Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 3) (1877 10 22)

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mm a pm hy |aule : C8 ae Baie . — = — = 23 | tt! He tt! il i al |p! a tt! Copyrighted in 1877, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, SS ~ aia ANS BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, Vol. ¥. Kansas King: OR, The Red Right Hand. BY BUFFALO BILL, (Hon. Wm. F. Cody.) CHAPTER I, RED-HAND, THE SCOUT. ABOVE a dark mass of storm-clouds, gathered in the western skies, ps a brilliant ray from the declining sun, which penetrates far into the deepest recesses of a rocky gorge, hidden away in the mountain fastnesses of the Black Hills, where the iron heel of the pale-face has sel- dom trod beneath its rude step the velvet grass and wild flowers, and where the fertile valleys, mountain steeps, and level plains are sacred to the moccasined foot of the red- skin. And yet, into that retreat of the red-man one pale-face has dared to intrude, for the ray of sunlight falls full upon the tall and sinewy form of a white man, clad in dressed buck-skin, elaborately fring- ed and beaded, and with his bold, handsome features shad- ed beneath a broad felt hat; ge up upon the left side with a small pin, cut from the purest red coral, and ex- quisitely carved to represent a human hand, the fingers shut tight excepting the fore- finger, which pointed straight out, as if ee the way to be pursued by the mocca- sined feet of the wearer. It was a strangely hand- some face upon which the sunlight fell, upon which dwelt a haunting shadow cast there by some dread sor- sow of bygone years, and a sternness that proved a de- termination to suffer and be strong. The skin was darkly bronz- ed by long exposure to sun- shine, wind and storm, and a mass of gold-brown. hair wavy and rich in line, fell nearly down to his waist, while his face was beardless excepting a mustache, and every feature was perfect, the eyes being particular] lustrous, and holding in their dark-blue depths a fascina- tion that was irresistibly at- tractive. Lying at the feet of the man was a hunter’s. knap- sack, to which was strapped an oil-cloth, blanket and pro- vision pouch, while in his belt were a brace of navy revol- vers and a large hunting- a G —— ET TL Tw fe se ee No. 3. No, $8 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. — with an ivory handle and double-edged e. As he thus stood there in the sunlight, his hunter’s pack at his feet, and whole manner one of re , he leaned with both hands upon the muzzle of a rifle of a recent manufacture, for it carried, ready for instant use, sixteen leaden messengers of death to hurl upon a foe. As the hands thus rested upon the rifle’s muzzle the right above the left, it was observable that the former was almost blood-red in hue. Was the right hand of the hunter stained with blood, or was the skin never to be cleansed of its scarlet stain? THE SCOUT CUT WITH HIS KNIFE THE NAME OF THE MAN HE HAD SLAIN, AND THE DATE OF HIS DEATH. A closer i ion Prgved that the nt, ed hand, small but o i grasp, was indelib ne we with red from the wrist to the end ot the shapely fingers. Had the hunter thus alone in the Black Hi been born with that blood-red hand? Or, ha the hand been stained thus for some deadly deed it had done in the past? Reader, let the sequel unfold to you the his- tory of Red-Hand, the Scout. CHAPTER If. A DEADLY RECOGNITION. As Red-Hand, the Scout, thus stood in the mim gor e of the mountains, wit aylight dyin around him, and the sunlight tinging up the bold and rugged scenery upon every hand, there sud- denly came to his ears the sound of some object break- ing through the thick under- brush that fringed the left of the gorge. as it some wild animal of the hills, in pursuit of smaller game, or a red-skin, almost equally as wild as the beasts of the forests? Whether one or the other, it was a foe, the Scout well knew. Quickly his pack was slung upon his back, a bound carried him to the shelter of a tree near by, and the dar- ing man stood at bay, ready to face whatever danger threatened him. A louder rustling among the bushes, a parting of the leafy covert, and a large sta bounded out into the ful view of the Scout, who rais- ed his rifle as if about to fire, but quickly lowered it—as he suddenly beheld, directly behind the flying animal, an- other form that brought a flush of surprise to his face, for there stood before him one of his own race. Bounding out into the clear- ing, the stranger directly rais- ed his rifle, glanced stones glittering barrel, and then came the flash and sharp re- rt, the death-knell of the ing stag. re the rattling echoes of the rifle had died away far down the mountain gorge, there broke forth upon the air one long, loud, terrible cry of mingled joy and rage, and with a face as livid as the dead, Red-Hand, the Scout, bounded from behind his sheltering tree; his rifle fair- ly lea to his shoulder, a bright burst of flame from the muzzle, a ringing report, and the hunter who had slain the stag threw up his arms, clutehed wildly at the air, staggered forward, attempt- ed to cry out, and with @