Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 3 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

14 oe es rode wtth all due dispatch toward the strong- hold of the miners, and arrived there about the time that Gray Chief and his red warriors reached the Se yo of the robbers, to find that they had fled. With rage at the move of Kansas King, the | Indians at once set out for the Ramsey settle- ment, gloating over their anticipated revel in blood, and again were they doomed to disap- pointment, and in fear that their enemies had escaped them they rode rapidly for the strong- hold of the miners. Ere they had arrived, however, they heard the rattle of firearms, and then it flashed across the Hermit Chief that Kansas King had outwit- ted him, and was determined to alone take the plunder from the miners, and reduce their stronghold to ashes. , Urging his braves to press on with all haste, the firing grew iouder, and then the fort came in sight, the flashes of the rifles lighting up the dark mountain-side. As the band of warriors ag on, Kansas King suddenly confronted the Hermit Chief, and with coolness said; | “Well, old man, you procrastinated too much, so I have begun the fight.” Both men felt that the other was playing some deep game; yet they were anxious to then receive aid, the one from the other, for the out- laws had already suffered severely, and at a, glance the Hermit Chief and White Slayer felt mee ee ronan 1) Oy te ficht Re Sethe, taken. they conclu ether against the inineda: The Indians were thrown in sition, and the battle at once raged in all its fierceness. In vain was it that the outlaws, under their reckless young leader, hurled themselves against the stockade walls; in vain that the warriors resorted .to every cunning artifice known to them. The brave little garrison poured in con- stantly a galling fire upon their enemies, and many an outlaw and Indian bit the dust, ** Come, this will never do. We must charge in column with our whole force and throw our- selves over the walls. I will lead,” cried Kan- sas King, almost wild with fury at the stubborn resistance of the gallant defenders. “It is the only chance, I see. Here, White Slayer, form your men for a bold rush,” replied the stern old Hermit Chief, and then, with de- moniacal yells the mad column of outlaws and red-skins started upon the charge. Like hail the leaden bullets fell in their midst; and terrible was the havoc; but on they pressed —Kansas King, the Hermit Chief, and White Slayer at their head. On, still on, until the dark column reached the stockade, and springing upon the shoulders of his braves, the daring White Slayer was the next instant upon the top of the wall, his wild war-whoop echoing defiance and triumph. But ere the echo died away, a tall form sprung beside him from the inner side of the wall; then came the gleam of a knife, a thud, another glitter of the blade, and the brave young chief was hurled back among his warriors cut to the heart, and scalped. Then arose a wild war-cry, well known to many there, and those who had heard it before knew that Red-Hand, the Scout, had slain their chief. , Yet the Sioux still held their ground, and in a dozen places were scaling the walls, when behind them came a ringing order in trumpet es: “Troopers to the rescue—charge!” Then was heard the hearty cheer of regular soldiers, a rattling of sabers, a heavy trampling of many hoofs, and upon the rear of the attack- ing force ed a n of cavalry, half a hundred strong, and at their head rode Captain Edwin Archer. The sight that followed was a scene of terri- ble carnage, for in wild dismay the Indians and outlaws fled, the battle lost to them at the mo- ment they believed victory their own CHAPTER XXIX. DRIVEN TO HIS LAIR. As the stampede became Vengo two men mounted their horses and ed rapidly away up the gorge. But u n thet track rode a small party that had dashed out of the stronghold in hot pursuit, and had been joined by two others, who gladly gave chase, The two who were flying in advance for their lives, were the Hermit Chief and Kansas King, both bitterly cursing their misfortune. The three men who had ridden from the Chagrined at.this discovery the outlaw chief Readle’s Half-Dime Library. ee —— stronghold in pursuit were Red-Hand, Lone Dick and Paddy—all well mounted. The two horsemen who had joined in the chase were Captain Archer and Tom Sun, the lat- ter having left the retreat in the valley to guide the troopers to the rescue of the stronghold, for true to his word, Wentworth, the courier, had brought on at mad speed all the cavalrymen whose horses could stand the hard ride, leaving Major Wells and the remainder of the battalion to follow more leisurely. There were five men in hot chase of the Her- mit Chief and the outlaw leader—five men de- termined to capture them or die in the attempt. On. flew the two chiefs up the dark gorge and like bloodbounds on the trail, rode Red-Hand and his followers, Up the valley, over the hills, through canyon, up to the base of the hill whereon stood the hermit’s cabin. Here the two fugitives sprung from their horses and darted up the steep ascent. But close behind them was Red-Hand, and strung out behind him were the other four. At last the ledge was reached, and upon it the lion turned at bay, for he saw that the Scout was close behind him. Like an enraged beast the Hermit Chief cried: ‘Tracked to my lair at. last—at last; but, Vincent Vernon, you shall die!” With gleaming knife the old hermit sprung forward, but Red-Hand, with a cry of rage, as though he recognized the man before him, and had some bitter injufy of the past to avenge, met, him with a terrible earnestness—ay, met him to hurl him back from him with a stren that was marvelous, and with one plunge of hi blade sent its keen point deep into the broad bosom of his foe. One stifled cry, and the Hermit Chief fell back his full length upon the hard rock, just as Kan- sas King, who had found the door of the cabin barred inst him, turned also at bay, to be met by a blow from the pistol butt of the - lant addy, which felled him, stunned, to the CHAPTER XXX, THE MYSTERY SOLVED. Upon the rocky ledge, in front of the cabin, the moonlight streamed with almost noonday brilliancy, and lighted up a strange scene. Lying upon the rock, and 4 Saha by Lone Dick, was the Hermit Chief, his long gray beard and hair shining like silver in the moonlight, and his broad chest heaving with every hard- drawn breath—for the hermit had received his death-wound. Standing near was Kansas King, a blood- stain upon his forehead, from a wound made by the butt of the Irishman’s pistol. The face of the hermit was pallid with pain and some inward emotion of bitterness. The face of the man whose deeds had won him the name of King, was still unmoved and reckless. In front of these men stood their five pursuers, Red-Hand slightly in advance, and he was ing, while his deep voice was stern and al- most cruel in tone. He was afer. . “Carter Bainbridge, you have but a short time to live, and ere your soul takes its flight, I would have you souk if the story I am now about to relate is not true in every word.” After a moment the hermit replied: “Hell has certainly aided you, Vincent Ver- non, in os your d take my life; tell all ou wish to, for I care not now—no, not now— a! there comes Pearl.” At that moment the maiden rushed from the cabin, and beholding the strange scene and the hermit lying wounded upon the rock, cried, ‘Father! my father! are you dying?” Quickly -Hand stepped forward, and re- straining her, said: “ Maiden, this man is not your father—waste not Ard pity on him.” . “Not my father! Oh, surely you are—” “He tells the truth, Pearl; | am not your father. Listen and he will tell you all,” and the hermit spoke with difficulty. “Yes, I tell the truth, as you shall all hear. ““Many years ago, in a New Englaud State, I was living with my widowed mother, my fa- ther, a naval officer, having died when I was a mere lad.” ‘*My mother had wealth, and being youthful and handsome, had many admirers. “When I was fifteen years of age I first saw this man—Carter Bainbridge—known to you all as the Hermit of the Black Hills. “This man became, as I believed, the husband of my mother, who loved him dearly, and so oe did I; but, alas, his was a black heart, for al- ready had he a wife living in a Southern State —the mother of a son whom this man brought to our house after his marriage with my mother, and passed off as his nephew, ‘From the day of that son’s arrival, there be- yan a plot for my mother’s and my wealth, for the pretended nephew was as bad as his professed uncle. ‘* At length I entered the navy as a midship- man, and after an absence of three years re- turned to find my mother dead. ‘Then I gs ted no evil, but after investi- gation proved that this man had cruelly taken my mother’s life. ‘Again I went to sea, and I left this man and hisson at my house, as I believed; but the son as a common seaman, snipped on my vessel, and as I was pacing the deck one night in a hard blow, I was thrown overboard by a sailor who approached me unawares. ‘The vessel went on, for none had seen the act, and I would have been lost had not a schooner icked me up not twenty minutes after I was urled into the sea. ** Returning home again I found the father and son, whose fright at my a ance I took for surprise and joy, for all believed me | lost, and the man who had thrown me into the sea had left the vessel at the first port and returned to report his success. ‘* Dwelling in the same town where was my home, was a physician and his daughter, an only child. ‘‘ That, maiden I loved with my whole heart, and ere I again went to sea she became my wife. ‘And yet with perfect trust I left. her at home with my supposed step-father and his son, while her father, the doctor, accompanied me to sea as my guest, for his health was in a pre- carious condition, and he believed a sea voyage would benefit him. “When in Spain, a year after my marriage, word came from my wife of the birth of a little daughter, and my father-in-law, who was still with me, urged that I should resign and return home. **T followed his advice, and together we were to sail for London, and yet the night before we sailed from Spain, when my father-in-law and myself were returning to the hotel late in the evening, an assassin sprung from a dark corner and struck him to the heart with a knife. “Strange to say I was arrested as his mur- derer, and sent to America for trial, for he was a man of vast wealth, and my wife was his only heir. ‘For nearly two zens I lay in prison, and then was acquitted, for no proof could be found against me. ‘‘ And yet, in all that time my wife did not come near me, nor did ay father or his son. “At last I left my cell, and returned to my home, to find I had no home, no wife, no child. “This man, Carter Bainbridge, had sold my whole property that he could lay hands on, and my wife had gone off with the son, whose name was Boyd Bernard, “My child, I was told, was dead, and I be- lieved it, ey when I received a letter from my misguided wife, bidding me farewell, and telling me that she intended to die by her ONT Comeiderabl rty, left mé t Considerable property, left mé by an aun I still had, and with money at my disposal, I started to hunt down Carter Bainbridge and Boyd Bernard, “Tt was a long and tedious work, but I track- ed this old man, step by step, for a long time, and discovered much of his evil life—ay, I dis- covered that he had deceived another woman who believed she became his wife, and was then cast off by him, after he had robbed her of her wealth, and left her and her boy to starve. “That woman was the mother of the man known as Kansas King.” With breathless eer ioe had all listened to the story of Red-Hand, and yet none were pre- pared for the sudden and startling assertion he made regarding the parentage of the outlaw ief. As for Kansas King, he stood amazed and si- lent—for a moment—and then said, bitterly: Rye ps I feel that you é the truth; tell me, old man, am I your son Ts your right tbe Leo Randolph?” faintly asked the hermit. “So men call me; but if my parentage was dishonorable, I hold no claim to any name.” ‘* You are then my son.” “Good God! Well, if I am hung by Captain Archer here, my fate will be the proper t ing, [ suppose, and yet I prefer hanging to acknowl- GOMIGVOOKS (E()