“Wake up there, you drunken brutes! Wake up there, and help me guard
these boys and this girl!”
Martin Mudd was in a furious rage.
His crack guards were all sound asleep again.
They had brought what was left of the whisky along with them, and it
had done its work.
The consequence was that Mudd, who did not dare to move to shake them
up, was rather at his wit’s ends to know what to do.
There he stood with a cocked revolver in each hand.
One covered Charley and the other covered Dick.
Clara was screaming out for him not to shoot, and Mudd himself was
roaring lustily to his drunken companions, who never even stirred.
Now, if anyone thinks that Dick Darrell and Charley Nicholson were the
sort to let such a situation as this last long, they are very greatly
mistaken.
In far less time than it has taken to describe said situation the boys
brought it to an end.
Both made a rush for Mudd, utterly ignoring the revolvers.
Mudd fired.
The next instant Dick had him by the throat and had wrenched one
revolver away, Mudd losing his hold on the other in the struggle which
followed, and it fell to the ground.
“Give me those papers! Throw them down, or I’ll fire!” shouted Dick,
covering the scoundrel. “I believe on my soul you are the man who
killed my father, and----”
“Hold on! Hold on! I’ll do it!” yelled Mudd, in terror.
He thrust his hand into the pocket of his coat, and, drawing out a flat
package done up in greasy brown paper, threw it to the ground.
“Oh, Dick, look at Charley! He’s shot!” screamed Clara at the same
instant.
Dick foolishly turned his head in answer to this startling cry.
Poor Charley’s face was as white as a sheet; he was slowly sinking down.
Clara sprang to help him, but she was too late; he fell all in a heap,
and at the same moment Mudd closed on Dick again.
He got his arm about the boy’s neck, the revolver fell to the ground,
but Mudd never stopped to pick it up. He dragged Dick out of the
cave--dragged him toward the edge of the precipice on the opposite side
of the trail.
“Burn you, Dick Darrell!” he hissed. “You have gone a step too far this
time. I did kill your father, and I’ll kill you!”
Bang! Bang!
Two shots suddenly rang out along the trail.
It was Doctor Dan.
He was bare-headed and his long hair was flying in the wind.
Two shots from his rifle went whizzing past Dick and Mudd.
They were not aimed to hit, as Doctor Dan explained afterward. He did
not dare to, for fear of hitting Dick.
But Martin Mudd, coward that he was, had no notion of facing the Indian.
He struggled to free himself, and Dick let him go.
“Hold him!” cried Doctor Dan. “Don’t let him escape, Dick, or our
troubles will never end!”
It was too late.
Mudd was on the run already.
In his half dazed condition from the whisky he had aboard his steps
were somewhat uncertain as he went dashing along the trail.
Suddenly he staggered perilously near the edge of the precipice; the
disintegrated rock was not able to bear his weight, and it gave way
beneath him.
Throwing up his hands with a frightful yell, Martin Mudd went rolling
down into the valley.
With bated breath Dick and Doctor Dan watched him. The end came when
with a splash which they could just hear the wretched man dropped into
the lake.
Doubtless he was dead before he struck the water, for he never rose
again.
“Oh, Doctor! You have saved my life! But poor Charley is a goner!”
gasped Dick. “Come--come!”
A horse was pounding furiously down the trail.
“Let’s hope for the best,” replied Doctor Dan. “You thought I was gone,
but I was only winded from the terrible pressure of that brute. I knew
when you bent over me, Dick, but I couldn’t speak, and--hello! Here’s
another one of them. Hold on there! Hold on!”
It was Tony. Down the trail he came dashing furiously.
“Hold up!” he cried. “Don’t shoot. I saw Mudd go down from the heights
above here. I’m out of it. There’s a big force coming from the Gold
Queen!”
* * * * *
Two weeks later Dick Darrell stepped off of a Pullman car at the B. &
O. depot in the city of Washington.
Leaning upon his shoulder was a young man looking pale and interesting,
who had evidently been very sick--our old friend Charley, of course.
Behind him came a tall, handsome Indian dressed in ordinary clothes.
Here was our party home again from the Bad Lands, and as their
adventures were now all over, we must bring our story to a speedy
conclusion.
The arrival of the party from the Gold Queen was the work of Bill
Struthers, the treacherous guide, who changed his mind upon arriving
at the mine and made a clean breast of the whole affair to Colonel
Eglinton, who immediately organized a force to go to his daughter’s
relief.
They were too late to deal with Martin Mudd, for the man had gone to
his long account and no effort was even made to find his body. As for
the rest, drunken men are easily captured--there was no resistance made
at the cave.
Charley was badly wounded, but Doctor Dan extracted the bullet which
had entered his side, and the boy was able to hobble back to camp.
The next day with Dick and Doctor Dan he rode to Node ranch, where he
lay very ill for a week, but after that began to mend.
Now, so far, we have not said a word about Clara, for that involves an
explanation of a painful shock which came to the poor girl.
Colonel Eglinton was not with his men, and for a very good reason.
Just as the party was starting out from the Gold Queen mine Colonel
Eglinton fell off his horse and never spoke again.
He was dead--dead of heart disease which had long threatened him, and
it was Clara’s sad task to take his body on to Washington for burial.
Dick met her at Node ranch and rendered her every assistance in his
power. He wanted to go East with her, but she would no more hear to his
leaving Charley then than she would when Dick wanted to go with her to
the mine when Tony first communicated his sad news.
When Charley was able to be moved Doctor Dan concluded to go with the
boys, and the day following their arrival Dick went to the Smithsonian
with the guide and made his report.
Unfortunately, however, they had nothing to show to prove the existence
of old P. D., for even the head of the Plesiosaurus which Doctor Dan
had found in the underground cavern had been left behind.
Professor Poynter was greatly excited at the report Dick rendered, and
we may as well tell the end of the monster business right here.
A new expedition was promptly dispatched to the Bad Lands, with Dick
and Doctor Dan in command.
But disappointment awaited them. Something had happened in Dick’s
absence. Probably it was an earthquake, but he never knew.
At all events, great masses of rock had fallen down upon the trail,
rendering it entirely impassable, and when they tried to get up to
Izard Lake by way of the cavern the same state of affairs was found to
exist there.
Even the Gold Queen’s trail was cut off and from that day to this no
one has ever been able to reach Izard Lake, and access to the mine is
had by another way.
Doctor Dan is still working on the problem, and some day he may find a
way. When he does the world will doubtless be astonished to find that
the prehistoric monster known as the Plesiosaurus still exists.
A few words more and our story is done.
Those papers!
Dick pocketed them when he returned to the cave.
Later he studied them carefully. Later still he showed them to a
prominent lawyer in Washington. A week after that the lawyer rendered
his report.
“You are unquestionably the owner of the Gold Queen mine,” he said.
“I’ll take up your case for you. Nine-tenths of the stock is held by
Tom Eglinton’s estate, and his daughter is the sole heir. The mine is
yours, young man, and we are sure to win.”
“Thank you,” replied Dick. “Send me your bill and I’ll pay it. There
will be no case.”
He took the papers and threw them into the open grate fire before the
lawyer could stay his hand.
“You’re a fool, boy!” cried the lawyer, angrily.
“Am I?” replied Dick. “Well, I think not.”
“But----”
“Wait, sir. Let me tell you a secret,” said Dick. “You say Clara
Eglinton is the sole heir?”
“She certainly is, under the will.”
“Very well. I am engaged to be married to Miss Clara Eglinton, and she
must never know that her father----”
“Oh, well,” interrupted the lawyer, “that’s another matter. It will be
all in the family. I take it back, young man--you are not a fool.”
And Dick quite agrees with him now.
To-day Dick is actively engaged in the mining business.
So is Charley--he is superintendent at the Gold Queen.
Dick was married to Clara two years ago, and, of course, he’s given up
monster hunting since he went into the mining business.
As for the Smithsonian, they will have to get someone else to look
after old P. D., if ever the way is open, for they cannot get DICK AND
DR. DAN.
[THE END.]
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are
mentioned.
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
been corrected.
The following changes were made:
p. 25: said added (here,” said Dick,)
p. 35: Charley changed to Dick (replied Dick. “Trouble)