Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 376 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

“eo og val’ Y Whe - * «5M es de me —— Se = Tian a ae ——— reely means to cross the plains. He’ll get eaten up sure,”’ Tom Scott shrugged his shoul:lers. ‘* Not much loss, reckin. Them darned Metho- dist preachers is p'‘izen, anyway, Let him go back whar he come from.”’ The Frenchman, who had been watching the scene from his fire, here got up, and said something to his wife in their native tongue, which caused her to nod her head, and say cordially: ** Cerfainement.”’ Then Gabelle took a tin pail, and filled it with the last remains of the savory stew on which his family had been feasting, with which, in his hand, he murched over to the fire, where the man in black was beginning to cook his frugal supper. As faras Gabelle could see, it consisted of a tin pot of coffee and some cakes of flour and water which he was kneading up to bake on the embers of the little fire, in the fryingpan. As Gabelle approached, the other looked up, and said with a pleasant smile: “Welcome, friend. It is but little I can offer thee, but that little is thine and welcome, as soon as T have cooked it.” Gabelle shook his head as he said: “ Merci, sare. I bring you some of my supper. Vill you do me ze honneur to take it?” The stranger looked at the tin pail, which still emitted a ite a fr: nt savor, and answered: * Friend, I take the kindness as it is meant. To tell the truth, I am faint and an hungered. I will eat of what thou hast given me, and be thankful.” And he took the pail and poured the contents into a large wooden bowl, which he took from his pack, while Gabelle, who seemed to be pleased with what he had done, added: *“‘Sare, my nation is polite, avant tou/—dat is, above all. If you vould like to join my partee, you s’all be velcome.” The man in black smiled again, in the same be- nevolent way, as he replied: “riend, it is all one now. Thy friends yonder do not like me, because iy Hey om Iam not of this world, but the prairie will hold us all. I will not trouble thee for to-night, but I thank thee for this supper, which I will eat.” nd he prose the sincerity of his words by eat- ing heartily of the savory stew, without asking any questions. Gabells watched him with a hospitable smile, and, when the stranger had finished, he said: ** Sare, my name is Pierre Gabelle. I am happee to see you.’ The stranger wiped his mouth on a corner of a towel which he took from his pack, and answered: ' ** Friend Gabelle, the supper was a good one and thou art a good Samaritan. My.name is Simplicity Fox, and [am a deacon in my church, Now that Charity has finished her supper, I will bring her in; for, verily [say unto you, that t ere are bad men on the prairie at all times, and the thieves are al- ways about.” So saying, he rose and went after his mule, which he brought up beside his little fire, and proceeded to make his preparations for the night, as the Scotts were entering their tent, and the Gabelle family be- stowed itself in the huge wagon which held them, and all but the old man, who slept under the wheels. Simplicity Fox first took the huge umbrella, which they had noticed under his arm when he came in, and spread it out into a circumference of at least twenty-four feet; for the ribs spread out four feet on all sides, and the umbrella, when it was Suxied, was at least six feet long, including the stick. The deacon then stretched cords, and made acom- lete tent out of the umbrella, a wall of cotton stuff Poin g suspended from the ends of the ribs all round, and pegged down to the ground. Into ehis small habitation he brought all his be- longings, and made his preparations for sleep, to the wonder and amusement cf the Scott family, who were disposed to be jocular over the stranger, when they heard from Gabelle what was his singu- name, The moon was at the full that night, and the whisky jug was by no means empty yet, or there might have been no temptation to disturb the solemn stranger; but asthe men sat round the fire, after the women had gone to bed, they took so much whisky that the spirit of practical joking and petty persecution, which is always latent in the west- ‘ern man, took possession of them, and Tom Scott, as soon as the stranger had retired into his tent for the night, observed: ‘Say, dad, that feller ain’t no fittin’ company fur us, nohow. le’ll bring us bad luck, with his darned long face and black cloze. Let’s give him notice to s+ 699 California Joe looked up, and said gravely: ‘Seems to me I wouldn’t do that, The pore crit- ter ain’t doin’ nobody no harm. Let him sleep.’ Tom Scott, who was just drunk enough to be ugly, sneered as he replied: ‘Oh, to blazes with him anyhaow. He ain’t got no call to come up to aour fire. I’m a-goin’ to have some fun. See if I ain’t.”’ So saying, he rose, and with a somewhat unsteady gait, walked over to the funny little tent, while the rest watched him, with the grin of half-amused, half-doubtful interest. that a party of drunken men are wont to display, when one of their number tries some rude practical joke, on an inoffensive stran- ger. Tom Scott went up to the tent and rapped on it smartly, crying: * Hello, Simplicity, wake up and pay fur yer a ea Then he began to shake the tent, and the black : ‘ ">. Sate 7; Py — » 2 ~~ California Joe’s First Trail. ee ee Oe OC CO —_—_ form of the stranger came out, with a suddenness that amazed everybody, as Simplicity demanded in stern tones: ‘What wouldst thou, man of Belial?’’ The the rest of the men at the other fire nudged each other, for they felt, from the tone of voice, that the rude address had angered the stranger, and they were in that frame of mind that they wanted to see what he was made of. As for Tom Scott, he squared his frame before the meek stranger, and roared out: ‘LT kin wrastle youfur ten cents, and break your darned back.” Old Simplicity immediately backed away and cried out earnestly: ‘Depart from me, thou man of Belial; for thy speech is not of my world. Ido not wish to harm thee, but if thou layest hands ona servant of the Lord, he will give me strength.” So saying, he threw his coat on the grass in the moonlight, and kept on backin; away, as Tom ad- vanced, squaring off with his fists, and venting all sorts of abuse on the stranger. California Joe started up, crying: “It's a darnation shame to pick on that pore fel- ler, and it’s got to stop.” And with that, he ran to where Tom Scott was still vaporing and Swearing at the inoffensive Sim- plicity, and caught the young man by the shoulder, with a strength that made the whisky go out of Tom > anes order, when he felt the giant grip, as he said ercely: ‘** Let that man alone, or you and me fights, hyar, sir?”’ Tom, who was pulled back almost off his feet, by the grip of California Joe, tried to turn it off with a laugh: “I didn’t mean nothen’, Joe,” he said. D’ye CHAPTER III. A DECEIVING DEACON, Oup Srmpiiciry heard what the generous young man was saying, and Tom’s reply, and now he broke out, in the figurative language which seemed to be the most natural to him: 3 ** Blessed art thou, young man, and blessed is the peacemaker. All unworthy servant as lam,if this young man thinks he can tread on me with impuni- ty, he shall find that the strength of the Lord is on his servants.”’ Joe euy: half understood him; but Tom, who was just drunk enough to be obstinate, called out: ‘Oh! dry up, you old fool. If it hadn’t been fur this a 6 as is the best man in camp, I’d ha’ bu’sted yer old shebang to flinders. Take yer ole mule out ofhyar. Wedon’t want no preachin’ raound aour camp. Thar, Joe,I ain’t goin’ to hit him, but he kin go somewhar else.” **And so kin I,’’ responded California Joe, in his sharpest tones. ‘‘I say this hyar gentleman is got to be leff alone, Tom Scott!” ‘* And I say the best thing ye can do, ef ye don’t like the company ye’re in, is to git up and git!”’ re- sponded Tom, sulkily, ‘* Yo ain’t the boss of this camp.” Here the man in black, who had been watching the others silently. since the quarrel seemed to be transferred from himself to them, put in: ‘*Young man, do not get into trouble on my ac- count. Iam willing, if it will please this man of Be- lial, totry him at a side-hold, for fun.” Tom Scott immediately uttered a yell of delight, and Joe as instantly stepp°d aside, saying: ‘* Waal, deacon, ef that’s yer idee, go in,” Tom Scott advanced toward the other, and the deacon, who had taken off his coat before, now sidled up to the athletic young Tennesseean and al- lowed the other to take hold of him, Tom, who was a good-natured fellow after all, re- marked: ‘* You kin take the inside, ef ye like, stranger. I don’t want to be hoggish.”’ ‘*T thank. thee, friend,’’ was the quiet reply. “I will take thine offer.” So saying, they grasped each other inthe familiar style of wrestling known a; the ‘*side-hold” and in another moment Tom had li‘ted the deacon from the earth, and held him a ee from his right hip—a maneuver that the other did not resist in the slightest. There he hung for several seconds, when Tom made a violent effort to throw him on his back, To the surprise and delight of California Joe, the dea- con twisted round in the air, and as he came down, by some trick hard to perceive, so rapidly was it executed, came on his feet between those of the voung Tennesseean, and bent forward, throwing Tom Scott, as if he had been a baby, up in the air and flat on his back, with a thud that shook the breath out of his body, and elicited a grunt of pain as he fell, . The young Tennesseean lay where he had been deposited, for the space of half a minute or more, when he slowly rose on his hands, and sat up, star- ing at the deacon with an air of profound wonder, as he ejaculated, between gasps: ** Good Lord almighty! what made ye do that?” California Joe burst out into a roar of laughter, as he cried: ‘Waal, ef that warn’t the prettiest trip I ever see’d, in all my born days! Deacon, you’re a holy terror to snalzes; youair. Reckin ye kin take keer of yerself, arter this,”’ A dry sort of smile crossed the features of the deacon, as he answered: **Friend, I wish nobody any harm: but I, too, have been in the wiclced world, ere this, though I have abandoned all its hollow delights; and I never saw the man that could best me at aside-hold, or some other things that had best not be mention: d here. I can sleep now, I suppose.” Tom Scott rose slowly and stiffly, and remar ed with a rueful grin: ‘*Reckin ye kin, stranger. I don't take any more of that sorter thing in mine: much obleegei.’ And Tom went off to his couch, to be banter d and jeered at by his brothers, for being overcome so easily by the deacon, to all which his only reply was: “Cackle away, all of ye. Ef ye want to tackle him at a side-holt, ye kin do it, ; nd mebbe ye won't laugh so much, arter ye git through.” Old Farmer Scott, at tbis reply, rose and said: * Ef that’s the way ye talk, a gum, J’m a-goin’ to try him too. lain’t the man to take water from no feller in a shad-belly coat.”’ And with that he walked over to where the man in black was quietly talhing to California Joe, and remarked: ‘Stranger, ye did that trick darned well; but I ain’t the man to stand by and see my boys pit whipped by no black son of a gun, like you. Take keer of yerself, ef ye don’t know what a rough-and- tummle is; fur I’m a-goin’ fur ye.”’ And off went his coat on the grass, with a delibera- tion that showed he meant what he said, when the stranger, who had retained his vest in the tussle with Tom, instantly threw it off, crying earnestly as he did so: ‘* Friend, Iam a man of peace and seek no quarrel with thee. Keep from me and [ will keep from thee; but if the temper of Belial is on thee and nothing will do thee but a whipping, then oR me time to get into the ways of the wicked world,” Farmer Scott laughed as he replied: * Ob, Pi give ye all the time ye want; but ye’ve got to fight all the same.,”’ And he took off his own shirt and stripped to his waist, while the solemn stranger did the same, re- vealing to the eyes of California Joe who was watch- ing him attentively, a figure such as he had never seen before. The mountain-men are big-boned, but they are not apt to have the symmetrical development, of the antique statue, and when they see a man who has such a development, they think that he cannot amount to much, placing their faith in the big bulg- ing muscles of the biceps, and the build of a man’s shoulders alone, In this the stranger was not remarkable, for the predominant characteristic of his figure, in the moonlight, was that of extreme beauty of outline and evenness of contour. Now that he was not disfigured by the black dress of his calling, he looked remarkably vigorous as he stood there in the moonlight, and the farmer, who was thick-set and sturdy, seemed clumsy beside im. But the disparity in size and apparent weight be- tween the two was so great that California Joe thrust. his body between them, to say earnestly: ** Look a-hyar, Scott, this ain’t the squar’ thing, to go pickin’ on this man. He ain’t able fur you, and you hadn’t oughter want to whip him.” Scott hesitated; but, to Joe’s surprise it was Sim- ae who said: “Thou meanest well, young man, but it is not needed, ‘ihe Lord will give his servant strength, as he did to Samson of old. Stand aside and let this man of Belial come at me, if jie daves.” The word inflamed Scott at once, and he shouted out savagely: ‘Dares! Tll show ye whether I dare or not, Naow fur ye, and look aout that ye take yer eyes outer this fight. I'm a gouger—I am!”’ As he spoke he rushed at the deacon, and Joc, with the notion that fair play was to be shown at oll hazards, since the deacon would not give back, em ite to one side and let the combatants come to- gether. Scott made a rush at the other, trying to catch him rourd the waist and throw him, in the usual rough-and-tumble style, in vogue attLetime all over the Union, Joe stood back and watched. He saw the deacon step nimbly aside as the other made his rush, and Scott missed his grasp, when Simplicity gave a swift turn with his foot, as the Tennesseean tried to recover himself, and sent him headlong to the ground on his face. Before Scott could recover, the active strancer made a leap and brought both his feet down on the middle of the Tennesseean’s back,where he fell on his knees with all his weight, bringing a grunt out cf the excited man, Scott tried to writhe round and catch the deacon, but, before he could do it, the other had leaped away and was dancinz to and fro round his pros'rate antagonist, singing softly: ** And if you get there before I do, Glory! Glory! Just tell the Lord I’m coming tco, Glory to the Lordi” But Scott managed to get up at last, and stocd there, with a strange expression. He did not seem to be inclined to rush any more, and there was a pallor on his face that showed that he had been severely hurt in the short tussle. What had happencd Joe could not tell, but in a moment more the farmer seemed to have got over it, and, with a scowl and deep curse, advanced more cautiously to the attack, as if to measure his distance. The deacon retreated, with the same smile on his face, singing the same hymn as softly as before, till the farmer was near him and about to Jet out one of his sledge-hammer blows. Then he suddenly leaped in the air, with an