Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1167 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

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The ground about him was truly a terra incognita, and it might prove a land of death. He knew of but one man familiar with the trails of the northern mountains, and that man was Nokomis. ‘To the last Upas the fastnesses of the Adirondacks were what a well studied map is to the school- boy. Hunted everywhere by the ancient enemies of his race, Nokomis had familiarized himself with “the forest trails. He knew the various caves; the hiding-places that offered themselves under the cataracts, the dens of the wolves, and the lairs of the panthers. But he had allied himself to Cecil Crane’s party, though, as we have seen, he saved the cave-boy from that villain’s uplifted rifle. He undoubtedly acted as their guide, and Piney Paul must expect no assistance from that quarter. The mountain boy did not despair when he found himself deserted by that strange admix- ture of love, jealousy, and revenge, Pelosse! ‘**T’m alone now, and in a strange land; but } there’s no turning back!” he cried. ‘Cicely is somewhere ahead, and everybody in these woods lifts hands against me. Stars and pan- thers! it’s a bad condition of affairs; but Pll make it look better. I will, sure as shooting!” He did not follow the deserting witch. he shadows had already hidden her form; he ceased to hear her feet crushing the pine cones. “To the river, better perhaps,” he said. ‘“ PU o on to the stream. It isn’t far away, and Vl be that far advanced when daylight comes.” He thus abandoned his intention of halting at the chosen spot, but started forward again, and soon stood upon the bank of a river whose wa- ters, unseen in the night, filled his ears with the sound of their dashing. “Til take the old bed to-night,” he said, with a smile, as he drew himself up into the re- cesses Of a pine. ‘ BY and by, Pll get out o this country—that is if I get Cicely—and quit sleeping in the trees.” , A moment served to ensconce the youth in the friendly pine, and he was adjusting his head to the uncomfortable fork that offered its ser- vices as a pillow, when a voice came up from below. ‘What's that?” ejaculated Piney Paul, leav- ing his perch and dropping to the ground, ee Rombbpdy is ahead of me. It wasn’t Pelo- see’s voice. Was it Red Eagle’s?” Far below him the river flowed through the bottom of a gorge, at the top of which he knelt, listening for a repetition of the sound. Below, the blackness of starry night hid ev- erything from his sight. He could not see the rocks upon which he knelt. Rifle in hand, he stoned until the same voice came up through the mist and the gloom. . ‘‘1’m hanging to the rocks! For) the love of ; Tarsos—dimon—save me! You will not let me die here. Where is Nokomis? Help! villains! friends! Where, in the name of Tar- are you?” | ‘‘Thunder and guns! it is Cecil Crane!” cried Piney Paul. “ they answer him?” But no reply came to the appeal of the un- seen man. | ‘Tarsus, have you left me?’ came the agon- izing voice again. “I can’t hold out much longer. My hands are slipping even now. yk or life and satety God curse the the traitors—who will leave me to perish ” Pine Paul leaned over the precipice. ES = Hold out a minute!” he cried to the unseen —his inveterateenemy. ae pial perhaps,” enn the onse. “ But you must not save me. You are ey Paul.” “That’s so, Cecil Crane; but I never went back on any man when I found him erying for ife. Hold to the rocks. ’’m coming down!” a With the bravery that seemed foolhardiness, Piney Paul swung himself over the edge of the rugged precipice and begen to let himself down to the man who had pleaaed so earnestly for life was upon unknown ground. The earth, —_" fF = oe Pelosee will tell the Mountain Cat; but not ~ oom’ ~ The Hid ee ee ee — » tem os —_—— + loosened by his adventuresome feet, went rat- tling down into the abyss, and lost itself in the rushing river, ‘** You’re coming, sure enough,” gasped the im- periled man. ‘ But, oh, God, Sipe speed doesn’t match the snail’s. Do youthink I can hold here, with the water trying to pull me away, till morning?” ‘** And do you think I’m going to let all hold go and come down to you like a cannon ball?’ was the tart response. ‘ You wouldn’t find me so accommodating if I caught you up ina pine, Cecil Crane.” The descent continued, and the boy found him- self at the foot of the cliff, and not. far from the spot from whence the voice had proceeded, But he did notcall to Cecil Crane for his exact position. He heard another voice. ‘* Ye’ll rouse the very wildcats by yer holler- in’,” said the rough and unseen spéaker, ‘! I’m comin’ as fast as I kin. One shin is knocked forty ways for Sunday, now. Whar are yer, Crane? an’ warn’t ye speakin’ to somebody awhile back?” ‘Right here Iam!” came the response, ‘‘ Take my arm and pull me out. There! God! another minute and [ would have been gone. Speakin to somebody, Tarsus? Yes! Call Nokomis an Simon down here. That infernal boy is here- abouts. He was coming down to finish me. No! don’t call Nokomis; but find the little devil yourself, Tarsus, and we’ll finish him. He’s very close!”” > ‘But itis dark and dangerous!” was the re- sponse, ‘He couldn’t have been ten feet away when you came. Look! what is that against that rock?” Cecil Crane pointed toward the only rock visible by its white surface in the gorge. Tarsus Nightwell, with a ery of ‘‘ the brat, by hokey!” started forward. But a wildshout rung in his ears, and the dark figure against the rock sprung past him and pushed Cecil Crane over the slippery stones, With a loud ery the ungrateful wretch dis- appeared ‘beneath the dashing waters! ‘That’s what a fellow gets for repudiating a good turn?” cried Piney Paul’s voice. ‘' Fish out, Tarsus Nightwell, for his time hasn’t come yet!” CHAPTER XIV. THE HUNTERS OF NOKOMIS. _ With a hurried glance at the form struggling in the whitened water, that dashed over the rocks, Tarsus Nightwell sprung forward and flung himself upon Piney Paul. The boy, unable to fly, for the shore behind him seemed literally out off. by the waves, met the giant with great bravery. The rifle, which had in many places assisted him in his descent, was quickly uplifted, and with all his might he struck at his antagonist. But the giant’s arm warded off the stroke, and the next moment the enemies had clenched. Physically, Tarsus Nightwell was the master, but his size made his movements slow and un- wieldy, while the boy, used to mountain life, had acquired the agility of the cougar. e wrestled with the giant over the abepery rocks; now, by his tactics, forcing him k, and irritating him tono little degree, It was vain that Nightwell tried to use his knife, with which he would have speedily ended the strug- le; but he was kept busy attending to the han that tugged at his throat. ! | The lion had found no mean foe in the wily panther, and at last he slipped and fell back- ward ntherocks : Stunned by the fall, Nightwell’s gripe loosened and Piney Faul slid away, not a little bruised by the great hands of the man who lay s0 still at the edge of the leaping water. ‘Creeks and crashes! I believe he’s dead!” the boy exclaimed, looking at the giant. ‘ Well, the world is better off, perhaps, and I have one enemy less. Now, out o’ this, Piney Paul, or there'll be two more to grapple with.’ The last words had scarcely fallen from the youth’s lips, when a plash in the water that shut off the shore along the cliff, made him turn quicsly, and he saw half a dozen dark figures at si e. “Indians, by crickets!” he cried, starting from ee new foe and lifting his-rifie. ‘‘ Out of the ryin gpan into the fire!” ‘Stay!” cried a stern, strong voice, and the bow-string sent an arrow past his head, to be broken against the wall of rock, ‘ The trail of Nokomis is here. The pale-faces are with him. Piney Paul's reply was freighted with death, en Lodge. 11 rgo fora for the flash of his rifle lit up the moment, and a loud cry announced that the had performed its fatal mission, Then the spot resounded with loud cries, and a shower of arrows fell around the flying boy. He hastened down the stream as fast asthe r permitted. The hunters of Nokomis were close upon him, now and then sending a shaft forward with the hope of arresting the flight of the foe. ‘Where's the place that brought me down?” muttered Piney Paul. ‘ If I could find that, there’d be a chance to get above these red-skins, Ha! here it is, by my life!” He stopped, and throwing the gun ee his back, like an Alpine hunter, drew himself above the rocks by means of heavy vines, through which a short time before he had toilsomely de- scended to rescue his enemy, Cecil Crane. The ascent was extra hazardous, for the vines, loosened in their rocky soil by his descent, might refuse to carry him upward to the woods above. But better the hazard than to fall into the hands of the savages. The pursuing Indians passed under him, and soon returned bootless to their brethren. He heard their cries of anger over the victim of his rifle; but no sounds announced the discovery of either Nightwell or Cecil Crane. Piney Paul toiled upward through the vines, which, growing in profusion there, afforded him a hiding place as well as the means of escape. Up he slowly worked his way, the water sounding in his ears. The presence of the In- dians in the gorge was manifest by certain sounds that could not mislead the fugitive. ‘* They’re going to stay till it is light,” he. said; ‘and it will be light all along these rocks before I can get to the top. These old vines will have to hide me.” He stopped and looked up at the tall pines that crowned the edge of the gorge and seemed to lose themselves among the depths of the stars; then down to the waters, becoming visible in the increasing light. Like a globe of fire the great round moon crept out of the cataracts, as it were, and sent its beams into the ravine, re- vealing rocks, vines and all, Piney Paul parted the vines and thrust his body into their density. The hunters were al- most directly below him; they were coming down the gorge, evidently seeking him in the new light, ‘‘Up to the woods,” said an Indian, as the band halted at the foot of the vines. ‘‘ Nokomis, the last Upas dog, is up among the trees; the pale- face fled no further down, for see, the water would be about him. There is no trail. Ho has crept up the vines.” The Indian’s words thrust the perils of a new danger upon Piney Paul. The band were going to ascend to the forest above them by the vines _ in which he had taken refuge. They evidently were foes of the Upas chief, out on his trail, — Never did fugisise hide closer or squeeze his body into smaller space than Piney Paul at that moment of terror. He felt the vines shake with the weight of the first red-skin. _ | Skillfully the red-skin made his way upward over the and nearer and nearer tothe boy. Piney Paul noted his progress by the shakin and swaying of the vine; but the Indian pasted the young red-slayer to the right, theugh so peas that he could have been struck with a e. | . Once upon the cliff, the Indian told his com- panions that the vines were safe for scaling purposes, and the ascent of the others began. ® moon came up and saw the dark, cat-like figures crawling up the sides of the gorge. by one they passed by Pi ’s place of concealment, until the last: one—the eighteenth —had left him undisturbed, ‘‘Righteen,” he murmured, with a _ smile. ‘* Nokomis must fight shy of them if he wants to keep his long hair out o’ their belts, They’ll look for me in the woods above, and they’ll find me, too, I reckon.” | is last sentence was almost cut short by sounds that thrilled him to the marrow, and caused a hue of deathly pallor to come to his face. These sounds were the blows of a toma- hawk, rapid and effective, that sent a quiver through e network of vines. | ‘‘ Witches and snakes! here’s a new go,” ejac- ulated the boy. ‘‘The confounded red-skin is ing the parent vine away, and I’) have to down with it when it falls.” He did not look up to see the half-naked figure which leant over the cliff, and, hatchet in hand, . was cutting the vine in twain. Such ¢ would have exposed his body and placed him ‘4 we : the hands of his foes. | Cortez burned his ships to prevent retreat,