Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 153 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

| | | | ! A LO A ——— eS SE cS el ——S— —— _—E—————— ——— eee —— a ee ne —— 14, c- Eagle Kit, the Boy Demon. ae Under some low, stunted trees they stopped | solved to talk compromise, and said: ‘ Ingin, to wait the dark hours of night neers “Ts this your first visit, Jack, in these parts?” Nebraska Ned asked in the course of their con- versation. lookey here, if you want to git down, I promise you on the word of a white Christian gentle- man |’ll not molest you. You see this crag’s too small to hold us both.’ ‘ Pale-face git down— ‘‘Oh, no; I war here before Nebraska Ned | Silentfoot no harm him—Silentfoot good Ingin war ever heard of in these parts—some ten years | —no crooked tongue,’ was the Ingin’s fair prom- ago, and the most torturin’ hour of my whole | ise, and yit I never knew an Ingin in my lifo exisignce war passed not over ten m ere.” “Indeed?” responded Dick Rodman; ‘‘ well, let us hear about it.” ‘“D’ve know whar Sentinel Buttes are?’ asked the old man. ‘Yes, indeed; we’ve been on the Sentinel many a time.” ‘‘ Wal, it war thar—at the Sentinel—that I had sich. a blisterin’ time o’ it, and it war this way: L war scout for the mili ition sent out under General C——, to subdue the hos- tile Sioux underSitting Bull. We knew we were in the-vicinity of the Indians’ encampment; but didn’t know exactly whar it war located, and as the red-skins had tem men to our one we had to go.a little cautiously. So 1 told the general that I’d make my way to the Sentinel, mount it and if. I could see the Indians anywhere, signal to him their position. |The general assented and away 1 went toward that rocky shaft risin’ up out o’ the summit 0’ that butte like a weather- beaten. tower of Babel. I reached the foot of the butte, clamberei up its steep side to the base of. the stone shaft that rises almost a hun- dred feet straight up into the air. ‘‘From the top of this shaft I knew I could see fifty miles, more or less, with a ; but I see’d at once it'd take some careful climbin’ to reach it, and, so I took off my coat, removed my belt and pistols and hid them with my rifle un- der some briers, that I might be as free of all in- cumbrances as possible. en { took a fresh chew 0’ tabacco, rolled up my shirt sleeves and climbin’ the Sentinel. I stepped from niche to niche, swung from ledge to ledge—slow- ly, but surely I went upw ‘ At length I landed pantin’ on the summit 0’ the Sentinel there to meet with the most start- lin’ sight Lever beheld. You see the summit o’ the shaft is almost level and perhaps ten feet across in the widest place, and jist as I planted myself on one side of this crag, an Indian war- rior in war-paint planted his self on theopposite side before me. ‘‘By the avengin’ sword o’ Gideon! you’d a bu’sted yerselfs to’a’ see’d us critters. It war hard to tell which war the wust s’prised. How we'd both got there without discoverin’ each other war a complete pn bany ¥ de We both in- voluntarily fumbled at our sides for war-tools but true as I’m sittin’ here, neither one o’ us had even a toothpick... In fact, the Injun had no — on ’cept his moccasins and breech- oth. ** Well, we glared at each other ’bout one min- ute in perfect silence; then 1 begun to realize the situation: the Injin war one of Sitting Bull’s scouts sent to the top o’ the’ Sentinel to watch the movements o’ our soldiers. He wara whale, too—miuscled like a speckled alligator, and 1 had an inklin’ that he could: boss me in a hand-to-hand encounter, for he had the advan- tage of weight; but I swelled myself ‘up, and put on sich a bold front that Il guess I made him think that I could send him over that crag quicker nor a hound pupcould.licka skillet. At any rate, each seemed afraid to attack the other; for 1 knew, and of course the Ingin did, too, that there wer’n’t room on that peak for us to fight out a hand-to-hand fight, and that we'd | roll off and be smashed inte crow-bait at the | foot of the roek. ‘What in the name of Simon and Peter am I to do? ITaxed myself. Just then I saw over the Indian’s shoulder the host of Sitting Bull encamped along in a little ravine waitin’ for pur soldiers. I finally concluded to open a con- versation with the Injin. ‘ Hullo, red-skin,’ I jaid. ‘Ugh!’ war his contemptuous reply: ‘Ye lidn’t ’spect me here, did ye? I axed. ee pale-face scout. come to watch Sioux,’ was his correct rejoinder. ‘ And I reckon pos jist come here to air your sweet-scented self? I shoved at him. .‘ Now, Injin,’ I went on; ‘if you want to fight me right here wade into the canebrake— Vm your speckled alligator from the Dismal Swamp,’ and I rolled my sleeves higher. “The Ingin crouched slightly, as if to spring upon me, butt braced myself for the charge; but I soon seen he war afraid 1 war goin’ to bounce him, and war. brecin’ hisself for the worst. And thus wemaneuvered. I war never in sich a pickle in my life, and I see’d I must out-gineral that. _Ingin some way or other if I ever got down from that crag alive; so I re- es from | but war a Ananiason liar. ‘I don’t want to git *Me no want to neider,’ ut back the warrior. ‘ Ar’n’t you a scout, Si- entfoot? I questioned. ‘Me jist like e-face —he come watch Injun—Injin come watch him,’ was the honest response. to do? I went on. ‘Nothin’ if pale-face don’t,’ he answered, stubborn asa mule. ‘ All right,’ I exclaimed, ‘I will set up here till we starve to death or the buzzards pack us off,’ and by way of emphasizin’ my remarks I swung my arm aloft and smote my palm furiously bat I had the Ingin there, for that very motion of my arm was the — upon between me and the general for a ‘forward movement.’ And General C——, with spy-glass in hand ten miles away, read the sign; though the Ingin never mistrusted any thing at the time; but af- ter I’d gesticulated my arms ’round there for several minutes by way of strengthenin’ my promises to that red morning-glory, ard had communicated all that I wanted to to the sol- diers, the Ingin inte an objection, and said: ‘Pale-face talk too much with arms.’ ‘ All hunky,’ I replied, and I dropped my arms to my side and fixed my eyes on that warrior to see that he didn’t give any signs to his folks; but he stood there stock-still all the time with his little snake-eyes glaring right into mine, as if to read my though -. ‘** Now, boys, I never war afraid o’ any man on top o’ the sod, nor I don’t believe that Injin war, but we war both afraid of our situa- tion. Death was sure for both of us just as sure as we laid hands on each other unless one had every advantage which neither was likel to get, for one wouldn’t trust t/other’s words and promises furder’n aoe éan sling as ed alligator by the tail. all we could do was stand with eye fixed steadily upon eye, and thus we did stand for over an hour, nowin’ the dogged patience of the American Injin as I did, | war nnin’ to be afraid the heathen would wear me out, when, all to once he start- ed, his eyes dilated and a tremor of excitement seemed to shake his whole form. At the same time [ thought [ heard a slight noise behind me, and the fust thought that struck me war that another Ingin war mountin’ the Sentinel behind me. ‘** Then it war, that my soul war tried. Great drops of cold sweat poured from my brow. I strained my ears to catch a true meanin’ of that noise. I dare not look back—dar’n’t move even an eye, and yet I expected to be seized every moment and hurled over that ay | I'd ‘a’ give my right eye if I could have had it transplanted on the back of my head at that moment. I saw the Ingin was growin’ more excited and nervous evety instant, and I made up my mind that he war gatherin’ his strength for tos ring, tiger-like, upon me. “In that'l was not mistaken for all o’ a sud- dint a cry burst from his lips and at the same instant he shot through the air toward me; but I war not nappin’ and I pete aside and just as he passed me [ oo him a blow on the side of the head. He not calculated on this movement, and the next thing he knew he war strugglin’ to maintain his equilibrium on the edge of the crag, but he didn’t maintain, for I planted another cata blow at the butt of his ear that sent him ? over the cliff to destruction; and the scream that went trailin’ down through the air from his lips I shall never forgit to my dying day. ‘“*As I war now boss o’ the situation I glanced had been the down yit,’ I replied. around me and at once saw what _ cause of the Ingin’s attack upon me. The sol- diers under General C—— were approachin’. They were not over a mile away. Silentfoot had seen them over my shoulder. “When I desnened to the ground I found that Ingin all mashed into a pulp, and of all—” “ Hark! ’sh!” suddenly exclaimed Nebraska Ned, as a sound fell upon bis ears. y listened. ene hoofs swept down the valley past em. A female cry came faintly to their ears. The three started to their feet. “My God! that was a woman’s cry!—per- hee Mabel Vane’s!” exclaimed Dick Rodman. e hoof-strokes died away in-the distance. Our friends were left in an agony of doubt | ing her from outlaw and suspense. ‘Well, what ye goin’ ,, boys, ° oo The darkness was so intense that they could _not follow the horseman. | | ’ : : “ . . —_— —- LT TTT Lae eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEUEEEEEEEeEEEEeEEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeeESe ee ee Oe eee eee eeeeeeEeEeEeEeEEeEe—eEEe eee ~s ee =—_ They could only sit down and await the com- ing of the day, CHAPTER XVI. “LAST SCENE OF ALL.” Dick RODMAN was right when he suggested that the woman’s cry they had heard might be Mabel Vane’s, for it was Mabel’s indeed. The poor girl was still in the power of the Outlaw Ruffcorn whom Baron had employed to af her to some distant point. li day the outlaw.hhad skulked among the shadows of the hills paieing for the dark- ness of night to cover. his flight, and when the night came it was so intensely dark that he was compelled to take an out-of-the-way course to get out of the hills because it was more familiar him. _But when he reached the open plain he was com marks b to stop. There were no land- which to travel, and as. his co now lay for miles across the prairie, he had ‘o await the coming of day. The was Vv considerate of Mabel's. comfort., He gave her his blanket to sleep upon and protect her from the chilly night air. He treated her, in every respect, as kindly as could be ex cted: but he offered her no promise—no hope or her life and liberty. y daylight next morning they were moving north-east across the plain... Mabel, by her own request, was permitted to ride behind the vvt- law on the horse’s cnpup. ot cei _ To their left and behind them lay. the: dark hills; to their ri inable prairie rolled away in the distance broken nly by a single object, and that was Sentinel Butte, the same upon which Jack Drew and the Indian Silentfoot had met years before. There were, in fact, a group of several small buttes or mounds at that point, but the ‘ Sentinel” was the one eccnspicnous for the hight and shaft- like ap rance of the rocky crag rising straight. from the top of the butte a hundred feet into the air. It was one of the strangest freaks of nature to be met with on the plain, and as seen in the distance reminded one of a Brobdingnagian giant keeping ward and watch over the plain. There was nothing, however, in the sight of the Sentinel to offer consolation to Mabel Vane; but as they Lage it, she noticed a great bird circling in the air above it, and it occurred to her at once that it might be Eagle Kit’s Whirlwind, or Hurricane as he sometimes call- ed his eagle; and if it were, might little Kit, Ba ate ha be near! og : e thought kindled a spark of hope in her breast. i The outlaw noticed the bird, also, and mani- fested no little interest in its movements, for there was not an ovtlaw in the hills but what had a superstitious: fear of Eagle Kit and bis bird; for, where one was found the other was not far away. With his eyes upon the bird the outlaw rode on with bis captive. shey: were nearing the Sentinel when suddenly a nilet, whistled past the head of the robber and the report of a rifle rung out on the air. A little puff of smoke rising from the grass to his right, told the outlaw from whence the shot had come; but instead of trying to ride the unknown foe down, Ruffeorn turned to flee when he saw six forms rise up in the grass be- yond the smoke and glide toward it with an unearthly yell. They were Indiaus—outlaw Indians—and the allies of the white robbers. They had been hanging along the edge of the plain watching for whatever of human prey they could seize upon, They were ever ready to do the vilest and bloodiest work the white outlaws might ask them to do. Mabel saw the Indians and a shudder of ter- ror convulsed ber form. She knew not that they were friends of her captor, and that she and the villain were not the object of their excitement until she saw a little figure, scarcely a head taller than the grass, spring up and glide away like an antelope followed by five of the Indians. The sixth Indian came toward them. When within speaking distance they addressed each other ane ee ‘‘ Eagle Kit, the Dwarf Demon will not escape this time,” the Indian said, regarding Mabel with a leering smile of curiosity, All was clear enough now to Mabel’s mind. The little figure she had seen running through the grass, pursued by the Indians, was Eagle Kit. It was he whose shot came so near free- power. | nwardly she prayed for the little fellow’s COMIGEVOOKS t and before them an. interm-.