Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 464 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

* Bes ae ae ei etal al Chase her u as long as she coul Qv Crawley that his scheme had utterly miscarried | time she was fully turned, the Gazelle was flying that all the New Madrid business had been found | down the river at a considerable distance from out, and that nothing but flight could save him | her. from a long term of imprisonment. How di rell happen to be there? How had they been put on his trail, and what | to hunt him down? He could not doubt that they were there for : the purpose of hunting him down, and bis per- — Colonel Tazewell and Clifford Dar- | Of course the bigger boat made the better | speed when she had got fairly under way in the | right direction, and those on board of her could not imagine what the Gazelle expected to gain had vy Pag mass that made it to their interest | by changing her course, as she would not be al- i lowed to play the Tt trick again. Sandycraw, however, sonal hatred of Colonel Tazewell at that moment mature his plan. was so intense that the life of that gentleman would have been in serious jeopardy if Crawley had thought it advisable to begin the shedding of blood. But he did not pause to consider any of those lexing questions, nor did he suffer his mind to well upon them longer than the space of a moment, A wave of wonder and wrath sweptover him and then he was wide awake, full of grit and energy, and quite equal to the emergency that confronted him. . His scheme had been discovered, his plot had been exploded, and he was a fugitive from jus- tice, hunted by the officers of the law, and liable to a severe penalty for a most flagrant crime. This was by no means in accordance with his intention, and he had never believed it possible that he would be placed in such a position. There he was, however, and he realized that a crisis had come, and was fully determined that he would not be taken alive. Indeed, there seemed to be no sufficient reason why he should be taken at all. isdaining to hold any further oe 9 with the men on the Mountaineer, be issued quick and sharp orders to the a to pack on all the steam possible, and dir the pilot to get out of the way of that very obnoxious stern- wheel boat. In the contest of speed and maneuvering that ensued, Crawley re rather too easily that the Gazelle would get the best of it, as he knew that she was fast, and she was fast for so small a craft; but the Mountaineer was a bigger boat, and, like some of the stern-wheelers that were built for towing, she had more power than she might be sup to have. She was very fast, either down or up-stream, d go straight ahead; but at turning she was necessarily unwieldy, and it was there that the advantage of the Gazelle came in, as she had a wheel on each side, acting inde- pendently, one being able to go ahead while the other backed, so that she could turn with ease and in a very small space. As soon as it became evident that the Gazelle meant to try to escape from the Mountaineer, Dan Thedford, who was well acquainted with the stern-wheeler, mentioned her ability to Colo- nel Tazewell, and that gentleman entered into the spirit of the thing immediately. “Run her down!” he shouted, issuing his orders to everybody in general and nobody in rticular. **Run her down! Crack on the steam, boys! and run her down!” Sheriff Heilman protested that the Moun- taineer would be quite as liable to be sunk ina ramming experiment as the Gazelle would be. **T don’t care,” fiercely replied the colonel. “We must take that scoundrel, no matter what it costs. Chase her up and run her down!” Naturally the Gazelle had something to say about that, and the men who were managing her were not at all idle or neglectful of their chances. Sandycraw, who was an old hand at steam- boating, had ordered that all inflammable and quickly-heating substances that could be found on the boat—except, of course, the liquors— should be used for the purpose of producing steam, without regard to cost. So kegs of lard and sides of bacon, with other odds and ends of fat and grease, were recklessly thrown into the furnace, and the little engines vert 4 oh bow as the steam rose rapidly. this was not enough, as the Mountaineer, who was working her boilers in about the same style, sensibly gained on the Gazelle in the race up-stream, greatly to the delight of the le on board of her. - iy There was only the race and the maneuvering, as neither party attempted to injure the other y the use of weapons. Sandycraw, who knew that his force was over- ‘matched, and was not at all sure that he could depend upon his men when it came to fighting the law, did not wish to increase the burden of guilt that was already heavy upon him. Sheriff Heilman and his associates wanted to take their men alive, and therefore would not resort to shooting except in a desperate ex- tremity. When it was evident that the Mountaineer ‘was gaining on her, the Gazelle to turn to account her stategical advantages. | Turning quickly, she shot across the current, and another quick turn headed her down- As the Mountaineer had only one wheel, and that was hung at her stern, it took her much longer to accomplish this maneuver, and, by the as 2. | He meant to get where the Mountaineer could not follow him, by running up the creek which | he had lately come out of. In spite of the Hitchleys, Spoon Lake would be far safer for him than the a River, _ and he did not believe that they could prevent | him and Berry Sanders from getting ashore and escaping into the country, if it should be neces- | sary to do so. | In that event he would turn the Gazelle over to his pilot, who would probably not be hin- | dered from disposing of her according to his in- | structions. | So the men on the Mountaineer were more than surprised when they saw the little boat _ head over to the Arkansas shore, and disappear ; among the trees, as if she had run into the | The sharp eyes of the Mountaineer’s pilots | perceived the mouth of the creek, if they bad not already known that there was one there, | and they hastened to let their employers know what they supposed to have been done. | ** Follow them up!” ordered Colonel Tazewell. | * We will chase them all over the State of Ar- | kansas, if we have to,” | othe Mountaineer followed the Gazelle into | the creek, and directly found herself stuck in the | mud, and wedged between the banks. The Gazelle had already gone out of sight around a bend of the stream. This was a pretty pickle, as all the men on the Mountaineer agreed; but it did not take _ them long to decide what was the best thing to be done. ‘‘ They have got the best of us so far,” said Sheriff Heilman; but their advantage won’t hold long. It will be vom apo for them to go far, even with that light t of theirs. If we can’t chase them any further on the water, we can follow them on the land, and that is what | we must itch in and do.” The pilots were consulted, and they had no doubt that the creek was a ‘sure enough” creek, and not a bayou or cut-off, Therefore, the fugitives could get no further than its head, or as far as its channel would allow them to go. It was quickly settled that the land-route must be taken as soon as possible, but considerable | time was occupied in making the necessary pre- rations for the new departure, though all on oard worked with a will, including Mrs. Crebbs. It’ was deemed proper, in view of the ible or even probable exigencies of the expedition, to take not only their arms and ammunition, but a supply of provisions, together with axes, tar- | paulins for tents,and a few cooking utensils— in fact, a pretty complete camping outfit. There were opeye to carry these articles, be- sides the fighting men, whose number was eight, _ and it was increased to nine by one of the pilots, who insisted on joining the party. As soon as the outfit was ready, the pursuers started, headed by Tom Heilman and his two ror greg who were better acquainted than the others with the nature of the ground which they would be required to traverse. It was thought best to follow the creek pretty closely, lest they should lose it in the dense forest, with its tangled masses of vines and un- dergrowth, and it was also supposed that they might find the Gazelle stuck fast somewhere in the little stream. Following the winding of the creek necessari- ly lengthened the route, and time was required to find and in some places to make a path, as there were various obstructions in the shape of sloughs and marshes. Nothing was seen of the Gazelle, and when a dark night came on, and the obstructions and other difficulties increased with the darkness, the party found it impossible to proceed further, and were driven to the sad conclusion that they would be obliged to camp where they were and wait for morning. Then they suddenly came in sight of Spoon Lake, though it was separated from them by a strip of marsh. Getting as near as possible to the shore, they | could see the Gazelle anchored in the middle of | the lake, but could see nothing else, A dry spot was found after a short search, and the party prepared their camp and their supper. Ure Crebbs, who had accompanied them in spite of their remonstrances, proved to be very useful at this juncture, and was recognized as a valuable member of the expedition. It being certain that the Gazelle was there at hand, the future course of the pursuing party was discussed in a general council of war after supper, and it was agreed tbat the first thing new what he was do- ing, and it had taken him no time at all to Sandycraw, the Man of Grit. SS i ee —Oe ee ee necessary was to render it impossible for the little boat to get out of the lake. This would make their minds easy concernin the nearly deserted Mountaineer, and woul permit them to use such of her crew as should be willing to volunteer for the expedition. So men were sent to close up the creek by mes trees across it ata point a little east of the lake. CHAPTER XXIX. BEN SOMES CHIPS IN. THE Hitchley family got safely to the shore of the lake, with the exception of the one who had landed on the ‘‘ other” shore, and they tramped home in a discomfited and sadly demoralized condition. There they were received with wailing and lamentation, especially from the widow and orphans of the missing man, and the remainder of the night was oe but joyful to them. When they went to , the sky was lighted by their burning raft, and when they awoke at a rather late hour in the morning, they dis- covered that the Gazelle had slipped away and disappeared. They were gloomy, depressed and repentant, Not only did the women blame them for the sad misadventure of their nefarious enterprise, but they hated themselves for the foolishness that had got them into such a scrape. They sadly realized the fact that by alienating and attacking their late friends they had only succeeded in doing themselves a great deal of damage. Perhaps, too, if they had succeeded, by a fur- ther loss of life, in capturing the Gazelle, they might have discovered that me had made a ‘‘ waterhaul,” as the man who told the story of the treasure was so drunk that a whole swarm of bees was buzzing in his head. The old man was blamed by all the others for believing such a yarn, and he was so cast down that he could not say a word in his own de- ense, At about the hour of noon they were seated in the shade near the cabin, drawing the wet loads from their rifles, and cleaning the weapons for future use, when they were surprised by the ad- vent of a stranger. The stranger was a man, and he came out of the woods, of course, but from the westward, and ape ceed 3 could not be supposed to be one of the Gazelle’s men. He was not a countryman, however—neither a squatter nor an Arkansas farmer—and he had the unmistakable Jook of a city tough, his ap- pearance as to yomerr'ags and general style being almost identical with that of Berry Sanders. In truth, he was no other than Ben Somes, the third partner in the Gazelle’s expedition. | When he had slipped out of the court-house upon the arrest of Jim Hanley, he had at once shaken the dust of New Madrid from his feet, and had as speedily as possible made his way to Spoon Lake, which he would have reached somewbat sooner if he had not been delayed by losing his way. He felt very sorry and apprehensive for Jim Hanley, but was naturally glad that he himself was safe and likely to prosper. It was certain that bis share of the “swag” would be a big thing for him, and be had no doubt that he would find the Gazelle and his partners at Spoon Lake, when the ‘‘stuff” would be divided, and he would be free to go where he pleased. His surprise and grief could only be expressed by a strong stream of profanity, when he reached the lake and saw nothing of the Gazelle there. He soon came across the Hitchleys, and in- quired of them if they had seen anything of a small steamboat of that description. This was a tough question for the tribe, after their performance of the night before, and it gave them no small amount of uneasiness, The younger men looked reproachfully at old Hiram, as if they felt that he was responsible for all the trouble, and Ben Somes looked from one to the other of them, as if wondering at their hesitation in answering such a simple question. Uncle Hiram would have been willing to lie about the matter, denying all knowledge of the Gazelle, if he had felt that he could be supported in his denial; but the looks that were cast upon him by the other members of the family con- vinced him that he had better stick to the truth and make a clean breast of it, as far as his cun- ning and crooked nature would allow him to do so. “ Air you a friend o’ his’n?” he asked. ‘‘A friend of what?” inquired Somes. “Of Sandy Crawley?” ‘‘Of course I am. That’s what brought me here. Heand I areold friends and partners. My name is Ben Somes, and I am from St. Louis. He was to be here with the Gazelle, and I was to meet him here. Didn’t he say anything to you about me?” ‘‘Not as I heerd on,” answered the old man, who was caught at once by the shrewd ques- tion. ‘** He has been here, then?” ‘“Wal, yes, he has kinder been hyar. He came up hyar in that leetle steamboat you spoke oF ‘ re 7 1 ‘ ope g | t f ~- ie ae a a