mun-w“ I. . COPYRIGHTED m 1881 BY BEADLE AND Anus. ' in Hill] It”! l' lHill": “l W H! Iii Vol. X11, gutters... avid Adams. }»Pcsusnnas NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 3, 1881. One copy, four months, 01.00 Titans In ADVANCE One 00py, one you, . . . Twocoplel, one year, . No. 599 8.00 . 5.“) VIOLETTE. BY FANNIE MAY WI’I'I’. Let the great world sob and fret All its heart out, woe beset; My life knows but one regret, Violette, Violette! All my soul you drew from me With your eyes. You did not see, But passed on content and free, Violette, Violette! Fringed blue eyes, sweet and wet, Know you not one dumb regret That I remember you for et. 'iolette, iolettef White wood-blossom, ure and meek Passed. My sun set c ill and bleak. You go your way—J must not speak, Violette, Violette! Your path lies fair. It is but meet That rougher hills should bruise my feet. God knows—your sweet face yet may greet Me, climbing slowl , V olette! California John, PACIFIC THOROUGHBRED. A Romance of Needle Bar. BY ALBERT W. AIKEN, AUTHOR or “OVERLAND krr,” “'rnn nurse or FRISCO,” “JOE rnENIx,” ETC. CHAPTER I. A MYSTERIOUS ASSASSINATION. What is this demon that haunts the moonlight? LD PLAY. HE was a “tenderfoot,” and had about all the cargo on board he could conveniently carry when from the saloon he essayed to make his way to the hotel. The moon shinin brightly, it was almost as light as by day, but even a bright moon is of little use to a man well primed with the tent liquor Of Needle Bar, on the Colorado, in marvelous Arizona. Trace the course of the Rio Colorado from its mouth, at the Gulf of California, northward to its source, where the Rio San Juan and the Green river unitin form it, and at the point where the Old tra' from Prescott to Fort Mo- have touches the stream there is a peculiar rock formation which from ancient da 3 has been known as the Needles. At this pomt the iron hand which is to connect the glorious Pacific coast with the old civilization Of the East also crosses the river—this road extending from Al buquerque in the east to an obscure hamlet a few miles from the old town of Los Angeles in the west. The road, as we write, is being constructed with the utmost vigor, and under shelter of the Needles quite a little town has grown up. Needle Bar it is called, probably out of the wish to appear Odd, for there isn’t any bar in the river nor anything else to suggest the title. The head-quarters of the road being fixed for the time being at “ The Bar,” and a large cam of graders, track-layers and other railroa hands being only a mile ofl’, the little settle~ ment grew amazmgly. The tender-foot, as the “ pilgrim ” new to the frontier is known, was a tall, well—dressed man, thirt '-five or fort years old. Any one read in the c aracters to met with just on the bor- ders of civilization would have had no hesi- tancy in setting the stranger down as a “ sport- ing man,” or gambler. He had arrived at the town that evening, coming in byflthe California stage, accompanied by a oung dy whose beautiful face and form woul have attracted attention anywhere, even in the crowded streets of a great Eastern city. No wonder, then, that her entre’e into such a town as Needle Bar should have excited com- motion. Only one little glimpse of her, though, did the loungers around the hotel get, for, entering the house—the Grand Central Hotel, as the lit- tle shanty-like boarding-house was named—she retired almost immediately to her apartment. Not so her escort. After re istering his name as Jason “'entworth, and t e lady as Miss J. Romero, he lounged around the bar-room. In Arizona the “ effete trammels of a pla ed- out civilization ” do not prevail and there ore, to the credit of the men of Needle Bar be it re- corded, the stranger was asked to drink ten times within the first half-hour of his arrival. Seven Of the ten drinks may be set down to the lady’s credit, for good-looking women were few and far between in Needle liar. There were eight or ten of the sex among the two hundred and odd souls that made up the popw lution of the town, but they were, nearly al of them, of the rougher sort—those who had seen wild life in its roughest phases and Were “at home” in such a camp—acting as bar-tenders, waitresses. etc.., etc—not so thoroughly vicious or depraved as they were eager for excitement, but were none the less a source of incessant trouble among the men who frequented the gambling resorts. And when the men of the town com ared this entle, apparently innocent, and real beauti— §ul young lady with these female furies it al- most seemed to their fancy as if an angel straight from heaven had lighted down in The Bar. It was a puzzle to these anxious souls how she came to be in com iany with such a character as the stranger. is wife she was evidently not, nor his sister, either, for she bore a different name; what then was the tie which connected the swaggering sharp with such a pearl? He was a speculator—that was his “platform every time,” and he had come to Needle Bar to look for a good opening to make a strike, and here he winked significantly at his auditors. He was all business from the word go, but if there was any sharp in town who prided him- self upon flipping cards, be reckoned that, for fun, he would try and find out what kind of meat he was made of. Though rather inclined to be loud in talk, there was a certain something about the man— a look in his cold gray-green eyes, a peculiar contraction of his mouth, which to the obserw ant indicated that he could and would make his boasts good with deeds if needed. THE i. ll, a \ l _ h _ \ // In an instant Keno Bill—was on his feet. 333311;, thar stands the murderer,” he cried. There were some “ few men in the town who played keerds once in a while,” the landlord burly Mickey Lynch, modestly admitted, and he further added that he had no doubt some of the “ boys ” would accommodate Mr. \Vent- worth with a game if he was hankering to pass away the time. After sup er was over Mr. Lynch volunteered to show t e stranger round and introduce him to the noted men of the town; the women in the dance-hall the landlord didn’t mention, but they took them in as a mat. ter of course. All the sports were on tip—toe to see the new- comer tackle some of the best card- layers 6f the camp, for his vaunt had-travele quicklg, and more than one sport was anxious to test I: e stranger’s metal. In two or three )laces room had been made for him at the ta le, and the presiding genius had politely intimated that if the gentleman wanted to try his luck he was “ agreeable.” But with a good‘natured grin he had declined the invitations. “ Too much fire-water on board tonight for business, gentlemen. I’m in forfun to-night; just seeing the sights and en- joyipg myself, and I’m an awful bashful man, too; wait until I kinder get used to you a bit; then I’ll take a whack at the animal.” Fairer couldn’t be said, and the crowd voted him “ a brick of the first-water.” But the evil star of the stranger was in the ascendant that night, for the landlord was obliged to leave him to return to the hotel alone. He was in good hands, though, on 'oying the hospitalities of the best known indivi ual in the town, the Keno King, Keno Bill, who kept the saloon, “ The Home of Alcibiades.” It was but a short walk from Bill’s place to the hotel, and it was 0 1y 8. little after eleven o’clock, quite early for eedle Bar, when Jason Wentworth left the saloon and started for the hotel. He was one Of those rare cases who could not possibly become drunk all over, no matter how much liquor he imbibed. His walk was unsteady; his legs were completely under the influence of the strong drink which he had taken: but his head was as clear and calm as though he had not imbibed anything stronger than water. “A nice little town; I reckon I will make the rifile here,” he muttered, as he passed through the shadow cast by a shanty. At that moment there was a ieculiar sound in the air—a whirr, as though a bird was on the wing, and then out into the moonlight, clutching, tearing at his throat in a iparently fearful agony, stumbled the man. own he went on his knees, only to fall backward as though pushed to earth by some invisible hand. A urgling sound escaped from his throat, and t‘lien he ay still. A form stole from around the corner of the shanty, bent over the fallen man for a moment, then lided rapidly back and disappeared be- hind t e old building, while in the silent night the great round moon stared down upon the White face of a death-stricken man. No riflle would the sharp from afar make in the camp of Needle Bar. CHAPTER II. THE HOME OF ALCIBIADES. IN the mining region, down in the great South~west and on the line of semi-civilization that belts the frontier, the hotels and saloons are noted for their Odd names. The odder the name the more popular the place, seems to be the theory of the proprietors of these houses of refreshment for both man and beast, and on the frontier many of the men are much more like beasts than humans. Needle Bar was not behind its sister settle- ments in this respect, for three “ first-class” re- freshment places were there in the place, namely: the “Grand Central Hotel,” which as iircd to receive and entertain all travelers; “ , he Home of Alcibiades,” kept by the Keno King, IVilliam Alcibiades, as he was pleased to term himself (but which name was received with derision and scorn by his fellow~citizens, to whom he was only Keno Bill, or the Keno King. In Bill’s resort was a well-stocked bar. but all the rest of the room was devoted to the fascinating game of keno, which, west of the Mississippi, flourishes like a green bay tree. Keno is nothing in the world but the Old Ger- man game of lotto, so dear to Childhood's days. It is played with cards, buttons and a revolving urn in which dice numbered from one to two or three hundred. according to the number of players engaged in the game, are placed. The cards are divided into s uares, irregularly numbered, and many of t em blank. Each player buys a card, paying so much for it; that money (less ten per cent., which goes to the dealer for his trouble), is the “pool,” or “pet.” The dealer draws a number from the urn and calls it out aloud. Each layer who has that number on his card immediately puts a button on it; the player who first covers one row of numbers straight across his card wins the game. The moment this is done, the fortu- nate man immediately cries out, “Keno!” while the remainder of the players generally ejacu- late, “Oh, blazes!” Then the cards are bought over again and the game proceeds. Where the al- lurement Of the game comes in is the certainty that some one of the players must win the pot, less the ten per cent., and as the pool, when the cards are selling at a dollar apiece, and there are twenty to forty playing, is pretty large, each player by inve.r ting a dollar stands a chance to win from eighteen to thirty-six in return. Where the profit to the bank comes is the un- varying ten per cent. allowance, and it is sure to follow that if ten men with ten dollars each sit down to play keno, and the bank takes ten per cent out of each game, it doesn’t matter who wins; in the end the bank will have the whole hundred dollars. The keno saloon did the best business in the town, for the game was “run on the square.” There is cheating even at such a simple game as keno by collusion between the dealer, the marker-down of the numbers called, and a con- federate player or players. Many a hardy pioneer “down to his uppers,” as the phrase goes, had reason to bless the minute when be invested his last dollar on a keno card, and by a lucky chance hap ening to strike a pot of twenty or thirty do lars was thereby enabled to O on his wa rejoicing. he third an last public resort—not includ- ing the miserable little dens that nestled like unclean things on the outskirts of the town— was “The Silver Hell.” This place disputed with The Home of Alcibiades for the patronage of The Bar. It was drinking-salOOn, dance—house and gum- ing-house combined. The proprietor was known as Charley Yampas, a peculiar personage about whom there was a deal of mystery. He was a man, apparently, for he wore a man’s garb, and was tall and strong, yet he had the face of a woman. In complexion it was as red as the copper-colored skin of any “buck,” an ugly- lookin scar extended across the right cheek from t e corner of the mouth to the eye, indi— cating that a fearful wound had once been in- flicted there, and this scar gave a decidedly savage ex ression to the face. The proprietor of The Si ver Hell was a very quiet, reserved sort of person, rarely sayin much, and when speaking always talking wit a strong foreign accent. All that was known of him was that the name he bore was Charley, and he claimed to be an Indian of the Yampas tribe. But this was utterly ridiculous, the wise men of the town declared, for no such head as he bore ever sat on a red-skin’s shoulders. He might be a half breed, but no full-blooded red buck. For a man suspected of being a woman in dis- guise to run such a place as The Silvor Hell was really marvelous, for all such resorts attract, as their natural patrons, the most desperate and lawless men of the region wherein they are located, but the “ Big Chief,” as the proprietor of the place was usually called, had in at least twenty cases proved that if he possessed the face and some of the attributes of a woman, he had the strength of a giant, the courage of a lion and the skill of a soldier trained from boy- hood to the use of every weapon. No man, no matter how desperate, how reckless of life, or how maddened with liquor, ever cared to brave the anger of the Big Chief a second time. The first lesson was alwa 5 sufficient. Man or wo- man, the owner of t e dance—house could hold his own with any pilgrim who ever set foot in Needle Bar. And now that the reader is acquainted with the three popular resorts which are destined to appear prominently in our story, we will pro— ceed to describe a scene which took place in Keno William’s place just about the same time that the vaunting stranger was meeting his fate at the hands of the silent and mysterious assas- sin in the one street of Needle Bar, the cold moon the only other witness to the death- struggles Of the assailed man. The kenoroom was well filled; the boss him- self was presiding at the wheel of fortune— “shaking ’em up” in obedience to the 0ft— repeated cry from some impatient and unlucky gambler, w o fancied that if the urn was made to revolve violently upon its axis, thus more thoroughly mixing up the numbers inside, the luck might change. A newcomer in the town had made his ap- pearance in the room that night; no one there ad ever seen him before, and how he had got into The Bar was a mystery. He had not ar- rived by the Californian coach, nor by the hack line from the East, both of which arrived daily and at about the same time, and there was al- ways a crowd of loungers around the Grand Central to gape at the passengers. The stran- ger, too, was a first-class passenger; no common man, prospecting miner or adventuring tramp who would be apt to “hoof it ” into town. On the contrary he was a sharp of the first degree, dressed entirely in black, and wearing a “ b’iled ” shirt. No broadcloth suit, though, but one Of black corduroy, almost as strong as leather and well fitted for rough work. After the Southern and Californian fashion, he were no vest, and the bosom Of his shirt was ruffled in the most extraordinary manner. Around his waist a belt was girt, and the keen-sighted ones who “took stock” of the unknown saw that the belt supported two revolvers Of the size known as “navy "—the best tools for des- perate work—and an eight-inch bowie—knife. The man had walked quietly into the saloon said no one had noticed him until he was inside: he had helped himself to a chair, sat down, and tilting the chair back so that he could rest against the wall quietly surveyed the players intent upon the game. “ Keno!” had resounded through the room as a lucky soul put his button on the last num- her, and then brought his big fist with a whack upon the table to give due emphasis to the pea] of victory; the chorus of curses from the rest of the players who had been “left” followed as a matter of course, and then, while preparations were going on for a new game, some one had discovered the resence of the stranger. Never had NEedle Bar been honored by the visit of such an individual. He was a repre- sentative of the old-time sporting man, now al- most extinct upon the Pacific coast. His dress of black, his ruflled shirt, in the bosom of which sparkled a little tiny diamond stud; the smooth- ly~shaven face, a mustache and slight imperial alone adorning it—all to the knowmg eye pro- claimed his trade as accurately as though he carried it emblazoned on his breast. But, this stranger did not seem anxious to join in the game; he sat quietly in his chair and contented himself with being merely “a locker-on in Vienna.” Alcibiades had noticed the man and upon first glance had taken a dislike to him; something about the stranger excited his anger. although it would have troubled him to have told what it was. Perhaps it was the cool, resolute-looking face of the man, or, maybe, the slightly sarcas- Itic expression that certainly rested upon the ace. Now the Keno King, like a lion upon its na- tive henth, brookcd no rival near his domain, and, somehow, the unpleasant thought took pos- l l l l session of him that the unknown visitor might make trouble. Again the yell, “Keno!” was heard, and this time it was a big mule-skinner from Hualpa'i's who had “made the rifle!” The pot was a big one, too—over fifty dollars—and in the joy of his heart, the winner declared that every man in the room must take a drink with him. “Come and hev a ‘bowl!’ ” he yelled, “every doggoned man in the shanty, and the cum wot refuses is a sucker and a boss-thief, and for two cents I’ll bu‘st him wuss than a mule would a—fitin’ a base drum!” All filed up to the bar but the stranger. The mule-skinner had his eye on the quiet man in black, whose bearing contrasted with his own disreputable appearance, which ag- gravated him. “ lVill you drink, pilgrim ?” he roared. “ No, t ank you; much obliged all the same," was the reply. “ See hyer, man ”—and out came a big revol- ver—“ you hev either got to drink or be salted.” u CHAPTER III. SHOWING FIGHT. “ NEITHER the one nor the other,” replied the stranger, who, Without a movement of his chair, raised his right arm and, behold! a cooked re— volver gleamed in the hand, leveled at the breast o the big skinner. “ Don’t make a movement, In greasy friend,” the man in black warned, “ or I" shall be obliged to tunnel through you; then the track—men can follow and put down the iron and before you know what has happened there’ll be an engine and a train of cars running right through on, and if that don’t astonish your insides I on’t know what will.” The big bully glared in speechless rage, but the other went on: “Now, I do not want a fuss with you; I am the quietest of men; so just put up your pop— gun, agree to let the matter drop right hyer and I give you my word I won’t bear the least bit of malice.” Now, this was about the coolest thing the lis- teners had ever heard, but for a wonder it struck the coarse mule-skinner as being ex- tremely funny. “ Waal durn me ef you ain’t a hull team an’ no mista e!” be exclaimed, thrusting his res volver back into its holster and marchin with outstretched paw up to the unknown. “ ut it thar, stranger: it’s all right; you needn’t drink onless you want to h’istIyer p’ison; but I say, stranger, durn me ef won’t feel too mean to lOOk a mule in the face ef you don’t tickle your throat with a leetle bug-juice, jest to ob- lige the crowd and help the house alon .” This was Alcibiades’s cue to speak. t galled him that a stranger in “store clothes ’ and “b’iled” shirt should carry matters with so high a hand. “This hyer house don’t want the trade of any man who ain’t gentleman enou h to take his licker when he is invited to rink in a polite manner!” he exclaimed, scowling at the strange visitor. “For an such man as that the outside of this house is a good deal better than the inside.” “And, who may you be, pra i” asked the other, surveying the master of t e keno shop with a look Of quiet, yet insolent defiance. “ My name is William Alcibiades, and I am the boss of this ranch.” “ Well, I thought so. I heard of on before I struck the town. You are a sort ofy a king-pin hyer—a ‘head devil,’if I may be allowed the use of the expression. You not only run this shebang, but also aspire to rule the whole town. Yes, I’ve heard that you were a dangerous kind of hoss. Say! why didn’t you introduce yourself to me before you inveigled me into this discussion, so that I would have known who you were, and then I would have had sense enough not to run counter to your views. Alcibiades! l’Vhere on earth did you get that name? Keno Bill is all ri ht; that suits you to a T; but the idea of making love to the name of the old Greek to stick up over the door of a keno room and a liquor shanty to boot! Why, I wonder the ancient bones don’t rise out of their dust and haunt you by night, and most certainly they would if the spirit of the warrior and statesman wandering in the other world possesses in the least degree the luck and valor that the Athenian displayed while he lived.” The keno man had listened with a great deal Of impatience to this long harangue, of which he understood but little. He hadn’t the re- motest idea of who or what the man had been whose name he had adopted. He had come across it in the columns of a newspaper and the oddness of it tickled his fancy, and as he was in want of a name, just then on account of a little difficulty which he had had with a very un- pleasant sheriff Of one of the coast counties south of the Golden Gate, without more ado he had helped himself to the appellation. And that this cool and insolent stranger knew of the real Alcibiades while the king didn’t, was an— other reason why he should feel incensed against him. “You are usinga good deal of jaw, young feller!” Bill fiercely exclaimed; “and since you are so free with your tongue, suppose you tell us who you are. I reckon thar ain’t any on us what has been introduced to you.” “ My name, sir, is John.” “John what? John ain’t enough for a white man’s name, though it may do for a China- man." “ \Vell, really, you have so obfustificated me with these proceedings that I will be hanged if I hav’n’t forgotten whether I have got any other name or not,” answered the other, plea- santly, and with a perfectly serious look upon his face. “ \Vbere are you from?” “California.” “From California, hey? You didn’t come in the coach?” “Hang our old coach! I have a chariot of my own— bank’s mare!” here was a broad grin upon the faces of all thenlisteners; the stranger was “panning out ” we . " What do you want here, anyway?” “ To make a living.” “ How? You don’t look much like a working- nnin." Keno Bill sneered. “ ()h. I use the same tools you do; I travel on my cheek.” ~€ 1-4:.‘54- ' . l - b ,.