CAPTAIN JOAQUIN'S RETREAT.
Dick was dazed.
It was a moment before he could recall what had passed.
When he did so, he realized that the situation had greatly changed, and could not tell whether minutes or hours had passed.
But his mind quickly cleared, as a magic drop will clear a glass of clouded water, and he took in the situation and the new-comer upon the ground, and guessed the rest.
He remembered that he and his foe had not counted up to the number that was to have been the signal for them to fire, and hence some one else had taken a hand in the game. That Captain Joaquin had not fired the treacherous shot he was well aware.
The Red Rover stood motionless the last Dick remembered of him.
All this passed through Dick's mind in the few brief seconds before he spoke.
"So, you are alive, are you?" said Captain Joaquin. "It was a close call for you, Deadwood Dick."
"Who shot me?" asked Dick, feeling of his hurt.
"No matter who," was the reply. "It was not I, nor was it done by any order or consent of mine. I had no thought or intention of giving you anything but a fair fight."
"I am willing to believe that. It must have been some friend of yours, some one who feared for your life. Well, such is the fortune of war, and it appears that the tables have been turned. You now hold the joker, and I am in your power."
"There is no denying that."
"And what am I to expect?"
"You will have to dance to my tune, now, seeing that the tables have turned, as you say, and I am now the fiddler. I gave you warning of that."
"And I remember that I reminded you that should this thing occur, you would be honor bound to deal as honorably with me as I dealt with you, which you promised you would do."
"And he will keep his promise, sir," spoke up the young woman.
She looked at Captain Joaquin.
"Yes, of course," Captain Joaquin snarled. "At the same time, you must admit that self-preservation is the first law of nature. I must treat you as I would a rattlesnake, which, if I let it go, would turn and bite me."
"Is your former proposition still open?" asked Dick.
"What was that?"
"To join you."
"No, that is closed."
Dick smiled.
"I was not wrong, then, in my estimate of your earnestness when you made it, even if I did give you the benefit of the doubt," he said.
"That is a past question," said the Red Rover. "You have since assured me that nothing could tempt you to join me, but on the other hand that you intend to crush me."
"Let it pass," Dick waived.
Feeling by this time able to do so, he got upon his feet, but he had to lean against a boulder for support.
His head ached and was dizzy, and the shot had given him an indescribable numb feeling throughout his entire body. It had been about as close a call as he had ever experienced.
"You are now my prisoner," said the outlaw. "Susana, you secure his weapons—there they lie on the ground—and I will handcuff him again. I will put on that other pair, I think, seeing that you had the choice of selection before," to Dick.
"You have it all your own way, just now," said Dick. "I am not in it, so to say."
"You are right in it," the outlaw disputed.
"Well, no matter. If you are going to handcuff me, though, I hope you will dress the wound I have received."
The young woman opened her lips to say something, but withheld her words and looked to Captain Joaquin for the response. Dick believed that he had a friend in her.
His first thought had been that it was she who had fired at him. He was now in doubt on that point.
"Yes, we'll tie it up," the outlaw snapped.
Revolver in hand, he stepped forward and felt in Dick's jacket pocket for the remaining pair of handcuffs.
They were there ready to his hand, and he brought them forth and snappedthem upon Dick's wrists. Resistance would have been useless, so Dick submitted.
"You have got me safe enough this time," Dick observed.
"Yes, I guess I have," was the response. "And I intend to keep you so, too."
"I do not blame you; I give you fair warning that if I escape it will be to open the warfare without quarter given or asked."
"I am well aware of that."
"Dealing more than fairly with you before, I am fair with you still, even with the tide against me, so you may know what to expect."
"You are a brave man, Deadwood Dick, no gainsaying that. What you have just said would be sufficient warrant for me to put you to the death at once, for my own protection."
"You have it in your power to do that, but you are honor bound to give me a chance for my life."
"Shall we carry out our duel?"
"I am not your match in condition, after this wound."
"Well, you may be in a day or two. Tie up his head for him, Susana, and we'll go home."
The young woman tore a handkerchief and made a temporary bandage, which she wound around Dick's head, covering the wound, and secured with pins.
"There, that will do until we get to the cabin," she said. "When we get there I will tie it up better and make it more comfortable for you. While we are foes, yet I can do that for you in mercy."
"You have not told me who shot me," said Dick.
The young woman flushed.
"Nor do we intend to," said Captain Joaquin. "Be satisfied that you are alive, and ask no questions."
"I am satisfied that my first guess was correct," said Dick. "What that guess was, you no doubt rightly conjecture, so we will say no more about it. I am, as you said, glad I'm alive."
"Shall we go to the house?" asked the young woman.
"I suppose we'll have to, with this prisoner on our hands, though I ought to return and look after that boodle—"
"Ah! I had forgotten that."
"Still, it is safely cached, and is safer, perhaps, than it would be at the cabin. Come, we'll go to the cabin."
"No one saw you cache it?" asked Susana.
"No one but this fellow."
"And you have got him secure enough. Better leave it where it is."
Captain Joaquin still had his revolver in hand, and having slung his rifle across his back he ordered Deadwood Dick to precede him along the gulch bottom.
Half an hour's walk and several turnings brought them at last into a glade where a cabin stood under the shade of some trees.
It was like an oasis in the rocky wilds.
A fertile little pocket in the midst of wildest surroundings, it was an ideal spot for such a retreat as Captain Joaquin required when too hotly pressed by the officers of the law.
Deadwood Dick had at last the secret of his rendezvous.
But at what a cost? He fully believed that it was the intention of the Red Rover that he should never leave the place alive.
At the same time Dick was determined that he would make his escape if given half an opportunity, and that he would eventually bring the infamous outlaw to justice.
The young woman opened the door of the cabin, and the outlaw ordered Dick to enter, which he did. He had no choice but to obey, for the present, though he had yet another card in reserve for future use as soon as the time was ripe for it.
Just what that card was will presently be shown.
A CHANCE FOR HIS LIFE.
The interior of the cabin was home-like.
It showed evidences of a woman's care, and it was a most inviting retreat.
Having several apartments, it was more than a cabin in the generally accepted sense of the word, yet in outward appearance it was a cabin nevertheless, being of logs.
Well furnished, it displayed an abundance of fancy articles that spoke mutely of raids on the road and in towns to the north and south. There were books, pictures, and musical instruments, proof that this notorious road-agent had refinement of taste.
"Now, what are we going to do with him?" demanded Captain Joaquin.
"I'll try to make myself as little trouble to you as possible," said Dick. "Put me anywhere that is convenient."
"How will this room do?" asked the young woman, opening a door near at hand.
"Anywhere," said Dick.
"I was not speaking to you, sir," she snapped.
"Your pardon," said Dick, promptly.
"I suppose that will answer," growled the Red Rover. "He cannot possibly get out of there handcuffed, that is certain. In with you."
"Pray put yourselves to as little trouble as possible on my account," Dick politely requested as he stepped into the room. "When you are at leisure, Captain Joaquin, let me have an interview."
"To what purpose?" was demanded.
"You will, in justice, give me a chance for my life, of course."
"We will talk about that when I get ready," was the snarl. "For the present you remain here."
He closed the door with that, and Dick heard him secure it on the other side. The prince of detectives knew that he could look for little mercy at the hands of the Red Rover.
The room into which Dick had been thrust was light. There was one window, rather small and through which it would be impossible for the prisoner to climb with his hands secured as they were. It gave him a view of the side of the pocket opposite to the entrance.
There was a bed, a couple of chairs, and a stand, in the way of furniture.
Dick threw himself on the bed, for his head was beating and throbbing as if ready to split, and his wound was very painful, though slight.
He could hear Captain Joaquin and the woman talking in the main room of the cabin, but could not make out what they were saying. He heard also other voices from another direction.
These were the voices of two servants, a negress and a Mexican half-breed woman.
After a time the door opened and the negress came in.
She was rather old.
"Whur'm dat dar so' head ob you's?" she demanded in thick fashion. "I's gwine to dress hit fo' yo'."
"I guess you will find it on my shoulders yet, auntie," said Dick. "It was there the last I knew anything about it, anyhow. I hope you can ease the pain."
"Golly! I reckon I kin do dat dar, child. Yo' roll ober heah and let old Sal git a squint at it, and see ef I don't make it feel better. Golly! you did git a nasty one, shua 'nuff. One hair mo' to de norf-east, and yo' was a goner, shua!"
Dick had to smile at her quaint expressions. He had been in a light sleep, and felt better.
She had removed the bandage the young woman had put on.
Having brought with her a basin of water, she bathed the wound, and that done, dressed it afresh with some kind of pounded leaves.
"Have you any idea what is going to be done with me?" Dick inquired, while she was at work.
"Not a bit ob one, sah," she answered.
"How many are there in the house?" he asked.
"Only de captain and de missus, and us two old wimmin and yo'se'f."
"And when does the captain expect the others to come in? His men come here, I suppose."
"Some ob 'em does, but not many. Some be heah to-night, I 'pine."
"And some others will never come," said Dick.
"Dar, dar yo' am," the old negress said with something of pride in her tone. "Yo' jis' leab dat on dar an hour, and yo' won't know yo'se'f, shua. No pain kin stay whur dat am."
"I hope you are right, auntie. The kindest old lady I ever knew looked just like you. I hope you are right, and that you won't forget that I am here when the grub is passed around. I am a trifle hungry, and a drink of cold water would go particularly good just now."
"Yo' shall hab it, child, yo' jis' bet!"
She gathered up her basin and things and waddled out, for she was very fat, and in a few minutes returned with a pitcher of sparkling water.
A draught of that made Dick feel better immediately, and he thanked the woman in a way calculated to create a friendly feeling toward himself. He might need her service in some other direction.
In a little while Captain Joaquin entered.
Dick was feeling much better, and was sitting up when the outlaw made his appearance.
"Well, I have come to have that talk with you," he announced.
"Glad of it," said Dick, "I am lonesome."
"I have thought of a plan, and I am going to give you a chance for your life about as good as you gave me."
"Ah! that so?"
"You will admit that the chance you gave me was not a great big one, I suppose."
"It was just an even thing whether you killed me or I killed you, Captain Joaquin. I am willing to take the same chance again."
"But I am not. You have the reputation of being a dead-shot, Deadwood Dick, and you certainly felt confident of making cold meat of me when you offered me that generous chance for my life."
"I certainly meant to, unless you performed that office for me," was the cool admission.
"Well, I will give you just the same kind of a show."
"You will fight?"
"I said I would not. No, but I will give you an even chance for your life, as promised."
"Well, I accept it. What is it?"
"No matter whether you accept it or not, it is yours. Some of my men will be here during the night, and when they arrive I will carry out the plan."
"You do not mean to let me know what it is?"
"If it will do you any good, I will tell you."
"I am somewhat personally interested."
The outlaw laughed harshly.
"Yes, I guess you are, too," he said. "Well, it will be an even chance for your life, I promise you that," he added. "An equal number of white and of black beans will be put into a bag, and you will be required to draw one out. If it be white, you live; black, and you die at midnight."
Dick smiled grimly.
"Suppose I should draw a white one, does that give me my liberty?" he asked.
"Not at once. You will be taken away from here blindfolded, and detained ten days, at the end of which time you will be set free. Meantime, I will have pulled up stakes here and given you the slip."
"And you will give me no other chance whatever?"
"No, sir."
"All right, I'll have to take what is offered, of course, and be glad to get it, I suppose."
"You may be thankful for it, for, if you should draw the white, as you say, it will mean a deuce of a lot of trouble for me, and all because I feel bound to give you this chance."
"You are in honor bound to do that, no matter how small the chance may be, after the way I risked my life against yours, giving you the benefit of a doubt where I did not believe that a doubt existed at all. I'll expect you, then, when your men arrive."
"As soon as they get here; I will not keep you waiting."
DICK IN A DEATH-TRAP.
Deadwood Dick was again left alone.
A grim smile came over his face as he looked at the door that had just closed.
"It is a bitter pill for him to swallow, this giving me a chance for my life," he said to himself, "and I'll bet ten to one that I don't get it on the square."
The chances were that he would not.
"I was a fool, perhaps, to take the risk I did with the fellow, when the law was all on my side, but I took him so utterly by surprise that it did not seem exactly fair. The trouble is, my heart is entirely too big and too soft for the profession I am following."
It was not that; the trouble was, he was too honorable with the desperate characters with whom he had to deal.
But, that was Deadwood Dick's way.
The day waned and night came on at last. Dick had been well fed, by the old negress, and he felt grateful toward her.
He had seen nothing more of the young woman, but had heard her singing at different times during the afternoon. He had no reason to look for any assistance from her.
In the evening she and Captain Joaquin sang together in the main room, and it was singing well worthy attention.
It caused Dick to sigh for a life so misspent.
Finally, after some time, the door of the room Dick was in opened, and a flood of light streamed in.
Captain Joaquin entered, and Susana came as far as the doorway, where she stood framed in the light, clad in a gown that made her appear beautiful in the soft radiance.
"I suppose you are still here, eh?" said the outlaw.
He could not see at once, coming out of the lighted room.
"You might be sure of that," said Dick. "I would remain, even were I free, to listen to your singing."
"I have not come in for flattery nor praise, but to make sure that you are secure. Let me feel of those handcuffs before I retire for the night. My men may not be here till morning."
"Here they are; feel to your satisfaction."
He did so.
"No getting out of them," he said. "You are as safely my prisoner as I was yours once to-day, if not more so, Deadwood Dick."
"You need not remind me of it," said Dick.
"Well, good-night. If the men come, I will call you up, for some deeds are more agreeable in the dark than in the daylight."
"Yes, I suppose so."
"I mean, if you should have the ill luck to draw a black."
"I understand you, I guess, captain. You will find me here when you want me. I may be a little hard to awaken, but shake me hard and you will bring me out of it."
"You will be awakened, never fear."
The outlaw withdrew and closed and secured the door, and after a time the cabin was dark and silent.
A little longer, and Deadwood Dick rose silently to his feet.
Lifting his wrists to his face, he was occupied for some moments at something, and presently there was a faint click.
He removed the handcuffs from his wrists and put them into his jacket pocket, and took a key from his mouth, where it had long been concealed, and put it into the pocket of his vest.
Taking care to make no sound, he moved to the window and carefully worked the sash open to its widest extent.
That done, he put a chair under it and prepared to take leave.
He listened.
No sound was to be heard within.
Putting his head out he listened again, and all was silence the most profound.
Satisfied, he began to worm his body through the small opening, and presently had succeeded in getting his head and shoulders through, with his face upward.
Pausing a moment, he continued pressing through, and at last came as far as his knees, holding fast to the lower sash with his hands the while.
In that position he stopped a moment to rest and listen.
Hearing nothing, he let go with his hands and swung down, hanging by his legs, and his hands came in contact with the ground.
It was an easy thing, then, to let go with his legs and turn over and land upon his feet, and he did it with scarcely any more noise than a cat would have made.
He was without his weapons, but he was free.
Knowing the direction he must take, he set forward immediately, taking the greatest care that his steps were too light to be heard.
In a few moments he was out of hearing distance from the cabin, so far as his steps were concerned, and he then struck out at a rapid pace in the direction of the gulch.
He was going straight to the treasure cache to secure the treasure, and would then put all the distance possible between himself and the outlaws before daylight.
He could cache the money again, and in due time return with a posse and secure it.
"There will be something of a surprise when they find that I am gone, I imagine," he said to himself. "I would like to be there to see Captain Joaquin's face at the moment."
Not as a prisoner, however. He knew he would have no chance whatever for his life, or so, at any rate, he believed.
The night was dark, but there was enough light to see general outlines.
He pushed on, keeping to the trail as he remembered it, and he had taken good care to fix it well in his mind.
At length he came to the place where the duel was to have been fought but where he had been cut down by the bullet that had plowed the gash in his scalp.
Still on, and at last he came to the rough way that led to the top of the little peak on which the treasure had been cached, and here he had the hardest climb of all.
In daylight, it was not easy, but by night, and unfamiliar as he was with the ground, it was doubly difficult.
But it was at last accomplished, after an hour's work.
He stood on the plateau.
Sitting down on the edge of the table to rest, before proceeding further, a sound presently reached his ears.
It caused him a start, and he was on his feet instantly.
Again he heard it, and knew that he was not mistaken this time; it was voices.
With all haste he turned to the boulder and applied his shoulder to it at the point where Captain Joaquin had put his strength to it some hours before.
At first it did not move, but remembering how the Red Rover had put forth all his strength by surging against it, Dick now did the same, and presently the boulder moved and finally turned over.
Lighting a match, Dick looked into the cavity, and there was the bag of money exactly as it had been deposited.
He had it out in a second, and did not stop to replace the stone.
If he could get away from the top of the peak before discovered, he would have a chance.
It would take Captain Joaquin some time to climb up to look for the treasure, and while he was doing that Dick could be putting distance between himself and them.
What was the best of all, he would leave no trail that they could follow, having nothing but bare rock for his footing.
He readily imagined what had taken place at the cabin.
The men had come, and Captain Joaquin had entered the room to bring him forth and discovered him gone.
The first thought, naturally, would be for the money in the cache, and the Red Rover would lead the way thither with all speed—the very thing he was doing.
Moreover, they were even then nearer than Dick imagined, and just as he swung his legs over the edge of the plateau to begin the descent, the light of torches flashed out of the gulch below and his pursuers discovered him. With a wild shout, they opened fire upon him immediately.
Deadwood Dick was in a death-trap.
DICK'S ONLY DEFENSE.
"Surrender!" called out Captain Joaquin.
"We'll consider that point a bit first," responded Dick.
He had drawn back out of range with considerable alacrity, for the bullets had come uncomfortably close.
"You will surrender, and that unconditionally, or we will riddle you with bullets!" was the threat. "You have now cancelled any obligation I may have been under."
"If I surrender at all, it will be under conditions," rejoined Dick. "We will make terms, or I will fight it out to the death."
"It will be to your death, then, not mine."
"Don't be too sure of that."
"You are not armed."
"No?"
"No, you are not."
"Do you want me to show you? You present a fine target there where you stand."
There were five men in the company, four besides the captain, and those four sprang to cover instantly, lest a shot might find them.
Captain Joaquin laughed.
"Don't be alarmed, boys," he said. "I tell you he is not armed. I took his guns away from him, and he has had no chance to get others. We must have him down from there!"
"There is only one way to get me," said Dick.
"And we will take that way."
"At your peril."
Captain Joaquin was no coward. He started forward at once, calling on his men to follow.
The men responded, reassured by the word of their leader, as well as by his own intrepid example, and followed the Red Rover up the steep ascent with their torches.
"Hold!"
Deadwood Dick so ordered.
They stopped and looked up, as men in their position naturally would do.
"You will advance another step at your peril," Dick warned them. "I am safe from your bullets, but you are in plain open sight there, and it seems a pity to pick you off."
"That be hanged!" cried Captain Joaquin. "You are talking to gain time, that is all. Come on, boys!"
"Do you want this boulder rolled down upon you?" cried Dick.
It was useless for him to pretend that he was armed, when he was not armed. A shot would have been the only proof of that.
"Ha! ha!" laughed the captain. "Four men like you could not roll that boulder out of the cavity in which it lies. I tell you we have got you, and you can't escape us."
There was not a doubt of it.
It was all true, what was said of the boulder. It weighed a ton if it weighed a pound.
The reason that one man was enabled to move it at all was because it was partly balanced in the little basin in which it rested, and could be tilted to another bearing in one direction.
"Hold!"
Dick's voice rang out again, more forceful than at first.
Again his foes stopped, for they were in no position to disregard such a command from a desperate man.
"Well, what now?" demanded the Red Rover.
"I told you that we would make terms, or I would fight it to the death."
"Bah! what care I for your threats? What position are you in to talk of terms? You are as good as in my hands already. Come on, boys!"
"One moment," cried Dick. "It is true that I have no guns at hand, as you well know, and it is also true that I cannot roll the boulder, but I have a weapon nevertheless."
"What is it?"
"This bag of money."
"Ha! ha! ha! What is that?"
"I will tell you what it is. It is a fortune in compact form. If I set a match to its contents it will go up in smoke."
There was a howl instantly.
"And I can do it before you can get up to a level where you can get a shot at me," said Dick. "All you will find will be a little heap of ashes for your trouble."
"You do not dare!" howled the Red Rover. "You would not have the nerve to destroy such a fortune!"
"No?"
"No! I defy you!"
"All right, come on and see. It will take you several minutes to get here, and by that time I can have destroyed it."
"But, what of you? By heavens, I would put pitch on you and burn you at the stake, Deadwood Dick! You do not know the tiger of my nature yet, or you would not rouse it."
"I am seeking rather to tame it," said Dick.
"And I swear that I will do just as I say, if you destroy that money before I can get hold of it."
"I would prefer a leap off this peak to the depths below, rather than that," said Dick, "and I could carry with me what of the money I might not have time to burn."
"You would not do that."
"There is one way for you to prove it, come and see."
"You have no matches there."
"Here is proof of that."
Dick struck a match as he spoke, and set fire to a piece of paper he happened to have in his pocket.
Captain Joaquin was dismayed.
Dick could hear him consulting in low tones with his men.
"What are you going to do about it?" Dick inquired, after a pause. "I am ready to offer my terms."
He had a potent weapon to use against them, and that was the possession of the fortune they had risked so much to get possession of that day.
"Ready to offer terms," sneered the Red Rover. "You mean that you are ready to accept such terms as you can get, I guess. We will be the ones to offer, if any terms are made at all. We hold the winning hand."
"And I hold the stuff. Don't make any mistake."
"Well, what would you call terms?"
"If I surrender to you, with this bag of money intact, will you allow me to go free?"
"Yes, we'll do that," was the prompt answer. And every one of them voiced approval. They were prompt and liberal with their promises, if he would surrender at once.
Deadwood Dick laughed at them.
"It is too plain a case," he said. "That is not the kind of a bargain I am going to make with you, however."
"You won't trust us?"
"Not a bit."
"You will have to, or we will starve you out. And at the first sight we get of you we'll pick you off."
"Try that, my friends, and every hour I remain here I will burn ten thousand dollars of this money. I have got money to burn, not only figuratively, but actually."
"Curse you! What terms do you want?"
"Ha! I thought you would presently recognize that I hold the better hand," said Dick.
"I recognize nothing of the kind," was the return, "but I don't want you to be fool enough to destroy that money—my hard earnings."
"That is precisely the little joker I hold," said Dick.
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"I want you to return my revolvers to me, in good order—"
"Say, do you take us for fools altogether? We have got the advantage, now, and, we mean to keep it. Forward, men, and at him!"
"Hold!" cried Dick yet once again. "You evidently forget the fate of this money if you advance another step. And more than that, if you keep me here one hour the pile will be ten thousand dollars less."
It was a peculiar situation.
CAUGHT IN THE TOILS.
Deadwood Dick was in a desperate fix.
He did not see any way of escape, no matter which way he looked.
Having been there in the daylight, he knew there was no way down save in the one direction.
And in that direction the way was blocked by the outlaws, who would shoot him on sight as they would shoot a dog that might offend them.
They had the advantage of him in every way save one only. He held them in momentary check by his threat to destroy the prize they were after, and which, according to their code, belonged to them.
There was another consultation among them.
Then Captain Joaquin called out:
"Deadwood Dick?"
"Well?"
"We have to admit that you have got the best of it at present. We are willing to make terms with you."
"Well, you have heard one of the conditions."
"Yes, but that would be to place still more advantage on your side. We can't afford to arm you against ourselves, you know."
"That is one of the conditions, nevertheless, and I want to tell you that you are letting valuable time get away from you. I mean business when I say I will burn this stuff."
"Don't do that; we'll come to an agreement somehow."
"What do you propose, then?"
"You come down here with that cash, and we'll give you the chance I told you about."
"The drawing for a white bean?"
"Yes."
"What assurance have I that I will not be shot at sight?"
"None but our word. We'll respect that, if you are willing to meet us half way. We are determined to have that money."
"Joaquin?"
It was a woman's voice that called.
Dick recognized it as the voice of Susana, and wondered what had brought her there.
"What are you doing here?" cried Captain Joaquin, in something of anger. "I thought I told you to remain at the house."
"Yes, but I could not do that, with you in danger. I had to come out and find you. Do not be angry with me; I could not help it. Besides, I was anxious about your treasure."
She had come out into sight, while speaking.
Deadwood Dick was peering over the edge of the ledge, at a point where a shadow protected him.
He saw the young woman cast a swift glance around, saw that she was nearly out of breath from evident haste, and that her face was flushed.
"What danger am I in?" was the angry demand.
"No danger, I hope, but I could not know that. I could not remain there in uncertainty. Do not be angry, Joaquin."
"Well, sit down and rest yourself, and do not interfere in this matter. Now, Deadwood Dick, let me know at once what you will do or what you want us to do."
"If you will return my revolvers to me, in good order and loaded, I will come down and turn this money over to you, on condition that you let me escape with my life, or give me a fair chance to do so. It is for you to accept or refuse, as you please."
"We refuse."
"Very well, then; this money goes up in smoke."
"Heavens!" cried the young woman. "Do not burn the money, sir, I beg of you!"
"It is the only weapon I have," declared Dick. "Without it, I could not hold your cutthroats at bay for a moment. With it I must bargain for my life."
"Perhaps you regret the chance you gave me," suggested Joaquin.
"No, I do not. I was simply giving you the benefit of a possible doubt, though, in truth, I did not believe it existed."
"And what do you promise him now, Joaquin?" the young woman inquired.
"I have promised him his life if he will come down here with that money," the Red Rover explained.
"You had better accept it, sir," the young woman called out. "You are at a disadvantage, and cannot possibly hold out there a great while. That is your only chance."
"But I have only the word of an outlaw that my life will be spared."
"That word will be kept, will it not, Joaquin?"
"Of course it will be kept. But I told you not to meddle in this matter. Keep out of it, now, or return to the house at once!"
The young woman gave him a sharp glance, and leaned back against a boulder that lay behind the stone on which she had sat down. Dick believed that he caught a look of pain on her face as the torches lighted it up.
"It is all one-sided," said Deadwood Dick. "Arm me, and make me an equal, and I will leave the bag of money here and come down and go away. Refuse, and I will carry out the threats I have made. There need be no further parley about it."
"Well, I'll do it, but I have not got your weapons here."
"Send for them."
"It will take time to get them."
"No matter, we can call a stay of proceedings until your man returns with them."
"And you will destroy none of the money mean time?"
"No, I will not."
"Agreed."
Captain Joaquin spoke a few words to one of his men, and the fellow started off.
Deadwood Dick withdrew from the edge of the ledge then, and put on his thinking cap. The advantage lay with the outlaws, there was no denying it. He did not believe they would be fools enough to arm him.
There must be some trick in it, he believed, but what it could be he could not imagine. He looked around for a means of escape, but knowing full well that it did not exist. He would have to trust to the word of the outlaw captain, and take chances.
No word was passed between Captain Joaquin and him during the time the man was gone, and Dick waited eagerly for the fellow's return. He had a scheme in mind, but whether it could be made to work or not remained to be seen. It would be at the risk of his life, but he hoped to give them the slip and get away with the booty.
At last he came.
Captain Joaquin called out to Dick, and he responded.
"Here are your weapons, now, but how are they to be sent up to you? And what assurance have we that you will keep your word?"
"I have a plan to propose," said Dick. "Let that lady bring them up to me, and she may carry the bag down to you in exchange. Then, when you find that it is all right, all go away and leave me to come down when I please."
That, however, was not his scheme.
"What is the sense of that?" demanded the Red Rover. "I will bring them up myself."
"And perhaps shoot me the moment you come where you can get a bead on me. I will not trust you that far, Captain Joaquin, for I do not believe you mean to allow me to get away from here if you can help it."
"But you have my word that you shall be allowed to go away alive—that is, that your life will be spared."
"And he will keep his word, sir," spoke up the woman.
"You have nothing but his promise, the same as I," said Dick. "He must meet my terms, or I will carry out the threat I have made. It can only cost my life, anyhow and—"
A noise just behind him caught Dick's ear at that instant, and he turned his head to see what it was, when a man threw himself upon him and bore him to the ground. Dick, already kneeling, was taken at a disadvantage, and he was shoved headlong over the ledge.
Even as he felt himself going, the thought came to him to protect his head with the bag of money, and so he did, holding it tight to his head and drawing himself into as much of a ball as possible, for there was not the least use in his trying to save himself the fall down the rugged side of the cliff. And so he fell, over and over, landing at the feet of Captain Joaquin.
DEADWOOD DICK BRANDED.
A shout of exultation had accompanied Dick's hasty departure from the cliff, and a burst of laughter greeted him from below.
The instant he landed, for the moment more dead than alive, ready hands seized him and a pistol was clapped to his head, and Captain Joaquin snatched away the bag of money.
This the Red Rover opened immediately, to make sure that its contents were intact.
"What is to be done with him?" one of his men demanded.
"You know who he is," was the response.
"Yes, he is Deadwood Dick."
"And what is he to us? What is he to all of our class?"
"That's so. Death to him, boys; death to Deadwood Dick! Where is the rope?"
"Hold on," spoke up the young woman, who had leaped to her feet at the shout from the cliff. "You promised him his life, Joaquin."
"If he came to my terms, yes, but he did not do that. He is our foe, Susana, and he must die. The world is not wide enough to hold us and him, after this night's work."
"That's so," shouted the men. "Death to Deadwood Dick!"
"Hang him," said the captain.
Dick was jerked upon his feet roughly, and his hands were speedily tied behind his back.
Mean time the young woman had thrown herself upon her knees before Captain Joaquin, pleading for his life, reminding him of the chance Dick had given him for his.
"Get up, fool!" the Red Rover sternly ordered. "Have you taken leave of your senses? Let him escape, and we are done for. No, he dies, here and now, and no more fooling about it. Get up, I say, and do not anger me against yourself, Susana!"
"But your promise," she reminded, rising.
"That for it," with a snap of the fingers.
"But I had always looked upon your spoken word as sacred, and now—"
"See here, what is this man to you, Susana?" was the rough demand, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"I am not thinking of him, but of you, Joaquin. I do not want to think of you as a murderer—a murderer! I am afraid—I believe—I know it would set me against you."
"Bah! you are a woman. Get out of the way, now, for business is business. He has got to die—"
"Joaquin, for my sake—"
"No!"
"For my love—"
"By heavens! I begin to think there is more to it than you would express. Men, an example shall be made of this fellow. I'll brand him before we hang him!"
The young woman uttered a scream.
"Ha! I thought so," the Red Rover sneered. "A woman's heart is as fickle as the weather. This fellow's make-believechivalry has stolen your affection from me—"
"No! no! no! Great heavens! how you wrong me!"
"Ha! ha! Then what is the matter with killing him, since he is my mortal foe, and it must be his life or mine sooner or later?"
"But, your honor, Joaquin, your honor," she reminded him. "He gave you your life, or a chance for it, and you pledged your word that you would do the same—"
"Bah! Choose between us, Susana."
"I choose you, of course," attempting to throw her arms around his neck, an action which he repelled. "He is nothing to me; I only want to see your honor preserved."
"Bah! You think to blind me. What can we brand him with, boys? He shall go to the devil with a mark of Captain Joaquin's compliments!"
"Hurrah! That is what he deserves!"
"Here is a horseshoe; will that do?"
"The very thing!"
"It will give him a mark for good luck!"
"Joaquin! In heaven's name show mercy! If you do this thing, you kill my love for you at a single stroke."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
He pushed her roughly away from him.
"At least do not torture him," she cried. "At least spare him that, I beg, I implore."
"And all because he has stolen your affection from me," he cried, with jealous intensity. "Yes, I will spare him; another word from you, and I will burn out his eyes!"
With a scream, the young woman covered her face with her hands and staggered away from the scene.
"Where is that horseshoe?" the enraged captain demanded. "Put these torches together, and lay it on them till it is heated. I will make an example of Deadwood Dick that will be a warning to all other detectives to steer clear of Captain Joaquin!"
The horseshoe was handed forward, and the torches were placed together as ordered, and the iron laid upon them. Then, while two of the cutthroats fanned the blaze with their hats, two more threw Dick to the ground and tore open his shirt in front, baring his breast.
Wonderful to say, Dick had received no broken bones by his fall down the ragged side of the cliff.
He had spoken no word, seeing the uselessness of it.
The young woman stood at some distance away, wringing her hands, but afraid to say any further word for fear that Captain Joaquin would carry out his more terrible threat.
All were silent, and the fire was fanned until at last the shoe began to take on the color of the flame.
"How hot do you want et, captain?" one of the scoundrels asked.
"That will do," was the answer. "How will you handle it, though? A stick will do, however."
"Yes, or a rifle barrel. Say when you are ready, and we'll give him sech a brand as will identify him hereafter when we meet him down below. Ha! ha! ha! ha!"
"Get ready."
"All ready, cap'n."
"One moment, then. Susana?"
He called out to the young woman.
"I hear you, Joaquin."
"Come here and see how I treat a rival when I catch him."
"No, no! Spare me that, Joaquin, spare me that! He is no rival; it was only of you I thought!"
"Bah! you lie to me. I'll fetch you—ha! ha!"
He made a dash at her, but with another scream she turned and fled from sight.
Captain Joaquin returned laughing, and ordered the hot iron to be laid upon Deadwood Dick's bare breast, and a man brought it from the fire on the end of a rifle barrel.
"Anything to say, Deadwood Dick?" the Red Rover inquired.
"Only this," said Dick: "If you do this thing, you will be the object of my vengeance even in another world—I swear it."
"Bosh! Put on the brand, my man."
The barrel of the rifle was lowered, and the hot horseshoe slipped off and fell upon Deadwood Dick's bare skin.
The victim gave a convulsive movement as the hot iron touched his skin, and struggled furiously, an involuntary cry of anguish escaping his lips, but he was firmly held.
A second—perhaps two, and the report of a rifle rang out, and Captain Joaquin uttered a sharp cry and staggered. But only for a moment; he recovered himself, and, with hand pressed to his side, ran in the direction whence the shot had come, shouting back:
"That wildcat did it! But I will have her; you hang that fellow and come at once to the cabin." And he disappeared, while those who had been holding Deadwood Dick to the ground jerked him upon his feet, and the iron dropped off and fell to the ground, leaving its imprint upon the fair flesh of the intrepid prince of detectives!
SUSANA TO THE RESCUE.
Deadwood Dick believed that the end of his eventful career had come at last.
There was not a ray of hope for him, and he was faint and sick from the intense pain of the hot iron that had been laid upon his breast.
With his hands tied, and his head swimming, he was powerless to resist his foes, and the rope was quickly placed around his neck and he was dragged in the direction of a tree near at hand.
He was not even asked if he had a last word to say. The end of the rope was thrown over the limb, the cutthroats caught hold of it and pulled, and Deadwood Dick, the fearless, the generous, was swung clear of the ground and the end of the rope was secured to the body of the tree.
"Is he to be shot as well?" demanded one of the villains.
"No, he ain't worth wastin' good powder and lead on," was the response from another.
"That's so," said a third. "Let him swing and think about et while his speerit is workin' itself loose in ther shell."
"Come on; ther captain said come to ther cabin at oncet."
"Hooray! Good-by, Deadwood Dick!"
With whoop and yell they hastened from the scene of their dastardly outrage, and followed in the direction Captain Joaquin had taken.
Barely had they gone when a panting form sprang out of a crevice in the rocks.
It was Susana.
With a suppressed cry she ran to the tree with all speed, and with a single sweep of a keen knife severed the rope.
Deadwood Dick dropped to the ground heavily, all limp and apparently lifeless, and the young woman was at his side instantly, her eager fingers at work at the noose.
It was quickly loosened and removed.
"He must not die, he shall not die!" she cried to herself. "I will save him for his revenge. You accused me of loving him, Captain Joaquin, wrongly accused me, but I will love him now, love him with my whole heart, for you have made me hate you—hate you!"
She lifted Dick's head and pressed warm and passionate kisses upon his face, believing he was wholly unconscious.
To her surprise her last kiss was returned.
She sprang up with a startled little cry, and released her hold instantly.
"I owe my life to you," said Dick, in low tone. "I shall not soon forget the obligation, I promise you."
"I regret that I could not save you the torture you had to undergo," was the response. "You heard his threats; I was afraid to say another word in your favor."
"I am glad that you did not do so. But release me quickly and let me get hold of my weapons—which they left yonder on the ground. They may return, and not only my life, but yours, is now at stake. There will be another reckoning before the account is closed."
She freed his hands even while he was speaking.
"Yes, there will be another reckoning," she said, in low, intense tones, "and in it I will be on your side. I hate him—hate him now as much as I ardently loved him before—or thought I loved him. How blind I was to his true character!"
"Do you know what is good for a burn?" Dick asked.
"Yes, yes; why did I not think of it? How you must suffer! Wait, I will dress that wound in a moment."
Snatching a brand from the fire in which the horseshoe had been heated, she sought eagerly around and plucked here and there a kind of weed that grew in the rock crevices.
While she was thus engaged, Dick secured his revolvers and also the horseshoe with which he had been branded.
The latter was still hot, of course.
Having gathered some of the weeds, the girl laid them on a stone and pounded them to a pulp, and, tearing a strip from an article of her linen, she spread the poultice upon it.
"Now, let me fix it," she said to Dick.
Dick sat down and bared his breast, and she applied the cooling pulp to the wound, the contact causing Dick to give a sigh of relief.
"That feels good," he said.
"It will soon draw out the fire," said the girl, "and it will aid the wound to heal quickly, too."
Securing the poultice in place as well as possible, she fastened Dick's shirt over it, and when she had done Dick took her in his arms and embraced her, returning the kisses she had given him.
"You have given me your life," he said; "what can I do for you in return?"
"Give me your protection," was the response.
"You shall have that, to the death."
"And let me aid you in your revenge against that monster. Ugh! how I hate him now!"
"But, he is your husband—"
"No, no, he was not my husband; I am free, as free as a bird. I loved him, and would have wed him, but I am thankful my eyes were opened before I was linked to him for life."
"Then you desire to escape him now?"
"Heavens! he would murder me now, after what I have done. Yes, yes, I desire to escape; I want you to protect me."
"Enough said," agreed Dick, giving her another embrace and releasing her. "I'll try and do something in return for the risk you have taken for me, and together we will hunt him down."
"At once?"
"No, we will let him feel secure for a time, and the blow will be all the greater when it falls. But—"
"What?"
"Are you to be depended on?"
"To be depended on? I do not understand you, sir."
"Call me Dick. I mean, will you hold out to the end, when it comes to the test?"
"Will I hold out—"
"Perhaps your love will rekindle, and you will balk my revenge when it comes to the hour—"
"No, no, a thousand times no! My hate is even more intense than was my love. No, no, I will not falter; I am now yours, if you will let me be yours, and our purpose is one."
"It is a bargain," said Dick. "Here is my hand, little pard."
The girl placed her hand in his.
"Hands up! both of ye!"
The voice was so near that both were startled, and Dick felt a gun behind his ear.
It was so sudden that Dick obeyed before the thought came to him to resist, but perhaps it was as well, for that might have meant his instant death.
"It is Booth!" cried the girl in dismay. "We are lost—lost!"
"Bet yer life ye are," said the man. "Ye forgot to reckon me, I guess. Et took me a good while to worm up into that peak by the crevice inside and take this galoot by surprise, and et has took me a good while to git down again, but hyer I am and hyer you be, too."
"And what do you expect to do with us?" asked Dick, grimly.
"Take ye straight to Captain Joaquin, of course."
"Never!" said the young woman.
"I'll show ye. You turn— Ugghh!"
Deadwood Dick's foot had suddenly caught the fellow in the middle, and over he went with a grunt terrific.
No sooner had he fallen than the girl was upon him, and her knife was buried in his breast, straight and true, and the cutthroat stiffened out to rise no more.
"There is one less," she said, rising. "I never killed a human before, but I would kill a score rather than be taken back to that man. Thank heaven, we are free yet, Dick. Do you want further proof of my devotion to you? Can you ask it?"
"I did not ask anything more than your word, Susana. You are a pard worth having. We will hang this fellow to the tree where they hanged me, and should they come this way again they will believe that Deadwood Dick is still there where they left him, and the surprise will be all the greater when the blow falls, as fall it must."