Beadle's Dime Library No. 327 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

ys — —__-, ~ a —~<— el te a = - =. wes “<= ~~ — ene a 7 eo eet - = ——_ = ~ — ee py - . = - ———— - — —s - —- < ~ . —— - - . — Seo” = Ee SO Sere “ey —_— — - e - “ a > yl 2 a — ~_ _jinks generally. Eo eee eer ee 24 —— -—_ Terrapin Dick. me - He was simply, and without cessation, blind, stupid, wallowing drunk; and showed not the faintest desire to draw a sober breath. Antoine Jaunot regarded the degradation and helplessness of his enemy with complete satisfaction, and busied himself in sowing the seeds of rebellion among his comrades, assuring them what they cou'd not hope to rosper in their special style of industry un- ess they should cut loose from that drunken and worthless wretch. An opportunity soon presented itself. On a private scouting expedition he learn- ed that a boat loaded with supplies for ad- vance parties of loggers was slowly coming up the Penobscot. Among the supplies were several kegs of rum, and the men who propelled the craft were fond of rum, and prone to tap kegs. Consequently their progress up-stream was uncertain, and by no means rapid. It appeared to Jeffard that they offered | an easy prey to his vagabonds, and he pro- | posed to capture the boat and its cargo. | His words had an effect, and the spectacle The Kanucks, having the memory of their | of the utter wreck of the chief had a greater late disaster fresh in their minds, were by no | effect. | means anxious to be led by him into a fresh When Jeffard got into the habit of acting enterprise; but he finally induced them to | strangely, and especially when he began to follow him to the river, where they might | discharge his pistol wildly and without re- judge for themselves of the chances of suc- | gard to their lives and limbs, they resolved cess. that they would leave him and again trust The enterprise proved to be much easier | their fortunes to the guidance of Jaunot. and more protitable than any of them could Joe Jeffard, soggy with rum, was sound have anticipated. asleep when they quietly stole away from They went down to the river, where they | him, taking all the portable property in easily found their prey, and watched the | sight, including the arms and ammunition boat as it was laboriously poled against the | and the remainder of the rum. current. Antoine Jaunot, after appointing a ren- Then they watched the navigators as they | dezvous at which he wasto meet them, left landed and prepared to pass the night on | the party, and went direct to Staley’s tavern. shore. Jeffard awoke from his heavy slumber, With intense satisfaction they perceived | feeling the need of liquor, and proceeded to that the boatmen paid close and unremitting | satisfy his craving without delay. attention to a keg of rum, until they were so His special keg was empty. overcome by the liquor that they fell asleep His companions, also, had departed. without taking any pains to guard their The latter fact did not cause him any im- camp. mediate uneasiness; but the lack of rum was It was not to be expected that they would | an evil which he appreciated at once. give themselves any uneasiness on that ac- | Gradually he connected one circumstance count, as they could not wen § 00 that they | with the other, until it dawned upon his be- were in danger of being molested by any- fogged intellect that his comrades had de- | =~ oe prowling beasts. serted him and left him stripped of every- en they were in a sodden sleep Jeffard | thing but his clothing. and his Kanucks stealthily and noiselessly He got up and staggered around, looking surrounded them and pounced upon them. for something that they might possibly have The resistance of the Americans, in their | omitted to tak drowsy and half-drunken condition, was ee easily overcome, and they were tied hand is oaths and blasphemies were frightful, and foot. and he kept them up until he was exhausted. Then their captors deprived them of their After a while there was a change of scene arms and ammunition, and took away as | for him—a terrible change. much of the cargo of the boat as they could The forest was haunted. carry, including the kegs of rum. It was not peopled by pleasant or shapel Before leaving the river they untied their | phantoms, but filled with imps, goblins, an victims, assuring them that any attempt to | other horrible apparitions, that pursued and recover their property would result in their | hounced him wherever he went. death. In vain he yelled for help, fought them off For the saddened and weaponless boatmen | with frantic blows, and endeavored to es- there was nothing to do but to pole their | cape them. craft up to Staley’s, and tell the story of the When he fancied that he was flying di- robbery. rectly from them, he was only running When the Kanucks returned to their camp | around in a circle. they gave themselves up to feasting andhigh | At last a long and frightful serpent, seem- ingly in a hundred coils, darted toward him through the air. He saw it coming, but could not avoid it. It caught him, its horrid coils tightened around him, pressing the breath out of his body, and he fell senseless upon the ground. CHAPTER XXXYV. THE CAPTURE OF JEFFARD. BEN LAwson’s hope that Joe Jeffard had not been drowned, and that he might yet get hold of him, was destined to be realized. Soon after the attack upon the tavern a boat from below arrived at Staley’s, manned by three dispirited and disconsolate men, who had a sad story to tell. In their camp at night, while they were sleeping soundly, dreaming of no danger, they had been attacked and surprised by a band of Kanucks, who had ees and plundered them. After their assailants left them, they had pulled and poled their boat to Staley’s as swiftly as possible, because they were terri- bly afflicted with thirst—a thirst which all the water in the Penobscot would not satisfy. They proved the truth of that part of their story by quenching their thirst extensively at Staley’s bar. The greater part of their cargo had been left to them, as it was too heavy and cum- brous for the robbers to carry away; but they lamented the loss of their rum and all their weapons and ammunition. From the description they gave of their assailants, though it was not as clear and definite as it might have been, Ben Lawson e, especially for rum, but find- Such a fine chance for having a jolly time they could not remember to have had before, and they expected to be thoroughly happy as long as the rum lasted. If happiness consisted in alternating their time between getting drunk and sleeping off the effects of the liquor, they were indeed nappy. oe Jeffard, as the leader of the party, claimed for his share of the spoils one entire Ps of rum. his greediness was objected to by the others; but, as there seemed to be an abun- dance of liquor, he was allowed to have his way without any strong opposition. When Jeffard came into possession of this treasure he acted as if the one great object of his life had been achieved. As a Yankee would say; he just froze to that keg of rum. He devoted himself to it, to the exclusion of everything else. During the day he was never separated from it, and at night he slept with it. He abandoned the business of eating en- tirely, being content to live upon tke liquor as long as it lasted. Even his vagabond companions, brutal and besotted as they were, marveled at his appe- tite and capacity for drink, and were de- cidedly of the opinion among themselves that it must soon make an end of him. The truth was that he had lain drunk a week or more at Staley’s, and the capture at the river had given him a chance, of which he ery availed himself, to try another prolonged bout with his old adversary. A more worthless man than he was at that time cannot be imagined. ed the tavern. ee — CE ——s— rR OO EE CT ttt tt and Sam Staley were convinced that they | ham. y were the same gang that had recently attack- | matter with that fellow, anyhow? ee eyes — Lawson, who saw an opportunity to secure: the person of Joe Jeffard, if he should prove to be alive, assured the loggers that he knew who the robbers were and where they could be found. If they wanted to recover the plunder and take vengeance on; the scamps, he would be glad to lead them into the timber for that purpose. His offer was thankfully accepted, and the boatmen proceeded to absorb a suflicient quantity of rum to fortify them against the fatigues of the expedition. While they were thus engaged Neptune came in and informed his chief that Antoine Jaunot was lurking in the woods near by, doubtless with the desire of conveying some information. Lawson hastened to find the Kanuck, and discovered that the information he had Lrought was of real importance at that june- ture, Joe Jeffard had not been drowned or in any way injured at the time of the attack on the tavern, but had led the remainder of his followers—among whom Jaunot did not count himself—to the capture of a supply boat on the river. They brought back to camp a quantity of rum, with which they had a jolly time. Jeffard drank himself into such a condition that the band determined to. desert him, and they had left him there in the woods, dead drunk and destitute. There was a splendid chance to capture him, and the spy believed that Lawson would have no difficulty in taking him alive. This was just the chance that Ben wanted, and he lost no time in acting upon the in- formation he had received. , He told the boatmen that he had found a man who would act as guide to the camp of the Kanucks, and that the chance must be seized at once. Two of them—Jerry Burnham and Bob Styles—borrowing rifles from Sam Staley and his wounded son, hastily left the tavern with Lawson and Neptune. Antoine Jaunot guided them by the most direct route to the place they were seeking, but halted the party just before it was. reached. He begged that they would not compel him to go further, as he was unwilling that his comrades should discover him to be a traitor, and Lawson dismissed him and let him go his way. , ‘‘That man is a Kanuck, too,” said Jerry Burnham. ‘‘ Like as not he is trying to play some trick on us.” ‘‘Tam pretty sure that-J can trust him in this,” replied Lawson, ‘‘ and we are not go- ing to run into any hole. If we come across the scamps, orhiethoer they are many or few, we ought to be able to take care of our- selves,’ It was then near the middle of the after- noon; but Lawson and his party gave them- selves no uneasiness concerning the lateness of the hour, as Neptune, having been over the route once, could guide them back to the tavern in the darkness as well as in the day- light. “They advanced cautiously, and had gone only a little further when they were startled by hideous yells and cries. ‘‘What in thunder is that?’ demanded Bob Styles. ‘‘ Don't know.” answered Lawson. ‘Somebody is raising the Old Harry here in some shape. Go easy, boys, and we will soon know what we are going to strike.” The yells increased as they advanced, and soon they came in sight of the person who was responsible for them. It was a man, bareheaced, and wild of as- pect, with part of his clothing stripped off, and the rest ragged and dirty, who was run- ning about aimlessly, uttering such cries as they had heard, and stopping now and then to beat the air, as if combating unseen foes, The locality was a broad piece of bottom- land, marshy in places, though there was little moisture in the ground at that time of the year, and covered with tall trees. A little way beyond the man, who was quite alone there, a stretch of open land, or meadow, reached back toa bluff. _ ‘“There is only one of them,” said Burn- ‘‘Where are the rest? What is the ‘‘He must be crazy,” rephed Lawson, an- GCOmicbooks.co * |