Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1167 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

want to go out just yet, nor in this way, so we'll trump up matters in different weno ‘*You’re getting sensible now,” said Crane, keeping the rifle at Nightwell’s breast. ‘‘ Down! end. swear to follow me—no, to carry out your ‘x part of the agreement! Both of youdown!” Re The men did not hesitate, but fell upon their ea knees, and took the solemn oath which fell from BS. Cecil Crane’s lips. * The rifle was then returned to Red Loon, and Daye) without another word the party began to de- TG Cecil Crane had quelled a serious mutiny, but Ss he had forced an oath upon two of the greatest ‘oa vagabonds upon earth. ats | “The foot of the mountain was reached at a can place quite distant from the beginning of the ‘et forest was disfigured by a rough Ser undergrowth of hemlock which impeded loco- a motion, and i Sie Was necessarily slow, ae Mutte self, Tarsus Nightwell walked Se behind his forest companion. Be oF Now and then he laid his hand on the hilt of oe his knife, and once he tried to push Simon aside. et But Oldfoot refused to obey, and shook his head boo when he saw the knife leap from the leathern Ror ‘Wot now Tarsus!” he whispered, and the “os giant put the blade away, and doggedly resumed a ejourney, : a Cecil was walking over a smoldering ae voleano; but gold could keep the fires in abey- . es PINEY PAUL AND THE WOLVES. 3), Px.oseEk, the island witch, bounded down the of wolves. mountain side, after dropping Piney Paul into ’ Fas e “Se y a ee ¥ - » av + > ° gl al ‘SS “ “ oa : . ¥ = ‘= oe - sheets ee So ae pee, -. it Noe ee Ph a cea Why ee eA ery = Fe < t+ rhoean PRLS, et a> =v =F ¥ ees Se ee Re od Sy i J rw, r . = “a Y * = > . a 4 e * me ‘ > .* - . i ee eee en —— | loud shriek pealed from his throat, and asked himself. ne oe x." v4" Fa V =. s * . ~ = who put me here will know that I can punish. They are on the trail now, and I am here with six wolves ready to tear me limb from limb. Snakes and witches! if I had a ladder!” The last word had scarcely left the brave boy’s lips, when there came a sharp sound, the snapping of steel, and the shining knife, broken at the handle, fell at the feet of the wolves! Piney Paul was yet several feet from the rim of the basin, and his last avenue of escape now suddenly had closed to him, and life seemed only to be measured by the limits of bodily endur- ance. The wolves seemed to comprehend the situa- tion, for their loud howls had ceased, and they were ogra up at the mountain boy clinging to the rock w ‘*How long can I ak here?” Piney Paul “TY might hang for six hours if I was fresh; but I’ve worked hard to fet here, and that’s against me. But Pll hang till I drop —that’s as certain as they are watching me down there.” He felt the body succumbing to the intense strain endured foran hour or more with great go eee painful from wrist arms grew heavy an rom to shoulder, and a real Newsies attacked his hands. Piney Paul looked up imploringly to heaven. He saw the. ing firmament, then the form of some overshadowing ogre seemed to darken the mouth of the pit, and a great arm came down after him. He shrunk involuntarily from the Visine fingers left the rocky wall. e wolves sprung to their feet and rushed forward; but the boy did not fall. On the contrary, he was lifted from the basin by the hand which had appeared to him as the claw of some demon, ay 58 os 9 did not stay to see the ravenous beasts | -He lay white and motionless on the rocks at 4 h4 - t 7 . « . . ’ - | ‘*Gimminy crickets! This. beats my rig ne 6 Beadle’s HalfDime Library. Ms Se : oR h Cecil Crane stared af the warning, reading it | turn from Death to the rich morsel of brave | the edge of the wolves’ den, and a human figure wet and again. humanity which she had dropped into their | bent over him. Fe, ‘Tt is everywhere!” said Nokomis. ‘‘ Does | den, It was Pelosee! Bsa’. the white man know what it means?” The youth alighted sooner than he had hoped Pa “Yes! but it is a lie!” cried Cecil Crane. | to, and fortunately on a spot unoccupied by the CHAPTER VIII. e ‘¢ What if I left this land to-day?” wolves, who, at the further side of the pit, aa ‘‘Toes the strange marks say that the white | were rending the unfortmnate island dog. THE LONG SOUGHT TRAIL. a2 man is hunted?’ questioned Red Loon curiously. He drew his knife and awaited the merciless It was not for the p of snatching Piney Phe : ‘Tt makes no difference what they say!” was | onslaught which he believed would soon follow. | Paul from the horrors of the basin that Peloses 4 the tart reply. “I say they lie, and that is | But in this he was disappointed. had returned. : enough. Let us go back, if this is all you had The gaunt animals, six in number, seemed de-| Having dropped her victim among the raven- pele to show me.” termined to finish Death, the dog, before paying | ous animals she fled down the mountain side, Lael “Tt is allnow. But the white man will see | their respects to the new-comer, and the moun- | nor paused until she found herself amid the un- ae, more by ’m by!” tain boy, hugging the blood-bespattered wall of | dergrowth at the base yee | The party now set out upon their return, and | the cavern, held his knife ready for the combat. Then fear and terror took sudden possession pe in a short time rejoined the two giants who It soon became evident that the animals were | of-her heart. She was returning to Ocotoc with- tes - awaited them, not aware of his presence, for he had dropped | out the dog Death! oe. ‘Wal, what did the red-skins show ye?” asked | noiselessly into the shadows of their rocky cage, For years the animal had guarded the island ae Nightwell. while they were contending for the dog’s flesh. | home; he and the imp occupied the same cot; a Something of no moment,” was the reply. But this ignorance could not be expected to con- | they were inseparable! ee, ‘T should think not, jedgin’ from yer face, | tinue long. hat punishment would. be visited he her — Why, it looks like an iceberg or some sich | Was thereno retreat? for the animal’s death, Pelosee did net know Su thing. Simon and me’s been thinkin’. Look | Piney Paul looked up and saw the glitter of | But the thought of incurring Ocotoc’s blind fury 7. . hyar, Mr. Crane, we hevn’t got one dollar yet | the stars; he saw the moonlight lying like silver | made her halt in the woods and hesitate. She 4 ee fur all our trudgin’ in this kentry. Hadn’t you | upon the rim of the basin. But no friendly rope | would not face the ogre. Better flight from the > better pay up a little?” hung over his head, and no voice bade him stand | island, or death, than that ordeal. ae Cecil Crane, in no Gree humor, flashed at the | firm until safety came, Pelosse turned and went back with the deter- to aker like a heap of ignited powder. Tarsus | Safety! from whence would it come tothe boy | mination of casting herself Into the oe and oe Nightwell had > Ag the fire to his ire. in the pit of wolves? sharing the fate of Piney Paul and Death. <t ** You know the bargain!” he cried. ‘‘ You He saw the battle end over the last bone. He She reached the horrid den in time to see the ae need no money here. If you want to leave my | heard new growls of wolfish rage and blood- | brave boy reeling into insensibility, and about employ you can go—both of you,” _ thirstiness, and saw mad eyes turn suddenly | to give up the struggle which, for two terrible a “No sech talk as that or thar’ll be a row in | upon him. hours, he had carried on with such fortitude. ss camp. By the jumpin’ jingo we mean business! | He was discovered, and the fight for life—the | At sight of him a new desire—an eager reso- Des Tt looks like death to stay with you. We | forlorn fight as it terribly seemed—was about to | lution—flashed into her heart. ei didn’t know this when we came hyar—did we, | ee She would not die! She would fly the island, on?’ . e ran his left hand over the walls about and | and that with the boy whom she had lately 2 ** Not by a long shot!” growled the second | above him, with the hope that niches or steps | doomed. re mutineer. | might be found in the yielding rocks. Nor was Then her hand fell upon Piney Paul, and with eS For a moment the white men glared into each | the search fruitless, for his hands touched a shelf | her Amazonian strength she drew him out of fi other’s eyes. | in the rock above, and the next moment he stood | the jaws of death and laid him down at the rim Within the last few hours Cecil Crane had | above the stony projection. of the pit! . 2 witnessed enough to render him a desperate But this good fortune promised little hope, He lay like one dead in the weird moonlight 5 a man. He was desperate. . his feet but five feet from the floor; but with | that lay upon the crest of the mountain. His ee “Say it quick!” blurted Tarsus Nightwell. | the desperation engendered by despair, Piney | face was ashy, and his hands were torn by the tT tae **Ts it to be poney or separation?’ Paul fell to work on the wall with his knife. | rough edges of the niches. h The t looked at the knife that stuckin his | The rock yielded, like half-baked clay, and he But he was not dead; Pelosee saw that the at _ heavy leathern belt, but quick and brief as the | drew himself up higher. boy, exhausted by his long endurance, had - an glance was, Cecil Crane caught it. Now the wolves were at bim; they sprung up | fainted. She did not try to revive him there, Sk. an instant he took the rifle from Red | and scraped the soles of his moccasins, while he | but lifted him as he was and went down the ie Loon’s hands, and Nightwell, as he started back | held his breath and toiled for life. Glancing | mountain. ads . ‘with a curse, found the muzzle of the cocked | down, he saw the eagerness of the bloodthirsty Behind her the wolves were howling and * eee weapon at his breast. /animals. They were contending with them- gnashing their teeth in rage and disappointment, ~Pag Simon Oldfoot stared at the thrilling tableau. | selves for the right to leap at the escaping boy. The first streaks of dawn were penetratin <a “Which will you do now—follow me hence- Holding with his left hand and feet to the forest when the witch reached the low lan ei forth without grumbling or die where you | niches, he toiled with his right asa human never | with her still unconscious burden, es stand?” cried Cecil Crane. toiled before. He saw the stars far above, and | Her face was hot and there was triumph in fies 3 ““What’s the use of puttin’ the question in | the moonlight around the basin’s rim seemed as | her eye. . a! that wuy?’ said the giant, whose face was | far off as ever. Once at the foot of the mountain, Pelosee dis- oe white. “‘You’ve got the upper hand, Mr. * Just let me out o’ this!” he cried, as if appeal- | covered the path which led to the island hut, Sag Crane; but, by the holy stars, if [hed you whar | ing to the glittering orbs of night. ‘‘ Just let | and set off through the pines in an almost oppo- wt you hev me thar’d be somebody shot. I don’t | me get out o’ this death-hole, an’ the she-devil | site direction. A short journey brought her to the waters of the lake, and, singular to say, to the very spot where the boat of the mountain boy was moored. he Indian witch waded into the clear, cold water, and deposited her burden on the bottom of the craft, which she then loosened and took possession of herself. A moment later the little craft was skimming over the water like a swal- low, the ripples, 2 2 with gold by ing, sun, dancing about the stern. = elosee plied the paddles with accomplished dexterity, which Scene aptly pose that she — was no novice in their use. en she was not looking at the Jark land which lay ahead, her eyes rested upon the boy. There was much of native gentleness in the glance. The old flash of fire had left the siren’s eyes. She loved Piney Paul, The mainland gradually grew distinct in its varied shapes and shades. The trees stood out in bold individuality, and thé mountains, at first so distant, appeared very near, : Piney Paul did not open biseyes until Pelosee with vigorous strokes was darting toward a lit- tle cove above which rose a mass of gra At first he did not comprehend the si but when he saw_ the face above—when he re- membered the dark hand which crept over the edge of the pit in that awful moment—he knew that he was rescued. His stare was met by a smile that illumined — Pelosee’s face, and releasing one of the dles her pond passed gently over his forehead. __ ood! The mountain boy’s head is not hot!” she said, with manifest joy, ‘‘The wolves — will never get him now.” “But where are we going?’ asked Paul. holler. Say, isthis my boat?’ The girl nodded. ‘‘ Snakes and witches, what does anyhow? Why, we’re nigh the mainland the morn- rocks}, time all it al] mean,