Klondike Kit's Chum, or, A Hot Strike on Vulture Hill — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

. 4 a c * wr ose ‘Notbilig serious” replied Kit, ‘Cand only shady enough to be interesting.’ Several passengers were lounging around the deck. ; | One or two of these carried rifles in their hands and were otherwise well- armed. As almost every one in that section knew Kit, they all crowded around him and attempted to find out what had hap- pened. w While they were pressing the youth with questions, a yell came from the up- per deck. By leaning out over the side of the boat Kit was able to see what was taking place above and the sight that met his eyes filled him with momentary consternation. Two men only were to be seen on the upper deck, and these were Sim Hender- son and Phil Courtenay. They were battling furiously on the after part rof the boat, with the big, re- volving paddle wheel directly beneath them. Courtenay, as could plainly be seen, ‘was no match for Henderson, and the big | fellow was forcing him inch by inch, toward the edge of the deck. | It was Henderson’s evident intention to drop his youthful antagonist upon the ‘revolving wheel, where his fate would be swift and certain. See Already was Courtenay being bent back ward-over the churning paddles, and -1t seemed every instant as though he must lose his footing and fall. Catching a rifle out of the hands of a inan standing near him, Kit ran back- ward along tle deck-and out upon one of the timbers that*projected from the stern and supported the wheel. _ “ex : Water was dashed over him in bucket- fulls, and the shaking timber beneath his feet made a steady foothold almost im- Pogelbls. ee a ’ —o ie Se Fe ret a‘. i J nage ‘4 . - = KLONDIKE KIT WEEKLY. -REMEMBER THE MAINE AND PAGE 32. : : . . * > “Break away, HEnderson. he yelled. The big fellow, however, paid no at- tention to the command, and the young gold-hunter brought the rifle to his shoulder. ‘Break away, I tell you!’’ shouted Kit, balancing himself in his perilous position ; ‘‘last call!’ : : There was still no movement on the part of Henderson in answer to the stern suinmons. Realizing that his chum’s life depended upon his quickness, Kit did not voice: another command, but, pulled the trigger. Henderson howled with pain, his right arm dropped helplessly to his side, and Courtenay regained his foothold with an effort and hurled him back. ; At that precise instant there came a loud yell from Dutchy. ‘‘Shtop, or I plaze avay at you! Don’ t you throw dot! Don’t you——’’. Kit looked in the direction from which came the sound of Karl’s voice. The Dutchman had found the pro- fessor, and the latter had rushed to the steamer’s side. An instant later and his patent cradle had been tossed into the river. Kit saw it floating in the water-and he threw down his gun and sprang after it. . The captain was watching the youth and he once more reversed his engines while Bottleneck Bill picked up a coil of rope and threw one end of it to Kit. ‘All right, Bill,’’? said Kit, managing to make the rope fast to the rocker, ‘‘haul in the cradle and never mind ine!’ While Bill was hauling in the box, Kit swain to the steamer and climbed over the side. ~~ i. coin . ¥ . | Ss ris ? ee ; ‘ > J - ‘ee \ Mee xi oo Seat Pn: ” 7 ~’ ~eo% a - ~ ft i3pAty a Re eee Oe COME DOSE. com