Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1152 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

ene ee ee ee oe. ee - wero very fond of frolicking in the neighbor- hood of the Death Lodge. He stood afd watched them for a few minutes, and then turned away ‘ and joined his companions who were loitering hear, pearcely was his back turned, when in went Calamity again. The sagacious brute went straight up to where the captive wastying, and, without any preliminaries, applied’ his sharp teoth to the thongs that bound his elbows, an ii a twimsling they were free: _‘uen the thongs at the wrists followed suit. bio was still Zastened.at the knees and ankles, and Calamity was about to attack these, when bs sserned to change his mind, and out of the door he wont again. Bandman understood the meaning of this movement, anil he took the hint at once, Liyinz on his side, he took pains to keep his ars behind him in the same position, as before they were unfastened, and the better to deceive his foo, he kept his head lowered, and began no'lding as though he was dropping off to sleep. fle heard the cautious footstep of the Indian, and he knew that he was standing at the door, and looking at him, but still the trapper did not raiso his head. In the utter silence which thus prevailed Bandman was fearful that the savage would hear the throbbing of his heart, and would pene- trate his calm exterior and see the tumult that agitated him. Could it be that his suspicions were aroused? Had he been watching and seen the dog at work? Had the brute been outwitted by the greater brute of a man? Such and similar were the questions that agita- ted the captive during these dreadful moments, when he knew that the burning eyes of the In- uian were fixed upon him, not daring to guess what his next movement would be. If the red-skin had actually detected the ruse that was being attempted, ugh saw nothing but failure before him. True, his arms were froe, and had he possessed a weapon he would have made a fight upon being approached by the dusky scounxlrel; but he did not possess a knife, and could make no resistance at all. But he waited and prayed that his enemy would move away and leave him alone, for he felt that he could not stand this searching scru- tiny much longer. The prayer was nted. His strained ears caught the soft rustle and heard the faint sound of tootsteps as the Indian turned BpoR his heel aud movedaway. Raising his head, Bandman say that he was alone again. It seemed to the poor fellow that so much of the night had passed, that the morning—dawn of his last day—was close at hand. In reality ib was only a little past midnight; but he was bocoming so distressed and agitated that he felt he could not stand this suspense much longer, ‘Sh! here was Calamity again. Heaven’s blessings upon the noble creature, and upon his noble master, who was risking so much for a comparative stranger. As before, the dog proceeded to business with- out delay. A few vigorous clamps of bis jaws, and the cords parted at the ankles; those at the knees quickly followed, and then Hugh Band- man was free. Calamity stood a moment, looking straight into the face of the man whom he had benefited; then turned about and darted out of the door again. “The critical moment had come, and Hugh Bandman staggered toward the door, resolved to maxe one last grand strugyle for life. CHAPTER XVII. RACING WITH A PHANTOM, At this critical moment the three Blackfoot sentinels were standing together, just beyond thio Death Lodge, talking of something that was quite interesting to all. Not one of the three bad the remotes icion that any project was on foot looking to the rescue of their prisoner, Had they believed that any living person was thinking of such a thing, it is not to be mip roeen that all the cunning and skill of Nick Whiffles and his dog could have benefited Bandman in the least. They were keep watch because it was an invariable custom of the Blackfeet to do so un- der such circumstances, and then it was not im- yossible that the prisoner might release himself, jiaough it was by no means probable thatsuch thing could be done. 2\s I said, the three were conversing in this manner, when one of them suddenly Sie ed a bright, star-like point of light in the woods, and he called the attention of the others to it. All. three turned their heads and carefully Ned Hazel, worm eww eee — + 2 ee oe ee ete oe ——————— a scrutinized it. It was small and glowing like a coal, and while they looked they could see that it was steadily increasing in size, showing that it was fire. Furthermore, it was upon the ground, and was burning without noise, and seemingly with- out any human agency, It was singular, to say tho least, and all three Indians moved toward it. Reaching the point where it lay, they stooped and saw that it was a piece of excrescence, nearly spherical in shape, and commonly known as ‘‘ punk.” One of them kicked it about with his moccasin, and then tho question was how did it come there, or rather how did it come to be fired? There was something so curious in it that the three stood talking for a fow minutes, and then they walked back again toward their station. And just at this moment it entered the head of one of the dusky scoundrels that this burn- ing point of light algae have something to do with the prisoner in the Death Lodge. With a muttered exclamation of anger, he ran to the door and looked in. The captive was not there! For an instant the Blackfoot stood like one stupefied, and then he gave utterance to several dismal whoops, that sounded through the vil- lage, and awoke Woo-wol-na from his sleep, ithin five minutes ascore of warriors, with the chief at their head, were running toward the sentinel, with the questions: ‘What is the matter? What has happened?” ‘The prisoner has escaped from the Death Lodge!” This was the alarming cry that went around, With tomahawk in hand, the chief strode up to the one who had announced the catastrophe. “Dog! how came he to get away?’ he de manded, in thunderous tones. ‘*'The Great Spirit helped him—” “Thou liest, thou treacherous dog. Thou didst it! Die the death of a traitor!” As the infuriated chief uttered the words, his tomahawk descended upon the skull of the doomed Indian, who sunk in his tracks and paid the fearful penalty of his remissness of duty. In the hubbub and excitement Woo-wol-na did not lose his presence of mind. He knew that the fugitive could beat no great distance, and he vave orders for a dozen of his fleetest warriors to scatter and search the woods in eve- ry direction for hin, He suspected that the prisoner had outside help in making his escape, and he entered the Death Lodge himself and made a careful ex- amination. The thongs lay I the ground, and a glance showed that they had not been cut but gnawed in two. He had givem instructions to his men ‘to bind the white inan, so that he could not get his hands to his mouth, and he concluded at once es he Boy Trapper. that this precaution had been neglected and he | had freed himself in this way. The other two sentinels, dreading the displea- sure of their chief, had taken care to scatter as goon as the alarm had spread, so that this means of information was taken from him, His next inquiry was regarding the Phantom Princess, She had been scen by a number early in the evening; but, upon repairing to her lodge, both she and her daughter were missing’! His soul was filled with fury when he learned | this, for he needed no stronger proof that it was through her connivance that the first and only victim had passed from this fated room without going to his death. Ali inquiry could learn nothing further about her. Noone had seen her within a few hows, and he had now only to rely upon his own cun- ing to frustrate her daring atternpt to outwit im. He stood for a moment in deep thought, and then he roused up ready to act. Well aware of the marvelous skill of the Princess in the use of the oar, he cuncluded that it would be called into requisition upon the pre- sent occasion. Somewhere, therefore, at no great distance up the river, she was now, or soon would be, with her charge, Striding from the lodge, Woo-wol-na made bis way to the shore, where several canoes were always lying. He was accompanied by a half- dozen of his truest and tried warriors, and he still had Sen hopes of success, It was barely possible that the fugitives had one down the stream: but as this course would ave carried them further away from what must have been their destination, i did not be- lieve that contingency probable enough to war- in that direction. ” said he, as he seated himself in the bow, “‘and row as best you can.” There were no *slouches” in the canoe, and rant any effort ss U a ae a) 13 aS -_——~- the boat fairly skimmed over the surface of the water. The moon was as clear and powerful as u the preceding night, and the Indian boat shot out directly in the center as though disdaining the current, which, in reality, was so slight as to cause eerie’ | auy perceptible impediment, For a half-mile the progress was continued in this manner, and then Woo-wol-na gave the word for the boat to turn nearer shore, where the stream flowed more slowly, His reason for doing this was, in the wind- ings of the river there were many places where there was quite deep shadow, of which he wish- ed to avail himself. If the whites were upon the river, and should discern their pursuers, and should find there was danger of being over- taken, they could easily run in to shore, and se long as the darkness lasted could keep out of the way of all pursuers. His wish, therefore, was to steal upon them, so as to intercept and prevent any such flank movement, The Indians used their paddles with ree im strength and skill; nothing but the ripple o the water from the prow and the soft wash from their oars could be heard, as they glided along the shore with such swiftness. On, on they pressed, their muscles see never to tire. Several miles were and st nothing was seen or heard of the fugitives, Woo-wol-na leaned forward over the prow, his # es eye piercing the gloom ahead, on the look- out for the first indications of the parties for whom he was searching. Ah! it would have pone ill with the Phan- ea Princess had she fallen into his power at this ime, : His whole soul was aroused, and he was in that mood when i womanhood or youth- ful innocence would have appealed to his merey in vain, Fully a half-dozen miles were paren and he still vat Gace not his vigilance in the least, ie uttered the exclamation with such force- ful suddenness that all the warriors stopped rowing on the instant. He explained by point- ing ahead to where, near the center of the stream, and so far away as to be only dimly visible, the white canoe of the Phantom Prin- cess was to be seen, The next instant, the paddles were di deep, and the Indian canoe shot forward with a speed that seemed about to tear her in twe, Great as was the skill of the woman, the chief was confident that his warriors could overtake her. When Myra Bandman vanished so suddenly from the sight of the Hudson Bay trappers, whu were pursuing her, it was only by one of her strokes no more skillful than the hundreds by which she kept beyond their reach all the time. She was very close to the shore at the time, and growing weary of the race, she made a dex- terous flirt of her paddles that sent the canoe under the overhanging undergrowth like a flash, where it was concealed from any who might be passing within a few feet. But Woo-wol-na was familiar with her strata- gems, and there was no danger of his being de- ceived by any of them. is purposé was to keep them in view until they had approached near enough to send several rifle-shots after them, by which he hoped at least so to disable them as to render further flight useless, They had gone some distance before the fugi- tives gave evidence of discovering their danger ; then the race began in dead earnest. As my readers are aware, the Phantom Prin- cess carried her busband, daughter, Nick Whif- fles and his dog, so that she was under such dis- advantage that she could not call into play all her astonishing skill, and the race had not con- tinued five minutes when it was evident that the Blackfeet were gaining quite rapidly, Woo-wol-na was the first to see this, and he cheered his men to renewed exertions. They or fe évery muscle and gained faster and r Just what the wary chief feared now took place. I of keeping in the middle of the river, where aay wero in plain view, the fugt. tives began making for the shore, With a how] of rage, the savage raised his rifle and fired) To his amazement it was answered from. the ca- noe, and the bullet sung rather uncomfortably close to his own ear. But the exertions of his men were not relaxed in the If possible they toiled the harder, and turned aside as if to head off the approach of the whites to land. ro oe > es OR “Vy The distance was too great to accomplish any me ‘thing by this maneuver, and to the chagrin