Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 186 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 means of transportation so bad that it is only within a very few years the adventuring pros- ector has penetrated to its heart and struck is pick into the rich “ leads” which fairly crop out of the ground. Behind the prospectors came the miners; close on the heels of the miners came the sa- loon-keepers, the gamblers and the painted Jezebels who have ever been, since civilization was young, the cause of bloodshed and of strife among men. Little settlements grew up here and there as rich mines were discovered, and of one of these wild and lonely camps we are about to write— of the “city” of Juanapolis, situated at the foot of Death Valley—and well the valley de- served that name, as the reader will see anon. ‘The shades of night were falling thick and fast over hill and plain. The big peaks, their tops growing more and more misty, seemed melting into the dark clouds which hung so thick and heavy over the earth. And at this hour, when night thickened and the obscure creatures, who gloried in the dark- ness, began to creep forth from their dark dens, along a rocky, narrow trail high up in the mountains, above Death Valley, came two travelers of such peculiar aspect that they would have excited attention anywhere; one, a fragile, delicate youth, apparently near to death’s door, and the other, a young girl of such surpassing beauty and of a loveliness so strange that, even in the streets of a crowded city, men would have been sure to turn that they might enjoy another look at such a matchless piece of Nature’s handiwork. She was tall in stature, beautifully formed, with a face and figure which would have turn- ed the head even of one of the old-time artists, the men whose work has come down to us as masterpieces, The perfection of grace itself dwelt in her rounded limbs, and, as for her face, the Greek master who made a female statue so beautiful that he worshiped it, could not have excelled its perfectness had he lived a hundred years. A strange face, too, and of a type of beauty rare- ly seen, for the hair was light, a rich golden red, and the eyes were dark-brown, almost black; the complexion purely white, fair as an intant’s despite the care and toil of the long journey over the rude and rocky trail, along which, for over a week, the pair had persistent- ly toiled. This maid was rudely, poorly clad; her gar- ments were coarse, a singular compound of the dress of civilization and of the wilderness, for she wore what had once evidently been a rid- ee neti, but the skirt had been cut away so that it only reached to her ankles, and her feet were protected with stout shoes, over which were drawn the beaded and fringed leggings common to the dusky daughters of the wilder- ness. A youth’s broad-brimmed felt hat pro- tected her head, and from under it the rich red- gold hair fell in glorious, curling profusion nearly to her waist. In her band she carried a short-barreled re- peating-rifie, and to the belt that encircled her almost perfect waist two holsters hung, into which revolvers were thrust, and from the look of resolution upon her face it could hardly be doubted that she would not hesitate to use the weapons if she had the provocation. In the other hand she grasped the lariat of the mule upon whose back the youth was seated. The mule was a sorry beast, hardly worth powder and shot that would kill him, but he answered in the present instance, for the rider was so weak that he had all he could do to cling to the saddle. In person the boy strongly resembled the girl; he was clad in rough and shabby garments, much the worse for wear, and he had the same peculiar eyes and hair, but the hair, although exactly the same color, grew differently, and twined in little clustering curls all over the shapely head. Hewas evidently much younger than his companion, and upon his face an ex- pression of weakness and timidity appeared res gt at variance with the resolute look of e girl. Ever and anon the boy glanced behind him with a shuddering fear written in his face. **Can’t you hurry?’ he would exclaim on these occasions, piteously; ‘‘I think that I hear the sound of horses’ boofs clattering behind us,” “It is only your imagination,” she would re- ply, endeavoring te assume a cheerful, careless expression, although she never failed to glance ° anxiously behind her every time the boy spoke. ‘It is nothing; for a week eae in fact, ever since we started, you have been haunted by the idea of pursuit.”’ Cool Desmond. **But you have been afraid of it, too; you know you have, for you look back every now and then; you look back with fear in your face!” ** No, no; I do not fear!” ‘*Oh yes, you do; I know you do!” the other repeated, earnestly. ‘* You cannot deceive me; I know you too well. But, if they do come u with us, you will not let me be taken back, wi you?” And piteous indeed was the tone in which the question was put. ‘‘Indeed I will not if my poor strength and the weapons I carry are of any avail,” the girl replied, earnestly. ‘‘ But, do not be afraid. I am sure there isn’t any dangernow. Remem- ber, we have been fleeing for a week at our best speed, hardly stopping for rest and food. At first there might have been a chance for over- taking us, for they of course could go much faster than we, but itis plain that in some way they missed our trail. e fled in the night, and before morning the rain came; we mur- mured then, as we fled in the gloom and dark- ness with the pelting rain soaking us to the very skin, but the hand of Providence was in that merciless rain, for it washed away all traces of our trail; and with the trail destroyed how could we be followed? What mortal man would imagine that we, turning our back upon civilization, would fly into this lonely wilder- ness? It is not possible any one could guess that we have come this way, and that was the reason why I decided to come. I knew when the rain washed out our trail our pursuers would be certain to look for us to the north; they would never believe that we would plunge into this wilderness.” ‘*But, where are we going? You have not told me yet,” the other observed, complain- ingly. r Heaven only knows, for I do not,” the girl replied. ‘‘I can only tell you that we ought to be now in the San Juan region, for that is the trail I have followed. It is wild, desolate, and very thinly settled, but I know there are little min- ing camps scattered through its valleys, and I am in hopes this trail will conduct us to one of these.” ‘‘ And, even if we reach a mining camp, what then?” ‘‘What then? Is it not shelter and safety? Are we not nearly two hundred miles away from our foes? ho will think of looking for us down in this wild land?” ‘‘ But, how are we going to live?’ demanded the boy, in a mournful tone, apparently not possessing a tithe of the pluck that sustained the other. ‘‘We have no money, you know, and we can’t live without money.” ‘‘Let us put our trust in the great Master above who rules all things wisely and well,” the girl replied, reverently. ‘‘He feeds even the oung ravens, and I am sure He will not let wo of his children perish when they are ready *to do all in their power to gain a livelihood?” 4 But what are we going to do—what can we of ‘‘Wait until we get into the mining camp, and then we will see; there must be some work we can do, no matter how little the place is; it will not cost us much to live.” ‘** But, may we not be followed even here and taken back?’ the other inquired, precio ee Mh the thought of pursuit and recapture still evidently strong in his mind. ‘‘There is no danger, I tell you,” reassured the girl, strangely patient; ‘‘ besides, after we et acquainted in the place, we shall make riends, and the miners will not be apt to let our enemies take us, even if we are hunted down and discovered.” : Strange words from such beautiful, lips! What had this surpassingly fair girl and her feeble, sickly companion done that they should dread pursuit and detection, and had fled, like thieves in the night, oe this lonely and wild San Juan country? That is a question easier asked than answered, as the reader will see as our story progresses. Darker grew the gloom and more and more indistinct the trail. ‘** Another night with the rocks for a bed and the sky for a covering!” the rider exclaimed, in a doleful voice. ‘‘Better that—better even to herd with the wild beasts that find a home amid these beetling cliffs, than to fall the prey of the wretches from whom we have escaped.” Suddenly the Grail split in twain and the pair paused in doubt. ‘** Which one shall we take—shall we go to the right or to the left?” the girl queried. ‘Take neither, but turn and fly from this wild land where nothing but misery awaits you!” cried a hoarse voice, coming, seemingly, from the air above the head of the pair. CHAPTER II. THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. In blank amazement the travelers gazed around them, striving with their eyes to pierce the gloom which, like a funeral pall, surrounded and hemmed them in. ‘* What was that—who spoke?” asked the boy, in a trembling whisper, glancing fearfully around him. But the question was not to be answered. Above them was the sky; below them the solid rocks; on either hand rose the tall and ragged cliff, thickly fringed here and there with scrub- by pines, amid which at rare intervals towered a mountain sycamore. The pair had paused just where one of these clumps of timber overhanging the trail cast a dark shadow over it. ‘* Was it notour imaginations which tortured the echoes of our own words into a fearful warning?’ the gir! answered, in subdued tones, thoroughly chilled to the heart by the strange circumstance, ‘‘It was no echo!” the other asserted, ‘‘ for echoes but repeat words; they do not construct whole sentences.” ‘*In Heaven’s name what was it, then?” cried the girl. ‘Don’t ask Heaven; appeal to the fiend that dwells in the other world and perhaps he will be able to answer you!” exclaimed the strange, hollow voice which, apparently, came either from the beetling cliffs that hemmed in the trail on either side or from the sky that lowered above their heads. ‘Oh, Constantia, what fearful trap have we entered into? Surely it is no mortal that speaks!” the boy screamed, sorely afraid. “You are right; [ am no mortal; I am a spirit—the spirit of the mountain, and I ride upon the storm-cloud, with the lightning for my guide and the thunder for my plaything!” and then a strange, unearthly peal of laughter followed which reéchoed along the rocky trail. The rider was so terribly alarmed that he came near fainting, and it was as much as he could do to retain his seat upon the mule. But the girl, being made of stouter stuff, had in a measure recovered from her first alarm, and this time she had located the voice. Whoever spoke was concealed just above the heads of the two in the little clump of pines, in the middle of which grew the spreading mountain sycamore. In a twinkling the rifle of the girl was at her shoulder, the hammer drawn back and the muz- zle pointed at the group of pines. ‘* Man or spirit—friend or foe, whichever you are, show yourself or I will try the virtue of a bit of lead upon you!” she cried, defiantly, and there was that in the eyes of the girl which told et she would certainly be as good as her word. And so thought the unseen speaker who was concealed in the tree, and who for a half-hour or more had been trailing the pes along the top of the rocky cliffs, taking good care to keep out of sight and yet quite near enough to overhear their conversation. He nothing doubted that the girl would fire if he did not make his appearance, and so, like Captain Scott’s coon, he ‘came down.” As sudden and surprising as had been his mysterious warning so was his appearance, and the pair fairly started as he bounded from the shelter of the tree. Down he came, clinging with one hand to a bending branch, and with his feet braced against the side of the cliff he swung in the air like a <A monkey, which, in- deed, he greatly resembled. | The ‘spirit of the mountain” was a great, overgrown boy, with a savage, animal-like face, upon which, too, there appeared a look of low cunning. He was clad in skins from head to foet—a 5 mals, big and little, curiously patched together, and many of them much the worse for wear, Upon his feet he wore Indian moccasins and his head was crowned with a peculiar sort of skull- cap, made also of skins, and from the top of which a raccoon’s tail waved in lieu of a plume. From under the rest great masses of tan- gled, tawny hair escaped. Altogether a stranger figure than this un- known the imagination would have found it dif- ficult to describe. The travelers started back as the unknown came bouncing down, and even the patient, sorely-wearied mule shied to one side at the un- e ted apparition. The girl opened her eyes widely as she beheld cS (ECO) AACE OOO) sorts of skins from all sorts of ani- — Gon yl