Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 239 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

24 The Terrible Trio. — Hse - every direction; bursting now into bright | some had been injured, though not so as to | both, after resting and allowing their animals flames, and igniting the heated logs. quently the bottom timber was brightly illum- inated; the thickets and bushes casting weird and strangely shaped shadows. concise manner, explained the state of affairs Through the lighted spaces and paths, dashed | and his proposed plans, as have been mentioned. in every direction the frenzied bandits; half | He next ordered the horses to be led in and all crazed by their indulgence in drink on the pre- to prepare for departure. vious evening, aad filled with superstitious | The outlaws felt that they were in a peril- horror. doing service in the event of an attack. Captain Blackbird then, in a very plain and ous position, and were ready and eager to do In no way could they account for the terrific anything, or to go in any direction, they being explosion; although Blackbird well knew that greatly alarmed in regard to their safety, and his retreat had been discovered by some party | much relieved at finding their chief had not of scouts or raugers, who were aware of his | been killed. character, but not being strong enough in They all knew that not only must they de- numbers to attack his force, bad stolen into | part from the vicinity, but that it was a mat- the rear of the cabin, and fred the same. ter of necessity now to make an attack upon The discharge of revolvers, from the further | some wagon-train, to gain supplies to replace bank of the Colorado, proved this conclusively; | those that had been destroyed. They must and Captain Blackbird was filled with conster- | also seek out some secure and secret retreat, at nation and deep concern, knowing well that a distance from Camp Jobnstov. Therefore, whoever it bad been who fired the cabin they | when their chief intimated his intention to must have observed the deserters from the | strike out for the Rio Pecos they were all army in his gang. eager to start, and cheered lustily for Captain That being so, the murder ef the mail-driver | Blackbird. and his passengers would, as a matter of Great was the fury of the Jatter when ia- course be traced to them; and the troops at | formed that his horse, as well as that of others, Camp Johnston would soon be on the march to | had been stolen; and he was now forced to atiack bim and his outlaw horde. mount the mate to the animal that had been To evade these troops, however, was an easy | taken by Turtle, the Tonkaway, which was far matter, now that he was forewarned; and this | from being its equal for speed and bottom. danger caused him not one fraction of the in- | No time was lost, and in half an hour after tense fury that ruled him as he gazed upon the | the explosion Captain Blackbird, with his mot- destruction on all sides of bis secret retreat, Jey horde of desperate outlaws, was across the which was now no longer of any use as a hid- | Rio Concho. ing-place. They then crossed the plain on the same That which most infuriated him was the en- | course taken by the Tonkaway, not daring tire destruction of his stores, which he had | again to venture toward tte ford and military gained at risk of life, and had transported | station. thither at great labor and trouble, Had the “ Blackbirds ” gone directly up the Now he was, as it were, powerless; and | river they would bave discovered Lionel La- actual starvation threatened him and the re- | crosse and Single-Eye, the former mounted on craits, with whom he had hoped to accomplish | their captain’s black steed, both proceeding so much, | slowly up the Concho, within the timber. Without food, clothing, arms and liquor, he As the sun arose the following morning Lio- knew that be could do nothing with the des- | nel and the old scout arrived at the point in perate and murderous crew. But one plan | the timber where the Apaches had left it, and seemed open, by which he could hope to main- | hastened south toward the Pecos. There, to tain bis authority. the joy of the young ranchero, his own noble This was to attack some small train of black came galloping down the river bottom, wagons, shoot the teamsters, and with the sup- | the animal baving evidently escaped from the pies thus gained, establish himself at some dis- | Apaches. ‘ant point, beyond the Pecos; or, even, as far | Here they halted, the wounds of Lionel be- as the Rio Grande. ing again dressed by Single-Eye, who bade his As these thoughts flashed through his brain, | patient to— Wionie Warrington was recalled to prominent ‘“‘Take a lay-down an’ rest, for everything consideration; she having been taken by the | air goin’ all hunk.” Apaches toward the point he now proposed to The old scout had passed within a short dis- nim at. tance of Camp Johnston, and could have vis- Captain Blackbird knew that there was no | ited that post without much loss of time, when, lime to lose, for he felt positive that who- | upon the information he possessed being made _ ever bad fired the shots from beyond the Colo- | known to the commandant, a detail would redo must be now galloping to Camp John- | have been immediately ordered in pursuit of pton for troops to annihilate his band. | the Apaches. He now congratulated himself upon having But Single-Eye well knew that should this dstributed arms, ammunition, and clothing | be done there would not be one chance in a among the men upon first arriving at tbe | hundred for the rescue of the captives, cabin. He was sure that Lone Wolf would soom de- As he thus thought over the situation of af- | tect any strong force in the vicinity of his fairs, he stood in the shelter of a huge tree, | war-party, and that the captives in such a case watching the mad rush of his affrighted fol- | would be butchered forthwith, in order that lowers, who darted here and there, without | they might not hamper the braves in the fight any apparent object, all yelling like fiends. or retreat. Waiting until they bad scmewhat cooled The only hope of rescue was upon strategy, down, and had reasoned, as far as their powers | and the scout had great faith in Turtle, the in that direction permitted, upon the recent as- | Tonkaway, 1tounding occurrences, Captain Blackbird Cunning as was the Apache chief, he would walked slowly from his place of concealment, | not suspect that a party of two or three scouts out into the broad glare of the conflagration, | would venture on his trail; and he would take to the place where he had been sleeping at the | no precautions against anythirg but a surprise time of the explosion. from a body of troops, he knowing that the Without the least show of excitement, he | station patrol would, upon the non-arrival of coolly picked up his canteen from the ground, | the stage on time, advance to the Concho ford, and deliberately raised it to his lips, taking a | and there discover the massacre of the esc rt. long draught, Single-Eye knew that the horses of the This was observed by some of his men, who | Apaches were in bad condition, for be was drew the attention of the remainder to that | aware that Lone Wolf had just returned from quarter, a foray dowu country. The manner and apparent unconcern of their Upon examining the trail of the Indians, leader impressed the demoralized men more | made after the latter had abandoned the tim-: than if he bad yelled bimself hoarse in striving | ber and started out over the open plain, the to control them. One by one, they gathered | scout ascertained beyond a doubt that Turtle around him. bad not followed them; and be concluded that As they came near, Captain Blackbird | the Tonkaway had struck direct from the ban- ordered them to secure their blankets, arms | dit rendezvous to Horse-Head Crossing, there- and equipments immediately, and to place | by saving nearly a day’s travel. them in a designated spot, where they would Having discovered the horse of the Tonkaway be safe from the flames. in the timber, be knew also that the latter had It was found that three men had been killed | secured a fresh animal from the stock of the by the explosion, and two others shot by the | outlaws, and judged that the friendly Indian anknown incendiary from beyond the river. mnst be near Horse-Head Crossing. This left the band twelve in number; but ET ee — ———_—— . —— er Conse- | prevent them from mounting their horses and ; to graze, started on the trail until it turned southward; and this, Single-Eye knew, was for the purpose of encamping on the south fork | of the Concho. Deeming any deviation from a straight line in the direction of Horse-Head Crossing unne- cessary, they pressed onward, but not at such haste as to injure their horses; for they well knew that the time would soon come when their lives would depend upon their animals, as would probably the lives of Winnie War- rington and her uncle, It was late on the following day after the arrival of Lone Wolf and his party at the great gorge in the Sierra Charrate Mountains, before the wearied braves sprung from their blankets. The Apache chief at once dispatched one of his warriors on the back trail to Horse-Head Crossing; directing him to secrete bis horse in the timber, climb a tree, and watch for the approach of any enemies from tbe north plain beyond the Rio Pecos, If any signs of pursuit were discovered, he was ordered to steal further down the river, and ascertain the direction taken by the pursuers, Having sent out this spy, Lone Wolf and his braves proceeded to make up for lost time by feasting upon the mule-meat, which they had cut from the hams of the slain animals of the ambulance, Winnie was given a quantity of broiled ven- ison, as was also the lieutenant; the latter being relieved of the bonds about his wrists while eating, and allowed to pour water upon them, and upon his swollen and abraded ankles. Both the captives had passed a terrible night, being frequently aroused from their strange, benumbing sleep by the fearful dreams that ruled their slumbers. These, however, were not much more terri- fying than the realization of their condition upon awakening. The lieutenant had been as one dead, until a warrior bad poured water over him, and down his parched throat; but, by a superhuman ef- fort, he had thrown off the oppressive feelings, and repudiated his great agony, in order that he might give hope and encouragement to his niece, ‘“‘We must eat and drink when we get the opportunity, my darling,’ he said to her; ‘‘for, should there be men on the trail to res- cue us, they will not be able to save us, unless we can, in a measure, help ourselves, ‘‘ We shall be as helpless as infants, if we do not fight against our feelings and sufferings, and try to keep up what little strength we bave left. I acknowledge that there is but little room to hope; but, if I am doomed to the torture, it cannot exceed what I have en- dured already. “You, my darling, must take your own life, if the worst should come, rather than meet the fate that is reserved for you. ‘‘Tf you can get your bonds free, when they drag me to the torture stake, for God's sake, rush to my side, and put a ball through my brain. Then turn your revolver to your own head. This must be a last resort, how- ever. ‘We may hope on, while we remain in this camp, and on the march to the Apache Moun- tains. ‘“‘They will not torture us until they reach their village. Then they will give their hideous squaws an entertainment at our ex- pense. But hope on, my angel one, while there is life. ‘Oh, that I could save you from these de- mons! But, even if I were free this moment, I could not walk a step to save my own life. I have had hope that perhaps the brave young man, Lacrosse, who dashed so gallantly to our rescue, might not have been killed; but, as Lone Wolf said, secured to a pole; to die a lingering death. I have hoped that he might be discovered, and released; and, if so, I teel that he would leave no stone unturned, but would again risk bis life to save us.” This was spoken with difficulty, but a few werds at a time, by Lieutenant Warrington, as the suffering man sat, striving to eat; a burly brave watching his every motion. His words served to cheer Winnie not a lit- tle, although she well knew tbat they were uttered for that purpose alone, She felt that but faint hope was manifested in the intona- Imparting this intelligence to Lionel, they tion of her uncle’s voice. | | (C0) JOO Cc m S co