The Maid of the Mountain — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

_ No @HosT. 49 “That I can’t tell, You don’t suppose the Mexican was & ghost, do you?—and he is as completely hidden as the girl,” ~~ “ Thet’s so, cap.,” said the map, brightening. “ He wa’n’t & ghost, sure; for he hollered right peart when we put the Straps on his thumbs. But whar ev they gone? Cun any one tell?” | “No, Bart: There is one other thing to prove that this wasn’t a ghost. She used a knife to cut the cords on that Mexican’s hand. A ghost wouldn’t have needed a knife to do that.” — “Right ag’in,” said Burt, completely relieved. “Then it stands to reason thet ef we hev to fight, we won’t hey to fight any thing but humans. I’m right glad of thet,I am. “You ~ know George Burt, don’t yer? He’s a hoss from old Ken- tuck. He ain’t afraid of no man thet ever put his foot in a moccasin. Thet’s his gait, Viet is; but, ghosts ain’t my kind. Pll fight a grizzly sooner. Say, cap., when are we goin’ to wade into these yer scalpers? I want to, anyhow. I’m jest epilin’ for a fight, Zam. Can't we raise a muss, somehow ?” “I shouldn’t wonder, Burt. But, first, we must find where “ Right enough, cap. pil andaedhens aan! “T intend to. You, Peters and Willis, must go forward and see if you can discover any trace of the miscreants, The moment you do so, return to us,” 1 “Thank you, cap. You know what a man wants, you do. Come along, boys. We'll find ’em, we will.” ) The rest of the band went back a little way on the plat- form, loaded their rifles, and sat down to wait for the return of the scouts, who entered the dark pass, They were three of the best men in the band—men who had fought Indians of every tribe, and the notches on whose rifle-stocks told of many scalps they had taken in their hard-fought battles. It must be remembered that the border-men of the West then had and still have many peculiarities borrowed from the In- dians. They are as ready to take scalps as the savages them- Selves. The men entered the pass with their weapons ready. Bart was the leader. They reached the brink of the preci- Pice, and paused, for ihey could go no further. connicloookks.conn