Beadle's Dime Library No. 204 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

24 the furtherance of his own dishonorable and dastardly ainis. Even the cowardly bandits, who had them- selves, many of them, but recently perpe- trated a most borrible crime upon the defense- less quadroon, and then murdered her, with the others on the prairie—even they grew sick and faint. and turned away in horror, while Capitan Caramba, who had known these ill- fated men in their innocent boyhood, as he rode off in haste, bowed his head to conceal the tortured expression of his features, at the same time yelliny: **Come on! The bell-hounds will attack our camp!” Not fifty yards had the bandit chief galloped, however, when he jerked his horse to a halt, as dii bis followers, for half a mile ahead on the plain were ascore of Comanches, and in their midst were a gray-haired mau and a beautiful girl. Desperate and daring as he usually was, C.upitan Caramba, although he saw his captives ia the hands of a force but a little stronger than his own, his men being also much better armed, he turned his steed, and dashed, shud- dering, into the timber, completely unnerved by the sight, and determined to be at the head of his whole command before attacking such inhuman movsters—forgetting that, taking his own advautages of education and civilization into consideration, he was a thousand times worse than they. In balf an hour more he was again in the bend, with near a score of Rio Grande devils arornd him and a dozen as desperate and mer- ciless whites as ever cut the throat of a sleep- ing man; but he little thought that more than half a hundred Comanches were within half a mile of his retreat, drawn thither by the re- port of their spies. Not only this, but other dangers, quite as unexpected, were threatening bim; all brought on him by his compact with one whom he had already insulted and scorned — in fact, driven into the very clutches of the Comanches. The fact that Frank Ames was not with his tortured comrades was no proof, however, that he still lived, and the bandit chief reasoned that Frank had been killed while defending himse!f against capture. But Captain Caramba was not the man to quail, or avoid a fight, when he saw any chance of defeating those wbo opposed him; and as he gathered his desperadoes about him, he became more like bis former self. The fact that Belle Bowen was the only woman he had ever met, who had created such a passion in his breast that he now felt, since he had seen her in the power of the Comanches, most keenly tearing ata part of his anatomy which he never before believed that he possessed, de- termined him to save her, even at the risk of his life; although he knew, that in so doing, he Was running great danger of losing his au- thority over tbe cowardly Greasers who had more fear of an Indian, than all else oa earth. He now informed his men that he had no doubt the Comanches had secured the box of gold; and not only this, but if they could clean out the war-party, they would get their cap- tives back, from whom a large sum could be secured as ransom, besides the borses of the Indians could be sold over the Bravo (Rio Grande) for a large amount. Ignoraut of the fact that more than twice the number of Indians they had seen, were lurking within a few rifle-shots of their camp, it needed no lengthy argument to induce the outlaws to make the attack. The moon, although still shining brightly, was now low in the western sky, casting its brilliant rays aslant, its arrows kissing alike the paint-daubed cheek of the Comanche, the yellow face of the Mexican, the bronzed fea- tures of the Texan outlaw, and the pallid lily skin of the trembling captive in the Comanche camp. Out upon the northwest plain, hidden by a bend of the San Miguel, the orb of night shone down upon a galloping mass of Waco warriors. On, like a mass of dry leaves before the north wind, with Wild Wolf at their head, flew the Wacos; their fierce black eyes darting glances ahead, their quirts hissing through the air, their mustangs snorting and panting—all beot forward, with rifles grasped tightly, as the hoofs of their steeds cut the flowers and the dew-flecked grass from the parent stems, sending showers of pearly drops upon every side. On the south bank of the San Miguel, the Big Foot Wallace. | moon smiled placidly also upon three men, who were driving the cruel spur at every bound of their steeds, as their eyes stare fixedly and painfully ahead, their sense of hearing strained to the utmost, their faces bearing the impress of agonizing concern and deadly resolution, while tight compressed lips and grating teeth promise no mercy to those who have stolen their jewel. On, thus, ride Big Foot Wallace, Sharp Eye, and Post Oak Bill; with every muscle, nerve and sense, strained to the utmost, ready at any moment for deadly battle, insanely eager to hurl themselves among the Comanches, CHAPTER XXI. IN HIS POWER. WHEN Maggie Moore recovered her senses, she found herself securely fastened to a tree opposite her home, She was at first unable to collect her ideas, but the sight of the red braves who, to her horror, were mutilating the bodies of Juan and Antcnio, brought to her mind, only too vividly, the dread occurrences of the night. Ste shivered from head to foot, as she saw the Indians tear the scalps from the dead, and held ber head between her hands to shut out the dread view. A hideous, repulsive-looking fiend, who stood near, would at times thrust his paint-daubed face closely to hers, causing the poor girl to grow faint with loathing; and it was relief in- deed to her, when the horrible orgies were over, and she was bound fast upon one of her own horses. The fire from the vaquero’s hut was now but faint and flickering, casting out at times a weird light, amid which here and there, in confused preparation, rushed the painted de- mons, presenting a scene most appalling. This however, lasted but a short time, for ten braves were ordered by the chief, Rolling Thunder, to hasten west with all the stolen stock; and the main party, with poor hopeless Maggie in their midst, forded the San Miguel, and galloped at beadlong sjeed down the river. Maggie felt sure that her lover would soon reach the ranch with belp, and that they would follow the trail; but she feared he would not be able to collect a force sufficient to rescue her from such a strong war-party. She knew that the Comanches would not dare travel very far east, lest the whites might collect a party of scouts and rangers, of sufficient strengih to annihilate them. This worried her greatly, for the Indians might at any moment, especially if they saw signs of enemies in their front, or of pursuit, turn south over the plain to the Rio Frio; and then, under cover of the timber, hasten northwest toward their distant villages, from which, if she was so unfortunate as to be taken there, she could not hope for rescue or escape from a fate too terrible to think of. On swept the fast galloping horde like a tor- nado, the hundreds of boofs whisking through the grass, causing a sound like the rush of a fierce norther, the quick, sharp snorts of the half-wild steeds being the only sounds that broke the stillness of the night, except the rat- tle and clatter of arrows in their quivers; for no words came from the savage lips of those who surrounded her, causing the painted horde, who kept gazing ahead and from right to left, to look doubly diabolical and frightful from this very silence, Poor Maggie glanced over the savage band, and in her balf-crazed mind decided that she was lost; that it would only result in disaster and death to the scouts if they made an at- tempt to save her from the clutches of such a numerous war party. On they sped for at least an hour and a half, then suddenly they turned their horses into the timber and forded the San Miguel, encamping upon the north side of the stream, at a point where their animals and themselves were se- curely hidden by the bottom timber and dense thorny undergrowth which grew along the edge of the same, near the piain. Desperately and dangerously situated as the young girl was, she retained throughout a calm and firm exterior, which, from the fact that she was alone, the only captive, caused the red braves to look upon her with admira- tion and something of respect, aside from the feelings of the same character, occasioned by her great beauty, which to them seemed un- natural, and belonging to another world. She was conscious that the Indians had been impressed by this, for they were less rough when they removed her from her horse, and secured her with more consideration for her comfort than they had before shown, Still, she was tied in such a way that it was impos- sible to escape. A gourd of water was held to her lips by a young brave, and she drank a long draught, as she was very thirsty and feverish from ex- citement and horror; but she controlled her- self by a great effort, and her eyes took note of each movement of her savage captors, her mind being filled with a whirlwind of thoughts in regard to her dreadful position, and spec- ulations in relation to the possibility of her friends effecting her rescue. She had noticed that an Indian had galloped from down the river, and met the party who held her captive, and that a short halt and con- Sultation followed. Shortly after this they had crossed the stream and encamped, and Maggie judged that some important news had been received from this lone brave, who was doubtless an advance spy. She hoped that this news was of the presence of whites, who would bar further progress, or who were in- formed as to the raid, and would attack the Indians. But, of all the thoughts that rushed through her brain, none gave her more con- cern than the probability that her lover, Sharp Eyes, would betome so anxious in regard to ber safety, that, upon reaching the Medina river, he would send some one of the rancheros at the Pleasonton ford to San Antonio after Big Foot Wallace and Post Oak Bill, and then return to the ranch; when, upon finding the vaqueros murdered and herself gone, he might follow on the trail alone, and thus endeavoring to rescue her, lose his own life, Then, again, should he succeed in getting help, the whites would not be of sufficient numerical strength to combat with the Indians. Even such invin- cibles as the two noted scouts could not, except by strategy, be of any assistance to her. Maggie pba that the Indians built no fires, and not only this, but that they retained their war equipments, their mustangs being secured, here and there, without their jaw straps or saddles being removed, and from this she concluded tbat there must be enemies to them and frierds to her near at hand, or these precautions against sudden attack, or prepara- tions for speedy flight would not have been taken. It was some time after reaching the dark shades of the timber before ber eyes became so accustomed to the situation that she could make these discoveries, there being but here and there a ray of moonlight, which, darting through the thick foliage, caused the scene to appear more wild and unnatural, especially when the plumed and painted savages stalked between the gigantic trees with their festoons of Spanish moss and conversed together in low and ominous guttural tones, Warnona bad proceeded but a short distance after leaving George Adler bathing his head in the stream, before she halted, and removing her beaded costume, turned the same inside out, it being lined with dark green cloth. She then bound several large leaves about her lower limbs and head, thus rendering herself almost invisible against the background of verdure, even in the moonlight. This done, she glided, graceful as a panther, through the timber, and crossed the river amid the interlaced limbs and vines which over arched the inky waters. As she approached the southern margin of the belt of trees, she moved more slowly and cautiously; at times stopping to listen; and she soon discovered that she was within a short distance of the Comanches who had captured the friends of Water Warrior. The war-party were secreted amid the undergrowth at the very edge of the bottom, apparently watching the plain to the west, the river here making a gradual bend which gave a clear view of the approaches up the stream, Well aware that such a small number of hostile braves would not be far from a larger force, Warnona resolved to return to Water Warrior, and with him, make their way to as- certain the strength and position of all foes, thereby securing knowledge that would great- ly benefit ber chief and the scouts, should they return to the rescue of the Bowens. She reasoned that the braves before her were waiting for the main war-party from Post Oak Bill’s ranch; and this fact almost proved conclusively that Wild Wolf and the EOmMIcCbDOoks + (E() lA m th an tine eo. “bh 4h. Oe ee