Red Plume — page 77: what you’re looking at

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

_RASH PROMISES. fe Eben; but he cooled down, as he saw the necessity of control- ling his wrath, and gravely informed the inquirer that the Big Arrow could do that very thing. He was then told that ‘As-moo.tah, the sister of the Fat Bear, whom the medicine-man had so wonderfully brought to life, was a widow, and could get no husband, because she was old and ugly. It was desired that the power of the Big. Medicine Arrow should be tried upon her, in order that she might become handsome, and have favor in the eyes of the warriors. Would the white man do her that kindness ? Of course he would; and he was politely requested to per- form. the contract as soon as possible. Eben Gookin felt that he was ina scrape. To effect a temporary purpose—the preservation of his valuable life—he had boasted of the virtues of his weapon more extensively than he would have done, under less exciting circumstances. He now had an. absolute impossibility presented to him, for jt was certain that nothing short of the fabled fountain of eternal youth could add a particle of beauty or grace to the wrinkled cheeks and decrepit form of that horrid old hag. Still, the resolute Yankee did not despair; he thought, and “ calculated.” ro : “ Darn my buttons if I don’t do it!’ he muttered at eng ttt, “If it comes to the wust, I can remove her to another sp’ere, to brightly bloom in beauty there. Jehosaphat! what would elder Shepley say to that pome! IfI can’t make her purty in-this world, I can. send her to the next, and, as the_Injuns— are all Universalists, she’ll be sure to be a blessed angel.” Having come to.this conclusion, Eben went to his lodge, and “coiled up” by the side of his beloved harpoon. | | But it seemed as if fate had selected our Yankee friend for its special football that night, as if his troubles were des- tined to have no termination but a bloody one. His most serious. difficulty was to come,,and it happened in this wise: Old Nip-muck-we, notwithstanding the care of Eben and his attendants, had been seriously shaken up during his jour- ney, and, as night set in, a burning fever. set into his body and’ brain. It increased, it raged, it became delirium. The - old medicine-woman, in whose charge he had been left, had_ imbibed one of her own sedative draughts, and slept soundly comicbookssconn