Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 57 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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

¥. . 5 0pm i lJ NDS ACS —_—— . Lit . \\ < « 4 . y _ i /> AN . \ ’ AN ‘\ ‘ ye ‘ 4 : . . WY S\N “ | > \ \ \N WN ' ~e ‘s ’ WO \ \ \ \ WY ‘ x MK py 4 , ba WY \\ AN \) \\. \> \\ \ AN i) ‘ \ \\ \\) AN \ | . . \ WY ' \ . , -* \ AN \\ “ : . \\) \ ’ \\ \\ fihy es 45% \ \ A\S if wT een 7 . { ne \ ~ c ’ ’ . \ (mg! Vt a il ! mer Cree eee TTT \N Copyrighted in 1878, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, SSS Cerri Sl SSS Price, 5 Cents. Single Num er. BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, No. 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. a Vol. III. No. 57. Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; | THE PARDS OF FLOOD BAR. BY EDWARD L. WHEELER, AUTHOR OF “ DEADWOOD DICK," “DOUBLE DAGGERS,” dark, narrow canyon into the depths of the moun- tains, where it branches into numberless tributaries. The five persons, who at the introduction of our story, populated Flood Bar, were named respective- a ames Belmont, Old Buzzard, Squirrel Sam, copes Vandegrift, and Miaco Rullon. Belmont was a Virginian, of some forty years of age, and a quiet, ret ng fellow, whom everybody liked. He was a thorough-going miner, a good shot, and when once “ riled,’’ a rough customer to handle. Old Buzzard was a stumpy, wrinkled old plainsman able efforts, they were obliged to recollect that they had never been able to draw a word from hirn. What his secret was—why he refused to use his tonrue was a problem that none could solve. He was a stalwart, handsome fellow, of cuie-:: twenty, judging from his looks, with a bold, gowa- natured face, eyes of brown that never quailed ve- neath the strongest glance, and hair light and curl- ing. His form was supple and muscular, and he ever went armed and ready for combat. A skillfal miner he was, and, moreover, a dead-shot, for on several ’ and a good hand at yarn-spinning. It was a part of his business to keep a scout about the Bar, and sup- ply the camp with meat. He was the discoverer of lood Bar; the remaining part of the “ population ”’ had straggled in, one by one. Squirrel Sam was the eccentric man of the lot. He never spoke | | This did not signify that he was a mule, for he had been heard singing, at a distance, several times, which was evidence to the four remaining ‘‘ pards ’ ‘BUFFALO BEN,” ETC., ETO. occasions, when vagabond reds had attaclsed the Bar, right seslansty he shown his prowess, ‘Hooper Vandegrift was another eccentric. A very pious sort of an —— of the very Quakeriest per- suasion he appeared, and was the cause of much amusement among the five pards. Miaco was a dwarf who had one morning been found floating down the creek, bound in a skiff of birch. He had been liberated, and as he had drifted into the secret. was offered a home at Flood Bar. FLOOD BAR, Tuer spring rainy season had set in in the Black Hills country—that dull, monotonous period which every miner dreads next to an attack from the In- | dian marauders, for there is no working with com- | fort in the chill, drenching rains that are peculiar to | CHAPTER I. | | that wild, rough country of gold. Miners’ faces grow cloud the sky, and if you are in search of long faces, and “ pil- rims ’’ who are beset with the luest order of ‘* blues,’’ look down into camp on one of those monotonously dull, wet days, and you will certainly be ‘‘ Eu- rekaized,”’ for you have found more than the acme of your expectations. utside, is the y, sodden sky from which the rain falls : with an ease and steadiness which is provoking in itself; the rain-soaked earth; the roaring, rushing mountain streams swelled into great tor- rents; and the grim, rough landscape, so lonely and cheer- less on such days as these. Within the rude log-cabins you will find a dozen or more miners, gathered disconsolate- Brae a crackling hickory ete gd to the ceaseless pouring of the rain, or mayhap one of their number enlivens 8 by spinning a yarn, At Flood Bar, the new Gold- en Egg of the black Hills, the rainy season was in its second week, and the miners were naturally not in over-jubilant spirits. In the aforesaid time very little work had been ac- complished; indeed, but a few days of paying work had yet been accomplished at the Bar, by the five individuals who composed the population. Flood Bar is in the north- western portion of the Black Hills, where Professor Jenny failed to find the least signs of gold, but it is not the purpose ‘of the author, because of cer- tain reasons, to give the exact location of the, thus far, t- est mine in the country of gold. narrative is to be of Flood Bar and the Flood Bar-ites. The place in question com- prises a bar, or neck of land, running into a turbid, rushi mountain stream—a bar o sandy land of no great size, yet go richly impregnant with gold as to be indeed a “‘ Bonanza.” From down a wild, unex- lored gorge or ravine, pour waters of this st é, known as be Creek, an a sweepin majestically ast Flood Bar, - roars on down a upon the clouding of that he was not dumb. But, it became a mystery, when, after unmention- J OLE SEE SA 7 SSS | Se aLE. ii ‘i> if iad s ( ae 7? 4 ' . / v (> Y has. Ux Je MMA eye fs) a, Vy ] / ; 4 ’ Aiy\ VA i Po 5h " ) GV), AW iy 4 NN AA “te \ \ ADs | ; ut i ' , TT. FT) ' ; . A ’ é . , ‘ ' ngage jp “woLD! STAND, YOU RUFFIANLY CREW, OR I'LL MAKE BUZZARD FOOD OF you!” a fs But, nothing relating to his past, or where he came from, could be coaxed out of him. Thus you have the “ pards”’ — in brief; in the fu- a, ure we propose to make their Af +, better acquaintance. foft} The ds each occupied a Hii . separate marquee, which had ; been purchased from a band 7 hes of roving Sioux, who had no doubt stolen them from some of the soldiers stationed in the lack Hi But each evening they generally assembled ir Miaco’'s tent, for a chat and ¢ smoke. Buzzard was absent to-night —a wild, tempestuous night, with pouring rain and crash- ing thunder, and only four of the a sat hugging the fire in the dwarf’s tent. Hooper Vandegrift was ensconced up- on a log, with his pipe in his mouth, watching the fire, grim- The others were te ae around carelessly. Squirrel Sam reading hard at a yellow- covered novel which he had somewhere run across. *‘ It’s queer what has caused Old Buzzard to stay so long,” commented James Belmont, as he finished scouring up his rusty sheath-knife. ‘ His gri old face must have frightened off all the game to-day, or else something has happened to him +09 ‘“Reckon he take care of himself,’ put in Miaco, yawn- ing. “ He's smart old rooster, with an eye on every side for danger, is that Buzzard. Reck- on he has scented more Injun sneak-thieves.”’ ** Verily, I hopenot!”’ object- ed Vandegrift, with a genuin “ah-um”’ of Quaker origin. ‘*The Lord will not see fit to visit molestation upon his Lambs to-night. Thy intima- tion thou shouldst have with- held, Miaco.”’ “Oh! dry up, Hoop!’ the little Texan replied, in disgust. Yer thee’s and thou’s are not endurable this weather. Blast it, I hope old Jupiter Pluvius will cheese it, pretty soon, or we'll hev to build a second Noah's ark.”’ “Yes; between the rein and the unwelcome visits of Gray Wolf’s Vagabonds, our stay at Hi ‘ 4 Wy fh com JOCKS com