Beadle's Dime Library No. 362 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

oy Se ee ee OE ee ee ee ae + " — Se Fe — i < =. | 20 Buffalo Bill's Grip. Marking a powder which he knew to be a | open book, and if I had asked old Sitting the young brave had been killed that after- Bull to piteh his village to suit me, he could | noon. deadly poison, he went over to the epee of the pretty Sioux Queen, and engaged her in conversation, asking her when the pale-face scout intended to keep his word to her and come to the Indian village?” ‘The Long Hair has a straight tongue; he will come,” said the young girl, contfi- dently. ‘he renegade continued to argue the mat- ter with her, and while there managed to drop the powder upon the buffalo steaks that were broiling upon the fire before the Indian girl's tepee. Then he departed, satisfied with his work. Feather Feet ate her supper with no sus- picion of harm; but she did not seem to have her customary appetite, and springing upon “ee ating pony took a gallop down the val- ey. She passed the guards about the village, and unheeding their warning nat to venture far, rode to the top of a ridge, where the cool ‘mer blow upon her, for she felt strange- y ill. The young Indian brave who was on guard watched her attentively, as she sat there, and she having won his heart, he seem- ed to forget all else, now that she was before his eyes. | So wrapped up was he in feasting his eyes upon the young girl, that he did not behold a huge form suddenly bound forth from a rock near by, and when he did see it, before he could utter his defiant war-cry, his throat was crushed ina mighty grip, and he was dragged back out of sight and a long knife sent to the hilt in his heart. Then the scalp-lock was torn from his head, ere life was extinct, and the young brave’s love-dream had ended. Seated by the side of his victim, the slayer gazed upon him with a look of real pleasure at his deed, while he muttered in a sinis- ter tone: **T love blood, for it is red and beautiful. not have pleased me more. ‘“ But Lam getting tired of this, and if Ido not catch Bill Bevins soon, I will go boldly into the village and claim the protection of the Sacred Pipe | carry. “‘T'll risk it, for I believe in its power— Hal! there comes the Mad Shanghai! ‘‘] wonder how many curiosities in the way of scalps he has collected upon this trip?” uttered the words, Buffalo Bill turned and looked back into the cavern, out of the darkness appearing as he did so the gigantic form of the Mad Hercules. 3ut he was not alone, for close in his brawny arms he held the slender form of Feather Feet. She was conscious, for, fortunately for her, she had eaten so sparingly of the poisoned food that it did not accomplish the end the renegade had intended. Catching sight of Buffalo Bill, she cried in English: ** Pa-e-has-ka, save Feather Feet!” ‘* [ll do it, girl, for | owe you an unpaid debt.” Then addressing the madman, Bill contin- ued, sternly: ‘* Release that girl, sir!” The Mad Hercules hesitated, and took out his knife, while he said, fiercely: ‘‘] brought her here to kiil her.”’ “You harm her, and [ll kill you, as sure as I am Buffalo Bill,” and the scout drew a revolver. “ Buffalo Bill? Did you call yourself Buf- Salo Bil?” The madman fairly shrieked the words, and his features worked convulsively. ‘*Yes,’’ was the cool reply. ‘Then you are not a ghost?” and the words were hissed forth as the madman stealthily advanced, throwing the Indian girl aside, greatly to her relief, as not worthy ‘But | won't kill her now, but take her to | of notice. the ghost and kill her before him. ** Yes, I will do that, for she must die; but not now, not now. ‘There! she comes! she,goes by.” He crouched back in the shelter of a rock as he spoke, while Feather Feet, upon whom his eyes were fixed with murderous intent, came riding slowly back toward the village. She felt ill, hardly able to sit upon her horse, and her eyes were bent upon the ground; but suddenly she gave a cry of alarm and tried to wheel her pony about and dash ,away, for to her side had sprung the form of the Mad Hercules. But he placed his hand over her mouth, seized her firmly in his arms, and turning her pony loose darted down a defile, unseen by any of the other Indian guards, nearly a quarter of a mile away. Now to catch her as CHAPTER XXXYVI. A LAST RESORT, In a large cavern penetrating a pile of rocks, rising to an elevation that commanded a view of the Indian village, several miles distant, sat Buffalo Bill. | Hehad his field glass in his hand, and had been long gazing upon the Indian camp. ‘* Well, V'll never get them down finer than I have them now, [ fear, for the last few times I have counted the warriors, I get the number in the neighborhood of six thousand,” he said, thoughtfully. ‘‘T wish I had some one with me whom I could send back on the trail and report to the ‘army just the situation of the village, and how many warriors Sitting Bull has; but if I were to trust that crazy Shanghai, he’d go to killing the soldiers as soon as he met them, ‘| have been hanging about this village long enough now, for I have done my work well, and keep my oath to Custer,”’ and as he spoke the reientless scout held up a long string of scalps which he had taken since the - massacre of the Big Horn, and he smiled grimly at his red work. His position was a secure one, and one which the Mad Hercules had led him to, through an underground tunnel-way known only to the crazy giant, and the entrance to which not even a warrior would suspect. “That mad giant knows this country asan ‘No, but I'll make a ghost of you if you crowd me, old man,”’ warned the scout. At once was the supernatural power he had so long held over the poor crazed being gone, and with a yell that echoed like thun- der through the cavern the Mad Hercules rushed upon him, while Feather Feet, crouching in terror at one side, seemed to feel that the end had come for both Buffalo Bill and herself. ‘* Back, devil, or I will kill you, and I do not wish to do that,’’ shouted Bill, springing backward as the maddened fiend rushed up- on him. ‘Kill! kill! that is what Z will do,’’shriek- ed the Mad Hercules. But, they were his last words, for, seeing that his death was certain if he hesitated longer, Buffalo Bill pulled the trigger of his revolver, and the bullet crashed through the poor, diseased brain. With a heavy thud the Mad Hercules fell his length, his knife shivered to pieces as it struck the rocky flooring of the cavern, OHAPTER XXXVII. THE PLEDGE REDEEMED, TuERE was great excitement in the village of the Sioux. The Sioux queen, the idolized Feather Feet, had ridden away from her tepee and had ‘not yet returned. Then, too, an old squaw had reported see- ing Death Killer, the medicine chief, make up a poison, and watching him, she had seen him sprinkle it upon the food the Feath- er Feet was preparing for her supper. Whether this peculiar circumstance had anything to do with the disappearance of the Sioux Queen none could tell; but pale-faces generally being under distrust, Death Killer was ordered to the council-lodge by Sitting Bull to explain. Then came the news that one of the most promising young warriors of the tribe had been slain and scalped while on guard at one of the passes to the village. This was fearful, and Buffalo Dill was set down as the perpetrator of the deed. While the chiefs were in council, listening to the renegade’s denial of having done what he was accused of doing, a horse was seen ; \ | ‘ — approaching the guards at the pace ate - y F%y,' #* ie ' ~ ae Upon his back were two persons, one of them appearing to be a great chief in full feather, and the other was Feather IF cet. The chief grunted a salutation to the guards, though who he was none of them knew, while Feather Feet spoke to them pleasantly, and said the brave Sioux had res- cued her from great danger. Straighs to the council-lodge the chief and Feather Feet rode, and dismounting quickly the two entered the sacred precinct, the young girl leading the way. A cry arose at sight of the Feather Feet, who, as the avowed Queen, had the entree there, and then all eyes were turned upon her companion, while she said in a voice that reached every ear in the grand lodge: “The Pa-e has-ka spoke with a straight tongue. ‘* He is here!” The war-bonnet was thrown aside, and the blanket held in front of the face was remoy- ed, and Buffalo Bill stood revealed, alone among his enemies. A deep murmur ran around the crowd of chiefs, and it was half surprise, half admira- tion at the bold pale-face who had redeemed his word to Feather Feet. Fearlessly the scout stood before his foes, his eyes resting first upon the face of Sitting Bull, and then falling upon the renegade and resting there. ‘‘The Long Hair has come beck and now he shall die!” shouted Bill Bevins, unable to contain his joy. “The Death Killer has spoken—the Long Hair must die!’ said Sitting Bull, and the words were echoed upon all sides. But Buffalo Bill’s face never changed color, while Feather Feet cried: ‘* Let the Sioux Queen speak!” Instantly there was a dead silence, and she told the story of her adventure with the mad- man, and how she had been saved by Buffalc Bill. Alleyes turned upon Sitting Bull,for it was for him to speak. Deep and earnest came his words: ‘The Long Hair is a mighty pale-face chief, ‘‘ He has trailed the red-man to his village, and his belt is heavy with the scalp locks of my braves. ‘‘He came here under the war bonnet of my Cheyenne brother, the Yellow Hand, ‘‘ He bears in his hand now the leap pole of my greatest warrior, the Flyer. ‘‘ He has saved the Sioux Queen from death, and has slain the great terror of my people, the evil spirit of the Yellowstone. “The Long Hair is not afraid of death, and he must show my warriors how he can die!” ‘That settles it, Buffalo Bill, and I have triumphed!” fairly yelled the renegade. But Buffalo Bill simply smiled and said: “The Sitting Bull is a great chief, ard Pa e-has-ka has heard his words. ‘¢ Pa-e-has-ka has slain his young braves, and his belt is heavy with their scalp-locks. ‘‘But does the Sitting Bull forget many moons ago, when his little daughter, the sun- light of his heart, was captured by a Pawnee brave, and that a pale-face took her from him, and gave her to the Great Chief to place again in his heart? “The Sitting Bull gave the Pa-e-has-ha then this Sacred Pipe and Tomahawk with the broken edge, in token that he would never be his foe. ‘See! must the Pa-e-hs-kaa die?” As Buffalo Bill spoke, he held up the Sacred Pipe and the White Tomahawk with its edge all broken. A death-like silence fell upon all, then Sit- ting Bull arose and stepping up to the scout threw around him his snow-white robe, and said, impressively: “The Pa-e-has-ka is the friend of the Sit- ting Bull. ‘‘When the tomahawk shall be buried between their people, they shall be brothers. ‘«But now the pale-faces are on the trail of my children so let the Pa-e-has-ka go from my village back to his people, and not one of my young braves shall follow his trail. ‘t'The Sitting Bull has spoken.” A grunt of assent showed that the chiefs agreed with their great leader, excepting one, and that one was the renegade. 3 "Veomicbooks 1G