Beadle's Dime Library, No. 13 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

oe, _ 2 ee iain —' Re a — _—~ OT EE, el Pathaway. 29 he will with his skulp. I can play at the ame of low cunnin’ as well as another; but ll be skinned if it’s in me to take the top- knot of a dead inemy, though I’ve knowd white folks as would do it. Colonel, stay here and iook arter this boy; and not too inuch, neither; for you'll make him bleed agin if you stare at him as you do sometimes. Here's the Ingin, too, who must be ’tended to, for my confidence in him is shook. The heathen chief is sharp at a trail, and may be Closer than is safe. Come, Frenchman, go with me; for I recollect that you used to be uo fool in matters o’ the woods and red- skins.” _ “ But why not take me for your compan- ton ?” gaid Pathaway, somewhat piqued. “To be frank, because you are the stronger of the two, and rayther the quickest with your eyes and rifle, prehaps; and you're 10 duty bound to stick to the boy that was will- in’ to risk his own life for your’n.” Without waiting to hear further remon- on Nick glided away, followed by Port- neuf. The gloom of the night perceptibly light ened, the clouds lifting and the moon appear ing dimly, affording Pathaway a tolera’ le view of surrounding objects. The jagged out- lines of the rocks, separated from, and seemed to rise out of the darkness, defining their rude strength with a boldness that was strik- ing. “ Behold,” said the hunter, sweeping the basin with his finger, “the more massive and cumbrous workmanship of Nature! How grand and stern she is in a scene like this!” “T see no sublimity in towering rocks and bold crags ; at least, not here,” answered Se- bastian, averting his eyes after a hurried glance at the points indicated. “I confess that a chilling awe creeps over me.” “That comes of the force of association,” returned Pathaway. “You have in your re membrance the tale frequently allwded to by our friend, the trapper. Many places, grand and interesting naturally, become terrible by circumstances; a apot where a murder has been committed, for instance. Cast your eyes across that dark sheet of water and observe how those ston peaks are graduated, one ris tng above another as they recede from the ba sin. We have only to have lights and figures moving from crag to crag, to finish a wild and romantic picture.” Sebastian looked up at the huater to see if he meant more than his words implied ; but his was not a countenance easily read ; it was always calm and thoughtful, save when fired up by wrong or danger, when his mouth grew firmer in its significance, and his eyes beamed with courage and determination. 6 That stream is to me black and fearful !” Sebastian answered, “and the riven rocks, the looming ledges, and the pointed peaks are weird and threatening.” The youth made a gesture toward the ob- jects spoken of as he severally mentioned them. The gray hunter did not respond to this remark, keeping his eyes fixed upou the beetling rocks. “Tam almost certain,” he said anon, “that I saw a human figure on yonder bluff.” “Tt cannot be; it was but a ereation of fancy,” Sebastian replied, with a shudder. “] know that the eye is easily deceived, eq ially at night, in a spot wher che imagina bon has free scope to roam.” He stopped, then exclaimed : “It was no deception! Thery it is again! Now it is out of sight.” “A mountain goat, perhaps; the spot does not appear accessible to men,” said the youth. “ You are mistaken. If my judgment does not err. that is the very place where the out- laws entered the basin, bearing their helpless and lovely victim. What a scene it must Bate been, as they defiled into th» valley, and stood by the strearn, the torches gleaming in the fo und, the woman kneeling with out- stretched hands, and in the back-ground, rouped together, the acevmplices of the act. What powerful motives could have led to the perpetration of such a deed ?” ; “The bad passions of men,” Sebastian re- ied, in a voice scarcely articulate, while the Cael face of Indian Joe was thrust forward to drink in every word with an 25 bape inter- est that was unusual for one of his race to ex- “bit. ae a is a Power or ar pes the u of man, which was striking] displeved in this instance Wick informs me,” he added, regarding Sebastian steadily, “ that | trated by the aim of a lurking foe. the woman was beautiful. with the trapper a Jong time, you doubtless saw her. as she then so handsome, good outh ?” Sebastian hesitated, while a faint color stole to his cheeks. Indian Joe’s dark orbs were leveled at the boy with all their deep and mysterious inten- sity. uy saw her,” he said, stammering, “ and though many were pleased to think her beau- ‘iful, I did not fall in love with her face.” “ Her figure ?” queried Pathaway. “Being but a bay I am no te of such matters,” added Sebastian, with affected play- fulness. “I never heard any one fault her form. She certainly had no reason to com- plain of the gifts of Nature.” Joe’s brow now knitted into a frown, and the long, delicate lashes that fringed his eyes quivered with some secret emotion. “JT am talking while I should be acting,” said Pathaway. “It will not be well to allow an enemy to surprise one who is no novice in woodcraft. I must reconnoitre yonder rocks.” The hunter paused, and looked toward Joe, as if ata loss to know what disposition to make of him. “Go with you,” he said, comprehending the glance with that quickness which was charac- ‘eristic of him. “No, you must stay with—with Sebastian.” The youth had regarded the gray hunter more than once with a singular admixtots of doubt, curiosity, and alarm. It seemed to him that the tones of the man’s voice had changed —that they were more respectful and gentle. Deference was what he had never before shown him, however kind and friendly his manner. “] will return in a moment,” said the hun- ter, and had walked several yards towar! the stream, when the report of a carbine disturbed the silence of the basin. Pathaway staggered and fell. Sebastian sprang to his side, anc either throvgh terror, the weakness incident to his wert) or both combined, sank insen. sible to the ground. Pathaway immediately arose, and perceiv- ing what had happened to the youth, caught him in his arms and hurried to a spot more sheltered from the aim of an enemy. As he hastened forward, he looked furtively over his shoulder and saw a little cloud of smoke rising from the crag where he had seen the figure. ‘“‘ He is dead! they have killed him !” mur- mured Sebastian, almost indistinctly, as he slowly recovered. “No! he lives; he is with you!” said Path away. The lad opened his eyes with a bewildered air, and seeing himself supported by the hun- ter, gently disengaged himself. “JT heard a report and thought you had fallen. It could not have been faney,” Sebas- tian added, not yet quite certain what had happened. “] was struck by a spent ball, but am un injured.” “This wound, I believe, makes a child of me,” replied Sebastian, with a forced smile. “ My flesh, evidently, does not heal so readily as represented by Nick.” . “T have observed you attentively, my lad, and am sure that you have suffered much. Your hands,” he continued, taking the youth’s in his, “are feverish. You have not com- plained enough.” The boy Joe tossed his head and dilated his nostrils with unequivocal contempt. “ Blood mixed!” he muttered. “ Weak— faint like squaw—child! Young Ingin go on trail; git bullet, git arrow—almost kill—no ery!’ Then pointing at Sebastian: “ He better put on gown like white woman.” “Be silent, boy!” said Pathaway, with a rebuking glance. “If your warriors do not complain of wounds, neither do they talk much. The young men and youths who have never been on the war-path keep mute tongues in the presence of their superiors.” Joe turned his back moodily to Pathaway, but did not cease to cast occasional] y disdain- ful looks at Sebastian, and there might have been in them a portion of hatred. The height- ened color of the lad told how keenly he felt the taunts of Joe. Spurred perhaps by his derision, possibly because his wary gave him less pain, he arose and declared himself entire- ly recovered-from his recent ill feelings, which he attributed partly to loss of blood, partly to the sudden shock of seeing Pathaway pros As you have been | ean shoot “T’m sorry,” he said, with a singular dis play of spirit, “that my '.fle was stolen ; for according to present appearances, I shall have occasion to use it; and I tell you, Colonel, I quite well. You doubt it, I see, but | I will convinee you at the first opportunity that offers.” “No ingin—no bad white man come; you kils ’em quick!” said Joe, looking at Se tian’s bow and quiver, which had fallen upon the ground a few yards distant. “The bow and arrow,” said Pathaway, ecom- ing to the rescue,” are instruments not to be despised. Your own people, tawny Joe, have them with great effect. I’m not me a to slight the claims of the bow, which was one of the primitive weapons of mankind, in vogue long before the rifle and powder were dreamed of.” Joe,” observed Sebastian, “ is in ill temper. He is little pleased with the severity of Nick, but his limbs being now free, I see no reason that he should murmur.” The young Indian deigned no reply. Nick and Portneuf were heard approaching. “ Who fired ?” asked the former, quickly. “Some one hidden among yonder cliffs,” Pathaway replied. “Nobody hurt, I hope? We shall have enough to ‘tend to ’thout lookin’ arter gun- shot wounds.” “A spent ball struck me em the side, or rather upon the metallic handle of my hunt- ing-knife, doing no other harm than prostrat- ing me by the shock.” “That's fortinit! We can’t afford to lose man nor boy at present. The critters, I be- lieve, haven’t diskivered the natril way to Black Run; but it "pears they're cornin’ lien the rocks yonder, for it couldn’t been a chance shot that struck you. Dick Hendricks is in airnest, and his new allies, the red niggers, are up and stirrin’. J should like to draw a bead onsome on’em, by mighty! There’)] be warm work, but I’m sartin you |] stan’ by like a man. Whatever pee if yon live through it, I want you to keep a still tongue in your head, and not let the pison newspapers git held on’t. What’s the use o’ bein’ held up afore the pub- lic, and turned over and over like a brile? I swear to gracious,” added Nick, taking an old cap from the tube of his rifle aud replacing it by another, “if the pesky clearin’s wasn't so far off, I'd go down with a ivad o' peltries, and buy up half a dozen of the condemned econ- sarns !” “] think no one has spoken ill of you in the elearings,” said Pathaway. “T’ve lived ’eordin to my natur, and why should a person be spoke ill of that’s lived ’eordin to his natur ? never cheated nobody of what b’longed to him, nor sold peltry that wasn’t legally mine, nor shot a bufferler out o' wantonness, nor dcsarted a brother trapper im need, nor drawed back when there was danger, or rubbed out a heathen red-skin when self- preservation didn’t demand it.” “ Few of your brethren of the gun and trap ean say as much,” Pathaway replied. BY tacit consent, the two men walked a few yards from the rest of the parties. ‘ You saw no signs of pursuers near the es ” said Pathaway, -nterrogative y- “ Don’t talx Freneh, colonel, if you want to git information out o’ me, for I never could talk much with the Monsheers; though I’ve e390 up afew words here and there from the rench voyageurs. Howsomnever, to come to the pint, I diskivered nothin’ to excite s’pi- cion that they’d found the entrance to Black Run. But as Seven-Plumes, Bil] Brace, Hen- dricks and his crew are on our trail, we can't expect to remain long undisturbed. If there wasn’t but one Ingin in the business, we could hope to outwit ‘em with less trouble; but they’ve got their orders to swarm into every hidin’-place, pass, valley, gulch, perarie, and _ timber in the whole o’ this region.” While Nicholas was speaking, Pathaway was thinking of Sebastian. At one moment he was tempted to tell frankly his suspicions concern ing the sex of the youth; but, he inwardly queried, would it be kind to refer to a subject which Nick took so much pains to conceal ? Again there was a possibility of mistake. The assertion of Indian Joe might be false; and yet that could searcely be, for there were in- numerable little cirenmstanees to confirm it. He resolved that he would be silent, at least for the present, well assured that Sebastiaa was not what his garb would indicate, EOMMIUGCL VOC) cS (E@)