Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 60) (1878 09 17)

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Vy | \ SOO | tn | < OW / EE Se ~ Acai (iat ltl ANS Copyrighted in 1878, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, No. 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. Single Number. 5 Cents. And so Duke sat still upon the back of his horse, staring in that direction, and ing his brain to the utmost to suggest some exp tion of what he saw. ‘*Thunder!” he suddenly added, in a ‘low voice, “it’s going up the mountain, and what in the name of Heaven it can be is more than I can guess.” It had now stopped the pendulum-like sway- ing, and could be seen steadily rising, like the ‘mounting of a star,” until it ascended higher than the background of blackness, and was Vol. III. ° : . every test. He looked at his horse to make The White Indian | sure that he was stationary, and that it was not | ’ an optical delusion. The point at which he first OR, | cane t sight ast ane Hen’ Mies spew pg lety tween the and top of the ridge, so that a The Scouts of the Yellowstone. | wall of blackness was tehind it, and the moon | itself, riding high in the heavens, could not have BY CAPT. J. F. C. ADAMS, | been seen with greater distinctness and certainty. AUTHOR OF ‘‘OREGON SOL,” ‘GLASS EYE,” | It was simply a bright, star-like point 5 “NED HAZEL,” ‘* NICK WHIFFLES’ PET,” ETC, | such as would be made by a newly-kin ed | camp-fire—kindled upon some ridge; and every- | thing would have been as natural as possible CHAPTER LI. A PERPLEXED EXPLORER. Duke BARLow reined up his horse and rubbed | a pendulum. his eyes, for never was he more puzzled in all | his life. It beat all his former experiences hollow, and raised such an amount of distrust in his own mind that he was not only perplexed but was uncomfortable and po ; He was mounted upon a fine Indian pony, which he had persuaded a Sioux chieftain to trade him, some time before, for a chew of tobacco (one of Smith & Wesson’s revolvers being the rincipal argument used on Fiat occasion,) and was re- turning rather belated to camp, when, as we have stated at the beginning, he drew up his horse and began rubbing his eyes. He had been off on a hunt up the Yellowstone, and had not started to return until dark; but Duke had a good memory for places, and he was satisfied that he was pursuing the right course, and that little more than a mile intervened between him and his friends.. Indeed, as he ascended a slight knoll in the prairie, he caught the oo, of asmall point of ight, which he was certain pena eri the ren em = e exploring pox to whic he was attac ted He had picked up an amazing amount of information dur- ing the comparatively short time he had spent in the Indian country, and one of the ‘‘ points ” was always to keep his wits about him, and when he paused to look in one direction, to look also in every other; and it was while thus e d on this paren moonlit night, that e caught sight of something which made his head fairly reel with amazement. It was due north, in the direction of a densely-wood- ed ridge, and at first sight Duke took it to be the camp- fire of some party of Indians or hunters, until, as he watched it closely, he made the astoundi discovery that it was moving! He did nt consent to acknowledge this until he had applied but for the puzzling fact that it was slowly | swaying from right to left, like the swinging of | ‘*T guess some music-teacher is marking time for his scholars,” was the thought which first suggested itself, but which did not mend mat- ters; for no Goliah himself could have described such an immense arc as that, measuring, at the least, twenty feet in extent. 7 Wy) DUKE BASEVIN ® pUsrmbe, / now some distance above the ridge. Here it remained motionless for full a minute, and then | suddenly dove a distance of twenty feet, where it began again the pendulum-like swaying from side to side, the amplifications, however, being much less than in the first place. ‘* Wonder if I’m tight?’ muttered the puzzled explorer, when he had attempted every possible explanation and still had failed. ‘‘I remember many a night in the college how we boys used to come home with the hiceups, and then sit at the window and try to see butone moon. I remember how one moon seemed to have two or three around it, dodging in -and out, and playing hide and seek, until we were all ready to swear that it wasn’t’ the earth but Jupiter we were — upon; but that was the whisky in those days, and I don’t see how it can be now, for I haven’t taken a drop since day before yesterday, except a pint or so this morning, and about the same at noon again, and not a drop to-night (because the bottle was empty.) I’m satisfied it’s bad business, and I’m going to taper off. My head, I’m satisfied, is as clear as a bell, but—” A shiver of terror ran over him at the thought that pos- sibly he had the delirium tremens, or the ‘‘ jim-jams,” as the boys used to call them. He had never been attacked with them, although Duke had spreed it bry hard in the past, and in his sober moments he had felt more than one pang of fear that that terrible retribution might come upon him ai some future time or other. Could it be that in this lonely out-of-the-way place in the Far West, his Nemesis had overtaken him? Was he to meet the fearful foe all alone, and wrestle with him, with none looking but his Indian horse, who could not a - + Ape a very vely sympathy in his case? If such, fades were the truth, he concluded that it was rather rough on hii *T cuess I hain’t got ’em,’’ he added, in a few minutes,