Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 661 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

_ to a big raid. But, boys, s’pose w ' but a few 6 Banner Ben, the Wildfire of the Prairie. Pe -— -<———- try. But I thank the merciful Fates that ay troubles,with her have ended, even if I do wear a bandage on my head from her last tap.” ‘‘You bave left her then?’ remarked Harry, believing every word the old man had uttered was the truth. ‘No, she run off with another man,” replied Bandy, ‘‘ and there’s where I got the wu’st slash o all. The very man that ‘loped with her I loved as a brother. He’d broken bread in ny house a thousand times; we’d slept under the same blanket often; fought side by side on many a hard-contested battlefield. But he’s welcome to her, the delectable old buccaneer. Maybe you've heard o’ the man that old ’Bina eloped with? His name war Old Tom Rattler.” ‘‘Old Tom Rattler, the hunter?’ exclaimed arry. ‘¢ Exactly—the very same sinner. ‘‘ By the Great Rosycrusians! Bandy, I deny the allegation and defy the alligator!” These words were uttered by a strange voice —a voice that came from under the blanket that covered the supposed dead outlaw, and the next instant the blanket was flung aside, and the hitherto motionless figure rose to a sitting pos- ture, and thrusting a revolver into Bandy’s face, exclaimed: ‘Take that slander back, Kit Bandy, or by the holy pocus, I’ll add a Hoosaic Tunnel to your song 0’ lamentations.” “Tf it isn’t Tom Rattler, may I never see day- light again!” exclaimed Old Kit, in profound astonishment. ‘‘ Back she goes, Rattler, of course, you owdacious old fraud. Put up that pop, and give me your hand, you dear, rascally old impostor !” « The two old friends clasped hands and shook them, and laughed until the bateau fairly danced on the water. Then Old Tom Rattler, having shook hands with Harry and Bob, with whom he had met before, turried back to Bandy, and continued : | : ‘‘Kitsie Band, you’re as big a warper o’ the truth as you were years ago. The approach to the grave doesn’t improve you a bit, does it?” “Can't say as’t does, Tom,” responded Kit; * but I see you areimprovin’. There’s no decep- tion bout you, oh, no! Didn’t play dead outlaw for an hour for pure, rectified cussedness. Tom, owre a gigantic embezzlement, and I’d givea oss to ’a’ known it war you under that blanket _ and heaved you overboard.” ‘‘Ho! ho! ho!” laughed Rattler, ‘‘Kitsie, it seems from your talk that the very same motive that prompted you to take that other outlaw’s place and git lugged to the boat, actuated me, also; but I never dreamed that you war in this country till I heard your dulcet voice in the boat. “I was just making ready—bracin’ my nerves to open on the outlaws when you broke loose. But I’ll forgive you this time, Kitsie, for lyin’ on me, but, woe unto Jerusalem! if you ever unload your twisters on me again, And so Banner Ben is dead?” _ Yes,” answered Ashmore. _ ** Poor, brave, desperate boy!” Rattler sighed; ** but, Bandy, what does this Ingin raiding down here mean? * «7 don’t know; I am sure the military folks don’t know anything about it, and so I s’pose it’s a little raid throwed out as a feeler preparatory o ashore there and camp for the night. I’ve a hull kit 0’ fightin’ tools up there in the woods I want to get in the mornin’.” : To this all assented, and pulling in to shore they landed on the very spot where the amateur hunters had been captured. Here they went into camp; fhe outlaws’ effects, which they had left there concealed in some bushes, were appro- priated for present needs, Finally Old Kit and Harry seated themselves and entered into conversation. om, ‘Mr, Bandy,” said Harry, ‘‘ it has been nearly a year now since you began work on the Hamp- ton Crime and Conspiracy, and I never heard Sen you had struck even a single clew or not. ‘¢ I’ve struck one, and a big one, too, and that ights ago; but before I had the mat- ter secure i slipped through my fingers. I'd captured Captain Jubal Blood, the outlaw leader. . He seemed to know all ’bout the particulars 0’ _ that crime, but before he could finish his story 'gome son-of-a-gun shot him dead. I'll alers be- . lieve, too, that a friend o’ Blood’s killed him to save the secret, and that the same assassin tried to swat me a few minutes later, and ’d ’a’ suc- ceeded if my skull hadn’t been thicker’n a Guinea nigger’s. sme fhe ss hp seo ah ae oa very s y arry, ‘‘ for he ad- Jnitted, b inference, that he was the man that : we t ( ‘ berthed ne va 3 4 is) y 23 Fide eae — + _—- - — a od, i °, “ , a. a 7 * *» i Ae +* i} . ‘ 4 a Sait; if : we : laid you out. He went away with the Indians who called him White Medicine—the outlaws called him Dr. Gwynn.” ' ‘©Oho!” exclaimed Kit, ‘then I’m on the right trail; that’s the feller I want now and, have him 1 will. But, Harry, how goes things in Kentucky? Have you detected anything fur- ther to confirm your belief that that disfigured girl is an impostress?” ‘‘ Nothing since my case was given to you, for I have kept away from her. Her guardian has been trying to trip her up on her game, but she is sharp as a tack. She seems possessed of the power of reading one’s very thoughts.” ‘‘ Tt’s a strange case,” declared Kit—‘‘ beats the famous Tichborne case in England.” ‘¢T wouldn't care at all for the money in- volved,” Harry wentonto say, ‘‘ but, Mr. Bandy, I loved Jessie Hampton, and I do not believemy love would have ghanged for the true Jessie even though she had come back to me disfigured for life. I believe that it is love’s intuitive instinct that detected the impostor in the claimant, and turned me against her assomething loathing.” ‘‘ Boy, there’s haydoogins o’ sound philosophy in your theory o’ the heart’s keenness 0’ percep- tion, and since my talk with Blood, the outlaw I believe a great wrong has been done you and yon sweetheart, and that there is an attempt ein’ made to defraud soinebody out o’ a for- tune, and it may succeed for all 1 know.” ‘‘Tn less than a year the terms of my father’s and Jessie’s fathers wills must be complied with, or at least a million and a half dollars’ worth of property will go to others than Jessie and I.” ‘ ‘¢ \nd them others must be the ones that are trying to keep hee from complying with the terms of the will, by running in the disfigured girl after she’d been trained to perform her part. Now, I understand that one of the heirs named in your father’s very singular will is his half-brother, Gerald Smedley. ere is he? I never understood.” ‘‘He lives in Tennessee, and is himself quite wealthy.” | | ‘¢ And Randolph Darnley, Mr. Hampton’s bro- ther-in-law, is named in his—Hampton’s—will as an heir, should Jessie fail to comply with the term s of the will by marrying you. Now where is he?’ ‘‘ Wr. Darnley is dead, but he has heirs—chil- dren that will come into his inheritance. Two of them aresons. One is a well-to-do lawyer in Kentucky and the other a physician in St. Paul. The third one is a daughter, last heard of in Chicago five years ago.” ; ‘‘ Did you ever see the son of Darnley that isa physician?’ Kit asked. “ Never, to my knowledge, did I see Dr. Cal- houn age he nor his sister Pauline. Jackson Darnley, the lawyer, I have met.” ‘‘ Boy,” said Bandy, has it never occurred to you that Dr. Darnley, Dr. Gwynn and White Medicine are a trio that might be traced to one individual, and that one, Calhoun Darnley, is chief conspirator against you and Jessie, if there be any conspiracy at all? ‘‘Such a thing is possible, though it seems hardly probable,” replied Harry Ashmore. ‘‘'There’d be nearly a million in it for him,” ‘‘T havealways mistrusted the friends of the disfigured girl, whoever they may be. I don’t care for the money. I neverexpect to see Jessie alive, but it would be some censolation and sat- isfaction to ferret out the facts and bring the conspirators to justice.” ‘‘Harry,” said Kit, ‘‘don’t despair, for V'll swear I believe I’m on a pretty plain trail, though it may end in the river. Blood’s story and untimely death, White Medicine’s talk here, and his departure with the Indians, are all straws, and to-morrow morning I shall point my nose in the direction o’ Stooping Bear’s camp.” \ Various topics incident to their surroundings were discussed by the party. About midnight Old Rattler went on guard and the others laid on to rest. # a bie H rapping his blanket around him, Harry Aanmier® laid Sen oe tha tse of a large tree not many feet from the grave of the outlaw, Kirt Kendig. His talk with Bandy had so wrought upon his mind that he could not sleep. Several times he fell into a doze from which he would start with a feeling of unknown horror. Finally he arose to a sitting posture and leaned against the tree under which he bad lain. He was in the shadows, and yet the moon had so shifted in the heavens that the light fell full upon the newly-made grave of the outlaw. _ This mound was the first object that met his gaze, and he started as it did so—started with a 7 > . , - . “tf. 4 / f 2 a é a : ’ i P s ‘ of @ a : ‘ £ py SS76. © v Pert sa' , >» : Nae 2 OT Spe i} ‘ - oF = alll _ - i, ” R - : ae Ms , \ J | ; rh Ps ay > — a F | y * ~! we oe © » a shudder of horror, and his eyes became fixed as if upon some dreadful sight. He sees a ghostly object lying upon the earth at the foot of the grave. /tis a trunkless hu- manhead! It sits upright on the fresh earth. The face is turned toward him. It looks ghostly in the moonlight. Harry bites his lip to assure himself he is not dreaming, for as he continues gazing at the ob- ject he recognizes the ghastly face. Jt is that of Ben Banner, the Young Wildfire of the Prairie!” CHAPTER VI. A HAPPY SURPRISE. Srcox at heart Harry Ashmore turns his head and closes his eyes toshut out the ghastly sight be- fore him. Hecanscarcely believe but that he is dreaming, and Ph he can hear the heavy breathing of Old Kit and Bob Burch, and the gemtle murmur of the river hard by, and even seemed to hear the beating of his own heart—all of which tells him that a stern reality stares him in the face—that the ghastly object ts the trunkless head of Ben Banner! But how had it come there? Had it been placed there while they slept by an enemy as @ warning to them? And if so, where was Old Rattler, their guard? Was his head, too, lying somewhere in the shadows to be revealed by the shifting moon? These and a dozen more questions flash through Harry’s brain; he is so horrified that he fears to speak lest his voice start a hundred lurking horrors from the surrounding shadows. The strain upon him is terrible, but he finally re- solves to arouse his sleeping friends and rises to his feet. As he does so a twig snaps under his foot and almost instantaneously he sees the head of Ben Banner disappear—sink down into the earth ! ‘“By heavens!” Harry mentally exclaims, shaking off the spell that held him in its: de- mon’s grip, ‘‘ there is some mystery there and I shall solve it.” He drew his revolver and advanced to where the head had disappeared. Hesewa dark hole in the earth at the foot of Kendig’s grave. He started as a thought flashed through his mind. He quickly measured with his eyes the distance between the grave and the bank where Banner Ben had leaped into the river. It was net over fifteen feet. A hopeful light beamed in the young man’s eyes, and stooping over until his sm was near the hole in the earth, he called out: ‘‘ Ben—Banner Ben!” | Then he listened, but all was still as the grave, A gain he calls out a little louder: ‘Ben—say, Banner, are you alive?” ‘Ts that you, Harry?” came asepulchral voice from the ground. could scarcely repress a shout of joy, but mastering his emotions, he replied: ‘‘ Yes, it is I, Harry Ashmore, and I thank God that you are alive, Ben. Come out, can’t you? The coast is clear. Bob and I are all right again, and Kit Bandy and Old Rattler are both with us.” ‘‘Jee-whango! that’s glorious news,” came from the hole; ‘‘ then I'll crawl forth and ag’in take up my cross.” As he concluded, the head of Ben Banner popped out of the hole, and after some twistin and digging the brave boy came forth well an unharmed. But he was a rather pt tip sight, being covered with dirt and yellow clay from head to foot. ; ( ‘* My dear, brave young friend,” cried Harry, grasping the boy’s hand; ‘‘thank God you live, for we have mourned you as dead!” ‘‘ Well,” replied Ben, his youthful face aglow with triumph, ‘‘I had to rustle for my life _ awhile there, Harry. But, you see, the bank fell over me instead 0’ on me, and so I bobbed up close against the foot of the bank where it caved off. Of course, I was still covered all over in water and loose dirt, and had to pump like sixty to git wind enough to run my works, but as soon as I found the outlaws wer’n’t hunt- ing me I i: a to burrow for more comfortable uarters and soon I was curled up under there likea young bear up for winter. I could just hear the sound 0’ voices but couldn’t make out what last, when they’d become still n to dig a tunnel up slaunch- e bank with my knife, While what should I strike but some loose dirt—then a pair of feet. Whew! but that sickened me. I soon found they war a man’s feet and knew he’d just been buried; but was said, and at altogether, I be ways threugh borin’ away, guess how I knew it wasn’t yours or Bob’s feet.” ‘‘T couldn’t to save me, Ben,” replied Harry, “Why, I knew if it war you or Bob, the out- ‘ « » 4 0KS.EC . J ‘ an a7 - 7 <= es ~~ ——— EE ¢ = he con wa: *