Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 162 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

ee te — —— -_- — —— — ee eee ee -! — —~ ry, ‘ . . a. ; : é ’ 14 dried by that day’s sun. In consequence, every step of the fugitive had left a deep impression upon the thick bed of fallen leaves, whose rain-soaked state had destroyed their elasticity. The way led straight onward toward the moun- tain, but turned on Serena its slope and ran along the edge of the declivity in the direction of a glen leading through the hills. “He run till he got here,” said Jerry, stopping beside a mountain ash, and again closely inspecting the ground. ‘ But he were bleedin’ more nor were comfable. Yere’s whar he wae to tie up his hurt. Don’t ye see how he’s tried to play it on us, kickin’ leaves over the blood-drops? That arrer of yourn hit him sore, Mr. Wildfire. It’s a lame bird we’re follerin’.”’ “Would that it had reached his dastardly heart!” and Will’s face grew dark with rage. ‘* But why do he stop here? Why delay an instant in our pur- suit?’ ‘Softly, softly!’’ came Jerry’s cool reply. ‘‘Slow and sure is the best traveler. Any p’int missed now mought fling us off the track in the end.”’ Jerry, after a minute’s further delay, started again on the trail, followed closely by the dog, and less im- mediately by his three human followers, * Was he still running?’ asked Harry, as he strove to read the indications of the footprints. “'No,”’ answered sob ““He dropped to a fast walk. It’s a good stride yet, but the tracks are shorter and lighter,”’ The trail had now entered the valley, which led up between two swelling hills, which scarcely de- served to be honored with the name of mountain. The ax of the pyodesites had never entered this primeval forest. The sloping elevations were cover- ed to their summits with thick growing trees, while in the valley, watered and fertilized by a gurgling ‘streamlet, huge pines, oaks, and poplars lifted their sturdy forms heavenward, some of them being of immense girth, while a new growth of slender sap- lings filled the intervals between the monarchs of the forest. Much of this space was clear of obstructions, though an occasional thicket of brambles or clumps of undergrowth made the way difficult. Here and there, too, reposed the half-decayed trunks of older trees, the relics of some por storm, closing the pas- sage with the bushes which had clustered thickly around them. **He were in some’at of a hurry,”’ announced Jerry, ashe ledon, ‘Straight through bushes and over dead trees, A crow couldn’t fly in a straighter line. Ah! thar’s a change in the programme. He walked round that dead trunk.”’ “Did he think he had distanced pursuit?” asked Harry. - 24 i he,” returned Jerry. ‘That weren’t the trouble. Wait a bit. The thing is gettin’ kinder cvryus hereaway.”’ e walked more slowly, his single but very sharp eye intently reading the indications of the trail. ‘Yes, yes,» he announced, after some five min- utes of this quiet progress. ‘‘It’s consid’ble as I *pected. That arrer hit him heavy. We've gothim, sure’s ever a cat gota mouse, Ye hit the nail ag’in, Mr. Wildfire, I'll s’war to that.” “What do you mean?” asked Will, eagerly press- ing forward. ‘He’s gettin’ weaker every step. Ain’t no more tree-jumpin’ in him. Andsee yere! He sot down on this s oe fur a rest, and to try and wrap up his hurt ag’in. It weren’t done bleedin’ yit. Yere’sa spot on the bark.”’ “It seems a shame for four hearty chaps like us to be running down a single wounded creature; - even if he is of the wild-cat genus,’’ ventured Harry, with a feeling of shame. ** Don’t you be gittin’ no soft notions of that sort,”’ retorted Jerry. “’Tain’t no wildcat we're arter, but a mighty cunnin’ human. He ain't cotched yit, by a jugful. So fur he’s been trustin’ to his legs. From pint on ye'll find that he trusts to his brains. We won't foller the trail quite so lively, ye'll see that.” “ The ship is flinging her cargo overboard,” return- ed Jack, who had been looking through the bushes. Benoa lightening weight for a sharp run. See ere!” He held in his hand a rifle which he had just found in the thicket. rry examined it carefully. e ; Tent weight, but looks like a good tool,” he . [had that villain in my i? ; continu said. “*That’s the identercal rifle that the poor gal was shot with. The infernal catamount ain’t took time to load itag’in. Yere’s the old cap on the nip- e yit.”’ ili! snatched the weapon from his hand, and look- ed at it fora minute with lowering face. He then flung it fiercely to the ground, a revengeful expres- sion darkening his countenance. ‘*Lead on!” he hoarsely commanded, ‘“‘ Ah! that ands, as I have just had his murderous weapon! I could tear him limb from Without a word of reply Jerry again took the trail, his face reflecting some of the revengeful fury which burned on Will’s ingenuous countenance, The scout now led in a ie line toward the narrow stream, which flowed through the center of the valley. Without hesitation he crossed it, and his course on the other side, The character of the soil was changing. The rich loam of the lower valley became a hard, clayey soil, through which rocks here and there protruded, while the huge trees below were here replaced by a feebler wth. A short distance further on a rocky stratum e h. Broad shelves of a slaty rock were ed with narrower reaches of soil, in which ees of this locality had taken root, this > — _ = ca A ‘ Will Wildfire in the Woods. —a_oash.ossaossansinannehanssanespaesanhasipdaapalieeinuietunsammantosnemaiaiaatianamaninmemnnioteeaeameaaanenenane tay open space the sun had more thoroughly dried the surface, so that the trail became less distinct. “Now legs has guv up the game, and brains has took their place,”” announced Jerry. ‘Ther’s on’y one thing ur us. We've got to put our own brains to work. His former rapid progress was succeeded by a slow, cautious, doubtful movement, his gaze fixed earnestly upon the earth. “The hound’s makin’ every use of the rocks,” he continued, ‘‘He’s stepped from one to t’other wherever he could, Keep yereyes open, gentlemen, Ye mought catch the trail whar it ‘scapes me. Thar’s no tellin’ what backin’ and fillin’ sich a chap isup to. Nottooeager. Softly, softly! Be keerful ‘bout puttin yer own feet onthe sile. Ye mought make trouble.” In fact the shelving rocks approached, in many places, nearenough to step from one to the other and the fugitive had evidently made skillful use o this opportunity. Jerry found, in several of the broader reaches of soil, traces of his feet. But the soil itself grew hard and dry as they advanced, and finally every vestige of the trail disappeared. The scout made a careful but vain search of the whole locality. “IT told yer we hadn’t no fool to deal with,’’ he grumbled. ‘*Mebbe, though, the dog’s nose mought be keener nor our eyes. Sick ’em, Nebby! Go fur ’em, honey!. See what you kin make of it.”’ The dog, at this saoee to his sagacity, sprung forward with a short bark, and began to run back- ward and forward with his nose to the ground. **Further out, lad! Beyant the stones! See ef ye can’t pick up a scent in the grass,”’ and Jerry follow- ed the circling animal to the outer soil, which he mparebed closely, while the dog ran in widening cir- cles. The animal suddenly stopped with a whining bark, and looked questioningly up in his master’s face. **No, no, Nebby, ’tain’t rabbits,’’ said Jerry, with a shake of his head, though he stepped up to satisf himself that the dog had not really found the trail. ‘It’s two-legged game, Nebby. Nosich small fry as rabbits.”’ The dog, as if understanding him, continued his search. Jerry’s companions had done their utmost to aid in this investigation, but without any satisfactory result. They now stood anxiously watching the movements of the dog. Jerry walked up to them and rested his weight upon his rifle, as he watche for another minute the dog’s fruitless search. ‘It’s "bout asI thought,” he at length said, ina half soliloquy. ‘‘The rat’s took to the water. S’pected so from the fust, but didn’t keer to leave this spot ’till we worked it out.” A —" start passed through his hearers at these words. They turned and looked at the stream, Naa ran through the center of this rocky stra- um. ‘‘His steps lead away from it,” continued Jerry. “But that’s a stale trick. He could reach it from here by the rocks, ’thout ’teching a morsel of sile. Runnin’ water leaves no trail; but he can’t git outer the water ’cept by the land, and we’ve got to look now fur whar he left it.”’ He walked to the border of the shallow stream, and looked intently upon the waters. ** Has he gone up or down?” asked Harry. *That’s what I’m cogertatin’. Won't pay us now to take the wrong track. Is’picion severely, though, that he’s struck OD. : “Why?” asked Jack, who could see nothing in the water leading to such a conclusion. “*Cause the water ain’t asclear as it oughter be. It’s ginerally like glass, an’ now ye can scarce see the bottom. Ther’s somethin’ stirred the mud up- stream, and not long ago nuther. Come here, Neb- by. No use wastin’ your precious time.yander.”’ He whistled for the dog, and started up the stream, followed by the others. ‘, You folks had best take t’other side,”’ he advised. ‘“*He’s left the water ag’in some’ere up yere, and we've got to hev sharp eyes on the sile.” The pursuit continued in deep silence for nearly a half-mile, every eye intently watching the banks of the stream, while the dog ran eagerly to right and left with his nose fixed to the ground. At the point which they had now reached the wa- ter came through a narrow, rocky channel, and then suddenly widened and shallowed over a flat bed of onyey soil. erry paused and laid down his rifle, stooping over the waters. He shook his head aftera minute. “Too thick,”’ he said. ‘*I’ll hev to make a dam,” The stiff clay of the bottom served him in this quandary. Two or three handfuls pressed in the narrow rock channel stopped the flow of the stream, only some slight rills trickling through. These he stopped with a fresh application of his natural mor- tar, and then waited patiently until the flowing stream should. empty the ow basin below the dam. : They had but a minute to wait. The stream quick- ly ran out, showing the bare bottom of the channe except where sundry depressions remained fillec with water. A dry smile came on Jerry's weather- beaten face as he pointed downward. ‘* Don’t talk!’ he remarked. ‘It’s as plain now as the nose on Nebby’s face. D’ye see them water-logged holes? Them was made by a man’s boots. And it’s the man we are arter. I know the track to a hair.”’ It needed no keen eyes to recognize the shape of a human foot inthe depressions in the stiff clay, made so recently that the water had yet hardly worn away their sharp edges. “It's gettin’ warm, ’ remarked Jerry, as he start- ed forward again. “’Tain’t half an hour since he passed yere, and ye’ll find he*ll soon leave the we- ter. Use yereyessharp. A broken leaf mought sell the game on him now.’ The stream now passed through a thick growth of bushes. Jerry forced a passage through the midst of these, bidding the others to pass around the out- side, with a sharp look-out for the trail. For perhaps a hundred yards this bushy growth continued, after which another stretch of stony soil succeeded. ‘* Yere’s whar he left the water. As sure asyou’re living men,’’ cried Jerry. “And to the left, The stones stretch further in that direction. No. use huntin’ through these stones, but we've got to in- vestergate the outer edges mighty sharp, you bet.” The stony locality was about an eighth of a mile in breadth. Jerry walked straight to its borders, preceded by the dog, whose eagerness of search seemed increased. After a few minutes the hound broke into a furious barking, running back to his master and forward again to a point in the forest. But Jerry shook his head. He stood leanin his rifle, his eye fixed curiously on the ground. ‘The chase is up,”? he announced to the others, who had gathered around him. ‘‘I fancied ther’ was more work afore us; but it’s allup. He’s let go the She ok and the ship’s all adrift. That arrer done the job.”’ They looked down without speaking at the point on which his eyes were fixed. There was indeed a most striking indication. Fora broad patch of blood had crimsoned the surface of a flat stone, while a slight pool of the crimson fluid, not yet hardened, filled a depression in the stone. ‘‘He couldn’t go no further,” said Jerry. “ He stopped here to rest, and the bandage has slipped. It’s no trifling wound that chap’s got. Id wager my old hat that the life blood’s been touched.”’ He walked on, with his eyes to the ground, the others following. ‘ Trailin’s easy when it gits to be a blood trail,’’ he quietly remarked. ‘‘ Look at the tell-tale drops, on stones and leaves. He hasn’t had the strength to tie it up ag’in. Why he’s been staggerin’ like a drunken man!—Quiet thar! Quiet, Nebby! What ails you, boy?” The dog was barking and whining in a peculiar manner, beside some bushes not very far in advance. They hurried forward to the spot, the bloody marks increasing in volume at every step. ‘“* Whist! whist, Nebby!—Aha! Phe trail’s sartainly come toanend. You folks needn’t ha’ bru er rifles. The murdered leddy’s revenged, ant Mr. Wildfire’s arrer did it. thar!” They already had their eyes on the spectacle which had ar him. There, half buried in the bushes, lay the form of Mark Preston, stone dead his white face turned upward, while a pool of blood crimsoned the ground beneath his neck, which was marked by a gaping wound. CHAPTER XVILL FINALE. ‘“Gonr?”’ exclaimed Will, as he leaned heavily upon his rifle, near the opening of the tent. ‘Yes,’ answered Pierce, from his_ easy-chair, ** The doctor—who seems to know his business, the way—decided that she could not be Pisin at- tended tohere. She is comfortably fixed in the car- riage, and they were walking the horses back to Coalville.—Don’t look so glum, Will. It was not with her own wish she went. I promise you that.” ‘* But—but,’’ wavered Will, *‘ the report? Is she safe? Is there any hope?’’ “She is not one to die easily, my dear boy,” was the encouraging response. “It is a dangerous wound. ladmit that. But she will pull through it, if I am not sorely mistaken.” . ‘* What does the doctor say?’ Will asked. ““That nothing vital is touched. The ball went deep, bus ft escaped the life organs; and he thinks he can extract it.”’ “Heaven grant that he may,” Will fervently re- sponded, He walked for a few minutes restlessly about the camp, and then, with a gesture of impatient anx- iety, took the road toward Coalville. He could not pass the night without further tidings. The next morning the camp broke up, its mate- rials being transported in a country wagon te the same locality. ‘*How’'s it come out?” asked Jerry Prime, as he met Will and Pierce the succeeding day, “] hope to ’tarnal gracious that it ain't goin’ to be no seryus hurt to the poor leddy.”’ “The doctor has extracted the ball,” answered Will, ‘‘and she seems comfortable. We have every reason to hope.” ** Waal, that’s as good news as I’ve heered fura fo’night. Ef that reprobate ’d killed her, 1’d feel like givin’ his carcass to_the dogs. It’s lucky you peppered him, anyhow. He'd ha’ gi’n you trouble slong as he stayed afoot.” ou are good on the chance shot,” remarked Pierce. “You could never have made such a hf with a steady aim.” “*T doubt if I could,” answered Will “ What have you done with him, Jerry _s ‘We guy him Christian burial. In the old grave- ard down by the corners. Had the phan fast, though. He guv a verdick of justifiable homi- cide. Ef ye don’t know what that means, I do, fur It means that the murderin’ hound got jist what he desarved.” __ With a laugh at Jerry's definition of justifiable homicide, the two friends passed on toward the Coalville Hotel, anxious for the latest news from the shames, of the wr eeasee as ery She was mo erly n lady friends, and so far everything looked varette. ve e / upon ; (E| oYoye) EE ee ms SC