Beadle's Dime Novels No. 153: Mohawk Nat — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

Oe - A mene weet De ay a THE PRECIPICE. 37 CHAPTER V. BLACKWING, THE ONEIDA. Lewis was trained to adventure, and was not a man to shrink from danger, even though unexpectedly forced to face it alone. The desertion of his companions, while it annoyed him and disconcerted his plans somewhat, did not appall him. Upon a second view, it seemed to him that he could do more for his companion alone than the whole party could His plan was to find out first the position and number of his foes, and whether Nat was really in their power; then to release him by cunning, since force could be of no avail. The cries whieh he*had heard served ‘to show the direction in which he might expect to find the band, and he set out on his perilous task. Experience tanght him that a dangerous = is rarely sought by men in ordinary travel, and the more difficult the path he took the less likely he was to fall in withthe savages before he was ready to meet them. Like Nat, he knew the ground well, and not the savages themselycs The river at that point, and for miles to the south and éast, flowed | between ‘high limestone ledges, towering grandly on either side. But, along the face of the bluffs, on the northern side, ran @ narrow shelf, wide enough, however, fora man to puss safely, with ordinary Care, at most points. But now and then a place could be folind where a misstep would be death. The body of the adventurer would ‘fall fifty feet upon the Jagged rocks below, and once there, it was simply impossible to climb the perpendicular wall rising high above. ‘No one knew the risks incurred better than Lewis, but he determined to encounter them. Lowering himself upon the ledge with reat care, he went forward stooping, his hands always ready to grasp the projections ‘of the rocks, to save himself if he stumbled. Above his head hung’ the stone bluff; below him Tan the dark river ; while up the stream he caught the gleam 153 2 comliclooks.conn