Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 41 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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14 Beadle’s, Dime. Library. ‘“Yes, granddad,” replied the girl; so she generally termed him. ‘‘ Wasn’t Long John Clark here again to-day?” The girl looked astonished, “Why, how did you know that, granddad? You were away.” ‘‘Mebbe I was an’ mebbe I wasn’t,” granddad replied, rocking himself to and fro as he spoke. ‘‘ But, hyer or.not hyer, I gin- erally have my.eyes onto this spot, Don’t you know who this * John Clark is, gal?” -, Why yes, of course; he’s one of the Mormons.” ‘‘ He’s wuss than a Mormon!” cried the old fellow, with ve- hemence; ‘he’s a dirty hound who sells himself for a Mormon tool. He’sthe head boss of ped spina Sar Angels, the Danites, the bloody fiends whose hands red with the blood of innocent men, and wimen, and leetle children even! When old Brigham crooks his finger at a man and says.he.must be put out of the way, these hounds do the work; but thar’s vengeance a-waitin’ fur all of ’em. The vultures up in the pine-trees are w’etting their beaks for Long John Clark. They’re hungry for him; they want to tear and rend! He’s given ’em many a meal—he an’ his bloody band, an’ now they want to get at him! Oh! he’s big an’ strong an’ he’s the Duke of Corinne, but big as he is an’ strong as he is, death will be socked right home to him one of these days!” ‘Oh, daddy, I wouldn’t talk that way,” the girl protested. She was used to these outbursts of passion against the Mormons, whom the old man hated bitterly, although he seldom expressed his feelings openly. ‘‘T tell yer the vultures ’way up in the tree-tops are a-sharpen- in’ their claws for him, an’ they'll sock it to him "fore long. What did he want hyer, hey?” ‘‘Oh, he merely stopped to say good-day, and asked if I-could give him a bit of salve for a slight cut he had on his hand,” the girl replied. ‘““Ah! the vultures will cut him pooty soon, an’ no salve in this hyer world will do him the least bit of good!” old Cripples cried in an angry squeal. ‘“‘He don’t come for no salve, gal; he comes to spy arter me, that’s w’at he’s arter. Say, didn’t he ax any questions?” ‘Yes, he asked where you were.” “ Aha! I know’d it—I told you so! An’ w’at did you say?” ‘*T told him that you were away.” * Av’ he axed whar I had gone, hey?’ ‘Yes, he did.” ‘| know’d it!” Cripples cried; ‘that’s all he came arter, to spy arter me; an’ w’at did you tell him?’ ““Why, the truth, daddy, that I didn’t know.” ‘‘ An’ then w’at more did he ax you "bout me, an’, gal, you 5 wouldn’t betray me, would you/—you wouldn’t betray the poor ‘+ old man w’at brought you up an’ took care on you when thar '. warn’t nobody else on this hyer footstool for to even stretch out ‘a hand for to help you?” The girl was not surprised at this. Cripples was possessed of an idea that he had some important secrets and that every- body who tarried a moment in passing by the shanty had no other purpose but to play the spy on him. ‘Why, of course, daddy, I wouldn’t say a word to harm you, but he never seemed anyway anxious to find out anything about you.” The sound of a horse’s hoofs suddenly interrupted the conver- sation, and looking down the river they beheld the Mormon elder, Biddeman, approaching. CHAPTER XVIL ENTRAPPED. THe Mormon was mounted on one steed and led another, and from the sweaty hides of both the brutes it was evident that he had ridden hard. “ Talk of the devil,” muttered the old man, in a most decidedly uncomplimentary manner as the Mormon elder rode up. It was plain that that individual did not stand very high in old Crip- ples’s estimation. “Polly, I’ve got a case for you,” said the elder, as he halted before the shanty. ‘‘My housekeeper has got the fever bad, and she’s raving like a lunatic. I’ve brought a horse for you, and J want you to come right down and see her; I know that you can cure her if anybody can.” ‘One of your wives sick, he--?’ demanded Cripples, very deaf now ri he always pretended to be whenever strangers were around, “No, I hav’n’t any wife!” yelled the Mormon, annoyed at the remark. ‘I hav’n’t any wife at all!” “Oh, the tall one! Lemme see, is she your fourth or fifth wife?’ persisted the old man. “T tell you that I hav’n’t any wife!” cried Biddeman, get- ting red in the face. “Wa-al, you won’t miss one wife when you’ve got a hull grist on’em. I remember jes’ as well as kin be when you got hitched to the furst one. That was nigh to ten years ago, warn'’t it, elder? an’I reckon you’ve got sealed, as you Mormons call it, to @ new gal "bout every year since that time. It ’pears to me you took two gals one year; I don't ’actly remember; but you must bave nigh onto a dozen wifes now ’stid of five. How many children hev you got onto your ranch, anyway?” The elder turned away in disgust; he didn’t relish this expose of his matrimonial affairs. “This old idiot ought to be put into the lunatic asylum, where he belongs,” he muttered, | The girl could not help smiling at the discomfiture of the Mor- mon, and, woman-like, she could not resist the temptation of giv- ing the elder a sly dig. ‘‘Why, Mr. Biddeman, have you really got twelve wives?’ she inquired. ‘I thought that you said you were not married?” “T am not, at present,” he explained. ‘‘I was married about ten years ago; that is what the old man remembers, but the lady has been dead some time now.” ‘* And you hav’n’t got eleven other wives?” ‘‘No, my dear!” Biddeman exclaimed, indignantly. ‘‘ Hav’n’t Y often told you that you mustn’t believe thesestories! They are all Gentile lies. The Gentiles can’t speak the truth when they talk about us Latter-day Saints; it is a moral impossibility. But come, won’t you please hurry? The poor creature was suffering terribly when I came away. My ranch is only about fifteen miles away; we can ride there in no time, and I'll see you safely back home again.” The request. was a temptation to the girl; for the last four or fiye months the Mormon had been a persistent suitor for her favor, and though old Cripples stoutly insisted that the elder was a very much-married man, the “saint” as strongly denied the soft imputation and declared that he was both heart and fancy free, so that she really was piqued to know what was the truth. Not,that she cared in the least for the fat and rather ancient elder, but her curiosity was excited to learn the truth. No thought of danger crossed her mind despite the terrible stories sbe had heard in regard to the Mormons and their tools, the Danites, the fearful white savages of the Great Salt Lake, a body of men whose atrocious deeds would put to the blush the acts of any red Indians from the Missouri to the Pacific slo Bae was, a chance to solve all doubts, at the same time to ease the suffering woman stretched helpless upon a sick bed. ‘ “ll be ready in five minutes!” exclaimed the young doctress, and she hurried into the house to dress for the journey and to put up some simple medicines, There was a shrewd twinkle in the dull, piglike eyes of the Mormon as he watched the door close behind the light figure, and it was with difficulty that he repressed an exultant smile, The old man had watched him closely, and now, rising from his seat, he hobbled up to him. “Say, squire, whar air you goin’ totake the gal?” ‘‘To my ranch; housekeeper’s sick,” bawled the elder at the top of his lungs, determined to be understood this time. ‘¢ When will she be back?” “To-night!” ~* “ Sure ?” There was a peculiar ring in the old man’s yoice as he put the simple question, and the Mormon elder looked at him in astonishment. There was hidden menace in it. “‘ Well, that depends,” The old man nodded his head to show that he understood, although the elder had not spoken loudly, and he regarded the saint in a way that much excited the astonishment of the elder, for there certainly was a threatening look in the old man’s eyes. ‘¢ Yes, that depends,”’ the Mormon repeated, just a little absent- minded, for the peculiar look perplexed him. ‘<’Pends upon w’at?”’ questioned Cripples, shortly. “Qh, upon a good many things,” the Mormon answered, care- lessly. ‘‘The sick person may be so low as to require constant care, and in such a case, of course Polly would prefer to stay even for two or three days.” “Yes, I see.” The words were well enough, and old Cripples nodded his head in the most innocent way, but to the Mormon’s ideas there was a baleful light in those old eyes. “So you needn’t be alarmed, even if she don’t come back right away,” the elder continued, “T’lllook out for her and see that she comes to no harm.” ‘All right,” and the old man nodded his head again, just as if he was perfectly satisfied; but still there was that steel-like gleam in his deeply sunken eyes. ‘Yes, it’s all right,” he repeated, ‘I shan’t worry if she don’t come back right away. I ain’t afeard of anybody a- in’ her. She’s got one mighty vig friend, an’ I reckon that even you Mormons, Destroyin Angels an’ all, won’t car’ to rub ag’in’ him,” The elder looked at the speaker in astonishment. He thought the old man had one of his crazy fits coming on, It was commonly believed that old Cripples was out of his head half the time. “Well, that’s good! I’m glad to hear it. Who is this friend you speak off—yourself, eh?” ‘‘ Me!” cried the uld chap, in a tone of contempt. ‘Why I’m just a worm a-crawlin’ over the earth!” ‘*Who is it, then?” > ‘“‘ Her Father that art in heaven!” said Cripples, solemnly, point- ing upward with his skinny finger. ‘‘ Don’t try any gum-games onto her, poor little child, or mebbe the Lord will send an angel with a flaming sword fur to right the wrong!” and then the old man hobbled away. The Mormon watched him while he resumed his former position among the bowlders and sunk his head down again between his knees. The elder hardly knew what to make of it. The words affected him strangely, although he tried to laugh them away as the aimless wanderings of a crack-brained old man; but the Mormon, like nearly all ignorant, brutal men, was terribly super: stitious, and for a moment it seemed to him as if the warning he had received had come from a supernaturai source, and he wavered in his purpose; but even as he debated the question in his mind, Polly came from the shanty equipped for the ride, and the sight of the fresh young girl, perfect in form and lovely in the face, put at once to flight his doubts, SO