Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1063 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

may take a trip through ’most any time. Ive heard they’re afraid of the Storm God of the Hills, but that don’t prevent *.em from making hurtin’ trips through here, ana, if they come be- fore we get away, we may have to surrender ‘*Kirect,” nodded Crab Davis. ‘* An’ I need my wool ter kiver ther place whar I reckon ‘w’at leetle brains [ bev be.” ‘* But, if we stop to build sluices or rockers, bow is that going to belp us get away the sooner?” asked Bradstone, ‘By ther time we'll gain workin’ ’em, dad ‘ourn et all!” snorted Zeb, Bill bowed, “Tnat is it, exactly,” he agreed, ‘*‘ Which do ‘you favor, Ned?” turning to the silent youth. **T am in favor of whatever you think best, Bill,” was the answer ** Oh, consarn ther Injuns!” came contemptu- ously from Ginger Jim’s lips, ‘* We’re good fer ther hull Sioux tribe! You galoots don’t want ter fergit ]’m with ye! Now, w’en® me an’ Kit Carson—” ‘* Thar, thet’ll do!” snorted Zeb. ‘* Derned ef I low you ever sot eyes on Kit Carson! As fer Injuns—wa-al, ther sight o’ er ginnowine hos- tile ’d be too much fer yer narvous system ter eustaud,” Ginger wag plainly hurt by this, but he was silenced, as well. Wild Bill carried the day, and the rockers wers built, although it was necessary to carry the timber from which they were manufactured a long distance, When everything was ready, they set about workiny in earnest, and the result of their labors wag satisfactory, to say the very least, The Hills literally abounded in game, and Wild Bill was chosen to keep the camp supplied with what meat it needed, a thing which. he did in an efficient manner. N>t more than a quarter of Bill’s time was spent in Moaning Gulch, and then, whenever he was leaving it, he would feel as if he wanted never to go back to the place’again., But this feeling would not last, After be had been away from the gorge for a time. he would begin to long to go down into the block recess again and listen to the wailing and shrieking of the wind, There was that about the weird place that ex- ercised over the Pistol King the kind of a charm which something horrible will sometimes throw about a strong mind, Bill even dreamed of the place, Sometimes 1t was necessary to keep the little slab window of the cabin wide open o’ nights in order to admit pure air for the sleepers, Often Bill would arise and look out at the window, turning his eyes toward the dark opening of Moaning Gulch. He wondered how the place seemed in the dead hours of the night, and he resolved to visit if some time, One night he dreamed the cabin door bad not been fastened. He thought he started up and looked toward it just in time to see it swing softly and noiselessly open, His sleeping com- rades were all around him, and none seemed disturbed by the gentle movement of the door. Through the ‘open doorway streamed the white moonlight. It did not quite reach Wild Bill. He could look out through the doorway, but he saw no living thing. Gradually, bit by bit, a shadow formed on the floor—a dark and unshapely thing at. first, but it slowly assumed the outlines of a human our scalps,” ing. Bill wondered at this, for he could still look ~ out through the doorway, and there seemed no person there to make the shadow on the floor. A feeling of horror unspeakable came over the plainsman as he watched that shadow grow- ing blacker and blacker, while there was noth- ing in the doorway to produce it, He was spell- and with the enchantment of the strange Sight. lack as ink became the shadow on the floor —ten times blacker than any shadow usually seems in the bright moonlight, It did not stir. Bill could see that it seemed like a human being, but whether man or woman, be could not say, With a mighty effort, the scout threw off the horrible spell that had settled over bim, He found himself sitting bolt upright, but the cabin door was tightly closed, and he knew it had not been opened at all. At the same time, the slab window had been allowed to swing back on its leather hinges, and the bright moonlight sifted in at the opening. But there was a figure fairly in the center of the open window—a human head! ‘ Wasithuman? be . Aare be ARE | 1 Gee Wild Bills Weird Foe. The face was black as the ink-like shadow he had dreamed of seeing on the floor, and the eyes seemed to blaze liks balls of fire. It was no fancy this time; Bill knew he really saw the black face at the window. Like a flash, he jerked out a revolver; but the face and the burning eyes vanished quite as swiftly. Noiselessly springing up, Bill hastily left the cabin, his revolver gripped in his hand, He dashed around the cabin to confront the prowler. But he found no one! There did not seem to be a human being any- where in the vicinity. Tbe moon was sailing well up on a cloudless sky, and on either band the pine-covered hills loomed black and silent, Wild Bill was amazed. ‘“‘T surely saw something at the window,” he | thought. ‘‘ What was it? and bow has it van- ished so swiftly? There does not secm to be a living thing astir anywhere around.” He stood in the shadow close by the cabin wall, but be watched in vain. The sight of no moving thing rewarded him, and the distant mournful hoot of an owl] was the only sound he heard, ‘Tf { had been drinking— I do not understand it at all!” He went round and examined the ground be- neath the window, but it was not favorable to leave a mark, even if somebody had been there Bill’s faith began to waver; he almost doubted that he had seen anything at all, Still be could not quite decide he had been fooled by his im- agination. After watching for at least an hour, be return- ed to the cabin, Nervy Ned was awake, but he did not ques- tion Bill, Not so Big Bruno, who awoke as the scout en- tered. ‘* What is the matter, pard?” he asked, start- ingup. ‘Is anything wrong?” ‘*T reckon not,” was the reply. ‘'One of the horses was down and couldn’t get up—that’s all. Ferm without another word, Bill lay down to sleep. However, be did not readily fall asleep. He could not help thinking of the black face at the window and ‘in what a singular manner it had vanished. Something about the affair troubled the scout. And then the dream was a strange one, As has been said, Wild Bill was superstitious, He feared nothing buman on the face of the earth, but he did not fancy anything ghost-like. Finding he could not sleep, he arose and quiet- ly closed the window, placing a strong bar across it, soit could not be easily broken down. Then he lay down again. Strange thoughts ran through his mind. He began to believe his dream was a warning of disaster of some sort. And the thing he had seen at the window— Was it a spirit? CHAPTER III, WARNED, IN the morning, Wild Bill went out and scru- tinized the ground beneath the window once Ores but he was poorly rewarded for bis trou- e. He discovered nothing. The otbers noticed a troubled light in Bill’s eyes, but they did not feel like questioning him a great deal, so he escaped the necessity of tell- ing them an untruth. Bill was more than usually eager to get down into Moaning Gulch that morning—so eager that he started out before the others were ready. Down in the gorge it was almost tuo dark to see to do the work of sorting the golden grains, The wind was not shrieking through the place, but there was a fitful sobbing and muttering that was scarcely less trying to the nerves than the harsher tones of the wind, Being all alone, Bill stood and listened, “Tf that ain’t like the cryin’ of a child, then what is it like?” he muttered. ‘‘ Why, I can hear it saying it is bungry and cold! If it would only shriek and how] all the time, [ could endure it much better, but this moaning and sobbing is what I find it hard to stand,” | Those words showed the real tenderness in the heart of the strange man whose hands were stained with the blood of his fellow-bein Suddenly his eyes fell on something ides by his feet. It was a tiny footprint in the soft earth! The next moment Wild Bill was on his knees, eagerly examining what he had discovered. ‘By Heaven!” he muttered, But I bave not! * es —_— eee. — a CC LT CT LLC LL CE ee —_———— — - e —e Cee CC — e eeee ee “It is the foot- ! 3 mark of a woman! There is no doubt about that! And a small foot it was that made it! She wore a moccasin, and so it was probably a red-skin squaw. And still—” He wasin doubt. What could have brought an indian to this place—a squaw at that? ‘It ain’t more than half likely the red whelps like this Guleb,” thought tbe Pistol King. ‘ The sbrieking of the wind is euough to keep them away. But if one came—” He leaped to bis feet, If one came, were not others near? Perhaps there was an ambush and the red fiends were waiting tall all the miners had assembled in the gorge, meaning to destroy at one blow the daring intruders on their Reservation! The thought set Bill to investigating. His keen eyes searched every available place which could serve as a red-skin cover, but be soon de- cided the place was unsuited to an ambush, Then be fejl to examining the footprint once more, It told him little that be bad not already discovered, but, bad there been more hghbt, he fancied be might have found others to mateh it, Hearing his comrades approaching, Bill hasti- ly arose and, with a stamp of bis foot, destroyed the tell-tale sign, : For the time he determined to be the sole possessor of the secret. More than once during the day his comrades wondered at bis strange manner, He was often seen gazing around at the forbidding walls of black rocks, a dark look on bis grave face. ‘* You don’t like the place, Bill?” questioned Bradstone, ** Do you think so?” That was the only reply the scout made. In truth, a strange fancy had entered Wild Bill's head. He began to think he bad an enemy near at band—one who was waiting fora chance to strike at bis life. Just why he thought this he could not have told, but the impression grew on him. He was a person who always gave beed to such impressions, and so he began to be unusually vigilant and watchful, which did not escape the keen eyes of his comrades, ‘*Suthin’’s ther matter with Bili,” thougbt Crab Zeb, ‘‘ He usually acts like this yar w’en he is thinkin’ bout killin’ somebody, an’ I feel like thar wez goin’ ter be a bigh ole heap 0’ trouble,” The person in whom Wild Bill took the most interest was the youth Nervy Ned, Billsaw a restless light in the young man’s eyes, and more than once Ned’s lips moved, but no sounds issued from them, Ned was usually the last one to enter the cabin and seek slumber, nights. He was inclined to remain outside, and sit on a certain bowlder some rods from the cabin. There he would stare at the moonligbt-flooded sides of the gorge by by the bour, What was he thinking of? Wild Bill would have given more than a little to know the answer to that question. The night following Bill’s singular dream, the scout resolved to approach (* young man and have a talk with Lim, Ned was seated on his favorite bowlder, and the Pistol King came up softly behind him. ert the youth began to mutter, almost wildly: ‘*Yes, it is her voice—Anice’s voice! I can sometimes bear it in the shrieking wind, and it is like the voice of the beautiful one who is dead. Strange thoughts are finding a place in my brain, I wonder if ber spirit does not haunt Moaning Gulch! Spirit! Why, I never be- heved in such things. And-yet it seems as if she were near at this very minute! Oh, my dar- ling—my beautiful one! you are lost to me for- ever! | ** Last night I dreamed of ber!” be continued, seeming still wilder. ‘*‘I thought she had re- turned to life, and was near. I fancied I bad arisen and left the cabin. She was outside in the moonlight, and she beckoned to me, a sn.ile on her face. JI was sure if wag no spirit, and I hurried toward her. She glidedaway. I called; she only beckoned me on, Down into Moaning Gulch I went. There she paused, I rushed for- ward to clasp her in my arms, but 1 only clasped the empty air. ‘* Then I awoke to see Wild Bill entering the cabin, He had been ontside, I knew it was only a dream, but I was sick—oh, so sick at heart!” He bowed his face in his hands, and Wild Bill crept softly away, leaving bim und The scout knew the young man’s secret now, and he saw it was a case of a lover robbed by the cruel band of death, From that time forward, Wild Bill understood Nervy Ned bet “he othe ter than did. comicbooks | . : , -@ é Wi ad wex.ad a eS eee ire *, Pas é > “® - iy —] os) a « all