Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 47 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

SS «2 = a as ae ee ee ee eee ae —- + oo, ee — 12 played desperate games in our lifetime; we’ve taken desperate chances. I knew that your dis- covery would come; but I had to have help to there. You tried to kill me a minute ago, by ooling with my wound. Now you want to finish Shadow-Shot’s work with the rifle. Do you think you will do it, captain?” ‘** What is there to hinder me?’ Py eee Dave smiled. “Did you take me for a fool?’ he said. ‘*Knowing you as I do, did you think I would hold your rifle while you tied the horses with- out taking the cap off? Ha! ha! Captain Rough! When diamond cuts diamond, the hardest will win. Now, sir, you are mine!” A pistol came from beneath the covering of the couch, and with both hands, for he was weak, Captain Dave thrust it forward. Rough touched the trigger of his rifle; there was a click, but no re rit The sound seemed the sentence of death. ** Mercy, Dave!” he cried, flinging the useless weapon against the wall of the cavern. **Mercy!” was the heartless echo. ‘“ That is just pened in were going to parcel out to me, eh, cap The speaker’s eyes seemed to emit sparks of Captain Rough knew that he was dealing with a fiend. CHAPTER XIV. THE FIGHT IN THE CAVE. WHILE the events narrated in the several foregoing chapters were transpiring, another oe abe of our omens — one -itae whom we have been separa rhaps, too long, was listening to sounds that'startlod him. It was Sharp Knife, the Crow! It will be remembered that he followed Rafe Armstrong to the cave-home where he, at Cap- tain Dave’s bidding, struck the deserter his death-blow, and that he in turn fell before Vio- let’s rifle. The girl did not go to note the effects of her shot; she turned to the mortally-wounded man to hear him reiterate the charges concernin the true identity of the man who called himsel Noel Gordon. If she had visited the place where the Indian fellshe might have discovered that the Crow was not dead, simply stunned by the ball, which carried away part of the scalp above the ear. Upon poms Sharp Knife made himself as scarce as possible, and in a short time he was uite a distance from the cave-home. The thought of returning to his master, the outlaw, without revenging himself on the fair girl whose rifle had so nearly put an end to his existence, was not a tenant of his brain. He believed that he had slain the deserter, and an Indian who, assassin-like, gets a fair blow at an adversary, pes not n to wonder if that blow was atal. Rafe reper was as good as dead. Sharp Knife believed this. Then the presence of such a being as Violet Collyer in the forest was a mystery to the In- dian. He was not so obtuse that he could not connect Captain Dave’s frequent absences from the band with her, and the cave-home. Sharp Knife was not a member of the Vultures at the massacre of Collyer’s train, therefore he knew nothing about the identity of the avenger. He spoke indifferent English, and the conversation which had between Armstrong and the girl—every word of which he heard—was not unde enough to enlighten him. Not long after his flight from the cavern, he saw the Vultures ride through the forest; but he did not join them. sce on on a trail which personally concerned We have said that the revengeful Crow was listening to startling sounds. So, indeed, he was. He was letting his scarlet body down over the rocks that rose above the cave when he heard the sound of voices. Sharp Knife stopped and listened hag A familiar light beamed in his eye when he recognized Captain Dave’s voice. The outlaw was in the cave that sheltered the white girl; but he was not alone. It was the voice of one Rough that mys- aes the Indian, for he heard it for the first e. As he had been dismissed upon the errand of assassination, he had not taken a in the at- tack on the train, and therefore he had not be- come acquainted with the captain’s h. After awhile, as the words w high, indi- cating a season of choler, the Indian resumed his crawl, lizard-like, and approached the cave. With the glittering knife in his teeth he con- Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. ———————————————— tinued to near the top of the natural door, and at ee, eager to see the occupants of the cave, leaned over for that purpose. His evil ys saw Captain Dave sitting bolt- pkg on the cot, pointing the pistol at Cap- tain Rough. Violet, the girl, was not to be seen. Such scenes excited Sharp Knife; bis dark eyes flashed. He heard Rough appeal for mercy, when he found the tables suddenly turned on him, and then the laugh of derision which greeted it. He saw the blood-besmeared face of his reck- less leader, and fastened his wicked .eye upon hep whom he believed the perpetrator of the deed. To see an enemy of Captain Dave meant to Sharp Knife an attack, and with a half tigerish cry he executed a dextrous somersault which landed him upon the unsuspecting man. Rough uttered a startling ery, and staggered back; but the savage with the nature of the wildcat uppermost in his heart, kept his hold and bore him back. % “Sharp Knife!” exclaimed Captain Dave with surprise: but the Crow did not hear; he wanted to finish the man whom he believed had wounded his master. Rough was a man of splendid physique, and, as a wrestler, a match for any naked Indian in the then wilds of the “ Badger State.” He suc- ceeded by a sudden display of dexterity in grappling with the brave, and putting himself on an equal footing with the adversary. He twisted the assassin’s wrist until with a ery of pain the red-skin was obliged to relin- quish the knife which fell to the ground. Vain- ly trying to trip each other, the two athletes struggled for the mastery in the presence of the single spectator who watched the combat, un- = to rise to lend a helping hand to the red- skin. But Captain Dave watched for a chance when he might suddenly raise the pistol, and render victory certain for the Crow. It was a struggle between two wrestlers, well matched and fresh, They fought for no belt; but for the life of each other. At last Captain Rough, by a coup de maitre, which Sharp Knife thwarted several times, succeeded in Grasping the scarlet trachea. His great hand closed like an instrument of inquisi- torial torture on the red-skin, and he saw the flashing eyes grow deathly and roll wildly in their sockets. Captain Dave observed the advantage and greeted it with a curse. But he could not pele. fa tool, for Captain Rough stubbornly kept his body between him and the cot. Rough was in his element—the power to dis- play his brutality. A child could have released Sharp Knife’s hold on his antagonist, as the death gripe tight- ened. His hands fell limp and powerless at his side; he was gasping like a dying man. ** You thought you were too much for Captain Rough, eh?” cried the victor, looking into the a eon hideous at the — his — “By rge! I guess you’ve grappled your man, Mr. Sharp Knife! Why, f used to knock men bigger than you clean over the ropes at Aug’s. I’m no boy. I haven’t forgotten science, if | am in the woods of Wisconsin!” Of course the Indian could not reply. ‘** Look out, Captain Dave!” he suddenly cried, lancing over the Indian’s shoulder at the white- aced man who in his inability to rise was actu- ally frothing at the mouth. ~‘‘ Here comes a thunderbolt what I hope will crush your cursed life out.” All at once Captain Rough stepped back, dragging Sharp Knife after him by main force, and then gathering all his prodigious strength, he threw the limp body straight at the White Vulture. It is true that two feeble hands were lifted to stay the singular bolt of war; but as well might ba & have been kept down. e bolt went straight to the target! Sharp Knife fell heavily upon the Apollo of the forest, crushing him back upon the cot with the ease of a five-ton weight, and there both lay like dead men, silent and motionless. _“*It didn’t take much to crush out what little life was left in you, Captain Dave!” the train commander said, with brutish triumph. “I guess I can hunt the girl up now without your meddlesome interference. There’s some stuff in you, Captain Dave; but a man couldn’t always trust you out of his sight. The boy! Oh, Pll give him a bullet—but the girl—she’s worth atin = dollars to me, or to any man who knows what I do.” ee ——$ — | Without haste, Rough proceeded to arm him- self with Captain Dave’s rifle and a plentiful supply of ammunition. ‘It was a lucky escape!” he said, self-con- gratulatorily. ‘‘ Not long ago somebody’s shot saved me from the Vultures, and led them in pursuit of him just when I expected to see them ride down upon me. It’s ominous! It means that I bear a charmed life—that [’'m going to get out of these woods with a bigger pile in pr ‘t than I had when I entered them. Rough, you're in luck! plenty of money and the position of a nabob among the boys again awaits you! If I meet the Vultures, I can tell them that I left the captain comfortable. He said that they know nothing about the cave. But I will not meet them. They have gone to the camp at the ford, and I have no business there at present.” He looked again at the startling heap of hu- manity that lay on the cot, and smiled. ‘““They’ll keep the ghosts away!” he murmur- ed, as he darted from the cavern. His feet sounded for atime on the gravelly shore, and after awhile a man mounted on a fine horse ascended slowly to the forest above. Captain Rough was at large again, with mur- der and avarice filling bis heart and urging him on. ‘Plenty of money and the ition of nabob —— the boys again!” he muttered, as he rode ong. We shall see, Captain Rough. It is in wild life oom that chateaux en Espagne sudden- ly totter and fall a mass of ruins! He did not note the movement of life that manifested itself in the cave-home. He was far away and did not dream of it. Feeble arms, but determined ones, rolled Sharp Knife to the edge of the cot of skins, and the flashing of Captain Dave’s eyes became ~ ent once more. They glanced wildly around the a ment, and gleamed with satisfaction when the ruffian’s absence was noticed. “Let me git up!” said a voice, which was more than half a groan. ‘ By the fires of To- phet! I will git up! I am not dead!” Asif to prove that he was not a corpse, the speaker regained his feet. He was a horrible- looking specimen of humanity! Those parts of his body not besmeared with blood, were white and ghastly. He tottered as he attempted to stand. “1 swear that I will not die!” he cried, blas- coeectes & ‘*Not until I have paid Captain gh for his devilment will I yield to the mon- ster death. He shall not e the thousands out of the girl! Dll kill her first. I’m at war with everybody in these woods, and [ll fight to the death, and die on my foes. But I will not die now! I’m going to live to carry out every plan I have form Oh! if I hadn’t this ras- cally ball in my lungs!” e could k no more for his limbs refused to support body longer, and with the last word, prolonged into a of org as if occa- sioned by an arrow in vitals, he fell back heavily upon the skins. But he was not dead! There was death in the hand that closed on the be of the cot. Oo The Apollo was destined to conquer the grim monster in the little cave! CHAPTER XV. NAT SINGS AGAIN. *“Wuo told you that I sing sometimes?” Nightingale Nat looked into the eyes of the girl who at his side. ‘You have forgotten then that I heard you,” was the answer. The boy was nonplused. “ Pardon me,” he murmured, blushing, ‘I have forgotten.” “Tt was upon that night when you were bound to the tree, Captain Dave was guided to your side by the , and so was I.” ‘* Ah, yes!” the boy laughed. ‘* You will sing for me now. Our friends are not near enough to chide you, and I am sure that the foe is far away. Besides, you need not pitch your voice in a high key.” The gentle look of pleading that accompanied the words was irresistible. Nightingale Nat sent his glance around, but since the adventure on the cliffs. They were a y distance from the scene of Zimri Paddock’s doom—in a seclud- ed of the wilds of Wisconsin, Shadow-Shot and Gustin were hunting for Captain Rough for reasons obvious to the attentive reader, and the Ae couple had promised to await their re- rn. COMMU OOO) oe “S