Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 56 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

Nick Whiffies’s Pet. 3 place, and my gun sunk to the bottom, and the snow was falling so fast that I couldn’t see the length of my nose ahead of me; wal, thar war a diffikilty, and no mistake; but this yer’s wust nor that.”’ He heaved a great sigh, that showed how deep his feelings were, and looked plaintively out on the river flowing by. He was quite a distance from home, and was standing on the bank of the stream, upon which he had hunted and trapped so often. He had now spent the greater ae of a week in hunt for his young friend Ned, who had so strangely disappeared while searching for Miona, and yet had discovered no clew at all. e had visit- ed the Blackfoot village, and with a —— that at- tested his affection, as well as bravery actually put some searching questions to Red Bear. ‘‘And he answered them as innercent as a lamb too,” muttered the trapper, ‘‘but, for all that, I know the old copper-skin could tell me all about him, ef he war a mind to open them lips of his. I don’t know whether Ned has gone under, or whether he still floats his sticks, but somehow or other I think he’s walkin’ the airth, and I think I shall soon see him ag’in, though it ain’t sartain,” he added, as if to re- prove himself for this sudden spasm of hope. ‘“*Tt’s put me and you to our stumps, Calamity,” he added, looking down with his old quizzical smile, at his dog sitting at his feet. ‘“‘ We've tramped the woods night and day, but it didn’t do no good. Ned left in a canoe, and me and you, pup, hain’t l’arned to track a man over the water, yet, though we've tried it often *nough.”’ He stood a few minutes longer, looking out on the surface of the river, with that absent, meditative manner, which showed how much his heart was en- listed in the work he had undertaken. Then, with another great sigh, he continued: “Poor Ned! I wonder if he knows how much old Nick Whiffles loves him! and then to think that he come all the way across the great ocean, a year ahead of his time, to see the little gal, that I s’pose iie’s dreamed about night and day ever since, and now who kin tell where the feller is—”’ The old om ome suddenly recoiled a step, while his bronzed face flashed * as though some wonderful vision had passed before him. But it was only a tought that had come to him suddenly, and that had 5») aroused him from his mourn/tt! reverie. “Why dida't I think of it before? That’s what I orter done in tne fust place. I must see Miona my- self, and tell her everything that’s happened; she knows more about the ways of Red Bear and the In- jins round here than Id», “Tl set her to work; I’ve see’d that gal often ‘nough to Varn that thar’s something in her more chan common wo.n3n, Then she loves that young Ned, just as much as he loves her, and she'll move heaven and yarth till she l’arns what's become of the chap that’s growed into as purty a man as he war a boy. I must see her, and I'll start at once.” Throwing his rifle over his shoulder, he moved off at a rapid stride through the wood toward the point where he had left his canoe, but had taken scarcely a dozen steps when he abruptly paused. ** What is it poet Something on the river, eh? Red or white-skin? Man or four-l gged critter?—"’ Nick started again, for at that momenta canoe tame in sight, scarcely a hundred feet distant, and seated in the center who should he sea but the very person whom above all others (excepting one) he de- sired to meet. “Wal, ef thar war ever a special Providence, that isn’t anything else. I was just going down to the village afier Miona, dying to see her, when here she comes,” The sharp-eyed girl was not liable to miss seeing so prominent an object asa man standing on the baiile, and recognizing her old friend Nick iffles, she nodded pleasantly to him, and turned her canoe toward the land. Leaping out as lightly as a fawn, she placed her little hand in his large, rough palm, and said she was always happy tosee him. — “ And it does an old chap like me a powerful heap of good to look on such a purty, sweet face as yourn, What ar’ you thinkin’ ‘bout, Miona?” “T was just thiuking while paddling along in my canoe, that four years have passed since father, mother and Ned left me here. Only one year more and he is to come for me.” And the face of the girl glowed with heartfelt hap- piness—happiness that was born of great, pure, eterual love for him who had won it when she was but a mere girl. There was no doubt there—no fear that in the far- away scenes Of his home, where he had been years growing and MeN son into a splendid young man, where he encounte “civilized”? beauties every day—no thought that his right loyal heart would ever falter in its devotion to its first love. Miona was ma 9 “Tt is now summer,” she continued, in the same glad voice; ‘‘soon will come the snow and ice, and we shall be locked up in our lodges, until the warm sun breaks up our rivers, drives away the snow, and the flowers come into the woods again—and then he is to come, Oh, Nick, can you wonder that I feel happy? But what is the matter, my dear friend? You look sad and troubled over something.” “So Iam, so I am,” he answered, with another sigh, as he drew the back of his hand in a suspicious manner across his eyes. “A “Ts there anything I can do for you?’ she asked in a sympathetic voice, as she tenderly laid her hand upon arm. “No, no, it’s all "bout you; it ain’t me alone, but lite. too, are in the condemnedest diffikilty of your e. What’s the use? Mighty! I might as well make a calf of myself and out with it.” And then, summoning all his self-command, the trapper told the whole story to the girl—how Ned Mackintosh, impelled by his devotion to her, had not been willing to wait until the expiration of the robationary five years, but was already in America, ad come all the way from Fort Churchill, with a party of traders, and had visited the Blackfoot village, feeling that he must have one look at her, and then perhaps he could wait until the coming spring; how he had talked with Red , face to face, believing that the chief could not recognize him, since he had changed so much that even Nick himself had no suspicion of his identity, when he presented himself before him; and then, determin- ed that he would see his beloved, he had left the traders, and gone off—and since then nothing had been seen or heard of him. “Tt’s all my fault, too,’ he added, in a self- reproachful voice. ‘ I had no business to let him z0, but then’I loved him so much that I couldn’t refuse him anything he axed.”’ For a few moments, the emotions of Miona were too painful to permit her to speak; after awhile she gained control of herself and said: ‘** You are not to blame for anything that has hap- pened; your services to all of us can never be over- estimated. I saw you both, when you were at the village a few days ago, and little did I dream that that voung man was Ned.” ‘You see’d us then?” asked Nick, flashing up with a new interest. ‘* I didn’t know that.”’ “*T saw you both; why didn’t you ask for me?” “*Ask for you? That's about all that I did do, and wasn't I told that you war so busy gittin’ ready to be married to Red Bear that you hadn't time to see other folks?”’ ‘“* Were you told that?” asked Miona, with a pale, terrified look. : ‘Yas; and more too. They told me that you had agreed to marry Red Bear—though I knowed that war a lie—and they didn’t intend to give you up, and that if anybody tried to take you, you would be put in the Death Lodge.” ‘**Now I understand it all,’ replied the girl, speak- ing as though some new light had just broken in upon her mind. ** Faint that varmint bothered you any?” *T could not help seeing, for a year past, that Red Bear was quite an admirer, but he has always shown me a certain deference, and never pressed matters.” “He ain't a yet—when the time comes, he will do it fast enough. How is it you're ‘lowed to run loose ?”’ ‘*] have always consented to keep out of sight when we had visitors, and only when they supposed none was near have I been permitted to take my canoe, or hunt in the woods, but I always have a companion, and even now | expect soon to be joined by the sister of Red Bear, who is to meet me a littic way up the river. ‘** But, Nick,’’ said Miona, rousing herself with an Amazonian dignity, ‘“‘we must find Ned, if he is liv- ing!” She pronounced the last clause in a tremulous voice, and looked appealingly to the trapper, who hastened to say: “IT think he’s above-ground—and now, Miona, can you meet me here to-night?” **] will, if you wish it.” **Have you l’arned, or heerd nothin’ that woke your ‘spicions?”’ ** Not a syllable.” “Then go back to the village, and don’t show you s’pect anything, but do all you kin to find out what has ‘come of that Ned. You’re smart, and I b’lieve you kin do it. Meet me here, jist as the moon is risin’, and tell me what you've l’arned.”’ The girl promised that it should be done. At that moment she saw no way by which she could secure a half-hour’s absence from the village, but she was resolved that it should be done, come what might. The knowledge that she had gained of the pro- posed treachery of Woo-wol-na and Red Bear, showed her her danger, and the necessity of her do- ing her utmost to get out of their power, and the knowledge that, under Providence, the fate of her lover depended upon her skill and daring, made a veritable Joan of Are of her for a time. So they separated, and the weary hours of the da were spent by Nick Whiffles in the same vain searc that had lured him on for so long a time. For several hours before the time he was waiting at the rendezvous, and just as the moon began shed- ding its pale — over the wood and stream, he heard the dip of her paddle, and a moment after her. re footsteps, as she came like a shadow to his side. ““'Sh!’’ she whispered, “I have a companion—Red Bear's sister.”’ ‘** Have you l’arned an re “* Yes; I think I can tell you the fate of Hdward /” CHAPTER IV. THE TRAIL. WHEN Miona announced to Nick Whiffles that she had learned the fate of Ned Mackintosh, the old t pos could searcely repress his excitement. ‘* Alive or dead?” he asked, eagerly. ** Alive,’’ was the reply; “ wait here a few minutes; I must get rid of her, and then I will return.”’ And she was gone as suddenly as she came. Nick heard the sound of her paddle as it grew fainter and fainter, until it died out in the distance, and then he sat down like one exhausted. “That ’ere is a woman,” said he, as something like his old spirits came back to him; “ hain’t she foller- ed up that trail better nor an old hunter like me kin doit? Calamity, when that female gal comes back ny Saar Neeeng you to take yer bat and make your best ow er.” c. And indulging in his quirps and quiddities with the ious canine, he whiled away the half-hour until Miona herself reappeared. “*I can now spend several hours with you, without being missed,’ she hastened tosay. “I retired to my lodge, and have arranged my bed so asto make it appear that I am sleeping there. Idon’t think the deception will be discovered until the sister of Red Bear comes to retire with me, and that won't be for several hours, as there’s to be a sort of a feast to- night that will keep them awake until midnight, and from which I easily excused myself on the plea of indisposition. I am very anxious to get back in time. to prevent any discovery of my absence, as it may em our future actions.”’ “*But Ned—what about him?’ was the impatient question of Nick. “I did what you told me to do,” she answered. “The whole day has been devoted to trying to learn something about him, I have not asked a single a of any one, but have watched and listened. couple of hours ago I saw Woo-wol-na and Red Bear ene: and I managed to pass near enough to hear the old chief utter three words; they were: “* * Grizzly Bear Cave!’ ‘** And there I believe Edward has been placed, and left to die a death of starvation.” ** You're right!’ exclaimed Nick Whiffles, enthusi- astically. ‘‘l never thought of that. Thar’s whar he is, and I'll start for him at once.” **Do you know where it is?’’ “About five miles down the river, close to the bank on the other side.”’ “That is the place; I did not suppose you knew where - was. I’came with the intention of guiding you to it.”’ Then followed a long consultation. Miona was anxious to accompany the trapper, and assist in the rescue of her lover. Nay, she would not listen to his denial, until he succeeded in convincing her that it would most probably defeat her very object. The long confinement of Ned Mackintosh in Grizzly ar Cave, with no food, had probably reduced him to the weakness of a child, so that he w vld be un- able to render the assistance that would be so much needed in their flight; and indeed, he would only be worse than a burden to them—insuring the capture and ruin of the entire party. ‘Ef he’s thar, with the help of Heaven I'll get him out. Ili take bim home and make a well man of him, and then, when everything's ready, we'll move ag’in, and I swow to gracious, if wo don’t make the condemnedest diffikilty that Red Bear or Woo-wol-na ever hecrd tell on, ““Y ou go back to your lodge, and don’t let °em see that you've l’arned anything, and be on the look-out for us in a week from now.” “*I came with the intention of helping you save him,” she said, in a mournful voice; "I Rae that when we got him out of the cave, we would all leave the country at once, and end this torturing suspense; but it would be wicked in me to act contrary to your advice. Ihave brought some food with me; give this to him, and tell him how anxious I was to share his danger and his suffering. Poor Ned! what has he endured on my account!” And the girl sobbed like one whose heart was breaking. Nick waited until the tempest of her grief had passed, and then he urged her to return to the village, and to act as he had instructed her to 0. Reluctantly she took his hand again, and bade him farewell—renewing ber protestations of love to her own cherished one, and making Nick promise to come as soon as possible to her own rescue. She had scarcely taken her departure, when the trapper and his dog were in his canoe paddling down-stream toward Grizzly Bear Cave. He was compelled in his course to pass directly by the village, but he hugged the other shore close in doing so, and ran little if any risk. In the current again, and he bent his iron limbs with such a will that the canoe seemed fairly to fly over the water. ‘‘ Grizzly Bear Cave!’ he repeated; “ don’t I know where it is? Didn't I tumble into it once, when I war a-huntin’ with a trapper, and ef he hadn't cotch- ed the limbs and saved himself, wouldn’t I have starved to death thar? It’s a horrible place, and a man who gits in thar is purty sure to be in the last diffikilty of his life, ef he hain’t got somebody to help him out. Poor Ned! I s’pose he’s give up ago, and made up his mind that Nick W biggest fool in the trappin’-grounds, as he is, sure ‘nough, not to ‘spect his bein’ thar. Come, old canoe, you must travel faster than this,” Mile after mile was passed, and the night was quite advanced when he ran the little boat ashore and he and Calamity stepped out. ‘* Yer it is,"’ he muttered, as he made his way up a mass of rocks, his heart trembling with ho and fear. ‘‘I wonder ef he’s down thar, and ef he whether he hain’t gone under. Hello! here’s the very hole I tumbled inter that night and come so near breakin’ my neck, and gettin’ inter my last con- demned diffikilty.”’ Creeping forward he leaned over and looked down into the k, silent chasm, and then he called ina voice that sounded strange and hollow: sees a. ew , Dut there was no . “ Hulloa, Ned Hazel!” eats Again he turned his ear and waited several mo- ments, but no sound reached him except that faint, moaning silence, such as is heard when one listens to a sea-shell. ‘* Hulloa, Ned, are you hungry?” When five minutes more had passed, Nick Whiffles rose to his feet and muttered: “I'm afeard poor Ned has had his last diffikilty1!” <SiGO hiffles is the <Gomigcneo