Beadle's Pocket Library (no. 341) (1890 07 23)
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a “i e 4. Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., as Second Class Mail Matter. duly 23, 1890. 3 ; 2.5 i Ly Ad } 1 aps 7 A eb fe alge npr aay PE oe OHS = = ——— AT THIS MOMENT OLD BUNCOMB, SURROUNDED BY THE SETTLERS, CAME DASHING UP THE PASS,
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- i. 2 Colorado Steve’s Dash. Colorado Steve’s Dash; OR, Old Buncomb’s Sure Shot. BY PHILIP 8, WARNE, AUTHOR OF “PATENT LEATHER JOE ” SERIES, “ ALWAYS-ON-HAND,” ETC,, ETC. CHAPTER I. DON’T BE SO FRESH! Srx months before the date of our story an emigrant-train, composed of steady-going New England farmers, with their wives and children, found in the northeastern corner of New Mexico an oval-shaped glen, of not more than twelve or fifteen miles in circumference, shut in by low hills, and surrounded by the level prairie, like an oasis in the desert. Naming this beautiful spot Glen Eden, they apportioned the land between them, turned up the rich black loam and scattered their seed, while they continued to live in their white- tilted wagons; then, when the rain and sunsbine were at work for the., felled timber and built houses for themselves and inclosures for their stock, : Long before their grain had ripened, Glen Eden me a stopping-place for other adven- turers to thenew El Dorado, and for men of all nationalities and occupations, who were con- . stantly drifting about the country, from the fickle gold-hunter, leaving certain ‘* hard-luck” behind, in quest of ‘‘ better luck next time,” to the wealthy ranchero, seeking a market for a thousand head of cattle. Commandant Thurston and his family lived in a house considerably more commodious with- in and pretentious without than the simpler folk who looked up to himas their leader. Like the eastle of a feudal baron, his home was built with a view to defense in war, and was set upon a slight elevation near the head of the glen, and surrounded by a stockade. Before the Glen Eden Inn, on a sultry after- noon, late in the season, when the grain was nodding sts greenish-yellow heads, almost ready for the cradle, lounged two men of rather sinis- ter aspect. One was a giant in stature, with a shock of bristling red hair and a scrubby and tobacco- stained chin. . He was drossed in a slouch hat, gray woolen shirt, and brown canvas oyeralls, tucked into the tops of wrinkled and horn-hard cowhide boots. A fancy Indian bead belt supported a brace of huge revolvers, while a bowie ponderous in proportion was thrust into his boot-leg, after the atyle inaugurated in Mississippi. From the color of his hair, this man was call- ed Colorado—Spanish for red—Steve. companion was a danper little Spaniard, arrayed in all the gaudy splendor of a Mexican dandy, From the gay silk handkerchief wrapped about his head beneath hia sombrero, to the jin- gling spurs that adorned the heels of his moroc- co bottas, he was “‘got up to kill!” ee Se En a ae eee io EEE RO Gio SE SE Colorado Steve was balancing his huge body on the hitcbing-bar, hacking with his bowie the wood.hetween his pendulous legs, while Senor Ramirez stood with one elegantly-booted foot on the edge of the water-trough, nervously lashing his instep with a riding-whip. “ Mira!” [Behold!} he suddenly exclaimed, with a stare of mingled hate and admiration and bungry desire that was little short of satanic, ‘The commandant’s daughter!—the fair Senorita Ruth!” : “Waal,” said Colorado Steve, looking with dull interest in the direction taken by his cofn- panion’s eyes, ‘‘ef that thar tow-head is your style, ye’re welcome to her; but give me the black-eyed Wenus that’s a-swingin’ an’ a-sway- in’ beside her, like a limber statoo. Hang yer midgets! A man wants somethin’ ur nothin’ fur his money when he invests in a housekeeper.” “ Caspita!” hissed the Spaniard, with a ser- pent side-glance of disgust at his companion: then, schooling his face to more winning looks, he began to plume himself after the manner of the ‘* masher” the world over. Ruth Thurston was petite and flaxen-haired with peach-bloom cheeks, eyes like a wildwood violet, and lips the color of the inner surface of a sea-shell, She carried her broad-brimmed straw hat, filled with prairie flowers, basket- wise, with her arm through the knotted ribbons. She was crowned with a loosely-woven garland, be trailing ends mingling with her disheveled hair. Madeline Fortescue was a rustic goddess, fair and tall, with her purple-black hair braided in a single heayy plait and coiled about the top of her head like a tiara. Instead of flowers, she bore a sheaf of grasses and ferns on her arm, Her complexion was a pure dead white; but her lips were full and of a deep, rich scarlet. ‘At sight of the.men they would have to en- counter before the tavern, gentle Ruth stopped swinging her hat and let the song die on her lip, whil eshe drew nearer to her companion, the soft bloom fading out of her cheek. “Took, Maddie!” she said‘ in a low tone, “there is that horrid Ramirez! Can’t we pass to the other side of the road, and ayoid meeting him face to face?” “Not we!” replied the bolder Madeline, with a flash of the eye and a proud lifting of the head, while two spots of angry vermilion ap- peared in her cheeks, ‘If there were no other objection, it would be letting them see that we attach too much importance to their insolence.” As the girls came up, Senor Ramirez, dofling his hat with a grace that would have become a cavalier, stepped across their path, so as to in- tercept the commandant’s daughter. “ Pardonn, Meez Tourstonn!” he said, bowing low. with a smile that was even more calculated to frighten the innocent girl thanhis frown, ‘If it will please you, of your gracious—” But with a murmur of apprehension, faint- hearted little Ruth had shrank close to the side of ber companion, clutching ber band spasmodi- cally, and staring from behihd ber at the man who had presumed to address her, as a frighten- ed child peers from bebind its mother’s dress. Brave Madeline had taken a cross-step before her protegee, so as to oppose her dauntless front leh
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Colorado Steve’s Dash. and had lifted her arm with a gesture that would have done honor to a queen of the Ama- ZOnS. * Allow us to pass, sir!” she demanded, eying him unflinchingly while the hectic of annoy- ance fled from her cheek, to give place to white- lipped indignation, ‘ You are insolent! What right have you to stop us in the open street?” Senor Ramirez bowed even lower before this haughty young queen, with the smile of the quivering lip, while his eyes seemed to dart serpent tongues of fury at her from under his black brows. “ Pardon, senorita!” he said, not yielding his place, ‘‘My address was to the gracious daugh- ter of the commandant,” ‘That was very evident, sir!” retorted Ma- deline, as firmly as he; ‘‘but the daughter of the commandant does not know you, and, what is more, has no desire to, Step out of our path, or you will Jearn that tke women of Glen Kden cannot be insulted with impunity!” Thus far Colorado Steve had sat with a broad grin of amusement and admiration on his re- pulsive phiz. He now burst into a gruff: “Haw! haw! haw! haw!” Senor Ramirez turned livid with rage. ‘Tho senorita is quite tragic for the daughter ofa tiller of the soil!” he sneered, with a still deeper bow. ‘ But itis for the lady of nobler descent to dismiss one whose respect is as pro- found as his admiration.” _ “‘- You insolent loafer!” cried the Yankee girl, stamping her foot and clinching her hand, “ Come away, Maddie!” cried Ruth, dragging at her companion’s ‘sleeve, ‘ Let's go into the tavern,” and turning to beat a hasty retreat, she espied just appearing in the doorway, a champion to whom she appealed, all in a panic “Oh, Sidney! Sidney! He was a fine young stripling of not more than seventeen or eighteen, with a frank, fear- less countenance, and wearing the full buckskin dress of the border hunter, His hair dark chest- nut, and his eyes gray, with the piercing glance of an eagle’s. His form, although not yet filled out to the proportions of manhood, showed that no mean muscular development lay beneath the close-fittiug buckskin, He was Madeline Fortescue’s brother, and by the impetuosity of his assault, in hostile fight or friendly contest, had won the sobriquet of Little Tornado. In this instance he proved that the name was well deserved; for scarcely was Lis name past the lips, that—shall we tell it so soon?—he loved, when he swooped down upon Ramirez, it seemed with a single bound. That persisteut gallant received warning just in time to partially parry a blow that would have knocked him over the water-trough into the muddy pool that the horses’ hoofs had made on the other side; but he staggered under the impetus of the body that collided with his as if shot out of a mortar, barely saving himself from sprawling with his pure Castilian nose in the dirt. ‘‘Waal, now, I reckon this hyar business belongs to me!” eried Colorado Steve, and leap- ing from the hitching-bar, he caught Little 1 and blazing eyes to the insinuating Spaniard, Tornado by the throat almost at the instant of the shock that overthrew his partmer, and by a skillful twist and an exertion of his great strength threw him on his back, The women both screamed with fright at this misadventure of their young champion; but now the whilom timid Ruth, instead of flying as she had been on the point of doing, found eourage—where the gentlest of her sex always do, in her love—to spring to his side, to lift his head from the ground, Such was her purpose; but he was up before she had more than touched him, However, another was before him, From round the corner of the building, in the direc- tion of the stables, had appeared a man who in point of physique need ask little favor of even Colorado Steve. His garments, of "stout material selected for service rather than show, were worn carelessly. yet not without acertain free grace. His full beard was so straggling and unkempt that at first glance one would be apt to set him down as arough old scout or guide, A second, more scrutinizing look’ might give the impression that a tasteful barber and gents’ fdrnisher would make a very marked change in his appearance. He answered without reluctance to the name of Old Buncomb, though Miss Fortescue never heard him so addressed or referred to withouta thrill of indignant protest. Asa fact, this name, based on the Yankee story of a lawsuit in which a ‘‘ buncomb ” fence is defined as ‘‘hoss high, bull strong, and pig tight,” was a compliment to Husk Bunker’s physical prowess and personal trustworthiness. “Waal, I swear!’ was Old Buncomb’s brief conmment on the situation, and picking Senor Ramirez up from the ground, he soused him into the horse-trough with a splash that sent the water flying over every member of the party. They all seemed disposed to forgive him, save and except only Senor Ramirez, who serambled to his feet and stood up in what water was left out of the troughful that had received him, gasping and spluttering and blinking his eyes and holding his arms away from his body, while the water trickled in musical rills from his wilted finery, Colorado Steve was mighty tickled, though he felt called upon to spring at Old Buncomb, whipping out bis bowie, But spry Little Tornado was on his feet again, and appeared before him with a cocked rene which he thrust.fairly into the giant's ace, ; “Let up, sweetheart!” cried Little Tornado in accents which hada clear, metallic ring in them which meant mischief, as did thesteady light in his gray eyes, “My bantam,” replied the giant, looking down upon the boy who braved him, ‘* ye’re lit- tle, but ye’re loud. I hear ye!” And guite good-naturedly he returned to his boot-leg the weapon which he would cheer- fully have sheathed under Old Buncomb’s ribs, and resumed his seat on the hitching-bar as quietly as if nothing unusual had happened. Mil diablos !” screamed Senor Ramirez, who , had by this time sufficiently recovered his pres~ af
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Colorado Steve’s Dash. < ence of mind to Jeap out of the drinking trough, “are we to have no revenge, then? Blood of the martyrs! I would have the hearts of these aceursed Americanos ! And standing with his back curved and his head thrust forward, while bis shortened lip showed his teeth set edge to edge, he made quick clutches with his hands, as if he were in imagination tearing those indespensable organs | out of his enemies’ bodies, “ Jest. so,” drawled Colorado Steve, as if his partner had expressed a very natural and quite ordinary desire; “but I wouldn’t take ’em now.” His late opponents stared at his strange col- league who took the business of chafling his partner out of their hands. Steve himself seemed to be unconscious of any incongruity in this. He was quite serious, The fact was that, although he ‘Sranged” with the Spaniard, he hada borderman’s thorough- going contempt for him as a ‘cowardly Grenser,” and took no pains to conceal the fact, Ramirez often writhed under this scorn; but he found Steve too useful to break witb him. Now, however, maddened by this public mockery—for quite a little crowd had gathered from within the tavern and the stables—-he shrieked out a string of Spanish imprecations, and swore by the bones of his ancestors to have the heart’s blood of every one there present. “Thar! thar! that'll do, Johnny!” said his unsympathetic partner, with some show of im- patience, ‘* Hain’t you wkite-livered Greasers got nothin’ at allin ye but jest wind? Ye make me dog sick, T’'ll sw’ar! sfold off when ye’ve got yer stomach full—that’s my motto,” Whereupon the victim of insult added to in- jury turned upon his disaffected partner, and fell to upbraiding him for his desertion, Colorado Steve abandoned his perch on the hitching-bar, strode up to the exasperated Spaniard, coolly took bim by the coller, and turning to Old Buncomt, asked, as if making anes as to the best disposal of a petulant ehild: _“ What shall I do with him, boss? I feel sor- ter ’sponsible fur him when he gits this hyar way, the which it’s more frequenter than you'd think.” ‘« Pil tell you what you shall do with him!” interposed Little Tornado, with no abatement of his resentmant. ‘ Yon will take him out of this settlement, and yourself with him; and you will make him understand—not forgetting to keep a share of tho knowledge for yourself—that if he is ever caught within the circumference of these bills again, he will be tied up to a tree and an to twenty cuts of a rawhide over his bare ack! Colorado Steve turned to Old Buncomb with a nod anda grin, and observed with confiden- tix] enthusiasm: “But ain't be a stinger?” bc oa turning again to Little Tornado, he Said; ‘“'Thankee! thankee! But ef this hyar pore pickin’s had your pluck along 0’ his savy, he’d flax ye yet. Maybe before ye git through with it, mean’ him will manage to give ye some leetle igh fur the time you’ve put into the thing, as it is. Surely no one but Colorado Steve ever deliv- ered a threat in so friendly a tone, and with so genial a smile. The ladies, though they heard every word, were so completely misled by bis manner that they did not catch their signifi- cance, Senor Ramirez, however, knew him well enough to understand that the game was not yet up, though he yielded the first hand. He there- fore the more readily submitted to be led away. Old Buncomb knew a thing or two about men; and when the pair had mounted their horses ani ridden out of the glen, Senor Ramirez shaking his fist and swearing eternal vengeance, while Colorado Steve waved his hand in frien:ly fash- jov and grinned his good will—when the ladies had been escorted home, congratulating them- selves and complimenting their champions on the happy issue of the fracas—then he said to Little Tornado: « Boy, we hain’t heared the last o’ the Outcasts o’ the Glen, ye onderstand!” » 6 And Little Toraado replied: “Let em come! I allow they’ll find usone too many for ’em!” “T hope so. I hops so,” returned Old Bun- comb, meditatively. On the outside of the hills that shut in Glen Eden, looking toward the west, where the ser- rated peaks loomed blue in the distance, stood a girlshading her eyes with her hand, while she gazed after the retreating outcasts as they skimmed the prairie with the fleet, loping gait to which plains horses are trained, She was tall and as straightasan arrow. Her brown skin declared her Indian blood; but it was toned by a Caucasian mixture to a clear, smooth olive, through which the rich tide of life mantled in her cheeks with that lovelinese which sometimes, but not always, comes of blended races, Her features, following the European mold, borrowed an uplifted nobility from the barbaric pride of one line of her an- cestors, Her hair, straight and coarse, and of adead black, hang down her back ina single heavy plait. Her dress was civilized, if we ex- . cept the moccasins she wore, but was tricked out with bits of savage ornament which well became her wild beauty. This girl, with the stoicism of her mother’s people, stood as motionless as a statue, gazing out over the prairie, until the figure of, the horsemen dwindled to mere specksin the dis- tance, only distinguishable because in motion, and lost: beyond recovery the moment the eye was taken off of them—and then vanished among the foot-hills, Only her eagle eye could have followed them so far. The expression of her face, clouded with . brooding melancholy, never changed. When at last she turned away with a profound sigh, she walked with drooping head and sad eyes fixed immovably on the ground, and with a tread as heavy as if her lithe limbs, that one felt might outleap the roe, were loaded with chains, What were the Outcasts of the Glen to her ? maa
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= Colorado Steve’s Dash. - & ng, as r CHAPTER IL. “Ob! do yousee? It loves me already! Was deliv ‘‘TROUBLE BEGINS.” there ever anything half so sweet? Maddie, ih 80 “On, how beautiful! And, see! see! whata | you can’t coax it away from me, Oh, you leard sweet little fawn! Ob, Sidney !—don’t shoot!” little love!” ’ his But the petition came too late. The sbarp, This innocent sport engrossed all of them so snifi- spat-like crack of a carbine was heard and lost | that the time passed unheeded, uvtil Old Bun- with the abruptvess with which sounds die on | comb suddenly woke to the fact that the sun well the open prairie, where there is nothing to pro- | hung just above the snowcapped peaks that iyet lovg ths echo, and a doe, which hal just sprung | bordered the western horizon, % ere= from the cover of a motte which dotted the “Hallo!” he exclaimed sharply. “It’s get- led plain like an overgrown clump of shrubbery in | ting late! We'll have to let up on this foolery, a landscape garden, leaped into the air and fell | if we want to get hot johnny-cake for supper.” en; in a heap, while a fawn, which had followed its “But what shall I use for a leash?’ cried nd dam too late to purchase her safety through the | Rutb, far more interested in her fawn than in ng pity its beauty and helplessness inspired, ran | her supper. ile round the quivering and fickly-atrnmallin body, But her words were cut short by a sharp cry ih- whimpering plaintively—and, lastly, astag sped | from Old Buncomb. les away like the wind. From the force of habit be had swept the n- “Oh, what a pity!—what a perfectly dread- | plain with his eye, until it was suddenly arrest- od ful pity!” sighed tender-hearted Ruth Thurston, | ed by some distant object. Then with that le quick tears suffusing her blue eyes. ‘Sidney, | startled cry he put one foot in the stirrup, how could you?” sprung so as to place the other in the saddle, S “‘But, Ruth,” pleaded the too skillful marks- | and stood upright on his horse’s back. man, ‘how could I know about the fawn, One lightning glance, that shot like a dart which you yourself did not see until it was too ) late?” “Well, anyway, it seems cruel to kill such innocent, helpless creatures at all.” And leaping from her horse, which was too well-trained to need hitching, she plucked a handful of tender grass, and bolding it out in- vitingly, approached the timid orpban with words of endearment and sympathy, spoken in . low, croonivg intonations. ‘Well, for a girl who loves venison as well as you do, that seems to me a little ungracious!” said young Fortescue, with a_ good-natured smile. ‘ But I’m sorry to have distressed you— I needn't say that.” However, Ruth was too busy striving to win the confidence of the little animal to listen to reproach or regrets. er companious—Sidney, Madeline and Old Buncomb—sat their horses quietly, so as not to } increase the difficulties of the task, while they awaited the issue. After leaping away several times, the fawn | stopped and stretched its neck out toward her, waving its dainty muzzle up and down while it snuffed the air; then, as she sunk softly down on the grass, still inviting it with extended hand and wooing murmurs, it approached her cautiously, step by step, until it could nibble her white fingers. As she drew the hand slowly - toward her, the little creature followed, so that presently she had her arms about its neck, and was kissing itand crying over it; and the con- quest of love and pity was complete. “Ob! isn’t it lovely? Poor little thing!” she murmured, taking a ribbon from her own throat to tie about its neck. ‘ How it pants and trembles! And just see the tears in its eyes! If it were a baby it couldn’t cry more naturally. Oh, I mean to keep it and bring it up so tenderly that it will never miss its poor dead mamma!” . The others now drew near, but the little ani- mal shrunk close to the side of its first confi- dante, so that Ruth laughed and cried together _ with delight, as she hugged it to her, murmar- _ ing: | band of Apaches, pe straight io its mark, and he leaped to the ground again, shouting: ‘To horse! to horse! The red devils are sweeping down upon us like the wind!” Catching. Madeliue off ber feet, be set her in her saddle before shehad time for a second breath. Leaving Sidney to perform the same office for Ruth, he bounded to his own place without using the stirrups. Sidney was used to situations where life and desth were determined by the seizing upop or letting slipa second of time. He knew that when Old Buncomb sent forth such a note of warning, it was no time to palter. So without stopping to look for himself—there would be plenty of time for that when he was well in the saddle—he cried sharply: “Maid!” But Ruth’s little mare sprung to his side as promptly as if she bad been a human being, instead of a dumb brute. To swing a young lady, especially if she is pretty, from the ground to her saddle, is a very romantic thing; so it isa pity that all lovers are not equal to the task, c Sidney confessed his inability by resting his hand, palm upward, on his knee. : The lightness with which Ruth leaped to her seat, scarcely touching his hand with her dainty foot, made it look as if it would have been an ~ easy task. Even with life in the balance, her love was not lost in selfishness, “Oh! it breaks my heart to leave my poor little fawn! If L could only hold it in my arms!” z But men’s hearts are of tougher material. No one answered her. Sidney’s eyes shot over the prairie as he bestrode his steed. Some distance out from the foot-hills, and the ~ less clearly discernible because they were be- tween the eye and the sun, with the shadowed landscape at their backs, he saw a long line of horsemen, sweeping across the plain like a flock of wild ducks, His practiced eye 7 him that they were a ps a hundred strong, } 4 a) we
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Soe RELI q —— - Jonged chuckle, 6 _ Colorado Steve’s Dash. It was evidently their purpose to throw for- ward their flanks, surround the group, and so take them all alive. At sight of the horsemen the girls were dis- mayed, and were on the point of lashing their horses into a perfect stampede-pace in the op- posite direction, where, on the rim of the hori- zon, the verdure-clad bills which inclosed Glen Eden stood out in bold relief against the sky. “Keep cool! cried Old Buncomb. We have start enough to keep them at a safe dis- tance; and nothing is gained by frightening your horses.” : Submitting to bis dictation, they put their horses into the swinging lope with which they could cover mile after mile of the level prairie without abatement of speed. [t was really very rapid, but it seemed agonizingly slow to the girls when from the rear was borne to their ears a chorus of furious yells. “Do you think they intend to attack the glen?” asked Sidney. **T do,” replied Old Buncomb. ‘Then our people ought to be warned.” ‘*T was about to propose that,” * Couldn’t you leave the girls tome, and by veering off to the south, run the glen length- wise, and reach the stockade about the time we did?” Old Buncomb looked at his companion and laughed. < “You're a cool youngster,” he said. Little Tornado flushed quickly and hotly. “Why? What's the matter with that pro- position?” he asked, with brightening eye. ** Oh, nothing. I was only admiring the grace with which you took the man’s part on yourself and gave me the boy’s.” ¢ “ Boy’s!” cried Little Tarnado, now thorough- ly roused, for if anything in the world nettled him it was to be censidered in anything short of manhood. And to haye bis youth thrown in his teeth in the hearing of Ruth Thurston! ‘Tf you call mea boy, I should like to know where you get your men?” Old Buncomb laughed again, a low, pro- The air of this young bantam so tickled his midriff that he forgot the probable effect of letting his amusement be seen. Little Tornado’s anger burst into a blaze. “You can look after your lady, and I will look after mine; and the glen can go to the—” ‘Oh, Sidney! Sidney!” broke in Ruth, shocked beyond words to tell. ‘Well, a man is made of flesh and blood, ain’t he?’ was Little Tornado’s defense, “‘But then Mr. Bunker is older than you,” urged Ruth, gently, “Oh, yes! he’s old enough!” cried Little Tornado, with a chuckle on his side. At that his sister flushed from chin to temple. * Sidney Fortescue, you ought to be ashamed of yoursel{!” she cried. ‘If you_have a spark of manhvod about you, you will apologize at _ once for such rudeness.” “T haven't—not a spark! I amsurprised that you should expect it, after Old Buncomb has sal told you of my deficiency in that respect. , you see, he’s the Mast one to demand an apology on that score,” But Little Tornado was now in that sort of good humor which we enjoy when we feel that seeme we have given our neighor as good as he sent. that, “Sidney !” appealed little Ruth, very faintly, to be feeling worse and worse that be of whom she" of hi was generally so proud should ‘‘ behave so.” ; % aE “Meanwhile,” said Miss Fortescue, with’ whic haughty displeasure, ‘tthe helpless woman and in children must be exposed to the most cruel of Such deaths that your vanity—” j ae ‘“There! there! I’m off!” said Little Tornado, | ! suiting the action to the word. ‘“ But remem-_ re ber,” he called back to Ruth, “IT abandon you, ™ at your own bidding.” }, age Ruth did not reply in words, but gave hina | S*® look that ought to have healed any wounds he © ne bad received elsewhere. Whatever others might say, he was a hero to her! the Neither of the ladies had dared to look at Old. | *® Buncomb, fearing to encounter a cloud of re- to sentment on his face, But it was because they : did not know him well. He was mightily de- he lighted to have the ladies take his part so warm- a y. “Don’t spare horse-flesh!” he called out to 3 Little Tornado, pleasantly. ‘* You’ve got a . good mount. Now let’s see you make it tell. t Remember, women and children take more time to move than men,” Bi **You shall be the judge!” answered Little t Tornado, now yielding to the excitement of a contest; ‘‘and if you do the man’s part as well 3 as I do the boy’s, we'll shake hands on it!” q By this time his divergent course had in- fo creased the gap between them so as to preclude further conversation; but the distance was not too great for Ruth to flash a glance of grateful admiration over to him. Then be dug spurs into his horse’s flanks, and skimmed away over the rolling prairie like an albatross riding the ocean swells. His horse with his muzzle thrust forward | until his head wasina straight line with hisneck, | hugged the ground until he seemed to float on | the top of the coarse prairie grass, with his legs swinging free under him. Thus he clove the air like a thunderbolt, widening the gap between him and the pursuing savages, and advancing over his course much more rapidly than hisfriends did over theirs, From time to time Little Tornado looked back to see how they were getting on, when suddenly he brought up with a cry of dismay. Something had happened to the other party. Ha could see but one coursing ahead, now at a speed which showed that the horse was being | urged to the utmost. h The distance was too great to be sure of even the sex of the rider, though he thought that he i could now and then catch the flutter of a loose garment. A moment later he discovered a second flying figure. Here as before he seemed to make out the flutter of a dress. Running his eyes back and forth between the =, mouth of the pass for which they were making f and the pursuing savages, he assured himself ' that these two figures were the only ones to be i seen, What did this signify? If these were the girls—and the fact that they were separated
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i Sort : fee] fing ‘seemed to tell in that direction, for he knew sent, that, while Old Buncomb was too well mounted faintly, to be left behind, he would not abandon either hom she of his charges, however hard beset-—what had so,”” _ then become of the scout? And if the girls, » With . Which was lagging bebind? > In either case it meant sharp pain for him. In an and i true] of such a strait who could make choice between _ sister and sweetheart? rnado, With a sinking heart, Little Tornado meas- emem- Ured the distance, and saw that it would be m you madness to attempt to reach them. The sav- ages, leaving him to go his way, bad kept hin a straight on after the others, and were now ids he | nearer them than he was, others | His only hope was to keep on, flashing through the glen from end to end, and meet them from t Old the direction of the stockade, if it were not then of re- too late! : they Setting his teeth, and beniing forward until y do- he bars lay along his horse’s neck, he now arim- goaded him more fiercely, more persistently, than ever. Into the glen he dashed, disckarging his re- ot a volvers, one in either hand, and yelling at the tell, top of his lungs. Men who were mowing hay, dropped the scythe and ran toward their houses, without ttle waiting to make out exactly what he said. fa Others who were using horses, cut them loose yell from stone-boat or log-chain, leaped upon their backs, and lashed them with the ends of the in. / — reins, ; de All knew Little Tornado, and that he would lot not spread such an alarm as this for a ‘* lark.” ‘al | Allin a moment this peaceful spot was turned into a pandemonium. Men shouted, women ad screamed, and childrea wailed with terror at in] the unwonted excitement of their elders. As an Express train sucks dry leaves after it ‘d f in the eddy which it makes, Little Tornado seemed to gather vp armed men, who with their ‘ome followed on in his wake as fast as they : could, : Never was sucha ride, The boy, half crazed with suspense, had annibilated space and time. , All was wild excitement behind him; but his heart sunk as it appeared to him that the peaeco before was disturbed only by the sounds he fol- lowed almost as fast as they flew before bim. hat had become of Old Buncomb—his sister —Ruth? CHAPTER ITI, A RIDE FOR LIFE, } WuHkN Little Tornado had left his friends at a ; pace which carried him ahead of them as well as to the right, three pairs of eyes followed him admiringly. A : - Although she had sided against him, as sisters generally do, in his tilt with Old Buncomb, ; Madeline could not help being proud of her f brother. ‘ i Old Buncomb cast asly glance at Ruth, and i saw her fate aglow and her eyes sparkling. } Then he said: ae ‘There isn’t his match of his years, between / __ the two oceans!” ae 4 Ruth flashed a grateful look at the speaker, * Colorado Steve's Dash. _ aaa: and crimsoned to the roots of her hair with pleasure, *Youare not—not—annoyed with him?” she ventured, timidly. “With Little Tornado?—a boy that I’m proud to call my pard? I guess not ?” cried Old Bun- comb, heartily. “Oh, I’m so glad!” And with a swelling heart the little maiden drew nearer to the scout and kept this place for the rest of their ride. It was fortunate for her that her generous heart prompted such a manifestation of grati- tude, for while they were in full course her horse stepped into a gopher-hole, and was thrown upon his head so that he turned a com- plete somerset. It happened that Old Buncomb was Jooking at hef when the accident occurred, and with the quickness of thought, for which men whose whole life. consists in meeting emergencies im- possible to forecast become noted, he threw out his arm and snatched her from her saddle to his horse’s withers, As the little mare went crashing to the earth, Madeline uttered a scream of fright, and reined in her own horse, shuddering at the thought of seeing her companion crushed beneath the falt- ing weight of horse-flesh., But instead of a bloody and dirt-disfigured corpse, a flutter of skirts, as Old Buncomb swept by her, showed her pretty Ruth, somewhat tumbled, but other- wise her rosy self, in his arms. “Keep on!” he shouted. ‘ We are all right.” Dazed by the sudden alternation between peril and safety, and by the yell of delight that went up from a hundred savage throats, Made- line spurred her horse up to the pair. Old Buncomb was almost choked by the con- vulsive hug with which terrified Ruth clung about his neck; but he seemed very well pleased with that part of the programme. Albeit not a man to trifle in the face of their great peril, yet he sought to impart confidence to the girls who were so dependent on his cool- ness, by making light of the matter. So he said teasingly to Ruth, whe was sob- bing and shuddering with horror at her nar- row escape: “T wonder if you would take it so much to heart, if it were Little Tornado with his arm about you, instead of a rough old codger like me? Heigho! that’s the disadvantage of not being young and bandsome. ButI am glad that he is not where he can seeme, I shall have to bribe his sister uot to tell him. It is not so much that I object to being shot; but it would be a thou- sand pities to spoil his lovely complexion, by having him turn green with jealousy and livid witb envy.” “Oh, you horrid thing!” cried little Ruth, who from being as wan as any lily with fear, now rivaled the very peonies with her blushes, “Waal! waal! here’s a gratitude for you,” eried Old Buncomb, with mock indignation, “Pye risked being shot by that hot-headed young pirate, just that you might escape get- ting your dress dirty; and you tell me to my face that Iam a horrid thing! If I ever—" “But you are! I say it again!” pouted Ruth. ‘*Hiven saying my life—I don’t deny that 1 owe — audi i Ma | oat ky
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— everything to you—but does it give you the right to laugh at me? [have a mind to jump down—” “ And walk home. Ha! ha! ha!” Then ho turned to Madeline and said, looking steadily at her, to show that there was more in his words than appeared on the surface: “ Ride ahead, Miss Madeline, and get the glen out to see the champion lady walkist. Tell them that we guarantee to show some of the tallest getting over the ground on record. You'll have to be spry—but that horse can stand it—or we shall be so close bebind you that the performance will be over before tho audience gets seated.” Madeline shot.a lightning glanco of inquiry into bis eyes. Was there real danger to him and Ruth? Did he fear that his horse, with its double load, might be overtaken? Was she being sent forward to sammon help? He saw by the sudden blanching of her face, by the spasmodic quiver that ran through her form, by the quick parting of the lips, by the speaking eyes, that she comprehended him, It was lucky that, as she sat before Old Bun- comb, Ruth’s back was toward Madeline, so that she did not see these suspicious symp- toms. After a mighty effort to stifle the scream that struggled for utterance in her throat, Madeline gained control of her voice sufficiently not to startle Rutb as she said: ** Seriously, they ought to be warned to have the stockade in readiness. This horse is not doing half what be isequal to, Why sbouldn’t T as well as my brother do something to increase the chances of those poor people? might get enough men together to. hold the savages in check in the pass, while those who are furthest from the stockade would have so much more time to reach it.” While speaking she urged her horse ahead, so that when Ruth quickly turned her head she might not see the white face that belied these brave words. Ob! are you going to leave us?” she cried. her eyes flying wide with dismay, before she had time to think of anytbing but the terror of being last in that fearful race for life. But instantly her generous heart sacrificed self to the needs of others; and she cried, re- morsefully: “Qh yes! do, go! Don't lose a moment! You can’t do us any good by delaying; and you _may be the means of saving the little children and their niothers, who will be so frightened that they will hardly know which way to run. . God speed you, you dear, brave Maddie!” Madeline did not look round. She dared not! She felt as if her heart would burst. It might be the last time she would ever hear the voice of her loved friend. It might be the last she would ever <ee of either her or Old Bun- comb— Aht Old Buncomb! that made her sick and dizzy with a swooning of the heart which was different from her grief for her friend, deep and sincere though it was. “With set teeth and gaze fixed upon that open- ingin the hills where life seemed to beckon her forward, while death pursued hard upon her heels, freezing her with the shadow it cast be- e- as: Colorado Steve’s Dash. SS : = fore, she goaded her horse until every muse’ i was strained to the utmost and every tendo ‘toads was tense as the string of a steel bow, andre at so besought Heaven in dry-eyed agony Kite to b stretch forth a succoring hand, and pluck bef an¢in; jor ones from the cruel death that menacedthor at em ' Behind her, Ruth clung more closely abou’ ie Old Buncomb’s neck, now that she realized tha tated t he was her sole dependence; and gazing over.gjp his shoulder at the red devils who divided their” ww time between lashing their horses and brand-.; ishing their weapons, gazing at them with wildly-dilated eyes, and blood-curdling shud: |g ders that seemed to begin at her extremiti and end ina spasm in her heart, she asked, i a Sie serte whisper close to his ear, as if fear+ j,.44 Jo ful that she might be overheard even at that « distance: ? head ‘ one they as far behind as at the start? Ob, half a 00 Old Buncomb glanced over his shoulders, and dong. | replied, with a ring of assurance in his voice: Lew ; ‘Don’t be afraid, little one! We are holding ; ana if our own; and that is all we want, Let them alit he 3 per makin; “No come on! They'll get more cracked crowns than half-pence at the Glen Eden mint! That's | porte the kind of coin we turn out there for the \ ami ij : Government pets!” \ how At every bound Madeline gained upon both » ther friends and foes, until when she had reached within four or five miles of the glen, her heart bide was brought into ber mouth by the sight of | yors soe pane riding out from among the hills to- | gou wa er. | Tearing loose a red scarf which she wore i a about her waist as an ornament, she waved } it above her head and cried out at the top of | tne her lungs, though she knew that the distance ; the was far too great to be leaped by her swoman’s es voice, tru Instead of going back to summon aid, as she 7 wished, and thus saving the time it would take chi to traverse that stretch of prairie, the rider { ‘ evidently took it as a signal of distresscalling | go upon kim personally to come to the relief of the | tir doubly burdened and lagging horse; forhedug tp spurs into his horse’s flanks, and dashed forward ! fo at a pace that showed that the avimal he be- { gl strode was a good one and fresh. Madeline could have cried with vexation, i “Go back! go back!’ she shouted again and A again, trying to convey her wish by dropping her scarf and waving him away with the palm i of her hand toward him. \ But the distance was so great that he mistook — } this repellent gesture for beckoning him to hasten; and so redoubled his efforts. : “Ob! for mercy’s sake go back!” cried Ma- deline, when he had come within sound of her. 3 agonized voice, ‘‘Get all the men you can to come through the pass and check the savages, ~ A Go! go! Your horse is fresher than mine.” ; The man wheeled his horse and rode beside her, crying excitedly; Us “Won't it be better to go and lighten Old Buncomb of his load? We kin make a flyin’ change, an’ lose no time.” i Had this been another like Old Buncomb, or her brother, she would not haye hesitated to let ’ him carry out the plan; but, albeita godd-heart- _ 7 ;
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nuse! endo: , an d rustic, he was unfortunately clumsy, as some therwise excellent people are; and she shud- ly ered at the thought of intrusting ber friend’s | harife to his skill in so ticklish a maneuver as nace@ebenging a woman from one horse’s back to an- eto ther at fullspeed. sbont. However, the decision that she was called thagupon to make was so momentous that she hesi- . tated to take the whole responsibility on her- over, ig “Js Mr, Bunker and...‘ Look back,” she said. with signaling you?” ; hud.|_ .»he was confident that if Old Buncomb want- itieg © personal help, he would find some way of i making his wish known. par ‘“No,” answered the young farmer, when he tha had looked over his shoulder. “Then do not lose another moment! Push Ob. | ahead as fast as you can, and get the men out— » half a dozen will be better thar delaying too long for more—to meet us in the pass. After you have got ahead of me, so that if will be seen ‘a \how I have directed you, you can look round; " S/ and if Mr. Bunker wants you to act differently, he will cal] you back,” ** You've got a head on your shoulders, Miss he Fortescue!” exclaimed the rustic, in a burst of i admiration; and then without waiting to see th ‘bow his compliment was received, he plunged the rowels into the quick flesh and dashed for- rf | Ward on his mission. d She was rejoicing to see how much fresher his horse was than her own, and reflected that of | eourse the Indians labored under the same dis- a} advantage. 1 He made the pass nearly a mile in advance of f her, and when she came up she could hear— s} ; und t’s though the intervening trees cut off ber view— the sounds of excitement in the glen, which ones that he had faithfully executed his rust, Then came to her the prompting of kindly charity. *‘T can add nothing to what ho bas already done,” she said to berself. ‘' But I shall have time to warn Wild Zeph and her mother. In the general excitement they will probably be forgotten, living as they do outside of the glen.” As she entered the pass she looked back. About midway between ber and the Indians, _ Old Bunecomb, though his horse was Jahoring | painfully, seemed to be holding bis own wit) i the foremost of his pursuers. That they kept on | at full speed was no evidence that they yét hoped to overtake him; for it would still be their aim to reach the glen while it was in tho confusion of a surprise. “Yes, I shall bave ample time,” reflected Madeline; and she waved her scarf encourag- - ingly to her friends as she disappeared from - their view among the trees. A moment later a handful of mounted men swept by her. ‘They did not stop for any inter- change of words, but cheered her as they passed, . ; “al Had any of them looked back, they might have seen her wheel sharply into a bridle-path, to be swallowed up by the dense foliage. But for f E aut of this {mowledge, they naturally supposed Se _+ Colorado Steve’s Dash. 9 that sho had kept on to the stockade, where she would be in safety, Before they reached the mouth of the pass they heard the report of a rifle—then another, and another, and another—following at rhyth- mic intervals, “That's a repeating rifle,” exclaimed one of the men, At that instant they burst through the mouth of the pass, in full view of-the open prairie, with its background of soaring peaks, on the apex of one of which the sun rested like a star in the diadem of a goddess. It was a majestic stage, fit for the enactment of one of those awful tragedies with which man’s devilish ferocity has filled the earth from the beginning. Although the sun was in their eyes, the chase was now uear enough so that all the participants could be clearly made out. Reeking with sweat and flecked with foam that flew from his muzzle at every gasping breath, Old Buncomb’s noble steed still bore on at a heavy gallop. Behind him came the Apaches, the line spread out transversely, with which they had begun the chase, now drawn together, so that, seen in perspective, they looked jike a compact body, though in fact they were considerably strung out over the the plain. They were led by one who, riding with his bridle-rein hanging on the neck of his horse, brought a rifle to bis shoulder at every few leaps, and the cloud of white smoke that for an instant hid his face, tobe pierced at the next bound, was followed by the sharp report which told that another leaden messenger of death bad winged its flight, At sight of his friends, Old Buncomb held up his hand, signaling them to stop, They drew rein in instant obedience.,, On the border, men learn to depend upon one another's judgment. “That devil’s tryin’ his luck at long range,” said one of the men. ‘‘ Let Old Buncomb alone to know whether the builets is singin’ too cluss about his ears, You bet he ain't takin’ no resks with the commandant’s daughter; an’ ef ho says hold off, it’s becuz thar ain’t no call fur our puttin’ in.” ‘Gents, d’ye notice anythin’ curi’s about the cuss that’s Coin’ all this hyar shootin’?” “‘No, What's the matter with him?” ** He ain’t no Injun, ye onderstand,” At this announcement in a confident tone, the men shaded their eyes and peered more narTrow- ly at the foremost pursuer. Then followed ejaculations of surprise and deep resentment. The renegade to his race is loathed where a natural enemy is only bated. But Old Buncomb was now so near at hand that his friends set up a cheer, in the midst of which he dashed through the opening in their ranks which they made for his reception, and they closed in about him, ; “Tt is Colorado Steve,” he said. ‘ And I sup- pose that Mexican devil is with him, To the stockade, men! We're going to have hot work to-night.” The men cheered Ruth, and she smiled—a plaintive little smile—and thanked them, But at this moment a horseman, wild-eyed Pa aR a ig ret a |
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' to little purpose, SATU ee a a ASST a Sr 10 Colorado Steve’s Dash. . and haggard with distress, came down the pass, goading his horse to a breakneck pace, at sight of whom Ruth cried, hysterically: * Papa! papa! oh, my darling papa!” It was indeed the commandant. He wheeled to the side of Old Buncomb, and canght*the hand that bis child held out to him, “Thank God! thank God!” be eried, in a choking voice, ‘I have my child still, safe and well! How can lever repay you for what you have done for me to-day?” , And having kissed again and again the little hand he held in spite of tha uneven motion of the borses as they galloped on, and left a tear on it, he put his band with grateful affection on Old Buncomb’s shoulder. But Ruth was too overflowing with talk to allow Old Buncomb a chance to reply, if he felt disposed. “And did Maddie tell you how he saved me from being killed outright by a terrible fall, when poor Maid broke her leg? ‘*Madeline%” repeated Mr. Thurston. ‘‘ Ihave not seen her, I was away from bome when tha terrible news of your peril was brought me, I feared that I should never see my darling’s smile again!” ‘*Poor, dear papa! But havo all our people been so well cared for as your foolish little daughter?” And she blushed with pleasure tc sea how much interest had centered in her safety, But her measure was not yet full, or rather it was to still more lavishly brim over, for while she spoke another rider was seen to ap- ‘oach, in as agonized suspense as her father ad displayed. ‘ This time it was Little Tornado; and he too would have one of her hands, and in his heart wanted to relieve Old Buncomb of her alto- gether, but that it would have been a rather un- gracious thing to rob the hero of the hour of the honor of bearing her into the stockade as he had borne her so long and so well in the teeth of the enemy. Even as it was, so impetuously and so openly did be urge his claim upon ber, that, crimson witb confusion, she was fain to snatch her hand away; while the men by whom she was sur- rounded grinned with enjoyment of the scene. But her father smiled very kindly upon the young scamp, for al] that! So, in a body they dashed up to the stcckade, into which the men of Glen Eden were hurry- ing their women and children like a lot cf flut- tering geese, ‘‘But where’s Maddie?” was Ruth's demand, the moment she was set upon her feet. As she rap througb the gate into the inclosure, ‘she looked about for her friend, surprised that she was not at hand to meet her, Tbere was another who entered as eagerly ex pectant. Ifit is necessary to say that it was Old Buncomb, then we have told our story so far His only anxiety was to learn how bravely the girl bore up against the terri- ble strain that had been upon ber. But when Ruth repeated her question, and Madeline still failed to appear and answer for herself, a sense of fear smote home to his heart, Still bis only thought was that she might have ~ had seen her after the squad of men who met her in the pass, then he was stricken with dis- may. and ran to the gate of the stockade, ; There be was met by a vision that froze the blood in his veins! CHAPTER IV, WILD ZEPH, Tue bridle-path down which Madeline urged her hor'se led to the shores of a lakelet embayed by the hills, yet fronting onthe prairie. Into it flowed the water-courses that irrigated the glen, and out of it meandered a streamlet across | the plain to its confluence with the Canadian © River, On its beach lay a flat-bottomed scow. of rude eonstruction, and a little way from the water’s edge stood a but among the trees, against the wall of which leaned a one-tined spear, with a deerskin thong tied to its handle—such an in- strument as is commonly used by Indians: while near at hand hung a net and some fishing- lines, Up to the door of this hut rode Madeline, and rapped upon it with the butt of her whip, cry- ing: “Zepb! Zepb! Open the door instantly! You are in peril of your life!” : No sound replied to her urgent summons. * Dear! dear! she must be away from home!” excluimed Madeline, ‘‘ But I can not manage her mother alone, if she is in one of her obstinate see sees she is sure to be! What shall I ot” A moment she hesitated, listening for sounds of the chase which she knew was approaching on the wings of the wind. Then her generous impulses triumphed over her fears, and leaping on her horse, she thrust open the door and en- ered, The hut was without fireplace or window, and contained not so much furniture as Astool, The earthen floor was covered with mats of braided rushes, save in the center, where three stones had their use indicated by the ashes lodged in their midst, as well as by a pot, smoky without and greasy within, which stood beside them. In one corner was a thicker layer of rushes covered with coyote skins. On this rude bed lay an Indian woman, on her back, with her black eyes wide open, and fixed immovably on the ceiling, Shoe was so haggard and wrinkled that she looked like a skeleton covered with time-worn leather. She was covered with an old, tattered and dirty army blanket; but her skinny arms lay outside parallel beside her body. Springing to the side of this old hag, yet in- stinctively gathering her skirts so that they should not touch the floor as she stooped, Ma- deline seized her by the shoulder and shook her, erving: “iwanga, get up and come to the stockade, A crowd of Apaches—you know that they are at war with your people—are coming to attack the glon, There is not a moment to lose, BHven now we may be too late. Where is Zeph? Ob! will you not listen to me?” But she might as well have appealed to one of —_——— been prostrated in the reaction after that long | the si suspense. But when it appeared that no one | Phe } ral err traol mon i loth vers te | safe A nt | doo hee. abe al a eee
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11 ¢ Colorado Steve’s Dash, —— i $$: a ¥ long the stone effigies carved on an old-time tomb, pore approach with her uplifted left hand. » 08 | "The hag Jay as unresponsive as if she were a | Now her right appeared from behind her. It > met paralytic. flew up until it flanked her head, holding a glit- : 1 dis Knowing that this was sheer sullenness, ex- | tering knife, the point of which menaced the traordinary instances of which are not uncom- | girl who sought to pass her. ; @ the mon among all uncivilized races, Madeline was * You will not go to the stockade!” she said, : | loth to leave her to the consequences of her per- | as firmly as before. y versity, Butshe must not forget that her own ‘Merciful Heaven! what do you mean?” d | safety huvg upon the chance of a moment. cried Madeline, shrinking back in white-lipped i | After several fruitless efforts to win her at- | terror. ged tention, the girl became conscious that the “That we will not go to the stockade,” said : oes } doorway was darkened by some one whose ap- | the half-breed, as impassively as if she werea ' nto | proach she had not heard. parrot or a talking machine. 4 tho | Whirling round with almost a shriek of ter- ‘‘Ob! but you cannot detain me! You have ae ror, she stood face to face with the beautiful | no right to detain me! You dare not detain $ tan / half-breed whom the reader will remember as | me!” panted Madeline, with agonized itera- having watched the departure of the Outcasts | tion. nde of the Glen with manifestations of profound ‘Your prople have the right of the weakest, he melancholy. said the half-breed, with a sneering smile, v e } A word will tell who and what she was. “My people”—and her eyes blazed and ber 1a After the settlers had sown their grain, and | head was lifted proudly—‘‘have the right of © 1n- while they were building their houses, she one | the strongest!” 3 ag day made her appearance among them, offer- There was no misunderstanding such a pre- 1B ing fish in exchange for anything they would | sentation of the case as this, give ber. Her beauty at once made her enthu- Madeline stared at her breathlessly, afraid to id | . siastic friends, and when it was found that she | take up the challenge that glittered in her eyes y- had pitched a tepee on the border of the lake, if | and spoke in the hand that clutched the mur- was resolved to adopt her into the community, | derous knife. a if she could be induced to become a fixture. It was the thought of blood that unnerved The men built her a hut, consisting of but four | her—this girl who dared risk death to save a a cf walls and a roof, yet a better protection against | couple of strangers of an alien race, , | tbe weather than her tepee, with the promise ‘Listen a moment,” she urged, trying to hold 4 2 that they would improve it as soon as they had | in restraint the wild terror that shook her, and a J more time, while the women gave her civilized | speak in the soothing tones of conciliation. ‘ [ clothes—which her old hag mother could not be | ‘* You cannot have understood me. Weare all | induced to share—and took turns trying to en- | in danger from the Apaches, you as well as I ; 8 lighten her heathen ignorance of the Shorter | and I have come to save you and your mother.” ; Catechism and the Four rk Se “Let them come,” said Wild Zeph, unmoved. ) She now stood bolt upright in the doorway, “But I? You cannot wish to include me in , looking steadily and in silence at the maiden | your destruction! What have 1 ever done to a who had risked her life to warn her and her | you, Zeph? Have J not even now risked every- t mother. ‘Oh, Zeph!” cried Madeline, springing to- ward her with a look of relief. But the imperious half-breed lifted her hand with so repellent a frown that Madeline shrunk back with astonishment and apprehension, ee what is the matter?” she cried, lift- ing her hand to her breast, where her heart was peatiating so wildly that it nearly suffocated er, ‘* Why are you here?” demanded Wild Zeph, still barring the door with her person. “‘I came to warn you and your mother of the terrible danger that is rushing down upon us all. A perfect swarm of Apaches are chasing Mr. Bunker and Ruth Thurston across the prai- rie to attack the glen. I have been trying to persuade your mother to get up and go with me to the stockade. Oh, Zeph! do not stand there wasting time! They will be here in a moment)” “We will not go to the stockade,” said Wild Zeph, firmly. a “Then you must let me go without you,” said Madeline, despairing at this new opposition. “Hark! Do you not hear their yells? Oh, we Shall all be lost!” { And she sprung toward the door, never dreaming that ber passage would be contested. . Butit was, Wild Zeph had repelled her im- thing todo you a kindness? And your mother —it was'to save her that [came. Ob! you can- not be so ungrateful as to wish me to suffer for my very goodness to you! And such cruelties!— worse than the most terrible death! Oh, Zeph! Zeph! where is your heart—your humanity !” And losing all command over ber emotion, in | view of the horrible pictures of suffering her fancy painted—pictures too faithfully realized in the ruthless warfare which marks the death- grapple of the two races, the weaker of which is being slowly yet surely strangled, though in its death throes it rends its adversary cruelly— Madeline extended her bands in piteous suppli- cation, All this while, the hag, though perfectly aware of what was going on, never so much as moved an eyelid, ‘Stand back!” commanded the half-breed, clutching her knife more firmly, and once more raising it above her head, while her eyes glit- tered with a hate that seemed as if it must scorch like lightning wherever her glance fell, ** Zepb!—dear Zeph!” eS So does fear make sycophants of us all! “Stand back, I say!” ; So does hate repudiate every claim of grati- tude or humanity! ‘*Oh!—my horse! my horse!” For at this moment, as Old Buncomb, sur
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12 Colorado Steve’s Dash, rounded by the settlers, came dashing up the pass, the animal that had been tossing its head, rolling its eyes, pricking its ears forward, and snufling the air, yielded to the excitement under which it had chafed, wheeled, and sped down the bridle-path to join its kind. “T am fost am lost!” eried Madeline, wildly, ‘‘Out of my path! You shall not stop me!” And reckless of the immediate danger she sprung forward, to force a passage to freedom. Instead of executing the menace of her knife, Wild Zeph dropped the weapon, and grappled wibh ber prisoner, Her strong right arm she threw about Made- line’s waist. The left she thrust under ber arm, and clutching her hair from bebind, drew her head back until her pure white throat was strained so as to make a straight Jine from the end of ber chin to her breast, while her eyes glared with strangulation. A terrible struggle ensued; for Madeline, be- sides being strong, was goaded to frenzy by fear. But it was the struggle of the hare with the fangs of the hound in its throat, Wild Zoph fought with set teeth, and hard, relentless eyes—with the silent ferocity of a bull-dog, which never loosens its grip while there is a quiver in its victim, Thrusting her chin against the smooth, round throat that she had laid open to this painful at- tack, she tightened her arm about the slender waist, and forced Madeline backward until she tripped over the stones which we have de- scribed as forming a fireplace in the middle of ‘the floor. So they fell to the ground together, the half-breed uppermost, and so close beside the shakedown upon which the old hag lay that one of Madeline’s flying arms struck her. She never moved, CHAPTER V. AT THE GATE OF THE STOCKADE. Ir was not that the Apaches at that moment made their appearance, pouring through tho pass, hideous in the barbaric paraphernalia of their warfare; bué it was that before them careered a horse with an empty saddle!—Made- line’s horse. “My God?!’ cried Old Buncomb, with the agony of a strong man. ‘‘ Men! men! [ tell you that the girl never reached the stockade!” Thon wheeling around upon his companions, he stretched forth his hands in piteous appeal, erying: “Forward with me to the rescue! If there is a spark of manhood here, let no one stay be- hind!” And turning about, he was on the point of leaping through the gate, let who would follow, when he was seized by friends who were cool enough to see that such an act would be suicidal, while others shut the heavy barrier and dropped the ponderous oaken bar into its iron slots, ® neither heard nor heeded the Babel of eries with which he was appealed to on all sides, He shook them off and whirled upon them with so ghastly a face, such blazing eyes, that they quailed before the lava tide of his emotion; while through his yoice quavered such cadences of anguish as told how mighty was the You to saye her!— love of this man, usually so cool and uncon- cerned, for the girl in whose behalf he now ap- pealed to them, “God in heaven!” he cried, with terrific energy, ‘are we to leave her to her fate?” ‘‘Bunker! Buvker! this is madness!” shouted Mr. Thurston, putting his hand on the shoulder of the frenzied man, ‘* Do you suppose that we are not distressed with you? But there are wo- men and. children here who must not be aban- doned for so hopeless—” “Old man! dare you stand to argue the case with me? Did [not bring you your daughter? What more do you require? Nothing!—noth- ing!” with a withering sneer, And then: ‘Stand out of my way!” And with a sweep of bis powerful arm, he hurled him away. : While this was going forward, a woman with streaming bair and pain-drawn face came rush- ing forward, stretching forth her hands, and crying: “Madeline! My daughter, Madeline! Where's Madeline! In God’s name, has no one seen her? Oh! Lama poor beart-broken mother! What shall I do?—what shall I do?” Thus wailing and moaning and wringing her hands, she espied Little Tornado, and rushing up to him, seized hold of him with both shaking hands. ‘Sidney! Sidney! where is your sister? Oh! do not tell me that you have not found her!” Thus far Little Tornado had stood dum- founded. He had been told that it was Mad- eline who had brought the intelligence of the perilous situation in which she had left Ruth and Old Buncomb, He had taken it for granted that she had found refuge in the stockade. Only stopping to see bis motber on her way to the same haven of security, he had sped down the pass to meet Ruth and her savior. ‘*She must be here—somewhere about!” he cried, helplessly. ‘‘ Where else- could she be? You have not looked, Why have you notcalled to ber? Madeline! Madeline!” And lifting bis voice, through which ran a quiver of terror, he shouted her name in tones that must have been heard in any part of the stockade, even above all the hubbub that made ita very Babel. Further than this, be was about to rush through the place in search of her, when a trampling of many hoofs drowned in a myriad-throated yell announced that the foe had arrived at the very gateway without, Hearing this, the mother threw up her bands witha prolonged, quivering ‘‘ O-o-h /” as if an arrow had pierced to her beart. : This drama between mother and son took place coucurrevtly with the commandant’s vain effort to recall Old Buncomb t» reason, Seeing her, the scout seized one of her wrists, to.arrest her attention, and cried: “T will fetch your daughter back to you!” The distracted mother caught his hand with both her own, and. pressing it against her aching bosom, murmured: ‘God bless you, Mr. Bunker! He will hel I know He will! Oh, Ho can aa afflict me so sorely! O-o-h! Q-o-h! O-o-h : ee, Lee
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——= con- ‘ap- | ‘ific | ome San. a a CGoiorado Steve’s Dash. i3 And her distress ended in long-drawn wails of unspeakable anguish, addened by this grief in concert with which his own heart bled, Old Buncomb sprung to the gate, snatched the bar from its fastenings, pushed Open the barricade—which of course swung out- ward—and Jeaped through, into the very teeth of the savages who swarmed before it. All this was done so suddenly that the besieged stood breathless with every barrier swept from between their cowering wives and children and the bloodt ‘irsty foe. But fear is a mightier weapon than force; and so terrific was Old Buncomb’s onslaught, firing rapidly with a revolver in either ids that the savages reined their horses round as on pivots; and for a moment there was a general stamped- ing, with flying heels and whisking tails. However, there was a man at their head who never seemed to get excited, Colorado Steve saw that Old Buncomb was not the leader of a sortie, as the savages expected from his bold throwing open of the gate; and jumping at the chance to capture bim before any one came to his support, he wheeled his horse so as to get between him and the gate. In this maneuver he was quickly followed by Senor Ramirez and several of the Indians who had their wits under better control; and it looked as if Old Buncomb, who, heedless of the trap, seemed determined to cut his way through the confused crowd, was doomed to capture, But love for his friend spurred Little Tornado to activity. “Charge!” he shouted, not be lost so foolishly !” And he, too, leaped through the yawning gate- **So good a man must way. Foolhardiness, like true heroism, is conta- gious. With a yell the whole force of the glen rushed after the boy, with only a vague idea that they were to rout the savages at a single blow. \--s Bat Little Tornado was not so infatuated as to expect such a miracle, He had a far more practical object in view—to rescue his friend and get back before the enemy could gain con- trol of their borses, which were riding one an- other down in wild confusion. Colorado Steve a from his horse, and springing upon Old Buncomb from the rear, dealt him a stunning blow on the head with the butt of hisrevolver. He then stooped and picked him up from the ground where he had fallen un- conscious, evidently with the purpose of rushing among the savages with him beyond the reach of his friends, But he should have looked to his own defense. Little Tornado was upon him with a rush that justified his name, He, however, in turn, had his enemy—no less a person than Senor Ramirez, who tried to ride him down. But with lightning dexterity he dodged the horse, and seizing the Spaniard by the foot, pitched him out of his saddle in fine : style, giving him an ugly fall, that came within | ‘an ace of breaking his precious neck! Ho then made a second rush at Colorado Steve, who was by this time upright and ready to dash with his burden into the thick of the crowd of his allies, : In his bout with Ramirez Little Tornado had dropped his revolver, so that he now had noth- ing but bis naked bands to depend upon. There was no time to make nice points, What was to be done must be done on the instant and he effective. So Little Tornado dove with his head between the giant’s legs, overturning him as if he had been struck by a battering-ram. The fall broke his hold on Old Buncomb; and making everything else second to the rescue of his friend, our hero. caught. bim by the shoul- ders, and by a skillful tug and wriggle, managed to get him on his back, 'o run with him in this fashion to the gate, while his masterly retreat was covered by his friends, was a task much more easy to admiro than to execute, But it was effective; and al- most in a twinkling the besieged were again in security, with the gate shut between them and their foes, In this neatly-managed sortie no lives were lost on either side, though some ugly wounds were born® away, as mementoes of as brisk a little scrimmage as border warfaracan boast, Had the Indians been on foot, instead of mounted on horses rendered unmanageable by panic, the issue might not have been so happy. During that breathless moment while all of their lives hung in the balance, Ruth had clung to Mrs, Fortescue, while following her son with agonized vision, “See! see!” she cried, dragging the mother forward, while with one extended arm and fore- finger she pointed out Little Tornado, as, bent under the burden of Old Buncomb’s body, he dashed toward the gate, ‘‘Oh! is he not brave and strong? Is he not a hero? Sidney! Sidney! oh, bow delighted I am!” She was foremost in bis thoughts, He had a purpose in view; but her glad ery told him that it was already accomplished, Still be kept on until he could drop his burden at her feet. Then in her Jove and admiration, and the relief ef having him back safe and sound, forgetful of the eyes that might be upon her, she caught hold: of him and hid her tearful face in his breast, ‘““ There!” exclaimed our hero, in a tone of deep satisfaction. ‘* When he comes round, he will at least know that his boy takes men’s sizes in boots and bowie-knives. his head, it was his boy that had to save him from tbe consequence of his madness, And, little girl,” he added, bending so as to bring his lips close to her ear, ‘tT had you in mind. I’ve paid him off dollar for dollar for saying you; so we don’t owe him anything on that score,” ‘Oh, don’t speak to me like that, when no one knows what poor Maddie may be suffering, It seems wicked,” whispered sensitive little Ruth, shrinking from her lover, because of the thrill of happiness which the love that vibrated in his voice sent through her, in spite of all of the pain aud fear of the moment. ‘‘ And re- member, it was for her that he rushed into such awful peril.” Little Tornado flushed scarlet, “ And do you think,” he cried, with a quiver of hurt sensibilities in his voice, “that I am less concerned than he at my sister’s loss—” “Oh, no, no!” Ruth hastened to interpose, When he lost ~ i WS bake oi Neat
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14 “Because,” he kept on, ‘I know when a thing is impracticable? Isit more praiseworthy to rush to certain suicide, from which no pos- sible good can come, than to wait for an open- ing in which something may be accomplished? Show me the chance to give my life for my sister’s, if you doubt the strength of my love for her; but don’t ask me to throw it away when I may yet—” ““Oh, bush, hush!” sobbed little Ruth. ‘* Can't you see that [ think you have both done nobly?” ‘‘ What a brute lam!” cried Little Tornado, in deep disgust. ‘‘My confounded temper is always making me ride over you rougb-shod, ae if you were a two-fisted plug-ugly like my- self! ‘“T know you never mean to burt me,” said the generous little Ruth; and their peace was made, Meanwhile a rattling fire through the loop- holes of the stockade had driven the assailants from the immediate vicinity to cover, Then there was a cessation of hostilities while the shades of evening gathered, They were evi- dently waiting for the darkness to begin their attack. But that they were not spending the time in idleness was soon made apparent. As the night fell, flames shot up in every direction, and look- ing on with set teeth, flashing eyes, and hearts swelling with impotent rage, the settlers saw their homes and their crops—the first yield of ¢ the glen,and just ready for the sickle—given nee over to the fire-fiend. But Madeline! CHAPTER VI. INDIAN JEALOUSY, Win Zepu immediately got up. Madeline Jay half-stunned by her fall, and strangling with the excruciating pain in her throat; but the moment she felt herself released ' she struggled to her feet, her spirit not yet r broken, Wild Zeph stood in her path as before, with a look of alert defiance in her face, out of which the malignancy of hatred had passed, without being replaced by a smile. She hailed this con- . test as a rare diversion, adeline might have made one more desperate effort: but at that moment the Apaches swarm- ed through the pass, loading the air with their yells and the rattle of firearms, The girl stood rigid, staring into vacancy, with her whole horrified soul centered in the one sense of hearing. So passed a breathless moment, Then came the shock of the collision at the gate of the stockade. F She read the significance of this, Her friends were so hard beset that there was no hope of succor from them, Even if in the mad confu- sion of the moment they had yet missed her, who would dream of searching for ber here? She remembered that the séttlers had passed her be- fore she entered the bridle-path. They would Sha TROT ie ‘\ i 4 | 7 } care testify that she had gone on toward the stock- re 1 - ade, It would be believed that she had gone to wzSa ber home in her anxiety for the safety of her as mother, and had so delayed until it was too late ec to get back to the stockade, _. Gonksice saad z Colorado Steve’s Dash. { But was that her only chance? There was thé prairie in the other direction; and the night was close at hana! If she could but escape this mad- woman, she might make ber way to a military post, some twenty miles to the northward! fm’ She need not even traverse the distance on) «7 foot. There were horses picketed to grass on the . our plains to the eastward of the hills that shut in 9° the glen. The Indians would have no know ledga) yoy, of these,and she might skirt the hills to the| 144, north until she gained a point nearly opposite land to where she now was, secure a mount, and b ries: morning be safe at the post, besides sending 4) 9¢ assistanco to her friends, mat Stimulated by this hope of being of service rvs to those she loved, her face brightened, and she “ glanced about in search of some weapon with if which she might attack her detainer, Standing coldly observant, Wild Zeph guessed te that her prisoner meditated a renewal of the | gy¢ struggle. She followed the quick glances which | .+.. found nothing that. would serve as a weapon = 4 save the stones of the fireplace. But Advancing with the springy lightness of a | yo, panther, she Pe her foot on the one nearest | 4 adeline, and smiled at her defiantly. F Convinced that she would be overmatched in a purely physical encounter, Madeline once © more resorted to persuasion, = ‘* Zeph,” she said, “there may yet be time for 45 me to escape. Why do you oppose me” What ne have I ever done to you, that you should wish | 4, to take so bitter a revenge upon me?” ee “Done!” repeated the Indian girl, while her es bosom swelled, ber eyes blazed, and her nostrils © dilated and quivered, ‘‘What have you not “Why, I bave never harmed you or yours, I have always shown you kindness instead. i Who has given you more or tried to teach you C more than I?” : The balt-breed laughed with bitter scorn, 1 “Ay! she-cried. “You would teach me,out of your good book, as you call it, to love my — enemies. Well, 1 hate mine!—hate them witha | hot, fiery anger, compared with which the prairio | fire is acool wind from the north!—hate themas | the cougar hates the dogs that have come to ] hunt it to death!” 7 f ‘But I, Zeph!—I am not your enemy!” “You! pursued the half-breed, not heeding her interruption, but now shaking her fist at | her, as she gave the rein to her passions, ‘you I hate so bitterly that your simple death would not be to meso much as a drop of water on the tongue of a mau dying of thirst on the Staked Plain! How does he famish for water? He would drink it by the bucketful—by the barrel- ful! He would swim in it!—he would drown himself in it, so that he might get his fill! So do I ravin for my revenge on you, you accursed of an accursed race!—you traitor of the treach- erous whites{ Death! I will that you die a hundred deaths a day for a hundred moons, and that that be but a beginning!” 1 Stunned by this torrent of invective poured over her like a tide of burning lava, Madeline could only plead: “But why?—in Heaven’s name, why? What have I ever done to-you but kindness?” ‘Oh, you have been kind to me!” cried Zeph,
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| Colorado Steve’s Dash, « 15 ith a sneer so scathing that it seemed as if the ords must hiss as they left her lips, ‘* You ave lulled me with sweet words, that you might under coyer of them steal my heart out on Mf my body and put a tarantula in its place!” | “But explain. yourself. You cannot put D the ; ” ;,, your finger on a thing— rr “Why did you come to this country? Was ) the there not enough for you in the miles and miles osite 22d miles of woodland and pastureland, of farm- d by. tand and hunting-range, of mountain and prai- ing, rie, that stretches so far toward the rising run that the fleetest horse could net traverse it in vieo Many moons?” < 3 aha “But how has my coming injured you?” ith ‘* Ask Colorado Steve.” In three words she told her secret; and the ‘seq | furious rush of passion so suddenly lapsed into the ® Wail of anguish, as tears sprung to her eyes ich { and her features writhed in pain, that Madeline yon » Stared at her fora moment open-mouthed, Then a wave of ho e swept over her with a | Such overwhelming force that her head swam est | TOUnd with vertigo, and she half-sunk, half-fell * upon her knees, an ‘Listen to me, Zeph!—listen!”.she pleaded, ce). Ob, I am weary of listening to you,” cried | the half-breed, ot eens waving her off, or «= ti‘(y. But you must hear me, for your own sake at as well as for mine, I4declare to you that I have h | never sought to wrong you in the way you | think, Colorado Steve is nothing tome, Ihave r never so much as spoke to him. Far from Fy wishivg to win him from you, 1—I—love some if one else!” | She knew the heart-logic of her own sex far , too well to prove her innocence by urging that * she despised and feared the half-breed’s ruffianly i lover; but so eager was she to put the possibility of her interference out of the question, that sho _ made a confession with which, until now, even | ak own heart had been playing at hide, and Seek, , _ “You do not love—you do love! Bah! What is what you do, or do not do, to me?” cried Zeph, | with passionate scorn, ‘\Can you make Col- orado Steve love me again, as he did before he saw you?” ; “ But you cannot blame me for what isnot my fault.” i “That is more of your white reasoning—of a | piece with loving your enemies! Ha! ha! But tell me, if you spill my drink in the sand, am I less thirsty because it was done by acci- dent?” ‘‘Zeph! Zeph! it is wicked to bear malice in this way!” cried poor Madeline, despairing of correcting the perverted views of thehalf-breed _ before the catastrophe which menaced her had ‘ fallen, ‘Listen to me! I promise to go away from this country, and never return where Colorado Steye can see me, I will—” “When it is too late! You should never | have come here! Now your only use is to serve my revenge!” “T will not be sacrificed to your blind malig- nity!” cried Madeline, enraged at the bitter wrong of having her young life given to ap- pease the savage instincts of this creature, who seemed to her little better than a wild ects Sw And in that last madness of the struggle for self-preservation which extinguishes all gen- tler sentiments and brivgs out the animal in us every one, she sprung forward and made a clutch at the knife which yet lay where Zeph had dropped it, y But the half-breed put ber foot upon it and onee more grappled with her prisoner, The struggle was now more stubbornly pro- longed; but in the ‘end the woman who had passed all of her life out of doors conquered the Woman who had passed hers within, Madeline lay panting and exhausted, with closea eyes and relaxed muscles, while her adversary stood over her, somewhat blown, but with no abate- ment of ber implacable resolve. And through it all the hag never moved! At this moment long-expected footsteps were heard approaching, Madeline, galvanized with terror, opened her eyes with a piercing shriek, and seeking flight while she scrambled to her feet, half ran, half crept to the furthest corner of the but. “They are coming! they are coming!” she eried, wringing her hands, and sobbing and moaning, as she shrunk close to the wall. « *‘ Ob, we are lost! { shall never see my dear mother again—never! never!” And sinking upon her knees, she covered her face with her hands, as if to sbut out the horri- ble sight that must presently appear at the door- way. Wild Zeph picked up the knife with which shs had menaced Madeline, and stepped a little way back from the door, yet near enough. to in- tercept her prisoner, did she try to escapo, There she folded her arms, still with the weapon held in readiness for instant use if required, and waited, as coldly indifferent apparently to her own share in the danger as the hag who still preserved ber strange abstraction unbroken, Then the doorway was obstructed by the figure of a man who stopped on the threshold, and resting his hands on either jamb, thrust his head into the room to peer roel The sun haying sunk below the horizon, the brief twilight of the prairie was rapidly deepen- ing, so that objects in the hut could be but in- distinetly seen from the doorway, while any one standing in the position taken by the new- comer could be seen clearly enough in outline, but aS expression of his face would be ob- scured, “Well, [ll be etarnally hornswaggled |!” ejaculated the intruder. ‘' Ef we hain’t got ’em in hyer as snug as gophers!” At the sound of that voice both of the girls started, but with vastly different emotions, “Steve!” flashed through the brain of the half-breed, seeming to set her on fire; and, in- mapes, every muscle was braced for desperate action. ; Abandoning herself to a despair the depths of which only such violent and moody natures — know, she had resolved to yield herself up to the Apaches, for the sake of seeing the woman she hated suffer the untold agonies of Indian ey. ‘ : : he had every reason to believe that her mother would be murdered out of hand, as only a useless incumbrance; but such filial affection at
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16 Colorado Steve’s Dash. as she may haye had she sacrificed to her revenge, For herself and Madeline she did not expect death. Indeed, it would have frustrated her urpose to let ber victim off so cheaply as that, She wanted to see her live through the name- less horrors a white woman has to endure in the wigwam of an Indian warrior. Only this, a daily feast to a greedy hate, would requite the loss of her lover. To witness it she was willing to share it, as far as ber blunter nature could be made to feel that most degraded of slaveries, And now the srpeareny of Colorado Steve was a surprise to her, She had not thought of him as a leader of the savages, Even now she did not associate him with them. For one ec- static moment she dreamed that he had come to rescue her; and as a flash of lightning illumi- nates a landscape, she saw herself re-establish- ed in his affections and taken into his hut as his squaw—to drudge for him like a soulless beast of burden, to receive without complaint bis kicks and cuffs and curses, but to have him for her own! For this prospect she was ready to bow her neck for him to place his foot upon it. She only waited for the word which should confirm her hope that he had indeed come t? save her. Unfamiliar with Steve’s voice, having heard it but two or three times before, Madeline only realized that one of her own race was at band. It dic not occur to her that he might be a white renegade, leading the bloodthirsty savages against his own people. : “Oh, save me—save me!” she cried, springing forward. yi “Save ye, my pretty one? Oh, Ill save ye!” responded Colorado Steve with a brutal laugh. “Maybe ye wouldn’t believe it, byt I ain't come fur nothin’ else.” To the passion-distraught creature, whose soul was ehskat between a delirious hope and maddening jealousy, this was like the dropping of a spark into a powder-magazine. All her fancy’s paradise was annihilated as the land- scape is blotted out in darkness when the fiery bolt has sped. With a snarling shriek of concentrated fury, such asa maniac might utter when leaping to rend an rae foe, she sprung forward, and seizing Madeline by her flying hair as she sought ‘to speed by her, sho wrenched her back with such violence that she was hurled.to the floor, to ' lie half-stanned and. wholly helpless. Pinning her down by her hair, upon which sho planted her knee, she held the knife sus- pended over her bosom, *¢ One step across that threshold!” she cried to Colorado Steve, “ and she dies!” The Indian hag lay still without motion, though she knew perfectly well, so far at least as her ears could tell her, the tragic scene that _-was being enacted within ten feet of where she lay. ; Y santo Dios! it is the devil incarnate! Senor Estevan, I wish you joy of them—those two!” Senor Ramirez had made his appearance behind Colorado Steve, and stood looking 7 + under one of his arms, while at bis back wera several Apaches, stony spectators of the scene, Without changing his position, Colorado Steve twisted his head so as to look over his shoulder, and burst into a gruff: / “Haw! haw! baw! Ain’tthey beauties—both on’em? Whar’s the gilt-edge galoot in this hyar section o’ country what kin sport sich a mena- gerieas that?” ; “ As for me,” declared Senor Ramirez, “I would as soon house with a rattlesnake and a wildcat!” “Oh, you!” scoffed Colorado Steve, with withering disdain. ‘Keep to yer own kind, Skunks an’ Greasers never have a fallin’ out.” “ Maldita !” hissed the Spaniard, under his breath, scowling at Colorado Steve’s back as he would not have dared to scowl to his face, Then he went on aloud: “Your wildcat will spoil your rattlesnake, if you do not soon interfere.” ; : “Oh, no!” said Colorado Steve, confidently “It would be a great pity tbat you should lose one of them—you who are so fond of that sort of animals, but for my part, to be frank, it would not break my heart. I owe the rattle- snake no good will.” : “Arter the way she scotched ye? You're cowardly hound enough to harbor a grudge ag’in’ a woman, nobody’ll question, But ef it was me, I woul in’t give it away.” Once more Senor Ramirez had recourse to the luxury of profanity which did Colorado Steve no harm, and was something of a relief to bim. “Hallo, thar, Injun! Old Lantern-jaws!” Thus ina brillantly funny moment had the usually slow-witted Steve styled the Apache chief, on account of his spareness of flesh; and the barbarian thought it a name of distinction! “Uph!” he ejaculated, “What do you do with a squaw what cuts up high-jinks in that thar kind of style?” “Stick!” was the terse recommendation of the unsentimental Mr. Lo. “ Haw! haw! baw!” laughed Steve, staring at Wild Zeph, and aying to imagine how she would receive such discipline, All this time she had stared at him, trying to make out his intimate association with the Apaches. Now with a fierce sense of scorn for his treachery, she realized the truth. “Come!” she cried. ‘Declare yourself. What are you here for?” “ Look a-hyer, Zeph,” he said, moved to sul- len displeasure by the cavalier tone she had used to him, “drop that thar knife!” “Why should I drop it?” she demanded, wish- ing to draw him out, “ Becuz I dow’t propose to hey my property spiled by none o’ your dog-gone nonsense!” ‘Your property?’ ‘Waal, what’s the matter with that?” ‘* How is she your property?” ‘“‘ That’s none o’ your infernal business! Drop it, I say!” “JT will make it my business!” “ Waal, dang my skin!” shouted Steve, open- mouthed at this defiance of his will. ; “Do you love her?” asked Wild ceded choking as she forced herself to ask the question, “
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Five pe US ne I i _ €olerado Steve’s Dash: i? “She suits me, an’ that’s a-gittin’ down to bottom facts!” was Colorado Steve’s way of de- elaring his preference, * Before I get through with her, I will fix her so that sbe won't suit you quite so well!” cried Wild Zepb, again boiling with rage, at this flouting in her face of his disloyalty to herself, “Tf you touch her, you hellion—” But having crossed the threshold with one heavy foot, as if about to spring upon her and wrest the knife from her hand, he was brought up with a round turn. “Stop! One step further, andI bury it to the hilt in her body.” : CHAPTER VIL THE SENOR’S LITTLE DODGE, So fiercely was this threat launched at him, that he was fain to take bis unwelcome person out of the door—not, however, without an oath, savage, if impotent. ‘* Bring torches hyar!” he commanded. It was getting so dark that be could scarcely make out the respective figures in the but. Al- though she seemed to command the situation as it was, he dreaded to yzive Zeph a chance to carry out her threat without his seeing, so as to = least make a desperate effort-to frustrate er. On her side, the half-breed hesitated, casting about in her mind for some means of securing the girl alive, and subjecting her to the tortures she had meditated. “Death!” she reflected. ‘‘No! no! she sball not escape me so. She shall live! I must see her watering the ground with her tears, as she lies on her face, praying to her God to give ber the boon of death! But how to hold her alive, yet keep her out of his clutches—that is the question.” Meanwhile Senor Ramirez had withdrawn beyond Wild Zeph’s range of vision through the door, ostensibly to oversee the procurement of the torches Colorado Steve had demanded, but really for the purpose of that treachery which was so congenial to bis nature. He now touched Steve’s hand, and having drawn his attention, beckoned him away from the door. Steve was reluctant to leave-his post, but the Spaniard was so earnest in his pantomime that he at Jast complied, “What do ye want?’ he demanded, with a frown, yet guardedly, as evidently comported with Ramirez’s wish for secrecy. ‘*‘ Some o’ yer underhanded work, I'll go bail!” *“You are a good shot,” began the Spaniard, ignoring his surly manner. { “Yas; but white men don’t shoot women, like | as if they was Greasers! ‘Have I asked you to shoot anybody?” asked i Hamirez, with some pardonable resentment of _ his wanton insults. | _ “Come!” cried Colorado Steve, roughly, “I | don’t want no back talk out o’ you, ye onder- _ stand, Ef you’ye got anythin’ to say, spit ’er ' out, an’ be hanged to ye!—fur I don’t propose | to stand hyar all night a-chinnin’ about‘it.” } Ramirez came to the point at once. ‘* Let me go to the door with a torch, pretend- ing to argue the matter with her in your be- half. You then stand far enough back so that she cannot see youin the dark, with the torch in her eyes, and shoot the knife out of her hand,” “Waal, I'll be etarnally hornswaggled!” cried Steve, lost in admiration of this scheme which was so far beyond bis capacity for invention, “Dve always said—an’ now, by gee! Pll sw’ar it’s sol—that when the devil wants a new suit 0’ clo’s, he always comes to you fur the pat- tern!” Ramirez showed his teeth in a pleased smile at this compliment to his fiendish taient. A torch being ignited, the Spaniard edused one of the Indians to hold it directly in the doorway above his head. Wild Zepb watched this proceeding suspici- ously. She believed that it was a device to out- wit her, but as there was no access to the but save through the door, she thought that she had only to be on ber guard against Ramirez’s elo- quence, “Senorita,” he began in bis oiliest tones, doff- ing his sombrero to do her honor, ‘it is the wish of my friend and your most devoted adorer that I explain to you the true relation between bim and the Senorita Magdalena, which is quite dif- ferent from what you seem to think.” ** Gads!” muttered Colorado Steve, enthusias- tically, from his postin therear. ‘‘ Don’t it take that tallow-hided coyote, though, to come the et dodge! He’d lie the claws off a grizaly ar! 7 He was skulking in the shadows, with his car- bine in readiness, watching for a chance to fire at the weapon which Wild Zeph held in sus- pense. Between him and the door were several savages who must have sufficient confidence in his aim to permit him to fire between their bodies. Madeline lay perfectly still, with ber eyes fixed as by fascination on the keen point of the knife, awaiting the issue, She could not release her head, and dared not move lest she should precipi- tate her fate. 2 ““ Look here, Ramirez,” said Wild Zeph, con- temptuously, ‘tif Colorado Steve bas anything to say to me, why don’t he say it himself?” ‘* Ah! but consider, senorita,” urged the Span- iard, ‘the sight of your lover pleading for an- other woman! [sit notenough toclose your ears against anything he might say? But when his friend, on the honor of a gentleman, assures you that bis intentions toward the lady inno way } conflict with his loyalty to you; when it issworn to you that he is moved by revenge upon those~ who have heaped insult upon him, and that through her—” B Crack ! ; A thrill of excruciating pain shot up Wild Zeph’s arm, and it fell numb and helpless to ber side, the knife having been dashed out of it by an unseen missile. With a laugh of triumph, Sencr Ramirez clapped his sombrero on his head, and leaped through the doorway, followed by several of the savages, Wild Zeph saw & once that she had been tricked, Her rage was satanic, If she must lose her victim, let ber at least mar forever the ~ beauty in which lay her, power, With the
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hand she could stiil use she made a dive at Madeline’s face, intending to rend the delicate flesh with her nails, or perchance gouge out an eye! But seeing the knife disappear from before her eyes, and divining the next resort of the vixen, Madeline covered her face with her hands, though she could not move further, The next instant Senor Ramirez had torn Wild Zeph from the body of her victim, and held her, in spite of her frantic struggles—he was valiant enough with women!—with her hands behind her back. The moment her bair was réleased, Madeline writhed over upon her face, gathered her knees under her, and scrambled to her feet. Goaded by the frantic instinct to escape the clutebes of those fierce-looking savages, she leaped over the body of the Indian hag, so as to get between it and the wall, and falling upon her knees, clasped the wrinkled old neck in Far fresh young arms, feeling that age must be some little protection. The Indians who were not assisting Senor Ramirez looked at her stolidly, certainly not understanding her motive for hugging the hag, who lay as unresponsive as if she were some time-blackened wooden idol. Goloredo Steve entered the hut grinning from ear to ear. “ Waal, ma’am,” he said to Madeline, not troubling himself to look at Wild Zeph, “I allow as how we got ye out of a dog-gone nasty hole in purty good shape. That thar critter is as wicked as sin when she's on full feed. But, Lor’, ma’am! ye needn't take on about her n longer, I own her, I do; an’ ef I say * Drop it!” why, she’s got to drop it, ur she gits the buck- skin! An’ jest take things easy, ma’am, all round. Ye kin, jest as well as not, These hyar Tnjuns, I'll allow, ain’t sweet-smellin’—’specially in fly-time—but I’m cock o’ the walk hyar, ye onderstand; so ye needn’t be afeard o’ them, But it turns my stummick to see ye a-slobberin’ over that thar ole blacksmitk’s apron, I sw’ar it does! Thar hain’t no sort o’ call fur it; an’ ye can’t git no more fur yer money a-pawin’ over her than ef she war a ship’s figger-head,” Madeline gazed earnestly at the speaker. Was there a hops that his purpose might: not be so cruel as she had feared? He seemed to be a good-natured brute. She recalled that in the encounter before the tavern he had acted as if he considered the thing a joke rather than a serious fight. ‘¢ Oh, sir! tell me,” she exclaimed, * why are you with those terrible Indians? You cannot eso wicked as to lead them against people who have never harmed you, and of your own race, ! “Well, ma’am,” said Colorado Steve, with a confidential air, while he twirled his hat on one finger, “‘ye seo, it’s all along o’ this dirty Greaser, hyar, the which he’s my pard, an’ 0’ course I have to stand by him, allowin’ as it’s might low-lived work fur a white man ana Christian! But you’re béknownst to the fact that t’other day he was soused in the horse- trough, the which it sarved him jest right, Dog me ef I wouldn’t ’a’ held his head under, ef it had’a’ been my deal! But when you make a Colorado Steve’s Dash. mop of a man, right or wrong, it’s natteral that he should stand to git squar’, So the senor, hyar, he says—‘ Drop on ’em with a batch of Injuns,’ an’ hyar we be. The which the senor, he bain’t got nothin’ to do with you, ma’am, an’ ye needn’t take no account o’ him whatsome- dever.” All this was said with such apparent honesty that Madeline’s hopes began to revive. “Then you do not mean to injure me?” she asked, rising and standing with her hands clasp- ed over her bosom. ‘“‘ Me 2?” cried Colorado Steve, grinning as if the idea was #0 preposterous as to be amusing, ‘¢ Well, now, bless yer lectle heart an’ soul!—L wouldn’t hurt a hair o’ yer purty head fur— Haw! haw! haw! That fier is good— that is! Me burt ye!” And Colorado Steve twirled his hat and ogled her with the mixed admiration and bashfulness of a country gawky in love. There was no qhestioning that Wild Zeph had very good grounds for her jealousy, as far as her rezreant lover was concerned; but this was not particularly distasteful to Madeline, if. it took the innocent form of devotion at a dis- tance, “Then you will return me to my friends?” she asked, in painful suspense, . ‘‘ Waal, ma’am, ye see it wouldn’t be quite safe, not jest now at the present time, when the Injuns is on the p’int o’ cleanin’ out the stockade. Aw not wishin’ ye to come to harm—” “Ob! Lam willing to share the fate of my friends!” cried Madeline. “Ye shall look over the ground, ma’am, an’ then I reckon you'll change yer mind, Ye see, when these red devils gits started, tbar’s no tell- in’ whar they'll fetch up; an’ they’ve come pledged to clean ont the glen, root an’ branch,” “But you have influence with them, Cannot you prevent this terrible work?” ‘“* Waal, ma’am, ye seo, it’s mostly the say o’ the senor; which the same it was him as got soused in the horse-vrough, to the truth o’ which you’re beknownst yerself.” “Vos! yes! but you yourself just said that it was no more than he deserved! Must innocent women and children suffer to gratify his brutal revenge?” Colorado Steve scratched his head reflectively, as if this were a nice point to be considered. “™M—m waal,” he said, presently, “‘ the senor, bein’ although he’s a Greaser, an’ Greasers is all alike, an’ powerful bad medicine—yet he’s got feelin’s like the rest o’ us—the which you must allow yer-e f; an’ it’s mighty rilin’ fur to gita horse-trough swabbed out with yer. It must be mighty rilin’!” he added, shaking his head, as he measured the natural effect on one’s feelings. Seeing that it was useless to try to reason with such an animal as this, Madeline had recourse to a woman’s weapon before which most men are only too ready to “ give up the ship.” She fell upon her knees before him, and with tears streaming from her beautiftl eyes, besoughbt him to take,the side of humanity. Steve shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and twirled his bat in great seeming em- barrassment at her distress; but he got no fur- ther than that “‘it was the senor’s funeral, the
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Golorado Steve's Dash. 19 which he, Steve, wasn’t supposed to be a-runnin’ of it.” Senor Raimirez stood by with pubset ibe eyes, waiting for Madeline to appeal to bim; but knowing that his devilish nature could not be moved, she did not give him the satisfaction of refusing her in his polished way, Finding all hopeless, she yielded herself to Coloradn Steve's direction, and they prepared to leave the but. ; Then came the question as to what disposal was to be made of the hag, who yet lay as she had since Madeline’s entrance. She had had a quarrel with her daughter that morning, and this was a case of sulks, not different in kind, but in degree, from what we sometimes see in people who call themselves civilized, Since she had been overpowered and pinioned, Wild Zeph bad stood in stony silence, only the baleful glitter of her eyes showing the hurricane of passion that raged beneath the surface. She fixed her eyes upon Colorado Steve, as passing through the doorway with Madeline at his side, he turned at Senor Ramirez’s question, and cast a careless glance at her mother, “It’s your game. Piteb the trump to suit yourself,” he answered indifferently. “Caramba! what have I to do with old hags?” muttered Ramirez. gaa turning to the silent Apache chief, he said: ‘*My beathen friend, I have no doubt that you will know what to do with ove of your own people better than I should,” “Ugh! No good!” was the Apache’s sammary disposal of the matter, ad reaching the side of the old squaw with two strides, he coolly drew his tomahawk and sunk it to the eye in her skull! A quiver ran through Wild Zeph’s frame, as she stood and saw this ruthless butchery, but she uttered no sound, nor did she make the slightest move to prevent it, Senor Ramirez, shrugged his shoulders, and motioned her to precede him through the door. Already outside, Madeline was spared this bor- rible sight. She found that the night sky was illuminated with a lurid glare, As they traversed the pass and reached the glen, she saw how the ruthless hand of the destroyer had laid waste all the fair fields on which the sun had set, Tbe grain that had waved in the evening wind was now being licked up by running tongues of fire. The houses they had built, driving with every nail a hope for the loved ones to be sheltered by them, were wrapped in flames, At thought of the happiness destroyed by that night’s wretched work Madeline could not re- strain her tears, : She was placed under a guard of Indians where she could see the preparations to assail tho stockade, This now stood alone untouched in the midst of desolation. CHAPTER VIII. A BOLD VENTURE. Wuewn Old Buncomb recovered consciousness, She was on her knees beside him, bathing bis face with water, and weeping bitterly all the time, “What is the matter with me? What has happened?” he asked, in bewilderment, “Oh! don’t you know?—the terrible fight with the Indians at the gate of the stockade?” He lifted himself on his elbow and stared around, Women were running hither and thither, buddling their frightened children together like hens brooding their chickens at the sight of a hawk, Others sat weeping and wringing their bands over the loss of their worldly all. One poor creature was inconsolable. Her boy had been out to drive the cows home when the alarm came, and had not reached the stockade. She was hanging about Mrs. Fortescue’s neck; and the two were sharing their bereavement, Men were rushing about, distributing ammu- nition to others who were firing through the loopholes of the inclosure, On all sides was the wildest excitement and disorder. Even while he collected his scattered wits the firing ceased. The Indians bad got to cover. “Yes, yes! I recall it all now,” he said, put- ting his hand to his head. ‘But how did I get back into the stockade? I remember nothing since I was cutting my way through the savages to saa get—” ‘ e stopped, at a loss, and Ruth answered his question, “ Tt. was Sidney that brought you in. Oh! you should have seen how he fought to reach you! And then, after you were struck down, ha got you on bis back, and ran through the gate with you. Oh! it was beautiful, but so terrible!” “ Yes—yes,” said Old Buncomb, vaguely, as if still in search of a lost link in the chain of recollection. ‘‘ But what was I trying to get? It seems—” With asob in her voice Ruth told him, in a whisper: m ae was Maddie! Oh! what has become of er With a sharp ejaculation Old Buncomb leaped to his feet. “Madeline!” Then he stood trembling and looking about, “Where is Little Tornado?” Without stopping for an answer, he set out in search of him. Little Tornado was in the thick of the fight, you may believe, He was always where the music was loudest, ““Come! We have not a moment to lose! said Old Buncomb, seizing him by the shoulder where he found him in a group of men twice bis age, “What’s to be done?” asked our hero, promptly. “You must ride to the post for help.” “T was just arguing that point with the com- mandant. I am glad that you have come to back me,” { “But, Bunker,” said Mr. Thurston, ‘‘ we can- not expose the boy to such risks, with his inex- perience and rashness. If it must be done— though Iam free to confess that I do not see the first face his eyes opened upon was Ruth’s. | how any one is to get out of the stockade, sur- ee =e
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o Mia fae ea paths ae Aiea. aw ee i gcaet atin ve 2 . Colorado Steve’s Dash. rounded as it is, without detection and death— let some one older make the attempt.” “Pll show you how it is to be done,” cried Little Tornado, with that sanguine confidence in himself which the commandant bad just been deprecating. ‘He will do better than any man you have,” said Old Buncomb, quietly. “Let him go, I will answer for his skill and prudence, so far as one can be prudent in so desperate a case as this. One must take great chances when death waits on failure.” “But his mother!” said the commandant, lowering his voice, ‘‘Remember that she is mouruing one child now. We cannot ask her to give her last to almost certain death, even to save the rest of us.” He vemember! As if every nerve in his body were not thrilling with anguish over the same loss! “Tt is not death that menaces her,” he said, his voice steady and cold. ‘‘In bringing help to the glen, her brother will be bringing her the best chance of escape, It is because I believe that he will be more certain of success than any one else, that I wish him to be-the one to try.” x Pll go!” said Little Tornado, decidedly. “Then God go with you!” said Mr. Thurston, fervently, putting his band on his shoulder with paternal tenderness. ‘But be careful—be very careful.” “You may depend upon me, sir,” said Little Tornado, respectfully. ‘Of course I know that Tr may be carrying the safety of all here with me, And he thought of Ruth as be spoke. No danger of his not taking every precaution where her safety was at stake. Come with me,” said Old Buncomb, moving off without further loss of time, Ho led tho way toward an out-house which stood within the inclosure of palisades. It was used as an ammunition and storehouse. “We must reduce the risk to a minimum,” he said. ‘There are but two white men who can be known as such and live outside of this stockade to-night.” ; ““Wel” repeated Little Tornado. ‘“ Are you going, too? What is the need? I can man- age— “Tam going out, but not to interfere with ‘you,” interrupted Old Buncomb, B “But what else— What for?” * Can’t you guess?” He turned his clouded face toward the boy. Sidaey looked into his eyes a moment in silence; then he replied: : “T think I can guess.” “Well, then, there is no need of saying any- thing more about it.” * Bunker!” Tittle Tornado extended his hand, Old Buncomb clasped it in silence. “God bless you, old man, and give you success |”? His yoice shook. Old Buncomb knew that another heart was aching as painfully as his own over the unknown fate of Madeline Fortescue, Sig, S “You lugged me back into the stockade, id. “Ruth told you?” “Yes, It was a mad, a foolish thing for me to do—to risk everything where there was no chance but to lose.” “T tried to do what a boy could to fetch things out right,” said Sidney, a little mali- ciously. “We changed places there, for a fact,” admitted Old Bancomb, ‘ But you may depend upon me now, as I have learned to depend upon you, * That makes us square!” said Little Tornado, extending his band, And so they entered the out-house, From a box, which was bis own private prop- erty, Old Buneomb took the whole outfit of an Indian, in the way of clothes, from the feathered head-dress to the moccasins, ‘*They are rather large for you,” he said; “but an Indian’s garments are seldom cut very elose to scale. I guess you can make them pass in the dark.” “They’re beauties!” cried Little Tornado, in delight. “My own mother wouldn’t know me in ’em, with a little burnt umber on my face and hands.” ‘* We have that, too,” said Old Buncomb, tak- ing the pigment out of a small box. . Why! how do you come by all of these things?” cried Little Tornado, looking at his companion curiously. ‘‘ Have you ever been on the stage?” “They are very convenient to have.in this country, aren’t they ?? asked Old Buncomb, ee the last question, perhaps unintention- ally. @ yen—certainly “T thought they might be, sometime. Now, as you're not used to this sort of thing, perhaps you will let me put you in trim.” “ But where is your rie?” “T will get one when the time comes,” And Old Buncomb set to work to transform Little Tornado into an Indian brave, To guard against every possible accident, in- stead of confining bis work to face, neck, hands, arms and thighs, which are the ordinarily ex- posed parts of an Indian’s body—Old Buncomb insisted on staining Little Tornado’s skin a fine butternut brown, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He further dyed his hair coal-black. Then, when he had arranged his dress and given him his weapons, the effect was perfect. Leaving out of account the cast of features, no one could have told that it wasa disguised white. ; “What will Ruth say?” cried Little Tornado, surveying himself ruefully. ‘She will never eee es such a bemlock-tanned Yankee as this! : : ‘Suppose you go and find out whether that is so?” said Old Buncomb, ‘I will be ready pres- ently.” : Little Tornado acted on this suggestion. At sight of him a woman screamed and fainted. Others were set to trembling, and had to hear him speak before they were fully per- suaded that it was one of their own pes and not a sayage who had somehow gain admit aoe es nt a. oe ~~ w- Foal — tsset -_
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Colorado Steve’s Dash. 21 tance to the stockade, sbrunk away, even when he spoke to them, and their parents assured them that it was all right. His mother ran to him all atremble. ‘Ob, Sidney!” she cried, putting her arms about him and weeping on his breast, ‘I can’t let you go! indeed my sop, this is too much! Was there no one else, that they must rob me of both of my children?” He consoled her, bimself much moved by her love for him. ‘Then he persuaded her to go into the house and lie down where she would be quiet and give her nerves a chance to recover their tone. : Ruth looked at him through tears, and trem- bled even while she clung to him, as he put his arms about her neck and kissed her, She charged him over and over again to be careful, for her sake, and told bim how her heart stood still at the shought of the danger he was going into, at the same time that it beat ex- ultantly that Old Buncomb, whose words had been repeated all through the stockade, had said that he was the best qualified to go on such an errand, ‘ He got full measure of the soldier’s meedl—the homage of woman. Then Old Buncomb made his appearance. Every one was astonished to see a stranger, with a smooth face, black hair, and a eg ond ion dark as an Indiun’s, come, as if he had drop- ped from the cloud, into their midst, ss Jove!” cried Little Tornado, his eyes sarkling with admiration. ‘I never dreamed that you was such a dandy for good looks! And so young, too! What the deuce have you meant, anyway, by making yourself look like an old codger all this time? But it wasn’t neces- sary to sacrifice all of that magnificent suit of whiskers—I mean to bring out your real self, Lopping a little of the tangle-brush would have done it. But where’s your dress?” “It is out yonder,” replied Old Buncomb, coolly, ‘‘A friend of mine is keeping it for me until I call for it.” ‘““And do you mean to say that you have given me the only dress you had, and are about to get one off a savage’s back after you have got outside of the stockade?” “You might perhaps reasonably infer as much,” said the scout, quietly. “Took here, Bunky! ‘You’ve got to take this dress yourself.” ‘You seem to have a very poor opinion of my steadfastness of purpose,” said Old Buncomb, “When I put that on you, don’t you think I meant it to stay?” “But you have no right to surprise me—no, hcg me—into the acceptance of such a sacri- ce, Old Buncomb bent toward him, and said into ~ ear, ina low voice which no one else could hear: “T gave it to your sister’s brother.” Little Tornado looked at him, and then silent- ly extended his band. “Tf—if,” said Old Buncomb, unsteadily, “che is saved through your efforts, and J—J— fail—" , . ah He stopped a moment; and his auditor knew The children cried and | that he was thinking that, if he failed, he would not be alive to tell her himself. Then he con- cluded: “Tell her that I did it—will you?” “Indeed I will, old fellow!” cried Little Tor- nado, wringing his hand. ‘ But there will be no need of my telling her, unless because of your modesty.” And he smiled his confidence in bis friend. Old Buncomb turned away without reply, to meet Mr. Thureton, who cried: “But whet is this that they tell me? Yow are not going too? Indeed, Bunker, we can’t spare you! What is the stockade going to do, without men to defend it? They may attack us at any moment after dark.” “Undoubtedly; but you cannot think that I have overlooked that obvious fact.” * But why will not one do to make the at- tempt to get to the post? Wait until we have some proof that he has failed—which God for- bid!” ‘*T shall not accompany Sidney,” said Old Buncomb. * But what then—” “7 have hopes of being able to bring her daughter back to the poor woman who is sor- rowiug in yonder, And you do not forget that she is my pardner’s sister. lf I send him away, I owe it to him to take the place he would otherwise occupy, in attempting to effect her rescue,” : There was no use in trying to argue with this quiet, decided man. ‘*Do as you think best,” said the commandant, “JT have every confidence in your judgment and interest in the welfare of these defenseless people,” Then they waited for the darkness to cover their movements; and it was during this time that Madeline was having her experience with Colorado Steve, The gate of the stockade was toward the cen- ter of the glen, and was therefore illuminated by the conflagration whic: was desolating the fields and homes of the besieged settlers; but directly oppoxite, so that it was thrown by con- trast into denser shadow, was a neatly-con- structed sally-portia the wall of the stockade. It was designed to meet that last, desperate contingency, when a garrison is forced by star- vation, or for other cause, to abandon its de- fenses in the depths of the night and trust to escape through the enemy’s lines and flight across the open country. That it might be avail- able for this purpose, it must be kept secret; and so secretly had it been constructed, and so per- fect was its adjustment to the other parts of the wall, that less than a dozen men inthe glen knew of its existence, These were the commandant and a few of the most reliable men of the settle- ment. Through this sally-port Old Buncomb and Lit- tle Tornado made their exit so quietly that few in the stockade knew when they went. Old Buncomb went first. It was full fifteen minutes later that Little Tornado followed him, He knew every inch of the ground, so that he had no difficnity in making his way down the slope of the slight eminence on which the palisade steod, \ee
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into a densely-wooded glen which wound through thg hills to the plain beycnd. He neither saw nor beard anything of Old Buncomb; but he soon found that the Indians were moving about so promiscuously that he judged it safer to proceed boldly, trusting to the perfectness of his disguise, than to be caught skulking. But he had hardly proceeded twenty rods, when what he bad observed among the others failed in his case, They had passed and repassed without speaking te one another; but as he was hurrying by a group upon which he came, one of them called to bim, saying something in Apache, which was as unintelligible to him as if he bad been ad- dressed in Hebrew. Now cama the test of his metal! Fle walked straight up to them; and there were not less than a dozen or fifteen in the party! CHAPTER IX. IN TH ENEMY’S CAMP, Oxup BunKeEn’s first need was an Indian outfit and, making the same discovery that Little Tor- nado did a few minutes later, he soon saw that be could not proceed far undetected without one, But the very fact that the savages were so many and so disconnected gave him his oppor- tunity. He could drop one, and the rest would never miss him—unless they chanced upon bis dead body, ‘Then there would be a counting of noses! As they moved about without caution, sup- posing that they had nothing to fear, he had no difficulty in yr roheos when any one was in his vicinity. He therefore easily selected his vic- tim. The doomed wretch, with his arms full of brush, passed by a trea behind which he had taken his position, He stepped out behind him, There was a quick blow. The fagot-carrier fell to the ground, as if he had tripped over a root, Another body went down with his. A moment later he was borne into the hollow trunk of the tree which had secreted bis slayer. Two or three minutes passed. An Indian to all appedrances, so like the fagot-carrier that he could not have been distinguished unless he ex- posed his face toa broad glare of light, issued from the tree, picked up the brush, and passed on in the direction the other bad been going. As he neared the point to which others were bearing like burdens, he was soon surrounded on all sides by them. He was addressed, and made answer in the Apache dialect, bis gut- tural tones differing in nothing from those of his interlocutors, Then he roamed at will, soon discovering where Madeline was seated under guard, with Wild Zeph near her. Zeph’s hands were still bound; but Madeline was free from any restraint save her guards, Old Buncomb knew that he could do nothing for her with so many about. her. Two, or even three, he might have managed in a desperate strait; but with extraordinary caution, Colorado Steve had placed half a dozen on duty. It was not that he feared for Madeline so much, but that he knew that Wild Zeph was equal to al- most anything. But Old Buncomb had seen the woman whose __ Colorado Steve’s Dash. safety was the only boon he asked of Heaven, She sat watching in dry-eyed misery the fiends work that was going on about her; but ber quiet manner told bim that no serious injury bad come to ber yet. She was safe—she was well; restore her to liberty and security, and twenty- four hours of rest would make her her old bright, beautiful self again! With this music singing in his heart he went to prepare the way for her rescue. e first found that ber horse, still saddled, was tied near those ridden by Colorado Steve and Senor Ramirez. Having seen them before, he easily recognized them among the mustangs used by the Apaches. The presence of Made- line’s horse here indicated that Steve meant to mount her upon it when“ he took his departure from the desolated glen, ‘*But she must havea better mount than a horse that has stood what he has gone through to-day,” said Old Buncomb to himself. ** When the time comes, we must be able to show them a clean pair of heels. Lucky for me that they did not think it worth while to put these ani- mals under guard, or I should have been puzzled to make the exchauge.” His next care was Little Tornado, He had assigned the time of his making his venture, so as to give himself opportunity to procure and et into his Indian rig, in order that he might a the boy assistance if he got into trouble, Going round opposite the sallyport, he waited for him to make his appearance, He did not join him, since it was his purpose to leave kim to his own devices as much as possible, “The boy is a born scout!” be exclaimed, when he saw him throw off his caution for the bolder demeanor which was really safer. ‘' He bas the readiness of resource in emergency— the quickness to grasp a situation, and the bold- ness to act vigorously.” He was charmed to see the firmness with which Little Tornado walked oP to the group of savages, one of whom had called to him, But as the boy did not understand the Indian dialect, he was afraid to leave him unassisted to the chances of the ticklish position in which he found himself, Little Tornado saw that they had felled a large tree and were about to liftit. He guessed that they had summoned him to help: and if that was so, probably no particular reply would be required, provided he borea hand. He there- fore resolved to make such shifts as he could with sullen grunts, If he was spoken to more parti- cularly, aud awakened their suspicions, he would have torun for it, trusting to bis lightness of heel and the friendly darkness, If, on the other hand, he could scrape through without betray- ing the fact that there was any one from the stockade outside, he was willing to take great risks; for to disclose this fact would put the say- ages on their guard, and therefore make his friend’s task not only more difficult, but also more hazardous, But at the critical moment a shadowy figure appeared beside him, His hand was grasped and pressed thrice_in quick succession, as if to convey a signal. He heard two words that had a very pleasant sound just then, They were; “ Allright!”
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_ments as I am,” said Little Tornado. Then the speaker kept directly on in Apache; and he knew that it was Old Buncomb. By the clever device of answering as if be thought it was he that had been addresssed, Old Buncomb covered Little Tornado’s silence. Then side by side they lifted on the tree-trunk which was to be used as a battering-ram. Having carried it to its destination, they were again fr e and went off together. “That was a tight squeak!” laughed Little Tornado. “ Hush!? cautioned Old Buncomb. talk about that some other time.” Then, as they went, he occasionally made some observation in Apache, and answered him- self in a different pitch of voice, so that if they passed any one near enough to be overheard, it sounded as if they were conversing in the In- dian dialect, Getting clear of the savages, they made their way to the horses which were tethered to grazo on the plains beyond the hills to the eastward. It was fortunate for their present needs that the glen had been alarmed just before boys had been sent to fetch the animals in, ‘« This is the fellow that is to take me twenty miles in sixty minutes!” said Little Tornado, selecting one of the animals. “No,” said Old Buncomb. _‘‘ Your sister is to ride that horse to-night. He may be called upon to take her five miles inside of ten minutes before daylight.” “You are about as modest in your re aa ut hope that he may make it if called upon,” “You will take Fitler’s mare and the roan that Danforth was hoping to pit against her this fal),” said Old Buncomb, “By riding them alternately, and using the one that is run- ning free to stimulate the one that is carrying you, you can get their best speed out of them,” ‘Tell me one thing,” said Little Tornado, as be leaped upon the back of one of the animals, and took the other by the leading-line, ‘* have you seen Madeline?” oe Yes.” ¢ And she is—” “Well.” “Thank God for that! Good night, old fel- low!” He rode straight out from the hill tothe east- ward at a walk, but when he bad got beyond earshot he turned northward; and then any one who bad seen the pace he urged those horses to by keeping the led ono half a neck in advance of the one that carried his weight, would have thought that @ famous handicap. Meanwhile Old Buncomb drew the tethering- in of another horse, and led that and the one Se had selected for Madeline round to where he was to make the exchange, Having effected this without detection, he joined Madeline’s guards, throwing himself down near her, as if weary. Now he was ready to take advantage of the slightest negligence on the part of her enemies, His greatest hope lay in the excitement which would attend the attack on the stockade. He knew that to those wild natures it would be a difficult thing to resist the temptation to aban- ‘* We can don their post and join in the mad excitement Colorado Steve's Dash. \ a 23 of carnage. Thenif his opportunity came, he would overpower such of her guard as were left, burry her to the horse he had provided for her, hamstring those the speed of which be had reason to fear, and make a bee-line for the mili- tary post. As yet, he feared to make himself known to her, lest in some exigency which might arise she should betray him by an appeal to him in supposed extremity, Unknown to her, he could use his own judgment. Exerything was finally in readiness for tho attack; but the besiegers had to wait until fires they had kindled should burn out, so that they no longer iluminated the space about the stockade. Senor Ramirez bad exhausted his ingenuity in inventing engines of war which should make the storming of the stockade not only irresist- ible, but an event of peculiar horrer in the lurid record of border warfare. He had given directions that all of the bed- ding and cloth of every description found in the houses should be removed before they were set on fire, and all lard and grease of any kind, These materials he made into fire-balls—each having a stone in the center to give it weight— which he distributed among a score of stations fixed at intervals around the palisades. At each of these stations he constructed a catapult, or giant sling, by stripping two saplings standing close together, and tying to their tops ropes of equal length, the other ends of which were fas- tened to a board with a hole in the center, so that the whole looked very like an ordinary swing, save that the board was as high as a man could reach from the ground, : If, now, this board were pulled down and back at such an angle as it was desired to give the projectile, and the object to be thrown—a stone, fire-ball, or what not—were placed upon this board, the hole in which would keep it from sliding off, and, finally, the boards were released, then the trees, in springing back to place, would throw the missile into the air, with aforce porportioned to their stiffness and the distance they were bent from the perpendicular. Any boy who has used a rubbersling tied toa forked stick will understand this contrivance. A little practice will enable the operator of such a machine to throw missiles short distances with considerable accuracy of aim and range, and a score of such slings properly manned would give a small garrison ample work ex- tingvisbing the fire they threw in upon them. In view of his revenge, Senor Ramirez had educated his gunners—if they can be so called— in advance, But this was to be the last resort. He sus- pected that the money and valuables of small compass of the settlers were kept in the stock- ade, and he determined to take it by assault if possible, so that be might reap profit as well as satisfaction from the enterprise. To this end he had prepared the battering- ram and scaling-ladders; and that they might be used without exposing his men to a wither- ing fire, he was forced to wait for darkness. During this interval Colorado Steve came and sat down beside Madeline, Staring at her witha dull glow of admiration in his eyes,
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RA ae, ae LEE ETO tL sachis TRALEE TERT IF \ 2S eee tte a ha AE pan aa a0 Ser yids RSET PR war TET ATT GRR Ty ROE PRN i | AT PERS PTZ MRO AE Lee at) ie | 24 Wild Zeph sat mute and unnoticed, watching them with the same suppressed ferocity that had characterized her ever since she had been bound, Unable to endure longer the suspense of not knowing her captor’s purpose with her, Made- line once more besought him to restore her to her friends, ** Waal, ma’am,” he said, slowly, ‘‘ ive beea a-thinkin’ o’ this hyar thing over; an’ it amounts to about the same thing any way ye kin look ab it. Yesee, my motter has al’ays been: When- ever ye git a good thing, keep it! Waal, now, I've al’ays wanted a critter of about your p'ints, as nigh as I kin make it out; an’ now as I’ve got what fills the bill so well, o’ course it’ll stan’ me in hand to hang on to it,” “ But what do you mean?” cried Madeline, in dismay. ‘Iam nothing to you!” ‘OM—m, waal, that jest depends,” said Colo- rado Steve, deliberately. ‘t Ye see, it’s the senor’s idee. He has a hankerin’ arter that thar tow- head, ye onderstand, the which you shunted him off the track harnsome when he sot himself to honeyfuglin’ of her. That thar’s the senor’s way, which the same it ain’t mine, and don’t ye fur- gitit! When I want a woman critter fur to come down, Mr. Crockett, 1 talks business to her; none o’ yer cussin’ an’ sw’arin’, nur cloutin’ nur taking yer boot to her, ye onderstand, but I to ’em, ye don’t kuow what a clever fellow I be. The woman as ties to Colorado Steve don’t have to dog her life out, like a squaw as is hitched to one of these only business, Now, says hyar lazy Injun bucks. She’s a lady, she is, what don’t have to do nothin’ at all from morn- in’ till night, but jest grow harnsomer an’ barn- somer, She has all the caliker gownds she wants, an’ jew’lry jest like they do in the States. Oh, thar ain’t nothin’ low-down about me, ye onderstand, when it comes to women critters!” With a horrible sense of loathing Madeline realized that this rude fellow was paying court to her! He was going to have her whether or no; but he was willing to reconcile her to her lor, “ But this is infamous!” she cried, springing to her feet. ‘Do you think that I would sub- mit tosuch an outrage? Idespise you! I would rather kill myself than be the degraded slave of such a wretch as you!” Colorado Steve looked at her with a broaden- ing smile of admiration. He liked her best in these moments of tragic beauty. * Waal!” he replied, ‘* it don’t make so much difference to me how ye feel, so loag as ye keep yer claws out o’ my wool, I reckon we'll git along about as most folks do. Thar’s a good deal o clapperclawin’ in this hyar world; but I suppose _ it’s fur to keep people from goin’ to sleep. Thar’s nothin’ like music in the house fur to make the time pass!” Shaken in every nerve, Madeline turned to fly from this cool monster; but the savages stood round ber asstolid as dumb brates. In an agony of despair she sunk down and covered her face with her hands, Standing within ten feet of her, Old Bun- comb’s feelings were indescribable; but no out- ward sign of emotion distinguished him from tho savages about him, Colorado Steve’s Dash. Senor Ramirez now made his appearance, to announce that the time had come for storming the stockade, CHAPTER X. STORMING THE STOCKADE, In the stockade every moment had been occu- pied making preparations for a desperate de- fense. But the time had passed in terrible sus- pense. Jt was near midnight; Old Buncomb and Little Tornado bad been gone considerably over two hours, and not a sound had been heard from them since they had passed through the sally-port. Scattered about the glen, which was now a fire-blackened desert, only heaps of dull red embers showed where the houses of the settlers had stood, ‘*Now be in readiness for a sudden attack,” said the commandant, passing around the in- closure to see that every man was in his place and on the alert. He had hardly regained his own place near the gate, when there was a rush, and the solid oaken barrier quivered under a shock like a thunderbolt, “Fire!” cried the commandant, and a long line of flame appeared across the face of the palisade, Then the scene that followed was indescribable, From the covert on every side rushed dark forms, Ladders were put against the wall, up each of which poured streams from the tossing sea of humanity below, Bué up from behind the parapet rose other dark forms in furious opposition. Firearms flashed their death signals, Dull, sodden blows were exchanged. Ladders were pushed away, to fall with their living freight backward, ; Yells, curses, groans, resounded on every side; and with rhythmic regularity came the thunder- crash of the battering-ram. Inside of the stockade the children were shut in the commandant’s house, under the care of the more timid women. The bolder settlers’ wives and daughters stood near their husbands and fathers, loading their rifles for them, and in some cases using them with good effect them- selves. Others cared for the wounded and did such running back and forth as was needed, It was an hour when even the boys became heroes. But in spite of all, the savages gained a foot- ing in one place, beating back the defenders, and swarming over the wall. The commandant had made provision so that such a contingency might not strike panic into his ranks, and by drawing all to one point to repel the invaders, denude the rest of the wall, leaving it exposed toa second successful esca- lade. He bad divided them into parties, each of which was evenly distributed akout the pal- isade; each man knew the party to which he was assigned, and upon call they were to rally to any point required. When they had served the purpose for which they had thus een called together, they could be remanded to vheir places by a word of command, He now cried: pA. = Oe i ae —
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Colorado Steve’s Dash. SHAS See RET Ee “First rally! Totheeast wall! Rally! rally! First rally to the east wall!” From every point men came rushing across the inclosure; but the proportionate dispersion was not changed, only weakened by one-fourth, while at the point where they massed the in- vaders found themselves charged with desperate energy. But as the constant stream poured over the wall at their backs, they were reinforced as fast as they were beaten down, until the comman- dant cried once more: “ Second rally!” Then a second detachment came to the sup- port of the first, leaving the wall in general with balf its original defenders. These were desperately pressed in many places, but they fought on as men will fight who know that de- feat means death to themselves and life worse than death to their loved ones. “Charge them! Down with the red devils!” shouted the commandant. And clubbing his rifle—for he could not wait for reloading—he fell upon his foes like a mad- man. His men followed his example; and presently those they had left to struggle on without know- ing what was happening at their backs had their fainting hopes revived by hearing rousing Yan- kee cheers, They knew that that meant vic- tory; and they responded lustily and threw new energy into their own efforts, The entrance over the wall which they had made cost the savages dear. Their dead and wounded lay in great beaps at this point within the palisade, over which the victors climbed as they regained the wall and hurled back the peers which had so nearly proved fatal to them. ‘ : The assault was a failure. The gate stood firm, and the escalade was beaten back at every point. The Apache chief called his forces off in sullen rage. “Well, we have tried the white man’s way,” he said, ‘*and m ned ge are food for coyotes.” He addressed Colorado Steve, speaking in his own tongue; but he glowered at Senor Ramirez, whom he considered the cause of this fiasco, Colorado Steve took the matter quite coolly, though his Spanish partner turned a sickly yel- low with fear when Steve translated to him. “*What does he say?’ he had asked, judging from the savage’s manner that it was nothing particularly oe Seery to him. And Colorado Steve had answered: “He says that you are an infernal fool fur insistin’ on doin’ a ak the hardest way, an’ tharby makin’ crow-bait out o’ his braves. If you hadn't been sich a hog, you wouldn't ’a’ tried it—you know that.” This was a very liberal translation, it must be confessed; put perhaps if was not far from the spirit of the Apache’s words. — Well,” said Senor Ramirez angrily, “if vo going to burn them out you might as well gin at once.” “Now ye’re shoutin’!” was Colorado Steve's well-satistied response, as he gave the signal for the second attempt. - During the conflict just described, Old Bun- comb’s breast was a battle-ground of conflicting emotions which ebbed and flowed with the changing vicissitudes of the struggle of which he was an inactive witness, He longed to be putting in his blow, foremost among his friends so hard beset, A single arm might turn the for- tunes of war, Again and again be reproached himself for his abandonment of them. But then he saw the bowed figure befure him. Madeline sat with ber face buried in her lap, her eyes and ears stopped to shut out the horri- ble sights and sounds that assailed her shrinking senses. She shuddered and moaned and prayed. And Old Buncomb waited for a favorable oppor- tunity to catch her up in his arms, and rush off to the horses with her, It did not come. Her savage guards, though greatly excited, stood fast by their post. And now a beautiful blue star shot up into the air at an angle of forty-five degrees, described a graceful curve, and fell into the stockade. It was followed by another and another, and then by a flight of them from every direction. The spectacular effect was very like a bombardment with Roman candles, But within the palisade they had reason to know that it was not such harmless amusement. Tt was as if it rained flre from Heaven. Every- where the fire-balls aligkted, burning furiously, and oozing pine resin which blazed up as it ran, here was a spring of living water within the stockade, and an ample supply of fire-buckets; but the men, and even the women, were kept so busy putting out the fire which ever blazed in a fresh spot, that they could have spared few to defend the wall against such an assault as that which they had just defeated. But this was not now the purpose of the savages. They were burning for revenge from the severe punishment they had _ received. Nothing but a fire would satisfy them. They would not abate one pang of their distracted enemies. Old Buneomb could not look upon this un- moved. He saw the houses within the palisade blaze up again and again. He saw the men who sought to beat out the flames and drench them with water, threw up their kands and fall back- ward, as their bodies were pierced by the bul- lets of some Indian sharpsbooters perched in a tree. He saw Indians rush forward «nd pile brush against the windward side of the palisade, preparatory to setting fire to it, and sweeping the whole in one red conflagration. He saw others waiting, rifle in hand, to receive the settlers, when the moment came for them to make that mad dash for the sheltering trees and darkness, after their defenses became no longer tenable. He saw all this, and he idle! He rose and paced restlessly back and forth. He might have joined the besieging party, and under coyer of the excitement, slain both of the white renegades; but what was their death com- pared with the possible loss of a chance to secure Madeline’s escape? Furthermore, the stockade was doomed, so that their death would not arrest its downfall, In that prison-house of fire all was the wild- est confusion. Despair was fast making its own the men who fougbt on in one slender hope. ** Remember,” cried the commandant, who was rushing about in all parts of the inclosure, en-
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26 Colorado Steve’s Dash. couraging and directing, ‘tif Little Tornado had been captured, we should have had some sign of it. If he has made his way to the post, he may be here at any moment with help. We must not yield until the walls fairly crumble about our heads,” But at this moment the brush piled against the palisade sent up tougues of flame which the rising wind beat down upon the roofs of the houses within, Then the fire fiends took full possession, It was useless longer to contend with them. The acrid smoke, the stifling beat, the crackle and roar of the conflagration, and beyond and above all the yells of the savage foe, struck terror to every heart. The women and children, driven out of the shelter that had thus far kept their manifesta- tions of terror from their defenders, now clung screaming about their male relatives, driving them frantic with a sonse of their utter inability to cope with the situation, Then the men who had thus far subordinated their individual wills to that of their appointed leader, rebelled. ‘* Must we stay here to be roasted alive?” they cried passionately, ‘‘ What death can the red devils inflict worse than what we must endure here?” A shriek of terror went up from a group of women and children, and they scattered franti- cally in every direction, A fire-ball bad fallen among them; one was struck, and her clothes were instantly in a blaze. In an agony of fear and pain she rushed about so wildly that she was caught with difficulty and the fire finally extinguished, but not until she had been severely burned. The shrieks and moans of this per creature added to the demoralization of the ittle garrison, “Let us go out!” they cried, escape, though the rest perish. same chance to be the lucky one, nothing by staying here,” Then, seeing that he could hold them no longer, the commandant yielded, “Men!” he cried, ‘‘remember that our only hope lies in discipline. If we preserve order, we may save something: if we break into con- fusion, we shall lose everything. Our women and children must be protected to the last ex- tremity. By forming two lines, with them in the middle, a few of us may manage to cut our way through to the open plains, You all know where the horses are tethered to the eastward of the hills, Make your way thitber, mount, and then try to reach the post to the north- ward.” The timid Ruth had now come out in a new character. She was the most self-possessed of the women who were not hardy enough to take active part in the defense. ‘My darling,” gaid her father, tenderly, ‘1 must lead my men, but I cannot let you away from my side. We goout first, You will be be- tween me and Jonas Dawson. Whatever hap- pens, keep close to us, so that we can protect you to the best of our ability,” “Do not fear for me, dear father,” she re- plied, tremulously, yet with heroic fortitude, ‘Let me kiss you before we go out, It may be for the last time,” | ei \ ‘‘A few may We ail have the We can guin He put his arm about her, and stroked her yellow hair. He was thinking of her mother just then—the wife of his young manhood, who lay within sound of the peaceful village church- bells, in far New England. “ Are you all ready?” he asked, when the line was formed and waiting. ‘* Ready !” came the response, es ‘“Then open the sally-port, And may God shelter us with his hand!” The sally-port was thrown open. The com- mandant and Jonas Dawson were the first out, closely followed by Ruth. Urged to expedition by the flames, others poured forth, Then there was a burst of blood-curdling yells, and a terrific combat, How it happened Ruth never clearly knew, The Indians fairly swarmed about them, She saw her father knocked senseless; then she wag grasped by the wrist and hurried toward the gulch down which they had arranged to go, At first her only consciousness was that she was not in the hands of a savage; but a tongue of flame leaping up showed her the not less dis- tasteful person of Senor Ramirez, The Indians were rushing thither from every quarter, The fall of their leader and the num- bers of their foes daunted the settlers; aud drag- - ging the commandant with them, they hurried back into the stockade, It was a move of unreasoning fear—the re- treat from immediate death to a more terrible one than even the tomahawk and scalping-knite of the savages. They stood amid the whirling smoke and flames of their crumbling defenses, ape no oue could say what was to be done next, And yet this was the salvation of many of their lives, Five minutes in a hand-to-hand struggle with their enemies would have seen them annihilated. They had not waited five minutes in that despair which made strong men sit down and bow their heads into their hands and weep, when a wild shout swept the glen, causing all to leap to their feet with a thrill of delirious hope, veined with agonizing doubt. Could it be help from the post at last? “ Hush! hush!” cried Junas Dawson, the black smith and wheelwright, who, after deeds of valor that would have shamed the heroes of an- cient fable, bad at last succumbed to what seemed an inevitable fate; and he extended his hands over the people to quiet their wailings of despair. Then women stilled their children, and pushed back their tear-damped hair to listen with batod breath. “ Yes! yes! it was come at last! Far above the roar of the conflagration rose the rattle of firearms and the yells of combatauts in fierce encounter, It could be none other than the sol- diers whom Little Tornado had brought after a ride without parallel, ‘Out of this raging hell!” cried the black- smith, dashing open the sally-port. ‘* We may yet be in time to git a crack at them imps o’ Sa- tan! No quarter to the red devils; but take them black-hearted varlets o’ renegades alive, if possible, Nothin’ short o’ hangin’ will do fur them!” Once more they streamed through the sally- ar ney
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_ every drop of water in that bath, my dear!” Colorado Steve's Dash. : ! . 705. + . port; but this time there was no one to receive | ing her own face and striking his with her open them. The Indians were in full retreat, hotly pressed by the soldiery. Under the lead of Jonas Dawson, the settlers ran at the top of their speed to the horses teth- ered on the plains, that they might join in the chase, They were late, but they were terrible in their implacable rage. Many kept on, slaying ail that they overtook, long after the soldiers drew off from the chase. They were exacting revenge for their desolated fields. — But disappointment awaited them in one re- spect. They saw nothing of the renegades nor of their captives, Of course Little Tornado knew nothing as yet of the calamity that had befallen his sweet- heart; but as soon as he had satisfied himself that Madeline was not among the flying sav- } ages, he abandoned the pursuit, turning back to ascertain whether Old Buncomb had effected her rescue. Dashing up to the group of women and cbil- dren who, just beyond the range of beat, were sadly watching the structure which, having sheltered them so well, was now a crumbling ruin, he leaped to the ground, crying: “Where is Madeline?” But before they could answer him, the fact that anotber was not the first to receive him struck a chill to his heart, and he added; — | “Ruth! Where is Ruth?? When be knew the worst—and it was told him by his mother, who clung about bim mingling her thanksgivings to God for his merciful spar- ing of her brave boy with her distress over the uncertainty which yet hung about the fate of her daughter—he staggered under the blow, “ Gone! gone!” be cried, ‘and I alone to fol- low them! Not a word—not a sign from Old Buncomb!” Then, heart-sick, he put his weeping mother away, and directing the women to gather torches, he set out in search of a fresh horse, and to get some of the soldiers to return and enter upon a systematic search for the trail of the abductors, Tt was really a hopeless task to be undertaken before the morning light; but he could not en- dure to remain in idleness, knowing that every moment was bearing his loved ones further and further away CHAPTER XI WILD ZEPH’S PROPOSAL, Senor RAMIREZ was triumphant. Fortune had played into bis hands better than he could have asked, “ Now, my pretty one!” he etied, thrusting his face close into that of terrified little Ruth, and grinning with ferocious exultation, as he dragged her along, ‘now we will see who is master! You would have me—me! Senor Ramirez!”—and he swelled like a turkey-cock with importance—“ ducked in a horse-trough, would you? Well, you shall give me a kiss for And again he grinned in her face, that gri- mace of the round eyes and glittering teeth, so _ that she thought that be was about to put his threat into instant execution. : . “Neyer, you wretch!” she exclaimed, avert- palm. Ramirez laughed like a jackal. “Caramba!l not now!” he cried, ‘ This no time or place for love-making—more’s the pity! for I am impatient to begin, I promise you! But before morning we shall be in a cozy re- treat, with the birds caroling our hymeneal Lymn,” Shuddering at his fiendish humor, poor Ruth was hurried through groups of savages, who leered at her with covetous greed. Everything she saw caused a chill of horror to thrill through her, until she was dragged into the group where Madeline was held a prisoner. At sight of her friend’s suffering, every gen- erous impulse in Madeline’s bosom was stirred, She, leaped to her feet with eyes that blazed while they were suffused with tears at the thought that this sensitive nature was to be ex- posed to the ordeal that had nearly broken her prouder spirit. “You infamous villain!” she cried, snatching her friend from Ramirez. But then grief ovércame her, as Ruth sunk sobbing upon her breast; and she murmured, brokenly: , ‘Oh, you poordear! To think that you might not be kept out of that monster’s clutches!” But the generous heart of the commandant’s pretty child would not be confined to her own misery. On, Maddie! Maddie!” she sobbed, clinging to her friend. ‘‘Iam so delighted to have you in my arms once more! We all imagined every- thing terrible as having happened to you! And here you are, alive and well, at least! How can I be sufficiently thankful? Even for myself, Iam not near!y so frightened as I was. ‘* But” —and she lowered her voice toa whisper, with ber lips close to her friend’s ear—t‘ haven’t you seen Mr, Bunker?” ‘Mr, Bunker?” whispered Madeline in return, starting and beginning to tremble in every nerve. ‘‘No! no! Where is he?” “ He left the stockade hours ago—just after dark, and Sidney with him.” “Mr. Bunker and Sidney left the stockade? But how, and for what?” “Sidney went for help to the post; but Mr. Bunker came out to save you. Oh, Maddie, you darling! he loves you!—you will never know how much! He nearly went crazy when he found that you had sot reached the stockade.” “Husb! hush!” cried Madeline, putting her hand over her friend’s mouth, and even trying to thrust ber out of ber arms, Every vestige of blood had fled her cheeks arfd lips. Her eyes flushed; she panted and trembled and seemed to sbhrivk as if afraid. Ramirez had gone in quest of Colorado Steve. Now that he had the one thing for which he had invested the glen, aside from his natural lust for revenge, he was anxious to put her ina place of security. Not fearing that the savages would under- stand her, Ruth had allowed her voice to swell into a murmur as she told of Old Buncomb’s love, And that fortunate gentleman stood so near
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a ae Sree ent et =a SA STRAIN +> CII Ser Colorado Steve’s Dash. that he caught enough to understand the cause of Miss Fortescue’s emotion! Ruth clung to her and persisted: . “Oh, you must leti me tell you! He was so frantic that he came near sacrificing himself and all the rest of us, But he was grand—you should have seen and heard him!—when he seized your mother’s wrist and cried:—‘/ will fetch your daughter back to you!’ Then he threw open the gate and rushed out into the very teeth of the Indians! And, ob, Maddie! but for Sidney, he would haye been captured and no doubt tortured by that villainous Col- orado Steve. Sidney saved him and all of us!” By this time Madeline was hugging and kiss- ing her friend with sobs of delight that for the time banished all sense of her present situa- ion. And Old Buncomb*was—‘ taking if all in!” Meanwhile Senor Ramirez had found bis part- ner, Took you, Senor Estevan!” he said. ‘* We have the beautiful senoritas, Is it not so?” “Waal, I sw’ar!” cried the literal Steve. “To you have to ask me; when you have jest seen ’em with your own eyes?” “Good!” replied Ramirez, ‘You saw me capture the commandant’s sunny-haired daugh- ter?” ‘*The towhead? Yaas!” assented the ancom- promising admirer of black-eyed ‘* Wenuses.” “Did you notice anything strange af that ren- counter?” *Come! come! I ain’t a-guessin’ o’ conun- drums so much as I used to was! What in Cain air ye tryin’ to git through ye, anyhow?” “Did not ye notice thet neither this Senor Bunkero nor the rattle-head of a boy wasamong those who came through the sally-port?” “ Waal, I suppose they was inside, along of a lot more. There didn’t hut a handful git out, But what o’ that?” ‘Ah! but would not they have been of that handful, if they bad been in there to come out?” Colorado Steve uttered an oath, as he always did when his more subtle partner arrested his attention hy reasoning out something which had escaped his slower brain, “ Moreover,” pursued Ramirez, ‘‘ the boy is in love with the commandant’s daughter, Curse him! 1 will yet drink his heart’s blood!” “Stow your Greaser nonsense!” cried Steve, impatiently, ‘‘and give us what you:make of all 0 thisi” , ‘Well, if the boy had been in the stockade when the fair Ruth was dragged away, he would not bave been coatent to remain shut up in that burning trap without making an attempt \to rescue her. Therefore he was not within.” ‘But whar in thunder was he then?” ** Suppose he and the Senor Bunkero came out through the sally-port while yet it was dark, and ‘rode to the post to the northward?” Once more Colorado Steve swore, “Look you!” said his partner. ‘‘ The stockade will not hold a living man more than ten or fif- teen minutes longer. They will bo forced: to make another sortie, But theIndians are here to receive them, and not a man will escape, Why, then, should we wait? The soldiers may be here at any moment, and then it will be too late for us to hope to get the ladiesaway. One scream will betray us.” “Curse *em! we kin slit their gullets ef they go to squeakin’!” “True, But if you like yours so, you will pardon me if I prefer mine with the blood in her veins!” ‘* Waal, [ suppose it won’t do no harm to be ready to git, if we're druy to it.” And Colorado Steve, who was ready enough of action when he had determined upon it, dashed off in the direction of the prisoners, 't was lucky for him that he did so without further delay; for he bad scarcely reached them hia he heard the thud of the soldiers’ horses’ hoofs. Then came their fierce yells as they charged the savages. ‘“‘Hyar! Fetch them hosses! Lively !+-lively !” cried Colorado Steve. And for a moment all was wild confusion and hurry. Now was the time to try Old Buncomb’s nerve! Here was help just at hand, If he lost this ee when would another present it- self A man of less thorough self-command might have cried out tv the girls to run, and then have drawn his revolvers and fought the Outcasts and their savage allies single-handed, to cover their retreat. But what would have been the probable re-— sult? They were women untrained to meet a sud- den emergency with that iron presence of mind which nothing can distract, They were un- warned of his presence, During their captivity neither had given a thought to planning to es- cape or seizing upon\any opportunity which might offer. The most important point—that Old Buncomb was disguised as an Indian—Ruth had forgotten to mention, in her interest in the romantic side of the affair; so Madeline, who was most self-possessed, would not be prepared to bave one bearing the semblance of a savage spesk to her of escape. Hven when they com- prehended, to have the hope of liberation thrust. upon them so abruptly would throw them into confusion; and they would be as apt to run in the wrong direction as in the right, Their natural instinct would be to keep together; and in the effort at mutual protection invaluable time would be lost. Then there was another and more terrible consideration, Seeing them likely to escape, the savages might stop their flight with a whiz- zing tomahawk or a keen-pointed knife, No; he could not take this fearful risk. ‘He must wait. When they were mounted and in rapid motion on the open plain and in the dark- ness, then they would be more evenly matched against their captors, if an opportunity offered to fly, Then the fleet powers of the animal which bis foresight had secured for Madeline would tell. It was natural that his first thought should be for Madeline; but be had the gener- osity to manage so that Ruth was mounted on the horse that he had selected for himself. All the chances of the situation flashed through his mind like lightning; and he was the most — prompt and the most active of those who second-
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ed Colorado Steve's efforts. So much so, in- deed, that Steve noticed him, and speaking in Apache, said: “You actas if you had some snap to you. Ride close behind me with this spit-fire,”—in- __ dicating Wild Zeph—“ and if she tries to come ed's. any of her fancy dodges, put your knife into her! - q “Good!” grunted Old Buncomb in true In- = dian fasbion, ifowe Bs And lifting the half-breed in his arms, he put her on the borse assigned to her. In order that she might retain her seat, it was necessary to unbind her hands. While he was busy with her, sh6é bent quickly so as to bring ber lips close to bis ear, and electrified him by whisper- ing: ft &T know you! Lrecognized your voice, You see I have not betrayed you. Why? I want my revenge, and you can help me to it, while serving yourself, Give me a knife—you have twoof them. Iwill help you to escape with the woman you have comes to save. Why, when LThate one of them so? Because I hunger and thirst for my revenge more than J long to see her suffer! Give me a knife, I say!” Old Buncomb was astonished by her keenness of observation, It was true that he had two knives—his own and the one he had taken from the savages to whom he owed his disguise. “Wait!” he said. “If you are really faitk- ful to me, I will know when your opportunity comes.” She seemed content with that, perhaps be- cause she felt confidence in his judgment. Then they rode out through the bills to the open plain, to the westward, while the soldiers were chasing the savages through the blacken- ed glen toward the southern pass, into which Little Tornado bad dashed to warn them of the peril that followed at his heels. a CHAPTER XII, ood THE HALF-BREED’S REVENGE. a 7 } SENOR RaMiREz rode in advance, on Ruth’s | right; Colorado Steve rode next, but on the left hand of his lady. So much was accidental, But Old Buncormb took his position deliberately, determined by | the position of those in advance. himself on Wild Zeph’s right, This brought him on the same side with Senor He placed _ Wild Zeph was directly behind Colorado " Steve. The Indians, now increased in number toa dozen or fifteen by those whom Steve had brought with him, surrounded them like a body- vard, 4 In this order they dashed out upon the plain, the position of the six remaining relatively the same, though the savages shifted somewhat. Now they were a little further forward, now a little further back. _ i Old Buncomb waited for a time when noone of them should be bebind him, so that his act would be detected, Then he thrust a knife into Wild Zeph’s hand. : oe The haJf-breed clutched it with the avidity of a drowning wretch fastening his deatb-grip on a rope, Then she spurred her horse forward Colorado Steve’s Dash. Ramirez, with Madeline between them; while | with its point; and the next instant buried in to the hilt in Colorado Steve’s back! “Die, you accursed traitor!” she shrieked, so as to draw all eyes upon her, and leave not a doubt as to what had been done and who had done it. Her aim had been deadly. She had planted the weapon just below the shoulder-blade, to the left of the spine. Its point must have reached Colorado Steve’s evil heart. He threw up his hands, and fell backward be- tween his horse and that ridden by Madeline. But while his fast-glazing eyes were upon her, Wild Zeph spat in his face, so fierce was her bitter resentment of the insults he had heaped upon her by courting ber rivalin her presence. Then, while he was falling away from her, she struck it with her open palm, But she was not yet done, and it was lucky that Old Buncomb had not trusted fully to her good faith. He had his eye upon her, on the lookout for some act of treachery. It was notin Indian na‘ure to forego her resentment toward Madeline. What he feared—what he had to take the risk of for the suke of an advantage which he hoped to gain by her assault upon Steve—fol- lowed instantly upon her successful disposal of the first object of her hatred. Unable to reach Madeline across Colorado Steve’s horse, Old Buncomb saw the mad crea- ture throw back her hand preparatory to burl- ing her knife at Madeline, with the deadly ac- curacy. which makes the bowie in skillful hands as fatal a weapon at a few paces’ distance as in close combat, But ho was ready for her; and as loth as he was to wound her, a woman, Madeline’s preser- vation demanded that he shoot at ber hand, even while he spurred his horse forward be- tween Madeline and Colorado Steve, riding di- rectly over the latter as he fell. The bullet sped straight to its mark, piercing the back of her hand, As the knife fell from her grasp behind her, she uttered a scream of | savage bate and pain. If she could have got at | Old Buncomb, she would have torn bim with her nails, But self-preservation is not the last thing that even a jealous Indian beauty thinks of; and, ac- cepting the defeat of that part of her revenge, | she reined ber horse to the left and plupged into the darkness. “After her, after her!” cried Old Buncomb, in the Apache tongue. ‘The Jezebel bas slain our white chief. Take her alive for torture!” [t was not wanton cruelty that prompted this suggestion; but if she was shot, there would ‘be nothing to take the savages away from the spot, while what he needed, in order to make sure of his escape with the girls, was the excitement of a chase, when there would be no one to.observe him too closely. t ‘ Senor ‘Ranirez unwittingly aided his plan; for enraged at the thought of losing the part- ner who was so useful to him—and all for the whim of a woman—he, too, urged the savages on. Forgetful of their precners, or thinking that Senor Ramirez could manage them alone, they | Gashed after Wild Zeph in a body,
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beth NOE pS ne it nie Le —- ae Rd er (Reinet. Riri? ea eEE as Sa ) a4 : 30 Colorado Steve’s Dash. The next instant Senor Ramirez was aston- ished to find himself seized by the throat and dragged over the withers of Old Buncomb’s horse, while that supposed Indian still called after the pursuers in their own tongue, urging them not to let the fugitive escape if they had to chase her into the Gult of Mexico, Ramirez would have cried out for help, but he found himself in the grip of a giant in strength. In spite of bis wildest struggles to at least slip off the horse’s back, he was held fast; while the grip on his throat seemed to grow tighter and tighter, until bis eyes protruded from their sockets, the veins in his face swelled almost to bursting, his ears rung and his brain reeled, Still that remorseless grip did not relax, until he huog limp and insensible across the lap of his captor. Meanwhile Old Buncomb had not held bis own tongue, because he found it advantageous to hold Senor Ramirez’s throat, “*Madeline!—Ruth!—it is I! Do you recog- nize me?—Old Buncomb! About face for the glen; and don’t spare horse-flesh!” A sharp cry, almost instantly suppressed, escaped Ruth; but Madeline, though she was thrilled to her heart’s center, only said, in a low tone: “Oh, Mr. Bunker!” The next instant she had wheeled into line with him, and had reached out and put her hand on his arm, while she leaned forward so as to bring her face near enough to see him in the darkness, Ruth was on the other side, with her face turned toward the savages. Old Buncomb leaned toward Madeline, so as to meet her half-way, which brougbt their faces within a foot of each other. “Ruth has told you,” he said, with A fine vibration in his voice. ‘Is it allright?” “ Yes!” she answered, her own Voice thrilling with a passion at that moment intensified by gratitude and the flood of emotion that came with the new sense of freedom and the know!l- edge that she owed it to him from whom it was a delight to take life and love and all! ‘‘Oh, Hugh!” He laughed a low, happy laugh; and then asked: “ May I?” The longing of her own heart told her what he meant; and she answered; “TF you can!” “Can!” he cried, with a great swelling of the heart, “‘I can do anything that leads me to you, my darling! my love! my joy!” And watching for a time when their horses were in step, he cried: “ Hold still—now! And their lips met in a kiss as swect as it was ort, “Well, I declare!” cried Ruth, Jooking round in time to catch them at this pretty folly. “If that isn’t what I call loye-making under diffi- culties,” sh THE END. ** Don’t be envious, Ruth,” laughed Old Bun comb. ‘‘ Who has been setting us the example all summer, I’d like to know?” 3 “Not I—if that’s what you mean to insinu- uate.” “Oh, oh!” cried Old Buncomb, in ‘a tone which implied that that was a ‘* whopper,” Then he laughed again, notwithstanding the fact that at this moment tbe savages discoy- ered that the prisoners were making for the glen at top speed, In the darkness they could not make out whether they were accoinpanied by Senor Ra- mirez or not, and thinking that perhaps one of the girls had succeeded as well with him as Wild Zeph had with his partner, and having a wholesome fear of the soldiers, they desisted from their pursvit of Wild Zeph, thereby allow- ing her to escape, and turned toward the moun- tains to seek safety for themslves. When Old Buncomb neared the glen he told the girls to ride abead, and to say nothing about his prisoner, Not knowing what this sig- nified, they obeyed him implicitly. They found the commandant recovered from the stunning blow he had received on the head, and bemoaning the loss of his daughter, while Little Tornado was just completing the prepa- rations for going in search of their trail. The soldiers had returned from the running fight, and the settlers were dropping in one by one. In spite of the general loss of life as well as property, the happy reunion of the families with which we bayve been most nearly interest- ed was shared by all; for Ruth and Madeline were the pride of the glen. And when it was found that the chaplain of the post bad accom- panied the Boys in Blue; and Old Bun- comb, baving removed the stains from his face, and proving to be a very comely man of not more than thirty, urged the need of Madeline and her mother to all the assistance they could get to re-establish their fallen fortunes—then no one denied the propriety of a quiet wedding, with Ruth and Little Tornado for bridemaid aud best man, Little Tornado looked very rueful and Ruth very sha tae tacg when it was suggested that they would have to wait until they were old enough to grace a happier occasion, s The soldiers took their departure, promising to bring assistance to the destitute settlers in the morning. ; Then Old Buncomb quietly drew the male portion of the settlers aside; and among the bills they went through a very different cere- mony, in which Senor Ramircz was the central figure. “As the captain of the post_ knew nothing about this officially, he had carefully complied with the mysterious request not to ask questions! —he was not responsible, if the most regular forms of law were disregarded, ‘ ; But there—as here—was an end to the Out- casts of the Glen!
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BEADLE’S POCKET LIBRARY. . Published Hvery Wednesday. Each Issue Complete and Soic at the Uniform Price of Five Cents. *2 Deadwood Dick, tho Prince of the Rona. By EL. Wheeler. | 88 Deadwood Dickin Leadville. By Edward L, Wheeler. "2 Kansis King; or, The Red Right Hand. By Buffalo Bill, 89 Bill Biddon, Trapper. By Edward S.Ellis. 8 The Flying § aukee. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, 90 Tippy, the Texan. By George Gleason. 4 The Double Daggers. By Edward L. Wheeler. 91 Mustang Sam, the King of the Plains. By Jos. E, Badger, Jz, 5 The Two Detectl ves. By Albert W. Aiken. 92 The Ocean Bloodhound, By Samuel W. Cearce. 6 The Prairie Pilot. ed Buffalo Bill. 98 Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. By s Morris. 2 The Bulfalo Demon. By Edward L, Wheeler. 94 Deadwood Dick as Detective. By E. L. Wheeler. 8 Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide. By Oli Coomes, 95 Buck Buckram. By Captuin J. F. C. Adams. » Ned Wylde, the Boy Scout. By “Texas Jack.” 96 Gilt-Edged Dick, By Edward L. 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BEADLE’S POCKET LIBRARY. Published Every Wednesday. Each Issue Complete and Sold at the Uniform Price of Five Cents, Frank Morton, the Boy Hercules. By Ol Coomes. Billy, the Baggage Boy. By Charles Morris. The Yankee Ranger. Edwin Emerson, 266 Guy’s Boy © hum. By Capt. Comstock, Dick Dingle, Scout. By S. Ellis. aoe Giant George’s Rev Liat he By Buckskin Sam. Dandy Rock’s Scheme. 3. W. Browne. 8 Denad-Shot Dandy. 1. Prentiss Ingraham. The Arab D tective. By Edward L, Wheeler. 269 The Quartzyille ook By Ban ard Willett. Will Wildfire’s Pluck. By Charles Morns. Denver Doll’s Mine. By E. L. Wheeler. The Boy Con er. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. y Jim’s Terror. By Ol] Coon The Maniac Hunter. i . Kit, the Girl Detective. By T. C. H gh. Dainty Lia 3 or, The Mystic . By J. E. Badgers | 2 Girl Rider; or, Niuble Ned’s Surprise, By Jos. E, The Boy Gold-lHunter. 8) Harbaugh, er, Jr. The Seapegrace Son. Charles Morris. d Shot Dandy’, 6 yraer tes By Col. P. Ingraham, 1 Dark-Skinned Scout. By Lieut. Col. Hazeltine. Fred, the Ocean Wail y les Morris. Jabez Dart, Detective. By OU Goomes. Deadwood Dick Tra y Edward L. Wheeler, Featherweight, Boy 5 By Edward Willett. The Idiot Boy Ay B Albert W. Aiken. si Sill, the Overland Prince. by Gol. Prentiss Ingraham, Arizona Alf, the Miner. By T, C, Harbaugh, Lance and Hix Pard., By J i Badger, Jr 9 Colorado Jack, the Tiger. By Frederick Dewey. e Trapped Tiger King. arles Morris. 280 Dead Shot Dandy’s Last Deal. By Col. P. Ingraham, The V entrilog uist Detective. Edward L, Wheeler. Ned, the Boy Pilot. By Jack Farragut. Old Rocky’s Boys. By M ie 282 Buck Hawk; Detective. By Edward L. Wheeler, Sim Simpkina, Scout. m1. Roving Sport Kit. By Edward Willett. Dandy Rock’s Rival. By G ldo Browne. The Showman’s Best Card, By Capt. Fred. Whittaker. Hickory Harry. By Old Rocky's Pard, By Buckskin Sam. Detective Joxh Grim. By Edward L. Wheeler. 36 Dick, the Dakota Sport. gee Charles Morris, Prospect Pete, the Boy N By ON Coomes. ed, the Boy Skipper. k Farragut, The Tenderfoot C, Harbaugh. 88 Deadwood Dicks Disguise, By ward L. Wheeler. The Dandy Detective. harles Morris. Colorado Nick, the Lassoist. By Maj. H. B, Stoddard. Roy, the Young Cattle King. Prentiss Ingraham. Rube, the Tenderfoot. By Maj. &. L. St. Vrain. cbory Dan's Mask. By Frank Dumont. 91 Peacock Pete, the Leadville Sport. By Albert W. Aiken. ry Nat, Detective. By T. Harhaneh. Joe Morey, the Night Hawk. ny Badger, Jr, The Twin Horsemen. By Capt. rick Whittakey. Dwarf Jake, the Detective. By D. es Darke’s Pards. By Wm. ore Dumb Dick’s Pard. By Edward L Whi ne Toi, the Texan Tiger. By Ol) Coor 95> White Wing, the Kerret’ Flyer. By Charles Morris, Sam’ the Office Boy. By Charles Morris. Govinda, the Tiger Tamer. By Capt. F. Whittaker, The Young Cowboy. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, Arizona Glant George. By Buckskin Sam, The Fronticr Detective. By Edward L Wheeler. Daisy Doll’s Dash. Ry T. C Harbaugh. 3 White Light sings or, The Boy A By T. C. Harbaugh, 99 The Balloon Detectives. By Harry Enton. z proueuck Patbot' « Band. By Capt Mark Wilton. Deadwood Dick’s Missio: By Edward L. Wheeler. m’s Castle Mystery. By Oll Coomes, Dandy Duke, the Cowboy. By . L, St. Vrain, rer- Bey Detective. By Cha Morr's. Big Benson’s Bet. By T.C. Harbaugh. back of the Mines, By Joseph Badetsy Jr. | 8 The Hotel Boy Detective. By Charles Morris, Little Giant and His Band. By Philip S. Warne. Bald Head’s Pard. By Buckskin Sam. The Jimtown Sport. By Edward L. Wheeler, 5 Dusky Dick’s Duel. By Harry Hazard, The Pirate’s Prize. By C. Dunning Clark. Spotter Fritz. By Edward L. Whee Dandy Dave, of Shasta. By T. C. Harb tugh, Nick, the Boy Sport. By Major E, L. St. Vrain. Dating Dan, the Ran; By Ol Coomes, 8 Double-Fisted Mat. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr, The Cowboy Captain. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham Old Greybeard’s Boy. By C. Dunning Clark. Bald Head of the Rockies, By Maj. Sam, S. Hall. Kit, the Girl Captain, ‘By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. The Miner Sport. By Edward L: Wheeler. Frio Fred in Texas, By Buckskin Sam, Buck, the Detective, By Albert W en. The Detective Road-Agent. By E. L. Wheeler, Crack-Shot Frank, By Charles Morris, Honest Jack’s Protege. By P. S. Warne. Merle the Middy. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, Clip, the Boy Sheriff. By Edward Willet, Rosebud Ben’s Boy By OLl Coomes Tom, the Arizona Sport. By Major E. L. St. Vraing Gold Conrad's Watch-Doga. rT. The Street-Arab Detective. By Charles Morris. 4 y w York Boy, m8 Buckskin Ben of Texas. By Buckskin Sam, s Son, I Wheeler, & Colorado Charlie’s Detective Dash. By E. L, Wheeler, k in Chicago. s Morris. Frisky Frank in Idaho. By Roger Starbuck y Cruiser. By Col, Prentiss Ingraham. Cool Sam’s Girl Pard. By T. C. Harb ugh. e Preacher Detective. By Ol! Coomes. Billy, the Kid from Frisco. By J, C, Cowdrick, Old Wickory’s Grit. By Marshall. 22 Fred Flyer, Pees By ¢ Three Boy Sports y Cap derick Whittaker. 28 Dead Shot Ike in Montar y Roge Sierra Sz he ive. iy ord L, W Kit, the Denver Sport. By Edward L. Wheeler, 2 Merle M . 2 ty Col. Prentiss Ing graham. > Dusky Darrell, the Camp Detective. By Edwin Emerson. cnalg D. Warren. + Roy, the Boy Cruiser. By Col, Prenti:s Ingraham. By Capt. Ji F.C. Adams: Ned, the Roving Miner. “By Harry Hazard. r Sturbuck. $8 Rocky Ben's Band. | y W..J. Hamilton. Sy Edward L. Wheeler, Dave, the Colorado Wrestler. By Maj. E. L. St Vrain. Newaboy } . By Charles Mor By Edward L. Wheeler. $ Merle Monte’s Sea: Re raper. By Col. Pre ntiss Ingranam, Ben's Big Boom, By Capt. Mark Wilton. y By Philfp S. Warne. Sharp Shoot Mike. By O11 C c Bootbl: Ben, the Detective, By Anthony P, Morris. Sierra Sam’s Sentence, » Wheele' Frisco pm on Deck, By G Henry Morse. The Denver Detective. By . Harbaug 5 Ben Bandy, the Boss Pard, “By J. Stanley Henderson. Dutch Jan’s Dilemma. By } “ We 886 Fred, the Sport, in Brimstone Bar Camp; or, Merle Monte’s Disguise. 4 The Boston Wrestler’s Confederate. By Ed L. Wheeler. Baldy’s Boy Partner. By § ; Daisy Dave, the Colorado Galoot- “By T. C, Harbaugh. Keen’s A Sharles } 888 The Gold Bar Detective. By Major E. Li. St. Vrain, The & z heeler, Rardo, the Boy Gypsy. By Wm. a. Patten. Giant George's ’Pard. 3 kin S Billy fu le’s Bi Score. By Charles Morris. Ranch ‘ob’s Wild Ride, By T. C. Harbaugh. Colorado Steve’s Dash. By Plilip S. Warne. Merle Monte’s Pardon. aye Col. Prenties Ingraham, Snap-Shot Sam. By Buckskin Sam. The Deat Detective. By I ral . 48 Mike the Bowery Detective. By Edward L. Wheeler, Denver Dolla Device. By Ka . Wheeler, 44 The Drummer Sport. By Edward Willett, The Boy Tenderfoot, By ©: Mark Wilton, 5 J sy the Hardpan Detective. By J. C. Cowdrick, Black Wills Be Ah By Ma Carson. » Chicago Arab. By Charlea Mo ¥ varles Morris. Terbert’s Prize. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, Merle Monte’« Make Cc Paine: . By Col. Pre ntias Ing Le 8 hooter Frank. By Buckskin Sam, The Boy Chief of Rocky Pass. L. St. Vrain. te: ptember 10, S Denver Doll ax Detective. By i f ek, the Miner. By Maj. E, L. St. Vrain, Little Foxeye, the Colorado Spy. . i ady September 17. Skit, the Cibin Boy. By Edward Willett. N Blade, the Sport. “By Harbaugh. * Beadle’s Pocket Library is for sale by all Newsdeaiers, five 2 Rilly, the Boy Rover, FE Col. Pret Ingfaham. cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. pugter ree ae or, Lige, the Light-House Keeper. BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, 264 Denver Doll’s Partner, By E. L. Wheeler, 98 William Strect, New York, Dens Sika hllewes a owewwe Heledeied BRST e “Y CJ ZEELFLEELKeieirieweicicieied Jr feet rk Jed jr Joh Jl kd el J rh fj CSSSSeE LERREERSS CS Sertsowe Sie 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 225 ewe Es PO SCENA BWV WVWBKwwwewKYW BIS Pe ee