Beadle's Dime Library, No. 13 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

he held ready for instant use. The scalp- lock of the reconnoitering savage was decor- ated with seven plumes, and the trapper re- membered him at once as the leader of the party that had captured Jack iar Pre- sently, a second head arose from the herbage, but it had a redundance of hair anda white face to mark its nationality. “ As I s’pected !” muttered Nick. “ They’ve made friends with the mammon of unright- eousness. That’s Bill Brace, and there’s some o’ the carrion crows of Hendricks not far off, Pll be sworn. They’re going to fetch the Blackfeet agin us now—bought ‘em up with whiskey, beads, caliker, and nick-nacks. Well, they’re allies when there's deviltry afoot. Hist, dogs !” It was a habit of Nick’s, growing out of his solitary life, to speak his thoughts when alone; and on this oecasion they were spoken so low that the words could scarcely be said to pass beyond his lips. he Indian arose, and throwing forward his iong, lithe body, peered into the em iy hut, then entered with wary step, followed by Bill Brace. They were hidden from the trapper’s view for the space of a minute, then came out with looks of disappointment, and searched for the trail of the departing per “Gone! gone!’ exclaimed Brace. “’Tis the work o’ that meddlin’, lank Nick Whiffles. What think ye, redskin ?” “Doubledark very dark ; go and come like fox; eye very sharp on long gun—shoot— kill—run—no ketch him! Seven Plumes try many time take his scalp. No take hisscalp!” Nick smiled grimly and felt of his head ; it still wore its natural covering. “Try take him ‘live; carry to village— build big fire—roast—burn—make him ery— tears run down like squaw. No ketch him !” “Oh Lord, no!” thought Nick. ‘Hide in woods to shoot him when go by ; he no go in woods ; he go on prairie, one, two, three, four mile off. No shoot him !” “Not a bit on’t!” said Nick, mentally. ‘‘ Followed his trail three days,’ contin oed Seven Plumes, with growing earnestness, ‘ to find hin ’sleep. Come upon his a at te dog bark like devil. No find him "sleep |” 4 it's the mercy o’ God,” thought Nicholas, “that he’s give me wisdom enowgh to keer out the clutches of the heathen both by day and by night.” Pe One time surround his lodge with war- riors and fire ten, fifteen, twenty-five time ; hit nothin’ byt lodge. Byme-by he fire his long rifle; kill Ingin every shot. That no good! Seven Plumes and his braves go ‘way very mad. ‘Nother time take pale-face priso- ner; start, but Doubledark hide in valley ‘mong rocks; steal up to prisoner—cut him loose—pale-face git ‘way — Doubiedark git bi gh!” he brow of the Blackfoot grew darker with resentment. A few twinkling stars threw a feeble iight upon his dusky face. He resem- bled a dark — in a dark setting, with Bill Brace and the cabin for a background. “Can't say, Blackfoot, that I’m sorry a prisoner got away, though it seems like an in- ury to you. The critter was Jack Wiley, and longs to Cap’n Dick's fellers. If ‘you'd made an eend ’o Jack, our boys would a been arter ye, and there’d been no friendship atween us; 80 his meddlin’ that time turned out for the best,” Nick lifted the breech of his rifle a little from the leaves, and his fingers worked upon the barrel as if playing on an instrument, but @ feeling, either of policy or humanity, pre- vented his sending the unerring bullet. He scanned his lurking and eee enemy with an ingrest awakened the revelations he had heard. Had he indeed been singled out by the tawny nomads of the wilderness as a special victim of their vengeance? Was this circumstance new to him? It was not. A wandering life, stretching over some twen- | ty-five years, had taught him the peculiarities of savage nature; given him an insight into its wiles, artifices, and obstinate persistence in dogging the foctsteps of an enemy. He had been instrueted upon the dangerous trapping- grounds by su den surprises; by forced marehes and hasty flights ; by chance rencon- tres in a hundred places, by countless contin- gencies incident to that kind of existence, un- til his sensibilities had grown sharp and his knowledge approximated to the keenness of in- stinct. [ven his present position proved how much training bad done for him; he stood el ll Pathaway: within a few yards of inveterate enemies—two, certainly, with more, doubtless, within call— one man, yet firm and confident, and conscious of his own abilities to meet emergencies. “ Seven Plumes shall have Doubledark to | said Brace, with deter- | “His skulp shall hang up in his | ’ carry to his village,’ mination. lodge after his women and children have played with it, and paraded it about on a pole. A pooty thing it'll be, to p’int to it and say, | ‘That's the skulp of Nick Whifiles !’ ” The trapper imagined that he could see a sinister scowl upon the Indian's forehead, Baich grew more malign as Brace went on. “ Tne great Nor’wes:,” resumed the latter, bitterly, “ has rung long enough with the name of DoubleJark. You can’t go nowhere but you'll hear on him. Gc up the Big Red, and they'll ask for fifty mile along its banka if you’ve seed him. Go down the Columby, and it’s the same thing over ag’in, Take a long tramp ’cross the lakes to Montreal, and the Frenchmen ‘ill ask, ‘ Are ye ‘quainted with Nick Whiffles?’ On the southern slope of the Rocky mountains they’ll want to know what Niek Whiffles is doin’, and if he’s comin’ down that way soon. I know this is 80, both by my own experience and what I’ve heerd from others.” “He great warrior, great hunter, great trapper, great everything!” asserted Seven Plumes, reflectively. “Great as he is, he’s yourn. Cap’n Hen. dricks says you shall have him, if he’s got men enough to take him, though he don’t wan't to be known much in the business him- self, for everythin’ thats done here works down into the clearin’s in course o’ time. He’s got heaps of knives, blankets, and beads for is brothers the Blackfeet. Chief, bring out your braves; let em swarm into every pass and valley, perarie, and bit ’o timber in this stretch o country. ‘There’s a boy and a man with him; the man,” he alded, depressing his voice, ** b’longs to me.” “Me know!” said Seven Plumes, quickly. “You fought together like squaws. He knock Bill Biace down—strike dam hard! Make face look like squaw’s face when she been beat by drunken Ingin. Wah! wah!” Seven Plumes turned up his nose in con- tempt. Bill Brace swore an oath which would not grace our pages, exhibiting his chagrin in an unmistakable manner. “The boy,” he continued, wincing, “ must be taken, too. Cap'n Dick wants him, but what for, 1s more’n I know; he talks about him queer, ‘pearin’ to be afeard on him one minute, and inguisitive "bout him the next. Does Seven-Plumes understand ?” “Ugh, ugh!” “ Then,” proceeded Brace, “ there’s a erit- ter, a Frenchman called Portneuf, that’s got to be put one side ‘fore he can snuff the air of the settlements. Don’t stan’ on ceremony with him, ehief, but lift his hair quick’s you can He’s been in the Valley, and in a halter, too, but by some kind of deviltry or niekromaney —which Nick Whiffles may be at the bottom of, for all I znow—slipped out neck and heels, hoss and all. He might talk, you know. De you hear ?” ‘Am I a tree or a stone ?” “You may bea cod afore you know it!” muttered Nick. “Then I have spoke to the p‘int, and we'll set ourselves to work to pick out this trail. Iv] go hard with us, if Ingin cunnin’ and white cubnin’ can't outwit him.” “Itll go hard with me and them with me,” was the conviction that forced itself upon the trapper, “if you do.” The Indian and Brace now commenced a fresh examiustion of the spot ; while they were looking at overy indentation in the earth, every wound of the tender grass, every disturb- ance of the leaves, with their faces close to the earth, Nick silently retreated, following with cautious strides tie party in which he felt so deep an interest, not so much by the trail, which was scarcely perceptible, even to him, but from perfect familiarity with the route Portneuf had taken. CHAPTER XXIII, YOUNG INDIAN MAKES A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT. Pathaway and the lads, conducted by the Frenchman, passed over considerable ground before Nick overtook them. In the interim, the hunter, agreeably to his promise, had kept near Sebastian, watching his movements with 27 om a ot ee eet oO eee — _ friendly seal, ready to assist him in case of need. The youth reesived his attentions with a sin- _ gular mixtare of gratitude and timidity—the latter, that inexplicable ehrinking that often rendered his character feminine. The eyes of Indian Joe frequently wandered to the parties. but with no pleased expression. The gray hunter noticed at length hie persistent, and at times, anxious glances, and walked to his side, leaving Sebastian in the rear. “Joe,” he said, in a gentle manner, “I re- gret that one who has done me a service should be thus treated ; but we are placed ina position so perilous that we are forced to use every reasonable precaution ; although I con- fess that were it not for our friend, the trap- per, ' would not consent to this measure, but allow your limbs to remain free.”’ “Inyin boy no ‘count. He guide pale-face, but no matter. White hunter no memory. Tie Joe up like dog—he no feel—he no care—his flesh no have pain !” The boy pronounced these abrupt sentences in an aggrieved tone, and Pathaway would not have been surprised to see tears flow down his red cheeks. But his grief—if grief it were— was mingled with a spirit that would occasion- ally flash up wild and fervent. Not knowing how to soothe a nature like his, Pathawa kept pace with the slow movements of his horse in silence, waiting for a different mood P come over him to render him more placa- €. “Why you walk ’side Joe? Joe no white. Go walk ‘longside sguaw !”” The young Indian threw a scornful look backward at Sebastian. “ What did you say, Joe?” asked the hunter, glancing inquiringly at his features. “Go walk with sguaw—talk with sqguaw, and no mind Ingin Joe, who save your life !” “You call him a squaw,” answered Patha- way musing ‘ but the term of ne is un- merited. 1 know he is very contradictory in his behavior, but I do believe that he is not wanting in courage, as that wound upon his arm attests.” ‘ How ?” asked Joe, eagerly, as if thrown off his guard. , “He bravely interposed that member be tween my own person and the knife of an as- sassin-—a burly ruffian called Bill Brace, whom it was once my privilege to punish for his insolence.” “Bill Brace!” repeated Joe, with a slight start. “ Yes, Bill Brace; one of the creatures of the man Hendricks. I might have been slee ing soundly beneath the green turf of the wil- derness, had it not been for Sebastian Delau- nay. Even the wandering red man knows how to repay gratitude, and bears ever in his breast, as a sacred deposit, the remembrance of a favor.” “ Tas no one else saved the life of the pale- face hunter?” Joe demanded sharply, almost angrily. “ Yes, Carlota—the strange girl Carlota !” responded Pathaway, sighing. “She might have been lovely in character as in person; but now, alas! she is Beauty run wild!” Then he added, “ And wicked, too.” “ She saved life, but you no like her. That not the way Ingin does; he no forget when friend come, take him by the hand and say ‘you free; here hoss with saddle, bridle, and here Ingin boy, that no betray you.’” “ Do those cords hurt your wrists ?” Pathy way asked, after an embarrassing silence. “They cut into the flesh, but Joe no com- plain. He git pay that way for what he done,” “T’ll hazard the risk of freeing your hands, at any rate,” said Pathaway, touched with re- morse, and immediately cut the boy’s bonds with his knife. ‘I will trust you ; see that my confidence is not abused.” “Joe no make promise; he do what he lease, but no make promise. He tell pale- face, though, that that boy no boy ; he squaw— he woman !” The blood flushed up to Pathaway’s brow. “Joe tell truth; he no lie—that boy, wo- man !” For some reason Pathaway did not immedi- ately answer. Perhaps he was comparing the young Indian’s startling assertion with his own thoughts, and evidences gathered from a thousand trifling cireumstances. He partially turned and threw an earnest look at Sebastian Delaunay; the youth’s face appeared more beautiful than ever. His large, dreamy eyes beamed with softer liglt, while his wondrous symmetry of person shaped itself into a form of additional grace. The little hand, the dy GoOmicbooks (El)