Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 207 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Navajo Nick, the Boy Gold Hunter. — + SCO 13 wall a few steps away; the lank, well-known | oath I took fur Mohave’s sake. figure of Monte’s avenger. Carlos sprung toward him, but stopped sud- denly and recoiled with a cry of horror. Mohave with a horrible expression on his bloodless face was holding out two handless arms! ‘** Look! Carlos,” he hissed. ‘‘ I found him. He took the other hand. If you had followed me I would not be dyin’ hyar with Monte un avenged.” Captain Carlos did not stir. The sight of the robbed arms seemed to have nailed him to the floor of the cavern; his eyes stared at the pic- ture of mountain vengeance before him, and his blood seemed to turn to ice. ‘* You wanted the mountain ov gold more than you did Dagobert’s blood!” continued Mohave.* ‘‘ Which do you want worst now ?” ‘** The blood ov Dagobert, ov course!” A triumphant glitter seemed to relieve the deathly glare of Mohave’s eyes. ‘*Sw’ar it, Carlos.” “Ido at the pint ov my bowie!” was the answer, and as he spoke Carlos whipped out his’ knife and held its point against his breast, ‘Now, whar is he, Mohave?’ ‘** Ef I knew I would hev been on his trail even in the fix I am. Find him! I hed one to avenge; you hev two, cap’n—me an’ Monte.” The maimed desperado tottered from the wall xs he finished; his strength seemingly harbored for the scene he had just passed through entire- iy deserted him, and Carlos with a shudder stepped aside in order toavoid the bloody wrist. The next moment his companion lay at his feet a corpse, killed by Dagobert, not Helen. The leader of the Twelve held the flambeau near the contorted face into which he gazed thoughtfully a moment; then he turned away and sprung toward the natural stair. ‘I’m the last ov the three, ez I am ov the Twelve!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ But the last shall be first, an’ the worst wolf in the z.2 He went up the stone rat x like a person ac- customed to them, and Lis torch was soon throwing its light around and between thestone pillars, that seemed to support the roof of the room he had reached. Carlos had apparently entered a temple of some kind, for the pillars seemed carved out of stone by human hands; but a close inspection would have proved to any one that nature and nature alone had planted them there in regular order. He was in one of the wonderful caverns of Arizona, that was all. His torch flitted hither and thither like a Jack-o’-lantern, but alwaysin his hund. Now he held it near the ground as if searching for Dagobert’s trail, and now carried it overhead to reveal the recesses of the cave. Suddenly he uttered a cry, and a moment later he was examining the floor of the cavern. The human bloodhound had discovered the trail—a few dark spots on the stones.” ‘The wolf we caught among the Basaltic Buttes is wounded!” he said,springing up. ‘* Mo- have did not quite finish his work. [ll finish it fur’im. Ive tracked many a deer by his blood, an’ more’n one man, too,” The trail continued, and Captain Carlos threaded the cave with his vengeful eyes fixed upon if. Now andthen his lips parted to let through his fierce mustache a sound like the growl of a tiger. For a moment the mountain of gold had been forgotten; Carlos saw only the handless body in the cave below, and the blood of the man who bad slain his comrades. The depths of the earth which he was travers- ing seemed to be a perfect network of caves, for the trail of blood led him from one apartment to another. ‘“T know whar he’s goin’!” he suddenly ex- claimed. ‘I might ez well break straight fur it,” and removing his eyes from the crimson mark he increased his gait. A few minutes later Carlos crept under the half petrified trunk of a tree, and stood in the rosy light of morning. A wilderness of rocks and some grass sur- rounded him, but the trail of blood was lost! | He stood cn the top of the banks of Navajo Canyon. Not far away he could have looked down into it by leaning over the cliffs, but Car- los did not think of doing this, for his man-hunt- ing eyes were riveted upon a figure which was moving through a copse a long distance from his post. ; This figure was no larger than his hand, but he knew that it was a buman being, and his first thought was of the man he was trailing. | ‘“‘T never lose a man when I track him by bis blood!” he said creeping away. ‘‘I’ll keep the By George! Dagobert, youll la’rn pretty soon thet the worst man ov the three ar’ on yer track.” Captain Carlos followed the figure which fate or fortune had exhibited to bis gaze. When he reached the copse he found the prints of hoofs on the narrow trail. ‘* Whar did he git a hoss?’ be asked himself as he stared at the marks. ‘‘ He’s got the best ov me fur the present; but Pll soon hev the up- per hand.” Half an hour later the captain of the Twelve came almost suddenly upon a young girl seated on a magnificent black steed. His surprise was so complete that he sprung back with a moun- aa oath Which fixed the eyes of the girl upon m. ‘**Ah! Captain Carlos!” she exclaimed. ‘‘ The man of all men | would meet here, and at this moment. Don’t draw your revolvers! The one I hold covers you, as you see! I have taken one life since we parted company, but I was forced to do it. Don’t provoke me to shed your blood. You will therefore favor me by taking your hands from your weapons.” Captain Carlos bit his lip and his Jong arms fell at his sides. He was at Helen’s mercy. CHAPTER XV, DAGOBERT’S HATE, Navajo NIck was not over cautious when he told the Boss Cactus in plain words that he would try him before investing him with any confidence, He was of course surprised to find the mountain spy his rescuer instead of Dago- bert, and he could not believe that the Cactus was sincere in his expressions of hatred toward his old master. ‘** While he is being tried I will watch him with a hawk’s eye,” the young gold hunter said to himself; ‘‘and at the first treacherous move- ment I will put a pistol-bullet through him. He is afler my secret—the one he lately thought he had whipped out Of me. If he is sincere now, why doesn’t he apologize for his brutal blows?’ On the subject of the forest whipping-post the spy had not opened his mouth since the rescue, and his silence served to make Nick more suspicious. He did not broach the subject himself, preferring the Cactus’s silence to the falsehoods he might coin for his reply. He told the spy, however, all about the battle between the Twelve and the Navajoes while they were moving from the place of recog- nition, ‘1 pity the boys; but the cap’n—curse him!” said the Cactus. ‘‘ Ar’ you sart’in thet they war the gold-huntin’ Injuns?” ‘**' The men said so.” ** Did you notice their arms?” ‘*T saw a band on several—between elbow and shoulder.” ‘The red boys ov ther Buffler Band!” ex- claimed the Cactus. ‘*{ know one thing; some of them were the same fiends who tied me to Mahomet’s tail!” Nick said, grating his teeth. ‘‘I had the satis- faction of paying them back in a measure. I emptied four saddles when they charged, Car- los shot too fast for me. His pistcls seemed to be flashing continually.” ‘*'Thet’s the way the cap’n allus shoots,” re- plied the Cactus. ‘‘He kin empty more Injun- saddles in five minutes than any man on earth. One night among the Basaltic Buttes—” Nick seized the spy’s arm, ‘* Were you with them when they tied—Cap- tain Flash to a wild horse?” He was about to say Dagobert, but he sud- denly thought of his comrade’s instructions. ‘*Cap’n Flash?” echoed the Cactus. ‘‘ Oh, he hez two names, hez he? I don’t know about him, but the man the three tied to the hoss war named Dagobert.” ‘* Well, go on,” said Nick. ‘* No, I warn’t jes’ thar, but the hoss went by me like a streak ov greased lightnin’.” away did they treat him in that brutal man- ner’? ‘* The story is too long fur this time, an’ then I couldn’t tell it ez glibly ez the cap’n could ef he war talkative, with three horns oy Pimo syrup ahead. However, when the three got to the kentry ov the Buttes, they found this Dago- bert thar, livin’ with his Injun wife.” Nick started. ‘* An Indian wife?” he exclaimed. spoke of her to me.” ‘*T should reckon not,” smiled the Cactus. ‘An’ Pl tell you why, nugget, fur I happen to know. Dagobert then war lookin’ fur the same thing he wants to find now—the gold mountain. Report located it somewhar among the buttes, ‘* He never — - .~- a an’ the Injun wife thought she knew suthin’ about the place.” ‘‘ He was too far north,” said Nick, hardly knowing what he was saying, but the sudden flash of triumph in the Cactus’s eyes told bim that he must bridle his tongue. ‘‘The three pards were prospectin’ fur the mountain too, an’ one day they found Dago- bert’s Injun wife alone. They tried to make hei give the secret away, but she acted jes’ ez ef she knew it, but wouldn’t tell. gg threatened her, beld their revolvers at her head, but she war game to the last. She war a full-blooded Navajo, an’ ez grittyez a Latimer When they found that she only looked into their revolvers an’ laughed, they threw a lasso round her neck an’ pulled her up to a log thet projected at one corner ov the shanty. Arter a minute they let her down, but she wouldn’t give anything away; then up ag’in she went. When they lowered her a second time, she had got beyond tellin’ anything. She war dead!” ‘* Dead?” echoed Nick. ‘* The brutes!” Dagobert’s Injun wife, Winella, war too dead to grin!” said the Cactus, irreverently. ‘‘The three pards left her thar, an’ it wa’n’t long afore they hed a lion on their track. But one day jes’ at sundown they took Dagobert by sur- eee an’ treated him to the free ride you hev reard ov. My opinion hez allus been thet fur their own good they should hev killed’im, I allus told the cap’n so, an’ he’ll be ov thet opin- ion too afore he passes in his Chips.” _ Nick, who had listened with devouring inter- est to the Cactus’s homely narration of a scene in Dagobert’s life, did not speak for several moments afterward. “ ‘** The strangest thing of all is that Dagobert once had an Indian wife,” he said. ‘*Oh, thet’s ruther the style in Arizony,” was the answer. ‘I’ve hed several sayeelt Pm neither wife, maid, widder, er bachelor; but a man what hez decently planted the most Injun wives of any man on the globe., Behold in the Boss Cactus one who hez loved not wisely, per- haps, but too often. Dagobert loved Winella. I discovered the cabin among the Basaltic Buttes long afore the three pards ever sot eyes on if; an’ from a sartin place above it, I watched it fur three weeks. I know that Dago- bert thought the world of thet red-skinned gal, an’ when he found her dead, he fell down like a man shot in the eye. The pards war fools fur foolin’ with his affairs.” ‘*One of them has paid for his share in the crime,” said Nick, ‘** Monte? Mobave Bill hez paid a bit ov in- terest—one ov bis hands. Dagobert will wi out the hull debt by an’ by. Id ruther = hunted by the hull Navajo nation than by him. But hevn’t you heard suthin’ while l’ve been talkin’?” The boy admitted that the narrative had so engrossed his attention that nosuspicious sounds had assailed his ears. ‘*Wal, I’ve heard sounds,” said the Cactus, drawing a revolver. “I'll trot back a rod an’ reconnviter,” ‘* Pll go with you!” said the boy, but the spy’s arm waved bim back, ‘*Tll go alone,” he said. ‘* You've got the secret. It must not be lost. I know nothin’, tharfore, I’m not ov much account.” As the gaunt figure of the Boss Cactus glided away, his treachery of the night when he re- leased the carrier pigeon rose uppermost in the gold bunter’s mind. ‘* He is going to perform another act of be- trayal,” he said to himself. ‘‘I have said that I would slay him if I found him treacherous. I will catch him in the very act,” Nick acted as he had done once before; he crept after the Cactus with a cocked revolver in his hand, fully resolved to put a bullet into his companion’s head if he caught him in any questionable act. ‘*Dagobert is not here to help me, therefore I must take care of myself,” and then he added with a smile; “I guess I’m able to do that.” His keen eyes soon caught sight of the well- known figure of the Arizonian spy. He was crouching against the trunk of a tree as if watching sometbing not far away. ‘‘ A confederate is coming to him,” muttered Nick. ‘‘ After all I believe that he pretends to hate Captain Carlos in order to discover my secret the sooner; the rescue might have been understood, for Iam confident that Carlos had reached the belief that I would never lead him and his men to the rea] mountain of gold.” Nick had scarcely finished when the Boss Cactus rose, and began to glide backward. ‘“Injuns!” the boy heard him say. ‘ The red boys ov the Buffler Band €oOmine books"eo