Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 308 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

<—-—v” = — — — = = : ru23 ----- + - =e: a oe Hemlock Hank. ~ ———S* Neen nn nn en nn TEENIE AR ‘““There they are!” he exclaimed. ‘I see Hemlock Hank, and there is the old man! He won’t escape now before I can get to bim. Come on, Auguste!” He made a final struggle, and stood on the sharp edge of the saddleback pass, in full view of the man he was hunting. But his joy was tempered by a cry of fear from Auguste. The Indian, who was a little way below him, felt the earth slipping awa y from under his feet, and that was what had extorted the ery from him, The next moment Risden experienced the same sensation, and the events that followed were so swift and startling that no record could be kept by the persons involved in them. Risden at once realized what was happening. it seemed as if the ridge was not only set- cay f but dropping away under bim. The fall was accompanied, not by a crash, but by a grinding, roaring noise, that might have given the impression of an earthquake. Risden grasped a tree near him; but the next moment he had sunk out of sight of the pla- sy and was goipog downward with a fearful rush, It must have occurred to him that it was a good thing that he was at the crest of the ridge when the slide began. aturally it started from below, and the im- pulse was communicated upward, No matter what the fall might be, it was much better to be on top of the mass than under it. * In the first instance a man might be broken; in the second he was sure to be crushed. But the great difficulty was to keep on the top of the slide. To achieve this result the detective exerted all bis energies, > ‘But everything was so sudden, and so utterly beyond his control, that he had no thought for more than the shadow of a plan, and it was mainly instinct that prompted his actions. He could only scramble upward as he went downward, catching hold of everything he could reach that was above him as he was car- ried on, extricating himself to the best of his ability from the earth and rubbish that gather- ed around him, and all the time striving to keep himself on top of the sliding mass. It happened in a woment—so quickly that the best description would be weak and halting. Before the detective could collect his startled senses, the sliding mass of earth and stones and mountain growth went over the rocky part of the ridge, and dropped into the ravine, dam- ming, the icy torrent down there. > op en dropped with it; but he was not under it. He had succeeded in keeping himself on top, and the branches of atree to which he was clinging at the time broke his fall, As Hank Ward said of him afterward, he was like a cat, sure to fall on his feet, He picked himself up, and discovered, to his great delight, that he was entirely unharmed, ' a - found himself sound in bone, muscle and esh, Even his nerves were not shaken, so sudden had been the catastrophe, and so quickly the close had come, a looked about for Auguste, but saw nothing of him. ae called, and was answered by a faint cry. It was something to know that his useful assis- tant was still in the land of the living. Risden followed the direction of the ery, and soon found the head and one of the arms of the Indian sticking up out of the earth and rub- ish, The detective hastened to his assistance, and found him very much alive, but full of pain, and terribly frightened. a the most strenuous exertions Risden. suc- ed in extricating bim from bis painful but not perilous position. Auguste was found to have sustained no seri- ous injury. That is to say, no bones had been broken; but his entire body was bruised, and the skin had been torn off in places, When he was assisted to his feet, it was with great difficulty he could stand, and the main trouble was with one of his legs, which he seemed to be nearly incapable of using. Risden placed him ina resting position, and ‘sovzbt their rifles. e had not ceased to retain his own in spite of the slide, og Hi it only when he went to dig out the Indian, and Auguste’s rifle was found uninjured near where he was extricated. The torrent that had been dammed by the slide was still howling down the ravine, and had alréady formed such a pond that it threatened soon to overpass the er and sweep the men from their position. It was necessary that they should lose no time in getting away from there. - Fortunately the bed of the ravine below, ow- ing to the mp km of the mountain stream, was then sea gd ry. A ' Risden formed his resolution instantly, and at once carried it into effect. He made the Indian grasp. him around his neck, raised himself with his follower on his back, and, with the two rifles in his hands, picked his way over and among the earth and stones and debris of the slide, until he reached the bottom of the ravine. Without stopping to take breath, he stumbled down the rocky path as. rapidly as possible, and continued on his course until he was compelled to balt and rest. As soon as he could, he took up his burden again, and hurried down the ravine until he reached its mouth, or the place whereit widened out on either side. There he walked upward and away from it to a turfy spot under the trees, where sheer ex- haustion compelled bim to drop his load and fall by the side of the Indian. The next moment the torrent, which bad overflowed its dam, came tearing down the ravine, . CHAPTER XXXII. FOUND AND LOST, Dick RispEn rested with Auguste. At the time he was doubtless in the worst 4 of the two, the tremendous strain which e had lately undergone having completely broken him down. But he had immense recuperative powers, and was soon able to bestir himself and attend to the pressing needs of the moment, The first thing that he did was to gather brush and bits of wood and start a fire, which soon made. their situation brighter and more comfortable, It was manifestly impossible for them to reach their camping-place that day, as night would soon close down upon them, and the In- dian was not able to walk. So they must of necessity pass the night where they were, and make themselves as com- fortable as possible, At the best there was precious little comfort to be extracted from their position, as the ground was wet, and the night was sure to be damp and cold, and they had no blankets to protect them. But they had a fair supply of food, on which they supped reasonably well, toasting the slices of salt pork at the fire, and catching the drip- pings on their ship biscuit. Such a meal might well rejoice the heart of a hungry man, and they were both hungry, in spite of pain and exhaustion. It is probable that the detective was more troubled by the thought of what the catas- trophe had taken from him, than by the catas- trophe itself. To have seen his prey almost within his grasp, and then to have it suddenly snatched from him—or himself snatched from it—by an act of providence which could not be foreseen or provided against—that was what drove the iron into his soul and twisted it there. Of course they had seen him, and the sight would warn them to look out for themselves, no matter what view they might take of his prob- able fate. There were plenty of fir trees at hand, and he cut a sufficient quantity of the boughs to make such a couch for bimself and the Indian as would at least keep them off the wet ground. Then he built up a big fire, throwing on the largest wood he’ could get hold of, and laid down by the side of Auguste with no covering but the sky. Notwithstanding the coolness of the night, the detective slept well until morning, rising only when the d warned him to mend the fire, Auguste, owing to the pain of his bruises, was restless and uneomfortable. In the morning it was necessary to get back to theircamp, as they had no more food. The Indian, though stiff and sore, was able to walk after a fasbion, and he hobbled along slowly and with difficulty. It was a very tedious and difficult journey, as they were frequently obliged to stop to rest; but they finally reached their camp, where r= rs Aang fire and food and comparative com- ort. Risden attended to his follower’s hurts as well as he could, and made him a good bed upon which Auguste rested, while his chief smoked his pipe and meditated upon his great disap- poiutment. Of course he had not the faintest idea of abandoning the pursuit, If it was the Day of Judgment, and the last trump had sounded, he would make one more dash to secure his prey before the earth melted. Even then, though it was getting late in the day, be was restless and uneasy in his anxious desire to start out and seek Solon Marley before he could escape It was only the condition of the Indian that prevented him from doing so. His first duty was to his wounded follower, and Auguste was just then so helpless that it would not be sh sa to leave him. But his condition had so far improved by the next morning that he was able to take care of himself and provide for bis own wants. So the detective left him there in camp, with an ample supply of fuel, directing him to rest aud make no unnecessary exertion, As for himself, Risden did not know when he sbould return. He was bound to get to the point which he had nearly reached the previous day, and could | not say what length of time might be required | for the accomplishment of his purpose. He traveled as light as possible, carrying only | his weapons and a supply of food, and struck off at once for the mountain. Observation bad convinced him that the pla- teau might be reached in a different direction from that which he had previous! y attempted— that is, from the rear. That day’s efforts were devoted to the labor of reaching the rear of the apparently unap- proachable hight, and a very difficult and dis- couraging task it was. Climbing mountain spurs, fording mountain streams, ascending cliffs and descending ra- vines, was a very serious business at that time of the year, especially as be was unable to keep his goal in sight, and his course was to a large extent nothing but blind guesswork. But be succeeded. At last he climbed the mght peak, made sure that he was headed in the right direction, aud emerged upon the plateau from the rear. The day was done then, and darkness had set- tled down upon the earth, but the moon was coming up over the tops of the trees, “It is better so,” be muttered. *‘ If they have not gone off for good, it is not likely that they will be away at night.” Abundant evidences of occupation met him at The Outlook, But it was recent occupation. There is an unexplainable something about a deserted house that tells the story of deser- tion. If it is merely closed, no matter how tightly, it has not the same forlorn and melancholy air that surrounds it when its occupants have aban- doned it, Then something of the life and spirit of its inmates seems to fill it and emanate from it, and one instinctively feels that it is yet a bome. A feeling of this sort took hold of the detec- tive as he walked across the plateau. It may have been that this feeling was partly inspired by his previous disappointment, and by his belief that the warning of his presence would cause Solon Marley to fly. He eo tert the cabin, but there was no sign of life there. He stepped to the door, and it opened readily to his touch. The place was empty. His bird had flown. Most of the furniture of the former occu- pants was still there; but there were no more occupants, Of course Solon Marley had fled; but whither had he fled? It was not likely that he would again estab- lish bimself anywhere in the neighborhood, and there was but one direction that he could take at that season of the year, “ He must go down the river, if anywhere. In so doing it was highly probable that he and his party would start from Hubbard’s, or would stop at Hubbard’s for necessaries, or would pass Hubbard’s on the way. He would at least be able to on some infor- mation concerning them at Hubbard’s, and thither he must go to strike the trail, He hastened to the edge of the plateau, seek- ing the spot where he bad seen the as 4 when looking upward from the foot of the cliff. The windlass that they had left he easily found, and the pulley was still attached to the gnarled tree that leaned over the edge. But the rope bad been removed, and there was no possibility of getting down from the plateau in that quarter, But it was on that side that he wished to de- scend, as the idea of returning by the long and difficult route by which be had come there was hateful to him. His day’s hard travel, following the exertions of the previous two days, had greatly wearied him, and the empty cabin invited him to tarry there and rest. This was a strong temptation; but he resisted _it. True to his purpose, he examined the side of the plateau where the saddleback pass had sunk, and came to the conclusion that he could get down to what remained of the ridge. With Diek Risden a thing that was a was a thing that must be done, and this thing he proceeded to do, . he task of climbing down from the plateai called forth all his powers, forcing him to strain every muscle, an utting him in danger of limb, if not of life; but it was successfully ac- complished, He was in the habit of accomplishing what- ever he undertook, and it was only in his pur- suit of Solon Marley that fate bad again and again interfered to baffle him, ail? «9 But his obstinacy was of so tough a temper, that the more events worked against him, the harder he would work against events. S) MIGDOO (E(0) (E(0)