Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1003 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

A “<9 > ae = 4 ’ “s z A . , me * - . | re s , Sa ¥ > caning T aS a A, ty — ae A ee - : tye ee of Ae Reed hy Om ty lm * a a om -——-* . tu” - ~ ods ©. a>) : hg "% ng vi a. e a ° e% ey as . a “se — om, 4 o@ . a od - a - oe YT dae : i ten ae re Sea a Ar o Ce a ak) oe es wes ie * ' r ee ad oes: ey eeu ae 5 SS 2% «aged Bee * : <2 Sra | . - ~.! “ Ped * @ new gal "bout every year since that time. r* granddad,” replied the girl; so she generally termed “ Wasn't Long John Clark here again to-day?’ The girl looked astonished. “Why, how did you know that, granddad? You were away.” ““Mebbe I was an’ mebbe I wasn’t,” granddad replied, rocking himself to and fro as he spoke. ‘“‘ But, hyer or not hyor, I gin- erally have my eyes onto this spot. Don’t you know who this John Clark is, gal?” ‘‘ Why yes, of course; he’s one of the Mormons.” “He's wuss than a Mormon!” cried the old fellow, with ve-~ hemence; ‘he’s a dirty hound who sells himself for a Mormon. tool. He’sthe head boss of the Destroying Angels, the Daniter, the bloody fiends whose hands are red with the blood of innocent men, and wimen, and leetle children even! When old Brigham crooks his finger at a man and says he must be put out of the way, these hounds do the work; but thar’s vengeance a-waitin’ fur all of ’em, The vultures up in the pine-trees are w’otting their beaks for Long John Ciark. They’re hungry for him; they want to tear and rend! He’s given ’em many a meal—-he an’ his bloody band, an’ now they want to getat him! Oh! be’s big an’ strong an’ he’s the Duke of Corinne, but big as he is an’ strong as he is, deeth will be socked right home to him one of these days!” “ Oh, daddy, I wouldn’t talk that way,” the girl protested, She was used to these outbursts ef passion against the Mormons, whom the old man hated bitterly, although he seldom expressed his feolings openly. “T tell yer the vultures ’way up in the tree-tops are a-sharpen- ix’ their claws for him, an’ they'll sock it to him ’fore long. What did he want hyer, hey?’ | “Oh, he merely stopped to say good-day, and asked if I could give him a bit of salve for a slight cut he had on his hand,” the girl replied. ; ‘Ah! the vultures will cut him ty soon, an’ no salve in this hyer world will do him the least bit of good!” old Cripples eried in an angry squeal. ‘‘He don’t come for no salve, gal; he comes to spy arter me, that’s w’at he’s arter. Say, didn’t he ax any questions?” ‘Yes, he asked where you were.” “ Aha! I know’d it—I told you so! An’ w’at did you say?” “J told him that you were away.” * Av’ he axed whar I had gone, hey?’ | “Yes, he did.” | ©] know’d it!” Cripples cried; ‘that’s all he came arter, to spy arter me; an w’at did you tell him?” ' “Why, the truth, daddy, that I didn’t know.” ‘An’ then w’at more did he ax you ’bout me, an’, gal, you wouldn’t betray me, would youl—you wouldn’t betray the poor old man w’at brought you up an’ took care on you when thar warn’t nobody else on this hyer footstool for to even stretch out a band for to help you?’ The girl was not surprised at this, Cripples was possessed of an idea that he had some important secrets and that every-. body who tarried a moment in passing by the shanty had no other purpose but to play the spy on him. “Why, of course, daddy, I wouldn’t say a word to harm you, ‘bat he never seemed anyway anxious to find out anything about ou.” The sound of a horse’s hoofs suddenly interrupted the conver- sation, and looking down the river they beheld the Mormon elder, Biddeman, approaching. CHAPTER XVIL ENTRAPPED. Tr Mormon was mounted on one steed and led another, and from the sweaty hides of both the brutes it was evident that he bad ridden hard. “Talk of the devil,” muttered the old man, in a most decidedly . uncomplimentary manner as the Mormon elder rode up. It was plain that that individual did not stand very high in old Crip- ples’s estimation. = ‘Polly, I’ve got a case for you,” said the elder, as he halted before the shanty. ‘‘My housekeeper has got the fever bad, and she’s raving like a lunatic. Wve brought a horse for you, and J want you to come right down and see her; I know that you cam cure her if anybody can.” : ‘One of your wives sick, hey?” demanded Cripples, very deaf now as he always pretended to be whenever strangers were ground. . ae “No, I hav’n’t any wife!” yelled the Mormon, annoyed at the remark, “I bav’n’t any wife at all!” “Oh, the tall one! Lemme see, is she your fourth or fifth wife?” persisted the old man. ‘IT tell you that I hav’n’t any wife!” cried Biddeman, get- | sing.red in the face. “*Wa-al, you won’t miss one wife when you’ve got a hull grist en’em, I remomber jes’ as well as kin be when you got hitched to the furst one. That was nigh to ten years ago, warn’t it, elder? an’I reckon you've got sealed, as you Mormons call it, to ew ‘ It ’pears to me you took two gals one year; I don't ’actly remember; but you must have nigh onto a dosen wifes now 'stid of five. How many iidren bev you got onto your ranch, anyway?” NAT’ al atiai a: 2 REST be ee : ; : . - _ A > ‘< _ . A eae a aes 3 : _- 7 ee, ae Spi ee eS ig rt ter Fs, , Ree ee . * Mf <0 p= ae is ion Chess oe : + Sm! ~ +e” | “» : a tM eid: ae eager s SEE e Ae Sie he : ; Ree. ew - a os, : =. —% — on ~— a Fa aM ar 8 et hi eee" ts } me! say — er v Erie fi, Oa my San By A => Se ah r ae et i eee BIRO TST 4b be Al opi. >> _« Si - PY >t > , o - —* ~~. Dime Library. ste pal ka ALi ur" e r ‘. . he d idiot ought to be put into the lunatic asylum, where ’ J _ ' - - * . The girl could not help smiling at the discon mon, and, woman-liks, she could not resist the temp ing the elder a sly dig. “Why, Mr. Biddeman, have you really got twelve wives!” she inquired. ‘I thought that you said you were not married?” ““T am not, at present,” he explained. ‘*I was married about ' ten years ago; that is what the old man remembers, but the lady has been dead some time now.” ‘6 And you hav’n’t got eleven other wives?” ‘‘No, my dear!” Biddeman exclaimed, indignantly. ‘ Hav’n’t I often told you that you mustn’t believe these stories! They are all Gentile lies. The Gentiles can’t speak the truth when they talk about us Latter-day Saints; it is a moral impossibility. But come, won’t you please hurry? The poor creature was suffering terribly whenI came away. My ranch is only about fifteen miles «way; we can ride there in no time, and I'll see you safely back home again.” The request was a temptation to the girl; for the last four or five months the Mormon had been a persistent suitor for her favor, and though old Cripples stoutly insisted that the elder was @ very much-married man, the “saint” as strongly denied tue soft imputation and declared that he was both heart and fanoy free, so that she really was piqued to know what was the truth. Not that she cared in the least for the fat and rather ancient elder, but her curiosity was excited to learn the truth. No thought of danger crossed her mind despite the terrible stories she had heard in regard to the Mormons and their tools, the Danites, the fearful white savages of the Great Salt Lak a body of men whose atrocious deeds would put to the bl the acts of any red Indians from the Missouri to the Pacific slo . Hare was a chance to solve all doubts, at the same time to ease the suffering woman stretched helpless upon a sick bed. “T’ll be ready in five minutes!” exclaimed the young doctresa, and she hurried into the house to dress for the journey and to put up some simple medicines. There was a shrewd twinkle in the dull, piglike eyes of the Mormon as he watched the door close behind the light figure, and it was with difficulty that he repressed an exultant smile, The old man bad watched him closely, and now, rising frum his seat, he hobbled up to him. ‘Say, squire, whar air you goin’ totake the gal?” “To my ranch; housekeeper’s sick,” bawled the elder at the top of his lungs, determined to be understood this time. ‘When will she be back?” “ To-night!” aé Sure ?” There was a peculiar ring in the old man’s voice as he wut the simple question, and the Mormon elder looked at him ip astonishment. There was hidden menace in it. ‘Well, that depends.” The old man nodded his head to show that he understeod, although the elder had not spoken loudly, and he regarded tha saint in a way that much excited the astonishment of the elder, for there certainly was a threatening look in the old man’s eyes. ‘Yes, that depends,” the Mormon repeated, just a little absan minded, for the peculiar look perplexed him. ‘‘*’Pends upon w’at?” questioned Cripples, shortly. “Oh, upon a good many things,” the Mormon answered, care- lessly. ‘‘The sick person may be so low as to require constant care, and in such a case, of course Polly would prefer to stay even for two or three days.” : ‘Yes, I see,” | The words were well enough, and old Cripples nodded his bead in the most innocent way, but to the Mormon’s ideas there was a baleful light in those old eyes, “So you needn’t be alarmed, even if she don’t come back right away,” the elder continued. “T’lllook out for her and see that she comes to no harm.” “All right,” and the old man nodded his head again, just as if he was perfectly satisfied; but still there was that steel-like gleam in his desply sunken eyes. ‘“‘ Yes, it’s all right,” he repeated, ‘‘I shan’t worry if she don’t come back right away. IT ain’t afeard of anybody a-harmin’ her, She’s got one mighty vig friend, an’ I reckon that even you Mormons, De r Angels an’ all, won’t car’ to rub ag’in’ him.” The elder looked at the speaker in astonishment. He thought the old man had one of bis crazy fits coming on. It was commonly believed that old Cripples was out of his head half the time. “Well, that’s good! I’m glad to hear it, Who is this friend you speak of !—yourself, eh?” “Me!” cried the vid chap, in a tone of contemp& “ Why Im a worm a-crawlin’ over the earth!” ‘Who is it, then?” “Her Father that art in heaven!” said Cripples, solemnly, poin ing upward with his skinny finger. ‘“‘Don’t try any gum-gam onto her, poor little chiid, or mebbe the Lord will send an an with a flaming sword fur to right the wrong!” and then the man hobbled away. | The Mormon watched him while he resumed his former positios among the bowlders and sunk his head down again between his knees. The elder hardly kuew what to make of it. The words affected him strangely, although he tried to laugh them away as the aimless wanderings of a crack-brained old man; but the Mormon, like nearly all ignorant, brutal men, was terribly super- stitious, and for a moment it seemed to him as if the warning he had received had come from a supernatural source, and he wavered in his purpose; but even as he debated the question in his mind, Polly came from the shanty equipped for the ride, and the sigtt of Ae, treats yong bet peceest Si taees 288 RNG ’ the face. put at once to fight hisdoubte s 7) 3a Hey toes, 4 + . « << ° 7 - ; i - a <" . ’ por —s . a? -o@ * * J = » 6 ea