Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 64 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

6 ——_——_— -_— — ee. on the look-out for him. But he was a cunnin Beadle’s Half-Dime Library, ' fellow of many tricks and disguises, and in all | the Snake nation on the Fayette there was not to be found one man who would betray him to the troops. If Long Lige had known that the person who saluted him as we have seen on the Oregon trail was that worthy, we are certain that some n ‘ tioned that a white man proclaimed that he had -. 4 tles’s eyes, as he spoke, and savage dignity. nothing to fear from the inhabitants... His coming did not create any excitement; no per- son started at his entrance, save a man who was also white. This latter personage was clad in the rough but serviceable garments of a western teamster; he was sour of countenance, as if he had been ‘‘crossed” in the midst of some triumph, **Oregon at last!” he ejaculated, starting for- ward as he recognized the new-comer, ‘‘I’m deuced glad somebody’s comin’, what has a white face. I could never git along with these easers, an’ since they’ve got the best of me in fhe: last affair, | hate them like a snake hates the fire. Cuss them! JHe’s lookin’ sour, too, Oregon is. The Injuns hev made me des’prit. I’ve tried to do my duty, an’if he growls, Pll cheat somebody out 0’ his prize.” The last words muttered with tigerish fierce- ness under his breath welled from the man’s ill- natured heart, as he advanced to greet the west- ern bandit who had slackened his gait. chapters in this romance had never been writ- | te It was into the Snake village already men- | i OO | ee eee Coe several forts in that country were constantly | fancy. Whar’s Lige? Hev ye see’d anythin’ of the old chap?’ ‘*T saw an’ talked with him. If he catches you there’ll be a general settlement of accounts.” The look and voice of Oregon Leon told that he had a temper not second in bitterness to the teamster’s. ‘‘A general settlement, eh?’ sneered Luke. = Cae will thar be when he gits his fingers on you The teamster, whose visage told that anger was getting the best of him, turned abruptly from the bandit. The parting look full of hate told that the two men had a gulf of madness, of passion, between them. artevelde did not reply to Luke’s last thrust, but rode away and presently dismounted near the entrance of the lodge to which his attention had been called. ‘**Go in an’ see the girl what you hired me to steal for you!” grated Whittles who was covert- ly watching the white chief. ‘‘ I’ve been a fool, but I kin be a man, an’ one of the worst devils in these parts. Before to-morrer mornin’, Or- egon Leon, you'll hire some sneakin’ Injun to give me a knife in the back, fur I see it in yer evil eye. To-morrer mornin’, eh? You'd bet- ter catch me nappin’, if you kin, long afore thet an’ drop me without ceremony, this very night I’m goin’ to show you how thunder- in’ mean Luke Whittles kin be!” CHAPTER VII. THE BEGINNING OF THE ‘‘ MEANNESS.” THE tent which Qregon Leon entered was not ** Well, by Jove!” exclaimed Martevelde draw- | actually guarded; but the sharp eyes of several ing rein suddenly and looking at Luke Whittles, | Indians not far away were fastened upon it. now at his horse’s side. ‘I didn’t expect to find you here after seein’ the wagon overturned empty as a fool’s head, and with half a dozen dead Indians lyin’ nigh.” ** You see’d all thet?’ Whittles said half ques- tioningly. ‘‘ Well, p’raps, ef they hedn’t de- sarted me they’d ’a’ fared better.” “The blue-coats, eh?’ grated Leon, shuttin his lips firmly behind the last word, for he ha the soldiers as only men of his stripe can hate their hunters. ‘* Soldiers? no! Theboy— Dandy Jack—wiped out some of them; but they run ag’in’a s called Sun-Dance. P’raps you’ve heard of him ! There was a twinkle of grim humor in Whit- e saw Oregon Leon’s cheeks grow white, and the blood retreating leave his lips. *“ Yes; but I don’t fear him any more, Luke,” mn said. ‘“‘How did the wagon and the Indians get away from you, for I infer from your talk that you joined them, and claim that they deserted you?” ‘*T claim the truth; understand that!” flashed the traitor, darting a fierce look at the bandit; and cooling down somewhat, he told the stor of his theft of the team and its inmates, his gal- lop across the plains, his encounter with the Indians, the mysterious box, and Dandy Jack’s coup d’etat. “g en they started after the wagon they left me standin’ in the gramma grass, not one red skunk offerin’ to take me up, though thar war twenty hosses in the party what would carry didn’t double, an’ carry it well, too. They want me rad they thought thar war gold somewhar in the wagon, and they didn’t want a white finger to tech it. They got in yesterday, an’ I—I got here this mornin’—mad as a March hare; an’ hev been quarrelin’ with the devils ever since.” * Just as if you place no value on your life,” said Leon, rebukingly. “Be careful, Luke. Tf they getr iled heaties you, even J cannot do you any — ‘What are you a chief fur if you can’t see th. i a fellar what has stole fur you is pro- tected?” There was a cutting sarcasm in the teamster’s emphasis, and before Oregon Leon could reply, he continued: ** Not only hev I stole for you, but I’ve had a box of niter glisserene joltin hind me fur twenty-four hours, to say nothin’ of carryin’ it c’ar from the Bluffs, ’ now you say you ‘can’t pertect ’ me if the Injuns get riled ag’in’ me. Can’t? Yer don’t want to, Oregon Leon, art by, the soul of my mother! I’m not goin’ to i The eyes of Luke Whittles flashed like fie ks as he finished, and his rough hand fell e a hammer by way of emph upon the bandit’s leg. “The girl is yonder!” he continued, pointing to a large lodge whose exterior gave it a certain “The boy—well, Sun-Dance carried him off, which is not the last of him, I Luke Whittles waited till he saw the curtains which served as a door fall behind the bandit, and then walked moodily away. ‘“'Yes, play with the bird while you kin, Leon, fer when the mornin’ comes the cage might be re he object that greeted the ex-agent’s eyes was one of singular beauty, and it was with difficulty that he repressed an exclamation of mingled admiration and delight. He was confronted by a young girl, barely sixteen, whose confusion told that she had risen from a couch of skins at his entrance. She was slightly above the medium hight, fresh and lovely. Her eyes, large and lustrous, burned with a bright ight beneath the long black lash- es, and the hand that brushed several truant strands of dark hair back from her intellectual brow, was white and perfect. While her garments were neat, they exhibited traces of travel. She blushed slightly when Martevelde noticed them. ‘** What! do I find you a captive?’ he said, feigning astonishment, which made the girl re- gard him with a curious stare. ‘‘T am thus situated!” she answered, disap- pointing him as was evident by not coming for- ward and throwing her fortunes at his feet. ‘* In the first gon we, Dandy Jack and I, were stolen from the care of our guide by a traitor called Whittles, and driven straight to the In- dians. It was the work of a dastard, a man lost to honor and dignity.” ‘This traitor, Whittles, deserves condign punishment!” ‘‘The man was comparatively blameless, com- pared with the fiend who is at the bottom of the outrage,” said Estil, quickly, and with flashing eyes. ‘‘Oh, then you think the teamster, for I sup- ose ittles served you in that capacity, was ired to play the traitor?’ ‘* Undoubtedly he was hired, and that by a “pee who is known in these parts as Oregon on.’ The bandit, despite his self-possession, quailed before the accusing girl. ‘* This man—” ‘*Do not speak until you answer this ques- tion,” she cried, suddenly putting out her hand. ‘‘Are you not that man—that bandit who has made the old Oregon trail a highway of death?” ‘Girl, if Iam he, I am not lost to manhood. They have lied basely on Oregon Leon, as they choose to cali him; he is the most slandered man in the West; but since they have deliberately made him a devil, he is going to sustain the cha- racter.” He came nearer as the last sentence fell from his lips, and Estil, with a sudden light of recog- nition in her eyes, sprung aside. ‘‘ Great heavens! I know you now!” she cried. “You are more to me than Oregon Leon, I count you the test villain on earth. It was you who came to the States six months ago with a letter which you said was given into your hands by my mother. That letter told me to leave urcle Harold and fly to her arms, and you, George Dare then, urged me to go; you told me that she in the new home on the coast was anxious to see me! I believed you, and left with the train that set out for the gold country. You eng Luke Whittles to drive our train; in the States your men plotted that treason which that villain so successfully carried out. Is this not true? Do not dare to deny your in- famy, when in Oregon Leon, the villainous In- dian agent and prairie bandit, I see George en who drew me into this country with a e The ex-agent whose face wore a sinister smile while Estil spoke began to exhibit the heartless triumph of the practiced knave. ‘Who said I would deny it?’ he suddenly cried. ‘‘What is the use since I stand before you as George Dare?’ * Villain!’ ““T’ve gotten use to that name!” he said witha coarse laugh. ‘‘The cognomens given me by my white brethren are very choice, I assure ou. Not very long ago it was the Honorable n Martevelde; now it is bandit, fiend, devil! Choice names, are they no,t my captive bird?’ The flashing of the brigand’s eves was enough to blanch the cheeks of any girl, and drive her back. But Estil did not quail; above her white _— her eyes sparkled brilliantly like coals of ‘“‘ And that letter was a forgery? My mother never wrote it?’ ‘* Never!” he said in a tone that was intended to tantalize her. ‘Let me tell you sae. I saw that mother less than a year ago, an captivated by her beauty, for beautiful she is, I laid siege to ber heart. She did not know me. If I thought you would ever see her again, I would tell you to ask her if she has for n George Dare. At first I ee my suit was received with favor. She told me about you her youngest child in the States; but she sai that she would not send for you until you were of age—two —— yet, I think. When I[ asked for her hand I was refused in such a manner as to make me mad. She would not listen to my leadings, and at last with her finger pointed ward the door told me to leave her sight for- ever. I left, but before 1 turned on my heel to quit her presence, I told her that some day I would be terribly revenged. She became in- censed, and had me arrested for making threats. But I had friends there who aided me in my es- cape. It became known that I was Oregon Leon, and they followed me to the bound of the Snake country. But I eluded all, nor did I on until I had induced you, her daughter, to seek her arms. Luke Whittles was my traitor. I proclaim it boldly now, Estil, for you are in the center of an Indian village, where the word of George Dare is law. By my soul! you're going to exceed your mother in beauty. You will not be so tall as her, but your figure will be queenlier, like that of the reigning Washington belle, Miss Comstock.” For a moment after the bandit finished the astonished girl did not speak. But her eyes never left the white Snake. ‘You have confessed to villainy which should bring the blush of shame to your cheeks!” she cried at length. ‘‘I now know the motive that prompted that letter to which my mother’s name was forged. But let me tell you here and now, bandit and butcherer, that your villainy whatever it be shall not succeed.” ‘‘Ho! ho! my tigress!” said Leon with the coarse laugh of the ruffian. ‘ And pray whose arm is going to be stretched between you and me—that weak and pretty one of yours?” “ This one at least!” Estil answered lifting her right arm. ‘I can push it aside as if it were a reed!” ‘Not if there be a knife at the end of it!” ‘“‘A knife? I fancy that you will get to handle such an article while you are here! “Do you think I cannot?” cried the girl defi- antly, and before -the bandit could stop her, che stooped and drew a long-bladed hunting-knife from beneath the pillow of the couch. rhe pe greeted the weapon with an oath 0 rise. Estil’s eyes danced bebind the glittering steel which she held up before his eyes. “Who gave you that?’ “T do not betray!” was the answer, which seemed only to madden him. “Tt is an Indian knife and it has been given to you. ss ‘That is true.” ‘‘The man who gave it is without such a weapon now, Ha! I see buck-horn handle with red notches in it. ’Twill not be very hard com Ebooks