Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 729 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

‘ 6 “ Silverblade, the Half-Blood. regalia, for the night air was too cool for naked- ness, and he was too shrewd to ron too great risks. His face wasstill covered with paint, laid on in mystic designs. But that was all left of W ab-pa-doo-tah, the Sioux, just now, It did no* take long for such nimble legs to carry their owner to the foot of the rocks, and peeing there merely for a locating glance, Red af began scaling the gray rocks, pausing shortly thereafter to utter a low, thrilling whis- tle, much such as a startled night-bird might give forth, Twice this note was repeated, then an answer came: the low, husky chatter of the ground-hog. ‘* All’s lovely, and the fat goose hangs ’way up, pardner!” chuckled the transformed medi- cine-man, moving a little to the right, where ove of the gray rocks seemed lifting from its an- cient bed, ‘' Keep your foot in the crack, cully, for I’m too tender a morsel to play jam under such a weighty cover as that!” *‘ Get under cover before you chin too much!” came a husky, but unmistakably white voice in return. ‘* You might brass it out if those paint- ed devils should smoke a trick, but we can’t all of Wd xd medicine-men !” Red Leaf slipped through the opening thus offered, and the gray rock once more seemed immovable from the outside. There followed a bit of creeping, then a dull light grew before them, and in a few seconds more both Red Leaf and his guide stood erect in a dingy but fairly comfortable cave, ** Might be worse,” laughed Red Leaf, casting a quick glance over the faces of those present, then around their limited quarters. ‘* Butif my red knaves only knew whata truly gorgeous palace their Messiah occupied, maybe they haar marvel so much at his tarrying so **Oh, let upon that, Godfrey,” growled the man who had given him admittance, at the same time drawing his broad shoulders together with a shiver asof cold. ‘‘ You made me tarry too infernally long, with your signals! If you think it a joke to stand with naked body, or but an apology for a blanket around one-half of your torso, I'd like for you to change places with me, iy once! Ugh! 1 feel as though the death- . ee crept into the marrow of my every e | **How did the old thing work, Zenv?” asked - one of the other men, who was packing an in- strument into a blanket-lined case, | *‘Smooth as oil, and straight as a string! Couldn’t have been better from our point of view.” ‘Then you haven’t come here to kick?” **T’d give a big round dollar if you were only a woman, Perkins, so | might show my appreci- ation by hugging aud kissing you for your neat exhibition! As it is—” | ‘“‘)ll take your word for it, mate,” with a light laugh. ‘‘ Then you caught your sucker?” ‘* Hooked bim right through the gills, and every attempt to break away only made his killing the more certain!” with a Jow but vicious chuckle, his greenish-gray eyes filled with an unholy light. “If it isn’t a secret, Zeno, I’d like to know — why you hate this young Woodbridge so ntensely?” slowly said the other, rising up from the case, bis little eyes curiously scanning that painted visage by the dim light hard by, “Then you’d be as wise as [ am, Perk,” laughed Red Leaf, moving forward and seating himself upon the box, ‘‘ And yet—maybe! I’ve come over here, boys, more for a white man’s chatter than anything else. I’ve played Injan BO rr I’m growing sick at the stomach!” “Medicine to the medicine-man!” laughed Perkins, extending a hand in which rested a flat flask of liquor, ‘ Buss the old girl, Godfrey, and then we'll play talk as long as your jaws can stand the pressure. Provided, of course, that there’s no actual business waiting?” ** None that can’t be postponed for an hour or so, Here’s looking at ye, gentlemen!” nodded Red Lanf, apse me. ely. The flask passed from hand to hand, until each one of the quartette had sampled its con- tents, then they settled down, smoking and talk- ing after the fasbion of old friends, making more than one strange revelation before the time drew near for parting. The three men were all of white blood, beyond uestion, and far above the average so far as aahep tives went: of honesty, perhaps the less said the better. Their speech was rough, and at times almost uncouth, but that came through associations, not lack of schooling. In fact, the trio bad been selected from scores of otber scholarly men, as being the best fitted by both nature = teaching to fill the important parts assigned h em. Taking the three together, there was hardly an Indian dialect from one ocean to the other, from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf, which was not familiar to them, and which could not be glibly spoken by their tongues, And, through ong practicing, their voices had grown 80 nearly alike that a change in speakers would pass unnoticed, so long as the eye was kept from telling the difference, ‘‘And so the old girl fooled ’em all, did she, Zeno?” laughed Perkins, after their pipes were lighted and under headway. ‘‘I reckoned as much, when no circus was kicked up, but—one time, I just had to turn my cabeza for a squint at the back door, to see if all was clear fora skip-me-quick !” ** You filled the hole to perfection, Godfrey,” nodded the one who had tacitly admitted play- ing the role of Indian Messiah, though his broad, strong face was now smooth as that of a crane or as a deftly-handled razor could make fi ‘“‘ You mean when that fool’ boy called for a change of lingo?” ‘‘Sure! That wasn’t down in the programme, and I couldn’t shift position enough to make out just which red he meant. You filled out the teak. just in time, but—like Perkins, I thought of the back door!” : ** And J wondered if your medicine was power- ful enough to save your crown from those red devils when they suspected the truth,” laughed the third member of the trio. ‘* Tears were starting, Godfrey!” ‘‘Baht I had only to blind the young cub, and if he had caught on, the Indian Messiah would surely have slain the doubter—through his favorite mouth-piece, Wah-pa-doo-tah, the Sioux! And—I almost wish the circus had broken forth, then and there!” ‘¢ What makes you hate young Woodbridge so bitterly, mate?” “Tell you later, maybe, Perk. Just now there’s better materia] for talk, And yet—I know you of old, mate! Once let you geta grip on a subject, and a bulldog can’t begin to mate you! So—you know I had a son?” ** Still had, bhaven’t you?” ‘‘Didn’t | say had ?” with an almost savage snarl in face and voice, ‘*Silverblade helped the Border Beagle trap my boy, and Buck Hor- ton took him across the line, into Canada, to auswer for a bitof aracket over yonder, Then-- Well, the case never came to trial. A gang broke into the jail, and—you can guess the rest!” **'Yet you let the cub live on?” ‘* Because I can punish him better than by in- stant death,” with vicious energy. ‘‘ Because [ want him to join the hostiles, and play such a prominent part among them that he'll be a marked 14an from the send-off. Then, no mat- ter how this ghost-dance business pans out, I'll have a death-grip on him, and on bis family, as well, See the point?” “‘ Hardly clearly as might be, but if you don’t ppt say more, play we do,” grunted Perkins, azily. ‘* Allright, You know what we're here for. You know what we’re paid for doing, and you know who pays our wages. You know t.at if we succeed in hatching an Indian war, mighty good land will be cheaper than dirt, through all this ion, Well, part of that country, just now, belongs to the father of Silverblade, the half-blood: as rich and productive a stock ranch as can be found in a long peers search! ‘ And you’ye got your eye on that particular ranch, eh?” ‘“ My eye now, my hands then} But enough of this, “You’re ready for a start, I see? ‘* Just as soon as your Indian pets get a move on themselves, yes.” “That will be at peep o’ day. where to strike for?” ‘Ts down on the list, and we'll get there, never fear,” nodded he who had played the part of the Messiab, ‘* And if everything Is arranged as conveniently as this den, we'll have little trouble in working off another edition of the great miracle. So long as doubters only shoot at my reflection, I’ll never howl!” “ You've got it down fine, for a fact! Well, we're paid big wages, and then there’s the pick- ings to follow! orth while playing ghost to order, isn’t it mates?” laughed the false prophet. A chorus of laughter answered him back. CHAPTER VI, HOT HEART AGAINST COOL HEADS. | Two days later, another camp-fire was burn- ) You know northeast of the rocky range where the Indian Messiah appeared in answer to the prayers of t Srl ute wilt the great medicine-man of the Sioux. Around that glowing pile were gathered the returning delegation, consisting of Grosventres, Shoshones, Crees and Bannocks; but there was no Medicine Lodge erected hard by, as then, and Red Leaf was no longer with his credulous dupes, At first signs of dawn, on the morning after the vision, he had stepped forth from his tepee, and after his customary weird chant to the New Messiah, he had spoken plainly to his follow- ers, They had seen, they had heard, and now they must return to their people, to make glad other hearts with tho glorious tidings. They knew the back-trail, and could easily follow it without the guidance given them in coming. Wor he, W ah-pa-doo-tah, the chosen mouth-piece of the Indian Messiah, had been given another mes- sage from the Great Spirit, and he must part from his loved children, ‘‘There are many more to free trom dust, many more hearts to pour righ light into, and Red Leaf must go to them. is children from the North have won the new gospel, and they can go preach the glad truth to their people. Keep bright the words of the Indian M siah. Forget nothing that his lips uttered. Make your people see, even as you see, and lead them to where the ts Sitting Bull awaits their coming. He will tell them what to do, when and where to strike the first blow,” Turning to Silverblade, tha half-blood, who stood apart from the rest of the delegation, Rea Leaf addressed him directly: ‘‘And you, my son? Is the true light still burning?” | ** tt still burns, my father,” humbly bowing his proud young head, ‘‘ My heart is on fire! May I go, now? There are wings on my feet, and if they are forced to crawl, twill cause my brain to split open! May I go at once to the great Sitting Bull?” ‘© Ask the Messiah, and do as your heart bids,” replied the lage turning abruptly away, lest the evil glow in his eyes betrayed too much of the truth for bis own good, Bo the parting came, and so the delegation mounted their horses and turned their faces homeward. They rode rapidly, for all seemed eager to reach their people, if only to lighten the glorious load which rested upon each and every mind, But, at each halting place, the Indians talked together, and, little by little, their talk began totake a course that caused Silverblade no little uneasiness. Like all skeptics who have been converted after a long and hard struggle, Silverblade was now as eager to press on as he had been stubborn in hanging back. If he could have had his way, the delegation would have ridden night and day, or until their borses dropped dead beneath. them, Other mounts might be bought or stolen, but the hours wasted in sleeping and eating eould never be replaced, ; But he was only a youth, and bad not been among those chosen by the council to represent. the Snake children, Only through the wish of Red Leaf, the prophet, had he been included among the delegation. And now that Red Leaf was away, the young half-blood found his voice of little power, when opposed to those of the three Shoshone chiefs, As yet there had been no open rupture, though Silverblade was made, In more ways than one, to feel the jealousy inspired by his having been singled out by the Indian Messiah for a special message, on that never-to-be-for- gotten night, lor one thing, as often as the half-blood urged his companions to greater speed, just so often would their pace slacken still more, It was hard to curb bis hot passions, but, as time pass- ed on, and he took more thought of what had really occurred, Silverblade felt that he could illy ‘afford to openly quarrel with his com- panions, nee He was an honest convert. He felt that it was his sacred duty, not only to offer himself as a sacrifice to the Messiah, but to win over the hearts and bodies of all his people as well. He had conquered his first swift impulse to ‘ride direct to the Sioux medicive-wan, who was. named as the chief representative on earth of the New Messiah. He had prayed to the being whom he new openly acknowledged his master, on earth as in heaven, but as yet he had been unable to interpret the answer given. And so, ‘‘ eating bis heart,” be kept pace with the dele- gation, hoping for the best, yet forced to fear ing in a sheltered valley, thany miles to the | the worst. com