Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 241 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

Bill Bravo and His Bear Pards. BILL BRAVO AND HIS BEAR PARDS; ) OR, The Roughs of the Rockies. BY T. C. HARBAUGH, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ ARKANSAW,” ‘‘ CAPTAIN BULLET,” ‘‘ PLUCKY PHIL,” ‘‘OLD FROSTY,” ‘‘ DANDY JACK,” ETC., ETC. CHAPTER I. A FRIEND IN NEED. [AMONG the mountains of the western bound- ary of Montana stood the two hundred shanties that, collectively, went by the pretentious name of Cinnamon City. The streets were wide and irregular, as though the denizens of Cinnamon cared more for room than system, and there wasn’t a bay window in tbe whole town. Like the majority of mountain towns, Cin- namon owed its existence to an accidental dis- covery. An outlaw known as Progress Paul, fleeing from the oe of Virginia City, found refuge and gold near the site of Cinna- mon, Hecould not keep secret his discovery, and almost before he had staked out,.his claim, he found fifty adventurers around him, and the foundation of a town, soon to be known in border annals, was laid among the mountains. To the new gold region flocked the halter’s own from all parts of the North-west. The crack of the ready revolver seldom ceased to ring in the ears of Cinnamon’s citizens, and a little graveyard on the mountain side soon con- tained the bodies of a score who had died in the streets ‘‘ with their boots on.” Progress Paul was among the first to die thus, but he left behind associates whose wild names were as outlandish as his own, and who carried, as he had done, their lives at the muzzle of the six-shooter and on the point of a fourteen inch bowie. ] It was near the close of a warm September day when a. young man well mounted drew rein before a queer-looking guide-post planted ina stone-pile in the mountains about ten miles south of Cinnamon City. There was a look of gentility in the youth’s face which proclaimed him rather out of place in that savage part of Uncle Sam’s domain, His eyes were mildly blue, like a young girl’s, his figure was well shaped, but femininish. In short, he looked like a young school-teacher in search of a school. ; If he was armed he did not exhibit the usual sign of the frontier, although he might have a brace of revolvers in the saddle-bags carried by his horse, ° ‘* They need schooling in these parts, that’s a fact,” he remarked in an audible tone as he gazed at the guide-board roughly nailed to the upright post in the stone-pile. This was nothing more than a hewn slab on which was a skeleton hand followed by the in- scription; ‘*‘ Cinnamon, 10.” The han inted in a northerly direction, and the distance located the famous Cinnamon City of Montana. But, the guide-board had been adorned with the - products of the region. At one end were paint- ed two crossed bowies, a revolver and a rope. From one end of the latter dangled the fright- ful caricature of a man, while between the erossed blades was a rude representation of a buman heart transfixed with an arrow. hese pictures of course riveted the young man’s gaze upon them. ‘* My introduction to Cinnamon will not be pleasant, I’m afraid,” he said with a smile. ‘** Revelation Rube said he would Pee me wher- ever he went, but I see no signs of his presence here. Bowie, revolver, and noose! A traveler —a visitor to Cinnamon—is supposed to take his choice here, I fancy. Ill defer mine if no- oy raises an objection.” The speaker urged his horse from the spot, and soon Was moving once more upon the city in the mountains. Longer and denser grew the shadows as night approached, and a bend in the trail hid the guide-board and its hideous illustrations from view, All at once the youth’s horse gave a snort of terior and started back as though a rattlesnake had hissed under his feet. ‘‘What’s the matter now?’ cried the rider who had been almost unseated by his animal’s demonstration. ‘Weare yet five miles from Cinnamon, and— A grizzly, by my life!” The youth had discovered the cause of his steed’s fright. In the trail before him stood one of the largest grizzlies be had ever seen—absolutely huge, monstrous and menacing. He must have ap- peared suddenly from the bushes that Sa the trail on his right, for a moment before his horse’s wild action the youth had looked down the road and seen nothing. A thousand-pound grizzly in one’s road, five miles from the nooses and bowies of Cinnamon City, was not a pleasant sight for the traveler. ‘* Go on!” he said to his horse, but the animal, not heeding the spurs, seemed to brace himself anew, and stubbornly disobeyed. Meanwhile the rider had drawn a brace of elegant revolvers, which he thrust past his horse’s head as he ordered the animal to move n. ‘**T must go on to Cinnamon, bear or no bear!” fell resolutely from his lips, and the next mo- ment he had leaped to the ground and was ad- vancing upon the huge beast, Not a muscle quavered as the young man went forward; his blue eyes seemed to emit sparks of fire, and he held the revolvers out with the nerve of an old borderman. ‘* Hold on there!” exclaimed a rough but not unmusical voice, as the young adventurer halt- ed within twenty feet of the waiting grizzly and glanced over the glittering barrel of his right-hand revolver. ‘‘ That b’ar belongs to me, stranger, an’ ll trouble you by asxin’ you to lower yer dropper.” The youth instinctively turned and cast his eyes up the ascent on his left tosee the man who had the audacity to claim to be the owner of a wild prizaty bear. ‘‘Hyar 1 am, stranger,” continued the same voice, which directed the youth’s gaze to the speaker. ‘‘ Shall I come down, er shall the b’ar bring you up?” This was followed by a wild laugh, so full of good-humor that the traveler lowered his revol- ver and seemed to forget the grizzly in his path in the presence of the man and his companion standing in full view overhead. ‘“T can’t come up well,” he answered back. ‘* Then I’ll come down.” The next moment a man and a bear came down the brushy side of the pass and stood on a level with the astonished traveler. ‘My handle is Bill Bravo, stranger,” said the bear-man, who was a person of two-and-thirty a really handsome mountain giant with broad shoulders and eagle eyes of raven darkness. He wore a suit of new buckskin, elegantly fringed and ornamented, and a cap made from a coyote skin set jauntily upon his head, but did not hide the long black hair that fell round his neck. ‘* We’ve met for the first time,” he went_on, eying the traveler from head to foot. ‘‘ You appear strange in these parts. Never heard ov me, I presume—ov me an’ my pets,” he added, peta | the heads of the two monsters that flanked him. ‘You area stranger to me.” ‘* Whar did you come from?’ ‘*From Virginia City.” ‘‘Then you certainly heard of Bill Bravo.” ‘* Never.” ‘‘ Thet’s strange.” . ‘“Pardon me. I was seeking another man. “That may account for it, an’ you didn’t git acquainted with any ov my friends, Rocket Rob, Sonora Saul an’ thet class ov humanity. Goin’ to Cinnamon, eh?’ 6s Yes. ” “You must be goin’ to start a church, ef I read you c’rectly,” said Bill with a ludicrous expression on his bronzed face. ‘Not exactly,” was the reply, “although owl admit that such an institution might nefit society in Cinnamon City. I would think so at least from the appearance of the guide-board five miles back.” Bill broke into a fit of laughter. | ‘‘ You saw it then, with its knives, revolvers, and the like?’ he exclaimed. ‘ You didn’t no- tice a bullet hole between Cinnamon and the number ten.” ‘* T was not looking for bullet holes.” ‘*P’r’aps not. What's yer handle?” ‘* Nat Grayscot.” ‘* Got any nickname?” The young traveler flushed. ‘ : “They dubbed me Dictionary Nat at Vir- inia.” ‘‘Because ov yer schoolin’ I presume. But, let me tell you, Dictionary, about thet bullet hole. Just about two months me an’ Rocky Dan, hyar, war lyin’ up on the moun- t’in sunnin’ ourselves, when I see’d a chap pilin’ up rocks nigh the pass whar the trails cross, He war too industrious to hev no object in view, so I watched him jest to see what he war goin’ todo. Arter awhile he dragged thet post an’ its board from the bushes an’ planted ’em among the rocks. Then he stepped back an’ looked at his job. Thar war nothin’ on the slab then but ‘Cinnamon, ten.’ All at once a thought seemed to strike ’im, aw’ he brought a can OV nt from the side ov the pass.an’ ainted them knives an’ things you saw awhile ck, I watched ’ir till I got tired. Rocky Dan kept growlin’ an’ lookin’ me in the eye, but I shook my head, for he wanted to go down and muzzle the painter. Sol took out one ov my six-shootin’ cathartics an’ sent a bullet whizzin’ by the fellar’s ear. Whew! how he dropped his brush an’ got down from the stone pile! I didn’t intend to hit’im. I jest wanted to take the work off |his hands. If [’d let him go on he might be thar yet ornamentin’ the guide-board.” Bill Bravo paused in his narration to laugh a moment, , ‘‘ He looked kind o’ wild like arter he stood on the ground once more,” he continued. “He drew his shootin’ irons an’ said somethin’ about makin’ a sieve oy the man who had shot at Revelation Rube.” ‘Revelation Rube?” echoed Dictionary Nat, in a tone that startled the bear-man. “'Thet’s the name. You know him then?” * He is my enemy.” “Ov course! He fairly chawed the ground fur five minutes all around the stone pile while me an’ pig f lay in the bushes an’ hed the per- formance all to ourselves. He’s not dangerous, is he Dictionary?” ‘* He’s a devil!” “Thet’s yer view ov ’im. Do you know where he is now?” “Tf he put up the guide-post /a few days ago he must be in the vicinity of Cinnamon City at this time.” ** An’ you war goin’ thar?” ‘*That’s my destination.” “IT b’lieve Pll go along. They’ve givin’ me warnin’ to stay out ov the town; but, what does thet matter?” Nat Grayscot looked into the speaker’s face. He would like such a resolute companion, now that he was about to enter Cinnamon City where Revelation ‘Rube might be; but he had a thought of asking Bill Bravo to accompany im. “Tm goin’ with you! We might ez well be pards, Dictionary,” resumed Bill, while Nat looked at him. ‘I hevn’t hed a pard since the pn shot Brazos Ben, five year ago, on the Gila. You may need me in Cinnamon, an’ who knows but thet I may find use fur you?” So they shook hands between the two griz- zlies, and thus began a friendship which was to be tested and tried by scenes memorable even in the annals of the wild West. ‘‘ Are you goin’ to take yoyr bears with you?” asked Nat. ' , “* Thet’s in what I’m goin’ to do,” was the reply. ‘The boys down at Cinnamon may want to see the cubs.” } Cubs! Each monster weighed at least a thou- sand pounds! : CHAPTER II. THE HUNT FOR VENGEANCE, WHEN Dictionary Nat turned to his horse he found the animal still staring with dilated eyes at the pet grizzlies, and unwilling to join their it ny: . . . ‘‘T’)] send the b’ars ahead,” said Bill, taking a request out of Nat’s mouth, and the next mo- ment in response to a word and a wave of his hand, the two bears trotted off and soon disap- eared. ae We'll take a ae at my den afore we tackle Cinnamon City,” the bear-tamer continued. ‘¢ Tt lies slightly out ov our trail, but that docsn’t matter. You're in no ay to grapple with Revelation Rube an’ his pards, I presume?’ ‘‘No,” replied the young adventurer; ‘‘ but I long to tell the rascal to his teeth that I am not afraid of him.” A look of admiration beamed in Bill’s eyes. ‘“‘T like you a’ready,” he said. ‘* You’ve got a wagon-load of the kind o’ grit people need in this kentry. I would like toknow what brought you byar, but that’s none ov my bizness, an’—” ‘*T don’t mind telling you.” 4 in Not now, nor hyar. Wait till we get to the en. Bill seemed pleased at the thought that Nat was willing to confide in ,and the two walked side by side down the mountain trail, Nat leading his horse by the bridle while he conversed with his new-found friend. EOMmIcbooks