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Enter ec ‘ Aecording to Act of Conoress. in the Year 1892. oy Street & Sinith, in the Ofice of the Librarian of Congress. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New
York, N. Y., Post Office. February 18, 1896. Isswea Weekly. Subscription Price, $5.00 Per Year. February 13, 1896

No. 3b, Srrewr & Suir, Publishers, NEW YORK. 99 Ase Rt oN. oY: ; (0 Gents.

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9

THE LOG

CABIN. LIBRARY.

No. 361

 

 

 

GUNTUEMA Wk AT LAN;

R,

POKER Ue POOR POLICY.

By the Author of “GENTLEMAN JOE.”

CHAPTER I.
THE BANDIT’S BOLD BREAK.

‘Now watch for the girl, will you, Tom. They say she
is as fine a beauty as you’ll see on any stage.”’

‘‘Oid Carlston’s daughter, is she?”’

“‘Old Carlston’s daughter, and just turned sixteen, with
a face and voice that might be envied by the angels.”’

‘‘T am afraid, Jerry, that you are struck on the girl, for
when a man gets to talking about a young woman with a
face and voice that would make the angels green with
envy, then it is pretty sure that he is getting gone on,her.”’

The parties to this little colloquy were stiting in the new
and only theatre in the new and only town of Gunnison,
Colorado.

Gunnison is not so new now, but at the time of which
we write, there was nothing old abopt it, not even its old-
est citizens, with the cece ae of Carlston the new pro-
prietor of the ‘‘Opera House.’

The latter consisted of a long, two-story building, very
hastily built with a flourishing saloon at one end. Within
was a row of tables where men might sit and play cards
or talk and drink their liquor; then several rows of benches
for the audience, and lastly a stage with coarsely painted
curtains upon which was represented a mountain stage
being held up by road-agents.

The design upon the curtain very fitly suggested the
character of the dramatic performance here enacted.

Carlston’s Theatre, as it was called, had been running
just seven nights, including Sunday, which was the best
night of all.

There had been no very ambitious attempt at a play pre-

sented as yet, but on this evening there was a ace ans
pearing the suggestive title of ‘“The Bandit’s Bride. ’

Tt was a three-act affair, and as the performers were all
amateurs the acting was crude throughout the first act.
But as yet the bandit’s bride had not appeared on the
stage.

This part was to be taken by Erminie Carlston, and as
she had shown some talent in this'line, the audience were
on the very tiptoe of expectation for her appearance.

The bandit himself flourished about the stage a good deal
with his spurred top-boots and a prodigious display of fire-
arms. He had already accomplished several realistic hold-
ups of defenseless men, who walked to and fro across. the
stage for his special benefit.

He had likewise used some profanity and raved about
generally with an expression on his countenance which
was certainly fierce enough to be impressive.

Crude as it was, it pleased the audience, and at the end
of the first act the bandit had to step before the curtain
and how to the yelling throng to show his appreciation of |

+heir enthusiasm.

Tom Tracy and Jerry Parsons were “partners” in the

new town of Gunnison.

They were always together both in their work and in
their pastimes, and therefore they were sitting side by side
upon a seat near the foot-lights. It was an especially re-
served seat and they had paid the modest sum of five dol-
lars for the privilege of occupying it this first night of the
new prima-donna.

“Tf I was in Carlston’s place,’’ said Tom, as he fixed his
eyes upon the curtain impatient for it to rise, “‘I would
hate to have my girl play the part of a bride to a bandit
with such a mug as that fellow carries. It strikes me that
he does the holding-up business as if he was used toit. I
wouldn’t be afraid to wager something that he would fol-
low the real business instead of the stage imitation if it
happened to pay him better.”’

‘“Who is he anyhow?’’ Jerry asked.

‘‘His real name isn’t given. Hestruck the town only last
week and he spread round with his pistols and knives and
acted generally as if he owned the town. So it popped into
the head of old Carlston that he might play the part of
bandit to perfection. So the man has been coaching him
for two or three days in the play.

‘‘Wouldn’t this sort of acting take well before a. New
York audience, though?’’ laughed Jerry.

‘‘T should take it that even a Bowery audience would
get tired if they had to watch such a bandit as this one.
But when it comes to the bride—Ah!—Now look for her!’

The curtain was rising. It went half way up and then
stuck, as amateur machinery is apt to do.

_At this juncture, the rasping voice of the bandit was
heard from the other side, and the bandit’s top-boots were
visible as they came clumping out from the left and
banged across the creaking boards of the stage.

Even the sight of the bandit’s legs was sufficient to set
the audience into ecstasies. Added to the rasping voice of
the actor who was announcing his determination in solilo-
quy to have the girl for his wife if he had to wade through
blood to his boot-tops to get her, sounded an exchange of
profane utterances between old Carlston and his helpers,
who were jerking away at the curtain in a vain attempt
to disclose the rest of the bandit.

At this point, the bandit’s legs disappeared, and the
bandit’s voice was heard in a discussion as to why the cur-
tain would not go up.

Whether the profanity of the bandit helped matters or
not, the curtain did take an upward start and then went
to the top with tremendous suddenness.

Once more the bandit appeared, and while he was re-
peating the soliloquy which he had first uttered while
only his legs were visible, a graceful, fairy-like creature
appeared upon the scene.

‘There she is, Jerry! Now if you dare to say that ye
ever saw a prettier face in New York or any other city, I’
throw you out of the window!”’ ’

Jerry made no response.

He was looking with all his eyes and the expession on
his face showed plainly enough that he was as much im.
pressed with her beauty as was his companion.

The girl tripped lightly out. upon the stage, seeming ne
to notice the presence of the fierce individual. She pause’
at the genuine window:at the rear and seemed to glanc|
out into the street below.

 

The next moment the bandit faced about and they prey
i ' tended to discover each other.

 
No. 361.

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

A little scream was very natural indeed, and the appro-
priate gestures made up the part acted by the girl.

Then followed a brief exchange of dialogue, in which the
bandit raved forth in his hoarse voice the passionate pas-
sages that belonged to his part.

The girl, with an appearance of scorn which seemed
realistic enough, repulsed his attempts and advances.

“By George!’’ exclaimed Tom Tracy. ‘‘Either they are
doing some pretty good acting just now, or else there is!
something genuine about it. What do you say, Jerry?”’

‘Just what I was thinking. The girl is a beauty, and of
the gentle and delicate sort at that. Too bad to have her
make a show of herself before such a crowd as this.”’

‘So say I. She doesn’t have to act a part in the role she
is playing.”’

‘Unless I miss my reckoning, the bandit doesn’t either.
Whew !—I wonder if that comes into the play!’’

The bandit had suddenly thrown one arm around the
girl, while she with a scream that rang through the house,
struck fiercely at his face with her clinched hands in a
vain attempt to beat him off.

There was surely something marvelously vivid about
this; and yet only Jerry Parsons and Tom Tracy in the
audience appeared to suspect that it was not a part of the
play.

The next moment the bandit had lifted the girl from her
feet with one arm, while with the other he pinioned her
hands at her sides.

Holding her thus in a fierce embrace, he leaped toward
the window and after deftly securing a new hold upon his
captive so as to leave his left arm at liberty, he flung the
half-open sash wide.

Again a scream for help rang from the’lips ‘of Erminie
Carlston. In response a man leaped upon the stage from |
one of the wings—a short, crooked-legged man, with’
grizzled hair and beard and the face of a dog.

‘*It is old Carlston himself, and this business doesn’t
belong to the play!’’ burst from the lips of Tom Tracy. |

As he uttered the words, a revolver leaped into his hand
and he bounded onto the stage closely followed by his
companion, who had likewise drawn a weapon.

‘“Here, you wretch, what are you doing!’’ cried the
harsh voice of old Carlston, as he hobbled toward the
bandit.

Bang! bang!—sounded two pistol-shots—one from Tracy
and the other from Parsons,

The sudden reports were followed by a crash of broken
glass, and at the same time the bandit with his captive
sprang through the opening and both disappeared from
sight. But at the moment old Carlston stood in such a
4osition that neither of the young men dared to aim direct-

r at the desperado for fear of hitting the old man.

; be latter sprang to the window and leaned forth.

fi ie distance to the ground below was twenty feet, and
wit, his age and crooked legs it would have been little
short of suicide for him to have made the leap.

“Stop the devil!—put a bullet in him!—riddle him !”’

Such were the words that burst hoarsely from the lips

‘he proprietor of Gunnison’s new theatre.
here was a revolver in his hand, and he once more

. Jacd forth, even while the young men were at his side
diving to thrust him ba~k.

‘lke care, man! You’re as likely to hit the girl as her |
ptor!’ cried Tracy, as he caught the wrist of Carlston
\d drew him back in time to prevent the reckless shot.

Vhile Jerry was keeping the old man back from the

 

 

window, Tracy thrust himself to the front, determined to
leap out in pursuit of the fugitive bandit.

As he looked down into the street, there came up the
sound of rapid hoof-beats and he beheld a horseman just
moving away form the building, faster and faster, and
breaking into a headlong speed a moment later.

The young man would not havethesitated to leap from
the window although there was surely much danger in
doing so. But in that momentary glance, he realized that
the bandit‘and his captive were mounted on a swiftly mov-
ing horse, and that the latter was now thundering away
down the single street of Gunnison.

Tracy was not a practiced marksman, and although his
weapon sent forth a double challenge from the window,
he did not dare to aim too close to those flying forms.

It was at this juncture that another figure appeared
upon the stage of Gunnison’s ‘‘Opera House’’—~a tall,
finely formed man, with long flowing hair and handsome
face—a form that was known to several in that excited
throng of men who were now all rushing to the point of
excitement.

“It’s Gentleman Joe! Joseph Gentry, the Gilt-Edged
Sport!’

Such were the exclamations that rang from every side,
greeting this new actor in one of the most realistic dramas
ever appearing on any stage.

‘“‘What is the meaning of this? Do you know who it is
that you have playing the part of a bandit here? And have
you let him slip through your fingers?”’

Such were the words that burst from the lips of Joseph
Gentry, as he confronted old Carlston. _

‘‘He has gone—and he has Stolen my Erminie!’’ was the
quivering response from the old man.

‘‘Gone, you say? I thought he was just to appear on this
stage! Why, he is one of the most dangerous convicts that
ever escaped from prison, and he is known as Poker
Pads!

Thus spoke Gentleman Joe. At the same time both
Tracy and Parsons were trying to tell him of the deed

‘which had just been done.

He did not wait for them to finish—his understanding
was sufficiently quick to require no delays or explanation.
‘‘See that every man in Gunnison is on the watch for him.
Shoot him at sight! If any man lets that devil slip through
his fingers arrest him on the spot as an accomplice! At-
tend to that, gentlemen, and I’1l do the chasing!’

These commands were uttered in a swift flood of words
and the next instant Gentleman Joe had gone out the same
way by which he had entered. Thirty seconds later, the
thunder of pursuing hoofs rang up from below.

A hotter chase than this which was just begun had
never been entered upon by Gentleman Joe.

CHAPTER II.
A WILD FLIGHT.

The season was winter. The clear blue of the Colorado
sky was studded with stars like diamonds. |

Poker Paul had done a bold thing—few would have
dared to equal it.

In that mad leap from the window with his captive, he
had reckoned well. His horse was waiting below with
saddle and bridle ready

 
ee : ‘i THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

Had he made a perfect,calculation, or had his captive the course now lay eee a mere trail which ‘led in ae
‘not been struggling so fiercely at the moment to break downward direction and presently brought them to a sort —
away from his grasp, so much of his feat would have been | of plateau several hundred feet lower than the town of.
accomplished without danger or accident. Gunnison.

As it was, he fell forward upon the ground with his| Here they crossed a narrow stream, iept on across the
-burden, and in the attempt to prevent her from striking plateau, and soon after struck into a narrow mountain
or releasing herself fram him, he was obliged to throw pass. From this point their progress was slower, and it
out his left arm as he fell. | ‘seemed to Erminie Carlston that their path kept turning,

Their combined weight with the frozen ground were winding, and twisting through a perfect labyrinth of

_elements which even his tough ‘bones and sinews could natural pathways, bounded either by trees or rocks.
not resist. | In many places the trees were brown and dead from the

With a thrill of intense pain he realized that hisarm fires which yearly swept across the mountain sides, de-
was broken in the fall. | | Stroying the timber which grows there.

Yet with a rare display of nerve, he got to his feet, still | | For more'than two hours they kept on thus along that
clinging to his captive, leaped across the intervening strangely serpentine course which seemed well calculated
space, and sprang into the saddle. to baffle the shrewdest of pursuers.

He had no hand with which to hold the rein. But the | In the meantime, the sky overhead had become over- ’
horse knew him well, and by a sort of instinct seemed to cast. There were all the signs of one of those sudden
know what direction to take as the spurs of the desperado mountain storms which occasionally visit that a at
touched his flanks. ! this season of the year.

Away bounded the steed, his feet striking fire from the; When they had left Gunnison only a gentle breeze was
flinty earth—on and away through the street of Gunnison, plowing, and the air was not very cold. :
past rude shanties with here and there a more pretentious | But now there was a sudden change. The wind began to
dwelling, past vacant lots and clumps of trees, while the howl and shriek among the rocks and a grayish gloom
purple sky with its numberless shining points, and the settled upon the scene, while a perfect cloud of fine snow
shadowy mountains in the distance seemed to be racing cut their faces like sand.
along in unison with the fleecing fugitive and his captive. | ‘“‘All the better for me,’’ muttered Poker Pal as he

Thanks to the firm grip of her captor, Erminie Carlston | ere his head to the blast, holding his captive so as to
was comparatively uninjured by her fall. | shield her face from it as much as possible.

Yet so rapidly had events succeeded each other, with; A minute later they halted in the shadow of some rocks.
the shock of the leap and the terror of the moment, that| Here, with some difficulty, Poker Paul dismounted, still
for a brief space she was toa much bewildered to continue holding onto his captive, but releasing her as soon as he
her outeries. ‘could place her safely on her feet.

 

 

Not until they were passing the last of the straggling Without a word he tethered the horse in a clump of
houses did she recover her breath sufficiently to scream trees, and with the one arm he could use unstrapped a roll
and struggle. ‘of blankets from the saddle. ate

Then she strove once more with her feeble strength to | One of these he deftly flung about his companion, say-
break away from the grasp of her captor. ing, as he did so: \

But with every effort that steel-like embrace became ‘‘You’re thinly clad, miss, so wrap yourself up in this

more resistless. He held her to his breast so fiercely that | and curl up close under that rock.. I reckon you’ll be safe

she scarce could breathe, and the scream she would have there until I can make ready to go on a bit farther.’
- uttered became only a feeble, muttered ery. | ‘“Where are you taking me?’’ the girl asked, somewhat
‘“Rolease me! release me!’’ she articulated, with her lips of her courage and presence of mind returning.
_ close to the desperado’s ear. | “You wouldn’t know any better if I told you. Iam
‘In due time, miss. ' But go easy with your struge les, or taking you to a spot where you'll be safe enough and
it will go hard with you. You have nothing to fear if you, where you can stay as long ag you please and may be
don’t cause me too much trouble. You might be in worse longer.”’
hands, and ae I miss my ee you will never get| ‘‘This is a cowardly act that you have done.’
into better ones.’ “There are them that wouldn’t call it that. If you know
The voice of Poker Paul was low and full of fierceness. me any man that has the nerve to de what I have done to-
Tt was more so on account of the intense pain which he night, just tell me who he is, for I would! like to shake

was suffering at the moment with his broken arm. hands with him!’

They were now beyond the limits of the new town, and| ‘‘It’s a poor sort of courage that will let a man snatch a
Erminie Carlston realized that it was worse than useless for helpless Bel and carry her away in this treacherous
her; to repeat her screams for help or to continue her manner.’
struggles. , “It may be a poor kind of courage, but I reckon it Ss

The horse which they rode was a‘splendid animal—one_ nerve just the same. Come, stand up close under that
which Poker Paul had evidently selected for just such a rock—there’s a terrible bite in this wind, and you might
purpose as this. freeze before you knew it. You are in my care, and you

The desperado was not a heavy man, while his captive might be in worse hands, as I told you before. I’m rae
was a mere child in weight. Therefore the animal’s to look’ out for you, so never fear. Now let me telf you
burden was a light one, and the steed bounded over the something.” i
trail with a fleetness that seemed to increase at every leap. ‘‘Whatisite?”

For a full hour they kept on thus, and still’ the horse ‘I gota a broken arm to-night when I jumped from) hat
showed little signs of fatigue. window.” ; ie

The mountain road had long since been lef t behind, and ‘A broken arm?’’

 
No. 361.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

“‘Can’t ye see it dangling there—and can’t ye see that I
can’t make it wag? Ihave got to fix it up, or it will get
past fixing. I aren’t much of a surgeon, but I have fixed
up broken arms and legs for partners of mine before now,
and if you are willing to lend a hand, I reckon I can do
the same for myself. You won’t refuse a bit of help, will
you? For you know if that thing should be left to swell, I
would most likely kick the bucket, and here you’d be
without anybody to look out for you. Would ye like
that?’

Erminie Carlston hesitated. -

Despite her fear of this fierce-eyed man in whose power
she now found herself, she could not help a feeling of ad-
miration for the nerve and discretion which he had shown.

She realized now that the man must have suffered in-
tense pain throughout the whole of that long, wild ride.
And yet not once had he betrayed the slightest evidence of
the fact.

Besides, although he had held her painfully tight to pre-
vent’ her escape, he had nevertheless guarded her with
scrupulous care against every kind of injury. And now

that the storm was beating fiercely about them, he had

shown his solicitude for her before doing the first thing to
relieve his own pain.

This was something worthy, ne least, of admiration, no
matter how dangerous and vicious the man might be
otherwise.

‘“‘Your threat of dying and leaving me to my fate
doesn’t weigh with me at all,’’ the girl said, in a low voice.
‘‘But I would be worse than a brute to refuse to help you
as youask. Tell me what to do, and I will lend such
assistance as I can.”’

“Thank you, Miss Carlston. Ireckoned you could be
kind if you tried. Now we'll try mending the busted
bone. Ihave felt of it a bit with t’other hand, and it an’t
avery bad break. If I could only have fixed it up without
letting it swell and get sore I won’t mind it so much. But
as it is, it’s going to hurt—but never mind. Now we'll go
about it.”’

Underneath the shelving rock they were sheltered al-
most entirely from the flying snow and the shrieking
wind, although it was very cold.

With a rapidity which showed much skill, the man
stripped the injured arm bare, and with the girl’s assist-
ance under his direction, the bone was set and the rude
splints, which he always carried in his mountain journeys,
were bound onto the arm, and it was strapped to his
breast in a sling. ,

‘‘Now I reckon I’m more than half as good as an ordi-
nary galoot with two arms. If this blasted storm don’t
last too long we’ll get to cover before daybreak. We have
got to ride a little farther anyhow, but ten minutes’ steady
moving will fetch us there, I stopped here just because.I
reckoned it wasn’t safe to leave the arm a-dangling any
longer.’’

A moment later they were in the saddie again. This
time the girl made no attempt to escape, for it would only
have meant a miserable doom for herself had she suc-
ceeded in breaking away from him. Ten minutes later
they entered a narrow pass with trees on one side and
rocks on the other.

And here, as they came to a halt, a faint shout was
heard coming from a point evidently close at hand.

 

CHAPTER III.

WHIPPED INTO LIFE.

‘‘T never thought the man would be capable of this!’’

It was Gentleman Joe who uttered these words, and the
one to whom they were addressed was Joseph Gentry
himself, for he was alone.

For many miles he had ridden swiftly on the trail of
Poker Paul. For the first hour or two it was not a difficult
trail-to follow, but now he found himself at a stand-still.

The sky had suddenly become overcast, and the air,
which a short time before had been comparatively mild
for the season and altitude, was now bitterly cold, anda
furious wind had sprung up, bringing upon its wings a
perfect cloud of fine snow.

It was one of those terrible winter storms which some-
times sweep down through the mountain regions of Colo-
rado.

In such a storm a traveler may consider himself fortu-
nate if it finds him near some mountain camp, or even if
he comes upon a deserted shanty.

Had the way of pursuit led him along the traveled
mountain stage-roads, dccasional shanties would have
been passed. RL Cee cass) *

But such was not the case. The desperado had followed
the main trail but a comparatively short distance, after-
ward striking out upon a less-traveled way, and then
again upon a natural pathway whose course could be
known only to the few who had explored the region.

It was at this point that Gentleman Joe, with the storm
just begun, realized that he had undertaken something in
which the fates did not favor him. cs

“But for this nasty snow,’’ Gentry said again, ‘‘I.
wouldn’t find it hard to follow the trail, though it might
be rather slow work. But this blocks the business teeto-
tally. This doesn’t happen to be one of the cases where a
man can simply race his horse against that of the one he
is after. Iam afraid it’s going to be a long chase anda
crooked one, and it will take some good, solid riding.”’

Gentry had dismounted and made an examination of ae
trail. peers fy
Here a change of course had been made, but the snow,
falling in a perfect cloud, sifted down upon the ground,
obliterating the faint traces left upon the rocks.

It was only by brushing the snow away that he could
make sure that the change of course had been made at all.

He remounted and started out upon the new way, but
had gone less than a hundred yards before he came to a
spot where it would have been possible for the fugitive to
make-a choice between four different roads.

Which of these he had taken could only be discovered
by another labored examination of the snow.

With characteristic persistence, Gentleman Joe again
brushed away the fast accumulating snow here and there.
And yet his efforts were in vain for a ‘long time, for,
owing to the increasing fury of the storm, the difficulty

increased every moment.
Once more he found the trail and took it up, only to be

 
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THE LOG CABIN TIBP ORY.

No. 361.

 

baffled again ten minutes later at another spot where there
was again a choice of several tracks to pursue.

He was suddenly startled by a faint cry which could not
have come from a great distance since it would not have

‘‘T never would have thought Poker Paul had the nerve been audible in that fierce blast if it had. .

to carry through such a scheme as this. I don’t believe
that there is another man in Colorado that would have
done it. Atthe Camp of Cold Crow, Poker Paul never
showed such qualities as these. But he must have had
them in him, and they were brought out by making a con-
vict of him. I reckon the only safe thing to do is to hang
such a man as soon as he is caught and not run the risk of
having him in prison only to escape more desperate and
fuller of resources than before.”’

Gentleman Joe persisted for a long time in another long
search for the lost trail. But this time the snow drifted in
so bad, and the darkness was so intense that the little
lantern which he carried was almost useless.

He was not the man to abandon any course in which
there was the faintest hope of success.

Neither was he so unreasonable as to persist when re-
sults were no longer possible just for the sake of having
persisted.

‘lt simply amounts to this,’’ he exclaimed, as he once
more sprang upon his horse that stood shivering in the
fierce blast. ‘‘I thought I had started out after an ordinary
sort of a desperado who had simply struck out and done
one thing rather more brilliant than he ever did anything
else in his life. But it seems that Poker Paul is all nerve,
and he can’t be dealt with after the manner of ordinary
men. Ireckon heis game worthy of my best work. He
has not been outside of the prison walls four days, and
yet here they have sent me to catch him. It was a cool
game for him to play, to come here and spread himself at
Gunnison and then the first thing light out on sucha
scheme as this. ‘It was an audacious thing to do, and he
has done it mighty well, I’ll admit that, and it’s going to
take good work to beat him.’’

Back through the blinding blast rode the Gilt-Edged
Sport.

The storm increased in fury momentarily, and the snow
was growing deep so that in many places it was difficult
for the horse to plunge his way through.

‘“‘T have got to stop and wait for it to blow over. No
matter how hot a man’s blood is, he is likely to go under
in such a storm as this.’’

He remembered a spot which he had passed which was
much sheltered by rocks and trees, and he pushed on until
he reached that point.

Here, with a hatchet which he carried in his traveling
pack attached to his saddle, he set about hewing down a
number of smaller trees, at the same time bending down
the branches of others, making a sort of a bower sheltered
on one side by the rocks.

Here he tethered the horse, cleared away the snow, and
kindled a fire..

fle did not have his tent with him, which he sometimes
carried in mountain journeys. But he found this spot,
with the help of a blazing fire, a decided improvement on
the open trail.

The rocks. kept off the wind on one side, and the fire
kept out the cold on the other.

Yet so intense was the storm that he dared not remain
motionless for a moment.

He kept beating about gathering fuel, occupying himself
with tending to the fire. So he kept warm while at the
same time he used his brain in forming plans for future
action.

|
|

 

Without waiting for a repetition of it, Gentleman Joe
plunged through the drifts outside of his bower, and a mo-
ment later came near stumbling over something which
had fallen across the trail.

It was a horse.

Over the animal a man was standing, tugging at the
bridle and striving to pull the beast upon his feet again.

‘‘What is the difficulty? Trying to make a dead horse
walk?’

It was Gentleman Joe who uttered these words.

For bending over the beast, he saw that the latter had
fallen in such a manner as to break his neck.

Already the animal was half covered with snow, and
the man at his head seemed to be fairly stupid with the
cold.

Yet as the voice of Gentleman Joe sounded in his ears,
he wheeled suddenly, and our hero was looking into the
muzzle of a revolver!

With lightning quickness Gentry’s hand went up, and
the weapon was sent flying into the air, being d.scharged
as it flew.

The next instant he had seized the stranger’s arm in a
erip of iron and wheeled him about and was looking
squarely into his face.

“Why, man, you don’t want to put any lead into me
any more than I do into you. I saw you on the stage at
Gunnison’s theatre a few hours ago, and it was you that
told me more points about the devil that ran away with
the girl than anybody else. I don’t know your name, but
I know that you and I were never meant to shoot at each
other.”’

“T_T guess you’re right!’’ exclaimed Tom Tracy, for
the stranger was he.

The next moment the man sank down at Gentry’s feet,
his eyes half closed.

‘‘Why, the man is freezing !’’

As these words burst from the lips of Gentry he caught
Tracy by the collar, and at the same time seized a riding
whip which the young man had dropped when the horse
had fallen.

The whip hissed through the air half a dozen times with
considerable force, and the lash cut about the young man’s
legs, each time bringing a cry of pain from his lips. _

The next instant the two men were struggling there in
the snow, Tracy striving with all his might to break away
from that iron grasp and to seize the whip which Gentry -
had used so unmercifully.

Gentleman Joe quietly tossed the whip back into the
snow and continued to cling to the young man, holding
him struggling and writhing in that vain attempt to break
away.

‘“That’s it!’? Gentleman Joe exclaimed. ‘Fight all you
want to. That’s just what I wanted. You were freezing
to death, man—i have just put some tingle into your
blood, and that is a heap sight better than a swig of
whisky. You’ll thank me for it after the smart’s over—I
have found it a mighty sight better plan to make the
cuticle smart with a whip than to burn it with liquor.” .

Thus Gentleman Joe ran on to himself, getting much

‘needed exercise in resisting the attempts of the young

man to break away from him.

The prompt action had no doubt saved the young man’s 2 ,

life.

 
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| THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

 

 

Slowly the realization of this. fact dawned upon him,
and. instead of beating furiously against his captor, he
‘began threshing his arms and springing up and down in
the snow as a means of continuing the exercise which had
proved so beneficial.

“Your horse has gota broken neck, my man, and if I
was in your place I wouldn’t stop to tie it. Come along
with me, and we will find little better quarters than this,
though I don’t happen to haye a mansion in the skies
handy.”’

With a murmured response of appreciation, Tom Tracy
followed Gentleman Joe to the latter’s rude camp.

The exercise had done the work of warming him less
painfully than a fire could have done; yet the glow of the
leaping flames was grateful enough to the young man now.

‘*T was on the track of. that desperado that stole Carl-
ston’s daughter,’’ the young man declared, as soon as he
could find voice to speak.

‘“Well, so was I. It was either his good luck or bad to
haye this storm come on in the nick of time. It will be

“bad luck for the girl, anyhow, unless the man knows
where he is steering, and takes mighty good care of her.
Are you a friend of the girl?’’

‘‘T can hardly say that | am, for I have never apelen to
her.

“Then you are simply one of those hot-headed young-
sters who are ready to wade in over their boots when
there is a pretty girl in trouble?”’

‘*You may call me that if you wish. It makes no partic-
ular difference. But I take it that aman who will stand

by and see such a sweet creature as Erminie Carlston fall
into the hands of a desperado and not raise a hand to help
her out of the mess ought to freeze to death.’’

‘‘Maybe you’re right, youngster.”’ f

‘‘Whether right or wrong, I have done what I cule t
help doing. I suppose I should have gone to sleep. there in
the snow and never have waked up if it hadn’t been for
you. But it would have been in a good cause, anyhow.”’

‘‘Tt would have been in a good cause, youngster. Yet it
would have been better to have thought over the situation
a bit, and if you have got to sacrifice a life, so fix it that
you would have bought something with it. I’ll not say
that you are not a hero—at any rate you have got the
stuff in you that they make heroes out of. Only a dead
hero has finished his work, and a live one keeps turning

up something new. But I won’t lecture you. Did you start
alone?’’
- “ZT started alone; but I have a friend no would have
come if he could have got a decent horse.’
“And you say your name is Tracy?”’

“My name is Tracy, and my partner’s name is Jerry
Parsons. He is a better a than I am, fae? he has got
a bigger bump of caution.’

‘‘And so he will live the longer. But now we will talk
business. Since you didn’t freeze to death trying to make
a horse get onto his feet when his neck was broken, I am
glad you’re here. We can work better together than
either of us could work alone, and I reckon there will be
work enough for us both. That girl is in the hands of one
of the nerviest men that ever walked or.rode in these
mountains. And, youngster, the only thing that will
o battle ey against nerye is a man that has more
nerve.’

 

CHAPTER IV.

A MAN OF NERVE.

The faint sound that came to the ears of Poker Paul and
his companion was not repeated.

The desperado had just reached the point for which he
had been aiming from the start. Despite the sudden, bitter
storm, despite the painful injury which he had received
and the delay it had entailed—despite obstacles which
would have daunted almost any other man, he had pushed
on through those mountain wilds, doubling on his own
tracks and following various devious paths in order to
baffle pursuit. 3

At last he had reached the place where he had first in-
tended to take his captive.

Across the edge of the little plateau he hurriedly
pushed without stopping to investigate the sounds Cae
they had heard.

Another moment, and they had ridden into a covered
channel which at some time had been gouged out by a
mountain stream, the source of which was now choked up,
turning the water into a new course.

‘In other words, a natural cavern was formed, lofty at
the entrance and extending back several hundred feet into
the heart of the mountain.

Once within its shelter, they seemed to have struck a
different clime. On a warm day it would have seemed cool
within its gloomy depths; but now in contrast with the
keen air outside and the blighting blast, the interior of
the cavern seemed to be actually warm.

‘“‘Now, we'll be a little more comfortable, Miss Carl-
ston,’’ the desperado declared, as they came to a halt.

‘“‘Mhis is certainly better than the storm. ButI can’t
understand why you have taken me here?’’

‘‘T suppose not, miss. There are a good many things
that are hard to understand until we know what they
mean—but just possess your soul in patience. Should —
you be afeared if I should leave you here alone for a few
days after the storm is over?”’

‘‘Perhaps I would be as safe alone as any way.”

She had been on the point of saying that perhaps she
would be as safe alone as with him. But truth though it
was, she felt that his eyes were fixed piercingly upon her,
and she shrank from giving him needless offense.

Indeed, she felt that itmight be possible for her to con-
trol her captor to a certain extent by the use of a little
caution and tact.

Poker Paul next turned his attention to the faithful
steed, which had certainly stood by them well over that
rough trail and through the bitter show.

Having made the horse secure and given the animal
feed and drink, the desperado once more returned to his

captive. }

From one side of the cavern he brought forth a small

“There are two of us, Mr. Gentry, ‘and unless I mistake | lantern, which he hung on a spike driven into the wall,
‘he amount of sand we carry around with us, we will: and which shed a reddish glow upon their faces.

make a team that Poker Paul will find it hard to handle.’’:

Erminie Carlston, while her captor was ue with the

 
\

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THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. _

 

 

horse, had looked shrinkingly around on the scenes thus |

disclosed by the. light.

She was surprised by what she saw.

There was a rude table set against one of the rocky
‘walls, with two chairs near it and shelves hung above it.
There was something beyond the table that resembled a

_chest of drawers, and on the opposite side was a box

which was open, and in which she could see cans of pro-

Visions.

It was evident that the place had been fitted up as a re-
treat for the mountain desperado. Whether Poker Paul
had done this or not since his Henk from prison was
doubtful.

- More likely it was, that it had been an old rendezvous of
his to which he had now returned as the most secure
hiding-place in that section.

Erminie Carlston had not always lived in this wild region.
Indeed, it was only three years since she had come from a
part of the country where:she had. been familiar with the
pleasanter elements of civilization.

This wild scene to which she had been so quickly trans-

ported by the fierce-looking man who was with her, the |
black depths of the cavern which the light could not pene- |

trate on one side, and the gray storm which was howling
and shrieking on the other, all seemed to her like a fan-
tastic dream or a transcript from some romantic fiction,
which she had read.

She could. not believe that she would not soon awake
and find it all to be a freak of her sleeping imagination.

‘*You seem to be thinking matters over, miss.’’

Poker Paul’s voice did not sound harsh as he uttered
these words.

Yet Erminie Carlston started violently and sent a startled
look up into his face.

‘*T was wondering if I was really awake,’’

**And what have you decided?”’

**T suppose it must be that I am. ~-I certainly never
dreamed of such an experience as this. I.didn’t dream
that any man could be so cruel—_—’’

“*Haven’t I used you well?’’

‘*Hixcept in tearing me away from the only friend I have |
in the world.”’

‘*And it might be that I used you better in that than you , minutes.

think.”’

‘*What do you mean?”’

**T can’t say the whole that I mean just now. I suppose
you count that bow-legged old man as a great friend of
yours?”’

‘*He is my father’

‘‘He is, is he? I suppose you can swear to it? Well, we
will let it go so if you like it better that way.”’

‘You talk as if you knew something about my father
and me?’’

‘And maybe Ido. Young folks are brought up some-
times without knowing all about where they sprung from,
and about the past life of the ones they are living with. I
was brought up that way myself, and I had a rough time
of it when I was a boy. The man that pretended to be my
father used to think that no boy could be well brought up
if he didn’t have two or three lickings every day. He
carried out pus idea on — until one day he could ae
make it worl

The voice of the speaker had grown strangely fierce in
its expression. |

oe

eyes that made Erminie eet shrink from him in sud-|

den fear.
g

j
\

 

 

|
L

|

Yet she could not help feeling intensely interested in
the glimpse of this man’s past career which he now seemed A :
inclined to give her. Gor’

‘“‘Did you run away from the man that abused on
sha asked.

‘‘Maybe ye would call it that, and ae Ue ye pe i

‘*What do you mean?’’ ;

‘‘T have told you that one day he didn’t ee it work.
Pll say this much more—he tried to give me the usual
licking, and he found me loaded. I laid the old galoot out
with my fist between his eyes, and then I got hold of his
throat and pinched and twisted until he quit kicking.”’

‘“Then you—you killed him?’’

*““T didn’t say that I did. I don’t know whether I did or
not really, for I skipped about that time. I’m sure that I

_|never saw the old man again, and I never heard from him,

and Iam sure that the lickings he gave me didn’t do me
any good. There may have been some devils in me to start _
with, but I know that the way he handled me made them
breed faster than anything else could have done, ‘until
there was not much but devils in my nature. But I'll tell
you this for your comfort, and I want you to believe it—I
never was known to abuse a woman, and though I find it
convenient to hold you here a while against your will, you ~
may be a heap sight safer than you would be going onto
old Carlston’s stage down in Guninson.”’

Poker Paul spoke with such earnestness that the girl
could not discredit his last statement.

The man might be a villain of the deepest dye—there
could be no doubt that he was one.

Yet, as they say, there is sometimes ‘“‘honor among
thieves, ’’ and this desperado with his indomitable courage
and boldness might act according to a certain rule of con-
duct, which if his course was a legitimate one, could be

was her reply. | calied honorable.

‘‘Just go easy, miss, and you'll be all right,’’ the man
said, after a short interval of silence.

‘“‘I suppose there is certainly no use in my crying and:
making a fuss about it like a baby, since I can see by your
face that it would do no good.”’

“Ye have hit it, miss, and ye may fare a e008 deal
better for being so sensible. Now I’ll leave ye for a few
Didn’t ye hear a.cry just as we struck into the
pass back there before we reached the cavern?”’

““T thought I did, but didn’t know but it was the wind.’’
‘‘T didn’t know either. But it sounded to me a good deal
like a human voice, and I didn’t know but that there might _
be somebody else stranded herein the storm. If that’s the
case, then it might be thatIcould do a good eae if
they’re the sort that deserves it.”’ :
Once more, after looking after the horse, Poker Paul
left the cavern, beating his way outside into the blinding

snow.

The distance to the spot where that cry had been heard
was not great, else the desperado would not have dared to —

make his way thither in the face of the blast. With the
steep rocks on one side to shelter him, the course was not
as difficult as it had been farther on.

He presently came upon a little natural icioetae some-
what sheltered from the storm. And here he saw several _

dark forms moving about. ‘ :
In another moment he was in the midst of ‘them. His
own voice rose in stontorian tones above the shrieking ©

There was a light that flashed from his wind:

‘“What’s

the word, strangers? Hreezing or Se
Both, or which?” . :

 
THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. ag

 

 

CHAPTER V.'

CARLSTON’S GALL

The mountain storm ceased as abruptly as it. began.

Before the sun rose, the clouds had cleared, and the
stars twinkled bright and cold in the Colorado sky.

Gentleman Joe and Tom Tracy beat their way forth
from their rude camp in good season and without delay
made their way back to Gunnison.

They found the new town aroused to a high pitch of ex-
citement over the daring abduction which had been made
the evening before.

Already a party of men had been organized for the pur-
suit of the desperado. Besides these, there were several of
the most daring of the citizens of the town who had made
ready to start off alone in quest of the kidnaped girl.

In the midst of it all old Carlston hobbled hither and
thither with his crooked legs, whining and swearing ac-
cording to the individual he chanced to be addressing.

Some he found more ready to respond to whines than to
oaths, and he seemed willing to suit their preferences.

It was certain that he could do nothing alone. Not only
_ were his legs bowed, but he suffered from other deform-
' ities which made it next to impossible for him to ride a
horse, while he could do nothing on foot.

He had been one of the first to strike the new town of
Gunnison, and partly because he’was unable to do manual
labor, and being somewhat of a pitiable object, he already
had many friends in the place.

His enterprise had started one of the first saloons and
gaming-places, and he seemed to havea special tact in
running them to suit the patrons.

Added to the sort of popularity which he had gained in
this way, was the fact of his having brought to Gunnison
the first really sweet and beautiful young woman in the
place.

Erminie Carlston had been seen but little, but her name
was on the lips of almost everybody in the place.

There were indeed few men there who would not have
fought hard to save her from harm.

For, contrary to the opinion in the Hast, there is no
region in the world where a young woman of character is

treated with greater respect or deference than among the |

wild and almost lawless regions of the great West.

It was thus that the abduction of Erminie Carlston created |

greater excitement than the most successful stage hold-up
- er the robbery of a treasure-laden express messenger could |
have done.

Near the building belonging to old Cariston there was |

quite an ambitious atlempt at a hotel.
In this building there were also several rooms that were

two before the date of these events by a lawyer, while the
other was occupied by Tom Tracy and Jerry Parsons, who |
had started out to do a little real estate booming in the,
new town.

Gentleman Joe and Tom Tracy made their way directly
to this last-named office, where they found Jerry Parsons
**on deck,’’ with his feet on the table, smoking a cigar.

‘*You’re coal, Jerry, I'll say that for you,’’ said Tracy,

as he jerked the table out from under his partner’s feet,
letting them down upon the floor with a thump.

This might have been done half in sport, yet there was
a real impatience in the young man’s manner which
showed that he could not conceive how his friend could
appear so indifferent while Erminie Carlston was in such
peril.

The next moment Tracy had introduced his companion,
and Jerry Parsons and Gentleman Joe had shaken hands.

‘‘Now, Mr. Gentry, tell Jerry the same scheme that you
told me,’’ said Tracy.

‘‘Then you didn’t fetch the young lady back with you?’’
Parsons asked, with an admiring look at the Gilt-Edged
Sport, of whom he had heard much.

*‘A man can hardly outride such a storm as the one we
had last night,’’ was Gentry’s reply. ‘‘And yet I see it
didn’t hit you very hard here in Gunnison. It struck
down a narrow path, and I reckon that Poker Paul and
his captor pushed themselves straight through it.”’

‘Then I should think that theré would bea pretty good
chance that when they are found, it will be under a snow-

drift. ’’
‘‘With an ordinary sort of a man that is exactly what I

should expect. But aman that would do what Poker Paul
did last night isn’t of the sort to get snowed under.’’

‘You may be right. That was one of the nerviest things I
ever saw or heard of. I have never really witnessed very
many bold breaks, but a man who reads the newspapers
can’t help hearing of them sometimes, and I must a7
that I never heard or read of anything more audacious.’

“TI came to Gunnison on several different errands of
several different degrees of importance. While on my way
I learned of the escape of Poker Paul, the convict des-
perado, and knowing that he formerly had a hiding-place
somewhere in these regions, I was impressed that he
would most likely direct his flight in the beginning in this
direction. That gave me aspecial mission to work out,

town of Gunnison, for you are becoming civilized rather
fast here to make it safe for his sort. How about this old
Carlston, the father of the kidnaped girl?’’

Jerry Parsons looked to his partner to make answer to
this query.

Tracy hesitated.

‘(Hoe is rather a queer old fellow, andI take it that he
has had rather hard luck. He seems to’ have a little
money, just enough to start into business here witha
certain sort of enterprise. The citizens of Gunnison, partly
in recognition of his efforts to provide amusement, and
| partly out of sympathy for his physical helplessness, are
inclined to patronize him: pretty liberally. I would not be
surprised if the old fellow pulled in considerable money

within the next few months. And Ihave heard it said
| that even the kidnaping of his girl would turn a good deal
of cash into his till for the reason of its bringing such
| heavy patronage.”’

‘“You know where he came from?”

 

how I got it—that he came from one of the Eastern cities,
‘New York or Philadelphia. Possibly I overheard some-
thing to that effect, though I don’t remember it.”’

“Vou don’t know anything about his past career?”’

“‘Not a thing.”’

‘The girl came with him, did she?”’

“The girl came, with him.’’

‘‘T hear that she is called the angel of the new town, and.

But I had no idea that the man would show himself in the -

occupied as offices. One of these had been taken a day or! ‘‘I never heard it said. Ihave an idea—I don’t know.

aa a AS SH ib GNC SD ag SRE pi es ass

 
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THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

No. 361.

 

 

I think by that that she must be thought a good deal of?”’

‘‘She is a very beautiful girl, The wonder is, that her
father would let her take part in the /coarse sort of a play
on his stage as he set out todo. There area good many
men in town that think this a pity; yet she was sucha

ready to consider almost any reasonable offer for the prop. _
erty. Will you do so?’’
“Certainly, if you are sure that you wish to dispose of
it. But land here is growing valuable every day, and since
you have such a good business, I should think you would |

drawing card that, like everything else, she seemed bound want to hold onto it and reap the reward.”

to pull a good deal of money into the old man’s pockets.

At this juncture steps were heard coming up the stairs
—slow, hesitating footsteps, so peculiar in their character
that, if once heard, they could not well be mistaken.

“‘T believe that is old Carlston this minute, and he is
probably coming to see us,’’ said Parsons.

“Then I want to get out of sight. Ill say in advance
that I think it worth, while to keep an eye on the old man,
as there are some points about him that look a little queer,
and when I say that, I’m not referring to his legs.”’

‘‘Open that door there, and you'll find a closet that will
hold you, if you haven’t eaten too much breakfast, after it

is closed. This shebang is built so loosely that I don’t:
i spised the man.

believe you’ll suffocate.”’

‘All right, I’ll play eavesdropper, though it is a game I '

don’t like. But I think the old man will talk with you in
a different way than he would with me. At any rate try
and draw him out a bit; and I’ll hear what he says. Then
afterward I'll pump him on the same lines and see if his
answers square up with. each other. If I find him quib-
bling, then I’ll know the reason why. That’s all.”’

This was spoken in a low tone, for the hobbling step of
the cripple could be heard in the short corridor outside,
and it was approaching the door of the young real estate
boomers of Gunnison.

The old man knocked timidly and had to be bidden to
enter before he would open the door.

Indeed, with all his dealings he showed a servile,
shrinking manner which seemed to declare that he was
always ready to accept favors large or small—for he con-
sidered himself a sort of an object of pity for those more
favored physically than he.

He entered the office with his wabbling gait, aa ‘eine
asked to take a chair, he sat ape ee cny upon the very
edge of it.

‘‘T came upon a piece of business—a claim of mine that
I said something to you about yesterday—and which I
want to sell.’’

These were the first words of the old man.

His eyes fixed upon the face of Tom Tracy shifted back
to that of Jerry with an eagerness that seemed to indicate
a desire to observe in advance their mental attitude to-
‘ward him.

‘*You wish to sell the claim, you say?”

‘*Yes, for cash. This great misfortune of mine—this
losing of my dear daughter—makes me anxious to turn
what property I can into ready cash so as to square up
whatever obligations I eve, and at the same time to offer
a reward for her recovery.’

“T don’t think you’ll need to offer any reward. Every

8

man in the camp is ready to put his life into the chase if |

need. be, and I don’t believe that any of us thought of get-
ting a reward for it.”’

9 |

 

‘‘But Ihave my reasons, Mr. Tracy,’’ old Carlston re- ,

turned, with a squirm of his crooked body. ‘‘I have my
reasons, Mr. Tracy and Mr. Parsons—and very good
reasons they are, too. So just look over the property,

please, and if you see a way of disposing of it tomyad- —
vantage, I presume that you will be considerate of your

charges for doing the business. You see, I can’t attend to
such ponecrs myself—on account of my infirmity, you

know.’

The old man relapsed into his most ddleful whine which
bore the same resemblance to the whine of a dog which
his face did to the same animal.

Almost for the first time Tom Tracy felt as if he de-

But the thought of the beautiful daughter caused him to
smother the impulse for her sake.

**T’ll look over the property and report as you desire.
As for our fee, I reckon that Jerry and I will be willing to
figure it down pretty low in consideration, as you say. We
can make it up on somebody else.’’

‘Thank you, thank you!’’ mumbled the old man, as he
slipped off his chair and hobbled toward the door with a
slavish bow.

As his hand was upon the latch another hand pushed
the door open from the other side.

Old Carlston sprang back with surprising agility, and
the next moment his face was seen to grow ashen pale as
he met the gaze of the one that entered.

‘‘Ha, Barnaby, ye old villain! Are you here waiting for
the blessing that I promised ye?’’

Gentleman Joe from his hiding-place recognized the
voice of this speaker.

It was the voice of a man who had acted with him in
several enterprises of skill and peril—a man whom many
of the friends of Gentleman Joe will likewise recognize.

The new-comer was a certain Irish lawyer with a some-_
what checkered career, who was known in that region -
only by the name of Sandy.

CHAPTER VI.

POKER, PAUL’S PERIL.

It was a peculiar scene that Poker Paul, the desperado
convict, had chanced upon.
There were three men, three horses, and a fonzor a

“wagon all huddled together there in the storm.

Two of the men were moving about in a vain attempt to
win in the fight with that blighting blast. ’
A third had thrown himself upon the body of one of ie

horses which lay in the snow and which might or might 9
| not have a breath of life left in its body. e
‘“That may be so, Mr. Tracy. It’s a great comfort to me |

In the wagon, buried under a mass of blankets was

to find that I have so many friends is this, my hour of another figure, and it was that of a woman.

need. But I really want to dispose of that claim and turn
Thold my claim-certificate

the money into ready cash.
right here, and if you will takeit and look over the prop-

_ erty and report on it within twenty-four hours, I'll be

Her face was blanched with the hue of death. She was .
evidently past middle age, for the smooth hair upon her ~
brow was streaked with gray. :

It would have been hard to say whether ie was livin

 

 
__ your feet!
horse, for he isn’t dead. He is only giving up because it is

No. 361,

LOG CABIN LIB

ZARY.

 

 

or not. She looked haggard, as if wasted either by disease
_or lack of food.
In this respect the faces of the men resembled hers.

That they had been wandering through these mountain |

wilds for several days without sufficient food to sustain
life seemed to bea plausible explanation of their condition.

So much Poker Paul divined at a glance.
_ It was not the first time that he had known travelers.to
lose their way in the mountain wilds. More than once had
he come across the bones of horses and men whitening in
the sunshine and dry air of this altitude. Men with
broken-down fortunes from the East not unfrequently
attempted to explore these unknown regions without a
guide, in the hope probably of striking some undiscovered
gold bonanza, and striving by a stroke of fortune to repair.
in a day the losses of an unsuccessful life-time.

There was no immediate response to Poker Paul’s salu-
tation.

His keen eye looked first at the faces of the men; then
at the horses; and lastly his gaze sought the interior of
the wagon.

The next moment he had returned to the two men, one—
of whom, as if exhausted by his efforts to keep up the

battle against death, had sunk upon the body of one of the
horses.

— Come, stir yourselves and get out of this! Ye don’t
want to let that woman die, do ye, even if ye are willing
to die yourselves?” :

‘‘No, we want to save her. But who are you? How
came you here? Are you lost in the storm, too—and
starving?”’

‘“‘T’m neither starved nor lost, man. And you aren’t
dead yet. Why, I have been as bad off as you are, and I
didn’t sit myself down to die, not by a good sight. Stir
yourselves! Get on your feet quick, every man of you, or
T’ll shoot ye like so many dogs!’’

As Poker Paul uttered these startling words, he drew a
revolver and aimed it directly at the man who had sunk
down in a dejected attitude.

The stranger instantly sprang to his feet, and one of his
benumbed hands fumbled for a weapon.

‘‘None of that, you craven! If ye pull a gun you won’t
live to level it—d’ye hear that? Every one of ye get onto
Pull up that one that is lolling over onto that

easier than it is to fight! Start yourselves, and [’l: show
ye how to get out of this hole!”’

The thrilling words of Poker Paul seemed to have a
magnetic effect on his hearers.

The man who was moving about sprang to raise up his
companion who had succumbed most easily to the cold and
to his own weakness. |

This one was quickly aroused from his stupor and stood
tottering on his feet with the fierce blast beating in his
face.

blazing eyes.
“You're the head man of this crowd, as I can see by
_your looks,” the desperado exclaimed.

‘*Yes, this is my CoM, ”” the other muttered, in a muffled.

voice.

‘““And that woman in the wagon oo is she to
: you?

8

“She is my wife.’
‘And you were as to lie down here and drift off into

the sleep of death and let her linger and suffer after ye!
You’re a coward—did ye know it? There is no other name
for a man that will do that. Now bestir yourselves! First
take a nip at this—let it be a short one, for it will play the
devil with you to put much of the fire inside of you till
you get something better. But it may work in the same
way that a whip does on a horse that is just ready to drop.
Just one swallow—do ye mind that?’’

Poker Paul passed the flask to the man whom he was
addressing and held onto it while the other took a swallow
of the liquor. _

He treated each of the others in the same way, then |
leaped to the wagon, seized the dying woman in his arms,
|wrapping her more closely in the blankets which were

about her and started with swift, furious strides through
the snow and in the teeth of the blast.

‘See that ye follow me, men, and that ye keep up at
that. Ihave got the gun in my hand yet, and if I find one
of ye lagging I’ll shoot him in his tracks! v2
| This was grim coercion, and the three men who a few
| moments before were ready to give up the battle and fall
asleep in the slumber that would never end, were now
seen to plunge ahead through the drifting snow, beating
against the blast, their lips shut tight, their hands
| clinched, and every nerve and muscle tense with the
effort.

It was strange, indeed, that these men who a few mo-
ments before were resigned to an almost painless death
which was even then creeping upon them with its chilling
touch, were now actually forced to take action which was
full of keenest pain, and all for the fear of death at the
hands of this man of iron whose will was controlling
theirs.

Indeed, it was this which in reality explained their ac-
tions.

It was not that they. feared death at the hands of Poker
Paul that they were thus resisting a gentler death; but
that they felt the stimulating energy of a master-mind
urging them on to an action which they had not will
enough themselves to have taken.

They had simply been a party, of men without a leader,

The one who should have been in control was weak-
willed and the first to succumb to the storm,

It would have been so in a battle. No matter how
strong in numbers the army might be, a handful of men
would put such an army to flight if the smaller one had a
leader and the other had none.

In five minutes Poker Paul had led the men to a point
near the entrance of the cave where his captive was con-
cealed,

Here for a moment he paused.

The spot was so sheltered that the storm was no longer
a source of discomfort, although the sharpness of the wind
could still be felt.

 

 

| Indeed, the storm itself ‘was beginning to abate, and it
_ And the first thing he saw was Poker Paul, revolver in|
hand, confronting him and looking into his face with his.

would soon cease as abruptly as it had begun.

Instead of entering the cavern, to the interior of which
‘the reader has already been introduced, Poker Paul
swerved aside in his course and led the half-starved fugi-
‘tives past the entrance, and in another moment they
found themselves in a smaller cavern which was probably
another part of the larger one, and divided from it by
some freak of nature.

This place, unlike the other, was unfurnished with the
exception of a single chair and a box which stood side by
side at the farthest extremity of if.

 
12

THE DOG CABENY TIBIARY,

No. 361.

 

 

ee

It was, however, as completely sheltered from the wind

as was the larger cave, and for this purpose was all that
was required.

It was evident, therefore, that Poker Paul desired to
avoid bringing these strangers and his captive into con-
tact. His reasons for this were obvious.

Laying his burden down with great gentleness, Poker
Paul adjusted a blanket under her head, and seeing that
she was as comfortable as conditions would allow, he
turned to the man he had first threatened, and so revived
to make another effort for life.

‘‘Now throw yourselves down here and be as comfortable
asyoucan. Yecan’t expect me to furnish anything very
luxurious, but I’ve another shelter close by with some
things in it which may help you out. I suppose ye will
want to go on in your journey to-morrow?’’

‘“You have done us a great kindness, sir,’’ the man said,
speaking almost for the first time.

“Don’t speak of that since I rather forced it upon ye at
the point of a gun. Perhaps you think now that I would
not have carried out my threat; but I would have done it,
and you would have been lying out there in the snow with
a bullet in your brain, if ye hadn’t anted up when I gave
the word. Aman that hasn’t got backbone enough to
fight for his life doesn’t deserve to live—that’s my idea.
Now I want you to give an account of yourselves. Who
are ye, where are ye going, and why?”’

In his clear, crisp tones these questions were put. And
the storm fugitives felt they were under as much obliga-
tion to answer them as they had been to move when he
had ordered them to do so.

“It would be a long story if I should tell you why we
are here,’’ the young man said.

“I don’t want any long stories. Boilit down. I want
the facts inasmall bunch, and the quicker ye give ’em,
the quicker I’ll manage to get some provender here, for I
reckon that is what you need more than anything else.
There are some men that, when they find a crowd in your
pinch, would go to giving them a sermon. © It’s my way
to make them walk the chalk at the point of a gun and
then to feed them.”’

‘Food is better than a sermon when a man’s starving,”’
was the response.

‘‘I’m glad you take it so.
and cut it short.”

‘“‘To begin with, then, this elder man whom you found
so exhausted is my father. His name is Jameson; Iam
called Will Jameson, and my brother, here, being named
James, is Jim Jameson.”’

The young man smiled faintly as he gave this somewhat
peculiar combination of names. But Poker Paul seemed
to see nothing amusing in it.

‘Go on with your yarn, and boil it down,’’ the desperado
reiterated, in his sharp tones.

The young man thus urged told briefly how they came

But now give me your yarn

to be in the situation in which the desperado-sport had

found them.

It was a story which we need not give in detail, since it
has no important bearing on the plot of our story.

Let it suffice that the old man had come to these regions
with his wife and two sons not to repair broken fortunes

- wholly, since in reality they carried considerable treasure

with them.

This fact the young man stated boldly, since he felt that
aman who would save them from such a miserable fate
should be worthy of their confidence.

 

 

The young man stated that the treasure which they
carried was in their hands for special care. And on this
score Will Jameson gave a rather poor account of the con-
ditions which caused Poker Paul to curl his lips witha

faint sin of incredulity.

‘‘He can tell such a yarn as that to the marines,’’ was
| the inward comment of the desperado-sport.

But aloud he gave no sign but that he believed the story
‘in all its details.

The treasure itself was carried in a box which was in
the covered wagon which Poker Paul had compelled them
to abandon.

At that time they had been indifferént to all things
| Save the preservation of their own lives and obedience to
‘those stern commands coming from the lips of their un-
known leader.

It was now evident, however, that with some assurance
of a continuation of life restored to them, they were as re-
luctant as the rest of humanity to give up their hold on
any worldly wealth that they might have in their posses-
sion.

The woman was the mother ‘of the young men, and
there was no doubt that she must die soon.

Indeed, this end came mercifully to her a little more
than an hour after their arrival in the cave.

Poker Paul returned to the larger cavern, taking care to
cover his tracks that the fugitives would not find it easy
to follow him should such a scheme enter their minds. In
twenty minutes he returned to the cave, bringing with
him a store of provisions and a supply of blankets for
their greater comfort.

“Now, gentlemen,’’ said the convict desperado, with his
keen eyes looking into their faces, ‘‘I will have to leave
you for alittle while. The best thing for ye to do now, if °
ye are thoroughly warm, is to roll yourselves up and go to
sleep. Yesay you want to find your way to Gunnison.
It’s a crooked road to travel from here, but I’ll guarantee
to act as your guide to-morrow to a point, at least, from
which you can find your way alone. In the meantime lie
low and get your sleep, Just one thing more—be sure and
mind your cwn affairs and don’t try to push yourselves
into mine. Ye might hear something drop if ye did.”’

Poker Paul returned to his captive, making some slight
excuse to her for his absence, and then left her again.

He made his way rapidly back to the spot where the
covered wagon had been abandoned by the Jamesons.

The storm had ceased and the stars were gleaming
coldly down upon the scene.

The air was cold and keen, but a perfect calm prevailed.

It took but a few moments for Poker Paul to dig forth
from the bottom of the covered wagon an iron-bound box;
and with that box under his arm, he made his way back
to the vicinity of his own hiding-place, and unobserved
by Erminie Carlston, placed it in a spot where it would
have been hard indeed for any one else to have found it.

‘“They were just going off into their last sleep when I
found them,’’ the desperado said, as he stood alone, medi-
tating upon what he had just done. ‘‘They would have
lost their lives and at the same time the treasure would
have belonged to the finder. Had I been half an hour later,
Fshould have been the lucky man, and I need not have
bothered with feeding them. As it is, they are alive by
|their own good luck, and thanks to my mercy. I have

given them more than they could have obtained for them-
selves. So now let them whistle for their treasure, which
is now in hands that know enough to keep it.’’

 

 
No. 361,

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. ey

 

 

CHAPTER VII.
THE CRIPPLE SHOWS HIS HAND.

We have before mentioned the fact that there was a law
office in the same building with the office of Parsons &
Tracy.

The fact which we did not mention was that Sandy, the
eccentric Irish lawyer, was the tenant of this office.

The great agitation shown by old Carlston as he mot
the gaze of the one who had just entered the room at-
tracted the attention of the other inmates.

““You—you here?”’

These words came in wheezing tones-from the old man’s
lips. At the same time he sank upon the chair from which
he had just risen, and it could be seen that he was trem-
bling from head to foot.

Sandy nodded and smiled at the two tenants of the
ottice, flung himself into another chair with his hands
deep in his pockets, and crossed his legs, as a lawyer is
apt to do.

He drew his chair into such a position that it brought
him between.old Carlston and the door. At the same time
he partly faced the old man, and with a broad smile upon
his face and a strangely Dore look in his eyes, he fixed
his gaze upon the old man’s countenance.

*‘I hope ye’ll excuse me, gintlemén,’’ said Sandy, ‘‘for
intruding upon ye while ye was having business with that
mongrel piece of humanity that sits yonder. But it’s
really quite a streak of luck that brought us together, I
am thinking. Ye see Barnaby is quite an old acquaintance
of mine, and as ye may judge from the swate expression
upon his face, he is somewhat overcome with the sudden
joy at meeting me here.’’

“‘T take it that you are the new lawyer that has just
moved into the next room?’’ Jerry Parsons asked.

‘It is the gineral gossip through the town of Gunnison
that I am a lawyer and that I have taken an office in this
shebang. Whether the rumor will be confirmed by the
facts or not, I’ll leave it for ye to judge. I had a client
come to me this morning, and he is in trouble up to his
neck about a mining claim, and he said that he had had
some dealings with vou, solcame to ask you about it.
But now that I find Barnaby Carlston here, maybe ye’ll
excuse me if I turn my attention to him for a while. It is
me ginoral habit to occupy myself with business before
pleasure; but in the present instance I find it more con-
venient to reverse the rule.’’

‘‘You’re at liberty to talk with the gentleman here,
since it seems that you have had business together before.
Really the old fellow looks at you as if you were a ghost.”’

It was Tracy who spoke thus. It was plain enough that
both young men were intensely interested and curious
concerning the oe of intense agitation expressed by old
Carlston.

What Gentleman Joe had said concerning the latter, and
other peculiarities of character which they had observed
more ana more, made them feel the character of Barnaby
Carlston would bear eran, before they trusted him too
far.
Tracy was the more reluctant to think ill of the old man
on account of his beautiful daughter.

 

Yet if old Carlston was really a villain at heart, then
the sooner the truth were known, the better.
‘*It may be,’’ said Parsons, ‘‘that these two gentlemen

|would rather consult together in the lawyer’s office by

themselves than before listeners.’’

‘‘On the contrary,’’ said Sandy, ‘‘I would rather do my
talking before witnesses in this case. Indeed, the society
of Barnaby is so charming that I hardly dare to trust my-
self alone with him for fear that I should be so completely
overcome with the fascination of his presence that I could
hardly do justice to the subject of our discourse.”’

‘It may be that Mr. Carlston himself would prefer
privacy?”’

‘‘Yes, yes! I would most surely! Business is business,
and one doesn’t like to have his affairs made the talk of
the whole town. So if you please, Sandy, we’ll step into
your office and be by ourselves. You see, I never thought
of seeing you here at this time, and it brought back so
many uncomfortable thoughts that really for a moment I
was quite overcome—taken in connection with the abduc-
tion of my dear daughter, gentlemen, as you will under-
stand.’’

Carlston was on his feet again, whining and squirming
in an endeavor to leave a good impression.

Indeed, he tried so hard to appear helpless and innocent
that he decidedly overdid the matter and showed himself
to be a knave more plainly than he could have done in any
other way.

He hobbled toward the door, but before he could reach
it, Sandy stretched out his legs across the passage, block-
ing it completely.

He did this with apparent lack of design.

The old man tried to get around him, and still Sandy
kept his legs in the way, while his sharp eyes were fixed
upon the other’s face.

‘‘Better go back to your chair and not try to cut up any
of your antics here, Barnaby. Ye know your infirmity is
against you when it comes to an athletic display, so you
had better take me advice.’’

‘‘But I wish to have my interview with you alone.’’

‘“‘And so ye may, and have these gintlemen here, too,
don’t ye see? Sit down Barnaby!’’

‘‘But I say I can’t talk with you here!”’

*‘Tf ye can’t, ye needn’t, only the less you talk yourself,
the more I'll talk, and T’ll be blessed if I don’t tell these
gintlemen every measly thing I ever heard about you, and
if there’s any gaps that I can’t think of I’1l fill them with
inventions of meown. Mind that, Barnaby, and go easy,
or by the great horn-spoon, oe make ye that sick that
ye’ll wish ye never was born.’

Sandy’s voice had risen to a tone which he was accus-
tomed to use in his most eloquent periods in court.

He used the same voice when he hada witness under
fire whom he wished to crush.

Barnaby Carlston, as Sandy called him, squirmed him-
self back to his chair once more, breathing hard rather
from excitement than from exertion.

‘‘Well,’’ he said, a harsh note in his voice, ‘‘say away.
If you are bound to be ugly toward me, a helpless cripple
that Iam, then go ahead, and these gentlemen can judge
between us.”

“That’s right,
| tween us.

We'll let these gentlemen choose _ be-
[ just heard out on the street that the girl had
been taken from you by a wild sort of a salamander that
was hired to act upon your stage last night. Is that true?”’’

 
14 ee

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY...

 

 

“It is true, Sandy. My dear aden has been ab-|

dueted.’’

‘‘So troubles never come single to ye, do they, Barnaby?

Your daughter is taken away from ye, and I come to ye
all in the same day. But we won’t talk about that. How
is it about money?”’

“T can’t do a thing for you to-day, Sandy. I was talking
with these gentlemen about disposing of a little real es-
tate to raise money, for Iam badly pressed just now.”’

‘“That’s sad for ye, since ye have been pressed all your
life. But ye know ye owe mea pretty good round sum for
getting you out of a seedy sort of a scrape. It isn’t often
1leta man slip through my fingers as I did you, and I
never should have done it if it had not been for your

- erooked legs. But ye really appealed to me sympathy in
a way that made me easy with you, and so I have trusted
your word, though I knew you to be a candidate for State
prison and that ye would be there except for me own wit
and eloquence. But it isn’t too late yet. A man can never
be tried but once for his life for a crime; but when it
comes to a penitentiary offense it is never too late to fix it
for him. Do ye mind that?”’

‘‘But I was innocent, Sandy, as you know yourself—as
you said to the jury !”’

““T remember that I said something cf that kind to the
jury, but when I am carried away by me own eloquence |
say a good deal that doesn’t count for much in“my cooler
moments. I have looked the case over pretty carefully
since I had a talk with you, and I had you on your knees
begging me to let you off and not to give ye away. I don’t
believe ye have been on your knees since, and let me say
at the start that there is no need of your getting there |
now, for it won’t soften me hearta bit. Ye owe me five
hundred dollars. Have ye got the money?”’

‘‘Wive hundred dollars! Do you think I am a bank?”’

‘‘Have ye got the money, I say?”’

‘‘No such sum as that. You said that your fee was two
hundred and fifty dollars. ’’

‘So it was then. But that was two years and a half ago,
and I charge just one hundred dollars a year for waiting.
Ye see that time is money in more sinses than one, and if
--ye want to figure up how much it is a minute, then you
- gan, and see that it costs ye something to sit there and
whine about it. Have ye got the money or not?”’

“‘T haven’t a hundred dollars in cash to my name.”’

‘“Then give me what you have got and raise the rest for
me within three hours.”’

‘‘T couldn’t raise so much money in Gunnison. ’

‘“‘Are ye ee

‘‘T am sure.’

Rie ed Seiden tetin > etn MEE =

vans pees Fe he

“Then you are in a mighty bad way, my man, for it is|——

neck or nothing with ye. Ill have ye locked up within an
hour—less than that, and ye are just as good as locked up
at the present minute—if ye don’t plank down the money.
No kind of a promise will do—nothing but cash or some-
‘thing. that will raise cash forme. These gentlemen here
are witnesses, and you can sit down at their table, and if
you pay them for the use of their paper and ink, write)
any kind of a document that you choose as long as it)
fetches the money. Are ye going to do it?”’
“Hor God’s sake, man! do you think Ican get money
out of a rock?”’
“‘T don’t care where you cot it, whether it is out of a
rock or out of a pond, only it’s got to come. Once more I
ask—will ye do it?”’

Barnaby Carlston got upon his feet again, and this time x
his limbs were. not trembling.

Neither was Sandy’s, and his’steely. blue eyes seemed to
look the old man through and through. : :
Jerry Parsons and Tom Tracy, it is needless to say,
were deeply interested in this exciting colloquy.
It was evident that Carlston had been in some kind of
trouble and that Sandy’s skill as a lawyer had saved him
from suffering the penalty of it.

the payment of the lawyer’s fee.

No doubt Carlston had thought to a the borne
off his track, and by coming to this new town in Colorado
find himself safe from the demands of Sandy.

The Irishman had, as he had said, been lenient with the
cripple in the matter of waiting. But Sandy’s ire was’ :
aroused now, and when it came to a matter of money, the
Irishman was a hard man to beat.

‘*See here!’’ said Carlston, with a yet harsher note in
his voice from which all signs of whining had gone. ,

‘‘T am looking at ye, Barnaby, so sing your song.”’

‘‘Suppose I tell these gentlemen what I know about
you?”’

‘‘Go ahead, ye old salamander, and tell all ye pe
and be blessed in the telling! Only ye won’t do it until
after vou have paid me that five hundred dollars. Just
mind that!”’

‘‘But I say I haven’ t got it.”’

‘“‘Ye needn’t say anything of that kind, for it’s conte a
waste of your precious breath. Ye can say just this—what
ye will do and what ye won’t do, and ye must keep your
word. Will ye pay the money within four hours, or will.
you not? If ye say not, then off goes your head; if you 2
say yes, then your neck is saved until the end of ie four
hours; but if the money doesn’t come then, it will be all
day with ye, for I won’t wait another minute.’’ ;

Barnaby hobbled over to the table and (is his lips
close to the ear of Tracy.

“I’m a poor old man,’’ he whimpered, in a low voice,
‘Cand ye see that I am dealing with a shyster who is bound :
to squeeze out of me the last cent I have in the world.
Can’t you raise the cash for.me?”’

‘‘And will you transfer to me the claim you mentioned
as security?’’ Tracy asked.

 

‘‘Can’t you wait till you sell it for me?”’

‘‘No, for that would euaply be trusting you for the
money without security.’’

“Tet it be a matter of accommodation botweon one
friend and another—in consideration of my dear daughter
for whom you would be willing Lo do ‘anything, I know
“That is too much to ask, old man, and you must not
expect it. I don’t know anything about you. Your
‘daughter’s face is security enough for her, but she can’t
vouch for you. No, if on want the money you must raise
it in the regular way.’
| The cripple straightened himself up, and. al signs of |
| shrinking and servility vanished from his face and. manner.
In pretense of going back to his chair, he suddenly backed.
up against the wail, and at the same instant a revolver
appeared in each hand—the muzzle of one was pointed at
the heart of Sandy and the other at Tom Tracy.

‘‘Now do your crowding if you think you can make it
work! In the meantime, you shyster, sit down at that 2
, table and, write for mea receipt for the full amount ue ie

 

 

Then Carlston had most evidently attempted to shirk i
No. SOL. ee

ares ey = sae

say ot owe ‘you and sign it, or I’ll cover the floor with your.

brains.’

CHAPTER. VIII.
MINUS A FINGER.

Gentleman Joe from his hiding-place had, of course,
been an interested witness and listener to the scene and
conference which were the theme of the preceding chapter.

His keen eye had more than once detected signs of

malignant energy in the face of Barnaby Carlston.
- “Phat old man may whine and tremble and turn white
when it suits him to do so,’’ Gentleman Joe thought.
‘‘But he is one of the men that can be ugly as sin if
crowded into a corner. If that isn’t so, then Iam no judge
of faces.’’

Joseph Gentry had made this comment on old Carlston
immediately after Sandy’s entrance.

Therefore when Carlston turned upon the other inmates
of the room, weapons in hand, Gentleman Joe from his

hiditig-place Only smiled at this confirmation of his Own:
‘it before.’
“The old fellow is a tiger just as I thought, and I have ‘
| cheerfulness, and I’ll indorse itand sign it and scribble
It may be good for them to get ime name all over it, if me autograph would be such a
If a man never gets into one, he will never

inward opinion.

half a mind to wait here and see how Sandy and the other
fellows will pull out of it.
into a pinch.
know how to get out.”’

Gentleman Joe was therefore not surprised at the sud-
’ den turn affairs had taken. Not so, however, were Sandy
and the tenants of the office. :

Tracy and Parsons had both half risen to their feet,
while Sandy had recoiled slightly.

For a moment not a word was spoken, nor was there
any sound in the room except that of the ee breathing
of old Carlston.

The face ofgthe latter wore at that instant an expression
whose malignance.was the most intense they had ever
beheld. :

“Did you hear what I said, Sandy McCall?’’ were the
words that slipped from betwixt the thin lips: of the
cripple. -

Gentleman Joe was surprised then, if he had Not been
before.

Never before had the last name of Sandy, the lawyer,
been uttered in his presence except by Sandy himself.
And that had only been once when the lawyer had made
confession to him concerning his own past career.

It now looked as if Barnaby Carlston had almost as good
a grip on Sandy as the latter had on his client

In his eagerness to hear and observe all, the Gilt-Edged
Sport opened slightly the door of the closet in which he as

concealed and peered out. ;

He watched the face of Sandy closely.

He could see that his friend was not a little dismayed
by the words of Barnaby Carlston.

Yet he allowed the annoyance to show upon his face but
an instant.

He remembered that he was far away from the spot

a where his crooked deals had been made, and that even if

=. he were to be exposed openly—if all his life were to be laid
bare here at Gunnison—the chances were that his success
in the town would not be impaired in the least by the

ne ee

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

AG

Even if he had really been in danger Sandy was not the
man to back down after he had once started out upon a
course.

‘So it is ye that are giving the orders, ve old bow-
legged biped, is it?’’ were the first-words that came from
Sandy’s lips.

Indeed, they were the first words ey after that
threat uttered by Barnaby Carlston.

““You have heard my terms, and you may think that I
won’t use these guns if you refuse to come to them. But
I reckon you'll find yourself mistaken if you delay five
minutes. ’”’

‘You mean by that that I have got to give ye a receipt
for money which I have never received at all inside of five —
minutes, or you’ll begin to pepper me with bullets?”’

‘“That’s the word.’’

‘“‘Now let medo something for ye that I never did be-
fore, and that is to offer a point ir law without charging
ye for it.”’

‘‘What do you mean?”’

‘“‘T mean just this—you think that if ye got a receipt
from me that you would be all right?’’

“*T think you would find it mighty hard to collect a fee
when 1 ms a signed paper saying that you had collected

“Very well, then. I’ll write fhe receipt with the greatest

comfort to ye.”’

As he said this Sandy rose slowly, yawned a little, then
pulled his chair over to the table, seized pen and paper,
and began scratching away for dear life.

“‘T suppose ye want me to make this receipt something
pretty strong, don’t ye?”’

‘‘T want you to make it strong—a regular thing, same
as you would give me if I had just put the money into
your hands. ’’

Sandy scratched his head for a moment as if there was
some point upon which he was in doubt.

‘‘Wait a bit!’ he said, facing about, his face as sober as
if he was on the judge’s stand. .

‘‘Time is rather short,’’? growled Carlston.

The latter made a queer picture with his bowed legs and
his dog-like face, standing there back to the wall with a
weapon in each hand.

At first Tracy and Parsons had felt a little uneasv in
the consciousness that they might at any time become the
target for testing the cripple’s marksmanship.

They felt that they had a desperate man to deal with,
and a desperate man may do anything. 7”

““Ye must remember that Iam giving ye this receipt be-
fore witnesses. Soto make the business binding, let me
advise ye to pay me something on the account—if it isn’t
more than twenty-five dollars. ”’

““T won’t pay youacent!””

“Then ye want me to give ye areceipt in full for me
fee, and ye refuse to pay a cint on it?”

‘‘That’s the point that Iam after. I reckon I hold the
trumps in this game, so you might as well ante!”’

‘‘Very well, then. Ye acknowledge the debt and refuse
to pay it. Ye don’t even dispute the amount of it, nor say
that ye have paid a part of it. I take it that you are one:
of the sort that wouldn’t oe when you got started?’

‘“‘T’ll never shade down a hair.’

“Very well, then. I have written a receipt, and now Ill
sign it in a bold, round hand. Sandy McCall, as you called.

 
16

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No 361,

 

 

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,me, fairand square and straight.
here, gintlemen?’’

Have ye got a blotter

Tracy pulled a blotter from underneath the heap of |

papers. Sandy slapped it upon the document which he
had written, rubbed his hand over it, and then got up.

‘Come and take your receipt!’’ he exclaimed.

“‘No, you'll fetch it to me.”’

~“—Pll fetch it just half way to ye and not an inch more
than that. If you are in doubt about my coming half way,
then Ill let these gintlemen measure the distance, and I’ll
be bessed if I go a hair’s breadth over the half way. Now
you have got it straight, ye old earwig. So begin your
crawling, or I’ll be blest if you’ll ever get your receipt if
you empty both of those cylinders into me head.’’

Sandy’s face was red with passion, and it was evident
that he meant what he said. .

Barnaby Carlstcn hobbled toward the middle of the
room, and even went a little beyond the centre.

Sandy met him there, handed him the paper, which
Carlston took with one hand, while he still .clutched a re-
volver with the other until he had examined the document
carefully. 5

Then he coolly folded it and thrust it into one pocket
and turned toward the door, still guarding himself with a
revolver.

At the threshold he looked back to say:

“‘Now that fee is paid, and it will be a long day before I
pay another.”’

Sandy laughed in the man’s face—one of his big, roar-
ing laughs that might have been heard a mile in that
clear Colorado air.

‘“Wobble along, ye old salamander, and hug up that

 

 

piece of paper I give ye all ye please. I would advise ye to!

show it to your friends here in Gunnison just to brace up |

In the meantime these gintlemen here know |

your credit.
that ye haven’t paid me a cint because ye have just said
so in their presence, and therefore that receipt isn’t worth |
the paper that it is written on. ‘The bit of advice that I |
was going to give ye was, not to put too much faith ina,
piece of paper with a few words on it and a man’s name.
at the end. A bill isn’t paid until it’s paid, and it doesn’t |
make any difference if you have got a stack of receipts a/|
mile and a half high. There’s only one good use that ye |
can put that scrap of paper to that I can think of, and that |
is to use it with a bit of mucilage to plaster one of your)
shins with.’”’

In another moment Barnaby Carlston would have been
gone, for it was not his intention to pause to hear all
Sandy had to say.

Indeed, he was*more anxious to get outof the room
now that he had the coveted receipt and make sure of his
own safety.

But he caught the last half of Sandy’s remark, and it)
brought to hima sudden realization that after all, what!
he had thought to be such a brilliant move really counted
for nothing.

A harsh cry of the most baleful malignance burst from
the cripple’s lips.

The hand that held the weapon stiffened in its grasp—
atthe same time ejaculations of warning burst from the

’ lips of Parsons and Tracy.

A sharp, sudden report sounded in the room, and the

young real estate boomers, with their eyes fixed upon
‘Sandy, expected to see him fall.
Instead a yell of pain broke from the lips of Barnaby

Carlston, and the weapon which he had held fell to the —

‘floor, while his hand, minus one finger, fell at his side.

“TI thought I had better wing the old hawk just before
he pinched the gun than after it,’’ were the words that
sounded in the room.

Gentleman Joe, with a smoking pistol in hand, stepped.
forth from his concealment and quietly seated himself in
the chair which old Carlston had been occupying,

CHAPTER IX.
THE THREE-LEGGED MARCH.

The next scene in this strange drama is likewise at Gun-_
nison, though on the outskirts of the new town. _

It was late in the afternoon when Joseph Gentry and
Sandy made their way once more toward the office of
Tracy & Parsons.

Joseph Gentry had been out of the town for twenty-_
four hours, and had. returned only two hours: before we
now present him.

He had come into Gunnison dust-covered and hungry
from the long ride along the mountain trail. ~

‘So ye had queer luck, did ye?’’ Sandy asked him, as
they approached the building in which the lawyer’s own
office was located. :

‘“Yes, I had queer luck.’’ Hy

“Still ye say that ye followed the trail of Poker Paul —
and that ye found his hiding-place?’’ ae
' ‘"That is true. And a mighty crooked trail it was. There
isn’t much snow on it now except in places, but what there
was helped me some, for after I had gone far enough away
from Gunnison and onto a track which I knew would not
be likely to be followed by many at this season of the
year, I knew when I found tracks at all, that they were
the ones I wanted to follow.’’

““Then why in the divil haven’t ye brought back the
girl? And why haven’t ye got the convict hir&self? For I
know that if you met the spalpine it would be a death-
drop for one of ye.”’

‘‘T didn’t meet him. AsI said, I found the place which
he has evidently been tsing as a secret rendezvous. Itis
a place, indeed, of which he has probably made use for
several years, and to which he most naturally returned
after his escape from prison. He wasn’t there, though
there-were signs of his having been there recently.

‘“Whether the girl was with him at that place is hard to
say, though there is no reason to doubtit. But what puz-
zles me is why he should leave it at all unless he was
driven out by enemies.’’

‘‘Then you found signs of somebody else being there?’’

““T’ll tell you what I found. Near the cave which Poker
Paul evidently made his headquarters, there was another
small cavern, near the entrance of which there had been a
fight. There were bones of a man scattered about on the
ground, recently picked clean of their meat by the coyotes,
The business was done not more than twenty-four hours’
ago—or, rather, about that length of time before I dis-
covered them.”’ ;

‘‘How did ye know that there had been a fight?”’

‘*Because there was a bullet in the skull of the one that
was killed. Ihave it in my pocket. In another spot not
far away from there I found a covered wagon and two ©
horses, the horses probably having been frozen to death in

 
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the storm we had the same night that Poker Paul fied
with the girl.’’ —~ ‘

“Then it looks as if there had been some one else there
the same night that Poker Paul fled with his captive?”’

‘“That’s the way it looks. And probably Paul fell in
with some strangers and there was a set-to between them.
But why should Paul leave the place where he had such a
good hiding-place unless he was driven away?’’

“That’s a conundrum, Gintleman Joe, and I had rather
ye would answer it yourself.’’

‘‘There has one idea occurred to me that I don’t exactly
like to believe, even if it is probable. That was, that in
the encounter it was Poker Paul himself that got the
bullet in his brains.’’

‘And so the girl would be left, would she, where he had
hidden her?”’

‘Yes, unless she was taken care of by the ones with
whom he had the fight. If he left her in his own cavern I
should have found her there. But there was no sign of
her.’ ‘

‘‘Was there anything about the remains of the man that
ye found to identify him?”

“‘His clothes were torn in shreds, and the winds had
scattered them. But I examined the skull pretty closely,
and ITremember that there was a scar on Poker Paul’s
forehead where he had been hit pretty hard by a bullet at
some time in his life. Andon the skull right where that

mark would have been, there was a slight depression as if
it might have been made by the glance of a bullet.”’
‘“Then I believe by me life that Poker Paul had his wits
shot out of him on the same night that he made the
boldest break of his career.”’
“I suppose stranger things than that have happened.

Yet it isn’t often that a man of the quality of Poker Paul
goes under so easy. You may think that they are dead a
dozen times over, and yet when there is a new game, they
always make their ante, and it’s likely enough that you’ll
find that they hold a flush. So Iam not going to feel sure
that Poker Paul has passed in his checks until I have
stronger evidence of it than I have yet. Now about old
Carlston. After showing his hand as he did the other day
in such a way as came within an ace of putting you intoa
hole, why don’t you want me to straighten him out as he
Geserves?’’

‘I have several good reasons for not wanting ye to dis-
pose of that gintleman. One of the biggest reasons is the
fact that he owes me the modest sum of five hundre) dol-
lars, and as I have no claim on his collateral, I think that
:6 would-be easier to get it out of him if he’s living than if
he’s dead. Besides, if ye were to crowd him too hard it
_ would drive him out of Gunnison, and I would have to go
, chasing after him. Itisn’t that I care so much for the

»’ money, but I don’t like to be beat out of me fee. It’s some-

thing that I’ve never allowcd to happen more than twice
in me life, and one of those fees was only one dollar, and
the other two-dollars and a half. Everything else I always
managed to collect in some way until I got hold of this
chap. But owing to the innocence of me heart, I’ll be blest
if he didn’t get the best of me, and now I am going to get
the money out of him even if I never earn another fee in
me life.”

Sandy spoke so glibly that Gentleman Joe looked keenly
into his face, suspecting that he was not telling the whole
~ trath., :

_ “Ts it all on account of the money that you are so
_ anxious to have him free?’’

 

 

“I didn’t say whether it was or not.’

‘“‘All I wanted to know was, if there was anything in
particular concerning this man which might have a bear-
ing on the girl that has been abducted, then I consider
that I have a right to know it. It is in the interest of the
girl for me to know. You know we have always dealt
pretty squarely together, Sandy, and this is a poor time
for us to go on a different tack.’’ |

“I will be frank with ye to this extent, Gentleman Joe,
There is another reason for my wishing to have the old
man free for a short time here in Gunnison. It is better
for him to have his swing for a week or so, and then I
believe that I’ll be able to catch him where his wool i
short.’ Hy

“But you haven’t told me whether this matter had any-
thing to do with the girl or not?”’

‘‘It is something that I don’t know myself. It may or it
may not. Itis one of the times when I think as much is
to be gained for you and for me if we don’t say anything ©
about it. But what is this going on in the street of Gun-
nison?”’

At the same moment that this question was propounded
by Sandy, Gentleman Joe noticed a crowd of men at some
distance down the street advancing toward them.

At the same time they saw the band of citizens th ey
heard various shouts, some of which sounded like derisive
laughter.

“I should think that these gentlemen were out for a
lark of some kind.”’’

“If it isn’t that, then it’s something else, ’’ was Gentle.
man Joe’s reply.

There was indeed something that was grim in the affair
that seemed to furnish so much sport for the men of Gun.
nison.

As they approached nearer it could be seen that there
were fully thirty men in line.

All the noise was made by half the number. A dozen
were walking in double-file, pistols in hand, and midway
between the lines were two men walking side by side—or,
rather, they hobbled along with a queer gait that at that
distance it was difficult to understand.

Gentleman Joe was the first to solve the puzzle. He
understood the situation long before the men wore near
enough for them to recognize their faces. The two men
who were walking so queerly were taking a ‘‘three-legged
march.’’

In other words, their arms were bound tight to their
sides, while the right leg of one and the left leg of the
other were likewise bound together with a rope so that the
two limbs thus fettered acted as one, causing them to ap-
pear like some sort of a strange animal with two bodies
and only three legs.

That these culprits were thus expiating some sort of a
crime or offense in thus being forced to make themselves
ridiculous before a crowd, was evident enough.

‘‘They have got a couple of characters that they want to
run out of town, and they are doing it after a fashion that
won’t leave them in a condition of mind to return again in
a hurry,’’ was Gentry’s comment.

Gentleman Joe and Sandy stepped to one side of the
street to observe the strange crowd as it passed.

A moment later they had approached near enough for
the faces and figures of the two men thus strangely fet-

tered to be simultaneously recognized by Sandy and his

companion.

 
18 THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. ee

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eee ae LT a

‘It is Parsons and Tracy! !? broke at me same time from are giving you. If sue do, ben: I may serve you worse —
the lips of both. than they were doing.”’ .

‘What in the world can it mean, can ye tell me?” | ‘It’s alla trumped-up charge against us, Mr. Gon

“Tt means that there is some sort of a crookedness and I take it that old Carlston is at the bottom of it.”’
trumped up against them—it can’t mean anything else.| ‘‘We’ll see the end of the business before it sees an end
And it means that it has got to stop right here.”’ to us. Back, gentlemen! There’s no call for you to tumble

The yelling throng were now close upon our friends | onto a man in a heap when he is where you can find him
with the three-legged walkers in advance, and the grim|so easy. All I want is fair play for these young men, and.
guards pacing at their sides. _ lif they can’t have it, then I don’t want it for myself. f

‘““Wait a minute, gentlemen! What is the meaning of| demanded to know why you were running them out of
. this?”’ town in this fashion. If you hada good reason, why in

The clear, bell-like tones of Joseph Gentry uttered these | the name of the furies didn’t you say so?” |
commands. A brief interval of silence followed this speech—or, ~

The foremost of the guards held up his hand as a signal | rather, it would have been silence but for the subdued
to stop. murmur of voices in the crowd.

It was obeyed instantly and the jeers and laughter of ‘““You’re too mighty flush with your demands,’”’ growled
the crowd abruptly ceased. a burly miner, who had made himself more prominent

‘‘We are just running a pair of snides out of town, that than the others in the derisive shouts and laughter which
ig all. When they get used to that style of walking, they | had followed the strange march of the prisoners. :
will make better time and so shorten their misery. The| ‘‘And you’re too flush with your noise, my man,”
next town they strike they will have had this practice to| ‘‘I reckon that you are one of the sort that bite off more
help them out, so it won’t take them so long to get beyond | than you can chew,” was the retort.
the limits of the camp.’’ It was evident that the big miner was in a quarrelsome

‘This remark was uttered with grim humor by the guard mood and would have been glad of an excuse to pitch into -
who seemed to be in command. this gentleman sport from Denver, who had assumed the _

“But these young men are friends of mine, and I want right to inquire into the action of the crowd.
to know why you are doing this?”’ “TfLlam that sort it needn’t worry your noddle any, so

“The limits of the town are only half a mile farther on, | long as you don’t have to carry the load.”
and when we have hustled them over the line, Ireckon} ‘‘Ye mean it’s none of my business?”
we will feel more like telling you.’ ‘‘T mean that it isn’t any. worse fora man to take a big

‘““You mean by that that you are going to carry out your mouthful than it is for one to wade in deeper than his
programme whether they deserve it or not?”’ : poots will reach. That’s all, my lank-shanks. So don’t

“They deserve it fast enough—we gave them all the fret your horses unless you are responsible for this pair of
trial they asked for, and all the kicking they need to do is culprits. If there is any man in this crowd that pretends |
with that big middle leg of their’n.’ to be in the lead, then I am willing to talk with him. I

The guard started to give the signal to move on again as am willing to deal with any man that has authority. If
he spoke these words. But before he could do so, Gentle- nobody has authority, then I reckon I have as good a
‘man Joe was between the lines of guards, anda knife Tight to say these men are free as you have to say ey
flashed in the air. laren’t.”’ -

A wild yell burst from the lips of the crowd as they saw | “Ye may have as much authority as anybody, but-
the blade in the hand of the Gilt-Edged Sport cleave be- | there’s only one o ye, and where’s your crowd to back
tween the pinioned limbs of the prisoners, cutting them | you up?”
in twain at a stroke. | ‘‘Right here, ye old gingerpop, and all smiling and

An instantaneous rush was made toward our hero and happy. If ye don’t believe ny I’m a crowd, then come
the prisoners whom he had so boldly set free. lover and rub against me bones.’

The double-file of the guards seemed to close like shears! It was Sandy’s stentorian tones that uttered this re-
with Gentleman Joe between them. mark. And as he spoke, his stout figure by some means
which seemed almost magical, thrust itself through the
crowd and paused at the side of Gentleman Joe.

- There was not a pair of eyes in the crowd that did not
CHAPTER X. recognize the face and voice of the Irish lawyer.
And strangely enough, there seemed to be half a dozen
RIVALS IN LOVE AND WAR. men in the crowd with whom the tide of feeling seemed to
; be changed upon Sandy’ s advent upon the scene.
‘““You’re close enough, gentlemen!” One of those who seemed to be most impressed by the
The voice of- Gentleman Joe rang out loud and clear and appearance of the lrish lawyer, was the one who had ap-
there was not even a tremor of excitement in it. | peared to be the leader of the guards and who had first
It was simply a sharp, authoritative command such as responded to Gentleman Joe *s salutation.
crowds are prone to obey, even thought it may be uttered’ This man was a powerful fellow with grizzled hair and
by a stranger who in reality has no authority over them. | beard, and cool as the day was, he wore nothing over his
“There was an involuntary recoil on the part of the men heavy red shirt and trousers which made up his working: “i
who were thus impetuously closing in upon Gentleman attire. o
Joe and the prisoners he had freed. | ‘Well, I'll be durned!’’ exclaimed this individual,

“Don’t get yourself into trouble on our account!’ Tom staring at Sandy and then glancing back at Gentleman
Tracy exclaimed, in a low voice. Joe as if he were trying to make out how it was that these —

‘‘Never fear, youngster, unless yon deserve what they tro, differing so widely, should appear as partners.

 

 

 
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_ “Well, ye may be, Joe, for this isn’t the sort of a mess

_ Ishould expect to find you mixed up with,’’ was Sandy’s
_ retort.

“IT knew ye had come to Gunnison, > said the burly

miner called Joe. ‘‘But I had no idea ye would happen on

. us here and want to take a hand in this sort of a shindig.”’

Gentleman Joe noticed the change that came over the
countenances of several men of the crowd at the appear-
ance of Sandy.

He knew all this meant something, and he decided to
let matters drift for a moment—or, rather, to leave Sandy
to put through whatever scheme he might have in mind.

‘There could be no doubt that the Irish lawyer had the
best of reasons for believing that his face would have
some influence in the case, else he would not have thrown
himself into the affair so quickly.

While Sandy was brave enough to pitch into any kind
of a fight if necessary, yet it was not his way to expose
himself needlessly.

There was no danger of his ever throwing his life away:
in a hopeless struggle.

Whatever glory he was likely to win would be of the
- pest sort, as it would be fruitful in results as well as in

action.

“I reckon, Sandy,”’ said the big miner, ‘‘that you had
petter keep out of this game. I took you to be a pretty
square sort of a chap, and I don’t believe you want to be
backing up anybody like these two chaps that we are
walking out of Gunnison.’’

‘‘And: why, will ye tell me?”’

‘‘ Because they are a crooked pair.”’

‘‘ And how is it that they are crooked?”’

‘“Why, all these durned real estate boomers that strike
a new town in the West are sharks. This pair had an in-
nocent look, and so there wa’n’t nothing said when they
opened their shop and until yesterday they seemed to be
doing a square business. But then they tried to make a
deal that won’t go down in Gunnison while it is ruled by
the present government. ”’

“That sounds very well, Joe—it is as good as anything
I ever heard you say at Crested Butte.”

The face of Joe, the big miner, changed perceptibly
under this remark, and Gentleman Joe watching him

keenly, divined that he would rather it would not be
known that he came from Crested Butte at all.

Here was a little glimpse of Sandy’s own business of
which he had his hands full here in this wild region.

There could be no doubt that Sandy was drifting into a
similar sort of practice here in the mountains to that
which it had been for his interest to so suddenly abandon
in the city of Chicago a year or two ago.

Gentleman Joe did not quite like this since he feared
that Sandy would again get himself into trouble through
his liking for large fees, and his willingness to defend a
criminal in almost any kind of a case if there were only
enough money in it for him.

Whether the relations between Joe, the miner, and
Sandy, at Crested Butte had been those of client and
attorney was a question that Gentleman Joe would have

- liked very much to have asked. — ;
. As for Sandy himself, after thus projecting himself into
‘the midst of the group in a manner which had seemed so

bold and defiant, he seemed to wish to avoid meeting the

: eyes of Gentleman Joe at all.
toTperean’t no use in talking about old times, I reckon,
~ said Joe. 4

99

“ness.

 

“Not a bit of use in it, me man, unless you make if
necessary for me. Isee there are four other gintlemen
| with ye whom Iam likewise pleased to recognize, but
very sorry to find them engaged in any piece of crooked-
: I was in hopes that the bit of advice that I gave
‘them, and for which I’ll say they paid me a very fair
price, would have a more lasting effect. Now, Joe, let me
urge ye to counsel your friends to drop this bit of foolish-
ness entirely.’’
‘‘And let them galoots go on playing their snide games
here at Gunnison?”’
‘Ye haven’t told me yet what sort of a game ye thought
they were playing?”’
“They were pretending to help a man out of trouble in
a, real estate deal, and all the while they were getting the
property into their own hands, and him a poor old cripple
29 ‘

od

j

‘‘Ve mean old Carlston, do ye?”’

‘“‘Ves, old Carlston. And here’s his heart about broken
with the loss of his daughter——”’

‘May the divil fly away with the old spalpeen! When
old Carlston’s heart is broken, then Pike’s Peak won’t be
sate from going to smash!’ roared Sandy.

A growl of comment came from the crowd following
this remark.

While the majority of the men present were in favor of
carrying out the threat against the two young men, that
majority were really under the leadership of Joe and two

 

or three others who hady, been the prevailing spirits in the
affair. 4

And by coincidence tflese leaders were the very men
who were known to Sandy, and by some means he seemed
to have control of them,

“Tf ye will have just a few words with me, Joe, I think
ye will. see your way clear to postpone this picnic a bit.
What do ye say?”’

Joe hesitated a moment and then stepped aside with
Sandy.

A few hurried words were exchanged between them,
land when they were finished, the big miner came back
and said: : :

““T reckon we'll drop the game right where it stands. If
the young chaps go easy in the future, we'll let them post-
pone their three-legged march till a later day.”’

There was a murmur of dissent on the part of the men.

But the majority were in favor of following the lead of
those who had led from the first.

With surprising suddenness, the crowd disappeared,
and Sandy and Gentleman Joe found themselves alone
with the two young men who but a few moments before
were being marched out of the town of Gunnison under
such humiliating conditions.

Hardly a word was exchanged between them as they
made their way back to their office, accompanied by Sandy
and the Gilt-Edged Sport. _

Once in the office, Tom Tracy closed the door, locked it,
placed a chair against it, shoved a table against the chair,
and then seated himself on the table.

“Now if we are intruded upon during the next half-
hour, it will be over my dead body,’’ were the words he
uttered.

‘And mine, too,’? added Jerry Parsons, as he seated
himself by the side of his partner.

“So this is just a card played by old Carlston?”’ Gentle-
; man Joe inquired. ;

“It’s a card ‘played by old Carlston.”’

 

 

 

 

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‘And it looks as if -he could call quite a crowd together
to fight his battles for him when it comes to a pinch.”’

“*He can wheedle any kind of a crowd with his whining
voice and crooked legs. Do you know, Mr. Gentry, that I
have about made up my mind that old Carlston intended
to have his girl abducted that night?’’

“That idea is nothing new to me.”’

“Then you had thought of it?’’

**] had thought of it. More than that, I felt sure that he
connived at the whole affair from the beginning.”’

‘Then what does it mean?’’

‘‘It means that the girl isn’t Carlston’s aauatiter in the
first place, and that he was merely using her in some sort
of an infernal scheme. And yet let me tell you that Poker
Paul doesn’t play the part of a tool. If he followed the
rule of old Carlston, it would be a case of the tail wagging
the dog.’’

The two young men looked at each other, and both
chewed the ends of their mustaches.

At last they both leaped from. the table at the same
time, and Parsons said:

‘‘Tracy is in love with that girl up to his ears, and he
will stay in the game as long as I do!”’

Almost at the same instant Tom Tracy remarked:

‘‘Jerry Parsons is in love with the girl up to his ears,
and he will stay in the race to the finish.”’

And so these young partners and friends were rivals in
a strang9 sort of a race and rivals in love at the same time.

‘‘And the poor youngsters think they are great guns in
such a game as this,’’ was the thought that flashed
through Gentleman Joe’s mind. ‘‘But I wonder how they
would come out if they were to try to win it alone. I
reckon Rrra and I'll take a hand 1 in it just to keep things
moving.’

CHAPTER XI.
A STRIKE FOR LIBERTY.

The Gunnison River, rising in the Sawatch range, pur-
‘gues its rugged, devious course across several little
plateaus, but gouges outa channel for itself throughout
the greater part of its length through the hills.

Many miles of its course are along gloomy canons, where

from its surface the sky looks like a narrow ribbon far
above.

In one of these canons, not very far from the new town
of Gunnison, a boat with two occupants was moving along
with the current which there flowed swift and strong.

There was no o danger at this point for the water was not
high.

A more. erranen or gloomy journey than’ one taken
through that tunnel-like passage could hardly be imagined.

The.occupants of the boat were Poker Paul and Erminie
Carlston.

The girl looked pale and anxious.

For half. an hour she had been sitting silent and
motionless, watching the black walls of the canon through
which they were passing so smoothly.

She was. aroused .from the half-dreamy condition into
which she had fallen by the voice of her companion.

‘‘We'll put.ashore pretty soon, miss,’’ the convict des-
perado said.

‘‘T think I had rather keep on,’’ was the answer.

 

30, ye had rather ech going through a dismal channel
like this to the end of time, had ye?”

“Unless 1 could be free. I suppose I might as : well suffer
for the sins of my life in this way as in any other.
you told me that you wouldn’t keep me like this Seay
days.’’

“I hoped I wouldn’¢ have to when I told ye that.”

‘‘Well, what hinders you from setting me free?’’

‘“‘One thing that hinders me is that if I should put you
ashore at the first landing and tell you to go where you
pleased, and go off and leave you, you’d be eaten up by
the beasts or starved to death before sunset.’? -

‘*Then take me to some place where I will be safe.”’

‘And so run my own neck into a noose? J reckon not,
miss. Idon’t suppose ye care much about my neck, and
sometimes I don’t care very much myself. Still, it’s the
only one I’ve got, and while I keep around upon the earth
I don’t want it broken. No, miss, I can’t let ye go just
yet, though I hope it won’t be many days more. Ye see
they have been chasing me pretty close, and then the
thing that I expected to have happen hasn’t happened.’?

‘“What did you expect?’

‘‘T reckon I can’t tell ye just/yet. I hadn’t ought to tell
you at all, because after you are free it will make things
all the worse for ye and won’t do you any good now. 7

‘I have asked you why you abducted me in this way.
You have so far treated me kindly, I’ll say that. It must
be that you expect to receive. some money for this piece of
work?”’

“A man is apt to undertake most things with the idea
of getting either love or money out of it. I aren’t vain
enough to expect ye to fall in love with me, so it looks as
if I expected some boodle.’’

‘*Do you expect my father to pay a large reward for
my return?’’

‘‘Not exactly that, my girl, Men of his kidney aren’t
apt to pay out big sums of money for what they don’t
want.”’

‘‘What do you mean?”

‘Just what I say.”’

‘‘You imply that my father doesn’t wish to have me re-
stored to him?’’

‘‘That’s about the size of it, miss. I suppose he would
not thank me for telling ye of it, but while he does a good
deal of whining and squirming, he an’t a hair better than
Iam. His old crooked legs don’t make his heart any
cleaner, and ye needn’t think it. He is as black in the in-
side as the walls ye see there, and all the blacker in my
mind because he pretends that he is white.”’

Poker Paul uttered these words in a voice that was
almost fierce. Reckless and unscrupulous though he was,
it was evident that he despised a hypocritical villain above
all other things.

‘You need not say such things concerning my father,
for I shall not credit them,’’ the girl exclaimed.

‘“Ye may credit them or not, just.as suits ye. I don’t
care a picayune whether you believe him or believe me,
for time uae tell. But here we are making ee for
terra firma.’

Poker Paul with his oars had merely directed the course
of the craft, it not being necessary to row with the cur- ©
rent.

Now, however, the canon coat suddenly to widen
and the walls were lower, and in another instant the boat
was pulled up on a gravelly sort of beach, and the convict
desnerado sprang ashore. i

 

But:
.

* ing its complete isolation from the outside world.

| quite a yarn.
position in the city of San Francisco, but he got into a

_ tight pinch, took some money that didn’t belong to him,
got found out, and skipped. He wandered up here in these

chance in four million of anybody’s ever finding you Ty.

respect, and she had hardly any real reason to apprehend

transported to this spot so many articles of furniture and

you know how to read. Those books aren’t much account

‘in them seems to be pretty dry stuff, and I don’t care a

has passed in his checks.

No. 361.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

“Come, my girl, ”” he a “Weare all right now, I
reckon, and if nothing happens, you’ll find yourself in
better quarters than I have had for you yet. This isa
mighty out-of-the-way quarter, and there aren’t one

should go off and leave you and give no clew as to where
I had hidden you.’’

“Then if you were to go off and an accident should hap-
pen to you, I should be buried alive?’’

“I¢ would amount to that if I didn’t take any measures

to guard against it. ButIaren’t cruel—not to anybody
that is innocent like you. There are one or two galoots in
the world that if I had ’em here, I might be willing to
leave ’em and forget to come back and show them the way
out. But when I leave ye, I’]1 leave a clew somewhere
. that matt lead to your discovery before ye have time to
starve.’ }
Poker Paul pulled the boat high and dry on the gravelly
bank, and ten minutes later he conducted his companion |
to quite a comfortable cabin which stood by itself shut in
on almost every side by towering rocks.

And at no great distance several buttes rose to a great
height. And beyond this could be seen the cloud-like out-
lines of the more distant mountains.

‘The spot was one of wild and picturesque beauty, yet
lonely and desolate beyond description.

It, indeed, seemed to Erminie Carlston that she would be
buried alive here if her captor should leave her alone.
And yet she felt a strange anxiety for him to go.

very kindness was to her a source of alarm.

Yet so far he had treated her with the most chivalrous

His

that his manner would undergo any change.
The interior of this lonely cabin was furnished with a
regard for comfort which was really surprising cofisider-

It was a wonder, indeed, that the owner of it could have

comforts of life. \

Upon the walls were hung several pictures, and at one
side there was a small case filled with books.

‘“You can amuse yourself here, I reckon, as I suppose
tome. I could spell them out if I tried it, but the reading
durn for them. But it will fill up your time, and the man
that left thom here couldn’t get along without them.”

“Then this cabin isn’t yours?’’

‘Tt is mine as much as anvbody’s. The one that built it
I don’t know the whole of his
story, but I got hold of enough of it to know that it was
He had been in some sort of a high-toned

 

wilds and lived a sort of a hermit life, and spent his time;
reading and thinking over his foolishness, now and then |

hunting a bit for gold.” we .

“Did he find gold?”’
Yes, he found one or two pockets that made him rich.
Then he went back to San Francisco, paid up what he had

caught for that, and when he was pulled in, he didn’t stay
caught. ’’ :

A faint smile flickered upon the i of the convict des-
perado as he finished his strange tale.

‘‘And do you know the one that shot the man who occu-
pied this cabin as a hermit?”’

“Tf I knew, I'd bea mean galoot to. tell, miss, so don’t
yeaskme. Now I’ll fix things for ye as comfortable as I
can and leave ye enough to eat and weapons to defend
yourself with, and everything straight and comfortable.
I may b3 gone two days, and I may be back a little sooner
than that. You had better make the best of it and count
on better things when I return.”’

Erminie Carlston saw ber captor go about making prepa-
rations for departure, and while she was watching him 4
new, wild thought came into her brain.

She saw him load two revolvers and place them on the
shelf for her use.

She took them up and exgmined them closely, fingering
them with a strange sort of fascination.

*‘T could kill him if I chose,’’ was her mad thought.

Then she remembered that if she did this she would be,
as he had declared, as good as buried alive in this lonely
place.

Then another suggestion came to her, and she hada
feeling that if she were cool and cautious and madea
quick stroke, the scheme would succeed. :

In half an hour her captor’s preparations were finished.

‘‘Now I'll go, miss, and you may expect me back when I
said. Maybe I can’ set you free then, and maybe I can’t.
I won’t promise ye, for when I makea pledge I like to
keep it. There is no danger of anybody’s coming here to
trouble ye, and ye have got enough to eat and drink, and
ye’ll have to pass away the time as best ye can. It’s all I
can do and all I can say, so good-by to ye.”’

She uttered no response but tried to look indifferent as
she saw him give her a lingering glance and then close the
door and move away with swift strides toward the place
where he had left the boat.

She waited for him to get out of sight.

Then she seized both of the revolvers, and flinging open
the door, started in pursuit as fast as she could go.

She reached the bank of the stream, saw the man pull
the boat down to the water’s edge, and supposing that he
was about to spring into it, she approached closely, hold-
ing one of the revolvers in her hand ready for use.

She was nerved by the necessity of the situation, and
there was no sign of faltering in her manner.

But as he got the boat down to the water, instead of
springing into it as she had expected, she saw him give it
a swift push out into the stream. Away the empty boat
sped along the smooth current—away over the black sur-
face of the stream, and out: of sight.

Then Poker Paul, with a slight shrug of his ‘shoulders,
turned about and sprang up the steep bank as if it were
his purpose to return to the cabin.

_Erminie Carlston shrang back and tried to conceal her-
self, knowing that he must pass within reach of her out-
stretched hand. ae

When he was closest she would fire.

Such was her resolution, for in that moment she felt

olen, and then I heard of him, as. living in great style. | that it would be better to die alone than to live with the

But one day a man caine into the parlor of his mansion,
and they had some words across the table, and the man
ed out a gunand shot him, Then the man skipped,

id. he, has not Deen caught since—at least he wasn Lf

hope of escape later.

On came the desperado convict—up went the small hand
with its weapon, and a second later a ringing report rent
the air—a reper ee sent its echoes far One, in the |

 
a oO TAR LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

No. 361.

 

lonely canon, pono that were flung back a Moment after
by the towering butte which rose likea sentinel on the
farther bounds of the open space!

CHAPTER XII...

CARLSTON’S COUPE.

A few hours after the interview in the office of Parsons
& Tracy which was recorded at the close of our tenth
chapter, Gentleman Joe entered the ‘‘opera house’’ of old
Carlston.

He made his way directly to a roof at one end of the
building which was called the office.

The door was not locked, and he went in without knock-
ing.

There was nobody in the room, which was a stuffy little
place heated by a stove.

The dampers of the latter were all open, and. the sides of
the stove were red-hot, making the air of the place almost
suffocating.

It was evident that the recent occupant had gone out
intending to return, but for some reason he had been de-
tained.

Gentleman Joe shut up the stove, flung open the one
window, and seated himself in a chair to wait.

His patience was not very severely taxed, for he had
scarcely settled himself near the small table which, with
one other chair, made up the entire furnishings of the
room, before the door opened and old Carlston himself
hobbled in.

The old man did not at first notice the presence of our
hero, and as he entered he was beginning to mutter some-
thing to himself.

‘‘Ha! you here?’’ he gasped.

“Tt looks like it, doesn’t it?’ was Gentleman Joe’s
retort.

Gentleman Joe did not take the trouble to rise from his
chair, nor did he appear in the least disturbed.

Tf he had any intention of making matters uncomfort-
able for old Cariston, there was no indication of the fact
in his face or voice. |

Yet it seemed to the old man that Joseph Gentry was
too calm in his voice and manner—it was a calmness such
as portends trouble. =

‘‘Really this is a surprise. You see, I was looking for
somebody else, though I didn’t expect them to come just
yet. I thought they would be here in the course he twenty
minutes, and I was coming in to wait for them.’

Old Carlston’s voice had assumed its half-whining and
‘\ gervile tone again, and he sank into the chair on the op-
posite side of the table, sitting upon the edge of it as was
his habit, probably on account of the queer crook in his
legs.

‘““Who was it that you expected, Carlston?’? —

Gentleman Joe put this question bluntly, and there was
a general air about him meaning business.

The old man’s hand from which our hero had shot one |:

finger was bandaged.
Whether he actually knew that the one who made that

unexpected shot was before him at that moment was un-:

certain.
If he did 80, ‘en oe gave no sign of the fact.

 

““T. was expecting a friend—or, rather, somebody was”
coming to see me ‘on business—or, rather——”’

‘‘T had rather you took more time to make up the lio

you are going to string out and not have to change your |
tune so often while you are playing it,’’ came back, in the
cold voice of the Gilt-Edged Sport.

‘‘Well, then, to put it square, my it aren’t any of
your business whol is coming to see me.’ : f

Carlston straightened himself stiffly as he said this, and
it was evident that he had made up his mind to stand on
his dignity.

It might be that he was getting deauerate again as he .
had done when he so boldly defied aay in the office of
Parsons & Tracy.

‘Don’t you reckon that you are getting rather brash,
old man?’’ Gentleman Joe quietly asked. —

‘“‘T reckon it is just like this: I don’t seem to have any-
body-to protect my interests unless Ido it myself. Be-
cause I happen to be infirm, the bluffing sort like you and
that Irish lawyer think that they can crowd me for all 1
am worth. I used to let that sort crowd, and they pretty ©
nigh crowded the life out of me.
that even a worm will turn when trod on.”’

“I thought you looked rather sick down at the office of
Parsons & Tracy, something as if you had a worm turn.”

Old Carlston shrugged his shoulders and showed his |
teeta in a fierce sort of a grin.

‘‘You are very good for a joker, and I don’t mind that
sort. But when it comes to serious business, you must not
think that I am a slouch because my legs aren’t Just
straight. ”’

“That, my man, is exactly what I had made up my.
mind to. Neither amIthe sort to crowd a man if he
doesn’t happen to be as well able to defend himself as I
am. tt has always been my way to take the part of the

bottom dog in the fight, especially if he was kind of a ©

weak sort of a dog. But you know there are some beasts
that you have to kill at sight or crush under your feet—
snakes, for instance—and to that kind we can’t afford to —
show mercy, for they are more dangerous than they
would be if they were bigger or could run faster:’’

‘“‘T take it that you mean that for a sort of a compliment
for me,’’ grinned old Carlston.

‘‘Take it just as you choose. But I have just acked you
a question, and you haven’t answered it except to say that.
it was none of my business. Now you don’t want to make
a mistake about this, for it is my business who are coming
here to see you, and what ae any is that ay are com-
ing here to discuss with you.’

‘“‘How are you going to find out?”’

‘‘You are going to tell me. You must not think that you
can play a game, even in the wild town of Gunnison, and
not’get caught at it. Don’t I know that you had Erminie
Carlston abducted for purposes of your own, and that it

was not all a scheme on the part of the desperado that did,

it, either, though it may turn out that he has a scheme of

his own which may ante up as big as yours.’ “i
Barnaby Carlston fell back in his chair, and his yellow- ;

ish face grew slightly pale. fe

‘You mean that I hired that man to oa my girl?” i

‘‘T mean more than that.’’

‘‘Then say what you mean, and say it Lanai out.

Now
we are into the business, we might as well clean it up. 3
want to know what you think I have done, and what you
think Iam, and what vou are going to do about it, and
then I’ll know what I have got to fight.”’

 

But you know they say
No. 361.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

‘These words burst from the lips of the old man ina}

perfect flood.

It was evident that he was more excited than he had
been at any time before.

‘You want to know too much, don’t you see? If I told
you all you asked I would be making it easy for you and
_ hard for myself, and that isn’t what I’m after. There are

some things that I know about you that I am not going to
say anything about, and there are somes things that I
haven’t found out, and those things I’m going to ask you
to give me. You have gota chance to live or die, just as
you prefer. lI am not saying that you have done anything
that would call for a death penalty in a civilized com-
munity. But I’ll say that if all the men in Gunnison knew
what I know, your life wouldn’t be worth a hair-pin. They
would string you up to the nearest tree, and your crooked
legs wouldn’t save you, either—in fact, they would make
it all the harder for you, since there would not be so much
_ chance for touching the ground.”’

Gentleman Joe’s voice sounded full and clear, and it
filled the little room and seemed to jar upon the old man’s

nerves so as to set him to shaking as if with a palsy.

He partly rose to his feet and said, in a husky tone:

“T am just a bit faint, Mr. Gentry. It is mighty hot
here, and I’ll say that your talk has broken me up. I have
got to get a sup of something to brace me up.”’

The man opened the door, but a hand fell upon his
shoulder and drew him back.

And the hand staid there after the door was closed,
and the face of the Gilt-Edged Sport was close to that of
the cripple.

‘‘] have a flask right here and somietaink ¢ that-will, brace
you up, if that is what you need. Iam a little afraid that

- you want to call in some other company.”’

Such were the words of Gentleman Joe, and as he ut-
tered them he coolly uncorked a small flask and held it up
for the other to drink.

‘‘T feel better, thank you.”’

As he uttered these words he fell back into his chair
and at the same time glanced at the door, near which

‘Gentleman Joe was sitting.
Just then there was a faint sound in the street outside—
or, at least, the sounds seemed to come from there, and a

moment after a door: in the building somewhere opened
‘and closed with a heavy sound.

As this sound came to the ears of Barnaby Carlston
there was a strange gleam in his eyes, which it was well
for him that Gentleman Joe did not perceive.

The latter returned to his chair, and once more his gaze
confronted. the cripple.

‘“‘Now we can talk if you have got your nerves stitenod
u

cabs nerves are all right now. Maybe I had better an-
swer your questions and try to make some.sort of terms
with you. It really looks as if you had me in a corner, so
to speak, and I suppose it is as good policy for a man to
give in when he has to as to stand up and fight and get
beaten. What do you want me to do?’’

‘Tell the truth.”

These words were shot back into the face of the old
“man with a suddenness that caused him to recoil.

“About the abduction of my girl, I suppose you mean?” |

_‘That’s what I mean. If you know where she is taken,

I want you to tell that in short measure.”’
“But I don’t know—as I live] don’t know where she

 

“T haven’t admitted that yet. But I will say that I was
not very sorry that she was taken away from Gunnison at
this time, for things were going so that she was getting to
be more trouble than help.’’

‘So you had just as lief that she should go under as
not?”’

‘You mean that you thik that I would have had her
murdered?”’

“Ves, if she were in your way. You’re no better than
that, and no amount of Vga: and squirming would
ever make me think you were.’’ —

Carlston was growing paler again, and there were some
indications that he was going to have another fainting
spell.

Whether he was i nubeine it on,’’ to so express it, f
the sake of delaying the issue was uncertain. But Gentle.
man Joe began to suspect that the old man -was playing a
game even then.

With this thought in mind, Gentry returned to the door
and fumbled for a bolt.

At the same time he kept his eyes upon the cripple, and
as he did so he sa-w the right hand of the latter glide softly
under the table. ce

With lightning quickness, the Gilt-Edged Sport wheeled
and struck the table with his foot, Hinge it against the
wall with much force.

At the same instant the old man sprang up with sur-
prising agility, and, as Gentry had suspected, there was a
weapon in his hand.

But this sort of a game, while Barnaby Carlston was an
adept in it, was being played against a man who was not
easily beaten.

‘*Drop the gun, Barnaby, or out go your lights!”’

The words came low and smooth from the lips of Gentle-
man Joe. And the cripple felt the cold muzzle of a revol-
ver against his ear.

And yet while his hand fell nervously at his side, and
the pistol which he had held fell upon the floor, the face
of the cripple had a strangely exultant look upon it.

For he was gazing at the door, and the latter was swing.
ing softly open. The head and shoulders of a man, then
an arm, and then a hand, and in the hand a weapon—
these were the objects | he saw thrusting. themselves
through the door.

And Gentleman Joe saw them not.

CHAPTER. XIII.

IN THE OFFICE OF SANDY.

At about the same time that Gentleman Joe paid his
visit to old Carlston in the latter’s office, as detailed in the
preceding chapter, Sandy burst into the office of Parsons
e& Tracy with more signs of excitement on his rotund face
than he usually displayed.

Tracy was hard at work writing, while Parsons, with a
moody look upon his face, stood at the window, gazing out
upon the street.

‘‘Look here, gentlemen!’’ Sandy exclaimed.

**What nome! Tracy demanded, while Parsons wheeled
about with a sudden show of interest.

“‘T just came in from the street, and the very divil is to
pay here in Gunnison.”’

‘“‘What do you mean?’

‘‘T mean that they have formed a vigilance committ°a

 
THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

here, and that big miner who was at the head of the crowd ;

ee

that undertook to march ye two out of town asa con-
solidated pedestrian is captain of the crowd.

They have! |

No. 361.

Spoon

Sandy, and there could be no doubt that they realized the
gravity of the situation.
Ordinarily it would have seemed a very simple matter

been holding a secret conference in a room in this very | for two young men who had never done anything so very
building, and by means which it isn’t necessary for me to! reprehensible in their lives to make out aclean bill of

explain I overheard the biggest part of their schemes for

-action.”’
‘‘Ié was concerning us?’’

_ ‘To the extent of a noose apiece for ye and an extra big

one for mesilf. Why, they have got it fixed with plenty
of evidence, so they say, that we are leagued together in a
scheme to corner all the real estate in Gunnison, and to
swipe all the mining claims, and to raise Old Nick gener-
ally. That isn’t the whole of it. One of ye is an escaped
convict from the State of Illinois, and the other is hiding
from. the officers of another State with a charge of murder
hanging over him. As for myself, they didn’t state exactly
what it was that I am guilty of, but itis enough to make
sure of a hanging-bee for me, and I am likely to be riddled
with bullets in the bargain, as they seem to reckon that I
am a mighty hard fellow to kill.’’

The speech and tone of Sandy might have provoked a
laugh had his manner not been so decidedly in earnest.

Indeed, the young men thought at first that it was
merely one of Sandy’s jokes. Yet it was plain enough that
such was not the case.

‘‘Look here, Sandy!’’ exclaimed Tom Tracy.
straight goods that you are giving us?”’

‘As straight as a string—or it might be more appro-
priate if I said as straight as a rope.”’

‘That implies that there has been, somebody working
against us in secret, and ane the men of Gunnison
that we are a dangerous trio.’

‘‘That’s just the point. From wHae I have overheard, it
is clear that somebody with a long head on him has been
working up ascheme and stringing outa yarn, bringing
evidence in support of it, until he has convinced enough
of the men that it is time for them to start in to clean us
out. I have been around in these new towns in the moun-
_ tains long enough now to know that it doesn’t take much
to arouse a crowd against two or three citizens that they
don’t really know much about. If the new citizens don’t
happen to be the same sort as the rest of the men, that is,
if they don’t happen to be prospecting for gold, or if they
don’t drink so much whisky or gamble so recklessly,
then there is sure to be something wrong about them, and
they need watching.

‘‘All that makes a strong chain of evidence against us.
I can’t remember that any one of us has been drunk since
we came to Gunnison, and ye know that I never gamble,
not for acint: That makes a good foundation to under-
mine our characters. So whatever might be brought up
against us would be convincing from the start to the
bland and child-like mind of these gintlemen.

‘‘.am not pretending to say that the whole town of
Gunnison is formed into a vigilance committee. There are
just fifteen of them, and I believe that there are a dozen
more pledged to back them upif they meet with any re-
sistance. They are working very slyly and secretly, as

‘*Is this

they would have to do against such deep-dyed villains as

we are.

‘‘To-night at half-past eight, the band will begin to
play, and three of us have got to dance.”’

Parsons came over to the table where nreey was see
and the latter stood up.

The partners looked into each other’s faces and then at

 

moral health, even in a new town in the Wild West.

Yet if the vigilance committee had been formed for the -
purpose of purging the town of Gunnison from dangerous
characters, and they were in possession of sufficient evi-
dence against them, then there could be no doubt that the
latter were in danger.

If the matter could be given time for proper investiga-
tion there would be no difficulty.

But the vigilance committee of a crude town, of crude
material, is apt to take action in short measure.

“If this is no. joke, Sandy, then what would you advise
us to do?”’

“‘T’ll be blessed if this doesn’t look like a case where I
have got to give me advice with a small show of getting
any pay for it, since, so to express it, 1am one of me own
clients in the same case.

‘‘But Iam afraid that me advice won’t amount to much.
Where’s Gintleman Joe?’’

“I haven’t. seen him for several hours. He is working
up the affair of Erminie Carlston’s abduction, and he has
made up his mind that old Carlston himself is at the
bottom of it. He has communicated with several moun-
tain men known to him, and so there are more than half a
dozen men, experienced and familiar with the trails and
hiding-places of this region, in search of the missing girl.
There is a report liable to come in at any moment. Be-
sides thi8, Mr. Gentry will organize a small party and
start out to-morrow, if by that time nobody else has been
successful. In fact, he is working up the affair at both
ends, and he is doing it in a manner that is going to suc-
ceed if the young lady is still living.’’

‘*You seem to be more interested in the welfare of the
young lady than you are in your own. Now it is my idea
that Miss Carlston is safer at the present minute than we
are. I feel as though I must see Gintleman Joe.’’ .

“Then why not hunt him up?’’

‘‘For the reason that I don’t believe they will let either
one of us go prowling about the streets of Gunnison with-
out picking us up. I believe there is a guard stationed
about this building at the present minute, and the first
one of us that attempts to go out will be gathered in.’’

‘‘And you say they are going to do the final act at half.
past eight this evening?”’

‘‘That’s the programme. So it looks as if we had a
little more than three hours of peace and happiness left
us. J never felt so much as if I had a rope about me neck
as I do at the present minute.’’

‘If we can’t get out, then it may be that Gentleman
Joe will drop in upon us before that hour. Indeed, if there
is anything of this kind going on he can hardly fail to
hear of it.’’

‘Then you think about the only thing that we can do is
to sit down there and wait for our fate with all the show
of resignation that we can muster?’’

‘‘If you have a better plan, I would like to hear it.

Te
what you say is true—if you haven’t really exaggerated—
then it all depends on our being able to convince enough
of the citizens that they haven’t a clear case against us,
and to prevail upon them to give us a fair hearing, Of
course if we can have that, then everything will be all

right. Parsons and I both have credentials which we are

 
 

- else, though they say that lam such a poor marksman

- down and taking a smoke?

THE LOG. CABIN LIBR:

Ry.

 

=

ae to have vestiontod: bat that would te time, °
and time is the thing that we don’t seem to have much

of. 29

_ The situation was still further discussed for some time

- The result of it all was, that the three ‘‘suspects’’ had
a aA to bide their time, and if it came to a pinch, to
make such resistance agains& capture as they could.
“Of the two offices occupied by Parsons & Tracy and

Sandy, that of the latter seemed to offer better protection,
since there were two doors by which it might be entered,
thus making it difficult for their enemies to guard it.

The one window opened upon the rear of the building,
and. escape by means of it would not be difficult.

The amount of furniture in the room was rather meagre.

The trio set about, therefore, moving all the chairs
from the real estate office into that of the lawyer.

This process occupied but little time, and they did it so
silently that none of the.other occupants of the building
_could have suspected what they were about.

There was another vacant room on the | same floor in

which there was a bed.
This, with the other furniture, was taken out-and put

into Sandy’s office, and altogether the articles filled the
small room quite full. ’

The two doors were securely bolted, and the furniture
was placed against them as a barricade.

Near the top of the doors Sandy, with his, jackknife,
cut two round holes so that a view of the entry outside
could be obtained. through them by standing upon a table
underneath.

This was not all, The apertures were to serve as loop-
holes through which to shoot at their enemies if neces-
sary.

From the outside no view could be obtained through
these openings, since there was nothing to stand upon, nor
‘could their foes use them as loop-holes.

Altogether, when all these preparations were finished, it
looked as if our three friends would be able to keep quite
a little crowd at bay for a good while if they were pushed
to it.

“This is a queor situation for us, oe
he surveyed the barricade.

“Tt is that. It hardly seems as if we could be in dead
earnest in this business. It isa good deal like some of our
sports Sho: we were boys—and it ae so many years
ago, either.’

‘*But yell fini, gintlemen,”’ ae Sandy, ‘‘that here in
the Wild West a game of this sort isn’t any sport. In the
year or two of me own experience in these regions I haye
heard bullets whiz around me ears, and I have tried to
make me own bullets whiz around the ears of somebody

said Tom, as

that nobody could ever hear them whiz unless I fired at
somebody else. Now, gintlemen, since we seem to be very
comfortable here, what's the matter with our sitting
It will calm our nerves and
put - an better trim for the grand fandangle when it
comes. ’
__ As he spoke, Sandy pulled out a drawer of his own able
_ and took from it a handful of cigars which he passed to
his guests.
With a grim smile, the two. young men accepted each: a
cigar and lighted them; then the three seated themselves |
and fell to puffing away and filling the room full of smoke |
in a way that was strangely out of keeping with ‘the grim }
reparations wl which ee had made. |

 

 

Every time that they heard a s Fookete in the building
they strained their ears in the hope that it was Gentleman
Joe.

Once they were sure nae they heard the sound of a
distant pistol-shot somewhere in the town.

It came from the direction of Gunnison’s theatre.

They discussed the matter for some time and then fell
to smoking in silence again.

Even Sandy found it hard to keep up a stream of talk,
and his stock of humor seemed to be running low.

One hour—two, and then three dragged slowly away, and.
then they heard the tramp of feet outside and the murmur
of voices in the room below.

A moment after there was a heavy tread upon the
stairs, and then a hand tried the door.

Tracy was upon the table peering through one of the
small holes, and he saw half a dozen men outside, with
the burly miner in a red shirt at the head of them.

The young man looked back and gave an affirmative
nod to his companions.

At the same time the gruff voice of the red-shirted
miner exclaimed:

“‘T can see that ye have a light in there, and in the
name of the vigilantes of Gunnison I order you to open
that door!”’

Sandy was at the side of Tracy, and in his stentorian
tones he retorted:

‘‘T am sorry to disappoint ye, gintlemen, but me rice is
closed for the night, and on no account can I transact any
business with ye, except what can be done through two
small holes the size of me eyes.”’

¢

CHAPTER XIV.

THE TABLES TWICE TURNED.

Gentleman Joe, with his pistol against the ear of old
Carlston and his back toward the door, through which
were slowly projecting the head, shoulders, arm, and
hand of a man, could not see these threatening objects.

But there was something else that he did see, and that
was the expression on the face of Carlston himself.

It is not natural for a man threatened as Carlston was
to look exultant.

Gentry saw in the eyes of the man before him a gleam
of anticipated triumph which was so unmistakable that
our hero was as certain of its meaning as he could have
been had the cripple declared it in words.

It was as if the eyes of Barnaby Carlston kad been,
mirrors in which he saw reflected that threatening object
in his rear.

The weapon which the Gilt-Edged Sport held close to
the ear of the old man was heard to click ominously.

_ At the same time Gentry said, in a voice which was as
smooth as silk:

‘‘You think you see deliverance for yourself, don’t you?
But let me tell you that a hundredth part of an ounce
more pressure of my finger, and a bullet would goin one
of your ears and out of the other. Don’t you think that it |
would be rather careless fora man to try to shoot ai my
back?”’

The lips of Barnaby Carlston parted tremulously, and
he seemed to shrink from the hands of his captor as
though he actually felt the clutch of death upon his heart,

And his eyes, looking at the face which had thrust itself
in through the half-open door, changed from their exultant
expression to one of appeal.

‘Hor God’s sake!’’ he gasped.

That was all he said. It was enough to tell the one at
the door not to execute that mute threat against Gentle-
man Joe.

Without the slightest show of uneasiness, Gentry moved
slightly to one side, still holding the muzzle of his weapon
against the ear of his captive.

This brought him in such a position that he could easily
‘gee the menacing face and hand at the door.

He then more fully comprehended why the old man had,
looked so hea) a moment before.

 
26

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

No. 361.

 

The one at the door certainly ‘‘had the drop” on Gen-
tleman Joe. But it was a case in which a shot at Gentry
meant as certain death to the old man as it did to our hero
himself.

‘‘Walk in, man; don’t be bashful,’’ was Gentry’s invita-
tion.

It was directed to the one at the door.

The latter was a rough-looking man whom Gentry had
seen several times in the drinking-places of Gunnison.

There is always in new towns, and in old ones, too, for
that matter, what one might callarough element. The
ruffian in the door-way was the ringleader of the lawless
set, which was daily growing more numerous in the new.
town of Gunnison.

In most new towns such citizens increase in number
and boldness until measures are taken to suppress them.

In Gunnison, as yet, no such measures had been resorted
to.
The first step in that direction was in the organizing of
the vigilance committee under the leadership of the red-
shirted miner called Joe.

But the reader knows that even this organization was
misled at the start, so that, instead of striking out real
evils from Gunnison, they were in a fair way to crowd out
@ number of its most honorable citizens.

Although the words of old Carlstcu had given no ex-
plicit directions to the man in the door-way, the latter
understood distinctly enough what was meant by them.

He could not help seeing that the old man’s life hung
by a thread, and that Gentleman Joe would not hesitate
to cut that slender, dividing link between the two worlds
if his enemy made the slightest suspicious movement.

So slowly the hand at the door, with its levelled weapon,
dropped, and the head and shoulders were withdrawn.

No sooner was this done than Gentleman Joe’s left hand
clutched the cripple’s collar, and the old man found hirn-
self thrown back against the wall and held there ina
vise-like grip.

‘Up with your hands, you old villain!
I havea mighty good excuse for blowing out your brains

UIp went the hands of old Carlston without a moment’s
hesitation.

With afew quick movements, Gentleman Joe deprived
the old man of a pistol and a knife, both of which were
carefully concealed upon his person.

Then he pushed old Carlston back into a chair, saying,
as he did so:

“‘T reckon that your game is aboutup. If there were
any organized authorities here at Gunnison, I would have
you taken care of so you would keep... But as it is, maybe
if I give you rope enough you’ll hang yourself. So take
my advice and go easy.”’

Without another word, Gentleman Joe stepped to the
door, which had been closed by the ruffian.

Here, however, he met with another surprise.
‘was locked on the other side.

‘‘We are locked in together, and I suppose it is by your
orders?’’

For the last three or four minutes not a word had
passed the lips of old Carlston.

He was breathing hard from the rough usage to which
he had been subjected. At the same time he realized that
never before in his life had he been so near death as at:
this time.

‘‘No, it is not by my orders that we are locked in,’’ he
replied, in a hoarse voice. |

‘‘Maybe not. But that galoot who was just going to
shoot me in the back was under your orders just the same,
or he would not have caved so quick when he found you
in such a precarious condition.”’

Tc this the old man made no response, since none
seemed. to be needed.

‘Now, my old dandy, since we are not likely to be
interrupted for a minute or two, and as you have shown
the sort of timber that you are made of, you have.got to
ante up with the truth. I’m not going to waste much time
with you, and I will ask no questions but once. Andif
you givea straight answer the first time, all well and
good, and if not, then I’ll try my marksmanship on you.
How many men have you got in league with you here in
Gunnison?’

Remember that

yo?

The door

‘‘There isn’t any league of us,’’ was the growling retort.

“That wasn't the question I asked. There are others
besides the one that just threatened my life, and who it is
clear was as absolutely under your orders as if he had
been a private and you a general. What I want to know
is how many there are in Gunnison who will obey your
orders as this man did?”’

“There may be half a dozen in all.”’

‘‘Are you sure that there are not a whole dozen?’’

‘‘No, there are not so many as that.”’ i

‘‘Have they been here ready to do your bidding since
you struck the town?”

**Not all of them.”’

‘““How many ?’’

“There were two came at the same time I did. Three
others followed two or three days afterward, and since
then.a few more have dropped into the town whom my
friends have thought worth while to take into their con-
fidence. ”’

sang yet you say that there is no secret league of
you?”’ j

‘*No, there isn’t. Of course we understand each other,
but nobody has been sworn in, and any man of them may
drop out or back out as suits himself. <A few of them Il
have hired to help me in my business here, and as it is
my object, as it is every one else’s, to make money, of
course I can get plenty of mento help me in any scheme
that promises good returns.”’

‘*Well, what is the scheme?”’

The other hesitated at this. He remembered the dire
threat that Gentleman Joe had just made, and he hada
feeling that the man before him was not one to make idle
threats.

At the same time this last query was one which he was
most reluctant to answer. ;

Somehow, he dared not misrepresent the truth, for he
felt that Gentleman Joe would see through any deception
instantly.

\

t

A swift flood of thought ran through the brain of the —

man ashe sat looking into the eyes of the one who was
getting into the innermost secrets of his life.

“You want me to tell you the whole ef my business, do
you?’’ he demanded, with a slight curl of his thin lips, ~

“T simply want you to answer my questions. You
needn’t volunteer any information unless I ask you for it.
What I demand I want to know, and you want to be very
careful about the replies you make for I’ll nail every lie
with a bullet.”’

There was a steel-like ring in the voice
Joe as he uttered these words.

Old Carlston shrank back again, and a shiver seemed to
pass through his form. ’

Under almost any other conditions, Gentleman Joe

of Gentleman

would have been reluctant to so severely press a man who.

was in every point, physically, his inferior.

Yet he had seen enough of this old cripple to understand
that despite his infirmity, he was one of the most danger-
ous enemies he had ever encountered in his life.

»‘‘I suppose I have got to answer your questions,”’
growled Carlston.

‘‘Then go ahead with them. What is your scheme?”’

‘‘Like most schemes, it is for money. I suppose you
don’t want a long yarn, and so I’ll make mine short. You
have me in a pinch now. Suppose that I make a clean
breast of it and set things right as far as I can? Will you
let me off?’’

‘‘Do you mean will I let you go free and not suffer for
the meanness that you have already done?’’

‘“That’s:-what I mean.”’

‘That depends on how far you are able to set things
right. When aman has done mischief that can’t be un-
done, just a confession and trying to straighten things out
when they can’t be straightened won’t answer.
that does that has got to suffer for it if he is dealing with
me. But go ahead and do what you can. You know how
bad things are and what you can do to helpthem. Now
what is your scheme?’’ z

‘‘Hirminie Carlston isn’t really my daughter. She is my
own niece, her father being my brotber. She was left an
orphan in infancy, and I was appointed, her guardian.
There was a large property in Colorado that belonged to

Theman | |

 
 

No. 861.

 

——

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

9

oot

7

 

 

her, and which, of course, I had the care of. I took rather
poor care of it, and a good deal of the value has been sunk.

“IT made an honest effort to repair the loss which was
caused by my own mismanagement... I succeeded, and at
the present time the property is worth more than it was
when her father died. At the same time I had been doing
business for myself, and I got into a pinch and something
had got to go. I won’t give the details of all that, for I
am not going to confess as if you were a priestandla
penitent. I don’t happen to be sorry for everything that I
have done that wasn’t straight. Iam only sorry that I
have got caught.’’

““That’s the kind of penitence that visits most scoun-
drels of your Kidney, was the comment of Gentleman
Joe. .

“T reckon that you are right, though I don’t believe
they are all so honest as to say so. Well, up to this time I
had brought the girl up as my own daughter, and she has
not known thé difference. When I first began to call her
that, she was nothing but a baby, and I really had no
particular scheme init. But after a while it came into my
head that by managing things right there was no reason
why, if she should happen to die when a child, that I
should be left behind a poor man. After a while I felt as
if what she had was as much mine as hers, and I got to
thinking a good deal about what I would do with it if I
had absolute control.

**So I set about turning the property over, and moving
about from one place to another, taking the girl along
with me. It wassothat I passed the property from one
sort of investment to another, taking it out of mines and
putting it into city lots and then into land, and so on until
the property stood in my name and in a different State
from that where the property was originally held.

‘‘Timagined that I had covered my tracks very well,
and yet Ill say that I didn’t mean to steal it from the|
girl. But now, having been so unlucky in my own busi-
mess and so fortunate in hers, I made up my mind that
what was hers was mine.

‘*At the same time I had a friend who was very much

| about than you could me, but never mind. So it wasa

surprise to you when he struck Gunnison the other day?”’

“It was the biggest kind of a surprise to me, and not
one of the pleasantest kind, either. We hada brief talk
and a hot one, and he had me where I couldn’t get away .
from him, That’s how the abduction business was begun.”’

‘Well, what good was it to be to you?”’

‘‘The plan was ‘simply this, that he was to take the girl
and do what he pleased with her.’ He meant to use her
right, and by showing her how nervy and heroic he could
be, he felt that he could win her admiration and _ love.
Girls like that sort of thing, and they sometimes marry a
brave devil when they would spurn a cowardly saint.’’

‘*You have hit a fact, man, but go on.’’

‘‘I fell in with his plan. You know how he did his part
of the work. Her property was never to, be interfered
with—it was to remain in my power. On the other hand,
I was never to see the girl again, and here at Gunnison I
have found a mighty good chance to turn some of her
money to my credit and make it grow faster than it ever
did before.”’

Gentleman Joe now had in his possession the whole of
old Carlston’s plot. With hardly a word more, Gentry
went to the door, and finding it still locked, he seized a
big office-chair and sent it crashing through the panels. |

No sooner had he done so than a report from a revolver
rang out from beyond, and the Gilt-Edged Sport staggered
back with a groan.

pexsedeenee eed

CHAPTER XV.
GENTLEMAN JOE ON DEOK,

Silence succeeded Sandy’s S suggestion that his office was
closed for the night.

He could see through the small opening which had been
made that there were half a dozen men in the passage
outside. The red-shirted miner called Joe was at their
head, and several of them carried lanterns, for as yet the

 

in love with the girl. She was but a mere child, it is true,
but she hated the sight of him, and when I hinted at her
marrying him and my giving her a handsome dowry, she
didn’t take to it at all.

‘‘Somehow this man suspected the scheme I had, and he
investigated it and found that his suspicions were true.’’

‘“You are making that yarn too long. Who’s the man
that found this out?’’

‘*He isn’t in Gunnison, and I don’t. know where he is at
the present minute. ’

‘‘But who is it?”’

‘“‘*The one you call Poker Paul.”’

Gentleman Joe for once was surprised.

*“Then this had been brewing for more than a year?’’

“Poker Paul met us in Denver just about a year ago.
He watched me mighty close, and it seems that he had
hold of a point or two when he came there. My girl was
then in her sixteenth year and just as pretty as she is
now, and just as much of a woman to look at.”’

‘‘Well, give me the rest of it. You say that Poker Paul,
knowing that the girl was not really your daughter and
that the property you had the handling of was hers, had
you ina pinch. How did he propose to use his power?”’

‘*‘He was going to put the whole matter into the hands
of a lawyer in Denver, and in that way give the girl her
rights and at the same time to win her favor, if possible,
to his suit.’

‘That might have worked very well in giving her her
rights. ButIreckon if she was very much of a girl, she
wouldn’t fall in love with that sort of a man, even if he
did do her a good turn.”’

“So he thought himself. Therefore he made up his
mind to work a scheme two ways. He had me where I
couldn’t help myself, and I had to vield to any proposition
that he made. He did not want the girl’s money as much
as he wanted the girl herself. It was about that time that
he got into some sort of a difficulty and got arrested—I
‘didn’t know just how, and I didn’t care, but it was a big

building was rather meagrely supplied with lights.

Tom Tracy and Jerry Parsons were perfectly willing
to leave all the talking for Sandy to do.

If there was such a thing as bringing about a peaceful
solution of the difficulty, then Sandy’s wit and good
nature would surely accomplish that end.

And if there must be a conflict, then Sandy had proven
himself possessed of sufficient nerve to ‘‘hold up his end.’’

‘“‘The business we have to transact doesn’t call for any
special hours. So we reckon that you might as well open
up and face the music.”’ \

This response came from the red-shirted miner after full
two minutes of silence.

It was accompanied by the ominous click, click of
weapons in the crowd at his back, and it was evident that
the men were in a savage mood,

‘“‘“Go ahead, thin, and state your business. The hole
through which Iam listening is the same size as the one
in me ears, and so there won’t be a tone of your swate
voice that is wasted nor a word of your eloquence. I'll
take it all in, me friend, so spout out what ye have to say. ue

‘‘T reckon you’re too elib with that tongue of yours.’

‘“Tt’s something that you’ll have to excuse in me. It’s
related of my extreme youth that I began to talk when I
was ayear old, and that gives me a start of two years over
the ordinary run of mortals, and it is a start that I have
kept up ever since. It was that natural gift of eloquence
that turned me to the study of law.’

‘“‘We don’t want any reminiscences of your youth. And
we don’t want you to try to be funny, for it won’t work.
So once more, in the name of the vigilantes of Gunnison,
I demand admittance. ’

‘“‘And in the name of the big ee with a little
round button on top, I declare. to ye that this office is
closed for the night, and there is no way for ye to get it
open except by using a crowbar.’

To this speech of Sandy’s there was a faint erowl of re-
sponse from the crowd outside. The men looked at each

 

load off my shoulders when I saw that he was shut up for
life. ?
‘“That’s a side of the ny that I could tell you more

other and shrugged their shoulders, and there were one or
\two among them who seemed inclined to smile over the
situation.

 
9

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No. 361.

 

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But Joe, the leader of the vigilantes, maintained his
dignity absolutely.

In his estimation the situation was a serious one, and it:

was evident that he intended to make the most of it.

‘‘Well, gentlemen, I don’t see but what we will have to
take the chap’s advice and heave upon the door,’’ said the
red-shirted miner.

‘‘That seems to be the programme,’’ was tke response
from one of his men. ‘‘And the quicker we do the
heaving, the sooner it will be hove!”’

“That is what would please me best, gentlemen, for ye
to begin your picnic at once. Yesee, it is my habit to
retire early, and the sooner ye get your row over, the
sooner I can settle myself to sleep and swate dreams.”’

As Sandy witered this bold remark he turned to his
eompanions and added:

‘‘Now, me friends, as ye are better marksmen than I
am, I would advise ye to stand up here where Iam stand-
ing and begin to pump lead. The fellow with the red shirt
on in advance is the best mark for ye to begin your play
on, and. then ye can drop the gintlemen at his back one at
a time while they last. As they are a very courageous set
of men, I suppose they will stand still rather than.to run,
and so have it said that they died in a heroic way. If they
do that thing, then there is nobody in the world that will
spread their glory with more enthusiasm than mesilf.”’

The result of this bold speech was that several of the |

men outside were seen to retreat to the background.

The red-shirted miner, wishing to set a good example,
sprang forward and flung himself against the door.

As he did so there was a sudden report over his head,
and a stream of flame burst through ono of the small holes
through which Sandy had been speaking a moment before.

The shot came from Sandy’s own weapon, and it was
not by any means aimed at any of the men.

It was not, indeed, in the heart of the Irishman to stand
in ambush fully protected himself, and from there to
shoot down those brave but misled men in cold blood.

It was purely a game of bluff that the Irishman had
started out to play, and he was doing it with a boldness
which is the best augury of success.

This shot, though it was aimed at no. one, caused a
stampede of several of the men outside.

This was not by any means a sign that the vigilantes of
Gunnison were lacking in courage.

They had no means of returning the shots, since they

could not see their foes, and there was no loop-hole within |

reach through which they could fire.

Consequently it really seemed to be the wiser course for
them to beat a retreat. The two that refused to do so,
held back simply because they wanted to show that they
were not so’easily frightened.

The red-shirted miner beat upon the door with all his
strength, and for a moment it looked as if the attack
might succeed in throwing down the barricade.

But the door was so securely braced from the inside
that it well resisted the assault.

In the meantime the voice of Sandy again sounded
through one of the small openings at the top.

‘‘Out of the way, man, or I’ll begin to drop lead on you
as sure as you live! And don’t you for a minute think that
Iam saying it for fun!”’ :

. Indeed, these words did not have the sound of an idle
threat.

The voice of Sandy had a different ring in it from that
in which he had spoken at first.

The response was a shot from the corridcr, fired point-
blank at the door by the man with the red-shirted miner.

The shot came from a Winchester instead of from a re-
volver, and the bullet passed completely through the
barricade and buried itself in the wall ‘on the opposite

side, passing with uncomfortable closeness to the shoulder |

of Jerry Parsons.

Sandy, standing upon the table, had not been in much
danger. Yetif the men outside were to be persistent and
keep shooting, there was a good chance of the inmates of
the room being hit.

There seemed to be only one way to put an end to this,
but it was a resort which Sandy was reluctant to take,
even in the face of the great danger to himself and friends.

- “Down with your gun, and up with your hands, or

ine
the name of Moses I’ll drop ye in your tracks!”’

This command rang sharply from the lips of the Irish-
man,

remark of the red-shirted miner to his companion.

The advice was heeded, and the other threw down his
Winchester and flung up his hands as ordered.

‘*Now both of ye may turn your backs and amble down
there as liveiy as ye know how, and if I think ye are not
making the best speed at your command [ll begin to
shoot. Iam a poor marksman, butas I shall not aim
directly at ye, ye’re in all the more danger on that ac-
count.’’

‘‘You have the drop on us this time, and we aren’t fools
enough to stand up for you to practice on. You seem to
have nerve énough, and you haven't done what you might
have done, and that is to drop one or twoor us before we
could help ourselves. So you are inclined’ to show more
fair play than most men would in your places, and the
Vigilance Committee of Gunnison are bound to play a.
square game, and they appreciate one when they see it,
even if it is played by somebody else.’’

With this parting speech, the red-shirted miner turned
upon his heel and strode down the passage. A moment
after their heavy tread could be heard upon the stairs,
and Sandy turned exultantly to his companions.
| ‘The first skirmish has been fought, my friends, and the
‘enemy is in full retreat. Now it might be a good time for
ius to take a bit of a\ nap to recuperate ourselves for the
‘grand final whiz which is likely to come a little later. ”’
|. As he said this, Sandy coolly flung himself upon his
own bed, and within ten minutes’ time he was actually
snoring.

We will now return to Gentleman Joe.
| As he had sent a chair crashing through the door a. shot
was fired from the outside point-blank.
| Of course it could not have been aimed at him or at any
other particular object, and therefore it was by chance
that the bullet hit Gentry at all.

The shot passed under his left arm and through the flesh
over his ribs—a shot which was uncomfortably close to a
vital spot. <1

It was but a flesh wound, yet the burning pain and the
shock nearly caused him to sink to the floor.

But it was not the first time‘that the Gilt-Edged Sport
had felt the sting of a bullet and his présence of mind did
not forsake him for an instant.

He was erect again in a moment, and, revolver in hand,
he sprang through the opening which he had made and
wasin time to see the form of a man dart through the
vacant room and toward the outer door.

With swift bounds Gentry followed, reached the exit,
and in anothér moment was in the open air.

Outside he saw half a dozen men standing in a group,
and toward this knot the one who was pursued ran,
quickly merging his form among theirs.

At that very moment the whole party started at a quick
march toward the building where. Tracy, Parsons, and
Sandy had their rooms. a

Knowing that he was in no further danger from them,
Gentleman Joe made his way to his own quarters, know-
ing that the wound which he had received needed imme-
diate attention.

Twenty minutes later he came forth upon the streets of
Gunnison again, and his own steps were directed toward
the office of Parsons & Tracy.

As he neared the door of the building, he was surprised
to hear several shots fired in rapid succession partly
within and partly without the building.

He soon recognized the ruffianly crew whom he now
knew were in league with Carlston. He saw that these
i were at the entrance of the building and that they were
confronted by a small party of Gunnison’s citizens in the.
‘midst of whom he saw the tall form of Joe, the red-shirted
miner.

It was between these two parties of men—one the vigi-
lantes of Gunnison and the others the desperadoes in the
service of old Carlston, that an exchange of shots was
being made. f

 

 

 

‘*There aren’t much use in shooting blind, Dan,’’ was the 4
No. 361,

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

29

 

 

The next instant the Gilt-Edged Sport was at the side of

the big miner, and these words rang from his lips:

‘lhe more of these devils we shoot, the less we’ll have
to hang!”’

And as this cry rang from the lips of Joseph Gentry, his
own revolver began to talk..

It was obeyed instantly, and in another moment the
followers of 61d Carlston were disarmed and were marched
toward a vacant building close at hand, where they were
quickly shut in and put under a strong guard.

A hurried consultation was held between Gentleman
Joe and the red-shirted miner, and as a result a detach-

iment of the vigilantes marched over to Carlston’s theatre

seers crete ert

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUSION.

Affairs at Gunnison had culminated within the past few
hours with great rapidity.

Old Carlston had conceived a very pretty plan for gain-
ing the support of the whole town on.the strength of his
own physical infirmity and the loss of his beautiful |
daughter.

The rumors he had set afloat concerning the young real

 

|
1
|

and placed the building under guard. At the same time,
Gentleman Joe went to the office of Sandy, and calling
the name of the lawyer at the same time that he knocked,
he was instantly admitted.

“This farce is over, Sandy, and the good men of Gunni-
son have had an eye-opener that will last them for a good
while.”’ :

Such was the announcement of Gentleman Joe.

‘‘Are ye sure that they won’t change their minds and
shoot one of us down if we were to show ourselves at this
interesting moment?’’ Sandy asked.

‘‘T reckon that you are safe enough anywhere in Gunni-
son. Whatis more, no man is safe who will come out
against you. The new vigilance committee got fooled in

estate men and Sandy, the lawyer, had been carefully | the first place, and they had a lesson that they won’t care

conceived and circulated.

Could he have involved the name of Gentleman Joe in
the same charge, success to his plans would have been
almost certain.

But in his anxiety to make a bold ‘‘scoop,’’ the cripple
had overreached himself.

While engaging the sympathies of the better element of
the town he had engaged the services of a number of out-
and-out desperadoes who had floated into the new camp
and who would make themselves unpopular with the
others.

Indeed, several members of this alien set were well
known as outlaws.

Therefore when the men of Gunnison under the leader-
ship of the red-shirted miner formed their band of vigi-
lantes it was the purpose of the latter to purge Gunnison
of those very outlaws who wers secretly in the service of
old Carlston. ;

Upon this same night that the vigilance committee at-
tempted to arrest Sandy and the real estate boomers, old
Garlston had made an organization of the men in his hire
to make a descent upon Parsons, Tracy, and the lawyer |
and drive them out of Gunnison. If any attempt was,
made by our friends to defend themselves, then they had |

ito have repeated. It has been rather of a warm evening
|for the season for you as wellas for me. But everything
| is - cleared up now except that we haven’t caught Poker
Pauly

| Before Gentleman Joe had ceased speaking an Indian
/runner came into the room and demanded to see the Gilt-
Edged Sport.

| Confronted by the fellow, who was a lithe, swarthy-
faced half-breed, Gentry was handed a slip of paper on
which was written the following words:

i

“‘Come at once and help us out. We have tracked Poker
Paul, and he has the girl with him. He has shot down
two of our men already, and there isn’t another one of us

‘who has the nerve to make the final break for him, But
I know that you can pull us through. The bearer of this
will act as your guide. It isn’ta big crowd of men. that

/we want, but one man with the right sort of a head on

‘him, and that man is Gentleman Joe. JACOBSON. ’’

“T’ll go, and ll start now. It will take me about five
minutes to get ready—that’s all.”’

‘Where is it that ye are going?’’ Sandy demanded.

‘*Read that, and it will tell you.’’

Sandy took the message, but he did not read it alone,

their orders to let the bullets fly, and if the two young for both Parsons and Tracy were looking over his shoul-
men and Sandy were wiped out in the encounter, so much der, and when Gentleman Joe was ready to start, Tracy,

E. had been fired the outlaws turned to flee.
But their flight was ill-timed.

the better.

It was a very pretty scheme on the part of the cripple,
as far as it went.

But when the band of outlaws approached the building
which Sandy and our friends had barricaded, it so chanced
that the vigilantes were discussing their own project near
the door.

This complication brought matters to a crisis in short
" order.

The leader of the outlaw crowd declared his intention of

driving out the lawyer and his friends. And the result of
this was to make the vigilantes ready to defend the very
men whom a moment ago they had been planning to bring
to a speedy trial.
The two parties had_ been pretty evenly matched, and it
- might have been a little doubtful which would have been
; victorious in the conflict, had not Gentleman Joe appeared
on the scene at this juncture.

As it was, his presence immediately turnéd the tables.

The vigilantes were inspired with confidence the instant
they saw him among them, and before a half-dozen shots

A number of the men of Gunnison attracted hither by
the firing were running from various directions from the
outskirts to the scene of the excitement.

As soon as they saw the men fleeing from the band of
men led by Gentleman Joe and the red-shirted miner,
these new recruits instantly took sides with the vigilantes
and closed in upon the outlaw band on both sides.

The work was swiftly done, and this command rang
from the lips of the Gilt-Edged Sport:

y?

‘‘Hands up, every man of you

| Parsons, and Sandy were at his heels like so many hounds.

‘‘T¢ is no use for you to say nay, Mr. Gentry, for we are
going to be there at the finish. If we are in your way,
just shove us aside, but if there is anything dangerous
that you want done, reckon-us into it. We are tenderfeet,
but we are not afraid of bullets.”’

Tracy was the one that said this, and his partner nodded
his approval in a manner which showed that he was ready
to back up every word of his partner’s speech.

To properly ‘‘even up’’ the threads of our story, which
are now nearly spun, we will return to Erminie Carlston
and her desperado captor.

Erminie.Carlston, with her revolver aimed at the breast
of the desperado, was about to fire.

Her captor was almost within reach of her outstretched.
hand, and even with her inexperience a shot at that dis-
tance could hardly fail to prove fatal.

Yet as her finger touched the trigger, a passing thought

of the man’s chivalrous behavior caused her to waver

momentarily in her purpose. It was at that instant that a
loud report rang through the air and was echoed back by

| the towering buttes in the distance.

In that moment of excitement she theught that she had
indeed fired, and this thought seemed to be confirmed
when she saw Poker Paul fall forward full-length upon
the ground.

Yet there had been no recoil from the weapon, and no
smoke was coming from the muzzle.

She knew then that the shot must have come from some
other point.

A quick glance showed her the smoke rising from be-
hind some trees, and at the same instant two men sprang
forth.

 
CO
@”

sary to hide their identity from the reader.
the two Jameson boys whom Poker Paul had saved from
death on the night of the storm.

In the hand of one was the weapon which had been dis-
charged.

They had discovered the loss of their box of treasure
and had rightly inferred that it had been taken by the
desperado convict, thus showing the latter to be capable of
@ treachery of which at first they had not suspected him.

Therefore they had followed him along the dangerous
journey along the mountain stream and had lain in wait
for him here, more in revenge than for a desire to recover
their treasure.

As they plunged forward the desperado suddenly sat up,
and at the same time a weapon in his hand spoke—and it
spoke twice with a spitefulness and precision that could
not fail of results.

Erminie Carlston saw the two men who had rushed for-
ward from ambush fall forward upon their faces.

And there they lay upon the ground without a quiver,
and they did not rise again.

The next moment the desperado was confronting her
with a faint smile upon his lips and a gleam in his eye.

‘‘Why didn’t you do it first?’” he demanded.

‘*What do you mean?’’ she faltered.

‘““You were going to put a bullet in my heart as I
passed. Isaw you when I turned away from the boat,
and I knew what you were going to do, and I was going to
let you do it if you had the heart to. Why didn’t you do
it?”’

She still held the weapon in her hand, but her grasp
apon it rekéxed, and it fell upon the hard rock.

The desperado picked it up and held it out toward her.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

Although she had not seen them before it is not neces- ,
They were |

 

*“‘Come,’’ he said, ‘‘if you want to doit, you’ll never
have a better chance. If you want to kill me, then I don’t,
‘want to live.’’

“*T don’t want to kill you,’’ she retorted. |

She took the weapon which he handed her and flung it
toward the black stream, where it fell with a splash. |

‘‘Very well, then. 1’ll take your word for it. You want
your liberty pretty bad, but you don’t want it bad enough
to kill me for it. Iam going to give you your liberty in|
due course of time, but not just yet. Iam not going to be
erowded to it, and I may have to make terms. Come back |
to the cabin.”’

Without a word, she followed him back to the hidden |
hut.

Not a word was exchanged between them during the |
half-hour that he remained there busying himself about.
trifling matters.

At the end of that period he left the hut, saying that he
would be back in the morning and bidding her be careful
how she exposed herself.

The night passed wearily enough to her.

The dawn was just breaking when she was startled by
She sound of firing in the distance.

She sprang to the door and flung it open, and a minute
after Poker Paul was seen running toward the cabin,
Winchester in hand.

 

‘““We have got to find safer quarters than thése. They

have tracked us down, though we didn’t leave any tracks. |
But I have a retreat close by where I reckon that we can | make quite a story.
|that it was a friendly one to the end. When the wedding

make it hot for them.
There seemed to be no use in making any resistance, so

she allowed him to lead her out past the cabin, past the |
bowlders which were near it, and in another moment}
through a narrow cleft in the rocks, through which only
/was an older town long before it was found.

ene man could pass at a time.

Beyond the cleft was a space only afew feet in width. |

There was a liberal store of provisions, showing this to be
another mountain retreat of the desperado.
Here he believed that he could make a fight for his life

and stand a siege if need be.
They had scarcely passed through the narrow entrance

to the cleft before they heard the sound of pursuing foot-
steps.

himself at the clett and waited for his foes to show them-

selves.
A moment after several rifle-shots rang upon the air.

Bidding her to shield herself, Poker Paul coolly placed :

No. 361.

~——

The expression that came upon the face of Poker Paul
showed that they had told.

Here it was, then, that Gentleman Joe’s men had found
it impossible to dislodge the man of whom they were in
pursuit. It was from here that the leader had sent to
Gunnison for help from Gentleman Joe.

The day had nearly passed when Gentleman Joe and his
men arrived on the scene.

Joseph Gentry gave a few brief directions and then dis-
appeared from their view.

Ten minutes later his men began to fire in the direction
of the cliff, taking care to shield themselves from any
chance shot in return.

While this was going on the Gilt-Edged Sport had made
a detour, had climbed up a precipitous assent, had clam-
bered along the face of the cliff where there was hardly a
foothold to be obtained, until by his nerve and agility he
found himself peering over the rock down into the in-
closure which held Poker Paul and his captive.

He saw the desperado standing at the cleft coolly on the
watch. And he saw the captured girl sitting at some dis-
tance with her face buried in her hands. :

‘“‘T ought to put a bullet im the man’s heart,’’ murmured
Gentleman Joe. ‘‘But in this business he hasn’t shown
himself a coward, and I haven’t quite the stomach to do
it. He has one arm in a sling, and I reckon that I will
have to fix the other for him in the same way.’’

No sooner had these words passed the lips of Gentleman
Joe than his unerring rifle sent forth its ringing challenge.

And Poker Paul dropped his own weapon and wheeled
about, and then sank to the ground with a groan.

A few minutes later Gentleman Joe was at the side of
his victim, had disarmed him, and at the same time had
spoken a few cheering words to Erminie Carlston.

A moment after this Tracy and Parsons, followed by
Sandy and the other men, filed in until the inclosure was
almost full.

‘‘Why didn’t you put a bullet in his heart?’’ demanded
one of the party.

‘‘Because I reckoned that I would leave that for some
one else to do,’’ was Gentleman Joe’s response, as he
turned to his prisoner and added: |

“You made a bold break that time and a nervy one, but
it is bad, policy to try to make a girl love you after that
style. Don’t’ you reckon so?’’

The desperado convict made no response.

Half an hour later the whole party were on their way
back to Gunnison.

On the way Erminie Carlston was told the story of her
putative father’s treachery.

Strangely enough the story of old Carlston’s perfidy was
not a great surprise to her.

It was a difficult matter for Gentleman Joe to prevent
the men of Gunnison from hanging both old Carlston and
Poker Paul under a penalty pronounced by Judge Lynch. .

After a while it was decided to give the victims all the 3
chance for their lives that the law would allow. "

We will say here that old Carlston received a good sen-

,tence of imprisonment, and Poker Paul was put under
| the death penalty.

And this time the course ot the law was not frustrated.
The love rivalry between Parsons and Tracy would
But we have time here to only say

came off Tom Tracy was bridegroom and Jerry Parsons

was ‘‘best man,’’
The surviving Jamesons spent much time in the search

for their treasure, but it was a vain search, and Gunnison

Gentleman Joe and Sandy returned to Denver and re-
mained there a month. Then they returned to Gunnison
again.

Within a comparatively short distance of that town it %
may be our luck to meet them again, and in a tale very
different from what this has been. So it is ‘‘adieu’’ and
not ‘‘farewell’’ that we say to them.

(THE END.)

RATTLESNAKE NED, THE TERROR /or THE SHA, by Ned
Buntline, will be published in the next number (369)
of the Loe CaBty LIBRARY.

 
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FORTUNE-TELLING.

Imperial Fortune-Teller.
Zola’s Dream Book.

TRICKS.

The Way to Do Magic. Herrman’s Black Art.
Heller’s Hand Book of Magic. Herrman’s Tricks with Cards.

RECITATIONS AND READINGS.

The Peerless Reciter. Select Recitations and Readings.
The Young Elocutionist. The Standard Reciter.

These books will be sent prepaid upon receipt of 10 cents each. When

please be particular to send the full title of the book desired, also

your full name and address. The books are ten cents each, postage free.
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Zola’s Fortune-Teller.
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THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

 

 

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THIRTY-TWO = dee ISSUED

PAGES. | ee ; wrer| THURSDAY. 2X

Jerel Avcotfthd Wi Ext of coner cts, erwreTFewe tt, diy Street & AMUN TEV MMee of the Librarton of Céigrete.  Dtisered es Second-lass Butler atthe Hoe
Tork, 9. Y. POU Gatee, February 3, 18%, ‘tasnei Welly. Sudseription ‘Price. 65.00 Mer Year. February 25, 1696

Ro. 32. ‘Sraber % Switn, Rudlianars, NEW YORK. 2 Bote St. B.S. 10 Cantse

New Stories of Startling Adventure by the Best Authors.
THE STORIES ARE TWICE AS LONG AND INTERESTING AS ORDINARY LIBRARY STORIES.
DONWT FATIATO RAD THE

GENTLEMAN JOE SERIES

329—GENTLEMAN JOE’S DEATH SHADOWS or, Lucky Jackson’s Last Play. Hy the author of eae ares
ssued July 4.

380.—ALF, THE CHICAGO SPORT; or, The Engineer’s Last Trip. By Edward Minturn. Issued July 11.

381—GENTLEMAN JOE’S SILENT STROKE; or, The Mad Mogul From Moovshine. By the Author of pees done
ssued July 18.

3382—JESSE JAMES AMONG THE MORMONS. By W. B. Lawson. ™ Issued July 26.
333—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GOLD GAME; or. The Trumps That Told, By the Author of ‘‘Gentleman Joe.” Issued August 1.
334.—JESSE JAMES’ JOURNEY; or, The Prisoner of the Cave. By W. B. Lawson. Issued August 8.

935. GENTLEMAN JOL’S LOST LEAD; or, The Secret of the Silver Sphinx. By the Author of “Gentleman Joe.”
Issued August 15.

336.—JESSE JAMES IN DAKOTAS or, The King-Pin of Road Agents in Disguise. By W. B. Lawson. Issued August 22.

337.—GENTLEMAN JOE'S DOUBLE CINCH; or, The Gilded Clique From Guunison. By the Author of **Gentleman Joe.”
Issued August 29.

338._JESSE JAMES’ HUNT TO DEATH: or, The Terror of Grizzly Hollow. By W. B. Lawson. Issued September o-
339.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S HOLD-OUT: or, The Mystery of the Silver Hand. By the Author of **Gentleman Joe.”

Issued September 12.
340.—JESSE JAMES’ SHADOWS or, The Rivals of the Road. By W. B. Lawson. Issued September 19.
341.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S CHICAGO CLEAN-OUT; or, A Bold Break for Boodle. By the Author of ‘*Gentleman Joe.”

Issued September 26. €
342. POLK WELLS, JESSE JAMES’ COMRADES or, The Riverton Bank Robbery. By W. B. Lawson. Issued October 3.

343. GENTLEMAN JOE’S BIG BOOM; or, Bluffing the Boomers of Bed Rock. By the Author of **Gentl>man Joe.” po
Issued October 16.

344,_JESSE JAMES OUTDONE; or, The Missouri-Pacific Train Robbery... By W. B. Lawson. Issued October 17.

345,—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GAUNTLET; or, The Back-to-Back Break at Bitter Root. By the Author of **Gentleman Jee.”
Issued October 24.

34¢.--80B FORD THE SLAYER OF JESSE JAMES; or, The Life and Death of a Noted Desperado. By W. B. Lawson,
Issued October Sl,

347.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GRAPPLE; or, A Hot Hour at Hurricane Ledge. By the Author of ‘‘Gentleman Joe.”
Issued November 7.

348.—THE GREAT YACHT RACE; or, Skipper Bob’s Long Chase. By Marline. Manly. Issued November 14.
349, GENTLEMAN JOE AT GOPHER GULCH; or, Calm Caleb’s. Cold Comfort. By the Author of **Gentleman Joe.”
Issued November

250.—BOB SIMS? FEARFUL OATHS; or, The Fatal Vengeance of the Swamp Outlaws. By W. B. Lawson.
- Issued November 2!

351. GENTLEMAN JOE’S SEVEN SPOT; or, The Cripple From Cripple Creek. By the Author of tole Joe.” i

ssued December 8.

359. THE GOLD-HUNTER DETECTIVE. By Marline Manly. Issued December 12.
259. GENTLEMAN JOE’°S MOONLIGHT MATINEE; or, The Wild-Cat of Whisky Gap, By the ey of Pasi a eas iy

ssued December 19.

254. RUBE BURROW’S PARD: or, Chased Through the Florida Swamps. By W. B. Lawson. Issned December 26.

255.—-THE RIVAL RANCHEROS; or).The Missing Bride. By A. ©. Monson- : issued January 2e

956,-GENTLEMAN JOE AT FULL FLUSH; or, A Noose for Nine Necks. By the Author of Aerlemat e /
ssned January Fe.
. 357.—CAPTAIN KATE. By Leander P. Richardson. Assued January, 16.

958. GENTLEMAN JOE’S JOKER; or, The Clean Up at Cold Crow. By the Author of ‘“Gentleman Joe.”
Issued January 25.

 

 

 

 

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959._RATTLESNAKE JIM; or, The Reckless Sport of Deadman’s Gulch. By Walter L. Hawley.
- Issued January 80. 2

360.—THE QUEEN OF THE PLAINS; or, Calamity Jane. By Reckless Ralph.
\ Issued February 6.

361.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT GUNNISON; or, Poker Paul’s Poor Policy. By the Author of ‘“Geutleman Joe.” ~
Issued February t3.2

362. RATTLESNAKE NED. THE TERROR OF THE SEA. . By Ned Buntline. Issued February 20¢9

ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY. _ PRICE, TEN CENTS.
Ecr sale by all Newsdealers at Yen Cents per copy. or sent. postpaid, on receipt of price by

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 29 Rose Street New York