Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 778 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

So a is*” @h there’s Highland Harry, the Wizard Rifleman. Highland Harry, THE WIZARD RIFLEMAN; OR, Tough Times at Teton Basin. BY OLI, COOMES, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ WHIP, KING JOE,” ‘‘ BABY, SAM,” ‘* STONEWALL BOB,” ETC., ETC. CHAPTER I. A WONDERFUL SHOT, SOUTHWARD, along the eastern shore of the Gallatin River, two men were riding at leisurely pace, discussing such subjects as their surround- ings would naturally suggest. he elder of the two was a man of nearly three-score years. He was a little under the mediumin size; his face was covered with a short, stubby beard of a grizzly-gray color. His keen gray eyes looked out from under shaggy brows, sparkling with a light that was indica- tive of good-humor, while his rather prominent nose and square-set jaws were equally as strong evidence of true Roman courage and tenacity of purpose. He was dressed in the garb of a moun- taineer, armed with a carbine and pair of pistols and mounted upon an ancient-looking cayuse that was caparisoned with a rope bridle and a goat-skin saddle, minus stirrups. Altogether, Bildad Durr, or Uncle Bildad, as he was better known all up and down the Gal- latin, was not, at first sight, a very prepossess- ing man, but, upon the slightest acquaintance, the rough exterior was lost sight of in the man’s good-nature and genial ways, his odd and whimsical talk, and, withal, the staying quali- ties of a true friend. Uncle Bildad’s companion was his very op- osite,in appearance at least. He was not over fty years of age,although his beard—worn full—was almost white, giving him a rather venerable look. He was tall, well-built in figure, with a dark-blue eye,a broad, high forehead, and an air of dignity about him that betokened both refinement and intellectuality. That he was not a man of the border was evident from his dress, although hecarried a pair of revolvers hung at the pommel of his saddle, and a carbine slung at his back, To Uncle Bildad he gave the name of David Hanover. The two men were bound for the little settle- ment of Red Bar, the home of Uncle Bildad. By chance they had met a few days previous, at one of the Gallatin settlements, lower down the river, and when Hanover learned that Uncle Bildad was starting for Red Bar he asked to ac- company him; and thus we find them, toward the ciose of the third day of their journey, ap- proaching the Bar. ¢ During their three days sojourn Uncle Bildad had learned that David Hanover was from Michigan,and that he wasin the valley of the Gal- latin looking for investments. But Uncle was somewhat of a judge of human character, and while he appeared to believe all the courtly and interesting gentleman told him, he _ half-mis- trusted there was something back of it all, care- fully concealed. The sun stood above the western mountain- peaks when the two came in sight of the Bar, on the opposite side of the river, $s r she looms, David!” exclaimed Bildad, with a wave of his hand in the direction of the village. ‘*Quite a respectable little settlement, [ should say,” responded Hanover, gazing steadily for some moments at the little cluster of houses and the outlying horse and cattle corrals, ; ‘¢ Thirteen dwellin’s,” replied Uncle, with an air of pride, ‘‘ besides the corrals, stables, and so forth. We’ve a grocery, post-office and tavern with bar embellishments, all into one, W2’ve also got a house which we use as church, s’hool- house and committy room, I’ve the honor o’ eng, the fu’st man to ’rect a cabin in Red ,. ‘* Indeed?” exclaimed Hanover, **'Yes; I located there to hunt and trap. but afore I got to work, ’long comes Joshua King and two others and bought our my ‘locate,’ and started a hoss-ranch, and bired me todo duty as a scout, and help ’em with the stock. Then, others kept a-comin’ and a-comin’ till you see Red Bar as sheis. Every man, woman and kid thar’s made othe p: oper stuff for a frontier settl’mint, And we’ve got some men that’s away up» David, away up. For instance, ap’n Kit Dalton, who’s a gentleman and a scholar that we'll buck ’g’inst any book machine in the land; and then, thar’s Judge Zelotes Kinny that’s handled law in Ellenoise, and who’s represented four dif’rent political parties inside o’ two years, and thar be’n’t any o’’em can beat that record! Oh! the judge isa bu’ster on law, gospel, politics and human liberty! Shades o’Cicero! you ought to hear him orate! I tell you, David, he stacks away upon the orate. Why, it’sa fact, last Fourth o' July he orated for Red Bar, and so heavenly did. he sail the old Bird o’ Freedom that, it’s an actual fact, David, darn my liverif it ain’t! the eagles from all over come and settled down on the bluffs, and in the tree-tops, and listened with quiverin’ outspread .wings to the judge glorify their ancestors and Bunker Hill!” ‘‘Of course, there are women in your vil- lage?” observed Hanover with a smile at the old man’s extravagant language, ‘Women? Well, I should chant! There’s the judge’s wife and two darters, and’ Cap Dalton’s screamin’ aoa! gal, Mary; and then there’s Bill Boyne’s—Old Stony we call him— there’s his gal, Kitty, the divinest, loveliest little heifer that ever dimpled this valley with a foot. To see her is to get all broke up about the giz- zard. Old asI am, David, I went around like an old asthmatic fool, half-smothered for two months after 1 fu’st met Kitty Boyne. But, I got over it, David, and am just as sound and well as I ever war, ho! ho! ho!” ‘* Well, I hope I shall see Miss Kitty before I leave Red Bar,” said Hanover; ‘* but, are you folks not exposed to great dangers here, Uncle?” ** So fur we’ve had no trouble ’cept from the gol-swizzled outlaws, both red and white, a- stealin’ our hosses and some cattle. You see, Cap Dalton’s breedin’some lashin’ fine hosses and they’re a terrible temptation to the thieves. Our cattle they runinto the hills and butcher and lug off the choicest parts to their dens and leave the rest to the wolves. Red Bar’s lost a thousand dollars’ wu’th o’ hosses in the past two Leah and not a single hoof o’ them has been re- civered. And the outlaws o’ Teton Basin are at the bottom o’ all o’ it,” **T should think the stockmen of the Gallatin and other valleys would organize and hunt that gang down,” said Hanover. ‘‘They are organized,” replied Uncle Bildad, ‘* but the joke o’ it is, the outlaws are better or- ganized. Moreover, they have spies and con- federates in every vil'iage, ranch, and settle- miaot in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming ’cept Red Bar. Ther’ don’t no suspicious chumps hang ’round Red Barlong. Rightin the center o’ the village the Vigilantes planted two tall posts. A cross-beam rests on top, and a rope with a hangman’s noose ever swings in the wind as a warnin’ to ‘‘ suspects.” The last one that war there war one Henry Seguin—” ‘* Henry Seguin?” interrupted Hanover. ‘* Yes —know ’im?” ‘ve heard of him,” answered Hanover; “ I think it was back at Gallatin City.” ** He’s a sort o’ a dandy vagabond,” Uncle Bildad went on; ‘‘rather good-lookin’ and mili- tary-like, but he dresses too nice, and cavorts around too much for an honest Red-Barite. He come here sta fo times stoppin’ with Old Stony, whose darter Kitty he was broke up on. But Kitty didn’t like him like she did Highland Harry, and one night we held a meetin’ to con- sider his case, and it war decided to wait on him the next time he came a-courtin’, but he never came back.” ‘* But for all your vigilance your horses are stolen?” ‘* Yes, sir, it’s a provokin’ fact. It seems as impossible to break up Jack Hart’s gang o’ out- laws as to bu’st up the dominion o’Satan. Hid- den away ’mong the unexplored recesses 0’ the mountains ’round and about the Three Tetons, it has been impossible for hunter or scout to penetrate to their retreat. I know three gocd mountaineers that started out to find Hart’s | rendezvous and have never been heard of since, To-night our folks meet to raise money to go in- to a general pot, bein’ made up by Red Bar and the two lower settlemints, to be offered as a re- ward to the man or men that’ll find a route by which Jack Hart’s stronghold can be reached and demolished.” ‘* Isn’t there talk now of Indian uprisings, al- so?” asked Hanover. ‘* Yes,” replied Bildad, ‘‘ and there’s no doubt but the Ingins south o’ the Yallerstone Park are on the war-path, but I don’t think they'll reach us, It’s the Crows we’ve got to fear if they break loose, and it’s rumored they are git- tin’ awful restless. Red Bar has Highland Harry, the young Wizard Rifleman, out watch- in’ for her, and thar isn’t a better, braver, nor \ | tt F ‘ i ‘ a » ” » ‘ » d 7 ‘ te +) ’ J , 4 ¥ } re fd “ va le on - ie y P ue Pad ie, * : 4 ‘ me ee ae ee emma emaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasaaaacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaataameaaaaaaaacaaaaaaaaaeaaaaaasaacaaaaaaaaaaa aaa shrewder boy this side o” his birthday than that same youngsscout.”’ ‘*T’ve heard wonderful stories down the Gal- latin about that boy’s skill with a rifle,” Mr. Hanover observed, **He’s a perfect pheenomenon with a gun, David,” the old man declared. ‘‘ If I’d tell you what I’ve see’d him do in the way 0’shootin’, you’d swear by your beard that I was a wall- eyed fibber. But, it’s a fact, he is a Wizard ifleman, and—” ‘*Uncle Bildad,” interrupted Hanover, look- ing across the Gallatin, ‘‘ isn’t that a woman on horseback coming down the river?” ‘* Yes, it is,” replied Bildad, glancing over the stream ;*‘ if are that confounded pretty lit- tle Kitty Boyne on her dashin’ black pony, Bobi She can ride like a feather on the wind. Dash it! I wish we could cross the stream here and meet her. I’ll bet you'd swear she was a poem in flesh and blood.’ The two men were following an old wagon- trail that wound along the river through a dense growth of hemlock timber. They could see out across the stream and along the opposite shore for a mile or two above and below, and yet they could not be seen. They watched the maiden as she galloped along the shore, and as she neared a point where a sharp spur of the bluff put abruptly out close upon the river-bank, David Hanover, whose eagle eyes seemed to take in everything, sudden- ly exclaimed: ‘¢ Uncle Bildad, what’s that creeping out from behind that wooded bluff before the maiden ?’’ For a moment the old mountaineer surveyed the object closely, then, with a start, ex- claimed: ‘* Tt’s an Ingin, as sure as there’s a soul in my body! and the red devil is waylayin’ the gal!”’ ‘*Can we not warn her of her danger by shouting?” ** Never, David!” replied the old man, ‘‘ for— there! see! the infernal varlet has already headed her off and seized her pony’s reins |” ‘* My God! can we do nothing?’ cried Han- over, excitedly. Skipping from his animal's back, Uncle Bil- dad oe his carbine, saying: ** David, I’m goin’ to shoot!”’ ‘‘ Man, you might kill the girl!” ‘‘ Better she be dead than in that red demon’s power, alive— Ah! there goes a second red- skin to his assistance! David, Kitty Boyne is lost!” True enough, a second savage had darted from cover and was hastening to the assistance of his friend, who, between the plunging of the spirit- ed pony and the stinging blows of the plucky girl’s riding-whip, had his hands full. But, just as this second red-skin reached his friend’s side, the sharp, stunning reportof a heavy-calibered rifle rung out within twenty paces of Uncle Bildad and David Hanover, and the next mo- ment the Indian was seen to stagger back, throw up his arms and fall to the earth. A cloud of white smoke rising above a clump of bushes located the concealment of the deadly rifleman, and advancing toward that spot, Uncle Bildad fairly shouted, as he caught sight of a boyish face among the bushes: ‘* By the shades o’ the temple! it is Highland Harry, the Boy Death-Shot—Wizard Rifle- man!” CHAPTER II, A DOUBLE MYSTERY. As David Hanover dismounted from his horse and followed Uncle Bildad to the clump of bushes on the river-bank, he saw a tall, slender youth of eighteen or twenty years, standing, rifle in hand, his hat pushed back from his brow, and his keen dark eyes fixed upon the savage and maiden on the opposite side of the river, fully four hundred yards away. The youth was clad in a complete suit of buckskin. His face, though flushed with ex- citement, was not what David Hanover bad ex- ted to seein Highland Harry While some- what boyish, it was not effeminate, but every feature clear-cut and almost rugged in its out- lines. But not until the young mountaineer had turned his head and given them a quick glance did the stranger seafian that the Wizard Rifle- man was more than an ordinary youth. In that single glance of his magnificent dark eyes he caught the glimpse of a heroic young spirit, and the light of a dauntless heart, that awakened a profound admiration in his breast, But, before either of them could speak to him, he said, fixing his gaze again upon the savage and the maiden: ‘‘ Excuse me, Uncle Bildad, for a moment.” “ Pe ee ~~ COMNEDRDOOKS.COr - ra Lda AL en sd 7 Tee het awe - - Se ——— eee — —