’ ‘* Not very long, papa. It is Mr. Bristol, the detective. I love him truly, and have prom- ised to marry him, It was love at first sight with hoth of us, Now, now, do not scold me, for that will not do a bit of good, It is just as I ‘tell you,” CHAPTER XIV. THE DETECTIVE ORDERED AWAY, THERE was little danger that Pater Weeds ‘would scold, for be could not recover himself sufficiently to say anything. Never was there a fond father more dismay- ed, He listened in silence to all his daughter had to say, and it was a considerable time be- fore he could give vent to his feelings, When, finally, he could speak, a furious storm ‘broke suddenly, Tessie bad never before seen der father in such a/ passion, and when he ex- sed bhimselr forcibly she could see where she ad,come by her own firmness of will, Timothy asserted his authority to the full. “The knave!” he cried. ‘I happen to know he is a married nmin, I have seen mention of his wife in the papers, And to think that child of mine should engage herself to any one on such short acquaintance! It isnot to be believed. But, Vil uttend te this bnsiness for you. This is the first time [ have had occasion to be severe with you.” To quote them were needless, The girl cried and begged, defending her act with every argu- ament in ber power except telling the whole ‘truth, but Timothy was as firm as a rock, He knew what was best for her, he declared, He knew the detective wasa married man, and he would make him repent his treachery, And $0, usiug force as well as authority, he took the girl and locked her in a ‘room, after which he set out to find Hancroft, Here was the beginning of a ruction such as See-Saw had never witnessed, It was an hour later when Hancroft joined the detective on the hotel piazza, This was after Timothy bad seen him and told bim all about the man’s treachery, as Bristol noted at once there was something cool about the man’s manner as he came up, and like a flash be A Neg what was in the wind, He had already regretted having given ‘the girl permission to Jet ber father into their “ How much do I owe you, Dick Bristol?” the | See-Saw. It wasa mistake when we sent fo mayor demanded, loud enough for all to hear, There was quite a number on the piazza, and of course every eye was upon the pair instantly. ‘Tam not ‘aware that you owe me anything, sir,” was the cool response. ‘‘ Why do you ask?” ‘* Because Iam done with your services here, Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, you.” ‘** Don’t trouble youself further about me,” the detective quietly said. ‘*T don’t intend to,” was the retort. ‘ You have been fairly warned, and if you are a man of sense you will beed the warning.” With that the mayor wheeled aronnd and that’s the reason I ask, nea the sooner you } went off in the direction of the mine offices, can take yourself off tbe better I shal! like it,” One man who had been a quiet observer of all ‘*Ho! that’s it, en?’ and tbe detective rose to | this now stepped to the front, his feet. ‘‘ Well, Mr. Hancroft, I came here for @ purpose, and I’rn not going to retire till that is accomplished. I am not here under pay, and do not accept my discharge from you or any other man, ‘We'll see about that, You may defy mo, but you won't defy the whole camp, I guess, Men of See-Saw, what is your opinion of a mar- ried man who will deliberately make love to a young girl and engage himself to marry her? Tkat is what this fellow has done with Tessie Weeds,” There was instantly a howl. Tessie was the pride of the camp, and hardly a man there but was ready to do battle in her behalf, Several men stepped forward, grim looks upon their faces, and their bands upon weapons, They awaited only a signal from the mayor, oe it might have fared roughly with the detec- ive, There came, however, another interruption. ** Hold on! hold on! bold on!” some one sung out, and who should push to the fore but Bar- nabas Balaam, both hands raised to enjoin peace, *‘Don’t let your angry passions rise and get ther best of ye, men of w,” he rejoined in words, ‘‘ Let me scatter some oil on the troubled waters.” ‘* You shut right up and get out,” cried Han- croft, ‘‘ or lll order you banged, We are in no mood for fooling.” “Neither am I,” retorted Barnabas. ‘I was just working up steam for ny temperance lecture, and I’m at high pressure, Don’t crowd me, or my b’iler may bu’st and do more damage than you could repair in a week. ‘Your charity suffered long and was kind to Tom-tom Tom for beatin’ bis tom-tom: you must do likewise with me and allow me to toot my bazoo. Hear ye! hear ye! hear ye!” This brought a laugb from some in the crowd, and the teniperance advocate was allowed to say more, ** T don’t like to see shootin’ and killin’,” he de- clared, in something of his occasional dialect, ‘That grates upon my nerves almost as bad as the sight of unholy intemperance irritates my gall. Now, to avoid all necessity for it, let me propose a plan that is generally effective when a camp gets right up and means business, Why don’t you give the young man twenty-foar hours or so to make a vacant spot bere of his size and shape, and then if he don’t go— Well, when the worst comes to the worst I shut my e es, % You can have it either way you want it,” gentlemen,” the detective spoke, He stood in a careless way, and all who knew anything about the reputation of Dead- wood Dick felt a good deal like accepting the proposition the temperance advocate had (5 a “Tlt make it that,” declared the mayor, prudent in spite of bis rage, “Tl give you just twenty-four hours to get out of this camp, Dick Bristol, and if you don’t go V’ll not answer for the result. And, [ll take care to make known your scandalous conduct, anyhow,” ‘*Very well, sir, Il accept the terms,” and the detective very coolly resumed bis seat. ‘*Howlin’ Hiram!” cried Mr. Balaam. ““Toat’s what [d call cool, mayor! He don’t turn a bair, Pilgrims from Yan! but I love this here detective fellow; I vow 1 do, Anda it looks like a shame to turn him gin! before he has had a square chance to geta dig at Satan Sam. [m sorry I didn’t say a week instead of twenty-four hours, I am interested, and I’d like to see the end of the game. Besides— Bello! thar’s somethin’ ye forgot, mayor, sure!” Excited, he dropped into the dialect, ‘* What's that? the mayor asked, ‘“ Why, ther demand he has posted up, ye know. He bas challenged the Scorpions, ye know, or what ’mounts to pretty much ther same thing,” ‘“*He may bavereason to wish he had never beard of the Scorpions, if they hear of his dastardly conduct,” was the angry retort. have given you twenty-four hours, Dick Bristol, but you will be wise if you make it twenty-four | | | { minutes, 1 tell you you are not wanted here at became aware of what they were doing. They This was Ben Blunt, and he said: * Pards of See-Saw,” Jooking around over the group, ‘‘et don’t seem ter me necessary fer us ter get intoa. sweat about this matter. We have beard only one side of the story, and we know Hancroft is sweet on ther gal and that ac- counts fer a good deal, S’pose we hear what this gentleman has ter say fer himself?” “That's ther idee!” “T have nothing to say except this,” declared the detective, ‘It is true, since the secret is out, that I have wona promise of marriage from Miss Weeds, and I am free t) marry whom I will, ‘This needs a Jittle explanation, but I am not prepared to give it now. You may take my word or not, just as you please,” “That’s right from ther shoulders” cried Barvabas Balaam, ‘I say now as I said at ther start, give the young man a fair sbow, He's modest, we can all see tbat, and needs ter be en- couraged, no matter what his reputation is, Give tim a fair show, and see bow it comes ont, On! I am fairly in a fever to see the end of this business, and to see Satan Sam brought to the | front and made to take his bitters, I hope the Scorpions will come forth and accept the young man’s demund, Yes, yes, I’m fairly ina fever, and there’s only one thing for me to do, and that is to give you a lecture on temperance, There's | no other way in which I can work off the pres- sure,” With his words, be sprung to a chair, and with a wave of the hand opened his mouth, Before be spoke a word, though, there came suddenly the thump-a-thump of the tom-tom to the surprise of everybody, and Tom-tom Tom was seen coming down the street. Mr. Balaam continued to hold his mouth wide open, and his band outstretched just where it had stopped at the end of the flourish he had made, and he gazed upon the bummer as he drew near vith an expression hard to define. Thump-a-thump! thump-a-thump! came th bummer, and presently be was abreast with the hotel, He looked neither way, thougb, but went straight on, thump-a-tbhump, thump-a thump! thump-a thump! thump! and there was such a charm about the music that the very dogs in the neighborhood began to how], “Wretched, wretched man!” cried the tem- perance advocate, ‘‘I wonder if he cannot be shamed into reforming, since bullets seem to bave no lasting effect upon him, | Verily I be- lieve I will try it.” The attention of the crowd was won in an in- stant, and the detective was delivered for the time being from unpleasant scrutiny. As the burnmer pa‘sed, Mr, Balaam ran light- ly down the steps and fell in behind him, when he began to sing—rather bawl—at the top of his voice the one verse of what was perbaps the only song he ever krew, and it was plain thet he did not know ever that. ‘*Gayly the tronbadour sung o’ Kafoozalem As he came plodding his way from Jerusalem, And the old Huck-s-buck hearing him come, Oried Rum-a-tum, rum-a-tum, rum-a-tum-tum!” Tom-tom Tom bad glanced around at the first outbreak, but immediately attended to business again, and so they marched to the end of the camp, They were two of a kind, as near as could be, except for the rummy appearance of the bum- — mers face, of which Mr, Balaam bad none, Otherwise they were two about as hard-looking cases as can be imagined, At the end of the camp the bummer turned and started back again, thumping away with | all his migbt, while the temperance man bawled as loud as he could baw), keeping time, and it would have been hard to decide which was tlhe worst, the beating of the tom-tom or the sing- ing. Taking both together, it was more than the worthy citizens could stand, and by the time the pair again reached the Square in front of the hotel several men wereready tobuy thebum- ““T | mer up. They rusbed forward to meet him, and three or four bad pressed money upon him before they a << S gr ae ee eed aed tt — * or aie A 3 cpt 4 oye 2 — Po ies *
Page 13
cannot fy f ) if you ee y! 4 ¢ ‘ iy the ring of truth in Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device. 13 were seemingly glad to have the noise stopped at any price. “Thanks, dear sir, thanks!” cried the bum- mer, turning upon Mr, Balaam. ‘ But for you I might have been compelled to beat the tom- tom for half an hour before I could have tired them out. [t was the singing they could not stand. Thanks, sir, thanks, Believe me, I go now to drink your good health,” CHAPTER XV, THE SCORPIONS’ STING, BARNABAS BALAAM looked after the retreat- ing form of the bummer for a moment in $i- lence, and then he began to wring his hands, while he raised bis voice in wailing and lamen- tation, ‘““What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?” he cried aloud, in much agony of mind. ‘‘ Have I been the means of providing yon wretch with the wherewith to oy his unboly appetite? Mercies forbid! rtainly my intention was enough,” The crowd around enjoyed the situation huge- ly, and a roar of laughter greeted the remarks of the temperance advocate, “ Verily, verily, I must redeem the time,” Mr, Balaam declared, ‘* Here I have been neglect- ing my work, and for .what? For nothing! I must deliver a lecture here aad now against the curse of rum,” Taking a chair from the piazza of the hotel, he carried it out to the middle of the Square where he mounted it and began to exhort, and for half an hour or more he gave the crowd a free ‘‘ circus,” such as they had not enjoyed ina month, It was the general verdict that Barna- bas Balaam was a chapacnar unique, The rest of that day was unusually quiet. Nothing worthy of note took place, and it | —— have been marked as the calm before:a storm, ¢ Mayor Hancroft had cut loose from the detec- tive entirely, and had not addressed him once since their hot words of the morning. The detective did not ap to mourn about this, but sat on the piazza of the hotel for the most part of the time, idly smoking, talking oc- casionally with those who spoke to him, There did not appear to be any indication that he intended to take the warning he had received. pe was certainly in no hurry about going, any- ow, Late in the day Ben Blunt joined him. ** Ye don’t seem ter be in no haste about get- tin’ oP au’ gittin’,” he made remark, , “* No, ’'m not breaking my neck to get away,” was the response, ** And, I take et, ‘he don’t mean ter go.” The detective smiled, ** You have hit it about right,” he said. “You are just my style,” the man declared. “I like ter see grit. You stay hyer, and ef ye want any backin’, call on Ben Blunt,” “T hadn’t forgotten your offer, sir, I’m going to stay, for I came here with a Burpee and it has not yet been accomplisbed, If I need help ‘before get done with this thing I'll call on ou. ‘ ; “ Don’t ye forget et, And now, pard, on the sly, byer’s a note fer ye,” As lhe spoke, the fellow slipped a bit of paper into the detective’s hand so that none migbt see, “‘ Ha!” was the exclamation, ‘A note,ch? 1 think I can guess whom it is from before I look a it. 5 You bave beard about— But, I know you ve. . ‘** About you and Miss Weeds? ‘Yas, I know all about et. *A0d, pard, I Want ye to answer me one question fair and square: Are you free ter .. Marry that gal as ye hev *greed. ter do?” ** Ben Blunt, I am. The eyes of the two men met, and there was 6 statement, **] believe ye, pard,” said Blunt. “I’m with ye, now, totherend. But, ef ye play me false, and ef ye deceive that gal, ther Lord help ye,” “* You'll find me true, my friend,” _ “Ef I don’t, ye will havea score ter settle wi’ Ben Blunt, that’s all, I hev brung ther note _ from ther gal.” \ ** As I supposed,” *The detective now opened the tiny missive and read it, It was contained in these lines; “ Dear Dick:— “Won't you assure papa that it's all right? He _ believes you are married, and he has never treated me so harshly before. I know you are true, but I rove ittohim. You aré true, are you not? ve deceived me I shall die, But, I know you have not! a ours till death, a . “Can you see her and talk with her?” the detective asked of the messenger, when he had read to the end. ‘Yes, I kin work et so, pard.” **Then I will not write anything, for it might get her into deeper trouble, but you may ‘ell her this: That I am so placed that I cannot do as she requests to-day, but that she need have no doubts. Whatever appearances may be, I am true—I swear it. Tell her to keep up her cour- “Pll do et, pard. I believe ye, but, as I said *fore, ther Lord help ye ef ye prove false, Ilove that gal like a darter, I do, and I'll fight like a daddy fer her, ef need be,” ‘You won’t find the need to fight me, old friend,” The day closed, and night came on, and still that air of oppressiveness appeared to hang over the camp. There was no excitement whatever, greater than that occasioned by Tom-tom Tom, who ap- peared once more and beat upon his tom-tom till a committee of three fell upon him and wrested the instrument of torture from him and broke it into splinters, to the dismay of the bummer and the delight of the temperance advocate, The evening passed, the lights went out one by one, and finally the camp slumbered, The hour was late when Detective Bristol was suddenly awakened from his sleep, and he sprung up with a start, Four masked men were in his room, one hold- ing a bull’s-eye lantern so that its light fell upon the detective’s face and the others covering him with their revolvers, ‘* Not a word,” warned one in a hoarse whis- r, ‘‘ but get up and dress yourself.” “All right, gentlemen,” was the cheery re- sponse in the same tone, regardlessof the warn- ing. ‘* You hold the best hand and I’m at your service,” Without undue haste, and without any ap- parent nervousness in his manner, the detective put bimself-into bis clothes, and finally he an- nounced that he was ready for whatever was required of him, *“Now, you will come with us,” spoke the leader. ‘*We are of the Scorpions of See- Saw sand we have some business to settle with ‘The Scorpions, eh? Then you are aware of the demand I have made, I suppose, of course.” ¥ Yes, we know all about your blank foolish- Two of the fellows who had put away their weapons now took hold of the detective and bound his hands bebind him, after which they pos a blindfold over his eyes, and warning im to maiptain silence if he valued his life they led him out of the room, out of the house, and away. He was taken a considerable distance. Although unable to see, he had been able to determive the direction in which he was being conducted from the hotel, and when the night air grew preenpnly more chill he knew they had entered the western canyon, After a time there was some climbing up a pretty difficult trail, and soon after that the air grew yet more chill and the resounding of their feet told they had entered a cavern. By the echo it gave forth, too, it was evidently one of no xnean dimensions, At last a stop was made, and the bandage was removed from the prisoner’s eyes and 2 was permitted to look around, He found himself ina circle composed of a score or more of masked men, “Well, Deadwood Dick,” spoke the leader, ‘what do you think of us? 6 are the Scor- pions, whom you have challenged,” “You are 2 pretty decent looking set of fellows, as near as | am able to judge of you,” was the easy response, ‘You make a mistake about my having challenged you however; I merely mace a demand,” ‘* Tt amounts to the same thing.” ‘That is according to how you look at it, I should say.” ‘* We choose to look at it our way, then. Did you not see the notice we posted by the trail some distance out of camp?” “Tdid not. You know it was dark when I came in that night,” ** Well, you heard about it, which is all the same. Why did you not pay heed to it?” ‘I did not choose to, Hid you ever hear of Deadwood Dick’s playing the poltroon? I came to See-Saw for a purpose, and it has not been ac- or Bo you think 0 you it ever will be?” os Perhaps,” mm ‘“We very much doubt it, But, that aside, You came here with the intention of taking a. piece of work out of our hands and taking the credit of it to yourself, and we don’t propose to allow that!” “ No ” d . ** No, decidedly !” “You refer to the capture of Satan Sam, of” course,” ‘Exactly. We think we are capable of doing all that any one can do on that case, and since we have begun it we are going to carry it out,” “That is the proper thing, gentlemen. But, you do me injustice. I came here not to rob. you of any glory whatever, but to aid you. ae: demand was that I be allowed to work wit ou, ‘* Well, we don’t want any help. Then, too, you said that if we didn’t see fit to take up with beak demand, then you would consider us no etter than outlaws ourselves, and treat us ac- cordingly; or words to that effect,” “* Exactly,” ‘Well, we are not going to Bogie your de- mand, Weare going to work this claim our- selves,” ‘* That settles it, then; we don’t pull together.. I consider you as little botter than Satan him- self, What are you going to do about it?” ‘© Well, that is cool.” ‘** No need to get heated over it, as I can see,” “You defy us, then,do you? You are ina. poor position to do that, ) e*adwood Dick,” _* Call it thatif you want to, gentlemen. Since you will not take my os offer I must it. alone, You have.the best of it, ladmit. Still, I may get there b pos aga Sl ** We doubt that, too, But, here is what weare. going todo about it, and if you don’t like it there is something else you can do: We are go-~ ing to hold you a prisoner here till we have made the capture, and then you will be allowed to Bo. rs hat is all we bave to say. Men, secure CHAPTER XVI. TRUTH TRIUMPHANT, THE detective was led to a place in the cavern where a ring of iron had been affixed to the wall, and where ho was secured by his bands, which were still behind bis back, “You need have no fear of being allowed to starve,” said the leader, then, “‘ for we will take care of you in that respect but here you must remain till we have made the capture of Satan Sam, when you will be allowed to go, It will be useless for you to strain your lungs calling for help, for no one could possibly bear you,” “T shall take it casy, prmenens was the re- sponse coolly made, ‘‘l appreciaty the fact, that you have not killed me, and that you prom-. ise me | shal] not starve. This is the way Dead-. wood Dick’s demand has been received. Very well, I will remember it, I wish you all success: in your hunt for the outlaw, and hope you will find him soon,” A brief exchange of further remarks, and the masked men filed out of the cavern, leaving the. detective there alone in the darkness and soli-- tude, They had not been gone a great while when & form stole up to the detective’s side, and, after feeling a moment, a keen blade severed the bonds which held him to fhe iron ring. ‘You are promptly on“hand,” whispered the prisoner, ‘‘As I promised I would be,” was the re-. sponse. ‘ Let us wait a few moments more and! we'll make a light,” Tbey were silent for some time, to make sure. their foes had all gone out of sight and hearing,, and finally the rescuer turned on the light of a. bull’s-eye and lighted up the scene, t would ss could they have seen who the new-comer as, The man was none other than Barnabas Balaam, the temperance advocate, ‘* Now we are ready for business,” the peculier man said, ‘‘We have the rest of the night be- fore us, without danger of interruption. He spoke now with neither the dialect nor the peculiar twang he had employed before, but with a straightforward language that bad the true ring about it, ‘* And that means that we are to begin the ex- presen of this cavern at once, I su’ ” the ate Fe lagrrng observod. ‘Very well, let’s be about it, for lamina hurry to see the matter -cloared up. ‘*T suppose so,” with a light laugh, ‘Strange, wasn’t it? helped,” ell, it could not be have been a sorprise for the Scor-
Page 14
= we ee eer : —— * —_— ———— Se ~ . ec _ was the head of the band. 14 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s. Double Device. ‘* Yes, strange, truly: and it came near spoil- ing our plans altogether. But, we’ll come out all right now,” Whatever they meant, they enjoyed a laugh together over it, and together they went for- ward into the cavern, expluring it as they ad- “vanced, apparently in search of something in particular, They soon found they bad undertaken a larger work than ‘they had imagined, here were several branches of the cavern, and by the time they had explored three or four of them as far as they could penetrate, as many -hours had slipped by. ‘We do not seem to find it in anything of a ‘hburry,” remarked the detective, as they returned again to the main chamber, ‘*No, but Iam sure it is bere somewhere,” re- sponded the advocate of temperance, ‘ We'll try this narrower passage to the left this time. By going rigbt we got left, maybe by going left ‘we'll be right.” After a little rest they set out anew. Turning into a narrow passage that opened on the left of the main chamber, they proceeded along it, examining carefully as they proceeded, It widened out, presently, and was similar in all respects to the otbers thrcuzh which they bad passed, After a time, however, the floor took a downward tendency. ‘* This looks more like it,” said the temperance advocate, then, “‘T agree with you,” responded the detective. **T think we'll get there, now, sure.” — - Finally something ahead caught and reflected the light they carried, and with an exclamation both sprung forward at an increased pace, soon ‘to find themselves at the edge of a sheet of water, ‘* This is it!” cried the detective. ous by their absence, had any one taken trouble to | possible. But, you are eager to see who these ‘*T certainly believe itis. But, how to prove | note the fact, which no one did, apparently. prisoners are, e will unmask them for your | it?” Among these were Barnabas Balaam, Ben | benefit” It was Mr, Balaam who carried the light, and after some moments of thought he turned the ‘slide and shut the light off. The darkness was intense, of course, but in a moment when their eyes had become slightly used to it both together uttered an exclamation -as another discovery was made, In the water was seen a band, or belt, of ligbt, ‘something like a phosphorescent glow faintly seen. It was some distance from where the stood, and its outline was very irregular, (f looked not unlike the reflection of an exit some- where near at hand, ‘“‘ The secret is out!” cried the detective. “And it is just what I thought,” said the “other, quietly. ‘‘ It is a passage under water, to the mysterious lake, It is the moon that gives the light we see,” There was no doubting it. Such was the ex- lanation of the mysterious manner in which ‘Satan Sam had eluded pursuit, Diving into the lake, he had swum under water through the pas- ‘sage and into the cavern, And that being so, other facts were made cer- ‘tain to the detectives—we may as well call them so, now, If Satan Sam and these Scorpions both made the cavern their place of hiding, they ‘must be working together: And from that it was only a step to the suspicion that Satan Sam While they stood there, talking the matter over, still looking toward the patch of light as it was revealed through the water, they heard a sound as of the hoof-strokes of many horses. And these, coming nearer each moment, were soon heard to be directly overhead. Then came a -darkening fora moment of the patch of light, after which it wavered and appeared to grow lighter and darker by quick turns, resently into it was plainly discernible the form of a man, swimming with steady, powerful ‘stroke, and the two detectives exchanged a word of triumph with each other, The figure soon disappeared, and then was ‘heard a man’s deep breathing, with the gentle ys of the water as he came swimming to the shore, at detectives made never a sound, but wait- -ed, On came the man, and presently he was heard to strike the shore and to draw himself out upon ‘the rocky floor of the cavern. He was not a dozen feet away from the shadow- ers, and as they heard bim get upon his feet the light of the bull’s-eye was turned upon him by the temperance advocate, while the other covered him with a revolver. ‘* Satan Sam, surrender!” ’ Such was the stern command that fell upon the uman’s astonished ears, and his face grew pale as the realized that be was trap) “It’s no use,” cried Mr, ‘ m; “we have got the bulge on you as big as a barrel, This may be a surprise for you, but it is none for us, for we have suspected you from the first.” Even while speaking, the disguised detective had stepped forward and snapped a puir of handcuffs upon the astounded outlaw’s wrists, And then, when it was too late, the man began to struggle to get away. He soon found the folly of that, however, and began to:beg for liberty, promising any amount of money if they would only let him go. But, he might as well have talked to the rocky walls around him; the detectives were not to be moved, The tread of hoofs, if the distant echo could be called hearing it direct, still sounded above, and for a considerable time. Then the retreat was plainly made out, after which silence reigned, lt was then the two detectives with their prisoner returned to the main cavern, where they held a long consultation to arrange their furtber plans. Next day two men were missing from See- saw, One of these was the mayor, Henry Hancroft, and the other was Deadwood Dick the detective, No one could be found who could offer any ex- planation of the absence of either. Where they had gone, or why, was a mystery, It was hinted that perhaps they had retired somewhere to fight out their rivalry for the hand of pretty Tessie Weeds; but, even that did not suffice, since it was believed that one would certainly bave returned, The day passed, and no explanation was forth- coming. In the evening many fellows were conspicu- Blunt, and others whom Blunt had picked out as trustworthy citizens, together with quite a number who had evidently been in secret league witb the temperance advocate, Late in the evening, though, it bezan to be wondered where all the ** boys” could be, and it was suggested that perhaps they had all gone out with the hope of making the arrest of Satan Sam, who, by the way, had made a raid on the camp on the previous night. On that occasiun he had been surprised by some vigilant citizens, and they had given hima hard run to the lake, where he had lea in, horse and aljl, and disappeared as on other oc- casions, though the borse swam to sbore and was helped out and captured, That, as can be imagined, bad been the one topic of conversation all day. In the evening Tom-tom Tom bad come forth with his tom-tom, but the denizena of See-Saw were in no mood to hearken long-to it, and on the motion of one man the bummer was taken to the lock-up aud cabined for the night. It was midnight when the masked men as- sembled once again in the secret cavern, Near by was the detective prisoner, in the same position he had been left in by the Scor- pions on the previous night, They had found him there that morning, when two had come to bring him something to eat, | “ ‘* The captain certainly is dead,” one brought a long talk toits climax. ‘He has certain) it this time, and has been droened. That being so, our work is at an énd, and there remains nothing for us to do but to divide the spoils and get away as soon as we can.” There was prompt approval. ‘““And there is no excuse for putting it off a minute,” the spokesman wenton, ‘ Thesooner we get away the better for one and all. As to this detective, he can be left right bere until we can send word back to the citizens where to find him. Come on, and we’)] make the division at once; it’s just as well the captain does not come in for his, So much the more for the rest of us, The Scorpions are in luck this deal.” With Joud laughter they removed to another part of the cavern, No sooner had they gone than Barnabas Ba- laam crept forward and released the prisoner, as before, and at the same time men seemed to rise up out of the very ground, 80 quickly werea score or more on hand, under the leadership of Ben Blunt. And these, with muffled feet, moved silently forward after the band of mask- ed men, presently coming upon them at the place where they had stopped, and where they were in the act of prying up a flat stone in the rocky floor. ; This they were permitted to do, and then with & yell the other party sprung forward upon - | | | them, revolvers drawn, and demanding their instant surrender. It was a surprise complete, and it was fol- lowed up before reaction could come and re- sistance be offered... In a few moments the whole masked band had been securely bound, * No words were wasted there, but the victors, with their prisovers, including Satan Sam him- self, set out for the camp of See-Saw, When they arrived there they marched into the Square with loud cheering, and the whole population was spéedily out to learn what was the cause of all the uproar, It was seen at once, for there was the detec- tivé, with Barnabas Balaam, Ben Blunt, and the rest, with their prisoners, and as soon as the situation was taken in fully,louder cheering was heard, The moon was high and brigbt, and the Square was as ligbt as day, and a bearing was called for then and there, ‘Very well,” said the detective, stepping for- ward into the open space, ‘‘ you shall have it. Let me introduce to your notice Mr, Richard Bristol, or Deadwood Dick, Junior, whose role I have been assuming for a purpose which you can DOW understand without explanation on my part. He waved his hand, and Barnabas Balaam stepped out and made a bow, * That is my name, gentlemen,” be said, and with a sweep of the band be removed all disguise from his head and face. ‘‘ If we have played a little deception upon you it has been with a pur- pose. My ally here is Mr. Charles Paige, one of the governor’s men. He has played his *role well, and ‘would have done better had he not fallen in love with the belle of your town, But, that is all right, and I wish bim all the happiness Sitan Sam had been disguised like the others, aspare outfit having been found in the cavern, and they were all now stationed in a row, ‘*These men,” Dick went on, ‘tare Satan Sam and his band of Scorpions. Do not be surprised. The Scorpions were not what they pretended to be. Now, this first bere is Satan Sam. Behold!” With a quick movement Dick removed the disguise, and there stood forth the mayor of the camp, Henry Hancroft! The excitement can be better imagined than described. The others were quickly exposed in turn, and proved to be well-known men of the camp, ones who would have been least suspected of such business, least of all the mayor. ‘‘There they are, every one of them!” cried Dick. ‘‘ What do you think of your worthy fel- low-citizens, men of See-Saw? These are the men who were robbing the mines, the mails, the Express and everything else, It was their inten- tion to reap tbe rich harvest as long as possible, when they would leave the camp suddenly and take their ill-gotten wealth with them, But, I 8 tte you want the story of my work here in full, Very well; you shall bave it, ‘* 1 was sent her by Governor Woodlow, upon whom this rascal bas imposed for along time. I saw the difficulties in the way, I made my ar- rangements accordingly, I came here in a dis- guise which none would be likely to suspect, and in order to make it doubly secure I had Mr, Paige personate myself openly. You see how it worked. I had a specimen of Satan Sam’s handwriting, and when I got here it did not take me long to discover that it was the same as that of your worthy,mayor, in spite of the slight attempt at disguise. ; “While Mr. Paige was mises ig | attention drawn to himself, 1 was at work, and here is the result, I followed some of the Scorpions, when they were called to assemble at their ren- dezvous by the signal \for that purpose, which ss the drumming upon the keg by Tom-tom om— only a clever signal for the evil crew to assem- ble, and I was not long getting onto it. Once tbe cavern had heen found, I knew the rest would be easy. Mr, Paige put up a notice of demand, in my name, and that led to bis being taken prisoner, I was on hand to release him, and together we explored the cavern until we found the secret of the lake,” Dick went ou at length, making a full revela- tion of all that has been shown the reader, and when he had done the camp gave bim a rousin eheer. The prisoners were guarded well un morning, when they were sent away under strong guard to the nearest point where they could be turned over to the authorities, The lost treasure was nearly all recovered, that of Timothy Weeds among the rest, Needless to Ha! that surprises you? Yes, that was: 2 } . i 4 = fies Sa eee + Ogee eed Ss ae aa SDs a a AL even sal ica] “eg Ce R aenise
Page 15
? - Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, gay Timothy was a happy man, Explanations followed all around. Tessie Weeds cared noth- ing for the fact that her lover’s name was Paige instead of Bristol; it was the man himself she was in love witi, and he would have been as dear to her by any other name. The revelation cleared that matter up at once, and there was soon a wedding, in which Charles Paige and Tessie were the ones most concerned, When Dick returned to repcrt to the gov- ernor, he was highly complimented upon the manner in which he had brought the mystery to an end. He had left many good friends at the distant camp. It was a place which, soon after, took on another name, and now, io look- ing at a map to find ‘‘ See-Saw ” it cannot be dis- covered by that appellation, But, the old place is there, nevertheless, though now enjoying a title better fitted for approval as the name for a rapidly growing young city. It is no more troubled with the Scorpions, whom the law scorched severely, and it is not likely to see any of them for some timé to come. Some, in fact, will never trouble the place with their presence more, for their crimes brought them to the gallows. And among them was Satan Sam. is career had been a bold and daring one, and he might have carried it further, had he not overreacbed himself in his pretended determina- tion to capture the outlaw, thus to keep all sus- picion from himself, It was the same old story, the downfall of evil and the setting upof truth and right. And 80 it must be in every case. The time may be longer or shorter, but the end is sure. Right must triumph, and truth be put upon the throne at last, ; THE END. - Bealle’s Half-Dime Library. BY GEORGE ©. JENKS, 456 Git Thar Owney the Unknown, - 492 Git Thar Owney’s Pledge. 518 The Demon Doctor. 581 Double-Curyve Dan, the Pitcher Detective. SYS Flute, the Singer Detective, 608 The Pitcher Detcetive’s Foll; or, Dar’s Double Play. G16 The Ocean Detectivet or. The Last Cruise ofthe Black Bear. 681 The Pitcher Detective’s Toughest Tussle, 786 Larry the Thoroughbred; or, Beaten on Every Side, TTY lron Mand, the Charmed Detective. BY J0 PIERCE. BT Bob o° the Bowery ; or, The Prince of Mulberry Street, AlS The Vagabond Detective; or, Bowery Bob's Boom, ° 462 Wotapur Bob, the dtreet-Boy Detective, 460 The Lawyer’s Shadow; or Luke’s Legacy. AT2 Jaunty Joe, the Young Horse-King. 494 Surly Sim, the Young Ferryman Detective, 504 Five Points Phil, 509 Jack J era, the Butcher Boy Detective, 516 Tartar Timy or, Five Pointe Phil’s Menagerfe, 526 North River Nat, the Pier Detective. S88 Wrestling Rex, the Pride ofthe Sixth Ward, 541 Jeff Flicker. the Stable Boy Detective, 551 Nick Nettle, the Boy Shadow. 559 Marlem Jack, the Office Boy Dotective. 569 Brooklyn Ben, the On-His-Own-Hook Detective, S77 Pavement Pete the Secret Sifter, 588 Jack-o’-Lantern, the Under-Sea Prospector, ROR Wide-Awake Bert, the Street-Steeror, 614 Whistling Jacob, the Detective’s Aid. €28 Buck Bumblebee, the Harlem Hummer, 689 Sunrise Saul, the Express-Train Ferret. 649 sens Bob, the Bowery Badger; or, Scooping a Slippery Set, 658 Sky-Rocket Rob, the Lite-Saver. 658 Saltpeter Sol, the New York Navigator. 694 Spicy Simy the Only One of His Kind. 706 Tom Thistle, the Road-House Detective. T1Z Mosquito Jack, the Hustler Gamin. 726 Dennia Duff the Brown Sport’s Kid, 744 Dick of the Docks, the NichteW atch, aor Fiipper Flynn, the Street Patrol. 7s 2 1 Foxy Fred's Odd Pardy or, The Keoner’s Huge Hustle. 1 Cast-Off Caley the Scapegoat ation 's Hug BY WM. G. PATTEN. 489 The PMiamond Sport; or, The Double Face of Bed Rock. 419 Captain Mystery ; or, Five in One, 281 Dain) ware the Sport from Denver. S87 Old Bombshell, the Ranger Detective, S04 Iron Fern, the Mun ot Fire. #19 The Boy Tramp Detectives or, The Double Grip Witness 829 Violet Vane, the Velvet Spon, 641 Dismal Dave’s Dandy Pard. 651 Bound Boy Frank, the Young Amateur Detective 66% Violet Vane’ Victory. 682 Wild Vulcan, the Lone-Range Rider, 698 Violet and Daisy, the Posy Parda. 705 Violet Vane’s Vow; or- The Crafty Detective’s Craft, 714 Old Misery, the Man from Missourt, 3 4A Violet Vane’s Vangeaney: 0 Violet Vane’s Verdict. TAL Violet Vane, the Veutrnogntsp Vidoeq. 68 jelet vane, ig re ed. Violet Vane’s Vision. 74 Clear-Grit Cal, the Never Say-Die Detective, BY ALBERT W. AIKEN, 11 The T ¢ dvex¢ or, The Fortunes ofa Bowery Gir’ 76 Abe Cults the Gren” wees bee 79 Sol Ginger, the Giant Trapper. . R88 Joe of Angels and His Boy Pard. 435 New York Nat. A Tale of Tricks and Traps in Gotham, 8 New E and. Bick 3 or, The Fortunes of a Foundling, 464 Nimble Nick, the Cireus Prince. SLO Geol Coloradan tne Viattitved Detects } Coo r the f-Breed e. 518 ober By in New York. BY LIEUT. A. K. SIMS. 546 Captain Cactus, the Chaparral Cock. 568 The Dandy of Dodge. 576 The Silver Sport. 588 Saffron Sol, the Man With a Shadow 5859 Tom-Cat and Pard; or, The Dead Set at Silver City. 601 Happy Hana, the Dutch Vidoeg. 611 Bildad Barnacle, the Detective Hercules. 622 Texas Tom-Cat’s Triad 681 Tom Cat's Terrible Task. 688 Tom-Cat’s Triumph; or, Black Dan's Great Combine, 646 Cowboy Glid, the Cattlo-Range Wetective. 657 Warbling W Illlam, the Mountain Mountebank. 665 Jolly Jeremiahy the Plains Detective. 676 Signal Samy, the Lovkout Scout. 689 Billy, the Gypey Spy. 699 Staple Sim, the Broncho Buster, 712 The Measameriat Sport; or, The Mystified Detective, 788 Toltec Tom, the Mad Prospector, 745 Kansans Jim, the Cross-Cut Detective. 761 Marmaduke, the Mustanger Detective. 778 The Ruatler of Rolling Stone. 785 Lone Hand Jee, the Committee of One. BY CHARLES MORRIS, 118 WII Somers, the Boy Detective. 122 Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. 126 Pleayune Pete; or, Nicodemus, the Dog Detective. 180 Detective Dick; or, The Hero tn Raga, 142 Handsome Harry, the Boothlack Detective, WILL Wildlire, the Thoroughbred. Black Beas, Wil!) Wildtire’s Racer. Mike Merry the Harbor Police Boy, Will Wildfire in the Woods, Billy Baggage, the Ratlroad Boy. A ‘Trump Card; or, Will Wildfire Wins and Loeee Bob Rockett; or, Mysteries of New, York, Bob Rockett, the Bank Runner, The Hidden Hand; or, Will Wildfire’s Revenge. Fred Halyard, the Life Boat Boy; or, The Smugglers. 189 Bob Rockett; or, Driven to the Wall 196 Shadowed ¢; or, Bob Kockett’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, 2835 Shadow Sam, the Messenger Boy. 242 The Two * Bloods"; or, Shenandoah Bill and His Gang. 252 Dick Dashaway : or, A Dakota Boy in Chicago, 262 The Young Sharps: or, Rollicking Mike's Hot Trail, 274 Jolly Jim, the Detective Apprentice, 289 Jolly, Jim’s Job; or, The Young Detective. 298 The Water-Hounds; or, The Young Thoroughbred. 805 Dashaway, of Daketa; or, A Western Lad in Quaker City, 824 Ralph Ready, the Hotel Boy Detective. 841 Tony Thorne, the Vagabond Detective. 855 The Reporter-Detectives or, Fred Flyer’s Blizzard. 867 Wide-Awake Joes or, A Boy of the Times. S7Y Larry, 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, A82 Invincible Logan, the Pinkerton Ferret. 456 Billy Brick, the Jolly Vagavond, 466 Wide-Awake Jerry, Detective; or, Entombed Alive. 479 Detective Dodge; or, The Mystery of Frank Hearty. 488 Wild Dick Racket. 501 Boots, the Bey Fireman: or, Teo Sharp for the Sharper, 566 The Secret Service Roy Detective. 596 Jimmy the Kids or, A Lamb Among Wolves. 627 Tom Bruce of Arkansas; or, The Wolf in the Fold. 655 Plucky Paul, the Boy Speculator. 667 Bob and Sam, the Daisy Detectives. 709 The Curbstofe Detectives or, Harry Halo’s Big Beat. 757 Detective Frank’s Sweep-stakes. © — » ” es ZLrInNIsawn Ne ceowrens BY JOSEPH E, BADGER, JR. 2 Vellowatone Juck 3 or, The Trapper. ° 48 Black John, the Road-Agent; or, The Outlaw’ Retreat, 65 Murricane Bill; or, Mustang Sain and His Pard, 119 Mustang Sam 3 or, The King of the Plains. 186 Night-Huwk 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 La or, Fighting Fire with Fire. 184 The Boy Trallers; or, Dainty Lance on the War-Path, 208 The Boy Pards; or, Dainty Lance Unmaske. 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 Kine of the Woeds: or Danie! Boone’s Last Trall, 449 Kit Fox, the Border Boy Detective. 625 Chincapin Dan, the Boy Traller. 677 Chincapin Dan’s Second Trall. 688 OChincapin Dan's Home Stretch. 698 Old Crazy, the Man Without a Head. TOR Light-Heart Lute’s Legacy. 718 Light-Heart Lute’« Last Trall. 728 Silverblade, the Shoshone. Z29 Silverblade, the Half-Blood; or, The Border Beagle at Bay, TBO Silverblade, the Hostile, 748 Silverblade, the Friendly; or, The Border Beagle’s Boy Pard, BY PHILIP 8. WARNE, 67 Patent-Leather Joe; or, Old Rattlesnake, the Charmer. 175 GCaprain Arizona; or, Patent-Leather Joe's Big Games 198 Captain Mask; or, Patent-Leather Joe's Defeat. 219 Dexpard, the Duellat; cr, 'The Moantain Vempires. BBS A VL py to Boy; or, The Dwarf’s Revenge. 868 Little Tornados or, The Outcasts of the Glen. — 87K Little Jingo; or, the Queer Pard. BSS Little Oh-my 5 or, Caught in His Own Trap, 401 Little Shoo-F ly 4 or, A Race for a Ranch, 408 Little Leather-Breeches ; or, Old Jumbo’s Cares, 481 Little Ah Sin3 or, The Curse of Blood, 451 Colorado Kate, A Tale of the alines. 480 Three Jolly Parda, 5617 Jim Gladden’s Deputy. 527 The Jolly Parda to the Rescue. 547 Bandy Andy; or, A Good Man Down. B56 Lariat Lil; or, The Cast for a Life. 574 Old Weasel-top, the Man with the Dogs, 593 Keen Clem, the Wandt Imp. 5699 Jim Dandy the No-Name Sport. 618 Billy Blazes; or, The Skeleton’s Legacy. 685 Oklahoma Hi the Blue-Coat Scout. 648 Happy Harry’s Big Find. 664 Cheeky Charley the Special. BY J. W. OSBON. 469 Th f Nowhar’. 49x Gaeta Hure,the Han irom Hara Lnek. t rra Shadow. 564 Powder Pi Ty the Boy Miner. tei Goldy 755 Gold Dust 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 Lusso Jack, the Young Mustanger. 58 The Border King; or, The Secret Foe. 71 Delaware Dick, the Young Renger Spy. 74 Mawk-eye Marry the Young Trapper Ranger. 88 Rollo, the Roy Ranger. 184 Sure Shot Seth, the Boy Rifleman, ‘ 148 Sear-Face Saul, the Silent Hunter, j 146 Silver Star, the Boy Knight. ’ 158 Eagle Kit, the Boy Demon. 168 Little Vexaa, the Young Mustanger 178 Old Solltary, the Hermit Trapper. 182 Little Hurricane, the Boy Captain. 202 Prospect Pete 3 or, The Youre 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 Pralrie Nomad, 288 The Parson Detectives or, The Little Ranger. . 248 The Disgulsed Guide zy or, Wild Raven, the Ranger, 260 Dare-Devil Dan, the Young Pratrie Ranger. 272 Minkakin Mikey the Boy Sharpshooter. 290 Little Foxfire, the Boy Spy. 800 The Sky Demony or, Rainbolt, the Ranger. B84 Whip-King Joe, the Boy Ranchero. 409 hhercules; wr, Dick, the Boy Ranger. 417 Webfoot Mone, the Tramp Detective. 422 Baby Sam, the Boy Glant of the Yellowstone, 444 Little Buckskin, the Younu Prairie Centaur, 457 Wingwedfoot Fred or, Old Polar Saul, 468 Tamarne Tom, the Big Trapper Boy. 4 478 Old Tom Rattler, the Red River Epidemic, ‘ 482 Stonewall Bob, the Boy Treian. 562 Blundering Basil, the Hermit Boy Trapper. 652 Don Barr, the Plains Freelance, 661 Old Kit Bandy’s Dellverance. 670 Norway Nels, the Ble Boy Mountaineer. 680 Danntless Dan the Freelance, or Old Kit Bandy in Arcadia, TTS Mighland Warry, the Wizard Rifleman, BY BUCKSKIN SAM (Major Sam. S. Mall.) 284 Old Rocky «* Boy eer; or, Benito, the Horse-Breaker. 246 Glant Georges or, The Ang’! of the Range. 275 Arizona Jack ¢ or, Giant George's Pard. 207 The Tarantula of Taos; or, Giant George's Revenge, 807 The Strange Pard; or, Little Ben’s Death Hunt, 818 ker-whoop, Ker-whoo} or, The Tarantula of Taos, B27 Creeping Cut, the Caddo; or, The Red and White Pards, 882 Frio Fred: or, The Tonkaway’s Trust. 844 The Fighting Tries or, Rattlesnake, the Tonkaway, 849 Wild Wolf; or, Big-Foot Wallace to the Front. 857 The Ranch Kalderas or, The Slege of Fort Pargatory. 864 Rnap-Shot, the Boy Kanger. 875 Chiota, the Creek ¢ or, The Three Thunderbolts, 881 Bandera Bills or. Frio Frank to the Front. 2 892 Romeo and the Reda; or, The Beleaguered Ranch. 404 Little Lariat; or, Pecan Pete’s Big Rampage. 414 The Datay from Denver. 427 The Three Trallera; or, Old Rocky on the Rampage, 42 Bluff Billy or, The Lynx of the Leona, 55 Little Lone Stars or, The Belle of the Cibolo, 684 Cache Carl, the Chico Giant. BY CAPTAIN FRED, WHITTAKER, 15 The Sea-Cat; or, The Witch of Darien. 29 The Dumb Page; or, The Doge’s Deughter. 48 Dick) Darling, the Pony Express Rider. 560 Lance and Lasso; or, The Children of the Chaco, 54 The Sword Hunters; or, The Land of the Elephant Riders, 159 The Lost Captain; or, Skipper Jabez Coffin’s Cruise, 200 The Boy Bedoulna; or, The Brothers of the Plumed Lance 214 Wolfgang, the Robber of the Rhine. 249 Milo Romer the Animal King; or, Round the World, 265 The Tiger Tamer; or, The League of the Jungle. 881 Black Nick, the Demon Rider, 895 California Joe's War Trall, MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORS, 4 The Wild-Horse Munters. By Capt. Mayne Rela and Frederick Whittaker. 9 Adventures of Baron Munchausen, 12 Gulliver’s Travels. By Dean Swift, 14 Aladdiny or, The Wonderful Lamp. 16 Robinson Orusoe. (27 Ilustrations.) 18 Sindbad the Sailor. His Seven Voyages, 22 f an Sea Serpent; or, The Boy Robinsox Crasoe. By Juan wis, 88 The Ocean Bloodhound; or, The Red Pirates of the ye hee w. ig 86 The Boy Clown; or, The Arena Queen, By # 8, Finn. Bs Ned Wylde, the Boy Scout. By Texas Racks? 51 The Boy Rivers or, The Underground Camp. By A. C, Irons, 95 The Rival Rovers; or, The Freebooters of the Mississippi. By Lieut.-Col. Hazeltine. 98 Robin Hood, the Outiawed Earl; or, The Merry Men of Green- — wood, By Prof, Gildersleeve, 105 Old Rube, the Hunter; or, The Crow Captive. By Captats Hamilton Holmes. 112 The Mad Hunter; or, he Cave of Death, By Burton Saxe, 124 Tippy, the Texany or, The Young Champion, George eeaon. 128 The Young Privateer; or, The Pirate’s Stronghold, By Harry Cavendish. 148 Sharp Sam; or, The Adventures ora Friendless Boy, By J, Alexander Patten. 227 Dusky Darrell, Trapper; or, The Green Ranger of the Yel- lowstone, By Edward Emerson. 261 Fergus Fearnaught the Now Y irk Boy. : G. L. Alken, 266 Killb’ar, the Guide; %r, Davy Crockett’s Crooked Trail. By Ensign C, D. Warren, 298 Red Claw, the One-Eyed Trapper; or, The Matd of the Cliff. By Captain Comatock. 817 Peacock Pete. the Lively Lad from Leadville. By Lieu- tenant Alfred Thorne. 828 The Sky Detective; or, 4 Boy’s Fight for Lifeand Honos, By Maior Mickey Free. 850 Rea Ralph, the River Rover; or, The Brother's Re- venge. By Ned Buntline. £65 Raltimore Ren the Bootblack Detective, By A. P. Morris, 874 Gold-Duat Toms or, Ben's Double Match. By @ H. Morse, 876 California Joe’s Firat Trail. By Colonel Thomas Hoyer Menstery. ‘ 418 Biily Bombehcll, the Cliff Climber, By F.S. Winthrop. 475 The Black ag By John 8 Warner. ; 484 Comanche Dick and His Three Invinclbles, By enry J, Thomas. 582 The Cowboy Duke, By Edwin Brocke Forrest. ° B52 tel the Athlete, By David Druid. 585 Will Waters, the Bov Ferret. By /1, Enton. ‘ 682 The Dead Yetective’s Double. By Gerald Carlton, 721 Maverick Mose, tne Arizone tective; or, The Wizard of Urkos Pass, By Will Lisenbee. } A New issue Every Tuesday. The Malf-Dime Library !» for sale by ail newsdealors, five outs per copy, or sent by mall on receipt of six cents each. BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, | 98 William Street, New Yorks }
Page 16
Deadwood Dick Novels in Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. — 1 Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road, 20 Deadwood Dick’s Defiance; or, The Double Daggers, 28 Deadwood Dick in Disguise; or, Buffalo Ben, the Prince of the Pistol. 85 Deadwoo} Dick in his Castle; or, Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Duval, 42 Deadwood Dick’s Bonanza. 49 Deadwood Dick in Danger; or, Omaha Oll, the Masked Terror, 57 Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; or, The Pards of Flood Bar, %3 Deadwood Dick on Deck; or, Calamity Jane, the Heroine of Whoop-up. %% Deadwood Dick’s Last Act; or, Corduroy Charlie, the Boy Rover, 100 Deadwood Dick in Leadville, 104 Deadwood Dick’s Device; or, The Sign of the Double Cross, 109 Deadwood Dick as Detective, 129 Deadwood Dick’s Double. 138 Deadwood Dick’s Home Base; or, Blonde Bill. 149 Deadwood Dick’s Big Strike; or, A Game of Gold. 156 Deadwood Dick of Deadwood, 195 Deadwood Dick’s Dream; or, The Rivals of the Road. 201 Deadwood Dick’s Ward; or, The Black Hills Jezebel, 205 Deadwood Dick’s Doom; or, Calamity Jane’s Last Adventure, 217 Deadwood Dick’s Dead Deal; or, Captain Crack-Shot, the Girl Brigand. 221 Deadwood Dick’s Death Plant; or, Sugar- Coated Sam, ‘ 282 Gold-Dust Dick; or, The Three Wild Men of Eagle Bar. . 2683 Deadwood Dick’s Divide; or, The Spirit of Swamp Lake, { 268 Deadwood Dick’s Death Trail: or, From Ocean to Ocean. 809 Deadwood Dick’s Big Deal, 821 Deadwood Dick’s Dozen; or, The Fakir of Poantom Flats, 5 847 Deadwood Dick’s Ducats; or, Rainy Days {in the Diggings. : 851 Deadwood Dick Sentenced; or, The Terrible Vendetta, 362 Deadwood Dick’s Claim; or, The Fairy Face of Varo Flats. 405 Deadwood Dick in Dead City. 410 Deadwood Dick’s Diamonds; or, The Mystery of Joan Porter. 421 Deadwood Dick in New York. 430 Deadwood Dick’s Dust; or, The Chained Hand, 443 Deadwood Dick, Jr.; or, The Sign of the Crimson Crescent, 448 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Defiance; or, Nickle- Plate Ned. 453 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Full Hand; or, Sun- flower Sam of Shasta, 459 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Big Round-up; or Flush Fan, the Ferret, 465 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Racket at Claim 10, 471 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Corral; or, Bozeman Bill of Big Brace, 476 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Dog Detective; or, Humboldt Harry, the Hurricane. 481 Deaiwood Lick, Jr,, in Deadwood; or, Moll Moll Mystery. 491 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Compact; or, Prince Pistol, the King of the West. 496 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Inheritance; or, Monte Cristo, Jr. 500 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Diggings; or, Doctor Death Grip’s Swoop. 508 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Deliverance 515 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Protege; or, Baby Bess, the Gir] Gold Miner. 522 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Three. 529 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Danger Ducks; or, The Owls of Oregon, 534 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Death Hunt; or, The Way of the Transgressor, 539 Deadwood Dick, Jr,, in Texas; or, The Ghouls of Galveston. 544 Deadwood Dick, Jr., the Wild West Vidocq; or, Leonora, the Locator, *) Vy, Wi, 549 Deadwood Dick, Jr., on His Mettle; or, Cap- tain Crimson-Cow], the Road Raider, 554 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Gotham; or, Un- raveling a Twisted Skein. 561 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Boston; or, The Cool Case, 567 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Philadelphia; or, The Wild West Detective among the Crooks. 572 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Chicago; or, The Anarcbist’s Daughter. 578 Deadwood Dick, Jr., Afloat; or, The Prisoner of the Weird Isles, 584 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Denver, or, Cool Kate, the Queen of Crooks, 590 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Decree; or, The Prince of Purgatory Pass, i 595 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Beelzebub’s Basin; or, The Old Man of Mount Mab. 600 Deadwood Dick, Jr., at Coney Island 606 Deadwood Dick, Jr,’s, Leadville Lay; or, Bristol and Bucket’s Boom. | 612 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Detroit; or, Turning the Tables on Satan. ’ 618 Deadwood Dick, Jr,, in Cincinnati; or, The Clincher Campaign. 624 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Nevada; or, The Preacher of Pokerville, 630 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in No Man’s Land. 636 Deadwood Dick, Jr., After the Queer; or, Sawdust Sam’s Last Green Game, 642 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Buffalo; or, 4-11-44, 648 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Chase across the Con- tinent; or, A Race for a Ruthless Rogue, 654 Deadwood Dick, Jr., Among the Smugglers. 660 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Insurance Case, 666 Deadwood Dick, Jr., Back in the Mines. 672 Deadwood Dick, Jr., ** Gathered In,” 678 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Discovery. in Durango: or, 684 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Dazzle; The Nemesis of Nutmeg Bonanza. 690 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Dollars; or, The apt oH dag of Honeysuckle, 695 Deadwood Dick, Jr., at Danger Divide; or, Developing the Dead Secret. 700 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Drop; or, The So- journ at Satan’s Spring. 704 Deadwood Dick, Jr., at Jack-pot; or, Mak ing Crooked Things Straight. 710 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in San Francisco; or, Kodak Kate, the Siap-Shot. 716 Deadwood Dick, Jr,’s, Still Hunt; or, The Second Round in San Francisco, 722 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Dominoes; or, The Rival Camps of the Northern Border. 728 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Disguise; or, Ivan, the Man of Iron. 434 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Deal; or, The All-Around Surprise. 740 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Deathwatch; or, The Moving Mystery at Mexican Mustang. 747 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Doublet; or, The Tandem Team of Teddy’s Tailings, 752 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Deathblow; or, The Little Circus at Last Chance. %58 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Desperate Strait, 764 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Lone Hand, 770 Deadwood Dick, Jr,’s, Defeat. 776 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Resurrection, 782 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Dark Days. 787 Deadwood Dick, Jr., Defied. 792 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, or, Issues to Follow: "98 Dick Doom ‘in Chicago; or, Tbe Ferret of the Golden Fetters. By Col, P, Ingraham, Ready October 4th, 794 Headlight Harry’s Treasure Hunt. By Col. A, F. Holt. Ready October 11tb, For sale by all newsdealers at five cents per copy, or sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of six cents each, BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York.