Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 778 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee ar : . aoe yt , PES SE FOO OIL me 1 ali ae. Pe. 2 . ee *~ ‘ > 7 _ Batts, ‘that arter all our chargin’ and snort- —— we —. — — » - s s ‘since Highland Harry revealed the secret of | eyes, and wild, old deestruction in our hearts, that message, it is pretty clear that Plunket hit | that we—five men and four bloodhounds—das- the right fellow. Itis also clear that my move- | n’t tackle one solitary boy arter we’ve got him ments are being watched clusely, and that my | insight! Oh! it makes me weary-sick!” coming here has aroused Grimm and his con- ** My impetuous Tony Batts,” replied Adder- federate, Seguin, and hastened the abduction of | Nose, in a tone of sarcasm, ‘‘ I’m sorry for you, Kitty. Plucky old Simon Plunkett is now over | and if you want to die a martyr, just you dash inthe mountains, searching for his bottled pa- | from covert and let that young Wizard see you. pers; but 1 am afraid he will never recover | Enough of our men have fallen by his rifle them. To me it will not be material, but if | without taking any further risks. He has defied Kitty Boyne is Theresa Grimm, and living, and | our vigilance and entered Teton Basin and es- is rescued from the enemy, she may require | caped, which no other enemy has ever done. other evidence than mine and Plunkett’s of her | There are those among our band who solemnly being my child. | believe that his is a supernatural spirit; and birth has been kept from her for some reason or | there are more than one ready to swear that other, and the attempt on Plunkett’s life was to | they’ve see’d him taken up bodily intothe clouds hush the matter entirely.”’ bat rolled lke the curled front o’ Jove about ‘‘ Well, this is a startler to us!” declared | the mountain hight’ when close pressed by pur- Judge Kinney; but before he could say more, a | suers.”’ settler came hurrying up, saying excitedly: ‘* That’s all swash and cowardly superstition !” ‘*Captain—judge, Stony Boyne’s cabin’s all | declared Batts in evident disgust. in flames!” ‘*T think so, myself,” said Adder-Nose, ‘‘ but The three men sprung to their feet, and look- | then, it is very true that he’s been worse thanan ing down the valley beheld the cabin, sure | epidemic among ourmen. Every time that we enough, wrapped in smoke and flame. have undertaken to catch or kill him, he has es- With one accord everybody hurried toward the fire, and when they arrived on the scene they found the cabin a pyramid of devouring flames. Stony Boyne was net present, nor could he be found about the premises, Captain Dalton ran to the horse-shed and found Kitty’s pony gone. This he reported to his friends, when David Raymond, as we will hereafter know Hanover, said: ‘*Boyne has outwitted Plunkett and I, after all. That cabin was fired by his own hand to conceal some evidence of his guilt, while he has escaped to the hills—perchance followed his friend Seguin into Teton Basin. I have no doubt now but that those three pigeons I saw escape from the cabin bore messages of our do- ings here to the outlaws, and of the movements of Highland Harry and Uncle Bildad.” ‘Tf so, then the mountaineers wil] be way- laid and murdered,” declared Judge Kinney, ‘* That is all very true,” responded Raymond, ‘Sand we should do something to save them if possible. As they gave you the course they in- tended to “pena they might be overtaken and warned of their peril. 1, for one, am ready to take to the saddle forthwith.” ** And here, too,” said Captain Dalton. Then everybody present offered his services, but a company of five, with Daiton as leader, was organized, armed and equipped in a short time, and then mounting their horses pushed off into the mountains, little dreaming that some of them would never return alive to Red Bar. CHAPTER XY, THE GAME SIGHTED, ‘* Hist! easy, men, for, by heavens! the game isin sight! Look away up yonder.” The speaker was the notorious outlaw, Adder- Nove Dick, who, aceompanied by Bruiser Bill, Yakima Jule, and two others, had been sent with the bloodhounds in pursuit of Highland Harry and Ajax. The outlaws stood in a wooded valley some miles beyond the utmost limits of Teton Basin and as Adder-Nose lifted his finger and pointed up the mountain-side to the ‘‘ game”’ they had been following, the faces of his friends lit up with a sinister, triumphant light. Standing in a cimmarou path that wound around the steep mountain-side, they beheld the figure of a man in whom they recognized despite the distance—the Wizard Rifleman. The young mountaineer was fully half a mile away. He was alone and stood upon a ledge at @ point where the goat-path made an abrupt turn around the mountain. He seemed totally unconscious of the presence of the outlaws in the valley below, and stood leaning upon his rifle like one in deep mental reflections, ‘‘That’s a solid fact, Adder,” replied Bruiser Bill, as he, too, fixed his eyes upon the dreaded oung mountaineer; ‘‘ now, if we let the dogs oose they’ll soon be at his throttle. Ob! let’em loose, let ’em loose |” 5 ‘* Don’t get excited, Bruiser,” advised Adder- Nose; ‘' you seem to forget that that boy on element as water isa fish’s. But now that we have him 47 sight, we want to goslow and cau- Romeo’s nose will search him out. give him no chance to use his rifle, and then ail the evil spirits this side of creation can’t save his hide.” And thus the outlaws stood and conversed, fearing to expose themselves to the sight of the dreaded young foe. But finally Highland Harry turned and moved on up the trai] and disap- peared bebind an angle in the cliff, and thea the outlaws bounded forward, crossed the valley and began ascending the acclivity, still keeping their hounds in leash. It required but a few minutes to reach the point where the young mountaineer bad stood, and then Adder-Nose ordered the hounds turned loose. It was not the first time that old Romeo had led a pack upon a human trail, and the moment he was liberated be bounded away with his nose to the ground, giving utterance to low, deep mouthings, ‘*‘Now, my gallant hearties, the ball has opened in dead earnest,” said Adder-Nose, ‘‘and we must follow the music of the hounds at a double-quick step and be in at the death.” With these cheering words the outlaws dash- ed away after the dogs, following the goat- path that wound through clumps of stunted trees and bushes, over rocky ledges, and along the brink of gaping chasms—ever leading up- ward toward the clouds, The voice of old Romeo could be easily heard in the clear, vibrant air, and Adder-Nose, who boasted of having hunted slaves with dogs in Brazilian forests, knew-by the peculiar baying of the dogs that the animals were close upon the quarry. ‘* Forward, men, a little livelier,” the ex- slave-hunter exclaimed, in a jubilant tone, his dark, cruel face aglow with brutal triumph, ‘*the hounds are pressing the Wizard Rifleman close. Step lively, boys,if you would svon en- joy a thrilling sight, and—” Boom—m—m—m! It was the crash ofa rifle that rolled down from the hights above and swept away through the hillsin a rattling, roaring volley of echoes. **He’s at bay, by the eternals!’’ burst from Bruiser Bill’s lips; ‘‘ ob, my heart be still! and swifter fly my noble heels, that I may hear the Wizard's squeals!” On with a renewed burst of speed the puffing outlaws bounded, Every moment they expect- ed to come in sight of the dogs and fugitive. Their hopeful spirits ran high. : Suddenly Adder-Nose, who was in the lead, stopped still, & horrible oath bursting from his lips. Before him in the path lay one of the hounds stone-dead with a bullet-hole between his eyes. The voice of old Romeo could be heard still some distance ahead, The frantic execrations that fel from the lips onder ledge really seems to wear a charmed | of the enraged Adder-Nose were interrupted by e. Heisa wey Bonce off—too far for ustoex- | a second report from the fugitive’s rifle, and pose ourselves to his view while he occupies the | like startled demons the outlaws ran on up the position he does. For, surer than the keen nose of old Romeo there is that fellow’s aim, and if he ever draws a bead with his repeater on man or dog, man or dog will drop. We've got to steal up on him and then make a dash and take him by surprise, ‘‘It are durned comical,” said one Tony path, to meet, finally, with a more maddening sight than ever. It was the lifeless body of old Romeo lying across the trail, while crouching near was a third dog tearing frantically with his paws at his nose that had been shattered, ne doubt, by the same bullet that had slain Romeo, | The fourth hound was not in sight, but while the outlaws stood raving like very devils over nr in’ through these hills with blood in our . Highland Harry, the Wizard Rifleman. | | | ‘ | | a lt ll fl ate ale ay iy Sy Ae sel {E(@) eH _ ‘ «Stal Y : eS at ay ’ ii their loss, the dog came trotting down the path toward them, having given up the chase in dis— gust, if not in fear. For fully ten minutes the outlaws seemed be- reft of all sense, indulging in a general outburst of wild fury and rage. Suddenly, however, Adder-Nose recovered his reason, and starting off up the path called to his men: ‘‘Come on, men! we're foo's to stand hereand blow our brains out talkin’ and swearin’! Let us run that young devil down or die!” Away they went as fast as their feet could carry them. A desire, new-born, for revenge had sprung up in their breasts and lent speed to their heels. But fate seemed to decide against them in every instance that day. They had gone less than half a mile when a man, rifle in hand, was seen standing on a rock some distance ahead of them, evidently waiting for them to come in sight. The space between them was open and clear, and the outlaws knew at a glance that it would bo sure death to advance in the face of Highland Harry’s deadly rifle; and so they came to an abrupt halt onthe edge of a narrow yet deep chasm for another consulta- caped to the hills. The highlands seem to be his | tion. ‘* Boys,” said Adder-Nose in a kind of a hope- less voice, *‘ we are at the end of ourrope. To tious, for, no difference where he may hide, old | advance further will be for that young hellyon We want to | to pick us off at his leisure!” ‘ Then this is the end of all our valiant raid’ of nearly twenty-four hours, is it?” queried. Bruiser Bill in a half-sneering tone. ‘‘ Oh, ye gods! how the mighty have fallen! We're no nearer catchin’ that devilish Wizard than we war a week—a month—a yearago. But, boys, it makes me hot to see that tantalizin’ imp standin’ up there in sight, bold asa hull army.. I’ve got just one thousand dollars salted down in the Basin as the profits of two years’ labor,, and Id give every dollar of it at this minuteif the man could be produced that could, from: here, kill that impudent varlet that is—” ‘* So near, and yet so far, as the poic says.” It was a strange voice on the opposite side of the chasm that uttered these last words: and glancing quickly in the direction wherce it came, the outlaws beheld, to their utmost aston- ishment, the figure of a little cid man emerge cautiously from a clump of bushes and edvance: to the edge of the chasm, carrying in his hands ata trail a fine looking rifle. He might have been fifty yearsof age. His face was covered. with a short, stubby beard. A pair of dark, squint eyes peered out from under the peak of’ au old cloth cap. His lithe, slightly-bent figure was clad in a garb of miscellaneous textures whose original colors were lost in au oblivion of dirt and grease, The chasm being fully twenty feet wide it was impossible for the outlaws to approach nearer the stranger, and so Adder-Nose contented him- self by demanding: ‘* ‘Who in thunder are you ?” ‘*[’m jist the pilgrim to take in that offer 0’ a& thousand dollars, c just hear’n made,’ was the old man’s reply, given in a shrill, cracked voice. ‘Can you hit that feller yander?” asked. Bruiser Bill. ‘*Tf I can’t,” responded the old man, ‘*‘ no one else need try. I don't take a back seat for even Highlan’ Harry on the shoot. I’m not a wizard, but I’m a shooter, all the same.” ‘*That is Highland Harry standing yonder,” said Bruiser. ‘‘ Shoot him down, and you shall have the thousand!” ‘* 7 don’t care who the target is, nor who you. be, so's I git the thousand,” declared the old man, whose villainous cupidity seemed to over--” reach all conscientious scruples, providing he ever possessed any. ‘‘Old man,” said Adder-Nose, ‘‘ that feller is: eight or nine hundred yardsaway. You can’t hit him.” ‘‘Not an inch over six hundred yards,, stranger,” asserted the old fellow, glancing in the direction of the man on the rock: ** butif I miss it sha’n’t cost you a durned cent.” ‘¢Then shoot!” commanded Bruiser Bill, im--. patiently. ‘+ Allright; here we go!” was the old chap’s: response, and adjusting the sights of his Win- chester, he laid flat upon the ground, and rest- ing the gun on arock, took aim and fired. e piece rung out like acannon, and as the: smoke drifted from before him, the old gunner, still lying on his stomach, craned his neck, in- quiring: ‘“* How is it? Did 1 down him?” ‘* You did, by the holy Moses!” cried Adder- Rove cr he saw the figure on the rock stagger~ and fall, | ‘* Bully old marksman!” shouted Yakima Jule, in glee, | «4 ° Wate