Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

- of hearing. 2 . pecooliarities uv a deer’s hind legs; so heer goes!”’ He cut out a huge slice with his bowie, sprin- kled it over with salt, and an to devour it b very large mouthfuls. All hands proceeded to fol- low his example, and the noonday meal was dis- tched in silence. After each man had fully satis- ed his appetite and the mules and Fearless s horse grazed until they were full as ticks, the order was given to hitch up, which was il done, and the caravan was soon in motion, toiling along like a diminutive serpent across the plain. The afternoon was a mild, sunny one in early autumn, with a refreshing breeze perfumed with the delicate scent of after-harvest flowers wafting down from the cool. regions of the Northwest, where lay the new El] Dorado—the land of gold. Fearless Frank bestrode a noble bay steed of fire and nerve, while old General Nix rode an extra mule that he had purchased of Charity Joe. The remain- der of the company rode in the wagons or “ hoofed it,’’ as best suited their mood—walking sometimes being preferable to the ruthbling and jolting of the heavy vehicles. Steadily along through the afternoon sunlight the train wended its way, the teamsters alternately and cursing their mules, as they jogged along. Fearless Frank and the “ General " rode sev- eral hundred yards in advance, both apparently en- in deepest thought, for neither. spoke until, ward the close of the afternoon, Charity Joe called their attention to a series of low, faint cries brought down upon their hearing oF the stiff northerly wind. "Pears to me as how them sound sorter human like,’ said the old guide, trotting along beside the young man’s horse, as he made known the discov- ery. ‘‘Jes’ listen, now, an’ see if ye ain’t uv ther same opinion!”’ The youth did listen, and at the same time swept the plain with his eagle eyes, in search of the ob- ject from which the cries emanated, But nothing of animal life was visible in any direction beyond the train, and more was the mystery, since the cries sounded but a little way off. “They are human cries!” exclaimed Fearless Frank, excitedly, ‘‘and come from some one in dis- tress. Boys, we must investigate this matter.” “You can investigate all ye want,” nted Char- ity Joe, ‘‘ but I hain’t a-goin’ ter stop ther train till dusk, squawk or no squawk. I jedge we won't get inter their Hills any too soon, as it ar’.”’ *You’re an old fool!"’ retorted Frank, contemptu- ously. “‘I wouldn’t be as mean as you for all the old in the Black Hills country, say nothin’ about tin California and Colorado.” He turned his horse’s head toward the north, and rode away, followed, to the wondr of all, by the ** General.’ **Ha! ha!” laughed Charity Joe, grimly, “I wish you success.” * You needn’t; Ido not want any of your wishes. I'm going to search for the person who makes them cries, an’ ef you don’t want to wait, why go to the deuce with your old train!” “There ye err,” shouted the guide; ‘‘ I’m goin’ ter Deadwood, instead uv ter the deuce.’ ** Maybe you will go to Deadwood, and then, age maybe ye won't,”’ answered back Fearless Frank, ** More or less!" chimed in the general—“* consider’- bly more of less than less of more. Look out thet ther allies uv Sittin’ Bull don’t git ther dead wood on ye.” On marched the train—steadily on over the level, sandy plain, and Fearless Frank and his strange companion turned their attention to the cries that had been the means of separating them from the train. They had now, altogether, and the two men were at a loss what to do. “Guv a whoop, like a Government Injun,” sug- ted ‘“General”’ Nix; ‘“‘an’ thet’ll let ther critter ow thet we be friends a-comin’. Par’ps she’m gin out ontirely, a-thinkin’ as no one war a-comin’ r her resky!” “She, you say?” “Yas, she; fer I calkylate ’twern’t no je as made them squawks. Sing out like a bellerin’ bull, now an’ et ar’ more or less likely—consider’bly more 0 less ’n less of more—that she will respond!” Fearless Frank laughed, and fo his hands in- toatrumpet he gave vent to a loud, ear-splitting **hello!’’ that made the prairies ring. ‘“‘Great whale uv Joner!" g the ‘*‘General,”’ holding his hands toward the on of his o ‘““Holy Mother o’ Mercy! don’t do et ag’in, b’yee—don’ do et; ye've smashed my tinpan- um all inter flinders! Good heaven! ye hev ot a bugle wus nor enny steam tooter frum heer tew Lowell.” “Hark!” said the youth, bending forward in a listening attitude. The next instant silence prevailed, and the twain anxiously listened. W down across the plain came in faint piteous accents the repetition of the cry they had first heard, only it was now much fainter. Evidently whoever was in distress, was weakening rapidly. Soon the cries would be inaud- ible. ‘“*Tt’s straight ahead!’’ exclaimed Fearless Frank, atlast. ‘‘Come along, and we'll soon see what the matter is!"’ He the spurs to his oe animal, and the next t was dashing w dly off over the sunlit ep Bent on emulation, the “‘General”’ also used heels with considerable vim, but alas! what de- ndence can be placed on a mule? The animal bolted, with a vicious + Be at the offending rid- -er’s legs, and refused to budge an inch. On—on dashed the fearless youth, mo'.nted on his noble steed, his eyes bent forward, in 4 sharp scru- tiny of the plain ahead, his mind filled with wonder thes the cries were now growing more distinct. and Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. a yet not a first glimpse could he obtain of the source whence they emanated. On—on—on; then suddenly he reins his steed back upon its haunches, just in time to avert a frightful unge into one of those remarkable freaks of na- the blind canal, or, in Other words, a channel Mey washed out by wr Brom og These the tourist will uently encounter the regions contiguous to the Black Hills Below him yawned an abrupt channel, a score or more of feetin enth, at the bottom of which was a dense chaparral thicket. The little valley thus nest- led in the earth was about forty rods in width, and one would never have dreamed it existed, unless they chanced to ride to the brink, above. earless Frank took in the situation at a glan and not hearing the cries, he rightly conject that the one in distress become exhaust- ed. That that person was the thicket below seemed more than probable, and he immediately re- solved to descend in search. Slipping from his sad- dle, he stepped forward to the very edge of the preci- pice and looked over. The next second the ground crumbled beneath his feet, and he was precipitated headlong into the valley. Fortunately he received no serious on and in a moment was on his feet again, all right. “A miss is as good as a mile,” he muttered, brush- ing the dirt from his clothmmg. ‘‘ Now, then, we will find out the secret of the racket in this thicket.”’ Glancing up to the brink above to see that his horse was standing — he parted the shrubbery, and entered the thicket, tchidugh the dense undetprowths bat st last et throug e dense unde uta wife were rewarded, and he stood in a small or e. ood there, to behold a sightthat made the blood boilin his veins. Securely bound with her face to- ward a stake, was a young girl—a maiden of perhaps seventeen summers, whom, at a single glance, one might surmise was remarkably pretty. e was stripped to the waist, and upon her snow- white back were numerous welts from which trick- led diminutive rivulets of crimson. Her head was Se os against the stake to which she was bound, and she was evidently insensible. With a cry of astonishment and indignation Fear- less Frank leaped forward to sever her bonds, when like sO many grim ghenintne there filed out of the cha an circled eps — a vl of ra ously pain Savages. One glance a portly leader satisfied Frank as to his identity, It was the fiend incarnate—Sitting Bull! CHAPTER It. DEADWOOD DICK, THE ROAD-AGENT. “$500 Reward: For the apprehension and arrest of a notorious youn cogs o who hails to the name of Deadwood Dick. is present where- abouts are somewhat contiguous to the Black Hills. For further information, and so forth, apply imme- diately to HvuGuH VANSEVERE, ** At Metropolitan Saloon, Deadwood City.” Thus read a notice posted up against a bi, pine tree, three miles above Custer City, on the banks of French creek. It was a large placard tacked up in lain view of all passers-by, who took the route north hrough Custer gulch in order to reach the infant city of the Northwest—Deadwood, wood! the scene of the most astonishing bus- tle and activity, this year \.877.) The place where men are literally made rich and r in one day and night. Prior to 1877 the Black Hills have been for a yoo part undeveloped, but now, what a change! Deadwood districts every foot of available ground has been ‘*‘ claimed” and staked out; the population has increased from fifteen to more than wenty-five hundred souls. The streets are swarming with constantly arriving new-comers; the stores and saloons are literally crammed at = hours; dance-houses and can-can dens exist; h of “eo expectant, and hope- ful miners are working in the mines, and the harvest reaped by them is at all discouraging. All the cule are strung a profusion of cabins, tents ng to ef- break sand wood in reality a town of a though ‘ in- t aorta cial e repo er pai i 9m are yielding bey the most on. The lacer mines west of Camp Crook are being to — satisfactory results, and, in fact, from Custer City in the south, to Deadwood in the the scene of abundant enthusiasm and A horseman riding north through Custer gulch, noticed the placard so prominently posted for public i on, and with a low whist ve of as- Pn xeon wheeled his horse Sue of > qu -written ran his eyes over the few traced upon the notice. He was a youth of an age somewhere between six- teen and twenty, trim and com built, with a pre rong ey of we aeige dev pr — and sp ; broad and deep of chest, square, - east shoulders; limbs small yet like bars of steel, and with a grace of position in the saddle rarel equaled; he made a fine picture for an artist’s b or a poss 5 = Ph. Proves hing marred the captivating beauty of e ure. Fits form was clothed in a tight-fitting habit of buck-skin, which was colored a jetty black, and pre- and rode over to the foot of the tree in irregularly eee Sr sented a striking contrast to an one sees as a garment in the wild far West. And this was not all, either. A broad black hat was sloucced down over his eves; he wore a thick black vail over whe = rtion of his face, through the eye-holes of which ere . ees a pair of orbs of piercing intensity, and hands, large and knotted, were hidden in a pair of kid gloves of a light color. The ‘‘Black Rider’’ he might have been justly termed, for his thoroughbred steed was as black as coal, but we have not seen fit to call him such—his name is Deadwood Dick, and let that suffice for the present. before thd proomagh 00. fad ee ped pamed ore, an e ted! Yi the tx tree in one of the Toneliest portions of Cus- r’s gu Above and on either side rose to a stupendous hight the tree-fringed mountains in all their majestic gran- deur, ae ae oo Behind. gy meerty wren and sou e Weep, dark chasm—a ween by Walle —Custer’s h. d over all to hover the cloak of night, for the sun had imparted its dying kiss on the mountain craters, and below, the gloom was thicken- ing with rapid strides. lowly, over and over, Deadwood Dick, outlaw, road-agent and outcast, read the notice, and then a wild sardonic laugh burst from beneath his mask—a terrible, blood-curdling laugh, that made even the powerful animal he bestrode start and prick up its ears ‘*Five hundred dollars reward for the apprehen- sion and arrest of a notorious yo rado who hails to the name of Deadwood Dick! Ha! ha! ha! isn’t that rich,nowY Ha! ha! ha! arrest Deadwood Dick! Why, ‘pon my word it is a sight for sore eyes. I was not aware that I had attained such ad rate notoriety as that document implies. They will make me out a murderer before they get through, I ex- t. Can’t let me alone—everlastingly they must punching after me, as if I was some obnoxious —_. on the face of the earth. Never mind, hough—let ‘em keep on! Let them just continue their houn game, and see which comes up on top wheu the bag’s shook. If more than one of ’em don't get their fingers burned when they snatch Deadwood ick bald-headed, why I’m a Spring creek sucker, that’sall. Maybe I don’t know who foots the bill in this reward business; oh, no; maybe I can’t ride down to Deadwood and frighten three kind o’ ideas out of this Mr. Engh Vemerers, whoever he may be. Ha! ha! the fool that h’isted that notice didn't Deadwood Dick, or he would never have placed his life in jeopardy by performing an act so uninterest- ing to the party in question. Hugh Vansevere; let me see—I don't think I've got that registered in my collection of appellatives. Perhaps he is a new tool in the employ of the old mechanic.” Darker and thicker grew the night shadows. The after-harvest moon rose up to a sufficient hight to send a silvery bolt of powerful light down into the silent guich; like an e carved out of the night the horse and rider s before the placard, motion- ] silent. head of Deadwood Dick was bent, and he was buried in a deep reverie. A reverie that engrossed his whole atten n for a long, long while; then the impatient pawing of his horse aroused him, and he sat once of ze erect in his saddle. A last time his eyes wandered over the notice on the tree—a last time his terrible laugh made the mountains rimg, and he guided his horse back into the OUET. uneven stage-road, and galloped off up the eu I will go and see what this Hugh Vansevere looks like!’ he said, applying the spurs to his horse, “Ty be dashed if I want him to be so numerous with my name y with five hundred dollars affixed thereto, as a reward.” Midnight. Camp Crook, n down in one of the wildest ch pockets of the Black Hills regi basking and othe in the flood of moonlight that emanates from the glowing ball up afar in heaven's blue vault, enky and rudely aroused from her dreams, There is a wild clatter of hoofs, a chorus of st and varied voices swelling out in a wild moun song, and up through the very heart of the diminu- tive city, where the gold-fever has drop a few souls, dash a cavalcade of masked horse- cturesque garb of the moun- men, attired in the on animals of superior speed taineer, and moun and endurance. At their head, looking weird and wonderful in his suit of black, rides he whom all have heard of—he whom some have seen, and he whom no one dare raise a hand against, in single combat—Deadwood Dick, Road-Agent Prince, and the one person whose name is in my tag: A mouth. Straight on h the single northerly street of the infant ride the dauntless band, making weirdly beau music with their rollicking song, some of the voices being cultivated, and clear as the Af - oie akened from thei ew ers, waken m their , Jum out of bed, come to the door, and stare at the Rn ing cavalcade in a dazed sort of way. Others, think- ing that the noise is all resulting from an Indian at- tack, seize rifles or revolvers, as the case may be, and blaze away out of windows and loopholes at what- ever may be in the way to receive their bullets. But the a only pause a moment in their song to send a wild, sarcastic ogy “od then they resume it, and merrily dash along up gulch, the ringing of iron-shod hoofs beating a strange tatoo to the sound of the music. Sleepily the miners crawl back to their respective GoOmiGadooks (E()