Transcriber’s Note: Obvious printer’s errors have been corrected. These bookswere produced on the cheap, and it showed.
No. 3. ONE PENNY.
TOM TERROR,
THE
OUTLAW.
JACKSON’S NOVELS
JAMES JACKSON.
2 Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
TOM TERROR
CHAPTER I.
Tom Terror, as he was fitly named, had already made a name whichwill never be erased from the annals of danger and death that a thousandpens have traced in crimson ink.
He had ridden from Custer City, five months prior to the date of ourstory, with a rope about his neck, and in the midst of a score of the mostdetermined men that ever hung an outlaw.
But the bird in the hand on that occasion did not prove worth two inthe bush.
The Vigilantes of Custer had made one mistake. Tom Terror had beenpermitted to ride his own horse to the spot chosen for his exit.
A word to his horse had been sufficient.
A wild snort, a leap forward like a startled stag, a dozen pistol-shots, alot of charging men, told the story of how the bird in the hand got backto the bush.
And now Tom Terror had returned to the canyon through which hehad galloped with a rope around his neck.
An Indian, keen-eyed and acute, might have passed him and never haveseen man or horse.
“I war right. The boys are on the old stampin’-ground!” he ejaculated.
Presently the outlines of six or seven mounted figures came in sight.
Tom seemed to experience the pleasure that fills the heart of an exiledchief when he finds himself once more with his men.
The Indians were lightly attired. Not one of the party possessed a gun,but each of them carried a weapon of death more horrible than the singingbullet.
They came on until they were almost directly in front of the watcher.Their faces were plainly visible in the moonlight. As Tom Terror lookedhe counted them.
“Is it possible that they’ve been reduced to six? By the jumpin’ jingo!somebody’s been here since I’ve been gone! What would they say warI to step out an’ say—‘Wal, boys, I’m back?’ Gosh all varmints! howthey’d jump! And mebbe I’d get the string before they’d recognisedtheir old cap’n!”
At that moment the Indians started, and looked into each other’sfaces.
Tom looked toward the north.
“I hear it, too,” he said. “By Jove! the boys ar’ gittin’ the stringsready.”
The Indians had drawn a dark cord from their breasts. As it swungloose a little ball dangled from one end.
Down the canyon came the galloping of two horses.
When the game was in sight, Tom Terror shrunk instinctively againstthe wall of the canyon, and uttered a cry which he tried very hard tosuppress.
Instead of two men, he saw a brace of youthful figures.
Although both were dressed in masculine apparel, the quick eye of theGulch Tiger detected the dissimilarity of their features, and decided thatone belonged to the gentler sex.
The hat worn by the person could not conceal a lot of rich auburn hair,and the garments, revealing a figure whose symmetry was faultless, servedt