Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 438 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

a A. - — he — 2 esa 6 bones, Rheumatism of the most acute sort seemed to grasp him, to stiffen-his limbs and render his flesh tender and sore to a degree that made every movement one of acute pain. Boomer Balt turned hastily as he caught a oan from his comrade. His own face was gard, and like that of a suffering man, though his movements seemed free enough; cer- tainly they were active. ** You begi a half-laugh and an involuntary grimace of pain. ‘‘ Begin to feel like you was sent fer an’ couldn’t go?” “I’ve heard of being-—ugh!—run through a thrashing machine, but—grin on, you over- grown ape!” with sudden rage as Boomer Balt gave another grotesque grimace, ‘‘ Keep it up, and [ll get down and crawl all over you!” ‘*Tt?d limber us both up, Il reckon, an’ that wouldn’t be so mighty bad,” retorted the guide, with a harsh laugh. ‘‘I kin feel fer ye, pard. Iknow jest how you feel, but [’m better off afoot then you be in the saddle. It’s tortur’ to keep trottin’, but it won’t let a critter stiffen up like ridin’. An’ we’ve got to keep a-goin’!” ‘““Not if another cyclone was coming right this way!” desperately gasped Hornkohl, rein- ing up, drooping helplessly in the saddle. ‘* Not if stopping meant death—that would be hea- venly bliss compared to what ’m— Oh, Lord!”’ ith an ejaculation that was fierce enough to be an oath, Boomer Balt sprung to his side, one hand grasping his arm with a force that drew acry of pain from the lips of the lawyer. “Stop bere an’ brand yourself a coward! Stop here and groan like a baby while your tel- low beings are suffering for the aid you are too currish to lend them! Stop—bah!” With a short, hard laugh of contempt, Boomer Balt flung away the arm he had gras ed, and turning, he strode rapidly on in the. track of the cyclone, his eyes roving swiftly from side to side, looking for what he hoped and prayed he might never find; yet what he knew he must find sooner or later. That brief, passionate outburst aroused the lawyer, and after a moment’s hesitation, he urged his horse on, springing to the ground as he reached the side of the tall guide. He smothered a groan of pain as the shock wrench- ed his aching joints, and his voice was almost harsh as Boomer Balt glanced into his white face, ** You talked to me as though I was a dog, Balthus Carr. [ll prove myself as good a man as you dare be! Only say what is wanted.” “To find whar that broken wagon-bow an’ tattered kiver come from,” was the grave re- nse. ‘‘ Whoever lost it, needs our help. If vin’, to nuss’em up. If dead, to dig ’em a ve. ““-Yow’re right—and I thank you for rousing me oe fellow,” frankly cried Hornkohl, sping his hand, but dropping it again as if t scorched him, ‘Call it a shake, won't you?” with a faint laugh that was more to cover his own flinching than from any sense of mirth. *“T’m sore as a boil all over!” “* Tt’ll be wuss afore it’s better,” was the scant consolation as Boomer Balt strode on once more, his eyes still roving, still striving to pierce the _ driving sheets of rain and the gradually deepen- gloom of evening. ‘That wind done it—or ruther the lack o’ wind. But you know what I mean?” Hornkobl nodded grimly. He recalled how they had been pressed to the earth until it seemed as though they would be flattened out like enormous pancakes, just before the cyclone struck the valley. He mizht haveexplained the curious phenomenon, but just then he felt little inclined that way. The results were more than encnay. ith each step they took, the two men were given evidence of what tremendous pansy that whirling storm-cloud had contained, They could mark its progress by the bare earth, by the fur- rows dug in the hard ground as that terrible tongue had licked the surface. ith a less powerful impulse urging them on through the gathering gloom, tne might have been interested in manv a curious freak which now they passed by with hardly a glance. Here they passed by a small clump of timber which the wind had torn into shreds, whirling the debris in every direction, kin - it strewn in a circle as regular as though marked out for a circus-ring, and not much larger in diameter. There another patch of trecs had been stripped of every leaf, but with hardly a limb broken. Yender a circle had been scooped out in the open ground, leaving a slender mound in the middle, on the top of which nodded a bunch of grass, with the seeds still on its tips, unbarmed. But there were other objects that possessed a far more terrible interest to their eyes. A bit of board, with staples which had recently held one end of a wagon-bow; a bit of tattered duck; a coat, filled as full of holes as though a score loads of buckshot had been fired through it; a battered tin cup; a wagon-wheel, with the hub - gone, but every spoke in place and unbroken, ’ And then—a hoarse ery broke from the lips of agshagag Balt,as he sprung rapidly forward and to one side of the terrible trail. Ce nme anttinmtamntinenmetintensdtnenttindee teat teal |—of death! to feel if, eh?” he uttered, with ; ee -~. --< —— _—- —_— -- --— Oklahoma Nick. : ee 2 eee —— Shapeless, yet with a fearful something in its appearance that blanched the cheeks of those strong men. Something that spcke of humanity Henry Hornkohl was quickly at the side of his guide, but he involuntarily clasped both hands behind him as he gazed in awed silence at that dread object. Orce a man, strong, active, full of hope and joy and happiness. Now—a crushed and sick- ening mass of inanimate flesh. Shapeless, as it might well be, for as Boomer Balt touched it to turn the face upward, there seemed an utter absence of bones. The frightful power of the cyclone had shattered every bone, almost grind- ing them to powder, yet without hardly break- ing the skin that covered them from human view | One sock and a narrow collar-band about the neck was all that remained of its clothing. The hair was gone from its head, literally torn out without lacerating the scalp. There was no blood visible, and the exposed skin was almost white, save here and there where the red hue told of coagulated blood beneath. Boomer Balt bent closely over the face, study- ing it closely as though to impress its details upon his brain, or else to smother a fear at his heart. Then he drew back, rising to his feet with a long breath as he muttered, in husky tones: ‘*(god save his soul! It seems hard, but [m prayin’ glad it ain’t either face I dreaded to see! Come—thar’s more a-waitin’ us!” ‘*But we can’t—we can’t leave like this!” gasped Hornkobl, bardly able to utter the words intelligibly. ‘* We ought to bury it!” ‘* He’s dead an’ past knowin’ what befalls his ore body. He’s dead, but thar may be them livin’ who needs our help,” almost roughly cried the guide, grasping the lawyer by the arm and hurrying himaway,. ‘‘ Mebbe they’s them you’ve bin huntin’ fer. ebbe they’s wimmen an’ chil- dern that wants the help we kin give ’em!” Henry Hornkohl said no more. Indeed, he gave a sigh of relief as he hurried along the trail of the cyclone, leaving that ghastly corpse far behind, Mechanically he noted the wide stretches over which the death-balloon had leaped without touching the earth at all... Noted other mad freaks through the deepening gloom, Noted them, only to have them fade away the instant they were passed. He kept pace with Boomer Balt, but it was almost mechanically. Almost like one walking in sleep. |. It was a trying ordeal through which he had assed, and this grim discovery had proved the feather. He took no note of time. He had no idea how far they had traveled, when another ery from Boomer Balt aroused him from that strange stupor. It was night as he glanced around with a startled air. The rain was still falling, though the wind had almost entirely died away. ll was dark about them—all save a dim, reddish glow far ahead of them. ‘\ It’s a camp-fire!” cried Boomer Balt, his voice hard and metallic. ‘‘They aint all dead {” Yet there was little of joy or of thankfulness in his tones, Instead, one would have said he was fearing the worst; that he was dreading to put fate to the test. If so, this hesitation did not pass to his feet. He broke into a run, his long. swinging strides testing the powers of the lawyer to the utmost, in order to avoid being left far behind. And without pause or break the boomer guide raced on until be reached the tattered clump of tim- ber in which the camp-fire was kiudled. He saw several white, haggard faces turned toward him, and cried: ‘*Ts Evander Wright of this party, stranger?” ‘* They ain’t none o’ that name here,” was the slow response, ‘‘ Thank Ged fer that!” panted Boomer Balt, sinking in a limp heap. CHAPTER IV. A MARVELOUS ESCAPE. How long that ig 22 yp race for life had lasted, or how far it had carried them, before they were caught by the outer edge of the ‘‘ twister,” Oklahoma Nick could never clearly estimate. For the time being he had forgotten everything save that tbe life of the maiden whom he loved to madness was at stake. And his first thought on arousing from the un- consciousness into which he had been hurled when horse and riders alike succumbed to that terrific blast, was of Otelia Wright; his second that he bad been stricken with blindness in that one instant when he turned tosee how near their doom was to them. There was a smarting pain in his eyes as he eke uy to lift his head, as he faintly, gasping- ly called aloud the name of his loved one. Al about h:m was black, and the frightful fear of blindness smote him, He cowered back, clasping both hands to his aching orbs, a choking erv of horror escaping bis laboring lungs. Better death than this! Better death, such as had overtaken— A shapeless mass lying on the bare ground, His head was thrown back, bis face upturned — dy; eee ee eee 2 we er LE LLL LL LLL LL LLL LLL LS LLL LL AEDES A eee - ~ eS ee re ae oe ee in his misery, and the cold rain beat heavily upcn him as a swirling current of wind drove the drops in a sheet before it, Instinctively he flinched, and mechanically brushed away the streaming drops—to utter a gasping cry of joy- ful amazement. He was not blind! He could see, though dim- ly, painfully! That darkness was mainly because the night was drawing near, fur he had lain unconscious much longer than he had as yet realized. But the beating rain helped to wash tbe dirt and sand from his eyes, filled to overflowing as they had been when he turned to note the progress of the cyclone. He could see—and that horrible dread vanished as swiftly as it had assailed him. ‘“’Telie! °Telie Wright!” he cried hoarsely, staggering to his feet and staring painfully about him through the whirling sheets of rain, He could see naught of the maiden. And as he staggered here and there, growing faint and sick, bodily as well as mentally, fear again as- sailed him, in a most tender point. ‘*Gone! my love—my life!” His foot slipped in a pool of water, and he fel? heavily, moaning and groaning, for the moment utterly unmanned. Little marvel that such should be the case, though none but those who have had personal experience can fully comprehend why so strong a man should be broken down so completely im so brief a space. But Oklahoma Nick was made of stern stuff, and quickly rallied, He found his flask still in- tact, and a drink of fiery brandy sent a thrill of life and energy through his veins. With a des-- perate effort he cast off the weakness that bad assailed him, and staggered to his feet. ‘*Dead, if not alive!” be muttered, dashing the rain-drops from his face and shielding his eyes as he strove to pierce the obscurity with which he was surrounded. ‘“* What the wind has left is mine—mine!” He was hardly conscious of the words that passed his lips, just then. He started at the sound of his own voice; but when he realized this fact, it helped to restore his nsaal nerve. ‘‘ Brace up—you’ve got to brace up, man!” he grated, clinching his hands tightly, setting his teeth, giving a half-defiant toss of his head. ‘‘ She’s alone, now, only for me! Only her and I—only we two!” | He shivered a little as he recalled his last glimpse of the two wagons with their terrified occupants, racing against death. He knew that they could not have cleared the center of the twister. Knew that they must bave been over- taken and swept out of existence. For human strength or ingenuity could avail nothing im such an extremity. | He knew this from his own experience, though he had been caught by theextreme edge of the circling monster. Only the fringe of the storm, yet it had hurled man and horse about like a feather-weight. Had cast him senseless. What had it done with the horse? With Otelia Wright? What with his injured eyesight. with the com- ing of night, the beating rain and the viciously eddying winds, it was little better than a blind. search on the part of Oklahoma Nick for a time. But bis dizzy brain was rapidly growing more steady. Therain that streamed over his face helped to clear his eyes of extraneous matter, even more than it hindered his enxious glances. And the darkness seemed to lessen as the wind lowered, as the rain fell in steadier fashion, no longer swirling about like spray from storm- swept waves on a rocky coast. on! And then—a choking ery escaped his lips as he plunged forward and dropped on his knees side a motionless figure, only a few yards from where he had regained his consciousness, and ast which he had more than once staggered in his blind quest. ‘“’Telie! my love!” he panted, scarce daring to touch that silent shape with his trembling hands. ‘’Telie! it is over—-you are safe—rouse up, darling!” Was itaresponse? Did she stir in answer to his appeal? She could not say for sure, but the hope lent him courage to lift her head to his: bosom, to peer down into that pale, storm-mark- ed face. With gentle force he parted the clinched teeth and let brandy slowly trickle into her mouth, changing the position of her head a little to fa- cilitate swallowing. And thena glad sound rose- in his throat, as he felt her move, as he saw her eyes faintly open. Only for an instant, but long enough to assure him that there was life lingering in the woman whom he loved so ardently; and that discovery completed his recovery. Feeling how much de- pended upon him, Oklahoma Nick grew cool and. steady-nerved. With his own form he sheltered the maiden as. much as possible from the rain, though he knew she was already wet to the skin. He held herin as easy a position as he could improvise while: applying brandy to her face, gently rubbing her cheeks and temples to hasten the circulation. | Drop after drop of the potent liquor he let fall through her lips, a gentle movement of the arm which supported her head aiding the brandy to steal its way down her throat. And then, as a. Eomicboo ee eae a ee ee ee ee eer Eee ie - | ' Pomme cS —a-, ' ; eo e