Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1140 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

a oll a 6 , lately, and you look as though that im ‘him, as he had rarely been im- pressed before. bled with biliousness or log of appetite your- Leaning his long rifle upon the ground, he | self.” foided his arms over the muzzle, and looked out ~ ty the firelit stream beyond. As he stood us, with the campfire burning behind him his long, t figure was brought out in bold relief, and viewed from the opposite shore, was of istinctness. He was wrapped in reverie—reverie of the dian, in rather good English | “Pm glad to hear it; feel so. A man with a sick stomach ain’t of | much account in this world. He’s sartin to git | in some condemned diffikilty. It was the Whif- fles family that made that diskivery a good past. He wasrecalling the many eventful and many years ago, afore I came into this trouble- checkered seenes through which he had gone | oe, world. But, Flat-Nose, ain’t you a leetile and in which he had borne such a promment | out of your latitude, in coming so fur north?” part. Hesaw again the figures of those with “The Modocs go where they wish,” was the whom he had been. associated—the beautiful, — goon pata reply. “ Captain Jack and me have the grave, the gay, the old and young, the curi- | nona big hunt. Now we go back to home ous and strange—as they filed before himina | in the mountains. Why comes my brother so phantom-like procession. | far from home?’ But deep as was his meditation, he could never | forget himself rages A He*always realized where he and so it wasythat when a faint, almost inaudible sound struck upon his ear, he instantly straightened up and listened.. ““T heerd uaa just then,” he said, to himself,in a whisper. ‘‘ 1 knowed there was something in the wind to-night. Yas, there | "tis ag’in.” It was a soft, faint rustle, as if made by some | one stealing through the forest, but it sounded up the stream, and he knew it came from the of the water. ; ** It’s an Injin paddle,” he added, a few min- | utes later. “I’ve heerd the same sound too | many times to mistake about it. Whoever it doesn’t. Leastrate I ain’t apt to go fur with- is, he’s ing this way, and [ll wait till I see | out Calamity and Shagbark.” 0 it is that’s off on a pic-nic excursion to- | “ But they do not meet my eyes,” £7 . Nosed Billy, looking about him, as if he ex- radually it became more distinct, and the | pected to see them come out of the darkness and trapper knew that it was approaching at a | approach the camp. leisurely gait. He could tell toa moment, when | it would reach a point opposite where he stood, | feller’s eyes. Fact is, they don’t meet me very and still watching and listening, he calmly | often, onless [go to meet ’em myself.” awaited its arrival. | “*Good-night, my brother,” added the Indian, None could know better than did Nick Whif- as he stepped back in the canoe and picked up fles, how prominent a figure he would soon be | his paddle again. . to the inmates of the strange canoe, standing * Good-night,” replied the trapper, with a as we have shown directly in front of the fire- | fatherly wave of his hard, bony hand, ‘“‘ may light, but, for all that, he made no move toward | you have sweet dreams, as the virtoous always shifting his position, so as to place himself out | desarve.” of range of the strangers, who could so easily During this conversation, it will be noticed pick him off with their rifles. He felt no mis- ‘Shaye and was content to wait until they | | shoal reveal themselves. | Sat motioniess in the canoe, looking at the two, ee ee y well up north,” he said to him- | as if he considered it beneath his dignity to take self; ‘‘ the cold:weather in these parts seems to | part in such frivolous employment. freeze the nateral deviltry out of a red-skin, though there are some of the agjmals that it would take a month in the midaiae an iceberg, with them as stiff as a gun-barrel, before you could trust ’em. «They may be strangers to me, but,” he said, with something of pride in his modulated voice, ‘+1 wouldn't be afcard to r my gun here that they’ve 1 of Nic Whiffies offen. The Whiffles family always con- on m | brigade of Hudson Bay Company.” ‘* Then you go home?” was the next question, _of the trapper. ‘** That depends ots sarcumstances. bother any of the on me next winter, [ll let you know.” continued the Modoc. equally considerate in ignoring his presence al- companion, although he kept one eye upon the leader of this detestable gang; and, as the canoe back, in the most natural manner in the world. | |.a movement, but there was, nevertheless. trive to make themselves heerd tell of, in some “Tf I had only knowed it was them,” he way or other. When they ain’t governing some | thought, *‘I wouldn’t give ’em such a good State, or making speeches in Congress, they’re | chance, and they ain’t a-goin’ to git it ag’in. catching beavers or sarcumventing red-skins. | Thefe’s some condemned diffikilty The canoe ‘ll be in sight the next minute.” , So it proved stream in the darkness, the form of aanoe all | the scar at once shot into view, as it entered the broad, } He started off this way, and them’s just the ani- faint line of light thrown out by the fire. ' miles to be in that sort of business. I hope the For a few the trapper stood motion- less, and then, as he discerned the two Indians taut * 6 within, he instinctively stepped back a pa © _s two and clutched his riffe. ** Modoes!” he exclaimed to himself; ‘ they’re | 2 treacherous set, and I don’t iike ’em, and ; is two of the worst of thea whole lot. What | are doing so far north as this? They | é don’t ng here, and I feel like ordering ’em his return to camp, his attention was arres our trapping-grounds, back to their own lava- | by the sound of another oar being dipped into _fwonuld just as lief spend a week in sarcum- ' yentin’ them red-skins as not.” He stood back in the gloom away from the the beds.” | the water at no great distance from where he He had recognized the two red asthe | stood. This, too; came from a point somewhere arch-villains Captain Jack and Flat-N Billy. | wu , and was much closer than was the He had seen them before, and he always felt, as sending a, bullet owing to the he had declared, like through | the head of each. : , Captain Jack, the notorious leader, was seat- ' ed in the stern with all the dignity and import- | ance@£a king, while his companion was a : gh | | gua a pte ‘ing discovered. ‘* Tha ee how to swing the said Nick i , as he stood and listened. **Onless a man has got as iong ears as I have, “Modoe warrior much well,” replied the In- | ish. _ Indian sprung out and took his hand. hope you'll continner to | _**My home is anywhere in the North-west,” | _ returned Nick, with a sweep of hisarm. ‘Iam | way to Blackfoot Rock to meet the | that them | | varmints have got into I allow, te fotch ’em so_ : for while he stood facing up- | fur north as this. Wonder now if they ain’t | that Marunyo has been follerin’? | ‘ the ein a , listless ‘manner,,gs thou he ain’t apt to hear ‘im. he bad the whole night before him in'which to | ment on foot, as sure as the world, and Ef think perform a journey of a few miles. | it’s time that I found out suthing about it. He’s U the mapper, they had been turn-.| close on hand now.” ed foward , and the next moment, the | A few moments later the seccnd canoe shot to prow touched the land, arf@ Flat-Nosed Billy | view, following almost precisely the tracks of ~o. out. . | the first, and the first glance showed that it was “How does my brother, the great hunter, | occu by but one single person, who was the do?’ he as he extended his hand, which | young Blackfoot warrior, Marunyo. was taken ra réluctantly by Nick, who re- —‘ Just what I thought,” said Nick Whiffles to “ Purty well; I hain’t had, to call in a doctor Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. é ——— ou wa’n’t trou- | lerin’ up them cussed Modocs, and if he keeps it up much longer, he’ll be likely to come with his scalp left behind him. How is my brother, Marunyo, to-night?’ he asked, as the ‘* Have you seen Ceptain Jack and his men?” _ he asked, disregarding the question. whose quick eagerness did not escape the notice | them again. | ’ said Flat- | ** No; they never was very good on meeting a | Jack and | that Captain Jack said not a word, nor did he | show any disposition to join it. All the time, he | As he took no notice of Nick, the latter was | together, directing his words entirely to his | slowly glided away in the darkness, he stepped | ““See’d ’em both. Shook hands with Flat- Nosed Bill, and my arm has felt eversince as though [d been stroking the back of a rattle- snake. You're follerin’ ’em, Marunyo, and now what p’ison diffikilty is on foot?’ The Blackfoot then narrated all that has al- ready been told the reader. After telling of the trick he played upon the Modocs, by which he made them both believe that he had fallen a victim to their hatred, he explained that he re- sumed the pursuit and. continued it in a more which he could not understand, he lost the altogether, and only to-night was he, enabled get upon it again, and it was due to acciden more than gai bogs else, that he had found e had not been able to catcha of them in the darkness and was not cautious manner, when, by some oa glim It would | positive that he was really pursuing the right Vhiffles family to tell where | men, until his vee a theyll be or what they’ll do next week. Mebbe | what the trap Pll come back, and mebbe won’t. If you'll call | learned further that the two Modcecs were alone suspicions were confirmed by per had told him. When he in the canoe, he was completely astonished, and ** Does my brother come alone, so far north?” | scarcely knew what to make of it. “Then Drooping Lily and her mother have “Sometimes he does, and sometimes he | been killed!” he exclaimed, in a voice of an- guish. “Not quite so bad, as that,” replied Nick Whiffles, who was enabled to comprehend the situation more correctly, | ‘‘They’vo took them precious animiles with ’em to the place where they mean to keep ’em, fur a few y or till they kin get a good big ransom fur ema.” There fixed things so they can’t git away, and Captain at-Nosed Billy has started fur hum ag’in. Mebbe they wouldn’t have done it if they’d knowed that you hadn’t gone under yit.” ‘Then I must turn back and hunt for the place where she is hid, for Marunyo can never o back to “his hunting-grounds and leave rooping Lily behind.” ‘Struck, I allow,” remarked Nick with a grin; ‘‘’spected it afore. That’s rig a ight, how sumever, ‘cause I used to act that way niyselt) ‘‘Can’t my brother, the great hunter, go wi mé?” asked the Indian, with such a wistful, pleading look in his eyes that the heart of ‘the tra} +58 was touched. will, but 1 can’t do it right away. I tel you, Marunyo,” he added, * you nine” wisn’ Biack. foot Rock is, don’t yer? The young warrior ete in the affirmative. “I’m on my way to that air, spect to be thar _by day arter to-morrer, as I’m under an en- | Seemingly, there was no object in making such | gagement to meet the brigade. You can do what huntin’ ‘round you’ve got time to do; then strike fur that place, and on Sol and me will join forces with yer, and make a dead set _ for the Drooping Lily, as you ¢all her.” The eye of the Blackfoot sparkled. Nothing’ Blackfoot has learned what it is, for I hain’t got | anything partic’lar on hand with the brigade. | i cl listening to the sound of the paddle of | odoc, as it grew fainter and fainter each | moment, and then as he was about to start on | - other canoe when he first detected its approach, | recaution which was taken to | el ddle,” ere’s some devil- . himself, — . ing forward in front of the | fire. ‘ t’s what the red-skin is doing—fol- could have suited him better, unless if was a pledge from Nick that the junction should be made at once. ° ‘*Good-by,” he said, taking his hand. “ When the sun goes down the second time after to-day, Marunyo will meet his brother at Blackfoot Rock, and then shall come the rescue of Droop- ing Lily. a ‘You don’t nem Raper of the old lady as e young one,” sa trapper, still hol the hand that rested in his own Pca then iF was proceedi vice upon Jove matters, in his quaint, original way. Naturally talkative, he sented sin. eid hearing himself speak just now, while the Black- foot, impatient as he was to t away, repressed his emotions, and listened with the deference of a slave receiving the commands of his Jord and m ; Thus they stood face to face, with their hands asped and the camp-firé smoldering between them and the forest, when there ‘was the slight- est possible rustling in the bushes in the rear of the trapper. It might have been made by the hopping of a bird or the falling of a leaf—se slig * and ee Ars was it, that neither of e two men any attention to But it had a deadl - i next minute the ou to give him some nes of a crouching Indian were revealed in the shadowy gleam, as he stole and perfect forward with the slow, cantious, _ silence of the creepin ther. __ He was epee behind Niek Whiffles, whose large frame could easily obstruct the view of Marunyo, as he stood listening to the words of | the hunter co co - Mic 200Kks . ft \ rs as! = b - 5 > a> Ce a - ould like to, by ’mighty, and I giless I~ meaning; and within the