Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 482 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

‘Ors. eress plunged a dagger into her own heart and fell dead. Stonewall Bob, the Boy = pu | 3 Without further words the Indians departed heard the chief’s command to shoot, and, seeing proceeied to bury | the ineffective work of the excited red-skins, he k Bluford had per- | quickly raised his ne ane rifle, glanced along C 'in haste while the outlaws With acry of terror Singing-Bird fell upon her | their comrades—a duty Blac knee. ut the side of the pale-face woman, drew | formed for the dead white woman before the ar- the dagger from her breast, and began a weird, | rival of his friends, concealing her grave back mourntul wailing over her, Unfortunately, the poor deluded woman’s shot in the grove. The loss of the outlaws had been great. Over intended to end a wicked career had failed to | half of their number had been slain, but the sur- do its work. The bullet only grazed Vandyke’s | vivors concluded that in their great loss of head, stunning him, and in a few minutes he had | friends there would be some gain in the division recovered his senses and was upon his feet, a | of the buried gold should they succeed in getting perfect demon of fury. It was all Black Bluford | it. could do to keep him from slaying the princess, | life, Singing-Bird, and when the frightened girl turned to leave the camp in fear of her life, the outlaw seized her by the arm, saying: ‘** No, no, Miss Ingin, you can’t go, you black, spiteful vixen, you! You shall bear the burden of this tragedy, for it was you, and no one else, that guided that poor deluded woman here to slay me, and finding old Sol, and that girl Mabel Thurston here, released them, and so the death of them three men is upon your head, You needn’t fight, Miss Wildcat, for I’m boss of the situation now. You have seen the day and hour that you could command me, Ingin that you are, but, by the gods, that day has pee 1 pro- "ye now to make you mine, anyhow, and when << sss To them plunder was more than human CHAPTER XII, THE TIDE BEGINS TO TURN. THE hours wore slowly away. Noon came and the sun had been on his downward course some time when the chief, Black Wolf, and a hundred mounted warriors came thunaering down the valley of the North Fork and joined the decimated ranks of the outlaws at their camp in the grove. Here the chief was given a rehearsal of the falsehood calculated to fire his savage breast with deeds of vengeance, The outlaw asserted positively that Singing- Bird was in the hands of the white hunters, and am tired of you, you can stick a dagger into | so excited and alarmed the chief over the fate our heart. aptain,” and the villain turned to lack Bluford, ‘tI shall tarry here no longer. Get the hidden treasure if you can, butasfor me, Ishall at once start for the hills with a red bride, long as I can’t have a white one. To help your cause, tell old Black Wolf thai the pale-faces at Willow Island stole the girl, and if the expedi- tion n».w on the way to the Island fails, the old chief will hurl his whole tribe against them.” ‘* That'll be a good scheme if the chief doesn’t et hold of the truth of matters,” replied the out- aw chief. ‘“ That he never will, captain, for I would be the sufferer,” Vandyke continued; “if you will bury that woman there, I will pull out for the West at once—before any of the Ingins with that expedition return. [ guess I’jl tie my lad 8 claws, and then bring up my horse and sail, So saying, the villain, with the assistance of Black Bluford, bound Singing-Bird’s arms and ankles, and then mounting his horse, which was one of the few left by Old Pegleg, captive in his arms and rode out of the and up the valley toward the west. ; The dusky little princess did not give up with- out a struggle, and she plied her teeth to her captor’s arm with so little mercy that more than once the villain cried out with pain. With his early start and well-rested horse, Vandyke had hoped to reach the hiJls unseen or perrichasted by any one in the vicinity of the Forks. A bend in the valley soon concealed him from view of his friend, Black Bluford, who was ex- ceedingly anxious for his escape. The outlaw chief saw that if the expedition sent to the island failed, he could enlist the whole of Black Wolf's followers against the formidably-intrenched hun- ters by charging Singing-Bird’s absence to them. He was fully aware that the Indians acting with them that night were doing so without the chief’s orders. They were warriors who, returning from the slaughter of the buffaloes, bad espied the three fugitives, Stonewall Bob, Mr. Thurston and his daughter, and had given chase. The death of one of their number fired the others to a spirit of revenge, and this led to other con- flicts that bad cost the red-skins dearly. But Vandyke had been gone scarcely half an bour when three outlaws and five Indians came back to camp with the startling news of the failure of the expedition to the island, and the dreadful loss of life, Cougar Bill being one of the very first slain by the indomitable defenders of Willow Island. , Black Bluford received this news in evident surprise and sorrow. He appeared to become discouraged, and would have departed at once for the hills had he not placed great hope in the scheme of inciting the Indians to the destruc- tion of the white hunters, and thereby secure the secret of the buried gold and the treasure itself. After a few moments’ calm reflection, he turned to the Indians and said: ‘‘ Warriors, go basten to your camp and tell your chief, Black Wolf, that his daughter, Sing- ing-Bird, is a captive in the hands of the pale- face hunters. While we were away from here building that raft the cunning whites came and slew those three men, released the captive maid- en and the captive hunter. Teli him to bring all his braves, for the white huntersare great fight- grove he took the, -_-__-_-——- a | of his child that he seemed almost crazed. Straightway the Sioux led his warriors down the river, accompanied by Black Bluford, and laid siege to Willow Island. Buta few random shots, however, had been exchanged between the shore and island, when the attention of the Indians was attracted to two horsemen and a footman coming down the valley from the west at a leisurely walk. Operations against the island were suspended for the time being, and the approach of the trio awaited in suspense, That one of the horsemen and the footman were white men the savages hed no doubt, but the other appeared to be a woman, and an In- dian at that. Black Bluford watched their approach with a look of alarm upon his face, for he recognized the horse one of them rode as that which Van- dyke had ridden away from the grove, In a short time the party came close enough for the outlaw to recognize all of them; one was Stonewall Bob, another the princess, Singing- Bird, and the third—the man on foot—was Ar- chibald Vandyke! The latter’s hands were tied at his back and one end of a lariat was fastened around his neck and the other made fast to Stonewall’s saddle, and in this way the villain was led along like a haltered ox. As soon as the savages recognized the Boy Tro- jan and the princess they advanced to mect them, A low, vindictive murmur passed from lip to lip, and nearly every hand sought a wea- pon. In a few moments the three were surrounded by the savages. A stern look of triumph was upon the face of Stonewall Bob, Singing-Bird’s face was aglow with joy, while that of the scoun- drel Vandyke was a sight to behold. It looked as if he had been in the clutchesof agrizzly, It was one solid mass of cuts and scratches from which the blood had poured down upon his breast. One eye was swollen shut and overhung with a great b]ubber of puffed-up flesh, The moment she drew rein Singing-Bird leap- ed from her saddle and was embraced by her father. Stonewall Bob remained in his saddle glancing around him, regarding the murderous eyes fo- cused upon him with as cool, calm smile as though the red-skins looked upon him with ad- miration. He heeded not the warriors’ jeers and taunts hurled at him, nor did he move a muscle, nor betray a single fear when a savage, here and there in the crowd, drew a tomahawk as if to S.nging-Bird quickly spoke a few words to ber father in a low tone, when the chief hastily turned and ran his eyes over the assembled throng, his action betraying surprise and indig- nation. His eyes finally came to a rest on Black Bluford, who had just mounted his horse and started away at a gallop, fully cognizant of the storm gathering around him. ‘Stop him! stop him! shoot him!” shouted Black Wolf, at the top of his lungs, his face the very picture of rage Instantly the whole band of warriors turned and sped after the outlaw. Those on the outside of the crowd began firing upon him, and the whistling bullets told the villain that the tidekad turned against him—that the storm had burst upon him, and that his only hope for life now lay in the heels of his horse, Stonewall Bob, still seated upon his horse, throw, or raised a gun as if to fire at him. Trojan. 11 —_—— ee ee ——- the barrel and pressed the trigger. A yell of triumph greeted the shot, for the horse of the fleeing outlaw sunk to the earth with a broken shoulder, and before Black Blu- ford could extricate himself from the wreck, as. it were, the savages were upon him, But Black Bluford was not a coward, He resolved to sell his life dearly as possible and fought the war- riors with a fearful desperation, many of them biting the dust before he was overpowered and disarmed. Black Wolf and his daughter turned to Stone- wall Bob and complimented him on his shot ina very extravagant flow of Indian language. Then he was invited to dismount and be seated on a blanket spread by the chief onthe ground. This he did, the chief seating himself before him on the same blanket, while the princess held the young Trojan’s horse and looked in silent admi- ration. Stonewall Bob knew enough of Indian cus- toms to know that to be invited to a seat on the same blanket with the chief, and for one of the royal household to hold the horse of a guest, were among the highest honors that could be aid to a white friend; and so the Boy Tro- jan found himself a hero among his late ene- mies. Of course, he knew it all came of his having rescued Singing-Bird from the power of the vil- lain who stood but a few feet away regarding the scene with the feeling of one whose feet al- ready stood on the scaffold. , The warriors now gathered around the chief and Stonewall Bob, They saw that their leader was conferring honors upon the pale-face and they at once assumed an attitude that showed a respect for the wishes of their chief. Black Wolf could speak English fairly. With the characteristic promptness of the Indian to bestow titles of honor upon those who have per- formed deeds of valor, he at once dubbed Bob White-Buffalo-Calf, much to the amusement of the young plainsman. Nothing would do the chief but that Bcb must narrate the manner in which he bad rescued Singing-Bird, and to show an appreciation of the honor conferred upon bim, the boy began: ‘* When the night had passed and White. uffa- lo-Calf had come over from yonder island with his friends, he saw a horseman galloping westward with a captive in hisarms. White-Buffalo-Calf knew that something was wrong, and he mount- ed his pony and rode away in pursuit of the bad man. He did not expect to catch bim so soon, but his captive, the fair daughter of the chief, had managed to slip her little hands from her bonds, and then she did not hesitate, brave little lady that ‘she was, to show the mettle of the Black Wolfs, and forthwith she plied the nails of her little fingers on the face of her captor as the glossy catamount lies his pearly talons in the flesh of the tender ‘awn, She made it so extremely lively for her captor, as you can see by his lacerated face, that he had to dismount to rebind her hands. On the ground she gave bim another round, and made the bark fly like sitty-leven. Before the bad man had succeeded in binding her, White-Buf- falo-Calf charged down upon him likea whole herd of young bisons, gave him a left-hander over the right eye that knocked bim out of plumb, and then the work was done, and with Singing-Bird and the bad man IJ returned here.” Black Wolf must bave understood, in sub- stance, if not in detail, Stonewall’s lavishly-told story, for he smiled in a very satisfied wey, and said: ‘“The White-Buffalo-Calf is a great brave! Singing-Bird herself has said so, and she is the daughter of Black Wolf, the great Sioux chief,” ‘“That makes it so, for the chief is a great warrior,” responded Bob, determined not to be outdone in fulsome rg el at the same time secretly wishing that his friends at the island could see him and hear him “‘ ladle out taffy” to. the conceited old chief and the gaping warriors around him. The conversation between the two—the boy and the chief—lasted for some time, and during the whole of it the princess stood by, feastin her dark eyes upon the face of ber rescuer with a profound look of admiration that produced a burning envy in the breasts of many young war- riors who would have given their right arms for Singing-Bird’s approving smile Meanwhile, those at the island were not igno- rant of the arrival of Stonewall Bob among the Indians, but they were entirely ignorant of what was going on, They had seen the excited de-. monstrations of the warriors at the time of'