Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 464 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

i ay a -— 2 A APs 2 - — “ . Pee ag ae . upon them without exposing themselves yet , but at the same time attending strictly to the more plainly. The nes ean on the boat were repeaters or breech-loaders, giving the Gazelle the advantage of more frequent and rapid fire; but the hunting- rifles on the raft were in the bands of men who were expert in their use, and whose aim was accurate and deadly. On the whole, the only real advantage pos- sessed by the Gazelle lay in her ability to move about at her pleasure and select the position from which she would fight, or perhaps evade a fight altogether.. un selecting a position, however, occurred her greatest danger and difficulty. Crawley wished to steam around the raft so as to expose the undefended side of the fortifica- tion, and as soon as the boat began to move, he ordered his men to keep well sheltered, and on no account to expose their pe~sons to the fire of the enemy, no matter how anxious they might be to take part in the engagement. These orders were not implicitly obeyed by some who wanted to get a shot at the Hitchleys, and there was one man who could not shelter himself, and that was the pilot. Being unused to bullets and unable to defend bimself or retaliate, he neglected his duty for the occupation of dodging, and soon cried out that he was hit and could steer no more, Sandycraw rushed into the little pilot-house and seized the wheel, and, as he was no slouch of a pilot, he got the Gazelle under control at once, Bullets saluted him, too; but the Hitchleys, being obliged to reload, could fire but slowly, and in the mean time the boat was rapidly get- ting away from the danger point and into the position she wanted, In a few minutes she had reached it, the open end of the raft fortification bein = gn and the music began on board of the Gazelle. Sandycraw rung for the engine to stop, seized his rifle, and hastened to take part in the action. ‘‘ The colored troops fought nobly,” as usual, with the rest, and there was poured upon the raft an incessant stream of fire, which would have been murderous if it had been better aimed, As it was, it was at least terrifying, and the result of this sudden attack in the rear was the immediate dispersion of the Hitchley tribe. Helter-skelter they jumped overboard, not neglecting to take their rifles, and swam toward the shore, separating as widely as possible, and leaving one of their number dead behind them. Without attempting to injure or annoy them in their flight, the Gazelle steamed up to the raft, made fast to it, and it was then discovered that the man who had been surely killed was one of the young Hitchleys. His body was unceremoniously dumped over- board, and preparations were made for burning the raft as far as it coulu be burned. Shovelfuls of live coals were taken from the furnace and drop inside of the fortification firewood being piled on the glowing mass, and soon the raft furnished quite a lively conflagra- tion, lighting up the placid lake and the sur- rounding forest. Though the raft might not be destroyed, it would surely never again be available for aggres- sive or any other purposes, The Gazelle was brought to anchor ata safe distance from the burning mass, and an in- Se age of the fighting force revealed the fact that the only paper en man was the pilot, who had been shot through the right arm, and whose wound was easy to manage. ‘‘ Those scalawags showed more sense than I gave them credit for,” remarked Sandycraw; ‘but I don’t believe that they have sense enough todo the one thing that might worry us into making terms with them.” ‘“ What is that?” inquired Berry Sanders, ‘“Their best scheme would have been to block up the ereek, so that we would be unable to get away from bere with the Gazelle.” ‘They may do it yet.” ; ‘“‘T don’t believe that they will think of it— anyhow, they will be in no hurry to do it—and we will get away from here at daylight, as we can't afford to wait any longer for Somes and Hanley.” CHAPTER XXVIL. SUCCESSFUL PURSUIT. On board of the Mountaineer after she left New Madrid there was by no means as jolly a time as there was on the Gazelle. Though the mountaineers were in he pa prt good spirits, and had cause to be satisfied wit hemselves generally, they were not as much disposed to hilarity as the Gazelles were, nor as much given to the consumption of drink and to nm, hyp each other. , They had a fair allowance of wines and liquors and cigars, with an abundance of provi- sions and boat stores, as Dan Thedford, under the instructions of Colonel Tazewell, had catered ware nob inclined or ite ere Lind of diss clin issi- tal to ind any kind o So they passed the time ly, enj the ease and independenn oP aneat en yin that style of vel; ; a . . duties of their guest. They did not anticipate any serious resistance by the robbers, as they had learned from Jack Jones the exact number of men on the Gazelle, and could form a fair judgment of what they might expect. ra vley and his partner would of course re- sist capture to the utmost extent of their ability ; but it was doubtful whether the other white men on the boat would fight for them, and the colored deck hands were of course presumed to be non-combatants, It was generally acknowledged that the real difficulty lay in finding the craft which they were seeking—not in cooking the hare, but in catching it—and their best hope was found in the fact that the men on the Gazelle would not guess at the style of pursuit that was being made, even if they should suspect any pursuit. Of course the utmost vigilance prevailed, and everybody connected with the expedition was continually on the lookout for a sign or trace of the Gazelle. It was quite certain tbat she had not come back by New Madrid since she was reported as having gone down-stream, and if was certain that she could not appear in the river, at least in the daytime, without being seen by the Moun- taineers. Upward bound boats were hailed to make in- quiries of her, and landings were visited to get news of her, | Thus she was heard from several times, as it was impossible that a craft of her description could be seen on the river without attracting special attention. Necessarily the progress of the Mountaineer was slow under these circumstances, and when might came she made scarcely any progress at all. Though she did not tie up, but kept near the middle of the river, she sindd there like a sentry backing the wheel that hung at her stern, an dropping down very slowly and cautiously. othing could pass her then without being seen, and no upward bound boat came along without being hailed for news of the Gazelle. All the information that was received con- cerning her was to the effect that she had been seen going down the river, and it was almost certain that she had not made a landing any- where. Thus it seemed to be more than likely that she had gone right on down to New Orleans, or at least a long distance in that direction, and the danger was that she might run up some tribu- tary of the Mississippi, or into some creek or bayou, thus escaping the observation of her pursuers. This danger which would increase as the journey lengthened, could be guarded against only by the utmost vigilance, and by making continual inquiries at landings and of passing Even then the little craft might slip away, if that should be her intention, without being per- ceived by any person. As soon as day broke the Mountaineer started down the river again at her usual] rate of speed, the pursuers fully expecting that their search would be a long and tedious one. The sun was not yet an hour high when they saw a sight which told them that their journey was at an end; that they need seek no further, and that immediate action must take the place of constant vigilance. What they saw was the Gazelle herself, hs slowly up the river near the Arkansas shore, ‘“There she is! There is the Gazelle!” cried Dan Thedford, and the Mountaineer was at once all bustle and excitement, The little craft had made her way from Spoon Lake down the creek and out into the Mississippi, the assistant pilot steering under the direction of his wounded chief, and Sandy Crawley act- ing as captain and mate, _ She had got out with little trouble, consider- ing the narrowness and shallowness of the stream, and then the question was, what.should she do, and where should she go to? Sandycraw was both sorry and angry at being obliged to desert the comrades whom he was ex- ting at Spoon Lake; but there was no help, or it would have been very unwise to remain longer in the immediate vicinity of the hostile Hitchleys. He had already ae the matter over, and had come to the conclusion that he would go pork on his track, and run the Gazelle into the io. Then he could go up the Tennessee or the Cumberland, or might go on to Louisville or Cincinnati. _ Being only a rover, free as air, and with no incumbrances, there seemed to be nothing to hinder the Gazelle from going where she pleased. As there was no reason tosuspect any pursuit, especially a pursuit. by steamboat, the appear- ance of the Mountaineer in the river did not ex- cite any disquietude among Crawley and his companions, # 5 She appeared to them to be only an ordinary stern-wheel boat of small caliber, with whose Sandycraw, the Man of Grit. Aes ey 21 business and intentions they could not possibly have anytaing to do. The strange and suspicious performance of the Mountaineer, however, soon excited their curi- osity and aroused their apprehensions, hen she came near the Gazelle, she turned, or changed her course ‘‘ quartering ” the chan- nel, and aiming at the little boat as if she meant to strike and sink her. She could easily force a collision just then, as she was ccming down-stream while the Gazelle was going up, and she therefore carried with her all the advantage of the swift current of the Mississippi. Sandycraw, who wason his hurricane deck, waved his hat and shouted to those on the Mountaineer. ‘‘Whatare you doing? Are youcrazy? Do you want to run us down?” There was no answer, and he directed his pilot to change the conrse of the Gazelle soas to avoid a collision. At the same time the mysterious and appar- ently beligerent stern-wheel boat al ber course, and continued to bear down on the Ga- zelle. Several men were visible on her decks; but Colonel Tazewell and Clifford Darrell and Jack Jones were not among them, as it had been thought best that those whom Sandycraw would be likely to recognize should be kept out of his sight for the present. By this time the commander of the Gazelle was thoroughly worried and full of wrath, and he began to swing his arms and utter his pro- tests. ‘* Keep off, I say, or you will get hurt! What do you mean by this? What are you after?” ‘‘ We are after you,” shouted a tall man on the Mountaineer, who was no other than Sheriff Heilman. ‘We are after you, you scoundrels! a warrant for bank in New Madrid.” This was a terrible blow to Sandy Crawley— terrible because of its unexpectedness, He could no more have expected such a thing = he could have looked for the heavens to all. So he had been suspected, more than suspect- ed, had been found out, and had been pursued in a manner that indicated the intention of the Missouri authorities to fasten the grip of the law on him firmly. What, then, had become of Jack Jones, and how had his plan, so skillfully prepared and carefylly carried out, met such an utter and ig- nominious failure? The blow staggered him for a moment, be- cause he was so completely bewildered; but there was no thought of fear in his heart, and his notorious grit quickly came to his rescueand pulled him up to his work. ‘‘That is a likely lie!” he shouted back. “I believe that you are nothing but a gang of river pirates. Keep away from here, or I will shoot your orig ‘‘That is a game that we can play, too,” an- swered Tom Heilman, ‘‘ We have come to take you, and you wil) find out before you are through with us that the easiest way is the best way. The Mountaineer no longer seemed to wish to run down the Gazelle, but acted as if her object was to range alongside of the smaller boat and give the criminals a chance to surrender. ‘You had better give in,” yelled Amos Hard- ing, stepping briskly to the front. ‘‘ Your game is found out, Sandy Crawley, and the whole scheme is exposed. Your confederate, Jim Han- ley, is locked up in the New Madrid jail, wait- ing. for you to join him.” Iva got craw that his scheme was indeed exposed. Sheriff Heilman again took a hand, and play- ed what he considered a trump card. that you had better not do a thing that will help that man to escape from the law. If you do, you will be tried and sent to jail for it, as sure as shootin’!” men on the Gazelle, but produced no visible re- sults, Sheriff Heilman and his friends doubtless had authority to back them; but they were still on their own boat, while Sandycraw and Berry Sanders were right there, and it was known what they could and would do when they made up their minds to it. Colonel Tazewell believed that the time had come to show himself and his party, and he ones. CHAPTER XXVIII. SANDYCRAW’S STRATEGY. rell was enough; but to see Jack Jones with them was the finishing blow to Sandycraw. jail, and that he should be very man from whom the to shut him off entirely, was proof ECO A AIICE| OVOKO) his was another blow, and it told Sandy- — This threat bad an effect upon some of the accompanied by the | gambler had desired _ positive to | our arrest for the robbery of the ~ stepped forward with Clifford Darrell and Jack — - Tue sight of Colonel ''avewell and young Dar- — S4 ” ‘‘ You men on that boat, Il want to warn you © = That Jack should be free, or ap tly s a instead of being locked up in the hes Madrid 7 > # =