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i,
Ze “a Suppose you had captured me, would
you let me go again?” : .
“No, sir!” . :
“Then say no more about it. Neither
can I let you ga. I would be a fool if I
did.” . foal ‘ .
“Well, I have to agree with you, Cap-
-tain Joaquin. As I-said before, there is
no use in our trying to fool each other.
We are foes to the bitter end, and so be
it.” . .
~The outlaw gave a nod and a wave of
the hand in acquiescence, and which, at
the same time, cut the subject short.
A little later he called a halt.
“Here, men,” he said, “ is the place for
us to part company, You Knew what the
programme is,” :
They answered that they did.
“ You; Hurley, I will make my lieuten-
ant in place of Hoxey. Take the men on
at ‘speed to Injun Ford, and there divide
‘your force, half going up the creek and
half down. Part by twos, and scatter to
“every point of the compass until the time
of meeting, as agreed.” :
“All right; we understand,” answered
Hurley. :
Captain Joaquin dismounted.
“But, what about ther prisoner?” his
lieutenant inquired. “ What are we goin’
to do with him?”
“Hang me if I know,” responded the
Red Rover, rubbing his chin in a medi-
tative manner,
£. “ Jist whatever you say, captain,” as-
sured Hurley, * .
“Tam afraid to trust him with you,.
boys,” decided Captain Joaquin, after a
few moments’ reflection. “He would be
sure to find the soft spot in your hearts,
if you have got such organs, and play
upon it. I guess I will take him with me.
_Dismount, Deadwood Dick!”
“And be murdered in cold blood some-
_ Where in the mountain passes?”
“You will ‘be shot here and now if you
don’t.” .
“Well, it is about as broad as it is
long,” observed Dick, throwing his leg
over and leaping lightly to the ground.
“You hold the winning card, captain.”
“Yes, and I intend to play it for all
there is in it, too,” was the refoinder.
“Come, boys, off with you, and make all
the time you can, for the sheriff and his
posse will be on your trail in less‘ than
two hours.” +
“And let him catch us if he can!”
cried Hurley, as he touched his horse and
led the way, the riderless horses being
led.
The others cheered as they followed,
and as soon as they had passed out of
sight, Captain Joaquin turned to Dick
and said: - >
“Now, then, Deadwood Dick, you fol-
low me.”
CHAPTER V.
TURNING THE TABLES.
Captain Joaquin met with the surprise
of his life, just there!
Deadwood Dick’s hands came up to the
level, the handcuffs swinging by one
wrist, and in each hand a gun!
“TI prefer to have you follow me, Red
Rover!” Dick said grimly. “If you make
a move or a sound, you are a dead man
in the same instant, I give you fair warn-
ing.” :
The outlaw turned as white as chalk.
“Curse you!” he hissed. “ You have
tricked me, after all!” :
“Everything is fair in'love and war,”
with a smile. “You are my prisoner.”
“Cursed idiot that I was for not hang-
ing you to the first tree we came to! But,
alo you not mean to give me a show?”
a
Deadwood Dick, ‘SJIv.; Branded.
“ About as much of a show as you gave
me, perhaps.” :
“You have got me; I own the corn.
But let us come to some sort of terms.
I have got about seventy thousand dol-
lars here in this bag; I’ll divide even with
you and each go his way.”
“Wihat is the use of dividing, when I
can have it all if I want to take it?”
“Do not be 'too sure of that—’
“Hold! I read your thought in your
eyes, my man. If you make a move to
‘get a gun you will die before you can say
scat! Dick Bristo] seldom misses his
mark.” .
“Curse you! But before you shall have
this wealth you,shall murder me to get
it; I will defend it with my life.”
“TI do not want it; that is, I want you
and it together.”
“Then you mean—”
“To hand you over to the authorities,
yes, and restore the funds to their
owner.” sO
“You are a foolf Here ts a life-time
fortune within reach of your hand, Dead-
wood Dick, and if yoti do as you say you
will not get more than five thousand, at
the most, for your risk and trouble.”
“That is your way of looking at it.”
* My way of looking at ft, yes.”
“And you will not accept my proposi-
tion?” °
“ Decidedly not.” :
“Then I have another to make.”
“What is it?”
“ First let us draw back from this trail.
I took leave Of my men here in order to
get away safely with the boodle—”
“Which I do not mean that you shall
do, so I prefer to remain close to the
trail. The sheriff’s posse will pass this
Way as soon as a special éngine can be
run to the scene of your robbery.”
“ And you will turn me over to them?”
“ Exactly.” :
“T will not be alive.” :
“That will be your fault, then. You
will be worth just as much to them.”
“Well, for my proposition—are you
open to anything that I might suggest?
I made you a fair offer, when I held the
better hand.” . .
“ An offer that you did not mean, how-
ever.”
“T swear that I did mean it.”
“T have only your word for that.”
“And my word is all I have to give
you.”
“You mean to tell me that you, know-
ing who I am, really would have entered
into a compact with me and taken me
into your band?” .
“That is just what I do tell you--just
what I did mean. You would not have it
so, and there was an end of it. I gave
you a fair show, the same as I said I
would.” :
“And now?”
“T want a fair show in return.”
“Well, I'll give it to you, as far as I
can. What is your suggestion?”
“Give me yours first. Perhaps it ts
something that we can agree upon, and,
if so, no need to mention mine.”
“Well, you undertake to aid me in tak-
ing this money safe to its destination,
and I will use my influence with the gov-
ernor for a pardon for you and make you
my detective ally.” :
- Ha! ba! ha!”
“You will not listen to it, eh! Well, it
fs all I can offer you, and is on a par
with the offer you made me.”
“It is impossible, just as impossible as
the offer I made you—yes, a good deal
more so. The governor has a rope ready
for me, and he will use it at the first op-
portunity.”
“Well,
then?” .
“That we decide this matter by a fair
and square ‘duel to the death.” ,
* “Wihich is.a rather cool thing to ask
of an officer of the law, after he has
bagged his game.” |" + .
“Then you will not do it?”
“Why should 1?”
“ Because I was in earnest in the offer
I made you when you were my prisoner.”
“Captain Joaquin, I don’t. believe it.
You are.not such a fool as to make such
a@ proposition to me in earnest, knowing
who I am. Or, if you did mean it, there
was a purpose behind it.” , ,
“My purpose was to make you my
friend instead of my foe.”
“T believe that you lie—”
‘Then I cannot convince you, that is
certain. What are you going to do with
me?”
“Tsay I believe that you lie, but giv-
ing you the benefit of the doubt, and giv-
accept your proposition.”
“You will take half and let me go—”
“No, no, not that; I will fight you to
the death, the best man to win. We'll
see whether chance will be on the side
of the law or the lawless.”
“You don’t mean it!”
“You are surprised?
“Yes.”
“You take mé for a fo6l; I know, and
so.I am for giviag you suck. a chance;
but there is the bare possibility that you
are telling the truth concerning the
chance you would have given me.”
“Yes, yes, I swear that I was telling
the truth—that I did—that I am télling
the truth!”
“Very well, I give you the benefit of
the doubt.”
Deadwood Dick believed that the fel-
low was lying, nevertheless, and so, in
fact, he was. Seeing a chance to gain the
point, he’ played upon the string to the
mit,
“JT don’t believe you, but I will:do as
I say,” said Dick. “ Put down that bag
of money, and go away twenty paces and
draw your guns.”
“Ha! there is something else to be
thought of.” .
“What is that? Don’t forget, mean
time, that I hold the drop, and that the
will mean your death, which will nat-
urally culminate all negotiations.”
“T am not rash enough to try any
trick with you, Deadwood Dick. Iam too
eager to accept the one chance in a
thousand that you hold out to me. What
I was going to say—suppose we both get
disabled, what of the money in that
event? Some one who has no right to it
will come along and gather it in.”
“What do you propose respecting it,
then?”
“That we go and cache it first of all.”
“Very well, that is not a bad idea. It
-will be safe for you or for me, whichever
has use for it after our duel.”
where it will keep for ten days or ten
years; just as the case may be, and
where no one will ever find it in the
world.”
“There is one objection to that, how-
ever.” .
“And that is?”
“That we may both be killed outright,
and the money will never be recovered.”
“We'll have to take the chances of
that. Come, we must do something, for
we are wasting precious time~—at any
rate, Iam. Every minute I stay here J
am one minute nearer prison déors.”
5
what is your proposition,
slightest suspicious move on your part.
“Just so. I know a fine place for it,
ing you half a chance for your life, I will ..
: ow
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