Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 52 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

American and Hudson Bay Fur companies, they believed there was an inviting opening for them, and they were willing to spend a little fortune to ascertain the truth. There would naturally be some prejudice a- gainst this interference by the men whose busi- ness would be the most directly affected there- by and Putnam, therefore, was anxious to a- void raising any coldness between himself and the trapper, for whom he had formed quite a rot Sa up. He therefore made the non-commit- tal r eply: ou know that but a very small portion of the country west of the Mississippi is wall known and understood in the East. Lewis and Clarke have done something to enlighten them, and Fremont is at it now; but none of these:men have new any where near the country that we have etermined to visit.” ‘Oh! that’s it, eh?’ returned the trapper, thoroughly satisfied. “All I’ve got to say is that them as pay fur it, are blamed fools,” |, Why so?” laughed Putnam. “T s’pect it takes a powerful heap of money to pay you folks, when they might l’arn just as wach by axing some of us that have spent near- ly all our lives thar.” ‘They might learn a great deal from you, but not all that they wish to know.” ‘Who's thar guide?” ‘“‘ Badger is his name.” “Old Tom Badger?’ ~s believe that is his fullname. Do you know lim? ‘“Know him? I rather guessI do. Him and me used to hunt b’ars en we war boys, in old Tennessee, and we oe Steam our trappin’ busi- ness together over twenty Penn ago. I rather think we orter be acquainted by m ‘‘ Ts he qualified to act as guide to this expedi- tion?” ‘“ That’s just what bi ds,” was the emphatic re- sponse of the trap “thar ain’t a man west of the Mississippi t it is ahead of him, onless it’s Kit Carson. As long as you foller his advice, there won’t be much trouble, Howsumdever, we must be gittin’ over the ground faster nor S. eM trio were well into the oi een a an ey kept up a r hours at a time. As we Rebate ete y inginated, pes. were mounted upon sxtoelignt horses, and Jabez Spikes found himself as good a rider as his com- panions. When the sadness occasioned is BE the sight of the led escort had gradual Wy worn errey, he joined in the conversation with as much vim as any of them, but he could talk of very little except the white bu alo. It was that which ae brought him into thi yaa rapa COMME To R94 s if such a thing were within the range of hum possibility, he was determined to take it back with him. Visions of the fame and fortune that would follow filled his mind, and he pictured himself riding into his own village, ppercnee on a high, narrow, box-like wagon, should contain the phenomenon, w wees the prancing horses he lay back and pees pd the reins and cracked his whip, oe t g posters announcing the co profess: Spikes "—ah! now t be a triumph for him? Wouldn’t their teeth with envy? Wouldn’t the old ies raise their hands in ad- miration? and wouldn’t the young ladies (especially one who had slighted his ardent advances) sigh for such an unattainable prize as he would prove himself to be? The tour of no conqueror through his own count ae as he returned from his victories, could grandeur of what his march was to “*Yes, sir; that there phenomenon must back with me,” he ee he thought of all this, “he is d to t fate, and I’m that fate.” When the sun declined in the horizo were in the center of a broad stretch o rairie, without wood or stream of any But far ahead they could discover the outlines ey of timber, through which, Waufy assured them que a brook of water ran. ey aimed for for the ie dislikes a camp in the o plain, where he can throw no screen over r his mon eoees and where the necessity, water, is unattaina Their horses were pretty well jaded, for they had gone over a | stretch o country ; but they seemed to co nd what was the object | I of hurry, and they pricked up their ears and gall L along, as hough they scented water in ~ It was fully night when they drew rein in the grove and ounted, scarcely less tired | J P h this time. Mary Ann try, H d and go kind; af tender’s. _ The White ) White Buffalo. than their wearied horses; and there was an abundance of rich, juicy grass, and cold, spark- ling water; so, after they had governed the an- imals somewhat, as they slaked their thirst, they gave them the free run of the grove, while a fire was kindled in the densest part, and the trapper superintended the peemenesion of their evening meal, made from the buffalo-meat still in their sion. They chatted a long while around the camp- fire, during which Waufy stated that they had been very fortunate, in that the afternoon had passed without detecting any sign of an Indian. ‘*That ain’t sayin’ there ain’t no varmints in the country,” he hastened to add; ‘‘ but it looks powerful strong as though they wa’n’t close enough to scare anybody.’ As it was a physical impossibility that Waufy should act the pats of sentinel for every suc- ceeding night, arp rang to let one of his companions take that dut 7: Cae the present especially as he no apprehension of danger. When he stated his wishes, both instantly volunteered, but he chose Spikes, as the one who most needed initiation into the duties. ‘* You see you’ve never done any thing of the kind,” he said, by way Ly OF apology: ‘‘and there- fore ou'd better ou’re tremen antes mistaken,” replied Jabez; ‘‘ this won’t be the first night T've set up and kept watch.” ‘““Ah!” replied the lieutenant, who one there was, something worth hearing be cama / you! ve had some experience in this — err have,” was the emphatic response. “I reckon nye ve set up for over forty a ag 3 with Stiggens, one of our neighbor’s dau hters.”’ he entire night?” “Yes, sir; from seven o’clock in the evening till six o’clock next morning.” “* That’s courting with a vengeance,” laughed Putnam. ‘I presume you are engaged to be nN, Ne this young we Pane 0 ginger!” was the doleful response. es heaved a as thou uc- tant to relate this dismal par arf in life. Finally, he added ‘*T suppose I may as well relate it, but you must remember that it is confidential between us, and you mus’n’t ever tell anybody. I got along very well with Mary Ann for some time. er folks were suited and so were mine, and so were we—at least 1 was, and she seemed to be, till old Speewinks, who kept the tavern, hired a new bar-tender. He had black curly hair, that was frizzled all over his head, and covered with castor-oil and cologne till you could smell it across the street. e had a black mustache, too, that was shiny as silk, and curled up at the a He wore a rufiied shirt-front with a breast-pin as bi -cake, and a yellow watch-chain ve done for a yoke of Then his No Fn made oxen to haul wood with. were so tight that he couldn’t sit down without stick- ing his legs out straight. ‘He was a stunner, and half the girls in the village were crazy over him, but I wouldn't have cared if he hadn’t got after Ann. One Sunday night I was waiting outside the church to take her om, as when my heart give a big jump, as I saw her and the bar- tender coming out arm-in-arm; he was gabbling oey with head peg aes aeenee: oe wr an was grinning an ning, as thoug she was pleased to death. I jist stepped up, ‘‘ Ginger! wasn’t I mad! my elbow, said: *** Come, Ann, let's hurry home.’ Well sir, she didn’t look at me, only she lau shed, an the other girls coming out, snick ; and the two walked right on, and left me there alone. “I walked home alone that night, and made up mind that things looked squally. I wasn’t ag tae ive Mary Ann up, fur she was a fine Sete Smt didn’t know how to head off that -tender. I knew I was better looking than he, so I concluded it must be his appearance that did the business; so I heated the poker and frizzled my sen.5 ee t, and put tallow and lavender on, and ather’s pantaloons on ter he went to ea Father was twice as thin as me, and when I ate Rares they were so tight that I couldn’t walk until 1 oe Seppe ped round very carefully for awhile ; Io. bat t they would do, and felt rt roud of thaws or they were tat as tight as “Then I thought, to help matters along, I would step into Specwinks'a, ¢ et to eg with the bar-tender, and try pe, reo him against 5 seein Ann. He received me very Cad and listened very attentively when I told him I had something important to tell. I said more than I —— to, but I was considerably worked up. I told him Mary Anvn had made all kinds of fun of him; when she firstsaw him, saidshe wouldn’t be seen with him, and was only trifling with him; that she and I were en to be married, and I advised him asa friend, that if he wished to save himself from ridicule, he had better withdraw altogether.” ‘What did he say to that?’ asked the lieuten- ant, as Spikes paused for several moments, as thou h in doubt whether to proceed or not. e didn’t ~~ 3 any thing at all; he just list- ened and listened, and when I got through, ask- ed me if I wouldn’t take a drink. Nowlama onan g temperance man, but I thought he felt I wouldn? t make him feel worse by re- ene so I swallowed half a tumbler of some- i. hat tasted like liquid fire. en I started to go, he urged me to take Sides drink, and I was fool enough to do it. He didn’t say any thing, but I noticed a queer in upon his face, as ‘started out the oor ; ut I didn’t think any thing of that till the next morning, when I thought the whole thing over. ‘When I got outside, I found the whisky cocktails, as he called them, had gotten into my ap and I began to feel very queer. to go off the porch of the tavern, and I stepped up instead of stepping down, and snap m head back so that I thought I'd ay neck off. This hat—this very one, by ginger that I’ve got on now—rolled off in the —o —_ when I stoo down to pick itu get hold of it, oe I ee I wo ‘ots ‘down again, aim my h ead straight, and then make a dive, so as to jam my head in, and then, no matter in what way I picked myself up, I would have the hat secure. ‘*So I took aim, and made a dive forward, just like a bull-frog when he plumps into the rook; but I missed the hat, struck my head on the other side of it, and turned a summerset over on my back before I coal stop; but I — the hat, and when I got up I had it var? ‘Well, I started down the and I never knew how I got to old Stiggens’s. Idon’t believe there was a net ae ee es tumble over, and a I got to for- ward so fast, the only wa Men al was to fetch up against the fence ve me such a lunge in the stomach that it a y killed me. ‘“T had an idea that father’s pants were badly torn in more than one place, but, when I turned round to see, I couldn’t see, ‘and — on turning round, till I fell down as you have = a pup do, when he was a fly that had it on : ' ewer something ¢ over an a me} Hater pite in ns’s gate and rap e bi knocker on the + While I was waiting, I saw - ot light in the parlor, and heard su fiddling, that I knew there was a roe mary there. I ought to have gone home, but it only fired me up to think that Ann should do ath a thing and not ask me. ‘‘So, when their Irish girl opened the door, I just pitched in, without saying a word, and as mad as ‘ Hello, Pete, before day!” The fiddle was going and they were all dancing round the room ; and by y ginger! the first couple I identi- fied we that bar-tender, with his arm round Ann Stiggens’s waist, as they whirled by sight fired me, and balancing m e side of the door, till they came by ee made a dive for them, intending to come between them, just like an ax when it splits the wood; but when I reached them they were not there, ‘and I rolled over on the floor. “<< Ain't he a brute! ‘ He ought to be asham- ed!’ ‘ Why don’t he get his pants mended! ‘ Put him out! were some of the exclamations I heard around me, and by that time I to realize ean er mire ne pa t that call upon Mary Ann as a call, was a AT Ladi (hie) and ¥ i I stuttered, es (hie) an ser m,’ bracing myself t the mant sO as to keep my pantaloons as much as possible out of ‘this ain’t me , (hic), this ain’t Jabez Spikes—it’s that feller’s’ (here I eye ites at the grinning bar-tender); ‘he done it—he ~ a cocktail fai) and it’s my ‘liberate ’p put liquor in it Then they ybogan to scream door, and belpe and somebody led me to the door, and 4 me out in the road again. The last re Serbo itched down the road, was, t a Cock-tail ! ~ Wall, b by mbreidag every man <S ~~ -Comiecboo eee a ee m co a ee tl ee elles