Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 662 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

Butterfly Billy’s Bonanza. mm e-—“‘“‘“_— ‘*U’m ahead ten minutes, Jake, for I pressed hard to havea talk with you. ‘* Hallo, Mr. Cody, glad to see you!” and the Pony Express Rider who was known as Cricket, from his slim limbs and chirping voice, sprung from his horse, while Jake brought him a fresh animal and transferred the saddle, ‘* What is it, Cricket?” asked Jake as he finish- ed strapping the saddle. “I. thought word went along that the Hercules Highwayman had turned up his toes?” ** So he has.” “Killed by that flying terror, Butterfly Billy, the Black Horse Rider, it was said?” sé Yes,” ** Weil, he isn’t dead.” ‘** But Buffalo Bill here planted him,” ** Did you, Mr. Cody?’ “* din.” ** And you are sure it was the Hercules?” ** Perfectly, for one cannot make a mistake in a man like that.” “Then it was just as I said, for I saw his ghost!” ** His ghost?” - ‘Sure, iy Butterfly Billy killed him and you planted him,” ** What did you see?” **The Hercules, for he robbed me once of a cool thousand, and I know him,” ** 'W hen?” ‘*On the trail on my up run, and I saw him seated on his horse on the side of the road.” ‘* Did he speak to you?” ** Not a word,” ** Did you speak to him?’ “No, you bet I didn’t, for I went by flying in the moonlight; but I must be off, and I only hope I won’t run upon him again, forit gave me the cold shivers to see him, you may be sure, oe I had been told that he had passed in his chips. ‘* But, good-by; time’s up,” and, leaping into his saddle, Pony Rider Cricket dashed off like a- bullet, on bis run. ‘* Waal, Bill, what does yer think o’ that?” ‘* It is strange, Jake, to say the least of it,” ‘**' You bet it’s strange when dead folks goes a prowlin’ around the ’arth. ‘In all my grave-diggin’ experience, and I has planteil many a one, I never seen nothin’ ter match this, and I did see it with my own eyes and I doesn’t mean glasses neither.” Buffalo Billwas both bothered and thought- ful. He tried to ignore the stories he had _ beard, of Bob Burt, Jake Reeves and Cricket having seen the Specter Hercules; But then his own experience, of sound, if not sight, seemed tocarry out the belief that they were telling the truth. Then, too, had not his horse been twice un- hitched in the shed? So he determined to make a tour along the Overland and see if he could catch a sight o7 the specter of the Hercules. Having had dinner with Jake Reeves he started, and nightfall found him on the trail which in life the Hercules bad often traveled. The moon rose in a cloudless sky over a cliff, and suddenly the scout drew rein. And no wonder, for it shone full upon the form of a horse and rider going slowly across the trail ahead of him, ** Halt!” and as the word left the lips of the scout he drew a revolver and spurred his horse forward on the run. When brought in sight of a foe he was ready to meet him, and there he saw black horse and rider, the moonlight glimmering upon his _epaulettes, buttons and sword, But no answer came to his stern command, _ and when he reached the spot the Specter High- wayman was nowhere to be seen, for he had seemed to peep | glide into a pine thicket, the gloom of which was too great to penetrate. CHAPTER XII. THE MYSTERY DEEPENS, THE rumor that the Overland Trail was haunted, by the specter of the Hercules High- wayman, spread rapidly, and other testimony than that of Bob Burt, the driver, and Cricket, the Pony Express Rider came in as proof that the gooee was really a thing to dread, Ot er drivers, and other pony riders added their testimony to the stories of Bob Burt and Cricket, and soon old hunters and scouts began to dread going along the trails which the Her- cules had been wont to travel. The officers at Fort M—— laughed at the story, and having the authority of Buffalo Bill that he had buried the body of the Hercules, after Butterfly Billy had killed him, they did not believe in the specter story. Still it made its impression, and Surgeon Dela- mater gave notice that if any one told Butterfly Billy of it, he would ask Colonel Carter to severely punish the one who did so, Buffalo Bill returned, after nearly a week’s absence, to find Colonel Carter had accom- panied General Hancock on to several other posts, and that he would be gone from ten days to two weeks. So what report he had to make, he deter- mined to keep for the colonel himself, and not tell the officer left in command, The scout found Butterfly Billy greatly im- proved, His fever was steadily decreasing, and the bullet had been located and extracted. The youth was in a fair way to recovery, and Surgeon Delamater told Buffalo Bill thatina couple of weeks more his protege would be out of all danger, he hoped, Thus the days passed on, with rumors still con.ing in from scout, hunter, Pony Rider and courier of the Specter Highwayman having been again and again seen, until if seemed that the ghost of the Hercules had nothing else to do but to ride up and down the trail and frighten travelers, for he never committed any rob- beries. There were several soldiers, returning from escorting an officer to the Overland Trail to take a coach East, who evensaid that they bad seen the Specter Hercules in the daytime, and they wera ready to swear to it, too. When asked why they had not given cheese, they were indignant at the suspicion that they would dare pursue a ghost. And all this time Buffalo Bill kept his own secret, and seemed strangely moody and quiet, his comrades thought, About this time there was an arrival at the fort, and he became the guest of Captain Allen, for he was a distinguished citizen of Mexico. Then the secret came out that when her fa- ther was stationed at a fort on the Rio Grande, Ivy Allen had been rescued from a band of out- laws who had captured her near the fort, by an ex-Lansero officer, the Senor Captain Don Emilio Soto, | The Don was aman of wealth, bad an ele- gant hacienda home in Mexico, and since his meeting withIvy Allen had desperately loved her. é, Soon after their meeting, Captain Allen’s brother, a resident of Texas, got into some trouble in Mexico, and there was a chance that he would be put to death, but be was released through the influence of Don Soto, who thus pie the Allens under another deep obligation to him, So it was that when Ivy left the fort, the Don received permission to some day follow her with the hope of making her his wife. She had guarded her secret well, but now when the Don arrived, and came as her ac- knowledged suitor, there was nothing for Ivy to do but to accept the situation. And the coming of Don Emilio Soto cast a deep gloom over a score of hearts, for many a young officer had held hopes of one day suc- cessfully pleading his case with the beautiful Ivy, and that hope was now dashed to the ground, Soon after the arrival of Don Emilio Soto, Colonel Carter returned, for his trip had ex- tended into three weeks, He had much to look after, dispatches to read and duties perform, which had accumulated during his absence; but he was compelled to listen to the -wondrous stor’es of the Specter Highwayman, ‘*It is all bosh,” he said, impatiently, when his adjutant had told him of the various rumors and that a superstitious dread had settled upon the garrison, some of the officers even admitting that they were mystified even tothe verge of superstition themselves, ‘** Send Cody to me, orderly,” the colonel said, after his ears had been filled. with reports of the Specter Hercules, In a short while Buffalo Bill appeared, and after welcoming the colonel back, saluted the other officers present, for Captains Allen and roast and the adjutant of the post were ere, There was also present an old hunter who had returned from north of the Overland, and re- ported that upon his way back he had camped at the Blue Spring, when sa?denly right by his camp, with noiseless hoof-fall, went the Specter Hercules, He had been too alarmed to fire or to utter a word; but he said in conclusion: ‘* Now, colonel, you know I don’t mistake no jack-rabbit fer a deer, and hain’t skeert o’a 4 ad : ee ile : SCO RT OS RP Sar grizzly; but I seen what I tells yer, and I only — wish I hadn’t, fer it comes on me like a warnin’ o’ death,” ‘* All right, Leatherfoot, we must track this ghost to cover,” said the colonel, and the old bunter left the office, and the commandant turned to Buffalo Bill and asked: ‘“* Now, Cody, what do you think of all this nonsense about the specter of the Hercules haunting the Overland Trails?” ‘It is no nonsense, Colonel Carter,” was the og | response, for such a reply from the lips be Buffalo Bill was sta:tling to those who knew him CHAPTER XIII. BUFFALO BILL HAS SOMETHING TO SAY. ‘“You surprise me, Cody, for of all men, [ supposed you would be tbe Jast to take up with this nonsense,” said Colonel Carter, when he heard Buffalo Bill’s response to his question about the Specter Hercules. “The truth is, Colonel Carter, I am mystified, and I will ask you’ to explain it if you can, all that I have seen and heard.” ‘You then have seen the ghost?” said the colonel with a smile, ** [ll tell you, sir, just what I have seen. **'You remember that I left bere to go back to the retreat of the Hercules and secure his arms, which in the hurry of getting Butterfly Billy to the fort I neglected to secure, and also thorough- ly search the cabin of the outlaw?” ‘*T remember, Cody, and so I sent for you, hoping you could put aside this foolish talk about a ghost. ‘‘Tam sorry that I cannot, sir, and I only re- egret that Iam unable to do so,” and the scout spoke with a solemnity which could not but im- press his hearers, ‘* Well, Cody, give us your experience, and perbaps our united minds can solve the mystery of the specter.” ‘*T hope so, Colonel Carter, for I am on the trail of that ghost and wish to run it down, ‘ But to my story, sir. “*T went to the ridge, left my horse in hiding and tried to find another trail to the summit than that which Butterfly Billy and myself had taken, ‘* But I found the sides of the ridge too steep, so had to risk an ambush and crept cautiously to the top. ‘““T found all as I had left it, the door of the cabin open, the rifle and revolver of the Her- cules leaning against the logs, and nothing to in- dicate that any one had been there since our de- parture,” ‘* And the grave?” ** Was just as I had filled it in, sir. ‘““Finding nothing by a search, and night coming on with a threatening storm, T deter- mined to take onvaniegy of the cabin for shel- ter, so went after my horse and bouzed him in the shed, where I found some hay, and in the cabin I discovered cooking utensils and wood, so I made myself comfortable. “T had a good supper, smoked for awhile, and the pouring rain making me sleepy with its patter upon the roof, I lay down, congratulat- ing myself upon having found such fine quarters for myself and horse, ‘*How long I slept I do not know, but I was awakened by the sound of deep groans, and 1 sprung to my feet, threw wood on the fire, and listened. ‘* The groans came from outside, so I threw a buffalo-robe I had found in the cabin, about me, and went out, ‘*The wind howled terribly, and the rain came down in torrents; but the groans came from the grave some fifty feet away.” ** Cody!” ‘It is true, Colonel Carter; but I could find no clew, so I looked about the ridge, returned to my cabinand went tomy couch again,” ‘* 1t was the wind.” | ‘‘ Wind could never make those sounds, sir, “But I went to sleep in spite of the sound, and was awakened by the wildest shricks ina man’s deep voice. \ ‘““Acain I threw wood on the fire and went out; but the shrieks had ceased, and I returned without discovering the cause, “TI forgot to say, sir, that I had hitched m horse securely in the shed, and in going to loo after him when I first arose, I found him loose, “Again I hitched him, and once more he wag loose, : ‘Now, colonel, I did not again retire, but sat up smoking before the fire until day. | ‘The storm had cleared away, so that all was sunshine; but no track could I see, and all was as it had been the night before. 45. 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