Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 169 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

3 a ae ce ee 2 : wee = ee lll, A Rc lila eI ~ = ~ — = - = “ e . 7” ge —— a am A ma si ew meg see ee — =< -- Oe e ee - - — - LO LLL atte ‘1 did not say so,” flashed Olive resentingly. ‘‘l ama captive and must submit to the com- menee. of your chief who calls himself Red ‘‘Red Robe!” echoed Buck Tail, derisively. ‘* Him no got much power; any Injun strong as him any time. Gal must not furgit that she take place of the two dogs that the gold-hunter kill last night.” Olive’s lips came firmly together, and her eyes shot lightnings at the impudent Indian, but she did not answer him. ‘‘When he undertakes to take — of his claim be shall hear from me!” she said, reso- en to herself. When the ——e band halted daylight re- ‘vealed them more fully to the solitary prisoner. Olive now plainly saw the fantastic head- dresses, the painted ies and the fierce looks. The scenery that surrounded her was, she felt, far from Red Core; it was rough, moun- tainous, a dpa She was suddenly lifted from the horse by the chief, Red Robe, and soon found herself in the middle of a circle of hideous faces, chief among them the redoubtable Buck Tail’s. Some ordeal was coming; all that staring would ead in something destined to try her nerve. Olive felt it. Suddenly Red Robe addressed her. ** White girl no live alone in little lodge?’ he éaid, oe No.” ‘* Gold-hunter with her?” ‘That is true.” ** Him no find mine yet?” Olive’s sweeping glance showed her twenty _ {ndians impatient for her reply. ‘*T do not know.” Twenty countenances fell. ‘* Girl tell truth!” a latent threat was in the -<lmonition. “T am telling it!” she retorted. ‘‘ Jack has been absent some time. He may have found the mine.” ‘Where white hunter?” This interregative came from an Indian at Olive’s right. ‘IT do not know.” “ Him not leave girl alone without tellin’ her where him goin’, an’ when bim come back.” Silence was Queen Olive’s reply, and when she turned her eyes again to 1 Robe it was not before sbe had seen the band of her last questioner glide menacingly to his belt. “*T must be cautious; my life is in peril here,” ran through her mind. “What white girl know about the hidden - faces?’ suddenly asked the chief. ** Nothing. anask.” ‘They all ride toward gold-bunter’s lodge, satay long time. White girl surely see ’em. She knows ’em, an’ she must not lie to the Idahos!” ‘‘True! They did come to our cabin, but for no good,” Olive said. ‘I drove them away with a rifle.” The Indians looked from the girl into each other’s faces, and when she caught their eyes in she saw many a look of contempt and never saw beneath a single again _ incredulity. The ordeal was coming. ‘‘ White girl’s words all lies!” said Red Robe. ‘““She know where gold mine is. She must tell!” “What I do not know I cannot reveal,” was ther A knife leaped from the Idaho’s belt, and he ras a& great stride toward the Queen of Red Ore. Olive did not flinch, but her eyes encountered the Indian’s look without dropping. The girl who could face the desperate Gold League was not likely to be awed by a few In- dians. * Tell!” thundered Red Robe, pausing before | | them was suddenly thrust into her hand by the ter. ‘*The girl must show the Indians the trail that leads to the gold mine, or her heart will rot where she stands!” ‘Then, brute, you must do your worst. But give me the revolver that sticks in your belt, and we see if more than one heart does not rot here!” The Indian sprung like a tiger upon Red Core’s Queen, and as he seized her arm the knife flashed over his crest. “Gi rl no tell?” 46 4 ' Olive. dil not know that they were only try- ing her: she thon:ht that she was about to die when, in realily, ber life was safe even in the hands that held the knife aloft. The other savages were ready to applaud the } Tornado Tom. ee ee a ee ee ee ee irl’s firmness and laugh at Red Robe’s discom- ture, when the loud reports of a dozen rifles rung in their ears, and the forms of the scarlet a staggered hither and thither around the girl. The survivors sprung back and turned toward the mountain on the left with wild cries of fright and defiance, to see a dozen masked men seated on as many horses, and at the shoulder of each rider was a rifle from which the bolts of death had just leaped. Olive, too, started back with a cry at sight of the gray masks; but before she could recover she was violently jerked from the ground, and the next moment she felt herself being borne rapidly away on the back of a horse! At first she noticed that several Indians rode on either side, but these soon drop out of sight, and but one horse shot through a canyon still unlit by the dawn. Buck Tail had distanced friends and foes alike, and when he emerged from the chasm, he looked down into Olive’s face and uttered a cry of triumph. ‘* No fightin’ fur white gal now,” he exclaim- ed. ‘Her all b’long to Buck Tail. Red Robe an’ the rest fall whan the hidden faces shoot! One ball nearly find Buck Tail’s heart. It go through his arm. See!” And the Indian held bis bleeding arm before Olive’s eyes, and grated his teeth while he gazed at his wound. ‘* Buck Tail able to make his wife rich,” con- tinued the young Indian. “Him been keepin’ something in his heart ever since him been a boy. Would girl like to see?’ ‘*He is talking about the wonderful gold mine! What if he has discovered it?” thought Olive. Then she said: ** You cannot make your wife rich. cret amounts to nothing.” The Indian’s eyes fairly danced. ‘* Girl see pretty soon!” he cried. ‘* Buck Tail will let her know what him been keepin’ to him- self so long.” All at once the Idaho guided his horse into a ss between two rugged bills, and Olive held er breath. | ‘Oh, if Jack was following me at this mo- ment!” said her heart. ; Wilder grew the scenery as the horse advanc- ed, and almost suddenly the Queen of Red Core found herself in cimmerian darkness. Buck Tail sprung from the horse and helped his captive from the saddle. ‘‘ Stand still!” he said. Olive obeyed. A step might precipitate her into some horrid abyss. All at once she felt her hand grasped, and then she was led away. For many minutes she seemed to descend into the bowels of the earth: the unseen path which she trod was littered with stones that often rolled under her feet, and almost threw her; and the young Idaho at last took her in his arms and carried her along. Olive felt and heard the beats of her heart. At last the Indian stopped and put his burden down, and a moment later the flashing of flints dazzled the girl’s eyes, then the little flame of the igniting torch. “Girl want to know Buck Tail’s secret, eh?’ said the Idaho, coming up to her with a face illu- minated with savage joy. ‘ Her want to know how him kin make his wife rich? Let her open all the doors of her eyes an’ see!” Again her hand was taken by the Indian, and she was led away. The torch did not throw much light on their surroundings, but Olive knew that they were far beneath the surface of the ground, and in a place which had been made by human hands. “Girl see now!” said Buck Tail, as he halted at last, and swept the torch before him and near the ground. Olive saw a great many ill-shaped rocks scat- tered in confusion about her feet, and one of Your se- Idaho. She started back with a cry, for the rock seemed unnaturally heavy. It must contain gold! ‘* Let white girl look!” said Buck Tail, hold- ing the torch before her eyes. ‘“‘ Has she ever seen gold stones before?” ‘* Often.” The Queen of Red Core wasamazed. The rock in her hands appeared to be a lump of gold. ‘‘Mine full of ’em!” exclaimed the Idaho, waving the torch around his head. ‘ Now qq ce eee eee TE PT C8 Kk. nL rr rrr rc a i ce — we ee = ew ee eo ee for him said: ‘Buck Tail will keep it for his squaw.’ Ha! will not the white girl be richer as Buck Tail’s wife than as the slave of the pale- faces?” Olive made no reply. The gold mine—the dream of Injun Jack's ambition—had been rediscovered. And she—she actually stood in it, and held one of the nuggets in her hands! CHAPTER XII. CLOSE QUARTERS. TorRNADO Tom stood bewildered in the cave for many moments after the boy’s de ’ The torch flaring at his feet told him that the youth had actually fled. But he still saw the brand of the bowie, as it had been dramatically revealed, and heard these words: | ‘*T have found the mine!” When the old fellow at last roused himself it was to start forward with an oath whose echoes made the cavern ring. ‘*Hez thet cub gone back on me—outwitted me an’ found the big bonanza himself?’ he ex- claimed. ‘An’ what did he show me? the brand ov a dirk on his breast—the mark ov the Brethren, an’ he told me to tech ’im if I dared! Jest ez ef I war afeared ov thet hooded party, an’ jest ez ef I1—Tornado Tom—hed anything ag’in’ him! By Jehu! l’m gittin’ inter another mystery. Why did he jine the Gold League? He said I deserted him. Ef he knew wharI hev been, he’d never hev made that charge ag’in’ Tornado—never! But the bonanza? a says he hes found it. _No! I won’t b’lieve thet. He war ta’ntin’me. He’s a Gold Leaguer, that’s sartin; but the story about findin’ the mine— that’s all bosh!” Tornado Tom saw nothing human when he went to the mouth of the cave. ‘*l’m a fool to let the boy git away so easy. When he hears my story her take back the charge ov desartion, an’ we'll git along together ag’in. Injun Jack will hev a time with the Injuns what hed the Queen ov Red Core. I hope he won’t git ’er back; Ido by jingo. Me an’ the boy will come to an understandin’, an’ things will move on once more.” Tom saw nothing as he passed through the starlit valley that lay below the cave. He traversed it with a heavy revolver in his right hand, ready for use at a second’s notice, For whom was he hunting? the boy? Injun Jack was evidently following Olive’s trail, and Tornado did not think any more about him, for he was confident that the man from Red Core was able to take care of himself, and that they would both live to fight hand-to-hand for the gold mine. “This night-buntin’ never did pan out well fur me. [Tl go back,” he exclaimed disgusted, and stopping suddenly midway in a canyon several miles from the cave, he whirled on his heel and began to retrace his steps. He had resolved to let Tornado Jr. go for the present, at least until daylight. ‘This is home but without the youngster,” he ejaculated finding himself once more in the cavern of the hill. e picked up the torch which the brand of the bowie had frightened from his hand, and after a little labor relit it. But ax the flame flashed up he sprung back with a hoarse cry of astonishment. At the same time his revolver leaped clicking from his belt. Tornado had walked into the deadliest of raps. He actually stood in the middle of a circle of masked men, each one of whom held a cocked revolver almost against his person. The Brethren of the Gold League! Those hooded fiends of the mountains who came and went like ghosts silent and unquestioned! Tom, although well frightened, did not drop the torch this time. He clung firmly to it, for it enabled him to see his enemies, to gaze ints the eyes that burned beneath the gray masks. A glance told him that he was completely surrounded; the gap by which he had entered the trap had been closed. “The boy isn’t hyar,” thought Tornado as he failed to find his protege in a sweeping glance round the circle, and then facing the stalwart brother who stood before him he said: “Wal, what do you want with old Tornado? Let’s proceed to bizness.” ‘Are you anxious that we should go on‘ white girl know what Buck Tail keep in bis | came from beneath the mask. heart so long. Many n.oons ago when him was a boy him discovered the old gold mine that has been lost so long. ‘ Him: never told any one, ' before. Tom started. He was certain that he had heard the voice ’ Gomicbooks ‘Til jest finish thet inter- — rupted supper afore I retire.” i -— a —_s ee =