Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 414 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

> ’ . ) ' | : Cree ‘em up Above, whar no Gold Buzzards | fairly quaked as they blew and rolled forth | and it are our duty ter git even with em fer in snatch ‘em from him. ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me,” for they knew | it.” ew ‘‘Thet man died at his post o’ duty, a-sit- | no dirge to play. A low murmur of assent, very threatening- tin’ on ther box o’ ther old hearse, and ef he Then came Rattler on his shutter, propped | ly ran through the crowd at this, and betok- hain’t goin’ ter git a send-off ter kingdom- | up tosee the sights, and next the stage-coach, | ened no good to the Gold Buzzards. Bef come by his pards, then no pilgrim ever got | blooming in black and red, and with Old From that on Parson Pete continued in | sent thar accordin’ ter grief. Hickory on the bex seated between two | the same strain, and then the band played | “This ar’ occashin are a painful one fer | miners, who did duty as *‘ supports.” “Good News from Home,” and Parson Pete | us, pards; but it are a picnic fer him, fer Next rode Doctor Dick and King Kendall, | fellowed with a prayer in which he spoke of __ this town o’ Bonanza City are goin’ ter tarn | and they tried hard to look serious on this | the lamented brother being ‘‘snatched ter | this joyful news, regarding afree bar, caused | miners, as had there been a bar open, some That night nearly the whole town got | a general stampede *‘ ter take su’thin’.” might have foregone the pleasure of a trip to | drunk, quarrels were frequent, several shoot- There was a brass band in Bonanza, for | the cemetery. : ing scrapes took place, and the ‘‘funeral | some of the musical denizens of the mines| Away from the deserted camps the strange | festivities” over Old Hickory had ended. had gathered together and formed what they | procession filed, and ascending the hillside, ony called the ‘‘ Golden Note Band of Bonanza.” | entered the cemetery. CHAPTER XLII. a, The trouble of the band was that it had This was a pretty spot situated over the DOCTOR DICK’S STORY. . ‘too many in it for perfect harmony; but any | town, and commanding a superb view of AFTER the bustle of the funeralandday ‘man who wanted to join, joined, as a means | the valley and mountains, though the eyes | were over, King Kendall retired to his room of avoiding revolver ‘‘ music,” he being per | of its denizens were sightless to the views. | in Bonanza Hall. ey A * + ; te — - -_—- — ---=- 4> . a * t Red Renard, the Indian Detective. 25 ery, and he vented his ill-humor upon the horses, sending them along at a rattling pace, which was kept up until he drew rein at Bonanza Hall, where he was met by a tre- mendous crowd, who made the valley ring with cheer after cheer of welcome for, as Parson Pete expressed it: ‘‘For Brother Kendall, ther King Bee o’ « ther Mines.” CHAPTER XLII. ‘‘ FUNERAL FESTIVITIES.” Wuen King Kendall drove into Bonanza City, mounted upon tke box of the stage- coach, the reception that he*met with proved how well Captain Bentley had sung his praises. He raised his hat politely, sprung from the box, and returned the compiiment in the fashion of the mines—that is, he invited all of the town who were present to drink at his exvense. Then he told, in a few terse words, except when dwelling upon Old Hickory, whom he stage-coach; ropes being attached, the pall- bearers, as they called themselves, caught hold and dragged the vehicle out to the cemetery. All not in the band, and the pall-bearer brigade, carried a pick upon the shoulder, with the exception of King Kendall, Doctor Dick and the few women and children of the town. No, there was another small party that had a funereal look about them. This was nothing more or less than Rat- tler’s pall-bearers in reality, for that he should not be disappointed, a shutter had been se- cured, and placing the stage-driver upon it, eight men seized hold and bore him along to the burying of the man whose post he had so well filled. As for Parson Pete, he was happy. Some time before a consumptive Siacindued minister had come to Bonanza, staying there in a tour for his health. In dying in the tavern he had willed to Parson Pete what the boys calle” his ‘* pious spoke most highly of, the story of the run to | outfit,” which consisted of a vuuse of cloth- Fairy City and back. | ing of a clerical cut and the white surplice It was certainly a startling story, and worn by the deacon in that church. Doctor Dick, Parson Pete and all decided that the vailed girl was none other than an accomplice of the Gold Buzzards. The body of Old Hickory was taken out of the coach, and laid in state in the bar- room of the Bonanza Hall, King Kendall having it arrayed ina new suit of clothes, and givirg carte blanche for a grand funeral at his expense. Doctor Dick came to the front with a de- sire to pay the expenses, also, and, when King Kendall would not allow this, there was a compromise by each paying half, as ‘he saw that the gambler really felt hurt at not being adle to ‘‘set up the funeral,” as one of the miners had it. The same individual partook so freely of spiritual comfort, at the bar of Bonanza Hall, that he entered upon an outspoken obituary of the dead man, which, if not true, ‘was certainly well meant, ‘“‘Thet stiff thet lies thar, his bloomin’ countenance tarned up toward glory,” he be- gan, ‘‘and lookin’ so peaceful an’ natural with his weepins buckled around him, were one o’ ther whitest men in ther mines. ‘© A Jeetle child c’u'd lead him, ef he were drunk, and when he got on ther war-path he were a howlin’ streak o’ lightnin’. “Yer won't find no treasures he laid up on yarth, fer it wasn’t in him; but he hes itself loose on his buryin’.” ‘Tt are a picnic fer us too, pard, fer thet King Bee o’ ther mines an’ Doctor Dick hev vive orders ter sarve all free with tickets ter- day in honor o’ ther occasion; but it are hoped thet nobody will git too drunk ter be at ther buryin’,” interrupted a miner, and it consisted of a red woolen shirt, black pants, stuck in top-boots, a belt of arms and a slouch hat of any color or size. This band had turned out for Old Hickory’s funeral, and its numbers were al- | lookers-on that —eee eel tt Ct CC tt This surplice, although his ‘‘ persuasion was Methodist” as he said, he donned for the occasion. With his pants stuck in his boot-tops, large spurs on his heels, for though he seldom rode he always wore spurs, and his high silk hat, battered and jammed and old style, his make-up was severely unique, especially when it is taken into consideration that he wore a belt of arms beneath the surplice. King Kendall and Doctor Dick were elect- ed ‘‘chief mourners,” and were made to mount their horses and ride behind the “hearse,” and excepting the corpse and Rattler, they were the only riders. The ‘‘ hearse” had been draped with all the black to be found in the town, and, when the somber material had given out, ved had been used, as indicative of the blood shed on the occasion of Old Hickory’s taking off. Could the old man have only been there in spirit to witness his own funeral he would doubtless have felt proud of the honor done him, for no such turn-out had ever been wit- ressed in Bonanza City before. The mines had been emptied, and all the town was there, and two by two they started for Kingdom Come Cemetery. Parson Pete, his surplice fluttering in the wind, led the way with solemn step. Then came the band, and the mountains sad occasion. The women and children, about a bundred in number, followed, and then came the miners, their picks upon their shoulders, and many of them with an unsteady tread. The bartenders were all there, too, and this accounted for the presence of all the A child’s board had on it: *“ Drep o’ Corric.” A woman’s head-board informed the om — a majority” had ‘‘died with their boots on” in a personal encounter. The names of those who had been thus ‘“‘soatched from life” were unique, to say the least, for their head-boards bore the sobriquets by which they were known in the mines, and the reader can well imagine reading how ‘‘ Limpin’ Ike,” ‘‘Jew Mose,” “Wild Sam,” and others of that ilk lay be- neath. Parson Pete was a man of great import- ance in Bonanza City, and he made those about him know it, and ‘‘run a funeral accordin’ to ther text,’’ as he would say. He now directed all proceedings, and while the band was playing ‘‘ Johnny Comes Marching Home,” he had Old Fe yanked from his lofty perch and prepared for burial. This preparation consisted in wrapping a blanket about the body, and setting the men to digging a grave. The grave was dug with a dispatch b ‘“‘volunteers” that showed familiarity with such work. Then the body was lowered with lariats into its earthen home, while the band appro- priately played ‘‘ John Brown’s Body.” The parson then held up bis hands for silence, and, excepting a miner who had laid down and gone to sleep on the outskirts of the crowd, and was snoring like a buffalo bull, all was quiet. ‘Brother pards, yer has gathered together here fer a sad duty,” began Parson Pete, in his stentorian tones. ‘‘It are ter bury a brother, and one who did his duty. ‘‘A man who does his duty on this ‘arth are no gerloot, no slouch, no dead-beat, and Providence hain’t goin’ ter be bard on him in ther next world, ‘‘In thet tomb lies one o’ Bonanza’s great citizens, and a shining light to ther commu- nity, fer when yer wanted him, yer knew jist whar ter find him—’” ‘‘In ther bar o’ ther Free and Easy,” said _— -~ a miner, who took Parson Pete’s remark practically, and was half drunk with grief and as much more with whisky. King hardly keep back a burst of laughter at this apropos remark of the drunken miner, but no | one else seemed to apply it, and Parson Pete went on: ‘“Whben a man are kilt. he are dead, and _ thet are the case with our lamented brother; | but he were kilt by them as is our inemies, glory ” and other like expressions, Then the band struck up, started back. the stage-coach doing duty as a Kendall and Doctor Dick could | ‘‘ Johnny’s — Gone for a Soldier,” and the procession - ‘* ‘Black Maria” foracozen miners toomuch overcome by grief, or otherwise, to walk back to the bars. ( alone with him to hunt down the Gold Buz- zards, they would not go with a hundred men into the haunted region of the Lost Gold Mine. ° . o@ . ‘ oe mitted to do so. It was a village of the dead, looking down It was the best room in the tavern,in a As a result there were three base drums, a | upon a village of the living, and the pines | wing that overlooked the river and wason ‘drum and fife corps, seven trombones, sev- | sighed above those who rested beneath the | the first floor. oa ‘eral violins and any number of other instru- | sod. The young miner had kept hiseyesopen ments. There were many graves there, several | during the day to pick outa man whom he | Realizing that it required wind to brace up | hundred, with rude head-boards in which | thought would be the one for his comrade __ against the base drums, the horn-blowers , were cut the names and dates of the deaths of | upon the trail to the Death Mountains. iy ‘did their level best. | those who lay beneath. He had sounded several upon the subject, The uniform of the band was unique, for Also the manner of their taking off. but found, though they would have gone _ cs * es At last he decided to ask Doctor Dick, for 3 he was just the man if he would go. ae Digger Dan and his threg comrades had he could gone off, no one knew where, uld **She slipt on ther ice and broke ber neck. * A few had died of fever, several had been ‘‘drownded in ther river,” but the ‘‘ great ‘most equaled by the pall-bearers, for, as | coffins were not ‘‘the style” in Bonanza ; City, the body was set upon the box of the oe SS SSS ed te y/ ») Eomicboo n