Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 239 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

—— sherintsdasin stare their animals in a mad mingled mob upon the veranda, knocking down and trampling the brave old man upon the floor of his home! On, through the wide passage, dashed the blood-craving horde, On, with a burtling | rain of deadly arrows preceding them; shoot- ing the terror stricken negroes to the earth, and trampling their bodies under the hoofs of their frenzied horses. Some sprung from their steeds and scalped Thus on they came, a hideous horde, with | and horribly mutilated the bodies of the poor sinews of steel. | slaves, none of whom escaped alive. Aunt On, silently and stealthily, bent forward in | Huldy was pierced with steel-pointed shafts, their saddles, as if striving to pierce the woods | while on bended knees on her kitcben floor, in advance, listening for sounds that denoted | praying most fervently, crying out from her the presence of man; all murder-bent, eager, | terrified soul: insanely eager for blood. “Oh, Lordy! Ob, Jesus, Mars’ Lord, save The trails which they followed, the mark of | ole Huldy from de red debbils!” the white man’s ax, and a score of other signs, The major, now senseless, was secured to all plain to their practiced eyes, proved them | the trunk of the large oak—the very spot upon near to a ranch, the corrals of which they had | which his eyes bad been bent fixedly in deep already discovered from a bend above. study but a few minutes before—his coat, vest At length, a snake-like hiss proceeds from | and shirt were torn from him by furious hands, the lips of the leader, and the signal is passed | Arrow points were then pressed into his flesh, from one to another. Then all come to a balt, except him from whom the sound first came. He wears three feathers of the black eagle in his beaded fillet, and he urges his steed on alone, Soon, however, he returns, his hideous features contorted with murderous exultation; as, with a significant gesture, he reveals the intelligence be bas gainei. He then gives his orders. A half-dozen braves, keeping close to the stream, proceed quickly down toward the field of corn, the main body walking their horses | but a short distance; getting opposite the | ranch, which is now in plain view, As they peer through the foliage, they dis- cover the old major, who placidly puffs his pipe; dreaming of no po sible discomfort, much | less of torture and death. | But a short space of time elapses when, from down the creek, comes a peculiar bird- like ery, which is answered by him of the ea- | their bows avd arrows, their right holding firmly to the jaw straps of their steeds. Naked from their waists up, their broad breasts, daubed with fotenis and stripes of war, their limbs covered with beaded buck- | skin leggins, their feet with moccasins of the same—thus they appeared, their long hair | hanging wild to the backs of their animals, | amid the meshes of which were tiny ornaments | of silver. | | | : to return. He realized at once that he was doomed to a terrible death, and glared at his flendish tor- turers in defiance and derision, assumed and maintained by a superhuman effort of will, to hasten the bitter end, and free him from bis most fearful agony. This had the desired effect, for the intended protracted torture, in revenge for his having slain so many of their number, was lost sight of, as the furious painted and blood-smeared demons sprung upon him, dug out his eyes, eS sinking forward proved that he was beyond the reach of further suffering. Then his scalp was torn from his head, leav- ing both it and his body a mass of gore-drip- ping flesh; the sightless eyes banging by the unsevered nerves some inches from their sock- ets—a sight that was calculated to sicken one to the very soul, and to turn an Indian Peace Commissioner into a merciless scalper of every- thing in human shape that wore a red skin, gle plumes, Then, from the same lips, rings, in blood-curdling tone, the wild war-whoop of the Apache, the signal for hissing quirts; then the snorting steeds, bearing their wild riders, bound free from the busbes, an appalling line that would chill the blood of the bravest at first sight toward the ranch. An echo to the war whoop then burst forth from down tbe stream, mingled with piercing cries of horror from the negroes in the cornfield, as the red fiends dash upon them, filling their bodies, as they fly, with arrows. Major Lacrosse, as the terrific war-whoop cut the air, ani the horrible line of painted Apacbes spruug on their wild eyed steeds from taken from the dwelling and packed upon horses, which they found in one of the corrals; straps to the best animals they could select, and allowing their own much inferior beasts to stampede on the plain. The dead were also bound on fresh horses, as ' were also the wounded; then the cabins and ranch were fired, and the blood-drunk, frenzied horde of Apache fiends sped away over the plain like dry leaves before a “‘ norther,”’ in the the undergrowth toward him, bounded to his | direction of the Rio Guadalupe, thence to scat- feet, for the moment paralyzed; so unexpected, | ter the same devastation and death that they so undreamed-of was the sight, that he could ' bad left behind. not at first believe his senses. Not long, bowever, remained he thus; for the war-spirit of the olden time blazed from | his eyes; and, although he at once realized that he was doomed, he resolved to sell his life dearly. He ran into the dwelling, returning instantly with a Colt’s revolving carbine, and a brace of six-shooters of the same make, army size, The Indians were galloping toward the ranch at terrific speed, already having passed half the distance between the house and the timber, when the major, laying the brace of revolvers upon the chair beside him, straightened him- self in a defiant manner, bringing the carbine to his shoulder, and presenting a sight so uno- expected to the Indians, and so recklessly dar- ing, that even they, excited and murderously mad as they were, shot out ejaculations of wonder and respect; refraining from further whoops, in order that they might uot jeopar- dize themselves by alarming the rancbheros below. Their admiration, however, was soon turned to frantic fury, for the major fired, iu rapid succession, the five deadly slugs from his car- bine. Nothing, brute or human, could survive wounds received from those conical Minie | balls. Each tore its way through a vital part; and, as the old man was @ dead-shot, down | went a brave witha horrible death-yell at each sounding report. Dropping the carbine as quickly as it was CHAPTER VIL. SINGLE-EYE, THE SCOUT. THERE were several of the more respectable and wealtby rancheros, of the same stamp as William Brown, who took no part in the at- tempt to hold Lionel Lacrossa captive, although they were not convinced of his innocence. Just the opposite, indeed. From the evidence before them, they believed that Captain War- rington bad met his death at the hands of the young ranchero; but at the same time they felt sure that there had been a second attack on the part of the captain, and that Lionel, taken unawares, had on the impulse of the mo- ment fired the fatal shot. Knowing the young man from his childhood up, they were confident that the killing had not been premeditated. They were, therefore, in favor of a thorough investigation, and would, without doubt, have interfered with the lyncb- ers, had the latter proceeded to extremities, _ When Lionel escaped they were not exactly | pleased, but at the same time they were some- | what relieved. | They bad, at all events, avoided a collision | with the,dissipated crowd, and they had no doubt that the young planter would evade a second capture, Baldy Brown, bowever, was nearly frantic. hanged, and be would have mounted bis horse and galloped to the assistance of his friend bad emptied, the old soldier grasped a revolver in. it not been for the terrible condition of his each hand, and mavipulating bammers and) ceusin Winnie, who had relapsed into a half- triggers dexterously, shot dead, or p!aced hors insane, half-comatose state. ; du combat, three more of his red enemies, be- All present were so affected by the astound- —_—_—— ——— > + fere the Apaches in a thundering ebarge lashed ‘ ing and undreamed-of tragedy, and the cireum- ° the intensity of the torture causing his senses | and slashed his arms and body, until, his head | By this time all desirable plunder had been | the savages changing their saddles and jaw- | He feared that Lionel would be overtaken and | Thomas-cat!” exclaimed the scout in a rage. | “Hiv’s a double-bar’led, bald-headed, howlin’ — Me ial 4 _ fe 28 eee ny stances connected with it, that for a time they were incapable of judgment or action, the oc- currences that have been recorded baving oc- cupied but a brief space of time. It was not five minutes after the dissolute companions of Blackbird bad disappeared in the bottom timber when up to the raneb of the | Browns, from the prairie that stretched toward | the Guadalupe, rode a man of somewhat sin- gular appearance, upon a horse that was almost | as peculiar as himself. | He was small in stature and thin in flesh; his face was tanned by sen and canip-smoke, besides being much wrinkled. His hair was | long and tangled, and sprinkled with gray. He was attired in a rough-made, slouchy buckskin suit, much worn and soiled. | His entire outfit and arms were in perfect | keeping with his general appearance, a Colt’s | five chambered revolving carbine hanging at | his saddle-horn, in close proximity with a long rawhide lasso. | His horse was thin and lank and ancient in appearance, But the most noticeable peculiarity in both horse aud man was that each bad but one eye, The pair would bave attracted notice even in a frontier town, where people of all nationali- ties and every imaginable character and cos- | tume are to be met. | Their appearance was most comical; but | there was an expreesion in the eye of the old man that would warn a stranger against laugh- ing at him. Indeed, no one who knew him | would ever think of doing so, for he was uni- | versally known aud respected in Southern end | Western Texas. He was ‘Single Eye,” a noted sceut and | | ranger. | As the horse came up to the central portion of the veranda his rider squirted a stream of tobacco-juice far out toward the creek. Then, with something of surprise manifested in his face, he swept the house and its surroundings | with his sotitary optic, speaking at the saine time to his horse, as was his custom, ‘Dang my cats, Skip-lively! bit ’pears ter _be kinder lonesome ’bout ther ranch, though it air chuck full o’ “sign.” Fact air, I sh’u’d s’pose they'd bed a slam up fandang’. They hain’t broke up house-keepin’, I don’t reckon, fer thar’s tricks an’ traps ‘hough in thar fer a rig ment o’ humans.” Single-Eye was about to dismount and enter | the house, when his attention was attracted by _ bis horse. The old scout depended much upon his ani- mal in his frontier roamings, the beast, to ' make up for the loss of its eye, being gifted | with an acute sense of hearing, swinging its | head violently when attracted by any sound on its blind side. “Thank ’e, Skip!” said Single Eye, much re- lieved, as be perceived a woman coming up rapidly from the timber. ‘Ef yer bhesn’t gut but one peeper, yer hes gut ther keenest pa'r o’ years thet ever was hitched onter a four-legged critter, ‘‘Thar’s a caliker-kivered female oman what I doesn’t keer ter palaver with, but I reckon Ill hev ter listen ter her warbliv’ a minit. | Don’t git narvous, Skip; we'll glide along ter | fresh grass in a few shakes of a alligator’s lat- _ ter eend, : | ‘ How’d’y, Marm Brown? See’d yer warn’t | ter hum, an’ war jist ’bout ter skute up creek ter Lacrosse Ranch.” | “T am glad to see you, Single-EKye,” re- | turned the lady, who seemed to be laboring 'under some great excitement; ‘very glad to ' see you; for a terrible thing bas happened, an ' we are all nearly crazy. ‘“My brother, Captain Warrington, who re- cently came to visit us, lies dead in the tim- ber. He has been murdered, and all the evi- dence points to Lionel Lacrozse as the man who shot him; though I, for one, am very un- willing to believe it. ‘* He did not try to escape, until some of the Guadalupe boys were about to bang him. Then he broke from them, and mounting his horse, galloped up tbe stream toward his home, the young men from the river riding in pur- suit of him.” “Dang my great-gran’mother’s blackest lie! Lionel ain’t thet sort o? stock. ‘ He’s gut a dang’d sight more man in hig little toe than thar bees in ther hull crowd that’s arter him! “If they touches him, ll make blue pill - r vi ECOmIedoOOKS