Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1155 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

- - a iw ~ Sa Po ~<- a a “ie ~.. ” 4 “it ae - om - ey 2 ~~ ‘and repulsive object, with his hooded _ the Unkno ered by a sort of hood, and a vail of long, yellow air hung down over the face.. Approaching the prostrate body of the sav- age, the creeping e bent over it. Then from the felds of the blanket a pair of hands were put out. One of them seized the savage by the scalp-lock, and the other, which held a eaming knife, described a circle about the ead warrior’s head. Then the figure stood erect. In one hand it wheld a reeking scalp, and. in the other the elit- (tering blade, unstained with blood, so quick had the fearful deed been done. For a moment the mysterious slayer stood motionless, regarding his ghastly trophy, ap- parently, with the deepest admiration. In the moonbeams he appeared a vighitol ea vailed face and shrouded form. Who was he? From whence came he? Scarcely had these questions taken form, when the unknown figure spurned the dead body of the savage with his foot, and then turning and going a. few paces. down the creek, he stopped and exclaimed aloud: * Another Sioux scalp for the Unknown! Oh, food of vengeance!” ) Hawkeye Harry started. That voice sounded strangely familiar to him. He would have sworn it was that of his friend, Old Optic. But, if it was not his, the remarkable similarity of soices Was a strange coincidence indeed, For some time Harry remained undecided as to how he should act, and before he could arrive at any definite conclusion, he saw fully a score of Indian warriors leap--from the very air it seemed—in a circle around the Unknown! A war-whoop awoke the awful silence of the woods as twenty tomahawks were raised aloft in the air to strike the vailed avenger down. “Twenty to one are too many,” said Hawk- eye Harry, to himself, all the courage of his heart aroused, and raising his rifle, he glanced quickly along the barrel and fired. — A savage fell dead, and simultaneous with his fall, Harry saw the Unknown avenger sink down—swallowed up in the creek from mortal view; he heard the rush and roar of waters around him, and terror-stricken by the shot from behind, and the sudden disappearance of he saw the savages shrink back —turn and $ree into the friendly shelter of their native haunts, . ) For sevéral moments Harry remained mo- tionless, pondering over the mysteries of the wild drama he had just seen enacted within the little creek; then, as his eyes wandered bagk to the slain savage in the water, it reminded him of the fact that the Indians would soon recover from their fear and terror, and return in search of him who had fired the shot. So, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, by means of ‘a strap at- tached to it for that purpose, he drew his hunt- ing-knife, and gliding from his covert, set off on his return to the Cone, It was not his intention to pursue the course back that he had come, but to endeavor to yeach the Cone by a nearer route., He was well acquainted with the topography of the country thereabouts, and having shaped his course, he pressed forward at a rapid pace. But; despite his eagerness and haste, hismind went back to the scenes he had witnessed a few minutes pre- vyious. And somehow or other, he could not Ihelp confounding the voice of the vailed Un- known with that of his friend Old Optic: “Tf-Old Optic has had any thing to do with what I have seen to-night,” mused our hero, ‘* the fact will be confirmed by his absence from the Cone when I reach there, But if hedras any gecrets—-why Ill open ’em!” To avoid a wide detour he resolved to cross a deep chasm known among the hunters and trappers as the Black) Gorge: This the young trapper had often Seer Bete yet at a great risk, for he had to swing self down the face of one cliff and up the other, by means of. the frail parasites that grew thereon. But he never _ hesitated in the face of such dangers, and at once pushed on toward the gorge. stood upon its brink. He stopped and listened. That ominous silence still hung over the forest, and only the faint roar of water down in.the deep rift could be héard.' To reach a In a moment he int where the cliffs were less high, he ong up the e. moved His atténtion was ‘arrested by what he never noticed before. ‘the abyss, spanning it from cliff to’¢ | At is’ points the Borge was some fifty feet | and about thirty in width. On the op- poste side of the been uprooted and” was lying across chasm, near whére'the tree fallen, stood an elm that had wn out- Hawkeye Harry. the cliff, to court the inviting om of the opening. A single branch of this. tree was thrust outward, and drooping downward, its foliage touched the fallen log near the middle of that part spanning the abyss, thus complete- ] yiecreeniag from view the opposite end and the Cc _— Here seemed to Harry a streak of luck, for the rude bridge would enable him to cross without going further out of the way. Arranging his rifle firmly at his back so that he could use both arms freely in maintaining an easy balanve, in crossing the log, he stepped uponit and began moving slowly across. The moon shone full on him, and far down into the black mouth of the gorge, into which a single misstep, the crumbling of a piece of bark under his feet, or even a side glance would pre- cipitate him to a certain death. he young ranger could feel the swaying of the log under his weight and the vibration of each footfall; but with firm step he felt his way onward, and soon reached the foliage of the elm that hung down over the log, This he carefully pushed aside and passed beyond. But at that instant he came to a sudden _ halt. A low cry escaped his lips. There, before him, on the center of the log, over fhe fearful depths of the abyss he found himself face to face with a powerful Indian warrior—a deadly foe! CHAPTER III. , THE RATTLE IN THE AIR, HAWKEYE Harky was taken by surprise— the drooping foliage of the elm having conceal- ed. the savage from his view until he had drawn the screen aside. And the red-skin seemed as greatly surprised, for it was quite evident that 1e knew nothing of the young ranger’s presence until the curtain of foliage was put naida. Retreat, however, was impossible for either of the two natural enemies. They could not walk backward, nor could they turn about on the narrow log. Even had such a thing been possible, it was not probable that either of them would have done so, for such foes never shrink nor turn from each other. That would bave been a mark of cowardice and fear. They stood, glaring at each other, motionless as statues—like maddened beasts preparing to eap. Kach, with a quick glance, measured the pro- portion of the other, and a triumphant smile swept over the paint-bedaubed face of the sav- age, when he had comprehended how inferior was the young pale-face to himself. By his size had the warrior measured the young foe’s strength and courage. Hawkeye Harry well knew that he had a ter- rible enemy to deal with, and that his salvation lay in one desperate stroke, . So he watched the warrior. .He saw his right hand slowly and mechanically moving toward his girdle, where his scalping-knife was sheathed, Not a moment was tobe lost. | | Quick as a flash of lightning, Harry permit- ted his feet to slip apart, and dropped himself astride of the log, lockinis his feet on the under side of the log. No saoner had he done this than the savage warrior followed his example and dropped himself astride of the log. ey were now seated upon the fallen tree over the abyss within an arm’s length of each other. Without waiting to draw his knife, Hawkeye Harry drove his clenched fist into the red-skin’s face with such force as to make him. yell with pee and rage, as he drew his knife and made a desperate pass at his young adversary; but he had reckoned without his host. With great presence of mind, Harry caught the descending arm with his left hand, while, with his right, he dealt the savage a blow in the stomach that caused: him to drop his knife in the abyss; but, quick as lightning, he reached forward and they each other in.a deadly embrace. | What a struggle for life ensued there over the awful depths of the Black Gorge! The slender log swayed me creaked beneath their struggling forms; threatening to snap in twain and hurl both combatants down into the blackness, fifty feet below. To and fro: they swayed—striking, struggling and writhing like serpents. . Still they kept their legs clasped about the log like bands of steel, but at iast they lost their equilibrium and turned completely over the log! Their situation was now indéed perilous. With their feet lock- ing over the top of the log and: their bodies dangling below, they. struggled and fought on more ly than before, Under any other circumstances it would have a superhuman. strength and courage to. have maintained even for a brief time the awful ing, and approached its young master. 8 Now for a long, hard ride, my noble beast," > a 3 ~ @¢ ee ect without conten with a foe; but esperation lent them stren 6 savage succeeded in entwining his muscu- lar arms around the form of our hero, and then made a desperate effort to crush the life from the young body! But the youth had managed to seize the warrior by the scalp-lock, and was thereby enabled to thrust his head backward until the crown touched between the shoulders. Half-strangled, the red-skin loosened his hold upon the youth’s body, and becoming dizzy and faint, with a determined effort to drap the youth down into the abyss with him, he clutch- ed the lad with both hands by the throat, as his feet slipped apart; but unable to maintain the hold upon the throat, with a wild, despairin shriek, that echoed in prolonged wails chtoagh the gorge, the doomed wretc down into the fearful abyss. _ The young ranger had won the victory; he was free, but still hanging’ head downward over the black gulf. And now he realized his true peril, for he was far from being saved; his limbs were growing weak, and his head dizz with the rush of blood to the brain. He a tempted to draw himself up and to grasp the log. with, his hands, but the attempt proved a failure, . Then he feels a vibratory shock of the log. Great heavens! It is produced by a footstep, and, no doubt, that of another Indian? “He sees a dark form upon the log outlined against the sky. He fixed his glaring eyes upon it! | Blessed sight! It was the form of Old Optic! , ‘* Hold on to it, boyee, I'll he’p,” cried the old rapper. e next instant, ‘brave flarry was assisted from his awful position—saved / | ‘That war a. ticklish the old trapper, as he assisted the youth along the log to the cliff. “Yes,” responded the youn » “and went whizzing but for M aey timely arrival, I should have gone. down after the savage. here, Optic?’ “That very Injun war nosin’ around the Cone arter ye left, and I took a notion to his skulp, and trailed him here just in’ time to see him start fur the diggin’s below.” Despite his late excitement, Hawkeye Harry’s mind reverted to the unknown avenger, whose voice so closely resembled that of Old Optic. He would have questioned the old trapper fur- ther, but the appearance of half a dozen shad- owy vi Oe he on the opposite side of the gor suggested the idea of a hasty retreat to. the Cone; and not until they were safe within its walls, and the door barréd, did they engage in further conversation. Hawkeye Harry now gave a brief account of his night’s adventures, in the meantime watch- ing closely the axpression of the old tra ’s face; yeti the youth said nothing of the ningtlads ity in his friend’s voice to that of the Unknown. ‘By snakes!” exclaimed the old trapper, when the youth had finished his story; “ that’s curious. We'll have to investigate the matter er o’ these days,” ‘ To-morrow,” returned the young ranger, ‘‘T shall make a scout far boven: the big prai- ries to see how far these Indian devils are go- ing. You know I promised the settlers over on the Raccoon that I would watch the Indians, anid warn them if they were likely to be trou- ed.’ : ‘Yas, Hawkeye,” added the old trapper, ‘we've got to look sharp. The varmints. are thick and mean deviltry. If you take to the perairy, I'll look thro’ the timmer north o’ us.” “Very well. I shall be off by sunrise, will take my horse, so that, in case I find the reds are going toward the Raccoon settlement, I'll try and beat them there,” “'That’s you, lad, that’s you!” responded Old Optic; ‘‘and now,yif we mean to work to-mor- ry, we'd better turn into bunk, fur the night’s well spent.” . . : After some preparation for the morrow, the two,sought. their couches and were soon as trusting their safety to a faithful old houn that slept near the door on the outside of the Cone, and whose instinct was never at fault. _ With the. first’streaks of the dawn the twx wére astir, and when their rude breakfast was cooked and eaten, their weapons cleaned and lished, Hawkeye Harry went outside of the ne, and, placing a small bone whistle to his lips, he blew two or three shrill notes upon it, im response to the call, a spirited brown horse —a cross of the m and new American stock—came galloping down the valley from among shrubbery, where it had been gras- How is it that you are Ss ; place, Hawkeye,” said | od hg com > - ° ye oe ~ - \ a mr hee rN —— : ‘Js | . / \/ a 67 al on «COMICcbook