Jack and His Seven Foes — page 134: what you’re looking at

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JACK AND HIS SEVEN FOES. 125 “night with enn and a he had | * _ 4 = ? ws is no sin. - fallen asleep, they rifled his pockets, and walked off with his dollars. “We may want them,” said the Swageerer, “and stopping his journey 3 For three weeks they kept on, and each day found them with gathering courage. It was the old story over again. “At last a line of mountains ap- peared in the horizon, and Jim Black told them that bey ond lay Nevada. “We'll camp by ’em to-night,” he said, ‘‘and move through the Great Gap to-morrow. Then we can begin to look about us.” They laughed with elee, and, as they walked along, sang coarse songs, which they had picked up im Makepeace Jibber’s saloon in New York. And none enjoyed better spirits than the Sneezer. He had a voice like a cracked fiddle, and he gave his friends a pretty dose of it. As he only knew one song it soon became monotonous. “Til hit you over the head if you open your mouth with that song again,’ growled the Swaggerer; “ what the deuce have you to do with the ‘ Young May Moon’ ?” ‘““T didn’t write the song,” urged the Sneezer, “‘and I suppose there is such a thing as a young May moon—occasion- ally.” “ We don’t want it here,” Swageerer, and the vocalisation of the Sneezer ceased. But he was cheerful—very cheerful, and when they stopped for the night, he skipped about as he made the cooking arrangements. He had arranged everything when it | occurred to him that he wanted water | for the boiler. “ And I don’t see any,” he said. “You are sure to find a spring down the gor ge yonder,” said Jim Black ; and look for it.” TheSneezer facetiously shouldered the | _ boiler as if it had beena mighty burden, ee ’ and went off humming the tune that had s0 exasperated the Swaggerer. He plunged into the gorge, and dis- appeared. said the | ce oO 20 spoken to him, sight of the familiar Sneezer seated on the sround, and the. mutter and heap anathemas on his head. “We sha’n’t have supper to-night.” “ Perhaps there’s no water.” ‘‘ Plenty,” said Jim Black, “I can tell the signs of it. He’s found it nota quarter of a mile down.” “What’s he stopping for, then?” said the Panther. ‘I'll go and see.” With his pipe between his teeth, he lounged away, and was also lost to vlew. They waited for him a quarter of an hour, and he did not return. The _ minutes flew by, and close upon an hour had elapsed since the Sneezer departed, and nothing was seen of him or the Panther. ‘“What’s the meaning of this?” the Swageerer asked, pale as a spectre. “ Don’t know,” said Jim Black, with a lowering brow. “ You had better go and see.’ “Hadn’t we better go together P”’ ‘‘Confound you ! If you are afraid | to go alone, [’ll join you.” The Settler rose from his seat with an angry air, and hurried into the gorge. “Have your shooter ready,” said the | Settler, curtly. “T have it,” rephed the Swaggerer. Ere they had gone far, they came in fivures — the Panther standing beside him. No enemy was near, no sound or sign of conflict. The Settler laughed outright. “Dm going back,” said the former. The Swaggerer, now that there was and the Swaggerer no visible danger, decided to go on alone. But as he drew nearer he saw that something was wrong. The Sneezer’s | face was ~ deathly white, and his eyes | glaring. He did not appear to be conscious of the presence of his com- panion. ‘What's the matter with him?” the Swaggerer asked. «“T don’t know,” replied the Panther. “T found him as you seehim now. I’ve shaken him, cursed him, but he takes no notice of me.’ They waited nearly half-an-hour, and | he did not return. Then they began to “To-morrow,” said the neezer, vacantly, ‘* to- morrow !” “There, that’s how he’s been going CORNIELOOO (C cS (E©) m