Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 743 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

~_—o Se ee EE Te a a RS — — ——— hen, a mile only from the Mission Hill, were the Comanches, some three-score in number, They had followed a belt of timber stretching away from tho range of hills many miles away, And they bad been unseen by the cowboys about the grave, in the two hours they had been there digging the grave and filling ‘it mm. But the keen eyes of the Comanches had noted the horses in the timber on the bill, and they had flanked them, to cut them off from the ranch to which they*knew they must belong. Such was the situation that Ruth Kedmond looked upon. ' Her face did not pale, nor did she lose her nerve in the slightest degree. She had with her the two negroes and ten cow- boys, ceunting Primus, just eleven men, to fight off six to one. But then Ruth Redmond counted herself as equal to a man, for she was the best shot of the lot, she well knew, aud sbe had been in many scenes of danger before, and had not flinched from death, ‘* Weare caught fairly, boys,” she said, in her yan way, as she turned her glass upon the In ians, ‘‘ They have followed the timber belt around from the hills, and are between us and home, and strong enough to hold us here with part of their force while the remainder plunder and burn the ranch, 4 2 Fortunately, they do not know our num- er, The thought of desolation falling upon her home, and perhaps death to berself and her companions, did not unnerve her in the slightest degree, and Bible Bill, the chief of the cowboys, said admiringly: ‘* You are a dandy, Captain Ruth, if you do wear petticoats; but, with the aid of Heaven we'll lick those red-skins like the very devil, if they make a break on us here.” ‘* Bible Bill” was a ‘‘dandy” himself, He had been a very hard citizen in his earlier life, but had been corraled by an itinerant par- son who had converted him, since which time he had carried his Bible with him as religiously as he did his revolvers, He always said his prayers upon retiring, never swore, and on Sundays, when he could get on audience of his comrades, he would preach to them, If they preferred their game of cards to his preaching, he was just obliging enough to chip in the game and win all they had at stake, and half of his winnings would go to charity, while the other half he sent off to educate a young sister who was at school at Galveston. Bible Bill was a tall, sinewy fellow of thirty, full of pluck, a perfect type of a cowboy, and had a heart as big as an ox. He was a desperate fighter, and when firing npon a foe would say: ‘*Tbe Lord have mercy upop your poor soul, darn yer!” A. bandsome fellow he was, very entertaining, and he had a voice of sweetest melody, so that the boys were wont to say to him: ‘* Let up on prayer and preaching, Bible Bill, and sing us a pious tune,” Rath Redmond smiled at Bill Darling’s remark that with the help of Heaven they would give the red-skins the devil, and said: ‘* Well, Bible Bill, we must do our best, ** But see there! ** That is what they are waiting for,” She pointed toward the end of the belt of tim- ber as she spoke, a mile or more from where the red-skins were grouped together, quietly wait- ing, and the faces of the cowboys changed color as they beheld a second band of Comanches com- ing into view. n silence all counted them, as they came in single file from the timber, and Ruth said aloud: * Thirty-seven!” ‘“ Yes, and with those waiting for them, Cap- tain Ruth, they number a hundred, while we are— He paused as he glanced over the little group, but Ruth said: ** We are thirteen, an unlucky number, ‘* But we are all well mounted, our horses are fresh, and we can retreat with a start of over a mile, and reach some of the ranches.” “And leave Sunset Ranch to be destroyed, Captain Ruth?” ‘** It must be so, Bible Bill, for to fight ten to one would be madness,” CHAPTER yV, THE CHAPEL FORT, THE situaticn was a serious one, The Comanches were on 4 raid, that was cer- tain, and the two bands could readily hold the | Buck Taylor’s Boys. . pr: Bete cowboys in check, and raid Sunset Raneb, and other places as well. Of course there was a chance to dash away and escape, reaching other ranches and giving the alarm. But just bow sure this was could not be told, for the negroes would have to go in the ambu- lance, as Nannie was too fat to ride horse- back, and the Indians, if their horses were fresh, could perhaps overtake them, Such was the situation, and it looked gloomy. Ruth Redmond did not, however, show any anxiety, but said: ‘* Bible Bill,our first duty is to send two of our best mounted men to warn the ranches, though it cuts down our own force, and as we eould not make much of a flight with the am- bulance, we had better go into the ruined chapel yonder and stand at bay, ‘We have no food, it is true; but we can fill our canteens with water at tbe spring, and the two boys can arouse the people, and relieve us to-morrow some time, ‘* What do you say?” ‘You talk mgbt to the point, Captain Ruth, and no mistake. ‘*We will have the advantage of fighting in the Lord’s sanctuary, and heathens should be- ware not to crowd us there, ‘*T’ll send Jack Scott and Reuben Rand to give the alarm, for they are mounted better than any one else, as well as being light- weights, ‘‘Pards, you get up and dust: you striking for Tom Harris’s ranch, Jack, and, Reuben, you make for Mabrey’s Ranch, and don’t halt until you get there, ‘* Rouse the whole hive and crowd this way with Heaven’s belp apd all the fighters you can get, for we'll need your aid badly and Prov- idence won’t help us after our ammunition is gone, and there are no ravens to feed us in this wilderness, nor locusts and wild honey to give us if the birds had the inclination, ‘Light out, pards, and the Lord be with you,” The two men designated sprung upon their horses and rode down the trail together, Bible Bill following with all the canteens, while Ruth Redmond led the rest of the party to the old unused chapel and began to prepare to fight it out there, The horses were led into a safe retreat, stones were piled into position, and branches were cut to hide the interior as much as possible, In the meanwhile Bible Bill and the two cow- boy couriers had reached the spring before spoken of, The couriers took a long drink, watered their horses, mounted and were off like arrows from a bow, one going to the north, the other west- Bible Bill filled the canteens and then rode to a point where he could command a full view of the prairies, He saw his couriers riding for their lives, for from the first seen band of red-skins, half a dozen warriors had started in full chase, one af- ter each cowboy, But Bible Bill saw something else that caused him to give a startled cry. ‘What is it, Bible Bill?” asked Ruth, riding toward him, for she had left the chapel as sho saw him take up his position of observation to join him. ‘‘ This is to be a grand raid, Captain Ruth, for see yonder!” . He pointed off beyond the hill where were vis- ible a party of thirty or forty Indians coming toward the hill from the opposite direction that the others had appeared in. ‘‘Yes, there are three bands of them, Bible Bill, and this is doubtless their rendezvous, ‘See, three warriors from the last band have gone off in chase of Reuben Rand,” ‘Yes, but they will never catch Reuben or ack, mounted as they are. “T wish you had gone 48 @ Courier, Captain Ruth,” eon mean by that we here are in great dan- er , ‘Tt looks that way, for now there are all told but nine men to fight nearly & hundred and fifty Indians,” ** Well, the chapel is astrong position, and we are all well armed,and Nannie can load a rifle if she cannot fire one, ‘‘ Ah! they are moving upon us and from three points, so we must hunt cover, Bible Bill, and be ready for them,” ‘* Yes, we must not let them down us, Captain Ruth, for we are soldiers of the Lord, and the rk ania are natural born children of the eV es . t As he spoke Bible Bill led the way back to the chapel, and he was glad to see the Sey at work, and that under the directions of Ruth they were making the position a very strong one, The horses had been gotten out of range, and old Nannie was also in a safe position, while the windows and door of the chapel had been well blocked up with heavy stones. The wagon had been hauled in also, and after Bible Billand Ruth bad ridden into the ruin, the doorway was blocked bebind them, Fortunately the space around the chapel fora couple of hundred feet was open, affording no shelter to the red-skins, and the ruin was so small, with only half a dozen windows and two doors in it, that these could be defended readily, as all but one opening upon each side had been blocked up, leaving four points of defense. Hardly had all gotten into position, when with wild yells, from three sides, the Comanches came at a rush up the hillside toward;the chapel. CHAPTER. VI. THE COMANCHE RUSH, ‘*To your posts, boys!” The order was given by Ruth with a coolness that won the admiration of the cowboys, wbile old Nannie called out: ‘‘Yis, honey, let dem git to dere posteses, while you comes and bides down here wid me, for you is too pretty ter be kilt.” But Ruth stood by one of the windows, with her repeating-rifle in hand, and Primus and a cowboy were with her. Bible Bill was at the most exposed position with two others, and the other positions were guarded by the rest of the little band. The three separate bands of Indians charged in column up the hill, and this enabled each window to have the benefit of the aid of those who were to have guarded the rear, at least for the first fire. The way that the Comanches came on showed that they intended to wipe out the little party in the ruin, then dash all together upon Sunset Ranch, and follow it with a rush along the line of settlements, They bad seen the two couriers start for aid and knew that their raiding expedition would soon be known and the whole country aroused, So up the hill they charged in three columns, and the fair captain, for she was sc acknowl- edged to be, said in her calm, fearless way: ‘* Boys, we must check them, so don’t throw shots away. ‘‘ Ready, fire!” Ten rifles flashed together, and as all were re- péating-rifles, the shots rattled rapidly and with terrible effect. The result was that the Comanches wheeled their ponies, and rode quickly back over the edge of the hill for shelter, They were hard hit, amazed and demoralized by the well-aimed fire, for they had expected to find not over half a dozen people there, and the repeating-rifles completely deceived them, for they believed that they were rushing upon a large force, So they staggered back to cover, while the cowboys yelled with triumph and defiance, There before their eyes the defenders saw their deadly work, for a dozen red-skins had fallen, and as many ponies Jay in full sight, The three bands fell back out of range, firing a few shots from a musket bere and there in possession of a warrior, and with their bows sending showers of arrows into the old ruin, Once they had retreated, the best braves were dismounted and thrown forward to reach spots from whence they could pick off the defenders, while the chief called about him the other lead- ers Of the band for a pow-wow. He was a man of striking appearance, car- ried bimself with an upright, soldierly bearing, and was mounted upon a superb horse, richly fitted out with savage finery. The cbief had slung at his back a repeating rifle, and in bis buckskin belt wore a pair of revolvers, ; There was something about him, even beneath the dark red stain upon bis face, and the hideous war-paint, that betokened the white man, His hair was worn long, and was black’ but he had it braided so with silk strings and feathers, as to almost hide its color, He rode too a Mexican saddle, which like the massive bridle was heavily studded with silver, while his spurs were of solid metal, and he wore top-boots, where his braves were mocca- sined, His war-bonnet was a most georgeous affair of red, black and white feathers, and fell be- low bis saddle-skirts when he was mounted,