“Draw again and I’ll spoil your face!” said the deadly marksman. “I have just closed one session of court, and now I will open the last one I shall ever hold in Cut-throat. Stand where you are! This time Red Crest and I will see that the noose is properly adjusted. Jennie—Myra—go on into the cave; there’s somebody there who wants to see you.”
The girl sprung forward with a parting look at Deadly Dan.
That villain bit his lips; the prize for which he had trailed and shot for ten years was gliding from his grasp.
He was doomed to the rope once more.
“Why did I come back to Cut-throat? War thet what ye asked me, Maverick?” asked Tom Terror, as he looked down into the Vigilante’s face from the saddle to which several of the red survivors of the gulch battle had helped him, bleeding from a fresh wound. “I see no harm in tellin’ the why an’ wherefore now. A big bonanza brought me back. Deadly Dan knows more about it than I do; but I know that a million or more is tremblin’ in the balances on the Atlantic Coast. He sent me back to find an’ to kill; but he thought he’d better come, too. Ha! ha! I’m afeared he’ll never tech the rocks, for it turned out to be a gal.”
Captain Harry started at the man’s words.
“A girl!” he ejaculated.
“Yes; your sweetheart. Did you think it war you?” and the wounded man smiled grimly. “Last night Rosebud found an’ recognized her.”
“And did his work?”
“No; he ran off. But, mebbe he’s back by this time. He’d rather see her the gold queen of the cities than use his knife, for she’s purtier’n all creation.”