Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 5 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

a Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. can’t help it. The Lord made me, and if he done a bad P ten it’s not the first, else He didn’t make President Bildad. Gracious Peter! what's that mean?” The dull report of a pistol-shot, and a yell came from the vicinity of the settlers’ camp; but a deep silence followed. “ By larminy!” exclaimed Joe, tipping back his cap upon his head as if to relieve his hear- ing; ‘it must be there’s something wrong down that way—leastwise, the president has stopped his melodious singin’. ollyhorns! what if an Ingin has slipped up and plugged the old pumpkin?” This thought seemed the offspring of an in- tuitive fear. He could not see the camp of hi neighbors bans Rag blinding mist of snow between ; but he scarcely asked himself the question, cre the sound of voices, in angry alter- cation down at the settlers’ tent, came to his ears in terrible distinctness. He stood motionless and listened. He heard the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle; excited eeinaa and execrations from the lips of Bildad eeks. “By Sallymander! the president is tryin’ to expel somebody from his tent,” the lad mused; then as asavage yell came up from his neigh- bors’ camp, he started with an exclamation of fear: ‘‘ by Jericho! the Indians have attacked the oh tek and he’s all alone. That’ll never Forgetting all the past in an instant, Vaga- Sant Foe tink up his Pifle and started to Meeks’s assistance , but as he stepped from the door of the tent he was confronted by half a dozen shrouded figures that disputed his further pas- were Indians; this the lad saw at a glance, although the snow, clinging, like clots of cotton, to their clothes, wrought such a change in their looks as to give them the ap- pearance of storm-fiends. “‘ Hullo, red-skins!” exclaimed the boy guide, endeavoring to conceal his emotions. “Waugh!” returned the Indians, shrugging their shoulders, and shaking the snow from their clothes. = “ Quite a storm, isn’t it, red-skins?”’ continued Oe. ** Good storm,” answered an Indian. ‘“How comes you fellers down here so fur from home?’ ** Come for youl” was the laconic reply, given in good English. *“ But, followers of the great Ishtahaba, I’m engaged,” Joe responded with a tinge of sar- casm in his tone. with us allthesame. You are upon our hunting-grounds and shall suffer for trespassing,” answered the spokesman of the party. _ At this juncture two other Indians came oe with Bildad Meeks in custody, his hands boun at his back, and a rope around his neck by which the was led like an animal. The old man seemed ess with terror, yet was panting like an overworked ox. “Hullo!” exclaimed Joe; ‘‘how’s this, presi- dent? Seems the red salamanders have got the heels of you, this time. They’ve no respect for officials, have they? Why didn’t you expel as you did me?” ‘* Vagabond Joe,” said the old captive, with a dolorous whine, ‘‘ you should not make light of things.” such ‘‘Tt’s no laughing matter, I assure you,” ad- mitted Joe, ‘but then you must grin and bear it, president. It’s nothin’ compared with the sufferin’ of the martyrs, is it?” ‘‘Confusticate you, boy! I believe you are in Teague with these red devils!” declared Meeks, his ge the better of his ent. Further words between Joe and Meeks were here cut short by an Indian advancing and tak- ing hold of Joe rather —— ‘Keep your paws off of me, old tatterdema- lionite, or you git your solar system knocked out of kilter. I'll let you know that [’'m no daisy to be plucked off by sich a kill wey, Tag- rack as ~ be!” exclaimed Joe, jerking away from the Indian and drawing a pistol upon him. “ Now then, jist crowd on that and see if I don’t ‘scoot nae a like a sharp pain thro’ your mnatomy. I'll let you know yovw’re foolishin’ with dang’rous explosives.” | The Indians were astonished by this unex- — resistance on the part of the youth; but surprise turned to excitement and they at once closed upon the boy. The latter fired his ‘pistol, then a regular scuffle ensued. Like an eel Joe eluded their and for a time gave “them a tively fight; but he was finally compelled @o yield to overwhelming numbers and was made prisoner. But his capture had cost fis captors one of their warriors. The red-skins did not plunder the tents. With their two captives and dead comrade they had all they could well get away with; nor did they stop to destroy the nts, for every moment was of the utmost im- portance to them in getting away. The prisoners were hurried northward with merciless cruelty. Vagabond Joe was wiry and supple, and possessed of as much endurance as his captors; but Meeks soon began to show signs of failing strength, and his appeals for mercy were regarded with blows and jeers of mockery and derision. Fortunately for the old man, however, they reached camp about dark. This camp was only a temporary arrangement located in the head of a cee: gully or ‘‘ washout” in a narrow val- ley on the margin of the woods. The “ wash- out” was a long narrow channel about ten feet deep. It had cut there by the gradual wear of water flowing from several springs fur- ther up the ravine. But all was now frozen up, and the channel perfectly dry and affording an admirable shelter. The sav had stretched blankets across from. bank to k and pinned the edges fast, thereby roofing over enough of the channel to answer their need of protection. And it made a real cosy camp with the earth for walls upon the three sides. A fire was lighted at the upper end of this camp, the smoke escaping through a water crev- ice on the side. Meeks and Vagabond Joe were seated on one side under the slightly shelving bank and bound to huge roots that had been laid bare by the washing away of the earth. } Neither of the captives could form the faint- est conception of what their fate was to be. That their captors intended to remain there was evident from the dispositions they made for that express purpose, by laying in a supply of fuel and patching up the holes in the roof of their camp. , Joe studied the situation closely. He saw that the Indians were the worst characters of Ishtahaba’s band; and that the one directing the movements of the party, and otherwise mani- festing authority, was a young war-chief named Red Hand. He could not have been over twenty years of , and although a little under me- dium size, he was wiry and agile as a panther. Red Hand had al y made a record by his cruelty inst his red neighbors and white settlers. Joe knew, and consequently en- tertained little hope of mercy at his hands. There was one white man among the Indians. This Joe discovered by the man’s voice and movements, notwitstanding his disguise, And there was something about the renegade that struck him as being familiar; but despite his ef- forts, Joe was unable to penetrate the man’s ise. ortly after their arrival in camp Red Hand and this renegade stepped aside and entered into a secret consultation. Joe endeavored to catch the drift of their conversation; but in this he failed. He was satisfied, however, by the glances of the young chief that he and Meeks were the main object of their conference. Outside, night had settled down, wild and tempestuous. The snow had ceased to fall, but the wind rising, swept across the plain, driving the fallen flakes in blinding clouds before it. The lower end of the camp was open, and the Indians saw that the snow was drifting into the ‘““ washout” below at a rate that threatened to soon fill the channel to the top, and block the serene ligt a arm The roof of skins owever, protected the interior of the red-skins' retreat, though now and then an eddying gust oo a cloud of flakes inside from ow. North and east lay an interminable prairie where the caprices of the storm ran spirit free. West vard stood the deep, dense wood, over and against which the wild winds beat and surged with the unbridled fury of ten thousand de- mons. The roof of the ‘‘ dugout,” for such the camp of the Indians would really be termed in western phraseology, swa up and down un- der the tread of the storm-king. Fine particles of snow sifting down through the holes in the covering, glittered and glistened like a shower of diamond sands in the ruddy glow of the mig toe Venison was brought out and roasted and eaten by the sav ‘ me 8 offered their cap- tives some, but both declined to eat. The hours wore slowly on. Deep and sullen the wind swept down the plain and rumbled over the roof of dugout. Joe watched the white stream one over the bank just outside of the eamp like an endless waterfall, A strange smile lit up his boyish face as he saw the ditch slowly but surely filling up—slow to him for the moments now Fans ice inin. utes. He grew restive and finally addressed his fellow captive: ‘President, this is more than we bargained for, isn’t it?” ildad Meeks answered in a deep groan. “‘ But it’s only a foretaste of what’s to come,” Joe continued. ‘What do you mean, Vagabond?” ‘‘Oh, I mean this storm ll weave you and me a winding-sheet.” Again the chief officer of the school-board tee in spirit; but his anguish soon turned indignation, and he broke forth: ‘I wonder what in the fire and nation the boys are doing that they don’t come and help us out of this?” ‘“‘T reckon they’ve all they can do to look after themselves,” replied the boy; ‘ but, presi- dent, something’s comin’ now.” The last words were spoken in a whisper, for he noticed the Indians busy loading their pistols. Presently Red Hand and two of his warriors came up, and releasing Joe, bade him rise to his feet. é worst was co and Joe knew it. Each of the Indians had a pistol in his hand. Red Hand quietly informed Joe that they were going to use as a target—that some- thing must be done to pass the long winter night. He ordered the young trapper to stand up against the een marksmen, at the same time giving him the cheerful assurance that it was not their intention to kill him but just see how close they could shoot to his head without hit him. The red-skins had removed the lad’s bonds in hopes that his freedom would lead him into some rash act that would be a good excuse for slaying him. Joe saw through their murderous game at once. They knew the boy could not escape, for the gully below was now filled to the very top with drifted snow, which had, also, led up the open, or lower end of the camp. They were completely screened from the outside world and its storm. Their light could not be seen; neither could their pistol- ges a afar. Vhile the preparations for Joe’s torture were ane made, the youth’s eyes and brain were usy. “I say, smut-faces,” he finally said, in an ex- ting tone, ‘‘ I’m sure the night ’d pass al} the more interestin’ to me if you’d let me have every other shot.” isoner of Red Hand; “The pale-face is the already he has slain one of my braves,” said the you calculate to salt m _.* Well, then, Is do you? ef you do, I don’t want any fuzz- in’ "bout it,” said Joe; “you know Siete the fair thing by your brave—didn’t keep him foolin’ ‘round, but plugged him right through and let him light out for the happy hunting-grounds.” ‘* Let the pale-face be silent,” commanded Red an indignantly ; ‘“‘and take his place against e bank. ‘‘One more request, red-skin,” isted Joe; ; let me warm my hands, for they’re nighly roze. He advanced toward the fire. az he ke. Every Indian had his eyes fixed upon +e ‘Oh, but this is rot pee fire, Red Hand,” Joe said, ** but they me that when a bad— iene murder! look comin’ in younder, red- 8 He raised his finger, and pointed inan excited, tragic manner toward the upper end of the ditch. Mechanically he Indian turned his eyes in bw Ve meee -— cated; and, at _ same in- aga oe sprung over the with the quickness and agility of a wanes and —— headlong into the great snow-drift be- ow and disap from oe of the outwit- 6 snow i bei ted sav. ing so light and ‘that it offered scarcely m resis than a of thistle-down. ee ped A dozen pistol-shots were fired into the snow, then, Red Hand, with a fierce yell, shot into the great drift in pursuit of the cunning trapper- e holes made in the snow closed behind Joe and the chief as soon as they were made consequently they left no trail behind to guide others. | Two warriors climbed out of the ditch to watch for the a unce of the white fox on md Aen but the blinding storm drove them Those left stood patiently, eagerly awajti return of their chief, wai the disruised tun man walked the inclosure, and swore furiously in his beard. a\(0K0)| <S,(€(0) (G eGoim