Beadle's Dime Novels No. 213: Squatter Dick — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

THE RENDEZVQUS. 12 CHAPTER IL A SHOT AND A CHASE, Ir was a clear moonlight night, seyeral days after that on which our tale opened. Tie moon was near its full, and cast @ flood of light over the earth that rendered objects in all the open tracts as visible as though it were noonday. Butin the swamp and beneath the shelter of the taller trees, the dense gloom defied the power of the night-queen, and cast its sable mantle in deep contrast to the lighter spots around. One of these dense clumps of trees, we now bave to deal with. It-was situated in the heart of a swamp, and for sume thirty yards upon every side, it was encircled by a deep pool of water. In fact,it. was am island, of perhaps a hundred yards in diameter. Severul stately, pines towered aloft in:the center, surrounded by treesof smaller growth, and quantities of alinost impenetrable undergrowth, One might have passed and repassed the island, without so much as suspecting the existence of a house in that lone, wild spot. But such there was, and many a strange scene, as well as hideous orgie, ad been witnessed by the old moss- covered logs that formed the four sides of the one large room. Tv was, in fact, the secret rendezvous: of the bandit brothers ; those introduced as. the “ Keady boys.” It was here that they met to form plans of rapine and plunder, and it was here that the stolen articles were stowed, until, they. could be. di- vided or favorably disposed of _ Great.precautions were taken to avoid SPONTT of their retreat, and, their. reason, for, this was, that, as, Mat _Keedy said ::* Tory. gold "ll buy just as.much and. good things as * Whig money,” and hence. they were in bad odor with all ., Classes, All was fish that came to their net.. Numerous per- suns -had sworn to, bunt Shem down, and once captured, “short shrift and a, long rope,” wus,awarded them. Still, their band increased, until now they numbered over forty men, the offscourings of the country. ~ — conmicloookks.conn