Beadle's Pocket Library (no. 195) (1887 10 05)
The text was read from the page scans by machine (OCR), so it has mistakes and its columns may run together. See the pages · About this title · At the Internet Archive
Page 1
NY ME ESS is lai iat a a a ink LE AND ADAM red at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second Class Mail Matter. Oct. 6, Vol. XV. 02-50 : Published Weekly by Beadle and Adams, Price. No, 19 5, No. 98 Winitam St., NEW YORK, Five Cents, XY WW \ AEN i i \ \ RAILER \\ \ CLUTCHING 4 ROCK ABOVE HER HEAD, SHE LEANED FAR OVER THE GIDDY EDGE AND SEIZED YOUTH, WHOSE HAND SEEMED ABOUT TO RELINQUISH THH BUCKSKIN CORD, -
Page 2
The Tenderfoot Trailer; Plucky Phil, of the Mountain. BY T. C. HARBAUGH, AUTHOR OF “‘ ARKANSAW,” ‘* CAPTAIN BULLET,” £ ETC., ETC., ETC. ‘ CHAPTER I. DESERTED. ““THAR’s no use talkin’, pards. We've got to the end ov the string. Pluck ar’ a good dog sometimes, but Go-back shows more sagacity. We've got one-half ov Sittin’ Bull’s tribe be- tween us an’ the fort now, the other half hover over us like the angels ov death. Look at Phil onder, standin’ with his back tous. “1 don’t ke to leave the young cap’n in this part ov the kentry, but we must go back er die whar we ar Pu These words fell from the lips of a burly fel- low who addressed a group of rough-looking men from the top of a huge bowlder among the Big Horn Mountains not far from Custer’s ill- fated battle-ground. 4 Apart from the speaker and his little audi- ence, with his back toward them, stood a youth who had scarcely completed his seventeenth year. He was handsome, athletic, and of course determined, for he had turned his back on men whose bravery had never been questioned. “ That settles it; they are going to desert me, and I can’t blame them,” he said to himself when the man on the bowlder paused, ‘ Their term of enlistment has expired, and I have no right to attempt to detain them. Besides, they baltcws my hunt in taese mountains a useless one, but I shall persevere as long as the moun- * tain trail can bo found. Let them go back, came hither to learn the fate of the wagon train or die. Iam going to stay.” ‘Phil?’ at this juncture called a rough voice, ** We ar’ goin’ to vote on yer last propersition.” The youth bit his lip, but did not stir. “Wal, you kin hear, anyhow. Now, pards, all who ar’in favor ov acceptin’ the cap’n’s tarms an’ goin’ on till the end comes, say I.” 3 Not a voice responded. “ Contrary, no.” Six negatives spoken at once, but in different tones replied. . “We go back, pards!” said the man on the stone, with a glance at the boy. ‘* Mebbe the _ cap’n will let us say good-by, but I hope he will go back with us.” i an “T stay!” suddenly cried the youth, whirling upon the six. ‘‘ Do not think that I blame you. fe is dear to every one. My place is here, yours, perhaps, behind the walls of some Goy- ernment fort. Yes, I will say good-by.” He halted before the bronze men and held out his hand. ; “There! don’t argue the case over again,” he suid to them, thus putting a stop to their re- _ monstrances. ‘ Until I shall have ascertained | the fate of every person in the train I will not turn my back on Sitting Bull’s dominions. You 2 The Tenderfoot Trailer. have voted togo back.. Bemen. Keep your de- termination.” The parting scene was soon over, and Phil Steele, or Plucky Phil as the men had named him, saw the veterans withdraw. The sun had already descended below the to of the mountain at whose base the decision had been reached, and the cool shadows of evening lay around the boy. ‘At last he was alone; the men whom he had hired at the nearest fort many miles away were going back, leaving him on the moun- ae trail in the midst of the death-lands of the Sioux. “Deserted but free!” cried the tenderfoot vailer, springing upon the rock lately occupied by the leader of the six. ‘tI can follow my own counsels from this time. Advice will no longer be driven into my ears, and my camp will not be cursed by the voice of the grumbler. They were brave fellows, but I believe [ can get along without them, I must!” he added, witha smile as he jumped from his perch and picked up the rifle that leaned against the rock. ‘“*T can explore the pass, now,” he said, start- ing off. ‘It will be a further advance into Sit- ting Bull’s country, but what dol care? I am here to find or to die!” These were brave words from one so young, but Plucky Phil had a right to use them. After an hour’s walk from the place of separa- tion the young trailer reached the mouth of a kind of natural canyon. creeping down the lofty walls, and if night had been an hour nearer, the. center of the pass would have looked gloomy indeed. “Forward!” cried Plucky Phil, as if address- ing the men who had deserted him, and the next moment, with his rifle at full cock, he entered the pass. Far above him towered the bush-covered sides of the canyon, but as he advanced objects be- came more distinct until he had no difficulty in picking his way. “ Here is where the red fiends might have at-— tacked the train,” he exclaimed, “ for all could have been butchered in this canyon. I am get- ting close to the fatal spot. Something tells me this, Great heavens! I am here now!” The last sentence dropped from the boy’s lips as he suddenly recoiled from an object which his foot was about to strike, and standing aloof while a shiver of horror crept over his frame, he stared at a human skull, whose grin was as grotesque as it was horrible. Other objects speedily confirmed Plucky Phil’s exclamation. He had reached the scene of some massacre, for half-burned parts of wagons and bones of horses mingled with those of unfor- tunate human beings told the dreadful tale. Not long after his first discovery the moun-° tain trailer stood in the very midst of the scene, ““T pray heaven that I may find some hopeful sign,” fell from his lips. ‘‘I wonder if they fought hard. Ah! can I doubt them when they were led by such men as Overland Dick and Old Policy? Here’ they were attacked by a thousand Sioux, no doubt, and here among”the wagons they died one by one, All; & will not believe it without proof!” Dark shadows were.
Page 3
The Tenderfoot Trailer. 3 He fell to work and overturned or examined every bone and piece of wagon that encounter- ed his gaze. “T shall bury them when I get through,” he said. ‘Perhaps, in giving all these bones a grave, I may be paying the last tribute to Nora. Then vengeance!” Half ar hour later he leaned against the wali of the canyon and gazed sorrowfully upon the heap of ghastly relics he had collected. “Ah! he suddenly exclaimed, as his look wandered from the pile. ‘‘ One poor fellow at least crept from the awful butcher-pen,” and the next moment he was stooping over the skele- ton of a man which lay thirty feet or more from the spot. After a brief examination of the bones, Plucky Phil was on the point of turning away when the glitter of something beneath the skele- ton hand attracted his attention, and he un- earthed a few inches of a soldier’s bayonet. The point was much worn as though it had been used on stone, and the youth he pagina glanced at the canyon wall at the foot of whic the steel had been found. A lot of mountain creepers met his eye, but putting out his band he brushed them aside to utter a cry of discovery. On the stone thus breught to view were nu- merous seratches which soon began to assume the shapes of rough letters, and oblivious of his dangerous surroundings, he dropped his rifle and leaned eagerly forward. He seemed to hold his breath while he deciphered the last work of the dead man’s hand. Letter by letter and word by word the boy trailer mastered the inscription, until at last he reached the end, having read these brief sen- tences: “We were attacked yesterday by five hundred Sioux. Not one of our party escaped. I am the only one alive at this moment, and lam dying. No- body may ever see this, therefore, we may never be * avenged. We fought to the last. CAMPBELL.” The signature told Plucky Phil that the “last man” had fallen back from his task exhausted and really dying. He knew Campbell, the leader of the ill-fated train, and a man who deserved a better fate; but notwithstanding the assertion that no one had escaped, a look of doubt remained in the boy’s eyes. “T will not believe it! I cannot!” he cried, “The trail of a thousand hunters would end here, but mine does not. It only begins. I admit that Captain Campbell ought to have known all, for_he lived till the day after the massacre, but I am going to doubt his dying words. I will avenge you, captain. Those five hundred Sioux are my bitterest enemies, Woe to their great chiefs ifan Indian hatchet touched Fora Dalton’s head that day. They have named me Plucky Phil, and the time for me to honor that name has come. First, sepul- ture; then, the long hunt and revenge.” Under a huge rock which at one place jutted from the canyon wall at its foot, the collected bones. of the people of the train were placed, and the hands of the youthful trailer heaped earth and stones upon them. Then he went back to his rifle, For a moment he looked toward the end of the pass at which he had entered, then he turned to the west—toward the unknown lands of the Sioux. **The mountain trail is not yet ended!” he exclaimed springing forward. ‘‘ The bones*I have found would have kept the boys at my back. They deserted me a little too soon. But never mind. I am willing to hunt alone.” At that moment the sound of a human voice struck his ear, and he stopped and turned to- ward the eastern mouth of the canyon, “The boys have followed me,” he said in a low tone. “I ought to exhibit nerve and send them back again.” No, the six bronze men were not coming back. “ve seen it forty times since, Tana,” said the unknown voice; “but I can’t make out a letter *cause I’m no scholar. Mebbe you kin.” Plucky Phil heard these words, and then saw two figures approach the rock bearing Captain Campbell’s inscription. One tore the vines aside and turned a face of triumph to his companion. “Thar, "Tana! make it out yerself ef you kin!” he exclaimed. Plucky Phil crouched in the shadows and stared at the pair. CHAPTER II. PHIL SHOWS HIS PLUCK. THE light in the mountain pass was fading fast, and the man called "Tana was mastering thé inscription on the rock with no little diffi- culty. He was closely watched by the long- halved athlete whose bronze haud held the vines aside. “Can’t you make it out?’ asked the latter, “T might if the light was stronger, but it’s going too fast to help me any. See here, oyote, you know more about their fate than any one in these parts. There! don’t start and say no. The telling of your story will not make us foes. If you did not take any part in the fight, you were there. I know it.” The mountain climbers baving dropped from Coyote’s hand, once more covered the letterin on the stone, and Coyote himself had start back and was regarding his companion with a look of indecision, The men stood erect and faced each other. “Tam waiting for your story,” said "Tana, ‘Go on.” At the same time Plucky Phil caught a threat- ful gleam in his eye as he glanced at the butt of the revolver that protruded from his belt. “T war thar, "Tana, that’s a fact,” said Coyote, in a forced tone; *‘ but I didn’t lift a band ag’in %em except to try an’ save, an’ thar I failed. You see we knowed all along thet the train war comin’, Sittin’ Bull’s scouts kept us posted, an’ long afore the attack took place we knowed all about the party. Hyar the battle took Jace—not much ov a battle either, fur the ead Eittea nearly everybody at the first fire. Then they charged down the pass, but a small number of men led by a lank fellar called Policy Pete gave a volley thet emptied a dozen saddles. But the next charge the red niggers got to the wagons, an’ then the usual wor! an. Irode up then to save a young gel wiat had bancled
Page 4
4 a rifle durin’ the hull fight like an old trapper, but I couldn’t do it, Tana. The young bucks seein’ what I war at turned on me, an’ef I hadn’t pulled out, my bones would be yonder with them what they left behind in the fire.” To this narrative "Tana and the anseen boy had listened with breathless interevt. It was intended to give the death-blow to long cher- ished hopes. Coyote’s positiveness told tnis, but his nearest auditor seemed to doubt. “Are you sure, Coyote, that the girl was massacred after you left her?” he asked. “She warn’t with us when we went back,” was the significant rejoinder. ‘Sittin’ Bull took no prisoners thet time. I ought to know, "Tana, for I war thar.” For a moment ’Tana did not reply, and when he for a second removed his gaze from Coyote’s face, Plucky Phil, who had been watching it in- cessantly, uttered an ejaculation of discovery. “Coyote is lying!” he cried. “’Tana, who- ever he is, does not know how to deal with the rascal. The secret of Nora’s fate has not been told. Those squaw-men like Coyote are not all fools. They’d sooner sell a lie on credit than tell the honest truth for cash. There! "Tana is going athim again. He doubts still, I wonder ; Why be is so interested in the girl who wielded the rifle in this bloody pass that day?” Tana did return to the charge, but Coyote could not or would not tell more about the at- tack on the train. “‘T thought the writing on the rock thar might "@ be of some value to you,” he said to "Tana; *thet’s why I brought you hyar.” ‘Tt amounts to nothing so far as I can make it out.” “Pm sorry.” * Another lie!” said Plucky Phil to himself. ** Coyote seems to be well supplied with the use- “ fal, but he’ll sing another song when I get at m. *Tana lost hope at last. Coyote was baffling im, “T can’t think of my plans as lost ones,” the former said, dejectedly. * “Tm afraid you'll hev to, cap’n. Wouldn’t I hev seen the gal ef she hed been carried off?” “Tt looks that way.” “Ov course! The Government doesn’t know fur sart?in what ever became of the train. Yon- der it lies, "Tana, men, hosses an’ wagons all mixed together, an’ thar hezn’t been an avenger in these parts—none thet I’ve heard ov.” “There is one here now!” fell in determined tones from Plucky Phil’s lips, as he stepped from the shadow of his rock into the light that lingered in the middle of the pass. Coyote and "Tana looked up, caught sight of his figure and sprung to their rifles. “Lift a weapon and drop dead behind it!” shot over the shining barrel of his own rifle. “T am not here to kill if I can discover, but my fingers are itching to touch the trigger of the © that covers the heart of one who rode with Sitting Bull to the butchery of Campbell and his people. Stand where you are, mountain pards, You have lied, Coyote. I want the truth!” The he of the bronzed squaw-man burned with a tigerish glare, The Tenderfoot Trailer. ‘i ined rifle of the young trailer covered his eart. ‘* Quick—the truth!” continued the boy, im- patiently, ‘‘ You know that Nora Dalton did notdie that day. You have been lying to’Tana, your companior, for a pur . You sell me the same goods and I will pay you in bullets!” *Tana was regarding Plucky Phil with eyes filled with astonishment. They had met for the first time, and as enemies at that. Their hunt for Nora Dalton could not make them friends. From the boy he glanced at Coyote, who was in a predicament which he did nof relish, “Tell him the truth if you have lied to me,” he said, in a low tone, to the squaw-man. ‘*P’ve told the solid truth,” was the surly an- swer. ‘‘ Why should I lie?” The riext moment the crack of a rifle resound- ed throughout the mountain pass, and Coyote, with a yell of pain, staggered back and dropped on the spot where Campbell’s skeleton had bleached for two years, ‘“ Winged, Tana!” he grated fiercely, looking up at his companion, ‘‘Give the young wolf a bullet. He'll bite you one ov these days ef you don’t.” : Spurred on by the idea of self-preservation, Tana turned and raised his rifle, but he found . Plucky Phil standing not twenty feet away with a cocked revolver in his hand. “Go back!” he said sternly to "Tana. ‘‘Go back beyond where that yellow viper lies, I don’t want your blood, although I may demand an explanation one of these days. You see I have not killed Coyote, A shot through the shoulder isn’t a deadly one. He may live to serve you yet. Go back fifty paces, but first cast your weapons on the ground, the rifle and your revolvers, They shall not be lost if you behave yourself.” *Tana bit his lips and flung his weapons on the ground; then he moved backward past the helpless Coyote, but shot all the while flashes of vengeful eye-fire at the boy. “Now, viper, I want the truth,” exclaimed Plucky Phil springing to Coyote’s side. The eyes of the crippled squaw-man surveyed him from head to foot before he spoke. « ‘* What do you want to know?” / “The fate of the girl who fought that day with the rifle. She was not killed. Your lies deceived "Tana, but not me.” ‘You war listenin’, then?” “ Yes,” “Wal, pard, the gal aren’t dead.” Plucky Phil’s eyes dilated with joy. “ Where is she?” **'You’ve got to find her.” ““What! Beware, Coyote, your last trail will end here if you prevaricate.” res lookin’ fur her myself. Honest Injun, pard. ““She’s been taken from you, then?” ‘“* That’s jes’ it.” “By whom?” ‘* T don’t know exactly, but I’ve got an idea.” “* Let me have it.” - ‘Sittin’ Bull wanted the gal arter the mas- sacre, not fur his wife, mind you, pard, but to help ’im in some kind oy a plot ag’in’ the whites,
Page 5
The Tenderfoot Trailer. & His red warriors tracked me fur months afore they found the gal. She’s gone now; thet’s all I know. Ef I war you an’ wanted ’er I’d fol- ler the old Sioux chief himself. I fancy you haven’t made much by wingin’ Coyote, though you've ’arned some news. The chap behind me ar’ huntin’ Nora, too.” ae "Tana?” ‘Cap'n Montana, er ’Tana fer short. You Loa might pool yer issues ef it warn’t fur one ing. _ ‘“ What's that?” asked Plucky Phil with burn- ing eagerness. “You couldn’t be friends ef you wanted to be,” answered Coyote with a smile. ‘‘ Ever hear ov Cap’n ’Tana?” “* Never.” . ‘That warn’t his name ten year ago.” ‘What was it?” ** Goldboots.” Plucky Philsprung up with an exclamation that fixed Coyote’s gaze upon him. “What!” he cried. ‘‘My mother’s enemy here fighting me?” A great bound carried him clear over Coyote’s prostrate body, and, revolver in hand, he rushed toward the spot to which Captain "Tana had re- treated. But all at once he stopped and uttered a cry of disappointment. *Tana or Goldboots had disappeared. ‘*Discoveries are made too late,” he said. * The greatest villain on earth has escaped me. Imay becompelled to form an alliance with Coyote,” and he turned toward that worthy. At that moment a series of Indian yells broke the ‘stillness that reigned at the westernmost mouth of the canyon. A bound carried Plucky Phil to Coyote’s side. ‘* What does that mean?” he cried. ““Injuns, ov course. Mounted, too.” “Pm in for it now, but I'll stand my ground.” cyt ato shot the boy a look of admiration. “Clean grit, by hokey!” keexclaimed. ‘ Pick up my revolver, boy; then you'll hey two; but be careful who you shoot ef they as’ Injuns. Thar’s sart’in to be a tall red-skin inthe gang who may turn out the best friend a boy in yer fix ever had. Don’t kill himef you want to win in this mountain game.” Even if Coyote had not concluded, the youth eould have listened no longer, for a score of mounted Sioux had dashed into view. With two revolvers thrust forward, Plucky Phil awaited the onset. He could not escape discovery, and he might as well open the ball, A minute later the first red rank saw him braced. and defiant in the canyon path, and as the whole band discovered him, the two deadly revolvers began the conflict. “Tnever ran! I never will!” grated the boy, as his fingers set the triggers in motion, CHAPTER III. POLICY PETE, STUNNED and confused by the deadly work of Plucky Phil’s revolvers, the Sioux fell back. “The tall, slim red-skin—don’t drop him!” admonished Coyote from the ground. “ You'll need a afore the mountain trail ends er ’m a saint, **T don’t see him,” said Phil. “Mebbe you've dropped ’im already. Ef you hev, boy—’ Phil broke the sentence with an exclamation of surprise, for out from the Indian ranks had dashed a single horseman who was about to run him down. Instantly the two revolvers went upward again and the days of the reckless rider might have ended there and then if Coyote’s voice had not checked the boy. “Don’t, youngster; let im come on. He is the tall Injun I refarred to. Lower your bulldogs and stand aside.” Phil obeyed. A moment later the superb horse ridden by the slim red-skin was at his side, and the hand that closed on his shoulder lifted him from the ground. “T told ye so,” cried Coyote, witnessing the feat. ‘‘VIl see you later, boy. I like your grit, but I owe you a blood-debt which Pll hey to pay. Plucky Phil did not hear the squaw-man’s last sentence, for the Indian’s horse was bearing him eastwa1d down the canyon. Out from the mountain gulch dashed the horse, into the grayish. twilight that bad suc- ceeded the day. The mountain trailer still clang to the two revolvers, his only weapons, for his sudden journey had caused him to leave his rifle behind. How could his fate be in the hands of his painted captor? In what manner were their lives to be united? Once beyond the canyon, Plucky Phil began to scrutinize his captor’s face. The painting of it was ludicrous in the extreme, and not of that kind so frequently seen among the warriors of the Sioux nation. The Indian’s dress was nearly half ‘‘ civilized,” and, altogether, after an in- spection of several minutes while he was carried on, Plucky Phil concluded that he had been studying a puzzle—a human enigma, ‘““Whoa! Rocket!” suddenly cried the Indian in atone which dilated Phil’s gray eyes. ‘It ain’t my policy to travel all nigbt, an’ no piece ov horseflesh in the Big Horn hills knows that better nor you. By hookey! baby pard, what confounded policy brought you out hyar?” Phil ean not stammer a reply. His look was an impertinent stare, seeing which a smile became visible at the corners of the Sioux’s mouth. “What yer lookin’ at?” he asked. war a photograph machine my picture’d hev been taken afore this.” ‘“* You are Policy Pete!” cried the boy. “ By hokey! you wouldn’t starve ef you hed to guess fur a livin’,” was the answer, ‘The an- atomy now before you soars to Policy Pete. Policy is policy at all times. I’m an Injun now an’ hev been fur nigh two years, er ever since I crawled from the train nigher dead than alive.” Plucky Phil could not repress an exclamation of delight. e “T know now why Coyote told me to spare the tall, slim Indian,” he said. ‘‘ You_are my friend, because I am hunting for Nora Dalton. “You hyar alone lookin’ fur thet gal?” cried old Policy. ‘‘ Mebbe she’s dead,” ? “Ef you _
Page 6
8 ‘‘ No, she is not!” quickly cried the youth. ‘I forced the truth from Coyote after having given him a bullet in the shoulder. Ah! we shall hunt Nora together; we will stand by each other, and from what I’ve heard of you, I am not afraid to trust you in anything.” Policy Pete’s eyes seemed to sparkle with sat- isfaction. “One ov yer bullets clipped a lock oy my ha’r back yonder,” he said. ‘‘I could hey finished you, but thet wouldu’t have been good policy. ‘Afore we talk let us go down this little pass. I know a place, an’ then I want to git some 0’ this Injun paint off my carkiss. Allus hev a policy; thet’s my doctrine.” Guided by the old guide’s hand the horse turned into a gloomy trail which led the strange air to the foot of a mountain where Plucky hil slid to the ground to be followed by Policy Pete, A full moon creeping over the tops of some trees of the mountain-side bathed the halting- place in a weird silvery beauty, and the young trailer watched his companion bathe his face in a spring that bubbled near by, “Fortune smiles at last,” he murmured, to himself. ‘‘She has brought me face to face with Policy Pete, the guide of Campbell’s train. With him for an ally I shall succeed!” When the lank guide turned from the spring and revealed his face Phil was inclined to smile. It still looked like an Indian’s so far as coloring was concerned; mountain air and mountain suns had more than bronzed it. In the moon- light it looked almost black. ‘* Not ez purty ez a chromo,” remarked Policy, noticing the boy’s look. ‘‘ Don’t keep in the shade to save yer complexion. Thet’s my policy. I war three weeks among the Sioux, an’ nigh Sittin’ Bull’s headquarters, afore their keenest eyes thought I war somebody besides a squaw-man, an’ consequently a white-hater. Sittin’ Bull himself would hev hed a fit ef he hed dreamed thet one nv the guides ov LOmp. bell’s train hed escaped, an’ war within smell- in’ distance ov his flesh-pots. I war carryin’ out a policy, keepin’ still an’ playin’ squaw- man, but at last I j’ined the tribe ez a half-breed from the Mussel Shell region, an’ they took me in, policy an’ all, an’ never asked for my pedi- » Tee, Policy Pete paused to laugh over the recollec- tion of his successful ruse. “But Captain Campbell wrote on the rock that all were killed,” said the youth. “Did, eh? Mebbe he thought so, but when I crawled out from the burnin’ wagons hacxed and shot, [ looked like a fellar whose policy hed about expired. It war a time—a time, boy, but I won’t tell about it hyar. You must tell meall about yerself. Ef you hev a policy, 1 want to know it.” Plucky Phil did not hesitate, but told the old guide how he had led, or rather followed, six men into the mountains on a hunt for the miss- ing train, but especially for Nora Dalton, a ‘oung friend of his who had accompanied it. He narrated their adventures from the day of departure from the nearest Government fort to The Tenderfoot Trailer. ‘Now, yer policy?’ said the guide, when Phil paused. The youth blushed and smiled. “T need hardly mention that I love Nora,” he said. ‘* Love has brought me to this place. My policy is to hunt for her till I find her—now that I know she lives—and then rescue her if she is in danger.” ““In danger?” echoed Policy Pete; she isin danger. I know thet much. Thar’s but one livin’ pecean in this kentry who knows exactly whar Nora is, an’ he won’t tell.” ‘He shall tell!” cried Phil. ‘‘ You an’ I will force the secret from him, Policy!” ““Now ye'r’ gittin’ off,” was the reply. ‘t Wait till I talk about thet feller with the secret. In the first place, he runs the machine in these parts; he kin call ten thousand warriors into the field; he lifts his hand an’ an army like Cus- ter’s is wiped out. He’s a wolf an’ a snake com- bined. e kin crush er tear, jest ez he likes.” You mean Sitting Bull himself?” ““The clothes fit im, don’t they?” was the re- ply. ‘I mean Sittin’ Bull, an Injun who knows the value ov a policy, fur he hesn’t been without one fur forty years. He’s workin’ up one now the desertion of the six, and continued his own up to the battle in the canyon. what will prove a big bonanza fur him, an’ Nora is to help im.” “ To. “Fact! I lowed you'd be surprised. Sittin’ Bull knows whar Nora Dalton is. Coyote saved , her frum the train an’ kept her a long time, but Sittin’ Bull’s red detectives ferreted her out, an’ Coyote found the nest empty one mornin’. Yes, pard, ef you want Nora, you must ask the Sioux wolf fur her; but do you think he'll give er up?” Plucky Phil’s eyes flashed. ; ‘Time shall tell!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ I say that Sitting Bull shall tell me the truth. I forced it from Coyote in the canyon, I will wring it from the Indian king.” “Complete yer policy first,” said the guide looking calmly at him. ‘“* Where is Sitting Bull now?” “On the Big Horn.” “Come, then! We have rested long enough. You are going to stand by me. Sol must wrest a secret from the great Indian chief of the West before I can find Nora? I accept the task! I didn’t think it would come to this when I started on my mission; but the ten thousand braves led by Sitting Bull do not daunt me.” These sentences fell calmly from Plucky Phil’s a His eyes sparkled as be spoke, that was a “ We'll make a policy on the journey,” said Pete. ‘' We can’t get along without one.” “Pve formed mine.” , “ Well?” “We will go to Sitting Bull’s camp, and at the muzzle of the revolver, [ll force the secret from the killer of Custer and his men!” Policy Pete uttered an exclamation of aston- ishment. ““Thet means death!” he said. ‘Then death it shall be! I shall go alone—” “Not while Policy Pete ar’in the neighbor- hood,” was the interruption, and the bronze hand of the old guide fell assuringly upon Plucky Phil’s shoulder,
Page 7
’ The Tenderfoot Trailer. a Tf the friends at that moment had glanced up the slope of the mountain they might have caught sight of a pair of eyes and a triumphant ae destined to seriously mterfere with their plans. But they saw it not, and when they turned their faces toward Sitting Bull’s camp, a human figure crept panther-like in their wake. It was Goldboots. CHAPTER IV. IN SITTING BULL’S CAMP. ‘¢ Wat, hyar we ar’ Plucky. Down yonder is the lion’s den. Look a minute, an’ tell me ef you feel like enterin’.” The speaker was Policy Pete, and, while he looked at the boy who stood at his side in the mountain trail, his long arm pointed downward toward ascene not untrequently witnessed in the Big Horn country. The sun was setting behind the trees at their backs, but light enough remained to enable the Lounge trailer’s eyes to note the beautiful valley elow dotted with the grotesque tepees of the red-men. Groups of horses were visible at the edge of the great camp, and here and there moved the stately forms of their lawless masters. Sitting Bull’s camp was before Plucky Phil. “Don't go off half-cocked,” continued Old Policy, watching his young friend, who was re- arding the scenein silence. ‘‘ Take a good look at he hair ov the red lion, A’man what goes down thar fur bizness must hev a clean-cut policy. Look to yer heart’s content, Plucky, an’ don’t answer me till ye’r’ ready.” “The sight is enough to daunt some, Pete,” the boy said, facing his companion; ‘‘ but the secret is yonder. That decides me.” “* Jest ez LI expected. Now let me strike a olicy. I'll go down an’ reconnoiter; you stay byar: Til bring back su’thin’ about Sittin’ Bull, never fear! He war hyar four days ago.” “Go, Pete!” cried the youth. ‘I want to get to work. I will wait for you here.” Five minutes later, in_the deepening shadows of the mountain-side, Plucky Phil was alone, but the Iudian camp was still visible. Policy Pete had vanished. ; The old guide was not unknown in the Sioux camp. A hundred times since his escape from the massacre of the canyon, he had ridden across its boundaries, now in the ranks of the Indians, and now with the bronze squaw-men who came and went whenever they pleased. He knew that the band, faced and shot into by Plucky Phil in the canyon had not returned to the camp, therefore his strange rescue of the boy had not been made known to Sitting Bull. He did not attempt to steal into the great vil- lage. On the contrary, he entered boldly, greeting in a rough voice several old acquaint- ances who lounged in the cooling shadows of evening. Darkness found Policy Pete in the center of the camp. More than one Sioux dog had snuff- ed at his heels and eyed him suspiciously, but he kept on like a man with a mission. All at once his well known name was spoken on his left, in a low voice to be sure, but to Pete it sounded like the hoarse boom of a can- non, vd He thought a second before he turned, and said to himself: ‘“‘Don’t furgit yer policy, Pete.” Then he faced the speaker whose figure, not nite as tall as his, did not look much like a ioux’s, “T might have called you Aggawam, yer In- jun name,” said the same voice as a hasty stride brought its owner to Policy’s side. ‘‘ We've all got red-skin handles, you know. Ov course you know me now.” “Coyote!” cried Old Policy. For a moment the two men confronted each other in the faint light of the thousands of stars that glittered above the Sioux camp. The eee seemed to delight Coyote—it annoyed olicy. ““Whar’s the youngster, Pete?” suddenly asked the squaw-man. “Oh, the boy I jerked from the ground in the canyon? I wish you’d go an’ find ’im, Coyote. You've heard oy eels in yer time, heyn’t you? Wal, he’s one.” Did not the searching eyes of Coyote call Policy Pete a liar while he spoke? They seemed to con- tain anything but a look of cr ee _ “He got away, then?’ he said, eigning be- lief. = Seine through my hands like a weasel, an’ afore 1 could find out who he war an’ what brought ’im hyar. He winged you, eh?” “Tn the shoulder. Thet’s why I’m hyar, Pol- icy. The plagued thing doesn’t heal ez brisk] ez I’d like to hev it do. I knowed you when saw yer shadder. I’ve kept yer secret fur two years, but Sittin’? Bull doesn’t dream about you. * Policy Pete started at the emphasis, and the eyes of the two men met. ‘““-You’ve been lookin’ fur the gal ever since the massacre,” said Coyote. ‘‘Pve knowed it all along, an’ while I kept her hid from Sittin’ Bull, I watched you like a hawk, fur you wasn’t play- in’ Sioux an squaw-man fur nothin’. The old chief’s outwitted both of us, Policy. How does thet strike you?” Coyote stepped back a pace and watched Policy Pete with an amused expression of coun- tenance, “He must hev the best policy,” was the old guide’s answer. ‘But we needn't discuss such matters hyar. I’m back to stay awhile. Pll see you in the mornin’, Coyote; thet is, ef you ar’ goin’ to play fair. You want the chief's se- cret. Without me you kin never git it. Never!” Old Policy was moving away, when Coyote bounded forward. “We kin git it tomight—you and me,” he ex- claimed. 2 Pete shot him a searching look, not unmixed with astonishment. ‘Sittin’ Bull is alone in the big white tepee. A hand at his throat an’ a revolver at his head will tear the secret from him.” “That’s a poor policy,” said Pete, quickly. “| kin do better than thet.” “Wal” “T]] go down an’ tell him kinder mysteriously thet the gal hez disappeared. He wil an’ see fur himself ef he swallows the bait. He kin be follered.” °
Page 8
8 The Tenderfoot Trailer. “T like the plan. Shell we work together, “T war a fool to trust you,” ho said. ‘I Policy?” ; might hey knowed thet a lone hunt war the best . Coyote was extending his hand to the gaunt | policy, You made the net when you first saw ide, _ | me, Wal, laugh while you kin, Coyote. I’m “We'll shake arter the work, not afore it. | goin‘ to laugh last!” Thet’s never been my policy,” said Pete, refus- “You, one of Custer’s scouts, laugh when ing the proffered hand. “Til go an’ tell the | Sittin’ Bull is through with you?” cried Coyote. lie,” he added, with a smile, “Kin you hev two | ‘I wouldn’t give a fox pelt fur yer chances to . hosses ready, Coyote?” see the sun rise in the mornin’. ou war goin’ ‘Pil hey them ready,” to kill Sitting Bull fur the white gal.” ‘ At the old rock.” The last sentence was intended for ears other * “TN be thar.” than Policy’s. It brought the Indian king for- The two worthies separated, and Policy Pete, | ward with a cry of vengeance, but the old guide walking away, glanced over his shoulder at | held him off with his left hand. Coyote, but he had alread disappeared. “Policy is policy,” fell from his lips as his ne big white tepee” of Sitting Bull was | revolver leaped from his belt, and before Coyote known to every visitor to, and tenant of the | could divine his intention he was staggering camp on the Big Horn. From it the red king of | from tho deadly flash that lit up the savage the great red nation of the Northwest had rid- | square. den to Custer’s last battle-ground, and back ‘“Thar! Pye done youa sarvice, chief,” said pa to its secret interior he had carried tro- | Pete turning to Sitting Bull. ‘‘Sparin’ vipers phies of that memorable engagement. like Coyote is ’tarnal poor policy.” A short walk brought Policy Pete in sight of the structure, which occupied the middle of a CHAPTER V. rough square, and was sixty yards from the STRIKING A TRAIL, nearest wigwam. Tue faint echoes of Old Policy’s revolver During his walk he had coined his story to the | reached the ears of the boy keeping watch on smallest particular, and confident that he would | the dusky mountain slope that overlooked the succeed, he stepped up to the tent and grasped | Indian camp. the curtain that formed the door. They seemed to tell him that some misfortune The next instant a figure darted from the | had befallen the lank guide, and, as the hours dark ground just around the curve of the tepee | wore away without bringing him back, Plucky and with the force of a tiger dashed against the |, Phil became convinced that something had gone old guide, who went back under the assault, wrong. At the same time a yell loud enough to pene- “Policy would not have deserted me,” he trate to the confines of the Sioux camp cut the | said aloud. ‘I will stand by him,” and ook- air, and fifty human figures sprung into the | ing to his revolvers, one of which he held in his square from each of its four sides. right hand, he left his post, and began to go “ Stan’ off! I kin hold ’im!” exclaimed the | down the mountain. : voice of Policy’s assailant, whose left hand held He discovered as he neared the Sioux village the guide’s throat with a gripe that threatened | or camp, thatit was far from being quiet, and to sever his windpipe. ‘‘ You ar’a purty set | while he slipped from shadow to shadow in the ov Injuns! When the fox is caught you're allus | vain hope of finding Policy Pete, he noticed flit- ready to fight fur the hide. No, sir-ce! I hold | ting figures that commanded more than casual my fox till Sittin’ Bull comes,” attention, ‘Sitting Bull is here!” All at once he came suddenly upon a group of Sure enough the imposing figure of the war-| men whose dress as ke saw it in the starlight chief of the Sioux stood before Old Policy’s cap- | told him at once that they were the treacherous tor, and the next moment the lank guide was | Squaw-men of the West. It was well for Plucky hustled toward the chief, The merciless hand at | Phil that he crouched and hugged the ground his throat was paralyzing every nerve. when he did, for the eyes of the bronze fellows “Hyar’s a snake fur you to kill,” said the cap- | might have caught sight of him. tor tothe chief. ‘‘Look at ‘im. You've see’d Sittin’ Bull ar’ goin’ to turn ’im loose,” said 4im afore, Bull. He’s playin’ Injun an’ squaw- | one. ‘‘ He’s convinced the old chief thet if he man jistez it suited’im ever since we struck | hedn’t shot Coyote when he did, he’d hev found Campbell an’ his train in the deep gulch. He’s the | the gal, an’ then thet big bonanza would hev tall scout what helped Stanley along through the | disappeared like smoke. Yellowstone kentry—Policy Pete! I found ’im “‘ Coyote’s over yonder tussling with death. I sneakin’ into yer tent. He war goin’ to find the | couldnt sarve ‘im any longer—nobody kin. white gal an’ thet ef he hed to hold his revolver | The bullet went crashin’ through his face. at yer heart. Take ’im, chief.” Thet’s what a feller gits fur doin’ the chief a Potion Pete, suddenly released, had not re- | sarvice.” covered from his surprise when the red hand of Plucky Phil heard all this and knew that some Sitting Bull clutched his arm. one—Old Policy, in all probavility—had finished aS ite scout speak,” commanded the chief. Coyote’s career. The person whom Sitting Bull ‘Tn one minute,” said Pete, clearing his throat. | was about to “turn loose” according to the ‘* Honesty is the best policy when it wins, But | squaw-man must be the guide, I want a word with Coyote first.” He waited to hear no more, but left the angry He broke from Sitting Bull’s gripe and started group and glided away hoping to find Sitting toward Coyote whose eyes danced triumphantly | Bull whose presence he thought would not be above his bronze cheeks, far from Policy Pete. wr ss \ a. jee’ ates ee ee
Page 9
wire The Tenderfoot Trailer, 11 So the handsome figure of Captain "Tana con- tinued to remain motionless beside the tree. He might have touched Coyote by jutting forth his hand, and certain-it is that he heard every groan of pain that welled from the squaw- man’s heart. Allat once Coyote uttered a terrible oath and almost fell from the rock upon which he had partially drawn his figure. “Where is Rosa?” he exclaimed. ‘If she doesn’t come soon I'll pass in my chips afore I kin mount my hoss.” Montana saw that the man. on the rock was wrestling with death. “*T allus ‘lowed thet death would never give me a fair deal,” he grated, looking at the dark stain now on the starlit rock—bis own blood, “Tf Rosa did come back now she couldn’t help me. I’m at the end ov my string; in other words, Coyote, death rakes in the biggest pot ov the game ov life.” - The man rolled from the stone and lay on his back with his face upturned to the stars, His hands clutched the ground in his agony. Montana sprung forward, and as he bent over Coyote, the eyes of the two men met. “You?” cried the squaw-man, attempting to shrink away. ‘‘You want to know whar the gal is? You wouldn’t try to be my avenger.” ‘““By Heaven, I will, Coyote!” said Captain ‘Tana. ‘ First, tell the truth about Nora Dal- ton, and I'll bunt your slayers down.” ‘‘No! arter you hed found the gal, you’d go back an’ be Goldboots the Pacific Nabob ag’in,” said Coyote, turning his head away. *T wouldn’t!—I swear—” “Tl tell Rosa, not you!” was the interrup- tion. “Tl put her on Nora’s trail an’ leave you to find it. Theperson what will not avenge me must hunt fur the gal on his own hook. Be- sides, you'll be hunted like a mad-dog afore many days.” “By whom?” ‘By one who found only a few hours ago thet you war Goldboots, an’ ef thet person hesn’t got a big account ag’in’ you, then Sittin’ Bull doesn’t like rum.” “You betrayed ms, then?” The rapidly-glancing eyes of Coyote shot Mon- tana a look of defiance. “JT told him thet your old name war Gold- boots!” A curse fell from Captain "Tana’s lips, and his hands darted like the talons of a vulture at the squaw-man’s throat. “You'll hey to tighten your grip ef you beat the bullet!” grated Coyote grimly. “Gods! I will!” A gurgle and a gasp followed the exclama- tion, and the mad eyes of Montana saw death put an end to Coyote’s career. His hands were still at the throat of the man beneath him when he heard the neigh of a horse, and looking up he saw Rosa, the Sioux girl, leading two steeds. He had time to leap up when the red maiden saw him and drew back. “She mustn’t escape me, She may already know the secret!” fell from his lips, and the next _ instant he darted forward, clutched the girl’s arm, and continued: ‘‘Go yonder and look at Coyote. I tried to keep life in him till youcame back, but death wouldn’t let me.” With a cry that seemed to fill her eyes with flashes of fire, Rosa dropped the leathern bridles - of the horses and sprung to Coyote’s side. There he lay, staring at the stars, dead! She knelt over him with woman’s tenderness, and seemed about to imprint a kiss on his bloody face, when she was seen to start as though a serpent had hissed under the squaw- man’s head. Had she seen the finger-prints on the throat? She wheeled upon Captain’Tana, and with finger pointing to Coyote, asked in a strange voice: ‘* White brother here when Coyote die! What he say about Rosa—what word him leave?” “He said that we should hunt the white girl together,” said Montana, through whose brain a certain idea had flashed like a beam of light. ‘“We shall be friends and help one another, Rosa.” “ Coyote say so?” “Yes. Iam going to hunt the man who sent the bullet into his face.” * And the boy, too?” “May I die if I forget one whom I have cause to hate!” was the answer, “Who are you, white man?” Rosa asked. “T am Captain Montana, but you shall know more of me byand by. Are you ready for the trail now?” Rosa sent a look toward the silent man on the ground, then went toward the horses. ‘Rosa is ready to hunt for the white girl who stole Coyote’s heart!” she flashed. Montana started at the look that filled her eyes as she spoke the sentence, “T must watch her,” he murmured. ‘She hunts Nora Dalton to kill her. I have linked my fortunes for the present to those of an In- dian Jezebel; but 1 shall prove able to thwart her when I have used her awhile. Now,” to Rosa, ‘let us be off.” He was already in the rather comfortable In- dian ‘saddle which the Sioux girl had placed on one of the horses for Coyote, and Rosa was at his side. But the hand of the red princess, instead of taking up the rein, fell on his arm, and their eyes met. “Just before Coyote died a snake crawled across his throat!” she said slowly. Montana recoiled with an exclamation of ter- ror. He almost lost his balance. “Rosa will forget the crawl of the snake,” she continued, without abating her fiery look; “she will not slay the serpent if he hereafter crawls for her.” ‘“*Now, more than ever, must I watch this scarlet viper,” thought Goldboots. The next moment they were off, CHAPTER VIL. ROSA WIELDS A TOMAHAWK, “T must confess that one cannot get alon well in this Indian land without help,” sai Plucky Phil, who stood in the earliest Tent of the next day on the summit of a mountain spur which he had ascended for the purpose of ob-
Page 10
~ ward The Tenderfoot Trailer. taining a view of the country by which he was surrounded. ‘‘Perhaps I had better have re- mained at my post on the mountain-side, but the sight of that red-skinned dwarf riding to- ora fired me with eagerness to follow him, and here I am. The red Caliban is far away; his horse has carried him to Nora, and I am here, as far from the fruition of my hopes asever. I have made hundreds of new enemies since I invaded Sioux-land, and gained but one friend, but his fate, alas! is unknown to me!” While the youth’s words might indicate de- spair, he was far from giving up, although he was horseless on the mountain. He had followed Sitting Bull’s directions only to discover that the Sioux king had purposely deceived him—that he stood far from Nora Dal- ton, and in the center of a country which might prove a death-trap. *T cannot stand here and look and think!” he exclaimed. ‘I shall retrace my steps until I find the hoof-prints of the dwarf’s horse. Rain has fallen lately, thank Heaven! and the moun- tain passes will betray the Ape.” He went down the mountain and turned bis face once more toward Sitting Bull’s village. Ha still had a right to be calied Plucky Phil. The sun came up over the jagged spurs of the Big Horn range and revealed the passes which the boy was compelled to thread. His eyes were constantly examining the ground. Allat once he started and dropped on his knees. ‘i ao him were the unmistakable prints of oofs. Plucky Phil’s eyes dilated as he gazed, but a puzzled expression crept into them as he grad- ually discovered that two horses instead of one had lately passed down the trail. “T see!” he exclaimed, rising. ‘‘ Some person is following the red Caliban. The Sioux chief himself may have taken a notion to carry out the commands he gave the Ape.” The next moment Plucky Phil was hurrying down the newly-discovered trail. His long journey during the night had not exhausted him. A devouring flame seemed to flit through his veins. : ** Somebody has got to die on this trail,” he said to himself. ‘‘One thing I know, I shall never turn back.” On, on he went, guided by the hoof-prints beard visible in the yielding earth of the moun- Loud and clear the command rung out on the keen air, and Phil, who was at the time examin- ing the trail, started up and drew his revolver Hae sprung back. In the path before him he saw the person whose lips had parted to utter the brigand’s orders. “Tt is mother’s foa, Goldboots!” ejaculated the young trailer. ‘‘I would know him among a thousand.” Then he attempted to move forward, but the man in the saddle before him sent his voice again over the leveled rifle which covered Phil’s breast. ‘*Stand where you are for the present!” he said, ‘* We can settle accounts at this distance, I didn’t expect to be followed by you in these: parts, and when the echoes of Echo Gulch told me that somebody was behind, I never dreamed that it was you. That gulch, Rosa says, has doomed many a would-be avenger. So you know me as Goldboots?” ‘“‘T know you as the man who challenged my father because you were mother’s foe, and slew him villainously by firing before the command. Is it strange that I should hate you? But I did not come into this country for the purpose of hunting you.” ‘Perhaps not, but you would not hesitate to send a bullet through my brain if you got the opportunity.” The flashing of Plucky Phil's eyes answered Montana. ** You are hunting lost Nora Dalton. So am I. It would hardly do for us to hunt her to- gether. I havea partner already. I want you to see her. Rosa?” A moment later Plucky Phil saw the Sioux girl ride into sight and halt in the narrow moun- tain path at Montana’s side, ‘* Here she is, boy. What do you think of her?” Phil did not reply. He was near enough to see the shapely figure of the Indian girl as well as to note the expression of her deep dark eyes. The latter were fixed upon him in a manner that rendered him uneasy, ‘Rosa and I are full pards,” continued Gold- boots. ‘‘She was Coyote’s sweetheart yester- day, and she knows that you’re the boy who gave him a bullet. Therefore she holds you in high reverence,” and the speaker laughed. ‘‘These Indian girls are regular Jezebels when you stir them up,” he went on, ‘and Rosa seems to be taking a fancy to you.” Plucky Phil saw that while Goldboots spoke he had lowered his rifle and that Rosa the Sioux was advancing upon him. Her horse came forward slowly, and the dark eyes of its rider were riveted upon him. “T shall stand my ground and see what this red queen wants,” said the boy to himself as he clutched his pistols with new resoluteness. ‘' For- tune may be favoring me. She plays queer games in Indian land.” Rosa had almost reached Plucky Phil by this time; their eyes had met some time before and were still returning flash for flash. Goldboots, seated like a statue in his saddle, looked eagerly on. “White boy b'longs to Rosa the Sioux!” sud- denly said the Indian girl, as her horse stepped beside the trailer. ‘‘Him hunts the pale flower that bloomed for Coyote somewhere among the mountains, and him shoot Coyote.” “Yes, I shot Coyote!” flashed the youth, look- ing fearlessly up into the dark yet beautiful face before him. ‘‘I shot him because he attempted to deceive me with a lie. I did not kill the worm, however.” “Coyote dead, though.” “Good! There is one viper less in Sioux- dom!” For a moment Plucky Phil expected to be brained by the hatchet which Rosa held above her saddle, and raised his left arm for the pur- cara of arresting, if possible, the mad stroke, ut it was not given,
Page 11
The Tenderfoot Trailer. 9 He came abruptly upon the square, and at the same time a form appeared leading a horse by the bridle. “Sitting Bull!” ejaculated Plucky Phil, re- cognizing at once the peculiar garments that distinguished the Sioux chief from the rest of his pon le The Indian did not look about him to see whether or not he was followed, but hurried away closely trailed by the youth, who kept the figures of horse and man in sight. f Sitting Bull was going to quit the camp. why did he not mount? His action puzzle Phil, and he was further nonplused on seeing the old Sioux meet a figure at the foot of a hill. This figure looked more like a toad than a human being, for at a queer call from Sitting Bull’s lips it hopped from beneath a huge bowl- der, and sprung monkey-like upon the back of the horse which the chief had led to the spot. “The Ape will go and guard the white girl!” Phil heard Sitting Bull say to the apish figure whose eyes glittered like two mad stars. “ He will watch her closely, for thieves are on the trail. Does the Ape hear?” A nod and a laugh replied, and before Phil could interfere, away went the horse with the red dwarf on his back. The boy sprang up with a cry of dismay. The deformed was riding to Nora Dalton’s hid- ing-place, and he had no horse with which to follow. To this hideous object, hunchback like Caliban, Sitting Bull had given at least one of his secrets; he had sent him away to guard Nora, and perhaps to kill her, although death had not been mentioned, With such thoughts clashing in his brain, Plucky Phil heard the sounds of the horse’s hoofs die away among the somber mountains. He saw only the figure of Sitting Bulk erect in the starlight, and apparently listening with joy to the sounds rapidly leaving his keenest of ears. Suddenly the chief turned toward the camp, and with a low ery the young mountain trailer rose and confronted him. “Halt!” fell from his lips as he straight- ened himself in Sitting Bull’s path, and thrust two revolvers into his red face. ‘One cry, one movement, and the Sioux nation wlll be chief- less at dawn, I am not one of Custer’s aven- gers. Uncle Sam will pay you for that massa- cre if you obey me to-night. I am a boy hunting for the dearest friend one ever had. Shall [ introduce myself, chief? My name is Phil Steele, or Plucky Phil since my life-hunt began.” he old Sioux allowed an expression of con- tempt to mingle with the look of rage that sat enthroned on his swarthy face. ‘* A white boy!” he cried. ‘‘ Where from?” ‘‘ Fort McKinney latterly, but that is imma- terial. Where will the Ape stop? That is what I want to know.” Sitting Bull started. ‘*The secret isin danger, eh? To be sure it is! I am hunting the girl you keep concealed. My revolvers are at your heart.’ Do you want your brains on the ground where you now stand?” “White boy would never get the girl if him shoot Sitting Bull,” “Td feel somewhat satisfied anyway,” said Phil. ‘‘1f I leave you dead behind me I'd have only the Ape to overcome. Don’t you see? Besides, Nora can bring noransom to you—force no treaty from the Government,” ‘‘ White boy lie!” said the Indian, “Girl big white chief’s child.” “That is just where you’re fooling yourself, Nora Dalton’s father was with the train. Some of your hatchets killed him, She has told you so a hundred times, no doubt. Her beauty makes you think that she is the child of some great personage high in power and authorized to treat with you on your own terms, She is fatherless Nora Dalton, that is all!” ‘White girl big soldier’s child!” persisted the chief, in front of the cocked revolver. “Her worth much to Sitting Bull and his people. White boy no make the chief of the Sioux give her at by a lie.” : “ That’s plain talk,” said Plucky Phil; ‘‘ but let’s proceed to business. Tell me where Nora is or by the stars above us I'll shoot you where you stand,” Did the Sioux chief suddenly discover that the boy of the mountain trail was in stern earnest? He might have seen the white fingers tighten be- hind the triggers of the revolvers. At any rate, he turned half-way around and pointed in the direction taken by the mounted dwarf. Plucky Phil held his breath. ‘““ White boy may have Nora if she not big chief’s child,” he said. ‘‘ Him go straight on to the first trail on his right. Ground soft there, and the feet of the Ape’s horse will guide him to him. Him must fight the Ape, though.” **T will do that!” cried Phil; ‘ but I will spare the hunchback for your future use.” “Sitting Bull care not ’bout that,” in a care- less tone. ‘* The Ape can see in fhe dark like an owl. White boy have to look out for his claws and teeth,” The revolvers crept slowly down. “One word more, chief,” the young trailer said. ‘‘ Who shot Coyote?’ “ Agoawam.” ‘© Where is he?” “ Agcawam go away; never come back to Sioux again.” Plucky Phil drew a breath of relief and joy. Policy Pete was free! “Go find white girl now,” continued Sitting Bull. ‘Take her back to the white soldiers.” ‘“*T will, chief.” A moment later the boy was traversing the trail along which the Ape’s horse had left fresh footprints. bere was Sitting Bull? An Indian was bounding toward the Sioux camp. It was the wily head of the red nation. Five minutes afterward he came back mount- ed on a fresh horse, across whose neck lay an elegant rifle. The fire of rage and pursuit blazed in his evil orbs as the cavalry apes strapped to his heels drew streams of blood from his horse’s rowels. At the rate he was traveling he would soon overtake Plucky Phil, but a human leaped suddenly into his path at the foot of the moun- tain, and while one hand clutched the bridle
Page 12
10 The Tenderfoot Trailer. rein, the other pulled the old chief from his yee before he could lift an arm to defend him- self. Sitting Bull fell heavily upon the ground, and his assailant leaped upon the horse’s back with a coarse ejaculation of triumph. ** A man without a policy ar’ no man at all!” said the victor. ‘‘Me an’ Plucky Phil hev pooled our issues in this gal-hunt. If you want to eucher us, you’d better call out yer hull red tribe. Thet would be a ’tarnal good stroke ov auc. A most affectionate adieu, Sittin’ Bull.” A laugh followed Old Policy’s sarcastic good- y. The Sioux chieftain sprung up and grasped the rifle which had fallen at his side, but the old guide had already disappeared. “Sitting Bull has ten thousand warriors!” he hissed. ‘They shall all hunt Aggawam, the uaw-man, and the young white wolf.” t was a formidable threat, but the next few days were to witness that it was by no mears an idle one. CHAPTER VI. THE RED JEZEBEL. THE man who was riding away on Sitting Bull’s horse seemed to know that Plucky was ahead of him. Policy Pete had already con- ROR ca himself on his sudden release by the ioux king when he expected death for shoot- sa ag heh in the presence of his master, e had asked himself the meaning of Sitting Bull’s unexpected clemency, but had been un- able to give his mind a satisfactory answer. It meant something which Policy Pete could not fathom. . Back in the Indian camp, held down to a rude pallet by four dark-skinned squaw-men, writhed the man who had betrayed Policy into the hands of the great Sioux. The pistol bullet had made ahorrible hole in his face, and it was evident that his end was near. The wound received at Plucky Phil’s hands had not yet healed, but it ve him no concern. The last shot had ren- ered him delirious, and he was accordingly fastened to the cot by means of cords attached to posts hastily driven into the ground by his friends, and left to writhe in pain alone. “To pay Policy and the boy back, that’s all I want to live for,” he groaned. ‘I’m willin’ to give the gal over to Sittin’ Bull. I could never make her fall in love with sech a lookin’ man like me anyhow, but I could strike the boy through her ef I war on my pins, couldn’t 12 By hokey! thet’s an idea, but hyar T am, a reg’- lar livin’ sieve tied to a b’ar-skin and expected to be planted by my pards afore to-morrow ht. = ea was still bewailing his fate when the cur- tain of the lodge was lifted almost noiselessly, and the light footstep that advanced did not es- cape his ear. ‘You never went back on Coyote yet, Rosa,” he said to the slender oo ae figure that bent over him. ‘Arter all I guess you're the best rdaman ever had. Can’t you cut me loose? hey tied me because they thought I war goin’ mad, jest because I’ve got a bullet somewhar in my head.” : The hands of the young Sioux girl were al- ready at work on the ropes that kept the stal- wart squaw-man down, but she suddenly ut- tered a cry of vexation and seizing a knife severed the lines at a blow, Coyote with an exclamation of joy attempted to rise but fell back against his will, exhausted, Rosa put her arm under his head and helped him in the second trial which proved partially successful, Coyote succeeded in sitting up. “Listen to me, Rosa,” he said to the de- voted girl. “Tm goin’ to tell you the truth at last. You've allus suspected thet I hed a gal somewhar thet I rated over you. Wal you. warn’t mistaken, an’ ef it warn’t for thet samo gal I wouldn’t be in this fix now.” The eyes of Rosa the Sioux fairly flashed. “T want to git even with Aggawam and his young pard!” Coyote continued, ‘an’ ef you'll help me—ef you prove ez true to me in the fu- ture ez you hey in the past—I’ll let you.do as you please with yer rival, the white girl.” “The white girl?” echoed Rosa. ‘Then Coyote did save the girl of the train and keep her hid from Sitting Bull?” ““Thet’s jes’ what I did, Rosa. Help me an’ Tl turn the gal over to you.” The Indian girl sprung up. ss aed must Rosa do for Coyote?” she asked eagerly. “Bring two horses hyar; no! help me to the big rock at the edge of the camp, an’ fetch the animiles to it. We will make a trail between us, Rosa, you fur the white gal, yer rival, Coyote fur Policy Pete an’ his boy pard.” The wounded man was helped to his feet with difficulty and a few moments later he was tot- tering toward the westernmost side of the Sioux village. Thearms of the Indian maid prevented him from falling. ‘1 feel thet I’m worth ten dead men, Rosa,” he murmured more than once. ‘‘Hyar we ar’ at the rock, the place to which I war to hev brought the hosses fur Policy—in a horn! Now go an’ git the critters. Don’t let any grass grow under yer moccasins, fur the sooner we git started the sooner you'll see the white gal what hes robbed you of Coyote.” Rosa the Sioux did not hear the ending of the sentence, for she was hurrying toward the cor- ral not very far away and the squaaw-man sunk upon the rock grating his teeth as though by that means he could kill the pain which had suddenly darted through his head. “T wonder what’s become of Montana?” ho said half aloud to himself while he waited for the girl. ‘I left ’im in the canyon jis’ afore the red-skins charged down on the boy. He’s hunt- in’ the gal, too. I never thought Goldboots would spend so much time on a hunt like thet.” If Coyote had glanced over his shoulder he might have seen the figure of the man about whose whereabouts he had just questioned him- self. Standing slightly behind a tree was Cap- tain ‘Tana, whose eyes were fixed on the wounded man on the rock. “This is luck!” he had already ejaculated. “T don’t have to thrust my precious figure into the Indian camp in order to recover the girl’s trail, but Coyote‘the liar falls into my presence, mo fad i a not disturb him I'll be likely to hear e truth, ee
Page 13
{ a The Tenderfoot Trailer. 15 . back of a magnificent steed, was an Indian whose garments were more than half civilized. He wore the traditional feather crest of the red chieftain of the bloody West, and the rifle which he held against his shoulder threatened Plucky Phil with immediate death. “‘ White boy brave as a bear!” crept from be- tween the Indian’s lips. ‘‘ But him mustn’t reach Sitting Bull’s captive!” The Indian, then, was the Sioux Napoleon himself, not at the head of the ten thousand warriors whom a few hours before he had threatened to turn loose on the boy, but all alone. Plucky Phil saw not the red chief, nor did he learn of an enemy’s presence in the glen below until the Sioux’s rifle sent a messenger of death at his swaying figure! A sharp cry parted the boy’s lips as one hand left the rope, and he swung madly around like a person mortally shot. he knife clutched by his teeth fell glenward and landed on the rocks under Sitting Bull’s horse with a musical jingle. The eyes of the Indian blazed with fierce triumph, and a sardonic expression became fixed on his face as he watched the swirling figure on the buckskin cord. “Him trail white girl no more!” he said. ‘“* Sitting Bull wonders how his eyes found the fodge hidden in tbe wall.” Suddenly the young trailer’s hand slipped and his body dropped to a level with the gaping mouth of the cave. Sitting Bull saw the movement and instinc- tively looked at the ground as if to see where the body would strike. The next moment, however, he uttered a ery of astonishment. A hand had darted from the cavern and seized Plucky Phil’s shoulders. It was not the copper-colored hand of his Cal- iban, but one small and white like a woman’s. “Girl find ’im!” cried’ the amazed_ chief. ** Her try to pull him into the cave. Where is the Ape?” The question was still unanswered when the body of Plucky Phil was drawn into the open- ing, and Sitting Bull, gazing from his saddle, saw only the rope swinging to and fro above the cave. For a moment he did not stir. His eyes were still staring upward, and he had not recovered his self-possession. Suddenly a cry of warning came down from above, and the chief of the Sioux nation recoiled as a human-like body shot toward him from the opening above. A second later, so swiftly it descended, it struck him a resistless blow, hurling him to the round before he could lift an arm to turn the orrible missile aside. Although bruised and nearly senseless, Sitting Bull managed to gain his feet. His first glance was at the cavern’s mouth, his second at the object writhing on the ground scarcely ten feet awey. Yes, the bomb from the cave in the wall pos- sessed life, and a fierce look flashed in the Sioux chief’s eyes as he recognized the misshapen body of his red messenger—the mountain Caliban. “The white trailer has found his grave!” he hissed. ‘*The child of the big white soldier will yet help Sitting Bull make the kind of peace he wants! The chief walked to where the dwarf lay, and as their eyes met, the little fellow gave a whine, and clasping his master’s feet, fell dead. ‘Not now,” said Sitting Bull, glancing at the cave. ‘‘ The warriors must be kept back. They shall not discover where Sitting Bull hid the white flower.” He sprung to his horse, and the next moment was riding away as though.sounds of an ap- proaching force had reached his ears, aan | At the mouth of the glen he leaped sudden! erect, and, with a loud ery and uplifted han halted what appeared to bean army of mount red-skins, CHAPTER IX. BRAVE NORA DALTON. Wut Plucky Phil was preparing for the hazardous descent to the cave in the wall, scenes at should not be overlooked were transpiring there. Sittiag Bull had chosen a secure hiding-place for the prisoner whom his red detectives had wrested from Coyote’s power. Nora Dalton hoped, when she found herself in the hands of the Sioux chief’s agents that the day of liberation was not far distant; but when she was conveyed to the wall-cavern despair took new possession of her heart. Instead of liberty she was immured in a new prison guarded at times by the Indian dwarf whose he hh possessed the baleful glare of the ser- pent’s. A hundred times she had tried_to convince Sitting Bull that she was simply Nora Dalton, the only child of a man killed in the attack on the wagon-train in the canyon. But her beauty rendered her assertions valueless in the eyes of the chief who maintained that she was the daughter of an officer high in command, Tho old chief believed that the Government was about to inaugurate a campaign of vengeance for the Custer massacre, and hoped that by holding Nora he could secure terms which other- wise would not be accorded. For months the rock cave had been the lost girl’s abode. Since her recapture from Coyote, her sole visitors had been the dwarf and his master, the latter to see for himself that she still remained in his power, the former to watch her with his evil eye. “You may come here once too often!” Nora had said to herself scores of times as she watched | the misshapen guard whose body was revealed by the light that constantly burned on the floor of the prison. ‘‘ One of these nights I will try to lasso the stake on the top of the cliff and leave you to your dreams.” She made the attempt when she thought the | mountain Caliban asleep, but. she found the rope too short for her purpose, and as she was | jerked from the opening a wild laugh of triumph ea in her ears. She had to desist, feeling that the deformed guard never slept.
Page 14
Nora was the sole occupant of the cavern on the day of Plucky Phil’s arrival. She had al- most ceased to look down into the glen, for no- body ever entered if, no one with a white skin, ' at least, 1), The body of the dwarf swung suddenly into | the mouth of the cave, and Nora started at sight of his face. It was all excitement. /-* Ah! sho thought, “Sitting Bull considers me in danger. The Ape shares his master’s | fears,” and her heart beat faster than it had beat for many a day. But as the hours wore on without bringing a , Pe to her rocky abode, the soldier’s daugh- r feared that after all her hopes bad been raised in vain, The guard never left the mouth of the cave, Squatted like a toad at the en- trance, he kept watch on the glen below. All at once Nora saw him spring back and pick up a heavy bowlder which he bore to the opening, The next moment he launched it at some object and leaned forward to note the ef- fect of his throw. 1 A cry of bitter disappointment parted his lips \ as hedrew back. The stone had missed its in- . tended victim. i “Thank Heaven!” ejaculated Nora, who could not but think that the person below must be her friend. ‘I trust that you have revealed my | hiding-place, hideous atom!” {i The Ape turned quickly upon her and ad- ’ yanced with an animal-like bound. he Ape kill the hunter who looks for the white girl!” he cried. “That is not true!” was the fearless response. ‘TY heard your expression of disappointment, You cannot deceive me. Your missile missed your enemy and my friend.” ‘A threatening display of sharp teeth was the dwarfs reply. || “Tf your foe was crushed by your bowlder, '| you will let me look,” she said, advancing to- | ward the opening. bal ‘White girl stay back!” and the dwarf threw himself in front of Nora Dalton and menacingly ‘lifted his long arms. _ If his body was small and misshapen at that, | in those apelike arms lay the strength of a giant, and as Nora persisted in looking into the glen he | sprung at her with a cry, and threw her rudely back beyond the fire. The poor girl lay stunned where she struck, ~ until consciousness gradually returned, and her first glance at her persecutor was a flash of re- sentment. ' “T have endured too long already!” she ex- claimed. ‘‘I am convinced that the quartz rock was not hurled at an Indian. If I want to escape I must assist the friends below. I must vanguish the ogre who watches me.” ; The dwarf was at the cavern’s mouth gazin into the glen. For once his eyes were turne: from Sitting Bull’s prisoner, and Nora me- shanically threw a searching glance around the cavern, "As she was searching for a weapon of attack, aone rewarded her gaze. | “ Why did [ not think of it before?” she ex- slaimed, as her eyes returned to the fire. ' The next moment she had sprung to the blaze ind drawn therefrom a burning stick, What 16 The Tenderfoot Trailer. if the end she held seemed to blister her hands? She believed that she must strike now or remain the Sioux chief’s prisoner still. The dwarf-guard heard the noise made by the stick as it left the fire, and sprung up and faced the determined girl. Nora braced herself, with the novel weapon drawn back for the blow. A moment the little ogre faced her, then he jumped forward, with his apish arms extended to ward off the stroke. Nora retreated almost to the wall of the cavern, and struck madly at the outstretched arms, At the same time there rose from her throat the piercing cry which reached the ears of the ee descending the rope against the outside wail, Down went the arms as thousands of sparks flew in every direction, and Nora followed up the stroke with another which sent the red Cali- ban reeling across the fire-lit and spark-strewn floor. As he sunk like one dead at the foot of the wall, the scorching weapon fell from the girl’s hands and she gazed at her work. Suddenly the report of a rifle roused her, and as she looked toward the opening she saw a dark object appear in front of it and remain there. *More foes?” fell from her lips as she went forward, ‘ Merciful Heaven! am I never to see the face of a friend again?” But the next instant a cry of another kind followed her question, for the figure swirling before the mouth of the cavern showed her a pale white face. Clutching a rock above her head, she leaned far over the giddy edge and seized the youth, whose hand seemed about to relinquish the buck- skin cord, It took all Nora’s strength to draw the young adventurer into the cave, but she succeeded, and the rope swung out again as Plucky Phil sunk with a groan on the ground. The heart of Nora Dalton seemed to stand still when she knelt over the figure before her. The weird light of the fire fell athwart the bo: trailer’s face, to which sun and adventure isk given a hue which she had never known it to possess, All at once she seemed to recognize the boy. “Tt is Phil!” she exclaimed, and the cry open- ed a pair of eyes that at once became riveted on her face. “ Nora?” asked the mountain hunter, in a half- uncertain manner, and then he touched the face whose eyes, sparkling with joy, seemed to burn his cheeks. “We have met at last!” she exclaimed. ‘I often dreamed that ha would come, but how could I look for you here?” ‘*T started out to find you. I had an oath to keep,” was the reply, and the speaker's eyes glowed with enthusiasm as he continued: ‘The whole Sioux nation could not have kept me from you, Nora. I was bound to find you, al- though everything at first proclaimed you dead, T have Sitting Bull and his warriors against me. There is but one person save yourself in Sioux- land who is my friend, and Heaven alone knows where he is,” ‘© Who is he?” ‘* Policy Pete,” ee mere + mr ee Ss ee
Page 15
The Tenderfoot Trailer, is On the contrary, the weapon was lowered, and the Sioux girl leaned forward and said in a low tone: ‘* White trailer find favor in Rosa’seyes. She come here to kill him, but she will make him a chief by and by if him go back with her to the great village of the Sioux.” Plucky Phil smiled. , ‘“A proposition of marriage instead of the hatchet!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ This is what I’d call a case of love at first a Fortune always had a singular way of befriending me. She hasn’t forgotten ab.” “What young trailer say?” asked the Sioux maiden, whose look now expressed the eager- ness with which she waited for hisreply. ‘‘ Rosa stand between him and the red warriors. Him be big chief pretity soon.” “‘T must follow my trail to the end first, said Phil. ‘ Until I havo done this I cannot listen to your words.” The Indian girl looked dismayed. “Boy go with Rosa, then?” ‘* May be so.” ‘Good! Him makes the heart of Rosa glad. She will have a chief to take Coyote’s place.” «Was that yellow snake a chief?” ‘Him never a chief for Sioux never trust him far enough.” “That’s what I thought, but go back to your company. hen I have reached the end of this mountain trail, Pll consider your proposi- tion. “Trailer go with Rosa now.” Plucky Phil started. “Not while you stick to Goldboots,” he ex- ‘claimed, darting a quick look at the man a few yards away. ‘‘ We would be shooting at each ‘other before we had traveled half a mile. He killed my father.” ‘Will trailer go with Rosa if she sends Cap'n ‘Tana away?” ‘¢ For the present, yes,” said Phil. The Indian girl without replying turned her horse’s head and rode toward Goldboots. +‘ What kind of bargain will the two make?” thought Phil who eagerly watched the red princess, ‘‘Goldboots will probably consent to disappear for a while, but at the first oppor- tunity he will send a bullet after me. I shot the wrong man in the canyon; instead of Coyote in the shoulder, it should have been Goldboots through the head!” _Rosa had reached her companion by this time. “You didn’t touch him,” said the Pacific Nabob derisively. ‘‘I expected to see you find his brain with that hatchet of yours; but his good looks unnerved your arm.” a eit Tana knows nothing *bout it!” re- sented Rosa the Sioux. ‘Let him look behind him and see a new enemy.” Instinctively Goldboots turned, and at the same moment the Sioux girl’s hatchet ascended into the air, The next instant and while Plucky Phil held his breath, the weapon descended with crashing force. on the the adventurer’s head, and he dropped from the saddle to the Riders followed by the rifle which his nerve- ess hands could not retain. Goldboots had hardly touched the earth when Rosa turned a triumphant face upon the boy trailer. ‘* Cap’n ’Tana dismissed now,” she exclaimed, ‘See! there is an empty saddle for the young white trailer.” ‘*Great heavens! must I become the com- panion of such a creature?” fell from Phil’s lips. ‘Yet I am in her power. I have no choice. She had no right to kill Goldboots, He be- longed to me,” He said no more but went forward for the ex- pression of Rosa’s countenance was changing. “Ah! young trailer now knows that Rosa the Sioux is his friend. By and by him become a chief among the red people.” Phil, who had reached the scene of the red girl’s brutal blow did not reply, but vaulted,in- to the saddle vacated by Goldboots. “T will end this terrible acquaintance now,” fell suddenly from_his lips, and the next instant he whirled upon Rosa and caught her venge- fully by the shoulder. : ‘““What white boy do?’ she exclaimed, alarm- ed at his compressed lips and flashing eyes, gal Pepe to continue my journey alone!” hee said. “1 thank you for this horse, but you must stay behind.” The next instant Rosa uttered a wild shriek as she found herself wrenched suddenly from the saddle, and unable to retain her hold, she was hurled to the ground, As she struck, Plucky Phil gave her a parting look and dashed away. Not a moment too soon, for the pass behind him resounded with wild, savage yells, and a glance over his shoulder showed him twenty Sioux in swift pursuit. ‘Better this than the companionship of that red girl!” he said to himself, as he clutched his revolvers more firmly, and leaned forward on his horse’s neck, CHAPTER VIII. THE COMPLIMENTS OF SITTING BULL. YELLS and arrows admonished Plucky Phil that to escape from the scarlet fiends now in swift pursuit, he must needs have a fleet horse. He soon discovered that fortune had sent him a steed on whose mettle be could rely, and hefore long the yells of the red warriors died away, and their best arrows fell far short of their in- tended mark. But he did not check his speed. What was occurring on the spot where he had left’ Rosa and Goldboots he did not know, for a bend in the mountain-trail hid it from his sight; but while he galloped on he could not but im- agine the surprise of the Sioux on discovering Goldboots in that part of the ages Miles away in a most lonely mn a, | Phil ventured to stop his horse. The animal had faithfully carried him from the jaws of death, and was not reluctant to obey his command. “So far, good!” ejaculated the trailer. ‘A horse like my new prize is worth having, and he and I must become friends. Ah! if I bad but possessed him when I started after the Ape, I might be nearer Nora than I am now. How- ever, I must put up with fortune as it comes.” He had scarcely ceased when a heavy object:
Page 16
14 whizzed past his head and struck the ground with a thud that made his horse recoil, ‘A foe above me!” cried Phil, as he looked up. Mie had halted at the foot of an almost per- pendicular ascent. The top was high overhead and fringed with bushes. From some point far up the sides of the mountainous wall, or perhaps from the edge of the cliff, had been hurled the quartz bowlder which had been intended for his head. Nota bush quivered to tell the lurking-place of his would-be slayer; the rock had not even dis- turbed a rock swallow on its downward flight. A puzzled expression came into Plucky Phil’s eyes as he gazed upward. ‘That rock was thrown at me,” he said. “It did not leave the wall of its own accords Had it done so, it would have dropped straight down to the foot of the cliff, On the contrary, it was thrown by some enemy, some lurking Indian caught without his rifle.” e might have continued if he had not caught sight of a horrible human head which crept into view like the head of a snake from its den of rocks, “ Ah!” thought Phil, ‘The quartz bowlder did not come from the top of the wall. I have found the den of a monster.” Tho head was all out now, and although it was many feet; above him, he could see the snaky eyes that peeped from beneath the hair jae framed the face like the matted mane of a on. “Heavens! it is Sitting Bull’s Caliban!” cried the boy. The discovery almost took his breath. “Who would have looked for the ape in such a place as this?’ he murmured, when the ogreish head was withdrawn. ‘‘ Where the deformed is I will tind Nora! Sitting Bull sent bim to her last night. I do not wonder that Coyote failed to find Nora in her prison between Heaven and earth.” The boy trailer was not long in vacating the lace. He feared that another attempt on his ife by the cliff Caliban might prove successful. He continued on down the road until he found a place at which be resolved to attempt to as- cend to the c@ye in the wall. The day was moving on, but the boy was un- daunted. He left his horse at the foot of the as- cent and began to climb upward. His eyes beamed with eagerness and triumph. The mountain trail was nearing its end. He had found the hiding-place of Nora Dalton, and that was enough to cause his heart to beat fast. . He did not pause till he reached the top of the rock. Far below him lay one of the beautiful valleys of the Sioux-land. Down there Sitting Bull was plotting to run to earth the daring spirits who had dared to invade his domain, and dispute with him the possession of his fair- est captive. To find that part of the wall’s edge directly above the mouth of the cavern was now Plucky Phil’s object. Once or twice he leaned over the precipice, but saw only a perpendicular wall ae swallows flying in and éut like mountain dats, The third time he uttered an exclamation of The Tenderfoot Trailer. —— horror and almost ae back from the edge of tho cliff, for that hideous red face was up- turned to his searching gaze and the eyes of the Sioux Caliban were scowling at him. Plucky Phil drew back and reflected, The mouth of the cavern was about five-and- twenty feet below the top of the wall, and the young trailer’s eyes saw no contrivance for reaching it. How, then, could one reach and return from it? “Ah!” he suddenly exclaimed, as his keen eyes fell upon a stout stake among the grass near his feet. ‘' The Ape fastens his rope to this post and lets himself down over the cliff. I care not how he gets back; I will learn that after awhile.” He searched the vicinity of the stake fora rope, but in vain. He pried under bowlders and hunted the bushes, but fortune did not favor him, ““The means for getting up are where Nora is,” he said. ‘‘ I must descend at all hazards!” Resolved to reach the cave below, the boy doffed his stout buckskin hunting-jacket, and his knife was soon cutting it into strips. Each one was tested when cut to the proper length, and before long a series of knots had converted the strips into a rope, which was tried asa whole and pronounced satisfactory. “T came to Siouxdom to find Nora Dalton!” he exclaimed, proudly. ‘Sitting Bull, you must hide your captive in places which a jacket cannot reach.” Once more he leaned over the fringe of the precipice, this time with a revolver clutched in his right hand. It was his intention to drive a bullet between the eyes of Sitting Bull’s dwarf, if the hideous face should again present itself. But nothing save the dull wall appeared, and Plucky Phil drew back and fastened one end of his buckskin rope to the stake in the ground. “Here goes for Nora or death!” he said, clutching the blade of a bowie with his teeth, and the next moment he was hanging alongside the wall between earth and sky, with a frail bucksin cord between him and eternity. He held his breath and harbored his strength as knot after knot was successfully passed. What if the red Caliban would swing himself from the mouth of the cave and wait for him, knife in hand? Of one thing Plucky Phil was now assured: The rock hurled at his head told him that the Ape possessed no firearms, and to this cireum- stance he probably owed his life. All at once a cry that made his heart stand still pierced his ear, It came from the cayern in the rock below, and was a long, loud ery for help. Plucky Phil seemed to descend several feet at once, “‘ Vengeance is not far away!” he murmured. ‘Hold out a minute longer against the apish monster, Nora, and he will quiver on the rocks beneath the cave,” - If the young traitor had glanced over his shoulder at that moment, and down into the glen from which he had discovered the cave he would have witnessed a sight terrible enough to pale the cheek of the bravest. Seated on a blarket-saddle, fastened to the *
Page 17
The Tenderfcot Trailer. i9 boots. ‘‘Keep eyes and ears opon. In a few minutes you'll hear ashot an’a yell. When they come, leave the gang and dash down the first trail to yer right, Keep on fur a mile whether ye’re hunted er not. You’ve been in tight places afore, cap’n, Isaw you tried once. At the end ova mile down the rig’ t-hand trail, is a big tree, with a rock fast in the first fork. Ef you ain’t chased to thet point, wait thar fur me. You see thar’s nuthin’ like hevin’ a policy.” ‘Pll be there!” said Goldboots, determinedly. The withdrawal of Policy Pete from the band occasioned no comment. Indians were constant- ly leaving the trail. Goldboots smiled when the figures of the old guide and himself disappeared. Might not ‘olicy Pete be deceiving bim? , Suddenly a shrill rifle-shot stopped the fore- most braves, and a horse fell dead in his tracks, Instantly the whole band was thrown into con- fusion; the warriors leaped erect upon their horses’ backs and cocked their rifles, The shot and the falling horse had checked the army in the narrow pass. ‘The old fellow is as good as his word,” ejacu- lated Goldboots, seeing his opportunity for a withdrawal, and a moment later his horse was bearing him down a mountain trail whose open- ing he had reached the moment of the shot. “Let the white coyote go!” cried Sitting Bull, asadash was made after Goldboots by a few warriors. ‘‘There is a snake in front of us whose sting is death.” The Pacific Nabob was therefore not pursued, pe he kept on to the tree designated by Policy Pete. He drew rein under the wide - spreading branches for a moment, and then dashed on again. e had scarcely disappeared before the lank guide made his appearance. “T sartlinly heard a hoss,” he said, looking around, ‘* but Goldboots is not hyar.” Something on the trail under the tree attract- ed his attention, and after a brief inspection he rose with a prolonged whistle, “Tm not the only man in these parts what hez a policy!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ Goldboots didn’t keep the app’intment, an’ I ought to be kicked fur helpin’ him out of his predicament. He’ll hunt Plucky Phil with a vengeance now, an’ never thank mefur my assistance. He won’t forget the gal, Nora Dalton, either. It’s a pity he hedn’t lost thet steel-lined cap ov his jes’ afore Rosa, the red wench, struck him with her hatchet!” and Policy Pete grated bis teeth again as he looked down the trail whose sinuosities and distance hid the flying figure of the viper whose scalp he had in all probability preserved, “We'll meet ag’in, cap’n,” he said. ‘ An’ mebbe i'lltake yer photygraph with the six- shootin’ camera I carry about my anatomy.” They were to meet again. CHAPTER XI. BEFORE A KNIFE, “Wat shall we do?’ gasped Nora Dalton, when she found her voice after discovering that the niche in which the dwarf had been in the habit of depositing the rope was empty. ‘‘ The deformed always placed it there after reaching me from the cliff above, and I confidently ex- pected to delight your eyes with it, Phil: but, as you see, my hands do not clutch the prize.” The beautiful face of the girl was pale, and a look of fear filled her eyes. “The Caliban changed the hiding-place of the rope at the last moment, that is all,” the young trailer said. ‘‘ We must search the cave for it; it cannot be far away.” He puiled a burning brand from the fire as he finished and turned to Nora, ready to commence the search. “You know something about this cavern, Nora? It has been your home along time. You had better take the torch and I will follow you.” The girlcomplied by taking the flambeau from his hand. She led the way to the niche, and showed him that it was empty; then they went on deeper into the earth until Plucky Phil stop- ped and touched Nora’s arm. “ How deep is this cave?” he asked. “Heaven knows,” the girl said. “Il have ex- plored it until my limbs grew ths Sd “Then there is no telling where the red dwarf hid the rope. _Let us go back. We must trust to fortune and invention for escape.” They had taken up more than an hour in the search already completed, aud, while Nora was reluctant to turn back without the rope, she did not oppose Plucky Phil’s proposition, and back they went. “Halt!” suddenly whispered the boy, and Nora stood still, ‘Our fire is out entirely. The main chamber has been invaded in our ab- sence.” Invaded? The thought was enough to still the girl’s heart, especially when she recalled the shot fired at Phil from the glen below. The young pair listened in the darkness, but heard nothing. The light that entered at the | mouth of the cavern did not extend far inward; it showee them nothing, because it possessed no revealing powers. Silently Plucky Phil drew his revolvers and stood resolutely before the girl for whom he had } hunted so long. Not a spark of the fire remain- ss it had been smothered as though by a buffalo- robe, } “The invader possesses more patience than I do,” suddenly murmured the boy. ‘‘Pm going to put an end to this suspense.” e moved cautiously forward. Nora, with a knife which had belonged to the | dwarf, trod at his heels. 7 All at once, out cf the gloom which seemed palpable, leaped an Indian, who fell upon Plucky |} hil like an avalanche. | The boy staggered back under the assault, } and, forced to drop his weapons, which were al- jj most literally wrenched from his hands, he had } no other alternative than to grapple with his} assailant, which he did. : If the mountain trailer was a youth in limb, the mountain panther was not long in discover- ing that he possessed a man’s strength. } Nora heard the tussle in the dark, but could} see nothing. The combatants writhed like ser pents at her very feet, and it was evident that each was depending on the arms and strength) nature had given him. 2 ‘When the desperate struggle reached its hight,
Page 18
20 the ae suddenly saw a human body swing into the light at the mouth of the cavern. Another enemy. | Quick as thought, but without a ery that could alarm Plucky Phil or his antagonist, Nora sprung forward and reached the opening just as the new-comer set his foot on the edge of the stone. “ Back!” she cried as she pushed him out into mid-air. ‘Go and join your brother the dwarf. || We don’t want you here.” A curse—a white man’s oath—followed her action and made Nora look more closely at i.e invader. Then she saw that despite his As he swung back revealing his face, and a ‘pair of eyes which were scintillating like twin stars, Nora Dalton instinctively shrunk away. He regained his sacting and spoke to the girl. “Tm a friend!” he said. ‘‘ You don’t want to destroy me, do you?” The girl could not speak. Tt could not be possible that that handsome bronzed face belonged toa foe, and yet Nora did not feel like trusting him. He released the rope while she hesitated, and stood before her in the uncertain light that sur- rounded them. “Ah!” he suddenly exclaimed catching the sounds of the struggle going on between Plucky ‘Phil and his red enemy. “The boy and the Indian are at it like two bears.” t “Yes, yes!” cried Nora. “If you are my friend prove it by helping the helpless.” ' She pointed toward the combatants as shoe spoke and the man sprung forward. A bound brought him to the spot, and his ‘hands easily distinguished the two Chat eae 'He possessed the strength of a Hercules for he tore the enemies apart, and Plucky Phil rose trom the ground some distance away and won- ered who bad leaped to his rescue. . **You see I am your friend!” said the bronze- taced man appearing a moment later at Nora’s ide, ‘*The boy is panting over yonder in the ark, and the chief [ have choked into insensi- i a, “The chief?” echoed Nora. ) “Sitting Bull!” | “Now who are you?” she asked, but at that fhoment she seemed to a her helper. |, You are Goldboots,” she said. The man’s eyes answered her. ** Then on are not my friend,” she continued. Phil and you are mortal enemies,” He seemed to laugh, “ This is what a man gets for helping you. If ‘had not caught Sitting Bull descending the ‘pe out there he would have finished the boy ind kept you his captive. His red army is not r off. have hunted you ever since Camp- The Tenderfoot Trailer. his triumphant look with one which told him that the prize was not yet won. ‘‘ We cannot be friends now.” She stepped back, “ Hold on, my beauty!” he exclaimed, follow- ing her. ‘I’ve never lost a game when black eyes were the pot, You don’t know Captain ‘Tana. Why,I have hunted you too long to lose you at this time.” His hand shot forward to seize Nora, when between her uplifted knife and his eager fingers sprung a form from the gloom and a blow dashed him back. ‘“‘-You win when you have conquered me, vil- lain!” cried the boy, for it was Plucky Phil him- self who had come to the rescue, ‘I am here to dispute with you the possession of the prize we both seek.” “ Agreed, boy! To you fam Goldboots.” ‘The coward who slew my father because his manliness took Ellen Danton, my mother, from your power. I know all! Fate—fortune —has brought us together on the mountain trail!” area as an arrow, although weaponless, Plucky Phil faced Captain Montana. His weapons lay somewhere on the floor of the cave, and he had ee back the knife which Nora had extended, ‘Keep it. You may need it yourself,” he whispered, They stood face to face for a moment, then the fearless boy leaped at Goldboots, and bore him back before he could draw the revolver that rested on his thigh. “There's a good deal of the tiger in you!” hissed the Nabob. ‘“ But you’re no match for me, This boast seemed true, for he tore Phil loose, and struck him a blow that sent him reeling against the wall behind the breathless girl. “T might as well finish my work now,” he said, drawing his revolver. ‘‘ While the boy lives I cannot hope to make the girl the queen of the Pacific Slope ” But he found an obstacle in the shape of Nora Dalton in his way. The girl had stationed her- self before Plucky Phil, and she stood erect with a warning look, and with the naked knife menacingly uplifted. “Stand where you are, Goldboots,” she said, sternly. ‘‘The knife I hold has probably hunted hearts before to-day. If you advance upon Phil Steele it shall hunt for yours.” ‘She's a fit companion for the young tiger,” thought Goldboots, ‘tI must deal the cards over and get a better hand. Knife is trumps now. I cannot afford to let it take the only heart I possess,” He did not shrink from Nora, but with his eyes fastened upon her, be began to plan an- other movement that would insure success, CHAPTER XII. ROSA SEVERS A ROPE. Sirrmv@ But had left his band, hastened to the prison cliff, and lowered himself to the cave after his almost fatal shot at Plucky Phil. Goldboots, whom we left hurrying from the spot where Policy Pete rescued him from his red captors, had returned to the trail, for he be-
Page 19
‘4 ro ptt + © . bal - « ft * _ will turn up all safe some time, The Tenderfoot Trailer. iv ee ‘© What! does he live?” exclaimed Nora, ‘“‘T saw him last fighting hke a tiger among the wagons, and I have always thought that I was the sole survivor of that dark day’s butch- ery. But where is he?” *T donot know, but I am confident that he How glad Iam to see you!” and the boy’s eyes danced with ride and joy while they regarded the happy Face before him. “We are not free yet. Do not forget that,” Nora said. “That is true!” he said, springing up. ‘¢ Where is my wound, Nora? Do you see any?” The girl looked curiously at the straight boy- ish figure that stood before her, **T see no wound.” “Tt is strange,” Phil said. ‘‘I heard a shot; then my hands seemed to leave my rope and darkness came. My head hurts yet here,” and he put his hand against the left side of his ‘ace. “T seel” cried Nora, ‘‘There is a streak there. You may thank fortune, Phil, that the bullet came no nearer, “ Fortune still be friends me!” he said, smiling. ‘ But one of these days she will entirely desert me. I cannot be always her favorite, Weare not out of Sioux-land, Nora. The finding of you is but the beginning of peril. The men who fol- lowed me into this country got discouraged and went back. We must stem the tide of Indian cunning and deviltry alone, unless Policy Pete turns up to help us,” “ There is Coyote.” “T am convinced that he is dead.” ‘*Dead? He used to say that one of these days he would give me liberty.” “Instead of liberty he has given you the bit- terest enemy a girl ever had.” Nora started and threw a questioning look into Plucky Phil’s a ‘Your foe isan Indian girl,” he said. ‘ Did you ever hear Coyote speak of Rosa?” ‘Many times,” cried Nora, ‘‘She is the In- dian girl whom he discarded when he founll me. One day I was sitting at the mouth of this cave when I saw an Indian girl in the glen below. She was searching the wall as though she thought my prison was not far ee Such mad eyes I never saw before, and their vengeful gleam made me draw back with a shudder. I am con- vinced that that girl was Rosa, the Sioux.” ‘Tt must have been. May you never fall into her clutches, Nora, nor into the power of her late companion, if her tomahawk did not put an end to his career. I mean—” A wild cry from the girl’s lips made Plucky Phil turn, and just in time, too, for the dwarf was in the act of dealing him a blow from be- hind with the stick with which Nora Dalton had beat him off a few moments before, Phil’s first thought carried him forward, and he met the descending cudgel half-way, arrested its progress, and dealt the Ape a blow that sent him staggering away. “T}] transform you into a rocket,” he cried, seizing the deformed as he struck the ground, and the next moment he was bearing him to- ward the mouth of the cayern, Nora held her breath. At the edge of the opening Plucky Phil looked down and saw the Indian on the horse. “You have just sent me your compliments, Sitting Bull; now take mine!” he exclaimed and downward shot the ogre to knock the chief of the Sioux nation from his horse, as we have seen, “T think I have deprived Uncle Sam of one red pest!” laughed the young trailer as he turned to the breathless girl, who had witnessed his feat, ‘ A dwarf doesn’t make a bad bomb shell. We must now think of escape, Nora.” A joyous cry burst from the girt’s heart. Escape! the word had never sounded so sweet- ly before, Plucky Phil hastened back to the mouth of the cave and seized the buckskin rope which still dangled there. As he jerked it, it parted somewhere, and a piece remained in his hands, He turned and presented a white face to the girl. ‘Do not let the accident frighten you,” she said encouragingly. ‘We have the dwarf’s rope to aid us.” As she finished, she bounded across the cave and put her hand into a dark niche in the wall above her head. But the next moment she withdrew it with a shuddering cry. : The Caliban’s rope was not there! CHAPTER X. OLD POLICY TRUSTS A SNAKE. ‘*T KINDER feel like a feller what had a policy an’ lost it. Hyar I am astraddle ov Sittin’ Bull’s hoss in the middle ov nowhar an’ alone, The boy didn’t stay long on the mountain when I left him to smell round the Injun camp, for afore I struck Bull, I whistled for the youngster but he never answered. He’s got too much grit fur these parts, an’ it’s the kind what euchers a chap out 0’ his h’ar.” The speaker was the redoubtable Policy Pete and a strange expression looked out from under his bushy eyelashes while he gave vent to bis thoughts from the back of the horse from which he had lately jerked no less a personage than the Sioux chief. Many a mile of narrow mountain pass the old guide had traversed, and it was not strange that calm reflection should make him feel like a man who had “no policy.” It was high noon of the day that witnessed the events of the foregoing chapter, and Policy Pete was not a great way from the spot where Rosa the Sioux girl dashed Goldboots to the ground with a blow of her hatchet. The guide felt that he had left his young com- panion to a fate which might remorselessly put an end to his career, and he had about con- cluded to go back when the sound of hoof-beats oe his ear and he turned his face to the est. . “Thar come the fellars what never want a policy!” he exclaimed, casting his eyes upon the army of Indians already in sight. ‘‘Git one yerself, Policy, er the little h’ar thet you want to keep may cause a sculp-dance in the Sioux town.” a He instantly slid from the horse lest his posi-
Page 20
| | u i i | { t 18 The Tenderfoot Trailer. tion in the saddle might subject him to discoy- ery by the braves, and led the animal into a dense thicket where he fastened his cap over the moist nostrils. “T kin git a policy when I’m out quicker nor any man west oy the Missouri,” he said, with a grin as he moved back toward the spot from whence he had discovered the red cavalry. It was a sight sufficient to make old Policy’s eyes flash, for the whole plain below seemed covered with Indian horsemen. Straight as ar- rows the Sioux sat their well-limbed steeds, “What would Uncle Sam give to hev a good battery planted hyar?” fell from his lips as he gazed and then as his eyes caught sight of a cer- tain figure he exclaimed: ‘tI thought the king bee would be somewhar among the swarm. Thar’s Sittin’ Bull himself, big ez life an’ ez savage ezever. What did be mean when he told mo I could go arter boring Coyote through the face with my brain-opener? He had a policy in view when he dismissed me, not ex- actly with his blessin’—he never gave thet to anybody—but without a blow on the head with his hatchet.” The guide continued to survey the stalwart figure of the Sioux chief as the cavalcade ad- vanced at a smart gallop which soon caused it to strike the trail near which Policy stood. With his finger at the trigger of a revolver, he saw the red army file past. Suddenly his eyes dilated. “Goldboots, by hokey!” he ejaculated. ‘I wonder whar the reddies made his acquain- tance?” Captain Montana was among the Indians, not exactly guarded though, but closely watched as Polley Pete could see. “Thet’s a part ov the policy, Sittin’ Bull referred to when he told me thet he would make thet boy’s trail the hottest one ov his life. Now he’s huntin’ the youngster with the wolves what chawed up Custer. It’s bad enough to be hunted by Sittin’ Bull alone, but when he’s backed by the hull Sioux nation a man’s sculp becomes mighty onsartain property.” The last look given by Policy Pete to the In- dian band rested upon Goldboots whose pres- ence among them puzzled the guide, but if he had witnessed the Nabob’s overthrow by Rosa and his capture a short time afterward by the mounted Indians, the mystery would have been solved. “T must foller thet band. They ar’ on the boy’s trail now.” e went back to his horse but did not im- mediately untie him. He quickly transformed himself into a passable looking Indian by means of some pigments which he took from a deep ocket on the inner side of his half-civilized rock. He next threw the horse’s trappings upon the ground, lest they should cause Sitting Bull to recognize his property, and with a buffalo cord which he produced, he speedily made a bridle and a bit, and a moment later was flying down the mountain trail not exactly in the wake of the Indian army, but parallel with its line of march, “Tt’s risky,” he said, ‘‘but I never go back ona ie when I’ve once formed it.” : Half an hour later he slipped from a crevice tld among the hills and joined the cavalcade with- out exciting any undue attention. By and by he nudged his way forward until he rode shoulder to shoulder with Goldboots. The late Nabob of the Pacific Coast did not notice his néw comrade until their eyes sud- denly met. Goldboots started at the mute questioning of Policy Pete’s orbs. “Whar ar’ this brigade goin’?? asked tho guide in a low tone. ‘“You’d better ask Sitting Bull,” was the re- joinder, for Montana evidently saw no friend- ee: in Policy’s look. rom beneath the lank guide’s eyebrows came the retort, which said: . “Tf you can’t be civil, I'll leave you to your fate.” It brought the Nabob to terms. “You are not a squaw-man,” he said, looking at Pete. ‘*T hey been fur the last two years, that is I’ve been playin’ the role fur policy’s sake.” The guide’s expression—his favorite one of “for policy’s suke”—seemed to let a flood of light into Captain ’Tana’s mind. ““T know you now,” he said. be friends?” “ We might.” “On what terms?” “Tn ther first place, tell me why ye’r’ hyar,” said Policy, not noticing ’Tana’s eager ques- tion, A grim smile was visible under the Nabob’s mustache, “A red wild-cat knocked me from my_horse. and these Indians came across me before I could avoid them. You know Rosa, the gir] who loved Coyote?” “Wal, ought to. It war her tomahawk thet did the tappin’ I presume?” “Yes, curse. her!” grated Montana. ‘“ But thanks to a steel-lining which I wear in my cap, my skull was not broken and I live to throttle her one of these days.” “Tf she doesn’t get the first call on you. What war the difficulty between you?” Goldboots hesitated. Should he tell Policy Pete that he had seen Plucky Phil, the boy whom the old guide was probably hunting? No; he would notdo that, and with this resolve a stor carried to the minutest finish flashed throu his brain, and it was launched at the man with a policy. ‘olicy Pete ppearenty swallowed the narra- tive without choking, and Montana was con- gratulating himself on the success of his ruse when Peter’s stained hand touched his arm, an his lips scarcely parted to say: **T see you hev a policy, too, Montana.” The Nabob’s eyes suddenly dilated, “Never mind. Let us pool our issues, er, in other words, j‘ine our policies. Ikin git you out ov this red pack.” “Do it, and, by Jove! you will find Cap- eee Montana at your back through thick and thin!” Policy Pete said no more for a moment, dur- ing which time he had singled out Sitting Bull at the head of the cavalcade. * But can’t we “T} Jeaye you now,” he whispered to Gold- ie a /* tether, receive boots | a piece the gir
Page 21
\d- me yur *) 9 ing [ve . of 1 of os b we rar,” yues- bob’s jor'se coul who kthet “But ca yottle , you. Policy whom Yo; he a, stor’ broug) mn with s narrar ‘as con- lis ruse, rm, an ” as, er, in f you out nd Cap- hick and ent, dur- ting B to Gold- The Tenderfoot Trailer. 23 eee another outlet flashed through his brain, he leap- ed into the gloomy aisle. “To play this game to the last card; that’s my intention!” he said. ** Who wouldn’t risk his ex- istence for such a girl as Nora Dalton?” The corridor narrowed as he advanced with a cocked revolver on a level with his heart and the torch over his head, “ Halt!” he said suddenly to himself. ‘This is the end of the trail.” His words appeared true, for the passageway had terminated abruptly, and Goldboots the Nabob stood nonplused before a dark wall. “Hello! what is this?” fell from his lips as a shower of sparks fell over him, for the torch which he had waved around his head had come in contact with some object. “ By Jove! itis a rope!” e could scarcely contain the joy born of this discovery. A rope, not unlike the one by which he had followed Sitting Bull to the cave, dangled over his head like a hangman’s noose, and it was this object which had been struck by his torch, e seized the cord and tested it cautiously, as though he feared it might be some enemy’s trap, but at length he put out his torch and witha naked bowie between his teeth, began to climb upward, hand over hand. ‘A few moments’ work enabled him to rest on a narrow platform, a few feet above the floor of the cave proper, and he felt the rope slip from the rocky projection over which some hand had noosed it, and heard it fall upon the extinguish- ed torch below, The loss of the friendly cord occasioned no alarm in the Nabob’s heart, for he had alread caught a glimpse of natural light overhead. Five minutes Jater he bet into the evening shadows from beneath a huge mountain rock, and felt a cool breeze fan his cheeks. For some time Captain Montana stood in the gathering shadows, with the look of a detective who finds himself baffled by some shrewd criminal. He could not think that Nora Dalton remain- ed in the cave, for the rope told that Sitting Bull had escaped with the prize he had snatched from Coyote’s hands, Hestopped and examined the ground around the new opening, but he did not possess the eye of the lifelong trailer, and it told him nothing. At one time he thought of going back into the cave, but the loss of the rope deterred him, and he was forced to remain above ground. “T will find my horse first,” he said. ‘ One needs such an animal in this country every hour.” Having taken his bearings, he went over the ground and gradually descended into the valley, where he had concealed his horse after having seen Sitting Bull descend to Nora’s hiding-place. The sun had gone down, but the brief twilight that peoples the Big Horn Mountains with shadows remained, The Nabob of the coast reached his horse tethered where he had left him. Tue animal received him with a joyous whinny, and Gold- boots had laid his hand on the rein, when he saw a piece of dirty paper protruding from beneath the girth-strap, He threw a startled look around as his hand shot toward the paper, which he jerked from its strange envelope and began to unfold. There was a scrawl of some kind on the dingy sheet, and Goldboots could not make out a word until he had subjected the ill-shapen letters to a close inspection, Then this queer message was read: “My policy ag’in’ yourn, Goldboots! I’m a fool, an’ ye’r’ a dog.’ No signature. None was needed to tell Cap- tain "Tana by whose bronzed fingers the scrawl had been traced. He tore the paper into pieces, which he crammed into the muzzle of the revolver his right hand clutched. “Tm going to shoot his message into his head!” he grated. ‘I accept his challenge. My Seats against his, I didn’t expect_to find him ere, but such a devil as Policy Pete always turns up when one doesn’t want him, However. Iam prepared for him. He has given himse! away Py the letter. He is the fool he calls him- self, is eagerness to talk about his hobby has got the upper hand of him again. That policy of his will kill kim yet. My opinion is that he signed his death-warrant when he stuck that ce under my girth. emounted his horse as he coneluded, and rode toward the place where he had emerged from the cavern. It was half a mile away. As he entered a shadowy pass—the ground over which he was riding was very broken—he saw a dark figure glide from the right-hand side of the trail, and before he could cover the person he was looking into the muzzle of a revolver that touched his steed’s mane. “You got the letter, eh?” exclaimed the well- known voice of Policy Pete. ‘‘Ikin tell thet by the way you look. My policy ag’in’ yours, cap’n, thet’s fair, ain’t it?” “Ttis fair when we both bavean equal chance,” growled Goldboots. ‘‘ But you’ve got the drop on me now.” “ Jes’ ez if you wouldn’t git it on Policy Pete ef Phe hed a chance!” was the cutting rejoinder. “Ar youina ele Goldboots said ‘* No,” out of curiosity to seo what would follow such a reply. “Thet suits me, because I want to show you a sight,” continued the guide. The Nabob started. Had Policy Pete dis- covered Nora? “¢ Jes’ loan yerself to me fur five minutes,” Pete said, taking hold of Montana’s bridle, and as the girl-hunter did not object, the guide led the horse away. . A few yards from the scene of the moots they left’ the path and app!oached the cli from which Rosa, the Sioux girl, had hurled the hatchet at the venturesome sport. “Were going back to the cave,” said Gold- boots to himself. “Git down,” Policy Pete said in a low tone, and the Nabob immediately slid from his horse. “Bf that ar’ a gepuine Injun boss he'll lie down an’ keep still. Let me try ’im.” The long guide approached the animal, which obeyed his words and strokes, and was soon ly» ing sidewise on the ground,
Page 22
24 The Tenderfoot Trailer. ‘He is too much the master of my horse,” said the flashes that lit up Montana’s eyes when he saw this display of authority. ‘‘ He knows the animal too well for my own good,” The twain now went forward to the edge of the Lan dae Beneath them was the glen over which more than one of our characters had already hung suspended, oldboots glanced downward and started back with an exclamation of surprise. A smile crossed Policy Pete's face. “ They’re waitin’ fur Sittin’ Bull, the boss In- jun ov this kentry,” said the guide, whose finger was pointing down into the glen, ‘* There must be more than six hundred oy em. The old chief ny ’em orders in the afternoon to wait fur ’im ck yonder in the valley, an’ they did so till They ar’ they got fidgety an’ moved up hyar, i ar wonderin’ now what’s become ov Bull. is he, cap’n?” The question and the look that accompanied it sent Goldboots back with his hand on his half- drawn revolver. The glen below was filled with mounted In- dians. They were the red-skins who had anni- hilated Custer and his heroic riders, Their fierce looks and impatient movements had al- ready told the Pacific Nabob that they would soon transgress Sitting Bull’s commands and wait no longer for him. “War my question too pers’nal?”’ continued Policy Pete, whose eyes had followed the Na- bob’s hand to the silvered butt of his revolver. “Tasked you whar Sittin’ Bullis, You ought to know.” “You know as much about the whereabouts of that red wolf as I do!” flashed Goldboots, ‘‘Melsbe I do—not,” was the answer. ‘‘ The reddies down thar hey mentioned yer name in joud tones fifty times durin’ the half-hour. I laid hyar an’ heard ’em, They cuss Sittin’ Bull fur not lettin’ °em follow you when I hed given you an opportunity to escape. They’d like to ask youafew questions right now, cap’n, an’ I’m goin’ to send you down fur thet purpose.” Out flew the Nabob’s revolver, but Policy Pete’s left hand clutched his right arm and the old guide’s weapon looked again into his face. * Policy is policy!” came over the death- freighted barre]. ‘‘A man without a policy ar’ no man atall, Ef you h’evn’t got one jes’ now you'll need one within the next five min- utes. You want the boy Plucky Phil, but the fal’s the apple ov A id eye, What a queen ov risco society she’d make, cap’n! I’m doin’ oua favor when I send you down to the In- jas, fur I'll bo keepin’ you out ov Rosa’s road. on’t you hear the wolves growlin’ down yon- der? They'll go an’ hunt Sittin’ Bull pretty soon; won't stand it much longer. So go down an’ quiet ’em, ef you kin!” ith tho last word, the bronzed hand of the speaker gave Goldboots’s wrist a wrench which eaused him to utter au oath and to drop the re- volver, which went off as it struck the ground. The next moment Policy Pete pushed him to the very edge of the cliff. “Jump, cap’n!” cried the guide, ‘‘ You kin study out a policy ez pou go down,” Mechanically Gold ‘ oots glanced downward over his shoulder. Six hundred pairs of Indian eyes seemed to be fixed upon him, “Jump! There’s one chance in a million fur you!” resumed Policy Pete, coolly. ‘‘ Tl send you empty-headed down thar ina minute, It’s policy fur you, cap’n, to make the leap,” Fecal teeth fairly cracked as he grated em. ** Your infernal policy will suffer if I escape!” he hissed, “ Let er suffer!” was the tantalizing response, The Nabob turned once more to the scene be- low, and then, with a half-smothered curse and an ae to fortune for aid, leaped far from the edge of the cliff and shot downward toward the sea of upturned Indian faces! CHAPTER XIV. THE JEZEBEL FINDS HER PREY, A MILE or more fromthe spot upon which Goldboots emerged from the cavern, and at the time of his escape, the figure of an Indian girl threw a faint shadow against the white stones of a mountain pass as she crept forward with the stealthiness of the red race. It was Rosa the red Jezebel, Until dusk she had watched for Sitting Bull to leave the cave with his captive and her white rival, but her eyes had not been gladdened by such a sight, Afraid to descend to the cavern, even if she had possessed a rope, for the Pacific Sport was there, she had left her post, and, with a faint hope of finding another outlet somewhere among the mcuntains, had searched the uneven ground behind the precipice. Rosa’s eyes were keen ones, and revenge seemed to have helped her observation. The shadows of approaching night could not revent her from seeing the trail that led from the hidden outlet, and the dark eyes of Coyote’s love fairly flashed when they fell on the figure of Sitting Bull seated on his horse, The Sioux chief had recovered his Erie, for on the strong neck of the horse he held despairing Nora Dalton. Rosa’s horse had been left behind. She was afraid to go back for it, lest the white girl should be borne out of sight and beyond the possibility of her vengeance. She noted the character of the ground over which the chief’s steed was picking his way, and resolving to keep the pair in sight, she continued after the game she had discovered. “Rosa has found the White Flower at last!” fell from her lips. ‘She will not lose sight of her until she has paid her for stealing Coyote’s heart. When Rosa has paid her she will go back and kill the golden snake whose scales bore down on Coyote’s throat so that he died!” Looking with triumph into the half-shut eyes of Nora as he rode along, going further from his warriors every minute, Sitting Bull seemed satisfied with the result of his present mission. He had selected another hiding-place for his captive. There were a thousand places in his wild domain where he could conceal the girl ee whom he at to force a treaty with the vindictive whites, Ifhe had believed,
Page 23
grt ee ee er) ~ Bull and Plucky Phil. -encoura: The Tenderfoot Trailer. Pa lieved that by watchin would the sooner find young enemy Phil. In this respect he had not reckoned wildly, for by following Sitting Bull when that worthy withdrew from his band, he was enabled to dis- cover the cavern. Heleft his horse when hesaw the red chief lower himself over the cliff, and did not hesitate to follow him down the same Te to the white girl’s abode, hese actions account for the presence of Gold- boots the Nabob on the spot in time to interfere in the fierce scuffle going on between Sitting He was surprised to find himself confronted by the young trailer, al- though he knew that the boy still lived, for Rosa, the Sioux Jezebel, had preserved him from his (Montana’s) aim, The Pacific Nabob found himself in an un- pleasant predicament when he stood before the menacing knife of the girl whose beauty had brought him into the territory of the Sioux. The loss of Campbell’s train was known every- where, and the sad fate of pretty Nora Dalton, the Sioux chief he ora Dalton and his the Pride of Fort McKinney, was mourned in the rich parlors of ‘Frisco. The words of a half-drunken Indian had caused Goldboots to leap up from a Denver gambling-table. Could it be that Nora Dalton was not dead? From that day he possessed a new aim in life. He would find this beautiful girl and take her to ’Frisco as his wife; he would ‘set coast society wild, and he would keep her, too, at the muzzle of the revolver and the point of his bowie. He had found her at last, but in the heart of Sitting Bull's domain, and she stood between him and his boy rival, with a knife raised against his heart. Such an outcome of his hunt he had not ex- ected. DP intky, Phil had evidently been knocked sense- less by coming in contact with the bard wall of the cave. Atleast he made no noise, and this Goldboots. ** Well,” he said to Nora, ‘‘I will let the boy o. He cannot baffle me, for did you not hear im strike the wall? [ doubt whether his bead would hold water just now.” The girl unconsciously uttered an exclamation of horror and lowered the knife. Phil might be dead, killed by being hurled against the wall by the Pacific Nabob. She turned to find the boy, when a hand en- circled her waist and a low voice assailed her ears. “White girl never b’long to Goldboots!” said the voice, which caused Nora to stagger back as far as the hand would permit. ‘Sitting Bull make the peace he wants with her.” Nora could not speak. The chief of the Sioux held her fast, “Can’t you find the boy?’ called out the Na- bob, rn seg “ Sitting Bull got the White Flower!” was the answer, and the figure that stepped across the line of shadow thrust a revolver into Captain *Tana’s face. “You're on deck again, eh?” ejaculated the Nabob, involuntarily shrinking from the shining barrel, behind which the dark eyes of Sitting Bull danced like twin dervishes, ‘‘ It will not do to half-kill an Indian, and I’m a fool for try- ing the experiment. I had you by the throat awhile ago, chief, and I might have sent you to kingdom come, but we were friends once, you know.” “ An’ that is why Sitting Bull would not let his braves hurt Goldboots when they found him wandering about after Rosa hit him with her hatchet,” was the reply. ‘‘ Then, again, Sitting Bull kept his warriors from followin’ Goldboots when he rode away ’while ago, Goldboots for- gets this.” “Tt would dome no good to remember your kindness, as I am to be shot down here,” the Nabob said, sarcastically. ‘‘ Blaze away, chief, an’ lose one of the best white friends a Sioux chief ever had. Yes, shootand forget that some of my money purchased the powder that helped to wipe Custer out.” ‘Sitting Bull no kill Goldboots, but him must go.” Montana glanced at the mouth of the cave. The rope was still dangling in front of it, “He must go and keep from Sitting Bull’s trail forever!” reiterated the Sioux. Goldboots glanced at the shadowy form held firmly by the Indian’s left hand, and hesitated. The cocked revolver looked him squarely in the face. “*Go!” thundered the impatient Indian, ‘* The finger of Sitting Bull is at the trigger!” The Pacific Rahah stepped toward the open ing with an oath, Under his mustache he was savagely biting his lips. “Never mind! we'll meet again!” he hissed over his shoulder. ‘When I next reach the eagle’s nest I will take care to attend to the old bird first. Your days are nearly numbered, killer of Custer!” There was no reply, save a defiant glitter in the eyes that still looked over the steely barrel. Goldboots reached the edge of the corridor and caught the rope which now hung motionless above the abyss, It had lowered him to the cave and it would certainly again bear his weight. Driven to despair by the menace of the deadly revolver, the Nabob grasped the cord firmly and swung himself from the cave. The next moment he was drawing himself up. “All this risk for a girl who as yet doesn’t care a whit for me!” he said to himself. ‘“ But she’s worth the powder! Great Heavens! she’s prettier than romance made her. How she would shine on the slope! What a belle of *Frisco she would make. I’m not by any means struck, but I’d try to cross a gulch ona bridge of spider-webs if Nora was on the further side, a prize for me! The old chief thought I couldn’t watch the cave! I can watch, and, by Jove! I can kill! Iam going to do both!” : Goldboots, encouraged by his communin: with self, was making good progress up the rope, but all at once all color left his face and his hands seemed to shrink from the cord. He had cast his eyes upward to note his pro- gress, and they had encountered a pair of orbs that possessed the glare of the panther’s, They were full of malice and revenge, Nor was that all,
Page 24
- Just below the red face that leaned over the edge of the cliff was a naked arm that held a knife against the ropel *¢ Rosa the Sioux!” pacped Goldboots, ** Rosa find the snake t ote’s throat before be died!” came down from the Jezebel’s lips. hatchet, but him must have an iron head. Now she cut his cord, an’ him never crawl across throats any more.” “Cut it an’ never know where the white girl is!” flashed Goldboots. ‘‘I have found and hid her. Cut the cord, you red viper!” The knife instead of severing the rope shrunk away, and a new curiosity beamed in Rosa’s eyes. Buta moment afterward she ventured: “ Girl-Hunter make a lie to keep Rosa from sendin’ him down the rocks, She know where White Flower is.” “Then cut the rope and find her!” said Gold- | oots. **Ske in the cave in the wall,” was the In- dian girl’s response. ‘‘ Rosa see Sittin’ Bull go down rope; by an’ by Girl-Hunter come along an’ go down, too. Now him come up alone. Sittin’ Bull drive ‘im out, eh?’ “Girl-Hunter try to lie to Rosa, but him fail. She wait for Sittin’ Bull. Him got another rope in the cave, an’ by an’ by him come up with the white girl whose pretty face took Coyote from Rosa long ago.” There was but one part of the Indian’s last sentence that impressed the man completely at her mercy. The words ‘another rope” told him that the keen knife still clutched in her hand was going back to the work from which his manner had taken it. He was not kept in suspense a great while, ** Rosa hunt white girl without Cap’n ’Tana to bother her!” suddenly grated the red Jezebel, and the knife was drawn across the cord with a vengeance that told the Pacific Nabob how terribly woman can hate! A wild cry—a shriek—rose to his lips as the rope parted, and the next instant he was falling along the wall with his hands clutching madly at every minute fae aan From above the glittering eyes of Rosa the Sioux vixen were following him on her terrible descent, but suddenly a cry of horror dropped from her tongue. Goldboots had, a second after the severing of the rope, reached the mouth of the cavern, and his bloodless hands had clutched the edge of the stone floor, to which they clung with the energy of despair. He hung between life and death by the frail hold of a pair of almost nerveless hands. If Sitting Bull caught sight of him a bullet or a hatchet would terminate his career, 1f the chief did not merely loosen his hands and let him continue his descent! A glance upward showed him the revengeful face of his red persecutor. “Oh, for a band at that viper’s throat!” grated Goldboots. ‘She dare not let me hang here in ace one minute. Lam getting stronger and shall soon be able to draw myself into the cave. Then a thousand Sitting Bulls cannot make me ue inch, Sheis going to finish her devilish wor! The Tenderfoot Trailer. at crawled ’cross Coy- | ‘*She hit him hard with her | It was time. Rosa was leaning over the cliff with uplifted hatchet. “Girl-Hunter wear no cap now to save his head!” he heard her hiss, ‘‘ Rosa make his hands leave the step of the White Flower’s lodge.” The next moment down came the hatchet! As it left Rosa’s hand Goldboots dodged at random, and the weapon missed him by the breadth of a hair, hissed past his cheek to strike the stones in the bottom of the glen far beneath | him! CHAPTER XIII. POLICY AGAINST POLICY. Fortune evidently still smiled on Goldboots, for his escape from the hatchet of his revengeful Indian girl was a narrow one, ; A look of chagrin became visible in a, eyes as she watched the bloodless weapoh’s descent to the bottom of the glen. The Nabob’s joy over his escape cannot be described, : By a masterly effort he raised himself abov the edge of the cavern’s mouth and stood once more on the stony ground over which Sitting ey had lately driven him at the pistol’s muz- ale. ‘*Hfere I stay un till am ready to depart!” fell in defiant tones from his lips. He looked around. In the shadows which deepened into actual gloom a few feet in front of him, he saw no one, and silence reigned a Goldboots was puzzled, to say the east. He drew his revolvers and held his breath while he attempted to fathom the mystery shrouded in silence and shadows. A few short moments since he had confronted Plucky Phil; Sitting Bull and Nora Dalton on the spot now oceupied by him. Ten minutes had not passed, but they were not to be seen. Through the darkness came the glimmer of a coal as a burned stick stirred in the fire which the Sioux chief had almost entirely extinguished when he entered the cave. Goldboots sprung to the spot and unearthed a few crimson embers which he fanned into a flame. He was convinced that he was the only living tenant of the cavern. “T must find the red wolf’s trail,” he said, as he worked with the coals. ‘‘ And to do that successfully I must have a torch.” When he had produced sufficient fire, his first steps carried him to the spot where he supposed Plucky Phil to be lying unconscious. His eyes dilated with wonder when he search- ed the place, and found no traces of the young trailer. “ All gone!” he said. “‘ If Sitting Bull carried Nora off he already has a foe on his track, If should have finished the youngster when I had my hand on his throat. Delays are dangerous, I was a fool to let the girl and her knife deter me,” He ceased and began to examine the floor of the cave with his torch. It revealed nothing; but all at once Goldboots sprung up and hurri away. A dark corridor had been revealed by his search, and as a thought that there might be " pip etn FTN 1 Say > eee > -) ee = + aS
Page 25
Pa The Tenderfoot Trailer. 25 , 4 eee that Nora was but the humble child of an un- known man, he might not have been found rid- al aig the mountain trail that day. ut no! her beauty made her the daughter of some one high in authority. She could not be of- humble origin. Thus the head of*the Sioux nation had reasoned a thousand times, Where was Plucky Phil? If he had recovered and was on the trail of his great enemy, no one seemed aware of it. Certain it was, though, that the mountain trail- er was notin the cavern, for Goldboots after his forced return to it had failed to find a single trace of him, Rosa the ge girl appeared to be the only person who had found the chief’s trail, and it was certain that she would follow it to the bit- ter end, Down among the deeper shadows she went with her eyes riveted upon the horse and his double burden. More than once she was with- in rifle-shot, and her fingers played nervously in the trigger-guard as her eyes flashed, but the weapon did not touch her shoulder, It was not until Sitting Bull stopped and looked back that she paused. Crouching beside a bowlder, the Sioux girl eyed the chief as though he was about to disappear. “White Flower near the new lodge,” said Sitting Bull in response to a questioning glance from his captive. * Always captivity!” sighed Nora, and a mo- ment later an indignant light lit up the depths of her eyes. o You dare not give me a gun—a pistol?” she said. “What White Flower do?” SAE pox did not then release me, your nation would have to elect another chief.” ““ White Flower shoot Sitting Bull?” “Need you ask? A thousand times I have told you that Iam not a general’s child. My father fell in the canyon massacre. I believe you know this, but yet you affect to believe otherwise.” “Girl stick to story well,” said the Sioux. ‘« Her never born in common soldier’s lodge, By and by her father come to Sitting Bull and say, ‘Let the Sioux make their own terms. Give up my child and the Great Father at Washing- ton will put his name to_the strong paper.’ By and by all this be done, White Flower.” “Never!” exclaimed Nora. -‘‘ Were I the per- son you call me,I would never purchase my liberty on such terms!” “We see!” was the sententious rejoinder, as Sitting Bull slid from the blanket and assisted his pause to alight. Holding to the bridle and carrying Nora at the same time, the chief of the Sioux turned into a narrow trail which soon brought him to a place strewn with bowlders of every size. Many were piled in heaps as though the hands ete race of one ee deposited them. pping past one heap as he dropped his steed’s bridle, the chief raised a neaare of mountain creepers and displayed the mouth of another cave to the gaze of the wondering girl. * Another prison!” she thought; ‘“ but thank Heaven one does not look from its door into an abyss.” She was led into the place thus revealed with the red hand of the killer of Custer at her wrist, She could not take note of the corridor, for it was dark, yet the Indian knew whither he was taking her, “JT must inspect my new home,” she said, with a smile, takinz up a torch after Sitting Bull had departed. “He has in some manner prevented me from escaping. I am. satisfied that the opening behind the vines has been walled up with bowlders. Separated again Phil! Fortune never smiles on us. Go back i you live, and leave Nora Dalton to her fate.” The young mountain trailer was not near enough to reply; but Nora knew that if he could have heard her, a ringing ‘‘ Never!” would have fallen from his lips, Her torch threw out a vivid light as she com- menced her explorations. The cave was a wonderful one, possessing nu- merous small chambers connected by narrow corridors, not unlike the caverns in certain por- tions of the Union east of the Mississippi. “The Sioux king knows his dungeons well,” ejaculated Nora, pausing at last. ‘‘I might as well go back to the fire and await the arrival of my new jailer. It will not be the dwarf this time.” “No! White Flower, the Ape is dead!” The voice as much as the works made Nora Dalton recoil with a cry of terror. As she sprung back, her torch revealed the speaker, not twenty feet away. “T know you!” said Nora, recovering in a measure, spate the glistening eyes of the In- dian girl kept color from her cheeks, “TI know why you came, too.” “Rosa help young trailer find White Flower!” exclaimed the artful girl, gliding forward. ‘‘ Boy not far off, and she come to take White Flower to him,” But the chief’s prisoner did not believe. She recalled Plucky Phil’s words. f He had told her that she possessed a bitter en« emy in the person of Rosa, the Sioux. She knew too, why the red Jezebel hated her, “You must stop where you are,” said Nora, tightening her gripe on her torch, ‘‘ You follow me because jealousy has lied to you. I was Coy- ote’s prisoner, that was all. You were welcome to the brute.” She talked to a rock, ‘* White Flower no believe that Rosa come to take her to young trailer,” she said, with a grin that disclosed her intentions. ‘‘Then she must know that Rosa come to pay her back for steal- ing Coyote’s heart!” : fare had not time for answer, for, with acry and a panther-like leap, the scarlet Jezebel dart- ed forward. : Madly the white girl struck with the rng torch, but Rosa’s arm warded off the blow, an before Nora could deal the second stroke she was in the hands of the jealous Sioux. “ What White Flower think now?” she hissed glaring at_her with the eyes of an enr tigress. ‘‘ White boy not far off, mebbe. e go see, Sitting Bull going back to his braves now, thinking that him hide hispale flower from all eyes save the Great Spirit’s. Ah! Rosa fol- | jowed him when he knew it not, She wanted
Page 26
The Tenderfoot Trailer. : ! the dove whose pretty eyes stole the eagle’s heart from his mate.” A moment later Nora was peti AS ged over the hard floor of the cavern, ‘Torch and fire were left behind, and at length they stood be- yond the vines, and in the light of the full, round moon that looked down over a broken mountain spur. Rosa’s eyes still flashed triumphantly, and the fingers that encircled Nora’s wrist seemed to burn their way to the bone. “Took and listen, White Flower!” suddenly OS eat the Sioux girl, pointing down the trail. “You see nothing,” said Nora. ‘‘ You hear the wind, and the moonlight makes shadows in the path. You should shade your eyes with your hands if you want to see anything ” Nora’s heart seemed to stand still when her eneny’s hand quitted her wrist. The Sioux girl was holding her shapely red hands above her eyes, and gazing down the path. All at once Nora pushed the red Jezebel mad- ly away, and before she could recover, sprung off with a fervent ejaculation to fortune for aid. Her situation seemed to lend speed to her hopes, and she was flying down the narrow shadow-flecked path, when Rosa recovered and darted in swift pursuit. “ White Flower must wither on the mountain trail!” she hissed, as knife in hand she followed the fleeting figure of the girl she hated. It was, indeed, a race for life with Nora Dalton. CHAPTER XV. THE MAN IN THE MOON, “Hip! help!” burst involuntarily from the throat of the beauty of Campbell’s train when she heard the footsteps of her mad pursuer. To look back might be to lose a step, so she cast no glance behind. The trail was straight, and_the mellow moon- light revealed the mountain leaves that littered it. Down upon her came the red Jezebel with the certainty of a doom which cannot be averted. Still Nora kept on. She did not possess a single weapon, else she would have wheeled and met Rosa face to face. She kept on until the triumphant laugh of the searlet vixen rung in her ears, until she ap- peared to feel the avenging knife in her back. “T can go no further!” she exclaimed. ‘‘ Fate has ever been against me, but it is better to per- ish in the light of the stars than in the gloom of an Indian cave.” Nora’s heart had sunk within her, and all at once she fell exhausted at the edge of the trail. Wild was the cry that pealed from Rosa’s throat when she saw her long-sought victim in her meshes. “ Coyote’s heart was the last one the White Flower stole. She will never steal another!” was the cry. Nora saw. the knife and its mad owner, beard the words just written as they fell hissing from s her enemy’s tongue, and shut her eyes for the blow. Entirely exhausted, she could do no more. She did not see the figure that leaped sudden- ly into the path between her and the Indian girl, but Rosa recognized the new-comer witha startling cry and drew back with the look of a baffled tigress. “Tn time to baffle you, demoness!” said the rescuer, whose build and garments proclaimed his identity, and without pity he dashed Rosa’s uplifted knife arm down with the rifle he car- ried and sent her stunned to the bushes that fringed the trail. It was Plucky Phil. “T couldn’t kill the tigress,” he said, casting a look upon the Sioux girl before he turned to Nora. ‘‘Sbe abandoned her horse for some reason or other, and fortune threw the animal in my way, and therefore I reached this spot in time to keep her knife from Nora’s heart. Poor Nora! She does not think me near.” A moment later joy beamed in Nora Dalton’s eyes, for they were looking into Plucky Phil's face, and he was carrying her toward a horse a few yards away. The boy did not speak until he had taken a seat behind her on the animal’s back. “Thank fortune for this meeting,’ he said, joyfully. ‘‘We are not out of the woods yet, ora, but the mid-air cave has been left behind, and I trust we have seen Sitting Bull for tho last time.” “ And Rosa, too,” said Nora, with a shudder, “Ail you found her out,” replied Phil. o sev more than fancy painted her, I sup- ose “She must have loved Coyote.” ‘In her mad Indian way,” the boy smiled. ‘Tt 1s the love which continually carries a knife in its hand.” The reunited pair were carried through the pm by Rosa’s steed. Leaving the trail on the high land, they descended into a valley, through which the horse was earrying them at a brisk gallop, when Plucky Phil Pad dorky: drew rein and cocked the rifle. ‘Look ahead, Nora. There is a man in the moon,” he said. They were ascending a gentle rise, over whose summit the full-orbed moon was peeping, and photographed on the silver disk was the figure of a man and the head of a horse. Nora could scarcely repress a cry when she saw the startling spectacle. ‘¢ White or red?” she asked, in low tones, ‘* That is what I cannot determine,” said Phil, never taking his eyes from the apparition a minute. ‘I am going to find out, however.” He slid to the ground and left the reins in Nora’s hands; then he crept forward and noise- lessly up the little hill. “T might have turned back,” he murmured, “ but turning back always puts a trailer on one’s track in this country. Pete has taught me the value of a definite policy, but mine has always been ‘advance! Never retire.’” The man in the moon assumed almost gigan- tie proportions as Plucky Phil neared the sum- mit of the hill. The boy now saw the strange skin cap that coyered the head, but whether
Page 27
The Tenderfoot Trailer, 27 the person was red or white he could not deter- mine, _ He was now on all-fours, creeping on inch by incb, A panther never approached its prey with less noise, ‘ “Til try the knife. Iused to know how to use it,” fell from Plucky Phil's lips as he laid the rifle down and drew the bowie. *‘The man in the moon is a squaw-man, therefore, a Sioux by nature, He is in my road, and the knife must remove him. I am throwing for Nora’s safety. I care not for myself.” As the young trailer rose for the throw on which he had decided, he glanced over his shoul- der and saw the dark figure of Nora’s horse, then he caught the bowie at its point and hurled it straight at the apparition between him and the moon! “ Jehu! thar’s another fellar with a policy!” exclaimed the stranger as the polished blade, turned from its path by fate, went flying past his face. “‘Tll jes’ turn an’ pit my policy agin’ the one down the hill.” Plucky Phil started back amazed. “J thank fortune for my bad aim!” he said. “T threw my bowie at my bestfriend. Itis I, Policy—Plucky Phil!” “Ther boy, by hookey !” A moment afterward the gaunt guide was squeezing Phil’s hand, and exhibiting a pair of dilated eyes beneath his bushy brows. ‘*« Thet blade ov yourn, boy, nearly ended my policy,” he said, ‘* But whar’s the gal?” “ Down yonder.” **You’ve got’er at last eh? Thet’s the out- come ov some good policy. I choked off one fellar’s policy back yonder.” Plucky Phil’s eyes threw a question into Policy Pete’s face. “It war Goldboots.” The boy started and looked displeased. **T was going to turn on him by and by,” he said. ‘He killed my father—forced him into a duel because he hated mother, and then shot him. But you have killed him, Policy; you have baffled me.” “He may live,” said the old guide, ‘* but—I— doubt it, Phil.” “ What did you do to him?” "Oh, nothin’ mucb. I jes’ made ’im jump off a cliff down among six hundred red-skins,” was the answer. ‘If he hed a cast-iron neck an’ a good policy he may be livin’ fur you, but it’s almighty unsart?in, Plucky.” The young trailer did not reply, but turned his face upon the foot of the hill and the two went down. ““Whar’s Nora?” asked Policy Pete, stopping suddenly and looking into the boy’s face. “'Thar’s the hoss; but—” A cry of horror from Phil’s lips had broken the sentence, and a bound carried him to the horse’s side. The animal stood where he had left him, but Nora had disappeared! For a moment he stood bewildered where he had halted, and then wheeled upon Policy Pete, *“ Where can Nora be?” he exclaimed. “Thet’s a tough question, but a good policy will find her,” Pete said. ‘‘ Let me tell you suthin’ I’ve been achin’ to talk about ever since imet you. This kentry is alive with red-skins. I war watchin’ a sneakin’ party while I war up thar on the hill. Goldboots must hev been in a condition to tell ’em who made ’im jump among em arter he landed. We may be in the midst ov the hull six hundred. Didn’t I hear Sittin’ Bull say thet he would bunt you with the en- tire tribe one o’ these days? Plucky. ef you ever take Nora from Siouxdom it will be with the ! ull durned tribe at yer heels.” The boy’s eyes flashed, and his lips met firmly as he clutched his revolver tighter and looked into Policy Pete’s face. “Talways keep that threat before me,” he said, ‘‘I came hither for Nora, and I will take her from this deathland if Sitting Bull and all his red allies oppose!” CHAPTER XVI. THE TWIN MAZEPPAS. Ir was true that Nora Dalton had mysterious- ly disappeared. It was strange that she had been taken and the horse left. Plucky Phil could not think that Rosa had followed them and recovered possession of her rey, nor did he believe that Nora had fallen ack into Sitting Bull’s hands. “There is no trail here!” he said, as he rose from an examination of the path and fixed his eyes on Policy Pete, “Wait till I pass judgment,” was the re- sponse. The boy watched the lank guide with bated breath while the old fellow paid his attention to the ground. Policy Pete took his own time, and was scrutinizing the trail when the boy bounded forward and touched his shoulder. 7 < ae ejaculated Pete, looking up at the boy railer. “ There are Indians in the moon. Look!” ** Policy Pete obeyed. “IT told you the kentry war full ov the red niggers!” he said, after a glance at the silver world that peeped over the summit of the hill, *“They’re ridin’ across the moon, as it war— gittin’ ’round on our flank kinder like,” ‘**Do you think so?” Policy Pete sprung up. ‘Look yonder!” he said, pointing down the narrow mountain trail, ‘‘ Them ar’n’t shadders, but Injuns!” Plucky Phil instinctively lifted his weapon. “We've got to take the bull by the horns, Plucky. We've got toride through’em. Thar’s no gettin’ round thet.” ‘*T'm ready,” was the boy’s reply. “Thet’s the best policy. The wolves are be- hind us, too, Git up on the horse.” : An agile bound seated Phil on the Indian blanket. “Tf this be deserting Nora, I do not movea foot,” he said, looking down into Policy’s face. “Tt will be helpin’ her in the end. We hey to hev strange policies sometimes, an’ this ar’ one ov’em. Now go!” : “ But you, Pete?” “Pi tend to myself. It’s a pat ov my pres- ent policy. Ride straight ahead, ez if you heven’t seen an Injun, an’ when I whistle go off like an arrer.” Phil turned from Policy Pete and drew his
Page 28
The Tenderfoot Trailer. second revolver, so that he had one in each nd. Obeying a whispered word, the horse moved away while the boy’s ears were waiting to catch old Policy’s signal. All at once it came, a cry between a hoot and a trill, and the next moment he went down the trail like an arrow. A dozen shadowy figures rose suddenly before him, but fear of being trampled under the horse’s feet made them hug the trees that bor- dered the path, and Plucky Phil’s revolvers spoke on either hand as he dashed along. Policy Pete had not been mistaken; the shadows of the mountain trail were living In- ns. * Further on the pho boy rode into a pack of human wolves. They filled the little glen; they sprung at his bridle with the yells of demons and tried to drag him from his perch. He shot at point blank range into the devilish faces that appeared on both sides, emptied his revolvers among the infuriated Sioux and almost liber- ated himself, But at that moment fresh rein- forcements came BP i the whole Indian army surrounded him, is horse was knocked down with a club and he was torn from the blanket and held firmly by at least twenty hands, “Five hundred against one are odds too eat,” said Phil, as he turned a defiant face to is captors. “You dare not let me reload my revolvers and give moe a show.” “ White boy talk to Sitting Bull, presently,” was the reply. ‘Him big chief, and mebbe him give young trailer his fast-shootin’ guns ag’in.” ‘Show me your chief, the cause of my mis- fortunes,” Phil said. ‘‘ Where is this valiant chief of yours—the wolf that devoured Custer?” Atthe name of Custer the whole party set upa yell and went through certain motions which told the mountain trailer that he had been captured by the red heroes of the Little Big Horn massacre, uddenly the ranks divided and Plucky Phil found himself in the presence of Sitting Bull. The boy started back amazed, for he had not thought that the Sioux chief had rejoined his command. “White boy caught at last!” fell from the In- dian’s ee ‘*But him kill some braves before him Pt "dd * Who can avoid killing when he fights for life and liberty with a revolver in each fand?” was the quick response. Sitting Bull nodded. “Young white come into Sitting Bull’s land from the forts of the white soldiers,” continued the Sioux. ‘ Him hunt pale-face girl who came with the train across the great rivers. He would like to be safe in the forts now.” “Not without Nora,” said Phil. ‘I shall not go back alone.” ‘““White boy brave. Him never go back, mebbe,” “That is true! It all lies in your hands, Sit- ting Bull, I admit that. If you had not bidden Nora Dalton, the six dead warriors lying back ponder would be alive to help you_in your next campaign. Give me liberty and Nora, and my back shall be forever turned on your land.” For a moment the Sioux chief did not speak. Plucky Phil watched him with deep interest. “Put boy on Sudden Fire’s horse,” he said, suddenly turning to some Indians at his left. A moment later Phil was lifted to the back of a fiery young steed which had been reluctantly yielded by a young Sioux, “Tie im now!” said Sitting Bull. The tying operation did not last long when twenty Indians took part init. The haughty head of the Sioux nation looked on with a gleam of grim satisfaction in his eyes, ‘““ White boy take a long ride,” fell from_his lips. ‘‘ Young horse full ov fire, but him go like the wind with his mate.” ‘“ What does the red tiger mean?” ejaculated Phil, and then he thought: “He is going to make a Mazeppa of me.” Indian hands at the horse’s head led the ani- mal away, and the whole red army followed. Plucky Phil’s doubts were soon dispelled, for the band halted a few hundred yards from the scene of his capture. The mellow moonlight fell uninterrupted over the little dale. “Ah! here comes the girl white boy been huntin’,” said Sitting Bull, andthe young trailer uttered a ery of surprise as his eyes fell on Nora Dalton, whose horse was led forward by two braves. The recognition was mutual. kok dey “Nora!” The horses were pS a together, and the eyes of the young couple became fixed upon each other. “You would not go back after tie escaped from the mid-air cave,” the girl said. “Not without you, Nora!’ “We are going to leave Siouxdom together! Sitting Bull has determined to get rid of us.” “Tn what manner?” ‘Heaven knows, but he has come to the con- clusion that I am not an important person.” Before Plucky Phil could reply, Indians fell ‘to fastening the two horses together at their heads, and he saw that Nora had already been lashed to her steed. “Listen, white boy!” said Sitting Bull. ‘‘ You came here for White Flower, whom Sitting Bull long believed to be a great white war-chief’s child. Him know better now; therefore, him willin’ to send you both out of hiscountry. The horses know the way mebbe, but if they git lost the white trailer will see bis flower wither in the mountains, While him ride away, Sit- ting Bull go back and hunt for the guide’s scalp, an’ the hearts of all his pale foes. = by, young trailer.” “Your good-by means death!” Plucky Phil said. ‘‘You would not send us away lashed thus to half-broken horses if you did not ex- pect us to starve among the mountains of your accursed country. Cut me loose and meet me face to face. You can surround a body of United States troops and cut them to pieces, but you cannot fight a boy ray itting Bull, you are worse than the dog that gnaws the bones in your lodge, meaner and more mer- ciless than the wolves of your mountains!” The eyes of the stalwart chief flashed while the boy talked, but he did not reply, wh
Page 29
The Tenderfoot Trailer. £9 His hand went up as a sign to the Indian who held the horses, and the next instant a hundred yells broke forth and twenty sticks descended upon the animals’ backs. Away they went like arrows shot from In- dian bows, and scores of Sioux dashed after them with demoniac cries. “This is leaving Sioux-land with a vengeance, Nora!” said Phil. “‘Itis better than captivity!” was the reply. “We are saat once more! The hand of the red-man shall never separate us. When Sitting Bull nee upon me and jerked me silently from my horse while you were gliding upon the man in the moon, his eyes emitted a devilish gleam I had never seen them possess before.” Plucky Phil did not hear more than one-half of these words. They were going away from Sitting Bull at a speed that deprived them of breath, and their followers were still making the air ring with their wild shouts. On, on, until at last the pursuing Indians fell off like exhausted wolves. They had followed the twin Mazeppas for the purpose of urging the two horses forward as ra idly as possible, and they had returned to their leader. f Plucky Phil spoke to the steeds, but his strange voice had an ill effect, and he desisted. Nora was exhausted. The cutting ropes had tightened, and she was constantly biting her lips to keep back shrieks of pain. At last the animals stopped from sheer ex- haustion. The moon was approaching the horizon, and the shadows of the mountain trees looked like ghosts on stilts. Phil turned and spoke words of cheer to the girl; but the face which she turned to bim al- most drew a cry of horror from his heart. “This is the beginning of the end, Phil,” she said. ‘‘We are lost, and our horses do not know where they are.” Then the girl sunk forward with a groan, She had fainted. The young trailer grated his teeth and tugged this bonds. He exerted all his strength, dut the ropes were sinews and his limbs but flesh. “Oh! for the strength of a Samson!” cried Phil. ‘“‘ Not for my sake, but Nora’s!” and, having rested for a moment, he went to work again. But he toiled in vain. The sinews seemed made of steel. When he gave up he succeeded in getting the two horses close together, and leaning forward he gazed intently into the white face and half- closed eyes of his despairing companion. Had he bravely entered the death-traps of Sioux-land to perish thus, reunited with Nora Dalton, but powerless to rescue her from a hor- rible death? The horses stood like statues in the night; they refused to move at Phil’s voice, and at last, exhausted and almost despairing, the mountain trailer dropped asleep beside the prize he had won at last. CHAPTER XVII. THE POLICY THAT WON. Ir was a tableau which the first gray streaks of dawn did not disturb, Side by side in one of the most picturesque parts of the land of Sioux and bear, slept the brave young couple whose lives had been de- voted to each other’s love. ‘ Plucky Phil was at last awakened by a neigh from his steed. Nora slept on, ter pale face pressed against her dun steed’s mane, The neigh had not roused her. The boy trailer saw the foxlike ears of his horse standing stiffly erect, The animal must have heard the advance of one of his kind. Presently from behind a deep copse came the answering whinny of an unseen horse, but it was suddenly checked, as though a cap had been thrust over the animal’s mouth. ‘‘ Weaponless and tied to a horse, I suppose I am about to furnish some Indian marksman with a target,” said the boy, bitterly. “A thousand curses on the red-skin who doomed Nora and I to a fate like this.” Although he did not shrink, he fixed his eyes on the spot where he expected to catch sight of the new foe. He was glad that Nora still slept. All at once a horse and his rider came into full view. A startling cry rung from Plucky Phil’s throat. “T was too merciful Jast night!” he mur- toured. ‘‘She will not refuse to profit by my leniency.” Well might the invader of Sitting Bull’s terri- tory glance from his eonfronter to the fair young girl at his side. Rosa, the red Jezebel, had not left the trail of vengeance. She was before him with mad eyes and grinning countenance, and her fingers rested within the boundary of her rifle-guard. Her astonishment was no less than the boy’s, but in an instant she seemed to comprehend the scene before her. “She has discovered that we are helpless!” thought Phil. ‘She will not keep off!” Their cords bad been discerned by the girl’s keen eyes. “White boy and _ his love fall tied into Rosa’s hands!” she hissed as she moved forward. Sit- ting Bull often send pale-faces from his huntin’- grounds tied to their horses. But he did not re was sendin’ the young whites to Rosa’s rifle, ‘“Allof which means that you are going to make the best of your opportuity for murder!” flashed Plucky Phil. There was no reply as the rifle crept up until it touched the mane of Rosa’s horse and covered the boy’s breast. Plucky Phil glanced at Nora, At that mo- ment the girl opened her eyes. “ Alive yet, thank Heaven!” she exclaimed. “| was dreaming, Phil, that—” She paused and started back, for Phil’s quick glance at Rosa had revealed their peril. “White Flower look how quick young trailer fall!” cried the red Jezebel. ‘‘Her become Rosa’s captive for sure then!” The cheeks of the speaker sunk once more to the rifle, and her eager finger touched the trig- ger when the clear report of a rifle on the right awoke the echoes of the mountain glen, and ei horse staggered back shot through the eud!
Page 30
The Tenderfoot Trailer. Down went the scarlet princess with her steed and a moment later a lank individual appeared carrying a smoking rifle. “T want to leave the kentry whar everybody hez a killin’ policy!” he said as he came forward. “T ran you squar’ into the red hornets last night when I thought I war gettin’ you out ov a diffi- kilty. But a policy doesn’t always work, Phil. Some of the best ones turn out bad. Look at thet copper-colored wildcat! The hoss ar’ hold- in’? ber down, an’ she’s showin’ all her front fangs. Came jes’ in time, didn’t 1? Got intoa scrape myself with Sittin’ Bull’s beauties, but I came out right side up, an’ hev been huntin’ you two ever since, Didn’t expect to find you together? Wal I jes’t did, fur a lucky stroke ov policy made me acquainted with yer ride, an’ I expected to find one whar I found the other! An Injun told me all.” Rosa meanwhile was trying to separate her- self from her dead horse and reach her rifle which lay undischarged on the ground a few inches beyond her bands. Policy Pete had already severed the bonds that held the young folks captive, and he turned oe arevengeful ejaculation upon the jealous irl. Madness distended the old guide’s eyes. “ Wounded er captured wildcats ought ter be killed; thet’s always been my policy!” he hissed, vindictively. A moment later the career of Rosa the Sioux irl would have ended, but Plucky Phil caught the arm of the guide that held his rifle aloft. ““What kind ov a policy hev you got now, Phil?” asked Policy Pete, turning an astonished face upon the young trailer. ** She’s helpless!” ** Helpless? Leave ’er five minutes, an’ thar’ll be a bullet in Nora’s heart.” “But you sha’n’t kill her as sheis!” And Plucky Phil stepped resolutely between the guide and his victim. ‘‘ Take the rifle up, and Jet her creep from beneath her horso the best way she can. No! Pll help her out.” He offered Rosa his hand, but she refused it with scorn. “Rosa never touch white boy’s hand, but to kill!” she flashed. ““ What did I tell you?” laughed Policy Pete. * She sticks like a leech to the old policy.” But Phil seized Rosa’s wrist, and despite her looks, liberated her from her situation, only to see her slink away with eyes that threatened future vengeance. “You kin go back an’ hunt Goldboots!” Policy Pete said to her. The Indian girl started at the name. *‘ What! is he still alive!” exclaimed Phil. * Alive, but not ez handsome ez he used to be, boy. He lit squar’ly among the Injuns, anda hatchet sp'iled his beauty, but he’s creepin’ *round somewhar. From what Sittin’ Bull told me last night his photygraph wouldn’t sell well in the music stores ov ’Frisco.” ‘Then you saw the chief himself?” ‘Caught ’im nappin’, ez it war. He’s the In- = I referred to a while ago. We used to be ends, you know, and the old feller let me go arter I shot Coyote in the camp on account of a deed I did while { war playin’ squaw-man au’ huntin’ fur Nora. I made Sittin’? Bull tell me what he had done to you young folks, an’ thet’s partly how I came to be around in the nick ov time. Now don’t talk about goin’ back to deathdom fur Goldboots. Thet’s not the kind ov policy we want jes’ now. The Injun gal will tend to him, fur she owes him a grudge fur helpin’ Coyote out ov the world a few minutes afore his time. We must gitaway. The old Injun made me a promise last night so we'll not hey the hull tribe at our heels arter all, ef we stir ourselves, Whar’s Rosa?” The Indian girl—Coyote’s love—had already disappeared, and a few minutes later her stif- fening steed was the only tenant of the little glen. Need I say that not long afterward, three per- sons rode up to the gates of Fort McKinney, and that one of the trio, a youth, turned to the west ere he entered the fort, and waved Sioux- land a long farewell. The mountain trail was ended, and the Stars and Stripes once more waved over Plucky Phil and Nora Dalton. Back in Siouxdom, in a certain wild pass, al- most at the same hour when McKinney opened its gates to the trio, a rifle broke the silence of the scene, and a man fell forward on his scarred face. Another mad hunt was over. Captain Montana, the Pacific Nabob, would never more frequent the gambling-dens of Den- ver; he would no more boast how he slew Plucky Phil’s father in a duel, nor would he ex- hibit lovely Nora Dalton as the wife of Gold- boots, the gambler sport. Vengeance plays queer tricks in Indian-land. Goldboots had fallen before the red Jezebel’s rifle, because his hand was at Coyote’s throat when the death-gurgle was announcing the ap- proach of that desperado’s end. Rosa went back to her people, to take up with another squaw-man, but not to love him as she had loved Coyote. Of Sitting Bull we need not speak. Not long after the arrival at Fort McKinney, the young couple journeyed eastward as Mr. and Mrs. Steele, and the old hunter who ac- companied them, was constantly talking about this policy and that. “Your policy was to tie to the gal in the end, Phil,” he remarked to the young trailer. ‘‘ An’ it war the boss policy, fur it surmounted every obsticle. I wouldn’t giv a red fur a man with- out a policy ov some kind!” THE END, es
Page 31
rot S POCKET LIBRARY. $8 OOTAVO PAGES, \\.. PRICE, FIVE CENTS, \ 2 DLE . BEA | 1 Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road. By Edward L. Wheeler. 51 Patent-leather Weck Old Rattlesnake, the Charmer. By Phili ‘arne. BRAHRARARARHRARARARRARARARARDARHRHRDHDHHHHAHHHNOEOHDHH HOH 2 Kansus King; or, The Red Right Hand, By | 52 The Border Robin Hood; or,The Prairie Rover. Butfaio Bill. By Butfulo Bill. 8 The Flying Yankees or, The Ocean Outcast. By | 58 Gold Rifle, the Sharpshooter; or, The Boy Detective Col. Prentiss Ingraham. of the Black Hills. By Edward L. Wheeler, i 4 The Double Daggers. By Edward L. Wheeler. 54 Old Zip’s Cabin; or, A Greenhorn in the Woods. | & The Two Detectives; or, The Fortunes of a By Capt. J. F. C, Adams. Bowery Girl. By Albert’ W. Aiken. 55 Delaware Dick, the Young Ranger Spy. By O)) 6 The Prairie Pilot; or, The Phantom Spy. By Coomes. a . Buffalo Bill. 56 Mad Tom Western, the Texan Ranger, By W. h % The Butfalo Demon; or, The Border Vultures, J. Hamilton. By Edward L. Wheeler. 57 Deadwood Dick on Deck} or, Calamity Jane, 8 Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide. By Ol) Coomes. the Heroine of Whoop-Up. By E. L. Wheeler. > y Ned Wylde, the Boy Scout. By “Texas Jack” | 58 Hawkeye Harry, the Vouiy Tenner Ranger. By (J. B. Omohundro). : Oll Coomes. : 10 Buffalo Ben, Prince of the Pistol. ByE.L.Wheeler. | 59 The Boy Duelist; or, The Cruise of the Sea Wolf, 11 Ralph Roy. the Boy Buccaneer. By Cel. Ingraham. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. 12 Nick o’ the Night; or, The Boy Spy of 16. By T. | 60 Abe Colt, the Crow-Killer. By Albert W. Aiken. C, Harbaugh. 61 Corduroy Charlie, the Boy Bravo. By Edward L. pi 18 Yellowstone Jack; or, Trappers of the Enchanted Wheeler. 1 Ground. By Joseph &. Badger, Jr. 62 Will Somers, the Boy Detective. By Chas. Morris, ; 14 Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Daval. By E. L.Wheeler. | 68 Sol Ginger, the Giant Trapper. By A. W. Aiken. i 15 Diamond Dir <3 or, The Mystery ‘of the Yellow- | 64 Rosebud Rob; or, Nugget Ned, the Knight of the j stone. By Colonel Prentiss Ingraham. Gulch. By Edward L. Wheeler, ’ - 16 Keen-Knife, Prince of the Prairies. By Oll Coomes, | 65 Hightnin Joe, the Terror of the Prairie, By Cap- ta 17 Oregon Sol; or, Nick Whiffles’s Boy Spy. By Capt. tain J. F, C, Adams. Te f C, Adams 66 Kit Harefoot, the Wood-Hawk. By T. C. Har ; 8 Death-Face, the Detective. By E. L. Wheeler. baugh. 14 es pests Jack, the Young Mustanger. By Oll Coomes.| 67 Rollo, the Boy Ranger; or, The Heiress of the Golden ii 20 Roaring Raiph Rockwood, the Reckless Horn. By Ol) Coomes. 1a i Ranger. By Harry St. George. 68 Idyl, the Girl Miner; or, Rosebud Rob'on Hand, By H 2i The Boy Clown; or, The Queen of the Arena. By Edward L. Wheeler. Frank &. Finn. 69 Detective Dick ; 2r, The Heroin Rags. By Charles 22 The Phantom Miner} or, Deadwood Diok’s lorris. Bonanza. By Edward L. Wheeler, 70 Sure Shot Seth, the Boy Rifleman. By O!] Coomes. 28 The Sea-Cat; or, The Witch of Darien. By Capt.) 71 Sharp Sam; or, The Adventures ofa Friendless Boy. Frederick Whittaker. By J. Alexander Patten, 24 The Dumb Spy. By Ol! Coomes. %2% The Lion of the Sen; or, The Vailed Lady of San 25 Rattling Rube; or, The Night Hawks of Ken- Tropez. By Albert W. Aiken. tucky. By Hurry bt. George. 78 Photograph Phil, the Boy Slenth; or, Rosebud Rob's 26 Old Avalanche, the Great Annihilator. By Ed. L. Reappearance. By E. L. Wheeler. Wheeler. 27 Giainayes the Great Shot of the West. By Capt. J. F.C. Adams. 28 The Boy Capralas or, The Pirate’s Daughter. By 74 Pieayune Pete ; or, Nicodemus, the Dog Detective. By Charles Morris, 7 Island Jim; or, The Pet of the Family. By Brace- bridge Hemyng (Jack Harkaway). 76 Watch-Eye, the Shadow; or, Arabs and Angels of Great City. By Edward L. Wheeler. %% Dick Dead Eye, the Boy Smuggler. By Col. P Ingraham. 78 Deadwood Dick’s Device; or, The Sign of the Double Cross. By Ed. L. Wheeler. 79 The Black Mustanger; or, The Wild Horse 88 Omaha OL, the Masked Terror. .L. eeler, Hunters. By Capt. Mayne Reid. 84 Burt Bunker, the Dapper By George E. Lasalle. | 80 Old Frosty, the Guide; or, Mokana, the White Queen 85 The Boy Rifles; or, The Underground Camp. By of the Blackteet. By T. C. Harbaugh. ‘A. C. Irons. 81 The Sen Viper; or, The Midshipman’s Legacy. By 86 The White B ffalo. A Tale of Strange Adven- Col. Prentiss Ingraham. tures in the Northwest. By George Id. Lasalle. 82 Seth Jones; or, The Captives of the Frontier. By 87 Jim Bludsoe, Jr., the Boy Phenix. By Edward L, Edward S. Ellis. 88 Canada Chet, the Counterfeiter Chief, By EZdwara Roger Starbuc! 29 Dick Darling, the Pony Express Rider. By Captain trederick Whittaker. 80 Bob Woolf, the Border Ruffian. By E. L. Wheeler. 81 Nightingale Nat; or, The Forest Captains. By T.C, se a roadie B ei ok John, the Road Agent. . E. Badger, Jr. sla By ain Wheeler. 8 Ned Hazel,tie Boy Trapper. By Capt. J. F.C. Adama, L. Wheeler. ~or 3 Deadly Eye, the Unknown Scout. By Buffalo Bill. | 84 The Dumb Page}; or, The Doge’s Daughter. By af 40 Nick Whiffles’s Pet; or, In the Vulley of Death. Capt. Frederick Whittaker. By Capt. J. F.C, Adama. 8&5 The Boy Miners; or, The Enchanted Island, By ‘ Deadwood Dick’s Eagles; or, The Pards of Edward S. Ellis. Flood Bar. By Edward L. Wheeler. 86 Jack Harkaway in New York, By Brace- The Border King}; or, The Secret Foe. By ON bridge Hemyng. Ch, is Coomes. 87 The Hussar Captain; or, The Hermit of Hell @ld Hickory 3 or, Pandy Ellis’s Sealp. By Harry Gate. By Col, Prentiss Ingraham. } St. George, 88 Deadwood Dickin Leadvilies or, A Strange The White Indian; or, The Scouts of the Yellow: Stroke for Liberty. By Edward L. Wheeler. | stone. By Capt. J. F.C, Adams. 89 Bill Biddon, Trapper 3 or, Life in the Northwest, { By Edward §. Ellis. 90 Tippy, the Texan; or, The Young Champion. By eorge Gleason. Issued Every Wednesday. Beadle’s Pocket Library is for sale by all News- dealers, five cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. BEADLE & ADAMB, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York, he Shadow Ship; or, The Rival Lieutenants. By Col. Préntiss lograham. The Red_ Brotherhood; or, Avengers. By W. J. Hamilton. Dandy Jack} or, The Outlaw of the Oregon Trail. By T. C. Harbaugh. * Hurricane Bus on MaREDE Sam and His“ Pard.” E. er, JT. Py Joe Eas ps "A Life fer a Life. By W. J. 41 42 48 44 as Heke HE te Tom 46 47 The Twelve 48 49 50 Single Hamilton.
Page 32
$2 OCTAVO PAGES. ye 2 a AD LEYg \._ PRICE, FIVE CENTS, POURET 4) bBRARY BDUARPRARHDADARADARAHDHDDDDPHAHDHDDAHDNDHDHDAADADDADARRAAD AD 91 Mustang Sam, the King of the Plains, Badger, Jr. 92 The Ocean Bloodhound; or, The Red Pirates of the Caribbees. By Samuel W. Pearce. 98 Phil Mardy, the Boss Boy. By Charles Morria. 94 Deadwood Dick as Detective. By £.L.Wheeler. 95 Buck Buckramy or, Bess. tho Female Trapper. By Capinin J. F.C. Adams. 96 Gilt-Edged Dick, the Sport Detective. By EB. L. Wheeler. 97 The Black Steed of the Prairies, L. Bowen. 98 The Sea Serpent; or, The Boy Robinson Crusoe. By Juan Lewis, 99 Bonanza Bill, the Man Tracker. By E, L. Wheeler, 100 Nat Todd; or, The Fate of the Sloux Cuptive. By Edward §. Ellis. 101 Daring Davy; the Young Bear Killer, St. George. 102 The Yellow Chief, By Capt. Mayne Reid. 108 Ohip, the Girl Sport. By Edward L. Wheeler. 104 The Black Schooner. By Roger Starbuck. 105 Wandsome Harry, tho Bootblack Detective. By Charles Morris. 106 Night-Hawk Kits or, the Daughter of the Ranch. By Jos. BE. Badger, Jr. 107 Jack Moyle’s Lend; or, The Young Speculator. By Edward L. Wheeler. 108 Rocky Mountain Kit, By T.C. Harbaugh. 109 The Branded Hand; or, Tne Man of Mystery. By Frank Dumont. 110 The Dread Rider; or, The Texan Duelist. By George W. Browne. 111 Boas Bob, the King of Bootblacks. By E. L. Wheeler. 112 The Helpless Hand, By Capt. Mayne Reid. By Jos. E. By James By Harry 118 Sear-Face Saul, the Silent Hunter, By Oll Coomes. 114 Piney Paul, the Mountuje Boy; or, The Little ‘Arrow of the Adirondacks, By T. C. Harbaugh, 115 Deadwood Dick’s Double. By EL. Wheeler. 116 Jabez Coflin, Skipper; or, Lost in the Polar Regions. By Capt. F. Whittaker. 117 Fancy Frank, of Colorado, By Hon. W. F. Cody. “Buffalo Bill.” 118 Will Wildfire, the Thoroughbred. By Chas, Morris. 119 Blonde Bill; or, Deadwood Dick’s Home Base, By Edward L. Wheeler. 120 Gopher Gid, the Boy Trapper. By T. C. Harbaugh, 121 Harry Armatrong, the Captain of the Club. By Bracebridge Hemyng, (Jack Hatkaway.) 122 The Hunted Hunter. By Edward S. Ellis. 128 Solid Sam, the Boy Rond-Agent. By E. L. Wheeler. 124 Judge Lynch, Jr.; or, The Boy Vigilante. By ‘. C. Harbaugh. 125 The Land Pirates. By Capt. Mayns Reid. 126 Blue Blazes; or, The Brexk 0’ Day Boys of Rocky Bar. By Frank Dumont. ad 127 Tony Pox, the Ferret; or, Boss Bob’s Boss Job. By Edward L. Wheeler. 428 Black Beas, Will Wildfire’s Racer. By C. Morris. 129 Eagle Kit, tho boy Demon. By Ol] Coomes. 180 Gold Trigger, the Sport. By T. C. Harbaugh. 181 A Game of Gold; or, Deadwood Dick's Big Strike. By Edward L. Wheeler, 182 Dainty Lance, the Boy Sport. By J. ™. Badger, Jr. 188 Wild-fire, the Boss of the Road. By Frank Damont. 184 Mike Merry, the Harbor Pollce Boy. By C, Morris, 185 Deadwood Dick of Deadwood. By Edward ae heeler. 186 Old Rube, the Hunter. By ie Hamilton Holmes. 187 Dandy Rock, the Man from Texas, By G. Waldo Browne. 188 Bob Rockett, the Boy Dodger. By Chas. Morris, 189 The Black Giant; or, Dainty Lance in Jeopardy. By Joseph 8. Badger, Jr. 140 Cane n Arizona, the King Pin of Road-Agenta, By Philip 8. Warne. 7 141 New York Nell, the Boy-Girl Detective. By Edward 1,, Wheeler. 142 Little Texas,the Young Mustanger. By O11 Coomes, 148 Deadly Pash} or, Fighting Fire with Fire. By Jos. BE. Badger, Jr. 144 Little Grit, the Wild Rider; or, Bessio, the Stock ‘Bender's Daugtter. By Col, Prenties Ingraham. 145 The Tiger of Taos, By Goo. Waldo Browne. 146 The Oattic King. By Frank Dumont, 147 Nobby Nick of Nevada, By Edward L. Wheeler. 148 Thunderbolt Tom, By Harry St. George, 149 Bob Rockett, the Bank Runner; or, The Rond to Ruin. By Charles Morris. 150 The Mad Miners or, Dandy Rock’s Doom, By 151 The Sea, ‘Trailer. By Col. P r > he Sen Tratler. By Co). Prentiss Ingraham. 152 Dandy Darke; or, The Tigers of High Pine. By William R. Bystor. 158 ae Frank, the Buckskin Bravo. heeler. 154 The Boy od or, Dainty Lance on the Way-Path. By Jos. I. Badger, Jr. 155 Gold Plume, the Boy Bandit; or, The Kid-Glove Sport. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, 156 Will Wildfire in the Woods. By C. Morris. 157 Ned Temple, tho Border Boy. By T.C. Harbaugh, 158 Deadwood Dick's Doom. By E.L. Wheeler. 169 patente Leetien Joe's Defeat, By Philip. 8. arne,. 160 ae Billy, the Boy Bullwhacker, By Col. P. ngrnhan, 161 Bob. Rockett, the Crackaman. By C. Morris, 162 dittie Murricane, the Boy Cnxptain, By Ol oomes. 168 Deadwood Dick’s Dream; or, The Rivals of the Road. By Edward L. Wheeler. 164 Tornado Tom; or, Injun Jack from Red Core. By T. C. Harbaugh. 4 165 Buffalo Bill's Bet. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, 166 wilt Wildfire Wins and Loses. By Charles Morris. 167 Dandy Rock’s Pledge. By Gvorge W. Browne. 68 Deadwood Dick’s Ward; or, The Black Hills Jezebel, By Edward L. Whe 9 The Boy Champion, By Edward Willett. 0 Bob Rockett’s Fight for Life. By Charles « Morton, the Boy Hercules. By Oll Coomes, 72 The Yankee Ranger. By Edwin Emerson. %B Dick Dingle, Scout; or, The Frontier Angel. By Edward 8. Ellis, By Edward L, Will Wildfire’s PI les Morria, The Boy Command Ingraham. The Maniac Hunter. F; on Saxe, Lance; or, The Mystic \ arksman, By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. 0 The Boy Gold-Hunter, By T. ©. Harbaugh, 181 The Seapegrace Son. By Charles Morris. 182 The Dark- Skinned Scout. By Licut. Col. By Ol] Coomes. Hazeltine, 188 Jabez Dart, Detective. 184 Featherweight, the Boy Spy. By Edward Willett, 185 Bleon Bill, the Overland Prince,” By Col, Prentis Ingraham. 186 Dainty Lance and Wis Pard. By Joseph E. Badger, Jr. 187 The Trapped Tiger King. By Charles Morris. 188 ae Veutoioae ist Detective. By Edward L. secler 189 Old Rocky’s Boysy or, Benito, the Young Mus- tang: Breaker. By Maj. Sam. 8. Hall. 190 Sim Simpkina, Scout. By James L. Bowen. 194 Dandy Rock’s Rival. By Geo. Waldo Browne. 192 Wickory Harry; or, Roaring Ralph the Ventrilo- quist.. By Harry St. George, Rendy Sept, 14. 198 Detective Josh Grim, By Edward L. Wheeler. Ready Sept. 21. 194 Prospect Pete, the Boy Miner. By 0] Coomes. Ready Sept. 28. 195 The Tenderfoot Trailer. By T. C. Harbaugh. Ready Oct. bs 196 The Dandy Detective. Ready Oct, 12. Issued Every Wednesday. Bendle’s Pocket Library is for rale by all News- dealers, five cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. - BEADLE & ADAMS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York. By Charles Morris. Lee se ay ae ce Ml a aera RR rn TORE ome ar