Yellowstone Jack: Trappers of the Enchanted Ground — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

* ° . ° j <* ‘ A (Pe ahd 0’ my teeth. It was a year or more ore I Yarnt Kalloch was still livin’. lve yes s on him until this day”: “A solemncholly story, but i dene t * prov ve me to be the feller you're lookin’ Pi ghictly observed the outlaw. a Litt up the ha’r overy ur left ear. Ef thar r ain’é the mark o’ a skelpin’-knife, hen. _ you ain't Zene Kalloch,” gritted ‘ i ) Harris, leaping forward and elutch- in 1g the long black locks. _ A simultaneous ery broke econ the vealed. But before one of their number ie ae raise a hand, a long bladed knife hed in the air and was buried to the as ry hilt in the trapper’s throat. BS OO That my answer, Bob Harris—curse ye , 3 !’ cried Mat Mole, as he freed his hair : Pea darted away from the waggons, run- a ning along the pass swiftly as a mountain | goat, leaping from sido to side to avoid iy. 5 Pig bullets, that were hastily sent afier ap a m 5 aie | mer The etakar: mountaineer sank to the ba round, a frothy blood oozing from his _ lips as he gasped : “Heaven's curse rest on him for ever! ie he’s killed me, too. Mary—sister—I a am sift —coming—com—ah i of ae His pew HDD: He was dead, Bi » 7 .. wre gHE five trappers stared in open- mouthed amazement. For the moment they appeared incapable of either motion or speech. The fall of :: their comrade, the abrupt disappearance of the weird woman and her beautiful oe ommpanion, held them spellbound. Yellow- | 1 ate sone J ack was the one who first cast off | it 3 peculiar sensation of awe. “ Gone in swimmin’, I reckon, boys; ‘Ie 7 see the fun,” he muttered, with a | 2 ‘sickly smile, ss he firmly advanced to- ‘ward the mysterious boiling spring. {P: ‘This: action fully proved his courage oe more plainly than if he had charged a | ‘e. jar-party of Blackfeet Indians single- # nanded. Yellowstone Jack was super- nit stitious, like all of his class. He plated 3s r phe faith in “ medicine,” good and Ra 3: Py yy 2a fi mped te, oar an’ oe away by the inted. bim ever since—but never Bab, mig a as the tell-tale scar was re- _ ERGEND OF THE MEDICINE SPRING. bad. He believed in spirits, in snacins zs and hob Beob ne) just as hedid in powder, — steel. Yet he strode forward lead, an 118% and "quickly scaled the curious-looking spring. parapet or “ curb ’ that surrounded the The basin was nearly circular, roa ie twenty-five feet in diameter at the widest part. The water was almost per= — fectly transparent. Yellowstone Jack could look down into the beautiful ultra- basin. The sides wers ornamented with — coral-like forms of a great variety of shades, from pure white to a bright chrome yellow, while the blue sky re- Inarine depth to the very bottom of the : : flected in the transparent water gave an__ azure tint to the whole far surpassing art, Near the centre of the basin, the water was in a state of ebullition, form-— ing a miniature fountain, some three feet in height. Around this the water sparkled and effervesced something simi- lar to, though in a lesser degree, the far- famed Soda | Springs of Bitter Root river. — A thin vapour hovered over this spot, and the water really had the appearance of boiling. “ What's the sion, Yellowstone P” called out Brindle Joe. “You kin come up. They've pucka- Fee cheed—but fow? That gits me!” “Spooks is spooks, an’ so’s medicine,” quoth Hoosier, uncovering his head with an action that was almost reverence. “This is a big medicine spring. Wiest good ‘d it be ‘ithout its sperits? Thi one ’s got two, I reckon.” 2d They handled thar bow-arrers power- ful like human eritters though. I didn’t know sperits needed to use sech things. An’ yit, whar kin’ they ” a’ gone? We kin seo the sides an’ the bottom, every inch. Thar ain’t no hole ‘cept that one at the bottom whar the water bubbles up, an’ it ain’t big es a man’s fist. mortal critter kedn’t go through that. They jumped 1 iD, an’ they didn’t git ont I reckon you're right, Hoosier—we'ye see’d the ag in, or wed ’a’ see’d em. sperits 0’ “the Medicine Spring,” muttered Yellowstone Jack, A gravely ‘Did ary one o’ ye notice thar right paws?” suddenly put in Heely Hank, “This is the place whar old Black Harris kem to make: mecicine that time !’ Thetrappersinterchanged quick glances, The lines upon their weather-beaten faces deepened, The expression of awe now (EO) m (E 0)(0)(0) <S (C(O) »