Beadle's New York Dime Library, Vol. III, No. 34 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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from half its pain by the thought that my faithful iano — Ye hay le and have your ae over though you should try and escape your fate y- ing to the very ends of the earth.”’ ., ‘Sometimes they call you Injun Dick?” Talbot nodded assent to this unexpected question, ‘The Indians bear fasting well, they say,” the bri- gand said, musingly. Dick guessed his meaning, but did not speak. rs ae know what I am going tu do with you?” asked Rob, suddenly, finding that Dick did not not speak. “Well, from the pleasant words with which you have greeted me, during this brief interview should judge that my death moment is ap roaching much more rapidly than is entirely agreeable. Tal- bot was provokingly deliberate. “You’re a cool hand,” said Rob. mapulalsply. “But you’re wrong. I don’t intend to kill you at resent. I’m going to find out what I want to know. ou'’ve got a to a will, but I intend to break it be- fore I get through with you. I owe you a grudge, too, for we are not exactly strangers to each other andI might as well clear off the score now as wait,’ “T guessed that I knew you by your voice, al- though you have tried to disguise it,” said Dick, with deci n. () “Tt don’t make much difference whether you know me or not, I know you, and that’s quite sufficient. Now, then, Ill tell you what’s in store for you, and your mind will be easy. I’m going to shut you up in a little hole in the rock, about big enough for you to turn round in, and there I’m going to starve you to death. When you feel the pangs of hunger gnaw- ing at your vitals I rather think you’il be glad enough to beg for aa Lal “Tl bet you two to one, I don’t!’ Talbot cried, un- dauntedly: ‘“‘and now I say you’re a bigger fool than I Ook on oN . sO For, not killing me at once, I shall escape from you, and then I’ll win my bet, and carry you, living or dead, to Bannock!”’ “That you'll never do,” “it's Oy life gfe Fe yours now, and I'll win, gure!’ Dick said, defiantly, as the two attendant ruf- fians advanced to remove him, “Take him away!” The outlaw waved his hand in command, One of the masked men took a candle from the wall, and led the way, Dick following unresistingly. The other masked bandit brought up the rear. Through a narrow winding pa é, a natural gal- lery in the rock, the three proceeded. A hundred paces on, ae came to another but smaller vaulted chamber, This they crossed, and as they stood b the wall at the other end, two cpeninss in the roc were perceptible. One, a broad and open passage, evidently the continuation of the gallery; the other, a mere hole in the rock, about two feet wide by four high; but, as the outlaw held the candle down by the entrance, the flickering light revealed that there was a small chamber beyond, ; By the opening stood a huge bowlder and a couple of crow “You're a big fool for not speaking out as our chief wants you to,” remarked one of the masked men, “It won't be a pleasant death for you to starve in this hole.” “Tt will be some hours before that death will come!” was the cool rejoinder, “Oh! you won't stand any chance of escape!” cried the other masked man. “ After we put you in the cell, we shall ah'y this bowlder up against the hole, and if you had the strength of twenty men, you couldn't stir it from its place. “Things are mighty uncertain in this world,”’ Tal- bot dryly reminded the ruffian, ‘“You won't find anything unsartin in this case,” said the outlaw; “you'll find some old benes inside to keep youcompany. One of our gang tried to kill the chief once, but he got a ball through the ribs, and then we shut him up here to get well. I never heard a feller cuss as he did the first. two days, or pray like him the last three. It was aWful, I tell you.” And as he spoke, he thrust the candle near_ to Dick's face, to note the effect of his words; but ‘Tal- bot’s nerves were of steel; it needed more than words to shake them, “Tt was horrible, eh?” Talbot queried, **You bet it was!’ “Then you can judge how you will feel when you find the noose aroun’ your neck, and the Vigilantes swing you up to the branch of a tall pine tree,” said Dick, with a smile. ; “the V) xilantes will never get hold of me,” pro- tested the ruffian, sullenly, evidently startled by the sue OR. . * I'll bet you five to one you'll swing before you're six months older,” Dick replied, confidently. ‘* You won't live to see it, anyway!” the road-agent retorted, “Tl take you five to one on that, too,” Talbot erled, qui , the ruling passion of the gamester strong even in that hour of porte, **Come, get in your hole! you’ve talked long enone ”” the second outlaw said, roughly, and he took the candle from the other, and, stooping down, entered the cavity. Then upon the heavy air of the cave came a start- ling sound, familiar to every mountaineer, ‘Twas the waruing * whir ” of the rattlesnake, A single exclamation burst from the lips of the stricken man ashe sprung back from the cavity. writhing with fearand . The outlaw had step directly upon the reptile, coiled asleep within the rey. p e, among the whitened bones of the man who perished within that dark cell, The candle, falling from the hands of the road- agent, was exti shed in an instant, : A moment, Talbot and his guard remained motion- less, in the dense gloom, transfixed with horror, Then again came the fearful warning of the deadly sorpent, which now had glided from the cavity. With a yell of terror, both of the outlaws fled, un- mindful of the prisoner, thinking only of escaping from the terrible reptile, which they could not see in the darkness. _ Talbot could hear the outlaws stumbling over the rocks in their backward flight, A moment only he remained motionless. Surrounded by the dense darkness, he remembered the. passage in the rock by the side of the cavity. Might it not be to him an avenue of escape? CHAPTER X; A NEW DEAL, For a minute or two the old man laid back in his chair aud roared in the face of the Indian, A frown gathered upon the chief's stolid features, and with an angry gesture he wound the string around the neck of the buck-skin bag which held the gold-dust and swept it from the table, in disgust. “Ugh! Big chief talk straight; white father make soos Of Injun!”? and the brave rose majestically to 8 feet. ; ‘Hold on! Sit down, chief; don’t get riled,” cried the old man, trying to appease the evidently offend- ed savage, “Mud Turtle no like white father to laugh,” said the Indian, gravely, and he resumed his seat. “Of course—quite co-rect;: but I couldn’t help it; meant no offense, yee know,” Shook explained. ““Why white father laugh at Injun?” demanded the Blackfoot. ‘Well, chief, the fact is, the idea of your offering to py my gal struck me comical.” “Chief heap poor,” the Indian said, anxiously; ‘give white father all he can for young squaw—two Injun squaw, one pony, gold-dust;—maybe chief give more dust—s’pose that buy squaw, eh?”’ “Oh, you offer ‘nuff, chief; that ain’t the p’int,” the old man explained. “Squaw sold to ‘nother chief? Mud Turtle take his scalp; then buy sqguaw—you bet!”’ The Indian had ori aae used his ears since he had been hanging round the white man’s camp, as this phrase proved. “You're bark up the wrong tree, Injun,” re- sponded old Shook, good-naturedly, “The fact is, we don’t sell our SqUaWS, as you -Skins do.”’ “No sell squaw?” said the Indian, slowly,.and in evident astonishment, ; ‘No; we give ’em away, When they see a fellow that they want to tie to, the dist spit it out to us, and then we say ‘sail in,’ and the two fix the affair up. The chief was silent for a few minutes, evidently pondering over the words of the white man; then an idea seemed to flash across his mind, and he gur- veyed Shook, with a beaming smile on his dusky features, *“Maybe chief know now,” he_ said, slowly. dnt Vox" wants to go with chief, white father say yes, too?” This plain and straightforward question was a poser to poor Shook, He scratched his head for a moment; then he stroked his chin, “ Well—” he said, meditatively. ‘*Ugh!"? and the Indian gave a t. of discon- tent. ‘‘ When un speaks str, t, white father no answer,’ and his tone plainly trayed that he considered himself aggrieved. Look a-here!"’ cried the old man, suddenly; “why don’t you go and get a squaw out of your ‘own tribe?” “Chief got two now; wants white squaw dad,” was the laconic add “T don't believe that the gal would have you!” Shook exclaimed, just a little impatiently. “White father meahs that he would not give her to chief at all?’ The savage evidently was discon- tented. “‘ Well, chief, I r’ally own I should object.” » “White father no take two squaws, one pony, gold-dust—ugh ?”’ ‘“We can’t trade,’’ Shook replied, Then the Indian sat and thought for te a lon time, while the other watched him with a comic rin, Suddenly the Blackfoot bent over and laid his bony finger impressively on the old man’s arm, “Mud Turtle know ‘nother way to get squaw.”’ Then from bengath the folds of his lankeb he pro- duced a dirty pack of cards, which he laid down on the table; then he pointed to them: ** Chief know?”’ m Se ood ne old man nodded, ‘4 ‘Big Injun put two squaws, one n - dust u in ttle whites uaw, play barétoo -on- top-of-head father poker—how's that for high?” Id Shook stared with open mouth at the savage, as he made this offer. “What?” he said, in utter astonishment, “Flax white father like blazes]’’ the Indian said, panyenuoualy. “The devil you will!” exclaimed the landlord, his ferpper Falher excited. xg "9 . e father no —no lose white squaw; ge eg A Pen ating won o ook did not relish the boasting words of the Indian, .In his younger days he been a mighty man at Canta. and how for tht savage to coolly announce to flax him like blazes with the “ than the blood of the old man could stand. © He glanced carefully out of the window, as if he was calculating the changes of any his movements; then’ he looked wistfully at, the cards displayed so temptingly on the littletable, . — The Indian’s keen eyes were searchingly upon the other’s face, He saw that he was yielding to the temptation, and a glitter, that told of anticipated tri- ump, shone in the dark eyes. ; ‘“{ can’t do it!” the old man muttered to him- self, ‘I’ve j’ined the church, and it’s ag’in’ my rinciples to touch them devil’s picture-books, but would like to take the conceit out of this h ’ though, J sw’ar!” The chief noticed this indecision, and carelessly took up the cards. Shuffling them a few ig od then dealt the old man five Ce hen himself five, and, as he returned the pack to the table, Shook saw that the hater aed was the ace of pinto The old man’s eyes followed the *s move- ments, with an eager, auaeey look, oy ‘Let white father look at hand; maybe he play chief then,” the red-skin said, gravely. “TI sw’ar I'd like to flax the heathen,’ Old Pop muttered, and then, no longer able to resist the tem tation, he took up the five cards and chuckled as he looked at them. He held four kings and a jack; a hand which .only four aces could beat, and with his own eyes, Shook had seen that one of the aces was at the bottom of the pack on the table; therefore it was clearly impossible that the Indian could hold the four aces, Shook looked searchingly at the savage. The In- | ee Rocky Mountain Rob. 7 dian sat perfectly impassible; his cards lay on the table; he had not looked at them yet. Again looking at his hand, he muttered: ‘‘I reckon that it won’t be much of a sin, arter all, to take the conceit out of this pesky savage, jist for once. ** It’s to be a straight game—the hands ag’in’ each other jist as we hold 'em?’’ he demanded. The Indian gravely nodded assent. “Tl play on one condition, chief,’’ said Shook, suddenly, as an idea occurred to him, * White father speak—Injun do, p’haps,”’ “That ef I win, you'll give up your heathen rell- gion and become a Christian?” A slight smile played for @ moment around the corners of the Indian's mouth, then he inclined his head gravely, s Big Injun do as white father says, if white father win,’ , gis I soy must flax him,’’ thought the conscientious Pnook, At that moment Bob Shook and Johnny Bird en- tered the room, and were Renaicerabiy astonished when they found the landlord of the Waterproof en- gaged in a little game with the Blackfoot chief, and were still more astonished when told what the stakes were on either side, ‘* Look out that the heathen don’t flax you, father,” Bob hinted in the old man's ear. > ‘* He can’t do it,’’ whispered the old man. ‘It will take four aces to beat me and 1 see’d one on ’em at the bottom. of the k,’? ‘“‘ Maybe he has let you see it on purpose and has rung in a ‘cold deal’ on you,” ‘| tell you I see’d it plain enofigh; I ain't a flat,” the old landlord retorted, aye angry. ‘* White father ready, chief ready too,” and the In- dian seized up his cards. *T'm rane now it’s a good fair game; you'll lose?’ ef you * Old Shook quivered, trembling wi excitement, ‘Chief pay—white father pay too?” “Yes; there—four kings!’’ Shook slapped the cards down, in triumph, and reached for the bag of gokdagt, which the Indian had again placed upon 1e F “Wait !’’ said the Indian, laconically, covering the bag of gold-dust with his hand as he spoke, * lujun rake pile,’’ and he deliberately laid four aces down on the table! Shook grew scarlet with rage, and with a howl, he made a dive for the pack, turned up the bottom card, and it was the tray of hearts; the Indian had ingeni- ously concealed the two end spots with his thumb and finger when he had purposely let Shook see the card, so that the center spot alone being visible, it had appeared to the old man as the ace, With a wolf-like yell, Bob Shook went over back ward in his chair, as if he had suddenly been se witha fit, while Johnny Bird pretty near strangled himself in trying to swallow the table-cloth. Old Shook, with the tray of hearts clutched in his ope SOM in the center of the room, a picture of eS r, The Indian rose and folded his blanket around him, with an air of quiet dignity. “Come for squaw by and by,” he said, and then stalked out of the house. We'regret to say, that for full five minutes, old Po Shook forgot that he had experienced ‘ grace,” an swore like a trooper, and then cain negeined Os8eS- sion of himself by pang a barre riving Bob and Johnny Bird, who were laughing like a couple of lunatics, out of the house. CHAPTER XI. THE COLONEL’S TROUBLE. Tre sun rose bright and early on the morning fol- lowing the day when we first took up the tangled skein of life in the mbag rele Colonel Jacks and Doc Kidder happened to meet in front of the Waterproof saloon, Their errand was the same—a morning “ cocktail,” compounded by old Shook’s skillful hand, to impart an appetite for breakfast. Colonel Jacks was nervous and shaky; the lines on his face were deeper and sterner than ever, and his eyes were restless and bl ot, Kidder, on the contrary, looked as if he had just come out. of a bandbox; his complexion was fresh and rosy, his mustache carefully waxed, and his step as elastic rs boy of twenty. Yet, Kidder was an older man t the veteran soldier, and had been up all mle £00. in in a “little game * with some of the ‘sk "from Get-up Gulch and Poor- On City, and to me, areas of t gaara it sai _succeede 8s ers ou of all th oose gold-dust sexing sent them back ta;thely respective homes in figurative sackcloth and __ ‘*Good-morn’g, colonel,” cried Kidder; ‘' where you miter negtec little bitters before breakfast,” the ) old Co hoarsely and nervously. ‘ ‘i ere, my colonel, you seem out of sorts mol ” and the gambler laid his hand on the mipul of the ier eat “ cursed if you. ain't right, Kidder! the colonel cried, with a hollow laugh; “some fine morn- the Bar will wake up and find that I’ve given ‘em a chance to start a firatclase grave-yard, 1 Bay, ap Aeneid bape eaten yan cabo: t ve died on some battlefield, paying. debt to the country that educated a GIG. PO. On & een le coyote in some rotten old ty up in the * Oh, not so bad as that, colonel; you V're only a lite pater Waite rie Victuats much, engety* the other da an os » & der, you ever ?”? he sud wort wt (has 1 hi rtf” HL i ot chief, ‘‘ How the deuce do you suppose I manage to ““You generally play cards all night.” “ Ah, true, but then I ajc alt the next day, Gen- flees who alow, “a ek: | or te Hing are like ‘owls—we prey by night and sleep by day.’ tieidden,” oried the old soldier, suddenly, ‘tT-envy ou!” 2 “You do? Why?” the gamester asked, in aston- ishment, ‘Men who trust to cards and dice ta ywive GOmicboo <SEIGO