Beadle's Dime Library No. 411: The White Crook — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

might 4 ——— Eva flared up at this outrage, and loudly pro- tested against it, renewing her assertion that the prisoner was a crazy man and should be treated ney The head chief rather contemptuously inform- ed her that the Apaches had spoken about the man to their white friend, Zeke Stebbins, who knew him, and who assured them that he was no more crazy than himself, Y: At that time they tortured the Apostle of Peace no more, saving him up, as it were, for their amusement on the way. His wounds were allowed to bleed and heal as they might, and he was again compelled to plod forward over the roughness of the route at the | heels of a horse. tgs The last act of that drama, though not the ending of the act, was witnessel by Hark Af ¢ Sarpy. Eva’s hasty endeavor to put an end to the sport was stopped by Carroh and another war- rior, and it was her Indian lover who forced * her away from the scene and told her plainly ot that she must not interfere any further with the . - amusements of the Apaches, ae She would have given him a piece of her mind . then and there, if it had not been that Hark | --« Sarpy’s two shots startled and terrified the beth aay and compelled Carroh to hasten from mew: her. ett Then came the bugle call and the sudden flight of the Apaches, and Eva was mounted and hurried away in the advance, so that she did not see the final deed of spite and cruelty tha made an end of the unfortunate prisoner. She missed him during the journey that fol- lowed, and could easily guess at the fate that had befallen him. | When the young chief came to her again, and | began to mingle airs of proprietorship with his - Indian gallantry, she received him very coldly, and reproached him for the rudeness with which he had prevented her from having her wish, Carroh mformed her in effect that she was a little goose, and that it was her duty to do as she was bid, without pretending to have a will of her own. -__. Hershort and sharp reply was the equivalent in Apache to the American girl’s, ‘“‘I hate _—- you,” and it ruffled the feathers of the young .” ghief. “You have too much white blood in you | yet,” he sternly rejoined. ‘‘{ will take you to | my mother, and she will find a way to get Re you clear of it.” ' + Jt might be good Apache style for a young man to threaten a maiden with her mother-in- - Jaw before she was married; but Eva did not _ admire that style, and she was not a bit afraid Beef f Carroh or his relatives. — $he did not belong to him yet, and she need not belong to him unless she chose to, and at that time she did not choose to be controlled or | _._ dictated to by him. These strained relations, to use the language ofthe diplomatists, continued during the jour- ‘ney to the mountains south of the Gila, and it ' ~—s- Was apparent to all the Apaches, as well as to '_ those who were most nearly interested, that Eva | and Carroh were ‘‘ two.” ~~~ When they reached that wild and romantic region, the girl e so absorbed in the intri- -__ eacies of their travel and the proceedings of her companions, that she probably gave no more | thought to the matters that had lately troubled iss Ber. | : —s« It was not the first time she had visited the a he puigeat for which the Apaches were heading; but on this oecasion there was believed to be a hot and relentless pursuit, and they took the ut- '_ most possible pains to cover the trail, carefully -—s- removing or effacing the minutest thing that arg a give a hint of their passage, _-~—-s» They emerged from a narrow pass upon a scene of wonderful beauty. _—s« Below them was a broad and nearly circular '-—— basin, covered with tall trees and rich grass, and BPs. - provided with a small lake which afforded plenty ont of wa ater. ___ The descent to this retreat was somewhat diffi- cult; but when it was reached there was an as- "surance of both plenty and peace, as the strong- hold was impregnable, ___. It was surrounded by lofty and apparently in- | _— aecessible mountains, the only openings being a | _- €anyon toward the east, which was closed by an ' ‘ ™“ . * __-— impassable ciiff, and the narrow crevice through _' - which the Apaches had entered, which could be easily guarded if it should ever be discovered. | -——s—sHHere the savages proposed to rest, at least un- —_. til the mag should be abandoned, when the ope to work for the recovery of their women and children, most of whom were in the -—s- @nemy’s country—if those could be called enemies _- who fed and cared for them through a hard ‘The first thing to disturb their security was __ the sound of a shot near the cliff at the head of Ba (oe guard had been posted there, as it was not _ believed that any was needed; but it was known that one of the band had gone thither, and there was a natural curiosity to learn the meaning of ‘When the few warriors who strolled down to the cliff could discover no sign there of their 3 4 “ i Poi S>6 we : 4 «tbe. -e * ~ — a4 SS ea a a Ae _. rt en a ene ee =. . ee a _a 5 Heenan rn nnn sstesssssssssnssssssnessssssstnnnnssnsiite ee senses —_—_——se OY)! ww ke eee ee ee eee eee @® Paty -—— eee — _ I'he White Crook. comrade or of any other person, they concluded ! the certainty of his fate compelled him to- had been mistaken in the direction of : stifle. that they the shot, and went away. The prisoner was brought to the camp, where When the missing man did not return to the ! the head chief questioned him. camp, and his disappearance was unaccounted for, they made a more careful search, which re- sulted in the discovery of his body at the foot of the cliff. It was then supposed that he had accidentally fallen over, and his rifle had been discharged by the fall. When a man was let down by a rawhide rope, and the body of their comrade was hauled up, if was discovered that he had been shot through the head, and that his rifle had not been discharged. Then the mysterious death shots that startled their camp at the north occurred to them and stirred up their superstitious souls, and gloom settled down upon them, If their number should continue to be reduced by such casualties, they would soon be unable to defend even that impregnable fortress. The next disturbance was caused by the cap- ture of a white man who was trying to sneak through the narrow pass, and this at once raised their spirits and gave them fresh hope. It was then evident to them that they were pursued and pestered by mortal enemies instead of supernatural foes, and of such they were not afraid. Eva was quickly made aware of this import- ant capture, and was there to see the prisoner when .he was brought into camp, wishing to rsh whether he was one of the Dunning amily. He proved to be a person whom she had never seen before, but at the same time a person in whom she could far more easily take an interest than in Captain Dunning or Bob or either of their hired hands, During her residence with the Dunnings she had never met such a white man as Jack Bunn. If she had, she might not have felt the im- pulse that caused her to return tothe Apaches. He was young, handsome, bright, intelligent, and in every way attractive, impressing her with a sense of his superiority, and filling her heart with pity as she thought of his impending ate If there be such a thing as love at first sight, that must have been the sensation which animated Eva as she gazed on the young prison- r. She followed him with her eyes as he was led into captivity, and he could not ee shag » the interest with which she regarded him, CHAPTER XXXIV. AN UNTRUE INTERPRETER. JACK BuNN’s capture was effected so sudden- ly and so neatly, putting any attempt at resis- tance utterly out of the question, that he was unable fully to realize his position until he was brought down into the Apache camp. It was yet light enough, though the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, for him to perceive the beauty of the place and its resour- ces as a safe retreat. He expected no mercy at the hands of his cap- tors, but felt that his fate was sealed as soon as he was disarmed and bound. The mutilation and torture and subsequent death of Epbraim Cronkhite had taught him all he needed to learn concerning the ways of the Apaches with their prisoners. If the Apostle of Peace, who had voluntarily ut himself in their power, and who might airly have been regarded as a person deprived of reason, had suffered so severely; what could be expected to happen to him, a sane man and was trying secretly to effect an entrance into their stronghold? Nothing but death, and death with what, if he could then have been in a jocular mood, he ht have mentioned as ‘‘all the trimmings.” s for a rescue, he scarcely gave that a second thought, and it was surely far from his ho It was evident to him at once that the fortress was impregnable, with but one opening by which it could be approached, and that one he had tried to his sorrow. His experience of that passage told him that his friends could not possibly get through it alive, and his only fear was that they sep find his trail and push forward to their own destruc- tion. There was one gleam of pleasure to him in his captivity, though it could not be called a ray of comfort, and that was found in the presence of Eva and the knowledge that she was taking an interest in him. He knew that she must be Hark Sarpy’s daughter, the girl who had gone back to the Apaches, and his heart went out to her in pity for that great mistake, He perceived, also, that she had a beauty of her own which was very fascinating to him, in spite of the air of wildness which her wild life had given her. : en she stood and gazed at him as he with her dark eyes full of pathy and sorrow there came over him a f g of longing which 7 4 an avowed enemy, who had been caught as he ‘ ! As Jack understood no Apache, and the chief could speak no Englisb, Eva was pressed into service as an interpreter. She willingly accepted the position, as it was possible shat she might turn her interpreting to the benefit of the white man. At least it would give her a good chance to see more of him, to speak to him, and to listen to his words. The questions of the head chief were put with the view of ascertaining what white men were in the vicinity, how many of them were soldiers, where thev were located, what their intentions were, whether they had made any guess at the hiding-place of the Apaches, and such other points concerning them as it might be to the ad- vantage of the savages to know. As soon as the young man perceived the drift of the questioning, he resolved that he would not. injure his friends by giving any information that might serve the purpose of bis foes, In any event he must expect a painful death, and it was not worth while to give the savages: any further advantage than they would have in the possession of his person, In spite of bis refusal to give the replies that were wanted, Eva sainwenel for him that he was one of a large body of white men, among whom were many soldiers; but that he had nothing to Co with them or their purposes, having merely come to look at the country and to hunt. She went on to say for him that these white men were so far from guessing at the hiding- place of the Apaches that they did not even sus- pect the presence of any such people in those. mountains. Jack Bunn had said nothing of the kind, and it seemed to him, as it must also have seemed to: the Apaches, judging by the length of her: speeches, that she was making more of his few words than he had put into them. But there was nobody there who was able to: detect her in any imposition, and in translating from one language into another words are apt to be multiplied, so that the translator may be sure to give the full meaning. The head chief was not satisfied with Eva’s last wretiane as it seemed to lack the element of truth, ** Tell the white man,” said he, ‘‘ that he is ly- ing to us, come to look for us, and we want to know where they are and what they mean to do, better not tell any more lies.” Eva took this warning to herself, and proceed-- ed to give the white man a caution on account, er own **You must make more talk,” she said,. ‘after I speak to you, and you must not look at meso much. Don’t look at me at all, if you can help it.” In spite of the gravity of the situation, Jack yielded to the impulse of answering that he could not help lookin blush to her cheeks. Then he blurted out a number of words which Eva translated to suit herself, without the least regard for what had really been said. ‘*The white man says that the chief has guessed right. The soldiers have come to look for the cS cage oe but do not know where to find them. hen the sun rises he will be able to point out to the chief the direction of — camp, and to tell him how far it is from ere,’ This was important information, and the chief was glad to perceive that the white man had weakened. It was quite reasonable that he should wish to wait for sunrise, so that he could get his ‘*bearings” and make his information more accurate, “Tell the white man,” said he, ‘‘ that we will wait for sunrise.” This was what Eva had been working for. If the young man’s life could Tm, She told him ofthe reprieve, but in her own ie eco making any allusion to what had to i He seemed to be more interested in ber than. in the good news she gave him. | **T wish I could a to you,” he said. “T have sometbing to tell you about yourself that you ought to know.” ** You will see me again,” she answered short- . ly, as she turned away. Then she informed the chief that the white man had again promised to tell them something in the morning. This was good news for the A were willing to delay the death of the prisoner, until they could worm out of him what he. knew. At the same time they had no man who could betray bis friends; a dis to treat him leniently. for a e was taken a little way aside, and forr - stakes were driven into the ground where he: was laid upon his back on the To the stakes his feet and hands were attach-- We know that those soldiers have: at her, and this brought a. be spared for- ~_ present, something might be done to save. hes, who. were not . He had (ECONMUCE | oKoye)