Beadle's Dime Novels No. 231: The Texan Trailer — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

THE FIRST BLOW. : 15 “ Never mind me,” he called out, as he dodged to the other side of the room and kept his eyes fixed keenly upon his an- tagonist. “I’ve been in this kind of business afore, but look out the brute don’t find out where you are, for I don’t blame him for wanting to swaller such a purty piece.” The girl didn’t appeal to him any more; doubtless she con- cluded she was only wasting her breath. The lower floor, I should remark, was like the ordinary apartments of the log-cabins on the-frontier. One large room occupied the lower part of the building, and here were the fire-place, closet, table, chairs and various domestic articles. Crockett glanced at the fire-place in the hope of finding some embers there, but one look showed that the young lady had made her preparations for kindling a fire, but the light had not yet been applied;-so that means of defense was thereby rendered unavailable. But he still grasped his huge Bowie, all-potent in his hands, and he concluded it was time his formidable enemy was made to feel its point. The bear did not permit him to remain idle long, but turn- ing with wonderful quickness for such a lumbering animal, he reared on his hind legs, and with his red mouth open and growling voice, came in a direct line toward him. ~- Every thing was now to be sacrificed for defense, and catch- ing up the table, Crockett slammed it full in the face of the bear, and then darting nimbly forward, plunged his knife ___ half-way to the hilt in his body. Ne would have driven it to the handle, had not the point encountered a bone. Having no time to repeat the blow, he withdrew the weapon; and leaped backward, just in time to escape the furious lunge of the brute. ‘The blood poured in a stream from the fright- ful wound made, but the bear seemed tw feel no loss of strength and to be unconscious of the hurt he had received. A few more such blows, however, were only needed to “settle the hash” of the creature, and Crockett now endeay- ored to inflict them as speedily as possible, without receiving any return. The bear was awkward in his movements, but there was also a certain swiftness that made it ¢xcéeedingly dangerous to his antagonist. At the same time, his size compelled more comichooks:com wv tT. ak ¢ Te