Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1155 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

t i a9e, bs . ~ . ire A= ‘ ‘ . ' Tact t other was a ne’ devoted aspirant to his cousin Nora’s hand. , an Nohatd friends bea i éf ’ Richard was young—scarcely two-and-twent iN . - We es . i a ©. ed 7 . ae i z : i. : ;. ayy % . i 4 « ’ 4 ty . (Ld? . i been in the reeds, and had secured Nora before he left. This they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, for Dubois reco the rifle ‘found with the maiden as the same Hawkeye Harry had in his possession the night he came to their encampment on the prairie. ) “Let my warriors search for Hawkeye,” said the chief; “‘he is not far away; his hands laid the green moss over the maiden before he left. He is cunning as the fox, and is hard to kill. If he was cunning enough to save the maiden’s life, he would not fail tosave his own.” By this time the fire had reached the northern extremity of the bayou, and was dying out. But, in obedience to their chief’s command, the warriors searched the bayou over for the young trapper, but their search was in vain, And at iar. when the light of thé burning reeds died out, they turned their canoes and struck for their encampment on the river-bank. Slowly Nora Gardette came back to life, and when she had fully regained consciousness, she found herself upon a couch of blankets and skins before a glowing fire, In trying to tollect her bewildered thoughts and recall her situation, her mind reverted to Hawkeye Harry, and, uttering a low cry, she sprung to her feet. A heavy hand was laid upon her arm, and a voice said, in a deep, guttural tone: : ‘‘Let the pale-face maiden rest easy. She 2zannot escape, She is in the power and the camp of Gray Hawk.” With Hashing exes Norg,turned upon the say- age. She saw her situation in a moment, but she did not give way under it. Scorn, defiance and indignation seemed to have gained complete ascendancy over her womanly fears and geutiler emotions, the instant the savage spoke. She was surprised, herself, that she possessed so qauch courage and intrepidity. For a moment she stood and faced the chief— faced him until he was compelled to shrink away; then her eyes turned and scanned each form around her with a look that spoke plainer than words, was not there. Had he But Hawkeye Har escaped the flames? She felt that he had, anda . wilent prayer of joy and thankfulness came up from her young heart. In her. inquiring’ glances and the. faint smile that came to her lips, Gray,Hawk seemed to have reai the maiden’s thought and emotions, “You need not look for the oung Hawkeye around our camp-fire. His body lies yonder in the bayou, and his scalp hangs at the girdle of Gray Hawk,” and with a glow of hellish tri- umph upon his broad, painted, sensual face, he tapped, with his finger, a reeking scalp-lock that hung at his girdle. Br it was the last falsehood that Gray Hawk was destined to utter, for the next moment he ‘uttered a low cry, and fell dead at the feet of the maiden. CHAPTER XV. ON THE TRAIL Atan early hour on the morning following the night of the events at the bayou, a party of horsemen broke camp on the great prairie many miles south of Boyer lake. They were white men, and with a few exce tions were dressed alike—in the uniform of the United States Dragoons. They were well arm- ed and mounted upon animals that showed they had been hard pressed, _. At the head of the company, with long, regu- lar and rapid strides, a man dressed in a suit of buck-skin guided the soldiers. His eyes sought the ground before him in a steady gaze, for he was following the wagon trail of Henri Roche. In the rear of the company rode two peraas ‘whose garbs told they. were civilians, and, judg- ing from appearance, they were men unused to the igen and hardships of the frontier. In is was the case. e eldest of the two was Calvin Gardette, the father of Nora. The hew of Mr. Gardette’s, and a Richard Parker—this, was tho man’s name—bad accompanied Nora and her father from Ohio to the fort, where they had been stopping with Major Gardette, Nora’s brother. And when it was known that Nora was gone, Richard was the first to volunteer his services to penetrate the Indian country in search of her. The father had no objections to his attentions to his daughter, for he saw that the "latter did not reciprocate his devotions. beyond the bounds ef hip. ve and enthusiastic nature, a free ink you, uncle?” he asked, as they wt - ' 4 : i Ri 5 r f. , ’ ws ' wr 4 7 - 7 ; t \ , by : ; . : a - i t th _— ‘ : 4 ‘ er aw eo ae 7 aa?’ ", ’ - » co / i has | * OO em ras 4 7, itty fp. ek } yee ‘Tal Nola Niet la | rae i ths ne P's a, “ra4 OW | “ a Say = ‘ij ~ Mes u ; d ie . phe | hate f a ) ee a) ; ' ie wee 7 ihe . yee nt 6) ia a. — se i-CD OOS — reo a 0 Ss SS OO Se -OC e - ees eee ar § ee ern oe ne es a ee mer eee ee + ee ee - 0 ee rode along, ‘‘ has that wagon-track been made within the last two days?” ‘It certainly has, Dick,” returned Mr. Gar- dette; ‘‘at least our guide and scout say so, and they are versed in such matters.” “If so, we may come up with the enemy, be they Indians or white men, before night.” “Yes,” replied Mr.Gardette; ‘‘but we may find then that we are following the trail of a part of honest traders. However, Lubin, the scout, is satisfied that the party we are following have got Nora. You know he figured the whole mat- ter ont very closely, and believes the abduction was arranged between a party of outlaws and the young scout, Ulric Dubois, who is now miss- ing from the Post. The fact of pols NOTE hat in the river, and the edge of the bank crum- bled off, and not her body, satisfied Lubin that she had been abducted, and these marks—the hat and crumbled bank—left to keep down sus- icion of the facts. And from the course taken y the party after leaving the motte, where we just broke camp, the scout: expressed fears that they were heading for old Rat Rougle’s robber- den, If so, I fear I will never see my poor child : 1.” ‘t ‘Well, uncle, we will soon know, if their trail is as plain all the way along as here,” _ “But, Dick, we may soon expect to have other dangers to encounter. The scout says we are getting into the Indian country now.” Here the conversation ended for the time, and the party moved on in silence, reaching ‘the Boyer river a few minutes before sunset. Here the party went into camp. In gazing around him for a suitable spot for a camp-fire, a cry of surprise suddenly burst from the lips of Lubin, thé scout, ‘What now, Lubin?’ asked the lieutenant of the dragoons, ‘* Ther wagon-trail eends on this blessed spot and thar’s whar the rascals hed their camp-fire 1 replied Lubin, pointing to a heap of ashes, All saw that Lubin was correct in his state- ment; but the scout, not satisfied with this dis- covery, advanced, and with his moccasined feet scattered the ashes. ‘* By Jehokey! I see into it now!” he exclaim- ed; ‘‘the white rascals hey burnt thar wagon up onto this very spot. Here’s some o’ the nails that says so.” ‘* But where are the other irons? Surely they didn’t burn them up,” said a dragoon. ‘* No, but I'll bet ye’ll find ’em in the river if ye'll jist take the trubble to look— See here!” The scout picked out of the ashes several nails and screws, which satisfied every one that the wagon had been burned there, and the party had taken to the river or horseback. While the pursuers were busy in picketing their animals to grass, and’ otherwise preparing for the night, Lubin was noticed to be very busy about the remnant of the camp-fire, and pres- ently he announced another discovery. He found that the ground under the ashes was broken and loose, and he was satisfied that the Outlaws, if such they were, had buried some- thing there, and, to conceal the spot, had burned the wagon over it, In a few moments, half a dozen men were upon their, knees removing the dirt from the spot with their hands, Down two feet from the surface of the ground they came to a wooden chest, bound with straps of iron. Great excitement prevailed, and some of the party could scarcely wait until the chest was unearthed before they: began forcing it open; this was accomplished, however, and then an- other excitement prevailed over the contents, which were quite numerous. The first article taken from the chest a map of the territory—nothing more, "Then came a number of letters, all of which had been addressed to Henri Roche, and were writ- ten in cipher, .Two or three of recent date ? were, signed ‘‘U. D,,” which all believed stood ath Ulric Dubois, the ot devant scout of the ) tn the bottom of the box were found plates, engravers’ tools, various colored inks, and, fact, every thing years by a band of success- and thie ful counterfeiters ves, This satisfied our friends that the party they were sonore was some of Rougle’s robbers, Calvin Gardette groaned in spirit when he thought how probable it was that Nora was in the villains’ power. He was anxious to move on that night, but his desire was overruled by Lubin, who informed him that it would not aig impossible to follow a trail, but decided- ¥ Thar’s Inji about, I'm ” the scout said, ‘“and ‘at I ain’t well enuff ’quainted toe with these parts to foller a trail arter dark. Ye see, trailin’, as a success, don’t depend entirely on the plainness o’ the trail, but one’s knowledge o’ the kentry, courses, creeks, and the dangers surroundin’ ’em, Now, if we could run across a chap up in these diggin’s called Hawkeye Har- - ry, then we could travel day and night, fur shby say it’s a pos’tive fact that that boy can see jist as well in the dark as a cat.”’ ‘Where does he live?” asked one, | ‘Bout ten miles from here, He’s a free ran- ger or trapper, and a bold lectle dare-devil he is, too, He can skin a beaver or skulp a red- skin quicker than you can wink. He comes to the fort every one’t in a while to buy powder and shot, and sichlike— Ah! what’sthat mean?” The old scout’s Query was occasioned by the faint report of a rifle echoing through the woods and along the river. **T reckon it’s young Parker’s rifle,” said one; ‘he left camp soon after we halted to take a little hunt for deer or turkey.” True enough, Dick, as uncle called him, was gone. In the excitement occasioned by the finding of the chest and its contents, all but the one man had failed to notice his absence. “By Jehokey!” exclaimed Lubin, “Pd a’ never let the younker left if I’d see’d him start- in’, Ten td one he'll git his ha’r aren afore he gits back—thar anuther rifle, e boy’s in trouble! Come, a dozen o’ ye!” The old scout seized his rifle and glided away down the river, followed by several of the dra- goons. He found Dick’s tracks along the beach, and followed them as rapidly as possible. Half a mile below the camp he came to a sud- den halt, while a ery of surprise burst from his lips. diers. ‘* Moocasin-tracks!” exclaimed the scout; “T fear the lad’s a goner— God of mercy! that tells the tale!” He pointed to a fresh pool of blood upon the beach, and a broad, deep trail where somethin had been dragged over the sand to the river’s bank. ‘“Tt’s no use, boys, lookin’ furder. The red devils have killed him and thrown the body into the river. We've got to git back to the pee Pt a hurry and hev that fire put, out, . me ) ' , They turned and hurried back to the camp with the sad news of Dick’s disappearance. The fire was extinguished and guards d all around the camp. But, despite their vigilance and excitement, the night passed away without the least alarm, The following morning the party was in the saddle and moving forward upon the trail of Henri Roche and party, quite early, though not before some search had been madein vain for Dick Parker’s body. The sun was almost upon the meridian when the party debouched from the timber into the prairie, ) : The first object upon. its pridulaties surface that attracted our friends’ attention, was a soli- tary horseman, galloping. in a north-westerly “Yrhey saw, by aid of @ Held-glass in ey saw, by of a field-glass in possession of the lieutenant, that it was a white man, and he rode onward without appearing to seo them. He was too far away to be hailed by the voice, so the lieutenant took the bugle and gave a few sharp 8 With it. . The horseman turned, drew rein and gazed to- ward the party as though to make out who. they were—whether friends or foes, To enlighten him the officer gave another blast upon the bugle, at the same time waving his cap above his head, Thereupon the horse- man wheeled and oped toward tham. When he was within a few rods of the party ~A old Lubin gave a shout of joy; then turn his friends, said: | ‘Boys, we’re in luck. That feller is Hawkeye Harry, the Boy Ranger.” CHAPTER XVI, WHO WERE THEY? BerorE Old Optic could have time to fire upon Clouded Heart, Red Wing who was stand- ing by: struck up the muzzle o his : <7) whistled high above the masked stranger’s e The old trapper quickly confronted the chief and demanded an explanation of his act. “ Would you slay a friend?” asked the chief, AE No!” retorted the neDpeR; Ui gay would 8 enemy. ou see. makin 4 tether Son | Isaw him waveared scarf, butlookthrough Sw. ner gun, and the — air ‘What, is it, Lubin?” asked one of the sol- ~ : : os '.