MMHHMHWK w E W‘&\\3\ \\ H umMMMEMMMHMHmMMHHmM m\, Copyrighted. 1888, by BIADLI um Anna. Enurod n the Pou om" It New York. N. Y., In Second Clan Mull Mum. Jan. 95, M68. ‘ \\\~<1i\x,\\\.‘\\‘\\\§;\\\\>\s$§$fi\\\\ v01 02.50 Published Weekly by Beadle and Adams, Prloe, No 211 I I l I ‘ "0‘"- No. 98 WILLIAM St. NEW YORK. 3"" “WW an H.__ V ,, ‘ 9 I” 4 JOE smut VENTURE!) 1‘0 LIFT TEE FLAP AND ENTER. SQUATTED ON THE GROUND HE SAW LN OBJECT WHICH mlLLED EVEN RIB STOUT WT WITH amp. \ 2 Little Giant and His Band. . little Giant and His Bani; DESPARD, THE DUELIST. A Sequel to “ Patent Leather l Joe’s Defeat.” ‘ BY PHILIP s. WARNE, AUTHOR or “ PATENT LEATHER JOE,” “ CAPTAIN ARIZONA,” “CAPTAIN MASK, THE LADY ROAD-AGENT,” “ALWAYS 0N HAND,” ETC. CHAPTER I. THE SKELETON AVENGERS. “ MUSHA! mushal The saints betune us and hairruml Faith. it’s the divil’s own band, inst!" “ Cheese it, cullyl—you’re off your base! ’ ’ But the speaker 5 voice was husky and tremu- lous, though be affected to scorn the other’s fears. They were—Foxy, a little Irishman with fiery red hair and heard and a particolored com- lexion the purple of whisky-bibbing dividing {he field with great yellow freckles; and Tidy ' Tip, an Englishman, who owed his sobriquet to fhe‘neatuess, not of his person, but of his pugi- ism. Coweling behind a bowlder, Foxy hid his face in his hat, while Tidy Tip stared over the top of the rock with eyes that momentarily grew wider and Wilder with superstitious dread. Around was a wild chaos of crags and chasms, detached bowlders, lightning-riven tree-trunks, tangled brushwood, vines and creepers—a ‘ wrecked world beneath, and overhead a lower- ing sky reverberating with wrathful mutterings of thunder. ’ Amid these wild surroundings, made more terrible by the gloom of night, appeared the strangest spectacle that ever hrilled the soul of man with icy fear. But, before we enter upon the action of our story, a word of introduction to the scene oi! the strange adventures I am about to relate. and to the men whose superstition and unbridled pas- sions made them possible. The discoverer having domiciled himself in a cave, the cam formed when the rush cams was at first ca ed “ Hole-in-the—hill," soon to be, transformed into a “ handle ” better adapted to the Western grip. ani far more suitable, if we consider the social status of the place to wit:- “ Hell Hole.” Then the virtue of the place orgstallired into a Vigilance Committee, with Joe medley at its head: some half-dozen of the “ worst pills" .were “sent up a tree.” a score or so were made tp"‘git;” and Hell Hole settled down to those “squar’ ” fights the propriety of which no man questioned. , But recently had occurred several murders of unprecedented brutality, and shrouded in a mystery of perpetrator and motive, which threw the, camp into a fever of apprehensive excitement, all of which was to be brought to the light of day through a series of events as strange as they were startling—to which let us rooeed, our opening scene being a mile from he camp. The spectacle which filled Tidy Tip and Foxy with such freezing fear was a troop of what had all the appearance of being fleshless skeletons! ‘—their bones self-luminous, with a dull, white glare, like death-lights, while their sightless eyes were but black caverns in their horrible grinning skulls! From their shoulders, as they walked, de- pended the somber folds of trailing black man- tles. which, parting in front,formed backgrounds against which their strangely luminous anato- mies stood out in bold relief. In his left hand each skeleton bore a ghastly torch constructed of the inverted top of a skull sawn oi! on a line with the brows and'mounted on the end of a thigh-bone. The bowl-shaped hollow seemed filled with a dead white light, thou b there was no flame. In is right hand each bore a luminous spear, or javelin, apparently formed of human bones spliced together. In the midst of this dread escort walked one whose humanity was unmistakable. No crea- ture of the air was be, but a real flesh-and-blood man, dressed in the ordinary garb of a miner. His face, seen in the unearthly glare diffused by the bones of those about him. and by their strange flameless torches, was awful in its white horror—enou h of itself to chill the stoutest heart with ear. His eyes were fixed and stariggfis mouth open, disclosing his glitter- in ct . alting, the ghostly band stood round the ‘ helpless and scarcely conscious wretoh, holding their torches high above their heads and the ints of their dances almost in contact with his od all round, on a line with his heart. T on one, who seemed to be the chief, spoke in hollow tones, with that peculiar liquid sound produced by the beating of an Indian drum: “ Hear ye l—hear ye l—hear'yel 0h, SKELETON AVENGERS of crimel Shall the wicked go un- whi ped of justice?" L1 6 the tolling of a knell came the reply, in prolonged, dismal cadences, as if it were the wind moanin in their cavernous breasts: “ No—o-ol 0—0-0! No—o-o I” “ What requital is meet for the despoiler of purity, the slayer of innocence?” “ De-e-ath! De-e-ath ! De-e-ath I” “James Kane, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting! In vengeance for a woman’s blighted life and broken heart we exact the expiation of your crime! And may God have mercy on your guilty soul 1” “ So-o-o mo-a-ote it be-e—e !” Thereu nthe chief waved his strange torch to the rig t and to the left. One of the skeletons, evidently pro-instructed. threw a lasso With a noose at one end, over the limb of a tree near by- the noose was pl around Jim Kane’s use and in another mo- ment he was pulled clear of the round. . Soon his writhing ceased, an be hunghmp and motionless, his head drooping upon his breast. A sound of crackling twigs suddenly arrested Little Giant and His Band. the attention of the Skeleton Avengers, and a deathlike hush fell upon them. Without; warning to his companion, by word or sougd, Tidy Tip had fainted and fallen to the groun . As if by magic, the skeleton band disappeared, leaving the spot, lately so weirdly illuminated, now wrapped in utter darkness; while Foxy hcurda rushing sound, like the rapid flight of monster birds, approaching him. Frightened out of his wits, the Irishman ut- tered a yell of dismay, and bounded away with the agility of a frightened hare, giving never a thought to the com uion he left unconscious at the mercy of these orrid monsters. Down the glen he rushed, torn by briers, which, in his superstitious terror, he believed to be host-hands clutching at him; tumbling over mo {3 and fallen trees, )ut up and on, uncon- scious of the bruises; panting, staggering, grop- ing in the darkness, but on! on! before those pursuing phantoms. until, in accordance with the-ghost—lore that the devil and his imps cannot pass the middle of a stream, he plunged heels over head into the mountain “ run” whose waters further down washed the glittering dross of Hell Hole. CHAPTER II. THE CAPTAIN OF VIGILANTES. “ HOORAYI hooray! hooray!” Down the mountain road rushed a brown- bearded and red-shirted miner, swinging his but above his head and cheering in wild enthusiasm. “The Leetlc Giant’s aecomiu’, boys! Hooray! Whoo-oo-onp! Tiga-a-AH!” Pick and pan were dropped, and the shout caught up and passed on from lip to lip, and echoed and re-echoed by the towering cliffs, until the balsamic air fairly quivered with the ringing ovation. Then from every direction set a tide of sturdy life toward a common center—The open space before Billy Williams’s saloon. Such running !—such leaps over rock and bush and fallen tree-trunkl—such jolly rivalry! No dainty gentlemen they: but strong—limbed, roughvaud-ready sons of nature, with the soil of mother earth on their garments, the bronze of the honest sun on bared arms and breasts, and the sweat of ru god toil on their brows “ Hooray! ooray! Hooray! A-a-a-a-ahl” And, followed by a cloud of dust, a single. horseman dashed into their midst, and leaped from the saddle. Such hand—shakingl—such hearty slaps on the buck—such boisterous salutations and questions, without particular significance, except as ex- pressions of good—will! And the object of this roistering Welcome possessed the arms of a Brahman idol and the myriad tongues of rumor he would have found use for them all. This gallant youn captain of Vigilantes, the illl )1 of the camp w ich he ruled with almost despotic sway, had those qualities which most iind favor in the eyes of rugged mountain men —an athletic. muscular development; fair. wavy hair falling to his_shoulders, after the Western fashion; finely-chiseled features. a skin as fresh, smooth, and pink—tinted at the cheeks as a girl’s; and blue eyes, looking dauntless, defiant courage. After an ovation which made up in enthusi- asm what it mav have lacked in other respects Joe Smedley emerged from the saloon, when the first object that met his gene was a queen-like equestrienne arrayed in a flowing green riding- habit, wearing a hroud-brimmed felt hat with a long trailing green plume, and mounted on a superb milk-white fllly. A moment the eyes of the bewilderiugly beautiful creature rested upon him, as she recog- nized in him the hero of the hour. Then she rode on down the street, every motion of her graceful body conforming to the rhythmic play of her spirited steed. “ Good Heavens!" was the breathless ejacula- tion of the Little Giant. “ Who is that?” “ That?” replied Hoss Johnson, who was at his elbow. “ That’s the Queen of the Green Cloth.” “ The Queen of the Green Cloth?” “ Iron Despard’slwoman.” “ And who is Iron Despard?” “ Why, thunder an’ lightnin’, old manl I for- got that you was jest out o’ the dark a es. Scnce you’ve been gone, this hyar town 8 taken a mighty big straddle in importance. We’ve got a new taro lay-out—nothin‘ snide, but a slap-up ’Frisco outfit, Al' and this beauty is to slide the pasteboards. lseen it down at Nugget City; an’ it jist takes the cake over any- thingl ever see this side 0’ the Golden Gate. It’s im-mense! And you’re jist in time fur the openin’, which it takes place to-night.” Hoss Johnson did not notice that the Little Giant had turned deathly pale at sight of the equestrienne, and that his voice sounded hoarse and constrained, nor that the lady was equally affected. ' Joe Smedley walked abruptly sway, taking the direction opposite to that in which the Queen of the Green Cloth had gone. He did not notice a woman, who, while he was in the saloon, had stood in the doorway of one of the cabins, flushed and trembling with eager expectancy, which turned into pale jeal- ousy as she saw the impression made upon him by the fair equestrlenne. When he turned away, without so much as a glance in her direction, she clutched her breasts, with the nervous gesture and sharp inarticu- late cry of pain of an intense, passionate na- ture. “He does not deceivo me; he is going to Ezet’her! A glance, and I am forgotten! Ah! ! Again those cries, so like the utterances of an animal, as she follows his receding figure until it disappears from sight Then she rushes into the house and cowers on the floor, with her dress thrown over her head. Is this the beginning of a tragedy? She was right in her surmise as to the Little Giant’s destination. An hour later, having made a detour to secure this interview unsus- pected by any one in Hell Hole, he stood in the of the Green Cloth. She was glorious in her perfect beauty of out- lines and coloring, and in her high courage. mountain road. directly in the path of theQueen' Little Giant and His Band. Her eye of that gray which hold the expres- sion of emotions within their scope, now flashed with proud uestioning. “Well?” said the ittle Giant. “Well!” was the unyielding retort. “ Hortense!" was his next appeal, in avoice somewhat shaken. The woman made a proud gesture of depreca- tion with her head. “My name is Mrs. Despard Dangerfieldl” she said, in icy tones. The man clinched his hand. set his teeth, and breathed hard through dilated nostrils. He looked steadily into her cold, white, repellent face, while he slowly regained self-mastery. Then, while a wistful longing strug led with the woud resentment in his eyes, he as ed: “ hose hand did this?” The lady’s lip curled in a smile of quiet dis- dain, while she said, with supercilious indiffer- ence' “ den you ask?” “ I do ask 1” he replied, his voice deep with a pain he could not wholly hide. The lady’s sensitive ear caught the cadence. She flashed a searching glance into his eyes. Then a cold, steely glitter came into hers, and a sneer to her Cup1(l"-bow lips. “No doubt the first fault lay in my own de- ficiency——” “ Hortense l” - “ But the wearying of stale charms, the severing of distasteful ties, the perfldious deser- tion—these were surely——”. ‘ “No, by the Everlasting God I" cried the man, as he leaped forward, his strong emotion sending a wave of crimson to his brow. The horse shied at this sudden movement. ' The lady curbed the animal with a skillfui touch, and merely littel the tremulous point of her whip between herself and the man who had just cried out to her from the depths of his soul. “You forget yourself, sir!” she said, slightly arching her delicately-pencileil brows. That rebul! checked him as effectually as a stone wall. The pallor of a great dread drove the blood from 1113 face again. He extended his hands to her, crying: “ Hortense, I swear to you——” “A wild fluttering sprungr up in the heart of the woman, but there was no external trace of it, as she ruthlessly interrupted his impassioned appeal: “I beg your pardon. My husband must be awaitin my return, as I am already somewhat delayed. ’ , Then mounted to his brow the purple tide of wrath. ~— “You do well to remind me of Your hus- band I” he said, through his teeth. “ I had for- gotten him—and the debt I owe him! But from this moment it will live in my brain in charac- ters of fire!” , He stepped aside; the milk-white steed bound- edpast him; he turned and watched the flow- ing green skirt and the dancing plume, until they disappeared round a bend in the road; ' r then be cast himself face downward on the rocky earth in an agony of commingled love, rage and despair. When the Little Giant roused himself and rose to return to the camp it was night. Be- fore be stirred from the spot his attention was attracted by a dee vdrawn sigh, and at the same instant an icy chilrpassed over him. With wild] -beating heart he whirled round, and saw the ight, ethereal form of a woman standing at a little distance, gazing at him with great, sad eyes. As he caught her eye, she smiled sweetly and beckoned to him. The effect on the man was startling. He turned us pale as death; his jaw dropped; his eyes protruded; an icy sweat started from every pore. To him, it seemed as if his hair rose on end. He was the picture of abject ter- ror. . Joe Smedley was fully convinced that he was gazing at a disembodied spirit; and with that apparition was associated a memory that froze his blood. The leaden weight peculiar to a nightmare fell upon his limbs, and he felt that his will was paralyzed. The phantom turned, and, looking over her shoulder, waved her hand for him to follow her. Powerless to resist, he obeyed, though feeling that he was walking to his doom. Away from the road she led him, along a rock-obstructed way, now bare, now car ted With the docuying-ncedle—like folia e o the pines, until she stood on the verge o a preci- ice. p His heart died within him. He had heard of men being thus lured to destruction. “ At last! at last! you are avengedl” was the cry of his soul. But just as he expected to see the siren float out in mid-air over the chasm, she stopped and raised one hand on high, while with the other she pointed down into the yawning abyss. Then, like the sighing of the wind, came faint- ly to his ear, 'et seeming to echo and re-echo t rough the idden chambers of his soul, the words: “Not yet! Not yet!” _ i The phantom vanished, and a sudden obhvxon fell upon him. The unconsciousness of the Little Giant seemed but momentary. He rose with a dull pain in his head. and shudderingly drew back frtlJIm the precipice, on the verge of which he had fa en. “ It is a warning,” he said, aloud—“ the spirit of one woman whom my hand has destroyed come to save another.” ' In reply, like the sighigg of the Wind through the ines, came, or seem to come, the word: “ aware I” I _ Joe Smedley started as if electrified. _Had_ he really heard it; or was it only his excited im~ agination? Everything around looked commonplace—- the rocks, the pines. the moonlight streaming through a break in the clouds—and yet the Lit- tle Giant hastened from the spot wlth a chill of dread upon him. ~ Returning to the camp. he entered a cabin, at the door of which he was received by a woman whose manner betra ed nothing of her keen disappointment of e afternoon. In reality Little Giant and His Band. 5 thirty years of age, even he did not suppose her to be more than twenty—five She was very slender in build, which, aided by certain dc.~ vices in dress that escaped the uninitiated eye, made her appear taller than she really was. Her face was perfectly colorless, her pure, white skin being in marked contrast with her jctrblack hair. This, cut short, clustered about her head in rings, and gave a piquancy to her undeni- able beauty which was very “ taking” with the opposite sex. This woman received the Little Giant with a smile of gladixess mingled with anxiety. “ 0h, Joe!" was her salutation, “ where have you been? To think of your not coming to me for even a minute, it you were called away again.” She twined her arms about his neck and looked reproachfully into his eyes, between the kisses which she pressed upon his lips. “ There, there, Hallyl” he said. “ To tell you the truth, I’m tired to death, and as hungry as a wolf. Let me off, now, and I’ll make it up as soon as I’ve had something to eat and a nap.” She noticed that far from greeting her with a love made keen by days of separation, he scarcely returned her glowingr caresses. But she did not let him see the death of 11016 that fell like a blight upon her heart. 0; she wooed him with caressin words, while he ate in abstracted silence, bro 'en only by monosyl- gables, the tempting supper she placed before! im. But when he lay asleep, then the fires of her soul burst forth; then she wrung her hands, only with superhuman effort stifling the means which might awaken him; or she clinched them in white rage, her eyes blazing. her nostrils dila- ting, while through her set teeth came the fierce words: “ It is to be the old story over again! Never! never! I Will kill him With my own hand first!" It was in this mood that the tortured woman drew his bowie-knife from his belt and held it poised above his heart. . At that moment there rose out of the night a sound once heard, never to be forgotten—the voice of a great multitude stricken by abject terror. It roused the sleeper, as well it might. He saw the woman and the knife. With a cry of wonder and dismay, he sprung up and caught her wrist. ' CHAPTER .III. A BIG scum. “FLY from the wrath to come! Fly! Fly] FLY! The Day of Judgment is at hand! God’s vengeance is about to fall upon this abomina- tion of the mountain. as of old it fell upon the cities of the plain. Repent and be saved! Turn from your wickedness ere it be too late! Eter- nal damnation to him that dieth in his iniquity! Everlasting bliss to the sinner that crieth unto the Lord! Awake! awake! oh, Sodom of the West!” “ What in God’s name is that?” “ Bah! it’s that internal crazy preacher! He’s always shootin’ off his mouth about some tom- toolery or other. Hejs never happy when he ain’t rakin’ over the brimstun. What’s trumps!” “ No, no! Listen l” “ Listen be blowenll Ef that blarsted feel has got to knot-k a quiet game 0’ draw just when luck has begun to run to my hand, I’ll go out and ruin his inh-rnal—” “ Hark, I say! Don‘t you hear it? Not the preacher, but ihut dull, rumbling sound." “ It ain’t nothin’ but a storm. Thunder an’ lightnin’! play away. I see you and go you two better.” . But Bullwhacker Ben’s opponent was already on his feet, disregarding his cards and even the money he had staked, and gazing about him with the pallor of sudden panic. “Gents,” he cried, appealing to the other oc- cupants of the saloon, “ is there any mountain reservoir among these hills to burst and wad: out this gully? If there is. we’re scoo ed! I’ve heard that sound before—I’ve been t tar l—and I don’t want no more in mine. you bet!” The excited words of Hess Johnson, the stage- driver, commanded immediate and universal attention, and a hush fell upon the Babel of profane and querulous discussion in Billy Will- iains’s saloon. In the stillness, the canyon was heard to re‘ verhci'ate with a dull, jarring sound. Then again rose the ringing voice of the crazy preacher, crying: " Fly! Fly! The Lord God that reigneth for- _ ever is come to judge the world! Oh, the wail— - ing and gnashing of teeth! Oh, the unavailing ' shrieks of anguish! Have mercy, oh, God! they know not what they do!” Thrilled with unreasoning panic, there was a. simultaneous rush for the door, pell-mell into the street, where other saloons were disgorging their rough—bearded hordes. In the darkness they gazed around at the black cliffs. at the black sky, at each other. The street was filled with shadowy terms. A tall, gaunt man, dressed in a long frock coat, and with lank gray locks hanging to his shoul- ders, was rushing through the crowd, his eyes ablaze, his arms tOSSed wildly aloft, shouting his warning. ' For a moment his was the only voice heard. Then rose a. wailin cry of terror, and every eye was turned up t e ravine, while the crowd surged apart, leaving the middle of the street clear. . Sweeping down upon the camp like a rushing wind, and just at hand, was discovered a troop of the strangest horsemen ever beheld by mortal si ht. gl‘he steeds themselves were uncanny monsters, breathing fire. Their hoofs gave forth. not the ringing clatter of the hoofs of earth—horn homes, but that dull, jarring thud that had puzzled Hess Johnson. Their, headlong rush was like the swoop of ill-omened birds. The riders who bestrode these equine monsters were fleshless skeletons—the same who, half an hour later, filled Foxy and Tidy Tip with hor- ror and dread by the sight of their terrible ven- geance. Now, as they rode, their black mantles floated out- behind, flapping in the Wind like vampire Wings. Their Weird torches were thrust forward, as if to light their way, while their javelins were =~L+cal an .n Il'xmlanx ".9. ‘Tv‘ w. - . i ,v... .n. _n--n; .M.n...-... . ..- 0 Little Giant and His Band. carried at arm’s length above their heads, point- in ’directly to the front. sing no bridles, they must have guided their horses with their knees, if, indeed, such animals neefiled direction like their fellows of earthly mo . No sound uttered these weird riders of the night, nor turned they their heads to the right nor to the left, but silently, swiftly, directly they rode, like unsubstantial phantoms. Clinging to his horse’s mane, with every muscle tense and rigid, in their midst rode Jim Kane! In an agony of fear bordering on insanity, he seemed beyond the power of taking cognizance of his surroundings. It is doubtful whether he knew that he was passing through a camp where every one recognized him. As silent, as heedless as his ghostly companions he rode on with them. , Like the wind they swooped down upon the camp. passed through it, and were one! A deathlike silence reigned. he miners stood starina‘ breathlessly at each other. The crazy preacher lay where he had fallen in a swoon. Shivering with superstitious dread, the miners cowered close together in knots. “ Boys, that was Jim Kane!” said one. “ His spook!” suggested another. “ He’s done furl” exclaimed a third. Then (lead silence fell. After a while, a quivering voice said: - ‘ “ Boys, we haiu’t never treated the psalm- singer very white. I reckon if we could git him to chin a prayer or two fur us, it wouldn’t go bad. Ef you come down‘ to bed-rock, this hyar is a mighty likely place fur the devil to drop on- to! and don’t ye turgit it!” . - The general sentiment on this proposition was left in doubt, since, before expression could be had, a panic was started, by a movement to ex- chang‘a the darkness of the street for the light and sense of greater security of the various saloons. ' In the Western idiom, the crowd “ stampeded for cover.” In a twinkling, a counter rush emptied the ' street and refilled the saloons, the laugh of some . » of the more reckless at the general scarce lack- , ing the boisterous ring of genuine Western hi arity. Liquor was swallowed in abundance, to re- , lieve a certain watery feeling in the stomach: but the interrupted revelry was not resumed. The “tiger” found no pilgrim eager to “ clip his claws;” and the pamwd sirens who formed the attraction of that part of Billv William’s establishment called Terpsichorean Hall huddled together, mute and trembling, looking scared and miserable in their tawdry finery. In the midst of the all-absorbing discussion of the “ Death Riders,” the door of the saloon was thrown open, to give admittance to the Little Giant, whose coming seemed to send a wave of reli ved feeling through the crowd. With a woman’s ready wit, Hally had per-' shaded him that. his bowie having slipped part- ly from its sheath, she had drawn it forth, fear- ing that he might roll over upon it and be hurt, or at least awakened. Knowing no reason to suspect her. and called . 3 away by the excitement in the street, he gave the matter no further thought. “ Boys,” was his ringing salute, the moment he set foot Within the saloon, “how many (lure follow where I dare lead?" For the first time in the history of Hell Hole, Joe Smedley’s appeal failed to call forth an en— thusiastic response. The men looked troubled, each waiting for some one else to speak. “ What! Not one?” cried the Little Giant, frowning slightly as he looked about on the downcast faces. “Ye see. Cap,” replied Bullwhackcr Ben, {L ponderous-limbed giant, with fists like sledge- hammers, and shaggy hair and bushy beard, and beetling eyebrows, and coarse black hair on arms and hands and bared breast—a. veritable Esau. “ Ye see, Cap, ary human I reckon we’re all ready to mount. But spooks .V—waal, I allow I kin bolt, hide and taller, ary galoot in shoe leather what dust to stand up and call me a coward l—but spooksl—Cap, I‘ don’t want none in mine, an’ that’s a fact!" “I foller suit!” said Dan the Devil, a bullet- headed little rascal, stocky in build, and with a prize-fighter’s hair-cut, a black overhanging mustache, and restless little bead-like black eyes. No-likee—John, a man whose bent body, long arms, bony hands and Wolfish face had earned him the reputation of having once eaten a China— man without salt, preserved a morose silence un- der his captain’s eye. “And you, Gordon?” asked the Little Giant, turning to a. youth who sat with his small and elegantly-booted feet cooked up on a table quiet- ly drawing at a cigarette, in ap arent indiffer- ence to the excitement around h m. Certainly not more than one-or-two—and twenty, the pale, emaciated face and inflamed eyelids of “ The Kid” proclaimed one old in de- bauchery. His shapely white hands were light on the trigger and deft in the manipulation of the “devil’s bible ” and in rolling the cigarettes which he smoked incessantly. For the rest, he wore the unexceptionable roadcloth and the ruflled and embroidered shirt-bosom and flash— ing diamond stud of the dandy sport. _ ‘ I have had a warning.” he replied, with 11m. guid nonchalance. probably never return alive.” “Then you are afraid to go?” Unruffled by the covert taunt. the Kid turned his slow eyes upon the captain’s face through thefihin spirals of cigarette smoke, and replied, coo : “ Iywas never backed down by anything on top of the earth, or under it.” “ I beg your pardon, Gordon. I might have known you better,” was the ready acknowledg- ment of the Little Giant. Then he harangued the crowd, trying to con- vince them that what they had seen was but a party of cleverly~masked men, seeking to strike terror by their weird appearance. But a story from Hoss Johnson overthrew his most forcible- arguments in the minds of that ignorant and superstitious crowd. “I’ve heard 0’ this thing before. Them thar was the Death Riders. a-takin’ of Jim Kane’s spook down below! Why, thar was the ten h- est cuss you ever see, down at Flatbush, w at “If I go with you, I shall Little Giantvand His Band. ' ‘1 I sold out to the old 'un; an’ when he chipped in, thar couldn’t a pine box he built what 'u d hold him—fact! Thar was death-lights, an’ sich like, in his shanty fur six months; an’ the boys had to 'est let him lay thar an’ rot!” nd so, like a lot of children, these men soared each other with ghost stories, until after mid- night, when they were suddenly electrified by the bursting open of the door, through which an excited voice shouted: “ Boys, fur God’s sake, quick! Thar’s the devil to pay in Iron Despard’s place!" CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST DUEL. IRON DESPARD had purchased the original Hole—in-the hill claim and erected against the face of the clilf the most pretentious structure of which the camp boasted. “None 0’ yer one-boss dives, with taller dips on wooden sconces,” had said Hess Johnson, “ but ginnine chandeliers, with slathers of glass fixin’s ban in’ down, all the colors of the ruin- bow. Ah the Queen— But, thar! I’m done. Jest you wait !” So the excitement waxed, no one but the workmen having been admitted to even a pee at the splendors of the hall, and Boss Johnson s surmises resting on what he had seen at Nugget Cit . With the gathering of dusk, the expectant crowd had already assembled before the saloon, when an almond-eyed son of the flowery king- dom emerged from the door with a gasoline 1am , such as is used by showmen and street ' ven ers, which he proceeded to hang from a pole to the delight of the miners, who swore that “the shebang was to be run in style, and that’s a fact!” Behind Sam Lee came a man, tall and spare in build, with an erect, military bearing, and, indeed a semi«milita dress, .for a long navy- blue cloak fell from his well-s uared shoulders: his head was covered with a fe t hat, with cord and tassels, after the cavalr fashion; and he wore spurs, as if always rea y for the saddle. But the m0st striking feature was the con- trast betWeen his jet-black hair and his pale face in which his piercing black 6 esburned like living coals. His brows met, an the effect of his long, strai ht nose was intensified by a. drooping mustac e. “ entlemen,” he said, throwin wide the door, “I welcome you to the Pa ace Saloon. May good luck attend every one who crosses its threshol ” “ That’s the music!" shouted a brawny miner. “ Three cheers for Iron Despardl” While the air rung with their lusty salute, the crowd poured into the saloon. They found the chandelier Hose Johnson had predicted, and a bar that was a marvel. But in an adjoining room was the crowning attraction. There. as if enthroned, sat the Queen of the Green. Cloth, attended on either hand by her croupiers. “ Welcome, gentlemen 1” she said with an en- gaging smile that won all hearts. “Make up your game.” And instantly the cashier was besieged for chips. r~._a. Who could grumble at the fate awarded by such fair hands? “ Cleaned out!" shouted one before the even ing was far advanced. “ But great Golcondal it’s worth it I” ~ The advent of the Death Riders had been a damper on the opening night; but the fascina- tions of the Queen of the Green Cloth had proved sufficient to win the miners back to her shrine. With slightly contracted eyes, as was his habit when well content, Iron Despard stood a. little apart, and saw the golden tide setting to- ward his coffers. “A little longer,” be muttered, “then the grand transformation scene!” Ah! had he known the transformation scene that fate held in store! Not that cherished in his heart, where he pictured his wife amid far difl’erent scenes, a queen, as now, but over a far worthier domain. But suddenly the fairy towers and battle- ments of his air castle were shattered, like the bursting of a bubble. Let us see how. Failing to secure men to go in search of Jim Kane, the Little Giant loft Bill Williams’s 8a- loon, to meet, almost on its threshold an ex-pu- gilist of no mean prowess, who rejoiced in the name of Ten-strike Tom. “ Tom,” was his abrupt salutation, “ what is your life worth to you l” - “VVhat’s that, Cap?” was the astonished re-' nly. “ What will you take to risk your life in a fair fight?” “ Injun—fastion, ur—" “ In a square duel.” “ Who with?” “ This new man—Iron Despard.” “ Good God i" Ten—strike Tom was profoundly impressed with the task set him. “ Look a-hyar, Cap,” he said in an altered tone, “ he’s a bad man to handle, by all ac- counts. Thunder an’ lightnin’l” ' - “ I’d do it myself,” replied Little Giant, “ but it my hand appeared in it, I would lose all 1that I am tr ing to gain. Next to myself, I thought I woul give you the first chance—” “ Much oblee ed, Cap, bein’s as how he’s a dead shot—so oss Johnson says, and I reckon he knows.” “ Very well. If you are afraid—” / “ Hold on. Cap! Whar’s the man that said I was afraid?” “What kin you stand? What is it worth to ‘ you? I’ll give you a thousand dollars down.” “ Eh? A what?” ‘ And Ten-strike Tom cocked his head on one side, in grotesque afl‘ectation of doubting the evidence of his ears. “A thousand dollars in hard money,” repeat ed the Little Giant. “Putt ’er thar I” was the hearty acceptance of the ex-pugilist, and his horny palm seemed to [swallow up the slighter band of the captain of . the Vigilantes. Then they put their heads to ether over the t details of a plot, the end of whic they could not foresee. In her place sat the Queen of the Lima Cloth, :—:-.: