Number 70»

Juan-35:3,. BEADLE’S {vom-

 

 

     
    
   
   
   
    

THE

 P1 [ANTOM RIDER;

“’T
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THE GIAN T CHIEF ’S FATE.

A Tm or m OLD DAKCO’I‘AH Comm.

BY MARC O. ROLFE,
AUTHOR or Pocxxr N ovm. N0. 47, “ Tm: MAN Human."

NEW YORK.
BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS,

95 WILLXA M STREET.

 

Entered according to Act of Congrosll. in the year 181?. try
FRANK STARR .9 (.30.,
In the omcu OI mo Libnxmn of Congress, a: Washington.

 

 

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THE PHANTOM RIDER;

on,

THE GIANT CHIEF’S FATE.

 

C II A P T E It I
vmms’s PERIL.

Tm: scene of our-story is laid in the great North-west.

it was a bleak, windy day in November. The shrill blast!
waited through the forest trees like the last despairing,r cry of
a lost spirit, and gust after gust beat and reared around the
littl: log cabin standing so silent and lonely, half burie.l in
the midst of the Titanic oaks that spread their long brunchel
protectineg over its low roof, and whose sturdy trunks envio
rotted it, seeming to keep silent and untiring guard over its
four rough walls.

The scene within the cabin was in striking contrast with
the wild aspect with-mt.

It was a rude but homelikc place, and despite the chinka

Walls and rough furnizure, there was such an hit of plain com-

fort as one might expect to see in the abode of the sturdy
western pioneer.

A _\oung girl sat by a table engaged in embroidering a
bmud strip of drese‘ed deer-skin with {ant-it‘ully colored beads
and quills—a blue-eyed, slender-lookingr little woman nith
“lining; masses of goldenhrown hair falling unconfined about
her small, shapely head, nnd down over her shoulders until
it watched the Whist, of her dress, which titted her willowy
form In perfection, and whose mnple folds half concenlrd,
hult' dist-toy d a small, neatly-clad foot and well-turned unklc.

Her sunny blue eyes held a soft, loving light, and a bright
smile played eontinuali y upon her dainty face and around her
rosy little mouth, with its ripe lips half parted from the row-
of small white teeth. '

 

 

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But the azure eyes could flash with courage and. determin-
ation, and the pretty mouth could be hard and stem with its
strawberry lips tightly drawn and its tiny, gleaming teeth
hard-set.

The scltler’s daughter was very lovely, and she possessed a
nerve and courage. far beyond her sex.

A tall, powerfully-made man of fifty stood near the great
wide-mouthed fire-place, in which a ruddy blazo leapt and
glowed fantastically, shedding a pleasant radiance over the
homely place that could not but be grateful to one who, like
Emmett Darke, was preparing to leave it and go out into the
wind and cold of the chill November day. But the settler,
long used to the perils of border life, thought little of
this.

His sharp gray eye and firm though pleasant mouth he
spoke indomitable courage and strength of will; and as he
stood there in the red glow of the dancing firelight, buckling
on his deer-skin belt in which he thrust the borderman’s trusty
companion, a long, keen-edged hunting-knife, with a brace of
heavy pistols, he looked the personification of the ideal hunter
of the far Western wilds.

A huge bloodhound lay on the floor at his feet—a large,
red-eyed creature .with white, gleaming teeth—a brute that
might be a true and faithful friend, but could not but be a
- terribly dangerous enemy.

The object in the room most likely to attract the attention
of a casual observer was a small square box of polished wood,
standing on the table.

Besides the tall clock ticking in a corner, this casket was
the only visible thing that bore evidence of having been made
by hands more skilled than those of the settler, or with tools
other than those common implements ever ready at. the pion-
eer’s grasp, the ax and the auger,

What this curious little box contained, will appear here.
after.

Soon the hunter’s preparations were completed, and sling-
ing a long rifle, which he had taken down from its place on
three. pegs in the wall, across his shoulders, he turned to his
daughter who had wound the soft deer-skin belt, upon which
she had wrought innumerable fancy devices, gracefnlLv about

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'her {mm and shoulders, and stood regarding him with a

merry light sparkling in her blue eyes.

“ How do I look, papa ?" she asked.
forest princess I?”

And she finished by placing a jaunty turban in which were
fastened several briglit-Jolored plumes, which drOoped down
until they touched her beautiful golden hair, Coquettishly on
her head.

“ More like a re ular angel, wings and all 1" he exclaimed,
admiringly: for fitment Darke loved his beautiful mother-
less child more than his life. “ 'l‘hat hair and those eyes of
yours don’t 10ok very Injiny. Wouldn‘t that red lover of
yours go wild if he saw you now? I don’t wonder he’s half.
crazy and calls you ‘ Sun-Hair !' How about that youngster,
Clancy Vere, eh, Vinnie? Has he an eye to beauty ?”

The maiden blushed rosy red; but the laughing eyes be-
came thoughtful in a moment.

“ Do you know, papa, that I often think of him—the In-
dian l’ Oh, if he should come some day when you are gone 1
He is wild and bloodthirsty and his passions are ungovern-
able. He has taken a solemn vow to make me his wife !”

“ He shall never fulfill that vow I” cried the old man, with
a dangerous light in his cold gray eyes. “ I’ll have his life,
first! If he comes here again I'll give him a free pass to the
happy hunting-grounds !"

Emmett Darke’s face was almost white with rage, and he
brought the heavy stock of his long rifle down on the floor
with a sharp bang.

“Just so sure as that red devil has the misfortune to he
caught anywhere near my cabin, I will shoot him down like
the coward he is! My daughter is never to become a squaw,
eh, Vinnie '2” '

“. Never, father! Never will I become the Indian‘s wife!
I would sooner shed my own heart's blood 1"

She spoke so calmly and yet dcterminedly that her father
half-shuddered. He knew that she meant every word, and
he breathed an inward prayer that God would watch over his
lonely child and guard her from all peril during his abs
Once.

The hunter stood silent and motionless for a few moments,

“ Like some dusky

  

 

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thinking intently; Awaiting himself at length, he said, 
in; to the blood-hound, who was on his feet in an instant, run- >

hing around him and licking his hands : '

" Come, Death l We Illttnt go.”

In a tew minutes thry had passed out, and were walking
rapidly and silently through the forest.

As Darke Went away, a face appeared among the thick
hashes close by the eabm —a red TaCe, hideously daubed with

N tek atrl yellow paint, with long, coarse black hair. hang-

in;_' down the sunken _j ow, and fierce black eyes flashing tri-
umph ant exultation as the hunter disappeared from view.
Darke did not see this face, ard the bushes closed oVer it in
a moment, concealing it as suddenly as it had appeared.

After her father was gone, Vinnie went and stood before
the fireplaCe, looking dowu into the red mass of leaping
flames.

She was deeply buried in thought, and she heard no sound
save the hisp'ing of the tire and the wailing of the wind
around the corners of the cabin, and through the bare branch-
es of the great oaks outside.

She illlic thought what a lovely picture she made as she
stood thus, silent and motionltss—one might almost imagine
breathless—with a dreamy, far-oti' look in her soft eyes, and
the glam-lug blaze llv'htin‘.r up her fair face till she looked, in
fantastic guise, like. some beautitied Fairy queen, some incom~
pazaivle silvan godd- 53.

Rarely, radiantly lovely she appeared, strangely out of
plaee in that homely room.

She was unconscious ol' tliis—uncmiscious, also, of another
pn-seoz-e in the Cabin until the back-logr fell suddenly with a
dull lhu i, [lu'uwinér out n slme‘ 0f l‘L‘tl sparks and arouring

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her on the instant from the lit rf abstraction into which she‘fl .

had fallen.

\\ ith a quid; stat", she turned her head and saw a tall
fora: elo~e behind her—so ntar that it might easily have
to tent-d ltt'l‘. I

it was the form of an Indian, powtl'l'ill and massive. Tho
face was the same that had peered through the shrubbcry II
Emmett Darke a few minutes before.

There was a strange light glowing in the fierce eyes find

  

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1{mutualin on the lovely face before him—a look of wild ‘

“In   the;

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j pinion as dangerous as it was intense.

The savage did not speak nor even stir; but the hard. cruel
lines on his forehead anl about his mouth relaxed at little as
 he tried to twist his ugly visage into the St-mhhun-e of asmile

——:t semblance that was even more lmttlismnethan its habit-ml

wool—that was nearer the leer of an exultant tiend than :he

smile of a human being.

}, \‘innie‘s face was deathly pale. and her heart set-med tor a
; moment to lay stall in her “054)!” ; i) ll she tried to meet the
 gaze of those devilish eyes calmly. She stool quite still, [mk-
j' in; into the cruel Lee, but she dared not trust her \‘oit't'.

f The Indian spoke at length, iii a tone harsh and melting,
 like the snarl of sotne wild animal :

 “Ku-nawgu-no-nah' has come for his sqnaw. Snn-lIair is
L very beautiful. Ku-nan-gtt-no-nah is a mighty warrior. lle
7t has always loved the white maiden since he met her in the

  
   
 
 
   
     
  
 

forest. many moons ago. The great chief‘s lit-art. has been
4 ./ burning for Sun-Ilair. He has prepared his wigwam. It is
l’ hum; around with the scalps of his slain foes. Suwlloir will
be a queen. The Indian women will bow down their heads
in slmme before the beautiful Sun-Hair! Is she ready?
’. Will she go with the great chief? llis warriors are waiting
to'see their queen !"
' For a moment Vinnie did not speak, then the words came
clear and sharp from her white lips:
{ “ No! 1 will never go !’
’H The chief's face was fairly demoniac in an instant—the
‘ ' sickislt leer was gone. and the savage teeth shone through the
drawn lips in two white, gleatnin},r rows. He advanced with
3 a quick motion, and laid his hand roughly on her arm.
‘ ?‘ Come 1" said the harsh voice, “ Sun-lluir must go i"

  

   
 

    

CHAPTER II.
me! man AND ms TROUBLE

“ HERE I am i”

It was a young man who spoke, standing on the bank of
a small stream that had its course through the forest at a
point about two miles distant, as a bird flies, from Emmett
Darke’s cabin.

He was tall and well-formed, with,hazel eyes and dark-
brown hair. His face was clear-cut and handsome, open and
frank in its expression, while it indicated a goodly stock of
firmness and courage.

This is Clancy Vere, the young hunter, an allusion to
whom had brought the rich blood to Vinnie’s face that very
afternoon.

He was clad in a complete suit of dressed deer-skin, elab«
orately ornamented about the shoulders with bright-colored
beads and quills, his hunting-shirt being gathered about his
waist with a wide belt from which protruded the stock of a
heavy revolver and the silver-mounted hilt of a long bowie-
knife, while a powder-horn and bullet-pouch were slung by a
leathern cord under his left arm.

As he spoke, he dropped the butt of his rifle, a trim, beau-
tifully-mounted weapon, until it rested on the turf at his feet;
then he stood leaning on it for a long time, looking intently
down into the depths of the eddyng stream before him.

He was thinking—of a girl with blue eyes and golden
brown hair— of Emmett Darke’s beautiful daughter, Vin-
me.

Clancy Vere loved Vinnie devotedly, and not hopelessly,
she had led him to think ; though, as yet, he had never made
any formal declaration of his passion.

Still. as a look is oftentimes fraught with more meaning
than the most high-sounding speech, and the pioneer‘s daugh-
ter had not, upon certain occasion: which he could recall,

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been chary of these looks, Vere was very far from being de~
spondent.

He lived at a small settlement a half-dozen miles away, and
had set out that morning to visit the cabin of the hunter
His errand there may he easily surmised.

He had proceeded thus far on his way without adventure
worthy of note, and intended to cross the stream in a canoe
that he knew Darke kept concealed in the undergrowth at a
place a hundred yards below the spot where he now stood.

So intent was he upon his musings, that he heard no sound
save the rippling of the water and the roar of the wind
through the trees.

He did not see the bushes part close behind him and a
dusky form emerge from its concealment, to he followed by
another, then another, until six Indians had entered the little
grassy space in which he was standing, and began stealthily
to take different positions around him until his chanCes of
escape were out off on all sides.

He was brought to realize his situation in a moment.

A chorus of shrill, exultaut yells rung out on every hand.

He turned on the instant, and his quick eye measured the
strength of his savage foes. They were too near at hand for
him to bring his rifle to bear; but gripping it firmly around
the barrel, he brought the pondcrous stock down on his near-
est assailant, crushing in his skull like an egg-shell.

There was a muffled thud as the deadly weight fell a sec-
ond time, and another savage sunk over on the ground with-
out a groan.

An Indian was creeping up stealthlly behind him. As
Vere raised his clubbed rifle a third time, throwing it high
above his head, in order that the blow might be more effect-
ive, the savage, who had been cronclting down on the ground
a moment close beside him, sprung high in the air, and clutch-
ing the gun-barrel near the lock, wrenched it from the young
hunter’s hands just as it began to descend.

This quick, hard pull upon the weapon, which he gripped
with all his strength, caused him to stagger a trifle, and be-
fore he could regain his footing and draw‘his bowie-knife,
~ the three remaining Indians sprung upon him and bore him

.4631)". ground.

  

  

m "A.er was; on,

v In a moment his elbows were pinioned behind his .back.

and his weapons were transferred from his belt to those-o! sf

his Capt-rs.

'l‘hey pulled him roughly to his feet, and an Indian took f
The

his pin”: on eithrr side, leading hitn along by the arms.

 
    

  

brave who had disarmed hitu Walked behind, while 'tlie re- 1,

ul doing snmge, who was evidently a warrior of Some impor-
i.tltt'L", to judge. from the number of eagle‘s feathers whit-h or-
atmeuted his head and the many trophies of the Warpat't
an t tt e clone which were hung about his neck and stcurml
to his belt, led the way up the stream, pausingr ever and anon
to give some guttural Command in his native dialect to his
followers. who clutched their captive‘s artm firmly, as if they
f- bred that. b mud and almost helpless as he was, he nould
ntempt to escape.

’l‘Iu-y had seen evidence of his prowess, and wisely conclu-
(led that he “as a safer prisoner Well guarded than when al-
lowel to walk alone.

For an hour they kept on, over fallen trees and heaps of
rock, through tangled masses of undergrowth, now bearing a
little to the right, then to the left; but always keeping within
hearing of the stream, whose monotonous murtnuriugs seemed
to grow louder and hoar:er as they proceeded, until they
Changed to a wild, sullen roar, like the impetuous rushing and
dashing of a cataract.

At length, after a long silence. the leader of the party
turned toward Vere and said, impressively:

“ Does the pale-face hear the song of the waterfall ?
,is chanting his death-song 1
they will swallow up the pale-fare 9’

Soon the sun appeared through an opening in the leaden
gray clouds that had drifted lazily through the sky until the
Were gathered together in a dark, lowering mass overhtad,
and its briglt‘. rays trembled for a moment upon the surface
of the water.

“ See 3“ continued the Indian, pointing to the falls just vis.
.ible through the trees. “ See the waters smile! ‘They laugh
because the red men will give them a paleoface victim lyLet

the whitg‘maa hear them sing! ..‘ Hal hat’ they say, ‘tho

It

The black waters laugh because
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pate-rm ms: diol’ It is his death chantl The gun {:__

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mum: is speakihg through the laughing Waters. II:- is
happy with his red children when a pale-face dies. The
white hunter is brawn lie is not afraid to tight. But his
heart will grow small within his bosrm when he must go
down into the black waters—the river-if death! Will he be
brave n hen he meets the unknown dangers of the dark t‘nl-
ley? He will find it hard to die now. He is young and the
World looks bright to his eyes. Perhaps’n white woman will

a‘weep when he is dead. The Indian Women have mourned
for their husbands and brothers when they have gone ottt to
fight the Long-knives and never returned. The laughing
waters are crying aloud for their victim. The white man
must die!"

“ We, all must die," said Vere, calmly, not eating to show
the concern he really felt. “ “on have died" before, why should
I fear death Z“

Att‘expression of surprise flittcd over the Indian‘s painted
face.

Few men could meet death so calmly.

The young hunter had resolved not to die without a des-
perate struggle; but he preferred that his captors should
think hint resigned to his fate—the horrible fate which
Seemed inevitable.

A few rods above the fails a tree grew far out over the
Water, rushing mutin to the cataract below.

The bank at this point was rough and jagged, its steep and
rocky sides jutting out full twenty feet above the black, roar-
ing mass underneath.

Tho party halted here.

“ The pale-face hunter's feet must be tied," said tlm'ln-
dian who had spoken before. “ He must not fight with the
laughing waters.”

Produring a stout leathern thong, about tWelt'e feet in
length. one of the savages advanced to coil it around the cap-
tive‘s ankles.

As he stooped, Vere drew his foot back suddenly nnd
planted it with tremendous force eqnarely in his facu. flatten-
ing his long nose and knocking out several of his sharp white
teeth. 7_

The indien rolled our on the ground with e wild um

 

 

  

m m am;,on, .

The pain was terrible, and he lay for a moment, pressing
his disfigured face and giving utterance to a series of hoarse,
agonized groans.

Then he sprung up suddenly with a wild yell of rage and
vengeance.

He was upon Vere in an instant, his long fingers entwined
in his hair and his scalping-knife circling with lightning ra-
pidity around his head.

The young hunter’s arms were securely pinioned.

He was utterly powerless in the red fiend’s hands.

Death—sudden and terrible—seemed certain; but he did
not flinch.

Ilis fearless eye was fixed on the lndian's face, and his own
(lid not change when he felt the keen knife-point pricking
the skin upon the crown of his head.

He was not afraid to die.

He thought of the terrible, because unknown life beyond
the grave—and of Vinnie!

Would she weep when he was gone?

He trusted so, and stood calmly awaiting the great change.

 

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CHAPTER III.
vmma’s smraemr.

VINNIE's face was very pale, but she did not cry out. A
wild tear, an awful terror, was tugging at her heart, but she
would not give way to it. She knew she would need all her
native courage and coolness in the ordeal which she foresaw
she must endure.

Ku-nau-gu no-nah’s hand retained its rough grip on her
arm, and his harsh voice repeated:

“ Come. Sun-Hair must go l”

Resistance would, she knew, he of no avail. It would
only serve to arouse the Indian's passions to a still higher pitch
of intensity—to make him, if possible, still more demoniac, and
still more determined than ever to fulfill his vow, and carry
out his intention to abduct and bear her away to his wig-
wam.

She must have recourse to stratagem.

So, to gain time, she said as calmly as possible, but with
a wild throbbing at her heart which she tried in vain to still:

“ So the great chiel‘ loves the pale-face maiden? He would
make her a queen? He would spend his whole life to make
her happy? Is it not so?"

“Yes,” he said, eagerly. “Ku-nan-gn-no-nah loves Sun-
Hair as the bird loves its mate. He will always make her
happy. She shall never know what it is to weep. Her life
shall always be pleasant. It shall be like a day when the
green grass is new on the ground, and the dancing waters,
freed from their cold bonds of ice, are laughing in the bright
sunlight.”

" And my life shall be like one long day in the bright
spring-time ’3“ she said, as bravely as she could, smiling through
all her fear.

“ Yes,” again said the chief, with a searching look in her

white face. ~
He had expected tears and opposition, and he received in

 

 
  
 

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stead, smiles, and apparent acquiescence, and he was surprised
and partially thrown otf his guard.

“ May he the white maiden will go with her Indian lover,”
said Vinnie. “Give her time to think. It is very hard for her
to leave her home and her kind old father. Does the Chit I
think he can make Sun-Hair happier than she has been here:
Can he make her forget her father and her home ?”

“ Did not Ku-nan-gu-no-nah tell the beautiful Sun~IIair
that she should be a queen? She shall wear robes as daza 

 

zling as the light of the sun. She need not work like the
quian women. She need do nothing but sit and sing like a
bird all day long. The red-women will how their heads in
shame before her bright face, and the warriors will sing songs
about. her beauty. They will think of their beautiful queen
when they go on the war-path, and they will always return
with the scalps of their dead enemies hanging in their belts.
\Vhat more can Sun-Hair wish ?”

“ I think I will go, said the girl, slowly. " Only give me
time to think.” .

“ Ugh! It is well P’grunted Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, with an
other of his sickish smiles. 'l‘hen frowning darkly, and with
a significant tap on the handle of his tomahawk:

“ But Sun-[lair no fool the chief ! If she does he will kill

' her! She can‘t get away. Take care l"

The Indian let her free now ; and he sat down on a low
stool near the door, as if half fearing some treachery (m Viu- 
nie's part, but. he was pretty We“ assured, after all, that she
Would go with him without much resistance. Vinnie stood 1
{or some time, striving to think of Some plan by which she
might escape the Indian, who watched her every motion

I’Erom under his heavy, overhanging brows, as closely as a cat
Watches a mouse.

There was such a look of half-suspicious triumph on his
dark face and in his cruel eyes as is sometimes seen in the
eyes of the panther, as it sits quietly by, watching its prey,
and suffering it to live and exalt in a few moments more of
life that the moment of its annihilation, when it comes sud‘
dub" and unlocked for, may he the harder to hear.

But the poor girl rejected plan after plan as impractica»
NE; At one time she thought of making some ext-use. ‘c

   

 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

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enter an adjoining apartment and secure a pistol which she ' I

d i" knew her father kept there; but she feared that the savage

‘1 would discover her intention and tomahawk her at once.
Then she contemplated making a rush for the door at the

. ctbin and escaping into the forest; but her rensmt “llzl her

f { that the chief woqu overtake her before she was faitly out-

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side the door,
At ltst, when she had nearlygiven up in despair, a thought

L suggested itself to lter brain—how, she never knew, it was
V' so wild and strange—that made her heart leap with a new-
' } born hope-a hope that she might yet outwit her captor
t and gain time until something—she know not what—should

intervene to save her from the fate he had marked out. for
her. ' I

She sat down by the table and opened the small box of
polished Wood, of which mention was made in our first chap.
ter, the Indian watching her the while from his place near *
the door.

This casket, on being opened, prove to be a small galvanic
battery ; and Vinnie was but a moment preparing it for ac-
tion.

When all was in readiness, she took a pair of electric slip-

, pers from a drawer in the table and placed them beside the
" battery.
Then, knowing the superstition of the Indian race, she
I arose, and waving her hands several times very slowly around
/. her head, seemed to he invoking a charm. Her eyes were
; fixed apparently on Vacancy, and she stood motionless for
t _ several minutes; then smiling sweetly, she turned to Ku-nan-
gu-no-nah, who had advanced to the center of the room, and
i stood regarding her mystic performance with a sort of awe! ‘
f wonder, she said in a low, soft voice, that sounded to hi 1‘
like the murmuring of a distant brooklet :
4 “ Does the chief know that the Great Manitou has given
the white maiden a mysterious power, greater than is pos-
sessed by any of the Indian medicine-men? Would Kuonan-
gu-no-nnh like to see evidence of the white maiden’s power ?"
The Indian stood quite still while she was speaking, with
'I look of mingled douht and awe 9n   A‘tlgst. he
add in his harsh voice; ‘ ' ' ' " ‘

      
   

   

83 'm rumor mm; on,

“ Ugh l Let Ku-nan-gu-nonah see what Sun-Hair car.
do. She is not a great medicine-woman. There is but one
who has a mighty power from the Great Spirit. and that in
Yonvdn-do, the great conjuror of my tribe. Sun-Hair can’t
get away The chief will kill her if she tn'es. Let Ku-
nan-gu-no-nah see l”

“ Let the chief look and be convinced l"

Vinnie attached the slippers to the conductors leading from
he battery, and set them side by side on the cabin floor.

Then, taking up her position behind the table, she com-
menced to operate the machine slowly at first, than faster,
until the slippers began to skip about, dancing a sort of shuf-
fle, which caused the Indian’s face to take on a look of stih
greater wonder.

“See,” she said; turning the little crank faster, causing the
magic slippers to jump higher and oftener than before.
“ Do you longer doubt my power? You, Ku-nan-gu-no nah,
strong brave though you are, can not hold those dancing
moccasins when I command them to move 1”

The chief’s face lighted up in an instant with a look of
scorn and contempt. No one had ever doubted his strength
before. Surely he could hold those skipping bits of leather.

“ Look I” he said. “ Let Sun-Hair see the chief hold them
so fast they can not tremble."

He stooped down and raised them from the floor, holding
one in each hand.

He clutched them firmly, and then went on:

“ See the chief hold them. A pappoose could do it.
See—"

His words were cut short suddenly, the slippers dropped
from his hands, and with a wild shriek of terror, he run to
he further side of the room.

He stood motionless several minutes, his dusky face the
picture _of blank amazement, looking at the palms of his
hands as if he would see what had acted upon them with such
powerful effect. lie could not conceal his chagrin as Vinnie
said, tauntineg ;

“ Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is a great brave. He is very strong.
He can not hold a pair of moeCasins. They jump out of his
Hindi, and he runs away like a empde dogl The big

 

 

 

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chief is very strong.
be i"

“ It is a lie l” yelled the Indian, almost beside himself with
rage and mortification. “ I can hold the dancing moccasins i"

“ Try it," said the beautiful magician, sententiously. Kuo
nan-guano-nah advanced timidly, and took the slippers up
daintly betwcen his thumbs and fore-fingers. V

“ Get a firm hold,” said Vinnie. “ You will need all of
your boasted strength. Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, a great chief and
a brave warrior, has said that a pappoosc could hold the
dancing moccasins. Let us see if he can do what a pappoose
could do. He says that Sun-Hair has no mysterious power,
more terrible than that of the Indian medicine~man, Yon-da-
do. He will see. Is he ready ?”

The savage gripped the magic slippers with all his strength,
seeming determined that this time he would give the fair con-
juror no opportunity to taunt him with lack of success.

“ Ugh l” he grunted, “ Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is ready.” ’

“ You have them fast now, have you ‘3"

Vinnie Could not repress a smile as he answered, clutching
the electric slippers tighter than before:

“ Yes ; they not stir now.”

She muttered a few words in a low tone, passing her hands
backward and forward before her face, and commanded the
slippers to dance.

At the same instant she set the battery in action, and the
chief’s hands, acted upon by the electricity, which she had
made more powertul than before, seemed to clutch the slip-
pers like a vise.

A horrible expression of mingled rage and pain crossed
his distorted face, and he gave utterance to a shrill scream of
{car and agony that might have been heard, so loud and res-
onant was it, fuhy 1 mile away.

'At last Vinnie ceased to turn the machine, and Ku-nan-gu-
no-nah reeled buck and sunk down in a corner of the cabin
almost exhausted.

His eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, his mouth twitched
nervously, his long. coarse black hair stood half-erect, and he
trembled with an awful, superstitious fear in every fiber of
his being.

What a mighty warrior he must

"we ‘ . m; V n.

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“What does the chief think now of the white Inside,an
power 2'” asked Vinnie. “ What does he think of the little
box and the dancing moccasins? Where now is his vaunted
strength? Can the great hmve do what a puppoose can do?

sf"

Does he Want to try again .

“ No! No !" puntetl Kit-nan gn-no-nah, with chattering
teeth. “ Sun-Hair is a great conjuror. She hus a power from

the tireat Spirit! She has a deed bar, and ii)(l('C:l>il‘S such as
the worn \\ here the. Longknires go \\ hen they die—“here
there is tire always! lit-ll, they call it. The taiiitc nmitlen
is a greater conjuror than Yon-da-do. She has it devil-(m:
and hell-muccu-sl'lw I"

At this moment there were sounds of footfaiils outside the
door. The noise came nearer, and there was a sharp, scrn ch-
in; sound on the door like that produced by some keen-
pointetl instrument.

Viuu‘e felt a terrible fear forcing its way to her heart.

“ My God 1" she thought.
Ku-nnn-gu no~nah’s warriors? Would they show me any
mercy after the trick 1 how played on their chief?"

The scratching noise was repeated. louder than before, and
she could see the heavy door tremble. With a white face,
phe stood awaiting—she knew not what I

The Indian still cowered down in the corner, appurentlv
heedless of what was passing around him.

.._.... .w

“ Whnt if it should be Some of I

 . _,‘t...,_-M..-————_.~.___,_

\ -‘V I . .

C II A P T E R I V .
11m ruax'rou waruuon.

BUT it was not fated that Clancy Vere should die by the
scraping-knife. -

The Indian who had acted as the leader of the party
leaped forward with n sharp cry. and with a quick blow of
his powerful hand, sent. the knife flying from the nmddvned
harm's grasp into the Water tossing and roaring twenty feet.
below.

" What would Bear Killer do 2" he said, giving the baffled
savage a sudden push that sent him staggering back against
-'Le tree. “ Has he forgotten the laws of our nation? Duel
he forget. that the great chiefs have said that when a number
of warriors take a captive all shall have a share in putting‘
him to death 1'"

Bear-Killer was cowod ; but he stood with lowering brows,

.gloWering upon the young hunter with a look of fierce hatred

. aVenged

that made him appear, with his dark face bruised and bleed-
ing. absolutely diabolical.

“ Wy-un-da is right," he said. at length. “ Bear-Killer for-
got. The paleofaee must. die hard! Beanliiller must. be
m

“ We will give the white hunter to the laughing waters,”
said Wy-an-dn. " lie tuttst die !”

“ He must die!"

The four Indians repeated these three ominous words in I
hoarse claws, and ltgan to circle slowly around the captive,
brandishin; their tmnnlmwks and knives furiously and scream-
ing the wild scalp~halhm of their tribe.

Several minutes passed thus. Vere standing in the circle
of screeching braves calm and unmoved; then all became
suddenly silent, standing still and dropping their hands by!
their sides as if moved by a common impuLe.

‘ hu- mans mm dial" and Mm;

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t

I “'5 mt mime; ;' 

“ l have said that I do not fear death 1” replied the young
hunter, calmly. “ I am ready!”

The last faint ray of hope was extinguished now. He was
bound and helpless—they could do with him as they would;
and as calmly as possible he resigned himself to his fate—tho
horrible fate that seemed inevitable l

“ Wy-an-da will tell the pale-face hunter how he must
die," said the chief. “ It is not a pleasant death. He will
be afraid. His heart will grow small within his bosom and
his face will be white as the snow in winter.
like to die so. Will he be brave at the last moment ?"

“I tell you I am ready to die. 1” shouted Vere.

He knew that the savage was trying to torture him, and he
would not let him see what pain it really gave him—the an-
ticipation of this sudden and terrible departure from the life
that had just begun to seem so happy to him.

“ Why do you wait Y” he added, stolidly.
am ready 1”

“ It is well," said Wy-an-da. “ The white hunter is a
brave man. He shall die thus: he will be hung by a lasso,
head downward, from the branch of that tree there that
reaches out over the laughing waters. Then the Indian that
can threw his tomahawk the truest will cut the lasso, and
the white man will fall down and the laughing waters will
sweep him over the rocks. Then his body will be dashed to
pieces on the sharp stones below! Is it pleasant to think
of? Will the pale-face be brave 1'"

This speech was greeted by a chorus of satisfied grunts
from the savages.

A shudder ran through Verc‘s frame and his spirits sunk
as he heard the chief pronounce his fearful doom; but it was
only for a moment.
unmoved.

A more diabolical torture could not well be conceived.

It. was terrible—this standing face to face with death; but
the young hunter showed no signs of fear.

Five minutes later he was swinging, head downward, over
that black flood hastening on with a wild rear to the precl-
pice below. '

The chill autumn wind, wailing infitful gusts through the

“I tell you I

He will not‘

Then he appeared calm and apparently ’

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forest trees, his body gave an oscillating motion, and it seemed,
as be swayed at that dizzy hight. as if every vibration would
precipitate him into the water below.

After the lasso was securely fastened to the protruding
branch, the Indians drew back about twenty paces from their
swinging victim and prepared for their trial of skill in hurl-
ing the tomahawk.

Each was anxious to have the first throw.

At length it was decided that Wy‘an-da should have th.
precedence. "

He took his place with a confident air, like one who is as-
sured of success. ‘

Carefully noting the distance, he drew his tomahawk back,
and, taking deliberate aim, gave it a quick jerk; and it went
whirling out of his hand.

They watched its flight eagerly.

It misScd the lasso by six inches.

The swaying hunter was saved thus far.

He had been watching Wy-an-da as he only could look
whose life hung on the issue. ‘

He closed his eyes as he saw the weapon whizzing through
the air. and awaited the end.

A tall Indian of massive frame stepped forward.

“ O-wan-ton try," he said.

He measured the space accurately with his keen eye; but
his tomahawk flew wide of its mark, burying itself to the
eye in the limb to which the lasso was secured.

The victim of the laughing Waters was saved again.

Next came Wolf-Nail.

The young hunter watched him with a white face and a
heart wild with despair.

He stepped forward slowly, and hurled his tomahawk with:
out much care.

The swinging cord was a difficult target.

Vere felt the lasso jerk, and thought the end had come.

But he was saved again.

The handle of the tomahawk struck the lasso, and the
Weapon glanced 03' and fell with a muffled splash into the
Water. ' _

BysbKiller was the last to try..

  w“; .~

11.,” ,

 . jigging,” .m I;  p

- Hows: yet half-wild with rage; and with the blood still
streaming from his disfigured face, he mude ready to hurl his
totnalntwk. hopin},r to sate his vengeance and send the young
hunter to eternity.

Vere Wit: looking at him, nndhts‘heart seemed for a mo‘

ment to stop its pulsations.

This time deuth seemed certain.

lie saw that. the red demon did not intend to throw at the
cord.

lie was taking deliberate aim at his head !

The young hunter saw him draw back his weapon, and
clused his eyes.

There Was it moment of terrible agony to the man vibrat-
ing, as it were, between earth and eternity—and then all be-
came dark!

lie seemed to be shooting down—down—and he knew no
more.

lie had fainted.

Those few terrible moments of suspense-ages they seem-
ed to him—had been more than he could beur. The con-
stantly lightening noose arouul his ankles was exoruchtllngly
paint .l. and the pmition in which he hunt,r caused the blood
to flow to his head. None but at than young and strong like
Vere could have retained his consciousness so long as he had
done.

Bear-Killer was exultnnt. A moment more, and his fienda
like longing for vengeance Would be satisfied.

lie noted the distance carefurly with his practiced eye. and
with u grim smile of triumph on his blood strenked face,
raised his tonutlmwk and prepared to make the fatal throw;

Suddenly a. wild. unearthly; cry, like a prolonged wull, rung
t-ut on the wind, sounding strangely ghastly above its monu-
lugs.

lie tr-Killer's tomuhuwk slipped from his grasp, and n‘slrltly
pullor overspread his face, and those of his Companions
blanched to an ushen hue.

The four Indium gave utterance to wild‘crles or fear and
consternation.

“ The Spirit Warrior! TIM Spirit Warrt'orf'

Awhitamdwss dying mo mil'opdntngtn the“

‘    cunts-Jun. ‘ 5"

est directly toward them. and mounted upon its bars hock,
guiding it with neither bridle nor reins, rode a ghastly hu-

- tuan skeleton of gigantic proportions.

With cries of tu‘ror, the stricken little band of savages
turned to tiy. ‘

On came the tcrrill: Phantom Rider with the speed of the
“mil ‘.

As it drew near, it sprung up suddenly, and standing up.
light on the hack of its t‘iyingr steed, threw Something round
and Muck high in the nir; then, \\ith another unearthly
scream, rode on and disappeared in the forest.

The thing went up with a liis>ing unis". ll broad, brilliant
streak of flame marking its course, and then fell with a ter-
rifle explosion in the very midst of the Indians.

Then there came a chorus of ngt nized shrieks, and three
of the savages Were lttiJ dead on the ground.

Bed-Killer escaped, and fled with a loud, terrified howl
into the forest.

The d: ud lndizms were horribly mangled, and \Vy-ttn-dn's
head Wns hlown a rod from his body.

Then all was silent save the roaring cataract and soughing
wind.

Not a being was in sight. save the unconscious one who
swung by a small cord betwccn this life and the one beyond
the gravel

um um“ min; on, "

CHAPTER V.

THE MAYBOB TWINS.

Emmr'r DARKE went into the forest in search of game;
and he was successful, for in an hour’s time he had shot and
dressed a large buck.

He only took the choicest portions of the deer, which he
rolled carefully up in the skin, leaving the remainder to the
Wolves, panthers, and other beasts of prey that infested the
foresL lie bound the pelt around the meat. he had selected
by means of deer-skin thongs through a firmly tied loop, in
which he thrust his gun-barrel ; and throwing his burden
across his shoulder, set out for home.

He was very anxious to reach the cabin ; for he could not
keep his mind from dwelling on his conversation with Vinnie
that afternoon, and he did not like to leave her alone longer
than was necessary.

The blood-hound, Death, who had rendered his master
Valuable service in securing the deer, trotted along after him,
as if pleased with the idea of returning to the cabin so soon.

The hunter had proceeded but a short distance, however,
when he met with an accident that nearlyvcost him his lil'e.

As the afternoon advanced, the chill NOVembcr wind blew
harder and colder, till its moanings changed to a fierce rear,
and it was evident, cvon to eyes less accustomed to weathtr
signs than Darkc's, that a fearful storm was approaching“

\one of those cold, gusty rains peculiar to the N orth-west.

As he was paSsing a dead oak, whose harkless, decayed
trunk and bare, broken branches bore marks of the storms
and winds of a hundred years, he was startled by a loud
crash overhead.

Looking up, he saw that a fearful gust of wind that just
then swept through the wood, blowing the dried leaves and
twigs hither and thither and everywhere in wild confusion,
had broken otf a massive limb, which was falling with light-
ning velocity directly toward him. Dropping his burden, he

 
   
 

 

  
  
 

 
   

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sprung aside, but though the movement saved his life, he did
not escape the full force of the blow.

The ponderous mass came whirling down, one end of it
striking him on the back of the head.

He reeled and staggered two or three steps, and then sunk
down insensible among the fallen leaves.

After surveying his fallen master a minute or two, the
bland-hound advanced and lay down by his side, as if to
,keep guard over him. For several minutes he remained in
this position, then probably not noting any signs of vitality
in the unconsdous man, he arose, and, after whining several
times in a low key, the sagacious creature took the sleeve of
his hunting-shirt between his teeth and pulled it gently. This
action was repeated several times; and at last, receiving no
reply from his master, the faithful dog set out as fast as his
feet would Carry him for the cabin.

Had he forsaken his master, or gone after assistance?

How long Darke remained unconscious, he knew not.

, When consciousness returned, he found himself in a sort 0
‘ of cavern fitted up as a hunter’s lodge, apparently, for great
piles of skins were to be seen in different parts of the place.

and a couple of rifles leaned against the rocky wall at one

side, while a small keg, that evidently contained powder,
stood near by, half concealed by a deer-skin hunting-shirt,
which was thrown carelessly over it, with a bullet-pouch

f and powder-horn secured to the belt.

He noticed also that the cave was divided into two apart-
ments. for a curtain made of the skins of various wild animals
was suspended from a cord overhead.

A dull, hard pain in his head caused him to think of him-
self. and he now saw, for the first time. that it was bandaged,
an- be was reclining on a bed made of the pelts of the bear
and the panther at one side of the place.

If any further evidence was required to satisfy the hunter
that the place was inhabited, it was forthcoming in the shape
of a savory odor of broiling venison that was wafted from
the inner apartment.

“ Where was he? Who had brought him to this place 1‘”

These and many other questions he asked himself, but after .
five minutes had been consumed in vain conjecture, he w". e;

 

 

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K

as far from” the solution‘ of the mystery as at the moment
when he first. awoke to consciousness. He remembered the
circumstance of the falling limb in the forest, and after that,
all was blank. lle did not know when he came, or who had
brought him to this place. He was familiar with the 0mm-
try for [titles around, he thought, and yet he did not know
that there was such a cavern in the vicinity of his cabin.

0f one thing, however, he was assured.

The people who occupied the flaw must be friendly, also
why had they brought him here and cared for him so tenderly?

Soon he heard a when in the other part of the cave—a
coarse, heavy voice, evidently that of a man. It said:

"Give us the whis', ’Lon. I guess he‘s contin' round all
correct. A good pull at this ’ll fetch his idees back, I reckon."

A Corner of the curtain was raised, and a man appeared,
carrying a small bottle of liquor—so Darke interred from the
Words he had just heard. _

“ Well, stranger, how do you feel ?" said he, approaching
the hunter. “I reckon you got a right smart of a SWat along
side yer poll with that ar’ twig out yonder. I shouldn't
wonder if it'd ’a’ splintered when it struck terry-firmy if you
hadn’t ’2' happened along jest in the nick 0' time to break its
fall. I was a witness of the lauwntationalile catastofy, and
see the stick when it broke otl‘; but I olisarved that 'twas
bound to fall, and knowin' I Couldn't stop its wild career, I
let it fall ; and then started to go to you, but 1 had to stop
and watch that ar' pup o‘ your‘n. He’s a nation cute plant,
he is, and I reckoned he was a-goin’ to snake you home; but
after awhile he gitc up and started oil‘ for help. Then I
went out and picked you up and brought you here and laid
you out. Ilere, take a little pull at the whis’. It'll kinder
regulate ycr pulse, set yer heart in stidy operation and ile up
yer thinkin' merchine. Don't say a Word. I ain‘t ready {or
you to talk yet, and. besides, I don‘t b‘lieve as how you're a
nat‘ral talker anyhow. Now I‘m a. nat‘ral-horn talker. When
I was an infant and didn't weigh but fourteen pounds, my
uncle Peter informed my ma that he thought I‘d become a
preacher or an auctioneer with the proper advantages—and
myMa Peter was s physionologlst and a powerful judge of
lire-“t”

  

 
  
 

 

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Darke look the flask, drukmme of its contents, ml hand»
(d it hack to the man, whom he had been regarding atten-
ttwly from head to foot all the while he had been speaking.

lie was very tall—nearer seven feet. than six—and his frame
was massive- in proportion. lie was, to judge from his face,
which Was partially obscured by a tltin growth of sandy beard
tltirty-fiVe years of age, though one might easily haVe tailed
him lth‘ years older or five years younger. He, had pale
Watery-the eyes; a. cupacious mouth, from which projected
the points of a few large, seraggy teeth; very high and sharp
“lunch-bones; enormous cam; long, sunken jaws, with hollow
cheeks, and a high, sloping forehead, blowing about which,
and streaming down his back, were a few long, thin. locks of
red hair, escaping,' from toeneath the ritn of a battered and
dirty old silk hat that had once been white, though evidently
a, good while since.

’l'his ancient tile was scct‘red to the giant‘s great head by
means of a light strap of deer-skin, which was lotzt to View
under his eltin among his sparse, bristling whiskers.

lie was dressed in a fur garment, part eoat, part pnntaloons,
that enveloped his entire person from his chin to his feet,
which Were enormoust large, and incased in a pair of cow.
hide boots that looked, so extensive were the ', and at the
same time so old, as if they might have seen service, in the
removal of the baggage of the patriarchal Noah and his sons
and daughters from the family mansion to the ark, when they
Were compelled to pull up stakes and emigrate at the time of
the universal deluge.

“ Where am 1 2’ Who are you ‘3”

This Darke asked after the “ natural talker" had stopped to
take breath. '

“ Why, stranger. or Mr. Darke, I might say—Tor I've known
you liy si4ltt this four year—you‘re right here, and safe, I
reckon. he lived here six years, and I‘ve never seen any
t'al ginewine ghosts yet. .l‘llt Leander Mayhoh, formerly of
Mayhoh Center. down in old Massachusetts. 1! l was real up
in etiquette, I s‘pose l'd ‘u’ introdueled myself More; but I
ain‘t polite. Now my uncle Peter was a master polite man.
I remember once, when he went down to Boating to sell his
wool—wool was ’way down that season, he lost on that .901;

 

      
 

 

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awful—and got kinder turned ’round like.
Wanderln’ all over for a right smart of a while, but he could-
n’t nohow see his way clear back to the ‘Full Bottle Inn ’—
he was a-puttin' up there. My uncle Peter was a master po-
lite man, and didn’t consider it proper to speak to folks as
hadn‘t been introducted to him, and so he kept right on
wantlerin’ about without inquirin’ the way till late in the
tier-noon, when he begun to experience the gnawin' pangs of
an empty stummick; and he made up his mind as ’twould be
’ better to be guilty of a breach of politeness than to starve.
But he wasn’t quite certain, and so he took out his etiquette
book—he always carried one, my uncle Peter did, Deacon
Checkerfield’s, I believe—and looked to see if there was any
rules touchiu’ this very peculiar case 0' his‘n. Well, he set
down on a bar’l in a shed, for ’twas a-rainin’ hard by this
time, and studied his book till it got so dark he couldn’t see
to read any longer, and then he concluded to break etiquette
or bu’st. Etiqumte was a master fine thing, he argu’d, the
very foundation 0’ society ; hut ’twasn’t hardly' the thing for
an empty stummick. So he got up and went into a big house
right across the way. Here he see a feller as looked kinder
nat't'al. ‘ I’urdin,’ sez he, ‘your countenance looks f’ntiliar.’
He made a master bow as he spoke. ‘ Will you be so kind
as to tell me the way to go to the Full Bottle Inn 1” ‘ ’Tuin’t
no way in p‘tickler’, sez the teller. ‘ Beg pardon,’ sez my un-
cle Peter. He was a master polite man. ‘But I want to
know how fur ’tis to the Full Bottle Inn.’ ‘ ’Tuin’t no (lis-
tsnee at all,’ sez the feller, ‘ It’s right. here.’ My uncle give
in and begged the feller’s pardon—he was a master polite man,
my uncle Peter was. He’d been settin’ right in front of the
inn for hours studyin’ his etiquette book, cause he didn’t know
nobody to ask. He didn’t tell of it for five years after-
ward."

At this moment the curtain which divided the cavern was
pushed back at one side, and another person advanced toward
Darke and his Titanic companion.

He came and stood by Leander Maybob, and the hunter
looked from one to the other in astonishment.

He was scarcely four feet in hight, the top of his head
barely reaching the giant’s waist.

Well, he kept '

 

 
  
  
 

 

 

  

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His apparel resembled that of his more portly companion,
with the exception of the covering for the head and feet.

The deri's round little pate was surmounted by a gro-
tesquely broad-brimmed Wool hat, and he appeared, as his
small keen eyes flashed quick, nervous glances about, not un-
like the traditional “toad under a cabbage-leaf,” While his
lower extremities were adorned by a pair of nicely-fitting
' deer-skin mocmsins. ~

“ He‘s my little brother," the giant said, by way of intro-
duction. “ We‘re the Maybob twins. We ain‘t much
alike you see. He’s a little mite of a feller, and I’m big
enough to be his daddy; he's dumb—can’t speak a word-—
and I’m a nat‘ral talker. Now uncle Peter said as how he
thought ’twasn’t hardly fair, makiu’ me so big and so com-
plete in every way, and him so little and scarce; but says
daddy, says he—aud he was a univarsal smart man daddy was
—says he it‘s all in the family, and they’ll both together
make a couple of middlin’ good-sized men—they’ll about av-
erage. and it’s all in the family. My little brother’s name‘s
Alonphilus. But if we’re different in sieh respects, we’re
alike as fur as the one great principle of our lives goes.
Ain't we, ’Lon Y” '

There was a scintillant glow in the dwarfs little black eyes
as he nodded assent.

 
  

   

 

    

    

CHAPTER VI.

0151‘ IN THE 870131.

Tttmmmxo herself with a fear all the more terrible he
cause of its \'agttette.~s and unecrtainty. and with her heauti
ful face pale as death. Vinnie stood and watched the ire-tn

tiling: of the heavy e.tnln door, as the scratching noise was re- a

pettted for a. third time.

The sound was louder, more imperative than before.

The chief seemed suddenly to arouse from the slate of
frightened inactivity into wlreh he had fallen, and rising on
his feet, walked, or rather Staggered, toward the shaking
door.

‘

j,
i

lie seemed to have lost all his streng‘h, for he reeled

across the tloor like a drunken tnan.

For two or three minutes the sottnd was not repeated, and
Vinnie and the savage stood wailing with bated breath.

They had not long to wait.

Again came that harsh. grating sound, as though some one
Was digging the point of a. knife, or some other hard, sharp
instrument into the door.

Almost sintnltaneoudy With this noise, came along, low
whine, evidently that of a brute.

Vinnie started.

The look of wild fear left her face, and she advanced to.
ward the door, while the low wail was repeated in a louder
he; and more prolonged than before.

She gave utterance to a. glad exclamation.

“ It is Death 1”

It. was evident in a moment that Ku nan-gu-no-nah, nISo,
had discovered the cause of the strange sounds.

He seemed to train new strength.

‘ It is the dog!" he said harshlyrlaying hold of the girl's
hand, just as she was about to open the door to admit Death.

Vinnie nodded.

“lie is large and strong," continued the chief, “and hi-
tecth are like the points of knives l"

 

fl an M1“ ‘ c It i
are knew her power over his untutorcd, superstitious mind,
' . Ind she was no longer afraid.
She nodded again and said:
., “ Yes, he is very strong, and his teeth are like needles. If
 he sets them into an Indian‘s flesh he will die. Shall I let
 him in to ion 1' His name is Death !"
 The mirage gripped her hand lighter.
? “ N i," he said, with evident alarm. “ Sun-Hair must not

 , '
fl,

. et the dog in."

Giving her a quick. sudden pail, he drew her across the
room and through the other apartment to a rear door.

Her face changed color and she tried to release herself
from his hold, but without avail.

Here he nnhandcd her, and went back and closed the door
between the two rooms. Barring it securely he returned.
and laying his heavy hand on her shoulder. he bent over till
l his dark face almost touched hers, and fairly hissed through

‘_ his set teeth:

“Sun-Hair has a mighty power from the great Maniton.
She has cscapeJ Kutnan-guono nah this time, with her devil-
box; but let her beware! If the dog could get at the chief
t he would kill him, but Kn-nan-gn-nomah is safe. Before
i l Sun-Hair can open both doors he will be away in the forest.

I Let the‘pale {nee medicine-Woman beware !"

"Wr‘

Vinnie did not. try to detain him. She could not. All
the time he had been speaking. his hard, bony fingers were
r closed on her shoulder like an iron vise.

I lie let go his hold suidcnly. and an instant later was run-
; ning across the little open space at the rear of the cabin.
Vinnie saw him disappearamong the trees, and then turned
{1nd opened the door that led into the other apartment.
In a. moment she had undone the fastenings of the other
one. and the hlmd-hound sprung into the cabin.
He stopped before Vinnie, and looking up into her face,
gaVe utterance to a long, low whlne. .
She patted his head and caressed him, but he. would no
5 be satisfied.
’ Still whining piteously he turned, and with his red eya
fixed on’ her face Walked toward the deer.
1 She did not. heed this mute appear

\

 

 

  

\ 3%?  iz'v

 on.

He turned again and going up to her, took hold of her
dress with his teeth and pulled it quietly.

“Why, Death, old fellow 1” she said, caressing the saga-
cions brute again. “ What is the matter? Where is your
master ?”

When she mentioned her father the dog pulled harder at
bar dress, almost pulling her along toward the door.

A wild fear seemed suddenly to force its way to her heart
There was only one way in which she could account for the
Itrange demeanor of the dog.

Surely something must have happened to her fatherl

She was sure of this when she remembered a story that
he had lold her once, about the blood-hound’s saving her
life when she was a child of five or six.

The chill wind was blowing harder than when the hunter
set out from the cabin, and the black, angry clouds, hanging
low in the sky, threatened momentarily to open and shower
down the Cold, half-frozen November rain over the earth.

Suddenly, while Vinnie looked out, there came a fierce
gust of wind tearing through the great oaks and rattling their
heavy leafless branches against the walls of the cabin.

Twigs and leaves were flying in wild confusion through
the air, and it was growing darker every moment.

“ A wild and fearful storm is approaching,” said the girl,
shudderingl y; “ but I must not hesitate. My father is in
danger—may he he is—"

She paused a breath, as if fearful to say the word; and
then went on : “Maybe he is dead 1”

The dog was tugging at her dress again.

“ Yes," she said, in reply to his dumb, eager look.
I am going. Come !"

And shutting the door after her, she followed her brut
guide out into the storm, which had now begun to fall, and
away through the forest till they arrived at the place where
the hunter had met with the accident from the falling limb
a short time before.

Here the dog stopped, and after sniffing about for a mo-
ment, readily found the trail which the giant hunter had
made as he carried Darke away to the cavern, where we left
him at the close of our last chapter

“ Yes,

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C ll ‘ I ~ . ‘ M
 in: mm cm’s un. 89

 Then be towed, and pulling again at Vinnte’s dress, trot-

ted slowly away on the track he had just discovered.

, The storm had been steadily increasing, and it had been
 growing darker all the time, till the forest was indescribany
' Eomber and gloomy.

I The brat/e girl did not shrink ; but drawing a blanket she
1,. had thrown around her on leaving the cabin closer about her
 slender form, to SlilCltl her in n measure from the sleet that
1‘ dashed against her persnn, cutting almost like a knife, slit
 pushed on after the blood-hound, increasing her speed to
' keep up with him.

By and by Death stepped suddenly at the foot of a. steep,
i rocky acclivity.

k" He seemed, all at once, to have lost the trail.

Vinnie drew her blanket closer about her face and shoul-
," (lore, and crouching close up against the trunk of a large tree,
Watched him eagerly.

a lie ran back and forth several times along the base of the
1 lcclillity, searching for the lost trail ; then paused at last,
, with a quick, glad yelp, before a lirge rock that, almost hid-
den by the thick overhanging shrubbery along the hillside,
“Seemed to be firmly imbedded in the earth. Then for sev-
eral minutes he made no sign.

Had he lost the trail again?

He whined, and began to scratch away at the earth about
the bottom of the bowlder.

Vinnie, at in. loss to account for his strange behavior, drew
uthe blanket up over her head, and creeping closer up under
: ,the friendly shelter of the great tree-trunk, looked on in
~ Wonder.

‘l, It did not occur to her that the flat stone might conceal

the entrancu to the cavern beyond—for she was indeed at the
i-‘Lopening that led into the place where Lennder Muybob, the
 Klimt hunter, had carried her father but a. little while before.

Soon the blood-hound stopped digging, und sat down, with
mother long, low whine, keeping his red eyes fixed immova-
bly on the dark surface of the rock before him.

“What can it mean ?" Vinnie asked herself. “He does
.ot search for the trail any longer. Why does he stop here 2

 but i! there about that rock? I wonder if it is immovn-

_ 444‘

l

 

 

,6‘-_/- ' . 

 

0) mm: summon,

I am going to
It must be

ble. Perhaps it covers the trail some way.
attempt to move it. It looks very ponderous.
very heavy.”

She examined the bowlder closely. but Could see nothing i

to indicate that it had ever been stirred from the place where
it seemed so firmly itnbedded into the earth.
She laid hold of a corner that appeared to project more

than any other portion of the rock, and pulled with all her .

strength.

The stone remained immovable.
weak little hands?

“ I can not stir it," she said.
masonry. I am not strong enough.”

When the dog saw that she was trying to remove the

Of what avail were her

bowlder, he recommenced scratching at the dirt at. its base, "

giving utterance ever and anon to quick, glad yelps.
She tried once more; but her second etlorts were as una-
vailing as her first.

“It is no use.” sliesaid, half to herself and half to the >

But what does it mean?
It does, somehow;
What a
How the

blood-hound. “I can not stir it.
In what manner does it cover the trail?
or Death would surely pick it up and follow on.
fearful storm! I never saw one like it before.
sleet cuts my face and hands !”

And she shrunk back into her old shelter.

The (log kept his place before the bowlder, from which he
never removed his eyes till his quick ear caught a strange
sound, which even Vinnie heard plainly above the roar of the
storm. “

Following the direction of the brute‘s gaze, the girl saws
Hidden and unexpected sight.

Some one was approaching on a white horse.

She cowcrcd dowu out. of sight behind the tree-trunk and
The storm half blinded her; but she eonld see'

watched.

that it was a man, and that something, wrapped in a thick, 7
black cloth, hung limp and helpless across the horse before -

turn.

it was like a human being. Was it alive or dead ’2”

 

 

“It is as firme fixed as‘

    

  

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{In sum- cmn’s urn.

CHAPTER V II.
awn! 'rns: 2113031332!

: Tn:- mmutes—ten—tnirty—sixty, dragged slowly by, an
ACIancy Oere knew naught of them. All this time he hat.
~ Mug by a cord between this life and the next; but he com-
7prehended it not. He was still insensihle.
w The wind increased in tome until it, swayed the great tree
 from which he was suspended, and swung nim backward and
: forward, pendulum-like, over the turbid, roaring flood below.
Still he knew it not.
By and by a hthe, dark form, with grr-ztt fiery eyes and
{ ravenous jaws drew its dark length out of the cover of s
thicket near by, and creeping stealthily along the 'ground, as-
«ended the tree, and crouched menacingly on a branch di-
rectly shove him.

I: was it panther.

For tut minutes the terrible hrute eyed him with its red,
I; fiery eyes, and then, settling further back on its haunches,
prepared to pounce upon him.

Still he knew not his peril!

Closer down on the branch of the tree crouched the pan-
ther, its great red eyes seeming fairly to blaze, while its long
tail waved to and fro, lashing first one of its sleek, shining
sides and then Ihe other.

It was all Rudy to spring—in an instant it would dart
from its perch on the limb and shoot like an nrrow down
upon its swaying prey: every muscle of its lithe body was
contracted. One tu'enth—und then?

There was 2t doll, cutting sound, as a tense-drawn bow-
string was jerked straight, and a long. slender arrow entne
whizzing out of a copse near at hand, and, pierced to the.
heart. the panther rolled off of the limb and full quiVering
to the ground at the very moment when its victim seemed so
;~sccure and its triumph so complete. Its powerful limbs
fumighteued out, and the ravenous brute was dead.

1

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WWW-

 

 

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4*; ~ .mmmtminamn, ' 

In a moment a form emerged stealthin from the thicket ‘
and crept across the opening to the foot of the tree

It was Bear-Killer l

His ugly face still bled from the efl'ects of the kick he had .
reCeived from the young hunter 8 c0uple of hours before.
His purpose in returning so soon to the scene of his late dis.
comfiture and the death of his companions, is easily surmised.
when the reader remembers that he Was as vindictive and
vengeful as a fiend.

He gave the panther a kick with the toe of his moccasin,
and saw at once that it was quite dvad.

“ The panther would cheat the red-man out of his revenge,” ‘
he said, savagely. “It must not be so. Nothing can save
him now. He must die! The revenge of Bear-Killer is near
at hand. The white hunter’s time has Come.”

As the Indian ceased speaking, he drew his tomahawk, and
stepped back a few paces where his aim at the head of the L
swinging and senseless young hunter Would be true and cer—
tain.

He noted the distance accurately with his practiced eye, '
and poised his weapon.

“ Ilow quick he will die l” he muttered. “ How easy
Bear-Killer will slay hint !”

"‘ Bear-Killer will not slay him l" said a deep voice, close
at his side; and a heavy hand was laid on his arm, so sud-
ienly and with such force that the tomahawk fell from his "
grasp and halt" buried itself among the leaves at his feet.

Bear-Killer turned with a sharp grunt of rage and surprise. ,
Ilis mutilated face expressed nothing, but his small, halefuli
ryt-s scintillath like those of a cowed and lmfilt‘tl wolf. }

The hand on his arm tightened its hold, and the deep,
:‘mrn voice repeated authoritatively: a

“ Bear-Killer will not slay him 1” r

The spt-alu-r was an Indian, tall and massive in huiid, and
manifestly the superior of Bear-Killer in strength.

Ills dress and equipments indicated him to be a chief.
Bear-Killer'seemed to recognize his superiority, either of
rank or strength, or both. ,

It was Kuonan-gu-no-nah, who had but just now made hi *
escape from the cabin of Emmett Burke, and the terribl.

\

 

 

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nl

p.‘

it]

 

 

power which he believed Vinnie possessed; and lie was melt.

ing his way back through the forest toward the Indian vile ‘

large. when he discovered Bear-Killer in the act of consum-
ntating his dreadful vengeance on the unconscious white
man.

Ku-nan-gu-no-mth recognized this white man at a glance.

Ile knew it was Clancy Vere.

Anal he had particular reasons for not wishing Bear-Killer
do become his slat-er.

Perhaps his chief reason was that he wanted to put the
young hunter to death himself.

lie was aware that Clancy Vere was his successful rival
in the infections of Vinnie Darke, or Sun-Hair, as he was
wont to call her.

Jealous and vindictive as he was, this was sufficient to
make him httnt his pale-faced rival to the ends of the earth,
if he could not compass his death without. ,

Many titnes when he had seen Clancy go to the hunter’s
cabin, had he vowed in his fierce, jealous rage to kill him,
but something had heretofore always intervened to haflie
him; but now he was exultant. The time for which he had
so long waited had Come. The young hunter was bound
and insensible in his power. He asked nothing more. His
triumph seemed almost complete. llis tlisComfitures and re-
hutl‘s at Vinnie‘s hands that afternoon had more than ever
determined him to wreak vengeance on her lover, since he
stood itt too wholt'sttme awe of the lovely magician to think
'for a moment of again attempting to obtain forcible tosses-
sion of her person—at hast not at present.

“in: a sudden movemtnt, Bear Killer wrcnehed himself
'ree front the chief‘s grasp, and faced him half angrily, at
.he same time picking up the tomuhawk out of the leaves at
his fit-t.

“ Why does the chief interfere ‘:” he asked.

"Because," said Knnau-gu-no-nah. “he would slay the
paleri'ace hunter himself. He has cause for revenue 1"

« And has not Bear-Killer cause for revenge?" the Indian
almost yelled. “ Look at his face! Yonder white man did
this. The pain is like a thouaand tortures. What says the

' chief? Has he greater cause for revenge than Bear-Killer!”

 

a

sin: imam: mu; on.-

“ The chief has greater cause for revenge than Bear-Killer}
suid Ku-nan-gu-no-nah.

“ He has not i" said the Indian, decisively. “ Bear'Killer
will not. be cheated out his vengeance! He saved the pale-
faCe funn the panther that he might kill him himsclf !’

“ And the chief has saved him from the vengeance of Bear-
Killer that he might have his revenge l" Said Ku-nan~gu no-
nah, with a grim, devilish smile.
he shall see the vengeance of a chief."

. . l
IIe advanced toward the tree; and, as he neared it, his

gaze fell on the dead and horribly mangled bodies of the
savages who had fallen before the terrible charge of the Phan-
tom Rider.

The undergrowth had concealed them from his view until
now.

He started back
der.

“ Did he do it?"
white man.

“ No," said Bear-Killer, in a voice that was half a. gasp.
“ No; it was——"

“ Who then 1*” interrogated the chief, in an awed whis-
pler.

“ The Spirit \Varrior.”

“ ' lie Spirit ll’arrz'm' l"

The chief reiterated the words in a dazed sort of way, like
one under some subtle spell, while for an instant a shudder

with a loud cry of surprise and won-

hc asked, pointing toward the swaying

seemed to Cum like his massive frame, causing it to shake like u

an aspen.
“ Yes," said Bear-Killer, “it was the Spirit Warrior—tho

“ Let the warrior wait, and _

t

Spirit of the outeavt Chief, Meno. When will Metro's venge-
' I

. [thee lie cmnlnlefe?’

“ \\ hen Kit-nanguvno-nah anl all his braves are
more ! When the Sons of the red-men who tortured their
men ehi~f to death are all numbered with the (lead! Then,
um] not before, WI” the vengeance of the outcast and mur-
dered sat-hem, Mcno, be complete. Every day brings it near-
er the end 1”

The two Indians started as though a keen-edged knife had
pierced their Vitals. Then they stOOd transfixed with fear.

110

  

 

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1

  

'1, t staring into’each other’s eyes as if to inquire the source of

;,' the answer that had come to Bear-Killer’s question almost

 before it had left his lips.

° The tones of the voice that had spoken the words were

'hollow, and the weird and terrible menace seemed to be borne
to them on the winds from afar off, in a wild, ghastly chant

_ that thrilled ever fiber of their superstitious beings with a

Vague horror that they Could not shake otl‘.

F ‘ The dismal wailing of the wind through the forest trres,

' the sallen roar of the storm which had set in a little while
before, and the monotonous dashing of the cataract below, all
combined to inspire them with a sort of awed dread, that the
spirit voice, Crying out to them above the crash of the wind
and storm. augmented into a wild, ungovernable fear.

For several moments, the two lndians stood silent and mo-
tionless, neither daring to speak or stir.

For a few seconds the wind was hushed and the dash-
ing storm seemed to have spent its fury.

Then in an instant it seemed as if the storm denton had
sent forth all his throes of wind and sleet. Trees were
blown over, limbs were flying hither and thitlter, and the
wind increased to a perfect tornado, wailing and shriekng
like a regiment of fiends. The Indians saw that the white

, than was swinging to and fro at a fearful rate. It seemed as
thottgh the lasso must break at every oscillation. lle vi-
brated backward through a space of fully twenty feet. Tot-y
could not keep their footing, and were obliged to throw them-

 selves prostrate on the ground.

g lligh above the fearful roar, and crashing of uprooted trees

and fallen limbs, loud and clear above the shrieking of the

wind, was borne to them again the Voice of Mono, the Spirit

\Varrior :

“Let Ku-nan-gu-nn-nah beware! Meno‘s vengeance \Ell
overtake him. He will die a more horrible death than even v
his devilish mind can comprehend! Let him beware 1"

The two Indians remained motionless ttpon the earth,
trembling at every joint. Although giant trees were be~
tug uprooted on every hand and massive limbs were fall-
ing all around them, they were unharmed.

Clancy Vet-0's peril was imminent.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 

, .‘3

 

 

  

 

 
 

    

The tree. from a branch of which be was suspended. groans. f" '
ed and cracked under the force of the storm, threatening mo. -
mentarily to break loose from its place in the bank and 30
crashng over the precipice.

Even if the stout roots remained firm in their hold on the
earth, the Cord by which he hung was litble to be jerked
asunder at any oscillation of his body; and he would shoot
headlong down into the seething flood underneath and b0
sm-pt to destruction over the waterfall below.

A quatter of an hour passed, during “hieh the two sav-
ages did not arise from their recumbent position and the
spirit voice did not again speak.

The tree remained film and the lasso seemed to deride all
attempts on the part of the tempest to break it. It would
Crack, but it would not part.

Thus far, Clancy Vere hatl been saved; but he was still
uncmiscious, and had not realized the terrible danger that
had menaeed him. -

Soon the storm began to abate somewhat.

Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and Bear-Killer got upon their feet by-
and-by, when the fury of the storm was in a measure spent.

Their sharp sense of hearing had been keenly alert to
catch any further words from the Spirit Warrior. But they
did not hear the terrible, :enacing voice again.

“ It has gone,” said the chief.

“Yes,” assented Bear-Killer, in a tone of relief. “ We
shall hear it no more to-day. It went away on the storm."

“ The vengeance of Mono is terrible i" said the chief,
will: a shudder. “But we are safe now. Now for my re-
venge !"

“Stop,” said Benr~Killer. “ We will draw lots. I, too
have come here for vengeance on the white hunter.”

The chief gruuted a guttural and very unwilling compli
anee to this proposition.

" We must hurry," he said, “or he will be dead. He is
'tlmnsl de td now."

Bear-Killer made a Very small mark on the trunk of the.
tree.

“The one that throws his tomka the, nearest to the
mark wins,” Odd he.

   

 

 

  

wuwnuw

   

  
 

 

 

1; nut fail to notice.
7 slipping out of his grasp, the chief dealt him a pmverful blow
" on the side of the bend.

nix mm- oam’s um ,

Tney took their places almost on the verge of the high
luff on which they were standing.

Ku-nan-gu-no-nah. threw first.

' His tomahnwk buried itself in the tree-trunk, within half
an inch of the mark.

There was a buieful glow in Bear-Killer’s wolfish eyes as

he poised his Weapon, a treacherous glitter that the chief (lil
Just as the handle of the tontalmwk was

He staggered a. moment and his
body swayed to and fro as he tried to regain his baianCc on
the very edge of the bank. The next instent his wild death-
yell came up from below i

 

’ 2‘ e 
-_ its

«n

    

    

CHAPTER VIII

THE ouwr’s s'ronY.

DARKE noted the angry flash in the dwarfs little black '

eyes, as he nodded an eager assent to his brother‘s strange
question, and wondered not a little what the “one great pur-
pose " of this queerly assnrted pair‘s lives was ; but he forebora ;
to question the giant, not doubting that, if it was not some
secret that they did not wish to disclose, he would explain
himself in good time. And this belief was not far from eor- ‘
reet, as the giant hunter's next words attested. He sat down
on a stool near at hand; and as Alonphilus came and stood
at his side, he said :

“ Yes; wer’e livin’ for some purpose.
lives up to revenge l
hain’t we, ’Lon i"

The dwarf‘s round little pate was bent forward again until

\Ve have given our I
Wer'e u-gittin’ revenge every day,

a
i

 

Oarke just caught the glitter of the dusky eye under the broad "

sin: of his slouch hat; and this he interpreted to be a token
of assent to the giant's question. As his face was raised to
view again, he thought he saw the dwarfs mute lips move,
as if in an attempt to speak, and he imagined that volumes of
vindictive, vengeful Words were struggling for utterance. ‘}
But the dumb tongue was incapable of expressing even a tithe;x
of the dark passion that was written on every lineument of
the pigmy’s face. ‘

l

t

“ And we‘ve anuff to be revenged for, God knows 1" Lean- 

der Maybod went on. " We can’t never wipe out of on.
memories our old father and mother that the red devils mur-

dered in cool blood; we can‘t never forgit the awful sight e

our eyes rested onto, when we came home from a hunt one
morning; we can‘t never wipe this out of our minds.
the just God helpin‘ us, we'll wipe every one of their murder-
ers off 0' the earth before we die l
Ihall die a more horrible death than even his own hellish
mind has planned for his poor helpless vie‘imsl We’ve done-

But, e

The devil that led them f

 

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til

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.. .t . . e... "iii-i...

a deal 0de fulfillin‘ our vow in the past six years; eh,
’Lon? We’ve made many a saVage bite the dust in that
time t”

The dwarf's hand darted into the bosom of his hairy vest-
ment; it came out again in an instant, and he held up to
Darke’s view a deer-skin string about four feet in length,
which was knotted almost from one end to the other.

9 lie touched each knot in succession with the forefinger of
:"'his right hand, accompanying every motion with a nod of the
head.

“ There‘s just a hundred an‘ forty-eight knots,” snid’the big
hunter; “ and every one on ’em is a red-skin's eppytoph !"

That slender strip of deer-skin, simple and harmless as it
appeared, told a ghastly story of conflict and of death and of
half-sated vengeance !

“ We'll git our hands on him yet,” the big hunter went on.
" We've ha! chances to kill him of'en enough; but jest a
common death ain‘t enough fer him. 110 (lesarves more; an‘
I want to give him his jest desarts. He must die an awful
death! Our vengeance ’ll overhaul him yet, ‘Lon. Then
you may tie a double knot! We‘ll give him two muses to
his eppytoph ; eh, ’Lon 2’”

The dwarf nodded, touched the hilt of his hunting-knife
‘ significantly, and made motions as if to tie a knot in the string
which he still held in his hand.

“ Of whom do you speak 2*" queried Darke, as he supper m
himself on his elbow. ‘

“The red fiend that led the attack on our cabin! the.
devil that shot my mother and carried my old father’s wait.“
scalp away in his belt! llain’t we got reason plenty fer yen.
geanee? Do ye Wonder that Wt: hunt and kill Indians at.
you Would kill serpints? Do ye think it’s strange that we
don’t want to let that red imp die a common way 1/" ~

The big hunter had arisen while he spoke, drawing his ’
Titanic form up to its full hight. The expression on hi5: {ape
was terrible to look upon. Ashe finished, he brought his
ponderous clenched fist down, striking it in the horny palm
of his other hand. ‘

Drake half shuddered.

u Kym!" he cried “ No death-mo torture on earth is

 

 

 

 

    

to: ‘  moms

horrible enough to be meet punishment for the atrocities of
such a fiend incarnate! Is he an Indian chief ?"

The giant nodded. His ungovemable rage seemed to have.
entirely spent itself, and he did not speak; but stood with
folded arms and downeast eyes, his massive frame as mo-
tionless as though carved out of the solid rock around
them.

Alonphilus seemed to partake keenly of this feeling of
undying, inveterate hatred of the Indians. His face Wore a
hard, implacable look, and he kept drawing the record of
their vengeance slowly through his fingers from one hand to
the other, as if he longed to tie the short end of it that was
yet unmarked by the little death register into one great hard
knot, that could never be entangled, in commemoration of
the yummy» from this life to the next of the murderer of his
parents and the triumphant consummation of their terrible
work of vengeance.

The spell that was on the big hunter was only momentary,
and it was but a minute or two before he was himself again ;
and he signified his willingness to resume the conversation
by saying, as he resented himself on the stool at the side of
the Coach of skins on which Darke reclined:

“ Well.I heerd Elder Fugwirller say onc’t—and he was
College l’arnt—‘ It‘s a long tow-path, or cow-path, or snthin‘,
as hasn‘t got no turns into 'etn;’ and] believe it’s true as
gospil."

'l‘he dwarf turned and walked across the cavern, and
pushing aside the dividing curtain, disappeared within the
inner apartment, replacing the death record in his bosom as
he did so.

“ The day of retribution is sure to come at last. It is not

often that the guilty escape punishment,” said Darke. “ It -

is sure to overtake them sooner or later.
certtiin !"

“ I'm a-thinkiu’," returned Leander Maybob, “ as how Ku-
nan-gu-no-nah‘s tow-path or cow-path ’ll take a mighty un-
expected turn some day l"

" Ku-nan-gu-no-nah l”

The big hunter seemed surprised at. Duke‘s suddenuelv
elation. -

God‘s justice is

   

 

 

 

 

 

w— V

r,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

m. .mm“ .  ‘s Flt-Ti: A

“ Yes,” he said, “ that’s the devil‘s name. Do you know
:him? Have you got an account ag‘in' him ?”
“Yes,” cried Darke, sitting bolt upright on the couch,
‘while a hard, stern look settled on his face. “Yes; I be-
licve I have. And I am going to present it for settlement
the very first time I see him !" '

“ What do you mean ?" the other asked, evincing no small
degree of interest in the words and actions of Darke. “ [Int
he ever—"

“I‘ll tell you,” interrupted Darke. “Then you'll under-
stand how it is. We—I mean Vinnie,'my motherless daugh-
ter, and myself—live alone in our little cabin. There is no
one to keep us company and no one that I can leave with
her when, as I am often compelled to do, I go in search of
game out into the woods. Sometimes I am absent a whole
day together; but I never stay away over night. Some
time last summer, while Vinnie was wandering through the
edge of wood that skirts our little clearing, Ku-nau-gu-no-nah
saw her and conceived the idea of making her his wife. Al-
ways choosing times when I Was away, he has several times
come to my cabin; trying to persuade Vinnie to go with
him to his wigwam and become his squaw. He has never
offered her violence, but the last time, failing to induce her
to do as he wished, he threatened to abduct her and hear her
away to the Indian village. I have left her a pi~tol to be
used as a protector, and she has not been brought up on the
frontier without learning how to handle it. I am staying
away today, I fear, longer than I ought to. I hope I shall
be able to go home soon. How long is it since you brought
me here? I begin to feel stronger, as if I could walk easily
enough now. Have I been here long, did you say ?”

“I lugged ye in here som’eres about. the middle of the
a‘ternoon," replied the other, “ and it‘s purty near night now.
'Lon‘s comin' back with the glims now. You‘ve b'en here
som’cre's about three or four hours D'ye b‘lieve yer fit to
travel now ?"

“ Yes,” said Darke. “ I think all my strength. has come
back. I do not feel weak or faint; but my head aches ter-

 

ribly—that’s all. I must go.”
The dwarf entered at this juncture, hearing tour or five

 

    

s " ~

m rumon RIDER; OR,

pitch-pine torches, which he lighted and stuck into niches in

the rocky walls of the cavern.

“ I s’pose ye calkilate to shoot him ?” said Leander May-
bob, eagerly. “ I s’pose ye’ll kill him. ’TWould only jest be
in the natur’ of things for ye to do so; but I wish ye
wouldn't. I wish ye wouldn‘t harm a hair of his head. Ye
see he can‘t die only onc't; and .if you kill him he won’t
suffer only one death. If we wipe him out, he'll hev to die
a hundred deaths in one 1 If ye jest load a gun in the com-
mon way and fire it off, that’s all there is of it; but if ye puts
in a good many loads and rams ’em down good till ye’ve got
it chuck full cl’ar to the muzzle, and then manage some way
to git out of danger and gives the trigger a leetle jerk, why
then ye’ll bu'st the ’tarnal thing. Ye see when we tech Ku-
nan-gu-uomah off, we calkilates to bu‘st him. I wish ye'd jest
let us pay it all off together~your soore and our own. \Vhat
d’ye say ?"

“ You know a man always feels better for taking his own
revenge," said Durke. “ It‘s more satisfactory.”

“ Yes, I know ’tis,” replied the big hunter. “ I know ’tis,
and I wouldn't nohow let any man take our job outen our
hands; but when I tell ye our story, I h'lieve ye’ll agree as
we‘re the ones that ought to have the prime chance at Ku-
nan-gu-no-nah. If I’ll tell it to ye, ye'll jest give the subjick
a few minutes thort, Won’t ye?’

“I should like very much to hear your story,
“ and I'll consider what you have proposed.”

It is unnecessary that we should follow Leander Mayhoi
through the somewhat tedious length of recital, during which
he made many pauses and numerous repetitious; but we will
"give the reader the substance of his sad story.

The giant hunter had, with his dwarf brother and his
parents, considerably advanced in life, come from the East
seven years years before, and erected a pionccr’s cabin at a
place down the river twenty or twentyltive miles from their
cavern lodge.
and for several months all went Well; although the Indians
made almost daily visits to their forest home, they never mo-
lested any thing or .olfered any violence.
and they began to fancy themselves secure from any him

‘1

said Darke;

  

They commenced making a little clearing, '

Tho days went l-y '

 

   

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manure!!th ten " “ 
from the savages. But they put too much faith in their
treacherous natures. When Darke heard how a band of the
dusky fiends, led by Kn nan~gu~no—nah, attacked the old set-
tler’s cabin one dark. stormy night in the absence of his sons
—when he heard how the stout-hearted, gray-haired old man
and his feeble wife had been driven out, after defending their
cabin :md their lives gallantly for nearly two hours, by the
flames which were devouring their little log home, whose
rotiin walls had wardcd otf the Indians" bullets, which had
rattled harmlcssly from their sides; how they had been
butchered a; they came out from the roaring, crackling
mass—when the giant avcnger told him with a moisture suf-
fusing his eyes of the return next. morning of himself and
Alonphilus and the heart-sickening,r sight they beheld; when
he heard all this, he Could not wonder that these strange
brothers had taken a solemn and fearful vow to avenge their
parents‘ death. He knew that their claim on the life of the
chief was greater than his; so he said, as he arose from the
Couch—for he was much stronger now:

“I will promise you this. Unless I find it absolutely no—

,cessary,to protect myself or mine, I will try to forego my

revenge on Ku-nan-gu-‘no-nah and leave him to your disposal.
Is this satisfactory? I believe you have a better right to
kill him than I."

" Thank ye !" said the big hunter, grasping Darke's hand
and squeezing it almost painfully in his bony fingers.
“Thank ye, Mr. Darke. It seems as how I can’t thank ya
enough l"

“ Never mind the thanks,” said Darke.
debtor. You took me in when—”

“ 'l‘hcre! that‘ll do,” interrupted Leander. “ Come."

As he ceased speaking, he turned and led the way into tlo
inner apartment of the cavern.

Darke felt quite Well now, with the exception of an acute
pain in his healand be followed his strange entertainer with
no ditlicnlty whatever.

The place where he now found himself resembled the outer
cavern a gootl deal, only it was much smaller and contained
a sort of rude fireplace, on the hearth of which a bright fire
was blazing merrily, sending showers of sparks up a narrow

“I am your

   

    
     
     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
         
  
   
  
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
   
   
   
   

I

m minim arisen; on,

  

fissure that sewed as an outlet for the smoke; in short, it

Was a natural chimney, and Could not have answered its pur-

; po'se better had it been built up of stone and mortar in the
usual way. Another small apartment was curtained 011‘ from
this in the same manner that the two larger apartments of
the cavern were separated from each other, only the curtain
of pelts was closely drawn, as it special pains had been taken

o shut out the interior from the View of any one in the other

art of the cave.

The big hunter motioned Darke to a seat on the stool near
the fire, and then, followed by the dwarf, passed into this
smaller room, if such it might be called, carefully closing the
curtain behind him. Soon Darke heard him say something
in a subdued tone that he could not understand. A moment
later he caught a few words that caused him to wonder
greatly. Evidently there was a mystery connected with the
little apartment. He heard the rough voice of the big hunter
say:

“ Does he show any signs of life yet? Can’t be he’s dead i"

The next moment they returned, but the giant offered no
explanation of the mystery, whatever it was, and Darke
thought best to act as though he had not overheard the .
strange words quoted above. A large oaken chest stood
nearly in the center of the place; and on its lid Alonphilus
had arranged a savory supper of broiled venison.

The brothers each drew a stool up by the side of this
strange table, and Leander invited Darke cordially to do the
same.

After he had partakcn of the food so hospitany proffered
by his new-found friends, he announced his intention to de-

Qpart at once for home. The big hunter told him that it Was '
' lready growing dark outside, and he knew that he must have
seen away from Vinnie at least five hours, now; and he
feared that she would grow uneasy if he did not return soon. ‘.

He thanked the twin avengers for their kindness and was ’
about to go, when he saw Alonphilus raise one end of the i
chest as if to carry it to some other part of the caVern. He '
stood close at hand, and he laid hold of the other handle to
assist the dwarf in its removal.

They had gone but a few paces, however, when Alonphllus

/

. ..   “ ..- W,
an em MW! ’A‘l‘i

K c
it. tripped and fell, dropping his part of the burden to the
"_ ground; and the sudden jar caused the other handle to slip
from Darke‘s grasp. The chest overturned, the cover flying
back 313 it did so, and its contents rolled out at the wood-
nmn's feet with a. weird, ghastly rattle as it struck the rocky
. floor. Dill'kc, strong. brave man though he was, started back
will: a quick, sharp cry of alarm.
White and terrible at his feet, lay a grinning, horrible shale
I ion of gigantic proportions .’
“ Our secret! Our secret I” cried the big hunter, hourly
“ You hcv diskivered our secret I"

 

 

 

 

    

CHAPTER IX.
LOST I): Tim FOREST. 

STILL crouching down by the great tree-trunk at the en-
trance of the cavern lodge ot' the Maybob twins, in whose”
ciire her father, of whom the realer reenllcets she came out
in search, was at that very moment, though she knew it not,
and had no knowledge of the cave itself, Vinnie watched, as
best she might, through the blinding' storm, the approach of
the rider of the white horse and his mysterious burden.
Death, desistingr for a moment from his persistent pawing of L
the earth at the base of the rock that had detied the girl's
weak attempts at removal a few minutes before, Came, and
standing close beside her, poked his sharp nose out through
‘ the bushes that grew thick around the foot of the tree, and
Watched with his keen eyes the horseman, who was coming
nearer every moment.

She could not see the man‘s face very distinctly, for he
more a wide, slouch hat that, when he bent far forward on
his horse, to prevent the sleet from beating into his eyes and ‘
mouth, almost entirely concealed it from view.

But the mysterious burden that he carried before him wad
plainly visible, and seemed, perhaps because of its very mys-
tery, to have a aort- of weird fascination for her.

She Could not see the object, itself; it Was so closely
rolled in and so carefully protected from the driving storm
by the heavy black wrap that entirely enveloped it from head
to foot—for she had firmly determined that it was a human
form. Only one question remained unsolved in her mind
now. i

“ \Vas it alive or dead '3”

While she yet pondered on this mystery, and with her eyes
on the horseman, every thing—the white horse—its rider——
the man or woman, or corpse, that he had carried before him
—whntever it. was that was hidden from sight so efl'ectuslly
within the folds of that pull—she could not believe it WM

.- s ,u“

 

 
 

 

    

 
     

.‘
l
l
l

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

m an“ cams-‘3 u'ri'
any thing else—while yet she saw him coming toward the
place of her concealment, all vanished from her sight as sud;
denly and as surely as though the earth had opened and swal-
lowed them up.

She uttered a little cry of consternation.
oed her eyes and looked again.

But there was nothing there, where the man and the horse

Then she rub-

' ad that. other thing had been, only the ‘falling storm, still

raging with all its fury.

What could it mean ?

She. asked herself this question shudderingly, while, in her
fear, she clung around the neck of her great brute companion,
glad in the terror that possessed her of the company which
he, dumb animal though he was, could be to her._

The blood-hound had never, for an instant, removed his
gaze from the place where the mysterious horseman, with his
black burden, had so unaccmintably (ilStlppCerd a few mo.
ments before; and while Vinnie’s arms Were yet around his
neck he tore himself from her embrace and darted out of
sight among the shrubbery that grew dense and heavy about
the spot.

Vinnie called to him repeatedly, but he did not come back.
She waited, then called again and again with a like result.
The (log did not come ; nor Could she hear him beating about
the undergrowth.

Had he deserted her?

She would not believe it; and she cried again, her voice
almost losing itself in the roar of the storm:

“ Death! Death ! Death, come back 1
good old fellow! Come back I”

' Again she waited and listened

The wind and storm were all the sounds she heard:

Then it seemed to come to her all at once that she was
alone. Even her brute protector had deserted her.

All alone in the tempest that. was raging through the forest
like a thousand furics l

u 11.: has gone 1" she quavered, hugging the tree-trunk
closer, as a gust of wind wilder than any before swept
through the forest, uprooting a large sycamore not far away,
and blowing the covering 03‘ from her hen-l ; ietting the elect

Here, Death-—

 

  

Ge  stolen: on.

dash in its sharp, cutting way into her face. “ He is gone,‘
she repeated with slow iteration, “ and I am all alone i"

She thought of returning to the cabin ; but she dared not
faCe the storm. It was almost certain death to attempt to
make her way home with the storm at its hight and while
trees were falling almost constantly, and branches flying hither
and thither all the time, crashing through the tree-tops and
whirling in mid-air as though they had been but feathers in-
stead of massive pieces of wood.

She dared not venture out of her shelter.
back as far as possible and waited.
abate somewhat after a while.
this was her one bit of comfort.

In an hour‘s time the tempest seemed to have spent its
fury. The wild roar of the wind had dwindled to a low,
mournful moaning, and the sleet had ceased to fall; but the
rain fell in a slow, monotonous drizzle that seemed likely to
continue through the night.

The afternoon was now very far advanced, but it lacked
more than an hour of nightfall.

Vinnie arose to her feet now, and walked slowly back, as
nearly as she could find her way, over the trail she had come.
She followed it without much difficulty for a short distance,
but by and by when she lost sight of the indistinct pathway
that led away frotu the cavern, she was obliged to be guided
solely by her judgment of what direction she ought to take to
rear-h her father's cabin. -

For nearly an hour she kept on, picking ht-r way through
the thick undergrowth, and Climbing over fallen trees and
heaps of the debris of the storm which was scattered through
the length and breadth of the forest. It was beginning to
grow dark, and the cold November rain kept falling slowly
and steadily. The sky was overcast with black clouds. Vin-
nie felt that she made but slow progress, hasten as she might.
The night. when it c une, woull be very dark, and she dreaded
lest it might overtake her before she reached home.

Willi wildly beating heart she pressed on; and soon the
landmarks began to grow familiar to her. She was weary
'and almost heartsiek; but she began to feel more hopeful.

'Tbings along. her way looked' more, and more as though she

So she shrunk
Perhaps the storm would
She hoped it would; and

 

   

   

 

‘ sh

—fl.fln

 
 

 

 

 

 
   

l

 

seen them before every minute. Was she nearing thg

"whin? She thought so.

i She had kept a sharp look-out for the clearing that .her
father had made around their forest-home, but she could see

‘ thing to remind her of it.

' She kept on bravely, though, never doubting one minute

that she would catch a glimpse of the cabin through the trees
' the next. ‘

_ The trees on either hand appeared familiar. She was feel
iting really hopeful now. '
'1 “ I‘ll be there in a few moments, I’m sure,” she said to her-
self as cheerily as she could. “ That old crooked sycamore
there looks like an old acquaintance! The clearing must be
JUst ahead !"

She pressed onward quite hopefully now; and, five min.
lites later, she found herself—just where she had started from
an hour before. There was the rock that she had tried in
“Vain to move, and the great tree behind whose sturdy trunk,
'she had found a partial shelter from the storm !

She staggered back, clutching at a bush for support.

“ My God l" she mmned, “ I am lost 1”

she gunk down on the wet earth almost despairfully.
Then her old brave spirit reassertcd itself.

“ What a poor miserable little coward I am l“ she cxclaim:
.‘ ed, almost angry with herself. “ What can I do that is
more likely to get me out of my trouble than to try again ‘3"

It was growing dark very fast now and the cold rain was
falling as slowly and monotononsly as ever; but she Would
not allow herself to think of either the coming night or the
drizzling rain—and she set out for home a second time quite
bravely.

It was no desirable task that she had before her, and she
did not lack upon her weary walk as a mere pleasure trip, by
any means Still that hold, hopeful spirit that had borne
. her up through her adventures with the chief that afternoon
was Wm, her now; and she was far from being despond‘
eat.

or If I try, and keep trying," she mused, as she hurried on,
( u I may mm]. home in safety by-and-by ; and if I am really
, inst end must stay in the (crest, I suppose there is very little

 

I,

t J
,.

‘L‘mv’...il‘¢  ~ 

choice in sleeping-places. 80, upon the whote, I think I had
better keep traveling about as long as I can. I will try and
not get faint-hearted again, anyway.”

In twenty minutes it was dark as Erebus!

Still the gill pressed bravely forward through the night 
She could no longer see with any certainty. Keeeping any 
Specific course was out of the question ; and it was with great ,'
difficulty that she kept her feet, at times, among the fallen, Q:
trees and tangled undergrowth. But she tried to keep a bold 
heart. J

Ghmeing ahead, through the blackness, to a dense thicket ,
just in advance, she saw something that made her pause in V 
terror. It. was a pair of eyes! , _

Vinnie stand quite still, too much frightened to stir or
cry out. That pair of fixed, fiery eyes had a sort of weird
fascination for her. i .

All at once, while she yet looked at them, she felt. the 25
blend leaving her heart, and an awful terror took possession 
of her whole being. ' "

The eyes were slowly and unmistakably advancing toward
her!

She tattered back a step or two with a low cry. Just then
there was a loud report near at hand. An unearthly sereech. .‘
half-human, rung out on the night-air. The eyes seemed to '~‘
shoot up a few feet and then they disappeared. .

A man came dashing through the undergrowth. and in &
moment he stood beside her.

“ Vinnie l"

“ Oh, fallier !"

“ Don‘t be afraid, little one,” Darke said, reassuri-igly.
‘It was a. panther; but it is dead now. It is a fearful night.
Let us hurry home. When we get there. you must tell me
how you came here.” ,.

He took her hand in his and they hastened on through
the night.

 

C H A P T E R X .
A BAFFLED \‘L'GEANCE.

KU-NAN-GU-NO-NAH had not intended to push Bear-Kille
over the hluti'. He knew that treachery was one of his strong
est characteristics, and fearful lest in some manner he should
lose his revenge, or rather his elrance for revenge, on his white
rival, he watched him narrowly as he made ready to hurl
his tomahawk in the trial of skill he had proposed to deter-
mine which of the two should put the unconscious young
hunter to death; and he detected almost instantly the inten-
tion of Bear-Killer to act in accmdance with this his most
prominent trait of character.

He saw that the treacherous brave was poising his toma-
hawk to throw, not at the mark on the tree-trunk, but at the
head of their victim! -

All the quick, wild passion of his fierce nature was aroused
in an instant.

He \‘t'as not one to brook treachery.

With a cry of rage, he struck Bear-Killer a sudden power-
ful hlow With his list. '

The doomed savage lost his balance and toppled over the
precipice.

While yet his wild death yell rung out on the storm, Ktt-
nan-su-no nah threw himself flat on the ground, and cmning
his neck out over the bunk, looked down into the foaming ,
Water below.

At first he saw nothing but the jagged rocks and the toss- '
ing flood. Then, a little down—stream, the dusky face of his
victim was visible for an instant amid the cddying waters,
then it sunk from sight forever.

“ He will he carried over the waterfall,” said the chief.
“ He will lodge on the rocks below. I will send the pule~
face after him, and he. can take his revenge down there. He
will not dispute my right to the first chance. I will take my
‘ revenge now. -- Hecate have his afterward-all he cm get i”

 

 

'n m mam-ox man; at,

There was no place in the red flend‘s heart, for remorse fut
any evil deed. He had looked upon the whole afi'air as a
fortunate accident that had rid him of one who stood in his
way-nothing more !

IIe arose from the ground and turned his gaze upon his
hated and senseless rival.

It would be impossible to depict the fierce rage and tri-
umph that flushed from the chief's eyes, as be regarded his
victim.

Clancy was still swaylng slowly backward and forward
over the whirling, roaring waters far below, that seemed to
be filled with hoarse, clamorous voices, crying aloud for his
life.

The motion of his body was more gentle now that the
wind had died down. The lasso no longer jerked and crack-
ed, t.hreatening to break and let him down into the jaws of
death, gaping wide below.

He hung pulseless and heavy, like a. man that was dead—-
there was neither a tremor nor a. pulsation to tell if he lived
or not.

A hand placed on his heart would have felt the faintest
kind of a flutter; that was all !

He was alive, but for how long?

It was impossible for Ku-uan-guno-nah to touch him from
the bank.

He was uncertain whether he was yet alive.

But if he clove his head with his toinahawk, he would be
sure that he was dead.

Was he going to wreak vengeance for a. fancied wrong,
on his vital, breathingrival, or on his soulless body?

He did not know. He knew that the soul would leave
the body before his vengéance was accumplishedi If the
form swaying before him was alive now he would leave it
dead.

Was he going to tomahawk a man or a corpse ?

He did not know, and he did not care !

With an expression of fiendish exultation on his dark, evil
face, he took a position not more than twenty feet distant
Iron Vere, and drew his tomahawk.

Long practth had made him an adept in the use of his

 

 

 

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t “V n» . ‘ A I A ‘ ‘. -\ ‘/‘ I I

m  cams  It?

, favorite weapon, and he poised it instantly, without any. ap-

_parent care. He was sure of his aim at such close range,

; and in a second the tomahawk went whirling out of his hand,

But it missed its human mark by six inches, and felt with
‘ a dull splash into, the water.
a: The wind and the swinging motion of the young hunter
had baflled him!
He uttered a deep curse, and drew a small pistol from his
belt.
* To cock it and bring the sights to a level with his eye was
’ but. the work of a moment. He pulled the trigger. There
‘ Was a click as the hammer came down—that Was all.
It was not loaded!
rg Clancy Vere remained unharmed.
‘ The hand of Providence was in it!

With a low cry of baflled rage, he set about loading the
pistol. He had accomplished it in a minute. Would any
thing baffle him now?

He cocked it, put on a cap, and took careful aim at Clan-
 cy’s head.

_ There Was a flash and a sharp report.

;1 He ran to the edge of the bank and examined his intend-
ed victim‘s face critically; and there was nothing to indicate
that the shot had been etfective. Surely it had not touched

5 ’. his face, and there was nothing that looked like a bullet-hole

j' in any part of the young hunter’s (leer-skin clothing.

Ku-nan-gu-no-nah was almost frantic with impotent, rage.
In his ungovernablc passion, before, at being twice baffled,
he had neglected to put a ball in the pistol!

This exidained why he had, as he thought, although be

, had taken accurate aim, missed his mark.

, .. Kn-nan-gu-no-nah was a great warrior in his tribe. When
‘  he went on the war-path he always returned laden with scalps
’  and other ghastly trophies of rapine and murder. Besides
‘ .3 this he was looked upon as the best shotamong all the braves
7' Who acknowledged his authority as chief and leader.
. Now he seemed to have lost his skill, and his rage and
 chagrin were unbounded.
With a snarl like that of a caged tiger, he threw the pin-
1 flol oven, the blufl

 

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x a . m. m v

f‘ Maybe it will go down to Bear-Killer,” he said. “ It’s gum!
enough for him! He won’t do much fine shooting now, I ,
guess! Maybe he will have his revenge on the pale-face “
with it. I‘m going to cut the lasso and Send him down, too,
now. I think Sun llair, the squaw magician: has saved him
to-day with her devil-box. some way. I‘ll cut the lasso, and
see if she can keep him from falling into the water! A tom-

\ahawk won’t. kill hitn, and a pistol is just as powerless to do
him harm i" As he ceased speaking, he drew his hunting-
knife and ran his finger along its edge.

The result of the examination was apparently satisfactory
—the blade was sharp. .

“I don‘t believe she can hold him up in the air after the
lasso is cut," he muttered. ,

Replacing the hunting-knife in his belt, be advanced to
the root of the tree, and began climbing up its trunk.

In two or three minutes he had gained the limb to which
the end of the lasso was secured.

Crawling slowly along it—for it was not large, and the
waters pitching and tossing underneath made his head swim
just a trifle—he worked his way out to the place where the
lasso was tied. How the water roared and rung in his ears!

He swung himself astride of the limb, clutchingit with
his left hand to tnakc his position more secure, while with
his right. he disengaged his knife and dropped its keen edge
on the lasso where it was passed several titnes around the
projecting branch.

Just then a sudden gust of wind swept past, causing the
tree to sway a little.

Quick as thought he placed the end of the horn handle of
his knife between his teeth and with both hands clung to the
branch on which he sat. It swung front side to side two or
three lime-t, and the chief reeled for a moment as if he had
lost his balance. Ile gripped the branch with the energy of
desperation, his sharp nails sinking into the rough bark, {.21
his swarthy face turned to an ashen hue.

In a minute or two the branch became motionless and he
was once more securely seated, with one hand clinging to the
limb and and tom twisted in the lasso in such .3 manner that
he could disengage it at the instant of cutting the knot.

 

  

 

s' ~_,,.,. ,.,,._‘
I ’ ,. -*_I 7-- ._.,

m,,mr menu H ’

j- Bis situation Was a perilous one, but his mind 1n: co in-
. hat on the hellish work be Was braving so much to accomo
plish that he heeded it not.

The least motion of the tree—a sudden gust of wind—
.tl false movement .on his part-the an‘f‘St trifle would bring
._ upon him the death he had planned forthe man swinging be«
i low, who, until the lasso should be severed, was more secure
'r than he. Again he clutched the keen-edged hunting-knife,

- 3 Ind was about to draw it across the coils of the ldriat.

; A strange sound arrested his attention.
* It was the voice of a man.
‘ Steadying himself in his seat, he turned his head.

He beheld a sight so startlingr that he almost loosened his
grip on the limb. The knife slipped from his grasp and he
held on with both hands.

a A white man stood on the bank not ten yards distant, with
r I. rille leveled at his head.

i lie was a very tall and very massive man, of very grotesque
appearance; and when the reader is told that it was Leander
Mayboh, the giant hunter, and no one else, a personal descrip-
tion is unnecessary. The muzzle of his rifle pointed steadily
at the Indian's head, and he said in a rough tone of command
that the chief was afraid to disobey, and, at the same time

p  fearful to obey:

 

1"

“ Come down A -
Ku-nan-gu-no—nah realized that the time occupied in the
passage of a bullet from the bit:r hunter‘s 'unerriog rifle to hi5

f‘ brain would be very short.

llc attempted to hitch backward along the. limb and came
near losing his hold and shooting down into the roaring wa-
ter below.

He looked at the giant in a half zlnspairful way, which hcl
only noticed by saying:

“ Come down, or I'll shoot 3”

Again he essaycd to move himself backward along the
limb. It was a perilous undertaking, but death Sittlt’tl him
grimly in the face, let him look whichever Way he would.

Once more. This time be swayed so far to one side that

it was with the greatest difilculty that he regained his equl
poise on top of the branch.

, s’

 *m mm mm: on,

Nov-he turned his gaze for an instant again to the man ‘
on the .bank Who held his rifle in his hands—the man whose a
father and mother he had murdered, though he knew it not.

If he had known the terrible oath of vengeance that the 
giant hunter had registered against him, he would have choir,
sea to strangle in the stream underneath rather than to fall *-
into his hands. 

lie paused a moment, shuddering as he half lost his hold 7
tn the limb.

« Again that stem command rung in his cars:
“ Come down i” .
lIis efforts at moving‘along the branch toward the body of ‘

the tree were attended with better success, now that the, limb '
began to grow larger and his seat more secure. Still his pro-
gress was very slow. He could have movod forward easily
enough, but he dared not turn around. Q ~

When he paused to take breath a moment, he heard the
big hunter say in his implacable voice: ‘?

“ Comet D‘ye want ter be shot i" 1

He exerted himself to the utmost, and five minutes later
slid down the trunk of the tree and stood doggedly before i
this cantor.

“ Ku-nan-gu-nonah is a great chief, ain’t he i‘" the giant
said, tauntingly. “ lie climbs trees and can’t get down ag’in
without help. Ain’t ye glad I happened along ter help
ye down? lie is a mighty warrior! He goes with twenty
‘or thirty of his greasy braws in the night to kill and scalp
3 white-haired' old man and a decrepit old woman! Some
time I‘m goin‘ ter wipe ye out, ye cowardly red divill but
not now. I‘m goin’ ter let yer live a little longer, and then
when I git ready to kill ye, you’ll suffer as many awful deaths 7.
as all of your victims put together! Yer can go, now. I'm
done with yer for the present. Come, don‘t stand thcrel
Go 1"

He drew his rifle to his face and kept it aimed at the In-
diau'u head till he had gone out of sight.

v: .Prv.

. a‘s

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C H A 'P T E R X I .
A WELCOME vrsrron.

HAND in hand Vinnie and her father hurried on .through
.he storm and darkness. The Way was intricate and difficult
to trawl ; but a good half-hour’s walk brought them to the
edge of the clearing, and the Weary girl greeted the sight of
the cabin, which looked like a large square patch of black-
ness, through the gloom, with feelings of grateful satisfaction.

1: was the work of but a few moments for Darkc, while
Vinnie lighted a candle, to rekindle the fire that. had burned
out during their absenCe. The girl set the light on the table,
and almost exhausted with the vicissitudes of the past. few
hours, threw herself upon a seat. The tire was now crack-
ling merrily on the hearth, sending showers of sparks up the
wide chimney, and Darke, divesting himself of his hunting-
shirt and belt, stood before its genial blaze to dry the water
that adhered to his (leer-skin apparel. When he took off his
wide-rimmed hat and, after shaking off the rain, tossed it
into a corner, Vinnie noticed for the first' time that his head
was bandaged about with a white cloth. The hat had con-
cealed it before, and he had not spoken of it, or asked her
any questions as they came home; his mind being filled with
the mystery of the oaken chest and its horrible contents and
the strange words of the giant hunter in regard to his discov-
ery of their “ secret.” He had made no reply to thee words.
3 ie Could make none except to regret the accident that had
brought. to his notice any thing that the twm avengers did
not wish him to see; and thanking them again for the kind-
ness they had extended to him, he came away.

Vinnie arrse and Coming over to where he was standing
put her hand on his arm, saying, anxiously:

“ You are hurt, papa! I knew something had happened
to you, or Death would never have acted so strangely. Tell
me about it, won’t- you? Does it pain you much? What
can I do for you?"

, - I». j. / ._ .
I 1‘» ,I . at. _“ , ,7 ‘, ..,

\

 mu; on.
“Nothing, little one.

I is very slight, and it is well cared for already.
of any thing that would make it any better. But where is
the dog? I don't see him here. I know he came here after

I was hurt. Did he go out with you into the forest. ‘1"

“ Yes," she replied with a smile. “ ()r I went with him,
rather. I would not have gone if it had not been for him."
“ Tell me about it, child,” said the Woodman, eagerly

It is well enough now. The pain

. Then noticing for the first time, the electric machine on the .4

table which Vinnie had left open just as she had used it that.
afternoon, and the magic slippers still attached to the battery
and lying on the floor near by, he went on. “ Have you been
taking a private shock or enjoying an electric jig all by your-
self?"

“No,” she replied, coolly enough, as though it was the
most trivial of incidents she was speaking of, instead of a
struggle for more than life with a bloodthirsty savage. “I
have not been electrizing myself; but Ku-nan-gu-no-nah
called here this afternoon while you were gone and I guess I
shocked him considerably. He seemed to be not a little af-
fected by the experiments of which he was the subject. I
think he entertains quite an exalted idea of my attainments
as an electrician." _

“ What do you mean, girl ?” he asked, excitedly, placing a
hand on either shoulder and looking down into her face in a
curious, half-startled way. “ I don’t understand you. Has
that bloody-hearted devil been here today? Explain your.
self! Tell me what you mean l"

Seating herself before the fire, while her father listened
eagerly, interrupting her often with exclamatiens of surprisa
and anger, she told him the story of the afternoon‘s advetr
tures from the time of his departure from the cabin to the
mmneut when he came to her deliverance in the forest as
she reeoiled in terror before the approach of that pair of lurid
eyes, not omitting the. mysterious disappearance of the wl.ito
horse and its rider, and the limp, helpless burden that, rolled
in the pull-like eloth, he carried before him across his saddle,
and her subsequent unaccountable desertion by the blood-
hound.

' Duke was convinced from her description of the place,

I don’t think  'j

. v.1.

 

rm_

 

-

tin

“k “ flint she had witnessed this strange Scene somewhere in the I

i' ‘ Vicinity of the twin avenger-3' cavern lodge; and he recalled

9’ to mind the words that he had overheard the big hunter
 speak in the small, closely-curtained apartment of the cave.

"v - lie seemed to hear them again, so vividly were they im-

,pres$ctl on his tnind :

“ Does he show any signs of life yet? Can’t be he’s

A dead l"

‘t  Was there any connection betwven these. unexplained words

Y i and the mystery of the white horse and its rider? were

‘1  they in any way identified?

Darke thought so.

He stood leaning against the rude mantlepiecc over the

3 V fireplace for several minutes, his mind busy with conjectures.

‘ g-But no satisfactory explanation came to the relief of his mys-

‘ titied mind; and the mystery of the oaken chest, the secret
Of the Maybob twins, the strange words of the giant hunter,
and the disappearing horse and man, persisted in remaining
as deep a mystery as ever.

Vinnie, who was naturally anxious to learn\the particulars
of her father’s accident and subsequent protracted absence
and fortunate though unlocked-for appearance in the forest
at the very moment when he could be instrumental in saving
her life, had been regarding him attentively for a while.
waiting for him to speak and not wishing to break in cabin
musings.

,4 “ Strange !" he said, at last, looking up suddenly. “ What
.can have become of the dog? I never knew him to behave
so before! It must be that "

lie was interrupted by a slight noise at the door. He lis-

w "tencd intently; and a moment later the blood-hound's well-
kuown appeal for admittance greeted his ear,

“ It is Death!" said Vinnie, hastening to open the door.

“ lIe's come back !”

' The next moment he sprung into the room, shaking the

‘ Water in a little shower from his dripping coat, and leaping

gladly against his master, who returned his tokens of regard

with a pat on the head.
“You deserve a good Whipping,you ungallant fellow,”_

Vinnie said, half in earnest and half playfully, “ for running ‘

 

 

 

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,:~ * ‘

7t)

memoir mu; «I.

ofl‘ and leaving me to get lost in. the weeds 1" The dog paid
little heed to her rebuke, and she continued, addressing her
father: “ Maybe if Death could only talk, he would have a
story to tell, too. Perhaps he has discovered the mystery of
the disappearing horseman! But you have not told your
story yet. I am very anxious to hear about your accident,
and every thing else that has happened to you since you wen‘
away. You‘ll tell me all about it now, won‘t you ?"

And she unclosed his lips with a kiss; and he began a
the beginning, and related his adventures to her, leaving out
only that portion which bore directly on the mysterious ee-
cret of which the big hunter had spoken. 110 had blundercd
into a partial knowledge of the private affairs of his newly-
fouud friends and entertainers, and his rigid ideas of honor
forbade him to make so questionable a return for their disin-
terested hospitality as the disclosure of their privacy even to
Vinnie, whom he would not have hesitated to intrust with
the keeping of a life-and death secret, had it been his own.

“It has been an eventful afternoon to us both," said Vinnie,
after she had heard him through, “ and as far as I an) con-
cerned, I do not know that 1 am very much the worse for
my share of its trials. If you are not severely injured, I
think we may thank our stars for having escaped as well as
we have.”

“ I think so too,” replied her father. “But, my child, you
look upon the perils through which you have passed too
lightly. It is no trivial matter. I shudder when I think
of what might have been the ending of either of your ad-
ventures. I believe. of the two, the ravenous, half-furnished
panther and that fiend incarnate, Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, the latter
was much more to be dreaded. To the ferocity and blood-
thirstiness of the beast of prty, is added the treachery an
vindictive-noes of a devil, and the reasoning powers of the
human mind; and, in his h'ellishncss and subtlety, the chief
falls but little short of Lucifer himself! Do you realize what
you have escaped, Vinnie? What should I have done, little
one, if I had lost you to-day? And, Vinnie, there is another

who, I am sure, would find life very void and destitute of
joy did he not dream that some day you might consent to
share it. with him. I allude to Clancy Vere. He is I tut.

v  5-.- y,"

 

man
L‘whos
Ht
aucct
lt
Vim
_ in a
whii
5 his ‘
‘rnor
mitt

J
. han
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that
chi
v Wit

 

 

 

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m cm W. TAT]. .
ian in every sense of the word, and I know of no one to
"Whose loving care I would rather resign you than his.” ‘

* He had no need to ask her if Clancy Vere‘s suit would be
‘aueccssful. He could read it in her blushes.

' It Was growing late now, and as the-y were somewhat rested,
VVinnie set about the preparation of the evening meal, singing
in a low voice, and building rosy air-castles as she Worked,
while her father busied himself with cleaning and reloading
;‘_his trusty rifle, of which he felt iustlv proud; for a truer or
, 'more unerrini: weanon was not to he found for many a long
mile. travel which way soever one might.

After they had partaken of the supper which Vinnie’s deft
hands had spread neatly upon the table in an incredibly short;
EIpace of time, Darkc fastened the cabin doors and windows
{Occurer for the night. As be barred the rear door he noticed
("that it. was even darker than when they came home, and tho
, chill rain was falling yet in a slow, persistent drizzle. The
r wind had died down.

i?" The next morning,r the storm had ceased, but the sky was
_"0Vereast, and every thing as far as the eye could reach bore
‘ witness to the fury of the tempest of the night before.

t

 

1 Nothing unusual transpired at the cabin during the day;
' and its initiates scented Very little worse for having endured
j'the vicissitudes of the previous afternoon. Vinnie had got:
Slip in the morningr completely refreshed by her'night’s sleep,
 and the pain was entirely gone from her father‘s head. leaving
..tiot|ring to remind him of the injury it had sustained hut
_ )5. slight. bruise on his temple that Would go away in a day or
two.
' Toward the middle of the afternoon, as they werc seated
R maily by their tire of hickory wood. recounting little inei
Menu of their adventures that had escaped them the nigh
:bcfore, they were startled by a loud rap 0n the cabin door.
‘Darke hastened to open it, and was no less surprised than
agratified to meet Clancy Vere.
‘ “ Welcome. boy 1" he exclaimed. giving the youth 8 hand-

v ,‘Ohnkc and a greeting smile in which there was was no con-

\'

Wentionality, and which was as heartin returned by Clancy,
Whose eye wandered over the old man’s shoulder in quest 0!

Vinnie

,. .‘ .
.a'I .‘l t. 237:)“

m rumors  

The vivid blush that mantled cheek and brow, as her eyes
met his, in no way deteriorated fromgthe prettiness of her
face, Clancy thought; and when she stepped forward half— -‘
shyly and put her trembling little hand in his for a moment. ‘
I think he may be pardoned for allowing his heart to look
out of his eyes and wishing, as he chode back words that. :
struggled for utterance now harder than they had ever donn '
before, that just a. little while his old friend Darke was in '
China, or Jericho, or anywhere but there, witnessing and. in 1)
his quiet way, enjoying the young people’s happy confusion. L
I am sure any of my readers who may ever have been placed
in a similar situation will exonerate him from all blame. A.

The young hunter looked pale and worn, and Darke noticul 1
that. when he. came forward to take the seat. Vinnie had i
placed for hitn before the fire he walked with considerable‘
difficulty. V

In reply to the woodmnn‘s inquiries in regard to his jaded 
appearance and the manifest trouble he experienced in walk- ‘
ing, Clancy told the story of his capture by the Indians the 
day before very substantially as it has already been told the ,
reader in the preeeeding pages of our story. ' I

It is not. necessary that we should weary the reader with :j
recapitulation of what has already been stated ; but taking it v' :
Clancy's narrative at the point where consciousness returned, L“
we will follow it to its close. ’

“ When my senses came back,” said he, “ I found mysel
reclining on a couch of skins and blankets in what appeared
to he a very small apartment of a care. I was watchul ovc
by a dwarf. who w:.s not. much more than four feet high and 
as dumb as a door nail. This diminutive Watt-her strength '
encd'mc by a liberal use of spirits. and as soon as I was abl _
to speak, summoned his giant brother, who, unlike himself '
was gifted with a ready tongue and introduced himself to m "
as Leander Mayboh, of Mayboh Center down in old Massa
chttsctts. He said he was a ‘ natural tulker,’ and proceede' ’
to substantiate the statement by a very wordy account of th .
sayings and doings of his uncle Peter and an old Massachu Z,
feds minister named _T‘u_gwoller,v interspersed with snatches o c.
an old love afl‘air between Elder Tugwollcr‘s niece, Sat 2 
Niver, and himself. It seems that. the young couplefw s 

 

  

“‘2‘ « r»-..:

  
  
 

m emvcmfi un'
-. ‘. 4' .A,.,.. 4.3g, 1
I re, of a verity, true lovers, were separated for life in con
uenoe of a ludicrous blunder on the part of my giant host.
ter awhile I gathered from his voluble .flow of words that
had rescued me from my perilous situation and brought
 e to his cavern lodge. When I had sutflciently recovered
l'ottt the effects of my swing, I purtook of some strengthening
,Imd that my new-found friends prepared for me. That was
:rly this morning. As the day advanced, I found mysel
.upttlly gaining strength ; and an hour or more ago I felt my
' in 5, ll“ strong enough to come on here, and, thanking my strange
ntertaiuers for their kindness, I took my departure. As I
5 assed out through the cavern I saw that it was also divided
No two larger apartments, one 'of which was used as a sort
“' home by the two strangely contrasted twin brothers, and
‘ he other was fitted up as a kind of store-room for trophies of
e chase, for it was well supplied with arms and ammunition,
hile the skins anti pelts of various animals were deposited

.‘
‘

~‘

 
  
  
  
 
  
  
 
 

  

   
 
 
   

 

    

: _ “ How much the latter purt of Clancy’s story is like yours!"
:xeluhned Vinnie to Dnrke when he had finished. “ He was
:JCSCflL‘d hy the same strange person and taken to the same
. ‘placc and nursed buck to life in the same manner!"
_ _ “ Yes," assented Darke, “it is a sing‘ular coincidence.”
 Then turning quickly toward the young hunter he said. “ You
:mttst have lain insensihle in ~he smallest purt of the pluce
‘fit'hile I was there—I think you did. They did ‘not tell you
that I had been there before you came away, did they ?”
g “ No," suitl Clancy, who had been wondering all along at
.lhe strange Words of the Wotxlmun, " they did not tell me
. i-tttty thing of the kind. I never knew it till now.”
. “Sirnngel' replied the other. “And although I am sure
I Was there for quite a length of time while you lay uncon
' , Scions in the little phat-e curtainetl off at the back end of the
. , Cut'ern, the giant did not tell me of your presence. It can
' . not be that there was any cause for this concealment; and
.Cnnceahuent does not seem to be a predominant trait of the
'big hunter’s.”
 “ I do not understand you,” said \ere wonderingly. Do
) . you mean to say that we were both at the cave  the same
’ ;- lime? 'Pleue explain yourself,"

 
   
  
  
    
   
  
 
  
 
  
 
   
 

 

 
    
   
 
  

  
 

  

And Darke told Clancy the story of his accident the day ,
before, and how Leander Maybob had carried him to the eav-‘ v-‘y
em lodge of his brother Alonphilus and himself, cared for. ,
him till he was able to come home, carefully guarding against 

any allusion to the oaken chest and its ghastly contents, hut 

telling him of the strange episode of the little apartment, and
repeating the mysterious words of the giant hunter, whose
meaning he had until now vainly tried to discover. They
held no hidden portent now. He knew instinctively that the V,
words he had so vainly wondered at, “Does he show any 
signs of life yet? Can’t be he is dead I” referred to Clancy . ’
Vere.

One mystery was solved 1

For several minutes both men remained silent. Darke was
ruminating over the discovery he had just made and Clancy
was thinking what a lovely picture Vinnie made as she leaned

carelessly against the mantle, looking intently into the dune. . 
ing blaze of the fire, whose red glow lit up her fair face till a '

it seemed fairly radiant in its fresh young beauty.
Was she building air-castles again ?
Clancy wasl

Raising her long lashes suddenly, she met his ardent, pas- . '

Iionatc, yet respectful gaze. a ,
Both pair of eyes sought the floor simultaneously; and it ‘

would have been no easy task for one to have determined : x
which face flushed the deepest—the maidon’s or her lover’s;". .

for Clancy Vere knew he did love Vinnie Darke with all his
heart.

Darke had not noticed this little by-play, and he asked,sud-
denly, as the pretty air-castles Both had been rearing up Vanishtd
as air castles are wont to do when they are rudely jarred:

“ How long do you think you were at the cavern before ' 1

your consciousness returned 1’”
“ I am not quite certain—two or three hours I gness.”
“ And it was Leander Mayhoh that rescued you ‘5”
“ Yes; but he did not. himself carry me to the cave. It J

was more than a mile away that he found me; and although V- "

he is very strong, he could not lug me on his back all, that, 
distance. When consciousness returned he told me about it. _ -1
Alqnphllus the dwarf conveyed me to the cave."

 

1m cum  un

film: i” asked Darke. I
 *“ Oh, Leander told me all about that, too. I was brought" '
v  on a horse—"
‘ " What color was the horse '3" interrupted Vinnie.
“ On a white horse l" pursued the woodman.
“ Yes."
“ You were rolled up Yrotn head to foot in a. heavy black
loth. were you not ?" Darke Went on. eagerly
“ I do not know,” said Clancy, surprised at so many ques-
tions. " But he carried me before him across the Saddle.”
Father and daughter uttered simultaneous. criet. of surprise.
Another mystery was solved l

CHAPTER XII.
'rnn FOItKL‘X‘ ROSE.

KU-NAN-GU-NO-NAII walked swiftly away with the deadly
title of Leander Mayboh, the giant hunter, still leveled at his
head, fairly demoniac with wild and impotent rage. The
Workings of his dark face were fearfully suggestive of the den—
izens of the bottomless pit.

Had he been armed he would not have left the vicinity
without tirst attempting the. lift: of the man who had him in his
power and who held his very life at his dispoml; but he was
powerless, having no weapons except a slum, sharp-[minted
knife which he always carried in addition to his hunting-knife,
did this Would be useless, except in a hand-to-haml roullicl,
which even in his wild passion he 'had not the hardihood to
date.

in an hour’s time he came to the boundary of the wilderness
and the hruad prairie slrelt'ltt-tl its level surface before him as
far as he could See. Not a tree or a httsh was there visible
in all this vast. plain; only the tall grasses, beat down and

‘ tangled by the fearful tempest that had raged through the at.
' ternoon. '
L, “Turning from the nearly direct course he had been panning;

 

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70 m5 rmfi was: on,“

thevchlef madehis way, with long, rapid strides, to the place
where, in the midst of ti dense growth of bushes in the center
of which there was a litthplat of smooth, grassy ground. des-
titute. of undergrowth, he had tethered his horse early in the
afternoon. In less time than it takes to tell it, he was mount-
ed and galloping away over tlte plain.

In a little while he struck an indistinct. scarcely worn road,
or rather broad track—one of the emigrant routes of ti 0 -
North-west. He followed the track for an hour or more audit”!
then tnakitn,r a gl‘tltanl detour to the left, kept on at a swift
rolling gallop which he never slackened till he reached the
Indiatt encampment, situated at the foot of a steep, rocky hill
that lootned tip through the storm and darkness, in dull relief
against the leadett sky. Throwing himself hastily from his
horse, he stalked rapidly along and entered a wigwatn at the
further end of the encampment. An aged Indian sat on a
roll of skins at one side of the place, in an attitude. of deep
grief or despondency. He simply glanced up as the chief ext-t
tered, then dropping his face again into his hands, sitting si-
lent and apparently in great agony of mind.

“ [low is the Forest Rose t'o-night?” the chief asked, glanc-
ing toward a Couch of skins and blankets on the opposite side
of the lodge, on which he eould see the form of a female reo'
clining hy the dim tire-light that illuminated the Wigwam.
She lay silent and motionless as though life had fled.

“ The Forest Rose is very ill," replied the old Indian,
ntournfully, “ and she will die! Yon-da-do, the great medi-
cine man, has said so. He has made ltse of all his ceremo-
nies and tnystie atts, but he can not save her. The lovely For~
est Il-tse must die 1" I

As he ceasul speakinghe arose, and lightinga small pitch }
pine torch iii the tire, went over to the side of tltoeottehi1
'l‘hrou'irt;r aside the Covering from her face, lte allowed the
lixht to fall upon it for a moment. It was a imitttifttl face,
dukiy lth-ly—the face of an Indian maiden ill the first flush
of nomanh-md. She was rather light f-Jl'tlllc of her dusky
race, with heavy nutsses of raVen-hlaek hair falling in lovely
confusion about her statuesque faee, in whose contour the
hard angularity of the Indian type was not discernible, and
down upo'n tier" perfeétly-sh‘aped heck, andVIoftI’y-romded

 

  
    

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oulders. Her long, heavy lashes lay upon. her cheeks,
1 him were very pale, hiding her dark lustrous eyes, which,
‘ hen lighted up with health. added not a little to her almost
wildering beauty. But now the lovely Forest Rose lny like
.ne dead.

“Let my father look up and be happy !" said the chief.
3‘ Ku-nnn-gu-no-nnh has seen a medicine-womnn today, that
$811 surely bring back life to the Forest Ro:e. The medirine-
Woman that I snw was a mighty conjuror. The Great Spir-

‘ it has given her greater poWer than that of You-da-do l”

V”

Who is this mighty magician:

“ She is a pale-face maiden, as beautiful as the Forest Rose,”
replied the chief.

“ Would she come ?” asked the old Indian, while a hope
'ful light thwhed out of his aged eyes, undimmed by the flight
of time. “ Would a white medicine-woman come togive life
back to an Indian girl l”

“ She would llOt eome willingly,” said the crafty chit-f,
“ but she must be brought! If she is not, the Forest Rose will
die l”

“ Then she must be brought !" said the old Indian, decisive.

“ I will call a council of braves in the morning, and a

party shall be sent to bring the white magician. ,The Forest

 

Rose must be saved !”

The aged Indian was the real chief of the tribe—thatis.
although he was too “iii to go on the war path, leaving the
active fighting to the younger and more warlike Iitl-llniligtto
no-nnh, he was the real movingr Spirit, always planning and
ordering,r all important morements of the hand. Tue ltl‘dgdisn-
ing Forest Rose was his daughter.

"It is Well," said Ku-nnn-gu-no-nnh, as he went. ntvny.

The great medicine-woman will save the Forest Ros", and
again she will sing like the birds in the trees to gladden the
heart of her father, the great chief.”

Wild Butfalo, the aged sacheni, c'illed n eouncil of braves
early in the morning, and at midday, the subtle Ku-nnirgu-

no-nab, at the head of a dozen picked Warriors, Was riding
o'er theprstrie in quest of “- Sun-Hair,” the beautifulmagiglen-

t

 

CHAPTER XIII.
THE FACE AT THE WINDOW.

“ So the. mystery of the disappearing horseman is explained 
very satisfactorin at last, Vinnie," said Darkc, utter lhei. :5
surprise had subsided somewhat. 

“ Yes," she repliet , “ all but the mystery of his disappear ‘
ance." ’

“ True," said her father; “ we are still in the dark concern? »‘
ing that. . How could it have been accomplished 1*" ’

“I know not. It Vanished before my very eyes i"

“ It was doubtless owing to some peculiar turn of the path
he was following, or something of that sort," reasoned the .
woodman. " A very sudden turn among the dense growth of "
shrubbery that is so thick about the place might have con-
cealed the white horse and his rider from view almost in-
stantly."

"1 think very likely it was owing to that or a similar cnuse." ' i

returned Vinnie. “I suppose we shall have to accept that
explanation till a better one presents itself. It is st ran_-e that
I should have allowed myself to be alarmed at smrivial u mat-V '
ter. I do not think I am superstitious. But that limp, help.
less-looking black thing did appear ghastly through the
storm !"

It. will be remembered that Clancy had not heard of Vin-
nie's adventures and perils of the day before; and he. did not
understand the conversation that the others had kept up for
the past few minutes. Noting the questioning look on his
face, the woodman said:

“ There is still another story of peril and escan that you
are ylt. to hear. I believe I “ill take a short bout in the for-
est in search of a turkey ; and if I am successful we‘ll have a
supper fit for the President. Vinnie can tell you the story
while I am gone. Be sure you don’t lean out any of the
Important points, and don't forget to mention your lover’evie-
it yesterday. A truthful nccount of the shocking manner In

 

      

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lab you treated him ought to be a caution to sparks!

was a young fellow. now—”

, - “ There now! stop l" said Vinnie, with a vivid blush. “ I
{think you're really too bad! And besides, you are not fit to

":30 out to day, after your hurt, und—” '

“ That will do," interrupted Darke, bantoringly, examining

 
   

    
       

    
   
 

“ted 'Vitlte lock of his ride the while. “ I am Well enough for any
heic 'lgthing now, and i mean to take just this one more hunt while

 
 

, I've an opportunity. I dare not leave you here any more
931" “Alone, you know, and I'm going while I‘ve got Clancy hero
3’ to keep guard over you l So good-by, and don't. think of my
rooming back for two hours at the very soonest l”

She went up to him for her customary kiss.

_»_ " 'l‘here,” said he, as he bent and pressed his lips to hers.
fl“ Good-by, little one. And, Clancy, I want you to see that
 one repeats this operation during my absence. She's all
-' Tl’ve get, and I leave her in your care. Don’t forget the story,
"f'gVinniel" And a moment later he passed out, closely fol-
 Iowed by the blood-hound. Vinnie seized hold of one of the
great hrule‘s long cars, and bending low over him, to .hide
her flushed face from Clancy’s view, said, playfully :

“ There, Death. don’t run away from him as you did from
me yesterday 1"

Then, while the young hunter thought she was putting
herself to a great deal of useless trouble, considering that the
room was very warm already, she went and busied herself at
 the hearth, for what seemed to him avery long time, stirring .
5‘, the fire and putting on more wood.

"What story does your father mean ‘2" he asked, when she
‘ had at last finished. "I thought from what you said that
‘1‘ you saw the dwarf when he was carrying me to the cute.
'It can not be that you were out in that terrible storm ‘r"

“ But I was," said Vinnie, with a smile, “ and I half think
I was the victim of almost as serious a series of accidents as
yourself. I’apa told me to tell you the story, and I suppose
I must obey. Are you sure it will he of interest to you?"

“ Yes," he replied, eagerly. “ 1 know it will be of inlerefl
to me. Tell it, please." 4
g; 1 And. haltshyly at first, Vinnie complied with his request.
is. interrupted her my time. during her recital, with ex-

  
 

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'ctamations-‘of' surprise and wonder; and when she had“ an. 
lshed, and sat demurer before him, with her little hand. 
folded in her lap, and her lovely face sober and thoughtful,
he said : e k

’ “ leaven be priised for your deliverance! What if you 
had not escaped ?" .

“ Why, then, I suppose—-” she began, surprised at his ex- r.
cited manner. But he cut short what she would have said, 
by saying, vehemently:

“ if you had not, I would not now account my life worth 1
as much as a burnt charge of powder !" '.
Vinnie glauwd up at him quickly, but her long lnshél

(lrooped as she met his ardent look.

lle arose to his feet, and standing up before her, went on
in rapid, eager tones:

“1 love you, Vinnie Darke, as I can never love another
woman in the whole world! I ask for your love in return. 1
Can you—will you give it to me, Vinnie darling 1*"

She sat silent a moment—a moment that seemed intermi-
nable to the anxious young hunter—with flushed -face and
downcast eyes. .The next, she was clasped in his strong arms,
and he pressed a tender kiss» on her brow, as he said, in a
low voice : -

“ Do you love me, Vinnie ?”

The lovely, goldenrbrown head bent down until it was pil-
lowed on hisbosom, the red, full lips were pressed half tim-
ldly to his,- the- deep, loving blue eyes: looked trustfully up
into his own, and Clancy knew that she was his till death!

“ My own darling Vinnie !” said he, proudly.

“ Yes,” she whispered, “yours always l”

I am afraid if the woodman could have seen the little cpl T
node that was taking place in the cabin then, he would hm ‘
thought Clancy just the least bit forgetful of the injunction
he had put upon him when he went aWny—of Course he
Would not Willl'ully ignore it l

There was a slight, ulmost imperceptible sound outside the
cabin, that escaped the young hunter's usually quick ear, and r
a dark face was pressed for an instant against one of the lower
pane! oFt‘hvltttle‘wmdow at the side of tum. ltzwu

Mthdr‘awn' struck! u soon as-tt'appemh- - - -- v- -‘

 

  
  
   

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-" And- youwill be my wife, Vinnie—pine to love and

cherish always 1’" Clancywent on.
' u Yes-n

“ And your father '2’ What will he say ?"

“ I do not think he will oppose us very strongly? she said,
remembering his words to her that afternoon.

“ We will ask him and see, when he comes back.”

Again that dark face peered into the worn a moment and
canon vanished as it had done before.

But so engrossed were they with each other—their minds
so filled with their new-found happiness—that they had no

,4 time to think of any thing else.

“ How hard I shall try to be worthy of your. priceless love,
and to make your life happy l“ said the young hunter, us she
released herself from his embrace. As she stood up, her
eyes were turned toward the window.

The face was flattened against the glass again i

“ Merciful Heaven .1" she cried, ‘f there is Ku-nan-gu~no-nahl
Oh, Clancy, save me i”

   

CHAPTER XIV.
vmma A PRISONER.

DARKE had been gone but a little while from the cabin,
before he was startled by the report of fire-arms, and tho
shrill war-whoop of the bond of Indians who, under the lead-
ership of the wily Ku-nnn-gu-no-nnh, hzid been sent out to
cnpturc Vinnie and bring her to the relief of the sttfering
Forest Rose, who, although they knew it not, was dead, huv- ‘
ing dropped quietly and puicefully away soon after they left
the encampment.

'l‘lieSe sounds come from the direction of the cabin, and
by a. kind of intuitive perception, he knew in an instant what
Was taking place there.

B: had just discharged his rifle at a tine turkey that the A
bloodohound had come upon in a dense thicket; and reload-

 
 
 
 
  
  
   
     

 
 

 

   

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the tangled undergrowth and over fallen trees and heaps of ;

half-decayed brushwood back toward the scene of the conflict,
which still Continued, as the sharp, oft-repeated reports of
gum; and the appalling screeches of the Indians attested.

The terrible suspense and agony of mind that he sutl‘ered
in the few minutes that passed before he reached the edge of
th., clearing, it Would be impossible to depict. He knew that
the young hunter was as brave as a lion, and would not givv

up while life lasted; but be judged frotn the steady and rapid ‘

fire kept up by the savages that the odds against him were '
fearful.

“My God !" he gasped, as be bounded forward. holding
his long rifle ready for use at an instant‘s warning, “the
bloody fiends will butcher them both! If I could only be
there to help'thcm l"

Suddenly. as he ceased speaking, the firing, which for two
or three minutes past had been almost. incessant. stopped
There was a moment of awful silence to the listening wood-
man, then there came a loud crash.

Darke knew what this was.

“lleavensl’ he cried, “ the devils have forced the door!

Nothing can save them now! Their doom is scaled! Oh,
Vinnie! Vinnie !”

His agony was terrible.

He had reached the boundary of the clearing. It was ra-

pidly growing dark now, and he had little fear of discovery.
He paused a moment to reconnoiter. Only two Indians were
visible outside the cabin. He raised his ritle to his face; his
aim was quick and sure; and an instant later one of the
savages threw up his arms. and with an car-splitting screech
of agony, fell on his face, dead.

Aitnost simultaneously with the report of the woodman’ 
trusty weapon, another run; out inside the cabin. '
“It is Vinnie's revolver!’ muttered Darke as he stepped
quickly out of sight behind a clump of bushes and proceeded

to reload. “ Thank God she yet lives !”

Peering out, he discovered that the remaining Indian had
let tire to the cabin and was sknlking around the other side,
probably to get out of range of his unerring rifle.

It WWI] datum, but the settler tired again. and a

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_._ullet went crashing through the savage’s brain, just as be
ad almost gained the coveted shelter. ’
‘ Vinnie‘s revolver cracked again inside the cabin as Darke
bummed home another load; and he uttered another fervent
_ 1“ Thank God!" as he thought. that she had been saved thus
 far. At his requeSt, she had placed it upon her person that
‘ morning, and he had reason to think that it was being fired
 by her own hands. He could not distingui>h the sound of
' Clancy’s weapon from the Indians’; but he knew him well
enough to be certain that he would not yield except with his
K life.
1' The fire was creeping up the side of the cabin, gaining
ground rapidly in the dry timber of which it was constructed.
In a few moments the whole building would be in a light
blue. An attempt to extinguish the flames would, Darke

   
 
 

5.

 saw, be fruitless.

There was no one to oppose his advanca across the clear-
ing since he had slain the We savages left on the outside to
fire the Cabin and guard against a surprise by any one from
without, and closely followed by Death, he dashed over the
intervening space to the open door of the cabin.

Looking within he saw, by the light of the fire blazing on

 

 

the hearth, that Clancy Vere was engaged in a desperate, hand-
to-hand struggle with three Indians. IIis back was against
the wall, and with an almost superhuman effort he forced

‘ theta back and kept them at bay with his clubbed rifle. Their
guns Were not loaded ; but the young hunter detected one of
the trio in the act of charging his ritle, while the two others
Vainly tried to get at him with their knives, and, quickly
whipping out his six-shooter, one chamber of which held a
leaden bullet that soon proved a quietns to this most danger
cos of his assailants, he discharged it and had only two ene
mics to contend with.

The next moment the young hunter‘s clubbed weapon fell
with deadly force upon the head of one of the Indians, crush-
ing it like an egg-shell, while at the same instant the Other
fell. pierced through the brain by a ball from Darke‘s outer-
ring rifle. '

Clancy had fought like a tiger, and though he had 'not

been dungertmsly wounded-he had not escaped 

 

    
   

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3‘84 Train r‘mmw " ’03,
3 A bullet fired through the window,kbefore the Indians had

‘cabin, had grazed his temple, making an ugly though not
dangerous furrow, and carrying away a portion of his ear.
The blood was trickling down his face, and dropping upon
the floor at his feet.

Darke sprung into the room at a single bound.

.. “Vinnie !" he cried. “ Where is Vinnie ?”

“ Gone i” gasped Clancy.

“ Gone! My God! what do you mean ?”

“ The Indians made her a prisoner !"

“Vinnie! My Vinnie a prisoner in the hands of those
devils! And you let them take her ‘3” e

“ Stop !" exclaimed the young man, while an expression of
keen pain swept across his face. “ I could not help it ! I
would gladly have laid down my life to save hers! For a
time we fought them side by side. There are five dead In-
dians here on the floor. She killed two of them. Only two
of the chambers of her revolver were loaded ; and after they
were emptied I fought them alone, shielding her form with
mine. Then I was set upon from all sides at once, and she
was snatched away from me. I did all I could. She was
my Vinnie, too, Mr. Darkc, and I will wrest her from the
power of that red demon or die in the attempt! You do me
injustice !”

“ Pardon me, boy,” said the Woodman, extending his hand,
which was readily taken by Clancy. “ I was mad! I did
not mean what I said—please forget it if you can. If we
can not get her back, I believe I shall go crazy !"

“ Oh, we can get her back—we must!" cried the young
"hunter. “ We must get help and follow them and take hex
‘ ut of their hands or die !"

“ How many are there in the party '9” asked Darke.

“I am not certain. At the beginning I think there wen
about a dozen or fifteen—I do not know exactly. Five are
dead."

“There are-seven dead !" replied Darke.

. outside !;‘
. y g, “ Then there must be a half-dozen, more or less, that have
escaped, taking Minnie with them.” ..

“I shot two

forced an entrance through the 'battered-down door of the

   
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
  
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
   
   
 
 
   

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“They have been gone twenty minutes,” said the w00d~
man ;. “ and we must aet at. once i" ' '

"We can not follow them to-night," said Clancy.

“ Not to-night ! Why ?” and Darke evinced disappointment.

“ Because they are mounted. They left their horses at the
edge of the forest. It is scare.er three miles away. Before
we could overtake them they would be miles out on the prai
rie, riding at their horses’ best speed. “’0 can do nothiu
alone, and horses are indispensable—we must have them."

“Where can we get them?" Darke asked, admitting to
himself the truth of (llaney‘s reasoning.

“ At the settlement. We can have every thing ready to-
night and start before daybreak.”

“ Who do you think we had better get to go with us ?"
asked Darke. “ \Ve must have good men.”

“I think we can do no better than to have Pete W'imple
{or one," said Clancy. “ A truer and braver man can not be
found in the North-west.” '

“ True," said the woodman. “ And the big hunter for
another l" '

“If we could only get him !" exclaimed Clancy

“ I‘m sure he will go. He hates the Indians with an un-
dying hatred, and is glad of any opportunity to wreak his ter-
rible vengeance on them for the cold-blooded butchery of his
aged patents."

“ Yes," said the young hunter, “ he told me his story.
What a fiend incarnate the chief is!”

“ You mean Ku~nan-gu-no-nah. Was he with the party i’"

“ He led them," said Clancy. “I think he instigated the
attack to get possesdon of Vinnie.”

The. youth shuddcretl as he thought what might be hit
fate in such hands. How he longed for the morning. ,#

Darke remembered the promise he had made to Leander
Maybob the day before, and wondered if he could restrain
himself from shooting the red demon at sight.

“Do you think we will need any one else '3” he asked.

“ I think not. There will be four of us; and Pete Witn-
‘ple and the giant hunter will be a host in themselves."

“ We must. make all our preparations to-night,” said Burke,
" so as to  far on our way at daylight.” ' .

 

  

  
    

    

I
THE PHANTOM RIDER; OB,

/ “ Yes. We must— What’s that I It sounds like fire f‘.

A strange sound had arrested his attention.

“ It is fire !" replied Darke. “ I saw one of the devils fire
the cabin. It must be all in a light blaze before this time i"

“ Then it was fired before you came in ?”

“ Yes. It was set at the rear, and that is the reason you
have not seen or heard it till now. The flames were climbing

he roof as I crossed the clearing. But we must not stay

ere. One of us must go to the settlement and the other to the
cavern to-night. Do you think you can Walk well enough to
undertake to get to the settlement? Your ankles must
be—”

“ Yes," and the look on his face confirmed what he said,
“ I could do any thing—brave any thing for her! There is
nothing that I would not attempt to save her from pain--
nothing that I would not dare, to make her happy l . Vinnie
is more to me than my life, Mr. Darke! Toodny, before
those red devils came to tear her away from me, she prom-
ised to become my wife."

“ I believe you, boy I" exclaimed Darke. “ I could not in-
trust her to the protecting love of a better man. “ If we can
only save her she shall be yours !”

“ Thank you,” said the young man, earnestly. “ We mun
save her from that demon’s power! The thought that she is
in his hands is maddening! But we must act. I will go to
the settlement and obtain horses and enlist Pete Wimple in
our cause, while you proceed to the cave to secure the servi-
ces of the big hunter. I‘m sure he will not refuse us his
aid.”

“ Right." assented Darke. “ Where shall be our place of
.‘endezvous ?"

“ Near the big pine tree at the edge of the forest. We

ust be mounted and on our way bt fore daylight.”

The fire had caught in the great oak trees that had been
1( ft close up by the walls of the woodman’s home as a partial

rotection against wind and storm, and the flames, shooting
Ileavenward, cast a lurid glow over the dark forest for quite
h distance in every direction.

' The two inen hastened away. the burning cabin lighting
their way through the Wood, 99311}, the blood~hound keeping

 
  

 

  

 

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close to Darke and manifesting his sense of the calamity the!
had overtaken them by giving utterance ever and anon to low,
sorrowful whines.

C II A P T E R X V
wnA'r 'rm: scours FOUND.

WHEN the sun rose the next morning—for the day broke
clear and cloudless with a keen, frosty atmospherc~its rays
fell on a heap of smoldering ruins, encircled by a dozen
charred trees burnt and blackened to their very tops. This
was all that remained of Emmett Darke's Cabin home.

The four men, Darke, Clancy Vere, Leander Maybob, the
giant hunter, and Pete Wimple, a tried and trusty scout and
Indian-tighter, Were at the appointed place of rendezvous at
a very early hour, and, well mounted on four fleet, strong
horses that Clancy and the scout had obtained at the settle-
ment, they were at daybreak dashing over the stnootb, level
prairie in pursuit of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and his party.

For hours they kept on at a rapid, even gallop, which they
neither quickened nor slackened. Clancy and the scout.
riding side by side and keeping a sharp look-out ahead for
any signs of the enemy, while Burke and the giant hunter
were ever on the alert to guard against the approach of any
hostile party from the rear.

None of the four had spoken tnore than a few words since
.hey left the big pine, hours before, even Leander Mnybob,
tsunlly so loquacious, maintaining a thoughtful and unbroken
silence.

The day continued as it had dawned, clear and sun-shiny,
the pure, bracing air inspiring the little hand to more than
common vigilance und alertness, while it added fresh vigor
to their steeds, and they kept on at the same quick, regular
rate of speed until mid-day without meeting with adventure
0! any kind. ‘ M
Then Pete Wimple drew his horse up suddenly, and in

   

  

  

 

v   6a-
Qbedience to his low-spoken command, the three caret-grained
in their horses. ' 

“ What is it, Pete?” asked Clancy.

“ I don't kan for sartin," and the scout, shading his eyes
with his hand, looked long and earnestly aeross the wide,
grassy plair before thun. Following the direction of his gaze,
the others saw dimly in the distance a. thin blue cloud of
smoke rising from the surface of the prairie.

" its a tire l” said Darke.

“ That it are!’ continued the hi1.)r hunter.

“ Can it be a campfire ?" asked Clancy.

“ Very likely,” said the scout. "I think as how it‘s some-
'eres ’long the line of the emigrant trail. We’ll strike it party
quick—it's jist ahead thar—and we‘ve got to foller it for sev-
el'il hours. We‘ve got to pa~s that fire, and More we get too
cluss, I want to know what it. In 11118!"

“ lt mought be whites, an' ag‘in it moupht be reds!” said
Leander Mayhob, riding to the front and examining the thin,
vapory cloud fora moment or two. “It inought be emi-
grants takiu‘ thar grub and it tnoughtn’t, ye see. Prob‘ly ’tis
and prob'ly ’tain‘t, as my uncle Peter said when Elder Tug-
woller axed him if his youngest-horn son war a boy or a gai l"

The others could not restrain a laugh at this; and when
their merrimeut had subsided Darke asked:

“ What do you think is best to be tlcne, Wimple? You
and Leander are learned in every department of prairie life
and warfare, while Clancy and I are the merest novices; We
shall trust ourselves and our enterprise in your hands."

“ I think, as it's about gruhtime, you and me had better
ride ahead and diskiver, if we can, whether there’s white men
or Injuns or suthin' else around that are smudge. or whether
its jest a muskeeter smoke, white Lmr-lander, as you calls
him, and the boy busies ’etnselves about gittin’ suthiu’ for
our appetites ag'in’ our return.”

“ I agree with ye thar !” said the giant, “ as Elder 'I‘ngwol-
ler retttat'k-‘d to my daddy when he expressed his opinion as
how donations was a good institution; but my name ain’t
Low-lander.”

“ What's in a name?" laughed Dark. at he and the

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a  “ Thar‘s a good deal in names, I notice,’f said the big flan-
" ’ ter, half musingly, as he swung hislong left leg over his horse's
head and slipped to the ground. “I reckon thar‘s a sight
0' valler in names. If ’twasn‘t for folks bein’ nttlllttl sea to
tell ‘em apart, they’d git all mixed and twisted up so a feller
Couldn‘t tell w'ich from t’uther or t’uther from w'ieh! Now

i I don’t go very strong for Seein' things git all mixed and twisted
fnp so’s ye can‘t discrimernate w‘ich from w‘ieh. If it hadn't
“f”; i been fer jest siclt a durn’d mixin’ and twistin’ of two different
things together in my head, l'd likely now be a married man,
livin’ as happy as a hormt in yer breecherloous, down to old
Mayboh Center in Massachusetts, the Bay State and capital
of Busting, the hub of the univarsul terry firmy. It's an aw-
ful world we’re livin' in," he went on, as he lied his horse, as
‘, Clancy had already done, by means of lariats they had
‘ w brought with them. “ It’s an awful world! I ncwr know’d
a man to go cl‘ar through it ’ithout gittin’ the wmd knot-ked

outen him somehow l It’s this mixin' an' twistin’ as dms it

all! It‘s that as Caused all tny misery and pains and heart-

'longin's, and sighin's and so forth and so on. I know folks

in gin‘ral wouldn't go for to take. tne for a lovyer—you, now,

_ youngster, look more like a. lovyer than I do ; sorter like a
"7,! dcspondin' lovyer, more‘n any thing. But don't ye git down-
? hearted now. We‘re a-goin' to git yer sweetheart back to-
day! I'll tell you how I found out about it," he explained,
noting Clancy's look of surprise, “ I heerd ye talkin' about her
alore ye come to, fairly, yisterday. I didn‘t mean ter hear
yer, and didn’t go fer to pry into any of yer St‘Cl‘ClS; but I
couldn‘t help heariu‘ ye say ev‘ry few minits, ‘ Vinnie !' ‘ Vin-
nie l' I heerd Darke say his gal's name was that to-day ; and
so I put this and that together and know'd you was her lov-
yer. I‘ll tell you 'hout my gal an' my love affair, and then
we‘ll be even. All our trouble come of this tnixin’ an‘ twist
in’, as I told you ufore. Elder 'l‘ngwoller‘s nieer; Sal’y Niver,
as party a gal as ever wore caliker—she used to live alongo'
the Elder and his wife—and me got acquainted with each
other to singin’ school, and afore we know‘d it we was both on
us purty nigh as deep into love as Lord Level and the Lady
Nancy. The Elder didn‘t ’proVe of the match, and Sally an‘ mt
Jute! spark 0d the sly: inoElder found it out’wd-lidkefl-filly

 

 

 

 

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«so  mummy”;

and forbid her ever to speak to me ag’in. - She cum right

straight and told me, and said as how the Elder and Miss ‘

Tugwoller would be away Saturday night over to the widder
Mork’s and wanted me to come down an’ see her while they
Was gone. I rigged up and went down; and jest as I got
inside the yard I see Sally cuntmiu, down the path to meet
me, and the tears was a-streatnin’ down her face. They ain't
gone, deary l' sez she, ‘and if they see you we'll be in an aw-
ful pickle !’ I couldn't go away without inquirin‘ what was]
the matter. ‘ Ch 1’ sez she, ‘ I‘ve had to take—uncle‘s hin a-
givin’ me—’ ‘ Another lickin’ I‘ll be bound !' sez I. ‘ Sally,
yer mine, afore Heaven, and I‘m a-goin’ to trounce that old
cuss within an inch of his life for aimsin‘ ye so, if he is the
preacher !’ ‘Uh dear!‘ 502 she. ‘ You don’t understand he
—-»oh, what’ll you do? Thar he comes now !’ And sure
enough, I looked up and thar come the Elder downl'the path
a-makxz' motions and a-swiugin’ a big hosswhip. I thought
he was a-goin‘ to lick Sally ag‘in, and she screamed and I
jumped afore her. Jest then the hosswhip cracked round my
legs. ‘ Young ntan,’ sez the Elder, ‘you’ve got things kinder
mixed and twisted up, like, in your mind. Your mind's con-
siderably mixed and twisted. You don’t. understand as how
I don't. want ye here at. all, and you‘ve got miXed and twisted
up about the lit-kin’, like. I hain‘t bin a-givin’ my niece a
cowhidin’; I jest give her a dose of peppersass for a cold, and
that‘s what brings the water (mien her eyes. I‘m goin’ to give
the Cowhidin‘ to you l' And he axed the blessin' and coat-
tzteuced. 'l'he gad played kinder lively for a minit, then I
jerked it outen his hand and throw‘d it over into the gar-.
den, and sex I, ‘ Elder, if you think I‘m goin' to stand sich
. you must he kinder mixed and twisted up, like, in your ideesi
Then I knocked him down and kissed Sally cood-hy and
walked away. I hain‘t never sot-n her since. The Elder sent
her away to school and I Come West—and that‘s the end on’t
all. I s’pose she’s married long ago l" he finished, sadly.
“She was jest the sort, of gal as ketches men! It was all
owiu’ to my mixed and twisted state of mind concvrnin’ the
lickin’ and the peppersass !”
_ By the time they had prepared the noon-(lay meal, Clancy
v_ Jaw Darke and Wimple coming back; and in less_thu ton

 
  

 

   
 
 
  

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, minutesthey threw themselves from their horses a few rods
away, and after tethering them, came up With rapid strides. a
“ What. did you find ?" asked Clancy eagerly; “ any sign!
of Vinnie or her captors ‘r”
“ We found some of the devil’s own handiwork E” answered
the scout, a dark, fierce look on his usually pleasant face that
the young hunter never saw there before.
“ The smoke we saw arises from two burning emigrant
wagons that the Indians have plundered anti then set fire to 1‘
said Darke. “One man, evidently the guide, lay dead and
scalped, his body, with those of three savages who had been
shot in the afl‘rny, half burned up in the fire! The remainder
of the party, which I should judge was not very large, have
either escaped or been made prisoners.”
“ It is Ku-nan-gu-no-nah‘s work i” said Clancy.
, “ I‘ve made up my mind to settle with him purty soon i"
 " said launder Maybob, sternly. “ His time’s most up i”

 
 
      
   
   
   
   
       
   
 
     
 
   
  
   
   
   
  
 
 
 

c n A 'P T E R x v I.
Tm: PHANTOM RIDER !

FIVE minutes later the little party was on the move again.

About the middle of; the afternoon they halted for a mo-
ment’s Consultation. Darke was not surprised when the scout
informed him that the Indian encampment was not more than
a half-dozen miles diwtant. He had long been anxious to
reach the village. The suspense was growing to he almost
unendurable to him.

At first, Leander Itlayhoh took little part in the conversa—
tion and {mat his gaze anxioust th-ry few minutes upon the
horizun in the direction whence they had come.

“ Would you advise a hold charge through the Indian en-
campment ‘r" asked Clancy. “ Do you think we would he like-
ly to accomplish our object in that way ‘1”

The. scout thought not. The saVages might be on the

,hok-out {or mm’o'weh movement as that, as they would prob.

   
        

as v .. M , t

,x r ' ‘ saw «at... I

"' a.  '33.

ably expect that an attempt would be made to rescue Vinnie.
in which case they would run great risk of falling into some
trap set for theta by the Indians, if they approached the en-
campment boldly and in the full glare of the sunlight. 'l‘lieir
party was too small to hazard being taken at so great a disad-
vantage. They dared not show themselves openly in the camp
of their enemies. The odds would be loo great against them

“ No 1" said Wimple, emphatically. “ We mustn’t try such
a plan as that. It would be worse than useless! What. we
(lo must be done by stratagetn.
'tain’t a bluff, neither—that ain’t no river under it—jist back
of the Injiu camp. This hill‘s all grown over with low scrub-
oak and other stuff so thick ye can‘t see a rod any Way. If
we could only git up there and hide till arter dark, and then
two or three of us jiet step quietly down and, release the pris-
oners, leaving some one to have the horses ready to mount at
an instant‘s warnin‘, I think we could git the girl‘cl‘ar without.
much blood-lettin‘, and maybe the other prisoners, whoever
they are. It‘s the best plan I can think of now .”

Darke agreed uith the scout that nothing could be done by
'daylieht, but he was getting very impatient.

“ I think," said the big hunter, “as how ye‘rc partly right
in yer calkerlations and mayhap partly wrong. I don’t be-
lieve as how us four rushing into the imps’ nest would ('0
much good. We'd be very likely to git our little lump of
lead, every one on us, and that'd be the end on‘t'all; but in-
stid o' climbin‘ the bill, if ye‘ll jist take the advice of one who
has fit Injins some, and stop in the border of the wood, down
level with the edge of the prairie, and wait and see what hap-
pens, I b’lieve we can do suthin‘ as '1] amount to suthiu’. I've

know-ed sortie of the best kind of jobs to he did in gittin"

away prisoners from the reds. jist by watchin' and takin’ ad-
vantage of accidents and the like. If you'll all do jtst as I
say and not git flustered or go to gittin' away up there on top
of the hill, I’ll promise that every prisoner in the Indian
camp shall be safe before sundown—yes, in less titan two
hours. 'You don‘t know what amazin’ helps accidents “some.
times, in sieh cases as this one i"

t “ Can you do it tl’ asked Duke. 1:880“!-

‘l Yul. V

There‘s a steep blull‘. only _

 

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“What do you mean by‘ accidents ?" inquired Pete:Wiu-
ple. “What d'ye expect‘s goin' to happen m—day 2”

“Thar's no tellin‘ exactly," replied the big hunter. “ A
feller can't most always tell what is goin’ to take place. But
I‘m safe in guaranteein’ thirty or forty of them reds one
of the tallest accidents in a little while—'bont as soon as we
can git to their camp—they ever had any ijee of!"

“ Do you expect to kill as many as that ‘3“ asked Clancy,
Dome wonderment.

“ I (talker-late as how, if yer a mind to {ollcr my lead, we can
e‘ena‘most clean out the nest and git yer gal and the rest of
the prisoners away safe, besides! What do ye say? Shall I
go. ahead ’3"

“ Yes,” cried all three with one voice. “ You shall lead
us!"

“ I believe you can do what you say i" added Dzirkc. “ But
remember that a mistake on our part might prove fatal to
Vinnie and the others l”

“ There shan‘t he no halks or mistakes l" said the giant. in
? tone of assurance, taking his place at the head of the pat ty.
“ VVe‘ve got to leave this emigrant road here and take to the
left a little. An hour‘s sharp ridin' ’ll bring us to the Inth
camp. Let‘s be movin‘ on.”

And tightening their reins, the quartette dashed away.

There was a plain trail, left hy Kn-nan-gu-nonah’a band.
leading directly to the encampment of the savages. The little
party followed this for a while at a swift gallop, and then in
obedience to a low, tersely-spoken Command from their lead-
er. left it suddenly, and hearing still further to theielt,das|1ed
for a few minutes through the edge of a broad belt of timber
lying along the base of a range of low hills, halting at last
In a ehapparal not more than a hundred yards distant {mail
the Indian village.

“Ila-re we are .” said Leander Mayboh, throwing himself
ofl' his horse. “ Jist git otf yer nags and stretch yerselves a
little, while I take a look outside. Make the most outen your
restit1'-spell, for I can tell yer that ye won't have long to lay
idle. 1’.tn expectin’ an accident won I"

And thgm strange. words which the three men we“ '
muted held more meaning than. they mil, thy, 311M

 

 

5“ ' m‘mmex Imam-or,

Itrode away. and disappeared from view among the shrub-
bery. In less than five minutes he came back, and his face
showed that the result of his reeonnoissance was satisfactory.

“ There’ll be an accident soon,” said he.

“ How soon?" queried the scout.

“Inside of a quarter of an hour.”

“ Will it assist us in any manner ?” tnquired Darke.

“ Yes; it'll be the tnaltin‘ of our job.”

“ How ‘2" asked Clancy.

, “Its onsartin," replied the big hunter. “ Accidents is en-

‘ sartin things; but this one ’ll be sartin to help us if we‘re
ready to help ourselves. l‘ve noticed as how the same "(TI-
deut don‘t happen twice, any more’n a boy takes hisl‘ust chaw
of terhacker twice. "l‘ain’t anyways likely this ’ere accident
we've been Waitin’ for '1] happen more‘n onc’t. So we must.
be ready to take advantage of it jest at the right tninit! Now
then, how many shots have we got altogether?

“ I've got a six-shooter and a rifle, both loaded," said the
scout.

“ Seven," said Leander, counting.

“ And I’ve got six,” said Clancy.

“ Thirteen," counted the big hunter.

“ And I’ve got two revolvers and a rifle," said the scout.

“ Twenty-six,” said the giant, “and I‘ve got seven more——
thirty-three in all. If there ain't any of 'etu wasted, we can
shootjist thirty-three Injuns without ateppinsr to load l Now
git. on yer horses and stick yer pistols in yer belts and hold
yer ritles ready for instant use. I want to take one more look.
out, and I'll be with ye in :t minit."

The big hunter‘s prompt. manner and cool, baffling way

‘of talking had inspired the three men with the utmost
confidence in himself and his power to bring their enterprise
to a snceessful termination, and they obeyed his orders im-
plicitly. In a moment they were mounted, their unerring rifles
ready for use at a moment’s warning.

“ Are we going to dash into the encampment ?" asked
Clancy, examining the lock of his revolver.

“ It. looks like it,” answered the scout, Sententionaly.

“ What can the accident be t" questioned Der

“.That'l-odddlel" said Wimplu - - - - ~- - - --

   

I

m  cur-'3  ' Q
N “ And I. hard one to guess i” added the young hunter.

Just then the giant came running through the chapparal, '
and hastily seizing his rifle, which he had let t standing against
a tree, threw himself upon the back of his horse and rode to
the heal of the little band of wandering, anxious men.

“ Wait- a minit l" he half whispered.

There was a moment of dead silence, the four men almost
'gtnldinv.r their breath in tlteir saspt-nse.

Then a sltrick rung out on the air—a shriek that was half
a wail. half a curse—so weird and so unearthly that for a
moment the blood seemed to stand still in the veins of the
three startled men.

“ My God! What is that?” cried Darke.

“ It‘s the accident we've bin waitin' for,” said the big hun-
ter, calmly. “ It’s purty near time for us to take advantage
of it. Git ready."

At that moment there came from the direction of the In-
dian encampment an almost deafening report, followed in-
stantly by cries of agony and fear.

“ Now‘s our time i" cried the big hunter. “ Shoot down
every red-skin you see! But dmt‘t harm a hair of Ku-nan-
gtl-nn-nah‘s head if you can help it! Take him alive ! i"

As they cleared the chapparal, they saw a sight fur which
even the terrible cry of a moment before had not prepared
them.

It was a gigantic hntnan skeleton, standing upright on the
back of a. milk-white horse that tnuved with more than the
weed of the wind. In the bony, grist arms of the L’huntom ,
Rider was Vinnie Dar/w .’

CHAPTER XVII
A nm’mox 0F HEARTS.

“ 11' is Vinnie i” cried Darke, wildly. “ Oh God, save my
child l" _

“Heavens !" exclaimed the young hunter, in the same
breath, “_What is that? Oh! my darling! She-is lost!
lost!" and be rooted in his'llddla __

‘ _"i.  3" x',

’0." ‘   m m}

“Easyl”->s'ald the giant. “She is safe, and you ish‘sli
both speak with her in a few minutes. It is Meno, the
Spirit Warrior! He never harms the whites—he is their
friend; and he’ll carry the gal to a place of safety. Git yer
rifles ready. \Vhen ye see Injuus, fire sure, and don't miss a
shot. After yer rilles are emptied, git out yer pistols and
shoot down ther devils as long as yer have a load left l They
tvvon‘t show tight much after the accident that's jist happened
to ’em !”

A moment liter they had left the timber behind. and were
dashing across the little strip of prairie that lay between it
and the encampment, but a few rods distant.

Toe four unerring ritles rung out almost simultaneously,
and four savages lay dead or (lying on the ground.

“ Now yer pistols !" shouted the giant, plunging his spurs
into his horse’s flanks, and drawing and cocking his heavy
Colt’s revolver.

*On they sped, their firearms keeping up an incessant rattle,
dealing death on all sides.

They charged through the encampment, then, whirling,
came back, separating and shooting down every brave in their
path, as long as they had a load left.

The giant caught sight of Ku-nan-guono-nnh trying to hide
himself behind one of the lodges, and ieaping from his horse,
dragged the cowed and trembling fiend out into the middle
bf the encampment, shrieking and howling with fear.

“ It’s time we had a sort of a settlement i” said the giant,
grimly.‘ “l guess We‘ll look over our accounts now."

The Indians, men, Women and children, such as had not
fallen before the terrible Phantom Rider and the subsequent
charge of the four hunters, had sought refuge in the forest
and thick hi'USiHVUULl growing on the summit ‘of the steep,
rocky acelivity ut the hack of the encampment.

To the credit of our friends, be it said, that they shot donn
only the braves. For the most part, the squaws and children
pimped unharmed, but with the exception '0! Ku-nan-tgu-no-
nah and a half-dozen others, every warrior was slain. '

“ Where's the whites?" the giant asked the chier with h
‘hg, tbony fingers-choking- otxt-the answer: '

“ Yonder, in the council-h ‘ ’ ” s ' ,. .

 

 

 

 

   

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roasting the-direceion' of the chief’s eyq‘they “were:
building, the only One in the encampment, about twenty yards-g
distant. It had the appearance of being very stroneg put r.
up, and had evidently been built with a view to use as a
council-house.

Darke and the scout hastened to liberate the captives,
while Clancy, attracted thither by the loud snarls and yelps
prm'eeding from the interior, Went and looked over the top
of a small stockade, or rather pen, about ten feet square,.
standim,r a little at one side.

_“ My heavens !” he cried. “ It's full of wolves !”

“ Wolves l“ repeated the big hunter, as he finished binding
his cowed and terrified captive to a. stake near by. “ How
many on ‘em ?”

“ Eight," returned Clancy, counting.
them 2'"

“No,” said the giant avenger, a sudden thought entering
his mind. “ We may have use for ’em bimcby l"

“ Use for them ! How ?" asked the young hunter.

For answer, the giant pointed to Ku-nan-guno-nahl

" Come," he said, “.let's go and take a look at the prison-
ers. They’re free now. 'l‘har’s two men and a woman;
and one of the men’s got on a plug hat amt a white shirt.
and a snaller-tail coat and a standin’ Collar and a dirty cho-
ker,“ he Went on, as they drew near the liberated emigrantL.
“ He looks for all the World like a preacher l"

Just then the face of the man described by the giant-vat
smooth-shaver), sanetimonions faCe, that had not been wrin-
kled with a smile for ten )eats—was turned toward them, and
the big hunter stopped and stood 5 ill in his tracks a monn nt,
overcmne with astonishment, staring hard at the emigrants
who, with Dnrke and Wimple, were advancing toward them}

Clam-y regarded him with ntttn7.::lttent.

“ (firm-ions !’ he said, at last, “ it‘s Elder Tngwoller ! And
01., Lordy! thar‘s Sally l My Sally, 1 mean ! Oh. Lord! it's
Sally ! Sal/y / SALLY l’ liL‘ cried, and a moment later he had.
picked her «41' her feet, and was holding her in his great,strong
arms, as if she had been a baby.

She had recognized him when he called out to her. M
new to meet him.” .2

“ Shall I shoot

   

  

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’ .

5,’
O.-
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mm  ;

,
 ’I‘he elder and the. other man, as well as the rest of the
party. were regarding them with astonishment. Catching
light of the stranger, Leander set Sally down as suddenly as
helmd taken her up, saying anxiously, as he thought he might
have heen hugging another man’s wife:

“ Are ye married, Sally? Is that yer man 1‘”

“No, Leander,” she replied, throwing herself again'into
,tis arms; and after vainly trying to reach her hands around
his neck—for she was very short, her head reaching but a lit-
tle above his elbows—- she buried her blushing face, not in the
orthodox style in his bosom, but in h is for vestment some-
where below. “ No, L'ander, I hain’t married. I wouldn't
nt.-Ver marry no man but you! I’ve had fifteen ofl‘ers sinte I
see you last, and I refused ’tm all! I thought we‘d meet
ag‘in sometime, the good Lord willin‘ l”

“ And he was willin’, Sally ! Yer mine now, ain’t ye 1'”

;“ Yes,” she replied, “ your‘n allcl'S—lill the Bunker Hill
monument crumbles to dust I”
“ And we won’t never git things mixed and twisted ag‘in i"
“ No,” said she; “ nothin’ shan’t never part us ag’in l"
‘ And the long-sundered hearts were reunited.

“ Sarah,” said the Elder, through his nose, “ are you going
to marry with that ungodly man of strife ?”

“ Yes, uncle Tugwoller," she answered ; “ l'm n-goin’ to
marry that same ungodly man of strife, an’ be jist as good a
wife to him as I know how l"

Darke was beginning to evince great anxiety to are his
daughter once more, and the ludicrous reunion of the big
hunter and his old-time sweetheart, that he had just witnessed,
somehow made Clancy long to meet Vinnie.

“ Come," said the woodman, “ let us go at once.”

“ Wait a few minits," answered the now happy Leander.
“ \Ve've got a little hizntss to attend to yet. I‘m got Ku~
nan-gn-no-mth tied to a stake down thar, and iz’s about time
he retired front hizness. llth committed t'l‘illlt's— hluel‘er
ones than ye can imagine—and he must have his ptzttishtm nt.
We'll give him a. trial before we finish him elf. Come on."

And he led the way back to the open space in the Center
91 the encampment, where, to the same stake to which Ku-
nnn-gu-no-nnh had so often bound his captives, hearse himl-

 

  

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Jolt tied to securely that, struggle as he might, he eould not
get free, and knowing that his doom was at hand, he had
made superhuman efforts to break his bonds, but without
avail. He was Completely cowed ; at the last, all his cmzrage
and hardihood seemed to have left him, and he stood, quak-
. ,. ing with terror, his dusky face blanched to an ashen hue!

1 f' “'Now,” said the big hunter, laying his hand on the In-
" dian‘s shoulder, “ ef any one here has got any charges to pre-
fer ag‘in’ the prisoner at the stake, the court. is ready to attend
to the case.” '
“ The prisoner pulled oti‘ my dicky to-day," said the Elder,
dolorously, " and otherwise disarranged my apparel. I think

>  he deserVes condign punishment 1”

t '9 But other charges of graver import were to come. ,
- ,' “ He shot our guide,” said Sally Niver ; “ and put his arm
round my Waist, when he lifted me out of the wagon, and no
Jr. decent man Would do that—unless he had a right to," she ad—
ded, with a glance at Leander. “ Ithink he ought to be hung
for murderin’ the guide, anyway I"

“ He killed my brother John l" said Wimplc.

“ He butchered my old father and mother!" said the giant,
" and he‘s got to die an awful death for it! If any one here
thinks he ought to live after committin' all these crimes, let
 him speak !"

l, I, There was no voice to speak against the execution of the
giant's Sentence, and he said :
“ Shall he live or die? I’ll give him one more chance.”
“Let him die l" was the answer; and almost before the
startled spectators realized what had taken place, Leander
Maybob had cut the thongs that bound the doomed (.‘lllt‘f to
[he stake, and rearing him above his head, hurled him over

i the low stockade, among the snarling, half-famished wolves !
V : Iielribution had come at last! He had expiated his many
5’ . crimes! The Vengeance of Leander and Alonphilus May bob

‘ was ill complished !

A few moments later, the whole party rode out of the al~
most depopulated Indian village, the liberated captives
mounted on some Indian ponies that they had found tethered
near by. V
“ Now, Mr. Duke, we’ll go to yer gal I” said Leander. , ‘

  

,m «an Mam-4

 
   
       
   

 

CHAPTER XVIII, if
CONCLUSION.

 

IN a little chnpparal not for away they found Vinnie, on
near her, sitting on the ground, “'ns Alonphilus, the tiwzu-r',

At a little distance was tethered the white horse—there could {5' n'
be no mistuking it—the same milk-white steed that had enr- , ,
tied the ghastly form of Meno, the Spirit Warrior, as he rushed , "
by them at little while before, bearingr the girl in his grisly V 3,
embrace. ‘ '
Pete Wimple approached the animal, as it stood ' '«-t v
pic-king at the b -ztten-down prairie grass,» an” . Madly. ;
touched it once or twice on the back. ‘ g“

“ Whut ye doiu’ ?” asked Leander. “ Tryin’ to see if it’s
Well groomed ?” ' '

“ No; 1 was tryin’ to make up \my mind if ’twus Ira’al, gin~
uine boss-flesh, or jist a shudder.”

“ it‘s a renl boss I” suid the giant, stooping, while all their.
eyes, followed every motion curiously, and stretching up. the
ghastly length of the bony frame of at large, powerfully-built
man from out of the thick grasslut his feet. _ “And here‘s the
Spirit Warrior us has killed and scart to death more Injins in 
the last six years than ten men could finish off in the old-fash~ r,
ioned way in ten years! My little brother, thur on the ";
ground, a-tyin’ at big knot in the end of that string, nin’tt‘ery 3"
wide honest, as ye can see, and the space tttween the ribs of
tins ’ere thing is big unuti‘ for him to crawl in nil over. So

 

i

when he eits inside of ll,tltlt1 stands upon that white hoss and  ,
flings bomb-shells, and tires oil rockets among :1 pack ofrtds,  '
I guess they think he's one of the tallest kind of spirit wnr- 
riors, and about the worst ucez'deul us ever hefeil ’etltI I'm :1
sort of tt vuntriloquizer, and Inster hide in the woods, and
‘ holler like Menu, the spirit, is said to.” "

Durke. leaving Vinnie and Ginny to the enjoyment of i
each other’s society for a few moments, had come forward i
while the giant. was speaking,  a)” finished, he :. ‘ 
P

,1

.v ~ :3: 3 f”, » ‘34.; : if“

 

   

 
  
 
 
    
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

 

{I , s
' I ,1, ,3

«mm "  wag

'“ Add titat'éXplains the mystery of the oaken ehe‘st, also,
(1088 it not ?” l

“ That‘s all there is of the hull mystery and the hull se-
cret," said the giant, in reply. “ I don‘t mind tellin"abont it
now, cause I’m a-goin’ to marry and retire from bizness. My '
uncle Peter—and he was a. unavarsal—”

“But your brother is dumb. How did he produce that

g wful screeeh ‘3” _

Alouphilus raised a' small, curiously contrived whistle to
his lips. and a moment later, the same wild, terrifying cry
that they had heard before, rung out on the air.

Ten minutes more, and they were again mounted and ready
to set out for the settlement.

“Sarah,” said the Elder, in his nasal VOlCt‘. “1 ask you
again if you contemplate becoming the helpmeet of that
Worldly man of conflict ‘3"

“ Yes, Uncle Tugwoller,“ she replied, sweetly, reining her
horse up by the side of Leander's. “You’ll marry us to-
morrow, won‘t you ‘3"

“ If I must," he said, dolorously, tugging away at. the cor-
ner of his (lisarranged di‘eky, “ if I must, and my remunern‘
tion is forthcoming.”

“ You‘ve triumphed, Sally,"' said the giant lover, with a
tender intonation on the name. “ My uncle Peter uster' say
as how a female would” she wanted to, and if she didn‘t,
she wouldn‘t. I hope the Elder ain’t a glttin, things mixed
and twisted.”

It was after nightfall before the party arrived at the settle-
ment 3A! times along the way, the Elder experienced much
difficulty in maintaining his place on the hack of his horse.
{'Jnee he lost 011' his dieky, but he bore the trip with surpris-
ng equauimity.

The Elder was alone in the world now, save for Sally, his
wife having died two years before.

With his niece, in company with Henry Black—the man
whom, In our last chapter, Leander suspected might be the
husband of his sweetheart—the Reverend Tttgwoller Was on
his way to join a colony of eastern people then forming in
the far North-west, whither he had been called to act in m.
ministerial capacity. 0! course now that Belly had go up.

  
  

  

 

109 an autumn am: lon,

pily—or unfortunately, he would have said-met with her
first and only love, and they had been so felic'itously reunited,
this plan was abandoned ; and the next morning he pronounced
them man and wife, at Pete Wimple's, where the company
spent the night in the presence of our assembled friends.
He settled quietly down with his niece and her husband,
who abandoned the wilderness soon after and took up the
life of a farther in the interior of Michigan. He tried i
vain to bring Leander to a realizing sense of his innate wick;
edness, and began to think at last that Sally might have done
Worse, after all, when it came to his knowledge that the be-
atified fellow was the fortunate possessor of two or three
hundred acres of fine. land, clear of all claims, besides about
five thousand dollars hard cash that his father had received
for his place in the East.

The dwarf dwelt with them and was tenderly cared for by
his giant brother and his kind-hearted sister-in-law, to the
end of his life. He always kept the death-record with the
big knot at one end in commemoration of the terrible charge
of the four men through the Indian encampment and the
awful death of Ku-nan-gn-nomah, the slayer of his parents.

Clancy and Vinnie were married in due time, and, with
Emmett Darke, they went farther south, and purchasing a
farm lived very happily indeed.

Pete Wimple, the scout, is a gray-haired old man now;
but his eye is as clear and his form as erect as in the days of
ycre; and his story of the chase and the war-path are the
delight of all the boys in the settlement. ,

Death, the blood-hound, died of old age twenty years age.

 

 

 

 

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DIME

[illnwkv 0 Harry.

1'333'433:

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————-————
1'333'p33h'r—

POCKET NOVEIJS.

PUBLISHED SEMI-MIDNTHLY. AT TEN CENTS EACH.

By ()11 (Tannin.
"end 5 lot. iv Allin-rt W. Allivn.
'I'hr Roy .‘llllt‘l’l. lh» Edward S. Ellis.
"IIHl "Ivk. |‘\ (Ulyt. \IHYUV' “will.
Nlll \"ull'r |F\ Mrs. W. V. Virtur.
'I‘Iu- “'llltn- 'l‘rurkcr. liilmml S. Ellis.
'l‘lu- "utqu 'n “'H'c. \lrn. Am. 5.. .-pln-na.
'l'hv 'l'ull 'l'r-nppvr. llv Allwvt W.
Luzlltnlng .Iu. l1‘\‘1':\|rl.AuluHm.
'I'Iu' I-lulltl I’ll-“lo. l‘n‘ (‘m l. :‘1M\Ilel{t'ld.
The Hay Hunger Iii-(HUN.
no“. the 'l‘rumwr. f E. >2 Ellis.
The French pr. By W. J. HrlHIlllnll.
Lung Khul. “Y‘.l|l‘l.(14|ll|‘l"|h.
'I‘hv (-‘unmukcr. llx' .IJIIIH'S l.. lluwm.
"ml Iluml. I'm \.1.‘. l’.]mr.

rlh-n. lln- 'l‘ruppl-r. Bx lA-“is W. ('imon.
Vlld Hun-u. |'.\' nil (Mnuw.

w'l‘llo vavlvr ('hlcl'. Hr Sm-lin Robins,
'I'IH‘ II‘ur-Klllc-r. llv f'upl. Pmnatuck.
“’Illl VIII. 5}‘ \\ m. R. I‘thle-r.
lmllun .ln, Ih l..-\\i<\\"('tlrinr1.

0M Konl the Runner. Edwin! S. Ellis.
'l'lu- 0m - " «I 'l‘rnppor. “MN. (‘mnntuck
Guillmhl. HI 5"“. In \. (‘. lm“,
'I'ht- “lurk hhlp. “\ .lnlm S. Warner.
§Iluzlr II)“ I; \V‘l'rt‘ll M. .lnlm.
lvullnn J n. [h Phi-minis. rillm.
The 51‘an. ’n “'mrmr 5!. Juli“.
I‘Iluzlt- H30. M W. J. ll-iwilzun.

'l'lu' \l y-llr “MIIIH'. ll\' lC-lwunl S. [ill a.

i 79~Qntluw .Int-k.
\ ' MI—Jl lgrr-Tnll, the liclnlnole. R. Ringwood.
I lluen. ‘

M! The E meter llnrhcman.
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The ‘vulp Klng. l‘. l.:~-?i1. ,\wl Hunh-r.
0ch Lulu H; l'. W. . .Ili.r,
rkulnlmll. "Mum-r. In NH (‘nunln-s.
'l'lu- Hwy I'lonm-r. l‘n l‘hlu'unlfi. Ellix.
(‘ur-um, llu- Hulllr. "VJ.H.l{um1nlp|:.
The Hour! linlt‘r. lix Hum llnmni.
“'olzvl. the firm-I. H H n M u llvlklinp.
'I'Iu- Hutu- Ilnnlrr. l'n I‘l‘l..~',l€'lis.
“'lld \nl. (he
Lynn-cup. in I
'l‘hi- “'hilv "llllllH.
'l'ln‘ ling 'l'rullt-r.
'I‘hv Ifll‘ KIIIL'. ll.
\ilrlun. llw Pilot.
The “XIII-hunter. 1h \lulw 0. llwl'v-
'I‘hv l'lmulmu 'l rm-kvr. IM 1“. lh-ury.
“m-ml-lll "Ill. l’w l'nul llililis.
The ‘VUH'QIH‘OII. lh (Wining llnwnril.
1'! I "an In the 'I'rullt'r.
lho “ml ('hlvl'. l7_\ l'nzis. H -w\Ir1|.
'I'hl' "lurk “'ull'. lh' Kiln-in H. Ewing.
\I‘knnlnuJurl‘. l'w lurrylluurnl.
'HuvlJn-urd. |'\' In llSiMm.
'I'llv NIH-r "HM-II. My llillvx Mullur.
IIunh-r Hum. '. J. lwmar Hill.
l‘lmuln mul. l. \l. \lwrrill.
‘I'lu- 'l‘t-uu Iluwl‘v |i\ .l-m. H. lingrr. Jr.
\‘Drt'llt'nl ‘11". I'- ‘ )M’J'lnh. H<>w,|r<l.
\Ind n3": Ni-unln. Ih‘ l-I. limlman.
TI 0 ma 'I‘ruppor. Wm. ll. Pix-m.
' l‘ I’lorlclu ‘0 Int. ' l5, [hug-nib.
'I'hv I‘lnml ’l'runlu-r. "ll-m. Hmnml.
“'oll‘ ('up. l‘\ I nihilnk.ll~\V1IT:l.
Ihlllllngl’h-L. lH ll rrx “mud.
Nhurp-lfir. l\ .\lw r \l:|\ \lwrtdw.
Irnn-lluml. 'lx lumiqu "in |_
Thu "t'llnrw ""Illt‘l‘. l:'~('l‘1l§.ll‘\\')\rvl.
'l'lu- I'huntnm Hitler. lh Mar N. Roll».
"vluwun- 'I‘om. lix Hurry Il'll‘lTlL
thr “HIV. '» ("1' 4li~. llnumnl.
'l'hr Slu-lelun .‘m-ut. \lzl l., \\',
7 7(‘hinvn. lho (‘lu-ymnu‘.
i'l‘ha 'l‘au alt-(I I‘rnll.
'l‘lln l'n-c-on "and.
The Imnv IIHHIIII.
'I‘ln- Branch-(l Bravo.

'I'ruplwr. l'.uil I'll‘lliy[[_ .l
mu 1’, 2 I x.

lh ll nu Hulnril.
Ilv I‘ruiuii n I'mu-v,
(HIM. 1'). 1. ll‘ unril.
lh (Ml. l' humlmm. l

":Irswh

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~'I‘II|‘ Valley Scout.
mllml Jan-km. [Inc Huron.

By
By Mujnr Max Muriinv.
llyJ. Slimln-y llr-nilt-rwn.

By (‘npt.

‘uul l-tilihs.

Illlly Bowlogs. llw Serrlhlolv1‘lllc-l'.

By Seelin Robins.

By Paul liihhs.

74 thtlo Rifle. llv ( um. " Bruin " Adams.
The “'mul W Itch. My Edwin Emermm.
Old Rum the TH: er. “ Bruin " Adams.
Th4- h'cnrlct Fhlillf: era. Harrv Hazard.
n4 Th1- IIurder RIM-mun. L. W. Cnmm.
Ily Hun)- Hazunl.

)>)')’)
9)::r

RI 7 "out h-lM-ult-r. l’vy Arilmr 1.. Mm-rw.

H2 rKontun, the Runner. ll) (Jim. “unnlll.
‘ I‘rmik Drum.
The 'l rot: Trap H'rl. Sm-lin varmm.
Kuleuluh. H\ ’l'. tuiiun SI-iclu», [28. 5.

'l‘ln- llunu-r "en-Men. HmnSLt-‘eorgr.
l'hll Ilnntr r. II) ('n rt. ('hnn. “award.
The lmllull h‘t-olll. h Harry Hazard.
'l‘ln- 1-‘Irl Au'nurr. B)‘(‘llll5.llll“‘flfd.
TIMI "NI Ilrrmlh‘nl. By Paul Bibby.
htur-lfiu'v. llu- Huger.
'l'lu- Antelulu- lloy. Hy Geo. LAiken.
'I'ho l’lmntum Hunter. By E. Emerson.
'l'om l’lntlr, (ht- I’llot. By M. Klnpp.
r'l‘ht- "rd “ lzurd. By Nrrl llurtrr.
h The "l\lll ’l‘ruppcrll. 15v I..\\'.(‘msun.
'I'ht- Fululw hpy. lly (7n D‘. (Jinn, Howard.
Dun-Ry "Ink. l}\ .103. E. lmlger,Jr.
('nlullt‘l ('rm-lu-tt. lh (has. E. Lnnnlle.
0M Ih‘ur I'uw. Hy Major Max Marliue.
lit-Illu“. lh J n. E. llndger,Jr.
\Vllcl Rube. I“ “'.J. Hmnilttvn.
'I‘lu- lndlun Illlntc-rl. [h J, 1.. Bowen.
hr‘urrrd Bugle. Ii} Andn-u lhrurlmr...
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The lmllun lip '. ll_\'.ln,~. l". llndger,.)r.
Job lit-an. lh “whiqu Ruth.
The “Run! king. '1‘ .11 a. E. “ntlylr. Jr.
'I'lw Foalpcd Hunter. ll) “urn llnznrul.
valu. (he h‘umt. lh \'l'. J. llm..i]1..._
’l'hc Texac- 1'Ikor. ll} l‘dvuirul \\ lllr'll
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'l'lgrr-IIt-urt. x: .- 'I am L- r. lh ll\ wnnl
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"Inn-l. l’unthrr. Hx J”. L. “llllyl‘r. Jr.
Ahdlrl. thi- .\ \('1||_'(‘I’. l’-} H. “'illrtl.
('nlo. llw ('rrc- u-r. lh Prwl. Drwcy.
'l‘uu-Ilumlwl 3 ut. l»_\ erJL. lludger.
“ml 'l'rnll Hunter. I?) Hurry Hamid.
“luck ‘lrk. |€\ l'Yllltrlllx Whittaker.
kn mm. In \\. J. 111mm“.
'l'lu- hprvtrr In’ltlt-rn. ll) (Qumfllrmvn.
(.‘luut l'v'c. |\ \\'. J. llillllllll'll
'l‘lu- (-‘lrl ('rwtuln. 1‘) Jun. E. llmlp r.
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hlIu-rnpur. lh lulunm \‘l'illrll.
\qunltcr "[0].. liv J a. P). “fltlun'r.
Th1- ( hlld Spy. lh ‘;1'V‘TLI"rlrl|!!Ili
“Ink (but. I\ .l‘ n K. llmluu.
lh'd l’lumo. ll} J. Hmqu 'li'lldi‘rll iv.
(1)410. the Trail: r. l’n Mnrno. lamp,
The Luv-l (nu-ho. J. \‘l‘uilo-y Hva: n. n.
Thv ('unnlhul ('hlrl'. l’llll.].1'ltr«10l|.l
Kurnlhn. H; .l. Nunlm Hermie-rum.
\rnrlrt Moovuulu. “V I‘nul llibl-n.
Kldnnpm-IL lyl. .‘l'mlvy Hrruleravn.
“HM ul'thv Mountnln. B}- Hnrnilh n.
The N'luto haunt-n lh‘ I‘ll. “'illn-H.
’l'ho "order Renegade. My “ntlgrr.
'I‘Iw Mun- ( Irlrl. 1‘)" (11‘ ('lmlr.
"OI'IH‘. tlu- "nun-r. lly Whiunkn.
Mum-ruin Kulo. Iy Jm PT. “Numb.
'I’ho lh-d P-‘vnlm-r. lh \V l Huwlll‘h.
'l hr Lone (him. l1}‘JIH.l‘..ll:ngel, Jr.
The \llH-r IC- clr. IN IN. t‘ul. H x/Irtun.
Edward S. Ellis. Re-mly Fol). l‘lth.
Rvmly FM). 24th.
RUIUIY Mnroh 0th.
(1an Huwzuwl. Rt-mly March 23d.
Rvmlv April 6th.
Rfi‘flvly April 20th.
llv-mly .‘lrly 4.
Randy May 18th.

SM
99
100
101

-321nayaun—

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"HADLE AND AIDAMK. l’ubllnhofn. 9N “'Illlum Mreel. .\('w York.