* * * * *

On the following morning it was discovered that the road-agents and their daring leader, together with the no less heroic Calamity Jane, had left the valley—­gone; whither, no one knew.

About a month later, one day when Calamity Jane was watering her horse at the stream, two miles above Deadwood, the road-agent chief rode out of the chaparral and joined her.

He was still masked, well armed, and looking every inch a Prince of the Road.

“Jennie,” he said, reining in his steed, “I am lonely and want a companion to keep me company through life.  You have no one but yourself; our spirits and general temperament agree.  Will you marry me and become my queen?”

“No!” said the girl, haughtily, sternly.  “I have had all the man I care for.  We can be friends, Dick; more we can never be!”

“Very well, Jennie; I rec’on it is destined that I shall live single.  At any rate, I’ll never take a refusal from another woman.  Yes, gal, we’ll be friends, if nothing more.”

* * * * *

There is little more to add.

We might write at length, but choose a few words to end this o’er true romance of life in the Black Hills.

McKenzie and Anita were remarried in Deadwood, and at the same time Redburn led Alice Terry to the altar, which consummation the “General” avowed was “more or less of a good thing—­consider’bly less o’ more ‘n’ more o’ less.”

Through eastern lawyers, a settlement of the Harris affairs was effected, the whole of the property being turned over to Anita, thereby placing her and Fearless Frank above want for a lifetime.

Therefore they gave up their interest in the Flower Pocket mines to Redburn and the “General.”

Calamity Jane is still in the Hills.

And grim and uncommunicative, there roams through the country of gold a youth in black, at the head of a bold lawless gang of road-riders, who, from his unequaled daring, has won and rightly deserves the name—­Deadwood Dick, Prince of the Road.

THE END.

* * * * *

=Edward L. Wheeler’s=

=Deadwood Dick Novels=

IN

=Beadle’s Half-Dime Library.=

* * * * *

1.  Deadwood Dick; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills.

20.  The Double Daggers; or, Deadwood Dick’s Defiance.

28.  Buffalo Ben; or, Deadwood Dick in Disguise.

35.  Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Duval; or, The Brotherhood of Death.

42.  The Phantom Miner; or, Deadwood Dick’s Bonanza.

49.  Omaha Oll; or, Deadwood Dick in Danger.

75.  Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; or, The Pards of Flood Bar.

73.  Deadwood Dick on Deck; or, Calamity Jane, the Heroine of Whoop-Up.

77.  Corduroy Charlie; or, The Last Act of Deadwood Dick.