Beadle's Dime Library No. 309 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

_—--- | had been dragged out by savages, and they | would return for her. As this thought came home to the poor girl, she stepped forward, only to be almost para- lyzed with the sight before ber, Black Fox, the Comanche, approached, swaying and trem- bling, his eyes filled with gloating exultation. Slowly this horrible object moved toward her, and yet Pearl could not move. Her breath came and went in short gasps; and, not until then, the loathsome Indian endeavored to sus- tain himself by one hand, and grasp his knife in the other, Not until then did poor Pear], with a piercing shriek of terror, turn and run to the further corner of the cave-chamber, There, to her re- lief, she discovered a branching passage, which joc to some other cave. Here was a respite at east. The maiden turned, gazing backward, and saw, to ber great relief, that the Comanche had sunk on tbe floor of the cavern, and could not see her, All that bad kept ber from falling into a swoon, was the belief that the savages would return and seize her if sho remained. Now, a way of escape was open. Thankful for the strength to flee, and still re- taining the torch, Pearl Pemberton tottered into the dark passage, and thus on, into the bowels of the honey-combed cliffs of San Saba—going, she knew not whither, but death was to be pre- ferred ke the horrors of that corpse-strewn cavern! CHAPTER XII MEETING AND PARTING, Nor more than five minutes after the disap- pearance of Pearl Pemberton from the cave- chamber, Black Fox again revived, and, seem- ing to have forgotten the vision of the white maiden, and also that his enemy, to whom he owed his death-wound and the death of his fel- low-braves, lay at his mercy, be crawled from the cavern, along the ledge, aud into the gorge; where he was discovered by Old Rocky, as bas been described. For, the horrible object, which the old scout saw from around the bowlder, was none other than Black Fox, the Comanche spy; whose life, what little remained to him, hung upon a thread, Tbe war-cries of the Comanche force under Big Foot had been the means of Old Rocky’s leaving the miserable wretch with the remnant of life in him, When those wild whoops of war, so loud and terrific, rang and echoed through timber and gulch, and cleft and cavern, the sound seemed to pierce the consciousness and revive the brain of Rattler, the Ranger, benumbed as it had been by the blow of the Indian’s tomahawk. Rattler sprung at once to his feet, pressing his head with his hands; then, as the same were moist, he gazed at them, although in the dark- ness he could not distinguish even the hand be- fore him. Bewildered, he felt around Lim, and his hand came in contact with the rock wall, Then, in an instunt, the near past flashed upon him. He remembered his terrible knife- conflict with the four braves, the shriek of his darling, and her loved form against the wall of the cavern. He recalled her face, pale and drawn in anguish, as shown in the glare of the torch. It was a weird picture, that would be forever photographed upon his brain, Where was that lighted torch? Where was Pear! Pemberton! “Oh, my God! My God, preserve her!” Thus he cried out, as he recalled the fact that one Indian remained Bie, ooh who had stricken him senseless to the floor, at the very moment that his knife bad been driven into the painted breast. Had that knife pierced a mortal part? The absence of the torch indicated the con- trary. . His mental question was thus answered in the negative. Electric-like came these thoughts, torturing and searing his brain. Then he cried out—oh, so earnestly, so wistfully, so prayerfully— ‘Pearl! Pearl! For God’s sake speak to me!” But silence ruled the cavern—a silence almost an — ~ ith a gasping cry of anguish and despair, Rattler quickly canchi at his tinder-box. All this was in a Moment’s time, Then again rung the terrific whoops of war— sounds that had not been distinguished as he recovered, they having first pierced bis brain as the horde of Big Foot came in view of the wagon-fort, and last as the Comanches, in full Charge, with bows in hand, dashed down upon the doomed teamsters. “Oh, Great God!” With this single ejaculation, the young ranger felt along the wall, bruising his hand, groping biz way to the open air. Then, balf-insane, he returned, struck o light, and sprung into the cave chamber, holding a blazing piece of buck- skin, Which, when long greased, burns brightly. One glance showed him the dead _ brave, tn the very spot where be bad last seen Pearl. But Pear] was not there! Dashing out of the chamber, he discovered the corpse of but one of the red raiders, Rayopbold, the Rattling Ranger. 11 W bere was the otber? Where was Pearl Pemberton? He felt that to answer one of these questions would be answering both, and he groaned aloud in bis agony. Tbe sounds of battle now filled bis ears, rifle- shots and fierce yells, and then the rattling fusilades of revolvers; and he rushed like a madman from the cavern, dropping the buck- skin that had blistered his fingers, before reach- ing the open air. Soon, however, he burst forth into the light of tho eventide, beholding the red glow in the west—blood-red, as appear- ed everything. His wound had opened, and little streams of blood ran down over his death-pale brow, and temples, and cheeks. Gasping for breath, in his agony of soul Rat- tler plunged down upon tbe rocky shelf, and ran, as if drawn by some iufluence be could not resist, toward the river; although it was a sheer precipice of full fifty feet, as he well knew, for there he had felt the feathered shaft brush his cheek, On he went, beating the air with his fists, his sombrero gone, his blood-matted hair and gore- streaked face giving him a horrible appearance, In a moment or two, he stood upon the brink of the steep, above the rolling waters of the Rio San Saba; the terrific sounds of battle filling his ears, Downward he gazed, as if guided by some ir- resistible power; when a sight met bis view, in perfect consonance with the happenings of the night. It was one that increased his heart’s agony, What was it? Far down, upon the opposite side of the river, was a fire; aud beside that fire lay the out- stretched form of Paul Pemberton, bis wrists and his ankles secured to the stakes driven into the earth! But this was not all. Around and around the fire and the captive, in spasmodic bop and bound, with menacing tomahawk in the right and gleaming scalping- knife in the left hand, was a Comanche brave, hideous in war-paint and demoniac in triumph, as at times these weapons were raised upward, as if to call the attention of the air spirits to this victim on the war-trail. This was the young brave who had captured Paul, the moment the latter had fired his rifle, and slain the red raider who was about ‘to murder his father. The sight fairly dazed Rattler with horror, Naught but blood and death, and torture of soul and body reigned on the San Saba! But the cup of the ranger was not yet full, for at the next moment after this dread discov- ery, when he stood appalled and helpless to aid the unhappy youth, a bright light shot through the bottom-timber and afar heavenward, fol- lowed by an explosion that fairly shook the rocky cliffs upon which he stood, Then a piercing shriek came from below Rattler’s sta- tion—-a shriek which he knew but too well, and which pierced his very soul. Down the young man gazed with staring eyes bending over the cliff, bis teeth and hands clinched, when through the air, from a point far below him, shot a female form down into the waters, disappearing from view but soon reappearing and floating upon the surface of the river, which was turned to molten gold by the firelight that played upon it. The face was clearly defined. It was the face be loved so well—the face of his darling, Pear! Pemberton! Could the fiendish Comanches have devised such torture as the young ranger had suffered since coming within view of the San Saba ford? ; No! a thousand times, no! The strong man’s form suddenly became erect. There was a strange light in bis eyes, It was only by a superhuman effort that he tore his gaze from that floating face. Then he held bis breath and sprung afar out into the great chasm, keeping his arms to his side and his feet fast pressed together, shooting down that dangerous hight, and plunging, with a far- sounding splash and spatter, into the calm, deep waters, Down he went, providentially rig a deep pool. Then, struggling he arose, gasping for breath, and stupefied, but not for any length of ime, In wide, sweeping strokes he spurned the waters, down the current toward that floating form, now buoyed by the air in the clothing which bad been forced in by the young girl’s mad plunge, Soon Rattler grasped and held her, while on, down the current toward the ford, be sped. He dared not even look upon that loved face, which might, with his life, be torn from bim, through want of caution and alertness, Keenly he swept the shades and rocks on both sides, and listened; but the stampede had passed the ford, as had also the Indians in pur- suit of it. However, the exultant yells of the Comanches at the timber-cove he could plainly hear; and it was with the cunning, and caution, and skill, which be knew so well how to practice, that Rattler reached a thicket within a break of the gorge, and on tbe east side of the same near the tord, and within a few yards of the Indians he bad slain at the commencement of the borrors, when he had witnessed the lassoing of Pearl in the ford, ‘‘ Watber in Heaven, 1 thank Thee!” Thus cried the young man, in sou)-felt, grate ful words, as be sunk exbausted in the thicket, Pearl’s corpse-like form in his arms. Covering her pale face with kisses, bimself moaving in anguish at her condition, and the thought of her almost unendurable sufferings, the Texes Rattler chafed the maiden’s wrists, and endeavored to bring her back to conscious- ness, While he was thus cccupied, the joy of the young ranger may be imegined when be heard the low, well-known and peculiar whinny of bis faithful and well-tried steed quite near to bim, in the thicket where Old Rocky bad thought- fully secured the animal. Laying Pearl tenderly upon the featy Sy ihe Rattler ran to bis horse, which manifested its pleasure by rubbing its nose against its mas- ter’s shoulder—be patting the animal affection- ately and sg est low words of caution, as be unlocsed his blankets and ma/ettos, and spread- ing the former on the ground, returned to bis darling, bringing her to the blanket and laying her upcn it. Quickly the young man procured a flask of brandy from his saddle: bags, and poured some of it between the a)most colorless lips, while he bathed her forehead end temples. His tears were kept back with difficulty as be Jooked upon the beautiful being whem he adored, now in such a forlorn and terrible condition, The fact that be had seen Paul a captive, while an Indian danced around the poor youth, was now entirely Jost sight of in the jov and re- lief the young man experienced at coming 4 out from his dangerous leap from the cliff, which, bad bis body taken a curve, or struck otherwise than perpendicularly, or bad the water been shallow and with a rock bottom, must bave resulted fatally. This, and his having gotten Pearl to a place of comparative safety, caused him, in his half- demoralized state of mind, to be oblivious to all else, except the necessity for exercising th utmost caution, ; The poor girl soon moaned slightly, and open- ed her eyes, meeting the ardent, thankful and loving gaze of the one whom, in all the world, she most desired to meet, but had never again expected to see, e may, to a certain extent, imagine the rap- ture, the extreme gratitude, and the expressions of love that passed between these two faithful hearts, that bad been parted in so fearful a manner, and now met under such dread horrors and terrible experiences, It is certain that no pen could do justice to the occasion. But during this, the fact that she had seen her little brother in the power of a hideous savage— which scene was what had caused her to lea from the mouth of a cavern in the cliff, reache only by long wanderings in the honey-combed bill of rock, when she escaped from the cave of horrors—this sight could not long remain un- spoken of by Pearl, Besides, she had heard the terrific war-whoops, shots, and yells, and knew that a battle was then being fought. The Texas Rattler bad seen and heard the same, as he informed ber in their mutual ex- planations, and Pearl, with tears in her eyes, leaded with her lover to go and release her rotber, if possible. The young man gave it as his opinion, that the train bad been captured, and all connected with it slain, and he confessed that, did Pearl think she could bear to remain in the thicket alone with bis borse, he would like much to rescue Paul, and also to ascertain the fate of the teamsters, the colonel and Old Rocky, asserting that the latter had been in that very thicket, and that it was to him he owed the safety of his faithful horse, for he had recog- | nized the old scout’s peculiar tie of the lariat, which was an old-time arrangement between them. The consultation of the strangely-met Bese was brief, as the occasion demanded; and, as darkness bad now set in, the Texan Rattler be- lieved it would be perfectly safe for Pearl to re- main concealed in the thicket. Consequently the youtbful pair tore them- selves apart with mutual words of bope and caution; and Rettler, after drawing the wet loads from bis revolvers, wiping the cylinders carefully, and reloading, stole away in the semi- darkness, leaving all he loved on earth, one who had passed through terrors and horrors suffi- cient to have killed or crazed most of her sex— leaving Pearl Pemberton alone with his noble— steed, both of them fully aware that they might never again meet on earth. CHAPTER XIII. DESERTING HIS CAPTIVE. THE young brave who was performing the torture dance around Paul Pemberton, by way of praetice, and to enjoy the terror of his cap- 7 Gomicdooks, co