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ANNIE...“ fu‘

Copyrighted. 1885, by BIADLI AND ADAMA. Entervrl M. In» Pun mm» at va York. N. Y.. an Second Clnu Mall Multan

Published Weekly by Beadle and Adams,
No. 98 WILLIAM 81.. NEW YORK.

02.50
In Your.

I’rluc,
Five (Jul-ll.

Vol. VII.

Ju1y99.l’5‘<5.

No.80.

 

of the Blackfeet.

 

llLD mum, THE GUIDE;

BY '1‘. C. HARBAUGH,

Or, Niokana, the White Queen

AUTHOR or “NICK 0’ THE NIGHT,” “HIDDEN LODGE,” “ NIGHTINGALE NAT,” 1:10., ETC.

BED WASP STAGGERED BACK, CUT TO THE BONE, ALMOST, BY THE SHARP LABK.

 

 

2‘ . ‘ Old Frosty, the Guide.

Old Frosty,ihe Guide:

on,

NIOKANA,
The White Queen of the Blackfeet.

A Tale of the Far Northwest.

BY T. C. HARBAUGH,

AUTHOR or “NICK 0’ THE NIGHT” “HIDDEN
DODGE,” “ NIGHTINGALE NAT,” ‘DANDY
JACK,” “ KIT naanroor,” “ MIDNIGHT
JACK," ETC., ETC.

CHAPTER I.
OLD raos'rv’s BET.

“FIFTY dollars to ten thet I kin do it i”

The score of bronzed men seated around one
of the first camp-fires built by white men in the
Blackfoot countr , looked up at the speaker in
doubt whether to ugh or regard him as a mad-
man.

“ I’m in dead ’arnestl” continued the swarthy
man. “ Fifty dollars to ten, that I kin go into
the village an’ git tarms an’ good ones, too—
trom Arro'w Head himsel .”

“ Not so fast, Frosty. Thar isn‘t a white face
beyond the hills behind us; not one, unless—”

" Unless what, Donald?” asked several voices,
as the speaker paused.

“Why, unless Dwarf Dan an’ his boys hev
kept their word.”

‘ Kept it? Pshawl”

Boisterous and contemptuous laughter follow-
ed the last sentence, and the giant target of the
merriment turned upon the laughers with a
scowl on his dark face.

“You’ll laugh on the other side 0’ yer jaws
afore we’re out 0’ the Blackfoot kentryl” he
said, snappishly. “Thar ain’t a man in the
gang what knows Dwarf Dan as I do. We’ve
got to keep our eyes olpen; the man what says
thet we hey see’d the est 0’ Dan doesn’t know
what he’s talkin’ about.”

“ Thet’s so, Donald! I’ve lied some acquaint-
ance with the chap myself. He’s meaner than
the hull Blackfoot nation; he never fought a
man open-handed—neverl Them what laugh
don’t know him. I know suthin’ about the boss-
stealin’ last night, thet isn’t in everybody’s

noggin” A

“ hat, Frosty?” chorused a dozen voices,
and the speakers gathered around the leak in-
dividual, Whose sharp Yankee features would
have rendered him a marked person anywhere.
“’ If you know who got the horses last night,spit
it out.”

“Did I say that I know who got ’em?” queried
the queer-looking man. “I only said that I
know suthin’ about the job what everybody
don’t know. I say it ag'in. But let’s go back
to my ori inal proposition. I’ll bet fifty dollars
to ten the I kin git tarms out 0’ Arrow Head.
Thar‘s gold in these hills—plenty ov it! All we
want is a permit from Arrow Head to stay
hyar. He’s sent as word to git eout, an’ already
we’ve buried five 0’ the best men as ever carried

 

 

 

a pick. VVe’rc on Injun ground. Uncle Sam
hez given it to Arrow Head, his heirs and as~
signs, furever. Dwarf Dan knows that these
bills ar’ full 0‘ yaller rocks. Thar’s enough gold

hyar to buy all the dig in’s in California We

want—we must have it! ’m goin’ to git the
permit, fur without it We kin do nothin’. Fifty
dollars to ten thet Frosty Paddock gets it. Who
takes the bet?”

“ Frost , we can’t afford to lose you at this
sta e of t o game,”-said big—shouldered fellow
wit akind face. “ You re the only one among
us who knows the country. By George! before
we sacrifice on for a chance at these bills, we‘ll
back out an leave ’em.”

“ That’s what we’ll. do, Frosty!” chimed’ in
several voices which told that the rough Yankee
was a favorite among the venturesome gold-
huntcrs. “ \Ve can’t dig here without Arrow
Head’s consent, and he’s already given us five
days to leave in. Black Tom is right: we’ll leave
the kentry right off before we’ll let you go off to
tr¥‘to change that red devil’s mind.”

or a moment the tall Yankee was silent.
The earnest words of his companions had touch-
ed his heart, and his big eyes seemed to swim in
tears.

“Boys!” he cried, after several futile efforts
to speak. “ Frosty Paddock 0.1" one 0’ them
kind what kin a iprcciato soch words, but it :11"
no use talkin’. f it war daylight I‘d like fur
ye to see the hills around yo. They're full ov
gold—chock full. Now what’s the use in goin’
back when Arrow Head kin be brought around
jest ez easy as I kin turn a flap-jack? I’m goin’

do it. No! I’ll not hear a word, Black Tom.
Do ye see thet foot?” and the speaker thrust his
right foot forward into the ruddy light of tho
camp-fire.

At any other time some rough. laughable rc-
marks would have passed concerning the size
and shape of that foot; but now none greeted
its owner: all gazed silently at the member in-
cased in a dirt moccasin tied with a leathern
strin'r over the instep.

“T et foot kin do more with Arrow Head
than all the talk in the world!” continued Pad-
dock. “ You’ve heard of masonry an’ sech like,
boys; but I know suthin’ thot none 0’ you ever
heard of. With thet old moocasin I kin walk
all over Blackfoot land, an’ dig in every hill
above ground.”

Paddock, the guide, was becoming an object
of more than common interest. He stood in the
center of an open-mouthed crowd whose mem-
bers were staring at the ungainly foot that he
kept in the foreground.

“A good deal of that may be more talk!” ven-
tured a voice on the outside of the crowd.

“ Mere talk? Who said thet?” cried the guide,
tin-niner quickly. “ Ah! it war you, Mr. Rams-
rlen. Mebbe it be you who don’t know what
he’s talkin‘ about. Whar’s yer ten dollars thet
say thet I can’t do it?"

“ In my saddle—bags,” answered the T5011
called Ramsden, who was a young man 0 three
and twenty

“ Git it an’ put up !” roared Paddock; “ You’re
one o' the very chaps thet I thought would talk
Oppersition.” _

The last sentence was muttered 1n atone of

 

\

 

Old Pro-ty. the Guide. 3

 

self-satisfaction ;’ it did not reach Ramsden‘s
ears, for the oung man had stepped to a pair of
leathern sad e-bags into whose capacious depths
he had thrust his womanish hands.

“By the eternal starsl he can’t bluff me!”
he said to the man who came 11 ) to argue him
from the bet. “ I don’t want his money—I’ll
donate it toward getting him a tombstone—but
I won’t be blutfed~especially by a dirty Yan-
kce like him.”

As he uttered the last word, Ariel Ramsden—
the youngest man in the camp—de a small bag
of gold dust from out of the iockets of the sad-
dle-bags and sprung toward addock.

“ Here I am!" he cried. “ I was never beat at
the game of bluff; and my last ten dollars say
that you can’t get'a permit from Arrow Head
for us to dig in this country. Now my down-
cast friend, I’ve got the straddle on you; put up
or shut u .” ‘

Ariel amsden was so excited that he (lid not
see the lowering looks of the men who surround-

ed him. His eyes were full of the triumph of a.

sinister purpose.

Frosty Paddock, the trusty old guide of the
Northwest, quickly ran his l)l‘()llZ(‘(l hand he-
neath the bosom (it his gray shirt and produced
0. ba similar to the one the youth held.

“Thor’s about fifty-two in mine!” he said:
“ lVill ye take my word?”

“ Yes,” was the answer.

“Then take the dust, Tom. If I git Arrow
Head’s permit, it’s all mine; if I don’t, hand it
over to the boy.”

Black Tom, the chosen captain of the adven-
turers, did not come forward without some
urging.

“I’d rather not!” he said. “By George!

Frosty, it looks as if I had a hand in drivin’ you‘
c

“Nobody’s drivin’ me off! I wanted to 0.
We want the gold in these hills, an' thur‘s t 6
old shoe what kin unlock the mountains fur us.”

The wager was put into Black Tom’s hands,
Ramsdeii not objecting to the stake-holder. As
he turned away, his face wore a leer of devilish
triumph. seldom seen in one so young. He
fairly clinched his hands as he moved off, nor
did he pause, until he had left the camp several
rods behind him.

“ I was itching to get you started, Abel Pad-
dock!” he hissed. "You might as well walk
pinioncd into the Missouri, as into Arrow Head’s
camp. Things are working admirably; five
have got their uietus; there are seventeen left.
With you out o the road, Frosty, it’ll be an easy
ijlob; but for fear that moccasin business might

elp you, I’ll guard against it. Samson’s power
lay in his hair; yours, you say, Frosty, in your
moccasin.” ‘ '

“ We‘ll steal that I”

If a shell had fallen from the star—Spangled
vault of night and exploded at Ariel Ramsden‘s
feet, he would not have started back with more
alacrity than he did from the unexpech voice.

H e laid his hand on the pistol in his belt.

“ No shootin’, pnrd,” said the same tone, and
the next moment Ramsdon stepped forward to
greet a pigmy. .

Scarcer five feet in hight, With a head set
plump upon a pair of Atlantean shoulders, and

 

with a pair of eyes that glared like a tiger’s, a
human being confronted the young gold-
hunter.

“ Not a word!” said the dwarf. “I’ve heard
every word to—night—his hint about the horses
an’ all. You may count on those fifty dollars.
fur he’s lost ’em already. It’s all right over the
hills fur our party! ard, you hevn't see’d the
half yet. I b lieve thar’re solid gold hills in this
kcntry. They war cussin’ me back thar’!”

“At any rate, you have been the recipient of
no complimentary remarks in Camp Frosty to-
nig it.”

“ I should jedge I hcd not from what I heard,”
was the r use. “We’ll let ’em go an’ try
Arrow Hen . I’ll not be fur off when I‘m
wanted. Keep cool; don’t ive 'em any chance
to bounce you. We hednt any trouble last
night; the roan was a lcetle restive arter we got
her out: but she soon come to it handsome y.
Arrow Head thought hcra beautfi

“Arrow Head?” echoed Ariel msden, gaz-
ing at the dwarf.

“Yes; we must have strange bedfellars in
Blackfootrland,” said the dwarf, showing his
teeth in a grin. “ But—”

“ Listen!”

The two men turned their heads to the north-
west.

“Good-b , boys! I’m not goin‘ off to stay.
Frosty Pm dock will come back; he’ll be on
hand when you want ’im, if not in the flesh,
then, by J ehosaphat! in the speeritl”

The speaker could not be far away.

Almost before the last word had ceased to
echo, the moon. lon obscured, showed her gold-
en disk over the e e of a cloud and the two
conspirators saw the ank figure of the Yankee
between them and the satellite.

The next moment it disappeared.

“How did that strike you?” asked Ariel Rams-
den of his dwarfish companion. “ Do you believe
in the supernatural?”

The dwarf looked into the youth’s face. His
misshapen form was shivering as if ague—
stgickcn; his teeth chattered; his face was
w ite.

“ What? Put it in plain English, boy. I
didn't quite grasp it,” he said.

Ramsden smiled.

“ He said he would come back in the
not in the flesh‘” he said. “ Do you be ieve in
ghosts Dan?” .

“ I 0, so help me Moses!” cried the dwarf.

“ Then you won’t touch him?”

“Not for the world. But I’ll see that he’s"

teched, Ariel; and I‘ll see the techin’ done,
mebbel”

\

CHAPTER II.

THE WHITE QUEEN or THE BLACKFEET.
JUST beyond the hills that bordered the old-
liunters’ camp on the north, and scarcely fl en
miles away, stood thechiei.’ villa e of the then
all-powerful Blackfoot nation. t covered the
greater ortion of one of the loveliest plains in
the far thwest and presented an imposm' 5
sight. The Blackfeet could arm six theusan
warriors and send them forth to battle; the na—
tion led by Arrow Head, the most unscrupulous
and mercfless red giant that ever trod the war-

I

\

irit, if~

 

 

I ' Old Frosty. the Guide.

 

path, had never suffered defeat at the hands of

an enemy. It was aggressive,_ unconquered,

always conquering!

On the western side of the village of the Black-
feet grew a copso of tall young trees, which,
standing at singularly equal distances from one
another, might have made an observer believe
that they had been planted by the hand of man.
Here the Indians lounged on the yieldin grass
through the heated terms, and watched t e rude
gain? that the young bucks kept up with much
spin .

Let the reader accompany us to this spot.

The camp-fire that we have just left had been
kindled with the going down of the sun. The
natural grove was thronged with Indians; every-
where was observable the tall, sinewy figures of
the Blackfeet. On one spot a group of chiefs
were conversing in serious tones, while on an-
other, at the edge of the grove, a scene of merri-
ment was bein enacted.

A number 0 Blackfoot boys ranging from
thirteen to seventeen were trying to break a
young horse. The persistent efforts of the
youths had attracted a crowd of older braves,
who every now and then applauded the would
be Rarelys by a boisterous clapping of hands.
A stout ariat had been passed around the colt’s
neck; this in turn had been made fast to a tree,

' and two boys were clinging to the animal’s
mane trying with all their might to hold him
while one of their number, twice thrown, was
attempting to remount.

The colt, a powerful young animal, was not
the least exhausted by his long battle, and mov-
ing around, despite the efforts of the red boys,
was preventing the persistent one from mount—
ing. All at once, however, the watchful e e
of the youthful red-skin saw a chance, and e
sprung like a panther astride of the horse. But
hisvictory was of short duration, for the colt

. darted forward a few feet, and then planting
his fore-hoofs suddenly in the ground came to a
halt which sent his rider far over his head, a
handful of mane attesting his futile hold.

This horse victory was received with loud
yells from the spectators, and Red \Vasp the
unlucky boy, picked himself up in no good hu-
mor, and not willing by any means to try it
a am.

at at this juncture, and while the intracta-

ble colt was in the full flush of his. s ccess, there

came upon the scene a person wh appearance
was received with keen delight.

“Hal ha! Niokana, our white queen. will ride
Kishewata the strong!” cried the Blackfoot
boys, and with one accord they began to clap
their hands.

The person thus greeted, strange to say, was
whitel

She was a girl who could not have assed her
seventeenth year. She was rather dar skinned,
but ve beautiful, with her deep blue eyes and
grace figure. Clad in a rather fantastic garb
profusely adorned with beads, she presented an
up once which would have commanded great
at ntion anywhere.

,he reached the spot where Red “Esp had
alighted just as that individual was recover-
ing his equilibrium, and said, in the Blackfoot

 

“Kishewata throw Red Wasp? He can ride
the earth with no danger of being thrown.”

The eyes of the discomfited young Indian
flashed madly at these words.

“Then let Niokana ride him if she dare!” he
cried. “Kishewata belongs to Red \Vasp; he
shall be Niokana’s i f she rides him I”

“ Then Red Wasp will have to give him up,”
was the response.

The Indian boy shut his teeth hard but said
nothing.

The girl hurried forward and fastened her
eyes on the horse, now unsecured save by tho
lariat already mentioned. Red Wasp followed
slowly, a latent triumph over the w lite queen
visible in the depths of his mad eyes.

“Keep off! keep off!” cried a score of voices
to the girl, who was advancing upon the horse
with her powerful eyes fixed upon him. But
she aid no attention to the warnings.

hen she reached the horse and began to
stroke his beautiful mane the astonishment of
the spectators knew no bounds, and Red Wasp
hit his lips.

“ Now I will ride Kishcwatal” she said, plac—
ing one neatly moccasincd foot upon the lariat
stretched taut between the sleek neck and the
tree.

The next moment she vaulted upon the colt’s
back, producing a toughened piece of buffalo-
hide which she slip led over the head and into
the mouth as she di so. Then before these at
the tree could loosen the lariat, the girl leaned
forward, and with a knife that glittered for a
nfipment in the last sunbeams, cut it and was
0 l

A wild shout of exultation greeted this action.
and those who looked saw the white girl seated
on the back of the colt, guiding him. as it ap-
peared according to her whim!

The duskiness of the hour enabled horse and
rider to disappear in a minute, and Red Wasp
who had claimed the colt was overwhelmed by
the derision of his comrades. For awhile the
red boy received the keen ton ue-thrusts with
outward good grace; but soon e lost his tem-
per, and almost before the hoofs of the master-
ed colt had ceased to sound, he was in the
midst of a group of his doriders punishing them
with blows that brought blood from man a
Blackfoot nose. A few took sides with d
Wasp, and at last the fightin became serious;
knives flashed from buffalo clts; tomahawks
were brandished aloft: and one Blackfoot boy
went down with a cleft cheek before the older
Indians interfered.

All at once with a cry that resembled the
growl of the ti er, as much as the human voice,
a giant came ounding over the green sward,
and without hesitation threw himself among the
combatants.

“Shame! shame!” he cried. in the tribal
tongue. “ then we learn to fight among our-
selves, we will not stand long efore our one-
miesl’

He at once began to put an end to the melee,
which he did in a summary, if not a cruel man-
ner.

For awhile he sent the boys whirling right
and left with his brawny arms, and then, seiz-
ing two, one with each hand, he brought their

 worm-

 

 

 ,_:___,t.a-. _-- V 4.”- __,.

 

Old Frosty, the Guide. 5

 

heads together in a series of blows that seriously
endangered their craniums. Dropping the two
first seized, he pounced upon a brace of others,
and proceeded to serve them in like manner.
All the time from his lips rose the Words:
“Shame! shame!”

The young red-skins, not relishing the indig-
nation and punishment which their disgraceful
brawl had brought upon them, began‘to dis-
Jerse; but not until at least eight of their nuni-
licr had been well “ bumped.”

“ Go to your lodges and learn to carry water
and dress skins!” thundered the giant, after
them. “ The Blackfeet ought to hide their faces
and weep. When the old warriors have gone to
the hunting—grounds of the Manitou, the Snakes
will come and bind the once powerful Blackfoot
tribes, for the young warriors fight among
themselves like wolves. Go and hide your
faces!”

The chief—for chief he was—was in a tempest
of passion, and with the last words he turned
upon the older warriors with a scowl disru-
n'oving of their non-interference, and stro o

aughtily away.

The belligerent boys, shamefaced, crestfallon,
but indignant, went to the lodges.

There was a tem est of madness in each heart,
and the name of iokana fell in no gentle tones
from more than one pair of lips.

“ She shall ride Kishewata again!” cried Red
\Vasp, springing from the cot of buffalo-skins
11 Jon which he had thrown himself and buried
his face. “By the lodge of tho Manitou! she
shall rido him, and ride him forever! The
young pale-face who looked so long at her at
the beginning of last sleep shall see her ride
Kishewata the strong. Rod Wasp will never
make her his squaw, nor will he give her to the
white skin who will t to win her.”

At that moment t 9 young Indian caught
sight of a beautiful object hanging alrainst the
side of the Wigwam. With tigerisfia cry he
sprung forward and tore it from its place, to
hold in his hand a delicate and miniature shield

‘ fashioned from human hair. As he held it at
- arm’s length his flashing eyes saw only the girl

who had made it from her own luxuriant tresses
and given it to him, and a moment later his
mad hands had torn it in pieces, and his heel
ground the fragments into earth.

“She will come back on Kishewata with a
laugh for Red Wasp!” he hissed. “But she
will come back to ride him again, and when the

colt stops the Blackfoot nation will have no.

pale queen !”

It was dark now: the sun had set behind the
great village of the Blackfeet, and the grove
which we have just left was almost deserted.

Almost, we safy

At the edge 0 it a lank figure sat on a horse
and looked toward the thousand lodges.

“Wal, hyar I am, right side up with keer,”
he said. “ Now, I'll go down and set about the
parmit!”

The lines resting idly on the horse’s neck were
taken up; but the next moment they dropped
from the man’s hands, which shot quickly to—
ward his belt for a pistol.

A sound, well known to the old guide, had
touched his ear. ‘

 

“ Two kin play at that ame!” ho hissed.
“ Ha! thar yo ar’-—an Iujun 0y, by hokeyi."

In the uncertain light the borderer could dis-
tinguish the outlines of the 6 ure which. crouch-
ed at the foot of a tree near y, had an Indian
bow drawn to its utmost tension.

He saw his peril and raised his pistol; but
before his lingers could give the trigger the re-
(kuircd pressure, the twang ofabow—string broke
t )0 silence, and the feathered shaft struck.tho
white square in the breast.

“ Hit fur the first time!” cried the man, reel-
ing in the saddle. “ Cuss the young skunk! I’ll
chaw him up fur this!”

With this )0 threw himself to the ground and
despite the terrible wound, is rung upon the
Blackfoot boy before he could y.

The next instant Frosty Paddock had avenged
the shot!

“This don’t look like gittin’ the permit!” ho
gasped, halting for a moment before he stag-
gered toward the horse.

“ But I’ll get it! Dead or alive, I’ll see thet
the boys ar’ allowed to hunt the yuller rocks in
the Blackfoot kentry! Old Frosty Paddock war
never yet outwitted. Cuss the red skunk an’
his bab arrer!" , '

The ( ctermincd man reached his horse and
threw himself into the saddle.

But he almost immediately fell forward on
the animal’s neck, and the beast remained
standing under the trees with his silent and mo—
tionless rider.

Had death cheated Frosty Paddock out of tho
“ parmit?”

CHAPTER III.

A BOY AND HIS RIVAL.

WHILE the stran e tableau just described 0c-
cupied the spot we iave lately left a party of
white men, well mounted, were riding toward
the Indian village from the south.

To be precise, the cavalcade consisted of four
men, whose bearing in the saddle as they dashed
over the undulating ground proclaimed them
whites. The foremost was low and uatty in
build; his head was set plump upon h s shoul-
ders, and his arms. unusually long, seemed to
bother him. Those who rode behind this indi-
vidual were well-formed men; one was a more.
boy in years; but he sat his steed with the air
and grace of a finished equestrian.

They entered the Blackfoot town to find it
still, and the leader of the quartette drew rein,
which example was followed by his companions. -

“ Thunderin’ still I think,” he said, looking
over his shoulders at the dark figures hehin
him. “Bless me if thar’s an InJun dog out.
I’d like to know whether Frosty’s got hyar yet.
What are ye thinkin’ of, boy? Come, wake up.
Gal on the brain, eh?”

The individual thus addressed by the dwarf
was the boy just mentioned, and a flush over-
spread his soft cheek as he started.

“Me? Oh, I've been wonderm at the uiet
that reigns around us!” he said, h s looks, i the
dwarf could have seen them, belieing his words.

“ That’ll do to tell to the gophers,” said the
dwarf. “ Be keerfu], Kyd, or you’ll hev a rival
or two, fur bless me of she hesn’t the prettiest

 

 

   

 

. 6 _

» Let?“ go!

i tone that halted his followers.
r comin’ straight toward us, an’ he’s shod, too!”

 

face west 0’ the Missouri. An’ this is tho kcntry
whar they ar‘n’t nice erbout puttin’ a trouble-
some fellar out o’ the way.”

I Kyd Douglass, the boy, may have thought
that he detected a threatening gleam in the
shaky eyes of Dwarf Dan; but is reply did not
denote it. .

“ Who has been saying that I am in love?” he
asked. “Not I, surely, Dan. Why, I never
Wethe girl till yesterday, and I hear that she
is trothed to a young Blackfoot.”

“Yer always discoverin’ suthin’ ” said the
dwarf. “ Goin’ to marry a young reaser, eh?
Now, that won’t do. But gals take queer no-
tions sometimes, Kyd, as ou hev found this
out mebbo you kin tell us w o the Injun is.”

“That, sir, I cannot do. I do not know one
Indian from another; they all look alike to me.”

The dwarf bit his lip.

‘ “I’d like to know!” he said. “ I‘ve got a
knife or a bullet for the heart of the skunk what

tries to cheat me.” .

4‘ For a moment the men did not exchan e an-
other word. Through his long, dark ashes
Dwarf Dan was shodting arrows of intense
hatred at the boy. His ips were compressed
beneath the gray mustache. which, hangin
almost to his chin, did not enhance his persona
appearance. He saw naught but the youth; the
tiger was watching the fawn.-

“ We’ll o!” he said so suddenly, as to startle

1 the trio w o heard. “You kin hev the gal, an’

welcome Kyd; only keep yer peepers open

, while yeir’ courtin’ her.”

The boy raised his eyes, but did not smile;

\his look told that he was inclined to doubt

warf Dan’s sincerity.
All at once he felt a hand grasp his right arm,
and before he could turn his head to inquire

. , into the meaning of it, he heard a voice at his

ear.
» “Kyd, don’t let Dan soft-soap ye!” were the

words that the boy heard. “ He’s jest told the
biggest lie that ever fell from human lips. If
the val is en aged to an Injun, don’t look at her.
Eyd Douglass, yer bones will bleach

in Blackfoot land of you try to et her.”
The youth listened, spellboun , tothese words.

, He, knew the man from whose lips they fell. and
. his answer was a. ressure of the speaker’s hand.

That grasp pour out the thanks of his heart,
and as they rode slowly through the Blackfoot
Villa 8, his chin rested on his breast.

‘ “ old on thar!” whispered Dwarf Dan. in a
“ Thar’s a horse

The last Words instantly placed all on the alert,
and Dan drew his pistol as he leaned forward to
catch a glimpse of the solitary horse approach-
in“r in a measured walk.

shod horse at that hour in the Blackfoot vil-
la 6. could tell but one story to the quartette: It
be onged to and was undoubtedly ridden by a
white man, and he—Frosty Paddock!

Around the listeners, in the dim light of the
stars, stood the ashen-colored lod es of the In-
dians. The scene was ghostly, an the tread of
the still unseen horse, did not in any measure,

take away the supernaturalness that invested time ‘

and place. . _
_ Kyd Douglas did not crane his neck forward

Old Frosty. the Guide.

 

 

for the purpose of seeing the coming man. H o

kept his eyes fixed on his dwarfish leader, who,
istol in hand, Waited with the eagerness of the
‘icilian brigand for his prey.

“ By the gods!” suddenly exclaimed Dwarf
Dan. “ The old fellar got the parinit; but not
the one he came to look fur.”

“ Mobbe he’s shammin’l He’s a cute one,
Dan.”

“ Him shammin’?” cried the dwarf, throwing
a look of contempt at the speaker. “ Does a man
sham with an arrer in ’im? Look square at him.

The horse hes stop ed. He hes been carryin’
Frosty all over the njun town to—ni ht. He said
he would come back dead—back to t e camp, he
meant. Now hyar he comes ag’in. Give way,
an’ let ’im ass! ’

Dwarf an’s face was ale as death as he
drew aside to allow Frosty adder-k passage by.

“ Look at ’im keerful, boys, an’ ef ye see a
si ti 0’ life say so an’ we’ll finish the job.”

he horse bearing the ghastl burden came
slowly forward. The old guide ad risen from
the position in which we left him at the edge of
the grove; he now sat tolerany straight in the
saddle; his hands hung listlessly at his side, and
the feathered barb of the deadly shaft was plain-
ly visible against the bosom of his shirt.

Dwarf Dan’s command to “look at ’im kecr-
ful ” was obeyed by the three as he went by.

Kyd, the youth, leaned forward and fixed his
eyes on the uido’s countenance, nor took them
oiquntil the orse had borne his burden out of
si it.

he dwarf captain drew a long breath of re-
lief as he turned to his companions.

“ Wal, what did ye make out?” he asked.

“ Dead!” said the youth’s companions, and the
youngster echoed, “ Dead!”

“ Didn’t see a move?”queried Dwarf Dan.

“ Nary move,” was the answer. “ He’s taken
the permit down to camp.”

The Dwarf showed his teeth at this brutal wit;
but Doug’lzss cast his eyes down the way that
Paddock d gone. .

There was a something in the boy’s coun-
tenance which told more than he had spoken
concerning Frosty Paddock’s condition; it seem-
ed to give the lie to the word that he had just
uttered.

To be plain, K d Douglass had detected a
liftin of the e eli s as- the stricken guide rode
by. ore; be ad thought that in the opening
oghis keen Orbs the Yankee had‘realized his situ-
a ion.

“ I’ll kee this from them,” the boy had said,to
himself. ‘ They'd finish the Indian’s work if
they knew. Frosty, you and I have a great work
to do in the Blackfoot country!” ,

“ Thet’s the first dead man I ever see’d ride a
horse!” said the dwarf, breaking in upon the
boy’s thoughts. “I hope they all don’t do it in
this kentry. Boys, we’ve got the winnin’ hand.
When we’ve did the other job these mountains
an’ their gold ar’ ourn. Isn’t this wu’th risking
one’s skin fur? We don’t want any pardners.
Four in" enough; four? no! I forgot Ramsden.
Five ar’ most too many!” and the speaker sent
another quick glance at the boy. “ All we hev
to do is to act kind 0’ white with Arrer Head;
keep away from the red gals. We didn’t come

 
    
   
    
    
   
   
  
   
  
 
   
  
   
  
   
  
    
 
  
 
   
   
    
 
   
   
  
 
 
    
  
 
 
   
     
 
 

 

   

 

01d Frosty. the Guide.

~‘I'

 

hyar to make love.
Don’t furgit that!”

“If I let a woman’s face drag me from the
yaller rocks, I want to be shot!” said one of the
men.

The others echoed the same opinion; but Kyd
Douglass was silent.

Fortunately his abstraction was not inquired
into by Dwarf Dan; but one of the men was not
unobservant, for he leaned forward and shot
these words into the boy’s ear:

“Leave us Kyd, an’ go back. You can’t fool
the co. ’n. o’s got the tiger in ’im, an” he’s
marke you. Go back an’ leave the gal; let her
choose between Dan an’ the Injun!”

K d Douglass did not reply, but gave the
spea er a look that said:

“ Go back! I’ll die here first!”

When the quartetto resumed its ride, it was
to move quietly through the silent town without
disturbing a single inhabitant.

“ We‘ll bunk hyar, fur thar’s no use in dis-
turbin’ the chief till mornin’,” said Dwarf,Dan,
drawing rein in the grove. “Marley, Morgan,
I want you to do me a favor. Go down and see
of Arrer Head hcsn’t left tho village. He war
talkin’ about reconnoitcrin’ Camp Frosty. Mob—
be he’s gone.”

The men thus addressed looked into each
other’s faces and then glanced at the boy.

“ Ef ye won’t go, 1’11 go myself,” said the
dwarf leader, tartly, scowling at their hesita-
tion. »

“ No; we’ll gel” was the response, and a mo-
ment later the two men glided away.

They went down into the Blackfoot town and
heard the heavy breathing of Arrow Head in his
own capacious lodge.

“ Dan knowed we’d find the old chief hynr,”
said Marley to his comrade. “ I wish we hadn’t
left the boy. He’s in danger when—”

The sharp report of a firearm broke the man’s
sentence and sent both forward.

“ If he’s teched the young ’unl” said Marley,
clinching his great hands. “ I war beginnin’ to
like ’im. Somehow or other, the boy war gittin’
a big hold on my old heart.”

The men sprung forward and ran swiftly be-
tween the lines of lodges; they reached the line
of trees and came suddenly upon a man on
horseback.

In his right hand he held the bridles of two
other animals.

Marley uttered an oath as be bounded for-
ward, and laid his hand on the man’s knee.

“ Whar’s the boy?” he demanded.

Dwarf Dan looked down upon him with a dev-
ilish leam in his evil eyes.

“ 9 boy?” he echoed, strangely. “ I don’t
know.”

Marley clinched his teeth till they cracked.

“ Dwarf Dan, you lie!” he cried, and the next
moment he had jerked the dwarf from the sad-

‘dle and was holding him at arm’s length, his
tawny hand at his meager stretch of throat.

CHAPTER IV.
BLACK TOM AND THE wow.
11' was man’s inordinate lust for gold that had
led all but two of the part . headed by “ Black ”
Tom Barlow, into the wil Blackfoot country.

We come fur gold—gold!

 

Not many da 5

ior to the opening of our
story the party 1a

left St. Louis. A report al-
most too vismnar to obtain credence any—
where, had reached, the ears of Barlow, and a
few reckless companions who, for some months,
had been loafing round the city, waiting, Mi-
cawber-like, for something to turn u .

There was gold in fabulous quan ities in the
Blackfoot country; the hills were full of it, the
beds of the streams wore an aureate color; it
was the land of Ophir—the real El Dorado.
Fired by this report, Tom Barlow began to hunt
up a lot of congenial spirits. In St. Louis, at
that time, they were not hard to find; and in
less than a week after receiving the news, twen-
ty-four daring men had flocked to Barlow’s ban-
ner. Money was needed to furnish an ouifit; it
came from the pockets of a youth named Doug-
lass, who appeared strange y among the ranks
of the adventurers, and seemed ea or to pene-
trate to the almost unknown land 0 gold and—-
death! -

We have seen this boy in Blackfoot land.

From the first Tom Barlow was the chosen
leader of the ex )cdition which left the city with
much secrecy' ut as the way lengthened be—
fore thcin, ooh entions arose in the ranks, and,
as the reader already knows, adesertion took
Place. Before the bank of the upper Missouri
lad been reached, the continuous uarrels be—
tween the leading mischief, Dwa Dan, and
Barlow, had come 'to blows, and one night the
dwarf and four others left their companions-—
stole silently from the camp, leaving behind a
written threat that they were going to join the
Blackfeet and assist in their (Barlow’s party’s)
destruction.

Now, the desertion of Dwarf Dan and three
of his comlganions did not surprise the others;
but that 'd Douglass, the outh, by whose
generous ad the expedition ha been fitted out,
should make one of the party, was past compre-
honsion.

“ I didn’t think that such a scam as Dwarf
Dun could influence sech asensible 0y!” Tom
Barlow would almost invariably say when re-
ferring to the subject.

“The devil’s 1n the young ’un,” Paddock
would exclaim. “Hevnt I noticed ’im ever
since we left Saint Louie? He hesn’t been still
a minute; but 'umps about like a frog on a
hot griddle. hy, menu a night I’ve see’d .
’im come down to the 6 go 0v the camp an’
look to’ard the Blackfoot kentry an’ say, ‘ I wish
I hed wings! We creep along like snails: We’ll
never git thar!’ Menny a time I‘ve heard ’im
talk thus when he thought nobody heard ’im.
Under these sareumstanees his goin’ away don’t
’tonish me. Dwarf Dan may hev gone up
tiliar”to git all the gold; but the boy sees suthin‘
e so.

“What could he see up thar but gold, Frosty?
Why. their isn't a. white face up yonder l”

“Mcbbe not, Tom. But .old never makes a
boy act that way. I’Ve seed too _much 0’ hu-
man natur’,to come to that conclusmn.”

Such conversations would always result in a.
victory for the Yankee guide, and he would
leave Black Tom in a state of doubt and per-
plexity. ,

Ariel Ramsden, a man already encountered

 

     

._._ -_ -sm ,4....7_._.s..__..s .s-...... 5

8 Old Frosty, the Guide.

 

g the reader was the second “young man ” of
9 party, and was well built and handsome.

If Frosty Paddock had bestowed 11 ii him
the attention that he had given to Kyd ouglas,
he would have discovered that there was another
youth eager to reach the land of gold.

But the old guide had taken more than a pass-
ing interest in Douglas; hence he did not care
much for Ramsden.

Ariel Ramsden was brave almost to reckless-
ness. In the little battle with the Indians in
which the band had lost several men, he had
dis layed great bravery, and Tom Barlow had
du bed him “a man to be trusted.”

But none saw the secret conversations that
took place between Dwarf Dan and Ramsden,
prior to the former’s desertion. A few moments
of eavesdroppin might have altered Black

, Tom’s opinion of is trusted man.

With this digression, let us go back to the
Egg-hunters camp in the valley in Blackfoot

We have seen how Erosty Paddock’s farewell
words affected Ramsden and Dwarf Dan, who
had met at the edge of the camp, the latter
emphatically asserting1 his belief in the super—
natural, the former fee 'ng inclined to laugh that
defilagatimfia to sthlfme. l l f 1

u r e evi —g immerng eyes 0 tie
dwarf ggterrlgl him.

It was almost daybreak when Ariel Ramsdon
went back to the camp and 'crept silently to the
spot he had lately left. The fire was umiiig
low, and the figures of the gold-hunters in
many a grotesque position greeted Ramsden’s

eyes. .
“ Food for bullet and tomahawk!” murmured

the young man, looking at his sleeping compan-
ions. “ t is astonishing how far a man will go
is. Well, sleep on, boys; you’ll need rest

- before this drama of the Far Northwest is play-

ed through."

Noiselessly Ramsden sought the blanket, which
he spread near the fire; but he could not sleep.
His restless hissing promised to waken his com-

redes.

“There'd be growling if I roused them,” he
said. “ I‘ll go down to the water and watch for
morning there.”

Again the young man left the camp; but this
time not unseen.

The eyes of Black Tom Barlow were upon him
and the burlzr figure of the mpltam of the gold-
hunters wen neiselessly after im.

Ramadan did not lead Torn Barlow far, for
near the confines of the camp he threw the
blanket at the foot of a tree and cast his frame
upon it.

.“ Queer!” muttered Barlow, in a somewhat
disappointed tone. “A fellar’s up to no good
when he its so restless. After all mebbe he
 so ack on the Katchewan because he

But Barlow did not go back and leave Rams-
den alone."

Some startling thoughts were running through
his head._ He was ca ing up the many singular
and, until that hour mysterious remarks about

on, which Paddock had casually dropped
from time to time. He remembered nowthat he
had seen Ariel scowl at young Douglass, and

 

tried in vain to call up a time when he had seen
the two youths in friendl converse.

Tom Barlow had food or deep thought, as he
stood there in the hour before dawn, watching
the young man who, he thought, was to become
the evil spirit of the camp.

All at once the sound of hoofs‘fell upon his
ears.

Ariel Ramsden, not asleep for a moment,
leaped to his feet, and Barlow as he started for-
ward, despite his self—controi, cocked the rifle
tight] griped by his tawny hands.

‘ ore hoss‘thievesi” he asked himself. “ By
George! this time they’ll find somebody awake,
aatyhey’ll git a dose 0’ lead that’ll do ’em

The hoof-beats ceased, even as Barlow mut-
tered; but soon afterward they were heard
again. ,

“ The ’re comin’ up the hard bed of the old
river!” lack Tom said. “ Now, if they hev de<
signs on the camp, they’ll come over the hills an’
right down this way.”

Ariel Ramsden, standing under the tree, heard
the tread of the unseen horse with the same clear-
ness that rewarded Barlow’s attention.

But the youn man thought that Dwarf Dan
was coming bac ; therefore when with the first
streaks of dawn a horse a peered on the crest of
the little knoll upon which both men had fixed
their 6 es, he started forward with the exclam<
ation, ‘ Dan it is l” on his lips.

But it was not Dwarf Dan. .

Ariel Ramsden made this discovery, and came
to a sudden halt.

Daylight was fast illuminating the scene.

He saw that the horse was without a saddle;
but his rider sat him with grace and ease.

“ It’s an Injun gal l” exclaimed Tom Barlow,
gazing in astomshment upon the statue-like
figures of the stood and his rider. “ Now, what
does the boy intend to do? Mebbe he’s in a love-
scrape already: an’ I’m to see a. meetin’l”_

But such t on hts were speedily dissipated,
for the ca tain o the gold-hunters heard an oath
fall from msden’s lips, and saw him feel for
the rifle that leaned against the tree.

“ Fate has given her into my power!" he said.
“ I cannot be mistaken. It is she! Shall I let,
this opportunity slip, and then have to follow her
into the death-mazes of Blackfoot land? No!
not when a bullet can settle matters for all time
to come. I can go back and say that I fired at
an Indian. If they come out and find a white
girl they will curse my hastiness; but dare not

unish. Yes, I’ll put an end to the trouble she
as ea us, for fifteen years."

Black Tom did not hear all these words; but
he heard enough.

He, too. new saw that the rider of the horse
was a white girl, clad in the fantastic garments
of the Blackfoot maidens. The animal appeared
'aded from hard riding; but the girl kept his

sad well erect.

Ramsden was as yet unseen by her; but the
eyes of Captain Tom were upon him.

“ Hal 1: 8 camp of the old-hunters!” sud-
denly cried the girl, in g English. “ They
are the men who must leave the country of the
Blackfeet or die. The little white man and An-

[yew Head have put their heads together, and

 

 

01d Frosty, the Guide. 9

 

they swear that the hunters shall never go back
to tell their people that the hills of the Black—
feet are full of the yellow metal. When the five
days are up their cam will be full of dead
men. What should Nio ana do? She ought to
go and tell her white people. No! not now. By
and by when she learns how the little white
man and Arrow Head are going to fight them,
she will come and tell.”

“You never shall, my traitress!” hissed Ariel
Ramsden, throwing the rifle to his shoulder.
“ I’ll make a round million by this shot and fill
Black Tom’s camp with dead men, besi es!”

But there were eyes upon him, that never lost
sight of a single movement, and when the sharp
report of a rifle broke the stillness of that West-
ern dawn, Ariel Ramsden staggered back with
a shriek.

His right arm hung limp and bloody at his
side, and his rifle, so lately lifted against the
girl’s heart, lay undischarged on the ground.

“No shootin’ at angels when Tom Barlow’s
about!” said the captain of the gold—hunters,
stalking toward the wounded man. “Git out
o’ the camp! You're the meanest dog what
ever follered honest men. Look hyar, Ariel
Ramsden—thar goes the gall Wal, let ’or go;
sge isn’t ridin’ back alive by yer grace. Who is
s e?

The question was shot fairly at Ramsden, as
Niokana and her horse suddenly disappeared
over the brow of the knoll.

But the youth bit his lips, and, instead of a
reply, sent a gleam of tigerish hate at the ques-
tioner.

“ Who is she?” repeated Barlow.

“Find out if you can!” was the defiant reply.

“ You will not tell?”

“ I will not i”

“ Do you know?”

‘I I  1”

Black Tom stood for a moment before Rams-
den; his dark, rough face wore an undecided ex-
pression.

Suddenly he said:

“ Did I break your arm, Ariel”!

There was no pity in his tone, none in his eyes.

“ I—I think on did!” was the answer.

“You may t link or stars that I didn’t ut
the bullet into or ead. We’re goin’ ter is-
solve pardners ip. You must leave Camp
Frosty—leave it furever, fur if you come back,
we’ll shoot e down like a dog. Ye’r’ young

at, an’ thar s stuff in ye to make a good man;
ut we don’t want to bother with it. I guess
you’ve got friends hyarbouts. Now git out.”

Ramadan stood still for a moment after Bar-
low’s speech. Then, with his handsome face
darkened by anger, be advanced and raised his
left arm.

“You’ve got me foul, Black Tom Barlow!” he
cn'ed. “I am at your mercy, and cannot but
obe . I will leave Camp Frosty, but I’ll come
bac again. I’ll do better'than the fellow who
has gone after the permit; he Will never come
back—never! You don’t know Why I sought
the Blackfoot country; but it was for a purpose;
if you were good at guessmg, you might not
shoot wide of the mark from what you have
seen and heard to-night. You Will not always
follow me, doglike, as you have done to-day.

 

The time will come when you will not be near
to save the life that has just one over the hill.
And I swear by the good 0 Paradise and the
bad of Pandemonium, that for each drop of
blood that has fallen from my right arm to-day
fifty shall flow from your heart and the hearts
of the men you lead. This is no boy’s threat;
it is a devils. Good—by, Tom Barlow. I’ll see
youvlatcr!”

With a look that mi ht have killed, Ariel
Rainsden turned his bac on the captain of the
gold-seekers, and, unmolested, walked away.

Tom Barlow watched him out of sight with-
out a word.

“I stirred the young ’un’s bile!” he said, with
a smile of utter contempt, unmixed with a
single expression of fear. “I almost wish I
hadn’t let ’im gig. He’s come cl’ar out bye: to
find thct gal. har’s a mystery about it.’

Puzzled, Tom Barlow went back to camp.
He found it somewhat excited; the rifle—shot
had roused it.
h_Upon sight of the leader, the men surrounded

1m.
“ Ii; war notliin’ much,” Black Tom said, care-
lcfisljy. “ I shot a wolf in the foreleg—that war
a .

“But where’s Ramsdenl—did you see him!”
came the query.

“ You bet I did. That war the name of the
wolf I shot.”

The rough men looked into Tom’s face, but he
did not explain.

“Bo s, I know suthin’,” he said. “We’re
not gom’ to git the i'mit. Now, shall we go
back an’ leave the go d?”

The answer came from everyman asit but
one had spoken:

“ No! we’ll die here first!”

CHAPTER V.
A SAMPLE or sucxroor inner.

 

THIS determination was uttered by the brav- _ -

est s irits that ever crossed the muddy tide of
the issouri. Standing around their chosen
leader, With bronzed faces and clinched hands,
they looked the very men who would carry out
their words without a si of shirking.

“ Thet’s bizness!” sai Black Tom Barlow.
“Over them hills ar’ thousands of Injuns; but
they sha’n’t drive us out 0’ this gold land ef we
don’t want to 0.”

“ Never! 0 came hyar with all the chances
ag’in’ us, an’ we’re willin’ to take ’em as they
come, one at a time, or all at once!”

This sentiment was received with keen ap ro-
bation, and at Barlow’s su estion, the sixtpeen
adventurers held their nak gknives above their
heads and swore to accomplish the object of
their invasion of the Blackfoot country or dieln
the nttem t.

After t ie oath at Barlow’s command, the
gold-hunters seized their axes and soon the for-
est near by rung for the first time With the
sound of the white man’s steel.

The adventurers worked with a will, and the
sun as he went down that day threw his last
beams upon a strong log fort which had been
built around the only wagon of which the pasty
could boast.

It stood on the level ground just west ofthe

 

 

10 Old Frosty. the Guide.

 

little valley where Cam Fros had been estab-
lished. Before it stretc ed a p in covered with
alkali dust and almost destitute of an living
thin , while behind and on either si 0 were
to es of timber. At the unanimous wish of
men the structure was called “ Fort Barlow,”
and standing where it did, defiant as Gibraltar,
it was certaintobecome the scene of sanguinary
struggles. .

While Black Tom and his men worked on the
fort, they often wondered about Frosty Pad-
dock’s absence.

If the lank guide could get the coveted “ per-
mit” from Arrow Head the Blackfoot, then,
the old hills would open their golden stores to
the men; if he failed—death!

What would that rmit be?

According to Blae oot usage, the chief would
ride to the old-hunters’ cam , and extend the
' moccasin on is ri ht foot to lack Tom.

Paddeck had to] them this.

But where was Frosty new!

We left him ridin slowly like a dead man
through the eat v' age of the strongest red
tribe of the orthwest. He had just passed
Dwarf Dan and his followers, and shortlyr there-
after occurred the thrilling incident with which
we closed our third chapter.

Let us return to that interesting spot.

If the reader could have followed the bold
guide, he would soon have discovered that he
was not riding whence his horse of its own will
took him.

As he Dwarf Dan, he saw that indivi-
dual an shut his teeth a trifle harder. But
he hdid not betray himself and passed out of

' t.

5‘Now What’s to he did?" be queried, in a
hoarse voice, suddenly raining in his horse at the
confines of the Indian town. “I can’t be ov
much account till I git this arrer bizness fixed
up. Sum stran e kind of strength seems to keep
me up. The ainty feelin’ is all glene now.
Queer! by George! mebbe the error es to stay
whar it is.”

The moon which had swept slowly from
her bed below the horizon was now shining with
bow-itching effulgence, and turning to the golden
disk Frosty Pad oek gently opened the bosom
of his hunting-shirt, and, while he ated his
teeth, fixed his eyes on the feathered arb that
stuck in his breast.

“I don’t think it is tip d with bone or iron!”
muttered the guide. ‘ The baby Blackfoot
arrers are not sure death like the full-grown
ones. It hasn’t bled much—a bad sign. I’ll try
to ull it out.”

e fingers of old Frosty's right hand now

tept‘l'yhy firmly took the shaft and slowly drew
o .

As the int, sharp! but barbed as the guide
had ima ed, left is flesh a few drops of
blood we from the wound. The man‘s face
waalghastly in its pallor.

“ don’t feel so well!” he said. “I wish I hed

left the error stay what it was. This may be a
case like Duke Leger’s was, down on the Chey-
enne. He had an arrer in ’im jest like I hed.
He got erlonlg first rate while it stayed thar; but
when we pu ed it out he died. I feel that old
spell comin’ back. Whar’s the camp?”

 

The man looked about him with rolling evo-
balls. His general aspect told that a terrible
crisis of some nature was near at hand.

“The camp?” he repeated quickly, but in a
reproving tone. “ Frost Paddock, hev ye lost
yer manhood? Does a ha y arrer scare ye? The
man what talks o' goin‘ back to the camp with-
out the parmit is a coward, an” I kin mo the
ground with ’im! Aha! the permit! hct’s
what I come hyar fur.”

He wheeled his horse suddenly and urged it

into a gallop back over the ground he had just _

traversed, until the sharp report of a. fire-arm
broke the stillness.

The horse stopped without any command, and
turned its head to the rider.

“ Thet’ll reuse the Injuns!” muttered Frosty.
“ They’ll swarm out 0’ the lodges like bees out o‘
a hive. Hello! what does that mean? Hev the
thieves fell out among themselves?"

The voices that fell upon Paddock’s car
causted him to turn in his saddle toward the
wcs .

He heard Marley demand the boy’s where-
abouts from Dwarf Dan; he heard the answer
and the lie that quickly followed.

“ Let Dan touch that boy!” grated Paddock.
“I’ve got more’n a passin’ int’rest in ’im, my-
self. I’m one 0’ the few who know whatbz'ought
’im inter this kcntry. Tech ’im if you dare,
Dan!”

A moment of attention told Paddock that
Marley was giggling with his leader.

The guide co not control himself.

“I can’t stay outen a fight, thar’s no use try-
in’!” he exclaimed. “Besides, ef Dan‘s teched
the young ’un, my hand belongs in the scrim-
ma 0.”

e started forward, riding down the edge
of the woods, but he had not proceeded far
when a figure 5: rung from behind a tree and
stopped his stee .

‘ Thank Heaven! on live!” cried a youthful
voice. “I thought saw life in you awhile
ago. Don’t go down there; let them fight and

destroy one another. You see I am not touched; ‘

that gun was mine. It went off accidentally.
Listen! the whole village is roused.”

“Good! I’ll get to see Arrow Head," said
Paddock.

The boy, Kyd Douglass, gave him a strange
look; then he saw how white and haggard the
guide was.

“You had an arrow in your breastawhile
ago. Where is it?”

“Hyar!” and the borderer drew the shaft
from his belt and held it up before Kyd’s 0 'es.
“ The boy what guv it to me hes stopped ma in’
sech presents; he’s gone outen the bizness!”

The smile that played with the corners of
Paddock‘s mouth as he talked, was ghastly.
Kyd Douglass fairly shuddered.

‘But I’m goin’ down thar!" said the guide,
su ddenly. “Don’t I know that voice that
sounds like the bellow ov a bull? Listen! you
can‘t understand what he’s sayin‘, fur he’s
talkin' Blackfoot. He‘s cussin’ all the white
Keople, swearin’ thet not one shall live in his

entry. Thet means Frost Paddock an’ you.
hey, just as much as anybo< y. I’m goin‘ down
an see about it."

  

  

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Old Frosty, the Guide. 11

 

“No!” and Kyd Douglass held firmly onto
the bridle. “ Why, man, you'd hardly get there.

The arrow has given you our death-wound,
Frosty. Come! the camp. ’11 take you back.
You’ll have friends about on there!” .

“ Say, what ar’ ye talkin’ about?" roared the
guide, as he leaned forward and seized the boy’s
wrist. “ Who is it that says die to Frosty l’ad-
dock, before he gits the permit? Young ’un,
of it warn’t fur what I know, I’d knock ye
into the middle 0‘ next week. Take yer hand
off the rein, boy, an’ go back 10 the camp yer-
self. Tell ’0in I’ll be along nrtor awhile, with
the permit. I’m one 0’ them what don’t die till
they’re ready, an’ Old Frosty ain‘t ready, by a
long ways, to go on the spirit trail.”

Ixyd Douglass startet back with a look of
horror at the man, who with death written in
his face and tone, could talk thus.

“Thet’s right, boy; go back! I’ll try an’ get
the gal when I get the parmit. Go back!”

The outstretched hand of the tall guide point-
cd toward Camp Frosty; but Kyd Douglass did
not stir.

And while he stood there. with his eyes still
fastened on Paddock, the horse touched by the
guide’s heels shot away.

“He's not only dying, but mad!”oxclaimed
the young adventurer.

He started after Paddock with the words on
his lips, but soon stopped; already the guide was
out of sight.

Meanwhile on the spot where we have seen
Marley jerk Dwarf Dan from the saddle, there
were loud voices.

The accidental discharge of Kyd Douglass’s
gun, had roused the Indian village. Armed in
an instant, the Blackfeet poured from their
lodges. Led by the iant and merciless Arrow
Head, they had me ed to the scene of the
struggle in time to wrench Dwarf Dan,
already choked to insensibility, from Marley’s

ripe.
Of course the two dcscrters were surrounded
in an instant, and then it was that the great
chief lifted his voice and declared that the
whites should be driven from the land that they
had invaded.

Marley heard all this without a murmur; but
with eyes fixed on the dwarfs figure on the

ground.

“I hope I’vo choked ’im to death!” Marley
thou ht. "He’s killed the boy—murdered ’im in
cold )lood!”

These words had hardly gassed through the
man’s brain, before Arrow cad, the Blackfoot,
whirled upon him.

“ White man kill his chief—Arrow Head’s
friend!”

“ I hope so!”

“White dog glad, eh?”

The flash of Marley’s eyes and the glance that
he sent to the prostrated dwarf, answered Arrow
Head's envenomed words.

With one majestic stride, the Blackfoot flend
halted before the man, who, held by a score of
scarlet hands, was as helpless as a captive in
irons. .

“ You got me foul,” was all that Marley said
looking undaunted into the glittering eyes of
Arrow Head.

 

The hatchet which the chief had lifted fell
bloodless at his side.

“ Take the white do to the tree that stands in
the moonlight and tie im there!” he said to the
braves who held Marley.

This command was promptly obeyed, and the
gold—hunter soon found himself fastened to a.
Erce, with his face turned toward the Black-

cot.

During the tryin process, Arrow Head had
not been idle, and w on the guard had finished
their work six bownicn stepped forward.

“Great heavens! Arrow Head is going to
treat me to the death he always gives a fee!"
muttered Marley,I “But 1’]! face it like a man.
Look up, John i arle ; grit yer teeth an’ cuss
the scarlet skunks to t e last.”

As he looked he saw the shining tips of the
Blackfoot arrows drawn to the bow.

“ Shoot an’ be hanged!” he cried.
remember this!”

The next instant six bowstrings were released
from the rod fingers, and John Marley‘s head
dropped upon his breast as four arrows buried
themselves in the seat of life.

An oath fell from Morgan’s ton e, and a.
strange cry caused manytowheel an see Dwarf
Dan standing erect, but still almost black in the
face from the terrible choking.

Arrow Head, with a cry of pleasure, sprung
forward and seized the dwarf’s and.

“ Arrow Head has struck!” he said, pointing
to the motionless figure at the tree.

““Marle l”

“Yes, Marley!” said Morgan. “ He died like
a man, too!”

Dwarf Dan said nothing; but his look told
that he was lad.

“Gods! w at a grip he had,” he suddenly
cried, putting his hand to his throat. “ I saw
all the worlds that shoot around the sun. I’m
goin’ to soe’im. Mebbe he’s not dead yet.”

“Arrow Head go, too.”

Dwarf Dnn started forward. If the arrows
had not finished Marley, the pistol that he held
in his right hand woul .

The tree was not far away; but a cry from
the Indian arrested Dan’s progress.

“ Wahhee!” (look you er!) exclaimed the
chief, pointing at an object which seemed to
have risen from the earth. ,

Dwarf Dan was not a moment in recognizing

it.

“Old Frosty!" he cried, starting back fear-
stricken. “ Look! he’s dead. Arrow Ilead—
dead! an’ sittin’ bolt upright in the saddle!"

With one hand clutching the naked arm of
the Blackfoot chief, while the other pointed to
the apparition on horseback, Dwarf Dan was
the icture of terror.

“ i ot dead?” said the Blackfoot incredu—
lously.

“Dead as a tree cut to the heart! He’s been
ridin’ through the camp all night without a
speerit in his life-box.” _

“Arrow Head go see!"

The chief rudely jerked his arm from Dwarf
Dan’s grasp, and strode boldly toward the silent
horseman.

A minute’s walk brou ht him to the spot, and
as he raised his eyes to he figure that set me-

“ Morgan,

 
  

   

timber.

01d Frosty, the Guide.

 

1tKionless in the saddle his red hand fell upon his
nee.

That touch seemed to break the spell, and
Old Frost fell forward heavily, crushing Arrow
Head to t e earth!

A wild cry of horror rung from Dan’s throat.

CHAPTER VI.
YOUNG GLADIATORS.

LIKE a man in a trance, but with his eyes
wide and staring, Kyd Douglass saw Frosty
Paddock ride away.

“ What! go bac to the camp just because he
told me to?’ he said at last. “Go back Where
Ariel Ramsden is, and leave her here while that
merciless deformity lives to plan—~to possess, or
kill? N01” and the boy shut his hands hard.
“I will not go back. I will see what he is going
to do.”

He went down in Frosty’s wake with those
words on his lips; but soon halted before the
scene that we have just described.

“ That is the last of him!” he ejaculated as the
Indians rushing forward, gathered around the
guide, from whose cmbraco Arrow Head had

isenga ed himself. “I can do no good there,
althoug among them I would be sank—yes,
safe until Dwarf Dan could get a chance to do
with his hands what he could not do with his
eyes to-night—commit murder. Now if I knew
where she was! Dare I go down and look for
her? Dare I?”

He went to the right and walked boldly into
the Blackfoot town.

The spot, where on the previous day, he had
encountered Niokana. the white girl of the
Blackfeet, he had not forgotten; and by the as-
sistance of the moon soon reached it. Boldly he
threw aside the curtains that formed the door of
her lodge and found it deserted.

Was she a witness to the scene transpiring at
the ed of the timber, not far away?

“I’ go and see!” said Kyd Douglass, to him-

 

self.

But before he could reach the spot be dis-
covered that the Indians were returning to the
village.

The youth stopped, and then, as swiftly as
flits the shadow, he glided into a lodge and look-
ed out.

Past him poured the flood of savages. He saw
Arrow Headund the Dwarf walking side by
side; he saw Morgan free, but guarded by hun-
dreds of evil eyes, and. he wondered where Mar-
le was.

at a close scrutiny of the many female
figures that mingled with the men failed to
reveal Niokana to the boy’s eyes. He hit his
lips'wlth disappointment and waited for the last

ndian.

Then he left the lodge and went toward the
There he found poor Marley), quite
dead with his scalp gone—stripped of! y some
red 'nned urchin, as the job attested.

“He was one of my few friends," said Kyd,
withasigh, as he turned from the disgusting
Spectacle. “ I‘ll make the miscreants pay for
this before I go back.”

After some study the boy resolved to proceed
at once to Camp Frosty With intelligence of the

01d guide’s death.

 

The spot was about fifteen miles distant' but
the youth knew that by following the little
stream along whose banks he was walking, he
would come almost abruptly upon it.

Therefore, the first tins of dawn found him
pushin in a southerly direction.

Besi es the rifle that he carried, he bore a
pistol—a revolver on which he could do )end.

More than once he stopped and 100 cd wist-
fully back, for every stop, he believed, was
taking him from the white girl of the Blackfeet.
In these abrupt halts he never saw the figure,
in stature boyish like his own, that followed him
(iln that unwcaried dog-trot of the American Ir.-

Ian.

The trailer did not try to keep the white
youth always in sight, for this he could not 1d l;
but he came on, seemingly satisfied of final suc-

cess. ,

When at last Kyd threw himself on a log for
repose, the trailer began to creep forward with
the agility of the cougar. He never took his
Slinky; eyes from the youth, and the tomahawk
that o grasped with his right hand was ready
for the throw.

“Bless me if I know what I ought to do, at
this late hour”, the young adventurer was say-
ing to himself, continuing the train of thong it
into which he had unconsciously fallen. “ They
will not ho helped by hearing about Frosty,
and while I am away, that deformed tiger may
carry out his designs. I—I believe I will go
back!”

At that moment, in the grass just behind the
log, crouched averitablc human leo ard. He
had heard Kyd’s ever word, and he s ipped lllli
hatchet back into his 1t.

Then, with a spring that would have reflected
credit upon the most agile of the tiger kind, ho
sprung u and fell upon the white youth, so
heavily t at both went over the log and rolled
some distance away!

Kyd Douglass, taken by surprise, did not
recover until he found a hand at his throat,
find saw glaring at him the eyes of an Indian

oy.

Although our hero had been but a short time
in the Blackfoot town, he know those glaring
orbs—knew that he was in tho grasp of Red
Wasp, the betrothed of Niokana the white
gir .

There was a laugh of victory in the red-skin’s
eyes; but Kyd by a desperate effort drove it out,
for all at once, he wrenched the dusky hand
from his throat, and the next instant they stood
erect, breathing hard, like youthful gladiators.

Face to face, and hand to hand.

“White be quick as cat!” said Red Wasp, ac-
knowledging isenemy’s supplcness. “Him first
boy ever turn Red \Vasp that way.”

‘I am, eh? Well, red-skin. I am glad you
found your match. You followed me?”

“Red Wasp trail boy. Him have his head
in full of think, that he could not see behind

1m.

Kyd did not reply; but eyed the boy. He
noticed the muscles that out on his power-
ful arms, bared to the shoulder, and could but
inwardly praise the massive chest that Red
Was owned.

“ 0y strong! so is Red Wasp. Let us fight,”

   
  
 
    
  
 
   
  
  
  
   
   
  
   
  
  
  
   
   
  
    
    
   
  
   
   
   
    
    
  
 
    
 

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Old Frosty, the Guide.

18

 

The Indian’s laconism at another time would
have amused Kyd Dou less but now, as he
stood at arm’s length an looked into the eagle
eye of the young Blackfoot, he knew that a
stru le for life and death was at hand.

“  couse we will fight!” the boy exclaimed,
and the next moment he tried to jerk Red Wasp
from his footing.

But as well might he have tried to uproot an
oak.

The eyes of the Indian boy Sent forth a merry
twinkle at this failure, which served only to ex-
asperate the white, and with his teeth shut hard
and his eyes flashing he hurled himself forward
with irresistible force.

Irresistible we say, for despite the Indian’s
victory of the preceding moment, both went
headlong to the ground together.

Then they had it, hot and furious—now Red
Wasp had the advantage, and now, in turn
Kyd, the adventurer, secured some short-lived
triumph. Two antagonists were never before
so e ually matched.

“If I can force him against the tree,” thought
Kyd, “ I’ll have him at a disadvantage.”

To accomplish this, the boy summoned all his
powers; but Red Wasp, as if conscious of the
tactics, baffled the attempt.

As they struggled, tho suu pooped over the
eastern hills and chased tho last vestige of linger-
ing gloom from the shade. It bathed the dune-
{pg ripples of the little stream near by in golden

eaut .
Paging and blowing, covered with sweat and
almost exhausted, the combatants fought on.

“ You’re the tellighest customer I ever had!”
thought Kyd. “ I could, I would like to take
you East and pit you against the Athlete
Gymnasium. I could make a ile of money with
you, my Red Wasp, for w en you stand up
against Kyd Douglas, you ough to have the
wrestler’s badge that he won two ears ago.”

As if conscious of the praise t at his honest
young adversary was bestowin upon him the
Indian’s look turned to one o pride, and the
next moment he took his hands from his foe and
folded them across his chest.

The white boy opened his eyes with surprise,
and at the uzzled look that came to his counte-
nance Red asp assayed a faint smile.

“What do you mean by this?” demanded

Kyd.
The Blackfoot boy put out his hand in a
friendly manner.
“White boy onl one that ever stand 11 to
Red. Wasp!” sai

the Indian, in harsh ng-
lish.

“Then we’re even, for I never found my
match before!” said Kyd. “But can I trust
you? You Indians shake hands one minute and
stab a fellow in the back the next.”

With a flash in his dark eyes at the accusa-
tion, the red-skin stepped back and drew his

knife. . .

“See knife?” he asked, holding it up before
Kyd’s e es.

“ Ce inly I do!” was the answer.

Then the Blackfoot seized the blade at the
point with his left hand, and With a, quick snap
the steel was broken, and the two pieces lay at
the white boy’s feet.

 

“That looks like business!” cried Kyd, put-
ting forth his hand, but Red Wasp drew haugh-
tily back.

‘White boy thought that the red hand did
not mean friendshi i” said the Indian. “Red
Was will not tone 1 his skin till he has proved
it. lo! tell the gold-hunters that they will all
die if they do not take the trail that loads from
the land of tho Blackfeet.”

For a moment Kyd stood before his young
foe thoro‘ili‘ghly abashed.

“ Red asp, I do not—”

“Go!” was the interruption. “They must
go, or if they stay the must not shut their
eyes. The Indian‘s ban was not good enough
for the white boy. He think that Red Wasp
hold out a lie!”

That last word was full of bitter sarcasm,
and while it came gratineg through the youn
Blackfoot’s clinched teeth ho deliberatly turne
his back upon Kyd, and bounded over the log
like an antelope.

CHAPTER VII.
DWARF DAN as UNDERTAKER AND SURGEON.

IF Kyd Douglass could have swept with his
youthful vision the space that stretched between
the new trail he was making and the Blackfoot
village, he miwht have behold a scene that would
have possessed more than passing interest for

im.

Riding from the Indian town, and toward a
lot of unpicturesque hills that rose against it on
the north were two men whom the reader has
lately encountered. They were well mounted,
but not equipped for a journey.

Before the warfish figure of one and held in
its posltion 1) his broad band, lay a human
body rigid an motionless. The upturned face
was ghastly and full of death and the eyes stared
strange] into the wicked face which now and
then loo ed into them.

“ They’ll never find ’im, you say, chief i” said
the dwarf, looking at his companion, who was
no less a person than Arrow Head.

“ Never find ’iml” was the echo-answer that
the decpvoico of the Blackfoot Indian gave.
“Arrow Head will put white man where sun-
light ncvcr see ’im 1”

“ And not under the ground, either?”

“No! in airl”

Dwarf Dan gave the Indian a uzzled glance
and did not speak again until be part foun
themselves among the hills just mentioned. They
were now in the midst of awild scene: There
were great ragged peaks on every side. and
some'were fringed almost to the very tops with
a prickly bush that made the horses wince as
they were urged along.

Daylight broke almost sudden]
scene, and drew an exclamation
Dan’s lips.

“This is a very devil’s roost!” he said, wit

upon this
roni Dwarf

a shudder that ex osed the superstitious part 0 \

his nature. “ If t 0 old of Ophir war hyar fur
the diggin’, it migh rust afore I’d lift a pick
ag’in’ these rocks. ’ _ .

“ Gold all ’round!” said Arrow Head, with a.
sweep of his bronze hand. “White men come
here quick if A ow Head said ‘ Come!’ ”

The dwarf di not reply; some bird, leaving

 

.14 Old Proaty, the Guide.

 

its ghoulish retreat, flitted so near his face that
its wing had actual! touched it.

“Big bird touch rother, eh?” ohscrved the
Indian.

“Yes, curse it! I say let’s git out 0’ this re-
gion as quick as possible. Whar is the buryin’-
ground? .

In re ly to this guestion Arrow Head rode
forwardp again, silen y and timidly followed by
his companion.

The twain soon rode into a dark cavernous
place, arched overhead by rocks that almost ex-
cluded the light of day flushing the eastern
heavens, and Arrow Head, pausing for a mo-
ment slid from the saddle.

“ El ar. at last, ar’ we?” ejaculated Dwarf
Dan, in a tone of su reme satisfaction. “ I’ve
wished forty thousan times since we left your
town that I hadn’t insisted on a Christian burial
fer Frosty. I wanted ’im to hev it fur tho favor
he done me in Saint Louie.”

At the chief’s word the dwarf glided to the
ground, and Arrow Head lifted the body of the
guide from the saddle.

The horses were left in the ravine and the

air went down into the gloom, the stalwart

lackfoot in the advance, carrying with appar-
ent ease the body of the man who wanted the
“ rmit.” '
warf Dan followed Arrow Head, with a
cocked pistol in his nervcless hand, andhis un-
couth face rendered absolutely hideous by its
ghastly color.

The chief did not pause until they stood in a
garlic place which Dan knew was a cave of some
'11] .

“ White brother got light?” asked the chief,
and the echoes that came back from the gloom
sounded like the voices of p. thousand imps.

Dwarf Dan produced a lucifer, and the light,
that flashed like a. new star in the darkness
ignited a prepared torch that Arrow Head had
carried from the village.

“ Now. we bury White man in air,” said the
Indian, thrusting the torch into Dan’s hand.

Stoo ing over Frosty Paddock, the Blackfoot
Worke for several minutes with the coil of rope
and when he rose, the dwarf saw that the old
guide’s coffin had been made.

He was then told to pick up the body and drag
it after the chief, who went forward, torch in
hand. This was done, and when Arrow Head
halted again, it was, as plainly could be seen, at
the very edge of the cliff. .

The dwarf knew that they occupied the gallery

. of some gigantic chamber, for the torch revealed

an opening beneath him. Before them several
spurs of rock ran out into the air; but the points
he could not see.

After a while, Arrow Head picked up the
body and went forward with it. Dan saw him
tying the rope to one of these rocky spurs, and
then something shot around and disa peered!

Arrow Head came back with a 100 of satis-
faction in his savage eye.

” Old trail-finder buried!” he said, replying to
the dwarf’s looks.

“ Buriedl—whar'!"

“Arrow Head will show his brother!”

The hand of the Blackfoot encircled Dwarf
Dan’s arm, and the two went forward.

 

Arrow Head stooped and swung,r the torch be-
low him. It revealed—~What’!

A man lying in a net-work of sinewy rope,
and suspended from a splintered rock by a sin-
gle cord!

Below him was Egyptian darkness; around
him, the dim glare of an Indian torch.

Dwarf Dan did not look long upon this scene.
He turned away with a shudder.

“ That isn’t the kind 0’ coffin I want!” 110
said, in a cor attempt at humor.

“B an blyI white trailer git another one!”

' rrow cad.

“ When é”

“ When nape git rotten an’ let him drop.”

“ Great msar’s ghost!” shuddered Dan.
“ How far would he fall?"

A faint smile glittered in the rod-skin’s orbs.

“Watch!” he said, significantly, and whirling
the flambeau once about his head, he sent it
hissing downward, like a falling star.

Dwarf Dan, with his merciless heart in his
throat, ventured to bend over the edge of the
gallery and watch the descent of the torch.

It seemed an incredible time reaching the bot-
tom of the underground chamber; but at last it
struck and scattering its sparks in every direc-
tion, almost immediately went out.

Dwarf Dan did not speak, but turned to the
Indian whom he could not see.

“ Come!” came the welcome voice of Arrow
Head, and guided by the Blackfoot, Dan passed
from Old rosty’s tomb, and soon after they
reached their horses which now stood revealed
in the broad light of day.

“I wouldn't go back thar fur all the gold in
Chris’endom!” said Dan, venturing to cast a
look at the hills beneath whose to )3 the hands
of Arrow Head had entombcd tho amous guide
of early times.

The Indian gave him a look of lofty contempt,
but did not reply; and urging their horses over
the ground, now comparatively level, they en-
tere the village at a, brisk gallop.

“Now I’ll hunt the gal up!” said Dwarf Dan
to himself. “ The boy hes gone back to the
camp; they've settled Marley, an’will flx Mor-
gan aforo night of I kin git the chief’s ear fur a
minute. I’m be innin’ to lose interest in the
diggiu’s h. ar, 6 they a1" whar we planted
Frosty. Id rather hov tho gal; she’s the one
what them two roosters want, an’ ef I play a
good hand, an’ play it well, thar’ll be as much
money in her fur me as fur Kyd, the boy.
Hello! what does thet mean?”

The dwarf had separated from Arrow Head,
and was not far from the southern confines of
the Blackfoot village, when he drew rein.

Two horses were coming toward him at a
sharp gallop, and as he looked, he saw that the
rider of one was the white ueen of the Black-
feet—Niokana! The other, 0 saw, was a rep-
resentative of his own sex, but rode like a cap-
tive, one arm hanging at his side as if pinioned

ere.

Dwarf Dan watched the pair with interest.

“ The gal an’ the boy, by the eternal!” he sud-
denly cried, recognizing Ariel Ramsden in Nio-
kana’s companion. “What on earth brings him
hyar, afore his time fur comiu’?”

Then, fearing that the girl, who was holding

)

Old Frosty, the Guide. 15

 

the bridle of Ramsden’s horse as well as her'

own, might turn suddenly aside, he galloped
forward, and lanting himself firmly in the nar-
row thorough 'are, halted the twain.

Niokuna’s eyes flashed fire at this proceeding,
but she did not speak.

“ Ariel, boy, what on airth’s the matter?” ex-
claimed Dan. “ You’re hyar ahead 0’ time!”

“Yes, but not a ainst my will!” grated the
.youth. “ Captain an, I want the blood of
every white man in Cam Frosty; but especially
that of the devil who bro 0 my arm.”

“ Yer arm—broke l”

“ Shattered!”

“What war you doin’?”

Ramsden glanced at the girl.

“Nothing that called for Black Tom’s inter-
ference!” he said, lowering his tone. “But for
heaven’s sake! let me have medical attention. I
have suffered a thousand deaths since day-
li ht.”

iokana’s hand left Ramsdcn’s bridle as he
spoke; and before he could address her she was
beyond tongue-shot.
‘Nowl" said Dwarf Dan, moving up to the
youngr man, “what made Black Tom pink
on?
y Ramsden bit his already bleeding lips.

“ I was cursing that girl—that was all!”

“Only cussin’ her, boy? I’m a hi or man in
these parts than you think I am. yin’ won’t
do you any good hyar l”

“ Why should I lie?” said Ariel, meeting the
dwarfs look with one that disconcerted him.
“ The gal isn’t much to either of us. I want my
arm dressed.”

“We’ll ’tend to thet now!” was the response.
and the dwarf led the youth to a large birchen
lod 0, which his ally Arrow Head had presented
to im. '

Once within, Dan turned upon Ramsden, and
with frontier roughness began to remove his

'acket. v
J “Stop, Dan!” suddenly cried the oath.
“Such work as that would kill me. at the

sleeve. I can stand that!”

“ Jest as you wish, my boy.”

“The dwarf’s keen knife went to work, and
was not lon in exposing the member, terribly
shattered by lack om arlow’s ball.

Ramsden grew faint at the sight, and gritted
his teeth till they cracked.

The dwarf examined the arm for several mo-
ments, watched with varyin emotions by the
boy who waited impatiently or his decision.

“ It was a. lpurty arm afore Black Tom got in
his work!” who forth the dwarf suddenly.
“But now its usefulness hes departed. We’ll

' hev to cut it off, boy!”

Ramsden’s young eyes flashed.

“Never!” he cried. a

“I’m the doctor in the case!”‘was the cold-
hearted rejoinder. “An’ that’s the doctor’s
opinion. The arm must come off to save the
patient.”

Ariel Ramsden stared speechless for a mo-
ment into Dwarf'Dan’s unsympathlzms face.

“ Cut off my arml—my right arm?” he yelled,
breaking from the dWarf’s grasp. “By the
gods! it shall never be done! It is mine—mine
only, and I will yet deal blows of vengeance

 

with it. Don’t talk to me about cutting it 01!.
Dan Wolflaw if you repeat the words you have
just uttered I‘ll kill you where you stand l”

The dwarf did not retreat from the infuriated
ficuth who, With the last sentence on his lips,

ad snatched a pistol from his belt.

He stood in his old tracks with a perplexing
smile on his hideous face.

“ VVal keep yer arm, then, an’ be dead—dead
as Old 14 rosty—aforo two days I” he said cruelly.

The words drove every vestige of color from
Ramsden’s face.

A can torn from the depths of his heart,
fell mm is 1i 5 and dropping the pistol, he
 forwar , holding out his right arm with

is e . ‘

“Dead before two days? No! not that! Here
is my arm, Dan. Cut it off!”

Then seeing, perhaps, the fiendish look of tri-

umph that scintillated in the dwarfs egos Rams-
den 5 stalwart nature gave way, and e dropped
insonsible at the feet of the fiend.

“Yes, I’ll cut it off,” hissed Dan. “An' I’ll

cut deeper than you think, too !”

CHAPTER VIII.
HOW NIOKANA DREW BLOOD.

ONE hour later the sole occupant of the Black-
foot lodge was Ariel Ramsden, and he, propped
up by a bundle of skins, was lookin
stump of the once strong arm that now ung illy
bandaged at his side.

His teeth were tightly shut and the pallor of
his face would have frightened many a one not
strong—hearted. ‘

“Tom Barlow,” hissed the youth, “I have
thou ht that my great work would be to hunt
you own and scatter our brains as you have
scattered my blood! his thought has aflorded
me indescribable (pleasure; it made me forget
pain, and I even reamed that, on vengeance
and that alone I could live. But this day—this
devil-work—has added another name to my
death-list. I have been a fool! I swallowed
his lie. When it was too late I discovered all.
Dan Wolflaw, you cut deeper than I thought
you would, for by Heaven! you cut for a pur-

. I see it all now, accursed that I have
men! But shall he kill? Must I go under by
the arts of such a villain—now when I have
found the irl; now— No! all the butchering-
knives of t is country shall not slay me. I will
live—livo to Send a bullet crashing through the
brain of Captain Dan!” <

Strengthened for a moment by his hot words,
the youth sprung to his feet, but the next mo-
ment he fell back on the cot of heated skins, and
With a groan sunk into unconsciousness.

The sun came up and moved meridianward.
showering its beams upon the Indian town. At
high noon, a. dwarflsh figure whose little eyes
danced like dervishes in their sockets, wentto
the lodge and sped inside.

Ariel Ram en, the girl-hunter, was lying
there, with the bloody banda es torn from his
arm, from which, from the ark stains on the
ground, a great deal of blood had exuded.

Was he dead? " mun. "

“Mighty nigh the end!” mutteredfibdhfl,
moving away. “They don‘t get ahead'o’ Dan
when he undertakes a job. I cut deeperth'an

«w,

 

at the -

 

 

13 Old Frosty, the Guide.

_~.

 

the boy wanted me to! The old knife didn’t
sli accidentally; it never does!” ,

The scoundrel went down the village-way
but a pair of eyes were upon him, and he had
scarcely disappeared, when the owner of those
watchful orbs glided to the ledge.

A light cry of horror fell from a pair of
whitened lips, and the young girl who had been
looking in upon the terrible sight that the noon-
day sun revealed, started back with the most
pa lid of faces.

“The little man out arm elf,” she said.
“ And white-face bleeding to death.”

For a moment Niokana stood undecided
where she had halted; then venturing to look
once more at Ariel Ramsden, she flew down
through the town.

When she came back, there ran at her side,
an old Indian whose fantastic paraphernalia
hastily thrown upon his scranny figure, pro-
claimed him one of the medicine-men of the
tribe.

The two entered the lodge together. The
savage doctor shook the youth, but could not
open the eyes, so tightly closed. He then tried
seVeral other rough arts to restore conscious-
ness but as often as he tried, he failed.

Niokana watched him intently.

At last the Indian doctor gave up in des air.

“Whatsays our great medicine!” ask the
girl, in the tribe tongue.

“ Must die!" was t e sententious decision.

Niokana rose and went out. Her lips were
t' htly shut; her eyes flashing.

his was the can man who had lately at-
tem ted to take er ' 9. She did not know why
he s ould be her enemy. .

Atthethreshold of the lodge the girl paused
and looked back at the perplexed doctor.

“ ry again!” she said, and then went away.

Not or away she entered a lodge, whose sides,
at dressed skins, were covered with various de-
si in pigments, which told that some rson
o deliea tastes, for that wild region,h made

them.

“His skin is white. He is Arrow Head’s
brother; but he wanted his brother dead. Nio—
kanawould have saved the arm. He will die
now, for when old Segabo cannot cure, all is
lost. Where is the stunted killer?”

The whiteegiueen emerged from her lodge,
with the qu ion on her lips. She held in her
hands an object seldom seen at that day in
Blackfoot land—a wagon-whip.

It was one of those formidable affairs called
“ a black snake " by the teamster. 0n the Cali-
fornia trails it was not rare; but so far north as
the lndian village , and far from the Oregon
trail it was pro-eminently a rarity.

Scarcely had Niokana left the lodge when a
familiar flEire appeared in sight. liar eyes
beamed wi delig t as it approached.

A few minutes later, she stood face to face
with Red Wasp.

“Bed W want to talk to Niokanal” said
the Blackfoot y kee ing back a certain desire
that his mad eyes but 1 1y concealed.

“Not now ” said the girl. “ Does he want to
know how eWata rode l”

“ N01” and the Indian winced under this
allusion to his unsuccessful attempt to break

 

the wild colt. “He wanted to tell Niokana that
he has broken all her things in his lodge.”

A smile wreathed the lips of the white girl,
angering the young red-8km till be ground his
heel into the soft earth.

“ Is that all?"
“What more does Niokana want?" he cried,
seizing her arm. “ Must Red Wasp break her

arm, as he broke up all her trinkets—the beads
that she strung for him, and all? She can laugh.
Red Wasp’s hand into her pretty mouth 1”

“ If you dare!” said the eyes of the indignant
girl, as she tore her arm from the red be '5
gras , and, a few feet away, with her fine g-
ure rawn to its full hight, stood proudly erect,
Lvithl the whip held threatenineg in her right

an .

For a moment, the Blackfoot boy, taken
aback by this display of resentment, stood un-
decided in his tracks.

“The hand of Red Wasp will never touch
Niokana’s mouth!” said the girl. “ He can break
up all the trinkets that Niokana gave him, but
he cannot ride Kishewata!”

There was a rly-concealed taunt in the last
Sentence, and t e display of laughing teeth that
accompanied the utterance, was too much for
the boy’s temper.

He went boldly forward, with a mad cry on
his lips; but the whip, whirling over N iokana’s
head, shot forward with is ca like crack, and
struck him squarely across the ace!

A yell of rage and pain followed the blow.

Red Was staggered back, out to the bone,
almost, by t e sharp lash, while the white girl,
ready for another stroke,.looked half-pityingly

on.

But the irate lover did not fall. Quiddy rc-
covering, he looked for a moment at the girl, and
then, without having uttered one threat, or a
word of revenge, he turned sullenly on his heel
and walked away.

This proceeding on his part perplexed Niokana,
and the looks that she gave him were full of
wonder.

“Let him 01” she said, at last. “By and by
he will come ack and say that he is sorry. Now ~
for the stunted killer l”

Turning her back upon her scarlet lover, the

irl hastened to the corral on the western side of
t e village, and, assisted by the savage in charge,
secured the steed which we have a ready seen
her master.

MountingIthe animal after the usual manner
she turned is head toward the town, nor drew
rein until the sight evidently sought fell upon
her eyes.

The heat of the sun had driven the savages to
the cool structure that occupied a ter Bart
ofthemainsquare. This wasab 'ding w ose
sole support consisted of a number of strong poles-
it was well roofed with bouglhs, thickly covered
with leaves, totally exclud g the beams of a
vertical sun.

Here lounged the chiefs, through the sultry
days, away from the suffocating closeness of
the Wigwam, for a light breeze invariably blew
through the building, making it a lounger’s
Paradise.

Niokana saw in the center of this building a
figure that made her eyes flash.

:1

 

Dwarf Dan was talking with Arrow Head,
who, with an Indian pipe between his teeth, was
listening attentively.

When the girl drew rein she let the long whip,

Old Frosty, the Guide. 1',
he left his station and took a seat on the log
which Kyd occupied.

“A fol ar gits in a fix whcn there’s a a] in
the case, ” pursued the old gold-seeker. “, hev-
ii’t come out hyur with my 0 es shit. Thetisn’t

stained near the end by the blood it had just
drawn, drop at her side, and tho next moment
rode forward again.

She went straight into the great structure, hcr
keen eyes riveted upon the apish fi§§lf0 that
stood beside the giant )erson of the lackfoot
chief, and when she ha ted it was right before
the twain.
n“Why comes Niokana here?” asked Arrow

cad.

“ Ask the mangling wolf that shows his fangs
at Arrow Head’s side,” was the rejoinder.

“That _nieans me,” said Dan, uickly.
“\Vhat hev I done to make you ha y, my
party one? By the leapin’ jingol I’d want you
to be mad all the time. When I git ye, I’ll git
some fellar to rile ye, fer ye’r' the purtiest when
yc’r’ mad.”

Did the dwarf see the whip shoot upward—
above the head of the avenger ol’ her enemy’s
blood?

He started back with an oath—a cry—for he
saw what Niokana was going to do.

But as well might he have attempted to re—
treat from the hands of avenging fate. IIcr
agile body darting forward, followed him, and
before Arrow Head could inter iose his stalwart
frame, the cruel lash, dealingl t ree tremendous
blows in rapid succession, ad dashed Dwarf
Dan to the ground!

The schemer roared like a beast, and writh-
ing in the dirt covered his laceratod face, and
rolled over and over in his agon .

“ Back 1" cried Niokana, drawn: the whip cn
Arrow Head. “1 want to tone the stunted
slayer that this hide-snake can bite like his
knife. 110,110] would the Blackfeet take his
part and punish Niokana? They shall notl”

A pair of spurs would not have sent her horse
forward uic er than did her word.

Arrow ead sprung aside in time to prevent
being dashed down, and among the iidians
who evinced a disposition to arrest her, the
whip executed a cut that drew forth cries of
pain.

Niokana dashed from tho lounging-house of
the Blackfeet, galloped swiftly through the vi]-
lage. and with a wild cry of farewell and a
crack of the “black snake "now double d ed
with blood, she passed into the woods beyon .

CHAPTER IX.
FIVE THOUSAND AGAINST SIXTEEN.

“ WHAT ails ye, boy? Hyar ye’ve sot fur' an
hour, lookin’ straight inter the ground, jest 'as if

8 war seein suthin’ than”

Kyd Dou lass raised his head and encountered
the aze of lack Tom Barlow, whose rough but
kin voice had startled him.

“ was I saying anything, Tom?” he asked,with
much anxiety. .

“I should say e warn’t!” said the aston-
ished ca tain o the old-hunters, with 3
Ian h. “ ut ye’ve been oin’ a powerful sight
0’ t inkin’ within the last half- our. What’s
u a”

pAs'Black Tom put this pointed interrogatory,

 

 

Tom Barlow’s way 0’ trave in’. Kid, boy, you
can’t be blamin’ yerscli’ fur bringin’ l‘ud news to
the fort.”

Then the boy spoke:

“ I wish I had not brought it, of course,” he
said. “ It has discouraged some of the boys.”

“Some 0’ the weak oncsl” said Barlow. “ But
they’ll show grit when the time comes. Don’t
let thet bother 0. We’ve lost a host in Old
Frosty. Ho ma eafoolish bet, an’ the youn
skunk who forced him to enter the trap, knowe
jest how things war goin’ to turn out. I hope
my bullet sent death to his cowardly heart.
They be poor surgeons up than—them Injun
doctors.’

Maybe he didn’t go there, Tomi”

“ But he did! I kiiowcd he would come back
for his horse, so I told Red John who war
watchin’ tho critters, to let him IlHV the animile.
Sure enough, jest as I cx meted, back he came
with a to’rniquct round is arm, an” took the
horse—took him, Kid, an’ rode 011’, straight
to’ard tho Injun town. So, dead er alive, he’s
thar!”

“ I am com cllcd to think so,” said the youth.

“ Now,” ant Black Tom’s tawny hand fell up‘
on Kyd’s knee, “ I want to know suthin’ about
that gal in which you two chaps ar’ so much in-
terested. Who is she, boy?”

Kyd Douglass looked around the darkened in-
closure.

“ Nobody about,” said Tom. “ But look here,
if you don t want to tell me all right. No hard
feelin’s about it. But I’d like to know.”

“Then, Tom, you will for ive me if I refuse
to tell you now, for, after 1, I may be on the
wrong trail.” - , '

“Do as on please, boy,” said the old-hun-
ter, soniew lat sorely disappointed. “ (cop the
secret jest as leng as ye please; but I know one
thing: if 'e be on the wrong trail, Ariel Rams
den struc the right ’un!”

de Dou rlass started.

“ Then,” e said, “ so have I!”

Black Tom gazed curiously into the youth’s
face for several moments, but did not 5 Ink.
The young eyes again sought the aim ,and
remained thus, in a dreamy expression until the
approach of astalwart miner roused the occu-
pants of the log. .

“Thar ’re figgcrs in the woods!” said the man.

“Injuns?”

“ Or ghosts l”

“Ghosts? Pshawl Who saw ’em?”

“Murph .’

“ Whar is he?”

“Over thar, tellin' the boys.”

At Black Tom’s calla tall fellow came from ;;
Eoup of men on the further side of the fort.

e was a courageous-looking man with a pair
of dusty pants stuck into cowhide boots. His

upper garments consisted of a gray shirt, as un-.

couth as the pantaloons. Murphy was one of
the spies of the fort.
“1 war out thar,” he said to Barlow as- he

nodded his head toward the West. “

s.‘

 

 

18 Old Frosty, the Guide.

 

thar came a boss up the creek, slow like, as if it
war goin’ to a funeral. 1 war squattin’ at a
tree, Waitin’ fur it, with my fingers on the gun,
when all at once it came inter sight ag‘in’ the
moon. Then, su’thin’ went all over me jest
like a bucket o’ ice-water, an’ the air all ’round
_ got cold. I couldn’t ’a’ shot an elephant, for the
hing on thot hoss wasn’t flesh an‘ bone. By
Jupiter! it looked jest like the specrit we see’din
that Saint Louio theater the night aforo we
left; only this thing war more real—more
nat’ral like. It was tall, slim an’ long. I
couldn’t see its face plainly, fur the moon was
behind it; but I knowed jest what it war like—
I know who it used to be when it war livin’.”

“ Who?” said Barlow, who had not lost a syl-
lable of Murphy’s narration.

“ 01d Frosty Paddock!”

The manner in which the frightened spy ut»
tered this name was enough to send a shu der to
the heart of the listeners.

For a moment not a sound followed it.

“He said he would come back!” continued
Murphy; “if not in the flesh in the speerit. He’s
kept his word, for he war out thar to—night, in
the latter.”

“ What became of him?" asked Black Tom. V

“By Jupiter! I can't say. I never took my
eyes off 0’ ’im, fur I couldn’t. He went some
whars right afore my eyes, an’ I don’t know how
or what. He war lookin’ at the fort all the time,
an’ once or twice he nodded his head as if he
liked it. Arter he dissolved I sat thar in a cold
sweat. My clothes got wet, an‘ I couldn’t move
till the Injuns be un to come.”

.“ Injuns?” an Black Tom’s eyes flashed.
“‘They warn’t speerits, too?”

“ S rits'! not much! When a Greaser dies
they on’t lot ’im come back. They came up the
creek, some afoot some on bosses, till I war
nearly surrounded by the skunks. They seemed
to be huntin’ Old Frosty, fur they got down
'whar he had stood an’ examined the ground.
But the hunt for tracks didn’t satisfy ’em.
They’re out thar now. Wait till mornin’ an’
then we’ll see ’em. The five days are up an’ we
hevn’t got the permit.”

The situation of the hardy adventurers was
apparent to all in all its stern reality. Tom
Barlow would have given his good hand at that
moment if Murphy had not told his highly em-
bellished story of Frosty Paddock’s ghost. He
could see by the faces of his associates that the
narrative had unnerved them.

“The ’11 stan’ au’ fight the hull Blackfoot
nation; ut one gho:t would take eve bit 0’
grit from ’em!” said Tom to himself. “ urphy
saw suthin’, that’s sart’in, an’ Frosty said he
would come back in some way 1”

Tom did not speak thus aloud; he dared not.

“We are besieged!” said the young but firm
voice of Kyd Douglass, and every eye was turn-
ed upon the boy. “Those fiends are bound to
have the fort. They will try strategy, open
force, all the cunning arts of sava e warfare.
We have not to deal with ghosts, bu living men
—Indians! A thing that is not tangible~an ob-
ject through which you could move your hands
and touch nothing, could do nothin !”

“ That’s it! Go. on, boy 1” said lack Tom,
, rejoiced that the youth had come to his rescue.

!

 

“If we allow ourselves to believe in ghosts
we will go to the torture tree like fr! htened
sheep. Arrow Head is out there at the end of
his warriors. We are here, sixteen Americans,
well armed and not cowards. I f Dwarf Dan is
with the Indians, we will receive a demand to
surrender soon, probably before daylight. Let
us anticipate it. I propose three cheers for
Fort Barlow, which we will defend to the
last!”

As the boy spoke he lea
swung his hat over his hea .

“Three cheers, boys, fur the honor of old
Missouri 1”

The men, lately fear-stricken by Murphy’s
ghostly story, could not resist; the boy’s en-
thusiasm took hold on them, and overthe walls
of the little fort went three stentorian cheers to
stargle the scarlet fiends who filled the wood be-

yon .

Tom Barlow seized Kyd before the last cheer
had died away, and jerked him from the log.

“ Ye’ve got the grit thct will win!” exclaimed
the rough gold-hunter. “ Thar isn’t a. man hyar
what wouldn’t die fur ye. Now let the mes-
sage come. By Jupiter! the skunks needn’t
send any; they know what we ar’ goin’ to do!”

A spirit of defiance now prevailed in the
hearts of the men. Murphy’s story had, for the
time, been forgotten; bu that individual him-
self stood a art from the group, with a tinge of
fear in his aco. He was not the man to believe
that he had not seen Old Frost ’s ghost.

“Boy, you’ll change yer min now!” said Bar-
low, suddenl .

“ About w ti”

“Why, about goin’ out to look fur the gall”

“I came out here to find her!” Kyd Dou lass
said. “If I 0, you must not think that de-
sert you and t 0 boys. I swore—well, no matter
about that, Tom. If we had the permit you and
I would stand a show—you for gold, I for her.”

“The permit I fear, has gone up the spout.
Frosty was a fool to go arter it. What good
did he think his moccasin could do him?”

“Heaven knows. Some time we’ll know all.
When that time comes—” ‘

“Great Caesar’s spook! what’s that?”

This startling utterance fell from Black Tom’s
lips, and he sprung back as if a bomb had fallen
at his feet.

Something had dropped before him—a strange
something, that had apparently fallen from the
star-studded sky overhead, and it lay there,
shapeless and without motion!

“ It came in from the outside!” cried Barlow,
pointing at the object. “What on earth can
it be?”

Some of the miners, recovering before their
stalwart leader, sprung forward to investigate;
but Kyd Douglass was ahead of all, and he
picked up the object, but with an ejaculation of

orrnr.

“Look! it is a human hand!” he exclaimed,
and the miners who gathered about him saw
that he spoke the truth.

“A hand, by Jupiter!” echoed Barlow, as,
shutting his teeth hard, he took the disgusting
object from Kyd’s grasp. “ An’ it’s a white
’un, tool They’ve tied the fist shet with butllcr
sincws. Mobbe thur ar’ suthin’ in hyar l”

upon the log and

 Frosty. the Guide. 

 

A moment sufficed for Black Tom to cut the
cords that kept the dead hand in a closed posi-
tion, and as he pried the cold fingers back, his
eyes caught sight of a pa r.

“Jest as I expected!’ he said, jerking the
paper forth. “Dwarf Dan is at the bottom 0’
this. Thar’s writin’ on this paper. Take it, boy,
an’ make it out. Stand back, boys, an7 git out
0’ Kyd’s moonshine.”

The stern-faced miners, with anxious eyes
fixed on the boy moved back until he stood in
the uninterrude moonlight. his eyes fixed in-
tentéy on the piece of paper that he held in his
han .

The rough, unlettered en of the wild frontier
had been at work; the ines were a miserable
scrawl, and had been traced in a dark liquid
that stained like human blood.

But the youth mastered them after a minute’s
inspection, and in a voice that did not contain a
tremor, he read:

“ To CAPTAIN Tom:—

“We ar’ five thousand ag’in' ver sixteen. You
will not be allowed to give up. 6 ar' goin‘ ter out
yer hearts out au' eat ‘em. We’ll cram yer mouths
full 0v gold. Mercy don‘t live in this kenu'y. This
hand come all the way from St. Louie to carry this
notis to you.”

Tom Barlow heard the last word, and dashed
across the little square to a short ladder that
stood against the western wall.

Springing up, he mounted the topmost log and
shouted at the top of his strong voice:

“ Ye’r‘ the same old liar ye always was,
Dwarf Dan! we’re only sixteen; but kingdom
come will be full 0’ sech skunks as ye ar’ afore
ye’r’ through with Black Tom an’ his boys!”

hThe whites applauded Tom with a. rousing
c eer.

 

CHAPTER X.
MARLEY IS “REMEMBERED.”

BLACK TOM BAaLow’s words fell upon the
ears for which they were intended, for not far
from the little fort, anxiously waiting for a
reply to the message inclosed in the dead hand,
stood Dwarf Dan Wolflaw.

When he heard the voice of the gold-hunters’
captain, a devilish expression crossed his distort-
ed face, still bearing the marks of Niokana’s
whip, and he sent back in answer to it a coarse
laugh that went over the strong walls like a
cac innation of a demon.

“Why, poor fools, that isn’r the host ov a
show fur ye!" he said, hard upon iis laugh.
“ What Arrow Head can’t think of I kin punch
out o’ my own noggin. We kin starve ye out
fur we’re on the outside. Five thousand ag" 1’
sixteen—big odds, I tell ye, Tom.”

Behind the dwarf dark figures glided through
the forest; they were Indians whom Arrow
Head had marshaled against the little band of
gold-hunters, and since their arrival Fort Bar-
low had been completely invested. As we have
already seen, the Blackfoot chief had given the
gold-hunters five .days in which to leave the
country; this time had expired; but they had
not stirred one foot southward.

Therefore, they must take the consequences of
their temerity.

 

Dwai‘t Dan whirled abruptly on his heel. He
went into the midst of the ndian force, and
there found the only other white face save his
in the besieging ranks. y

ts owner was Morgan, the companion of
Marley, whose death we have already wit-
nessed.

A few words from Ca tain Dan had saved
Morgan’s life, and he ha ap arently forgotten
the cruel death of his comra 0.

“Did you hear what Tom said?” asked the
dwarf.

“I could not help hearin’, fur he has lungs of
iron!” was the reply. “1 just got in in time to
hear.”

“ See any thin r of the gal?”

“ Not a sign; ut I saw suthin" back on the
rise."

“ The boy?" -

“Nary boy! I would call it a ghost ef I be-
lieved.”

Dwarf Dan started.

“ Do you think it’s thar now?” he asked.

“ Melibo so."

“ Shall we take the horses?” -

“ It had a crittur.”

A few moments sufficed to procure horses for
{he two renegadcs, and they left the Indian

ines.

Morgan led the way and did not draw rein
until they had reached the base of a hillock
several miles away. ‘

“It war up thar!” said Morgan, pointing up
the acclivity.

Dan looked his man curiously in the face.

“You’d like fur me to think thet it warn’t
fies? an’ blood that you soe’d, wouldn’t you?” he
Sflli .

“ I don’t know what it war, myself,” was the
answer. “I war standin’ right hyar, when—
Look! up yonder! By the jumpin’ jingol thar it
is again!”

Dwarf Dan raised his eyes, and saw quite
distinctly the combined figures of man and
horse, apparently one hundred feet above them.
The sky was lightened by tho efi‘ulgence of the
moon, and the figures were gigantic proportions.

Dwarf Dan looked at the apparition with
mouth half open in wonderment. while Morgan
regarded him with a look of self-satisfied tri-

umph.
“ VVal, what is it?” he ventured, at last.
“ The devil niobbo!” \
Dan kept his eyes on the figure but cocked his

n.

“ Goin’ to shoot at it, eh?”

“ Yes!”

“ The bullet will go right through a ghost,
they say!” '

he deserter did not reply but took as de« ,
liberate aim as he could with his nerves a. little
unstrung.

The report of the rifle awoke a thousand slum-
bering echoes; but the sound that startled Dan
the most, was the hollow laugh that came down
from above.

Morgan, with a gasping cry, wheeled sudden-
1y: hut Dan leaned over, and as be grasped his
bridle, shot him a stern look.

“Not a foot, Morgan 1” the Dwarf said, fierce—
ly. “You’ve heard that laugh afore, jest as I

 

 

20 Old Frosty, the Guide.

 

hev. Ar’ you in league with that fuller, up
thar?”

Morgan’s answer was a stare of astonishment.

“I’m in ’arnestl” thundered the deformed.
“ How did he get out of his coffin?”

The stare deepened.

“Coffin? What coffin?” said the new thor-
ough] astounded Morgan.

‘ T e hangin’ coffin we put Old Frosty in!
How did he git out? Thet’s the question.”

“ You’re tacklin’ the wrong man, cap'n!” said
Morgan, into whose obtuse brain the dwarfs
last words had shot a little light. “I don’t
know anythin’ about a hangin’ coffin. He war
dead when you 1put ’im thar; but thet laugh
sounded jest like isn ”

" And it was too real to come from a ghost!”
said Dan. “I had a dead aim on him.”

“But yer hand shook a little."

“ Mebbe it did.”

“ I saw it. ”

“ Then you war watchin’ me?”

“ Kinder so. I couldn’t help it.”

‘ The puzzled dwarf, looking up, saw that the
object at whichuhe had fired had disa ared;
but he did not loosen his grip on organ’s
rein.

He knew well that such an action would have
been followed by the fellow’s ignominious flight.

“The ghost is gone!” he said, with a sly glance
at his companion. “Now I’m going to satisfy
myself about a sart’in matter. Will you go
along?”

Morgan replied in the affirmative, and the
next instant they turned their horses’ heads to-
ward the north.

For a short time Dan continued to keep his
strong hand on his companion’s bridle-rein; but
at last, with a significant glance into his face he
released it, and straightened in the saddle.

Once beyond the wood, which they speedily
left behind, the country became comparatively
clear, and the two white men rode over it at
good speed.

Morgan soon began to observe with feelings

of surprise that he was riding across the same

country which he had lately traversed with the
Blackfeet. There were certain well-marked
landmarks, that told him that he was going
toward the Indian town. Once or twice he was
on the point of uestioning the deformed, but
the uneasy look t t appeared in his eyes, kept
back the question.

The moon was in the zenith, when Mor an,
glancing down from the ridge, along whic he
was riding, saw the white si es of hundreds of
tepeeS' but instead of entering the Indian vil-
lage, Dwarf Dan veered abruptly to the right,
and left it behind.

“Dan’s comin’ back to see if 01d Frosty is
still in his coffin!” murmured Morgan at last,
d1v1n1n the meaning of that long, nocturnal
ride. 9 was talkin’ about a hangin’ coffin,
too. That’s a new kind 0’ shebang, even fur
these wild parts!” '

Shortly after the utterance of the last sen-

, tones, the riders entered a ravine, and when

Dan at last sprung to the ground, Morgan saw.

that they stood near the mouth of some under-
ground cavern.
“Hev ye any matches?” the Dwarf asked,

 

looking up into the countenance whose puzzled
ex ression was enough to provoke a smile.

organ produced several dirt-colored ones
which the dwarf took.

“Cuss me of I don’t more nor half believe
that Old Frosty hes got out 0’ his basket!” the
deformed said, as be wrapped a piece of cotton
goods about a stick.

“ Bad work of he hcz!” responded Morgan.

“It will be the Injnn’s fault. I wanted to
give ’im a different kind 0’ funeral. But hyar
we go to settle the question.”

Shutting his teeth hard, and with all his
rough courage summoned to his aid, Dwarf Dan
pushed into the cavern beyond whose gloomy
portals he and Arrow Head had lately borne
Old Frosty to his horrible entombment.

He went ahead with the torch, closely but not
unwillingly followed by Morgan.

The torch but illy relieved the gloom.

Dan went forward with the greatest care; but
an exclamation at last announced that he had
made a discovery. I

“Hyar’s the p’inted rock, an’ the rope jest as
we left it, an’,” sweeping the torch beneath him,
“I kin see the basket, tool”

Morgan crept forward.

He looked over the jutting rock and saw a.
strangely shaped basket—more particularly
some networkwswing at the end of a rope.

“I can’t make out of thar’s a man in the
coffin,” said Dwarf Dan, a little disappointed.

“Couldn’t you ef you war to lean over an’
wave the torch under the rock?” suggested Mor-
ran.

{a “I might.”

A moment later the ill-shapen figure of Arrow
Head’s ally dro ped upon the rock and crawled
to the edge. e leaned over and waved the
torch as far beneath it as he could.

“It’s all right!” he said, satisfied. “ Thar’s
a corpse in the coffin, an’ of course it's Old
Frosty.”

Morgan heard a part of these words; the last
ones he drowned with the maddest cry of ven-
geance that ever awoke the echoes of that cav-
ern.

With the cry he pounced u on the prostrate
man like a tiger, and before warf Dan could
summon one thought to his assistance he was
hanging over the abyss by the ed e of the rock.

“This fur Marley. one o' the est men that
ever died in Blackfoot land i” cried Morgan,
holding the torch dropped by the attacked man
near his victim’s face. “ He’d be alive today
of it hadn’t been fur you, Cap’n Dan. I said
I’d git even with you. I’m even now!”

The dwarf was utterly helpless, and with his
last mad word of triumph, Morgan struck him
across the face with the torch. V ‘

A cry more brutish than human led from
the dwarf’s throat, and swinging ack before
the stroke he went down—down into the dark-
ness below!

Morgan, with face illumined by revenge, held
the torch over the cliff, and saw to his horror
that Dwarf Dan’s hands had severed the rope,
and that he had carried the “ coffin” and its
terrible occupant with him to the bottom.

“They’ll want some light on the subject!”
said the avenger with a grin, and he sent the

\
Old Frosty,

the Guide. 2 1

 

torch hissing throu h the impenetrable dark-
ness that concealed t e depths of the cavern.
Then he began to retrace his steps.

CHAPTER XI.
PRESSED INTO SERVICE.

AT the mouth of the entrance to the singular
cavern Morgan stopped and listened, but no
noise came up from the darkness into which he
had hurled the dwarf.

“ l’d jest like to know whether thar is another
wa into this place,” the man said to himself.
“ his land is full of scch holes, they say, an’
then I’m right among the hills which ar’ full 0’
gold. Gold? That’s what I came out hyar fur,
an’ mebbe I’m runnin’ from worlds 0’ it goin
out from hyar. Of course, Dan is lyin’ down
ther’ dead as a door-nail; he’ll never trouble the

a] any more; she’ll never git to whip him ag’in.
fiest think of it, Esau Morgan! Mebbo you’re
leavin’ a gold-mine. No! I’m not goin’ to run
off. I’ll go back an’ see.”

Thus determining the minor sat down at the
mouth of the cavern, and by dint of labor and
patience in the uncertain light of the stars, he
improvised a torch which, to his delight, burned
with much brilliancy. -

Then he went back into the cave with the fire
over his head.

Now Esau Morgan was a judge of gold-bearing
rock; he had mined along Feather river, and
had pros cted during his early days among the
Rocky ountains.

He went around the natural galler from
which he had lately hurled the dwarf. t wasa
stupendous afi‘air, enough to excite the wonder
of any man.

Now and then the avaricious outlaw stopped
to examine particles of rock that lay at his feet,
butto cast them aside with an oath of disap-
pointment.

But at last Morgan’s eyes flashed as he weigh-
ed a piece of rock longer than usual in his hand.
He set the torch down and riveted his whole at-
tention upon the object. .

Was it old? Had he discovered one of those

olden hils that, rumor said, abounded in the
' lackfoot land?

In the strange flaring of the torch, the dark-
faced man looked more like a maniac than a
sane being.

“It is gold!” he cried, starting up, and

from the depths of darkness far away came
back a. thousand confirmatory echoes of “ gold!
rold!’
E “ It was no liel” he continued. “This is a.
mountain of gold; I have been walking over a
pathway of golden bowlders. It 15 all mine, for
the little labor of pickin the rocks up. I sha’n’t
trouble myself about 01( Frosty, or the gal. I
want to go back to Saint Louie with all this
mountain mine. I will go back that way, or—
not go back at‘all!”

Half an hour later Morgan stood in what ap-

red to be a vast chamber whose ceiling as in-
minctly as he could see it bywhu‘hng the torch
above his head was hung With orgeous trap-

ings like that of some cathedral. ' is lust for go d
had led him to the spot on which he stood; he
had pushed on, on, feasting his eyes on the heavy

 

 

racks that had the color of unrefined gold; he

had traveled down, down, until the galler from
which his leader had been dashed seem hun-
dreds of feet above him.

But the fretted ceiling excited no wonderment
in Morgan’s eyes. He looked at his torch almost
burned to his tawny hand.

“ Ef the thin goes out, I’ll be in apurty fix!”
said the man, s utting his teeth hard. “It is
alwa s ni ht hyar. 1 can’t burn gold. I can’t
eat 1: e y ler stuff. I—mercyl don’t go out an’
leave me hyar."

He whirled the flame around his head; but he
could not brighten it, save for a moment.

With a cry of joy at his tem orar success the
gold-hunter started forward; ut t 0 next mo-
ment he hurled a sparkless and smoking stick far
from him, and started back with acry of despair
falling from his tongue.

He was lostl how far under ground he did not
know—lost in a mountain of gold—and in the
same apartment no doubt, where lay the man-
gled remains of his leader and his victim!

The agony that took aosscssion of the stal-
wart miner as he realized is situation cannot be
described.

He stood in the gloom for several minutes, be-
reft of volition, a cold sweat standing out on his
forehead. His capacious pockets were filled with
the weighty rocks his hands had lately icked
up with such eagerness. He suddenly ell to
taking them out, and one by one he threw them
madly away, at the same time filling the cave
with the sound of his oaths.

“ I can‘t eat ’em!” he said over and over.
“ War Esau Morgan born to die in a mountain
0v old?"

T e des rate man, nerved by desperation to
do somet ing, tried to find a path to the star-
li ht, in the gloom; but in vain.

earicd with the fruitless efforts, he threw
himsclf madly on the ground, and covering his
face with his great arms, groaned from the
do ths of his soul. ,
uddenly he began to roll hither and thither,
thinking only of ,his situation, or cursing the
man Whose wild stories of old in the land of
the Blackfeet had decoyed im across the Mis-
sourl.

All at once, in one of these movements, Mor-
gan struck an object in the dark, the touch of
which made him recoil, with a shudder.

Ho scrambled to his feet in an instant.

“ That war one of them i” he exclaimed. “ It
war Dwarf Dan or old Frosty an’ dead, too!”

Although he stood but a ew feet from the
body against which he had accidentally rolled,
Morgan could not see it. He tried to make it
out; but, failing at last, with a pistol in his
hand, crept forward. The fingers that he put
out were not long- in findin it, and Morgan
drew back again, with a shud er.

“It is Old Frosty, fur thar be a lot 0’ ropes
wrapped around iml” he said. “ I reckon as
how the old chap didn’t git his parmit fur the
boys. But what kind 0’ face has he get now?
This skin is smooth; an’ of I recollect right,
Frosty’s face war rough, and badly made.
Now, of I lied a match 1”

But the last match had been used on the
torch, and Morgan was lost for a moment.”

“ I’ll shoot across the fecal" he said, bethink-

 

 

22 Old Frosty,

the Guide.

 

ing himself of a fortunate idea. “I’ll know
Frosty in a minute of this be him.”

Morgan felt the exact position of the unseen
face, and held his pistol above it. The next
moment a flash lit up the immediate spot, and
the loud report of a fire—arm filled the cavern.

“ Great J ehosaphatl It’s an Injunl” cried
Morgan, sprin ing erect and almost dropping
his pistol. “ under an’ gunsl what does this
mean? Old Frosty war lyin’ dead in this has-
ket, up thar; now thar’s a red-skin in it. I wish
I had never come hyar. I expect to be a dead
In'uu myself directly!” ‘

Vhat anybody placed in the gold-hunter’s
situation would have done, he did.

He fled—ran through the gloom—on—on, un-
til he felt cold air on his ashen check!

What strange fate had guided Morgan from
the cavern? He did not'stop to inquire, but
dashed on, out into the starlight, nor paused
until he came suddenl upon a man who sat like
a host on the back 0 a horse.

organ had run suddenly upon him, and was
totally unaware of his presence until he felt a
bony hand on his throat. Then it was that
Morgan’s eyes almost shot from his head, and
he thou ht that wonders would never cease
when he» eard these words from the lips of the
apparition that leaned from the saddle:

‘You’re the very man I war lookin’ for,
Esau Morgan! I want you to help me git the
parmitl”

Morgan, if he had been released, would have
dropped senseless to the ground.

As it was he could only gaze bewildered at the
occupant of’ the saddle, in serious doubt whether
ith wzas Old Frosty, alive, or the] ank guide’s
g as I

 

CHAPTER XII.
KY1) DOUGLAss’s BRAVERY. "

“ SOME of the men will not believe the note I
left behind; but Black Tom will, and that is
enough. Gracious! how dark it is 111 this valley.
There is a moon to-night, but where it is at this
hourI do not know. Heaven guide my steps
aright. ‘ Missing ’ for one week, and in all that
time not seen b a single Blackfoot. What has
become of her? as Dwarf Dan got in his work'
or has the jealous rage of Red Wasp succeeded
against her? I was dying behind you walls. I
am not a deserter. I would not leave such gal—
lant fellows as Black Tom and the boys without
cause. But I must discover her whereabouts or
he'l‘ilm'” k K d D 1 h d t

9 you 5 ea er, y oug ass, a crop
into a littlggv ey that was as dark and
death. Crept, we say, for thus he had really
reached the spot—creeping through the Black-
foot lines that completely invested Fort Barlow.
The first week of the strangest siege that ever
took place in the Far West, was drawing to a
close! Not a Blackfoot arrow had fallen into
the fort, not a gun had been discharged by the
scarlet besiegers. The stem and wan faces of
Black Tom and his men told how desperate
rho end would be if that silent siege continued
ong.

Arrow Head’s tactics had been disclosed to
the old-hunters, who, as they saw their scanty

stillas.‘

 

stoc of provisions dwindling to a few morSeIS,

cursed tho red-men who were fighting them
with the most potent of Wee. 0115, starvation;
and with bony hands clinc ed, resolved to
die the horrid death rather than surrender them-
selves to the torturel

During the week rapidly passin away, the
whites had obtained abit of news,w ich possess-
ed more than an ephemeral interest for K (1 Don —
lass, from the outside world. One nig t Blue {
Tom had a suspicion that something unusual was
about to occur. There was a strange noise at the
foot of the west wall, and almost directly beneath
his post of observation, something; which in tho
semi-gloom, resembled a young ear climbing
up the logs. Like a tiger watching for the un-
suspecting fawn did the giant leader of the gold—
hunters wait for the climber. At last a hand
was laid upon the topmost log; then a head ap—
peared, and—Black Tom’s hand leaped to an In-
dian’s throat!

In tho twinkling of an eye the Blackfoot was
jerked over the ramparts, and brought up stand-
ing by Tom’s hand in the midst of the desperate
whites.

As to his mission, when questioned, the Indian
maintained a dogged silence; but from him the
whites drew the story of Niokana’s abandon-
ment of the Indian village after whipping
Dwarf Dan. Since that hour no Blackfoot had
seen her.

This story interested Kyd Dou rlass. Niokana
missing, and that after drawing lood from the
checks of a man who knew no mercy?

The intelligence made him start back' it paled
his cheek, but a question that Black ' om put
to the captive Blackfoot drew him forward
again.

“ Where is Dwarf Dan?”

“ Him not been in Indian camp for six
sleeps. Arrow Head not know where Stunted
Tree is.”

The Whites exchanged looks of wonderment.

“ Where he is the girl can be found,” said Kyd
to himself. “He has followed her and he has
found her. Now I have work to perform—to
wrench her from his hands!"

The boy’stpresence in the dark little valley be-
ond the In ian lines is now plain to the reader.
ntent upon finding the white queen of the Black-

feet, in whom he took such an absorbing in-
terest, he had quietly left the fort, and, by
some good crawling, had reached the spot with-
out accident.

But now he was lost. He knew not which

way to go or where to look for Dwarf Dan and
his victim.
Behind him the scarlet lines encircled the
brave miners like the coils of an anaconda, and
the boy shuddered and flushed as he thought of
the few mouthfuls of food that remained in the
guarded larder. More than once he started
back. but one thought made him pause.

“ No! I came out here for her. I must not
let anything turn me from my mission!" he
would say.

When he went forward for the last time, he
did not stop until he had crossed the valley
and ascended to the summit of a hill beyond.

Then he saw the moon just coming up, full,
round and like a shield of silver.

Kyd Douglass, stretched forth his hand As it,

Old Prolty, the Guide.

. 23'

 

he was directing a companion’s attention to a
land that lay beyond the planet.

“ Over there hes the Blackfoot village. There
I ma obtain information of them. My person
will he sacred there—at least until I ave ac-
complished my mission, for the know me as
Dwarf Dan’s friend, and he is in league with
their chief.”

“Over there” meant ten miles to the young
adventurer—ten miles of country where death
in twenty forms might lurk, but he was not to
be deterred.

Looking to his weapons, he started forward,
not on all fours as he had crept through the
Indian lines, but at a smart trot. The moon
came up majestically as he went on, tireless as
the most renowned Indian trailer, for he had
the great work of his life to urge him on. At
last, panting and thirsty, he halted and knelt
over the little spring that bubbled from the
rocky ground beneath his feet, and sent its clear
waters 5 arkling up into the moonli ht.

Kyd ouglass drank long and p entifully at
the spring. The cool waters reinvigorated him;
but all at once he started back with a cry, and
seizing his un looked around him at the rocks
and hills. stonishmcnt was de icted on every
lineament of the youth’s face; 0 saw nothing
save the strange object that had fallen into the
clear water.

Recovering to a certain degree, the youth
went to the spring and picked up the wing
of the great night-hawk that floated on the
water.

Holding it in his hand he looked up as if in
quest of the bird itself; but the next moment
burst into a smile of self-derision.

“ Birds do not lose entire wings and continue
their flight!” he exclaimed. “ And then—what
is this? A piece of iron at the end of this wing
to give it weight. Ah! somebody threw it at
me, and for a purpose not intended to kill.”

Re ardless of any eyes that might be watch-
ing, yd Douglass began to examine the wing
so mysteriously obtained, and was rewarded
by finding a narrow strip of buckskin ingeni-
ousl interwoven among the grayish feathers.
Unlinking it, he saw some roug tracery on
tile surface, and, after some labor, made it read
t us:

“Hold out to the last mt'm't. I ’ll bring the
permit when. I come." .

Kyd Douglass read that strange message
twent times before he looked up. He felt his
heart ating in his throat.

There was no signature to the sentences;
brat he knew a man who might have dictated
t em.

“Frosty Paddock could not read or write,”
Kyd said, reflecting. “ If this message comes
’ from him, who wrote it? That’s the uestion!
It was intended to be thrown into Fort arlow;
but it has been given to me and it means for m‘e
to take it back. Gracious! how it would en-
courage the boys! They had all the confidence
in the world in Old Frosty. I’ll take it back.
The fort is only four miles away. I can get
through the lines again.” I

Several minutes later the boy was running
toward the fort with the singular message 111 hits
bosom.

 

He Went back through the dark little valley,
and passed the Blackfoot lines at a point where
the beams of the moon did not fall.

His heart grew still, as it were as the outlines
of the fort rose before him. e was almost
near enough to toss the hawk-wing over; indeed,
he had drawn it from his bosom, when a save. e
cry 'behind him made him start, and a b y
lea ed upon him.

he be was thrown forward by the shock,
but quick y recovered and looked around.

He saw a sight that must have chilled his
blood. Indians were rising, as it were, from the
darkened earth; he was surrounded!

“The shall have the message, after all!”
he crie , clutching the hawk-wing with his
teeth}, and clubbing his rifle, as be bounded for—
war .

Strong as a young athlete, Kyd Douglass
dashed is first opposers back with a terrible
sweep of the rifle, and then jerked the wing
from his mouth.

“Catch what I throw you!” he cried, fran—
tically, to the dark figures that lined the logs
overhead. “ There’s safety in this night-hawk’s
Wing.

The arm of the boy went back to deliver the
strange message; but he felt a air of hands
seize his wrist. and he fell bee ward, as the
undelivered wing dropped from his nerveless
fingers.

But he soon started up only to find Arrow
Head’s hand on his shoulder and to see the
glittering eyes of the frenzied l31ackfoot kin .

The heads above the logs of Fort Barlow ad
been lowered.

“No shootin’!” K (I heard the rough and
well-known Voice of arlow say. “That fellar
out thar had some ood news for us.” .

“ I had, Black om!” cried K d, jerking
himself from Arrow Head's grasp. ‘ Old Frosty
sa s__"

yd said no more, for the fist of the Indian
king shot straight from the shoulder and the
victim went to the earth as if he had been
struck by a sledge-hammer.

Tom Barlow and his half-fundsth men heard
the dull and horrid thud of that truly savage
b ow.

“ Shoot ’cm down like dogs!" he yelled. “ No
mercy to the red fiends who kept the good news
from us!”

The Blackfeet knew what would follow, and
sprung away.

A host of dark figures, running like deer,
greeted the eyes that looked over the ramparts,
and the next moment, a line of flame lit up the
to of the western wall.

t was a telling volley, for at least ten Black-
feet sto ped yelling and fell dead!

But yd Douglass—Where was he?

 

CHAPTER XIII.
A LIFE FOR AN ARM.

LET us return to one of the characters in our
story, in whom the reader has no doubt taken
more than a passing interest. .

When Esau Morgan saw Dwarf Dandnsap—
pear over the progectmg rock from which his

 

 

 

    

24

 

01d Frosty. the Guide.

 

 

mad hands had hurled him, he was satisfied that
he had terribly avenged the cruel death of Mar-

le .

{Sat not so. The end of the “Stunted Tree”
had not yet come. It was not for the hand of
fiarley’s would—be-avenger to deprive him of
1 e

Dwarf Dan, as he shot downward, struck the
strange coffin suspended in mid-air, and dragged
it after him.

Fortunately for the deserter, the basket and
its deadly contents, which he firmly believed
consisted of the body of Old Frosty notwith-
standing the apparition he had fire at, kept
beneath him in the swift descent, and served as
the means of effectually breaking1 his fall. The
dead and the living alighted on t 0 floor of the
cavern, with a dull thud, and the dwarf fell
backward, stunned, and for several moments
entirely bereft of consciousness. How far he
had fallen, he did not know; but if he had been
questioned when he recovered, he would have
asserted that he had shot through miles of space.

He thought that all his bones had been jum-
bled into a heap as he essayed to lift his body.
He looked up; something glimmered afar above
him likea star, and as he watched it, it seemed
to descend until, with a flash, it struck the floor
of the cavern. It was the torch which Morgan
threw down to keep him momentary com-

pan .
“flay you come down here headlong, Esau
Morgan!” grated Dwarf Dan. “ No doubt you
imagine me crushed into jelly down here.
We] , well, my dog, I’ll pay you for this. In-

, deed, I will.”

Finding, to his joy, that no bones had been
broken—thanks to the fortuitous circumstance
of having fallen upon the basket and its dead—
the dwarf sprung to the torch before it expired
and jerked it from the ground.

The next moment he saw a sight that filled
his soul with horror—saw it for an instant; but
plainly enough to remember it to his dyiu day.

A few feet from the spot where the torc had
struck lay the coffin and its occupant. The

i to which had composed the burial casket had
t on apart in many places, and the corpse lay
without.
“01d Frost , ha! ha!” lau hed Dwarf Dan,
ap roaching t e object with t e torch. ‘
hen it was that he saw the face of the dead,
and, bereft of speech—struck dumb, as it were,
by the sight—he staggered back and, dropping
the torch, which went out as it fell, he fled
nerveless through the gloom, he knew not
whither!
“Injun! an’ not Frosty!” gasped the deform-
ed, his mind goin back to the hideous scarlet
face that had ro ed from the coflin in which
Arrow Head and himself had late] fastenel
the inanimate uide. “How on airti could he
turn to be Injun arter death? Thar’s suthin’
stran 9 about it! He war white—Old Frosty
himse f—when we put ’im thar, now he is an
Injun dead—rotten! ’

The coldest sweat that ever stood out on hu-

man hrow chilled Captain Dan’s at that thrill-
. ing moment. The substitution of the dead In-
dian had to him no explanation, save by the
ghostly mysteries of the supernatural.

/.,

 

 

He did not stop to fathom the mystery; but
ran on and on, down a corridor whose Sides or
ceiling he could not see. He cared not whither
it led; he hoped, almost prayed, that it was tak-
ing him from the cavern and its transmogrified
corpse.

At last a cry—an oath of joy—burst from the
dwarfs throat and be bounded out into the
starli ht. There beneath the m riads of beauti—
ful lig ts that glittered in the lue archway of
the skies this frightened fiend gasped for breath
and cooled his blood.

When he left be bounded toward the Black-
foot town; but all at once he came to a halt.

A horse was coming up the little canyon,
which he was descending.

There was a ghost! sound in the very tread
of the animal. At t at moment the sweetest
song that bird could have sung would have had
a supernatural tone to the ears of Dwarf Dan
Wolflaw.

He was weaponless now; but possessed strength
enough to shrink from the nth in which he had
halted, and there, with his heart in his throat,
he waited for the ghost.

“My God! Old Frosty in the speerit!” fell
from the tongue of the outlaw and while the last
word still trembled on his ashen lips the horse
which had come up the canyon went by.

Astrido of the animal sat a long flguro whose
heels dangled far below the deerskin irth. The
garments that he wore seemed to fit ' with a
looseness that proclaimed him a skeleton, wear-
ing a habit made for a man of generous propor-
tions.

Dwarf Dan watched this apparition with eyes
almost bursting from their sockets. He did not
mega or open his lips until it had passed beyond
sig t.

“ Thet’s the same thing I shot through!” he
said in a husky voice. “ Ef I bed the gel now
I'd git outen this ’tarnal kentry, where dead
men—white men I mean—turn into Injuns, an’
ride over the land in the speerit. Old Frosty. I
wouldn’t try to tetch you fur all the gold under
ground. By J ingo! ’m as wet as though I hev
been standin’ in a rain all night.” '

The last sound of the—to Dan—ghostly hoofs
had died away, and alarmed by the silence that
had followed, the deformed turned and resumed
his flight.

He paused no more until at the edge of the
Indian town he saw two figures standing beside
one of the lodges.

The bright moon was full overhead, and the
eyes of the dwarf were not long in distinguishing
one of the pair.

“By J ingoi the oungster didn’t kick the
bucket!” ejaculated t e dwarf with evident dis-
pleasure. “ Thet old Injun doctor hes put ’im
on his pins ag’in. an' given him license to hunt
the gal an’ to kill her, fur thet’s what brought
the youn ster into this kentry. I’d like to hear
what ye’r talkin’ about, my lads. You an’ Red
Wasp must hev become pards. Cuss you. Ariel,
I winged e. Birds can’t fly with one wing: yer
other one sent, with my compliments, to Black
Tom, an’ the boys in the fort!”

Leaving Ariel Ramsden, the one-armed, and
Red Wasp talking in the moonlight, Dwarf
Dan crept down the village and disappeared be-

   

Old Frosty, the Guide.

25

 

yond the curtains of the lodge that he called his
own.

An exclamation of satisfaction fell from his
li s. He was home again, and the dwarf threw
his enervated body upon the couch of skins that
graced one corner of the apartment.

But he did not see the two figures that were
nearing his lodge. His entrance had not been
unperceived.

‘ Now bring the villain out, Red Wasp,” said
the young man who took up his station scarcely
twenty yards from the lodge door.

This individual had but one arm; but he rest—
ed a rifle upon the stump of his right one, and
his eyes flashing at the butt of the slender
barrel, were full of the eagerness of merciless re—
venge.

Red Wasp approached the lodge and pulled
the heavy skins aside.

“Does the Stunted Tree sleep?” he asked, in a
tone that started Dwarf Dan from his cot.

The next moment Dwarf Dan was at the en-
trance.

“ What's up, Injunl”

“ Let Stunted Tree come out. He is wanted
in the moonli ht. ”

. “ Sart’inly ’11 come out,” was the re ly, and
as Red Wasp stepped aside, with a uic glance

at the youthful executioner, Dwarf an sprung
into the moonshine.

“Hyar I am, Injun!” he said. “Who wants
to see me i”

“ Ido, devil!”

Instantly the dwarf looked forward, and saw
the figure that confronted him.

“ I’ve got you, Dan!” said the youth.
d ‘2‘”That’s so, Ariel. What ar’ you. goin’ to
O.
“ What should I do? You stole my arm.”
U Wen?”

“Give it back I”

“ I can’t !”

“Then, I’m going to send a bullet crashing
through your head. Did you ever pray? You
see I’m not alto ether heartless, Dan.”

“ Me, pray? a! ha! ha!” and the laugh of
the man who stood on the brink of death, sent a
chill to the heart of his executioner. “ Shoot!
boy, an’ then I’ll be done seein’ ghosts.”

Ariel Ramsden started. “ Did you see it?” he

aid.

“ What? Old Frosty’s ghost?”

it Yes !”

“ I warn’t ten feet from it awhile ago. Hez it
been hyar?”

.“ ItHrode right through the village an hour
Since. -

“ He said he would come back in the speerit,
you know, Ariel.”

“ Do you think you will, Dan?”

“I don’t know! I wouldn’t make a han’some
5 mt. ain ui ri .

pee ' I "tb 'lt 'ght"

There was a grim humor in'the dwarf’s words
that evoked a smile from Ariel Ramsden; but
it did not deter the boy.

“All spirits can’tbe shapely, Dan," he said.
“ Melibe they’ll mold you over. So, here

The dwarf looked strai ht at the rifle.

All at once a jet of ame leaped from the
barrel, and with a wild yell, the deformed stag—

S

 

gered back a pace, then whirled and fell head-
long into the lodge!

“ A life for an arm!
the Indian boy.

That’s it!” said Ariel to

CHAPTER XIV.
’ earrmu “ TARMS.”

BLACK TOM, gaunt, pale, and wolflsh in ap-
pearance, leaned against the gate, or door, of
the defiant little fort, and looked at the crowd
of starved men who, huddled together on the
opposite side of the “ square,” regarded him with
maniacal stare.

The dusk of twilight was falling around the
scene. The sun had set behind the dark-fringed
Western river, not far away.

To add to Black Tom’s make-up, he held two
formidable pistols in his hands.

“The boys ar’ goin’ crazy!” the gold-hunter
said, with asigh. “When men who hevn’t a
bite to eat git to seein’ plenty 0’ food, it isn’t
hard to tell what ar’ comin’. An’ the ’re the
grittiest men as ever crossed the old issouri
too. Four days without food! We swore that
Arrer Head should find us dead when he got
inside, an’ I’m goin’ to make ’em keep their
word."

Tom Barlow’s osition, coupled to his words,
needs but little in addition to explain the situ-
ation at that moment.

Girt in 3 the Blackfeet, the strange siege of
the fort h continued for ten days. Save the
incidents which we have recorded in the course
of our story, nothing extraordinary had trans-

ired. Down deep in his determined heart,

lack Tom had harbored a thought of Frosty
Paddock’s continued existence; but as the days
went by, bringing neither the gaunt guide nor
his “permit,” that belief had gradually left the
leader’s breast.

The last morsel of food had been devoured;
the men, once stout, lusty fellows, full of adven-

ture and enthusiasm, were reduced to skeletons

that prated of tempting tables—men with wolf-
ish looks and wild eyes; in short, men on the
verge of insanity. .

Tom Barlow stood at the gate, with pitly in
his eyes. He had just driven them back. hey
wanted to rush out and, attacking the savage
cam , die like men, with arms in their hands!

“ oys, mebbe our cap’n hes news from Old
Frosty an’ his parmit,” said one of the famished
horde, addressmg his companionsin a sarcastic
vein.

Barlow felt the keen thrust made by the man.

News from Frosty Paddock? Alas! the reso-
lute captain could not answer his men. ‘

After awhile, as it had haptpened several
times before, the crowd dis rse ,and crawled
to their respective places; ut Black Tom did
not stir.

“My place is hyar at the gate.
strongest man left. an’ moreover, I’m the cap’n,”
he said to himself. “Why, even the be is
gone. Five da 5 ago he desarted_us, an’ ce
then not a wor hes come in from ’m. Gone to
hunt the gal he takes so much interest in! That
gal, I don’t know. She’s the cause of more’n
ego teller crossin’ the Missouri, to die hyar-
a outs.

Mounting to the top of the wall that read

I’m the .

 

 

26 > Old Frosty. the Guide.

 

above him, Black Tom tried to penetrate the

night that had now settled around the fort.

Before him, he was satisfied, lay the main body

{if the Indians; a strong line was also behind
1m.

To stand and die the terrible death of starva-
tion was repulsive to the leader of the gold-hun-
ters. If he could only make terms with them!
Ah! if he could force them into terms.

“Listen at the boys 1” he said, looking beneath
his position. “ Thar goes Metcalfe across the

uare, singin’ about Cordigan’s Feast, a song
W ich he ed forgotten fur thirty years. By
George! it makes my mouth water. I wonder
What the Injuns think when they hear the boys
at night? Don’t they know thet we’re all gom’
crazy? I’m goin’ todo suthin’—suthin’ des rit.
Old Frosty failed to get his parmit. Meb I
kin git one. Not fur myself; but the poor boys

’ down thar l”

A bigger heart than Black Tom Barlow’s never
beat in the wilds of the Northwest.

He crept down from the wall and disappeared.
But he soon reappeared at the gate accompanied
by a man.

-“ Next to me, you’re the stoutest man in the
fort, Randall,” he said to the man. “I’m goin’
out to git tarms l” '

“ Tarms?” echoed Randall, starting back. “I
thought we war to die hyar, an’ never surren-
der!’

“ Who talks of givin’ up? We may git tarms
an’ lnot surrender to the red skunks out yonder.

I have plan.”
“ A good one?”
“I hu so. Now, Randall, stay hyar till I

come bac . Tell the boys, if they ask that I’m
sleepin’ somewhere. But, mind you they’re not
to git out. You know how [ cow t em. Thar
goes Metcalfea ’inl”

Randall shud ered. ‘

“ Tom, ef ye don’t git tarms this fort will be a
lunatic as lum soon.”

Black om tore himself away with a groan.
He went up the logs and left Randall at the gate
with his fingers stuffed into his ears, so as to keep
the wild mad song of Metcalfe out.

The gold-hunter had seen much of life in the
Indian country, and it was by his knowledge of
thisthat he was enabled to creep into the very
heart of the Blackfoot camp wit out being per-
ceived. .

“ I’m doin’ this fur the poor boys l” he said,
more than once, to himself.

— He passed through the little woods filled with
the recumbent figures of Indians, and entered
the level lands beyond.

As he emerged from the belt of timber a light
appeared along the horizon far away.

‘ Oho ! the moon! I had furgotteu it I" said Tom.
“I must git to the place I’m bound fur store it
gits cl’ar over the edge.” .

Between him and the long plain where he
knew Arrow Head had pitched his lodge, there
were comparatively few Indians. The warriors
were in the timber through which he had Just

assed.
p Black Tom calculated well, for when the
young queen of the skies sailed majestically over
the rim of the horizon, she revealed to him the
personage he sought.

 

Arrow Head, the Blackfoot, stood before him,
but not alone.

The chief stood erect before a fire that burned
on the ground. Arranged on logs around the
blaze sat at least twenty sub-chiefs arrayed in a
profusion of feathers, beads and other para-
phernalia of their savage ra .

Crouching in the shadows not twenty feet
away Tom Barlow gazed upon this scene. It
was full of savage (grandeur, even to him at that
hour; but the gol captain did not permit his
mind to dwell upon it.

As he looked he almost started to his feet.
He saw something that had hitherto escaped his
eye taken from the fire.

“ Buffler haunch !” exclaimed the captain. “ It
could save the boys. Metcalfc could stop singin’
of he could taste it.”

As the man, seemingly reckless, s rung erect,
the odor of roasted meat came to is nostrils.
His eyes dilated with delight, and his whole
frame shook with the hungry man’s anticipa-
tion. ,

“I can’t stand it! The cussed Injuns a1" liv-
in’ fat, while the boys hevn’t tasted meat fur
four days!”

There was a quick tiger-like leap forward that
lessened the space between Black Tom and the
Blackfoot fire; and the next moment, with a
roar of madness, the gold-hunter sprung clear
over the heads of the nearest warriors, and
alighted before the astonished Arrow Head.

very Indian jumped to his feet, while Black
Tom, following up his attack, darted upon the
savage chief, and seized him by the throat.
 Tom’s right hand glittered the blade of a

1 e. . .

“A hungry wolf hangs on like grim death!”
he said, dartin a look at the frightened savages
while he firm y held the stalwart chief by the
trachea. “ I don’t want blood—don’t keer fur it
in partic’lar! What we want is meat! Tarms!
tarms! Ef you In 'uns will look ou’ll see thet
I hold the winning crds. M old nife will set-
tle the ame so far’as Arrer ead is concerned,
ef you on’t open yer mouths an’ talk business.
No foolin’ with guns! fur by the whale thet
swallered Jonah! I’ll bury my blade in the
chief’s life-basket of I see a sign ov shootin’ !”

The savages could see the mad flash of the
speaker’s eye. While he talked, he could not
kec his eyes altogether from the haunch of
bu ale—meat which the startled Indians had
gfiopped; this proved the man’s desperate con-

ion.

Arrow Head’s face was almost black: his eyes
sefied ready to burst from their sockets.

‘ bony fin ers of the hungry man were
choking him to eath!

“I don’t want to kill ’im!” said Tom, looking
at his victim. “I come hyar fur tarms—not
blood! Now, old feller, git yer wind ag’in an’
open yer mouth!” .

The fingers grew loose on Arrow Head’s
throat, but did not release it.

“ What does our white brother wantf’gasped
the chief.

“ We want to be left alone 1”

“ Will you all take the back trail to the big
towns of the whites?”

Tom thought for a moment.

Old Frosty, the Guide. 2'?

“ No!" he cried. “ We’ll make our own tarms.
I want the ones Old Frosty started out to git.”
At the mention of the old guide’s name, Arrow
Head started back; but he saw the knife and

paused.

" How did the old feller die, anyhow? Like a
man?" asked Tom. “ Wal never mind. I can’t
stay h ar all night. hat say you, Arrer
Head! if you don t promise to draw off yer men
afore mornin’ an’ leave us, I’ll kill you hyar—
now!”

It was a moment of life and death.

Arrow Head looked into the gold-hunter’s eyes.
Did he see death there?

At any rate, he shut his lips—shut them with
a sign that said: “ I reject your terms!” ,

Black Tom read correct] .

“ I’m to git no tax-ms, e i” he said. “ Wal,
I’m satisfic .”

The chief of the Blackfeet went back before
the hungry man’s left hand, and the right shot
aloft with the knife.

A wild cry pealed from Black Tom’s throat as
he sprung upon the chief; but before his knife
could descend and make the Blackfeet kingless.
he was jerked back, and held away by a gaunt
Indian who had leaped from the circle in which
he stood.

Arrow Head staggered back and fell to the
ground.

“ It war my funeral!” hissed Tom lookin at
the figure that confronted him. “ I’ll finis it
yet or git the tarms!”

With the last word on his lips, he started
toward the fallen chief, but heard a voice that
seemed to root him to the s ot.

“ Don’t overdo the thing, om! I’ve jest about
got my fingers on the parmit!”

Well mi ht Tom Barlow stop and stare at the
lllnclilan-fie figure that towered even above his

ea .
It was Frosty Paddock 1”

CHAPTER XV.
FOUND AT LAST.

“HEAVEN pity the poor men over yonder!
They have been four days without food. There
goes that wild, unearthlv song again. I wish I
could keep my ears shut to the sounds that
come to me from the fort. I cannot help them.
I am powerless—a captive, myself—with some
mysterious fate staring me in the face. They
will not surrender: but intend to keep their
vow; to die by starvation, rather than give up
to the Indians. ’

Kyd Douglass, the speaker, leaned carelessly,
as a. casual spectator would at first .have sup.
posed, against a tree; but a stout cord passed
around his girdle, told that he was fettered.

Some days had passed since his capture
while trying to deliver the message concealed
in the Hawk’s win , to Black Tom and his men.
When confronted y Arrow Head in the Black-
foot camp, he was surprised to find himself
5 red for the time. The Indian king told him
t at he was considered Dwarf Dan’s friend, and
assured him that he should not be harmed until
the dwarf had spoken. I .

Hence the boy’s present condition. From the
Indians he learned that Stunted Tree, as they
called the deformed, had not been seen for some

 

 

days; and the boy was at a loss how to account
for his non-appearance in the red camp. But
there were two persons who could have told
Arrow Head that his white ally had stolen his
last horse, or buried his last hunter.

“I wish this would end!” continued the rest-
less boy. “I have lost my trail—lost it forever,
no doubt. From present appearances, I will not
be permitted to go back to the States, and tell
those heirs at law that the babe stolen from
the emigrant train, sixteen years ago, is the
white girl who has been called Niokana by the
Blackfoot Indians. And she, unaware of her
identity, has left this land, perhaps in the
clutches of Dwarf Dan, who has more than a
supposition regarding her true character. I
have no friend here; that Indian bo Red
Wasp, whom I fought and then insulte in the
woods, will not keep his word. Why should I
expect him to? I cannot. He has forgotten
me. Last nirht I am sure he went b here
with a look w ich told me that he had liet .”

Kyd Douglass had hardl paused, when a
figure came into View undt enext moment he
shrunk from it with a lighhcry, for to his utter
astonishment, he found himself face to face
with the very person who had just been the sub-
ject of his uttered thoughts.

Red Wasp, the Blackfoot b0 !

For several moments Ky could scarce]
credit the evidence of his senses; but the tone
of the young Indinn’s fingers, as he glided to his
side dissipated all conjecture.

“ hite hey just saying that Red Warp no
more come back ” said the Blackfoot.

“ That is true, ’ replied Kyd; “ I insultcd you
when we fought. You Indians are called treach-
erous by our people.” \

“Indinn’s cart made just like white man’s;
it kin be good as his.”

As the youth s oke, Kyd Douglass felt a cold
touch, like the bade of a knife, on his hand.
Casting his eyes downward, he caught the glit-
ter of a knife. .

“What are you going to do?” he exclaimed.

The answer was the quick savoring of his
cords, and to his amazement, he stepped for-
ward—free!

“ Forgive what I said in the wood!” he said,
putting out his hand. “ I was best then!”

He felt Red Wasp’s scarlet hand r0 into his
and that moment he knew that he ha one red
friend in the Blackfoot land.

“White boy go with Red Wasp. Want to
show ’im something.”

K“dGo where you will, I will follow!” said

y .

Clutching the white he ’s hand the young
Blackfoot hurried away yd wondering where
he was being guided, bu asking no questions.

For almost an hour the pair went on, now
through a belt of timber, and now across a
little valley whose trees cast the most fantastic
shadows.

All at once Red Wasp halted.

“ We are here, white boy!”

Kyd looked around him. He stood in~ the
center of one of those wooded valleys, but on a.
spot where trees were scarce. Far above him
was the silver disk of the moon, flooding the spot
with her soft efl’ulgence; and a cool night breeze

 

   
   
  
 
   
   
  
  
  
 
  
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
    
  
    
  
  
  
  
   
    
  
   
   
  
   
   
   
    
   

   

28 Old Frosty, the Guide.

..__ .

 

which he supposed came from the north, fanned
his face.

“ Yes, here we are,” he said accom anying
his words with a curious look. ‘ But w 1y have
you brought me hither?”

“ White boy shall see!”

As Red Wasp spoke he turned, and a peculiar
whistle fell from his lips.

Almost immediately the neigh of a horse sa—
luted Kyd’s ears.

“ Aha!” he thought. “ A horse for me to es-
cape on!”

ure enough the next moment a horse came
in sight' but the boy saw that he was already

‘ moun .

x

‘ formed !”

A minute did not elapse before the animal was
halted in front of the wondering boy, and Kyd
sprung forward with a light cry.

“ Ah! it is you whom I behold!” he exclaimed,
and the person in the saddle looked at the Indian

bo .

g It is the boy with two arms!” she said, in a
tone of disappointment.

‘ Red Wasp came forward and addressed the
one on horseback.

“ Red Wasp know all the time that Niokana
think that he go bring the one-armed boy to her;
but him fetch the little white chief who never
lifted his rifle against her,”

“ That is true!” said the girl. “ This boy never
tried to shoot me I”

“ Now talk together,” said Red Wasp, with a
wave of his hand, and gracefully retiring, he left
the strangely ~met pair alone.

Niokana leaped nimbly from the back of the
horse, and with one hand on the bridle-rein
came up to Kyd Douglass.

The youth could scarcely {restrain his impa-
tience. This was the long-lost girl of the first
emigrant train that had crossed the upper Mis-
souri—the person, to find whom, if living, he had
left the populous East, and braved the (Ian ers
of Blackfeet land, Several times before he ad
seen her; but now they stood face to face and
he was holding her hand in his!

“ I thou ht ycéu had fled after striking the de«
a 58.1 .

Niokana’s dark eyes flashed.

“Ah! the white boy heard how Niokana cut

tunted Tree’s face, because he stole a white arm
t t the bullet of the old-hunter had broken!
And it was the arm t at once lifted the rifle
against Niokana. Does my brother know why
he hunts me?”

“Yes! yes!” cried Kyd Douglass. “ Girl,
how far back can you remember?’

“Away back! An Indian took Niokana a
long ride on horseback; he rode till his horse

' fell dead, for some White people were after him;

but he reached the village of the Blackfeet, and
was safe. Niokana grew up among the Indians;
they call her their queen.” ,

‘ But that Indian that carried you along dis-
tance on horseback—where is he now?”

“Back there!” said the girl, pointing toward
the savage camp.

“ What is his name?”

“ Arrow Head!”

“ The king of the Blackfoot nation!”

K d Douglass was astonished.
“ ’11 give much,” he said, under his breath,

 

“to have that Indian king in New York to-
1

y.

“ What white boy thinking about?” suddenly
asked Niokana.

“About you, girl,” he said.
the dwarf ?”

He saw a shudder pass over the girl’s frame.

“ Ask Red Wasp!” she said.

“ And Ariel Ramsden?"

“ The boy with one arm?”

“ Yes! so he has but one arm? Where is he?"

“ Niokana does not know. He has paid
Stunted Tree for cutting it off. Red Wasp can
tell how. Mebe he is in the Indian army.
Red Wasp has kept Niokana hid, for he says
that the One Arm hunts her.”

“ I know why he hunts you,” Kyd said.
“Men will do anything for money.”

At this juncture Red Wasxgreappeared.

“Time to go!” he said. “ ig time over yon-
der. Indian camp all full of voices!”

“What has hap Aned?” queried Kyd.

“ Don’t know. 0y get on horse.”

The Blackfoot’s hand was on Kyd’s shoulder;
but our young hero hesitated. ~

“What! go and leave the boys starving to
death?” he said.

“Never mind!
It will save ’em.”

Kyd’s answer was a stare; what could Red
Was ’s words mean?”

“ es; get up,” said Niokana, and with a.
glance at her Kyd mounted.

“ Am I to leave my friends?” he asked.

He was not answered, for Niokana was the
only erson in‘ sight.

“ yhere- is Red Wasp?”

“ Here i”

Kyd looked behind him and saw the Black-
foot boy holding the bridle of a horse as lithe-
limbed as the one which he had mounted.

Upon the back of the second steed Niokana
was soon seated. '

“ Go!” said Red Was . “The white boy
knows that Red Wasp di not lie after the hard
fight.”

“ That is true; but~—”

The sentence was broken by the whiz-z of a
bullet which passed between the heads of the
young couple.

Instantly ever thing became hushed.

“ G0!” sudden y cried Red Wasp. “ The One
Arm miss this time. Do better when he shoots
ag’in!” and as the last word fell from the young
Blackfoot’s, lips, he struck both horses at once
with a long switch which he had broken from a
bough and they bounded forward, carrying
their riders away!

“ But where is

The moccasin is not far off.

 

CHAPTER XVI.
OLD rnosrr wms HIS nnr.

“ Faosrr! by the etarnal!”
t. Black Tom could not suppress this exclama—
1011.

“ It ar’ me!” was the response. “How ar’ the
boys?”

‘Mad! starvin’ to death I”

This brief conversation was carried on in an
undertone, and in the presence of the red-skins

“W‘

Old Frosty.

the Guide. 29

 

who seemed to have latent suspicions of the
identity of the gaunt Indian who had hurled
Tom Barlow from his victim, the chief.

Arrow Head sprun erect as the last words
were dro ping from lack Tom’s lips; but Old
Frosty t rew himself between him and his
braves.

“Not an inch, Arrer Head, till I’ve got
through wi’ ye!” he said, clutching the chief’s
naked arm. “If one o’ yer red-skins makes a
move to tech Old Frosty an’ his pard, Tom, yer
greasy tribe ’1! hev to look up a new head."

Arrow Head stared into the face of the speak-
er. Did the countenance or the lank fl re of
the guide resemble the man whom o and
Dwarf Dan had entombed in a swinging coflin
in the gloom of a cave not very far awa ?

“See here, chief! Look at this!” said ‘rost ,
and the next moment he had slipped one of t o
moccasins from off his feet and was holding it
before Arrow Head. “ Ye didn’t seem to notice
the shoe when you an‘ Dwarf Dan toted me to
the bur inl-ground, eh? Look good, my red-
skin! a! you recognize the way the sincws ar’
tied?”

The shoe had certainly astonished Arrow
Head, for his eyes dilated as he gazed upon it.

“ I've got fifty dollars bet on what thet shoe
could do! ’ continued Frosty. “I bet with one
o’ the meanest young white skunks thet ever
crossed the Missouri to shoot a gal. You may
hev forgotten Old Frosty Paddock who war on
that awful trip ug the Assineboin, when we ate
our moccasins. ut, anyhow, I’m the same old
’coon, at yer sarvice—one 0’ the members 0v thet
brotherhood we made arter We got to whar
thar war game. You know what that shoe
means, chief—thet kind 0’ tie is as potent as all
the Masonic emblems on the glo .”

The king of the Blackfeet listened to the

ide like a man awakening from a strange

eam.
lack Tom and the Indians looked on and
listened, almost petrified from amazement.

“Why didn’t I show up sooner, seein’ that
I've been fur some time in the kentry?” con-
tinued 01d Frost . “I came 11 to yer town
fur thet purpose; but one o’ yer njun skunks-—
a boy it war—giv’ me an arrer right in the
breast—one 0’ them little arrers that hurt like
1Phunder. But I went on till I fell on you arter
you shot Marley. While I war unconscious,
{on an’ Dwarf Dan put me away. Thar I came

, climbed outen the basket, caught an In 'un
Eggwlin' round outside, an” put ’im what I ed

11. I b’lieve thar’s a piece ov that error in
Feels thet way, anyhow. Arrer Head,

me yet.
, can is you salute a brother?”

A light seemed to daWn upon the bewildered
mind of the chief.
The living man before him, was the person he
actually entombed!
When he found his tongue he addressed his
followers:
“Blackfeet, stand still I” he said, and then he
turned to the whites.
“ Come with Arrow Head!”
ith a significant lance at Tom Barlow, Old
.Osty stepped into t e wake of the chief who
dld not pause until he had walked a goodly dis-

 

tance from the spot.

Then he wheeled suddenly upon the twain.

“ Tall man Arrow Head’s brother. The chief
ov the Blackfeet not forget him now. What do
whites want?”

A rrow Hcad was an Indian of few words.

“ In the first place we want horses,” said
Frost .

“ ow many?"

“ Three!"

“But two pale-faces.”

“ No difference—three horses 1”

Arrow Head moved away and gave a peculiar
whistle. An Indian a peared.

“ Three horses!” sai the chief.

“ We must be quick!” whis cred Old Frosty.
“Daylight will catch us. Its comin’ over the
hills now.”

This was even so; the sky was growing light.

The three horses were soon brought upon the
scene by the Blackfoot.

“ Horses here !” said Arrow Head utting the
bridle-reins into Frosty’s hands. ‘ Who goin’
to ride the odd one?”

The long guide’s answer was brief.

H  l”

The chief started back; but the daring man
followed him up.

“ Ar’ ye goin back on the sign ov the shoe?”

fi ‘5 What white men want?” queried the mysti-
e .

“A permit from you to stay hyar an’ hunt
gold as long as we please!” was the startling rc'-
joinder. ‘ You must giv’ it or go squar’ back
on the order for didn’t you swear that time
that you would do whatever the wearer ov one
0’ them moccasins asked?"

The chief was astounded, but be shut his lips
firmly; and “never!” seemed to flash in his
9 es.

“Arrow Head will let the pale-faces in the
fort 0 back; but—"

“ use the gold Frosty!” said Tom at the

guide’s ear. “The boys would sooner hev a
bite o’ bufller than all the yaller rocks in the
di gin’s.”

ut Old Frosty was not to be moved.

“ Won’t give it, eh?” he said firmly.

“White men shall go back well fed; but the
yellow rocks must stay for the Indian!”

The next instant the gaunt Indian-fled fl re
of Frosty Paddock fell upon the chief 1i e a
desceniding thunderbolt; and threw him to the

roun .
g Arrow Head struggled; but without avail
and when he drew a long breath he was seated
astride of one of the horses. ‘

“ Thar‘s more than one way ov gittin’ a

rmit!” said Old Frosty looking up at the

wildered Blackfoot. “New, sir, act like a
man. an’ the mornin’ won’t get into ye when it
breaks.”

At a Sign from the speaker, the two whites
sprung upon the remaining horses and gathered ‘
upZthe Indian reins. _ r _

“ Hands to the side! Ye’r’ a good rider With-
out techin’ a line!” said the lank guide. “Now
forward, march, the shortest we to the fort!”

For a moment the chief loo edat the men
with whom he was dealing. He saw the deter-
mination that flashed in the eyes of each, and
caught sight of the tawny fingers that touched

 

  

  

 

    
  
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
  
   
   
 
   
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
 
 
 
 
    
  
   
  
   
   
   
  
 
 
    
 
   

   

30 Old Frosty, the Guide.

 

the trigger of the deadly weapon they held near
his head. ' -

“We mean business!” said Frosty, seeing Ar-
row Head’s look. “ One move—one sign to yer
Greasers as we go through the camp—an’ we’ll
let daylight into yer brain!”

h £1113 Indian chief groaned and dropped his
e .

At a light cantor the trio moved forward; but
the gait soon dwindled to a walk, for almost
before the whites were aware of their situation,
they were in the midst of the Indian camp.

Recumbent figures were risin into statues of
amazement on every side, and t e camp was re
sounding with excitement.

“ Keep yer eyes straight ahead!” admonished
Old Frosty, with a glance at the immobile chief.

The forest that intervened between the place
of the renconter just described and the fort with
its starving inmates, Was relieved by the glim-
merin of day. All around Indians were to be
seen; t e swarmed forward with startled look,
only to s rink back and stare at the sight that
burst upon their vision.

Arrow Head’s perilous situation seemed to
strike them dumb.

Slow] the three horses tramped through the
savage ines, and when Old Frosty reined in his
steed, the open ground before the log fort had
been reached.

The Indian ranks swayed backward as if
moved by some unseen machinery.

“ Now,” said Old Frosty, breaking the silence
that had reigned between the trio during the

'oumoy, “ now we want the parmit. I know the

lackfoot customs. Yer word, once given, is
law hyar—law an’ gos I!”

But Arrow Head di not move.

Frosty and Black Tom exchanged glances.

.“A leetle harder on the trigger, Tom!” said
the guide, across the neck of the Indians horse.
Now one minit fur the chief to make up his
mind. You understand that, Arrer Head?’

The chief glanced at the hundreds of painted
Indians who waited for him to s k, and the
pistols came closer, till the muz e of each al-
most touched his scarlet temples.

“ Off with the shoe!”

.An expression of pain crossed the face of the
haughty Blackfoot.

He bent forward and lifted his right foot, then
he quickly and madly 'erked the moccasin off
and thrust it into Old rosty’s left hand. The
guide’s fingers closed on the shoe; but he never
took his eyes from the Indian.

Arrow Head looked at his braves.

“ Warriors of the Blackfoot Nation!” he said
in a tone that told that he was tearing the words
from his very Vitals, “ we have made peace with
our white brethren; they are to live among us
and come and go when and wherever their feet

‘ Wish to walk. They are to hunt for the yellow
stones in the country of the Blackfeet, and their
trails shall not be watched. We will treat them
as brethren; and when they choose to go away
‘ they shall depart in peace!”

The Indian ceased and glanced at Old Frosty.

“ That’s the permit!” he said smiling at Black

Tom.
“ Will the word he kept?”
I“'.[.‘he word of a Blackfoot is never broken

 

 

though it takes trouble to bring him to a recol-
lection of it!” was the reply. “ Arrer Head,
we’ll do the generous thing by ou. We won't
take all the gold; but if we catc a certain chap,
thar may be somebody hurt.”

“Does my brother speak of the Stunted
Tree?”

“Yes; Dwarf Dan we call ’im, an’ a meancr
skunk never lived.”

“He has left the land of the Blackfeet.”

“With the gal?”

“He went away on the wind. One-Arm shot
him in the great village of the Blackfeet, and set
fire to his lodge. By an’ by a strong wind come
an’ blow all the ashes away!”

“That b0 has savedus trouble 1” said Black
Tom. “W r is he?”

The Indian shook his head.

“He’ll turn up like bad monefy by an’ by.
This kentry might git onhealthy or im. lie
come out hyar to deal meanly with the white
girl who has lived with your people for many
years. He’d better not tech her.”

 

The coup of Old Frosty had ended Without
bloodshed; and Arrow Head, crostfallen, rodo
back among his braves.

When the glates of the fort were opened, the
mad men rus ed out and filled the air with their
cries of deliverance. '

“ We’re all right While I hold the shoe !” cried
Old Frosty, holding the chief‘s moccasin above
his head. “I’ve got the parmit, an’ won the
young skunk’s money !”

It was true! The “parmit,” potent to save
the lives of gallant men, had been obtained.

 

“ Halt!”

The youth who uttered this command stood

in the middle of a narrow ass not far from
Fort Barlow, and held a ri e in his left hand.

The slender barrel of the weapon 'rested upon ,

the stump of his ri ht arm and his eyes flash-
ed iapon the couple 6 had lted—a boy and a

gir .

“I knew ou would come back!” he said,
fiercely. “ hy didn’t you keep on to the con-
fines of the Blackfoot count —yea, to the for-
tune that awaits you, Adele armage?”

“ I do not desert my friends; and she has a
motive for coming back,” answered the youth,
nodding at his com anion.

“ No doubt of t at!” was the sneering re—
sponse. “ Kyd Douglass, we came out hero to
find the same person—the girl at your side. You
:(fame ,to find and take her back to New York;

to—

“ Find and kill! You need not try to disguise
the truth, Ariel Ramsden.”

“I do not hide it. I came to this land for that
very purpose, and here I do my duty!”

Quick as a flash, and before one of the star-
tled pair could move, the rifle of the one-armed
boy shot to his shoulder, and a flash followed by
a report was the result. _

Niokana. with a loud shriek, reeled 1n the
saddle, and her horse, plungggfilforward, over-
threw the boy‘s steed, and animals went
down together.

    

 

i
s

      

 

 

  

 

Old Frosty, the Guide. 31

  

   

 

But only for amoment, for Ariel Ramsden’s
horse, unhurt, oxtricated himself, and dashed
awa .

Ky’d Douglass looked and saw something drag—
ging from the stirrup. It had life, shape: It
was the white queen’s young trailer!

In a few moments the horse had passed out of

sight.
Whitc-faced Niokana was picked u by the
boy left behind, and when he rode 0 he was

smiling to know that, thanks to Ariel Rams-
den’s hasty aim, she was unburt.

Not long afterward they entered the fort, and
the inmates told how a wild horse, dashing by,
had left a dead rider at the gate.

Kyd stood over the body and looked down
into the face of—Ariel Ramsdenl

He and Dwarf Dan had perished miserably in
Blackfoot land.

Morgan, whom we have seen ressed into
service by Old Frosty, was now ack to the.
fort; but he always avoided the guide, for he
declared that a man who could live with a piece
of an “Injun urrer” in his breast, was more
than a “ nat’ral man l”

Did they find any old?”

Ay; heaps of it; ut when Old Frosty left
Blackfoot land, there was nobody left to attend
to “ permits,” and the upshot of the whole mat-
ter was. that the Indians, no longer led by
Arrow Head, drove the miners out, and shut
that Wild, gold-bearing region from the
world!

As to,Kyd Douglass, he found something bet-
ter than gold—a love and a bride, and when he
Went eastward again it was to resent to certain
heirs-at-law in our great metropolis the real
heiress who was stolen when a child by the
scarlet hands of the king of the Blackfeet.

And In _Niokana, gentle reader, our hero
found a prize worth mountains of golden nug-
gets: and society, in time, gained a new

pearl.

Red Wasp, the brave and generous Indian
boy, found a second love; but this time her
skin was red; and his son to-day heads the
savage battalions of his people!

THE END.

 

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