Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 41 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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6 Beadle’s HalfDime Library. among them the body of a dead Indian, whom they at once recognized as one of their spies, Sly Wolf. How he had been slain they knew not. When’ all was in readiness, the Mexicans drove the w forward, keeping away from the road, and striking across the plain. They pushed on for several miles due west, then turn- ed northward until they came to a little grove of cottonwoods, in which they came to a halt. To still favor their inhuman work, a heavy shower, that lasted several minutes, fell shortly | after dark, thereby assisting much in oblitera- ting their trail. CHAPTER IX. WHERE WAS ST. ELMO? LET us now go back and look after the youn mustanger, Henry St. Elmo, whom we left tying apparently lifeless on the bank of the creek. The bullet of both the Comanche and Apache warriors had his breast, inflicting a couple of painful flesh wounds. The two balls struck him at the same instant, with such stun- ning force, that he was stricken breathless and unconscious to the earth. Here in this state he lay during the conflict between the Comanche and Apache antagonists, and when the former | had gained the victory, and d himself of ‘his foe’s scalp, and started for his horse, our yo friend heard his retreating footsteps, and thought his moment to act had come, so spring- excited, feverish brain, threw him into a kind of oblivious reflection, from, which he finally awoke to find he had lost his course, and was wandering at random over the great trackless prairie. He sincerely regretted this blunder, and cen- sured himself for committing it. His only course now was to wait till the moon came up, and take his direction anew from it, the trappings of the pony; so, dismounting, he staked the animal to grass, and then wrapping a blanket around himself, lay down upon the ound to wait and rest. e endeavored to eep awake, but, weak from loss of blood, exer- tion, and mental exhaustion, he fell into a sound slumber and slept for hours. The moon did not rise until nearly midnight, but when he awoke he found it was high in the heavens; and he had become so confused and be- wildered, so turned round, that he could not tell whether the moon was on the east or west side of the midnight meridian. So he was com- | pelled to wait still longer, and when at last he | got the points of the compass, he resumed his | journey. Riding on till daylight, he found that he was Shetty Been with hunger, but he had no trou- le in finding a curlew, which he succeeded in killing. Then he struck a fire by means of a match and some dry sticks that he found by a little stream. Dressing the bird, he soon roast- ed it, and made a sumptuous meal thereon, hay- ing to his feet, he took up his rifle and glided | ing some left for future need. into a dense clump of bushes and vines. From Feeling eatly refreshed, he resumed his this covert he watched the savage’s movements, | journey. © e on and on all day, without for he had resolved that that horse should bear him to safety. Soon the Comanche returned, and having picked up the Apache’s arms, the red-skin came up to secure the scalp of the white. It was his last scalp-hunt, however, for the Comanche caught the gleam of the sup d dead man’s eye along his rifle-barrel, and before reaching the wagon-route along which Captain he could move a single muscle, the rifle cracked, Gray and his party were expected to pass, This convinced him he was lost again upon that trackless waste of prairie, and when darkness again set in, he tied his pony out to grass, and threw himself upon the ground with a feeling akin to despair. He had found, by this time, that a year upon the prairies of Texas had done little toward familiarizing him with the topog- raphy of that trackless country. The ight was in restlessness and troubled dreams, and on the following morning he in resumed his journey in a new course, All day he traveled over the boundless ocean of verdure without seeing a sign of life, unless it was a skulking coyote or solitary raven, and these always had a tendency to impress a lone hunter or traveler with an air of desolation, Night again set in, but Henry resolved to keep moving. He saw that his success in strik- ing the trail now depended entirely upon fate. The night wore slowly on. The moon finally came up and threw a bright, mellow light over the plain, that was dream-like in, its inspira- tion. : Still Henry St. Elmo rode on. But hark! A sound suddenly breaks upon his Ee sound that seems to come from spirit- and. His animal sto and a bullet pierced his breast. With scarcely a cry, the warrior fell dead, while the young mustanger sprung from his covert and secured the animal. The ‘youth felt now, that he was, for the time being, safe. This mental ease and security toned down the excitement that had heretofore dead- ened the pain of his wound, and he experienced a sharp, ner me sensation through his breast. - So he hite the ~erm,) and going down to the creek, he removed his hunting-shirt, and washed the blood and dust from his wounds. This done, he dressed the wounds as well as his means would permit, and experienced great relief from the pain and burning fever. When his wounds were attended to, he pos- sessed himself of such of the Indian’s weapons as would likely prove of use to him, then mounted the mustang south-westerly direction. And now, when he had fully realized that he was safe once more from savage foes, his | sniffed the air wit mind became occupied with thoughts that were’! Henry bent his head and listened. He started. almost agonizing. However, he felt easy so far | He heard a cry—a human cry—as if imploring as his friend, Lasso Jack, was concerned. He | help, and yet coming from out the realms of knew thatthe savages were not likely to get | Nowhere. him unless accident befell him; but what gave He gazed around him and above him, but he him most anxiety was the disappointment in | could see nothing but the starry sky and the and rode away in a d, pricked up its ears and ‘affrizht. meeting the idol of his heart, Mabel Garfield, | murky plain. ht he not be mistaken? He whom he had promised to welcome at a speci- | listened seain. Again he heard that cry. fied point and accompany to Sante Fe. The | Whence did it come? It was a strange cry, and at times it was low and sepulchral, and seemed to issue from the bowels of the earth. He rode on a few paces, then turned and rode round and round in a circle; still he could find nothing. He was satisfied the voice did not emanate from beyond the circle he had des- cribed. But there was something a little mys- But what news would Jack give Mabel of his | terious about it, for the ground was smooth as fate? As Jack knew nothing of his fate, and | a lawn, and the grass upon it so short that a doubtless would sup him dead, and so report | bird or squirrel could not have hid within it. to Mabel, he knew the train would not wait for Again that cry or call! him, but would continue on its way. By pur- It was nearer him than _ before, and still suing his present course, he hoped to strike the | seemed to come from far down in the earth. trail in advance of the train, and then wait till The young mustanger felt a curious sensation it came up. creep over him, and as he sat upon his pon The Indian’s pony was a mettlesome one, and ing around him like one bewildered, a sud- so he was enabled to journey on rapidly, in the | den and involuntary ery burst from his lips, as course Which he thought would enable him to | he caught sight of an object, plainly revealed by strike the wagon-trail at about the right point | the broad glare of the moon. to bring him In advance of the train, consider- A few paces to the right of him, in the short ing it was at Clear Creek that day, as he had | grass, was a small, circular spot, covered with received information that it would bs what seemed to be the ashes of a camp-fire, and He rode on, however, and the day advanced, | from the center of that spot ahuman rand and and at last the sun went down in a sea of fire. | arm were thrust upward through the earth! From the setting sun Henry took his bearings | It was asmall hand, white as snow, and upon for the night, and still rode sharply on. Dark- | one of the fingers something flashed like a tiny ness soon fell, but the pain of his wounds and | speck of fire. the tumult of thoughts that were crowding his | What did it mean? A human hand, white as more he reflected on. the matter, the more har- rowing his feelings became; but at last he found consolation in the hope that Lasso Jack might have escaped and hastened to join Captain Gray’s party, and put them on their guard against the new dangers that had sprung up so suddenly along the emigrant trail. * oo There was a lariat and picket-pin attached to | ee — a i SSS sess marble—a woman’s hand and arm, without a doubt—thrust upward from the earth, there in the midnight solitude of that wild Texan prairie? CHAPTER X. A QUEER BURIAL. THe reader has doubtless, inferred, to a cer- tain extent, what the plans of the young mus- tanger, Lasso Jack, were that he had conceived for outwitting and escaping from the horde of savages and prairie freebooters that hung around them upon the plain like groups ot hun vultures, The first to be done was to bind the body of Captain Gray upon his wild, spirited horse and turn it loose upon the prairie, feeling confident that the savages would pursue him, and thus create a diversion in their favor. It was an un- christian use to make of the dead, but it was a. dire necessity to the living; it was the only avenue to escape from an indiscriminate mas- sacre—to save the lives of the two fair, helpless. girls from a torturing captivity. But, even Lasso Jack would have refrained from using the remains of the captain for such a& purpose, had he not received the consent of the agonized sisters in the matter, as also, their a stage in all his plans for their rescue. fter his interview with the maidens, Jack returned to his friends and made known to them his plans, Every man then went to work. In the first place a number of boxes belonging to the trad- ers’ wagons were emptied of their contents and burned in two or three different places within the inclosure. Then a spade—used by the trad- ers for trenching their tents—was produced and one of the men set to work removing the — sod from over a space about four feet square. This would require great pains and mechanical] precision, for the sod was to be replaced so as to conceal every trace of its having been dis- turbed. When the sod was lifted the trader be- gan digging downward, throwing the dirtaway about fifteen feet from the hole, Lasso Jack, Dan Dorne, and. the other trader were busily engaged, in the meantime, prepar- ing tosend the captain’s body away over the plain upon his spirited horse as soon as other arrangements were completed, It was a sad, sad duty to perform, but the only resource to save the lives of Mabel and Rosalind. , Sir George Richardson having been sent into one of the traders’ wagons to empty a large box, entered at the front end of the wagon, and in order to reach the box in question he would be compelled to remove several smaller ones that intervened. This he at once proceeded to do, lifting.the boxes. and, throwing them out. Some of them, containing costly fabrics, were covered with a heavy blanket to insure the en- trance of no dust or water into the boxes. This blanket Sir George seized hold of to re- move, but thé very instant that his hand came in contact. with it, an involuntary cry burst from his lips, and he withdrew his hand as quick as though the blanket had been a red-hot sheet of “a for beneath it. he felt some living thing move For a moment thé Englishman hesitated. He believed that a huge serpant had got into the wage some way or other, and had ensconced it- self under the blanket. But, no time was to be lost in idle speculation. Every moment was precious now, for an im- nding fate was hanging over the heads cf the little Henk). § So he turned around and taking up his gold-headed._ cane, that. he had placed in the front end of the wagon on entering, he: it in the middle with the left a. en he gave if a quick wrench, and the gold knob from the wood and was followed by a long, glittering dagger that appeared from the hollow staff. Raising the polished weapon in an attitude of defense, he took hold of the blanket again, and quickly drew it aside. He started with blank surprise, and for a mo- ment his face seemed to wear an expression of terror, for, there before him, he beheld a Co- manche Indian lying curled up among the boxes like a young cub bear! No sooner, however, did the cunning savage see that he had been discovered than he sprung to his feet and attempted to escape from the wagon, knowing that resistance would be use- less. As he sprung apast Sir George, he endea- vored to bury a_ hatchet in his brain, but the Englishnian aodake the blow and at the same time drove the blade of his dagger to the guards in the savage’s breast. With a wild, unearthly scream the doomed wretch leaped from the wagon, ran a few paces. and fell dead. om ebooks-com