Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 150 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

-aid, Brown my ‘Jose, smiling. -men crouchin not ten miles off in a straight line may be a long way over or round the rocks to and fell asleep : they nearly cleaned the tiny pond of all but its small- .. est turtles, aeowne: level path round the the succulent green grase, while the men were i pond w wading into the hich was, as they could see, less than waist deep, hauling up the turtles by main force to shore, where they were soon cut up and ig Png 9 the fire. ‘‘T don’t wonder Padre Miguel felt asif he had committed a sin when he’d eaten a whole tur- tle,’ said Charley Brown, reflectively, as he threw some bones into the fire. ‘' You see, when aman sets out to mortify his appetites, it’s easy enough if he sticks to cold igaepe porridge, and all that sort of thing. but roast of inducing a man to over- feel as if | couldn’t get up and those turtle has a wa eat himself,and fight just now if the whole army of Lost bit brutes came ramping in here.” The others laughed at him, but Olef said: “It is by no means. impossible .they may come, and if they do, it is as well to be pre- | pared for their reception.” ‘‘ You are my chief of staff, Robaldo is my eon-general,” returned Don ‘‘ Post your pickets as aoe senor, for I feel so much like the doctor ere that I am going to sleep.” But the swordmaster, who was of a very tem- perate habit and whose caution was developed to a 6 extent in his character, was not content till he had examined every portion of the little valley and ascertained that it could only be | entered from the front as they had come, when | he arranged his camp for the defense. He placed the men outside, next the entrance, with their saddles in a line, close to each other, lance and carbine resting on the saddles, ready to “es a volley into any intruder. e had already, during his short service with that they were safe from set ot front attack. Nhe wm oy @ moun enemy appeared, arranged for a relief of this man at each hour of the night, and finally sought his own couch to rest, after looking well Colt’s revolving pattern. How long he had slept he knew not, but he was wakened by what sounded to him like the booming of a bass drum and distant strains of military music. ~- Disbelieving his senses, he sat up, rubbed his eyes listened. The men were snoring away in chorus, and all was deathly still in the valley but the my ie) ‘““bum! bum! bum! bum !” of a military band still sounded in his ears. He looked at Ramirez. The Spanish Rubio was fast asleep, his hand- . some face as peaceful as a church. Charley Brown was snoring away the rem- nants of the turtle, and no one but himself seemed to have heard anything. Softly he rose up and listened. The sound seemed to him to come from high overhead and he be to feel superstitious. Presently he heard some whispering near by and saw corporal of the guard with three over the embers of a fire, talk- ing to each other. 6 went up to them. ‘*Do you hear anything, boys?” The corporal looked up with a pale face and his comrades seemed equally afraid. ** Si senor, son spiritos.”’ (Yes, sir, it is sp its.) heir superstition was evidently aroused, Olaf smiled contemptuously. ‘Spirits! Nonsense, corporal!” ‘“‘Then what is it, senor?’ asked the man eagerly, evidently hungry for something which would relieve his terrors. ‘‘It isadrum from the Lost City,” said Olaf decidedly, ‘‘and what is more it cannot be very far off.” ‘““ But it comes from above, senor.” Olaf pointed toa cloud that had settled on Poy mountains overhead and spread out far and wide, ‘* That reflects it down to us, corporal, More- over, it will rain before morning.’ ‘That is certain, senor, about the rain. But do you think that drum is really beaten by mortal hands.” ** Wes ; and on the other side of this mountain though it get there.” ree Martinez, pacified for the time, went to call the relief and soothe the outlying vedette’s nerves while Olaf returned to his couch p, listening “bum! bum!” of the distant drum till it soothed him into slumber. The rays of mes beg woke up all bands and led up and rode away, after having spur of the range which the youn trodden in his rapt and praye any years before. e contrast between what must bave been the bearing of Padre Miguel and their own trampling pride struck Olaf so strongly that he said to Ramirez: ‘** Rather a different man at the gates of the priest had meditation you | ' | i j | Ramirez taught the men how to use the lance | on foot as a pike with fearful effect, and felt | sentry on the | hold anything fresh when they came to the orders to fire and ride in if any | next valley, nor the next to that, for a long | to his pistols and rifle, both of the then new | / | to the monotonous | our ret Oe —— —— ——S eee a) to-day than fifty years ago, eh, gen- e Ramirez looked grave. ‘‘T fear so, my friend. And we may not get off so cheaply either. He was unarmed, fasting and on foot, we mounted, armed and well-fed, but he had the good God with him to save him, while we are only soldiers of fortune, who trust to our Own arms.” Olaf shrugged his shoulders. ‘God helps those who help themselves, Padre cept the teocalli. I intend to see the whole city, ay, and walk in it, if [have to storm the teocalli to.do it. Cortez stormed a teocalli in Mexico. We may do it again in the Lost City. Lheard the drums beat there last night.” And he told Ramirez how he had been wak- ened up by the weird sound. Don Jose was a well-read man in the history of his own country, and at.once remarked: ‘* Hither that was for a sacrifice or for war. From what you say it must, have a very large drum, probably the great, war-drum of Quetzalcoatl, covered with snake-skin, and that is never beaten save on.great occasions. Of course this is only supposing there is a Lost City, inhabited by the same Aztecs that were found by Cortez.’ ‘* Whatever it. was, it was not very far off, for I heard it distinctly,” said Olaf. ‘‘I should say it was not ten, porns not five miles off,” ‘Tt might be that, and still three days’ jour- ney round the mountain,” answered the gen- eral. ‘* We shall see more when we turn into the next valley.” CHAPTER XVILI. ON THE BRINK. But the adventurers were not destined to be- time. They passed on between steep mountains and those that sloped gradually, under sheer preci- vices and above them, along a track that might be followed by wal Suansee but was assured- ly not a regwat road of any sort. They noticed, as they went along, scores of places where a dozen men could bar a passage, and where it would be wholly impossible to bring artillery to bear in any manner on the defenders. ‘‘If the other side is as easily defended as this,” observed Ramirez, ‘‘no wonder oma held her own. It is absolutely eo on this side, and I hope no one will offer to ane , or we shall be in a pretty bad predicament. Olaf, too, began to feel not a little un as he rode oe and now and then looked k at the long file of luncers winding round some sheer precipice, on a road ten feet wide, with a second precipice on the other side, a thousand feet deep. It was absolutely certain that if the men of the Lost City kept any scouts out on that side of the mountain, the whole party of the whites was lost, no matter what the difference in arms between them and their adversaries. But for all they could see, the mountain-side was utterly deserted, save for a few condors wheeling round it and the guanacos on the rocks above, No sign of human habitation was anywhere visible. So the day passed, afternoon came on and deepened into twilight, when they at last rode into a broad pass between the mountains, which Olaf recognized from the description as proba- bly the place in which Padre Miguel, fifty ears before, had seen the horrible procession aring the human victim to sacrifice. Here Olaf halted and spoke to Ramirez. ‘* General, the pees story so far seems to be confirmed; but you will remember that he was surprised by a number of people coming in his rear, from this very pass. If so, there must be some rear passage here, and we need it, to cover our retreat.” ‘Very true, my friend. What do you sug- gest?” was the immediate reply of Ramirez. ‘* A reconnoisance from this point, while we can still retreat.” | ‘* Aha! my Norse friend, you have more cau- tion than I, after all, if you are a master of the sword.” “Tt is because lam a,master of the sword that Iam cautious, general. Let the men stop here, while you and I go.forward,” ‘* With all my heart.” The two friends rode slow] They were armed to the teeth; oblige Ramirez, had taken to himself a lance, the present of his friend, and carried it, besides his rifle and revolvers. The ; expanded into broad valleys, while in others it sunk to the dimensions of a canyon with perpen- dicular walls. No passages opened on either side, so they rode on, secure from having their retreat cut off, At last Olaf stopped. ‘*‘ What is the matter?’ asked Ramirez. ‘* Listen,” was the reply. They listened in silence. th th. ee e pa The Dane’s horse Miguel had to run without seeing anything ex- Olaf, to | | | ss was several miles long, and in places | | _ but saw in the midst of it a crowd of a = ——————— El Rubio Bravo, King of the Swordsmen. flung up its head, and the rider checked him erry’ “<! saying: ‘* Be still, fool.” : ‘What do you hear?’ asked Ramirez. ‘*T hear the sound of horses. At least I did, a moment since,” was the reply. ‘Do you hear it now?’ ‘** No, if has ceased.” ‘‘ Was it not. imagination?” _. ‘No. It was the neigh of a horse, deep and hollow, as if in a stable. My own horse heard it, and pricked his ears.” ‘* But he did not answer it.” ‘* No, because IL checked him.” . Ramirez looked a little dubious. “‘Let us go on, colonel. _I heard nothing, and I have yi ears.” Where. t ay. ete the pass was quite broad and heavily clothed with trees; but, a little be- yond, it narrowed again to a canyon, The Dane laid his hand on his companion’s arm, and said earnestly : ; “Will you gran’ me a favor? Let us ride slowly toward that canyon, keeping in the shade of the trees. : ‘‘ Certainly, my friend.” They rode in under some trees, and Don Jose proceeded: ‘‘ Something seems to be on your mind, Tell me what it is. You, usually so reckless, seem wat i growing timid. , am ‘And why?” ‘‘ Listen, Either Padre Miguel saw the Lost City or he dreamed it,” : rig LS | ‘*But, so far, he seems to have dreamed of nothing that did not actually occur, It is fifty rears since he was here, yet we are able to rec- ognize all the localities through which he passed. from bis description.” ** Granted.” “ And if he dreamed nothing else, he did not dream of the end of all. Secondly, we have an independent proof that the Lost City is not far off. Weheard the war-drum last night reflected Stee clouds which clung to the mountain- side. ** 1 see all that,” ‘* And in that case we are in grave peril from an overpowering multitude of the most cruel and implacable savages, who have us in a posi- tion from which escape will be difficult.” “T don’t see that, Don Olavo. We can go back the way we came; for we know there is no one behind us.” “Exactly. But if we enter that canyon, we shall not know it.” sé Wh ”? ‘Plain enough. It is clear that there, or be- ond it, isa parsege leading to the other side of e mountain. e dare not pass that passage without wing j 38 eg it.” Ramirez looked thoughtful. ‘‘You are right. To neglect that would bea military blunder. We will do it.” They rode forward now very cautiously, keep- ing the shadows of the trees upon them, and resently came to where the walls of the canyon Now we can see and be seen. Forward ata fast walk, and keep your lance ready,” said Ramirez, briskly. So they entered the canyon. It turned off sharply to the left after some fifty yards, and ran on, se a as a dart, wid- ening every moment, till it ended in what seemed a colossal picture-frame. In the center of this frame they saw a bare gray mountain, with mists curling around its top and sides, evidently at the other flank of a deep valley which they could not see, for the floor of the canyon ended abruptly, cutting across the view likea e. But what they could see was a single tall palm tree, that must have grown on an emi- nence in the valley, nearly as high as the pass on which they stood. Only the upper half of this tree was visible, ss Involuntarily both halted and listened, “There!” cried the Dane suddenly. do you believe?” Ramirez bowed his head. He also had heard the faint, distant, but un- mistakable crow of a cock. »“* We are near the Lost City,” he said gravely ; ‘‘ but where is the other passage?” Olaf pointed down the pass, not a hundred feet from them, where a slight projection of the wall could be seen. ‘* It must be bebind that shoulder, general.” The general moved his horse forward. ‘* Let us explore it,” he said. They came up and rode round the little pro- jection, when, to their wonder and alarm, they held, not only a branch canyon at right angles to their own, ending in a lofty natural tunnel, people coming toward them. ; They instantly drew back; but the question remained: had the been seen? | They could not be certain; but of one thing they were convinced, that it was not safe to re- main where they were. Back the e to the angle of the canyon, hid themselves behind it, and then Olaf dis- ** Now OOO) Eom Cc ¢S)