Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 534 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

Green Mountain Joe. 23 — —_—_— ———__ whisper, ‘‘an’ it’s ’s easy as rollin’ off er log. Ye kin shin up there like er cat.” But the lad said no, and admitted that he was afraid to make the attempt. He tried the experiment of calling to them, but it was of no avail,-for they refused to answer. Both Joe and Sam were nonplused. Their scheme for capturing the counterfeiters was worth nothing unless it entirely succeeded. It they were to capture a few, allowing the chief and a handful of his men to escape, it would be like breaking off a weed in one’s garden, leaving the root to send out new shoots with additional abundance. ‘‘T’m a-goin’ up myself,” said Joe,decided- ly. ‘‘I kin keep ’em both busy till ye git thar, Sam, and then, ef we can’t handle two cut-throats like them, we'd better quit alto- gether, an’ do as Chip has done, flunk the hull bizness.” Without another word on the subject, the big Vermonter pulled off his boots and seiz- ss, ps rope, began the ascent. — e had accomplished something more than half the distance when a head was thrust over the cliff, trying in vain to peer down in- to the darkness below. ‘‘ Who's comin’ up?” asked its owner ‘“‘Me,” was Joe's rather indefinite re- sponse. ‘« Who’s ‘me?’” repeated the voice. ‘*Me’s me!” replied Joe. ‘* What yer comin’ fur?” “* Fur you.” This conversation upon both sides had been carried on in a whisper, and during it, Joe had continued to ascend. By the time he made the last reply, he was close enough to the counterfeiter to reach him, and seizing the rope in his left hand as tightly as he could, he thrust out his right, grasping tne man above him by his hair and pulling him toward him with a violent effort. CHAPTER XXVIII. A FIERCE FIGHT. WueEn Joe seized the hair belonging to the head leaning over the c!iff above him, it was a desperate measure, and he knew it, but he was a quick thinker, and while he was climbing the rope he had concluded that figuratively speaking it was best to take the bull by the horns. When the head was thrust over the rocks above him, he knew that if it would but re- main there until he could reach it he would at least capture one of the men then and there, and he thought with a grim smile that the other could not get very far away be- fore he could hoist Pomp up to the top and so foliow and capture the second, long before he could return to the counterfeiters’ cave. As might have been expected, the man whose hair was being thus roughly pulled, announced the progress of such a painful operation by numerous howls which echoed through the gorge with redoubled noise. ‘Let go, curse you!” he cried, still think- ing it was one of his amiable friends who was endeavoring to pull him over the cliff. Joe vouchsafed no reply, but continued to pull with renewed vigor, and meanwhile the outlaw kept up his unseemly howls. ‘‘Dan—Dan!!” cried the fellow to his companion who had remained on the top with him; ‘‘ketch bold of me, quick! He’s pullin’ me over the cliff! Let go, will you?” But Joe refused to let go. On the con- trary, he pulled harder than ever, while on the other hand, the man called Dan had re- plied to his pal’s request, and had seized him by the heels, pulling in the opposite di- rection with all his strength. The curses which rent the air from the cor fellow thus placed between two oppos- ing forces, were something awful, but Joe did not propose to loose his hold until he had to That moment, however, arrived very soon, for he could not hold his own great weight for long with but one hand, and that cne, his left, so watching his chance, he gave one last violent tug, getting the fellow’s shoul- ders well over the edge, and then suddenly let go. The effect was precisely what he had cal- culated upon. The man behind, who had hold of the prostrate fellow’s legs, was of course exert- ao OO 4) below, and making the end fast to one of the counterfeiters last captured, lowered him over the side. ° Chipmonk, having lighted the lantern, un- did the rope, and presently the second one was lowered in the same manner, when Joe and Sam followed and soon were surveying the fruits of their conquét. It was indeed a sorry-looking crowd that was laid out under the cliff,and when they saw the number of their enemies, and realized how easily they had been duped and drawn into the snare laid for them, dark scowls and ex- pressions of bitter hatred and chagrin passed rapidly over their countenances, ‘*] guess we might ’s well take aout ther gags naow,” said Joe, ‘‘’s there ain’t nobody araourd w’ot'll be disturbed by their screech- in’ ef they wanter screech,” and suiting the action to the word, he busied himself remov- ing those very annoying impediments to the speech. ‘* Haow dew you feel naow?” he drawled to the chunky fellow who had given them so much trouble and whom he had hit under the ear with his bony fist. ‘‘ Don’t wanter tell, eh? Ruther mope, would ye? Wal, I don’t know ’s I blame yeany. Mebbe I’d mope myself if I was in your fix, an’ besides, mebbe it’s er good thing ter kinder git yer hand in, ’cos ye'll hev loads o’ chance fur mopin’ ther next few years.” Dark scowls and murderous glances met them, whichever way nee turned their eyes, but it was upon Chipmonk upon whom most of the captive counterfeiters vented their rage. He took it all very placidly, however, not once deigning a reply to their angry words, and at last they one and all resigned them- selves to a moody silence. Suddenly Joe, who had disappeared for a moment or two, returned hurriedly, and ex- treme consternation was visible in his voice, when he said: ** Say, Sam, thet air ladder’s gone, an’ it couldn’t go alone either.” ** Barnes has escaped!” exclaimed Sam. ** Perzacily,” muttered Joe, ‘‘an’ I've got ter take Pomp an’ overhaul him afore he reaches headquarters, ef possible,” and he turned back into the cave. CHAPTER XXIX. THE DESERTED CAVE—CHIPMONK’S REQUEST. WHEN Joe burried back into the cave after having announced that the ladder inside was missing, he carried with him the one which had been used on the outside, for mounting from the ledge to the chiff above. It was not long enough to reach the entire distance, but it was nearly so, and after low- ering it down as far as he could reach, it only had a couple of feet to drop upon the lower floor. He could easily have jumped down with- out danger, but the safest way was the best, and soa moment more found him stepping from the bottom rung upon the cavern’s bot- tom, The other ladder lay where Barnes had left it, wken he went in the search of the hole througb which be had fallen into the lower gallery, and for an instant Joe thought ing every muscle to get his friend back upon the ground above, and thus when the strain suddenly ceased, he staggered precipitate] backward, dragging the other man with him, and both rolled in a confused heap up- on the soft earth. With one great effort, the Vermonter threw himself upward, and before the coun- terfeiters had regained their feet he was up- on them. Then began a fight which was the most eid of any in which Joe had ever partici- ated. The fellow whose hair had been so violent- ly pulled was rolling over and over on the moss, moaning with pain, but the other, a fellow almost as big as Joe, was quickly up- on his feet, and seeing the Vermonter’s form outlined against the sky, he pulled his re- volver and fired straight at it. When the weapon was discharged, Joe was not more than four feet from its muzzle, and he felt a sharp sting upon his body which told him that he had been wounded. But before the flash had subsided he had closed with the murderous outiaw, and in an instant more they were rolling over and over, tightly locked in each other’s embrace. The victim of circumstance who had been bewailing so loudly, immediately saw that a fight was going on, and rightly judged that it was with the one who had pulled his hair, and ore to his feet with the fury of a tiger, he fell upon the struggling duet, tooth and nail. In the darkness and excitement, together with the writhing and wriggling of their bodies, however, he had considerable diffi- culty in determining which was which, so that for the first moment his friend received quite as many of his blows as his enemy. But such a condition of things could not last long. The fiercest combats are usually the soonest ended. Joe had succeeded in getting the powerful fingers of his right hand around his assail- ant’s throat, and unmindful of the blows being showered upon him by the other, he gripped tighter and tighter. Nothing belongiag to the animal kingdom could have withstood that terrible squeezing upon the air passages. They were as effect- ually closed as though they had been her- metically sealed, and in much less time than it takes to tell it, the victim of that awful choking was an unconscious mass of hu- manity. As soon as the man ceased his struggles, Joe released him, and was about to turn up- on the other, who had been pounding him so | unmercifully, when there came the sound of a dull thud, and he, too, went under, knocked senseless by a blow from a club in the hands of Sam Sharp who had climbed the rope behind Joe, arriving just in time to be of real service. The strain upon the two men had been something.terrible. They had been forced to work fast and furiously, and now, when their work was done the effect came back upon them. **T never was so near done up in my life,” sighed Joe, ‘‘ but Sam, ole feller, we’ve got ‘em, just es sure ’s ye’re a livin’ specimen 0’ mankind. Two on ’em ’s gone under—_ that perhaps his fears were groundless after there’s one inside, seven daown thar with | all, and that the prisoner had not escaped, Chip, an’ two up here with us; accordin’ ter and so he hurried on into the cave toward the my geography thet air makes jist er dozen. , chamber. I think we’ve gotter right ter feel proud, | When there, he quickly saw how the coun- don’t you?” R ' terfeiter had effected his escape, and cocking Sam did think so, and he was proud of the | his revolver, he began searching for the thing they had accomplished, but he did not | missing man. for a moment forget that what might prove He knew that he was either near by at to be the hardest part of it was still to be | that moment, or had found the ea of done, namely, the capture of the counter- | egress into the lower cave, and might, even feiter chief, and the securing of sufficient evidence to convict them all in the cave. ‘‘Say, Sam,” said Joe, suddenly, when he had got his breath, ‘‘don’t ye think thet we've gotter sorter white elephant ter take keer of naow, eh?” “There is probably enough feed in their cave to supply them longer than there will be the need for it,’ replied Sam. ‘‘ We must get them back into the chamber and see that they are all bound so securely that they can- not get away by ay possibility; then, as an additional safeguard, we will leave Pomp to and circumstance to the man they were most anxious to capture, Captain Quickeye. . ‘One thing’s sart'in,” muttered Joe: “a half hour more 'r less won’t make no differ- — ence now, an’ we'll jest git them fellers in find aout w’ot’s become of Barnesey.” The job of getting the nine captives down the ladder and back into the chamber, was in every sense a laborious one, and full of little incidents, both amusing and annoying, but it was finally accomplished to the entire watch over them while we carry out the re-! satisfaction of both the deteetive and Joe, mainder of our programme.” and the men were one and all fastened so Joe hauled the knotted rope, after calling | securely that there could be no chance of down to Chip and finding that all was serene ' their escaping. at that moment, be detuiling the whole plot — here, an’ then I’ll take Pomp an’ see ’f I kin _ Gomicboo (C CS