Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 484 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

- —~ A stiff ae caught up his few locks of long straggling haif at that moment, tossing them here and there, but he did not notice the fact, nor was it noticed by either the mother or daughter. ‘¢ Look again, mother,” he enjoined, after an- other brief pause, ‘and see if my one is in sight.” rs, Barter complied. ‘¢ Not a soul!” she announced, ‘¢Then all is as it should be,” declared the hus- band again. ‘‘How fortunate it is that the chief has given us all that money in paper with- out either gold or silver! It will not make us any trouble about carrying it when we conclude to take leave of the tavern!” Mr. Barter assented with a nod, while Mabel contemplated the long, thick prairie gras; in which the strange vehicle was now moving. ‘Ts it not about time to act, father?’ she asked abruptly. ‘Yes, girl. Will you take my place at the reins a few minutes, or shall we leave it to your mother?” ‘¢ You, mamma!” gasped the girl. She was so nervous that 1t is doubtful if she could have held the reins. The moment Mrs. Barter had assumed the part of driver, the old man hastened to tumble the insensible figure of Sword Bearer into the long grass they were traversing. ‘* You go quietly on,’ he said, as he leaped to the ground, and as soon as you are at a suitable distance, I will start the fire!” ‘‘ A little to the windward of the chief, of course?) murmured Mabel. ‘‘ Naturally, so as to bring down upon him the necessary volume of heat and fire!” By the time the Rolling Tavern was a hun- dred yards to the leeward of Sword Bearer the old man had retraced his steps about that dis- tance in the opposite direction. Once more he bent a sweeping glance in every direction. ‘‘ Not a soul,” he repeated. Then he held up his hand to the breeze to note its strength and direction. ‘‘It is rather strong,” he muttered, ‘‘ and blows a little more directly on our route than I supposed, but I reckon we can keep out of the way.” He bent low into the grass, striking a match, which he protected a few moments from the breeze by bis burly frame, and then he inserted it in the long sea of matted grass upon which he was standing. The result startled him. It was as if he had inserted that match in a tin- der box. The whole prairie seemed ablaze on the instant, —ESE CHAPTER XLIV, THE FIRE NEMESIS. Ir was only by running with all his might that Barter was able to resume his place on the vehicle before the flames overtook him, ‘‘Heavens! What a sight!” cried Mabel in- voluntarily. ‘*T had no idea that grass was so dry! ‘* Nor I,” exclaimed the mother. ‘Look sharp now,” enjoined the old man, panting for breath, as he caught the reins from the hands of his wife. ‘‘ We must go faster than this, or we shall not keep out of the way!” There was no need to press the high-spirited horses he was handling. The smoke and the heat of the burning grass had already entered their nostrils, and they seem- ed to have a far juster sense of the situation than their driver and those with him. The Rolling Tavern was soon going at an easy trot and held its own in such a way that the nervous aud apprehensive feeling to which the old man had gave utterance was subdued, even if it did not wholly vanish. A mile was thus left behind, when a wild ery of wonder—consternation even—suddenly burst from the lips of Mabel. It was as if she bad encountered some terrible ainda heir eyes followed the indication of her out- stretched hand. What they saw fairly froze the blood in their veins, With a wild roar and rumble, with tremendous swayings from side to side, came bearing down upon them a second Rolling Tavern! A vehicle and a horse so much like those occu- ee by the Barters that it seemed a reflection of it! As fast as it was moving, the wind, fire and smoke behind it were moving still faster. ‘* Ah! the fire is gaining upon us!” gasped Bar- ter. “The wind seems to have freshened to a cyclone! And this thing behind us!—” He was interrupted by a sudden increase ef speed on the part of his horses, which had taken fright at the approach of that second Roll- mg avon bebind them. hey broke away like furies, and in another Moment had taken the bits in their teeth and Were wholly beyond control of their driver. Such, too, was already the case with Dan and Dave Wilder, who had already given up all hopes ef getting out of their peril alive. “Look out, there!” exclaimed Mrs, Barter abruptly, as she gestieulated wildly to the mew- es , - ip < ¢ —- — ss f Captain Ready, the Red Ransomer. comer, ‘Don’t you see that you are gaining up- on us and running us down! Careful!” In vain Dan and Dave made every effort to avert the threatened disaster—all in vain! Their horses were too terrified to make the least response to all the pressure that could be brought to bear upon them. In a few moments, therefore, the two Rolling Taverns had crashed together, locking wheels, and the nextinstant descended with a grand clash upon the prairie, A moment Mabel found herself flying through the air, and at the same time saw her parents dashed headlong under the house which had so long been their abode. By a desperate effort, and especially by mov- ing in time, Dan and Dave Wilder were able to avoid being caught under their house or the truck it stood upon, and in another moment they were hastening on foot in a course sufficiently at “ee angles to their former one to eventually tind themselves in a position of safety. As fast as they hurried, however, they did not fail to note a terrible spectacle which was sud- denly presented behind them. It was that of Sword Bearer, who had been aroused from his drunken stupor by the sea of fire and smoke which came rolling over him, but not until his hair was singed from his head and the cuticle from his features—in a word, untilhe had been rendered one of the most frightful ob- jects to look upon, which can possibly be imagined. As fortune would have it, his horse had made its escape at the right moment and fled to him with some instinct of securing its own safety at his hands, or perhaps merely as the result of the careful training of which it had been the object, Be all that as it may, the fact remains that he was able to secure his steed at the right moment, and it was like a flying incarnation of terror and horror that the chief came dashing down st the spot which had been so fatal to the two olling Taverns. Need we linger upon what succeeded ? A few days after the events we have narrated, a party of soldiers traversed the scene of the catastrophe, and discovered three half-charred bodies, which were made out to be those of the Barters, Their plot had been fatal only to themselves, for Sword Bearer, although terribly burned, was not seriously endangered by his wild ride in the midst of the sea of fire in which they had design- ed him to perish. Need we relate how Captain Haskell and his men were able to effect an entrance into the camp of the Red Ransomers, with the aid of Gor- don Vorce, otherwise ‘* Dave Wilder,” who had familiarized himself with all its features, and bow Captain Ready and more than three-fourths of his followers were annihilated? Or is it necessary to say that Nick Peddie showed such fire and courage on the occasion of Miss Hamlin’s rescue as to fix her favorable at- tention, and that the fates and fortunes of the oung couple have since been happily blended in marriage? As could have been expected the Red Ran- somers accused Sword Bearer and his band of having robbed them of their treasures, while tho red-skins were equally positive that the robbers had gathered in the money given to Mabel by her infatuated wooer. As a matter of fact, both were wrong, as the reader has seen. Both fortunes were reduced to ashes in the flames which destroyed the two taverns, and whatever fragments of specie or bullion were found by roving Indians were duly carried away by them, and not a word was said in regard to its source or former owners. We have only to add that Mr. Hamlin secured in due course the fortune he had buried on the line of the Union Pacific, and that in due course he was restored to the arms of his faithful wife, and that all their subsequent days have been filled with as much peace and happiness as usual- ly falls to the lot of mortals. And, as to the unlucky red-skin, his fate was soon determined by the little war be had inau- gurated, for on the first conflict with the LA he was shot, and that ended an uprising which, had the wily chief been spared, might have proven something more then a reservation escapade, THE END. Beatlle’s Half-Dime Library. BY WH. G, PATTEN. 489 The Diamond Sport; er, The Double Face ef Bed Rock. 519 Captain Mystery ; or, Five in One. BY MAJOR HENRY B. STODDARD, Ex-Beout, $06 Neck-Tie Neds or, The Dug-Out Parda. 846 Rapier Raphael; er, The Swordsmen of Zacatecas, 891 Kid-Glove Kit, the Dandy of the Roekies. 898 Kid-Glove Kit and Pard; or, The Gold King. 406 ane Mad Man-Hunter; or, The Mystery ef Golden uien, 505 Pewell’s Pard; or, The One-Armed Giant, 29 BY MAJOR LEWIS W. CARSON. 278 The Three Trappers; or, The Mountsin Moneter. 288 Indian Joe; or, The White Spirit of the Milla. BY JO PIERCE. 897 Bob o’ the Bowery ; or, The Prince of Mulberry Stree 415 The Vagabond Detective; or, Bowery Bob’s Boom, 452 Hotspur Bob, the Street-Boy Detective. 460 The Lawyer’s Shadow; or, Luke’s Legacy, A772 Jaunty Joe, the Young Horse-King. 494 Surly Sim, the Young Ferryman Detective. 5604 Five Points Phil 509 Jack Jaggers, the Butcher Boy Detective. 516 Tartar Tim; or, Five Points Phil’s Menagerie. 526 North River Nat, the Pier Detective BY CAPTAIN FRED. WHITTAKER. 15 The Sea-Cat; or, The Witch of Darien. 29 The Dumb Page; or, The Doge's Daughter, 48 Dick Darling, the Pony Express Rider. 150 Lance and Lasso; or, The Children of the Chace. 154 The Sword Hunters ys or, The Land of the Elephant Riders, 159 The Lost Captain, or, Skipper Jabes Coffin’s Craise to the Open Polar Sea. 200 The Boy Bedoutns , or, The Brothevs of the Plamed Lanca. 214 Wolfgang, the Robber of the Rhine. 249 Milo Romer, the Animal King; er, The Reund the Werld Wanderer. 265 The Tiger Tamer; or, The League of the Jungle. 881 Black Nick, the Demon Rider. 895 California Joe's War Trall. BY GEORGE C, JENKS, ASS Git Thar Owney, the Unknown. 492 Git Thar Owney’s Pledge. 5618 The Demon Docter. BY EDWARD WILLETT. 167 Ana Scott, the Steamboat Boy, 199 Featherweight, the Boy Champion ef the Muskingum. 228 Ozark Alf; or, Featherweight Among the Outlawa, 282 The Typo Detective; or, Weasel, the Boy Tramp, 295 Fearless Phil; or, The King of Quarteville, 811 The Roving Sport; or, The Pride of Chuckaluek Camp, 822 Nemo, the Detective; or, Kit Kenyon's Vendetia, © 840 Clip, the Centertieniat; or, The Montana Vigilantes, BY CAPT. MARK WILT®@N,.. 256 Young Kentuck; er, The Red Lasso. 270 Biizzard Ben; or, The Riot at Keno Camy, 286 Josh, the Bey Tenderfoot. RY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID. 78 Blue Dick; er, The Yellow Chief's Vengeance. 87 The Land Pirates; or, The League ef Devil's Inland, 187 The Helpless Mand; or, Backwoods Retribution, 289 The Gold-sceker Guide; or, The Lest Menstala, BY BRACEBRIDGE HEMYNG, 89 Ieland Jim; or, The Pet of the Family. 01 The Captain of the Club; or, The Rival Athletes. 101 Jack HNarkaway in New York. BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE, 86 Dandy Rock, the Man from Texna. 90 The Dread Rider; or, The Texan Duelist. 99 The Tiger of Tuo; or, Dandy Rock’s Angel. 115 The Mad Miner; or, Dandy Rock’s Doom, 181 The Golden Mandy; or, Dandy Rock to the Resone, 164 Dandy Rock’s Pledge; or, Hunted to Death. 178 Dandy Rock’s Rival; or, The !!aunted Maid of Taos, BY HARRY ST. GEORGE. 80 Roaring Ralph Rockwood, the Ranger, 44 Rattling Rube; or, The Nighthawka of Kentueky, 59 Old Hickory ¢ or, Pandy Ellis’s Scalp. 108 Daring Davy; or, The Trail of the Border Welf, 166 Hickory Marry ; er, The Trapper-Brigade’s Spy, 172 Thunderbolt Tomy; or, the Wolf-Herder. BY J, ©. COWDRICK, 860 Silver-Mask, the Man of Mystery. 869 Shasta, the Gold King} or, For Seven Years Dead, 420 ahe Detective’s Apprentice; or, A Boy Without a ame. 424 Cibuta Johny cor, Red-Hot T. mea at Ante Bar, 439 Sandy Sam, the Street Scout. ’ 467 Disco Dan, the Daisy Dude. 490 Broadway Billy, the Bootblack Brave. 506 Redlight Ralph, the Prince of the Road. 514 Broadway Billy's Boodle, 524 The Engineer Detective. BY MAJOR E, L. ST. VRAIN, 292 Sancho Pedro, the Boy Bandit, 801 Leadville Nick, the Boy Sport. 812 Redtop Rube, the Vigilante Prince, 888 Brimstone Bob, and His Lightning Horse Quarteste, 852 Tombatone Tom, the Arizona Boy of * Sand.” 859 Durango Dave, the Youos Champion Wreatler, 871 Kingbolt Chris, the Young Hard-Shel! Deteetive. 880 Avalanche Alf, the Foothills Guide. 890 Jaguar Joe, of the Mount.in Mall-Lise. BY WILLIAM R. EYSTER, 190 Dandy Darke}; or, The Tigers of High Pine. 210 Faro Frank; or, Dandy Darke’s Go-Down Pards, BY CAPT. ALFRED BE. TAYLOR, U. &. A. 191 Enfale Billy, the Bey Bullwhaeker; 07, The Doomed een. 194 Buffale Bill’s Bet; er, The Gambler Guide, A New Issue Every Tuesday. The Half-Dime Library is for sale by all newsdenlers, five cents per copy, or sent by mail om receipt of alx cents each, BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New Yor® GComichoo Cc “S (ECO) -_—-+ -