Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 339 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

& | e | | ee ‘ H {7 ) (a +4 it ~~ = - _— ee —— _ — —— - 2 ~ | ‘ | Se a ae ~ ae “ tay SS oe ~ al ; Spread Eagle Sam. 11 Thus far Spread Eagle gave vent to the sus- picion which of yells, curses and scuffling inside the dug-out. Then the giant laughed boisterously, crying: ‘* Cold meat or live bacon, the boys hes ketch- ed the critter, Ireckon. Skeered nigh to death, 1 Sacra, »0re devil!” Sprea end of the corral and across to where the silk hat lay on the closely-cropped bunch-grass. As he stooped over to pick up the article, he felt a sharp, brief tug at his flowing beard, and then caught the sound of a sharp, whip-like report. A far less experienced man than Spread Eagle would have found but little difficulty in rightly interpreting and connecting these two sensa- tions; but only a veteran and one of extraor- dinary nerve could or would have acted as he did. He picked up the hat and never even glanced toward the dug-out, from whence he felt sure the bullet had been s He thrust the tips of his fingers through the oblong hole made by the two bullets, striking so near together that the double shot had left but one hole on each side of the hat. Holding the riddled tile aloft he laugh- ed boisterously. ‘‘Skelped the baboon critter, or I’m a howlin’ liar from the butt-eend o’ creation! Tuck the bark off ’m his ay a story, be he fish, flesh or soap-grease! Made a — I say, you durn fool over yender! ain’t you got no more sense o’ per- agle Sam strode swiftly around the | ] SU EEE EEE “Ef it cain’t talk United States, I’m a liar ad so startled Purchass, when it | from afore the fu’st flood o’ creation! was broken in upon by a wild uproar and chorus | Jes’! You-up, Mosey ‘long this way, you p’izen critter, ef you want to see the hull menadgery ’thout payin’ a red cent! A monkey-critter that kin rar up on its hind legs an’ howl out plain United States!” He turned his head to glance over his shoul- der, paying no more attention to the leveled vistols and threatening attitude of Laughing 0 than he would have given a painted picture. Jesse Purchass came rapidly up, and moving a little to one side, Spread Eagle waved a hand pit ge the interesting tableau within the dug- out. ‘**Gaze on them, pard, an’ scratch down what ye see in your mem'ry-box, fer ’tain’t noways ikely you’ll ever look onto the like ag’in when this show goes to everlastin’ pieces! <A livin’, movin’, talkin’, bullet-splittin’ critter from the other side o’ creation! Look at them white wings a-sproutin’ up out o’ his collar-bones! Gaze onto that ggg seg peta ge hide! An’ them huffs! Nuther hoss, sheep, deer nur buffler! A one-toed critter—an’ sech toes! The —good—Lawd!” Overcome by his powerful emotions, Spread Eagle Sam gered, his knees bowing beneath his weight, his head nodding forward, his huge frame seeking support against the door-casing. He presented such a ridiculous appearance that Laughing Leo could not help smiling, critical as he clearly believed his situation to be. Then he liteness then to cut in on a gentleman’s speech | war 3 uttered: then them ?” Crack-crack came two reports from the dug- out, seemingly fired through the still pendent | bunc hide in the door, and Spread Eagle Sam felt the | wa to delighten me!” bits of lead slap-slap against the low crown of | his hat. More—the second bullet disturbed a fold of his yellow hair so rudely that a thousand needles seemed to be pricking his scalp most ‘vigorously. e knew that three such shots in succession could hardly be born of chance. He felt that the hand and eye that sent them could just as surely slay as graze. But he made no effort to draw a weapon or to seek cover. Instead, he faced the danger with a mixture of impatience and insolent scorn. Clapping the already riddled ‘‘ stove-pipe” on | top of his own hat, he strode toward the dug- out, roaring: “Give up your gun, Johnny, ef ye cain’t do its vartues no better jestice then them! Don’t do’em any more dirt nur rub shame all over the man as made’em to shoot straight in the han’s 0’ gentlemen. Waal—durn a _ he-mule, anyway ! ile I see—what? A collection of assassins, or a gang of fools? As pes are the biggest in the , you overgrown booby, perhaps you will ‘**Git the starch-pot, Jes’, an’ stiffen up my re ole knee-j’ints!” muttered Spread Eagle am, faintly. ‘* Runa stick down my back an’ hold it thar fer a minnit till I kin tell ef this is me or was I changed at nuss! Stan’ by me Jes’, an’ keep the warmint from bitin’ while I ax it —who be ye, anyhow, critter?” ‘** A man, half-white and free-born! And you, nondescript?” coolly-uttered Laughing Leo, still holding the panting Irishman help] r beneath his heavy foot, still facing the two hide-hunters with leveled pistols. Spread Eagle Sam gradually braced up, gaz- ing intently, with a look of half-awe into the pale, stern face before him. Twice he rubbed the back of one hand across his eyes as if to clear his vision, then drew a long, loud breath, nodding vigorously as he turned toward Jesse Purchass and drew a plug of tobacco from his pocket, saying: “Take it, pard! You was right an’ I was hrough a slit in the hide came two short | wrong! It ts a human critter, after all—though puffs of blue smoke, and Spread Eagle felt as many bullets tear their way through his beard | the good Lawd onl fer! Not fer us@, that’s sart’in! knows what it was built Not fer lon ssing so close to his throat on either side that _ keepin’, fer the pore critter smells loud ps ot or an instant he believed the skin was broken. Instinctively he raised a hand to his beloved beard, and as he saw how many of the long, olden threads came away with his combing gers, his eyes flamed hotly, and he seemed to think further quiescence an evil rather than a virtue. With a swift, panther-like leap he passed out of range of any one within the dug-out, then strode alongside until he caught and tore down the dry hide that obscured the interior, With arms akimbo and the backs of his open hands resting on his hips, Spread Eagle step before the opening, with his wild, un- earthly eagle-like screech of mingled defiance and ridicule. ' ‘*Take light enough to see your on gts crit- ter, afore you shoot ag’in. Durn a fool that will waste good lead tryin’ to drill a hole through the wind! Waal, now I will ber-durned!” Spread ap ge Sam stared in open-mouthed amazement at the scene upon which he had cast the clear light of day. Doubled head and heels together, crowded half-way under the lower bunk, lay Jean La Vic, motionless as a corpse. Just crawling from the huge fireplace, covered with ashes vigorously digging at his eyes with one hand, while the other convulsively ee first one part of his person and then another, guided by the 4 pes that ate through his clothes, was Old Misery, now looking the very personification of his title. ‘Johnny Bull” was flat on his stomach, squir- ming like a half crushed frog under the right foot of Laughing Leo, whose extended hands clasped revolvers with the blue smoke still curl- ing aintly from their muzzles. ; ‘Good Lawd! ef I was on’y back in dear ole Mizzoury!” “Ay I wance git the tin claws 0’ me ann the likes 0’ ye, sure it’s the divil ye’ll be thinkin’s got hould av ye!” gasped Mike Donovan, vainly Striving to throw off that weight. ‘‘Hold your place, fellow!” sharply cried ees Leo, his weapons covering Spread Eagle, his face white as death, his lips drawn ‘ and hard-set. ‘‘ Lift a finger and Ill riddle ou!” The look of amazement on the giant hide hun- ter’s face gradually gave way to a smile, broad- ening unt his mouth must find birth in his ears. it seemed as though the corners of | to paralyze a full-blowed skunk this airly! fer any ee as I kin puzzle out—but a bet’sa bet, an’ I pay when I lose.” Jesse took the tobacco, and Spread Eagle turned once more toward Laughing Leo, doffing the perforated ‘‘ plug hat” and holding it out to its rightful owner, saying: ** Critter, thar’s the chimley-pot you lost when ou got so bad skeered out yender, Ef them oles ain’t ornamental, they'll let the air in an’ a little o’ that monstrous smell out. Come aot turrible onhealthy kentry, didn’t ye, last ime As Laughing Leo made no move toward ac- cepting the hat, Sam “Foe placed it on one of the leveled pistols, smiling blandly. Removing his own hat, he looked at the twin holes cut in it by the double shot from the dug-out, then covered the other weapon with it, grinning broadly as he added: ** Now see ef you kin hit the mark that’s afore your guns! Begin meting ~ at short range, an’ you'll git along faster. ~~ it up fer a few years, an’ mebbe, in time, you'll git so you kin make a target like them,” pointing at the oblong hole in the silk hat. ** Wor making which I humbly ask the gentle- man’s pardon,” said Purchass, pressing past the huge hide-hunter, paren, 8 out a hand toward Laughing Leo with a fr smile. It was not accepted. A frightful screech burst from the swelling lungs of Spread Eagle Sam, ye ee Sieaned fairly ee with rage and fury. He lea upon Jesse, ing him by one shoulder and the waist, lifting hin high above his head, his massive muscles quiver- ing as he seemed on the point of dashing his help- less adversary to the earthen floor. Laughing Leo started back, shaking the hats from his weapons, standing on guard as Sam burst into fury, and Johnny Bull blundered to his feet, only to be knocked clear across the room by a swing of the giant’s foot. ** Steal my thunder, will i howled the huge hunter, swaying the struggling mass to and fro as though to add impetus to the fatal cast. “ Try to make him b’lieve you done them fine sheotin’, ye pizen critter! Take it back, or down ‘ye go everlastin’ smash! Swaller them words, or ye flatten out wuss then the slap-jack Ole Misery sot down onto this very nobel: Say ye lied, or hustle up your last prayin’-talk, critter!” ‘* Let me down—give me half a shake, and I’li LLLP LE CY testi nese — - show you more of a man than you ever saw in your dreams!” snarled the young hide-hunter, fiercely, as he struggled to release himself frcm that resistlcss grip. ‘* You—you little wart on the back of a hcy- toad! You show me what makesa man? \\ ait ontil ve spread you all over the floor like a mustard-plaster, an’ then I'll laugh at your ‘dic- ulous impedence!” roared the madman. **Only a coward takes a dare—and I double dare you to give me a fair shake!” cried Pur- chass, tauntingly. ‘* Dare goes—an’ thar you be,” yelled Spread Eagle Sam, lowering the young man to the floor, snatching both pistols from his belt, and begin- ning todischarge them in swift succession, pran- cing and leaping around the room, yelling like a lunatic, but with a certain method in his mad- ness. For his bullets hissed and hummed in close prox- imity to the ears of Laughing Leo, rather than Jesse Purchass! For a few moments the young man kept on his guard, but then, as the whole truth made it- self clear to his perceptions, he slipped his wea- pons into their hiding-places, produced a cigar and struck a match while the leaden missiles were coming fastest around his ears. Then his clear voice rung out impatiently: ‘Will some of you gentlemen muzzle that overgrown jackass, or must I soil my hands by touching the brute?’ Through all this, Jean La Vic had lain doubled up beneath the bunk, whither he had been hur)- by a paralyzing blow in the pit of the stem- ach, delivered by one of those wonderfully pointed shoes. But as Spread Eagle began to turn himself loose in good earnest, the half-breed recovered sufficiently to crawl from his hiding- place. His snaky — glared around the smoky room until they fell upon Laughing Leo, then with back turned toward him, lighting his cigar amid the sudden silence which followed his au- dacious speech. Flashing a knife from his belt, the half-breed stole silently toward the young man, drawing back his arm and striking viciously as a savage oath crossed his lips. Only for the prompt action of Old Misery, Laughing Leo’s experiment would have ended then and there. As it was, the cook deftly in- terposed a long-handled frying-pan and warded off the murderous stroke—but at what a cost? ‘*Durn the durnation luck!” he whined, dole- fully, as he held upthe perforated utensil. ‘* They’s a hole clean through it, an’ thar goes all the slap-jacks! Augh! ef I was on’y back in good ole Mizzoury oncet more!” hat was the cap-sheaf! The whining lament was so ridiculous that Spread Eagle could no longer carry on his wild jest, and even Kanuck fell back with a sulky grin. Replacing his pistols in their cases, a genial smile came to take the place of that diabolical fury, and stepping forward he held out his hand to Laughing Leo, saying lightly: ‘*Shake, stranger! ou ain't hafe as big a durn fool as you looks to be—no you ain't /” Laugblin accepted the proffered member, closing his fingers and holding the giant’s cnatirles in place with his thumb cso deftly, so swiftly and with such a tremendous pressure, that the exquisite pain, coming wholly unex- pectedly, drew an cath of astonished pain from the lips of the huge hide-hunter before he could check it. Laughing Leo dropped the half-crushed hand before its owner could think of returning the compliment, arching his brows in innocent sur- prise as he gently asked: ‘*Poor boy! did I hurt you?” Spread Eagle Sam glared at the stranger for a moment, his lower jaw fallen, his big eyes protruding until it seemed as though they mrst drop from their sockets, his whole face erd person the representation of amazed disgvs'. And Laughing Leo stood innocently befme him, a tiny spiral of smoke sifting through his silken mustaches, his handsome face expressing pity such as a strong, kind-hearted man be- 4 when he has unwittingly hurt a little child. aa I will be durned!” snorted Sam, at ength. e mustached lip curled a little, and the mu- sical voice grew a trifle harder, as it delibe: ate- ly pronounced : ‘I, for one, have not the slightest doubt of it, my dear fellow. Do you wish for the prayers of this congregation?” For once the limber-tongued hide-hunter be- gan to feel that he had met his match in that respect, and the ominous frown grew darker on his bold face. Jean La Vic saw this, and he held his hot passions with a lighter hand of re- straint. He stood in “ holy awe” of the giant, and for that reason had not dared to renew hisasrau!ton this audacious stranger, whose deftly-berdled foot had almost driven his stomach threvgh his back. But now that Spread Eagle frowned— now that the stranger had insulted the master of the house—the half-breed believed he wculd be permitted to seek his revenge, so long as he did it openly, and with a fierce scowl, showing his yellow teeth, he stole forward, saying huskily; Gomichbooks (E(o)