Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 328 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

= _— . a —— ~~ m——————— ———— i | Xo — . < - . 4 bay 7 i “ cling to manches, two of their scouts dragged from the shades, none other than King Kent, the parricide! 3 The miserable wretch was a fearful sight to be- old. He was saturated with water, and blood flowed from knife-wounds in his hands, arms, and shoul- ders. His ghastly face was scratched, and there was a cone gash ucross his forehead. His clothi upon him; the latter, all tattered and torn by the thorny thickets. A deep, but low, whoop of exultation sounded. It was plain that King Kent had lost much blood, and there was an ins ine stare in his black and gliv- tering eyes, from which all shrunk. * Fiends of the llanos!” he yelled, in an unnatural voice; * give me some whisky! You have taken all I had—all!’"—jerking one arm free, and waving it toward the plunder-burdened animals—‘all was yt Give me whisky, or I will scalp every demon of you!” ‘“Where whisky?” demanded the Comanche chief, quickly, his eyes glittering. King Kent struggled to free himself, and the chief, cod . gesture, ordered his captors to release their old, Instantly bounding to one of the pack-mules, the miserable being detached a box from the same, which was inclosed in a bag, and had notin the ex- citement been opened; indeed 5 gem pe had not been examined as yet, for there had been no time to do so. Jerking a scalping-knife from the belt of a brave with electric-like motion—the warrior boundiug aside to avoid an unexpected blow—King Kent in- serted the blade beneath the cover of the box, and at once burst it off. There were half-a-dozen quart bottles inside, acked in saw-dust; and, clutching one, Kent ocked off the neck with the back of the knife- blade, and tearing a tin-cup from a saddle-horn, poured the same nearly full, and drank it with in- sane avidity. He had had an opportunity to escape, by Guick’y lunging into the river; but he neglected this, that Ea might satisfy his terrible burning thirst, Having swallowed the whisky, the wretch was st once seized. by the order of Rolling Thunder. and his arms bound behind him. Then he was placed astride of a horse, being secured to the animal, The Comanches all drank from the bottle, knock- ing off the necks of two more before being satisfied and stopped by their chiefs. Half an hour afterward they were entering the old camp to be welcomed by the braves sent before ‘them; who bad not dared leave the animals when ‘they heard the sounds of conflict, until a messenger was sent to order them to do so, ng was nearly all torn from his form; | only his boots and buckskin breeches remaining | then, discovr ring the strange swaying form, shot in King Kent. —— ere ee ——— | jerked rope, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of the cracking of bones. . There he hung, the Jong black hair of two of his torturers, together with their eagle-feathers, held tight, his features convulsed with deadly agony, but making vo effort to bend upward and grasp the rope to relieve his brain from the pressure of rush- ing blood upon it, and for the very good reason that his ankle-bones were broken by the terrific jerk of ~ ropes around them when straightened by his weight. Rolling Thunder and his braves stood, as upon the former occasion, on the clear belt between the trees and the river; and yells of fury burst from their lips, as over the bank dashed the trio—the two braves whirling as they went, and striking flat upon the waters which killed them instantly. The warrivrs above were dumfounded, and by no means free from terror, as they gazed downward; but there was no more fearful torture to be thought 3 eR the death to which they had doomed Ring ent. By this time the tun was peeping above the east- ern horizon, and the braves gave a yell of triumph; for ont from the hundreds of cave-like openings in the cliff swarmed thousands of bees! At once the warriors rushed back and tore huge armfuls of long bottom-grass from the sod, and then returning, cast little by little downward, near the swaying form of their victim. This maddened the bees, and the infuriated in- sects, in place of darting through the air, prairie- ward, to rob the flowers of their sweets, circled by thousands about the entrances to their homes; and clouds toward. and swarmed upon. the miserable wretch, stinging him in ten thousand places! Not the size of a pin of his flesh escaped, They crawled over each other, chang:ng yraces ever to sting afresh, while the most fearful shiieks shot from tbe parricide, iv his agony. There hung King Kent, swinging at the endsof the lariats, suspended over the San Saba cliff, with little resemblance to a human being, his head hang- ing downward, his ankles broken. and his form twice its natural size from the swarms of torturing insects that collected upon it! For a time he uttered intelligible words and appeals for mercy, then only terrible howls were heard from h m. ! Surely the wretched parricide was doomed to an awful death, and one from which there was no escape! With exultant yells the Comanches rushed to their camp and hastily equipped their animals, realizing that they had revealed their position, and imperiled their safety by their whoops and yells. At length Rolling Thunder mounted his horse, his braves as well as their chief gazing with great satis- These braves were now regaled by a bottle of faction over the immense herd of animals and the whisky. tree-top. and was now bound to its trunk. The whisky they had drank caused the Indians | to be less fvarful of danger and more eager for re- venge. I’ was at once decided to tortura the ca tives, The miserable Greaser was at once cut loose, and bound to a stake in the ** open.”’ King Kent was bound to another stake, in front | lowed by his survivin ' and the hurtling le the Texans. The latter, as the Indians fled into the of Juan, the latter hurling curses in the teeth of his chief, who had brought him to so ter. ible a death. ‘Then he would pray for succor to all the saints in the calendar, and call upon Ma re de Divs to for- ive him his sins and receive his soul. The Comanches formed a ring, arrows in hand around the two captives; then, with whoop and yell, ‘hey danced in spasmodic hop and bound, cir- he right, their dance becoming !faster and faster, their giee and a thirst for blood. _ amount of plunder they had secured; but at that Juan, the Mexican, had been lowered from the | moment the thunderous re rt of a score of rifles almost simultaneously burst on the air and the war- riors who had erate around Rolling Thunder fell like dry reeds before the north wind. Then, out from the t:mber dashed the rancheroes, with the terrible trio of avengers, and with a ringing _ signal-whoop of retreat, the Comanche chief lashed his horse toward the opposite side of the bend, fol- braves—twelve in number— en bails from the revolvers of timber, jerked rein, satisfied that it would be useless to follow in the shades. Then it was that terrible cries from the cliff at- tracted the attention of all, and, leaving two ran- cheroes t> prevent the herd from galloping away, the remainder sped to investigate. When they reached the clear belt, and discovered deous faces contorting with hellish | the black mass suspended from the cliff, and bear- ing the semblance of a man—th s h ng head The circle of warriors ie position, while yet | downward, with ankles extended—then all shudder- dancing in such a manner as with their arrow-heads. Then, as each brave shot dance, he drew his egos nt across the flesh of ‘the mew mip Mexic n, until hs was litera ly a mass = gore ‘| a rame, from bead to foot, being all gap- ! gashes friton, with a terrific a Rolling Thunder sprung forward, and circling is head of the doomed wretch, tora off the reeking yo the most horrible shrieks and screams burst- ing from Juan’s li immediately after the chief drew his blade acrovs | knife about the | the bees; then the arms fell limp, the _ the same, and all knew that life had departe enable one portion | ed with horror, all seeing the infuriated bees flying ~of the same, as they flew past Juan, to reach him | upon, and from the swayin form. As they thus sat their horses, a deathly shriek him in tbe hellish | came out from among the mass of bees; the sus- ended form became contorted and convulsed, forc- ng the torturing insects to fly from it, and the swollen, gashed, and ghastly y of King Kent, the parricide, was seen, and recog . A spasmodic shudder followed the departure of vex hung —that they were gazing upon the corpse of the king of miscreants, All galloped from the accursed spot, as again a the breast of the Mexican, thus disemboweling | black mass of bees swarmed upon the corpse; and him! One fearful and unearthly yell of nv the most deathly shot from the ill-starred * thee lips, his eyes filmed in death, a Gurgling sound issued from his throat, and. his head sunk upon his gory and mutilated breast. J — Got Mexican vagvero, the ‘treacherous employee of Colonel Land and a Ba- aig Eat, wae G00) ced tas ecyeso ng Kent were fix n a stony stare ‘upon lus follower during this most hellish ‘tears but no sooner was Juan dead than half a dozen sav- ages cut the parricide loose and dr him toward ithe river, which they crossed upon a log; two of the braves carrying lariats in hand. In ten minutes they stood upon the top of the high cliff, at the ‘point where they »ad,. the eatiy part of that event- ‘ful night, suspended Daring Dick. Instantly one end of each lariat was tied in a run- _ ning noose and placed around the ankles of the ‘doomed man, whose facial nerves were now twitch- | een P P e boots were drawn from his feet. and the le of his buckskin breeches cut off at the thighs, and tthen removed. The other ends of the lariats were secured to the ‘trunks of dwarf trees which grew on the margin of the cliff, and the braves were about to lower their ‘victim down to die a horrible death, when. by a “Superbuman effort, King Kent burst the bonds that | a brave with each | , he sprung from the | bound his arms, and clutchi hand by the hair of the he ma a piercing, horrible yell shooting from his he two braves shot down with far-sounding death- ‘howls, a ey J the hair torn out by the roots in the «Clutch of the desperate miscreant. The latter brought aap at thirty feet with a terrible foree and a twang of compact herd, the Texans drove them to a favor- able point for fording. There they crossed the San | hastily driving the scattered animals in, forming a | Saba; and soon were in the timber-cove, with a _ herd of over two hundred mares, horses, and mules, and thousands of dollars’ worth of plunder. King Kent was reported dead, to Lola and Edna; but they were not informed as to the nature and _ cause of his death. The men who had remained in camp sbuddered with horror, when they heard the whole story; be- lieving that a just God had ae the parricide assassin, and abductor, for many dastardly an awful crim es. CHAPTER XXXII. AS ALL WOULD HAVE IT. Dear reader, we have little more to record, in connection with those whom we have followed corpegh dread dangers, and trials of privation and atigue. The rancheroes took entire ch of the mares and mustangs, as well as of the horses that had belonged to the Basin Bandits. | Colonel Landers insisted that Big Bill and Crook- ed Carl should accept yer gh oy with bim; be- lieving that they would, after their checkered ex- periences, and realizing that the way of the trans- gressor is hard, in the futuro lead honest lives; and we are glad to record that the confidence of the old ranchero was not misvlaced—that those who volunteered to risk their lives in righting a wrong, in which they had refused to have a hand, althoug they were criminals in the consideration cf Texans, _ became henceforth honest men. Bill and Carl continued to lead upright lives, be- 23 ing encouraged so to do, by the invariable kindness of the colonel and Daring Dick. They were expert raegveros, and could throw the lasso dexterously; and Colonel Landers soon saw - day that he could not well get along without them. lt was some time before Edna and Lola entirely recovered from the privation and great mental — they had experienced, while held captives to ing Kent and the Comanches. The former re- mained, for some weeks, at Landers Ranch; but Daring Dick, who would not permit Lola to wander far from the ranch alone, frequently rode with the maidens to the home of Edna’s father. Old Rocky, Single Eye. and Turtle. the Tonkaway, remained for a time, camped in the bottom-timber; the horses of the Basin Bandits, and the mustangs of the Comanches, together with the plunder of both camps being disposed of by the colonel and Dick, and the proceeds divided among the seouts. They, however, forced Big Bill and Crooked Carl to share the money with them. Colcnel Landers bad received a terrible shock, as had elso Mr. Edwards, by the abduction of their daughters; and the colonel, in future, remained at bome much more than formerly, while both the rancheroes strove in every way to promote the hap- piness of their children. The horse of Mickey McCafferty gave out, in the rapid gallop on the trail toward the Colorado, to the rescue; and the rancheroes were obliged to leave the redoubtable Irishman behind. He, then. with his seddle-bag of provisions, climbed a huge tree, leav- ing his steed in an adjacent ‘‘open,”’ laria.ed out to Ass. Pyro his elevated perch, Mickey watched the plain for the return of the party, and secured him- self to the limbs with a raw-hide rope, when night came; enduring great terrors from the howls of wolves and other animals, by which he expected at any time to be devoured. tall things must hav* an end, and sodid the enforced stay of Mickey in his uncomfortable posi- tion in the tree; which, to use his own words, caused him to be “as stiff as a bowl o’ starch.” At last, when he had nearly given Up i» despair, believing that the outlaws had shot all the rancheroes, the lat- ter aggre appeared in sight, on the far-off prairie. But, not for some time did the Irishman become convinced that they were his friends. The herd was too numerous, he thought, and he feared that it must be the bandits returning, or pos- sibly Indians; and Mickey prayed without ceasing, until he recognized the Colonel, Daring Dick, and the two “ger-ruls."’ Then he nearly broke his neck in his joy; giving a wild hurrah, and circling his old battered plug bat above his head, forgetting his exalted position. Down came Mickey McCafferty; but, fortunately for him, he lodged upon a limb, which he clutched in dcsperation. Then he hastily descended, saddled his horse, and galloped wildly toward the cavalcade; yelling with joy. to greet Lola and Edna, and nearly stampeding he animals. He thus succeeded in drawing upon his head the curses of the rancheroes, However, Mickey was warmly welcomed, and it is almost needless to say that he remained at Land- ers Ranch until the day of his death, which was ag eg nso The vagueros often teased him, for having allow- el the maidens to be carried away without strikin ablowin theirdefense; and he was always af to go near the scene of the shooting match and ab- duction. Some years after the events we have re- corded, being quizzed for never having visited the big basin, which had been the retreat of the bandits, Mickey vowed that he would go there, and go alone, leaving proofs of his visit. He kept his word. And ghastly proofs he did leave. These were no more or less than his own mortal remains; for his horse wandered in the thickets, and the poor Irishman not knowing the exact loca- tion of the basin, man and mustang plunged through the bordering bushes into the deep chasm, at the — point at which King Kent had performed the ea * Mickey's neck was broken! Not returning, a search was made the same night, and the dead body of the faithful Trishman was found. Landers Ranch was long a house of mourn- ing for the honest and boyish Mickey. ut, as imay be presumed, it was not a very long time after the fair Lola had become her own dear self again, before sbe was united in marriage to the man to whom she had given her whole heart—Dar- ing Dick, her princely Jover, her hero! n short, it was three months, to aday, from the date of the return to the big bend of the San Saba, that Richard Robinson and Lola Landers were : At the same time 1 ‘na Edwards was united in the holy bonds to a handsome and wealthy young ranchero, an ex-lieutenant of Texan Rangers. Turtle, tho Tonkaway, Single Lye, and Old Rocky, we may be sure, were present on the joyful oc- ecasion, besides all the rancheroes, scouts and rangers within a day’s ride; the marriages taking lace beneath a grand old domeof Mature, in the ottom-timber, from which depended long festoons of moss, and a thousand and one flov ering vines, An extensive barbecue was gotten up by the colonel for the guests, a dance in the ranch follow- ing in the evening, and all went merry, as it should upon such an occasion. o more beautiful and angelic maiden than Lola Landers was ever wedded. Daring Dick appeared, on the occasion, in richly- ornamented buckskin from neck to heel. This had vom, presented to him by Turtle, the Tonkaway chief, Dick and Lola are now a middle-aged couple, with children who are young men and young women; Dick being a wealthy ranchero, on the Rio San Saba, near to the big bend, where ke so narrowly escaped meeting a horrible death, and where, as we know, died in the very extremity of d r and torturing agony that a human being could suffer, one whose soul was stained with the blackest crimes that could possibly be recorded—Kent Knowles, or ‘King Kent,” the parricide, and captain of the * Basin BANDITS.” THE END. IOO (Elo) MIG <S\i€O