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

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

Vagabond Joe. The Indians felt almost certain that Red- Hand would recapture the young pale-face, and they e ted every moment to see him bulge out of the snow-bank with the captive in hand. were doomed to great + gna hour passed, and he came not. “ Red Hand,” said one of the warriors, “‘ will bring the pale-faced boy when he comes.” F ¥ ”" growled the disguised renegade, sar- castically; “ judgment-day will bring a good many boys, and braves too, when it comes. The fact of it is, Vagabond Joe has outwitted us all. CHAPTER III. A VOICE FROM THE ‘* DEEP.” WueEwn the friends of Vagabond Joe and Bil- dad Meeks returned to camp and found them gone, they had no difficulty in determining the cause of their absence. ‘The cussed Injins have been here at last,” said Neutral Bill, the hunter and guide to the little party of settlers, from the famed Neutral Grounds. ‘‘Of course, they have carried them away prisoners,” said Captain Ralph Howard. Captain Howard was g authority, as well as Neutral Bill. He was a young man, yet had seen service in the United tes army as Cap- tain of dragoons, fighting the treacherous foe of civilization upon the south-western frontier. It was there that he had conceived a desire for the rt of hunting; eae! neg his taghroag the army he had em every op to gratify this love of the chase and vifte, ‘“m afraid, captain,” declared Neutral Bill, “‘ that yer in’ of the truth. [m fond of the truth when it’s convenient, but when a mis- take "ll do just as well, I’ve no objection to it. It seems queer that Vagabond Joe ’d be catched by the tarnal critters; but then I low the storm’s been the cause of the hull of it.” “Yes, and it will continue to favor the say- ages. Every track is filled with snow. But we must not stand idle. It will soon be dark, and every moment employed before will be of great value to us and the captives. If you have any idea of the course taken by the foe, Bill, lead out.” ““They’d go north-west, to be sure,” said B ‘“Yoa’se their village ’s off in that d’rection. don’t think, however, they’ll make for home to- night. They must have a temporary huntin’ camp up the coun somewhar, and we might blunder across it, who knows. Come on, boys; it’s been many days since I war on the war- th, and I’m a leetle rusty ; but I think all the fight that war ever in me’s thar yit. This ’s quite a flirt of a storm, but ve been in wusser.” Buttoning their coats to their chins and draw- ing their caps down well over their heads and ears, the little band of hunters set off in search of their friends. They traveled on through the storm as fast as ible, Night settled around them, dark and urious. The deep snow made walking heavy and laborious. It was not very cold, but disagreeable. It seemed impossible for any human being to keep his course through that awful night and storm; but with head bent to the driving blast, Neutral Bill pressed on and on, his comrades following close behind. The eternal crunch, crunch, of the snow beneath their feet was the only sound that broke upon the monotony of their journey, aside from the storm that went roaring ppg. + the heavens, On and on they tru the snow clinging to their clothing, and their chilled breath forming into heavy icicles about their mouths upon their beards. . As they continued northward, the wind seemed to grow stronger and trail the flurry- ing snow through the forest aisles with a sav- age force. + ‘We must be approaching the plain,” Ca tain Howard Sendarad to Raed s under his frozen “Yes, boys, we are,” replied Old Bill; ‘‘to tell ou the God’s truth of it, I am lost, and have heen for two hours.” ‘Tost?’ exclaimed his companions in aston- isoment. ‘* Lost,” ap tgs the old hunter, <a to a halt upon a sparsely W e; ‘here we are on te ge of the woods, and the storm slap in’ us square into the face.” ; Heavens we'll perish,” said Mr, Braxton, one of the Fort Dodge settlers. ‘We will if we venture out into the aye admitted Old Bill; ‘‘ but let us go on down in the holler, and see what's thar; and mebby then I can git my bearin The old hunter led the way down a steep hill- side, the storm beating into their faces until they could scarcely breath. They had soon reached the valley, and were moving rapidly across it, when denly a cry eachped the lips of the guide, and the next instant he sunk from view of his companions, as though the earth had opened and swallowed him. ““My God! where’s Bill?’ exclaimed Captain Howard, ping short, for he alone had seen the old hunter disappear. ‘* Where, indeed?’ cried Joe Braxton. The captain cautiously advanced a step or two, feeling the way before him with the muzzle of his rifle; but the first thing he knew he felt himself sinking downward into some unknown depths. K general exclamation escaped the lips of the party. ‘* Ah, by heavens!” ejaculated Fred Manning, the boon companion of Captain Howard’ “there is a pitfall—a chasm there!” ‘Then our friends have been— But hark!” The sound of laughter came up from the depths of the pit into which Neutral Bill and a Howard had disappeared so mys- rio The iitéle party of storm-travelers listened. “Hullo, up thar, boys!’ they heard the voice of Old Bill call out from below; ‘‘the rest of ye tumble down here, and we'll go into camp. It’s a lettle the snug spot this side of the Neutral Grounds. Jist drap yerselves over kind o’ eas —only a fall of ten or a thousand feet; and you land in a soft pile of snow. Come down, and walk into our parlor.” The aonb eager to escape the oot of the cutting blast, drop themselves over the bank as directed; and then, guided by the voice of Old Bill, crept into a large commodious cavern, where the storm could not reach them. It was dark as pitch, however, and after groping about and finding a perfect network of dry roots and twigs, Old Bill proceeded to light a fire. This he was readily enabled to do, being provided with = necessary means of the hunter for procuring e. In a moment a bright fire diffused its warmth and ruddy glow through the cavern, one wall of which was formed by an overhanging bank, and the other by a pile of drifted snow. A novel sight was presented to the view of the snow- bound hunters, and for a moment they regarded it with a look of awesome admiration. The wall of earth had been made by the wear of water, though none of this element was there now. Millions of roots, large and small, hung bare from the overshadowing bank. They were arled and twisted into a thousand ogerish orms, and tangled and knotted like the hair of the Furies—all of which seemed aquiver with life, as the light, reflected from the spotless bank of snow on the opposite side, danced and trembled over them, The face and form of each man were covered with snow, and to those that wore beards, hung long, clanking icicles, Altogether, they resem- bled the fabled storm-spirits of the Boreal land —looking as weird and grotesque in the dim, un- certain glow of their light as spirits in the gloaming. “Well, boys,” said Captain Howard, as he thridded the ice and snow from his beard with his fin ‘this is a little more than I had bar- gained for—a very disagreeable ending of a pleasant week’s huntin ” “Oh, this is nothin® ca - after you git used to it,” shape me Neutral i tn fact, this is whar the real sport comes in.” “‘T would enjoy it better, probably, were Vag- abond Joe and Mr. Meeks not in danger,” replied Howard. ‘Wall, captain, we might as well keep a bold front and stiff backbone, and laugh instead of cry. It'll do jist as much good as to wilt and worry. Everything seems to be ag’in’ us at this time; but I never see’d a storm in all my life that could beat me out. I got tangled up in a night onee before, but had no such luck as to tumble into a place like this. No, sires; I jist curled up and laid down and let the storm kiver me. And you may bet the old jade tucked her quilts close around me as though I was her pre- cious dear; and thar full a hull week, more or less, I laid still as a bear in a holler log. Finally I dug out like a hedgehog and went on my way as happy as a woodpecker in a cherry tree.” **T should think you would have sniothered,” observed Fred Manning. ‘All but that, my boy; thar’s more nateral warmth under a snow-drift than thar is in the polar regions of the brimstone country; and as to smotherin’, why, you couldn’t smother nothin’ —whew! what war that?” The old hunter started up in great excitement. 5 A sound not unlike a far-off human voice fell upon his ears. All held their breath and listened. Something like a moan came to their ears. It seemed to issue from the earth, or snow-bank, and was freighted with accents of horrible agony. “*It’s somebody in distress,” decided Captain Howard. ‘*T do wonder if it is?” queried Bill. As if in answer again broke u than before. The upon the snow- by some horrible fascination. es of our to his question the sound n their ears—nearer and louder became fixed before them as if held there Closer and closer the sound seemed to come. sc M snow ” exclaimed Fred Manning. ‘* Harkee! harkee!” ordered Ol lifted hands. God! some one is buried under that d Bill, with up- The next instant they saw the snow, just op- ite the fire, bulge outward; then a human ead was thrust from the wall of crystal flakes. The little party of hunters started back in amazement. The head slowly emerged from the snow, and was followed by a pair of shoulders, a lithe form, and a pair of legs incased in buck-skin. Standing upright, this figure shook the snow from his form, our e, Vagabond Joe!’ “By (ay te cried Captain Howard; “ it is ‘So it is, my gallant cavaliers,” lied the intruder, who was Vagabond J nas fmf eno As the youth emerged from the snow, drag: and that something, all saw, was an warrior. It was the — chief, Red Hand. Vagabond captor. CHAPTER IV. A TORPEDO IN A SNOWBALL. THE shout which ted the une rival of Vagabond Joe was followed ance of the boy with his wet, hanging about with rise his mouth open, arranged, and the Indian writhin, all were sufficient to have provo sedate judge into merriment. at his something into the light behind him; Indian oe had turned the tables upon his ar- y an out- burst of ringing laughter. The ludicrous a ce < er is face: his big over impemtod cl dis- oo ‘**By the great mollyhorns!” the young trap- r exclaimed, ‘‘ what in the name of the mys ries are you fellers doin’ here? What's oP got boys? what ails you? Have you all laughin’ fan-tods? Is’t a real fact that I have met my friends on earth? or have we all under- change and slipped off into—well, the ea ae of the condemned? ‘*Now, Joseph,” said Old Bill “you know — on yarth; but we tumbled into this ditch ookin’ ’round for you; and here we concluded to remain till the storm subsided. But, whar did you come from? what’s that you thar?’ got ‘* Well, sir, I come from the upper eend of this gully whar eight or ten red-skins are tucked away snug asa bug inarug. Me and President Bildad Meeks t nabbed by the red scavengers and waltzed off up to camp; and when they con~ cluded to stand me up ee -prac- to a big tice I filed objections, and jumped snow-drift and poled out like a mole through the snow. And I hadn’t gone fur till I felt some thin’ clutchin’ at my heels, and knowin’ it wasa red- , I turned and let into him like a wild- cat, make the snow and fur fly, reat war of the Pequods! if we didn’t don’t want a cent. We fit and fit for—conscience only knows how long; and it war ni I finally got ther by the and tuck atwixt us. , Trip-roarin’ jibbernainosa of the head and then I fetched him a-keelin’ from taw. He soon give up, and them ; el, ki I began to back down the young chief after ’ the me; and if we’ve bored one rod we've bored a mile through this drift. I see now that my captive is a disti alorum of Ishtahaba’s band. It the young chief, a es The hunters expressed their and econ- gratulated Joe on his vaeauuanl acai *“* But where’s Bildad Meeks?” one of the settlers. “I left him reposin’ in Red Hand’s camp; but tial I expect he’s got more holes in his i carkass than a cake of honeycomb.” “Tl tell you Bildad’s in trouble,’ Old Bill declared. boys, I can’t remain quiet if POI ‘You can’t do anything in the face of thie storm, even if you should attempt it,” was Cap- tain Howard’s opinion, JOO com (El) le