Read “Darrow, the Floating Detective,” in No. 374 of this Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hinterved According to Act of Congress. in the Year 1892, by Street & Smith. in the Office of the Librarian of Congress. Kutered as Secondi-class Matter atthe New
Yori, N. Y., Post Office. Issued Weeily. Swoscription Price, $5.00 Per Year. i * May 21, 1896.

No. 375, Srrenr & Suir, Publishers, NEW YORK. 29 Rose St.. N.Y. iQ Cents,

GENTLEMAN JOE'S NERVE;

THE WHELPS OF WHERE-ARE-YE.

 

 

 

 

 

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THE MUZZLE OF A PIVTOL WAS PRESSED AGAINST THE TEMPLE OF THE MAN WHO HELD THE KNIFE, AND A SOFT, CLEAR |
AY Ae Bet ane ACES Ny Ba VOICE SAID: “DROP THAT KNIFE, BLACK SAM!” ;

 
THE LOG

CENTLEMAN JOES NERVE:

R,

THE WHELPS oF WHERE-ARE-YE,

ae a
By the Author of “GENTLEMAN JOE?”

CHAPTER L
IN SEARCH OF A FORTUNE.

‘‘That’s a mighty curious sound, Uncle Bill! It an’t

made by no human critter!’’

‘‘Perhaps it is some wild animal, Jeff. There must be!

varmints in these woods!”’

‘‘T’m thinkin’ it’s ghosts we hear.’’

‘‘Nonsense, Jeff! don’t be so foolish; there are no such
things as ghosts.’’

‘‘There it goes again! Oh, Lordy! what a sound!”’

The two men paused to listen to a sound that came wail-
ing out of the dark woods around them. It was unlike any
noise they had ever heard before. It was a long-drawn-out
cry, rising louder and louder, until it ended in a sound not
unlike the howling of a dog.

Yet there was the tone of a human voice in the cry which
startled the listeners and made the blood run cold in the
veins of the younger of them.

The scene was a camp in a narrow, wooded canon in
the far West. Three men and a young woman traveling in
a covered wagon were journeying to the gold fields of that
wild region.

They had come all the way from Iowa, and believed that |

they were nearing the end of their journey when they

pitched their camp for the night, on which this story |

opens, on the bank of a clear mountain stream where
there was plenty of grass for the horses.

Two days before they had engaged a guide, Ben Barr,
a miner, who was familiar with that country. He had
assured them that another day’s journey would bring them
to the gold region they sought.

Soon after supper the young woman ‘in the party had
gone to sleep in the covered wagon, and the guide, curled
up in his blanket by the fire, was snoring loudly in five
minutes.

The leader of the party, a gray-haired old man of sixty
years, sat smoking by the fire. One of his hired men, Jeff
Jones, a young fellow of twenty, joined him. After the
others of the party were all asleep these two were preparing
to turn in when they were startled by a peculiar cry. The
sound came from somewhere in the dark, gloomy forest
that surrounded the camp, but they could not locate it.

For some time the two men listened intently.
was repeated at intervals, but it did not seem to come
from the same place.

Finally the two men walked out to the edge of the circle |
of light from the camp-fire. Then they made.a circuit of
the camp, and advanced a little ways into the wood in

several directions without being able to locate the noise.
- that had disturbed them.

The old man did not believe in the supernatural, but
there was something so queer about the cry he had heard
that he was not satisfied.

He decided to arouse the Ene and see if he could tell
what it was.

{

CABIN LIBRARY.

The sound |

No. 375.

The two men returned to the camp-fire where they
found the other members of the party still sound asleep,
but the horses, hobbled near by, were uneasy.

They, too, had heard the cry in the forest, and they
stood with heads erect and eyes staring into the darkness
looking for some hidden enemy.

As a matter of precaution, the old man went 40 the
wagon and took down his trusty rifle. Then he turned
around to’awaken the sleeping guide.

When he turned back toward the camp-fire he found
himself face to face with a stranger, a tall, rough-looking
man with a dark skin and gleaming black eyes.

The stranger had entered the camp as noiselessly as a
,Shadow. He seemed to have risen out of the ground, or to
| have dropped down from the trees above, so suddenly and
mysteriously did he appear.

‘‘Howdy, stranger!’ said the new-comer,
voice.

‘‘Good-evening, sir! Who are you, and what do you
want?’’ replied the old man.

‘‘T live in these parts; I diga little and prospect. Call
me Sam;. that’s the only name I use these days. I saw
your camp-fire from my shanty up on the hill, and came
down to see if I could be of any service.”’

‘That was kind of you, and you may be of service. Per-
haps you can tell us what kind of animal it is that makes
the strange noise we have heard to-night!”’

‘‘T heard no noise. Perhaps it was a wolf or a coyote,’’
answered the dark man. ‘May I ask you name, and where
you intend to prospect?’’ he went on.

“Certainly. My name is Dare, William Dare, of lowa. I
am out here in search of a claim left by my brother, Dan
Dare. He came out here five years ago, and for a long
time we heard nothing from him. Finally he wrote home
‘that he had struck a rich vein of gold, and had mined a
large quantity of it which he had concealed near his cabin.
He was ill with a fever when he wrote, and sent with the
letter a will leaving his gold and his claim to his daughter
Dolly in the event of his death.

‘‘We waited a year, and hearing nothing more fron
him, concluded that he had died. Then I took the girl, my

 

in a harsh

 

.| niece, and started out to find her claim.”’

| The stranger laughed, and his voice sounded cold and
| harsh.

‘‘How are you going to find the claim after all this
time?’’ he asked.

“T have a rough drawing it made by my brother and
a description of its location.’

‘‘Let me see it!’’ said the stranger, eagerly. ‘“ Maybe
can help you find the place. I know every foot of the cou i
try for twenty miles around here!”

Dare drew a package of papers from his pocket, and
carefully opening it, handed to the stranger a roughly
drawn map showing the location of a mining claim.

The man grasped it and moved closer to the light, where
he scanned the paper closely.

If Bill Dare had watched the face of his visitor closely
he might have seen a peculiar gleam come into the dark
eyes as they rested on the drawing before them.

‘“‘Golly! there it goes again!’’
| ‘Jeff Jones sprang to his feet and drew closer to the ol
man as the sound of that weird ghostly cry come, out of
the forest again.

Ben Barr, the guide, was awakened ee by ae ony or
the sound of the conversation that had been going on.
He raised his head from his blanket. enough to catch &

‘Y

 

 
No. 375.

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. | 3

 

 

 

glimpse of the dark face of the straneer, and then he lay
down again quickly without a word.

‘‘Oh, uncle, what is that terrible noise?”’

A pretty girl of twenty years, with a shawl thrown
loosely around her shoulders, and her hair falling over it
in a wavy mass of gold, jumped out of the wagon and
running forward, caught the old man by the arm.

Dolly Dare had been aroused by the cry in the forest.

‘Why, that is only the cry of a prowling wolf,’’ said
the dark-faced miner, stepping forward when he heard the
voice of the girl.

‘‘Oh, thank you, sir! bac will 4t attack us?’’

The man who had introduced himself as Sam, a miner,
laughed aloud.

‘‘Why, no, my pretty miss.
scare it away.”’

As he spoke the man stepped forward a few paces from
the fire and uttered a loud shout.

‘“‘There! that will scare the beast off,’’ he said, and
walking back to the fire, he resumed his examination of
the papers.

“‘T think I have heard something of this claim. Let me
see all the papers you have; maybe I can tell you just
where it is.”

The unsuspecting old man handed over all the, docu-
ments in his possession relating to the property of his
niece. He did not see the smile of satisfaction that played
about the coarse lips of the stranger, who again turned to
the light and resumed his examination of the papers.

‘Oh, there it is again!’ cried Dolly Dare, clinging to
the arm of her, uncle.

It was the wild cry from the forest that startled her.

“Tet us call the guide. I do not like the looks of that
man!’’ said the girl, in.a low tone, to her uncle.

Without waiting for his answer, she stepped forward
and caught hold of the blanket under which the guide
was supposed to be sleeping.

As she turned back the blanket the girl gave a little
scream of surprise and fright.

The rude couch of Ben Barr was empty. The guide had
disappeared as silently and mysteriously as the dark- faced

man had come.

Bill Dare was startled by the disappearance of the guide,
but he tried to quiet the fears of his niece.

The two young men who accompanied them were much
alarmed, and each now grasped his rifle and peered out
into the circle of darkness beyond the light of the camp-
fire.

The horses, too, had taken fright at something. They
were straining at their halters in an attempt to break
away.

‘““What is that? I see something wos pel suddenly
cried Dolly Dare, pointing toa large tree just within range
of the light of the camp-fire.

A dark shadow sprang from behind the tree and fled
away into the forest beyond.

Then a moment later the wild cry of the wolf or ghost

You are in no danger. I'll

| was heard again.

The old man in search of the fortune of his niece raised
his rifle to fire a shot in the direction of the shadow that
had just disappeared in the darkness.

Before he could raise the gun to his shoulder it was

pores from his hand by the dark stranger.

The latter had thrust the papers relating to the mining
ec aim into his pocket. As he struck down the rifle of Bill
tered a dogs whistle. Ne
a.

 

In a moment a dozen dark forms sprang out of the dark-
ness with guns leveled at the men around the camp-fire.

When Dare turned to face the new and unknown danger
the dark-faced man at his side bounded forward and
seized the girl about the waist.

‘‘Keep quiet, my little beauty! I’ll find your claim for
you!’’ said the stranger.

Before Dolly Dare could cry out. for mo a strong, rough
hand was pressed over her mouth and she was lifted in the
arms of her captor, who then dodged around the wagon
before her friends could. make a move to help her.

The frightened and struggling girl heard the sharp
crack of rifle shots, saw her gray-haired old uncle totter
and fall forward on his face by the camp-fire, and then
she lost consciousness.

lene ene es

CHAPTER II.
TO THE RESCUE.

A cleared space on a hill-side overlooking a beautiful
wooded valley, a score of rude cabins, and as many
weather-beaten tents scattered at irregular intervals on.
both sides of a wide trail, called, by courtesy, a street!
such was the mining camp known by the odd name of
Where-Are- Ye.

How it came to be called by such a name, no one could
explain. The inhabitants cared very little about the his-
tory of the place or the origin of its name.

Rich croppings of gold had been found all along the
hills that stretched away in broken ranges for thirtv miles
to the north.

The country was filling up fast with miners and_ pros-
pectors, so the strangely nained camp was prosperous, and
threatened to grow into a town of some importance.

So many strangers arrived in the camp every day that
Homely Hank, the genial landlord of the ‘‘Here-Ye-Are’’
saloon and hotel, took no’ particular notice of a well-
dressed and keen-eyed man who arrived at his place late .
one afternoon and called for a good room for the night.

“T may stay with you several days, as I have some busi-
ness to transact,’’ said the new-comer.

This did not impress Homely Hank, but when his .cus-.
tomer after a moment’s hesitation took up a pen and wrote.
in the dingy register, in a bold hand, ‘‘Joseph Gentry,
Denver,’’ the landlord gave vent to a_ whistle of surprise
and was all attention at once.

‘‘T have heard of you, Gentleman Joe, I mean Mr. Gen-.
try; in-fact, we have heard a great deal of you in these
parts. You are welcome to the camp.”’

Gentleman Joe smiled at the changed manner of the
landlord, but made no comment.

He ordered dinner, and while it was cooking he went
out for a look about the camp.

After strolling around the camp for half an hour Gentry
returned to the combination saloon and hotel to find a
crowd gathered in front of the place, and surrounding two
men and a young woman.

The woman was crying and wringing her hands, while
the two men with her were trying to tell the excited crowd
what had happened.

A woman in distress was enough to arouse the interest of
the Gilt-Edged Sport; but this woman was young and
pretty, so he quickly made his way to the inner circle of
the crowd, where he could hear the story.

The two men were miners who belonged in the camp.
They ssid that while prospecting in the valley below that

 
4

morning they had come across a camp that had evidently
been cleaned out by robbers.

Close by the ashes of the camp-fire they had found the
dead bodies of three men, one.an old man, the others
young. All three had been shot, the wagon had been looted
of everything of value, and the horses carried off.

The young woman they had found hiding in the woods
close by. She was badly frightened, and had started to,
run away at sight»of them. They overtook her and
brought her to camp.

All day the woman had been hysterical, weeping and
calling for her uncle. The two miners said they had been
unable to get a connected story from her of what had hap-
pened, but there was no doubt that she had belonged to
the party that had been attacked by the unknown robbers.

Gentry listened patiently until he had learned all that
the two miners had to tell. Then he stepped forward and
spoke to the young woman, who was still weeping silently
with her hands on her face.

He spoke to her gently, but at the sound of his voice the
young woman started.

‘‘Compose yourself, young lady, and tell me what has
fhappened,’’ he said.

‘Oh, my poor uncle!’’ wailed the woman, but Gentry
noticed that her tears had ceased to flow, and that she was
watching him furtively out of the corners of her eyes.’

‘What is your name?’’ he asked. |

**Dolly Dare,’’ answered the woman, -viping her eyes.

“*Where is your home?”’

**Oh, sir, Ihave no home now. My poor uncle has been
murdered, and I am all alone in the world.’’

**Have you no friends?”’

‘None sir; they are all dead.’’

By dint of persistent questioning Gentry made the wo-
man tell that she had come West to search for a mining
claim and a quantity of hidden gold left to her by her
father, who was dead. Her uncle and two young men in
his employ had come with her to the West. “While in camp
the night before they had been attacked by robbers and
the three men were killed.

The young woman said that in the confusion of the
fighting she had managed to escape, and had hidden in
the woods near the camp until found by the two miners
that day.

From the crowd that listened to her story came many
expressions of sympathy for the young woman.

Gentry called the landlord and told him to provide the
‘young woman with a room and see that she was properly |
cared for.

Then the crowd gathered closer about him. The rough
miners were not pleased to see a stranger appear as the
protector of a woman who had come to their camp in dis-
tress.

‘‘Who are you, and what are you going todo with this,

woman?’’ asked one big fellow, who had a pair of revolvers
strapped around his waist. :

‘‘T am Joseph Gentry, sometimes called Gentleman Joe. |

Iam going to see that the woman is cared for, and I shall
help her to find her claim. Has any one here anything to
say against my plan?”’

No one responded. The mention of the name of Gentle-
man Joe had caused those in the front rank of the crowd
to fall back a pace.

‘What are you men going to do about the crime that has
been committed near your |camp?’’ he asked, in turn.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

No. 375.

The miners looked at one another in silence for a mo-
ment.

“What can we do? It was the work of the Whelps,’
one big fellow, at last.

““Hush, Bill! Be careful when you say anything like
that,’’ said a second man, placing his hand over the mouth
of the first speaker.

‘The work of the Whelps? What do you mean? Who
are they? and what are they?’’ asked Gentry, but there

’ said

| Was NO reply.

The crowd had already begun to scatter, and in a few
sb aa he was alone.

‘“What mystery is Me that the miners of the camp are
afraid to speak a name,’’ said Gentleman Joe, to himself,
as he turned and made his way to the dining-room, where
a steaming hot supper had been prepared for him.

The meal disposed of, he paid a visit to the young wo-
man whose cause he had promised to champion.

He had a long talk with her, but it was some time be-
fore he could convince her that she might trust him and
tell him her story freely and fully.

Gentry did not pretend to be a good judge of the moods
and motives of women, but this one puzzled him more than
he cared to admit.

According to her story she was a country girl, but occa-
sionally she let slip a remark that indicated considerable
knowledge of the world.

As carefully and gently as possible, Gentleman Joe led

the conversation away from the tragedy of the night be-

fore, and asked the girl to tell him something of her plans
for the future.

‘If I can only find the gold and the mine left me by my
father, I will be able to go back to my friends,’’ she said.

‘*Have you any idea where the claim is located?’’

“No; the map of the location and all the other papers
left by my father were stolen by the robbers.”’

‘‘Do you recall the name of any miner who knew your
father, or would be likely to know the location of the
property ?”’

““Only the man who came West with him, ane we have
never heard of him since they left Iowa.”’

“What was his name?’’

‘*Peter Pratt.’’

Gentleman Joe neyer lost control of his feelings under
any circumstances, but just at that moment he had hard
work to repress an exclamation of surprise.

He had come to the mining-camp at the request of Peter
Pratt, who wanted to sell him a rich claim.

Extending his hand to the young woman, Joe told her
to compose herself and try to sleep that night. ye

*‘T do not wish to arouse expectations that may not Be
fulfilled,’’ he said, ‘‘but I think I shall be able to locate
your claim. Remain here until you see me again. I shall
arrange with the landlord to supply all your wants.’’

Without another word, her new friend hurriedly left the
room. He wanted to get out into the open air to work out

| certain plans that were forming in his mind.

With long, swinging strides, he walked down the open
space called the main street of the camp, and out to the
edge of the wooded valley that lay black and silent below,
| where he paused and stood drinking in deep draughts of
the fresh, cool mountain air, while he turned over in his
mind a problem suggested by the story of the young girl

: whose claim he had promised to find.

Suddenly a long, shrill cry rang out of the forest far
down the valley, and was echoed back from the hills be-

 
a _ time, and tried to get a look at the face of the young man
atthe table, but the latter kept a soft hat pulled down
: over his eyes, and bent low over his stock of chips.

No 375. THI LOG. CA
yond. A few moments later there was a similar cry from
a point nearer the town.

“Those are human voices,’’ said Gentleman Joe. ‘Voices
disguised to imitate the cry of a wolf whelp. Signals,
probably, and if Iam not mistaken there is some crooked
work going on around this png eer) in which a num-
ber of men are interested.”’

But the Gilt-Edged Sport did not trouble himself long
about the strange signal he had heard or the mystery that
might be concealed in the valley below. He had one mys-
tery and a pretty woman on his hands, and meant to see
them through before taking up any other work.

Gentry turned on his heel and walked rapidly back
toward the camp. It was now after ten o’clock at night,
and the saloons and gambling-houses of the place were in
full blast.

Acting on a sudden impulse, Gentry turned and entered
one of these places. When he pushed open the swinging
doors he found himself in a long, low room, brilliantly
lighted by gasoline lamps suspended from the ceiling.

On one side of the room there was a bar where three
waiters were busy serving drinks to the rough-looking
miners who thronged the place.

_ At the far end of the room and ranged along the side

opposite the bar were gaming-tables and devices of various
kinds. There were faro, roulette, wheels of fortune, and
tables for those who wanted to play a quiet game of poker.

Gentleman Joe moved about in the crowd for some time
without finding a familiar face. Most of the men there

 

 

were evidently new to the West, but many of them had
struck pay-dirt, and the gaming-tables were all crowded.
The Gilt-Edged Sport watched the play for a time with

little interest, and then turned to leave the place. As he
moved through the dense crowd toward the door, a voice
close to his ear said, in a whisper:

“You are watched! Be on your guard!”’

Gentry wheeled about quick as a flash, with one “hand
on his trusty revolver, but he was not in time to detect
the person who had spoken.

Rough-looking miners were moving about, and mingling
with them were other men whose hard, evil faces stamped
them as gamblers and adventurers who always infest and
prey on a prosperous mining camp.

None of the faces was familiar to the man who had been
so suddenly and unexpectedly warned of danger.

The voice that spoke the warning was soft and low, and
while unable to place it at the moment Gentry knew that
he had heard it before. He determined to find his mys-
terious friend, and also to find out who it was watching |
him and for what purpose.

With his eyes searching every face around him, Gentry
made his way back to the faro-table where the crowd was
thickest.

A slender young man with delicate white hands sat
among the players in front of the table, and made bets so
large and reckless that the others frequently stopped to

watch his play. But while apparently careless, the young
man was a heavy winner,. and seemed to be playing in
phenomenal luck.

Gentry stood among those watching the play for some

S ae by the UES ie the man from _Denv er

A BIN LUBHAY

 

5

 

 

man, with a dark, scowling face, and fierce black eyes.
This man was better dressed than the miners, and it was
evident at a glance that he was not one of them.

Gentry found the eyes of the stranger fixed intently on
his face, and he saw, too, that the man had one hand on
his revolver.

For a space of five seconds the two men looked each:
other squarely in the eye.

The man from Denver, whose memory for faces was re-
markable, could not recall the identity of the dark man in
front of him, but the eyes of the stranger were farhiliar.
Gentry knew in a moment that he had looked into those
eyes before.

Not a word passed between the twomen. The stranger
seemed uncertain, and after scanning Gentry from head.
to foot, moved away, with a scowl on his face.

‘‘Well, my dark-faced friend, I think we will know each
other when we meet again,’’ muttered Gentleman Joe, as
he watched the tall figure of the stranger disappear in the
crowd.

A few minutes later Gentry left the gambling-room and
started back toward his hotel. When he stepped out into
the street he took a quick glance around, but there was
no one following, and he was beginning to think that the
warning he had heard was a joke or was intended for
some one else.

He was passing a tent that stood a little back from the
street when the sound of a struggle within caused him to
pause and listen.

A moment later he heard a faint, stifled scream inside the
tent.’ It was the voice of a woman!

Without stopping to think of the possible cosequences,
Gentry ran forward toward the half-open door of the tent.

He had gone less than ten steps when a strong arm was
thrown around his neck from behind, he was tripped, and
thrown violently to the ground.

Half-stunned by the fall, Gentry grasped his pistol and
tried to get up. But his assailant was on top of him before
he could make a move. A heavy blow on the head knocked
him over on his back.

Then he felt a heavy knee pressed on his chest, and by
the faint light of the stars he saw the gleaming blade of
an uplifted bowie-knife.

Thoughts come quickly to men of nerve and courage at
such moments, and Gentry realized that he was at the
mercy of his assailant. If the big knife descended on his
throat he was doomed, and his left arm was pinioned
under his body so he could not ward off the blow.

His right arm was held in a vise-like grip by the man
on top of him, so he could not use his pistol.

But in this critical situation, the man of nerve, who had
faced death a thousand times, did not cry out.

He could not see the face of the man who held him
down, but in that one terrible moment of suspense Gentry
felt that he was in the grasp of the dark-faced stranger
he had met in the gambling-room.

Another second and the career of Gentleman Joe would
have been ended, when there came a sudden and. startling
interruption of the threatened tragedy.

A third person appeared on the scene. The muzzle of a
pistol was pressed against the temple of the man who held
the knife, and a soft, clear voice said, in a low tone:

‘‘Drop that knife, Black Sam!’’

With a furious oath, the man threw the knife on the
ground, and, bounding to his feet, dashed aw ay and dig-

tes in the darkness. \

 
6

Gentry got up and started to fire a shot in the direction
his assailant had gone, but a small white hand was laid on
his arm, and a soft, sweet voice said:

‘‘Don’t waste your powder, Joe!’’

‘‘Foxy Fan! Good heavens! what are you doing here?
And in that disguise!’’ cried Gentry.

His rescuer was, indeed, Foxy Fan, the wonderful wo-
man gambler of the West, but she wore the garb of a
man, and Gentleman Joe, even in the darkness, recognized
in his friend the same person he had seen playing faro
with such wonderful luck ten minutes before.

‘‘T’ll explain all later. [have something more important
to tell you just now. Let us go somewhere where we will
be safe from interruption. I saw the coward strike you
from behind. He would not dare meet you fairly.”’

‘‘But there is a woman in trouble here. Let us see what
we can do for her,’’ said Gantry, suddenly recalling the
stifled scream he had heard on the street.

As he spoke he turned and started in the direction i irom
which the sound had come.

Then he stopped suddenly, looked around in a bewild-
ered way, and gave vent to an ejaculation of amazement.

The tent had disappeared. The place where he had seen
a light, had heard a struggle, and the stifled scream of a
woman not five minutes before, had vanished as com-
pletely as a shadow of the night.

 

CHAPTER III.
THE WHELPS OF WHERE-ARE-YE.

‘‘Well, Monte, why are you so glum to-night? What’s
the trouble?”’

‘Where is he?’’

‘“‘Coming with the gal, I reckon.”’

‘*Did he get the papers?’’

‘‘Eiverything.’”’

The woman addressed as Monte sprang up from the pile
of blankets where she had been sitting with her head
bowed in her hands and paced rapidly. up and down the
long, low cave for a few moments, while her lips quivered
with passion and her eyes flashed fire.

The man who had spoken to her put down his rifle, and,
taking a seat near the embers of the dying fire, watched
her with a curious smile on his face as she strode back and
forth with quick, nervous steps.

The man was Ben Barr, the guide of the little party of
fortune-hunters, three of whom had been murdered, and
the fourth taken prisoner that night.

The place was a secret cave in the midst of a dense for-
est not many miles from the mining-camp of Where-Are-
Ye. It was the headquarters of a bold gang of robbers and
outlaws, who had been working in that section for months,
but so secretly that the identity of the members of the
gang was unknown to the honest miners.

Several members of the band were like Ben Barr, ap-
parently honest miners, guides, and prospectors. In that
guise they were able to locate property ‘worth stealing,
and then they would call the gang to their aid to take it
in some secret and mysterious way that would defy de-
tection.

The members of the gang were called the Whelps of
Where-Are-Ye because they signaled to each other by
means of a cry like that of young wolves.

The leader of the band was a tall, powerfully built man,
with a dark, swarthy skin, who was known to his follow-
ers simply as Black Sam. To the members of the gang he

THE LOG CABIN LIBRAKY.

 

 

 

"No. 375.

 

was a mystery. They knew nothing of his history; but as
he was a man of cunning and desperate courage, and knew
every foot of the country, they followed his lead blindly,
and asked ‘no questions about his past.

In some way, Black Sam had learned of the coming of
the little band of fortune-hunters from Iowa who were go-
ing to try and find the rich claim left by old Dan Dare.

It was Black Sam who had arranged with Ben Barr to :
meet the party far down the valley and offer his services
as guide. The result the reader already knows.

Ben Barr was not asleep when he lay rolled in his
blanket by the camp-fire of the fortune-hunters. As soon
as he saw that Black Sam had possession of the papers re-
lating to the mining claim and heard the signals of the
gang in the forest, he slipped away and hurried to the
cave to await the coming of his leader.

It had been agreed that he was to take no. part in the
work of putting the troublesome members of the party
out of the way.

When Ben Barr reached the cave he found only one —
member 3f the gang there. This member was a young wo-
man:known as Monte May.

She was a friend of Black Sam, and followed him in all
his wanderings, but of her past history or her relations
with their leader the other members of the gang were ig-
norant.

While the woman was pacing up and down the cave Ben
Barr had come to a conclusion as to the cause of her evi-
dent anger and annoyance.

The situation evidently pleased him, for he secretly ad-
mired the woman, who was pretty and graceful, but was
as passionate as a tigress when aroused.

Barr waited until she had cooled down, and then he
spoke to her again. _

‘“*Come here, May!’’ he said.

““What do you want?’’ asked the woman, as she stopped
and stood facing him.

‘‘You areangry. Has the captain been ugly?’’

An angry flush rose to the face of the woman. No mem-
ber of the gang had ever before dared to address her in
that way.

She hesitated a moment, and then,
tion, asked abruptly:

‘*You say he is bringing that girl here?’’

“Yes; he took her away from the camp.”’

‘Is she Bo

“Yes, and young.’

‘The lips of the woman curled in a scornful smile.

“What is he going to do with her?”’

*‘T do not know. Help her find her claim, perhaps.’’

*‘Can he find it?”’

‘*Ves, he has the papers.’’

‘‘Does any one else know the secret?’’

‘*Perhaps.”’ ce

SSWWho??’?

‘*Well, I was with the party ne ie
talk of much else but this claim.’

‘‘Go on! go on!’’ cried the woman, stamping her foot —
impatiently.

‘*T looked over the papers.”’

‘*And copied them?’’

‘*T did not say so.”’

“Then what do you mean?”’ oo

‘‘Nothing, maybe; perhaps a Brest deal. That a 1” ae

‘On what?”’ ce y

“ Yourself.’’

ignoring the ques-

They did not

 
- No. 375.

 

‘Speak out, man.’’

*‘Suppose Black Sam likes the girl?’’

“Td kill them!’’ cried Monte May, and she clinched her
small white hands until the nails of her fingers dug deep
into the flesh and the blood flowed.

‘‘But that would nof find the richest claim in the West.”’
**You have a copy of the papers?”’

Ben Barr slipped one hand into an inner pocket of. his
_ coat.

*‘Give me the papers!’’

Monte May leaped forward like a tigress. Her eyes were
flashing fire, and in her right hand gleamed a small dagger.

Barr sprang back against the wall of the cave, but the
woman sprang after him, and before he could make a
move to defend himself the sharp point of the dagger was
pressed against his breast directly over the heart.

““The papers, or you die!’’ hissed the infuriated woman.
_ Just then a long cry like the howl of a young wolf was
heard at the entrance to the cave.

The woman stepped back, and her face grew pale as
‘death. She slipped the dagger into her bosom.

Realizing that he was safe from the fury of the woman
for the moment, Ben Barr knew that he would have to
face anew danger. If she should tell Black Sam that he
had the papers his life would not be worth a cent.

A plan to save himself formed in his mind in a moment.

Catching the woman by the arm, he er in her
ear:

‘““Say nothing! You shall have the papers. Remember
you may need a friend some time, and you can depend on
me!’’

Monte May did not reply, but gave Barr a look which he
understood to mean that she would accept his terms.

At that moment there was a rustling of branches out-|
_the sleeping girl and remove her hat and cloak.

side, and Black Sam entered 'the cave bearing the limp
-_ form of Dolly Dare in his arms.

_ He placed the fainting girl ona pile of blankets, and,
furning to Monte May, said:

**An’t she a beauty? Take a look at her!’’

In the presence of the outlaw chief the woman known as
Monte May was a changed being. All her fierce anger was
gone. |
’ Without a word, she stepped forward and looked at the
face of the fainting girl who lay before her. __

*‘Very pretty,’’ was her only comment as she looked up
- to meet the searching gaze of Black Sam fixed on her face.

‘“‘We must bring her around. A little something hot to

drink will fix her all right, my dear!’’ said the outlaw
chief, who was apparently satisfied with his examina-
tion of the face of Monte May.
_ At his command the woman stirred up the fire and _pre-
pared some hot coffee for the fainting girl while he turned
to speak to his men who were now coming in and remov-
ing their masks.

Ben Barr, furtively watching the scene from a dark cor-

ner of the cave, saw Monte May take from the bosom of
her dress a small bottle and pour a little white powder
into the cup of coffee she had prepared.

At the same time he saw on the face of the woman a
look so cruel and heartless it made his blood run cold.

Outlaw and scoundrel that he was, he did not want to

_ See an innocent young girl murdered in cold blood, and he

_ believed that was about to happen before his eyes, while

he _was powerless to prevent it.
oS But af row was poison in the cup, as Barr suspected,
poly Dare was 4 HOS, fated to die a way.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. 7

 

Suddenly the girl stirred uneasily, then, with a cry of
terror, she sprang to her feet, upsetting the cup of coffee
that had been placed close by the side of the rude couch.

‘“Where am iy Oh, my poor uncle!’’ cried the ee
girl.

Then catching sight of Monte May, she ran forward and
throwing her arms about the neck of the woman who had
just tried to murder her, she fell into a fit of violent weep-
ing.

“‘Get her quiet!’’ said Black Sam,
want to speak with you!”’

Monte May soothed the weeping girl as best she could,
assured her that she was among friends, and would be
cared for.

So skillfully did she perform the task set for her that in
half an hour the poor girl, worn out with terror, fellinto a
sound sleep on the blankets spread for her by the woman
outlaw. —

When she was asleep Black Sam came and stood over
the girl, looking down into her tear-stained face intently,
whil3 all the evil passion of the man’s nature flashed in
his cruel black eyes.

‘*She’s worth a gold mine!”’ he said, at last, with a coarse
laugh, as he turned away and called to Monte May to fol-
low him to a remote corner of the cave.

There the two held a long and earnest conversation,
lasting for two hours.

At the end of that time the guards were stationed at the
entrance to the cave and most of the gang following the
example of their leader, rolled themselves in their
blankets and went to sleep.

Ben Barr lay down with the others, but he did aot go to
sleep. With his eyes half-closed, he kept watch on the .
strange scene, and saw Monte May cautiously approach

in a low tone. ‘‘I

The woman then donned the hat and cloak herself, and
after putting some paint on her face to make it look more
youthful, she slipped quietly out of the cave and disap-
peared in the forest.

Barr fell asleep finally, and did not awake until morn-
ing. His first glance about the cave showed that Dolly
Dare had disappeared,

He knew it was impossible for her to have escaped, but
he did not care to ask any questions about her fate.

“‘Come here!’’ said Black Sam, as soon as he saw that
Barr was awake.

The outlaw stepped forward and faced the lean of the
gang.

‘‘How much do you know?’’ demanded the leader,
gruffly.

**Of what?’’

“Of the claim of Dan Dare and it’s location?”

‘*Nothing!’’

**You lie!”’

Barr flushed, and then turned paleas the thought flashed
through his mind that Monte May had played him false.

He started to protest that he knew nothing of the secret,
but Black Sam cut him short with a string of oaths.

“Tl take care that you do not do any prospecting on
your own account for a few days,’’ said the leader. ‘‘To
the black hole with him!”’

Strong hands seized Ben Barr from behind. He was
quickly disarmed, securely bound, and blindfolded.

Five minutes later he lay on the stone floor of a little
room where no ray of light penetrated.

 
THE LOG

CABIN L IBRARY,

Xx

No. 375.

 

 

 

CHAPTER IV.

PETER PRATT, HIS MINING CLAIM AND HIS CABIN.

Gentleman Joe, followed by Foxy Fan, went over to the
place where the tent had stood, to make sure that their
eyes had not deceived them.

They were soon satisfied on that score. The holes where
the tent-poles had stood showed that the tent had just
been hurriedly removed.

‘‘ “They folded their tents like the Arab
And as silently stole away,’ ”’

quoted Gentry.

Then he struck a match and by its flickering light made
a hurried examination of the ground.

‘*Hello! what’s this?”

Gentry picked up a white object from the ground where
the tent had stood a few moments before.

It proved to be a woman’s handkerchief.

By the light of another match the two examined it. In
one corner ofthe little piece of linen they found the let-
ter ‘‘D.’’ worked in with silk.

‘‘A clew, as the detectives would say!’’ exclaimed Gen-
try. ‘‘VUl keep this. It at least proves that my ears did not
deceive me and that I did hear a woman's voice.’’

*‘God help her if she isin the hands of the men who
owned the tent,’’ said Foxy Fan.

‘‘What do you know of them?”

‘‘Very little; but I suspect a great deal.”’

‘‘Come, we may be overheard here. Let us take a walk
out of the camp, where we can talk freely.”’

Gentleman Joe and his friend, Foxy Fan, arm in arm,
walked swiftly down to the edge of the forest away from
the mining-camp, where they stood in earnest conversa-
tion for an hour.

The woman explained to Gentry why she happened to
be in that place at the time and in disguise.

She also told him the little she knew, and what she sus-
pected of the man who had that night attempted the life
of the Gilt-Edged Sport.

the details of their conversation had little direct bear-
ing on the thread of this story, but the information ob-
tained from the woman confirmed in the mind of Gentle-
man Joe some things that he had already begun to sus-
pect.

He also learned that it was she who had warned him in
the gambling-house that night that he was watched. The
man who was then dogging his footsteps was the same
one who later made the attempt on his life, which would
have been successful but for the prompt action and cour-
age of the little woman who was always true to her
friends. |

In turn, Gentleman Joe told Fan what he knew of Dolly
Dare and how he had promised that young woman to aid
her in the search for her mining claim.

t was midnight when the two friends separated, Gen-
try to return to his hotel, and Foxy Fan to her lodging in
the camp.

Gentleman Sones was up and dressed at daylight on the.
following morning. As soon as possible, he had breakfast,
and then started out on a little prospecting tour alone.

He left a message for the young woman he'had agreed

order, he started up the hill toward the cabin.

 

ve a Hook at the surrounding country, and would prob-.
ably return in time for dinner. If any one called to see

him during his absence they were to wait or return in the -

afternoon.
Leaving the hotel, Gentry walked down the main street
of the camp, and, entering a saloon, madea few cautious

inquiries about the location of the cabin of a miner of the.

name of Peter Pratt.
After obtaining what information he could he left the
camp and struck out across the hills to the north on foot.
An hour of fast walking brought him in sight of a rude
cabin of logs, perched on the side of a steep hill, a hundred

‘yards above the bank of a roaring little brook that came

tumbling down from the mountains beyond in ‘a series of

i miniature cataracts.

‘“This must be the place,’’ he said to himself, and after
carefully examining his revolvers to see that they were in

The door of the little hut was closed, and there was no
sign of life about the place, but Gentry kept his oye wide
open as he walked up toward the door.

He was within a hundred feet of the cabin when a heavy.
voice from within called out:

‘Stop there, stranger, and put up your hands!”’

At the same moment Gentry caught sight of the barrel
of a rifle pointed through a small port-hele in the wall of
the cabin close by the door. He could see that the rifle
was leveled at his breast, and a gleaming eye was level
with the sights. i

Gentry stopped at the word of command and a up his
hands.

‘*Who are you, and what do you want?’’ asked the man
back of the rifle.

*‘My name is Joseph Gentry, and I am looking for @
mine-owner of the name of Pratt!”’

‘‘The —— you say!”’

‘*“You heard what I said. Now who are you, and what do
you want, that you are pointing your rifle and holding up
an honest citizen who is here on legitimate business?’’

‘*How do I know you are telling the truth?’’

**You don’t know it, and you will never know very
much about anything if you shut yourself up inside a
cabin and hold up every man who approaches If you care’
to be civil, I can soon convince you of my identity.’’

‘What is your business with Peter Pratt?’’

‘You ought to know my business, Mr. Pratt, as I am
here because you wrote to me that you had a valuable
mining claim which you wanted to sell or to form a com-
pany to develop the property.’’

Instantly the rifle was withdrawn from the port- hole

there was a rattling of bolts and chains within, and a mo-

ment later the door of the cabin was opened.

A big, rough-looking miner with a long, tangled beard

came out.

‘‘T beg your pardon, Mr. Gentry, for such a reception.
Come right in. You see, living here alone as I do, with so
‘many desperate claim-jumpers and robbers in the locality,
|I have to be very cautious. I am Peter Pratt, but I did not

expect you until to-morrow. Iam very sorry that I gave

you such a reception.”’

“Don’t mention it. Tye been held up before. I can un-
derstand your need of caution in receiving visitors,’’ said

to help, telling her to remain in her room and talk with Gentry. ae
| The miner looked at him with a quick, sharp, question: Se
To Homely Hank, the talkative landlord, he imparted ing glance as he spoke, but made no reply. | i: pee

no one about her affairs until he returned.

_ the information that he was going out for a little stroll

a
,

ae is your letter, which onehtt to convinee you of fmy- :

ih

 
No. 875.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

9

 

 

 

 

identity,’’ Gentry went on. ‘‘Now, if you are ready, we
will talk business, as lam ina hurry. First, how did you
happen to write to me about your claim?”’

‘‘Because I had often heard of you as a bold and success-
ful speculator, as well as a man of influence in Denver. I
want to get out of this wild country and I thought if you
did not want to buy my claim you might help me forma
stock company to work the veinafter you had examined
at

“T will buy a claim if I am convinced there is money in
it,’’ replied Gentleman Joe. ‘‘Tell me what you have here,
the date of your claim, the extent of it, and the quality of
the ore.”’

Pratt proceeded to give a detailed history of his dis-
covery of a rich vein of ore, samples of which he had at
hand. - Then he invited his visitor to go out and look over
the ground where the rich outcroppings would give him a
good idea of the value of the property.

After a careful examination of the ground and the sam-
ples of the ore the two men returned to the cabin, where
the miner produced a bottle of whisky, pipes, and tobacco,
and they sat down to discuss the details of the trade.

Pratt had already named his price for the claim, which
was a big one.

“Have you a partner?’’ asked Gentleman Joe, suddenly,
as he looked the big miner squarely in the eyes.

‘‘No; I have always worked alone,’’ answered Pratt.

‘‘No other person has any claim to this property ?”’

“Of course not; it is all mine.’’ i

“What became of your old friend, Dan Dare?”’

Peter Pratt started up from his chair with an oath,
while a wicked gleam came into his small bead-like, gray
eyes. His hand dropped to the butt of the pistol at his
side, but a second glance at the face of his visitor showed

 

 

him that he had made a mistake and had betrayed himself. |

Gentry sat still, looking straight into the eyes of the
miner as calmly as if he had asked no unusual question.

For half a minute the two men sat looking at each other,
the one cool and self-possessed, the other flushed and nerv-
ous from fear or anger, perhaps both.

‘What do you know of Dan Dare?’’ the miner asked, at
last, while his hand again dropped to the butt of his re-
volver.

‘‘Very little, except that you came to this country with
him from Iowa, and that he once regarded you as his
friend.”’

‘He is dead!’

‘‘And you have taken possession of his rich mining
hoglainy!’’

“Tn you, what do you mean?”’

‘Just what I say.”’

For a moment the big miner sat and glared at his visitor
with an expression like that of a furious wild beast brought
to bay.

- Then, witha sudden bound, he sprang forward and

clutched Gentry by the throat. The movement was so
quick and unexpected that the man of nerve had no time
to use his weapons or to get out of the way.

The two men rolled over on the floor, with the big miner
‘on top, and then ensued a desperate struggle.

Gentleman Joe was a man of wonderful strength, a
trained athlete, but at last he had met a man who was a
giant in build, and strong enough to give him a hard fight.

In vain he tried to break the hold of the miner on his

throat.

_. he men rolled about the floor of the cabin, first one on

top and then the other, but all the time the iron grip of
the great brawny hand of Peter Pratt was tightening on
the neck of the man from Denver.

Again and again Gentry tried to reach his pistols, or his
knife, and failed. He felt his strength failing as the grip
on his windpipe grew tighter and tighter, until he could
no longer breathe.

The eyes of the big miner burned above the face of his
intended victim like coals of fire, and his breath came in
short, hot gasps, while the veins in his forehead stood out
‘like cords with the strain he put forth.
| He could have ended the struggle quickly by using his
knife or pistol with his free hand, but that did not seem
to occur to him. ; '

As Gentry realized that his strength was failing fast, he
discovered that the miner was gradually forcing him over
to a corner of the cabin.

 

| Another turn of the writhing, struggling men,. and the
big miner uttered a cry of triumph. His right hand sud-
-denly shot out and slipped back a bolt in the wall.

In the struggle Gentry’s head had struck the wall, and
he was knocked half senseless.

Then exerting all his powerful strength, his opponent
hurled Gentleman Joe from him, and the latter, now limp
and faint, felt himself falling through a swinging trap-
door down into space and darkness.

Gentry turned over once in his fall, clutched wildly at
space, and landed on his side on a cold, hard floor of clay,
where he lay stunned and gasping for breath. How far he
had fallen he did not know, but when his senses had fully
returned he pulled himself together and found that no
bones were broken.

It had been a close call, and he was bruised and sore in
every limb. Before he struck the bottom he heard the trap-
door through which he had been thrown close, and a mo-
ment later he heard an iron bolt shot into place, and then
the grating of a key as it turned ina rusty lock.

When he found'that no bones were broken, Gentleman
Joe lay down again to rest from the terrible struggle
through which he had just passed. For half an hour he
lay still, waiting for the next move of the big miner, for
he had no doubt that Pratt would attempt to make sure of
putting him out of the way.

Hearing no movement on the part of his enemy, Gentle-
man Joe, as soon as he had recovered breath and strength,
got up and began to feel his way about the dark under-
ground dungeon in which he was a prisoner.

He still had his pistols and his bowie-knife, and he was
not a man to lose heart as long as he had the means of de-
fending himself. Gentry decided to strike a light and.
search his prison, but when he opened his match-safe he
‘found it empty.

He had used all his matches the night before and had
forgotten to replenish his case. ,

Not one ray of daylight penetrated the underground
‘dungeon, and he was now compelled to trust entirely to
his sense of feeling.
| Groping his way about in the darkness. Gentry was not
‘long in finding out that he was in a cellar some ten feet in
‘leneth and half as wide.

The place was walled with rock on the sides, but the
| floor was clay. Jn feeling his way along the wall at one
‘end of the room he found what seemed to be a door of
heavy timber. He felt this over earefully, but found no

way of opening if, and a strong push against it convinced

 

 
10

him that 4 was ee enough to resist all his efforts to
break it down.

Continuing his search of the davis dungeon, Gentry sud-
denly and unexpectedly ran against a ladder, which
seemed to lead to the trap-door through which he had de-
scended. Without a moment’s hesitation, he started to as-
cend it, but just as his foot touched the first rung he heard
a sound that caused him to pause and listen intently.

Ina moment the noise was repeated. It came from
somewhere beyond the door that Gentry had found in the
wall of his prison, and sounded like a man groaning in
pain.

*‘So I’m not alone in this iidedersend. hole, ” said Gen-
tleman Joe, as he moved cautiously toward the heavy
door.

Again the awful stillness of the place was broken, and
this time there could be no mistaking the sound. It was a
human voice that uttered a long, drawn-out groan.

Gentry crept up to the door and listened. He could hear
the moans plainly there, and was about to call out when a
noise overhead caused him to keep silent.

Some one was unlocking the trap-door in the floor of the
cabin.

Creeping back to the foot of the ladder, Gentry looked
up where a few rays of light struggled through the half-
open trap-door.

As his eyes became accustomed to this dim light he could
make out the rough face of Peter Pratt framed in the
door.

The miner was evidently lone and listening to see if
the man he had hurled into that dark dungeon showed
any sign of life.

Gentry kept in the darkness, and made no noise. In a
few moments he heard Pratt moving away from the trap-
door. Glancing up, he saw that the door was still open.

In an instant the man whose nerve never deserted him
had decided on a line of action.

A fight in the open was more to his liking than one in
the dark. If Pratt intended to descend the ladder it would
be an easy matter to shoot him dead before he reached the
bottom, but Gentleman Joe had never fought that way
even with a desperate and dangerous enemy. -

If he could reach the top of the ladder, a bound through
the open trap-door would land him on the floor of the cabin
again, and there it would bea fair and open fight, only
this time the fighting would be done with pistols or knives.

His plan was no sooner formed than he started to put it
into execution.

Grasping the ladder with one hand, while he held a pis-
tol in the other, he started up toward light and liberty.

When half-way up the ladder there came to his ears
another and louder moan from beyond the stone wall of
the underground dungeon.

For a moment he hesitated. He was nota man to turn
his back on a fellow-being in distress under any circum-
stances, but he quickly realized that he would probably be
unable to help the unknown and invisible sufferer unless
he first made sure that he could get out of the place him-
self.

Then he hesitated no longer, but climbed quickly to the
top of the ladder and peered out through the half-open
trap-door.

At that moment, before he had even located the big
miner, who had gone back to the other end of the cabin,
Gentry heard the sound of approaching footsteps. \

Pratt heard them, too, and, rifle in hand, sprang for-

THE BOG CABIN LIGA Ry.

 

No. 375.

ward to close the open door of the cabin. He was too late.

Before he could cross the room a tall man with a black:
mask over his face leaped through the door with a pistol
in each hand.

Quick as a flash, he had covered the miner and ordered.
him to throw up his hands. Three other men appeared at
the door at the same moment, and the owner of the cabin
was caught in a trap.

For a moment he stood at bay glaring at the new-comers
with an angry scowl, his rifle still held in his right hand.

‘Drop that gun, Mr. Pratt, and put up your hands!’*
said the masked man, sternly.

‘‘Black Sam and his gang!’’ Gentleman Joe whispered,
under his breath, when he heard the voice of the man in.
the mask, and then he turned and began to cautiously de-
scend the ladder back into the cellar.

CHAPTER V.
A SHOT FROM AMBUSH.

Gentleman Joe climbed down to the foot of the ladder
and stood there with a pistol in his hand awaiting develon-
ments,

He heard the sound of heavy tramping of feet on the
floor of the cabin above, a volley of oaths, then a scuffle.
The latter did not last long.

Then Gentry heard the voice of the masked man giving
an order to one of his men, but he could not make out the
words.

It was evident that the new-comers, whoever they were,
had seized and bound Peter Pratt, and were making @
search of the cabin.

One of them came to the half-open trap-door and peered
down into the darkness below.

‘Nothing here but an empty cellar,’’ the man called
out, at which Gentleman Joe felt relieved.

He did not care to fight the whole gang single-handed in
such quarters.

After. searching the cabin, the men left without delay.
There was another volley of oaths as they departed, and
the man listening below knew that the gang led by the
man in the black mask had taken Peter Pratt with them.

Gentry listened and waited for alittle while longer, and
then hearing no further sound in the cabin above, he de-
cided to go up and make a search of the place himself.

He remembered the groans he had heard coming from
beyond the stone wall, and he paused for a moment. The
sound had ceased, and the silence in the dark dismal cellar
was oppressive.

He realized that if there was a man buried alive in ihage
hole he would need help to dig him out, and decided that
it would be prudent to get out of the place himself without
delay, and, obtaining assistance, return and solve the
mystery of the underground dungeon.

Climbing rapidly up the slender ladder, Gentry paused
when his hand reached the level of the trap-door, and
took a look around the cabin, which he \had expected to
find deserted.

It was just as well that he took this precaution. The —
first object that met his eye was the figure of a man sit-
ting in the open door of the cabin, with a rifle lying ACTOSS
his lap.

The fellow’s back was toward the trap-door. :

Cautiously and silently, Gentry climbed up until another
step would land him on the floor of the cabin. ‘The man in :

the door had not moved. ,

 
No. 375.

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. Ta

 

—_

 

Drawing a revolver and holding it in his right hand
ready for instant use, Gentleman Joe sprang out to the
middle of the floor ata bound, and at the same instant
leveled his weapon at the head of the lone watcher in the
door. |

“Drop that rifle, and put up your hands before you turn
around!’ he said, sternly, as the man in front of him
bounded to his feet. s

A part of the command was obeyed with alacrity. The
man dropped his rifle to the ground, but instead of putting
up his hands or turning around, he uttered a cry of ter-
ror, and started off-down the hill as fast as his legs could
carry him.

- The fellow had no doubt believed that he was eutrding
an empty cabin, and was not prepared to face a man who
had come up out of the floor behind him.

Gentleman Joe smiled at the sudden and rapid flight of
the fellow, and for a moment stood watching him as he
ran down the hill.

‘‘T must catch that fellow; maybe he can give me a few
points on some of this devilish my stery.”’

The moment this idea occurred to Gentry he started in
pursuit as fast as he could go.

The fugitive soon began to slacken his pace, and finally
stopped and looked around to see if he was followed.

This loss of time enabled the pursuer to gain a hundred
yards. At sight of Gentry in pursuit, the fellow started off
again, but as a sprinter he was no match for the man from
Denver.

The fellow ran down the hill some distance, then, turn-

ing to the left, followed along a ledge of shelving rock].

that rose in places a hundred feet or so above ‘the little
mountain stream that leaped and danced along its narrow
bed below.

Putting on an extra burst of “speed, Gentry began to
gain rapidly on the fugitive, who was fast losing wind.

The race was soon ended. The fleeing man suddenly
threw up both hands and stopped.

“(Don’t shoot!’ he called out, before he turned to face
his pursuer. .

“Why did you run away?’

“Good Lord! who wouldn’t run away? I thought you
were a ghost!’

* Joe could not repress a smile at the fellow’s explanation.
The captive was a young man, witha beardless face, which
was weak but vicious in expression. He was thoroughly
frightened, and was trembling in every limb.

. Gentry put up his pistol and told the man to sit down
- and get his breath. *

_+“T want to ask you a few questions, and you had better

“make up your mind to answer them straight.’

Finding that he was in no immediate danger, the young}.

man soon began to regain his composure.
_. **Who are you?”’’ asked Gentry.

“My name is Peter Pratt; 1am a miner.
cabin up on the hill!”’

For a moment Gentleman Joe looked at the fellow
straight in the eye without a word.
‘‘Took here, young man!’’ he said, sternly, ‘you are en-

That is my

ae tirely in my power, and lying is not going to help you a

999 &

bit. Who told you to say that you were Peter Pratt:
- -Under the searching gaze of the man from Denver the
fellow weakened. He looked down at the ground a mo-
~ ment and then answered:
_ “The captain told me to say so.’
And who is the captain?”’

 

“That is more than I know. Some people ¢all him Black |
Sam.’”

‘‘What is your name?”’

‘Jim Jackson!’’

‘“You belong to the gang of robbers and cut-throats led
by this fellow you call Black Sam?”’

The young man winced at this, but nodded his head in
the affirmative.

‘‘How long have you been with the gang?”’

‘*Six months.”’

‘‘Where did you come from?”’ |

“Texas.”

‘‘How did you happen to get into such company?’’

‘‘T wanted to make money.”’

‘‘Have you made any?’’

' “Yes, for the captain,’’ said Jackson, with some show
of spirit’and bitterness.

‘‘What did your leader and his gang do with the man
they found in the cabin up on the hill?”’

““They carried him off.’’

** Alive?”’

‘‘Yes, but bound and gagged.”’

‘‘What are they going to do with him?”’

“That is more thanI know, but I suspect he knows
something that the captain wants to know.”’

‘*What about?’

“That rich gold claim the captain is after.”’

‘“‘What claim is that?”’

‘‘They call it the Dan Dare mine around here.”’

‘‘Does the cabin stand on the claim?”’

‘*T believe so.”’

‘‘What do ‘you know about this Dare claim?’’

‘‘Nothing except that Black Sam is playing a desperate
game to win it.’’

‘‘What kind of a game?’’

‘‘Murder, robbery, anything. He is not going to 3top at
any trick that stands in his way.”

‘‘Why did he kill the uncle of the heiress of this claim?’’

‘‘To get possession of the papers and-the girl, I sup-
pose.”’

“What girl?’

‘‘Dolly Dare, the heiress.”’

“Did he get them?”’

**Ves.”’

“Then how did the girl escape?”’

Before Jim Jatkson could answer the two men were
startled by a short, sharp cry from the woods a short dis-
tance up the hill.

The young outlaw sprang to his feet and placed his
hands to his mouth.

‘Stop that!’’

Jim Jackson looked down to find the muzzle of Gentle-
man Joe’s revolver within six inches of his face.

‘Answer that signal and you are a dead man!’’

Jackson let his hands drop to his side and stood silent
and irresolute.

‘‘Where is the hiding-place of your band?’’ le Gen-
try, in a low tone.

‘‘In the valley beyond the mining-camp.”’

‘Well, Iam going to pay your captain a visit. Youshall
serve me as guide.”’

‘It would be worth my life if I did.”’

‘‘Would you prefer to die now?”’

“What do you mean?’’p

“‘T mean that you are going to show me the hiding-place

of Black Sam.”

ee

ot

 
ty
Aw

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

Wo. 375.

 

 

ee

 

The young outlaw turned pale under the steady gaze of
his captor. It was evident that he stood in mortal terror
of the outlaw chief, yet he dared not refuse to obey the
man in whose power he was at the time.

‘‘Come,’’ said Gentry, ‘‘lead on, and remember that at
the first sign of treachery on your part, I will shoot you
down like a dog. I know the signal of your band. Do not
attempt to summon any of them to your aid.”’

Jim Jackson turned and started down the narrow val-
ley with the man from Denver close at his heels.

They had gone less than twenty feet when a rifle shot |

rang out sharp and clear from the top of the hiJla hundred
yards away.

Gentleman Joe felt a stinging, burning sensation across
the top of his head as if a hed-hot iron had been drawn
quickly across his scalp.

The woods, the hills, the figure of the young outlaw
swam before his eyes for an instant in one confused blur,
then everything grew dark, and he felt himself sinking
down.

With a cry of triumph, Jim Jackson wheeled around at
the sound of the rifle shot. Quick asa flash, he grasped
Gentry about the waist, and, exerting all his strength,
hurled the now helpless man over the ledge of rock along
the edge of which they had been walking.

Gentleman Joe felt himself falling down through space,
threw out his arms, and clutching wildly at the blackness
around him, lost consciousness.

CHAPTER VI.

AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.

Black Sam, the masked outlaw who led the Whelps of
Where-Are-Ye, had learned something of the rich vein of
gold found by Dan Dare a long time before the beginning
of the incidents related in this story.

In fact, he had once made an attempt to jump the claim
of the old miner. The real value of the find was not gen-
erally known, but it was common report through the camp
that Dare had struck it rich, and was hiding away his
diggings.

This story aroused the avarice of the mysterious indi-
vidual known later as Black Sam. He was at that time
simply an adventurer in the mining region looking for a
chance to make money without working for it.

One day he paid a visit to the claim of Dan Dare when
the miner was absent. He removed the claim stake of the
miner and set up one of his own.

But Dare, returning from a day’s work, caught him in
the act, and beat him into insensibility, leaving scars on
the dark face of the rascal that he could never remove.

Black Sam made no further attempt to steal the claim at
that time, but he swore a terrible oath that he would one
day be avenged for the beating he had received.

Soon after that business in his own peculiar line took
the outlaw to anotuer locality for a time, and when he re-
turned to the camp called Where-Are-Ye, as the leader of
a band, he learned that Dare was dead, and had left his
claim to his partner, Peter Pratt.

It was also said that the rich vein of ore found by Dare
had proved to be only a pocket, and that the claim was al-
ready workei out. That was the story told and generally
believed around the camp.

There was some mystery about the reported death of
Dare, but the miners were too busy with their own affairs

My,
3 Ya
cites i

 

to investigate it, so Pratt was left in undisturbed posses-
sion of the claim. ;

In some way the outlaw chief had heard of the will
which Dan Dare had sent back to his former home in
Iowa, and he also learned of the coming of the old miner’s
daughter to claim her property.

It was then that the craftv scoundrel resolved on a ter-
rible vengeance for the beating he received at the time he
tried to jump the claim.

| He determined to obtain possession not only of the
claim, which he was satisfied was a rich one, but of the
daughter of the old miner. :

How well he succeeded in the latter purpose the reader
knows already.

When Black Sam reached the cave with his pretty cap-
‘tive, Dolly Dare, he had resolved on a novel and desperate

plan of carrying through his project of getting possession
of the mining claim.

| It¢was that plan which he discussed for an hour with
Monte May after the captive girl had fallen intoa troubled
sleep. The woman, who loved and feared the outlaw chief,
‘reluctantly consented to aid him in carrying out his plan,
and it was for that purpose that she left the cave after
she had been carefully instructed in the work she was to
do.

As soon as the woman was gone, Black Sam walked
over to the rude couch where Dolly Dare was sleeping and
stood for some time looking down at her fair young face.

A smile of cruelty and evil passion spread over his dark
face as his eyes took in the beautiful figure of the young

girl. ®

' ‘It’s worth the risk! Ill try it!’’ he muttered to him-
'gelf, finally, and then rolling himself in his blanket, he
lay down on the floor of the cave, but not to sleep.

Waiting until he was satisfied that all his men were
sound asleep, the outlaw chief arose, and creeping over to
a chest that stood in one corner of the room, he opened it
and drew forth a small black bottle and a piece of sponge.

Pouring some liquid from the bottle on the sponge, he
| crept back to the couch where Dolly Dare was sleeping,

and held it to her nose until her deep, regular breathing
assured him that the drug had taken effect.

|. Then, turning low the one lantern that shed a dim light
through the cave, Black Sam lifted the form of the fair
young girl in his arms, and carried heraway to a secret
room of the cave the entrance to which was known only
to himself. There he left her alone until morning, know-
ing that it would be hours before she awoke from the
stupor of the drug which he had administered.

Once he had made up his mind to take a desperate
chance for a high stake, the outlaw chiet was determined
that nothing should stand in his way.

Suspicious by nature, he had little or no confidence in
'Ben Barr, and fearing that the guide had learned toomuch
‘of the Dan Dare claim, determined to put him where he
could do no harm for a time.

That was why he had the guide bound and thrown into
a secret dark room of the cave. Monte May had not be-
trayed what she had learned the night before.

As soon as Barr was put out of the way, Black Sam sent
all the other members of the gang away on different er- _
rands, and then he was left alone with his fair prisoner.

His first move was to prepare for her a warm break-~
fast. That done, he brought her forth from the secret room
where she was still sleeping under the influence of the
drug.
| Arousing the girl by bathing her face with cold water,
‘the outlaw then set himself to work to thoroughly deceive

her as to his real character and purpose.

He told her that he was an honest miner, and that in
fetching her to the cave where he lived he had saved her
life from the robbers who had killed her uncle and his
men.

 

| Then he promised her that he would protect her and
care for her, and also aid her in finding her claim and es- —
tablishing her right to it.

The wily scoundrel was a good talker, and before he had © oe |

finished he had made the poor gir] believe that he was the —
only friend and protector she had in the world.

Black Sam,it m
time. ;

 

ust be explained, lived a duallifeat this oo.
Ne, 375.

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRAR

{

_

18

 

Im the mining-camp, where he had pitched a tent, he
was known by another name, and none suspected his real
character.

There he was known simply asa gambler and prospector
who always had plenty of money. Living with him in the
camp were two men who were not openly connected with
his outlaw band, but were yet willing to attempt any
crooked work he wanted doneif he paid them well enough.

To his town residence, as he called his tent in the min-
ing-camp, Black Sam determined to remove Dolly Dare, :
and keep her concealed there until he heard news of the
success or failure of that part of his plan intrusted to |
Monte May.

His reason for this was that he did not trust the woman
he had set to do the most important task of his devilish
plan. Monte May had carried through many a desperate
undertaking for him, and had more than once saved his
life, but he knew her temper and her spirit. of jealousy.

He was afraid that she might fail him in this emergency,
and he did not care to risk having her return to the:cave
and find Dolly Dare there looking to him as her friend
and protector. ;

The success of his plans depended largely on keeping the
two women safely apart for a time, and keeping the heir-'
ess in hiding. Thelatter he could easily manage, now
that he had won her confidence. ~

The day after the murder and abduction in the forest

 

Dolly Dare was taken into the mining-camp by her cap-
tor, who had taken the precaution to disguise the girl in
male apparel. Placing one of his men to watch and guard |
her, and impressing on the girl that success in getting |
possession of her claim depended on keeping secret her |
presence in the vicinity. Black Sam left her in his tent,
while he went forth without his disguise to learn if there |
was any news of the success or failure of another part of
his plan, |

In a gambling-house that night the outlaw saw and rec-
ognized Gentleman Joe. He had no idea what brought the
Gilt-Edged Sport to this particular mining-camp, but his
presence at that time was a danger to the plans of the out-
law chief.

In addition to that he had an old score to settle with the
man from Denver.

How he attempted to settle it and failed the reader
_ knows. i

Before he made the attempt on the life of Gentry, Black
Sam had notified his men that trouble was threatened, and |
that they must be ready to move with the tent and the
girl at a signal from him.

This explains how the tent so mysteriously disappeared
while Foxy Fan saved her friend Gentleman Joe from the

 

knife of the outlaw chief.

The men in the employ of Black Sam had their instruc- |
tions where to go and await his coming. He remained in
the camp, for the presence of Gentleamn Joe made neces- ,
sary a slight change in his plans. |

He must see Monte May at once. This fair member of
the band of outlaws was now playing the role of Dolly |
. Dare, the heiress, and had suceeeded well enough so far. |
She had enlisted the aid of the shrewdest and bravest man
in the West.

Assured that his fair prisoner was safely out of the |
way, and in no danger of discovery, Black Sam walked |
back toward the gambling-house where he had first met.
the man from Denver. |

Half-way down the street he ran against some one in
the darkness, and with an oath attempted to thrust the|
unlucky individual out of his way.

“Sam !"?

“May! What in —— are you doing here?”’

The outlaw chief and Monte May had met by chance in
_ the darkness.

“T came out for a stroll,’’ said the woman, quietly.

“You must not be seen here!”’

“Then don’t look at me!”’

Something in the voice of
law chief. :

“May, I want to speak with you. We are in danger!”’

“T amused to that!” oe

ut foe is serious. Come where we will not be discov-

ered.’’ |

the woman startled the out-

Sie

1

gle.

‘To my room, then. Thereis a rear entrance to the
hotel. I slipped out that way.”’

The two cumpanions in crime turned about and reached
the little room occupied by Monte May, in her assumed
character of the heiress of the Dan Dare claim.

A kerosene lamp, turned low, was burning on the table.
The woman placed a chair for the outlaw where the light
would fall on his face while her own would be in the
shadow.

‘‘What is the danger, and what have you to say?’’ asked
the woman, quietly.

‘‘Gentleman Joe is in the camp!’

‘“‘T know it—he is my friend!”’

‘‘What do you mean?”’

‘Just what I say.”

‘‘Come, May, this is no time for joking.”’

“Tam not joking. Gentleman Joe heard the story of
Dolly Dare, the poor orphan girl without friends, and he
promised to protect her and help her find her claim.”’

‘But, —— it, woman, this will never do!”’

“Why not? He is an honest man, and a brave one. If
any man can locate the claim and get possession of if he
can.”’

“He will penetrate your disguise, and then all is lost.
You must get rid of him.”’

‘‘But l cannot. I have accepted his offer of assistance. ’’

‘““You must, you shall!”’

‘*How?”’

“There is one way!”’

The outlaw chief spoke a few words in a whisper to the
‘woman.

‘Suppose I refuse?’’

‘‘You dare not.”’

The woman laughed a low, harsh laugh, in which there
was no trace of mirth, while a cold, hard glitter crept into
her half-closed eyes.

‘‘T dare not?’’ she repeated, after a pause.

“No; you will do as I tell you.”

‘And if I do, what will be my reward?”’

‘Anything you ask. Now you are talking like a sensible
girl, and we can arrange everything. ’”’

‘First, I want you to answer me one question, and [I
want the truth.’’

“What is it, May?”’

‘‘What are you going to do with the raah id Ga

An angry frown crept over the dark face of the chief,
and the woman was quick to see if.

“Time enough to decide that when we get possession of
the claim.”’

‘‘No, we will decide it here and now

The face of the woman had grown white as chalk, while
her eyes burned like coals of fire.

“What are you going to do with the girl?’’ she hissed
through her clinched teeth, as she leaned forward until
Black Sam could feel her hot breath on his face.

‘We must keep her for the present, it may be necessary
to produce her later if our first plan fails,’’ he answered.

‘Where is she now? Why did you send me to take her
place?”’

“T explained all that.”

“Tf I succeed, will you send her away
promise to me?”’

Black Sam hesitated and his hesitation aroused the wo-
man to madness. Like a flash, she snatched a dagger from
her bosom, and with it uplifted sprang at the outlaw chief
like a tigress.

Quick as she was, the man was quicker, and sprang to
one side in time to avoid the blow aimed at his heart.

Then before she could strike again one of his great
brawny hands closed on her throat with a grip like a vise.

“Die, —— you! I’ll strangle your infernal temper for
good!’’ he hissed through his teeth, as the woman was
borne to the floor and the dagger wrenched from her hand. »

Monte May struggled with the strength and fury born
of desperation, but the hand on her throat was pressing
tighter and tighter. .

Her face had grown purple, and her eyes, still flashing
hate and defiance, were starting from their sockets, when
there was an unexpected interruption of the unequal strug-

she said, slowly and deliberately.

yo?

and keep your

With a resounding crash,| the door was burst open from

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
   
 
 
  
  
   
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
   
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 

  

-acted in some way the shosk of the bullet,

i4 THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

the ontaide: and a slender young man wearing a pink
mask sprang into the room with a pistol in each hand.

“‘Coward!’’ hissed the new-comer, pressing the muzzle
of one of the pistols to the temple of the outlaw.

Black Sam instantly released his hold on the throat of
Monte May, who now lay limp and fainting on the floor,
and at a bound leaped back to the other side of the room.

He attempted to reach for his pistol, but the glitter of a
clear gray eye through the pink mask caused him to hesi-
tate.

Glancing quickly about the room for some means of es-
cape, the outlaw caught sight of a window only a few feet
from where he stood.

It was a desperate chance, but he took it. A crash of
glass, a sharp report from the revolver of the man in the
mask, and only two persons were left in the room.

The outlaw chief had madea leap for life and liberty
through the window.

 

 

CHAPTER VII.
TAKING A DESPERATE CHANCE,

When Gentleman Joe threw out his arms in a last de-
spairing effort to save himself as he went over the cliff it
proved to be just the right move at the right time.

One of his arms caught over a vine that hung out from
the wall of rock.

The vine yielded to the sudden impress of the man’s
weight, but its roots were firmly imbedded in the thin soil
above and it held long enough t9 break the force of his fall.

Gentry landed on a ledge of the cliff that was covered
with leaves and long grass, and, beyond a few slight
bumps and bruises, was oe by the fall.

The jar he received from striking the earth counter-
which had
merely plowed a shallow furrow across his scalp.

He awoke to consciousness to find blood trickling down
over his face from the wound, but a hasty examination
satisfied him that he was not seriously injured.

Tearing a strip from his shirt, Gentry bound up the
wound, and stopped the flow of plood. He was still a trifle
dazed, ‘put felt able to cope with half a dozen ordinary
men if they met him on equal terms.

When he got up and looked around he found that he had
fallen only about fifty feet, and was still a considerable
distance above the narrow valley below the cliff.

But the remainder of the descent was not so steep but
what he could easily climb down.

Gentry first made sure that his weapons were in good

order, and then he lost no time in getting down nto the

valley. He had not lost his bearings, and knew that he
could easily find his way back to the mining-camp.

To get out of the narrow ravine it was necessary to fol-
low the mountain brook half a mile or more up stream to
reach a point where the cliffs on each side receded to slop-
ing hills that he could easily climb.

Gentleman Joe had gone about half the distance when
he heard the sound of galloping horses,

They were coming down the ravine straight toward him
at a furious pace.

At the moment he was in a fairly open space, and it was
impossible to get out of sight.

He supposed that the approaching riders were members
of the band of outlaws, who had fired on him from am-
bush, and that they were riding down to the point where
he had been thrown over the cliff to make sure that he
was out of their way for good.

‘Well, they will find a pretty lively corpse, and this
time they will have to fight in the open,’’ Gentry mut-
tered as he threw himself flat on the ground to await the
coming of the horsemen.

A moment later a score of well-armed and well mounted
men rode down the valley at a furious pace.

One glance was enough to convince Gentleman J oe that

they were not robbers and outlaws.

There is something in the appearance of the professional
desperado of the West that betrays his real character to
the trained eye at a glance.

aes
ay

 

‘The. man from Deny er es that these men were not |

"gheliwe as soon as he looked at them, but their presence
was a mystery,

As the armed riders bore down on the spot where he lay
partly concealed by the grass, Gentry sprang to his feet.

He had put up his pistols, satisfied that he would have
no fighting to do, His sudden appearance was a surprise
to the horsemen, who immediately pulled up, and a dozen
rifles were instantly pointed in his direction, followed by
a command to throw up his hands.

Gentry obeyed, expecting to be able to easily convince
them that he was not the man they were looking for..

The leader of the band of horsemen rode forward and
confronted the captive. The leader was a big, bearded
miner, wearing a flaming red shirt, ard a broad slouch hat.

‘*Ho, ho, my lad! you have decided not to show fight,
eh? said the big fellow, leaping from his horse and con-
fronting Gentry.

‘“‘Tam aman of peace, and know of no reason why I
should fight you.”’

‘‘A man of peace! Ha! ha! That’s good! Hear that, boys!
He says he’s a man of peace, and does not want to fight!”’

Several of the horsemen broke out in a loud guffaw, but
they kept Gentry covered with their rifles all the time.

‘“‘Well, sonny, I guess it’s just as well that you didn’t
fight, seeing we are twenty to one. Skunks like you never
fight in the open!”’

The blood of Gentleman Joe boiled at this, and he made
a movement as if to draw a pistol, but with an effort man-
aged to control his temper.

‘‘May Task who you are, and what you want?”’ he said,
looking the leader of the party squarely in the eye.

“You may ask anything you want to, young chap, but
we have very little fime to answer questions.”

‘‘By what right do you hold up honest citizens who are.

minding their own affairs?”’

‘‘Honest citizens! Well, that’s good! Keep right on;
you'll be preaching a sermon by the time we get the rope
ready. I must say, I like your nerve!”’

The situation was growing serious, and it was evident
that these men were in no mood for trifling. Gentleman
Joe decided that it would be just as well to tell them who
he was. ;

‘*Gentlemen,’’ he said, ‘‘I do not know you or your busi-
ness. You look like honest miners. My name is Joe Gen-
try, and if you want me, please state your business.’’

‘““We don’t care a —— what your name is, pard. One is
just as good as another, and I suppose you have several.
We are not going to give you a monument, so it does not
matter. Get the rope ready, Bill!’’

‘‘What are you going to do?”’

“Just wait a minute and see.
part in the performance.”’

‘“‘Vou are evidently preparing for a lynching bee! !” said

You are billed for a star

|Gentleman Joe, very quietly.

‘‘Pardner, you hit the bull’s-eye that time.’’

“May I ask if I am to be the victim?’’

‘*You are!’’

‘‘Then I would like to know the nature of the crime of
which I am accused.”’

‘‘You would, would you? -Oh, I suppose you would like
to know just how many ounces of gold dust you took out
of our tents while we were asleep, and how deep your
knife went into the back of Big George!”’

‘‘Gentlemen, you have made a mistake!’ said Gentry,
who was now talking for time while he decided on some
plan of escape.

He now realized that he was in a tight place, and that
these rough miners were not to be trifled with.

“Hear that, boys! He says we’ve made a mistake!”

‘‘Maybe he thinks we ought to have shot him down like
a dog,’’ said the man who had been addressed as Bill.

This man was now uncoiling a long rope from his saddle.

‘‘T have not killed any man nor robbed any one. If you
will give me a chance, I can convince you that I am not
the man you are looking for!”’

‘Well, you are the man we have caught. We trailed you

from the camp and you are the man we are going to string

up!’’ replied the leader of the gang.
‘‘Bind him, boys! the rope is ready!”’

Four stalwart men seized Gentléman Joe, ae now

/f

hs £
i S

 

:
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Wage
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No. 375.

THE LOG ae LIBRARY.

       

15

 

   

knew that he was face to face with a disgraceful death.
- But his nerve did not desert him for a moment.

He did not attempt to fight off the men who caught hold
of him, knowing well that such a struggle would be useless.
He was saving his strength for a last desperate chance if
help did not come in time, and there in that lonely ravine
he knew that the chances of aid were remote indeed.

His arms and legs were bound with pieces of cord, and
‘the miners did not take the trouble to relieve him of his
pistols or knife.

In less time than it takes to tell it Gentleman Joe, se-
«urely bound, was lifted on the horse of the leader, a noose
was thrown around his neck and he was surrounded by
this captors.

Then they started with him toward the nearest tree,
which happened to stand something like a hundred yards
down the ravine.

As the strange and grim-looking procession moved for-

| ward the man of nerve felt that only one desperate
{ «hance of escape was left him.

yee A miner rode on each side of him, one in front and

4 another directly behind held the loose end of the rope
svhich was to be thrown over a limb and when made fast

the horse would be led out from under the heipless victim.

Almost any other man would have lost hope under such
o¢ circumstances, but desperate as his case seemed, Gentry

» -was probably the coolest man in the party.

q | He had now fully resolved to take the one slender
_ «hance for life and liberty.

Waiting until the procession was within fifty feet of the
first limb and the lynching party had begun to scatter out
| in order to surround the scene, Gentleman Joe played his

i last card.
é Suddenlv throwing his body forward on the neck of the
horse, he dug his heels into the animal’s sides, and at the
game moment shouted at the top of his voice.

   

i
|
|
4
q
i

i
|

 

The horse was a spirited creature, and bounded forward
q with a terrific burst of speed.
ey The man holding the end of the rope that was around
the neck of our hero was dragged from his saddle, and the
rope slipped from his hands.

So sudden and unexpected was the movement the horse
on which Gentry was mounted was a hundred feet beyond
the circle of miners before they realized just what had
happened.

y Then something occurred which Gentleman Joe had not

{ «eounted on when he decided to take the desperate chance.

in The sudden mad dash of the leader’s horse stampeded
: all the other horses of the party, and then ensued a wild
race down the narrow, wooded ravine.

For Gentry it was a race that meant life or death.

The surprise of the miners was complete, and the sud-
den plunge of their horses so disconcerted them that their
intended victim was a hundred yards ahead before they
could fire a shot.

Even then, with their horses plunging forward over the
rough eround they could not take careful aim, and their
shots went wild.

With his arms bound, Gentleman Joe could not guide
his horse, but with his voice and his heels he urged the
/animal on. Meantime, he was struggling desperately to
free his hands and finally succeeded.

' Then, for the first time, he looked back at his pursuers,

and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was

gaining on them. But suddenly he realized a new danger.

The rope with which the miners intended to hang him was

still dangling from his neck.

There was danger that it might catch on a limb and

_ drag him from his horse,

It was only the work of a moment to draw his knife and
cut the rope loose. Then Gentry began to breathe freely.
None of the shots fired after him had been well aimed, and
- his horse was still uninjured. If he could win the race

_he was safe.

S For more than a mile down the ravine the mad ride
- went on, and then the roar of falling water ahead warned
Gentleman Joe of a new danger.’

_ He was approaching a cataract, and at the point where
_ the water went tumbling down over a mass of jagged
ae stones the ravine narrowed to a hundred feet in width.

ae as parsers were still a lowing, aud ‘hey wére now fir-

 

  

Z

   
   
  
  
 
 
 
 

        

 

X

ling at him with better aim. Bullets were whistling about
his head.

There was death behind; in front a mad plunge that
would end, he knew not where.

But Gentleman Joe was accustomed to taking desperate
chances. Placing his feet firmly in the stirrups, he urged
the horse forward, and ina moment the animal made a
wild plunge over the precipice.

ee

CHAPTER VIII.
A SEARCH FOR DOLLY DARE.

‘*Are you badly hurt?”’

Monte May opened her eyes to find a young man, as she
thought, bending over her.

She sprang up, rubbing her throat where the strong
fingers of the outlaw chief had closed over it, and looked
all around the room as if she expected him to spring at
her again.

‘Why, I thought I heard a woman’s voice,

‘‘T am axwoman,’’ said her rescuer.

Nou?

“Yes, I am know nas Foxy Fan. For the present I am
wearing a man’s clothes.’

toe have heard of you,
a chair.

‘*You had a close call just now. us

‘*Ves, he meant to kill me.’

“Why did he want to kill you?”

“T am in the way, I suppose.’

‘*Whoare you? I suppose may ask that much, as I saved
you from a very bad choking if nothing worse.’’

‘‘T am Dolly—no, not that. I won’t play the role any
longer if I die for it.”’

‘‘So you were playing a part?’’

“Yes, and for him, fool that I am.

“You represented. yourself as Bolly Dare, heiress to a
rich mining claim?’’

‘*Yes, but how did you know that?’’

“Never mind how 1 know it. You admit that it is true.
Now what is your real name, and why did you assume the
character of the heiress?”’

‘‘My real name does not matter. I have almost forgotten
it myself. Iam simply known as Monte May.’’

‘You are a friend of the outlaw chief, Black Sam?”’

“T was, hut 1am no longer. He tried to kill me.”’

‘‘Tt was for him you played the part of the heiress?’’

4 Yes. 29

‘‘Where is the real Dolly Dare?’’

‘*‘T do not know. I left her in the cave of the gang. She
may be there a prisoner. I de not know.”’

‘‘What is Black Sam’ going to do with her?’’

‘‘T do not know that. Keep her in his power, I suppese,
until he tires of her, and then cast her adrift.’’

‘‘What do you know of the man?’’

‘‘T know that he is a scoundrel, that is about all.”’

‘‘Where did you meet him?”’

‘‘In St. Louis. I was on the stage, playing varicky parts.
I met him, he had money, and spent it freely. He pre-
tended to be in love with me. It ended in his inducing me
to throw up my engagement and come West with him. P«
has made me what Iam, and now he would cast me off as
he would a dog. ButlI will get even with him. We will
meet again!’

A hard, cruel gleam came into the eyes of the woman,
and the whole expression of her face changed as the mem-
ory of her wrongs swept through her mind.

‘‘T have a proposition to make to you,’’ said Foxy Fan,
after several moments of silence.

‘“What is it?’’

‘‘Do you want to get away from this man, get away
from the life you have been living, and go back to your
friends?”’

‘Ves; anything is better than this.”’

“Then I will help you on conditions. I am called a cold,
hard-hearted, and desperate woman. Perhaps Iam when I
deal with such men as are found in this section; but Foxy
Fan never yet turned her back on one of her own sex. I
know the life here better perhaps than you do. If I ean
‘help you to get away from it I will do so, but there i is one

thing you must help me do na i

»’? she said.

99

replied Monte May, sinking into

 

 
   
 

    
 
   

16

eae

‘‘T will do anything you ask. You have saved my life,
and I cannot forget that.’’

‘““The real Dolly Dare is probably an innocent young girl
with her life before her. She is in the power of a scoun-
drel, and must be saved. I am going to save her if I can,
and I want you to help me.”’

‘“What can I do?”

‘You can guide me to the cave where she is a prisoner.”’

‘Surely you do not mean to go there?”’

‘Ves, that is just what I mean to do.”

‘* Alone?”’

“No, you will go with me to show me the way.”’

‘Tt will be worth your life.”’

‘My life is my own. I will risk it.”’

‘‘When do you want to go?”’

‘““Atonce. We must get out of this camp before day-
light. We cannot take any chances of being followed.”’

Foxy Fan had a room in the hotel, which accounted for
her opportune arrival when Black Sam was choking the |
life out of the woman who stood in the way of his getting
a fortune along with an innocent young girl. Standing in
the hall, she had overheard some of the talk between them
and broke into the room just in time to:save the life of
Monte May.

The woman card sharp and famous faro dealer had _ no
definite plan for the rescue of Dolly Dare, but one of her
good impulses had come over her suddenly, and she had
made up her mind that the girl must be rescued from the
clutches of the outlaw chief.

Her only clear idea as to how it could be done was that
if she could locate the ‘place where the girl was held a
prisoner, she would then seek the aid of Gentleman Joe
and the rest would be easy enough.

Monte May finally consented to act as guide and point
out the cave. The two women slipped out of the hotel an
hour before daylight, and started out on their perilous
journey.

They were far down the valley when Gentleman Joe
left the camp that morning to pay a visit to Peter Pratt.

They arrived in the vicinity of the hiding-place of the
band of outlaws without accident, and satisfied that they
had not been followed.

The day was then well advanced toward noon, and they
approached the entrance with the greatest caution.

Foxy Fan, who was still dressed as a man, carried. two
trusty revolvers, while May had a small one and her dag-
ger.

As the two women crept cautiously up toward the en-
trance to the cave they stopped frequently and listened in-
tently for some sound that would indicate the presence of
the outlaws.

There was no sign of life anywhere, and by degrees they
worked their way up to the secret entrance, which was
so carefully concealed that it was invisible ten feet away.

There Foxy Fan bent down and put her ear to the
ground. q

Not a sound of any kind was audible.

“You are sure this is the place where you left the girl?’’
she asked of her guide.

‘‘T am sure of it.’’

‘Then I am going inside.
one about.”’

‘‘Fe would not take the risk of leaving her there alone.’’

‘“Then he has taken the girl to another hiding-place. I
am going to see.”’

With this Foxy Fan got up and walked boldly into the
cave. The place was deserted. Not only that but the

blankets and camp outfits of the men were gone. The

 

I do not believe there is any

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

‘narrow passage.

  
 
 
    

 
  

No, 375.

 

 

Again the cry was repeated. It sounded weak and fax
away.

‘“There is some one in distress here. We must find
out who it is,’’ said Fan.

Monte May led the way to a far corner of the cave
where, by moving aside a pile of brush, she disclosed a
dark, narrow passage-way leading down to a small cavity
several feet below the main floor of the underground room.

Then the cries for help, which were growing .weaker
each time they were repeated, could be heard much
plainer.

Foxy Fan started to go down the dark passage-way to
the place from which the sound seemed to come.

‘‘Whatare you going to do?’’ asked May, in a low
whisper. )

‘Bind the man who is calling for help!” be

‘It may be a trick to get us down there.’”’ \

‘“‘T’ll take chances on that. Come on!”’

Fan led the way, and soon reached the bottom of the
Then she struck a match and looked a
around. A man bound hand and foot lay groaning almost
at her feet.

‘‘Who are you?’’ she asked, as the match flickered and
went out before she could get alook at the face of the
prisoner.

‘‘Cut the cords! For God’s sake! help me! I am chok-
ing!’’ gasped the man onthe floor of the cave.

“Tt is Ben Barr!’’ cried Monte May, who had recognized
the man’s voice. :
Foxy Fan drew a knife from an inside pocket and then
she struck a match. By its dim light she reached down
and quickly cut the cords that bound the helpless outlaw.
Barr, in his struggles to free himself, had worked one of
the cords around until it was across his throat, and every
move he made drew it tighter and tighter. He was slowly -
strangling to death when the two women came to his res-
cue.

The three hurried out of the cave as quickly as possible. a
‘‘Where are they?’’ asked Monte May, eagerly, as soon as
they were safely out in the open air. a”
‘‘Gone, and they left me there to die like a dog
Ben Barr, bitterly.

‘‘And the girl; where is she?”’

‘‘Ask Black Sam; you may be sure he will not let her
get away.’
As soon as they were well away from the cave, Foxy
Fan stopped and questioned the man she had saved from a
miserable death as to the whereabouts of Dolly Dare. Al
he knew was that the gang had abandoned the cave that

morning by order of the leader. |

The desperate risk she had taken to save a helpless girl
was without result. She was ata loss what to do next.
While she was studying over the situation Ben Barr and ~
Monte May held a conversation in a low tone lasting sev
eral minutes. Barr took from his pocket some papers and
handed them to the woman. She looked them over care-
fully, and appeared to be well satisfied with their con-
tents.

The woman suddenly turned around to Foxy Fan with
a cold, steely glitter in her eyes.

“T have kept my promise. I showed you the cave,’
said.

‘‘Yes,’’ replied Fan.

“Then our agreement is ende

‘“What do you mean?”’

‘“‘T have decided not to leave the West at present.
Dolly Dare, and I méan to find my claim.”’

‘‘You mean that you are going to try and play a false
role on your own account for a while?’’

‘‘Call it that if you wish,’’ answered the woman, witha

 

4?

replied

    
 
   
 

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sh e\

d?’’

Tam

 

headquarters of the gang had been deserted.

The two women made a thorough search of the cave. All
they found were indications that the place had been aban-
doned that day, and that the gang had left in a hurry.
The embers of a fire were still burning on the stone floor.

The two women had turned to leave the place when they
were startled by a faint cry for help.

The cry seemed to come from the stone floor of the cave
beneath their feet.

Monte May started and turned pale at the sound.

‘She is in one of the dungeons!”’

‘“‘No: that was the voice of a man,’’ said Foxy Fan.

Hi ¢ {
\ : BS ei
} ; :

 

sneer. All the gentleness in her nature seemed to have 4
vanished, and she was again the cold, calculating, schem- |
ing adventuress.

“This man is going to help you, I suppose?’’ asked Fan,
looking at Barr.

‘He has the papers to establish my claim.”’ : ae

‘‘Well, I have facts that will send the two of you tO 7
prison, if not to the gallows. I shall see to it that you do
not steal the fortune of Dolly Dare!’’

With a cry like’that of an enraged animal, Monte May
drew a doeger and sprang at the woman who had saved

   
   
    
    
      
     

 
 
 

 

 

   

  

    
   
    

 

 
    
  
 

   
     
    
   

 

No. #18.

 

——~ =,

her life the night before. But she stopped as suddenly as
she had drawn the knife. - «
Foxy Fan held a pistol in each hand. She had the drop
on the two people whose lives she had saved once that.day.
““Go!’’ she said, sternly, to both of them. ‘I give you
your | worthless lives again! I am going to find Dolly
Dare!

CHAPTER IX.
BLACK SAM MEETS A TOUGH CUSTOMER.

The leader of the Whelps of Where-Are-Ye was at heart
too big a coward to stand up and fight any one in the open
when the chances were equal.

Caught in the act of trying to strangle the woman, who
until that night had never refused to do his bidding, Black
Sam for the moment thought only of saving his own neck.

He did not dare stand up and make a fight against the
new-comer. Instead he took a leap through the window as
the only available avenue of escape.

It was not ‘a big risk that the outlaw took in making
that leap in the dark and he probably knew that when he
made it.

The window opened out on the roof of a shed that stood
at the back of the building. He landed safely on this roof,
and then it was an easy matter to reach the ground.

Once out in the open air and safely away from the scene
of his latest adventure, the nerve of the outlaw returned.

Mentally taking stock of his situation, the big outlaw
realized that his plans were going wrong, and that the
outlook for the success of the desperate scheme he had un-
dertaken was not promising.

His original plan had been to have the woman, Moten
May, impersonate Dolly Dare for a time, until the mining
elaim could be located and identified. He had calculated
that if the woman played the role as well as he knew she
could do it, she would be able to arouse plenty of sym-
pathy and secure help from the miners in getting posses-
sion of the rich claim.

Then it was his idea to get rid of the woman, or by some
means get her out of his way and come forward with
the real Dolly Dare and get possession of the property.

The outlaw chief had tired of the woman who had been
faithful to him through all sorts of dangers, while the fair
young face of the heiress had aroused the evil passions of
the man, and he meant to claim her for his own in the end

by fair means or foul.

It was a part of his scheme to make himself appear a
hero in the eyes of Dolly Dare. He had told her that he
would not only find her claim for her, but would then
hunt down and bring to justice the men who had mur-
dered her uncle.

He had already made the girl believe that he was her
rescuer from the hands of a gang of robbers. His purpose
in keeping her in hiding until he could get hold of her
claim was to prevent all danger of her learning anything
of his real character.

When Black Sam realized that he could no longer: ex-
pect help from Monte May in carrying out his devilish
plan, he became desperate and promptly resolved to try
and secure the fortune by other means.

- To do this he knew that he must act quickly. The fact

‘that Gentleman Joe was in the mining-camp greatly dis-

turbed him now that he knew the Denver man was also
on the trail of the mining claim.

He knew that Monte May might in revenge for his treat-
ment tell the Gilt-Edged Sport the truth about herself and
all that she knew of the plans to get the Dare claim. That
would be fatal to the scheme of the outlaw unless he
could put Gentry out of the way at once.

Black Sam had no idea that Gentleman Joe was in that

part of the West until he met him in the gambling-house
that night; The mneeting was accidental, but he at once
recognized the man whose nerve and strength he had
tested once before.
«On general principles, he decided at once that if a favor-
able opportunity offered he would put Gentry ont of his
wav for good. How near he came tc succeeding the
reader knows already.

: | A s soon as he escaped from the room where he had tried

 

tomer to deal with.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. : Ll

 

 

‘to strangle Monte May the outlaw chief hurried out of the

camp and struck across the wooded valley following a se-
cret and little-used trail. :

Turning over his situation in his mind as he hurried on
he decided to make one bold move for the fortune he was
after and to make it at once. He knew that if he did not
act the following day it would be too late, and in addition -
to losing the mining claim, he might have Gentleman Joe
hot on his trail. :

lt was a desperate chance that he had decided to take,
but the stake he was playing for now hung on the next
turn of the cards in the game of fortune.

From the information obtained from Dolly Dare and the
will and letters of her father, together with some things
he knew before Black Sam had a pretty clear idea of the
actual facts about the claim, and knew just where it was.

His plans for the next day included a visit to Peter Pratt.
at his cabin in the hills.

The men in the employ of the outlaw who had slipped.
out of the mining-camp taking their tent and Dolly Dare
with them went straight to a secret hiding-place in the
valley below.

Black Sam had a number of these hiding-places in the
vicinity of his camp, and he made it a rule that the mem-
bers of his gang should not know the location of more
than one of them at a time.

He had arranged for the men of the cave gang to aban-
don that, and meet him ata certain point in the valley
with their horses at an early hour on the following morn-
ing.
It was daylight when he reached his other camp and he
had no time to lose. While his men prepared some break-
fast for him he held a brief conversation with Dolly Dare,
who had become badly frightened.

The girl did not like the looks of the man in whose
charge she had been left, and could not understand why
she was kept in hiding and hurried from place to place by
night.

The outlaw chief told her that the country was just then
infested by a gang. of desperate robbers, and that it was
necessary for her safety to keep her out of sight for a day
or two longer.

He assured her that he would find her claim that day,
and would soon be able to put her in possession of it. With
such plausible stories, he finally quieted her fears, and
giving orders to his men to see that she was kept out of
sight until his return, he hurried away.

Black Sam met the members of his other band at the ap-
pointed hour and place, and they set out at once for the
cabin of Peter Pratt. They surrounded. the house, and,
finding the big miner alone, got the drop on him and took
him prisoner.

Leaving Jim Jackson, one of his trusted men, in charge
of the cabin, with full instructions as to what he was to
do and say in the event that he was discovered, the out-
law chief hurried down to the valley below with his pris-
oner. There he knew they would be in less danger of
discovery than among the hills where miners were pros-
pecting in all directions.

The members of the gang were ordered to scatter
through the hills and see if any stranger was lurking
around the cabin. They were to go to the rescue of Jack-
son or any other member of the gang if there was trouble,
and they heard the signal of the band.

Peter Pratt had been securely bound by the outlaws.
His hands were tied together with a stout cord, and then
his arms were bound close to his sides. As he was also
disarmed, Black Sam felt able to take care of the big miner
by himself. He also wanted to hold a conversation with
him which he did not care for any member of his band to
overhear.

When they had reached a secluded spot far down the
little valley where the danger of interruption by a passing
miner or prospector was remote, the outlaw chief ordered
his prisoner to sit down and make himself comfortable.

Up to this time Pratt had maintained a stoical silence.
He did not know his captors, or their purpose, and if he
suspected anything he kept it to himself. But all the time
there was a wicked gleam in his eyes and Black Sam,
watching him furtively, knew that he had a tough cus-

\

   
 

 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 

   

+

“8  PHE LOG CARIN LIBRARY. | ae

 

 

 

The big miner sat down on a stone under an overhang- ‘‘You’ll have to raise again, partner. It might bea little
ing cliff, and looked at his captor without a word. risky to get the proof that you want.”’
It was hard work for the outlaw chief to conceal the de- ‘‘What do you mean by that?”’
light he felt at the discomfiture of his captive, but he _‘‘Nothing in particular, and I guess we might as well
managed to keep his face straight. drop the subject. We cannot come to terms.’’
‘‘T bez your pardon for treating you so rudely, Mr. ‘You refuse?”’
Pratt, but I have heard that you were a hard man to ‘Yes; there is more in the game for me than you offer.”*
handle, so I concluded not to take any chances,’’said Black With a horrible oath, Black Sam snatched a bowie-knife
Sam. from his belt and made a lunge at his bound captive. The
‘‘Hang you and your speechmaking! What’s your refusal of Pratt to come to his terms had made him furi-
game?’’ replied the big miner, gruffly. , ous.
‘*T wanted to have a talk with you.”’ : | The big miner leaped to his feet and sprang aside just
‘Then why don’t you talk? I’m listening.”’ _ ‘in time to avoid the knife thrust.
“‘T am going to and I think what I have to say will in-; ‘'Coward!”’ he hissed, through his clinched teeth.
terest you, but first I have a proposition to make.”’ Both men were now thoroughly aroused. Again the out-
‘*Make it.’’ ‘law chief rushed forward with uplifted knife, but he did
“You are in my power, with no chance of escape.”’ not know the man he had to deal with.
“‘T suppose you think so.’’ Bound as he was, Peter Pratt had the brute courage of
‘“‘T know it, and warn you in advance that you had bet- a bull-dog and the strength of a lion. The cowardly attack
ter accept my proposition. ’”’ had aroused him to a desperate fury.
‘Then why don’t you make it?”’ | He could not use his hands or arms, but his legs were

‘‘You have some information I want. Now Iam willing free. As his antagonist came at him a second time, he
to pay you well for it on condition that you leave these suddenly stooped over and threw himself forward with

diggings and never come back.”’ : terrific force.
‘What is it you want to know?’’ | His head struck the outlaw chief full in the breast with
“All about the death of Dan Dare and the hiding-place the force of a battering-ram. Both men went down in a
of his gold dust.”’ heap with the miner on top. As they went down Black
The big miner started and glared at his questioner like Sam dropped his knife, and it fell beyond his reach.
a wild beast at bay. |. Then began a strange and desperate struggle between
‘“‘T don’t know anything about Dan Dare or his gold,’’ the two men. ‘The outlaw had two pistols in his belt and
Pratt answered, sullenly. he tried to reach one of them, but the big miner could use
‘‘Don’t waste time lying tome. You are living on his his feet and legs with telling effect if his arms were
claim.’’ | bound. .
‘“‘Tt’s my claim. I paid him for it!”’ Pratt wound his legs around those of his adversary and
‘Then you did know Dare?’’ then the two went rolling over and over on the ground so
The big fellow realized that he had made a slip, and rapidly that the outlaw was unable to use his pistols.
after a moment’s silence he replied: | For several moments not a word was spoken by either
‘‘Yes, I did. Now what’s your game?”’ man. Every time they turned Pratt would butt his antag-
‘‘T have found the owner of the claim, and I want to onist in the chest or face with all the force he could. mus-
help her establish her legal right to the property.”’ ter. These terrible blows soon began to tell on the outlaw.
‘It’s mine, I tell you.”’ He was losing his wind fast and his strength was going to.

‘“You cannot prove that. Dan Dare left a will leaving As they rolled over on a bit of rough ground Pratt man-
the claim and the hidden dust to his daughter. She has aged to get the body of the outlaw across his shoulders.
come to claim it, and all that is needed to legally establish Then springing suddenly to his feet, he wheeled around
her rights is proof of the death of her father. Now you and threw Black Sam to the ground with terrible force.
can supply that proof. Do so, and I will pay you well for The outlaw was knocked senseless by the fall. :

it, on condition that you clear out at once’’ | The big miner knew that he had not a moment to lose.
“Tf I refuse what are you going to do about it?”’ ‘The bowie-knife lay on the ground a short distance away.
‘‘Choke the secret out of you!’’ cried Black Sam, say-. Bending over, Pratt caught the handle of it in his
agely. ; mouth, and, exerting all the strength of his powerful jaws,
- The big miner laughed aloud at the threat. | he managed to cut the cords that bound his: hands to-
“‘You say Dan Dare left a will?” | gether. Then taking the knifein his hands, it was an easy

‘Suppose he is not dead, what good is the will?”’ He had succeeded in freeing himself just in time.
‘‘What do you mean?”’ As he turned toward his fallen adversary, he found that
‘‘Nothing. I was just asking a question. Youhave asked worthy just getting on his feet with a pistol in each hand.

a lot of them, and I thought I’d try my hand.”’ | The blood of Peter Pratt was now boiling, and his evil.
*‘Do you mean that Dare is still alive?’’ face was livid with rage. Withacry that sounded like the
‘*T didn’t say so.’’ | bellow of a mad bull, he sprang at the outlaw with up-
‘‘See here, my stubborn friend, there is money in it for lifted knife.

you if you accept my terms. Now you had better talk The men were fifty feet apart. Black Sam had two pis-

‘‘Yes; everything goes to his daughter.”’ pe h to cut the rope that pinioned his arms to his side.

business. ’’ ,tols, while the miner’s only weapon was the knife, but
“All right; what is your game?”’ the nerve of the outlaw was not equal to another contest
‘‘Never mind that. Will you give me the proof of the with the mad giant.

death of Dan Dare?’’ | Without attempting to fire a shot, he turned and ran as

‘‘See here, you have not told me your name, but I think fast as his legs could carry him.
I can guess it. From your complexion, I take it that you | ae
are the chap they call Black Sam. Then it is safe to guess |
that you are playing for a big stake in this little business | Cease
we are discussing. It may be the girl, it may be the claim, A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK.
which does not matter to me, but it does strike me that’ The iron nerves of Gentleman Joe had never quailed in
you are talking pretty fast considering that I hold the the face of what seemed certain death. In fact, the man
winning cards.’’ - had no fear of the great unknown, but for one brief in-
‘Wait until the show-down, and we will see who holds stant, when the horse he was riding made the wild leap

the winning cards. Now once more, will you accept my into space, he felt that his time had come.
For the fraction of a second he closed his eyes, and in

terms?’’
‘What will you pay?’’ - |that brief space of time his whole life passed in swift re-
‘“‘T’1l give you ten thousand dollars.’’ : view before his mental Vision.

‘‘Not enough. The claim is worth ten times as much to Then came the reaction, the hope that lingers with the
_ brave as long as there is life, and he wasawake and ready

say nothing of the girl.”’ |
_ Do what Iask, and I will double the amount. 2 for action, ees / he

 

     

oS

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4

No, 375.

_ THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

®

19

 

 

As the intelligent and spirited horse felt himself sinking |

down into space he seemed to realize with almost human

intelligence that the mad leap meant death for him and
_ the poor brute uttered a cry so like the voice of a man in

the agony of despair that Gentry felt his blood run cold.
But the instinct of self preservation was strong in the
man of nerve.
The leap over the precipice had indeed been a desperate
one. The fall was almost a hundred feet straight down.
Flying through space, horse and rider turned over and
over from the force of the leap from the bank above.
Gentry was thrown from the saddle, which proved to
be the means of saving his life. He was hurled like a cata-

_ pult into the branches of a tall tree and there throwing

out his arms he clutched a swinging limb and held on.

His hands were bruised and torn by the force of his
fall, but he was otherwise uninjured. Hanging there in
mid-air he heard the horse that had been the means of his
escape strike the rocky ground below with terrible force,
and for an instant he closed his eyes and his heart
throbbed with pity for the fate of the dumb brute. The
poor animal was crushed into a shapeless mass of flesh
and bone by the force of the fall.

The impromptu vigilance committee of miners who had
come so near to hanging the wrong man for a series of
crimes in their camp saw the wild leap of Gentry in time to
pull up their horses. ,

Some of them dismounted, and, leaning over the cliff
looked down to see what had been the fate of their in-
tended victim.

- One glance was enough to satisfy them that no man
could escape who made that desperate plunge, and they at
once turned about and started back to their camp.

Gentry drew himself up on a limb of the tree where he
had caught in his fall, and rested there for a few mo-

~ ments. Then, without much difficulty, he made his way

to the ground.

When safely on terra firma he pulled himself together
and found that he was none the worse for his terrible ex-
perience through which he had passed except the scratches
and bruises on his hands.

It was past noon by this time, and Gentleman Joe decided
that he would return to the mining-camp without delay.
He made his way down the ravine until he reached a point
where he could easily climb to the hills above, and then he
started back up the stream, moving cautiously through
the woods to guard against another surprise. cy,

As he moved along he was turning over in his mind

‘plans for aiding Dolly Dare and for getting even with the

desperadoes who had first attempted his life. But all the
time the groans he had heard in the dark cellar under the
cabin of Peter Pratt kept ringing in his ears.

- He could not shake off the feeling that some one was a
helpless prisoner in that place and that he ought to go to
his assistance. His first plan was to return to the min-
ing-camp, obtain aid, and then go back and solve the mys-
tery of that cabin. | ;

But the feeble cry for help seemed to ring louder and
louder in his ears at every step.

With a sudden resolve, Gentleman Joe turned about and
started back to the cabin on the hill-side. He had decided
to go back to the place alone and take the chance of find-
ing it deserted long enough for him to search out the mys-
tery of that dark cellar.

A walk of an hour brought him in sight of the cabin.

The front door was still open just as he had left it, and the

place was apparently deserted. There was no sign of’ life

_ anywhere in the vicinity. Gentry approached the little hut
with great caution, and was relieved to find it empty. But,

he did not know how soon Black Sam or some of his band

— might return, so there was no time to lose.

In a hurried search of the main room he was much grati-

: fied to find a pick and sharp ax. With these tools he could

easily break down the-door in the cellar.

Then, as a matter of precaution against getting penned
in a trap again, he removed the door leading to the dark

: cellar and cut it to pieces.

Gentry then lighted a small lantern that he had found
in the cabin, and after another look around to see that no
one was sppronching he descended into the cellar. There

: he stopped and listened, but not a sound was audible. -

~ “T hope I am not too late,’’ he whispered to himself, as
he crossed over to the secret. door that seemed to lead into
another underground room. .

At this door he listened again, but still there was no
sound from the other side. He struck the door a hard blow
with the ax, but it did not yield an inch.

As the sound of the blow died away, a feeble voice was
heard calling, ‘‘Help! help!’’

“Thank God!’ cried Gentry, and then in a loud voice he
called out: ‘‘Cheer up, there! Help is at hand!’

Then he swung the ax with all his power, and in five
minutes had the door battered down. . ~

Holding the lantern in front of him, he passed through
the door and found himself in alow, narrow passage. Fol-
lowing this a short distance, he came to another door which
was heavily barred on the outside.

Putting down the lantern, Gentry began to remove the
bars from this door. A weak voice called out from the
other side:

“Who comes there?’’

‘‘Better wait until I get the door open for introduc-
tions,’’ replied Gentry.

‘‘Do you come as friend or foe?”’

“That depends. If you are an honest man, I come as a
friend!”’

‘‘God be praised!’’ cried the man within.

In a few moments Gentry had the door open, and then,
by the light of his lantern, he saw a sight that sent a chill
of horror through his stalwart frame.

Seated on the floor of alittle hole in the ground not
more than five feet square, was an old man so emaciated
that he seemed unable to rise. The place was without a
ray of daylight, and there was so little ventilation that
the close hot air was sickening.

The prisoner in this underground dungeon was clothed
in rags, and he was so weak that when he attempted to
rise he fell back again and lay on the floor gasping for
breath.

Gentleman Joe had a small flask filed with brandy in
his pocket. He hurriedly poured a little of the stimulant
down the throat of the man, which quickly revived him
so that he could stand up and talk.

“Take me out of here! Let me see the light of day and
breathe the pure air once more!’’ cried the old man, eager-
ly

‘‘Who are you, and how did you get here?’’ asked Gen-
try.
‘‘Let me get where I can breathe, and I will tell you.”
Gentlemar. Joe saw that the old man was almost dead
for want of food and air, and did not stop to ask any more
questions. Supporting the prisoner on his arm, the two
| started for the ladder that was the only means of reach-
_ing the floor-ef the cabin above.
| Just ag they reached the foot of the ladder the sound of
a heavy footfall was heard approaching the cabin. A mo-
‘ment later a man entered with a quick, heavy stride and
| started across the floor straight to the door ieading down
to the cellar.
“It is Pratt!
! whisper.

 

God help us!’’ said the old man, in a

‘Keep silent!’’ whispered Gentry, sternly, as he hur-
| riedly put out the lantern leaving the cellar in total dark-
“ness.

Then he led the.old man to.the far side of the room,
where he grasped him by the arm and in alow voice asked:

‘(Tell me, on your life, what is this man Pratt to you?’’

“The worst enemy I ever had in the world,’’ replied the
prisoner, who was trembling in every limb from weakness
and fear combined.

‘“Was it he who placed you where I found you?”’

‘‘Ves, I have been a prisoner there for a month,”’

‘‘You want to escape from the clutches of this haan?”’

“Tt is my only chance of life.’’

‘“Then we have common cause here. Never mind who or
what I am now; just do as I tell you, and we will get out
of here. There may be a fight, and I want you to stay
right here. Do not move or make an outcry!”’

There was no time to wait for an answer. "

Peter Pratt was rapidly descending the ladder into the
cellar.

Gentleman Joe,

 

  

with tis, bowie-knife in his hand, 4.8
~
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ad

 

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. °

No. 875.

 

 

 

crouched on the floor and calmly awaited the coming of
the big miner. ~

When he reached the
and struck a match.

For one instant the light flared up dimly in the black-.

ness of that underground hole.

With a spring like a cat, Gentry leaped forward, and
his uplitted knife gleamed in the dim light of the flicker-
ing match. /

Peter Pratt leaped aside just in time to avoid a thrust
that would have disabled his right arm for a time.

Uttering a string of horrible oaths, the big miner drew
his own knife, and as the match dropped from his fingers
to the floor and went out, the two men faced each other in
the darkness for a strugyle to the death.

1t was to be a fight with long, keen-bladed knives, be-
cause Gentry feared to risk a shot in the dark. He might
hit the old man for whom he was now risking his own life.

For a full minute there was silence in the dark cellar,
and the two men who were about to engage in a deadly
struggle could hear each other breathing.

That was the only way they could locate each other for
the darkness was so intense that it was painful to the eyes.

Gentry knew from experience that his opponent was his
superior in weight and strength, but, relying on his’ own
wonderful skill in the use of a knife and his training as
an athlete, he had no fear of the result of the impending
contest.

For several minutes both men moved cautiously about
the floor of the cellar, each hesitating to make the first
rush, for a miscalculation of distance might prove to be a
fatal mistake.

Gentleman Joe bent forward in a stooping posture so
that a straight thrust from his adversary would pass over
his head.

He did not want to kill the big miner, and did not in-
- tend to do so unless it was absolutely necessary in order to
save his own life.

Reaching out with his left hand, he felt cautiously
around in the darkness, and in a few minutes the near-
ness of the heavy breathing of Pratt warned him that the
critical moment was at hand.

Another step forward, and his hand touched the body of
the big miner.

Instantly Gentry dropped to his knees, and he was _ just
in time, for the vicious swing aimed at his chest by Pratt
passed close to his head.

Quiek as a flash, Joe sprang to his feet, and with a quick
upward thrust of his knife brought the sharp blade across
the forearm of his antagonist.

With a howl of rage and pain, Pratt threw himself for-
ward as the knife fell from his hand, and in a-moment the
two men were locked in a close embrace.

Gentleman Joe realized that while he had disarmed the
big miner, he had failed to disable his powerful right arm.

Pratt had caught his adversary with what wrestlers call
an outside hold, and the arms of the Gilt-Edged Sport
were pinned to his side so that he could not use them.

His knife was now useless, and it was to be a struggle
of strength against skill and endurance. :

When he found that his knife was no longer of any use
to him, Gentry dropped it on the floor, and then began a
struggle of giants.

For a few moments the two men reeled around the dark
room without either gaining any decided advantage, and
then Gentry tripped the big fellow, throwing him heavily.

Gentleman Joe fell on top, but the only advantage he
gained by that was that it enabled him to free his arms.

Then, with desperate strength and energy, he clasped
his hands about the throat of his adversary. But, with a
quick turn, the big fellow broke the hold, and was on top.

Over and over the two rolled on the floor, each trying to
get a grip on the throat of the other.

_ ~ Nota word was spoken, but the deep-labored breathing
of the two men told how desperately they were struggling
for the mastery. Ne

For fully ten minutes the terrible struggle went on, and
then Gentry found that his strength and his wind were
both beginning to fail. The exertion was telling on him,
and the gigantic strength and weight of his adversary
gave the latter a great advqntage. = aa ape

foot of the ladder Pratt stopped

Gentleman Joe realized now that it was a struggle to.
the death. He knew that Pratt would strangle the lite out
of him if he could.

While he had a horror of taking human life, the man of
iron nerve felt that the time had come when he must do it
to save his own.

Getting his right hand free, he succeeded in reaching
his revolver, and drawing it from his belt.

But before he could use the weapon the big miner had
discovered the movement. In an instant Pratt had caught
the right arm of Gentry and given it a twist which forced
the latter to drop his weapon. Once it was out of his hand
there was little chance that he would be able to recover it
again in the darkness. 5 A

The contest had now become an unequal one, for the
man from Denver felt his strength failing fast, while his
opponent seemed as strong and fresh as at the beginning *
of the fight, although the blood was pouring from his arm
where the knife-thrust had cut a deep gash. aes

With all the strength of his mad fury, the giant miner
re ams hisadversay and hurled him into a corner of the -
cellar.

Then he was on top of him in an instant, and his big
hands closed over the throat of Gentry with a grip like
that of a vise.

He had almost lost hope when there was a sudden and
unexpected turn to the unequal contest.
Gentleman Joe felt as if his head was bursting. Stars

flashed before his eyes and there was a roaring in his ears.

The report of a pistol rang out with a sound like a thun-
der-clap in the dark underground room.

Gentry saw the flash, and then he felt the hands on his
throat relax their terrible grasp, and a moment ‘later the
heavy body of the big miner lay limp and motionless on ~
top of him.

With an effort, he rolled the body over and sprang to his
feet. Then he struck a match and looked about for his res-
cuer.

The old man whom he had rescued from the under-
ground prison stood by the fallen miner with a smoking
pistol in his hand.

By the flickering light of the burning match the tremb-
ling old man gazed down into the face of the man at his
feet, and then he said, sternly:

“Peter Pratt, we are quits now!”’

Gentry bent down and made a hasty examination of the —
fallen man. His heart had ceased to beat. The bullet had
passed through his brain, and he was dead before the
echoes of the shot died out of the dark room.

Striking another match, Gentry looked at the old man
before him for a moment, and then he held out his hand.

‘‘You saved my life,’’ he said, quietly.

‘‘T owed you for mine,’’ replied the other, and in the
hhand-clasp of the two men there was an understanding
that could not be expressed in words.

Then Gentleman Joe lighted the lantern, and glanced at
the scene of the desperate struggle from which he had

‘had such a narrow escape.

His clothing was torn and covered with blood, but be- ¢
yond a few bruises he was unhurt. The shot that had
ended the career of Peter Pratt had been fired from the.
pistol of the Denver man, which had fortunately fallen at
the feet of his new-found friend.

By the light of the lantern the weak and trembling old
man stood by the dead body of the miner and gazed down
at the rough, bearded face.

‘‘Ah, Pete, it was asad day for you and me when you
gave way to the devil that was in you,’’ said the old man,
sadly.

‘‘You seem to have known the man in the past?’’ said
Gentry.

‘‘Yes, we were lads together, and partners once.’’

‘¢And your-name is?’’

%
i

‘‘Dan Dare.”’ j

Gentleman Joe gave a low whistle of astonishmentatthis i s

unexpected announcement. _
‘It was supposed you were dead. ae
‘‘No, thanks to you, I live, and hope to see my child

again !”’ a eT a as ce oe
‘“You shall see her!’’

99

 

 

: | “Then you know my Dolly?” | : oF

 
No. 375.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

21

 

 

**Yes; she is not far away.”’

**God be praised!”’

“‘Come; we must get out of here!’
The two men started up the ladder. They were half-way
out of the cellar when the sound of footfalls on the floor of
the cabin above caused them to pause.

’

enced neem earned

CHAPTER XI.
SEVERAL SURPRISES.

Gentleman Joe, hanging on the ladder half-way out of

the dark cellar, draw his pistol, expecting another desper-
ate fight for liberty.

But this time he was treated to a great surprise. Two
persons were moving about the floor of the cabin over his
head. One stepped lightly, the tread of the other was
heavy.

In a few moments one of them spoke to the other in a
low tone. The man listening below could not make out the
words, but he recognized the voice at once.

Turning to his companion, Gentry said, in a whisper:

“Tt is all right; come on!”’

Then the Denver man ran quickly up the remaining dis-
tance and leaped lightly out into the middle of the cabin.
Dan Dare followed him with slower steps, for his long
confinement in the underground dungeon had left him lit-
tle strength.

The two persons in the cabin ran toward the door, and
one of them uttered a little cry of alarm at the sudden and
unexpected appearance of Gentry.

‘“‘Don’t be alarmed,’’ he said, quietly.

‘““Whoare you, and what are you doing
manded a gruff voice.

Gentleman Joe looked around in surprise and found him-
self face to face with a rough-looking miner and the wo-
man he had known as Dolly Dare.

‘Why did you leave the camp?’’ he asked, addressing
the woman.

‘‘Because I had business here,’’ she replied, sullenly.

‘‘But how did you find the place?”’

Before the woman could answer. Dan Dare slowly
climbed out of the trap-door, took a tottering step forward,
and then, straightening himself up, drew a long breath of
the fresh mountain air.

Gentry stepped aside, leaving the old man face to face
with the woman.

‘“‘T told you that your daughter was not far away,’’ he
said. ‘‘She is here!”’

‘‘Here! My child here?’’ cried the old man, starting for-
ward and looking around the cabin in a bewildered way.

The woman Gentry had known as Dolly Dare broke into
a loud, coarse laugh.

“So you think I am the little girl the old chap is long-
ing for, eh? Well, not much, Mr. Gentleman Joe!’’

The old miner started back at the sound of the womhan’s
- yoice and Gentry looked from one to the other in blank
amazement.

He had expected to see a father and daughter reunited,
and supposed that they would fall into each other’s arms.
| “My child—where is she?’’ cried the old miner, turning

to his rescuer. ‘‘ You told me she was here.’’

“This woman is not your daughter?’’

“No, 10177

‘“Then I have been deceived. Thereissome mystery here
which I do not understand, but we will unravel it in time,
take my word for that.”’

‘“‘Did this woman tell you that she was my child?’’

“‘She did, and that is why I am here.’’

‘Then she lied to you. It is some trick; they have taken
my Dolly away.”’

“‘Come, May, what is this game? We are losing time
here,’’ said the miner who accompanied Monte May.

This fellow was the treacherous guide, Ben Barr.

For a minute the woman had stood silent, apparently as
much surprised as any one else at the turn of affairs. Now
she turned to Barr and said, quietly:

‘‘Our game is up.”’

‘“What do vou mean?”’’ he asked, gruffly.

- “(The old man is not dead, it seems.”’

‘But ae claim is here.”’ a)

ie

here?’’ de-

 

Ben Barr whispered something in the ear of the woman,
then turning suddenly to Gentleman Joe, he drew a pistol.

‘‘Drop that!’’ said Gentry, sternly.

At the same moment Monte May drew a weapon, and
leveled it at the head of the old man.

‘‘T guess we hold the winning cards in this game, my
friend,’ said Barr, with a grin.

Quick as a flash, Gentleman Joe shot out his right hand.
The blow caught the outlaw squarely on the jaw and sent
him sprawling on the floor. Before he could make a move
to rise, he was disarmed, and his pistols were in the hands
of old Dan Dare.

‘‘Now, my mysterious beauty, I want a few words with
you,’’ said Gentry, sternly, as he turned to the woman.

With a cry of rage, the woman leveled her pistol at the
head of the man from Denver and pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck the wall of the cabin with a sharp
thud. Gentleman Joe had dodged such shots before.

The woman, now wild with rage, tried to fire again, but
before she could press the trigger a second time her wrist
was seized in a firm grip, and she was disarmed.

With a strong twist on her arm, Gentry turned the wo-
man around and forced her to sit down on a stool that
stood in one corner of the cabin.

‘Kill that cur if he makes a move!’’ said Joe, sternly,
to the old man, as he pointed to Ben Barr, who was sit-
ting up rubbing his jaw.

‘‘Now, my beauty, I’llask youa few questions, and if

' you can see your way clear to tell the truth, it will be bet-

ter for you.”’

‘‘Go ahead,’’ replied Monte May, sullenly.

‘‘Why did you come here?”’

‘*1 came to see a miner of the name of Peter Pratt. This
is his cabin.’’

‘‘What was your business with him?”’

‘“‘He knows the location of a mining claim that I am
looking for.”’

‘The Dan Dare claim?”’

‘*T did not say so.”’

‘‘Did you expect Pratt to help you find it?”’

‘*Possibly.’”’

‘‘Why did you represent yourself to me as Dolly Dare?”’

‘‘T was forced to do that. I was playing the game of
another then.”’

‘‘Now you are playing for the stake yourself.’

‘*Perhaps.’’

‘‘Who sent you into the mining-camp to play the role of
Dolly Dare?’’

The woman shrugged her shoulders, and did not answer.

For ten minutes Gentleman Joe plied her with questions
without eliciting any further information of value toward
clearing up the mystery of the attempt to get possession of
the rich claim of Dan Dare.

The nerve of the woman had returned, and Gentry was
compelled to admit to himself that she was one of the
shrewdest members of her sex that he had ever encount-
ered.

It was clear that the woman was playing fora big stake,
and that she was not yet ready to give up the game.

‘You came here to see Peter Pratt?’’ Gentry asked,
finally.

ce Yes. 92

‘*All right; you shall see him.’’

The woman looked up in surprise.

‘‘But he is not here,’’ she said.

““Oh, yes he is.”’

‘*Where?”’

‘‘Down in the cellar under the cabin.”’

The woman looked suspicious.

‘‘You are holding him a prisoner?”’ she asked.

‘‘For the present, yes; we had to do it; but you shall
see him alone. After the interview you may be willing to
talk to me.’’

Gentry picked up the lantern and pointed to the open
trap-door and ladder leading to the cellar.

The woman drew back and hesitated when she had
glanced down into the darkness below.

‘“This is some trick!’’ she exclaimed, angrily.

‘“‘You think I want to make you a prisoner?”’

66 Yes. 99:

‘‘You have heard of me before; you know my reputa-

 
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THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

No. 376.

 

 

tion. I give you my word that I shall not attempt to make
you a prisoner or to harm you in any way. To prove that.

I mean whatIsay, I will godown into the cellar with
you.”’

This seemed to reassure the woman somewhat, and she
arose and followed her captor down the narrow ladder into
the dark cellar. °

When they reached:the bottom Gentry held the light so
that the woman could not see in front of her and then he
led her over to the corner where a short time before he
had fought the hardest battle of his life.

“You want to see Peter Pratt?’’ he asked, grasping the
woman by the arm suddenly.

‘‘That is what I came here for.”’

‘‘Here is the man you seek!”’

As Gentleman Joe spoke he raised the lantern and held
it so that the light fell full onthe upturned face of the
dead man, whose eyes were still wide open and staring
fixedly into the great unknown.

Monte May was a woman of iron nerve, long accustomed
to scenes of violence and bloodshed. Many times before
she had looked on death in horrible forms, but the sight of
that coarse brutal face, fixed and rigid, the set, glassy
eyes looking up at her in the dim light, was more than she
could stand.

With a wild cry of terror the woman staggered back-
ward, and would have fallen had not Gentry caught her.

‘*He is dead!’’ she cried.

‘*Yes, and the same fate may overtake others who have
set out to rob and murder if need be in the struggle for
the fortune of Dan Dare.’’

““Take me out of here!’’

‘“But I promised to leave you alone with the man you
came to see.”’

‘*No, no, do not do that! Take me out of here! Have you
no mercy on a woman?”’

*“More than you have had on an innocent young girl.”’

**T have not harmed Dolly Dare.’’

‘*But you would steal her fortune.’’

**No, let me out of here, and I will quit the game.’’

‘*Where is the girl?”’

‘**T have told you I do not know.”

‘“You say she is a prisoner in the hands of the outlaw
chief?’

‘‘She was, and he is not the man to let her get away if
he can help it.’’

“You know his hiding-places?”’

**Not all of them.”’

**Show me all you know, and then get out of this region,
and I will say nothing of your part in the plot to rob the
irl!

‘“It would be worth my life to betray him.’’

“‘T will protect you. Is it a bargain?’’

‘“Yes.””

Gentry turned and led the way back to the floor of the
cabin. He had little or no faith in the desperate woman
who was playing for a fortune, but she could put him on
the trail of the real Dolly Dare, and he meant to keep her
in sight until she had done so.

Just as the couple stepped out from the dark cellar the
little party in the cabin were startled by the sound of gal-
loping horses.

, A number of mounted men were approaching. At once
Gentry suspected that Black Sam and his outlaw band
were returning.

He quickly closed and barred the front door.

‘*We may have another fight on our hands in a mo-
ment,’’ he said to Dan Dare.

Then he told Monta May and Ben Barr to get into a cor-
ner of the cabin and stay there until they were told to
move. ©

He did not dare to trust either of them with a weapon
unless it was absolutely necessary. He did not care to
fight an enemy in front with an armed enemy in his rear.

But there was no time for a council of war. Nearly a

score of horsemen galloped up and stopped in front of the
cabin.

‘‘Hello in there, neighbor!’’ called out the leader.

Gentry made no answer.

‘Don’t be afraid if you are at home, partner. We are
honest miners, and mean no harm. We have just been

 

ridding the camps of a big skunk. You will find his car-
cass at the bottom of the cataract down the ravine. We
just came by to tell you that so that you’ would not sus-
pect there had been foul play if you happened across it.”’

By this time Gentleman Joe had recognized the voice of
the speaker and he knew the men outside. They were the
same ones who had tried to swing him to a limb and had
come so near succeeding.

Then a spirit of bravado suddenly came over the man of
nerve. He was curious to see what these men would say
or do if they suddenly came face to face with him now
that they supposed he was lying in the ‘bottom of the
ravine a crushed and shapeless mass of flesh and bone.

It was a desperate thing to do under the circumtances,
and only a man of nerve would have taken the risk, but
Gentleman Joe slowly opened the door of the cabin with- —
out a word, and stepped forward until he was in plain’
view of the band of regulators.

For a moment they sat on their horses like men dazed
by a sudden shock.

‘‘Good God! Bill! what is that?’’ cried the leader, in a
voice that trembled with fear.

The faces of the rough miners turned pale, and their
eyes seemed to be starting from\their heads as they sat
there on their horses for ten seconds gazing at the man in ©
the door of the cabin.

Then a sudden start by one of the horses seemed to break
the spell that held the men as if they were in a trance.
Without a word they wheeled about, and putting spurs to

‘their horses they galloped away down the hill as fast as

they could go. Not one of them dared to even look back
over his shoulder for fear that he would see a spook close
at the heels of his horse.

Dan Dare had joined his rescuer in the door-way, and
the two enjoyed a good laugh at the terror and flight of
the regulators.

Then they turned back to see what their captives were
doing. A hasty glance around the cabinShowed them that
they were alone. The captives had suddenly disappeared.

‘““The secret door!’’ cried Dan Dare, and, running across
the floor of the cabin, he pushed against what seemed to
be a part of the solid wall of logs. -

To the surprise of Gentry, a/space about four feet square
yielded and swung around on a hidden hinge. It was the
secret door, and the bolt that held it in place had been re-
moved.

“They are gone!’’ cried the old man.

Gentleman Joe hurried out and around to the back of
the cabin. He was just in time to see two figures rapidly
disappearing over a hill four hundred yards away.

‘‘Let them go,’’ he said to his companion. ‘‘If they leave
this part of the country we are well rid of them. If they
stay we shall find them again soon enough.”’

“But my shild, my Dolly, how will we ever find her?”’

‘Your child shall be found. Take my word for that. I.
am into this game now so deep that I mean to play it
through to the end. But come; we are losing time here.’’

‘““Where are you going now?”’

‘‘To find Black Sam and your daughter!”’

With a wild cry, Dan Dare clutched his rescuer by’ the .
arm and cried out:

‘‘Do not tell me that my child is in the clutches of that
scoundrel !”’

‘“‘T fear that she is, but we will save her.’’

““My child! my poor child!’’ wailed the old man, as he
staggered forward and fell fainting at the feet of Gentle-
man Joe.

CHAPTER XII.
A SHOT THAT FAILED.

A new faro bank was open in the mining camp of Wheres
Are-Ye, and the game sports of the place crowded itis
tables because the play was high and there was no limit.

A young man, in the dress of adandy from the East,
had come to the camp, and, pitching a tent just off the
main street, had opened a bank.

Word had gone out that the new place had money to
burn, and that the play could not be too high to suit the
dealer. —

A score of lamps, some with red, 5 Oe with, blue and

J

 
No. 376.

ee

some with green globes, lighted up the place inside, mak-
ing it look like some rude scene from fairy-land.

Outside a red light burned which informed the miners
of the camp that a game was going on within. They all
dropped in during the evening to take a look at the new
place, and most of them remained to play or to watch
others play.

They found the owner of the place, a smooth-faced,
young chap, with small white hands, at the table dealing.

There was something about this pew dealer that seemed
to fascinate the rough miners, and they poured out their
hard-earned gold dust in heaps on the turn of a card.

But on the opening night the luck of the bank seemed as
if it would never change. The quiet young dealer raked in
pile after pile of dust, and still as fast as one man left the
table there were five ready to take his place.

There was something seductivein the voice of the dealer
as he called out in low tones:

‘“Come, gentlemen, place your bets

' Men who rarely gambled sat down to the table that
night and staked their last ounce of dust on the turn of a
card. ‘

When a man lost his pile the dealer would always push
across the table to him a small amount of coin or dust,
and, smiling softly, would say:

‘‘Partner, I’ll Joan you a stake until you have won out
on your claim. You can repay me then!”’

There was something in the voice of the speaker that
caused the luckless players to accept the proffered loan
with a muttered word of thanks.

Men who would, under ordinary circumstances, have re-
sented such an offer, after one look into the soft blue eyes
of the dealer would pocket the money without a word.

Some of them wanted to risk the loan on the cards, but
once a man was broke, the dealer would not allow him to
play again that night.

“It is a rule of mine,’’ he would say, in the soft, per-
suasive voice that seemed to hypnotize the rough miners.

‘Come back to-morrow night, or any time when. you
have more dust, but you must not play again to-night.”’

The regular gamblers of the camp crowded the place,
and tried all their tricks against the bank. The result was
that they were heavy and steady losers.

No systems, no desperate plays served to shake for an
instant the steady nerve of the dealer, who seemed to feel
only pity or contempt for those who were trying to break
the bank.

It was after ten o’clock, and the place was crowded,
when a big broad-shouldered man with a dark face and
black beard slipped quietly into the tent and looked around
with a furtive glance.

The face of the new-comer was half concealed because
he wore a slouch hat pulled low down over his eyes, while
a big cloth around his neck muffled his features to the chin.

But there was little need of disguise in that place. The
men present were so deeply interested in the game going
on that they paid little heed to new-comers.

The stranger got into the thickest of the crowd at once,
and while pretending to watch the game, he was slyly
scanning the faces of those around him. In that way he
managed to get a look at almost every one in the room,
and was just turning toward the door with a look of dis-
appointment on his swarthy face when the dealer replaced
the cards in the box and in a clear voice called out:

‘“Come, gentlemen, place your bets!’’

The stranger started at the sound of that voice.

. Wheeling around, he made his way back through the
crowd until he was as close to the table as he could get
without interfering with the players.

Then pulling the brim of his hat still lower over his eyes
the stranger stood for several minutes intently studving
the face of the dealer. Thena grim smile of satisfaction
spread over that part of his dark face that was visible and
he turned and left the place.

Once outside, the stranger quickened his pace and
walking with a rapid stride down the main street of the
camp, soon reached the edge of the forest beyond.

There he paused, and, after looking around carefully to
make sure that he had not been followed, he placed his
fingers to a lips and gave a long whistle.

yo?

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY

 

23

he apa

In a moment the signal was answered from the dark
woods and then the big fellow whistled again.

A minute later a tall slender figure stepped out of the
shadow of the trees, and approached the man who had
signaled.

““Come, Lanky Bob, d—— you, move when I call for
you, don’t be so slow!’ |

‘All right, captain, Iam coming!’’ replied the man ad-
dressed as Lanky Bob.

The first part of the name fitted him perfectly. He
seemed to be at least seven feet tall, and he was as thin
as a rail.

‘*I’ve got work for you to-night.”’

‘All right, I’m ready. Ihave not jumped a claim or
held up a camp in so long I am getting a bit lazy, captain.”’

‘‘The work to-night is something different.’”’

‘‘Are you going to touch a bank?’’

‘‘No, but you may touch it later if you dothe job I have
for you and do it well.’’

“Well, what’s the job?”’

The big fellow looked around cautiously, and then, lean- -
ing forward, he whispered something into the ear of his:
companion.

The latter drew back and hesitated.

‘‘Come, are you going to stand here all night?’’ asked.
the pie fellow, with a savage oath.

66 oO. 99

‘‘Then go, before the place is Glosed for the night.’’

“‘T don’t like the job, captain.”’

The man addressed as captain blurted out along string
of oaths.

‘‘You don’t like the job, eh? Better go East and teach a
Sunday-school! You are getting too good for this country.’’

‘‘That’s all right, captain. I’m none too good, but I’d be
taking a big risk in this, and I want to know what I get
out of it if I succeed.”’

‘“‘There is no risk, and you will get a share in the claim
if I win out.’”’

“Your winning out seems to hang on a pretty desperate
chance from what little I know of it.’’

‘‘Well, I’m used to desperate chances. Are you going to
do the job or quit the gang?”’

‘‘T had just about as soon do one as the other.”’

‘*Oh, your liver is growing white, is it?’’

Lanky Bob winced at this, and his long bony fingers
closed over the handle of the bowie-knife in his belt.

‘‘See here, Black Sam! Stop now! I'll call you by that
name when I want to! I’ll take no more of your slurs, do
you understand? You call on me to do all the tough work,
and what do I get out of it?’’

‘““What do you want?’’

‘‘T want half. If I do this job we will be equal partners
in future. If you don’t like my terms, go do the work
yourself, ”’

Black Sam, for the big man was the outlaw chief,
ground his teeth in rage. For half a minute he glared at
the tall fellow with a murderous gleam in his eyes.

The two men were alone there on the edge of the forest,
and Lanky Bob was getting dangerous to his leader. He
knew too much, and possessed a brute courage that made
him insensible to fear.

The outlaw chief wanted this man safely out of his
way, but he was afraid of him, and the latter knew it.

Lanky Bob’s skill in the use of a knife made him a dan-
gerous antagonist to deal with.

No one knew this better than the big fellow who stood
glaring at him there in the darkness.

‘‘All right, Bob,’’ said the outlaw, finally, ‘‘you shall
have half. You and J cannot afford to quarrel. But come,
we have no time to lose.”’

“‘T’]]1 undertake the job, captain, on that condition, but
T tell you now that I don’t like it, and what’s more, if you
attempt to play me false after this, I will put a knife
through you.”’

‘““You can count on me, Bob.”’

‘And you can count on me. I am not afraid of you, and
I don’t intend that you shall give me the slip any more.’’

The two outlaws turned and walked rapidly back to the
mining-camp. They walked side by side, but each kept a
hand on his knife or pistol and a sharp lookout for treach-
ery.

 
9

aa

4

 

 

 

Lanky Bob was the only member of the band of outlaws

known as the Wheips of Where-Are-Ye who had neither
fear nor respect for the leader. The two men at heart
hated eachother, but they had interests in common, and
so made common. cause against honest men,

Several times Black Sam had attempted double dealing
with his lieutenant, and once he came very near getting
a knife through the heart for doing it.

That made him more careful in the future, but he was
only biding his time to pay off old scores. The two men
understood each other pretty well, and the outlaw chief

only kept the tall fellow in his band because he did not)

know very well how to get rid of him, and then he could
call on him to undertake work so desperate and requiring
such nerve and cunning that no other member of the band
could be intrusted with it.

On the way back to the camp the two men spoke
scarcely a word to each other until they came close to the
tent where the new faro-bank had been opened.

There they paused, and Black Sam whispered a few
words of final instructions about the work that the other
had agreed to undertake.

It was nearly midnight, and still the play in the new
faro-bank went madly on.

A score of hard-working miners had lost their last,

ounce of gold dust, almost as many professional gamblers
had staked their last dollar, and the wonderful luck of the
dealer had not changed.

But new players were coming in a steady stream, and
every few minutes the fine clear voice of the slender young
man behind the table was heard calling out:

‘“Come, gentlemen, place your bets!”’

Lanky Bob, the outlaw, entered the tent, and joined the
throng moving toward the gaming-table. Men had to wait
their turn to play, and it was some time before the tall
outlaw found a vacant chair in front of the dealer.

He dropped into the seat as soon as it was vacated, and
after one quick glance at the strained and eager faces
about him he began to play.

His bets were small at first, and he placed them care-
lessly. Sometimes he won, and again he lost. Then he be-
gan to increase his bets.

The outlaw seemed to have an unlimited supply of.

money. He drew gold coins from his pockets in handfuls,
and placed them first on one card, and then on another,
with what seemed to be reckless abandon.

He was losing rapidly now, but still his bets increased,
and the wonderful play.of the man began to attract atten-
tion.

One or tivo men around the table warned him that the
bank was in luck, and that he had better get out of the
game before he lost everything he had.

The outlaw paid no attention to this, and kept right on

piling his gold on the table, while the bank continued just

as steadily to win.

_ Finally Lanky Bob, after losing a daring bet, brought
forth another handful of gold and threw it down on the
table in front of him. All this time he had been playing
with his head bent down apparently, paying not the
slightest attention to his surroundings, but he was fur-
tively studying the face of the dealer.

‘‘Here’s my last lot of the yellow eagles and they all go
on the queen!’’ said the outlaw, in a loud voice, as he
piled the shining gol on the card indicated.

Every one around the table pressed forward to watch
the play. There was a craning of necks, a straining of
eyes, and then silence as the hand of the dealer moved on
the card box.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. |

No. 375.

 

 

The deft fingers of the dealer had slipped the cards from
the box on the next play.

The queen had lost, and the delicate white hand of the
man behind the table reached out for the pile of shining
gold.

“Drop that! Itisaswindle! I will not be cheated out
of my money!’’ cried Lanky Bob, leaping to his feet. -

A long, keen-bladed knife flashed in the right hand of
the outlaw as he sprang up, and thrusting if forward as
‘an expert fencer would use a foil, he aimed a blow at the
heart of the faro-dealer. !

Instantly the gambling-room was ascene of wild con-.
fusion. The sympathy of the crowd was evidently with
the man who had lost his money, and most of those around
the table struggled to get out of the way so the loser and
the dealer could fight it out alone.

This was just what Lanky Bob had counted on, and the
‘crowd was playing into his hand.

The dealer, taken off his guard by the suddenness of the
attack, sprang to his feet just as the knife of the outlaw
shot forward straight at his breast.

But the knife did not reach the heart of the intended
victim. .

Quick as had been the move of the desperate outlaw,
some one else had acted equally prompt. :

A strong hand caught his arm at the elbow, and gave it
a twist that almost dislocated the shoulder.

The knife dropped to the floor before most of those
around the table realized what had happened.

But an instant later the outlaw had drawn a pistol with
his left hand, thrust the muzzle of it against the head of
the faro-dealer, and his finger was on the trigger.

Then a hand shot forward like a flash, and the pistol
was knocked up at the instant of discharge. The bullet
passed over the head of Lanky Bob’s intended victim.
With the strength of a giant, the man who had interfered
whirled the outlaw around and threw him headlong into a
mass of miners and gamblers who were struggling to get
out of the place.

The outlaw had been unable to get even a glimpse of the
face of the man who had defeated his murderous plan.

But the faro-dealer had seen the man of nerve and ac-
tion who was just in time to prevent a cowardly crime.

“You are always turning up in time! I owe ycu my
life !”’

‘“‘Then I have only repaid a little debt, Fan,’’ replied
Gentleman Joe, for it was he who had saved the faro- _
dealer from the knife and pistol.

‘“T have some news for you,’’ said Foxy Fan, for the ©
owner of the new faro-bank was the brave little woman in
disguise.
| ‘Tt will meet you in half an hour,’’ and Gentry, ina
‘whisper, named a place of meeting.

In the meantime he wanted to follow up a little matter
of hisown. As the crowd surged out of the gambline-
room Gentry mingled with the miners, for he was dressed
like them, but he did not lose sight of Lanky Bob, the
outlaw.
| As soon as they were outside the tent he saw that the
‘outlaw was glancing anxiously about, as if he expected to.

meet some one. ;
| I thought so,’’ said Gentry to himself.

The red lamp in front of the bank was still burning, and
| by its light Gentleman Joe watched the faces of the ex-
‘cited throng.

Suddenly
‘start of surprise.. It was.a man wearing a mask.

For a full minute he surveyed with a critical glance the

 

The outlaw shot a quick glance at the face of the young | masked individual.

man behind the table, and then his hand slipped down

o

slowly until it rested on the handle of his trusty bowie- last.

knife.

Even the spectators began to feel that there was a crisis |

| ‘The same build, the same eyes!’’ he said to himself, at
‘“‘My friend behind the mask, you and 1 have met
|before. I have not forgotten the flash of your eyes!”’

Gentleman Joe, keeping well in the shadow, watched the

of some kind at hand, and some of the other players for-. man of mystery until he saw him exchange a signal with
got to make bets so intent were they in watching the man | Lanky Bob, the outlaw.

who had just lost’a small fortune in a few minutes.
“‘All down, gentlemen !”’
same steady voice, apparently

staked on the turn of a card.
One, two, three. : i

Then, acting on a sudden impulse, Gentry sprang for- _
called out the dealer in the ward,
taking no notice of the from the face of the big fellow.
player who had just announced that his last coin was,

and with a quick movement snatched the mask i
His suspicions were confirmed. | : i B :
‘The man of the mask and Black Sam were one and t
same. eee ' i a Hei cer sane

 

he caught sight of something that gave hima = 2
No. 375.

THE

 

LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

 

—

 

‘**We met at Lucifer Lode!’’ said Gentry, and then be-
fore the outlaw could make a move he had vanished in the.

- erowd. ;
He had gone to keep his appointment with Foxy Fan.

—

CHAPTER XIII.
AN EXHIBITION OF NERVE.
Gentleman Joe and Foxy Fan met at the appointed

place and had a brief interview.

As briefly as possible the woman told him the story of
hex adventures since they had parted the night before,
and she was able to clear up some points that had been a
mystery to the Gilt-Edged Sport until then,

What she had to tell of Monte May and the relations be-
tween that bold adventuress and the outlaw chief was of
especial interest following the exciting incidents of the
day.

it was now clear to the Denver man that Monte May
had decided to break away from her friend, Black Sam,
and play a little game of her own.

When the two friends had compared notes there were
only a few points to be cleared up in order to straighten
out the mystery of the Dare claim and restore Dolly Dare
to her father.

The first and most important step in this direction was
to find the girl herself. Gentry had brought Dan Dare to
the mining-camp and had seen to it that the old man was
well cared for. With the aid of good food and pure air,
the old fellow had already revived enough to tell the
story of how he came to be a prisoner in his own cabin.

Dare and Peter Pratt had come, to the mining region
together, and for a time worked a claim as partners.
They failed to find paying quartz, and Pratt pushed on
farther West.

After two years he returned to find Dare owner of a
rich claim, but lying dangerously ill of a fever.

Pratt started in to nurse his former partner, who be-
lieved that he was going to die, and made a will leaving
all his property to his only child.

The letter containing the will and a map of the claim
was intrusted to Pratt, who opened and read it before he
sentit away. Then the scoundrel determined to get pos-
session not only of the property, but of the daughter of
his former friend and. partner.

He expected that the girl would come on to claim the

mine, and then it was his purpose to entrap her intoa
marriage.
' Instead of dying, Dan Dare began to get well. His old
partner, scoundrel that he was, did not have the courage
to murder him outright, or else had some other game in
view, and placed the old man in the secret cellar under
the cabin a prisoner, where he had almost died of starva-
tion and breathing the foul air. This cellar had been dug
originally as a hiding-place from Indians.

Pratt was now out of the way, and while Gentleman
Joe realized that he was taking an active interest and
running great personal risks in an affair in which he had

.’ no direct concern, he was not the man to turn back once

he had set his hand to do a thing.

One point in the affair that spurred him on was the
prospect that he might be able to clear up the mystery of
Black Sam, the masked man, from whose clutches he had
such a narrow escape at Lucifer Lode.

He felt that he owed it to his reputation to even the
score with that individual, and he meant to do it before
he quitted this case.

After his talk with Foxy Fan, Gentry was for the mo-
mentat a loss how to proceed with the search for the

missing Dolly Dare. Now that Monte May knew that the
father of the real heiress was not dead, Joe thought she
might try to make a new deal with the outlaw chief, and
_ that the two might go in and work together again.

It was atleast important to find the woman before she
- hadachance to meet Black Sam and tell him that Dare

was still alive.
Gentleman Joe suggested a plan of action, and asked

Foxy Fan what she thought of it.

_ *verything depends on finding and rescuing Dolly

> Dare at once. While she is in the hands of the outlaw

oe

 

chief the woman Monte May cannot make terms with
hime?’
‘‘How do you know that?”’
**Because I know woman’s nature.
ous of Dolly Dare, and she has good cause.

This woman is jeal-
The outlaw

‘| wanted to get rid of her because she stood between him

and the young heiress. With the girl out of the way, the
two might~become friends again.”’

‘‘Then you suspect that Monte May is dangerous?’’

‘‘She will strangle the girl if she gets a chance.
woman is a. tigress when aroused.”’

‘‘Dolly Dare must be found, and I mean to find her.’’

SHowe!

‘Ido not know, but by to-morrow I shall have a plan.
To-night I must get sleep and rest. I may need a clear
head and a steady nerve before this work is ended.’’

The two friends separated after an agreement to meet
the following night and compare notes. ©

Foxy Fan had promised her friend Gentleman Joe to be
more careful in future and keep out of the way of the
hired assassins of Black Sam, who would have her mur-
dered in cold blood if he could, because she had frustrated
some of his murderous plans.

Gentry was astir at an early hour on the following
morning, but he had failed to work out any plan for find-
ing Dolly Dare except the slow and uncertain one of trail-
ing her captor to his hiding-place the next time he caught
sight of the outlaw.

An hour after daylight most of the miners and prospec-
tors had left the camp and gone away to the diggings in
the hills. .

Gentleman Joe stood in front of the little building,
called a hotel, undecided what to do next, when the sound
of pistol shots down the street attracted his attention.

A score of horsemen were riding down the main street
of the camp firing right and left. The few men leftin
camp quickly sought refuge under the nearest shelter.

As the riders came tearing down the street shooting and
yelling, Gentry saw that every man of them wore a mask.
It was evident that they had come to plunder the camp
while the majority of the miners were away at their work.

Many of the latter had large amounts of gold dust hid-
den away in their tents. That was what tempted the rob-
bers.

Gentleman Joe had no doubt of the identity of the
band. While the men were all masked, he was satisfied
that they were the now famous Whelps of Where-Are-Ye
on the war-path. ‘

As soon as the masked riders had driven to cover, the
few miners remaining in the camp most of them dis-
mounted and began to search the unoccupied cabins and
tents, while the others guarded the street, firing an occa-
sional shot to prevent interference with the work of rob-
bery.

While watching the performance from a place of con-
cealment a plan to reach the hiding-place of the outlaw
band suddenly occurred to Gentleman Joe. He proceeded
to act upon it at once.

Keeping out of sight of the robbers on guard, he reached
one of the tents that was without an occupant at the time.
Slipping inside, he threw himself down on the floor and
wrapped a blanket around his body.

A few minutes later one of the masked robbers pushed
open the door and walked in. Gentry sat up and rubbed
his eyes as if he had just awakened from sleep.

‘*What do you want?’’ he asked of the intruder.

‘‘Any gold you happen to have lying around loose, and
point it out d—n quick, too,’”’ replied the man in the
mask, as he leveled a pistol at the head of the pretended
miner.

‘‘My dust is hidden in the corner there, under that pile
of blankets,’’ replied Gentry, pointing to the far corner of
the tent.

‘‘Well, now you are talking and acting
man,””

‘‘I’m a poor man, partner. Leave me enough for grub
stakes until I strike a new lead,’’ Gentleman Joe went on,
in a pleading tone. :

“‘That depends on the size of your pile,’’ responded the
robber, as he began to remove the pile of blankets in the
corner.

That

like a sensible

 
a

a THs

fee ara aero Se om

 

His back was now turned to the man on the floor.

In an instant Gentry was on his feet, and ata single him agile and light on his feet.

bound he poanced upon the robber from behind.

As the fellow turned a heavy blow felled him to the
floor, where he Jay stunned and senseless for several mo-
ments. When he regained consciousness he was bourd

hand and foot, and his captor was standing over him with |

a gag ready to place in his mouth.

The courage of the fellow was gone entirely, and he
seemed well satisfied to have escaped with his life.

Gentleman Joe had removed the mask from the face of
the robber, and now pressing a pistol to his head, pro-
ceeded to ask him a few questions, prefaced by a warning
that any attempt to make an outcry would mean instant
death.

‘“What is your name?’’ demanded Gentry.

‘*Ben Moore,’’ the robber answered, promptly.

‘‘You are a member of the band led by Black Sam?”’

66 Yes. 29

‘Is he with the band now in the camp?’’

‘*Yes, he is in command.”’

‘‘Where do you go from here?’’

“Back to camp.’’.
** Where is that?’’
“‘In the valley, almost ten miles away.”’

‘“‘Tell me, is there a young woman held a prisoner in
the camp at this time?’’ ,

‘“‘No, but I have heard that the captain has a pretty girl
at the Rock Gorge.”’

‘*Where is that?”’

oy ee down the valley; I have never been to the

place.”’

ey’

‘*Thanks; I’ll do you a favor for the information you |

have supplied me.”’

‘‘What will you do?’’

“I will leave a note here asking the miners not to hang
you when they find you.”’

The robber turned pale, and began to beg for liberty,
but Gentleman Joe cut him short by forcing the gag into
his mouth.

The Denver man was going to take the place of his pris-

_oner in the masked band of Black Sam, so he could not
afford to take any chances that the latter would escape and
betray him.

True to his promise, Gentry hastily scrawled a note
‘noticed any change of voice, and the roll-call went on

asking the miners not to hang the helpless outlaw as he
had furnished valuable information about the hiding-
places of the gang.

Then the man of nerve hastily put on the coat, hat, and
mask of his prisoner.

 

e

LOG CABIN’ LIBRARY.

 

Homely Hank was short and stout, but fear had made.

He began to dance.

‘‘Get on the counter!’’ yelled oie big fellow, as he fired
a bullet into the floor between the feet of the dancer.

In a moment the stout and perspiring landlord was
lifted to the top of his bar, which was covered with the
glasses and bottles just used by the robbers.

‘‘Now dance, Hank! Cut pigeon wings and fly away!”’
shouted the robbers as they began to shoot the glasses
and bottles off the bar. .

Homely Hank danced as best he could while trying to
dodge flying bullets and broken glass. He jumped about
on the counter until he was exhausted, and then the rob-
bers, having tired of their fun, allowed him to get down.

Atasignal from the leader the outlaws mounted their
horses and rode out of the camp. Gentleman Joe in the
coat, hat, and mask of Ben Moore, rode near the ieader.

As they galloped rapidly out of the mining-camp, en-
tered the valley and turned to the west, the man of nerve
began to realize the desperate chance he was taking.

His pulses beat quicker, his eyes snapped, and he actn-
ally felt a thrill of delight at the prospect of running the
greatest risk of his life.

For an hour the outlaws rode rapidly forward without 4
stop. The way was rough, and there was no time for con-
versation, so Gentry had time to work out .the details of
some plans he had formed in his mind.

The band of horsemen finally reached a small mountain _

stream that flowed swiftlv over a bed of pebbles and sand.

Into this stream Black Sam led the way, and riding
single file the men kept their horses in the water for a dis-
tance of two miles or more.

Then they turned to: the right up a gently sloping bank
and drew rein in a small bunch of trees that were sur-
rounded on three sides by sharp hills and great ridges of
bare rock.

Ata signal from the leader the men drew up in a cirele
around him, and after motioning for silence, he began to

‘call the roll.

Gentleman Joe had managed to get a position to the
right and near the leader before the roll-call began, so he
had little fear that his disguise would fail to pass muster.

The men all answered to their names. When the name
of Ben Moore was called, Gentry responded audibly, and
awaited the result with a little anxiety. No oneapparently —

without interruption.

‘‘Boys, we have done well to-day! Unmask!’’ ordered —
the outlaw chief, and at the same moment he turned his
horse partly around and sat looking directly toward Gen-

Disguised as a member of the gang of outlaws, Gentry tleman Joe.

ee walked out into the street and jningled with the
others.

He entered another \tent as if he meant to rob it, then
discharged his pistol in the air and in every way deported
himself as a bold and dangerous outlaw.

In half an hour the gang had cleaned out the town.
Then, at a signal from their leader, they all gathered in
the street in front of the largest saloon in the place.

This happened to be the one o
landlord, Homely Hank.

/at the order from the chief.
wned by our friend the would have been a fatal move.

The man of nerve did not hesitate, but promptly raised
his hand to remove his mask. !

CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE DEN OF THE OUTLAW.

Gentleman Joe did not remove the mask from his face
To have done so at the time‘

He pulled at the black cloth with one hand, while the

*‘Come along, boys, we’ll have some drinks and some other rested on the handle of his trusty revolver.

fun!’ cried the outlaw chief, as he led the way into the

saloon.

. _ Shouting and yelling, the men rushed into the place and
lined up to the bar, behind which stood the frightened and

homely owner trembling in every limb. i

Terror distorted the ugly face of the landlord until he
looked positively hideous.

‘Get on to the chromo! An’t he a beaut? What ails yer
face?’’ and similar jeers greeted the man behind the bar.

‘Put out your best liquor in a hurry!’’ ordered the
leader, and Homely Hank obeyed without a word.

While the men were helping themselves to drinks they
had some amusement by shooting bottles and glassware
off the shelves.

When they had all been served with drinks, for which
of course no one offered to pay, one of the gang called out:

““Give us a dance, Hank!’’

‘A dance! a dance!’ ordered the crowd.

“Come along, fatty, step lively there, now!”? _

a“

Pulling at the-black mask until it was partly off his
head, Gentry held it so it would conceal his face, and then
working atitas if the cloth had caught, he pressed one
knee against the side of the horse he was riding until the
animal turned partly around.

The man of nerve and cunning who had taken his life in
his hands had safely passed one critical point for the time.

While his back was toward the outlaw chief he heard
the latter tell his men that they could turn in for the day
as there was no work for them to do at the time.

Gentry was trusting entirely to luck, and his own cool

nerve to carry him safely through the camp of the out- oS

laws. : j

When he heard the order to rest for the day he gave his
horse free rein and the tired animal promptly trotted off
to some lorfg grass near the bank of the creek close by.

2

x

~

There Gentry dismounted. and finding a long rope at- oe

tached to the sad
graze. Pe Z oe

dle, hobbled the horse where he could

 
Sen

-through from above like rifts in a cloud.

- other’s eves.

Ne 375.

 

The ae one of the gang were done the same
thing with their horses, and in the confusion of the mo-
ment the man who still wore his mask escaped notice.

As soon as they had secured their horses the outlaws |

 

hurried over to a blazing camp-fire at the foot of a high

cliff where the smell of roasting meat indicated that
breakfast was cooking.

Gentry did not follow them., With the black mask still
concealing his face, he dodged about through the under-
growth and followed Black Sam, the leader of the band.

- The outlaw chief did not join his men around the camp-

fire, but turned and started up the side of a steep, rocky
hill following a narrow, winding foot trail.

Gentleman Joe followed him like a shadow, dodging
along, hiding behind a stone here, a bush there, and keep-
ing himself well concealed.

Half-way up the hill the outlaw stopped and looked
around. Gentry had dropped to the ground behind a bush

-and escaped discovery. Apparently satisfied that he was

not followed, Black Sam turned sharply to the right, and
disappeared into what seemed an artificial cleft in the wall
of stone.

The entrance to this place was just wide enough to
admit the passage of a man’s body.

Creeping forward as silently as a shadow, Gentry fol-
lowed close behind the outlaw chief, and the two plunged
into a long, narrow dark passage.

The sound of footsteps ahead was all that Gentleman
Joe had to guide him for a short distance, and light broke
They had
reached a point where the fissure in the rock extended
through to the surface.

The passage, too, had widened until it became a broad,
rock-walled cave, ‘and Gentry had to proceed with ereat
caution. —

Black Sam now moved forward in evident haste, and did
not once pause to look behind him. At the far end of the
broad lighted passage through the rock he paused in front
of what seemed to be a rude door, and knocked three
times.
~ hear the answer to the signal, but he saw the outlaw chief
push open the door and disappear into what seemed to be
a dimly lighted room.

Gentleman Joe, with a revolver in his hand, erent for-.
ward until he reached the door, and there he stopped on
hearing the sound of voices from beyond.

One of the voices he easily recognized as that of the colts
law chief. The other was the voice of a woman, and it, was
so soft and gentle that the man of nerve, standing outside
the door, felt a wave of tenderness sweeping Over /hinn that
made the blood in his veins tingle.

But he quickly realized that he had no time for senti-
ment. «If the woman talking with Black Sam was Dolly

' Dare, as he suspected, the time had come for action.

Gentry listened until satisfied that only two persons
were speaking, and then holding a pistol in one hand
rat for instant use, he tried the door.

‘ It seemed to be securely fastened on the inside,

For a moment Gentleman Joe hesitated,/and then he
pushed heavily againsigthe rude shutter.

It went down with Y»sh, and Gentry, losing his
balance, fell full-length in dimly lighted room. As he
went down he heard a woman scream,

His mask came off entirely, but he managed to hold on
to his revolver.

Gentleman Joe was unhurt by the fall, and leaped to his
feet in a moment to find himself looking straight into the
barrel of a pistol held by the outlaw chief,

“Throw up your hands!”’ cried Black Sam, with an oath.

Gentry’s hands were already on a level with the head of

the dark-faced man in front of him, and one of them sti!

held his trusty revolver.

The twomen for a moment looked straight into each
A pressure of the finger on two triggers and
both could have fired at the same instant and the career of
one or both would have ended then and there.

Gentleman Joe was perfectly cool, and waited for the
outlaw to make the first move.
“What are you doing here?’’ Black Sam asked, finally,

- still keeping his pistol at the breast of Gentry.

a called’ to renew our poaeate ey which began at

The shadow on his trail was not close enough to:

THE LOG CABIN LIBI tARY.

 

 

27
tues Lode, I ohio. ” replied the Gilt. aged Sport,
with a smile.

The outlaw ground his teeth with rage. He dared not
make a hostile move, and his hesitation convinced Gentry
that no member of his band was within call.

‘“‘How did you get here?’’

‘‘T came out from the mining-camp with you this morn-
me,

‘‘What is your game?’’ asked Black Sam, in a low tone,
putting his pistol back in his belt and folding his arms in
front of him.

He had decided not to force a fight while the chances —
were equal.

Gentleman Joe at once put up his own weapon, and tien
for the first time took a quick glance about the cave in the
hill-side. What he saw was a rock-walled room, “en feet

 

long and almost as wide, ventilated and dimly “ighted by

a small fissure extending through the rock 5 the surface
of the hill above. ,

The place was rudely furnished. In *%he middle of the
room a fair young woman of about twenty years crouched
on a pile of blankets, and gazed at; the two men with eyes
that dilated with terror.

After one quick, comprehensive glance about the place,
Gentry again looked the outiiaw chief squarely in the eves.

*‘IT have come here to/ rescue Dolly Dare,’’ he said,
quietly.

The swarthy face of; Black Sam grew almost livid with
rage, and there was; a murderous gleam in his eyes.

‘What is the girl to you?’’ he hissed, through clinched
teeth that glean@ed white and vicious in the dim light.

‘‘To me she is an innocent girl, held a prisoner by one
who would rob her of her rights,’’ replied Gentleman Joe.

This conversation had been carried on in a low tone, and
none of i% was audible to the girl, who was still crouching
on the pile of blankets which served her for a bed.

The outlaw suddenly turned around, and, walking over
to the girl, spoke to her in a low tone. His words seemed
to redssure her, for she at once became quiet and looked
at (gentry. as if she regarded him as an intruder.

for his part, he was at a loss what to do at the moment.
Fie did not want to shoot the outlaw chief down in cold
‘blood, and yet that seemed to be the only way of saving
the girl.

Having quieted his fair prisoner, Black Sam came back
to where Gentry was standing, and in a low tone said:

““T want a word with you.”’

He motioned for Gentleman Joe to follow him to a cor-
ner of the room, and the latter did so, but all the time he
kept a sharp lookout to guard against treachery.

‘‘What do you want to get out of this game?’’ asked the
outlaw chief.

‘Tam not in this, as you know, for money,’’ replied
Gentry.

‘* Are you after the girl?’’

‘*No, I have no personal interest in her.’’

‘‘T have a proposition to make to you.’’

‘‘Go ahead and make it.”

“Take your hand out of this gamer and you shall have
half the claim.”’

‘*You mean the Dan Dare mining claim?”’

ee Yes. 99

‘“‘Ts that the stake you are playing for?”’

‘‘T am after the claim, and the girl is already mine.’’

‘*Suppose I refuse your terms?”’

‘Then you will never leave this room alive!’’

“Suppose I get out of the game, what would you do?”’

‘“‘Put the girl in possession of her property, and then
marry her.’’

Gentleman Joe smiled at this,
the outlaw chief.

‘‘How will you establish her claim to the property ?”’

“*T have the papers, the will of her father, oes a map of
the claim.’

‘‘Where did you get them?”’

For a moment the outlaw hesitated, and then he said:

‘*She gave them to me.’

“That i isa lie; they were stolen by the men who mur-
dered the uncle of Dolly Dare.’’

“Well, what are you going to do about it?’’ replied
Black Sam, sullenly.

which seemed to anger

 
 

case.”’
‘‘Do you accept or refuse the terms I have offered?”’
“T refuse them!’ ~
As Gentleman Joe spoke the outlaw chief leaped back a
few feet, and, reaching upward, caught a cord that hung
from a hole in the stone roof, and gave it a quick, sharp
ll.
: Gentry felt himself sinking into space.
A secret trap-door had been suddenly pulled from under
his feet.
As he shot downward he threw out botharms. His
hands caught the edge of the stone floor on both sides of
the marrow space through which he was falling.
While his hold was a slender one at best, he managed to

~ hold on.

With a synarl of’ rage at the failure of his murderous
trap, Black Saim drew his knife and aimed a thrust at the
throat of the helpsess man at his feet.

Gentry, unable to. make a move to defend himself, real-
ized that he was ina @lose pla3ze. He saw the gleam of the
knife above him. If he released his uncertain hold on the
edge of the stone floor he would fall, he knew not where.

Face to face with what seemed certain death, the man
of nerve made no outcry. If hiis time had come, he meant
to die without a murmur.

But the threatened traged
interrupted.

There was a soun

y was suddenly and rudely

dof hurrying footsteps coming down
the narrow passage leading to the door of the cave.

With his deadly bowie-knife poised abowe the head of
his intended victim, the outlaw chief started at the sound,
and wheeling around, ran toward the door.

Like a hungry tigress closing on her prey; a woman
leaped into the little cave, and catching sight of Black
Sam, turned on him with desperate fury. :

The woman was Monte May, and close
the guide, spy and traitor, Ben Barr.

‘““You here!’’ cried the outlaw,
woman he had tried to murder.

‘Yes, Iam here. An’t you glad to see me?”’

‘What do you want?”’

“Oh, I want a talk with you for one thing.”’

Gentleman Joe, who was deeply interested in the scene |
before him, had managed to draw himself up until one- |
half of his body was out of the trap into which he had
fallen.

Throwing
hand, he man
the same time

behind her came

|
|
himself forward, and holding on with one|
aged to relieve the strain on his muscles. At |
he freed his right hand, and again he held
his pistol ready for instant use.

The new-comers had not yet discovered the presence of
the man who had once before turned up where they did
not expect him.

With a quick glance about the place, Monte May dis-
covered the presence of Dolly Dare.

The sight of the girl aroused in the cold-blooded adven-
turess all the fury of her wicked nature. She felt that it
was this girl who had come between her and a fortune as
- svell as the man she had once loved.

The outlaw chief was still standing there like a man
dazed. He seemed unable to make a move for a few mo-
* ments.

The sight of Dolly Dare had aroused the cast-off friend
of the outlaw chief to madness. .

Monte May drew a dagger from
at the helpless girl.

There was murder in every line of her hard, stern face.

Gentleman Joe saw the movement and the expression on
the face of the woman. He saw the flash of a dagger as
the right arm of Monte May was uplifted above the terror-
stricken girl.

There ‘was a flash, a report that in the little cave
sounded like a crash of thunder, and the dagger dropped
from the hand of Monte May.

A bullet from the pistol of Gentlem
bone in her right arm, before she could finish the murder-
ous work she had set out to do.

But to take the careful aim necessary to make the shot
Gentry had been compelled to let go a part of his hold on

her bosom and sprang

CABIN LIBRARY.

as he caught sight of the |

an Joe had broken a |;

No. 375.

 

the stone floor by means of which he was supporting him-
self above the opening into space and darkness.

He felt himself slipping deeper and deeper into the
secret trap of this den of the outlaws. He clutched des-
perately at the stone floor on each side, but could not hold .
on,

When Black Sam turned about to see who had fired the
shot the open trap-door no longer held the man he feared.

The man of nerve had vanished into space and darkness.

CHAPTER XV. :
FOXY FAN MEETS LANKY BOB AGAIN.

Dan Dare, the old miner, had been left at the hotel of
the mining-camp in the care of Homely Hank, the land-
lord, by Gentleman Joe.

After a good meal and a night of sleep and rest, the old
man awoke much refreshed and eager to start out at once
on the search for his child.

Early in the morning he was aroused by the sound of
pistol shots in the camp, and as soon as he could get
dressed he hurried out to see what was the matter.

He was just in time to see the band of outlaws riding
out of camp after they had robbed the tents of most of the
absent miners.

The camp was a scene of wild confusion. Men who had
hidden themselves during the firing now rushed out with
a brave show of guns, and talked loudly of hunting down
the robbers.

Dare looked around for Gentleman Joe.
guide was not to be found.

The old miner was greatly alarmed, and started down
the street toa place where he saw acrowd gathered in
the hope that he might be able to find some trace of his
friends.

He was passing a small tent when a groan and the sound
of a struggle within arrested his attention. Without a
moment’s hesitation, the old man drew his pistol and en-
tered the tent.

There he found a young man lying on the floor securely ©
bound and gagged. ,The fellow was struggling desperately
to free himself.

Dare opened his knife, and in a moment had cut the
cords that bound the man and set him free.

The fellow did not even stop fora word of thanks or
explanation. Leaping to his feet, he bounded toward the —
door\of the tent, evidently bent on a hasty flight.

But the door opened anda slender figure barred the way
of the fugitive.

‘Don’t be in a hurry!’’ said a quiet voice, and with a
pistol leveled at the head of the man who was about to
run away, Foxy Fan entered the tent. She was still dis-
guised as the dealer of the new faro-bank.

‘(What is the trouble here?’’ asked the young woman,
as she looked sharply from Dare to the young fellow who
had tried to\escape from the tent.

As briefly ‘as possible, the old miner told how he had.
found his companion lying in the tent bound and gagged, .
He also mentioned that he was looking for a friend of the
name of Gentry at the time.

‘‘You say your friend Gentry disappeared during the
attack and robbery of the camp?’’ asked Foxy Fan, who
had an inkling by this time of the true situation.

‘Yes, he vanished within an hour.”’

‘Who are you2’’ asked the young woman, turning to the
fellow who had tried to escape.

He slunk back intoacorner of the tent and ma 'e no
answer. ne

“Did a man take your mask and leave you
bound?’’

The fellow bowed in the affirmative.

““T think 1 understand the situation.
Whelps of Where-Are-Ye!”’

There was no answer.

‘‘Come, I will turn you over to
dispose of you in short order.”’ ; ae

‘Don’t do that! I’fl tell anything you want, to know!”
cried the young fellow, who was thoroughly frightened at
the prospect of, falling into the hands of the enraged

His friend and

 

You belong to the

 

 

the miners; they will :

|

f

Sahel

 

here
No. 375.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

20

 

 

‘““Your name?’’
**Ben Moore.”’
“‘You followed Black Sam?”’
66 Yes. 99
‘And a man from the camp took your place in the gang
wearing your mask?”’
“Yes, I suppose so.”’
Foxy Fan knew there was only one man in the world
- who had the nerve to take such a desperate chance. She
knew that the man was Gentleman Joe, and she could
guess why he had taken such arisk to get into the camp
of the outlaws.

‘You know the hiding-place of the gang?”’

6¢ Yes. 2%

“Tg there any secret entrance to the place?’’

Ben Moore hesitated.

‘“‘Gall the miners! Tell them we have one of the Whelps

of Where-Are-Ye a prisoner!’’ cried Foxy Fan, fiercely
turning to Dare.

‘“Don’{ do that! Save me and I'll tell all. I want to get
away from the gang and lead an honest life. Give mea
chance!’’ pleaded the young outlaw, throwing himself at
the feet of his captor.

The woman hesitated for a moment.

‘‘T’l] spare your life on one condition,’’ she said.

“Name it.”’

“‘That you show me the secret entrance to the den of
the outlaws.”’

HE doit.”

“Tf youattempt to play me
forfeit !”’

‘“You can trust me!’’

‘‘Then lead on.”’

“Tam going with you!”’

‘“You?’’ cried the woman,
had spoken.

“Yes, I must go. My child may be held a captive by the
outlaws. I must find her.”’

‘“‘Your child?”’

“Yes, Dolly Dare!”’

Foxy Fan gasped. The mysterious affair in which she
had taken a hand to help Gentleman Joe was full of sur-
prises, but there was no time for explanations. The brave
little woman feared that Gentry might need her aid.

With Ben Moore, the young outlaw, leading the way,
the three slipped out of camp without attracting attention,

-and were soon hurrying through the forest in the direc-
tion of the camp of outlaws.

Moore led the way along the edge of the hills, and did
not go down into the valley. After a long walk they came
toa point where the rocky hills rose abruptly some dis-
tance above the valley below.

It was a wild, desolate-looking placte. Here and there

‘sneat rents and fissures in the hill-sides of stone showed

the te.rible effect of some volcanic disturbances that had
occurred perhaps centuries before.

The trail followed by the little party wound in and out
among these hillocks, through narrow, dark ravines, and
under cliffs that in places shut out the sunlight entirely.
At last uhey came to a huge fissure that seemed‘to have
split one of the larger hills in two.

The guide paused there, and pointed down the
passage-way.

‘‘A¢t the far end a secret entrance concealed by vines
leads to the cave occupied by Black Sam.”’

false your life will be the

turning to Dan Dare, who

dark

Foxy Fan told Dare to walk immediately behind the

guide. She took the lead herself.

“Shoot him dead at the first sign of treachery!’’ she
-gaid to Dan, and the brave old miner promised that he , real and fancied

would obey.

In single file the three walked slowly down the little
kept a sharp lookout for fear of walking

ravine. Foxy Fan
_ right into an ambush.

They had reached a point within two hundred feet of | was the outlaw chief

In that one moment Foxy Fan had recognized the man
in front of her as Lanky Bob, the outlaw, who had once
before attempted her life.

As the murderous-looking weapon came flying through
space from the hand of the outlaw Foxy Fan dropped to
‘the ground.

She was just in time to escape the well-aimed throw.

The knife passed over her and was buried to the hilt in
the breast of Ben Moore, the outlaw, who was immedi-
ately behind the woman, and did not see his danger in
time to get out of the way.

With a groan, the young outlaw fell backward, pierced
through the body by the long blade of the knife.

Lanky Bob, seeing the failure of his throw, dodged to
one side and reached for his pistol.

He was too late.

A pistol shot rang out and the tall outlaw, clasping his
hands to his breast, staggered forward and fell on his
face, dead.

The bullet had passed through his heart.

Foxy Fan, startled by the unexpected shot, sprang to
‘her fect and looked around to see who had so unexpectedly
came to her rescue.

There was noone in sight except Dan Dare, who stood
with a smoking pistol in his hand.

The old miner, thinking only of the possible fate of his
‘daughter, had been walking along with a pistol held in
front of him when the young outlaw fell backward with
the knife of Lanky Bob through his heart.

It had happened so suddenly that Dare did not have
time to get out of the way.

The dead outlaw had fallen against him, and throwing
out his hands to save himself from falling, the old miner
had pressed the trigger of his pistol by accident and fired
the shot that sent Lanky Bob to his last account.

Fexy Fan knew that the sound of the shot would arouse
the other members of the gang. There was not a moment
to be lost.

Catching Dan by the arm, she urged him forward.

In a few moments they came to what seemed to be @
golid wall of rock. A little to the right the woman saw 4
mass of tangled vines.

“This way !’’ she cried, and thrusting aside the vines,
she stood in the secrt entrance to the cave of Black Sam,
the outlaw chief.

 

<
CHAPTER XVI.

GENTLEMAN JOE ON DECK.

The wound in the arm of Monte May was a painful one,
and for a moment she turned sick and faint, but her jeal-
ous rage soon made her strong aga.a.
| Foiled in her second attempt on the life of Dolly Dare, —
‘the woman turned on the outlaw chief with the fury of a
| tigress.
| She had loved Black Sam as much as such a woman
could love, but now all that feeling had turned to bitter
‘and violent hatred.
| He had spurned her, had attempted her life, and she
| knew that they could never be anything but deadly ene-

_ moies.
But the desperate woman felt that the outlaw chief had
turned against her for the fortune and fair face of Dolly
Dare.
That made her hate the girl almost as much as she
hated the man. She knew that he lad little chance of get-
iting the fortune, and she was determined to avenge her
wrongs or die. in the attempt.

With a wild cry of rage, the desperate woman picked up
the knife in ber left hand. Her right arm now hung limp
‘and helpless at her side.

She had not seen Gentleman Joe, and believed that it
who had fired the shot that broke

 

 

the secret entrance to the cave, when the keen-eyed her arm.

svoman who was leading the way saw a tall, slender form
spring from behind a projecting lodge of rock and bar the

ways

ae At the same instant, she saw the flash of a long, heavy-
bladed knife as it was hurled through the air straight at

: her head.

With the knife in her left hand, Monte May again
rushed at the helpless girl who had fainted away, Over-
come by the horror of the situation.

Black Sam had been startled and thrown off his guard
by the unexpected entrance of Monte May and the exciting —

' scene that followed.

 
30) THER LOG

But when Loe saw the life of Dolly Dare in danger, again
he roused himself to instant action.

The big outlaw leaped forward and caught the mad
woman about the waist with one arm, while with his free
hand he caught her wrist and attempted to disarm her.

Big and strong as he was, he had all he could do to
handle the woman.
and held on to the knife.

Finding that she could not reach her intended victim, |

she turned on the outlaw and tried to plunge the dagger
into him.

In vain the big fellow attempted to shake her off. She
clung to him like a fury.

Blood was pouring from the wound in the woman’s arm,
but she fought on, expecting no quarter from the big
brute who had once tried to strangle her.

But the terrible struggle soon began to tell on her
strength.

A sudden twist of her arm caused the knife to fall from
her hand.

Then the big outlaw chief, exerting all his strength,
threw the woman from him.

She struck the stone floor of the cave with terrible
force, and lay there stunned and bleeding.

Throughout the struggle Ben Barr had stood trembling in
a far corner of the cave. The big coward dared not inter-
fere to save the woman. He was thinking only of saving
his own life.

With a low cry, like the growl of a wild beast, Black
Sam leaped forward and clutched the fallen woman by the
throat with both hands. This time he meant to make sure
of his murderous work.

But help for the woman was coming from an unexpected
quarter.

When Gentleman Joe felt himself sinking through the
trap-door in the floor of the cave he fully expected to be
dashed against a mass of rock somewhere in the depths of
the hill.

He was theréfore agreeably surprised when he landed
on his feet unhurt after a fall of ten feet.

Groping about in the darkness with his hands, he found
that he had merely fallen into one of the fissures that
abounded in the hill.

The place was so small he had barely room to turn |

about. He found that the walls on each side were rough
and uneyen, and that it was possible to climb out of the
place by using both his hands and feet, and dragging him-
self up a few inches at a time.

» Hearing the sound of the struggle in the cave above,
Gentry lost. no time in working his way up out of the
dark cavity in the rock.

He reached the floor of the cave just as the fingers of the
outlaw chief closed on the throat of Monte May.

Geutleman Joe knew the desperate character of the
woman, but he was too brave aman to stand by and see
her murdered in cold blood. If he saved her life he would
have two enemies to fight instead of one, but that did not
influence him in the least.

Ata bound, Gentry threw himself on the outlaw chief,
and struck that scoundrel a stunning blow on the jaw that
caused his fingers to relax their grip on the throat of the
helpess woman.

Black Sam rolled over on the floor, but while Gentry
turned fora moment to make sure that the woman was
not aready dead, the big outlaw got on his feet, and,
drawing his bowie- knife, ‘rushed at the man who had frus-
trated his murderous designs.

But Gentleman Joe was not to be caught off his guard
so easily. He sprang out of ‘the way in time to avoid the
knife-thrust. and drawing his pistol, leveled it at the head
of the outlaw.

He did not press the trigger.

Black Sam _ stopped suddenly,
turned pale.

and his swarthy face
The knife dropped from his trembling hand,
and, staggering backward, he put up his arms in front

of his face, as if to shut out some hideous vision.

A slight noise behind him caused Gentleman Joe to:
glance “around. He, too, was startled to see Dan Dare
standing there in the middle of the cave, with the smiling |
face of Foxy Fan close behind him.

The white hair and thin face of the old 1 miner were

CABIN

She fought with desperate strength, :

No. 376

LIBRARY. ,

enough to maks the big outlaw believe that he was face to
face witha ghost.

Dare was gazing at the swarthy face of Bince Sam with
flashing eyes.
i ‘Sam Sanchez, the Mexican!’’ cried the old
‘springing forward, with a drawn revolver.

The outlaw recoiled a step from the old man. It wasa
‘fatal move. He stood at the edge of the open trap-door.

The one step backward, he lost his balance, and, with a
cry of terror, the big coward dropped out of sight.

A crash on the jagged rocks below was heard, and then
there was silence in the dark hole in the rock.

=

miner,

open door.

Black Sam had fallen on his head, which was crushed
on the rocks. The outlaw. chief was killed by the fall.

Gentleman Joe turned, and taking the old miner by the
arm, led him over to the other side of the cave where his
daughter lay.

‘‘My child! my child!’’ cried Dan Dare, throwing his
arms about the girl.

The sound of his voice aroused her, and, with a cry of

|joy, father and daughter were in each other’s arms,

laughing and crying by turns.

Foxy Fan turned away to wipe something from her
eyes, while Gentleman Joe suddenly recalling the existence
of Monte May, turned to look for that desperate woman,
who, taking advantage of the excitement and realizing
that she had played her cards and lost, Monte May had
slipped out of the cave, followed by Ben Barr.
succeeded in making good their escape.

CHAPTER XVII.
GENTLEMAN JOE’S NERVE.

Finding that he was safely rid of his enemies for the
time being, Gentry turned to Foxy Fan to ask how she

just the right moment.

As briefly as possible, she explained the incidents lead-
ing up to her arrival.

Gentleman Joe was well pleased to learn that there was
another way of getting out of the cave besides the one
leading down through the camp of the outlaw band in the
valley below.

While the ola miner and his daughter were still in each
other’s arms crying for joy, Gentry and Foxy Fan went
back to the secret entrance to the cave to see if their line
of retreat had been cut off.

The woman. pushed back the tangled vines that con-
cealed the hole in the stone wall and looked out. Her
head was drawn back quickly, and she motioned to her
companion to keep silent.

‘“We are in a trap!’’ she whispered.

‘*Have they discovered our presence?”’

‘‘Five of the gang are guarding this exit.’’

**Kive to two.”’

‘‘We must not take the chance if there is any other.’’

‘Then we must try the other way out.
open fight there if the worst comes.’’

The two friends looked grave, not that they had any
fear for their own safety, but both were anxious that Dan
Dare and his pretty daughter should be saved from fur-
ther danger or hardship.

They walked back to the other side of the cave in
silence. The old miner and his daughter were still locked
in each other’s arms.

‘““Come, we must get out of this.
lose, ’’ said Gentry. .

Then he called Dare and briefly explained the situation
to him.

They were hemmed in, and there seemed no chance of
getting out of the cave without a fight.

Dare did not seem alarmed at the news, and told his -
friends that they could count on him to do his share of —
the fighting.

Gentry walked rapidly up and down the caye two or
three times.

‘‘T have an idea!
saupine his knee.
font us

There is no time .

 

yo)

he exclaimed, stopping suddenly | A

Gentry EOE Ey a light and looked down through the

The pair —

We can get an
\

found her way into the cave and happened to arrive ab

fe

“We may get past the camp withouta = |

 
No, 375.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY.

al

 

 

**How?’’ asked Foxy Fan.

“Even an outlaw hasa superstitious fear of a funeral.”

**What do you mean? What is your plan?”’

*“T'o go out of here. as a funeral party, and march boldly
through the camp of the outlaws. ’

“I do not understand, ’’ said Dare.

Gentry hurriedly explained his plan.
that Dan and Foxy Fan should carry him out of the place

on a stretcher, while the old miner’s daughter followed as | |

a mourner.
His reason for this was that no other member of the
party would be recognized by the outlaws, and they might
easily pass as newly “arrived gold seekers.
Gentleman Joe knew that there ‘were many rascals in,

- the gang who would know his face.

At first the other members of the party dia not fully
understand the nerve and coolness necessary to carry this |
plan through to success. Theyall agreed to the plan, how-
ever, as they had nothing better to suggest.

Gentry schooled the others in the parts they were to

_ play, while he prepared a rude litter on which they were

to carry him.
It was a desperate chance he was taking, and the Den-

-.ver man prepared for a fight to the deathif the plan

failed; indeed, if there had not been a woman to protect,

he would have met the enemy fave to face.

When everything was in readiness, the little party |

_ slipped out of the cave and started down the trail leading
- to the camp of the outlaws.

The trip was without incident until emerging from the |

last of the succession of narrow and dark ravines they
came in sight of the camp of the Whelps of Where-Are-Ye.
Then came the supreme test of the nerve of Gentleman

| Joe.

: 2

wt

au

The improvised Jitter was hastily arranged, and Gentry,
stretching himself at full length upon it, drew a, blanket
up over his body and face. His features were still further
concealed by spreading a white handkerchief over his face
under the blanket. His arms were not folded on his
breast, but lay along his sides, and in each hand he held a
pistol ready for instant use.

Dan Dare and Foxy Fan, who was still disguised in male
attire, picked up the litter and the pretended funeral pro-
cession started down past the camp of the outlaws to reach
the trail leading to the mining-camp.

Dolly Dare, with head bowed low brought up the rear
of the strange procession, and her face was entirely con-
cealed by a heavy vail.

The members of the outlaw band who were lying around |

their camp-fire were still in ignorance of the events that

_ had occurr ed on the hill and in the cave of their leader.

At sight of the strange looking procession marching
slowly past their camp they started up in surprise. The
little party looked funeral-like, there was no doubt about
that.

x Dan Dare, with his long white hair and beard, was play-

- Ging his part well, but his heart was beating wildly for the
. safety of his child.

- Half a dozen of the outlaws came out and met the pro-
cession.

‘What is this?’’ asked off, who seemed to be in com-
mand.

“The body of my boy, sir,’’ replied Dare, wiping his.
| eyes.

**Who are you, and where did you come from?”’

“We are from Kansas. We reached the mining-camp
_ below a week ago and went up into the hills prospecting.
My son was taken sick, and died. We are taking his body
to the camp for burial.”’

The outlaws looked at each other for a moment in

doubt. They were not satisfied, and the old miner felt his.
|adventures of his life.

heart sinking when the one who was acting as leader

_ gtepped forward and without a word turned down the end
of the blanket that covered the form of Gentleman Joe.

Gentry did not move a muscle, and held his breath dur-
ing this ordeal.

_ detection.
Ata secret signal from Foxy Fan, Dare started to move
on.

“Hold up here, wae man!” ‘said one of the: outlaws,

In brief, it was i

| You put one

 

 

The outlaw did not remove the handker- '
chief from his face, and so for the moment he escaped ;

gruffly. ‘‘We are not through with you vos Some of us
- may desire to attend the funeral.’’
‘It is cruel of you to add toa father’s grief,’’ said the

old miner, trying bravely to pay his part through to the

end.

The outlaws cehdrew a few paces, and talked together
in low tones. They were clearly suspicious of the strange-
looking funeral party.

In a few moments they came back and asked a number
of questions which Dare and Foxy Fan answered as best
they could.

The outlaws, however, were not yet satisfied, and
showed no disposition to allow the party to proceed.

‘Say, captain, let’s fire afew balls into the corpse, just

| to make sure that he is not buried alive!’’ said one coarse-

featured, brutal-looking young fellow.

“Good idea, Bill! ‘That’s a great head you’ve got. If
the chap is dead a few bullets won’t do him any harm.
@hrough his head and I’ll let some daylight
into his heart!’’

The outlaws had drawn their pistols as they spoke.

It was a trying moment for Gentleman Joe, and never
did aman need nerves of steel more than he did at that
moment.

The slightest move on his part was to invite certain
death, while if he kept as motionless as a real corpse the
chances were that the scoundrels would keep their word.

Poor Dolly Dare turned weak and faint with terror.

She could not even cry out; her tongue seemed para-
lyzed, and even Foxy Fan turned pale at that trying mo-
ment.

But the nerve of Gentleman Joe did not desert hime for
amoment, He lay silent and motionless, while tHe two
desperate outlaws cocked their pistols and pressed the
muzzles of the weapons against his head and breast.

No man ever stood a greater test of nerve.

For ten seconds the suspense lasted, but the Gilt-Edged
Sport stood the test without flinching. Nota muscle of his
body moved.

‘‘Say, Bill, he’s dead all right! Guess that little bluff
would have scared a live man to death!’’ said the man
who was acting as leader of the outlaws, as he put up his
pistol.

Foxy Fan could scarcely repress a burst of tears when
the terrible strain was lifted.

The outlaws put up their pistols and went back to their
camp. The plan of Gentleman Joe had succeeded.

He had played a steady nerve as his trunfp card in a
game of life or death, and had won out.

With light hearts, Dan Dare and Foxy Fan picked up
their burden and hurried on until they were safely out of
sight of the camp. Then Gentry leaped from the rude
stretcher cool and smiling.

Dan Dare sold his claim, the richest in all that region,
and returned to his old home in Iowa with his daughter,
who could not bear to liveina mining camp after her
terrible experience. Father and daughter kissed the hands
of Gentleman Joe at parting, and blessed him as the
man who had saved them both from a fate worse than

| death.

The Whelps of Where-Are- Ye, left without a leader,
were soon broken up, and lost no time in getting away
from a locality that. was made too hot for them by the
miners they had robbed.

Foxy Fan’s luck at faro continued unabated until the
miners would no longer play against her game, and she
was compelled to seek a new field.

Gentleman Joe left the mining-camp shortly after the
departure of Dolly Dare and her father. He intended to go

‘home and take a much needed rest, but an unexpected

turn of affairs led him into a series of the most thrilling

The subsequent and interesting experiences of the Gilt-
Edged Sport will be narrated in, ‘‘Gentleman Joe in Death
Valley; or, The Chase of the Phantom Rider-’’

(THE END.)

© Danite Dick, aND His WuirE MounTAIN WOLVES; or,

THE OcTaGon oF ARIzoniIA,” by W. B. Lawson, will be
published in the next number (876) of she Loa CaBIN-
Lipraky,

 
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—————
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No. 344.—JESSE JAMES OUTDONE; or, The Missouri-Pacific Train Robbery. By W. B. Lawson. Issued October 17.

No. 345.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GAUNTLET; or, The Back-to-Back Break at Bitter Root. By the Author of ‘*Gentleman Jve.”
Issued October 24.

No. 346.—80B FORD THE SLAYER OF JESSE JAMES; or, The Life and Death of a Noted Desperado. By W. B. Lawson.
Issued October 31.

No. 347.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GRAPPLE; or, A Hot Hour at Hurricane Ledge. By the Author of ‘Gentleman Joe.”
Issued November 7.

No. 348.—THE GREAT YACHT RACE; or, Skipper Bob's Long Chase. By Marline Manly. Issued November 14,

No. 349.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT GOPHER GULCH; or, Calm Caleb’s Cold Comfort. By the Author of *‘Gentleman Joe.”
: Issued November 21.

No. 350.—BOB SIMS’ FEARFUL OATH: or, The Fatal Vengeance of the Swamp Outlaws. By W. B. Lawson.
Issued November 28.

No. 351.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S SEVEN SPOT; or, The Cripple From Cripple Creek. By the Author of ‘‘Gentleman Joe.”
Issued December 5.

No. 352.—THE GOLD-HUNTER DETECTIVE. By Marline Manly. Issued December 12.
No. 353.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S MOONLIGHT MATINEE; or, The Wild-Cat of Whisky Gap. By the Author of ‘“‘Gentleman Joe.” /
Issued December 19.
0. 354.—RUBE BURROW’S PARDs or, Chased Through the Florida Swamps. By W. B. Lawson. Issued December 26.
No. 355.—THE RIVAL RANCHEROS: or. The Missing Bride. By A. C. Monson- Issued January 2.
No. 356.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT FULL FLUSH; or, A Noose for Nine Necks. By the Author of *“Gentleman Joe.”
Issued January 9.
No. 857.—CAPTAIN KATE. By Leander P. Richardson. Issued January 16. -

No. 358.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S JOKER; or, The Clean Up at Cold Crow. By the Author of ‘*@entleman Joe.”
Issued January 23.

 

 

No. 359.—RATTLESNAKE JIM; or, The Reckless Sport of Deadman’s Gulch. By Walter L. Hawley.
Issued January 30.

No.. 860.—THE QUEEN OF THE PLAINS; or, Calamity Jane. By Reckless Ralph.
Issued February 6.

No. 361.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT GUNNISON; or, Poker Paul’s Poor Policy. By the Author of *‘Geutleman Joe.”
Issued February 13.

No. 362.—RATTLESNAKE NED, THE TERROR OF THE SEA. By Ned Buntline. Issued February 20. /
No 363.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S GARRISON; or, The Castle in the Clouds. By the Author of ‘*Gentleman Joe.”
Issued February 27.

No, 364.—THE SHANGHAIER OF GREENWICH STREET} or, Liverpool Jack, the Slave Tradery, By Henry Deering.
e ssued Mare e

No. 365.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S COOL CATCH; or, The Gilt-Edged Sport’s Shake-Up. By the Author of Shear yeas oe i:
ssued March 12.

No. 366.—KENTUCKY KATE; or, The Moonshiners’ League. By Marline Manly. _ Issued March 19.

No. 867.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S DENVER DUET; or, The Hotspur From Hard-Pan. By the Author of Pha ee ee 5)
ssued Mareh 26.

No. 368.—THE STRANGLERS OF OHIO; or. A Dark-Lantern League. By Marline Manly. Issued April 2.
No. 369.—GENTLEMAN JOE°S DOOM-DISPATCH; or, The Nabob From Nimble Nugget. By the Author of oa rie
ssued April 9.

No. 370.—THE OYSTER PIRATES. By Eugene T. Sawyer. Issued April 16.
No. 371.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S LEADVILLE LEAD; or, Foxy Fan’s Flush. By the Author of ‘Gentleman a eee

ssued April 23.

No. 372.—THE OCEAN DETECTIVE; or, The Trail of Death. By Richard J. Storms. Issued April 30,
No. 373.—GENTLEMAN JOE AT LUCIF2®, LODE; or, The Swoop of the Gulch Shadows. By the Author of Ae Joc.”

; ssue ay 4%.

No. 874.—DARROW THE FLOATING DETECTIVE; or, The Shadowed Buccaneer. By Ned Buntline. Issued May 14.

No. 375.—GENTLEMAN JOE’S NERVE; or, The Whelps of Where-Are-Ye. By the Author of ‘‘Gentleman Joe.”
Issued May 21. =

No. 8376—DANITE DICK, AND HIS WHITE MOUNTAIN WOLVES; or, The Octagon of Arizonia. By W. B. Lawson. ee
Issued May 28.

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