Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 942 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

* On it were their names, but a bullet . 2 ER had cut across them and erased all but the Jast part—‘don,” and so I called you Don, “ You have nothing else by which to dis- cover who you are, should you W ish to do 80. My God! how I su!fer! “Father, tell me who gay e wound, and I will ay enge you!’ Said the youth. “ Never! The man who shot me twice has saved my life, and I brought the wound upon myself—Don, I deserved it,” Was the low response. you that earnestly CHAPTER ITt. THE BURIED LEGACY. The youth seemed impressed by the words of the man whom he ealled facher. in saying that he deserved the death wound he had received. He saw that the man was suffering greatly: he knew’ that he was growing ‘weaker and weaker. Realizing this, also, again began to talk. “Don, | looked back as I reached my horse and saw the man who gave me this wound. I knew him, for no one could mistake him for another, once see- ing him. “He did not know me, I am sure, for the distance was too great, and I was in the shadow down the ridge. How he ever reached the spot where I saw him Hieaven only knows, or how he hit me at that long range I cannot comprehend, but hit me he did—wonderful shot that he is.”’ “What had you done, father?” “Boy, I was on the ridge, watching some soldiers coming along the trail, and the man who was at their head was the man who shot me. “ There was another guide riding by his side, whom I knew, and I also very well know that he is there to lead them into a trap, for it is Indian Dick, the Rene- gade; so I will be avenged, after all, though I would be sorry to have Buffalo Bill die that way. But he always es- capes somehow, and his luck will not desert him this time, I feel sure—at least I hope so.” The boy started, seemed about to speak, glanced out of the door anxiously, but Said nothing, and the old hermit re- sumed: “The leader of those soldiers was a man lately sent te the frontier here, the commander of the new fort. I knew him ata glance, and I determined to kill him,” * How had he wronged you?” “It is too long a story to tell, but if he had not wronged me, he had made me a ‘fugitive, and kept me from returning ‘Bast and enjoying my fortune. * With Colonel Carrol Doan dead I had nothing to fear, so I sought to kill him. | I hope that I did so; yes, my aim is too true to fail me; but I certainly heard his voice call to his men to fire on me. I escaped a perfect hail of bullets, to get this one here from the rifle of Buffalo Bill, when I deemed that I was perfectly safe. “Now, Don, I am going out of life, and you are to be my heir. You know that we have picked up considerable gold here in the mountains, and you know where it is hidden. It is yours, every ain of the pews metal, and there are thousands of dollars’ worth there. — “But this is not all; I have another ey for you. me ago I buried | a treasure I was never able to enjoy. How I got it mat- os not, but it is mine, and T leave it to a, also. It is in the Kast, and in the 1 leather case foe" have seen me so safely ene eet be here to find a map and on of jus ea i . , 4 the old hermit = t Buffalo Bill S Tough Tussle. “Go first by day and locate the spot; : in a boat, and alone, to: then by night, dig it up. “It amounts to far more than the gold we have here, and all together have a fortune to enjoy when Kast, you fo “ Fortunately, I received a fine educa- , The ° tion, and have thus educated you. books I have here, and which you have read, have told you much of life and the | world, though you are a boy hermit, yes, [ may say, half an Indian, from the train- | ing you have received. though I well know you hate the Sioux bitterly, and I do not wonder—ah! it seems as if very heart had been torn open by that bullet, for the pain grows more and more intense as I become weaker.” - The boy did what he could to reliéve the Racey ings of the dying hermit. and then again sat down by the side of the rude ead to await the end. Glancing about the cabin his eyes fell upon his own bed in one corner, the rude household goods, some weapons on the wall, a violin, a number of pencil Sketches, and a shelf of books. Humble as it was, with the fort sey- euty miles distant the nearest habitation of white men, with the Indian village forty miles distant in the mountain, and the now dying man his only companion, the boy hermit loved his home, loved the wild life he led. Whatever the man had been in the past; whatever the brand of crime that had driven him a fugitive from his fel- low-men; to him he had ever been kind and gentle, indeed a father, and he dear- ly loved him. But one shadow was between them—the fact that the old hermit was the friend of the redskins, while the boy was their im- placable foe for the terrible wrong they had done him in the slaughter of his par- ents, Minutes passed away and the man had not spoken. His breathing had grown more labored, and at last his breath came in gasps, ‘until, suddenly, it ceased. Was he asleep? The boy bent over him. Yes, it was the sleep of death. Tears ran down the browned cheeks, but the boy did not give way to his grief. Something seemed to be upon his mind, for he said: “| must go at onee, for he said Indian Dick was guiding them, and that means to their death. “Tt was at the ridge, he said. and over two hours ago, so I have not a moment to lose.” With this he folded the hands upon the breast, closed the door of the cabin after him, seized his rifle and a saddle and bridle, and ran rapidly down into the meadow land. Catching a fine Pinto pony with his lariat, a moment after he was in the saddle and riding rapidly down the yal- ley on his volunteer errand of mercy. CHAPTER IV. AN ARRIVAL IN CAMP. When Buffalo Bill had fired his shot from the top of the cliff, he was seen to wave his hat about his head and then disappear. Colonel Doan had quickly decided that he had not been wounded, but had had the closest call of his life. In the decoration hanging just over his heart, a badge won for bravery on the field, the bullet of the intended assassin had half-flattened itself, and. becoming imbedded there, had remained so firmly fixed that it would require to be eut out. “IT shall let it remain there, for it does not disfigure the decoration,” an ae ae epuity Fee “e uated 4 a8s yee: ee Tea es . ss -. +5 es > you will ; my | ‘more to step RTA oe ere aE FOSS ord RTS eee Were —- — Ne cglonel, and he submitted to the sur- geon’s earnest wish to see if the severe blow of the checked ball had done any harm. Fortunately it made only a_ severe bruise, and all congratulated the colonel | that it was no worse. “Who was it that fired the shot, guide?” asked Colonel Doan, of Indian Dick. ‘I didn’t see him, sir. Was it a boy?” ** No, a man, with long hair and beard.” ‘* Like as not some gold hunter as has struck it rich and wants fer scare ther bluecoats out o’ ther country.” “ Well, he takes the wrong way to do so, for had he killed me there are many into my shoes,” Colonel Doan responded, sternly; but then he asked: “Why did you wish to know if it was a boy who fired on me?” “I knows that thar’ is a boy dwells in the mountaing, one as was raised by ther Injuns, and I has heard him called the Boy Hermit, sir.”’ “This was no boy, but a man, for I got a fairly good look at him; and if Buffalo Bill's shot did not bring him down he bears a charmed life, for all the men fired at him and he had a deadly gantlet to run along that ridge.” “ Yes, sir; he knew just where ter hide, for yer can’t climb up that cliff fer a mile either side of here.” “ Buffalo Bill managed to do so, guide.” “Yas, sir; but he’s out o’ ther run of ordinary men, from all I has heerd o’ him; for who else w'u'd hey’ thought o’ throwin’ a lariat up to yonder tree and climbing it?’ “No one; but, if you can climb, suppose you go up and see what has become of him, and we'll go back to the little stream we crossed half a mile back on the trail and camp there for an hour or Two. Indian Dick, the red guide, went up the lariat without trouble, and, watching him, they saw him climb the rocks to the top of the ridge and disappear just where Buffalo Bill had gone out of the sight of, the soldiers. A couple of soldiers were left under the cliff with the horses of the scout and the guide, while the command turmed back to a good camping place half a mile in the rear, on the trail. There it was decided to wait the re- turn of Buffalo Bill and Indian Dick. “T do not like that guide, Indian Dick; but he has been a trapper out here for years and knows this country thoroughly, as he has shown us, so we must depend upon him, as Buffalo Bill, having just come to the fort as Chief of Scouts, is in a wholly new land to him. However, it will not take him long to know every. trail and get acquainted; then I will let the redskin trapper go back to his traps.” So said the colonel to several of his Officers who were gathered about him, While they were discussing the cause of Buffalo Bill’s delay in returning, whether he had killed or wounded the intended assassin, and why Indian Dick, also, re- cy mained away. In an hour more Indian Dick returned and reported that he could find no trace of Buffalo Bill, and the nature of the round was such that, being on foot, salt could not traek the scout. He, however, stated that he had seen where a horse had been staked out tects yond the ridge—that the trail showed that the animal had been ridden rapidly — away, and he had followed the tracks for a short distance, Papbosing that § yt te on the tra e horse, a was 9 ung Am, he care fo Sass red oa » AS a Ae ' ey a sary chooks.co ym o Bill had gone off | a Si