Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 239 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

———- es ee ee ee which were thrown upward and clasped tightly together, while from his quivering lips burst the words: “Oh, my God! Hast Thou forsaken me?” Only this. Then the blanched face of the young planter was again turned toward his home, his eyes fixed with horrible suspicion — horrible apprehension. For ahead the black smoke rolled upward in volumes from huge tongues of snapping, roaring flames! Lacrosse Ranch was burned to the ground! Nothing but the blazing logs of the flooring now remained, Lionel’s eyes were fixed upon the flames in a look that seemed to pierce the fire and gaze into its depths; but suddenly, as his horse reached an oak opposite the scene of the con- flagration, the animal gave a snort of terror and sprung quickly aside, almost unseating his rider. Only one look gave Lionel. Then witha cry of horror unspeakable, he sprung to the earth. For a moment the young ranchero stood as if stricken with death, gazing at the trunk of the oak, And well he might; for there was a sight to cause the blood to congeal in one’s veins, There, his flesh gashed and his body covered with gore, and secured to a tree, was a man, tbe head and shoulders bent forward, the head scalpless, the eyes hanging from their sockets! One look Lionel gave toward the mutilated The Terrible Trio. whom he loved more than his own life, far be- hind. And at each bound of his horse Lionel La- crosse became more dangerously desperate, more madly eager for revenge, more deter- mined to battle against the sea of horrors, amid the pitiless and surging waves of which he had been thrown and left to struggle alone, Thus, on leaving all of his life and love and hope behind him, dashing toward the baunts of savages, who, although they had tortured his gray-haired sire to death, could not be more fiendish than the one who had caused him, an | innocent man, to go out with the brand of Cain upon him. CHAPTER VIIL FLIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD, THE western sky was aglow, as if the dis. tant prairie was one lurid sheet of flame, caus- ing grotesque shadows within the timber. The thickets were dark and somber, while overhead the evening breeze sighed through the slowly waving branches, and swayed the long festoons of Spanish moss that, pall like, overhung the spot where lay the murdered man. Weird and strange was the scene; the central and most noticeable figure forming a tableau | never to be forgotten. Winnie Warrington was now standing by the head of the corpse, ber hands clasped upon her breast, as she looked down upon the still 9 i oe —_—-— ——— tom a oe oo eee - - = rancheros waving their hats to him, he bad the satisfaction of seeing Winnie being led away by the women. As he was about to dash up creek, Baldy sprung to his bridle, exclaiming: ‘What about Blackbird? Shall we strike out for his father’s ranch on the Guadalupe?” ‘¢'Ya-as; soon. es yer hes tuck ther capt’in inter ther cabin, some on yer gallop thet-a-} way, an’ kerral ther cuss ef yer kip. But I opines he'll skip toward ole Mex’. ‘‘ Howsomever, we'll git him sooner er later. He’ll mos’ likely go fer ther ole man’s ‘rocks ” afore levantin’, an’ yer mays kupe himin, Vd | glide arter him, ef Lionel warn’t in a bad fix,’ | So long, pard Baldy?!” ‘¢ All right, old pard,” was the reply; “ we'll do ovr best. But save Lionel at all bazards,” Off through the now darkened timber, out into the open ground, and then on up the bor- der of the bottom toward Lacrosse Ranch, dashed Single-Eye. Upon reaching the dwelling of the Browns, Winnie Warrington, freo from the influence of the weird scene in the bottom timber, re- lapsed into uncontrollable grief. Her aunt, and the few female guests who volunteered to remain over night, did all in their power to comfort the poor girl, and were at last re- lieved when she fell into a deep sleep. Baldy and his father, with the help of others removed the body of the captain to one of the negro cabins, where the servant of the mur- face of the dead. At the feet of the murdered captain, stood Single Eye, his gaze fixed upon the bereaved | maiden, Skip lively, by his masters’s side, also seem- | victim of savage butchery; then he fell upon his hands and knees, crawling toward the fear- fui-looking sight. As he reached a position near the corpse, he bent to the earth and looked up at the face of dered officer prepared it for burial. This done, the horses were equipped, and Baldy Jed half a dczen rancheros in hot haste toward the Blackwell Ranch, on the Guadalupe, ' the blood-stained dead. Then he sunk, with a beart-broken groan of anguish, to the ground, for all that was left of his loved father—the tortured, mutilated body secured to the tree— was before bim!”’ Major Lawrence Lacross3 was no more! Lacrosse Ranch was burned to the ground, and the Jast of the Lacrosse name, branded as an outlaw, must fly or meet an ignominious death, Could a man have all these horrors burled at once upon him and live? Could a man thus suffer and retain his reason? It did ssem impossible. There was nothing for Lionel to live for now. Thus he thought, but his mind soon changed. Henceforth he would be an avenger, and a merciless one. All the dread happenings that had paralyzed him, for the time, with horror should not keep him back from his revenge. The aseassin of Captain Warrington should be caught and made to pay the penalty of his crime, The fiendish red torturers who had murdered and mutilated bis revered fatber and given his home to the flames, should die, every one of them. He would dedicate his life, from this out, to this work of vengeance. Rising to his feet and clinching his bands, he raised them over the gory head of his mur- dered father, and raising his eyes reverevtly upward, made a solemn oath never to enter- tain rest or relief or comfort until he bad avenged the horrible doings of this day. As his parched lips muttered this oath, loud yells from down the Salado reached his ears, Lionel well knew what they meant—death, an ignominious death by the rope, for him- self, He sprung to his feet, shook his clinched fist toward the approaching horsemen, who saw him not, then stepping forward, while the tears of anguish rolled down his cheeks, he raised the gory head of his dead father up- ward, pressing his lips to the cold cheek, He noticed then that the corpse was as yet not much stiffened. From this fact he was convinced that the red fiends who had acted such a prominent part in crushing him still deeper into desperation and despair, could not have had time since doing their hellish work to travel any very great distance, Convinced of this, and knowing that those who were clamoring for his blood were close at band, Lionel Lacrosse, the sworn avenger, re- mounted and dashed westward, passing as he went the mangled and scalped bodies of sev- eral of his faithful slaves. Out on the plain he galloped, and up the Salado, leaving his smoldering home, his fa- ther’s mutilated corpse, and the angelic maiden ed to be studying* the scene with deep interest. All were, for the time, silent and immoy- — able as statues. ‘* Baldy,” said the old scout at length, as he stepped to the young man’s side; ‘“‘this hyer | thing hes gone on long ’nough. Make ther weemin take ther leetle gal hum; an’ you an’ your dad, an’ ther t’others carry ther capt’in ter ther ranch. ‘Yer better sen’ somebuddy to San Antone wi’ ther news ter bis sojer boys, what’ll want ter shcot over bim when he’s planted. ‘I’m on ther skute up crick, ter keep ther scum what runs wi’ Blackbird from kerralin’ Lione’; though I reckon be’s peart enough ter | keep bis hoss’s hinders outen thar sight. Do es I tells yer, an’ Pll skip this-a-away ag’in, an’ see how things riffle wi’ ther leetle gal. So long!” With these words Single-Eye stepped toward | Winnie Warrington, and sombrero, said with respect: “ Leetle Winnie, Single Eye wants yer ter skute towards ther ranch, an’ take a lay- down, Ther ole man knows thar ain’t no | ’Nited States lingo what kin be shoved up ter | relieve yer sorrow. Howsomever, we ail knows thet we bes gut ter slip our breeth, an’ glide on ther whiz ter kingdom come, sooner er | later; an’ hit’s some conserlation ter b’lieve thet our troubles comes to an eend some time. ‘*Mebbe so hit’s jist "bout es well thet yer dad hes passed his chips on ther jump; fer he mought ha’ gut tuck, an’ scarified, an’ scalped hy ther cantankerous red heathen, up-country, | Thet doesn’t take the cuss «ff though, by a jug- | full; an’ I hev swored a aff. rdavy thet Black- bird shill bev a high ole time savin’ bisself in | futur’, fer I’m a-goin’ fer him on ther jump, ‘* But, fust off, I’m on ther glide ter save Lionel from ther pesky skunks thet orter be | choked off tbhe’rselves, ‘“‘He sha’n’t be hurted, while I an’ Skip’ kin keep a eye apiece on ther galoots, Hit war a put-up job ter git Lionel offen some trail, an’ rup him from ther Salado, er upa limb. But he ain’t outen thar way till yit. ‘‘ Keep up yer sperrits, leetle gal; an’ say a pray now an’ then, not forgittin’ ole Single- Eye when yer does. I’m levantin’ up creek now, ter save Lionel, So long!” The hint of the old scout, in regard to the probable motive of Blackbird in shooting her father, greatly impressed Winnie. She recalled the fact, that, upon being introduced to Lionel, they, with Baldwin Brown, had left Bird Blackwell abruptly, and that he seemed to be in arage in consequence; but she bad not, at the time, deemed it worthy of consideration. She had met Single-Eye often, as he had acted as gu'de for the regiment to which her fatber belonged; and his words served to dis- tract her mind somewbat from her great grief. As the old scout sprung upon bis horse, the removing his old ee ee When Blackbird, by a desperate struggle, born of most terrible dread of the fate that he knew awaited him, escaped from Single-Eye, he beunded through the tall reeds, and waded the Salado, which, at that point, was quite narrow and shallow. ; Upon entering the dense rushes, the assassin paused for a moment and listened intently for sounds from the opposite side. Clutching bis bowie and remaining revolver, be determined to resist capture to the death. His swartby face was now as ghastly pale es the nature of his skin would allow, and his black eyes glared with tbe fire and fury of a wild beast at bay. Full well he knew his jeepardy. Full well he knew that the scout had decided that be was the murderer, He cursed bimself for an idiot, for he dis- covered that the flask of drugged brandy had slipped from his pocket and was gone. He knew that he must bave lost it in the very thicket from which be bad fired the fata) shot, And now, if it was found by Single-Eye, it would be preserved as evidence against him, Not only this, but the old scout had snatched from his belt the very revolver with which he had fired at Captain Warrington. The empty chamber, and the evidence of its recent discharge, would be overwhelming proof. against him. He had observed, too, the scout examining the spot where Lionel bad stood, and the sward near the dead man. No doubt so skillful a prairie man could at once determine the «xact position of the cap- tain when he was shot; indeed the assassin felt assured that the soft sward would sbow the _ heel-marks plainly, and betray the exact posi- tion of the officerat the time, Once that was decided, an examination of the wound woul! plainly show from whence the ball bad been fired. All this he knew bad been detected and reasoned out by Single-Eye; and this reason- ing ** was, that had led him to his covert in the vicket. Blackbird had credited himself with having contrived a cunning plan to ruin his rival and bring him toa shameful death, while all the time, like a fool, he was fixing a lariat to be used in hanging himself. One thing was certain, He had lost all in his attempt to ruin Lionel, for whom he bn} long entertained an intense hatred, which hail become so furious when he saw, as he thougli', that Winnie Warrington had fallen in love with his enemy at first sight, that, maddene: by the brandy he had drank, he had left him- self open to detection at every step. He was now amazed at his own desperate act, and was filled with wonder to think that be bad really shot a man who had never, in the slightest way wronged him, and he, too, NIGDOOKS €o (E(©)