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."