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!
"I 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 warning."
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 hanging you to the first tree we came
to! But, do you not mean to give me a show?"
"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 dollars here in this bag; I'll
divide even with you and each go his way."
"What 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 Bristol 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."
"I 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."
"You are a fool! Here is a life-time fortune within reach of your hand,
Deadwood Dick, and if you 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 it, yes."
"And you will not accept my proposition?"
"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
engine can be run to the scene of your robbery."
"And you will turn me over to them?"
"Exactly."
"I 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, however."
"I swear that I did mean it."
"I have only your word for that."
"And my word is all I have to give you."
"You mean to tell me that you, knowing 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?"
"I 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 is something that we can agree upon,
and, if so, no need to mention mine."
"Well, you undertake to aid me in taking this money safe to its
destination, and I will use my influence with the governor for a pardon
for you and make you my detective ally."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
"You will not listen to it, eh! Well, it is 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 opportunity."
"Well, what is your proposition, then?"
"That we decide this matter by a fair and square duel to the death."
"Which 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 I?"
"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."
"I believe that you lie--"
"Then I cannot convince you, that is certain. What are you going to do
with me?"
"I say I believe that you lie, but giving you the benefit of the
doubt, and giving you half a chance for your life, I will 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 me for a fool, I know, and so I am for giving you such 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
telling the truth!"
"Very well, I give you the benefit of the doubt."
Deadwood Dick believed that the fellow was lying, nevertheless, and so,
in fact, he was. Seeing a chance to gain the point, he played upon the
string to the limit.
"I 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 slightest suspicious move on your part will mean your death, which
will naturally culminate all negotiations."
"I am not rash enough to try any trick with you, Deadwood Dick. I am
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."
"Just so. I know a fine place for it, 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, however."
"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, I am. Every minute I
stay here I am one minute nearer prison doors."