Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 484 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

> a LE eee give, and a description of which would appall the stoutest heart. For an hour or two after the separation of the Indian parties, not a word was exchanged be- tween the capt rs of Dick; but at the end of that time, he heard a voice which caused him to prick his ears and listen. It came from the man nearest him, and he raised his head so far as it was possible to do so, and stared intently toward him; but the ex- treme darkness forbade him distinguishing any features—but he listened. It was some time before the horseman spoke again, and when he did so it was with an ex- tremely cautious voice; but the sharp ears of Dick heard it, and he recognized in it the voice of a white man. ‘‘ Just what I thought,” he reflected; ‘‘it’s that Manzal, and he is at the bottom of this business; If I were only free for a moment; but by-and-by iny time will come.” Still the captive made no effort to free him- self; his ‘‘ spell” had not passed entirely off. In a few moments he heard the voice. “T say, you!” called out Dick, turning his head toward the one who had “pares But no reply was made until he had repeated the address several times, and then a gruff voice demanded: ‘* Keep yer slack shet. What do you want?” ‘*T only wanted to make sure that it was you, Alfredo Manzal, who was so near me. That’s all for the present.” his shot told. Manzal, with good reason, feared this man more than any man living, and he bad little desire to remain anywhere within possible reach of him. He had been urging the Comanches to put bim out of the way, and they only refused because they wished to put him on exhibition before doing so. The unmistakable threat conveyed in the re- ply of Dick was fully understood by Manzal, and it sent a thrill of terror through him. As he was powerless to inflict any injury on the captive, he determined to put himself out of a sition where it was possible to receive any urt at his hands. After a few minutes, he ac- quainted the Comanches with the necessity of leaving them for a time, but pledging himself to be ‘*in at the death.” And in the course of a half-hour, he quietly withdrew from the party and took a different course over the prairie, and when daylight dawned, he was beyond their sight. Several hours later he appeared at the ruins of the hacienda as Ephraim Hopkins was pre- paring his dinner, and there, for a short time, we must leave the two in rather a critical situa- tion as concerns at least the latter individual. The Comanches reunited at daybreak, and for the next few miles proceeded in company. By this time Dick had begun to arouse himself, and he exchanged looks with his friends, but no words passed between them, The extraordinary being was still his own master, and he preferred to wait the ‘‘ good time” which he believed would soon come. An occurrence now took place, so terrible in its character that we can not give the particu- lars of it, and only refer to it in order that our readers may have an understanding of what fol- lowed. The sun was only a short distance above the horizon, when they descried a solitary hunter riding toward them. Fromsome unaccountable cause, he turned neither to the right nor left, but came directly onward until within a few rods, when a sense of his own peril seemed to come over him for the first time, and he attempt- ed to flee. | But it was too late. Several shots were fired, himself wounded and his horse killed. As a matter of course, he was instantly captured. Finding resistance useless, he began pleading in the most abject manner with his captors. Co- manche Dick listened until sickened at the sight, when he sternly called out: “Shut up your mouth; if youw’rea baby, it won't do any good to let folks see it.” The poor fellow seemed ashamed at his timid- ity, and said no more. When the clothes upon Comanche Dick were exchanged for those upon the other prisoner, no objection was made, The latter did not understand what it meant, but the former did, and he saw an opportunity for gain- ing a greater freedom of his limbs, Vhen the barter of garments was made, the majority of the party moved on, taking the three captives with them, while a few remained behind to indulge in the luxury of tormenting their other cuptive. Their preparations were so elaborate that they came near heing disappointed of their enjoy- ment by the appearance of the rangers in the distance. Suspecting who they were, the red- skins remounted and fled, taking quite a different direction from the party in advance of them, so as to mislead the hunters, whose errand was well understood, For a time this stratagem succeeded, but the keenness of Black George and his companions began to suspect the artifice, although it was in the power of the Indians to have carried out the plan with perfect success, as had they taken a few more of their number, and used some of their own dead to personate the captives, they could have deceived their pursuers so completely that they would have been thrown entirely off the trail, and kept off until the golden opportu- nity went by. he pursuers and pursued being equally well mounted, probably nothing would have resulted from the chase so long as it was carried out as it was begun. The Comanches endeavored to draw them on so far as they could, as every mile thus yassed over was more gain for the party that held the prisoner's, The act of exchanging the condemned man’s shoes for those of Comanche Dick was to deceive those in the rear into the belief that their favor- ite leader was done for, and any assistance from him, therefore, was out of the question. Now and then some of the fleeing Indians arose to the standing position on the backs of their animals, and looked back at their pursuers. They saw, with the grim exultation of the suc- cessful warrior, that they bad drawn them off from the pursuit, and every thing certainly looked as if their stratagem was about to suc- ceed. But about noon, the Comanches missed the four horsemen that had been hanging on their rear so long, They halted and looked back, but nothing was to be seen of them. Then they mounted their horses again, and scanned every yart of the horizon; but the hunters had dropped faices their field of vision, and they looked in vain. So they concluded they had given up the pursuit as hopeless. The red-skins, having no doubt upon this point, once more converged toward their com- yanions, who, from their standpoint, were plain- ly visible, and the whole body of Comanches began coming together again. nd all this time, Black George and Long Eph were crouching upon the top of the mound with their eyes strained toward them, an watching every movement of the red-skins with the relentless vigilance of the panther creeping upon its prey. Every movement that passed under their eye —every turn and maneuver of the fast-vanish- ing horsemen—the long trail of dust which, as- cended to the air as they skurried over the prai- rie—the convergence of the red-skins—all these were proofs Of the correctness of their surmises, And finally the direction taken by the Coman- ches, just as they were vanishing from view, satisfied Black George that his suspicions were right in every particular. CHAPTER X. TOWARD HURRICANE RIVER, WHEN the two hunters descended from the mound, their faces showed that their spirits re- tained, figuratively, the same elevation. ‘* See yer, younker,” said Black George, ad- dressing Middleton, ‘‘ how much longer do you s’pose yer Can stand it without eatin’?” ‘‘ Kating?” repeated the young man, with an expression of dejection in his face; ‘*‘ I couldn’t eat a mouthful with all this trouble at my heart.” ‘** That ain’t what I axed yer.” ‘* I never want to eat again till I find her.” ‘** Wal, younker, if you'll only stick to that, I won’t ax no more, I feel a sorter holler in my innards that I think I could chuck an ox or buffler inter, but we ain’t got no time to do it. Ef you’re ready we're going to lead you on a leetle the tallest tramp you ever see’d.” ‘fam glad to hear it, for that sounds like business,” ‘* Howsomever, these yer animiles have got to be ’tended to, or they’ll ‘gi’n out, jist when we can’t stand it, so we'll give ’em a half-hour or so at that ’ere grass, while we take a smoke, and then we’re off for Hurricane River.” The four stretched themselves upon the ound, and the hunters produced their pipes. alter offered them one of his cigars, but each preferred his favorite clay pipe, and the whole four puffed in unison, The three men occasionally exchanged words in low tones. but it was evident that they vader- stood each other and each other’s plans so well that there was no necessity of explaining any- SSS sss sss SSS Leer Comanche Dick, and His Three Invincibles. 1L thing. They merely indulged in a few specula- tions as to the whereabouts and the movements of the Comanches. Middleton’s mind was so active, and his heart so wrapped up in the enterprise, that he was al- most tamanmibsls to fatigue. He had been bluffed so decidedly by Black George on several occa- sions, that at first he resolved to give him no further opportunity, But finally his curiosity impelled him to take advantage of the first occasion that presented itself, and he inquired: ‘* How far is Hurricane River from here?” ‘* Nigh onto fifty miles, and in the Comanche country.” ‘* When do you expect to reach it?” ‘** Tt’s got to be done to-night, or not at all.” ‘“*T tell you, George, I don’t see how it cam be done.” ‘You'll Varn, then, before to-morrers’ sun-up. We've done the thing once or twice afore, and we kin do it ag’in,” ‘* Must we be there by sunset?” ‘* Bless yer, no. To explanify it to yer—thar’s a spot whar this Comanche ged is likely to cross to git to thar village, and what we’ve got to aim at is to git thar ahead of ’em, and make a stroke fur the gals,” ‘* Suppose they beat us?” ‘‘Then the jig is up,” was the prompt reply. ‘*Once across that ‘ere stream, and the red- skins are so all-fired thick that a crow couldn’t keep from gittin’ cotched. I’ve been on the edge of the country, and I never want to try it ag’in. Jake was carried thar a couple of years. ago, and ef it hadn’t been that one of thar squaws tuk a shine to him, and piloted him over the river one dark nightin astorm, you wouldn’t see that ugly mug of his thar, suckin’ that ipe.” +: What reason is there for believing that we can reach the place ahead of them, when they have several hours’ start?” ‘* As it begins to look as though you war goin’ to have a hand in the muss, I'll take the trouble to explanify the whole thing to yer,” said Black George, whose buoyant spirits made him quite talkative. ‘* In the fust place, ef them skunks war now aimin’ straight fur the crossin’ of Hurricane River, thar ain’t no hoss livin’ that could git thar abead of ’em, They’re goin’ twenty miles out o’ tha’r way.” ‘*For the purpose of misleading us, I sup- ose?” ‘‘That’s the ijee. Now, when we start, as we'll do in "bout ten minutes, from the way them animals ar’ eatin’, we shall have jist bout the same distance to travel to reach Hurricane as they have.” ‘‘ Then there is no reason to prevent our get- ting there several hours in advance!” exclaimed Middleton, jumping eagerly to the conclusion. “Ef they keep up the rate they started on, we couldn’t do it; but 1 think we managed one thing well,” «What was that?” ‘We made them think that we war toro green to s’pect the trick they war playin’ off on us—so when they git fairly out of sight, as they’ve done now, they’ll ease up, and take it more easy.” ‘¢On account of the captives, I suppose.” Black George took his pipe from his mouth, in order tbat he might indulge in one of his quiet laughs, ‘Not so much as on account of the ani- miles.” ‘*Tell me, George, since we are into the mat- ter and there are a few minutes left us, why this crossing is the favorable place? Can they not ford the river in some other spot just as well?” ‘* Yowre on the ijee ag’in. Thar ain’t a ford within fifty miles north or south of this one whar a party of a dozen ain’t likely to lose half tha’r horses in gittin’ over. But jist thar the stream stretches out so broad and mild, with such a good, hard, sandy bottom, that a pony won’t wet his belly in wadin’ over. Thar’s whar they’ll cross, yer can make up yer mind to that.” There was an emphatic positiveness in the manner of Black George, exceedingly encourag- ing to one who was in the anxious, doubtin state of mind of Walter Middleton, and he too heart, as much from his confident manner as from his words. ‘** ‘What special advantages will the spot afford us in the way of attack or of rescuing our friends?” ‘* We shall have them on the hip; we ca’c’late on throwin’ ’em into confusion, and gittin’ off afore they know what’s the matter.” STA