Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1891 — ROYAL RANGER RALPH; The Waif of the Western Prairies. [ARTICLE]

ROYAL RANGER RALPH; The Waif of the Western Prairies.

BY WELDON J. COBB.

CHAPTER I. THE TBAIN-WRECKERS. *Plrer •“Wto is it?” *A spy—ono of the vigilantes. Down Uin, or the game is lost!” These ejaculations, spoken sapidly and excitedly, broke the silence of a weird and tragic scene in one of the loveliest valleys of the far West They were directed toward a man Who had suddenly appeared upon a landscape which for over an hour had held half a dozen human figures, who had been lurking in the vicinity of a lonely stretch of railroad. The time was night, relieved by the refulgence of a September moon, its rays just beginning to illumine mountain and valley with a rare crystalline beauty. Half a mile distant, where the river stretched a dim silver thread of radiance, a lonely station showed, from which glimmered the light of a single lantern. At the spot where the story opens, the Single railway track curved over a high trestle work and then descended on a Sharp grade toward.the station and the stream. For years this section, especially the course pursued by the railroad, which was a recently constructed branch of the great Pacific system, had been known as , the Lone Canyon trail. The station was ■Called Ten-spot, and the nearest settlement was twenty miles over the mountain at Miner's Gulch. Beyond that stretched an alternation of plain and hill and valley, infested ■even at the time of our narrative by marauding bands of savages. The region was one in which a rough, uncultured set of miners and rangers resided, and outlaw bands found it a favorite field for their operations. A* has been stated, one hour previous to the utterance of the words that begin this chapter half a dozen men rode up ■to the scene, dismounted silently, led their horses to a thicket near by, and then became massed together near the railroad. Here for some moments they were en- ; gaged in some mysterious movements about the rails. One of their number went down the tracks to the station, returned, muttered an ominous “All ylght,” and then their dusky figures moved hither and thither. Not an audible word was spoken until a tall, fullbearded man, evidently the leader of the party, startled his companions with the exclamation: “Get, to coverl Someone is coming!” Someone was coming straight down the tracks —a man past middle age, stalwart, rugged, and attired in the garb of a frontiersman. His gait was a careless and leisurely one, as if he had got tired of waiting for the train at the depot and was strolling about to kill time until it arrived. All unaware of the perilous ambuscade that lay in waft for him, he was not conscious of the presence of a foe until he turned a curve in the rails and fell back with a startled cry: “What’s this! An obstruction on the road! They’re at it again! Redskins or outlaws; there’s danger afloat for the night train, sure. ” He turned to hasten back to the station. At that moment six dusky forms arose from the bushes that lined the aide of the tracks. , «pire!” “Who is he?” “A spy—one of tho vigilantes! Down him, or the game is lost ” There was a blinding blaze of light, and six revolvers flashed in the moonlight “Missed him —after him! He must not escape and give the alarm!” cried the leader of the coterie. The stranger had indeed been missed. He must have been magically alert, for as the bullets whistled past him he dropped to the ground and they flew over his head. “You scoundrels! Come on, whoever you are!" His voice, e’ear and stentorian, rang out like an indignant roar of defiance and courage. He had again sprung to his feet and had drawn his own revolver. At that moment his enemies made a united rush for the spot where he was. He was forced to retreat a step or two. A creeping vine entangled his foot, and he fell violently backward. “Take that!” The words were spoken by. the leader, as he reached the prostrate man. “Despard—outlaw and renegade! I know you. Coward! villain! If I was at fair odds with you ” The words were silenced suddenly. The leader of the band—the man he had called Despard—had raised a curved Iron bar he hold in his hand. It deicended wiih terrific force, cutting a cruel gash in-the forehead of the courageous stranger, stunning him to insensibility. Despard’s eyes wore a haunted, frightened expression, and his face was deathly pale as he surveyed his unconscious foe. “You’ve settled him, Despard, ” spoke one of the men as he crowded to his side. “What does it mean?” Despard spoke in an awed tone. “What mean?” “That man.” “You know him. ” “Know him! Look again, Jim Danton. Ah! I thought you would recognize him.” Despard’s companion peered close at the face of the prostrate man. “Ranger Ralph!” he gasped out. “Yes. Do you remember when last we saw him, and we left him to die a prisoner in a cave in the Utah hills? He had crossed our trail, determined to bring us to justice for a stage robbery. He swore then that he would be avenged. He escaped. What can his presence here mean but disaster to our plans? His object is the same as our own—to meet the girl who stands between me and a royal fortune. It is an ill omen, Danton. I fdar, I tremble. ” “For a dead man!” scoffed Danton, Jeeringly; “for he is certainly dead this time.” “He may have friends near at hand.” “We can soon find that out. But no, no; he would not walk to his fate that way if he knew we were here or suspected our plans.” Danton turned from the spot “Vance,” he called, to one of the men. “What is it?” asked the person addressed. “You visited the station?” “Yes.” "There was no one there?” “No one but the agent.” “You are sure?" “Positive ” “Go there again and roconnoiter. If f there are anr others arrived since we came, return and report at once. ” “All right” , Danton returned to the leader's side, who bad walked away from the place where Ranger Ralph lay. . “Everything for the wreck,

(Captain,” he said to Despard. “As to yonder enemy—ranger, dective and vigilante—the blow with the iron bar has settled him. You are sure the girl will be on the tra n. ” “Inez?” “Yes.” “Of course she will I received positive information. Remember, Danton, that she is of more value to us than the booty. ” “That's all right. You and I will look out for the girl, and the others for the booty. But if she should be killed?” “Then I benefit just so much, that’s all," replied Despard, coolly. “What makes me uneasy is Ranger Ralph’s appearance uere. ” “Why so?" "Because he was one of her dead father’s companions. ” “Well?” “Inez’s father was one of his old-time friends. He probably warned hlii of his renegade relative. * “Yourself?” “Exactly. If so, even if the girl were dead, my claim might be disputed, or my past record would prevent my appearing to secure the fortune. No, Danton, the only way is to get possession of the girl; and I love her just enough to want to marry her. Your men insisted on a wreck to secure what booty the train had. I take the chances of the accident killing the girl. At all events, she must be secured by us, or her death assured before the night is over. ” “You are a relative of Robert Tracey, her father?” “A distant one—but tho only one after her.” “And the fortune?” “Is a mystery, in a way, and was left by Tracey in possession of an old recluse known as Hermit Ren. The story is too complicated a one to relate now. Remember, the girl is our especial care; when the disaster comes, search for her.” “All right, Despard. Let us get with the boys. The train will be due now in a short time. ” The' two men moved some distance away, to where an obstruction consisting of logs, rocks and iron bad been piled on the track. At that moment the man Vance, whom Danton had sent to the depot, returned. “Well?” asked the latter. “No ono there but the depot agent. ” “And the man we had to setile yonder?” “I guess he had just arrived, for two horses were standing outside the station. I cut them loose for fear of accidents. ” “Two!” whispered Despard, in an intense tone to Danton. “Do you hear?” “Yes. ” “Ranger Ralph expected someone on the train. ” “Evidently. ” “And that one was the girl who is the object of all our plots—lnez Tracey.” CHAPTER IE TOO LATE. “The scoundrels! Dyke Despard, my score against you—deeper than ever, for this cowardly act—will be a terrible one when your day of reckoning comes!” The words emanated in a pained, gasping tone of voice from the spot where a few minutes previous they had, to all seeming, viewed the dead form of Ranger Ralph, the border scout and detective. Ranger Ralph himself spoke, but his haggard face and pain-stricken eyes told that the blow Despard had dealt him was a terrible one in its effects. Under it he had gone down like a shot. Utter insensibility had finally given way to dawning consciousness, but so feeble and confused tha’ he could scarcely raise himself on one arm. The blood from a ghastly wound on the head deluged his face and showed £ deep gash that would leave a scar to his dying day. His head was dizzy, his sight blinded, his strength see'med leaving him. He essayed to arise, and then, with a groan, fell back exhausted. Suddemv every nerve seemed to thrill to quickened action, and he forget his wound and his helplessness for the moment “The trai»!” he gasped, wildly. “I had forgotten it. Oh, these villains! They have piled an Sbstruction on the track. Too plainly I see Dyke Despard’s plot The girl—lnez. He knew she was coming here, and tyith his renegade associates seeks to prevent her appearing to claim the fortune her father left her. I must prevent this awful crime. I must save the life of the child of my old friend, who intrusted her to my care. What shall I do? Singlehanded, I cannot cope with these armed ruffians* There is but one man at the depot, but he may be able to telegraph for aid or stop the train. Ah, it is useless. That blow has robbed me of my strength. ” Ranger Ralph spoke these last words in a despairing tone, for a second effort to rise proved futile “I’ll crawl to the depot, b'ut I’ll outwit these scoundrels," he muttered grimly, a moment later. He was outside the range of the vision of the men grouped on the tracks twenty feet away, and besides they paid no further attention to the foe they believed to be dead Slowly, painfully, Ranger i Ralph began to creep through the under- ■ brush. It was a terrible task for his enervated frame, but he finally saw in the distance the single signal lamp of the station. . Precious moments were slipping by; ho realized this, and the thought nerved him to renewed effort Ten minutes later the single occupant of the station, a young, handsome naan of about twenty years, started from reading a paper as a suspicious sound echoed from the direction of the door. His hand sought the revolver at his belt, as he remembered the perils of the times, but dropped it to his side, and he uttered an amazed cry as his glance fell upon the strange figure that filled the doorway a moment later. “Great heavens, man!” hecried; “what does this mean?” He stood staring in blank horror at tho blood-covered form of Ranger Ralph, who had crept over the threshold. “Help me to a chair, quick!” gasped the almost exhausted scout “You are injured—you have fallen!” “No! I have been the victim of a cowardly and brutal assault” “Where—by whom?” He bad lifted tho scout to a chair and was trembling with excitement as he discerned some mastery in the manner of his visitor. The latter did not answer his question directly. Instead, his eyes, falling on a clock within a railed inclosure of the depot he asked tumultuously: “The train —when will it arrive?” “It is due in ten minutes. ” “Stop it!” “Stop it?” cried the other. “Why, man! what do you mean?” “What I say!” cried Ranger Ralph, wildly. “Don’t waste time with idle questions. A hundred lives lie on the turn of a moment of time. Telegraph ahead and have the train stopped!” “Impossible!” “Why?” “Because it has already passed the last station. ” Ranger Ralph uttered a groan of despair. “Then secure aid and hasten to the curve!” he cried. “Explain yourself. Why are you so incoherent —so excited? There is danger?” “Terrible danger." “From whom?” . “Train wreckers." #,

The young man started violently. “It cannot bo!” he cried- “ Yes, there are six of them, led by Dyke Despard, a notorious outlaw. Is there no ono near?” “No one. Rouse yourself, man. Together we may be able to dispesse these scoundrels. ” “Impossible. I could not walk a step unaided. * The other hastened to a window and looked out toward the south “The depot agent will arrive shortly," he said, in hurried, anxious tones “Are you not the agent?” asked Ranger Ralph, in some surprise. “No; I was waiting for the train here. He has a sick family at his home, five miles from here, and asked mo to take charge while he took some medicine over to them. But he said he would return before the train arrived. ” “And before then it may be too late to' stop the train. Oh, cannot something be done!” With his helpleosness, delay, and inaotlon was torture to Ranger Ralph. “A signal!” cried his companion, suddenly; “I will outwit these scoundrels. Quick, now, tell me where they Are. ” In brief but graphic language the scout imparted the desired information. The other listened with the closest attention and interest, his eyes gleaming with latent excitement and courageous determination. When the recital was concluded he sprang to the projecting window where the depot lantern was Ranger Ralph watched him cautiously as he saw him extinguish the lantern. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “Signal and stop the train. ” “How?” “With this lantern. ” “You cannot pass the wreckers. ” “I must and will. Once beyond them, I will relight the lantern, and hasten on until I»meet the train. ” “Hasten, for heaven’s sake!” cried the scont, in imploring tones. “See! the train is almost now due.” Without another word, the young man sprang through tho doorway, tho unlighted lantern in one hand, a revolver in the other. [to be continued, j