Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 1112) (1901 04)
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2 ———— ——— CopyricutT..1878, By Beapie & ADAMS; Published Every Wl, es GS N ENTERED aS Sgconp CiAss MATTER AT THE New York, N. Y., Post Orvics. WE. J. VERS & CO., Publishers, (JAMES SULLIVAN, PROPRIETOR), 379 Pearl Street, New York. | Dick Darling, | THE PONY EXPRESS RIDER. BY FREDERICK WHITTAKER, ETC., ETC. CHAPTER I. THE MAIL STATION, A. tow adobe* hut, with about the same amount of comfort that exists in an ordinary | stable in New York; a large corral behind it, in which some twenty wiry little mustangs were playing about; a stockade near the hut and | opening into the corral; a stone granary within | the stockade, lopp-holed and iron-portaled; two men lounging in the sun in front of the hut, one smoking, another cleaning his revolvers; behold | be a-eleanin’ of himself all tho time?” objected cash, Jack,” said Darling, tranquilly lighting | the appearance of Dolores Station, Pony Express Route, in Nevada Territory, .some twenty years ago. The two men were widely different in external appear- ance and seemed to beso in character, judging from many indications. The smoker was a short, broad, heavy-built man, of about forty, whose’ shagey hair and beard looked as if the comb and they were distant acquaintances, _ that \seldom met. The lizht-blue uniform in which he was dressed was dirty and careless, the jacket unbuttoned, disclosing, a shirt, once red; nowa dingy pi le, the trowsers ragged fn thd seat and ‘iaside of the thizh to the knee, as if from riding, while thé hugeboots were brown and rusty. “The little. brierwood pipe was stuck at one side of a grim, determined mouth, and the face of the smoker was that of arough, recklessfrontiers- man, The second man was young- ar, taller and slighter, as well as Incomparably neater and handsomer. He did not seem to be over: twenty, for his face was. nearly smooth, a soft brown mustache barel seeing he upper, lip, He wore curling’ -c ut hair long and flowing, under the neat, dark-blue chasseur rap, which bore in old’ Eng- ‘lish letters, on the front, the mysterious initi “8. PLE. inclosed ina silver horse- shoe, Thedifference between his uniform and that of his {comrade was amazing. . Py. the mere fact of its ss AUTHOR OF ‘' THE SEA-CAT,” ** THE DUMB PAGE,” | from his mouth, and growled out: ~ Z : SS ae, z : , AY as a \ \ Goi [Nt I vk \ —" ~ april, 1901, Vol ALI: PRICE 5 CENTS. 50c, a Year. .) “unl iivwuig well, and pemg buttoned up, \. nile the: riding-boots of patent-leather were l:ept oiled and shining, it gave him the appear- | ance of a different. being. The two revolvers | that he was cleaning were already as bright as silver, and yet he continued polishing them with a piece of Chamois-leather. Prescritly his companion removed the pipe | “Say, Dick, what’n thunder’s the use of clean- in’ up them things? They don’t shoot a bit. | straighter fur’t, and the company don’t, *low fur’t. I wouldn’t waste my time, a-polishin’ up them darned old pops.” The youngster addressed as ** Dick,” smiled. **T don’t know that I waste any more time on them than you do on smoke, Jack, and if they don’t shoot any straighter, at least they don’t | do any worse for a cleaning.” ** But what's the’use o’ livin’, ef’ a cuss has to TYR WAP arr: y, Jack, with a huge yawn. “J sw’ar ef it warn'> fur my pipe, I wouldn’t, be worth a Continémbad these times, Put the pistols away and hev a sociable draw,you finikin® young galoot.” Dick Darling gave. his revolvers: a final rub, and then placed them in the patent-leather hol- sters, on cach side of a neat belt, that-lay on the end of the bench on which he was sitting, As carefully and methodically as he did every thing else} he put away the belt in the cab and returned, holding a large and handsomé mecrsehaum pipe in his band, which he slowly and carefully Mod from a neat little pouch, Jack Hardin grinned somewhat contemptuous. , ” * What a luxuriant cuss you air, Diek. Kurn't be content with any thing but a meers’ha’ ip, out in the Alkali Desert... Durned ef I don't-believe you'll be hevin’ silver spoons out hyar, some day,” “T certainly shall when 1 get. enough sparé his a “What's. the ise of sinking ‘to the level of beast, because we seldom gee any thingybut, horses?,/1 he- lievé, in. civilization “myself, and ‘you know, Jack, we're yjioneers of . civilization, ous ere,” “Civilization be durnea)” cried Mardin) with a grim- ace. ‘We're out hyar. to kerry the mails and keep oft Injins from “Unele+ Sani’s stock, that’s whatwe'r hyar a. pid ong to sey te py rave go fur your sk ae mone ahaa hed wna es ae are outen youl short order; and 1 indarned big capital You wish you hadn’t’ wasted much’ time ‘acombin’ 3 ha’? of yourn just about a reckon,” + Dick Darling laughed naturédly, a oh aah at all hurt by his. compan jion’s. rough ‘p. le he said: “Til admit that such a predicanient: might be dis apreedble, Jacek, but I fancy I should get through if, somehow,” Hardin growled. * Yes,” somehow. ™ Thats what’s the matter, Boy, you don’t know what it isto huga griazly, or meet a red on the war-path, Ef. you’d drop that ere cleanin’ up and take to. shootin’, mout hev ho on‘yer: As it is, very yer go out, I’ never’spec’ to see — ag’in.” *Bvery man to*his taste, Jack. I’ve come back safe, several times. Come, you want to be shooting all the time. What say you to @ ye al de ‘Shoot yer at a dollar a shot,” said Hardin, eagerly, “ Let's San gp A me eh
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“Done!” said Darling, quietly. ‘I must warn you that I’ve been practicing lately, Jack.” “You ‘in practice all you" like,” said Jack Hardin, a little scornfully, ‘“‘ Vm from Ken- tuck, pardner, whar they lams the little boys, “ they don’t hit-a squirrel in the eye, every ime, As he spoke he stalked into the little hut, where the opposite sides were as strongly con- trasted as their respective owners. Darling’s bed was neatly made, and raised on a frame- work, of slender poles, his horse equipments hung on astand, all his various garments and accouterments on pegs, while a looking-glass hung on the wall. The Kentuckian’s bed was on the floor, and while every thing was inorder for ‘ostant use, the dirt was carelessly brushed off yvery thing. Jack Hardin picked up his belt and pistols, and left the huf. Dick Darling put away his pipe with a scrupulous care, aad buckled his t hebtly around him, before he followed, Hardin inserted a broad silver dollar in the eleft of a thin stick, threw the stick as far as it would go, and then remarked: “Shick. it uo thar, youngster. That's fur snough fur you. Ill stand hyar.” Dick Dar ing smiled and obeyed. He found the wand, with the dollar still in the cleft, some hundred feet away, where he stuck it into the und, leaving the dollar edgewise to Hardin, en walked back, remarking, ee ‘‘ Any fool can see a dollar, full face. Let’s see you knock it out that way, Kentuck,” Jack Hardin’s face became grave at once, The feat demanded of him required the powers of a first-class marksman. “ Wal, Dick,” he said, dryly, “I'll not deny that ef you kin hit that ar’ dollar, that ar’ way, you hev improved; but old Kentuck ain’t so easy beat, arter all, Stand cl’ar.” Raising his By he took a steady and delib- erate aim, an fired. The white stick was seen to tremble, but remained standing, It was only grazed. Hardin uttered a disappointed oath, then turned to Darling. “Take a shot, young feller,” he said, curtly. “The smoke of this durned pipe got in my eyes that time, but you kurn’t beat it, anyway.” Without a word Dick Darling fired. - The stick fell, and the dollar was sent flying oa the air. CHAPTER II. TWO CURIOUS GIRLS. Mr, Jory Harpin removed the pipe from his mouth, and gazed on Dick Darling with an air of new-born respect, for nearly half a ‘minute, without speaking. Then he dived into his trow- sers pocket, and extracted a large silver dollar . therefrom, which he extended to Dick, observ- ing: a A a a jewel, pard, You've won her. Thar she is. Twoto one you kurn’t do it ag’in, hand runnin’,” Diek was about to answer, when the low rum- bling thunder of horses at a gallop struck on their senses, and Hardin started. “ By the ghost of Gineral Jackson, pard, thar’s them gals a-comin’ ag’in, Put up yer iron. You hev me this time, but Tl git squar’ next match, and leave jhis durned pipe behind, I didn’t think ye het in yer.” While he spoke, lis was hurriedly loading the discharged chamber of his pistol, and Davhiskz, with his usual neat habits, was wiping out the barrel of his own weapon with the wiping-stick. The sound of galloping horses came plainer and-plainer on the ear, and two equestrians were to be seen approaching the station, from the direction of Humboldt Pass. } Dolores Station was on the Pony Express route, at the edge of the gloomy and cheerless ‘Alkali Desert, in one of the fertile valleys that intersect that part of Nevada, among the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Snowy sumnsts rear- ed their giant heads in the distance on all sides, aad frowned protectingly over the green vales along which the Hastings road ran from Salt Lake Cit¥ to Carson. A branch road forked off at Hastings Pass to Provo, and along both these routes fhe Pony Express men galloped from station to station, at the full speed of their game little horses, These stations were the only habitations, save the low brush huts of the Utes, for hundreds, of miles, till you came to the old Mission of Sarita Clara, where two convents, one of nuns, another of oks, stood in holy rivalry, within a mile of Pe pe CR Se ee ee — SS SSS SS Se et Ste id The equestrians coming toward Dolores Sta tion were not of the civilized order. So much was Clear. But whether warriors or squaws was not so clear till a nearer view. Both rode handsome little mustangs, of that beautifully variegated color on account of which the frontiersmen denominate them ‘paint horses,” which are genorally ay Soe to chiefs. Both rode in manly style, bestriding their steeds with ease and grace worthy of a riding-master, and both were fully equipped as warriors. Still, there was something in the dress of both, feminine in its character, and a near approach revealed the two riders to be wo- men. Women they were, or rather girls, handsome in face, supple in figure, not yet disfigured by the labors, which turn squaws, at thirty years, into wrinkled hags. From the fairness of their complexions and the cast of their features, it was evident that they were not full-blooded In- dians, but crossed on some Caucasian stock. The texture and material of their dresses, and the fact of their carrying firearms of handsome make, also proclaimed them to be connected with white men, either the wives or daughters of some mountain man, whose traps and rifle were “‘ lucky.” As they came up, it was hard to tell them pale They seemed to be twins, so closely did they resemble each other. Both had great black eyes, high, hawklike profiles, straight, glistening black hair, rounded chins, and full, sensuous lips, like Egyptian queens. It was in very fair English, with a strong French accent, that one of them said, as they pulled up: : “‘Good-morning, Darling. How is my Dar- ing?’ Dick Darling flushed up at this address, for he was a modest youth, with all his good looks. “Very well, thank you, Mademoiselle Chev- rette,” he said, in a low voice, “‘ How do you find yourself?” Before answering, the girl sprung off her horse with the lightness of a bird, and stood before the youth, a model for Diana in bronze. “Eh bien, Levrette and I are always well, We were out hunting, and_thought we would come your way, Darling. Cat’s Eye is on the war-path near your trail, Look to yourselves, you and Blackbeard.” i Jack Hardin started. “‘Look here, Chevrette, this ain’t no time fur foolin’ a feller. How do you know that cuss is on the war-path? Is it against us?” “Oh, no,” laughed the half-breed beauty care- lessly. ‘‘ He has too much good sense for that, No. He’s out against us!” And both girls laughed scornfully. Dick Darling looked puzzled. ' “Tell me vrette,”"he said. ‘‘ You’re the quietest of the two. What does she mean?” Levrette, the second sister, answered more soberly: “She means that Cat’s Eye and Crow’s Foot came after us yesterday, and asked us to enter their lodges; that we refused; and that they swore to follow us till they captured us and made tis marry them.” Dick frowned. ‘““'The insolent dogs. What did you say?” “1 said,” replied Chevrette, with shing eyes, ‘‘that my father was a white man, my mother a queen of the Echipeta, and that if a dog of the Blackfeet bit the hand of a Ute brave, he sickened at the I told him to do his best, and féar my revolvers.” ‘‘Good fer yer grit,” said Hardin, with em- hasis. ‘I want to see the red sneak round yar, that’s all, Ef he meddles with this) child, he’ll swaller lead mighty suddint.” Here the second girl, who was called Lev- rette, slowly swung herself off her horse, with a lazy grace, strikingly in contrast with the active motions of her twin sister, from whom, otherwise, she was hardly to be distinguished. “Well,” she said, with the same freodom.of ‘speech and manner which was assumed by hevrette, ‘‘and have you no\welcome for us, Darling, when we come to see you? I believe Mere rough old Blackbeard, here, is more po- Dick Darling stammered and blushed, as he Hardin, on the other hand, grinned with the utmost affability, and ushered the girls into the low hut as if it had been a palace. ‘Walk in, ladies,” he said, ‘‘’Tain’t often we gets a visit from ae but coyotes out hyar. Walk in and make yourselves to hum.” A moment later the two a hg were in the hut, and ve eens to say that the fair Chevrette de- liberately pulled out a very large cigar, lighted offered the hospitality of his cabin,..Jack Is it not sof” encame 2 Sa re a a Ta gore meen ct P| characters. Their father, Jean Baptiste Ledoux, had been a fur-trader and Indian-agent of some wealth, who had married an Indian wife, as was the custom of those times. His daughters, whom he had whimsically named Chevrette and Ley- rette (Fawn and veret), had received, first, some education at a Canadian convent, then a second one on the prairies. Levrette could play a polka on the piano, talk French, Eng*ish, and a dozen Indian dialects, ride a mustang, shoot bow, rifle and revolver, and fling a lasso. Chev rette could do ali these better than her sister, and was quite a rapid draughtsman ‘8.0. Their father, dying when they were at bis trading-post, left them all his wealth, and his wishes that they would go to Montreal to live; but the wild blood of the Indian mother was toe firmly rooted in freedom to submit to this. , Eagle’s Wing, head Medicine Chief of the Echipeta, had offered to adopt them into the tribe, and the girls had eagerly accepted tha offer. Their*wealth made them favorites; they wert generous and free; the Indians gave them all the liberty of young warriors; and they wera happy, to all pecans , tt was only when Dick Darling began to ride on the Salt Lake trail that trouble rose. Both girls fell in love with the handsome youngster, and did not scruple to tell him so. Had he been a man-of maturity, they would, pee have been more modest. As it was, oth actually besieged the bashful boy all the time, while.a score of Blackfoot and Ute braves were equally persistent after Levrette and Chevrette. It was under these cireumstances that our heroines enter the scene. CHAPTER III. GOING FOR THE PRIZE. Late in that same day, two men were slowl creeping toward Dolores Station, carefully hid. ing themselves behind every rock and bush, and yet advancing nearer all the while, unseen from the station, Both were Indians, and armed with rifles, which they trailed after them in the grass as they advanced. Each carried in his belt, more over, a large revolver, rusty and grimy, but serviceable. x Pretty soon they had arrived at a group of bowlders, beyond which the land was open to the station, and afforded no further conceal- ment, Then both halted and crouched behind, the rocks to watch, with the stoic patience of the Indian warrior. These men were true western Indians, of that half Mongol type which is so grim and repulsive. Their faces were broad and square, with high cheek-bones, small eyes, heavy, sensual jaws and low, broad foreheads. The streak of paint on their features told that they were on the war- path, and their army clothes, dirty and beprim- ed, arinounced them as “ Regervation Indians,” whom Uncle Sam feeds and clothes, through the medium of thieving agents, till some robbery of the latter drives dant to retaliation and “11 the the wild excesses of a savage nature. Around the station all was quiet and peaceful. The warm afternoon sun shone on the low hut, the stockade inclosure, the lazy mustangs whe were dozing in their straw yayd, and on the fwe brightly-spotted ‘chargers that stood before the door, covered with gay housings. Sitting on the bench before the door was a’ group of four persons, the sight of which scemed to incite the Indians to frenzy, for their eyes began to glare, and the nervous clutch with which they began to handle their rifles portend- ed mischief. ’ The four persons were Jack Hardin and Chev- rette Ledoux, and Dick Darling and Levrette, a very graceful, picturesque group in attitude and surroundings. The blue uniforms of the men, and the bright scarlet skirts’ of the two girls, with the mingling of civilization and savagery in their costumes, made a very attractive pic- ture for an artist, but the two Indians did not repent to admire it. : e of them turned and qvhispered to the other. “Let us fire, Cat's Eye. "Tis a fair shot, We can each take one, and rush for the girls.” Cat’s Eye was a cunning looking rascal, with pt Ken phy eyes, whence his name, He laid i ee don the other’s arm. _ ; “Tet Crow’s Foot listen,” he w ‘“The men must die, the squaws must be ours. | ———
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ees la ; bag of gold-dust to p FE EE _ — Sas 7 ' } Crow’s Foot nodded, with iis eyes still fixed en the couples on the bench. “If we shoot the men, the squaws may shoot us, or ride away,” pursued Cat’s Eye. ‘‘We have no horses here.’ ; **We can take thosa,” objected his comrade, pointing to the corral. ‘* We shall be known, if we take them here. The soldiers may come by, and trail us, and then they kill warriors with the rope.” Crow’s Foot gave an uneasy shrug. An In- dian dreads the idea of being hung, worse than any thing. ** Let Crow’s Foot listen,” pursued the wily Cat’s Eye. ‘‘ When the \two white men ride on the trail to Carson, they pass many places fit for an ambush. Let us rouse the Ute braves, lie in wait for them, and slay them in the moun- “pins.” Crow’s Foot said nothing. He only looked at fhe girls, and trembled with spite and jealousy. Cat’s Bye continued, cunningly: “Then we can catch the squaws, shake the warriors’ scalps in their faces, and take them | into our lodges, like great chiefs.” Crow’s Foot listened to the last words with attention. Presently he whispered. ‘*We' can do better than that. First let us shoot the men, then rush out and seize girls and horses in the confusion. We can do it and flee to the Apaches. Who can find us there?’ **Cat’s Eye was about to answer, when both started and listened. At the same moment the two Indian girls started up, and seemed to be pointing to the east. The keen senses of all four had caught a distant sound, Presently it became audible to every one, the notes of a bugle echoing gayly from mountain to mountain, mingled with the rattle and clat- ter of harness and wheels along the Hastings road. Cat’s Eye and Crow’s Foot instantly shrunk down into the smallest space imaginable, and began to creep aby i Neither had any fancy to meet the rough cus- tomers of the mail coach. - In a little while more, the tall, lumbering body of the great coach hove in sight at the en- trance of the valley, coveyed with grayish-white dust, and loaded down with passengers. The six horses in front trotted weariedly along, as if they had made a long stage, and Jack Hardin and his comrade began to bustle about as the coach drew near. As for Chevrette and Levrette, it was evident that their idyl was over for the present. Before the coach was fairly in sight both girls had hurriedly embraced Dick arling, and sprung on their gayly-comparisoned steeds, ready to Nop off in a moment, Up rumbled the coach, As it drew up to the door, Dick Darling, neat and trim as ever, rode out of the corral gate on a bright ‘ buck- skin ” mustang with black legs and tail, leading by a halter asecond animal. He sat there as ready for any duty, quiet and collected, With a great clatter and rumbling, the coach drew up at the door, the burly red-shirted coachman flung down the reins and slowly swung off his perch, while bronzed miners who composed the load came piling out Dolores Station was the terminus of the stage route. Beyond it only the mail bags were car- ried, and passengers had to proceed on foot or hire or buy the extra horses of the Express Company. In a moment there was an animated chaffer- ing going on, while the two Indian girls, sitting like statues on their frightened and plunging horses, scared at the noisy coach-load, were sur- rounded with eager miners. Dick Darling caught the mail-bag which was thrown him by the -coachman, hastily secured it,on the saddle of his led horse, waved his hand in farewell, and galloped away on the Hastings il, tow; arson. ie Helloa, Missy, what'll yer take for the paint hcss?” shouted a rough miner, eagerly waving a Chesrette - Tl give five ounces down on the ,” said another, nba prado to open his pouch. ‘Don’t: listen to that galoot, Missy. I’ve got the dust.” * Six ounces, and Tm thar every time,” yelled a third to Levrette, ‘‘ Git out of the way, fel- lers; the squaw lady sellstome.” ! ‘“Hyar, station-master, got’ an hosses ‘to’ eT en Renner tadpae Ate ean ieee - Dick Darling. was all in vain to assure them that the horses were not for sale. The refusal only raised the bids higher, till one burly miner laid his hand on Levrette’s bridle and rudely said: . "Come, gal, git off. Hyar’s twelve ounces, two hundred and fifty dollars; and that’s more than any paint hoss is wuth, ary time. The c#ittur’s mine!” ‘** Not by a durned sight, pardner,” roared an- other man, seizing the horse on the other side. ‘“Tve offered more’n that a’ready, and hyar’s the dust.” The confusion seemed likely to come to blows, when the clear, sharp voice of Chevrette pierc- ed the tumult like a knife, followed by the om- inous click of a revolver lock. ‘*Let go my sister’s bridle,” said the girl, fiercely, to the disputants in English. In a_moment both hands dropped. The miners had thought the girly common Indians and the clear, idiomatic English astonish them. ‘The horses are not for sale,” continued the girl, sharply. ‘‘If you’re gentlemen, clear the way for two ladies. If not we'll make you.” As she spoke, as if by instinct the crowd fell back to right and Jeft, the two girls struck spurs into their horses, and vanished in a cloud of dust, leaving behind them only a vague im- pression of beauty and freedom at which the miners gazed with stupid amazement, CHAPTER IV. THE BNAMORED CHIEFS. In a lonely pass of the Sierra, overlooking the valley of Dolores Station, Levrette and Chev- rette were slowly riding along. The pass was that known as Humboldt’s Pass, the mountains the. Humboldt Range. Overhanging precipices bordered the pass. and the wild goat and bighorn, not yet scare by the hunters’ long-range rifle, peeped over the lofty pinnacles down at the lazy equestrians, who sauntered slowly along, chatting together in French. They were strange girls both, instances of how the wild nature is stronger than civiliza- tion. Spite of their convent education, and the sight of all the great cities of the East, they seemed to be hie happy where they were, and to prefer the wild life to any other. Suddenly, as they were in the pass, a crowd of ragged, half-naked Indians sprung up, as if by magic, all round them, and before even the rapid Chevrette could draw a pistol, both girls were prisoners, with arrows, rifles and pistols pointing threateningly at their heads. Then Cat’s Eye, draping behind him a bran new scarlet blanket which he had drawn from the agent that morning, swept forward, and said, with a grim chuckle, in English: ** Much heap good, squaw. hat tink now —hey?’ Chevrette cast a Pay of inexpressible loath- ing on the chief. © disdained to use the In- dian tongue, although she spoke it well, ‘* Well, dog: of a Ute,” she said, bitterly. ‘‘So twenty Ute warriors are not too much to take two squaws, but they must point guns at them. Go. There is no dog like a Ute,” Crow’s Foot, who stood beside Cat’s Eye, seemed to be more of a brute. Stung by Chev- rette’s words, he raised the long. lance he car- ried, and was about to deal the girl a blow with the staff, when Cat’s Eye interposed and pre- vented the blow. ** My brother must be patient,” said the wily chief. ‘“‘Itis no use to spoil a squaw, till she grows old and ugly. Leave her to me.” Then beet at pr, ihe smooth flowing language to the imperfect English he used, he. said: “Say, git off hoss, bymebye, S’pose no, I make you.” , Levrette, the indolent and stately, hai not spoken all this while. Now she raised her voice and demanded: ** What do you want of us, Cat’s Eye?” “Want squaw. Want make fire, cook meat, aa PS poose,” grunted the Ute. , then, why don’t you treat us civilly?” eos the girl, Bonny, +f vou must pe to ease a Ww ore she enters your ‘ psy no wa to do it.” « fi ° s Eye at her a moment in surprise, and then Senet into a contemptuous laugh, as he ‘said = girl, _ sell?’ said another fellow to Jack Hardin, con- || fidentially. | eet “Yon Bet” was the Inconte . sha _A moment | there were ets ws of | miners after horses, but those aroun the girls || were the most numerous boisterous. ~ ‘It’ |: t * ‘oad He Ki hos: x) 4. Uy LR CA et id: + ‘**You t’ink Cat’s Eye much heap fool, ; but you see no. Git off hoss.” . fa sacar In a moment Levrette had whipped out a re- volver, with a rapidity very unusual to her, and held it cocked against the Ute chief’s head. * Order ata men back, or you die,” said the ‘She wall Kenan td man she was dealing Crow’s Foot was not to be daunted thus. : “Shoot, squaw,” he said, roughly. ‘‘Crow’# Foot git two squaw then.” He had hardly spoken when Chevrette, who had: been watching her opportunity, raised the pis- tol she had stealthily drawn from her belt, and dealt the brute a quick rap under the ear, while his attention was directed to her sister, Crow’s Foot dropped ‘without a sound, like a felled ox, and the daring girl, scattering revol~ ver shots all round her, dug the spurs sharply hy the mustang, and burst her way through the group that surrounded her. Cat’s Eye had instinctively dropped Levrette’s bridle, and the girl made ‘haste to follow her sister’s example. The Indians, with loud yells, began to pursua, firing as they went, but it was evident from the first that they were firing wild, and not very anxious to hit, Cat’s Eye ordered them to shoot at the ho but by the time he could give the order, the animals were out of reach of any thing but rifle bullets, and the rifles were empty. A moment later, both girls had disappeared round the base of the hill, and the discomfited chief saw that the prey had escaped him, He took his disappointment with _gll the stoicism of an Indian. A white man, under the same circumstances, would have made the air blue with profanity. Cat’s Eye simply squatted down on a rock by his partner in iniquity, and calmly waited the latter’s recovery. Crow’s Foot was not long in coming to. The Indian skull is thick, the Tadian's constitution strong. In a very few minutes the Ute chief opened his eyes, gave a stupid grunt, and then pigte : ‘Where are the squaws?” he asked his com> rade. “ Gone,” Crow’s Foot gave another grunt, and relapsed into dissatisfied silence, ‘“We must leave here,” presently observed the wily Cat’s Eye. ‘‘ The squaws have gone to the lodges of the Echipeta, and they will be after us,” Crow’s Foot grunted again. Presently, he said: “Let us get horses and go on the Carson trail at once. e riding chief is there, and we cam aot wr pon agit sain ead time the thipeta wi going home a, we ma strike them in the back.” p iJ Cat’s Eye’s face brightened with pleasure. ‘*My brother has spoken well. © will seize the Station horses, this very night. The best will be left. Is it good?” Once more Crow’s Foot gave vent to the ex- pressive Indian grunt, which means any thing the warrior chooses, according to the expres- sion of face which accompanies it. Then the whole party rose and ag git oft down the pass, till they came to a spot whic \ commanded a view of Dolores Station in t! » valley below them. re There lay the station, silent and peaceful ¢ » all ap ce. The corral only contain t about a dozen horses, instead of the usual crows , and a cloud of dust going down the valley t - ward Austin, told that the miners’ party were off with the rest.of the animals. The ‘ Pioneer ” Coach, lying ‘idle in front of the hut, showed that its journey was over for the day, and the six iron-gray horses that be- lon to it, were feeding peacefully out of a trough in front ‘“* Listen,” said Cat’s Eye, sententiousty. ‘‘ The coach goes back to-morrow, Its horses are big pad MeoPs: and feed on corn. Let us take them “Good,” said Crow’s Foot. ‘They will rum well,” ** And let us kill the men at the station,” sued Cat’s Eye, oe apg 8 lest they trail horses in the morning. Dead men can not go to the agent and report us,” ; Crow’s Foot looked at his com on with ad- miration. The rascality com his respect. He could appreciate it fully. ‘“* Look,” a said, eh err to the setting sun. “'The time is come. The two white men will be drunk to-night, Let us doe +! Cat’s Eye nodded, and the began to de- scend the mountain, together with the shadows of evening. ‘ Meantime, in ne pear of Dolores Sta» on, a very snu e of two was gather- oat ar. Sohts dined on Kentucky, and Me. William Gvimes, of Tlinois (usually called Billy Grimes), were seated on the opposite beds, im
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aa ee — tonily watching the process of frying some salt pork on the hut fire, and every now and then applying for consolation to a big demijohn, the gift of Mr, Grimes, which stood in the middle of the floor. oeoTrT one of these solemn pauses, as he inverted the demijobn in air, in sacrificial attitude. “ Drink hearty,” responded the express-rider, with a bob of his head. Then, as the host, he felt constrained to watch the frying-pan, where the fat was beginning to eatch fire. ” _‘“Supper’s ready, Billy,” he said, affably, set- ting the frying-pan on the floor, and sd ta a great loaf of unleavened bread, familiarly known among miners as a ‘“ man-killer,” ‘ Then, as the two rough frontiersmen set to at — a en a pret a toward the station, crept a score of dirty Utes, hung: wi blood and eteniah if Sent Net And darkness came over the valley. CHAPTER V. THE HAPPY VALLEY. Sixty Odd years ago, when Lewis and Clark first crossed to the Pacific ocean, they found the great tribe of the Echipeta, or Blackfeet, the most powerful of all the wandering bands that possessed the vast wilderness of plain and mountain. In that very expedition, also, were laid the foundations of the inextinguishable hate which afterward characterized all the re- lations between Blackfoot and pale-face. The Astoria settlement, the or rag! of Bonneville, Wyeth and the Sublettes, the long contest for the fur trade between the Hudson’s Bay and American Fur Companies, with all their varied episodes of ape and famine, riot- ous feast and bloody war, only served to inten- sify this feeling. Whatever might be done in the way of treaty with other tribes, three sep- arate orgatiizations stood out in the North-west, like the Comanches and Apaches in the South, as remorseless foes to the whites. Sioux, Black- foot and Crow were each in their way equally formidable, but the Blackfoot. was the most dreaded offall. The Dakota was a cut-throat, by name and nature, but he made truces for trade; the Upsaroka, with all his beauty of . figur2 and face, was generally only a cunning horso-thief; but the Echipeta was a warrior that never rested, day or night; who preferred scalps to horses, revenge to booty. ; Thirty. years later, Catlin appeared with pen- cil and pen, to: save the remnants of all these powerful tribes from oblivion, and has left a record, obtained during a brief truce at a fron- tier fort, of what splen?*d fellows were those Blackfeet and Crows. ; Perfect in paver contour, rejoicing in mag- nificent black hair, in which they took all the pride of a delicate lady, the artist found these wild nomads to be regular dandies in personal adornment, while as $killful as ever in war. He mentions the hair of two Crow chiefs as trailing the ground wherf they walked, in full dress, and describes their costume as tasteful and picturesque in the highest degree. Both tribes were then uncontaminated by the whites, their attitude of relentless hostility hav- ing served asa means of gcd aera egg a but in that first parley with the pale-faces, at which Catlin was present, the seal of destruction was imprinted on the two tribes, the noblest of all, by the irresistible hand of fate. At that time, the Blackfeet numbered fifteen hundred bands, or villages, scattered from the British dominions to the present bounds of Colorado; the Crows, nearly half as numerous, oceupied the present territory of Wyoming, bor- dering on the great Dakota or Sioux sem and both were dreaded by the whites beyon all the rest. ' Inthe same’ year, and during the following spring, the besom of destruction swept away both tribes, and the names of Echipeta and Up- saroka were almost annihilated. What bul- let and knife had recoiled from, fire-water and the loathly disease of civilization was to accomplish. The small-pox, breaking out in that year with fearful virulence, swept over the North-west like a destroying angel; and left, of all the ‘Blackfoot na | scarce six hundred lodges. Whole villages died like sheep, and the next ‘summer saw the survivors shorn of power and influence, a miserable remnant, that has never \ since raised its head to check the march of civ- -ilization to the setting sun. few years ago, when we’ all heard and shuddered at the merciless punishment inflicted by Sheridan’s orders on a little band known as the Piegan Indians, few recognized in those [yar’s luck, Jack,” said the stage-driver, at | | Ute dogs have insulted poor wretches the little remnant on American soil of the once powerful Hchipeta tribe, that had lorded it over the plains, and compelled tribute from the strongest. At the breaking up of the Blackfoot nation, one little band, numbering thirty-five lodges at first, increased to seventy in later year's, instead of moving to the safe shelter of British territory, as did the bulk of the nation, emigrated south- ward to the shelter of the great primitive ran- zes, then almost unknown to the whites, now included in the north of Nevada. Here, in a large valley, with a southern ex- posure, where pasture was plentiful all the year round, as in California, this little band had held their station, carefully keeping out of the way of the whites, and increasing to double their original numbers'in a single generation. Their ehief was now an old man, who had been Medicine Chief of the whole Blackfoot nation in the days of their glory, who had been bitter in his opposition to the treaty which had borne such terrible fruits, and who, on the dis- persion of his tribe, had led a little remnant, composed of the aristocratic Kainna family, every member of whom had a right to sit in the council of chiefs, to the happy valley. ” Eagle Wing was distinguished by a grave wis- dom of character, that procured him the ascend- ency, rather than by personal strength in the field, and the thirty-five warriors who followed him, being all chiefs, were the very elite of their tribe, and superior to double the number of any other braves. 3 The great Medicine Chief had exacted an oath from every one never to touch the fire-water of the whites, never to trade with them save for weapons, nor to associate with them, unless adopted into the bands. nder his wise and cunning rules, the little tribe, who still proudly styled themselves ‘*Kainna Echipeta,” had maintained themselves in independence, accumulated the best weapons of the whites, kept clear of trouble with the emi- >rants that passed near them, and seemed to be in a fair way to returning prosperity. But one white man had ever seen their camp, and he was adopted into the tribe. This was the French feale, Jean Baptiste Ledoux, who had aided them to naib ay arms, and whose daughters we have already seen in our story. Just as the red glow of the setting sun shone on the white mountain-top, above the happy valley, Chevrette and Levrette galloped into the village and halted before the council-lodge, in front of the painted war-pole. The scene before them was quiet and peaceful in character, but picturesque and romantic in the highest degree. The remnant of the Echi- peta had learned of adversity, and their village was a model of neatness. Seven lodges of light-dun buffalo hide, dressed without the hair, and covered with pictures emblematic of Blackfoot history, were ranged in four’ lines, about two streets, closed at one end with a fifth line of six large lodges, of which the ‘‘ Medicine-lodge ” was the most finished. All the offal and garbage that usually renders an Indian camp so offensive was absent, and a large mound of ashes, indurated by rain and sun, at a distant corner of the valley attested that the Echipeta had returned to the process of cremation, used by their remote ancestors be- fore the European conquest. A flourishing field of Indian corn occupied the ound near the ash-mound, and the-rest was ull of grazing horses, not the little scrubby ponies of the northern prairies, but the larger and more beautiful mustangs of Texas and Mexico, obtained by trade with the south- western tribes. Many of them, indeed, from their bone and size, gave token ofa mixture of more civilized blood at a recent period, and the resence of a ait bay stallion, some sixteen habds high, nearly thoroughbred, announced that the Kainna medicine chief had used his op- portunities for improving the breed. This horse was the best result of a secret raid, undertaken some years before to the frontiers of the Texas settlements, for that very purpose. As a result of his far-seeing policy, Eagle Wing’s band could outride any other tribes in his vicinity, and none dared. attack the dangerous knot of tried warriors. ; The cooking-fires were all kindled at the lee- ward flank of the camp, and the squaws were preparing the evening meal, while the war- a were gathered in a circle before the coun- eil-lodge. Before this circle it was that Chevrette and Levrette pulled wp, and the former called out to Eagle Wing, in a loud voice: “Great Medicine Chief of the Echipetas, the the maidens of thy Beadle’s : Half-Dime Library. ee ene omen band. Cat’s Eye and Crow’s Foot. with twen- ty braves, tried to take ts to their lodges in the pass,” A low murmur of surprise and indignation | rose from the circle, and Eagle Wing calmly said: ‘‘ Dismount, daughters of the Echipeta. The council will hear your tale, and take vengeance | for the insult.” The girls dismounted, and entered the coun- cil. CHAPTER VIL DICK DARLING’S VISION, On the walls of the convent of Santa Clara. sheltered from view in a corner of the battle ments, stood a group of women, four in nunx« ber, al} dressed in long sweeping robes, their faces surrounded by bandages like grave-clothes, while their long, sweeping vails were thrown back on aecount of the heat. The great strings of wooden beads which hung: from their girdles, terminating in crucifixes, and the downcast, re- strained look of their faces, sufficiently marked them for nuns, even had not their presence in a convent on that’ wild spot, remote from hu- man habitation, pointed out that they were ne ordinary women, Three of this group were professed nuns, im funereal black, the fourth wore the white mA of a novice or postulant. There wasa great dissimilarity, also, between the faces of the nuns and the novice. While the former were commonplace old women, wrinkled and worn, with an expression vary- ing from seeming sanctity to fretful piety, the novice was a young girl whose sweet face could not be hidden even by the disfiguring head-dress of a nun. Her face was perfect in contour as that of a Greek statue, her smile showed pearly teeth, and when she lifted her eyes, which was very seldom, their beauty fairly awed one. Large and serious, dark-blue in color, almost black, they reminded one of the gaze of oneof Rafael’ Madonnas. The whole expression of her face was one of saintly purity and rapt enthusiasm, for this young girl was already a fanatic of the most intense kind. But such a sweet little fanatic as one might fall down and worship, or follow into any extra, vagance, for the sake of a smile of approval from those rosy lips} Now the little novice stood on the wall, with the old nuns, gazing over a wild, desolate land one of barren, snow-capped mountain and yellow-baked plain, without any sign of humais habitation or cultivation, beyond the convent garden, which gi es them all with food. They stood by the stone bell-tower, watching for the sunset, when the Angelus was to be sounded; and as they «vaited, the four nuns chatted, in the innocent convent prattle that was habitual with them. “Did you see Sister Felicia this morning, Sis- ter Ursula? She tripped and uearly fell, as she entered the chapel.” ‘*T wouldn’t be as clumsy as Sister Felicia for a good deal,” grumbles Sister Ursula. ‘‘ She spilt the soup on the spp floor, and T had to scrub it up this morning. I wish she’d btayed * Guadalupe, instead of the bishop sending her ere. Sister Felicia was a good-hearted, clumsy, Mexican poblana, who BBN conceived it her mission to become a nun, but having no mone to endow a convent, she was obliged to do the rough work, in common with the poorer sis- ters in general, ‘Poor Sister Felicia,” said the sweet voice of the youthful novice, pityingly; “it is not her fault that God made her clumsy, Sister Agatha. She is so good and kind when we are sick, that we ought all to love her.” : Sister Ursula turned aside to Sister Catherine, and whispered: uita is a little angel, Katrina.. She 46 La © makes us all ashamed, with her sweet ways.” Sister tha tossed her head. She did not love Sister Felicia, if she was a sister nun, The little novice turned away her sweet, seri- ous eyes, and began to talk in that musing, half- unconscious manner that often marks the reli- gious enthusiast, asshe dover the landsca) ‘‘How good our Father in heaven is, U: to have put us where he has, in our little fold! If we were in one of the convents near the city, it would be so much harder to turn away the soul from the world and its pleasures, to the duties of a bride of our Lord. Here we see nothing but heaven and its Maker’s works, and nothing can disturb the serenity of our contem- pein of the Divine Mystery. Oh, whats ¢ essed lot is ours!”
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\ en a ee. Dick Darling. Even while she was ing, came a low, thundering sound, which soon resolved itself in- to the regular hoof-beats of a horse at speed, and the three old nuns started and began to listen. The sound came from the plain below them, but the horseman was yet invisible, being hid by an angle of the tower. ‘It is the mail-rider,” said Sister Ursula, hurriedly turning to bustle down the tower steps. ‘‘ The bishop promised to send Reverend Mother some papers from Los Yanquis, and I expect a letter from my brother.” Ke she spoke, she hurried away with Sister Agatha, leaving Sister Catherine and the little novice alone by the walls. Sister Catherine cast a glance at the sun, whose lower limb was just about to touch the Sierra Nevada. Then she entered the bell-tower, saying: % Call me the moment he vanishes, Chiquita, c and I will toll.” La Chiquita (the little pet) as she was affec- tionately called, bowed her head gravely, and moved out into the embrasure of the battlement, where she stood like a solemn, beautiful white statue, looking out over the plain. Perhaps it was because her eyes were used to looking down, according to the rule of her order, or that the sun dazzled them, that she did not watch the great luminary’ as closely as she ought to have done to time the Angelus. e that as it may, she allowed them to sink down on the plains beneath the wall, and stood there, with one finger at her lip, the other hand on the battlement, looking down, . And thus it was that, standing there with downcast eyes, the noise of horse-hoofs grew Jouder, and a trim, handsome yong cavalier, in bright-blue uniform, galloped Into view, and glanced up at the convent, just as he passed under the novice’s feet. And somehow or other—there is a strange fatality in chance—as the beautiful girl looked down, Dick Darling looked up, and she saw his fresh, handsome young face, tramed in curling chestnut hair, and then La Chiquita) shrun back, blushing scarlet. f For careless, light-hearted Dick, thinking no harm, but seeing a beautiful face, removed his hat as he galloped by, and waved it toward her, as if in salute. He even checked his horse to a slow canter, for the novice, in spite of her alarm, had some- how not shrunk out of sight entirely, and until he turned the angle of the castle and disappear- ed, Dick’s eyes remained as if riveted on the graceful form of La Chiquita. Crimson still, and trembling from head to foot, the young novice remained as if spell- bound, watching the vanishing figure of the horseman, Then, as he disappeared, she utter- ed a long, quivering sigh, and covered her face with her hands. : She raised it again with a start to look at the wun. -The sun had disappeared too, and she knew not how long. PEs, With a low sob of inexpressible humiliation and grief, the poor little novice, who knew not her own feelings, and imagined she had done a deadly sin, rushed from the battlement, and flung herself on her knees on the stone rampart by the bell-tower door. ‘Ring, ring, Sister,” she pasped, rather than said; ‘‘oh, Holy Mother of Heaven, pardon my ” ’ And as the convent bell tolled out the solemn summons of the Angelus, poor little Francesca sobbed as if her heart would break, and began to pray fervently for strength to resist tempta- tion, and for pardon for the heinous sin she had just committed, in looking at a man. And yet she had not done anything very ter- rible to our notion. , Meantime, Dick Darling, haunted by a beati- fic vision of a sweet, serious face, with great, solemn, eyes, that reminded him of an an- gel’s, pulled up his horse to a walk, and ap- proached the convent gate, just as the Angelus tolled out. Extracting a small package of letters from his mail-bag, he uttered a loud, cheery call at the gate, expecting an answer, in his innocence. Sisters Ursula and Agatha, who had got within twenty feet of the said gate when the bell be- to ring, both ground their teeth when they foal /Dic ’*s call. They wanted letters and news, and did not dare to stir to get them. The us had sounded, and like every one else in thé convent, the two nuns were on their bia gabbling away Paternosters and Aves, t time. _ Dick gave a second halloo; and then could wait ne longer. With a scientific jerk) he sent te, and gallo rsula and Agatha, in the midst of the third Ave. CHAPTER VII. THE BOY RIDER. THE busy little town of Carson City was hum- ming like a hive of bees in the early morning as the Express Rider galloped out of the place and took the old Hastings Trail for his return trip to Dolores Station., He had made three hun- dred miles inside of twenty-four hours on thirty horses, taken a six hours’ sleep, and was now in the saddle again, ready to repeat the feat, No man but one hardened by constant prac- tice could have performed such a ride, but Dick was young and strong, in constant training, and rode like a centaur. The pony expressmen were used to it, and did such fine as a part of their regular life. Away through the mists of early dawn went the mail-rider, erect in his saddle, while the ac- tive mustang stretched away beneath him like an antelope. The mail-bags, simply strapped to the saddle behind and before, so as to remain firm without a symptom of flapping, were care- fully balanced before he set out, so as to dis- tribute the weight evenly. Dick's saddle was of that plain, serviceable pattern known as the McClellan tree, which combines the best points of Mexican, Comanche, and bussar saddle in one. Without flaps, and resting on a thick felt saddle-cloth, it could be tossed on and girthed tight in half a minute, the time allowed for changing horses at stations, Dick was a figure to look at as he galloped away, trim, neat and erect, sitting down deep in the very center of his saddle, his legs hang- ing easily down, with a careless grace that tells of long practice, Loose and easy in erpenranics as in his seat, one may observe that he never stirs from his place for the quarter of an inch. The upper part of his body sways regularly to the motion of the horse, but from the waist to the knee his thighs seem glued to the saddle. The bright, gleaming boot hangs nearly plumb with the shoulder, and the toe hangs down ever so little, resting in the hooded stirrup without effort. One hand held_close to the belt-plate divides the reins, which are hardly stretched, feeling the horse’s mouth with gentle touch; the right arm hangs loosely by the side, hovering over the pistol that stands at the right hip, ready for in- stant use. Man and horse, as they gallop along, seem parts of the same animal, and down the long valley they pass at the rate of twenty miles an hour, Before them is a yellow plain, baked to the |. hardness of a brick in the long summer of the West, Far ahead, at the other side of this plain, lie the rolling foot-hills that form the outskirts of the Second Humboldt Range and the Interior Bush Range, toward which Dick is galloping. No canter or hand-gallop does the Pony Ex- pressman keep, From the start he has been at full jump, and when the wiry little mustang i inclined to slacken its pace, he shakes the ridle. Away goes the horse, as fresh as ever, and at the same wild apse A cattle-herder lounging on his horse in the neighborhood of a great troop of oxen, who are plucking away at the dried-up grass, hears the light patter of hoofs and looks up. The oxen start and stare at the rapid figure | that goes past like a flash, the blue rider, erect and lithe, swaying to and fro with every stride, the sorrel mustang with bushy mane and tail, black with sweat as he tears along. A moment. later cattle and vaquero are left behind, as the mail-rider scours away over the hard plain, through a field of stunted wild oats, where the trail stretches onward, straight as an arrow, broad and plain, to the east. Now, with a rapid rhythmic rumble of the earth, as the galloping hoofs strike the hard soil in regular beats, the rider flashes through the field, and dashes up a gentle slope on the other side. On the top of the swell he pauses for a moment at a slow canter, till his horse clears its nostrils with a vigorous snort, then shakes, the bridle, and touches the flank of the steed sharp- ly with the spur. They have come five miles in teen minutes, and the yhorse begins to feel tired, but the rest of the road is down hill, and far away in the distance Dick sees the white walls of the next station, where they are watch- ing for him, with a fresh horse in waiting. nN ee ee ee Away goes the mail-rider, after that touch of the spur, with a magnificent burst of + Wh that covers a mile within two minutes and a half. When the horse begins to slacken his pace, the other spur-gives a sharp reminder, and another mile is covered under its impetus. The mustang, black with sweat a little time before, is now white with foam, and begins to pant heavily. But the station is now too plain in sight to al- low of more mercy. For about a quarter of a mile further Dick allows his steed its own way, till it utters a heavy snort, then he presses in both spurs with a decided dig, and shoots away with renewed speed. . Now he can distinguish the thatched roof of the station and some moving figures. Once more presses in the spurs, and the hard-driven horse gives a grunt of disgust and switches his tail as the pressure compels him to exert him- self more than ever, Away at a long-stretching laboring gallop but almost as fast as ever, every few hundre yards the speed must against time. — Now he can see men and horsvo au the station and even count their numbers, oesides distin- guishing the color of the horses and dresses. ‘‘ Aha,” he says to himself, ‘ths.’ bring out old Gray Eagle very often, but the sid horse is there, every time!” Then he shakes the bridle, stands up in the stirrups to ease the horse, calls. to him coaxing~ ly, and pats his neck. For a few strides the animal freshens up, and then relaxes again. They are now a mile from the station. ‘‘ Come then,” says Dick, as he sitsdown again; ‘‘it’s rough on you, I admit, but business is business, old horse. So sail along now.” Then he plunges in the spurs and keeps them there, while the poor horse, gathering vigor alike from the pain and the sight of the station puts forth all its strength for a last burst, and comes tearing into the station laboring fearful- ly, with Diek’s spurs going at each flank, By saving the animal at first, he had screwed it up to go ten miles in twenty-nine minutes, and and has gained one minute on time! As the reeking horse stops of its own accord at the post, Dick leaps off as light as a boy, for he is yet fresh in the morning. The two station men rush at the exhausted mustang, Strip off the saddle in a moment, and fling it on the back of a dapple gray’ horse, sturdy in frame, who stands ready to go the next stage. ‘** The old gray looks well, Dick,” observes one, ‘* He’s been getting rumbumptious in the stable on his corn, Kicked Judy Magee yesterday, and cut her haunch open. Thar fe is, all ready. Guess he’ll take yer on time,” ‘* Hope so,” says Dick, briefly. Jim.” Jim seizes the left leg that he crooks for the pu ose, and tosses him up into the saddlq ick Darling is as careful of extra exertion for himself as bis horses. . The mail-rider settles himself down, ¢ thes’ up the horse’s reins, gives a chirrup, anc Gray agle starts like a thunderbolt, kicking as he goes and shaking his head. He is known as. tho gamest and most vicious horse on the route. Diek Darling sits loose and easy in his saddle, not attempting to check the horse’s antics. fe knows that from long habit, the brute would go straight, and cares for nothing else. He gather: up the reins a little to keep his head up and stop the kicking, and away goes Gray Eagle like an arrow from a bow toward the mountains. The next station is at the foot of the range. Dick Darling, careering onward at a speed of twenty miles an hour, seems as fresh as when he started, while the sturdy, vigorous horse Reraate him for the first few miles enjoys the work. Mile after mile vanishes, each well within its prescribed limit of three minutes, and still the old horse stretches along, with one ear laid back, the other cocked forward, while he swing his head from side to side in play, Old Gray Eagle ae traversed that track too many times not te ow every step. . Upri bined voniity swaying to the stride, the mailaider sits in his ‘saddle, his eyes roaming over the landscape, vaguely dreaming of pres pe 9 past, and future, for he has almost forgot ten what he is about. And across his brain, as he rides along, comes stronger and clearer the vision of a pair of dary serious eyes and a Madonna face, the vision ' the beautiful nun whom he saw on the rampar® of the Nun’s Mission of Santa Clara., Dae drawing blood, for the same kept up. The mail-rider is racing “Give a leg, i |
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Pate cat nNOS 5! ASYM TORO EEY ; <a CHAPTER VIII. THE CORRALED KENTUCKIAN, “‘Wuat’s the matter with the hosses?” sud- | denly demanded Mr. Grimes, pausing in the act of lighting his pipe after supper, and listening. e stage horses of the * Pioneer” coach which’stood at the feed-box, within ten feet of | the door, were rattling their halter-chains and | uttering uneasy snorts. : Jack Hardin started up and listened at the oor. ** Wait till old Rat-tail speaks,” he whispered, “ll be sure then. I reckon it’s some o’ them thievin’ Utes’ around, but I ain’t sartin—” He was interrupted by the sonorous bray of an old mule that roamed loose about the straw- ard, a sound followed by an angry squealing om all the mustangs there, ‘* Utes, by the ghost of Gineral Jackson,” said Hardin, hastily. ‘Git on yer irons, Bill, and we'll chaw the greasy varmints up in the shak: ing of a yaller dawg’s tail.” As he a atgT he -hurriedly picked up his belt, and buckled it round his waist, an example fol- lowed by Billy Grimes, The two frontiersmen were accustomed to hold the degraded Indians round them in abject contempt, and took no further iowa against surprise than to blow | out the light before sallying out. Then Jack Hardin flung o rushed out into the night, with a cocked revol- ver in each hand, followed by the stage-driver, similarly armed. Bang, bang, bang! went several rifles as they ran out, and Grimes uttered a evy of pain and anger as he felt a bullet tear through the calf of his leg. In a moment more a score of dark forms seemed to spring up from the earth, and come | rushing at the borderers, when a confused and furious fight ensued. The night was bright with stars, but there ‘was no moon, and all aim was necessarily in- | stinctive, as both parties opened with revolvers, two against twenty, ' The flashes of the firearms were incessant, and. shouts, yells, cries, and shots made a perfect | ndemoninm in front of the little hut for near- gee minutes, at the expiration of which time e voice of Jack Hardin was heard roaring: “Run, Billy. They’re too much for‘us. “Into the stockade.” A moment later two dark figures were seen | to break away from the confused group of sav- ages, one of them limping as he went, and-run for the hut. The Indians pursued, but several of their num- ber lay on the ground, and most of their revolvers were empty. The two whites the hut and were rushing in when Crow’s Foot, the real leader of the assault, ran up behind the stage-driver, who was in the rear, and fired the 0 ge of the revolver into the poor fellow’s Bill Grimes fieggered, uttered a wild shriek, and threw up his arms, as he fell forward on his | face over the threshold, jamming the door close | to, behind Hardin, who had just sprung in. This latter circumstance was all that saved the Kentuckian’slife. The door opened outward, and the dead body of Grimes resisted the efforts of the first Indian, who seized the edge of the door-frame to pull it open. The expressman turned as he heard the crash of the door, and seized hold of the great staples aie Spgs the inside bar, pulling with all his might. ut whereas the dead body without helped him to close it below, something above resisted all his efforts, and he heard the dull sound of cracking bones and tearing flesh, es he crushed in the fingers of the Indian who had seized the edge of the door. The savage howled with ye but Jack had | hold the advantage of a good and would soon have managed to bar the door, had not two bul- lets come crashing through the boards, one of them passing through his right side, plowing up the flesh, The next moment Jack eepeee the staple, | after one vigorous wrench with all his weight bounded ,across the hut to the back door, an was into the granary before amy one could eatch him, unfamiliar as they were with the premises. The ary was really the fortress of the t, being a square stone building, some twenty eet high, with thick walls, loop-holed above the | doorway, and built with projections to flank the entrance. Like the Itving hut, the door opened outward. Unlike that, it was made ea ne hd iron plates and secured with a spring lock. e roof of this little fortalice was heavy in frame and covered with thick sheet-iron, purposely to nm the door and | ined the door of | | resist the undisciplined efforts of the very foes | Jack was now fighting against. As the expressman rushed in, followed at a | few feet distance by his yelling enemies, severa! | knives were thrown at him, of which two struck him, one gashing his left shoulder the other his thigh. Wounded as he was, however, he managed to run in, and slam the door to after him, “Thank God!” ejaculated the rough Ken- tuckian, fervently (for the first time for many rears)-as he heard the spring lock catch behind lim. He knew he was safe, for the door was perfectly smooth outside, with no handle, and | the key was hung round his neck. The most . skillful burglar would have been puzzled to get | in, with all his array of tools, and to Indians the place was absolutely impregnable. He heard their yells of disappointment out- side, and the crash of heavy bodies against the door, but the thick plates, resting against the solid stone, did not so much as shake; and the expressman knew that he was quite safe, he was badly hurt. His right arm was power- less; the warm blood was streaming down from | numerous wounds, and he felt faint and dizzy. His first instinct, however, was not for self. | Like a true American, he thought first of his duty, and of the orders about what to doina similar case, left him by ‘‘The Company,” that unknown entity, which represented to Hardin the world of civilization, from which he was temporarily divorced. Swaying dizzily from side to side, he stagger- ed through the pitch dark room, feeling his way to the lantern and match-safe, to strike a light, A moment later, he was clumsily trying to approach the flame to the wick, which seemed to spin round and round in the air, and when at . last he succeeded in lighting it, he fell back on the hard clay floor nearly insensible. Then a thought revived him, ‘The Com- | pany ” had provided a bottle of spirits for just | such emergencies, which stood ‘in a niche by the | lantern, Slowly and dozily he rose on hands and knees, and sueceeded in crawling up to it, uncorking the bottle, and taking a draught. | The effect was immediate. As the fiery liquid flowed down the throat, Hardin seemed to gath- er new strength; and then he stood up without help, and went on with his duty. 1¢ Indians were shouting and yelling at the door, battering it with gun-stocks, and rails | torn from the stockade. Every now and then they would fire a yoy, of bullets at the insen- sible door, which defied their efforts, while they | howled out the most fiendish threats in their broken English against the single man who was inside. Leaning against the wall and pointing up- ward, was a long pipe of sheet-iron, like a stove- pipe; and this the expressman caught hold of, and pointed diagonally upward, out of a hole close under the eaves of the roof. It stuck there, on account of the slope of the orifice; and Hardin ran across the room, and | extracted, from what seemed a bundle of fire- wood, a long, slender stick, bearing at its end a gay-colored cylinder of pasteboard, with a con- ical head. It was nothing more or less than a rocket. A moment later, it was in the tube, lighted, |and soaring aloft in air, scattering crimson | sparks, to announce to the stations far and near | that the Indians were on the war-path. | And then a sudden hush came on the crowd outside. They knew what that signal meant. CHAPTER IX. WHAT THE CLOISTER BEAUTY SEES. Sister FRANCESCA, familiarly known in the nunnery by the various names of Pancha, Pa- chita, and La Chiquita, during her novitiate, had just risen from her knees by the bell-tower of the convent, where she had been praying alone for the last half-hour before sunset. Since she had caught sight of that strange vision of the evening before, which had enticed | her out of the peaceful paradise in which she | had so long rested securely, and given her one | short glimpse of the possibilities of her own na- ture, La Chiquita had been strangely silent and reserved. All the next day she had taken every op- | portunity to steal away from the nuns, and | wander in the convent garden, or pace the bat- tlements, And yet, strange to say, she had not men- ; tioned to any one that she had once allowed her | eyes to wander on the forbidden sex. Not even to old, superannuated Padre Junipero, the con- | vent confessor, had she breathed a word of it, hen it was that he found time to realize that | ; | for it, the little enthusiast went without her Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. | sion, felt guilty though she had been to confession, and the pur- blind old man had sleepily questioned her on the regular round of the ‘‘seven deadly sins,” and hurried her off with an absolution, as a matter of course. Confessing La Chiquita was a mere form to Padre Junipero, for the sins were so ridiculously trivial, and always ran se much in the same track, that the confessor was fain to stifle a yawn, even when he blessed the innocent little novice at absolution. But to-day, La Chiquita, even after confes- She had not told the good padre everything, and especially she had not mentioned that handsome youth, whose eyes had met hers, and whose face and figure floated before her mental vision ever since, as if inde}: ibly imprinted there, coming between her and the crucifix, interfermg with.her prayers, and always galloping, galloping, noiselessly en, with face turned toward her, and bright brown eyes meeting her own. Poor little Francesca felt dreadfully wicked when she found herself dreaming of this young man, even during mass, and to make amends dinner for penance, though her appetite was as hearty as that of any other young girl in ; good health. In the evening, no doubt for further penance, she volunteered to take on herself Sister Aga- tha’s turn of duty, to ring the Angelus, which the old nun, who was. growing rheumatic, was glad to yield to her. , Here she was, then, all alone on the flat roof of the convent, standing by the bell-tower, watching for the sunset, which, as it still want- ed half an hour of the time, was a very merito- rious penance on her part. And then, being all alone on the silent ram- rts, Sister Francesca began to pray earnestly or strength to forget this disturbing vision, which she was sure the devil had sent to draw her from her holy work. La Chiquita prayed and sobbed earnestly, but whether it was the devil, or nature rebelling against unnatural laws, certain it is that she found herself, with- out intending it, praying that the handsome stranger might come that way again, and that she might be the instrument of his conversion to the true church. .And when once she got on that road, it was surprising how the words came, and how earn- estly and heartily she prayed. There was no more vague and wandering thovght, then. She seemed like one inspired, and her face glowed with a bright light, and she pictured mn her rapt prayer what a blessed lot it would be for her. to lead this stray sheep into the true fold, and then to see him safe all the rest of her life. Somehow, she never pictured herself as shut up from him by the convent walls after that convenient conversion. How they were to be near each other, she had but a vague idea, but in her fancy no thought of separation had pla and it was witha bright face and cheerful hea that she rose from her knees by the bell-tower, at last, and looked out over the landscape. Of course she was only looking to see how near sunset it was, and of course she did not want to dazzle her eyes by. looking the sun full in the face. Only eagles do that, and she was a very tender little dove, So she first explored the plain below the con- vent walls with her eyes, to the east, then to the west, gradually working her way up toward the sun, so as not to be dazzled. And thus it befell, that she distinguished, far away from the walls, on the Carson trail, a moving speck, which advanced toward the con- vent at a/rapid pace; and La Chiquita’s eyes gleamed, and again she blushed scarlet, while a smile wreathed her lips in spite of herself, and she whispered softly: ““ Oh, Madre de Dios! el viene!” » (Mother of God! he comes!) Yes, there was no mistaking the regular, rapid bounds of the horse at full speed, tearing to- ward the convent gate. Minutes passed hkea flash to the waiting girl,who stood riveted to the spot, eagerly watching the gallant figure that came sailing along, with a rapid undulating 78. Nearer and nearer comes the horseman, im tht midst of the red flames of sunset, and soon she ean distinguish the neat, erect figure, in its close blue uniform, the black mustang beneath him galloping on, gray with foam, while—oh, how the heart of La Chiquita beats!—the rider’s is unmistakably fixed on the ramparts of the convent, at the foot of the bell-tower. Unconsciously, the warm, impulsive Spanish girl extends her arms, She forgets she isina convent, soon to take the vail; she only feels that some chord in her nature is quivering to her
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weapons his very heart, and falls on her knees, calling, in low tones: “Oh, Dios, lo gquarda! Venga, venga, queri- do!” (Oh, God, guard him! Come, come, be- loved!) Then, as she kneels there by the battlement, watching the approaching horseman, who is so near that she ean distinguish his white face from his hair and clothes, suddenly an expres- sion of deadly terror comes, over her own coun- tenance, at what she next sees and hears, A loud yell rends the air, and at least a score of Indians on horseback suddenly gallop out from the ruins of an old stable, that once be- tonged to the convent, in the days when it was a hacienda, How they got there, how long they had been hidden, La Chiquita could not dream. She only knew that now, just as her cavalier’s features became for the first. time distinguishable, out rushed the mob of galloping savages, and open- 1 a furious fusillade on the young mail-rider. It all passed in a moment, and the next she saw. Dick Darling drop his bridle on his horse’s neck, bend forward to the saddle-bow, plunge in his spurs with a loud yell, then rise again, with a revolver in each hand, while his charger sped forward like an arrow from a bow. The Indians were on him in a moment, and the pistols flashed to and fro in the crimson sun- set, while the spell-bound novice, all aghast, stood as if Fronted to the spot, gazing at the fierce “ixirmish. She saw her hero burst through his foes like a thunderbolt, with the blood spirting’ from a dozen wounds, while the Indians hung round him, like wolves round a wounded buffalo, and still the cruel shots went to and fro, with their spiteful yellow flashes. Now they were right under her very feet, eareerinzg along, and the innocent novice felt a thrill of strange pride, in- the midst of all her terror, as sh» marked, in that supreme moment, the bearing of her hero. Surrounded by pitiless red foes, firing into him from all sides, he neither quailed nor shrunk, but sat up erect in his saddle, firing steadily, and felling foe after foe, regardless of his own wounds. Then, just as the battle passed beneath her, La Chiquita saw the black horsp stumble and roll over, dead, while the savages fired down at the prostrate, horse and rider, and the fallen man fired sternly back, till his last charge was gone. , : Thea she saw him fall back, as a last shot pealed out from above, and the Indians raised a fiendish yell of triumph, La Chiquita covered her face with her hands, for she knew it was all over. She had seen him but twice, and they had killed him before her very eyes. She felt dazed and stupid at the sudden calamity. } She was aroused by a bevy of excited nuns, running screaming up on the battlements, to see what tho dreadful din meant. They found the Indians standing respectfully round the body of the dead man, Tey Cat’s Eye, cowardly and vindictive, was about to reach for his scalp, when! the brutal Crow’s Foot interposed, with an air of unwont- ed dignity. ; cf Raa not the scalp. Let the body lie,” said the Ute chief, simply. “He was a brave man, and never quailed nor shut his eyes when I shot him. Let his body be honored. Come, let us go.” : ? And the Indian chief waved back his party in admiration of the only virtue an Indian re- spects—a courage greater than his own.* CHAPTER X. The JIGNAL AND ITS ANSWER. , Tn. coaneil of Blackfoot chiefs was gathered round its fire in solemn conclave, listening to the story of Chevrette and Levrette. As the girls «described the manner in which they had been persecuted by their Ute admirers, and how the latter had finally attempted to secure them by force, some of the younger chiefs could hard- * That this incident is not extravagant, nor alien to Indian nature, is evidenced by a recent account of as‘cir nish.in Arizona, between a.small party of the T inl U. & cavalry and the Apaches, in which five of t2» former were killed... One of these was a, little bugles, ald of sixteen, who was seen with a spy- gieas, from a fort near b wit.y a atubborn bravery that was not shown by his eomrades. When the rescue party from the fort ar- vived, they found the Apaches gone, the bodies of the d-acoons frightfully and disgustingly mutilated, while che lad’s body was laid out decently, with his ’ beside him, entirely unharm save by shot, a token of respect for his courage. i to be defending himself Dick Darling. ly restrain their indignation by the rigid re- serve of Indian etiquette. There were men in that circle, tall, stron and brave, warriors scarred from a hundre contests, who were willing to lay down their lives for these very girls, and deemed them too good for their own lodges; and the idea of a despised Ute, a creature that usually went on foot and dug roots, daring to aspire to these pets of the Echipeta, angered the proud war- riors beyond endurance, “Let the warriors speak,” said old Eagle | Wing, gravely, ‘‘beginning at the youngest. What says Buffalo Horn?” Buffalo Horn was a young est runner of his tribe. He sprung: to his feet, without waiting for a second invitation, and cried out: “Whose dog is a Ute, that he should bite the hand of a maiden of the Echipeta? We have suffered them too long near our valleys. Let us, take the war-path, and cut off every man of the Utes, till not one remains alive to | boast that he has insulted a maiden of the Echi- peta.” As he spoke, a chorus of approving grunts from the Indians around told that they were in one with the speaker, and Eagle Wing Said: “Tt is well, Let Antelope Eye speak.” Antelope Eye was another young chief, soft and delicate in appearance, and noted for his personal beauty and soft, melas eyes. *‘ Antelope Eye is for war on the Ute dogs,” he said, quietly, ‘‘ and let the war who brings home most scalps lead the Fawn to his lodge.” This proposition was treated with more em- phatie approval than the other, but Eagle Wing found it necessary. to intérpose. ‘‘ My son is too rash,” he said, “The daughters of the stranger are sacred to the chiefs of the Echipe- ta, and must not be taken without their own will. Let the maidens speak. Are they willing to enter the lodge of that chief of the Echipeta who brings home the scalps of their enemies?” For a moment both girls hesitated, and then Levrette answered for both. ‘Turning to her sister, she said in French: “Tt is our fate, sister. Only one of us can marry Dick, The other must go somewhere. Better a brave chief than a coarse white man: Let us promise. We can make the conditions impossible,” To the council she said: “The chief that comes home with the seal of both Cat’s Eye and Crow’s Foot, in his belt, and can show ten scalps of the Utes besides taken in fair fight, may claim either of us tha’ he wishes, and we will enter his lodge and cook game for him. Is it good?” ‘Tt is good,” responded the Medicine chief, gravely, while a hush fell over the assembly at the nature of the feat demanded. ‘ The daugh- ters of the Echipeta can only be won by brave chiefs, They have spoken bie’ and well.” The old chief was gratified at the girl’s address. He knew that two rich and beautiful girls, such as they, were like firebrands amid heaps of chaff, among his impetuous young braves. The sight of a single favored suitor would be likely to raise a dozen disappointed ones, and might even end in causing divisions in the little tribe. Hitherto the two girls had kept carefully aloof from the young men of the tribe, and Eagle Wing had wage hoped that none of them were affected by the stranger’s children, The little speech of Antelope Eye had shown him how mistaken he was, and how the fire was already smoldering in many breasts. The almost impossible nature of the task as- signed for the favored lover, cast a damper on that fire. For any single chief to take twelve scalps out ‘of one party was a matter of almost impossibility, and every one knew it; and old eae Wing rejoiced as he saw the flame of dis- cord promptly quenched. Only a single warri- or of all seemed not cast down by the task. This was a man of medium hight, with very broad shoulders, and a trunk and arms remark- ably muscular, for an Indian. His face and body were covered with scars, and he wore round his neck no less than three collars of the claws of the grizzly bear. His name among the Blackfeet was Bear Killer, and he had the re- utation of being the strongest warrior of his ribe Bear Killer started up, when all the rest were silent. ‘Whose dog is a Ute, thata Kainna should fear to take fifty of his scalps? Bear Killer will Hen ae party and bring back a hundred. See onder! “ As he spoke, he pointed to the southern exit 4 Ae | chief of re- | markably tall stature, and known as the swift- | te ee 7 of the valley, which looked over the foothills that hemmed in the valley of Dolores Station. A little shower of red stars had just burst out in the air, and a moment later, the faint distant report of the bursting rocket came to their ears. Bear Killer had seen it first, and skillfully took advantage of the circumstance, ‘See, men of the Echipeta Kainna,” he cried. “The pale-faces are fighting in the valley, and it is the Ute dogs that are baying them. That is their sign to tell their brothers the foe is om the war-path,.” A moment later, a second rocket shot up inte the air from the station below, and exploded, scattering green and crimson flames all,rouwnd. Bear Killer pointed away down the valley te where the next station was known to stand, Before the stars of the second rocket had vanish- ed, an answering streak shot into the sky, and told that the next station was aroused an pass- ing the alarm, “Let the warriors rouse and follow me,” said Bear Killer. ‘‘ There is no time to be lost.” He was turning away into the night, after his horse, when Eagle Wing spoke, and his deep, grave voice arrested Bear Killer. + ** Hold,” said the old chief, ‘‘ The Kainna are not boys, to run on a trail without knowing what foe tomeet. Let Bear Killer take thirty chiefs, It is enough against the whole Ute nation, The rest will remain to guard the camp. Even a Ute may be brave if he finds none but the squaws and gray~-heads here. I have spoken.” Bear Killer bent his head reverently before the old chief, for all in the camp were accustom- ed to obey his slightest word. He called for volunteers, and selected from those that offered only the strongest and most enduring. Antel Kye, the lithe, handsome young chief with the beautiful face, he was about to reject, but the young warrior was so urgent in his entreaties that the older one finally consented. ‘** But beware of lagging,” he said, sternly. “Twill be along trail and a blind one, and many eyes will be closing for weariness, ere we come back,” Antelope Eye smiled a proud smile, but he said nothing. Young braves are always modest in word, till they have taken a few scalps. While the Blackfeet were discussing the pre- liminaries for their raid, rocket after rocket, to the number of six, went up from Dolores Sta- tion; and Bear Killer hurried them off. It did not take long for the Echifeta warriors to prepare. Inside of five minutes from the time r Killer announced the names of the volunteers, thirty chiefs, each with a rifle at his back, a of revolvers in his sash, and carry- ing in his hand a long lance, sat on their t- ted chargers at one side of the fire, pest ps orders. Chevrette and Levrette, armed like the rest, and equally well-mounted, took their posts in ee of the center of the line, behind Bear iller. No one remonstrated, for it was an understood thing in the tribe that the girls did as they peat but many a young chief’s heart beat igher as he saw the object of his secret adora- the perils of the expedition, and knew that the girls would be with them. Bear Killer gave the signal, and away they went in single-file down the valley toward Do- lores Station. When they reached the pass that overhung the valley, a bright crimson glare arrested their attention, and told the story plainer than words, Dolores. Station was afire, corral, sheds and all, The little stone granary alone stood up, black and ominous, amid the glare of the burn- ing fences, and not a trace of Fema beings was visible. With one accord the Blackfoot warriors gal- lo boldly down the steep mountain-side, to aM ne trail before the light of the fires had van- The marauders had escaped with all the horses. ‘CHAPTER XT. JACK HARDIN’S HOT-AIR BATH. At the appearance of the first rocket that had shot up from Dolores Station, there was a dead silence among the crowd of Utes that: surround- ed it, -They realized its meaning without any teaching. They had seen it before. Then, as with one consent, they set to work to do all the damage they could béfore decamping. The mustangs in the corral, and the rs horses, were hastily got together, then the and posts of the corral an stockade, with the shattered aragianniee of furniture from the hu and the y broken up pioneer coach, were piled in a heap before the door of the granary, and set on fire. tion sharin
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quickly spread. The paint and varnish on the eoach helped to make it fiercer, and the wind, fanning the fire, soon made the heat unbearable outside, within a stone’s throw. Then the Utes, with a parting yell, galloped off down the valley, on their way to assassinate the mail-rider, an attempt which we have seen so nearly successful, While they wore lighting and piling the fire, Jack Hardin, within, had not been idle. By the assistance of the whisky-flask, ho was inspired with factitious streneth, under the influence of whieh ‘he dragged out three more rockets, one after another, and sent them whizzing up into the air through the directing-tube, to scatter their warning sparks through fhe night. When he heard the galloping horses of the Utes and their farewell yells, the rough station- master shook his clenched fist vindictively after them and muttered: ‘Ah; ye infernal brutes, ye may run, but ef I don’t get even with ye yet, I ain’t Kentuck.” Then he set to work, with the coolness of an old . frontiersman, to wash and bind up his wounds, which were numerous) but luckily not deep. Grazed he had been by several bullets, two ar- rows stuck in the fleshy part of his left arm, two knife wounds were in his back; but he seemed as tough as ever, as he deliberately broke off the arrow-shafts, drew them out of the flesh, and bound strips of old bags tightly around them to egnfine the bleeding. He had already drank nearly half a pint of whisky, which had no effect save to clear his Dry as matches as was the fuel, the flame | took a head, and when he had finished attending to his | wounds, he applied himself once more to the flask, and took a long and hearty swig. The effect was-immediate. He stood up and walked round, as strong as ever, to all seeming. And then it was that he first began to be sen- sible of an increasing heat in the small and con- fined granary, as the fire, which had been wasting its heat outside, began to attack the center of the pile. Through the narrow loop- holes, under the eaves, the bright tongues of 6 began to dart; and had the roof been made of wood, the whole edifice would soon have been a mass of flame. The heavy iron door began to glow with heat, and a dull red tinge, swiftly becoming brighter | every moment, told that the intense heat of the dry wood in roaring flame was begining to make itself felt. The interior of the granary, five minutes later, was like an oven in full blast, and the iron door was nearly white hot. The tough station-master, fainting and nearly suffocated with the heated air, sunk gasping on the ground, and began to believe that his time was come, His fall saved his life, for the earthen floor, still cool and damp, revived him, and he became aware that the builders of this granary, careless and hgsty workmen, had built it in a most im- perfect manner, The walls had settled, leaving eracks and chinks in the mortar, and in one lace a hole, large enough to thrust a hand into, fad been formed close to the ground, from which a cold stream of air was pouring’toward the fire. With a muttered thanksgiving, the station- master crawled toward the hole, and breathed in long draughts of that cool air, which he had never, till then, fully apvreciated. Meantime the heat above him became, if pos- sible, flercer than before, and a new danger re- vealed itself to his remembrance. The hay-bales and grain-sacks were all un covered, and at an glowing doorway might set them on fire. sides thi bundle of mained. As Hardin thought of the ees'of a fire inside, the col Be- not six feet from his head, lay the rockets, at least a dozen of which re- ssible consequen- sweat burst out lugged away the rockets to the sponte corner, dsome grain-sacks, while he) pulled down a wagon-tilt over the hay-bales, on the side next the door, Hardly had he done so, when he heard the sound of voices outside, the tramping of horses, and became sensible that some one was calling him in loud tones. * Blackbeard! Blackbeard! Where are you?” The voice was the voice of a woman, and he i It was the voice of Levrette Ledoux. Jack Hardin tried to answer, but, to his sur- , he could not make himself audible. His t seemed to be parched and dry, and re- fused to form a sound louder than a whisper. instinctively, he rushed to the water- which stood by the flask of strong liquor, an minute the heat of the | back. ‘*Here, here! fire!” He had hardly spoken, when there was a cry of joy outside, and he heard a confusion of voices, while the sound of hissing steam and de- creasing heat, showed that his friends, whoever they were, had obeyed the injunction. The corral contained a little pool of water, and Levrette and the Echipeta warriors were For God’s sake put. out the | busily engaged in casting its contents on the fire | by the blanketful. Two warriors would seize a blanket by the corners, dip it rapidly into the water, scooping up several gallous in the-sag- ging depression, then, running a few steps, cast a shower over the fire? The closely-woven, felt- like, Mackinaw blankets, worn by the warriors, were almost water-proof, and fifteen blankets, going simultaneously and incessantly, soon pro- duced a marvelous effect, Inside of three minutes the last vestige of fire was extinguished; and the iron door, cracked from top to bottom, exhibited the powers of sudden contraction in a striking de- gree. ” Sack Hardin, inside, felt the heat decreasing, while the fire was being extinguished, and at last heard his friends knocking at the iron door. 6 he pulled out the key, and tried the lock, A fresh discovery awaited him there. The heat had so bent and warped the wards of the patent lock, that it refused to turn, and he found himself a prisoner in his own fortress, For = moment he was aghast at the discovery. In another he fenichgbebedt that “‘the Company ” had provided another means of .egress, in an iron tadder in the corner of the room, which led to a trap door in the roof. Calling out this intelligence through a chink in the door, he climbed the ladder, emerged from the trap, and stood once more in the open air. Looking down into the faint gloom of the starlit night, he was astonished and horrified to perceive that his deliverers, as he had fancied them, were nothing less than a fresh band of Indians. - No sooner had he made the discovery than he dived into the trap-door once more, ex- pecting the whiz of a bullet past his head as he did so. But none came, and after a silent pause he heard the voice of Levrette calling out: ** Blackbeard! Blackbeard! Where are you? Here are your friends that have come to save you, and you will not look out to see us. These are no Utes, but warriors of the Echipeta, come to help you and punish Cat’s Eye.” Hardin cautiously protruded his head. *“* All very pooty, Miss Levrette, but haow am I to tell that? Injuns is \Injuns, and Injuns is ‘isen. No offense to you, but hyar I’m safe. teide I don’t know haow long my skulp and me mout keep company, and I /vallys my ha’r jess as much as yeou, miss.” CHAPTER XII. THE RED TRAILERS. LEYRETTE nttered an impatient laugh of vex- ation. ** Fool,” she cried, angrily, ‘‘do you su we should have come here to put out this fire, when we might have helped to burn you up, if we had any need of your scalp? here is my Darling? Tell me that, ani you may stay here, for all we care. Tell us, where is our Darling?” . a “Waal,” returned Mr. Hardin, with exem- lary caution, ‘‘ he mout be hyar, and he mout thar. That’s how itis, Miss Levrette.” ** I know he’s on the Carson trail,” cried Che- vrette, impatiently interrupting ‘her sister. “We saw him ride off this morning! What we + want to know is, how far off is he now, when from every pore. Hastily he started up, and does he come back, and are the Utes likely to meet him? Tell us that.” ““No, ye don’t, missy,” he said, shrewdly. ‘“* Betwixt you and me, I ain’t on the pump biz to-night. You know how it is, yourself.” “In short,” said Levrette, fiercely, “you re- fuse to tell us?” ‘* You bet,” responded Hardin, laconically. “Then his bl be on your head, if we fail to find him, fool,” said the girl, vindictively. “The Utes have gone toward Carson, on his trail, and if they catch him before we get up, you lose your yecriacinin each - saying, she turned angrily away, an a to her train in the short, Bteuval lackfoot tongue; for not one among t had understood the colloquy that was going on in English. Ox hearing her words, the Blackfoot chiefs uttered a sarcastic, taunting sound, between a laugh and a yell, in chorus, and turned away their horses. Then, as they galloped away on the Carson trail in single file, each chief con- temptuously blew his nose at the granary, in token of his disgust at the white man’s pusil lanimity. Jack Hesain took it very coolly. ““Snivel away, ye darned old painted var mints,” he muttered. ‘Safe keep, safe find, ’s an old sons and one skulp’s wuth a dozen bald heads. Ef you think Jack Hardin’s gwine ter trust a Blackfoot, arter he’s jest nigh killed by them Utes, you kin jest take it out in thinkin’, Hyar I stay, till the sogers comes, or the cump’ny sends on help, The hosses air gone, an I ain’t gwine to ride no posts till I’m relieved, hyar.” And the station-master carefully secured the trap-door, and made a safe descent into the fo1- tress, where he made his bed, lighted a pipe, and sat down for a solitary smoke, before turning in. “Poor Billy Grimes,” he soliloquized, ‘“‘ wiped out by a durned Digger Injun. You and Til never hey another draw together.” And these few regretful words constituted the only epitaph ever received by poor Bill Grimes. eantime the Blackfoot warriors rode rapid: ly down the valley along the Carson trail, fo!- lowing, ina manner that none but Irdiaus could have attempted at such a pace, and in such a light, the tracks of the drove of stolen horses and the marauding Utes. There seemed to be no hesitation c. embar- rassment on the part of a single warrior, as they followed the lead of a slender young chief who rode in the advance, crouched on his horse’s neck and carefully watching the ground alcad in the faint starlight. And who was this young chief whom all fol- lowed so cheerfully? It was no other than Antelope Eye, the young warrior noted for the beauty-of his large melt- ing eyes, which were also remarkable for their singular powers of seeing in the dark. The only other Indian in those parts known to possess this power was Cat’s Eye, the Ute, and between him, the hoary old reprokete, and the young and elegant Antelope Eye, a mcrtal hate, the deeper because it was hidden Ly Lcth, existed. Some years before, when the young Blackfcot was only a ek ef of sixteen, Cat’s Eye hid met him, when out hunting, all alone. The savage Ute, being the strongest, had also taken the lad by surprise, stolen his game and weapons, with the assistance of two other Utes, taken away his horses, one of which was Icaded with game, and turned the lad out, stark naked, without so much as a knife, a hundred miles from his own camp. - ; He had only refrained from killing him for fear of the Blackfoot vengeance that was dread- ed by all the neighboring tribes. : Antelope Eye reached home after terrible suf- ferings, nearly dead, and from that mcment bad never spokena word to his tribe of the means by which he had been brought to sucha fass. His mortification was keener than his pains. But from that moment he had deyoted Limself to acquiring the knowledge of a warrior in every manner, and especially had become the most ex - pert tracker and hunter in his tribe, always cautious, never eee trusting any one outside of his tribe. All his earnings in the chase had been devoted to the purchase of arms, ammuni- tion, and horses; all his spare time wasypent in secret e itions among the mountains, with what object, even his tribe knew not. One thing was certain, that Antelope Eye pos- sessed the finest horses and the best weapens in the tribe, and that the product of the chase way not at all sufficient to account for bis riches, Had any one taken the trouble to watch kim, they might have found the recret, in the trans- fer of certain little yellow lumps, horght {rem remote. valleys, to the Indian treders at the forts, and that those nuggets were {cund by An- telope Eye. ; But Indians are not prone to watch their own friends, and entertain too much contempt for gold, as a general rule, to care to preserve it. So Antelope. Eye, in his silent ‘self;coutained manner, had*been preparing for his first war- th and his vengeance; and the solitary glens that witnessed his secret preparations witnessed also the fruits of such a long patient practice in marksmanship as an Indian rarely Ser ie and which was yet to elevate the silent lad in- to a renowned. / All night 1 alo brea Dieta ress \ y.
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7 a stl a a Tye early dawn found them nearly forty miles ay.ay, with the track of shod horses at a gallop still before them. ‘They had passed several stations, all lighted up, with horses safely housed behind stockades, doors barred, and rifles ready to welcome an attuck. To all these they had given a wide berth, for, from their experience of Hardin’s suspicious character, they anticipated trouble; and Eagle Wing’s policy was one of undeviat- ing peace and non-interference with the whites, pol.cy which had borne the happiest fruits, so ar Now that the morning was come, Antelope Kye sat up straight, and glanced around him as he rode along. He expected evidently a diver- gence from the beaten track. Nor was he mistaken. That apparently mys- terious quality, which renders an Indian track- er’s judgment so unerring, is in reality merely the exercise of a keen faculty of comparison, knowledge of the country and of the habits of the game followed, be it man or beast, white or red, The detective ina city, who follows up a criminal, a a exactly similar qualities in a different field. Antelope Eye knew that his party was but a few miles behind the Utes, and that the latter were certain to deviate from the track in day- light, in order to escape observation from the Pony Express Stations. He judged that they would follow the Carson trail, in general di- rection, from what he had heard said by Levrette and Chevrette, about Darling. Antelope Eye, with his other hidden accomplishments, under- stood considerable English and some French, though he never spoke either. His semi-civil- ized friends the half-breed girls, had assisted him in that, unknown to themselves; and in listening to them he had acquired a new tongue. Little thought either of the burning and con- suming passion, that, was hidden under the placid exterior of the handsome young chief, on whom they looked as almost a boy with good- natured indifference. Suddenly, at the very moment the sun rose, Antelope Eye waved his hand to the right, swerved from the, path, still at a gallop, and followed without hesitation a narrow but plain- ly marked track of shod horses, going at a gal- lop, which led off up a side gorge into the moun- tains. An hour later he called a halt. The trail eaded in a deep narrow mountain stream, and not a vestige of tracks appeared on the other side, Bear Killer ordered the warriors to dismount and feed their horses. Antelope Kye started up- stream, on foot, Levrette and Chevrette follow-- ed its course downward, and both were looking for tracks, Ten minutes later, the sharp war-whistle of the young chief pointed them up-stream, The trail was found again. CHAPTER XIII. COL. SAM JONES IN THE SADDLE. In front of the ruins of Dolores Station, by daylight the morning after the assault, a party of some forty rough bearded miners and moun- tain-men, armed to the teeth with rifles, revol- vers and knives, were gathered in groups about their horses, discussing the situation, in frontier style; while on the roof of the little stone gran- ary, all that was left of the station buildings, Mr. Jack Hardin was seated, pipe in mouth, conversing with the relief party, and awaiting the construction of a rough ladder, to release him from his imprisonment. , Had thestation-master been sound and whole, this help would not have been needed. Had the door opened inward, it might also have been broken down, As it was, it became necessary first, to. hélp down the wounded man, and then to introduce a strong party to break out’ the door, which defied all efforts from outside, not offering space to inseft even a wedge. Around the blackened walls of thg.adobe hut, several corpses Were scattered, four of them be- ing Utes, in ragged U. §, uniforms, the fifth that of the unfortunate stage-driver. Poor Grimes’s body had been fearfully mutilated, according to the ‘barbarous practice of the Western indians. The scalp was body was stuck full of arrows, stripped, and treated with every conceivable Gaateuity. No wonder, that in the faces of the rough , gathered Yound, could. be seen a look of grim ferocity, such as boded ill) to any In- dians that might cross their path, Such out- en are unhappily still common in the West, nc mind be, as Pai a6 the irreconcilable antag- onism between i "aces 18 not put down by the strong hand of the higher law of the a gone, the Dick Darling. 9 general Government, To tell half the truth would cause us all to blush for human nature. * Jack Hardin had just finished his account of the attack, while his. friends below were lashing together the rounds of their rude lad- der, when the leader of the relief party in- quired: ** And how is it that we find the. fire out, and the brands pulled away from the door, Hardin, if they rode away as you say, leaving you to | burn. up?’ The speaker was Colonel Sam Jones, super- | intendent of the line, aman of old border ex- perience, ‘* Waal, cunnel,” said the Kentuckian, slow- ly, ‘°twar Injuns as put out that fire, Pil not den ” “Tndians! What Indians? Utes?’ “Waal, no, cunnel, ’twar Blackfeet.” ‘* Speak out, man, what you mean, Are there Blackfeet round here?” ‘Dunno fur sartin, cunnel. ’Twar them pisen Utes as stampeded the stock and killed oor Billy, and I reckon ’twar Cat’s Eye’s band. Val, arter I tetched off the skyoodles, they ca- vorted around a right smart chance, and then put, on the Carson trail. Tl allow i war e’en- a’most gone, when I heern voices outside, and a couple o’ gals war a-screechin’ fur me, Waal, ter make a long story short, I hollered to’em to put aout the fire, fur God’s sake; and fust thing I know’d, slump come the water, and that ’ar’ door cracked open, fur it war nearly white-hot.” ‘Well, well,” said the superintendent, impa- tiently ; X ret through. How did you find that your friends were Blackfoot Indians?” ‘** Seen ’em,” replied the station-master, com- posedly. ‘‘ You don’t s’pose I kurn’t tell a Ute from a Blackfoot, cunnel? 'Twar some of Eagle Wing’s band, in the mountings, yonner, and there war two gals, as pretitiy as picters, a-ridin’ thar at thar head. But you bet the painted cusses couldn’t fool me, cunnel. They tried their darndest to git into the station, by pre- tendin’ to be my friends, but Jack Hardin ain’t no chicken, you bet.” ‘Did they fire at you?’ demanded Jones, curtly. ‘“No; cunnel, I'll not say they did. The gals talked sweet, and tried to purtend as they was friends, axin’ whar war Dick Darling, as war out on the trail, and oughter be back ter-night, ef the p’isen imps don’t snatch him bald-headed. But they couldn’t git no news aout of me, ’baout | Dick, you bet.” **Oh, stop your infernal blowing, Hardin,” cried the superintendent, in the rough, sharp way he had acquired. in controlling such char- acters as the bragging station-master, ‘‘ What did the Blackfeet do at last?” “The rid off, cunnel,” said Hardin, promptly. “Very good. Now you’re talking. Did they fire at you before leaving?” ‘**Nary shot.” ‘“ Where were you?” ‘*Spyin’ aout of the scuttle-hole.” ‘*Could they see you?” ** Guess so, cunnel,” nape they didn’t treat you so badly, after all, ** Didn’t say they did.” : 3 ‘““Umph. Did they say anything in leaving?” ‘“Nary word, cunnel.” ‘*Did they seem angry?” “Waal, cunnel, that ar’s a difficult question.” “Aha! You're hiding something from me, then.” ‘*Nary hide, cunnel—but—” /“ But what? Out with it!” ‘* Waal, cunnel, they war guilty of a wery onsivil breach of tittikit, I reckon they calls it, afore leavin’.” ‘* A what?” “A breach o’ tittidit, cunnel,® said the Ken- tuckian, with a nd air. ‘“What the devil are you talking about, Hace asked Jones, half-mystified, half-amus- ‘A breach o’ tittiquit, cunnel. What the Frenchers calls a. foo paw,” The superintendent stared at the station-mas- ter a moment in amazement, then, as a light a in on him, he smiled grimly at the mis- e. “Drop dictionary, Jack. What was this breach of etiquette? ‘Waal, cunnel, ez they rid away, eh one of the painted galoots took hold of his snoot, and damied et they didn’t snivel at me, as ef the thunk I war a han’kercher or a barroom towel; and darp thur painted hides, ef I don’t spit in the face of the next red imp I meets, cuss me for a skunk!” | said Jones, coldly. a eo Mr. Hardin delivéred this last sentiment with considerable heat. He had been deeply stung. by the contemptuous manner of the Blackfeet, and the superintendent could hardly help laugh~ ing in his face. . “Never mind, Jack,” he said, consolingly. “Your scalp’s safe, anyway. Don’t be in tow much of a hurry to offend Eagle Wing’s band. They are dangerous. fellows, and may not be on the war-path against us, possibly.” “Darn the difference, cunnel,” said the sta- tion-master, shrewdly. ‘‘ A Injun buck on the , war-trail ain’t apt to stick at trifles. You keep | your eyes skinned ef you meet the cusses, that’s all I say. One skulp’s wuth a dozen bald heads any day, old hoss,” ‘**Keep your advice to yourself, my friend,” y. ‘I’ve not required it yet, that I know of. . Is that ladder reac Y there?’ It was; and a few moments later Hardin was. released from his solitary perch, while a party, of men entered the building through the scuttle- hole, with crowbars and blacksmith’s tools, with. which from the inside, they very soon forced the door open. Then, while the wounded Kentuckian was pence’ in an ambulance and carried away to: alt. Lake City, the rapid, energetic Jones put: the station in order once more, with a prompt- ness and celerity which .were the Genni secrets of his success’ in managing ‘‘ The Company’s” affairs on the Pony Route. Twenty men were ‘left to repair the stockade, and form the nucleus of a newstation; horses: were tempoygrily secured for the. in-coming rider, who was expected from Salt Lake; an the superintendent, with his formidable party of twenty more, galloped off to the next’station, to ascertain how far the raid had spread, and what damage was done. Colonel Sam Jones was not the man to let the grassgrow under his feet, or he would not have been General Superintendent U.S. Pony Express. Inside of an hour from the time when Hardin was: released, the superintendent was at Guadalupe station, next on the route. He found every thing snug, the horses in their stockaded stable while the station-keeper and mail-rider were om guard with loaded rifles, expecting attacks mo- mentarily, | They had onl two bands of In- dians pee in the night, and had been unmolested by either. ; The superintendent, leaving the rest of his es cort to follow at more leisure, took with him only six men, as many as the ‘station could mount, and determined to ride post from station to station, so as to overtake any Indians that might be on the trail, by constant change ot horses, At ‘an hour before noon, he started on the Pony Route, CHAPTER XIV. RED AND WHITE FRIENDS, THE young moon was hanging in the faint luster of her first quarter, over the sharp ridges of the sierra, and lighting up the levely vicinage of the convent of Santa ae on the. same night on which the young mail-rider was am- bushed, when the thunder of galloping hoofs was heard in the distance, and a band of plumed horsemen, bearing long lances, came riding up from the aaburare. At their head galloped two chiefs, one talland slender, and resembling a spirit more than a man, for he was appareled in white from sole to crown, and his charger was snow-white. The other was short, broad and sturdy, with glitter- ing medals flashing on his naked breast in the moonlight. He eat a powerful charger, spot- ted like a jaguar. Behind the two chiefs came two girls on spot- ted horses, and fourteen couples of plumed war- riors followed in double file, As they neared the convent, ata signal from Antelope Eye the Echipeta warriors fell into « walk; and thie young chief, throwing his brite to Bear Killer, leaped off his horse, and ran for- ward, half bending over, to inspect the trail more closely. Right opposite the gate, he suddenly halted threw ok hands in warning, and remaincc as if rooted to the spot, while the band, at the signal, remained stationary. 6 was a strong proof of the youth’s marvel ous skill as a tracker, that such an old and experienced warrior as Bear Killer should have allowed him to head the party solong. It was Bear Killer who now came up, on foot, and de-~ manded: ‘* What does my son see, that he calls us?” The boy chief pointed to the ground. f The blood of dogs,” he said. In the faint light of the moon, a dark pateh
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———+~~ 10 Beadle’s Half-Diaie Library. ‘was visible where the und was torn Up, the yellow dust clotted and stained with the black pool of dried gore, and all.the marks of a con- test could be seen, ‘The dead have been here,” said Bear Killer, ‘sententiously. ‘‘ Where are they, and who?” A ptrong expression of disgust crossed the’ handsome features of the lad, as he said: “*Utes! They are cowards, skunks, They have not even carried them off.” Beckoning to Bear Killer, he advanced to the silent convent walls. A. deep broad moat surrounded them, and a heavy draw-bridge was raised, to protect the entrance, but no light shone from any opening in the long lofty wall. The convent was silent ‘as the grave. Antelope Kye pointed into the dark moat where a ray of moonshine had penetrated, round anangle of the wall. . There lay the carcasses of two horses, already bloated by the heat, and sticking, legs up. By carefull human ed, Antelope Eye went to his horse, and took from the saddle-bow a hair lasso, which he silently handed to Bear Killer. Assisted by the powerful veteran, the lad de- scended into the moat, and made a long and areful examination. When he ascended, his face was grave. ‘They fought one of the white riders that «carry the little black bags,” he said. ‘ They slew his horse, and here are the bags from the saddle, Ho himself is, gone into the convent, ‘Three Utes are dead, © was a brave warrior, ‘to kill so many.” Bear Killer took the mail-bags, and examined them curiously. His face was thoughtful. Like Eagle Wing, he knew the importance of keep- ing peace with the whites, and realized that his own band was in danger of being accused of | participation in this outrage, ile he was thoughtfully examining the bags, in doubt what to do, the tramp of horses at full was heard from the eastward, and a few minutes later, Colonel Sam Jones, with his six riders, came tearing down toward the convent, at a tremendous pace. The superintendent checked his speed and halted, the instant he saw the band of mounted indians. He knew that his fresh horses were able ‘to distance animals that had come the dis- tance for which he had trailed the Blackfeet, ings, Indians ell, could be distinguish- explorin the eavern, three bodies of | The superintendent thrust back his revolver into his holster, half-ashamed of himself, when he saw with whom lie was to meet, and ad- vanced, extending both Echipeta salutation: “* How-ne-tuck-a?’ (How do you do?) Tt was the greater part of his Blackfoot vo- eabulary. Two soft palms met his in a frank clasp, and | the sweet, rich voices answered together: “* Neet-ahk-se.” (Very well, thank you.) Then Mademoiselle Levrette broke into a sil- very laugh, and observed: ‘*To judge from your attempts, colonel, I should imagine that we might better pursue our conversation in your own tongue, unless you prefer French, so that your men may not un- derstand,” Colonel Sam stared in amazement, ejaculat- ing: Wileavens and earth, ladies! who are you, and what are doing here?” ‘*T am Levrette Ledoux, a chief of the Echi- ta Kainna,” saidthe girl, ina tone of pride. ‘You need not wonder, colonel. Even Indians are sometimes civilized, and we were both edu- cated at the Sacre Coeur of Montreal. What do you seek here?” " ‘*T seek one of: my mail-riders, Dick Darling,” said Jones, without further disguise. ‘‘I fear the worst for the poor lad. If he was'on time, I should have met hini, two stations back, but they have not heard of him, and I know that Cat’s Eye’s band is out on the war-path. ~The brutes burnt Dolores Station last night.” ~ **T know it,” said Levrette, gravely. ‘ We are out after them, and trying to save him, but your fool of a station-master would not tell us when he was expected back, so we have been hunting in vain, till now.. I fear that Darling is killed.” ‘* What makes you think so, madam?” “Tf you will trust yourself with us to ex- amine the convent! moat,” said Levrette, ‘‘ we will show you what we have found. Otherwise, we will go on the trail of the Utes again, and trust to your honor to report Eagle Wing’s band as friendly to the whites.” Colonel Sam threw aside all suspicion, say- ing: ®T will trust you, madam. Lead on,” CHAPTER XV. THE YOUNG WARRIOR'S PROMISE. TH Superintendent of the Pony Express was hands, and using the | ‘safe that side. cavalry bugle, wherewith the colonel was fond of amusing himself, and the latter blew a lively reveille before the door of the convent, It was repeated twice, with loud variations, before any notice was taken, At last a window opened above the portcullis, and a shrill, queru: lous voice demanded: f “Quien Uama, caballeros, quien lama?" (Who calls, gentlemen, who calls?) ‘“« Americans, men of the mail-carrier’s route," answered the superintendent, in Spanish. ‘‘On¢ of our men has been killed before your door, and we want to know where you have hidden him,’ ‘Go away, senores, in the name of God,” said the shrill voice. “This is a house of prayer, where no men are allowed to enter, and we not tell you. If the poor man who was kille belongs to your people, rest content. He is in holy hands and will receive Christian burial. Buenos noches.” Then came a sharp slam to the window, as Sister Agatha shivered her way back to bed grumbling at the ‘‘ malditos ereticos,” who had aroused her from her slumber. Colonel Sam Jones uttered, it must be owned, some language by no means complimentary to the old nun, as he growled: “You may keep your old convent, granny. I don’t want it. Bat where the devil are my mail-bags? That’s what I want.” ‘We found them on poor Darling’s saddle,” said Chevrette Ledoux. ‘‘ Bear Killer will give them to you.” It was a great relief to Colonel Sam to find his mail-matter safe. A dead rider might. be re- placed. Stolen mail-matter the Company was responsible for, Eagerly he clutched the bags and inspected the s by the light of the bull’s- eye. ney were intact. Obviously the Indians had not thought it worth while to go through them. With an air of relief he observed: : ‘* Come, boys, we’ve no time to lose. Poor Darling’s been wiped out, and the convent peo- le will bury him. As for us, we must ride on, Tih Morrison, take Darling’s mail back to Hi- The track’s dalgo Station, and carry it on. We You others come along. must clear the way to Carson.” As he spoke, he turned away to his horse and mounted. Chevrette’s voice, in deep, rich tones of indig- nation, demanded: “And do you mean tosay, Mr. Superintend- but Colonel Sam Jones was too cautious to trust | a man of stout nerves, but he was fain to shud- | ent, that you are going to leave the body of himself within reach of such a formidable party. | der slightly, as he inspected, in company with | poor Darling to buried or left by these the grave, dignified Blackfoot warriors, the | strangers?” He and his men rai 3 aloof, revolver in hand, while the superintendent opened a parley with the strangers, in the Ute tongue, for Colonel Sam Jones was an old mountain-man, as well as a college Sracnste, and had become acquainted with most Indian dialects. ; **Who are you, and what are you doing?” he shouted, It was Bear Killer who waved back his men, stalked out alone on foot, and answered proudly: *<Echipeta Kainna. o Ute. The Utes are skunks and toads,” ¢ superintendent was a little puzzled. His ol@ mountain apres had not taught bim much of the B oot dialect, which is en- rath different from that of the other prairie 3, Beyond the name, and a few phrases, he was enfant, but as he peniecabered Hardin’s ac- count, he began to suspect that the band before proofs of the barbarous murder that had been done on the mail-rider. There were many strange circumstances re- vealed by the light of the lantern which one of Jones’s party quickly produced, a small bull’s- eye, aoc as the pony expressman usually carried at night. Under its powerful light, Antelope Eye made several discoveries, which he yee out to the girls, who translated his words to the superin- tendent, quite unconscious that the young chief unders every word. Then a strange state of facts was developed. The mail-rider’s body was gone, and the three Ute bodies were scalped. When the superintendent saw this, he at first jumped to the conclusion that some whites had rescued Darling and killed or driven off his enemies. The young Indian’s keen intelligence Colonel Sam shrugged his shoulders. ‘“Mademoiselle, the affairs of our Paper eg can not come to a halt for a single death. have my duty to perform, which is to restore our northern route to running order, and Ican’t spare any more time. Many thanksfor your help. Jim Morrison, did you hear my orders}? Away, sir.” The mail-rider addressed bad been strapping the bags on behind and in front of his saddle, and now he touched his hat, and started off on the back trail. i Colonel Sam Jones removed his hat, and bowed with the utmost politeness to Levrette and her sister, then to the Blackfoot chiefs, A moment later, with only five followers, he was off at full speed on the Carsén trail, to re- establish order on his beloved route. The Blackfeet, who had been grimly ‘silent him was possibly composed of friends, and that | and merciless logic quickly showed him a differ- | during the presence of the whites, now began it might be wise to show confidence in them, by | ent state of things. to discuss their future pitas By the fact of meeting their chief half-way. “See,” said Antelope Eye, animatedly, “the | their horses being corn fed, while they carrieda He walked his horse forward a few steps, and | three Utes were killed with single shots, and no | day’s ration of corn behind the saddle, they had again hailed in Ute: : ‘* Let one chief meet me, and talk, if it is Pere had hardl kk hen Antelope E e ha rdly en, when Antelope Eye touched Bear Tethers ars m “Let the squaw chiefs go,” he whispered. “They can make peace for us. The pale-faces will not touch squaws,” Bear Killer nodded, and spoke to the girls, who eagerly agreed to explain the case to the , white leader. Accordingly, Levrette and Chev- rette turned their horses, and rode toward the superintendent, who met them close under the cover of his men’s pistols, Colonel Sam_ looked suspicious at the fact of more than one Indian commg to meet him, but his suspicions were dissipated by two facts. , he saw, at their near approach, that both were women, Second, the rest of the Blackfeet dismounted from their horses, and grouped themselves some little way together, off, as if to convince him that they meant no arrows stick in them. Indians would have shot them full of arrows. The white man killed them, He must have fought bard, under the walls of the big*woman’s lodge, and the black squaws have taken him in, to bury him. See the broad trail of the Utes, away from here. They went at a walk, for their Horses are tired, and drag their feet in the dust. No one been here since, or there would be tracks. The Utes are skunks and cowards, without heart. They are coyotes that eat theiriown brethren. They dare not take a man’s scalp, so they have taken the scalps of their own dead, after the whith man shot them, and thrown the bodies in the ditch.” ‘* But, where then is the white man’s body?” asked Jones, wonderingly. ‘Surely, they must have scalped him, too,” “The white man is in there,” said Antelope Eye, confidently, pointing to the silent convent. ‘We'll soon See about that,” said the colonel, briskly. ‘‘Give me that bugle, Jim Morrison. The man addressed handed his leader a small kept them in comparatively condition, so far, and the superior blood and breeding of the animals themselves promised to bring them up with the stolen chargers: of the Utes, before long. What the course of the latter would be, the easily surmised—a wide and sweeping circu and then a return home, so as to give time for any pursuit to tire itself out. Judging from this well known tendency of all Indians to come back on their own trail in 4 circle, and noticing that the Utes’ trail tooka curve to the south at the very gate of the con vent, Bear Killer led his troop off to the south- east, through the mountains, It was the first time he bad undertaken the direction of the party, which he had hitherto trusted to the keen sight of Antelope rr A Striking off through passes well known to the Echipeta warriors, plunging into deep canons, and yr along narrow and precipitous | ) they found themselves at sawed ee up among the upper passes of the Sierra, soon
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= pt - Dick Darling. ——— descried ths object of their search, a file of men in the far distant valley of Reese river, slowly and dejectedl7 trooping along to the south. Antelope Eye, who was riding near Bear Killer, noticed thern first, when they were at least four or five miles off, and dimly visible as specks on the green surface of the valley. He uttered a low hiss like that of a snake, the well- known warning of caution, and instantly halt- ed. Under the guidance of Bear Killer, the Black- foot warriors receded in haste behind their horses, and made the animals-lie down, to di- minish the chances of being seen by their foes, who, however, had their backs turned to them as they went. Then an animated discussion ensued between the chiefs as to the proper procedure, It was terminated by Antelope Eye, who suddenly de- veloped a determination and power of oratory for which no one had ever given him credit. In a short, animated speech, he pledged him- seif, if the warrigrs would but fo low his guid- ance, to bring them to a spot where he would asia the Utes into their hands, like rabbits in a net. “Tf a sigle Ute scalp escapes without our leave,” he declared, ‘‘I will give my own scalp, the scalp of a chief of the Echipeta, to dry in the lodge of a root-digger. I only ask you to follow me this time, for I know where they are going; and I have more wrongs to avenge than any here,” hen he ended with an account of the indig- nities he had suffered from Cat’s Eye and the Utes, and demanded prone to go first, single-handed, and fight his foes, to avenge those indignities. With one accord the warriors assented to the request, and told him to lead on. The remark- able thing was, that the Echipeta seemed to fear only that their enemies might slip away from them, by some means. Of the impru- dence of allowing a single warrior to fight a whole band, as Antelope Eye proposed, they had no thought. For the Utes, single, they entertained a profound contempt. That very contempt it was, that made them so ferocious- ly anxious, lest a single one should escape to tell that he had insulted a maiden of the Echi- peta. As the Utes disappeared round a spur of the mountains, Aniclope Eye led his party down a lonely pass into the heart of the Sierra. . CHAPTER XVI. . THE HUMAN CORRAL, Cat’s Ey and Crow’s Foot, as perfect a pair of villains as the Great West, has often seen, were riding slowly south from the nunnery of Santa Clara, talking over the death of their “ate enemy, Dick Darling, and discussing their future prospects, the next morning after their murderous onslaught. “The young riding chief died like a man,” observed Crow’s Foot, gravely, ‘‘ but how are we to get the squaws? The man at the station has roused the country and the soldiers will be after us, with the guns that shoot all day.” Cat’s Eye shook his head thoughtfully, Like his friend, he was beginning to realize that one may py too dear for a whistle. 4 We ought to have kepe the squaws while we had them,” he observed. “The Echipeta are great warriors, and they too may be soon on our track.” 4 “The Echipeta are dogs,” said Crow’s Foot, savagely. ‘*Wecan fight them, but the guns that shoot twice who can stand inst?” He referred to the mountain howitzers used by the troops, whose shells were always an ob- ject of great dread to the Indians, : ** Let my brother listen,” said Cat’s Eye, cun- ningly. ‘'The soldiers cannot march as fast as we, and the Echipeta, if on our trail, may be near us now. Letus turn aside to the mountains and hide there, They will follow our trail, and ‘we can ambush and slay them like,buffaloes,” Crow’s Foot was not loth to assent to the wis- dom of the counsel. The horses of the part were completely exhausted, having been rid- den for over seventy miles inside of twenty-four hours, and it became evident that a pursuit must take them at a fearful disadvantage. \ _ They were now far out of the track of emi- grants, and entering on that wild and unknown stretch of country in south-east Nevada, still unexplored and unknown to the whites. Against any pursuit from these they were cetararatevele: bite. from their knowledge of the country, but the likelihood of their being + tala by the Blackfeet was a different mat- ) Hitherto, they had lived at peace with their —_— fe grim neighbors, fearing them too much to pro- voke a collision, but an insult bad been offered to the tribe which they had reason to fear | might provoke retaliation. Their party only numbered fifteen men all told, for they had lost seven warriors killed, in the contest at Do- lores Station and before the convent. Three of those present were slightly wounded, and they were in ill condition for a battle with un- known forces. Under these circumstances, at Cat’s Eye’s suggestion, the raiders turned aside out of the valley they were pursuing, the source of one of the tributuries of the Reese river, and entered one of the numérous canons that intersect that range of mountains. The canon led them winding deviously along | through the heart of the range for six or seven miles, the ed broken-down horses plodding along, with heads down, only partially invig- orated by an occasional swallow of water. Tt then opened into a wide amphitheater, carpeted with luxuriant green grass, surrounded with perpendicular precipices, and from’ which the only exit was on the opposite side, where the | canon continued, narrower than before, to the source of its stream. Into this sheltered paradise entered the fifteen grim, ferocious-looking brutes who followed Cat’s Eye and Crow’s Foot, and then for the first time began to show symptoms of mercy to their horses. With one accord they dismounted, and turned the pede creatures loose, to feed or rest, as they might prefer. With hardly an exception, the weary brutes threw themselves down on the soft, rich grass, utterly broken down, and not for several min- utes did they muster strength to eat as they lay. But the mustang blood is too stanch and en- | during to, give way thus forever, Before ten minutes had passed, first one, then another, hav- ing plucked away most of the sweet grass round his head, began to roll. Then two rose simul- taneously, shook themselves, and began to graze with avidity; and before long, all of the mus- tangs were up and feeding. The coach-horses, large, fine-looking animals, with more bone and substance than the largest mustang, were not so easily restored. Only one of them seemed able to feed, lying down, and the. rest gave every symptom of an early death, as they lay groaning and’ panting on the ound, erThe raiders themselves were dinnerless and hungry. They had seized no food on their hur- ried journey, and were sufficiently forlorn, It was whee they were clustered together in the midst of the little valley, gloomily debating the advisability of killing a horse for food, that the sharp war-cry of the Echipeta suddenly rung through the air. Instead of ambushing the Blackfeet, they found the tables turned on themselves, as thirty Echipeta warriors, on foot, rushed into the arena from the narrow canon beyond, and charged across to the other entrance, without firing a shot. Fifteen remained to guard each exit, and before the scattered Utes could come together and make ready for defense, they were at the mercy of twice their number of warriors, any one of whom was more than a match for their best fighter, ~ : Then a dead silence fell on all the amphithea- ter, for the Utes did not dare to begin a fight which could have but one issue. They clustered together, dogged and sullen, grasping their er to sell their lives dearly, but unwilling to in. Cat’s Eye was the only coward among them, He was livid with terror, and shook from head to foot, for he felt that his race was run. It was in the midst of this silent pause that a slight movement occurred among the Blackfeet at the upper end of the valley. Four mounted figures rode out from behind the line and rode boldly and tranquilly forward to the front of the entrapped Utes. Cat’s Eye uttered a groan of dismay, and his bowels seemed to give way, as he recognized, in front, the two girls whom he had but lately in- | sulted, and on one side Bear Killer, the great war-chief of the Echipeta. The slender, boyish figure on the other sing he recognized instantly. It was Antelope Eye, whom he had robbed and turned out to starve, seven years before. | The only thing that gave him hope was, that the lad did not seem to know him, and that his | handsome young face wore an expression of | mildness that was positively seraphic. But if Antelope five looked gentle, Bear Kill- | er was as grim as a statue of cruelty, and rette and Levrette wore an expression of tri- umphant scorn that boded ill for the Utes. _ pooses, fit to hang up behind a'door an Chev- | ‘men, li So, dogs of root-diggers, skunks of the brushwood,” commenced Levrette, in that free and elegant style affected by her and her sister, ‘* the maidens of the Echipeta are to enter the lodges of such as you, are they# Where were the ears of your warriors, that you could not hear the Echipeta horse-hoofs on your trailf We do not crawl, like snakes. here were | your eyes, that ye could not see the Echipeta trail when it crossed yours, or see our scouts watch ye safe into the valley? Go, you are dogs, skunks, not even squaws in war. squaw of the Echipeta would hide her head in shame ta be counted such warriors as you. Ye jare pap d suc at a& squaw’s breast, to learn wisdom, Go!” To all her taunts not a man in the group an- swered a word, Only Cat’s Eye shrunk down behind Crow’s Foot and tried to hide himself, which Chevrette observed, and took her turn at railing, in true squaw style. No one would have ever dreamed that these two young ladies had once been inmates of the Sacre Coeur con- vent, at Montreal, and received what. is known as a civilized education. The polish was pretty well rubbed off by their wild desert life, and for the nonce they were thorougbred Indians. See the cowardly Ute slinking behind hi; brother, like a coyote hiding in the hole of 4 prairie-dog!” cried the girl, shrilly. ‘‘Dogand coward, come out and fall on your knees for mercy, or your heart shall be cut into small pieces and fed to the buzzards.” Trailing like a wounded serpent, in abject submission, the dastardly Ute crawled from the group and flung himself on his face at the feet of Ohavnaticletitcas: He was completely over- come with terror. The girl pointed at him contemptuously with her whip, and addressed Crow’s Foot in his turn: ‘* You, too, dog! You who were not satisfied with one, but must have two maidens of the Hebipets in your lodge, grovel in the mud and ask for pardon,” It was evident that she calculated on the force that surrounded her to enforce her mandates, In Crow’s Foot she found a different foe. Her words seemed to sting the slugglish Ute to the quick. He uttered a foul epithet in the Ute tongue, dealt Cat’s Eye a furious kick as he lay, and shouted: **Never! Take that, sow of the Echipeta!” And he flung his knife at her, Then, raisin his cocked pistol, he fired full at Bear Killer’s broad breast. CHAPTER XVII. THE BOY CHIEF'S EXPLOIT, Tue Blackfoot chief was not unprepared for such a maneuver. He had his cocked pistol in hand, for he had hardly expected that such an unconditional and absolute surrender as that of Cat’s Eye would be general. When Crow’s Foot fired, the Echipeta chief was in the act of spurring his horse on him with leveled wea- on, x The Ute was just three seconds the quickest, and his bullet struck 'Bear-Killer in the center of the breast, bringing him down in a moment, dropped from his horse like a stone, while his botet pepinded harmlessly, The next moment, the hitherto placid and | Neon autelins Kye suddenly became trans- ormed into a living thunderbolt, Before the sound of Crow’s Fost's shot had ceased, the young chief, with a revolver in each hand, was standing on the ground in front of his horse, and firing into the aroused Utes, In allusion to his hitherto bloodless record, he wore a white hunting-shirt and leggings, his hair was covered with white clay, and his face was painted white, while his horse was white as snow. With his first shot he felled Crow’s Foot, pierced through the heart, and the next mo- ment the remaining thirteen Utes were firing at him, madly and confusedly. Like a rock stood Antelope Eye, a pistol in each hand, and his shots mated: out with a regularity and pitiless accuracy that were acpi ye ‘ Then were first revealed the fruits of that pa- tient training which the Bsn chief had so long secretly undergone. It had developed, out of a sight abnormally keen, and stoic nerves, a a mbagiath as reliable as a machine, whose every shot told, and whose roving glance de- tected, at each shot, which was the man to kil! Twelve shots ed forth in as man seconds, and when Antelope Eye cast the still smoking wea at the heads of the two remaining @ ground was covered with dead bodi and he was still unwounded. ‘With a fierce ye of triumph, the young chief snatched from his } -
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Beadle’s Half-Dime irdle a third revolver, and covered his remain- | foes, ut he needed not to shoot. With a howl of superstitious dismay, both dropped on their knees, holding up their hands | for mercy, and Antelope Eye disdainfully beckoned them forward, with his cocked pistol, /Then, for the first time, he withdrew his foot from where it had been planted during the fight, on the neck of the prostrate dastard, Cat’s | ye. The whole thing was over in a quarter of a minute. One instant was seen a group of sullen, defiant Utes, doggedly grasping their weapons, then eame a sudden movement, a succession of red flashes and sharp reports, men falling like nine- ins; a silence; and a white figure standing in ont of a group of horses, motioning forward two abject, crawling Indians to his feet. Levrette and Chevrette sat on their jhorses, gazing at Antelope Eye, in silent wonder and awe-stricken admiration. rior of his tribe. Single-handed, he had slain twelve men, and conquered three more. The Blackfeet at the end of the valley, while ey amazed, were equally silent. Only Bear iller, the tough old warrior, who had just staggered to his feet in spite of his fearful wound, uttered a faint cry of triumph. It wasin the midst of a deep silence, that An- telope Eye motioned to the two cowards to drop their pistols, which they did. ‘Draw your knives,’ the slain, and bring me the scalps here.’ With humble alacrity, but shuddering all over, the unhappy wretches complied with the | grim ,order, and delivered their tale of scalps to the implacable Nemesis, developed in the beauti- boy. Without a word, Antelope Kye shot them both down at his feet when their task was done, and then gave a disdainful kick to the prostrate Cat’s Eye. * “Up, dog of a Ute,” he said, scornfully. “Scalp your. brothers, and Jay all the scalps at my feet, tied in a bundle.” Quivering from ‘head to foot, the dastard /Dbeyed, and was confronted by the awful fury that now at last began to work in the features of the boy chief. ' “Ha, Dog, Skunk, Toad of the Utes!” hissed Antelope Eye. ‘Crawling reptile of the sage- brush! do you remember me now? When three Ute braves found one boy of the Hchipetas, they stole on him in his sleep, robbed him, and | turned him out naked on the prairie, in the | snow, to die. But he found his way home, trap- d rabbits with the hairs of his head, to feed im on the way, and swore vengeance on you and your accursed tribe. hey are gone, but you live, and shall live, till you pray for death, swine and tdad of an unclean mother!” As he spoke, he spit on the degraded chief, and turned away. Picking up the bundle of Ute scalps, Antelo Sye’s manner changed in an instant, ashe spoke softly and proudly to Levrette: “The task is done, scalps, of fourteen Utes, and claims his reward, The maidens will enter the lodge of the young- ast chief of the Echipeta.” . Levrette bowed her head low. ‘The choj¢e remains with the chief,” she said. “The maidens of the Echipeta will keep their word, for Antelope Eye is a great chief.’ Here a deep, guttural voice broke in on the colloquy. Itwas that of Bear Killer, who stood close by, bearing with the wonderful physical fortitude and strength of an Indian, a wound that would have left,a white man helplessly groaning on his back. ‘*No longer Antelope Eye,” said the veteran, avely. ‘‘Myson is no morea boy. He has ees a man among men. From henceforth the tribe shall: know only Wau-skeen-ska— White: Thunder, the chief; for he was white as the mountain snow, and deadly as the thunder of Wahcondah.” And as White Thunder the young chief was known from that moment, rot only in his own tribe, but among all his neighbors. White Thunder it was, who turned disdain- fully away once more to the kneeling Ute, crouched humbly at his feet, his eyes imploring- ty fixed on the young chief, while his quivering lips begged for Saag “Strip off your clothes, coward,” said White Thunder, sternly. ‘‘A coyote should not wear the hide of a warrior. Strip.” Without venturing on an expostulation, the abject Ute complied with the order, throwing down his clothes with servile haste. The quiet, graceful | boy had become, at a bound, the greatest war- | he said, sternly, “‘sealp | A warrior offers the | Library. | oned to the Blackfeet at the other end of the | | valley. A number of them ran forward, obey- ing his gesture as if he had been their head war- chief. His recent wonderful exploit had im- pressed them with such admiration, that, for the time, White Thunder was omnipotent. Under his orders, the wounded Bear Killer was placed upon a litter, hastily constructed of lances and blankets, and carried slowly away to the exit. of the valley, to undertake the home journey. Then the remaining chiefs mounted their horses, and for the first time the degraded Ute, |/ Cat's Eye, was brought into public notice. There he stood, or rather crouched, a little way | off, stripped to the skin, and evidently dreading the worst, from the ominous silence preserved | ? about him, up to that time. said to the chiefs: ‘“Behold the dog that stole on a bo Echipetas in his sleep with three dogs like him- | self, stripped him naked and turned him out. A | warrior dies by steel and bullet. A dog is lash- ed to death. 1 have said.” It needed no further hint, The Blackfeet. like all Indians, carry short, buffalo-hide whips, with a pointed thong that cuts like a knife. At the words of White Thun- der, they uttered a hee of mingled scorn and fierce delight, and galloped down on the unhap- | py wretch, Cat’s Eye knew what was coming. Goaded to desperation, he turned and fled like a deer to the upper entrance of the valley, hoping to reach it before pursuit could arrest him. Behind him scoured the Echipeta, yelling like a pack of hounds, and soon came up with him. Then the cruel sport commenced, as’one chief, measuring his distance with pitiless accuracy, caught the flying Ute with the end of his lash taking a small piece of flesh out of his back, anc giving way to another who repeated the opera- | tion. They did not attempt to intercept his | flight, but before he reached the narrow can- | on, he had received twenty-five such lashes, under each of which he howled piteously like a whipped dog, and his back and thighs were cov- | Lk : | to the suddenness arid rapidity of the short con- ered with blood. The torture, however, seemed only to lend him additional strength, for he managed to gain the canon at last, where only asingle horseman could follow him, and up its | rocky bed he darted in uaste, where the proud | chiefs disdained to follow him. Laughing scornfully at his cowardice, they rode mcrae back to where White Thunder calm- | ly awaited them, and took up their return march to camp. CHAPTER XVIII. PATIENT AND NURSE. In a large, dimly-lighted room, deliciously cool in contrast with the hot, suffocating glare of the sun outside, lay stretched on a couch, the form of a young man, his face pinched, pale and | haggard, a beard of a month’s growth on his | chin, his long hair in pangied curls spread over the pillow. e lay there, hardly seeming alive, | as he had lain ever. since the hot delirium an | fever of his wounds had subsided, three days | before. ‘ | Few would have recognized in that sallow, haggard face the once dashing, handsome young | mail-rider, who had been left for dead at the | gates of the convent of Santa Clara, a month since, | The nuns had hurried cut when the Indians | were ay and picked him up. under the direc- tion of old Padre Junipero, They had brought | him into the infirmary, thinking him dead, and hing ga to lay him out and give him Christian urial, It was only when he was covered with the sheet, that the little novice, Francesca, who had been remarkably quiet and pale, never uttering a word during the whole scene, stole to his side, ae ree uttered a loud shriek. the nuns were amazed. Noone had ever known the child to exhibit excitement before. Usually, she was remarkably quiet and placid. At her cry they all came running back, and were amazed when told by. her, panting and trembling with excitement, that the youns cav- alier was alive. She could hear his heart beat. Old Padre Junipero was appealed to, as the medical authority of the convent, and he, after a long and careful examination, pronounced that Chiquita was right, The youth was received, alive, but, from the wounds he h could not probably live more than another hour or two | Hut here again La Chiquita amazed her White Thunder pointed at the shivering cow- | | ard, such a rare exception to his stoic race, and | of the | oe RT Se da ae A ee YS ee | eee a eee White Thunder sprung on his horse, and beck- friends. She actually had the courage to tel Padre Junipero to his face that he didn’t know what he was talking about, ‘‘How can you, father, when you have not examined him? His clothes are all clotted with ‘ blood, but you have not seen his wounds. He must not die. He shall not die! Wl nurse him. Quick, cut off his clothes, and wash these wounds. You ought to be ashamed to let a fel- low Christian perish before your eyes.” And La Chiquita, trembling with excitement, and somewhat resembling an. enraged dove, stamped her little foot and began to ery. Padre Junipero looked as much aghast, as & shepherd might if a small lamb were suddenly to butt him in the stomach. He looked confused, but at once busied him- self to restore the insensible youth, The older nuns; most of whom had been mothers in their time, and had taken the vail in old: widowhood, hustled La Chiquita away, to her amazement, for the child was absolutely and entirely innocent as to the reason of their con- duct, and then cut off the clothes of the poor wounded lad, and washed away the blood with great gentleness, while Padre Junipero examin- ed the wounds, We have said that the old priest 1s the medi- cal authority of the convent, but in fact his knowledge was of the slightest, and chiefly con- fined to such simple remedies as he had picked up during a long mission life among the Indians, from their old medicine-men. In treating the injured man, he probably did the best that could have been done, which was to bind up his wounds, pour some spirits down. his throat, and leave him to nature for recovery. The wounds that Dick Darling had received were many and severe, but there was one cit- cumstance in his favor, that no bullets had | lodged. F:cm the short distance at which they had been fired, every one had gone entirely | through limb or body. Only one had penetrated the body, and that one was in the right breast; there were holes through each arm, and one ‘through the left | thigh, besides at least a dozen gashes, where | bullets had plowed up the flesh in various parts. Cut and hacked to pieces, as he was to all seeming, no vital part had been touched, owing test, at the full speed of wallop horses, The mail-rider had succumbed to loss of blood and the shock of so many bullets striking him, and there seemed to be but little chance of life, for him, so completely exhausted was he. The fiery aguardiente, or brandy, which was poured down his throat, was the first thing to revive him, Under its influence he choked and opened his eyes, and tried to speak, -— The old priest gently bid him lie still, and the r fellow, after one wondering glance at the nuns, closed his eyes again. From that moment he was watched over by priest and nuns alike, with the most kindly soli- citude, and as day after day went by, and he still lived, even Padre Junipero began to enter- tain hopes of his ultimate recovery. As for La Chiquita, the child, from that first moment in which she had found his heart beat- ing, seemed to be quite confident and content, When every face was gloomy, she insisted on watching at his bedside, giving him the sou and brandy that were s awly. administered, from time to time, by spoonfuls, and so lit- erally keeping him alive from day to day, The old nuns, who were growing lazier and more selfish than the enthusiastic novice, were quite. willing to resign the post to her. She was not yet a professed nun, and had six months of her novitiate to go through. Moreover, Fran- cesca was the daughter oh rich haciendado, who had lately died, leaving her an immense fortune, and to get that fortune for the convent of Santa Clara, it was necessary to. make the Senorita Francesca de Ribera into a nun, which could only be done by keeping her in good tem- r. P Hitherto the little girl had been an enthusi- astic devotee, longing for the. day to come on which she should’ take the vail. made the convent disagreeable to her, there was no telling how soon she might leave them; for they were well aware that her family, and es- pecially her brother, who owned half the haci- enda, were by no means anxious to see their reine property clutched by any religious Bata Chiquita found herself, by common con sent, installed as head nurse over the poor wounded mail-driver. ty J wearer that lei Nag map trea! danger to her an © fact. ntrary e oan. romantic notions on the subject, a man desperately wound- If the nuns |
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> ll I iO —— ee es 7 ~lyh a= ed is not a pleasant patient, and as time goes on, becomes positively offensive to delicate nerves, Poor Diek Darling, haggard and unshorn, with prominent cheek-bones and glaring eyes, amid a forest of frowsy, tangled hair, was very differ- ent from the Dick Darling who rode out, trim and handsome from Dolores Station. As his nu- merous wounds began to suppurate in that sul- try climate, the odor became very sickening, and altogether, while an object of the greatest pity, there was nothing attractive or in any way romantic about him. Here he had been, lingering between life and death, for a full month, when at last the fever and delirium subsided, and he lay there, as we found him at the beginning of our chapter, inexpressibly weak, but on the road to recoy- ery. and beside him, in the cool, dark infirmary, with her white hood drawn forward over her face, but watching the sleeper furtively, while a entle smile of ineffable content wreathed her ips, sat La Chiquita, telling her beads slowly. Dick Darling suddenly opened his eyes, and they met hers. ; ‘““Who are you?” he asked, faintly, “and wat is this place?” CHAPTER XIX. AN IDYL. ; La Curguita turned on her patient with a se- vere and magisterial air. She did not under- stand a word be said, os apres being her only tongue, but she conceived that he was question- ing her. She put her finger on her lip, and said, with an assumption of authority that was very ludicrous in one so childishly beautiful; “ Bs menester que tu no hables chico.” (You must not speak, little one.) ; Dick Darling stared in wonder, and a faint smile crossed his lips, ; ’ Tt was the first return to absolute sense, since his wounds. Like all Californians, he under- stood some Spanish, and more than most of them. It was with a very humble air that he said; “ Ah, senorita, quiere usted me decir en donde yo soy? No hablara mas, st yo lo supie- ra.” (Ah, miss, will you tell me where lam? I would not talk any more, if I knew it.) La Chiquita smiled, but held up her finger re- rovingly-. PN Vout ate in the convent of Santa Clara, among friends,’ You were hurt before our gates, and have been very ill. Iam Sister Francesca, your nurse; and you must be very obedient, or shall go away and leave you, for Padre Juni- ‘pero says you must not talk. Now lie still. I am going to give you some food, you poor child, and then you must go to sleep.” ; It was interesting to note the commanding and motherly air with which the little novice addressed her patient. To see her repair to the little soup-saucepan which was simmering in a corner of the rooin over a little lamp, pour some into a basin and approach the patient, was a wonderful sight in itself. : With her brow puckered in a_ thoughtful frown, and her rosy lips compressed in an ex- peeetion of anxious importance, she proceeded administer the said soup to the wounded man with scrupulous care. When a drop ran down his chin she scolded him gently for his carelessness, and abashed the poor youth so that he choked over the next mouthful, and a spasm of pain seized him. Then the severe little nurse dropped her o nity and became dreadfully frightened, Dick ceased to gasp, for breath and lay back, exhausted, when she began to cheer him up ae more, and pet him as if he was a little child, : At last, with an innocent unconsciousness that showed that she must have frequently done it before, she softly dropped a kiss on his forehead, and told to go to sleep or she would leave him. Dick obeyed orders with marvelous docility. It is surprising how much more influence is exerted by a beautiful nurse than an ugly one. He lay i k'and fell ere that he was wane in the shady bowers of Para- dise, and that a bevy of angels surrounded him and carried him off, of which every one wore the serious Madonna face of Francesca de bera. ; When Dick woke again it was quite dark. the room was chilly, a small night light burn near the bed, and he felt shiv and decided- In the great wicker chair by the bed sata figure, bowed over and hunched very erent from the slender figure of in its white robes. Dick Darling. Dick lay staring at it for a. few minutes, in doubt whether it were not merely a change of dream, He perceived the wrinkled face of a fat old woman encircled by a white bandage like that of a corpse, while the rest of her body | was enveloped in somber black.. The old nun | had fallen asleep with her nose on her breast and was snoring and wheezing away in peaceful | unconsciousness. The young man stirred and tried to raise himself, finding, in the operation, that he was absolutely unable to turn in bed. He was free from pain while he lay still, but when he moved either arm he was sensible that he was | more or less damaged—how, he had quite for- gotten. The past seemed but adream to him, | since he left Carson on his return trip. He had a faint memory of a confused Indian fight, and | that was all. Now, however, the discomfort of his position, for he was weak and cold and hungry, made him irritable. He began to call out as loud as he could, which was little above a whisper, and the of@ nun suddenly gave a start and snort of affright and woke up. Once awake she soon made him comfortable, for, like all old nuns, she was a trained nurse. She threw a soft warm+cotton quilt over the bed to warm him, fed him skillfully with soup, and talked to him all the while in the comfort- ing, motherly strain that good nurses assume to their weak patients. Dick, at first inclined to be sulky about his change of nurses, soon became reconciled to the change, ate a hearty supper of thick soup, and slept like a top, till next noon, when he woke, refreshed and voracious. To his inexpressible satisfaction, Sister Fran- cesca was there by his bedside; and when he awoke, she bent over and kissed him again, just as innocently as if he was.a child, while she talked to him in the same low, soothing man- ner as the old nun, which in such a, young girl had something imexpressibly and funnily CRASS Dick Darling, it must be confessed, took un- fair advantage of his position as a patient that morning. He put on airs, and made himself out worse than he was. The real fact was, that he felt quite free from pain, clear in head, and very hungry. He was able to move his arms, though not to turn his body. ‘He pretended that he needed raising up, his pillows arranged, etc., etc., that he might have the pleasure of feeling the soft arms of the little novice round him. He was so much reduced in weight that she had no difficulty in moving him. Then he demanded to sit up and be propped up with illows while he took his breakfast, and kept ister Francesca waiting patiently, spoon in hand, for at least twenty minutes, while he slowly enjoyed the meal that he pretended to be unable to swallow. At last he grew ashamed of himself for his tyranny, and when the little novice came to lay him down again he caught hold of her white hand and kissed it fervently, saying: ‘*God bless you, Sister Francesca. You are an angel.” The little novice blushed ever so slightly, but she smiled with an air of calm protection, as she said: “You must not excite yourself, child, or Padre Junipero will scold. Now you must go to sleep.” But Dick suddenly became rebellious and demurred. He wanted to talk and ask some ogee He was growing nervous, he said. e could not sleep. He would not sleep. He felt the fever coming on. She must talk and tell him how he came there, or he might grow worse, Little Sister Francesca, yielding by nature, was frightened into a quick compliance.. Her patient had already discovered that he was the master there, and, man-like, used the power. The little novice did not know her own heart yet. The handsome cavalier that had caused it, to flutter, a month before, had disappeared, as it were, swallowed up in the past, as if he never been. The r d patient before her a quite a distinet being, to whom she felt a sort of motherly protecting love, that seemed to her perfectly innocent and commendable. Insensibly to herself, she fell into a long con- versation with Dick,-wherein he lay quiet, ask- gm occasional question, while she talked on, in her low sweet tones of voice, telling him how she saw the terrible fight before the convent walls, and how bravely the cavalier fought, ere he was shot down. She described it, as if he had been another person, for she evidently forgotten that the man lay beside her, and her face glowed with a enthusiasm as she told of the battle. Then, when she came to tell of his sufferings, and how she first found that he was alive, her eyes filled with tears, and insensibly she found herself holding Dick’s hand and petting it softly, asshe ee Sag the long struggle between life and death. When Padre Junipero looked into the sick room one hot afternoon about six weeks later on his medical visit, what should he see but his innocent little novice La Chiquita, sitting beside his patient’s couch in a most endearing attitude, cooing away like a dove to her mate, while the American lay back on his pillo' with his hollow eyes gleaming with light, and a soft happy smile irradiating his face. It was a clear case of love. ‘*AneM! |” said Padre Junipero, as he looked | at them. CHAPTER XxX. THE SIRENS. WHEN Padre Junipero uttered that vigorous eR La Chiquita/started violently, and look- ed up. Then, as she caught the severe glance of the old priest, she suddenly tyrned deep crimson, and covered her face with her hands, trembling from head to foot. Her eyes were opened at last. As for Dick Darling, he turned round on the priest with very different feelings, Ten weeks’ repose and the best of food had made a great change in the wounded man. LEarly that morn- ing, Dick had risen from his couch alone and un- assisted, when Sister Agatha, whose turn it was to watch, was snoring in her chair. He had made several discoveries when he came to stand; first, that his arms and other flesh wounds were almost well; second, that the hole in his right breast was filled up; third, that although he was very weak, he could walk. without any trouble, It was in the full pga of these discoveries that he had returned to his couch, determined to make an effort to get out, for he was tired of his imprisonment among the old nuns, It was only when.Sister Francesca came, as she always did about an hour before noon, to assume her post, that Dick began to reconsider his determimation. After all, there were worse itions than being petted by a little nun with he face of a Madonna. : And so, somehow, their conversation that morning had gradually taken a confidential character, as the young mail-rider began to ask questions about convent life, and the novice had told him of her determination to take the vail at the end of the year. And then Dick had implored her not to do it, for his sake, and had begun to coax her, though still without daring to declare the love that really burned in his breast, ’ And La Chiquita, still innocent of what she was coming to, had admitted that of late, the convent duties had begun to be irksome to her, and that her brother Gonzalo did not want her to be a nun; and finally, won by Dick’s entreat- tes, she consénted to think over leaving the con- vent, and returning to the world, while the mail-rider, who, as we have diséovered, was a perros of considerable refinement and education, or all his ey calling, pictured to her how hap Seay should be, after his trips, to be able to visit her at her hacienda near Santa Barbara. It was while describing the future to each other in glowing colors, though still without any word of love or marriage, that Padre Tunipero came in and found La Chiquita orien: away, while she patted and rife with Dick’s listless hand, in a manner that had become habitual with her, when petting her patient. But the old priest’s ‘‘ AHEM!!!” opened thé eyes of the lovers in’ a moment. While La iquita quivered with shame and confusion, Dick turned fiercely upon Padre Junipero, ‘Tt is usual for gentlemen to knock at the door when they enter a sick-room,” he said. ‘ You have frightened the lady and me, father.” ‘Be content, my son,” said the priest, dryly. ‘This is no longer a sick-room, I find. ou are growing well, perhaps too well. Pachita, m child, you will come to confession at three th afternoon. Meantime, you can send Sister Agatha here,” Dick rose up in bed. ““Stay_ here, senorita,” he said, firmly. ‘“ Padre Junipero has no right ‘to control you, ~ you have just promised me not to take the va. : “Oh, no, no, Ricardo, I did not quite prom - ise,” murmured La Chiquita, brokenly, while Padre Junipero opened his eyes very wide:
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14 uite’ well and as firm and determined as ever. e suddenly gathered the little novice to his heart and confronted the amazed priest with glowing eyes, “Padre Juniperd,” he said, boldly, “ you see she loves me and I love her. You can not’ have this novice for a nun, for she is to be my wife. That is the reason, is it not, Pachita?”’ Pachita made no ansver. She did not even atir. of Dick, and thought of facing the old nuns, the poor little thing was completely overcome with a rush of conflicting emotions, shame, terror and a deep sense of guilt, in consequence of feel- ing a certain thrill of joy, that she was certain she ought not to feel. What with all these, and feeling that the eye of Padre Junipero was fixed on her, lying thus 4n the arms of a man, without struggling, poor Pachita fainted dead away in Dick’s arms. Dick did not know this, for the novice’s face was hid in his breast, and he felt that her silence implied consent. He turned his language to English, which the priest spoke well. “You see, father,” he said, “she loves me. You may as well give up, and marry us, Her family will help her,out of this, if they won't let her marry an American. Come, which is best, to lose her to them or to me?” “To them, undoubtedly, senor,” said the priest, st ‘Your proposition. to me is base, or you would speak it, so as to let Pachita com- prehend.” Dick gathered Pachita closer to his breast with a careless hug. ‘‘Don’t you worry, father, about her. She knows as well as I that her family won’t let her marry me willingly. At the same time, once married, they can not separate us, and if you perform the ceremony, you will be our friend, and earn our gratitude.” Padre Junipero hesit#ted. Like all priests of whatever denomination, he had a keen eye for the dollars, and Dick’s words implied a hand- some reward. While he was thus musing over the question, he turned abruptly away to the window and looked absently out, on t landscape, outside. Something he saw there, under the convent walls, disturbed his thoughts. In front’ of the gateway, and looking up at the window, were two women, of magnificent brunette beauty, with long, satin-like tresses of black hair, gathered together on the back of the head, and falling in showers behind. The two women were gorgeously dressed in the style of Indian warriors on the war-path, wearing leg- gings of velveteen loaded down with gold lace, Frhtle their necks, arms and bosoms were load- ed with necklaces, medals, chains, bracelets, and every other sort of ornament, in a marvelously picturesque mingling of civilized and savage adornnment, Each girl wore the head-dress, only worn by the highest chiefs of the Echipeta and Upsaro- ka tribe, composed of a crest of feathers at least two feet high, on the head of a tiger-cat, the whole fastened to the hair and blending with it, gradually sloping off and falling nearly to the ground behind, The priest was so much amazed at these wo- men warriors, who sat on their spotted charg- ers, bristling with revolvers, and looking straight at him, that he was compelled to mumble a pa- cernoster to himself before he could get his sen- ses fully. There the two beautiful, wicked-looking crea- tures sat, like leopards of the forest, lithe, beau- tiful and dangerous, looking straight at Padre Junipero. Then one of them put up her finger and beck- oned to the padre, with a soft smile that was irresistibly captivating. , ve Padre Junipero crossed himself piously, and repeated the invocation against evil spirits. He had seen Indians and squaws.by hundreds, dirty degraded creatures, whose appearance created nothing but disgust; but such beings as this he had never seen, Cleopatra in her glo might have looked so and less beautiful; and though Padre Junivero crossed himself devoutly and repeated the exor- cism once more, it was no use. Try as he might, he could not help looking, and the world wi him was stronger than all his prayers and reso- lutions! ; Finally, Padre Junipero gave in bodily. The alluring siren on the left hand, kept sm and beckoning him down, and he could stand it no more; so out of the sick-room, down the corri- dor, past all the cells where the nuns were taking their noonday siesta, he passed till he When she heard those terribly bold words | Beadle’s ° | | | | hot, glaring, dusty | | the to have our little talk with you, before they | Then Dick gave convincing proof that he was came to the little postern door that opened out on the moat. Here, as he expected, he found the two strange, mysteriously-beautiful women, waiting for bim, and was greeted with the salutation, in low tones: “ Good father, will you not let us in? We wish to speak to you.” Padre Junipero trembled, ““My daughters, I dare not. If the nuns were to hear of my admitting women, dressed as you are, I should be disgowned in a fort- | night.” The one who had spoken laughed a low, melo- dious laugh. CHAPTER XXT. THE RED LORD AND MASTER. THE two girls, with a gesture full of grace. caught up from where they fell over the horse croups, behind, two rich scarlet-cloth blankets, bordered with gold; and very different, from the usual envelope of an Indian. ders, and sat there, muffled from head to foot in scarlet. “There, father, are we presentable now?” asked the one who had. not hitherto spoken, in RE a Spanish. ‘‘The holy sisters may call us Nuns of the Sierra, if they like. Besides, are all asleep. There will be time for us awake.” Padre Junipero hesitated. There was some- thing in the actions, if not the words of these mysterious women, that made his heart beat like a small earthquake. They sat there, smil- ing bewitchingly at him, and alluring ‘him ‘to let them in, for what purpose he could not tell, but somehow he foun himself wishing them in, and that the moat was not so broad. In a few moments the plank was pushed across, and Padre Junipero, fat, jolly, and rosy; beckoned for the two women-warriors to cross, / As soon as it:\was fairly across, one of the wo- men leaped down, and held it secure, while her sister, driving her long lance into the ground, tied both horses to the yet quivering weapon, and leaped off in her turn. ‘Then both women stole lightly over the bending plank to the nar- row postern. , Once inside, the door was hastily slammed to and Padre Junipero felt a pair of soft, rounded arms thrown round his neck. But what is the reason, that the clasp of those arms suddenly closes so tightly? t is the reason that one of these mysterious. women, standing higher than Padre Junipero (who is a short, fat man), suddenly whirls round behind him, the other in front, while both hug him tightly in their arms, Padre Junipero finds the arm of the woman behind under his chin; pressing against his tivoat with throttling force, the woman in front seizes his wrists and brings them together with a low laugh; he hears a click, feels some- thing hard encircling his wrists, realizes that he is handcuffed, and at the same moment the per- fidious beauty in front raises one little moc- casined foot, and plants a vigorous kick right over the place where Padre Junipero’s food is supposed to lie, before digestion. t was a very cruel thing to do, but it an- swers the woman’s purpose. Witha low groan, cut short by pain, the father confessor slips down on the floor, completely powerless. ‘Quick, Levrette, the lasso,” says the lively lady, so dexterous with her feet. ‘* Never mind,” says the more ryva Perge h rette. “‘ Here’s an empty cell. Shove him in and lock him up.” No sooner said than done. Each girl takes an arm, and they drag the groaning priest down the corridor to a dark cell-hole, where they throw him into some unknown depth. They hear him go bump, bump, on some stone steps, and Levrette says, giggli i ‘It’s the wine-cellar, I believe, Chevie. He won’t hurt, Let’s bolt him in.” The door is bolted, top and bottom, and then the two girls steal back to the postern, laughing at the success of their trick. Levretite looks out and gives a low whistle. It is answered from the old ruined stable that had contained the assassins of Dick Darling. A moment later, a tall, slender chief, whose costume is identical with that of the two girls, and equall ery agen: nt in. material, while his ees toes tone is guiltless of niche comes gal- With'a care- | less flirt, each threw her mantle over her shoul. | alfDime Library. ‘You called me; I am come,” he says, in the deep, musical tones of an Indian. It was a grand sight to see the two that stood in the convent corridor, the tall, stately chief, with his serene, aquiline face, towering above the glorious beauty of the two French-Indian Amazons. From the way in which they twined about him, it was easy to see that White Thun. der’s lodge was not yet disturbed by jealousy, and that Levrette and Chevrette adored him. Warrior girls as Oey were, with the privilege of bearing arms and riding on the chase with the chief, they were subdued to softness.at his side, whose prowess they had witnessed, “* What is it that my singing-birds desire?” he again asked, in his caressing manner. ‘* Listen,” said Levrette, softly. ‘‘ Before we knew how true was the aim of White Thunder, and before we were bought with the scalps of our foes, we both knew a youth, who rode fos the great father in the East. He was a boy, but we both loved him, not as we love Whit4@ Thunder, but still passing well. He was slaig by the Utes in front of this building, as th¢ black squaws say, but we do not believe it, and we are going to find out whether they lied of not. Is it good?” , “It is good,” said White Thunder, gravely. If the man lives, he is a brave warrior, whe killed three Utes single-handed, Lead on.” ‘Hie is not dead,” said Chevrette. ‘! The squaws who bring fish to the convent told me that they have a sick man here, and it must be our Darling.” Yes,” said Levrette, ‘‘and the black squaws are keeping him a prisoner, because they have no man in the convent.” White Thunder frowned. “Tt shall not be. A brave man is not to be mewed in a cell, or burrowed like a woodchuck, Let us take him out.” “ Agreed,” cried Levrette and Chevrette to- gether, Then the three Indians, all appareled as war- riors on the war-path, and all so strangely beau- tiful, stole swiftly and noiselessly along the con- ‘vent corridors. Soon they came to the rows of cells, with half- open doors, where the nuns lay taking their siesta in a ghastly mockery of death, for each nun lay in her coffin, according to the rules of the order, and the bandages around their faces gave them the appearance of corpses in cere- ments. Levrette and Chevrette were used ‘to this sight, from their early convent. experience as children, but White Thunder seemed very much impressed with the spectacle of the coffined nuns. The two girls, as they passed each door, shot the bolts cuieity on the outside, and thus had the happiness, in a very short time, of locking up forty-three nuns and the Reverend Mother, snoring away: in peaceful unconsciousness, The nuns being secured against giving any alarm, the two girls dropped the caution they had hitherto displayed, “There can be no more, Chevie,” said Lev- rette, in French. ‘‘ You, remember how all the sisters slept in'a row at the Sacre Cour, All we have to do is to find the Infirmary now. Our Darling’s there if he’s alive,” “ He is alive,” said White Thunder, speaking for the first time in his life in the language he had so long secretly understood, “‘ He lives, and. we ghall find him. Then, if you wish him to live, keep away from him, for ite Thonder is not a fool.” Had a thunderbolt fallen, the two Babe could not have been more utterly crushed and as- tounded than when the young chief, for the first time, gave evidence that he understood what they had been saying. Had it not been for an uncontrollable spasm hoo nr tig at hearing his wives speaking so familiarly and lovingly of Dick Darling before his very face White Th - der might have kept his secret. The two girls, never yet restrained by any necessity of pru- dence, any more than young men, on unt of their perfect freedom in the tribe, had become, as we have seen, as wild as voung colts at pas- ture, full of animal spirits, queens of the desert, and unused to control themselves, The Black- foot chiefs they despised, as mental inferiors; the coarse whites, like Hardin, for their manners. Dick Darling was the only man they had seem who could talk to them ; 4 ", ‘ ‘ foi , ae y Nott) aA Yer TS we cir hsm ie uN es bay ee eee ane ein eA ab wank ed Res ee faa i!
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———— breed” had driven them from the cities, where people would not associate on terms of euelity with the half-Indian daughters of a French hun- ter, Stung by these taunts, the girls had fled to the Echipeta lodges, to find themselves queens of all around. What wonder that they found the contrast a pleasant one, and countervailing all the loss of luxuries, in the vigorous health and rude happiness of the desert. White Thunder’s sudden revelation, ané the stern, menacing look of his face, awakened both of these wild, giddy, thoughtless, but by no means bad girls, to a sense of their position, and their eyes fell in shame before man that they suddenly recognized to be master, Levrette and Chevrette fell on their knees and embraced those of the stern young chief, who looked down on them like a bronze statue of Justice. “Oh, my lord and husband!” cried,the for- mer, excitedly, ** had you but told us you knew of the great world, we should have adored you entirely, Fearnot. All the white men in the reat Hast are nothing to my brave chief and usband,” 4 their CHAPTER XXII. STRANGE WOOING. THERE was no mistaking’ the earnestness of Levrette, The magnificent girl, gifted with a assionate nature, was obviously sincere Im her ove and devotion. : As White Thunder looked down on her, his countenance softened, and Levrette, whose eyes were fixed on his, saw the look, and instantly sprung up and hung on the chief’s neck, whis- pering: 1 “ Indeed, I love thee, my hero chief.” Chevrette seemed then, for the first time, to * feel that something was wrong, as she gazed on ¢ her sister in the arms of the chief, and noticed that neither of them seemed to think of. her. Then flashed on her mind the memory of that law of Christianity, which she had heard as a child and had almost forgotten among the polyg- amous Indians. White Thunder had made his choice, and it was not she. Nominally his wife Levrette was his real love, and she saw it and trembled with jealousy. ‘Then suddenly a thought came to her mind— the thought of Dick Darling. If Levrette loved White Thunder, she could love Dick, and at that thought she arpa turned and fled noiselessly away toward the nfirmary, leaving White Thunder and Levrette to talk in low, loving tones, while the chief told her his Secret vow, never to claim the rights of an Indian husband till he should find which of the girls really loved him; for White Thunder, in his silent, self-contained way, had imbi a num- ber of civilized notions, and among ctHers, the strange idea of love, in a sense entirely un-In- down the corridor, silent by her old Montreal ex- to the Infirmary. ian. Chevrette fled away as a ghost, =n hag ience her w PSsottly. 4peniag the low door, she heard. the sound of voices in earnest conversation, and be- held the object of her search, Dick Darling, look- ing very pale and thin, but, if possiole, hand- somer than ever. His face had been shaved at last, his long, curling hair was 1m good erder, and flowed down over a long, black coat, one of Padre Junipero’s cassocks, In fact, which sat awkwardly on his frame, but the only garment procurable, the nuns having burnt up his blood- stained uniform when they cut it off him, as he lay, to all appearances, dying. ° ut what caused Chevrette the greatest sur- prise was that the young man had a female companion, ; A young girl, in the white flannel robes of a novice, but with her rich hair falling over her shoulders in confusion, the disfiguring hood be- ing removed, was lying in Dick’s arms, and the qoung man was murmuring soft, endearing panish words to her. : “Mi querida Pachita! Anjel de mt alma! Never shall you replace that hideous hood again, while Ricardo is here to protect. you. who will come. Padre Junipero shall marry US, and we will be happy. Your brother will relent, when he finds that we are safely married. and I shall rise mY yet in our Golden State. Do you not believe it?” r ‘“ Mi Ricardo, I believe you candoanything,” said the soft voice of La Chiquita, fondly, as she raised her lips to meet his. “My riches—I never prized them till now—but they will en- able you to follow a career worth blood ‘and education, yuerido; and proud of you when you get in Congress and a ay! 4 ' gs Lats Fs 5 eae ‘3 i the face of the | of your’ : | Dick Darling. Dick laughed. ‘‘ Little flatterer! Well, we love each other. That is'the main point. For the rest, I must get out of this place quickly, or you can not follow me, unless parison unipero will marry us.” “That he never shall,” cried Chevrette, sud- denly rushing forward, with a sort of strangled shriek of fury and jealousy. ‘ You that love .a wax doll better than a sister of warriors, see your doll spoiled.” As she spoke she whipped out a pistol, aimed at Francesca’s head, and was about to fire, when Dick suddenly rushed between, and interposed | his own body, while Francesca dropped senseless on the floor, ‘Wire here; if you must, Chevrette,” cried the youth, sternly. ‘I never said I loved you. You and your sister plagued me to death, but I never gave you more than civility. Fire away, a Fa must, but at me, not at this innocens ady. Chevrette had stood glaring at him, hei®bosom panting and heaving with fury, her frame half- crouched, like a tiger ready to spring. A mo- ment later, she rushed round to kill the girl, and pulled the trigger just as he caught her arm. The bullet rebounded against the wall, and a moment later he was struggling with the fren- zied woman for the pistol, which she tried to use on poor Pachita. In the excitement, neither noticed loud shouts outside the convent, but a moment later White Thunder and Levrette dashed into the room. The chief made but one stride to Chevrette’s side as she was breaking away from the exhausted Darling. He laid his iron grasp on her wrist | and dragged her to one side of the room with bis other hang on her throat, shaking her as a chief treats his squaw. ‘Is White Thunder a coyote, that the Fawn throws dirt on his robe?’ he thundered, in his guttural Blackfoot dialect, ‘‘ Let the squaw re- member that she is the promised wife of a chief, and leave other men alone. I have spoken.” He had indeed, and the impetuous, undisci- pees girl found she had met her fate. Per- 1aps it suited her wild nature better than an- other, for Indians never take kindly to Christian | practices. Any way, she bowed herself at the ! feet of White Thunder, and humbly kissed his hand. She had accepted her fate. The angry chief turned to Darling, but before he could speak, there was clatter of steps on the stone corridor, and loud voices. Dick Dar- ling started round in delight, crying, as he heard one. voice that he knew: “Thank God! Safe at last!” ‘Whar is he? Whar’s the old ring-tailed loot?” bellowed the voice of Jack Hardin. ‘T know’d the squaws didn’t lie when they said he war hidden hyar, and ef I don't have him aout in short order, nun or no nun, darn me fur a skunk, Hyar he is, by gosh!” And the station-master rushed into the room, followed by a crowd of rough miners, yelling: “T know’d I’d find him among the gals, the luxuriant cuss! Why, Dick Darling, you orna- ry, old, long-legged galoot, how are ye?” That night Padre Junipero married Dick Darling to Francesca de Ribera, and Jack Hardin stood by, with Colonel Sam Jones, for witnesses, The confessor received a fee enough to settle the consciences of fifty ministers. Dick left the Pony Route and went to Santa Barbara, quite satisfied that for his wounds he had ob- tained for a wife the most beautiful heiress in California. ae White Thunder and his beautiful wives disap- sared. Some day we may see more of them. That day was the last time any of them ever saw Dick DARLING. THE END, DIME HAND-BOOKS. Hand-Books of Games, Handbook ef Summer Sports, Book of Croquet, Yachting and Rowing. Chess Instructor, Riding and Driving. Cricket and Football. Book of Pedestrianism, Guide to Swimming, Handbook of Winter Sports—Skating, ete. 1 Manuals for Housewives. 4, Cook Book, 4. Family Physician. 2, Recipe Book, . -5. Dressmaking and. Mil- 3. Housekeeper’s Guide. linery. (2 The above books are sold by newsdealers everywhere, or will be sent. post-paid, to any ad dresa, on receipt Of vrice. ten cents each: ’ 15 Edward L. Wheeler’s Deadwood Dick - Novels Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. 1. Deadwood Dick; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills. 20, The Double Daggers; or, Deadwood Dick’s Defiance, 28. Buffalo Ben; or, Deadwood Dick in Disguise, Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Duval; or, The» Brotherhood of Death. 2, The Phantom Miner; or, Deadwood Dick’s: Bonanza, . Omaha Oll; or, Deadwood’ Dick in Danger. %. Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; or, The Pards of Flood Bar. 73, Deadwood Dick on Deck; or, Calamity Jane,, the Heroine of Whoop-Up. . Corduroy Charlie; or, The Last Act of Dead- wood Dick. eal . Deadwood Dick in Leadville; or, A Strange Stroke for Liberty. . Deadwood Dick’s Device; or, The Sign of the Double Cross. . Deadwood Dick as Detective. . Cinnamon Chip, the Girl Sport; or, The Golden Idol of Mount Rosa. 129. Deadwood Dick’s Double; or, The Ghost of Gorgon’s Gulch. 138. Blonde Bill; or, Deadwood Dick’s Home Base 149. A Game of Gold; or, Deadwood Dick’s Big: Strike. 156. Deadwood Dick of Deadwood; or, The Picked Party. 195. Deadwood Dick’s Dream; or, The Rivals of the Road. . The Black Hills Jezebel; or, Deadwood Dick’s Ward. . Deadwood Dick’s Doom; Jane’s Last Adventure. . Captain Crack-Shot, the Girl Brigand; or, Gypsy Jack from Jimtown. . Sugar Coated Sam; or, The Black Gowns of Grim Gulch. . Gold-Dust Dick. ; Deadwood Dick’s Divide; or, The Spirit of Swamp Lake. 268, Deadwood Dick’s Death Trail; or, From Ocean to Ocean. . Deadwood Dick’s Big Deal; or, The Gold Brick of Oregon. Deadwood Dick’s Dozen; or, The Fakir of , Phantom Flats. ick’s Ducats; or, Rainy Days. in the Di BSS. " . Deadwood Dick Sentenced; or, The Terrible Vendetta. 2, Deadwood Dick’s Claim; or, The Fairy Face of Faro Flats. . Deadwood Dick in Dead City. . Deadwood Dick’s Diamonds; or, The Mys- tery of Joan Porter. Deadwood Dick in New York; or, A Cute Lase. Deadwood Dick’s Dust; or, The Chained. Hand. Deadwood Dick, Jr.; or, The Sign of the m Crimson Crescent, . Nickel-Plate Ned; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Defiance. Sunflower Sam, of Shasta; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Full Hand. Flush Fan. the Ferret; or, Deadwood Dick Jr’s Big Round-up. The above are for sale by all newsdealers, five cents a copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. or, Calamity Deadwooc 459. ‘=a <a 4 2 - oe , Visit pears eecotebeteds beige Dv. Rs
Page 16
BEADLE’S« H ALF- JDIME« [| IBRARY. BY OLL COOMES. Bandy, Detective; or, Silver Star, the Roy Knight. Mandy in ‘Texan; or, The Young Mustanger, Kandy’s Catch; or, The Boy Hercules. Bandy’s Right Bower; or, Buby Sam,the Boy Giant Bandy’s Swoop; or, Little Buckskin, tne Centaar. Bandy'’s Slick Scheme; or, Old Tom Rattler. Bandy’s Deliverance; or, Banner Ben. Randy’s Pard; or, Dauntless Dan, the Freelance. Bandy Rattleds or, The Intant Giant. Bandy in Red Rating or, The Young Whirlwind, Bandy’s igs Ruastle; or, Saddle King Sam. Bandy’s Brigade; or, Dan, the Mountain Guide, Candy’s Brigade in Arizona. Bandy’s Star Engagement, Kilt Kit kit Ic te Kit & wit Kit Kit iit Kit init Kit Kid hit Jack Drew, the Nemesis, or, Eagle Kit the Boy Demon. & Jack Drew’s Drop; or, Little Hurricane, the Boy Captain, ¥ Jack Drew in Deadwood; or, Prospect Pete, Keen Knife on Guard; or, Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide Keen-Kunife, the Prince of the Prairies. Varaboud Joe, the Young Wandering Juw. ‘The Dumb Spy. Lasso Jack, the Young Mustanger. The Border King; or, The Secret Tig, Delaware Dick, the Young Ranger Spy, Hawk-eye Marry the Young Trapper Ranger 88 Rollo, the Boy Ranger} or, The Heiress, 284 Sure Shot Seth, the Boy Rifleman. 148 Sear-F ace Saul, tle Silent Hunter, 178 Old Solitary, the Hermit Trapper, 218 Tiger Tom, the Texas Terror, 224 Dashing Dick; or, Trapper Tom's Cast, QRS Little Wildiire, the Young Prairie Nomad. REL he Parson Detectives or, The Littl Ranger, 248 The Diswulsed Guide; or, Wild Raven, the Ranger, 260 Dare-Devil Dan, the Young Prairie Ranger. 272 Minksekin Mike, the Boy Sharpshooter. 20 Little Yoxfire, the Boy Spv; or, Old Culeb Arbuckle, ‘B00 The Sky Demons or, Rainbolt, the Rangers B84 Whip-King Joe, the Boy Ranchero. 409 lhereules; wr, Dick, the Boy Ranger. 417 Webfoot Mose, the Tramp Detective. 457 Wingedfoot Fred} or, Old Polar Saul. 468 Tamarac Tom, the Sig Trapper Boy, 482 Stonewull Bob, the Boy Trojan, 562 Blundering Basil, the Hermit Boy Trapper. 652 Don Barr, the Plains Freelance, 670 Norway Nels, the Big Boy Mountaineer. T7S Highland Warry, the Wizard Rifleman, 323 Poker Jack, the Detective Sport. BY T. J. FLANAGAN, 909 Midshipman Dare, the Pirate Catcher, 25 The Young Cowboy Captain. 083 The Two Midshipmen; or, The’ Corsair-Chaser’s First Cruise. BY DAN DUNNING, w7AG Satet Jack, the Secret Senvice Spy, Tet Mae and Jack, the Invincibles; or, The Diabolical Three. S75 Detective Dave’a Close Call. Ss4 Farrel Fox and Mla Girl Ferret, 0u Varrel Fox's Sweep-Stakes, BY GEORGE ©, JENKS, “S65 Git Thor Owney the Unknown, 492 Git Thar Owney’s Pledge. 6518 The Demon Doctor; or, Deadholi, the Kid Detective. 681 Double-Curve Dan, the Pitcher Detective, BVS Flute, \oe Singer Detective; or, Owney in a New Role, 208 The Pitcher Detective’s Koll: or, Dan’»s Donble Play, 0616 The Ocean Detectives or, The Last Cruiae ofthe Black Bear, 641 The Pitcher Detective’s Tonghest Tussle, T86 Larry the Thoroughbred; or, Beaten ov Every Side, 77 tron Wand, the Charmed Detective 854 Uncle Sam’s Detective in Chicago. SY WM. G. PATTEN,. #29 Violet Vane, the Velvet Sport; or, The Jubilee ot Jacktown 66s Vialet Vane’s Victory; or, The Jasper City Cleaa Out. €9% Violet and Watsay, the Posy Pards, ‘toh Violet Vane’s Vows or, The Craity Detective’s Craft. ‘724 Violet Vane’s Vengennce; or, The WipeOnt, "780 Violet Vane’s Verdiet; or, The Game at Coffin City. TAL Violet Vane, the Ventriloquist Vidocq; or, Sport va, Sport. T50 Violet Vane, the Vanquished. or, The Lile Strugg'e, 768 Violet Vane’s Vislon; or, The Fiery Hand of Fate, 445 The Diamond Sport; or, The Double Wace of Bed Rock, 619 Captain Ayater y; or, Five in One. G81 Dalwy ware the Sport from Denver. S87 id Hombshell, the Ranger Detective. 604 bron Fern, the Meo of Fire: or, Among the Vultures, 619 The Boy Tramp Detective: or, The Double Grip W ltiness 641 Dismal Dave's Pandy Pardy; or, The Clue to Capt. Claw €51 Bound Boy F rank, the Young Amateur Detective 682 Wild Vulecany the Lone-Range Rider, 714 Ofd Misery the, Man from Missourt. 274 Clear-Grit Cal, the Never-Sav-Die Detective, "74 Sam Sheridan, the Secret Service Spect 806 Cowboy Steve the Ranch Mascot. 820 Nobby Nat, the Tenderfoot Detective, S36 Sharper Stoke’s Double Deal. S57 Spotter Bobin New York. 866 Spottcr Bob’s Bowery Rackct. BY COLONEL DELLE SARA, 2108 The Lion of the Sens 7, The Vatled Lady. “°@ Oool Desmond, or, The Gambler's Big Game, } BY CAPTAIN FRED. WHITTAKER, sv The Sea-Wat}; or, The Witch of Darien. 29 The Dumb Page: or, The Doge’s Devgnter, AS Dick Darling, the Pony Express Rider, wad “ance and Lasso} or, The Children of the Chaco, 454 ‘She Sword Hunters: or, The Land of the Elephant Riders 188 The Lost Captaine or, Skipper Jabes Coffin’s Cruise. B00 The Boy Bedoutna, or, The Brotrers of the Plumed Lance 214 Wolfrang, the Robber of the Rhine. 210 Milo Romer. the Animal King: er, Round the World, 8465 The Tiger Tamer; or, The League of the Jangle, B81 Wack Niek, the Demon Rider. B85 California Joe's War Trafl. BY CAPT. J. F, ©. ADAMS, B84 Uregon Bol; or, Nick Whiffies’s Boy Spy. 46 Glass Rye. the Groat Shot of the West, &4 'ud Hazel, the Boy Trapper. 56 Nick Whitftles’s Pets or, In The Valley of Death. 80 The White Indian; or, The Scout of the Yeilowstone, f0 Old Zip’a Oabin; or, The Greenhorn tn the Woods, 81 Lichtning Jo, the Terror of the Prairie. 34 Buck Rueckram ¢ or, Bess, the Female Trapper, ' id Grizzly and His Peta; or, The Wild Huntres= t-house Lige} or, Osceola, the Firebrand, unterse; or, The Underground C to, The Human BY T. ©. HARBAUGH, 28 Nick o- the Nights or, The Bey Spy of '76. 87 The Hidden Lodge; or The Littl Hnoter, 47 Nightingale Nat; or, Tne Forest Captains. 64.Dandy Jacks or, The Outlaws of the Oregon Trats. 82 Kit Muretout, the Wood-Hawk; or, Old Powder-faca 94 Midnight Jack 3 or, The Boy Trapper. 106 Old Proaty, the Guide; or, The White Queen, 128 Kiowa Charley the White Mustanger. 189 Judge Lynch Irigy vr, The Bey Vigiiante, 155 Gold Trigwer, te Sport; or, The Girl Avenger. 169 Tornado Toms or, Injun Jack From Red Core. 188 Ned Temple, the Border Boy; or, The Mad Hunter. 198 Arkancaw ¢ or. The Queen of Fate’s Revenge 207 Navajo Nick, the Boy Gold Hunter. 215 Captain Bullet; or, Little Topknot’s Crusade. 281 Pineky Phil; or, Rom, the Re: Jezebel. 241 Bill Bravo; or, Tie Roughs of the Rockies. 255 Captain Apoli » tne King-Pin of Rowir. 267 The Buckskin Detective; or, The King of Road-agents 2TY9 Old Winch} or, The Auckskin Desperadoes. 294 Dynamite Dan: or, The Bowie Binde of Gochetopa. 802 The Mountain Detective; or, The Trigger Bar Bally. B16 Old Eelipse, Trump Card of Arizona, B26 The Ten Parda: or, The Terror of Take-Notice 886 Rie Benson; or, The Queen of the Latso. 845 Pitilesas Matty; or, Red Thunderholt’s Secret, BSH Ooo) sam und Pars; o- The Terrible Six. 766 Velvet Foot, the Indian Detective. 536 Captain Cutlasas or, he Beccnneer’r Girl Foe, 896 Rough Robs or, The ! win Champions of Blne Blazes, 411 The Stiken Lasso; ov, The Rose c Ranch Robin. 418 Felix Fox, the Boy Spotter: or, The Gold Gang of New York, 425 Texas Trump, the Border Rattler. 486 Phil Flash, the New York Fox; or, The Mystery of Room 21, 445 The City Vampires; or, Ked Rolfe’s Pigeon. 461 One Against Fifty; or, The Last Man of Keno Bar. 470 The Boy Shadow: or, Felix Fox’s Hunt, 477 The Exceisior Sport: or, The Washington Spotter, 499 Single Sight, the One-Eyed Sport, 502 Branded Ben, the Night Ferret. 512 Dodger Pick, the Wharf-Spy Detective, S21 Dodger Piek’« est Dodge; or, The Gotham Gold Gang, 628 Fox and Faicon, the hewery Shadows, BSS Dodger Pick, the Dock Ferret, 548 Dodger Dick’« Double: or, The Rival Boy Detectives, B58 Dodecer Dick’a Deaperate Case. 568 Dodger Dick. the Boy Virioeg; or, The Gang of Three, 678 The Two Sha down; or, Dodger Dick’s Stow Game, 582 Dodger Dick’s Drop; or, The Mun from Jersey. 594 Little Lon, the Street-Singer Detective. 610 Old Skinner, the Gold Shark; or, Tony Sharp on Guard, 626 The Champton Pards; or, The Lucifer of Silver Bar, 6B7 Dick Doan, the Dock Boy Detective, 645 Kit, the Pavement Sharp. 658 Billy Bantam, the Boy Beagle. 671 Jersey Jed, the Rov Hustler: or, Shadowing the Shadower. 685 Wappy Mugh, the Boy Musician Detective, 201 Photograph F red, the Camera Sharp. 715 Wide Awake Len, the Quaker City Ferret. TB2 Patay Dell, the Pavement Detective; or, Trapping Big Games 742 Billy Winka, the Bell Boy Detective. 254 Billy Winks, the Boss Boy Shadow. 768 Fagle Ned, the Boy on Guard; or, Tne Camp Spiders. 780 Tonkaway Tom, the Red Wizard S27 The Bantam Sport. 848 Clip, the Battery Ferret; 01, ence wourrs Foul Play SYT Davy Doon’s Big Bounce. 905 Dandy Nugget, the Bow Shadow. 921 The Boy from Denver. BY CHARLES MORRIS. 118 WI Somers, the Boy Deteptive, 122 Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. 126 Pleayune Pete ¢ or, Nicodemus, the Dog Detective 180 Detective Diek ; or, The Here in Rags, 142 Handsome Harry, the Boothlack Detective, 147 Will Wildfire, the Thoroughbred. 152 Black Beas, Vill Wildfire’s Racer. 157 Mike Merry the Harbor Police Boy, 162 Will Wildfire in the Wooda, 165 Billy Baggage, the Railroad rave 170 A Tramp Card; or, Will Wildtire Wins and Loses 174 Bob Rockett; or, Mysteries of New York. 179 Rob Rockett, the Bank Ranner, 188 The Hidden Wand 3 or, Wil! Wildfire’s Revenge. 187 Fred Malyard, the Life Boat Boy; or, The Smuggiers. 189 Bob Roekett; or. Driven to the Wall. 196 Shadowed ; or, Bob Kockett’s Fight for Life. 206 Dark Paul, the ‘Viger King, 212 Dashing Dave, the Dandy Detective, 220 Tom Tanner: or, The Black Sheep of the Flock, 2235 Sam Charcoal the Premium Darky, 235 Shadow Sam, the Messenger Boy. 242 The Two * Bloods”; or, Shenandoah Rill and His Gang. 252 Diek Dashaway ;: or, A Dakota Boy in Chicago. 262 The Young Sharps: o:. Rollicking Mike’s Hot Trail, 274 Jolly Jim, the Detective Apprentice, 289 Jolly Jim’a Joby or, The Young Netective, 298 The Water-Heound; or, The Young Thoronghored, 805 Dashnway, of Dakota: or, A Western Lad Ip Quaker City, 824 Ralph Keady, the Hotel Boy Detective. 841 Tony Thorne, the Vagabond Detective. 858 The Reporter-Detective; or, Fred Flyers Blizzard, 867 Wide-Awake Joe: or, A Boy of the Times. 879 Larry, the Leveler; or, The Bloods of the Boulevard, 4038 Firefly Jack, the River-Rat Detective. 428 The Loat Finger? or, The Entrapped Cashier. 428 Fred Fiyer, the Reporter Detective. 482 Invinelible Logan, the Pinkerton Ferret. 456 Rilly Brick, the Jotly Vaganond. AGE Wide-Awake Jerry, Detective; or Entombed Alive, 479 Detective Dodge? or, The Mystery of Frank Hearty. 488 Wild Dick Racket; or, How He Fought for Honor. 5061 Boots, the Boy Fireman: or, Too Sharp for the Sharper, b#6 The Secret * ervice Boy Detective. BOG Jimmy the Ktd: or, A Lamh Among Wolves. 627 Tom Bruce of Arkananay or, The Woll in the Fold. 655 Plucky Paul, the Boy Speculator. 667 Rob and Sam, the Daisy Detectives. 709 The Curbatone Detective: or, Harry Hale’s Big Beat. THT Detective Frank’s Aweep-atakea. 869 Ned Norman, the Gamin Broker. 881 Turkey Billy, the Shine-em-up Detective, 917 Flash Lightning, the Mountain Mascot, BY ALBERT W. AIKEN, 11 The Two Detectives: or, The Fortunes ofa Bowery Girl, 76 Abe Colt, the Crow-Killer. 79 Sol Ginger, tlie Giant Trapper. 288 Joe Ruck of Angels and Wis Boy Pard. 447 New Vork Nat. A Tale of Tricks and Traps in Gotham. 458 New England Nick: or. The Fortunes of a Foundling. 464 Nimble Nick, the Circus Prince. 498 Taos Ted, tae Arizona Sport. $10 Moa) Colorado, the Hall-Rreed Detective &18 Cool Colorado in New Vork: or, The Cowboy's Fighs BY CAPT. ALFRED 8. TAYLOR O.8, A, 91 Buffalo TRilly, the Roy Rullwhaeker, 94 Ruffale Bia Bets: or. The Gambler Guide, q % 2 * Published Every Tuesday. Each Issue Complete and Sold at the Unitorm Price of Five Cents, by all Newsdeasers. BY J. W. OSBON, 469 The Bivai Glant« of Nowhar’. 498 Cactus Burr, the Man trom Hard Luck; BST Gid. Buckeye, the Sierra Shadow. 5664 Powder Phil, the Boy Miner. or, The Man Withonta Pag 609 Bolly Dorrit, Nie \eteran Detective. 620 Little Lichtning’s League; or, The Mystery o. the Islan« 688 Plucky Vaal, the Boy Prospector. 751 Gold-Dust Dan, the Trail Patrol. 75h Gold Dust Dan's Cath; or, Reckless Roy, the Reguiau 928 Gold-Dust Dan’s Snap-Shot, BY JOSEPH EK. BADGER, JR, 2 Vellowatone Jack; or, The Trapper, 48 Black John, the Road-Agent; or, The Outlaw’e Retreas, 65 Murricane Bill; orf Mustang Sam and Hie Pard, 119 Muatang Sam 5 or, The King of the Plains. 186 Night-tlawk Kit; or, The Daughter of the Ranch, 144 Dainty Lance the Boy Sport. 151 Panther Paul; or, Dainty Lance to the Rescue, 160 The Black Glant 3 or, Dainty Lance tn Jeopardy. 168 Deadly Pash; or, Fighting Fire with Fire. 184 The Boy Tratlers; or, Dainty Lance on the War-Path, 208 The Boy Pardse; or, Dainty Lance Unmasks. 211 Orooked Cale, the Caliban of Celestial City. 810 The Barranca W olf; or, The Beautiful Decoy, £819 The Rilack Riders or, The Horse-Thieves’ Leagua. 885 Old Double Fiat 3 or, The Strange Guide 855 The King of the Wooda: or. Danie) Boone’s Last Trax 449 Kit Fox, the Border Boy Detective. 625 Chiweapin Dan, the Boy Trafler. 677 Chineapin Pan'’a Second Trail. 688 Chincapin Dan’s Home Stretch, 698 Old Crazy, the Man Without a Head, TOS Lirht-Henart Lute’s Legacy. 718 Light-teart Lute’s Last Trail, T28 Silverblade, the Shoshone. 729 Silverblade, the Half-Blood; or, The Border Beagle at Bap 789 Kilverblade, the Hostile; or, The Border Beagle’s Trail. 748 Silverblade the Friendly; or, The Border Beagte’s Boy Pax BY ¢. DUNNING CLARK. 185 Captain Paul; or, The Boy Spy of the Monntains, 280 Tho Vankee Rajah; or, The Fate of the Black Shores, BY LIFUT. I. D. PERRY, U. 8. N. 176 The Boy Runaway; or, The Bnecaneer of the Bar, 180 The Sea Traller: or, A Yow Well Kept. 192 Oaptain Kit; or, The Mystery ‘of Montack Point, BY JACK FARRAGUT. 815 Ned, the Cabin Boy; or, The Witch ot the Fort. 820 The Sea Sorceress; or, The Boy Skipper. BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID. 2 Blue Dick; or, The Yellow Chief's Vengeance. }87 The Land Piraten; or, The League of Devil's Island 187 The Helpless Hand; or, Backwoods Retribution. 289 The Gold-seeker Guide? or, The Lost Mountals, BY BRACEBRIDGE NEMYNG, 89 Taland Jim: or, The Pet of the Family. {91 The Captain of the Clu; or, The Rival Athletes, 101 Jack Narkaway in New York. MISCELLANEODS AUTHORS, 4 The Wild-Norse Munters, By Capt. Mayne Rela Frederick Whittaker, 9 Adventures of Baron Munchausen, 12 Gulliver’s Travels. By Dean Swift. 14 Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. 16 Robinaon Orusoe. (27 Lilustrations.) 18 Sindbad the Sailor. His Seven Voyages. 22 The Sea Serpent; or, The Boy Robinson Cruste. By Jucz Le wis, 88 The Ocean Bloodhoundy or, The Red Plrates of the Carribees. By 8. W. Pierce, 86 The(Roy Clown? or, The Arena Queen. By ¥ 8, Finn. 88 Ned Wylde. the Boy Scout. By Texas Jack. 51 The Boy Rites; or. The Underground Camp, By A. C.Trona- 95 The Rival Rovers; or, The Freebootera of the Misstesippy By Lieut.-Col. Hazeltine. 98 Robin Hood, the Untlawed Earl; or, The Merry Men 0f Greens wood, By Prof. Gildersleeve. 106 O14 Rube, the Hunter; or, The Crow Captive. By Captain Hamilton Holmes. 312 The Mad Munters or, 1beCave of Death. By Burton Saxe, 124 Tippy, the Texan; or, The Young Champion. By George Gleraon. 128 The Voung Privateer; or, The Pirate’s Stronghold. By Cc liah. Se oe The Adventures ot a Friendless Boy. By J 148 Sharp fam fon tten. ee : or, The Green Ranger of the You. 227 Dusky Darrell, T lowstone. By Edward orson. 261 Ferens Fearnaught the New York Boy, By @, L, aéton 266 Killb’ar: the Guide: or, Davy Crockett’s Crooked Tratl Ensign C. D, Warren. 298 Pod chew. the One-Eved“Trapper; or, The Mald of the Clift By Captain Comstock. 817 Peacock Pete, tae Lively Led from Leadville. By Liens tenant Alfred Thorne. 828 The &ky Detective s or, A Boy’s Fight for Life and Hono, By Maior Mickey Free. 850 Red Ralph, the River Rover; or, The Brother’s Re By Ned Buntline. vence. 6 . Ben the Bootblack Detective. By A. k. Morris, oe Baltimore Vomt or. Ben’s Douhle Match. G ¥. Morse, B76 Californian Joe’s Firat Trail. By Colonel Thomas 4 Hover Moneters, A438 Billy Rombehell, the Cliff Climber, By F. 8. Winthrop, 475 The Black Ship. By John 8_ Warner. 484 Comanche Dick and His Three Invincivies. By Henrv J. Thomas, BRL The Cowboy Duke. By Edwin Brooke Forrest. B52 Artel the Athlete. By David Droid. 58h Will Waters, the Bov Ferret. By 1. Enton. 682 The Dead Peteative’s Double. By Gerald Carlton, #21 Maverick Mone, the Arizona Detective; or, Tae W Urko» Pass. By Wil) Lisenbee. 809 Don Panton, the Gent from Denver. By King Keene, of @ U.S, Secret Service Corns. 814 Ace High, the Frisco Detective. By C. EB. Tre 880 The Grim Lodgers in Rag Alley; or, Citlen Rak of Namber S@en, By Ben TD. Hallidny. R81 The Chicago Drummer’s Dent. By J.G. Betnues 841 Prince Charlie, the Cat’s- Paw Sport. Ey diewe nke ev. R61 Rilly Rrtne, tha Swamp Fox. By Chas, F, Welles $79 Elue-light BIll, the Sapphire Sport; or, The Denver Deke tive’s Lone Hand. By King Keene, A New Issue Every Tuesdey. The Half-Dime Library i» tor sale vy all Newedeal~ eonts per copy, or sent by mal) on recetut of air ~ents sanu. br 2 jie