Beadle's Pocket Library (no. 140) (1886 09 15)

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’ t Published Weekly by Beadle and Adams Price, Vol, XI, Pens. No. 98 in ies New York. : Five Cents. No, 140, SSS WSS SG

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Captain Arizona. Captain Arizona, The King Pin of Road-Agents; OR, Patent-Leather Joe’s Big Game. A ROMANCE OF WILD MOUNTAIN LIFE. BY PHILIP 8. WARNE, AUTHOR OF “ PATENT-LEATHER JOE,” “TIGER DICK,” “ALWAYS ON HAND,” ‘‘A HARD CROWD,” ETC., ETC., ETC. CHAPTER I. BAGGED BY A PETTICOAT. “‘Gmnts, I’m clean bu’sted!” “ Pard—shake |” ‘Sure, Jimmie Madden’s the third wan ay the unlucky pair!” “Ha! ha! That’s one of your bulls, Jimmie. But, seriously, we must make a raise.” “Tade the way me bowld captain! Bedad, we'll folly yez.” ** Will you, Goleonda?” **-You bet!” “Allright! Gentlemen, all chassez!” The scene was a wild gorge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the line of the old Over- land stage route. Above the peaks gleamed white in the sunlight, while the lower depths of the gpd were lost in black shadows, from c which sprung the funereal pines, The speakers were three men, all of them mounted, one on a sigh! iron-gray gelding which pawed the ground, rolled its fiery eyes, and tossed his head proudly. This, evidently the leading spirit, was a man of forty “Beg of age, yet with an elegance of build, rather below the medium stature, which deceived most people into thinking him not more than thirty. He was a dashing fellow, with the dare-devil looking out of his bold black eyes. His recklessness had won him the sobriquet of Arizona of the Iron Heart. Those who knew him best called him a “ wivk- ed”—that is to say, dangerous—man. As for his comrades, Golconda Saul was a Be and eee mountainman, and Jimmie Mi ‘ee “jligant” broguo spoke for itself Their purpose formed by the foregoing brief dialogue, these three men dashed ercioe the mountain passes, until they came out upon the regular stage route, which they followed to a po t where an abrupt curve was bordered on either hand by a dense undergrowth, into wee they disappeared as if by a preconcerted plan. For an hour deep silence reigned, broken at last by the rattle of wheels, the clatter of iron- bound hoofs on the rocky way, and the ringing crack of a stage-driver’s whip, like the report of apistol =~ The Overland coach swept round the curve. A so horseman, masked, and with a Poe leveled from his shoulder, blocked the As if by magic, two more, also masked and armed to the teeth, sprung into view on either side of the road. “Halt!” commanded the leader of the road- agents, “Boss, I hear you—every time!” replied the stage-driver, yielding so prompt an obediexce that his leaders reared and pawed the air, while his wheelers, settled back on their haunches, had the harness nearly pulled over their heads, “Hello! Whats the matter?’ demanded a voice from inside the coach, as it camo to a stant-still, Waiting for no explanation, thespeaker thrust his head through the coach window, to see for himself. Bang! went thecarbine, The owner of the head jerked it back out of sight, minus a lock of hair and a hat, and plus a sound bump, which it received from the top of the window frame in its precipitate retreat, “Tnquisitiveness made all the trouble in the world,” said Arizona, as he rode up to the side of the coach. ‘My dear sir, leave that weak- ness where it first manifested itself to the wo- man—” But the sentence was never completed, At that instant Arizona gained a complete view of the inside of the coach, and saw that which checked the jest on his lip. Not the wizen-faced old gentleman, who looked as if he had spent his life hovering over his precious gold, and pinching the pennies before he let them slip through his fingers, until his back was bent, his little eyes weak and watery, and his thin hands tremulous with avaricious eagerness, and who now fumed with mingled indignation and affright: “ Well, sir!—well, sir! What is the meaning of this outrage? Do you know who I am, sir? Iam Stephen Rensalier, the San Francisco mil- lionaire! Do you think that you can pit my life, sir, with impunity? And what right have you to stop this coach by force and arms? We'll'see if this is a land of brigandage! Tl have the law of you, sirl—P'll have the law of ou! But to him Arizona deigned not a second look. It was the lady who fixed his gaze. Was she young? Yes—not more than four or five and twenty. Beautiful? Yes, again, so far as regularity of feature, clearness of eye, fair- ness of complexion, and roundness of form can make a woman beautiful. She seemed to have womanly gentleness and grace too, when she smiled. But when her eyes flashed she looked as if she had the courage of half a dozen men, and could be dangerous if she chose, . At sight of her Arizona exclaimed within himself :— A ““Good heavens! my beloved sister whom I have not seen since she romped in short dresses! She gave promise of being a clipper even then; and these ten years have made her superb! But what in all the freaks of fickle fortune brings her into this part of the world? I'll dis- cover without betraying myself.. Perhaps she might not feel flattered by a road-agent claim- ing relationship!” : \ His plans were formed and acted upon at | once,

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Captain Arizona. 3 “‘Here, my man!” he cried roughly to the old gentleman, ‘“‘ get out of this coach and mount the box!” ‘What, sir? ‘My man!’ Is Stephen Ren- salier to be ordered about like a lackey by the first ruffian he chances to meet in—” For reply, Arizona opened the coach door, reached through, seized the millionaire by the coat-collar, and with a mighty wrench, jerked him clear out into the road, “Boys, go through him, and toss him up on the box,” he said, coolly, to his followers. They obeyed the first part of the order ae end scientifically; but Mr. Rensalier aving had a taste of Arizona’s mettle, mounted the box without assistance or further protest. “Hallo! what have we here? Canned fruit! Just what I want,” said Arizona, reaching under one of the seats. “T beg your pardon, sir. Those are mine,” said the lady, who now spoke for the first time, 2 a clear, firm voice, which had no trace of ear, “Sorry, ma’am, Don’t want to rob you, but must have two cans of some sort. Excuse me, if I confiscate these. ‘“Men, open the cans, and dump the dain- ties!” In silence the lady saw the fruit, to have which carried in the coach, she had paid an extrava- gant price, emptied on the ground. Then Arizona turned to the gentleman whose spirit bis vigorous action had not altogether broken. ‘‘Mr. Rensalier, did you ever belong toa brass band?” ‘A brass band, sir?” ** Exactly. A brass band.” ‘No, sir! I never did belong toa brass band!” was the indignant reply. ‘*T was in hopes that you had,” said Arizona, coolly. ‘* However, it will not take long to learn to play the cymbals—at least tolerably well. Sorry that we have not che latest ap- proved pattern. But here are two tin cans which will answer for want of better. Please give us a specimen of your skill, sir.” S, 1 Lieutenant, pass up the cans to Mr. Rensa- er. ““What!” cried the old gentleman in dismay and indignation. ‘‘ Make a fool of myself by beating two cans together for the amusement of a pack of mountain outlaws?” “You'll bea bigger fool if you don’t,” said Arizona. “TI should think that you would see that I am not a man to be trifled with.” “Better obey orders!” sugdented the stage- driver, grinning. “ That’s the way they run things in this hyar country—thar’s no two ways about it!” Mr. Rensalier consigned the country, its in- habitants, and their customs to a torrid clime; but he took the cans and began to beat them to- gether—rather faintly. it must be confessed, “Louder!” commanded Arizona. Mr. Rensalier swore; but obeyed. “Still louder! I never saw a man with such weak muscles!” Gritting impotent oaths between his teeth, Mr. Rensalier beat the cans with desperate en- ergy. Deena nn nnn ‘That will do, sir,” said histormentor. "You display considerable musical taste. This leads me to hope that you know how to sing.” “Well, sir, you will be disappointed there. I do not know how to sing!” ‘‘Qh, nonsense, my dear sir! You look like one of these fatherly old fellows—pillars of the church, you know, and all that sort of thing. Come, sir! favor us with a hymn, Let me see. From Greenland’s Icy Mountains. That's it! Come, sir, strike up!” urged the inexorable road-agent. [ll die first!” shouted his victim. “My men!” commanded Arizona in a stern, ringing voice, ‘‘ef yqnder chorister does not be- gin tosing by the time I have counted three, riddle him with bullets! Are you ready? “Ready, sir!” came as grave areply as the men could command. “Oh, sir!” shivered Mr. Rensalier, ‘‘ you are not serious? You can not take life so wan- tonly!” Arizona, who never repeated an order, began to count:— ** One!—two/—” : % “From Greenland’s icy moun-tains!” began the sufferer, in quavering tones. “Louder!” commanded Arizona, “ From India’s coral stra-and !” “Still louder!” “WHERE AFRIC’S SUNNY FOUNTAINS—” “Louder! Louder!” “ROLL DOWN THEIR GOLDEN SAND!” shrieked the infuriate old fellow, at the top of his asthmatic voice. “You are not much of a singer, for a fact,” admitted Arizona, when the ludicrous perform- ance was concluded. ‘‘ However, that will an- swer our purpose very well. “Driver, what is your handle?” ‘“ Waal,” said the stage-driver, scratching his head with a comical leer, ‘‘the boys round hyar do call me the Wyoming Nightingale.” “Indeed?” cried Arizona, with interest. “‘ That bids fair for your musical talent.” “Waal, I don’t blow about my own shoutin’; but] reckon I kin make a racket that’u’d scare buffalers! But I never done no singin’ in nary church, boss, ye onderstand,” said the Wyo- ming Nightingale, hesitating. “Oh, that don’t matter. I’m easily pleased. Strike up! One! two! three!—sing /” said Ari- zona, beating time like a singing-master, The Nightingale drew in a deep breath which seemed to fill his lungs like a blacksmith’s bel- lows; then he burst into song, making the rocks re-echo. “Sally comeup! Sally come down! Sally come twist yer heel around!” Even Arizona’s authority could not restrain his followers; but unabashed by the rounds of laughter and applause—indeed, he enjoyed it— the Wyoming Nightingale sung on to the end of his spirited lay. While this uproar was at its bight, Arizona leaped from his horse and secured it at the back of the coach. “My dear Nightingale,” he said, ‘you are a man after my own heart. But 1 shal] have to ask you to put on only a half-head of steam, lest you drown the voice of your fellow choris-

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4 Captain ter in the duet I intend youto sing. Now crack up your horses, and let the band play!” Arizona leaped into the coach; the stage driver sent his long whip-lash flying through the air like a lariat, until its end seemed to ex- plode just over the heads of his leaders; and away they whirled, the cool road-agent sitting tete-a-tete with the lady, the sight of whom had affected him so markedly, while Mr. Rensalier, boiling with wrath, wheezed “ Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” and the Wyoming Nightingale, en- joying the frolic, bellowed ‘Sallie come up!— allie come down!” Looking after them, Golconda Saul said: eS Bagged by a petticoat, by thunder!” But Arizona’s purpose was plain. He wished to talk to the lady without being overheard. CHAPTER, II, A MILLION IN THE POT, THERE was a half-smile on the lady’s face, as she listened to the strange serenade Mr. Rensa- lier and the Wyoming Nightingale were execut- ing from the top of the stage; and she peered curiously at the masked road-agent, who coolly placed himself on the seat facing her. “Madam,” he said at once, yet politely, “ while our somewhat crude entertainment is in rogress, would you object to my asking you a ‘ew questions about yourself?” “Not at all, sir,” replied the lady, with per- fect self-possession. ‘‘ You have such an origi- nal way of doing things, I doubt not that in the role of an interviewer you will prove as amus- ing to me as to yourself. However, I warn you that Ishall use my own discretion about answer- ing.” a Oh! certainly, madam, TI trust that I shall ask nothing impertinent. Would you object to telling me your name?” “Not at all. It is Hortense Rensalier. Do you care to know my age?” she asked, with a quiet smile. : But Arizona was too much astonished to no- tice this pleasantry. ‘Ronsalier!” he cried, in though’. “By the little God of Love! if she hasn’t married that old rack-of-bones who is wheezing like a broken- winded hand-organ out there on the box! Ho} ho! ho! she’s a true Ashurst! A million! She Relboig a good price! But, by Jove! she’s worth it!” Aloud he said, with a great show of embar- rassment and regret: “ Madam—Mrs, Rensalier—indeed, I beg your pardon! Believe me, had I suspected Mr, Ren- salier’s relationship to one so fair as yourself, I would not for the world have put upon him so ridiculous an indignity! How can I show—” But the lady interrupted him with a peculiar smile, 5s 4 “You are somewhat in error, sir,” she said, “Mr. Rensalier is my uncle, not my husband.” “Your uncle!” cried Arizona. “* My unlucky star is surely in the ascendant! How could [ make so stupid a blunder, when your youth suf- ficiently forbade the former relationship? [ open my mouth but to give offense and make anology !” | Bat to himself he thought; Arizona. “The devil! if not by marriage, how comes she by the name of Rensalier?.and where did she scare up such an uncle? I can swear that the Ashursts have no such connection, The plot thickens! What the deuce does it all mean?” ‘ But the lady had her reflections, too. ** Yes,” she thought, ‘' why did he jump at so improbable a conclusion, when the natural in- ference would have been that Mr. Rensalier was my father? Does he know me, I wonder?” she added, shrewdly, “If only that mask were re- moved |!” Aloud she went on to explain: “To be exact, Mr. Rensalier is my uncle rather by courtesy than in fact, being a cousin of my father’s, e came West ten years ago to seek his fortune, and was supposed to be dead until two months since I received in‘elligence of his whereabouts and an invitation to make my own home while surrounding his old age with domestic comforts.” “Hallo! hallo!” reflected Arizona—“ her fa- ther’s cousin! Who, by all that is wonderful, but Uncle Steve! old Uncle Steve, the sharper! Ha! ha! I don’t wonder that hedropped thename of Ashurst when he emigrated, and had the fair Hortense do the same! By Jove! it had un- pleasant associations for him! And having ‘made his pile,’ the old fellow has begun to han- ker after ‘domestic comforts,’ has he? Ha! ha! to have comfort of any kind he’ll have to sear his old leather conscience!” But keeping these thoughts to himself, Arizona said to the a “So, so! an old Croesus with no immediate heirs! Miss Rensalier, I congratulate you on Be regal **Not quite so fast, sir. He hasa daughter.” “Tndeed? Lucky girl! Quite young no doubt, since she cannot keep her father’s house.” “Claire must be seventeen.” “ Claire!—Claire Rensalier?” cried the road- agent, in unmistakable astonishment. ““Do you know her?” asked the lady, quickly more than ever longing for a glimpse behin that baffling mask, **No—no,” stammered Arizona, recovering himself. ‘How should I? The name struck me as rather Pe —that is all.” Thought the lady: ‘You are deceiving me, my dashing road- agent!” And she was right; for these were Arizona’s private reflections: “Claire Rensalier! Bless my lucky star if it isn’t the little beauty I fished out of the drink . last summer, at the young ladies’ seminary near Frisco! The bewitching Lady Claire falls out of her boat into the treacherous waters of the lake! Bold Percy Montcalm alone hears her scream, dashes into the flood, and snatches her from cruel death! And, at the cost of a duck- ing, Miss Claire has a thrilling adventure and a handsome lover, just like the heroine in her favorite novel. And to think that, at that mo- ment of supreme happiness, I should get into a row with the county sheriff, and have to cutand run from the too pressing attentions of @ Vigi- jJance Committee, leaving my darling fo mourn, the unexplained desertion of her hero!

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Captain Arizona. & Having learned all that he wished to know, Arizona now stopped the coach, saying: “TY thank you for your courtesy, and apolo- gize again for affronting your uncle. As our paths diverge here, you will yardon meif I take my leave—reluctantly, Iassure you. At some future time I hope to meet you under more favorable circumstances.” “But how shall I know you?” asked the lady, her curiosity evidently strongly piqued. ‘‘ Sure- ly, you will not go without showing me your face, or telling me your name?” “T will apprise you when the time comes. But for the present, pardon me once more, if I make so poor a return for your frankness.” And, bowing, he stepped from the coach, re- leased Mr, Rensalier from his uncongenial occu- pation with an apology which did not at all soothe that gentleman’s ruffled feelings,mounted his horse and gallo away, leaving Miss Ren- salier to speculate fruitlessly on his identity and the cause of his interest in her. “So!” he said, aloud, when he was out of ear- shot of the stage, ‘‘old Unele Steve has struck it rich, and turned up with a cool million in his trowsers-pocket! And my fascinating sister has set her cap for it; for, if she did not mean to marry his money-bags, trust her not to bury her charms in the West! And Uncle Steve—the toothless old fossill—will fall into her net and never know that he is caught—until after- ward |” ‘** But shall I leave her to entangle this gud- geon in the meshes of her silken hair? A million in the pot! By Jove! it’s a game worth the laying. This mountaineering is a dog’s life. Why shouldn’t [ be a respectable gentleman? I could be anything with a million! And it’s waiting for me at the hands of this little seven- teen-year-old angel. By Jove! it sha’n’t go beg- ging! “NLy lovely sister, you lay your snares for the old man and ll cultivate the charming daugh- ter! And let’s see who makes the pot!” From his pocket he drew a placard, which read: $500 REWARD!!! WILL BE PAID BY THE SHERIFF OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, FOR THE BODY, DEADORALIVE!! OF THE MAN KNOWN AS PATENT-LEATHER JOE” And gazing at this notice of outlawry, Arizona of the Iron Heart laughed: vs “Ha!ha!ha! Thatmeansme! But, my dear Mr, Sheriff, right under your official nose I am about to enter upon the biy game of my life, with A MILLION IN THE POT!” Then from directly overhead, as if from the very heavens, came the savage words: “Yes, that means you, Patent-leather Joe! But_you have more to fear than the sheriff, or the Vigilantes! You must meet the vengeance of a man who has sworn to hunt you to the grave for his father’s death and his mother’s wrongs! Die! murderer of friendship and be trayer of innocence—DIE!” i CHAPTER III. THE VENDETTA. WHEN his soliloquy was interrupted by a voice coming as if out of the air, he who had won the sobriquet of the Iron Heart turned ghastly with pallor. They who had seen him face death without the quiver of a muscle—indeed, with a jest on his lips—would not have recognized him now. He was riding along the ordinary stage road, where it followed a ledge half-way up the face of a cliff, with a perpendicular wall of rock on one side, and a sheer precipice of hundreds of feet on the other, Looking up, he discovered riding along an- other narrow shelf, not more than twenty feet above his head, a beardless boy, certainly on the youthful side of twenty. : The latter was forcing his horse to keep close to the edge of the shelf that supported him, so that he could look over and see the man below. His face was white with fury, the dark eyes blazing hatred, the white teeth showing say- agely. Sis either hand he held a cocked pistol; and when he had hurled his fierce denunciation, he opened a series of fusilades from his double bat- tery, firing as rapidly as he could handle the weapons. The very intensity of his hatred defeated its object; for the motion of his horse and the use of both hands in simultaneous discharges ren- dered his aim uncertain. But the effect on Patent-leather Joe—we call him by his older title because this enmity came out of his past life, before he had adopted the name of Arizona—was wonderful. is jaw dropped, his eyes distended with terror, and his face became fairly livid. From his ashen lips fell a name in a husky whisper: “ Flash Lightning !” Then, as a bullet ranged diagonally across his breast from the shoulder downward, scorching the flesh in its fiery track, he shivered as if he already felt the touch of the chill hand of death, and with a yell of terror dug his spurs into his horse’s flanks, and dashed madly along the perilous way, like one fleeing a legion of demons! He of the iron heart was suddenly transform- ed into the veriest coward! Who could explain this strange phenomenon? Unsuccessful in his first attempt on the life of his enemy, and furious at his failure, Flash Lightning dashed hotly in pursuit, at the immi- nent risk of his neck; for the ledge on which he rode was narrow and very irregular. But in his mad thirst for revenge he took no thought of self. Giving his horse the rein, he used both hands in reloading his empty revolvers. **T have followed him for three years!” he hissed between his set teeth. ‘‘ He has doubled like a fox, and eluded my pursuit. Now that I have run him to earth, he shall not escape me!” When the firing ceased, Patent-leather Joe seemed to pluck up sufficient courage to look at his pursuing foe. Flash Lightning’s body was hidden by the rock, but bis head was visible above the edge of the shelf. “A lucky shot might end all this!” reflected

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Captain Arizona: Patent-leather Joe, with a wild thrill of hope. “Vor three years that young devil has im- bittered my life with a constant menace, He is the only living thing that I fear!” And a shudder showed that he did fear this oy. “Why—why do I fear him with so unreasou- able a cowardice? He is but a boy; and no man can boast that he ever blanched my cheek! Had I but the nerve to face him, I might kill him, andenditall. But, ah! it is his father’s face that unmans me! Shall I ever forget it? That horror that shapes itself in every fantastic cloud, that flits noiselessly in every hauntin; shadow, that pursues me relentlessly awake, ana drives me shuddering from sleep—that horror will ‘eee clear me until death—perhaps not then “ But this foolhardy boy, with his trumpery vondetta—a lucky shot! I might ril myself of him! But,no! How can I slay the man or boy who is destined to lay me by the heels? The murdered father finds his avenger in the son. I cannot escape the award of fate!” The superstition of the gambler crowded upon him with paralyzing force. But out of this very despair sprung up a sudden furious resolve. “T defy Heaven and earth, and the powers of darkness!” he cried aloud. ‘“‘I spitin the face of fate!” And while that frenzy was upon him, he raised his revolver and fired. A wild, almost maniac, yell, vibrated with mingled fear and triumph, escaped his lips at the success of his shot, Tho head at which he had fired disappeared a moment. Then a limp body came hurtling over the edge of the upper shelf, to fall with a dull thud in the road bebind him. “He isdead! Heis dead! Lam free—free! —rreEe!” fairly yclled Patent-leather Joe. But he shuddered from head to foot, and, not daring to look back, goaded his horse to even eater fleetness, as if to escape the following ghost of the boy he had just shot! As the road over which the running fight took place followed a curve in the mountain-side, the duel was in plain sight of the occupants of the coach, which was more slowly following the way traversed by Patent-leather Joo’s fleet geld- ing. = The Wyoming Nightingale took the thing very philosophically, with no particular partiality toward either of the combatants, and only re- gretting that there was no one with whom he could bet on the result. Mr. Rensalier, who had been familiarized with such scenes in earlier life, only anathema- tized Patent-leather Joe, and hoped that the fortanes of battle might favor his antagonist. Hortense was strongly excited, for life-strug- gles were new to her; but she betrayed none of the weakness and fear common to her sex. Only when the boy fell from his horse, she cried: ‘*Oh, he has killed him!” . When the coach came up to where the limp body lay, Mr. Rensalier recognized it at once. “Why, it is Alf Cheswick!” he said. ‘*Some one with whom you are acquainted?” asked Hortense, ““Well, J don’t know much about him. Te is one of Claire’s friends. There is a kind of a flirtation between them, I believe, Some tom- foolery about an engagement. A boy and girl si ts mere nen !” exclaim ortense, in a tone, ‘** Pray see if he is dead!” The Nightingale descended from his box, and after a brief examination, said: “Pll bet ary man, woman or child that the youngster will be on his.pins again in twenty- four hours!” As there were no “takers” of this universal challenge, he went on, like a demonstrator in ms a “ He ketehed the slug right hyar behiad tho year, ye see. That discombobilated his idees, an’ jerked him off his hoss. But I’ve seen man a rap on the knowledge-box that this hyar ain't a flea-bite to; an’ the galoots as ketched ’em on the fly is well an’ hearty men to-day—raisin’ fam'lies, some of ’em! _“* This hyar’s where his hoss tickled him with his off hind foot. That’s only a scratch; but when ye're gauging a man’s gruel, ye’ve got to count all ye find in it, “ The fall down that ’scarpment didn’t do him no good; but his j'ints works all O. K., an’ the bones is as good as you'll find in ary graveyard this side o’ Frisco. ‘* So, ma’am,” concluded the Nightingale, “ ef so be you hain’t afeard of the blood an’ sich, that makes most women-folks skeary, we'll load him into the hearse an’ dump him at Dutch Flat—which tho same is the next station, yo onderstand,” ‘* Lift him in at once,” said Hortense, and her- self steadied the —g body until the swaying coach reached Dutch Flat. Here the whole party stopped over, though bE accommodations were ‘‘nothing to speak oO! Mr. Ronsalier needed the rest to recover from the effects of his rough treatment, both mental and physical, at the hands of the road- agent, and Hortense spent the time in nursing Alf Cheswick. His manly beauty had a strange fascination for her; and before she knew any- thing about him, she acknowledged to herself that she loved him. Whatever may have beforo been her a pe toward her cousin Claire, ber jealous hatred of her now was unequivocal. ‘Whether I marry Uncle Steve, or not,” sho reflected, ‘‘that little minx shall never have Alf Cheswick!” Then came Alf’s story, “His name is Andrew Ashurst! He murdered my father and drove my mother to insanity! I have sworn a deadly vendetta against him and his! I will strike him and them!—at any time, in any place!—whenever and wherever fate brings them across my path!—and never stay rs Ba until the accursed race is extermina- And Hortense Rensalier said to herself: “That road-agent was my brother! That ac- counts for his interest in me.” Then growing pale to the lips, she thought: “°T love my deadliest foe; but he has no sus- picion that I belong to those he hates so impla- cably!” 7

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ares Gaptain Arizoum y Then, after a moment’s thought: ‘¢Mhis, at least, will serve as a means of sepa- rating him from Claire. _ After J am left a rich young widow, who knows!—who knows?” These reflections showed the line along which her schemes moved, E At Dutch Flat there was a man in disguise who muttered: , ‘‘ Not dead!—not dead! Why did I hope that bullet of mine could kill him? And he in love with thevery girl whom I must marry to win my big game! I owe that knowledge to the Nightingale, who heard her father speak so care- lessly about the ‘ bepress girl affair.’ So [ must fight him too? ell, be itso! A MinLiow In THe Pot! Vd fight the world and the devil for that!” CHAPTER IV. THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN. “Fe! he! he! The little Tensie that used to climb upon my knee and rummage my pockets for bon-bons! Who'd have prophesied then that to-morrow’s sun would shine upon @ new- made bride?—an old man’s darling!” Whatan old beau he was, with his silver locks and grizzled mustache dyed a jet-black, while he rubbed his toothless guras together and smacked his flabby lips with gusto over the rare morsel pia fs and beauty he had bought with his ) £ And gazing at this old wreck, wrap close in its gorgeous dressing-gown, and sunk in the deptlis of a sleepy-hollow chair, with a pillow at its back, the woman who smiled so sweetly upon him the while reflected: “Well! well! the old fools are the worst fools!” But he, knowing nothing of this unflattering criticism, chuckled over his prize until he fell into a cough, and nearly shook his rickety old body to pieces, and he had to be almost carried off to bed, Hortense lovingly supporting him on on one side, while his valet walked like a wooden man on the other. Then this scheming woman, who had so near- ly reached the goal of her ambition, stood alone in the middle of the room and gazed around on the luxury that was to bo hers on the morrow; and a red spot glowed in either cheek, and her eyes flashed triumphantly. “He is old and gray and wrinkled and bent; he has an old man’s trot and begins to drivel in his talk; but--magic charm!—he is worth a million!” she cried, striking her hands together in a sort of exultant ecstasy, ‘‘ Will I take all this — peepee with such a wreck? Ay, gladly! Once within my trust me to extract the sweet and avoid the bitter! “ And Claire, the little fool!—~she has not been a straw inmy path! Ha! ha! How he packed her off to school again the moment she began to sulk over the prospect of anew mamma! Yes Miss Sulky! we'll keep you at school when i reign here! As for my interference in your love affair with Alf Cheswick, my dear, {t wasn’t altogether malice. I prefer that you should not marry just yet; and then, I rather like Alf myself!” : And thus rejoicing in the success of her plots, this cunning woman went to bed, with no fore- warning that het golden dream was to havea rude awakening. But out in the darkness crouched a man, who watched the lights in the various parts of the house a out. one by one, while he muttered to himself :— “Sol my wily sister has played her cards fine! And she hasn’t been at all bashful,. In a short three months she has caught her old bird and plucked him ready for the matrimonial spit! She believes in striking while the iron’s hot, making hay while the sun shines, and/all that. Perhaps she was afraid. the old fellow would drop off the hooks before she got the golden fetters on him! “ But neither have I been idle, And if Hor- tense is to be married to-morrow night, my pretty Claire has promised to elope with me, to morrow morning, rather than. witness the triumph of her scheming, step-nother who be- sides winning her father away from her, has made her believe that her lover, Alf Cheswick is false to bis vows. But after all the risk I have run to win my million-dollar bride from un- der the very noses of sheriff and Vigilantes, ske is worthless unless I can stop this marriage; for if my lovely sister ever gets old Uncle Steve in her clutches, good-by to my million! .And there is but one way to prevent her J” added the skulking watcher, in a hoarse whisper. As he came to that he crouched lower in the shrubbery. His face gleamed white in the darkness. His eyes glittered like coals of fire. “Tt isn’t like meeting a man in an open fight,” he pursued. “But this helpless old wreck! It’s almost as bad as putting a woman or a child out of the way!”—with a shudder of horror. ‘‘Bah!” he whispered, presently. ‘‘It’s got to be done! He may live but a few months anyway; and, by all the furies! a million will pee By. conscience for the little shove I give im! But for all that Patent-leather Joe shuddered, as his fancy pictured the faint struggles of his helpless victim. Then he had recourse to the murderer’s ally and friend—the demon that has filled prisons and leaded gibbets ever since the were devised by man for the punishment of his fellow-man, From his pocket he drew a flask of brandy, and poured the raw liquor down his throat like water. “That fires my quailing heart!” he muttered. “Now I am ready for anything! -And the time is come!” Stealthily he crept through the shrubbery, and gained a French window that opened upon the veranda from Mr. Rensalier’s bedchamber. The old man slept on the ground floor, because his tottering legs were almost beyond their ser- vice for climbing stairs. The windows yielded to Patent-leather Joe's skillful touch, and he disappeared within the house, Then all was stilland dark! The wind moaned drearily and had a deathlike chill; an owl voiced a dismal hoot; from the distance came the long-drawn howl of a dog! Do dumb brutes recognize the approach of death? But what is going forward in that room dedi- cated to peaceful sleep, not to murder? The old

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Captain Arizona, man lies among his downy pillows and fleecy eoverlets. A taper burns dimly ona little stand at the head of the bed. The sleeper’s wrinkled face, with its tremulous lips and pinched nostrils, is just visible in the faint illumination. He sleeps fitfully, starting and half-waking at times, as if disturbed by evil dreams. Hashe any warning of the deadly peril that is creeping upon him? The French window moves noiselessly open. A curtain sways gently in the night breeze thus admitted to the chamber. The taper fi.ckers so as to leave the room almost in total darkness. A shadowy form flits in, and all is still again! Once more the taper burns with steady glim- mer. The wrinkled old face among the pillows seems drawn with lines of pain, and already to bear the impress of death. From the shelter of a curtain a pair of burning eyes glare upon it! “My God! what a wreck he is!” mutters the intruder. ‘A touch! a breath! and he is done with this world! A million hanging upon so slight a chance! A million for an old man's lifel A million! a million! Ha! ha! it is mine! mine!—mine!” The assas:in’s eyes glitter, and his form trem- bles in a sort of avaricious frenzy. Tho last word he speaks half aloud; then, startled by his own imprudence, he shrinks from sight be- hind the curtain, and listens breathlessly. The old man moves in his bed, as if the sound had half aroused him from his fitful slumbers. Butsoon he is quiet again. “See how slight a thing may yet intervene,” muttered the concealed assassin. ‘It would be just my luck to lose at the very last moment! I must take every precaution. It won’t do to be recognized, if I fail.” He draws a black mask from his pocket and adjusts it to his face. Now, with his eyes Jeaming through the holes, he looks even more Errible than when his white face was exposed to view. Stealthily he peers forth! Allis well! Noise- lessly, on tiptoe, he creeps across the floor until he reaches the middle of the room| The old man gasps asthmatically—strangles— awakes!—and struggles up in bed! All is dis- covered! But, no! The assassin has sunk noiselessly to the floor, and crouches there concealed by the foot of the bed! “Discovered!” darts through his brain like a flash of lightning. ‘‘Shall I spring upon him, and then, dashing from the house, trust to the speed of my horse? No! He has not seen me et. Wait! wait! he may lie down again! If us summons any one he’s a dead man! Pll never forego that million now, if I have all the world at my heels!” ' : And he draws a murderous-looking bowie, and holds it in readiness. “My anodyne is beyond reach—of course !” whines thoold man, peevishly. “And that confounded bell is still further! Did that ras- eally valet ever leavo it within reach? No—he’s ae much afraid of being aroused from his sleep ry it! “John! John!” he calls faintly; but a fit of coughing warns him to desist. “Now, by all the furies!” mutters the assas- To sin, gathering himself ready for a spring, ‘it will be lucky for that scoundrel if he be ai vy sleeper; for, if he answer his master’s call, he will never live to tell what he found here!” But the valet’s guardian angel preserves his slumbers unbroken. **T ought to know better than to call,” grum> bles old Stephen Rensalier. ‘‘I’d stand a better chance in a deaf and dumb asylum! Confound these servants!—one has to pay them for the privilege of waiting on oneself! Now, I sup- pose Pll have to lie awake all the rest of the night!” And he sinks back among his pillows with a groan of discontent, “Ah, well!” he sighs, as he resigns himself to what he thinks is to be the last of his misfor- tunes, ‘after to-morrow Hortense—dear girl! —will be always at hand to look after my com- fort! ‘After to-morrow!” chuckles the concealed murderer, as he returns his knife to his belt, ‘* After to-morrow, my venerable friend, I lose my guess if you need either a valet, or Hor- tense! Every one looks out for himself in the ‘high lot’ where they’ll plant you—after to-mor- row |” Contrary to his Srameslny prediction, the old man sleeps again. Then the assassin creeps forth! Step by step he tiptoes, until he stands directly over the unconscious sleeper, What is he about todo? He has no weapon in his hands, But his gleaming eyesspeak mur- der of some kind! A rattle, horrible in its. suggestiveness, sounds in the old man’s throat, Hurriedly, fearing that his victim will awake again, the destroyer bends forward, and reach- ing across the body he is about to deprive of life, seizes a pillow! Perhaps it is the hot breath of his murderer upon his wasted check, perhaps a touch, per- haps some subtle instinct of nature warning the unconscious body of the near approach of dan- ger; but from some cause, the old man awakens again and one his eyes. He sees a black mask and a pair of gleaming eyes!—that is all! It is his last look on earth! With a swoop the pillow descends upon his face, smothering the cry of mortal fear that rises to his throat! Uttering a suppressed snarl of savage ferocity, the slayer of old age throws the whole weight of his body upon it, clinging to his victim like some beast of prey to its writh- ing, fainting, dying quarry! The struggle that ensues is nameless in its horror! Not a sound is heard save the faint tossing cf feeble limbs and the hoarse breathing of the murderer. At last all is still. The deed is done! A noiseless shadow flits from the murder- haunted chamber! The homicide flies through the night! Far away a horse goes tearing along the rocky road, bearing the slayer of the father to wed the unsuspecting child! - On, on dashes the red-handed plotter, until, after mile upon mile of hard riding through the night, he stands beneath a red-wood tree, with- in sight of a large building which looms grim- ly among the trees in that densest gloom which precedes daybreak, As from the direction of

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Captain Arizona. 9 the building—the Misses Millmans’ Semina for Young texiuenhe sees a slight shadow steal- ing toward him, he mutters triumphantly: .“‘ Here comes the little angel who brings a million dollars dower!” A moment later a girl, scarcely more than a “i sinks into his arms with a frightened sob, To gain his point Patent-leather Joe has had to imbrue his hands in blood, and is now about to break the heart of an innocent, confiding ae but little recks he as he says to him- self: ‘“*T have won the first trick in my ‘ big’ game with A MILLION In THE Pot!” CHAPTER V. A WOMAN'S DEFEAT. Ir is the darkest hour just before dawn, A strange, a startling sound breaks the dead still- ness in the house of that awful tragedy. Hortense Rensalier from the seiiet of dream- less slumber starts upright in bed, every drop of blood rushing back upon her heart anda nameless chill and numbness of fear seizing up- on her, She hears a confused clamor of men’s voices mingled with the screams and wails of women. “What is the matter? Is the house on fire?” is her first thought. For the time she is too frightened, too bewil- dered, tomove, She can only cower and trem- ble and shiver there, with clasped hands and staring eyes, shudderingly apprehensive that some nameless horror will start from the semi- gloom of her room and appall her shrinking vi- sion! She hears the tramp of hurrying feet! They are coming toward her! Up the stairs! Along the hall! At the threshold of her chamber! And with it all, that Babel of wailing voices of women! She who has never known woman’s weakness before now nearly dies of fear. What is it?—in heaven’s name! hat is it? But, hark! A woman’s hands are beating wildly against her door! The familiar voice of her maid calls: ‘“‘Oh! Miss Rensalier! Miss Rensalier! Come! |’ —quick! quick!—oh, come! Oh! oh! oh! what shall we ever do?” The voice electrifies her, and breaks the spell of paralyzing fear. She springs from her bed, and, with her heart in her throat, cries wildly: “Celecine! Celcine!” She turns on a full blaze of light, rushes to the door, and throws it open, In the hall she sees a group of serying-women huddled together in affright, standing gaunt in their white night-clothes, with their disheveled hair falling about their shoulders and their eyes streaming tears, wringing their hands and ut- tering inarticulate sounds of distress and sym- pathy, while they look at her pityingly. From among them her maid crosses the threshold, and with clasped hands and tear- drenched face raised to hers, sobs: “Oh, ma’am!—oh! oh! how can I ever tell yout” ; 4 With an impatience born of terrible suspense, she clutches the girl by the shoulder and shakes her, demanding sternly: ‘““Celcine! leine! what is the matter? Tell me, at once!” ‘*Oh, it’s down there in master’s room! He's dead !—dead!—dead !” moans the frightened girl, her iteration sounding like the toll of a knell. “ Dead?—dead?” repeats Hortense Rensalier. An awful whiteness gathers about her lips, Her eyes grow round and gleam with a hard light that frightens the women into muteness, Her voice is a husky whisper. “Yes! yes!|—murdered, John says!” wails the girl; and shuddering she crosses herself and cov- ers her eyes with her hands. ““My wrapper!” commands Hortense Rensa- lier, in clear, ringing tones, She stands erect, drawn to her greatest hight, with heaving breast, clinched hands, blazing eyes, distended nostrils! She is terrible in her despair! he girl springs for the garment. The woman wraps it about her like a mantle. Then, like some olden queen going to view the dead body of her slain Store she descends the stairs, the women huddling after her, The half-dressed men-servants make way for her, She walks straight up to the bedside, and looks down at the purple face. She utters no cry—she sheds no tear She turns round with her marble-white face and eyes as hard as steel. “Who discovered this?” she asks, in metallic tones. “Me, ma’am,” says the valet with bowed ‘Tell me all about it.” “Tt was jest this way, ma’am. I thought I heard master callin’, an’ got up an’ come in to see if he wanted anything. He was layin’ jest as you see him, ma’am, only with the piller over his face. The winder was open like you see it now, which I know I shut it the last thing be- fore goin’ to bed. An’ that’s all I know about it, ma’am,” That is all there is to learn for the present, She gives a few necessary directions; then re- turns to her room. Through the window she can see the first gray of dawn breaking over the eastern horizon, “And this is my wedding morn!” she says, with a hard laugh. . Then she grinds her white teeth with rage, as she hisses forth the word: “ Foiled | ‘‘ What matters it,” she pursues, after a time, ‘Cwho is bis murderer, or why it was done? For me, all is said in this:—I am not his wife! Iam a pauper! And my incensed Cousin Claire will soon be here to thrust me from her bome! I will go forth to poverty and obscurity, and she will marry Alf Cheswick and live happily ever after, like the good princess in the fairy tale! “Shall she marry Alf Cheswick? Never! never! NEVER! Let her keep ber paltry gold— the man she shall never have! I will her first! I have been foiled by an unknown hand in my scheme to get her wealth; but defeated though I am in this, she shall not triumph over me there! Let her come!—let her come! I will wring her heart until she Jearns to curse the gold that cannot buy her happiness|” ;

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a Captain Arizona. And choking with hysterical rage, the arch- plotter, baffled at the very moment of success, sways and falls to the floor in a swoon! But Claire will not come to dispute the pos- session of her home. As we know, she has fallen into the hands of the man who will work her bitterest woe. 3 The sun has just appeared above the horizon when Hortense Rensalier recovers from her swoon. She rises to a sitting posture and rests her head against the window-sill, to let the cool morning breeze fan her throbbing temples. So she reviews the wreck of ber fortunes, and tries to discover if anything can be saved from the ruin, and to form new plans for the future. But look at it how she may, it always comes to the same mine “I shall be driven forth a pauper, and Claire will triumph over me in the enjoyment of the million for which I have plotted so desperately! Oh! I could kill her! If she gets Alf too, Idon’t know but [ may attempt it!” Sick at heart, the defeated woman rises, to pace the room like a caged leopardess. But the confining walls seem to stifle her, and she goes down-stairs and out into the garden. Now for the first time she notices a strange hubbub. It is caused by the voices of excited men. The suburb in which Mr. Rensalier lives is like a village. The news of the murder has spread; and the people are coming to the scene. Hortense Rensalier feels greatly annoyed at this intrusion, of what she contemptuously calls “the mob.” But before she has time for reflec- tion, she hears a step close at hand, and, turn- ing, stands face to face with Alf Cheswick! CHAPTER VI. THE DENUNCIATION. At sight of Alf, Hortense Rensalier’s heart leaps into her throat. He is the only man that ever had the power to make her pulses quicken, A wild thought comes to her. “Tf he would take me in his arms and say— *T love your—I would give up all ambition for wealth and try to make him a loving wife!” The thought makes her feel faint and dizzy. She looks at him with a great longing. But his white face is hard and forbidding. His brows are bent with anger. His stern eyes have no tenderness for her. “Am I about to receive another blow here?” she asks herseir, and her heart goes down in her bosom like lead. “Madam,” says Alf Cheswick, in a voice that leaves her no hope, ‘‘I did not come here to meet you; but perhaps it is as well that chance should give me the opportunity to relieve my mind.” “Sir,” replics the woman with her haughtiest air, ‘‘do you consider whom you are addressing? Let me suggest the propriety of a more court- eous tone! “Tam courteous to those who deserve cour- tesy. y” “TI do not understand you, sir!” : “T will speak so plainly, then, that you will. When a woman becomes a mere scheming ad- venturess—” _ ‘* Adventuress |” “Bah! Why palter over terms? Are younot about to sell yourself to a man old enough to be» your grandfather? But 1 did not mean to speak: of this. I despise you too utterly to care whether’ you go up or down in the scale of womanhood!! But from the conviction that you, and you alone,, have come between Claire Rensalier and’ me no) lying denial will dissuade me! Her coldness; her father’s disfavor, date from the hour that; they came under your influence! ** Now hear me, false-hearted plotter! Tho father you have in your treacherous clutch!! Keep him! ‘You are welcome to both the mam and his money! But the daughter I am deter mined to save from the lies, whatever they have: been, with which you have alienated her from: me! She is mine/—and, by Heaven! I will not; be robbed of her by your vile plots!” The boy whose intensity earned for him the sobriquet of Flash Lightning is now thoroughly; aroused; and the impassioned words flow from: his jive like the rattle of musketry along a skir- mish line. He has told the woman that he despises her and! loves her rival with a passion that nothing shall defeat. She sees that he is lost to her utterly. In that moment all her love for him turns'tothe: gall of jealous hatred. “TY will defeat her, and crush him—this: pre-- sumptuous puppy who has dared to insult mo to my face!” she reflects; and instantly her plan is formed and acted upon. As if frightened by his vehemence, she begins: to back away from him. In the heat of his anger he follows her, ery-- ing: a Stop! ‘You shall hear me out!” Then the womnn raises her voice to the shrill pitch of agonized terror, and screams: “Help! Help! Oh, help!” All unsuspicious of the fiendish treachery of the woman—impatient at what he supposes her weak fears—he seizes her wrist to detain her from flight, crying: “Fool! What isthe matter with you? You havo no reason to fear personal violence from me!’ But, as if frenzied with terror, she struggles in his grasp, rending the air with shriek after shriek. She has calculated well. In his passion, Alf Cheswick has not noticed the assembling of the excited oath before the house. Now there is the sound of rushing feet and a Babel of alarmed voices. “Hark! What was that?” ** A woman’s scream!” “But where did it come from?” “From that direction, somewhar!” “Tt is in the garden!” *“Come on, men!” “For God’s sake make haste!” “Yes! yes! there may be more fiend’s work afoot!” A gleam of triumphant malice darts from Hortense Rensalier’s eyes. The ‘‘mob” which she has despised she is about to dupe into becom- ing her ally in the accomplishment of her re- venge. While she yet struggles and screams, the gar- den is filled with men, pale and wild-eyed with excitement, They are, formidable-looking fel~

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Captain Arizona. 1i lows, rude in dress, with unkempt, bushy | thinks that the beautiful woman has fainted beards, broad houlders, deep chests, and | from the reaction after this man’s brutal vio- brawny arms. Their rage is as unreasoning as a whirlwind or a stampede of frightened buffa- loes. ““What the devil is this?” shouts one burly giant, roughly. ; “The cowardly hound, to pitch onto a wo- man!” cries another. “Down him! Down him!” yells half a dozen, all in a breath. * And, without waiting for a word of expla- nation, poor Alf is pounced upon from all sides at once. Madly he struggles, knowing that words are useless with thatinfuriated mob, but ina twink- ling he is knocked down, and pounded and kicked and trampled almost into insensibility. In the mad eagerness of every one to lay hold of bim, or get a blow, when he goes down they fall over one another, piling upon him four or five deep, until he is nearly crushed and smoth- ered. nd all the while the air is loaded with shouts of rage and blasphemous execration, At last the confu: mass rises, men with their hats gone or crushed over their ears, their coats torn and pulled awry, their faces bruised, and their hands scratched and ploeding- But in their wrath, none heed the personal damage they may have received. Last, poor Alf, dazed and aching from crown to sole, smeared with blood and dirt, and with his clothes almost torn off from him, is jerked to his feet, a burly captor holding him on either side. He realizes that he is in an ugly scrape, but does not dream the fatal extent of his peril un- til the queen of plotters develops her damnable purpose. : Pointing an accusing finger at him, she cries in clear, ringing, melodramatic tones: “ Tdenounce Alfred Cheswick as the murderer of Stephen Rensalier |” This, then, is the desperate revenge of an in- censed woman! CHAPTER VII. MOBBED, Pa ca ‘is electrified by this unexpected charge. Alf Cheswick is dumfounded! _ The arch-plotter keeps on without giving them time for thought: ‘* Foiled in his designs on the affections of the daughter by the father repelling him as a for- tune-hunter, this is his revenge! To gain money he would have beguiled a mere child; in seeking revenge he did not respect the gray hairs of nee old age! You have just seen the climax of his cowardly villainy in this assault on a defenseless woman, If you are men, you will hang him to the nearest tree! “Oh, help! I— Oh—” And before any one can interfere, she sways, puts her hand to her head, gropes blindly, and falls prostrate! Her maid, Celcine, who rushed out at the sound of her mistress’s voice in those first wild screams, now casts herself on the ground besid» her, filling the air with frightened cries. It is all very cleverly done, Everybody lence. But in reality it is only the shamming of a clever actress, Hortense Rensalier knows what she is about! A fierce yell of resentful fury rises from the crowd. In that yell Alf Cheswick is tried for his life and condemned! “Hang him! Hang him!” runs the cry through that relentless mob, like fire through prairie grass, . The crowd sways and surges. The men who hold the prisoner are jostled and pushed from side to side, and nearly thrown from their feet, in spite of their great strength. In vain does poor Alf shout: “Stop! stop! I’m an innocent man. I never heard until just now that Mr. Rensalier was dead! I came here to see his daughter!” ‘Bah! When everybody knows she’s off to school, poor thing! That won’t wash, my Chris- tian friend!” “But I did not know it. On my soul, I thought her at home to attend her father’s wed- sg te “Which the same would have knocked you out of a cool million! Reason enough for shuttin’ off the old gent’s wind—eh, pardner?” derides one. “ An’ that’s what for you come hyar to clean out your mother-in-law!” adds another. ‘‘ Thin! —deuced thin!” ‘Stow the chaff, gents,” cries still another. “« Hyar’s the thing in a nut-shell. The murderer has been traced from the winder to whar he mounted his hoss an’ lit out. An’ I myself seen this hyar ex ride up to the Bolton House, under an hour ago, his hoss winded an’ one lather o’ sweat, an’ himself lookin’ as if he’d been racin’ from a hundred ghosts an’ devils all night long—and thar’s tke hoss in the stable to prove it!” ‘That's the cheese! He thought to blind his trail by doublin’ an’ comin’ right back whar nobody’d think o’ lookin’ fer him. Oh, he’s a cute one an’ a bold! His kind is dog-goned dangerous to let run loose! Tie him up, I say!” This is the signal for renewed yells, Tho crowd, already convinced, does not scan the evidence over closely. It wants action, not talk; and action in this case means hanging. Alf’s voice is drowned. His struggles are unavailing. “Make way out o’ hyar!” commands one of his captors; and he is dragged forward, the yelling, booting mob crowding after, trampling the bower-beds and breaking the shrubbery, until the garden, all fair and beautiful a few minutes ago, now looks as if a herd of wild beasts had passed through it. The prisoner is borne through the gate. A few idly, with much jostling. More leap the fence in their eagerness, until the frail orna-° mental paling breaks beneath the weight of numbers. Then they go down the street, the prisoner borne rapidly along in advance, in the middle of the roadway, while those on the outskiris of the crowd scurry forward to gain the front and feast their gaze on the white, despairing face and staring eyes of the bloodstained prisoner,

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Captain Arizona. ————— ko, As for Alf, he seemed half-stupefied. He has given over all idea of self-defense or escape. ‘Who can tell what thoughts pass through the brain of a doomed man, when all of his kind seem frenzied, thirsting for his blood? Perhaps there is little clearness or continuity in them, By this time they aro half-way to the Bolton TIouse. Before the tavern stands a sign-post, with an arm sticking out at the top at right angles, like the arm of a gibbet. From this arm a sign-board used to swing, creaking dismally in the night winds, incongru- ous with the hospitality to which it invited man and beast. Perhaps theso eerie sighs and moans were portentous of the use to which the post was to be put; for one day the board was broken “To make room for another sign,” says the standing joko of the place—‘‘a sign that the folks: around hyar don’t stand no foolishness— an’ don’t ye furgit it!” A short piece of rope—just as it was left when the dead man was cut down—still swings from the end of tho arm, a standing menace to evil- doers! ‘ . The eyes of the mob have caught this horribly suggestive relic. It fires them with renewed frenzy. Their yellsare more savagely vindictive than ever, They think that they are honest mon, ridding the world of a vampire who has no mora claim to human consideration than a wild beast or a venomous serpent! Half-way, as we have said, to this horrible engine of man’s vengeance, they are met by a man who comes running toward them, having just emerged from the stable-yard with a fresh- ly saddled horse, and thrown the bridle-rein carelessly over a post, so that the horse is lett ete directly beneath the improvised gal- ows, Ho is below the modium hight and rather slight in build; but he has a piercing, steel-bluo eye, and a resolute chin. That he is “ wiry, an’ quick as groased lightnin’, an’ no fool to git away with—you hyear me?” more than one man in the crowd can bear testimony, since befors now he has “ juggod” the best of them when, fired by whisky and “‘sp’ilin’ fur a fight,” they have gme on the “ war-path” ani proclaimed themselves “ chief!” This man is Sheriff Bob Bolton, ‘Hallo, boys! What's this!” ho cries, eager- ly. Via The galoot what give old man Rensalier his sen‘-off,” replied one of Alf’s captors, with just a touch of surliness. Like many another in the crowd he doesn’t ex- actly relish the appearance of a regularly con- stituted officer of the law, who may feel it his duty tointerfere with this impromptu dispensa- tion of justice, and reserve the prisoner for a court of a little less questionable authority. | “ Waal, that’s clever!” sail the sheriff, with a seoming satisfaction. ‘It saves mearide into town all for nothing. Thar’s my horse in front of the hotel. In a minute more Id been off, like a, hot shot out of a shovel, for help to wind this thing up with a round turn. We've had about enough of this sort of thing around hyar! Just let me clap my hooks onto this bird!” As a matter of course, he steps up and seizes Alf by the right shoulder, displacing the m who has held him on that side sas tar Shaking him, he says: “Wakeup, hyar, my man! I’m Bob Bolton}! I re Kena heard - me.” f looks at him without interest, A oc) of captors is nothing to him, nenee The man who yielded to tho sheriff without protest, answered this observation: “You're right, boss!—this thing has gone about fur enough! But I reckon thar’s men a plenty in this crowd to put this gent through the mill without no help from Frisco, Ef as be you want to take a hand in with the boys, why, of course it’s all right.” There is a covert menace in this speech. The speaker thinks, and the crowd is in sympathy with him: “Ef you try to shut down on tho thing with any 0’ your legal business, I reckon you'll find out that one man can’t stand off a crowd, when it knows what it’s about jist as well as you do!” If the sheriff understands it in this way, he says nothing, but walks on as if he were as in- tent as any of them upon getting the prisoner to the scene of execution, But a moment later he trips Alf, then within the instant stumbles over the latter’s feet, so that it appears as if the prisoner had tripped him; and as, in falling forward, his mouth passes close to Alf’s ear, he utters a single word, which in the hubbub sounds to the others like an inar- ticulate ejaculation of anger, if, indeed, any one notices it at all. But Alf has caught the sound shot, as it were, into his ear, and interpreted it: “ Run PY The next instant the sheriff has let go his Les on Alf’s arm and fallen on his face in the road, CHAPTER VIII. SHERIFF BOB BOLTON, it NEVER was trick more cleverly done.. No one tha sees it but would swear that Alf had thrown his captor by as neat a trip as they ever witnessed, It takes Alf all unawares, Nothing is further from his thoughts than that this professional taker of criminals would connive at the escape of the man accused of the murder of old Stephen Rensalier. But life is in the balance; he has heard the word; and his right arm is free! Like a flash of light all that benumbed stupefaction of despair leaves him, and the whole man is galvanized into vivid life and activity—every faculty is saong to the highest pitch; every muscle is like stee. He does not stop to sneculate why this man has befriended him. The fact itself is enough for the present. The whole scheme flashes upon him at once. haf saddled horse was brought out, the bridle-rein thrown loosely over the post and his attention covertly called to them, that he might thus have the means of escape at hand! The sheriff has searcely struck the ground, when Alf Cheswick's fis’ shoots forth like a thun- derbolt, taking his other captor just back of the ear, and felling him as if he had been struck by lightning!

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4: ; Captain Arizona. iS ' Like a rocket the prisoner is off, and those immediately behind him have stumbled over the bodies of the two men already prostrate—the one by his own will, the other stunned to un- consciousness by Alf Cheswick’s tremendous blow for life. . The latter, of course, does not arise; but, active as acat, Bob Bolton is on his feet again ina ga and has laid hold of the man nearest him. Is it by chance that itis the man nearest Alf also? But the sheriff's eyes, nose and mouth are full | of dust; and certainly he sputters loudly and profane ab enough, and handles the man he has } captured as roughly as if he were convinced that he held the prisoner who had tried to play him a scurvy trick, and was determined to teach him that no man could try to ‘“‘shake” Bob Bolton without. getting. pretty well ‘‘shook” up himself! Indeed, something to this effect is tacked to the end of a string of rousing Western oaths. The effect of all this is that the crowd, as a body, is bewildered. If that is the prisoner darting away like an arrow, bare-headed and with his hair flying in the wind, what is the meaning of this struggle, as if his capters were having a hard task to hold him? So, while Alf distances the few who ey. recognize him, half a dozen of those who ha the best chance of recapturing him are busy trying to awaken the seemingly enraged sheriff to his mistake. It takes but a moment, when he brushes the dust from his eyes and glares around at them and at the man to whom he has given some idea what it would be to pass through a thrashing machiue! Then Bob Bolton “‘lets himself out,” ‘ shoot- ing off his mouth” and his pistol at the same time, in handsome style. - But golden seconds have been lost.. Alf gains the horse, tears the rein from the post, terrifies the animal by a yell that would do credit to a whole band of Comanches, runs a little way at the side of the flying steed, then vaults upon its back like a circus rider, and, digging his heels into its flanks, lashing it with rein and hand, and yelling until the frightened beast must think that it has been mounted by a legion of demons, courses madly away, unscathed by the hail of bullets and iron-clad_ BM ed hurled after him —and it seemed as if his heart would leap from his throat in the glad cry: “Free! Free! Free!” Well! that Alf Cheswick left a ‘‘ mad” crowd behind him, you had better believe! “Gentlemen!” said Sheriff Bob Bolton, with an icy calm and deliberateness that made the } “boys” feel that be was a dangerous man when he got “woke up,” “gentlemen, he floored me! he shook me! he made me chaw dirt! T reckon thar ain't many men in these hyar parts that can tell Bob Bolton to put that in his pipe and * smoke it! If ary gentleman present knows of such a one, now’s the best time he'll ever have in his life to inform the company.” He paused and looked about on the crowd, as if for reply. “Tt seems thar’s no takers,” he said, present- Yy, Mean coing back to the original theme: ““Wal, he’s a good man, I allow; and I don’t bear him no malice. But, gentlemen, thar’s on» little job that I propose to work up before I pass in my checks, Thatis, to fitch the murderer of Stephen Rensalier to chalk. It may take ten days—it may také ten years! If you'll excuse me I'll go and git ready for the hunt.” With that same deliberateness he passed into the hotel. “Gents,” said one of the crowd, breaking tho dead silence with which all had listened to the sheriff and witnessed his withdrawal, ‘he’s a tough leetle cuss! Ill bet ary man ten to one fer all ’m worth that he fetches his mutton.” And there were no takers! But in the sanctity of his room, in his own hotel, the sheriff was saying: “To save an innocent life Bob Bolton let a boy floor him, and shako him, and make him chaw dirt! 'To save his own credit, Bob Bol- ton must prove to every man, woman and child that saw it, that he done it on purpose. But to do that Bob Bolton must produce the rea] mur- derer, so’s to give the reason why he let the thing be done.” And from his pocket he drew a bowie-knife, which he had that morning found just off the edge of the veranda of Stephen Rensalier’s house, lying close beside a track which the boot of the murderer had left in the soft garden loam. It was the knife Patent-leather Joe had drawn in his victim’s bed-chamber, when fear- ing the intrusion of his valet, and then thrust insecurely into his belt. In the haft were cut two initials: ca P, J.” Meanwhile, Alf Cheswick, flying for his life, had come upot a scene that affected him pro- foundly. Through the open window of a log- cabin which served as school-house and church, he saw a wedding party. ~ He stopped, fixed a staring gaze at the bride, then, with a sort of surpres howl] of concen- trated fury, leaped from his horse and rushed into the house! The next instant the room rung again with pistol-shots, and cries of rage and fear! CHAPTER IX, MARRIED AT THE MOUTH OF THE REVOLVER! CiatRE RENSALIER was a fair-haired, blue- eyed, rosy-lipped little school-girl, and already Se sorrows of a grown woman had come to er. Believing that her lover had proved false, angered at the weakness of her father who had fallen so easy a prey to the adventurers, and furious at the thought of having to recognize as a step-mother the woman who had robbed her of all that she loved, it was not strange that she should lend a ready ear to thedashing Percy Montcalm, who bad saved ber life and then made love to her in so romantic a fashion. But alone in that_ secluded little country church, being married to a man who was in reality a perfect stranger to her, with that pur- blind old minister indistinctly mumbling over the service, his face buried in his book, and with his deaf old wife and the sexton as bent and infirm as either of the others acting <3 .

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[PE IE ON EGE Re eee ONCE SE Oe a witnesses, a chill sense of misgiving swept over her heart, it was all so weird and stratige! She thought of flight. But Would not they pursue bet like a lot of ghouls? Then, when she was ready to swoon with fear, her heart went out to Alf Cheswick with a great throb of longing, If he would but ¢ome, she would be safe! At that miomerit—she had not heard the clat- ter of hoofs, nor the sound of intruding foot+ steps—sho was stattled by a voice crying! “Oh, Claire! In God’s name! what are you about to do?” The droning minister started into full wake- fulness, and let his jaw drop. The soxton wheeled tound and stared through his spectacles at the intruder. The old woman threw up her hands and ex- claimed: Law me!” The bridegroom turned, a glare of defiance in his eyes and his hand om the butt of a concealed istol, R Patent-leather Joe and Flash Lightning stood face to face. Up to this moment the latter had not recog- nized his old foe. Now he was dumfounded at the sight of him in the act of robbing him of his wife, as he had robbed his father years ago. While he stood mute, Claire leaped forward with a great cry: “Oh, Alf!” A savage oath passed Patent-leather Joe’s lips and his weapon leaped from its ambush. “ Great Heaven, sir! Not in the sanctuary!” cried the sexton. And in poy, horror he caught Arizona’s arm and saved A: ited Cheswick’ s life ! Patent-leather Joe tore himself free, and would have fired in; but a return shot an- ticipated his, and he fell bieeding before the chancel rail, “Oh, Alf! What have you done? You have killed him!” screamed Claire. ‘¢Murderer!—the curse of Heaven will fall upon you for this sacrilege!” cried the minis- te Tr. “And, what doubtless you fear more, the Vigilantes will hang you, ruffian that you are!” subjoined the sexton, while the old lady went into hysterics, Alfred Cheswick paid no heed to the others, but answered Claire, ‘Ask me not what I have done!” he cried. “Tt was in self-defense. He would have killed me else, Moreover, he earned his doom years ago! But how came you here? What excuse is there for what you was about to do, and would have accomplished, but that accident led me by this dese place on my way to you at the Misses Milmans’, as I_ supposed?” ; ‘* Alf, you were false to me!” sobbed Claire. ‘How could you be so cruel?” “False to you? Never !” asseverated the youngman. “It is you that had forgotten me for your new lover!” : And he grouad his teeth with jealous bitter- ness. ~ Oh, Alf! How can you stand there and ac- cuse me, when you know that you yourself are Je blame!” Gaptain Arizona, “Ttoblame? For what—that you have not written to me for over two months? And while I was begging you for only a line, you Were platining this elopement!” Alf Cheswick, you are stating what ig not true! Inever thought of eloping until yester- day: I would not have dreamed of it then, but for Pave anid that—that—hateful old thing ” Alf groaned, ‘But these two months of silence? Why have you not replied to my letters?” = very good reason!—you never wrote any! “T have written to you nearly every day!” ‘ 4 bie) TI never cb ia i oy Lont And if I Et Oo you suppose would re) after you sent back that broken sixpence?” “8 =! And Claire sobbed with pain. “IT never sent back the sixpence. I lost it, Claire.” ‘But you did send it to me! I’ve got your letter to prove it. Oh! if was the most cruel, wicked stab I ever heard of! I know every word by heart! No wonder—it was short enough, mercy knows! ‘Thanking you for past favors, I return the inclosed evidence of mis- placed confidence!” And I had loved you so true!” “ Claire, Inever wrote that!—I swear I didn’t. And, truly, I lost the sixpence!” And in distress that could not have been counterfeited, Alf fell upon his knees, and clngte to her hands, gazed up into her face piteously. A a light broke over Claire’s counte- nance. “ Alf,” she said, ‘I see it all! It’s a plot to wreck our happiness by that treacherous old— old—cat! She stole the sixpence from you, and sent it to me with that wicked letter. Oh! how I hate her! I know she did it! Nobody else could! I don’t know what I shall do to her when I get home! I believe I'll kegp still about if, until the minister says that, if any one has any objections to the marriage, let them speak now, or forever hold their peace, Then Ill get up—right in church!—and say: aL object P ‘Won't everybody stare! and won’t that sly old cat turn green and yellow and all the colors of the rainbow! You must stand by me and keep her from scratching my eyes out! And when the minister asks me what my objections are, I'll tell them all about her treachery.” ; “And you think she did this?” asked Alf, who had been in pained thought while Claire ran on with her scheme for revenge. ‘‘ Then. that is not the worst she has done! Oh, Claire!” ‘“What is it? What else has that wicked creature done?” _ ‘Claire, do you love me?” cried her lover, ignoring her question. “You know f[ do, Alf.” ‘_ Then ae must marry me—at once!” ‘Now? ‘Immediately !” “Oh, au f “You were ready enough to marry him!” cried the lover, with a jealous frown. ‘‘ You must marry now or never! To-morrow night I “n=l he o Wundred miles from here, if possible;

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neuen Captain Arizona. 15 and before I stop, I shall be a thousand miles ait at least.” ‘““What do you mean? What are you going to dof” “T am going to leave this accursed country forever |” “Oh, Alf!” ‘Will you marry me?” “In this clandestine way? Alf, there is no need. Let us wait and be married as other peo- ple are. Papa will not object.” “No, he will not object now,” said Alf, with a significance which poor Claire, in her igno- rance of her father’s death, did not divine, | “But it is too late to think of these things. | Give me my answer—yes, or no? If you do not, I will shoot myself here before your very | eyes!” He looked reckless enough to carry out his threat, as he held the pistol to his head. “Yes—yes! I will marry you at once!” cried poor Claire; ‘‘only take that dreadful weapon away!” ‘God bless you, darling! If my undying love can repay you for all you must sacrifice, you shall never regret this step!” Without more ado, he turned to the gaping minister. **Come down here, away from that carcass, and proceed with the ceremony you were about to perform. The change of bridegrooms need not disturb you.” “ What! marry a murderer? Never, sir!— never!” “Tam in no mood for trifling; whatever your scruples are, you must put them in your pocket. Can you see down that pistol bore? Now, drive ahead!” The minister saw the logic of Alf Cheswick’s argument, and reluctantly yielded to the foree of circumstances, The ceremony over, Alf hurried his almost fainting bride from the church, lifted her into the carriage in which Patent-leather Joe had brought her, and dashed away at lightning speed CHAPTER X. A PRISONER WITHOUT FEAR. AN amphitheater of mountain peaks domed by the star-gemmed sky! In the valley, tents and camp-fires, and stand- ing round in their lurid light perhaps a score of as desperate-looking bandits as ever infested the mountain fastnesses of any country! Here among the crags was their stronghold— the eyrie from which they swooped down upon honest men and robbed them of their hard- earned gold. In the center of the group were two men, facing each other, both well built fellows, and formidable-looking by reason of a certain reck- less insolence of expression, and a bold, defiant flash of the eye. One, without weapons, stood with folded arms and a snecring smile on his face; the other, armed to the teeth, leaned negligently against a k, examining the former critically, plainly With some admiration. ‘“ Well, my bold captain,” said he who was weaponless, ‘‘now that you have me, what are you pong to do with me?” “T was just thinking,” replied the other, “whether it wouldn’t be to our mutual advan- tage to make you one of my band.” * Are you in need of a leader?” ‘* Am J in need of a leader?” * Certainly—you and your band.” x Well! that's a pretty cool question, isn’t it? “T haven't the slightest idea of its tempera- ture, sir, I assure you.” “‘Tt strikes me that itis some degrees below the freezing point. Indeed, under the circumstances, I think it would knock the bottom out of any ordinary thermométer.” “Possibly. What of it?’ “Do you know who and what I am?” “Do you want an honest expression of opin- ion?” : “ Certainly.” “ Well, I take you for a cut,throat and a thief. You are evidently the leader of this band of ruffians; and I have heard one of them speak of you as Captain Bland, I understand that every os camp in Wyoming Territory is saving up a choice piece of hemp, to be presented as a testimonial to a certain Captain Bland, when- ever his modesty can be so far overcome as to induce him to acceptit. He is a very retiring man—this Bland—and denies himself to all save a few select friends.” At the peponiny of this bold speech Captain Bland had flushed scarlet, and his hand had moved toward the butt of a reyolver; but as his prisoner proceeded, his angry frown relaxed into a smile, half of plese vanity, half of amusement. ‘You have a somewhat abrupt way of stating things, stranger,” he said; ‘‘but I think I can afford not to get angry with you—” ** As you like about that,” was the cool inter- ruption. “But we are wandering from the Sagi You haven’t answered my question. oO you want a leader?” o“ ardl ” “Then I must decline your generous offer. I never play second fiddle to any man,” ' “Hm! Cool again! You would not accept a lieutenancy, for instance?” ** No, sir!” ‘Have you considered the probable conse- quences of your refusal?” “ Such a question calls for no deliberation.” “Tt may be a matter of life or death to you.” “ And would you sell your manhood to save your life?” “Would it then be forfeiting your manhood to serve under me?” I think that Iam a better “Well, I think so! man than you.” Again Captain Bland flushed scarlet; then be- came ghastly pale with rage, while his eyes took on a murderous glitter. He was not used to being thus boldly bearded in his very stronghold—in the presence of men ~ whom he held as the slaves of his will. “Curse you!” he roared, ‘‘do you know that I have but to raise my hand to have you riddl with bullets?” : ‘

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“*No doubt!” “Then that knowledge should teach you the expediency of bridling that insolent tongue of “ Not at all; for of course you would not give such an order. But then, come to think, you might—that’s a fact.” . Why are you undecided as to my probable course?” asked the bandit chief. “Well,” was the cool reply, “it struck me as being so cowardly, you know, to order twenty men to shoot one unarmed one.” * And, on second thought, you concluded that I might do it, notwithstanding its cowardice!” thundered the outwitted bandit. ‘* There’s no betting on what a man might do, where he has such unlimited power,” was the undisturbed rejoinder. “Well, sir, before you get through with it you will see that there is no need for me to call upon ay en in this case.” “Perhaps you might meet me man to man?” suggested the prisoner, as if this thought had just occurred to him. * ** Excuse me,” said the captain, ‘I never play a game when it is already in my own hands. alt have nothing to gain, and you nothing to ose. ‘ My life! That’s something to me.” “Tt is already at my disposal.” ** And then you might gain—” ** What?” Honor, But perhaps you don’t consider that as of any value. Some men don’t.” Ignoring the cool insolence of this imputation, Capt. Bland replied:— * All the honor I would reap from a meeting with you I can afford to dispense with. The gear simmers down to this:—Will you leave this place a member of my band, or never leave it alive?” - T hardly think that a fair statement of the case, ** You will find to your cost that it is the only alternative I will ever present to you.” “7 think not. I hope to make better terms with you.” ** You may as well stow that hope.” ‘Look here, pardner,” said the prisoner, abruptly, ‘‘ I'll toss up with you whether I go free or take a high lot up here. Serving under ‘ou is out of the question. It is heads or tails or life or death.” “Not much!” _ “Pll fight you, then, or any of your band, if you’ve got a better man.” This cool dare-devil never lost an opportunity to barb his smoothly-flowing words with insulf. “Ive refused that already,” replied Captain Bland, keeping his temper, while he reflected on what torture he could invent to break the spirit of this man who seemed absolutely without fear —for whom mere death had no terrors. “Are you afraid of me?” was the next inso- “Ah! Vl make you!” ~ And with a lightning bound, like the spring of a panther, the cool prisoner leaped sideways and snatched a revolver from the belt of one of the band, who had momentarily turned his head to make some remark to a comrade, The next instant the frowning muzzle was eee on the heart of the astonished Captain i. CHAPTER XI. _ POKER POCKET, Pocxrr Pocket, Wyoming Territory, was, according to Judge Sam Stubbs, ‘the garden spot of this hyar won-derful country!” The most popular institution in Poker Pocket was the Lone Hand Saloon, presided over by one Short-an’-dirty, a damsel of no ordinary character, to whom we will introduce you pre- sently. The Lone Hand Saloon was a slab shanty, di- vided into two compartments, the smaller one in the rear being reserved by the proprietress for domestic purposes, while the larger one in front was the ‘“‘stamping-ground” of the “boys,” dedicated to the sale of “licker ’n ter- backer ’n red herrin’s ’n sich!” In this hall of conviviality Judge Stubbs occu- pied his own particular seat in the corner, into which no one else ever presumed to intrude. On a similar pine bench, on the opposite side of the table, one end of which was nailefl against the wall, sat Colonel Despard Dangerfield. any Between them, at the inner end of the table, a candle-box stood on end supported the cor- poral part of Patsy Croghan, a sort of political retainer of Judge Stubbs’s, whose principal busi- ness seemed to be to admire his Honor in all things, to ‘‘ back any and every statement that proceeded from the judicial lips, and to back that ornament of the bench to bed, whenever he became top-heavy from having an unusually large ‘‘brick in his hat.” It is but fair to say that this last office was but seldom required, as under ordinary circumstances the judge could “ carry all he could hold,” As usual, his Honor was descanting on the peculiar attractions of Poker Pocket, while he sipped his ‘ p*izen” and smoked his ‘* weed.” “Why, sir,” he cried, in conclusion, after such a “puff” as only a true Westerner can give to the place where he has invested his “pile,” what d’ye suppose this hyar magic city sports?” * “Tam at a loss to imagine,” replicd Colonel. Dangerfield. “Tn the first year of her existence, mind ye!” supplemented the judge. *e Pm sure I don’t know what wonder to ex- 2 Waal, sir! we hold and enjoy, and are ready to maintain against the world, the exclusive Tent demand. right and title to two ladies! Ladies, you un- % “‘ Neither of you nor of any living man!” derstand! None of your brazen huzzies, but a “Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy | genuine white article of the female persuasion, aq whisky!” was the significant retort. * As far as you are concerned, you will have take my courage for Lickgped since I don’t d to prove it,” replied the captain, quietly. which is a leetle harder to find between hyar and the Pacific slope!” “Ladies?” repeated Colonel Dangerfield, per- haps 2 1’*‘le incredulously. ~

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* Captain Arizona. 1% ines tania “Tadies, sir!—ladies/” reaffirmed Judge Stubbs, stoutly. «The swatest craythers in the wide worruld!” put in Patsy, almost plaintively. ‘‘ Faith, they one, me hairt back to Balleynamagh!” ‘“*One,” pursued the judge, dramatically, ‘‘ whose youth and beauty ravishes the beholder with delight; and one, the lineaments of whose hidden visage no human eye in Poker Pocket hath yet scanned!” ‘« What is that?” asked the colonel. “A mystery!” replied the judge, solemnly. * A mystery?” “Ts it that she hides the grief of her widow- hood behind an impenetrable vail; or what shall wesay? But, sir, she is a remarkable womanin another respect. Shoe has at least one of the qualifications of a model wife. She never talks back!” “What in the world are you getting at, judge?” cried Colonel Dangerfield, with awaken- ing curiosity. ‘‘ That last drink must have gone to your head; and yet I can hardly believe it.” “No, sir! You may rest assured that that isn’t my vulnerable point! But, sir, in vulgar Saxon, the mother of our charmer is dumb, though not deaf, and goes constantly vailed.” ‘Hm! That's strange. I wonder who?’ *“‘Tll never tell you. But in this country a woman—in fact, anything that wears a_petti- coat—does pretty much as she dog-gone pleases; and the man who has the temerity to question her right will find— “Eh? What the deuce have we hyar?” he ex- claimed, abruptly, as the door of the saloon swung open, CHAPTER XII. "APPY ’ARRY. JupGE Sam STuBzBS greeted the newly-arrived with a smile of expectant interest. One glance of his discerning eye, and he said: “Tf I can read human nature, the ball opens with this fellow. Colonel. attend!” ‘*He’s from over the says!” muttered Patsy, angrily. ‘Faith! he’s wan o’ thim divils that stairves the poo-ur on the grane sod—the thafe o’ the worruld! Divil swape the loikes av him! Phat will he be doin’ in this counthry, I dunno! Hasn't he enough an’ to spa-ar an English ound, that he will be afther comin’ till Ameri- ‘'y, an’ throyin’ to b’ate us out ay our dues he-ur as well as tha-ur? Bad scan to ’um! mesilf's the b’y that ’ud loik to whelt the face off °um!” Unconscious of the diverse emotions to which his advent gave rise, the subject of the fore- going animadversions waited for no formal in- troduction, but presented himself to the assem- bled company in his own peculiar way. “To the gentlemen of Poker Pocket and vicinity—greeting! Ah! I beg your pardon! I see a lady present. Hall honor to the fairer sex! Madam, your ’umble servant! Allow me, with my best bow—’Appy ’Arry, the Henglish Habsentee and Great North American Non-est- inventus! a hindividual ’oo is halways wanted, but never hon ’and! “ Gentlemen, to our better acquaintance, let us tip the flowing bowl! Honor me, gentlemen! hall ’ands round! “Hour beauteous ‘ostess, treat the boys ’and- some, with the best you’ve got!” Toso gracious an invitation all responded with smniling alacrity. ““Eh, my dear colonel?—tlife /” murmured thé judge, as he got his feet under his center of gravity, and ambled up tothe bar. ‘* Faith! he’s a swate cr’athur’, wid a stomach on ’um that tells °um the nades av his fella min!” was Patsy’s tribute to the stranger’s gen- erosity, his hostility yielding to the seduction of as potheen.” ‘A sharper with an ax to grind,” muttered Colonel Dangerfield; but nevertheless he added another to the score or so ranged along the 2 When the glasses wore filled, Judge Stubbs coughed behind his hand. The denizens of Poker Pocket took the hint, 8 knocking their glasses on the bar, shout- ed: “Stubbs! Stubbs! Speech! speech!” : The judge bowed with the modesty of an old er in politics. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I am sensible of the honor done me by this unexpected popular call. “Sir,” to ’Appy ’Arry, ‘‘in behalf of my fel- low-citizens, and as the representative of the judicial interests of Poker Pocket, I welcome you to our beautiful city, and, in fact, to all this hyar won-derful country. You ‘have come to us, a stranger; and be assured, sir, we will take youin— Hum! Ah! Baugh!” The judge’s figure had run him into an expres- sion whose double meaning did not escape th2 bluff miners, and they went off in a roar of laughter at his expense, striking the bar with their glasses and pounding the floor with their heavy boots. Preserving his dignity with tne cast-iron as surance of his profession, the politician bowed, as - in acknowledgment of upplatse, and pur- * But, sir, as brevity is the soul of wit, I con- tent myself with extending the hand of good- fellowship, and saying once more—welcome to Poker Pocket and its italities!” When the rounds of boisterous applause which greeted his speech had subsided, “Appy: *Arry responded with becoming modesty: “Madam, and See I'd fail in the heffort to rival the heloquence of your renown- ed hexponent; but you'll find my sentiments in the bottoms of your glasses.” After a ringing cheer, Poker Pocketinstituted a simultaneous search. It is fair to assume that the sentiments were found and appropriated; for when the giasses were set down there was ae left in ae * etted “Ay : “And now, gentlemen,” cri ppy *Arry. cheerily, producing from his pocket a Yall and thimbles, and proceeding to manipulate them with lightning dexterity on one of the tables, ‘ere we hare again—the original and honly >Appy ’Arry, the Henglish Habsentee and Great North American Non-est-inventus—just arrived from the hold country, where E> —— and nobles, queens, page and their ladies in waiting, hattended *is levees, and gazed with wonder, hadmiration and delight upon ‘is world:

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18 Captain Arizona, renowned performances! Ere we hare, gentle- men! The heye-opener we ’ave just ‘ad should sharpen your hoptics, and enable you to follow the little joker in’is feats of ground and lofty tumbling. Ah! there ’e goes! Do you see ’im? ‘Oo can tell me w’ere’e isnow? Eh? By Jove! ou’ave’im, kneow. *’E must be spryer next ime, ’E ’as heyes the sharpest hafter ‘im. Ah! there ’e goes} ’Ow’s the next lucky man?” In a twinkling “Appy ’Arry was surrounded by a circle of miners, three or four deep, so eager that some stood on benches and tables to look over the heads of those who had been lucky enough to gain the inner circle; and forthwith money and gold-dust began to change hands with a rapidity only equaled by ’Appy ’Arry’s lightning manipulation of the instruments of his vocation, While he is thus reaping a golden harvest from the seed so judiciously sown on entering the room, we have an oupor family to see that he is not the typical John Bull, whose aldermanic proportions and florid complexion are so sugges- tive of mighty conquests in beef-eating and the draining of countless tankards of ‘‘ bitter hale ” and ‘alf-an’~’alf.”. On the contrary, he is a wiry little fellow, of not more than five feet two or three, with a shrewd mouth and keen, rest less eyes; light, Saxon hair and mutton-chop whiskers. A Derby hat, a black silk neckerchief, a waistcoat of worsted stuff, a sack coat of brown os with side pockets, corduroy trowsers, and wavy-soled shoes make up his decidedly Eng- lish dress. But in the midst of the clicking of his nimble thimbles and the clink of money changing hands—the ejaculations of satisfaction and oaths of chagrin, bantering jeors and congratulations, suggestions and warnings, with which the ex- cited miners made a Babel of profanity and jar- gon—the smooth current of "Appy ’Arry’s words, which fell from his lips in an incessant stream like grain from a hopper, was abruptly cut short by a pounding that arrested the attention of every one. _ The patrons of the Lone Hand Saloon turned, ' one and all, to see its proprietress, the redoubt- able Short-an’-dirty, standing behind her de- serted bar in her ‘‘ war-paint,’ CHAPTER XIII. THE TABLES TURNED. TAKEN completely unawares by the unex- pected move of the prisoner whom he had sup- posed helplessly in his power, Captain Bland could only stare breathlessly. His band stood round in open-mouthed dis- may. The icy voice of the prisoner cut the stillness. “My. dear captain,” he said, with a tantaliz- ing smile and honeyed accents, ‘‘you see that I have the drop on you. Don’t precipitate your own death, which the slightest sign of hostile intent on your part, will render inevitable.” Then, with equal smoothness, he addressed the men, before they had time to recover from their bewilderment. “Gentlemen,” ho said, ‘this is a large day for surprises. Don’t all shoot at once; for the first man who is so rash as to move a muscle seals the death-warrant of his captain. “You see,” he pursued, again addressing the captain, ‘‘ Tam forced, though much against my better feeling, to hang your life on a slender chance. If you have a jealous or ambitious fol- lower, he paige now sate his malice, or secure Ei removal from his path, without hazard to imself, by what would look like an injudicious display of zeal in your defense.” “Curse youl it was to gain time for this chance that you have been chafling me!’ growled the discomfited robber chief. “My dear captain!” was the smiling reply, “it was with a view to just this turn in the wheel of fortune that I condescended to waste my time on you. ** But that we may the more at our ease dis- cuss the outcome of this, to you, unexpected change of front, oblige me by requesting your men to throw up their hands.” Captain Bland hesitated; and his eyes flashed round the circle of his followers with a burning glance. “T would give all I am worth,” he reflected, “if one of those dogs would shoot him now.” “Don’t take any risks, my dear captain,” said the prisoner with his icy smile. ‘‘ Although some of your men are behind me, and I cannot see them, I have unusually sharp ears—indeed, you would be surprised to learn how slight a sound I can detect—and none of your gallant followers can take a step toward me, throw a missile at me, or raise the hammer of his revol- ver, without my receiving warning of the treach- erous intent; and, my dear captain, the slightest. suspicious sound seals your doom! ‘Indeed, you are more interested in putting your men out of teripenkios. thanIam. Think, sir!—while you hesitate, one of them may re- member some old grudge.” “Throw up your hands!” commanded the rob-- ber chief, The men obeyed. ‘ Now, my dear captain—since you are cap-- tain, and in authority, you know, request them one at a time, to march to your rear. I want: to see their interesting faces.” Captain Bland, scowling murderously, gave: the requisite command, One by one, the men, with their hands held’ above their heads, marched into place behind their captain. ‘And now, my dear captain,” continued this strange prisoner, who had captured his captors, “oblige me by throwing up your own hands, and marching forward.” “Curse you! Dll die first!” howled the irate chief. ** Very well,” was the cool retort. ‘‘ It is for you to elect. But I think that on reflection you will) pocket your dignity and comply with my wishes. I will give yon a chance to reconsider vip rash determination while I count three. e|— “‘ Hold on!—there’s two sides to this question,” suggested the captain. ‘“‘You can’t shoot me without losing your own life the next instant. Eh, my men?” “ Ay!” went up a fierce rumble of assent from the men, who didn’t much relish, you may

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Captain Arizona. 19 be assured, this having their whole number ‘surrounded ” by one, “You hear?” cried Captain Bland, exultantly. bs es is about as broad as it is long, I anc ‘Not at all. As you just now suggested, my life being already forfeit, I have nothing at stake. And then I calculate on another thing.” ‘*On what?” ‘“‘Your cowardice. Two!” A furious oath burst from the lips of the captain, “Tl show you whether I’m a coward or not!” he yelled, And rage blinding him to fear, and the know]- cdge of his real helplessness, he seized the butt of one of his revolvers. “ Don’t draw it!” said the prisoner, in tones that cut the air like a whistling bullet. ‘‘ You know that I can send you down below before its muzzle got free from the holster. But I see that you’re a mule for stubbornness and a fool for hardihood. Nothing will. do you but to dope reen glim; so here goes for the last count. But the count was not completed. Captain Bland’s hands went up like a flash, while his face became livid with fear, and his involuntary gasp was plainly audible to all of his men, “Forward march!” commanded the prisoner, now dropping his tone of banter, and speaking in the short, sharp, crisp, ringing tones of a man who had resolved to permit no further paltering. Captain Bland, accepting the situation at last, advanced promptly. ‘* Halt!” _The captain stopped with soldier-like preci- sion. * About face!” The robber wheeled as on a Deftly the prisoner disarm “Now, sir, retire yonder.” - And so, taking them one by one, he disarmed the whole band. : “« And now,” said the prisoner, ‘‘ we can ne- gotiate at our ease. I am going to allow you what you would have denied me.” “What is that?” ““ A chance for your life!” ‘‘ Look here, stranger,” said the bandit chief, “who are you, anyway?” “You may know me as Arizona !” So Alf Cheswick’s bullet didn’t ‘ finish” the Tron Heart, after all! ivot, his late captor. CHAPTER XIv. THE TEST OF BATTLE! “You may know me as Arizona,” said the bold prisoner. 4 The announcement was received with a mur- mur of astonishment by the mountain bandits, “Fur rocks, boys, the Cap dropped on a scorcher when he waked him up,” whispered one of the men. 5 “T've heard of him before,” said another. “He's the boss sharp that straddled Camp Verde, and clapped it into his breeches pocket for a hull day—single-handed, ye onderstand!” Every one looked upon their late prisoner with a new respect. As for Captain Bland, his jaw bad dropped, *- Tm elected!” he thought, within his quailing heart. ‘‘This is my last round. That fellow will never let up on me until he cooks my se!" “ Let us see just how we stand,” said Arizona, in a business-like way. ‘‘I was out prospecting a little on my own hook, and accidentally stum- bled upon this little hornets’ nest. If you had lain low, I might have gone on, and been none the wiser. But your men thought it a fine joke to bag me and put me through. “Well, they dropped upon me unawares, I pre-empted high lots for three of their crowd, and then the cattle run me under foot with num~- bers, and waltzed me into camp. “y gave you another chance, by offering to call all bets off, and clear out. That wouldn’t do you. Noman should go away with the secret of your rendezvous, ‘Put up, or shut up!’ said OU, AS Sassy as you please. oe Well, things have changed since then. I shall pitch the trump.” ‘What do you propose?” asked Captain Bland uneasily. “*T have concluded not to leavo this pocket except as a member of this band.” ‘But I offered to make you my lieutenant.” “And I said, that I never played second fiddle.” Captain Bland’s face dropped. “Do you expect me to serve under you ?” he demanded, with a frown. “You might do worse than that, my man!” * Better or worse, that I'll never do!” ‘*Don’t trouble yourself, You'll never have the chance.” “What do you mean?” sf That there ain’t room for both you and me! ‘“ And one of us—” ‘ Has pot to go up the flume!” ** At the mouth of the pistol?” “You've hit it!” “But, suppose you get the better of me, that don’t put you in my place, by any means,” “We'll see about that!—Men! “How many of you want a leader who is afraid of neither man nor the devil?—a leader who cheerfully offers his life to the first man who has got the sand to take it?” Not a man spoke. “Come! Out with it!” said Arizona. or no?” “‘T reckon, boss,” said one, finally—‘ without sayin’ nothin’ ag’in’ you, d’ye onderstand—that the boys is purty well satisfied with what they- *ve got. Eh, boys?” There was a general murmur of assent. “That's right!” declared Arizona, as if well pleased. ‘‘I’m glad there are no sneaks among you. The man who would go back on his ca) tain just because he was in a hobble wouldn’t do to serve under me!” “Captain Bland, qmnne got just the band of brave fellows that 1 want. As long as you're alive they'll stand by you, and Ill have no shoe What follows? I must fight you for em | : Now “ Yes f Ww

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20 ‘But, as I said before, killing me won't se- cure my men.” “T flatter myself that I can negotiate with them when you. are out of the way. But whether I can or can’t is an after consideration, which can make no difference with one thing, at least. Um boaid to fight you! So which shall it be?—pistols or knives}—or would you, like the Irishman, prefer that we sit down here and see which dies first in the ordinary course of nature?” “Well, sir,” cried Capain Bland, who was far from being a coward. ‘J will show you that I can be a man as well as you, “My gallant band, I want first to thank you for your loyalty to me. I have always tried to do the square thing by you—” “That you have, captain! Raise her, boys! raise her!” “ ! Ay!” sheik: you have stood handsomely by me. Now I propose to meet Arizona, hyar. It 'm rubbed out, give me a white burial!” “That we will, captain!” * Afterward, you can do as you please about making terms with my conqueror. But, if you don’t want to serve him, I want it to be an un- derstood thing that he goesfree. I know ho’ll not give you away, boys, if you prefer to fight under one of your old number.” **) agree to that,” said Arizona. “You Ba your words, then, men?” asked Captain land. “Ay, captain. There'll be nothing but fair play in this camp.” “Then, sir,” to Arizona, ‘I’m ready. I choose pistols, at twelve paces!” The preliminaries were soon over. Then in that mountain pocket, far up mae the clouds, with the scene lighted by the luri flames of the en foe and those bearded out- laws ranged at either side, theso men faced each other, their revolvers hanging at their sides, * Gentlemen, are you ready?” A dead silence! “One!—two /—THREE!” A double flash!—a blended report! Captain Bland fell upon his face, without a groan! Arizona stood like a rock! CHAPTER XV. SHORT-AN’-DIRTY. STANDING behind her deserted bar, and potind- ing it vigorously with a ‘ billy”—a short club of seasoned hickory, as hard and almost as heavy as iron, with which she was wont to “ cool off” such patrons of the Lone Hand as become too “ obstropalous” — Short-an’-dirty would have but ill served ac a painter’s model—that is to —— in 7 se mi of beauty! er frowsy head was a “ mop” of yellow hair, twisted into a tumble-down, scraggy knot. Such portions of her face as had come in contact with water were plainly distinguishable from other — where this accident had not befallen. Her ess was of the simplest and most primitive kind allowed by law, consisting of a gray woolen skirt girting in an upper garment of muslin, of which suffice it to say that the sleeves were yolled up above the elbows, disclosing red, mus- Captain Arizona, cular arms, which never failed to command respect when set akimbo, with hands on hips. Shoes and stockings Short-an’-dirty despised, save when the rigors of winter necessitated the donning of boots; then she incased her delicate feet in men’s sizes! Perhaps some of this personal neglect was due to the fact that Short-an’-dirty had but one eye; and then, as the “boys” all agreed, she was ““noways proud.” Now her face was fairly oe with porten- tous fury; her lips were livid; her one eyo gleamed ominous lightnings! When she had thus ‘“‘called the meeting to order,” one of the miners anticipated her in a way that showed that this sort of summons was not unfawiliar, and also “‘gave away ” its usual significance :— “It’s all right, Short-an’-dirty. This hyar’s all peaceable, an’—” “Dry up yer yawp, Billy Blowhard!” thua- dered the Amazon, from a pair of lungs which certainly betrayed no consumptive tendency, “ur, the fu’st thing you know, you'll wake up an’ find yerself a-sailin’ out o’ hyar like a ring- tailed snorter, with a swelled head!” Abashed by this sounding threat, Billy Blo-v- hard, who owed his nickname to a certain weak- ness for braggadocio, “wilted”; and ‘all hands” waited for Short-an’-dirty to announce her sovereign pleasure. “Hark! my dear colonel,” whispered the judge, radiant with smiling anticipation. ‘ She’s acharacter! Here’s more life!” “Phat a melojus voice she has!” muttered Pa. “Yuck at the forrum o’ the swate crayther! An’ d’ye moind the dilicate airrums of her; an’ the two han’s that take me hairt inthoirely! Troth! it’s equally at home she’d be at the wash-tub or spankin’ the childher!” “Look a-hyer, boss!” said Short-an’ dirty, glaring at “Appy ’Arry with her one eye in a way that showed that sho was on a ‘ business trip” this time, if never before, “did I under- stand you to order the drinks fer the crowd?” Now ’Appy ‘Arry had traveled, and knew a thing or two; so he “‘dropped” with a smile that would have sweetened sour cream. * Certainly, my dear mailam!—most assured- ae he answered, with effusion. ‘I thought that was hunderstood. Heverybody calls for w’at ‘e wants, and for as much of it as ’e wants; and I stand the footing. Step hup, gentlemen —don’t be barshful! But, stay! hour fair ostess ‘ad better ’and the liquor round, per’aps. There may be thirsty gents ‘oo would rather not lose their places ’ere by stepping hup to the bar. Hanything at all, ma’am, to make it livelier for you. I halways like to encourage ’ome trade, and above all to favor the ladies!” If Short-an’dirty was mollified, she did not show it by any pleasanter expression of face. Grimly che set to work to fill the certainly handsome ordcr G bet prtron. muttering to herself: “Yt's all right, my covey, as iong as you keep up the racket at this end 0’ the shop; dvt when you fergit that ceremony, you're electes *~ the imperial h'ist through that thar door—pw yer bottom dollar on that, sonny! Ef you inter- ' {

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Captain Arizona. 21 duce side games in this ranch, you've got to pay e go—licker up, an’ money down!” “ Ah! my dear colonel, what do you think of eset gua Judge Stubbs, rubbing his hands eefully. en I think that that unwashed fiend has her one eye directed exclusively to business!” said the colonel, with a frown of dislike. ‘An’, faith! the Englishman too!” added | | into this fight. Patsy. ‘For ivery drink that comes out av his pocket he’ll put the price o” tin in!” “That's life!” commented the judge, com- placently. Meanwhile, Short-an’-dirty was availing her- self of her opportunities. Without waiting for orders, she set liquor be- fore every one in the room, with an expedition which showed that she knew how to “rush” business. Perhaps there was a tinge of sarcasm in ’Ap- y ’Arry’s voice as he suggested, blandly: P “If you honly ‘ad an assistant, my dear ma- am. Short-an’-dirty bristled at once. Stopping short in her active ‘“ whisky-sling- ing,” she stood in the middle of the floor with arms akimbo and hands on hips, “Took a-hyar, young feller,” she cried, “‘ you're green in these hyar parts; but ef you’re goin’ to make this hyar shebang yer stampin’-ground, ye might as well l’arn the ropes fu’st as last. “ The fu’st law an’ gospel o’ this byar piace is that Short-an’-dirty runs the hull machine! No back talk! I don’t like chin-music fer nothin’! I’m chief hyar, an’ run the thing to suit myself. So shut up yer dog-gone meat-trap an’ mind yer own business, ur through that door you sail on the Rocky Mountain Lightnin’ Express! Don’t take my say-so, pilgrim. Ax any 0’ the boys. They’ve heared this racket before, an’ know it’s A No. 1, copper-bottomed, an’ riveted on the inside! You hear me? It’s Short-an’-dirty that’s talkin’! I plays a lone hand in this hyar barrack, you bet!” And, having blown off all her steam, Short- an’-dirty resumed her work as if no interrup- tion had taken place. “Peppery!” commented Judge Sam Stubbs, nudging Colonel Dangerfield delightedly. ‘Be me sowl, she’d make the quane o’ moth- er-in-laws!” suggested Patsy. Colonel Dangerfield had nothing to say. Evi- dently Short-an’-dirty ‘held over” him. *Appy ’Arry was too wise to bandy words with the virago. He was“ coining” money. That ‘sufficed for him. At this moment the door swung wide, to give admittance to a man who evidently expected, and was bound to have ‘‘ elbow-room.” “Ah! my dear colonel, here is the king-pin of this cut-throat community! I expect to have to hang him before long!’ murmured the judge, with great complacency, considering the san- guinary character of his expectations. ee CHAPTER XVI. BROTHERS OF THE LARAMIE HILLS. Tux echoes of the pistol-shots died away among the crags that shutin the mountain pocket which formed the bandit’s stronghold, leaving the si- lence of death behind. Arizona faced the men whose leader he had just slain. “Well, gentlemen,” he asked, “‘ was that uare?” Not a man spoke. ‘*No dissenting voice? Then let’s to business, You know one of the purposes of my entering I want a band of men ready to follow me anywhere I dare to lead them; and rest assured, [ dare to Jead you anywhere on earth! How many of you will enter my ser- vice?” * Captain Arizona, I’m one!” a) bushy-whiskered fellow stepped for- ward, “What is your name?” asked Arizona, “The boys call me Scowler.” * On account wo hg smiling countenance, eh? Not badly named. What was your position under Captain Bland?” “T was second in command.” “‘ Lieutenant Scowler, I’m glad to accept your services,” said Arizona, with a peculiarly signi- ficant emphasis on the title, as he extended his hand. wy think we shall get along famously.” “ Thankee, sir; Pll do my best.” “Captain Arizona, J shall be glad of a place under you.” * And your name?” “ Snaky!” “ Ah! you havea witamong you; andashrewd fellow, Pll wager!’ I shall find employment for all your cunning.” So one and all of the band came over to their new captain. “And now, my men, for the oath of allegi- ance,” cried Arizona. Standing opposite Scowler, he placed the point of his bowie-knife against his bared brea: just over the heart, and received the point o! his lieutenant’s weapon in a similar fashion. In his left hand he held a cocked revolver, which he pointed at Scowler’s head. Following his example, the men ranged them- selves in a double line, bared their broad breasts, each placing the keen point of his knife over a comrade’s heart, and receiving one in return; and each gazed down the black throat of a re- volver. Standing in this weird fashion, the night-shrouded heavens overhead, the mountain peaks ranged round and looking down upon them like grim sentinels, and the lurid firelight cast over all, they repeated after their captain the provisions of the oath. f “ We swear to be true and loyal toour captain and to each other! » “ We swear to stand by our captain and each other in distress to the sacrifice of our own lives! Be ‘““We swear to obey, promptly and without question, the commands of our captain and other officers, each according to bis rank! “We swear to shoot or stab unto death, with- out fear and without favor, any one who shall betray his captain, or any of his fellows, or any of the secrets of this organization; and to accept the same fate for ourselves, at the hands of our comrades, if we shall in like manner betray the trust reposed severally in us! Sete

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. Captain Arizona. 23 climbin’?” whispered one, whose intentions were oe than the words in which he couched them. But, not seeming to hear him, ’Appy ’Arry advanced to the bar with easy assurance, and a look of questioning on his face. Judge Stubbs was delighted. F ‘Now, for it, my dear colonel!” he whispered tipping his hat further over his eye and rubbing his hands with enthusiastic expectancy. “The dirthy little divil! Sure he’ll ate *um!” was Patsy’s comment. ““Well, sir, you’re a stranger to me} but so are all the rest of these gentlemen. I ’ave the honor to stand treat this hevening; and if you will join us in a social glass, we'll ’ave another hallands-round. Put up your money, sir. Hey- erything is as free as the hair you breathe!” In reply to this cordial invitation, Arizona glanced contemptuously at his would-be host, and growled: “ Aw! button up your lip! A mouth as big as yours is apt to get slapped, if you poke it round whar it ain’t wanted!” At this wanton insult ’Appy ’Arry’s eyes flash- ed angrily. , “What, sir!” he cried, “‘do you not only re- fuse to drink with me—that’s affront enough in this country,I hunderstand—but must you repay a enced with hinsolence of speech!” eigning no reply, Arizona coolly turned his back on the incensed Englishman, and addressed the proprietress of the saloon, with a touch of impatience in his voice: “ Will you give me my change?” Thus far Short-an’-dirty had stood with mouth agape, staring at "Appy ’Arry, thunderstruck at the pc of this ‘“ whiffet” who dared to quarrel with the man whose eye alone had cowed her. The sound of Arizona’s voice so startled her that she*dropped the coin into the open till, cry- ing: R Yes, boss!—yes!” But °A: py ’Arry’s voice rung clear and high. SOEs "Havens! you shall drink or fight!” And, with a bound, he snatched both of Ari- zona’s unguarded revolvers from his belt. Like lightning Arizona slapped his hand be- hind him, where no ready pistol-butt now a his eager grip, and whirled upon his @ looked straight down the bores of his own weapons, held as steady as rocks; then glanced up cK a pair of blue eyes that glistened like steel. Well, you'd better believe there was a star- tled cominunity in the Lone Hand Saloon, just about that time o’ day! A groan of dismay rose from that score of throats. After that, perfect silence fell. Everybody cwas yor with expectancy. What would Ari- zona do The stranger certainly ‘‘ had the drop on him.” If he chose to keep that advantage, the comb of the cock o’ the walk was unmistakably cut—he was powerless! Little or big, the revolver puts all men on the same plain. 3 Short-an’-dirty was the first to regain her. tongue; perhaps because she was the only wo- man in the room: “You little whelp of a British manikin!” she eried. ‘“‘Do you dast to come over byar an’ raise a row in my shebang? Consarn yer dirty leetle picter! Tll pitch ye neck an’ crop into the street! Blow me ef I don’t!” And snatching up the billet which was her favorite weapon, she rested one band on her bar and vaulted over it, ‘‘ just like a real man!” But, before she could make any demonstra- tion against "Appy ’Arry, Arizona himself caught her by the arm and whirled her out of the way. ** Do you know whose quarrel you’re meddling in?” he demanded, with a frown that subdued the termagant at once. He was sufficiently humiliated at the advan- tage the Englishman held over him, in the pre- sence, too, of members of his own band. Ho did not wish to be made a laughing-stock by having it said that he was helped out of his **hobble” by a woman. Scowler next interposed, coming to the relief of his chief: “Hold on thar, stranger! Fair play is fair play the world over. You can’t jump on a man re way without callin’ of him an’ givin’ him a ow. A murmur of assent ran round the room. But Arizona wou!d not accept even this, ** Waal,” he said, ‘‘ it seems as if I had lots of friends. Much obliged, gentlemen; butI reckon I can fight my own battles.” “No offense, boss,” replied Scowler. ‘I only wanted to see an even thing, man to man,” ““As for you, sir,” proceeded Arizona, frown- ing at “Appy’Arry, “give me half a show— drop those pistols to your side, and let me draw my bowie, and [ll fight you with that advan- tage. “You put a low hestimate on my self-esteem,” said ’Appy *Arry, pleasantly. ‘‘I hask no ad- vantage over you, sir.. I only want to keep you Fae chewing me hup, while I make a proposi- ion. “Well, sir, what proposition?” “This! The Yankee way of settling little per- sonal differences of this kind is not hexactly the Hinglish way, ye know. You’re a bigger man than I am, and just as well put together. “Now suppose we aside hart and rely wholly on nature ? What do you say to a bout at fisticuffs, just to amuse the lads, ye know?” “ Any thing that es prefer,” said Arizona, carelessly drawing his bowie-knife and laying it on the bar. 2 “ As promptly ’Appy ‘Arry handed the pistols back to their owner, with a bow. : Without removing his coat, the Englishman got into position. - Arizona imitated his example. The spectators were delighted, and instantly fell to betting on the result. Arizona’s reputation made public opinion shy of ’Appy ’Arry, but after the first preliminary asses—feelers, so to speak—the Englishman lon backers. “All of asudden he shot forward a lightning The biddest bloke in the country might | » bounce the best of us in that style. We don’t » look on an’ see no murderin’ hyar!” i / i { ; | '

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\ blow, taking Arizona a stinging clip fairly be- tween the eyes, sending him to grass, and fetch~ Ang he claret in streams, ‘or once in his life, at least, the iron-hearted adventurer lost his head, Furious with humiliation at the shout that } went up over his downfall, he got upon his feet and rushed madly at his adversary. Instead of dodging his assault, ’Appy ’Arry suddenly bent forward and downward, thrust his head between the legs of his foe, and, rising instantly, threw him a complete somerset over his head! Arizona struck fairly on his back, and lay stunned and motionless. The battle was over before the spectators re- alized that it had actually begun. . Tho dismayed silence was broken by Scowler’s voice shouting: “Foul! Foul!” And he sprung forward, drawing a revolver with murderous intent! CHAPTHSR XVIII. “WANTED, BUT NOT HON ’AND.” Bor’Appy ’Arry quickly thrust his hands into the ac é-pockets of his coat, and almost in- stantly a pistol exploded, setting his right pock- et afire. The shot was not wasted, for Scowler dropped his weapon, disabled by the passage of a bullet . through his forearm. “Tis a poor preceptor that don’t practice ’is hown preaching,” said’Appy ’Arry, coolly. ‘If I’ad been disposed to show you the same fair play you would ’ave given mo just now, I might ’ave ad your life as well as not.” “By all the gods of battle, colonel!” crie1 Judge Stubbs, in ecstasy, “her Majesty’s sub- ject fired from his pocket, without aim! Ho's as roady with the pistol as with his fists. Bless my soul and ph did you ever see anything more neatly done?” 4 4 But here Short-an’-dirty’s shrill voice rose above the hubbub. “Dye think I’m goin’ to stand the common ruck an’ run fightin’ in my ranch? Dll land you both through that door as sure’s my name is Short-an’-dirty!”’ Whether the virago would have succeeded in making good her words or not, fate here put in a diversion. A piping, childish voice called shrilly: “Oh, Short-an’-dirty! Short-an’-dirty! Tige’s a-(lyin’!|—Tige’s a-dyin’! Seo’im! He’s gaspin’ fur breath! He’s a goner, sure!” And a little runt of a girl, all rags and dirt and frowsy hair, rushed into the saloon from the inner room, carrying in her arms a mancy bull-pup, the ugliest animal that ever was born! Short-an’-dirty uttered a howl of dismay and grief, and forgetting ths belligerents whom she was on the point of ejecting from her door, snatched the dog from the child with one hand, while with the other she dealt her a cuff on the side of the head, which knocked her over and over on the floor. ‘ “Oh, dear me suz! oh, dear me suz! what shill Ido?’ she howled, rushing about distractedly, with tae bull-pup hugged toher bosom, ‘‘ Thar! thar! Tige, don’t ye goan’ flummix! Oh, Lord! “ Captain Arizona. he’s bu’sted! What shill I do? what shillI do? Boo!—hoo!—hoo!” And blubbering with grief she ran off with her strange pet into the inner room, leaving the saloon to take care of itself. p Howly Mother!” shouted Patsy, ‘‘ ain’t that tho b’atin’ o’ the divil?” While the rest stood aghast, wrestling with a strange idea. Was it possible that Short-an’- dirty loved anything? But before the question was solved there came the sound of a measu.ed tramp! tramp! and a gruff voice commanding: “Steady, men! Heyes right! Carry batons! Blast this bloody country! You never know whether you’re hon your ead or hon your ’eels, by Joe!” *Appy ’Arry was seen to start and glance about as if for some avenuo of escape, mutter- ing: ‘’Havens and hearth!” The next instant he bolted into Short-an’- peers virgin bower, slamming the door after im, A yell of rage showed how Short-an’-dirty re- csived this intrusion into her private apartment, Then there was the sound of a window-sash hastily raised, a seuffling noise, as of some one making a hurried exit, and the window went down with a bang, just as the saloon door swung open to give admittance to three men dressed in the uniform of the London police, with glazed helmet and strap at the chin. They were evidently a sergeant and two men from the ranks, The officer was a grizzly old fellow; his subor- dinates looked like wooden soldiers; and all three were stiff as ramrods. ‘‘Dress hup, there! Heyes right!” he com- manded, as they entered the door shoulder to shoulder, keeping ste> like soldiers on dress pa- rade. 5 “Alt!” e They came to a standstill in the middle of the room, Producing a small scroll of paper, the sergeant cried in a sing-song tone: “Hin the name of "Er Graceous Majesty, Queen of Great Britain and Hireland and Hem- press of Hindia, I call upon ’Arry ’Ammohd hotherwise known as Appy ’Arry, to surrender is body to the servants hof ’is righteous sover- eign! “Eh? What is it? "Ts it alive?” “Does it breathe?” “ Pinch it and see if it hollers!” With facetious suggestions, the miners gath- ered about the strange new-comers, grinning broadly with amused curiosity. They plucked the coat of the policeman, who never moved a muscle. They walked about the sergeant, staring at him as if he were some curious animal on exhi- bition. “Who an’ what in thunder be you anyway?” demanded one. “Hi, sir? I am the representative of the magisterial power of the British Hempire, sir! more especially of the city of London, Heng- land! J am in quest of ona ‘Appy *Arry, and

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Gaptaia cad ‘ave traced ‘im to this ’ouso! ‘im hany where?” “Eh, gents?” laughed the miner, “he’s after the illustrious English Absentee and Great North American Non-est inventus, fur_a sure- enough fact! As the leetle cuss said, when wanted, he ain’t on hand! Ha! ha! hal “See byar, stranger, the gent you’re after has.piked out.” “As what, sir? Do you suppose I hunder- stand the bloody hidioms of this blarsted coun- try? We talk Hinglish over in Hingland, ye know!” you talk English, do ye? Waal, the ‘Ave you secreted “Oh! only English-talkin’ party in this community is in the back room thar. Look-a-hyar, boss—I don’t cotton to that Happy Harry—don’t take no stock in him, nohow. He’s just cleaned out the boys, an’ I’ll give him away to ye. When he heard you fellers a-comin’, he jist bolted into that thar room. Ain’t that’so, boys?” All assented. “Go in thar, an’ you'll drop on him like a thousand o’ brick! Isay, boss, don’t forgit my share o’ the reward,” “Forward march!” commanded the sergeant, And tramp! tramp! tramp! they went into Short-an’-dirty’s eanciaieem: 2 The friendly miner slyly pulled the door to after them. Then from that room proceeded Short-an’- eure war-whoop, followea by a wild commo- tion For the space of thirty seconds everything sailed! Then the door was burst open, and forth sallied three policemen with remnants of helmets and coats, and Short-an’-dirty fetching up the rear with a mop, screaming like a tiger- cat at every jump! The miners cheered lustily while this interest- ag Ses ee flew about the saloon, atching their chance, the discomfited officers of the law rushed back into Short-an’-dirty’s retreat and slammed the door in her face; and thus they ‘‘held the fort,” in spite of her wildest efforts to get in at them, yelling: “‘They’re in thar alone with that poor dorg, Tige! Oh, luddy gracious! they'll tramp on his blessed body!” But now from without came shriek after shriek, rending the air, and the sound of a horse’s hoofs flying at break-neck speed by the oon. In a twinkling the Lone Hand emptied itself into the night, a ** Good God! wa’n’t that a woman’s voice?” CHAPTER XIX. A MAD RIDE. Down the road, dimly discernible in the dark- ness, was a figure flying as for dear life. “Tis a man!” cried one. ‘The Englishman, most likely.” ‘But thar’s a woman on ahead,” said a man who now came up, out of breath with run- ning. et knowed that was a woman’s scream.” “‘T tried to stop her up the road; but Lord! I thought that thar hoss would jump out o’ his skin! The leetle one stuck on like a wood-tick, an’ went sizzlin’ by hyar, when the gent come as Arizotia, 23 from behind the house an’ took arter ber ot the keen jump.” , ; + But who’s the woman critter? Not the ? “Ts thar anybody else o’ the petticoat brigade in this ayer community what’s likely to ride a-hossback?” “Gentlemen! gentlemen! what is all this about?’ asked Judge Stubbs, who, not being the spryest on foot, had just succeeded in ma ing his way from the saloon. “The Rose is run away with on the parson’s bay hoss,” ‘Miss Evans run away withand you all stand hyar like a lot of— Waal! waal! is nothing to be done to rescue her from perhaps a frightful death? She sage 4 be‘ thrown from her horse and killed! Is this the way the men of Poker Pocket look after their women? Get me a horse! T'll shame you all!” But there was no horse to be had, and as quick as the miners found out that ‘‘The Rose” was in danger, many of them rushed off promptly enough on foot. And now a new character appeared on the scene—a man whose clerical dress showed that he must be the ‘‘parson,” whose horse was said to have run away with the Rose of Poker Pocket. He wasa small man, yet with a full beard, which contrasted oddly with his high-pitched, falsetto voice. He spoke with a nasal twang, and an affected, ministerial drawl. “My dear brethren,” he said, wringing his hands in apparent distress, ‘‘ what ¢s this celami- ty which has fallen upon us? Much I fear that I may be unwittingly the cause of untold suf- fering, if not death, to our beloved sister in the Lord, and bereavement to the mother, already sore afflicted in her widowhood—ah! May a kindly Providence avert this dread disaster!” Arizona had recovered from the shock of his fall in time to be among the first who emerged from the saloon, and now stood among the group that lingered before the Lone Hand. king hard at the minister, he asked: ‘*Did you lend your horse to the young lady?” “To my now unavailing regret, I did,” replied the divine, bumbly. ‘‘I have always esteemed it a pleasure to contribute in every way possible to the enjoyment of one cut off from association with her own sex, and cast among the trials and dangers of a mining-camp—ah! Alas! I never dreamed of danger in an animal which has al- ways seemed manageable.” “Hold on, boys! Hyar comes her mother! Fer God’s sake! don’t give it away that any- thing’s up?” But the warning came too late __ A poor dumb creature, her face hidden by a hood and vail, came up, wringing her hands and appealing to the crowd with inarticulate cries of distress, ‘ 65 “Ah! sister Evans,” said the minister, ‘‘do not give way, I beg of you! We are all in the hands of the Lord, without whom not a sparrow falls—ah! Whatever be permits is for the best. Let us hope and pray that He will withhold the chastening hand from one on whom the cross of affliction already bears heavily,” % eny

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Gaptain Arizona. aaa - The woman sighed and moaned, and clung to the minister’s hand. “Don’t take on, ma'am,” said Judge Stubbs, stepping up to her. ‘“‘ Hverything has been and will be done that can be. A dozen brave men have flown to the rescue, and will no doubt re- port progress Sen Meanwhile, ’Appy ’Arry, having escaped from Short-an’-dirty’s back window, had mounted his hierse a in time to be in readiness to go in pur- suit of the flying figure that sped through the darkness with such startling screams, By the sight from the saloon window, he saw a horse with the bit in his teeth, a vicious gleam He ms eyes, and his ears laid close back to his ead, As he ran, he kicked his heels wildly in the air and screamed with pain or rage. On his back was a lovely girl, not more than eighteen, at furthest, with ghastly, fear-drawn face, and fair hair streaming in the wind. She clung in frantic terror to the saddle while shriek after shriek went up from her ashen lips. *Appy ’Arry was well mounted, and giving _ horse the rein, ho urged him with voice and eel. So began a wild chase! Would the rescuer overtake the beautiful girl in time to save her; or would she be hurled to death from the back of her unmanageable steed? Into the darkness they rushed, down the mountain road, which was thickly beset with dangers. Here a bowlder might have fallen from a cliff, to lie a fatal stumbling-block hidden by tho darkness; yonder a land-slide might block the way; further ona gully might have been worn in the road by the last rain, a step into which might throw horse and rider, and break the neck of one or both; while at any point the sharp angles of the road might hurl the heedless racer against the face of a bluff or over a preci- ice! is But gradually "Appy ’Arry’s fleeter horse forg- ed ahead, until he was in danger from the flying heels of the runaway. Now straining their iron thews, they ran neck and neck. The girl had stopped screaming, now that suc- cor was at hand, and rode with sot teeth and bated breath. “Look out!” cautioned "Appy “Arry. “If your ’oss shies, I will catch you.” Now came the critical moment, with life and death in the balance! With a last look ahead, to see if there were any dangers close at hand, ’Appy ’Arry gave his whole attention to the horse he meant to conquer, A last urging of his faithful steed, and he was far enough ahead to bend forward and reach to grasp the bit of the runaway. Seeing himself passed, the vicious animal sud- denly snapped with his teeth, and nearly caught’Appy ’Arry’s hand, but the event was fortunate, for it released the bit and the next sg he was being curbed with a hand of on. Now ensued a terrible struggle, His onward course checked, the horse seemed to go fairly mad, ee He reared and plunged and kicked and bit and screamed with fury. The very devil seemed to ee him! Every moment threatened to see his fair rid- er thrown over his head, to be bruised and man- gled on the rocky road. It was wonderful how the girl retained her seat. But this was not the first horse, by any means that the Rose of Poker Pocket had seen; ana, her first terror allayed, she was watching her opportunity. There was an instant in which the horse seem- ed to be gathering his forces for a renewed struggle; and in that instant the Rose leaped off and alighted on her feet, unhurt. ‘“‘Bravo! bravo!” cried ’Appy ’Arry, in keen admiration, But, strange to say, tho horse, late so frantic, suddenly became quite tractable, save a slight restlessness which might be the remains of his recent intense excitement, “Ware you ’urt?” asked ’Appy ’Arry, dis- mounting. “Not the least,” replied the girl, in a sweet voice, somewhat quavering, of course, ‘*Let me congratulate you! You ’avé ’ad a terrible ride. If you will mount my ’oss—do you feel strong enough?—I will take charge of this fellow; and we shall be hable to relieve the hanxiecty of your friends in a few minutes.” “Tf you feel confident of being able to man- age my horse—I don’t know what can have got into him—I think I can ride yours.” “Hall right! Vl change the saddles in a Jiffy.” he girl laughed. “No need of that. You see that mine is a gentleman’s saddle, The horse was lent me by the Rev. Mr. Pillsbury.” “°F haught to be careful ow ’e lends such a vicious hanimal to a lady.” “But [ve ridden him before; and he never re ase re nd lightly she sprung from ’Appy ’Arry’s hand to the back of her ra horse.” i *Appy ’Arry leaped into the saddle of the late runaway, and— Away he shot like an arrow, on a return over the road he had come at the same mad pace! The Rose of Poker Pocket stared in dismay after her vanishing rescuer. What had got into thatstrange horse! CHAPTER XX. REVELATION—DENUNCIATION! “Ffyar she comes ag’in on the back track! {Stop er, boys!—stop ’er!” “Took out! The devil’s in the beast!” “Ai! il” “ By the eternal! he’s down!” The horse had ridden through the crowd that attempted to oppose his passage; hurling one man tothe ground. _ “But, did you see?—it wa’n’t the gal, at all!” “No; it was a man, fur a fact.” * And that Englisher.” “But it was the parson’s hoss. I’d know him among a thousand.” “Whar in thunder did he git the parson’s boss?—an’ whar’s the gal?” “‘That’s adowner. I pass!” b

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Captain Arizona, P| “Th? What's this?” “The gal, fur rocks!” “Hurray! hurray! Raise ‘er, boys! The Rose iseafe! Hip! hip!” ‘Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!” You had better beliove the rocks rung with the lusty shouts! And when the Rose came up, she explained the strange pcan and the men formed in procession about her, like a body-guard, and so rere her back to the Lene Hand at a double- quick, f Meanwhile, on hia crazy horse, ’Appy “Arry had charged down upon the crowd before tho Lone Hand Saloon. Some scattered with cries of warning; but Arizona sprung before the maddened animal, and his iron hand curbed his wild flight. As before, the horse screamed and bit and kicked, until Appz ’Arry leaped from his back, when he became tolerably quiescent. “Now look out furatornader! ITe’ll mount that Englisher!” muttered one of the miners, But instead of renewing the hostility between them, Arizona said: “You downed me fair and square, and there I'm content to let the matter rest for the pres- ent, as l’vo got bigger business on hand. But I won’t answer for the future. [may come for you again.” “Hall right, sir, said Appy *Arry, careless- ly. “‘YH’old myself at your service whenever you say the word.” But from the Lone Hand rushed a creature wild with passion. “T’ve been robbed! I’ve been robbed! Whar’s the leetle British scalawag what’s played roots on Short-an’-dirty! Trot out the sneakin’ var- mint until JT mount him! I'l] show him a Yan- kee trick wo’th two of his Johnny Bull games. Wait till I caterwamptiously chaw his year fur 4im! Whar is the galoot?” And just as "Appy ’Arry turned, the virago hurled herself upon him, tooth and nail. For a moment there was a mad scuffle, while Short-an’-dirty’s screams cut the air shrilly. Then her petticoats fluttered like sails in a hurricane, while her body went through some sort of evolution—nobody knew whether it was a somerset, or just what—and she was discovered seated on the ground, with her hands held firm- ly behind by her English conqueror. “He downed Arizona, an’ now he’s whipped Short-an’-dirty!” muttered a miner, in a sort of awe. As for Short-an’-dirty, her tussle with *"Appy *Arry had left her breathless and dazed. In that moment of silence, "Appy ’Arry said: “Now, be reasonable. woman. I ’ave no de- sire to wrong you hout of a cent. My flight from your saloon was— Lord!” Without fin shing, he dropped her hands, and darted away in the darkness. From round the corner of the house came the command: “Steady, men! Heyes right! March!” And tramp! tramp! came the London police, shoulder to shoulder, and necks as stiff as if they had taken a sudden cold in them. As before, the Henglish Habsentee was not hon ’and!’ Then Short-an’-dirty ‘‘went for” those de- voted officers of justice, “He's a countryman of yours, and you'll have to foot the bill!” she shouted; and pouncing upon the unhappy sergeant, she captured him and dragged him into the saloon to hold him as hostage. Meanwhile, Arizona had been quieting the horse of the Rev. Mr, Pillsbury. While patting and smoothing the reeking hide of the animal, he slid his hand under the saddle, and drew forth, as he had expected, a thorn whose sharp point galled the horse’s tender flesh and ve him distracted the moment there was any weight in the saddle. Of this he said nothing to tho crowd, who were yelling themselves hoarse over the safe re- turn of the Rose; but’ presenting the thorn to the Rev. Mr. Pillsbury, he said:— “You're an infernal fraud! ‘What interest have you in breaking the neck of that girl?” “T? I? I do not understand you, sir!” stammered the minister, ‘Oh, yes you do!” persisted Arizona, “ You put that thorn under the saddle for the express purpose of goading the horse to run away, in the hope that the girl might be killed—by acci- dent !—you pious humbug! Ill see you later!” “Sir! Sir! Dare you accuse a minister of the Gospel—” But Arizona had turned on his heel to give his whole attention to the Rose of Poker Pocket, who was just dismounting from his horse. At sight of her he started violently. “*Gcod Heavens! can it be?” he cried. Then, after a nearer view: “By all that’s fortunate! it is—the bonny Claire! At last! at last!” His face glowed with unholy triumph. All unconscious the girl had sprung into the arms of her mother. The dumb woman clasped her child in_her_ arms and kissed her, without lifting her vail. “My beautiful Claire!” repeated Arizona. ‘Then who is this mother? Her mother died years ago. And why this mystery of a vail?— and dumb! By Jove I have, it! Aha! aha! They iaugh best who laugh lact! Now it is my pet Perhaps the game’s not played out ye Strange to say, another had been affected big Ara th to Arizona. ping back in the darkness, on discovering that Short-an’-dirty had demoralized the repre- sentatives of British justice by capturing their leader, "Appy ’Arry was also gazing on mother and daughter, and muttering: : ‘“'tnat’s surely the girl. Then the hother must be— *Fllo!” Ais sudden ejaculation was caused by an un- expected development. The Rev. Mr. Pillsbury stepped forward, and addressing Miss Evans gravely, as she was re- leased from her mother’s arms, said: “1 cannot express my regret at the danger to whieh [ have unwittingly exposed you. Thanks to an all-merciful Providence you are returned to us again, safe from harm.” *yyon’t mention the danger,” said the generous girl. “Of course, it wasn’t your

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But just here came the interruptioti which had checked ’Appy ’Arry’s speculations, “There's no tinie like the present!” muttered Arizona} and stepping forward, he confronted the dumb mother of the Rose of Poker Pocket. “Gentlemen,” he cried aloud, ‘I believe I havea bone to pick with this mysterious female ! Behold how easy a thing it is to be Pee ed!” And with a dexterous twitch, he jerked hood and vail from the head of—AL¥ CuESWICK! With a derisive laugh, he flourished his tro- phies above his head; but suddenly the fist of the whilom dumb woman shot forth, and the iron-hearted adventurer went to grass! Alf Cheswick planted his foot on the breast of his fallen foe and glared about like a lion at bay. Claire screamed and clung to her husband, The miners stood aghast. “What is all this, my dear colonel?” queried Judge Stubbs in bewilderment. ‘By Jove, sir! I don’t understand it at all!” “The sloy divil! Is it a man, I dunno?” cried Patsy. ‘‘ Och, murther! luck at the thricks av that purty crayther!—will yez now? It’s a foin mother she has! There’s the b’atin’o’ the divil in their ways—all 0’ thim!” And at this critical moment the Rev. Mr. Pillsbury stepped forward and said: “Men, bind that fallen ruffian! I denounce him as the outlaw—Captain Bland !” With a howl, Poker Pocket sprung forward as one man; and, struggling vainly to rise, the Iron Heart was pinned once more to the ground. CHAPTER XXI. BOB BOLTON IN AT THE DEATH. BRANDED as & murderer and hopeless of bein: able to prove his innocence, Alf Cheswick ha’ resolved to cast every other consideration to the winds and cleave to his young wife, whom he loved before all things else on earth. He be- lieved that he had killed Patent-leather Joe, and to Claire he explainel the feud between them which seemed to justify the act of ven- nce—how that man had murdered his father, riven his mother insane, come within an ace of wrecking the life happiness of his sister, and, last had sought to rob him of his wife! But, knowing that he had killed one man would Claire ever believe that he was innocen of her father’s murder? He dared not run the risk! He woull fly with her! Sheshould never hear the accusation from mortal lips! They fled, and buried themselves in the mountains, Claire never knowing even that her father was dead. But one day Alf heard of Sheriff Bob Bolton’s pledge to hunt tho murderer of old Stephen Ren- salier to the death. “ He let: me escape from the mob, trusting in his ability to recapture me, and take me before a court of law,” was poor Alf’s fats! mistake. “Tt wasa mere matter of pride with him. It would be a feather in his cap, to so circumvent Judge Lynch in favor of the regularly constitut- ed authorities,” Then it was that he adopted the disguise in which we have found him at Poker Pocket, making Claire believe that he dreaded pursuit on account of the slaying of Patent-leather Joe. At any cost bo would keep his wife, and keep her in ignorance of that terrible accusation. Gaptain Arizona. Now, his mask torn away, he feared—first, that the charge against him would be made in Claire’s hearing; second, that he would be drag- ged off to trial and hanged, So engrossed was he with these apprehensions, that he forgot to wonder at the reappearance of his old foe, alive and well—indeed, he did not realize that it was he until afterward—and thought only of escape with Claire. But another influence was at work. The Rey. Mr. Pillsbury knew that if Poker Pocket got the idea that Arizona was Captain Bland, no one would listen to any counter charge that Arizo- na might wish to bring against the minister; so, in self-defense, he took the initiative. In a trice Arizona was bound and helpless. Then Judge Stubbs came “ to the fore.” “Gentlemen,” he said, ‘this Byer, thing kas turned out about asl expected. I always said that sooner or later I'd have to hang our friend hyer. He’s carried things with a pretty high hand; but rae dog has his day. “Some gentleman get the rope ready while we go on with the trial.” There seemed to be a universal desire to act as hangman; and Poker Pocket was about to rush off in a body for the rope, when the judge inter- fered. “ Don’t all go at once, gentlemen. We'll want a dozen unprejudiced men for jurors. Tho thing’s got to be put Pasig on the square.” Do you think that any of the good citizens of Poker Pocket thought themselves unfitted for jurors on the score of prejudice? They'd scorn the idea, At any rate, no one was prejudiced in favor of the prisoner, They’d give him the benefit of the doubt fast enough? That is to say—if there was any doubt of his being Captain Bland, they would hang him on general principles, So, in lieu of a prisoner’s dock, Arizona was made to stand on a barrel beneath the project- ing limb of a cottonwood; a slight ninth of tho imagination metamorphosed a candle-box into a judge’s bench; and, while the trial progressed an active man shinned up the cottonwood and dangled the noose conveniently near the pris- oner’s head, so that no time need be lost when the verdict had been rendered. Arizona proved his right to the title of the Iron Heart. Ho never deigned so muchasa glance in search of his confederates, but stood likeaman of rock. However, they were mindful of his strait. But let us note a stronge proceeding which took place befora they could act. . *Appy ’Arry had entered the Lone Hand Saloon and paid bis footing on the square. Thereupon Short-an’-dirty had released her hostage of war. A minute later’Appy ’Arry and the self-styled London police were in amicable consultation behind. the saloon! “ He's onr man, heyond question,” said "Appy *Arry; and now, strange to relate, there was no trace of the cockney in his articulation, but, on the contrary, the thoroughly American accents of Sheriff Bob Bolton! “TI had his pistols in hand long enough to see that they were cut with the same initials— P, J.\—and by the same hand as this pretty rib-tickler!”, : W i 5

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, slip in this hanging—the other was jest as near it Captain Arizona. 29 And he displayed the bowie-knife which he had’pitked up in Stephen Rensalier’s garden on the morning of the murder. ‘But the question is whether we can take him out of this camp. As long as the boys are bound to hang him as a road-agent, they would laugh at the idea of giving him up to the slow and uncertain grind of a court, to be tried for a murder a year old. Our only show is to lay low and not show our hands yet. There may be a as he is and got off—and we may have a chance to come for him ag’in.” ““Speakin’ of the other one,” suggested the sergeant, and his crusty old voice was now quite pleasant, and he had lost his stiffness, as had also the members of his squad, ‘‘ while were waitin’ fur something to turn up, why can’t we tell the young feller that his innocence has been proved by a perfect alibi, and that that million is gettin’ moldy waitin’ fur some one to turn it over?” , “A capital idea! We'll act on it,” assented Sheriff Bob Bolton. ‘‘ That pretty little woman has been run from copse to cover long enough! T saw the pair slip into that cabin over yonder just after the mob nabbed Patent-leather Joe. No doubt they are getting ready to break cover and run for it again.’ : ; Paying no heed to the trial which was in pro- gress, the disguised officers glided over to the cabin where the Rose of Poker Pocket and her fugitive husband bad lived unsuspected. knock at the door. Noanswer! Another knock... Still unbroken silence! “They're laying low. ‘Try the door.” Jt yielded to the touch. Within the cabin all was confusion. The drawers of a rude bureau stood open, and their contents had evidently been tumbled about, some of them lying on the floor. But the back decor stood wide open. The birds had flown! “That's the way they went,” cried Bob Bol- ton. ‘‘Comeon, men! We may overtake them. Thar’s no use leaving them to fly from shadows.” But as they emerged from the cabin strange sounds reached their ears. ‘Great Heavens! what’s this?” CHAPTER XXII. CAPTURING A TOWN. Down the road at a furious gallop came a band of armed men. Ina twinkling they had surrounded the ‘ court’ before the Lone Hand Saloon! Every man jack of them wore a black mask! “ Hands up! Surrender!” shouted the leader, brandishing a brace of revolvers. ‘‘ We take possession of thistown.” vs gee Bland! Captain Bland!” passed from lip to li Poker Pockot yielded gracefully to the for- tunes of war. In‘the confusion that ensued Arizona escaped, nobody knew when or how. Five minutes later he reappeared in command of the band of outlaws; and no one could see through his black mask to distinguish him from | the leader under whom they had swept down upon the to wn. The Brothers of the Laramie’ Hills helped | . themselves _to whateyer they saw_in Poker Pocket that pleased their fancy: and the min- ers, overawed, were forced to look on at their own spoliation. But this was only a blind. Arizona had instantly mstituted a search for Atif Cheswick and his wife. As Appy ’Arry had done, he found their cabin empty. The robber chief sent out men to scour the vi- cinity; but neither that night nor the following day were the fugitives found. *Appy ’Arry and the London police had also mysteriously disappeared. ut one prisoner was brought in—the Rey. Mr. Pillsbury#-and, what do you think}—mi- nus his disguise! At sight of the minister, Arizona, thrown off his guard, cried: “Great heavens! you, Hortense?” And the arch-plotter, for it was indeed she, exclaimed in return: ‘“My brother Andrew! Can it be?” “Whom you came within an ace of hanging, my dear!” ** But bow could I know it was you?” “True. I bear you ro malice. But I drop to your little game. Of course you are still after uncle Steve's million?” ‘What do you know about it?” ** All aboutit, my dear sister! Of course, you did lend the horse to facilitate tardy nature?” ‘Well, I suppose there is no use in denying it.” ““None whatever. And now, sister mine, we have both made a mistake. In the past we have been fighting against each other, Now we must strike hands. fn union there is strength!” “* Agreed— share and share alike!” consented Hortense; and they clasped hands. They had not given over the fight for the million, and don’t you forget it! On the following day they quit Poker Pocket. That night, a strange thirg took place in the cabin lately tenanted by tke Rose of Poker Pocket A board in one corner of the floor rose cau- i a and after an interval a head was thrust orth. A moment of listening, and the body followed the head; after which ancther figure emerged. Presently the two crept from the cabin and disappeared in the darkness. Some time afterward a slightly disarranged board led to the discovery of a retreat beneath the floor of the cabin, and then Poker Pocket knew how the Rose had eluded the pursuit of her enemy. But far away she was clasped close in the armsof her husband, happy in their mutual love, though neither knew that this far, at least, they were victors in the game with— . “4 MILLION IN THE Port!” And now, young friends, if you_have had your money’s worth in this first hand in— PATENT-LEATHER JOr’s Bie GAME, perhaps you will be on hand when the cards go round again, with Arizona of the Iron Heart and Hortense Rensalier in partnership, and Sheriff Bob Bolton in the role of the little joker! THE END,

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gage to sh DIM ES PAA Kars. Eaeh Speaker, 100 pages 12mo., containing from 50 to 75 pieces, . Dime American Speaker, No. 1. bay Bape Birthday of Washington, Plea for the Maine Law, Not on the Battlefield, The Italian Struggle, True Nationality, Our Natal Day, Solferino, Intelligence the Basis of ri Liberty, Charge of od rigade, tle, The Glass Railroad, Case of Mr. Macbeth, Prof, on Phrenology, Annabel Lee, Washington's Name, The Sailor Boy’s Syren, Dime National Union and its Results, Our Country’s Future, The Statesman’s Labors, True Immortality, Let the Childless Weep, Our Country’s Glory, Union a Household, Independence Bell, The Scholar’s Dignity, The Cycles of Progress, A Christmas Chant, Stability of Christianity, The True Higher Law, The One Great Need, The Ship and the Bird, Tecumseh’s Speech, Territorial Expansion, Martha Hopkins, The Bashful Man’s Story, The Matter-of-Fact,Man, Rich and Poor. eset the Eclipse, Beauties of the Law, Ge-lang! 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GE ae AD LEs PRICE, FIVE canta, SN 382 OCTAVO PAGES, ROCKE, Pas BRARY. RARRAHDADARDAADRARARAANAARDRAARRHAADADARAARARAR Aw Rina 1 Deadwood Dick. By Edward L. Wheeler, 85°The Boy Miners, By Edw: rd S. El} Kans; s King. By Butfa.o Bill. = 86 Jack Markaway In New York, By Brace- aoe yeahs Dove ee. an Col. Fen Beer ets bridge Hemyng. “ he Double Daggers, By Edward L. Wheeler. 87% The H ir C By Col. Prenti vrs The Two Detectlyes, By Albert W. Aiken, | 88 Deadwood Dickin Leadville, By. L.Wheeley The Prairie Pilot. By Buffalo Bill. : 89 Bill Biddon, Trapper. By Edward S. Ells The Buffalo Demon. By Edward L. Wheeler. | 90 Tippy, the Texan, By Georve Gleason F Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide. By O11 Coomes. 91 Mustang Sam. By Jot. E. Badger, Jr. > Ned ylde, the Boy Scout. By “Texas Jack” | 92 The Ocean Bloodhound. - By Samuel W. Pearce. Butfalo Ben, Prince of the Piswl. “By E. L. Wheeler. | 98 Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. 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