Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 939 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

6 fresh with that iron. To harm a hair of this royal head, or spill a drop of this imperial blood, would be to consign you to everlasting punish- ment. Have fear o’ death in your heart, boy, and put away that tool and bow in humble peni- tence before the great Jaguar Head, or [ll blight you forever with a single thought.’ ‘* Blight away, then,” retorted the Boy Prince, ‘* and I'll let this pinker pink, and by jingrickys! I'll bet the blight ’1l not all be on one side, Do you say it’s a go?—-thinker against pinker? blight and bullet? mind or matter? which shall it be, Jaguar?” ** Babblin’ coyote!” the chief indignantly ex- claimed, ‘‘the beat of the moon will melt your softness. Must I call my warriors, who are as the grains of sand on the des »rt?” ‘‘ Don’t bother yourself, Jigger Head,” ad- vised Dan, ‘‘’bout callin’ anything or you might invite a hunk of lead from this way. Look here! My warriors, who are not as the sands of the desert, are on hand now.” This latter observation was in allusion to Ben Mead and Frank Warfield, who, having heard aot badinage, had hastened to Desert Dan’s e. ‘‘ Whew!” whistled the chief, as he saw the two young men appear, ‘‘ what next will the night spew forth to mar the moonlight, and squeak like rats along the promenade where majestic walks Great Jaguar Head?” ‘* A sage-brush tragedian!” Ben Mead exclaim- ed in an undertone to Frank. “ Ah! the fellow that was so solicitous about te us in the desert,” added Frank War- 8 ** And an old wind-bag, he is,” declared Desert Dan, ‘‘a pretended Ingin whom the coyotes he yelp after. A coyote knows p’izen and wind. ‘* And stands on his hind legs and yawllips,” declared Jaguar Head; “‘but, [can no longer here. Do you fellers perpose to s’render and 0 with me quietly? or must I be forced to—’ ‘““We don’t purpose to surrender, nor do we purpose you ll call help,” replied Dan; ‘‘on the contrary, we want you to throw up those blood-stained paws of yours and march down i his sink.’ “Well, why in the name of the cryin’ ban- shees, boy, didn’t ye say so before?” was the astonishing response of the outlaw and rene- gade, as he raised both hands aloft and ad- vanced toward the boys; ‘‘ I’m not wholly mean —like to humor children that they may learn my power. Here lam now—s’rendered. What ye going to do with me? What use have ye got fora great Ingin chief like Jaguar Head?—a geeat livin’ upas which but to touch is death? oof?” “= To tell the truth, Desert Dan and his friends were never more astonished than they were at that moment by the man’s sudden change of base. They expected, and were fully prepared for, a fight, and the renegade’s apparent will- ingness to surrender upon demand was incom- prehensible, and if the chief had been disposed to take advantage of the situation, he could have made good his escape before the boys had fully recovered from their surprise, Desert Dan, however, was quick to grasp the situation, and stepping back a me he é ** Don’t try any tricks, Jaguar Head!” **I’m your prisoner; take me and take care of me,” was the renegade’s response, As he came closer to them, the trio saw that he ae a walking arsenal, his waist being gird- ed about ‘vy five or six belts loaded down with revolvers and knives, while at his back hun two Winchester carbines that Ben and F recognized as their own property, as they also did some of the belts and revolvers. ‘¢ Advance, boys!” ordered Dan, ‘‘and take charge o’ them weapons, and if the old taran- tula attempts to touch you, I'll red-spot him right between the eyes,” Ben and Frank proceeded to strip the Mesca- lero of his array 0 8, pistols and other para- hernalia of war. During the entire proceed- ca the chief never uttered a single protest, nor scarcely moved a muscle, This quiet sub- mission made Desert Dan al] the more sus- picious of the villain’s real intentions, and a closer watch than ever was kept on his move- ments. Ounce again in on of their own trusty weapons, Ben and Frank felt more at ease, and as he sucked on his belt again, the former ob- served: ‘‘The return of our weapons to us seems like an: act of Providence, and now if Old Tom only would turn up, we could be reasonably happy , a? Kit Bandy’s “Star” Engagement. ii ~S | “Qld Tom whof” asked the disarmed Jaguar Head, with provoking impertinence. ‘* You'll know, if ever Old Tom Rattler gets one good whack at you,” was young Mead’s an- swer, ‘* Cryin’ banshees!” exclaimed the renegade chief; ‘‘do you mean to tell me Old Rattler’s abroad, loose, at large on this desert? Old Tom Rattler, the hunter?—a little, hump-backed, demon-eyed, weazen-faced rip-saw?—a fightin’, killin’ besom o’ deestruction ?” ‘*Oh! you seem to know Uncle Tom Rattler?” observed Frank Warfield, with a smile. ‘Yes, I do know him!” answered the rene- gade, ‘‘and I want ycu to know that this desert isn’t big enough to hold Tom Rattler and Jaguar Head the Great! If he should come round while I sojourn with you, I want two 0’ you, at least, to hold me, The sight of that ancient old mountain snorter and frontier bum- mer gives me the jamboraniacs. You'd better search me closer, for I might have some pocket- weepons lurkin’ in my church vest- ments,” The suggestion was at once acted upon and most of Ben and Frank’s personal effects were found upon his person, And, much totheir sur- prise, as well as to their delight, an old army canteen filled with water was found in the ample bosom of his gaudy calico shirt, Having comple the’ search the boys con- ducted the chief down into the sink where, at sigot of the black stallion, the fellow went into raptures, and cautiously approaching the ani- mal he addressed it kindly and began passing his hand gentle over its neck and body. Meanwhile Desert Dan kept a sharp watch on the fellow’s movements, his revolver in hand, satisfied that the old villain meant to play them some treacuery whenever he could catch them off their guard, | While Dan thus guarded their prisoner Ben returned to the watch on the plain above, Frank walked back and forth between his friends, and Old Jaguar Head threw himself in & nw position on the sandy bed of the sin Half an hour of comparative silence had thus followed when the renegade looked up at Frank, who had just come down from where Ben stood guard, and coolly inquired: ‘* Nothin’ o’ Old Tom Rattler yet?” ‘*Ts it any of your business?” was Frank’s tart response. ‘*No, not at all; but I wanted to be agreeable,’ was the indifferent old scoundrel’s rejoinder. ‘““Ten to one,” spoke up Desert Dan, ‘‘ you know where Rattler is. Just like as any way you and your minions have murdered him.” “Tf Rattler’s been killed by my braves it’s been since I stole softly away from camp to dig you fellers out o’ the sand,” declared the chief. ‘** You don’t mean to say you came back to rescue us after ordering us buried alive, do you?” demanded Frank. ‘*That’s just what I do mean to say,” respond- ed the chief, ‘‘and when I found you’d got out o’ the ** stocks "I tracked you here through the moonlight. You may not believe me, but this is all true as Gospel. I got to thinkin’ ’bout our innocent, boyish faces, and what noble raves you’d make, and so [ went to rescue you, and carry you to my village, and nes you as my sons, and marry you to dusky-eyed Mescalero maidens, But, alas! alas! Here am I fallen! Like a forest monarch—a giant, sturdy oak, here lies prostrate Jaguar Head, the Great! You’ll henceforth be distinguished boys because o’ my being your prisoner, But Rattler! Tom Rattler! Old Tom Rattler! How that name harrows up my soul! How it causes the blood to leap, and hiss, and sputter in my veins! How my spirit chafes within me to rush madly forth into the night and destroy Tom Rattler.” ‘¢ What has he ever done to incur your roya wrath?” questioned Frank. ‘“What has he done?” repeated the chief fiercely. ‘‘ Well, I was once an upright and happy man, 1 wedded me a golden-haired wife, and for two years lived in perpetua) sunshine like an ambrosial god. But, alas! one day there came my way a gay deceiver. He stole away my wife’s affection, and, not satisfied with that larceny, he finally stole the woman herself and fled awa ee unknown, My home was broken—bu’sted. I became an awful savage, thirsting for vengeance—human gore, and—”’ ‘*See here!” interrupted Frank, ‘‘ what's all this to do with Old Tom Rattler?” ‘*It war Tom Rattler that run away with my wife, that’s what!” ** Multitudinous liar!” came a voice from the ae? of the sink, that was reco Old Tom Rattler, ‘‘ Rise, stan ized as that «of | there fu’st. and be shot to’ for Captain Blood war a little suspicious and death! You’ve told your last falsehood—cé ceived and defrauded your last victim!” Quickly leaping to his feet, Jaguar Head fold- ed his arms across his breast, turned toward the speaker on the edge of the sink, exclaiming: ‘‘ By the great horn o’ Joshua! It’s Old Tom Rattler, the Red River Epidemic, as true as my maiden name is Ka-ristopher Ko-lumbus Bandy! Old Tom, fire! shoot! Do your worst, you measly image ov a gorilla!” CHAPTER IX, DAVID AND JONATHAN MEET. WirTH acry of joy Old Tom Rattler leaped in- to the pit and grasped the extended hand of Jaguar Head, whose voice he had recognized as that of his old-time pard, the red @>table Old Kit Bandy, the Mountain Detective | ‘*Old Kit Bandy or I’m a rip-roarin’ liar!” cried Old Rattler. The two old men came together with a demonstration of joy indicative of the Jonathan and David friendship that existed between them. It had been but a few montbs since they had in Arizona after their big rustle in the lack Mountains, which had culminated in the death of Black Vulcan, the leader of the Desert Pirates in that part of the South west. Desert Dan and his companions were again er pa astounded. All of them had heard of Old Kit Bandy. and since they had met Rattler, Ben and Frank had been listening to stories, by the hunter-guide, of the Old Mountain Detective, every day and night. After Tom and his old friend had indulged in hearty greeting, Old Tom said to Ben and Frank: **Come this way, Ben Mead and Frank War- field, and let me introduce you to Kit Bandy, the Old Mountain Detective and fraud, and Ra ca triple-plated, unholy, oil-finished y, Ben and Frank came up, and with their faces beaming with pleasure, shook hands with Kit Bandy, young Mead saying: ‘* We begin to see through the millstone, Kit Bandy—why the great Jaguar Head surrendered so quietly, and why our weapons were found on your person, notwithstanding the bad company we found you in,” “I’m always to be found wharever I can make myself useful, boy,” Kit Bandy responded, ‘*It makes no dif’rence to me what society I’m in, so’s it isn’t Tom Rattler’s, I can find hay- doogins o’ good work to do, but ‘ith him ’round I feel my inferiority so sensibly that I can’t perform. Ole Tom, God bless his ugly, measly old 1 isa hull nest o’ gruzzlies in a thorn ungle, me hen it was all a canard about Tem running away with your wife?” inquired Frank. = "Bake. to think, it wasn’t Tom Rattler, but another feller,” laugkingly replied tke cld de- tective. ‘‘Pardon me, Rattler,” suddenly speks Ben | Mead; ‘*‘I forgot to introduce you to our new friend and rescuer, Desert Dan, the Boy Saddle Prince of the Southern Ranges,” ‘‘Great Rosycrustans!” exclaimed Old To ‘‘ who next’s goin’ te turn up in th’s rondim desert? Wal, Desert Dan'!, I'm heroically glad to meet you. I hearno’ you al! they way from Trinedad to El Pesc and back, and it's a wondsr to me thata boy o’ your mettle didn’t salt this. ole Basbi Bazouk Kit Bandy, when he fu’st perpetrated that Ingin business onto ye,”’ ““By Gingricky! I come within an ace of warpin’ it into him!” declared Dan. ‘*But, Tom, we’d about given you up as a goner,” said young Mead, ‘*T staid longer’n I expected,” replied Tom, ‘** but I war detarmined to explore Srrirg Basin,. as well as reconnoiter the enemy'scamp. But now I want to know what happened you folks after I left. I found the place where | left you, and see’d you'd had trouble. I tracked you here. through the sand and moonlight; but, where's our horses?” ‘‘The followers of Jaguar Head and our re- jected guide, Jacarilla Jim, tock them,” an-- swered Mead, and he then gave a detailed: ac- count of all that had transpired since the nun-- ter’s departure. ‘‘ Great Rosycrusians!” exclaimed Tom; *‘ Kit Bandy, hav’n’t you "bout overdone the Jaguar Head business? Didn’t you bite off more’n you could chaw? S’pose the outlaws and Ingins’d. killed the boys in spite of you?” | ‘“‘T war master 0’ ceremonies, and.I had the boys planted on purpose,” answered Kit, ‘‘ so’s I'd have an opportunity to steal back and re- Jease’em, I got back, but Desert Dan’d been. dasn’t show my hand jist then, “co « 7“ . ~ ee ee, ‘ ~~ a » _ — =o @ a a an ee a =. = OO ee ee ee . ml SS ie ‘> rT se = a — we — ee << We > — —— ne den - z et deed ~~ = — “~ ~~