Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1092 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

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I dunno what’s a-goin’ on: but the beys is all to be thar, and suthin’s goin’ to be done.” Limpy looked up at him inquiringly, as if to = what it was, and Smith understood the ook, ‘“‘T dunno what it is, myself; but theeboys will settle it, a Why, what in thunder air you a-doi ’, out, without your weepins, Limpy? That ain’t prudent, in these times.” Limpy Balstrop colored furiously, but sbrug- ged bis shoulders, as much as to say it was a matter of very small importance, and Deaffy said, in bis most serious manner: “ Now, look a-byar, Limpy, this ain’t the right thing. It’s all very well to bave sand; but it ain’t rigbt to be a darned fool. You ain’t ot no call to be goin’ raound the caounty, ike a darned old sbepherd, fur any man as meets ve to put upon. ou go right heme, and et your weepins. Why, man alive, ye don’t know haow soon ye might want ’em, for one of them darned g&@loots of the company.” Then, as Limpy, not knowing what to say, hesitated, be added: ‘‘Hyar I were a-comin’ to see you, any haow, and l'jl go home with ye. If we meet any one, Tlllend ye a weepin’, I’ve got two, thank the Lord.” With this pious thanksgiving, he turned his borse and rode along with Limpy, who bud been trying to frame some sort of excuse in his own mind to account for the loss of his pistols, without too severe a shock to his pride. He had not yet settled it, when they saw a horseman coming toward them from the direction of the Collingsworth Ranch, and Smith, after a long look at the distant figure, exclaimed: . ‘That feller’s a gay one, you bet. See the saddle, and the hull rig of the man. He must be one of the new galoots the ‘company’s got, to comehyar. Say, } bien. 8 he gits nyar. Take one of ’em Tur me, Vv . He handed the other man one of his long pistols, and Limpy accepted it, with an eager- ness that told how he would like an opportunity of retrieving bis reputation. Por Linavy had recognized the distant figure, though Smith bad not; and thought that in ‘Tom Field, whom he bad seen in all the bravery of new arms and velvet jacket, he might finda way to recoup himself from the mortification —_ Berkeley had made him suffer by his So they rode toward the stranger, who was coming slong tbe river-bank, leisurely enough, as if he did not care to hurry. mone | came closer, Smith«recognized in the other thé faee and figure of the man be had in- sulted so_ y, a few weeks before, and he laughed with the glee of one who thinks be has a sure thing, as he said to Limpy: * By BOs if it ain’t that darned cowardly loot, that calls bisself a doctor. We’ll take m bim, by gosh. Don’t say a old s hid, till we git $ weepins word, boy» -clost to bim, and then git tbe drop on him and jump bia.” + Limpy, nowise loth to have such a fair oppor- tunity, and not by any means unwilling to use it, let his pistol-hand dangle by his saddle, and rode on, witb b turned toward Deaf Smith, with whom he'Kept up a show of con- versation, with the inten making the stran- ger think they did not notice him, when, in reality, they intended to surprise bim, as soon as they got close enough to present their pistols and summon him to throw up his hands, Tom Field, on the other hand, as he came on, appeared to bave no suspicion of what was coming; for he rode On && unconcernedly as ever, and they could not see that he took any utions as be came. ~ Neither of them noticed that he had a Win- chester rifle lying across his knees on the saddle- Wier), Soe the n that he kept his borse ob- liquing from before then), toward the river-bank, go as to get them on his left front, and they, edging away to the same side, as if by chance, to get near bim without exciting his ge never noticed that the weapon lay there, they were within about a hundred yards, when ae peaneely threw up his rifieand sbouted to mith: : “Put up that pistol, sir, or I'll kill your bo ” rse. Deaf Smith, a ded at the sudden assump- tion of the Pani ‘by a man whom he had al- ways thought a coward, but yee on 6 own courage, dashed the spurs into the sides of his pony, and threw up his pistol, shout- rrender, ye darned Yankee skunk” ender, ! ankee had made wed miscalculatiom A oe | 7 . é e — : . 4 7% ae pine! Set at = - impy, lat’s me and you jump} .¥ * es Solt’s revolver will carry one hundred “nd pa | yards, but it does not shoot as strong and well as a rifle at the same distance. He bad not taken L\wo jumps when there was a crack and a flash, and down went the pony into the grass, while Deaf Smith went over his head, Then Limpy Balstrop fired at the stranger; and his shot, fired from a strange pistol, missed at the distance used. Then came a second flash, and down went Limpy’s pony into the dust, while the stranger threw bis rifle to the front of his saddle again, and galloped past. the discomfited ranchers, witbout a word in response to their frantic curses at his bebavior. ) Limpy: fired every shot, in his anger, but they were wasted at that distance on a gallop- ivg horse, and Deaf Smith was too muck shak- Old Cross-Eye, the Maverick-Hunter. eee ees 30—_—OOIOaDaaes0”—l—=oOTo=owo? 21 a you fellers don’t feel much like itnaow. By the by, Limpy, whar’s your weepins gone?” Again Limpy colored furiously, for he sus- pected from a certain twinkle in Punch’s eye, that the other knew the story of his overthrow at the bands of the Englishman, ‘**l don’t wanter be wearin’ them all the time,” he said with an assumption of indirfer- ence, and then saw, lying on the table, the very istols that bad been taken from bim by the nglishman, and colored deeper than before as Punch remarked. quietly: ‘‘One of the jecge’s men was hyar while you ; was gone and left ’em byar. J don’t know nothen -of course, and if the company’s men says anything, I’m prepared to depy the bull story.” ) Limpy held out bis hand and grasped that of | his friend with a warm pressure that showed en up by the fall be bad sustained to think of | firing at anybod anything. Wien tie litle skirmish xa over, and the two men found time to look at each other, the stranger was out of range, and two dead ponies lay on the grass by their masters, each with a hole in bis breast just over the heart. Deaf Smith was the first to speak, as hasur- | | abaout this meetin’?” veyed bis animal. ‘“ Well Lam darned!” was his emphatic re- mark. ° _Limpy Balstrop shook his head pathetically, but made no further observation on the subject, except to lay bis band on Smith’s arm and | beckon to him to follow him home. Taey were about a mile from Limpy’s rancb, and the two discomfited friends bad to fact it all the wey there; a hardship to a Texan that must be felt to be appreciated. hey arrived, tired and bot, sweating freely and parched with thirst, and saw at the gate the borse of their friend Punch Burleson, whom they found in the house sampling Limpy’s whis- ky, and to whom they had to make a clean breast of the whole offair, When Punch beard it, be was amazed, for he bad been one of Tom Field’s persecutors in the ast, and bad no ivtimation that the stranger bad returned to the country. When he teard what bad happened, he ob- served: ‘““Waal, boys, that shows he’s on the other side, and we bain’t no-need of no more inimies, naow. Icome to see ye both,” Limpy explaiued,. . . “‘Deaffy ‘told me abaout it. What’s the racket, Punch?” |. a Bee his bead close to the other, and whispered: | , ‘“What d’ye say to cuttin’ the darned old fence to slithers?” , Limpy hastily replied: ‘“‘Can’t be did, nohow, \They keep too good a gyard on it, all night long.” ‘ Punch shook bis bead. Vila ‘*The colonel and the rest of us has madé up a scheme,,boy, and it’s baound to go through. You come to my baouse, to-night, and we'll what we shall see, and do the biz arterward, Ef you're the man l take ye fur, and the rest of the boys is agree- able, we'll raise sich a muss as the company Soper ; won't git over, in a hurry. Did ye know that pee they called Long Charley was gone u “No,” said Limpy, surprised, for he knew all the desperadoes that the company bad had in ain seryice, and Long Charley among the St, 3° <* ‘IT faound it aout, the o'ber day, when one of my men was talkin’ to one of the company’s boys. They ain’t ali as bad as you might think. They don’t seetn to have no hard n’s ag’in’ our men, if they have ag’in’ us, They git to talkin’, and our men gits things out of ’em. It seems that Tomlinson and some more went off to the Injun country, and got into a muss with some one, over thar. They told us it was Old Cross-Eye; but, whoever it were, he fit like a streak, and killed three of ’em. Tomlin- son was thar, and Long Charley got laid aout among the rest. Naow this.Tom Field has come to the caounty, we've got to git him on aour side, boys. You thought be was a white- feather, but it seems he’s changed somebow, | and we want every man we kin git, on aonr side. The men of the company says they’ve got itin fur him, too. Seems they had a shoot- laa up thar, and faound him in witb Oid e ross Eye. rt “With Old Cross-Eye!” echoed ‘Limpy. “Then that was whar be went to, and nobody knowed. He must bev Varned to shoot, up thar. Well, Punch, I ain’t no hog, and I must say I’ve kinder’changed my ’pinion abaout that young feller. We was kinder bard on him and he only a Yankee greenborn. [ ain’t goi y to pick on him, no more, ye kin bet, The man shoots like a old yanger, and be ain’t to be sneezed-at,” Punch grinned, He was rather rejoiced at the turn matters had taken; for be felt that the same discomfiture might have overtaken cscs on i he was saved from it by being fore- e . ‘‘ Et I knowed whar he were, I might go and try io see him myself,” be a a Guess 3% sf \ = “3 Fon: ‘ fim ‘ . a“ . : Sy ‘ > ,) : ‘ . -. 4, Ne Med Yr? > : ae . ‘ ~ X ~e, ; = -” — —_~ . — -— It’s to be a meetin’ fust, how grateful he felt. Then the rancher replaced the pistols in his | belt, and Deaf Smith who had of course beard nothing of this conversation, remarked: -- | ' ) ' ' | | | | | | ; ‘ } | ‘* That’s right, Limpy. Don’t let me ketch ye again out without yer weepins, It ain’t decent. A man feelsas if he badu’t no cloze on, in Texas, when he ain’t beeled, What's goin’ to be did They explained to him as well as thew could, partly by signs and partly by wordsas sbort and plain as they could make them, and tbe deaf rancher rose to take his leave, seying: “Tl be thar to-night, boys, if | don’t git laid aout afore then. As to that Tom Field, if ever I meet him again, 1’\) treat him civil, if I know whar I am, you kin bet.. A man who kin shoot like that is a orvamint to Tex- as.’ , Such was the revulsion in popular feeling pro- duced by the shots that Tom Field bad tired that day. Had he killed one of the ranchers, the anger of his enemies would have been increased against him; but, by showing his skill at the expense of the brute’ creation, which is cheap in Texas, he bad gained golden opivivns aud earned friends, The fact that the ranchers wanted friends at the time, had a great deal todo with this feel- ing, to be suré} but it was none the less sincere, because it was interested. Punch Burleson and Deaf Smith rode home, the deaf rancher mounted on one of Limpys ponies, which were plentifal enough, As they reached the turning-off place inio Deaf Smith’s ranch, they spied in the distance, on the way toward Satanstown, the figure of a horseman and Deaf Smith recognized it ina moment, . ‘ *““Thar’s the “It’s the same man,” he said to Punch. nt hoss, and the same gay rigging. By gum! I thought be was a-play in’ ef a tho time. That's a ed good man, © -unch, Punch waved his band as be turned his horse to go after the stranger, and Deaf Smith shouted a 5 bia Weseeng’y ait ~ aE ‘Don’t ye go to cu up rough with him, Punch, He’s ail bl .zes on the shoot, I tell yor Punch laughed as be took the stra horse-hoofs yet never looked back. rode ‘steadily on at a walk, bis horse champing the bit and tossing its head, while the rider carried over bis left arm the rifle that the others bad spoken of. Tbe muzzle was pointing back diagonally at Punch; but the rancher never heeded it, and galloped on. As he came close, more from deviltry than any wish to burt the stranger, be pulled out a pistol and raised it with the intention of putting a bullet shecugh: the otber’s hat as a gentle reminder tbat spirit of practical jor ng was notextinct. . _ He thought the er did not hear him, aad ‘wanted to have a little fun at bis ex- se. go bad just got settled to his aim, when he was surprised by the flash of a rifle, and the next instant the bullet passed tbro h bis bat; while bis own ball, his aim wavering in the sur- rise of the shot, went harmless in the air over he other's head. The stranger bad fired at him with his back turned to the mark. @.on, apd soon over- Punch was astounded at the feat, and none the less so when the stranger turned his bead and the pony at the same time, while a menacing air: ‘‘Come, sir, if you want any more of that —s v3 thing, I'll send the next shot a little ower Then Puoch saw what explained the apparent mystery. Tom Field bad a small mirror in bis right hand, and bad fired the shot by the reflec- tion. Z The rancher had seen such things done on a stage, Gemenedly s but here was a man who did them in th ed bim a perfect master of bis weapon, Punch put up his pistol at once, and held out his band, observing: | | . ‘Sir, you’re the best shot I ever seen, I put mine rahe Shake.” fy Aa a ~~ | A *S . LJ : ma * * ’ r » < \ an 4 | Ne ro > -. - j - — aa - oe - < —- _— — —— ee nger, who heard the tread of the cried with — . * —-— - - wee open air, with a coolness that sbhow- og ap fur tie joke. I were a-goin’ to puta ~ 4 * , ; ris - « P ~ ee ‘ - - i. ; Md **s “ : * * a ° 4 i e a ‘ : . } moet n* gyre ee af . # } ‘ bas 4a ar’ Ay et #% RAS ™) y a tT > - oe Saad : ae? ; a - “ a | . } bs ’ ” e a} he : ae oe he 6 © - = . ~~? - i “ee TV ¢ * . row Lal be . it eos vee vf re :