Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1140 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

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You spoke of the | as if he hoped to detect something more tan- Nick Whiffles had seen signs of Modocs during Modocs—what have-they peen. domg+—scalpin’, able, but failing to do so, and as the day was the last few days, and it had made hiw rather | murderin’, shootin’ an skulpin’, I s’pose; but wing rapidly to a close, he carefully made uneasy, for it was only abouta hundred miles | what has that to do with you his way down from the ridge, and drawing a - tothe north of this that he and Oregon Sol had The young Indian pointed to the northward, | small cance from its concealment, launched it up | their cabin or head-quarters, from which point | tow the far horizon, where the blue, cloud- | on the river, sprung in and sped away like a ~~ they made excursions through long leagues of | like outline of a chain of mountains could be | swallow surrounding: territory." Such a distance was a | seen against the azure sky. It was aspur of He headed straight toward the camp-fire, and and if the treacherous Modocs were | that mighty chain which, extending from the | as he was paddling against the current he cross; ae awaited until the ise nature soy ES Bee one | wt J tea Bi there was n to believe that they | arctic to the southern ocean, branches off in vast | ed over to the other side, and ran in as closetothe *~_ —. zr would pay the cabin ir respects before they | ridges, some of them extensive enough to make | shore as sible, »» as not only to take advan-) . 2 | returned. : independent ridges of themselves. | | tage of the more slowly flowing water, but to pri After rising to his feet, Calamity stood utterly As the two trappers followed the direction in- | ran so much less charce of being seen. ~ dae motionless for twe or three fninutes, when he | dicated by Marunyo, they knew that that blue sche geo: the position he was seeking, - we suddenly stretched out agaif, with luis nose be- | streak of elevated land was in British America. | he made his progress much more. gradual than - tween higgpaws, as if he wrisif ed to finish thenap | Both had hunted the otter and beaver there, | it had been in crossing the river. It looked in- _ which had been interruptey. | when in the employ of the Hudson Bay Com- | deed as if he was seeking to~defer his arrival ; - “ All right,” exclaiméd /Nick Whiffles, as he | pany, and if Marunyo meant to imply that | upon the scene of the camp until after night witnessed the conduct of fhedog. ‘* That shows | he was en n an errand that would | had fairly settled over mountain and stream. _ that there ain’t any of/the red-skins jest now | take him there, both knew that a number of Not much need was there of his waiting, for ' that are tryin’ to bere # hole into our carcasses. days must elapse before they could see his face | already had the sun sunk out of sight in the Pa- ean Come, Sol, we may as Avell gitinto that sunlight | again. , | cific, and the moon, half-full, shed a dim, uncer- agin, and share if witfi the purp.” ‘Wal, we see where you're pointing,” said | tain light upon vhe river, while the little canoe As the two trappers moved toward the tab- | Nick Whiffles, after waiting a moment for the | crept along in the bank of deep shadow, with ular mass of stoncfa figure emer from the | red-skin to speak. ‘‘ That reminds me of what | the silent, insidious motion of a phantom of the bushes upon the opposite side an approached _my grandmother once did, when I was on a visit mee them. ithout efchanging any greetings, Nick | toher. You see the old lady—” y was it that 5 oa a ee the young Black- Wty. and Sol took thir stations behind the rock and ‘The Modoes are bad people,” the Indian has- | foot, was so carefully following the boat con- 7 awaited his/comAng. | tened to say, in order to arrest the threatened | taining the two Modocs and théir captives? it It was the fYgure of a handsome, lithe, and | anecdote; “they are traveling nerthwar toward | was not the first time that these woman-thieves graceful IndiAn youth, in Indian cos- | the Saskatchewan.” had stolen white people and either murdered or tume, with af of remarkable beauty. He * But they belong just the other way,” said | made off with them. And knowing this, why had the dark, flashing eyes of the red-man, and | Oregon Sol, pointing tothe southward. ‘‘Them | should the young Blackfoot take such an extra- the leng, de ) sweeping hair worn by that | Modocs belong among the lava beds of Oregon. | ordinary interest in the fate of these two par- race: bat his features were more regular, and | Is’pose because it looks so much like the in- } ticular ones? there waa certain grace and ease in his bearing | farnal country round there, that they feel at None understood more thoroughly the charac- that wolld have drawn attention, even among | home.” ' ter of the two men whom he was tollowing. thé mos noted warriors of bis own people. | ‘** But some of them are ag is | northward,” | Flat-Nose Billy was one of the most treacher- ‘He éarried the knife at the girdle, a long | replied Marunyoy”there are_,o a few, but | ous dogs that ever bore the name of man, and silyer4nounted rifle in his right hand, while his | they are bad, and Marunyo znst follow and see | the later crimes of Captain Jack, who. crowned | what they do. "He will bg’Dack in & few days, his life of infamy with the hellish assassination » face was govered with paint—not of the hideous | / style generally adopt by the red-skins, but in | and then perliaps he will have a story to tell. _of General Canby, are so well known to our / the form df a dye. ' , ‘*It won’t do any good, if yon have,” replied | readers, and so fully reveal his nature that no /* Wal, Marunyo, you seem to be all in a | Sol, ‘‘ while Nick is about, I'd like to seethe | further description is needed in this place. é | .” said Oregon Sol, extending his hand to | man that could get the start of him imtellin’a | Marunyo could have advanced to the camp, » young Indian, as he came up. It wasevi- | yarn. I think that when the.Jast messenger | where these two Modocs were masters, and he in- | would have been received asafriend. He had indeed performed more than one good office fc dent that he was a “brother” to the two trap- | comes, Nick will ax him to hold ona few min- | | utes till he tes him a little story about his-} perf ran’father, or uncle, or some of his relations. | the chieftain, in his capacity of spy, and was ut, Marunyo, ain’t you going to tell us any | entitled to his gratitude. z one about this trouble?” = | But, that made the danger none the less. Cap ** Not yet,” replied the Indian youth, who did | “Yes,” replied the youth, speaking with an ascent as pure as his own, “‘I have much to do. The red-men are still seeking wrong, and Ma- runyo has many miles to travel to get to the ~ jmountains of the Modoes.” * Ain’t you in the mountains,Mow?” asked ’ Nick Whi who did not understand. tgeisely a cle tain Jack was now ona long journey from his _ not seem to relish this jocularity. “J go, but | home in the lava-beds, and was doubtless kee soon will be back.” | ing a sharp look-out to see whether he was fol- | And without any further words, he turned _ lowed or not. For any one to attempt it was, his + on That reminds me | on his heel, and moving northward in the direc- | about equivalent to a deliberate commission of “* that I once that built him a house .a| tion in which he had pointed, disappeared the , suicide. door back and front, and one day he @ a | next moment in the wood and bushes beyond. | This will explain the extreme caution of the bet with his wife that he could get in without And leaving Nick Whiffles and Oregon Sol to | Indian spy, who, as he found himself in the | the old fool went out the door. She s’posed he y upon hiserrand, which was destined to prove | dling altogether and sat for a few minutes im- her seein’ him. Wal, my aunt took the bet and themselves for a time, wemust follow the Indian | immediate vicinity of the camp, Ceased pad- meant to stay away till she got tired of watch- : e most eventful of his life. ba, y listening. | in’, when he ‘would slip in and win the bet, /: It was late in the afternoon that he left the was still, and reaching up, he he agi so she Made up her mind that she wouldn’t be} company of his two friends, and without once | overhanging limb, and drew the little boat / | cotched that way, and she watched all the | lodking behind him, he méyed with g ang against the bank. The next instant, he had rest of the da bufj@iMhen night. come he | loping gait, directl through. the wood; like one | drawn. the prow up on the land, so skillfully hacn’t showed himset _That made my vir- | oe 3 is certain of the precise desiination toward | concealed thatit could not be seen by any one toous aunt as mad ¢ er, and as she was. which he is hastening. He cai his insepar- | passing up or.down the stream or bank. fe % ttin’ sleepy, she hired aman to watch, with a | able rifle in his hand, and, although his head | Atthis moment, there was no more than a eee ig musket, and told him to’shoot the first chap | was turned neither to the right nor the left, his hundred yards between the Blackfoot and the _~ that he found tryin’ to steal toward the house. | senses were on the alert, a phidpould not have | camp, and he advanced, with the stealth that he » £'§he was always tender-hearted, was my aunt, | failed to detect any suspicious d or sight | when moving at midnight among the hostile * ~ and she told the feller on guard that he must | near him. | warriors among the Klamath lakes. oe, make sartin and kill the burglar at the first fire, | For something like a mile.the,ronte led along | Still this particular portion of a scout’s recon- 2. so as not to make him suffer too much. Wal, | a ridge, when a stream of watell "of considerable | noissance is not considered the most difficult nor a they didn’t see him that night, nor the nex’ | size was reached. Instead of advancing to the | the most dangerous by any means, and it did ee one, nor the next month, nor next year, and | Marunyo cautiously made his way back to | not require Marunyo a lorg time to gain a post ~. my aunt concluded that the old feller was gone | the top of the ridge, and, after some maneuver- | tion from which he was afforded a completeview —. sartin sure, and she went in mournin’ a year, | ing, managed to secure a position which afford- | of the camp. 4 es) and then began to receive the devours of a - | ed quite an extended view of the river in both | The sight that met his eyes would have awak- P| -s- goods clerk, 5 pst got four dollars & week, , | directions. | ened painful emotions in the heart of any one ae and retty near in shape for them | Lying flat upon his face, with his body ext. ea a Modoc Indian. In the middle of a ae = to get spli when who should come walkin’ in | tended forward over what was here an over- | small natural clearing along the river was kin- - : ae Cr the door one day but my uncle, who ex- | hanging bluff, the Blackfoot youth spent some | dled.a small fire, over which Flat-Nosed Billy... ') » * plained that in order to get into the house with- | fifteen minutes in scanning the extensive field, | was stooping, devoting all the energies of his — '-) ‘out her seein’ him, he made a trip around tlig,| which was spread out before his vision. Roving mind and body to cooking a piece of meat, large — > n aA ®* world. He did surprise her, and won the bet; | hither and thither, his eye at last rested upon a | enough to afford a good meal for half a dozen ; > tut the Whiffles were always a smart set of | poimt about a quarter of a mile distant, and up- | men. . wae “folks.” on the opposite side of the stream. Only the | Captain Jack, the Modoc leader, was stretch. pa sharpest vision was able to detect a faint col- | ed out flat upon his back, with his feet crossed OO ae | CHAPTER IL. . umn of smoke rising from some spot within the | and himself sound asleep. As he lay, the light | Me. THE YOUNG INDIAN TRAILER. wood, when the fire itself,could not be seen. | was reflected against one side of his face, show- tg THe young Indian, like all his race, knew how “He is there,” said Marunyo te bimself. | ing its horrible repulsiveness, which was ona F te to bear pain and suffering without murmir | ‘ Captain Jack and Flat-Nose Billy have comea | par with that of Flat-Nosed Billy, who was ugly es - or complaint. He seemed accustomed to the long ways from the lava-beds with the two cap- | enough to give a brave man the fever and agme, - i ° whimsicalities of Nick Whiffles, for although he | tives. ey mast be very valuable, or they | the first time he looked upon him. i OE det ieee Poy S potions. Wire ie t haste, and had only tirned a little | would.agt. carry them so far into the woods. | But Marunyo had seen these two friends too * ‘oat of the-way in order that he might exchange | But they medn that no one shall sical them | often to feel any t interest in them at this ee Nie _ @ word or two with his friends, he showed no} away, nor?that they shall escape themselves. | moment. Two helped to make up that - ~ comicbooks.c