Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 1102 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

“ ‘ P * 7 2 — / 1-2 rahe’ = v2 ee et. —= =" e om“ - ~~ at ee ee man, a burning desire to avenge his slaughter ! took possession of them. With wild cries of rage they threw aside their | blankets and drew their revolvers—each and | every one of the aap bucks was pwned | t armed, although the huge blankets which they The Stranger Sharp. ——— a a Ta 19 tell exactly about these things, it may be possi- | ble that my bullet has gone an inch or so wide wore lisguised the fact—and rushed toward the Californian. The Fresh was not caught happing though, for | the very moment that the Indian yells broke the stillness he was on his guard against just such a movement, All the spectators were to the right of the duelist, and the Indians huddled in a group at the extreme end of the line, so that the whites | were between them and the man for whose blood they thirsted. Aod the moment the red-skins threw aside their blankets and began to brandish their wea- pons, the townsmen prepared for action. Out came their weapons and they hurried , with rifle agains’ ' ) ; of the-mark and plugged him for keeps. ‘* But if it is so, it’s an accident and ought not to count against me.” As luck would have it, Doc Limberlegs was in the crowd, and he at once stepped forward. ** Hyer I am,” he said, ‘‘ and as it’s early in the evening, I reckon Tm all right to attend to any professional! duties.” And then he grinned at the rest, as much as ‘* They are great braves, every one, although only boys in years. ‘**T am old, my medicine is weak; they are young: their medicine is strong, and they will ill this white snake who hid in the grass like an adder to bite the heel of the red chief. ‘Is he mad, this white man, to think he is able to meet four such warriors as my Apache braves in single fight?” inquired the chief, in | lofty scorn. ; to say that if it had been about midnight, it wouldn't have been of any use to call upon him to look after any matter of moment. ' | ‘‘ Take a squint at the old buck, and see if | there is any life left in him,” Blake said. ‘* And then after he is fixed I stand ready to give these four red roosters the squarest deal they ever got in their life. “Pl fight the whole four single-handed, not | uncir revolvers, but with my forward to place themselves between the red- | pair of pistois Til face them, and they must skins and the man whom they intended to at- | tack. Jimsonweed was in the advance. His revolver was already drawn for he had not replaced it in its holster, so intent had he been in watching the progress of the fight. ‘* Hold on thar! W’ot are yer ’bout?’ he yell- ed at the top of his voice as he hastened to inter- cept the angry red-men, ‘Hold yer hosses if you don’t want to have me eternally salivate yer! ‘*Durn yer red skins! This yeré was to be a fair fight, and we won’t have no gum-game | "bout it!” CHAPTER XXVILI. FOUR TO ONE, AND then the crowd took up the cry. ‘* A fair tight—no gum-games!” There were some thirty odd townsmen on the ground and the confidence inspired by their either lay me out or else li make stiffs ont of | them,” A fierce look and yet one wherein satisfaction | | was displayed appeared on the dusky faces of the warriors, while the townsmen looked at each other in amazement as though they could hardly bring themselves to believe that they had heard correctly. To encounter so renowned a warrior as the old red chief at a thousand yards with rifles was a rather hazardous feat, but now to dare to meet his four sons, who bore the reputation of being as ‘* bad Indians’’ as could be found in the whole entire West—to encounter all four at once, with- out asking for any advantage in weapons was to attempt a feat that few men in the town of Santa Fé would have even dreamed of doing. ‘*‘ Wa-al, it is your say so of course,” Jimson- weed remarked. ‘* And as it is your soup I reckon that thar ain’t any call for anybody else for to stick a spoon interit. . ‘* 'W’ot do you say, bucks, is it a go?” he con- number encouraged them to present a bold front | tinued, turning to the red-men. ‘to the enraged red bucks. And the red-skins, when they realized that they would not oniy have to encounter the vic- torious white-skin, who had stretched their sire senseless upon the ground, but also all the citi- zens in battle array, sensibly carne to the con- clusion that against such odds they could not hope to contend, so they came toa halt and con- “* cuss words ” at the triumphant white man. m O77 ‘* Oh, let "em come on, boys! | it i tented themselves with hurling a shower of | Long Wolf, as the eldest, took it upon himself to speak for his brothers. ‘* It is good!” he replied. ‘‘ The red-men will drink the heart’s blood of the pale-face.” _ “* There’s another galoot who wants to indulge In an expensive drink, as if whisky wasn’t good enough for him,” exclaimed Blake, as the red- skin concluded, ‘* Well, Pll take a look at the old buck and then you can go on with your picnic as soon Fresh, who with his repeating rifle, every cham- | started toward the spot where the old chief lay. ber charged, with the exception of the two the contents of which he had bestowed upon the Painted Bean, felt perfectly confident he could handle the red-skins without the least difficulty. “et ‘em come on, and see how quickly I'll wipe out the four of them. “What dol care for their pop-gun revol- vers? ‘‘ The bullets from my rifle will drop them all in their tracks long before they can get within revolver range.” The red-skins looked at each other. This statement was no idle boast, as they well knew after the dis lay which they had wit- ‘nessed of the spea rifle. It was Only the simple truth. As good a rifle-shot as the Valifornian would ‘have very little difficulty in picking them off one by one as they rushed to the attack long before they could get near enough to render their revolvers rg carp The townsmen come to a halt when they perceived that the red-skins had abandoned their design of attacking the. Fresh, and they also looked at each other in amazement when they heard the novel DeOpeenls They felt satisfled, too, that Blake meant ex- actly what he said. . There wasn’t any bravado about it; he felt certain he could easily vanquish the rod-skins, and about all of the bystanders were of phe me opinion. , “Oh, but, that ain’t the fair shake!” Jimson- exclanmed. wood oxo aranteed that you should have a fair show for your money i and I for one don’t call it a fair show if we let four of them jump on er’s expertness with the you at once.’ half-dor ‘No, no!” chorused a. half-dozen of the crowd, | “four to one ain’t a fair shake.” ‘“ What is the difference so long as I'm agree- able?” asked the Pres): “These copper-colored galoots have got it in for me now, since I’ve downed their 6{q man. and the gruage between us will have to be set- tled some day, and I would much rather have the thing settled now than push it off to some gtr me first place, if there’s a doctor in the crowd, I move that he take & look at the old though he may be, but that wesn’t my game at all, ry to disable him so that he wouldn’t be ape kpc gunning round ers after a de- cent white man in @ burry, and so T put a bal As the Fresh had stated, the red-skin had been wounded in the shoulder, an ugly hurt too, but not surely fatal if the man had proper care. Jimsonweed and about half of the bystanders followed the doctor, curious to learn how badly the Painted Bean had sufferec at the hands of the boid white man who had thus expertly prov- ed to the doubting savage that a mancould play the fool and yet be able to fight as bravely as a tiger notwithstanding. he shock of the wound had caused the Paint- ed Bean to faint, but when the doctor proceeded to apply a bandage to stop the flow of blood the old chief came to his senses ugain. He realized that he was badly hurt, and his first question to the doctor, who was an old ac- quaintance, was in regardto whether the wound was mortalor not. Limberlegs replied that he didn’t think that it was, if he took care of himself, and then the chief, after glaring around him for a moment at the rough faces peering down at him full of cu- riosity, yet not one betraying the least sign of ‘‘ And the white-skin—what is he? a mighty medicine-man to be able to strike. the red chief to ee without giving him a chance to shed blood?” ‘*} reckon he is pretty big medicine when it comes to shooting-irons,” Limberlegs replied. The doctor had a high opinion of the skill which had been displayed by the stranger, the more so perhaps because the doctor was essen- tially a manof peace, and had never been known to have a weapon or to become mixed up in a row since he struck the town. ’ ‘‘ He is a white devil, and what man can fight a devil?’ the old warrior asked, full of the super- stition of his race in spite of his years and ex- rience. ‘That will be bad for your young bucks, then,” Limberlegs observed. “\ How?’ asked the Indian. ‘‘ Why, when your kids saw that he had downed you, they were a-going for him, but the boys kinder allowed that that wasn’t the fair shake; he was willing to have it, though, and the upshot 1s, he’s challenged the hull four to fight him with revolvers.” _ a an at once?” asked the Indian, an incredu- lous expression upon his dark face. ‘“-Yes, all at once; one down, t’other come on!” , A grim look of satisfaction appeared upon the chief's countenance, and the doctor, noticing it, said: ** You don’t appear to be much alarmed about your young men,” | ‘ a* ée ’ 4 ' | es | | } ' ; ; | | | | exclaimed the | as you please,” Limberlegs observed, and he | —— ——— } i Limberlegs shook his head. ‘** Don’t you crow too soon, chief,” he contin- ued. ‘* You don’t know this man yet, although you have had a sort of introduction to him, ‘“*I tell you what it is, he’s by long odcs the toughest critter that ever struck this town, and I would be willing to bet a big stake that he gets the best of this fight although it is four to one, ‘Can you not lift me up,so I can see with my own eyes my young men kill this white snake?” asked the Indian. - ‘*Oh, yes, but don’t blame meif you are dis- appointed,” the doctor remarked, dryly. hen he assisted the savage torise to a sitting posture, a movement which drew from the old chief a grunt of pain, despite his efforts to re- frain from betraying the suffering caused by his wound the moment he was moved. ‘‘ Now then, gents and fellow-citizens all, I reckon we are ’bout ready for the circus to be- gin,” Jimsonweed announced, ‘* Are you fixed for war?” CHAPTER XXVITI. A ROYAL FIGHT. THE question met with an affirmative answer from both of the contending parties, for all of hem had taken advantage of tbe pause to exam- ine their weapons and prepare for the battle royal to come. he four Indians were armed with two revol- vers apiece, excellent weapons they were too, Remingtons, navy-size, such tools as were fur- nished by the Government at the time of which we write to the soldiers in the cavalry service, especially to those detailed for service on the frontier. Aad each and every revolver had been wrest- ed by the red right band of savage force from some trooper, who had fallen a victim to the ruthless savages whom he had been detailed to conquer. But these pistols were not self-cockers as were the elegant tools that the Fresh wore belted to his waist, and in this the Californian had an ad- vantage, but then the red-men had eight revol- vers to his two, and so the odds were in their fa- vor. Yet, in spite of this fact, there were plenty of adventuring men among the spectators who were willing to bet six fo four on the Californian, and the few who believed that the red braves would prove the victors in the fight were not willing to back their opinion with much wealth. Jimsonweed was the most sanguine of all the crowd in the belief that the Fresh would prove the victor in the fight. He had become so impressed with the idea the Californian was a marvel that he declared: *‘ I'd be willing to back that critter ag’in’a hull regiment of common men, if he was able for to fight them, for I tell you, gents, that fellow has got a long head onto him, and he ain’t a-taking any extra big risks now, I[ kin tell ou! mm He’s the clear whitesiuff all the way through, and he’s got as levela head asever sat on a man’s shoulders. - ‘* He knows w’ot he is about—he knows w’ot he kin do and w’ot he can’t, and if he didn’t feel ee, gd sart’in that he kin clean out these yer bucks he wouldn’t take the contract for a cent!’ There were very few of the crowd who did not with the saloon-keeper in this opinion, but they lacked the necessary sand to back their words with the solid stuff. So there wasn’t much repeny J on the fight, for the ones who were inclined to back tbe Indians were ‘‘afraid to put up their ducats,” as the sa- leon-keeper remarked. After both of the parties in answer to Jimson- weed’s question had signified that they were ready, the saloon-keeper gave the word. ‘* Now then, one, two, three, b’ule in thar, all on yer!” he fairly howled, so excited had be be- come in regard to the matter. The red chiefs were prompt to act. They had taken advantage of the interva: to concoct a plan by means of which they hoped to make their superior numbers give them a fear- ful advantage. ; They kad seen enough of the Fresh of Frisco to understand that in facing him they were en- countering a desperate and determined foe, one, too, possessed of more than ordin skill, so they had resolved to take all possible precau- aoe against a defeat. e the old Indian ene over again. The favorite mode of attack which the red- men of the West almost invariably employ when proceeding against a foe, occupying a fixed position, and who seems likely to make a desper- ate resistance, ~~ ae vw * ast ms re’ i ) SS so |; “35 & 4s je ~—aeée Whee ta 8 = 1 Pal they had determined to play was . i a ih