Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 560 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

- surrounded the cabin, though to encircle it, na a his head and went down, throwing his rider. _ his cry of | while the horseman spurred hastily out of range ES a ee ea aa EE tn ys La a ae . An > 4 7 con *. +3 : er ! > iii a ieee eg “You shall have a good breakfast, Black Ben; but I am late, as my rest was disturbed by a nightmare last night. ** You didn’t see any ghost, did you?” ant he patted his horse affectionately as he spoke, Suddenly Gordon Lillie started, for there, upon the glossy black side of te horse was a skull and cross-bones, drawn in white clay, and beneath the hideous emblem the one word: ** Beware |” CHAPTER VIII. AT BAY. BRAVE boy that he was, Gordon Lillie could not but feel upset at what he beheld. His horse stood quietly at his side, just where he had hitched him the night before, and the knot of the lariat was the same that he had made, ' There was no doubt now but that it had not been a dreum, his seeing of the strange man in the doorway during the night, He had certainly been there, and he recalled the fact that the same sign, of the cross-bones and skull, were upon the front door of the cabin with the warning word written beneath it. He had also seen the same uncanny symbol on the bark of a tree at the spring near by, cut deep into the wood. But where the strange being had gone, how he had entered the cabin and left it, the youth could not understand. Considerably worked up about the affair, Gordon led his horse from the cabin to stake him out near by and water him, after which he intended to get his own breakfast and start upon his way. He made it a rule to travel by easy journeys, never pam his horse, and the result was that Black Ben was in splendid condition. He had just driven the lariat-pin into the Cy when suddenly a shot and the whiz of a ullet by his head came almost together, Then followed several other shots, the balls rattling about him, and one slightly clipping his shoulder. ; To pull up the stake and run into the cabin with his horse, was Gordon’s first act. Hastaly tying the animal, he seized his rifle and sprung to the door, here he saw five horsemen coming at a run toward the cabin. : “ney had fired at him from long range, and he had not seen them until their bullets rattled ‘round bim, , ‘* [ must be more careful in this country, “*T came very near being caught that time,” he muttered, as he glanced from the door and took inthe situation. 7 The five horsemen were dashing straight for the cabin, and firing as they came, They seemed to understand the situation, that there was but one person to meet them, and he a youth, for they were strangely reckless. ‘The cabin had small port-holes for rifle-barrels _ tobe thrust through and fired, the settler having “adel she against a siege, or an attack, when he uilt his house. : My Closing the door and barring it, Gordon sprung i ig one of these little port-holes and gazed through The horsemen had reached the timber, which and were dividing as | One of the men, who was giving an ®rder, the youth set down as a leader, and he recognized him as one whom he had .seen at Prospect City the night before, and whose brother he had ; shot, in the attack upon the landlord of the | Bonanza, This convinced him that he was the game that _ they were after, and he felt certain that their motive was revenge, That they had followed him from Prospect City was certain, and as their only motive could | be to kill and rob him he at once decided to act F promptly. _ Taoey bad begun the attack, and, acting in self-defense, he took aim and fired, ke horse of the leader caught the bullet in _ Without waiting to see more, Gordon ran to another eye- hole and gave another of the horse- men a shot, _ . He knew that he had hit his man, for he heard in and the bitter oath that followed, _ and took refuge behind a tree, _ Avvisit tothe rear of the cabin showed the ¢a ag for they seemed all to have sought am Wy! ys “o , . ~*~ ef ow aa" . ‘| MAP ta. & I "a “4 7 (' rh ‘ at @. Ms 6 : . < Pent ENG a nt he 3 om a) 7 ae ft B te - ~ youth that his fire upon his foes had made them But in this he was mistaken, for he heard a rapid footfall without, and a voice cried: sie Pard, throw up the sponge and we won’t kill you. The answer of Gordon Lillie was to the point: ‘You throw up your hands, pard, or I will kill you,” The man laughed, and it was a mocking laugh, as he responded: ‘“Blaze away then, for I keep my hands down,” He saw only the solid wall of the cabin, and felt that he was safe. But through what appeared to be a knot-hole in the timber came the muzzle of a rifle and quick as he was in spurring away he was not quick enough, for a bullet went crashing into his brain. ’ Away went his horse at a gallop through the woods, and the curses of his companions were horrible to hear. But Gordon Lillie’s blood was up, and he meant to do or die. He knew that the men had come to kill him, and that the chances would be against him wie night came on, so he intended to spare no One if he got a chance to shoot him down. The cabin was on an unfrequented trail, and J.andlord Jenks had directed him that way to bay. him avoid lawless men upon the regular Overlanu route, He could look for no succor, and if besieged in the cabin, as he doubtless would be, he would ‘be starved into a surrender, or they would break in the door and rush upon him, | If they feared to do this they could set the cabin on fire and that would a ickly end it. ** Tf they burn us out, Black Ben, when night comes, we must make a dash for it; but matters look bad for us now,” he said to his horse, who gave a low whinny, as though in full sym- athy with his master in the perilous situation in which he found himself, | Feeling the necessity to be on the watch, Gor- don went from room to room, keeping up hi round and looking through the eye-holes on each side of the cabin. He saw that the men still surrounded the cabin, one of them having caught the horse of the man who lay dead just outside of the door. That the wound he had given one could not have been serious he knew, as he beheld the fel- low on duty, having become the more determin- ed to capture the one who had wounded him. It was certainly a time of peril for the brave boy, and he frankly admitted to himself that he was sorry that he had gone West, “If [ get out of this scrape, I think I'll be content to live among civilized people,” he said, aloud, and Black Ben whinnied as thongh ap- proving of the thought of his rider. Thus hours passed away and the danger grew | monotonous. Gordon dared not cease his round.of watching from the port-boles on each side of the cabin, though he became footsore and weary. He ate his breakfast, from the renains of his supper, and yet Black Ben had nothing to eat and became very impatient, At last the shadows of night began to fall, and Gordon Lillie knew that the end could got | be far off, But he did not lose his pluck, and still stood at bay, though he knew that under cover of the night this foes would begin active operations against him. CHAPTER IX. THE SIEGE, __ As night grew on, Gordon Lillie, who was watching closely, saw the men on watch, in answer to a loud whistle from their leader, leave their respective posts and steal away toward a given point, They were evidently bound on a consultation as to what was to be done, So the youth set to work to discover what was best for him to do, He first thought of mounting his horse and dasbing out of the cabin in flight, But he remembered that upon the side where the men were not, there was a deep ravine, which a horse could not cross, and he would have to pass within easy range of his enemies to gain the open prairie. Then Black Ben had bad neither food or water for twenty-four hours, and might not be able to lead the other horses in a chase, even if he got by the line of fire in safety. He therefore did not care to take the risk ex- cept as a last resort. — _ He then remembered that there was a large ile Abe pine and oak, not twenty feet from 8 Ca ay , a A S_~-ssssse NS s ee oe er ee Te, G he ~ 2 a= b ‘eh! Ric 2 th a er ls © é = { q. 4) re f Li. wT ‘ . - 4a we he 4 *! yy I ¢ alt $8 ey Col ae 7“ st . aaa mn : ee "? ‘| If lighted this would burn all night, he felt: sure, and, as the wind blew from the direction — of the cabin, there would be no danger of its _ being set on fire. It would also give a bright light all around the cabin and prevent the four men from steal- ing np under cover of the darkness, ‘This will do for to-night, and I'll set it on fire if I can,” be said to himself. He had plenty of dry wood in the cabin, and so he made a bright fire on the hearth, lighting the ends of the pine-knots. Then he opened the door softly, and seizing #. number of pine-knots rushed out and threw them into the pile of wood. The men uttered a cry as they saw him dash out, taken by surprise at his strange action: but they all sprung to their feet, from where they sat at supper, seized their rifles and fired upon him. | The bullets pattered about him; but he man- aged to thrust the pine knots down through the wood-pile and dash back unharmed. The men rushed toward the pile of wood, as. they understood his motive, determined to put out the fire; but @Shot from the cabin clipped the ear of the leader, and they ran back to cover once more, Slowly the wood, wet by the rain of the night | before, kindled into a brighter blaze, and in half an hour it was burning well. ‘* Now let them come into view!” said Gordon Lillie, grimly, and he partook of some food from his stores, making himself a tin-cupful of strong coffee, and condoling with Black Ben that he had no food for him also, After supper be once more began his tramp from room to room, The burning wood gave a brilliant light for rods around the cabin, except in the rear, which was in shadow; but still there was light enough to see any one approaching in that direction. Tramp, tramping away the hours, the night never seemed so long to Gordon Lillie before. He was tired out, and his feet were paining him, while his eyes grew heavy. He felt relieved that he had at least thwarted the men for the night; but what he shonld do on the next night he did not know. At length the dawn broke, and the fire, as: though feeling that its work bad been well done, began to die out, At a distance, on their posts, Gordon saw his enemies, and they seemed to have quietly settled down to besiege the cabin and drive him out by, sturvation. Their horses were lariated near, and each man had a small fire, cooking thereby his breakfast, This made Gordon feel hungry, and he, too cooked his remaining meal of bacon, a sweet potato and cup of coffee. He gave some aoe to Black Ben, who ate them with a relish, and then began his day of watching. ‘*T hate to leave you, Black Ben, for you’ve been a good friend to me; but the only chance I can see of saving my life iseto slip out the mo- ment it is dark and leave you here. ‘*T only hope you won’t be burned up; but Pll leave the door open and turn you loose, so that. you can get out if they set the cabin on fire, as they will surely do to-night, ‘Then I must go on foot back to Prospect City for another horse. , ‘* Life is sweet, Black Ben, and that alone makes me desert you, for we cannot go out to- gether.” Such was Gordon’s plan of escape, when night came on, and he got bis things together so as to be ready to depart at the right moment. He felt that he could crawl through the lines of his enemies, where he could never ride through them, and though it pained him deeplv to leave Black Ben, he felt that to save himself was his. first duty. Ese At last, utterly tired out with his tramp from. room to room, and bis watching, he wearily sat down to rest himself for his night-journey back to Prospect City. Having bad no sleep in so long a time he could not keep his eyes open, and soon Was in a deep slumber. } } But he sprung to his feet in alarm as he heard. shots not far distant, | Rushing to the port-hole on the side from whence the firing came, be saw that the sun was setting, and knew that he had been asleep for several hours, - But, best of all, he saw a party of horsemen coming toward the timber in which the cabin hm situated, and there were half a score of em, In the timber were his enemies, two of them firing upon the advancing horsemen, while the f _ A pen re : 7 © . { .. : + ; , ¥ me? 7 sy \ bi as , ~ . ” a | = » \ | | : ay 7 et er it ten 8h, a ayy > J a * * » 7 ‘ . i %. ‘e I i= ae