Rocky Mountain Sam — page 134: what you’re looking at

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

_ ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAM. | 125 snatched her up and bore her to the little house, into which he unceremoniously thrust her, closing the door, and ap- parently fastening it on the outside, and then dodging be- hind a tree in order to escape from the unerring marksman- ship that had proved so fatal to his comrade. His companions had also run to cover, and the trees growing too thickly for the balloon to operate successfully against them, the aeronauts found themselves at a loss to know what to do. | ‘“We're euchered for the present, that is certain,” said the professor, rubbing his bald head meditatively. ‘‘You see if either one of us should venture upon the ground, he would be sure to be picked off by one of those devils in the timber.” “Well,” said Sam, throwing out a line and grapnel, ‘‘we can anyway slash around a bit, an’ not let ’em forget we're about the ranch.” As he spoke he caught the peak of one of the rickety lodges with his grapnel and jerked it up in the air, revealing one of the squaws cowering upon the ground, with her baby in her arms, both of them apparently half-dead with affright. Having tossed the wigwam endwise into the running brook, he jerked up another, and still another, in much the same manner, until they were all unroofed, revealing in one instance; besides the four squaws huddled together, a gréat copper kettle, filled with some sort of soup, which was sim- mering and steaming over a slow fire. Having caught the handle of this with his grappling-iron, the discharge of a littie ballast enabled him to empty its contents through the tree-tops, in the hope of scalding out one or more of the skulkers underneath. He was apparently successful, for there was a sudden squeal, followed by one of the redskins staggering into view shrugging and rubbing his bare shoulders at a great rate; and before he could regain the cover of the timber Sam had dropped the line, brought his gun to the shoulder, and the Indian was sped on his way to the happy hunting grounds, «Two out of four ain’t bad, considerin’ we ain't been at it over half-an-hour,” said Sam. “Ah, if we could only lift up that little house into which they’ve locked the lady, it | would be something like, wouldn't it?” “Yes; but, of course, it must be fastened to the ground,” said the professor. ‘‘Nevertheless, | can see the captive GComicboo €oO m :