Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 4 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

20 i = ee, a eee we eee Yes. Henceforth he must treat her, not as a | of us has got anything to fight with, if we have .__The New York Libra ——_———— sister—such a relation had too much of famili- | to fight?” arity in it—hut as a goddess, not to be aps | : Fortunately, Walter’s rifle had been slung to proached with unwashed hands. He wou watch over her, protecting her from outward dangers; but first of all he must protect her | from himself. As some reparation to Hal, he approached and asked if he could do anything to make him more comfortable. care Was in a fair wa of his wonted strength, looked up and replied, with the forms of courtesy, but with an under- current of sarcasm: ‘“No, I thank you. You have already been = too kind in your services to my future wife, which I of course regard and will, if op- ortunity offers, requite as a personal obliga- ion. ‘*T beg that you will not consider the matter in that light,” replied Walter, stung by the covert insolence of the other’s words. ‘‘If what little 1 have done is honored by a place in the remembrance of the lady herself, I shall feel more than repaid.” With a bow he turned away, his anger striv- ing in vain to drown a voice which asked: -**What right have you to complain? Is it not a meet reward for your treachery?” | Harry Bearsley looked after the retreating figure with gleaming eyes. ‘* Don’t think but it will be honored by a pee in my remembrance!” he hissed, beneath is breath. ‘‘ When your blood has paid for it, I may forget it, along with yourself; but not before!” %' CHAPTER XXVITL. HIDING. MEANWHILE Shang had begun to manifest increasing signs of anxiety. ** Friends,” he said, ‘1 don’t want to h nobody; but this hain’t the safest place in the world; an’ it’s my opinion we’d better be gititin’ out of it as soon’s ye’re able to move. The Phi- listines are a mighty uneasy set; an’ if they took a notion to ramble around here, they might light onto us all of a sudden.” **Il reckon some on us hain’t got much stom- ach for trampin’ through the brush,” said Burly Ben. ‘ Now how long might it be, Mrs. Blanche, since you've had anything to eat?” ** Not since last night,” replied the until now had not realized that muc weakness was due to hunger. Since her escape from William Swanton there had been scarcely a moment, except during her long swoon, which was not filled with its ab- sorbing interest, so that the ordinary demands of the body had not made themselves heard, prety a the day was now far advanced. But at the first suggestion hunger assailed her with ravenous impetuosity, so that she looked from one to the other of her friends for something with which to gratify its cravings. *T will go to our cave and fetch something immediately,” said Walter, and was about to move off without further delay. **Hold on,” interposed Shang. ‘ This hain’t no dinin’-room. I lose my guess, if the whole kit don’t want somethin’ in the shape o’ fodder. So I say we'd better all go where it is, an’ where the Arabs o’ the desert won’t ‘light down on us about the time we git the feast spread, an’ glut their heathen appetites with Christian provin- der—along with our scalps, perhaps, But first ye all want to be freshened up a bit; for there’s no knowin’ how much fightin’ an’ scamperin’ we may have to do before we git to cover. Has anybody got any corn-juice? That’ll al- Ways give nerve in a pinch, though somethin’ solider an’ not so fi’ry is better for ordinary occasions.” ‘*Hal, you have a canteen,” said Mr. Bur- ank. Hal shuddered. The recollection rushed upon him that he had emptied his canteen to nerve himself for the murder of Mary Edwards, and then thrown the canteen away in anticipation irl, who of her ‘of some such occasion as this when it would be diticult to account for the disappearance of the liquor. He now made the explanation he had prepared. ‘* ‘Lhe strap of my canteen caught in a bush, this morning, while Ben and I were being pur- sued; and I was forced to slip out of it to save myself from capture,” “ Tly flask is at your service,” said Walter, hancing it, not to Blanche, but to her father. ‘his was a partof his atonement. He tried to steel his heart against the look which flashed from the g:rl’s eyes as she received the flask from her father’s hand. He was famishing for the slichtect crumb of dor g alight from her; yet he to_d himself that he had no right to her grati- tale. If she knew all, would she not despise hizn and shun his gifts?) This thoucht gave him a dreary look into the future, That stolen rap- ture of touching her lips must now forever stand oetween them. Her friendship, her merest smile, must in tne future be received by him undcr false pretenses, ‘** An’ this brings us to another consideration,” “a Shan, l:!. words flowing, not from W alter’s, from his own line of thought, Mow many OPO Re la Hal, who under Burly Ben’s | to be soon in possession | Lele eee ee ) | law has placed ' a is back with a strap, which enabled him to re- tain it while carrying Blanche. For Burly Ben to have parted with his weapon before he had partes with his life, was not a supposable case. t was more a matter for congratulation that Mr. Burbank had kept his during that mad race with death; but he had clung to it mechanically, as people sometimes carry even useless things through the greatest dangers. Hal alone had lost his chief weapon; his lay in the corridor where he had fallen senseless. Shang made one more entrance into the smoke- filled passage, as far as the first angle, whence he brought forth his own trusty rifle and another which he presented to Hal, saying that it ha pelonepe to an Indian “‘ who had no further use or it! It had occurred to Walter that, in view of the feeling between them, Hal might refuse to be benefited by the use of his canteen, if obliged to accept it in his presence; and not wishing to place him between the alternatives of humilia- tion and suffering, he had, with rare tact, drawn a little apart from the others, when he was sud- denly startled by seeing a bush in motion at no great distance. With his rifle in readiness, he bounded toward it. Then, from the coppice, arose a dusky form, with a tomahawk poised in air. = Walter knew that the sound of his rifle would betray the presence of his friends; but the In- dian’s yell would do it in any event: so he fired and then dodged the coming missile. The yell of the savage was cut in the middle, as his body disappeared in the foliage. ith rapid bounds, Walter regained his friends, to find Hal with the flask to his mouth. Even in such a moment Hal found expres- sion for his hatred. He handed Walter the flask with a mock bow of acknowledgment. His smile, too, was full of meaning, as he turned and took Blanche by the arm. Walter received the flask mechanically, stand- ing stock-still and staring blankly for a single instant. The whole proceeding was like a sla in the face. His mind and heart had been full of but one thought—‘‘ my darling!”—when this Mephistophiles had stepped between them and said—‘‘ Ming!” He felt an icy shiver run over him, and his eyes fell to the ground, so that he failed to see Blanche look past Hal to him. But the glance was not itost on Hal, who ground his teeth with internal rage, thinking: ‘You jade! Pll put you in training when the ou in my power! You'll not then make love before my face, I promise you!” Hal was no coward now, when the danger was one which he was accustomed to meet. In the broad sunlight, Mary’s ghost had not the poe to haunt him; so there was no excuse for ry. ———— i | Vol, I, idea of separation from his child; and Hal was about to enter a decided protest. Burly Ben saw the wisdom of Shang’s words; but before he could interfere Walter spoke in his mee his yet decided way, which molded all wills 3) wn, ‘Do as Shang says. To his experience I would intrust my life—and more!” Blanche’s eyes flashed at this involuntary ex- ression with which his love for her surprised is caution. Her ear was quick to catch every cadence of his voice, that the words ‘and more” told her as plainly as words could tell— ‘**T love you more than my life!” Shang saw the father’s opposition vanish. For Hal and his pretensions, so far as they con- cerned Blanche, whom he had mentally dedi- cated to Walter, he cared not a last-year’s bird’s nest. At the further end of the flat rock on which Blanche stood grew a sturdy oak whose trunk was completely hidden. by a vail of vines, very dense in foliage, which trailed over the rock, forming a sort of tent-shaped bower. Passing his hands between the rock and the vines, Shang lifted them with the nicest care, and said: ‘Creep in here, little one! carefully, now, so’s not to bruise the vines!” “‘ Papa!” cried the girl, extending her arms. **God bless and keep you, my child!” A straining embrace and a kiss as if she would ‘pluck it up by the roots;” then, with a sweeping glance which rested last on Walter's eyes: oy Good-by, all!” And she crept beneath the curtain of verdure which Shang let fall behind her. ‘* Lay down in the hollow between the rock and the tree,” directed the scout, ‘‘ an’ don’t ye stir hand or foot, even if some one peeps in here, until they actually take hold of ye!” Then Blanche heard reerceling eter le a a a moment afterward, with yells that curdh her blood, the rush of savages, whose dark bodies she could see through interstices in the vines; then the shots and yells, receding in the distance, which marked a running fight. Among all those shots, would any one reach a mark through which it would pierce her heart ‘‘Oh God! protect papa and—Walter!” she prayed, throw ang. neh a world of yearning love the name t it must have reached the one. CHAPTER XXIX, TREACHERY. Tue Indians in pursuit of our friends were soon checked in their bold rush by the unerring shots of the two trained scouts, those less used to forest warfare, yet brave men withal, also do- isnow shirking his duty of protection to his | ing their share. The Sioux continued with affianced wife. With the savages ringing in her ears, forward between Hal and her father. Our friends had been discovered by one of the Indians, several parties of whom had been kept at work scouring the woods in search of Blanche. In response to his yell, Indians began to gather from almost every direction, threatening to surround the littie party. But Shang’s address enabled them to break through the cordon be- fore its ga closed about them, in accomplish- ing whic the long-limbed scout unceremonious- ly snatched Blanche from her father and Hal, and ran with her in his arms at the top of his speed, until he was nearly out of breath. Now, the hundred and twenty pounds, more or less, of blushing femininity, which lovers (in books—nowhere else) so often lift ‘‘ like a child,” is what may be termed, in vulgar parlance, ‘‘ no fool of alift;” but the scout’s Herculean strength and endurance, together with his unusual length of limb, enabled him to carry the girl over the es for a short distance, much more rapidly han she could have traversed the same space on foot, hampered as she must have been by her clothing, in the dense undergrowth. With her keen sense of humor, a comical little thought— ‘‘Oh, dear! how much nicer it would be, if one were occasionally allowed the use of one’s feet?” —made Blanche smile, even in that moment of danger; yet she knew that Shang’s course was really the wisest though she divined but half of his Purpose, or, besides the effort to gain the outside of the closing circle of Indians, the scout wished that her feet should leave no trail, He had picked her up from stony ground; he laced her upon her feet again on a flat rock in he midst of another spot of stony ground; so that, since leaving the cave, her foot had made no distinguishable impression, ‘It’s no use o’ talking,” he safd, si tae ‘We can’t run away from the Jnjins with th's little woman on our hands, In ten minutes the hull kit ’ud be on top of us, an’ we couldn’t save her. We've got to hide her; an’ this here’s the best place within a mi‘le.” Instinctively Blanche looked to Walter for his approval. Was ever a woman who did not lace the judgment of the man she really loved fore that of e one else? Mr, Burbank a little grightened at the rr ety orn I ttl ta eater caution, gliding from tree to tree, try- ells of an approaching party of | ing to outflank the little party and detain them lanche was hurried | until their own numbers were increased by the 7" st-coming reinforcements from the mouth of the cave. In much the same manner our friends were forced to retreat, keeping together as much as possible, until Shang said: **We can’t stand this. Together we'll soon be surrounded like Daniel in the lion’s den. It’s got to be every man for himself. Do ye see that ead oak on the hill yonder? That’s our ren- dezvous. An’ now scatter!” Acting on his suggestion they began to spread out, separating gradually from each other. A ceadly light began to glow in Harry Pearsley’s eyes, as he looked from side to side, keeping watch over his companions. “This is my opportunity!” he muttered; *‘and may the fiend deal with me as I im- prove it!” BY skillful maneuvering he kept within sight of Walter, while the divergent courses of the others took them out of - ‘ ‘‘Now to secure myself, if that fool has dis. covered anything from my precious wife—that was! and to cut short his interloping attentions to my wife who is to be!” While, with his attention occupied by his foes in front, Walter was gliding between two trees, Hal's rifle went to his shoulder; his teeth were set, showing fiercely beneath his mustache; his eye glanced nerf hatred along the barrel; and the piece exploded. ith a stinging sensation in his breast, Walter started, gasped, and fell heavily to the ground, . ‘* So die the fool’s death!” muttered Hal, exul- tantly, “If my bullet is not effective, the In- dians will roast you to a delicate brown—and I hope they may have the y+ pea The man who crosses my path— Hah!” — Hiis ejaculation was occasioned by the ap- pearance of Bantam on the spot where Walter acl fallen. ‘Walter, my boy, you're not shot?’ ex- claimed the scout, with deep feeling, bending over his prostrate friend. ‘‘'Yes, Bantam,” replied Walter, faintly. “TI fear that my left lung is picrced.” ‘‘Curses on the besgarly crew! Ill have twenty lives fer this!” eried Baatam, “Lut I 2 Seomichooks- co ee