Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 157 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 157: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose from the penny dreadful "Troupe" (page 141). The text describes an action sequence in which the character Troupe and his companion Unaka ambush armed Tory soldiers sheltering in a mountain cavern. They trick the soldiers into surrendering by claiming authority from the Governor of Virginia, and when one man fires and wounds Troupe in the arm, Troupe shoots him dead. The soldiers disarm without further resistance, though one attempts to resist during their forced march down the mountain. The passage ends noting that Troupe's wound is bleeding and poses a danger.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TROUPE IAI which placed the picket between his two unseen foes. Directly the dawdling clodhopper— by the way he had an eye like a fish hawk and the courage of the Devil — dis- covered a moving object in the bushes. “Halt, thar!” An Indian, his hands above his head, had come out of the “bresh.”” He stood still, answering the challenge in Cherokee. With leveled musket the Tory advanced on his prisoner. But what was that shadow at the picket’s back? It slid from tree to tree, with the trained lightness of a ballroom foot. It followed — it fell upon him! Leaving the picket where he had dropped him, Troupe ran forward. “Now for it, son of Going Snake!’”? They blundered through a black, stifling passage, halting when warned by noise and light. They spied upon the smoky, ill-smelling interior. Pine cones blazed in old fire-buckets; and a good many torches were held by men. The other men were grooming and saddling horses. “Keep close to me, Unaka. Shoot to kill. Come!” Unaka’s rifle held ready to swing to his shoulder, Troupe with a pistol in either hand, they glided from the passage into the great chamber of the cavern. “Throw down your arms!” yelled the officer. “Down with your arms!— and your lives will be spared. In the name of the Governor of Virginia!”’ So complete was the surprise, there was a second of stupefaction. A man sprang to his feet, and fired. The bullet passed through Troupe’s arm. [roupe shot him dead. The victim sprawled forward and lay in the midst of the bunch. “Down with your arms! File out!” Not another gun was fired. When the disarmed Tories discovered they had been taken by a bold ruse, — that two men had forced them to lay down their arms, — re- sistance was impossible. Only one man tried it, as they were marched in a body down the mountain; and Unaka’s aim was good. But Troupe’s wound was a menace. His arm was bleed- CORNICIOO eS (E©) m