Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1140 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

' 2 Aa ae . ' r a ™ a —- ’.% x wet \ Salkcie: ‘with an intensity of ‘fully justified deste victnt from the _ friendship for her. little party, in whom his interest wasof the pro- One seemed to be a middle-aged wo ex- ceedingly well dressed, and with the air and ap- ce of a lady of wealth and refinement. 2 was seated on the sloping side of the hol- low, and the light shining in her face show- ed how great her terror was of the two wretches, who, for the time, were the arbiters of her fate. Her wild looks wandered from one to the other, and then at intervals her eyes dropped, and her moving lips showed that she was look- ing at and speaking to her companion whose head rested in her lap. _ Marnnyo strove hard to gain a view of the face of this lady, but the position of the head made his view very imperfect. The face, as re- vealed now and then in the fitful flashes of the p-fire, showed that it was one of great the arms andshoulders, spoke of youth, symme- try and grace. An observer would have sup- posed that the relation between the two was that of mother and «laughter, and such, we may as well state at this t, was the fact. Crawling as Fgaor~ the ae as wae possible; B oot pon his face and wa we # dilerest which.it would be Flat-Nosed Billy, whose face and_ features the sobriquet, devoted his whole attention to the venison which he was cooking, unaware that any one else was in . He had raked out some live coals e, and with the meat impaled upon a number of twigs, kept turning it over and over, so the process of boiling was as fect as it could well be. | Hat omce he ceased his culinary attempt, and gave utterange to an exclamation intended to that the work. was comple The exclamation to be understood by the others, for the elder lady looked toward him, and Captain Jack instantly rose to the orgy SLaaemevey and in his characteristic man- ner, demanded his share. Flat-Nosed Billy, in obedience to his noble leader, cut off about one- half of the piece and tossed it-to hiza. The Modoc chieftain pee it up like a dog, and be- gan devouring it with the rapacious greed of a w olf. poe le of small pieces were flung to the ‘ ies, Flat-Nosed Billy reserving a large por- ~ tion for himself, which in a very short time dis- ere down his capacious maw, and he look- around, as if he were able to dispose of the rest of the animal, if it were accessible. But Marunyo scarcely bestowed a glance up- on the repulsive looking Modocs, His eyes were fixed upon the two and he watched their movements with a depth of interest that can scarcely be imagined. At a word from the elder, the younger raised her head from her lap, and began eating the : food which had been given them. It was pion that they had little or no appetite for the but evidently ate from a conviction of necessi- "Sime was dressed in a dark, handsome traveling suit, so that she was as well provided for this enforced journey as if she had made vol. untary +ion. er dark hair flowed around a handsome oval face, and the flashin black eyes spoke of one, who lacked not the wi but the power to exterminate these two scamps from off the face of the earth. . Spee = hae. ome = the face yee e young oot, as, lying upon the groun he featohod the countenance of this lady, he would have that the yo warrior. was smitten with a stronger emotion than mere His eyes seemed riveted up- on her every movement, and when at last they from her to Captain Jack, they flashed with such a deadly hatred that that redoubtable chieftain might well have trembled had he been aware of the same. ; Not rash or ithpetuous, the young Indian did arash thing. rifle seemed of itself to creep into position, and. almost ere he was aware, he was pressing the trigger—the aim being drawn on the Modoc chief. Crack! went the hammer. The cap only ex- ' ploded. The rifle had ‘‘ missed fire.” That thiss had saved Captain Jack’s worthless life, but it imperiled the lite of the daring young Blackfoot. ith a clear consciousness of his danger, Marunyo drew backward like a snake to cover, then rising, started on a run, closely followed by Flat-Nosed Billy, but ere long threw him off the trail, and eaded for the river. By a long and circuitous route he picked his the wild, rocky region and ap- proached camp-fire from a direction opposite to that he had followed at first. He caught the glimmer of the camp-fire when at a considerable distance, but upon coming nearer | all sworg they’d have his life if he went found no one near it. The appearance of the | on his phomise. And he knowed they’d do wood and embers showed that the party had | it, and yOu see there was where the trouble been gone some time. ' come in, Marunyo was considerably disappointed, al- | the fix.” though he had ere expected something of the ‘* But how,did he git out?’ asked the tra ‘ kind. He saw that he had nothing to do except ‘* Heavens Rhow should I know?” replied Nick. to resume his pursuit, which he did without de- 3 to tell you a story, but only a lay. His canoe, concealed with such care, was | diffikilty that Re got into. Seme of these days drawn from the bushes, launched into the wa- | I'll tell you hov F got out of the scrape, but ter, and again he starved up the stream, with | only one thing a&a‘time you know.” greater speed this time than before. _ * But what has'that to do what we're talkin’ , Up the stream he paddled, with hands that | ’bout””’ \ seemed never to tire, his senses all alert for | ‘* How in thunder ‘“‘sign” and to avoid a surprise. At length he | say that it had any thiyg to do with it. But was confronted by a waterfall of considerable | you see that it’s gettin’ well into summer, and dimensions, around which all'comers had to | if we’re goin’ to see anyf them Hudson make a ‘“‘ portage.” | fellows, weve got to oving northw : The Blackfoot had around the cataract, | They was down on the tchewan last year and was picking his wee toward the water long before this time, and if we loaf about ete age, for the purpose of launching his canoe, | much longer we shall miss ’em altogether.” when York.\\He found that he had promised one office to\thirteen different burglars, and saat 8 he was startled by catching sight of a “Wal, Pve been tryin’ to coax you off fura light twinkling) amon e stun trees and | week past, but I couldn’t get you started,” re- rocks that here lined the river. He paused on | plied Oregon Sol, determined that the blame should rest upon the right shoulders. ‘‘I s’pose the Blackfoot will go with us.” ‘I wouldn’t bet much onto that, fur if he’s the instant, and laying down his canoe, started dg a cautious reconnoissance of this new camp- e The result was the discovery that Captain | gone off on a tramp there’s no tellingwhen he'll Jack and Flat-Nosed Billy had made another | come back ag’in. Some of these days he won’t halt, which, from all og | Portnsapee was intended | come back at all, and then we'll ‘have to go to last until morning. ving satisfied himself | alone. That ’ere Marunyo is a very yenture- Sp this point, Marunyo retraced his steps, un- | some young lad, and is bound to get ito trouble til he had reached a point below the falls, where | some day. He always reminds me of \the time he paused at what seemed a suitable place, and | I was with the brigade on the “* Red River of the negpe. building a fire for himself. North.” weap hak Sigs res was a singular proceed-| As Oregon Sol himself had been in the em- ing, butit was follow more | ploy of the same company, and had been, with singular and startling. Anhourafter the start- | Nick Whiffles a great deal of the time, he re ing of the fire, the one single might be | marked that he did not: see what there was in seen stretched out in front of the blaze, wrapped | such employment to remind him of the young up from head to foot in his blanket, and to all | Blackfoot. ‘ appearance, in a deep, heavy slumber. Still the ‘*T can’t help itgif you don’t see what-it is,” fire burned vigorously, for a goodly quantity | replied the whimsical trapper; ‘it ain’t the of wood had been heaped upon it, and the Black- | fault of some foot lay with his feet turned toward the em- | brains, though my old schoolmaster used to bers, as if he meant to continue comfortable un- | think it was. We had a good party of us at til morning. that time, and now and* then we come ’cross About midnight, the figure of a Modoc In- | some odd people. There was the Raven of Red dian crept as silently as a shadow from the | River, and lots of others, not to mention the darkness of the undergrowth, and advanced un- | young Injun warriors, that arterward Penh til he had reached the outer rim of the circle | So be gals of the female sex. We had some made by the blaze, where he paused. Here as | lively adventures, then, me and Calamity and my horse Shagbark; and there was a nice lot of the light fell upon his repulsive features they showed him to be no other than Captain Jack, | folks that I helped get out of the hands of the who, in a crawling position, raised his rifleand | varmints, by getting into their hands myself, and having somebody to help me out. But we by something LS EEE | inted toward the unconscious figure. | It required only a second for him to make | all come out right side up, in the end, as I hope sure of his aim, when he pulled the trigger. | we will do ingthis ’ere case. Do you know There was no “flash in the pan” in his case, | what I think that yous Blackfoot is drivin’ and the bullet sped true to its mark, fired, as it | at?’ sudd@nly asked Whiffles, forgetting all was, no further than twenty feet away. | about his promised reminiscences, and ong Having discharged his rifle, the Modoe chief- | only of the new suspicion that had come into tain straightened up and stood looking steadily | head. at the prostrate figure for full a minute. | ** How should I know?’ replied Sol. ‘* How ‘*Marunyo has died the death of a traitor,”,, can I fell you what you're thinking "bout, when he muttered, “‘ but he was a good warrior, and | half the time you don’t know, yourself?’ I will not scalp him. Iwill leave him therefor | ‘‘I’spicion that he’s arter some gal that some the wolves to eat.” : : - of the red-skins hayé run off wit If that’s And, with this Ghristian-like expression, he | the case, why, we’ve got to jime im with him moved away toward his own camp, satisfied | and go too.” that he had ended all trouble from that quar- * Why so?’ rT. “*Cause on account of the gal im the case. He had scarcely disappeared, when another | Nick Whiffles ain’t the man to stand back when figure emerged from the darkness, and, advan- | there’s any caliker that needs his help. It was figure, pulled the blanket always a weakness of the Whiffles family, and aside. | it ruined some of ’em. There was one uncle This action revealed Ahat, instead of a man | the great traveler that rode all over Africa and being within, there wad nothing but a simple Asia and New Jersey in a gig, because he was log of wood, skillfully arran with the moc- afraid he would be blowed up if he traveled on casins at one end, so as to resemble the figure of | the cars or in the steamboats. He was at the a Pg am! panes Cape of: Good Hope, one day, when ke heard It was yo himself who had played this | that a young lady, Demon gine toa Aite we, Paergp rather sharp trick, and a grim smile lit up his | boarding-school that had just started, got face, as he egy = his own moccasins, and | lost among the bushes and hills to the orth of threw his blanket over his shoulders, prepara- | that place. You understand that the young tory to moving further away, where, if he | ladies’ Institute had been started among the Hottentots, or Hotpots, or some such name, and as — had — to do teheg--aad J ee in’ y couldn't very well spare her, though it didn’t need such an inducement te start my un- cing to the prostrate a chose, he could spend a few hours in sleep, with- out the risk of being broken in upon by his ene- mies, ‘“Captain Jack thinks there is none now to | follow him; he believes that the ke oy Lily | cle off, for he was, like the rest of the Whiffles has no friends to save her. Let Captain Jack | family, ready to break his neck any time for look out J” | the sake of helping along some female woman of _ the gentle sex. " CHAPTER II. | “So my uncle only waited long enough to A BIG “YARN.” ' turn a collar that he had been w g for three “I7’s a condemned diffikilty, I allow,” said | or four months, when he jumped into his gig Nick Whiffles, in sopuied to his friend Oregon | and started for the country, where he had been Sol. “I’ve ciphered over it many an_hour, | directed to go to find the interesting young and always come out where I wentin. I think} lady. I heard him remark afterward that the I’ve heard my gran’father speak of the same ‘greatest bother he had was with the roads, almost | diffikilty at the time he was Governor of New | which didn’t seem to have been paved or repair- 900 Comic e couldn’t see his way clear out of ould I know? I didn’t ople ig they’re born without any * \