Yellowstone Jack: Trappers of the Enchanted Ground — page 53: what you’re looking at

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

f ae, beget the skin. “ “What does it if an Parte san: are SAE SER ‘The Blackfeet area your trail. To-night they will attack OD. Your only hope is in instant es From y 4 jae well.” | 7 be he i ded Jack Kk. ae ¢ AThat’s a question you can answer as Dell. asI. But why do you ask?” de- manded Warren, curiously. “WNothin’—never mind. The galsfust, -reckon. 1 move that we take a look 4 ~ owt kenyon.” | 3 _ Warren turned pale as death, for he hte ought. Indeed, it was possible that the g lost o ones had been swept from the rock the fearful tempest. € ed no other solution to the mys- ery. Had they left the spot by any sy “other, way, surely the keen-eyed scouts would have detected some signs of a (ball. And there was none to be found. “Look yender!” muttered Brindle y Z Joe, after they had traversed something ae a mile. “See that varmint, by the (ak Sa ambly pine on the rock. I cin drap a i from hyar,” and he handled his rifle | | eas rly. Don't be a fool, Joe; we don’t want 4 e hull kit on our ‘backs, when we get in A an Be onye Mustn’t burn powder ef it _ kin be helped, mind that.” i oa “ Yellowstone i is right. Kf our own masters now, until this matter is a . fairly settled. _ time enough for paying off old scores. I ( ae t nk we can manage to pass by without ee cing: discovered ; if not, then leave him a pod ome,” said Campbell. | 3 ce Insingle file the quartette glided along, _ taking advantage of every rock and bus _ toscreen themselves from the roving gaze | of the: Savage perched upon the pomt of ih rocks, This manceuvering consumed ap ken but it was finally successful, and iy! ‘then, when the look-out was safely passed, our friends increased their pace, By and soon reached a point where they ONaped descend into the canyon. — At some distant age, this canyon had 4 " evidently been the channel of some s0werful stream. The sides of rock Were worn and eaten curiously, and Be ‘some of the larger boulders that thickly ‘t irewed the bed were worn smooth and a ound, Others had more sania fallen ’ Bea iy ee pr 4 OAMPBELL cours A cour, | cacy Wagdiiag ected poke Wan 4 -sperrit: write Y abruptly do- | wi 801 id not help but read the trapper’s And there We are not After that there wiil be -— from the heights above, and were still. rough and jagged. trees, — There was a thin — deposit of sand and earth along the bed, and this had, in places, given growth to shrubs, vines, and even goodly sized — oe “We could play hide-an’-hunt-us hyar, wi the hull Blackfoot tribe fer a month — o’ Sundays,’ observed Brindle Joo, curiously noting some of the coverts. “ Ontel they'd roast us out, you mean. | This stuff ‘d burn lke ereasewood, in a fa'r breeze.” _ A low exclamation from Campbell, who was afew yards in advance, inter-_ rupted the trapper. He was bending over 2 bloodstained rock that had parte 2 dried. mii Sign —and it came ee up there,” he slowly said, pointing upward, where | the bent and broken branches of the tree lent emphasis to his words. “Can't be; thar’s no gittin’ within halfa mile o’ the edge up thar,” posi E tively returned Jack. “Yes there is; I know a trail that would lead one ‘right above us, though ‘twould require strony nerves, and a | steady hand. And some one has tried it, as you see.” “Must ’a’ bin the devil, then, fer no human critter could fall down frum thar an’ live ater. Yit hyar’s a trail, one a blind man could foller,” retorted Bandi Z Joe, pointing to a few drops of blood that his keen eye had discovered, leading away from the spot. Campbeljl and Yellowstone eager ly bent over the trail, and Warren waited for their verdict ‘with beating heart, Yet it did not seem possible that his lost ones could have reached this spot. “We'll see where it leads, anyway. Brindle Joe, will you trail, or shall I 2? uttered Campbell. “You lead; we'll kiver you: may be varmints at t’other end o’ this. Old man, you kinder keep ahind, so’s not to spile the trail. Now, stranger, spread y urself.” But Campbell found little. difficulty in following the trail. The blood-drops were never more than a yard apart, sometimes even closer, and a far less ex- perienced eye thar his would have sufficed for the task. ‘Bleeds like a stuck pig,” Brindle Joe. “Must be a healthy critter, to walk so routtered Thar CECOLAN) KS a(CO) Ghoe