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Entered as Second (‘Iass Matter at the New York, N. Y.. Post omce. Copyrighted 1997, by BEADLE AND ADAMS. August 3, 189:.
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N0.  F‘V" con“ 8 ""PY' BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, PHMMIM EWI’Y V01.  I

$2.50 a Year. 9:! WILLIAM 871mm, NEW Yuux. Tuesdayo

 

 

MUSTANG MERLE’S MINE;

Or, DOLORES DICK AND PARD. By MAJ. SAM S. SCOTT.

    
  
  

 

 

    

  
     

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2

Mustang Merle’s Mine;

Dolores Dick and Pard.

BY MAJOR SAM S. SCOTT,
AUTHOR or “MUSTANG MERLE,” ETC., ETC.

 

' CHAPTEit I.
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.

“IT still leads westward an‘ I’m g‘ettin’ further

from home, but what o’ that? I‘m no spring
chicken any longer an’ whenever I start on a
trail I like to go to the end, an' here’s a trail
what interests me more’n a little."
‘ Tm~ Speaker was mounted on a lithe—limhed
horse, which at the time was carrying him
across a wide stretch of prairie on the westurn bor-
der of Texas, The full mom w hich had come out
from behind the only cloud visible in the heav-
ens, was shining with dazzling;r cffulgence, show-
ing the grass which the boots of tha steed
crushed in his gallop, and here and there revoal-
ing the crocuses and wild vei‘benas which the
same hoofs did not spare.

For some time the man in the saddle had been
following a trail which, to him, was very plain
but which to a novice would not have been visi-
ble at all. There was a path in the grass as if
something had been dragged over it and behind
a horse somewhere ahead.

The trailer was a lank, dark-featured but
good-natured man, as his eyes showed, and evory
now and then he stroked the heated neck of the
horse and cssayed some encouraging words.

“ We’ll probably have something to talk about
when we git back to the ranch,” continued the
rider. “ Merle Will listen with all ears an’ the

oung ’Pache, if he be thar. won’t be far behind

im. I want ter see what’s been dragged
through the grass, for I’ve the curiosity of the
Bundys an’ I don’t like ter give up ther job with
that curiosity half satisfied.”

The man kept on until he found himself so for

‘v out on the prairie that he could not see the
range of hills which he had left some time be—
fore, and but for the grass and the flowers it was
like being at sea.

At last he drew rein and sprung to, the
round. Bending down in front of his steed he
ooked close at the grass and then rose and let

slip a long breath.

‘ It stopped here,” said he, addressing the
horse. “ ere’s whar it rested an’ thar’s blood
on the grass. This shows Old Joe Bandy that
what was dragged along here had blood an’ that
indicates that it was human. Men don’t drag
animals over the rary at this rats, an’ it looks
tomeas thou h ’m to find something excitin’
at the and o’ t is trail.”

He got up into the saddle once more and the
next minute the ride was resumed. The moon
shone down upon him careering over the prai-
rie, the horse moving along at 'a good gait and
with his fox-like ears and his keen eyes on the

lert.

By-and-by the vast expanse of grass seemed
to come to an end and Joe Bandy rose in his
stirrvigis and looked cautiously ahead.

“ e‘re about ter plunge inter the shadows,
Grizzle,” he said to the horse. “ They’re right
ahead thar, an’ it behooves one ter look a little
Out.

As he spoke he drew a revolver and holding it
in readiness to be thrown to the eye in an in-
stant, he moved on once mcre and in a minute
had passed the shad0ws of the first bills.

i. He was looking all around when a voice which
sent him bolt upright in the saddle was heard
and the next instant the old man threw up the
six-shooter and compressed his lips- ,

. “ It’s no uSe,” said the same voice which had
called a halt. “ I have you at the end of the
best weapon in all this country and I want you
to drop your own.”

“ The best one, eh? That’s open tor argu-
ment,” ret thed Joe.

“ But it won’t be argued here unless you want
to prove that I am right by falling from your
horse food for the vultures.”

“Not Jest et, thank yo,” inned J0e, lower-
ing the rave ver and for the rat time catching a
glimpse of the man who had so suddenly broken

upon his thou his.

A few yards 0 and near a tree which threw a
shadow at the foot of the rise toward which he
had ridden, stood a. horse and in the saddle the
figure of a man. '

Joe now also that the hands of the stranger
. 3

A

   

 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

gripped alVincliester which covered his own
bosom,and he did not hesitate to drop the re—
volver after this unpleasant discovery.

“ Throw it down,” said the man, and Joe,
gritting his yellow teeth, cast his six—shooter
aside. '

“ Come on now,” was the next command, and
the old borderer rode forward with a curious
grin at the corners of lllS month.

" ‘l’ears ter me that figure icoks a little famil-
iar,” he said to himself. “He carries his head
like a gentleman I’ve met before an’ if it’s not
Dolores Dick, why»—”

He was interrupted by the voice of the man
before him and the Winchester, suddenly ,low—
ered, no longer covered him.

Old Joe had now halted in front of a man
whose face was concealed by a dark mask which
fitted it rather closely. lie was well made,
and sat the horse like one born to the saddle.
His leggings were fringed from knee to ankles
and there his pretty moccasins began, for,
though a white, as Joe had decided, he ,did not
wear boots and there were no Spurs at his heels.

“ Which way?" said the hidden face, eying the
man he had halted with deep curiosity.

“ That depends,” answered Joe, casting a
hasty look at the ground as if he were looking
for the .Objr'Ct which had bent the grass down
for miles behind him.

“ You were tracking something.
for that young master be yours?”

The old nzan started at the question,

" For my master?” he exclaimed. “ Do I look
like a man who needs a master? Why, I’ve
passed the middle milestone of a man’s life
an -’

“ But you have a master all the same. I know
you,” interrupted the stranger. “ You are serv-
ing him now, an’ prying into other people’s
business.” ‘

“ That might be an opinion not borne out by
the facts,” said Joe. “I ginerally ’tand to my
own affairs an’ sometimes I ride ,out on my own
hook an’ look ’ronnd.”

“,ZI‘o-night, h0wever, you have been tracking
me.

“Why should Joseph Bundy track you, I’d
like to know?"

A laugh stirred the folds of the mask and the
eyes behind it seemed to get a sudden gleam of
merriment.

“ You ought to have remained at the ranch
or in the mine which your boy master is work-
ing for all there is in it. He is getting rich on
what really is not his, and my advice to him
is that he should keep his eyes open, for riches
take wings nowadays and fly away.”

“ I’ve seen ’em do that myself,” averred Joe.

“Does the mine pay as much as ever?” in-
quired the masked man.

“ I guess so.” or

“ You ought to know since you are general
overseer, and not an ounce is taken out without
your knowledge.”

“ You seem to know.” -

i “ Why shouldn’t I?” chuckled the stran er.

A moment’s silence ensued and Joe undy
wondered what would be the next question,
when he spied something he had not seen be-
fore beyond the spot occupied by the black
how.

This object was dark and lay on the ground
in the shadow of a mosquito tree. It was long
and strangely human in shape and Joe thought
he could detect a rope which led from the object
tovvard the horse he was facing. Was this the
thing he had trailed through the grass and under
the moon? Had he found the object he had
trackedgor miles and was it a human body—the
victim f border vengeance and the enemy of
the man who had stopped him? ‘

“ You will go back,’ suddenly said the mask.
“1 hold the fort here, and to show you that
I am not thirsting for any man’s blood, I give
you libert to return to your master.”

But 01 Joe did not move. He was looking
at the thing he had discovered and was not
thinking of the man in the saddle. He had now
no doubt that he had come up with the mur-
derer and his victim. But he was ,not startled.
It was a rough region and such crimes were
numerous there. He recalled many of them
while he looked at what he had discovered; he
thought how Mesquite Ranch, the place he called
home, had been destroyed by a border desperado
named Captain Cussed, or Red Jacket, and of
the work and blood it took to pay the villain for
his last raid; he remembered, too, his .own
narrow escapes during that campaign, and how
he and his young friend and companion, Mustang
Me 6. the Owner of the ranch, had fought side by
side bring about the result which secured a
year of peace. . .

Are you out

 

“ You will go back, I say,” said the man be-
fore him With more sternness than ever. “ You
have followed me far enough to-night. I don’t
like a wolf at my heels. Take my regards to
Mustang Merle and tell him that he should
get all out of his mine before it is claimed by
One whose rights to it he dare not dispute.”

“ W hat’s that?” cried Joe, leaning forward.
“ That mine belongs to the boy rancher. In
the first place. it is on his land and secondly, he’s
able ter take care of it.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” was the anSWer.
“ Able to take care of it, oh? lVon’t he surren—
der it to the rightful Owner 9”

“He is that person, 1 say.”

“He is not! There lives a person who holds a
deed for that very mine.” '

“ Why, it had been lost for years when we acci-
dentally came acress it. It was hunted by every
Tom, Dick an’ Harry of the border, and was
understood ter belong ter the one what found
it '

“Go back and wait; that is what you are
asked to do,” came the retort.

Once more the deadly \Vinchestcr, which had
been lowered, came up again and looked sullen-
ly into the homely face of Joe B ndy. The
movement was accompanied by a l ' froni.the
dark eyes behind the mask which emphasized
the order and he took up the reins.

“I want tor say right here that Mustang
Mcrle’s Mine will be defended ter the bitter
end,” cried Joe.

A short laugh followed the sentence, but the
voice which came after it was terribly stern.

“Then woe to every one of you! You can’t
fight a cyclonel You are to lose the bonanza.
you havo worked and the boy foo] called Mus-
tang Merle is to reap, within the next few
hours,the whirlwind he has sowed.  have warn-
ed you, and I want no thanks for it. Go back
and prepare for the Storm. Captain Cussed is
dead, but Mesquite has a sterner enemy than
he!”

 

CHAPTER II.
WRITTEN ON STONE.

THE man in mask eyed Joe Bundy and seem-
ed to smile if the eyes said anything at all.

“Take your revolver with you, Joseph; you
may need it soon,” said he, and the old man,
leaning from the saddle, swept the ground With
his bronsed hand and recovered the weapon.

Once more he looked at the stranger and at
the object on the grass near by. It lay there
like a co and he thought he could see a man-
gled face coking up at the stars and the vaulted
heavens, but he had no time for scrutiny.

“ So Merle’s ter lose his mine, is he?” the old
man repeated.

“ I have warned you.
for the worst.”

“ Then you will listen ter Joe Bondy for a mo-
ment, I guess,” and Joe stood erect in his stir-
rups and faced the one before him. “ You Will
hear the defiance of Mesquite from my lips for
I represent it here. The storm may come when-
ever it likes. It ma strike when and whar it
pleases, but it will, find us prepared. We
haven’t forgotten our tussle With Cap‘ain Cussed;
that is histor ‘ and you must have read it before
to-night. Wis will stand by the mine which be-
longs to the young master. It is on his land an’
woe to the man or men who attempts to deprive

Go home and prepare

.him of it l”

The n lifted hand of the old borderer fell and
the masked man answered:

“ Go back and defend what you hold. I have
given you fair warning. The rson who Wlu
come for the mine will have it or there will be
no claimants at the end of the game. Good-
night, Joseph 1” and the Speaker turned and rode
off; but Joe noticed that the singular object on
the ground did not move. '

The old man wheeled and rode back. He
looked once over his shoulder and saw thaman
he had faced riding over the trail ahead as if he
had encountered no one and the next instant ho
vanished and was gone.

Bundy pursued his way back toward the ranch
1 ing beyond the prairie he had ridden over, and
through the grass through which he had tracked
the mystery of the night. He said nothing to
his steed but was moody and Silent, and not un-
til he had crossed the open and drawn rein
among a number of stables did be open in.

mouth.

“ Take the horse, Chip " he said to the figure
which sprung forward for that very girme
and then he walked up an avenue of co rs and
his boots sounded. heavily on a porch shaded by
a lot of sweet-scented Vines. .

A moment later he opened a door and ap-
peared suddenly to a young person who looked

l.,..

 

    
  
   
  
  
    
  
   
   
    
  
  
   
  
   
   
  
   
  
    
   
   
   
    
   
      
   
  

  
 
   

 
 

Musrang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

   

up at sound of the latch and threw down a
book.

“ Buck, are you, J or)?” cried this person who
was a boy of Seventeen or thereabouts with a
handsome face, a good figure and deep expres-
sive eyes. “ You have bcen on the prairie. The
dew is still on your boots, and you bring back
the scent of the wild blossoms there.”

“ I’ve been acrOss Long Tom Perary.”

“ That’s a long.r ride, Joe.”

“ Yes, but I had something to take me across.
I struck a trail an’ thought I would see what
thar was in it. W ell, I found out. I had the
pleasure o’ lookiu’ inter the muzzle of a \Vin-
Chester.”

Mustang Merle, the owner of the ranch, start—
ed with a smile which he Could not keep back
deSpiti- the gravity of the occasion,

“ lt‘s a (:‘rOspcl fact. I war ridin’ along l-iokin’
at the ground, for I had follered something
strange across the perary, when all at once 1 war
requested ter throw up my hands an’ thar sat in
fl't‘lli of Grizzle an’ I a masked pard with a
\Vinchester which looked uncommon sour.”

“ A masked man, Joe .1”

The boy was thoroughly interested now.

“A masked pard, and the half-careless way
in which he handled the gun made me sort 0’
nervous. \Ve passed a few words and then I
got orders ter go back."

“Tell me chrything; we have the night be-
fore us, Joe,” said Merle, and the old man pro-
ceeded and related his adventure, skipping noth-
ing, not even tiie iiiinutest detail.

“So we are to fight for our own, are we?”
said Merle, his teeth meeting firmly behind the
last words. “So we are to be deprived of the
bonanza? Joe, there can be no heir to a mine
like ours. \Ve found it and it was lost for

ears.

“ Didn’t I tell him so?” cried the borderer.
“But, didn’t he say that ag’in’ the claimant who
was to come we could not stand?”

“Pishl” exclaimed Mustang Merle, springing
up and beginning to pace the room, watched by
the old man, who had crossed his long legs, one‘
of which he held in his big hands.

“Joe, this means something,” suddenly re-
marked Merle, stoppingr in front of his friend.
“ It means something far more serious than the
threat which we once received from Captain
Cussed, the captain of the Red Jacket Braves.
“'6 are to meet a new enemy, and I am confident
that on have seen him."

“ be masked man, eli?’ ,

“Yes. He may not be the claimant, but be
w ill Conduct the campaign for that person. We
must prepare to meet the storm.”

“ Then, you look for one!”

It I do.”

“But the object what beat the grass down?—
what do you think of it?”

“ One of the masked man’s victims.” '

“ That’s my opinion, exactly. I saw the out-
lines of a human body on the ground. It was
dragged at the heels of his horse, and that war
what I follered across the perary.”

“ Of course.”

“ But the heir to the minei—that’s what puz-
2198 me.”

Mustang Merle did not speak for a moment,
and then he came closer to Old Joe, looking
down into his face until their eyes seemedw
touch.

“ You remember the inscription on the wall
in the big chamber of the old mine?" said he.

“ Jehosa but, yes!” cried the old borderer.
“ It want t rough me like a knife the first time
I saw it. Do you think that person has come?”

“ No, I do not. That inscription was made
perhaps a century ago—even before an American
was in this country. The hand that cut it in
the stone crumbled to dust, and has been for-
gotten for generations."

“ But the masked man must know of the in-
scription,” said Joe, perplexed, as his coun-
tenanca showed.

“ It Would scam so; but how did he possess
himself of it?”

“That’s the puzzle. Let’s go down to the
mine an‘ take a squint at the writin’.”

Mustang Merle made no reply, but his look

was answer enon h, and soon the twain were‘

walking .from t e ranch-house over a beaten
path, which led them to a deep ravine, where
they became lost to the deaconding m00n.

It was notion before their figures were seen
in the depths of ustang Marie’s mine, and they
stood revealed by the torches they carried. The
young rancher was ahead, and he led Joe down
a narrow corridor, with not a word posing be-
tween them.

On every side were evidences that the mine
was being worked, and that it was a rich one.

 

 

There were piles of new ore, and in one chamber
stood sevoral huge crushers. .
Merle and Joe kept on until they entered a

vast chamber, the walls of which seemed to lose I

themselves in the darkness overhead, and the
boy approached one of them with his torch,
smiling as he looked back :it his friend.

“Hi-re it is. Joe,” called out Merle. “ Hero

is the sentenc: which has been here for ages,” ‘

and he held his light close to the stone while Joe
lcaned forward and seeme l to read.

The torchlight falling on the wall, which was
cold and gray, revealed the lz-ticrs which had
stood there for years, and \\ hile he looked,
Merle’s lips appeared to speak them, thus:

“ \thii the heir of Jose Saiilado comes for his

own. h A \\'lll hcar on his arm llll‘ sign of his house, i

which is a coiled Serpent and a lll'trkt‘ll arrow.
“ Woe to him who shall usurp l‘nis iiiizic!
“ Josh. Tm: DEAF.”

Such was the inscription ( n the wall under ,

ground. It meant, beyond cavil, that tiie mine
at one time was the propcity of “Jose, the
Deaf,” that some time after Lis death his heir
should come, to claim it, and that he Would bear
on his arm the sign of the house of Santado—a
snake and an ai'rOW, which sign “as carVed in
the stone above the words we have just written.

Hundreds of times had Moi-1e and Joesccn
this sentence on t:ic wall. It had become famil-
iar to them, and they had discussed it as often,
wondering what had become of the heir, and
how long he had been gathered to his fathers.

But now they were threatened with the ap-
pearance of an heir; after a century the scion
of the horse of Santado was to come and take
the mine!

No, he should not have it. it was sheer non-
sense to think that a true heir existed. The
mine was Merle’s it stood on his ground, and
he would defend it to the bitter end. As well
might they ask for the ranch itself.

“ I don’t care what the masked dcsperado said
to you,” cried the boy rancher, straightening
before the wall and pointing at the inscription.
“ We will stand by the mine, Joe, and woe to
the man who tries to wrest it from us. I want
no quarrel with any living person, but I Won‘t
be robbed with impunity. The heir of Jose
Santado, if he had one when that was written,
died long ago and the desperate scheme which
Seems to have been hatched out against Mes-
quite and its bonanza. shall be met at every step.”

“An‘ you kin call on Old Joe Bundy for all
he basin the box ” was the prompt response.
“The face behind that mask will look very old
before it laughs over the gold of Jose Santado’s
mine. '

Once more Merle and Joe were moving back
toward the opening, and in a little while they
entered the ranch-house, a frown on the old
borderer’s leathery face and a flash of defiance
in the boy rancher’s eye.

CHAPTER III.
ma MARKED ARM.

‘me the fore oing scene was taking place
in the depths of ustang Merle’s mine, another
which demands our attention was occurring in
another part of the country.

“ Well, I’m hack, as you see,” exclaimed a
man. springing from a. deep saddle and confront-
ing another who stood with his back to a fire
which burned at the edge of a belt of timber
near which ran a small stream that far away
united its clear waters with those of the Rio
Tagus.

“So I see,” was the reply.
discover—anything?”

The answer to these queries was a laugh, and
the first speaker drew nearer and tOuched the
questioner's arm.

“ Come and see,” said he, and he led the man
to the edge of the little camp where some trees
stood in a group, and pointing at something on
the ground, drew back a little and looked at
him.

“ Heavens! where did you find this man?”
cried the other, suddenly, falling back from the
object over which he had st \oped.

“Look at him closely. Have you ever seen
him before?”

Again the anxious one heat over the form on
the ground and examined the mutilated fees, for
it was the body of a man. but the rough usage to
which it had been subjected had nearly robbed it
of human semblance.

“It looks like Dian,” said the person, look-
ing up.

“ It is the traitor. That man in life. was Diaz,
the rebel. I found him on the way to the ranch
and [netted him. Ha! it was we] done, if I do
say it myself. Idragged him over the prairie
at my horse’s heels, but I had a trailer myself.”

 

“ What did you

 

“ You?
say .l”

“Yes: I Was trailed across Long Tom, and
by a cool but curious specimen of humanity, still
a bad dog in a light.”

“ Name him i” cried the other.
your heels?”

“It was that long galoot who lives on the
ranch—the man who once hunted for the lost
mine, but who, havingr found it, surrendered his
share to the boy, and who now is the young
raiiclier’s slave."

“ Ah, you mean Joe Bnnd)‘ ?”

“ That is the man.”

“ And why isn’t he here with Phil?”

“ Ilr-causc I sent, him back home with a mes-
sage to his young iiiastcr. I told him that the
time for the appearance of the heir of Jose San-
tado had come, and leavin;_r him to carry the
word to the teeth of Merle, I came away.”

“ “3-11, I don‘t know but that you did right,”
was the reply. “I want the boy to know that he
is to lose his iiiine—rtliat, as the l.cir of Jose San-
tado, I intend to claim the bonanza and get it,
cost \\ hat it may."

Thc speaker was a man of fifty. He was not
very tall iior heavily built, but there was
strength and much of it in his makeup, and de-
termination lookcd cut of his eyes. He was
dark of skin like a Mexican, but l.is voice was
clear and his hands were as soft as a woman‘s,
though unusually long.

The other had thrown aside the mask which
had prevented J on. Bundy from seeing his face,
and he stood revealed as a very Apollo of the
border, With an elegant figure, a handsome face,
and long black hair to round-off the picture.
lie was almost fantastically dressed. and iii the
red sash which he were around his waist were
stuck two silver-iiiounted revolvers.

“When shall We go?” impatiently asked the
little man with eagerness cropping out with
every syllable.

"Before long,” was the reply. “\Ve must
bury this man first and then plan our campaign
fully. See where I caught him with the loop.
lie was riding along never dreaming that
Dolores Dick was near when resto! the house
dropped over his head and ie fwll from the
saddle in a jiffy. There was no struggle, for
almost as quick as he struck the ground he was
moving over it at my steed’s heels; but he gave
me one look that told much.”

“ He knew you?” .

“ Yes, and I shouted to him that the traitor’s
game was up, and that was all he heard.”

3“ Captain Dick, more than one half of my mine
shall belong to you,” cXclaimed the man crouch-
ed on the ground. " You have removed a.
crawling serpent from my path and I will never
forget it.”

“Don’t mention it, Rubio. I have a grudge
of m own against the boy owner of the ranch
and reckon he hasn’t forgotten Captain Red
J acket's old lieutenant, Dolores Dick.

The twain went back to the fire and the dead
man was left under the trees.

“ Rubia, you are retty young to be Jose
Suntado’s heir,” said ick with a grin.

“ But I am that pers0n. Look here!”

The speaker tore ofi’ his jacket and threw it
upon the ground. Then he rolled up his sleeves
exposing a well-muscled arm, and Dick, leaning
nearer, saw thereon in tattooa coiled serpent
surmounted b a broken arr0w.

“ Who wil dispute that proof?" cried the
little man, looking up into his companion’a
face. “ I am Rubio, the owner of the mine
Claimed by Mustang Merle. This arm attests
my claim. It is the same devicc that stands in
the depths of the mine.”

The 0 es of the eipeaker glittered likea ser-
pent’s w ile he talk , and Dolores Dick, falling
back. looked at him with a smile.

“ They don’t think of the tattoo at the ranch,”
said he.

“ Of course not. The think of nothing of the
kind, but it is here‘all t 9 same. I am the heir
to the bonanza. Woe to the man who says I
am not Ruhio.”

Dolores Dick walked to his own horse, and the

Owner of the marked arm went back to the fire
at which he stopped and looked into it with a
stare.
“ I want to begin the fight,” he muttered “ I
want to get rich once more. have the mark
that will enrich me. I hold the key to the
finest mine in this country: but it is defended."

“They will fight for it,” he went on, watched
by Dolores Dick over whose face a smile would
pass every n0w and then. “ They will not give
it up without a desperate struggle. Let me see.
We will have to meet the boy, the old borderer,
Joe Bundy, and last but not least, the young

Some one on your track, do you

“ “'ho was at

 

.- _ .5,

 

 

4

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

Indian who comes to the ranch whenever there
is trouble brewing. Why couldn’t we watch for
the red Greaser and net him before he comes?
He knows that I am in the country. I saw him
looking at me that last time I was in the ’Pache
village and he has the eye of the eagle. He may
have seen me show my arm to White Rob, the
half-breed there. If he did he will suspect. That
Indian must be watched. He will come over his
old path to the ranch.”

A moment later Rubio sprung away and ap-
peared suddenly to the man who had been watch-
ing him so covertly.

“ You lassoed a white man, now we must
catch the red game!” he cried, laying his hand
on Dolores Dick’s arm.

“ What do you mean ?”

“The youn Indian must not reach the boy
rancher. Hawk, the friend he had when he
confronted you and your old captain, must not
gain the ranch.”

“ Rubio, you 866 2through a stone wall with-
out a bit of trOubIe,” grinned Dick. “ You
are right; this young red-skin must not reach
the ranch at this time, and he will be prett
sure to be on the old trail, if not there already. ’

“ We must catch him i”

_ “ Since you have proposed this, don’t you
:hink you are the proper person to do the catch-
ng?

“I have trapped the animal called man be-
fore. I can catch this young ferret of the ’Pache

ation."

“ With the lasso?”

“ Leave the setting of the trap to me i”

“ Then yonder lies the trail!” cried Dick,
pointing toward the north. “ If the Indian

riend of Mesquite is coming he will take the old
path. But be careful. You know your game
and you know, too, that if he wins the play the
mine passes forever from the grasp of the heir
of Jose Santado." .

“ i remember,” exclaimed Rubio, drawing
back and lifting the marked arm. “ Hear me,
Dolores Dick. You shall see me come back with
the scalp of the young red fox at my belt. Then
we will swoop down upon Mesquite in our
peculiar manner, and not all of them shall with-
stand the whirlwind of the border. Who would
not strike for the old mine of long dead Jose?
The day is near at hand when 1 shall bear my
right arm in its golden heart and you shall loo
upon the two signs—the one in stone, and the
one on my arm. Rubio has come for Mustang
Merle’s bonanza 1”

“Then, you must not let that Indian outwit
you,” laughed Dolores Dick as he turned away!

“ I am fifty if a day. Don’t call me a boy,”
was the flashed response, and Rubio struck the
ground with his heel.

CHAPTER IV.
A BITER BITTEN.

THE little fire near the bank of the stream
was still throwing its sparks heavenward when
the man called Rubio rode from the camp leav-
ing Dolores Dick alone with the victim of his
night hunt. The pretender was well mounted
and armed, and rode along the stream for some
distance when he took off in a northern direc-
tion and soon found himself on the open prairie.

He now gave his steed the spur and gailoped
rapidly for more than an hour, looking ahead
with his keen eyes and every now and then mut-
tering to himself.

He did not draw rein until he had crossed
the Open and reached a line of hills similar to
those which he had left behind, and there he
dismounted and examined the ground.

“ The old trail is here, but no one has passed
along for several days,” said be, rising. “ If
the young Ipdian is on the route he has not
reached this pass and I am in time.”

Rubio now removed his horse to a secluded
spot where the best eyes in the land could not
have found him, and then crept back to the
place where he had dismounted.

There he made himself comfortable amon
the shadows with his back to a huge rock an ,
with a Winchester in his hand, waited for the
person for whom he had made the ambush.

This man, Rubia, was not unknown in the
Southwest. He was a desperado whose life had
been one of daring deeds of recklessness from
childhood. He was half-Mexican, and there
was Indian blood in his veins, and b some he
was known as the Half Comanche. ow he be-
came acquainted with Dolores Dick is not to the
par of our story, but there were few men
of ick’s makeu whom he did not know, and
when he show the handsome youn outlaw
the tattoo on his arm and proclaimed himself
the true heir of the mine, though Dolores Dick
know that he was a base impostor, be resolved

 

to make common cause with the rascal, for he
too, had a grudge against Mustang Merle, an
wanted a little assistance in carrying it out.

Beyond the Tagus at all times were tobe found
a lot of men who terrorized the ranches, and
who levied tribute on all that would suffer the
indignity. Now and then some courageous
rancher would rebel against them and drive
them off, but they would return to the work
and, in the end, usually succeed.

The greatest of the tribute takers. Captain
Cussed, had met his fate before the rifles of the
men of Mesquite Ranch, and the most of his men
had followed him. Dolores Dick, outlawed by
the band for permitting Mustang Merle to es-
cape from the outlaw captain, had operated on
his own book, though he had no band at his
back. Now and then he would stand up some
rich rancher on the prairie or among the hills
and get enough to enable him to go back to the
gaming dens of the border and play until he
was forced to return to the trail.

Dolores was a fit com nion for the man called
Rubio. If they ooul secure the rich mine
which Mustang Merle was workin ,their for-
tunes would be made, and they won (1 not have
to resort to the desperate needs of holding peo-
ple up on the trails.

But let us return to the man left under the
stars watching for the person whom be ex-
pected from the Apache country.

Several hours passed over Rubio’s head, but
he did not become impatient. He knew that
one must exercise tience when he waits for
an Indian, and for ours he had moved not, but
with all the senses on the alert he kept his place
and fingered the light trigger of the deadly
Winchester.

At last, there came from the north a sound
that sent a thrill to the watcher’s heart.

It told him that a horse was coming toward
his ambush and he leaned from his rock and
listened.

“He is coming at last!" said Rubio. “The
red fox of the ’Paches is riding into the snare
and I haven’t waited for nothing. Ah, now I
will deprive Mustang Merle of his best ally, for,
with the young Indian against us, success would
not be certain."

Nearer and nearer came the horse, his hoofs
sending forth sounds which to the keen ears of
Rubin 'told him how near he was.

Now the Half Comanche did not move, but
looked like a part of the rock itself. He looked
along the trail and tried to catch the object
which he knew would soon rise into view, show-
ing him that he had caught the young hawk of
the Apaches.

There was no sign of mercy in the eyes of
the crouching man. They never sh0wed light of
that kind, and he was not the one to spare the
life of an Indian.

“ He is here!” cried Rubio as something dark
came into view above the horiznn stars at the
end of the pass. “ Red Hawk, the ’Pache, is in
the trap.”

The horse and his rider thus discovered came
on and were soon in the center of the pass. If
the rider suspected danger he did not show it,
and a grim smile overspread the croucher’s face
while he watched him come forward.

In a little while the figures of horse and Indian
were opposite the rock, still there was no move-
ment on Ruhio’s part.

He let them pass and watched them as they
went by.

“ There‘s light enough for me,” grinned the
man. “ I can see like an owl in the dark.”

The next moment the horse was some little
distance beyond the rock and then the hands of
the crouching rascal moved. They came up,
gripping the rifle, his dark eyes meantime fast-
ened on the object of his hunt, and the next in-
stant the head of the Indian was covered.

All at once there was a loud report and the
horse on the trail seemed to spring into the air
and something human in shape fell forward.

“That’s the first shot for the mine,” came
from between the desperado's teeth. “That’s
the openin gun of war.”

He had arely spoken when the horse ahead
bounded on and the following second was flying
over the prairie which lay ahead.

Ruhio looked on like .a person snddenl}
stunned.

“ Heavens, what if I did not finish him?” he
cried. “ What if the horse carries him to Mes-
quite after all? I don’t want that. It might
spoil the game we are playing.”

Hh ran to his own steed in the adjacent shad-
ows and in a trioe was riding after the horse
which he could barely see ahead.

All this had not ta on u more than three sec-

0ndl. The Half Comanc e was a good rider,

 

and his steed, urged tohis topmost speed, seemed
to fly over the grass.

On, on went Rubio after his victim, and on,
too, Went the horse before his own. It was a
race between two wellomatched animals for the
Apaches ride none but the best, and this one had
cause for putting his best feet foremost. If he
did not carry his young master to Mesquite, woe
to the mine and its young owner.

Ru bio rode as he had never ridden before after
an enemy. His horse seemed to strain every
nerve, and he was carried over the level ground
at a rate which seemed to leave even the wind
behind. Now and then he would lose sight of
the horse ahead, but he would see it again, and
at last he saw that an apparently inanimate body
was hanging to the dark mane.

“ We must overtake him i” cried Rubio, strik-
ing his steed. “ We must leave this young
Indian to wait here on the prairie till the last
trump is blown. I have sworn to Dick to show
him the scalp of Red Hawk, and I can’t go back
without it.”

Some time passed before Rubio could say that
he was really gainin on his antagonist. He
saw at last that the istance between them was
lessening, and that if he could keep up a while
longer he would come alongside of the horse he
was so eager to overtake.

Every nerve was strained now. Rubio leaned
forward with his right hand ready to clutch and
jerk his Victim from his steed, and he had put
up the rifle, with this intention foremost in his
brain.

He came up with the quarry at last. He
found himself after a long ride side by side with
the horse of his victim; he saw the body of its
rider hanging to the side of the animal, with his
dark-red hands buried in the mane.

A wild cry of joy peeled from the renegade’s
throat. He had but to reach out and clutch his

re .
p B3i'it all of a sudden the horse he had followed
lurched toward him and his own steed went
backward, losing his foothold and fell heavily to
the ground.

“ Jehul” cried the dismounted man when he
found himself under his struggling steed. “ That
horse is as tricky as his red master. He did that
on purpose, and knocked me out of the saddle
and I believe broke a leg for me, besides.”

Rubio got his Steed upon his feet as soon as -

possible and, looking across the prairie saw
nothing of the horse be had been following.

He felt faint and sick.

Near by stood his steed looking at him as if to
apologize for what it Could not help, and Rubio,
biting his lip, staggered forward and tried to,
crawl back into the saddle. He could not do this
until he had made several attempts, but when he
was there he had to shut his eyes and grpan for
the pain which had taken possession of his limbs.

“ A thohsand curses on the horse!” he growled.
“ I had my hand on the lndian’s arm and would
have pulled him off in another second. I would
have won the game if that horse had not turned
on me; but I have lost him now.”

Ten minutes later Rubin was riding back to
camp. He felt that he was badly injured; one
boot was full of blood, and he could not move
his right leg. Thus, between groans and oaths,
he went rapidly over the ground, and atlast rode
into camp. As he came down over the hills that
bordered the stream, with the first streaks of
day in the east, he beheld a man standing where
he had parted with Dolores Dick.

A smile passed over Dick’s face when he caught
sight of Rubio. _

‘I found the young ’Pache and finished him
on the prairie, but his horse avenged the 'shot,”
said Rubio, and the next instant in trying to

dismount he drop (1 to the ground with a yell .

of pain, and Do ores Dick, smiling still, bent
over him and lifted him up. '_

“ You’re only winged a little,” said the hand.
some’desperado. “ Winged birds generally get
well.

Rubio answered with another groan.

 

CHAPTER V.
THE AMBUSHED APACHE.
THE mornin glow had not yet come when
a horse cover with foam came down over the
hills that surrounded Mesquite Ranch and halt-

ed in front of the house.
It was seen by a man who ran from the

stables revolver in hand and who stop near
the animal, for something had fallen in the
saddle and la on the un .

“ Bless me f it ain’t Hawk, the Tacks!”

cried this man, and in a moment the whole

house seemed awake.
Red Hawk had come back to Mesquite, but

 

 

-: Wzmx m. :M‘ “M

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

near death, as all thought, when they saw the
bleeding head and noticed the staring eyes and
the gasps for breath.

The young Indian was carried into the house
and laid on the cot in Mustang Merle’s cham-
her.

In a short time he came out of the deathly
stupor and the first person to be noticed by
his wandering eyes was the lank figure of Old
J0e Bundy.

“ You’re wu’th a dozen dead men, Red Hawk,”
said Joe. “ I guess some p’izen rascal laid for
you somewhar on the trail an’ attempted ter de-
prive us of an ally.”

The Indian smiled and nodded; but when he
‘had been brought out of the faint and was able
to have his wound dressed, he told all he knew
about the ambush, which was not much, for
with the shot darkness had come.

“Red Hawk has come to tell the young mas-
.ter that the Man with the Marked Arm is on the
war— ath,” said he.

“ he Man with the Marked Arm?” echoed
Mustang Merle.

“The Half Comanche who rims with the out-
law who escaped when we finished Captain
Cussed and his band.”

Joe Bundy and Mustang Merle instantly ex-
changed hasty glances.

“ I told you he looked like Dolores Dick,” said
Old Joe. ~

“The Man with the Marked Arm has been to
the Apache’s village and Red Hawk has watched
him. He showed his arm to White Rob and did
not know that Red Hawk was lookin on.”

“ How is that arm marked?” asked erle.

“ It has on the skin a coiled serpent and a
broken arrow.”

“ That’s Jose Santado’s pretended heir!” cried
Joe. “ We know the rascal at last!”

“He talked about the mine and said that it
belonged to the man whose arm was marked as
his is,” continued the Indian. “ He is coming to
claim his own, so he told White Rob, and I came
to her you against him and his friend.”

" ut who shot you?”

“Who would want to keep Red Hawk from
you?” queried the Indian.

“ Why, the Man with the Marked Arm,” said
Merle. “ You will be ready to he] us meet
him when he comes for what he shal not have.
The bullet tore a furrow along your skull, but
did not disable you. The man in ambush should
have taken you in front.”

The eyes of the young Indian flashed and his
hands shut hard.

“Red Hawk is worth all the dead of his na-
tion,” he said. “ He will live to find the man
who shot him and will pay him back.”

“ Of course you will, and if you need any as-
sistanCe in the debt-payin business jest call on
.Joe Bundy. No charge or services, an’ all
work executed with pl‘( mptness and dispatch.”

The advancing day found Red Hawk ready to
walk out with his head bandaged, and he found
his way to the mine, where he stood in one of
the chambers and watched the miners at work.

He was not alone. A beautiful young girl had
accompanied him to the mine and stood with
him, looking every now and then into his dark
but handsome face. Her own skin was dark,
but not like that of the oung Indian’s. She
was the child ofaman w 0 had died on the
ranch six months before—a man who had been a
rover nearly all his life, and who in dying had
left his offspring, Neva, to the kind care of Mus-
‘tang Merle and his people.

Neva was seventeen, with a graceful figure, a
bewitching face and bright eyes which seemed
to charm all upon whom they were turned.
'She had become the ranch’s favorite, and there
was not a man the from Joe Bundy down to
Chip. the stable-go rd, who would not have
sacrificed his life in her cause.

Red Hawk and Neva were not particularly
noticed by the miners, and they assed on into
another chamber and halted in rout of one of
its walla.

“Ah, here it is, Red Hawk,” cried the girl,
sh0win the young Indian some letters in the
stone w ich their light had revealed. “This is
the old inscription which has been here for so
many years.” «

The Indian bent forward and looked at the
carving, then passed his red hand over it and
turned to the girl with a smile.

“The snake and the arrow are herejustas
they appear on Rubio’s arm,” said he. -

“But he is not the own-er of the mine, Red
Hawk?”

“That white rascal! No,” cried the Indian.

‘ . “He has lied so often that no one believes

him, and when he thinks he can get possession
of Merle’s mine he deoeives himsei .”

 

“But he has the handsome Dolores Dick to
aid him!”

“ But they are not strong enough to wrest it
from us.”

“ They have no help, Joe says.”

“ Let not the young girl of the ranch think
thus,” was the quick response. “ Along the bor-
der are hundreds of pale-faces who, for this mine
or a share of it, would unite with Dick and
Rubio and swoop down upon it like a flock of
eagles. They are ready to do anything that
promises to give them more money for the gam-
ing tables, but Dick and Rubio will try their
own hands first. They are cunning and know
all the trails of this region.”

“ But we won’t let them succeed, Red Hawk,”
cried the girl. “We will beat them back and
tbélag shall not touch an ounce of Mustang Merle’s
go .

Red Hawk smiled and looked down into the
clear 0 es of his companion.

“ o placed the marks on Rubio’s arm?”
asked Neva.

“ Ah, who, White Rose?” was the quick reply.

“ Was it done long ago?”

“ That is a question for Rubio himself, and he
is not here to answer. He may come soon enough
and then we may know more.”

“ But tell me something about him. You have
heard of him before to-day.”

For a moment the young Indian was silent,
but when he spoke again, his voice seemed to
have a different sound.

“ Rubio may be as old as these hills,” said he,
solemnly. “ He is a strange man. He knows
what took place in this country a long time ago,
before the Indians were here. He can tell
stories about the lost mines which thrill all who
hear them, and they bow to Rubio’s wisdom.
He knows where the hidden trails are, how the
Spaniards worked the lost mines, and how the
people who dwelt in this country before a white
man saw it, killed the deer and chased the
buffalo.”

“ But you call him a Comanche.”

“ He calls himself a half-breed, yet he says
that he is older than the trees on the high-
lands.”

Neva looked at Red Hawk a little while as if
she did not believe what he had said, but pres-
ently her hand stole up softly and touched his
naked arm.

“ We are all alone Red Hawk,” said she, low-
ering her voice. “ No one hears us here. What
do you really think of the man who carries the
serpent and the arrow on his arm 3”

The young Indian for a moment avoided the
girl’s gaze, but slowly his eye came back to her
anxious face.

“ There is more than common blood in Rubio’s
veins,” he said at last. “ This man has not the
look of his fello w-creatures, for Red Hawk has
watched him when he thought no one was near.
He has seen him steal from camp and talk to the
Great Spirit in the sky.”

The girl seemed to draw back in awe.

“ Rubio is more than man,” continued the
young Indian. “ He is something more than he
with whom he rides—the outlaw of the border.
Rubia lived years and ears ago; he knews all
that he talks about. eva, child, on must not
tell Merle what Red Hawk has sai .”

“ I will not,” said the fair girl. “ I will say
nothing to any of them, Red Hawk. And this
is the man who claims the mine; this is the per-
son who says to Merle: ‘ You must give up your
bonanza; it is mine.”

The Indian noded.

“ Red Hawk. are you going to resist this
person if you believe that he is more than man?”
she asked.

“ Red Hawk is Mustan Merle’s brother,” was
the prompt answer. “ 9 stands between Merle
and all dangers that threaten. Itis Red Hawk’s
duty to defend the mine even against the Man
with the Marked Arm.”

The Indian’s eye wandered to the writing on
the stone, and for a moment Neva saw him
study it in silence. She drew back a step and
watched him.

“ The hand that wrote on the stone wrote also
on Rubio’s arm,” said Red Hawk at last.

“ But that was placed on the stone years and
years ago. It was written by Jose Santado, the
first owner of this mine.”

to Yes.”

“Wh , he has crumbled to dust, and is for-
gotten. I

“ True, White Rose; but his heir has come.”

The superstition of the Indian amused and at
the same, time frightened Neva, the waif. It
could not be, yet she felt a strange thrill at her
heart, and fel back from Red Hawk, regarding
him in the light of a young prophet.

 

“ Let us go back,” said she, and as Red Hawk
turned away something dropped from above.

It fell in front of them, and the girl stopped
with a short cry, but the Indian stooped and
picked it up. 1

" It is a document of some kind,” she cried,’
with staring eyes. “ It has lain somewhere for
ages. See how dusty it is, and almost ready to
fall to pieces. We must take it as it is to
Merle.”

“ It is a message from Jose Santado,” said
Red Hawk. “ He has sent Mustang Merle a let-
ter about the mine,” and Neva, trembling and
white-faced, followed Red Hawk without a mur-
mur.

CHAPTER VL
THE TREASURE OF THE DEAD.

CAREFULLY handled was the old document
which the young A che boretoMustang Merle,
who was found at t e house. When it was laid
upon the boy rancher’s table it fell apart, and
threatened to become dust there and then, but
some careful Work enabled the beholders to un-
wrap it, and Merle declared that it was written
in Spanish, a language with which he was
familiar.

“ I must go over this carefully,” said the
young rancher to Red Hawk, and the old thing
was left with Merle while the Indian went out,
and Joe Bundy stole into the room.

The two put their heads together over the
strange find, and Merle, after some study of its
almost faded lines, uttered an exclamation
which startled his friend.

“ There is another mine somewhere in this
neighborhood, Joe. Here is the map of the spot,
and the directions for finding i t.”

“It seems ter me that we have all we want
ter handle now,” was the reply. “ But who
wrote that old document!”

“ Jose Santado; here is his name at the bottom
of it. It was penned nearly one hundred years
ago, and says that the body of Jose is in the
mine we are now working."

“ That scoounts for the ghost, then.”

“ The ghost?” echoed Merle.

“ I never told you, did I? Well, I did
not like ter say anything about it because it
would look foolish for a man of my years talk-
in’ of spooks an’ sich things, but since that
paper says that the bones of the bonanza’s first
owner ar’ somewhar in the mine, I feel that I
might have seen correctly after all.”

“ When did you see anything strange in the
mine?” '

“ It was last summer. I was comin’ through
the big chamber all alone when I became cer-
tain that I wasn’t the only person thar. All
was dark, for I know the old mine at all times,
an’ when I stopped and listened I heard a foot-
step an’ then a light danced before me. I could
make out the figure of a man, tall and strange
looking, and he seemed ter move through the
air without touching the ground. My hair,
what little I have—an’ the Bundy’s never have
much—stood on eend an’ I follered the thing ‘iest
because I couldn’t help it. It led me on an on
until it stopped at a wall an’ thar I saw it pas
its hand over the stone jest like like a livin’ per-
son would do.

“ After awhile it moved forward once more,
but I couldn’t foller any longer. I had seen
enough an’ my knees war knockin’ ag‘in each
other, but I kept my e es open an’ saw the thing
vanish in the depths o the mine. When I went
to whar I had seen it near the wall I found that
it had touched the letters that ar’ cut in the
stone, just as if Jose Santado had come back ter
see that they were still thar.”

While Old Joe talked Mustang Merle watched
him, saying nothing, but with an incredulous
smile at the corners of his mouth.

“ Is that all you saw, J me!” he asked.

“ Not quite. I saw the ghost bare its arm at
the wall an’ look at something on it jest as if
thar was a tattoo thar like the one on the arm
of the man called Ruhio.”

“ That is strange,” said Merle.
this distinctly, did you, Joe?”

“ Yes; as plainly as I see you now.”

Merle went back to the old document before
him and after watching him for a moment, Joe
Bund rose and stole from the room.

“ ow came that old thing ter drop at Neva’s
feet?” he asked himself. “ It was somewhat
overhead, and I’d like ter know what shook it
dawn.”

He passed down by the stables and entered
the ravine where lay the mouth of the mine.

“ Ghosts or no ghosts,” said be under hi, breath,
“ I’m goin’ into t e place.”

He had no one to oppose him, for the men had
knocked 011’ work for the day, and in a little

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time he reached the spot where the dusty paper
had fallen at Neva’s feet. He looked up but saw
nothing but the wall of stone that seemed to
tower a thousand feet above him, though he
knew it was not very high,

Joe Bundy went back and in a few minutes
was crawling along a ledge of dark rock,
worming his lank body through small passages
and feeling rats cross his feet every now and
then.

At last he stopped and drew a match along
the stone at his right. The little flame leaped
up and showed him that he had made a dis-
covery.

He could stand erect on the ledge and see that
near him wasanatural shelf which ran back
into the gloom. Old J0e put up his hands and
withdrew it with a cry.

“ What’s the use 0’ bein’ skeeredi” he exclaim-
ed throwing his light toward the spot.” If its
Jose Santado he can’t hurt any one.”

He was leaning forward now, with excite-
ment in his eyes and the match was showing
him the skeleton ofa man lying on the shelf
and partially covered with the dust of years.
But Jce saw more than this; he saw the print of
ahuman hand; he could count the fingers by
the marks in the dust, and noticed that they
were slender and had not been made very long.

For a few seconds Old Joe stared more at the
finger-prints than at the skeleton.

“I am directly over the spot whar the docu—
ment fell,” said he. “ It dropped from this shelf.
It has been keeping Old Jose company all these
years, but what means this hand-mark in the
dust? No skeleton made it here? That hand
was a hand of flesh an’ blood.” ‘

All this was patent to the old miner. He held
his light to the mark and viewed it from every
side. There was nothing with the skeleton to

'veaclew to its identity—nothing for him to
ook at but the grimy bones which may have
lain there for ages.

“I’ll foller the ledge,” said 01:! Joe. “I’ve
never been here before, though I knew thar was
I trail up here. Chip, who is always crawlin’
about, told me that the old mine was full of
roads which nobody ever heard of.”

The man resumed his crawl. He passed down
the narrow corridor and wedged his way between
the rocks that seemed at times determined to
drive him back.

All at once he stopped and fell back. The
ledge seemed to be crumbling beneath his very
hands, and with a cry which he could not choke
off he felt everything before him giving way.

Half cnilled by the thought of falling bead-
long into some unknown depths, Old Joe tried
tosave himself by clutching at the wall that
rose ab0ve him on the right, but his hands
slipped off and he came back to the edge of the
path which crumbled as his weight fell upon it.

The match had already fallen from his hand—
the last match he had—iind in another moment
he found himself clinging to the precipice Over
which hung his body with nothing between
him and death.

Joe Bundy held his breath and tried to collect
his scattered thoughts. He tried to shriek, but
the words sA-emed to die on the tip his tongue.
He was suspended in mid«air alonga wall of
unknown height. The terror of the situation
seemed to freeze the very blood in his veins, and
for the moment he inwardly cursed the day he
found a home on Mesquite Ranch.

To hang there very long was impossible. Joe
felt his strength failing and the wall began to
break again. In another moment he would be
falling down to death.

“ This is the last 0’ the Bundys,” thought he.
“ This is what a feller gets for trailing a dead
man in namine. Why didn’t I keep out 0’ the
muddle? I might have known that I was crawl-
In’ in the wake o’ the ghost I see’d last summer,
un’— Heavens, that goes my grip!”

It was true. The wall had crumbled once
more at the top, and his hand had fallen from
the breaking pieces.

He was going down—down, his head in a
whirl, and darkness which might mean more
than mere death was his portion. Joe’s last
recollection was a sudden stoppin , then another
bound into space, and that was ad.

But it did not end in death. The old man
came back to life in total darkness. His senses
swam, but by degrees they came around to their
normal condition, and he staggered to his feet.

He was without matches, and could notsee
what were his surroundings.

“I may be half-way own tor China,” said
Old .700. “ I’ve stopped somewhar near the
middle of the earth, but I can’t hear the ’chop-

{~33
i

   

nigthinei-ica than the pigtail kingdom.

- A

       
 

 

see what the hole is like. I kin use my fingers
for eyes, aii’ thus get the hang o’ the place.”

He began to move round the hole into which
he had dropped, stumbling here and there over
little heaps of stones, and cutting his shins in the
various falls; but at last he came back to where
he had started from, having discovered that he
was in a nearly Circular chamber without the
sign of an outlet as far as he could see.

He started out again, but suddenly stopped
and picked up something upon which he had

stepped.
“ his ain’t a rock,” said he. “ It’s too shape-
ly to be that. It feels round, like a silver dol-

lar, butit’s too rou h for money. Why, where
am I, anyh0w? ere’s another one jest like it,
an’ another! Jericho! the hull ground seems ter
be kivered with ’em in this corner. I believe 1
have fallen inter Jose Santado’s treasure-
houSe l”

The very thought of such a thing seemed to
take his breath, and he stood for some minutes
against the wall, feeling the round objects he
had icked up from the floor.

“ f this is money of the old Spaniard‘s makin’,
an’ this his money-chest, thar ought ter be a
way out of it,” said be. “It hardly stands ter
reason that he would have a treasury which he
Could not visit when he wanted some loose
change.”

He was moving about once more, this time
further from the wall, when all at once his hand
touched something on the round. In an instant
he had Sw0oped upon it With the speed of the
hawk. But what he picked up this time crum-
bled in his hands.

“That was the last of the old miner’s rope-
ladder !” groaned Joe. “ He came dewn here by
that means, an’ I am cooped up in the treasure-
house of the dead. an’, unless found, must perish
amid wealth untold!” -

He went back to the wall and struck it with
one of the stones he had found; but there was no
echo.

 

CHAPTER VII.
HOMELESS AND MINELESS.

A DAY and a night passed, and Mesquite Ranch
had a mystery.

Joe Bundy had been missing for hours, and no
one Could tell anything about him.

Mustang Merle and Red 'Hawk had scoured
the neighborhood, and the men had not Worked
since his disappearance.

Ni ht was coming on again, but the hunt had
not can given up. Meantime the threat of
Dolores Dick was not forgotten, and the men of
the ranch were on the alert.

Creeping through a narrow ravine not far
from the one which contained the mouth of
Merle’s mine was the figure of an Indiah. The
young Apache had come out on his own account
and was moving like a trailing hound over the
ground, making no noise and seeing all the
darker shadows that lay ahead of his path.

Suddenly be halted and stood still with a huge
rock at his back. His quick cars had detected a
sound which would hardly have roused a fox.

He leaned from the wall of the gulch at last,
and fastened his eyes upon an object which ap-
peared to be as still as himself, but which he had
seen move a minute before.

Red Hawk had watched this thing for a spell,
when it came on a sin and he drew back, hug-
ging the rock. but eepin one hand on the re-
volver he carried. If be ad found Rubin, woe
to the outlaw and mine-claimant, for the man he
had ambushed was near.

Red Hawk m0ved not, though the object crept
so Close to him that he could have touched it
without dimculty.

In another moment it had darted off, and so
quickly that the young Indian himself was
startled.

“ It was the man who ambushed Red Hawk,”
said the Apache. “ Have they come for the
mine? Has he come with the mark on his arm
for the gold which he says belongs to him?”

The crawler was already out of sight, and the
Indian, losing the trail, went back to the house.
He was nearing the building when he heard the
gentle closing of a door. Some one had come
outi of the house, and was now between him
an it.

Red Hawk'sto pod again. He crouched under
the tree by whic i he had halted and waited. , If
the person came toward him he would know who
it was or lose his life in the attempt. Some
deviltry was afoot, and danger to Mesquite
seemed to lurk in every shadow. '

The young' Indian was not compelled to wait
very Ion , or the object which had emerged
ion the cuss came on, and all at once he saw

   
  

  
 

l

     
 

 

rise from the ground, at his very feet as it were,
a human figure.
The next instant the Apache threw himself

forward and fell like a panther on the neck of _

the man.

There was a guick cry and a recoil, but the
hands of the In ian were not to be shaken off,
and he was dragged out of the shadow of the.
tree and into the starlight.

“The red vifir, Piust as I thought!” cried a
voice, as Red aw clung tenaciously to the
form he had fastened on.

“ Yes, Red Hawk has found Rubio, the rene~
gade, and the man who claims the mine!” was
the answer.

“Right you are and you have found him to
your sorrow l”

The struggle which these words started a sin
was of short duration, for the hands of the alf
Comanche seemed to overcome Red Hawk as
though they possessed supernatural strength,
and the voung Indian felt the long fingers of his
enemy sinking into his throat.

He tried to break the hold of the dark hands
of the half-breed; then he attem ted to alarm
the house with a loud cry, but tie words died
before they could be spoken, and the head of

~ the Apache fell back on the man’s shoulders.

Of the time that passed from that moment

until he came back to life Red Hawk kept no

record. When he felt the air on his face again
he was riding across a prairie, but not alone.
There sat near him on a horse similar to his own
a figure which he looked at the second time be-
fore he recognized it.

“ Don’t you know me i” said the person at his
sile.

The Indian uttered a loud cry-

“ You are Merle! What has happened ?”

“ Much that is terrible," was the reply. “ In
the first place Mesquite is in the hands of the
enemy. Two nights ago there swooped down
upon it the very fiends of Tartarus. The old
house still stands—that is better than Captain
Cussed treated us—but all else is lost.”

R.th Hawk who had not lost a single word
of all this passed his hand over his brow as if
to assure himself that he was notdreaming.

“The agency of demons worked the catas-
trophe,” continued Merle. “ The men on guard
were drugged, or “spelled” in some strange
manner. They slept at their posts, and when I
awoke I found the house in the hands of the ras-
cals themselves. Dolores Dick and Rubin, his
right bower, came like faxes to a coop and.
caught us all. You was off Somewhere and we
had no chance to defend ourselves. The men
ware drawn up in line before the victors and of-
fered one of two alternatives—to be shot down
or take an oath not to molest Dick and his

ard.

“Merle, did two men do this?” asked Red

awk.

“Two men,” was the reply. “I know you,
cannot comprehend it, Red Hawk, but, as I
have said, the agency of fiends was at work.
We were helpless before they roused us.”

“ But how did my brother escape?”

“ I was taken to the mine which I know like
a book. I was plated in the little chamber
where the walls are so high that we cannot
see to the top with our torches. Rubio and
his pard did not know that chamber as I know

  
 
  
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
     
     
   
  
   
   
   
  
  
   
    
    
   
   
  
   
  
    
   
    
 
  
  
   
  
   
   
      
        
         
         
     
       
   
         
       
     
     
   

it. They had overlooked the movable rock in w 

the corner—the one which Jose Sanme left
long ago with the writing on its top. I was
bound and left to perish there in the dark, but
the ragged edges of one of the walls severed my
thongs and I escaped. I discovored you lying-

half dead near the creek where I supposed you ~

had been left by some one, and finding the two
horses which had broken from the corral, I
helped you to the back of one and here we are. ”

‘ And Neva?” '

“She went off with the paroled men; but ‘

she would not swear not to oppose the :mine.
rabbers—not she, brave girl! But the ‘bo 3
orced her to accompan them, andere this s o
is far off, believing me end in the mine we were
going to defend to the bitter end.” _
. The lips of the young Indian met firmly be.
bind the last word of his next sentence:
“ Merle, we live to pay them back i”

In an instant the young rancher was leaning .,
toward his ally and their hands met midway 

between the two steeds.

“ From this hour, Red Hawk, I live for ,

nothin else” he said. “The mine is mine
and it3 shall, not remain in the hands of .the
thieves.

Dolores Dick, whom I left or dead more thdn a
year

;pum

    

by the

Iknow what they‘will do. They will >
call to their aid men as desperate as themselves; .

in M uite Valley, when we were 
,_ Jacket Bravos, thinksho has "

    
 
        
     
         
 

        
         
       
     
       
       
       
   
     
     
     
     
           
    

 

 
 
   

 

   

 

 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

 

accomplished his revenge, but he shall know that
Mustang Merle still lives and his pard, Rubio,
the Man with the Marked Arm, shall wish he
had never heard of the mine of Jose Santado. I
Swear this, Red Hawk, under the stars of
heaven!” \‘

The youu rancher had risen in his stirrups
and was he ding his right hand toward heaven
while the Indian watched him with silent ap—
proval.

“We are but two now,” continued Merle.
“Joe has perished at the. hands of the mine-
grabbers. The death of the faithful old pard
leaves us to fight the battles of Mesquite alone.
I am ready.”

“ And Merle will find the Apache near him
at all times ready With his hand and weapons
to help him conquer the enemies of the ranch.”

The two companions rode on Wear the prairie
and the stars shone upon them until they
entered the shadows of the hills. The mine was
in the hands of the foe. Dolores Dick and
Rubio had triumphed by one of the deepest and
coolest schemes imaginable and their victory
seemed complete.

“ They will hunt for us,” said the young Indian.

“When they discover that you are not in the .

mine they will take to the trail.”

“ Ali, that will be well,” cried Merle.
we shall meet them.”

He was about to speak again when the dark
hand cf .iis red all touched his arm and he saw
the finger of Red awk leap to his lips.

“ Look, brother,” whispered the Indian point-
ing down the valley which they had just entered.
“ Are not the bravvos of the border coming up to
he] the two fiends hold the mine?”

ustang Merle, looking over the Indian’s out-
stretched arm, saw a line of moving figures and
the next minute they were sitting in silence, but
with their hands on the reins ready to ride for-
ward iu an instant.

Both Merle and Red Hawk counted them—
eighteen in all—and when they had passed out
of sight, they looked into each other’s faces.

“ What thinks my brother no“ ?” queried the
young Apache.

“ More to fight, perhaps, but I am not daunt-
ed,” was the reply. “ Behind us is Mesquite
and the mine, too. Red Hawk, though the old
ranch swarmed with such as we have seen to-
night, I would not give up the battle. I want
peace, but Will fight for it. The mine may
cost a lot of blood, but it shall not be tamer
surrendered to the rascals who hold it mm”

A look of pride came into the fine eyes of the
Indian youth and he said:

“ If my brother were an Apache he would be
a chief i”

There was no answer, but Mustang Merle’s
glance sb0wed that the compliment had been re-
ceived with reverence, and when he looked again
toward the moving line 'of desperadoes all had
disappeared and they were the only occupants
of the quiet little valley.

Suddenly Red Hawk sprung to the ground
and bent over the trail made by the horsemen.
In a moment he came running back to his
friend.

‘ “ They are the men from the camps along the
Tagus,” he said. “Red Hawk knows the tracks
Eheir”horses make for he has followed them be-

ore. ;

“ I thought so, Red Hawk. They are vultures
and belong to the same family as the two that
hold the fort behind us. Please Heaven, the
time shall come when we will clip their talons
and shorten their beaks 1”

Ten minutes later the valley shadows seemed
to fall upon no living person, and Merle and his
red ally, With the tide of fortune againut them,
were not to be seen.

“ Thcn

CHAPTER VIII.
WITH THE ENEMY.

MUSTANG MERLE had spoken truly when he
told Red Hawk that Mesquite had fallen into
the hands of the enemg.

Rubio and Dolores ick had got possession of
the ranch by a clever stratagem, old in some

arts of the world, but new in the Southwest.
_he dee cunning of the two rascals had no
limit an they were ready to profit by it when-
ever opportunity offered.

It was customary for thp young owner of the
ranch to leave some faith ii men on guard and
on the night of the sur rise this caution was not
neglected. The men ad not forgotten Joe
Bundy’s encounter with the masked man sup-

to be Dolores Dick himself, and Merle had
cautioned his friends to be on the alert at all

bars. ‘
t But in spite of all this tho-blow had fallen and
' i

now he and Red Hawk were wanderers on the
prairie, soon to be hunted, perhaps, by those
from whom they had fled.

While the young fugitives are abroad on the
open, planning future vengeance, let us go back
to the ranch and take a look at things there.

The appointments of the house were not
touched by the captors. They seemed afraid
to disturb what they had taken, and it was soon
seen that the main prize battled for was the
boy’s mine.

“Isn’t this worth coming for?” said Rubin,
standing in one of the underground chambers of
the mine and looking at his companion who was
near at hand gazing at the wealth which sur-
rounded them. “ Here is the gold of Jose San~
tado and it is ours!”

“We have enough here to play all over the
Southwest,” was the reply, as the eyes of the
speaker glittered. “ It was a clean sweep. Ru-
bio. I am almost satisfied now: the boy is a
pri30uer in \his own mine, and all the rest are
scattered.”

“The girl was pretty,” said Rubio. “ I saw
. her long ago, when her father was a wanderer,
‘ but I did not know she had been left at Mes—
quite. It seems, now that she became an orphan
here, and that when her father died she resolved
to remain. I thought she would take the oath
with the men, but she preferred to go with them,
but would not swear.”

“i saw defiance in her eye when we called
them all up,” answered Dolores Dick.

The outlaw, as he spoke, tOok out a handsome
watch and Consulted it for a moment.

“ They will be here to night,” he said. “ We
can’t run this mine alone, Rubin.”

The man Whom he addressed frowned deeply.

“ Must they come?” he grew led. “They will
want so much for coming, and we will have to
divide. That w ill cut our Own share short.”

The outlaw laughed.

“ Look round you. Isn’t there enough for
twenty men? Remi mlier, this old mine was
worked long before u e can e into the world, and
there must be thousands of dcllnrs hid in it
somewhere. Jose Santado workrd it for all it
was worth, and he was not the man to leave one
vein of it untouched.”

“Let us see,” cried Rubin, snatching up a
torch and plunging away. “We ltave plenty
of time before us and might as well use it in
looking at the prize we have won.”

He was ,folloiwed by Dolores Dick and in a.
few minutes they were exploring the mine.
They went from chamber to chamber and all at
b one]? Rubio stopped and held the light near the
wa .

They were at the rock which bore the inscrip-
tion signed by JO 6 Santado, and above it was
the sign that had its counterpart on Ruhio’s arm
—the serpent and broken arrow.

“ Your copy is a faithful one,” said ‘ Dick.
“The man who made it for you knew how to do
such things.”

“ He did,” grinned Rubio. “ It made me Jose
Santado’s heir all the same, and I have helped
you to the riches of the dead.”

They resumed their search, entering other
chambers, all of which Mustang Merle had
worked, finding every Where proofs of the wealth
of the mine.

“ I would like to look in upon the prisoner,”
said Rubin. “ Is his cell near us?"

“ Indeed, I can hardly tell you where it i9. I
have not become used to this mine.”

“Wasn’t it the little chamber with the tall,
smooth walls!”

“ Yes.”

“ Then. I know where it is,” was the instant
reply. “ I have been here before.” and Ruhio
started down a narrow corridor followed as be-
fore by the handsome outlaW.

In a short time he turned up in aroom the
walls of which the torch revealed and Dolores
Dick exclaimed that they were in the young
rancher’s dungeon. '

“ But where is he?” cried Rubio, turning upon
his friend. “ If you left him here he has crept
through the solid rock, or has dissolved into
thin air.”

Already a look of astonishment had taken
possession of the outlaw’s face, and he was
searching every part of the place with a pair of
eager eyes.

‘Lookl here is the hole of the rat,” said
Rubia, shovingi the torch near the ground in
one corner 0f the chamber. “ Here is the hole
made or discovered by Jose years ago. The boy
knew it, as he should, and wanted nothing
better than imprisonment here.”

Dolores Dick with muttered curses was staring
at the opening in the wall, feeling that the captive
had crawled through it to liberty. ‘ ,

 

 

 

“ This stone which he removed was adroitly
set in the wall and when he had severed his
thongs on the sharp edges of the rocks that jut
from the wall, he was ready to play fox and creep
out. Shall v e follow him?”

“ Yes, yes!” cried Dick, and in a moment the
twain were creeping through a dark passage
which led them to a larger corridor, from which
they moved into the open air.

“ The boy is only one against odds,” said Dick,
with a light laugh which did not go \ery far.
toward reassuring Rubio. “You finished the"
young Indian by choking, and we need not look
for any attack single-handed by Merle of Mes-
quite. Harkl” and the speaker turned and
held a hand at his ear as though he had caught
a suspicious sound.

“The boys are coming,” he said a moment
later, and then they went forward and waited
for the advancing steeds near the hoiise.

In a few minutes eighteen horsemen drew l‘( in
in front of the ranch and Dolores Dick and his
companion greeted them. They were the s.- nae
men seen by Merle and Red Hawk in the \‘llllt v
and when they dismounted and had gathen d
round the two captors of the mine, they Wie
loud in their praises of the successful stratrg, m.

It was easily seen that the new-comers wo re
men after Dick and Ruhio’s own natures, l": r
tlsey wore the dress of the border ri.ffian a. =l
looked like the typical rascal cf the frnizi r.
N early all carried revolvers prominently His-
pluyed, and all were dark of face and mercile's
of eye.

They were taken over the house which ln :1
fallen into the hands of Dick and Rnbio and
were in high glee when they found some Tlth
wine in the boy rancher’s cellar. This was a
signal for a banquet, which lasted far into the
night, and the hrigands of the border kept high
carnival over the vintage of the captured ranch.

When the bui quet was at its height Ruhio
stole from the house and went down over the
posture to the banks of the stream which fringed
it with a line of silvery watt 1'.

He knew where he had left Red Hawk after
the dr'adly choking he had administered, and he
was anxious to see if the boy was still there. If
Merle had escaped it might be possible that Red
Hawk had C( me back to life, and this is what“
took Ruliio to the little stream.

The sky w as studded with stars when he went
over the waving grass and neared the water.
He reached the creek and walked along the tank
for some distance.

“It was here that i left the crimson-fox,” suit-i
Rubio. “ I threw him into the water and turned.
away. But I don’t see him,”

He kept on, looking at the ground with all eyes,
but the object he sought for was not to be
ac

en.
“ Wl‘at if the Indian came back to life after
all that choking?” he cried, stopping short as

the full meanin of his words forced themselvos

upon him. “ I on’tliketo think of that, for the

young red rascal is a host, and if he has j‘. ined
is friend and master, Mustang Merlc—”

RUIlIO was perplsxed and fell back, thinkin
gf Inothing but the disappearance of the Indian

0( y. ‘
“May he Merle found it and gave it burial
somewhere,” he said at last. “ He Would do ~
that, of course, for he owed the red-skin a great
deal, and would not let him become food for vul-
tures and wolves. It must he thus, for after
the work of these bands of mine a return to life
was impossible.”

For a few moments longer Rubio skirted the
stream and looked everywhere, but be was ( om-

ielled to go back with the mystery still unsolved.

he banquet v as still at its height and he crept
up to the house and looked on a little whilr. ,

“ I didn’t invite those men,” saitl ‘he under
his breath. “ I did not want them to share our
triumph. That was Dick’s doings, just as
though he don’t think himself safe here with
Rubio.”

' Then he stole CH and went back to the mine
where be repaired to the main chamber and
gauged the quartz crushers by the aid of his

rc .

All at once he turned and leaned toward the
corridor by which he had entered the room. A
singular noise had reached his ears. _

“ This mine isn’t haunted, I hope.” and Rubio
to himself. “The bones of Jose ,would be in
the treasure-house which is far ofi’. but which I
don’t want to visit while I am likely to be fol-
lowed by auy one. I have been down into the
depths of the money-chamber and this is one of
the secrets I am keeping from Dolores Dick.”

After a while he crept from the room and i "
went up to a graze overhead. He crawled'.
along i some d nee when hesuddenly saw the

 

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.a. - -.<.ae_s..

I.\ 

‘ §;,1:2W3L1.~a-._.

. «-

   
 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

 

prints of hands and feet in the dust on the
floor.

“ Some one’s been here 1” cried Rubio. “ These
are not the prints of my hands and are too large
to be those of Merle’s.”

While he listened he heard the same strange
sound again and then be bounded forward at
ghefi‘isk of breaking his neck by a tumble in the

ar '.
l “ Great Caesar!” he cried, “ there’s some one in
the treasure-house.”

 

CHAPTER IX.
JOE BUNDY TURNS UP AGAIN.

RUBIO held his breath and waited a long time
for a repetition of the noise which had drawn the
exclamation from him, but it was not repeated.
He was leaning over the edge of a pit, but could
not see the bottom.

Finally he knocked a piece off his torch and
watched it descend, casting light as it went
down. It struck the floor and burned there,
but did not reveal all the corners of the place.

Presently he went back, but returned with a
rope which had loops at intervals, and this he
lowered over the pit, fastening the upper end of
the cord over a sharp rock. which seemed to
have been used before for a like purpcse.

Rubio, with the courage of a desperado, now
lowered his body over the fringe of the dark
place, and began to descend. He went down
with ease by setting his feet in the loops, and at
last stood on the floor of the chamber.

There he found the treasure-house as he had
left it on a former visit, when, unbeknown t0
Merle and his men, he had helped himself to
someof its wealth. Shining gold pieces of un—
oouth coinage were scattered over the ground
at his feet, but he did not care for them now.

All at once Rubio fell back with a cry, and
the next moment something human in shape
leaped upon him from one of the corners, and as
a pair of long hands gripped his throat, he was
flung from the center of the room to land heavi-
ly against the wall.

“ I thought some one would come and let me
out,” said a voice, as Rubio struck, and then
the torch which had fallen from his grasp, and
was burning on the floor, showed him a form
moving up the dangling rope with the agility of
a sailor.

It was half-way up before he could reach the
rope, and when he did so he tried to pull it from
the rock Overhead, but, failing in this, he
cursed the hour that brought him to the mine.

Rubio fell back suddenly and drew his re-
volver. The man on the rope was still in sight,
b t would soon reach the top and disappear.

e threw up the six shooter, took aim, and fired
at the climbing body.

The report seemed to stun its maker, and the
blazing torch showed him a sudden movement
3n the part of his living target, but it did not

rop.

In another moment it drew itself over the
edge of the wall, and Ruhio knew that the
prisoner of the treasure-house had escaped.

“In heaven’s name, who was that?” cried the
Man with the Marked Arm. “I thought we
had dealt with all of the men of Mesquite.
The told us that all were marshaled before
Dic , with the exception of Red Hawk, and I
knew what had become of him.”

He sprung to the rope with his last word, and
with a knife in his teeth was about to pursue the
one who had eluded him when the rope itself
came down on his head!

Rubio recoiled with a cry of horror.

He was himself a prisoner of the treasure-
house, and without aid he could not expect to

e. ‘

“'gou kin take my place, pard,” came down

from above. “ I don’t expect ter be relieved by
you, but it’s all right, an’ you have the thanks
0’ the last 0’ the Bundys. Good-by forever if I
don’t change my mind an’ see you later, which
ain’t likely,” and the voice died away in a
chuckle which drove another curse from Rubio’s
tongue. -
“ oeBund i It was that Yankee rascal, was
it?” he cri “I wish I had had an inkling
that this old place held him. I would be up
there now and be where I am. He was in the
treasure-house; but how came be here? There
was no rope and one cannot fall from the top
without losin his life.”

The puzzle eepened for Rubio, for the miracle
of Old Joa s escape from death was not to be re-
vealed to him, and he saw his torch burn out,
leaving him in total darkness.

'1 " Meantime the man who had climbed up Ru-

bio’s'lmlder had made his way from the mine
and was nua ring the ranch-house.

 

Suddenly he stopped and listened to the sounds

of rude laugh and jest that came to his ears.
. “Jehosaphatl what has happened?" he cried.
“ It seems ter me that Merle has some uncom-
mon funny visitors, and they’re having high old
times over his wine. Joe Bandy, this ain’t a.
dream, for you’re as hungry as a wolf an’ thar’s
no restaurant handy.”

Old Joe crept closer to the house and crouch-
ing near the window, looked in upon a scene
which at first bewildered him. He saw the men
of the border making merry at the long table in
the main room of the ranch and at the head of
the board sat the handsome Dolores Dick.

In an instant, as it were, the Whole truth
flashed upon the old man’s mind. Mesquite had
fallen into the hands of the enemy and they were
celebrating their victory.

“ Mebbe if I hadn’t had my mishap this
wouldn’t have happened,” said Joe while he
looked on with a frown. “ The hull lay-out seems
to be theirs jest now. I wonder what’s become
0’ the ranch forces? Whar is Merle, an’ Red
Hawk, the cunnin’, an’ Neva? It’s more than I
can guess an’ I’m pretty good at puzzles, too.”

The wild scene before him had astrange fasci-
nation for the old gold~seeker and he crouched
there a long time, drinking it in and wshing for
ten good men with VVinchesters to give another
coloring to it. He heard Dolores Dick propose
in mock tones the health of Mustang Merle, and
then came the clinking of glasses and the deri-
sivc laugh of the revelers.

“ Ain’t there a weepin somewhere about?”
cried Joe. “I can’t stand all this an’ a good
Winchester poked in at the window might break
up the hilarity of the occasion.”

He went back to the stables and found strange
horses there. They were saddled, and their
heated flanks told him that they had been rid-
den hard from far away. In one of the buck-
skin liolsters he found a revolver, and with it
clutched in his hand, came back to the house;
but at the window be halted and shook his

' head.

“A shot might not help Merle any if he is a
prisoner. It would only make the gang more
merciless toward him an’ I guess I won’t break
up the banquet.”

Old Joe now went everywhere, searching the
place for signs of Merle and his friends, but of
course was not rewarded. He came back to the
house and saw the door open, and the figure of
Dolores Dick appear at the threshold. The
light from the room fell upon him, showing his
splendid form to the old miner, and he drew
back among the shadows of the cedars ando
watched him.

Dick had left the revelers and come out alone.

“I’d like to know what’s become of Rubio,”
said he aloud. “The wily snake isn’t to be
trusted. He didn’t want the boys to come up
an’ help us hold the ranch, and he’s liable to play
a game of his own.”

“ That’s jest what the rascal’s played, Dolores
Dick,” said Joe to himself. “I left him in the
treasure-house, an’ if you will jest keep from
leokin’ thar a few hours, old Jose will have a
pard in the mine.”

Dick came forward and left the porch, rising

'like a giant before the man among the trees.

“ With Merle escaped, and the men of the
ranch sworn to keep off, I don’t think we have
much to fear now,” he went on. the words send-
ing a thrill of joy along Joe Bundy’s nerves.
“Rubio finished the young Indian, and he was
dangerous. We have the upper hand, though I
would like to have punished the boy rancher. I
may yet. He may come back and try to retake
his mine. I wish he would. I hope he will take
a fool notion to newer the prizn.’

“ He will if I ever find him,” said Joe, in a
whisper. ‘~‘ Mustang Merle will come back with
good backin’, if I do say it myself, for when you
stir the Bundy blood it gets p’izen, an’ it’s pretty
well stirred now.”

Dolores Dick moved back toward the house.
and when the door had closed upon his figure
the man under the trees glided t0ward the
stables, along which he was soon lost. In a
short time he came out. leading a horse, and
when he vaulted into the saddle he uttered an
Exclamation of joy, and shook his fist at the

ouse.

“Oh. I’m comin’back,” he cried. “Don’t
think for a moment that Joe Bundy makes it
long between calls. He’s used ter comin’ often,
a'n’ especially what he’s not wanted, an’ when he
comes he sometimes outsta 3 his Welcome. It
shall be so in this case. es, Dick an’ pards,
I’m comin’ back.”

He dashed across the pasture, taking to the
open as soon as he could, and rode away under
the stars that lit up the vault of nig i; but

 

every now and then bending over, as if looking
for the trail he wanted to pick up.

But the night was too dark, after all, or else
there Were no marks in the grass, for he saw
nothing that rewarded his keen eyes, and he was
far from Mesquite when the hour of midnight
came.

“ didn’t hear Dick say anything about
Neva,” said J 09. “ He did not mention the
girl, an’ one would have thought he would have
brought her in, for she is pretty, an’ jest the
kind tera please him. She must be somewhar.
Did she go off with the men who swore not ter
fight Dick an’ his gang?” I

Joe had reined in his stolen steed in the center
of a ravine between two picturesque hills and
was following up his expressed thoughts With
others when a sharp click startled him and he
laid his hand on the brigand’s revolver.

“ You don’t need to draw,” said a voice at his
horse’s feet. “I dont think you’d shoot me,
an hOW.” .

0e Buudy bent down and looked into the up-
turned face, then sprung from the saddle and
seized the hands of the speaker.

“You’ve turned up like a ghost, Neva ” he
cried. “ Bless me, if I wasn’t jest talkin’ about
ye. And here ye ar’ as large as life an' jest as
pretty as ever. What hev you been an’ whar
a)" the rest of the boys?”

In an instant a flash came into the dark eyes
of the girl, for Neva actually stood before the
old miner.

“ Where are they, the cowards?” she cried.
“You will have to look far beyond these bills.
They took the parole the two scoundrels offered,
but, though I rode off with them, I did not, and
I am here ready to wage war against the ene-
mies of Mesquite. I came back as soon as I
could quit the company of the men of the ranch.
Merle is somewhere in the grip of the foe—”

“ No, he has escaped,” broke in Joe.

“ Thank fortune!” cried the girl. _“ Then old
Mesquite will be redeemed. The mine Will be
ours when the end comes. The gold-grabbers
can’t hold their prize.” _

Old Joe gave the fair girl a look of admira-
tion.

 

CHAPTER X.

“ GOLDEN BUCK.”

MESQUITE had been four days in the hands of
the enemy and nothing had occurred to break
his hold on the rich prize.

Rubio had been rescued from the pit by his
friends and he had told them that he had
dropped into the place, but had not intimated
that it was old Jose Santado’s treasure-house.
The Man with the Marked Arm was playing a
game of his own for that was his nature,,and he
had resolved to let no secret which he Wished
to keep all to himself fall into the hands of
others.

The desperadoes who had come _up from the
Southwest at Dolores Dick’s bidding were still
on the ranch. They had scouted the surround-
ing country, but had not seen anything of those
who had escaped, and all were settling down to
the opinion expressed by Dick that Merle had
abandoned all hopes of retaking the ' mine
and had left the region, glad to get off with his
life.

Night‘was closing after the fifth day of the
forced occupation when a good-looking youth
mounted on a small mustang rode over the hills
that bordered the little stream near the pasture
and drew rein in front of the ranch-house just
when the invaders were congregated on the
award.

In an instant he was the cynosure of all eyes,
and the bandits of the border were soon about
him. He sat on the little steed with his clear
dark eyes looking down upon them, but he
soon singled out Dolores Dick, whom be ad-

dresscd. .

“ I thought I Would ride this way andusee if
I couldn’t get a job,” said the youth. I can
do ’most anythin that is to be done on a well-
appointed ranch ike this, from punching cattle
to taking a hand at the pick. I used to work in
a mine in the Coleras country, as on can see
by this,” and he drew from his DOC 8‘7 a Paper
which he handed to the handsome outlaw.

Dick took the reference and read it aloud to
the assembled men. It gave the bearer a good
name for all work and recommended him as a
fine judge of gold, and said that his former em-
ployer parted with him with much regret, and
so orth

“ I guess you can get down,” said Dick, when
he had finished the paper, which he handed back
to its owner. “ We may find something for you
to do here; but you're apt to fipd a good deal of

l

 

 

 

 
      

    
   

 

 
   
   
    
    
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
   
  
   
  
  
   
   
   
   
 
   
   
  
 

 

 

x

 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

'9

 

 

 

 

time on your bands which you can put in as you
think best.”

The boy slipped lightly to the ground and stood
before the desperadoes, well pleased.

He had informed them tnat his name was
Buck Branson, sometimes called Golden Buck,
on account of his knowledge of gold, and to test
it, Dick took him direct to the mine and placed
in his hands several lumps of quartz.

The opinion which the new band gave out af-
ter a brief study of the lumps was confirmed by
the crushing mills, and he stood from that mo-
ment high in the mine-grabber’s estimation.

Golden Buck was shown to Nevu’s old room in
the ranch-house and told that thereafter it was
his quarters.

“beems to me a woman used to inhabit this
room?” said be, turning upon Dick ere he left
the a artment after having shown him up.

“ be last one to occupy this room was a girl
who went off when we came.”

“ Why did she go?” asked Golden Buck, with
curiosity.

“ Didn't like the change of masters, I guess,”
grinned Dick. “ She was pretty enough to have
won a husband if she had stayed. but you know
.girls have queer notions sometimes and this one
wasn’t an exception.”

“ Won’t she ever come back for the little
things she left behind?”

“ I reckon not.”

“I wouldn’t have left that mirror, nor that
tidy. Did she make them?”

“ I suppose so; but are you fond of girls,
Golden Buck?”

The young hand burst into a light laugh.

“Oh,” said he, “ I like a pretty face, of
course, but hers is one I shall never see, so
what’s the use of talking about it? Good-night,
Ca tain Dick.

he door closed and Golden Buck was alone._
He was soon in the dark for he blew out the
light which the captain of the invaders of Mes-
quite had left on the table, and stood in the dim
reflection of the stars.

The next day, to show what he could do with
the lasso, Golden Buck went forth to where the
cattle were, stampeded a number and brought
down several with the loop, his feat being wit.
'nessed by the whole band, which applauded him,
and he dofl’ed his hat before them all.

“ I never saw a boy have such deep black
eyes,” said Dolores Dick to one of his friends.
“ They are pretty enough to be in the head of a
girl like the one who went off with the pards of
She nanch when we came down upon it the other

ay.

“ I’ve noticed those eyes myself. They are
very pretty, and when you complimented him
to—day he blushed just like a. girl, but the next
moment looked half-ashamed of it.”

“ That did not escape my eye,” answered Dick.
“ With a few more years the boy would make a
capital bravo for he has no fear, and is as nervy
as an old cow 0y.” .

Meantime the subject of these remarks had re-
turned to the house, where he came suddenly
upon Rubio, the Man with the Marked Arm.

He found Rubio alone in Mustang Merle’s
room with alot of papers before him. Among
them were several letters which he had just
taken from the boy rancher’s desk.

“ You write, don’t you?" said Rubio, seeing
who had come 1n.

“ No that is where I missed it,” was the reply.

The alt-Comanche grinned.

“ What! a good-looking boy like you not
know how to write?” he exclaimed.

“ Where I was raised there was nothing like a
school. I have spent my life on ranches, and
have never thought of learning what seemed of
no use to me.”

The man seemed uonplused for a moment, but
he threw a letter in front of Golden Buck.

“ I found that in this desk,” said he. “ It is a
letter from the girl, Neva, who used to occupy
your room, to Mustang Merle, and I thought that
if you wrote, we would get up a good answer to.
it just for the.fun of the thin .”

Golden Buck stootped and picked up the letter,
which he read stan in . 'All the time the keen
eyes of Rubio were xed upon him, and nota
move of a muscle escaped them.

“ If you really don’t write,” said he, “ we
can’t have our little fun,” he smiled. “You

came from Colonel Banda’s ranch, eh ?”

“ I served him last.”

“ When?”

" Last summer.”

“ Before he died?”

Golden Buck seemed to start a little.

“ Colonel Banda is not dead,” he said. “ You
must have been misinformed. I saw him last

’week at Tagus City.”

 

Again the Man with the Marked Arm looked
beaten. It was evident that he was seeking to
entangle the boy, but the youth was proving too
much for him.

“ You came from Tagus City, did you? Well,
did you see or hear anything of the former
owner of this ranch?”

“ 0f the boy called Mustang Merle?”

6‘ Yes.”

“ I heard that he passed through there, but
that was before I reached the town, and I heard
it by accident. ”

" Was he alone?”

“ I cannot say.”

“ Boy, don’t you know that it is possible that
you may not have heard any such news?”

In an instant the face of Golden Buck colored
and line took a sudden step toward the watchful

aw .

“If my word is doubted I can hunt another
job,” cried he, halting in front of Rubio and
ooking down into his upturned face. “Are
you master here? When did you acquire this
ranch and how? I am my own master and
have been ever since I left home, running away
from a cruel father. You look like the man
called Rubio. You look like a person who has
had a price on his head, and who, if all reports
concerning him are true, should not be quietly
seated here.”

‘,‘ Beware!” cried the Half Comanche. “ This
isinsolence and from a bantling! I can send you
adrift at any time, and you need not think that
I am not powerful here.”

“I hired to Dolores Dick,” was the quick
response. “ I am responsible to him and to no
other man on this ranch. He will dismiss or
pay me, and I will not be questioned like a
witness in the cage by a man like you.”

The following moment the young cattle-
puncher was striding from the room and Rubio
biting his lips, was glaring at him from eyes
that fairly snapped. ~

“ I don’t think I’m far from wrong,” said he
under his breath. “By Jupiter! it is a fine
game if it is true, and from what [have heard
of her, she was just the sort of person to play
it. You will answer to Dolores Dick will you?
Take care, my young fellow; you may have to
answer to Rubio.”

He rose and shut the desk with a bang,
then crossed the room and disappeared toward
the mine.

As he left the house a face which he did not
see was turned toward him, and a pair of
eyes that looked closely at him followed him
until his figure was lost to sight.

Golden Buck,:the c0wboy, went up to his little
room. There he sat down and wrote a moment
on a slip of paper which he placed in an inner
pocket, after which he left the room and went
down among the stables.

Night was not far off now, and when it came
he stole across the pasture and ran through the
shadows, then turned up the ravine beyond the
mouth of the mine where he stopped and thrust
whalt he had written in a crack in the gulch
wal .

“I believe the head rascal of the ranch sus-

ects me, but I shall face him with all the nerve
have,” said Golden Buck.

CHAPTER XI.
A BARGAIN AND A noose.

THE capture of Mesquite had not escaped atten-
tion and the successful swoop of Rubio and
Dolores Dick was a topic of conversation among
the camps and towns of the Rio Tagus country.

For the most part those who heard of the ras-
cally piece of business treated it lightly y 01‘
laughed at what they called a “ clever trick,” for
all knew that the fortune which the mine should
yield to its its plunderers would eventually find
its way to the gaming dens of the Southwest,
and that the two pards would lose every dollar
of their ill-gotten gains under the lights of the
monte dens of Tagus and other towns.

Besides this, the man from whom Mustang
Merle received the ranch had never associated
with the lawless characters of the border, and it
was thought that he had been slain by one of
these men, for he was found dead on his ranch
and the fine prope which he had accumulated
had passed into the ands of a boy, who, like his
dead friend, was the enemy of the roving bands
of bandits who swept the country and robbed
and plundered at W] 1.

It was not unusual for bets concerning Merle’s
peaceful tenure of Mesquite to be made. It was
expected that some day the ranch would be
ta en from him, an! when it wns known that

 

Captain Cussed had burnt the buildings, it was
thought that his dominion ever Mesquite had
come to an end; but when the saw him not
only re. ain his own, but annihilate the Red
Jacket ravos, the prophets had a serious back-

set.

While Golden Buck was performing duties at
Mesquite, a man well known to the reader rode
quietly into Tagus, the nearest town to the
ranch, and slid from the saddle in front of it
0111le public house.

is figure was lank and not handsome, but
he had a pair of black eyes in his head and a
short stubby heard of a few days’ growth.

It was Old Joe Bundy.

“ I’m kinder forgotten here since I’ve become
an unattached gentleman,” observed the old
man, looking at the men grouped on the Ian
porch of the hotel smoking or telling broa
yarns. “ I used ter be a man of distinction
here, but since I’m a houseless wanderer, I’ve
dropped out o’ notis, an’ I don’t seem ter attract
any ’tention.” _

He slipped his arm through the ram and
walked up to the porch.

“ Hello, gents I” said he. “ You don’t appear
ter know the last 0’ the Bundys.”

Some of the toughs assembled remarked that
the Bundy family was no longer above per in
Tagus, but the old man leaned against the dirty
columns and smiled.

“When a fellar loses his home,” said he, “ he
loses friends. For instance: I’ve been run off
of Mesquite by a brace of rascals an’ among ye
all thar’s not one who will sympathize with a
chap in my sad predicament.”

“ Why didn’t you have your eyes open when
they came down upon you?” queried alarge man
who had been eying Joe with a look of keen
merriment.

“Why was I in the trap in the old mine?”
said Joe. “But that’s what I came to t0wn for.
I’m lookin’ for a man named Brad Murphy.”

At this there was a general laugh and a loud
call for “Brad,” and the next moment there
stepped forward a little man who looked any—
thing but handsome.

“What is it?” he said in a squeaking tone,
sidling up to Joe, who had turned to meet him.

“ Are'you Mr. Murphy?”

“No, sir; I’m “ Brad” Murphy, though,” and
he stepped from the porch and walked off with
the old miner who towered above him like a pine
above a bush.

For some time neither spoke, and then Joe
Bundy, looking down at the dwarfed figure at
his side, said:

“ Did you get the message I sent by the In-
dian?”

“ I got it,” was the reply. “ It was delivered
promptly, as that red-skin knows his business.”

They turned a sharp corner in the old town
and Brad Murphy opened the door of alittle
adobe but and ushered Joe Bundy inside.
There the two found a table without a candle
and sat down on rickety stools in the dark.

“ 1 come straight from Merle," continued Joe.
“ He wants your peculiar help. What can you
do?”

The little man passed his hand through his
yellowish beard which looked like gold-dusted
hair. and watched Joe carefully for a moment.

“ What can I do?” said he. ‘ I can do a good
deal, Joe Buudy. I am little, but thar’s a good
deal of power in Brad Murphy.

“ Precious packages are ginerally small,” ob-
served Old Joe. “ You can mu~ter—how many?”

Murphy was silent for a moment.

“Just as many as you need,” said he with a
grin. “ I can turn out the best set of fellows
yoa ever saw, but they’re not here. I wouldn’t
trust a Tagus man out of my sight.”

" Nor I, jedgin’ from the crowd at the hotel.
They’re all alike.”

“When do you want them?” queried Murphy.
“ You represent Mustang Merle now?”

“ I represent the best boy in these diggins’,”
was the reply. “ I come straight from him,‘au’
what Joe Bundy does will he stood up to by my
young pard.”

“ I can give you ten or twenty.”

“ Armed men?”

‘6 Yes.”

“ No shirks?”

“ I shoot shirks!” was the answer. “ These
men have been tried. They are Free Lances;
they go wherever I send them and they don’t
ask any questions. They are paid for what they
do an’ by Brad Murphy.” .

“ I want ten.” ‘

The little man drummed on the table with his
bronzed fingers for a minute, ‘and then looked
up into Joe’s face.

“ When?” he said sententiously.

 

  

  

 

 

,.

t:

-=:o'rv~'~"".km.:¢7 1"”? ' '.

 

 

. 1 that he had been noosed
that Indian was Red Haw , the Apache.

  

10

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

“lVe will want them at the rende2vous to-
morrow. We will get some news from the in-
side—”

“ Ah, you have a spy in the camp of the
enemy?” smiled Murphy.

h“ “So have a keen young ferret thar, an’ what
8 e—

Old Joe stopped suddenly and di not resume,
but Murphy seemed to know what e was about
to say, for he nodded and slightly changed the
subject. .

“ Tell Merle that to—morrow ten of the best
men that ever served Brad Murphy will be at
the rendezvous. I was waitin’ for you at the
hotel an’ wasn’t surprised ter see ye ride up.
nge the sympathy is ag’in’ you folks; you know
w .‘

“ Yes,” said Joe grating his teeth. “ They
expect ter see some 0 Mustang Merle’s gold come
to the gamin’ tables 0’ Tagus, but unless it
reaches em to-night, it never may i"

The tall figure of Joe Bundy standing erect
almost touched the ceiling of Brad Murphy’s
but, and the eyes of the little man regarded him
as though he wished that he was as tall.

\Vhen the interview had been concluded be-
tween the‘two men Murphy accompanied Joe to
the edge of the town and said good-night, after
which he went back to the hotel to be chafled
by his friends who wanted to know if he had
made anything by his interview with the evicted
miner.

This sport at Murphy’s expense was still high
when there rode into the square in front of the
building a man who dismounted and entered.

He was looked at by the occupants of the
porch, and when one said it was Monte-Play, a
man well know in some parts of the SouthWest,
all followed him into the bar-room. There, with
a greeting for all, he turned up toward the
crowd and received quite an ovation.

All at once a hand touched the new—comer's
haiéd and a voice which no ear but his own heard,
an :

“ You are just in time.
had a talk with Murphy.”

Monte did not appear to start, but his face
seemed to change color, and after a few words
with the crowd he slipped away and remounted.

The next moment he had turned his steed’s
head toward the north, and the horse was soon
carrying him over the open country beyond the
confines of the town.

“ 1 did come just in time,” he laughed to him-
self.“ It was lucky that I found Jim in Tagus.
When Joe Bundy meets Murphy, the old Free
Lance of the border, something is up. That man
sells the men who follow his fortunes. They
never ask in whose cause they are to fight; they
are perfect Free L'inccs, and the consultation
means that they are to enter the employ of
Mustang Merle, the boy rancher. This newa
must go straight to Mesquite. Dick must have
it to-night, for this is a movement not to be de-

ise'l. It means desperate work, for the Free

ances have deadly points and kill when they
pierce.”

He rode on, striking his steed with the spurs
every now add then to urge him to greater
eflorts, and soon he had left the li hts of Tagus
far behind and seemed the only ri er out under
the stars.

But there was another, and it was not Joe
Bundy who had accomplished his mission.

In the shade thr0wn by a clump of tall cacti
which grew in the very heart of the plain over
which Monte was galloping stood a'horse, which
was completely sheltered by the s iny plants.
The rider who sat astride this anima , which did
not move, was not large, but he had a figure
which was faultless in contour and indicative of
strength, for it wore but little clothing.

It was as,dark as the shadows in which it sat,
and the keen ears of horss and rider heard the
sound made by Monte coming forward on his
mission of warning.

Nearer and nearer came the man from Mes-

nite. If he could have looked ahead and spied

e tiger in ambush, he would have prepared for
the inevitable, but the cacti shielded the grim
destroyer.

All at once Monte came up with the man be-
hind the bush. His horse shied as he caught
gm: of something there, and when Monte turn-

to see that something, a noose dro ped over
his head. It fell so suddenly and softly that he
could not avoid it, and, as it tightened, he drew
hack and tried to throw it off, but too late.

The next moment he was on the ground, a1-
moet choked to death, and looking up into the
face that bent over him from the back of the
horse that had waited in the shadow, he knew
b an Indian, and that

J as Bundy has just

 

 

        

CHAPTER XII.
GOLDEN BUCK‘S ORDEAL.

GOLDEN BUCK’s resolve to face Rubio with a
Show of nerve was, under the Circumstances, a
good one, for the time was near when nerve
would be needed. _

When the new band came back from deposit-
ing the letter in the crack of the wall of the ra~
vine, Rubio saw him and his keen eyes followed
him into the house.

“ What took him across the pasture?” said the
Man with the Marked Arm. “What took him
there I would like to know if he is merely a cow
boy and in our service? There is something
wrong here, and I’m not the man to let such
things go.”

Golden Buck was asleep when velvety foot-
steps cnme to the door of his chamber and a
dark-faced man listened there.

Presently the steps crept back, but the smile
that flitted across the face of their maker was
dark and threatening.

Rubio went back to the room be10w where he
found Dolores Dick and a dozen of the men who
had come to Mesquite by his invitation.

The Marked Arm could not conceal his feel-
ings and as he came forward all eyes became
fixed upon him.

“ I didn’t know we had a spy in the camp,”
said he.

“ A spy i” cried Dick, looking at the man with
astonishment. “ Who is the spy i”

Rubio grinned.

“I have just come from the spy's door,” he
said. “I thought there was something more
than eagerness in the eyes of our young bull-
puncher, more than a mere desire to get a job.”

“ What, do you suspect Golden Buck?”

“I suspect nobody. I know !” was the quick
and positive reply.

In an instant the handsome bandit was on his
feet. and the men were staring at both him and
Rubio.

“ It can’t be!" cried Dick. “ You did not like
him from the first. You growled when I hired
him, and you did not like it because I told the
boys to come up and help us hold the fort. We
may need them ere lon . You seem to forget
that Mustang Merle anng oe Bundy are abroad,
that they may scours the services of the Free
Lances of the border; you—”

Rubio threw up his hand and broke Dolores
Dick’s. sentence.

“ I forget nothing,” said he cooll . “ I want
no spies among us and none shal thrive here
while I have a share of the mine I have led you
to.

The two pards stood face to face and the men
were looking at both, fully expecting one of
those bloody collisions which occur so frequently
between men of their sort.

“ If I had not favored you, would we be here
to-night?” asked Dick. “ If I had not found
Diaz, the traitor, on the open, riding to this very
place to tell Merle that we were about to sweep
d0wn upon him and to divulge all our plans
which he knew, would you stand under this roof
9. victor new? I lassoed that man and dragged
him across the prairie at my horse’s heels and
you thanked me far it, for you then realized the
service I had done the cause. Where is the
traitor you speak of i" .

“ Up there asleep.”

“ You mean the boy?"

“ The boy? ha, ha, ha I” laughed Rubio. “ The
boy! I mean the person who is called Golden
Buck.”

“ Call him down,” said Dick, and one of the
men ran from the room and was heard ascend-
ing the stair.

Three minutes had not elapsed when two were
heard coming down and the door opening into
the room showed all the figure of the young cow-
boy at the desperado’s heels.

Golden Buck came forward with wonderment
in the eyes that had attracted so much atten-
tion, and in a moment he stood in front of the
group.

Rubio stood where he could see him and his
0 es fell at once to watching him like a hawk.

0 one spoke; all seemed unwilling to make the
char e made when Golden Buck was absent,
and or several minutes a dead silence filled the
room.

“ Make the char 9,” said Dick to Rubio.
“ You had him calle out of bed. Say your say
to his teeth.”

The following moment the Man with the
ligated Arm stepped forward and faced Golden

uc .

:gYou were across the pasture to-nighti” be
u I ..

The face watched so closely b all who heard
these words did not lose a partic e of color.

 

made Mamppas of their fellow-creatures.”

“ What is it to you where I was?” was the
answer.

“I told you so,” said tue look which Rubio
shot at Dolores Dick. “ l have the spy before
you. He has admitted his guilt by not answer-
ing me fairly.” ‘

“ You went beyond the edge of the field; you
went to the mouth of the ravine.”

No answer.

“When you came back you had the dust of
the ravine on your shoes. You brushed them
carefully when you went up to your mom.
You said you could not write, yet on wrx to
a letter after. you told me this. on are a
s 1

This last charge was met by a flashing look
from the eyes that confronted Rubia. The
figure of Golden Buck seemed to lengthen in the
light, and he fell back a step, but in order to get
Beyond reach of the long arm of the man of [be

rand.

“\Vhat does Dick think no“ i” asked Rubin.
“ You have eyes and they are quick to judge of
what they see. Under the name of Golden Buck
lies the plan of the enemy. Behold the girl or o
refused to take the oath of parole! Behold
Neva of Mesquite!”

It was a thrilling tableau. In front of the
white-faced cowboy stood Rubio with outstretch-
ed arm, and his quivering finger was covering
the form a few feet away. Triumph unmistak-
able filled the gleaming eyes of the human wolf,
and laughter was at the tip of his tongue.

“ Spics are hanged!” he Went on. “This one
came from her master, and to—night she sent a
letter to him. It went to the gulch and will be
taken off by either Joe Bundy or his master.
Look! Behold Neva, the female spy, and yet
you sit there and stare !” -

Dolores Dick had not moved, but was looking
into the eyes before him, and was wondering if
their Owner was really the beautiful creature
who had defied him before, when men were
Swearing not to draw a trigger against the man
who had deprived them of a home.

“ She does not speak,” continued Rubio.
“Guilt glues her tongue to the roof of her
mouth.”

“It is false!” suddenly fell from the lips of
the silent one. “ I can speak, as that secundrel
shall know. I am astonished that men of your
sfamp,”-her hand swept before Dick and his
friends—“ I am astonished that you listen to such
aVillain. Why, there is a price on his head
now. He has sent men across the Llano Esfacado
tied to horses, with their faces turned to the“
vultures, and has followed them for miles laugh-
ing at their tortures. And yet you call that
man your pard! You own help him to hold a
mine which he claims to have heired when the
mark which adorns his arm was stolen by him
during one of his secret visits to the mine during
its occupancy by Mustang Merle. Such is
the man who dubs me a spy. What has he
been?” -

Despite Rubio‘s efforts to keep _cool, his
face grew crimson, and he looked like a per-
son about to spring upon the one who had
spoken.

“ She unmasks herself,” cried be, looking at
Dolores Dick. “The message is on its way
to Merle, and she is the one who wrote and
sent it.”

Dick turned once more to the cowboy.

“ What is your answer?” he. asked.

” I reply not to a charge from a man like the
one who has just made it,” was the response.

“ Guilty!” shouted Ruhio. “ I will prove what
I have said.”

He came toward Golden Buck, but the next
instant his hand was thrown aside, and he was
looking into the muzzle of asmallsix-shooter
from which he recoiled with the whitest face he
had shown that night.

“ You touch me at the peril of your life!” came
OVer the shining barrel of the weapon in tones
which were not the same as those in which the
accused had just spoken. .

Rubio, almost blinded by rage, bad storped
and was sinking his nails into the palms of his
long, dark hands. The spectators seemed to en-
joy his check, and he was glaring at the cowboy
and watching, as it were, for a chance to carry
out his purpose. .

“ Did you ever seepuch supreme folly i" cried
the Man with the Marked Arm. “ She lhreac-
ens to shoot me in the camp of. my friends, just
as thou h she thought you would not tear her to
piecein e a lot of ham.” .

“Do on think they would, Ca tain Rubioi”
asked lden Buck. “ Why shou 6. these men
avenge a; death like ours? They never sent
men tothe vultures o the desert; they never

t

.l

 

If.) ‘.

 

!

   
 

“a.
» n

 

 

 

 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

11

 

 

Rubio turn--d to Dolores Dick who had been
looking quietly on with a smile at the corners of
his mouth, as if he really wanted him to move
toward Golden Buck once more.

“Keep the spy in your emplo 'l” he cried.
“ Keep him whore he can warn ustang Merle
and his friends. But don’t let him cross Rubio’s
path!”

“ You have just called him ‘ hoy’ again,”
grinned the handsome sport.

" A slip of the tongue,” was the answer.
" That is Neva. I noticed the eyes the moment
I saw them. She is here to watch us and to re-
port all to her master and lover.”

All of a sudden there mounted to the temples
of the accused a flush which was not there be-
fore. The last words of Rubio seemed to have
gone like an arrow to the mark, and when he
saw the deep coloring he broke into a laugh.

“Convicted by her blush I" he exclaimed.
“ Now, is any more proof needed 2?”

Every eye was turned upon Golden Buck,
and the tableau was not broken until Dick,
smiling, said:

“ Go back to bed. This can be settled to-mor-
row,” and witha how the cowboy of Mesquite
walked from the room, followed by the gaze of
every desperado in it.

When the door had shut behind the slight fig-
ure there were looks which told more than spok-
en language.

CHAPTER XIII.

A RUN IN THE DARK.

RUBIo was not more than half satisfied with
his triumph. The tiger part of his nature had
received a check which it could not brook, and
when he had seen the door close upon Golden
Buck’s figure, he wheeled and left the room.

"‘ They don’t want to touch her; I see that,”
said he madly under his breath. “They see
that Dolores Dick is smitten with the infernal
beauty of the girl and the lean to him. I will
soon be surrounded by a ot’ of spies myself—I
who first planned the swoop and who brought
them to these riches!”

He went down to the mine and in another
minute was threading its dark corridors which
seemed as well known to him as the trails of
the desert.

“ She won’t be there when morning comes
unless they watch her,” he went on. “She will
quit the house to-night and go back to her mas-
ter. She has seen enough, perhaps; she knows
our numbers, how we are situated, and the con-
dition of our arms. What should keep her an-
other hour at Mesquite?”

He was in the hi' chamber now, but he did
not stop there. Ta ing from a dark place a.
rope ladder which he dragged along the upper
passages of the mine, he fastened it to a jut-
ting rock and went down hand over hand until
he touched hard ground, when he fell back
with a joyful cry.

Rubio was in the treasure—house again, but
this time he knew a way out, and he did not
have to depend on the men whom he had left
in the ranch—house.

Now for the first time he struck a. match
and its little flame 'ShOWed him piles of wealth
which he began to cram into a long sack which
he had brou ht down into the place.

He carrie load after load up the ladder and
secreted all in another part of the mine.

“The crash is coming. f I remain here I
shall have to fight the conspirators,” said he.
“I am Rubio against all of them; but ere I
go, if go I must, there shall be a blow struck
which Will echo in their ears to the hour of
doom 1”

Suddenly he was interrupted in his work and
stopping short, he listened to hear a footstep
coming down the corridor along which he had
just carried the treasure.

“ What if he has followed here?” said Rubio.
“ What if I am alone in the mine with Dolores
Dick?” .

He held his breath while he appeared to count
the steps in the dense darkness,“ and when they
stopped and a match was struck, he fell back
against the wall With a long knife lying along
h arm.

Twenty yards away stood the man of whom
he had just spoken—Dolores Dick; but he was
not alone.

“Ha, those eyes have captured him!” said
Rubin.

Near the handsome despeme stood the per-
soncalled Golden Buck, and the man who lured
at the pair from his dark retreat thong t the
black eyes of the new band looked brighter than
over. ‘

He saw them move down the floor of the cham-

a

 

barf] and halt in front of the inscription on the
W8 .

“ That is it,” said Golden Buck. “ That is the
one they found when the mine was discovered.
It has been there a long time. The serpent and
arrow which you see carved there are tattooed
on Rubio’s arm.”

“ They are there,” answered Dick. “ I have
seen them a thousand times. He refuses to tell
who put them there, but I know that they were
tattooed for a purporse.”

“Yes. that he might come forward as Jose
Santado’s heir. A cooler villain than RUIIIO
does not exist, and I am surprised that he drew
you into his net.” “

Dolores Dick seemed to start.

“ Why did you enter into his scheme?” asked
Golden Buck. “ Were there no other ranches to
plunder—no other mines to take by force?”

There was no reply.

“ Did you have to plunder Mesquite?” the
same voice confirmed. “ Did you have to drive
Mustang Merle from home, and deprive me of
shelter? Don’t you knor there can be no cem-
promise between you and the boy you have
evicted l”

“ I don’t fear that!” cried Dick, spurred into
a reply by the last words. “ I have hated him
for years. I had him in my clutches once when
he and Captain Cussed were at war, but I lost
him. You can’t drive me from Mesquite before
I am ready to go. You are a spy; you are all
that Rubio charged.”

The man watching the pair saw a gleam of
mcrriment shoot up in Golden Buck’s eyes, and
the slight figure straightened before the Apollo
of the border.

“ What, did you not suspect anything at the
beginning?”

“ When you came and asked for a job?”

H Yes.”

“ As I live, girl, I did not.”

“Then you have not the cunning of Rubio.
That rascal suspected me from the first, and I
knew the moment he asked me if I could write
that he had set a trap to catch me.”

“ But you would not have shot him to-night?”

“ He refusedito try me very far.”

“ Rubio knows when to stop. But would you
go back to Merle if I were to say ‘Go?’ ”

“thy shouldn’t I? You know what I am.
You know that I am but a spy in Merle’s em-
ploy-that 1 willingly undertook this service to
help him redeem the ranch.”

“ It was a brave act, girl!”

“ Mesquite is my home. Here my father died,
and here I hope to live all my life.”

Dolores Dick’s face seemed to get a touch of
pity at the low, soft words of the girl spy; but
the hand in the dark—the long fingers at knife—
only clutched the hilt the harder, and the eyes
above it got a deadlier flash.

D-“gf you go I may never see you more,” said

1(' .

“Av, but you will i” was the quick answer.
“ I Will come back when he comes."

“ What, will the boy rancher fight us all?”

“ He will. Do you think he intends to sur-
render the mine; that he has given Mesquite
up to the vultures?”

The bandit of the Southwest laughed, looking
into the beautiful face before him.

“ You need not go back. You have said that
you want to live here—that Mesquite is rendered
dear to you by memories of your father. Why
not remain?”

" With the ranch in your hands?” cried Golden
Buck.

H Yes.”

I “ That would be condoning a theft, and one of
the most infamous crimes of this region of mis-
deeds.”

“ But you would forget that in time.”

“ I would never forget that Mesquite was
wrested from its true owner by a dark strata-
gein—that an impostor, aided by a. bandit, did
the deed.”

_“ Yes,” said Dick, sharply, “yes, I am a ban-
dit. but bandits in this region can be gentle-
men.”

“ Prove it. then,” said the other. grasping
his arm. “Prove it by riding this night from
Mesquite, and by quitting the company of the
serpent whose cause you have espoused.”

“The serpent, eh?" was hissed in the gloom.
“ I am the serpent whose sting is death. There
is but one Rubio and he is here!”

The litrle torch which Dolores Dick had
thrust into a crack in the wall threw its light
over him, and the person he had brought to the
mine.

" You ask too much,” said the bandit. “ You
would drive my men from a prize which is

g them rich. We shall hold it against all

i
I

- a rattlesnake.

 

enemies. We shall defend it against Mustang
Merle and he shall discover that he cannot re~
cover that which has once passed into the hands
of Dolores Dick.”

“Then, meet him when he comes!” exclaimed
Golden Buck.

“ “7e \\ ill. Take this word to him: Say
that, though we have spared your life, we are
still his enemies, that he shall never again sit
under the roof we now hold and that if he is
fool enough to try to retake the ranch and its
bonanza, the vultures will have a feast that will
make their black beaks water.”

" Is that your defiance?” cried the desperado’s
companion. “ Is that the message you send to
Mustang Merle?”

“That is it.”

“ Then it goes straight to him.”

“ To-night?”

“ To-nightl”

“ But what if I refuse to let you go now i” and
the hand of Dolores Dick seized the wrist dis-
played in the light. “What if I say ‘ no?’ ”

A quick jerk on the part of the one who heard
these words broke the bandit’s grip, and the
next moment the torch was torn from the wall
and went 3 inning like a rocket through the
chamber. t passed so close to Dick’s face that
he involuntarily dodged and when he recovered
he stood in total darkness and heard the sound
of flying footsteps which faded out while he lisa
tened.

“She knows everynook and cranny of the old
mine,” said Dick with a light laugh. “She has
the eyes ofa young owl and the feet of a gazelle.
No use to follow her: but I would have held her
awhile longer, for prizes like her don’t fall into
one’s hands very often in this country.”

At the first spring made by “Golden Buck”
the man who had leaned against the wall fell
forward and threw out one of his hands. ,

“ If fate brings the spy this way, woe to her!”
said he, through his teeth. “ I’m itching to pay
her back for her words at the house, and I have
no mercy if Dick has.”

But he waited in vain, for the girl spy did not
pass within reach of his talons, and he was
forced to withdraw them without any spoil of
beauty.

“Oh, it’s not for the last time,” said be. “She

Vwill come back when the boy rancher comes, and

then I shall make up for the miss to-nightl” and
he turned to listen to Dolores Dick’s laugh as he
passed him in the dark.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE CRAWL OF THE SNAKE.

MEAN'i‘IME the exiled young rancher of Mes-
quite had not been idle.

We have seen how he sent Joe Bundy to Tagus
to consult with Brad Murphy the captain of the ‘
Free Lances of the border, and have witnessed
the interview which t00k lace in the gloom of
Murphy’s hut. Besides this, we have seen how
a lasso fell in the starlight on the open when
Monte-Play, one of Dolores Dick’s friends,
was riding back to the ranch with information ‘
of the old miner’s call on the leader of the free-
booters. '

The day £0110wing the interview in the hut, ten
men who looked like desperate fellows rode ovar
the prairie and halted in the heart of a little val-
ley which was almost hidden in a network of
hills covered with mesquite and Cedar, and as
they sprung to the ground a good-looking youth
appeared and touched his hat to them.

“ Here we ar’, accordin’ ter orders,” said the
leader of the hand. a tall man who wore a wide-
rimmed hat, the band, of which was the skin of
“Thar ar’ ten of us—jest the
number bargained for as this will tell you," and
he handed the boy a letter which was read with
some eagerness. , ‘

“ You are a good-looking lot of men,” he said,
looking up into the speaker’s face.

Some of the men grinned and one copied a
young Indian who had come forward and was
eyin them with the gaze of the eagle. '

“ hat’s er red pard, eh?"

“ This is Hawk?” answered Merle. ,

" We‘ve heard of him. Looks like he’d fight.”

“ Trv him,” answered the boy rancher, proud-
ly. “ He can speak for himsel .” c
In a short time the band who had come from
Captain Brad Murphy, made themseIVes at .

home, and Merle and the leader werein consults: 

tion in the bush. 1 , i .
When night came there was an inspection of
saddle-girths, and the w ole number rode from «
the valley, takin a co rse toward Mesquite, ’
Joe Bundy rode a ongside Merle and talked to-
him in low tones. , -

“ I’ve looked at ’em all, an’ that‘s one I don’lv
like,” said the old minor. .1

 

   
   
 
  
  
   
   
   
   
  
  
  
    
 
   
  
  
   
  
   
  
   
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
   
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
    
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
   
      
          
        
       
        
          
       
    
        
   

.v-..,,. -i.-:_ e m“... . ,

‘.~ . — > . .
.. my-” . 

    

 

      

12

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

“But Captain Murphy agreed to vouch for

them all, Joe.”

“ I know that. I don’t like the cut of his jib,”
persisted the miner. “ And from what 1 kin
observe, Red Hawk is of the same opinion.”

“Which is he?"

“The fellar with the scar over his eye—the
one who looked more than he talked to-day.”

“ I noticed him,” said Merle, and just then
Red Hawk came up, his naked knee touching
the young rancher’s leg.

The band were riding behind them, and the
Indian leaned toward Merle and whispered:

“One of these men must not go all the way
with us, master. He is a spy."

“ But they are Free Lances, Red Hawk.”

“All but one. I don’t care what you think

- him; he has the eyes of a s y in his head, and is

as dangerous as the man I assoed on the plain.”

The little command kept on until they reached
a stream, down whose bank they galloped, and
all at once the young Apache fell back and van-
ished. He did not reappear until they were
away from the clear creek, and once more on
the open, riding toward the ranch.

“ Red Hawk has felt the man with the scar,”
said a voice at Merle’s ear. “ He has seen the
serpent uncoil himself, but he will never whisper
to the wolves on the ranch.”

Thrilled by the Indian‘s words, the boy
rancher looked back over his shoulder and
counted nine men where there had been ten. He
said nothing, though his eyes fell and he became
thoughtful, and once more Red Hawk left him,
and Joe Bundy took his place.

“That red is worth his weight in diamonds,”
said the old man. “He fell back awhile ago,
and at the same time I noticed that one of the
new pards war missin’. Presently Red Hawk
came up an’ touched my hand. I kin isead a
touch sometimes, even in the dark, and this one

lid not deceive me. Thar’s a Free Lance back
then what won’t go with us ter Mesquite.”

The band now rode down into a basin and
halted. Several hours had passed since the start,
and the horses had been ridden hard. The res-
cuers drew rein and came together under the
glowing stars.

Beyond the line of hills which lay in their
front was the objective point of the expedition.
There nestled robbed and plundered Mesquite,“
and there rioted the men who had taken it by
stratagem, boastful of their dastardly success,
and ready to meet and sweep back the boy when
he should come to retake his own.

While the little band breathe in the valley let
us transport ourselves to Mesquite and witness
the exciting scenes transpiring there 0 the eve
of others more exciting still.

Seated in the main room of the ranch-house
with a paper before him—a paper which threat-

‘ ened to crumble to dust in his hands—was Do-

lores Dick, the handsome usurper of the border.
He was quite alone, but not un watched.

He had just read the old document which fell
from the hands of the skeleton on the shelf of
rock in the heart of the mine, and which being
found by Red Hawk and Neva, was borne to
Mustang Merle. When the ranch was taken this
paper, written many ears before by the hand
which was now a s eleton one, fell into the
clutches of the captors, and Dolores Dick had
brought it from its hiding—place to read it alone,
for he saw, from the glance given it at the time,
that it might pos3ess a secret destined to become
of vast value to him.

The bandit’s face wore a look of triumph.
Neva had escaped from him in the mine, and be
doubted not had made her way back to Merle
with the information she had collected during
her sojourn on the ranch.

This did not trouble the bandit very much, for
he believed that she would return with the boy
rancher and would eventually fall back into his
hands, when, Some day, he would make her
queen of the place where, in her beauty, she had
rei ned before.

olores Dick thought not of a watcher while
he sat at the table, much less of the near pres.
ence of a long knife which at that very moment
was gripped by a dark hand. He had seen
during the day some sly glances by the Man
with the Marked Arm, but be trusted in thekeen
eyes of the man whom he had summoned to the
feast of captured wealth, and who would brook
no insolence from the man called Rubio.

All at once the door behind Dick opened with
the homelessness of a portal swinging on oiled
hinges. It moved inch by inch and there crept
into. the room a man whose eyes told his
mission. His feet gave out no sound, and Dick
gid not see the shadow his figure threw on the

001'.

Nearer and nearer to the handsome bandit
I

 

came the shadow of fate. The dagger that
gleamed along the arm was not seen; it was
held back by the cunning hand which gripped
't

i .

Suddenly Dolores Dick was startled from the
quietude of the hour. The air rung with a deaf-
ening report and he sprung from his seat to see
writhing on the floor near the door the figure of
Rubio of the Marked Arm.

The sudden change seemed to deprive Dick
of speech, and he could but stare at the ruf-
fian who rolled hither and thither in his agony.

The shot which had done the work came from
the back window and Dolores Dick now saw for
Ehe first time the shattered glass that littered the

cor.

All at once he sprung to Rubio andglifted him

up.

“You didn’t get to do it, eh?” cried Dick
with a grin, for he saw that the bullet had shat-
tered the man’s arm and that it had rendered
him helpless.

There was no answer beyond the sullen look
and half-growl that welled from the rascal’s
throat.

“The knife convicts you,” continued Dick,
looking down at the dagger which lay in a gout
of blood. “ You have lost the prize!"

The next moment Dolores Dick went to the
door and threw it open. In a second a lot of
gaping men armed to the teeth came in and
stood around the man on the floor.

“ Which of you did that?" asked Dick gazing
at the group.

“I did,” said one. “ I saw the fellow crawl-
ing toward the house and thought I would watch
the cat. I could have killed him just as well,
but I thought you didn’t want that.”

“I did not,” replied Dick. “You have
winged the vulture and that is exactly what I
wanted. And you have hit him on the arm
which bears his brand.”

t A growl from Rubio announced that this was
rue.

In another minute the wounded man’s coat
had been stripped ofi.’ and the shattered arm was
exposed to the gaze of all.

“ Look i” cried Dick with another laugh,
“your bullet struck the coiled serpent and ob-
literated it. Dress the wound, Logan. There is
some surgeon about you.”

The rough men stood round while Rubio’s arm
was dressed in good shape, and when the work
was done Dolores Dick, looking at the Half
Comanche, said in a stern voice:

“There is no need of a trial. You have been
sentenced already. The attempt to make your-
self sole owner of Mustang Merle’s mine has
condemned you. You will spend the rest of
your life in the mine you have coveted. You
will make 'the “bottomless pit” your abode.
Take him away!”

But Rubio drew back with flaming visage and
faced Dolores Dick with the mien of a thorough-
paced scoundrel.

“To the mine, is it?" he cried. “ Then I will
die richer than you. I will hug to my heart
when the end overtakes me more wealth than
you have schemed for. Rubio is not powerless,
though you hide him in the heart of Jose San-
tado’s treasure-house. What had I to expect of
a pard who letsaspy escape just because she
has pretty eyes and pearly teeth? You were
eying me like a hawk, wondering how much
steel it would take to finish me. Here I am!
Take me to the mine. As 1 have said, I shall be
rich there,” and with a laugh which seemed to
chill the blood of the desperate men who heard,
he stepped forward and gave himself into the
hands of the bandit’s friends.

“This is what one gets for giving a whole
loaf to a famished dog!” he finished, and the
next moment was hustled from the room.

CHAPTER XV.
MERLE IN THE TOILS.

CREEPING through a ravine whose lofty walls
seemed to exclude every particle of starlight
was a figure which while it looked human,
had the shape of a sneaking animal. It was
making its way toward the mouth of Mustang
Merle’s mine and when it reached it and found
no sentry there it darted into the place and dis-
appeare .

“This is getting home,” said a voice in the
loom which prevailed. “I don’t need any
ight for 1 know eVery foot of the old hole and
could walk its many corridors without a mis-

step.” '

The speaker went on deep and deeper into the
mine and at last came to a narrow passage
through which he wedged himself to stand erect
and expand his lungs in the air that came from
some unseen corner. '

 

 

If a light had been struck where the crawl-
er had halted it would have revealed the form
and face of the boy rancher himself. Mustang
Merle had come back to his own, but he wasi
alone—a spy in his own mine!

He had come back in advance of the men
he had led for a purpose, and for one which
could have led him to no other mine than the
one in which he stood.

All was darkness around him, and he groped' ‘

his way on until he reached some queer-sha ed
ob'ects which his hands felt with satisfaction.

hey were the quartz-crushers, huge machines
strong enough to break the gold-bearing rock
which was taken from the veins, and Merle
seemed to chuckle with delight when he ran his

hands over them, for the contact told him that

he was at “ home ” at last.

“ It is not here that I want to do my work,”
said he, and he moved on once more, nor stopped
again until he stood in a chamber, the ceiling of
which he could touch with his hands.

There he struck a light. For the first time
since entering the mine be dissipated the dark-
ness, but only in a measure then, for be bid the
little light under his coat and crept to a corner
where he stooped and listened.

Then the match went out and left him crouch-
ed there with a smile on his face, as if he was
listening to someting that pleased him.

“ This is better than crouching at the window
and getting a bullet in one’s head,” said Merle.
“ They are all there and are having merry times
in the old house.”

If the men who had swooped down upon Mes-
quite had used their eyes on every occasion they
might have seen the wire which entered the
mine at its mouth, a wire which ran along the
grimy walls and was so coated with cobwebs
that it looked almost like a cord. This wire ter-
minated at the foot of the wall of the low-ceiled
chamber and where Merle had crouched and was
listening to the sound of voices which came over
it fiom the boisterous crowd assembled in the
house.

“ Neva said the wire was all right ‘when she
joined us,” said he, “and so it is. I can hear
them distinctly, and above all rises the voice of
in old friend . Dolores Dick.”

Ierle kept his ear glued to the most modern

invention connected with his mine, his secret
telephone, the existence of which had not been
divulged to the men Who had served him until
they took the oath of parole not to fight against
Dick and Rubio: and now it was servmg him in
an emergency which he had hoped would never
come.
He heard the various voices of the men at the
house; he heard the breaking ohbottles and
knew that the wine which he had stored in the
cellars of the ranch for the tastes of his visitors,
was being spilled for the plunderers of the bor-
der.

But all of a sudden the noises grew still.

“Hello, who are you?” shouted the voice of
Dolores Dick.

“ Some one has come in,” said Merle. “The
bandit has a VlSltOI' and, from the vome, an un-
expected one.”

“ Who am I?” was the reply. “ Whar I hold
forth I am called Black Dave an’ _[ roam the
prairies helpin’ people when they’re in danger.”

“ But there’s none here, so Sit down, Black
Dave, an’ break a bottle of the young rancher’s
best vintage with us.”

“ No danger, eh?" laughed the strange voice
which Merle had heard. “ Wait till you’ve heard
from me.”

What would the boy rancher not have given
if he could have seen the tableau which he muld
imagine from the words that came over the hid-
den wire? What if he could have looked into
the banquet room and seen the tall, spurred man
who had entered uninvited and who looked just
like a messenger of warning as he stood erect
with his pants stuck in his boots and the dust of
the rairie trail on his leggings?

“ ell us, then,” said the voice of Dolores
Dick. “ If you have news and want to impart
it, you may."

“ Then, you are in danger. In the Valle
across the creek lurks the enemy. Haven t
followed him mile on mile? Didn t I.see some-
thing in Ta us that excited my SPSPI‘EIOD’ and
when the tal old Yank dropped 10 Wet}? and
asked for Captain Murnhfi'. W9?“ 3 1 QWCk tel'
think that something w r afoot f” .~

The men looked at one another and then at
the cool man who was listening to the speaker
without a sign of excitement.

Ah, if Merle, ready to abandon the telephone,
could have seen this! "

“ We did not think of this betraver.” said
lie. “I was not aware that Black Du ve was

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Mustang Merle’s Mine.

13

 

 

in the country, or we might have been on the
lookout for him, for I’ve known the rascal these
two years. And now he has betrayed us to the
mine-grabbers; he has put them on their guard
and my boys must know it. What if Dick takes
the initiative and comes out to meet us? He must
be forestalled I”

The young ranch king sprung up and turned
from the Wire. He had heard enough, and be
blessed the good fortune which had brought
him to the low-coiled room in the nick of time.

Eagerness lent speed to his limbs now. He
ran from one chamber into another, and was
threading it as rapidly as though he had the
light of day to guide him.

But something suddenly seized him in the
dark. It seemed to twine about him like a
snake, but he knew that it was a human arm,
and when he went to the wall, trying to break
‘ ose, he felt a hot breath on his cheek and heard
an ejaculation of victory.

Merle, though strong, was in the grip of some
one stronger still. He was pushed against the
wall where he was held despite his struggles,
and with the hand at his throat—there seemed to
be but one which his antagonist was using—he
could hardly breathe.

“ What have I caught?” he heard a voice
laugh. “ It seems to be a little rat, but they are
dangerous sometimes.”

There was something terribly familiar in the
tones which assailed the boy rancher’s ears. He
had heard them before, but where?

Merle kept up the struggle which only seemed
to hasten the end, for the grip now became un-
endurable, and he found that he was being
dragged down the corridor and could not re-
sist, for the hand had choked him almost in-
sensible.

“Is there a maniac in the mine?” the boy
asked himself, while he was being pulled over
the rou h floor. “ What devilish uard has
Dolores ick set over my treasure? his hand——
why is it I have felt but the one?——seems to sink
into my throat and I can not recover my
strength.”

He was soon to have the whole mystery
solved, for the rough journey over the stones
came to an abrupt conclusion, and he fell back,
but was not released.

After an interval of a minute a match blazed
up in his face, and the moment his eyes became
accustomed to the glare he beheld a form which
drove a chill to his heart.

The laughing eyes, the dark skin, the grin-
ning mouth told him that he had falling into
the hands of Rubio, the Man with the Marked
Arm!

But the arm which seemed to be useless?
What had happened to it?

“You have come back, have you?" said the
man, looking dewn into Mustang Merle-’5 face
without a single expression of pity. “ l was not
expecting you, but all is fish that comes to Ru-
hio’s net now! Oh, I’m a winged hawk for the
present, but I have my talons yet, and they are
sharp. Who did it for me? Ask the man I have
led to riches; ask the cool bandit who, but for
me, would now be a grinning skeleton on the
desert. I was trying to pay him back for
letting your girl spy go; but the man who
watched outside sent a ball through my arm,
destroying my title to Jose Santado’s mine, and
here we are—you my prisoner and I consigned
to death in the depths of the bonanza !”

The man ceased and drawing back, looked at
Merle whose countenance showed that he had
not yet recovered from the unexpected encoun-
ter.
“This is no place to stop,” suddenly con-
tinued Rubio, his hand sinking into his young
captive’s shoulder. “ I want to show you some-
thing which I don’t think you ever found de-
spite all you knew of the old treasure-house.”

Rubio, who had the strength of a giant, Started
off again and the _boy rancher, who would have
broken from him if he could. for he was anxious
to carry Black Dave’s_warning to the friends he
had left outside the mine, was compelled to fol-
low.

In a short time Rubio drew up again and
Merle knew that he was in the last and dee
chamber of the bonanza. The sound of t ir
voices told him where they were.

“ What would you give to get out!” asked
Rubio, putting his face so close to Merle’s in the
dark that he seemed to see the e as snap.

The heart of the young ranch ing gave a great
leap for 10 .

“ But wiry do I ask you!” cried the Marked
Arm before he could be answered. “ You are a
beggar! The mine is yours no longer. It fell
into our hands and he who thinks he holds it
now, would not ransom you.”

 

That was true, but a sudden thought filled
Merle‘s brain.

“You say be sentenced you to death here,
Captain Rubiol” he said. “ You have an arm
which will never again do you any service. It
was lucky it was not your head.”

Teeth grated in the dark.

“ I am here in force. I have come for the re-
taking of Mesquite. I have just heard that
Dolores Dick and his men have been warned.
If they win, you perish; if I gain the battle—”

“ Rubio will hang, ha! ha!” laughed the
Marked Arm. “ No, you can’t hoodwink Cap-
tain Rubio, Merle.”

Merle’s heart seemed to sink within him,
and for a moment be regarded everything as
lost.

 

CHAPTER XVI.
JOE BUNDY ON DECK.

IT was terribl true that a warning had
reached Dolores ick from an unexpected quar-
ter. Black Dave was one of the best known
men in the Southwest, but none expected to see
him invade the ban uet hall and announce that
Mesquite Merle an his allies were near and
ready to fall upon the mine-grabbers in a desper-
ate fight for his own.

Of course the boy listening to the warning at
the underground tele hone could not see the ex-
citement caused by lack Dave’s warning, but
he could guess it from the exclamations that
greeted it. He doubted not that Dolores Dick
Would at once seek to prepare for thejattack, but
instead he invited the messenger to a seat at the
table and in a short time seemed to forget the
story he had told.

Meantime the young rancher was still in the
grip of the man who had seized him in the depths
of the mine.

Rubio was delighted with his capture and
when Merle told him that if Dick gained the
contest soon to be decided he (Iiubio) would
have to perish, he laughed and asked the boy if
his triumph did not mean the same fate.

“ No, Ca tain Merle, Rubio is no fool,” pur-
sued the an with the Marked Arm. “ I have
lived too long to be hoodwinked by a boy. I
have played for the wealth we have about us at
this moment, and I can’t afford to let a prize
like you slip through my hands.”

The situation of the boy rancher was desper-
ate indeed. What if the wolves of the ranch
should abandon the banquet board and go out to
surprise the brave men he had led back over
the prairie and lofty hills?

“ Came, I have not shown you all,” suddenly
said Rubin. “ You have never seen the treasure-
house of Jose Santado, my illustrious ancestor.
We will visit it now.”

Once more Merle was being dragged over the
rough floor of the old bonanza with the hand of
the madman at his arm. The journey seemed
endless, but it terminated at last when Rubio
halted and told Merle to clamber over the edge
of a yawning pit from which the young rancher
shrunk with a chill of terror.

“ It is down there, the wealth of the old man!”
laughed Rubio. “ Joe Bund may have told
you something about it for he was there when
he escaped from me, but I want you to see it,
Merle.”

Forced to descend the rope ladder which hung
along the wall, Merle went down, with the
Marked Arm coming down after him.

“ Now look about you,” said Rubio, striking a
match and lighting a little torch which he knew
where to find in the wall. “ Here is the gold
you knew nothing about. I found it long ago.”

“ Then you have been here while the mine was
in my possession l"

The man looked at Merle and laughed.

“ thy shouldn’t I come and look at what was
mine?” he said. “ I have been herea hundred
times and you knew it not.”

“ Then is when you stole and transferred to
your arm the mark which the bullet s iled?”

There was no answer to this, for ubio was
waving his good arm at some bags in one corner
of the place, and Merle, for the moment forget-
ting his situation, went forward and stoo
over them. They were buckskin sacks, but time
had rendered them useless, and when he touched
one it fell to pieces.

The next moment there rolled over his foot a
number of dark, yellow thin , round in shape,
and having toe rude stamp 0 money. When he
picked up one he found that one side was stam
with the same device he had seen in the wa —
the coiled serpent and the broken arrow, proving
that Jose Batando had had a mint of his own,
an undo nd mint, where he had coined the
money w ich he had never circulated.

 

Merle looked awhile, closely watched by the
man who had brought him to the spot, and when
he turned to Rubio, the eyes of that character
were ablaze.

“ Ain’t it worth playing for!” he grinned.

“There is much wealth here,” answered the
young rancher. “But if you are to end your
days:1 , in the mine, what good will it ever do
'ou.

“ But can’t I o?” cried Rubio. “Am I not
free, and have not one good arm? Dolores.
Dick forgot that I came here long before there
was any plot between us for Mesquite. I am in
for the whole game and Rubio has played for
many and never lost a single prize.”

The desperado now fell back, and when Merle
saw him throw a swift look toward the rope, he
sprung toward it, but was seized by the long
hand and thrown rudely against the wall. There,
half-stunned, he fell at the foot of the gray stone
and saw but indistinctly a man flit up the lad-
der, dropping the torch when he was a few feet
from the ground.

“ Don’t follow me, boy i” came down the sway-
ing rope, and the voice was so stern that Merle
dro ped it and recoiled.

e knew the full meaning of those words. To
attempt to follow the villain meant that he would
be shaken 03 without mercy, and that a fall to
the floor would prove fatal and end his career in
the treasure-house of Jose Santado.

Rubio disappeared, and the prisoner of the old
place stood and listened to the last sounds of his
going. What would happen now? When would

olores Dick and his men thr0w themselves upon
Red Hawk and Joe Bundy, with the brave
spirits who were waiting for his return in the
ravine near the ranch? And when all was over
who would ever find him in the depths of the
bonanza?

The ladder had been pulled up by the fleeing
Rubio, and there seemed no escape for the young
rancher of the border.

Merle paced the floor of his prison and tried to
devise some way out of the impossible. If he
shouted, who would come to his rescue?

“ I must wait the issue of the battle,” said he
at last. “ If my ho a are defeated, then I will
perish here. But wanted to lead them. I
wanted to head them in the last charge for Mes-
quite; but here I am cooped up like a serpent,
and I can’t crawl through the bars of the cage.
Must it be thus? Oh that Red Hawk or Old
Joe knew that I have been caught by a lurking
wolf l”

Rubio had gone back to the front chambers of
the mine. The place to which he had been con-
signed by Dolores Dick’s orders had failed to
hold him for he knew the bonanza better than
his pard and he had managed to slip from the
cage and was on the watch for his old co-plotter
when Merle fell into his hands.

He went to the very mouth of the mine and
stood again under the stars.

All at once there Came to his ears the sound of
voices and then the peculiar noise which told
him that horses were being saddled.

“ That means something,”'said Rubio.

He slipped across the space in front of the
mine’s mouth and hugging the wall of the gulch
glided toward the opening not far off. The
sounds he heard had grown still, but he saw a
light moving where the house stood and knew
that he who carried it was a follower of Dolores
Dick’s fortunes.

But all this time there was creeping upon the
man on the watch a foe whose approach he did
not hear. It had the motions of the gliding

nther, and if Rubio had seen it he would not

ave listened with his face toward Mesquitea
moment longer.

All at once when near him the crawler rose
and s rung straight at the Marked Arm.

Ru io turned, but it was too late; a pair of
long arms were fastened round his throat and he
was in their coils.

“ Bless me if I haven’t caught the Old Harry
himself!” said a voice at the ears of the breath-
leas Rubio. “This is a prize worth pickin’ up,
but I don’t think I ought to be lenient jest because .
you war the means 0’ my ettin’ out o’ the -
treasure-house some time ago.

The last sentence ended in a Ian I: and Rubio
knew into whose power he had f en.

Joe Bundy had stolen a march on him despite
his cleverness, he was fairly caught by a
man who would show him no mercy.

“Come back inter the mine,” said Old Joe.
“ I don‘t want tor a squint of yer face by
match-light for I w how it looks without
that trouble. I have caught you “gaudy,
Rubia, an’ thar’s a big account tar when
the time comes.”

Ruble drawback as far on his oaptorwoald

 

 

 
   

14

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

 

 

let him and Joe saw a wicked gleam in the ras-
cal’s eye.

He was closely watched and held by the old
miner’s big hand until they stood in the darkness
of the mine, when Old Joe said:

“ I’m seein’ how the land lies, Rnbio, an‘ I
doii’t want ter be troubled With a prisoner. 8.)
I’ll jest leave you here while I proceed with the
business in hand.”

A thrill of joy stirred the sluggish blood in the
Veins“ of the little man. To be left in the mine——
he did not care where-meant liberty!

()ld Joe now struck a light and led Rubio from
one chamber to another, and when he stopped
the prisoner uttered a cry of terror.

“ What are you going to do with incl” be ‘ex-
claimed.

" I thought I’d leave you whar you couldn’t
get away until I was through with the little
sprin‘ job I have on hand jest now.”

“ But below us is the treasure-house!” cried
Rubin. “ You know how deep it is.”

“ Didn’tI fall into it myself once?" was the
retort. “ If I warn’t killed by my tumble, why
should you be by yours?”

Horror seemed to still Rubio’s tongue.

" I can’t waste time,” said Joe. “ Come, get
Over the edge of the wall here an’ drop.”

“ No, anything but that!” gasped the Marked
Arm.

The next moment there came up from below a
Voice that startled Joe Bundy and the prisoner
nearly slipped from his grasp.

“ Jericho, that sounds like the young master!”
he cried.

“ It is I, Joe, and the villain in your grip is
the cause of my incarceration here.”

“ Is that true Captain Rubiol"

There was no answer.

“ He brought me down here on a ladder of
r0 6 and left me to perish in this pit.”

ho voice was still sounding when Rubio went
against the nearest wall with a heavy thud.

“ That rope, you p’iZen szirpint, or down you
go head foremOstl” cried the last of the Bundys.

Rubio looked at Joe Bundy with the glare of
a fiend.

“ The rope I say, you miserable reptile,” cried
the old man. “ You will produce it at once or
proceed ter tumble. Thar’s no feather-bed down
thar as you’ll discover on stopping. Be lively
and get a rope, please.”

Growling the curses he dared not speak, the
Marked Arm walked off, watched by Bondy who
kept at his heels and in a short time the long
rope was found.

As the ladder dropped into the darkness it was
hailed with delight y a boy and presently niui-
ble feet were climbing up.

“ Here I am, J 00 i” cried Merle, appearing at
the top of the wall, and the rough hand of the
last of the Bundys seized him with a hearty

B .

Rsiibio looked on with the darkest of frowns.
He seemed to kn0w that the boy’s escape marked
his own doom.

“ Well, Ca tain Rubio, it’s your turn to go
down,” said ld Joe turning suddenly upon the
villain.

There was no move on the fellow’s part, but
the eyes that regarded Joe and Merle told the
thioughts at that time filling the marked bandit’s
m nd.

All at once a bright idea took possession of
Rubia. In another moment he had thrown him-
self upon Bundy and to Merle’s horror both were
struggling on the very verge of the pit.

Despite his wounded arm Rubio seemed pos—
sessed of the stren th of a Hercules. He bore
the fl ure of the 0d scout to the fringe of the
ya wn ng chasm and seemed about to throw him
down.

The breaths of the combatants came fast and
they fought like gladiators in the light of the
torch stuck into the wall.

Suddenly; Mustang Merle took a hand in the
battle for e saw a chance to help his old friend
and in asecond had sprung forward and was do-

10 so.
61d Joe was helped bv the boy rancher in the
nick of ime, for when Merle threw himself into
the com at his breath and strength were nearly
gone and the hand of Rubio was about to hurl
iin into the dark depths of the treasure-house.
Merle’s appearance in the tight turned the
Scale, for Rubio was taken at a disadvantage
and J 06 found himself free from the terrible
rip.
8 “ I guess you’ll go down yer ladder after all,”
said he to Rubio. “ You’ll find gold enough down
that to make you a nabob the rest of yer life.
Don’t give any of it away, Rubiol” and the grin
that came to the old man‘s face darkened the
look in the rascal’s eyes.

 

A minute after the figure, of a man climbed
down the rope-ladder and vanished.

“ That bird is safe," said Old Joe. ” Some
things take place, in the nick of time, don’t they?
ha, ha,” and Seizing Merle’s wrist, Joe Bondy
turned and almost ran toward the mouth of the
mine.

 

CHAPTER XVII.
Til r. BLOW FALLS.

IF Rubio of the Marked Arm had known the
true cause of the sudden ending of the sounds
which indicatel that horses Were being saddled
he Would have smiled.

The reader remembers how l’duck Dave burst.
in upon the bunqueters and told them that
Merle and his allies were about to fall upon the
plunderers of the ranch, and ho\v he was asked
to j ‘lll in the feast.

The rolling stone of the border seemed to for-
get his mission in the flow of Merle‘s wine, and
ere long he was as merry as the merriest around
the board.

At last Dolores Dick remembered the message
of the Tagus tough, and aid that the horses
would be saddled to carry them to the valley
where they would fall upon the rescuers and
finish the battle in a manner not to their liking.

The men rose sluggishly from the table;
some did not want to go at all, and were iii-
clnied to laugh at Back llaVe’s warning, and
even intimated that it was a story coined for
the purpose of getting a good supper. but the
horses were taken from the stable and were be-
ing saddled when it was discovered that Black
Dave had slipped away.

A smile overspread Dolores Dick’s face when
he was told that the man was not to be found.

“ It was a trick after all,” said he. “Take
back the horses. The scamp, passing the ranch
and seeing us enjoying ourselws, concluded to
get a glass of Merle’s best for nothing, and now
that he has had it has slipped off before his game
could be found out.”

Thus the steeds were taken to the stables, and
the whole crew returned to the house, where
they laughed over the “trick” played by the
clever Dave.

In a little time the banquet was resumed, and
it is doubtful if a warning in any shape would
have had the least effect upon the revelers.

Suddenly some one proposed that Rubio should
be brought before them all, and tried for his
dastardly attempt on Dick’s life.

“ Bring him up!” cried Dolores Dick. “ Let’s
have the Man with the Marked Arm here to
drini’ some of Mustang Merle’s wine, for he led
us to "t. and should share the feast."

Rio Rube, a iant in stature, agreed to go to
the mine and §nd the prisoner, and left the
house.

Among the trees, and deep in the dark shadows
they threw on the lawn. crouched a figure which
the eyes of the half-intoxicated man did not see.
He walked toward it, and when within a foot of
where it crouched it sprung up, and Rio Rube
went back like a man struck with a club. The
big bandit dropped under a tree and lay still.
There had been no sound, and the blow that had
stretched him on the ground had not been mis-
directed.

Dolores Dick and his companions waited for
Rube’s return. They wondered what kept the
messenger to the mine, and when the handsome
bandit pro osed to go himself, there was a
general objection, and Dick was forced back
into his chair.

Down in the heart of the mine stood a man
who had just fallen from a height of twenty
feet, and in his hands were the remains of a rope
ladder. ,

Joe Bundy had forced Ruhio, against his will,
of course to reveal the hiding-place of the lad-
der by which he had descended into the treasure-
house, and when it had been lowered for Merle,
who had come up from the darkness below, he,
(Rubin) had been forced to go down, and now he
stood in the pit himself, with no way out, for the
hand of Bandy had severed the rope, and‘the
ladder had fallen upon his head.

“ When we let that man got awa we ruined
the whole game,” said Rubio. “ OHFJOG Bundy
is the worst of the lot. He knows no mercy,
and is as cool as a cucumber. I’m back in the
treasure-house, and it looks as if I might end my
days in the dark. Well, there’s one consolation,
though it’s not a very pleasant one under the
circumstances—I’ll die rich l” And he kicked
aside in disgust some of Jose Santado’s Wealth
which had rolled to his feet.

To perish there was a pan to Rubio. He had

lotted for one of the best m use in all that coun-
ry, had feasted on the thought of becoming

 

 

owner of Mesquite Ranch, but the dream had
been broken, and he was the tenant of the old
treasure-house where, from present indications,
he would end his days, with wealth on every
side.

Vainly did he tramp from wall to wall, like a
tiger in his cage. Vain, too, were the strokes he
inflicted With his one good arin; they fell power-
less on the cold stone, and he hiid to fall back,
gnashing his teeth and thinking of the triumph
of the man whom he had brought tothe treasure,
to become that man’s prisoner, and to see the
gold of Suntalo slip through his dirty fingers.

Joe and Merle had gone back. The youn
rancher, rescued by the old l'nithfnl, had to]
him all about the message of the telephone in the
dark, and to ascertain whether the bandits were
still holding carnival at the house, he guided
Joe to the corner, and the old miner listened
With a smile at his mouth.

“ They’re thar yet, Mci‘lc, boy," said he. “I
kin hear the head rakcal of ’einall telling how
much they will get at the first divide. They
don’t oversize thcpileany, for they don’t know
how much the mine is worth. Thar goes an-
other song. 3y Jerichol let’s break up this
feast.”

Out into the starlight ran the twain, and down
the ravine toward the valley where the Free
Lnnces waited.

There they were joined by Red Hawk, who
had been near the house, and a girl came for-
ward and asked anxiousiy after Dolores Dick.
It was Nova, and there was a gleam of merri-
ment in her dark eyes.

“ He would have kept me in his own hands
and perhaps have made me Queen cf Mesquite,
laughed the girl. “But 1 escaped from the
mine to which he took me to tell me his plans
out of reach of Rubio’s ears, and when he recov-
ered. l was far (ff, running to you.”

“ Well, we are going back now, Neva,” was
the reply. “We hare come for our own once
more, and the men who have plundered the
ranch are about to see their scheme come to
naught.”

Half an hour later a line of dark figures crept
across the little open near the ranch buildings,
and past the stables where the steeds of the ban—
dits stood unsaddled once more.

Not a word was spoken, and the avengers of
Mesquite crept nearer and nearer until the eye
of young Red Hawk was at the window, and
his lithe body crouched on the porch.

What did the Apache sce'l

Before him “as the mom where the banquet-
ers sat with their faces flushed and their hands

curing the wine of the rich much. The Indian

coked and grinned.

“ The white vultures think not of the wolves
that have come,” enid he, as he crept back, and
then glided across the lawn, passing a man who
lay under one of the trees, the one who had
started to bring Riibio out of the mine for trial,
and looking down at the silent form Red Hawk
podded, for he knew how Rio Rube had met his

ate.

“ Come ” said be, ap aring suddenly to Mus-
tang Merle who, with 0e Bundy and the others
crouched in the dark and waited for him. “ Red
Hawk has seen the vultures, and they have red-
dened their beaks with the vintage of the
ranch.”

In the house with the lamps of the ranch
throwing their brilliant light upon the hilarious
scene, stood the men of the border around the
table which the were about to desert.

The ban net ad reached an ending at last.

“ Come, oys,” cried the flushed and good-look-
in man at the head of the table, whose black hair
fe round his broad shoulders. “ We will toast
our absent friends. Here’s to Mustang Merle,
the young exilei When he comes back to
Mesquite may he find us here to greet him with
a bandit’s welcome, and if the beauty comes
with him, may she bring sunshine to the old
ranch i”

There were loud shouts at this and the laugh-
ing men, throwing up there goblets, were re-
sponding to the toast when the door flew wide
and a voice shouted:

“ Mustang Merle is here I”

In an instant the scene changed and the
bandits of the border fell back and stared at the
you ng person who stood at the threshold with a
six-shooter in each band.

Yes, Mustang Merle, the boy ranch king,
had come back.

Dolores Dick looked at the apparition and
dashed his glass to the table.

It did not take him a second to recognise the
speaker.

“ Hands down, gentlemen l” continued Merle.
“I have not come after my own alone. Hero

 

 

 

 
     

 

 

15

 

 

Mustang Merle’s Mine.

 

are my friends,
Bundy—”

“ ’I‘he lasho’ the Bundys, tool” interrupted a
voice over the boy’s shoulder.

“We have come for justice and Vengeance.
and the first of you to resist will dr0pin his
tracks dead 1”

Almost sobered by the young rancher‘s words,
the bandits withdrew their hands from the
half-drawn weapons and the following moment
the room was swarming with friends and foes.

The Free L'uiccs came in at Merle’s heels and
the tall and uncouth figure of Joe Bandy was
among the most prominent.

“There has been a double play here,” cried
Dolores Dick when he had recovered his tongue.
“ We were betrayed By Black Dave. The
raScal was in your employ, Mustang Merle.”

“Not in my pay,” was the quick response.
“I never hired the rascal to serve me. You
lost the ame when you failed to follow his
advice. was then a prisoner in the old treas-
ure-house and could not warn my friends. Yes,
Captain Dick, when you did not obey Black Dave
the prize slipped through your fingers."

The prisoners were secured, which was not a
very diilicnlt task, for they wi-re Covered by the
Vi'inchestcrs of the Free Lanccs, and when this
had been aceoniplished, Dolores Dick turned
upon the boy rancher.

“ If you take a single life, the vengeance that
will be taken will sweep you from the face of
the earth and sow Mesquite in salt!" he cried.

There was a smile at the lips of the boy rancher
and he turned away.

“I am in the toils, but there is a way out,”
muttered Dick. " I have never been caged long
and fortune always comes back to me,” and he
returned with interest the look he received just
then from Red Hawk, the Apache.

Red Hawk and Captain

 

CHAPTER XVIII.
VICTORY AND PEACE. -

“ I HAVE no great cause against these men of
Dick’s ” said Mustang Merle to Joe Buudy, when
he ha looked upon the prisonors of the ranch.
“ They are Free Lances, and are ready to fight
wherever there is spoil. They are human vul-
tures, I know, but they would not avenge the
death of their last master.”

“ But Dolores Dick himself?” queried Old Joe.

“ We shall try him to-niorrow. ’

Morning came, and there. assembled in the
banquet chamber the victors of the previous
night. Dolores Dick had been conducted to the
mine where he was placed in a certain room
with the trustiest members of the Free L'inces
over him. He was to be tried for his acts, and
Merle had organized a court for that purpose.

Joe Bundy had been made hi h sheriff of the
court, and, at a signal from erle, went down
to the mine for the prisoner.

Twenty minutes ela sad, but the old miner did
not come back. Red awk, watching the door
like a lynx, rew nervous, and at last sprung up
and rushed mm the house. Tightening his belt,
the young Indian flew across the open and down
the ravine. He did not halt a moment at the
door of the bonanza, but plunged in and van-
fished.

The feet of the young Apache made no noise
on the floor of the mine, and he did not stop un-
til he had reached a spot where he knew the men
of the border had been stationed to watch their
be] less prisoner.

ut the place was empty!

Red Hawk looked aroand and saw neither
guards nor on tive.

“ The Free ances have gone over to Captain
Dick,” he cried. “ They have fled With the vul-
ture of the South, and he will take them back to
other scenes of pillagia. Why didn’t Red Hawk
watch, last night? 9 was tired for the long
watch, for the hour of victory rendered his eyes
heavy, and Captain Murphy’s men swore to help
Merle to the very end of the fight.”

In another moment the Indian was outside and
goin back toward the stables.

“ omething is wrong!” cried Merle, spring-
ing to the door and then bounding forward to
meet the A ache.

“ The vu tare has soared and Joe is missing!”
was all the Indian said, and turning to the sta-
bles he disappeared, to come out the next second
with his own horse eager to be 03.

“ When Red Hawk comes back the trail will
be found and the captain of the bandits will
know that he has been discovered.”

These were the words the surprised men who
looked on heard as the Indian gave his horse the
signal that sent him forward like an arrow, and
they watched Red Hawk out of sight.

 

By-and-by there came out of the mine an ob- l seemed to contemplate their surroundings with

ject that looked but little like Joe Bandy, yet it
was the old miner himself.

“ I must have dropped half way ter China,”
said he, with a comical leer on his leathery face,
though it was plain that he was suffering, for he
staggered over the ground as he came forward.
“I found Dick and his raScally guards comin’
out o’ the mine as I went in, an’ I war taken
back an’ dropped as Dick directed. It wasn’t
inter the treasure-house this time, but inter the
water~liole which we never explored and the
current swept the on and on until it threw me
out, like Jonah’s whale, an’ here is the last 0‘
the Bundys, a little tlisiiggered but still in the
ring.”

At this juncture Neva came forward and Old
Joe’s bruises were dressed while he listened to
the story of Dolores Dick’s flight, as it was
knowu to thOse who told it.

" The In ‘un will find him,” said Joe confi-
dently. “ e kin find anything, an’ when we
know what has become o’ Dick, we’ll carry the
war into Africa."

“ Ay, that we willf” said Merle whose eyes
were bright with sudden flashes. “ But we are
back on the old ranch and without the loss of a
single worthy life!”

Over the darkene l landscape rode the surviv-
ors of the last raid on Mesquite.

Few words were spoken, and several forms
hung wounded from the saddles.

All at once Certain sounds brought the raiders
to a halt, and they waited with their hands on
their weapons while the tramp of steeds came
over the plain.

“ I know that voice,” said one of the men.
“ It is the captain.”

“ Impossible. Merle has finished him ere
this. ’

“But it is him, I tell you,” and in a little
while a number of horsemen rode up.

“The captain! the captain!" cried several,
and Dolores Dick lifted his feathered hat to his
men.

It did not take long for the raider chief to tell
how the Free Lances, set to watch him by Mus-
tang Merle, had been won over to his cause, and
how they had rescued him from the old mine.

Brad Iurphy’s men did not care whom they
SOI‘Vt'Cl as long as there was any gold in the serv-
ing, and some. of them had deserted Merle for a
man more to their liking, the bandit of the
Southwest.

“This is not the last of the old feud,” said
Dolores Dick, addressing the remnant of his
band. “ There will be another and more suc-
cessful battle. The ranch is rich enough to
tern t a king.”

“ t is too rich for that boy to own,” was the
response.

“ Then you are with me yet?”

A cheer was the answer.

Dolores Dick was still unconquered and he
led the men away over the plain.

“ We must not go too far with these men,” he
suddenly whi~pered to one of his own followers,
as he nodded toward the Free Lances. “ The
helped to wipe. us out and they may take us back
to Tagus and finally turn a ainst us again.”

“ How many are there ogthem?”

“ Ten.”

"The sooner we are rid of the vultures the
better. Brad Mar ihy himself must be paid
back for selling his .men to Mustang Merle and
we might cancel the debt here.”

Soon after the whole band entered a dark
defile beyond the plain and word was assed
quietly through the ranks of Dolores ick’s
survwors.

All at once the bandits fell upon the Free
Lances and a terrific sturggle took place under
the stars.

The Free Lances, though taken unawares
made a desperate resistance; they fought like
tigers against the man whom they had lately
rescued from deserved death, but the strength
of the bandits was too much for them.

Man after man rolled from the saddle, and
when Dick and his men came to count the vic-
tims of the attack they found that there was not
a Free Lance left to tell the story of the dastard—
ly onslaught.

“ I‘Ve owe no man a debt of gratitude from
this moment,” cried the captain of the free-
booters of the plains. “ Now hats in air and a
cheer for the free rovers of the border l”

The men, some of whom were bleeding from
fresh wounds, obeyed and a wild cheer ascend-
ed to the stars.

The following day the old camp was reached.
but a sorry Sight the bandits cut as they dis-
mounted among scenes of other days.

Dolores Dick sat apart with folded arms and

 

sullen rage.

“ We will recruit across the border,” said be
under his breath. “I have a score to settle with
Mustang Merle, the young Ajax of the South-
west. I want to pay back some old debts held
against Joe Bandy and the young red-skin.
Days, months may elapse before I am ready to
strike the blow, but: it will fall. I am Dolores
Dick, the man who never forgets. I served uns
der Captain Cassi-d and learned some cunning at
his hands. The richest ranch of the Southwest
shall yet be mine and I will see h0w niuch gold
that famous mine. turns out. Celebrate your
victory while you can, Captain Merle. I live to
cut your plumes!"

The look of Dolores Dick was the look of the
eagle and when he rode away, leaving his men
in camp, there was a smile. at the corners of his
handsome lips.

He was thinking how he had bribed the Free
Lancers and escaped the defenders of Mesquite
Ranch.

 

Night was fading before the advancing day a
Week after the events just recorded when ajaded
horse carrying a young Indain whose eye had
lost none of its eagle light, came over the hills
in front Of the ranch and the tall man who hap-
pened to be among the stables, stopped and
stared.

“I said he would come!” he cried. “Thar’s
the best young chap that ever wore a red skin l”
and he ran back to the ranch to be met by Merle
on the porch and the two gazrd at the person
who came forward.

Red Hawk had come back and soon stood
among his friends.

“The vulture is across the border,” said he.
“ Red Hawk followed Dolores Dick to his re-
treat and even tried to capture him, but he
would not venture into the trap Red Hawk set.”

“ Let him go,”said Merle w ith a smile. “ We
have recovered the mine and, besides, have
flund Jose Santado’s treasure-house. In the
old place we found the real cause of all our
troubles, Rubio of the Marked Arm. The cow-
ard had killed himself in the dark. We let the
men of the border go on their parole; they swore
never again to play a single card against Mes-
quite.”

“Does Joe think they will not break their
word ?” asked Red Hawk.

“ I don’t like the p’izen sarpints nohow,” was
the answer. “ I made the oath as bindin’ as I
could and they took it willingly. But we’re
back on the ranch and tomorrow we’re goin’
ter celebrate the home—comin’ with a weddin’.”

Just then there was a sudden withdrawal from
the little group and the keen eyes of the oung
Indian saw Neva, with a quick look at erle,
slipping off, her pretty face covered with mant-
ling blushes.

The mine proved richer from that time. The
discovery of the long-lost treasure-house, of its
original possessor, with the true deciphering of
the old document which had fallen from the
skeleton fingers, showed the owner of Mesquite
more wealth than ever and the new men whom
he hired in place of those who took the oath of
parole the night Dolores Dick and Rubio cap-
tured the ranch by their cunning stratagem re-
mained true to him, and in other scenes which
caipe to pass showed that they were not cow-
an 5.

Joe Bandy recovered from the effects of his
last adventure and said that the “last of the
Bundys,” was as tough as a pine knot, and he
and Red Hawk looked frequently after the
affairs of the ranch by watching the border for
the man who had fled across it with his game
played out and he the loser.

Mes uite was too rich 9. prize for the human
vultures of the Southwest to leave very long un-

molested, but it had a lot of heroic defenders

' and Old J06 said time and again to Merle that,

with the friends he had, he could “ whip the
world, to say nothing of the bandits of the bor-
der.”

Here we once more take leave of Mustang
Merle. the young ranch king of the South; we
leave him in peace and prosperity, but promise
the reader who has followad his varying for-
tuness, that he has not seen the last of him and
his two allies, Red Hawk, the cunning and val-
iant, and " the last of the Bundys.”

THE END.

 

 

  

BEADLE’SrHALF-DIMErLIBRARY.

fl
Publislml Emrg/ Tuesday. Each Issue Complete aml Sold at the Uniform Price

 

 

 

BY ED‘VARD L. \VHICEIJCR.
Deadwood Dick Novels.

1 Deadwood
20 Deadwood
88 Deadwood
85 Deadwood
42 Deadwood
49 Deadwood
57 Deadwood
78 Deadwood

7 Deadwood

100 Deadwood
104 Deadwood
109 Deadwood
199 Deadwood
188 Deadwood
149 Deadwood
150 Deadwood
195 Deadwood

2' Dead wood
Deadwood
Gold-Dust.
Deadwood

Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Dead wood
405 Deadwood
41 0 Dead wood
491 Deadwood
430 Deadwood
8 Dead wood
Dead wood
Dead wood
[Deadwood
" Deadwood
Dead wood
Dead wood
Deadwood
Dead wood
Dead wood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Dead wood
Dead wood
Dead wood

561 Deadwood
537 Deadwood
572 Deadwood
5'23 Deadwood
5H; Dcad W000
690 Deadwood
595 Deadwood
000 Deadwood
606 Deadwood
012
61" Deadwood
i124 Deadwood
030 Deadwood
686 Deadwood
049 Deadwood
643 Deadwood
654 Deadwood
600 Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
RI. Deadwood
Deadwood
" Deadwood
Deadwood
70-i- Deadwood
710 Deadwood
Deadwood
De ad wood
Deadwood
7 4 Deadwood
l Deadwood
Dead wood
Deadwood
Dead wood
Dead w ood
Dead wood
770 Deadwood

Dead wood
7%“? Deadwood
792 Deadwood
797 Dcadwm
Deadwood
Deadwood
De ad w ood
Dcadwoo'd
Deadwood
Dead wood
8 4 Deadwood
840 Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood
Dead wood
Dead wood
Deadwood

Dead wood
Dcadw

904 Deadwood
lleadwood
Deadwood
Dead wood

951 Deadwood
96? Deadwood
965 Deadwood

[Deadwood 1

Dick, the Prince 0! the Road.
Dick‘n Deiiancc: Ur. i’t'lll'h'nnflffll
Dick In Iliaguine; or, Buffs]: Ben,
Dick in lIi- Carlie.
Dick‘s! Iionnnzu; or, The l‘hnntum hliner.
Dick III Danger; or,()nmnu ()Il.
Dick'l Eagles; or, The Paul. at Flt-oil liar.
Dick on Deck: or. t‘ainniity 1 me,thu lieruino
moi}. lfluvfii or. (‘orduruj Charlie.
(‘ ' ll ‘ Y e-
Rik-K'- Df\ ioe; 'or, The Double Crnsa Sign.
c an Detect. ve.
Dick's Double: or. Tho- Gnrzon'a Gulch about.
DIck'a Ilolnc Haw; or, lih-ntle liiil.
1,1013! 1“: fill‘lkt" or, A “nine of Gold.
Dick 0! Dead wood: or, The Picked Party.
DIek’a Dream; nr. The Rivals ot'iho Road.
Diek’a “’ardx or, The Black illll’u Jrlrbel.
llnei'z‘Za ill’ootgxlon fulamltyJano'. Adventure.
c a en )(a .
Dick’s Death-Plant.
Dick. A Roumnre of Rough: and Touzha.
{net’s {Dividc'i rur, The Spirit oi’Swamp Lake.
( "a Death ‘rali.
Dick’a Deal: or, The Gnlri Brick nIOreron.
Dick’a Dozen: or, The Fakir ol‘Phantnm Flats
lflck’a Ducala: or, Days in the Digging;
il'llelli’flcglltc‘nccd: or, The Terrible Vendetta.
c ' I a III.
Dick in Dead City.
Dick’a Diamonds.
Dick In New York: or, A "Cute Cue."
Dick’s Dun-t: or, The Chained Hand.
Dick, Jim: or 1hr Crimson Crescent Sign.
Dick, Jr.'l, Dciinncc.
Dick, .Ir.’l Full "and.
lilck..Jr.’n, Bil: Round-[’p.
Dick Jr.'n Racket at (‘lalm 10.
Dick. .Ir.‘a (‘orralx nr. BOZD‘IIIRD Bill.
Dick. Jr.’n. Dog Detective. I
Dick. .lr.. In Deadwood.
Dick, .Ir.:l. Compact.
 :llr.)-. ll'rltili-I-ittnnt'ta.
c ', r. a nun.
Dick. Jr.'a. Dc veranee.
 grin {'rotcgee.
c ‘. r. I. ree.
Dick. .lr.'c-, Danger Dacha.
Dick. .lr.’u. Death Hunt.
Dick. .Ir.. in Texan.
Dick. Jr.. the “’ild “'est Yldoc(
Dick. .lr., on "Ill Nettle.
Dick, .lr., In Gothnlu.
Dick. Jr.. In Bonton.
Dick, Jr., in Philadelphia.
:net. .Jlr” Rhi'hticaxo.
c '. r.. oa .
Dick. an. in Denver.
Dick. Jr.'tl. Dccrcc.
Dick Jr.. in llcclzcbnb’n Dania.
Dick. Jr.. at Cone inland.
Dick. Jr.’u. Leadxi le Lay.
Dick. Jr.. in Detroit.
Dick. .Ir. In (‘ineinnatL
Dick. Jr.. ill Nevada.

Dick. .lr.. in N an’n Land.
Dick. .lr.. Ai‘t e Queer.
Dick .ir.. In liu aio.

Dick. .1 r.’n, (‘ha-c Acrouthc (‘ontinent
Dick. .1 r.. Among the Smugglers.
Dick, .5 r.‘-, Inaurance Cane.
Dick. Jr.. Back in the Minca.
Dick. .1 r.. in Durangot or. “ Gathered In.”
Rich, :l'r.’n Bi-Icolvery;or,FounduFortune.
Ic '. r.‘I-. III! e.
Dick. .lr.‘u. Dollars.
met. him. ahllangcr Divide.
c '. r.'r-. rop.
Dick, .lr.. at Jack-Poi.
Dick Jr.. in San Francisco.
Dick. Jr.'~ Still Ilnnt.
Dick, .lr.'n Dominoes.
Dick. Jr}: Diagnlae.
Dick. .lr.'-. Double Deni.
Dick Jr.’n. Deathwatch.
Dick .Ir.'u-, Doublct.
Dick. .lr.'~. Deathblow.
Dick. .Ir.'- Dcupcratc Strait.
“let. gr.:u. {one :land.
c '. r. :- 9e ‘ea .
Dick. .lr.'-. llenurrcction.
31kt. ain't-l D611. Days.
c r.. Dc 0 .
Dick. .lr.'u. Double Device.

9d Dick. Jr’.-. Dcupcrntc \'cnturo.‘i

Dick. Jr.‘u. Diamond Dice.
Dick Jr.'n, Royal Finn-h.
Dick. .lr.'u llcad-oii'.

Dick. dint-A. lll‘ival.
{his .‘:.=.':....::?.T-

I'Ii‘clli. 1r.'u. g’Irotxyl.

Dc'. .r.‘n. ‘uc .

Dick. Jr.’-, High Horne.
Dick .lr.. at Dcvil’u Gulch.
Dick. Jr.‘-. Death-liole Ilu-tlo.
:ut't‘, gr.'ll‘110‘l‘lllll.llt'll.

c' r.. n . cx co.

Dick: Jr’a Decoy Duck.
Dick, Jr. In fillver Pocket.
Dick. Jr.‘n, Dead-Sure Game.
Dick, .lr.’-. Double Drive.
Dick. Jr.’u. Trade-“ark.
Dick. Jr.. at Tin-Top.
Dick. Jr.’a Dou le-Dccker.
Dick. Jr. at Dollarville.
Dick, Jr.. at\ Finn-h Flats.
Dick. Jr.‘n. hhake-up.
Dick. drip. Double Drop.
Dick, Jr.'a. Right Bower.
Dick. Jr.‘l. Ten-Strike.
Dick, Jr.’-, Gold-Duet.

971 Deadwood Diek. Jr.‘a. (lath.

9?? Deadwood
9P“! Deadwood
992 Deadw

99S Deadwood

1005 Deadwood Dick, Jr., Brande
1011 D Adm Dick, Jr.‘a. Dutch
w

1018 Dead

Dick. Jr.’-. Death-Doom.
Dick. Jr.‘n, Bent Card.
Di R. Jr.. at Gold Dust.
Di.k. Jr.'o. Big l’la .

P.ard.
Dick, Jr.‘-, Big Four.

BY '1‘. J. FLANAGAN.
93: Mid-hipman Dare. the Pirate Catcher.

9 The Y Gilli
988 go Two * id-bip-elt 0".

Cowboy Captain.
The Corsair-Chan’s Fini

in.
949 The Three Lieutenant:

 

 

 

Fli‘ht

9 Inc
on lick

 

he Man-cot
Ed. I: “k

l
L. th Pri too
1914 idly 5'84, ti. 3.1.2“;

Kidd’s or. Th. Four Commander-I.
Shubriek.
aoh’l Kiddie. | or. Dandy Dick’s D»

76?.

 

Other Novels by C. L. \Ylteelcr.

RO lion-bud llob: or, Nugget Ned, ch» Knight
H4 ltoncbud llob on "and: ur, Mil, thr Hirl Miner.
33 lion-bud Ilob'u Rea pcarauce: er. l'houumnh Phil.
121 liouelllld llob'n (‘ha cage: nr. (‘mmunun ('hip.
27? Dell \‘er Doll. the “elective Queen; ur. Thc Ynnkw's Surround
2?” Denver Doli‘n \ ictory: or. Null] Mnd t‘rnsah-tm...
9‘5 Denver Doll'u Decoy: or. Little Bill's Bonanza.
296 Denver Doll'n Drill; M. The Road Queen.
86* 1 reka Jim. the Gold-Gatherer: or, 'l‘h~- Life Lottery.
872 Yrcka Jim’n l’rizc: rrr. 'i‘hw \Vtvhcu ..i \\‘iik.-»l‘n.
8!?» Y rcka Jim's Joker; or, The Rivals at Red New.
894 Yreka Jim ot’ Yuba Dam.
209 Fritz. the Hound-Boy Detective. or. lint Lo-ctlv Harris.
213 Fritz to the Front; or, The chtriluquist Hunter
244 Sierra Nam. tln i‘rontivr Ferret, m, A Siatrr'. “ovation.
24! Sierra flaun- i'lccret: or, The Himdv Fmtnrinn.
253 flierra Ham’s Part]: or. The Angel .4 Big Vista.
258 Sierra Naln'u Seven; or.'l'he Stolen Bride.
881 Kangaroo Kit; or. The Mysterious Miner.
'89 Kangaroo Kit’n Racket; or, Th.» Pride wt Played-Out.
89 Death-Face. Dru-div": Hr. Lit» in New Yurk.
90 “ditch-I‘ch tha- Detn-t'tivc: or. Arabs and Angels.
117 Gilt-Edged but. the S... Dummy.
145 Captain Ferret. thr- New York Detective.
16! New York Nell, the Boy-Girl Detective. .
228 The Arab Detective: or, Smmur, the Boy Sharp.
291 Turk the Boy Ferret.

Kelley. Iliekev d; (‘0.. the Dr'tm tires of Philadelphia.
Manhattan M kc, the Bowery lh‘tvctivo.
“'rinklen. the Night—“'th Detective.
6 High iiat Harry. the Base Hull Detective.
Ham Flabaldoa. the Beggar-Boy Detective.
434 Jim Beak and Pal. Private Detortlval.
26 (10‘ en Iloof', the llnti'nlu Demon: Hr, The Border Vulturo‘.
82 Bob “’ooli': hr, The Girl Dead-Shot.
45 Did A\ alanche: or, \Ylltl Ellllfl, the Girl Brignnd.
Jim llludnoe. .lr.. the Hay Phenix.
liuckhorn Bill; or, The Red lliile 'l‘aam
(‘anada ('hct : or, ()hl Anaconda in Sitting Bull'l Camp.
113 Jack Iloyle the Young Siwt‘lilnllvr.

(O

125 Bonanza lllll. Miner: nr. Madam Mutery, the Forger.
133 lion- Ilob the King of ilonthlackn.

141 Holid Nam, the Hm Romergi-nl; or. The Branded Brown.
1 7? Nob], Nick of Net-min; or, The Sicrrxa Swamps.

131 \YIld ‘rank the Burknkln hmvn: or. Lady Lily‘k Love.
230 Apollo Hill, the Trail Tornado or. ilmuiy KM».

240 (‘yclone Kit, the Young Gladiator. or. The Lochwl Valley.
278 Jumbo Joe, the law Patrwi: or. The Rival Heirs.

830 Little nick-“hot; nr,‘1'he Dumi Fare of Daggerlvllio.
3593 Firat-C and: Fred, the Gent iruni Gopher.

87“. Nabob Ned : or. The, Secret ni Slnh (‘it_\'.

3“. (‘ool Kit. tlm King vi Kim; orY A \illnin's Vengeance.
483 Santa Fe tin], tho Slasher; or. A 8. nl Venue-inch,

“6 Malt-kin Ram. the Swill-er: or The 'l iihuuui wf'l‘un.
913 Kit Keith. t c Revcv n» Sputtrr.

922 Nil fiharpc. the New York Night-Ila“ k.

943 Did Day-need .\ mon Dunco Men.
1001 lianty, the Delner llootbluck.

DY J. C. (‘()\Vl)RlCl\'.

490 Broadway Billy. the lionthinck Bravo.

514 Broadway Bill)": Doodle: or. ClemingnStranze Cue.
536 Broadway liilly'n ‘Dilllkilty.”

557 Broadway liiliy'n Death Racket.

579 Broadway llilly‘~ Hurprine Party.

605 Broadway Dilly; affirm-Bu) licwt'tivr’nl’llclunlnr.
0273 Broadway liiliy’u Dead Act: I-r.Th-- lu-ngiw ntSi-w-n.
669 "roadway Dilly Abroad: hr, ’l'h.- [thou-1m k In Fm"...
075 Broadway Billy’ll licut: oath-Ming Sm- l‘rmmisru'n Finest.
on: Broadway lilil’ln claw-r.

690 Broadway llilly in Texan; or,’l'ho- Rivrrllnntlcrs.

lliiiy'n Brand.

liilly at Santa Fe: or. The (‘iem-r Deni.
Iiilly‘a ['ull "and: nr,The Gamin l)rte(‘l.l\'0.
llilly‘u Dun-Inc“.

llilly‘n (‘uriour Pale.

Dilly lII Denver.

liilly’n ilarzain: or. The Thrw Drtectire.
Dilly. the llt‘ll'ln'vrf Detective.

liilly’u shadow Chat-e.

liroad way
"road way
ll roadway
llroad \\ ay
Broadway
llroad way
Broadway
liroad way
' Broad w av

7H3 Broadway llilly‘n Beagle-z or.Th.- Trin's Qnrst.
7m: liruad way liilly'n Team: ur, 'I‘hu (‘irnihim‘s It... i‘ulL
790 Broadway lliily’n Brigade: or. The Dcfltl Alive.

llroudwuy lliily'u Queer Bequest.

Broadway Dilly llailled.

liroaduay illlly‘n Si nai Scoop.

Broadway Bill)": ‘1' pe Dui.

' llroad“ ay Dilly’n liank Racket.

"roadway liilly‘n Bil-(Y.

“roadway lutiy Anion Jcr-cy Thuga.
Broadway Dill)’: Ilaitfi

N89 Broadway Dilly‘n iiix Doom.

Broadway liilly'u lib: Bulge.

Broadway Dill)": $100,000 finnp.

"roadway liilly‘n lilind: or, The Bonthiuk Stowaway.
Broad“ ay Billy Ill London.

Broadway liiily Shadows- London Bluma.

R 4 Broadway Dilly'u French Game.

Broadway Billy and the Bomb-Throwers.
(“liver-Mania, the Man of Mystery; or, The Golden Koyl.
Shae-ta, the Gold King: or, For Seven Year. Dead.
The Detective-M Apprentice: or, A Boy Without a Nuno.
(‘lbuta John: or. Rudvilot Timel ll. Ant. Bar.

Handy Ham. the Street Scout.

Di-co Dan. the Daisy Dude.

lledlI ht Ralph the Prince of the Road.

4 The .nglueer Detective: or, Rediight Ralph'l Resolve
“art, the Night Express Detective.

\lr-lJno Lulu- the Young Engineer: nr, The Double Can
5. The Boy Pinkerton: or. Running the Rnurala Out.

615 Fighting "arr ' the Chief of (‘hnlned Cyclone.
640 Bareback Beth, the (‘»ntaur of the Circle.

047 1"N’Wl’lter Tilly, the Murrhnni’s “'nrd.
659 Woonnght Mom... the “ Pllcnut”Mnn ofAnto But.
’04? Battery lioh. the Dock Detective.
#94 Arizona Dick’u “i c-Out.
900 Jumping Jack‘n ubiicc.
906 Safety Sam, the Cycle Sport.
912 Train lloy Tri-t'n llot Ila-tie,
918 The Trump Dock-110*.
924 Big Boot:- Bob, the Ire-huddle.
930 Rut-tier Ralph. the lloy Spotter.
986 The [ix-Newsboy Dctcctive‘r Chum.
941 The Bowling Green Dctcctive‘n Drop.
44 Cowboy7 (‘harlie‘n Double.
9.}? The Bowery “' reatler; or, The lintrher-Boy’l Barker.
9515 Daddy“! Trump (‘ardz or, Silver Sallie, the Girl Sport.
900 The Broadway Sport: or, Fiver Fred’s (‘iear Can.
907 $1000 Reward; or. The Rival Reporwn’ Sleek Scoop.
978 Bantam Billy. the Corker-Ferret.
978 l'luckv Pat. the Street-Boy Detective.
9&9 llieycle Bob‘s "at. Search.
997 Fcorcbcr Sam. the Detective on “’heell
1004 Scorchcr lam’n Rweep-fltakea.
1009 Tue Girl 0) eliot’n Winning “and.

“Y “'ILLIAM PERRY BROWNE.

950 Brooklyn Dob’l Bulge; nr, Dodpr Dot'n Diamond Snap.
968 The [Cant-Side Spotter: or, Turning Down the lit. Thu.
91‘ 0M Sant‘a Dark Deal: or. Miner Mnt'n iron Grip.
1015 The lieporter-Dotootlve'a Big Pall.

 

of Five Cents, by all Nmrsdeqlcrs..

 

BI'FFAIAD HILL NOVELS.

BY ('01.. l’ltliNTiSS INGIlAHAM.

1018 Buffalo Illll‘< Texan Team-

1007 llnil’alo Iiill‘a hure-Sitotu.

I000 liuI‘l’aio iiill'n Decoy Ihu'a. .
995 linii’alo liill‘n Drop: :r, lh-mi-Sbnt Nod . the Rum.- Khl.
93% liuifalo lilii‘u Lap-no Thrower-n.

9K! liuil'ulo Iiili'u Fighting Fhe.

9T5 liuifalo liiil'n Riilehhotn.

96" Bull’an llIil'n l‘llt‘ll Ride: hr. Sure-Shot. 11W lliflh'l‘l) "v
904 Iluil’nlo llIll'n Deco) ; or. 'llc Arizcnn (‘ratzk Sin L
95% liuifalo lilll‘n )luch a-l'haflc. .
94% Buffalo lllll‘u Flinn-h not x H‘. “lid KM" THW TH“?
942 liuil'aio llili‘n 'I‘ou h Tut-ale.

936 lluil'alo llIl-l‘n Boy . uacot; (Ir. Joe Jnrvis' llulu-u] .
929 iiufl'alo liiil‘aA (‘rtu'k-nhot l’ard.

650 llulalo liill'u lioy Paul; W. BURN“) “my-

210 "Iron I‘Ill. the Prince oi the Reina.

222 llipon liiil‘n (‘lucz 1119!”th Bil") 5P0"-

BY Bl'FFAU) BILL.
55 Deadly-Eye. the Unknown Srcut. hr, The Banded Brotherhood
0" Border Robin flood: or, Thi- l'rnirie Rover.
58 Fancy Frank of Colorado r or, The Trapper'l Trult.
1029 The Phantom spy.

BY CAPT. ALFRED B. TAYLOR. u. S. A.

191 Duffan Dilly, the Boy Blillwhacker.
194 Dufl'alo lilll’a Bet: hr. The Gambler Guide.

BY COL. I‘RENTISS INGRAHAM.

1081 The Texan lluuticru in Cuba.
1027 The t‘owboy Raider: in Cuba
1025 The Flying Y nnkec 01’. Th.- Hwnn Uutmni.
1028 The (‘ouboy (‘ian in ('ulnl.
1016 The Do liualer in t‘uba. ‘
9 New 'or ‘ Nat‘a [bro ; or, l‘jx-Fcrrc153ku‘ Btld (till).
926 New York Nut and i e '1 raitor l‘erret.
920 New York .\at Trapped. .
New York Nat'n ’l’hrcc oi a kind.
New York .N'al‘u Double.
York \al‘u In (blot-ado.
York Nat in Gold Nu¢¢et Camp. .
York Nat’n Deadly Deal.
' York Nat'u (rook-Chane.
York Nat‘u 'l‘runlp ('ard.
' York Nat turd the Grine G oull.
' York Nui'u Mania-d lint-co .
‘ York Nat. tln- lénnin lick-rtiun
Doom’u Kidnappcr Knoek-Dut.
H47 Dick Doom'n 'l'cn P-trlkc.
“4.2 Dick Deonn’n k'lunh lland. ~
772 Dick Doom‘a Death-Grip; or. Tl}? Drtcctiw by Destiny.
77’? Dick .oom‘n Dentin); hr. 'ihr klxer Blal'klek'e Terror.
731 Dick Doom: Mr. 'l he Sharps and Sharks- at New York.
7"“ ' Doom In Dot-ion: M, A Man oi Many hlmkn.
Doom in ( hlcago.
' Doom in the “ Ild “'eni. _ ‘
_’ Doonn‘a ( lean F“ chi or, l'lve Links in I (Inc.
Dick Dooln’a Death fine.
3115 Dick Doom’n Dion-loud Deal.
Dick Doom’u Girl Man-oi.
. DIcI.‘ Dooal‘i- Mlaclow Ilunt.
9135 Dick Doom‘n ill: liaul. ‘
7.19 Dashing l‘llarlic: I r.'i hr Ki ntnrky Tenderfmt’s Firnt Trnii.
756 Dan-hing (‘lulrlir'u lie-tiny: or, The Reurgadc‘u (.aptive.
Dashing ('hariie”: l’a“ ncc l’ard.
' Danhlug i‘llarlic. the llclcan.
llack Taylor, King at the (‘nwboya
liuck 'l‘ayior. lh.- (“um”)... (‘n .flra.
lluck Ta '10:": IJoya; .r.’I'h.‘ ii... {Lien oi the Rio Gnude.
Pawnee Ill. the i’rairli- Shadow”.
l’awacc “Ill: Mr. ('nrl, the Man ('nwlmy.
l'awnce lliil'u i’lcdgc: 07.1 he ('owbo}'l Doom.
725 Pawnee Bill: :r. llnringlthk.
092 liodi’ern’a ('uriauu Cale: W. Th: Rival Sharps. V
09? ltedi'ern at De \ il‘n "lunch; hr, 'l‘hr Sharp from Tex“.
702 llcdi'cru'n High "and: or. llllic Jacket.
T07 llodi'crn’u Lani Trail: 1-r.'lln- lied Sonihrrro Ranlon.
And Fii'ty ullll‘l‘l.

DY Lil‘ll 'I‘. A. K. 51515. _
Tom-Cat and Paul; or.Thp Dead Set at Silver City.
Tom-Cath- Triad: or. '1 hr Ailnir n: 'lonihstcne.

631 Tom (‘ai’il Terrible Tank; or, The (‘nwbci Ih-tective 
63H Tom-(‘at‘a Triumph; or, lilnck Dnn'n Great Combine. [
540 Captain (‘aetufi thr Chaparral Cock; or, Jmh’a Ten Strike.
Dtifl The Dandy 014 Dodge; or, Rmtling inr'hlillnlirr.

576 The fillvcr Sport: «-r. .louh Pryperniint sJuhtlw.
Efldéflafl‘ron Roi. th» Man With a Shadow

601’").pr Hana, 'uhv Dutch Vidncu; or, Hot Tlnmsat Round-Up
611 “HM Barnacle, tho- Detcrtiw Herculo-u.

646 (‘owbov Gill, tiw Pattie-Runes Detective.

657 “'arbling “‘illlgm the Mountain Mountebnnk.

005 Jolly Jeremiah, thr Plains Detectfie.

676 an] Ram, the Lookout Swat,

(“(9 B "y "n. Gym. y (any: or, The 311th at Two leu.
699 an". . mm, a... nmurnn Buum: or. or at. Sat...

712 Tl... Mg-morlpt 5 art; or, The Mysth Detociivo.
733 Toll“ Tom, th» it ml Prospector.

745 Knnpa. Jim th.- (‘inss-(‘nt Detective.

76] Murmduko, (h.- Musiangor Drmtivo.

773 The Rut-tier oi' Rollin! mom'-

‘hlfi Lone llfind Joe the Cmnmittec vi One.

801 Kent, Kirby, the Hum-Kirk" imm Killbuck.

382 The Doctor Dctc etlve in Texan.

1472 Two flhowmcn Detective- in Colorado.

937 The Texan Fircbrnnd: “r. Brazos Bill)". Snap.Sh0i

961 The Trump'l Trump-Trick.

NEW ISSUES.

1042 little Grit, the Pony Expron Rider.

1018 You llct Bob irom (‘rou Crick.

1044 The New York Sharp. By Ben D. Halllday

1045 Mat-tang Xerlc'u line. By Mlj- Sim. S. Fm".

1046 Gold Plume. the Buy linndiil: or. Hull-lo Bi l,ihe Pony
Express Rider. By (Hui, Prentis- lng‘nham.

1047 Flycr Fred. the (‘ycliot Ferret. By Roy Redwood.

JUST 1583031)“ . c
‘ l v r Iona y.
  ggfdna'tltzh’:gub.hdower. By Cohg. lngmham.
1085 Antelope Abe, the Dov Guide. 3 ' Olli oomu.
10.0 Dand Diek'n Double. . nhlnn.
1081 The Iron Detective. B" (‘ol-P- 1am only ,1
108% Kan-aa- Ri-‘x or, The Rad Right. Hand. 83 u I 08111.
108’ unit.“ Merle, the goy‘Raiiicht; :‘z‘iMPaJl 3,815.20“.
ll ill‘ Pol a ro . y .- n ' .
 Oo‘gfl; Chri-I to t e Fore By Wm. W. “rider.
A New lune Every Tuesday.
June Library in for uni. by all Mk.
“mnmqor not by mail ta roe-tat oi Ii: about.
BEADLE AND ADAMS. Pain-hero.
92 William Street, New York.

 

5’49
022

By Col. lngrahnm.
By ArimnaCy.