Beadle's Dime Library, No. 149 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

% fe i 4 28 The Border. Rifles. their prey may escape them? Hilloh,’’ he shouted, = wae do you reset, b the fag o pariey,’’ the man wit e answered laconically. “Parley,” the ca n answered, “‘ what good will that do? Besides, have the honor of being a vap- tain in the Mexican army, and do not treat with bandits.”’ “Take care, captain, misplaced courage is fre- quently b adocio; your position is desperate.” “Do you think so?’ the young man said in an ironical voice. ‘* You are surrounded on all sides.” * Bar one.”’ ** Yes, but there is an impassable abyss there.”’ **Who knows’’’ the captain said, still mockingly. ‘In a word, will you listen to me?’’ the other said, who was beginning to grow impatient at this con- versation. ‘* Well,” the officer said, ‘‘ let me hear your propo- sitions, after which I will let you know my con- ditions,” ‘What conditions?’ the bandit asked in amaze- ment. “ Those I intend to impose on you, by Jove."’ An Homeric laugh from the Border Rifles greeted these haughty words. The captain remained cold and impassive. “Who are you?” he asked, “The chief of the men who hold you imprisoned.”’ “Prisoners? I do not believe it; however, we shall see. Ah! you must be the Jaguar, whose name is held in execration on thls border?”’ “Tam the J r,”’ the latter answered wry ~b “Very good. What do you want with me? Speak, and before all be brief,’’ the captain said, as he _— the point of his sword on tie énd of his t. “T wish to avoid bloodshed,”’ the Jaguar said. “That is very kind of you, but I fancy it is rather late to form so laudable a resolve,’’ the officer said in his sarcastic veice. “Listen, captain, you are a brave officer, and I should be in despair if any misfortune napeenet to you; do not obstinately carry on an possible struggle, surrounded as you are by an imposing force; any attempt at. resistance would be an un- donable act of madness, which could only result @ general massacre of the men you command, while you would not have the slightest hope of sav- ing the conducta under your escort. Surrender, I repeat, for you have only that way of safety left open to you.” ** Caballero,” the captain said, and this time seri- ously, “ I thank you for the words you havespoken; Iam a connoisseur in men and see that you are speaking honorably at this moment.”’ ‘*Tam,” said the Jaguar, “Unfortunately,”’ the captain continued, “1 am forced to repeat to you that I have the honor to be an officer, and would never coisent to deliver my sword to the leader of banditti, for whose head a price is offered. If I have been mad and idiotic enough to let myself be drawn into a trap, all the worse for me—I must accept the consequences.”’ The two speakers had by this time come together, and were conversing side by side. “‘Iean understand, captain, that your military honor must, under certain circumstances, compel you to fight, even under unfavorable conditions; but here the case is different—all the chances are against you, and your honor will in no way suffer by a capitulation which will save the lives of your brave soldiers."’ ‘*And deliver to you without a blow the rich prey you covet.” "= Whatever you may do, that prey cannot escape me, The captain shrugged his shoulders. ‘You are mistaken,’’ he said; “ like all men aécus- tomed to prairie warfare, you have been too clever, and your adroitness has carried you past your ob- ect,” ‘What do you mean?” *“‘Learn to know me, caballero; I am a cristiano viejo; I am descended from the old Conquistadors, and the Spanish blood flows pure in my veins, All my men are devoted to me, and at my order they will let themselves be killed to the last without hesitation; but whatever may be the paventagns of the situation you occupy, and the number of your companions, you will require a certain time to kill fifty men uced to desperation, and who are re- solved not to ask quarter.”’ ‘Yes,’ the Jaguar said in a hollow voice; “ but in the end they are killed.” “Of course,” the captain replied calmly; “but while you are murdering us, the arrieros have m pass orders to cast the money chests to the bo om of the abyss, to the brink of which you have forced us.” “Oh, the Jaguar said with an ill-restrained look of menace, * you will not do that.”’ “Why shall [ not, if you lease?’ the officer said cold! a Yes, I will do it, 1 pledge you my honor.”’ “What will happen, then? You will have brutally murdered _ men, with no other result than that of wallowing in the blood of your countrymen,” ‘*Rayode Dios! this is madness.” “ Not at all; it is simply the logical consequence of the threat you make me; we shall be dead, but as men of honor, and have fulfilled our duty, as the money will be saved,”’ ¥ my efforts, then, to bring about a peaceful settlement are sterile.” * There is one way.” Pag So fter_pledgin rd of “To let us pass, after p g your word o honor not to molest our poy, ‘Never! That money is indispensable to me, and I must have it.”’ ‘Come and take it, then.” “* That is what Iam going to do,”’ “ Very Rood. “The blood I wished to spare will fall on your head,” ** Or on yours.”’ They eapenet od. The cap turned to his soldiers,- who had been near enough to follow the discussion through allits eer Wheas “* What will you dolads?”’ he asked them. “ Die!” they answered in a loud and firm voice, ether;”’ and brand ** Be it so—we will die to outed, ** Dios y libert his saber over his head, he s Viva Mejico /” “ Viva Medico |" the dragoons repeated, enthusias- _ stopped. | The captain threw away his crowbar, for the last eally. While this had been going on, the sun had eas a peared below the horizon, and darkness covered the earth, like a somber winding-sheet. The Jaguar, with rage in his heart at the ill success of his tentatives, had rejoined his comrades. ** Well,”’ John Davis asked him, who was anxiously watching for his return, **‘ what have you obtained ?”’ “Nothing. That man is a fanatic.’ “As I warned you, he is a demon; fortunately he cannot escape us, whatever he may do.”’ * ou are mistaken,” the Jaguar replied stamping his foot passionately; *‘ whether he live or die the money is lost to us.” ** How so?’ The Jaguar told his confidant in a few words what had passed between him and the captain. ** Confusion!"’ the American exclaimed; “‘in that case let us make haste,” **To increase our misfortunes, it is as dark as in an oven,”’ « heavens! let us make an filumination. Per- haps it will cause those demons incarnate to reflect, who are oneal ae there like frogs calling for rain.”’ “You are righ . Torches here!” “* Better still. Let us fire the forest.” “Ah, ah," the Jaguar said, with a laugh, “ bravo! Let us smoke them out like musk-rats.”’ This diabolical idea was immediately carried out and ere long a brilliant belt of flame ran all aroun the gorge, where the Mexicans were stoically await- in e attack. ey bad not long to wait; a sharp fusillade be- gan, mingled with the cries and yells of the assail- an ‘It is time!"’ the captain shouted. The sound of a chest falling down the precipice was immediately heard. Owing to the fire, it was as bright as day, and not p Raeepee of the Mexicans escaped ther adversa- rics, The latter uttered a yell of fury on seeing the chests disappear one after the other in the abyss. They rushed at the soldiers; but the latter received wom at the bayonet’s point, not giving ground an nch, A point-blank discharge from the Mexicans, who had reserved their fire, laid many of the enemy low, and spread disorder through the ranks of the assail- ants, who bone falling back involuntarily. orward!’’ the J anuar howled, The bandits returned to the charge more eagerly than before. ‘Keep firm, we must die,’’ the captain said. ** We wiill,”’ the soldiers oe e's unanimously. The fight then began, body to body, foot to foot, chest against chest; the assailants and assailed were mixed up and fought more like wild beasts than men, The arrieros, yy decimated by the bullets fired at them did not the less eagerly continue their task; the crowbar scarce fell from the hand of one shot down, ere another seized the heavy iron mass, and the chests of money toppled uninterruptedly over the apo in spite. of the yells of fury, and gi- gantie efforts of the enemy, who exhausted them- selves in vain to breach’the human wall that barred their passage. ‘Twas a fearfully grand sight, this obstinate strug- gle, this implacable combat which these men carried on, by the brilliant light of a burning forest. e cries had ceased, the butchery went on si- lently and terribly, and at times the captain could be heard qnarply repeating: ** Close up there, close up!”’ And the ranks closed, and the men fell without a murmur, having sacrificed their lives, and only fight- ing now to gain the few moments indispensable to prevent their sacrifice being sterile. In vain did the Border Rifles, excited by the desire of gain, try to crush this energetic resistance offered them by a handful of men; the heroic soldiers, sup- porting one another, with their feet pressed against the corpses of those who had preceded them to death, seemed to multiply themselves m order to bar the gorge on all sides at once. The ght, however, could not possibly last much longer; ten men only were left of the captain’s de- tachment; the others had fallen, but every man with his face to the foe, All the arrieros were dead, two chests still re- mained on the edge of the precipice; the captain looked hurriedly around. ‘“One more effort, lads!” he shouted; “‘ we only want five minutes to finish our task.” “* Dios y libertad!" the traedy shouted; and, al- though exhausted with fatigue, they threw them- selves resolutely into the thickest part of the crowd that surrounded them, Yor a few minutes, these men accomplished prodi- gies; but at length numbers gained the mastery; ar all fell! e captain alone was still alive. He taken advantage of the devotion of his sol- diers to seize a crowbar, and hurl one chest over the precipice; the second, raised with great difficulty, only required a a final effort to disappear in its turn, when suddenly a terrible hurrah caused the officer to raise his h The Border Rifles were rushing up, terrible, and panting like ticers thirsting for carnage. ‘* Ah!’ Gregorio Felpa, the traitor-guide, shouted gladly, as he rushed forward; “at any rate we shall haye this one.” “You lie, villian!" the captain answered. And raising with both hands the terrible bar of iron, he cleft the skull of the soldier, who fell like a hela ox, not uttering a cry, or giving vent toa “Whose turn is it next?” the captain said as he raised the crowbar. A yell of horror burst from the crowd, which hesi- tated for a moment, The captain g lowered his crowbar, and the of the abyss chest hung over the : This movement restored the borderers all their rage and fury. ‘ “Down with him, down with him!’’ they shouted, as they rushed on the officer, . ~ t\"’ the Jaguar said as he bounded forward, ; | | ' . chest ha itt _ I I ttt —— | , ; eS — — a | 95 AzHoRT, THE AxmMAN. By Anthon ‘Newsdealers, ten cents per co and overthrew all in his way; stir; this man belongs to me.’ On hearing this well-known voice, all the men **not one of you must ’ fallen in its turn over the ag ice. ‘Surrender, Captain Melendez,” the Jaguar said, as he advanced toward the officer. The latter had taken up his saber again. may is not worth while now,” he replied, “‘I prefer i ‘** Defend yourself then.” The two men crossed swords, and for some minutes a furious clashing of steel could be heard. All at once, the captain, by asharp movement, made his adversary’s weapon fly ten s off, andere the latter recovered from his surprise, the officer rushed on him and writhed round him like a serpent. The two men rolled on the ground, Two yards behind them was the precipice. All the geaeein’s efforts were intended to drag the Jaguar to the verge of the abyss; the latter, on the contrary, strove to free himself from his opponent's terrible grasp, for he had doubtless guessed his desperate resolve, At last, after a struggle of some minutes, the arms that held the Jaguar round the body gradually loosed their hold, the officer’s clinched hands ned, and the young man, by the outlay of his whole strength, succeeded in throwing off his enemy and rising. But he was hardly on his feet, ere the captain, who ap ed exhausted and almost a 9 bounded like a tiger, seized his adversary round tho body, and gave him a fearful shock. The Jaguar, still confused by the st le he had gone through, and not suspecting this sudden attack, tcttered, and lost his balance with a loud . ‘“At length!” the captain shouted with ferocious joy. The borderers uttered an exclamation of horror and despair. The two enemies had Gisappeered in the abyss. What became of them wi found fully recorded mx Lisrany No, 151, “The Freebooters."’] THH END. in Beadle’s Dime Library. er Puenrx. By Albert W. Aiken... ........ Man or NERVE. By Philip S. Warne...... HumAN TIGER. Albert W. Aiken..... nw Wrist. By Col. Thomas H. Monstery.. Lp Butuet Sport. By Buffalo Bill UNTED Down. By Albert W. Aiken HE CRETAN Rover, By Col. P. Ingraham.... Bre Hunter. Author of ‘Silent Hunter.” g SCARLET CAPTAIN. eg Mays Delle Sara .... a Grorcr. By Joseph E. Bad 9 THe Prrate Prince. By Col. P, Ingraham..., Wimp Wru. By Buckskin Sam 91 Tue Wryntne Oar. By Albert W. Aiken. .... 92 BerraLo Brit. By Major Dangerfield Burr .. 93 CapTarx Dick TaLzot. By Albert W. 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