Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 244 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

= a ee — + ‘ ee CHAPTER XVIL PARTNERS IN CRIME, Ar the same time that the two scouts were taking leave of each other at the wash-out, two other horsemen were out on the plain, examin- ing the shattered and blackened coach, and the mutilated bodies lying near it. These were Mart Maxwell and Rand Rogers, Not having been accustomed to such a mode of travel, they had but just arrived from Fort Belknap, with the intention of recovering their life-long victim, and blasting her future as they had her past. Deep-stained criminals though they both were, they were yet appalled and terrified by the scene before them, which spoke plainer of that fearful deed of blood, of the day previous, than any word could have done. The bodies of the murdered men were now blackened and swollen by the sun. It was in- deed a most horrible sight, and one which none would care to look upon a second time. The two miscreants were at first filled with amaze- ment, not understanding the situation, but merely soy posing that the vehicle had broken down; the horses not being visible. ‘* What, in the name of all that’s mysterious, has occurred now?” exclaimed Maxweil, as they drew nearer, and the dead horses and men met their viow. “Tt is just our luck, Rand, to lose everything in the last game which there is any prospec‘; for us to enter, with anything like a paying amount to be won, This stage has been robbed -1d the passengers shot. These bandits of the Concho jlay most desperate games here on the fron- ier ” “This is not the work of white men, Mart, They don’t do business in this way,” said Rand, as they reached the coach: ‘Don’t you see the arrows? The Indians have been here, and by Heavens, I tell you we are in great danger. ‘“*This is a wild-goose chase, and we'll lose our lives in itor ma liar. I tell you I don’t like the looks of things.” **You don’t seem interested as to the fate of one future wife, Rand. That ‘norther’ :nnst ave given you the blues.” ‘*You can see for yourself, Mart, that the irl is not among the dead. It would be much etter for her, IT have no doubt, if she was, Flora Florence is in the power of the Comanches, and the ‘jig’ is up.” ‘‘ Nonsense, Rand! That's all boy’s talk. You forget that if our plans in connection with Flora are not carried out to the letter, our chances for fingering the ducats areslim. In short, our whole future depends upon her be- coming your wife.” ‘*And I haven’t the remotest idea that she will ever bear that relationship to me; so where is the use of talking such utter nonsense. Do you suppose that we can snatch her from the clutches of the Indians, as you proposed to do from the coach?” **T tell you, Rand,” said the other, ‘*T don’t propose to be beaten or balkedin this matter. I presume it will not be much more diffi ‘ult to take the girl from a few arrow-shooting Indians than from a coach full of well-armed white men. ‘¢What I would like to know is, if the man who induced her to leave Shreveport, and es- corted her this far, on ber way to meet her uncle—if he is among the slain, But there isno way of ascertaining it. We have no idea how the fellow looked; and if he were one of these fearful-looking cadavers, his own mother would not be able to recognize him.” ‘Well, Mart, I must say you seem to be really growing desperate. by, our lives are not worth a picayune anywhere a mile from a a military station on this cussed border.” “And I'm mighty sure they won’t be worth much more inside a military station, if they once got wind of our character and object.” ‘* Just so, Mart. And that fact shows very plainly what simple fools we were to leave civili- gation, Here we have no safety. If we are seen by red skins, and take refuge in a fort, we are looked upon as suspicious characters, and stand a good show for being strung. up to a limb.” *“You are awfully bilious to-day, Rand; but you'll soon Ope over that. You can see there is no such thing’as backing out in this business, for you dare not return to Fort Belknap alone, and I don’t intend to five up the girl unril I see her a cold corpse. It stands to reason that if the Indians had intended to kill her, they would have done the job here, and saved trouble.” “Well, what do you propose to do, Mart? Transform yourself into a scout and trailer ata moment’s notice, I suppose?” ‘‘Tt doesn’t take much practice to follow this trail,” asserted Maxwell, as he guided his horse along the trampled ground toward Elm Fork, And as we need rest and food and water, we'll strike for timber, and there deliberate upon the situation. “Come on, Rand; all may yet turn out well, One thing, however, is certain. Flora cannot escape from the Indians without assistance, and if you could run in as a daring rescuer, it would us along greatly.” a (rrr nner nnn cnn eccen cence ncn ~~ Merciless Mart. — — - _ —E There was nothing else for Rand Rogers to do but to follow. He was terrified at the bare thought of being ‘‘norther,” the silent and solemn plain, the A 15 mere ne ee stay—live or die, Shake off your woman! whims, I say, and be yourself. If you don left alone, The weird | I'll shake you, as sure as death.” ‘bis threat seemed to alarm Rand not alittle swollen corpses, and the thought of the girl he | He began to brace up and to look more like was in pursuit of now in the hands of the hos- | tile red-men—all these affected the guilty man’s mind beyond anything in his experience. These grand and wide domains of nature were, in his imagination, filled with skulking coverts of savages, whose blood-curdling war- cries he each moment expected to hear. But Rand did not dare reveal the extent of his fears to bis companion. lt would only have excited his ridicule bad he done so, and would in no wise have altered the situation. He was puzzled not a little by the absence of all show of concern in Mart, for he knew that if their plans in regard to Flora should fail, they would be in a most desperate position, and would be forced into the very lowest walks of crime, Clearly the only course open to him was to act with his comrade in all things, for he did not dare return to the States without him, At this point in Rand’s meditations, Mart en- tered the undergrowth; the pre-occupied condi- tion of the mind of the former preventing him from seeing the exact point at which he did so. Urging his horse onward, however, Rand had not proceeded far when, with a wild yell of affright, he drove spurs deep, and plunged mad- ly through the bushes directly against his sur- prised and alarmed companion. ‘* What in the fiend’s name have you jumped up now, Rand?” he ya ps **'You had bet- ter smother those yells of yours, or you'll have a pack of scalpers down on us presently. What has scared you, man?” Rand was indeed terribly startled, as his ap- pearance proved; and drawing his revolver, fart urged bis horse into the thicket to the spot at which his pard pointed in silence. A loud laugh soon recalled Rand to his side. Spurring back again, the latter found that Mart had dismounted, and was examining the object which had occasioned his fright. It was the body of the Comanche spy who bad been ag en ae * Well,” said rt, with a fresh burst of laughter, “if you are afraid of a dead Indian to that extent, what will you do should you see a live one or a few score of the yelling devils? But here is something in our favor. There are white men in pursuit of that infernal war- arty.” 34 xh do you know that?” inquired Rand, quickly, ‘* A fool ought to know that they don’t stab and scalp each other,” was the contemptuous rejoinder. ‘This red was, no doubt, a spy left te watch for pursuers and to warn his fellows, but he has come to grief by the hand of some scout, who is, of course, aware of the massacre and of the capture of Flora, “A white man is on the trail—possibly more than one—and if the girl should be rescued we must ot for them and win the game in spite of the devil. But, come, let us examine the vicinity and see if we can find out the direction taken b the Indians in the morning. It begins to loo encouraging.” ** It doesn’t take much to encoarage you,” said Rand; ‘though I admit that I would rather, two to one, buck against white men than those painted cusses. “But lead on; I don’t want to run over an- other corpse.” Mart gave another contemptuous laugh and roceeded to the stream. Here they both al- owed their horses to drink, and then, passing down along the west bank, soon entered the deserted Comanche camp, Dismounting and examining the ound, Mart scon found the stakes to which Will Wash- burne had been secured, as well as the tree to which Flora bad been fastened, the bark of which was much chafed. The evidence was abundant that there had been two captives taken from the stage. ** Pil bet my life,” said Mart, “‘that the man who induced Flora to leave the seminary is alive and a captive with her! But it is strange that those two are all who were saved from the mas- sacre. “One thing we do know; this man, whoever he is, must be well aware of what we are up to. That settles it for him. He must die or we are not safe a moment after we return to the States!” ‘Don't you fret-yourself, Mart, in regard to our danger in returning; just keep your mind upon present danger,” was the somewhat dubi- ous reply. : ‘* For myself, I am satisfied that neither you nor I will ever again walk the pavements of civilization. A terrible doom of some kind awaits us. Iam convinced of it. I have dreamed it, and er our days are fewas they have vi been evil. ** [f you don’t bush up that sort of bosh and old woman talk, Rand Rogers, hanged if I don’t steal away from you when you're asleep and work this thing myself! “Then you can work out this pet doom of yours at your option. But I’m on the trail to facing the music. A half-bour later their horses were grazing im a secure nook, and the two worthies were snug- ly rolled in their blankets in a thicket, Rand anxious and wakeful, but Mart sleeping the sleep of the just and immaculate in beart. CHAPTER XVIII. THE RESCUER AND THE RESCUED. SUPPORTING the voung man’s head for some time above the surface of the stream, Old Rocky laved his brow with the cool waters, throwin them over the parched lips and into his month, Soon he had the satisfaction of seeing the eyes of his patient open slowly, as if by the greatest effort. The old scout was not a little surprised to find that the man he had saved was so young, and evidently of a hich order of intelligence, as well as social standing. ’ nal his appearance, nevertheless, was truly pitiable, | Only a few rags, in the way of clothing, were attached to his limbs, his flesh was blistered, bruised and scratched, and his limbs cut and swollen from the way in which his captors had bound him. With all this, however, the form of the youn man was a perfect model of manly beauty, an Old Rocky was greatly impressed in addition to being filled with the deepest sympathy for him, Opening his eyes, Will Washburne slowly stared, at first vacantly upward, not yet realiz- ing his condition or position; but soon his fea- tures became convulsed with agony, as spasms of pain shot ne! his body, bringing forcibly back the past in all its horrors. He now saw that he was in the water, and that a white man was supporting him. That he wasa friend was proved by his service and solicitude, but the young man bad as yet no power to aid or resist him in what he did. Soon, however, the slight movements made by him caused the old scout to discontinue cast- ing the water so freely upon bim; and, having placed him in as comfortable a position as he could, he said, kindly: “Don’t yer go ter try ter sling gab, er exart yerself, pard; I'll hev yer in O. K. persish an’ condish soon esI kin, ‘Yer hes hed a hefty riffle o’ onnat’rl ridin’ shoved onter yer, ’sides some consider’ble other tortur’ by ther red searifyers; but quick es yer gits stid y on yer pins, we'll hump ourselves on ther trail. **Leastwise, 'm ther pilgrim what’s so b’ilin? over wi’ pure indig’ et ther hellyuns skutin’ off wi’ ther kaliker-kivered female ’oman, what I opines yer knows sometbin’ ’bout.” Will strove to speak, but only a gurgling sound escaped from his parched throat, while a age shudder of agony ran through his rame. ‘“* Keep parfec’ly cool,” advised the old scout, as he carefully dragged tbe youth toward the bank. “Isee’d ther bull biz from ther bush, an’ I knows all. Ef I hadn’t, yer wouldn’t ha bin wo’th shucks at sundown, Yer hed a clost call, but yer'll skin through with a leetle care, ef yer ain't too brash. * Yer needs a hefty supply o’ grub an’ plenty o’ drink. I gin’rally totes a bottle o’ p’ison, which ’l] come in handy ’bout now, ter put new vim inter yer karkiss.” Hastening across the stream, Old Rocky pro- cured an extra sbirt of his own, a flask of brandy, and some eatables; filling his canteen, at the stream, as he returned. He then eve Will a strong dose of the brandy, and a drink of water, proceeding to anoint the blistered. flesh of his patient with oil, froma bottle which he brought from his saddle-bags. By the time that this had been done, and the wrists and an- kles of the young man also attended to, he was able to sit up. In a few moments, he spoke, in a feeble voice: ‘*May God bless you, my dear friend, for having saved me from a terrible fate, as well as fur your more than kind attention and care of me! mus “Thar!” burst out Old Rocky, impatiently; “ef yer can’t sling no dif’runt gab’ from thet, keep yer tongue et rest. I ain’t one o’ ther sort | what ’spects soft sodder lingo, fer doin’ my juty, an’ I doesn’t like it fer nothin’. All I axes, airfer yer ter git ’roun’ ter biz, soon es yer kin; fer thar’s hefty fun ahead in ther slashin’ an’ ha’r-t’arin’ line, er I'm a squaw. ‘But, whar in thunderation did yer come from, an’ what did yer p’int this-a-way fer? Didn’t yer know thet reds war es thick es bugs in a Greaser’s ha’r, ’roun’ ther Brazos forks? Does yer know who ther female ’oman air, what war tuck by ther condemned kiote tor- turers, an’ why she war on ther perrarers?” A deep groan came from Will’s lips, as hoe re- plied: hae hn : ibe: ii all “that **Oh, God, in mercy, friend, I know her, ind é have to care for on earth—my promised wifel ee me eee Se —— ee ee ee er a Se ——— a — = Sa re —_— —— Sn ee ee ee oe m Ehbooks7e (@) lL TT A NR el =) , Se