Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1155 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

= > aw A, Ser = 4 # 4 ‘, = ”~ — . mdb > . 3 ° ? — = a. ce a is 4 e ~ TL. . 6 rapid speed, At daylight this morning we came upon three men with a tilted wagon. They were friends of my abductors, I was in the wagon and ail day the horses have n pushed forward over the prairie under whip and rowel! I know none of my captors, nor why they are carrying me away, nor where to. I know they are men, for I heard them tell you men y falsehoods to-night. And before you rode wm to camp, they saw ro approaching, and Roche warned me that it would be your death- warrant if I made my presence known to you while you were about.” ‘The infernal seamp!” exclaimed Harry, in- digmantly. “So you see, Mr. Houston—” “Miss Gardette, call me Hawkeye or Harry if you please. Mister Houston will do when i am in the settlements or city.” The maiden could not repress ‘a smile at the duth’s somewhat rude request, and then, hay- os made compliance, she continued: sé So hope of my father and brother coming to my rescue, if my abductors’ plans have not failed in leading them to believe 1: was drowned.” . made no reply. Far away oa the ‘plain, their left, he had caught sight of a ack, moving mass of ~ egy Stic which caused him no little uneasiness. But the object soon flitted from view, like the shadow o passing over the sun’s disk. , Still, its disappear- | ance did not relieve the young rescuer of his HOM fears. It might have been a body of mounted ae Indians that had sunk behind the crest of a tt prairie wave. ; {t would have ‘been immaterial to Harry whether it were Indians ‘or not, had he been alone, but now that he was not—that a helpless maiden was trusting to him for safety and pro- tection, he ‘knew it would require every pre- caution and extra exertion to maintain that Te | trust. Bd Dismounting, the Ae Soe threw himself upon the grass and applied his ear to the earth. He _ptarted. up. Distinctly . he detected the . thumping of hoofs upon the plain. : The maiden wondered at his movements, and at iast a suspicion arose in hér mind—a suspicion that her young reseuer had’ detected some ap- proaching danger. : ‘‘ Are we in danger, Hawkeye?” she asked. The youth was surprised at her query: He had hoped to keep the truth of their situation concealed from her, but, seeing that she was 1 of more than ordinary courage and ecision of mind, he said, as he remounted his animal; | “Tm afraid danger is at hand, A party of horsemen are riding almost directly toward us, and I fear they’re Indians. Let us gallop ona ‘liétle brisker, Miss Gardette.” | They urged their animals onward at a pace a Which soon carried them into a little valley. Thé moon was nearly down, and the shadows of the ridge to the westward of them wrapped the valley in its mantle of darkness, and afforded tho fugitives a Poor ag i Aart meeps drew rein and ned. Plainly they vould hear you see, Hawkeye, there is but little a eloud —— = we ~ the half-muffled tread of innumer- able hoofs upon the covered plain. “It is Indians,” said Harry, in a low tone. | ‘“‘ What makes you think so, Hawkeye?” asked the maiden; ‘‘ we can not see them.” ‘If it were white men, the ring and jingle of ‘heir trappings would @ more noise than their animals’ hoofs—Ah! look! there ce he ” True enough, from behind the swell in the slain, three score of horsemen burst sudden! upon their view. As they galloped along the ‘dge, not over a hundred yards from our young ‘~jends, they were plainly outlined against the jear sky. They were Indians; this was a fact »:adily perceived in the plumed heads’ and 7 Hashing spears, but, in the moonlight, they zcemed d into beings of cal stature, and but for the sound made by their animals woofs, they would have seemed like so many grim phantoms. Hawkeye Harry knew at a glance they were aig on the war-path, and were either heading for Ra le, the southern settlements, or the country of yale their red enemies, the Potawatomies; but, in either case, the fears he entertained for the set- tlers or friendly Indians were nothing compared aK . with his a ension of being detected in the shadows of the little valley. He scarcely breathed; for fer the acute ears of the war- riors would hear him, He knew the least sound would be borne to them, He felt certain that their forms were so ended with the - » na ee on _ Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. —- trail at right angles, and might discover it. If | act. He was riding directly north, and check- : not, there was a possibility of the Indians pass- ing on without a, knowledge of their proximity to the young pale-faces, It was a moment of fearful suspense and anx- iety to the ranger. His fair companion also was in a state of great uncertainty, but she did not comprehend the magnitude. of their danger, Slowly their eyes followed the phantom-like figures along the ridge. The trail is reached and crossed without discovery, Hawkeye Harry began to breathe more free- ly, but, at the last moment, when the danger of | scovery seemed past, his horse reared his head and-uttered a shrill neigh, The sound was borne to the keen ears of the warriors, who drew rein so quickly that they seemed to recoil like a wave when it strikes upon the shore. There was no mistaking the direction from whence the sound came, and the next instant the savages went thundering dOwn into the little valley with a yell that was horri- fying. ‘* We're discovered, Miss Gardette,” said the youth, in a firm and natural tone; *‘and now we will have to ride—ride for our lives! Do not despair; we may elude.the savages in the woods'to the north, if we are not taken before we reach them. “Away!” A low ery of terror pealed from the maiden’s lips, Just gs they were on the eve of galloping away, a dark form arose from the tall grass, almost under her animal’s feet, and sprung upon the beast’s back behind her. She felt her form encircled by what she sup dto be a pair of arms, but in her vain endeavor to break their grasp, she realized, with a feeling akin to ter- ror, that they were hairy, like the arms of a Hawkeye Harry saw the fearful form leap to the aniznal’s back behind the maiden. He drew a pistol, but, before he could fire, the animal, with its double bur en, shot away, like an ar- row, over the plain! He followed on in swift pursuit, but he soon found the horse he bestrode was nO match for his own clean4limbed animal —that upon which the maiden and her fearful companion were fleeing. But, never despair- ing, he Jashed the animal to its utmost speed and pressed on in pursuit, while close behind him edme the savages, the earth fairly trem- bling with their demoniac yells and the thun- derous tread of their animals’ hoofs. It was an exciting moment—a wild, fearful midnight chasé! CHAPTER VI." . 7 A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. THE mustan pony of the Western Indian is more remarkable for endurance than d. This fact Hawkeye Harry was aware of, and had he been upon his trusty animal; he would have entertained no fears of being overtaken by the pursuing savages. . As it was, however, he soon found that the horse he ‘bestrode was not a fast runner, and was already pe by the day’s travel, Ca tivity stared the lad in the face, and in case he was’ taken, who would ‘rescue the little dark- eyed maiden—Nora Gardette; sweet, pretty Wora--with whose fate his own life seemed so strangely intermingled? All his thoughts went out to her. He thought only of escaping from the Indians for her sake. Never had he been s0 strangely impressed be- fore. His interest in strangers had only been passive; now it was active. -Boy that he was— a free rover of the prairie—a stranger to the gentler passions of the human heart—he knew not from whence sprung his interest in Nora Gardette—he knew not that his heart was no longer free—that it was enchained by the power of a first love. , Would he ever seo her seaint The thought that he would strengthened his determination, * and heurged his panting beast forward at the top of its speed. t he saw that his efforts to escape the savages were unavailing. ‘The foe bound. If he were gaining upon him at every would escape it must be effected by stratagem, and he at once decided upon that resort, though if e sueceeded at all, it would be at a fearful ris Turning his animal’s head slightly to the right, he pressed it rapidly og ibe gentle slope whose crest brought him out, to the eyes of his pursuers, in bold relief against the sky. It was the youth’s intention to follow this ridge a short distancé in full view of the enemy, but, seeing it dipped quickly down into a dark valley, he chan his course and kept straight ows of the valley as to ! on over the bill, whose summit soon shut him from See eee eee eee eee eee OOOOEDE—E—E~=~MmD@mD9EEeEeEeEeEeEeE eae NN SS Qe — ing animal suddenly, he dismounted, and then, turning the horse’s head directly west, . | . fired a pistol close to its head, and sent it flying 4 away with affright, The next instant the youth threw himself flat upon the earth in the tall prairie ! Just then the Indians gained the summit of the ridge. Their keen eyes saw the fugitive’s horse flying westward, at right angles with their previous: course, and never ming but that the youth was upon the beast, they quickly changed their course and cut straight across the angle... This would give them several . rods the advantage, but, by so doing, the crouch- ing form of. Harry was saved from being trod- den to death, which would have been the case had they followed in the footsteps of the fugi- . tive’s horse. As it was, he was left several rods to the right. His stratagem had proved a suc- | cess—he had cunningly outwitted the foe, and, as he heard their yells and saw their forms fad- ing. away into the distance and darkness, he arose to his feet, and, with a smile of triumph upon his young face, hurried away northward over the plain. He kuew that the fugitive horse could run * much faster, now that it was free of a burden and the curbing hand of a rider, and he hoped to gain the timber a short distance north of him before the savages came up with the horse, and found it bore no rider. His thoughts, undisturbed by the late danger and excitement, now turned wholly upon Nora Gardette. He shuddered when he reealled to mind the terrible form that leaped on the horse behind her. Yet, he could but’ think that the form was that of an Indian, or renegade white, clad in the skin of a wild beast. He had but little difficulty, despite the dark- ness, in’ finding the trail of’ the horse Cn which the daring captor had fled with the maiden. The | grass was trodden down and the hoof-prints deep in the yielding soil, so he was ezabled to follow it quite briskly. He soon came to the timber, where, he met with a bitter disappointment. He found that, — the shadows of the forest rendered it so inteérise- ly dark as to make it totally impossible to fol- low the trail... His only course was to await the eoming of day. This was unfortunate, and would not only —. — serve to increase the distance between him and Nora, but give his enemies behind, on the prai- — rie, a chance to come up with him and endan- ger his situation. But, then, it was his only course, and he was forced to submit to whatever dangers or disadvantages it would bring> upon him, Selecting a place of security, the youth seat- ed himself“to wait, but not to sleep. He was too well posted in the dangers’ of the woods to jet slumber close his eyes at such an hour. To any one in ’s situation, the minutes seem prolonged into hours, and impatience be- comes agonizing. But the Boy Ranger breasted it through. After weary hours, day dawned, and with the first glimmer of light he took up the trail; . i He was an experienced trailer and, although if, the trail was not so plain through the woods as | ‘e, it had been upon the prairie, he experienced np difficulty in following it. . He had journeyed nearly an hour, when he a found that the hoof-prints that he was follow- ing suddenly grew deeper from some cause, and the leaves were torn up, as though the horse ri had become unmanageable from affright. In looking further he saw where it had shied sud- denly to one side. | iM t had been the cause of this sudden move ment? ‘ The question ‘had scarcély formed in the ranger’s mind when his eyes fell upon an ob- ject that caused him to start’ back with a shua- “Te wad the hody of an Tad hi s was the body of: an Indian, 1 u S: tts vack, dead, | His head had sede fo va ane as presented a repulsive sight, all covered withco- = agulated bl as was, also, his ghastly face. is shoulders and breast were en naked, = one the deed? , He was not a Sioux warrior; that, Harry saw-at once; but one of the Sacs, a less power- yet, sbrange enough, presented no wounds nor injuries, His legs and part of hisbody were | covered with leaves and twigs, and from all ap- Be ee peeing he had been slain recently. But who a | ful tribe, which, at this time, was at war with, ‘ ¢ not: only’ the white man, but ‘all the neighboring =} if he had been slain by a white enem Coane ; » Vhor - ay . eee defy being One thing, however, made | view of the enemy. But..as this would be for | Harry had nothing to fear; but if by a Sto > Op) eer a aaa TO .. The Indians would cross their only a moment, now was the time for him to | was evidence at once that be had enemies be- ee ad + + e of 7 e La ; Ne , ° 4 . « ¢ id - ! »* T « . - { - A ‘ <4 dz 1 . / ‘ " ey Pang ‘Gi = a. “E Witheg: | = id ty ~~ “y se) _ - SES. . & * "2 oe .. eal <; - “a " ‘ “4 Ro av “4 . ? a ." : x 4 ri ae te . ve Le 2 i dn ’ "6S ts _