Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1167 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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

——— -, >. ae z | -—-| . ‘e - .- " =— — = — => . : == ~ = —_, ~. = ~ . a a Se. . 4 ~ — se. ~ ie 7. 2 Pt. : fe < . = “ = 7 —_—, + > -* : oa Seas ai = ot resi-. > Fd - =. R : ~~ sf - ae ™ > - P . a " *; : aad 4 CopPpyRIGHT, 1878, By BeaApLe & ADAMS. mee eee ee ee a —_—____--- Seen eeepc No hl Published Every % a Month, The Hidden Lodge ; OR, The Little Hunter of the Adirondacks BY T. C. HARBAUGH, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ NICK O’ THE NIGHT,” ETC. CHAPTER I. FALLING THROUGH & GHOST. “Tost! Thar’s no denyin’ the predicament now. Hyar’s the log what I fell over awhile back, an’ by hokey, hyar’s the powder-horn what I thought I lost on the banks of that black river! We n goin’ round an’roqund like a bop. Kin ye see anything, Simony” ‘Nuthin’; not even a star.” ‘‘That’s encouragin’! The old mosvalgn, souls mehyar. This must be the devil’s own land, an’ ef I live to see daylight one man will make tracks for civilization. Hear that roarin’ water! It’s the Ausable. It hollers like a pack of wolves let loose by, one of the imps of these ter- rible w 3 ‘““What are we goin’ to do?” “‘ Stay hyar till day lets @ little light upon this sub-' ject,” was the reply. “Ef we'd move ag’in, wouldn’t we go round = Bie an’ bring up ag s bi black log every time? Thank God thar’s no moose brush hyar to zip a fellar with its wet leaves an’ make one mad. Simon, we've been foo confounded fools! Don’t ye see that he sent us here to get lost and die some- whar in this devil-land? Let mo out o’ this, an’ Pll go pack. By the jumpin’ jingo, I'll go back an’ take every cent from him or send him to the gallows!” ‘‘ Don’t carry on that way, ya We B afc a yar enough to 8 hang of gs. We'll strike the trail soon, an’ make a ee I'm goin’ to stay. idn’t come hyar to give matter up so soon.” ' In the gloom of an Adiron- dack forest stood the two men between —_ ge 2 going conversation , one March night in the early part of the present century. They were rough c ters, as their words indi- ca | \\" ‘1 i A iil ty ii a 4 ' “a ot conclude, which they did with many curses, that they > /wrere Lost, i i | i 3S = tt a Len : Fn teem Ste. Phe. ’ = ~ “ay SE ~ Tey - \ NS y Ny . M NY \ ‘ . WY DA UMMA WOM AND \ PN ‘ ~f = a a a a ; TENT AE TS “at tu tt tt et at dS % (JAMES SULLIVAN, PROPRIKTOR), 379 Pearl Street, New York. a ee SS ——— ' The men were veritable giants. Their gar- ments, draggled at the ankles and damp else- where, for a drizzling rain had been falling for several hours, chilled them to the bones, and the cold wind that swept through the wet boughs of hemlock and pine made their teeth chatter. It was near ten o’clock when, for the second time, the man called Tarsus—Tarsus Night- well was his name—stumbled over the half. decayed log. The second accident confirmed his unwelcome suspicions—that they were tray- eling in that bewildering circle which is so ter- rible to the unlucky children of the wood, The camp might be far away, over leagues of wet wroodtnhee and miles of mountains, or nestling quite near in its tenantless security, well stocked with venison and fowl which the appetites of the two lost giants craved. They did not know where it was. The roar of waters which came through the impenetrable gloom to their ears was the dash- y +Hith MV 7 VA * al A St HN ‘f ty Wy THE LITTLE HUNTER DESCENDS TO THE HIDDEN LODGR. ve SS . : $33 on " ae ‘whe? ~~ a 245 5,:+ 82s ts eS “ 4 SF reali Be = ~ The i yee wet . — ) ey = Se . + Fee ‘ ie ae - ght: oh “SS ye Se ee = ure . : SS \N « . a NON x LQ é ig ANS AL. \ , : \) >) a eee ae = ~ : >) <3 : > SS 6s} i: | SSS - . - = _— ‘ ~ = t = Ts As. =.¢,*o, , SJL. el ae eet oh,» SN ar es * ~~ a Pty >. > ri Me <2 tp ’ == aay pees a *% : re | — 2 (LSA PE OS 5 ° oe . —_— , ¥ 24 me Py = i ) 7 “ ~~ « £ © «= =a vt ' ‘ 7 = ry SS a ae iy ON ett pn’ ts Ao est * bas Vit wu } iP [le | ml, Healt. || AWA sad) >. NPP) , ; =%. —_ -~ r rs ae a" % f ke NY) NY » _* f ‘ . pi » 4 Ol" a* ar’ . ‘ NOON Nr WAAR’ WA ANS \ erci\\ Nov., 1905. | ———— IL PRICE 5 CENTS, 50c, a year. ing of the Ausable as it rushed through one of those awful gorges which to-day is the delight aud wonder of the hunter and the tourist. During their circumnavigation of a certain cen- ter of forest land, Tarsus Nightwell and his companion had not passed beyond the sound of that mad river. At times, of ¢ourse, the roar was not so distinct; but it ted harshly upon their ears, and made them shudder. To them—strong men end rough as they were—tho thought of passing a night in the heart of the Adirondack country was absolute horror. This’ was hightened by the truth of their situation. Put the twain by the old log at midnight, but with the trail to camp in their minds, and they would have laughed at the Au- sable, and told stories with zest about the pineries of Maine. Lose a brave man in a strange forest at night, . and his heart will grow still at the sounds that assail his ear, or at ete thoughts that throng his rain. Twice during the tramp of | the wildering circle, Night- well had tried to build a 4 but the winds murdered his little blaze before it had time to die among the damp burrs and damper leaves. “‘T wish he was hyar, ’pon my word I do,” owl Tarsus Nightwell. “Thar’s no gal hid in these w and the Injuns are mighty scarce, too, It’s a wild-goose chase, an’ he knowed it would be sich when he sent us off. Simon, thar’s some- thin’ mighty deceitful in man.” But the man called Simon did not respond. He was feeling the trunk of a tree running his hand over it as if hunting for something of ve hh Tara” Ler right, said, rising with a sigh of chagrin. ‘* The bark, the old moss sign, ar’ ag’in’ us Thar’s no north side to these ‘‘ An’ none to the wind,” growled Nightwell. ‘Pus Se Wi, hs on, other woods I sould tell whiab way was which by the blowin’ of the wind; bat now tell if ye dare!” “*T tried that twenty times > This is an awful country. abi,” nig oe trary hyar. lieve the needle would stand reign on end an’ pint to th ” 8 : “Re thar is one over these infernal woods.” After awhile the lost ts determined to h ward the river, W from the sound of its cav- might be ernous five or six miles Thev wanted to break the 900 com Cc