Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 38 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

——— ae owe es Oe ae Se a eas em a mm eee ees —_— - oo ioe owe ee Oe OO or — mes ewe SA ee ~ ——— - eee 8 Beadle’s Dime Library. the idea of slaying his foes without warning; to his mind it savored of assassination. A plan came into his mind, which he proceeded at once to put into operation. The cavern was a very large one, fully a hundred feet by a hundred, and the light afforded by the single eandle only illumin- ated a small circle just around the bowlders. Cautiously then, keeping close to the wall of the vaulted cham- ber, Velvet Hand proceeded to circle around the apartment, mov- ing noiselessly as a shade, ) About thirty feet from the mouth of the passage the road- agents were sitting. Velvet Hand proceeded until he got between the outlaws and the outward passage. He had succeeded in gaining the position without alarming the three men in the least. The desperadoes had been conversing in low tones, buf Velvet Hand had approached so near that he could plainly distinguish “their words, and as he came within ear-shot, he found that he formed the subject of the conversation. “‘S’posen the sharp won’t gi’n us the check for his dust, what then?” one of the fellows queried. ‘‘Dead men tell no tales! that’s what I say,” cried the second outlaw. Captain Death nodded his head. _ “We'll finish him, eh, captain?’ said the first ruffian. “Thats our programme,” the road-agent leader remarked, “J would like to get hold of his dust though, first.” ‘‘ Sartin—five thousand dollars ain’t to be sneezed at!” “Oh, he won’t sign!” the other outlaw cried; ‘‘he’s a plucky customer.” **Maybe when we commence to slice his ears off he’ll change his mind,” Captain Death suggested, grimly. ‘‘l’ve taken the pluck out of these plucky chaps before.” PoP sh game—he won’t flinch!” the first outlaw declared, deci- y. ““S’posen he does sign, will you let him go?’ asked the second road-agent. ‘* No, of course not!” answered Captain Death, ‘‘ Doesn’t he -Imow the secret of our hiding-place?# We would be mad to let - him go!” And as this declaration came to the ears of Velvet Hand, he, - standing with a leveled revolver in his hand, had a great mind to put an end to Captain Death’s career there and then, and it required an effort to resist the impulse and confine himself to his ' original intention. Velvet Hand fired, and the candle, snuffed out by the pistol- pall, tumbled from the bowlder. The cavern was plunged in utter darkness. The outlaws, though taken completely by surprise, had wit enough to fall flat upon their faces. They believed that the shot had been directed at their precious persons. The instant he fired the Cinnabar sharp glided through the » passage-way, which, as he had supposed, led directly to the mouth of the cavern. A few moments and he stood again in the clear light of the morning, now growing stronger and stronger. A glance around him—the entrance to the cave was hid by a clump of timber, so that one might pass close to it and yet not discover it—to fix the locality in his mind, and Velvet Hand hurried away. Fifty feet from the cavern he struck a trail which he recognized at once, It was the road from Angels to » Cinnabar. A haif an hour later our hero was in the Occidental Hotel. CHAPTER IX. THE WATER-BIRD. Vetvet Hand entered the house, went up stairs to his room, threw himself on the bed, without undressing, and in five minutes was sleeping as sweetly and softly as an infaut. He slept about three hours, never even stirring from the posi- - tion which he had first assumed, then awoke with a sudden glanced at the sun, now high in the heavens and sending its bright beams full into the little room. He pulled out bis watch. “By Jove! I’m afraid that I have overslept myself!” he ed, but a glance at his timepiece reassured him. It was ~ not yet nine. “I must be in the defile above the McCloud can- yon by twelve,” he continued; ‘‘and I want some breakfast before the walk.” He made a hasty toilet, merely sousing his face with cold water, wiped it off with the apology for a towel which the Occi- dental afforded to its guests, ran a comb through his dark locks, and then a stranger, to have looked at him, would never have dreamed that he had sat at a card-table all night long. Descending to the restaurant, which was on the ground floor of the hotel—the Occidental boasted three stories now—he ordered breakfast, ate it, and started forth. Straight up the river road he went, following the old trail which ran‘along the bank of the Shasta until the lower end of the McCloud canyon was reached; there the road bent inland, making a wide sweep to the west in order to avoid the rocky formation through which thé restless waters of the swift-flowing Shasta had cut its way, thus forming the great McCloud canyon. For about two miles the trail skirted the rocky wall and then turned abruptly back again to the river, running through the little valley where, in the early days of Cinnabar City, the partners of the Cinnabar lode bad waged such a desperate fight with the great chief of the McCloud Indians, Koo-choo, the Hog, and his warriors. In the center of the little defile Velvet Hand halted and looked carefully around him. It was evident that he expected to behold some one, but rugged rocks, giant bowlders, cone-like juniper bushes and spiny ieaved piaes alone met his eyes; no human form was in sigh! He consulted has watch. It wanted but a mirute to twelve, The man was well armed. Besides the self-cocking revolvers which he carri¢d in his pockets, a leather belt was buckled to his waist which supported two more pistols, six shooters, and a long broad bladed bowie-knife. This was an unusual armament for Velvet Hand, for he seldom displayed his weapons “T will wait,” he murmured. “TI never knew one of the reds to fail to keep.an appointment, if life remained.” He sat down upon a bowlder, still keeping a cautious watch about him. Not long did he wait, for within five minutes a light form came hurrying through the dark-green shrubbery which fringed the upper end of the valley. A red-skin, and a woman! A fair one, too, although her skin was of a dusky hue, but she trod the sterile soil with the step of a princess, and even the cold-hearted man of the world could not repress a glance of admiration as he watched the movements of the lithe form, step- ping so gracefully along the uneven path. Velvet Hand’s first meeting with this Indian girl had been a most romantic one. Enjoying a day’s shooting on the upper Shasta. he had encountered the girl “‘ treed ” by a grizzly bear. The girl had come suddenly and unexpectedly upon the lord of the wild rocks, and the bear, startled by the presence of the human in his rocky wastes, had given chase. Luckily a stout tree was near at hand, and into its branches the girl had clambered, but the bear, loth to leave his prey, kept close watch at the foot of the tree. The white’s timely arrival raised the siege, and the grizzly monarch turned upon the new-comer. Although Velvet Hand ‘‘hadn’t lost any b’ar,” to repeat the mountain saying, and wasn’t particularly desirous of finding one, yet on this occasion he was compelled to give battle, for the brute allowed him no time to retreat. A single shot settled the matter, for with that marvelous skill with firearms for which he was noted, he sent a ball straight through the eye of the mountain monarch into the brain, killing the beast almost instantly. Of course the gratitude of the Indian maid knew no bounds, and the white was somewhat embarrassed by the outpouring of thanks which came so treely from her lips. In answer to his inquiries she stated that she was of the Tonaton tribe, and that her name was Hula-ha-ha, which, translated inte English, meant Water-bird. A prettier Indian maid Velvet Hand had never seen, although he had had much experience with the savage people of Northern California. Twice after the first meeting the white had encountered the girl, and both times she had come to seek him in Cinnabar, taking the precaution, however, to enter the town early in the morning and to seclude her charming face in the folds of her blanket, so as not to provoke impertinent curiosity. On the first visit she had brought the skin of the grizzly bear, beautifully tanned and ornamented in the highest style of savage art. This keepsake, after some solicitation, Velvet Hand accepted, and on her second visit she had brought a ring rudely hammered out of a pure nugget of gold, and this present also Velvet Hand took, although he remonstrated against so doing and told the girl frankly that the service was already amply acknowledged. But the gratitude of the Indian seemed as boundless as the heavens, and she had replied that while she lived she would never forget. And on the previous day to this one whereon we have traced Velvet Hand’s steps, he had received word by an old squaw that the girl wished to meet him at a certain place and at a certain hour—that his life was in danger, and that she could inform him how he might preserve it. At first the white felt inclined not to go, but, despite his heart of stone and head of iron, some little spark of curiosity yet lingered within his breast, and he wondered who it was that threatened his life, and how it came that the Indian girl knew aught of the matter. : Thus it happened that Velvet Hand waited in the lonely defile above the McCloud canyon for the coming of the Tonaton girl. She came onward with rapid steps, and Velvet Hand rose to receive her. ‘‘T have come, you see,” he said. ‘‘Hula-ba-ha is glad to see the white chief,” the girl replied, her voice earnest and her face troubled. ‘‘She was afraid that he would not trust the warning sent and that he would not come,” ‘‘-You excited my curiosity; you sent word that my life was in danger, and I am anxious to know who threatens it.” . The girl was evidently much troubled, for she hesitated before replying. ‘“‘The McClouds are a great nation,” she said at last. “Does the chief know of them?” ‘Yes, something, but not much,” Velvet Hand replied, rather puzzled at this beginning. He had not imagined danger from red foes, but from white. “ Hula-ha-ha is sorry now that she deceived the white chief,” the girl said, sadly. ‘‘ How have you deceived me?’ the white asked, amazed, “ Hula-ha-ha is not a Tonaton; she is a McCloud!” “A MeClond?”’ ECONMIE OOOKS (EO)