Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 56 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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

L iL hee : —_t. =y = — ~ —— (mae vi a ae A al \ mm. Bild liley nh . “all ie S) | “ A : 4 1) Vol. III. Nick Whiffles’s Pet; IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. BY CAPT. J. F. C. ADAMS, ay AUTHOR OF ‘“‘ OREGON SOL,”’ “‘GLASS EYE,” “* NED HAZEL,”’ ETC., ETC. Number. CHAPTER I. FOUR YEARS AFTERWARD. Four years have passed, and the short, beautiful summer of the North-west has again folded moun- tain, prairie and stream in its loving embrace. The sky is clear and bright with sunshine, the streams, except among the mountains, are free from ice, and the face of nature is very different from what would be expected so soon after such severe weather. In front of a rough, gro- tesque cabin, which has al- ready been described to my reader, sits Nick Whiffles cleaning his rifle. Although four years have passed since we last saw him, there is scarcely any perceptible differ- ence in his appearance. In the grizzled beard which covers the greater part of his face, there may be seen a few strag- ling hairs, but that is all. he eye is just as bright, the step as firm and powerful, and the smile as genial as ever. He is dressed in the same hunter costume, and so far as he is concerned, it seems that a few days only have , since his participation in the rescue of Hugh Bandman and the Phantom Princess, A short distance oe | the rotund; sleek-looking hag- bark is browsing the rich, suc- culent grass, and at the side of his master, with his nose be- tween his legs, dozes his dog, Calamity. Four years have made their marks in the career of Calam- ity, although he still bears up well under them. He is some- what unwieldy in his move- ments, and has become quite fond of basking in the warm sunlight, and of sleeping by the blazing fire during the ter- rible cold of winter. Perhaps he is a little more surly to strangers, too, and is disposed to resent undue familiarity up- on the part of any one. But he loves Nick as well, and his dangerously-sha teeth are ready to be used in his service at any time. The older hunter seems to be in a reverie this afternoon, and his motions in cleaning his weapon are almost mechani- cal, his thoughts being far away on different matters alto- a end ly h h uddenly he stops polishing the siveady-cleanoing rifle-bar- rel that is stretched across bis knees, and with one hand pres- sing down and grasping it, and shoving his coon-skin cap back from his forehead with the other, he exclaims: *] swow to gracious! if it rathinvolincl ge ’ sa . .) + “> - ROOMS wee Homi’ BEADLE — —=- \) NY \ way Ty \ © \\ \s \ \\ WW TAI Copyrighted in 1878, by BEADLE AND ADAMS. No, 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. ain’t four years ago this very summer sin’ Ned left me, with his father, and with Hugh and his wife. They left the little gal behind them, and that same al has growed into one of the purtiest creatures hat a man ever sot eyes on.”’ At this point one of his broad smiles illumined his face, and he added in a confidential tone to himself: “7 wonder, now, ef Iwas a mind, ef I couldn’t raise a condemned diffikilty there. No one dare say I ain't handsome, and then I’ve heerd tell of folks gettin’ married as old as my father would be ef he were living to-day.”’ He smiled a few moments in the enjoyment of his own fancy, and then his face became sober again. ** No; the day has gone by fur Nick Whiffles to think of sich things. He is married to the woods, and raries, and mountains, but Miona, if Ned hasn't orgot his promise, it'll pay him to come out here to see her. It’s about a month sin’ I was through the village, and she looked purty ‘nough to fly off like an angel. She hasn't forgot Ned, neither, and axed me about him; but I couldn't tell her nothin’, All I know is that Ned and his old man went to England, pl [| (PR | | | Ry = 2S = = lS 33 LLL tay, }) \ WMI LOTR ME, /,6 AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, m ‘ A s\\) \ \\\ \\\\ THE STRAINED AND LISTENING EAR OF THE TRAPPER HEARD THE FAINT CRY, JUST AS CALAMITY’S WHINE TOLD THAT HE HAD ALSO CAUGHT THE SAME SOUND. ) oy (4 se \ ||! \\ SS No. 56. Price, 5 Cents. ee —— — $$ $$ as they called it, in the same vessel that carried Hugh and the Phantom. There’s been a tra per down here every spring to ax about the gal, that ] s’pose Hugh and his wife sent, and there’s no dan- ger of their forgetting her— Hello!” At this juncture, Calamity threw up his head, pricked up his ears, and uttered a growl—an indica- tion that some stranger was at hand. Almost in- eee sag tag Nick grasped his rifle, and looked inquir- ingly in the direction indicated by the dog. “What is it pep?” he demanded, in an under- tone; “any eall for powder and ball?” The reply speedily came. The crackling of the undergrowth was heard, and the next moment a young man in the jaunty costume of an English sportsman ft ge into the clearing. He wore the velvet cap, coat, and vest, the hiettion ed boots, the leather covering the knees, the powder-flask at the side, and the richly-mounted rifle of the profes- sional hunter of civilization, and there was an ease and self-possession in his manner acquired only by long and genuine practice in hunting game. The countenance of the young man was frank and repossessing, with his dark, 1azel eyes, the ruddy, rose- tinted cheeks and their soft ‘*mutton-chop”’ whiskers, He was of a muscular mold, and would have pulled a good stroke with the famed Oxford crew of his own country. He paused a moment in front of the hunter, and then, with beaming face, walked rapidly toward him, holding out his hand, ‘““How do you do, my old friend? God bless you, Nick Whiffles, have you forgotten Ned Hazel?” Wie Nick mechanically took the \\\\ EEE roffered hand, rose slowly to SAS ent is feet, and with open mout,, \X\ oo stared at the young man in a 4 A dazed sort of way, as though nan \\\\\ NY he did not understand what it all meant. ‘““What’s the matter, Nick? have I changed so much that ou don’t know me? Why, | cnew you the minute I ae my eyes on you,” continued the sportsman, laughing in a way that showed his handsome white teeth, while he shook the hand of the trapper with such violence that his whole body partook of the vibration. * Thunderation !”’ finally gasped Nick; “‘can it be possi- ble? Are you my own Ned? Why, you war a boy when you left me, and I’ve been thinking of you as the same boy evei since,”’ “IT was over fifteen then; now I am nearly twenty. Is there anything wonderful in that?”’ ‘* Wonderful?—I_ never see’d anything like it. What doyou weigh?’ ‘*Only one hundred and sev- enty-five.”’ ‘“ Thirty pounds more than I do; let me take a nearer look at you,” continued Nick, seru- tinizing his face very closely. “There’s them hazel eyes, sartin, just as bright and purty as they was when they ooked at me from the bottom of the canoe, sixteen or seven- teen years ago. Lift your cap that I may see your fore- head a little better.” The young man removed his 6)(6)(6) <€om “S (E (El)