Yellowstone Jack: Trappers of the Enchanted Ground — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

ee followed ee even though m ‘my{ trail led to En _ Hades: itself! Ugh! how my _ blood aa chilled when I first. met thoseeyes? And ‘Nat Thad believed him wiped out, years since. Well, he’s taken up the long trail at last. I wish the fiend joy of his bar- OR gain! Ha! I forget Warren; what if I should meet them coming back? What oy st story could I tell them ? If I could only “ig ~ tell which pass they took.” Hein - Mat Mole closely inspected the rocky ground, but found nothing to guide him 4, with certainty. The snow had_ been swept clear by the wind, the hailstones 3 had nearly all melted. True, he found _ places where hoofs had scratched the Bi rocky ground, but these were in both _ divisions alike. | “Well, I will risk this one,” he finally E W acnided., fearing to delay longer, “Itis aun) the ‘shortest, and even if they took it, Mae I may reach open ground before they ba come back.” ios Had: he chosen the ‘upper pass, Mat i} — Mole would have come in contact with Gi, As it was he chose the lower, thus following direct upon the trail of John oe Warren and his party. “Curse that Chris Camp! why did he i a go. off when I told him—but I could not } a to ee Be have told what I wanted, anyhow, so after all it don’t matter. ‘Yet, ‘twas a ey glorious day’s work! the Bost I ever did, ‘since now IL know that infernal a riobdhound; isdead. *Twasn’t for nothing Ue ny dreaming of him so often of late; but Pil never again wake up with the i ras feeling of his iron fingers throttling me. Ugh! what fools men are sometimes. i 0 el! ust. see what bother and trouble that bit ke Yet what was. _ of nonsense has made me. she, after all?’ A dainty bit + flesh and blood, no more. If she had been free I he don't : suppose I’d have given her a second thought; but I wanted ‘to spoil that iy good-natured fool’s happiness. must have thought a heap of her, to go ee crazy over it! But there, confound it Ss all! how the subject does run in my brain—I can’t drive it away. Because of that big brute, Harris, I suppose.” a The outlaw seemed <lesitous of for- ein the matter, and muttered to Wa himself of a dozen different things, but ‘We _ the: memory could not be entirely banished ee curse it as he might. Was it a presenti- - ment—a shadow “cast upon his spirit by ih, what the future had in store ? ap | ‘THE wiTcH OF THE Yet he BOILING SPRING. As he reached the mouth of the pass, Mat Mole heard the click of a hoof upon — rocks, and glancing hastily to the left, saw a number of horsemen riding towar d him, though still at a considerable dis- tance. He recognized the party of emigrants, and crouching low down, ran swiftly away, taking a ledge that he believed would carry him far beyond — reach of the mounted men, even if he should be discovered. But a few mo- ee ments showed him that the ledge abr uptly 4G ended. Seemingly a portion of the rock had been broken off during the storm by. a boulder falling from the heights above. The hoof-strokes sounded louder, and served to sharpen his wits. he glanced. over the ledge. A light filled his eyes. Clutechmg a point of rock, he quickly lowered himself over the edge. Clinging thus for a moment, he dropped lightly, and then cautiously — stole along a narrow trail until hidden round a slight bend. “Tf they feel like following me now, all right, My men will have a few less to deal with to-night,” chuckled the bandit, looking to the caps of bis revolvers. But Mole had deceived himself. The horsemen had not observed him, and rode on, the sound of their animals’ hoofs rapidly dying away in the distance. Yet Mole did not retrace his steps. He crouched there upon the rocks shielded upon both sides by jutting pomts over which he could peer if necessary. He _seemed deep buried in thought, and the © minutes gradually grew into hours un- heeded. Then the outlaw awoke to a sensb of his surroundings. had met his ear. He glanced quickly over the point of rock, and a wild glitter filled his eyes. Ii ever human being was possessed of the devil, Mat Mole was s that man then. A. horrible expression dis- torted his face; hatred, revenge, veno- © mous delight—all sathered into one writhing, working mask, | Quick as thought he lifted his rifle and | fired. A horrible shriek followed, then a dull crashing sound as a dark body plunged swiftly down the depth. _ Crouching down below the rock, the outlaw uttered a shrill, peculiar whoop, the same that had so startled the Night- walker, earlicr in the day, the war- EONMIC OOO KS,COnA . ‘ . *- To retreat — would be to court a collision that would — ie be awkward, to say the least. Stooping, nae bright A suspicious sound