Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 121 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

something too horrible to be anything but ‘12 any ghosts walking, to-night, that we can’t “What was your opimion, Cap?” the Girl tickle with a good leaden pellet.” _ Guide asked, turning to Mayburn. ‘Shoot me fer a dorg’s mother-in-law ef ye meat, ee great frog-faced bozzoo,” Hardpan grunted. ‘* Heer too!” Chip accorded. ‘‘ Mebbe I ain’t bigger’n a pinto’ hard cider, but I’ve got grit enuff ter run a steam engine, when ye git my Irish up, an’ don’ ye doubt it.” These remarks ended the conversation for over an hour, during which the adventurers all watched and waited with feverish impa- tience, The moon rose grandly in the starlit heavens, but soon became obscured in a mass of clouds Cinnamon Chip. e+ ee eee we see the end of this confounded business,” ‘*And you, Wild Bill?” ‘I opine ’twas the devil, minus his horns!” the Avenger assumed. “Yaw! yaw! It vas der tuyfel!” Fritz coin- cided. ‘* He vink his eye mitder Chinaman, un’ say ‘ Peder, my poy, better ash how you come mit me, yust once!’” ‘* Nixy! nixy! muchee no go to debbil!” Pig- tail Pete protested, shaking his head. ‘‘ Chi man muchee goodee, allee samee!” ** Oh, a yer a double-distilled saint, you that rose and rapidly covered the sky, making | air, jestlike I’m afust-class beauty,” Old Hard- the night black as q n grunted. ‘‘ But, I say, pilgrims, what’s ter “It wason sum sech a night thet I was heer did? Ye don’t p ter squat around before,” Chip observed, ‘‘ only a little darker, if | these unearthly parts any longer, do ye?” SUyEDING, h! did ye see thet?’ ‘*Certainly we do,” Rosebud Rob assured. ‘here was no n to ask—all did see it, and | ‘‘ We ain’t going to be scared away by one shrunk back a little; a sudden flash of crimson fire seemed to blaze around the top of the peak for an instant, then disappear as quickly and easy as it came. ‘Thar! that was the initiatory fireworks!” Chip protested. | ‘* Yes, but there was nothing about it that the ingenuity of man could not invent!” Mayburn reassured, ‘Thus far— Ah! thunder!” The latter manegans® expression came in a startled manner m the yaya lips, and was echoed in similar cries by the others. Now they had something of the ghostly order host, nor a dozen of ’em, but are going to fight it oe on this line, if it takes all winter. kh, ‘I opine!” the Avenger assented, curtly. ‘** An’ them as wants ter crawfish, can jest git up an’ huff et out of camp fer all the worth!” Chip declared, decisively. ‘**No crawfish ober dis way!” the darky said. ** Not any for Yarmany!” cried Fritz. ‘*'No muchee crawfishee!” announced Pete. ‘*Who in thunderation wants ter crawfish?” Old Hardpan growled. ‘‘I reckon I hain’t as much as sed single fish. Allowin’ et be an onhealthy lattitude fer saints, I ain’t agoin’ ter back, not much for ’Liza Jane. Et would luk nice for me, ter squntepucker, now, wouldn’t et? I opine Old Hardpan ar’ heer.” ‘‘Good! I admire your resolutions!” May- burn was pleased tosay. ‘* Although what we have just seen was of a nature calculated to arouse a person’s superstition, I guess if we git at the bottom of the mystery, we’ll find that supernatural. In the air, not a dozen feet from the captain, oS eget it appeared—the ghastly outlines of a phantom face, surrounded y ahalo of whitish light—a horrible haggard face with skin drawn tightly over the skull, the oven ‘eee and glaring, t * mouth phe a horribie grin, exposing two rows of fan frightful to behold. re here in mid-air appeared the awful vor b without visible means of fenpars —a terrible | we’ve been humbugged by a simple trick.” spectacle in the blackness of the night. ‘““Mebbe so, but how d’ye account fer thet Brave man though Captain Jack Mayburn | speerit in mid-air?’ Hardpan demanded. was, he shrunk back with a horrified , and | “T cannot account for it ye tes ote at the others were not slow in following his ex- | present, but hope to ere long. Ah! look! look! ample. we have not seen all!” ‘“My God! shoot the thing—it is looking | The captain pointed up toward the peak of ight at me!” Mayburn cried huskily. y Mount Rosa, and all gazed in the direction indi- ie me if I won’t fix it!” Wild Bill Marion | cated. | ca answered, and whipping out his revolver, he sent The sight they saw was not calculated to six bullets speeding in rapid succession at the note them with fresh courage. peak oop — phantom head. the air, about a hundred yards above the Throughout all Arizona was he noted as a of the mountain, phantom figures of dead-shot. And yet nota bullet out of the six | Apache warriors seemed engaged in conflict, as appeared to take effect, for the apparition re- | revealed in a halo of whitish light that sur mained motionless, the eyes seeming to wink in | rounded them and the top of the peak. their sockets. A dozen of them there were flying about Gott in himmel! dat vas der tuyfel!” burst | through the air, without apparent propelling from the lips of Fritz, in groans of terror. power. ‘* Much-¢e big spook—o —o—oh!” gasped the Thin shadowy figures they were, armed with lances, which they darted ateach other witha parent fury; the faces were those of brutal-look- savages, and the bodies barren of all raiment except the breech-cloths. Fiercely waged the contest, each one seeming to fight the other with irresistible fury. For some ten minutes the phantom contest seemed to wage hotly, and the awe-stricken band of ad- venturers upon the prairie gazed in fascinated wonderment at the unearthly spectacle. Suddenly a band of white horsemen seemed to rise up from the top of the peak, and approach the fighting Peas with leveled rifle—a dozen, all told, the ho host ms, **Tt’s no use, boys; we’ve got inter a nest, an’ we may as well say our catec an’ turn up our toes!” whined Old Hardpan. ‘‘Curse the thing! [ll try my hand at it!” Rosebud Rob gritted. ‘Spook or no spook, Pll perforate it!” And raising his rifle, he fired seven shots, one after the other, at it, in rapid succession. And the answer—was a wild, shrill laugh, so unearthly in its tenor as to cause the listeners to shudder. And still the terrible face remain- ed stationary. Evidently it was useless to at- tempt to harm it by all the bullets in Christen- rses superb looking-animals, and dom. the riders headless fcdioa. arrayed in flowing ‘IT pass!” Rosebud Rob said. “If any of you | robes of purest white. will tell me what it is, Pll give if to you.” A sudden dash there was, and the fighting ‘“*T don’t want it!” Cinnamon Chip replied spirit Apaches vanished ; then the spectral horse- | Evidently she and the Sport were the cool- est of the lot. ** Look! look! there it goes, by George!” May- burn cried, excitedly. the watchers in the valley below. The next instant there was a sharp rattling report of several rifles, and then came the fa- And so it did. All of a sudden it began to | miliar Teutonic voice, in a despairing cry: recede and die out, until it disappeared entirely |» ‘‘Gott in himmel! dunder un plitzen! I vas from view. _ killed so deader as six t’ousand sardines! Helb! ter luk at ther consarned thing. ou!” Fritz roared, rolling and kicking about on y didn’t ye git up an’ waltz with it, old | the ground like a fish out of water. “I vas hit man?” bud Rob asked, with a laugh. mit more ash sixdeen places!” ““ Waltz wi’ thet rit? Hope I may nevyer ‘“‘That’s nothing; some of the rest are hit, I pump hash ag’in ef ye ketch this ol waltzin’ wi’ enny sech consarned anymiles.” The little party watched it sharply, and when | helb! Oh! o-o-oh! I vas killed deader as a her- . it was gone, there was a general sigh of relief. | ring!” - ‘Well, what do you think about ghosts, now?” Chip demanded. ‘‘Mebbe some o’ you CHAPTER XI. galoots kin define thet example we jest see’d?”’ A HEALTHY GHOST. “Tt war a gg os yowltin’ cattymounts, “SHUT up, you fool!” Rosebud Rob command- yes!” Old dpan declared, with a perce ed, sharply. ‘‘ Do you want to arouse any more nod. ‘ Durn me fer a frog-faced monkey ef | of these tral devils?” et didn’t stiffen my old ha’r right up on eend ‘“‘Oach! dunder unt plitzen! I vas kill, I tell guess, but don’t make such a blasted fuss about it. Shet up, now, or [ll whack you over the . ; : _ - : ‘| don’t know, 1 reserve my decision, until | et LLL LLL LL LLL LL LT LLL — head and finish the job,” the Sport threatened. ‘‘ Hello, pilgrims—any the rest o’ ye hurt?” ‘I got a slight scratch on the tip of my elbow, a enough to set my crazy bone a-howling!” burn replied with a grunt. ‘* And I got pasted one set atween the eyes, but my skull was fortunately so tough thet ther bullet flattened wi’out doin’ any material dam- age!” and Hardpan blew his nose vigorously. ‘Hello! Chip, how are you?’ “Ob! Pm all right side up wi’ care, Rosy, an’ don’t ye doubt it. No cabbage-leaf am I ter wilt at sech a fire as thet.” “And you, Wild Bill?” ‘I opine I got a small bite on the end o’ my nose, jest enough to ruffle the skin!” the Avenger replied, whereupon there was a general laugh. ‘* It ain’t o’ skercely no account, though.” ‘It’s lucky no greater injury was done. When specters ride through the air on white horses, an’ plug us wi’ solid lead bullets, it’s about time to in swearing,” was Rosebud’s view of the case. ‘Yes. Tork about yer not b’lievin’ in speerits an’ hobgobblins, gentlemen—what in thunder d’ye bss ter w’at we’ve jest seen!” Hardpan de- manded. . ‘* As for me, I don’t know what to say,” Cap- tain Jack replied, dubiously. ‘ Although I ain’t no b’liever in spirits, ghosts, and all that fol-de-rol, I'll "low there’s some mighty strange ye eae been seen here to-night. We all undoubt- edly saw the same condemned performances in mid-air, an’ ef they wasn’t spirits, what in thun- der were they?” ‘‘ That’s just what I'd like to know,” Wild Bill added. ‘“Sartinly, humans can’t float around through the air, ner hosses tread on it, onless they Be lighter weights than a feather, an ef they warn’t humans they must have been shad- ders from t’other world, I opine.” “That seems the only reasonable way of viewing the case,” Mayburn confessed. ‘‘ Still, ' I can’t bring myself to believe that there is such a thing as ghosts.” | “‘On course they war ghosts, an’ ef we uon’t make ourselves skeerce around heer, I opine our carcasses wull be food fer coyotes an’ buzzards,” old Hardpan putin. ‘‘ When ghosts ride right thru ther air on hossback, an’ fire off their guns like natteral mortals, I opine we ain’t got no show at all, an’ had better slide out omther first breeze that comes og, ‘* Not much, ’Liza Jane! e warn’t brought up in ther woods to be skeart out by owls, an’ I opine we adhere ter this spot!” Chip said, firmly. ‘‘What’s a few ounces 0’ lead, compared wi’ millions 0’ shinin’ go.d? ‘Ther system thet can’t stand a good-sized vannon ain’t fit fodder for a decent alligator!” ‘*Gents, ’'m as much for investigating this infernal mystery as any one, but I’m a little afraid we’ve tackled a job too large for us.” ‘* Maybe so, but I for one am going to sta ene see it out, if I lose my scalp!” ud Ro said. ‘¢ And here too!” Chip declared. ‘‘ Wharever ther Poseybud stays, will ye find me.” The others did not join in this determination. Evidently they were undecided as to what course to pursue. The disposition was strong on the part of all save Rosebud Rob and Cinnamon Chip, to leave the vicinity of the haunted mountain and lake forever, but their resolution to remain seemed to deter the others from breaking away. The night wore away without any further spiritual demonstration on the part of the phan- | toms of the mountain, and the dawn of another day was eagerly welcomed by the little party on the shore. Breakfast was prepared from a quantity o men suddenly seemed to change theiraim toward | fish that had been caught from the lake, an after it was partaken of, a general consultation was held in regard to what was best todo, | ‘For my part, ’'d suggest that we get back to Bummer’s Bend, as soon as practicab e,” was Captain Jack’s idea. “I don’t see that we are going to accomplish much, sta here, and as for amusement I am satisfied with what we have recently enjoyed. A little of that same, goes a good ways, with me.” “Then you tooare struck with the supersti- tious fever, eh?” Rosebud asked. ‘“No, not exactly, but Ill admit that my anti-faith has been a good deal jarred up, by what [ve seen, and it is all quite beyond my corgprepcneten ‘That may all be so, and itis liable to remain a mystery; and I for one am going to solve i be it the work of a lifetime. I am not at terrified by what I have seen, and to root might into the facts of the case, is my intention!” was Rosebud’s decision. com ro io ; JOOKS-CcoOMm