Beadle's Half Dime Library, Vol. 1, No. 2 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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

Single Number. Jack; OR, Trappers of the Enchanted Ground, BY JOSEPH E, BADGER, CHAPTER I. THE POUDEREE. “*Tt’s no use—in less’n three shakes we'll ketch it, hot an’ heavy!” ‘*But, Harris, we must reach the shelter of the rocks. Look yonder—’tis a hurricane! It will be death to meet it here, unprotected. Look beyond the point—see! the trees uprooted, the very rocks carried like feathers before the blast! there—it’s life or death now, boys!” ‘* Mules is poor critters to buck ag’inst the wind in a race, boss—but hev it so, though I ‘vise ye to turn the critters head in, like a corral, sorter. Thar’ll be mah Yin. i | NAC ih yh if iin i yy On—whip up , . = = or h \\ \ \\ % W . A\ lit a Vl a a al SS aS a Copyrighted in 1877, by BEADLE AND ADAMS. No. 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. the devil an’ all to pay when the animiles feel the fust lick—they’ll stampede, shore!” ‘Too late—we haven't time—our only chance is the rocks yonder. Maynard—look to the democrat —push on ahead and save the girls—quick !”’ Vith hoarse shouts, angry curses and impreca- tions, mingled with and given force by the stinging ** blacksnake,’’ the sharp crack of which echoed from side to side of Shicha-chetish* pass, the teamsters | urged on their snorting, terrified mules, pausing not to pick the smoothest way, but bounding recklessly over the bowlders that thickly strewed the level bottom. Of the six vehicles, five were huge, clumsy, deep- bedded wagons—true “ prairie schooners "heavily loaded, drawn each by six stout mules. Their drivers, each bestriding his ‘‘ near-wheeler,” plied | ther | _ largest step was considerably over a hundrea feet in tongue, spurs and whip without cessation. men ran alongside, flogging the bewildered animals ricking them with Suiven until their sides and aunches were washed with blood. * Literally, ‘‘ Bad Wolf,’ though why so called, I do not know. 1 Hil nf sin 7 eeenaaeels s “i 44}; if ’ Litethtns ah ove Lr) uo Vk Pteaatene She A fi, a bd » site 1. nee i NU \ i } “wrwvkE STRUCK A FAT STREAK I = oo oom op 2S= ae ~ a = = = _t— x alatalalal) 7: | y = SLSIAS ES LLLAE \\\ WA. OBB—Go N a SS -T-I\N. \ SS =| PUBLISHERS, The sixth vehicle—that which the “boss” had called a “‘democrat’’—was a light, four-wheeled spring wagon, with oil-cloth cover, drawn by two stylish horses. The driver, a fiery-crested little fel- low, evidently had his hands full, though manfully struggling to bring the maddened animals under wonted control. The unusual noise and confusion had so alarmed them that the utmost endeavors of Terence ewes | only served to keep their heads directed toward the overhanging cliff beyond. Shicha-chetish pass, or canon, as it might almost as well be termed, closely resembles a gigantic letter Y, with its base pointing nearly due west. Upon either hand, divided by nearly one hundred feet of chalky | soil, thickly strewn with bowlders of various sizes and shapes that had fallen from the sides of the pass, rose abruptly the walls of the canon, in a se- ries of gigantic steps or plateaus. The first and hight, clear-cut and perpendicular, so smooth and regular that a cat could not have scaled it, unless aided by the scanty, straggling growth of parasitic plants that clung to the face of the ch rock, Above this rose another and another step, until the (E@)