Beadle's Dime Library, No. 13 — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

| | | en eee — eee - - oe : : o_o ——_ o_O ” | i : ‘exposed to dea 36 observed him in silence, awaiting with interest the result of Nick’s surgery. “ Who are you ?” he asked, slowly. ‘ Where —where am I? Ah! I must have fallen asleep on the way! I have nad a long walk, but I don’t remember lying down. Where are my peltries, I wonder ? “What is the last thing you remember ?” Madge asked. With a bewildered air, Andrew arose, and looked at the interrogator, who repeated her question. “The last thing I remember ?” reiterated Jeanjean, reflectively. “I recollect starting from the trapping-grounds, and having my horse stolen as I camped at night. Let me see—then I threw my peltries across my shoul- ders, and came as far as here; that is, I reached a guich or canon, which must be in this vicinity. Then—then”—Andrew put his d to his brow—“ then—everything seems to leave off abruptly. I have had arkness and confused dreams.” “Have you no consciousness of a shock, a sudden pain, the report of a gun, a fall ?”’ asked Madge. “ Allis blank!” replied Andrew, hopelessly. “To be brief, you were beset by ruffians, robbed, and left for dead, and owe your pre- servation to a brave man who witnessed the outrage.” * How long ago was that?” inquired Jean- ean. ar More than a week,” answered Madge. “It seems scarcely possible,” said Jeanjean. “ Your wound was of the head,” continued Madge. “ But this is no time for details. We are in danger — pursued by enemies upon whose ears the cries of mercy are lost.” “T cannot realize this !” exclaimed Andrew, with emphasis. ‘How can one lose a week of life, yet awake to the conscious world strong, and to all appearance healthy ?” Jeanjean passed his hand dubiously over his head, wincing when he touched the wound. “ All this is possible,” he added, “ though to me most dreamlike andimprobable. I have had a concussion of the brain—a fracture of the skull, or an injury of that nature, doubt- less. | The French voyageur joined them. “Where is Pathaway? Where is the Sho- shoné ?” he asked, hastily. ‘ We will be be- set by enemies, and we s’all be killed if we don’t fight ver’ much.” Andrew heard the sound of his voice, and -remembered the father of Ninon. “ Portneuf!” he cried, seizing his hand. “ What is this Is’all hear? His senses is come back. Thisisastonish! This one grand surprise !” “Tam very faint—I am dizzy! Ina mo- ment I shall be calm. There—there—I am quite restored. Tell me of Ninon ?” He looked earnestly at the voyageur. “ Ma jolie Ninon!” exclaimed Portne uf, sor- rowfully. “What has happened to Ninon ?” “ Be discreet!” whispered M “ Mon Dieu! 1 will not tell you what s’all happen to her. They take her away—the what you calls him—robbers.” “Robbers? Ninon?” said Andrew, with a start. “ You are imprudent! I fear the shock of this anncuncement will prove too much for his newly-restored reason,” said Madge, in a low voice, to the oe “ My heart so full, so ver’ full!” answered Portneuf, wringing his hands. “ We have reason to suppose,” added Madge, “that Ninon is at Trapper Valley, whither she has been carried by some lawless free trappers. “The mountain outlaws !” exclaimed Jean- jean, with strong emotion. ‘“ You tell me, irl,’ he continued, fixing his eyes upon Madge, “that Ninon is in the hands of rob- bers and assassins, and expect me to hear an with calmness. Where are my arms? t me fly to her reseue !” “Listen, Jeanjean! We are at this moment ‘ly peril. Pathaway and the ‘Shoshoné are seeking our foes alone, and in the darkness; while the old trapper, Nick Whiffles, whose name you may have heard, is making a hazardous attempt te save Ninon,” said Madge, 9 ti “ Then my duty is here,” responded Andrew, restraining his feelings. ‘“ Give me a weapon, Portneuf.”’ “Nicholas has kept your arms carefully ; they lie there by the rocks,” said Madge. “T trust my wound has not deprived me of The New York Library. strength and cunning,” responded Andrew ; and seizing his weapons, ard admonishing the girl to remain, rushed forth with the voya- geur. Madge felt it impossible to stay there quietly. Taking the bow and quiver of ar- rows which had been her companions for many months, she left her covert, and soon stood on the spot where she had parted from the gray hunter. No one was in sight. Mimic City stretched out around her, toward every point of compass, like a scene of enchant- ment. It was a grim and frowning solitude, that might be broken at any moment by the gliding footsteps or piercing yells of savage oemen. Shaft, column, and wall might con- ceal miscreants, from whom she shrank with indeseribable dread. She glanced timidly this way and that, then advanced with noiseless steps toward the point where Pathaway had disappeared. She heard sounds toward the vente which grew more distinct as she pro- ceeded. Springing upon a tottering wall, she gazed down the mountain-side and saw, by the aid of the meonlight, two persons strug- gling together on a platform of rock hanging over a precipice of a hundred feet. Her in stincts assured her that one was Pathaway. She sprang toward the combatants like a cha- mois, not stopping to ask what assistance she should render or what danger she incurred. She was soon near enough to perceive thai the hunter was engaged in a hand-to-hand en- counter with an Indian of extraordinary pro- portions, whose strength and litheness seemed in keeping with his size. Terror paralyzed her person when she discovered that each was endeavoring to throw the other from the ledge into the ayes. The bow nearly dropped from her hand, while her respiration grew thick and gasping. Her lips were parted and le, the upper portion of her body thrown orward, her whale erson statue-like and in- tent. Aid she pen | not render, had fortitude and presence of mind permitted ; for the evo- lutions of the combatants were so rapid, that a blow aimed at one might have taken effect upon the other. The savage concentrated his powers for a final effort. Nhe saw the convulsive quiver- ing of his musetes while his form was qniescent an instant in the act. He drew the hunter along in his grasp; both trembled on the verge of the dizzy height. Madge moaned in her horror of the dreaded gatastrophe. This feeble expression of terror reached the ears of Pathaway, and in that fearful pause on the brink he caught sight of the slight figure of Madge. New energy braced his nerves ; he felt a sudden access of strength in his muscles. Disengaging his right hand with a force that would have torn it from his shoulder else, he grasped his agile antagonist by the throat, closing his ig or with the rigor of steel. A moment he held him palpitating and writhing, while portions of the persons of both hung over the chasm ; then the great limbs of the Indian quivered and lost their terrible power. Pathaway re- covered himself, lifted his swarthy foe, and hurled him down the abyss. The victor sank panting upon the rock. Madge fell on her knees in a gratitude that was voiceless and deep. She was in this atti- tude when Captain Dick and the chief, Seven- Plumes, appeared a few yards up the moun- tain, running toward the spot where the hun- ter was lying. A warning cry from her lips caused him to spring to his feet. She then heard the whoop of the Shoshoné, and saw Multnomah leaping like a deer to meet the new-comers. While bewildered with the ra- pidity of these developments, some one touch- ed her, and turning her head, she beheld In- dian Joe. “No stay here; go with Joe. Much blood here ; pretty squaw no like blood,” he said. He took her by the hand, and she mechani- cally allowed him to lead her away. As she went, she saw other figures moving to and fro, and heard the clash of steel. ‘Where is uncle Nick?” she asked, pre- sently, stopping. Joe did not at once answer. “White trapper up yonder,” he replied anon. ‘ He waits for the boy-woman.” Madge thought there was bitterness in the tones of the 5 oung Indian, but without doubt. ing his good faith, followed on, momesmrily expecting to greet the familiar face of the opps She passed the spot where they had camped, The report of firearms and the shoute of her with eombatanta rang in her ears, filling ee apprehensions for the ny of her riends. She pictured to herself the gra hunter exhausted by his recent fearful trial, engaged with fresh enemies, sorely pressed, and in need of succor. ‘“ If Nick were there,” she murmured. “ Hasten, Joe; the brave trapper is needed. His voice and his arm would work wonders.” “Soon find him. He go back quick. Great Medicine is Doubledark!” responded Joe, quickening his pace and winding among the rocks as if familiar with the way. He struck into a familiar path, Madge continuing to urge him on. The noise of fight/ag men grew fainter and fainter, and Madge oecame con- scious that she had been guidvd a long dis- tance, while a distrust of Joe Lagan to give her uneasiness. For a short tin e she did not speak her doubts but by-and-ty the convie- tion became so stroug that she stopped. “Joe,” she said, “ you are deceiving me! Nick Whiffles would not remain so distant when his presence is so much required yon- der. The first report of firearms would have aroused him and given the speed of a buffalo to his limbs.” ‘‘ Come on, woman !” returned Joe, in tones so singularly enunciated, that the fears of Madge were more excited. ‘“ Don’t stay to talk.” Madge noticed a marked deviation im the boy’s usual style of address “T’ll go no farther!” she answered, witk firmness. “Most there. Joe no deceive; tongue straight,” replied Joe, returning to his old manner. “T will return,” said Madge, resolutely. She had taken but a few steps baceward, when Joe caught her by the wrist, suying impera- tively : “You shall not! go bd “Oh, you’ve grown authoritative! But I will not tamely submit to your whims.” She attempted to shake him off, but he clung to her like a young wildcat. “ Treacherous boy !” she cried. “ Is it thus that you reward my kindaess ?” “Reward? Who talks of reward? Your reward is not yet!” exclaimed Joe, in the best of English. Madge recoiled. “What do I hear?” she demanded. “What transformation is this? Impostor! traitor!” “To you, woman, I am both,” retorted the youth, with vehemence. “What injury can I have done you 2” in- terrogated Madge, agitated by surprise and fear. “The greatest injury that one woman can do another !” cried the other, passionately. “ Woman ?” repeated Madge, with increas- ing amazement. “Silly creature, not to have discovered it before! Was my disguise, then, so perfect ? Was my character so closely simulated ? Was Indian Joe so much a boy? Girl, girl, I am Carlota !” The white lips of Madge grew whiter; she put out one small hand as if to thrust back something unspeakably shocking, while with the other she covered her eyes. “Traitress !” she murmured. “So blind- eJ, so deceived, so lost! Whatis my crime ?” “ My heart was never touched—I never loved till saw him! And you—you presumed to love him!” she answered, with indescribable bitterness. ‘I penetrated your disguise,” she went on. “I saw you start and change color when I guided him to the trapper’s camp. Joe says go, and you ‘You would have cast yourself into his arms, had you dared—the man whose life I saved— whose existence was forfeit to the lawful lords of the mountains. Whata pang, what a sting- ing, painful pang of jealousy shot through me then! Icould have slain you, woman, with my own hand !” “You have deceived yourself,” returned Madge, in a fainting voice. “Tis false! I have watched you every mo- ment when he was present. Don’t deny what yon know is true, but from this hour dismiss im from your thoughts. I have you —I hold you safe. This hand”—she held up a very small hand—“ cancrush you. It can con- sign you to a fate more terrible than death.” Carlota spoke with angry and vindictive en- ergy. Madge felt how fearful is a jealous wo- man “ What would you have?” she asked, “ What would I have ?” she repeated, fieree- ly. “Iwould have you beyond his sight and hearing forever!” “Tt ia my death that you desire, Be mer: comicbooks ee ty | | —— ee ie A tet