Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 272 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

— TT mil, ea o _— li , ° q , oo = | .. de ——— Hn <= i od — o —— ee —————— a _ —_ ~ a * Very good. Iam giad of that.” ** Why glad?” The half-breed's eyes glowed in the dark sha- doy of the teepee, ‘*The soldiers are dogs and cowards,” he said bitterly, ‘‘They lie tous and kill our women and children, when they cannot get warriors. We bate them.” ‘So do I,” said Slocum. ‘‘I come from a company of men who believe in peace, I wish to go among my red brothers and show them that a white man can tell the truth and keep his word to them. I will pay you two bundred dollars, and provide horses for yourself and wives to go with us, but I cannot take a wagon with us. Do you accept that?” Bat looked at him furtively. The influence of the Order was strong over his mind, for he was ignorant and supegstitious, and it is just such men that are most impressed by the oaths and ceremonies of secret societies. But for all that, the Frenchman was a keen bargainer and did not propose to be outwitted by any one, ‘* Will you tell me, on the faith of a brother, that you can pay no more?” be asked. ~ Slocum drew a deep breath before he an- swered and then replied: **I cannot provide a wagon, on the faith of a brother ;.and two hundred dollars will take al- most all my stock of money.” Which was literally true as regarded his pri- . vate means, though he knew that the railroad company stood behind bim, in the person of Russell, chief engineer, to back him up in any expense necessary to recover the lost field-book, on whose possession hung a Congressional sub- sidy of land and money worth at least ten mil- lions of dollars, Bat looked more doubtful still. ‘*My brother can get money from some one else, from the railroad company, for instance. This mad American said that the company would give us rations.” “Certainly,” said Slocum, ‘‘The company will do so if I ask for it, but they will not give mé any more money than I can earn for them.” ‘‘My brother will have to beg, then,” said Bat obstinately. ‘I am a poor man and it will be a’bard journey. I must have five hundred dollars and seven horses, with new things and rations for us all,” Slocum besitated ‘apparently, though in reality he was delighted with the cheap consum- mation of the bargain. Ha did not dare to appsar eager, for to do so would be to give the half-breed a clew to the value he placed on his expedition. ‘I will think of it,” he said slowly. ‘It’s a great deal of money, and you ought not to treat a brother thus. I'll try togetit for you. After a!l, what interest is it to me, save for my own Soricety' I might better give up the expedi- D. Bat pretended to be conscience-striken. . “I will go for four hundred and fifty then. I dcn’t want to be bard ona brother, Will you give that?’ . “IT suppose I must,” answered Slocum dryly. ' ag 4 shall tell th , @ head chief on my return how _ ardent the brethren are in the cause of ‘the Or- and they will all know tke name of the brother who drives bargains with the emissary : of 1 chief,” * . ww a A ‘ looked frightened. a t four bundred then,’ he exclaimed “and te (ts the higher secrets of the Order! I will go for that,” , . Slocum saw he had touched the rightchord at The ignorant half-breed was as anxious to in- vestigate the secrets of the uprer circles of the Order as waseyer a dry-goods drummer to wear a skull an? cross-bones on his wateb-guard, or to wes bis trieuus that he had taken the thirty- degree. , So he bowed his head, observing: ‘ ve autbority to organize lodges of all the degrees, and if you are examined and found worthy, you too may become a member of the supreme council, I will give you three hundred _ dollars.” ash ot said coldly: _ Bat reached out bis hand, his face glowing with satisfaction. ‘*T will go,” he said, Slocum did not allow his own relief to ap- hen will you be meen?’ * To-morrow—to-night, if you wish: as soon as I see the ponies to pack my goods. I have buf one, and he is lame.” **'You sball bave them to-morrow, and we will start to-morrow night,” said Slocum, ‘‘We must get out of here before the soldiers see us, or we shall be stopped.” Bat laughed. ** The soldiers are fools,” he said. CHAPTER VIIL SLIPPING OUT. Tam full moon bung over the dark, barren that surrounded Fort Gladstone, opposite town, the next night after the interview between Slocum and the squaw-man, when a large bateau, that generally lay beside the wharf at Gladstone for a ferry, got adrift from = ifs moorings without any one noticing it, and floated away down-streum, At the time the accident occurred, the citi- zens of Gladstone were congregated at Andy Miller’s ** shebang” to see a dog-fight, on which much money was bet; and those who could not get into the room where the pit was set were waiting outside to hear the news, or betting on the reports as they came in, Consequently the boat, which at first only chafed on the wharf by its moorings, when it finally got adrift, swept round in the swift cur- rent of the Missouri, and went drifting down- stream, turning round and round as it went. It was not till it had drifted past the extrem- | est shanties of Gladstone that it became appar- — ent some one was on board, Then a man, who had been lying down in the | bottom of the bateau, rose cautiously up into a crouching position and peeped over the side. As soon as he saw that he was hidden from view of the town by a projecting point of tim- ber, he developed into a marvel of activity and strength. Seizing from the bottom of the boat the long push-pole used by the ferryman, he put it out on the side away from the land and shoved the boat close inshore, where the current was slower than in the middle of the river, and let it drop down nearly a mile, till it arrived oppo- site the dark wooded hollow of ‘‘ Squaw-man’s Hole.” Here a light was shining, deep inside the wood, glimmering at intervals between the trees, and the man with the pole uttered a long, low ery, which was instantly answered from the shore, where the branches and dry sticks cracked and rustled under footsteps. AT SS T_T w————— ee eee eee EO y Seth Slocum, Railroad Surveyor. The half-breed here led the horses on board the bateau, one by ons, finally getting them allin a bunch at one end, tilting the other up in the air, when he called out angrily to Red Feather some Indian words, which caused that redoubtable cook to bestir herself and get them straightened out and the bateau on an even bottum again, for keel she bad none. ‘‘ Eh bien ?—vat you say? Here ve vas,” cried Bat. ‘Now, messieurs, take de poles and do vat you vas told. Ve cross queeck.” There were four poles lying in the boat, and all were very long, with broad, rounded ends, made of thick plank, fastened on to prevent them sinking in the black mud at the bottom of the Missouri. The old voyagrur—for it was easy to see that Baptist was used to bateaux—tfook bis position at the stern, the lines were cast off, and away went the loaded boat down the raging current, at the rate of seven or eight miles an bour, Now out came the poles, and under the direc- tion of Bat, they began to shove the boat over toward the other shore, Rapid as was the current, it was so shallow that they could feel the bottom all the time, and all they had to do was to shove in their poles, let the current swing them round, and so cross the river in a diagonal direction, going down- stream. To push the boat upward, be it ever so little, against such a current, would bave required the strength of a score of men. Slocum noted but little where they were ing, in bis own struggle to hold on to the pole, for it seemed to bim very often as if the current and heavy boat to gether would tear it out of The boatman, with a powerful effort of min-| gled skill and strengtb, sent his boat in a mo- ment to the shore, and called out in broken En- glish and French: ‘*Hola! Vite! Queeck! crere nous! take eet—take eet! von elephant?” A sone of dark figures leaped on the boat and picked up the lines on board, which had Take de line! You vink I Sa- — —— eo - —_— been cleverly cast off at the time she appeared | to be breaking from her moorings at the Glad- | stone wharf, : They leaped ashore with them, and had them fast to trees before the force of the current could break the boat loose, which it threatened to do every moment, : Then the man with the pole let it fall into the bottom of the boat, crying: ‘*Ouf! que cest lourd!—dat is heavee, ven man not use to heem, I have not pole boat for ten year. Ouf!” ‘‘ Well, she’s here anyhow,” replied the voice of Montana George. “ Now git yer traps on, and all the cattle ye have.” The half-breed stepped on shore, while Slo- cum and George, who were the men who had been waiting for him, secured the boat firmly. “‘ He got the bateau off very well, I must ad- mit,” said George, rather grudgingly. Slocum laughed at his tone. ‘‘Of course he did, I see you don’t like to trust him, but you’ll see he'll not play us false.”’ Montana George grunted, ‘‘Umph! No, I don’t like to trust bim. He’s jest half an Injun anyway, and they're always the worst. I don’t intend to do much trusting for my part, to anything but wy rifle and re- volvers. But I supposo you know best, I don’t —-_ ee ee a . ‘ | expect never to come back alive, so I don’t care much.’ ‘*Then why do you go with me at all?” the young man asked. ‘‘I’m not afraid to go alone.” Montana George uttered another grunt, this time of angry incredulity. ‘‘ What d’ye take me fur? A milk-and-water babby that’s afraid to follow a man? No, sir. If you go, I go; if you lose your bair, I lose mine. Tbe company pays me to go with you and agrees to take care of my old mother if i get wiped out—and I’m going through. Here comes Bat, and all his ors pi and baggage.” The cracking and rustling in the bushes were renewed, and, one after another, nearly a dozen little Indian ponies came out of the thicket, in A —_—-——_- —— | single file, each carrying a pack on its back, and | tied head to tail. The first pony was led by Bat, and bore on its back a muffled figure, riding astride. while the last two dragged long sticks, trailing on the the squaw, Red Feather, who seemed to be in a sulky humor, for she was growling to berself all the way. “That’s the woman who’s going to give us trouble.” remarked Montana George in a low tone. “You mark my words—she’s a ’Rapa- hoe, and they’re p’ison mean.” ‘“ What's the matter with her, do you think?” the young engineer asked. ontana shrugged his shoulders, ‘*T won’t tell you, I[swear. P’raps she’s got ground behind them, and were conducted by’ | a feller in the town, and wants to goto bim,or | nose with the his hands, or drag hiv: overboard with it, but at last he heard Bat cry out: ‘ Arretez! Stop! Now, all togeder! Vite! Houp-la!” With that, all three poles were dug in to- gether, and with a pave shove, the boat sud- denly struck an eddy, for which the war Frenchman had been A inp pi which sent it whirling round and round like a top, but stopped its downward progress at once and sent it across stream. ! Then Slocum looked up and saw that they were close under the oiber bank, before a bend in the river, while Bat and George were bolding their poles poised ready to shove when the eddy carried them into a proper position, A moment later Bat said: ‘* Allons/ Push vonce more—now |!” With that came anotber united shove, and the boat skimmed into the bay and grated on the bbles, while the soyeyeur braced bimself to old it there with all bis skill, calling out in low, guarded tones: ‘‘ Ashore! Queeck, qveeck! De line! Peste/ I am not strong enough to hold him for evaire. De line, de line!” Montand@ George leaped ashore with the end of the line first, and had it round the trunk of a sapling, just as the current drove the boat away so hard that the Frenchman Jost bis hold of the pole and was almost pulled overboard, Away went the bateau for pearly twenty feet, when it was checked by the line, and then the force of the current bent over the stout sapling even with the ground. or several secords it wes a question if the line would not tear out the sepling: but luckil it was a very tough one and beld long enoug for Slocum to jump out with another line and get it round a tree a foot thick, when the united (fforts of all hands dragged it close to the bank and it rested stationary, Then Montana George said in a low tone: ‘*Keep still, all of ye, and pt the ponies quiet too. We're nearer the fort than I hke to os and we don’t want to be spotted by no- ody.’ He disappeared in the busbes that fringed the bank, and climbed up in silence to the top. The river was low at that time of year, and the bluffs on the side towered up a gocd bhun- dred feet from the surface of the water, though a few weeks later would probably see the rent flush with the prairie above, and overflow- ing itin many places. Down by the bank, the balf-breed and Red Feather led the loaded ponies very carefully over the side of the bateau, and got them on the ground as silently as they could; the favor- ed squaw, Ripple, sitting quietly on her own pony, with the babyin ber arms in its cov- ering of bark, her care being to keep it from crying. , 8 mothers never allow their babies to ery from the time of their birth; and tbe pro- cess they adopt is one which can be recommended to civilized mothers as effective if not very hu- mane. | Slocum noticed as he got to the shore that the little thing was restless and whimpering in a low tone, and at last it burst irto a wail, In a moment the mother, who had been, up to that, sootbing the r little thing, covered its mouth with the palm of one band and seized its orefinger and thumb of the else don’t fancy ee ne on the spot hte } Set effectually preventing the escape of the winter coming on. ard to say why shes. —— cle o | lky, but sulky she is, you can bet your bot- To be sure it choked the baby, which strug- tom dollar.” 4 as gled with all its feeble force to get rid of the / EComicboo ‘S ' ll | _ col so —_ a a —_ nee