Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 422 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

——— raska, Do you know menow? Canyou tell 16 why you: ran away with my child, and as- mel the name you now bear?” “Your child? You did not te!l us it was your chiki when you gave ib into, c~ care!” replied the hunter; in a firm, decided ww... “*L tell yousonow, and isivt thotenough? You proved recreant to your trust, dack Prunty— you and your wife—” ‘“* Have a care!” exclaimed Cid: Spokane, fierecly, as he dropped his rifle! into the hollow of his Jeft arm; “‘my wile is dead, sir, and: no man shall speak evil,o’ her arid live long,” ‘‘ And my child—is,she dead, too?” demanded Strahm. ** For all I know.” ‘*T don’t believe you.” He could afford to talk so, with half a dozen friends close at hand. ‘Then seek your information elsewhar,” re- torted Spokane. ‘*T have been seeking it elsewhere; for: two ears, at great costand privations, Jack Prunty. learned that you had not been murdered by the savages—that you'd escaped with my child, and I have been hunting you. Here I find you un- der an assumed name; bub where’s my child that you agreed to keep for me, and to deliver up whenever [ called and paid her keeping? Now, Jack Prunty, [ am no miner—” ‘‘ Never believed you war,” interrupted Old ‘Spokane, ‘And Iam here,” the man went on, without heeding the interruption, ‘‘ after ny child.” ‘“* Well, you'll have to go.aty°y without her.” ‘*Do you knew where sheis?” ‘Tf I did I wouldn’t tell you.” ‘* Why not?” ‘Because I never believed she war. your child. I always did think, and.do yit; that slie war the victim: o’ somebody’s cussedness,” ‘What's that to you so you get your pay?’ ‘*Thave,buman feelin’ and, den’t keer a euss for-ell. the wealth in tze land.” ** Rut) whatof your honor? You madea fair agreement with me.” : ‘* That’s pan out by stetute oc’ limitation, Ten years. in Nebrasiza outlaws all verbal agree- racnts-—-written Gnes, too.” ‘Jack Prunty,; stop, your trifling!” Strahm cried, in sudden nage; ‘you shall not rob: me of my ¢ Ud with impunity!” ‘Ad! you threaten me, then?” | “T will have my child, or your life-blood, I will put youon the rack and torture the secret out.af, you!” . ‘Don’t, fongit,”? and Ol. Spokane’s, eyes flashed’ wita a five of resentment and indigna- tiony. ‘*that you're! treadin’. on dangerous ground.|; Pm no coward to beskeered by: you and your ambushed minions there in: the brush!’ BS os ‘*Then you still refuse to tell me where my child is?” “TF do!” Stralm, turned and uttered. aJow whistle. In auswoer thereto, nearly half-a scere of Indians and white men emerged from the thicket. ) Old: Spokane saw that he had got to fight for his life, and that, too, against fearful odds, but he was not the man to flimeh., Instantly he a. mental, resolution to die rather than yield 'tho secret the villain sought, and thereby add to the life of one he loved—yes, worshiped with all the devotion of the human heart— misery and suffering, By this time the sun had: sunk: behind the main range of the mountains, and shadows were gathering, Back of the old hunter was.a , dense border of undergrowth running along the lake shore, In this he might have dodged the foe, and, aided by the gathering twi- light, have escaped unharmed, ‘but his man- hood, honor, and the happiness. of ethers seemed ‘to depend upon his facing his enemy there, and had the ruffians numbered a score he would as TeARAA'Y have, maintained his convictions of rig tand duty by facing them all unto death. 4 ‘You see,” said, Strahm, as his band came out and aligned themselves before the hunter, ‘¢ that. Lam not alone, so you'd better surrender gracefully." “Back, scoundrels!” yelled Old Protas fiercely, a deadly light gleaming in his eyes; “ the first, one ‘that crowds .on—” saci t He did not finish the sentence, for a savage; half-erouching, darted toward him like, a pan- ther; but the old man, accustomed to quick work. with the rifle, threw. the muzzle of his’ PIP a foremost of the foe heels over head and clearing & space around him.” Take him alive! take him alive!” shouted Strahm, who kept at a safe distance in the rear. This, however, would have: been a difficult, if not a doubtful undertaking, but for the fact that one of the renegades who had been knocked down crawled up on all-fours behind the brave old man, and seizing him around the legs, threw him heavily to the earth, at the same time deal- ing him a stunning blow on the forehead with a heavy revolver. Butthe renegade’s victory was short-lived, for searcely had he struck the old man ero a long, glittering blade of steel was thrust from the bushes, hard by, aud driven into the breast of the outlaw! Then forth from the cover of the thicket leaped the figure of a man, with a sword in his hand, and confronted the band of infuriated ruflians, his eyes blazing withan unearthly light, and his features wrought into a terrible expres- sion.’ He was a man of perhaps forty years, tall and athletic, with dark-blue eyes, a noble face covered with a full brown beard reaching | to his chest. Iiis head: was bare and his hair was: thrown: back from a hich and intellectual brow, across which transversely ran a bright rediscar. Lie was dressed:in a blue flannel shirt, the colar of which lay open revealing a.ceep, hairy chest, a pair of dark-colored pants end handsomely wrought Iucdian moceasius. To was, armed with but a single weapon—a long, slender sword, but there was something in his | presence—his flaming eyes, his stern, set fea- tures, that caused the savages and renegades to recoil slightly before him. ’ As the\stranger sprung from the thicket and turned facing the mob, he shouted: im stentorian notes: | ‘* Back, devils! back!” An: exclamation: of surprise kurst from Strehm’s lips. The savages and rencgales. rallied, and pre- pared to renew the conflict with their new foe, Old Spokane was rising to his feet when the haft of a flying tomahawk again brought him to the,earth unconscious, Another was aimed at the head of ‘the mysterious stranger, but the latter threw up his sword and received tho air. storm-clouds, so flashed the saber of theunknown about his head and in the faces of the foe. head of a savage advancing toward him ap- cared to leap from the shoulders and drop to he earth, while the body, obeying the impulo of the will, continued to advance a step cr two before it fell; a horrible: headless thing—the blood spurting im jets from the severed arteries of the neck. Not: a savage dared to advance’ vithin the reach of that scintillating blade, ‘for their toma- hawks had been parried with dexterous skill in hand! ’, ‘ Donald Strahm, who fram the first had kept in the rear, saw that his friends wcre wavering before! the deadly steel of the one swordsman, He saw that something must be done and that speedily, or all would be lost, and drawimy his revolver he essayed to shoot the stranger. But the latter was on the alert, and seeing thé move- ment of the man, he lunged forward far enougis to catch the revolver‘on the point ef his sword, snatched the weapon out of Strahm’s hand and sent it spinning out of reach into the brush! With a muttered curse Strahm backed into the bushes, terned and fled, followed by his sur- viying friends. : wow The mysterious swordsman glanced around him, passed his hand over Iris: brow and then, as something of the past seemed to flash: through his brain, he turned like a wild heast and with glaring eyes and set teeth fairly hissed: ‘God in Heaven! thatman was Norton Fen- wick! Fool that I was not to recognize him sooner, and slay him like a dog! Curses upon him! will I never get rd of his accursed pres- ence? Will the vengeance of Heaven'ever—” His mad soliloquy was here cub short by a groan from the lips of Old Spokane, end ad- vaneing he bent over the hunter, lifted. him in his arms as though he had been a child, and car- ried him down to the water’s edge where a lit- tle canoe lay upon the beach. Placing the wounded man in the craft he pushed it into. the water, then pare in himself, took up the -pad- oat out into the lake. ith w around, and without an aim sent.a bul- |} dle and drove the let crashing into the top of the red-skin’s head... } long and vigorous strokes he sent it fairly leap- A, wild yell burst from the lips-of the others; | ing through thé water in the direction of a littlo and madea vush in.a-body for the hunter,:jisland)) = i qu cS ARS but, clut _ his rifle, the old. man ‘swung it PReadaally. 01g Spokane recovered his senses about. a whip ef iron, knocking the,’ and before his rescuer was aware of it the old + — i *" im : / ’ : . / Y ‘ “27 hie Ry th ten , a4 ‘a eZ of ma ae ange See fk ; aero iP Se ~ 16. ode me ETS fAigimes ig wee it ye sete Ki SRE = TE by Sam, the Boy Giant of the Yellowstone. weapon so that it)glanced harmlessly into the | Then as flashes the lichtning among the The until‘only their knives and firearms were kept and. by some dexterous twirl of the blade vee ene Seieatineinaiendiaiened wr — hunter had risen to a sitting posture and was gazing around him in bewilderment. ‘* How is this, anyhow?” the old fellow mut- tered, passing his hands over his eyes. | “Tt is all réght now, stranger,” assured his rescuer, end at sound of bis voice he glanced quickly around as though aroused from a | dream. ‘“* Ah! I see! It’s you, stranger—things have been. a leetle mixed with me. be you the grim boatman rowin’ me over the Dark River? or be you the man that come to help me out inmy fight?” “Vm that man, sir, and you’re safe in my | boat and care.” i “Bully! bully!” exclaimed the hunter; ‘I | am right now--got my bearin’s. I remember | that 1 got a whack cn the head that kind o” knocked me endwise. But say, stranger! Did | you wallop that outfit o’ red and white devils?” ‘*T did; and routed them, kerse and fcot.” ‘* Kill eny of ’em?” | ‘Yes, I had to, but the ene I ought to have | slain got away.” | ‘Who war that—Norton Fenwick? } ! ‘Ah! then you know that man?’ ‘“T should proclamate [I did, stranger; but maybe you and T know each other; nry name’s | Spekane Joe—what’s yours, stranger?” The man glanced at the old bunter as if seerch- ing the inmost recesses of his heart: then, as if fully satisfied of bis honesty by the free and cpen expression of his bcarded face, be re- lied: | a My name, Spokéne, is Aaron Benreaymond.” | ‘¢ Aaron Benraymond!” repeated the hunter, thoughtfully; *“*l guess vou and me never met | before: Lut I should say you war made o guod | material, and that you slashed that blade round | in a fearful nasty way. I'd like to ’a’ seed it | | all, but— But say, Mr. Benraymend, wher be you takin’ me to?” ‘‘ Here—to this island,” replied Penraymend, ' as the eanoe cametoa stand among scime droop- ing willows at the edge of a little island. i ‘“Wal, I?ll sw’ar, stranger, I hadn’t ought to stop here, for I left a couple 0 friends over on the lake.” ‘* Wait a few mizutes—until it is fairly Cark, and Vl take you ashore,” announced Benray- mond, rising and stepping from the cance onto the island, Old Spokane could not object to this offer of his gallant friend; so he, tco, rese and leaped cut of the. boat, and as he did se he telit the | whole island tremble under him, | the startling truth flashed across his mind—hbe was aboard the mysterious floating island that he and his friends had'discovered trom camp! | » CHAPTER VI. A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE, ‘Om Lord! Oh ‘Lord™ greaned Old Kit Bandy as he stood’ as if rooted to the earth, his eyes fixed upon the panther that was drag- ging tHe bedy ef Wilma Redman along the “nai ew ledge, ** the poor gal’s dead, dead, Baby Sam! ‘* But, Kit, her ae shall not be mutilated by that beast!” aad aby Sam, bis tace pale, and his voice belf-choked with the grief surg- ing up in his breast, Then be threw a cartridge into his rifle, and raised it to bis shoulder. ‘** Be keerful, boy !” cried Old Kit; *'ye'r’ nar- vous—the gal may ently be ina swoen and y-u might hither. Steady, boy, sfeady!” ut there was no need of these words of cau- tion, for the Foy Giant was calm, cool and de- liberate, and glencing along the barrel of his gun he took e careful aim and pressed the trig- er. Simultaueous with the crack of the weapon the panther dropped its prey how] of pain, lashed the rocks with its ta il, then | rolled lifeless from the ledgeand fell witha thud - on the rocks below, The death of the panther. all release the body of W | peril, for it was now left partly hanging over | the ledge, fifty feet above a bed of jagged rocks, | while the rescuers could find no place where | they could scale the vertical hights. ‘* Horn o’ Joshua!” excla however, did not at ilma Rodman from In an instant - uttered a low, fierce: Old Kit, “‘hor +.) on earth did that critter ever git up thar.” s tite- stale tig ere ** Kit,” replied the young moun us run back along the chit in th” whence the panther came and mg; ‘find an‘aseent.. ‘That beast surely re." ‘| Tedge from this valley, and if so, it — not far from here.” | | , of the cliff, but to their bitter t they were compelled to: travel along Ss leaaeed ee ‘ ‘e oy % oy . : yey ‘ ‘. “ve " vs e nb J . “ RS 4. £¥ pa a L qe iam me LAKE. ‘¢ely pines, $0 they turned and ran back along the *" q Win