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Full Title
Major Magnet, the Man of Nerve; or, The Muck-a-Mucks of Animas. A Romance of the Silver Range / by Jos. E. Badger, Jr.
Author
Badger, Jos. E. (Joseph Edward), 1848-1909 .
Date Added
9 January 2014
Format
Journal
Language
English
Publish Date
1889-03-06
Publisher
New York : Beadle and Adams
Series
Beadle's New York Dime Library > v. XLII, no. 541
Source
Dime Novel and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
Muck-a-Mucks of Animas. Beadle's New York Dime Library, v. XLII, no. 541, March 6, 1889.
Topic
Dime novels > Specimens.
About
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Disclaimers
Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement
OCR
‘thought of having a confidant.
-of the
"Hank Burlap on the trail behind me—with ono
. Major Magnet, the Man of Nerve.
ft
23
Jeaving only a mask of thin silk over his face,
‘without which not one of his band had ever seen
him to their knowledge. With this came a
change in bis voice and manner as well.
“ Come, Ashmole, you can’t afford to quarrel
-with your chief, nor I with my able lieutenant,
I felt too grumpy to be polite, and thena—I was
wondering how you got: out of limbo! It’s no
ssecret, of course?” ‘ .
“ it wouldn't be if you had lived up to the
‘oath you swore one and all of the band had
smutually taken,” sulkily retorted the fugitive.
“I might have rotted in that hole for allof
cyou!"
“ Hardly, when hemp is so cheap,” laughed
‘the chief. ‘‘ Oaths are all right in their places,
but business comes before pleasure, and I’ve had
ay hands full to overflowing ever since before
your slip-up.”
“ Looking out for your pocket and letting my
‘throat run its own chances, of course!”
__“ Human nature I should,” nodded the High
Muck-a-muck, ‘Bat were you really in such
peril? Ican't think it.” , .,
‘Then you know mighty little about Major
Magnet—curses cover him from crown to sole!”
‘Amen! I'm not loving him for a cent.
' But that don’t explain how you got out of
limbo, Ashmole,
‘the price?”
.Imight, if [had anticipated such a recep-
‘tion as this!” sullenly growled the murderer.
“ Maybe you did!’
Lightly as those three words were spoken,
there was sometaing underlying them that
warned Ashmole to curb his tongue and subdue
‘his resontment sufficiently to clear his record ‘un-
dess he wanted worse to follow,
I didn’t, then, though you could hardly
dlame me if 1 bad. I was set free by a fellow
who had a hot grudge against Major Magnet.”
A plant, by the holies!” flashed Captain
Junius, leaping to his feet with revolver drawn.
A trap set by that cunning devil! And you
fell into it? You took his help and—where is
‘he now?”
; “Far enough away from this spot! buskily
uttered the assassin, cowering, but_ more from
ope you didn’t squeal, as
. the vision ofthat crully murdered man in the
chills than from the hot anger of this outlaw.
ow do you know? How can you say that
he hasn’t dogged every step of yours from the
moment you parted company? If I knew for a
fact, what T can only suspect, I’d scatter your
-brains to the four winds!”
/ reed Ashmole was thoroughly alarmed, now,
cand by the living rather than the dead, He
id V his bloody secret safe locked
within his own bosom, but it escaped him al-
Most, before he realized ths fact.
| Can a dead man follow a trail such as
mine?” he blurted out, cowering before that
menacing weapon,
‘ What do you mean by that?”
‘ten Put up your gun and J’ll tell you all about
HA with forced calmness, now that the plunge
ad been taken, really feeling relieved at the
“T thought
much the same as you, and holding the safety
gang higher than any one life, I left
mo 2 : 4
mith ab i bis skull than nature provided him
“Give me the whole story, please,” coldly de-
manded the High Muck asmuck, resuming the
seat he had left in his excitement. ‘‘ No lies, no
“Frooked steps, but plain gospel if you are nota
With those redly glowi hi
glowing eyes- upon him,
Creed Ashmole dared not refuse nor resent that
part suspicion, And with the air of aman who
pels he deserves high praise rather than censure,
e told bis story, truthfully enough in all save
‘that he threw suspicion too strong on poor Hank
rlap,
7 “What else could I do?” he almost savagely
emanded, after telling how he killed his rescuer
with his own pistol.
c What else? You miserable idiot!” flashed
aptain Junius, springing to his feet with his
“eyes fairly scorching the pale face upon which
they rested as he added: ‘Why didn’
. y didn’t you
make allthe more of him? Why didn’t you pre-
a that you took him for just what he offered
‘imasel f? hy not bring him here, and then
‘urn upon and denounce him?”
tr en you might have called me a traitor,
by ng to sell you out!” faltered Ashmole, trem-
og in every limb,
At nd now I call you a thousand-fold worse!
ti Traitor can be shot and his mischief ends with
im, but a fool—and that fool a murderer! Do
on know what you have done, Creed Ashmole?”
i Aly duty as I viewed it.”
il Wasn't it enough that your infernal folly had
ti ready tied my bands almost too tight for ac-
a at all? Wasn’t it enough that you gave
pialor Magnet a clew to the flitting of Rose
Tyer, through your asinine cunning—through
your silly resolve to still keep your hold on re-
pectabi ity and honor and—bah!” with a fierce
“It almost drives
Sweep of his clinched hand.
me mad to think of it
waren’ Ashmole had retreated as far as the
alls of the hut would allow, and in desperation
Junius flung aside his disguise of papier mache, | he drew a wea
. done poor Han
n—the same with which he had
D ik Burlap to death,
Captain Junius saw this, but he only forced a
laugh of bitterest scorn as he faced the cornered
villain. :
‘“You have blundered,.Creed Ashmole, and
that is a worse crime than open treachery in
my eyes, I ought to shoot you, but I can’t do
that while I hold you so much less value than a
cartridge. ©
‘You fled here for shelter, for safety from
those who are dead sure to hunt you for ven-
geance, Dll not deny you that much. You can
have shelter and food and such security as your
infernal folly may have left us.
“* Now get out of my sight!, And if you try
to steal out of our lines without first receiving
my permission, I’ll have you strung up like a
mangy cur!”
Captain Junius flung wide the rude door,
standing aside as though he felt there might be
contagion in the slightest touch, motioning the
murderer to leave him. And trembling like
one with the ague, Creed Ashmole obeyed, be-
ginning to pay the penalty he had so richly
earned, .
CHAPTER XXX.
A VILLAIN’S LAST STAKE,
THOSE were indeed gloomy times for the sin-
ner!
Everybody seemed to avoid him, yet le never
felt free from watchful eyes. The very lowest
and most degraded of the band seemed to hold
themselves his superior, and hour by hour Creed
Ashmole grew to know that the paths of sin are
full of thorns and nettles.
Through it all ran a strong sense of injustice,
which by no means sweetened the cup from
which he was forced to drink.
“Can't I see it, you cunning demon!” he
grated, viciously, as he caught a passing glimpse
of Captain Junius on the day following his
arrival at the outlaws’ retreat. ‘* You think to
freeze me out, now that I can’t serve your ends
any further. You think to cheat me out of my
share of theransom-money. Butwill you? Not
if J can help it!” : |
He was plotting end planning how to foil the
partner who bad not only left him to suffer im-
risonment without aid, but who was even now
ent on cheating him of all reward.
‘and but for me he could never have won
even this far!”
That was one of his most bitter thoughts, and
every time it recurred, Creed Ashmole inwardly
vowed to thwart the traitor, even though in the
attempt he might risk his own neck, .
During those gloomy bours of ostracism, he
had more than once caught sight of Rose Bryer,
but each time she was accompanied by Little
Firefly, and be had avoided rather than courted
her attention. .
That did not keep him from planning and
lotting, however, with the maiden whom he
faa so bitterly wronged as the center about
which his hopes of gain and revenge revolved,
and he eagerly watched for a chance to come
when he might take the first step in that direc-
tion, .
While making no effort to seek another inter-
view with Captain Junius, he saw and heard
enough to convince him that the preliminary
steps toward ransoming Rose Bryer had been
taken, and this told him he could not afford to
waste much time. .
“If bis offer is accepted—and it must be
enormous if Keene Bryer does not jump at itl—
and terms arranged before I can get to have a
talk with her, then my cake is al dough!”
More than one hot curse was burled after
Little Firefly, who had constituted herself body-
guard to the fair captive, and of whom she ha
grown passionately ‘ond: so much so that in her
empathy Littlo Firefly made no scruple about
betraying her father, so far as to assure Rose
that instead of attempting to capture the father, |
Captain Junius was making efforts to ransom
the child. . | ,
Time and again did Little Firefly uncon-
sciously foil the schemer in his hopes, by joining
Rose in her little strolls through the hill-locked
valley, but she could not always be on guard,
and the moment for which Creed Ashmole so
viciously longed was drawing near,
Meanwhile Creed Ashmole carefully pondered
his scheme, trying as best he might to strengthen
its weak points, though even his cunning found
this anything but an easy task.
“Tf L only felt sure of how much she already
knows!” he scowled, gnawing his finger-tips as
be watched the two maidens through the foliage
of the bushes beneath which be was lying. ft
T could tell what that little demon has revealed
to her!” .
He knew that it would be worse than vain to
attempt to make Rose believe he was a prisoner,
like herself, Little Firefly would surely have
spoken of his coming, and Rose would not be a
woman if she failed to glean through questions
all that her companion could tell ber.
+ You cat!” Ashmole frowned as he caught a
fair sight of Little Firefly’s face, wondrously
like that of her present companion, despite the
delicate coating of tan which the sun’s ardent
kisses had spread over her cheeks, “Time was
i a rane ema
when I felt that I could love you—time is when
I'd ask nothing better than to twist your dainty
neck! And it may come to that, too, unless you
give me the chance I thirst for!”
For once fortune seemed weary of frowning,
for even as that vicious sentence crossed his lips,
a clear whistle rung through the air, and Little
Pirefly sprung to her feet with a laughing
rown.
‘Tis daddy calling, little sister, and from the
manner in which he expends his breath, I’ve no
wish to ruffle his temper more than it is already.
Wait for me, Rose; I'll not be gone long!”
That shrill signal sounded again, and pursing
up her rosy lips Little Firefly sent ahead a
musical imitation, casting a laughing look back
at her friend as she sped swiftly away in the di-
rection of the hut occupied by Captain Junius.
Creed Ashmole could bardly realize bis good
fortune, even when he saw that Rose remained
sitting on the grassy knoll, with no other in
sight. It seemed too good to be true, and rising
to his feet on the further side of his leafy covert,
he gazed keenly, suspiciously around in every
direction, searching for a spy among the man:
who had taken turns in dogging his footsteps
ever since Captain Junius flung off the mask of
partnership.
But if any there were on such duty, his hasty
search failed to uncover them, and not knowing
when such another opportunity might be offered
him, Creed Ashmole silently left his covert and
cautiously approached the spot where Rose
ryer was seated, her head bowed, her hands
locked as they lay in her lap, tears dimming her
bright eyes as she mused over the strange freaks
of fortune and wondered how it would all end—
how long before she would be restored to the
loving arms of her dear parent.
Creed Ashmole paused when but a pace or
two divided him from the musing maiden, his
sunken eyes roving keenly around, but with the
same result as at first. There were none of tne
Muck-a-mucks to be seen, and so far as he could
tell, none to interfere with him and bis victim.
**Rose—Miss Bryer!” be softly uttered, throw-
ing sorrow and passionate hope into his voice.
“ For my life do not cry out!”
The caution was timely, for the maiden
sprung to her feet at the sound of her name, to
shrink back with a look of fear and aversion as
she recognized the being before her, And only
for the trembling of his voice, as he uttered
that adjuration, she would have called aloud for
help.
“As high Heaven bears me, Rose Bryer, you
wrong me in your mind,” buskily added Ash-
mole, stretching out hig hands appealingly, but
wisely making no forward motion besides. ‘‘ Is
it just to condemn me unheard?”
“JT must go. I cannot listen to you, Mr. Ash-
mole!”
“Stop. Listen to me, as you hope for mercy
in your own hour of need, Miss Bryer!” his
tones full of despair, yet with a note of com-
mand which unconsciously arrested the maiden.
“1 know what those demons bave told you about
me. I know that they claim Iam one of them,
to the full as black or blacker, but they lie!
Unwittingly, it may be, but still they lie, May
{speak still further, Rose? May I explain why
Lam here, seemingly one of this vile gang of
law-breakers!”
“ Seemingly you are one of them, and there is
red blood on your hands!” impulsively cried the
maiden, shrinking back with horror imprinted
upon her features.
“Have they lied so foully?’ brokenly asked
the cunning villain, bis head drooping forward,
his arms sinking to his side, his whole de-
meanor that of one bent and almost broken
beneath a shameful burden which is not his by
right, ‘‘And you believed them? You—for
love of whom I have exposed myself to all this
shame?”
This was not a part which Creed Ashmole bad
rehears*d so often while waiting and watching
for a chance to ‘get even” witb Captain
Junius, for he could not foresee just such an in-
troducticn. But his action was all the more
jinpressive because it showed no signs of calm
study.
Again tbat old, puzzling doubt returned to
the treubled brain of the maiden, and she
knew not whether to believe this man innocent
or guilty. |
Asbmole was cool enough to see bis charce,
and he made the most of it without delay.
‘* As you hope for mercy when you come to
stand before the judgment-seat, Rose Bryer,
hear me out before you set me down asa crim-
inal too vile for a look, too evil fora word of
pity! Will you condemn me all unheard? Is
that a part of your charity? Then go your way
and I will go mine—to death! For, while you
refuse to hear my plea, what else is left to me?”
“Tdid not, Stay!” impulsively cried the be-
wildered girl, checking bim as he seemed about
to turn away, bis head bowed, his whole being
expressive of dumb despair. “If you are not
what they say, why are you here, free and with-
out bonds or guard?”
“Because of my mad love for you, Rose!
Because I saw no other way of rescuing you,
unharmed, but by perjuring myself!” Le cried,
huskily.
Se ———— ee aS