Beadle's Dime Library No. 247 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

~_—_ ~ ~~ - ———_ - 2 - ——EEEE ee way to the river,and how much to place me aboard the Lily? The hunter threw back his hat to scratch his head, saying in answer ‘‘That accordin’ to what you Yankees kin stand. Tell me ycu’re all made o’ money up thar. and don’t think nothin’ o’ ten dollars. Reckon it’s worth ten, ain’t it?” His glance was shrewd avd furtive, as if he thought Julian would refuse the demand, but ' the young man only laughed and answered: “It’s worth anything in the world when a fellow is lost, my friend— Ah, what’s your name?” ‘*My name’s Ike Strang, mister; but owin’ to makin’ my livin’ in the alli ator biz, folks hez got ter callin’ me Alligator Ike,” responded the bunter, in the slow, drawling manner that seemed to be habitual to him, ‘“ Reckon ye mig ht squeal now, if a feller said fifteen dollars, hey Futian smiled at what he thought the ignorant extortion of aman unacquainted with the value of money, and answered evasively: ‘* Well, well, we'll see aboutit when we get to the Lily. If you don’t drive a bargain with me | won’t be stingy with you.” Alligator Ike eyed bim from head to foot and then drew along cord from one of the loose pockets of his alligator-bide coat and made up the skin of the defunct saurian into a bundle, which he swung over his shoulder. Then he beckoned to Julian. “Come along, sir. We'll seeif you’re a gent or not. Remember, if you hadn’t, found me you'd ’a’ had to sleep in the swamp.” He strode off down the course of the stream, keeping on a little ridge of land that Julian soon perceived, ran parallel with the course of the stream, At last he turned abruptly to the left and plunged through the deep mud till he came to the border of the stream where he drew from under a shelter of branches the end of a broad scow, in which lay four or five alligator-bides, evidently taken that day. ‘* Step in,” said Alligator Ike, briefly, and the young man obeyed, when the hunter untied the rope by which the scow was fastened to a branch, picked up a long pushing-pole which lay across the craft, and sent it skimming out into the midst of the rivulet, when it began to float slowly down the current. ‘‘ Now,” said Alligator Ike, sententiously he paused to rest on his push-pole, ‘‘ you left your skiff down Scrag Neck Run; that’s the next south of this, and if you wanter get it Pll pole up thar.’ ‘‘ How do you know?” asked Julian, surprised. ** Have you seen it?” Alligator Ike grinned. ‘‘Hev I see’d it? Im courseIsee’d it. Yer didn’t even take the trouble to tie’t up to a tree, and the durned skiff got adrift and floated down nigh to the river when I cum acrost it.” ‘And what did you do with it?” ‘‘Shoved it in to the bank, in course, and let that crick alone. Any one could tell ‘a green- born bad been up thar. Reckon you must have skeered more game than a starn-wheeler goin’ up ariver. Where’s your steamer, mister?” “She was about twenty miles below Enter- prise, and was not expected to start to-day,” said Julian; *‘ but I wouldn’t wonder to see her coming this way about sunset to look after me.’ Alligator Ike chuckled and gave the scowa shove with his pole down the stream. ‘““Reckon they’d better, mister. You ain't the sort to take care of yerself in the Florriddy swamps, and if ever you git to the Everglades you'll be sucked in sure, inter the river.” As he spoke, with a last shove he sent the scow deg the broader waters of the St. John’s, and they heard the intermittent puffing of a small ropeller close to them, CHAPTER III. . ON THE RIVER. ‘‘ THAT's the Lily, ” exclaimed Julian, anima- tedly, as soon as he heard the puffing of the little engine, **She’s coming after me. **She’d ’a’ had a nice time findin’ yer, ef I hadn’t been thar when the ’gator went fur ye,” said Alligator Ike, sardonically. ‘Now t en, mister, ll trouble ye fur that fifteen dollars.” ‘¢ What fifteen dollars?’ asked Julian. Alligator Ike made no answer save to shove the boat back into the mouth of the little stream from which they had just emerged, and bring it up against a bank of black mud, when he said in the gruffest manner: “Git ashore thar, darn yer skin! Git ashore! I said we’d see if you was a gentleman, and ye're nothin’ but a durned Yankee slouch. Git ashore!” ° He eur 80 threatening that Julian hastily um u in j hat’s’ the tatter’? Good heavens, Ike, don’t be so hasty. I'll pay you anything you ask me in reason. I owe you my life. Alligator Ike held out his horny hand. “A bargain’s a bargain. I don’t want nothin’ for yer life, ’Tain’t worth shucks. Ye axed yar we are, a-comin* Alligator Ike. me what I'd take to put ye on board the Lily. I say fifteen dolinrs. Shell out, or git ashore.” Thus urged, Julian went into his trowsers pocket, roduced a well stuffed pocket-book, and banded over to the boatman a new twenty- dollar bill, which lke instantly handed back. “Noi” said the big man, scernly. ‘“‘I didn’t say twenty; I said fijteen, Yank. Gimme a ten and a five, and |] don’t ax nothin’ more, nor I won’t take no more, neither, nor no less.” Julian replaced the bill, and gave Ike the sum for which he asked, which the bunter stuck into his belt pouch, after which he shoved the scow out into the stream, with the remark: ‘‘That ere puffer’ s comin’ clost, Yank. Hyar we go, ’cordin’ to ’greement.” The vigorous push of the pole sent the scow skimming away out of the little stream, back into the broader current of the St. John’s, here several hundred feet wide, bordered with the luxuriant green foliage of the cedar sw amps and palm woods. The river was so crooked that less than half a mile of its course could be seen, and it looked like a lake in the tropics. Palms, palmettos, live-oaks and cedars, all festooned with the ghostly gray Spanish moss, came down to the water’s edge, rising out of a dense bed of underbrush, matted with creepers and gay with flowers. The last rays of the setting sun cast a crimson glow over the p anorama, disclosing great flocks of water-fowl rising from the water, in the midst of which advanced a little white steam yacht, puffing her way over the dark bosom of the river. As soon as the scow came in sight, the little steamer altered her course and came bearing down upon it, while Alligator Ike arrested his way by means of the long push-pole and stood like a statue on the end of the craft, the stern, with Julian Grey sitting in it, close to the bushes oa the shore, Presently the steam yacht passed them, and Alligator Ike had a good view of her. She was some forty-eight feet long, with a slender white bull anda very handsomely fin- ished deck-house, with a broad veranda round it, and an upper deck with a low rail. On the top of the sharp cutwater were carved two large green leaves, out of which rose a lily in white, watching the name, which was printed in gold on each side of the prow. The engine seemed to be below, contrary to the usual custom in these small craft, and was a model of compactness, leaving the maximum of room for the crew and passengers of the Lily, who seemed to be pretty numerous for so small @ vessel, As she passed ped the scow, there were three men, in a blue, half-naval uniform on the bow, while the roof of the deck-house held four or five people, and others were visible inside. As the Lily came abreast of the two men from the swamp, Julian Grey stood up and hailed, in ultra nautical fashion: ** Lily, ahoy! Where are you going to? Don’t you see me?” “Stop her!” cried a voice from the ste oo : ‘Back water, Captain Jim. It’s ulian.” The screw churned the water rapidly, re- versing its usual action, and the Lily stopped alongside of the scow, when Alligator [ke, with a dig of his long pole into the soft mud of the bottom and a heave of his powerful body, whirled the light craft round so that Julian ste lay his Rana on the railing round the yacht. Then Alligator Ike said shortly: ‘Git aboard, young feller.” Julian retained his hold of the railing. ‘‘Not so,” he said, feelingly. ‘‘ You saved my life to- -day, and I cannot be so ungrateful as to let you depart without as much as askin ou to have some dinner with us. Besides, magine you are just the man we have been lookige for in these ts. We want a guide, well acquainted with the country; who can take us to the Everglades this winter. You'd better come aboard. It will pay you to come, Mr. Strang.” Alligator Ike shook his head sullenly. “T don’t want no place as guide, and I don’t want to beg no dinner from uo man, while the woods is fullof game. Git aboard and drop the talk, Yank.” Julian still hesitated. “At least,” he said, ‘do me another favor, and [ll pay you for it. You sa ou know where my skiff is. Fetch it in, an rh give you a five-dollar bill.” Ike cast a glance up at the roof of the deck- house, where he saw several persons leaning over to listen, and then he pulled down his hat over his eyes and growled: “Git aboard then. I'll fetch in yer skiff to ye. Whar’ll ye tie up?” ‘Right over by the blasted pine yonder,” said a voice from the deck-house. ‘We'll wait for you, my man.” Ike looked up again and a sneer curled his black beard as he retorted: “Will ye, my man? That's darned kind of er, my man. But I don’t want ter be waited or, my mau. Go to the dickens, my man. 2 eR eel PRT ES Hyar, young feller, git aboard and be quick. Vil fotch yer darned old skiff in. Git aboard, I say.’ He spoke so savagely that Julian swung him- self on board, when the surly scout sent his scow skimming away up the stream beside the bushes and disappeared, and Julian Grey climbed the side-ladder to the deck above, to be greeted witb: “ Why, Julian, where have you been?” The people on the deck were four in number, Julian’s father, mother, and sister, and a young we friend of his sister, Miss Zuniga. Colonel Grey was a stately-looking person with heavy gray mustache, and the peculiar air of an old soldier, though he had not touched any weapons more formidable than a shot-gun for many years. He was a rich man, as any one could see from his style of traveling, and hailed from the State of Massachusetts. Grey had snow-white bair and a young face, which was reflected in that of her daughter Alice, a pale blonde, whos» contrast and foil sat beside ber in a dark girl with large black eyes whose dress showed her to be rich and an adept in the arts of the toilet. ‘Where did you pick up that savage, Julian?’ his father asked curiously. ‘‘He seems to be very touchy about being called ‘my man!’ Is he a hunter?’ ‘* An alligator-hunter, sir. I met bim out in the swamp, and if he had not come in the nick of time, I should bave been dige sted in the stomach of one of those gentry there.” He pointed down to the river where the lon black snouts of the alligators were poking abou as usual, and Alice screamed: * Ob, Julian! have you been in danger?” ‘* Well, yes. I fired small shot into the face of one of the creatures, and it came for me in a way that was decidedly affectionate. Look at my gun. That was his tail did that.” e exhibited the broken stock, and the girls looked at it in wonder and dismay. Inez Zuniga, the brunette friend of Alice Grey, shuddered when she saw it, and said in a low voice: af Ob, Mr. Julian, how you're sure you're not burt?’ ‘‘ Not at all; though if it had not been for Ike Strang, I should have been killed,” he an- swere Then he told them the story of his escape, and when he had finished, Colonel Grey re- marked: ‘Well, we can excuse a little gruffness of speech and manner from this hunter if his ac- tions are all like that. He’s just the man we want for a guide, I think.” ‘I was trying to persuade him to come with us,” answered Julian, ‘‘ but he is so gruff and so very disagreeable that I think we cannot pre- vail upon him. He called me ‘ Yank,’ every time he didn’t say ‘ young feller,’ ” “ Did he?” asked Grey quickly. ‘Yes, It seems to bea term of dislike with him, for he scowls whenever he says it.” Colonel Grey seemed to be struck with the word, and went thoughtfully to the stern of the little vessel to watch for the coming of Alliga- tor Ike, while the little yacht drifted down the stream, Pretty soon the scow reappeared from the bushes, towing a small skiff. providential ! And CHAPTER IV. A RECOGNITION, WHEN the alligator-bunter came in sight he was standing in the middle of his broad scow, his powerful frame fully revealed against the crim- son flush in the west, the push-pole in his hand, where he had just withdrawn it from the mud, his broad hat thrown on the back of his head, showing bis countenance. Colonel Grey lifted a field glass and scanned his face closely as he advanced, and then beck- oned to Julian before Alligator Ike came along- side, ‘‘ Julian,” he said in a low voice, “ how did that man talk in the swamp before he came here? Did be use good grammar or not?” Julian reflected: ‘Pretty bad, sir, [should say. Talked about the same as the other people down here.” The colonel nodded thoughtfully. ‘“Indeed? You're sure of that?” ‘‘T think so, sir. Why do you ask?” ‘‘Never mind,” answered his father, bastily. ‘‘ He looks like some one I once knew. Tl go down myself and see him,” The colonel climbed down the side-ladder and stood io the stern of the Lily as the alligator- hunter came up, watching him keenly. He seemed to be much interested in him for some reason. Alligator Ike, on the other hand, as his boat. came drifting down the stream, turned his back on the Lily, and seemed to concentrate all his: attention on his push-pole, Furthermore, as he came nearer, he drew his broad hat down over his forehead, so that when he at last came alongside, the colonel could only: see his black beard under the edge of the hat. Not to be baffled, the Northern gentleman said in his politest way; - a ge a a d - m : * * ; ’ +A - a > itl Gol agua) exoyey <5