Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 471 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

EE, TS _ and flower-decked; a noisy brooklet wormed its way through to the southward; birds sung in the bushes their parting lays of the day; far above the sin yet gilded the peaks in gold; far abead, as the canyon ran in straight course, lay a vista of supreme loveliness. The two travelers were a beautiful young wo- man, and a weather-beaten, frontier veteran. Tt The contrast between the two was so striking, that we must pause to describe them. The young lady, though a trifle below the ay- erage hight of women, was formed in nature’s happiest mold, and evidently about eighteen years of age. In face she was remarkably pretty—one of ‘ those faces whose pleasant expression and spark- ling brown eyes betokened a sunny nature. Her hair was brown, like her eyes, and most becomingly arranged beneath the jaunty hat; while her riding-habit was a model in fitness and ‘good taste. Her horse was a spirited anima], while its ~ accouterments were handsome and yet service- able. Hard at contrast with this fair traveler was the veteran who evidently acted as her escort ‘and guide, for it was easy to be seen that she was a stranger in the Far West, who would have seemed more in her natural sphere in some ele- gantly appointed metropolitan ‘ara, Her escort was a man of medium stature, and quite stoop-shouldered, but his movements seem- ed to indicate that he was still capable of activ- ity, although he must have been on the shady side of sixty in age. His face was darkened by exposure to the weather, and scarred and wrinkled; his hair was liberally sprinkled with silver threads, but his eyes were of youthful brightness and sharpness. One peculiarity about his appearance was that Lee of his ears had been shorn off, close to his 9 See ee oa In fact, he was none other than the redoubt- able veteran frontiersman, Old Avalanche—the hero of more than a hundred desperate scrim- mages and hair-breadth escapes, e was roughly attired, and armed witha Winchester repeating-rifle that looked as if it had seen a deal of service. The animal he bestrode was undersized, and terribly serawny, and had a wicked eye and un- prepossessing countenance, while by its side trotted about as ugly looking a billy goat as one would encounter in a year’s search, An invincible trio was this scout and his ani- mal pets, and many the conflict they had figur- ed in, together. Old Avalanche’s young lady companion was Miss Janet Earl, whom he was escorting through the wilds of Idaho, to the new mining excite- ment, known as Big Brace, where she was go- “A 3 lay claim to some property that had been keft her. ” It was yet a full day’s journey to their desti- nation, and as the pr ts were that they would have to camp down for the night, Old Avalanche’s keen eyes were on the lookout for a desirable camping-spot. Miss Earl was greatly enthused over the wild natural beauty of the scenery, and gave fre- quent expression of her iration, ‘*‘ Yas, et aire purty enough,” Old Avalanche admitted, ‘* but ef ye’d been thru es many scrim- mages an’ skewrups thru ther West, as I hey, er eyes fer scenery would all get knocked bias. hy, great ham-bone thet tantalized ther larnyx of old Joner! Et ain’t bee more’n a couple or three year, thet any one would dare venture inter this canyon, without an escort 0’ twenty ter thirty!” ‘‘ Was it on account of the Indians?” Janet innocently inquired, * Waal, now, by ther jumpin’ Jehosephat, I should say et war!” ‘‘ Were there many of them? | “Many? Great snortin’ snakes! Did ye ever see a passel o’ flies congregate around a plate o’ merlasses? Waal, they warn’t the durn- YJ edest least sarcumstance—great antediluvian ham-bone, no. An’ when ye come down ter jightin’, we're jest ther a Set cyclones at that, you bet—me, Jeremiah, that’s me goat, and Florence Bhan oe yas that’s me hoss, I tell ye, when we uster get into a scrimmage, we made the fur fly, an’ no mistake! I did ther shutin’, Florence did ther kickin’, an’ Jeremiah ther buttin’-—an’ great pestiferous bham-bone, , what a trio we used ter make! When ye come habe to buttin’, Jeremiah he aire the daisy. Ef war ter storm a citerdel, an’ use him fer a batterin’-ram, I'd win every time. An’ as fer Florence’s kickin’ perpensities, ther’ ain’t noth- in’ ter beat her. Why, once she kicked so hard at a red nigger, thet she cast a shoe, and et went cl’ar over ther sun, an’ landed on ther planet of Mars, an’ I got a notis next day, that ef I didn’t come up and claim thet shoe, they’d charge me storage on et. ; ‘‘Why, great ham-bone thet batted ther larnyx of old Joner!” added the Annihilator, in conclusion, ‘‘ them were great times, they were. We uster think nothin’, on a rainy day, of sail- in’ forth an’ killin’ a hundred or two of Injun!” Janet smiled pleasantly at the veteran’s broad assertions. They had now been traveling together for nearly a week, and she had learned to under- stand the Injun Annihilator’s eccentricities quite well. Avalanche never tired of narrating his ex- ploits, and the bigger the yarn the more satis- faction he seemed to take in telling it. ‘‘Those must have been perilous times, in- deed,” Janet observed. ‘‘ Do you think we will reach our destination, to-night, Mr. Avalanche?” ‘‘Humph! I reckon, miss, as how we won't sight ther camp afore ter-morrer afternoon. Guess you’ve got some feller thar, thet ye’r’ anx- ious ter see, eh?” ‘‘No, indeed! Ido not know a soul in Big Brace, which, I suppose, makes you curious to know what is taking me to such a wild place as I imagine that must be,” ‘‘ Waal, ter tell ther truth, I hev been ruther cur’ous ter know, fer from all accounts, et aire a hard camp fer a young gal like you ter ventur’ inter.” ‘¢ Well, there can be no harm in my telling you. About a year ago, when I was living in Chicago, as a child’s nurse, I was out upon the street one day, when I detected a couple of pick- pockets trying to rob a gentleman who was sauntering along, just ahead of me. “*T quickly warned him, and he had the rogues arrested before they could escape. He was pro- fuse in his thanks to me, said he was Hamilton Hinton, a Western mine-owner, declared that he should not forget me in his will, and, slipping a hundred dollar note into my hand, bade me good-by, and that is the last I ever saw of him. ‘‘T never expected to hear of him again, but to my astonishment, a few weeks ago I received a notice that he was dead, and had left to me the bulk of a large fortune, and that I was to come on immediately, and claim it. ‘*T have always been quite saving with my money, and having accumulated several hun- dred dollars, I set out for Big Brace without delay !” Old Avalanche Jistened to this explanation, evincing considerable interest. ‘* Who was this party who sent fer ye?” he asked, when Janet had concluded. _. ‘‘ He announced himself as Mr. Hinton’s law- yer, and gave his name as Jobn Jones,” Janet replied. ‘ John Jones, eh?” Wes, sir.’ : ‘‘Beats all how many Smithses an’ Joneses thar aire!” commen Avalanche. ‘' Waal, young leddy, I hope ye’ll find et all right an’ squar’ when ye git to Big Brace.” There was something in his tone that caused her to glance at him inquiringly. ‘* Why, don’t you think rie ag will be all right?” she demanded, anxiously. ‘Oh! most likely. But, yer aire a powerful rough camp, made up o’ ther skim an’ skum o’ humanity, an’ ther villainous elerment aire top o’ ther heap. I’ve known 0’ cases, already, where gals from ther East hev bin decoyed West fer no good purpose; but *tain’t likely yourn is a case like that—great an- tedeluvian ham-bone! I hope not,” ‘Oh! dear, you frighten me!” Janet said, maasstromting Grea) anxiety. ‘*Tve half a notion to turn back, and not go there, at all.” ‘‘ Pshaw! don’t gitskeered, me lady. Ef ev- erything ain’t on ther dead level squar’, remem- ber thet Old Avalanche, ther Injun Annihilator aire with ye, an’ ready ter sarcumvent whoever may try ter put up a job on ye. By ther smoko o’ Vesuvius, thet aire so.” ‘*-You are very kind, sir, but perhaps I am venturing into even greater peril than even you can ward off.” ‘‘ Great ham-bone that throttled old Joner! Aire that all ye size me up fer? Why, me an’ Jeremiaher, ter say nothin’ about me fiery un- tamed —we kin jest git up an’ knock seven kind 0’ spots out o’ any difickulty that ever “ Halt " Clear, stern, and authoritative, came the order. A masked man had stepped from a clump of bushes, and stood confronting the travelers, whom he covered with two cocked revolvers, Bozeman Bill of Big Brace, gee Big Brace. Seeing this, Old Avalanche immediately drew rein. ‘*Great ham-bone! Who aire you?’ the Annihilator demanded, in surprise, ‘*T am Dark Demming, the road-agent!” was the reply, ‘‘an’ [’'m boss over this particular trail. So make no attempt at resistance, or I'll put a bullet plumb through yourcabeza! Throw down your weapons, if you expect to live to get to Big Brace—for I'll salivate ye, at the least refusal!” ‘What d’ye want?’ demanded Avalanche, grimly. . ‘‘T want you to throw down your weapons!” was the stern answer. ‘‘ Refuse a moment longer, and I'll kill you, and have done with it!” Long experience in the West had taught the Annihilator that it was always advisable to ‘‘cave,” when “covered,” especially if the ‘‘drop” was in the control of a lawiess road- ent. “The Dark Demming meant business, there was no room for doubt, so the old guide drew his knife and two revolvers from his belt, and cast them upon the ground. ‘Perfectly proper!” Dark Demming announ- ced. ‘‘ Now, then, old man, dismount, while you, young lady, remain where you are. If you try to escape I'll make it a dear job for you! Janet was too much frightened to answer. To her, this was a most terrible event. Old Avalanche did not immediately dismount, | as directed, but ‘‘ sized up” his surroundings to — - there was any possibility of escape or ght. ‘‘Come! are you going to make a move?” Demming demanded, moving around to the An- nihilator’s side, and still keeping him covered. ‘Mind! you'd better not trifle with me!” ‘‘ What do you intend to do?’ Avalanche de- manded. ‘) 11 show you. Get off that bone-yard!” ‘6 Tookee heer! don’t yer cast no insinywa-— ther great ham-bone of Hamburg, I'll teetotally An- nihilate yer!” Avalanche growled, as he dis- mounted. “Tll risk your hurting SUT DORY !? Dark Dem- ming sneered. ‘‘-You’re under my thumb, just at present, and though lam not a bad man to deal with, whén obeyed, I’m bad as they make ‘em, when any one tries any 1nulishness, D’ye see this ’ere tree?” ‘* Well?” ‘¢ Put your back against it, till I bind you!” He accompanied the order by thrusting the muzzle of one of his revolvers directly before the Annihilator’s face. tions onter my Arabian reat or, b Seeing no way out of the dilemma, Avalanche was forced to obey. The road-agent then took a rope from his pocket and securely lashed the veteran to the tree insuch a manner that there was no possi- bility of bis making his escape, unaided. “There you are!” Demming said, with a chuckle, as he surveyed his work. ‘ Now, let’s see how you're off for rocks.” He deliberately proceeded to search the scout’s garments for money. | During the short time it had taken for these events to eccur, Jeremiah, the goat, had been an interested spectator, and watched every move and motion as if he understood exactly what was going OD. Several times he shook his head and stamped a foot as if ke did not like the aspect of affairs, and finally, when Dark Demming began to go through the Annihilator’s pockets, uttering a vengeful baa-a-a! and backing up, the beast shot forward like a thunderbolt and struck the road-agent in the hollow of the legs, back of the knee-joints. iT Asa result Demming lost his equilibrium, and fell backward upon the ground, — ‘ an did Jeremiah get in his work beauti- fully. Quick and hard did he butt the fallen and as- tonished outlaw, rolling him over and over, as he howled and cursed, and as fast as Demming tried to get upon his feet he was summarily butted over again. Just at this juncture the rattle of horses’ hoofs was heard upon the hard bottom of the canyon wae a horseman was seen approaching at a full gallop. ; Dark Demming was the first to spy him, and, by a desperate effort regaining his feet, he started off down the canyon with the speed of a deer and disappeared among the bowlders as the horseman reached the point where Old Avalanche was confined. . ‘‘Hello!” he cried, ‘‘what’s the difficulty here?” COMIC eek AB > a a