Beadle's Dime Library, No. 13 — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

a child. I have trembled—I have doubted. [ have treated him as I thought my duty, and behold in him a true and only friend. I have tried to reverence and love him; but the effort, in all essential realities, has failed. As I developed into womanhood, his manner changed ; but [ have gained an ascendancy aver his mind that he eannot entirely shake off!” She stopped ; then, with evident effort, con- tinued : “ Accident brought me in contact with the young hunter, sud a new and powerful! feeling rew into existeuce. J loved nim! This eon fession gives me pa.p ont I am foreed to make it. I assisted hita te eseape, I guided hin from the Valley. Toe htatory of Iudien Joe is known to you. You are revives to hear me express myself so intelliyibly, but I know what the world is; for my reputed father has procured me books from the settlements, which I have read with avidity, and treasured with care.” Madge pressed Carlota’s arm sympatheti sally. my no longer fear you,” she said. “I[ see in you a sister, exposed to temptation shaken, but not entirely fallen. _ Bury the past... F1 vith me to the settlements, leaving behind all that now degrades you—bad men, bad exam- les, demoralizing associations, and habits that detdat from your womanhood. Cease to think of Pathaway ; I say it for your good, and not to wound.” “Twas a silly dream!’ returned Carlota, bitterly. “I cast from me the vain hope—I abandon it forever:” “Tis best so. If there was hope, I would tell you. Your fearless nature excited his ad- miration, but your associations shock him. Pardon, pardon me, Carlota; I speak not sel- fishly, but as a true, true friend. He is noble; he is brave , he is good.. | have watched him day by day. If, as the boy Sebastian, I suf- fered shame and embarrassment, it was not without. some reward. I was near him, and once I saved him.” ‘What happiness!” murmured Carlota. «“T bear this wound for him,’ resumed Madge; “and my deportment, I trust, has been suvsh during our late singular companion- ship, t@t I shali have nothing to remember with regret. I will not. refer. particularly to the unexpectedness of his qupesrapee, and the thrilling cireumstances under which we met. And now, Carlota, I have done. The name of the gray hanter shall not again, in your hear- ings pass the portals of my lips, to give you ain.” A slight tremor shook the person of Carleta. Presently, she grew calm. hey followed the guidance of the dog, and conversed in a friead- ly way ; but the name of Pathaway was spoken no more. b CHAPTER XXXVIII. FINALE. It was near the middle of the afterneon when Madge and Carléta neared Trapper Va)- ley. They had made what speed they could, but were necessarily faint from long fasting, and wearied by toiling over the rough and some- times intricate wey The thought of the sup- ed danger of Nick was a sufficient incentive to urge them onward. “ Trapper Valley is at the right,” said Car. iota. ~ We will desvend to it by a passage xnown only to Hendricks and a few of his trusty followers.” ' Madge trembled. “Shrink not,” added Carlota; ‘I will screen u from harm. Even Hendricks shall respect you, if we meet him, and yield to my present mood. Tread carefully, and grasp firmly the bushes as you go down; for the descent is steep, and perilous to careless feet.” Carléta approached a spot where the Valley fell off abruptly. To a casual eye there was no practicable method of ge Put- ting aside a mass of vines, the gir of the mountains unmasked a seep, gale — which, starting several yards from the sharp angle of the declivity, offered a purged far less dan- erous; though attended with sufficient diffi- culty to require all the strength and firmness of Ubdge ; but imitating the example of her sonductress, she finally conquered the obsta- gles before her, reaching the Valley with bruised feet and lacerated hands. “Tra per-Trace,” said Carlota, as they au breathe s moment, pointing to the ba eet,” is in that direction. The oiling Spring Pathaway. and the Mountain Gate are to the west.” Carlota hurried forward and soon entered a wood. In a short time they came to a spot where the ground was tiers fs hard by the feet of a horse, while the grass was eaten to the earth and the foliage cropped closely. Madge immediately recalled the peril of Port- neuf. Carlota perceived the agitation conse- quent upon this discovery. Madge turned her pale face on her guide with an expression that could not be misunderstood. “T knew it not! I knew it not!” said Car- lota, with a flush of anger. ‘“”I'was a wanton act, and committed without my kaowledge. Brace confessed it to me last night, when he perceived that his end was near.” “It was eruel, cruel!’ said Madge. “They are wretches!” cried Carlota, indig- nantly. “Poor Portneuf! he shall have his daughter. The girl of the Valley waiked onward, with strong displeasure depicted upon her counte- nance. A sudden ery from her caused Madge tolook up. A short distance from them stood a grizzly bear upon his hind feet. “A bear! a bear!” exclaimed Carlota. “ Of all wild animals, I hold the bear in the great- est dread.” Madge did not retreat; but placing herself before Carléta, who shrank trembling from the beast, regarded it earnestly. She imagined she could see some resemblance in the animal to the tame bear of the Shoshone. “This creature does not gppear to be fero- rious,” she said. “I believe we have nothing to fear from it.” “But he obstructs cur passage—how can we reach Nick? You feared me yesterday more thar you seem te fear this savage beast.” “A thousard times mcre! Remain quiet and observe the animal.” “Woman of the Rock,” said the bear, “ the eyes of the Shoshoné are glad to see you ” “What! does the creature talk ?” “Listen,” replied Madge. “A cloud hangs over the dwelling of the Thunder-Spirit,” resumed the bear. “It is dlack and heavy, and charged with fire and smoke. The lightning will dart from east to west and from north to south. The Valle will be shaken, and the war-cry of the Sho. shoné shali roli through it.” The bearskin sank to the ground, and the well-known features of Multnomah gladdened the eyes of Madge. Unslinging the short rifle that was fastened at his side, he swung it over his head, and shouted the war-whoop of his people. Instantly a hundred voices answered the signal from rock and tree and bush: every covert had a cry. Then there was a ee volley from rifles, carbines, and pis tols. ‘My warriors are here. I go to lead them against the dad pale-faces of the Valley,” said the Shosh-ané. Multnomah bounded from the spot, and was soon heard cheering his warriors to the fight, leaving Carlota and Madge surprised and bewildered. The combat went on at different quarters, but came nearer and nearer. “T hear Hendricks,” whispered Carlota. “He is raging and fighting like a lion!” “ Heaven help the right !” murmured Madge. Several bullets dropped near them. Ca- lamity walked, growlin , around his mistress ; and presently the cog Smuggler came bound- ing to her side with strong demonstrations of joy. “The mountaineers are losing ground,” said Carlota. ‘ The conflict comes this way.” “Let us conceal ourselves,” suggested Madze: “For my own safety I care not; but you I will shield to the extent of my power.” The two young women were deliberating which way to fiy, when Hendricks, anting, covered with dust, ee with powder and smoke, and bleeding from several wounds, ap- peared. The sight of Madge and Carlota was evidently unexpected. He gazed wildly from one to the other. “ Traitress !”’ he exclaimed, fixing his flash- ing iy upon Carlota; “you have betrayed us. @ Shoshoné devils swarm the Valley ; and it goes hard with our men, who are pushed on every side.” In his right hand the robber-captain held a pistol, which trembled, as if with impatience, in his nervous grasp. “Say what you will, Richara Aendricks— you cannot wound me more. There is tbat which rankles deeper here’’—she laid her a 2 : | | } a rr RR 45 hand on her bosom—“ than pistol-ball or steel ean penetrate. But spare this girl!” Hendricks turned his fieree eyes upor Madge. “ Who are you ?” he demanded, gruffly. Madge put back her hair, giving the moun taineer a full view of her features. “ Look at me, miscreant, and recall the face of Una, of the Old Mission !” The outlaw recoiled, and a sickly pallor everspread his visage. “Do the dead come back?” he muttered. “Away! away !—come not too near!” For an instant the shouts and the clamor of battle fell unheeded upon Hendrick’s ear. In spirit he was at Black Rock, and saw the light- ed torches, the pale, pleading face, and white arnis waving in the air. “ This is a foul lie!” he said, presently. “It is only a resemblance—a terrible similitude of what was, but will never again be. Begone, witch! You unverve an arm that must must wave the longest and bloodiest in the fight.” A clear voice rang through the wood. Madge’s heart leaped with hope. “ Give in—give up, you white renegades, or [’l! make a p’ison diffikilty among ye!” It was Nick Whiffles, surely. No one who had heard them could mistake those tones. “The spyin’ scoundrel !” growled Hen. ricks. “But Dll soon meet him, wounded as I am, and the critter shall fee] that mine is no feeble arm. My men give back. Cowards | cowards! they miss my voice in a moment, At them, boys—at them !” The mountaineer shouted the concluding or- der with startling vehemence. He pointed his pistol at Carlota. “ Father—” “T am not your father!” interrupted the outlaw, with bitter energy. ‘“ That for her who betrays me!” He discharged the weapon, and Ceriota sank slowly upon the breast of Madge. “Qh, Carlota, Carlota, he has killed you ing shrieked Madge. Then.to the mountaineer: “ Know, base man, that this unfortunate girl has been true to you and yourmen. We have but recently escaped from the captivity of Seven-Plumes, and were as much amazed at this attack as you could have been.” Headricks darted an inguiring look at Car- iota. “She speaks truly,” murmured the latter, faintly. “I die guiltless of that with which you charge me.” At that moment the outlaws were seen fly- ing in various directions. Hendricks ealled loudly upon them to return, but they were deaf alike to threats and appeals. “ You'd oughter run in that way, I allow, long ago, by mighty !” cried Whiffles ; and im- mediately after, the report of his rifle was heard. The mountaineer stood irresolute, looking from Carlota to Madge, and from Madge to Carlota. Disappointment, rage, re- morse, with lingering tenderness for the girl Carlota, held him in suspense. ‘The savage warriors rolled on after the re. treating foe. There was an incessant explo- sion of fire-arms, and the whoops of the red view tors shook the forest. A manly figure sprang between Hendricks and the girls. It was Pathaway. A faint ery from the dying Carlota attested the sincerity of her love, and the power that the young man unconsciously exerted over her. “Tis he! ’tis he!” she gasped, in tones scarecly audible, The gray hunter’s arm was raised—a pis- tol was fired. Hendricks stood motionless a few seconds, then fell to the ground like an oak, the last fibre of which has been severed by the unsparing axe. “Carlota,” he articulated, painfully, “you are avenged. Dick Hendricks has fought his last battle with red man or white. It is all over—clean played out, life is. I am off for darkness in double quick time. A greater Captain than I gives the order. I have lived recklessly, and I'll die so. No cant, no senti- mental whinin’ for Dick Hendricks.” The agony of his death-wound ehoked hie utterance for an instant. “ Carlota—,” he added, anon, “ we shall go together. But I’m sorry I raised my hand ag’in ye. I took care of ye, and loved ye; but you was no darter o’ mine. I might done better by ye, but the impulse to do it wasn’t born in me. Good—good—by, gall Good- by, world, and all that’s in it. is too—toc late for sorrow—too—too late for —for—’ -* (E@) -+- The arr: head “¢C olnieln fo) oks ee eee