Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 13 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

* canoe idly away. 1 ———— A sigh of regret escaped Camilla’s ee as the hun- ter turned the canoe abruptly toward the west shore. A few strokes of the paddle sufficed to carry them close in shore, where the boat, with its te mem. was concealed in a dense fringe of reeds that gre along in the margin of the water. The hunter now bent his head and listened fér the descending canoe. Strange to say, not a sign of it could be heard or seen. It had disappeared, and the first supposition of the hunter was that those in the strange craft had discovered his approach and had turned out, also. However the case might be, he was” too cautious to venture out without some further ‘knowledge of his situation, especially while the fair Camilla was under his sole charge. For fully half an hour he remained there without hearing the slightest sound, not even that of the in- sects so peculiar to such places. All this silence was not a good omen to the ears of the borderman, It boded the presence of danger, yet he let no word nor look ae his thoughts and fears to Camilla. At length the moon came up, and as it arose above the tree-tops, flooding the eastern ‘side of the river with its mellow beams, the hunter arose to his feet and endeavored to gain some information as to the whereabouts of the strange craft, but his efforts were im vain. To the right of him Hurricane saw a little circular area, or glade, in the reeds, upon which the moon's rays fell unobstructed ; and he was about to drive his canoe into this Name when he saw its [een surface suddenly broken by a succession of tiny waves chasing each other across its bosom. The curiosity as well as the fears of the old border- man were arousetl, for simultaneous with the dis- covery he detected a slight rustling among the reeds. ae his gaze to linger upon the water, he was not a little surprised on seeing something like the body of a beaver float softly across the glade and disappear among the shadows on the opposite side. was immediately succeeded by a louder noise be- hind it, and the next instant the sharp prow of a ressed into view and clove the water of the little glade. , The old hunter saw that it was an Indian canoe made of bark, and when it had drifted into view, he was not a little surprised to see it contained no occupants. There was, however, a heap of some- ‘thing in the bottom, covered over with a red blanket, but there was no sign of life visible aboutit. From whence did the boat receive its motive power? The hunter cudgeled his brain for an answer, but he could fix upon nothing definite, unless the object he took for a ver was the eg head of an Indi- an who was poor his way through the water and reeds and towing the canoe after him. But if so why did the savage observe such secrecy in his move- ments? And what was under that flaming blanket. in the canoe to justify him in his endeavors, under such difficulties, to save it? These were questions the old hunter propounded, and while revolving them in his mind, another canoe, following directly on the trail of the first one, sud- denly appeared in the little opening. There were three ,ersons in it. They were white, and a single glance told the old borderman who they were: Captain John Rossgrove, Noisy Nat, and yeung Kendall, the Boy Ranger. But why were they there, following upon the trail of that mysterious canoe. CHAPTER XIX, THE MEETING. Tue presence of his three friends there, at that time following upon the trail of that mysterious canoe, at once convinced Old Hurricane that all was not right; and he was in the act of mating their presence known when Camilla, who had caught sight of her husband, through the thin wall of intervening reeds, uttered a cry of joy that could have been heard across the river. “Love can’t keep still; it’s no use tryin’,” mut- tered Old Hurricane, and dipping his dle, he swung the canoe around into the ope : The click of gun-locks accompanied the move- ment, but one word from Old Hurricane allayed all fears of danger. Then there was a wild fluttering of two hearts, a low exclamation of joy welled from the lips of the husband and wife, and the next moment grove was in the hunter’s canoe with his idolized Camilla folded to his breast. Old Hurricane stepped from his canoe into that of e the captain and his wife were his friends, and w sas 9 in each other’s embrace, he asked: ° ‘* What are you fellers doin’ hereaways, Ransom ?”’ +‘ We are in pursuit of a couple of Indians that captured Dolly and Dora about sunset this morn- Oh, Lord!’ the old hunter fairly groaned, “‘is it possible them little angels are in the hands of the red hellyons?” “They were capt * said Ransom, “shortly after your departure with Wild Dick. You know no Indians had been seen about all day, and the ber ah grown restless and tired with being ut in the fort, were permitted to go out fora few minutes’ walk. They were not to go beyond seprenge of the fort, and obeyed these restrictions, but as they were walking leisurely along the banks of the little creek, two powerful savages sprung up out of the water, and seizing them, bore them rap- The captain, Nat and myself gave chase. The red-skins a canoe concealed on the river hard by, in which they at once embarked. We chased them into this border of reeds, and are now following their trail through the reeds, for you see a plain track is left where their canoe pressed through,” , w | out in the water towin’ the craft along. —~ “Then by the gods of Ol hunter, “‘the canoe minute ago! The kivered with a red pus!" blurted the old over this very spot a als were alone in the canoe lanket, and the Injuns were I didn’t see through it then, boys, but now all’s—’’ **Let us not lose another minute in continuing the pursuit,’’ broke in Captain Rossgrove, who, in his moments of joy, was not forgetful of his friends and their safety. “All right, John,” responded Old Hurricane; “you remain right here with your wife, and we'll continue the chase,”’ The next instant the canoe had glided in among the reeds on the trail of the Indian craft. When Captain Rossgrove found himself alone with his w - he said: ‘*My dear Camilla, tell me now why it is that you were here in this country a prisoner in the hands of the outlaws?” “T will tell you, John, all I know about it. It seems as though the outlaws knew of your depart- ure from Columbus, for on the third day after you left, I received a letter purporting to come from one of your men—Harry Dudley. It stated that you had fallen violently ill, and were then lying at the point of death in a trading-post at the mouth of the Des Moines river, where you wanted me to hasten by the first boat. Never dreaming but it tn _ oa tena Y “a ra wep steamer ire-Fly, for the ng-post. During the passage I met an old acquaintance on the boat Pnated Robert Raft, who introduced me to his daughter Madeline, and who seemed to exercise no little an- thority on the boat. However, on the second night of our passage, I was put under the influence of chloroform, from which I never recovered until I was locked in m pis ag at Spain.”’ “The accursed devils, they shall pay for this!” Rossgrove fairly hissed. ‘‘As soon as I recovered from the effects of the drug, and found where I was,” continued Camilla, ‘*T knew the letter was a forged one to entrap me. And since my captivity, Ihave learned from Raft himself that he is the notorious Reckless Ralph, leader of the river-pirates, and that the Fire-Fly is Raft’s own boat, used by his Ley Act d false colors, to assist in the piratical raids on the river commerce. His object in abducting me was to extort a large sum of money from father, against whom he holds an old grudge, for my release, If he had anything else in view, he never made mention of it; and now, John, tell me what reason you had to suppose I was a prisoner in Spain, when you showed my picture to the hunter-spy?”’ ‘*T saw you in the arms of Raft, passing down the river in a canoe.”’ ‘* And why did you not attempt my release, John?” ‘Because I was a fool, Camilla, a stupid fool. Just before I saw you, I received an anonymous let- ter through the hands of amute, which informed me that you were false to me, and when I saw you lying in Raft’s arms, your face upturned to his, as it is to mine now, I was fool enough to believe the letter.” “Oh, John! John!” she cried, in agony of spirit, “vou should never have doubted me!”’ ‘‘T know it, dear Camilla, and I hope God will never permit me to be guilty of such a crime—yes, crime —again.”’ While this understanding between the young hus- band and wife was being had, Old Hurricane and his two friends were pressing rapidly in pursuit of Dora and Dolly’s captors. The trail left by the canoe of the savages was easily followed, for the reeds, pressed apart or broken, did not assume their up- right position at once, y standing up in the canoe Hurricane saw, by the trembling reeds, that the enemy was but a short dis- tance ahead of them; and still, but a few rods in ad- vance of them—the enemy—he saw the reeds ter- minated in the n, moonlit river. Here, he knew, the pursuit wo soon come to an end, unless the Indians, when deprived of the cover of the reeds, took to the woods. Creeping on as fast as possible, our friends sudden- ly became aware of a third canoe moving rapidly through the reeds a few yards to their right, and in a course el with their own. This discovery put a different phase on the a of the rescuers, for they knew o: but that the canoe was loaded with savages sein f to get in ahead of them and cover the retreat of their friends with the captives. But Old Hurricane declared nothing but death it- self should deter him from his set purpose to save the girls, and he at once pulling the boat Sry rapidly forward by the reeds. ey rein rapidly upon the two savages, and when the latter had just eme from the s, the whites were about two rods behind. As had been feared, the savages turned toward the shore the instant they were clear of the reeds; so, to prevent their getting into the woods with the captives, the pursuers threw every energy into the effort of Psa FTE At the same instant they made this move, the strange craft at the right seemed to have been inspired with the same determination, for it shot forward with a crashing noise through the reeds. But, just as our three friends drifted out into the river, this noise . The mysterious craft had stopped on the margin of the reeds, a few inches of its sharp Beadle’s Half-Dims Library. SS -l | | | prow being visible, but no occupant could be seen on | account of the dense stalks, The oh Say saw that one of the savages had climbed in the canoe, and they were just crossing the prow of the strange craft in the alee when the second savage reach 2 the canoe, was about to throw himself a cry of agony burst suddenly from his lips, and he — me water in the convulsions of death. . The other savage uttered a wild scream, and leap- ing overboard, struck out for shore, while Dora and Dolly threw aside the blanket that covered them, and, wild with terror, gazed around them, er By the gods of Olympus!” burst from Old Hurri- cane, “‘ Scarlet Death has cooled that Ingin’s system, and that’s the prow of the Demon’s canoe there, boys— Ah, there it goes crashin’ away like ri through the reeds! Easy, girls, easy; we're friends and lovers, too—” **Oh! it’s our friends, Dora!’ cried Dolly, wild win joy: Yes, yes, you little rogues,” said the hunter, with a pleasant chuckle, as they ran alongside of the canoe they were in; “‘ been gallantin’ round with the red boys, eh? I tell you Ransom, fur one, is orful jealous, Dolly.” Dolly’s face flushed crimson, for just then Ransom was assisting her into their canoe, but when she had got seated and somewhat reconciled to the change at had come so suddenly to her, she gave uncle Hurricane a downright good scolding, that only served to tea Mai in his great heart, and the glow of admiration in his eyes and upon his rough- bearded face, With the maidens, the rty now returned to where they had left Captain ove and his wife, aud after a few moments’ talk and congratulations and introductions all round, they all started on their return to the fort, where they arrived in safety in the course of an hour. CHAPTER XX. THE CANNON’S BOOM, Ir is useless to attempt a description of the rage and anger into which Reckless Ralph was thrown in consequence of his rough usage by Old Hurri- cane. For fully an hour he lay upon the floor in to- tal darkness, a in his bonds for freedom and asping for breath, for the old hunter had tieda eavy bandage over his mouth. But, when the out- law got the use of his lungs, his vociferous yells soon brought assistance. The door of the room had to be burst open, Hurri- cane having locked it after him and carried off the key, and as Cale Thoms went thundering into the room, he asked: “ Why, captain, what does this mean?”’ ‘*Mean?”’ roared Raft, in a fit of rage; “it means you are all a set of cursed louts to let an enemy sneak into the village under your very noses! Bring a light, one of you! That infernal Old Hurricane was concealed in this room when I entered, and he escaped with that woman!”’ it possible?’ exclaimed Thoms. ‘* Yes, it’s more than possible; it’s a mystery how 8 gi ever got into this room,” “Here's a light; we'll soon see!”’ shouted Thoms, One of the men had brought a lantern from the court-roem, and as he entered the apartment where Raft was, a cry burst from every lip when they caucht sight of the Gebietes in the corner. ‘** There/” hissed the outlaw chief, throwing all the ferocious passion of nis soul into the words; ‘there is the way in which he got into this room! An in- fernal bright set of men those four that brought that box here with a big traitor in it. I swear I'd shoot them dead if they were here!” “But how came he in the box, captain?” asked Thoms, ‘*How would you suppose ?”’ retorted Raft. “That's the question. You see he couldn't nail himself up in the box. No, he’s had help, and then the question arises again, what was he nailed in the box for?” ‘**To rescue the girl, to be sure.”’ “Then some one must have told Hurricane where the box was to be deposited; he couldn't have guess- edit so exact. So it stands to reason, Judge, that thar’s a traitor in camp /”’ “Then it is one of the Moles,’’ said Raft, ‘“‘ and see here, boys, the escape of that woman is going to give us trouble, for she knows enough to send every one of us to the State's prison for life. She has been taken to that so-called Fort Defiance, and so we must make preparations to kill or capture every de- vil of them.’ = “That’s the right talk, captain,” shouted those around him. After some further conversation, the crowd dis- rsed, and soon all became quiet once more in pain. The following morning Reckless Ralph summoned the Dumb Spy to his room and instructed him as fol- lows: : “Seth, my daughter was released last night by that big hunter called Hurricane, I expires tae went to the claim-staker’s fort. I want you to there to- day and = ga all eps he na of valné to aon 4 e Dum acknow ed his willingness oO his master’s bidding and te a short time he was moving northward. However, he did not go far in the direction taken, but turned eastward and struck the river about a mile from Spain. Hard by on the river lay a large scow, or flat-boat, that had been used as a ferry-boat, but which was being refitted now for another purpose. It was about thirty feet long, and made like a canoe, being sharp at stem and stem, while the sides were high and flaring. ear this unipainy ore the Dumb Spy concealed himself, and in less n ten minutes after, a number of the outlaws, provided with axes and other tools, 'made their appearance and went to work on the up, and grasping the rim of | boat, With heavy planks they proceeded to lay a ‘th fined f into it, when | stout deck on the scow. y The Dumb Spy watched the work with deep inter- JOO (GOI AMLUCC sunk backward into the river, his arms beating the cS