Beadle's Dime Novels No. 214: The Forest Monster — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

cs THE FOREST MONSTER. |. done under similar circumstances, might be lying in wait out- side until the trappers should walk into the ambush. So it was arranged. that old Stebbins and Teddy O'Doherty should remain where they were, or rather should retreat into the darkness of the cavern, and await the return of their com- rade from his reconnoissance. Black Tom moved away with the silence and stealth that had Characterized his» approach: to an Indian camp, frequently pausing and listening for some indication of the danger that he feared menaced them; but nothing reached his ears, save the dull, faint murmur of the stream behind as it rushed through its narrow cafion. It seemed to have lighted up somewhat on the outside dace they had entered the cavern, as he managed to discern the faint outline of the opening, partly screened as it was by its peculiar conformation. “ T guess every as is pe right, he said, as he crept through the opening. — As he did. so, a faint waied caught his ear, and looking somewhat to the left, he was startled by seeing the dreaded animal, with its rings and streaks, cantering awkwardly over the ground, while Fred Hammond was caressing and playing with it, “ B’ars and bufflers!. what does that mean ?” muttered the trapper,who could scarcely believe the evidence of his own eyes. But such was the case; the dreaded creature, the horrid beast that was impervious to powder and: ball, that crushed in the skull of a man at one blow, and was literally the terror of the country, was frolicking with their young friend ! “Come, old fellow, it is time you went home,” suddenly exclaimed the latter, as he ceused playing, and pointed down- stream. The unknown obediently sett and dttaciing - faint bark, trotted away, and speedily disappeared. - ~~" Black Tom concluded to say nothing of what he had wit- nessed to any one. He returned to his waiting nds and informed them that the way was clear. A few mipates later, and the three emerged from the cave, and, in the course of half an hour, safely reached “ ry rea, Muir pigietins quired wealth intact. comiclooks.com