Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 464 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

80 Sandycraw, the Man of Grit. Ce ’ So his answer to Crawley came as sharp as | He had come there mainly to wait for Ben shooting. Somes and Jim Hanley, whom he was expecting ‘‘We mean business, Sandy Crawley. We | daily and almost hourly. want the money that you've got salted awayon _siIf they should come there and find him absent, the little boat thar, or a good sheer cf it,” | they would naturally conclude that be was false “ What money?” faintly inquired Sandycraw. | to his promises, and he would not know how to ‘‘ The money that you’ve stole from the bank | communicate with them, so as to inform them of up the river. I’ve found out all about it, and 1 | the cause of his departure and appoint another know jest how much it is, and.we want it, and | rendezvous. — we mean to have it.” Had he known that Jim Hanley was there The trouble was clear enough then, and there | locked in the New Madrid jail, he might have could no longer be any doubt that drunken Ber- | been easier in his mind concerning those two, as ry Sanders had told all he knew. he could get at Ben Somes without much diffi- Before long, however, vg imp noises on the shore indicated that they had not abandoned | their intention of trying to get hold of that . money. The suspicious noises were the blows of axes, accompanied by the falling of trees, and men could be indistinctly seen moving about on the shore. Though Crawley had a good glass, it did not plainly disclose what was going on, and it was surmised, rather than lknown, that the men were working on something near the water’s edge or in. the water. rm. It was a bad scrape, and what chance was there to get out of it? Sandycraw thought he saw an opening, and was of the opinion that his only chance just then was to continue to temporize as he had begun, His ilot and engineer, hearing the talk, had started forward to see what was going on; but he sent them back by a motion of his hand be- hind him. Then he addressed the Hitchleys in as friendly a tone as before, in spite of his wrath and worry. . That sounds like a joke, Uncle Hiram, but I doubt if you mean it that way.” ‘You jest bet I don’t. Thar ain’t no joke about it. You’ve got that money, and we want it and mean to have it.” culty. As no newspapers ever reached Spoon Lake, he knew nothing of what had happened at New Madrid since he left there, and he deemed it necessary to wait for bis partners, who ought to be coming along soon. Another important point was the fact that the Gazelle could not be run down the creek in the night time. As she must stay in the lake until daylight at all events, it was quite likely that she might be able to stay there longer, if there should be no serious difficulty during the night. Against such an event it was Crawley’s first duty to guard, after the Gazelle was anchored, and he proceeded to do so by organizing his men into watches aud seeing that they were properly armed and supplied with ammunitien. Berry Sanders was not counted in either of the / What they were doing was the question that interested those on the Gazelle. Crawley’s guess was that they were making a ~ raft, and this was such a reasonable suggestion that it was generally adopted. Berry Sanders offered to swim off in that di- rection and find out what was going on. * ‘‘T am afraid that it might be dangerous for you to mix so much water with your whisky,” objected Sandycraw, ‘‘and we can’t afford to lose you since you have got reasonably sober.” But Berry was so anxious to do something to atone for his shameful fault; and begged so have for a chance, representing bimself as one of the best swimmers, that his chief finally consented that he should make the effort. The anchor was pulled up, and the Gazelle slowly and quietly steamed a little nearer to the spot where the Hitchleys were at work. ** Do you want it all?” “No. Weain’t hogs. Give us half, and we'll | watches, being still sunk in a drunken stupor, Then the anchor was dropped, and Berry let you off.” from which his chief proposed to arouse himif | Sanders, who had stripped for the purpose, ‘* Well, Uncle Hiram, that don’t bother me near as much as you might think it would. Easy come, and easy go, has been my style for this long time, and a few thousand dollars more or less don’t matter the worth of a pin to me. As you have got me iu a sort of a hole, [ am willing to share that money with you on your own terms.” ' ‘* Ts that a real fact, Sandy?” ‘‘The factest kind of a fact. Make a light out there, Uncle Hiram, and I will go and get the stuff and bring it to you, and then we will have a square divide.” That this proposition should be even silently assented to, was beyond Sandy Crawley’s com- prehension; but it had already been a matter of wonder to him that the Hitchleys, having the “bte in their hands, had not at once rushed on ard of the Gazelle and taken possession of her and seized the treasure. The plain truth was that his tongue had been too much for them,and he accepted the fact gratefully. ‘** Hello!” he cried, as be turned from them, and the exclamation was caused by an appar- possible, So he was carried down to the forward part of the boiler-deck, where, after being rolled and rubbed and pounced pretty severely, he was thoroughly drenched with buckets of water from the lake, which were poured and dashed upon him vigorously. This rough treatment aroused him from his stupor, though it did not bring him to his senses, as ho seemed to be quite unable to comprehend what had happened or what was being done to him. As Crawley wanted to squeeze the truth out of the man, as wellas to make him available for use in the event of further difficulty, he sought to awaken his slumbering inte.lect by administer- ing a stiff horn of his own liquor. his had the desired effect, and the squeezing process was begun. ‘‘*What have you been doing?’ demanded Crawley. ‘‘ Where did you go with old man Hitchley, and what did he do to you, and what have you been telling hins?’ The old man’s victim feebly denied that any- thing of the kind had occurred, ee St OO dropped over the side and swam away, after be- ing cautioned not to go ashore, lest he should stir up a water moccasin in the marsh, He was gone nearly an hour, and his friends were beginning to fear that be was drowned, or hed fallen into the hands of the enemy, when he bobbed up serenely at the side of the boat, and was hauled on board. His report confirmed Sandycraw’s guess. The Hitchley tribe were building a raft; in- deed they had alveady built one, and appeared to be erecting a fortification upon the ides of which it was composed. Though there were so many Hitchleys, and though they were acknowledged to be good and rapid workmen with their axes when they chose to work, yet this job seemed to those on the Gazelle, as well as to Berry Sanders, to have been done with marvelous speed. The fact was that the squatters had for a long time possessed a raft, which they had found to be a very convenient arrangement for catching fish, and on this occasion they only needed to construct the fortification, and the real wonder was that they had thought of doing any such thing, considering the extreme stupidity with ' ' ’ oe ently accidental stumble and fall. ‘* You may as well own up,” persisted Sandy- Fi: e had stumbled purposely, however, and as | craw. ‘‘I know that you went off with him which they had opened their game. mt” he cont Le on the deck, he quickly cut with his | and came back drunk, and he has told me that Crawley saw sper to be afraid of when sharp knife the shore-line over which he had | you gave our whole snap away.” Berry Sanders had made his report. agi Sanders admitted that Hiram Hitchley had At the best the raft would be an unmanage- Ne $ maneuver was of course unperceived by | invited him to go out into the woods and take a | able affair, and it might be supposed that the _ the Hitchleys, and, as he arose and.ran back, the | drink, and he had gone, and he supposed he | fortification would be merely a burricade at one Gazelle slowly and almost imperceptibly began | must have taken the drink; but he remembered | end, which the Gazelle being easily controlled, ‘to edge away from the shore, nothing of that or any subsequent proceedings. | could flank or get in the rear of as she chose. He hastened to the engine-room—that is to The old man’s raw whisky had thrown bim The Hitchleys, however, were a little smarter gay, to the open space where the engine was lo- | for the time into a state of complete mental ob- | than Sandycraw took them to be, a, a and a sharp order to the engineer was | livion. Their fortification was built in the middle of sufficient for his purpose. ‘‘T should suppose that you must have taken | tbe raft, and formed thr.e sides cf a square, Ps That official, who had gained a pretty good | fifty drinks,” declared the chief, ‘‘as I never | each side being composed cf two logs, one _ idea of what was going on, was standing at his | saw a worse used-up man, and I know that you | pinned on top of the other, and the six rudely post, with plenty of steam up, ready for instant | told that old wretch all about the New Madrid | dovetailed together after the manner of log- action, business and the money on the boat. Then be | house work. | “Back her!” cried Sandycraw. ‘‘ Back her | and his tribe came down to the Gazelle in a It was a small affair, but big enough for the for all she is worth!” bunch to rob us. I stood them off with soft | five men of the Hitchley tribe to get inside of ‘4B Immediately the steam rushed out of the little | talk, and we stpRes away from them; but they | and use their rifles. #4 SSRIS EEDA, the wheels revolved rapidly, and | are onto us, and the trouble hasn’t begun to be Such as it was, it was watched closely from the Gazelle slid away from the shore, leav- | over yet.” the Gazelle, and the watchers soon perceived ing the Hitebley family staring in stupid as- When this disastrous business was fully ex- | that it was moving toward them. __ tonishment. lained to Berry Sanders, and be saw it in the If the men on the boat had supposed that the a ight of another horn of Crawley’s whisky, be | Hitchleys were going to stand up and pole the e CHAPTER XXVI. was amazed, bewildered and deeply repentant. | raft, thus presenting fair marks for rifle-shots, f, a NAVAL ENGAGEMENT He expressed a desire to do anything in his hed were mistaken. go ¢ | power to atone for his misconduct, and, as his If the Hitchleys supposed that they were he NorTHING could be more evident than the fact | services were sorely needed, he was assigned to | going to catch the men on the boat napping that the Hitchleys had not expected any such | duty as soon as he could get about. and make an easy prey of them, they were also development, and their wrath was great when ‘“There’s no use crying over spilt milk,” ob- | mistaken. they saw how they had been tricked. served Crawley, ‘‘and we must do the best we The raft was propelled and guided by swim- id soon as he had given bis order to the engi- | can under the circumstances, If Jim Hanley | mers, whose rifles were within the fortification, en neer, Sandycraw hurried up to the cabin and | and Ben Somes were here, we could sail in and | and Sandycraw and his friends were wide got his rifle. beat off those dirty scamps; but just now we | awake and ready for any emergency. __- From the forward part of the cabin-deck he | must keep out of their way, and I only hope As the log battery slowly bore down upon the hailed his discomfited enemies, lately suppesed | that we won’t have to fight them off.” Gazelle, Crawley inspec it closely, and soon _ ‘to be his friends. It did not seem likely that the affair would be | discovered its nature and possibilities. aS = ¥ -by, Uncle Hiram! I can’t divide that | brought to such an extremity. ‘‘Those scalawags mean business,” said he; | money witb youthis evening. Some other even- As far as Crawley and his friends knew, the | ‘‘ but I think we can eusily spoil their game by me a - Sorry to disappoint you!” extent of the navy possessed by the Hitchley flanking their position ” A he answer was a shot from the old man’s | tribe was one dug-out which they used for fish- The anchor was raised, the wheels revolved, rifle; but Sandycraw had taken the precaution | ing purposes, and it was badly water-logged | and the Gazelle began to move forward, slowly to have a shelter at hand, and he dodged behind | and incapable of carrying more than three peo- | at first, and then more rapidly. it. as soon as the weapon was raised. | ple conveniently. When the Hitchleys saw this move, they must The Gazelle quietly backed away to the mid- Therefore the Gazelle might be supposed to be | have suspected its purpose, or believed that the dle of the lake, at what might be called a re- | reasonably safe as long as she kept at a suffi- | boat was trying to get away from them, as the i wet ul distance from the shore, but not entirely | cient distance from the shore of the lake and | two men in the fortification were joined by out of rifle-shot, and there her anchor was maintained a good watch, two of the swimmers, and those four, picking he. pped. Even in the event of an attack, as steam was | up their rifles, at once opened fire on the Iv was all that could be done, and there she | kept up, she could elude her enemies or put | Gazelle. must remain and await such developments as | them at a disadvantage. Tn the little battle that ensued there were ad- | might be forthcoming. | It wasclear that the Hitchleys. who at one | vantages and disadvantages on both sides. ‘The difficulty with the Hitchleys had disar- time might have got possession of the boat with | The men on the raft were only Ne lone pro- © ranged Sandycraw’s plans, as well as gene him . comparatively little difficulty or danger, would | tected by their little breastwork, being exposed ina tion of immediate peril; but it need not find such an undertaking too much for them in | toa fire from the upper works of the Gazelle; eek him entirely. ‘ her present position. | but the men on the boat could not fire down | ee | —. a ys