Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 124 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

—— —_ oe —= — = = = = — — Assowaum, the Avenger. 21 a a oe — a —_ A momentary stillness followed. Atkins peed with staring, tearless eyes from one to the other. “IT vote for pardon !” said Brown. ‘*And I!” cried Hatfield. ‘‘Do not let us, comrades, stain our first tribunal with too much blood. I beg also for Weston’s life; the poor devil has made a full confession of his crime; we can not find fault with him for re- fusing to betray his accomplices; I, for my part applaud bim for it. Will you net consider him as sufficiently eco by his chastisement that he has received?” ** Yes!” said the men, after a short silence. ‘*Mercy! mercy!” implored Jones, who was convin from the whole conduct of the Re- gulators how resolute they were to act with energy, and who resolved to profit by this first back! I have offered to turn State's evi- dence.” “Hold!” said the Indian, in a gl tone, who thus far had cowered like a panther, ready to spring upon the fettered form of the preacher, but who now rose to his full hight, and laid his band upon the shoulder of the criminal, who shrunk back at his touch—*' this man is Asso- waum’s! the Regulators have pronounced him guilty, but Assowaum must be his execu- tioner!” ‘* No—no—no!” shrieked the Methodist, in all the terror of despair—‘' no—anything but that —away—away with me, ye Regulators!}—hang me!—hang me here on this tree!—no, not here— further away—a hundred paces—a half mile— but do not deliver me into the bands of this fiend—help! help!” Brown now sprung into the saddle and gal- loped down the hill; the rest followed him, with the exception of Jones, the Canadian, and a oe who remained to have an eye upon Whar- n. The horse of the condemned criminal still stood motionless, and Johnson gazed, half inso. lently, half in terror at the men near him. ‘*Come!” said the half-breed, turning to Jones; ‘‘ I know what you are thinking of” but you ~ a spoil the man’s sport—away with ou ‘“* But just Jet me—” ‘“‘Away, I say, or, I—we are now alone.” With these words, be brandished one of the hickory rods with which he had provided him- self. The next moment the t was deserted, and Johnson sat alone, beneath his gibbet, upor bright moment—* mercy for me also! this is Assowaum, without waiting for an answer | the quiet and motionless beast. my first offense, and, besides, I belong to an- | from the Regulators, bound the arms of his other county.” victim with a leathern thong, and, notwith- CHAPTER XII ‘That would help you but little,” said Brown. | standing bis desperate struggles, raised him like ““T vote, however, that wo deliver up this man, | a child from the ground. WHILE upon the rocky hight, on the La who belongs neither onthe La Fave nor the Petit-Jean, to the tribunals of Little Rock; let them punish him as they see fit. I think we may be assured that he will never visit the banks of the La Fave again.” “Away with him!” eried several voices; “- give him up to the sheriff.” ‘It’s cheating the rope!” said Curtis. ‘‘ The fellow isa knave and a thief, and if they do shut him up in the penitentiary in Little Rock, he will break his way out—that’s of course— and he will afterward laugh at us into the bar- in.” ‘“Never! by my salvation!” cried Jones, anx- iously, who had his forebodings probably. ‘‘T wouldn’t give much for that any way,” replied Curtis. ‘‘I vote, therefore, that we first make him acquainted with our different kinds of wood: hickory, dogwood, etc., after- ward he can go where he likes; he will, at least, take with him a kind memorial of our little stream.” ‘**Curtis is right,” said Brown. ‘If the men of Arkansas are contented, therefore, the negro yonder may give him sixty lashes.” ‘Gentlemen! cried Jones, anxiously. **Sixty are really too few,” cried Bowitt, when the others had voted for this punishment; ‘vet, in that case, we must choose some one be- sides the nigger to execute the sentence. I think that—’ ‘‘Hold!” cried the Canadian, interrupting him, ‘* Pll give the lashes—I have a little debt against him.” ‘*Mercy! mercy!’ implored Jones, who well knew how this half-breed would deal with his back. ‘You have it!” said Brown, turning from him; ‘‘you deserved the rope. Away with him!” ‘* And Johnson and Rawson?” asked Hatfield, gazing slowly around the circle, while the Cana- dian led the trembling Jones aside. ‘* Death !” The word echoed gloomily and mop comely from every lip. ‘**Oh, sir, if you mean to save me,” said Raw- son, with deathlike pallor in his face, address- ing the stranger in a whisper, ‘ it is high time —you do not know the Regulators—” ‘Silence! and depend upon me,” said the lawyer in a cautious whisper. Wilson had, in the meanwhile, cut Atkins’s bands, and offered him his horse to ride home. The latter nodded ghost f loosed the bridle from the branch to which it was fastened, and was about to mount into the saddle; then he be- thought himself again; he stood for several seconds leaning upon the pommel of the saddle, returned suddenly and reached his hand in silence, first to Wilson, then to Brown, and then to Hatfield—pressed theirs warmly—leaped into the saddle, and rode at full speed toward his dwelling. Brown after him thoughtfully, and then said, turning to Wilson: ‘‘T ghouldn’t wonder if Atkins becamean hon- est man.” “Save me—or it will be too late!” whispered Rawson, once n in deathlike‘anguish ; “ you have promised it—you must save me!” ‘‘ Lead the prisoners to death!” said Brown, in a low but sonorous voice. ‘‘ Hold!” cried the lawyer, now interposing —‘‘hold, in the name of justice! It is true these criminals are worthy of death; but I here protest openly against these illegal proceedings, which are as much murder as the murders which are charged against these unhappy men. Deliver them into my hands, and 1 either a complaint against them before the tribunals of the State, but here—” ‘Do your duty!” replied Brown, calmly, with- out heeding this remonstrance. ‘‘ Has either of the poe anything to say?” “T will reveal all!” screamed Rawson—“ lis- ten to me—I will reveal all, if you will save my life!—I will toil in prison for ee save my life!—only save my life! have fearful to ose.” ‘Your life is forfeited!” replied the stern vely; ‘‘ prepare for death!” Baek!” screamed the wretched man, as the Regulators approached to seize him; “stand ‘Gentlemen, this is horrible!” said the advo- cate, shuddering; ‘“‘ you will not permit this savage to drag the man into the woods, and there torture him to death?” Not one of the Regulators answered a sylla- ble. All gazed in silence upon the Indian, whose features, calm and unaltered, betrayed not the | slightest tokens of what was passing in his bosom. Even Johnson seemed, for a moment, | to have forgotten the danger of his situation. ‘* Have compassion!” screamed Rawson; ‘‘ my life is forfeited to this court—have compassion! save me from the fiend who bas seized me!” The Indian bore him from the circle, and pro- ceeded down the narrow foot-path, which led to the bottom-land, and thence to the river. ‘*T can not suffer that!” cried the stranger, and he hastened after the chief, resolved to res- cue the unhappy man, at least, from the clutches | of the vindictive savage: but when Assowaum heard his steps behind him, he turned toward the advocate and cried, in a tone of menace: ‘Follow me upon my dark path, and thou wilt never return to thy kindred—I know thee!” “Save me!” entreated Rawson; “by your salvation, save me!” Assowaum turned, and the next moment had disappeared in the thicket with his victim, while | Wharton stood, as if rooted to the ground, and stared, half-musing, half-unconscious, after the slowly receding form of the red warrior. | No one upon the hill ventured to interrupt | the solemn stillness; all stood, thrilled with horror, in their places, scarcely daring to | breathe; Brown alone stepped softly and noise- lessly to the verge of the rock, which projected over the river, and, with his arm entwined around a young oak, gazed out over the bed of the stream. There, with slow and quiet strokes of his paddle, the Indian was gliding on- ward in his canoe, while in the fore part of the bark lay the fettered form of the Methodist. Jones’s cries of pain first roused the men from their stupor. The half-breed, who had seen nothing extraordinary in the conduct of the chief, had taken advantage of the interval of silence to bind the criminal to a young dog- wood-tree, and now, with the best will the world, was belaboring his bare back with a stout but pliable hickory stem, nothwithstand- ing the Bi ses writhing beneath the ful strokes, cried and shrieked, saying he bad al- ready had sixty, one-and-sixty, two and-sixty, three-and-sixty es. Brown at last interfered and freed the un- happy wretch from his tormentor, who seemed in no wise inclined to cease at the appointed number, and wished, as he candidly confessed, to spoil the rascal’s appetite for horseflesh alto- together, while he was about it. In the meanwhile another group had led John- son to the tree appointed for his execution. Bowitt, for the last time, admonished him to ‘pray, but in answer he spit in his face, and turned his back to him scornfully. Not a word either of entreaty or complaint pee his lips; and the Regulators, exaspera at this last display of hardihood, without further ceremony fastened the about his neck, and lifted him upon a horse, e negro was then directed to climb the tree and tie the rope to a projecting bough, while Curtis took the bridle from the pony which stood oa beneath its burden. Jobhnson’s elbows had been pinioned to his sides, and be sat erect u the saddle; the reached directly upward; so soon as the horse took a single 4 to f cen the grass that grew around in luxuriant abundance, he would be left dangling in the air. Still the pony neither moved nor stirred, but looked with its large dark eyes from one to an- — of the pio asif it ras ae te gga w every gianco was ned upon it tedetidion expectation. ‘Of what use is all this buffoonery?” cried Johnson, ina tone between anger and terror, while the cold sweat stood upon his brow; “take the horse away and make an end of the business!” It needed but a a pressure of his heel, and the pony would have leaped from under him; but he did not move a muscle; the beast stood equally motionless. Fave, lynch-law was grower and eared the guilty, unmingled joy prevailed in Roberts's dwelling, where until now Marion’s mother had lain, pale and motionless, upon her bed. The Regulators had departed with their prisoners: the sun stood high above the tree-tops, and still Mrs. Roberts had as yet given no sign of return ing consciousness; when, suddenly, as old Rob- erts began, with a very grave and thoughtfu) face, to walk the cham as Marion, weeping silently, kneeled and prayed at the bedside— and Ellen, hushed and sorrowful, was seated near her, holding the cold band of the old dame in her own—the Jatter unclosed her eyes in won- der, with but a faint comprehension of what had passed, and glanced upon Marion, who sprung up, and with a cry of joy cast herself upon the neck of her reviving mother, who then said, in a low voice: * My child! my dear child! are you restored tome again? Have you returned to us once more? Has the—God be gracious to me! m head swims when I think of it—has the fend, who appeared tous in the form of that man, obtained no power over you?” ‘* No, mother—my dear, good mother!” cried the delighted maiden; “all is now well, since you have opened your eyes so bright and clear again; now, all will turn out happily.” “But—what has assed, my child? Is it morning or evening? It seems to me that I nave dreamed away a long, long time. Where invo all these people come from?” ‘* Margaret,” said Roberts, who had ap- proached softly, and now seated himself upon a stool near his wife’s bed—‘* Margaret, dear good soul, how do you feel?” ‘* Roberts here—and Mr. Barker—and Harper —and Ellen? Didn’t you ride off? Have I only dreamed it, then?” ‘You shall hear all, dear mother,” replied ‘rion, in a soothing tone; ‘but now do keep quiet and rest.” “Rest!” repeated her mother, rising from her bed, ‘‘rest! I feel strong and well, only my head swims alittle. But tell me, oh tell me, what has passed—Roberts—Barker—H r— what is the matter with the men, they all look 80 serious?” ** Nothing is the matter with them, Mrs, Rob- erts,” mapied Barker, as he stepped forward and’ sh her by the hand, “not in the least; not now, at any rate. So long as you lay there, cold and pale as a corpse, we were not very cheery here in the chamber, and perhaps our faces still have rather a stupid look; besid Harper here is half sick f. But now, out with it, Marion! it’s best she should know all at once, as it’s nothing evil, and then her heart will be relieved, and ours too.” Marion was now hang to begin and relate what had passed from the first moment, when Rawson rushed into the house, and Cotton left his eee lace, how they had been bound, and how Ellen freed her hands. She omitted nothing; neither’ Assowaum’s sudden appear- ance, nor the heroic act of her friend, nor Their rescue ‘‘the Regulators,” by which eral appellation the sweet girl timidly evaded all mention of the man whom she loved, this she recounted to her listening mother, who held her hand fast Jocked within her own, still think- - ing her dear child in danger, and unwilling to ease her clasp for fear of losing her anew. “To you, then, my dear girl—to you alon in truth—I owe the life of my daughter,” said Mrs. ae ah turning to the’ bl Ellen, and reaching her the d that was at liberty. “To me? Ah, eb near the latter, timidly ; ““my aid was very g. The pistol—I don’t know—but I think it must have Fr eff of itself; at least I have always been afraid of fire- arms— ‘Ellen was certainly our rescuing angel!” said Marion, interrupting her. ‘* The would have been but for that shot, and after him, perhaps, the next one that foHowed; at all events, the furious man would have sacri- ficed us to his e. Ellen was certainly the heroine of the night.” ‘‘But where are the rest? Where are Mr. Curtis, Brown and W ” asked the dame, ‘who, with the In ECORMNIC OOOKS»CO© any