Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1154 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 around him to see whether there was any object in view upon which he might exercise his lasa marksman. He had scarcely occupied a minute thus, when he started, and staring for another instant, dod behind the tree-trunk against which he had been “cma ‘‘By Jove! if there ain’t an Indian this very minute!” he gasped, trembling with agitation; “sitting on a log, too, as though he knew I was about and had given upall hope. Now, if he'll only sit stilia few minutes longer, he’s a gone case, sure!” Carefully raising his rifle, Percy pressed it against the side of the tree, and sighted at the individual, who was sitting upon a fallen tree scarcely a hundred yards away, as motionless as if carved in stone, totally unmindful of the ter- rible danger in which he was placed. It required considerable time for Fitzsimmons to get the ‘‘range” of the Indian, and the gun was so fearfully heavy, that he regretted not having brought a step-ladder with him, upon which to rest it, when about to fire. However he finally got the thing in skape, and bl away. The instant it was fired, Percy dropped his iece, craned his neck forward, and peered in e direction of his game to see the result. Theresat the Indian stationary and unmoved, precisely in the position in which he had seen him at first. ‘* Killed so suddenly that he don’t know what hurt him,” whispered the marksman, with his eyes still fixed intently uponhim. ‘Pll get my knife ready, while he topples over.” Percy opened his small pen-knife, and it firmly, but when he was ready the Indian hadn’t toppled a bit. ‘‘That’s strange,” exclaimed the hunter, as he stealthily stooped down and picked up his gun. “J guess I’ll try another shot, as it looks as though I’ve only wounded him, and it will be merciful to give him another to put him out of his misery.” | As this was the first time he had ever loaded a he consumed considerable time in so doing. ning upon Sper principles he man- aged at length to complete the process in a cor- rect manner, and drawing back the hammer of his gun, he sighted with greater care at the im- movable red-man that preserved his seat with such imperturbable gravity. ** That finished him, sure!” exclaimed Percy, the instant his gun was discharged, hurrying forward for the purpose of completing the per- formance With the scalping operation. | A rod or two separated hing from his victim, when the latter turned his head, and demanded, . #n vigorous English: » at in thunder you shootin’ at?” Percy paused in dismay, as he now recognized m the speaker a white man, dressed in the garb of a hunter, who rose to his feet, and looked savagely at him, while he waited for the answer to his question. “T yeally beg pardon, but I took you for an dian,” ** And did you shoot at me?” ‘¢T beg pardon—” *‘ That ain’t answerin’ me—I want to know did you shoot at me?” ‘“T must own that I did, but—” Further utterance was drowned in the bois- terous laughter of the hunter, who threw his head back, and placing his hands against his sides laughed till he was scarcely able to stand. “You are a mystery to me,” said Percy, ap- proachiug closer as the laughter showed signs of subsidence. “If a man shot me twice, I don’t think I’d feel much like laughing at him.” “Bf aman shot at yer, and the bullet went about a hundred yards over your head, [ think you'd yell a little.” 1 an heirely you are mistaken about that, for Ww? . ‘* Dry up, fer you don’t know nothin’, ‘cepting pr’aps your name, an’ whar you come from, an’ who lost yer, an’ what you're trying to do, which is what I axes yer.” ing to the t il in which Percy had laceé interlocutor, he felt under t tions to him, aod gave the informa- ha in a brief, but ly satisfactory , mmanner. The hunter listened until he had finished, and then said: _ Pye heard tell of - told me the other os oniladelphy, and that grat , come out here to ’ yon, eern at Hugh’s. He he was expectin’ ou were a , wit Ss Ly 4 J Beadle’s HalfDime Library. and I flatter myself that he did not mlsindce me, Lhaven’t my rifle with me, and you see I to fire a couple of loads out of his, before I could get the hang of the blamed thing: May I ask your name?” ‘‘ Zip Smith.” Percy made a frantic leap forward, thrustin out his hand as he did so, exclaiming in a m gasping Manner: ‘** Give us your hand on that !—you’re the very man I’m jooking for. Aunt Han, told me to look out for you, because you were so well ac- quainted with the woods hereabouts.. ’m glad to meet you, and we’ll bunt together for a week, sharing our game equally—” ‘* Not much,” interrupted Zip, who was not without a waggish vein in hisnature, ‘‘ A man of your style and get up, don’t need any one with him to bother him when he’s goin’ to shoot, Some.of these days [ll take a little tramp with yer, but not to-day.” “Oh! it makes no difference to me,” said Per- cy, very loftily. ‘‘ I only mentioned it as a favor to ou. Zip now put on a seriousexpression, and spoke with the voice of a man in deadly earnest. ‘1 must tell you one thing, pardner, and that is that thar’s danger in these parts of the very worst kind—” ‘ Glad to hear it,” interrupted Percy; ‘ that’s what brought me here.” ‘‘And that’s just what you'll want to get away from afore you’ve been here a week. I’ve hunted in Minnesota for twenty-five years, lon afore thar war a single house whar St. Pau now stands, and [ reckon I know somethin’ about the Sioux and Crows, and 1 kin tell you thar’s goin’ to be the devil to pay hereabouts mighty soon. What I want to say to you, rdner, is to caution you ag’in’ gittin’ too fur into these woods, fur I’ve seen sign of the var- mints sin’ sonybmg ca and I’m mighty i 8 hy tugh Fullerton druv his stakes so fur up this way, whar he’s ten miles from the near- est settlement, ’cause it’s my opine, he’s got to dig’ out of these parts blamed soon, ef he and his wife expect to save thar ha’r, It’s fortinit that the gal is down to the settlement now, whar they can’t hurt her purty face, and I’ve sent word to her by young Ned Hosmer, that she must stay thar till the folks come down, though it’s just like her not to do it, but to pitch fur her home so as to be with the old folks, when the thing comes, Howsumever, don’t you stay lon ; OF go fur into these woods, but dig for Hugh’s purty soon.” And having delivered himself of this rather rambling speech, which certainly contained a ood deal, the hunter Zip turned on his heel and isappeared in the wood, Percy Fitzsimmons stood for a moment or two after his sve naan digesting the information thus received. “That chap seems to understand himself,” he remarked, throwing up his head, as if addressing some person standing before him, ‘Of course he couldn’t make much money in the dry-goods business in Chestnut street, but he’s at home in the woods, and I don’t suppose he often goes hungry. 4 Bit it looks to me like presumption in him to keep giving me advice, as though I was a woman, and don’t understand the rifle myself. True, I never practiced any thing but the pistol at the gallery at home, but the Eg ban is the same in both cases, and I don’t go home till I show. them a imen of my skill.” With this resolution he carefully reloaded his rifle, and throwing it over his shoulder, plunged into the thickest of the wood, casting furtive glances about him all the time in search of his game. And this brings us back again to the tiie of our story, where Percy paused fora momen and muttered. | ‘* Zip told me that we were in a good game country and that I must keep a good look-out which just what I've been doing for the last half hour, | The ardent wish which the amateur felt of meeting with some royal game seemed destined to be mer gs as he had scarcely completed the solfloaney with which our story opened, when a crackling of the bushes, and a swaying of the ‘undergrowth announced the approach of some animal, and, awn the on whence it came, Percy sprung and rested his rifle in tha sojeb oa he dane the srugele Supine di- rectly tow. Ingerous ql r. ” On came the brute, unconscions of ‘his doom | ts et elle oe ane dd that crossed nearly at See tread!” he | in no little excitement; ‘he’s my | began to separate in front, and quickening his aim from the fact that the anima Cena iear | directly toward him, Percy made sure of hitting the head and pulled the trigger. There was a frenzied bellow, and down went the creature on its knees, then over on its side, where it gave up the ghost, just as the panting Fitzsimmons dashed up to the spot. “*Confound it, if I haven’t killed somebody’s cow!” exclaimed the dismayed sportsman, look- ing hurriedly about him to see whether the in. dignant owner was anywhere in sight. ‘‘It’s strange how I made such a mistake. I wonder whether she can be revived.” He stooped down and made an anxious ‘ dias- nosis,” of the case, the result of which was the discovery that the bovine was stone dead, and consequently beyond the reach of medicine or surgery. Paid I'll bet a hat that the cow belongs to uncle Hugh,” added the troubled Percy as he rose to his feet. ‘‘ However Pll kecp mum about it, and he’ll think it was done by some of the Ravens, or Crows that Zip has been saying so much about.” ° There was some consolation in this thought, and bearing in mind the mistakes he had com- mitted since starting out upon his hunt, Pere wisely resolved to use more caution in the ma r, ‘‘T'll let the next animal come a good deal closer, so that I can scrutinize it from head to tail before I fire. I’ve seen so many pictures of the bear and buffalo in Peterson’s window on Chestnut street, that I am sure I can identify it without trouble.” Ashe pressed through the wood, and found himself traversing a broad, deep ravine, the warning of Zip came to him, and a suspicion troubled him that he was venturing: too far inte an entirely unknown piece of forest. Still it was early in the day, and he was loth to return empty-handed, especially since his aunt had assured himi of the abundance of game. He was quite desirous of establishing his reputation as a ‘first-class marksman, and so he determined to press forward until something substantial rewarded his labor. ‘*T’ve heard tell of cow buffaloes,” he said te himself, as he walked along, ‘‘and it may be af- ter all that that was the creature I popped, but I guess I won’t say any thing about it for the present.” A very ** Hello! This hasty exclamation was caused by the sight of a deer that dashed along, directly up the ravine, before him. There was no mistak- ing the identity of the’ animal, and, as soon as Percy had recovered from the shock caused by its rush, as it sped like an arrow up the ravine, he drew the heavy rifle to his shoulder, and let fly at the rapidly-vanishing game. Whether the deer was struckor not can never be known; but, had one keen watching it in- tently at the moment of firing, he would have discovered no change in its gait or manner, so that there is strong reason to decide against the accuracy of Percy’s shooting, ‘“T once read somewhere, that when a hunter fires his gun, the first thing he does is to load again, and that’s me.” Load he did, with a remarkable deliberation of movement, not stirring from his steps until the whole thing was completed. Certain that the deer was mortally wounded, Fitzsimmons passed on up the ravine, as fast as ssible, in the expectation of ons upon his bod at every step; but, when he had gone fully a mile, making several serious rents in coat and pants, he began to feel somewhat skeptical, and came to another pause, | ‘*T suppose the animal has crawled away or climbed. up some tree to die by himself, and se there isn’t any more use of loo for him.” After all the conviction began to creep over Percy that he would have to defer his Nimrod exploits until the afternoon, or until next day. Consulting his repeater, he found that it was ‘past eleven o’clock, and that if he wished to reach his uncle’s in time for the old-fashioned dinner-hour, he had not a moment to linger. “There must be a shorter route homeward,” he concluded, as he took several swallows from a flask that was drawn from an et, As he spoke, he struck into another ravine, hh toad leading th divection | “which ) the on in whi he oe d the house bf his uncle to be situ- a " “wy say It is hardly necessary to_state the result of SECT earth ene prudent conclusion. 7 | ‘and this seems to be it.” ys : . *) ve * 7 : : j ~ “<= { ea +o oe - =