Beadle's Dime Library No. 327 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

sb ‘ ; 7. Ny Y hh ny Tha quwese dns == outta gepimanndadlliicns ne bon res ea OO me oe iw ee a Terrapin Dick. tention was to return to Staley’s, and he inti- | ‘* How did you happen to get clear of them?” to mated that the change of programme suited him very well. They were obliged to pass another night in the woods before reaching the Penobscot, and at the camp they had a fresh and somewhat singular experience. t was about dusk, and they had cooked a . savory meal, which they were proceeding to en- joy, when they were startled by the arrival of a stranger. It was quite natural that they should be startled, as he appeared before them suddenly and without the sightest warning, as if he had risen from the ground before their eyes. Perhaps he was attracted to the spot by the very pleasant odor of their. evening meal as it was wafted through the forest by a gentle breeze that drew up the stream. He surely had the ap whom the attraction o resistible. A more disconsolate, woebegone, and utterly used-up individual it would be hard to imagine. His clothes, originally of cheap and poor quality, were badly worn, covered with grease and dirt, and adorned only with tatters. His body was attenuated, his face wan and shrunken, and his entire appearance spoke of a revious lack of food, if not of actual starva- on. that odor would be ir- His condition was partly accounted for by the | fist, old fellow! You are the finest fact that he had no weapon other than a hunt- | of a man I have met in a day or two. ing-knife. e country and quality of the stranger could and leave | | | | i j { | i | | Lawson then wan know. a answer was that hehad got mad and left them. ‘That is queer. Of course you had a rifle. W hat has become of that?” ‘* Lost it.” ‘*That is queer, too. Why did you get mad our partners?” sé Dose *Merican man.” ‘* And your nose was put out of joint, hey? Who was the other man?’ : ** Joe Jeffard.” CHAPTER XXIIL EXTREME INGRATITUDE. BEN LAWSON started up so suddenly at the arance of a person to | name of Joe Jeffard, that the Kanuck shrunk away asif fearing that his host was about to strike him. But that was far from being Ben’s intention. Though he had before been.merely compas- | sionate toward his unwelcome guest, he was now overflowing with friendship for him. He extended his hand in the heartiest manner, while his face was bright with smiles. ** Don’t get scared, Kanuck!” he exclaimed. ‘**T wouldn’t hurt a hair of your head, or even disturb one of its inhabitants. Give me your "men would- n’t have missed you for more money than you ever saw. Nep, get a cup of rum and water for easily be inferred, considering the time and | our friend here, and put in some sugar, and lace of his appearance, from his straight black | make it stiff.” air, his beady black eyes, his yellow skin, and his furtive, sinister expression of countenance. He was Kanuck from Kanuckdom—doubtless a mixture of Canadian French and Indian— mame one of the prowling band that was then infesting the sro But at that moment he could be considered as nothing but an object of cempassion. ‘** Hello, Kanuck!” said Lawson, as he looked | brium by the production of a up from his supper. ‘*‘ What do you want?” “Hungry,” was the man’s brief reply, as he pointed at his open mouth. The guide, who was astonished at this ebulli- | tion, hastened to obey the order, but with frowns | and shakes of the head, as if he feared that ‘‘ Boss Ben” had gone crazy. The stranger, who was equally amazed, al- lowed his hand to be 2 ae, bag is host, while he stared at him in blank bewilderment. But the former was soon restored to his equili- potent dram which gave him great inward satisfaction, and put him on good terms with the world. ‘Let me fill up your pipe, old fellow,” said ‘** Well, you look it. Sit down, and we will | ate " ae Thee we will sit down and have a so- | Clapie Smoke, see what we can do for you.” Lawson mixed some rum and water in atin | cup, and gave it to the Kanuck. e drank it greedily, and his leathery counte- nance expressed his satisfaction. ““ By rights;” remarked Ben, ‘‘ he ought to be made to.wash himself before we feed him; but.1 ; i | } | It soon turned out that the dram was intended as an aid in extracting information, as one will pour water into a dry pump to start its suction. The Kanuck under its influence, and with the promise of more, was quite amenable to the pro- cess of pumping, which Ben conducted vigorous- don’t know that I ought to press it on him. | ly, with the occasional assistance of Neptune as What do you think, Neptune?” ** Might kill ’um.” ‘‘That’s so, and we won’t take an But ; an interpreter. His name, as he admitted, was Antoine Jan- risks. | not, and he had been the leader of the band of €iive him ee, of bread and meat, Nep, and | prowling Kanucks until the advent of the inter- off a take him BO 0 nd devour it by himself. ¢lon’t send him too far, as I will to say to him after a little.” The stranger was liberally supplied with food, and he went aside as he was directed to, and consumed it ravenously. Doubtless he could have eaten more; but he did not ask for more, and Lawson was of the opinion that he had been stuffed sufficiently. When he had finished his own supper Ben hunted up an old pipe, filled it with tobacco, and gave it to the stranger. The unwelcome and unpleasant guest ap- to be immensely thankful for the favors t had been bestowed upon him, and doubt- less he was. As he had been on the verge of starvation, from which he was almost miraculously saved, he was bound to feel grateful, if his nature was half-human. He showed no desire to leave the good com- into which he had fallen, but sat and ve something fenclied the black pipe witha keen relish, ex- his thanks as volubly as he could in his ’ fivoken English and Kanuck patois. “Neptune * You are welcome,” replied Ben Lawson, “though I am afraid that you don’t deserve it. Were you one of the Kanucks who stole a boat and a lot of campers’ stuff up tho river a few hts ago?” he stranger held up his hands in horror when this question was made plain to him by who easily understood his mixed-u and he vehemently protested that he h not been gui ty of that transaction or of any- to it. “*Do you think that he was one of the gang we scattered, Nep?” inquired the ‘* Boss.” The guide could not recognize him, nor did er and he was counted clear of that accusa- on. ‘But, if you were not in that scrape,” said Lawson, ‘you have been in others, no doubt, and plenty of them. I you belong to the that has been prowling about here. Further investigation and cross-examination, " esnducte1 by Neptune under the direction of ‘+ Boss Ben,” confirmed the trtth of this supposi- tion, thou _ it was hard to wring the facts from e party. He did belong, or had belon wling band as was mentio , to such a but was free m them then, as he said, and preferred to | have nothing mere to do with them. oper Joe Jeffard, who had ousted him from his position, and had degraded him—if he could be one onsequently he hated Jeifard, and abused him most unintelligibly. ‘* Now let us see about this Jeffard,” said the friendly Lawson, ‘‘I want to know what ho is like, ou say that he is.a sort of an American. I suppose, then, that he may have been born in Canada,” Jaunot admitted that his enemy was a Cana- dian by birth. ‘‘ And perhaps it was because he had lived down country, and had picked up smartness there, that your partners considered him a bet- ter man than you, and put him in your place.” Yes, it was a fact, as the Kanuck itted, that Jeffard had lived. down country, and was me sed on that account to be a wise and ca- pable man. ‘* Now I want a description of Joe Jeffard—as good a puotemeants of him as you can make.” This request —. been explained to the Kanuck by Neptune, he proceeded to describe the personal appearance of Joe Jeffard, materi- ally assisted by hints from Ben Lawson, s the picture progressed, and the lines were more clearly drawn, a light seemed to dawn up- on the mind of the Indian. ** Oho!” he exclaimed. ’ ** You see the point, then,” quickly remarked Lawson, ‘This Joe Jeffard is the man we saw at Staley’s—the man who has been preying upon my mind. But there is a great deal more t that about’him. Heis the very man I want to find—the man I came up here to look after, I mean to get hold of him, too, if I have to catch and skin every thieving Kanuck in the country, except this one.” ‘‘Ketch this’un, and keep um,” suggestéll Neptune. * Just_so. That is what I mean to do, and I only wish I could get him clean. I shall enlist him in my service, with good pay and rations. Now you see, Nep, why I chad upon him as a kind of a boon, and why his mention of the naine of Joe Jeffard touched a spring in me, as it were.” Ben Lawson was again talking for his own benefit, and the guide did not clearly compre- hend him. ee ae understood the next words well Mars Bring him somo more rum, Nep, and mix it —— | ~~ terme re eee ee -_—_—— ee ———— strong. This is going to be banyan day for him.” When the guide had given their guest another tin cup filled with rum and water, he stood be- hind Jaunot’s back, curiously inspecting him from that point of view. ‘What is the matter, Nep?”’ asked watchful Ben Lawson. ‘‘ What do you see there?” Neptune pointed at the Kanuck’s back, and anucks got ‘um *nodder cap’n—sorter | Lawson also inspected it, greatly to the discom- posure of his guest. ‘* See here, antck he exclaimed. ‘‘ What does this mean? What sort of a circus have you been in, anyhow? Pull off your coat, and let us take a look at you.” Jaunot protested against this exposure; but, in spite of his objections, his ragged ceat was removed, and the marks of a recent severe whipping were visible on his back, ‘**Merican man whippa me,” he confessed, when confession could no longer be avoided. He was induced to confess further, and told the story as it suited him to tell it, leaving out a lange portion. is story was that three Americans had caught him in the woods, had tied him to a tree, and, for no cause in the world, one of them had whipped him with hickory switches. He was requested to describe the men, and they were recognized by his hosts, ‘* Those must be our friends whose plunder we caught for them,” said Lawson, ‘* How long is it since we left them, Nep?”’ ‘Tree, four day,” answered the Indian. ‘*Time enough for them to attend to our friend Jaunot. Yes, they are the parties. No doubt they had food cause for what they did. Well, Kanuck, I hope it won’t occur again. All you have to do is to stay with me, or to do as I tell you, and you will be well treated,” Before they laid down to sleep Neptune sug- bag that it would be well for one of them to c<eep watch, as their guest was a very uncertain character, who might play them false. ‘“‘T guess we needn’t worry about that,” re- plied Lawson. ‘‘He must be too well satisfied with his present quarters to want to change them or get kicked out of them.” They made Jaunot lie down to rest near them, and Neptune resolved that for his part his sleep- ing should be done with one eye open, so that he might keep it on the Kanuck, His intention was good; bet nature was too much for him that time. He fell into a deep sleep, from which he awoke with a start, and the start aroused Law- son, The moon was shining brightly, and every- thing that was within the range of their vision could be distinetly seen. But Antoine Jaunot was not within the range of their vision, He had RS ae ys They reached for their rifles as they jumped up, but they were also gone. A faint sound of oars dipping called their at- tention to the river. They rushed to the bank, and saw their skiff at a little distance from the shore. Jaunot was seated in it, and he had just set- tled back to the oars with the intention of pull- ing swiftly down-stream. As he had taken the weapons of his late en- tertainers, he doubtless considered himself safe, in spite of their speedy discovery of his rascality. Neptune, wild with rage, was about to throw himself into the water and pursue the rcbber by swimming, but was restrained by his chief, Lawson held in his right hand a coil of light line, which was nothing less than a lasso he had brought from the plains, As he stepped the bank he drew back his arm and fl forth the coil, which flew in cir- cles through the moonlit air over the quiet water until the loop settled down upon the body of the unsuspecting Oarsman., tly it was pulled taut, confining his arms to his body. Antoine Jaunct, surprised and confounded by this unlooed-for style of attack, uttered a piercing yell. As he was jerked from his seat he seized the wale of the boat, to prevent himself from ing pulled overboard. Thus Ben Lawson hauled in the man and oe skiff together, until he brought them to the shore, Neptune secured the skiff, and his chief collared the prisoner and marched him back to the camp. In the skiff were found both the missing rifles, with several other articles of value. How the rascal had succeeded in leaving the camp and rg Alpe his plunder with the boat without awaking his companions was a mystery to them, as it was hard even for expe- rienced woodsmen to conceive of such noiseless movements. ‘He is the most wonderful sneak thief I ever heard of,” remarked Lawson, ‘and he could make a fortune at that business if he had proper opportunities; but he was born to blush unseen and waste his fragrance on the desert air.” This sentiment struck the Indian as having a Gne sound, though ho cid not pretend to . Gomichbooks,. co J. ? A lt tp — a il.