Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 241 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

~? had been perforated by a He was kneeling over the cub whose forehead istol-bullet, and whose throat had been horribly gashed by a bowie-knife. “Did you doj{this, Dictionary?’ he flashed, springing erect. ‘‘ No! no! you wouldn’t harm ther cubs. Revelation Rube an’ his pards hev made a raid on my home! Why warn’t I hyar? Blood shall flow for this! Whar ar’ Dictionary an’ the rest of the b’ars?” — Dandy Dick who had retired partly answered the question. The old grizzly stood before Bill with another dead cub in his mouth. ‘““Mebbe Dictionary an’ the rest ov ’em ar’ back thar!” cried Bill, snatching a burning stick from the fire and turning toward the back part of the cavern. ‘Forty feet from the fire he came eran upon the other two cubs lying side by side dead. at was all he saw at that moment. “Black Feather an’ his devils kin go to Cin- namon now, without hevin’ me ahead ov ’em!” fell in hisses from Bill’s lips. ‘‘ Now, if we only knew whar Dictionary an’ Rocky Dan war, Dandy; ef—” He had glanced up at the wall before him and broken his own sentence, Scrawled on its whitened surface in great let- ters was this brief sentence. It seemed to stare at him: ** How ado you like our work, killer ov Karl ? REVELATION AND PaRps,”’ “Tl answer thet question by an’ by!” fell madly from Bill Bravo’s lips. ‘* Mebbe afore mornin’ ef I kin find you, Revelation.” He turned away and threw his torch back in- to the fire as he sprung across the floor of the main cavern. The bear was at his heels. Down the mountain path he went like a mad- man, ‘¢ Jes’ in time, Dandy!” he said to the bear as he halted at the foot of the ascent. ‘*The In- juns ar’ on the road to Cinnamon. Can’t wo reinforce ther gang?” Not a minute later he stepped boldly into the moonlight that illuminated the Cinnamon City trail, and faced the red avengers at whose head marched the stalwart figure of Black Feather. ‘* Halt!” The word was unnecessary; the Indians had already recoiled. “You ar’ goin’ to Cinnamon; so am I!” con- tinued Bill Bravo. ‘*‘Ther men ov ther town hev killed my little Dandy Dicks. I mean biz- ness. Refuse to let me march at Black Feather’s side, an’ I’ll begin to kill hyar. Dandy will get his work in, too, an’ the sun will see Cinnamon with all its houses unburned, arter all. What do you say pards?”’ The position assumed by the bear-tamer was a menace. He stood boldly erect, with his head thrown back, and with a cocked revolver in each hand. ‘To Cinnamon behind me, er death hyar— which do you choose?” shot over the weapons. ‘‘ We kin be pards fur to-night. Arter thet you kin hunt Bill Bravo all ther rest ov yer lives. Black Feather hez furgotten the man what shot the Crow horse when he war bm fea Mazeppa.” Acry of recognition pealed from the Sioux’s throat, and he leaped forward regardless of the mountaineer’s revolvers. ‘‘Black Feather has not forgotten! He has often hunted for the white man who shot the horse.” “To scalp ’im, eh, chief? But, never mind. I gO with you now to Cinnamon, don’t I?” ‘White brother shall march beside Black Feather to vengeance!” “IT thought my revolvers an’ a glimpse at the past would bring you to tarms,” said Bill, step- ping to Black Feather’s side. The marching signal was then given, and the avengers sped along the trail once more. Though Shoulder to shoulder with Black Yeather, the grizzly king did not let one of the Indians’ movements escape his eye. ‘‘T wouldn’t be safe a second hyar ef the In- juns knowed who wiped Karl the Killer out. (hey’ll know afore long. It wouldn’t do to tell ’em now. CHAPTER VII, VENGEANCE FOR THE BABY BEARS. THE brutal butchery of the four young bears had transformed Bill Bravo into a demon and prevented him from carrying Out his intention of warning Cinnamon City of the approach of Karl the Killer’s avengers. | He believed that Revelation Rube and his fol- lowers had returned to the mountain town, and imagined them at Idaho Ike’s relating to an ad- miring crowd the story of the massacre, ‘¢ Ov course they’re all thar!” he averred more than once to himself. ‘‘I kin hear Rube tellin’ the story now. The Tigers stan’ around ’im an’ Ike ar’ fillin’ the glasses fur the twentieth time at Rube’s expense.” The bear-tamer’s fancy on this occasion was not far astray, for Revelation Rube and his pards had returned to Cinnamon from their visit to Bill’s mountain home. Idaho Ike’s was as usual well filled with its old frequenters, and the observed of all ob- servers was the chief of the Tigers, who, with hat thrown back, was leaning against the coun- ter from which he was telling the story of the ‘*cleanin’ out” of Bravo’s retreat. Just outside the shanty, and among the shadows at the door,stooped, or rather crouched, a girlish figure. osy Nell, the narrator’s ward, was listening to the roughly-told story as it fell from Revela- tion’s lips. Her eyes wore an anxious expres- sion, and her cheeks were entirely colorless, ‘He was not content with escaping with his life when the bear man and his bears were here a short time ago, but he must go away and by one mad act seal his doom!” Nell murmured. ‘* Bill Bravo has sworn vengeance before this. He will hunt Revelation down and pistol him. Then [ will never be anybody else than mt Nell, of Cinnamon, for with Rube would peris the secret I want to possess, The girl did not know that at that moment the man she wished a thousand miles from Cin- namon was mares Eo at the head of fifty Sioux warriors, bent on the destruction of Revelation Rube and his comrades. When the Tiger’s story had been narrated, Nell glided from the spot, and was crossing the square when a figure darted to her side and she felt a hand on her arm, ‘*You back here?” she exclaimed, staring into the face pey' visible in the moonlight. ‘Yes, I am back, Nell. Do you know what is about to yds !’ ‘* No,” said the girl, almost unconsciously. ‘‘A band of Indians threaten to attack Cinnamon.” 7 ‘*Tndians attack Cinnamon!” was the echo in an incredulous tone. ‘* Oh, recall Black Feather’s words. He did threaten the city when he carried Karl the Killer off. Where are they?” ‘* They cannot be a mile from the town.” ‘‘And you are here for the purpose of warn- ing us?” ‘Partly.” ‘‘T thank you, but Revelation must not find you here. e was disappointed to-night; you know that. He would not thank you for the warning ig have brought. Instead of thanks, you might get a pistol-bullet in your head. ere is your friend?” ‘“‘T do not know. He left me in the cave awhile after we had returned to it for the pur- pose of inquiring into the meaning of a light somewhere in the valley. As he did not return as soon as Lexpected him I went out to find him. The bear, Rocky Dan, went along. We saw no light and then'I surmised that my com- panion had come back here for a purpose. On the trail the bear suddenly deserted me, and I lost my way for awhile but recovered it. I saw the Indians on the march and heard their threats. They do not intend to spare a single life in Cinnamon City.” ‘They shall spare one!” cried Nell, with reso- lution. Yours?” ‘No; Revelation Rube’s!” Dictionary Nat started back. ‘‘ He is the only man in Cinnamon whom I hate,” he said. ‘* The rest hate me. You must not be here when the Indians come. They may be at the edge of the town at this moment.” ‘Then the men of Cinnamon shall be warned at once!” Posy Nell broke from Nat’s loose grasp and started toward Idaho Ike’s. ‘*T will go along,” the youth decided. ‘You must not!” she exclaimed, halting. ‘¢-Your life wouldn’t be worth an ounce of dust in the glare of Idaho’s lamps. Rube and his ards would riddle you with bullets.” ‘‘You talk to stone now,” was the reply. ‘The men of Cinnamon must be warned you say. lIagree toit. Come on.” Dictionary Nat sprung across the square, followed by the frightened girl, whose fingers strove in vain to clutch his sleeve and detain m, ‘‘T will spare Revelation awhile, for your sake, girl—and for the secret,” he said. ‘“ Then he shall fall before my revolver. I have longed ace for the time when I could stand face to ‘* ’ Bill Bravo and His Bear Pards. . i 7 ee ee ee I I a ee with the man who struck that cowardly blow five years ago. 1 have found bim. He is sur- rounded by a band of men, tigers in more than name; but what do | care?” ‘Halt thar, youngsters!” suddenly cried a voice, as a man stepped in front of the pair, ‘*Tt is Placer Pandy, the Captain of the Cherubs,” whispered Nell. The young couple had halted before the old miner, who seemed to have risen from the ground, “You hevn’t got the least idea ov corralin’ a wildcat, boy?’ said Placer, addressing Nat. ‘Thar ar’ forty revolvers at Ike’s waitin’ fur you. When I writ you thet J hed found the man you wanted, J didn’t expect you'd leave yer jedgment in Ilinoy.” ‘* But you do not know that Black Feather and his braves, crazed by the death of Karl, are at the edge of the city!” cried Posy Nell. ‘They ar’, ar’ they?’ returned Sie fixing his eyes on the girl who was eager to rush for- ward and warn the inmates of Idaho Ike’s den. he little gal, they might kill you in the me- ee, ‘“‘They swear to butcher all, and burn the | city !” Placer Pandy’s eyes began to flash. ‘‘Thet includes the Cherubs!” he said. “ Ef it didn’t do thet, I wouldn’t keer so much, Id more’n half like to see the Injuns come. You two youngsters must git out ov the way ez quickly ez possible. Vl do the warnin’ myself,” **No!” said Nell, firmly. “You won’t trust me, eh? You think Vd warn the Cherubs only ?” ‘‘ You hate Revelation—I know that.” Placer Pandy stepped back a foot. ‘*Of course [ hate him!” he responded, in @ voice that made Nat Grayscot start. ‘I have cause for hating that man. I have dogged his footsteps for fifteen years, and now that I have tracked him to his den, I do not intend, that he shall escape the penalty he owes to justice.” Nat and Nell uttered exclamations of surprise, for Placer Pandy bad wnconsciously thrown off amask, He had dropped, as it were, his minin garb and rough dialect, which he had carri those fifteen years for a purpose, ‘You forget,” said Nat, recovering, ‘‘that / have a debt to cancel with that wretch,” ‘‘Then cancel it before—” ‘Before you settle yours! I understand. I will cancel mine to-night—now /” With the last word on his lips, Dictionary Nat, the young vengeance hunter, bounded to- ward the saloon, whose lights were visible from the spot where the trio stood. Revelation Rube’s ward strove to cetain the youth, but a hand seized her arm and she was jerked back by the old miner. ‘Let ’im go, Nelly,” he said. ‘‘ He won't find the settlin’ ov his account an easy job.” ‘* But the secret!” A strange light came into Placer’s eyes, ‘*Let us go to Revelation’s cabin or some- whar else. I want to tell you somethin’, Nelly. The Injuns ain’t so nigh arter all, an’ what I know may interest you more than what will . rhe at Idaho’s within the next ten minutes.” he tenor of the miner’s voice, coupled to looks, strangely interested the beeen of Cinna- mon, and she scarcely resisted when he led her away. She forgot for the time being the youth who, revolver in hand, was rushing toward tho gambling den where Revelation Rube and his companions were planning a new campaigm against the league of two which had been formed recently among the Rockies. The door of the den stood wide open, and though the dials were pointing to morning, the place was well filled. . “Talk about Satan an’ ye’ll see his horns!” suddenly cried a bronzed fellow pointing to- ward the door. ‘‘The boy hez come back fur the dram he refused awhile ago. He’s changed his notion.” Before the man had ceased to speak every eye in the den was fixed on the slender figure in the doorway. “T am back!” grated Nat, lifting the weapon — clutched by his right hand. ‘‘ Let the man I want step forward and face thse son of the man he slew in his own house, five yearsago. Where is your captain, men of Cinnamon? Push the coward forward if he isafraid to show himself.” The mad eyes of Dictionary Nat could not catch sight of Revelation Rube’s figure, for the men who stood between him and the captain of the Tigers. Suddenly the crowd before him began to separate, and he caught a glimpse of a man surging forward. (Gj 0) 00) recoyan) cS - (ECO)