Old Shadow Shot — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

THE FIGHT IN THE CAVE, to see the occupants of the cave, leaned over for that purpose. His evil eye saw Captain Dave sitting bolt- upright on the cot, pointing the pistol at Cap- tain Rough. . Violet, the girl, was not to be seen. Such scenes excited Sharp Knife ; his dark eyes flashed. He heard Rough appeal for mercy, when _ he found the tables suddenly turned on him, and then the laugh of derision which greeted it. He saw the blood-besmeared face of his reckless leader, and fastened his wicked eye upon Rough, whom he believed the perpetrator of the deed. To see an enemy of Captain Dave meant to Sharp Knife an attack, and with a half tigerish cry he executed a dexterous somer- sault which landed him upon the unsuspect- ing man. . Rough uttered a_ startling cry, and staggered back; but the savage kept his hold and bore him back. “Sharp Knife!” exclaimed Captain Dave, with surprise; but the Crow did not hear; he wanted to finish the man who had, he be- lieved, wounded his master. Rough was a man of splendid physique, and, as a wrestler, a match for any naked Indian in the then wilds of the “ Badger State.” He succeeded by a sudden display of dexterity in grappling with the brave, and putting himself on an equal footing with the adversary. He twisted the assassin’s wrist until with a cry of pain the redskin was obliged to relin- quish the knife, which fell to the ground. Vainly trying to trip each other, the two athletes struggled for the mastery in the presence of the single spectator who watched the combat, unable to rise to lend a helping hand to the redskin. But Captain Dave watched for a chance when he might suddenly raise the pistol, and render victory certain for the Crow. At last Captain Rough, by a master stroke, which Sharp Knife had thwarted several times, succeeded in grasping the Indian's throat. His great hand closed like an instru- ment of inquisitorial torture om the redskin, and he saw the flashing eyes grow deathly and roll wildly in their sockets. Captain Dave observed the advantage and greeted it with an oath. But he could not help his tool, for Captain Rough stubbornly kept his body between him and the cot. Rough was in his element—the power to display his brutality. A child could have released Sharp Knife’s hold on his antagonist, as the death-grip tightened. His hands fell limp and power- 25 less at his side ; he was gasping like a dying man. . “You thought you were too much for Cap- tain Rough, eh?” cried the victor. “By George! I guess you've grappled your last man, Mr. Sharp Knife! Why, I used to knock men bigger than you clean over the ropes at Aug’s. I’m no boy. I haven't for- gotten science, if I am in the woods of Wis- consin !” Of course the Indian could not reply. “Look out, Captain Dave!” he suddenly cried, glancing over the Indian’s shoulder at the white-faced man who in his inability to rise was actually frothing at the mouth. “Here comes a thunderbolt that I hope will finish you.” ~ All at once Captain Rough stepped back, dragging Sharp Kuife after him by main force, and then gathering all his prodigious strength, he threw the limp body straight at the White Vulture. It is true that two feeble hands were lifted to stay the singular bolt of war; but they might as well have been kept down. The bolt went straight to the target. Sharp Knife fell heavily upon the Apollo of the forest, crushing him back upon the cot, and there both lay like dead men, silent and motionless. “Tt didn’t take much to crush out what little life was left in you, Captain Dave !” the train commander said, with brutish triumph. “T guess I can hunt the girl up now without your meddlesome interference. There's some good stuff in you, Captain Dave; but a man couldn’t always trust you out of his sight. The boy! Oh, I'll give him a bullet —but the girl—she’s worth fifty thousand dollars to me, or to any man who knows what I do.” Without haste, Rough proceeded to arm himself with Captain Dave's rifle and a plentiful supply of ammunition, and then deliberately left thé cavern. His feet sounded for a time on the gravelly shore, and after a while a man mounted ona fine horse ascended slowly to the forest above. Captain Rough was at large again, with murder and avarice filling his heart and urging him on. “Plenty of money and the position of nabob among the boys again!” he muttered, as he rode along. He did not note the movement of life that manifested itself in the cave-home. He was far away and did not dream of it. Feeble arms, but determined ones, rolleé Sharp Knife to the edge of the cot of skins, and the flashing of Captain Dave’s eyes be- came apparent once more. They glanced wildly around, the apartment, and gleamed CONMUIC WOOK 5 CO)