Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 303 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

AN a ee 14 reasons. He had never showed fear of them, | even when he knew nothing of fighting, and he had never grudged them anything be had. And the native hospitality of the Indian race was dormer at the way in which the white man ' mitated their ways in that respect. | Tom had some cattle in the ranch, feeding around the jacal, though there were not more | than a hundred head or so. What was there could not get out; and had become very much tamer than Texan cattle in general; while the Indians had made more than one addition to the bt) stock, which they raided when it pleased them; for an Indian loves no meat so well as that which he kills, in the style of the old buffalo- hunt, while they had no real need of it, and gave back two to one, in most instances, when | the mood took them. The friends were seated around a fire, where they were broiling beef on the coals, and Wild Cat was exhorting as usual, when they heard a long shrill whistle without, and all started u and took their arms in a hurry; for the signa came from an Indian, who had been set on guard, to warn of the approach of any one from the southern counties, where the men were all enemies to Tom’s friends, and, presumably, to himself. ae) When they got outside, they saw the scout, at the top of a bill, riding his horse in a circle; that an enemy was ap- hing; and Wild Cat said to one of the Vere other Indians, who was named Wolf-Eye: “Take Panther and White Calf, and find . what itis. If it is one man, kill him.” ile” Tom interrupted him to say: 4 ‘“Why kill him? Bring himin, One man is not to be feared; is he?’ Wild Cat looked at his pupil gravely. pe the well-known si { | ‘* My white brother is not yet red in his heart, re The dead are safe to take no scalps; and the aries, living man is always ready to kill,” Tom shook his head. ‘* If there is anybody coming that way, itcan | only be an enemy of mine, and I must fight him ! in my own way. If itis one of your own foes, py I have nothing to say; but at least, let us not i make murderers of ourselves without cause,” ‘ Wild Cat allowed a grim smile to cross his i face, as he answered: 5 if my brother wishes to have his foes love ee him, as he has told me, from the book of his mae: le the Good Spirit wishes, it is well; but, if ee t is war, let it be war. The dead enemy is the | only one tkat need not be feared.” “And I say that I fear no single man in - Yexas,” was Tom’s rather proud response. “If ‘aes the enemy is but one, bring him in, and harm Ras him not. Wild Cat turned to his friends. “If it be one man, bring bim in; if it be two, Beek Show in, but any bf se? guns so that you can shoot them. [If it be three, fire on them, as soon as you feel sure you can kill them all.” Spe White Calf, Panther and Wolf-Eye went off ae at the usual gallop of the Indian, and Wild Cat continued to Tom: > My brother will learn some day that the oe teachings of the Great Spirit are not meant for Ot red-men and white, when they meet. If we a followed them, the white men would eat us up in a year.” Tom smiled as he retorted: “They are eating you upas it is, are they not? You have told meso, ae and again, and you have fought them till you have not fifty men left in your tribe. If you were totry my plan awhile, you might find that it would r. The Government would have to take of you then.” ‘i - Wild Cat made no answer, for he was watch- the scout top of the hil], and present- FE “It is but one man, after all, for the Wild a : ag saysso. Wecan go into the jacal again, 7). gna oar oe get ready, di he comes,” 25h en he stalked in e hut and began to eat Then ‘with the air of aman that shakes all responsi- from his mind, and waits for the conse- with an idea that he will be right. om, on the other hand, was decidedly un- ea he had reason to ee ie that any per- o came that way would be an enemy to only encouraging feature about the com- f the stranger was that he was alone; and phought that, if there was any attempt to est him, it would be made by a tes foece. ou sure,” be asked Wild Cat, present- the man on guard might not be mis- He might only see one man, and there be more hidden.” ‘* When the Wild Colt sees an enemy, he never calls till he has counted. If besays there is but one man, will be but one,” was the posi- a SB the Indian. om waited, till he heard the tramp of outside the jacal, and up rode bis friends, no less a person than Hank, the Nailer as soon as he saw Tom, rode up to him, and : ““Tom Field, I come all the way from Satans- town to see you, and I didn’t to fin —s«s You: with a passel of red devils, like this. It By uate that you've turned a squaw man, a — OL ETT a Tom laughed and held out bishand. He knew the prejudices of his old friend, and laughed at them, though he answered: ‘‘TIt is not possible, Hank: so you need not be uneasy about that, One wife is enough for me, and you know I have one, at home, but these are my friends, and they ought to be yours, too,” Then he performed the ceremony of introduc- tion all round, and the Marshal of Satanstown eyed the Indians, with a gravity that showed be did not like them, at the same time that he was civil. Then he was asked into the hut, and, as he dismounted, Tom added: ‘*You’ve had a long ride, and must be hun- gry. We have good beef inside; and, as you don’t drink whisky, there is no need why we should not get on, Hank. I am very glad to see you. I thought, at first, that it was some of those cattle company men, coming after me, but, as soon as I saw you I knew it was all right.” Hank, the Nailer, as he dismounted, managed so as to put the horse between himself and the three Indians, who were sitting aloof from him, and evidently rather suspicious. As he stood by Tom, he suddenly put his hand on the sboulder of the outlaw, and said: ‘‘Thomas Field, I arrest you in the name of the State of Texas. Tell them Injuns to go off, or thar’ll be a muss and you will git wiped aout.” His tone was that of ordinary conversation, but Tom saw that he bad a pistol in bis hand, and was resolved to do as he had said, for the muzzle was directed at the heart of the man he had just arrested, and the expression of his eyes was that of cold and pitiless determination. As Tom hesitated, be added, in a low tone: “T ain’t got no time to waste, and you’rea friend of mine; but them Injuns isn’t. Quick! Do ye give up?” “Of course I must,” said Tom, not without a sigh; ‘‘but let me tell you, Hank, that if you had not come in as a frieud, you could not have got me soeasily. I surrender, of course.” He had his arms on him, but the other bad him covered and would have killed him ina moment, The Indians who had heard the words, and parely understood them, now came closer, and ild Cat shouted: “Let go! Let go!” It was all the English he gould think of at the moment. Hank, the Nailer, only tightened his grasp Me the shoulder of Top Notch Tom, and said to bim;: ‘‘Send ’em off; send ’em off. I don’t wanter kill ye; but, ef it must be, it must be.” Tom waved his hand to Wild Cat. ‘Do vot interfere,” he said in the language of the tribe. ‘‘Thisis a friend of mine; but he has a duty to perform, and he has come to do it. He will see that no injustice is done to me.” Wild Cat called out: “Say the word and we will kill him for you, I told you that there was no man alive who was as safe as a dead foe,” Oe Notch Tom’s first answer was to take off his belt and throw the pistols it contained to the ground, when he answered in words: ‘*T tell you this man is a friend of mine, and he must not be touched, I have promised to go with him.” | The Indians were puzzled. Had it not been that they were keen judges of the expression of the human face, and saw that their friend would be killed if they persisted in their attempt to restue him, they would have opened fire; but they loved Tom’ and did not want to expose him to death. Wild Cat calied out: ‘‘Be it so, He can have you now; but we will kill him to-night, and you shall not go with him, Then he reined up his horse and bis friends did the same; while Hank, the Nailer, who had stood all this time with bis cocked pistol against the heart of Top Notch Tom, observed: “Tell ’em to go away; or it will be the wuss fur all concerned, Tom. I’ve got ye, and ’m bound to take ye to Satanstown. Tom called out to the Indians and told them the marsha) insisted they should 0 away at once, or his life would pay the forfeit. ild Cat grinned with rage at the way in which he had been tricked, for it touched bis ride as an old warrior; but the stoicism of the ndian came to his aid, and be made no answer but to turn his horse and ride off with his friends. Then Hank, the Nailer, turned to Tom and “Tom Field, you’re a man, and I'll never fur- git this! I’ve got to take ye in, ’cause it’s niy dooty; but ef thar’s anything 1 kin do fur ye arter ye gits into prison, it shall be done! pag yer hoss? We've got to git aout of is. Tom saw him replace bis pistol in his belt as if he anticipated no further trouble, and for a moment he was tempted to make a fight of it; for be was irritated at the easy way in which he had been taken by the indomitable Hank, ———— — —_ — Top Notch Tom, the Cowboy Outlaw. with no deceit or trickery save that he had not told him before he arrested bim that he was go- ing to do it, ith a forced and rather bitter laugh, he said to Hank: “It’s not my business to help you now. You call yourself my friend, and you have come all this way to arrest me, ou know I am inno- cent of murder, and yet you have lent yourself te my enemy. ow you bave got me, what are you going to do with me? Suppose I say I won’t go with you?” Hank gravely answered: “Ye won't say that, Tom.” “ Why not?” ‘““*Cause ye know I’m yer friend. Ye wouldn’t make me kill ye, and then go home and tell that pretty little wife of yourn that she was a widdy already, would ye, Tom? It wouldn’t be the squar’ thing on me, nohow. I don’t wanter be hard on ye, Tom. I know ye didn’t never kill no man, but what it were in fa’r fight, and that ain’t no murder in Texas. But I got the war- rant fur ye, and that Englishman allowed as how I was skeered to make the ’rest, and I had to doit, Tom. If ye hadn’t had them Indians ’raound, I'd ha’ bruck it to ye kinder es and axed yer pardon; but when them red devils gits up thar dander, it ain’t in Texas nater to take water fur them. Naow, Tom,I put it to ye, whether it’s nateral fur one white man to jine the red devils to kill another white man? If them Injuns comes arter ye, I ’spect ye to do yer best to help me, and that’s what I’d do fur you if you was in the same box.” There was something in the simple manner of the marshal, and in the way he spoke, that convinced Tom that he was in earnest. He thought he was perfectly justified in ask- ing Tom to help him in the arrest, and the heart of the outlaw was touched by the appeal to his honor. ; He resolved to try Hank, and see if he was accessible to the same feelings as those to which | he appealed. | - See here, Hank,” he said. ‘“* You don’t know those Indians, as I do, They are very fond of me, and they think you aremyenemy. It will be impossible for me to prevent them from com- ing down to rescue me, unless I can make be- lieve, to them, that the arrest was all a joke. Will you trust me, if 1 give you my word of honor to come back to you! I must be allowed to go away, and see them, with all my arms, and you must take the chances of whether I run away or not. If you will do that, I promise you that I can send those Indians away, and | that they shall make no effort to retake me, and kill be ' Hank looked at him narrowly from head to. oot, “See hyar,” he said; “I’ve knowed you fur: some time, and I never knowed ye to lie. If ye was to lie to me now, and not come back, d’ye know what I’d have to do?” ‘‘ No,” said Tom struck with something in the other’s face, that awed him, without knowing why. Hank took the hand of the young outlaw, and his eyes had g kindly gleam in them that surprised Tom, as he answered: ‘Boy, I don’t wanter kill ye; but ef ye was to play me false, I’d have to doit, and I’d hate it mightily. Li take yer word.” ‘““Very well,” said Tom, who stooped and pores up his weapons, which he replaced in his lt, as he buckled it round his waist. - Now, Hank,” he said, ‘I am going out to see the Indians. If they do not choose to let us go back to Satanstown, they can stop us, for they have at least fifty men within call. If I ask them, as a personal favor, to let me go to Satanstown, they will do it. But suppose old Wild Cat wants to go with me: how then? He is very suspicious, and may demand it.” “ Will you give yer word that he don’t cut up no shines?” asked Hank. ‘“‘T will, ifno harm comes to me. If he sees any sign of treachery, I think it more than likely that be will fight,” said Tom frankly, “Then he kin come,” Hank said. ‘‘We may want him.” CHAPTER XVII. THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS. HELEN COLLINGSWORTH was seated at the win- dow of the belvidere that commanded a view over the prairie for miles around. Beside her was a long telescope, on a stand: one of the few remnants of the life the old judge used to live before the war, in Georgia, when he was arich planter and had little todo but to amuse himself. His hobby in those days bad been amateur as- tronomy, and he had a very fine glass, witha four-inch aperture, through which one could see the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, and. the other wonderful sights that stud the heav-. ens, He had brought the glass to Texas, but had not bad much time to use it, though be bad the little observatory built, on purpose to take it in. But, if the judge bad forgotten his wld friends: in the sky, his daughters bad found the telescope: EGOmiuie Ss) IJOO = ————————————— G , 5 <> - ‘ “2 < ' ) i / ' '