Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 188 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

; © ; ce ee -_- —+—-+-- ee — + A a try?” said Cyrille, for, as the reader has guessed, the person at Beverly” s side was our heroine. “ Duty!’ answered the soldier mage and then he continued: ‘Oh, Cyrille! Cyrille! since I have found you that duty will keep me near you to de- fend you against every foe.’ “Thanks,”’ breathed Cyrille. * But, will you not come to the spot where, since last night, I have lived in constant fear like the deer that seeks refuge in a thicket within hearing of the hunter’s hor ns?” ** Since last night? Poor girl! you must be near starvation’s door.’ “You shall see,’’ was the answer. The hand of Cy rille guided Beverly from the spot. The touch thrilled him. He had found the beautiful girl whom he had sworn s o make his wife despite every opposition, and he was already resolving that he would not leave her pi ‘ont the ceremony had be en per formed! ‘We are going up now,” said Cyrille. ‘The in- terior of Bald Top is a ps eh ct honeycomb of caves. “‘ortune surely guided me last night and you to-night, pmol Major Beverly, what do you think of my par- or?” The young girl asked the question as she led the ioldier into a cave, lit up by a fre that burned on the tioor. Beverly expressed astonishment at the sight. “T know what you are thinking about, ” Cyrille re- marked, looking into his face. ‘‘No, my fire will not betray us. It cannot be seen from’the corridors below. I have investigated this matter. The dry wood and bark awaited me here. All I bad to do was to gather them together and apply a match.”’ “A match, Cyrille? What good fortune placed such wealth into your hands?” cried Beverly. “Ah! it eas fortune, indeed. When I fled from the Indians whose bows were alre: idy bent for me, I ran against yon deer-skin bag that hung from a pe or nail in the wall, and it fell over my head an clung to me, I could not shake it off, for 1 thought only of esca for the savages were behind me. When I reached this place, panting live a chased ‘loe, I blessed heaven for the accident that knocked the’ bag upon me. In it were life and light—a few nieces of pemmican and two old lucifer matches. On the first I have subsisted, and the fire has cheered me, for to live here in darkness would be to go mad.’ ‘“*T believe it,” said Beverly, ‘But tell me how you came to encounter the Indians.” Cyrille did not hesitate, and Beverly listened to her adventures since her departure from Fort Bu- ford guarded by Ned Temple and the two Crows, Only one thing she kept back; the bear-demon’s story, and his departure, as she supposed, for Bu- ford to slay her father. Beverly watched her carefully while she spoke of Ned. Her beautiful face was in the firelight, and he could catch its every expression. His scrutiny seemed to afford encouragement. “T cannot think that he is dead. He was a brave boy—brave to rashness. We will meet again. Do you not think so, Major Beverly?” “TY do not know. Life is not safe in this wild country. You have other friends besides that DO Non, yes; but I do not want to lose him. His friendship has been tried, and—”’ ** You lien never put Major Beverly’s devotion to the test,’’ interrupted the officer. Cy rille gave him a look of inquiry. “You do not understand me,’ continued Beverly, flushing. ‘‘You seem to put more reliance in the fr'endship of a boy than may be just. If he has es- ra ed with his life, might he not be hastening back uford anxious to place himself behind its stock- ues vil lored. rille colored. “T fear you do not know Ned Temple,” she said repressing no little indignation. I) now many of those youths who have become the officers’ praveges, " Be ed Beverly with a light laugh. ‘* They are all ali e, Cyrille. You must find stancher friends if you wish protection in the hour of peril, and stronger arms than a boy’s. »verly was standing before Cyrille and with the last word, he took a hasty stride that Janded him on her side of the fire. “Cyrille, the Pranic Be arm is here!” he cried. “It belongs to rank Beverly, and the heart that nerves itis not a boy’s, but a soldier’s—a strong man’s. I have loved you long; nightly I have seen you from the barrack cot, or the saddle of the ylains. You will listen to me now; you will not re- ject the love that comes to you in the hour of danger#por the arm that is held between you and the knives of Red Cloud’s braves. Say the word that I have waited to hear, Cyrille; say that you will become the bride of Fr ank Beverly and—" He was interrupted by the exclamation of sur- srise that fell from Cyrille’s tongue as she drew ack. “T cannot!" she said. ‘ Major Beverly, the truth must be told even though I lose the protection you offer. | You ask too much. I cannot become your wife.” Bever ly with difficulty suppressed the oath that struggled to his lips. His eyes flashed like sparks of electric fire. ‘‘ What prevents? that boy?” he cried. ‘Cyrille you donot know what you lose when you reject Frank Beverly’s love. ‘The arm that offered rotection is strong enough to dash all opposi Ba om its path. Think again.” “*Tneed not think. Shall I repeat.my answer?” Beverly’s brow darkened. “You reject me because that boy lives; but I am not the man who will be thus outwitted. Frunk Beverly ney wins when hearts are at stake, | ~ ——e- ee +e AES tas See Temple, the Border Boy. | did not turn from my path of duty and imperil my life among the death-paths of Sioux land for noth- ing. You were the prize that led me on and on, and now that I have found you let me say, Cyrille, that you shall become my wife. He had leaped forward like a tiger, and his hand would have sc ized the young girl’s wrist if she had not sprung bick. ou are near enough!’* she exclaimed. ‘‘ Major Beverly, the arm you kave offered shall never pro- tect me. Ispurn its protection! “Better death here than life with one who makes love like atiger. See! I am not defenseless. There’was something in for- tune’s purse besides pemmican and matches. Now, sir, touch me if you dare!” Cyrille, drawn to her full hight in the light of the fire, looked more “beautiful than ever, Her eyes flashed like an insulted queen’s, and in the right hand that she held aloft was a long-bladed hunting- knife, rusty, but with a needle’s point! Beverly stopped, and inwardly cursed the the girl who held him at bay. CHAPTER XV. A SHORT-LIVED TRIUMPH. Tue next minute Beverly was inclined to laugh, ‘By Jove! my love-making has reached the } point of a bowie,” he said to himself. ‘I did not expect to find the girl so stubborn, and I must look for op- position am ies as that boy stands in my path. Why did I not throw him into the grass, dead, when T had him in my power? I see now thatl w as a fool then. Give me another chance at him, Fortune, and if I leave a living rival in my road, then may 1 be shot by the squad!” Cyrille still faced him, the flashing of her eyes not abated in the least. They still said: ‘“* Touch me if you dare!” “Well,” suddenly cried the re ee ““since you threaten your best friend, C rile, see no reason why the arm that has offered to proteet you should not be withdrawn. I am going. We may meet again.”’ Cyrille seemed to start. Hewas going to leave her; then she would be alone and helpless again in ‘the subterranean re- cesses of the mountain. The knife dropped at her side, asif all power to hold it up had suddenly left her arm. * Because I refuse your offer of love you desert me?’ she said. “T do not see why I should defend with my life a —— who is to marry my enemy,’’ was the reply beh ‘Then you and Ned are enemies?” “The boy and Major Frank Beverly cannot be friends; that is cer tain.’ “Then, sir, you can 2 I will stay here until true protection comes, or seek it myself,’’ exclaimed Cyrille, stepping forward. ‘ Frank Beverly, there was a dark threat but half concealed in your last sentence. Now I do not ask protection from the arm that will not hesitate to strike a rival in the dark. You can go, sir.’ Uttering an oath the soldier shrunk away; but at the threshold of the cave he paused and turned a face full of threatenings upon Cyrille. “TIT willcome again, my beauty, and in triumph too. Ileave you now to strike a trail which I shall follow to victory. If you think that I relinquish all claims to your hand, banish such thoughts at once, I win or die! Good- “by, my white tigress Cyrille’s answer was a look of scorn, and the next moment he had passed beyond the line of light. Let us follow him. The corridor which he soon reached was the one down which he had fled from the Sioux in the main cave. It was dark as midnight, but by keeping a hand on one of the walls he guided himself along. At Jength he began to use caution and advanced slowly. He was near the great cavern, Sam Wild- cet’s last battle-field. He was anxious to know the result of that terrible struggle in the dark, although he secretly believed that it could have but one ending. Of course the desperado had been overpowered and killed. When Beverly felt the corridor suddenly end, he ene xed to the ground and listened. a sound reached his ears, and the darkness be- fore him seemed pepacie, He remembered how silent the cave had been an hour before, when in fact it was filled with Indians, and as that same ominous silence again reigned, he regarded it with just suspicions. He waited and listened in the dark until inaction became unendurable. “If they are there, death hems me in,” he said finally. “Te they have departed, I am a fool for staying here.’ Drawing his knife and ie the blade between his teeth while he carried his revolvers ready for in- stant use, Beverly crept forward once more. He held his breath as he crept over the floor of the cavern inch by inch. Allat once his hand slipped along the ground. Beverly shuddered. He had struck a pool of blood; it;might be Wildcat’s! “A little further on a like occurrence took place, but this time the soldier did 1.0t shudder, “They found a tiger in Sam Wildcat,” he said to himself. ‘‘1 thank fortune that I showed the red dogs the soles of my boots.” He went on slipping here in somebody’s life cur- rent, and striki there a broken knife-blade, or a feather from an Indian head-dress, At last he felt the cool night air, and the next | minute be stood erect in the starlight that revealed the mouth of the cave, Py a et Da eee ee ee oe ae eee 13 He had run the gantlet in safety, and he was now ready for the new trail upon which the love of Cyrille had thrown him. ** It cannot be that Wildcat drove the Indians off,” he said, his mind going back to the fight in the cavern. “I am confident that they are not here, for anne or twice while I was creeping across the cave I made sufficient noise to have betrayed me. Well, Sam Wildcat, I have no further use for you, Our partne rship would not have lasted long, any- how; we would have fought “<a Cyrille—that is, we would be lunging at each 1er’s heart, ere this. So peace to your soul, Sam, and thanks to the red wolves that slit your throat.” Beverly would have returned to the cavern for the purpose of examining the battle-field with a few lucifers if a startling sound had not reached his ears. It came down the side of Bald Top and told him that some person was above him. ‘**More Indians!” he ejaculated. gone far.’ He stepped back and with his figure half-hidden in the mouth of the corridor, he cocked his revolvers and looked up Confident “They have not that the noise overhead was occasioned by the Sioux that bad lately left the cavern, the officer prepared to meet them, for certain sounds told him that more than one person was approach- ing. “Cave near. Black Robe find it soon,” said a “That voice, ‘* Black Robe?” echoed Beverly, starting, is the name of a Crow scout once attached to the service. Is he, too, on Cyrille’s trail? By Jove! everybody seems to be hunting her.” Just then the figure of an Indian glided snake-like into view, and Beverly immediately covered it with his revolver, Tf it wasn’t for the report I'd settle your hash,” he hissed. ‘‘But creep a little nearer and let me get ery mes at your face,” Asif his words had been heard, the Indian over and the next moment cleared the distance between him and the revolver and landed with a grunt on the hard ground in front of the major. hcad stooped, At the same time a singular cry, undoubtedly a. signal, fell from bis lips. sverly heard it echoing up and down the sides of Bald Top. “Boy an’ Uncapa hear that, an’ come, Black ee id the big hole in Bald Top,” said the Ludian ou The boy? Of course he meant Ned Temple. Beverly's heart seemed to stand still. } “So my rival has formed a partnership with you and Uncapa, eh?’ he grated, glaring at the wnsus- re ‘ious Crow. ‘“‘ Unions seem to be the order of the ay in this part of the world. One was broken awhile ago, and now I’! fracture another.” The next second Frank Beverly left the rock with a tigerish spring, and before the Indian was aware of his presence his throat. Black Robe, taken by surprise, glared for a mo- ment into the face of his antagonist as he was borne c “Death has caught you fairly, Indian hound!” hissed Beverly, and the knife that glittered for a moment in the star light disappeared beneath the Crow’s painted breast. A groan fell from the unlucky. warrior’s li as Beverly released him, he fell back to rolt down the mountain-side while the death gurgle rattled in his throat, * One!” said the soldier in triumph. “I'll go back and wait for the others. Fortune is bringing the boy into my hands.” gain he occupied his old the cavern ready for Black Robe'’s com inions. ““Maybe they did not hear ~ signal,” he said at I wish I could call into my clutches, Then I would have a walk over of e track to Cyrille’s heart. Ha! what was a >| Voices, low and eager ones, were approaching, Bever ly pus up the knife and drew the revo vers, Then he strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of Ned Temple aud his companion. The boy and Uncapa were creeping forward, nearer Cyrille than they suspected, nearer death, too, than they dreamed. Halt,” suddenly rung out a the night air. “ ve got the dead drop on both of ee If you wonder where your comrade is 1 find him down the mountain a little way wit "RO blood in his heart. This is my night, Ned Temple; you've had yours!” he mountain path had last, ‘‘and I cannot imitate it, the ‘bo The figur es creeping along t leaped up.’ his rival as much by his voice as by his face and fig- fs) ure. ‘* We are not foes.’ “Put another foot forward and discover,” hissed the soldier. ‘‘ Our trails are the same, and yet we are not enemies! cannot divide the diamond we are ne It must belong to one person, and I swear that it shall be- long tome! Ah! you understand now.” “Yes. You flung me from you when o.- sold y you that Cyrille was my betrothed,” the bo “By some fortune you escaped Red oadts eyes,” replied Beverly. ‘‘Now we'll settle our love affairs here. Frank Beverly is not going back to his com- mand, beaten by a boy.” “Then shoot, murderer! You dare not give Ned aegis a chance for his life.” t Piigive you one afore the last dose ov Injun settles me furever!”’ came in tones from below, and, before Beverly could catch a glimpse of the Comic s00Ks) ie fell upon him with a mad hand at | How do you make that out? We. osition at the mouth of | - “Major Beverly!” exclaimed the boy, recognizing |