Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 47 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

these parts. Come, cap’n, I’m one o’ these fel- lars what hates to the bottom of my heart any man who persecutes a boy. Theda leetle chap once, an’ not very far from hyar he sleeps at the foot of a big tree. I put him thar, cap’n with my own hands. He war killed by a frien o’ yourn. Now, d’ye see, I kind 0’ likes boys. I always takes their parts, an’ when a man lifts his paw ag’in’ one, he riles Shadow-Shot to the ecnd of his nature. You war talkin’ about doin’ dirt to the boy what sings. I heerd you, ag He hezn’t got many friends in these parts, but hyar’s one that intends to stick to him through thick an’ thin, rain an’ shine—Shadow-Shot, at your sarvice!” ** Why should I lie to you?’ Rough said, put- ting on that bold face which men of his ilk can assume at will. ‘‘ You have me in your power. Would a lie do me any good now?” The ranger shook his head. “Not much, cap’n, fur, mind you, the man what steps on the feotle one’s toes comes ar’ down on my hull foot. He isn’t your nephew. I know that.” . ‘* Then why the question?” ** Because I wanted to see if you wouldn’t lie. Out with the truth.” ‘“*I can but rehearse my former statement.” : The ranger was puzzled. He seemed to be- lieve that his man had spoken the truth. oe Rough took hope. ‘* Well, mebbe it is a fact,” Shadow-Shot said. **'You kin go back to the train, I guess. We'll not settle accounts now. But the time is comin’ when more’n one will be settled in these woods.” The train? why it was lumbering through the forest several miles to the north. Captain Rough had deserted it. Would he return? **1 don’t want you hangin’ around me!” the rw cried, we the man hesitate. ‘‘Go back to your co es.” ‘* My train is far away and my horse is dead.” “You may be tha 1 thet your own skull hasn’t got a hole in it. The best thing you kin do, cap’n, is to go south, an’ keep on gom’ until ae git to the end of it. This isn’t a healthy entry fur such people as you, an’ while I make my home hyar, it are likely to stay thet way. Pil take care of your friend, Cap’n Dave.” Captain Rough, who should have thanked the ranger for sparing his life, gritted his teeth and looked sullenly north. As far as sight could reach, he saw the forest stretching in unbroken grandeur. Daylight was fast illumining the dark aisles, and the cheering rays of the sun would soon add their splendor to the scene. The woods of Wisconsin were new to him; but he was not a novice in woodc “Well then you kin stay hyar, an’ g0 when ou att ready!” blurted the ranger. I’m In. o follerin’, ca Dy fur my old gun shoots back’ards as well as for’ards.” The ranger now step back, and moving — rapidly away, left Captain Rough alone in the forest. \ The trees soon hid him from his sight. ‘‘A lie was believed, and not for the first time, either,” ws said, with a 4 chuckle. ‘‘Here Iam, m rse dead as a herring, and the boy somewhere loose in the woods. He’s not with that villainous ranger. Where he is, I must know. When TI started with him, I gave my word that somewhere between the big brown stone house and Lake Superior he should find a ve, and Captain Roug ll Dn Bee keep it. he train? the cow ! t them go on and die in the copper country. I’ve cut loose from the skunks, and they will wait in vain for me, No! Shadow-Shot, I'll follow if I choose, and at the first opportunity, I'll send a bullet through your brain. I started out to find the boy, and I'll tramp these woods over from the lake to the southernmost river, but that I fulfill my part of the bond.” Captain Rough was a man of iron will. Noth- ing coulddaunt him. He hada in view, to carry it out was his fixed intention. He did not = until the ranger had passed en- tirely from sight. He let half an hour elapse before, with that that sometimes courts death, he threw himself upon Shadow-Shot’s trail. The tincreasing as he advanced, showed him the forest; it made the trail of the gaunt ranger as plain as the captain could desire. He believed that it would lead him to Nightingale Nat, for Shadow-Shot was no doubt acquainted with the paths of the wilderness, while, to him, 2 as yet, bordered with mystery. came all at once a sound from the south-west that startled the ruffian leader of the He quickly threw himself behind a tree, and ~ Nightingale Nat. 7 saw a number of horsemen—white men and In- | rig the action to his words, Captain Dave, dians—come suddenly into view. | the Apollo, severed the ropes, and the little cap- “The Vultures again!” the captain ejaculated, | tive, with an exclamation of joy he could not recognizing the party. “They're following the | suppress, stepped from the tree. train. Heaven helps the cowards this time!” _ ut he was not free; the fingers of the Apollo Hugging the tree closely to prevent his "sai encircled his arm! sence po pp known to the plunderers , Cap- “You got away from the train to-night with tain Rough counted their numbers. He saw | that long hunter who calls himself Shadow- the whites who filled the saddles like veritable | Shot,” said the Vulture, eying the boy. ‘‘ Where bandits, and the Indians, who, ne oe is he?” artificial seat sat astride of the bare backs of | ‘Ido not know. He wasnot near when Pad- | their steeds. dock fastened me to the tree.” But he noticed that Captain Dave did not “T reckon not,” Captain Dave said, with a lead them. smile. ‘' You will go with me?’ The boy’s recollection flew back to the meeting of the two ruffians during the attack on the train. ‘“‘T will not go back to Captain h,” he cried, jerking away from the hand that held him. leader for the p of finishing the destruc- tion of the train? Perhaps, in a mutiny, they had made themselves leaderless, and were rush- ing to new scenes of blood. With hiseyes fixed upon the riders, Captain Rough crouched at With an oath, the outlaw sprung forward, but the trunk of the tree. before he could touch the boy, the latter had He felt no pity for the men he had cruelly | thrown himself upon the horse, and drawn a deserted. He blessed the fortune which had | pistol from the heavy holster! parted him from the train. The fiends of the ‘** Lift a handand I'll blow you to Davy Jones’s woods would not spare a man! locker,” cried the little imp. ‘‘I guess the ta- On came the bandits, unconscious of the cap- | bles have turned, my Captain of the Vultures. tain’s presence. They threatened to ride him | This saddle suits me toa ‘t,’ and I’m going to down; but all at once they veered to the right | keep it. Rockets and. torpedoes! Ill laugh at and left him undisturbed. . Captain Rough when I ride away on this horse. **Go!” he exclaimed, looking after them. | The old scoundrel brought me into this forest to lay never a one of you come back, Ha! | get me out of somebody’s road. Didn't he tell there’s another train which will not reach the | you about it, Captain Dave, while you talked to mines,” im at the train?’ Fast upon the utterance of the last word came The Apollo seen in Nat’s power, a startling sound to Rough’s ears. grated his teeth, but did not reply. His eyes were still fixed upon the horsemen | ‘‘Oh, you needn’t answer if you’ve got the and he sawone throw his bands up wildly and | sulks!” the singer said. ‘‘ The less I hear of pitch headlong from the steed. | your voice the better, perhaps. Now I’m going Had the insatiate Vultures turned from their “That's sudden!” the captain said. ‘“‘I want | away. I may return the horse some day, but a little warning before I Who did that? It | that’s hardly likely? Don’t you see I’ve got wasn’t Shadow-Shot for he’s ahead. Bless me! | the pistol at your head. Stars and firebugs! if a man is safe five minutes at a time in these | couldn’t I do ae a service now by touching parts.” the trigger? Oh, my rascal, I’ve 4 mind to drop He crouched lower among the bushes that | you where you stand.” surrounded the root of the tree, for the bandits Still no reply. had drawn rein and were looking toward him. ‘*See here!” suddenly cried the boy, leaning What if they should discover hi figure, and | forward with eagerness. ‘‘ What's that mys- with cries of vengeance for the blood just shed, | tery about Collyer’s train? There ’re Collyers swoop down like eagles of death upon him? in the big city where I came from, and they’re Captain Rough held his breath and drew the | rich, too. One of our neighbors, a widow woman hammer of his rifle pra back. is named Collyer. ’Pears to me that her husband All hopes of catching Nightingale Nat seemed | went off somewhere, years ago, and hasn't at that moment to vanish from his heart! come back yet. Was he the Collyer who com- manded the train plundered by you and your CHAPTER VIIL devils in the woods five years ago?” A HEART TWICE ‘“‘ COVERED.” ‘I don’t know!” was the snappish reply. Lravine Captain Rough in momentary ex- | ‘‘My little demon, if I had you in my hands pectation of an attack from the freebooters so | for just one moment—” suddenly brought to a halt by the death shot, *T wouldn’t be inquiring about the Collyer ry, Nightingale Nat, whom we le e ‘No!’ forest with one of his songs. “Well, we'll bring this scene to a close. The reader will recollect that his notes reach- | Captain Dave, there is a law in the forest which ed the ears of two persons, one of whom, a man | is respected in the cities. Here itis wild. Iam on horseback, we left.approaching the boy. going to kill you. Roman candles and rockets! Some time elapsed between the cessation of | that’s plain talk, but it’s business. You have the song, and the sound of a horse’s tramp. lorded it over these woods long emough. You “That is not a wolf, ge boy said, rai and your men have made the to Lake ears. head as the noise salu **I] wonder | Superior paths of blood. In your , you have who I have sung to me this time.” no spared the dumb oxen that drew the wagons. If I did not take your worthless life, you would Nearer and nearer came the animal, unseen because of the night that still enshrouded his | hunt me down and mercilessly slay.” surround He did not fear a return of Pad- ‘‘ That is true!” said the Apollo savagely and dock, for that worthy had evidently left him | with candor. for good, and would be the last to re to his “Look up and say where you want it,” the succor. boy said sternly. ‘* He must be near here,” he heard a voice say, outlaw’s handsome face grew white. He as the tread of the animal ceased not far away. | shrunk from the determined boy, who filled his Nat held his breath. saddle and held his pistol in his hand. “Tf the boy but knew that I wanted to save Death was most certainly before him. His is I would let me know by some noise where | executioner—the avenger of blood—held the e weapon at his breast. ; The Nightingale started with hope at the last Nightingale Nat saw the sign of cowardice words of the unseen. that trayed Captain Dave’s true nature. “‘ Here Iam!” he said, and he heard an ejacu- “Are you afraid?’ he cried in derision. ‘I lation of joy greet him ; allow that it does go hard with a fellow as pret- A minute later the nose of a horse brushed wo you are to look death squarely in the se his face, and he saw a human figure spring from t turn your head if you can’t give the old the saddle ~ boy your See 1 L cannot sit here all **Ho! here you are!” cried the new-comer. iat Fa Whee wilt ton take the bullet, Ca ell, well, not expect to ou so | ta ve— or t ek ll, I did find y am 2 in the heart, or straigh the soon i The voice, c to its natural tone, was | Fora moment there was no deg enough to send cold blood to the boy’s heart. “‘ Well, if it must come, let it here!” sud- He saw the sombrero-like hat of the man who | denly cried the Apollo of the woods, Te had sprung to the ground, wide his rich coat and exposing his breast. “ It was Captain Dave, the leader of the Vul- | bullet in the heart doesn’t mar the beau ! ys ‘‘ ‘Who did this?” cried the man, laying hold | afraid to die, shoots'a lie from his tongue!” on the cords. S "erect, with his breast bared to re- One of Captain Rough’s men—Zimri Pad- | ceive the deadly bullet of his boy-executioner, dock.” the Vulture pe ds presented a ic appear- ance. ‘‘Oho! why, he tied you for keeps, didn’t he? Well, I’m going to untie you; just see!” **IT can’t do it!” cried Nightingale Nat. “I Eomicbooks.co : : : : ; :