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4 1892, &

S
3GING AT ARM'S LENGTH,

 

ss. an the Ye

 

BY THE AUTHOR OF

 

 

 

 

STREET & Smiriu, Publishers,

ntleman Joe

 

 

York, N. Y., Post Ofice, Issued Weekly.

C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Swoop of the

Wiitered According to Act of Cong

 

~
|

 
 

 

 

GENTUEUAN JU MC UUOEA INDE

R,

THE SWOOP OF i GULCH SHADOWS,

By he Author of  <GUNTLEMAN JOH.”

CHAPTER I.
‘*, KNIFE IN HIS HEART!”’

*‘Dance!—what are ye takin’ me for? Jing!—do those

“ere legs of mine look as if they, could make me hop to the
_ tune of ‘Devil’s Dream?’ ”’
‘‘T reckon that when you see me working away at Old
( Tim and hear me tuning up the old tunes you'll find it
hard business to keep those ’ere legs of yours from
dancin’, twisted and stiff as they are.’’

‘‘But I’ll look in on ye and see the rest a-hoppin’. I was
) never much great on whangdoodlarums or ary things of

that sort. It’s well enough for men and .women to wag

their feet when there an’t much in their heads to wag.’

The one who spoke first and likewise whose second
speech has last been quoted, shook his head with all the
gravity that belongs to years, and a life out of which most
of the physical friskiness had long since departed.

Old friends will recognize in this individual Lank Lam-
son, who in his day figured in many a fight, washed out
many a pan of dirt in lonely mountain gorges, and even
gained two or three fortunes only to lose them again. The
other was a short, eely fellow, with a fiery red mustache,
quick, nervous movements, and features that twitched
and twisted with every word he spoke.

In other words, he was one of the kind who talk all over
their faces.

~This individual was called Happy Harry.

At the time when we introduce him to our readers, as
in fact at most other times, he had a Violin and bow under
his arm.

Both men were roughly clad in mining costumes, and
| were sitting before a rude shanty in a rude settlement
| whose straggling dwellings were built at the bottom of a
| gloomy gorge, where it broadened frdém a narrow canon,
and where the walls became steep slopes instead of pre-
cipitious cliffs.

A new mining camp.

A mountain stream, small at that season of the year,
gurgled through the deepest part of the gorge, and afforded
plenty of water with which to wash the dirt.

There were about twenty shanties in all, counting the
tents, and they covered something like a mile in length,
with nothing in breadth to speak of-

It is needless to give a detailed description of this new
| mining camp, which had been called Lucifer Lode.

There were others similar to it—and there will be others
still as there have been scores in the past whose existence
even is now forgotten.

Lank Lamson sat on a rude chair in front of his own
| shanty.

On the heights above it was still daylight.

_ But very little light from the sky penetrated at that
hour to Lucifer Lode.

It was, indeed, to look at, a most dismal camp.

Even the wind which swopt down the gorge at night
had a moaning, sobbing sound which meant all sorts of
things to those who listened.

But it was nota place to attract strangers except for one
thing.

There was said to be gold in the sand washed up by the
stream in the gorge.

Not that the gold was washed up—that would be against
nature.

But centuries of washings had crumbled the rocks above,
and from the disintegrated fragments the particles of gold

 

|

»

That, to ‘Say the least, was hard eee hee i
in wielding the spade or pick, or in shaking a big
pan full of sand and water, or even in working a
or rocker with the water flowing through it. :
Yet in a mining placer this is the programme Oy
over. y

fortable nest-egg in just such a primitive way as.

And then, after the claims were staked, thei
ways the chance that the quartz might cont
greater treasure, though it ‘would be, mor
yielding it up.

Midway between the ends of Leiter Lode a streentre E L-

had been raised which was as iong as four or five of the
shanties in one.

At one end of this building there were plenty of drink-
ables, while the rest of it had evidently been built for
dancing.

This was the property of Happy Harry, who had rather -
pick the strings of his fiddle than pick the sands of the,
gulch for gold.

He had an idea, which might prove to be a true one,
that a good share of the'gold which the others might eet
with their spades and picks would eventually fall into
Happy Harry’s till.

Happy Harry had a keen eye for business.

As soon as he had come to Lucifer Lode and seen that
for a time it was sure to grow, he completed his plans.

While the dance pavilion was being built, Happy Harry.
went to a larger mining town some thirty miles distant
and induced half a dozen ‘‘ladies,’’ so-called, to leave the
larger town and cast their fortunes with the denizens of
Lucifer Lode.

This of itself promised to make his enterprise a success.

The evening which was just settling down on the camp
was the opening one at Happy Harry’s pavilion.

The rest of the miners had ‘‘knocked off’’ work a little
early that night in anticipation of the evening’s fun.

The bar trade at Happy Harry’s pavilion had been
booming all day. Bowie-Knife Bill, who presided at the
bar and dispensed the drinkables, did a flourishing busi-
ness.

Happy Harry had polished and waxed the floor until it
fairly shone. Indeed, no such dance hall as that had ever
béen built in a town otherwise so primitive as Lucifer
Lode.

‘“Ye’ll find one diffikility,”’ said Lank Lamson, as Happy
Harry was about to trudge away with his violin, thrum-
ming the strings with his thumb and forefinger.

“What's that?”

‘‘Six women and forty men don’t match for a cent!”?

‘“There’ll be figgers enough so that every man will be
sure of a partner if he only dances times enough.’’

‘‘But that’s where the diffikilty will come in, said
Lamson, shaking his head sagely.

“T reckon you’ve lived so long in this world that you
can’t see anything but difficulties anyhow, Lamson.”’

‘There are men right hyar at Lucifer Lode who will
pick out a pardner this ’ere evening, and will dance with
her and won’t let ary other galoot get a chance at her!
And if ary other galoot tries to get a chance at her ye’ll
hear somethin’ whistle! Mark my word, Happy Harry.’’

‘*But I’ll be there to keep order, ye know,’’ said the pro-
prietor of the pavilion, straightening his slender body.

‘* Jing !-—you!”’

Lank Lamson could not have thrown more expression
into words or face had he uttered a whole dictionary full
of words instead of the two which he had enunciated.

An angry flush rose to the cheeks of Happy Harry.

“Ye think I can t keep order in my own house, do yef

“Tan’t sayin’ nothin’. Just go ahead and try it, that’s
all I’ve got to say. I'll drop round. to see thé fun whey
things git to hummin’, and then I’ll toddle back hyar
my shanty, and I’ll leave the latch-string out, so that 7!
ye want to come in hyar and seek my protection ye car:
But I reckon things’ll more than hum this ere fust ae
at the pavilion with six new women in the town and y

7-9

men, and every durned one among them swearing

had settled and sgttled until the lighter sands had been' and down that he’ll have a pardner!”’

drifted over the
’ ao tes pen grains one must dig down to bed- rock.

oe

Lank Lamson got up as he gave thig
into his shanty, shutting. the

 
y glanced contemptuously after him, and

Taneing sort of gait, hurried toward his

Cae inside were lighted, and the chairs along the
Were filled with men, smoking and talking, and wait-
r the ‘‘ladies’’ to appear. .
Ppy Harry-had prudently kept them out of sight.
was afraid that if he did not do so, they might accept
many treats at his bar the first of the evening and so
unfit them for dancing.

This would surely handicap the success of the opening
evening.

Bowie-Knife Bill was serving customers at the bar with
a neatness and dispatch which showed long experience.

He was a tall, fierce-looking fellow, with a big mustache
dyed to a jet-black, although his eyes were blue and his
hair the color of tow.

He wore prominently in view a weapon of the type which
had given him the first part of his name.

He was said to be an adept in the use of a bowie, as
more than one presumptous fellow had found out to his
- cost. :

Bowie-Knife Bill, besides being limber at serving the cus-
tomers, was also equally agile in pitching out those who
tried to cheat him out of his pay.

Bowie-Knife Bill also had a reputation for keeping order
in whatever establishment he happened to be ‘‘on deck.’’

Happy Harry had sent two of his trustworthy assistants
to bring the ladies into the house when the right moment
should arrive.

He first took his station en the dovand stand’’ at one
end of the hall, conveniently near the stand of Bowie-
Knife Bill.

Another musician, known only under the terse name of
_ Blinks, was on hand to play first fiddle when Harry

‘*called,’’ and second fiddle when no calling was necessary.

Blinks was on hand when Harry sounded his ‘‘A string”’

for Blinks to tune his fiddle by.
As for Happy Harry, he erated wholly to his ear, and
’ it may be said that no tuning-fork or cornet could .have
e found a discord when Happy Harry had tuned his’ instru-
ment.
Ls \Straightway appeared the ladies, and there was such a
roar of shouts, all intended as a welcome, such a rushing
of feet, and such a scream from the ladies, that it might
be truly said that Happy a Ss pavilion was fairly
opened.

For twenty minutes Bowie-Knife Bill had to work

harder than he had ever done before in his life to supply

_the crowd.

Harry and Blinks had tuned up, and Happy Harry

started out on a prelude of his own improvisation.

There was nothing dreamy about it, but it was of the

_. sort that wouldn’t let the feet of those that heard it keep

still.

It was a jumble of bars from ‘‘Fisher’s Hornpipe,”’

‘‘Soldier’s Joy,’’ ‘‘Devil’s Dream,’’ ‘‘Money Musk,’’
_ * Root-Hog-or-Die,’’ ‘‘Montreal,’’ and various other clas-
sics of the olden days.

And when a bar or two from each of these tunes was
boiled down into one, the result can neither be imagined
nor described.

There was one peculiarity about Happy Harry’s playing

“which was not often to be observed.
This was, that he played as he talked, with his whole
face.
Every draw of the bow, every rise and fall of the notes
_ ereated a peculiar twist to his features, so that his brows,
cheeks and lips were working in the most curious manner
imaginable.

One might almost have danced by watching his face
even if they had not heard a note.

The prelude ended, and Hope, Harry’s voice rang out

_ with the.order:
‘(Tale your places, ladies and gentlemen.’’
Then came a scramble.
chair at a distant corner Lank Lamson was sitting,
fl erin on his homely face.
inately for their own lives the ladies had been in

 

: partes Ae “ Pe

 

puting between those who claimed the hands of ihe shee i

partners all at the same time, the six ladies ranged them-
selves in the middle of the hall with drawn revolvers,

while Happy Harry jumped upon his chair and issued the) £ 07

command for silence.
And comparative silence ensued.
Then this order rang out from’ Happy Harry’ s lips.
‘The ladies are to choose their partners in this hyar she-

bang in the first dance and in every other blessed dance)
that’s held under this roof! And the fust gentleman that.

offers to kick ag’in the ch’ice of a lady gits the bounce!’’ .

The grin of anticipated. triumph faded from the face of |

Lank Lamson as he cbserved the result of this order.

The place subsided into comparative quiet, the ladies |
chose their partners, and the gentlemen who were not Pro-' |:

vided with any matched up among themselves in pairs,

 

 

while Happy Harry fell back into ‘Ais chair and began tor ae

saw his fiddle. :

Such dancing!

First a contra, then a waltz, and then another contra,
then a. quadrille, and then—— .

The strangest sort of an interruption.

Happy Harry had just*struck into ‘‘Money Musk.’’

Hoarse with calhing, Blinks was making his harsh voice | :

do service in place of Happy Harry’s.

Suddenly two of the dancers, one of whom was a power-

ful, red-shirted miner, and the other a coarse-featured wo-
man of prodigious stature, began to whirl along the room
in a sort of dance unlike anything ever seen there before.
At first it seemed to be a waltz.
But the eovultions became faster and faster, and the two
forms, locked as they were, in a sort of fierce embrace,
clattered along almost the entire length of the room

through the midst of other dancers, throwing the latter |

hither and thither in their movements.

Happy Harry ceased his playing, for the couple who had
passed by the other dancers, came ‘whirling and reeling up
to the platform where the musicians were seated.

Happy Harry sprang to his feet, while Blinks did the
same, yelling an incoherent order as he did so.

Then a cry arose and then passed from lip to lip—a cry |

of alarm!

Before Happy Harry could get upon his feet the couple

which had so strangely interrupted the festive scene,
scrambled and stumbled upon the platform, reeling |
against the musician’s chair and tipping it over, and,
throwing Happy Harry himself full length upon the ‘floor.

Then, and not until then did the red-shirted miner re
and fall.

His partner went down at the same time, and Blinks, :
who was nearest, saw that the woman's hand was upon -

the miner’s throat, and that the face of the latter was |

purple.

A perfect pandemonium reigned in Happy Harry’s pa-
vilion.

A rush was made through the crowd to the platform and

several lamps were broken, leaving the place enshrouded ~ a

in partial darkness.

In the midst of it all, the partner of the red-shirted
miner was seen to spring up and dart toward a window
and leap out of it, carrying in that mad leap sash, glass

and all.
And the voice of Blinks, rising louder than ever before,

said:
‘‘Injun Ike has a knife in his heart!’

CHAPTER II.
“ompp !?

Joseph Gentry, or, as he may be more quickly recog-

nized Gentleman Joe, sat in a seat by himself in a railway _

car which was moving at a slow pace up 4 steep mountain |

grade.
A newspaper lay upon his lap which he chad read until

his. eyes were weary with the task. s
It was late in the evening, and he had been, re ae he

day.

 

i was no wonder, therefore, that he did as an er ea, .

x

 
THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

But he did not sleep long.

He roused, glanced out of the window and saw that
¢here had been but little change in the scene outside, and
then fell back into a Greamy sort of reverie.

Scenes and faces passed before his vision with panoramic |
swiftness.

One face rose before him with singular vividness—the
handsome, almost saucy face of a young woman with lips;
that knew how to smile and eyes that seemed to look into
his with an almost appealing look.

It was the face of an adventurous young woman whom
he counted as one of his truest friends.

In mountains and mines she bore the name of Foxy Fan.

And those eyes, as they seemed to gaze into his suddenly,
assumed a look of distress, while the lips parted and a cry
rang forth.

66 Help 1 9 :

Gentleman Joe sprang up ih his seat and glanced down
the length of the car, his whole frame in a quiver.

It seemed to him that that cry must have been a real
one, and that it must have sounded in the car.

There were eighteen or twenty ther passengers scat-
tered along the length of the passenger coach, some of
them dozing, and some idly looking out of the window.

It was evident that none of them had been disturbed by
the cry, though he saw some of them staring at him, and
_ on the face of one or two was a smile as if they thought
they knew what was the matter with him.

In confusion, Gentleman Joe resumed his seat.

Yet that cry seemed still to ring in his ears.

If it had been a real cry of help uttered by Foxy Fan
herself, and had she been there within a yard of him, he
would not have heard the cry plainer or seen the anguish
in the face more distinctly.

“Yot it was a dream! And yet I don’t think 1 was asleep
-—I’m sure’ I wasn’t asleep!”’

Such was the thought of Gentleman Joe, though every-
thing about him went-to prove that he was mistaken.

Gontleman Joe took a parcel of letters from his pocket,
selected one, and hurriedly glanced it over.

It was written by Foxy Fan herself, and ata recent date.

‘‘ According to this, she was to go to a certain new min-
ing camp called Lucifer Lode and py this she was to arrive
there to-day !’~

Thus mused Gentleman Joe as he stared at the sheet,
while that cry for help still seemed to vibrate through his
brain.

He got up, went into the smoking-car and lighted a cigar.

He sat for a while, then paced the length of the car,
threw away his cigar, and returned to the seat which he
had occupied before.

Just then the train drew up at a small station.

Hastily seizing his light baggage, he sprang out and de-
manded of a lank youth who stood on the platform:

‘When does a ftrain go the other way?’’

“In about an hour,’’ was the reply.

‘¢ Are you sure that’s the first?”’

“T ought to be sure, for there an’t another till to-morrow
morning. I reckon I can’t get them very much mixed up
when there an’t but twoa day.”’ -

“Can you get me a time-table?”’

‘“f could if there was anybody to get it of.”

“Don’t you belong around the station?’’

‘If vou want a time-table I can get you one. But if you
want a ticket you'll have to wait till the old man comes in.
He’s around tending to the baggage and express.”’

“‘Get mea time-table, then.’

The youth went into the little station building and pres-
ently returned with the required table. —

Gentleman Joe hurriedly scanned the schedule showing
+he train service on that line and on one or two branches.

Then he eagerly looked up the stage lines, and finally
lighted a cigar to help him pass away the time until the

 

return train should arrive.
Three hours later he had changed cars at a small junc-,

¢ion, and traversed the entire length of a new mountain)

branch which brought him to a flourishing mining town

—it was the town which was thirty miles distant from

Lucifer Lode.

. There was no

stage to be had, for as yet no regular ser-

 

vice had been established betwoen the new
and the camp in the gorge.

He obtained a horse, however, and though it was
into the night, he did not hesitate to stayt out o
lonely ride.

Strange as it may seem, that dream, for\such he

‘obliged to believe it to be, had entirely /changed his |

of action.

He had sent a telegram notifying the receiver that IN
would not be able to fulfill a certain engagement.

And now, putting off business which was of consider-
able importance, he was following the dictates of a vague
impulse rather than his own reason.

He felt as if that cry for help must have been uttered
by his fair friend. He felt that if he did not follow his
own inclination he would soon have reason to deeply re-
gret it.

He rode into the gorge, and saw the first glimmering —
light in the shanties of Lucifer Lode just at sunrise.

Twenty minutes later he pulled up in front of a cabin
door which stood ajar.

He knocked, but received no response.

He moved on to the next cabin. The door was closed,
and he knocked, but again received no response. -

He tried the door—opened it and looked in—and found
that the cabin was vacant.

‘‘Harly birds here at Lucifer Lode if all hands are pan-
ning dirt as early as this.’’

But as he called at shanty after shanty and found each
one empty, he began to feel something stronger than curi-
osity. e

He noticed the pavilion of Happy Harry with the
and glass of window gone.

He peered in through the window and saw only gloom
within.

He next turned his steps toward the stream which
gurgled along the bottom of the gorge.

Here he came upon a man who was crouching with a
violin under his left arm, while with his right he was
shaking a pan of dirt.

The latter poured off the water before he allowed him-
self to speak.

Then he looked up and said:

‘“‘Howdy, stranger?’’

‘‘Howdy,’’ returned Gentleman Joe, falling into’ the
vernacular of the region.

‘‘You’ll excuse meif I don’t stop to shake till I get
through waggin’ this pan of dirt, won’t ye?’’ queried »
Happy Harry.

‘CA man is excusable when he’s busy the way you are.
But may Lask, stranger, why you hug that fiddle so close?”’

‘eT reckon ye’d laugh at me if I told ye.”

“*T won’t promise not to, so you needn’t tell.’’

‘‘T hang on to the fiddle just to keep off the ha’nt.”’

“‘T'o keep off the ghosts, eh?”’

‘‘Not exactly that. They don’t bother much in the day-
time not even hyar at Lucifer Lode. But there’s some sort
of a durned witchery that keeps me from gettin’ any dust
out of the bottom of my pan unless I have the fiddle nigh."’

Gentleman Joe did smile, but he did not feel in the least
like laughing.

He had seen superstitious miners before—in fact, all
wandering men have more or less of superstition, and it
might be that he had a taint of the same thing in his own
blood, else he would not have come straight to Lucifer
Lode under the impulse of a dream.

‘*T won’t laugh-at you, man. There may be ghosts, and
there may not. ‘But there are certainly queer things, and
some of them are hard to explain, But what’s the matter

sash

'with the camp, stranger? Do all the hands go to work as

early as this?”’
‘¢ About all the hands that are hyar go to work early.”’
‘‘What do you mean?”’
‘There aren’t more than three livin’, two-legged bipeds
in this-ere town at the present minute.”’ :
‘Why, I thought Lucifer Lode was having quite a by
I heard that there had been some rich strikes made
and that the placers were panning out well.”
‘And so they are. If they wa’n’t, you wouldn’t,
squattin’ here and waggin’a pan. I should be stz

 
 

some new town anil sawing my fiddle to make that pay
~ better.”’ oe
‘But there’s quite a number of shanties here.’’
_ “And two days,ago there were forty men in the camp,
_ but there was alight-out t’other night—and every durned
Ealogt in the whole camp took to his heels and lugged him-
self off right lively.”’ :
‘/ Heard of a strike somewhere else, did they?’’
_Nary astrike, stranger.’’ :
‘“Then what was it sent them off in such a hurry?’’
Happy Harry put down his pan, got up, and began to

thrum at the strings of his violin in a meditative sort of.

way.
‘‘Might I ask who you are, stranger?’’ he said, looking
straight into Gentleman Joe’s face.

Gentleman Joe modestly introduced himself, and Happy |

Harry’s face broke into a score of wrinkles of welcome.

‘‘T’ve heerd of ye!’ he exclaimed. ‘‘I’ve heerd as how
ye had a cool head and steady nerve. I hope ye mean to
tarry with us, Mr. Gentry? Ye can have your pick of
shanties, or if ye aren’t afraid of the bogies at night, ye
can have the whole of that ’ere pavilion of mine to set up
housekeepin’ in.”’ ee

“‘An ordinary shanty will do for me while I tarry with
you. But unless there’s a certain person here whom I wish
to see, I don’t think I shall stop long. Ill have to look
farther.

*‘And who is it ye wanted to see?’’

‘A young woman known as Foxy Fan.’’

Happy Harry nodded and grinned.

“‘She was comin’. I seen her myself in the town and she
said she was. Her hoss did come, but the young woman
wasn’t in the saddle, not when it got hyar to Lucifer
Lode.’’

_ Gentleman Joe suddenly clutched the man by. the
shoulder.

‘‘What is that you’re saying?’’ he demanded.

‘‘T said that/the hoss got here, but the young woman
didn’t. And yet if I an’t mistook pretty “big, she was in
that saddle ten minutes afore I saw the hoss!”’

“What makes you think so?”’_- ~

‘*Because the saddle was warm—that’s why. And I
Rave been expecting every minute that she would come
~ along.”’
‘“See, here man. How do you know that it was Foxy
Fan’s horse that you saw?”’ 7
**Because I see them both m the town when I was there
three or four days ago. She said she was going to ride
that hoss over when she come.’’
- ‘When did the horse get here?’’
“Just afore sundown last night.’’
The face of Gentleman Joe became almost white.
‘Where is the horse? What did you do with the ani-
mal?’’
“T’ll show you in just a minute if you’ll follow!’’
The face of Happy Harry had grown serious.
It was evident to him that Gentleman Joe’s excitement
had serious cause.
They hurried back to Happy Harry’s shanty, which stood
not far from the pavilion.
There, tethered near a patch of grass, was a handsome
orse, and at a glance Gentleman Joe recognized it.
“There can be no doubt of it,’’ he exclaimed. ‘‘Foxy Fan
must have ridden that horse to Lucifer Lode. But where

s she now? Why did the horse come in while she has dis-
appeared? Why, man, here’s a mystery, and you don’t

half suspect what a mystery !’’

Gentleman Joe burst away from his companion, and
bounded up the gorge like a madman. .
_ In‘ten minutes he had left the last shanty at the end of
the camp by which Foxy Fan would have entered.

Here he paused, and as he did so the door of the shanty
opened and a crisp voice exclaimed:

‘“Hands up, or you’ll hear your name called!’’

Gentleman Joe half turned his face—just enough to see
that the muzzle of a rifle covered his heart!

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

 

 

c

CHAPTER Itt.
is " SIMEON SHALR.

The powerful looking man who had appeared in the
door-way of the shanty and thus challenged Gentleman
Joe, certainly “‘had the drop.”’

Yet Gentleman Joe did what few men in that region
would. have ventured to do—he opénly defied the threat.

No quicker hand than that of the Gilt-Edged Sport ever
touched the handle of a revolver.

Therefore, while the stranger had not began to doubt
that his command, backed by such a threat, would be |
obeyed, he was made to realize that he had tackled a dif-
ferent kind of customer from any it had ever been his
fortune to encounter before.

Gentleman Joe’s hands went up together, and both
above his head.

But the right one:clutched a revolver and the muzzle of
it covered the heart of his foe with just as deadly cer-
tainty as it could have done if it had been guided by Gen-

\try’s eye.

There was a fraction of a minute in which both men felt
as a man feels when standing before an antagonist in a
duel just as he expects the word to fire to be uttered.

It was optional with either to precipitate the conflict by
pressing the trigger of the weapon of which he had con-
trol. :

So for that brief space of time it was a waiting game—
each waiting for the other tomake some slight sign asa
cue how to act.

The stranger made the first move—and it was to lower
his weapon. 5

‘I reckon we'll call it quits,’’ he observed, with a slight
drawl in his tones and an air of carelessness which was
most evidently assumed.

“Put the gun clear down, man—let it drop at your
feet!’ came back from the lips of Gentleman Joe.

The other hesitated, and for an instant it looked as if he
would again raise his weapon instead of obeying the
other’s orders.

But there was this difference between the two men.

The nerve of the (Gilt-Edged Sport 'was equal to the fac-
ing of almost certain death, while that ofa&the other was
not. 4
And so it was the most invincible man who won as is
the case in almost every struggle. ;

So the rifle which a moment before had threatened Gen-
tleman Joe dropped on the ground at the feet of its pos- —
sessor, while the latter stood as completely in the power

|of the Gilt-Edged Sport as had the latter been at his mercy

at the beginning of the encounter.

The stranger was a powerful man, witha fine figure, and.
a face that was far from being unprepossessing.

He looked a little crest-fallen as he stood thus defense-
less in the power of the man against whom he had uttered
such a pompous threat but a moment before.

‘‘That looks better, and maybe now you'll be willing to
tell me what sort of foolishness it-was that made you call
the halt?’’ ;

Gentry still held his revolver carelessly, yet guarding
himself against surprise. a

His tone was half bantering, and his gaze was fixed upon
the face of the stranger.

‘IT might have dropped you easily enough,’’ was the re-
tort.

‘“Why didn’t you do it?”’

‘Because that wasn’t what I wanted. If that had been
my object, why didn’t'I stay inside the shanty and shoot
from ambush without warning? You didn’t Bee me, and |
wa’n’t obliged to tell you that I was nigh.’’ 4

‘“‘That’s true enough, stranger. But it isn’t telling what.
sort of a game you’re playing. Was it just a hold-up? Did
you think I might have some money?’’

The other hesitated, and when he spoke Gentleman Joe
knew that the answer was a lying one. 2

“‘T might as well tell the truth, stranger—I reckoned you
had some money, and money’s what I need pesky bad.”?

‘*And so you thought to call me down in that fashion,
did you?’’ a

‘‘T reckon there aren’t many men who
caved under those conditions.’’ ~~

wouldn’t tie

 
 

THE LOG

 

  

CABIN

      

         

No, 373.

Lib ARY. oe

 

 

 

 
 

‘‘Perhaps not. But I never cave when it’s just a ie
handed game. If there had been half a dozen back of you I

might not have shown fight. So it was my money you |

-~wanted?”’

‘‘Yes, that’s what I was after.’

‘‘And if I had shelled out, ae would you have done?”’

“T’d have skipped from this pesky region as fast as my
Jegs would carry me.

“Then you’re in as much of a hurry to get out of Luci-
fer Lode as those who have gone?’’ ’

“You bet,’’ was the response.

“Then why didn’t you go when the others went?”

‘“Because I hate to keep forever on the go without an
ounce of dust in my pocket. There’s plenty of good placers
here in this gorge. Give a man time—nerve—and he'll
anake his pile.”’

Gentleman Joe was puzzled to make up his mind as to
thow much to believe of what the man was telling him.

He felt sure that the first statement which had been
smade was entirely false.

If the man were accustomed to that sort of thing he
would never establish himself as a resident of a new min-
ing town and settle himself down to the drudgery of dig-
ging for gold.

His face and various other marks about him showed
that of late at least he had engaged in the hardest kind of
toil,

On the other hand, if as he had said he found rich placers
here and the prospect of prosperity was dawning upon him,
-why should he hold up a man for ne suppositious gain
when a surer fortune was in his grasp?

For had Gentleman Joe given up the money and alae
bles which he might have possessed upon his person, the
*xobber would have been compelled to flee from the gorge
immediately, and so give up all hope of winning the treas-
ure from the golden sands.

Altogether, Gentleman Joe was not a little puzzled by the
situation.

He had the man completely at his mercy.

But with hardly a human being within twenty miles of
them, what should he do with him?

Under the circumstances he would have been justified |
in shooting him down in cold blood, for if he were to give.
him his liberty what pent not be the danger to himself
and others in the end.

Yet this was tists which Joseph Gentry could not
have brought himself todo. And on the other hand, neither
could he take the man as prisoner, since a prisoner on his
hands under these conditions would be too much like hay-
ing an elephant in his possession.

“And now I’ll return the compliment, stranger, and ask
you to throw up your dukes,’’ said Gentleman Joe, at last
speaking in that careless tone which he had used from the
‘first.

‘And I reckon I’ll have to cave,’’ was the response.

And up went the miner’s hands, palms outward, showing
those hands to be grimed and calloused by hard toil with
pick and spade.

“Now I'll have to relieve you of such dangerous tools as
-you may happen to have about you, and also to make a lit-
tle search of your shanty just as a matter of precaution.
That’s alll am going to do with you. I would be justified
‘in putting a noose over your neck and pulling you up by it,
or in winging you with a bullet, or at least in giving youa
lesson such as would keep you out of mischief for the fu-
ture. But I’m not going to do any of these things.”’

“Thank you, stranger. You are using me better than I
deserve—I own that.”’

‘‘But I'll have to ask you what vou have in your shanty,
and I’ll have to ask your name, though I suppose you can
lie about that, and then I’ll have to ask you to move away
from Lucifer Lode and not show your face here again while
I stay in the camp.’

The stranger bowed in submission.

In a moment Gentleman Joe had relieved him of such
~veapons as he had upon his person, and at the same time
placed the rifle beyond his reach.

Then linking his arm within that of the miner, he en-
tered the shanty and made as thorough a search of it as

«was possible. ig the short space of time at his disposal,

 

neither is it as black: But Ill say this before we part.”’

“most men are disappointed when they get it—I ‘may say

‘tween them.

 

‘by them.’’

When he had finished his search, Gentleman Joe led the
man to the door, and said:

‘‘Hverything seems to be straight around your ce
Now what shall I call you?”’ i
‘‘Call me Simeon Shale,’’ was the reply, SY ina oe

voice.
‘‘And is that your true name or not?”’
‘“That’s the name I have been known by here at imaice
Lode, but I may not be known by it at the next camp-J}
strike. Every man ’s history is his own, isn’t it, stranger?’
‘‘Hivery man’s history is his own until he gots found out
in it. '7
‘True, stranger.

 
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
 

Perhaps mine isn’t as white as some,

 

“Whatis itr’).

‘‘T lied to you a few minutes ago.”’

‘‘T knew it. I knew you didn’t want my money.’’

“I didn’t want your money. I was going to put you in
just such a fix as Tam the present minute. I was going to
get your weapons, and then I was going to send you a-fluk-
ing! Curse the luck!—never did I get my grip on anything
that some high and mighty stranger didn’t come and take
it away from me! And yat, now I know you better, I know
you wouldn’t have done it!”

The man’s voice was fairly passionate as he uttered
these words.

His whole form seemed to be convulsed with the excite-
ment under which he spoke.

And Gentleman Joe knew, then, that he was speaking
the truth.

‘‘No, stranger, I didn’t want your gold. I wouldn’t have
jumped your claim nor have crowded you in any way! I
am here on a different errand altogether—to tell the truth,
I have done shaking a pan of dirt and water for what
golden grains may settle to the bottom of it.’’ .

‘‘Lucky man!’’ exclaimed Simeon Shale, “with a slight
curl of his lips.

‘‘Lucky,’’ repeated Gentleman Joe, ‘‘but not in the way
you think.”

“TY count it lucky when a man gets so that half a grain
of gold in the bottom of apan of dirt doesn’t make Pe i
blood tingle. ”’ ae

‘“Yes, lucky he is, for in that hour he oes rid of some:
thing which is as bad as poison in his blood, since it is apt
to crowd out everything else. When the thirst for gold
gets possession of a man’s brain there is no room in it for
anything good, that’s sure, and a good many who call
themselves good citizens are spoiled in that way. That’s
where my good luck comes in—the mania for gold has
been cured. But that isn’t being lucky in the way you
think?”’

Simeon Shale shrugged his shoulders, and seemed to be vi}
looking absently down the trail.

“Then it isn’t good luck for a man to get what he’ s|
working for?’’ he questioned.

“That depends on what it is. If it is big wealth, Ireckon

  
   
 
 
 
  
   
 
  
  
 
  
    
 

 

 

even that I believe every man finds it different from -what
he expected. Yet as long as a man has to hustle for a ive
ing, he has an object in life.’

‘*But how is it when he stops hustling?”’

‘That depends on how he is fixed. As for me, life
wouldn’t be worth much unless I was kept busy helping
other people out of their troubles.’

‘‘T reckon you have all you can do, stranger, if you
make a success of it. But I reckon that while you’re doing
it you get about as many into trouble as you do out of it.”’

It is hard to say why Gentleman. Joe allowed himself to _
talk thus with aman whose introduction had certainly |
been unfavorable to anything like friendly relations be-

 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 

But there had been something in the stranger’s speech ~
and his half-despair which had appealed to the sympa- —
thetic quality in the heart of Gentleman Joe.

‘‘Took here, man,’’ said Gentleman Joe, after another
interval of. silence. ‘‘I wish so many men wouldn’t show
themselves to be treacherous after I have tried to do well

  
 
 
 
  
  
   

J eSo that has been your luck, too?” said Sinica Sh
with an ae on the words that seemed to indig

   

   

 
 
 

 
   
   

THE LOG CA

No, 373.

Lue

 

‘‘Well, suppossin’ now, that a man is white-in his deal-
ings with you, though most of them are black, do you
serve him as if you thought he was of the other sort?”’
‘‘For my own safety many times I have to do so.”’

_ Well, then, go ahead. You told me to leave Lucifer
Lode and not to show myself again till you had left the
camp. Soif youare ready for me to go, I’d better be
ambling along.”’ .

“No, I’m going to trust you. Iam going to retract the
order.’ ’

A sudden light seemed to flash into the eyes of the man.
who called himself Simeon Shale.

_ And Joseph Gentry, watching him with penetrating
keenness, would have been glad to hava fathomed the ex-
pression which he read there.

But while the face was not unprepossessing, its expres-
sion baffled him. _

.“Do you mean to say that you’ll let me stay and work
the placer for all it’s worth, and maybe get a little start in
the world?”’ \

The stranger spoke with an eagerness that certainly
could not have been feigned.

“Yes, P11 let you stay. But mark my words, man, you’ll
have to carry yourself pretty straight, for after you have

    
  
  
   
   
  
  
  
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
 

cious.”’
‘‘T can’t blame you any, stranger. But you’ve done me
a good turn when I didn’t expect it, and I reckon this
_ won't be one of the times when you’ll have to regret it.’’
. “TIT hope not, Mr. Shale. And now as a guarantee of your
- good faith, I want you to tell me something which I think
you know.”’
The eyes of the other met those of the Gilt-Edged Sport
with strange eagerness.
‘What is it, stranger?’’
‘‘A young woman approached the camp from this direc-
tion at an early hour this morning. She rode a handsome
roan horse, and was herself a handsome young woman.
You must have seen her?’’
a TS, The face of the other dropped with a change of expres-
eB h which was fairly startling.

‘I saw her. But don’t ask me what became of her, for
don’t know. As God sees me, I don’t know!”’

  
 
   
 

 

nes

CHAPTER IV,
WHAT THEY HEARD,

Never had more surprising changes been rung into the
life of Gentleman Joe than those that had, to so express
it, been rattled in.upon him ever since he had had ‘that
singular vision or dream which had caused him to so sud-
denly change his plans.

With one hand upon the arm of Simeon Shale, he half-
led, half-thrust him into the shanty.

- Then he closed the door and confronted the man whose
acquaintance he had made in such a singular manner.

*‘You lied to me once, man!’’ he said.

Simeon Shale sank into a chair, and his eyes met those
of Gentleman Joe squarely as he answered:

*‘But I corrected the statement afterward. ’’

‘“True. You knew I didn’t believe it as it stood.’?

“I didn’t know anything about it. I’m not sucha great
hand at lying when the truth will answer just as well, as
vou may think. Any man will lie for the sake of keeping

his grip upon a good claim or if his life is at stake.”’
“Some men will, all won’t,’’ replied Gentry.

‘*You can’t find many that do it. A man that will tell
the es any cost generally doesn’t live long—he’s too
z00 Vo é .

‘“‘That may be, Mr. Shale. But it’s the truth I want,
‘whether you think it’s for your interest to tell it or not.
_ Indeed, I'll say in advance that it can’t be for anything

but your interest to speak it. Now look here, my man, if
you saw the girl known as Foxy Fan come into Lucifer
de this morning, you know whether she came farther
p the town or went away from it.”’

 

   
   
 
   
  
  
    
  
  
   
  
 
 

done as you have, you can’t blame me for being suspi- |

BIN LIBRARY.

‘Wait a bit—I was going to say that no matter what
-you did with the girl—if you murdered her, even—it would
be for your interest to tell the truth. She was the best
friend I had in the world, and if you hold the key to the
mystery of her fate, I’ll guarantee that you shall not suffer
for telling the truth.’’

The other rose from his chair, and his gaze was still
bent in that earnest way upon the face of the one who had
so earnestly addressed him.

“I said that I didn’t know what became of her, and I
spoke the truth when I said it.’’ .

*“You saw her come in here on a roan horse?”’

‘I saw her not sixty yards from this shanty mounted
on a handsome roan horse.”’

*‘You saw her dismount.”’

“T saw her dismount.”’

““You saw her retreat or advance?’’

‘She retreated perhaps a dozen yards, and then stopped. ’’
‘*And the horse?”’

“‘He stood still.’’

‘*But he came into the camp a little later?’’

‘Yes, he started up and trotted off past this shanty.”
‘‘And the girl was not mounted then?’’

‘‘The girl had disappeared.’’ i

‘‘Then it must have been that she retraced her footsteps
on foot?’’

‘‘She couldn’t have done that.. I won’t say that my eye
was on her every minute, for it wasn’t. I was inside and
watching her out of that window. . lt was not very light
here in the gorge then, though I could make out any ob-
ject plain enough, and could even tell the color of her
horse.”

‘‘How do you know, then, that the girl did not go back on
foot?’’

‘Because my eye wasn’t once off of her for a full minute
after she first came into the camp. I was mighty curious
to see who she was, for after the night of the light-out the
women have been mighty shy of the camp of Lucifer Lode.’”

‘So you were curious as to who it was that was ventur-
ing into a camp that bore such a bad name?’’

“I was mighty curious. AsIsaid, my eyes weren’t off
her for a full minute, though I don’t hardly think I
watched her every second. I stopped once to do something
else, but I hardly turned away from the window.”’

‘‘And when you looked again she had disappeared?’

‘‘And when I looked again she was gone.’’

There was no hesitancy in the speech of Simeon Shale as
he answered. these queries of Gentleman Joe. a

It was evident that he was telling the truth simply, and
it seemed hardly possible that he could have dissimulated
so cleverly.

Indeed, Gentry had already given him sufficient guar-
antee of his own good faith in thus setting him practically
at liberty when few men would have done so under the
conditions. i

Indeed, if the man were acting treacherously now, it was
the case of the most flagrant ingratitude that Gentleman
Joe had ever observed.

That the man might have secrets of his own, that he
might not wish to disclose them, or that he might under
pressure prove treacherous, Gentleman Joe did not doubt.

Yet under these conditions it did not seem as if he could
have been systematically deceiving him.

‘Well, we'll go out and look at the tracks—you don’t:
object to that?’’ Gentry asked.

“TI will go, stranger. I'll do allI can to help you solve
this infernal mystery. In fact, it’s the mystery that makes
it so uncomfortable to stay here at Lucifer Lode. Between
you and me—I’ll say it since you have declared that you
have no thirst for gold—there isn't a richer placer in the
whole Rocky Mountains than this one at Lucifer Lode!”’

‘‘And yet the miners and prospéctors who came here
have fled like a pack of cowardly coyotes, scared-by a bit
of superstition.”’

Gentleman Joe’s voice was full of contempt. ©

Simeon Shale nodded.

 

 

¥ know that she didn’t come quite as far as this cabin,
I could see. But whether she is in Lucifer Lode now

 
  

   

‘‘Tt’s ignorant superstition, stranger, nothing else. I
don’t believe there’s any ghosts at Lucifer Lode or any
where else. IfI believed in them I wouldn’t stay here.

‘‘T suess it’s the luck of every body.’’ lor not, or whether she took wings and flew away is more _
.than I know.”’

  
‘. down?”’

8

after what’s happened. But that there’s an infernal mys- |
tery which is worse than any spook in Christendom, I’m;
willing to swear

“We'll go out and look at the tracks,”’
Joe.

Never was a more thorough search made than that to
which Gentleman Joe subjected the moist sand of the
guich where the imprints of a horse’s hoofs and feminine
foot-prints were freshly displayed.

So susceptible to every trace were the sands that he
could tell by the depth of the imprints where she had dis-
mounted. oO

He could see where the horse had started into a trot,
having started out ata walk first, and then trotting idly
along, as a horse left to its own free will will do, past the
shanty of Simeon Shale toward the more thickly settled

portion of the gulch camp. ;
'” It was equally easy to trace the foot-prints of the young
woman.

What was more, Gentleman Joe had seen the prints of
that same foot many times before, and would have been
willing to take his oath as to their identity. _

It was indeed Foxy Fan, his faithful friend, who had thus
reached the outskirts of the town, and then, like one of
the shadows which at all times flitted about through the
gorge, she had disappeared.

‘But tracks as plain as these may be followed,’’ said
Gentleman Joe, speaking more to himself than to his com-
panion.

Simeon Shale smiled.

“Follow them, then—that’s all I’ve got to say.”’

The Gilt-Edged Sport did follow the tracks back for
half a dozen yards, and found that they led to a narrow
channel at the bottom of the gorge where the stream
flowed limpidly on its course.

To the edge of this stream the tracks went, and there
all trace of them was lost.

‘Tt looks as if she must have stepped into the streajm
and either waded up or down for the purpose of hiding
her own trail,’’ he said, impatiently.

Simeon Shale had followed him, still with that faint
smile upon his lips. eter ve

‘‘T looked the ground over pretty well beforé,”’ he de-.
clared. ‘‘As you say, she must have waded here, but she
couldn’t do so very far. Is this friend of yours a good
swimmer?”’

“T don’t know anything about that. But it isn’t likely
that she would swim here when it’s so much easier to
walk.” :

““® don’t suppose she would have stepped into the water
unless she had a pretty good reason for doing it. What-
ever you may say about it, her foot-prints came to the
water's edge, and that’s all you can find.”’

‘‘But she had to land somewhere. She could neither
swim nor wade forever.’’

“So T thought. I followed down the stream for half a
mile, and then came back, giving it up. For. part of the
distance, she couldn’t have waded; she must have swam
on account of the depth of the water.”’ oe

‘Vou are sure she couldn’t have gone up instead of

‘‘T should have seen her if she had done so. Indeed, I
think I should have seen her if she. had gone in either
direction unless she had stretched herself flat in the water
at this point where she must have waded.”

Gentleman Joe shrugged his shoulders with impatience.

‘This is an infernal mystery—and I hate mysteries!”
he exclaimed.
- *©¥ou don’t hate them any worse than I do. And the
whole of Lucifer Lode is a mystery—clear from Happy
Harry’s pavilion down to the edge of the stream where
these tracks are lost. The mystery reaches up as high as
man may climb, and as far down as man may dig. Why,
a man has to keep a mighty close grip on the gold that he
sifts out of his pan, or he’ll lose that.”’

Gentleman Joe turned upon the other sharply.

‘‘What is this you’re saying?’’ he demanded.

‘“T was saying that I had lost. two or three ounces of the
gold dust myself.”’

““And you don’t know where it went. It must have gone

 

said Gentleman.

 

e

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

2? |

 

eee ane Wee es cos Sea Barn Fe aE ia Decne are

 

the way this girl has gone—either taken wings to fly, or
fins to swim, and I don’t care three bits which.”

“Well, it’s no use in staring at a pair of tracks. I don’t
see how you could have been very thorough in your search
this morning, for you couldn’t have had a great deal of
time before I saw you.”’ ok

“Perhaps I wasn’t thorough, though I thought I was.
Buta man can see what can be seen without taking too
much time for it. But what could the girl want to hide up_
for unless she was a ghost?”’ : Ms

‘“‘Foxy Fan’s no ghost!’? exclaimed Gentleman Joe, em-
phatically.

‘“‘T reckon not,’’ said Simeon Shale, smiling.

Gentleman Joe turned upon him suddenly.
“Then you have seen her before?”’

‘tT have seen her before.”’

“Tn another camp?”’ a

“Tn another camp. She got the nest-egg of a fortune
from me once. She is a perfect girl-wizard with the cards,
and the witchery of her face and voice makes a man play
whether he likes it or not. Then after she had cleaned me
out, what do you think she did?”’

‘‘She gave you back your money

‘‘She gave me back half of it, and told me not to play
again, for if she won the second time she would have to
keep it, or [would never learn the lesson.”’

‘And you were fool enough to play a second time?”’

“T was just that much of a fool, and she kept her word.
I’m not blaming her for it, stranger, as | reckon no man
could. It was just my foolishness, and I’m glad she won.
And if the girl is in any trouble or danger now, no man
would be more willing to lend her a helping hand.”

Simeon Shale spoke earnestly then, so much was sure,
if the tone of & man’s voice and the expression of his face
are any signs to go by:

Gentleman Joe took his hand and gripped it warmly.

‘‘Perhaps we might as well call ourselves partners in
this game?”’’ he asked.

‘‘Just as you say. I’m willing to do what I can, but I’m
afraid that it’s mighty little. I shall have toask you © \
let me pick and dig in the placer, for that’s what I’m Stor: 2
ing here for. Ifa thousand fiends had the power to dy
me away, I should have gone when the rest went.”’

The men separated at the door of Simeon Shale’s shanty. _

Gentleman Joe could.think of nothing better to do than
to follow down the gulch and see for himself, whether or
not Foxy Fan had left any traces along the stream.

It was a mystery, arda puzzling one. Yet Gentleman
Joe would not allow himself to be controlled by any super-—
stitious feeling.

He went down the gulch as planned.

For many hours he searched diligently, following not
only as far as Shale had done, but many miles farther,
searching every square foot of land on either side of the
stream.

He kept on thus until he reached a point where the —
stream made a downward leap—a mad plunge of fully
thirty feet, and broke into spray on the rocky bed at the
bottom. ae

_He went no farther. oes :

Even had thé-girl gone thus far, either by swimming,
or wading, or in a boat, she must have stopped here, for
Gentleman Joe knew her too well to suspect her of resort-
ing to the folly of suicide. ;

“There’s no use of keeping up the search for anything
that can’t be found. There’s a mystery here, and I have
tried one way to solve it and failed. I must start on_
another track. But one thing is certain—Foxy Fan has a
level head, and however she has disappeared, and what-
ever has happened to her, she hasn’t done anything very
foolish. I’m sure that in the end I shall see her again and
alive. But this is no joke, I’m sure of that.”’ E

Gentleman Joe retraced his steps to the mining camp.

Simeon Shale was not in his cabin, so he kept on, ob- \"
serving the various shanties which had been left vacant
and at last coming to one which had been more recently
occupied. a

This stood near that of Happy Harry. ~

The door was closed, and instead of opening it as he.

999

‘done the doors of the others he had passed, he stoppeg

knock, feeling impressed that it had an inmate.

 
TH if

No. 373. |

ieep) eS REE

"LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

‘There carie a noir response ina gruff. voice which the|

thought to be familiar.
» “Come in,’’ said the voice.

Gentleman Joe opened the door and stepped across the

threshold, and the next moment his’ hand was gripped
almost painfully in the hand of a man whom he had not
‘seen for many months.

“‘Lank Lamson, of Loadstone Ledge!’’ Gentleman Joe

exclaimed.

“Right hyar at Lucifer Lode! How are ye? What
fetches ye here to this’ Heaven-forsaken kentry!’’ ex-
claimed the old man.

. Inamoment both men were seated afd smoking and
talking, filling up with their speech the gap which inter-
ened since they had last been together.

So an hour slipped by, and the shadows began to steal

to the cabin, and the veteran miner rose to light a lamp.

_As he did so, the door was flung open, and Happy Harry

urst into the room.

‘Now is your chance to see the bogles at their antics!
Come over to the shanty and have a squint at them
through that window that’s broken out!”’

Lank Doe s homely face broke into, an | dneredulous
Orin,

“*Come, CSatbuian Joe,’’ he said, seizing a crutch and
cane and getting upon his crippled ‘legs. ‘““Happy Harry
swears that his pavilion is ha’nted. So we maught as well

. go and satisfy him.

Nothing loath, Gentleman Joe followed Happy Harry,
while Lank Lamson hobbled along in their rear.

Even before they had reached the pavilion, a strangely
witch-like feminine voice came to their ears, and the
voice was singing.

In another moment they had huvvied to the broken win-
dow and were peering through into the darkness which
reigned there.

At first they saw nothing.

Yet that witch-like voice came out to them with perfect

. distinctness singing the lively strains of ‘‘Money Musk!”’

ere ee ee

CHAPTER V.
“MONEY MUSK.”

_| Gentleman Joe gave himself up for a moment to the en-
chantment of those sweetly musical tones as they rose and
fell in the merry strains and merry words of ‘‘Money
Musk.”’

And this is what they heard:

‘*The cedar cakes with the ancient twist,
The cider cup that the girls have kissed.
And I see the fiddler through the dusk,
As he twangs the ghost of ‘‘Money Musk.’’

“*In shirt of check and tallowed hair,
The fiddler sits: in the bulrush chair,
Like Moses’ basket stranded there

On the banks of Father Nile.
He feels the fiddle’s slender neck,
Picks out the notes with thrum and check,
And times the tune with nod and beck,
And thinks it weary while.
All ready! Now he gives thé‘call;
Cries ‘Honor to the ladies!’ All
The jolly tides of laughter fall
ae ebb in happy smile.

“*D-o-w-n comes the bow on every string,
‘First couple join right hands and ae,” a
As light as any bluebird’s wing.

‘Swing once and a half times round.’

“Then ‘Forward six!’ with rustic grace,
Ah, rarer far than—‘Swing to place!’
Than golden clouds of old ‘point lace,

Jay bring the dance about.

&

 

“Then clasping hands all— Right and i left!”

All swiftly weave the measure deft
Across the woof in loving weft,

And the Money Musk is done!
Oh, dancers of the rustling husk,
Good-night, sweethearts, ’tis growing dusk,
Good-night, for aye to Money Musk,

For the heavy march begun!”’

The singing ceased, though the jig-like merriment of
the words and notes still seemed to ring upon the air’

Indeed,saccompanying the merry notes were subdued,
yet perfectly distinct sounds as of feet dancing on the
waxed floor of Happy Harry’s pavilion.

The shuffling feet and the singing ended together.

Happy Harry, standing between Lank Lamson and Gen-
tleman Joe, had been beating time with his foot all the
while the strange music had continued.

Lank Lamson’s grin of incredulity had vanished from
his face, and an expression in striking contrast to it had
taken its place. &

As for Happy Harry, it could be seen that he was
as white as a sheet and that he was trembling from head
to feet violently.

But there was one of the trio who was cool, though not
unaffected by what had passed—that one was Gentleman
Joe.

He waited a minute after the strangely sweet sounds
had ceased to see if they would begin again.

At the same time he strained his eyes to see if anything
like a shadowy object could be seen within the gloomy
building.

But nothing could be distinguished.

The next instant, revolver in hand, he placed one hand
on the window ledge and sprang into the pavilion.

‘*Come back, will you! Yedurned fool! Durn ye fora
dog-gone fool! Come back, or I’ll pull a gun on ye—I will,
‘by mighty !”’

It was the voice of Lank Lamson that uttered these
words, and they showed that he was controlled by the
most intense excitement.

1t may remembered that the window which was broken
opened from that end of the, hall where the raised platform
was located.

It was on this, therefore, that Joseph Gentry’s feet
struck first as he sprang into the building.

Partly restrained by the earnest pleading of Lank Lam-
son, Gentry hesitated. s

It was not that he was afraid of the possessor of that
sweet voice which even now rang through his brain in
those merry notes. .

Neither did he fear the ghostly feet which he had heard
shuffling on the waxed floor.

He did not believe in ghosts or anything ghostly.

Hence there was all the more cause, if he were to use ©
his reason, for him to proceed cautiously.

“Perhaps I’m a fool to run my head into danger that I
can’t see,’’ he muttered.

Then, aloud, standing just within the building, with his
face close of the window, he said:

‘‘Can’t you light this shebang up somehow?”’

“T can’t makea light burn in that ere building any
more than I could on a mountain right out of doors! There
seoms to come a breeze and blow it out every time I light
one,’’ was the response of Happy Harry.

“Then you have tried it?’’

‘‘Didn’t every durned light go ‘out the night of thelight-
out?”’

“*T don’t know anything about it. If you haven’t tried it
since then, I reckon you don’t know any more about it
than Ido. One of you fetch a light just to begin on, and
I’ll guarantee to get those inside to burning if there’s any

grease in them to burn.”’
4. at

‘*When?”’

‘In the day-time.
any other time.’’

“‘And they wouldn’t burn?”

‘“They wouldn’t burn.’

‘Was there any oil in them?”’

‘I have tried to light them.”’
I wouldn’t dare to come

 

‘They were chuck-full. They weren’t burned more than

 
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‘No. 373.

 

 

an hone the ee oF the light- oe and they haven't eo
burned since. Ye could see for _yourself that they were
full if ye had a light to see by.”’ h

‘Well, go and get a light, and Ill see what can be done. '

' It takes more than a merry singer like the one we have |
just listened to to scare me. If “she had a face as sweet as|
her voice, she would be worth looking | at. ~

“T’ll get ye a light from my shanty,’’ said Happy Harry,
anxious to get away rather than to be left alone by his
companion.

Lank Lamson, leaning on his crutch with his head close
to one side of the window, while Gentleman Joe was upon
the other, stared into the darkness past the form of his
friend.

‘‘T tell ye to come out of there!’’ he exclaimed again, as
soon as Happy Harry got beyond ear-shot.

“‘Don’t be skeery, old friend. You remember we hada
mystery to contend with at Loadstone Ledge, and you re-
member how it turned out.”’

‘“T remember how it turned out, old pard; and I re-
member that you had a pretty close, call clearing it up,
too. That’s what I’m afeerd of—I aren’t afraid of ary
boogle or bamboozle. There may be sich, and there may
be not, but I aren’t goin’ to be skeerd by them. I’ m3
stayin’ here at Lucifer Lode to repair my broken fortunes. ’

Gentleman Joe leaned his face farther out of the win-
dow, bringing his face closer to that of the old man.

6 S6 you have been out of luck, too, have you, old part-
ner?’’ he asked, laying one hand kindly on the old man’s
shoulder.

‘‘Wal, sort of. Yesee, I had suthin pretty well salted
when ye seed ma last. But 1 struck one of them new
towns, and they got me to speculatin’ in some of them ere
gilt- edged securities with the hamburg trimmin’s and
scalloped flip- flaps, and I lost my ante! That’ s how it come
about, pardner.””

“To0 bad, Lamson—too almighty bad! I hoped you'd
never get drawn into any of those things. If you’d only
held on to your mining property and drawn in your divi-
dends, you might have been rich. What did you want to
get into the swim for when you didn’t know how deep it
was?’

““That’s the question—what did I want to do it for?
There’s only one answer, and that is because I was a
durned fool! I an’t pretendin’ that it aren’t my fault. No-
body ever persuaded me, and if they had, I ought to have
known enough to have hung onto what I had known
enough to get hold of. But I suppose there’s a streak of
fool in every man which don’t all get out of him even
when he’s old. That’s how I happened to be here at Luci-
fer Lode, a-waggin’ the pan just as I did forty years ago,
and a-lookin’ just as anxious over how many of them lit-
tle specks of yaller I find in, the bottom of my pan as I did
then!’’

“Too bad, partner—but here comes Happy Harry with a
elim. Now Ill do a bit of ghost- -hunting and see what’s
the matter with Happy Harry’s lamps. When aman gets
seared you never know whether to believe what he says’
or not. Idon’t believe there was ever a man born so
truthful that he wouldn’t lie when he was frightened for
the sake of making it appear that he had a good cause.’

Happy Harry approached with the lantern, with the
wick turned up so as to give a liberal light.

‘‘Yo’ll come out, pardner '—wait till daylight and then
search the old shebang all ye’re a mind to. But if- ye’re in
there and vour light goes out, whatever sort of salaman-
ders there’s inside, will have a chance to lay ye out just
as it happens_to please them! The ghosts in there may
kerry guns, and a gun’s a gun!”’

This appeal came from Lank Lamson again, and Gentle-
man Joe was half tempted to yield to it.

But that feminine voice singing the merry strains of

usk’’ still seemed to viprate through his brain,
4 sort of fascination for him which he found it

‘““Na@Pold partner—I guess Ill look abou a little by lan-

ght. You know they say the ghosts won’t come

out when the stn’s up, and if there’s anything of that sort

around here, I want to see it. I wan to find if it’ s bullet-
proof.”’

 

Happy Harry}handed in the fate, and Gentleman Joe,

tne

form, swinging his light as he did so.

The light showed every object at that end of the pos
ing with. perfect distinctness.

Nothing seemed to have been disturbed since ‘the oper
ing night of the pavilion.

Even the chair in which Happy Harry had been sittae,
and which had been overturned in that wild scramble and.
flight, still lay where it had fallen at the time. ,

Upon the bar were several broken glasses, while on the i

floor was a bottle likewise broken, but oe a few

/spoonfuls of liquor.

Underneath were some other ortles, which
Happy Harry had not ventured to remove.

The presence of these unmolested was more disagreeably
significant than anything else which he had yet observed.

It seemed as if none but supernatural beings could have
withstood the temptation of having plenty of liquor at
hand which might have been imbibed without cost, and
leaving the same unmolested.

Yet apparently not a thing had been touched sinee the
bar had been so hurriedly deserted on the opening night by
Bowie-Knife Bill.

From the bar with its furnishings, he turned to examine
the bracket-lamps on the wall.

‘Two of these were broken, probably on that night when
the wild scramble to get out of the building had taken
place. « a
All the others were intact, and, as Happy Harry had
said, full of oil. >.

Gentry struck a match and lighted the wick of one.

It burned feebly for an instant, oplater flared, and
went out.

He went to another, and it did the same.

‘“‘T reckon we'll look at them further. No ghostly Gane
blew them out that time, that’s certain. I reckon it’s.a
mystery that won’t be hard to solve after a man puts his
wits to it.”’

Musing thus, Gentleman Joe made a circuit of th e build-.
ing, looking it over as sharply as he could with the aid of
the lantern.

At last he came back to one of bie lamps which he had
not tried, and then treated it to the same ot

all full,

had done the others, and with the same result

Carrying it over to the platform, he seized a bottle, \and
with a single sharp blow, he broke the glass oil tank of the
lamp.

The contents were spilled out in a flood upon the poards.

Gentleman Joe dipped his figners in if, smelled of it, and
then lighted a match and applied it to the liquid.

It had no effect. He touched his tongue to the fluid, and -
then smiled.

‘‘Nothing but water,”’ he said.

“So goes a part of the ghostly business into a mere trick
which anybody with an ordinary amount of wit could
have played.’’

The farthest end of the building had not Boer explored.

He was now near the window, where he could see the

faces of Lank Lamson and Happy Harry peering in and ~~

eagerly watching his movements.

‘Never fear, partners,’’ he said! “Everything will come
outas clear as sunlight one of these days, but a man
mustn’t get scared at his own shadow.’

- “Go easy, pardner—go easy,’’ cautioned Lank Lamson.

‘“‘T’ll go easy, vld partner, but I’m going to take a look
at the other end of the building before I come out, We'll
leave the rest for daylight.”’ }

Without another word, he strode away to the ne exX-
tremity of the puilding—the end where the doors were. i
located.

He tried the doors and found them locked As Happy
Harry had left them when he had last Mecs the build-
ing in the day-time.

Ranged along that side of the room were numer ous
chairs and one or two settees.

Some of them had been overturned in that wild scramble
the night of the opening. >

The settees were disarranged, and there were other sigas
which showed what a panic there must have been the nig
that the citizens of Lucifer Lode were scared out of tow

At that end of the room was a little apartment built, r,

 

‘taking it, strode along the entire length oF the oe ie s
THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

eeeey

 

LOY. the! Le of tickets if an entertainment should :
uiring them.
r was ajar.
nan Joe pushed it open and stepped into the room.
id so he heard a crash, there was a jerk at the
ipveerand he found himself in darkness.
 JAt the same time there was a slam of the door and a
gg ick of the lock.

emer een Ben

CHAPTER VI.
THE BLUSTER OF A BRAGGART.

At almost the same moment that Gentleman Joe found
himself enshrouded in total darkness in the little office-
room of Happy Harry’s pavilion,’ “fully twenty horsemen,
riding double-file, rodeinto the new camp of Lucifer Lode.
_ They came from the direction which brought them past
Happy Harry’s pavilion, which was located midway be-
tween the two extremes of thettown.

The foremost of the riders was a powerful fellow, with
Picnde hair and eyes, while his mustache was dyed a jet
black—an enormous mustache, which covered almost the
entire lower part of his faze.

It was the ex-bartender at Happy Harry’s pavilion who
thus appeared to be the leader of this band of pilgrims
who came so abruptly upon the scene.

There was hardly a man in the crowd whose face did not

ar the marks which stamp the possessor as one of the
dare-devil sort.

Of course they saw no signs of life on entering the camp,
and the first human beings they beheld were Happy Harry

/ and Lank Lamson.

They were standing, as the reader knows, at the win-

dow from which the sash and glass had been broken on

: q the night of the light-out.

- Both were gazing into the room eagerly, and it was at
that moment that Harry had seen the light from the lan-
, tern of Gentleman Joe disappear at the farther end of the
room.

They heard the door of the little office close with a
© slam, ‘and they were waiting for the reappearance of the
My light eagerly, when they were startled by the thump
Meee of hoof-beats in the rear.

The horsemen were approaching at a walk, and Bee
_ Knife Bill halted as he saw the two men at the window.
At the same time he flung himself from the saddle and

laid his hand on the shoulder of Happy Harry with almost.

crushing force.

“Well, partner, hyar we are!’’ he exclaimed, ina voice
which was almost as big as his mustache.

‘‘What, Bowie-Knife Bill!’ ejaculated the proprietor of
the pavilion, with a smile of welceme which was almost

oo broad for his face.

“*Ye no need to tell me that!’ exclaimed the big fel-

low. ‘‘I reckon there’s nobody here that don’t know my

name, and if there is, just fetch em up and I'll tell ’em.

: But what are ye peekin’ into your pavilion for? Tryin’ to

‘git up courage to go in and fiddle a tune all to yourself?

Do ye think that that ere partner of yours with the crutch
could dance to the tune of ‘Devil’s Dream?’ ”’

‘‘You are just as full of talk as ever, Bill. But I’m glad
to see you are just the same. Who’s this crowd that you
have fetched along with you?’’

‘‘Gentlemen with sand, Harry—sand clean through from
head to hoofs. When I left here the t’other night of the

ight- out, I reckoned that I could pull together a crowd/

that wouldn’t be skeered out of the camp by a little bit
of foolishness like that which happened the last evening I

' was lere. That’s the reason why I went.’’

Happy Harry bestowed a grin of a significant character
on Lank Lamson.

None knew better than he. that there was not a worse
scared man in the crowd on the night of the light-out than
this same Bowie-Knife Bill, despite his present boasting.

“Indeed, he remembered seeing his former bartender
throw himself over the bariand make a bee-line for the

“*dQoor, throwing the inmates,

. left in his mad haste to get out of the building.
' or had he seen the man’s face again until this minute.

male and female, right and.

That Bowie-Knife Bill had ie one of the first to shake
the dust of Lucifer Lode from his feet on that night none
i knew better than did Happy Harry himself.

The big boaster might have nerve and courage enough
when it came to apne with the unruly patrons of Happy
Harry’s bar.

But when it came is dealing with anything ghostly, he
was, to so express it, ‘‘not in it.”

‘Then these gentlemen have come to work the placers:
at Lucifer Lode and to build up fe camp?’’ Happy Harry
inquired.

‘‘That’s what they have come te in part at least. They
also reckon that they’ll have a little fun when they aren’t.
waggin’ the pick or the pan. This crowd is one that
reckons that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’”

Bowie-Knife Bill roared off a big laugh at the end of this:
speech as if the joke was one of his own manufacture.

There was an approving chuckle from several members:
of his band who still remained upon their horses, but had
gathered in a semi-circular group about their leader.

Happy Harry scanned them somewhat critically, and a
speech rose to his lips which it would certainly not have
been prudent to have uttered.

‘‘But what’s the rumpus in the pavilion, old man?’’
Bowie-Knife Bill demanded, peering over Happy el A
shoulder into the dark interior.

He was careful to keep Happy Harry’s form between
him and the window as he attempted to obtain this:
glimpse.

“‘There’s a new citizen of Lucifer Lode in there trying
to find out what sort of amystery has got into the she-
bang.”’
‘‘Mystery, hey!’ cecal Bowie-Knife Bill, throwing:
a glance back at his companions to show them how little:
he cared for anything of that kind.

“What sort of a mystery do ye reckon has got into the
shebang, anyhow? Ye don’t reckon that there’s any sich
thing as ghosts or hobgoblins, do ye? Ye don’t mean to say
that you’re as superstitious as the rest of the crowd that
lighted out t’other night?”’

‘No, Laren’t just like the crowd that lighted ont t’ other
night,’’ said Happy Harry. ‘‘For I didn’t light out the
way you did. No offense intended, Bill, but you know the
last I see of you you was streaking it like a dog with a
dinner-pail tied to his tail.’’

Bowie-Knife Bill tried to look astonished, but ended by”
looking fierce, which was his most natural expression.

AnD offense intended, Bill, but you know it’s the truth.
If there had been a chunk of electricity after you that:

night, the electricity would have got left at the rate you
was goin’! i

Bowie-Knife Bill thought better. of making a show of
anger toward his old friend.

The truth was that this big fellow had not what West- —
erners call a ‘‘bit,’’ or the value of one, im his pocket on
this particular evening.

He had been beating out his’ te ‘the best he could
during the few days he had been absent from the camp.

He had plenty. of friends in other mining towns in that:
wild region, but, knowing the richness of the placers at
Lucifer Lode, he was anxious to return to them and try
to repair his broken fortunes.

Not that he intended digging on his own account.

Happy Harry, with his fiddle, was something of a capi-
talist, and Bowie-Knife Bill knew that nothing could be
more to his advantage from a pecuniary point of view than
to stick to his old friend.

Wherever Happy Harry was there was sure to be some
money made in some way. And he was always liberal with
those whom he employed.

Therefore Bowie-Knife Bill Had regretted his flight from
the town as soon as the fright which had been upon him
was calmed by time and distance from the scene of it.

So it was that he had gathered this crowd of mountain
roughs, telling them of the fichness of the sands in the
lonely gulch, and speaking with contempt of the folly of
the crowd who had been scared away so easily from the
new camp.

He had had no trouble i in mustering a crowd who, when
not in the presence of the dangers of Lucifer Lode, did not:

fear them.

 

(

 
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THE LO

GQ CABIN LIBRARY, = 0 | fe)

Nop 313-0 ©

 

‘*Ye know it was always my style to move lively when
Imoved at all. Didn’t ye know that, pardner?’’ said
Bowie-inife Bill, slapping Happy Harry on the shoulder.

‘*Yes, I know it’s your way to move lively, Bill. But it
makes a difference which way ye are moving how much
Speed yo get up when ye get to goin’! T’other night, the
rate you went——”’

‘‘Can’t ye afford to let that drop, partner? It was all a!
Jarrupin’ joke clear through, and I seed through it at first,
and I thought if I just pretended to be skeered i could |

make a big panie easy and see how quick I could clear the
hall: That’s what I did it for, Harry, old boy, and ye,
never guessed it till now. Ye never guessed that I lit out
of the hall t’other night just to see how skeered I could |
get the rest of the crowd—did ye, now?’’

This was a particularly happy thought of Bowie-Knife
Bill’s as an excuse for his terrified fright from the camp.

He did not expect that Happy Harry would swallow
this excuse.

He knew that Happy Harry knew him better than he
knew himself, and that no excuse save the true one would
serve with him.

But he felt that he must in some way justify himself be-
fore those new recruits of his whom he had brought to

uucifer Lode, and before whom he had posed as ‘‘a man

of sand.”’
‘Ves, that’s it, Bill—of course I seed through it all—of
course, I knew that you weren’t skeered.’’

This speech was got off by Happy Harry with a pretense .

of earnestness which was intended to pacify his friend to
the extent of which the latter needed pacifying.

Indeed, the men who had come there with Bowie-Knife
Bill had been listening to the conversation between the
two partners with rather more attention than was com-,
fortable for their leader.

It was possible that some of them might caseene that he
had actually fled from the camp in the same way that the
others did, and that he would not have dared to return
there if he had not come well guarded by men who. had |
Sterner stuff in them than he possessed himself.

' Bowie-Knife Bill returned to his comrades and spoke to
them, directing them to make their selections of the va-
cant shanties in the camp and telling them to come round

to the pavilion in the course of half an hour and he would.

be ready to serve them from Happy Harry’s bar.

While he was making these promises he was all the
time full of misgivings for fear that there might really be |
something in that big building which would prevent him

from keeping his promises.

His men passed on, making a rush for the shanties, for
each wished to have the one which was in the best condi-

tion, and which was furnished best in the inside, since

. the actual owner was not by to say them nav.

This left Bowie-Knife Bill alone with Happy Harry and |
dank Lamson.

Still keeping well back from the window, Bill tapped,
Harry on‘: the shoulder and asked:

‘‘What are ye watching in there, anyhow? I supposed.
rye would have the place cleaned out and lighted up by this
time!’’

‘*T have tried to light them as hard as ever man could.
But if there’s ghosts, or something inside to blow them
out as soon as I light ’em, what’s a man going to do?”’

Bowie-Knife Bill’s eyes became distended with a feeling
which was somewhat stronger than that of surprise.

‘*Ye don’t mean that, do yer” he asked.

‘“Hvery word of itis true.’

‘“Do ye mean that ye can’t make the light burn in|
there?’’

“ Nany a light.”’

“When did ye try it???

_ “Two or three nights ago. Just now somebody else is in
there tryin’ the same thing. Some one who wasn’t afraid,
and\who didn’t believe but he could make them gO. But.
every durned light went out @s soon as he lighted ’ em. 2

‘‘Who was it? Where is he now?’’

‘‘He’s in there somewhere. That’s what we’re watchin’
for—to see him come out. He has nerve enough for ye, I’ll
gell ye that.’ |

“Tasked who it was?’’

** Joseph eae of Denver.”’

as

 

| “Whew! The one they call Gentleman“ Sve?! Ye don’t
say! And here at Lucifer Lode? And in ther ,explorin’
that hole? And he can’t make them lights burn? — ,
Thus one after’ another these jerky utterary/es oe uo
forth from the lips of Bowie-Knife Bill. ‘
“Yes, that’s all so,’’ said Happy Harry, in anein vf
, the whole catalogue of questions which Bill had asked.
| “Did ye try to make the light burn more than once you
self?” us
| “TI tried them one after another, and they all worked the%
same way.”’ ee
“They wouldn’ t burn?’’
‘‘Nary a burn.’
‘‘Gee-whitaker! And how about the stuff that was Teg
there the night of the light-out? Have ye taken any of it
that belonged to ye out?z’
‘‘No; everything is just as it was left that night ”’
“Didn't ye darst go in?”’
‘I have been in during the day and looked the place
over, and tried to light the lights. You know they went
out the night of the light-out pretty much altogether. One ~

‘of them, you remember, got smashed, and after that, as ¥

far as I noticed, they kept sputtering and going out as if
somebody was a- blowin’ of them.’’

| ‘By durn! Then what are we going todo? I have got
these chaps here, and I told them that there was some sort
of a row here t'other night, and that most of the citizens
got skeered and lit out; but I reckoned that if a crowd
came here that had some sand in their boots, that they
wouldn’t have any trouble. I reckoned that we could open
‘up the shebang, and that you and me could rake in the
dust just about as quick as ‘t’other chaps could dig it out
of the sand. That’s the idee, I had, Harry, and that’s why
I fetched this crowd here.”’

‘*Well, go ahead. But I reckon we'll wait till Gentleman
Joe makes his report. You can go in and try your hand at
lightin’ the lamps if ye want to. I aren’t in any hurry to

do it myself.’’

oe! Wood, perhaps we'd better wait till sunup. I reckon
‘the ghosts won’t trouble us then. They can’t blow the sun
out with any ghostly wind, ye can just bet your life on.
that. And we can rake in a pretty good pile between sun-
up and sundown if we only keep things hummin’.’’

Lank Lamson heard this exchange of remarks between ji
the partners, and yet he scarcely gave it a second thought
| His mind was fixed intently on Gentleman Joe.

He drew back to the window and looked into the dare
ness within—his eyes fixed upon the farther end of the

‘room where the little partitioned room was located where

he had seen the door open, the light gel in, and the door it

close again.

He looked there wondering why 1. could not see a
glimmer of light between the door and the casing.
| ' He wondered why thé door did not open and his old
| partner come out.

This wonderment, which lasted for two or face tedious
‘minutes, at last became afear, and that grew more and ~
more intense and suspenseful as the minutes passed, and ~
Gentleman Joe did not appear.

At this juncture, Lamson broke out with a gruff voice
‘full of anxiety:
| ‘‘Dry up your jaw, can’t ye, and turn your attention to
something that has more sense to it! Gentleman Joe has
gone in hyar, and is a-facin’ the danger, whatever it is,
alone! We’re standin’ here a-waggin’ our tongues and not
offerin’ to go to his help. Gentleman Joe has been in there
nigh onto ten minutes, and why don’t he come out again?
Since he don’t come out, why don’t we go and see what’s

‘up? Look here, you ereat, big-eyed black-whiskered Ben- ‘®
jaminite, you—have ye got any real sand in ye, or is it all ae

wind?”’
This last remark was directed toward Bowie-Knife Bill.
The latter turned upon the speaker, an angry flash if
his eyes, and his big hands clinched.
‘‘What’s that you’re sayin’?’’ demanded Bowie- ‘Knife
' Bill.
‘“‘T asked ye if ye had any sand, or was it all wind? Ye
have been blowin’ enough brag out betwixt your teeth ta
run adozen new mining camps, and clean out all the Ea
ha’nts in the Rocky Mountains. Now, [’ll tell oe a
to do to give your tongue arest,”” : ;

Vee

cf

 
   
    

  
  

   

 

f the old man and so shut off that bold but truthful speech.

  
  
 
   
  
 
  
   
    
 
 

| door of that office at t’other end! Will ye do it?”

| Denver, he’s able to take keer of himself. ”’
' “Iasked ye if ye’d follow me? I don’t want any more
wind—I want sand. If the sand has all run out of ye—if
them big boots of yours are full of holes, and the sand
has all drizzled out of ’em, leaving ye as white-livered as a

hicken, then that’s all I want to say. Will ye foller me?”’

yes trying to look fierce, his big mustache drawn down
it covered his mouth and chin as well as his lips.
e looked in that instant as if he would have dared to
face a whole roomful of ghosts or any other kind of -foes.
But he turned.slowly away, saying:
“T reckon you’re tryin’ abluff, stranger. I reckon that
| Joseph Gentry can take keer of himself. I reckon, too,
() that to-morrow ye’ll see me inside of that ‘ere pavilion,
7 a-clinking the bottles and glasses, and rakin’ in the cash
@ as cool of nerve and stiddy of hand as anybody. But to-
Wa) night I han’t time for anyof yer foolishness. ”’ ‘
Lank Lamson raised his right hand, from which two
| fingers were gone, and shook one of the stubs at the big
| braggart. :
‘All right, old chicken-liver. Ye’re able-bodied, and I’m
not, but I’m going into that ’ere buildin’ and find out what
has become of Gentleman Joe. Yecan go to yer shanty
") and cover up yer head—I’m willin’ to swear that ye
) daren’t go to sleep without a-coverin’ up yer head!”’
@ With this Lank Lamson turned slowly round, seized his
“y crutch, and hobbled away toward the front door of the
pavilion. o
_ ‘Hold on!” cried Happy Harry.
‘Tf ye have got the affid to foiler, foller! Butary man
hat hasn’t got anything but wind in him had better go to
is Shanty and cover up his head!’’ taunted Lank Lamson,
vithout turning his face.
“A moment more and he reached the door of the pavilion,
pened it, and stepped into the gloom-shrouded room.

 

  
  
  
   
       
  

    

   
 

ee en

CHAPTER VII.

THE FACE OF THE SIREN.

  
   
  

_ Gentleman Joe was in a unique situation.
Simultaneously with the smashing of his lantern and the
osing of the door, he felt a hand clutch his arm, and the
ouch of cold steel against his forehead.

It was the muzzle of a revolver which threatened him.
e felt the cold ring, and at the same time he felt some-
thing else. q
' The weapon, although pressed so threateningly against
is forehead, did not rest there with anything like invinci-
ble firmness. : Pig .

There was communicated to him a most perceptible
tremor from the hand which held the weapon.

_ This meant something to the keen senses of the Gilt-
dged Sport. |

If meant so much that, uniquely dangerous as was his
uation, and trying as it would have been to the nerves
ny ordinary man, after the first moment he felt hardly
ll of fear.

ell, you have the drop—why don’t you use it?”’

se words came from the lips of Gentleman Joe,
n calmly, smoothly, almost sternly.

idthere was yet a more perceptible tremor communi.
ted from the hand to the weapon, and from the weapon
the forehead which it touched®

Still there was silence.
Gentleman Joe could hear the ticking of the watch in
mis pocket, and he could hear something else like the
thump, thump of a human heart. . eon

“It was not his own heart that was throbbing thus—for
Swas going at a much slower measure:

  
    
   
  
     
   
   
    
   
  
 
  
  
   
   
  
 

     
   
    
 

 

  

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

#ic Knife Bill’s big hands clinched and worked spas-
ally, as if he would have liked to clutch the throat of voice.

§ ‘‘I want ye to follow me into this ’ere shebang, go right|m
| stra‘ght the hull length of it, and follow me through the; breath as sweet as that of the wild rose.

’ “*What’s the use? From whatI hear of Joseph Gentry, of |as you are doing,’’ replied ‘the Gilt-Ed

Bowie-Knife Bill drew back, his hands still clinched, his |

#

| “How did you know it?’’ came back in a low, contralto
The lips of the speaker were close to the ears of Gentle- |
an Joe, and he could feel her breath upon his cheek—a
‘Because when a man holds the drop he doesn’t tremble
ged Sport.

“What makes you think I’m trembling?’”

“Can't I feel it? The hand on my arm is all in a quiver,
and so is the one that holds the gun. But\then, at such
short range as this you could put a bullet home. easy
enough. I’m not saying that I’m notas com letely in your
power as I should be if there were sixty men here ready
to do your bidding.’’

Then another brief silence ensued, and it seemed as if
the one who had sprung this trap on Gentleman Joe was
turning over in her mind some problem.

“‘Treckon she doesn’t know what to do with her game now
she’s got him,’’ was Gentleman Joe’s mental comment.

‘Come, miss, if you’re going to shoot why don’t you,
do it?’”

“*T don’t
tort.

‘Then, what are you threatening me for? Why don’t you
put up the gun?”’ :

‘‘Because I want you to surrender.’’
» © There can’t be much surrender about it since you hold@s:ia-
the drop. If you gave an order I should have to fall in
with it, even though it was to stand on my head. You ~
needn’t think because I don’t act scared that I’m anxious
for you to put a cylinder full of lead into my brain.”’

‘*Will you throw up your hands?’’ ae

“Sure, lady. And my feet, ‘too, if you wish it. If you
had just let my lantern burn and kept the pistol out ‘of
sight, 1 should have done it just as quick. If you were of
the other sex, it would be a different thing altogether.
But that voice of yours is enough to make any man will-
ing to do a little thing like that for you.” NG

The bantering tone and speech of Gentleman Joe was \
more baffling to the woman, whoeyer she might be, than
a show of belligerence could have been.

“Up with your hands, then!’’

Up went Gentleman Joe’s hands, and both empty.

‘Better strike a light so you can see, miss.”

*‘Now I’m going to disarm you.’’

‘‘Do it easy, then. And put the guns where you’ll know
where they are, for when you are through with me you -
won't want to send me out in this wild and woolly region
without means of defense. ’’

‘You take it as though you thought it was a joke?”’

‘‘It does look a good deal like one go far.”’? *

‘‘But most men would call it far from being that?”

‘But Iam not most men. Iam plain Joseph Gentry, of

a

say that I’m going to shoot,’’ was the quick re-

Sy

5 ae

Denver. And now that Ihave introduced myself, is it
more than fair that you should give me a name to call you
by?”

‘‘Call me Inez,” the girl replied.

‘With a long I, miss? Or shall I shorten it, and take it
that you are Mexican? You see I am) willing to oblige.”’
‘Pronounce it as I do, and that will be near enough,’’

| she said, rather impatiently.

“And now, Inez, that I have given you my name and
held my hands up for you, what more can I do for you?
If you wouldn’t mind singing ‘Money Musk’ again, I
should almost be willing to dance, for it’s been many a
long day since I have heard such a sweet voice as yours to
such a merry strain.”’ eee
‘But you don’t know that I sung it?”’ ;
‘“Yes, Ido, miss. The voice was the same. You don’t
reckon for an instant that I thought a ghost did it? Why,
if ghosts could sing such music as that with such a
voice as you possess, I shouldn’t be afraid of them. I
should choose them for my every day-companions just for
the jollity of it. But what do you say—will you sing, and
shall I dance?” _
The hand dropped from his arm, and the ring of cold.
steel left his forehead.
‘‘Keep your hands up, sir.
weapons. ”’

Iam going to take your
i Tei
Gentleman Joe very well knew that if he so chose, he

 

ome, young woman, why don’t you speak?”’ Gentle-
deg demanded, almost imperatively., —

   

 
 

a

might bring one of those strong arms down and strike the

  
     
    
      
   
 
 
 
   
 
      
       
      
     
    
      

presumptuous girl to the floor before she could gain the
advantage which she had just voluntarily surrendered.

What her purpose was he did not know.

He well understood that the fact of her having such a
sweet voice did not prevent her from being cruel and hav-
ing an invincible purpose. :

Well he remembered Queen Esther, the female bandit
leader, who would have wrecked upon him the most mer-.
ciless vengeance conceivable.

Yet she was a beautiful woman, and had a sweet voice.

So there were others. whom he had encountered in his
career who were possessed of beauty and who might have
sung as sweetly as this girl to the strains of ‘‘Money
Musk.”’ ° ¢

Yet they had proved themselves pos
vengeful natures.

They had some 0
deeds which these followers would h
of themselves.

So, if the young woman into whose hands he had now
fallen should prove to be of that type he was indeed in a
position full of more real danger to himself than any he
thad_ been in for along time. ©

- But for a reason which he could not fully fathom, he

felt that he had little to fear.
His curiosity was intensely excited, and he felt an al-
“most overwhelming desire to see the face of his captor.
- He would have been disappointed indeed if he had found
_ that face old or disagreeable. *
"It is sometimes true that the po
_ -yoice is plain in features. |

But such is not often the case.
There seems to be a subtle connection between sweet-
ness of countenance and melodiousness of voice because,
‘perhaps, that the possession of native refinement culti-
vated both.

Therefore, instead of using force upon his fair foe, as he
might easily have done, he allowed her to take his weapons
from him.

It was true that he always carried a small revolver hid-
upon his person where an ordinary search could not find

it.

 
 

“~@

 

sessed of cruel and

f£ them led cruel and brutal men to
ardly have attempted

 

ssessor of a beautiful

Of this she did not get possession
Yet he was to all intents and purposes disarmed when
she got through with him.

“Now, miss, must I still keep my hands up, or may uf

*Jower them?’’ he asked.

“You may put them down. You are disarmed and de-
fenseless—you are wholly in my power !”’

‘Be merciful, please. You know ‘the quality of mercy
4s not strained.’ ”’

““T don’t see how you can find any joke in your present
situation?” his unknown captor asked, again speaking al-
most impatiently.

“‘T hardly see how I can help thinking it is partly one.
¥or instance, I came into this pavilion.in quest of the one
J heard singing ‘Money Musk.’ I was afraid that I might
‘not find her. But I never thought of her finding me.”

‘You don’t know that it was I that was singing.’’ ¢
thful

‘You haven't denied it, and I think you are too tru
-¢o do so. But aren’t you going to give me light.or have
we got to stand here and commune in the dark till the end
of time? You see, | don’t believe in the sirens who lure
mariners to their death. Neither do I believe there are
mariners in the mountains.

through with me. Come—you must go with me!”’
“Most certainly, girl, if you will lead.”’
Again that hand fell
drew him unresistingly,
_ office-like room, anda momen
paid: ° Fes
~ I'm going
down some steps. It is no
have to take care.” _
- **Am Ito go ahead, or will your”
and I will follow.”’
¢ can’t we have a light?”
‘ot now. |’

   
  
 
 

Ls

 

    

  

    

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

'downward until it touched the first step,

‘‘“VYet you may find out your mistake before you’re

upon his arm, and this time it
as it appeared, across the small
tafter the girl paused and

to open a trap-door, and you have got. to 2z0
better than a ladder, sc you'll

 
  
 

 

 

ap with his foot, he put one
which was littl

 

way to the edge of the tr

more than the rung of a ladder.
Here for an instant he hesitated. a as
It was well enough to submit to capture by the young ¢
woman who called herself Inez so long as he felt reason-|
ably sure that he had only her to contend with. a
But he now realized that he might get into a snare from
which it would not be easy to escape. i
He was chary about submitting too far. It was evident
that the young woman had friends near at hand, else she ,*—
would not have dared to undertake so bold a capture. ;
He felt that even now it would be difficult for him to es-
cape if he were to make a break for liberty.
‘At the same time, aif he were to do this it might defeat
forever the chance or hope of knowing what the girl had -
intended to do or why he had been thus entrapped. as
To wait until daylight and then raze the building aan ‘a
solve the mystery that enshrouded it and which gave it ©
the name of being haunted, might be too late.

That-fhere could have beenanything very elaborate for
hiding-places fitted up underneath the building seemed im-
possible. —
Yet it was evident that the girl, and probably compan-
ions of hers, had a rendezvous underneath it, and that it.
was into that that she was urging him to go.

. “Just wait a bit, will you, miss?’’ he said, this time ina
firmer voice. ae :
Again he felt the muzzle of the revolver, and this time
it was pressed against the back of his head.

‘Really, I couldn’t think of it,”? she retorted. G
“But, really now, you musn’t think I’m going to jum
off into a hole until J know if it has a bottom. I’ couldn’t
think of descending any farther without a light.”’

“Will you go unresistingly if I do that?”’

“111 go a piece. I make no blind promises to keep de-
scending if it takes me to the centre of the earth.”’
“T’m not joking, but you shall have adight.”

This announcement caused Gentry’s heart to beat a

  
     
    
      
     
  
    
      
     
       
    
      
      
    
     
     
 
  
   
   
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
    
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
    
     
    

  

1\ (MS
Woo te
Ni a
Os
GE Th

j

tle faster, though it was not fear, but anticipation, that @@ —
had the power of quickening his pulse. ie of
He waited, He knew that the weapon had been with-; ff
drawn from its threatening position, and the next mo-— be
ment there was the scratching of a lucifer, a flash of light, 4

and then a bright flare which showed him that the girl . .
must have had a lamp near at hand.

Gentleman Joe turned about,so as to meet the face of
his captor. /

A low, rippling laugh broke from her lips as he did so.
Well she may have laughed.

The face before him seemed to have absorbed into it all
the pitchy darkness which had reigned in the room a mo-
ment before.

It was as black as the ace of spades!

at et

CHAPTER VIII.
GENTRY’S PLEDGE.

Sweet had been the voice and perfect the pronunciation
of the unseen captor of Gentleman Joe.

What wonder, then, that he had figured to himself a fair
face with exquisite features matching the voice and ac-
cent which had been so pleasing to his ear. .

Yet the face into which he looked, as we have said, was
jet black. :

But the features, as he immediately perceived, were per-
fect in their molding. 5

And as the first shock, which was almost disgust,
| passed, Gentleman Joe was able to judge more clearly. -

He thought of the truth so quickly that he did not be-
tray the momentary surprise which ho had felt. o-" _.

‘Thank you for the light,’’ he said: ‘Now that T look
at you, I can see why we fieeded it so much.”’ a
‘CA happy thought, sir,’’ was the retort, while her pret-

tily curved lips were wreathed in a smile. Dad
-| Fe saw that she still clutched the revolver in her hana, «
and that those hands, of the same hue as her face, were

 

   
    
         
 
        
      

    
    
    
 
 
  

“Now I’m ready to descend,’’ he said,. “only I

 

 

ntleman \Ioe heard the creaking of hinges,
ter helwas gently thrust

 
  
  
 

 
  

and a mo-

 

delicate in shape. .
should ¥

Hae “ ‘

Pre a.

  
 

     

 

   

like to know what sort of a bluff you are playing.’
eal u would like to know.’’

   

    

    
  

    
  

 
   

“No.3, | THE LOG

#

CABIN LIBRARY.

 

%

16

 

 

 

 

 

_ ‘*Can’t yow give me just a hint of i
» **No; at least, not now.’’

  
  

ing,’ he said, looking down the ladder upon which he was
standing. | - :

‘“The owner doesn’t, know it.’’ *

“That’s rather queer business. It isn’t often that a cel-
lar is dug after the building is built.”’

‘Not often, sir—but we must descend. There is not any
time to lose. My time may be of more value than you seem
, to think.” ; Re :

_ “Will you tell me what sort of companions you have

down there? I take it that you have a sort of rendezvous

down there with plenty of partners, for a girl of your!

«stamp, tosay nothivg of your color, isn’t the sort to playa
lone hand.”’ ;

' “Not very likely, that’s a fact.”’ sf

‘But can’t you answer my question?” “

““T could, but Iam not ready. Now I want you to
‘up, for I can’t talk with you any longer.”’ 4

Gentleman Joe had been making taik for the sake of the
delay it caused him. |

_ While he seemed to be speaking almost aimlessly, his.

“mind was very busy indeed. . a :
a While his girl captor was nervy and courageous enough |
a - to make a bold fight to carry her point, he did not feel
>for an instant as though he was really in her power.

That he could even then by an unexpected movement
B have taken away the weapon with which she was so read-
— ily menacing him, and so have overpowered her and

5 turned the tables, he'did not doubt for a single minute.

-'Then why did he not do it?

Even if she had uttered outcries, and if she had had any
number of companions within call, it is doubtful if they

.& could have reached her before the alert sport could have
. accomplished his purpose. e
i, And with the girl as a prisoner, and once outside of the
- pavilion, on the coming day would it be difficult to solve

 
 
  
  
 
  
  
   
 
 
   

 

  

hurry

 

  
 

 

  
 

 

 

A the mystery which had haunted the camp at Lucifer Lode?
q The more he thought of it in this light the more Gentry
at felt that he could not allow his girl captor to carry her
= ends toofar. 5
— He had submitted sufficiently to enable him to gain an
t, if insight into her purpose, and to obtain at least a glimpse
a JA of the entrance of the hidden. rendezvous.
” This ought to prove sufficient without taking any
a further-needless risk.
So it'was that he made up his mind to defy the cleverly
a disguised girl—for disguised she must have been, since
such features never went with a skin naturally black.
ql ~ Gentleman Joe began to descend the steps slowly, and
> at the same time he was conscious that his captor was be-
ginning to descend also.
a The distance to the bottom was not great, and therefore
ree there was little risk either to himself or to her in what he
_ next did. :
fo He suddenly moved forward or downward, as if he
_ would*make a leap to the ground below.
Jes _ The movement caused his captor to descend rapidly, and
i: . a low exclamation broke from her lips.

She suddenly came to a halt, and in trying to save her-

° -&. self from stumbling against him, she nearly fell.

p Tn the same instant Gentry had made an agile, upward
Jeap, and caught one hand of his captor—the hand which
held the revolver. ;

- -‘Instantly a sharp cry rang from her lips—a shrill, sig-

naling ery full of terror. _ ;

 
  
 
  
 
 
 

ifrantically and trying to break away from him,
“‘T didn’t know that there was a ceilar under this build- .

 

  

“ It was not in the nature of Gentleman Joe to use undue
rudeness toward a woman. |

& His captor did not appear to have extraordinary strength

k nor did she seem to be used to an encounter of this sort.

/ She was too much taken back, toomuch off her guard

< for her to make anything like effective resistance. :

oe The weapon was wrested from her grasp, and she

 

— _ seemed to expect that he would turn it upon her.»
- Instead, he dropped the weapon into his pocket, and, at

 
 
 

arms to her side. ; ae

Up the three or four steps which he had descended
sprang Gentleman Joe, taking his burden in his arms with
as much apparent ease as if she were but a child.

    
 
  

  

He reached the topmost step, though she was struggling
and
though her cries were ringing out shrilly.

Then a light flashed below, and he heard rapid, rustling
movements which did not sound like the tramp of men.

The light which the girl had lighted seemed to have been
suspended just underneath the floor of the pavilion office,

And now as he sprang rapidly up the steps. the light
was suddenly extinguished, and he was left alone again in
the intensest gloom with his captive.

Another bound brought him to the topmost step, and
again his feet rested upon the floor.

Clinging to his captive so tightly, indeed, that she could
scarcely move, he groped upon the floor to find the trap
door which had been raised. .

A minute’s groping did not suffice, and as there was not
a secgnd’s time to be lost, he produced a match and
struck if #47 ,.

By the instantaneous flash he got his bearings and _ seiz-

‘ing the square section of floor which had been thrown wp,

he quickly pushed it into place. :

With the match still burning upon fioor, giving forth a
feeble flicker, he sprang to the door of the little office and
attempted to open it. %

Then he remembered that there had been a click in ths
lock when he had heard it shut.

There was no bolt nor any key in sight.

The lock was sprung, and there was nothing with which
he eould open it.

But it was not in the nature of Gentleman Joe to long
allow an ordinary door to stand in the way of his liberty.

With his heavy boots he kicked against the door with
all his might.

The boards were new and stanch, and they resisted his
attempts more obstinately than he had expected.

The girl, whom he still held clasped tightly in one arm,
had ceased her outcries.

Neither did'she struggle so fiercely as she did at first.

She seemed to realize that her captor “possessed a
strength against which she was wholly unable to cope.

Again and again did the heavy boots of Gentleman Joe
strike against the door with crashing force.

Just then he heard a sound outside which was full of
significance to him. bs 7

It was the gruff voice which he recognized eyen in ths
confusion of the moment as belonging to Lan i Lamson.

‘Hold on, pardner!’’ shouted that voice. ‘‘Ye can count
me with ye in the-fight, ghosts or’no ghosts!”’

The last kick did the business—indeed, so much force
did he put into it that while it nearly paralyzed his leg, it
splintered the lower panel of the door, besides loosening
the socket of the bolt on the other side. :

A push, quick and strong, did the work, andinan instant
the door was flung back with much force.

The same instant he heard the sound as of feet behind
him, and the opening of/the trap-door.

Wheeling quickly, he snatched his revolver and sent a
shot back at random into the darkness.

The report in the little rocm was almost deafening, yet
it was not sufficient to cause what followed.

For closoly following the report, came another more
brilliant illumination, followed by an explosion, which,
confined in’Such small quarters, was fairly terrific.

The concussion flung Gentleman Joe down, and for an
instant loosened his hold upon his captive. ' :

It seemed as if she had been waiting for this very thing:
She slipped ffom his grasp, and though he scrambled to
his feet and plunged forward into the darkness, a low,
mocking peal of laughter was the only thing which greeted
his ears. :

Indeed, as he plunged through the darkness his feet
tripped over something which was like wire or rope
stretched across the floor. :

He struggled to his feet, and for a moment it appeared
as if a perfect network of rope and wire had sprung up to

 

the same time, clasped oné arm about her, pinioning her hamper him.

To add to the confusion, he could hear underneath the
building a steady succession of reports—bang! bang!
bang !—as if a repeater was being worked steadily..

This was intended probably asa warning to any who

 

&

  
  

 

so

 
16°

THE LOG CABIN

No, 375.

LIBRARY.

 

 

should be so bold as to enter Happy anes Ss pavilion Bie
night.

“Yet as Gentleman Joe succeeded in disentangling his
feet-from the meshes into which he had stumbled he had
no difficulty in finding his way to the door, which he could
see was now wide open.

Another moment and he found himself face to face with
Lank Lamson in the open air. The latter, as it appeared,
had beat a hasty retreat when the uproar had begun.

‘*Are ye dead, old pardner, and is this your ghost?’’ the
old prospector asked, putting out his hand cautiously as
if he half feared that the fornt which looked so substantial
might dissolve into nothing under his touch.

“All sound and hearty, old friend. But go easy with me,
for I’m ugly. If there are any lights in this infernal canrp
that will burn, I want you to get them all together, for I
am going through this old shebang. before I give it up if I
have a whole leg to walk upon!”’

“Not to-nieht, old pard—ye are not goin’ in there ag’in
to-night. If yedo, 1 pull a gun’on ye, and don’t ye
reckon that I won’t be dead sure!”

‘‘Nonsense, man! It’s alla series of tricks put up by
somebody that has got a secret end to serve! Ag soon as
theWfind that we aren’t afraid of shadows and voices they
will quit and start out to play a straight game.’

‘‘But do ye think ye can beat. the hull crowd of them
single-handed?. Do ye think that an old cripple like me
can be of much use to ye?’’

“‘T think we can clean out this ranch inside of twenty-
four hours, and solve the mystery which lies underneath
it. I have the best of reasons, Lamson, for being in a
hurry to have it cleaned out. I may say that the safety,
-even the life, of the best friend I have in the world hangs
upon it.”’

‘Who is it, old pard?’’

‘‘T mean Foxy Fan, the Faro Sharp.’’

“Then ye think she’s here?”’

‘‘T know that she’s here at Lucifer Lode.’’

‘And that the mystery concerns her?’’

‘“‘The mystery concerns her. What brought her here is
more than I know. It was some mission of her own, and
the fact that she has disappeared as if the earth had
opened and swallowed her up shows that it was/a mission ‘
of danger. Yes, pard, the safety, I may say the life, of
that young yvoman lies in my hands, and I’m not the man
to be shaky in the knees because the trust turns out to be
a dangerous one!”’

CHAPTER IX.
THE FLASH OF A MATCH.

Despite the impetuosity of Gentleman Joe, the pavilion
of Happy Harry did not receive a thorough investigation
that night. .

On learning of the influx of miners at Lucifer Lode,
Gentleman Joe thought that it might be, better to push
their investigations a little more carefully.

That there was some sort of a scheme on hand of which | |
as yet he had only a slight hint, he felt sure.

For one thing he was ‘puzzled by the actions of the young
woman, whom, for a brief space of time, he had had as a)
prisoner.

 

Of course he did not think for an instant that she was. Us
really black—whether it was stain or burnt cork that she _

used to disguise her complexion, he did not know.

But that ‘ib was disguised he did not “or > an instant
doubt. A

Besides, he was well assured that with the disagreeable ,
mask removed, she would prove to be as beautiful a young ,
woman as the sweetness of her voice and the liveliness of
her singing would seem to indicate. |

“‘T won’t be obstinate, old friend,’’? he said, after Lank
Lamson had used all the eloquence which he possessed to

| tended to make a wipe-out of it.

tumbled into yet..

And for some reason, despite the boasts of Bowie. ie
Bill and, the recklessness of the crowd whom he had\ q
brought with him, not one of them seemed Inclined to in-
yestigate the cause of the wproar.

Happy Harry was thoroughly convinced that no earthly
fingers could have fired those shots, and he was also con-
vinced that Gentleman Joe had been translated out* of.
soeined ee without being subjected to the pain of

eat

-In fact, while the greatest amount of noise was going on
inside of the pavilion, Happy Harry and,Bowie-Knife ‘Bill
had beaten a hasty retreat from the’ broken window. ~

Both had hastened to the shanty of Happy Harry, and
there, with the door tighfly closed, and three or four

“Jamps lighted, they smoked and talked.

Bowie-Knife Bill blustered and bragged more than ever
as a tonic to his wn courage. Happy Harry played all
the tunes which he knew by rote except one—he did not |
play ‘‘Money Musk.”’

And while they sat thus, Happy Harry fiddling by
turns, Bowie-Knife Bill. recounting’ stories of his own
bravado between the tunes, neither of them mentioned the -
name of Gentleman Joe. .

It seemed as if by naming him they might pncglaiton, his
ghost, and that was an end very undesirable in their pres-
ent state of mind.

In the meantime two men sat in Lank Lamson’s shanty
without any light, and without any qualms or fears of
ghostly figures. s

‘‘According to your tale,’’ said Lamson, ‘‘the galoots.
who have charge of Happy Harry’s. pavilion. had a blazin’
good chance to do ye up. And yet they didn’t do ye?”’

“That’s what I have been thinking about ever since it

99,

: happened. Of course when things were rattling around my

head in that fashion I naturally thought that it was in- ~
But I was ready to make
as good a fight as I could, though I felt then as if the odds
were against me, But now that it is over, it strikes me
that if they had wanted to put some lead into me they
might have done it. And yet I never as much as heard the
whiz of a bullet.’

‘‘In other words, it was just.a durned big bluff meant
to skeer ye out.’’

“That’s what it appears to be. a

ie ae ye say that at first the a set out to take ye pris-
oner?”’

‘“‘She did, and I hada mind to. submit. Indeed; I did
submit up to a certain point.. But then the old tendency
to caution which I have always carried with me warned
me that I had not better give up my liberty as long as I
had a chance to retain it.”’

‘‘That’s where ye was right.
enough to find out a p’int or two?”’

‘I’m afraid they don’t amount to much,’’ said Gentle-
man Joe. ‘‘But it showed me that there is some sort of a
hiding-place underneath the building, though there isn’t
-any cellar to it. It also showed me that the girl appears to
direct affairs, and that she didn’t just ae to make a>
corpse of me.”’

‘‘That’s the way it looks, partner.
jet black?”’

**It was black.’’

‘‘And are ye sure that it was alate underneath?”

‘Her features were those of a white woman, as were also
her voice and her speech. It was only a clever disguise,

| though why a good -looking young ,woman should want to

make herself hideous for the sake of playing any kind of
a bluff isa mystery to me.’

‘‘T reckon she had some good reason for it, else she _

i wouldn’t have done it. But I reckon, pardner, that ye have. Z
fallen’ into about the queerest sort of a picnic that ye ever
I wish I bad a pair of good legs. I

And yet he went far

Ye say her face ° was

- deter’him from again trying to solve alone the mysteries | vvald wade into this business clear up to my neck.”’

of Happy Harry’s pavilion. i
’ Half an hour later Gentleman Joe had made his way.
back to the shanty of Lank Lamson, being careful to avoid
the observation of the new recruits at Lucifer Lode.
That the sounds of the firing inside or underneath the
building had been | ear by others, there could be little
; bt.

you'd better be careful.

‘*A8 it is, old’ friend, I reckon that you had better not da, Le

too much wading. We don’ t know what’s at the bottom
of this, and though you've plenty of fight left in you, —
I set a deal by your advice, old —
partner. There’s lots of oe advice in sou head that
ought not to FO. to ne

: i ?

 
 

   

4t/sfaction at these words of appreciation from his old

~yend. :

    
  

F thinks is his own wisdom is really appreciated by ‘some-
# body else.

_ Llank Lamson had a heart as big as an ox, and if may be
said that Gentleman Joe occupied a larger portion of it
han all his other friends and acquaintances put together.

Therefore, a word to him from Gentry was of countless
alue.

‘‘T sometimes reckon I’m nothing but a durned fool,’’ he
said, deprecatingly. ‘‘But aman can’! knock around in
these mountains the biggest part of his life and get his
body sp’ilt by hard usage without havin’ a bump of cau-
| tion knocked into his head. I’m cautious about everything
f except taking keer of my money. And the way I have
¢% done with that shows that every man has a streak of the

i) fool in him somewhar.’’

“Tt isn’t every man that turns out to be sharp enough
| to get a fortune to lose. But I reckon you'll have another
before you’re very much older, and that one you’ll know
better how to take care of. Who knows but this very
_— mystery which is bothering us may turn out to be the
very thing which is going to fill up the empty space in your
fortunes made by the folly of speculating.’’
“T hope it’ll turn out that way, old pard, but I don’t
(want to git a fortune and lose a friend—I’d rather lose a
fortune and git a friend.”’
a ‘‘Mhen as far as the thing has gone, you are convinced
) that whatever the bluff may be that they are-playing here
§ in Happy Harry’s pavilion, it isn’t intended to make me
4 the victim of it?’’
my  -‘That’s plain enough. In the fust place, when they first
‘> started it you wasn’t hyar at Lucifer Lode, and nobody
%, knew ye was comin’.’’
‘‘That doesn’t. prove anything.
|) friends are. They know that Foxy Fan is numbered among
_I them. They know that if she got into any kind of trouble
“® that it would draw me to the scene of her difficulty quicker

( than anything else.’’

' ‘‘But yo don’t know that she’s in trouble.”

‘‘Only from that queer dream of mine. And to tell the

» truth, old friend, that’s what is troubling me more than

) anything else. Why should I have such a dream or vision,
and then come here and find that there was really some-
i thing in it?”’ :
‘“‘That’s a conundrum, old friend, and I aren’t goin’ to
| try tosolveit. I’ve had just sich impressions and they

» have come true. I have had them just as strong and stir
» me up just as much when there wasn’t anything in them.
» It may be coincidence, and it may be suthin’ else. Any-
“ how, it’s suthin’ that I can’t understand, and I’ll be
i durned if I’m goin’ to begin at my time of life to puzzle
over suthin’ which the past generations have figured over
and made nothin’ out of.”’
| ‘‘A wise conclusion, pardner, and so I’m not going to
_§ spend any more time in wondering whether it was _ coinci-

® dence or influence going between two friends when they
| are far apart. But what has happened really proves noth-
' ing. But what I was comigg to was whether this mystery
) which drove all thoge miners away from Lucifer Lode
@ was of the ordinary sort with the ordinary, motives?’’,
“(What do ye mean by that, old pard?’’.
_@ - ‘Nearly always when anything of this sort happens in

@) a revion like this it is found that there is a band of out-

) laws hiding from justice and that what honest men calla
) haunt is simply a bold bluff on the part of the outlaws to
| frighten honest men away”’
' “Don’t ye reckon that that’s what this business means?”’
‘“That’s what I thought in the first place. But with my
‘record of cleaning out the dens of wickedness in this wild
} resion, don’t you think that with such a good chance as
they had to-night, that they would wipe me out? Would
they have allowed me to get out of the place and so be able
begin a work which Ihave always managed in some
Pway to.carry through to a successful end??”’
_-¢] ghould reckon that they’d want to clean ye out if

: they had a good chance.”” _ “

“Tf thosa at the head
o do with me they would have

    
 
   
  
   
   
 
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
 
  

They know who my

 

   
  
 
 
  
    
  
 
   
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
     
  

     

bent a Oy

   

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

It is so pleasing to an old hen to find that what ‘he
somebody that might not like to be mixed up in anything
ag’in ye, hey?”’

 

£ this affair had ever had anything |
* energies to

at

making an end of me. But if the plot were simply against
Foxy Fan, what then?’’
‘‘Ye think that there might be a plot ag’in her, led by

‘“That’s what occurred to me?’’

“It might be, and it mightn’t. The more I think of it
the more I don’t know. I reckon daylight will help us out
some.’’

Gentleman Joe got up and walked to and fro across the
room in the darkness uneasily.

He was thinking ofthat dream of Foxy Fan—of that
wild appeal for help which had seemed to ring through his
ears—which seemed to ring through them yet.
_ As he thought of it he was more wrought up in his eager-
ness to go ahead in his search for her.

She had come to\Lucifer Lode and disappeared in such
a manner as to leave no clew as to what her fate had been.

The more he thought of it the more he thought that it
was all a scheme of vengeance against her.

For who could have lived such a life as she had done
and not have had manyybitter enemies in the world.

While she was genereus in her impulses, the very na-
ture of her profession which she had persisted in follow-
ing contrary to his advice, brought upon her the bitter
hatred of many men. ©

Many a professional gambler she had treated almost
cruelly.

More than one such had lost all the fruits of his past
successes in that line at her board. ie

Men had tried persistently to get ahead of her.

Yet either by luck or skill, no one could say which, she
always succeeded in winning more than she lost.

And as these aspects were borne in upon Gentleman Joe,
the more strongly, he grew more and more impatient at
the delay in starting out todo something in his friend’s
behalf.

‘Why!’ he exclaimed, aloud, ‘if I delay till morning ‘it
may be too late. The girl may be alive now—and by sun-
rise she may be dead!”’ 7

‘‘Look here, Gentry!’’ exclaimed Lamson, going up and —
laying one hand on Gentleman Joe’s arm.

‘Well, what is it?’’

‘‘Ye know that a man’s where he can’t do anything the
best for him to do is to do nothin’?”’

‘‘But I feel that I can do something.’’

“Then why in the Old Nick an’t ye doin’ it? What are
ye a-ravin’ round in this ’ere shanty for when there’s any-
thing that ye can do that'll amount to more? Come, I
want ye to get out if ye know what to do. I won’t have ye
a-hangin’ round and a-talkin’ and a-growlin’ when your
best friend is in a pickle, and ye might as well be doin’
suthin’ to help her out.”’

Gentleman Joe laughed softly and dropped
the chair from which he had risen.

‘“‘T want to ask you something,’’ he said.

“Blow away, then.”’

‘There was one other miner that didn’t skip from
Lucifer Lode the night of the light-out.’’

‘‘Simeon Shale,’’ said Lamson, through his teeth.

‘‘Yes, Simeon Shale.’”’

Gentleman Joe waited for his friend to volunteer some-
thing further in regard to this man, but Lamson sat as
glum as a clam.

“Why don’t you tell me what you know about him?”’
Gentry asked, impatiently, at last.

“‘T have told you,’’ was the sharp reply.

““You only mentioned his name.”’

“That’s all I know about him. Durn him, I don’t believe
I want to know any more. He shuts himself up morning
and night in his shanty, and durin’ the day he wags a pan

back into

‘of dirt. He never drinks nuthin’, he never says nuthin’,

and I don’t know as he ever eats nuthin’. A man goes
along and speaks to him, and he grunts and digs his_ pick
into the ground and digs up some of it. If you ask him in”
a friendly way if he’s strikin’ it rich, he'll just glare at
you and growl through his teeth. He is worse than any
durned clam, and I hate the actions of him!”

“Then you don’t know anything else against ua?” _

“fT don’t know nuthin’ else ag’in him.”

Ge é { :

   

  
     
  

 

  
     

Die ho,

18

“Did you ever see him at any other camp besides Lucifer

. ode?’

“‘T never saw him afore.’
‘Then I think I’ll go over oe see him. If I don’t return
in an hour you'll know that he has invited me to share his
shanty with him till morning.’
’ Gentleman Joe got up, shook the hand of his friend, and
went forth bending his stpes toward the shanty of Shale.
He knocked at the door and received no response.
He repeated it, and then tried the door.
He found it, opened it, and stepped across the threshold.
As he did so his foot hit against something lying full-
length across the floor, and he was nearly thrown his full-
length before he recovered himself.
Dashing up, he struck a match, and the little room was
lighted for a moment.

CHAPTER X.
A HOT CHASE.
The object over which Gentleman Joe had. fallen, and
which was revealed by that brief flash of light, was the
body of a man.

Gentleman Joe recognized it, of course, since it was the

body of Simeon Shale.

In another moment he was bending over the form, first
-+ouching the cheeks, then seizing the wrist and feeling for
the pulse, and at the same time rapidly feeling the body
over for the purpose of discovering the death | wound, if
there was one. |

In another moment Gentry’s ear was on the man’s
breast, listening for his heart, and he heard distinctly, but
feebly, the measured throb of the man’s heart.

Here then was a double surprise. .

For after the surprise of stumbling over the body, it was
as great a one-to find that it was a living instead of a dead
man that lay there.

_ This second surprise, however,
one.

Gentry looked the man’s hod over to find out if possible
what. physical cause could have been. the means of. the
man’s insensibility.

But there was no mark about him which could have been
done by a blow or which could have caused insensibility.

‘Then he must have fainted,’’ said Gentry, half aloud.

This was another surprise, and a greater one than the
others had. been.

For, since there was no physical injury about the man
or anything that seemed to indicate the presence of
disease, there could be only one reason which should have
caused him to swoon.

And that was some mental shock—either of fright or
some kindred feeling. ~

In a moment Gentry had raised the man’s feet until

_ they rested upon a chair, while his body still lay upon the
floor.

Then he put a flask to the man’s lips, and forced a few
drops of liquor down his throat.

That his swoon was a deep one was shown by the slow-
ness of his recovery.

Gradually signs of life came back, a little color tinted
his cheeks, and he opened his eyes.

Gentry in the meantime had lighted the lamp which set
upon the table.

As Simeon Shale opened his eyes and recognized the face
that was bending over him, at first an expression of. be-
wilderment crossed his countenance.

Then he slowly took his feet from the chair and assumed
a sitting posture.

‘‘So it’s you, is it?’’ were oP first words, uttered a trifle
impatiently.

‘‘Would you rather have hae it somebody else?’’

‘‘T would rather have had it nobody at all.’’

‘When a man loses his wits as you did yours he can’t
always choose who shall bring him back to them again.
But I reckon it’s rather thankless business to do a good
turn and then get a slap in the face for it.’’

Simeon Shale shrugged his shoulders.

‘(A man ought to have the right to go to sleep in his
own shanty or to faint away without having strangers in-
trude anc » him up whether . wants to be waked up

was a most. agreeable

  
  

 

TEE LOG La LIBRARY.

saw him smile.

ssenses. It was a younger woman—and I don’t mind saying i

  

 

j-

cake
oy ys ‘No. 318.

‘“That’s all right, my man, but I did fe now whaft
should do again under the same conditions whether hd
one I found stretched out on the floor was you or somebody, —

=F

else. I knocked on your door and got no answer. I tried it
and found it unlocked. You told me some time ago that
you had lost some dust—that it had been stolen from you.
I don’t wonder at it if you are in the habit of losing your
wits in this fashion and leaving your door unlocked in &
camp that has the reputation that this one has.’

‘*All of which is my own business,’’ said Simeon Shale.

‘*Maybe it is, but you lose your reckoning when |
you say so. I want you to remember, that you were the
only man who saw my friend after she came to Lucifer
Lode yesterday. She has disappeared, and you have told a —
sort of improbable yarn about it. If you are going to be
so blessed crusty as this, I shall have to call you up for it.”’

Simeon Shale got upon his feet and staggered to a chair.

He dropped into it, covered his face with his hands, and
sat thus for a full minute in silence.

Then he looked up and for the first time Gentleman Joe

  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 

‘‘You don’t want to take me seriously, ” he. exclaimed.
‘‘T found you in rather serious shape,’’ was Gentry’ s re-
tort.

‘‘T have those attacks sometimes. ’

‘‘You aren’t a sick man, and you coin t try to make ~
me think it. There’s nothing the matter with your heart. I
know enough about diagnoses to figure out that after list-
ening as I did just now.

‘‘T don’t pretend that I’ m a sick man, but it doesn’ t take
so much to floor me in the fashion that I was floored just
now as it does some men.’

‘Did you see a ghost—one of those from Happy Harry’ Ss
pavilion?”’ Gentry asked.

‘“T saw a living being whom I never expected to see
again,’’ the man answered, speaking slowly, and looking
Gentleman Joe squarely in the face.

‘‘T don’t wish to probe into a man’s secrets if he is
them sacred,’’ Gentleman Joe returned. _

‘I hold mine rather sacred. Yet although I greeted you
pretty rough just now, I don’t mind owning up the truth
to you.”’

“Just as you please about it. But it strikes me* that a
man doesn’t faint unless he is pretty badly hurt, either in
mind or in body.” ? =

‘‘My body is all right—all the hurt is inside. I just said
that I saw the face of a being that I never thought to see
again. It was the face of a young woman.

‘‘Not Foxy Fan?’’ Gentleman Joe asked, eagerly.

‘‘No. It would take more than that to make me lose my

 

  
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 

it, a prettier one—and her name was Inez.’

‘Gentleman Joe stared and then Jaughed.

‘Then you don’t object as to color?’’ he remarked.

‘““What do you mean?”’

‘When I saw Inez a little earlier in the evening she was
as black as the ace of spades.”’

‘*You still talk in enigmas. Do you mean to say that
you have seen Inez since coming to Lucifer Lode?”

‘‘T have seen her, and had quite a little confab with her.

I like her voice and her singing, but I detest her com-

plexion.’’

Gentry did not long tantalize the ‘Stranger as fo we
meaning on this score.
In afew words he told him the Strance adventure ~

through which heghad passed but a short time before. Z
Simeon Shale listened, and his face showed the in-

tensity of the interest which he felt. -
When Gentry had finished, Simeon Shale oe upon his)

feet and paced the room for a few minutes. ;
At last he paused, confronted his new friend, and chide:
‘““T want to tell you a story,’’ he said.
‘‘And I want to hear it,’’ was Gentry’ s reply.

- “But it’s a long one—the sun may rise before I finish its’
‘‘Let him rise then. I reckon I can keep awake.’
Simeon Shale told his story. :

It was a strange one in many points, but simply told.
He made it shorier, however, than was implied by bh
ae

   
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
    

 

 

It threw all the dent that Gentleman Joe could Shave”
j hed f lif d chai f the: parrare AS

 
  
  
     
     

1as
lat

er.
m-

his

    

 

NO. 373.

 

- Jt likewise was a revelation concerning the mysterious

_ “young woman whom Gentleman Joe had so strangely en-
; g vy

countered, and who had appeared in such a disagreeable
disguise. :

“Then you did not know till now that Inez was at Luci-
fer Lode?’’ Gentry asked. Pte fea

“No, I didn’t know it till just a little while ago. But
now that sheis here, my peace is gone.: I shall never
know another moment of rest till -I know what has
brought her to this camp. If I could but feel that it was
my life she wanted——”’

- “*Nonsense, man! Such a girl as that doesn’t want your
life. She doesnit want the life of such a man as you are.”’
‘‘Wait a bit, Joseph Gentry, and see! Wait until you
find out what has become of your Foxy Fan!” i
| .‘*Then you think that she could tell me?’’ b>
| ‘I think she could tell you. Let me tell you squarely,
' Mr. Gentry, that whatever has befallen your friend, this
sweet-voiced girl, who as it seems tried to bewitch you
~ with her singing, is at the bottom of it all. There’s plenty.

of good in the girl, but there are also a thousand devils

when they get started up. WhenI found that she was
here at Lucifer Lode, and that your Foxy Fan had come
here, and that yourfriend had disappeared, it made. me
almost certain of one thing.’

“Whatisit, man? If you are keeping anything back,
tell it!” ;

Gentleman Joe was upon his feet, clutching the arm of
Simeon Shale almost fiercely as he uttered these words.

‘“‘T have kept only one thing back. In the camp where I
first met Foxy Fan, and where, as I told you, she won a
fortune from me, there was a duel fought. It was fought
on a moonlight night about a mile from the camp. It was
between a man and awoman. The man wasa sport with
a rather shaky record. The woman was your Foxy Fan!”’

‘‘T don’t doubt that part of your tale. Foxy Fan was
capable of calling a man out and shooting him down at
any number of paces. Nobody knows that any better than
Ido. While I am saying it, I reckon the young sport de-
served what he got.”’ : %

‘‘T reckon he did, too. But there was mischief to come

out of it, just the same. The young sport was the one who
came to the camp, and whom I found was visiting Inez
while she was there. He was the sport of whom I was so
madly*jealous—the one whose throat I clinched until he

was purple in the face. .

“Tt was Jack Wagner!’ — :

Gentleman Joe was silent for a moment, and his face
showed how intensely interested he had been in this dis-
closure.

It was, indeed, important, and it made clear to him
how that strange young woman who called herself Inez
might have sufficient provocation to seek revenge against
Foxy Fan. :

Gentleman Joe meditated a few moments in silence.

At last he asked: E

‘“Was Jack Wagner killed in the duel or not?”’

‘TT think so.7?

“Then you don’t know?”’ ;

‘‘He was picked up for-dead, and taken to a shanty near
by. I know that Inez went to that ‘cabin, for I watched
her. Whether his body was taken out and,-buried, or what
was done with it dead or alive, I didn’t have a chance to
find out. She caught me hanging round the cabin once,
and she threatened to put a bullet in my brain if she
caught me there again,”’
YT don’t know asI blame her much. But how about
Foxy Fan?. Did she skip from the town directly?”’

‘‘No. She opened her faro-room, and cleaned out a good
many men before she flitted away.”’ :
_ ‘Did Inez make any attempt at revenge at the time?”’
‘Not that I know of. I don’t think that Inez visited her,
nd Idon’t know that the two met afterward in that

m Ge
_ Well, then you have furnished me with a clew which
was just what I needed. I don’t doubt that Foxy Fan had

a : . 7 2

i ey) ¢ ee
appearance at Lucifer Lode. It also shows me just what I

_ good cause for doing what she did. I don’t doubt but that

eo

  
 

 

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have got to cope with. I have got to fight against a feeble
woman instead of a gang of feeble men.”’ ,

‘But it’s likely that she has men at her command.”

‘‘Doubtless she has. But it is against this beautiful wo-
man that I must direct my energies. Beautiful as she is,
and with her sweet voice, she must be called to account
for the disappearance of my friend. Pretty as she is, she
must look out for herself.’’ ;
Gentleman Joe spoke almost fiercely.

the time. ve Rae

But the latter was looking squarely at him, and his
hands suddenly clinched, and a strange light flashed .in
his eyes. :

‘‘You may rescue Foxy Fan if you choose, but don’t you
dare to harm that girl! Though she was to shoot me down
the next instant, I would defend her from injury at the
hands of any enemy with my life!”’

to say.
When Gentleman Joe went forth the light of day was
beginning to creep down into the lonely gulch.
The wind was sweeping down through the channel with
a weird, moaning sound.
The new-comers to Lucifer Lode were already at work
in the gulch, and the camp presented an aspect of life and
bustle quite unlike its appearance only the day before.
Up to this time, no one had ventured into the pavilion
of Happy Harry.
Gentleman Joe returned to the cabin of Lank Lamson,
held a brief conferencé with him, and then made prepara-
tions for the work of the day which lay before him.~
‘He felt sure that there was no one in the crowd of men
whom Bowie-Knife Bill had brought to the camp whom
he could trust to lend him any assistance in his quest.
They were too thoroughly imbibed with superstitions to

that which enshrouded the pavilion of Happy Harry. :

Gentleman Joe, therefore, visited the place in company
with Lank Lamson alone.

Upon entering both saw what seemed to be the shadow
of a man standing in the middle of the long room.

Instantly Gentleman Joe made a dash for the shadowy
figure, revolver in hand.

The form wheeled quickly, and ran toward that end of
the building where the platform was located.

The sharp report of Gentry’s pistol rang upon the air.

It was a shot intended to bring the man to a halt, but
not to injure him. /

It was fired just as the unknown sprang from the plat-
form.

Before Gentry could reach the platform himself, the
form had sprung out through the window which had been
broken on the night of the light-out.

Gentry followed, reached the window, and saw the fieet-
ing form outside moving with marvelous swiftness toward
that part of the gulch where the stream gurgled over its
pebbly bed.

And still Gentleman Joe followed, exercising all the
fleetness of which his trained limbs were capable.

He saw the fugitive reach the stream, plunge into it,
splash across it, and begin the ascent of the sandy slope on
the other side.

Then for the first time Gentleman Joe seemed to be
gaining in the pursuit, for the steps of the other seemed
to be flagging. :

Across the stream, and Gentry was within a dozen feet
of the fugitive, and every stride lessened the distance be-
tween them. f

CHAPTER XI. A
“FACING THE FOR. /

glanced back to see whether he were losing or gaining
ground.

 

Jack Wagner was just as big a rascal as you make him out
to be. But if the girl had sufficient provocation, I don’t
_ blame her for seeking revenge on Foxy Fan. That above
_ everything else, accounts for Foxy Fan’s mysterious dis- the same rate he must soon be overtak

But, having crossed the stream and a sended_ half-way
up the gradual slope on the other side, he looked back.
He saw that his pursuer was gaining : him, and that at

PN ieee
~

j

His gaze was averted from the face of Simeon Shale at.

_ And through the mind of this strange man flitted this _
thought.

Both men talked until there seemed to be nothing more

dare to face a danger of such a mysterious character as .

‘ ;
Up to this point of the chase the fugitive had not once.

B

       
       
    
     
  
      
       
     
   
  
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
     
    
     
    
   
    
     
   
 
    

 
 

  

 
 

 
 

      
     
 
   
    
    
   
      
    
    

  

  
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ease

Ho seemed to measure the distance to the perpendicular
wall of the gulch which rose before him.

At that point the wall rose with precipitous directness,
_ but a little farther down it were possible for a nimble man
to climb to the summit. '

Toward this point the fugitive directed his steps.

Gentleman Joe perceived his object, and yet he did not
feel justified in stopping him with a bullet

Indeed, since the unknown shadows who seemed to
haunt the gulch and about whom so much mystery seemed
to be centered, had refrained from using extreme measures
against him when he. was in their power, Gentleman Joe
felt that he would not be justified in shooting one of them
down in a ruthless fashion.

Therefore, since it appeared to be merely a straight
chase and an open one, Gentry decided to follow the fugi-
tive as he had done. :

‘‘T don’t know as I want to hurt the man atall. I don’t
know as 1 want to detain him. But since he has taken to
his heels in this fashion, I reckon I’ll try to find out
why.’’ ae

Such was Gentleman Joe’s reflection, or something like
that, as he splashed across the stream and ran with the
power of a steam-engine up the slope on the other side.

The other seemed to summon up every ounce of strength
to keep up the struggle.

Straining every nerve, he for a moment succeeded in
maintaining the distance between himself and his pursuer.

He reached the steeper declivity, and began to climb.

Here, owing to the irregular character of the rocks over |

which he was clambering, he was momentarily lost to
the sight of his pursuer.
Still Gentleman Joe clambered up, now and then catch-
“ing sight of the fugitive above him, then losing sight of
him again, but still climbing up and up with a persistence
which could not fail to end the pursuit in his favor finally..

Suddenly a fragment of rock came clattering down, |

hurtled past the head of Gentleman Joe, bounded off the
ledge, and lastly rolled with a splash into the stream _be-
low.

" Gentry’s first thought was that it had been hurled down
at him by the fugitive. :

Whether this were so or not he had no means of know-
ing.
Stier climbing up some thirty feet or more above the
sandy bottom of the gulch, Gentleman Joe found himself
upon a ledge of rock which ‘broadened somewhat, and
which extended like a shelf for a dozen feet or more along
the wall of the canon. .

Looking ahead, he saw that the fugitive was upon this
ledge of rock.

He saw that he had gone to the farther extremity of it,
and there faced about evidently at bay.

It was plain to Gentleman Joe that the fugitive had not
been familiar with the ascent, and therefore, instead of
following a path which might have led him to the summit,
he had deviated from it, and now found ‘himself here in a
place farther than which he could not go.

In other words he had fallen into a trap whose existence
he had not foreseen.

Gentry most naturally expected that the man would
draw a weapon when he found himself in such a strait if
he did not choose to surrender instead. t

Strangely enough, the hands of the fugitive were empty
as he paused there on the edge of the ledge of rock having
gone as far as he could go—paused and faced the pursuer
who had thus sueceeded 1n running him down.

Above their heads the rocks projected outward so as to
shut out the light from the sky.

As a result there was a sort of twilight gloom pervading
the spot, and although Gentleman Joe was within a few

yards of the fugitive, he could not see his face with dis-

tinctness. :

All that he could be certain of was that the man ,was a
stranger to him,\and of medium build, with a rather
athletic frame. \ ;

Ata glance he siw that the man had drawn no weapon,
that he seemed to 90ssess none—at least there were none

Joe pilled a revolver, but did not level it.
pacs of the fugitive he

Gentleman
Within

Pe

 

halted, and the'

pete

two stood facing each other, breathing hard, but uttering _

‘not a word,«*

‘‘Well, man, you seem to be about [to the end of your
rope,’’ Gentleman Joe said, at last.

‘That depends,’’ was the terse retort.

‘‘Depends on what?’ “

‘‘On whether you win or lose the last trick in the game
or not.”’

‘‘T reckon I hold the highest trumps.”’

“You would have to show your hand before you’d
know.”’

‘‘See here, man, don’t try to bluff when you know it
won’t work. There are ways that a man cagpe$t the better
of me easier than that. For instance, if you’was to show
that it was a fair game that you intended to play and that
you were a fair and square man, we wouldn’t have any
trouble from this time on. We would see ourselves walk-
ing down toa safer level arm in arm, like a pair of
brothers. ”’ .

The voice of Gentleman Joe was almost persuasive as he
spoke these words. et

The fact was that he was tired of constant conflict.

It seemed a pity that his hand should have to be raised
against so many men, and that so many*men should have
their hands raised against him.

There was a time when the Gilt-Edged Sport enjoyed a
conflict that called forth nerve and skill better than he en-
joyed a dinner.

But such was no longer the case.

In the heat of the battle he still felt that old tingle of
excitement which had carried him through so many tight >
places. .

Yet every time he encountered a new foe there was the
feeling in his heart that he had rather make friends than
to fight and win.

It was thus that Gentleman Joe felt as he stood face to _
face with this stranger who had shown himself so plucky
in the chase. \

The other shrugged his shoulders, and was
ment before hé replied. /

Then he said: .

‘“‘There’s more than one way of trying to beat a man
isn’t there?’’ he asked. Ps

‘‘Vou think that 1am merely trying to hoodwink you
into a surrender, I suppose?”’ *

“It looks more like that than anything else. Idon’t often
find a man talking like that unless he has an ax to grind
of some sort. ’’

‘‘You may have reason to be suspicious. But Ill tell
you right here that the ax I have to grind isn’t a secret
one, and to prove it I’ll tell you just what I want and ex-
pect of you.”

‘Blaze away, then.’’

_ “There’s a sort of foolishness going on here at Lucifer
Lode which has driven away most of the miners. They
are superstitious men, but lam not. All the ghosts that
haunt Happy Harry’s pavilion are flesh and blood, just as
you are, and I reckon you’re one of them.”’

‘You reckon I’m one of them?’’ echoed the other.

‘Tl reckon you’re one of them. All the point I want to
carry is to know what sort of a trick you’re playing, and
to put an end to all-this foolishness.”’

“In other words, you’re going to put your hands in a
business that doesn’t belong to you.”

‘Call it what you choose, and be as cranky about it as
you like. [have put my hand in this business already, and I
intend to see it through. If yow are willing to letit be a
peaceful one, well and good, but if not, Ihave no objec-
tions to going into the other kind.” aa ae

“Tf you think it’s war I want, you make a big mistake.
If I fight, it’s only to maintain my rights; I never do it
for fun. Iam merely one of that kind that don’é like to
be crowded.”’ ae

‘“‘T told you what I wanted and [ think the terms are —
fair. Show your hand, and if I find\ you’re playing a
straight game, there will be no trouble. Butif you don’t —
dare to show it, Ishall know it’s not a straight one, and ©
that’s enough.’’ 1 s ao

‘‘But suppose I refuse 40 show my hand?”’

“Then I'll have to table you down into the gulch

silent a mo-

let

 
    

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

 

 

 
  

n't show your hand, I'll see it oes a

  
 

py ‘reckon a fight between us two eee on this spot would
be about as risky for one as for the other. If you want to
20 into it, I’m *willing to put my neck into the pool pentiel
yours.’

As the man spoke one hand which had been out of sight
antil this moment suddenly flashed into view, and Gentle-
nan Joe saw that it held a revolver.

The next instant the two men were fapeaioning each
her with their weapons, and it looked like the beginning
‘a duel.

‘Who should give the signal to fire?’’ asked Gentry.

As they stood there the only sound that came to their
gars beside that of their own voices was the occasional
opping of small fragments of rock from above.

These fragments fell with a soft yet distinct sound down
he side of the gulch.

These sounds came with considerable frequency, there
being one or two fragments dropning each minute from
ne point or another near at hand.

Just then another fragment fell and clipped against 2
rocky ledge upon which the two men stood,

““There’s @ good signal for us,’’ said the stranger.
-**When the next piece of rock falls we will both fire, if
you're agreed.”’

Gentleman Joe at that moment Soule eladly have with-
drawn from such an encounter which he recognized in his
own heart as nothing more nor less than a piece of folly,
especially for himself.

It might be that this stranger had lived a life which he
might not feel reluctant to throw away.

But Gentleman Joe knew that though there might not
be a great amount of happiness in the world for him,
hat he was useful to others, and that it was a piece of
olly for him to commit this sort of suicide in this fashion.

It could be called little less.

The men were standing so close together that if they
were decent marksmen there could be little doubt but that
the shots, if fired simultaneously, would result in death
to them both.

And if the bullets did not kill, the fall would, and it
was all the same.

But there was no time allowed Gentleman Joe then to
' suggest other terms even if he had desired to do so.

@ £=‘For hardly had the suggestion passed the lips of the

_ stranger when another fragment, and a somewhat larger
one than the others, struck with a sharp click on the ledge
es almost at their feet.

#, There followed another click of a different sort—and the

sounds came from thé weapons of the foes.
!

  
 
  
   
   
  
   
    
  
  
   
    
    
  
 
   
 
   
   
 
    
  
   
   
  
  

 

CHAPTER XII.

MOVING THE PAVILION.

There was a click of the weapons and nothing more.

Neither of them was discharged.

This, however, was not the ae of the men who held
them.
mH Instantly the truth flashed upon the mind of each—in
‘— that plunge across the stream the revolvers had become
. drenched by the splash of the water and the cartridges in
them were rendered unfit for use.

‘*It would have been a foolish thing to have done, and it
_ was a happy fate that interposed,’’ said Gentleman Joe as
) he thrust his weapon out of sight.
” The other followed his example, but did not speak.
— ‘‘It would be good sense for you to take it as a sign that

)) it would be better for us to come to terms instead of fight-

ing. i
‘“The terms would be better for you, perhaps, since you
would be the one to make them—but not for me. If you
think you’re going to get a secret out of me you'll have to
work for it, that’s all.”’
Vee ben the sooner I ao the aoe
 tOrby

  
  
     
   
  
  

was Gentry’s re-

   
 

   

partners help Heeide: your case. In other words, if you’

 

i ” Without another word, he pounded toward the oe
The fugitive seemed. to brace himself for the shock, and

the next instant the men were clinching in a match whic ‘h

called for another kind of skill combined with strength.

The stranger possessed skill enough, and in point of
strength he was an average man.

In this last point Gentleman Joe was more than an aver-
age man, and it was quickly demonstrated that if they
were on level ground, where a fair match could be had,
that the victory must of necessity fall to Gentleman Joe,
and that quickly.

But they were not upon good fighting ground.

A hand to hand combat of any sort. could not fail to be
hazardous to both combatants in such a place.

For a moment they swayed to and fro, keeping close to —
the perpendicular wall on one side.

‘Then their struggles caused them to stagger out toward
the edge of the declivity, and the next moment both had
fallen.

Gentleman Joe, by a skillful maneuvre, managed to keep
on the inside, and the other being upon the very brink of
the declivity, lost his footing, and with a low, hoarse cry,
he dropped over the edge.

Gentleman Joe still held onto him, and by an immense
expenditure of strength, while he himself was lying at full
length on the rough surface, eased the fall of his antag-
onist.

The latter had released his hold on Gentleman Joe and
clung with all his strength to the jagged edge of rock,
which was all there was near at hand for him to cling to.

And there he clung, hanging at arms’ length, his eyes
glaring up at Gentleman Joe, the latter leaning over the
brink, and clinging to his shoulder, and the combined
strength of the two men sustaining the one whose body
and legs were dangling over the abyss.

Then, at least, was the stranger fully within the power
of the Gilt- Edged Sport.

The latter might have drawn him up, although it would
have required a prodigious effort to have done so since
the man’s weight was almost sufficient to drag Gentry
from the hold which he had upon the narrow space.

For a brief space the antagonists remained in that posi-
tion—one of them suspended over certain death, breathing
hard and straining every muscle to draw himself upward.

But the latter was impossible.

The hold which his fingers had upon the rock was
simply a partial aid in sustaining him, and no more.

If Gentleman Joe were to release him he would not
have been able to have clung three minutes to the slip-
pery crumbling rock which his fingers clutched like claws.

The stranger knew this—even as it was it seemed ‘to

him that his strength must soon fail, and that he would

be precipitated to his death despite any effort that his an-
tagonist might make to save him.

It is likewise doubtful if Gentleman Joe could have long
held the man in this position unaided.

‘*Have yo! =_.-enough?’’ Gentleman Joe asked.

‘*Knough of fight, yes.”?

‘‘Had you rather go up or go down?”’

‘That is rather a useless question to ask me,”’

“Tt’s simply a matter of choice with you, that’s all. I
didn’t seek a struggle, and ] knew pretty well at the. be-
ginning how it, would be likely to end. ButI was pretty
mighty uncertain about my being able to hold you up
when the final pinch came. It’s your good luck that you
have a breathing spell now, and a chance to choose be-
tween life and death.’’

“‘T suppose you think yyou’ve got me where you can
make any sort of terms you please with me?’’

‘‘1’]1 make them just as easy as I did when we stood face
to face with an equal chance for both. I’11do more than
that—for I reckon that we couldn’t.either of us stand this
position for a great length of time and leave any chance of
being able to get you on to terra firma again with a whole
neck.”’

‘*T can’t hold on with this grip much longer.”’

‘‘No, nor could I, and have muscle enough left to pull
you up by. SoI’ll have to accept your promise and trust
you to break or keep it.”’ ‘ -

‘‘You’re fair, I'll say that for you. So what do you de-
mand?’’ ,

 
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TK LOG CABIN LIBRARY. ~_

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‘CA fair account of yourself and whatever may be asked
of you in return for your life.”’
‘ * And those are your only terms?’’

‘‘My only terms.’’. ; :

The other hesitated a moment, but the strain upon his
muscles was telling upon them at a rate which they could
not long maintain. ;

‘111 come to your terms,’’ he said.

-*SAnd tell me all I wish to know?”

“T’1l tell you all I know—no man can do more than
that.” ~~

“Very well, then. I accept your word. Now be careful
not to kick vour legs or make any other movement of
your body except to pull with what strength you have
straight upward@ It’s my weight against yours, and my
grip is a mightyeslender one. Go easy, now, easy te

Exercising his powerful arms to the utmost, and by a
steady, firm pull, Gentleman Joe soon raised his foe up to
where the latter could, by a quick movement, reach outward
and clutch at another projection of rock, which gave him
a better hold and relieved the peculiar strain upon his
finzers which he had sustained as long as they would
bear it.

Indeed, the ends of those fingers were bleeding already.

Up and up until the fugitive could help himself more
and more, till finally, by a pull simultaneously exercised
by both the men, he was landed full-length on the level
space by the side of his foe.

There he lay motionless and panting for a full minute
without trying to rise or to utter a word.

Gentleman Joe straightened up, and, producing a flask,
offered it to his late antagonist.

The latter accepted it, drank a few spoonfuls of the
liquor, and then struggled toa sitting posture.

“‘T could feel death clutching at my legs, then,’’ he said,
and a sickly sort of grin overspread his face as he spoke.

‘Well, he had a grip on you, and I reckoned for a min-
ute that he would pull you over despite anything that I
could do.’’.

‘““T reckoned so, too. Do you know, I had a mind to get
hold of your arms and hold you so that you couldn’t let
go if you wanted to?”’

‘And do you know that that was the very thing that I
was on the lookout for? If you had tried it you would
have got left, that’s all—and for the last time in your
career.”’ i ;

“J didn't do it. It was just a temptation. But it struck
me that it wasn’t just straight to play, and that if I did
happen to go over, 1 shouldn’t want to die having tried
16.7"

‘‘T’m glad you have some decent sort of impulse in your

nature. But aman wouldn’t have to be very ugly to have’

tried that trick when he was in such a position as you
were. Butare you ready to pay your price?’” _

“Ves, I’m ready to pay the price. You found it hard to
get an agreement out of me, and that was because [ don’t
intend to make any promises that I can’t keep, not even
when death is pulling at my legs as it was just now!”’

It is needless here to detail the explanations given by
the fugitive in response to the questionings of Gentleman
Joe, ’ , ,

All the points brought out which have a bearing on our
story will be noted in their proper places.

Let it suffice to say that the answers which the fugitive
gave Gentleman Joe did not throw as much light on the
mystery as Gentleman Joe had expected.

For instance, it appeared that the man knew almost
nothing about the young woman called Inez.

Yet there were points brought out which were of im-
portance, and which would serve as a clew in leading
Gentry on to the more vital points in the game.

At the close of the interview the two descended again
to the gulch. a

Gentleman Joe had agreed not to detain the fugitive
further, nor did he ask the man’sname. > ~

All it amounted to was that this man was simply a ser-
vant of somebody else, he himself hardly knew whom,
since he received his orders from one who was as much a
servant as himself, instead of from his leader.

Enough was brought out, however, to prove what Gen-

tleman Joe nee all the time to be true.

This was that it was no ordinary band of outlaws
derneath it.

a secret, although it was clear, as it had been from the
first, that they desired to frighten away the citizens of
Lucifer Lode. Ror a

For some reason, they did not wish the pavilion to be
used. 2
Indeed, the man declared that he would be glad if the
building were to be taken down, though it would bea dam-
age to them to have it burned.

to further explore the hiding-place underneath the build-
ing. : ‘ ff
He declared that there was no enmity _felt. for Gentry
push his investigations too far.

He was simply desired not to interfere, and he was as-

that would not injure him or any other honorable person
in any way. cv

are working out this scheme are. just as straight and just
as square as any of the miners who first came to Lucifer
Lode. And it may turn out that you’ll find us straighter
and squarer than any of that crowd that has just struck
the camp under the leadership of the one you call Bowie-
Knife Bill.” Aes

_ Whether the man spoke the truth wholly or not, Gentle-
man Joe was not prepared to fully decide.

he did not doubt. ;
Neither did Gentleman Joe give any further assurance
as to his future actions on the premises. P
Nor did he mention to the man the matter of Foxy Fan’s
disappearance.
From what had already been said, he felt sure that the
fugitive knew nothing of the young woman or of any pris-
oner being held by the men with whom he was associated.

and not give any of his intentions or plans in return.

He would leave the game open and vary his play accord-
ing to the circumstances and his own future discretion.

Separating from,the stranger, Gentleman Joe went to
the cabin of ‘Lank/Lamson.

But the latter was not: there.

laboring with as much assiduity as if he were just begin-
ning life as a prospector. - :

Not until later in the day did Gentleman Joe do any-
thing to discover aught concerning the mystery at Lucifer
Lode. ‘ ®

His greatest desire now was to be brought again face to
face with the young woman who called herself Inez.

A bold descent into the den underneath the building
alone and in direct opposition to the warnings which he
had received, Gentleman Joe did not consider a judicious
course of action under the conditions. 2

What he wished to ascertain was if there were half a
dozen men in the camp who could be depended on in case
GE needa. Bs ‘

Then he wished to gain the consent of Happy Harry to
have the pavilion destroyed, or at least removed from the
spot where it now stood.

sented.

can git the citizens of Lucifer Lode to come back ag’in,

tleman Joe made the proposition to him.

the building and make it pay as long as it stands where it

does now?’’ ‘ as
_ “T’m afeered not.’’

 

whee
had made their rendezvous in the deserted pavilion or un- _

The purpose of the mysterious tenants was still almost

himself, nor did they wish to injure him unless he were to —
sured that the scheme that was being worked out was one {—

“he fact is,’’ said the man, in conclusion, ‘‘that we who

Yet that at least a part of his statements were truthful —

It was Gentry’s policy to get as many facts as possible, *

Gentry found him hard at work with pick and spade, ~

“Tf yé can git the men to go to work on it, and git the
tools to do it with, and h’ist that ’ere building onto some ;/_ .
timbers, and hist it over onto another spot, [I reckon we

and to patronize the concern without any of them being ,
jafeered of the ha’nt,’’ Happy Harry declared, when Gen-

‘‘Not even if I should give the best of evidence that ,
there was nothing ghostly about what they saw there?” _
‘‘Not even in that case. They wouldn’t take no evidence, a

He had strongly advised Gentleman Joe not to attempt a

To the last named«proposition the owner readily con- / }

- “Then you think you couldn’t ever get them to go into | 7

 
 

“THE LOG CABIN LIBIEAY. es

 

a way. There was queer doings here the night of the |
joning, and that pair of critters dancing across the floor ,

iat queer fashion, and one of them “throwing t’ ‘other |

ceowe was of solving any kind of a mystery, no matter

how simple.”’
‘“Yemay say just what ye’reamind to. JTllownup that

wn and killin’ him in cold blood, and bein’ a woman at ‘we were a pack of durned fools, every blessed one of us.

or dressed up like one, and then all the lights goin’
and the gineral look of everything being so queer and
h queer noises here, are somethin’ that the men of
ifer Lode will never git out of their heads.”’

hen they wouldn’t dare to go in there again by lamp-
as long as the building stands where it does now??’’

m sure not. Even the rough-and-tough crowd that

| here with Bowie-Knife Bill don’t dare to go in

». I tried to git Bill himself to go with me, but he

dn’t. I tried to git some of the others, but they had all

ed Bill’s remarks about it, and. though they laughed

pretended not to keer about the ghosts, I couldn’t git

f them to go in with me even in the day-time. When

h a repu’ *tion as that gits started about a building, ye

cht as well destroy the whole shebang.’’
hen you are willing to move it?”’

‘I’m mighty anxious to doit. [’ll put money into the

, and if ve will find the men to do the 2 that’s all
sk fore

‘‘Well, set about it and be as quick as you can. In the

eanwhile, I have plenty of matters to follow up here in|

he gulch. You know the young woman who was to come

ere to the camp and whose horse you saw, and. who!

ever appeared herself, has disappeared as completely as)

if she had taken wings and flown up to heaven.’

“T reckon the shadows must have got hold.of her. They
eem to have swooped down into this ’ere gulch and be
unnin’ things to suit themselves. So they had a good |
hance to put some lead in you last night, and-they didn’t |
0 it? Well, ye don’t want to follow them too mighty keer-
ess, let mesay that, for they mean to make things lively for
jomebody afore they git through. There’s some sort of
cheme on foot, and ye needn’t think that IT believe that}
ry zhost has anything to do with it either.’

_‘‘T reckon not. But what sort of a scheme e you reckon
hey are playing?”

“‘T haven’t the least idee. At first E thought it was a lay

) fer to clean out the camp and git possession of what gold
iwe had got together. But if that had been the game they |
iwas playing they started out in a poor way, “for they
'skeered every man out of the camp, and didn’t git any
' dust either to speak of. Then the queer part of it was the

| eters om queer fight inside the pavilion the night

y) of the light-out.”’
i §6**T have never heard the details of that yet.”
“Then I'll give them to ye. It’s a queer yarn, and one
orth hearin’.’’
Happy Harry told the story as the reader already knows
t, and as it was related at the close of our first chapter.
Lank Lamson, not having been an eye-witness of the
ffair, and not having taken much stock in the popular
tories concerning it, had given to Gentleman Joe only
ery few details concerning it.

Happy Harry, though there was a liberal ‘amount of
superstition in his make-up, nevertheless found it to his
mterest to discourage anything ghostly about his pavilion,
nd so tried to squelch within himself the thought what

“Wiuhere was anything like ghosts at Lucifer Lode.

This is the second version of this yarn that I have
ard,’’? said Gentleman Joe. ‘‘I take it that you were an
witness?”
reckon I was, Mr. Gentry.”
And you saw all there was to see?”
aw all there was to see until the lamps went out. e
Vhich went out-first, you or the lamps?’’
, [reckon I was about the last to git out. Istumbled
undered around there in the dark quite a while, and
all the rest left before I found my way to the door.’
Well, if there was a man killed, as you say, on the
form, what became of his body? That’s a question I]
en’t asked before, and it’s something which hasn’t
mentioned to me.’
‘11 be durned if I had hardly thought of it.”?
“Hardly thought of it! A murder right here in the camp,.
and you had hardly thought what had become of the body |

pe the perder ee man! That prome just how capable this_

 

But there’s just one thing about it, Mr. Gentry—I didn’t
skip the town asthe rest did. I staid right hyar and
wageged my pan of dirt, though I’ll be durned if I dared to
wag it any way except from right to left. If I wagged it
t’other way I never could find a speck of the yaller in the
bottom. ’

This was spoken with the utmost air of seriousness.

‘With such an air, indeed, that Gentleman Joe could not

restrain a laugh.

‘‘And another point,’’ Gentry continued. ‘‘I have looked
right at the spot where you said the man fell that was
killed, and there were no spots there or stains.’’

‘*Is that so? I have been in there, but I never thought to
look. In fact, I took particular pains not to look at that
spot anyhow—I didn’t want to see no spots, and no stains.
I felt all the time I was in there as if there was a shadow
pullin’ at the tail of my coat every time I turned my’ back
on it.’’

‘Which shows that you were not capable of investigat-

ing the business. Now are you. sure that.there was any -

man killed there at all?’’

“Tt had all the signs of it that night.’’

‘*Yet there was no body and no blood?’’

“‘T reckon the body was hustled out of sight. There was
plenty of chance to do that after the crowd lit out, for
there wasn’t anybody that dares to come in here till the
next day, and then I was the only one here to come im.”’

‘‘Very true. But the blood could not have been cleaned
up as lively as that. At least, it isn’t likely that it could.”’

‘‘Maybe not—maybe there wa’n’t none—maybe every-
thing was all straight and spick and span that night, and
there didn’t anything happen anywhere. But I want to
tell ye, Mr. Gentry, that the crowd of men weren’t driven
;from Lucifer Lode for nothing, and ye needn’t think it.

| There was the queerest sort of doings that night that ever

happened in any camp.” —

“I don’t deny that it’s queer—there have been queer
things since I have been here—the disappearance of Foxy
‘Fan for instance. But the point is that you think you
will be able to put the shanty to use if it is moved to
another spot?”

‘“*T reckon so.’

“*But it oe some tools to move it with—jack-screws,
for instance.’

‘‘And that’s what we happen to have right hyar at

| Lucifer Lode. Ye see, when I come hyar and found that it

was a Stayin’ camp—that there was plenty of gold and
that there would be a crowd of diggers here inside of a
month or two—I set out to make some money, for I didn’t

“want to do any diggin’ myself, So I had some tools hauled

here for building. Ye know ina gulch like this the water
sometimes rises, and if ye have a building that is valua-
ble, it’s handy to have something to h’ist it up with. Sol
fetched along some jack-screws.’’ ;

‘“‘Then I don’t see but you’re fixed to do the work if you
can only get the men to help you.”’

‘‘T can git the men if I don’t keep them to work after
sundown. But there isn’t a man in the gulch who would
dare to work round that building after the shadows ok
afloat in the gulch.”’

‘‘Well, there are several hours left in to-day. Get! your
men, promise them good pay, and set them to work, Make
things hum as lively as possible.’’

Happy Harry considered a moment, and then said:

“T’ll doit. I’ll have that building moved onto a new

site, and I’ll have it done inside of twenty-four hours if I
have to work every durned jack-screw myself and tend to
all the rollers under it.”’

Happy Harry was a man of enterprise as well as a
musician.

This was shown by the rapidity with which he carried
out his plans.

He succeeded in getting several men enlisted in the en-
terprisé, and although they did not relish the work, he
offered them good pay, and it was easier work than dig-
ging down to bed rock, and they were willing to accept
the money he would pay them.

. : oh
iT SR

 
THE LOG

“CABIN TR Any.

ae ce

 

24

 

Before sundown Happy Harry’s pavilion was raised
upon jack-screws and timbers and all ready for removal.

But at the moment that twilight stole into the gulch

‘and objects began to assume the indefinite shapes which

_ the darkness gave them, every man deserted his post, and
repaired to his shanty, refusing to go near the building to
work until daylight.

Gentleman Joe, in the meantime, had been doing some
close reckoning.

There were vacant shanties enough in the camp, so he
had found. one for use for the present.

He held a consultation in the evening with Lank Lam-
son, later made a call upon Simeon Shale, and lastly re-
paired to his own shanty and retired to sleep.

-So weary was he that he slept very late.

Indeed, he felt aS if he had been under the influence of
an opiate, for when he woke his head felt Peavy, and was
full of pain.

He rose, and found that it was broad aavaiaht even in
the gulch.

At the same time he became conscious of the murmur of
voices outside and the hurrying of feet.

There was the heavy thump, thump, of the horses, feot | m

ae utterances of excitement.

/ Throwing off the sort of lethargy which seemed to have
assailed him, Gentleman Joe sprang to the door.

He saw Bowie- Knife Bill, and the men who had come
with him into the camp the day before, already mounted
and riding at a swift pace down the eulch.

Gentry sprang forth from the shanty and nearly collided
witli Simeon Shale:

‘‘Another light-out at Lucifer Lode!” he exclaimed,
while a grim smile appeared upon his strange face.

‘‘What do you mean?”’

‘Just whatIsay. Happy Harry, Lank Lamson, you
and I are the only citizens of this camp. And I reckon
that Happy Harry and Lamson will got a move on them
before long.”’

‘‘But what’s the reason? What ie happened now?’ °

‘‘Look yonder and judge for yourself. f

Simeon Shale pointed in the direction of Happy Hants
pavilion.

And Gentleman Joe saw where it had stood only a va-
cant spot of land!

CHAPTER XIII.

STRANGE WEAPONS.

Gentleman Joe was for the time being as much puzzled
as any one could have been by what had happened.

There on the spot where the pavilion had stood were a
few timbers, and a general look of a piece of ground a
which a building has been removed.

But the building itself was not there.

Fully a hundred yards down the gulch stood the pavilion,
a little below the spot where Happy Harry intended to
have it placed.

It was raised upon timbers, with the jack-screws un-
der it. ;

‘‘What do you think of that?’’ Simeon Shale asked.

“Tl think that Happy Harry had the job done for him
without having to pay for it,’’? Gentry returned, ,as soon
as he eould find words to speak. '

‘‘But who did it?”’

_ “YT suppose the shadows of the gulch, as they call them,
must have done it. But you and I know that those
shadows are men, Mr. Shale.’

‘‘T suppose we do—at least we know they’re all men ex-
cept one, and that one isa woman. But we don’t know
what such works mean or how they managed to do it
without waking anybody up.’

‘Tt wasn’t a job that would have madea great deal of
noise, for it was all ready to start on its journey when the
camp turned in for the night.’’

‘‘That’s true. Butit must have taken horses and an
hour or two of time. It’s queer that if was done without
anybody in the camp hearing anything.”’

ee might have heard See. I didn’ t, for I

A

 

 

 

slept unusually sound. But 7: any OF the members ‘of the
weak-kneed crowd that Bowie-Knife Bill brought here
with him had heard a sound they wouldn’t have dared to
put their heads out of doors to see what was going on.’’

“I reckon you're right there. But Happy Harry’s busi-
ness is ruined whatever turns up. He might as well set
fire to it, for he’ll never get anybody to go into it again
for any kind of sport. ”’

In a short time Gentleman Joe found Happy Hives him-
self in the cabin of Lank Lamson.

Lamson was smoking ata fearful rate, filling his cabin
with the fumes of tobacco.

Happy Harry had his fiddle hugged tight Dee his arm,
and his face was as white as a sheet.

‘Well, the shadows have finished my oe at Luci-
fer Lode, and now I’ll be durned if I won’t light out my-
self!’? were the first words that came from the lips of the
owner of the pavilion.

‘*And that’s exactly what they want you to do. Can't
you see, my man, that they are doing this to drive away #
everybody that comes to Lucifer Lode? Don’t you see that

|it’s a scheme to give the camp such a bad name that no |

' “Scheme or no scheme, I'll be durned if I want to stay
in a camp where the buildings aré lifted right upon stilts
and walked off.’’

‘‘We got that building in pretty good shape last night,
and made it easv for the shadows to carry out their

‘scheme. In fact, it strikes me that the whole thing was

easily done, and that you might as well consider yourself
lucky that you didn’t have to pay for the work. Now,
man, get on to your taps and get rid of this foolishness!
Take my advice and stick to your work, and help me in
what I am going to do, and I’ll promise to fill that pavilion
as full of paying business as you ever dreamed of.’’

‘‘Do you think I could get any man to go into that she-
bang after what has happened?’

“Tl guarantee to have Lucifer Lode as populous a camp h | }

as there is here in the mountains inside of two months. if
you'll stick to it and do as I say. Why, man,’ haven’t I
had as much experience in the mining business-as any-
body? Can’tI boom acamp and make it flourish even
when there isn’t a speck of gold in it?”’

“Gentry’s right—Gentleman Joe can make Lucifer Lode
a paying camp by just tacking his name ontoit and print-
ing a little piece in the paper in the city of Denver!’ ex-
claimed Lank Lamson, slapping Happy Harry on the

_| shoulder.

“But the best of it,’? Gentleman Joe continued, ‘‘is
that whatever I may say about the gold will be true, I
have been doing a little prospecting here myself, and |
have made up my mind that this is the best placer that
will be found for many a day, and that after the placer is

-exhausted there is more gold’ in the rocks which could be

got out by crushing them.’
This aspect of the case as presented by Gentleman Joe
revived in Happy Harry some hopes of repairing the for-

‘tune at Lucifer Lode which he had seemed fated to lose.

The value of being on the good side of J joseph Gentry,
of Denver, became the strongest element in his calcula-
tions.

‘*And will ye do this thing?’”’ Happy Harry exclaimed, a ; ,

eagerly.

“Surely I will see that Luifer Lode receives the atten-
tion which it deserves as a gold camp, and that as Soon as
I can get this little difficulty out of the way.’

‘‘But if there should really turn out to be a ha’nt ts,
don’t you reckon that the camp would be shunned, no
matter how much gold there might be here?”

‘‘There’s no such thing as a ha’nt, my man, and dcn’t
you think it! Don’t let such foolishness knock you out of
a chance of a fortune.’

While Gentleman Joe found it impossible to fully .con-
vince Happy Harry that there was no such thing as &
ha’nt either at Lucifer Lode or elesewhere, the man’s cour-:
age was sufficiently braced up by Gentry’ $s assurance to
make him willing to remain and face the vague dangers
of the place in the hope of winning the reward which
was due to come to him through the Poe of the
camp.

Gentleman Joe realized that unless he could in somy|

 
  

  

_ No. 373.

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

o5

   

 

 
  

way keep two or three men besides himself at the camp he
would indeed find it hard work to continue his search for |
Foxy Fan.

If he were to be left alone in thé camp it would be up-
hill business for him to succeed in combating with the
schemes and secrets of the gulch shadows.

The first of the prospectors who had been attracted to
e camp by ones and twos before the night of the light-
t had come down the stream in boats and canoes.

go up the stream in the same manner with great
d would have been impossible. Therefore, all had
out, either on horses or on foot, the night of their
en migration.

erefore there were several boats and canoes lying
ng the sandy bank of the stream.

   
  
  
  
   
   
    
  
    
   
   
  
    
   
  
   
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
 

f Without telling Lank Lamson or Happy Harry what he
7 jended to do after leaving them, Gentleman Joe selected
ei ine of the stanchest, and getting into it, drifted with the
Se urrent down the stream
i His purpose was to make & more thorough examination
7 2. f the stream and its gravelly bottom beyond the point
4 .) where Foxy Fan had so mysteriously disappeared.
i Hoe did not for a moment, of course, doubt that her dis-
- appearance was due wholly to natural Gases.
. It might be, indeed, that it had been by her own choice,
a but this seemed to be improbable,
if Whether some secret foe had by some means dicen her
oy _ into the stream and under water, thus silencing her for-
<! | ever, he could not of course yet say.
ay | It was such a cowardly thing to do, and the young wo-
yn ff Man was so beautiful that it hardly seemed possible that
Wy any one could have been malignant enough to do such a
deed.

c Yet he well knew that the hatred of one malicious wo-
ap jman toward another sometimes brings forth a capacity.
if or ferocity of which few men are capable.

T And in the present case he had probed the case deep
y= ugh to know that whatever the plot might be, a woman
an as ab the head of it, and that person was the one who

called herself Inez.

| Before entering the canoe and starting on the journey
| down stream, Gentleman Joe had provided himself with
‘a number of feet of line with which to sound the deeper
» places in the water.

f Fora considerable distance ¢he shears was so shallow
© and so clear that the bottom could easily be seen from the
surface.

' But after following the current something like half a
) mile below the shanty of Simeon Shale, Gentleman Joe
» found the water deeper, and for the first time it was neces-

 

    
 

be | sary to use his plummet,
* At this point, as in fact along the ahi distance which
Joe he had yet explored through the gorge, the stream was
for- Mayvery level. —
5 » At most places the current was quite rapid, but here,

   
  
  
  

try, wing to the depth of the water, it moved more slowly.

ula- jae Therefore it was not difficult to sound the depths with
jead and. line. é

ned, | He was surprised to find if nearly fifteen feet in depth

  

i xt one point, though it rapidly became more shallow be-

  
 

| Hoe soon reached a spot again where the bottom was visi-
le from the surface,

He turned back to the deeper soundings, and carefully
vent over every square foot of the bottom with the lead.
Fifteen feet, however, was the greatest depth that he
id find, and that was only over a narrow surface but
ttle oreater in width than the canoe.

‘Indeed, by going over it thus carefully, he was able even
ascertain the exact shape of the spot which was deeper

   
    
   
  
  
   
  
   
   

n=
a \ehan the rest.
cour: He was soon convinced that there was what seemed to
ne tO © an abrupt descent at that point—a spot where the bot-
ngers abruptly sank ‘fully seven feet below that immedi-|-
which #@eely surrounding it.
¢ theg The exact shape “or condition of the bottom at this

  

oint could not be ascertained use the use of the lead or line
lone. |
f | Therefore,

   
 

Gentleman Joe rowed back to a point nearly

 

 

7 Once more he dyitied down with the current, and reach-
ing the spot where he had made such peculiar soundings,
he thrust his strip of board down to the bottom, and hold-
ing it edgewise to the current, moved it cautiously round.
until he had found out the exact shape of the deeper hole,

It was this which he wished to know most definitley.

Yet he was at a loss to know what use to make of the
information which he had obtained.

He noted the walls of the gulch at that point, ate saw
that they were different in their formation.

He likewise noticed that the banks were higher here |
than elsewhere—all minor points in themselves, yet in
view of all being found at the same spot, none could be
ealled insignificant.

While Gentleman Joe was thus intent on his examina-
tion of these peculiarities, he was suddenly startled by the
splash of paddles in the stream.

Wheeling quickly, he saw another canoe being driven
toward him with all the force that the occupant could put
into his work.

So close was it when Gentleman Joe first discovered it
that the prow almost touched the side of Gentry’s boat
which for the moment had been held broadside of the
stream.

Gentleman Joe had no time to get out of the way.

The prow of the other boat struck his. with such force
that the boat containing Gentleman Joe was instantly cap-
sized.

Gentry leaped into the water in time to prevent any in-
jury to himself from the two crafts as they both rebounded
from the collision.

So great. was the speed of the other boat that the occu-
pant could not check it for an instant, nor was the collision
great enough to wholly stop the momentum.

In attempting to describe a curve and thus beat a re- —
treat before Gentleman Joe could get out of the water or
right his own canoe, the other upset his own boat.

Thus both men were struggling in the water at the
same time, and only a yard or two apart.

Both clung to their paddles and splashed shoreward,
dragging their canoes after them.

They reached the sandy, sloping shore simultaneously,
pulling their boats out of the current as they did so.

They seemed both to be working for the same end, and
each hastening to get ahead of the other.

The consequence was that they were relieved from the
embarrassment of saving their canoes from drifting down
stream, and the two men faced each other, breathing hard
from their exertions, both dripping wet and both clinging
to their paddles. f
Then for the first time did Gentleman Joe havea chance |
to get a view of the man who had tried so hard to upset
him,

To his surprise, he saw that the man wore a mask so
completely covering his face that not even an idea of
what his features were like could be obtained.

Gentleman Joe saw this much, but he was not permitted
to take in any more points in the man’s make-up aa
then.

For, with a directness and impetuosity which the man
had already shown in the water, he made “a leap toward
the Gilt-Edged Sport, bringing: down his paddle asa club.
Gentry perceived his intention at once, and brought up
his own paddle in self-defense.

And so the two implements struck together with a clash
—were drawn back and then brought down again and
again, meeting like long swords, in one of the Strangest
matches that ever was fought.

CHAPTER XIV. .  }-
UNDERGROUND. |

Clash, clash, sounded the wooden paddles as they struck
together again and again.

It was a strange fight.

The paddles were stout, and bent ier than broke.
Gentry was surprised to find that his antagonist dis-

 

  

 

apasite where Happy Harry’s pavilion had stood, and ob- |
™ of eae whieh would answer his purpose. | which seemed to indicat~ acauaintance with thesword.
: \ oo :

played peculiar skill in the use of his strange weapon,

a

  
  
  

26 THE

As for Gentry himself, he had never handled a sword.

Yet some of our readers will remember who have read
of his career in our earlier tales, Gentleman Joe was a
wonderful adept with a bowie-knife.

With this short-bladed weapon he was capable of mak-
ing many skillful maneuvres in parrying and thrusting.

The resemblance between the two weapons is so remote
that it could hardly be that familiarity with one would be
of use in handing the other.

Yet to a certain extent such was the case.

Besides, the element of strength entered in, and it was
soon shown that this in the end would tellin the combat
unless the paddles should break.

As was proven at the outset, the implements were so
tough that there was little likelihood of their breaking
‘since when they crossed each other in fiercest blows they
would bend like bows, and then spring back again from
the very impetus of their own elasticity.

Having at the outset tested the strength of their
weapons, both men gradually began to fling more strength
and skill into the combat.

Swifter and.swifter fell the blows, louder and louder
sounded the clash of the paddles as they met, and harder
and harder pressed the two men toward each other.

The eyes of the foe gleamed through the mask into the
eyes of Gentleman Joe, and the latter saw that the other
was determined to carry on the fight until one of them
should be vanquished.

What the man’s original object could have been Gentry
was at a loss to surmise.

If the other had wished to take his life, why had he not
fired on him at first as he had surely had a good chance to
do, instead of running into his boat as he had done.

In view of the peculiar assault which the man had met,
Gentleman Joe was convinced that it was his intention to
disable him and so to get him physically into his power,
rather than to deprive him of his life.

The weapons were so ponderous in their size and weight
that both men were soon breathing hard with their exer-
tions.

Therefore, besides being a matter of strength,
seemed likely to be a test of endurance as well.

The stranger soon attempted other maneuvres, dodging
from side to side, and trying to get in a blow at his antag-
onist’s head.

But as each of these attempts left hisnselt unguarded,
and he several times nearly received a blow from Gentry’s
weapon, he soon realized the necessity of using great cau-
tion.

Suddenly the stranger, sooming to fear absolute exhaus-
tion, made a backward spring, allowing Gentry to strike
against the air, with nothing to resist or check the blow.

As Gentry had thrown extra force into that blow, the
momentum of it flung him forward, and for a moment he
was off his guard.

Before he could recover himself, his foe ‘had again raised
his weapon, and was bringing a blow directly down upon
his head.

The only way in which Gentry could avoid the blow
was by making a swift forward plunge, and directly
toward the water at that.

The slope at that point was quite steep, and tripping, he
was once more submerged in the water.

In the meantime, his assailant, being foiled in his at-
tempt, had been overcome by the momentum of the blow
in a similar manner to that which had affected Gentleman
Joe.

As soon as he could recover himself, he dashed toward
the stream, and, with his paddle still in hand, he plunged
- into it and dashed directly toward his antagonist.

The latter, in the sudden forward plunge, had been mo-
mentarily submerged in the current.

With his head raised above the surface, he saw his antag-|n
onist coming toward him with upraised paddle.

Gentry realized then, if he had not done so before, that
the man with whom he was fighting was a foe worthy of

his best steel.
- Indeed, it was not often that he encountered a foe who
exhibited such) qualities of strength, persistency, and skill
as this one had done.
The pene pad

it also

   
 

LOG CABIN LI BRARY.

 

s perfectly sure to hit the ob- t

   

 

No, 373.

 

   

ject at which it was aimed unless the latter resorted to one
way alone.

And he made that move—he allowed himself once more
to sink beneath the surface of the water.

So consequently he sank so rapidly that his feet soon
touched the bottom of the stream, where a few minutes
before he had been exploring with the piece of board.

He knew this instinctively, not only by the depth to © §
which he had sunk, but by the certain peculiarity of the
surface under his foot which he had noticed in striking the
end of his board upon it.’

While this grated like gravel, at other points it was,
notwithstanding, so perfectly flat that it did not seem as
if the excavation could have been made in the bed of the
stream naturally of this character.

Although somewhat out of breath with his violent exer-
tions, Gentry made the most of his splendid pair of lungs
in that test which every accomplished diver has to endure.

He bent forward and groped with his hands along that
surface which seemed so strangely flat under his feet.

Digging his fingers into the gravel, he found that it was
only an inch or two in depth, and that there was a sur-)_
face underneath it which was neither of rock nor of clay.

Indeed, in scratching that surface with his fingers he
became aware of a startling fact, simple and unique though
it was.

For he felt the prick of a wooden sliver in his finger.

This told him beyond a doubt that the surface which he
had found was an artificial one.

This fact was strangely significant.

Of course these investigations which he had made occu-
pied but an instant of time.

Indeed, not a quarter of a minute had elapsed since he
had left the surface of the stream.

Although strange sounds were ringing in his ears and {
the pressure was almost more than he could bear, Gentle-
man Joe quickly groped to find the limits of the cblong
excavation which he had found to have a wooden bottom.

He crawled along quickly, wondering why he did not
find the end of the space which when he had le it with
the board had seemed so small.

It seemed to him that he must have crawled over a space
several times the length of his own body. j

Unable-to endure the strain longer&{he rose to his feet |
with a light spring to go to the surface. '

   

 

 

 

 
  
   
  
 

Up and up he rose, and his head was soon above the sur- .
face, and he was drawing in a breath of air ina most wel {7 ay,
come draught. Sy

At the same time he opened his eyes—and he. opened | bee

   

them upon blank darkness!
He had no time then to wonder at the oan which
surrounded him.

   
 

The situation was one in which it was necessary to jump ‘ 7
at his conclusions mentally, and to Les his arms and legs ei

  

more active than his brain.

As. there was nothing to tell him in which direction to
go, he swam out with strong, steady strokes straight
ahead, drawing in full inspirations to relieve his distressed
lungs ‘while he did so.

But half a dozen strokes’ brought him toaspot where his ‘g
feet struck the bottom.

This sloped gradually upward, and in another moment
he found himself standing high and dry, still surrounded
by darkness, and with the water softly lapping the sands
at his feet, and the sound of dropping here and there about
him.

He did not wonder at his situation then, for it was an
easy one to comprehend, at least in part.

As he well knew, these mountain streams oftentimes :
excavated subterranean passages at some time in its past |
history when its water was unusually high.

Indeed, the most of the caverns and underground chan-

nels which in some places fairly honeycomb these rocks,
are due to the action of the water in past ages.

The spot into which he had sunk and which he. had ex-
plored with the board and plummet line was a sort of a
mean communication between the stream which flowed,
through the gorge and the underground lake, which par
tially filled the spacious cavern, extending underneath -
portion of the bed of the gorge and under the walls of

   
   
  
  
  
   
   
   
   
  
 
   
  
 

  
  
  
   
  

  

No, 373. 3 aes \

="

  

' water, to the spot where he might rise to the surface of
) the stream in the open air.

But he had no misgivings as to his action. There were
probably other means of egress from the cavern, and if
there were, not a few trials would surely show him the
way back to the spot from which he had entered the place.
i, The greatest difficulty now was that he was surrounded

   
    
   
  
   
 
  
  
    
 

“ess to attempt to explore the place.

' Neither was there the possibility of his striking a light.

The weapons upon his person were wet, and even the

pocket match-safe, which was, under most conditions,

| water-proof, must have been severely tested by the fre-

quent and long continued submergings to which it had

been ‘Subjected.

He walked forward up the gentle slope, extending his

arms to prevent a collision which he knew must come

sooner or later with the invisible rocks.

' He kept on thus for several paces, and then produced
the little water-proof match-box.

He carefully handled it so that no drops of water should

( get into it when he/’should open it, and then took outa

match.

i He felt about for something to strikeiton. But there

( seemed to be nothing within reach, and after going for-

» ward several paces and finding no rocky wall, he stopped,

and emptying the matches out of his safe, he struck one

upon the inner side of the case.

It flashed feebly, and then went out.

He tried another, with the same result, and then another,
and another. _

_ At last one flared up and burned brightly.

| Hestill retained in his hand tne matches which had failed

9 burn, and he ignited them with the one with which he

had succeeded.

————

 
  
 
 
 
    

tf) Indeed, he held in the palm of his hand quite a little|P
h 4) pile of the match sticks, and allowing them to burn there,

/) they blazed up with the brightness of a torch for a mo-
8

>) ment.

| This was sufficient for his purpose.
» At showed him that he would not have far
fone of the walls of the cavern.
__ It also showed him the direction in which he must go to
avoid being brought to a stand-still by those walls.

He saw the water spread out ina lake that must have
been several hundred yards in eXtent. |
It looked black, still, and mysterious in the calm and
_ silence which pervaded the place.

But as his eyes glanced over the surface and along the
_beach-like sands which extended down to the water, he
| saw something which ‘was indeed significant. ¥

It was a small canoe with paddles, also several blankets
and odds and ends which he had not time then to take in
we detail, _

» As it was easier finding his way on the water than on
he shore, he strode down to the canoe, got into it, and
ent the little craft out upon the underground lake.

   

to go to reach

 
    
   
  
  
 

   
  
   
   
  
   
 
  
   
 

“ It was difficult for him to steerthe craft in a straight
) ine, yet it was probable that he did so quite nearly, for
As t last he saw something which showed him that his

  

iforts were not in vain. —

' What he saw was a gleam of light.

Tt was not the light of day, but of a lamp or lantern

which seemed to be hung against the rocky wall.

_ A few, swift, strong strokes and the canoe was sent up

1 DE the gravelly bank, and Gentry once more leaped

yas nore. :

| He hurried toward the light, and found it to be a lan-
hung upon a spike which had been driven into the

W A. ff =

| He took it down, and raising itso as to show the way
jlainly before him, he advanced along what seemed to be

L narrow passage-way somewhat devious in its course.

Passing an angle in the passage, he came upon a& scene
ich caused him to hurriedly recoil, and just in time.

For, half-reclining upon some blankets, were several

  
   
   
 
 
  
    
 

aun-
ks,

   
  
 

eX-
f a
ved,
AT

   
  
  
     

    

ey

THE’LOG. CABIN LIBRARY.

Gentry realized that unless there were other means of | apparently engaged in mending a garm
| getting out of the cavern, it might be difficult for him to and thread.
' find his way back by means of swimming under the.

(by such darkness and gloom that it was disagreeable busi-.

&

7

ent with needle

Gentleman Joe could not look in upon them without be-
ing exposed himself, and fora moment he was not. sure
that he had not already been observed.

He was quickly reassured on this score.

The men were talking in low, gruff voices.

In the brief glimpse which Gentleman Joe had ha
them he had.had no time to see their faces.

As soon he was assured that he was unobserved, he
sank back against the wall and strained his ears to listen to
| what they were saying.

Two of the men seemed to be carrying on the greater
part of the talk. \

One of them had a gruff voice, while the other had a
higher-keyed one, and it was the gruff-voiced one whose
speech was first noted by Gentleman Joe.

‘There can’t be a better time than to-night for the final
swoop,’’ said the first speaker.

“But you say that four or five of the original members
of the crowd still stick to their shanties in the gulch?”’

‘Well, they will stick. They are the kind that stick.
We have got to get round them somehow.’’

“But if they’re of the sort that stick
around them.’’ :

‘Not in one way, perhaps. But there’s more fhan one
way. There’s only one in the lot that we need to have any
fear of, and that one hasn’t been here but a day or two.’’

‘“Who’s that one?”’

“Joseph Gentry, of Denver.’’

‘‘Joseph Gentry, of Denver, eh?—Gentleman Joe—a
man with a long head, unless I miss my guess. And is he
here in the gulch?’’ ; :

“"He’s here in the gulch.’’

‘But what does he care about gold prospecting? He’s
more mines now than he knows how to spend his income
from; he lays awake nights thinking how to dispose of it.”’

“IT don’t reckon that-he’s here with that sort of a pur-
ose.”’ i

‘“Why, then?’’

‘‘T reckon he’s on a still hunt of some sort.”’

‘‘A still hunt—detective business, eh? Well, I’ve heard
that he did something in that line for the sake of helping
his friends when they got into trouble in this wild region.
But cah the still hunt be what brings him here?’’

There was a brief interval of silence following this re-
mark, and Gentleman Joe would have given a good deal to
have been able to observe the faces of the two men who
were talking at this moment. —

But he was unable to do so without exposing himself.

At last the other said: .

‘Why, man, you don’t catch on very easy. The young
woman they call Foxy Fan was one of Joseph Gentry’s
friends, and he’s one of hers. How he knew that she was
here, I don’t know, though it is likely that they had com-
munication with each other ali the time. Why he should
come here after her is more than I see through. But he’s
here, and unless I’m mistaken, he’s hunting pretty sharp
to find her.”’

‘“Well, he won’t find it an easy trail to follow. But if I
could have my say, Ishould let the young girl go free, and
the quicker the better.”’ / ;

‘‘That would probably be the better way in the end.
But you know under these conditions that Inez has to say
the word. Inez says that Foxy Fan shall stay, and that to
her belongs the right of making the final disposition of
her.”’

‘It’s a bad business for us to mix up in just the same.”’
‘It’s out of our line. Everything is out of our line ex-
cept the getting of gold. The getting of gold, my boy, is
the only thing that the gulch shadows are organized for!’’

This last remark was spoken with an attempt to. be im-
pressive. ;

Gentleman Joe, at least, was impressed.

For in these last words he learned a fact which was im-
portant as any which he sought.

‘'Now if I can only learn a few points more,’’ was Gen-

NY

dof

you can’t get

 

i
|

fon, all wide awake, two of them smoking and the other of

_tleman Joe’s mental observation as he sank back against

the wall, eager to catch the next remark.

being, and is here on a still hunt fora friend, the fact

Ss

ae:

“Tf Joseph Gentry is as sharp as he has bs reputation
23

%

 

jG ToD G) AS TA ESUASSE UR SER

that we have the girlin our charge makes it dangerous
business for us. I wish Inez could be induced to give up
that part of her scheme.”’ |

‘““But she can’t. If she should give it up, or have to do}
it, or be balked in it, she would manage to spoil the rest
of the game for us.”’ :

‘‘Well, suppose this Gentleman Joe should be sharp
enough to find out what has become of the girl he is look-
ing for? He isn’t of the sort to back down under those
conditions. ’”’

‘‘Nary a back-down, if I have been rightly informed
concerning him. But if he comes down on us, I suppose
we shall have to’act under the instructions of Inez the
game as we do in anything else.”’

“Tf he should come down on us we should have to de-
fend ourselves, instructions or no instructions. The Gulch
Shadows are after gold—that’s what they’re in the world
for. We’re no ordinary outlaw crowd, and we don’t do
any of the holding-up business or anything of the kind. We
use mild means when we can, but we make a swoop just
as often as we can.
us to a pinch he’ll find some fight in us.”’ Z

Following this remark came silence again. .

‘‘And all of this is mighty interesting to me,’’ was
Joseph Gentry’s mental comment.

He 2 fs a the lantern which he had. taken from the

 

wall in His hand, and in such a position that the light of it
would n6t be noticed by the men beyond.

As he did so he drew back a little, and at the same time
was conscious of something touching his arm.

Turning about, he looked into the face of Inez!

 

CHAPTER XV.
A SHOT IN TIME.

Tt was not an occasion where a display of force was
called for from Gentleman Joe.

It would have been easy enough for him to have over-
powered the slender girl who had thus surprised him.

She held no weapon in her hand, nor did she make any
move toward drawing one.

Since Gentry could not use any weapon upon his person
except a bowie- knife, and there were three men Within easy
call, he felt that as far as a, struggle was concerned he
was ata disadvantage. z

What the girl would do he could only conjecture. _

But knowing as he now did that Foxy Fan was in the
hands of these men under the leadership of Inez, who
called themselves the Gulch Shadows, the work before
him was made all plain and straight.

If Inez were indeed capable of executing a cruel revenge
against Foxy Fan, then she must be crushed in her de-
signs—and no matter how forbearing she might be toward
him, nor how innocent her purposes might be in other
directions—the girl must be balked in this and he could
show her no mercy. :

But, for a moment, at least, the girl held the trumps of
the game.

For a moment they. looked into each other’s face.

Hers was no longer blackened as it had been when he
had first seen her. .

He had a faint recollection of her features, and recog-
nized her instantly, and would have done so if he had met
her in another place.

The face was grave and stern in its expression, a fact
which in a degree marred its beauty.

She tightened her grasp upon Gentleman Joe’s arm, and
stepping backward, she drew him quite firmly in the same
direction.

He made no resistance, and she kept on, both walking
until they reached the spot where he had taken the lantern
from the wall. a ce

Here he paused, and for.the first time she spoke, her voice
as musical in its tones and sounding almost as weird in
that placw as it had done when he had first heard it sing-
ing the merry notes and strains of “‘Money Musk.” ©
“So you have found your way into this place after all!’
she exclaimed e ;
‘I’m apt to find my way into all places where there’s
: Ve iE ie 3 <

zy
}

   

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

So you may be sure that if he brings |

  

 
 

 

   

anything like crooked work going on. Do you know that
the only way to keep me from interfering with other
people’s business is for other people to engage in nothing
that isn’t straight!’’ pee

-“T was in hopes,’’ said the girl, her voice growing
sharper, ‘‘that there wouldn’t have to be war between us.

‘‘T was hoping that you would give up this chase which
you couldn’t help seeing was a dubious one. Why did you
come here to meddle, anyhow?”’

‘‘Can’t you guess what brings me here, young woman?”’
he demanded, looking straight into her eyes. Ge

‘‘No, I can’t even guess. It can’t be because you were
troubled about the people being frightened away from the .
new gold camp, because I don’t believe,that you take the |
interest in all the new gold-camps that some do.”’

‘“‘T¢ makes a difference who’s in the camp.”’ ate

“Then dol take it that you and that grinning fiddle
grinder are partners. And is that the reason that you’re
so much worked up because citizens of this camp lit out
the other night and ruined his business?”’

‘‘No, that isn’t the reason, and you know it. I don’t be-
lieve you’re half as dull with your wits as you’re just now
trying to make out. I’lladmit that under the conditions
you have a most decided drop on me, but that’s all the |
more reason why I should make a record for speaking the
simple truth. I’m here at Lucifer Lode to save one pretty
young woman from the vengeance of another.”’

The hand of Inez still rested lightly on the arm of her
companion. It now suddenly closed in a grip which was
almost spiteful in its intensity, while her eyes seemed to
emit sparks of fire as they met the gaze of Gentleman Joe.

For a moment she was silent, looking thus into his face,
her form trembling, every sign upon her face and in her
manner indicating the most intense and uncontrollable ex-
citement.

Gentleman Joe watched the changes upon her face curi-
ously and regarded her coolly, waiting for her to speak.

‘Will you tell me what you mean?’’ she demanded, at
last.

‘“‘T don’t reckon I need to, for I think you know already.’’

‘Perhaps Ido wnderstand you,’’ she returned. §
“But I hope I don’t. I hope that you mean something @] .
different from what I surmise.’’ y)

‘“‘T reckon I mean just what you surmise, miss. So the |
quickest and easiest way out of this business for us is to
speak plain facts from this time on, and quit beating about
the bush. Ivam here at Lucifer Lode to find out what you @
have done with Foxy Fan, who, I believe, isthe bestfriend [@
I have in the world!’’ Soc |

It would be impossible to describe the expression on the if
face of Inez as Gentleman Joe spoke these words. a

Yet the next time she spoke it was in a calmer tone.

‘‘And so that’s your business to Lucifer Lode, is it?
you’re a friend to that woman!”’

‘‘J’m her best friend.’’

‘‘Well, what put it into your head that I have
to do with her?”’ :

‘‘Oh, it’s no guess-work with me, miss. I’ve got a sure
thing on that, and you can’t fool me on thatscore. What’s 4
more, | know that Foxy Fan is at this moment in this un-
derground retreat, held by you as a prisoner.” !

““You seem to know a good deal. In fact, it appears that
what you don’t know wouldn’t make a very big book.’’ |

“T said we wouldn’t waste any breath on the matter. To
‘begin with, I don’t see what’s the use of our quarreling @
when there’s another way in which we can settle the mat- jj |
ter. I never make war with a woman when there’s a more @

 

 
 
  
 
 
  
   
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
    
 
 
 
  
    
   
 
 
 
   
  
 

 

e

| nything f

  
 
 

 

 

  

peaceful way of winning the battle. Why can’t we make @

    

some sort of terriis on this score?’’ ; . ie...
| “You mean that you think that I would accept money 10 g@ he
lieu of something else?’’ she demanded. ae ne
| “I didn’t say anything about money—I spoke of terms. % y
| ‘Well, what do you mean?’’ : Wi
| “YT mean that you have started out in a scheme alto- § thi
gether too crooked and too bold to work. ‘There are those

 

who could carry it through, but you cannot. To carry
through such a scheme as that the one who did it must not
care much for human life, must not care for fair play,
for anything that decent people care about. Do you %®
what I am driving at?’’ ae Vee

The girl nodded. \

   
 
 

    
 
    
  

   
  
   

 
  

 
 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY : 0g

 

, ‘ yr) No. $78. :
\ “‘T think I see—but go on.”’

“You have got a young woman who isa true friend to
me here in your power. You did it by an ingenious trick,
nd by the help of these men, who, it appears, are playing
into your hand, because I suppose you have been sharp
enough to help them in some way. Now will you tell me
yah you are going to do with her?”’

 
  
  
  
 

' The girl hesitated before she answered.
‘‘Perhaps I haven’t decided,’’ was her reply.

; ;

“Perhaps you haven’t decided—just what I thought.

i Now let me tell you just what to do. Just show me where
‘the young lady is hidden at the present moment, and let
us walk out all free and clear, and then you follow after
us and turn your back on crooked games of all sorts for
the rest of your life. You’ll find yourself feeling more
comfortable than you have for a long time.”’
‘‘You make a good preacher, don’t you? Butif I don’t
propose to do it?”’
| “Then will come the consequences. I don’t say that you
couldn’t go ahead and carry it out if you had the heart
and have the young woman murdered in cold blood——
‘“‘T didn’t mean to do that!”’
‘Then what do you intend to do?”’
' ‘To humble her proud spirit! To make her crawl into
the dust for.once!”’ .
‘‘And all because she had nerve to killa sport who in-

  
  
  
 
  
 
  
 

Fie

Ss

. sulted her.”’

= { | “‘What do you know about it?”’

e, | ‘I know all about you, Jack Wagner, and Simeon Shale,

¢ and all about your record, good and bad. :
| ‘‘And I must say that there are too many good points in

  

. 4 to make it look well mixed up with too many bad ones.”’

ric ) ‘‘And-yet there’s one thing that you don’t know about.
7 You don’t know why Foxy Fan came to Lucifer Lode?”’

at — The eyes of Inez, looking into the face of Gentleman Joe,
saw that in that speech she had indeed hit upon the truth.

1” > fie >“Gentleman Joe did not know why Foxy Fan had come

4, J to Lucifer Lode.

ng ny He had inferred that she had come here as she drifted

into other gold mining camps, for the purpose of setting
up one of her faro-rooms.
Yet so small was the camp that he wondered at her com-
ing here so soon.
She had given him no excuse whatever in the communi-
") cation in which she had informed him of her intentions.
| he manner in which Inez had spoken told him there
was a point here which was important, and upon which he
was not informed.
It told him that Foxy Fan’s errand to Lucifer Lode was

@ not wholly a peaceful one—that, indeed, it had to do with
©. Inez herself.

" ‘*T see [have hit you this time!”’ the girl exclaimed, with a

  
  

ing Wy int smile.

h), ‘Yes, you have hit me this time. I don’t know what
sure 1 ‘Qrought Foxy Fan to Lucifer Lode. But if you know, and.
at?s rts is something that won’t injure you if I know, too, why

¥ not tell mea straight yarn about it and have it over with?

= f I didn’t come here to make war upon you. I have had an
that We idea all the while, ever since 1 heard your voice singing
| *Money Musk’ in Happy Harry’s pavilion, that there
wouldn’t be any need of a very hard feeling between us

‘o
se ()} no matter how much your affairs might conflict with
mat- fj : Mine. There’s’no telling but we may work together in this
nore We affair if we can only get at the matter straight. -
nake fe “111 tell you what brought Foxy Fan to Lucifer Lode.
A miner—a young man of her acquaintance whom she had
ey ing helped out of some sort of trouble, and in whom she took:
f an interest—came here in the first rush to the new camp.
ms.’ By some means at the same time, she found out that Jack

4 Wagner was not dead after all, and that he had come to
alto- § this locality. The young fellow whom she had taken under
those § ber wing and Jack Wagner had had trouble in another
carry fj camp, and she knew this. So she came here to meddle the

of; not

 
 
   
 

low against Jack Wagner.’

Gentleman Joe was listening to these explanations, and
all the while his brain kept up a running commentary on
he if ale, and in his thoughts he seemed to comprehend a
hich in reality her words had hardly givena hint of.
f= fact he now uttered with a quickness and precision
h nearly took the girl off her feet...

  
  
  

   
  
 
  
  

     

i

29
{

same as you have done, and take the part of the young fel-.

 

 

‘*So now I see through it all,’’ he said. ‘‘I know who it
was that was killedin Happy Harry’s pavilion on the night
of the light-out—and I know who the murderer was.
The tall;woman whom they described as dancing with a
young man and who became engaged in a hand to hand
conflict on the floor, ending with the fall of both, and the

stabbing of one to the heart, was your Jack Wagner, and |

the young man who was stabbed was the young fellow
whom Foxy Fan came here to protect! Did you know this,
Miss Inez, or did you not?”’

The girl recoiled, and ,for a moment her face was
deathly white.

For a moment, also, she was silent.

‘*T did not know it—I only suspected it. But now you
have said it, I know it to be true,’’ she answered.

“Then I reckon that we both hold an. important
point in this matter, and there’s no excuse for our being
in opposition on it. What is this Jack Wagner to you? Is he
your husband ?’’

‘“What right have you to ask——’’

‘‘T have every right. Is he your husband or your lover?”’

| Neither.” :

‘Then what is he?’’

‘‘My half-brother! When we were children together, he
was dearer to me than all else! Shall I refuse to stand by
him now when he needs me most just because he hasn’t
done exactly right in all things?’’

| ‘And Simeon Shale didn’t know this? And you let him
be jealous of Jack Wagner, and you threw him overboard,

aman as brave and honest as any you will ever find, with-
out explaining to him?”’
| ‘“‘He was suspicious, and I made up my mind that ‘if he
/ would distrust me I would let him go! He deserved all
‘that he got!”’
|. ‘*Perhaps so, but you both acted like a brace of ninnies.
But when you come to tie yourself to the fortunes of a
man who will take the life of another in cold blood just on
‘account of a feud, then you’re tying yourself to something
that will drag you down to the deepest depths, and you
may be sure of it! But, now, my girl, where is Foxy Fan?’’
; ‘*You couldn’t do her any good now, even if I were to
show her to you unless I say the word.’’
| **Not unless you gave the word, that’s a fact. But you
have plenty of men within call, and I have no pistol that I
can use to defend myself with, so I think you’re perfectly
safe in giving me the point or two that I ask for.”

The girl hesitated again before she spoke.
| §‘"Mhen come with me, and I’ll show you Foxy Fan. You

haven’t come to me in this affair just as.I expected you
would. I had an idea that you were one of the sort to take
a person by the throat and try to get the truth out of me
that way. But you at once began to talk as if we were go-
ing to be friends.’’

“That’s what I expected we were, and you see if my ex-
pectations don’t prove true. But don’t let us tarry—I am
anxious to be assured that Foxy Fan, my best of friends,
is alive and unharmed.”’

The girl was already moving along the underground
way, and her hand still rested upon the arm of her ‘com-
panion.

As they walked along side by side, Gentleman Joe
caught the gleam of a revolver’ tucked carelessly into a
pocket at the girl’s side.

It would have been easy for him to have snatched the
weapon even then, but he felt that it would be an act of
treachery to-do so. ,

In another moment they reached a spot where the space
seemed to narrow into a sort of passage-way.

Here the girl led the way, and Gentleman Joe closely
followed. . o

The passage narrowed until there was hardly room for
a person to squeeze through. ~

Here the girl stopped, and, leaning over a jutting rock,
motioned Gentleman Joe to do the same.

He did so, and was able to peer around a sharp angle in
the rocks into a broader space, which was lighted by a
lantern hanging from the wall. :

As they both leaned forward, the girl recoiied, and he
could. hear the sharp indrawing of her breath.

_ At the same time he saw what.it was that Startled her.

| ‘What his oyes first beheld was the beautiful and well-

   
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is

 

EAS

aoe form lying on a comfortable couch of blankets at
one side of the room.

It was Foxy Fan! and as he could tell from her face, she |

was asleep. |

Yet welcome as was the sight when he had feared aay
she was dead, his gaze rested upon her for only a moment. |

It was drawn to another form close at hand—the form |
of a man gliding with snail-like slowness along the
ground with his face lighted by the rays of the lantern, |
and that face pervaded by an expression which was fairly
demoniac in its malignance.

This man, or fiend in human shape, had almost reached
the side of the sleeping girl, and there gleamed a knife in
his hand!

Had there been no other sign to betray his intention,
this alone would have done so.

Nearer and nearer he crept, and then paused, his face
fairly over that of the sleeping girl, the knife still clutched
in his hand, and now being raised slowly but surely, and
poised above the heart all unconscious of its awful peril.

So much Gentleman Joe waited to see, while Inez, seem-
ing to be paralyzed by the sight, stood rigid and motionless
against the wall of rock.

So much did Gentleman Joe behold, and then, with
lightning quickness, his hand shot out and snatched the
pistol from the girl’s pocket, and took instantaneous aim.

Then came the report, deafening in its concussion be-
twixt the narrow walls of rock!

CHAPTER XVI.

ee GENTLEMAN JOH WINS OUT.

Gentleman Joe knew what he was doing when he
snatched the revolver from the hand of Inez, and without
wasting a second of time fired.

Indeed, it was a time when action must succeed impulse,
as the lightning flash follows the plunge of the electric
bolt.

He knew the scoundrel who was bending over Foxy
Fan with upraised knife was no other than Jack Wagner,
now declared to be the half-brother of Inez, and that in
sending him down with a bullet in his body he would in
all probability arouse the anger of this girl, whose tem-
perament was so constituted that she could be either
angel or devil, just as the mood seized her.

And yet Gentleman Joe did not hesitate.

His aim, as usual, was good, and the figure crouching
above the slumbering faro queen fell over, half arose, en-
deavored to draw a weapon, and with a curse rolled back.

He was dead.

Foxy Fan, aroused by the report of the revolver, sat up
and stared around her in amazement.

At her feet she saw the form of a man, and as the light
' fell upon his distorted face she recognized the sport with
whom she had engaged in a duel, leaving him for dead.

Gentleman Joe knew the crash of his gun was bound
to reach the ears of the men whose conversation he had
overheard, and that they would be upon the scene imme-
diately.

His first thought was flight.

Then he remembered that he had no means of knowing
where the exit lay.

This would not keep him from defending himself against.
his enemies.

He sprang forward, at the same time calling out to Foxy
Fan not to shoot, for the young woman, having freed her-
self of all incumbrances, proved herself equal to the occa-
sion by bending over the fallen man and hungrily descend-
ing upon his fire-arms as mighta hawk on a dove.

She greeted his arriavl on the scene with the same re-
markable coolness that usually characterized her.

‘“‘So'it was you who settled him, eh? Well, I owe you
one more for that,’’ she said.

Shouts noy ee the coming of the aes some

As yet no attack was made, though Gentlomad’ Tne and

pI his woman pard, sent e with their backs: ioe the stone: s

 

‘wall, waited with grim desperation the signal that a fo

create chaos and confusion.

Gentleman Joe watched Inez.

He knew she was undergoing a tremendous struggle—
the powers of right and wrong were 2 pytuins for the,
supremacy. q

Which Deus win?

It meant much to Foxy Fan and hinnnete

For several minutes the girl stood there with her bon
bent—stood there thinking deeply, while her men only
awaited a word to throw themselves upon the foe.

That word was never given.

She suddenly drew a long sigh, raised her heat and ad- .
vanced toward Gentleman Joe.

When her eyes fell upon the form of her villainous half-.
brother she shuddered, but the sight did not seem te. furn sg
her from her purpose.

‘“‘Gentleman Joe,’’ she said, in a low, strained voice, ag
can find no heart to blame you for shooting that cur dwn
as he deserved. I have long endeavored. to believe the best
of him, but after seeing what he would have done, mur.
dered a woman in cold blood because he was afraid to face >
her when awake, I would have surely fired oy if’ you
had not.

‘‘T see no reason why you and I should nob: ak terms.
Will you meet me half-way?’’,

Would he?

‘The chance was all he asked, and, stepping aside, he and
Inez talked the matter over.

Gentleman Joe had no interest in the mine, and little
did it matter to him whether the golden fleece were gath-
ered by the men who first settled Lucifer Lode, Bowie-
Knife Bill, and his toughs, or the cunning shadows who
had taken such particular pains to frighten all new-comers
away by making it appear that Happy Harry’s ‘pavilion |
was haunted.

All he desired was a chance to leave the underground
retreat in safety, and take Foxy Fan with him.

If she would grant this he was willing to concede any-
thing in his power, for while once upon a time Gentleman
Joe had believed in the revolver as a means of settling all
disputes, he had grown weary of scenes of strife, and
found himself ready to accept arbitration as a sovereign
remedy.

So he put the question to her.

The reply was favorable.

‘‘Give me your word to leave Lucifer Lode within twen-
ty-four hours, both of you, and you are free. All I require
is that you leave these men to pursue their secret mining
in peace. These shadows are not desperadoes, but ixenest
men. They have found a rich thing, and, ye desire
to keep the whole of it,’’ she said.

‘*And that is why they are frightening every one away,

is it? A queer world, this, I must say. Still, I can hardly a

blame them. It was these shadows who moved the Hex .,,

“Yes, and with very little trouble, for not a man dar
venture on the street after dark, and the wind howlir
down the canon prevented any noise from being hear¢
As soon as they have secured the cream of the ae oe
will throw it open to the public.’’

‘‘Ah!.I promised that in two months all trouble we
be a thing of the past, and Gentleman Joe likes tc
his word you know.’ ee

» ‘‘When a month is gone send all your frionds here ;
Shadows will never annoy them again after that, a1
there will be rich pickings at Lucifer Lode for years t
come.”’

‘‘How about Simeon Shale?—he will never know peace
again in this life unless you forgive him and take him
back.”’

‘‘Well, I’ll think it over. Go, leave this place pefore. ae
change my mind, for somehow there seems to be a shadow
between yonder woman and myself. Somewhere in the
past we have crossed each other’s path, but I cannot re-
member under what circumstances. I will have one of ao
men show you out.’’ : _

‘‘But the fellow with the black mask—he with whi
struggled in the water—may I know who he is, and
relation he bears) to you?’’ asked Dery overcome 3
curiosity. ue
ad oo tell you

 

|
Lbs Mo

ou, and I know not why. At some future time you may
reet again, and perhaps he may be induced to speak.”’

So Inez gave directions to one of the shadows, and they,
lowing the man, saw the handsome girl no more.

‘Once in the open air, Gentlenian Joe led the way to his

bin, and he began to make preparations for leaving
ucifer Lode.

Since he had rescued Foxy Fan, and discovered the se-
ret of the strange, ghostly affair connected with Happy
farry’s pavilion, he had no seruples about changing his
Harters. :

He gave Simeon Shale to understand that- the man of
om he had been jealous was the half-brother of. Inez,

d, rnoreover, he had turned up his toes to the daisies,

on hearing which the miner declared his intention of

co more endeavoring to win the girl’s consent.

Ho found her in a gentle mood, and later on they were
sliced by an old parson over at Cinnamon Bar.

W.bether Shale ever had cause to repent of his bargain
- not there is no means of telling, for the couple went

st, having accumulated a nice little nest-ege, for Inez
jaca. share of the rich pickings of the shadows.

‘Happy Harry, at the suggestion of Gentleman Joe, re-
rned with friends in a month.

The mining camp became prosperous, and although
io more singular events happened.there, to this day weird
Matories go the rounds when miners sit about the fire, con-
ferning the mysterious noises and sights that in the be-
inning depopulated Lucifer Lode.

Gentleman Joe having seen Foxy Fan safe in the nearest
own, spent some time looking after his many interests in
she mines.

F One thing he could not forget, and this was the man who |
Ewore the mask, and who seemed to feel toward him such,

virulent hatred.
Daily he asked himself who this party could be, and,
ailing to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion, resolved.
cn the first occasion to satisfy himself, and when the
onth of probation was up he set out to see whether the
unknown might be in any of the surrounding camps.
Me Of this search and the remarkable adventures which ac-
# companied it we shall have more to say in ‘‘Gentleman
i Joe's Nerve.”’

(THE END.)

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New Stories of Startling Adventure by the Best Auth
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DON’T FATTO RHAD THE

GENTLEMAN JOE SERIES

Issued Sept¢

No. 340.—JESSE JAMES’ SHADOWS or, The Rivals of the Road. -By W. B. Lawson. Issued Septe

No. 341.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S CHICAGO CLEAN-OUT; or, A Bold Break for Boodle. By the Author of ; Gente
ssued Sept¢

No. 349.-POLK WELLS, JESSE JAMES? COMRADE; or, The Riverton Bank Robbery. By W. B. Lawson. Issued @

No. 343.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S BIG BOOM; or, Bluffing the Boomers of Bed Rock. By the Author of — a é}
ssued O¢

No. 344.—JESSE JAMES OUTDONES or, The Missouri-Pacific Train Robbery. By W. B. Lawson. Issued ‘Od

No. 345.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GAUNTLET; or, The Back-to-Back Break at Bitter Root. By the Author Veo
. ssued Od

No, ,34¢.—60B FORD THE SLAYER OF JESSE JAMES; or, The Life and Death of a Noted Desperado. uy: Ww. a
ssued 0€

No. 347.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GRAPPLE; or, A Hot Hour at Hurricane Ledge. By the Author of oes 4
ssued Noy

No. 348.—THE GREAT YACHT RACE; or, Skipper Bob's Long Chase. By Marline Manly. Issued Nove

No. 349.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT GOPHER GULCH; or, Calm Caleb’s Cold Comfort. By the Author of ee :
ssued Noy

No. 350,—BOB SIMS’ FEARFUL OATHS or, The Fatal Vengeance of the Swamp Outlaws. By W. B. Pei a)
ssued Nové

No. 851.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S SEVEN SPOT; or, The-Cripple From Cripple Creek. By the Author of es d
ssued Det -

No. 352.—THE GOLD-HUNTER DETECTIVE. By Marline Manly. Issued Dece
No. 353.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S MOONLIGHT MATINEE; or, The Wild-Cat of Whisky Gap.  Bywthe Author of ‘ ae
. ae Assned Dec¢

9. 354.—RUBE BURROW’S PARDs; or, Chased Through the Florida Swamps, By W. B. Lawson. ~ Isshea®pct

No. 355.—THE RIVAL RANCHEROS: or. The Missing Bride. By A. C. Monson. Issued

No. 356.—GENTLEMAN. JOE AT FULL FLUSH; or, A Noose for Nine Necks. By the Author of _Somoman Joe
ssued,
j

No. 357.—CAPTAIN KATE. By Leander P. Richardson. Issued/ Ja}
No. 358.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S JOKER; or, The Clean Up at Cold Crow. By the Author of “Gentleman soe oe

 

 

 

 

No. 359.—RATTLESNAKE JIM; or, The Reckless Sport of Deadman’s Gulch. By Walter L. Hawley.
No. 360.—THE QUEEN OF THE PLAINS; or, Calamity Jane. By Reckless Ralph.
No. 361.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT GUNNISON; or, Poker Paul’s Poor Policy. By the Author of “Gentlenian ie

Issc
No. 362.—RATTLESNAKE NED. THE TERROR OF THE SEA. By Ned Buntline. Issnea\eb)
No 363.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GARRISON; or, The Castle in the Clouds. By the Author of <*Gentleman Joe.”

Issued WW k=.
No. 364,—THE SHANGHATIER OF GREENWICH STREET; or, Liverpool Jack, the Slave Trader. By Heury Dee rip

Issfredt
No. 365.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S COOL CATCH; or, The Gilt-Edged Sport’s Shake-Up. By the Author of «Gentieip | a
: Issthe d 3,
No. 366.-—KENTUCKY KATE; or, The Moonshiners’ Leagne. By Marline Manly. Issued ] &
No. 367.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S DENVER DUET; or, The Hotspur From Hard-Pan. By the Author of “Gentleman J

Isstied
No, 368.—THE STRANGLERS OF OHIO; or, A Dark-Lantern League. By Marline Manly. hed
No. 569.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S DOOM-DISPATCH; or, The Nabob From Nimble Nugget. By theyAuthor of “‘Gentlé

Issued
No. 370.—THE OYSTER PIRATES. By Eugene T. Sawyer. . A Isstied)
Noe 371.—GENTLEMAN, JOE’S LEADVILLE LEAD; or, Foxy Fan’s Flush. By the Author of “G2ntleman Joe

: Issued
No. 372. —THE OCEAN DETECTIVES: or, The Trail of Death. By Richard J. Storms. Issued
No. 373.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT LUCIFER LODE; or, The Swoop of the Gulch Shadows. By dhe Author of *‘gentl

Tesueé-.

No. 374.— ye’ THE FLOATING DETECTIVE; or, The Shadowed Buccaneer. By Ned Buntline. Issued
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