Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 207 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

— | .Arizonian town, and strong arms lifted the In- dian chased youth from the saddle. _He was placed tenderly on the ground under the boughs of an oak near by, and fifty rough- looking fellows gathered about him. Exhaustion and pain had produced a swoon, and the boy lay like one dead before the men of Mohave. But the hands of a stalwart person called ** Doc,” by some, brought the young adventurer through his syncope safely, and several ex- clamations of satisfaction greeted the return to consciousness. For several minutes the youth gazed search- ingly into the faces above him, as if he were seeking a particular one, and then a sigh of dis- appointment escaped him. ‘** Lookin’ fur anybody in partic’lar?’ asked several, ‘* Yes—for Dagobert.” ** Dagobert?”’ echoed ten men at once, but in different tones. ‘‘Thar’s no sich man in Mo- nave.” The youth—Navajo Nick—sighed again and closed his eyes. ‘* Dagobert—not—here?” he murmured slow- ly. ‘*He said he would be. Ah! without him I fear 1 will not be able to strike it rich.” The bystanders heard none of this. The ar- row had been drawn from theeboy’s shoulder, and one-half of the crowd were inspecting ib. ‘* A Navajo shaft, by hokey!” exclaimed sey- eral, and their eyes wandered to the boy. ‘**Chased you, eh?’ 46 Yes.” **Nigh to Mohave?” **T don’t know when they gave up the chase; but I do know that if it hadn’t been for Black Mahomet I’d not be here alive.” ‘‘How many red-skins war thar?” ‘*About thirty. I emptied my revolvers among them. I know that.” ( ‘* War they so nigh as thet?’ ‘* The first intimation I had of their presence was a lasso that fell over my head, and tight- ened around my shoulders. It was near the mouth of Red Canyon. Black Mahomet saved me then. He sprung forward just as the lasso tightened and actually jerked it from the In- dian’s hands. Fortunately I was well seated at that time, and had a firm grip on therein. I turned in my saddle then and gave the sneak- ing whelps all the ready ammunition that I possessed. They retreated, and seizing the op- portunity, I struck out for Mohave. Then I got my arrow.” ‘* An’ yer hoss, too!” a ~ Mahomet dead?” asked the boy starting. 0. ‘Good! Black Mahomet is the biggest bo- nanza in borseflesh a man ever owned.” ‘‘ Whar did you leave yer lasso—the one the reddies gave you?” ‘‘T tore it loose and cast it aside at the out- set of the chase. I don’t like that kind of neck- tie.” ‘‘ Tis all the rage ’twixt hyar an’ the Navajo kentry,” said a man, and this coarse wit pro- duced a boisterous laugh from the crowd. _“*T can’t tell you anything more about my tussle with the Navajoes,” said Nick, trying to vise, but falling back with agroan. “* didn’t think I was so weak,” he added, suniling ; ** but a little rest will fix me up. So you don’t know Dagobert?’ ‘** Never heard ov ’im.” ‘‘That’s bad. Iam without a friend here.” ‘¢ You kin soon make ’em.”’ ‘But not the kind I want—not like Dago- bert.” That name seemed to mystify the men of Mohave, and while they were discussing it in low voices a veritable giant whose face was covered with a heavy black beard, matted like a lion’s mane made his way to where the boy reclined. “The young ’un needs a softer bed than the ground,” he said, stooping and putting his great arms around the wounded boy. ‘‘ I’ve fixed up a sort of a place in my shanty fur ’im, an’ Vil jest tote ’im over an’ see how he likes it.” The man’s action seemed to win the crowd. ‘“‘Three cheers fer Captain Flash!” yelled a voice, and three lusty cheers rent the air. Navajo’s cheek touched the leonine beard of the man while he was being carried to the place prepared for his reception, and he murmured a thousand thanks as he was placed on a couch whose bedding consisted of several blankets. A strange ‘light burned in the man’s eyes when he sbut the door of his cabin and turned _ y tothe boy. The room was quite gloomy, but through a little window just above the cot the Navajo Nick men congregated on one of the streets of the -—-_——- -- ee last beams of day struggled, revealing, but dimly, his preserver and his surroundings. Captain Flash took a seat beside the boy. ‘*'You forgot my last instructions,” he said, a reprimand in his tone. Nick started and stared into the hairy face. ‘Your instructions?” he echoed. ‘I don’t understand you:” ‘You asked for Dagobert.” we ) ‘You were to inquire for one who bore an entirely different name when you came, You nearly gave me away !” The boy could hardly repress a cry. ‘** Then—” ‘Tam Dagobert!” Navajo Nick sprung up and put out his hand. ‘* A thousand thanks, friend and partner.” ‘‘Here 1 am Captain Flash. Dagobert, died when I came here, and Flash war born.” ‘) understand,” said the boy. ‘‘I will re- member.” ‘*T trust so.” ‘* Knowing ycu so long as Dagobert, it was but natural that that name should be the first to flash through my brain after my swoon.” Captain Flash nodded impatiently. ‘** You wer not to seek me until you had dis- covered the secret,” he said while his eyes sparkled with devouring eagerness. ‘*T have kept my part of the bargain,” an- swered the boy. ‘** Then the secret is yours?” ‘* Tt belonys to us.” Captain Flash drew a long breath of supreme satisfaction. ‘* Death laid his hands on Alapatha’s heart- strings, at last?’ he exclaimed. “ He is to-day the deadest Indian in Arizona,” smiled the boy. ‘* Tell me,” ‘It is a short story. Ten words will en- lighten you. Alapatha met a bear that con- quered bim., I came up in time to slay the animal, but too late to save the chief. He told me the secret before he died. I know where the mountain of gold is, 1 cidn’t lose a word of the chief’s instructions. I can repeat every one now. He always said that I should have the secret; but if I had not come up in the nick of time he would have carried it with him. He gave me his map, too.” ‘*A close shave, by my eyes!” ejaculated Flash. ‘‘ And you left at once?’ ‘* That night!” ** An’ you war follered?” ‘“Not by the Indians at first,” said Nick, studying bis companion’s anxious face, and then he went on and related the visit of the Boss Cactus to the lone camp in Nameless Canyon. Captain Flash listened with interest to the close of the narrative. ** W hat do you think of it?’ asked Nick, break- ing the strange silence which had followed his story. The man started from his reverie. ‘When can you start?’ he said, not paying the slightest attention to the boy’s interrogative sentence, ‘* At any time,” he answered. ‘* With thet shoulder?” You are Dagobert my ‘*' Yes! It doesn’t hurt now.” Captain Flash sprung up, satisfied. He went to the little window and looked out, Navajo Nick raised himself and watched the man who seemed to be studying the stars. All pain had left him: he felt strong again, for had he not found Dagobert, his friend, bis partner? Captain Fiash turned suddenly from the win- | dow. ‘* Wait five minutes fer me bhyar,” he said striding to the door, and the next moment Nick was alone, ‘**So Dagobert has become Captain Flash! I must not forget that,” he murmured. ‘ We will attend to Alapatha’s secret; the mountain of gold belongs to Dagobert and me. But I did not tell him that it is in the midst of the Indian country. Pshaw! whatif I had? He would have laughed. Weare going away from Mo- have to-night. I am sure we are!” The boy while he spoke thus noticed a brill- iant star that peeped in at the window. All at once it disappeared. He knew that no cloud had covered it, for the rainy season had not set in, As he looked he seemed to make out the out- lines of a face at the window; he rose and slip- ped forward. His eyes had not deceived him; a face was at the window, but before he had gazed at it a moment, the captain reappeared, 7 , the Boy Gold Hunter. 3 — —_—_—_—_—$> -_- — ee ome ——_— ee el rere ‘* Now fer the bonanza. The hosses ar’ ready,” he said. At that instant the head at the window drop- ped out of sight. Ten minutes later Captain Flash and Nick drew rein in a narrow gulch, half a mile north of Mohave. . ‘Whar shall we strike fer?’ whispered the captain. ‘Tor the mouth of Navajo Canyon.” ‘* A good hundred mile from byar!” ** At least that,” the boy responded, ** Ar’ the mountain nigh it?” ‘* No; but our nearest way is by the eg ee ‘Wal, hyar goes into the Injun death-lands, with the biggest secret ov the century !” Navajo Nick seemed to share Dagobert’s enthusiasm; he felt like cheering. They galloped through the gulch, and once more rode under the brilliant stars. Suddenly Captain Flash drew rein and whipped out one of his brass-butted revolvers. «Weve got to begin killin’ at the start,” he said grimly as he glanced at the boy gold-hun- ter. “What do you mean?” ‘We're follered!” Nick thought of the face at the window. Might it not have been the homely phiz of the Boss Cactus? Telling Nick to remain where he had drawn rein, the captain rode back. The boy cocked his revolvers and listened for his companions, All at once Dagobert reappeared at his side. “Well?” began Nick. ‘“We war follered by a horse thet hed no rider,” was the response. ‘I frightened him back,” A horse without a rider? Nick appeared mystified; the answer did not place Lim en- tirely at bis ease. They went on again until Dagobert drew rein with a resounding oath. ‘** That horse again!” ejaculated Nick, **Pshaw! what’s the use ov foolin’ with ’im, We'll lose ’im at daylight. Why didn’t I think of thet afore?” and Dagobert’s spurs made his horse bound forward. The hoof-beats behind them continued as they galloped on. The captain did not seem toe hear them, but not one escaped the young gold- seeker’s ears. He. could not think that a riderless horse would follow them so persistently. His surmises were correct. The horse behind them had a master! CHAPTER III. TWELVE OF A KIND. ‘Where are we now, captain?” ** What! don’t you know?’ e Not exactly, but near Navajo Canyon, ¥ 10pe, ‘*“We’re not a thousand miles from it, that’s sartin. We are in the Black Forest, betweem Aztec Pass and Mount Bill Williams. va Then we can’t be far from our first halting ace, ‘‘Nigber than you think, boy.” Dagobert had spoken truly when he informed Navajo Nick that they had reached the Black Forest mountains one hundred miles from Mo- have. They had crossed the Aquarius range, swam the Bill Williams Fork of the Color galloped through the lonely Aztec Pass, and. were now among the densely wooded hills that constitute the famous Black Forest, This journey had taken up several days and nights, and Nick longed for the time when he could throw himself from the wearying saddle, and, as he expressed it, ‘‘ try it on foot,” Captain Flash, the Man with two Names, was not tired, but only eager. A strange impatience seemed to devour him, <A thousand times dur- ing the trip he had covertly caught Nick re- arding him out of the corners of his eyes as if. 1e half suspicioned his display of fidelity. But the boy surely could not suspect the mam who was sharing the golden secret imparted by the dying cbief. “Tam wrong in suspecting Dagobert,” he would say to himself. ‘‘f must trust bim un- til he has been tried. Besides, have I not placed myselfin his power? And then I saw him tried four years ago.” During the three nights which had passed siz.ce their departure from Mohave, Nick had more than once imagined that he heard the hoof- beats of the strange horse; but as - bert did not seem to hear the noise he said no mag te him. Jould it be that an enemy—a spy—was still following them? All at once on the night when the conversa : OMmicbooks