Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 22 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

ill | ' iy ; —— rr | iP \ | \" e Ws u ie DK MMT MN MOWH” YOO MH Mf oS A } aot) rere eer ess Tae ot ti Copyrighted in 1877, by BEADLE AND ADAMS. — ee —————— — _ ee Vol. I. Pe So Deadwood Dick, PRINCE OF THE ROAD: OR, THE BLACK RIDER of the BLACK HILLS. BY EDWARD L. CHAPTER I. FRARLESS FRANK TO THE RESCUE, On the a midway between Cheyenne and the Black Hills, a train had halted for a noonday feed. WHEELER. No. 988 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. armed, and judging from external appearances that he would prove a valuable accessory, the miners were nothing loth in accepting his services. Of the others grouped about the ——— only one is specially noticeable, for,as Mark Twain re- marks, “the average of gold-diggers look alike.” This person was a little, deformed old man; hump- backed, bow-legged, and white-haired, with cross eyes, a large mouth, a big head, set upon a slim, crane-like neck; blue eyes, and an immense brown beard, that flowed downward half-way to the belt about his waist, which contained a small arsenal of knives and revolvers. He hobbled about with a heavy crutch constantly under his left arm, and was certainly a pitiable sight to behold. He too had joined the caravan after it had quitted BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, Price, The train was under the command of an irascible old plainsman who had served out his apprentice- ship in the Kansas border war, and whose name was Charity Joe, which, considering his avaricious dis- (ee was the wrong handle on the wrong man. tharity was the least of all old Joe’s redeemin characteristics; charity was the very thing he di not recognize, yet some wag had facetiously brand- ed him Charity Joe, and the appellation had clung to him ever since. He was well advanced in years, yet withal a good trailer and an expert guide, as the success of his many late expeditions into the Black Hills had evidenced. Those who had heard of Joe’s skill as a guide, in- trusted themselves in his care, for, while the stages were stopped more or less on each trip, Charity Not a railway train, mind you, but a line of those | Cheyenne, his advent taking place about an hour | Joe’s train invariably went through all safe and white-cover vehicles drawn by strong-limbed subsequent to that of Fearless Frank, His name he | sound. This was partly owing to his acquaintance mules, which are most properly styled ‘prairie | asserted was Nix—Geoffrey Walsingham Nix—and | with various bands of Indians, who were the chief schooners.”’ There were four wagons of this type, and they had been drawn in a circle about a camp-fire, over which was roasting a savory haunch of venison, Around the camp-fire were uped half a score of men, all sotat bearded, and grizzled, with one exception. is being a youth whose age one could have safe- ly put at twenty, so perfectly desnicisad of physique and in- where he came from, and what he songht in the Black Hills, was simply a matter of conjecture among the miners, as he refused to talk on the sub- his past, present or future. ject o | cause of annoyance on the trip. So far we see the train toward the land of gold, without their having seen sight or sound of hostile red-skins, and Charity is just chuckling over his usual good luck: “*T tell ye what, fellers, we've hed a fa’r sort uv a shake, so fur, an’ no mistake “bout it. Barrin’ thar ain’t no Sittin’ Bulls layin’ in wait fer us, be- head yander, in ther mounts, telligent of facial appearance —> ‘ I’m of ther candid opinion was he. There was somethin Uy} , we'll get through wi'’out scrap- about eon coe was moe - 4 | in’ a ha’r.” some, and yet you would have > A> Sr “*I hope so,” said Fearless been —— to tell what it ses Aes ee Frank, ellir over on the wrikingiy hnsdome, and sure “4” Zu f ass and. easing’ at the guide n ’ s a , Ze Pape shteanps? een ; ; a . ty no ort in the crowd was T~ V4 Cy. ‘MW i 7 Peatesara tea a It oer to. me that by more noticeable for its grace, oNt My ‘ : oH, WM aang of more butchering, lately, symmetry, and proportionate & .) we F = < y =~ 2 ! IDWO00D Dink | than there was a month ago— evelopment. It would have ed) hae . £ =, i UT all on account of the influx of taken a scholar to have studied , ¢ -# tf) JT ii ruffianly characters into the out the secret. : > : Black Hills!” He was of about medium stature, and as straight and uare-shouldered as an ath- le His complexion was nut- brown, from long exposure to the sun; hair of hue of the raven’s wing, and hanging in long, straight strands adown his back; eyes black and pier- ci as an eagle’s; features wall molded, with a firm, reso- lute mouth and prominent chin. He was an interesting specimen of young, healthy manhood, and, even though a youth in years, was one that could command respect, if not admiration, wheresoever he might choose to go. ne remarkable item about his lege we appearance, apt to strike the beholder as being rpg 8 strange and eccen- tric, was his costume—buck- skin throughout, and that dyed to the brightest scarlet hue. On being asked the cause of this odd freak of dress, when he had joined the train a few miles out from Cheyenne, the youth had ee replied: “Why, you see, it is to at- tract bufflers, if we should meet any, out on the plains ‘twixt this and the Hills.’ He gave his name as Fearless Frank, and said he was aiming for the Hills; that if the party in question would furnish him a place among them, he would extend to them his assistance as a hunter, guide, or what- ever, until the destination was reached. Seeing that he was well JPA nd Ail) PE a] Mh + — WATT i DD 1 acme hes leiijenst NING, \\ 9 “Not all owing to that, chip- Ha! ha! ha! isn’t that rich, now? Ha',ha! ha! arrest Deadwood Dick if you can! Ry: interpo “General ”’ ix, as he had immediately been christened by the min- ers—‘“‘not all owing to that, Thar’s them gol danged cop- per-colored guests uv ther gov- ernment —they’re kickin’ up three pints uv the’r —— more or less—consider’bly less of more than more o’ less. Take a passel uv them barbar- ities an’ shet ‘em up inter a prison for three or thirteen eers, an’ ye’d see w’at an impression et’d make, now. Thar’d be siveral less massy- crees a week, an’ ye wouldn't see a rufyan onc’t a month. W’y, gentlefellows, thar’d nev- ar been a ruffian, ef et hedn’t en fer ther cussed Injun tribe—not one/ Ther infarnal critters ar’ ther instignators uv more deviltry nor a cat wi’ nine tails.” ‘Yes, we will admit that the reds are not of saintly origin,” said Fearless Frank, with a quiet smile. ‘In fact I know of several who are far from being angels, myself. There is old Sitting Bull, for instance, and Lone Lion, Rain-in-the- Face, and Horse-with-the-Red- Eye, and so forth, and so a” “Exactly. Every one o’ ’em’s a danged descendant o’ ther old Satan, hisself.”’ “Layin’ aside ther Injun subjeck,’’ said Charity Joe, forking into the roasted veni- son, “I move thet we take up a silent debate on ther hia Ny) Js aT) f a — COMME DOC) (E <SriGO