B 3 327 
 
 T.BUCHANAN PRICE, 
 

 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 OF 
 
 - 
 
SNAP. 
 
 THE OX-TRAIlSr ERA 
 
 EARLY TROUBLES OF BORDER TRADE. 
 
 BY 
 
 T. BUCHANAN PRICE. 
 
 "/ tilt snap o the -whip there s bread ; 
 In the bang o the rifle there s blood." Border Legend. 
 
 "An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told." Shakespeare. 
 
 * * * * " Rude am I in my speech, 
 And little blessed with the set phrase of peace" Othello. 
 
 "The ivor Id was made for honest trade" Emerson. 
 
 "Where the spirit of the Lord is, tJtere is liberty" 2 Cor. iii. 7. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 W. B. SMITH & CO., 
 
 BOND STREET. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, 
 
 By T. BUCHANAN PRICE, 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 
 
 Att rights reserved. 
 
HERMAN D. UMBSTAETTER, 
 
 AN EARNEST AND LOYAL FRIEND, 
 I HAVE THE HONOR TO DEDICATE THIS BOOK. 
 
 WIDELY KN9WN TO THE 
 PRESS OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 TO COMBINE INTEGRITY, SKILL, JUDGMENT, ORIGINALITY 
 THE GENIUS OF AN ADVERTISER, AND THE 
 
 SNAP 
 
 OF A 
 BRILLIANT MAN OF BUSINESS, 
 
 HIS MERITS WOULD BE BUT FAINTLY SPOKEN OP, 
 IN THE MOST FERVID PRAISE OP 
 
 THE WRITER. 
 (5) 
 
 M638728 
 
AUTHOR S NOTE, 
 
 MY object has been to write a story, inspired, in a great 
 measure, by personal observation ; to write it plainly with 
 the license of a free pen, but with force and zeal. 
 
 The plot and scene are original and fresh. The rife per 
 ils of those who lived on the border long ago, will serve a 
 spirited recital, without an extravagant line or an over 
 drawn figure. 
 
 No youth can be harmed by knowing through what strife 
 the trade of the Great West has straggled and thrived. 
 
 As a big-bo} T s book, the author s best wish is that it will 
 please best in matter, which he believes is alive with stir 
 ring incidents. 
 
 T. B. P. 
 
 (7) 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE. 
 CHAPTER I. IN THE SNAP o THE WHIP, . . .11 
 
 CHAPTER II. THE LITTLE MOUND, 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. A BARBACUE THE HAUNTED CABIN 
 
 GONE! 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. THE PIRATE S CAPTURE, .... 55 
 CHAPTER V. THE SCOUT S RESCUE, .... 72 
 CHAPTER VI. SUSPENSE THE RALLY, .... 88 
 CHAPTER VII. THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR-PORCH, . 104 
 CHAPTER VIII. TIM S RIDE NEARING THE END CATO S 
 
 HOLIDAY, . . . . . . . 120 
 
 CHAPTER IX. THE CONSPIRACY, 138 
 
 CHAPTER X. THE WAY-WORN RIDER ROLL OUT! . 151 
 CHAPTER XI. THE PIRATES THE ROAD-SIDE CAMP 
 
 YARNS, 164 
 
 CHAPTER XII. THE BAZOUKS THE BLACK BRIGADE 
 
 THE SPIDER S NEST, . . . .181 
 CHAPTER XIII. To THE FORT THE ROUGH-RIDERS, . 195 
 CHAPTER XIV. "STRUCK HARD" " WIPED OUT," . . 209 
 CHAPTER XV. REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED, . . . 223 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. IN THE WING, 238 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. THE OUTBREAK 252 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-NOTE, . . 265 
 CHAPTER XIX. Two DEATHS BECK S DUTY, . . . 279 
 CHAPTER XX. THE MAHOGANY CASE, .... 293 
 CHAPTER XXI. THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS 
 
 REWARD, ....... 306 
 
SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON the high bank of a western river, far out among 
 savage haunts, stood a cabin post, the lonely mart of a 
 rude trade. 
 
 In an outlook raised on the roof, not unlike the pilot 
 house of a steamboat, sat the trader, who suddenly 
 spoke aloud. 
 
 " Hello ! that s Beck," he said. 
 
 With a shout he hailed the rower, who neared the 
 foot of the bluff, but his voice was lost in the whirl of 
 the current, or spent upon the radiance of a sun- 
 bronzed plain. 
 
 Beck in his canoe was but a few strokes from the 
 landing ; one dash more, with a few strides up the road, 
 brought him to the cabin door. 
 
 "Back soon, pardner," the sentinel said. 
 
 "Yes; a short, tough scout, I tell you, Peter; I m 
 fagged, too, and hungry as a cayote." Thereupon the 
 
 (ID 
 
12 SNAP. 
 
 two men locked arms, taking the path to the abode 
 near by. A word only was spoken by the elder, and 
 that, the simple welcome : 
 
 " Come in." 
 
 The plain, weather-boarded white dwelling, under a 
 high roof, with eaves sheltering a porch on either side, 
 looked cosily clean in the mild, clear light of the 
 early spring. The doors and shutters were of heavy 
 timbers, crossed and cleated ; above the front door a 
 bison s head held in its teeth a horse-shoe ; bunches of 
 rose-bush grew by the porch rail ; the fibrous creepers, 
 not yet green, clung to the lapping board-work ; cone- 
 shaped evergreens and poplar spires sprang from 
 the sward near the entrance. A wide hall led out to a 
 kitchen yard, and a vine-clad lath frame, closing in a 
 patch where summer blooms would spring, set apart 
 the quarters, poultry-coops and well-shed. Within, 
 there was a quaint sort of outfit ; here and there a 
 rough bench, a rustic seat and a deal table, took shyly 
 to their betters. The trader had bought his furniture 
 less for use and ornament than from some capricious 
 notion of its former service. It was altogether a snug, 
 far- west domicile ; a highway charm to the traveler 
 who saw the sun-flare on the garret windows. The 
 grove and chimney tops were known in camps beyond 
 the plains. 
 
 " Thar s a good farwell to it," said Beck, smacking 
 his lips as he put his glass down on the sideboard. 
 
 " An heah s a set-out, to take the sharp edge off," 
 said the other, pointing to a bowl of hot coffee, a pone, 
 
IN THE SNAP THE WHIP. 13 
 
 spare-ribs and hominy on the table, while he continued 
 speaking : 
 
 " So you keep yer arms outer sight, John ? " 
 
 John s long, dark beard fell upon his blouse of but 
 ternut jeans and his under-garments were belted, with 
 out weapons. From the knees to the feet he wore 
 fawn-skin leggins, buttoned. 
 
 "Yes ; you see, Peter, killin ain t the thing ; all I do 
 is to keep others from killin me, or you. I never 
 shoot less I m bleeged to ; it tain t the best sign to see 
 the tools in sight ; they re handy, though, I reckon, if 
 you ll look heah at my blouse-waist, inside." 
 
 " You say right ; they oifen make a fight or spile a 
 bargain. Well, what you got to tell, John ? " 
 
 " Lots ; but let me off now." John was enjoying 
 himself. 
 
 The pause gives a good opportunity to take their 
 pictures ; none better to touch upon their antecedents. 
 
 Cheviteau s face was a good one ; every feature did 
 its part kindly, in frankness ; not less the gray hairs 
 in grace, to the descendant of a voyageur. Toil is 
 unpoetic ; toil and strife, alike, cruelly prosaic. The 
 splendor of a sunset marvel, the fleeting, airy grandeur 
 of the dawn, had been cold and colorless, when as a 
 barefoot boy he viewed them, leaning upon his w r hip. 
 With his strong, virile faith, he had no fancy, no senti 
 ment ; a kindly nature unwarmed, for the poor are 
 chilled, stood sternly to its duty. He was illiterate, 
 superstitious ; the phantom fires threw back to where 
 he stood a lingering gleam on waves of gold-tipped 
 
14 SNAP. 
 
 verdure. He saw the omen, only. In the track of the 
 sun, lying straight before him across the danger-haunted 
 waste, he saw the path to success ; he saw besides, all 
 its lurking terrors, trials and mishaps, but with a snap 
 of his whip he resolved to follow it. From the spot 
 where the sun had bid him go forth he made his start, 
 and there in after years he pitched his camp. At the 
 foot of the bluff the river formed a wide plateau ; there 
 he built his wharf, a steamboat landing. 
 . First, as a cattle-driver, he held his way full well. 
 Soon he owned a team ; in the snap of the whip he 
 earned enough to buy another, for he was shrewd, 
 almost to cunning. He was self-reliant ; all his earnings 
 were turned into cattle, and experience, as it came to 
 him, stood in the place of book-learning. He raised 
 stock on shares with a cattle dealer ; his teams increased 
 to a train, and he became a freighter of goods to distant 
 forts. He was brave, though prudence was his best 
 virtue. Betwixt these little epochs of a lowly life, 
 came all the changing hazards of the border; the 
 wearied, footsore tramps, the sleepless nights ; he was 
 chased, hunted, driven back, robbed and cheated, but 
 through all he strode into manhood with a round sum 
 laid up. Then he married the dealer s daughter; a 
 comely helpmate, who shared his cabin, shaped his 
 habits, bore him a child, taught him to read and write. 
 When death divided them, he felt a strong man s 
 sorrow, deep, tender, lasting, but moved on, facing 
 danger. The steamboat found his cove and linked his 
 future with good fortune ; he held it well, as to him 
 
IN THE SNAP O 1 THE WHIP. 15 
 
 seemed best. The place was known as CHEVITEAU S 
 LANDING ; his men called him Colonel. 
 
 " Peter, when s that boy of yours coming ? " 
 
 "In the nex boat." 
 
 "Can he load a wagon, or yoke a lead-team? " 
 
 " As good as any man." 
 
 " Does he know the peach-color ; can he bring em 
 wo-hawr on the run, in a short turn?" 
 
 "He knows an ox, John, from hoof to hawn, throws 
 a lash pooty as a streamer, an on a trade he s keen as a 
 briar." 
 
 " I never saw him on the road ; what s his pluck ? " 
 
 " Bes kind o grit ; you ken supple his jints if you 
 need him." 
 
 The youth spoken of, an orphan, had been left in 
 childhood a charge to the trader ; had been trained in 
 camp, sent off to school, thence to a city counting- 
 room, and was purchase agent in buying the supplies 
 for the post. 
 
 "He ll do, I reckon, Peter." 
 
 Beck s face, usually grave, was a little careworn. 
 Years before he had enlisted at a far-away fort, and 
 after winning, through merit, a sergeant s chevron, he set 
 up for himself as a scout. His talk was careless, never 
 boastful ; his habits steady, and his sense of duty true 
 to the old man s friendship, to the value of a name for 
 good qualities ; his past was a closed book, never 
 opened or touched ; his manner was calm, almost gen 
 tle, the fineness of true courage. In height and port 
 he was a giant. 
 
1(3 SNAP. 
 
 Mary, the trader s daughter, fresh from the field, 
 looked in at the door. 
 
 " Anything wanted?" she asked. 
 A round, rosy face, in the summer hue of health, was 
 seen under her rye-straw hat ; the large, soft eyes were 
 the light of a winning look, and the brown hair, caught 
 up in clusters, coiled trimly above her neck. There 
 was something ever so neat in the dark dress of the 
 young woman, with its broad, white collar, and a scrap 
 of red at the throat. Mary, too, had been sent from 
 home ; she, to motherly hands that reared her, and 
 Christian hearts that loved her ; she came back, and 
 the goodness she had dwelt with came as a part of her ; 
 she took up each care with ease, her duties with a quiet 
 good-will. Sometimes she paused, as if to think upon 
 her exile, or to counsel with her courage, and her face 
 saddened. 
 
 " So you ve got back safe, Mister John, with a whole 
 scalp," she said, using a common phrase. 
 " Did you think I d leave it behind me?" 
 " No, truly, not you, if Kit can see the way." 
 "And you re fixed to stay out here for good, Mary?" 
 "I give her her liking, John, to live with her friends 
 or come to me," her father answered for her, pleased 
 with her choice. 
 
 " What would you all have thought of me if I stayed 
 away ? " the while she fluttered about like a bee ; she 
 dusted the pedlar-clock on the fireplace shelf, turned 
 a chair in place, closing the sideboard door; "and you 
 see, Mister John, I m better off where there s plenty to 
 
IN THE SNAP O 1 THE WHIP. 17 
 
 do, with the will to do it ; little by little, bimeby much 
 may come to pass : a church, maybe ; then a school- 
 house, you know, and, maybe, a good Christian out 
 of you." She laughed at the thought of making a saint 
 out of the sturdy scout. 
 
 " S pose an Injin ketches you before all that." 
 
 " And wouldn t you catch the Indian, Mister John?" 
 she asked, in her charming, childlike way. 
 
 Going out into the hall, she stopped at the door of 
 one of the rooms. 
 
 "I ve sent for the milk, Doctor Tom." 
 
 " Thanks, little sweetheart," answered a voice, as 
 Mary hastened on to the porch, where she took up her 
 knitting. 
 
 Over the lattice, not far from the knitter s seat, Chloe, 
 the cook, handled the loaves and pies at the oven. She 
 was a trusty old domestic, short, fat, and black. Her 
 face, in eclipse, held on ever through the darkness of 
 servitude to the good that was in it ; its humor and con 
 tent. She had served for long years in the trader s 
 family, and had been Mary s nurse. Standing near 
 her was a boy, a blacker mortal, and a cross betwixt 
 the monkey and Jim Crow. He tapped with his heels 
 the time of a tune, singing : 
 
 I se got no time ter terry, 
 
 I se got no time ter terry ; 
 
 I se got no time to stay wid-ee you, 
 
 O h, good fokes, pity me. 
 
 " Dar, now ! " cried the old woman, suddenly ; " what 
 I tole yer, eh ? He s gwyne an dun it, sho ! " 
 
18 SNAP. 
 
 "Who dat?" asked the imp, stock-still, his eyes and 
 mouth wide open. 
 
 " Sumpin s gwynetohappin ; dus yer h yar me, Cato ? " 
 
 " What fur? " The jet of the boy s face grew smoky. 
 
 " What is it, Chloe ? " asked Mary. 
 
 " De chicken, honey ; free times he dumb de fence an 
 crow d, chile." 
 
 This alone was the dire mishap ; but the resemblance 
 to the cock-crowing of the Scriptures, to her a sacred 
 mystery, was quite enough as a portent of evil, from 
 which she believed there was no escape. 
 
 "Let s have a smoke, Beck." 
 
 The two men passed out of the house, while the 
 darkies fell to work, wondering. 
 
 - The dwelling stood in the center of a group of store 
 houses ; and from the path where the men were standing 
 there was a good view of the post and its surroundings. 
 With their faces to the prairie, on their left, partly 
 within the circle, was a dense grove, a relic spared by 
 the axe in clearing a larger wood. On the right was 
 the cabin post, surmounted by the outlook, from which 
 an unbroken vista reached to the horizon, and below it, 
 far and near, could be seen the bend and sweep of the 
 river. From the house-front, the eye fell upon the out 
 lying plain ; the kitchen-yard extended to the store 
 houses in the rear ; a short distance further on was the 
 blufTs edge. A dee}) road was cut into the bluiF 
 ascending from the landing into the enclosure, at the 
 door of the post. Within bugle-cull, on the right, was 
 the camp ; in the far distance a forest, and nearer a 
 
IN THE SNAP J THE WHIP. 19 
 
 picturesque ruin. A creek ran across the plateau, near 
 
 by this crumbling landmark. 
 
 "The post and camp, Peter, look about the same." 
 At their feet a grassy slope fell away to a lowland 
 
 plain, hedged in by thickets. 
 
 " It has cost a heap o trubel, John, to scrape all that 
 
 together." 
 
 O 
 
 "I reckon," he replied, listening to the workshop 
 anvils and the whip-snaps mingling with the sounds of 
 a busy scene. A small army was quartered in the little 
 valley. There, in sight, was the corral; lines of 
 wagons, double-filed and parked ; a settlement of 
 cabins; further on, the grazing-ground, and cattle 
 everywhere ; to the right of it, the hayfields. And 
 later in the season, the mowers blades would be seen 
 flashing in the sunlight. 
 
 There was good management of men, iu the disci 
 pline of the post and camp, under train-leaders and a 
 train-boss ; a man, the latter had need to be, of many 
 turns, fore-handed, firm, experienced ; a jockey, a vet 
 erinary, a cattle-driver, knowing road-craft, savage 
 customs and savage manners. Such men were hard to 
 find, when found were seldom honest. The scout s 
 calling differed from this, and included higher qualities 
 as a leader, a guide. His employer was a freighter of 
 goods, called a trader, as a purchaser of supplies, under 
 contract. The period was that in which the narrow 
 trails of the Indian and trapper widened to the high 
 ways of commerce. The scout was a leader of the 
 caravan ; he planned expeditions ; he saw that the 
 
20 SNAP. 
 
 roads were clear, or fought his way through ; he knew 
 every stream and ford, every tribe, friendly or hostile ; 
 he must of needs be fearless, cool-headed, prompt, 
 prudent, of sound common sense, a good rider, a sure 
 marksman. And Beck was all of these. 
 
 "How s your stock of goods?" he asked. 
 
 "Pootynigh chock-full ; what Charley has bought will 
 fill them houses." 
 
 The log store-rooms encircled the dwelling in a wide, 
 round cluster of many buildings, separated to ensure 
 less loss from the accident of a fire. Such was not gen 
 erally the arrangement at out-posts, but seemed to be 
 an idea of the trader, caught from the manner of park 
 ing his wagons on the road. There were assortments 
 stored therein, with arms and ammunition, in readiness 
 to supply a fort upon order of the government. In the 
 way of drill an armed teamster stood guard, pacing 
 the muniment, at night, crying the hours, while the 
 trader snored like a patriarch. 
 
 The room they entered, called an office, held a high- 
 desk, a table, an iron-box, a few chairs behind a rough, 
 plank counter ; on the wall a pen-traced map of North 
 America hung from a spike near the roof. 
 
 "You ken go, Harry," was said to the young book 
 keeper, Harry Carver, a clever fellow and sharp, as the 
 word goes, who seized his hat and went out. 
 
 They found Jack McQuain, an old weather-worn 
 trapper, just in from the mountains with his peltries, 
 and ready to depart for Santa Fe, seated there. A 
 
IN THE SNAP a THE WHIP. 21 
 
 queer relic was this gaunt figure, whose broad jaws, 
 ever in motion, ground the morsel of comfort. 
 
 "Hello! life everlasting," said Beck to the veteran, 
 who drew forth his bladder wallet. 
 
 " It s forty year sence, I reckon, Beck " 
 
 Happily, a distant sound checked what would have 
 been a long recital; a sound much like the mellow- 
 voiced harvest horn s over a meadow. Mary had 
 heard it, and as the men listened, she called to them : 
 
 "Father, they re coming; it s the boat." 
 
 The trader rose, and taking down a battered Kent- 
 bugle, he blew three blasts to summon his bull-whack 
 ers to the wharf. The boat s commander, after blow 
 ing the stop-whistle, was, in good faith and morals 
 bound to wet his own, at his friend s sideboard. 
 
 Those who came in the boat were Charley Marshall, 
 the adopted ; Louisa Sommers, Mary s schoolmate ; 
 Judge Smith, and a loquacious old woman named Gar- 
 rulson. Mary, at once, disposed her friends agree 
 ably, except the aged stranger, who stayed behind in 
 quest of a feather bed, the making and care of which 
 had cost her hours of anguish. In good time she came 
 along with her burden. 
 
 "May I never!" she exclaimed, "ef that ain t a 
 breather." 
 
 "Wait, Chloe will help you," Mary said to her 
 kindly. 
 
 " Jes tell me whar to put it, chile ; " and presently 
 she was toiling up the garret steps with the servant s 
 help, rattling on, catching breath as best she could. 
 
22 SNAP. 
 
 "Et s full six foot, nigh onto it, an no skimp mez 
 lire uyther, an Sue Fax s boy, the wus I ever seed, 
 afore I had onct throw d my akin bones acrass it, drap- 
 ped a coal o fire right in the middle on it " 
 
 "Dar now, ole Miss, yuse safe," said Chloe, grasp 
 ing the chance to put in a stopper. 
 
 Lu Sommers, Mary s friend, the pet of an aunt, and 
 at her own home the favorite of a coterie of country 
 girls, light-hearted, lovable and of sweet, plain man 
 ners, was pretty. She had an income in her own right. 
 Lu was a childish, affectionate girl, but a riddle to her 
 friends, in her simple, uncertain ways ; just such an 
 enigma as the truthful friendship of Mary could find 
 out. Both were of good size, in the vigor of health, 
 but they were as midgets in the company of the sturdy 
 men about them. 
 
 There was little in the appearance of Judge Smith 
 to modify prejudice, for he Was not a popular man, 
 though a politician. He was too much of a busy-body, 
 with too little merit or grace ; pompous, with no learn 
 ing, an intermeddler where he was generally mischiev 
 ous, and was called "Jedge" because somebody said 
 he was a lawyer. In meaner parlance, he was spoken 
 of as "a shark." The man was leanly tall, slovenly in 
 dress, wearing his locks long, for effect, behind his 
 ears ; the few hairs below his nose were ill at ease, 
 under the stare of his cold, gray eyes. 
 
 Beck was alone when the trader returned, but when 
 he and his friend were seated, he said, promptly: 
 
 "I told you, Peter, I had lots to tell; now to 
 
IN THE SNAP & THE WHIP. 23 
 
 bisnis. How long has this train-boss been with 
 you?" 
 
 " Oh, a long time ; an he s a feller what knows all 
 about oxen ; knows too, every tribe twix h yar an the 
 Pacific." 
 
 " Don t he give you trouble ? " 
 
 " Heap of it ; he war a drunken slouch wen I bought 
 out his teams ; I took him kase it war safest, for he 
 might set a tribe agin me ; he has lived among em all, 
 an he speaks Mexan, you know. I dragged him outen 
 many a scrape, onct for the ruination of a family, an 
 I ve heerd wus things about him." 
 
 " Ain t his looks enough ? " 
 
 "He ain t a pooty man, John ; them eyes of hisen is 
 like a thirsty steer s a day s pull from water ; but wat 
 ken I do ; trade mus go on an we can t git good men 
 fur his place ; I do believe he d yoke hisself with the 
 devil, to bus me up, ef I turned him off." 
 
 " Your trains were robbed before I come to you ; is 
 that so ? " 
 
 "Yes; an men, good men, war shot down at their 
 teams." 
 
 "When was that?" 
 
 " Well, I know it war jes four days arter a full moon ; 
 the yeah I disremember." 
 
 Beck smiled, but went on : 
 
 "Peter," he said, almost sternly, "your train-boss 
 worked that job." 
 
 " Oh sho ; no no ; how could he ? " 
 
 " He s a land-pirate ; don t I know ; he s in cahoot 
 
24 SNAP. 
 
 with Injins an Mexans ; he s chief of a gang of train- 
 robbers." 
 
 "Youshure, Beck?" 
 
 " Shure ! why man, the nex thing will be to murder 
 you." 
 
 "Tell me quick, John, how you know it." 
 
 " Know it ! I know him like a book, an heah s a leaf 
 out of it; see." 
 
 Beck drew from his blouse a piece of elm bark, on 
 the inner side smooth as paper, upon which had been 
 burned, with a hot point, certain hieroglyphics. Placed 
 before the trader, in the upper left-hand corner was 
 seen a circle ; thence, diagonally, were four smaller 
 circles ; then two lines crossed, and a figure like the 
 stem and branches of a tree. In the lower right-hand 
 
 o 
 
 corner was a rough profile face, marked by a deep line 
 drawn at an angle across it. 
 
 " That s a signal, Peter." 
 
 "Ken you read it?" 
 
 " Yes ; see heah ; that first circle is a full moon ; that 
 shows the clay when the hound sent it out to the Injins ; 
 well, the four little ones are four moons, or days, don t 
 you see now ? " 
 
 "No, notzacly." 
 
 " Why, four days after a full moon you were robbed ; 
 how s that?" 
 
 " Go on, go on." 
 
 "Well, now see; the cross-lines and figger means 
 the cross-roads and the lone tree on the forty-mile 
 
IN THE SA AP 0* THE WHIP. 25 
 
 stretch ; that s zacly the spot ; thar your train was 
 struck." 
 
 " Thunder ! " cried the trader, as if suddenly stricken 
 himself. 
 
 Hold on, heah s more : that face you orter know by 
 the mark on it ; that s the slash cross the mug of your 
 train-boss. That s the way he does bisnis ; that s a let 
 ter to some Injin who led the raid on your train, and it 
 was plain enough to him ; they fought at the lone tree ; 
 the men fell back an give up, the Injins plundered an 
 arterwards divided with the boss. D you see?" 
 
 " Whar did you git this, Beck? " 
 
 "Never mind now ; drop this pirate right off or your 
 men ll think you re fraid of a thief." 
 
 " Fraid of him ! don t you know better nor that, John 
 Beck? " The old man s lips trembled ; in truth, he saw 
 all the old, old troubles fresh and fearful before him ; 
 an enemy vicious, devilish, step out on his path; an 
 enemy to fight down through danger and death: But 
 he got up from his seat quickly, bustled about with his 
 books, and said : 
 
 "He ll go or hang, now mind, John." 
 
 The boss was sent for and soon he came shufflin^ 
 
 O 
 
 through the gate of the counter, sneakingly. It was a 
 hard, evil face he turned on the scout ; a heavy brow, 
 scowling and black, and there was a scar from the 
 mouth to the temple. 
 
 "Mornin, kurnel." 
 
 "Hyar, take yer money an go; you hound, now go 
 an no words about it." 
 
26 SNAP. 
 
 " Yer all-fired scrumpshus ; what s up ? " 
 
 "Go, will yer go?" screamed the trader in raire, 
 breaking the fellow s whip-stock, which he snatched 
 from his grasp, throwing the pieces in his face. 
 
 Jack McQuain stepped in. 
 
 "Iletih, Jack, quick," called Beck, laying his hand 
 heavily on the train-boss s shoulder, " don t you know 
 this thief? " 
 
 McQuain faced the man, staring hard at the cut on 
 his face growing purple. 
 
 " Bill Cartwright, the cribber ! " but the wretch had 
 freed himself, howling curses as he broke away. 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LITTLE MOUND. 
 
 BEFORE the sun was up, old Jack set out on his jour 
 ney and was seen far away, a figure dwindling to a 
 speck, as the day grew brighter. 
 
 " Come here quick, Jump ; bring the rifles, and don t 
 be as slow as your figures." 
 
 " In a minit, Whack. What s it ? " 
 "A good shot at a squirrel. Come on." 
 Whack and Jump are not strangers, for Charley 
 Marshall and Harry Carver had fallen by these nick 
 names in the most naturally boyish way. One called 
 the other " a bull- whacker ; " the " follow-suit " of the 
 chum was "counter-jumper," and, boy-like, cutting 
 these by-words short, they were known as Whack 
 and Jump. 
 
 Whack was of good size, a plain, open-faced strip 
 ling, neither coarse nor comely ; strongly built, wide 
 shoulders, well-shaped hands and feet. He was the 
 son of a Kentucky farmer, of good stock, who died 
 poor. In his ways, the youth borrowed a little from 
 the fresh manners of Western lads, and from the 
 musciilar form and freedom of a border-man. His 
 mouth pleasantly held the cheery wrinkle of a half- 
 formed smile. 
 
28 SNAP. 
 
 Jump was very much like his friend in form and 
 face, but the taller of the two, about the same w r eight, 
 of the same mould ; he stooped slightly from the habit 
 of the desk. An air of conceit gave to his face a 
 marked cast, not bold but complacent. 
 
 He was soon at the side of Whack, not far from the 
 office-door, under a branching maple. 
 
 "Here, take your pet," he said, handing to his com 
 panion a Kentucky rifle, the favorite border gun of 
 those days : "let s load." 
 
 " Give me a greased patch ; you can take your charge 
 from my horn-point." 
 
 "It s my shot, Whack ; where s your game? " 
 
 " Do you see that knot near the crotch of the big 
 limb yonder ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, it s a squirrel." 
 
 " You don t mean that knot s not a knot ? " 
 
 "Don t be funny, Jump; see here." Whack raised 
 his rifle and fired, cutting the bark under the ambush, 
 and the squirrel moved. 
 
 "Stand aside, Whipstock ; give me a chance." The 
 speaker was a good shot, but slow of aim, and while 
 bringing his piece to a " dead level," Whuck tried to 
 flurry him. 
 
 "Your hind sight s raised, Jump." 
 
 "So is my gun ; " but just as his sight in steady range 
 covered the mark, a sharp, clear shot rang out behind 
 them, and the game fell. 
 
 " Scalped him, by Jingo," cried Beck, lowering his 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 29 
 
 piece; "you re too slow, Jumper; an Tnjin would have 
 spotted you before you shouldered. Come, Whack, 
 the old man orders me to boss the camp, and you re 
 my sargent. That s a clean, oft-hand shot twixt his 
 yehs," he said, as he threw down the dead squirrel. 
 
 "You may have it, Book-keeper ; I told you your hind 
 sight flickered," said he of the whip, laughing, as he 
 strode off with the scout. His felt hat sat jauntily, and 
 at every stride he flirted the skirt of his brown linen 
 blouse, the blouse of the plains, with its pleated front 
 and rolling collar. 
 
 The report of the rifle summoned Doctor Tom from 
 the ease of his arm-chair to the porch outside, and see 
 ing the cloudlet of smoke, like so many of his hopes, 
 resolved into air, he turned back, walking slowly. 
 
 This world-worn recluse was the son of a rich 
 planter, in childhood a parent s darling, humored in 
 the petty fancies of wealth, and taught to lean upon a 
 family name and a feeble self. At college the boy 
 studied and excelled, not from a love of knowledge, 
 but spurred by a hate of those who tried to excel him ; 
 the only useful turn of his pride during life. He won 
 honors in the profession of medicine, but his riches 
 tempted him to ease, and sooner than be chagrined by 
 a loss of practice, he quitted the practice altogether. 
 The man was accomplished, but in little matters his 
 vanity grew to be so puerile it was ever playing at 
 cross-purpose with his better parts ; a pride that urged 
 the evil of his nature to war with the good and raised 
 the strife of a dual self. He was ignorant of his infill- 
 
30 S.VAP. 
 
 ite weakness ; failure met him more than half-way, dis 
 grace at every rash step, catching his morals in the 
 meshes of a passion, ungodly, unmanly. His mind be 
 came morose, his nerves unstrung, and so he blindly 
 went his way ; he quarrelled with best friends, f. night a 
 duel, and went down through easy stages to the weaker 
 vices of the gaming-table. 
 
 With what was left of his means he bought a steam 
 boat. It had passed and re-passed Cheviteau s landing, 
 and Doctor Tom and the Colonel were sworn friends. 
 On one of the trips the Doctor, in a freak of high 
 frenzy, being bantered at cards by a noted player, lost 
 his steamer on the throw of a card. The furniture and 
 outfit were exempt from the chance, and these, with a 
 small stipend from land rents, were the remnants of a 
 large fortune. 
 
 The throw of the card was a miracle, for nothing 
 less could bring such a man suddenly to his senses ; his 
 better nature, his better self, upheld him in the crisis, 
 his true pride was touched and quickened. He rose 
 from the table indifferently, lighted his cigar with a 
 bank-bill, bowed to the company and found his state 
 room. There, in the silence, in his conscience, as in a 
 mirror, he saw his dual self reflected ; a poor, tortured, 
 trembling spirit, helpless, almost hopeless, spoke to 
 him feebly but gently. He fell asleep; the voice in 
 his ear and tears on his pillow. 
 
 He was another man when he stepped ashore at the 
 landing and made the formal transfer of his steamer to 
 the winner, in the Colonel s presence. What passed 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 31 
 
 between him and the trader afterwards was known only 
 to themselves, but the Doctor, after choosing a part of 
 the outfit, sold what was left of it, and became an in 
 mate of the house. And so it was that therein the 
 long oaken table, covered with green cloth, became 
 the dining-board, the leather-seated arm-chairs ranged 
 with coarser fellows, the carved side-board gave out an 
 odor like a Turkish cabinet s, the little elegancies of 
 Mary s room were tokens of the Doctor s regard. 
 She was to him the seraph in the desert of his mis 
 fortune. 
 
 " What yer doing man ? " cried Chloe from her door 
 step. A teamster stood near her quarters about to fire 
 upon a bird on her roof-tree, "is yer gwyne ter bring 
 de jegment?" 
 
 "No, I se gwyne ter bring down a bird." 
 
 " Doan yer do it, please ; dar now don t ; kase yer see 
 mister thar s gwyne to be truble ; its a comin sho ; in de 
 bang o de rifle dar s blood, I tell ye, ony you keep on/ 
 
 While she talked the bird flew away. 
 
 " Good-by, Doctor Torn;" it was Mary s voice, as 
 she looked in at the porch-door. 
 
 "Good-by, little run-about," he replied, walking 
 faster to see her off, and kissing his hand, with a bow, 
 as she left the steps. 
 
 "Good-by, aunt Chloe!" 
 
 "Good-by, honey, is yer gwyne? de laws, Cato," she 
 said, dropping her voice, "all clat little one wants is 
 tedders fer to fly." 
 
32 SNAP. 
 
 "Fedders!" the boy s month once opened, it burst 
 into song, as his heels flew up : 
 
 " In der mornin, in der mornin." 
 
 "Oh, hesh, boy, yus alias 11 try in ferto frowyer leo;s 
 away; do hesh." 
 
 "She s cut out jes like my sester Ann, and she was 
 the pootiest piece of gal-flesh " here Mrs. Garruison 
 stopped short as Chloe left her "to min de stobe." 
 
 Mary started out on her love-lighted path, catching 
 the glow and the glory of the bright summer morning; 
 in her hand a quaker-basket filled with nic-nncs for the 
 sick, and the little rye-straw hat. Her daily stroll, 
 and many times daily when needed, was to the white 
 hamlet of cabins, close by the green cattle pasture. 
 Around her steps a flowery wilderness threw its per 
 fume on the air. Her influence was felt in all the little 
 matters of the post and camp. In the cabins she was 
 an oracle ; to the simple folk she was as one inspired, 
 working wonders through the perfect sway of love ; her 
 own sympathies so tender, she felt suffering as keenly 
 as the sufferer, chaining each one to her happy self, 
 each link a blessing from other hearts. 
 
 As she nearcd the camp she heard the cheer of the 
 men, a welcome to Beck; she saw her father tending 
 the cattle-drove ; she heard the sound of the anvil, and 
 the snap of the whip ; nor did she fail to note the Jud<re 
 in a shady spo< >dged about by a group of off-duty 
 hands. His ac lintancc with each had ripened in ten 
 minutes, in tea more he spoke as one who had known 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 33 
 
 them all their lives. Some of the men had families, 
 and the log-huts were held by them rent-free on condi 
 tions which enforced order and cleanliness, Mary s own 
 terms. Nor was she loath to reprove or warn them. 
 
 "I heard of you, Mister Tim," she said, to a rollick 
 ing Irishman. 
 
 "An did ye, indade, mavourneen? I faith, its little 
 good o me, that same, ochone. Bys will be bys," all 
 the while squinting a mischievous eye, for he had been 
 on a spree, and he knew that she knew it. 
 A step further she asked a Scotchman : 
 "How s the baby, Mister Sandy?" 
 "Bad, bad, mi lassie, it war a skittish night along 
 wid the sic un." 
 
 A little beyond she met Jane Potts, a buxom 
 damsel, wearing a downcast, timid look, who spoke in 
 whispers. 
 
 " Good mornin," the girl said, as she edged away. 
 " Weil, Jane, has your ship come in with the beau 
 you wait for? " 
 
 "Not much of a ship jes yet." 
 
 At the cabins crowds of urchins followed her ; she 
 passed in and out of each hut dispensing her basket s 
 freight, striving to make some one happier, or some 
 thing better, in the delightful drudgery of doing good. 
 Shelooked in upon the sick child asleep, whispered a 
 caution, and hastened back. 
 
 To vary her walk a little, Mary took a path skirting 
 the camp, and as she moved along briskly, she was 
 suddenly confronted by Bill Cartwright. He eyed her 
 
34 SNAP. 
 
 thievishly and boldly advanced a step, then shuffled off, 
 as if by a glance he had been warned to move on ; a 
 step farther in the grass stood a mounted Indian. At 
 an angle of the path some distance beyond, in an inter 
 space of foliage lighted by the flickering sunshine, she 
 heard a woman s voice and saw the form of one ; no 
 longer the demure Jane, but Jane as a hoyden taunting 
 Whack. She passed by, and where the path entered 
 the camp she saw Beck awaiting her. 
 
 "Don t take that cut-off any more, Mary; tisn t 
 safe." 
 
 " If you think so, Mister John, I ll take the other." 
 
 "That s right ; didn t you see my rifle leveled on that 
 hound ; he saw me, and the boys have gone to warn 
 him off. Now I ll see you home." 
 
 " Well, come along, if you will ; won t you carry the 
 basket? " She tossed it to him. 
 
 Had he grown dear to her, this son of Anak, this 
 boyish giant? W r as she trying his wits by her winning 
 ways, or teasing his shyness? She knew calmly his 
 worth, his kindly heart, its truthfulness, his bold, 
 brave manhood, but there was much in his life ajar 
 with her conscience. 
 
 " Thar s some bad men about, and that s why I said 
 what I did, Mary." 
 
 rf That s kind of you ; if evil meets us or dogs our 
 steps, Mister John, can t we find a little fresh good, 
 for every new evil ; that s the right way, ain t it?" 
 
 "Right enough," he answered, looking down on the 
 midget of his admiration, as if she had read to him the 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 35 
 
 law ; then straightening, he drew closer, from an in 
 stinctive right to guard her. 
 
 In height, and in the power of his massive limbs, the 
 latent strength of his sweeping stride, the swing of his 
 arms, in presence and purpose, Beck was a leader ; but 
 the manner of the man, at his ease, was almost boyish ; 
 there were moods also into which his spirits fell sud 
 denly, from gay to grave, and sometimes abruptly into 
 a show of temper, or a transition to a sober strain that 
 seemed despondent. His old friend thought all this 
 came from some cross in life, and Mary hoped it was a 
 dislike of his calling or a distrust of it. He was 
 delighted in her company ; to what she said to him in 
 playful humor or in the many and varied ways in which 
 her conversation was set to catch his thoughts, his 
 consciousness, he was a kind and ready listener ; but 
 his past was always forbidden ground ; if invaded, he 
 rose confused, with a shade of pain on his face, and 
 walked away. 
 
 " What a splendid day this is ; I wish I was a barefoot 
 girl again." 
 
 " You." 
 
 " Yes, me ; don t you know I once run barefooted? " 
 
 You ! well Mary ! " The scout gave voice to 
 surprise, or showed his respect in this concrete form. 
 
 "Well, what, Mister John?" 
 
 " Nothin, only thinking of a little, white foot, on the 
 big green earth ; didn t it hurt you ? " 
 
 "No, of course not," she said, laughing. 
 
 They had reached the porch where the Doctor was 
 
36 SNAP. 
 
 talking with Lu, and Beck moved on towards the 
 office. 
 
 " Why didn t you take me with you?" asked Lu. 
 
 "Take a day s rest, write to your Aunty, then I ll 
 show you everything." 
 
 " How s the baby ? " asked the Doctor. 
 
 "It was asleep." 
 
 " That s better than physic." 
 
 An hour later she was seated in her room, stitching 
 an infant s dress. 
 
 " Mary, here s a friend would like to see you," called 
 Lu ; and laying aside her sewing, Mary came out to 
 meet Sandy, the teamster, at the door. 
 
 "Will ye come, lassie? the bairn is takin bad, an 
 the mither is sore worrit." 
 
 " I ll come right away, Mister Sandy." 
 
 " An I ll gae to the cabin wid the word, bless ye." 
 
 As the teamster hurriedly left the house, she called 
 Chloe into counsel, handing her the tiny dress, which 
 she looked at, as she parted with it, with gentle regret. 
 
 "Do it up, nicely, Chloe ; will you? Make it white, 
 Chloe ; just as white as snow." 
 
 " Chile, dat baby 11 neber put it on." 
 
 " Maybe not ; but fold it prettily for me ; won t you ?" 
 
 "To be sartin, honey ; sho, I vrill." 
 
 In another moment, after placing the house in Lu s 
 charge, she started off, tripping over the same sunny 
 path. She paused, looked back and said to her friend : 
 
 "Lu, don t forget, father likes three lumps of sugar 
 in his tea." In the gleam of the summer day, still and 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 37 
 
 golden, she sped along, and Beck seeing her pass, 
 followed at a distance, with his rifle over his shoulder. 
 
 Sandy s cabin, just over a roll in the prairie through 
 the cainp, was soon reached. It stood in the shade of 
 a sycamore ; a window on either side gave it the sem 
 blance of comfort, and a bush of sweet-briar scented 
 the air about the door. Mary entered the front room 
 of the two ; from the rafters hung yellow gourds, onion- 
 ropes, dry herbs ; there was a pile of walnuts in a 
 corner ; a jar of apple butter and a row of pale, blue- 
 rimmed plates, a burnished knife or two, on a shelf. 
 
 Taking up, at once, the duties of nurse : 
 
 "Come mother," she said to Sandy s wife, who sat 
 on a stool by a trundle-bed, fanning, "take some rest 
 now, I ll call you if baby s no better." 
 
 "Ah, chiel," moaned the woman, looking up, "ye ve 
 come to see the last o the puir thing." 
 
 " As God wills, as God wills, mother ; but I ll wake 
 you, and maybe baby will mend : go now." 
 
 " I ll rest the body a bit, for it s mony a night it s 
 needed it." 
 
 As the nurse opened her budget, the weary wife 
 stretched herself on the larger bed, and was soon 
 asleep. 
 
 Taking the stool, Mary glanced down tenderly at the 
 sick child. There was pain on the thin, haggard face, 
 the hollow cheeks were bloodless, nor could the light of 
 its golden hair, which she raised and let fall with a 
 pang, lend warmth to the pale, cold form. 
 
 She rose, as the infant with a low, sobbing cry, 
 
38 
 
 waked from its troubled sleep. Sandy was sent off for 
 Chloe to hasten her to the cabin, for in all sadden 
 emergencies she came at Mary s call. 
 
 " Say, Mister Sandy, that the child can t swallow, 
 and leave word at the house, please, that I ll sit up all 
 night." 
 
 It was not long to wait, for Chloe came in haste. 
 
 " It s no yuse, honey," she said, "nuttin kin help it, 
 cep do Great Marster." 
 
 "Shall I wake the mother, Chloe?" 
 
 "It hasn t long to go on dis a way." 
 
 When Sandy joined his wife at the bedside, a feeble 
 flutter of the baby s breath wafted the spirit into the 
 evening s calm. All still, in its snowy robe, the little 
 one lay, the pale face whiter in its nest of curls, and 
 Mary placed in its tiny hand a sprig of the fragrant 
 briar. 
 
 Silence, moved only by murmuring whispers, chas 
 tened the solemn watch. All was still in the heart of 
 the solitude. Clouds, warm with the flush of sunset 
 across the wide, white radiance of the moon, sailed bv, 
 and beams of light streamed in upon the nurse, and fell 
 upon the cold little image. Out of the night came con 
 soling voices to the ear of Alary ; but suddenly there 
 seemed to rise above the sweet-briar bush at the win 
 dow, a dark and forbidding shadow ; it changed to a 
 hideous fright ; and, as it grew upon her sight, she saw 
 the dark, bad face of Cartwright. He leaned upon the 
 window-sill, reaching towards her, and about to speak. 
 Then, the luminance grew intense ; she heard and felt 
 
THE LITTLE MOUND. 39 
 
 the wafting of pinions, and saw a descending Azrael, 
 whose sword was like a glint of the lightning, as the 
 shadow vanished. Again, she heard the waves of dis 
 tant winds, and the air was filled with a perfume not of 
 earth. A flitting sprite, winged with the fragments of 
 a shattered star, gazed in upon her, greeted her with 
 the smile of a cherub, the lace was the baby s. 
 
 As Mary rose in the transports of her dream, Lu 
 caught her in her arms. The sun had risen, and the 
 girls hastened home, stopping but a moment on the 
 way to give directions for the funeral. The trader met 
 his daughter at the door. 
 
 "You will come with us, father, this evening, when 
 w r e bury the child, won t you?" 
 
 "Yes, we must all go," he answered. 
 
 In the twilight, they came together from household 
 and camp. Chcviteau was the first at the cabin, and he 
 said to Sandy in his plain, honest way : 
 
 "Til take up the child, Sandy, my man. jes the same 
 as my own, jes the same, Sandy." Then raising 
 the little painted box under his arm, and removing his 
 hat, his men followed him in line to a knoll, where, 
 among the flowers, the grave was opened. The scout, 
 with friendly care, covered the coffin. 
 
 " I wish that His hands had been placed on my head, 
 
 That His arms had been thrown around me, 
 And that I might have seen His kind look, when He said 
 Let the little ones come unto Me." 
 
 It was Mary s voice, singing a sacred melody. Its 
 
40 S.VAP. 
 
 sweetness, trembling with emotion, rolled forth on the 
 green prairie waves, dying out in pathetic pathos. It 
 waked a thrill in the stern hearts around her, and left 
 on the manly faces a happier look. 
 
A BARB A CUE. 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A BAEBACUE. THE HAUNTED CABIN. GONE! 
 
 A FLOWERING spread of daisies and buttercups over 
 laid the little grave, when the day of the barbacue came 
 round. 
 
 The earnest request of the Judge to be permitted to 
 address Cheviteau s men, in a formal way, had received 
 kind attention. The old man was stoutly set in his 
 own political notions, and never stinted those under him 
 in the freedom of their own faith. So it was that when 
 he gave leave to hold a public meeting in his camp, he 
 determined to make the day set apart a holiday, and 
 with liberal good feeling, a barbacue was allowed. 
 Through the day, there would be feasting and sports, 
 and in the evening the Judge would hold forth in a 
 speech. 
 
 All had gone early from the house to the camp to 
 join in the merry-making. Beck had led Kitty, his 
 coal-black mare, to the family group, seated in the 
 shade of a small grove, and having placed a side-saddle 
 on the little pacer, held her so that the girls might have 
 a ride. 
 
 "Come, Miss Lu, I ll help you up." 
 
 "Me ! oh, no, please, let me off ; " she hesitated, in a 
 timid way. 
 
42 SNAP. 
 
 "Yes, von will, Lu," Mary insisted, "for I know 
 you re a good rider." 
 
 "I can set you in the saddle, if you say so;" an 
 offer of the officious Whack. 
 
 "No, I d rather not. I don t know the horse." 
 
 " I ll hold her head," Jump said, not to be outdone. 
 
 "Why, thar s nothing kinder on this yar arth than 
 this little beast; she can do anything but talk; jes 
 see heah : Down, Kit, down, pet, down." Beck 
 touched the mare s knee with his foot as he spoke, 
 and she swayed down so low he could almost stride 
 over her. 
 
 "Is that a self-made boss, Beck?" asked Cheviteau. 
 
 "She ll do anything I tell her." 
 
 "Come now, Lu, for me." 
 
 "No, no, Mary dear; I don t like to, and all these 
 men about the camp." 
 
 "Oh, pshaw, they re a kind, good sort of people, 
 home folks, rough as they look. I go among them 
 every day, Lu, and there s never an unkind word to 
 me ; they re a long ways off, too." Mary was a little 
 piqued. 
 
 "Get up, Miss Lu ; I ll ride behind and hold you 
 on," Whack added. 
 
 " Give me sitting room on the tail, and we ll all go ; " 
 this was Jump s attempt to help out. 
 
 But Lu held back, while Mary, impatient, and more 
 than all, not to let her friend think that her father s 
 people would bo rude, she asked, coaxingly : 
 "Won t you,Lu? 
 
A BARB A CUE. 43 
 
 " Not now." 
 
 " Well, help me up, Mister John." She measured 
 the stirrup, and placing her foot in the scout s hand, 
 she leaped into the saddle. " Break me a thorn or 
 two, Charley, to pin on my hat ; now, the whip." 
 Then catching the bridle short, she turned away 
 briskly. 
 
 "Well, Mary !" exclaimed Beck, rubbing his hands 
 like a happy boy. 
 
 "Hold hard, child, when you speed her; she s a 
 pacer, mind," cautioned her father, as she passed 
 him. 
 
 It was a balmy and serene day, all freshly bright in 
 the youth of the season, and the little mare bore her 
 mount far away in the white breadth of the sunlight. 
 Not for a moment did the scout drop his eyes from the 
 receding figures. He looked at them fixedly with an 
 earnest, pleased look. The rider kept on in a steady 
 pace to a wide, open mead, flecked by rolls of the prai 
 rie, and as she gracefully swept around it, changed her 
 course to ride back. Beck s lingering sight saw her 
 seat herself down in the saddle, shorten the rein, raise 
 the whip, and he felt a sudden thrill caught from the 
 spirit of the girl in the distance. 
 
 " Here she comes ; here she comes," he kept repeating 
 loudly, " here she comes, boys, like a prairie-fire, 
 look at that ! " His wild manner was noticed at last by 
 the crowd, and all came forward, looking on. 
 
 "Stand back," cried Doctor Tom, "make way I ll 
 bet" 
 
44 SNAP. 
 
 " Hoopee ! look thar, see that ! " was heard, in the 
 scout s wordy glee, while Whack and Jump kept a track 
 clear for the speeding horse. 
 
 "Hold her hard, girl steady ! " called out the trader 
 long before the rider neared him ; repeating his heed at 
 intervals. 
 
 Bending low on the mare s neck, her stray hair 
 weighted down and afloat, like a loose lonely fleck of 
 cloud, she plied the whip as her horse, now in a run, 
 leaped over the stretch of meadow. On she came, 
 charmed with the sport, and as she neared the camp she 
 raised her hat. 
 
 "You, Kit!" she screamed, while under the whip 
 and voice, the little, lithe thorough-sped swept through 
 the lines of cheering men. 
 
 Beck seized the bridle, and without aid, Mary leaped 
 to the ground. "There, Lu," she said, "you see how 
 we ride out here ; I am none the worse for it." 
 
 " Well Mary ! " said Beck, " it beats a circus ; " he 
 went on, as though the happiest day of his life was but 
 half over ; " and Kit, did you ever do it like that be 
 fore? " patting the mare s face for an answer. 
 
 It was now high noon. At dawn the men had stirred 
 the low fires of the roast-pit, where cords of wood burned 
 through the night, and the huts of the hamlet turned out 
 on the green, their household goods and gods. Men 
 and women, their babes and brats, barelegged, bare 
 footed children, round and plump, were there, the 
 young ones running wild. The big, fat ox was spitted 
 whole, then turned on chains with hayforks, and carved 
 
A BARBACUE. 45 
 
 on a platform, with cleavers. Then, there was a set-out 
 of loaves and pies on rows of plank-tables, loaded 
 down. 
 
 The custom was, in the trader s primitive notion of a 
 feast, to open it in person, standing with his family 
 about him, at the head of the board, and as the men 
 filed by, to exchange with each the homely good- wishes 
 of the day. In this way came Tim Murphy, the rol 
 licking Irishman, Heinrich, the Dutchman, Sandy, the 
 Scotchman, the Mexican vaqueros cow-boys their 
 ponchos, glazed sombreros, and jingling spurs a little at 
 odds with the dress of others. Then came the border- 
 boys, bull- whackers, all, yahoos, suckers, corn -crack 
 ers, and one, a lad from a local Egypt, called Legs, 
 by his fellows, was set up well for a deep swallow. He 
 halted, raising his tin above his head, and in a loud 
 voice, saluted : 
 
 "Heah s to Miss Mary, boys, hooray ! " 
 
 Cheer on cheer rang out, for the boy had spoken 
 well, and had nattered adroitly. No good word of the 
 day came nearer the trader s heart, and even in praise 
 so boisterous, what he said was to Mary a touching 
 reminder of the men s good will. Quickly taking a rib 
 bon from her hair she tied it on the boy s whip-stock, 
 saying simply, 
 
 " I thank you," Then they all cheered again. 
 
 And so the barbacue began while the family and 
 friends drew oif to their own pic-nic, that the people 
 might the better enjoy themselves, left to their own 
 fashion. The men enjoyed the treat heartily. 
 
 Standing by, old Chloe fixed herself and smiled, in 
 
46 SNAP. 
 
 doubt of her senses ; the pies and bread were no longer 
 in sight, a whole ox had vanished, and her labor of a 
 fortnight dwindled away in a twinkling. 
 
 "Gib em half a chance, dey d breed a famine, sho ; " 
 she said to herself, as she turned away. 
 
 The meal broke up and the men betook themselves to 
 their favorite sports, running, jumping, tilting, quoit- 
 pitching, feats of strength ; and above the flux of human 
 voices, the crisp, sharp snap of the whip* was heard, 
 till Mary rode her race. Some of the men were practis 
 ing "the double-snap," others, trying to chip a plank 
 with the cracker, or to make "the fur fly" from a dry 
 hide. A good-humored set seized the giggling Cato 
 and stood him upon the tail-board of a wagon, like a 
 puppet. A threat was enough, and as the whips 
 cracked, he danced and sang : 
 
 Oli-lio ah-ha, 
 
 Toota, toota ta ; 
 De heel an do Baffin 
 A pattin an a puffin, 
 Oh, watch dis little niggah 
 As quick es eny triggah, 
 A pattin an a puffin, 
 Yer fink he s good fer nuffin. 
 O-ho ah-ha, 
 
 Toota, toota ta. 
 
 Before the earliest bird that morning, Mrs. Garrulson 
 had cause Jto make known to all under the trader s shel- 
 
 *This incessant sound was the music of the trado, but the ox- whip of the 
 plains is a torture when used cruelly ; the stock is a hoop-pole about five feet 
 in length, the lash of twisted ox-hide of double length, of double-twist mid- 
 length, and is whirled and thrown with both hands. The snap, in the recoil, 
 is as loud as a rifle s crack ; it bruises and scalps where it strikes. 
 
A BARBACUE. 47 
 
 tor, that she, at least, was awake, and in healthful vigor. 
 A crashing sound, varied by an occasional scream, 
 hastened Cheviteau from his quarters to the attic. 
 
 "What ails you, ole woman?" he asked, doubtingly. 
 
 "Ails, is t?" she shouted back, catching for breath, 
 as she dropped the remnants of a chair, " cf half yer life 
 had a bin spent a savin penny arter penny ; then all 
 ther truble of a raisin geese, goose arter goose ; then 
 the pickin an a sortin of de feders, feder arter feder, ter 
 make a bed fer yer ole man to stretch his akin bones 
 acrass ; to tote it roun from helifex to kingum cum, 
 and to hev a darn-sarned, dog-gone rat a nibbling at it ; " 
 here she cast about her for the chair-leg, " I tell yer 
 Mister, I se boun to slay that ar varmint, ef I beat yer 
 house down." 
 
 With the sympathetic feeling of an old man, the Col 
 onel retreated. 
 
 Now she was seated on the green, the center of a 
 crowd of women, and sun-browned curious urchins, 
 forming an outer circle. She had talked to them in a 
 tireless strain ; the pedigrees of each she questioned 
 closely, rattling on to scraps of gossip, to frantic 
 romance, the dire and vengeful rajds of Indians, to 
 fables of spookes and blood-sucking vampires, to whip 
 around to cures for cattle-murrain, rot in sheep and 
 baby-colic. 
 
 " An ken you cure the heart-ache ?" asked a malicious 
 girl, eyeing Jane Potts, who stood up with shaded eyes 
 bent upon the distant Mister Whack. 
 
48 SNAP. 
 
 n Ar it bad sot ; for cf it ar it s a death -stroke," she 
 replied, gravely. 
 
 "Not so bad as that comes to, I hope," the other 
 said, giggling. 
 
 " Hope ; jes what I sed to John an he ar my 
 second and war slow to take on John, ses I, ef it 
 wasn t fur hope the heart would bust, he tuk." 
 
 " An wat s good fer the rhumatiz ? " queried a crippled 
 neighbor. 
 
 " May I never ! rhumatiz why honey, I ken cure 
 it ; jes try a little frog s-fat." 
 
 " Frog s fat ! " exclaimed Jane, in a loud, contemptu 
 ous laugh, " where d you ever see a frog with any fat 
 on it?" 
 
 In truth the old woman had never seen the marvel, 
 but to be silenced in a flow of wisdom : 
 
 " What ! " she said, springing up, " its jes as easy to 
 find that ar, as ter find a young man s heart ; gal, you 
 don t know how ter find it ; " turning the laugh on Jane 
 she walked off in triumph. 
 
 Lu and Jump had drawn away, leaving the Judge 
 and the Doctor, the trader and Mary chattily passing 
 the time, in the shade, while Beck, looking after the 
 stock, sent Legs out on the prairie to drive in stray 
 cattle. 
 
 " Oh, such lots of fun as we had, such nice young 
 fellows to ride about with us ; how aunty would scold 
 and fret ; " warbled Lu, in little fits and starts, in high 
 and low key, varied by the melody of l^r rich laugh. 
 She spoke of her home, its many and lovely attractions, 
 
A BARB AGUE. 49 
 
 of a farm they had, its stock ; of her pet cows and horses 
 and almost everything connected therewith, until the 
 plodding Jump, a business young man and from forco 
 of habit, soon resolved mentally the net value of these 
 lands and tenements; what the income of the pretty 
 girl might be, even to the simple and compound 
 interest. 
 
 " I told them," she went on, " that I was coming back 
 when I could bring a scalp to my apron-string, and 
 not before," using a border phrase. 
 
 Jump whistled low, and said, after a pause : 
 
 " Did you? " rubbing his head, an intimation that he 
 was ready to submit to her gentle cruelty. Lu prattled 
 on. 
 
 The family party was broken up, when Mary and 
 Whack took a stroll ; the former holding back her con 
 sent until upon a quick change of thought she joined 
 him in the walk. Her father had observed in Mary s 
 manner throughout the day, a quiet, if not a sad turn 
 to its usual mirth ; even her ride had seemed to others 
 than himself a feverish excitement, which some un 
 known cause had warmed. 
 
 " Yonder s a place I d like to own, Colonel." 
 
 " Spec you would suh, but you can t squat thar, 
 Jedge." 
 
 At a distance less than a mile, a picturesque ruin 
 partly hidden in a clump of evergreens and wild, 
 blooming berry bushes, caught the speculator s envious 
 eye. It was a tumbledown, deserted cabin; birds 
 made their nests in the (Tumbling chimney, the scarlet- 
 
50 SNAP. 
 
 leafed vine crept between the rolling loirs, the rocks 
 about it were weather-browned, capped with ivy or 
 with moss. Perched on the crest of a hillock amonor 
 
 o 
 
 shrubs, the ground fell away in slopes of verdure, 
 greenest where the brook leapt laughing down the 
 gorge. From the trees near by the lengthened shadows 
 crept, color-crossed with sunshine, at one, around, 
 about it, with the garish plain. It was a rare, poetic 
 touch of nature. 
 
 "A beauty-spot, Colonel, that s a fac." 
 
 " It s a lanmark, Jedge, for forty miles to the trains 
 comin in." Set in the round, broad, gilded space, it 
 seemed to rise in the azure air like a tropic island from 
 the sea." 
 
 "It s a squatter s site, ain t it?" 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HAUNTED CABIN. 
 
 rf Yes ; an the mos misfortunit set I ever seed, Jed c. 
 Some yehs ago, a man an wife an chile came along an 
 squatted thar. They lived sorter content like, till the 
 man war took down with the agur, an from that out, 
 things went crooked with em, the crookedest sort. 
 I give em a lift now an then, an Mary she took kindly 
 to cm, little as she was, but the man he went from bad 
 to wus, and broke squar down in the fust rut. He war 
 as crazy as a June-bug, Jedge, and then this sarpint 
 Bill Cartwright crept over the doorstep. If I had a 
 known it in time, I d a made his flesh creep afore he 
 went too far. Howsomever, I liked Tobias, for he war 
 a hard-forking, honest feller, I mus say that, an as fur 
 
THE STORY OF THE HAUNTED CABIN. 51 
 
 scripsher, he know d it, Jcdge, from Genesis to Rcverla- 
 tions, varsc by varse, clean through. I ve seen him at 
 the plow, the cattle pulling outer furrow, the .sweat a 
 pourin down his face, an he a talkin holy-writ. Things 
 went wrong in course ; his wife got tired an mopish 
 like, an she took sick an died. Ole Chloe, she sot up 
 long nights along with her, but it war no use. Then 
 thai* was the darter, a woman mos grown, the foolish- 
 est, mos stubborn, simple kinder critter lever seed, 
 but to her father, why, Jedge, he thought she war 
 jes an angel. I ve seed em settin at ther door-step 
 yander, at sundown, many a time, her head in his lap, 
 an he a play in with her curls. She war a likely-looking 
 piece too, an I ve heerd him tell her them stories from 
 the bible better nor preachin, Jedge, an I sot 
 thar with em offen, an many a story took holt on me, 
 an has hilt its holt ever sence. But the gal went off 
 with Cartwright an thar s no countin for a woman s 
 notion he treated her like a clag, they say, an she 
 died too. Wen her father heeri it, he went a ravin, 
 an a stavin mad, madder than a bald-hornet, an he s bin 
 wanderin about from that time out. It war a long time 
 arter Bill come inter my service that I heerd about the 
 thing, and then he mended like, but Tobias, some say 
 he ar dead, some that he ar alive, but Cartwright allers 
 swore he had seen his ghost out thar, an the men say 
 the place ar hanted. But I got it from his people ; it s 
 a pooty place, too ; jes see the sAveep from the hill to 
 the ravine, thar. No, Jedge, it can t be had." 
 
52 SNAP. 
 
 "I d like to have a mortgage on it," he said in a 
 disappointed way, and the two separated. The trader 
 sought out the nook where Jump was still paying the 
 most courteous attention to Lu, and the Judge joined 
 the crowd. 
 
 As Beck rode off on Kitty to picket her near the 
 cabin till sundown, when Lu would ride, two mounted 
 Indians rode into the camp. They were often seen 
 there and no heed was taken of their coming, a com 
 mon imprudence on the border was to rely too much 
 upon the Indian s show of friendship. Settlers and 
 traders were generally careless until some catastrophe 
 awakened their caution. 
 
 Bill Cartwright was not far away. The felloAv, boy 
 and man, had served his turn at every vice ; his were 
 the coarser qualities of the bully, though not without a 
 certain boldness in crime ; a blood-reckless audticity, a 
 flurry of passion, which won him admiration among 
 the worst of his kind. He consorted with thieves, a 
 low gambler in the cribs of the south-west, the go-be 
 tween of the debauched savage and ferocious white ; 
 he the prime cause of race antipathies and rankling 
 hates. 
 
 Mary and Whack returned to their starting-place, 
 talking fast, he protesting, and she with a warning 
 finger. 
 
 "I have a right, Charley, to speak to you as a sister; 
 such I ve been to you and such I hope to be ever. 
 Take care, don t trifle ; she s not the girl for you ; 
 she s artful, and when too late you might find that 
 
THE STORY OF THE HAUNTED CABIN. 53 
 
 something had changed your nature in a minute, and 
 you d be lost." 
 
 r? But, Mary," he said, " you re too fast." 
 
 " Don t let that be said of you ; now I m going to the 
 cabin alone, for some flowers." 
 
 "Til go with you ; it s a long tramp from here." 
 
 tf No, never mind; I ve been there often alone." She 
 feared what might be thought of their going together, 
 as too close an intimacy. Had Beck been there he 
 would have followed her with his rifle ready, but Mary 
 felt safe in the love of all who knew her. 
 
 And, as she tripped away, the two Indians, unseen, 
 rode off on their ponies. 
 
 On the path she had taken, the ruin lay sleepily 
 quiet ; the fitful shade around it fell away in graceful 
 curves. All forms of delicious color, from the scarlet 
 hues of a low, western sun, to the far-off specs of 
 beauty, one by one were singled out; the emerald and 
 the ruby, plumes of crimson, the feathery and winged 
 floss, waved in myriad sprays of light. And Whack 
 watched every step of the gentle girl, as she sped along, 
 swinging her little straw hat. Then he turned slowly 
 toward the camp, as her form, in a flood of sunshine, 
 disappeared. . 
 
 Beck had sauntered into camp again, and the Judge, 1 
 ever alert upon the chances of a politician, and in ac 
 cordance with the day s arrangements , had now drawn 
 the crowd around him. In the ancient form of a 
 stump speech he made hay while the sun lasted, and he 
 was near the close of his harangue, when, nearing the 
 
54 SNAP. 
 
 camp, the teamster, Legs, was heard hailing at the top 
 of his voice. 
 
 The trader and the scout were standing on the edge 
 of the crowd, and on the instant Beck s muscular form 
 seemed knotted to spring beyond its common height. 
 
 "Sumpiu s happened," he said in a husky voice; 
 " Where s Mary ? " 
 
 " Where s Mary ? " was repeated. 
 
 " Gone to the cabin," said Whack. 
 
 By this, the lad, running an almost breathless race, 
 drew near. 
 
 " Gone ! gone ! " he shouted. 
 
 "Gone ! " The word was taken up and retold, while 
 Cheviteau drew the exhausted boy into the crowd. 
 
 " Speak quick," he said, trembling in the white heat 
 of fear and suspense. 
 
 Again the ominous syllable, " Gone ! " 
 
 " Can t you talk straight. Who s gone ! " 
 
 A moment s silence for breath, then the lad s pale 
 face looked up and he answered : 
 
 " Bill Cart wright an yer darter ! " 
 
THE PIRATES CAPTURE. 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE PIRATE S CAPTURE. 
 
 OUT of the golden light into the shadow, out of the 
 shadow into utter darkness, so danger followed Mary, 
 enfolding her like night, as she bent above the violets 
 and bluebells ; a swift, black frown of Me seen in the 
 faces of the flowers ; a cloud-like, dismal ill, closing 
 in her life, on the instant, to a narrow span of pain ; a 
 clutch like the vulture s, deep and vital. 
 
 "Open yer mouth," hissed Cartwright, as he threw 
 a blanket over her head and his arms held her fast, 
 "I ll brain ye with my pistol." 
 
 Through all her border-life she feared that some 
 mischance might bend her spirit to a rigid test, but 
 her native, air-fed strength, and that stronger trust 
 besides in will to bear and suffer and be brave, had 
 like an armor girded her. She felt the cold steel 
 touch her shoulder ; it waked her latent courage, and 
 dashing the blanket aside, she stood alone, defiant. 
 
 "How dare you! how dare you!" she repeated 
 with crimson cheek and quivering lip. 
 
 Springing out of the man s grasp with a sudden 
 wrench, the brute was amazed. 
 
 "H yar now," he snarled, f give in, you d better," 
 
56 5A:yy. 
 
 fearful to lay hands on the calm, steel-nerved young 
 Spartan facing him- " you d better, or it mought be 
 wus for ye ; I se got nothink agin ye gal, mind that ; 
 wen yer ole man comes down to make us squar, I ll 
 give ye up an not afore." 
 
 "It s worth your life to hold me," hinting that he 
 would be slain if he did not yield, or was caught, "do 
 you count on that?" she asked, folding her arms. 
 "I allus take that chence." 
 
 " What s your price ? " She ventured the question to 
 gain time, casting about her in a thousand flash-like 
 schemes. 
 
 "Price ! well, a cool thousand or two, I reckon ; dus 
 ye mean bisnis?" 
 
 " Is that what you want ? " 
 
 " Yes, that ar all I se arter ; money ar the tiling 
 gal." 
 
 During this brief, shrewd parley and it brought 
 her a world of comfort she saw the one sordid 
 motive of the wretch. From her kindness to him in 
 her father s service, and from his manner now, she 
 gleaned the belief that her capture, bad as it was, was 
 the worst of his wicked design. 
 
 "If that is what you want, Bill Cartwright, listen 
 to me; I ll pay the money. Let inc go, and I will 
 promise it." 
 
 "You!" he excLiimed, the scowl clearing away for 
 an instant as he looked at her steadily ; "gal, I d trust 
 ye fer a mil run, but you keiit ; don t I k now, so don t 
 tek on, an dry up." 
 
THE PIRATES CAPTURE. 57 
 
 He whistled thrice through his lingers, when two 
 Indians on their ponies rode out of the hollow near 
 by, the same redskins who left the camp and who 
 had been often fed from her father s bounty. They 
 led the mustang of their leader and the scout s mare, 
 stolen while grazing where he had fastened her picket- 
 pin but an hour before. By signs they made known 
 how they came by the catch. 
 
 "Luck," said the pirate, grinning coarsely with a 
 lively faith in Chance, as a deity to be worshipped. 
 
 Mary now saw that to submit was the one sole 
 alternative, in which the airiness of her disposition 
 began to fade. Still, she held patiently to the belief 
 that no other harm than a cruel captivity, how long 
 she knew not, was in store. She tried hard to keep 
 back the teeming fancies of fear and hope, the troop 
 ing thoughts of her home and friends, the ever wake 
 ful doubts that she might the better plan an escape 
 from the peril. Could she give a signal? What if 
 she screamed or ran? Would he shoot her down? 
 What if when mounted she dashed oft" at the risk of 
 her life? She weighed and turned each thought, for 
 there is no faint or spasm in the bravery of a border- 
 bred girl, but in her captor s look she saw a purpose 
 not to be trifled with ; she was completely in the power 
 of a brute and savages, he worse than they ; nor wtis 
 she allowed to dwell upon her miserable mischance. 
 Cartwright motioned for the mare to be brought. 
 
 "Now, gal, mount; thar s no time fer foolin, an 
 throw this round ye, fer we se gwyne ter ride all 
 
58 
 
 night." He handed a blanket to Mary and was about 
 to raise her to the saddle, when she sprang from him. 
 
 "I ve warned you, Cartwright, not to touch me; if 
 you do, I ll call the ghosts from the cabin to protect 
 me." She had spoken hastily, girl-like, in a weak 
 threat, but it struck deeper than she knew. A super 
 stitious awe seemed to blanch the villain s face. He 
 looked over his shoulder, as though he feared she had 
 seen some specter in the ruin behind him. 
 
 "Ain t thar a boss all saddled fer ye; wat makes 
 wimmin so tickler, anyway?" He seemed willing 
 enough not to provoke what charm her purity might 
 have with unseen spirits, ;md permitted her to lead the 
 mare to a stump and seat herself in the saddle. Wav 
 ing his hand, one Indian took the lead, the other the 
 rear, placing their captive in line between them. Cart- 
 wright, with a leap, crossed his mustang, and after a 
 glance at his rifle, he looked up. 
 
 " Git ! " he growled ; and as they moved off he fol 
 lowed. 
 
 Just then the young teamster, Legs, made his way 
 through the shrubbery. Hearing the voice of his for 
 mer boss, and shrinking with fright at what he saw, he 
 crawled behind a stump to rest his rifle. It was a sight 
 to have unnerved the bravest heart in camp. The sur 
 prising boldness of the kidnapper, and the danger of 
 the girl, so well-beloved, would have flurried the best 
 among them. Legs raised his gun and leveled it, but 
 as he ranged on the thief, the sight-line led to Mary 
 further on ; he changed place for better aim, but Cart- 
 
THE PIRATES CAPTURE. 59 
 
 wrigjit in a rambling gait, seemed to shift his form so 
 as to expose her to an unsteady shot. The boy s wits 
 forsook him, his hands trembled, and the distance from 
 his mark rapidly widened. Down the ravine, over a 
 path leading to the river growing wider and smoother, 
 the thief and his party quickened pace. The teamster 
 sprang to his feet, fled to the camp, shouting his 
 shrill alarm. 
 
 In the grasp of Cheviteau the boy dealt a hard, fell 
 blow in the words he uttered. The old man staggered 
 back ; there was frantic haste in talk of the men around 
 him, and the women circled about the form of Lu, who 
 had fainted. Chloe went about clapping her hands, 
 frenzied at the fault of having prophesied truly, and 
 the crowd began, one and all, to wear the look of des 
 perate men. 
 
 " Mount, boys ; I ll give a thousand to the one " 
 said the trader, gaining strength and voice. For this 
 little moment Beck stood apart, stung to the quick of 
 his free, unfettered nature, and with pained impatience 
 in his face, he strode into the group. 
 
 " Stop ! " It was a stern command, and there was 
 silence ; "don t budge an inch ; not a man." 
 
 " What fer, John Beck ? " hurriedly asked Cheviteau, 
 flushed with anger. 
 
 fr Leave it to me ; I ll bring her back. Don t you 
 see what the hell-cat is after? He d draw the whole 
 camp out, to steal in and burn down the settlement. 
 Don t you see his dodge ? A crowd will make him hide. 
 If I ain t back in three days, follow me along the 
 
60 SNAP. 
 
 Divide. Double your guards and hold the camp ; here, 
 "Whack and Jump, get ready ; I want the big sorrel 
 for the trip." 
 
 The boys had been silenced, for the wit s-end in 
 youth is in facing sudden fright. Beck s forte was to 
 do the right thing at the right time and place ; he kneAV 
 what to seek, what to avoid ; there was scarcely any 
 thing he could not endure. 
 
 " Which horse for me ? " asked Whack. 
 
 tf The roan ; give Jump the grey ; both have bottom 
 and speed ; arm yourselves ; thar ll be lively times, I 
 reckon. Heah," he went on, motioning to the team 
 ster who brought the news ; " which way did Cart- 
 wright head ? " 
 
 "Down the crick to the river." 
 
 " To the river," he muttered, walking fast ; " then 
 he ll hide." 
 
 At the house, Lu was attended by Chloe and Mrs. 
 Garrulson, and the stories of the latter of similar trials, 
 distorted from a supple memory, had in a measure 
 composed her ; but on seeing Beck she ran to him 
 tearfully, wringing her little white hands. 
 
 "Will they kill her, Mister Beck? Oh, my, what 
 will we all do? Now she s gone we all know what 
 it is to be without her ! Oh, Mollie, Mollie ! " 
 
 "Keep heart, chile; thar ll be no killin of her, I 
 reckon. Somebody else iriought get hurt, if he keeps 
 on a foolin." 
 
 "Will you bring her back safe? Will you, Mister 
 Beck, do tell me?" 
 
THE PIRATE S CAPTURE. 61 
 
 "Yes," ho said, stamping the ground heavily, "heah, 
 to the old porch again, cep, maybe, well, never 
 mind." He was reflecting that it might cost his own 
 life, as he made his way to the office, in haste. 
 
 None who stood in the startled crowd when the hoy s 
 cries brought all to their feet, felt the force of what the 
 lad said like Doctor Tom ; stab-like, piercing, it struck 
 his heart, and he it was who jumped to the trader s 
 help, with a brotherly impulse, in kindred sympathy ; 
 he it was who held that the scout was right, who 
 stilled the rising rage to reason ; for he felt that the 
 cool, sturdy sense of Beck was the surety of Mary s 
 rescue. 
 
 " Save your advice, it s out of place here," he replied, 
 snappishly, to the Judge, and turned about to aid the 
 men in mounting. 
 
 The scout was ready ; he caught up his rifle, 
 strapped it over his shoulder, with his powder-horn 
 and pouch ; then belting his blouse he spoke to the 
 boys who had joined him. 
 
 " Sling your pieces ; the nags must be let out, 
 and you ll want both hands ; get blankets ; we ll be 
 off." 
 
 The Colonel galloped up with the horses. Then 
 came the order to mount, as Beck threw himself into 
 the saddle, drawing a strong check on his sorrel. 
 
 "Let out, lads." There was a rasping sound of 
 hoofs, then each sprang forward. 
 
 "Give em head, and spur deep till daybreak," 
 called out the old man, as he stood straining his sight 
 
62 
 
 on the fading forms speeding away over the prairie, 
 his heart gleamless as the blackness coining on. As 
 the darkness deepened, the voice of the guard was 
 heard : 
 
 " Nine-o -gluck ; ull-ish-rycht ! "--" All is right," 
 it mocked him, painfully. 
 
 The kidnapper signed to the dusky thief in the lead 
 to take a shadow-covered trail along the river bank 
 under the bluff, and pursuing it, they soon came upon 
 a drift-wood barrier at the font of a beetling cliff. 
 Here he broke his way through the stubble, and they 
 entered a dark, water-drenched cave and dismounted. 
 Cartwright left them huddled together in the gloom, 
 warned to silence, and hastily turning back to where 
 the debris had been upturned and thrown aside, he re- 
 closed the passage so as to deceive the best practised eye. 
 It was the trick of a fox, but the visage of the man was 
 that of a wolf, as he stretched himself at the. cave- 
 mouth, peering through the brush. There he awaited 
 the later moon-lit hours, hoping to wear away the pry 
 of a search. 
 
 On his horse, Beck, in the full liberty of action, 
 a recklessness of freedom, fed the strongest passion 
 of his nature. If not at times, genial as a companion, 
 he was always a spirited guide, and to return Mary 
 safely, upon the bond of his word, lent a glorious 
 frenzy to his ride. As he and his comrades dashed on 
 through the perfumed shade, the hoof-strokes stirring 
 the odors of the sod, he spoke to them often. 
 
THE PIRATES CAPTURE. 63 
 
 "Lean forward, boys, and set easy for a long run." 
 At the haunted cabin they drew up. 
 
 " Whack," he said, as they were about to separate, 
 "you and Jump keep right on, hipitisplit. Mind 
 what I ve told you, boy. I ll strike back to the river- 
 line the wolf thinks we ve opened on a wrong scent 
 and I ll drive him out, and follow, Avhileyou must cross 
 him. So long." Speaking sharply to his horse, he 
 was soon out of siffkt. 
 
 e-/ 
 
 The scout felt sure that Cartwright did not dare to 
 take a straight course, to be seen from the post on the 
 wide open prairie, and that he had dodged ; that his 
 round-about circuit would be by the river, thence to 
 the Divide by another road, and his own plan was to 
 hang close on the other s heels, trail him, follow him 
 out of the valley to where the boys would confront 
 him at the cross-road, on the ridge. He dashed out of 
 the darkness of the ravine, rode to the bluff-line, and 
 drew rein. He had drawn up above the hiding-place 
 of the thief. 
 
 Mary stood in the narrow prison, watched and 
 warned by the fierce, furtive glances of the redskins, 
 and hardly dared to breathe. The stillness was un 
 broken, save by the seething of the pools or the 
 buzz of the gnats. Now, in the light of the rising 
 moon she saw the distant outlook, the outstretched 
 arms of the grove-trees, but she closed her eyes and 
 pressed her hands hard upon her heart. 
 
 In his ambush, holding his horse s head, Beck kept a 
 long, silent watch. At last, in his steady search, he 
 
64 
 
 saw below him on the river-brink, forms moving 
 stealthily in the shadow ; he saw them mount and 
 steal away. On sight he knew them. Beck had once 
 seen the cave, and his instinct led him to it; now he 
 counted the riders as they took the trail. He was 
 astride his thoroughbred in abound, and with the speed 
 of the wind vanished from the bluff. 
 
 The Indians turned often to look back, but not a 
 word was spoken ; the thief merely motioned and they 
 pressed on for hours. Hiding into a clearing or park, 
 in the river-bend, he signed to them to dismount. The 
 place was a deserted post ; a few rotting sheds marked 
 the spot where the fortunes of some trader had been 
 wrecked in a night, the treachery of the swift current 
 forming a sand-bar, and cutting off approach to the 
 landing. Here a grass-grown road diverged towards 
 the Divide. 
 
 Mary permitted the ruffian s shoulder to support her 
 as she jumped down ; not that she was less resolute 
 nor he less repulsive to her, but from a hard ride 
 weariness, needing aid ; and as her hand fell listlessly, 
 it touched the handle of his sheath-knife ; there was a 
 quick movement, and the blade unnoticed slipped into 
 her dress pocket. 
 
 The animals were allowed a drink and a roll, and the 
 thief stretched himself likewise on the hard gravel. 
 He sprang up to lave his face at the river s brink, and 
 wetting his throat from a flask, he gave his pals a bite 
 of hard bread and jerky, then ordered them off. 
 
 Kit swayed down to receive Mary in the saddle. 
 
THE PIRATE S CAPTURE. G5 
 
 Folding the blanket about her head and shoulders she 
 rode to her place between the Indians ; on a sign they 
 turned into a road. Mary had listened for a eheering 
 sound, for she knew that Beck would throw his very 
 soul into the pursuit. But the silence gave no token. 
 
 They had ridden far and fast, through the night, 
 when another halt was gruffly ordered at a spring by 
 the wayside ; it gushed forth from a thick growth of 
 tangled weeds and briars, upon which the moonlight 
 streamed. 
 
 ."Ef yer want a drink, cold as ice, thar it is," said 
 the pirate, and he bade Mary get down and wait till he 
 filled a horn-flask. He was groping among the brambles 
 to the fountain-head, when suddenly a loud, wierd 
 scream rang out on the still bright air ; a scream as of 
 some fiend in the caves of earth, shrieking to forbid the 
 wretch s touch upon its waters. All at once there 
 rose in the light a tall, gaunt, spectral form, almost 
 fleshless ; a ghastly, ghostly figure madly threw up its 
 naked arms, and its white locks and beard, matted and 
 snarled, fell about it like a vesture. Springing to full 
 height, its shape, clad in patches of cloth and blanket, 
 the long bony fingers tugged at a girdle for a weapon, 
 and finding none, tore its hair in frenzy. 
 
 " Back, back, you lip-lapping cayote ; hell s curses 
 on YOU, go back ! " then the nightmare vanished, creep 
 ing in the brush like a beast of prey. 
 
 One Indian touched his forehead and both were 
 silent, and as Mary glanced down at her feet she saw 
 Cartwright crouching there, a frightened animal. She 
 
66 
 
 had heard of the wild man, and knew the fear of him 
 which many held. 
 
 "It ar the dead, the dead," the pirate whispered in 
 a coarse voice, large drops of sweat standing on his 
 face^ as he covered it with his hands. "1 kent shake 
 it ; its bar is like windin-sheet, and its eyes like Texas 
 cattle s." 
 
 Wrapped in the same bright beams, wherein the 
 hideous shade had risen, Mary s form and face like a 
 fair spirit s seemed to guard the peace of the night. 
 
 rf Vengeance is on your track, Bill Cartwright ; will 
 you hear me? You can be better, braver, bad as you 
 are." 
 
 A drink from a liquor-flask had called back his 
 courage. 
 
 "Don t yer preach ; that I hates the wus kind ; ef I 
 are a bad man kent yer keep shet about it? Mount," 
 he called out, savagely. 
 
 And Beck had seen it all not a fathom s length away 
 from Mary ; he stared at her with an earnest, loyal 
 look from his. shelter behind a rock. 
 
 The kidnappers rode on under the far-reaching si<rht 
 of the scout, who saw them at a long distance disap 
 pear in a grove. Never before was the contrast 
 stronger between the man s power and patience, his 
 ease and vigilance, as when he loosed his horse, and in 
 the love of his wild life, he was off like a flash. His 
 course was at an angle from the road to the lower out- 
 skirt of the little wood, in which the thief s party dis 
 appeared. Where the thicket-growth hid him, lie rode 
 
THE PIRATE S CAPTURE. 67 
 
 fiercely, or when screened by the high, moss-grown 
 rocks, he held his horse hard, in a furious quest, yet 
 noiselessly, and only the birds und r the leaves knew 
 of his presence. He got down, tied up, threw 
 a blanket over his nag s head, then crawled near 
 enough to search the grove. What he saw in the faint 
 light of the dawn made, his brave heart for once stand 
 still. 
 
 Meantime the young aides of the scout were rising 
 from the springy soil of the valley, and Hearing the top 
 of a ridge. Known as the Great Divide, by some called 
 the Big Backbone, it ran obliquely across the plateau 
 of the prairie, contrived to serve the needs of traffic. 
 From its hard gravel the hoof-clatter echoed back upon 
 the silent lowland, as they sped along, leaving behind 
 landmarks that noted their speed. 
 
 "You see," said Whack, "they ve got water handy 
 to freshen up on," he spurred his horse and the two 
 increased their speed. 
 
 " What road has Bill taken ? " asked Jumper, not 
 knowing the course laid down for them to follow. 
 
 lie s taken the river road, we reckon, but will turn 
 sharp for the west, and on this trail, further on, we ll 
 cross him, while Beck conies up in the rear. They re 
 three, and we re three, the best must win ; can you 
 count that up, old pen-scratcher? Draw up, Jump, 
 we ll let em champ the grass a mi nit ; " the boys got 
 down and stripped their animals. 
 
 Jump pointed to a rock jutting out from the hillside, 
 "there s water there, let s get behind it." 
 
68 SNAP. 
 
 "You see right well, for a bookkeeper, in the dark ; 
 if water was at the root of the grass, it would be high 
 as your shoulder, but "he stopped short, grasping 
 his companion s arm ; " listen," he whispered. 
 
 Above the hum of the mites, the drone of the beetle, 
 a sound, at first far off, seemed to draw nearer, quickly. 
 Loud voices were heard, broken by laughter and the 
 jingle of spurs. 
 
 " Look to your horse and traps, Jump ; " in another 
 moment they were hidden behind the rock; "stand 
 close in, take a turn of your lariat round your horse s 
 nose ; are you ready ? " 
 
 "Yes," answered the other. 
 
 r? Throw your blanket over his head ; take care 
 easy ; hold tight, lay your left hand near his nose ; 
 right." 
 
 Now, close at hand, the tramp of hoofs and jingling 
 of spurs were heard, and a voice, high above all, cried 
 loudly : 
 
 " Hi, mula ! vamo, carajo ! " as a pack-train was 
 driven furiously past their retreat. 
 
 " H-sh, " cautioned Whack ; after a while he added, 
 aloud, " they ve gone down to the valley on the other 
 side." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 "Can t you foot up that; oh, you re a jumper; if 
 they were scratching gravel on the road wouldn t you 
 hear em ; well, as you don t hear em on the road, 
 they must be off it ; that s the sum total, rooster ; " the 
 sounds grew fainter and fainter. 
 
THE PIRATE S CAPTURE. 69 
 
 "What kind of gang- is it, anyway, Whack?" 
 
 " Land-pirates, certain ; some train has been robbed 
 since nightfall ; Injins do the stealing and these cusses 
 buy from them ; they must have a crib not far off, and 
 what puzzles me is, these Mexicans so far from their 
 bee-line along the Divide, and so far east ; but let s 
 mount ; we ve got no time for cyphering." 
 
 " Why did you blindfold the horses?" 
 
 " Blindfold em ! " Whack laughed outright ; "that ll 
 do for apen-plower ; they were muzzled, gummy ; you 
 see, Jump, if one horse sees another in the night, he ll 
 whinny, sure; well, the blanket stops all that, if you 
 hold it tight about his nose ; and, if he can -t see, he s 
 got sense enough to stand still. Cover your rifle-cock 
 from the damp ; if it misses, somebody at the other 
 end of it mightn t miss you ; it makes a big difference, 
 Jump." 
 
 Once more upon the hard, white road they spurred 
 on, and crossing a creek, they again ascended to the 
 highway, and held their pace till daylight. 
 
 " Here s the cross road, at last, Jump ; see, it comes 
 up out of the valley ; we ll tie up here, till Beck is 
 heard from." 
 
 On the lower side of a briar-wood clump they found 
 water, and there unsaddled. As Whack turned to re 
 gain the ridge, looking up he saw in the dim, morning 
 light, the lean ghost which had crossed the path of Cart- 
 wright. He whispered to his companion : 
 
 "It s the wild man of the wilderness, and I ll speak 
 to him." 
 
70 SNAP. 
 
 "Has he any sense? " asked Jump, very naturally. 
 
 "Sometimes plenty of it ; he s mad on one thing 
 only ; and hangs about the trains praying like a beg 
 gar for a knife or gun ; he never gets one. Wait." 
 
 With hands uplifted, the poor distraught inveighed 
 against the vipers of the earth, the wolves in sheep s 
 clothing. Again he spoke in altered voice, tenderly, 
 as one in sane mood would to a wife or child, and he, 
 to some dear vision of his memory. Whack laid his 
 hand upon the creature s shoulder, speaking kindly, in 
 the vein of his mania. 
 
 " Be strong to fight your enemies ; come man, and 
 eat ; " the lunatic followed him without a word. At the 
 spring the boys gave him bread, and Whack, in the 
 same strain, to denote that he shared the wretch s sor 
 rows in his own, spoke again, slowly. 
 
 "My sister has been stolen, and our home is broken 
 up." 
 
 On the instant the wild man threw away his bread 
 and sprang to his feet; staring hard, he seized the 
 speaker s arm. 
 
 " Come here ! come here ! " he screamed, dragging 
 Whack at his heels. On the highway, shading his 
 eyes with trembling hands, he at last pointed to the 
 valley. 
 
 "See the smoke, yonder aAvay?" 
 
 The other, straining his ;aze as the morning mist 
 
 o o o 
 
 like a curtain rolled up in the distance, was able to trace 
 a curl of blue vapor, rising slowly. 
 "I see it." 
 
THE PIRATE S CAPTURE, 71 
 
 "It s the smoke from hell s hot-house," roared the 
 tramp; "there the serpents writhe in and out, in 
 and out; go there, you ll find her; I saw her in the 
 night ; he took her there." 
 
 " Who took her there ? " exclaimed the young man 
 excitedly. 
 
 " The fiend , the robber ; the lion which devours ; the 
 tiger with his prey ; the devil and his whelps, Bill 
 Cart wright ; go there, you ll find the gal ; give me a 
 gun, I ll go." 
 
 " I have no gun to give you, my good friend, but, " 
 before he answered the vagrant was gone, running 
 wildly ; his arms cleaving the air, his voice that of loud 
 supplication. 
 
 " Smite ! smite ! oh, ye hosts. Let down the ven 
 geance held in wrath : vengeance, vengeance ! " 
 
 " Come quick, Jump," and when they stood together, 
 Whack said : 
 
 " Mary Cheviteau is yonder, in that grove, down in 
 the valley." 
 
 "There s where the pirates headed for, I reckon." 
 
 "True enough; they crossed lower down, but bore 
 away for that crib ; poor Mary ! " 
 
 " What will you do ? " 
 
 "Wait for Beck, if we wait till doomsday; come 
 here." 
 
 Whack pointed to a rock-mound near by, hidden and 
 shaded, and there the boys, leveling their pieces 
 ranged on the valley road, stretched themselves, wait 
 ing and watching. 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SCOUT S RESCUE. 
 
 THE Mexican packers who rode the fierce scamper 
 over the Divide, were, as Whack believed, a gang of 
 train-robbers fresh from the haunts of plunder. They 
 were bearing its fruits to their crib, from whence the 
 smoke ascended. This den, built of heavy, squared 
 logs, circled by a brushwood shelter, was hidden in a 
 close, thick-set brush-growth. A boundary of rocks, 
 overgrown with the high grass of summer, enclosed 
 the grove. The place was made to serve as a store 
 house for stolen goods, bought up by train-robbers 
 from thieving Indians.* The captain of this bold gang, 
 from the far south-west a young, saffron-colored 
 cut-throat, was a rogue of the Spanish type ; a crafty 
 but trifling chief, and was obeyed by his gang as best 
 suited their moods. Not so his slave-wife Josefina, 
 ordered to hasten breakfast, who heeded his command, 
 at once. 
 
 The pirates unloaded their packs while their leader, 
 
 * Collusion with Indians in the nefarious business of ox-train 
 robbery by bands of desperate thieves, is well known. The use of 
 a pack-train for such a purpose was not common, but several well 
 authenticated stories are told of their use in this way. 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 73 
 
 caressing his mule, made a singular show of affection 
 and malice, which the Mexican contrives to heap upon 
 his beast. 
 
 "Companion of mine, friend of my soul," he said, 
 kissing the shaggy face of the ugly hybrid. 
 
 "Beautiful as a girl, my heart;" still patting the 
 neck and the dark cruciform on the spine and 
 shoulders. 
 
 "You little, little mouse. This he meant for its 
 size and color, also the wide difference from the Amer 
 ican breed, in lighter and swifter limbs, and a play 
 fulness less rash in the rear foot. 
 
 While he talked, his manner changed from a mild 
 rebuke to tragic blasphemy ; wherein the backbones 
 and toenails of all the saints in the calendar were 
 invoked with fearful oaths, and the pet of the moment 
 before became the pitiful victim of the lash. 
 
 Suddenly the crowd sent up a loud, lewd noise of 
 jabber and shout, laughter and jest, when Cartwright, 
 his pals and the captive rode into their camp. It was 
 a welcome out of joint, for without a word the kid 
 napper dismounted. He had no thought of meeting 
 the gang at such a time ; the theft of Mary was not a 
 crime in common, and he was quite proud to feel that 
 it was his own, of his own peculiar dash, and for his 
 own pockets, only. Sullenly he gave his horse in 
 charge of the Indians, and held Kit as Mary 
 alighted. 
 
 Glancing at the swarm of cut-throats who eyed her 
 keenly, her spirits wavered, almost hopelessly. Brave 
 
74 SNAP. 
 
 as she was, she felt deeply the wrench of fate ; looks 
 were set upon her that she feared less than .-he abhor 
 red, and it was a pitiful strait for so good, so true a 
 nature. Trial sharpened every emotion ; the faee of 
 her mother was an ever-present vision ; the voiee of 
 her father rang in her ears, and the manly form of 
 Beck was remembered as of one among the dead. 
 
 Little she knew or thought, as with an effort of the 
 will she turned her face sternly to defy the worst, that 
 the eyes of him whose shadow seemed to fade away, 
 were bent upon her with a glaring gaze. He stared in 
 upon the scene that for an instant stilled every pulse 
 of his being. Prone, at full length, peering along the 
 barrel of his rifle through a rocky crevice, he felt his 
 muscles twitch and spring ; his hand tightened as he 
 saw the tears, in a brief outburst, course the beauty- 
 lines of Mary s check ; he thrilled, strained, bit his lip 
 deeply, but still he watched and waited. 
 
 Josefina, the round-faced, copper-hued woman, in 
 the forties of her frail years, whose saucy mouth and 
 fine teeth gave a generous touch to a happy look, sat 
 near by. She was coaxing the damp chips to blaze, 
 and the smoke therefrom was the far-away sign pointed 
 out to Whack by the wild man. Now and then she 
 turned to scan the sad features of the girl before her, 
 a little jealously, for with a toss of her turban she as 
 much as said : 
 
 " As the looks of me, no, no ; me of the fandan 
 go, she of the whiter kind, the Mother s child, no 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 75 
 
 no ; " if piqued for the instant, she curbed the feeling 
 smilingly as she sang : 
 
 "Las ninas del Durango, 
 Conmigo bailandos 
 Al cielo saltaudas 
 En el fandango en el fanclang." 
 
 While Cartwright, having led the mare off, was 
 pinning her picket rope in a park near the skirt of the 
 wood, the Mexicans had drawn round the cook and 
 her companion. It was well that the ears of Mary 
 were dumb to the loose words that fell from their lips, 
 when the dandy captain strode up to where she sat, 
 and without warning, touched her cheek. So bold an 
 insult in effect was as fire to powder. Springing to 
 her feet, her burning face aglow, she drew the knife 
 and held it raised : 
 
 " Stop ! " The one word only, spoken loudly, calmly, 
 coldly, and the ruffian drew back. 
 
 Beck was on his feet ready to fire ; his form erect, 
 quivering. He took deadly aim at the villain s head ; 
 prudence to the winds, he was ready for the grapple 
 hand to hand, but the voice of Cartwright stayed him. 
 In the pause of the instant, Mary s conscience stirred, 
 and all womanly, she trembled like a leaf. 
 
 Casting off his coat, with pistol drawn, she saw the 
 fellow Hearing them. 
 
 "Don t fire, don t fire, "she had but time to say. 
 He came on with a bound, his weapon down, to deal a 
 blow that might have felled an ox. He struck the 
 insulter down. 
 
76 SNAP. 
 
 " Ahind my back to crowd a little gal like that, you 
 pepper-fed sneak," he railed, with fearful oaths. 
 
 And Beck dropped his gun as he drew back, mutter 
 ing : 
 
 "Good enough; so Mary s safe, and now you re 
 cock of that heap, Bill ; I know you." 
 
 "Don t you be afeerd, gal," said the boss, as kindly 
 as he knew how ; and then he beckoned to his redskins. 
 Very soon thereafter they rode away on their ponies, 
 and the Mexicans, forewarned, feared the man. They 
 knew, should they slay him, before the day was done 
 a tribe would hound them to a bloodier fate. And the 
 knave went among them fearlessly, talked of plunder 
 and passed round his flask ; nor was it long before the 
 stricken bully swallowed his wrath on easy terms, and 
 played the dog for a drink. 
 
 Cartwright was surprised on meeting the pack-train 
 at the crib, and more so the scout, with a sharp and 
 strange alarm. The riddle worked out was this. The 
 boss had sent to the south-west border for the Mexicans 
 to come to him at a rendezvous named. He had con 
 spired with the tribe whose lands were in sight of the 
 post, and had led it on thieving raids. The spoil of 
 many bloody forays was in its keeping. 
 
 The gang had bought Cartwright s share, and the In 
 dians received their portion of the loot, and when the 
 trade was over he warned the packers to retreat out of 
 danger by the most direct route. But word came- to 
 him of the next day barbacue at Cheviteau s ; he left 
 the Indians hurriedly in quest of a chance to serve his 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 77 
 
 bitter hate. The Mexicans, lazily resting, held up 
 their departure till the following night, and then, 
 directed by the tribe, drove their train to the crib. 
 
 The affront to Mary softened the heart of Josefina ; 
 it melted in the warmth of her rancor towards the 
 brute, who mastered her and who was cowardly to the 
 girl. In trouble, women are more helpful one to another 
 than men, and she prevailed upon Mary to be seated near 
 her, as she piled up the tortillas or stirred the pot-mess, 
 reddened with pods of pepper. All the while, in the 
 musical flow of the Spanish, so richly expressive, she 
 prattled, lovingly. 
 
 " Come, dear little, little sister of mine ; eat, little 
 one ; little one, Josefina, the friend of you, says eat." 
 
 The words, though foreign, were seemingly pure, as 
 also the woman s manner and look, so that Mary was 
 won by the gentle eye and by the voice of sym 
 pathy. 
 
 Cartwright held the crowd in peace, planning his 
 villainy, and there was much in his boldness which 
 drew his listeners closer as he gabbled a mongrel 
 slang. But soon, as they needed rest, all had stretched 
 themselves under the shelter, save two, who, serving 
 as sentries, played cards while the others slept. 
 
 Mary bore up patiently with her new friend, but her 
 head drooped, do what she would to be watchful. At 
 last she gave up and followed Josefina to the cabin, 
 kneeling on the spread prepared for her comfort. Her 
 attitude, as a golden cross on the neck of the woman 
 fell into her hand and remained there, was such as to 
 
78 SNAP. 
 
 inspire her comrade, to call back to her a faint remem 
 brance of better days, as Mary s prayer ended and her 
 eyelids closed. Joscfina, awed and chastened by the 
 contact, drew the wearied one closer, and pillowed her 
 head, with a kiss. 
 
 "Sleep, little gem of the soul of me, in the love ot 
 the cross, baby, sleep." She sat for hours awake, re 
 vived by the touch of virtue. 
 
 Beck made a hasty search around him ; glancing at 
 the deserted camp-fire and at the sleeping thieves under 
 the shelter; at Mary, through the open door; at the 
 kidnapper near by, clutching his rifle as he slept ; at 
 the card-players on guard. He crawled out of the 
 thicket, to the skirt of brambles; he loosed the 
 picket-pin and girthed the blanket round his sorrel. 
 For a while, leading his horse, he crept along close 
 under the rocky wall, through the brush, and then 
 he mounted. 
 
 "They re too many for me now," he said, grasping 
 his rifle, then plying his spurs fiist on the flanks, as he 
 madly rode off towards the Divide, where he came 
 upon the boys and called them from their cover. 
 
 " Quick, lads ; I ve tracked em to a crib below ; 
 she s grabbed by pirates and a tribe of Injins ; they ll 
 come a boomin fore we know it." Whack and Jump 
 soon joined him with their horses, saddled. " Now 
 follow me, "he said, leading his sorrel back again to the 
 upper limit of the thicket, the boys at his heels with 
 their nags. 
 
 From a painful dream Mary waked, and looked 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 79 
 
 about her dazed and blinded by doubts ; she sprang to 
 the cabin-door, was about to pass out, when Cartvvright 
 met her. He let her pass, but followed her to the 
 camp-fire ; he spoke roughly, the sleepy, stupid 
 insolence after drink. He told her whither he would 
 take her, to some low bagnio of the heaven-forsaken 
 haunts of a Mexican town, and would hold her there 
 till her father ransomed her. She sank down by the 
 smouldering log-heap. 
 
 Beck and his boys concealed their horses, and made 
 all safe with the muzzle and picket-pin ; after which he 
 crept away to a close-grown cedar bush, nearer the 
 inner circle of the camp, and saw, through the web-like 
 cover, Mary and her captor. What moved him he 
 knew not, but a quick impulse, a gleam of purpose, 
 turned him back to his aides to direct them as his plan 
 was forming. He stationed Whack on the right, 
 Jump on the left, each in his own ambush and in sight, 
 having agreed upon signals. 
 
 There came a pause, an endless minute to the 
 spies, in which Beck seemed unnerved, bewildered, as 
 he discovered Kitty near at hand. All at once, as the 
 boys watched him, like a flash his face colored, lie 
 whistled very low to the mare, and she pricked her 
 oars; he whistled again and again, in his old, familiar 
 way, and the docile little beast neighed, stamped, 
 pulling hard on the lariat. The scout kept his eye on 
 Cart-wright ; he saw Mary point to Kitty, and by her 
 motions to tell of the mare s hunger. His heart quiv 
 ered as he hoped the man would come near the grasp 
 
80 SNAP. 
 
 of his hand ; he looked and saw instead, Mary rise, and 
 in a rapid walk start towards them ; then, with a hope 
 ful, manly smile, his face at once brightened. He 
 si^iied to the boys, in rapid movements of hands and 
 body, to aim at the thief; they leveled their pieces; 
 he signed again to fire if he followed her ; then he knelt 
 by the edge of the bush. Never in all the adventures 
 of his brave life had he felt such a feverish longing ; his 
 breath came by starts in the spasms of emotion. 
 
 None but a strong, devout woman could have played 
 Mary s part ; she played it grandly. As she drew 
 nearer and nearer, almost near enough for Beck s arms 
 to clasp her, he uttered a strong, calm whisper : 
 
 " H-s-h ! it s me John Beck ; look at the mare 
 straight ahead." 
 
 She started, drew up to her full height, came on, 
 as a gleam of hope shone in the sweet, young face, 
 flickering like the shade and shine of an April morn 
 ing. 
 
 H-s-h ! lead Kit behind this bush I ll save you ;" 
 he signed to the boys to join him. 
 
 Near ing the mare, Mary turned, motioned to Cart- 
 wright that she would lead the animal to graze further 
 on, the perfection of acting and courage combined. 
 She slowly untied the lariat, made a noose round the 
 nose, turned the hiding-place of the scout; turned and 
 stood at his side. 
 
 He grasped her in his arms, seized the rope, and in 
 another moment he was astride the mare, clasping 
 Mary ; he whispered to the boys to follow, riding 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 81 
 
 under the thicket shielding them, till they reached the 
 ridge. 
 
 "Quick, now; help Mary up behind me on the 
 sorrel ; mount and lead the mare ; hold tight." 
 
 " Look back," cried Whack, riding to the lead. The 
 scout turned his eyes to the for distance. 
 
 " It s the Injins Cartwright sent for ; spur deep." 
 
 The riders spared not, voice nor spur, in that race 
 for life along the Big Backbone. 
 
 On the Divide the gang saw far away the tribe 
 approaching in a run ; but the delay widened the dis 
 tance between the scout and the thief, and gave the 
 former s party the chance of a slip. 
 
 They had ridden hard for miles when Beck turned in 
 his saddle to call a halt at the top of a hill declining to 
 a creek. 
 
 "The beasts can t stand this lightnin, let s clown and 
 swap. We must keep Kit fresh; swab out their 
 mouths, Whack, and give em a swallow ; how do you 
 stand it, Mary ? " 
 
 "Well enough, I hope, Mister John, "she replied, as 
 she hardly dared to discourage her friends, though 
 almost ready to drop with fatigue. 
 
 "That s the way to talk; you ll make a scout yet. 
 We ve been a scratchin, boys, I tell you; " the horses 
 gave signs of hard work in their drooping heads and 
 foam-covered sides. Just then, looking back along the 
 trailing stretch of the hard, white road to the horizon, 
 Beck s quick eye caught a glimpse of dark objects 
 moving, and he spoke sharply : 
 
82 &v.-u>. 
 
 "It s them ; Cart Wright s gang has jincd the Injins ; 
 and they re a comin, boys, with hoop and yell. I ll 
 dodge em, Mary; trust to me." He took another 
 searching look at the pursuers. " Turn off the road," he 
 said, so they can t sight us ; Jump, help Mary down ; 
 lend a hand, Whack, and take the blankets off; be 
 quick." These were spread out in the direction of the 
 creek. "Mary," he continued, "when AVhackand Head 
 the horses to the edge of the spreads, you and Jumper 
 take up the loose ones and lay em out ahead." By 
 following his directions closely, they finally gained the 
 middle of the stream, without leaving any visible trace 
 behind them in the marshy soil. Beck tied a cord to 
 the last blanket, upon which he and his mare stood, and 
 threw it to Whack on his horse. Then he mounted, 
 leaped Kit into the water, and taking the cord from his 
 companion, with a strong jerk he drew the blanket to 
 his saddle bow. They moved on where the bottom was 
 sandy and even, and the water not up to the stirrup. 
 
 "It deepens here, boys," Beck said further on; 
 "hold their heads well up, and look to your pieces ; 
 here we go." 
 
 The horses took the current easily, and after a short 
 swim, landed their riders at the mouth of a canyon. 
 On a bar formed round a jutting rock-shed, they came 
 ashore. 
 
 " We re safe now for the night," said their leader, 
 helping Mary to dismount. 
 
 " If they miss the trail won t they turn back? " asked 
 his comrade Whack. 
 
THE SCOUTS RESCUE. 83 
 
 "No; Bill s too old a hound; he ll keep up the 
 hunt." 
 
 " How can he when the trail is lost ? " 
 
 "He ll keep straight on, scatter his gang and lay 
 low" 
 
 " If he get s off the trail how can he see us?" 
 
 " In daylight he can scan the whole country ; out of 
 this we strike the prairie." 
 
 "So we re only hiding for the night?" 
 
 " Jus so ; for you see, Whack, the Injins horses are 
 fresh, and they might have caught us, and at night we 
 can t be seen from the post." 
 
 "In daylight, you think, we have got a better 
 chance ? " 
 
 "Certain; for then our nags will be fresh; and if 
 the gang sight us, so will the Colonel ; he ll be in his 
 look-out, sure." 
 
 "Couldn t we push on along this creek?" asked 
 Jumper. 
 
 "No ; this leads out the wrong course, and we might 
 run afoul of em ; fightin in the night will do whar 
 there s no women." 
 
 "H-s-h!" whispered Mary, whose ear had caught 
 the sound of falling hoofs. 
 
 " What do you hear?" queried Whack. 
 " It s them," said Beck ; " stand by your horses 
 heads." 
 
 The sounds grew louder, but suddenly ceased 
 
 altogether. 
 
 "They ve lost us ;" the scout spoke low, listening. 
 
84 SNAP. 
 
 " What are they doing, Mister John ? " asked Mary. 
 
 "Thar s jus daylight enough for em to see the trail 
 break off, and it puzzles em." 
 
 "Do you think they could find us?" she asked in a 
 womanly way, more timid when comparatively safe 
 than when in imminent danger. 
 
 "The Injins might, but they won t." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "A white man s leading em; if an Injin led, I d 
 feel unsafe." 
 
 " What am they doing now?" joined in Jump. 
 
 " They ve broke up into squads for a search ; that s 
 their calls ; " shout after shout was repeated. A clear, 
 loud voice rang out, and soon beyond the creek, again 
 was heard the tramp of feet, and gradually the sounds 
 died out. 
 
 " He s led off his pack ; " exclaimed Beck. 
 
 f Have they gone?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And we re safe," cried Mary, joyfully. 
 
 " Yes ; for the night ; what s the use for him to hunt 
 a blind trail in the dark ; unsaddle, boys." 
 
 Mary now urged by her companions to take rest, 
 and feeling its need sorely, consented ; she had but 
 touched the blanket spread for her, Avhen she fell into 
 a heavy sleep. 
 
 "Whack, why don t you stretch yourself; I ll stand 
 guard ; you and Jumper want a snooze." 
 
 "Not till she s safe ; see, she sleeps as if nothing had 
 happened." 
 
THE scours RESCUE. 85 
 
 "True grit, boys, I tell you ; well Mary ; s le s got 
 the pluck of a man, with the heart of a true woman." 
 
 He left them standing over the prostrate form, and 
 groped his way along the course of the stream. 
 
 Coming upon a cove, and near it a pasture waist- 
 deep in grass, he returned for the horses. He found 
 the boys, each seated at Mary s feet, and sound asleep. 
 
 "They can t help it," he said to himself, "it takes 
 years to harden the bones and limber the muscles for 
 sich a ride." 
 
 Now standing alone in position between the horses 
 and the sleepers, having an eye to both, he weighed 
 well the chances of their escape. 
 
 "I ve done all a brave man oughter do to get 
 round the use of my weepons," he reasoned, " but if 
 I must, I must, that ends it ; " how long he had stood 
 debating with himself, he knew not ; but on looking 
 up, he noticed the rising moon. 
 
 " Whack ! Jump ! " he called out. 
 
 "What is it?" cried the latter, placing himself at 
 the scout s side. 
 
 "Well done, youngster, you take a surprise without 
 a flurry ; come, boys, to saddle." 
 
 After the horses were brought, he said further : 
 
 " Strike a match and see to your guns ; Whoa, Kit ; 
 you little minx ; she s trying to git out er her skin ; 
 can you ride, Mary, without a saddle?" 
 
 "It wouldn t be the first time." 
 
 Beck girthed a blanket round the frisky mare and 
 helped her to a seat. 
 
86 SNAP. 
 
 " Hold your rifles ready ; now, Mary, ride bet ween 
 the boys, lean forward and keep her steady ; move 
 on. r 
 
 Striking a road through the valley, the light through 
 a rifted cloud found them in the open country ; in the 
 wide, solemn silence, without shelter from the lurking 
 foe. They rode on without a word, mile on mile 
 through the scent of the wild flowers. 
 
 " Day ll break on us in sight of the post ; let the 
 nags walk," Beck ordered. 
 
 "If we can only escape," Mary had hardly spoken, 
 when the scout, riding up, motioned quiet. 
 
 "I heard em," he said, in a low, firm voice; "it s 
 them on the Divide." 
 
 " Shall we spur up? " asked Whack. 
 
 " Grab the mare s bridle, both of you ; they ll come 
 n bilin soon as they sight us ; drive on." 
 
 " We can beat em, Mister John,* called out Mary. 
 
 Beck had fallen to the rear with his rifle cocked and 
 thrown across his left arm. All at once a yell, the 
 wild, shrill scream of the savage nomad, was caught 
 up and flung back by the bloodhounds from their lair. 
 
 " Keep a strong hand, boys, and break into a run," 
 shouted Beck. Gazing back into the hazy distance, 
 he saw the gang divided into two parties ; the foremost 
 were Indians. 
 
 tf Now for it, lads ; a rnn for life ; Mary, you re 
 safe " - the sentence was broken, but caught up in a 
 higher key ; " look thar, to the left." 
 
THE scours RESCUE. 87 
 
 From behind a mound, not fifty rods away, two 
 Indians dashed at him on their ponies. 
 
 "If that s your game, h yar s mine." Beck halted, 
 raised his rifle quickly, fired, and the savage in the 
 lead reeled and fell. Undaunted, the second redskin 
 held to the chase. Beck had but time to order : 
 
 " Give the mare her head and cock your pieces ; " he 
 drew his pistol, turning his sorrel to meet the foe. A 
 whizzing tomahawk struck his hat as he raised his 
 weapon and drew the trigger. Another stark and 
 bleeding redskin lay lifeless on the prairie green. 
 
 Then shout, and yell and curse, loud ringing oaths 
 and Spanish jargon, mingled with the snort of horses, 
 the stamp of feet were heard. 
 
 "They re gaining on us, boys ; spur deep for the last 
 heat." 
 
 "For the last heat, scout, here goes," cried Whack. 
 
 "Here goes." repeated Jumper, riding well. 
 
 And Kit, with Mary firmly seated, like a winged 
 speck on the broad expanse, shot ahead. 
 
88 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SUSPENSE THE RALI Y. 
 
 IT was true, as Lu had tearfully said of Mary, " Now 
 that she is gone we feel what it is to be without her." 
 Every nook in the lonely dwelling seemed to repeat 
 her words. The long, wide, dreary hall sounded to 
 the tread of feet with a mockery of its former life ; 
 even the porch-vines rustled not as when on quick- 
 paced duty she swept by them. The door of her room 
 stood open ; within there was a cheerless, wistful hush ; 
 the snowy curtains at the window, the patch- work quilt 
 and pillows wore a cold look. More lonesome than all 
 beside, the tuneless throat of the little bird encaged. 
 Scraps of needlework lay just as she had left them, the 
 clippings on the floor ; and on the back of a chair a 
 baby s frock, half finished. 
 
 Old Chloe, in her morning work, had left the once 
 cheery corner with sobs ; while she stood in the door 
 gazing in, she struggled hard against the mute, un 
 spoken sadness of its quietude ; against the harsh 
 voice of the Doctor s parrot without, breaking the 
 peace of the vacant hall. 
 
 " Mary ! M-a-r-y ! gone ! " it more than muttered, 
 to the dismay of the old servant. 
 
S USPENSE THE HALL Y. 89 
 
 "I se dun tole um so," she sighed, wiping her tear- 
 wet face, " dey tinks de ole niggah s got no sense, hut 
 I seed de chicken cliunb de fens, an scripsher am scrip- 
 slier." At her cabin, telling her sorrows to Cato, she 
 was not less heart-stricken; she dwelt with love long 
 cherished on the virtues of her lost "honey," from 
 Mary s childhood, and its little, winning ways, her 
 growth in grace and beauty to the full bloom of 
 womanhood, in which she had been torn away, at 
 every step her grief grew louder and she mourned 
 like one distracted. 
 
 "De Marster keeps her lection shoo, Cato; I se dun 
 tole yer so." 
 
 " An He will fetch things straight," said the voice of 
 Mrs. Garrulson behind her 
 
 "You specks de troof, Ole Miss; indeed yer dus," 
 she answered in an instant change of tone ; the words 
 had strengthened faith and banished woe. 
 
 The liking of the men for Mary was not a mere formal 
 show of respect ; each held to some kind act of hers, 
 as they sat about the camp at odds about her capture 
 and her rescue. Many things Avere said pro and con ; 
 Tim Murphy had more than once leaped to his feet to 
 blame them all for not joining the pursuit, " on their 
 own hook." 
 
 "May I niver see daylight agin," he said, excitedly, 
 "but I ll go, if yees will, an foller the scout." 
 
 " Beck ees reet, maun," answered Sandy, an older 
 head and a wiser one, "fer what wud ye all go? Gad, 
 eef Cart wright seed yees, dell a onct wud he stap 
 
00 SNAP. 
 
 atwix thees an Mexico ; yeer speereet s reel, me lad, 
 but tether yeer talk to rason." 
 
 That s the good of the loikes of us in camp," 
 replied Tim, "whin the tree of em an two bys at 
 that es a fight in a whole tribe, an Mary is ruined by 
 the baste?" 
 
 Xo, no no !" answered a score at once, all un 
 willing to harbor the thought. 
 
 "Xuthin kin hinder him." 
 
 "Yees, but theer es, tho," said Sandy; "his cow- 
 ardyce wud keep her safe ; I d jine ye, Tim, to flay 
 him alive weed the snap o the wheep." 
 
 " Och ! I don t got some beesnis wid dot boss some 
 more ; dcsh ish dot," joined in Heinrich, whose feel 
 ings labored hard with the language. 
 
 The coming of Legs to the circle cut short the 
 squabble, and with a message from the trader, who 
 had not been seen in the camp that day, he was list 
 ened to closely. 
 
 "Boys," he said, as they stood round him, "he ll ax 
 no work till his darter s back agin, an if she ain t h yar 
 afore to-morrer noon, he s gwyne to mount hisself ; 
 he il want us all to jine him." 
 
 "Be jabes, en that s the talk," cried Tim, taking it 
 all as favoring his side. 
 
 "Reet fer yees now, Tim; d yees tak me meenin? 
 ]>y the morrow s noon we ll all gae ; but the chiePll be 
 hame afore that." 
 
 " Have your bosses ready, and when he blows his 
 bugle mount an toiler him. I m off to let the Mexcans 
 
S USPEXSE THE RALL Y. 91 
 
 know," added the boy, and taking his way to the cat 
 tle-drove, the men dispersed. 
 
 The Judge and the Doctor had urged the Colonel in 
 vain, the previous night, to seek rest, nor could Lu 
 prevail upon him in the least. The strong man, with 
 his stout, fatherly heart, measured off the long hours. 
 His face had grown older since the morning, when, 
 among his people, it was so genial and brave. His 
 life had never known before such a mortal sense of 
 loneliness: his thoughts were in tumult; whether he 
 lived or dreamed he had scarcely sense to know, or 
 consciousness to wonder. At daylight he fled from 
 the thickening gloom of his house and hid himself in 
 his office. Seated in the small wing of the building, 
 he threw his hat upon the floor and turned his eyes 
 upon the walls, where the grim tokens of frontier 
 strife, hung there by his daughter s hand, were shorn 
 of their harsher display. Many hours, on many days, 
 Doctor Tom and Mary had spent together in assort 
 ing and grouping these oddities of border-Site, which 
 Chcviteau had laid by, in long years, to be placed in 
 this small museum. He scanned the whole collection, 
 as everything in some way gave him a fonder memory 
 of his child, as each and all bore the mark of her 
 tasteful arrangement. But he dwelt too long, as each 
 changing sight but added to his torment. In feverish 
 huste he seized his glass, springing up the ladder to his 
 perch in the outlook. 
 
 Lu had shown many very kind attentions to Mary s 
 father. She came to the office to know if she could 
 
92 SNAP. 
 
 be of further service in any way, and on going out she 
 locked the door. From the outside she called to him 
 and said : 
 
 "Colonel, I ve locked you in so that nobody may 
 trouble you; I ll throw the key through the win 
 dow, and if you want me I ll not be far away." 
 
 "Eight, child, right," he answered, without turning 
 his eyes from his glass ; and Lu returned to Mary s 
 vacant chair under the morning-glories. 
 
 Strange to say, Doctor Tom was the most cheerful 
 man in house or camp, and though he paced the porch 
 impatiently, he had an implicit trust that Beck would 
 rescue Mary. In his walk, he was seen t-> best ad 
 vantage ; a prim, small man with ruddy face, dainty 
 feet and hands, dressed in blue-white cottonade. His 
 shirt-front frilled and starched to the purest gloss, the 
 shine of his boots the wonder of the imp who polished 
 them, and his walk and mien had the air of taste, with 
 a little of fashion s folly. 
 
 Lu s grief was most sincere and touching; at times, 
 poignant. 
 
 " If you will allow me, my dear," said Doctor Tom, 
 "I would like to talk with you." 
 
 "I would like to hear you, Doctor," she replied, 
 drying her eyes. 
 
 "I m not surprised at your distress, but you give up 
 too soon." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Make yourself more content," he in-ged, throwing 
 
SUSPENSE THE RALLY. . 93 
 
 into his manner every assurance to revive her drooping 
 spirits ; " you ll see your friend soon." 
 
 "Have you any word? or what hope have you?" 
 
 "A strong belief that Mary s now safe, or " 
 
 "Or what?" she asked hastily. 
 
 "Or John Beck s a dead man," was the blunt reply. 
 Lu started. "I was about to add," he went on, 
 " that as there s little danger of Cartwrijjht killing John 
 
 O o o 
 
 Beck, why, of course, I reason that Mary s safe." 
 
 " What is it makes you feel so sure ? " 
 
 "John Beck is one in a thousand ; a fellow, genuine 
 through and through, and what the men call f squar 
 all round. " 
 
 "Do they fear him, Doctor?" 
 
 " No,- not that exactly ; they trust him, that s it. So 
 now keep heart ; just as sure as he pledged his word, 
 he ll bring her back to the old porch, or lose his life. 
 If you want company, call to me in my sanctum sanc 
 torum." He rose, turned away, and entered the 
 hall. 
 
 His room, brightened by the vine-sifted sunlight, 
 had the cool airiness of a country-house chamber, and 
 there were many bits and scraps of luxury, caught up 
 from the drift of a fast life, to adorn it. On the win 
 dow-sill rested a mahogany case, the lid bearing a gold- 
 plate inscription. On a branching rack was perched 
 the parrot, an Italian bird, and a very ill-mannered 
 prattler. Whack and Jump had often placed him in a 
 bush, kneeling by it, to taunt and torment the mimic 
 into a repetition of language neither chaste nor polite. 
 
94 SKA P. 
 
 As a linguist, the parrot was not slow in adopting the 
 vernacular. 
 
 The Doctor enjoyed his repose in a lounge-chair, his 
 head thrown back, the white hair lying cold en a pas 
 sionless brow. The face, at rest, was that of a man 
 whose vices had been restrained by will, but the recol 
 lection was surely not without remorse. 
 
 Judge Smith, sauntering about the hall, had looked 
 in more than once or twice, with an uneasy desire to 
 impress the inmate with some idea of his, the Judge s, 
 importance. 
 
 The Doctor seeing him, said : 
 
 "Come in, Judge." The invitation was kind, but 
 formal, but the one addressed seated himself with a 
 lazy sort of indifference, as if constrained to be pleas 
 ant, which the other noting, he was at once primed for 
 a cool reception. 
 
 "Are the Indians troublesome?" asked the Judge, 
 as one at a loss how to be interesting. 
 
 "Troublesome! You ought to know. Were they 
 ever anything else? They re as savage now as ever, 
 and as they will be, always." 
 
 "My opinion is," said the other, expanding his pro 
 portions, "that they re a great people." 
 
 "Great! Is there anything great in a sava<re? 
 Great ! in one that displays all the qualities of an un 
 enlightened people, for ages isolated from the rest of 
 mankind. Great ! " 
 
 "Well, sol have read." 
 
 " Eead ! What have you read, seh ? You may have 
 
SUSPENSE THE RALLY. 95 
 
 read of an ideal Indian, which romance runs mad after; 
 of one who combines all the traits without the inequal 
 ities of his race. Head ! There are none such. You 
 may have read the poetic conception of him, which as 
 a conception is without a standard, sell ; his vices and 
 virtues have been drawn hypotbetically, sch ; hypo- 
 thetically from such as belong to the savage state ; he 
 differs from other barbarians in the completeness of his 
 savage character, but is he less savage?" 
 
 "Well, but we must be kind to them, and tame 
 them." 
 
 "Kind! Kind! What kind of kindness are you 
 talking about, Judge? Don t you know we have been 
 kinder to the Indian than any other nation would or 
 could have been under like circumstances? We ve 
 been over-kind in a mistaken policy ; a policy that W 7 ill 
 utterly destroy him : or by permission and indulgence 
 he will destroy himself." 
 
 "Oh, I reckon not." 
 
 "lieckon! There s another mistake. We reckon 
 too much on the supposition that he maybe better than 
 he is ; we don t face the fact, that he is much worse 
 than we suppose ; he is represented generally in his 
 most genial phase, even to palliate his most ferocious 
 acts, by reference to the injustice and oppression of 
 which he has been the victim, as if he had not been a 
 savage at all until the landing of the whites. Now to 
 be consistent, in exact justice, we had better burn 
 down our towns and cities, and start back to where we 
 all came from." 
 
96 SNAP. 
 
 "But he has a good deal of strength of character." 
 
 " You don t stop to analyze, and have caught a part 
 of an idea only; what you consider his strength is 
 really his weakness ; the contemplation of nature in 
 her primitive, robust form hns made him taciturn ; he 
 is not meditative ; the profound loneliness seems to 
 have terrified all the gentler qualities, smothered all 
 sentiment, and brought out all that is sensuous and 
 selfish." 
 
 " Oh, but I know, in a fight he is a hero ; he talks 
 like an orator." 
 
 r? You re wrong again ; he never does stand up to 
 an open fight ; he is brave enough ; so is every wild 
 animal ; his motion and action may be that of a fine- 
 mettled biped ; his physical attitude and expression 
 are picturesque, nothing more. He is not eloquent ; 
 a combination of material objects is his only means 
 of expressing abstract ideas ; the barrenness of his 
 language, and not the luxuriance of his imagination, 
 enforces a mode of speech ; he is not a natural orator ; 
 his mind is a blank in the eloquence of thought ; he 
 has no humor, no romance, no poetic feeling." 
 
 "But we all see what he is." 
 
 " But you don t try to see what he is not ; he is not 
 what you make him out to be ; he considers every 
 thing beneath his notice which is not necessary to his 
 advantage or enjoyment ; his wife is a beast of burden ; 
 he has neither affection nor piety ; the aged and in 
 firm are left to die by the wayside ; his attachment to 
 any region depends on its capacity to furnish game ; 
 
SUSPENSE THE RALLY. 97 
 
 even his courting is carried on by gifts of good things 
 to eat ; he has fear or admiration of another being in 
 so far as he is subduecj by superior power, or in degree 
 as another exceeds him in savage traits." * 
 
 "Well, what would you do with him?" 
 
 "Do with him? What ought to be done is to give 
 him every chance, help him, protect him in being self- 
 dependent ; let him learn to be a responsible being, 
 and in contact with civilization he would become civil 
 ized ; his savage traits, in time, might wear away." 
 
 "Oh, that won t do! " 
 
 "That s what the politician has said, Judge, for 
 years ; he ll keep on saying it for the rest of the 
 century." 
 
 The visitor arose, bowed himself out, and a good 
 deal of the starch of his conceit had wilted. "You 
 see, Doctor, it might ruin the party." 
 
 "It is a poor party, then, that can t do justice with 
 out being ruined." 
 
 The absence of Jumper would have left Lu without 
 an attentive admirer had not the Judge, upon sudden 
 reflection, taking in her distress and her income at a 
 single thought, made up his mind to supplant the ab 
 sent youth. To ,be smart, or to be thought so, was 
 ever, in his sight, an elevation above an ordinary mor 
 tal ; he scrupled but little as to the moral or principle 
 of an action, if the action flattered this vanity. He was 
 never alive to. consequences, whether his conceit might 
 
 * The substance of this conversation has been gleaned from " Western 
 Character " McConnel vide chap. " The Indian," and notes of reference. 
 
98 SNAP. 
 
 lead him to the edge of dishonor or into it, to mean 
 ness or incivility, so that he made his mark of credit 
 with such as are so ignorant .or coarse as to admire 
 such impudence. He had resolved that in the melting 
 mood a woman s affection is more easily caught, and 
 that to storm her weakened will would be in effect an 
 easy victory. To resolve was to act, and as he had 
 seated himself near her, he said abruptly : 
 
 " Wouldn t you like to get away from all this trouble, 
 Miss Lu ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, timidly, for childlike she had 
 been terrified. 
 
 " Nothing easier ; " he lowered his voice to an insin 
 uating whisper. 
 
 "I cannot understand you," she said, unable to catch 
 the drift of his thoughts. 
 
 " Nothing easier than to let some one take you out 
 of it." 
 
 "That s easy enough, as you say," she answered, 
 still puzzled and uneasy at his manner. 
 
 " Some friend, some one that you admire, might 
 take you out of the danger, if you would allow it," 
 he went on in a simpering way, catching at his sugges 
 tions by starts. But so far his words were meaning 
 less. 
 
 "A friend might do so if 1 was inclined to go," she 
 answered, with a faint idea that the Judge was halting 
 over some sentimental riddle, and, pained as she was 
 at heart, she smiled at the stupid look and manner of 
 the man. He was seated very near her, and was about 
 
SUSPENSE THE RALLY. 1)9 
 
 to take her hand, perhaps, when a shrill, spiteful voice 
 screamed out : 
 
 " Drop it ! drop it ! drop it ! " So sudden, so nearly 
 human was the ciy, the Judge fled, and Lu, not less 
 frightened, hastened from the porch. She saw the 
 parrot standing in the doorway. Polly had been look 
 ing on, and as the suitor was about to take Lu s hand, 
 had taken her cue ; his attitude was the same as that 
 of the boys when training the parrot on the bush, and 
 it had only repeated one of the milder forms of its 
 lessons. 
 
 Another night of the most trying unrest had passed, 
 and the trader rose with the light of the second morn 
 ing to hasten to his outlook. The men had come to 
 gether a small army their nags saddled, and Legs 
 the teamster held the Colonel s horse with his own, at 
 the office-door. When Lu came, bringing a tray with 
 breakfast, she found the old man with his glass levelled 
 on the open country. But he would not be disturbed. 
 For a while he peered through it steadily, only chang 
 ing position to vary the line of sight. Suddenly he 
 called to Lu to come near him, on the ladder. 
 
 "Here, child, be quick," he said, "look due west an 
 tell me what you see," placing the instrument in her 
 hands. She brought her younger eye to bear upon 
 the distance, and had looked but a second, when in a 
 fluttering, broken voice she almost screamed : 
 
 "It s them ! it s them, there s Whack and Jump, 
 and there s Mary ahead, riding for life ; hold on ; it s 
 the scout at their back, fighting a gang, single-handed. 
 
100 SNAP. 
 
 Stop ; there goes a redskin from his horse, and look, 
 he has fired again : down goes another ; he s free ! " 
 
 " Quick, chil, get me the bugle ! " 
 
 Lu turned from the perch, leaped down, and re 
 turned in a second. He blew one long, loud blast, 
 and it was answered from the camp. Cheer on cheer 
 was heard, and like a charge in the heat of battle, the 
 men dashed forth ; the trader threw himself into the 
 saddle, out-speeding the boy who hung upon his 
 flank. 
 
 Cheer on cheer again burst forth as the men formed 
 a barrier against the pirates. The Colonel was the 
 first to reach Mary, nor did he wait to draw rein, but 
 threw himself from his horse. He seized his child, 
 and in a speechless maze, wound his old, fond arms 
 around her. 
 
 Just before the bugle s blast, Cartwright bore down 
 on the scout; his throat, neck and arms bared and 
 bronzed, he lent the hideous to the scene, with violent 
 haste. But the bugle s warning checked his headlong 
 race, and turning in his saddle he saw his gang on the 
 retreat ; he wheeled and followed. 
 
 Pedro the vaquero led the charge from the camp, 
 unequalled in grace as the bells of his spurs tinkled at 
 every motion. He rode close upon the heels of the 
 fleeing boss. Making ready, his right hand held the 
 noose and his left the coil of a lasso. With a swing 
 of his arm it enlarged over his head to a perfect circle, 
 which, as he neared the fugitive, he warily let slip. 
 At the same moment his horse fell back on its haunches 
 
SUSPENSE THE RAIL Y. 101 
 
 to resist the strain. The wily thief kept an eye on the 
 Mexican, and, as the rope left his grasp, Cartwright 
 seized his pony s mane, and stretched himself at length. 
 The noose fell true to its mark, but the boss escaped 
 by dodging. 
 
 "Carajo, caramba ! " muttered the vaquero, as he 
 quietly re-coiled his lariat. 
 
 One of the retreating bandits, unable to control his 
 ire at Pedro s challenge with the lasso, broke away 
 from his party and turned back in a run. He had 
 counted on the other s flight, in which to excel him in 
 throwing the noose, but he mistook the vaquero s tem 
 per, as he sat erect in his seat, unmoved. Drawing 
 nearer, there was a glance of recognition in which both 
 were fired to a quickened hate. The cow-boy in haste 
 drew off his poncho, wrapping it round his left arm, 
 dismounted, tied his horse, and with loud threats 
 planted himself in front of his foe. The challenge was 
 hurled with epithet and curse into the face of him who 
 had dashed up to provoke it. 
 
 "Down, down, monte-cheat ; aha, senor thief; down, 
 down, coward; by the backbone of the padre, I will 
 you smite." 
 
 Drawing his knife he kissed the hilt, and threw it 
 trembling through the sunlight, into the earth at his 
 feet. 
 
 The other prepared himself in like manner: his 
 tongue more fluent and tiery the two met face to 
 face, holding their poinards raised. The left fore-arm 
 
102 SNAP. 
 
 of each was clad as a shield, and with stab and thrust 
 they fell to their bloody work. 
 
 "Hog-driver, peon, bastard, caramba ! hissed the 
 frantic Pedro ; he stepped back a pace ; recovered, 
 with a quick left-hand flourish of his hat in the face of 
 the bewildered adversary, while the right sunk the 
 steel, and felled him lifeless on the sod. Stripping the 
 dead man s horse, he -mounted, driving the riderless 
 beast over the waste. 
 
 The joyous party, with laugh and shout, were hast 
 ening to the post, while those in retreat were nearly 
 out of sight. At the house, the Colonel bore his 
 daughter from her horse and seated her under the 
 bison s head. 
 
 "Boys," he called out, in a firm, familiar greeting, 
 " don t spec me now to thank you, but the day s a comin 
 when I will; that s certin. Come in; we ll drink a 
 health." 
 
 They entered the house in squads, and the old man 
 spent with them a brief roystering hour, the jolliest 
 episode of his checkered life. AH the lost humor came 
 back to him in redoubled warmth, and Beck, standing 
 by Mary, felt free to laugh aloud for the first time since 
 her capture. 
 
 " Well Mary," he exclaimed, as if in some doubt of 
 what he had done ; " I thought I d get you back to the 
 old porch, and here we arc." He had loosened all the 
 restraint of his manner and habit, for once. Doctor 
 Tom, the Judge, Lu, and Mrs. Garrulson, were all of 
 the happy crowd. Whack and Jump recounted to a 
 
SUSPENSE THE RALL Y. 103 
 
 group their adventures, and Chloe, standing at the 
 door, chuckled and shook her sides. 
 
 The men were called to mount by Beck, in the lead, 
 and outside they gave a round, rousing shout. As 
 they rode away, a melodious voice struck up the camp 
 song, and from mellowed throats the chorus, on the 
 sweet summer breeze, was borne away. 
 
 Crack, snap, whipiti-snap, 
 
 Whipiti-snap, whipiti-snap; 
 Crack, snap, whipiti-snap, 
 
 A bullwhacker s life is gay. 
 Whoa-hawr down to your work, 
 Gee Buck, up with a jerk, 
 
 Crack, snap, bang, jerk, 
 A bullwhacker s life is gay. 
 
104 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LONG JOURNEY THE HEAR PORCH. 
 
 JUST after the cheer at the house, groups of joyous 
 fellows were seen about the camp. Beck walked off 
 to hide himself with his thoughts. When alone, his 
 humor changed, his face lengthened, his eyes were 
 restless; he sat down, played with a twig and broke 
 it into bits. The man was troubled ; a heavy weight 
 sat upon his spirit, fears of strange form vexed him. 
 He had seen the packers, with Cartwright leading 
 them; also, the vicious readiness of the Indians to 
 obey his beck and call. He put this and that to 
 gether, traced their retreat to the crib, and from 
 thence he followed the Mexicans and Cartwright back 
 to where the bandits hailed from. All this was the 
 subject of his unsettled musing; he took up and 
 measured the disjointed outlines of a plot, as his mind 
 foreboded ; he knew the actors, and he knew and felt 
 with something like a creeping chill, the cold-blooded 
 enmity of the ringleader. 
 
 Suddenly he rose, drew himself to his full height, 
 and gazed with an intent, far-reaching search ofthe 
 vast expanse. He looked steadily, as if he counted 
 the leagues ; he drew his hat down and stared, then 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. 105 
 
 he turned, let fall the bits of twig from his raised 
 hand, and said, aloud : 
 
 "I can make it ; I will if it kills me." 
 
 The man had resolved upon making a fearful jour 
 ney ; a long, lone race against the insidious spite of a 
 hated foe. He had settled down to his duty sternly, 
 and walked off with his giant strides let loose. 
 
 At the caballada he stood for a short while looking 
 at the drove of fine horses, and singled out, at last, 
 one that his eyes had sought. Legs, the teamster, 
 had given him his morning dash, a daily exercise to 
 tame his mettle, and to harden his muscles. Beck s 
 glance at the thoroughbred was satisfying. 
 
 "He ll do," he said; then he moved away to the 
 shade of a tree, threw himself on the ground and 
 slept for hours. It was a giant s rest. For the re 
 mainder of the day, and part of the night, he was 
 mending his traps and nerving his heart. 
 
 " I m off, Peter," he said on the morning following 
 that on which Mary was brought back. He spoke as 
 if he was only about to cross the river and return, so 
 easily had his will taken on the discharge of duty 
 
 " Whar you boun, John?" 
 
 "To head off the pirate." 
 
 "Hound him down, an don t let up on him." 
 
 "He ll not trouble the camp jest yet, but," he laid 
 his hand on the old man s shoulder, " he will, Peter ; 
 he ll never let up till he s dead ; I know him. I ll do 
 my best, kase I m bleeged to." 
 
 The trader turned to his iron box and drew forth a 
 
106 SNAP. 
 
 roll of coin, which Beck put away in the folds of his 
 blouse. A few words passed between them as he 
 drew his belt closer about his waist, while Peter con 
 tinued : " You ken have all you want, pardner ; drive 
 out the varmint an I ll not forgit yer sarvice." 
 
 But Beck was already busy ; he had balanced in his 
 ha:id the best, long-range rifle from the rack, and to 
 prove it clean and sure he stepped to the doorway and 
 lircd ; a burr that flecked the taper point of a high top 
 pine, spun splintering through the air. 
 
 " Good enough," he said, as he swung the rifle, with 
 pouch and powder-horn, having carefully examined 
 his smaller arms. 
 
 He now whistled loudly through his fingers, and 
 s .on Legs led up the horse. 
 
 "He feels gaily, Mister Beck, an ef he don t take 
 you a bilin, I ll give in." 
 
 " What, Tuck ; oh, he ll go like lightnin, or like a 
 lamb, jes as I ve a mind to." 
 
 From a score of the best strain, which the trader 
 had at times imported into his stock from the blue- 
 grass pastures of Kentucky, Beck had long since 
 chosen as a favorite, this fine, blood-bay stallion ; the 
 fim-st of the lot, and one which he had with uncom 
 mon pride watched and longed for as his mount, 
 should the time come to need uncommon endurance 
 and speed. The time had come. 
 
 Tuck, as Beck called him, was a beauty, a staying 
 speeder, fleet as a greyhound. With the wickedest 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. 107 
 
 grace in the world, the horse stood fretting, and the 
 firm muscles twitched under a coat as soft as satin. 
 
 Beck stroked the small, lean, racer-like head, fondled 
 the delicate, taper ears traced with veins like a vine- 
 leaf; he patted the high-mettled, fine-strung body, 
 smoothing the broad shoulders, feeling the force of 
 loin and girth, the hard, firm ribs, the clean, slender 
 legs. He clasped the face between his hands, and the 
 man s nature melted, for on earth there are no eyes so 
 spirited as those of a horse. 
 
 fr Are you ready, Tuck? eh, ole boy?" he spoke as 
 a friend to a friend in good faith. He turned about 
 and looked to his haversack. The provender placed 
 therein was barely enough to last a stout man forty- 
 eight hours. There was a small lump of pemrnican, a 
 small bag of coffee, one of salt and pepper, mixed, a 
 dozen or two hard biscuit, a pound or more of flitch, 
 a tin quart-cup. He relied for further subsistence on 
 his gun and the chance meeting of a train on the road. 
 
 But this was a light concern of the wayfarer, com 
 pared with the exhaustion he must undergo. He went 
 on with his preparations. His hair had been cut close 
 to the scalp, his beard trimmed, he was clad as a 
 ranger, without an ounce of useless weight about him. 
 He strode up to Cheviteau and said : 
 
 "So long, Peter ; if I m gone for a spell, don t slack 
 your trust. Jes remember, I ll make it. I m bleeged 
 to do it." 
 
 "Good by, John Beck; I ll wait yer comin till 
 doomsday. 
 
108 SNAP. 
 
 Beck left the office with his blankets, and nothing 
 more was said by either. Standing at the side of his 
 horse, which the lad held, he tightened the girth over 
 the Spanish tree, placed his foot in the hooded stirrup 
 and mounted. 
 
 In the blood-boiling vigor of his strength, the horse 
 pranced, reared, then bounded away under a hand as 
 firm as iron. Held to a swinging lope, he bore his 
 rider proudly from the sight of his friends at the post. 
 
 In the saddle the man looked his best, and the motion 
 seemed to ennoble his bearing. So much of his life 
 
 O 
 
 had been given to the wild coursing of the plains, he 
 was never so splendid a figure as now. Sweeping the 
 long, drear wastes, across the wide, green stretches, 
 through forests, over sun-dried rivers, or battling the 
 freshet, he seemed a born rider, and the horse as a 
 thing created for him. 
 
 Beck s hazardous scout to the far south-west was full 
 of hidden perils. He would traverse at times the Big 
 Backbone ; he might be untouched, unseen, or be 
 tracked, surprised, hemmed in; from bush or clump, 
 the rising prairie swells, from trees skirting the groves 
 or forests, from heights above a ford, from mounds or 
 gorges, a shower of arrows or of whizzing balls might 
 sweep him down ; but the man s face was calm ; the 
 eyes, with look of daring, stared straight ahead, and 
 beneath him the gray stretches swept by like the pas.-s- 
 ing current of a stream. Along the hard, gravelly 
 road he held his course and the bay his speed, bearing 
 as tierce a rider as ever crossed the plains. 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. 1Q9 
 
 There was much to lend that hard, strong stare to 
 the face of the man. JS T o Bedouin on the sun-stricken, 
 desert sands ever gazed upon a more cheerless expanse 
 than that on which Beck looked, in the almost limitless 
 stretch before him. 
 
 One day with another at the start was a pleasant 
 jaunt ; he rode freely, but with extreme caution, to 
 spare himself and his horse. 
 
 At the crib the Indians rode away, leaving Cart- 
 wright alone with the Mexicans. Just before quitting 
 the trader s service he had taken note that contracts 
 had been signed, a route mapped out for an expedition, 
 and it was nearing the time for its departure ; he knew 
 further that it would pursue a certain road, and he 
 shaped a plot, at once. He knew the chiefs of hostile 
 bands, who traded in the town from which the pack- 
 train came, and thither he was bent on going, in the 
 lead of the gang. 
 
 It was this very design, which Beck surmised and 
 over which he brooded, that had sent him forth. 
 
 Cruz, the deposed captain, was ready enough to foil 
 into line as a lieutenant, but before mounting he up 
 braided the friend of his bosom and laid bare to the 
 amiable Josefina the sin of her fancy for Mary ; she 
 meekly, as a matter of course, understood the easy 
 stages by which her spouse reached a climax, and was 
 not disappointed in an after moment, when he thrashed 
 her soundly. Heedless, however, his other pet, in a 
 rear- foot pastime, was playing havoc with packs and 
 saddles, and vehemently threatened the shanty s safety. 
 
110 " SNAP. 
 
 The plunder-laden train moved out, taking a secret 
 trail for the territory of the south-west savage and the 
 puebla of the border Mexican. They had many hours 
 start of the scout towards the same destination. 
 
 The trader had made known to the Department at 
 Washington the troubles which beset his business, and 
 he had asked for a military escort to guard his trains. 
 
 f O 
 
 Whack was forming a patrol of mounted men, for a 
 skirmish line on the skirt of the camp ; the number of 
 teamsters was increased. 
 
 Beck had been absent a week. At all hours the 
 snap of the whip Was heard ; the trader was seen late 
 and early in the camp ; the friendship of Miss Lu and 
 the sprightly Jumper grew apace ; now and then an 
 ebb in Mrs. Garrulson s talk served to show what the 
 real force of its flood-tide might be, and the laugh of 
 old Chloe was heard, as she sat at her cabin door. 
 
 Mary had held up amazingly, but she was not proof 
 against the nervous reaction after so hard a strain. On 
 the day of her return, almost overcome, she gave way, 
 and was not seen for days ; she kept her room under 
 Chloe s care. It was at the end of a week when she 
 came again to her accustomed place. 
 
 After dinner, on the day of her re-appearance, Chevi- 
 teau led the way to the rear porch, followed by Doctor 
 Tom and others of the family. Mary s seat at the side 
 of the Doctor seemed just as it should be, nor was it 
 less as it should be when Lu and Jumper edged away 
 to a corner, nor when Whack was told that two were 
 company. There was something not unlike the fitness 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. \\\ 
 
 of things when Mrs. Garrulson opened fire on the 
 Judge. 
 
 The first whispered word in the tete-a-tete, which 
 Whack itched to break up, caught his ear. 
 
 "None o that," he called out, to their dismay; 
 "your heads are too nigh." 
 
 "Well, Cheviteau, what s up?" began the Doctor; 
 "anybody killed or hurt? The Judge here wouldn t 
 mind having a case, I have no doubt." 
 
 "No; somebody mi:ht get hurt, if this thing keeps 
 on." 
 
 "More trouble?" 
 
 "No, it s the same old fuss twix white and red 
 man." 
 
 " Yes, and it ll be the same old fuss when we re dead 
 and gone." 
 
 "It ought not to be," said the Judge. 
 
 " So we all think, but how would you stop it, 
 Judge?" 
 
 "Is it the Indian s fault?" 
 
 "If you answer by asking, let me ask, is it the white 
 man s fault ? " 
 
 " Well, then, Doctor, what s your remedy?" 
 
 "Treat the bad white man and the bad red man 
 alike ; make a law that both shall respect alike, to 
 which both shall be responsible; then hang them 
 both, if they deserve it; don t make a criminal out of 
 your own kind, and a hero out of a savage, for one 
 and the same offence ; that kind of policy is sheer non 
 sense." 
 
112 SXAP. 
 
 "But the government has been kind to the In 
 dian." 
 
 " And has only flattered his vices by being so ; it has 
 been generous, but not just." 
 
 " How so ? " 
 
 "With one hand it provides for him, guards him; 
 with the other places him in the path of progress, a 
 scarecrow to enterprise, a hideous fright to the emi 
 grant, to be ultimately stricken down, cast aside and 
 trampled on." 
 
 " Jus so, Doctor," said the trader ; " he s right across 
 the track of trade with the best land, timber and water 
 in the univarse, which he can t use, which he wouldn t 
 neither, if he could." 
 
 " Yes ; and trade has no ill will to the red man ; it 
 would improve his condition, bring him comforts, if 
 allowed to pass free on the highway, a free highway." 
 
 " The government will protect trade," exclaimed the 
 Judge, catching at a chance. 
 
 " Will it? That s something new. No, seh, cept its 
 own supplies, it never does," said the trader. 
 
 "It couldn t protect it, if it would; the army at its 
 greatest strength ever allowed by law couldn t place a 
 corporal s guard at each of the exposed points along 
 the lines of traffic." 
 
 "The Injin knows as well as you do, Jedge, right 
 from wrong ; thar s no use talkin bout that." 
 
 "True enough, Colonel; philanthropy has spoiled 
 what practical men should have managed. We boast 
 that our land is a refuge for the oppressed ; we invite 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. H3 
 
 them to come and live on the public domain. We say 
 to the poor settler, go, till the ground and you may 
 have the land, on this condition : remember, we have 
 a pet tiger at large there, and you must not harm the 
 beast. But, says the poor man, suppose the beast 
 harms me? We have nothing to do with that, is the 
 reply ; now, how long will it be before the land is 
 tilled?" asked the Doctor. 
 
 "Not till you ve killed the tiger," said the old man, 
 with warmth, as he continued : 
 
 " We could manage the Injin, if thar was any law; 
 before it can reach us, we have to make a law for 
 ourselves and take it in our own hands. I know we re 
 right." 
 
 "It seems a pity, a shame that we can t live in 
 peace. Wouldn t the church and school-house do 
 some good? " asked Mary. 
 
 " That s what we strive for, my young friend, that 
 civilization may come with its church and school. It 
 is not in the love of strife that we fight when w r e must 
 fight If we were craven enough not to fight, pray 
 who would advance the cause of civilization?" 
 
 "I reckon the white man s as much at fault as the 
 Indian ; if there wasn t money in it, the cause of civili 
 zation wouldn t get on a step." The Judge was rude ; 
 his words were too nearly a slur upon the motives of 
 those whose hospitality he enjoyed. The Doctor 
 colored and moved in his chair ; Cheviteau sat upright, 
 his face set firmly, and he laid down his pipe. 
 
114 SNAP. 
 
 " Look heah, Jeclge," he said quickly, " do you think 
 I d risk my life as I do for whnt money I make? " 
 
 " Xo, not you, no ; " answered the Judge, beginning 
 to hedge. 
 
 The Doctor walked the porch, with quick, short 
 steps. 
 
 "Do you think, sen, that a woman who has forsaken 
 all the gentler ways of life, sell, to make her influence 
 the grace of .our rough life here, seh, would bring to 
 us her love and her religion, for money, money, seh ! 
 No, seh ; you re mistaken ; in the whole policy there is 
 a want of law administered righteously ; a want of the 
 statesman, seh, in the place of the politician." 
 
 It began to dawn upon the Judge that he had stirred 
 a hornet s nest. 
 
 "Eight, Doctor," joined in the old man; " we imis 
 have law, and the law s officers to hang these skulking 
 half-breed whites; these hounds who lead the pack; 
 these sharks and pirates, without heart or soul, who 
 stir the bad blood and the hate of the redskins, and 
 they go free, always free. Law or no law, we re men 
 with the right to live heah; we ll tight, too, till you 
 law-makers, Jedge, bring us the better day of peace 
 and order." 
 
 While her father spoke, Mary rose and stood behind 
 him ; she felt almost tempted to pat his back in 
 approval ; never before had he spoken so well ; never 
 in her sight had he seemed so nearly justified. She 
 spoke out, at last, with much of his own fervor. 
 
 " \Vell said, father; God speed us to the good day." 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH, H5 
 
 " What I has made, Jedge," said the trader, more 
 calmly, "has cost a life of hard knocks ; ef it war to 
 do over agen, anybody might have my chance." 
 
 " They ought to be taught better ; made Christians 
 of," the Judge remarked, as an escape. 
 
 " Christians, sell ! " the Doctor was up again ; " why, 
 the Indian says, the white men have so many creeds, 
 he won t believe any of them. He has his own god 
 a wolfs fang ; if he don t like it, he takes another 
 a bear s claw ; that s his Christianity, seh. Look at the 
 farce of it. They re hemmed in to rot on their own 
 vices, with liberty to slay, with no lawful restraints ; 
 treated as a foreign people, a political entity, a moral 
 nonentity ; make Christians of them ! bah ! Christians 
 have lived, worked and died among them, and there 
 are no converts : the Indians slay them, seh, now and 
 then, because they talk too much." 
 
 " Can t the tinny be made stronger ? " asked the 
 Judge. 
 
 "What s the use? You could not make it strong 
 enough, unless you mean to exterminate the red man. 
 The flower of the army, led by a prince of its bravest 
 phalanx, was decoyed into a trap ; a thousand savages 
 swarmed about the little baud ; not a man lived to tell 
 the story of the -fiendish, sulphurous dance of death, 
 wherein drunken squaws beat out the lives of the 
 wounded, or strangled them in their agony. Were 
 they ever punished?" 
 
 "But" 
 
 " But, hold on, seh ; then there s the men my friend 
 
116 SNAP. 
 
 speaks of, who turn a penny, seh, over the corpse of 
 the settler; who deal in whiskey, seh; in stolen arms 
 and ammunition, seh, and reap a harvest from the 
 bloody spoliage " 
 
 Quoth the parrot : 
 
 " Go it ! go it ! go it ! " 
 
 fr D n that bird!" cried the Doctor, brought to 
 a sudden halt, and feeling his temper rising, he hastily 
 left the porch. 
 
 At the request of her father, Mary re-told the story 
 of her capture, from the seizure of her person while 
 stooping over the flowers, to the insult in the camp of 
 the pirates. All were moved at the recital, but her 
 words seemed to strike fire in the kindling rage of 
 Mrs. Garrulson. 
 
 "What s that?" What d he do?" she cried out, 
 suddenly, as she drew her chair to the side of the 
 speaker ; the others gave attention. 
 
 "He touched my cheek, insultingly," Mary repeated, 
 and the color came in haste to the spot the rude hand 
 had offended. 
 
 " Teched yer cheek ! why the . copper-cull ud sar- 
 pent ; ef I d bin thar I d a " 
 
 "Mauled him," suggested Whack. 
 
 "Chawed him up," said Jump. 
 
 "What would you done to him, old lady? "asked 
 Cheviteau. 
 
 " I d a punched his head, sartin," she answered. 
 
 Mary s story warmed the memory of her father, who 
 called up an adventure with the pride of one who trav- 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. \\1 
 
 els hack into a glowing past. He dwelt, at length, on 
 an escapade with the Sioux in the far-away, fright- 
 haunted days of his youth ; how he once, as a bearer 
 of dispatches from one fort to another, rode alone 
 through the wilderness alive with the war-striped foes. 
 He had singled out an untracked course to avoid sur 
 prise, and spoke of his riding headlong into danger ; 
 how, suddenly, they sprang upon him. Then followed 
 a long, fearful chase ; ceaselessly the yells rang in his 
 ears ; foodless, and faint with failing sight, he thought 
 his day had come, and that a grave yawned for him on 
 the drear and friendless prairie. Hope was almost 
 gone, when his eye caught a glimpse of a distant river. 
 He rallied his horse, reached its bank, and there his 
 mount gave out ; he plunged into the stream, as the 
 arrows fell around him like storm-driven twigs. Now 
 beyond their hate, with succor from the fort speeding 
 towards him, and crazed with a wild delight, he flung 
 back the bewildered words : 
 
 " Safe ! you devils, safe ! " 
 
 "Its Lu s turn next, for a scrape," said Whack, 
 thereby bringing the couple to the notice of all ; and 
 in the unhappy pause, she not hearing what was said, 
 was heard to say : 
 
 "What, Harry, jealous already?" 
 
 " She s into it without knowing how she got there," 
 continued the tease laughing, in which the others 
 joined. 
 
 " What s the matter ? " asked the innocent Jumper, 
 looking up to find all eyes upon him. " Come, Miss 
 
118 SNAP. 
 
 Lu, let s walk ; we can t have any peace where that 
 bull- whacker is." 
 
 "Miss Lu! why don t you say Mister Harry, Miss 
 Lu? " he railed and teased in his boisterous way, until 
 the two were out of hearing. 
 
 The Colonel hastened off to the office and Whack fol 
 lowed him. 
 
 Mary was now left alone with Mrs. Garrulson, who 
 had, the moment before, driven the Judge away by the 
 discipline of her talk. Chloe came to the porch with 
 a message, and Mary kept her seat to hear what she 
 knew full well would take place between the two old 
 folks. 
 
 "Ah, honey, yuse safe, but deyse musn t shoot no 
 mo squarls," Chloe said to begin with. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Kase you see, chile, dat wus de bang o de rifle an 
 dars ben trubel eber sence." 
 
 "That s so," said Mrs. G. ; " who d a thunk it." 
 
 "But dat dars mi thin neether ; it wus de chicken 
 clumbin de fense ; mind I dun tole yer so, afore." 
 
 "Oh, sho," sneered the other; "what s ther yuse, all 
 the time er talking bout that ar rooster?" 
 
 " Jes yer wait den ; jes keep on, ole Miss ; wait tell 
 yer seed him climb der fense agin." 
 
 " 1 se got a game chicken, I reckon ; an he climbs a 
 fense all der time." 
 
 " Oh he do, do he? well, ole Miss, dat ar chicken 
 o mine jes look at me, to take a warnin." 
 
 "Thet s nuthiuk ; why, my chicken ken tork." 
 
THE LONG JOURNEY THE REAR PORCH. H9 
 
 "Tork ! " exclaimed Chloe, with uplifted hands and 
 looking at Mary, who was shocked ; " now, ole Miss, 
 not tork I reckon." 
 
 "May I never; yes indeed, tork," she replied, not 
 the least abashed ; " every time a hawk flewed over thet 
 ar rooster jes spread his wings an cum a runnin." 
 
 Here the old woman rose, spread her arms, suiting 
 gesture and voice to the supposed action of the fowl, in 
 close mimicry : 
 
 "Runnin to me, Chloe, wid his mouth wide open, an 
 a hollerin, Miss Me-lin-dee ! Miss Me-lin-dee ! you jes 
 oughter seed him." 
 
 "Oh, dat a way," giggled the old darkey, shaking 
 her sides ; and Mary joined in the round, wholesome 
 mirth. 
 
120 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII, 
 
 TIM S RIDE N EARING THE END CATO S HOLIDAY. 
 
 A FORTNIGHT has passed over the head of the daunt 
 less scout and his mount. Cantering down the slopes 
 of the Divide, to cut off the turns of the road, the 
 horse leaped to the green valley-plain. For long 
 days, Beck had ridden a steady, unbroken race. Day 
 in and day out it was an unchanging gallop during the 
 hours he gave to his work ; his rule was as strict dur 
 ing the time of rest. At dawn he was astride and 
 away, and slackened speed only when the haat of the 
 day came on. He left the beaten track at every curve 
 to shorten distance ; from every rise he took his bear 
 ings, sighting afar the greener spots for the noontide 
 halt. At such as afforded water he got down, swabbed 
 his horse s mouth, rubbed down his foaming sides, 
 cooled him in the shade, if there was none other than 
 the mere shadow of a bush. For himself he kept a 
 sharp watch while caring for his beast ; he often left 
 him picketed, to hail and join a train on foot, to obtain 
 supplies. He boiled his coffee in the quart-cup, ate 
 sparingly, save Avhen his rifle secured him a feast. 
 Then, in the dew-drenched twilight, he rode forth 
 again, and drew rein at length for the night in the 
 thickening darkness. Again, at daybreak, he bridled 
 
TIM S KIDE NEAKING THE END. 121 
 
 his thoroughbred fresh from a bed of daisies, and sped 
 on. But the wear and tear began to show ; would 
 show were they made of iron. The man s face, though 
 still sternly set, was drawn down, tanned and Scorched 
 by the sun ; the horse had thinned in flesh, feeling the 
 strain. 
 
 All the while, at the post, the days dragged slowly, 
 and though the trader was busy with his camp and 
 droves, he thought often and anxiously of the distant 
 horseman. 
 
 Cheviteau looked about him one morning, weeks 
 after Beck s departure, for a man to fill Pedro s place, 
 who with a wounded arm had been placed in charge of 
 Mary and Chloe, by the Doctor s orders. A blooded 
 colt needed an airing under the saddle, and though 
 kind and well broken, had been running wild for a sea 
 son. Now full of lusty life, his master thought best 
 to remind him of his training. 
 
 The first man the trader met in camp was Tim 
 Murphy, and for whom the old man had a warm 
 regard. 
 
 The tap o the marnin till yer honor," he cried ; 
 w may they all be as bright as yer darter s face." 
 
 ff Good mornin, Tim." 
 
 " Didn t the bys coine up to the scratch tho, Colonel, 
 whin we whit arter the pirates?" 
 
 rf My boys allers do, seh." 
 
 " Thrue for you, Colonel." 
 
 "Tim, I want a man for the drove, on special duty," 
 the trader said, coming to the point, and his words 
 
122 SNAP. 
 
 were caught up by a few idlers standing near. The 
 specialty of the service referred to was to mount a 
 whip on a thoroughbred and to transfer him to the 
 care of stock. 
 
 "For speeshal dooty, is t? Yees needn t look over 
 me showlder for the loike of him, Colonel." 
 
 "Ken you ride a fast horse on a chase?" Many 
 teamsters, while the best of service men with the lash, 
 were poor riders. 
 
 "Didn t me fayther ride forninst the Darby afore 
 me, an didn t yees see me forninst the charge of the 
 bys?" 
 
 " Well, I ll try you, Tim ; come along." The proof 
 of fitness lay in a trial. 
 
 The men looked one at the other, as the Colonel and 
 Murphy moved away ; they knew that the boasted 
 riding of their comrade was a trifle overdrawn, and 
 that any severe test would upset his vaunt and belittle 
 him with the Colonel ; he too had his doubts, but he 
 chose the man as a mark of friendship, for he liked 
 readiness, not less his candor and humor. 
 
 The grazing ground was soon reached; it was a 
 wide, green table of level prairie, and the large drove 
 was tended by the best of drovers, the mounted va- 
 queros. The trader beckoned to one of them, making 
 his wishes known by signs ; the dumb by-play mysti 
 fied Tim. 
 
 "An ken yees talk Mexan on yer fingers?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes," the old man answered, jokingly. 
 
TIM S RIDE NEARING THE END. 123 
 
 "It s a pity then yese not tried em on Heinrich s 
 lingo ; I d be sorry for them same, whin yese do." 
 
 " When you ken ride like a Mexaii, Tim, you ll 
 know sumpin bout a hoss." 
 
 While the Colonel was speaking, the drove, at a 
 distance, grew restive, and a steer bolted the line of 
 the range ; upon seeing which, the vaqueros dashed 
 after him. 
 
 " Watch the boys nab that feller, Tim ; they ll lasso 
 his legs an leave him on the ground for punishment." 
 The trader explained these things to his teamster, as 
 his discipline was such he never permitted his whips, 
 unless he was with them, to cross the line of the cattle 
 range ; this was done to keep the sets of men apart to 
 prevent feuds. 
 
 Just as he had said, one of the Mexicans pursued at 
 full run, throwing his coil as he rode; very soon the 
 fugitive was brought to, lying prone on his back, while 
 the second vaquero caught his heels with his noose. 
 Between the two the runaway was at once in duress. 
 
 The horse was now brought up. 
 
 "Now, Tim, heah conies the critter: he s a flyer; 
 pure stock, seh, an he knows nothin but bisnis ; look at 
 that head, his step, and that ar neck, seh. 
 
 " An is t the baste fer me to ride?" 
 
 " Yes, seh ; an you ll never mount another like him, 
 if I know anything bout horseflesh ; but take a caution ; 
 don t you let anything come up ahind him, mind ; he 
 won t stan that, if he knows it." 
 
 " Ef he knows it," repeated the other. 
 
124 SNAP. 
 
 The young, full-fed colt pawed the earth proudly ; 
 the eye, soft, open, rolling, in every glance showed his 
 spirit ; every pulsing vein his temper, breeding and 
 quality. 
 
 "Whoa, Tad, you rowdy," said the owner, patting 
 the horse s face, as the cow-boy saddled him. 
 
 " Jes as gentle as a kitten ; he was nussed on blue- 
 grass, Tim." 
 
 "An that s good for em, is t, Colonel?" He drew 
 nearer, as he spoke, to be friendly with his mount, and 
 helped to bridle him. 
 
 The Irishman climbed into the saddle and rode away ; 
 the horse stepping off with a keen desire for a free rein 
 and the word "go." One Mexican looked at the 
 other, and both smiled blandly, while the trader turned 
 about for the camp. He had been with his men but a 
 short while, when each ceased speaking and listened. 
 
 " What s that? " was said. The sound that came to 
 their ears a dull, distant thud was like the first 
 fretful rumble of a storm. 
 
 " The drove s stampeded, boys," the old man called 
 out, as he mounted a wagon, to take in a view of the 
 field. What he saw was one of those phenomenal 
 panics, which suddenly seize upon, not only beasts in 
 herds, but regiments in battle ; always a fear-stricken 
 madness, without method or restraint. 
 
 Murphy had ridden Tad close upon the flank of the 
 grazers at a central point on the line of the immense 
 drove, and there he halted. As luck would have it so, 
 he had but drawn rein, wheeling his horse to face the 
 
TIM S RIDENEARING THE END. 125 
 
 cnttlc, when a Texan showed signs of affright. A 
 trifie, perhaps, had scared him, but the loud, angry 
 bellow, the stamp of the hoofs and the snort of rage, 
 tilled his fellows at once with terror. On the instant 
 every head was up, the ears pricked, the horns ready, 
 the eyes staring wide ; again the mutineer sounded his 
 alarm, and a hundred deep throats echoed it; then, 
 with a bound, the one broke away, his tail whirled like 
 a whip-lash, his head low down, and the panic became 
 general. On the heels of the leader the whole drove, 
 in crazed disorder, broke ranks and fled. 
 
 At the first sign of revolt, the vnqueros called to 
 Tim and motioned to him to beat back the rioter into 
 the drove ; but Murphy, in truth, had no time for the 
 action. He had tried to wheel his horse across the 
 path of the steer, but a fortunate, as well as unforeseen 
 turn, caused the horse to disobey ; had he tarried with 
 the rider both might have been borne down and tram 
 pled. 
 
 Tad was moved by a single instinct ; challenged to 
 speed by the ringleader of the drove in trying to pass 
 him, no hand could now tame the freed and truant 
 spirit. The thoroughbred was, therefore, the fore 
 most in a wild, headlong, heedless race ; nor could the 
 most skilful rider have wheeled out of the scrape. 
 There was a break-neck need to forgo ahead, as it 
 would have been a deadly chance to cross the track of 
 sue!) a rabble. Cattle, like sheep, hold blindly to the 
 load, and as the colt warmed to his best leaps, the drove 
 redoubled its speed. The vaqueros on the right and 
 
120 SXAP. 
 
 left flank of the mass had screamed themselves hoarse 
 hailing the frightened runaway, but all to no purpose. 
 
 Poor Tim. It was the ride of his life, to which the 
 exploit of Gilpin or the scramble of Sheridan would 
 bear but a shady likeness. Tad had caught the bit 
 between his teeth, clucked his head for a hard run, 
 threw his feet into the face of his rivals, and fairly 
 flew over the prairie. Tim held his seat, both hands 
 in the mane, both feet to the heels through the stir 
 rups ; he was hatless, his hair on end, the bridle lying 
 loose before him. 
 
 " Whoa ! " he roared above the loud tramp behind 
 him ; "the baste don t know how to shtop." 
 
 The horse plunged on. 
 
 " Whoa ! " he cried again, almost bereft of his senses ; 
 " an the Colonel calls him Toad ! Whoa, Toad, you 
 laping varmint ; " but still the horse ran on ; he leaped 
 like a deer and sped like the blast. 
 
 "Moses! pfat ll be lift o> me; an this he calls a 
 speeshul sarvice ; whoa, Toad, you baste ; " he cast a 
 glance backward over his shoulder and turned pale. 
 "Be jabes, an look at that now; the whurld is full of 
 em, an if this horse slips, good-by Misther Tim." 
 
 By this time the horse s speed was well spent, as 
 well as that of the drove ; but still holding the lead, his 
 movements seemed to indicate a return to camp in a 
 well-directed turn. 
 
 Cheviteau and his men looked on at the ludicrous 
 plight of Murphy, without being able, until now, to 
 render him aid. 
 
TIM S RIDENEARING THE END. 127 
 
 " Get yer whips, all hands," he said, "an be quick 
 about it ; if they bolt the bluff I ll lose a hundred 
 head." 
 
 Tad had left the drove some distance to rear, and 
 came bounding on. The teamsters stepped aside to let 
 him pass their line ; then closing up they lashed and 
 yelled at the cattle coming on. Losing their leader, 
 the drove slackened its pace ; at the same time the 
 vaqueros turned it for the tramping ground, where it 
 soon became quieted. 
 
 The horse had gone on, until near the spot where 
 Cheviteau was standing, and there he stopped short at 
 his owner s call. Tim leaped down, and struck the 
 ground with a thud. 
 
 " Jabbers ! " he exclaimed, as the breath escaped 
 him. 
 
 " Are you hurt, Tim? " asked the trader. 
 
 " Deil a bit ken I tell ye, Colonel." 
 
 " Well seh ; what do you think of my colt?" 
 
 " Yer colt? I fath, but Toad s a good name for him, 
 barring the wings." 
 
 " He has a splendid spirit, Tim." 
 
 " Speerit is t?" 
 
 "Yes, seh ; good blue-grass breeding." 
 
 "Thinets a good thing, d ye mind, that he s got 
 down to graen." 
 
 Time was never wasted under the trader s manage 
 ment ; he kept bis men well in hand, and combining 
 his trade with the avocation of a grazer, there were 
 seasons of labor other thar those which his expeditions 
 
128 SA-IP. 
 
 required. So it was that his droves increased, for in 
 his penny-wise foresight the outlying meadows near 
 about his camp were turned into haytields. He sowed 
 and reaped and laid up against the sweeping blasts and 
 snow-gusts of hard winters. Few of his trade thrived 
 like him ; few had the thrift to combine these differ 
 ent pursuits. Stirring as all his daily occupations 
 were he could not lay aside a growing anxiety about 
 Beck ; he had been gone six weeks, and Cheviteau 
 often turned from his labor towards the horizon, to 
 strain his eyes in the hope of gladdening them with a 
 sight of the returing rider. 
 
 The summer was in its earliest prime and the 
 mowers blades were seen flashing in the sunlight. 
 Early and late the wide swarths fell under the scythes, 
 and the rakers followed in the track of the swinging 
 blades. Mary was seen again on the path to the ham 
 let, and Mrs. Garrulson tarried under the hospitable 
 shelter. All the while the Judge was busy; he wrote 
 lengthy scrawls, and waited what the boats might 
 bring in reply, with an air of authority. He was found 
 at odd times, in hidden nooks, conversing low with 
 such as would listen. The Doctor talked much and 
 was fussy, subsiding to a calmer temper on the banks 
 of the creek, watching the bob of his line. In this 
 way days ran into weeks, in the quiet of a far-away 
 settlement. 
 
 Beck was nearing the end of the almost endless 
 stretch; horse and rider were worn to the bone. The 
 wear upon the man had left him gaunt and angular ; 
 
TIM S RIDE NEARING THE END. 129 
 
 the skin of his face, neck and hands had peeled ; where 
 the sun had scorched deeply there were blisters. He 
 walked with a halt, the muscles of his limbs were 
 crippled. His faithful stallion never failed in pluck 
 or endurance, but the proud neck was limp, held low, . 
 the eyes drooping, the ribs could be counted and the 
 gloss of his satin coat had faded ; his hoofs were 
 cracked and tender, and when saddling Beck took up 
 much that was to spare in the girth. 
 
 There was one stretch more ; the horse was equal to 
 it after a more than usual rest. Beck gave him water 
 where they camped, drew the straps tightly in place, 
 and mounted. He had to cross the northern skirt of 
 a small, waterless desert. An angry day had faded 
 out in a brazen sundown, and the scout s trail lay 
 through the white, baked dust ; the breeze was heavy 
 and stifling and came fitfully over the drear morass. 
 
 The gang led by Cartwright had traveled at a steady 
 jog, the short quick-step of the prairie ponies, and 
 the incredible stamina of their Aviry frames held out. 
 They hurried on, hiding by day to avoid arrest by 
 whites or attacks from unfriendly Indians. Through 
 the nights and days of long weeks spun out, they had 
 left behind them the wide, green valley lands and 
 softer skies, and rode a path fringed with the sage and 
 thistle, where speary grasses withered in the sun. 
 
 Forty miles away, in the twilight of the angry day, 
 where earth and sky were joined in one long gleam, 
 they saw upon the silvery space a silhouette of a horse 
 and rider. The outlines were perfect, though the 
 
130 SA r AJ\ 
 
 figure was but a speck ; they had seen the forms of 
 Beck and his stallion. 
 
 He had distanced the gang, though they knew it 
 not, and by the aid of his rare knowledge inroad-craft, 
 he had ridden boldly, and clear of all opposing dan 
 gers. 
 
 Days rolled on. Chtoe, as mistress of certain small 
 matters, had laid down a day s duty for the unruly 
 Cato. 
 
 "Now mine, dus yer h yar ; gwy long arter dat cow 
 an caf, out y aimer." 
 
 "Yes m;" he answered with quick consent, for to 
 watch the cow called him away from other and more 
 irksome tasks, and made his jaunt a holiday. 
 
 " I se a gwyne but er " 
 
 " None uv yer foolishtist ; gwy long." 
 
 " Ain t I a gwyne ; kase I knows dar ain t no 
 spooks out dar, is dar?" 
 
 " Spooks ! " the old woman held counsel with her 
 self as to the boy s misgiving, in which she shared. 
 She gave heed to his words in her own awe of the 
 spirits said to be earth-bound to the space around the 
 haunted cabin. 
 
 " I kinder reckon not, Cato ; but ef yer sees a spook, 
 h yar s wat ll fotch him ; " a bent horse-shoe nail was 
 the charm she hung round the lad s neck. His doubts 
 took wing from the corn-fed content of his nature, 
 sparkling in a flute-like whistle, which the birds 
 caught up, as one. 
 
 Chloe cast a look after him as he went along ; a self- 
 
TIM S RIDENEARING THE END. 131 
 
 reproving look, as if she had doomed him to be the 
 witches prey, and, perchance, she thought, never 
 again would his form be seen. 
 
 "H yah, boy;" she yelled, as a vagrant hope lent 
 her another talisman, "ef dat ar nail don t do, eat a 
 danjelion ; clus yer h yah me? " 
 
 The boy heard her, and called back : 
 
 " Danjelion ! " He ran on, whistling, out of her 
 sight, into the wide, full gladness of the summer day. 
 
 The gray old earth, so gently wild, lay in the beams 
 of the eastern sun, all lonely, lovely ; over it swept 
 from the dance of the leaves, a breath of the woodland 
 fragrance, winging the sun-spun mites through the 
 golden vista. The snowy piles of curdled clouds lay 
 low on bars of blue ; a silence perfect, moved only by 
 the little singing whispers : 
 
 "The unshorn fields, boundless, beautiful, 
 
 As if the ocean in his gentlest swell 
 
 Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed 
 
 And motionless forever." 
 
 The rich, full voice of the little darkey broke in on 
 the waiting stillness ; its notes were like the clarion 
 et s, rising, swelling into a inolody of tuneful sounds, 
 a crude cadence, rude, loud, but sweet. He sang a 
 camp-meeting jubilee ; the words a pot-pourri of his 
 fears, his hopes and his fun : 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o -ree ! 
 I se wun ob de Marster s ban, 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian ; 
 
132 SNAP. 
 
 Ef ynse git clar, afore I cluse, 
 Oh, lemme foller in yer shuse, 
 Wen I git dar, I ll tell cle nuse." 
 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian. 
 (Clapping hands.) 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 I se wun ob cle Marster s ban, 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee lari ; 
 De clebbil laid awake at nite 
 His tail a sliakin, was a site, 
 He couldn t hide afore the lite, 
 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian. 
 (Laughing.) 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Ise wun ob cle Marster s ban, 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian ; 
 Wen Gabril seed cle debbil grin, 
 His tail a flappin up at him, 
 He chop it off an druv it in, 
 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian. 
 (Dancing.) 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Ise wun ob de Marster s ban, 
 
 Gel-o-ree ! Gel-o-ree ! 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian ; 
 I terry on de big, green flo, 
 De boat es waitin on cle sho, 
 To lib an laf fer eber mo, 
 Oh-h hap-pee, hap-pee Ian. 
 
 All at once the song ceased/ and on looking np the 
 singer found himself in the spectral shade of the cabin. 
 He had reached its terrors step by step, as if led by 
 an unseen hand, and from the chill of sudden fright 
 the glory of his jubilee faded. 
 
TIM S RIDE NEARING THE END. 133 
 
 The bark of a squirrel transfixed him. 
 
 All the rounded wrinkles of a merry face were 
 strained and straight ; the mouth closed tightly, like 
 the lid of a music-box ; the eyes grew larger, larger, 
 until the whites shone pale upon the cheeks, the hands 
 were useless, the knees askew. 
 
 Again the squirrel barked ; the silence deepened, 
 and like a sheet of brass from the blazing sky, the 
 noon-sheen fell. 
 
 " Who clat ? " he asked, in a feeble, husky tone. 
 
 " Dat ! " replied the rotting logs, the hollow chimney. 
 
 "Dat you, Misto Johnsing?" he asked again, in a 
 smirkish rally of the nerves, as he edged away, look 
 ing over his shoulder. 
 
 "I know d yer," he said, playing oft with his fright 
 as his steps widened. 
 
 Again the squirrel barked. 
 
 The boy broke into a run, and fear lent speed to his 
 strides along the margin of the muddy creek, until his 
 breath came fast, and he threw himself, laughing, into 
 the green, high grass. 
 
 "Who s afeerd ! " he said, as the wrinkles wreathed 
 about the mouth again; it opened, like a clam, and 
 never a pearl in its sea-shell home shone brighter than 
 the teeth. 
 
 Just behind him, in the sunlight, lay a broad, smooth 
 slab ; a virgin tablet to be carved by Him who writes 
 with the lightning. To the imp it was an itching 
 temptation ; he sprang to the warm, hard surface, and 
 the fall of the bare foot sounded like a smack of the 
 
134 SMir- 
 
 hands. Then his heels flew up, and he sang again, all 
 joyously, the patter of the feet beating time. 
 
 Now he crawled down the bank of the stream, and 
 in the glare he seated himself on a flat, unshaded rock, 
 arranging his hook and line. 
 
 The creek was an inlet from the bend of the river ; 
 it had wormed its way deeply across the plateau by 
 the cabin, down the gorge, to where it met the current 
 again, like the string of a bow. Here it was that Beck 
 rode with fierce leaps, on the eventful night of Mary s 
 capture, and stood sentinel over the pirates cave. It 
 was a sullen, murky water-course, spreading wide and 
 shallow between high bluffs. 
 
 At the first spring of the boy s pole, casting his 
 shotted string far out into the current, a hungry, 
 shovel-headed " cat " swallowed the bait and was drawn 
 up ; the fish was soon afloat, strung to a tow. 
 
 Now yawning, nodding he gave signs of sleepiness, 
 and bathed in the sunshine, his form was stretched to 
 the undenied beneficence ; he tied the fish-line to his 
 toe, nor was his the first inventive genius that made 
 the foot a hitching-post during slumber. The fabled 
 fisherman of "Ole Varginny sho " was whirled to his 
 doom through a like caper. Nor was it ever known, 
 
 " After all their guessing and all their figgerin, 
 Whether the nigger a-iishing had gone, 
 Or the fish had gone a-niggerin." 
 
 Doctor Tom also, with his hook and line, had saun 
 tered forth to the creek s outlet, counting surely that 
 
TIM S RIDE NEARING THE END. 135 
 
 his rod, only less than Aaron s in its virtue, would be 
 the marvel of the sport; his up-stream trudge, over 
 brake and briar and pool, had repaid his toil, with the 
 common luck of his tribe, scratched limbs and a 
 minnow. Tired truly and well-worn, he found a seat 
 under a sycamore : 
 
 " Its broad, dark bough in solemn repose 
 Far over the silent brook." 
 
 After a while he stirred himself, and went on, to 
 come upon the dreaming darkey. It was a bright 
 spark of fun that lighted up the Doctor s face as he 
 quietly took the large, fat cat from the boy s line and 
 put his own little chub in the place of it. Passing on, 
 he gave a thought to the bliss of ignorance and the 
 folly of wisdom. 
 
 Cato slept like a top, with the healthy snore of a 
 saucy boy ; long he slept ; the plump, fat face bore no 
 lines save the smooth ones where the laugh comes in ; 
 a genuine type he was of " the ebo-shin and gizzard 
 foot," a product of hoe-cake and bacon. He slept on, 
 and not a nibble stirred his sound repose ; how long 
 in the calm, sweet day he, lay there, he knew not. 
 
 " Hal-lo ! hal-lo ! you boy ! " 
 
 Presently the hail struck the dull ear of the sleeper; 
 he came to slowly, but as the call was repeated he 
 jumped to his feet : 
 
 " Ken I cross the crick? how deep?" asked a horse 
 man on the further mar^e of the stream. 
 
13G SA AP. 
 
 " Yes, seh ! " answered Cato, half awake and scratch 
 ing his chin. 
 
 Kings have been dethroned, and the world set agog 
 through less mistakes than chanced between these two. 
 The boy answered as to the man s right to cross, and 
 the man fixed in his mind the depth of the water by 
 the boy s motion to his chin. 
 
 The imp sleepily looked on ; he saw the stranger 
 disrobe, but not until he and his horse bad reached mid 
 stream did the truth make its way to his brain. Then 
 a laugh rang out that startled the silence, and snatching 
 at his luck, w T ith a leap, the boy was gone. 
 
 The man, pale with rage, leading his horse, gained 
 dry land ; he stamped and swore, bit his lip and swore 
 again; fora gentleman, bare, cuts a most ridiculous 
 figure, to be laughed at, outright, by a little black 
 scamp. 
 
 He had crossed the stream, scarcely reaching his 
 knees. 
 
 But he rode on, and for years his ire kept warm ; 
 in the end : 
 
 " The moral was this, as somebody told him, 
 That he had sold negroes, and a negro had sold him." 
 
 "Whar s de cow?" said Chloe, as her factotum 
 stood before her. 
 
 " Spooks ! " he replied, with a face put on for the 
 time. 
 
 " Spooks ! whar s eny ? Wat dese got to do wid de 
 cow, hey?" 
 
TIM S RIDENEARING THE END. 137 
 
 " Eat do cow up ; hecrd um champin." 
 
 "Wat! oh, hesh boy; spooks don t eat cow-meat; 
 I knows dat." 
 
 " Seed um." 
 
 " Go long yer triflin rnoke ; you d er ruinge dcr 
 famerly." 
 
 It Avas the chance the fat rascal longed for, and when 
 alone his loud laugh was heard again, as he thought of 
 the stranger s plight. Now, for the first time, he 
 caught sight of the fish, which, as he ran, had dangled 
 behind him. 
 
 " Its swunk ; laws a massy, how dis nig mus er 
 run d ; " but here a fright came upon him, lest while 
 he slept the spooks had bewitched his catch ; the boy 
 laughed no more that day. 
 
138 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 A FAMISHED pair were the horse and rider, when the} 
 rode out the last long mile. Beck drew up, challenged 
 by a crowd of vaqueros at a ranche not far from the 
 Mexican town. One who spoke English accosted 
 him : 
 
 " What you want, caballero ? " 
 "Whar sFerati?" 
 
 The man turned, and raising his voice to a hallo, 
 called out : 
 
 " Senor Don Ferati ! " The Senor was not afield and 
 came at once to the door of his low, hay-thatched 
 cabin. 
 
 "Hi, hi, caramba, man ; here am I and not a league 
 oft*," he said angrily in Spanish ; and then speaking to 
 the rider in broken English : 
 
 "Americano, will he come down?" he said. 
 Beck dismounted and, standing face to face with the 
 grazer, the latter knew him on the instant, and in a 
 fervid show of friendship, peculiar to his people, he 
 said : 
 
 "Kari, my soul; by the padre s elbow, Capitaine 
 Beck; caramba; in, in, my friend, my companion, ca- 
 rajo ; stay with me forever, Manuela ! Manuela ! " 
 He kept on in this strain, calling f ;r some one within, 
 
THE CONSPIRACY. 139 
 
 and presently the slender, graceful furm, the sweet, 
 olive-tinged face, and the sparkling eyes of his young 
 and very pretty wife were seen in the doorway. 
 " Make ready, child, for my friend, the Americano ; a 
 good friend, my Manuela ; in, seiior ; " and Beck en 
 tered the dwelling. 
 
 "Where from, good friend?" asked the Mexican, 
 eyeing the wearied man before him. 
 
 " From sunrise," Beck answered with a cold smile, 
 signing to make himself understood, and naming the 
 far-away river from which he had set out. 
 
 The host stared at the speaker, as at a ghost from 
 the grave, crossed himself, and threw up his hands, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 "Quien sabe? great saints! Down, down, good, 
 brave horseman ; do rest." Then he spread a poncho 
 on the hard floor. 
 
 But Beck was still alive and wakeful to his purpose. 
 
 After going buck through the past of their acquaint 
 ance over a meal quickly served by the young senora, 
 Beck turned to the business before them. It was, in 
 brief, to engage Ferati to enter the town and watch for 
 the arrival of the pack-train, to note the movements 
 of the gang and to find out the plans of Cartwright. 
 He paid his host a fair sum to serve him, and when 
 Ferati had seen that his guest was well disposed in a 
 quiet rest, and his horse unsaddled, he gave over his 
 ranche to a trusty dependent. He charged him, on 
 pain of death, to be good to the needs of his visitor, 
 and bidding his wife prepare herself for the fandango 
 
140 SNAP. 
 
 in town, he called up his mounts. Very soon thereaf 
 ter the two rode off, and riding fast were soon out of 
 sight in the darkness. 
 
 In the dawn-lighted, sweeter stretches, having 
 crossed the southern rim of the dead waste, the pirates 
 halted. Just beyond their camp the noted Spanish 
 village of the south-west border Liy, loosely flecking 
 the plain. Cartwright and Cruz rode away from the 
 camp and into the plaza of the dingy puebla. 
 
 Among piles of fruit and vegetables sat the rabble 
 of the market-place. Ill-favored faces peered forth 
 from the hoods of their dirty rebozos, and there was a 
 babel of distracting sounds from a mob of donkeys, 
 yelping, wolf-like curs and swearing muleteers. Inter 
 mingling, there were sounds less harsh ; the jingle of 
 spurs, the small, soft voice of the child, the bass of 
 the mountaineer, and a note of richest music, swelled 
 in the laugh of a hoydenish poblano. 
 
 r < Tortillas! tortillas!" cried a muchachita. 
 
 " Chile bueno! Chile Colorado! Chile caliente!" 
 screamed a concinera, with his fiery stew. 
 
 "Pan y leclie, pan blancho ! " the song of a girl whose 
 sweet notes were overborne by 
 
 " Carbon! carbon!" from a vendor of charcoal. 
 
 "Aqua! aqua limpia excellent?" bawled an aqua- 
 dore, and the thirsty thief on his horse beckoned for a 
 draught of the excellent, limpid water. 
 
 The riders tarried not, but pushed on in the blank 
 glare of the white mud walls, and anon drew up before 
 a squalid abode. The low, thatched roof of the fonda 
 
THE CO S PIRACY. 141 
 
 darkened the doorway, which gave poor promise of 
 cheer within. Straightway the two approached the 
 tcndejohn and there quaffed a dram of pulque, handed 
 down from the tawdry ornaments of a dusty shelf. 
 Soon thereafter they separated, having arranged for 
 another meeting. Cartwright, after a meal, found a 
 hammock under the eaves outside, and fell asleep 
 amonjr the buzzing <rnats. 
 
 i^ O </ 
 
 In the dusk, as he shook himself out of his stupor 
 and sat down on the door-step, a tall savage strode by. 
 The boss knew the Indian s tribe by the long bone bow 
 he carried. There was just light enough to see in the 
 look askant of the swarthy face, a cruel sternness, 
 hard as a statue s visage. The rude dignity of the 
 chief s walk was heightened by the fall of a trailing 
 blanket, lending grace to his form and carriage. Cart- 
 wright noted him well ; noted also that every passer 
 by stepped out of his path with a shudder or a curse, 
 and children ran crying, as from the presence of a 
 ghost. They said, with bated breath, that a tyrant, in 
 alliance with these Indians, ruled them ; swayed them 
 through their fears of raids, pillage and slaughter, not 
 uncommon ; and that this tribe was the police of the 
 tyrant. 
 
 The nightly revel had begun, and while the thief 
 danced with a bearish joy among the crowd that 
 thronged the banquette of the tavern, he caught the eye 
 of Cruz ; he joined his associate and followed him. 
 As he passed out an old trapper nudged a companion : 
 
 "Did you see that land pirate?" 
 
142 SNAP. 
 
 "Whar, Jack?" 
 
 " Him as jes went out ; that buffler-headed rough 
 that war giving us a bar dance." 
 
 " Him, yes ; he cavorted round like a hobbled 
 mule." 
 
 "Spot him, chum; he s a thief ; the biggest on the 
 plains." 
 
 Through dark lanes on the skirt of the town, to a 
 tumble-down adobe, Cruz and Oartwright, sneaking 
 like hungry cayotes, found awaiting them in the d;irk- 
 ness, the savage who strode by in the twilight. They 
 had met to chaffer over the price of blood with a full 
 flask and clinking gold, and out of the glare of one 
 depravity, the pirate seemed to have found another, 
 and more congenial vice. 
 
 Ferati had once been a celebrated matador, but his 
 fall was that of Lucifer, so he thought, from the idol 
 of Mexico s capital to an outcast, as he was wont to 
 style himself, in deep chagrin that soured his temper. 
 Not one of the untamed, lion-like bulls, tormented, 
 unfed, infuriated to overcome his prowess, had for 
 years daunted his courage nor escaped his skill. Each 
 had been as a plaything to his two-edged rapier and 
 his blood-red banner. With what a dilettante grace 
 his proud form moved about the arena, such was his 
 style in deploring his loss, as with the bow of a 
 courtier he waved aside all other competitors for the 
 honors of the fight, and drove his steel to the hilt. 
 
 "Bravo Ferati ; bravissima ! " cried all. And so it 
 came about, that the mob held him in high esteem, 
 
THE CONSPIRACY. 143 
 
 while senoras and senoritas clapped their hands as he 
 entered the ring, or wreathed his brow when he left 
 it. 
 
 It was a gala day when he met his fate ; a high 
 festival drew the beauty and the chivalry, the dignita 
 ries of church and state, the populace to the amphi 
 theatre. The grandees were in genial humor, the 
 people happy, and the scene within the circular pen, 
 where he stood victor over the slain and mangled 
 bodies of a dozen bulls, turned the head of the vain, 
 though skilful fellow, and raised him to glory s 
 heights. The flaunting handkerchief, the flying bou 
 quet, the wave of the silken scarf, shouts of men, 
 cries of children, the squeaking voices of the old, 
 manifested a greedy delight in the cruel and flagitious 
 sport. 
 
 The scene had become commonplace by his repeated 
 triumphs, when the trumpets heralded the coming on 
 of the last surviving beast. Foaming with rage, 
 crazed by the smell of blood and the torturing missiles 
 flung into his corral, in leaped, with a deer-like bound, 
 a shining-coated, coal-black bull. His horns were 
 sharp as spear-points, his roar like an uncaged lion. 
 Pawing the earth, his reddened eyes gleamed, and the 
 thick, white foam covered the breast and flanks. 
 
 "Hi, hi, tauro ; beautiful bull; at them, beauty!" 
 cried the mob, rising to cheer. 
 
 And there was method in the animal s madness 
 which left little to doubt ; it was the majesty of frenzy ; 
 there was no need of spurs to goad him on, he leaped 
 
144 SNAP. 
 
 viciously to the assault. Ferati was unhorsed in the 
 first charge ; nothing could divert the onset, for the 
 bull attacked with fell intent; neither flags, explod- 
 ents, spear-thrusts nor the needle-pointed barbs, could 
 turn aside the straight, full-forced drive of the 
 horns into the vitals of the matador s horse. Gored 
 again and again, the horse fell and expired, ripped 
 open, despite the dexterous handling of the rider. 
 The champion was now afoot, his courage a little 
 shaken, but still he saluted with his sword upraised, 
 as the bull, throwing the earth in fury, made ready. 
 There was one chance, one only, and the man s best. 
 With a spring, he planted his foot between the horns, 
 leaped astride the back, and essayed to drive his sword 
 behind the shoulder. But the bull with a quick dash 
 hurled -him to the ground, and tossed him aloft amid 
 the taunts and jeers of the crowd. The ring had been 
 cleared of attendants, several wounded and one slain 
 outright, and there was little help for the bull-tighter, 
 as he struck the earth, and was again hurled high. 
 
 But now a sudden sight caused a tremor and a cry of 
 alarm in the brutish multitude. 
 
 "Out, out, little one; death to the child; back, 
 baby ; go quick ; in the love of God, go back ! " 
 
 The clamor came in an instant of terror on seeing a 
 young, gay girl, dressed like a danseuse, her red scarf 
 floating from the waist, scale the barrier and descend 
 into the arena. The bull glanced angrily at the nymph, 
 and turned furiously, to charge so bold a challenger. 
 But the nimble-footed sprite, with supreme courage, 
 
THE CONSPIRACY. 145 
 
 held her way across the ring, and then with a spring, 
 catching a hand-hold on the logs of the inclosure, drew 
 herself up to its rim. Sitting there, she kept the roar 
 ing savage at bay. It was this diversion that saved 
 the bull-fighter s life. His body was rescued, while it 
 lasted, and having recovered from his wounds, he mar 
 ried the girl, and hid his defeat and shame in the life 
 of a cattle-raiser. 
 
 Beck s acquaintance with the Mexican had been of 
 long duration. Once, when a sergeant of dragoons at 
 a fort near by, he was sent out with a squad to recon 
 noitre. He came upon Ferati fighting hard with a 
 band of redskins who had stolen his cattle. Beck 
 drove back the thieves, rescued the man s stock, and 
 his friendship had been warm and sincere. He knew 
 nothing of him further than his favors, his gratitude, 
 and those natural, passionate extremes common to his 
 race. 
 
 To the overtures of Cartwright, the Indian moodily 
 by signs made answer. He asked a large sum in 
 money and an equal share in spoils as the condition 
 upon which he would agree to plunder the trader s 
 train. It was useless for the plotters to speak of an 
 easy victory and a rich reward, the chief yielded noth 
 ing. So the rogues parted to meet again, the night 
 following, at the same place. Cruz and Cartwright, 
 the next morning, were puzzled to devise means with 
 which to bribe the savage. Before evening, the land 
 lord was pressed into service and soon became as zeal- 
 
146 SNAP. 
 
 ous as any one of the cabal, enlarged by other free 
 hooters from the gang. 
 
 As the day wore on, and as they drank and smoked, 
 Ferati entered the place alone. He had not been idle ; 
 after his arrival in town he sent his wife to the fandan 
 go, while he in the interim of a day had visited many 
 haunts and acquaintances, gathered up what gossip he 
 could concerning the pirate-packers, and had formed a 
 very shrewd opinion from his own knowledge of their 
 leader, Cruz. What remained for him to find out, he 
 trusted to his wits and the keener scent of Manuela. 
 
 He was at once noticed as he entered ; very much 
 taller than the average Mexican, his fanciful dress 
 seemed to harden the stone-cold sneer on his lips, and 
 the mouth, shaded by an iron-gray moustache, clipped 
 close, gave to the lean nose the outline of a hawk s bill. 
 The eyes, set deeply in the sunken cheeks, sparkled 
 like a serpent s. On his head, bound up in a striped 
 bandanna, rested the glazed sombrero ; the calzoneros 
 were velvet, tight-tilting and slashed, below a red, 
 armless jacket, contrasting oddly with the calico shirt 
 beneath. The waist was bound in a rich, silken scarf, 
 above which was seen a stiletto and pistol. 
 
 Whenever the chance offered, the man played monte 
 desperately, as he never permitted a challenge to pass 
 at his table. Always ready to break a bank, or to have 
 his own broken, in the parlance of the craft, he was 
 never content with a slow pursuit of his calling ; when 
 flushed by success he was a profligate ; when penniless 
 he was morose and dangerous. 
 
THE CONSPIRACY. 147 
 
 The landlord whispered to his confederates that the 
 new comer had a fund to be won, and Cartwright took 
 the hint ; he saw that under certain conditions this was 
 his opportunity, and he quickly resolved to "tap the 
 bank " of the dealer that night ; a term understood to 
 mean that he would challenge the monte player for the 
 amount upon his table, on the turn of a card. It was 
 further agreed that the landlord should manage the 
 crowning shame. Cruz having so worked upon his 
 fears of an Indian raid, and duped him by the show of 
 profits, he pledged himself to manipulate a pack of 
 cards so as to make Cartwright s winning sure. 
 
 The lights were ablaze on the rough, white walls, 
 throwing off an ill savor to mix with the smell of gar 
 lic, the fumes of tobacco and wine, when Manuela came 
 in and crossed the floor to the card-player. He whis 
 pered and she turned away with a serious look, to stroll 
 about the apartment. 
 
 The street cries without were growing louder as the 
 night came on, and from the plaza beyond, the jargon 
 of the hucksters was heard in full chorus. A crowd, 
 increased from every house, filled the streets, and 
 young women of almost every hue flocked to the dens 
 near by. The music struck up in the fonda ; its first 
 notes reached the ears of the idlers outside, when the 
 tide turned into the room. It was a motley crowd at 
 the height of the revel; mountain-men, trappers, 
 scouts, guides, deserters, negroes, hunters, traders, 
 teamsters, packers, gamblers and land pirates ; seno- 
 ritas, in their trappings of faded velvets and flaunting 
 
148 SNAP. 
 
 ribbons ; the glazed leather and bell-buttons of the men 
 in accord with the gay jackets and satin slippers of the 
 women ; nor was the American s garb out of harmony. 
 His voice was not a note lower than the prevailing di s - 
 cord, from the strumming of the mandolin and the 
 shuffle of the feet on the hard, clay floor. 
 
 In a corner sat a penny-pitcher; the lean wretch 
 begged like a mendicant. 
 
 "In the name of Saint Peter," he cried, "plank 
 down, plank down ; if I lose this bet it ll put me in my 
 cold, cold grave." 
 
 Now Ferati took up a guitar, and suddenly his 
 young wife bounded into the center of the room. 
 Flashing, fluttering, circling, bounding like a fawn, 
 skimming like an albatross settling to its ease on the 
 crest of a white wild wave ; springing, like the flight 
 of the bird, the dark eyes opening and closing on her 
 burning cheeks, she whirled in a delirium of triumph 
 over the fleetest foot of her sex. She skipped aside 
 and disappeared, as the mountain-men threw coin at 
 her feet. 
 
 The dance ended, the gambler seated himself at a 
 table, spread out his cards, placing his gold and silver 
 near him ; then he composedly drew his weapons and 
 made them a part of the display. 
 
 Cartwright at once challenged him, and as the crowd 
 grew close about them, he said politely : 
 
 " Bueno." 
 
 "Wayno," repeated Bill; "give us a new pack of 
 kerds." 
 
THE CONSPIRACY. 149 
 
 "As the senor chooses," replied the player; the 
 lowest Spaniard tries to be affable. 
 
 The new pack was brought by the landlord ; Cruz 
 eyed him closely. Cartwright-won the toss and drew 
 the cards ; he drew them steadily card after card. 
 The one he wagered on came first ; he held it up be 
 fore the dealer, who, with blanched cheeks, said : 
 
 " Bueno, scfior." 
 
 The winner swept the pile from the table, lighted 
 his cigar, and left the room. He was followed by his 
 confederates. 
 
 The clanseuse stood in the dark shadow of the house 
 listening to every word that passed between the thief 
 and his pal, Cruz, and as they rode away to the ren 
 dezvous with the Indian, she hastened to her partner; 
 he listened, and in sullen humor gathered up his cards, 
 and replaced his weapons. 
 
 Soon thereafter a furious row began, provoked by 
 the woman, and as the melee became general, the 
 lights were put out suddenly. In the gloom gliding 
 about, stepping like a cat, guided by a faint shimmer 
 from the street, the maddened player ceaselessly sought 
 one face which his hate had drawn in lines of fire. 
 The riot spent itself, the house was deserted, and the 
 gambler, with his wife, disappeared in the crowd. 
 
 In the small hours of the morning Ferati returned 
 to his domicile. Beck was aroused, and to his hasty 
 questions the Mexican answered promptly, bidding 
 him speed back to the post ; that Cartwright had con 
 spired with the Indians to attack his train at a certain 
 
150 SNAP. 
 
 point, and to start out before these plans could be 
 carried out. 
 
 Beck nerved himself to spring back into the saddle ; 
 he must outstrip the gang, reach the post, get some 
 rest for his over-wrought frame, and a fair start with 
 his train before the pirates could mature the plot. 
 
 He gave over his faithful bay to the Mexican, taking 
 in exchange a strong horse which the grazer thought 
 surpassed in mettle all others of his kind in existence. 
 Beck awaited the break of day, then mounted. 
 
 He parted with his host, shaking hands ; little he 
 knew that the coin he had placed therein had pensioned 
 a heartless savage to seek his life ; that the same hand 
 had driven a poignard through the heart of another, 
 and that the sweet and peaceful light of the dawn, now 
 falling on horse and rider as they sped away, fell alike 
 over the pallid corpse of the landlord on the red-clay 
 floor of the fonda. 
 
THE WA Y- WORN RIDER "R OLL- UT." 151 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BECK, on his departure from the post, had said in 
 his off-hand way, that he was going to watch the 
 pirate, and the trader was led to believe that this 
 meant the movements of the gang at the crib or their 
 trail thence, when he would return. He supplied 
 Beck with funds to meet any need in seeking infor 
 mation, but he was fkr from knowing the dauntless 
 errand on which his guide had resolved. The scout s 
 natural reticence, and as a habit of his calling, kept 
 his mouth closed as to the particulars of his mission. 
 His insight into the ways of such an evil-designing 
 rogue as Cartwright, drew him instinctively to the 
 distant nest of the vipers. He trusted his own shrewd 
 ness best, feared to disclose his plan, lest they might 
 be over- ruled, and relied upon his physical strength as 
 equal to any trial. 
 
 He had been away already over six weeks, and dur 
 ing this lapse of time, the season had advanced into 
 the sun-bright days late in June. The shimmering 
 expanse, lying far to the west beyond the post, seemed 
 to vibrate in the heat of noon. There were no cool 
 spots about the camp ; but at the house, a milder ray 
 
152 SNAP. 
 
 fell through the morning-glories on Mary, as she sat 
 at her knitting. 
 
 o 
 
 "I can t make it out, what keeps John so long," her 
 father said as he stepped on to the porch, from the 
 rear door. 
 
 "It seems a long, long time," Mary replied, mus 
 ingly; but then, with a ready cheer, she added: "I 
 always trust Mister John, father; he ll come." 
 
 The trader walked away, and his steps led him 
 straightly to the office-door. lie entered and hastily 
 snatched up his glass as he mounted to the outlook. 
 His range on the horizon swept slowly the vast circuit, 
 all deeply blue, but not a line on the curtained space 
 resembled the familiar form of his scout. He drew 
 back and got down from the ladder, much troubled in 
 spirit, for next to his love for his daughter, his friend 
 ship for Beck was almost as ardent a passion. 
 
 Where was Beck ? The question the trader asked 
 himself many times, repeating it to Mary. Where 
 was he ? 
 
 The scout had ridden away from Feratrs ranche a 
 fortnight before, and had taken a trail to bring him 
 out on a wel^-known highway, more frequently tra 
 versed than any other of the many routes across the 
 plains. He bestrode the grazer s horse, a young, fresh, 
 strong gelding, of Mexican habits, which Beck was 
 not sure he could trust. Trained to the use of the 
 lasso, his mount was tractable, bridlewise and kind; 
 he grazed at the picket-rope without fretting, and 
 thrived 011 short commons better than his stallion. In 
 
THE WA Y- WORN RIDER " R OLL- UT." 153 
 
 build, the horse was high and well-knit ; his stride 
 was wide and easy; his natural gait, a lope. The 
 head betokened poor blood ; there was not a sign of 
 the thoroughbred about him, but every movement was 
 that of thorough training. Beck did not know his^ 
 speed, and this stood first in what he would require of 
 his mount ; nor did he care to test it lest he might 
 regret the tax upon his strength. 
 
 The same routine of lonely camps, the same daily 
 ride and rest, the gallop in the dawn, the halt in the 
 twilight, the sleep under the stars at night in the aw 
 ful silence. The journey repeated was wearing the 
 man down ; his form was bent, overstrained, and he 
 sat his saddle clumsily. In this plight, as a train 
 passed he bargained with the whips to take him up, 
 and he stretched himself, at full length, in one of the 
 covered wagons. The respite from the horseback jar 
 was most delightful, and for days he enjoyed it. His 
 beast was led ; for both, it was rest ; the horse was 
 lightened of his load, and man s heart lightened by the 
 voices of his fellows. But the drag soon grew to be 
 irksome to one whose bent was to cover distance with 
 all dispatch, whose purpose was to reach a goal within 
 a given time. So, in the first flush of another day, 
 Beck put spurs to his horse and was soon careering 
 beyond the sight of the teamsters. He sped on in a 
 gallop, and now, to test the courage and dash of the 
 Mexican, he spurred deep, raising his voice to a shout, 
 and slackened the rein. The horse leaped, nearly un 
 seating the rider, threw back his ears, and spun like a 
 
154 SNAP. 
 
 top along the road. Beck was delighted ; he had stir 
 red the latent vigor of a prairie-born iryer. The scout 
 felt now that no fatigue could break down the startlin^ 
 
 D O 
 
 nerve of one of those strange, half-wild, iron-bound 
 breed of horses. The bounding dash waked the man 
 also, when suddenly a foe sprang from the earth be 
 fore him. He had neared a thicket-grown rise in the 
 land, and was about to draw up, when a band of In 
 dian horsemen, their bow-strung arrows drawn, chal 
 lenged his advance. 
 
 On sight, Beck dropped his rein, seized his pistols, 
 raised both hands, and with a yell, tired. 
 
 The freed horse turned sharp at an angle, with every 
 fibre strung, every nerve and sinew strained, and with 
 wondrous power cleared the opposing line, and swept 
 by it. On came the savages, goading their ponies ; 
 on sped Beck and his Mexican ; he turned in his sad 
 dle and bent his rifle on the foremost Indian. The 
 ball fell short, and the arrows aimed at him were out 
 of reach and harmless. He seized the bridle : 
 
 "Now, Bones, go it," and, guiding his horse, struck 
 out for a canyon. Hidden away in a cavern of one of 
 these deep-cut gorges, which he had reached out of 
 sight of the foe, there he hid himself and his horse 
 until the dark would shield him. 
 
 The wait and watch at the camp for the absent scout 
 had lengthened to a weary, feeble hope. The trader s 
 suspense had grown to be a consuming fear that his 
 friend was a victim of Cartwright s malice. Every 
 
THE WA Y- WORN RIDER "R OLL- UT. n 155 
 
 hour added to the old man s doubts, and early and late 
 he was seen with his glass leveled in the outlook. 
 
 Mary was a silent watcher. Often with shaded eyes 
 she stood in the path to gaze steadily and long, out on 
 the burnished prairie. She would turn away, her face 
 sadder than before, but not to betray her thoughts she 
 cheered her father when they met. 
 
 The Doctor never doubted the coming of Beck in 
 his own good time, but many of the men had given 
 him up as lost. 
 
 It was a calm summer night, in the later hours, as the 
 guard paced his rounds, when suddenly the tall, gaunt 
 form of a wayfarer, leading a lank, raw-boned horse, 
 appeared before him. 
 
 " Who comes thar? " cried the sentry. 
 
 w It s me, John Beck ; what s left of me ; " and the 
 man, reeling in his steps, gave his mount in charge of 
 the guard, and found his way into the house. 
 
 Soon, within the dwelling, the lamps were lighted 
 and the sideboard door was opened. There were 
 cheerful voices heard and the smacking of lips ; the 
 Doctor s loud salutation, the trader s greeting, Lu s 
 laugh, Whack s banter, and Mary s gleeful tones were 
 heard. But all stood amazed at the man s changed 
 features and attire. His beard and hair were long and 
 matted, the face bronzed to a coppery hue, his form 
 lean and worn ; the shoes and leggins were whipped 
 to tatters by the speary grass ; his clothes were ragged. 
 He looked up from the meal before him, and with a 
 reassuring smile, he said : 
 
15G 
 
 "Never mind, Peter; I made my pint." 
 
 "I ll bet you did, John, certin ; " he answered. 
 
 Very little else than these few words escaped the 
 lips of Beck, but Cheviteau felt that in time he would 
 know the whole story. 
 
 The tired giant s return to strength was easy ; he 
 hid away in shaded nooks and slept ; he ate heartily 
 with his old-fashioned gusto. The morning saw him 
 bathing in the stream ; at noon, outstretched from the 
 heat ; and night, with its gracious help, built up the 
 strong man to himself. 
 
 One day, lying under a grove-tree not far from the 
 rear porch, Mary sought him out. With his blouse 
 for a pillow, he slept healthily, and she stood near him 
 watching his restful repose. Womanlike, she broke a 
 few broad leaves from the weeds near by, and fanned 
 the face of the sleeper. 
 
 Suddenly his eyes opened wide and staring. 
 
 "Well Mary," he said, springing up. 
 
 " I thought the flies would vex you, Mister John," 
 she replied ; then laughing in her old, round, joyous 
 way, " and I found your scalp was whole." 
 
 "Is it?" he spoke in a confused way, as if in doubt. 
 "Well, now I ve had my stretch, and feel all right; 
 whar s your father?" 
 
 " In the office, I reckon." 
 
 He took her hand in his, and they walked back to 
 the porch ; there Whack met them, and Beck said : 
 
 " Come boy, I want you ; thars bisnis on hand." 
 
1HE WAY-WORN RIDER " ROLL-OUT." 157 
 
 Together the two went on to the office, where they 
 found the trader. 
 
 * * Any orders from Washington, Peter ? " asked Beck, 
 as the three ^yere seated- at the office table. 
 
 "Yes, they re pushing me hard, John; an hyar, 
 they ve sont me an order for an escort ; but it s no 
 yuse, the troop s too far off." 
 
 "Are the wagons ready, Whack?" 
 
 "Yes, scout; all in good rumiin order; the stock s 
 fed up for a long pull." 
 
 " Can we camp on the prairie to-morrow night, 
 Peter?" 
 
 " Certin ; I ken load up by noon." 
 
 "Mus have an extra man for each team;" he laid 
 down his demands bluntly. 
 
 " What fer ? " the trader asked, in surprise. 
 
 " Jes this : Bill Cartwright s on the road, at the head 
 of a band of pirates." 
 
 "That s bad." 
 
 " Bad enough ; but wus still, the Spiders ar with 
 him." 
 
 " Ken you pull through ? " 
 
 " Give me that order ; put me on the trail to-morrow ; 
 I ll fight through, if I send back my bones." Beck s 
 hand fell heavily ; he spoke not in boast, for he had 
 measured the danger, but his words were direct and 
 well understood. 
 
 "An you," said the trader, turning to the young, 
 fan-mettled boy by his side, "will you go? JS T o man 
 is edlcated till he s fought his way cross the plains." 
 
158 SNAP. 
 
 " Go ! " he answered promptly, " anywhai with John 
 Beck in the lead, don t you know me? " 
 
 "That suits," answered the old man, rising ; "go 
 now, rouse up the camp." 
 
 At the corral Beck called the teamsters around him 
 and chose from the best his guards and whips. 
 
 "Be spry, Legs," he said, "bring in the cattle ; I ll 
 sort a lead team." As the boy ran off, he turned to 
 Whack, saying : 
 
 " Show the men you re training when the team s 
 ready." 
 
 " Sort em right ; I ll fetch em round." 
 
 It was a simple plan agreed upon to put the drivers 
 at ease, for such are always jealous of the knowledge 
 of others placed over them. 
 
 The six } T okes stood well to the wagon, and as Beck 
 stepped aside, he found a crowd looking on. 
 
 " Thar s a team put up as it oughter be," he said, 
 "look at the leaders ; jeslike prancin ponies, an they re 
 graded, heft an size, down to the vetran at the wheel. 
 Thar s a blaze-face an liver-spots for you, boys; he s 
 built like a steamboat, hoofs out like a regler, the eye 
 like a Kaintuc gal s. That team will get down to work 
 without coaxin ; heah, Whack, see how they tend to 
 bisnis." 
 
 Whack took up his whip, and standing a few feet 
 from the wheel-ox, he whirled the lash to guide the 
 turn, in a brisk trot. Touching the nose of the vete 
 ran, he steadied the movement and brought the team 
 round to the starting place cleverly. 
 
1 HE IVA Y- WORN RIDER ROLL- O UT." 159 
 
 "How ll that do?" he asked of the crowd, as the 
 yokes stood still ; " you can measure, and see if the 
 wagon won t stand in the circle." The men cheered 
 him. 
 
 "Mary," said her father, at the rear porch, where 
 the old lady amused the girls ; " breakfast at five, 
 shure." 
 
 Mrs. Garrulson made all the reply needed : 
 
 "May I never! an I hyar vvese gwyne at last, 
 
 happy land ! You shall have yer breakfast, kernel, 
 
 if I have to cook it misself. See heah though ; plenty 
 room for that fedder bed, don t disremember that." 
 
 "All right, mam ;" he passed on to the office. 
 
 Lu and Mary were in the dining-room. 
 
 " May I come in ? " asked Beck at the window. 
 
 "Yes, but through the door, of course." 
 
 "He won t leap in, Lu, he s not a jumper," said 
 Mary, teasing her friend. 
 
 " I mus see to my traps," said Beck, and after a look 
 at his rifle, he placed it in the corner. 
 
 "What s the flurry, Mister Beck?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing, Mary; we ought to be on the road, 
 long ago ; " as he left the room, she followed him. 
 
 " Now, tell me," she questioned again as they stood 
 in the hall, "what about the trip?" 
 
 " We re ordered out, and I am making ready, that s 
 all." 
 
 "Yes, I know," she said slowly, " making ready with 
 the rifle." 
 
 "We can t trade without it ; how can we?" 
 
160 SNAP. 
 
 "But what is it?" 
 
 " Don t be troubled, Mary, you re safe enough." 
 
 Handing him a book, a pocket companion, which 
 she had often pressed upon him, she turned back with 
 a serious, unhappy look, and left him standing there, 
 as one in doubt and troubled. 
 
 At daylight the teams drew up before the wide, 
 open doors of the storehouses, and stood ready to be 
 freighted. 
 
 Breakfast was over ; Lu and the scout met on the 
 porch, and she said in her playful, smiling love of 
 fun : 
 
 " Leave a lock of hair, won t you ? " 
 
 "How can I? thar s none left." 
 
 "It looks like it was sand-papered." 
 
 "That s a way I have to fool an Injin ; they can t 
 get a han-holt to scalp by." Beck, in trim, had his 
 hair clipped again. 
 
 "Oh, the brutes; but you ll leave Kitty for me; 
 won t you, Mister Beck?" 
 
 "If Peter says so." 
 
 " Let s go and see him ; I ll coax the best I can." 
 
 They entered upon a busy scene ; the cargoes had 
 been chosen from slips made up, and Whack and 
 Jumper called off to the hands, as the wagons were 
 packed. Lu managed well, for Beck needed a strong, 
 heavy horse. 
 
 By noon the train was drawn out in line, loaded. 
 Beck made ready for the start ; he looked to the rnedi- 
 
THE IV A Y- WORK RIDER " R OLL- OUT." 161 
 
 cine chests, the cooking kits, and stationed his men, 
 a driver and extra man to each team. 
 
 " Now, Whack," he said, I ve fixed your traps, your 
 hollerware and cutlery, whar s your pocket knife?" 
 
 "All right, scout." 
 
 "You can travel without boots, but not without 
 that ; the roan s yours, I ll ride the sorrel." 
 
 "Move on," called the trader. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Give the word, lad." 
 
 Whack left the house, and in a loud voice gave the 
 order : 
 
 "Rollout!" 
 
 Up rose a hundred whips, and there was a sound like 
 an enfilade of muskets ; sharp and clear was the snap 
 with a ring that echoed on the dull, dead silence of 
 the waste, making the heart glad with its promise, and 
 the faces of the sturdy fellows to brighten. 
 
 Beck sprang to his saddle and dashed off to the lead ; 
 the mile-length caravan was in motion. 
 
 Mrs. Garrulson, against the protest of Beck and the 
 trader, parted from her friends, solemnly in silence, 
 to make her journey to her " ole man" at a distant 
 fort. As she bade adieu to Lu and Mary, she gave 
 them a fold of writing, to be read when she was out 
 of sight. Her bonnet was seen waving far off in the 
 line, and her dismal lament came back to the ears 
 of those who watched her. 
 
 " Goocl-by, vain warld ! " 
 
 As the lead team moved out upon the road, a half- 
 
162 SNAP. 
 
 nude Indian runner stole from behind a tree, and like 
 a deer bounded off on a trail ; the sunset lighted the 
 path of a spy. As the darkness set in, the glimmer 
 ing camp-fires were seen, on the blue horizon. 
 
 At night, after the departure of the train, Lu thought 
 of the old woman s written scrap, and calling Mary The 
 two spent an hour at the sitting-room lamp over the 
 scrawl ; at length, by dint of a vexed study, they read 
 the ballad of: 
 
 MI JOX. 
 
 jon garrulson es a soger man, 
 a soger man, es he, es he ; 
 he fyts fer his knllers with his gun, 
 jon garrulson, mi jon, dus he. 
 
 he fyts the injuns onto the planes, 
 he fyts the injuns, jon dus he, 
 he gits a myt fer all his panes, 
 but he fhyts em fer his konteree. 
 
 mi soger man is out in a foart, 
 wah evri soger ort fer to be; 
 i tak my bed up fer a wark 
 sterang konterees fer tu see, see, see. 
 
 A woyce kauls me in pledin toans, 
 go tin yer jewtee an be tru, 
 mi bed shal res his akin boans, 
 no nife ken kut our luv into. 
 
 an wen he dys and ]yf is did, 
 ile rap him in ther stars an strype, 
 ile rite onto his koft en lid, 
 Melindee wus his durlin vvyf. 
 
 tak warnin all bi me an jon, 
 
 yung gals an boys jes look at me, 
 
 an vvip ycr i as yu jog on 
 
 Sterang kunterees f e r to see, see, see. 
 
THE WA Y- WORN RIDER " R OLL- O UT." \ 63 
 
 Here the screed might have ended, but through a 
 score of verses it reached a climax in an adventure of 
 John with an Indian : 
 
 jon grabbed his bar atwyx bis ban, 
 to grab his bar wur all he did, 
 that injun squaked at my gucle man, 
 fer he snachecl that injun bawlhedded. 
 
 "And who in the world is her John?" screamed 
 Lu. 
 
 "Her husband, of course; he s a soldier, and the 
 good old soul loves him, Lu," Mary said, trying to 
 be a little grave as a curb to her friend s mirth. 
 
 "Well, you may be good riders, good fighters, and 
 all that ; but, if that s the way we write poetry out 
 here " she threw down the paper as she ran off, 
 singing : 
 
 " An he snached that injun bawlhedded." 
 
164 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 
 
 Cartwright, in company with Cruz, after leaving the 
 fonda, sought out the Indian in the shadow of the adobe ; 
 they found him in waiting. He was easily brought to 
 terms by a sight of the gold the thief had won ; so the 
 plot was formed to rob the train, to massacre the 
 teamsters, and that the chief should return to his tribe 
 to band together the most villainous for the deadly 
 mission. The bonus was paid, a promise given of a 
 good share of booty to each savage, and an ambuscade 
 was agreed upon. 
 
 As Ferati sneaked away with bloody hands from the 
 melee, Cartwright closed his atrocious bargain with 
 the chief. The pirates were about to return to the 
 scene they had but the hour before quitted, when one 
 of the gang, in haste and in fright from the tumult of 
 the spree, by chance came upon them. The natural bent 
 of his scare added much more to the account of it than 
 really took place, and the knaves who listened changed 
 their course, an incident that hastened their villainy 
 many hours. 
 
 "B wen," said Cruz, with a shrug and a motion to 
 move on. 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 165 
 
 " Wayno," answered Bill, as they turned to take up 
 the packers. 
 
 It- was past midnight when the jingling spurs were 
 heard again on the road, ringing right merrily on the 
 silvery silence and keeping time with the song the ras 
 cals sang in chorus. Further on Cruz took up his 
 train, to follow close upon their heels, so that when the 
 animals he and Cartwright rode were fagged, they could 
 change to muleback ; a slow dog-trot, but an untiring 
 gait. 
 
 When Beck rode forth from Ferati s cabin, the 
 thieves had set out with a good start ahead, on a 
 route far away from Beck s, but nearly parallel, towards 
 the post. The form of the scout was still in sight 
 when Ferati and his gang sprang to horse ; like blood 
 hounds they followed Cartwright. 
 
 The pirates plodded on. In the shade, when they 
 halted, they ate and drank, gambled, quarreled, drank 
 again, and mounted. Bringing to the long jaunt the 
 steady force and strength of the mule, they gained 
 distance. 
 
 Not to follow them on the dreary journey, they rode 
 on without break or accident, covering space with in 
 credible speed. Beck had distanced them some days, 
 as their halts were long and their cups were deep ; but 
 theirs was a shorter route, and the scout had counted 
 too trustingly on the time he had himself saved. 
 
 The Mexicans and the semi-savage white, stimulated 
 by strong drinks, never tired. Far out on the prairie 
 they fell in with a hunting party of the tribe whose 
 
166 SNAP. 
 
 lands verged on the trader s, and hired one as a spy. 
 He was sent on to lie in wait near Cheviteau s, to 
 watch every movement at the post, and when the train 
 started to return with all speed to where they would 
 bivouac on the plain. This ended their journey. 
 
 It was while Beck was taking the few days of rest 
 to recruit himself, believing he was so far ahead of the 
 pirates that he could afford the necessity of the respite, 
 and unconscious that Cartwright s shorter route and 
 the ease with which he and his gang changed from a 
 tired mount to a fresh one from the train, gave them 
 great advantage in the race, that the Indian runner 
 started for the post. 
 
 Like a panting fox-chaser, he was hiding near Chevi- 
 -teau s, when he heard the whip-snap of the caravan in 
 motion. The camp-fires died out, when with winged 
 feet, far beyond the train-guard, he fled back to the 
 waiting pirates. 
 
 The two trappers who eyed the " bar dance " of 
 Cartwright at the fonda, stood near when he swept the 
 coin from Ferati s table. 
 
 "Bill," said the elder, "that war a clean steal." 
 
 " I seed it, Jack, an thar ll be a fuss ; watch the 
 Mexan, he s white about the gills an his eyes ar afire." 
 
 "Come, go long;" Jack moved to leave the place 
 and the other joined him. "That ar skunk es jus in 
 from the road ; he s train-boss fer a rich trader an he s 
 worfin a big game ; them mule drivers is thick bout 
 him as flies ; well see whar he goes with that ar 
 plunder." 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 167 
 
 "I m along, ole boss ; you reckon high on me." 
 
 They left the pulquerias, and keeping to the dark 
 side of by-ways and lanes, they followed close upon 
 Cartwright and Cruz. When the cut-throats met, be 
 hind a ruin near by, they heard every word of the 
 plot. 
 
 As the thieves stole off, Bill drew his pistol and 
 was about to fire. Jack seized his arm, saying : 
 
 " Hold on, old boy ; none of that ; you ll spile some 
 sport." 
 
 "Tse itching to pull on him, Jack, plum center." 
 
 " He ll fotch up, mind ; come hyar an sot down ; I se 
 got a heap to tell about that cuss." Drawing forth his 
 bladder wallet, the other knew what was coming. 
 
 The story told by the old trapper was a long one ; 
 amplified by many side-scenes, and spun out in his 
 own peculiar drawl. It gave a part of his own his 
 tory, the early life of Cartwright, referred to the crib, 
 and a passing glance at what was known as the Regu 
 lators, an earlier and ruder organization than that 
 which in later years was known as the Vigilantes. 
 
 A pretty girl, of hasty temper, was wooed by two 
 suitors in one of the early settlements of the border. 
 The one was a quiet, peaceful youth, named McQuain ; 
 the other, a coarse, wild, reckless fellow, named Rob 
 erts, whose manners and morals were corrupt. 
 
 The maid Margaret, vain of these attentions, was 
 well pleased enough to have become the wife of either. 
 
 The death of Roberts father called him away, and 
 during his absence McQuain urged his suit ; the girl s 
 
168 SNAP. 
 
 friends favored it, and in a month she consented to 
 marry him. 
 
 An old man in the neighborhood held a commission 
 as justice of the peace, although he had not acted as 
 such, and McQuain was told, and told truly, that any 
 official act of the officer was binding; that he had a 
 right to exercise his functions until a successor was 
 appointed. He was called in, and the girl became 
 McQiwin s wife. 
 
 The next day, Roberts returned to the settlement ; 
 he spoke to no one about the marriage, but quietly 
 sought out the bride. What he said to her no one 
 knew ; it was told that she asked her husband "whether 
 he was quite sure that their union was lejjal." 
 
 Roberts brought with him from the east, news of 
 the declaration of war with Great Britain ; also, the 
 call of the Governor of the State for the quota of 
 troops. A day or two after his return, when men 
 everywhere were joining the army, he met McQimin 
 in public and taunted him before a crowd. "You re 
 tied to an apron string," he said, "and dare not en 
 list." Maddened by the sting of this slur, J^c-Quaiii 
 seized a pen and enrolled his name. Going home to 
 tell his wife of his sudden resolve, she was silent and 
 sullen when she heard it. To be deserted, when mar 
 ried but a week, was little less than cruel, she thought 
 and said ; she had little faith in the patriotism of which 
 he boasted. 
 
 Both men had enlisted, and before leaving the place, 
 Roberts came to bid good-by to his former sweet- 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 169 
 
 heart. It was known that they had a long, earnest, 
 parting talk. 
 
 After an absence of several months, McQuain came 
 back, hastening with a rapt heart to his home. He 
 found the door closed. There was not a sign of a 
 living thing about it. No smoke was seen, as of old, 
 curling out of the chimney ; there was no one there. 
 Margaret s father met him with a shake of his head ; 
 she had been gone more than a month, and none knew 
 whither nor with whom. It was whispered that Rob 
 erts had been seen, not far away; but it was a rumor 
 only. The father invited McQuain to live with him, 
 but the man turned away moodily on the path to his 
 deserted cabin, where he was seen to enter. Coming 
 out soon after, he threw his rifle over his shoulder, 
 and without a word, walked away through the forest. 
 In half an hour the dwelling was in flames ; in an hour 
 it was a ruin, and McQuain had left the settlement. 
 
 Years passed ; the war was over, and the country, 
 not far below w r hat was now known as Cheviteau s, 
 began to fill up. A small frontier hamlet was built 
 there, but the treachery of the river suddenly ended 
 its life and its annals. Cartwright had halted on the 
 spot, in his flight with Mary. Among the first to set- 
 tie there was Roberts, his w^ife and three children ; 
 the wife was Margaret. Her marriage with McQuain 
 was legal, but Roberts had persuaded her that it was 
 not, and her wounded pride at the desertion, as she 
 thought, of her husband, led her astray, which she 
 bitterly repented. 
 
170 SNAP. 
 
 Roberts had changed as much as his victim ; a score 
 seemed to have been added to his age ; the cheeks 
 were sunken, his figure spare and bent, his glance un 
 steady and furtive. The evil traits of his diameter 
 were seen in every action. During the years that had 
 passed he changed his abode many times, frightened 
 away by a fear that the avenger Avas on his track. 
 For days his wife would lose sight of him ; his com 
 panions were dissolute outlaws, and among them, none 
 worse than Bill Cartwright. They gave way to drunk 
 en excesses, and their intimacy was close. Money was 
 plenty with them, which they spent in riotous living, 
 and the settlers had for a long time watched them, and 
 traced to their crib counterfeits, in notes and coin, 
 which had been freely passed. 
 
 The first step to crush this nest of blacklegs was to 
 call a meeting. The people came together, they said, 
 for " law and order," and one was named to state " the 
 object of the meeting." " The chair " said : 
 
 "My friends, it is time these rascals were punished ; 
 it is our duty to punish them." Then and there was 
 formed a band of Regulators, charged with the duty of 
 w seeing the law administered." 
 
 o 
 
 The day appointed to rid the place of the "pirates" 
 arrived, and all were present save one ; he the leader. 
 In this fix they were about to disperse to call another 
 meeting, when their circle was entered by a stranger. 
 He was known to a few as a hunter, who led a solitary 
 life ; dressed in the garb of his craft, at his belt swung 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. \1\ 
 
 a long knife. He dropped the breech of his heavy 
 rifle on the ground, to lean on the muzzle. 
 
 f * If you want a captain," he said, through his thin, 
 cold lips, looking wildly about him, "I m your man ; 
 my name s McQuain/ 1 He turned away, but they 
 called him back and took him at his word. 
 
 At night they set out for the den of the outlaws. It 
 was a log cabin far out in the wilds, from which a road 
 ran to the landing, the road traveled by Cartwright 
 to the crib, and the crib the self-same haunt from 
 which Mary had been rescued. Roberts lived there 
 with his family ; his wife the witness of all the crimes 
 of the gang. 
 
 McQuain and his party had now approached within 
 fifty paces, and behind him, as he took the lead, slowly 
 crept the Regulators. A broad light streamed through 
 the cracks across the little clearing. He halted not an 
 instant, but driving in the door with the butt of his 
 gun, he stood before the startled crew. 
 
 Roberts sprang to his feet, but the deadly aim ot 
 McQuain covered him. 
 
 "Your time has come," he said, and fired. His 
 rival fell a corpse at the feet of the deluded woman. 
 Seizing her, a scream rang out even to the further 
 plain, as he threw oif his cap and turned his gaze 
 straight into her eyes. 
 
 "You re punished enough, go," he said; replacing 
 his knife, he left in the darkness to follow the trail as 
 a trapper.* 
 
 * Condensed and adapted from a story called " The First Grave." 
 
172 SNAP. 
 
 The fight was fought out furiously ; a savage strife, 
 and only one of the desperate gang escaped. Bill 
 Cartwright fled with a deep knife-wound slitting his 
 cheek, which still marked his savage face from ear to 
 chin. 
 
 The old man s story had run on far into the night ; 
 long years had passed, leaving hftn roughened in 
 speech and look. 
 
 "I fetched him," he said, "an that ar cuss ain t 
 forgot it ; I am the last of the Regulators." 
 
 At dawn he was off on the road to the fort ; thence 
 to the mountains. 
 
 The slow drag of the long, winding train began with 
 the dawn each day, and ended with the dusk. League 
 after league was measured off step by step, to the 
 creak of the wheels and the crack of the whip. Across 
 the endless reach of distance, over the brown, .lonely 
 plain, in the still white glare of fiery light, the sun 
 burned men, the panting beasts, plodded on. 
 
 "Whack, come up at a steady pull; I ve seen hoof- 
 marks of bufflers, and I ll give the boys a treat for 
 supper." 
 
 Beck read the road-signs as one would a book ; he 
 never tired, and turning his horse s head, he rode away 
 in the pace of a rider who had just begun a journey. 
 The need of the moment he did straightly, without 
 show, without knowing his own value, nor caring for 
 thanks or praise. 
 
 An extra man marched abreast of each wagon, with 
 his gun shouldered, the drivers lagging near their oxen, 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 173 
 
 their whips trailing, and the red dust stirred like 
 waves at the prow of a boat. So the dreary, time 
 serving moil wore on. 
 
 Later in the day, Whack saw the scout far away, on 
 a strip of green bottom near a creek. The bloom on 
 its banks sent back its perfume to the hungry and tired 
 toilers, and the cattle pricked their ears as they pulled 
 to the summit of the rise. 
 
 Beck had chosen the spot as a camp-ground for thfc 
 night, and it was soon known that he had killed two 
 cows. He gave orders, in his place again, wheeling 
 the line to park the wagons in a semi-circle, each end 
 of the train to rest upon the bluff sheer to the water 
 below. This done, his camp was fortified, rear and 
 front, against attack. There was fuel at hand in heaps, 
 thrown up by freshets and ready for the match. 
 
 The good, old dame was happily far more useful 
 than officious ; the wear and worry of the road had 
 tamed her speech, and while she felt a kind regard for 
 the men s hunger, she would now and then sneer aloud 
 in contempt of their cooking. 
 
 The meat when brought in, was found to be young, 
 fat and juicy. Beck was not slow to single out the 
 tongues, the fleece, the hump-ribs, as the best part*. 
 1L- lighted a brisk lire in a hole dug in the earth, and 
 when it had burned down, he hung the tongues therein, 
 and covered the opening with sod. Cutting a score of 
 withes, he skewered a rib-chop, salted and peppered, 
 to the taper end of each. Mrs. Garrulson looked on ; 
 she was not willing to admit much, but was, at most, 
 not churlish with her gifts. 
 
174 SNAP. 
 
 "Ef yer gwyne to have a feast, I ll len a ban." 
 
 Drawing out of the many folds of a white rag wrap, 
 she brought to light a bit of sour dough ; this was the 
 leaven of the large lump she was soon kneading; then 
 she seized upon a square tin box, an inch or two in 
 depth, which Beck used for his way-bills. She raised 
 the folding lid and placed her loaves therein ; she 
 tilted the box before the fire, sprinkling a few coals 
 under the bottom. Beck laughed, for he saw at once 
 the quick wit of her contrivance ; the bright inside of 
 the top reflected the heat upon the rounded loaves, the 
 coals beneath baked the bottom. 
 
 He was fairly challenged to do his best ; he forced 
 the pointed ends of his sprigs into the ground before 
 the log-heap, and the rods bent over the coal-bed from 
 the weight of the chops at the smaller end ; the men 
 copied him, and broiled the tender hump-steaks in like 
 manner. 
 
 When all was ready, the bake, as the old^voman 
 said, "wus brown as a chesnut, an light as a fedder." 
 
 Now the scout removed the cover from his roasted 
 tid-bits, and the matron, outdone, yielded easily. 
 
 " May I never," she said, " it smells like a cook- 
 stove in pie-time." 
 
 There was naught left for the wolves but the bones, 
 when the supper ended. 
 
 "I throw d a lash, Cappin," said Legs, speaking to 
 Whack, "wen I war only ten, and got my recommea 
 at fifteen." 
 
 "How, Legs?" 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 175 
 
 " Dis a way ; ray fader sont me out on to the pike a 
 haulin stone, an I bed a one-eyed wheel-ox as cross as 
 a briar-fence. Well, sumpin skeered the team, an that 
 ar ox never stopped till he mired the wagon, hub- 
 down, with a big load. It war in the fall an coolish 
 like, so I didn t mind work with the whip ; but it war 
 no yuse ; might as leave hev tickled a mountin. Now, 
 Cappin, how would you a got that ar team out?" 
 
 " What d you do, Legs ? " 
 
 " The fodder was a stannin thick on the hill, and I 
 jes went up to the top of it, on the blind side of that 
 ar ox, an with a hoop an a yell, an these yer arms an 
 legs a spread out, I cum d a boomin. It war breakin 
 fodder like a sugar-mill ; it sounded like a harricane, 
 an ef you ll bleeve it, Cappin, that ar ox pulled the 
 whole load out hisself." 
 
 Beck, in a group of teamsters, was asked by one : 
 
 " Wat s the good of all these extra men ? " 
 
 This broached a subject upon which he had kept 
 quiet not to excite the fears of the men, nor to borrow 
 a danger not yet in sight ; but as they seemed eager for 
 an answer, he said : 
 
 "Mebbe you ll wish thar were twice as many." 
 
 "But we oughter know." 
 
 "Jes three things, if you will know : Spiders, Cart- 
 wright and fight ; that s the long and short of it, boys, 
 and We ll pull through ef we have to pull over them." 
 
 "Spiders?" was repeated by several. 
 
 "Yes," said Beck, "the blood-hounds of the sou- 
 west." 
 
176 
 
 r Them s the black-hearts uv the sage-bush," spoke 
 up an old hand. 
 
 "An I se heerd tell," said another, "they can scalp 
 with the throw of a tomerhawk." 
 
 "Wat of it," said a burly fellow, "we signed to take 
 the risks, an we ll take em ; that s all." 
 
 As the camp-fire, without the usual yarn, would have 
 been a feast without viands, the older head who had 
 spoken first, began the spinning. The pipes were 
 puffed at high pressure, when the men, squatting like 
 Arabs, drew round the speaker. 
 
 "Well, yer see, boys, them ar Spiders es jes about 
 the wus tau-skinned whelps in this yar univarse ; I se 
 heerd tell about this yar chief we se a comin on to." 
 "He s wicked, I knows; kase I se heerd as how he 
 slayed a party uv emigrants, babes and all," said a 
 chum to warm up the recital. 
 
 Hold on, I se a comin to him ; an yer see this 
 chief is a pooty lively sorter cuss ; thar s no white 
 fodder in his top-knot by a long-chalk ; he s tall as a 
 pine, squar built, an he wars in hes yeers two scelp- 
 1 lifts fer yen-ings ; thar s a bald scar on the top of his 
 head. Dus yerwanter ter know bout them yerrino-s?" 
 "Let s have it," said a number; and the oldman 
 stretched his limbs, reloaded his pipe, and went on 
 with his yarn. 
 
 " Well, they do say he s the .wus gambler nor any 
 other black-heart in these yer sou-west tribes. The 
 Spiders an the Bonebows play a game they calls 
 Hand. " 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 177 
 
 "Yes, I know how it s played," said one; "they 
 puts up all they se got, down to moccasins, in two 
 piles ; then wim shakes a plum or a cherry stone in the 
 hands ; then he closes up the hands, an tother wuns 
 guess whar the stone is." 
 
 "Well, thesyar chief war out on the war-path by 
 hisself, hungry to raise bar an ready for huggin, when 
 he corned to a medicine spring; you all knows wat 
 that ar ; ets free ground fer all, one Injin jes as good as 
 tother as frens, all to onct et that. Hyar he met a 
 Bonebow drinkin at the spring ; he made a peace- sign 
 an then he drank too ; then they smoked their kinnic- 
 kinnic an sot down to a game of Hand fer all night." 
 
 "An they bed a lively ole time, I reckon," spoke up 
 one who took a deep interest in wagers of any kind. 
 
 "Jus so, ole boss, you mine me; thar war nothin 
 else but a high ole time. Bonebow he won clean 
 through ; arrer arter arrer, then tother AVUII S club, hes 
 knife, hes bow, hes robe, an the Spider sot nakit on 
 to the plain." 
 
 " Cleaned out ; " chimed in the man of chance. 
 
 " Sartin ; couldn t a bin cleaner ; but the Spider bed 
 jus wuu more chence." 
 
 "How s that? he war cleaned out you sed ; " spoke 
 up Legs, to appear smart among his elders. 
 
 " Don t throw yersef away, boy ; he bed a chence." 
 
 " What chence ? " said a score taking the cue from 
 Legs. 
 
 "His scelp ; and he bet it too, boys." 
 
 "Did he win?" was quickly asked. 
 
178 
 
 "No sir-ee ; he lost agin. He jus bent his head 
 down, jus as if he war going to hev his har brushed, 
 an the Bonebow he lifted it, jus as pooty, an it 
 lef him bawlhedded." 
 
 " What d he do ? " the story was growing warm and 
 the men excited. 
 
 "Well, the Spider war pluck all the time; grit 
 to the last, an he made Bonebow promise to meet him 
 agin at the same place." 
 
 " Go on ; " said Legs in his boy-like, eager way. 
 
 "True as preachin, pardners, they com d thar agin 
 in anuder yeah, an sot down to gamble on the same 
 spot." 
 
 "Which won?" queried an anxious listener. 
 
 "Hold on ; go slow an shuah like a ox team. Well, 
 Spider had the luck this time ; he made Bonebow come 
 every time an sot him nakit on to the plain, an his 
 scelp gone too ; but the Bonebow hed jus wuii more 
 chence." 
 
 "An his scelp gone too? See heah, ole coon, let 
 up ; " said the burly fellow, growing a little uneasy as 
 to the truth of the narrative. 
 
 "How s that? take keer, ole man ; " joined in others. 
 
 "But he hed the chence, I tell yer, sartin." 
 
 " Out with it, lets heah." 
 
 "He had one chence, and boys that wus his life ; he 
 played ginst the Spider, life for life ; they played, 
 the Spider an the Bonebow did, an Bonebow lost. 
 Hardest kind of luck, but it s true, boys, or I m a 
 saint; an the Bonebow stood up, barred his brest like 
 
THE PIRATES THE ROADSIDE CAMP YARNS. 179 
 
 a man, an the Spider killed him, then an thar, right 
 on the spot. Thet s why the Spider wars two scelps 
 as yerrings, hissen an tother wun s." : 
 
 w That ll do for an ole man," said one who had his 
 
 doubts. 
 
 " Thet s nuthin," continued the speaker, " why, boys, 
 thet same Spider stood up in a Sun-dance ,- an yer 
 know what thet is, wen they se cut the flesh in strips, 
 ail so on, an let em drov a knife froo his breast 
 
 bone/ 
 
 " An he lived arter that ? " 
 
 " Lived ! why he jus warked with et a stickin thar 
 fer yeahs." 
 
 "How d he git it out?" 
 
 Ho w d he git it out?" answered the story-teller in 
 amaze ; his yarn had run out too long and was tang 
 ling ;. " how d he git it out? " 
 
 "Yes, how d lie git it out?" said several, seeing 
 him flounder; "let s heah, all bout it." 
 
 " Don t pester yersefs ; he got it out, sartin ; " the old 
 man was cornered. 
 
 "Let s heah, now." 
 
 " Well, he jus let it work itssef out ; in course, what 
 else." The laugh went round, in which Beck joiued 
 louder than the rest. 
 
 " That ll do, ole man ; " they all said. 
 
 " I don t keer a darn, ef he s got wun yerring or two ; 
 ef he crosses our path, boys, we ll make his yer wring, 
 
 * This incident is gleaned from Ruxton s " Far West ;" rendered by the 
 writer into the vernacular of the camp. 
 
180 SNAP. 
 
 fer shuah ; " said the burly fellow, shaking the ashes 
 
 from his pipe. 
 
 " An that s the right talk ; I ll see you through." 
 Beck left the crowd, which in small parties soon 
 
 agreed upon the peril to come ; they measured it in 
 
 their own fearless way, nor was courage needed to 
 
 meet and defy it. 
 
 From some truant thought of home, some influence 
 
 of the day-like night, perhaps, Mrs. Garrulson s shrill 
 
 nasal voice burst in upon the slumber of the camp : 
 
 " An my soul it mounted hiah 
 In a charyet uv flah, 
 An the moon, it war under my feet." 
 
 This she kept up until called to order. 
 
 But the peace that came again was short-lived ; a 
 quick, sharp bark was heard, then again, an echo of 
 the first, then a third and fourth falsetto in the chorus 
 of cayotes, and when Beck relieved Whack, on guard, 
 the discord grew louder. 
 
BAZOUKS BLA CK BRIGADE SPIDERS* NEST. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BAZOUKS THE BLACK BRIGADE THE SPIDERS 
 
 NEST. 
 
 The fleet-footed spy held his pace, with his head up 
 and his arms at rest on his sides. His strides were 
 regular and direct. One foot struck the earth flatly, 
 raising the body w r ith ease, caught it well poised on 
 the other foot, and completed a perfect motion. He 
 ran steadily, and when the stars came out his race had 
 been long, but he kept to it without fagging. Through 
 briar and brush, leaping brooks, wading creeks, out on 
 the glistening tables, down into the bottoms where the 
 grass waved about his waist, he still held his head erect 
 and his arms at ease. A lone tree marked his first 
 goal, and on reaching it he stopped short. Throwing 
 his arms about, he drew a long, healthful breath, 
 dropped to the earth to respite his frame, then sprang 
 to his feet. To feel that no limb had stiffened he put 
 them into play, cast a pebble or two into his mouth, 
 and again sped away. He ran on in easy stages, and 
 when the last flat-footed stride was made, the lad stood 
 upon a knoll, rising above a thicket in the hollow be 
 low him. Here he listened long, his hands held as 
 funnels about his ears to catch the remotest sound ; 
 with a quick change one hand covered his mouth, like 
 
182 SNAP. 
 
 a valve. Then a full-lunged shriek rent the hush of 
 the night and searched the recesses of the silence. It 
 was so sharp, so shrill a warning, so harsh to the soli 
 tude, a wolf far away yelped in fright ; space caught it 
 tip and wasted it round the hiding-place of the thieves. 
 They sprang into the open glade and beckoned to the 
 Indian : he joined them and gave the sign. The train 
 was on the road. 
 
 They paid the spy his price ; then, mounting, Cart- 
 wright with a coarse laugh said : 
 
 " Vamo the Spiders ! " 
 
 "B wen," answered the Mexican, giggling; the run 
 ner folding his arms, looked after the riders, and with 
 a grunt sat down. He drew from a beaded pocket a 
 piece of dried beef, ate it, lighted a fire, and stretch 
 ing himself by "the wolf-scariug fagots," he was soon 
 asleep. 
 
 It was while Beck sat at the camp-fire chat that the 
 spy signed to Cartwright and Cruz that the train was 
 on the road, and had made good progress towards its 
 destination. 
 
 A sudden cry of alarm aroused the camp at day 
 light : 
 
 "Injins! Injins ! " shouted the cattle-guard. The 
 stock was driven into the inclosure, the broken wagon- 
 line closed, and the men stood armed, each with his 
 rifle or musket, and waiting : 
 
 "Steady where you stand; quiet," ordered their 
 leader, ,takk\g up his gun ; " it s a hunting band, 
 that s all." 
 
BAZOUKS BLACK BRIGADE SPIDERS NEST. 183 
 
 Mrs. Garrulson awaked suddenly from her morning 
 nap, frightened at the horrors of a night-mare. 
 
 " Happy Canaan," she screamed, "what s up?" 
 
 "The Injins are down on us," answered Sandy. 
 
 " Injins ! " and she scrambled from her perch ; " may 
 I never ; ets all rny own doins, fer the kurnel did say 
 stay, thet s a tac, an go I would " after a short pause, 
 "an go I will ef I hev to lick a whole tribe misself." A 
 loud laugh greeted this sudden change of front from a 
 scare to valor, but the men held to their places, look 
 ing out on the distance. 
 
 Coming up the valley in a hard gallop, the troop of 
 Indian horsemen drew near. They rode at full speed, 
 each rider sitting his horse with graceful ease ; when 
 just beyond rifle-range they reined up and held coun 
 sel. Their mounts were bare-backed ponies, fat and 
 frolicsome, cousins-german to the wild horse, mustang, 
 with scarcely a shade of difference. In the fitness of 
 things, the little four-footed beast seems created for the 
 Indian, and for nothing else ; unfit, as he is, for any 
 thing else but the mount of the savage. In habit, 
 form, endurance, he is as much a savage as the Indian, 
 sharing with him all his vicissitudes. He lives through 
 the dreary snow-bound winters on tree bark, a shaggy 
 skeleton. The spring trims his coat and fills his belly. 
 Take him away from his habits and his haunts, feast 
 him on the better fare of better animals, he mopes 
 lazily, a tricky, hateful, sullen cob ; he snaps at kind 
 ness, and shows his heels to a benefactor. Each rider, 
 nude to the waist, was a picked man for the chase. 
 
184 SNAP. 
 
 The chief, with a wave of the hand, dispersed them, 
 and then began a wild rout. The seat of each rider 
 was held by a girdle, and the dash of each horse was 
 guided by a single thong. On they rushed, helter- 
 skelter, shrieking at every jump ; now, one would fall 
 head down to yell under the animal ; again, at full 
 length on his back or side ; now, the whole band 
 charged en masse; on a signal, it was scattered. On 
 another signal, a part wheeled and massed, and during 
 the entire drill not a word was spoken by the chief; 
 a scarcely perceptible motion of the hand directed it. 
 A piece of looking-glass, as the day was sunny, held 
 to catch the rays, threw the signal to any given dis 
 tance. There are other signs by which the same 
 drill is ordered, a secret closely kept, as no white 
 mnn has ever found out the method, signs which are 
 readily heeded, though the sky be black with clouds, 
 the dust hide the baud, or the noise loud enough to 
 drown a human voice. 
 
 " That s a good show, boys, but thar ain t the sign of 
 a scalp-knife or paint about em," said Beck. 
 
 The chief sat on his horse apart, and with another 
 motion formed the riders on parade near him. They 
 had bows and quivers, and sheath-knives, a few rifles 
 and spears. One, by his orders, rode midway between 
 the two parties, struck a spear into the earth, and rode 
 back. 
 
 Beck, mounting a wagon, gun in. hand, said to his 
 men : 
 
 " Cock your guns and keep your eye on me ; I m 
 
BAZOUKS BLACK BRIGADE SPIDERS NEST. 185 
 
 going to meet em. Tf I sign with my right hand, 
 blaze away ; I ll take care of number one." 
 
 He raised his rifle above his head, then laid it at his 
 feet ; signed that his belt was unarmed ; then leaping 
 down, he strode up to the spear-staff, and stood there 
 with folded arms. 
 
 When Beck had taken his stand, the chief handed 
 his bow to one near him, got down and joined the 
 scout : 
 
 "How!" 
 
 " How ! " A hand-shake and the brief introduction, 
 was over. 
 
 " Good man -you Beck," said the Indian. 
 
 "Big chief, Little Elk," answered the other, recog 
 nizing a noted brave of one of the largest tribes on 
 the plains. The scout was glad to meet him, as he 
 was not only a friendly redskin, but one from whom 
 much valuable information could be had. In the talk 
 that followed, the scout learned that an officer had been 
 sent out to a distant fort to take the Spiders in hand ; 
 that they were on the war-path, and that he, Beck, 
 could not, as he hoped, avoid or escape a fight ; fur 
 ther, that he might reach the fort in time to deliver the 
 order for an escort, and for such purpose he was kindly 
 offered a guide. In return Beck made many presents, 
 giving them in the name of Colonel Cheviteau. 
 
 "Kevochoo! Kevochoo!" exclaimed the chief; 
 "good man, him Kevochoo; him heapfren." Then 
 ensued an expressive dumb show, for an Indian is 
 nothing if not dramatic. He touched his breast with 
 
186 SNAP. 
 
 his fist, meaning that Cheviteau s heart was big ; he 
 stared wide and steadily, meaning the honesty of the 
 trader; he closed his teeth, with reference to his 
 friend s firmness ; and that he was truthful, he signed 
 that the tongue was whole and not split. "Kevochoo, 
 he good man; Injin heap like him, wagh." He 
 turned aside and was silent. 
 
 Presently, Little Elk transferred to the care of the 
 scout an Indian lad and his pony. He was to be the 
 guide, and would lead by a cut-off trail to the lodges 
 of his people, and thence on to the fort. Now mount 
 ing, the chief, with his band, galloped away on the 
 hunt of the bison.* 
 
 While Beck and the Indians smoked the ceremonial 
 pipe, a teamster who looked on said to Sandy : 
 
 "An wat wud they be afther?" 
 
 "It s the pipe of peace thee s be doin." 
 
 "Pfats t?" asked another. 
 
 "A pace av a pipe they re whiffin," answered the 
 first. 
 
 "It s de ould sthock, av coorse." 
 
 "Whack," said Beck, a short way further on, "I m 
 off for the fort in the mornin." 
 
 tf To be gone how long?" 
 
 " Before you get into danger I ll be with you/ 
 
 "All right. I ll pull slow." 
 
 "This boy s a good un ; watch him." 
 
 Whack glanced at the young redskin, as he moved 
 
 * The writer adopts this in deference to the naturalist, but the 
 name is never heard on the plains. 
 
BAZOUKS BLACK BRIGADE SPIDERS NEST. 187 
 
 about with his pony. He was tall, raw-boned and 
 wiry; his shoulders broad, muscular; a good head, 
 fine face, strong mouth. The coarse, jet hair, plaited, 
 fell upon his copper skin with rich effect ; his step was 
 bold and elastic. 
 
 Meeting Mrs. Garrulson, who planted herself in 
 dismay at the sight of the Indian, Beck said to her : 
 
 "That s your adopted son, mam," pointing to the 
 boy. 
 
 " What ! that ar sonnerver-gun ! " At which the 
 men laughed, and the boy, quick to see that he was the 
 butt of joke, muttered : 
 
 " Ugh ! squaw ! " 
 
 "Ef I had yer onct," she was prompt to say, "I d 
 make yer squak wus nor that." 
 
 "What would you do with him?" asked Whack. 
 
 " Skin him ! " In disgust she turned about and went 
 her way 
 
 The scout and the guide, a little in advance of the 
 train, had ridden to the crest of a knoll, when the lat 
 ter, getting down from his pony, bent his gaze on cer 
 tain distant objects. They seemed to the eye a clump 
 of bushes, but when the scout fixed his sight upon 
 them the lad said : 
 
 "Burners." 
 
 Beck, in doubt, watched closely, and as he was able 
 to see dark, moving forms, growing larger, coming 
 nearer, he nodded assent to the Indian. 
 
 A dozen stragglers, quietly feeding, were left behind 
 by some passing herd. So thought Beck ; but the 
 
188 SNAP. 
 
 guide signed to him to wait and they would soon see 
 a stirring spectacle. The truants were now near 
 enough to be seen in the rough sport of a mock battle ; 
 the mimic strife was kept up for a time, when it sud 
 denly ceased, and the combatants broke away in a run. 
 In delight the kd threw himself on the ground ; then, 
 springing to his feet, he exclaimed : 
 
 "Heap!" holding up the lingers of both hands, to 
 denote a great number. 
 
 The antics of the Indian and the bison alike might 
 have been confounding to the common eye, but to the 
 scout they were not so. Dismounting, he caught the 
 bit of his young, fractious horse with a firm hold. 
 The fleeing animals, warned by the tramp of a herd 
 not far off, turned out of its path with a quick, in 
 stinctive dread, to fall in at the rear or on the flank. 
 They had escaped certain death. On the run, not 
 even for its own kind, is its mad career for an in 
 stant turned aside ; and knowing this, the Indian 
 read the sign aright, and had fallen to the earth to 
 listen. 
 
 Then came to their ears the sound of a mighty 
 tread ; vast numbers of the wild cattle were in motion ; 
 as they looked, the herd dashed into full view, round 
 ing a grove; its power and bulk combined, compressed, 
 groaned from attrition ; its speed, increased from the 
 moving weight, rose and fell, surging like a storm- 
 crossed ocean swell, and black as the clouds above it. 
 In the lead, a great, royal beast led the charge 
 sternly, his shaggy mane rising like the hump of a 
 
BAZOUKS BLACK BRIGADE SPIDERS NEST. 189 
 
 camel ; his tail, like a baton, waved in the whirl of 
 strife ; his deep-throated bellow, the rally-cry to his 
 fellows. Right royally he led ; the mass upon his 
 heels pressed him hard. The outer files seemed to 
 bear against the body, compact but moveable, to con 
 dense its vim. Therein lay the contrast with the 
 flurried rout of a drove ; the one a solid charge, the 
 other a panic ; one a stampede, the other an onslaught ; 
 one, in motion like a host of veterans, the other a 
 mob ; one illustrating Bull Run, the other the phalanx 
 of Marshal Ney. Coming on, it was seen that the band 
 of Little .Elk rode close upon the flank, yelling, goad 
 ing and killing as they rode. The mustangs were 
 fired with the ardor of the chase, and the riders 
 shouted, as they sprung the quivering shaft into the 
 living target. They strewed the broad road with the 
 slain and wounded. 
 
 "Hoop-ee!" yelled Beck, wrought up to the wild 
 delight of his boyish nature. 
 
 Arrows and spears were plied to spur their horses to 
 the front ; the band used every artifice to reach the 
 bull in the lead, and the rivalry grew to be intensely 
 tragic. The speed of hunter and hunted was about 
 equal. Now, with a cry of daring, a young savage 
 came bounding by, and the guide was stirred to frenzy 
 at the sight; running, leaping with a fierce joy, the 
 better to observe him. On he came, goading his mus 
 tang to a dash some distance beyond the herd. Then 
 he wheeled, when his first arrow left the bow. The 
 exploit was one to achieve the full glory of the chase, 
 
190 SNAP. 
 
 by crossing the path, emptying his quiver into the 
 herd and to reach the opposite flank, unharmed. 
 Nothing but fine strategy could save him from death ; 
 again taking a direct, again an oblique, gaining slowly 
 by zigzag turns, the endurance of the horse was cruelly 
 tried. Still the rider urged him on, and as the last 
 arrow sped to its mark, he rallied him with a shriek 
 so shrill the beast leaped from the ground. Wheeling, 
 at last, to escape the rolling wave, all who looked on 
 felt that his triumph was sure. 
 
 Just then, rider and horse went down, and the surg 
 ing, grinding herd stamped into the earth the stricken, 
 forms, under their reeking hoofs. 
 
 The horse s foot had sunk into the burrow of a 
 prairie-dog, a mischance, from which there was no re 
 call, at the supreme moment of the rider s fate. Beck 
 for a moment closed his eyes, but the stoical boy, 
 pointing to where the hunter and his mount perished, 
 said calmly : 
 
 " Brother me him ; " then turning his back was 
 silent. 
 
 The scout, thrilled with manly pity, laid his broad, 
 brotherly hand on the bare shoulder of the lad, and 
 spoke with true feeling. 
 
 "Good; good; him, big, big chief;" the boy 
 smiled, it was enough for his pride ; the pity he did 
 not care for. They mounted their horses, striking a 
 trail leading north, riding hard on the road to fort. 
 
 The black wave surged on ; it swept by like the 
 charge of Balaklava, vaster, grander, a riderless 
 
BAZOUKS BLACK BRIGADE SPIDER S NEST. 191 
 
 horde ; like Niagara s current on the verge of the tall ; 
 like the Mississippi s freshet, the scoria heaved up and 
 flung to the torrent, it surged on and out of sight. 
 
 There was not a sign of living verdure on the dark 
 road ploughed by the raid ; the sod uprooted was 
 strewn in fragments with the harrowed earth. Of the 
 hunter and his ho.rse there was scarce a vestige to be 
 found ; they had gone down to be ground out of all 
 semblance to anything living or dead. 
 
 The train halted as the chase came on, and even the 
 mild-eyed cattle stared at the sight. The low, western 
 sun threw back a crimson gleam on the long, silent 
 line, on the startled faces of the men as they leaned 
 on their whips. 
 
 But the peaceful glow, lying still, on the green, 
 golden vista, deepened the war-paint of a savage hiding 
 near them ; it reddened the " blood-sign " on the 
 Spider s face, and as he stole away, the bald, seared 
 patch on his brow whitened in the fire of hate. 
 
 The Spider chief had made a detour from the 
 Mexican town, arriving at the lodges of his people 
 after a long run, and voiced his corning by outcries 
 that aroused the village. His was a bush tribe of the 
 
 o 
 
 forest haunts which borrows its habits from the beast ; 
 stealthy, slow-footed, creeping cravens ; sullen from 
 the gloom of their abiding place, conjuring phantoms 
 from the shadows and propitiating them by inhuman 
 cruelties. Every man was robust, of needs must be, 
 for no feeble-born could live through the horrors of 
 a boyhood training. 
 
192 SNAP. 
 
 Young men and old, women and children ran to the 
 outer circle of the wigwams, and sent back an answer 
 to the ear of their leader. 
 
 His braves were chosen with regard to their vicious 
 natures, with whom ferocity was a virtue and hate of 
 the whites a fiery passion. Taking breath the chief 
 called them around him, drove the rabble a\vny with 
 frowns, and when the circle was formed, the women, 
 children and dogs dispersed to the prairie. 
 
 Then the swarthy crowd crouched, their limbs bent 
 under them, and there never was known a viler horde 
 in the work of death-dealing deviltry. There was a 
 look on all, horror stricken, grinning ghastly in the 
 paint and grime of their faces ; some stared fiendishly, 
 the stare of demons ; other visages in the mask, 
 lean, thin, cold, leered like the false face of a devil ; 
 the younger, not less gross, spread their thick-lipped 
 lecherous mouths. 
 
 A low, guttural chant was begun, the distress 
 wail of an animal, growing louder and wilder till 
 each in his own discord joined in. 
 
 The chief was in waiting not far off, and draining a 
 flask which he threw away, he stepped into the circle. 
 His tall form as it rose among them, striped and 
 smirched, was that of a half-nude giant ready for 
 battle. His parti-colored face, black and red, a yellow 
 smear on the upper lip, green, tigerish lines on the 
 forehead, a bald, carious scar from the brow to the 
 scalp-tuft in which an eagle s feather stood stiffly up, 
 and skeins of scalp-hair drooping from the ears, 
 
BAZO UKS BLA CK BRIGADE SPIDER S NES T. 193 
 
 was a hideous picture. He spoke to his band, adroitly 
 firing their malice, anger, greed ; he traced the path to 
 revenge and plunder with savage pride, and without 
 much effort was the master of their brutish instincts. 
 He chose his men by lot, a small army, setting a day 
 for the dance and the war-whoop. Then giving orders 
 to await his return, he started forth in the darkness. 
 His race, like that of the spy, through the night and day 
 was the trot of a steady animal ; his eyes were feasted 
 on the resting train, and he sped back to his camp as 
 the pirate neared it. 
 
 At the camp of the packers, Cruz was left in charge 
 of the gang, and Cartwright hastened forward alone, to 
 the Spiders town. The fires were seen long before 
 his ears caught the din within its limits ; he kept on 
 fearlessly until challenged by the chief in person, who 
 led him into the blazing square. 
 
 There was no stop to the dreadful orgy ; circling 
 poles that bore as pennants the scalp locks of their 
 victims, the mad mischief grew louder, wilder; a 
 spectacle to be seen but once, and never forgotten ; an 
 awful type of the horrible, of creatures writhing, their 
 features all awry, twisting the form of manhood to 
 every grimace, swaying the body to unshapely pos 
 tures like the stricken or deformed ; crawling, leaping, 
 bending, barking like dogs, snapping like wolves, 
 hooting like owls, laughing, crying, yelling, groaning 
 like the damned: 
 
 " A strong adversary, an inhuman wretch. 
 Incapable of pity, void and empty 
 From every drachm of mercy." 
 
194 
 
 The pirate sat there ; his game went bravoly on ; ho 
 saw the paint on their faces and naked breasts ; he 
 saw the clutch upon the scalping-knives in mimic 
 butchery ; he saw weapons of death at every turn of his 
 eye, and the wretch looked on and smiled ; the sign of a 
 nature lower than the brute the painted brutes before 
 him. 
 
 The chief waved his hand and there was silence ; he 
 spoke of Cart wright and those who would join them on 
 the march. At last, the war- whoop sounded, and from 
 the throats of every living thing in the village, it was 
 echoed back. From hidden nooks each savage brought 
 to light a musket or rifle of army pattern, and laughed 
 aloud as he caressed it. 
 
 The chief and Cartwright led, the long, dark line 
 trailing to the rear, the prairie brightening with the 
 glories of the night. Evil could have no apter illus 
 tration than the serpent, writhing horridly like this 
 squirming defile, in the most beautiful garden of the 
 earth. 
 
 They took up the packers on the path ; on their 
 flanks was heard the jingle of the spurs, and often in 
 the light of the stars was seen, the glitter of the cruel 
 knife. 
 
TO THE FORT THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TO THE FOKT THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 
 
 Beck and his guide in a steady pace were far afield 
 on the route to the fort ; the quick dog-trot of the pony 
 hugging close to the horse s easy lope. Away through 
 the timid shadows, soft and feeble in the young moon s 
 light, neck and neck in silence ; from hollows where 
 the crickets chirped, over pearl-tipped mounds of 
 wind-sown grasses ; through clumps of chapparel, to 
 open glades and far-spread levels. 
 
 The mustang came to a sudden halt, looking back at 
 the rider ; the Indian leaped down, for his horse was 
 at fault where several trails met and crossed. Near 
 by a few trees formed an arbor over a flowing basin ; 
 a desert fountain, where the feet of strolling tribes had 
 beaten down the many paths about it. Turning aside 
 the grass, the Indian pointed to a Avhite boulder, then 
 reaching down his hand, on the stalk of a bush he felt 
 three deep notches ; he was sure of his trail and gave 
 the sign to Beck. 
 
 Just then the familiar words of a friendly voice, not 
 far distant, caught the ear of the scout, who motioned 
 to his companion to follow. 
 
 "Hello, ole hoss," said a gruff speaker, " squat right 
 
196 SNAP. 
 
 down, yuse white ; know d yer more n a mile off, the 
 way yer sot yer saddle ; he s some, boys ; come jine 
 us." 
 
 Beck, without challenge, had come upon a camp of 
 mountaineers, the best type of the semi-savage whites ; 
 rough, weather-worn, stone-visagcd men, whose clans, 
 cut off from their kind, were ruthless and wild ; a 
 grade above their red foe, some stern and rankling 
 cause had made them what they were ; the hate of 
 their ancient enemy was to them a second nature, but 
 like all, on sea and land, to whom she is the foster- 
 mother, their social traits were kind, unselfish ; their 
 courage without flaw. 
 
 The Indian boy held back until one of the trappers, 
 catching sight of his trinkets and the dress of his hair, 
 spoke to him, in his own tongue ; then, almost timidly, 
 he kept close to Beck, and was seated near him. 
 
 The camp was a beaver party of five from the Platte, 
 who were " making meat ;" i. e., killing buffalo for a 
 meat supply of a winter quarter in some more southern 
 valley. Not one stood under six feet height ; their 
 garb, the hunter s buckskin outfit ; their faces shaven 
 clean and burned to a reddish bronze. Their squaws 
 wives by consent or theft put on the pots to 
 warm the choice bits of the meat for the strangers 
 treat ; a courtesy of their camps at any hour of night 
 or day. 
 
 Each in his turn chatted freely in his own coarse, 
 but hearty way. Off on the grand old prairies ; scout 
 ing the Cottonwood, the Arkansas, Turkey Creek, 
 
TO THE FORT THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 197 
 
 Pawnee-fork ; over the fireless route of Coon Creek ; 
 through a sea of fat meat without fuel to cook it ; 
 trailing to Bent s fort, to Boiling Spring, across the 
 Divide to the Platte ; away to the Black Hills, to 
 camp at last with a sound scalp, in the Sweet Water s 
 valley, or in the shadow of Wind River mountain. 
 
 The leader ordered the guards to their posts, and 
 two of them drove back the hobbled mules, and 
 mounting a rise, their gaze swept the prairie as they 
 leaned on their rifles ; two were left to keep the scout 
 company ; one slept. 
 
 The sleeper, whose hair was flecked with grey, a 
 much older man than the others, slept soundly. 
 Stretched on a buffalo-robe with his feet to the fire, 
 he had dug with his knife a drain around it, and over 
 him was thrown a Navajo blanket, impervious to rain. 
 A mule, aged and grizzled, was picketed within reach 
 of his hand, its head bent down, the long ears flapping, 
 the back arched and its form tottering as it rested and 
 slept. The trapper was treading the trails of his 
 dreamland among droves of "fat cow," or along 
 streams peopled with beaver, no Indian "sign" to vex 
 him, and in near perspective the sale of his "pelts" at 
 six dollars "theplew." Threading the back trail of 
 his memory, through a hard, hard life, starving one 
 day, feasting the next ; now beset by whooping fiends, 
 baying his enemy like a hunted deer, but with all the 
 stern pluck of his tribe ; again, all care thrown aside, a 
 welcome guest at the trading-post, or back again, as 
 
198 SNAP. 
 
 the trail grows fainter, to his childhood s home, in the 
 brown forests of old Keiituck. 
 
 Beck and his guide ate freely, and then the pipes ; 
 for the plainsman smokes whenever he wakes, and the 
 smoke of a pipe is never seen without the loose-tongued 
 charm of a story. 
 
 "I say, Bill, dus yer mind the time wen we camped 
 with Ole Sam Owins at Independence ; him as got 
 rubbed out at Sacrimenty dis hoss disrernembers 
 which but he went under ; Ole Sam had his train 
 along, ready to hitch up for Mexan country twenty 
 thunderin big Pittsburgh wagons, an how his Santa 
 Fee boys took to ticker eh, Bill ?" . 
 
 f Well, they did ; an Bill Bent, his boys camped 
 on tother side the trail, an they wus all mountin 
 men, wagh ! an Bill Williams, an Bill Tharpe, the 
 Pawnees took his har on Pawnee-fork, three Bills, 
 an them three s all gone under ; Hatcher, he went out 
 that time, and wasn t Bill Garey long too? Didn t 
 him and Chabonard set in camp for twenty hours at a 
 game of kerds? Them was Bent s Injin traders up on 
 Arkansas ; and Bill Bent, them Spaniards made meat 
 of him ; lost his top-knot at Taos. He war some, was 
 Bill Bent ; as good as ever drove a trade or throwd a 
 buffler ; Ole St. Vrain could knock the hind-sights off 
 him though, wen it come to shootin. You w T ent out 
 that time, didn t you?" 
 
 "No sir-ee, I went out along with Spiers, wen he 
 lost his animals on Cinnamon ; a hunderd an forty 
 mules an oxen war froze that night, wagh ! Black 
 
TO THE FOR T THE R UGH-RIDERS. 199 
 
 Harris was thar, an be war the clarndest liar : did yer 
 ever hyar what he told the landlady down in Liberty ? 
 
 " This coon hev gone over a sight, marm, ses he ; I se 
 trapped beaver on Plat te an Arkansaw ; I se trapped 
 on Columby, Lewis Fork an Green River ; I se trapped, 
 inarm, on Gran Eiver an Heely, ses he ; I se tout the 
 Blackfoots ; and d bad Injins them am, marm, ses 
 he ; I se raised har of more n wun Pach, an made a 
 Rapaho come afore now, but scalp my ole head, marm, 
 ses he, ef I ain t seen a pewterfyd forest." 
 
 "A what ! ses she." 
 
 "A pewterfyd forest, ses he ; I war out on Black 
 Hills the yeak it rained fire, and thar wus no cold 
 doins that winter, or this coon wouldn t say so. Why, 
 the snow war fifty foot deep, ses he, an no meat ; me 
 an my ban was livin on our mocks ins, leastwise on 
 par flesh, for six weeks, ses he. One day we crossed 
 a divide an got into peraira ; green trees an green 
 leaves on the trees, an green grass, an birds a 
 singin in the green leaves, in February, ses he, wagh ! 
 Hyar s for meat, ses I, ses he, and I ups ole Ginger 
 at one of em singin birds, an down it comes elegant ; 
 its darned head spinned away, but it kep on a singin, 
 oh, yes, ses he, and wen I takes up the meat it war 
 stone ; we tried a axe on a tree, out comes a bit of 
 blade ; we looks at the animals, an thar they stood a 
 shakin over the grass ; I m dog-goned ef it wasn t 
 stone, too ; we takes up the grass an it snaps like 
 pipe-stems." 
 
 " La, Mister Harris, ses she, didn t they smell bad?" 
 
200 S.V.4P. 
 
 " Smell ! ses he, an his eyes bulged out as if he war 
 a prayin ; h-11, marm, sez he, how could t weu it war 
 friz to stone. But he s gone under, too ; a Vide Poche 
 Frenchman shot him for his bacca an traps."* 
 
 Beck and the boy-guide, after a nap, mounted and 
 rode away as day broke over the camp of the trappers. 
 During the morning the far-away lodges of Little 
 Elk s people were seen in the misty distance ; the lad, 
 nearing his people, in delight made known that his 
 tribe was about to move their village, and that the 
 hunting party were killing their food for a long jour 
 ney. 
 
 Beck was received kindly, and he and his companion 
 staid long enough to give their horses rest. The red 
 skins were a tine race. They of the plains, in the 
 wider, freer scope for the exercise of their better 
 instincts, were wilder, but less crafty. Their habits 
 and customs were in keeping, their natures broader, 
 more generous ; their forms taller, their muscles more 
 flexible in the sunlight life, and their strides stronger. 
 They were horsemen. 
 
 Their tepees were all down, save two, kept standing 
 for the final rites. In moving about Beck saw many 
 
 * In the author s purpose to give a glimpse at the types of life within 
 sound of the whip s snap, this camp scene has been condensed and adapted 
 from " Life in the Far West" Ruxton. Lieutenant Iluxton was an Eng 
 lish officer of distinction in her Majesty s service, who having spent a vaca 
 tion on the Great Plains, resigned his commission, that he might return to the 
 camps of the trappers. The wild life having so surpassing a delight for the 
 young soldier, he yielded to the charm while confessing a disgust for its 
 associtaions. 
 
TO THE FORT THE ROUGH RIDERS. 201 
 
 Bights to revolt his humanity, and one that caused his 
 heart to throb. 
 
 An aged patriarch, whose locks were whitened by a 
 hundred years, was set apart under the cruel fiat of 
 " exposing the aged." Crouching by a small fire of a k 
 few sticks, a buffalo skin, raised on crotches, was 
 stretched -over his head ; a few half-picked bones, a 
 dish of water, was his last portion. Without weapons, 
 the miserable remnant of existence, too feeble to 
 march, was to be left to die alone.* 
 
 He also witnessed the rite of pohk-hong the cut 
 ting of the flesh self-torture. The ceremony took 
 place in a large circular lodge. Two men having taken 
 positions for the purpose of inflicting the cruel tests of 
 endurance, one with a scalping-knife, the other with 
 a bunch of splints, the young devotees, already emaci 
 ated with fasting, thirsting and waking for nearly four 
 days and nights, gave themselves up to the rite. An 
 inch or more of flesh on each shoulder or each breast, 
 was seized upon, and a knife thrust through, followed 
 by the splint or skewer. Then cords were lowered 
 from the top of the lodge by men placed there ; these 
 were fastened to the splints, the victim hoisted, while 
 his tormentors hung upon the skewers, his shield, bow 
 and quiver ; sometimes, also the skull of a buffalo to 
 the lower arm or leg. All this was borne by each of 
 the dozen or more subjects, with the most unflinching 
 fortitude ; at every taunt and jeer of the demons, who 
 seemed to be devising means for their more acute 
 
 * See " Catlin s North American Indians." 
 
202 
 
 agony, the look on their faces never betrayed a sign of 
 pain. In this condition they were whirled about, and 
 with the utmost scrutiny to observe a tremor or 
 struggle. There is no escape from the fearful ordeal, 
 until what they called " entirely dead ;" i. e., swooning 
 or fainting from the fearful pain.* 
 
 In another lodge he witnessed the " Sun Dance ; " a 
 peace custom of this tribe. 
 
 Over fifty braves, each an Apollo, painted, and 
 naked to the waist, except a profusion" of ornaments, 
 with head-dresses of beautiful feathers. Many had 
 from fifty to two hundred pieces cut out of the flesh of 
 their anus and backs. Men dancing with two, three 
 and four buffalo heads, suspended from holes cut in the 
 flesh. One Indian dragged on the ground eight heads 
 fastened to his back, and in the stooping position he 
 was forced to, they had lacerated or torn the cuts, to 
 the extent of three inches. Some fell faint and 
 exhausted. With screams and shouts in the din of their 
 wild music and of weird songs, there was a Pande 
 monium, f 
 
 Beck and the boy pushed on, and the latter signed 
 to proceed through the grove they had entered after a. 
 few hours ride ; emerging from its shade they looked 
 down upon a valley, and beheld the fort, a white, clean 
 shelter, in the far-off green expanse. Parting from the 
 
 * Catlin, 1832. 
 
 t An Army Surgeon, 1879. 
 
 The same rite described by Catlin, 1832, and by the other writer, 1879, 
 shows by contrast how little these Indians have progressed towards civiliza 
 tion in a period of forty-two years. 
 
TO THE FORT- THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 203 
 
 lad the scout rode into the lowland, and was soon lost 
 to si-ht among the pale trunks of the cottonwood. 
 About noon he got down under the walls, and bailed 
 the sentry. In answer to the challenge he asked to 
 see Captain Harkness. 
 " What s your name ? " 
 "John Beck, scout." 
 " What s your business?" 
 That s for your officer ; hurry up." 
 The word was passed to quarters, while he waited, 
 holding his horse. In a little while he was sent for by 
 the Captain. 
 
 Harkness was born on the border, and had 
 graduated at West Point ; he was sent upon the plains 
 for training, and there made his mark, being by 
 nature adapted to a soldiers life, with peculiar fitness 
 for this service. Standing six feet two in his stockings, 
 of an iron frame, straight as an arrow, he had the mien 
 of a good officer ; nor did he lack the manner of one. 
 The kidnapping of Mary Cheviteau had reached the 
 War Office, and a very general complaint from the 
 West of raids upon and of plots against lawful trade, 
 luid been sent on, in varied forms, to the authorities. 
 Altogether, these offences were too grave to be longer 
 disregarded, and the Captain was ordered to the fron 
 tier, as one who would cure these evils by his well 
 known methods, with courage and justice. He was 
 given a carte blanche to recruit and equip his force, and 
 was allowed to conduct the campaign as he thought 
 best. His orders read " to strike hard." The bat- 
 
204 SNAP. 
 
 talion which he commanded was made up from the 
 class who live in the sound of the rifle ; fearless fel 
 lows, picked for what they could do without being 
 drilled to do it ; off duty, he could wrestle, run or 
 shoot with the best men of his troop ; he never said "go " 
 in a fight, but always, "Come, boys," and they followed, 
 even unto death. 
 
 Beck was directed to the Captain s quarters, where, 
 being seated, in a moment after, a round, rich voice 
 was heard, and a heavy tread, as Harkness entered the 
 room. 
 
 "How are you, Beck?" he said. 
 
 Beck rose, saluted, and, as he knew he had met an 
 officer of strict habits, he drew forth at once the letter 
 from the War Office and presented it. 
 
 From his dress the soldier might have been taken 
 for a ranger ; he wore a buckskin blouse and leggins,. 
 hickory shirt, a light felt hat with shoestring tie, top- 
 boots and spurs, his sabre, belt and pistols ; his hair 
 was cropped close to the scalp, and his fine face was 
 improved by a moustache, the ends of which touched 
 his shoulders. Placing his hat on the table, with a 
 glance at the letter he laid it down. 
 
 "Where s your horse, scout?" 
 
 "Stabled, sir." 
 
 " Have you wet your whistle ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " And stocked your commissary ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Bidden hard? 11 
 
TO THE FORT THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 205 
 
 " A good brush." 
 
 " In a minit you can rest." 
 
 " Don t want it, sir." 
 
 " As you please." 
 
 " Let me know, Captain, what you can do for me." 
 
 "What I can do?" he answered, facing the scout; 
 "well, I m going to knock the spots off of Cartvvright 
 and the Spider." 
 
 Beck was nonplussed. 
 
 "I understand," he went on, "they ll strike your 
 train in The Wedge." 
 
 " So I reckon." 
 
 "At theButte." 
 
 " Yes, sir ; that s whar they ll ambush." 
 
 " Then I ll make a bait of your train." 
 
 "A bait?" 
 
 " Leave that to me. How many men have you? " 
 
 The scout gave the number. 
 
 "That ll do; all armed?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; all armed." 
 
 " I ll be with you, to stamp out this hellish game of 
 plunder ; this chief is a devil incarnate ; all his life 
 an enemy, he has broken every treaty, swears he ll 
 never eat a government ration, has tortured or killed 
 every white man, ravished every white woman he has 
 caught; he has fought every friendly tribe, has 
 attacked every government party, sells himself to do 
 murder, is now sold to slay. Of course, they made a 
 fool of him in Washington, made fools of themselves 
 also, and he comes back with a medal ! But I ll 
 
206 SXAP. 
 
 thrash him, or my name s not Bob Harkness ! " His 
 foot came down flatly, rattling his sabre. 
 
 Beck thought himself a good scout, but here was an 
 officer who knew all the business he had come upon be 
 fore he had uttered a word. 
 
 " How d you like to be Sergeant Beck?" It was a 
 weakness of the Captain to ask every tine-looking man 
 he met to join his company. 
 
 " Not much, sir ; I m doing well now." 
 
 " Don t blame you ; I wanted Jack McQuain." 
 
 " Is the old man still afoot? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; it was he who gave me the dots." 
 
 "How? what?" The scout was confused. 
 
 "Don t you know? Why, he lay behind a wall and 
 heard all the bargain between Cartwright and the Spi 
 der about raiding your train ; then he rode night and 
 day till he reached me, gave me all the points, and now 
 he s off for the mountains. He s a lamb, John 
 Beck." 
 
 " That s so ; he s a stan-by, certain." The scout now 
 felt at ease. 
 
 ff Where s your train ? " 
 
 "I reckon, if it has kep up a steady pull, it s in a 
 bee-line south of this." 
 
 " At daylight I ll call to saddle." 
 
 " We can reach my boys by midnight." 
 
 " My boys are brushing up ; come and have a look 
 at them." 
 
 Captain Harkness led the way to the parade-ground. 
 In groups of a dozen or less, his men were at work. 
 
TO THE FORT THE ROUGH-RIDERS. 207 
 
 Some of them burnished their sabres ; one took apart 
 his pistol; another mended his bridle, others their 
 saddles. They were a hardy set of nomads, dressed 
 like their chief, and each raised his hand to his hat as 
 he passed, in a fraternal way, with a dare-devil smile. 
 Their mounts were tied near by, and were " in good 
 keep " ; each horse, like each rider, had some striking 
 trait or token, and they were not matched in size or 
 color. 
 
 "There, scout, are my pets," said the Captain, 
 pointing to two small brass howitzers ; " I can take 
 them along, the road is good." 
 
 "I reckon they ll talk." 
 
 " Yes ; I call them Law and Order." 
 
 Having looked over the camp and talked with the 
 men, Beck, for the rest of the day, slept off the fatigue 
 of his ride. 
 
 With the first bright lines of the dawn, the bugle s 
 note rang out loud and clear, and Captain Harkness, 
 riding a bay stallion, ordered the mount. 
 
 "Beck," he called out, "ride ahead, the road is di 
 rect ; strike your train, then report to me." 
 
 The scout put spurs to his horse and rode all day, 
 with few stops ; in the night he arrived at the foot of 
 the ridge, and dashing up to its level he saw to the 
 rear of his halting place the twinkling camp-fires of 
 the train. Captain Harkness and his men had followed 
 closely. Beck turned, made up to them, riding back 
 in a run. 
 
 " I ll keep you company this side of the range, till 
 
208 SNAP. 
 
 we reach the Butte in the Wedge ; now, Beck, keep 
 straight on with your train till I say halt," and Beck, 
 anxious to quiet every fear or doubt, rode off for his 
 camp, at full leap. 
 
 "Who goes there!" challenged the teamster on 
 guard. 
 
 " Beck," was the answer ; " how s all ? " 
 " All s well." 
 
 Mrs. Garrulson awoke with a start. 
 " What s up ! " she screamed ; " is that you, John 
 Beck, cavortin aroun this time o ni-ht? * 
 
"STRUCK HARD" " WIPED OUT." 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " STRUCK HARD " " WIPED OUT." 
 
 In the morning before the*" yoke up," every man was 
 armed to the teeth ; seeing which, Mrs. Garrulson, in 
 her best vein, said : 
 
 " Things begin to look bilious." 
 
 The train had camped on the left flank of "The 
 Wedge," a name given to the land lying between the 
 two lines of hills or ridges, and from the view at 
 this point they seemed, perspectively, to close in as 
 they descended to the river. This was their confor 
 mation, for the lines were not parallel, but gradually 
 neared to a narrow passage, at the exit. The place 
 looked as though a mountain had been riven there, 
 and the small plateau where they dragged along, like a 
 wedge between the divided parts ; by some it was 
 called " The Spear-point." A sugar-loaf hill rose from 
 the ridge on the right, topped by a few trees, and bore 
 the landmark title of Butte. Just opposite, on the 
 left and lower range, across the road, was a similar 
 rise of less height, but of a more rugged formation. 
 Its crest was basin-shaped, verged with rocks and 
 brambles. The ascent to the base of the bowl was 
 easy, but from thence, for a few feet, to the rim, pre 
 cipitous. Herds of bison, with hoof and horn, scoop 
 ing the saline earth, had at some time made "a lick" 
 
210 SNAP. 
 
 there, and the shrubbery not destroyed grew on its 
 skirt. It was a ready-made rifle-pit. The hills fell 
 away to the rear into the valleys. The one to the 
 north overlooked the level gravel road to the fort, that 
 on the south the highway travelled by Cruz and Cart- 
 wright. 
 
 The pirates and the Spiders kept the trail only 
 at night, but with a forced march in breathless 
 haste. The Indians sprang from sleep, retouched the 
 war-paint, ground their arrow-points, clicked the trig 
 ger, flashed the knife ; a mania for scalps and pelf 
 crazed them. The chief rode to the front, motioned, 
 and they followed ; a long trail, with few stops, 
 brought them in sight of the Butte on the night that 
 the scout rejoined his train. In the moonlight Cart, 
 wright and the savage conferred by signs. After the 
 latter had pointed often to the peak, he got down, 
 turned his band to the woods near by, and drew in the 
 sand with his finger a deep, rough sketch of his plan of 
 attack. -Now choosing the youngest, a strong-limbed, 
 ill-visaged heathen, with the scars of torture on his 
 breast and blood-signs on his face, he sent him oft as a 
 scout, to watch the whites. Within gunshot of their 
 camp s patrol, this young, lithe savnge lay until the 
 dawn; he saw the cattle yoked, he heard the snap o 
 the whip in the start; still staring hard, he saw the 
 train enter " The AVedgc." Crawling from brush to 
 bush and hillock, the runner at last rose to his feet, 
 speeding back to his chief. AVith a frown he was sent 
 off again, and on the top of the hill he stretched him- 
 
" S TR UCK HARD " " WIPED OUT." 211 
 
 self at full length, glaring down on the train, as a 
 spider watches a fly. 
 
 Behind the northern rise, Captain Harkness and his 
 troopers rode at will. Now and then he wheeled in his 
 saddle, spoke to "his boys," rode on, whistled, patted 
 his horse, fanned himself with his hat, renewed his 
 tobacco. 
 
 "Ain t you gwyne to let us out, Cappin? " asked the 
 sergeant. 
 
 " Well, I won t get a rope to hold you back with ; 
 but remember, now, the Spider fights like a catamount ; 
 he shows no quarter." 
 
 " He * no wus than all the varmints," spoke up a 
 dare-devil on the flank. 
 
 " Halt ! " The troop drew up to their leader. 
 " Look here. The Spider is a hornet, he s a can 
 nibal ; do you know that? If one of you fellows are 
 taken alive, you ll be roasted like a chestnut, roasted 
 at a slow fire, roasted by inches. Do you hear me? " 
 
 " That s all right, Cappin ; don t they have to take 
 us fust?" put in a gruff voice. 
 
 " Forward ! " He had badgered them with a word 
 to raise the pulse. 
 
 " It ll be a dash, with sabre and yell," said one. 
 
 "A wipe-out." 
 
 "Tom," said another to his file, in a whisper, "he 
 whistles all the time." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "Epylettes." 
 
 " All the wus for the redskins." 
 
212 SNAP. 
 
 "Yes," said a third, "wen he s done with em, a 
 train ken pass along this yer road and sleep o nights 
 without a guard." 
 
 Whack and Beck rode side by side in the sweltering 
 heat ; the beasts tugged hard at their burdens. 
 
 "Mighty close quarters, scout." 
 
 " So Cartwright thinks, I reckon." 
 
 "Will they strike us, certain?" 
 
 " Certain ; they re over in the woods yonder, now." 
 
 "This is what a feller might call the jaws of 
 death." 
 
 " Yes ; for the teeth are sharpened." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " We ll chaw em up." 
 
 " Isn t there another road ? " 
 
 " No, Whack, and Cartwright knew it ; knew jus 
 whar to strike ; but he s fooled. 
 
 " Thought he d ketch us in a trap ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Looks like he had us, scout." 
 
 "I m ahead of him though, an have set a trap for 
 him ; the train is a bait." 
 
 "How s that?" 
 
 "Wait an see ; keep the men in good trim, let em 
 move slow ; I am off again," he said, as he rode on. 
 
 Mrs, Garrulson had fallen in with Legs, and careless 
 of the rite danger, walked with him at his team. 
 
 "What you thinkin bout, Illynys?" she asked. 
 
 "Bout the tight," 
 
 "What sorter fight, boy?" 
 
" S TR UCK HARD " " WIPED O 7 TV 213 
 
 " Why, don t yer know wese gwyne ter hev a scrim 
 mage afore we get outer this, granny?" 
 
 " No ; may I never who wants ter fight ? " 
 
 "Injins." 
 
 "Thet s so, es t? " the old woman looked thoughtful. 
 
 "Never mine, thar ain t a man that ll let a har of 
 yourn be teched." 
 
 " My har ; why, bless you, sonny, I wur a thinkin 
 of yourn. Whar dus yer mother live ? " 
 
 " Up yanner ; " the lad said, pointing to the bright 
 blue sky. 
 
 " Dead ? An yer farther ? " 
 
 " Dead too ; they moved out to the Meesuree an the 
 Injins slayed em, granny, long ago." 
 
 "Too bad, son, sho ; I hed kin of mine scelped too. 
 An wese gwyne ter hev a fight ? " 
 
 "Yes, an afore it s over I ll get even." 
 
 "Drot my shoestrings, boy, I ll stan by you," she 
 answered quickly, slapping him on the back. 
 
 " An see hyar, granny ; spose I se knocked over ? " 
 
 " I ll look arter you, son ; but yer ain t gwyne to be 
 with me ahind you." 
 
 The report of a rifle was heard, which cut short their 
 talk. As Beck rode by, Whack called to him : 
 
 "What s up?" 
 
 " A chance shot ; " he rode on over the northern 
 ridge ; as he crossed the hill, Captain Harkness came 
 towards him. 
 
 "I heard your shot, Beck." 
 
 " I flushed up a Spider, Captain." 
 
214 SNAP. 
 
 "Kill him?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " What was he ? " 
 
 " Spy in war-paint ; I was huntin for a sign all day, 
 and found it." 
 
 " How near are they, Beck ? " 
 In the woods below; they ll strike us to-night." 
 "Pull up in a trot to the foot of the Butte ; unyoke 
 and drive your stock over here." 
 
 Beck rode back to his train; at sundown they 
 camped between the hills. 
 
 The night, midnight and the small hours were of the 
 past, and the scout paced his rounds on guard ; he 
 held his rifle ready with his finger on the trigger. 
 Not a whisper was heard behind the wagons ; not even 
 a beetle droned in the still, damp air. The men held 
 their breath, and every beat of the heart could be 
 counted in the soundless pause. 
 
 "Who s that?" cried Beck sharply, brought to a 
 sudden halt by an apparition, as his eye ranged the 
 barrel of his gun. 
 
 The form of the wanderer crept slowly out of the 
 wet, dark shadows ; more distraught than ever, when 
 near enough he seized the scout s hand : 
 
 "They re coming," he said, in abject terror. 
 
 "Who?" asked the scout. 
 
 " Cartwright and the Spiders." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "Yonder, behind the hill;" pointing his long, bony 
 finger; "they re creeping on you like a thousand 
 
" STRUCK HARD" " WIPED OUT." 215 
 
 snakes; hissing, too, the vipers; murder, death; 
 they re coming, man ; they re coming." 
 
 "Get in, then, out of sight;" and Beck forced the 
 poor wretch behind the inclosure. 
 
 A feature of the wild man s craze, was his ever- 
 changeful mode of life, and how he lived was a mystery 
 to many. He was an ubiquis springing out of the earth 
 to help those friendly to him, or to foil their enemies. 
 He was fed by passing trains or parties ; with these he 
 journeyed hither and thither, with no fixed course or 
 destiny, retracing his route as the mood seized him ; 
 taken up again to re-pass ; hence his appearance in 
 many places. The Indian looked upon him with awe, 
 but without pity. 
 
 The scout called to Whack to stand guard until he 
 came back. 
 
 "The devils," he said, " are on us, and they ll strike 
 before daylight." 
 
 He crawled up the hillside and disappeared in the 
 foliage ; here he came upon Captain Harkness stand 
 ing in the shadow of a tree, sighting the opposite 
 ridge. 
 
 "They re over yonder, Captain," he said. 
 
 " I know it," was the quiet reply, " and they ll stay 
 there, Beck." 
 
 "Stay there?" 
 
 " Yes ; not one shall get away, if I can help it." 
 
 "What s going to be the signal? " 
 
 "They ll open fire; fire back in their teeth, every 
 man, and when these pets " he went on, pointing to 
 
216 SNAP. 
 
 his howitzers masked behind the brush "stop talk 
 ing " 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 " Charge that ridge with your men." 
 "When your pets stop barking, then?" 
 "Yes, sir; join your train, the ball s going to 
 open." 
 
 In the camp the men were put to work upon a ruse 
 to draw the fire, and to foil the foe. Blankets were 
 spread, on the slope, and under them bolts of tent- 
 cloth, with here and there a teamster s hat ; a good 
 sham of men asleep. An inside breastwork of bales, 
 covering the running-gear of the front wagons, con 
 cealed their movements. 
 
 It was midnight when the chief signed to his band 
 to move. Spread out singly, a scattered horde, they 
 began the ascent like crouching tigers, lurking and 
 peering above the grass. On the flank, as skirmishers, 
 Cart wright and Cruz led their horses. 
 
 In the ambush with his braves strung along its outer 
 rim lying low, the Spider looked upon the camp of 
 the teamsters, in vexed surprise. He stared fixedly 
 at the Butte, opposite, as it frowned down on his 
 meaner site, and was maddened by a mistake that 
 mocked him. In rage he beckoned to the theives ; 
 they came to him to be told that he and his tribe must 
 move to the other range. He sent them off to feel 
 the way for a change of ambush, and from thence he 
 would spring down upon the sleepers and destroy 
 them. 
 
" S TR UCK HARD " " WIPED OUT." 217 
 
 Beck drilled his men in whispers ; as soon as the 
 savages opened fire they were to fire back ; when he gave 
 the command to charge, they were to leap the wagons, 
 form line, follow him and fire advancing. Whack, for 
 the first time was to see a frontier fight, the first les 
 son which the Colonel thought essential to his success 
 in life ; young, hopeful, the youth stood firm and gave 
 his orders calmly. 
 
 "Mrs. Garrulson," he said to the good woman who 
 was making bandages in an exposed corner, "get be 
 hind cover, you re in danger there." 
 
 She turned upon him in wrathful haste : 
 
 "Jjo yer think I m a coward, boy; thar s grit I tell 
 yer in the ole bones yit, an I ll stan by the boys tell 
 the last wun draps." 
 
 If the men had dared so rash a thing, they would 
 have cheered her. She got up, slung a powder-horn 
 over one shoulder, a cartridge-box over the other, and 
 took her stand, from which no entreaty could move 
 her. 
 
 The chief strode madly in the rear of his crouching 
 band ; now and then he leaped to the front to look 
 forth, and at last, as he looked, day broke in one broad 
 gleam. The savage with a keen, ringing shriek raised 
 his tomahawk. Beck fired on the instant ; his rifle s 
 ball clove the Indian s scalp-tuft. 
 
 "Great Scott," said Sandy in a low tone, "did yees 
 see the feathers fly." 
 
 Just then there was a blaze of light alono- the rin< 3r 
 
 o o & 
 
 of the pit; the guns of the painted devils, with a 
 
218 SNAP. 
 
 sharp, quick rattle, sent a shower of balls into the 
 camp. 
 
 " Steady ; " cautioned Whack, showing his mettle. 
 
 " All ready ! fire ! " cried the scout ; the rifles of 
 the teamsters answered. 
 
 " Give em goss," cried the old woman, taking up a 
 piece to reload it. 
 
 The chief saw at a glance that he was foiled by a 
 vigilant foe, and blind with fury held to the fight, 
 watching his chance to spring from cover. The firing 
 now became general, and in the midst of it granny 
 stood by Legs loading his weapon ; he grasped the 
 gun, aimed, fired and returned it to receive another; 
 she never flinched, but stood in her place the picture 
 of frontier pluck; her face begrimed, her hands and 
 arms blackened. 
 
 " Goshens," she exclaimed, "the darned thing s hot, 
 sonny ; won t it bust ? 
 
 The redskins sprung a flight of arrows. 
 
 "Saving powder," said Beck, "the devils will stand 
 to it and fight it out ; " he had listened long for the 
 hill-top signal. 
 
 While he spoke the howitzers opened with whistling 
 grape, and the men stared at each other in wonder, 
 for Beck had kept from them the knowledge of a troop 
 near at hand, that their own courage might be fresh 
 and warm. 
 
 " It s all right boys ; " then in a sturdy voice he gave 
 the command, " Forward ! " 
 
 They leaped the wagons with aloud, Western shout, 
 
" S TR UCK HARD " " WIPED UT." 2 1 9 
 
 forming line ; Beck on the right, Whack on the left, 
 they advanced firing and loading in the face of the 
 Spiders. The Indians leaped to the rocky parapet, 
 fired and fell back, and the yell of the chief betokened 
 that the parting shot had been given before he drew off 
 his band, in flight. 
 
 All at once, yells like the rally-cries of the trappers, 
 came from behind the ambuscade ; a sound of many 
 voices loud in the fiery tones of strife, coming nearer 
 and mingling with the babel of the affrighted savages. 
 The scout cheered ; the men took up the battle-note 
 of their leader, crowding close to his manly form ; 
 now was heard the jingle of scabbards, the snap of 
 pistols, the snort of horses, and above the din, a voice 
 louder than all rang out : 
 
 " Draw sabres ! " it said ; Bob Harkness was on 
 hand. 
 
 John Beck heard it, and all the fervor of his nature, 
 long pent up, burst forth in an answering shout ; he 
 scaled the barrier with his men, and joined the venge 
 ful tumult. 
 
 Whack, at the left, was the last to come into the pit 
 with his squad ; they climbed the rough, sheer rock- 
 front. The chief, surrounded, fought like a wild beast 
 at bay ; and, maddened, he furiously fought on. 
 Clubbing his rifle as the last of his band fell about 
 him, he sprang with a bound clear of the victors. 
 Whack, who had just then dragged himself over the 
 basin s rim as the savage planted his foot on the rock, 
 glanced aside and caught the gleam of the upraised 
 
220 SNAP. 
 
 rifle, swung to brain him where he lay. Pistol in 
 hand, he fired without aim, but as the smoke raised, 
 the car-piercing death-scream of the Spider was heard 
 over the cliff, where he fell. 
 
 Harkness slapped his thigh at the sight. 
 
 " Grit, be gad," he said, aloud. 
 
 The savages in setting a trap had entrapped them 
 selves in the meshes of a fearful slaughter. While a 
 few fired the howitzers, the Captain led his men 
 down the Butte on the river side, through the brush 
 to the rear of the Indians, and charged to their ambus 
 cade as Beck advanced in front. 
 
 "Call your roll, scout, and count the cost," said the 
 Captain. 
 
 On the hillside, as the teamsters drew back from 
 the bloody scene, they came upon the slain and 
 wounded. The Spiders, assailed front and rear, 
 hemmed in, had shot wildly ; a score of trainmen had 
 been hurt, and at the foot of the hill, one lay still in 
 death. 
 
 "I seed him fall, boys," said the old woman between 
 sobs, in whose lap the head of the dead youth lay ; 
 "all the I nj ins in creation could nt aheld me back;" 
 she leaned down and kissed the brow of the orphan 
 and her tears fell, a full, sweet flow of pity, as 
 pure as when the angels weep ; the men were 
 touched more at her sorrow than by the loss of 
 their comrade, though he had been the lead in the 
 whip s snap, in the rifle s crack. Poor Legs ; he lay 
 as one sleeping calmly, his long, brown hair on his 
 
" S TR UCK PI A RD " " WIPED OUT?* 221 
 
 shoulders. They took him up with friendly words, 
 and buried him with care, and raising a rude stone- 
 mound, they left him alone on the wild. 
 
 " I struck hard, scout," said Harkness. 
 
 " Well, it s a mercy ; but has Cartwright got off? " 
 
 " Yes, like a thief." 
 
 "It s bad, bad if he lives." 
 
 "Yes, Beck, the breathing devil who lurks behind 
 the savage urging him on, still lives ; he always 
 escapes the sword and the law." 
 
 The pirate and Mexican had taken a circuit of the 
 ridge, coming up in the rear of the Butte ; here they 
 had tied their horses and had crawled up the hill. 
 Cruz, the more wily villain ahead, looked in upon 
 the troopers, from behind a tangled growth. The 
 sight stunned him ; quickly, with his finger on his 
 lip, he motioned to Cartwright behind him. The 
 two stood dismayed, as out of a riven cloud a 
 beam of the freed moon played upon the burnished 
 butts of the cannon, upon the sabre-hilts of the 
 soldiers holding their horses ; they saw the giant 
 form of their captain and the wave of his hand ; they 
 saw the men mount, wheel, ride off. 
 
 "The devil;" whispered the copper-colored cow 
 ard, as they both crouched down. They sneaked to 
 their horses and mounted, for the pirate saw and 
 understood that the Spiders were doomed. The 
 Mexican eyed him. 
 
 " Vamo?" he asked timidly. 
 
 " Wayno ; " answered Bill. 
 
222 SNAP. 
 
 B wen." 
 
 The scoundrels, in a hard gallop, struck out for the 
 camp of the packers; taking up their train, they sped 
 away out of danger leaving the Indians to their fate. 
 A fate sure as death followed them. 
 
 The wounded were carod for and the teams moved 
 on, crossing the river. At the ford Harkness turned 
 off with his troop for the fort. 
 
 On looking back at the rifle-pit, Beck saw the dry 
 leaves in flames, and amid the smoke the wild man 
 crazily disporting. He had found a dragoon s pistol, 
 loaded, and hiding it under his rags, he fled with his 
 prize. 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 223 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 
 
 AT the fort the wounded were speedily cared for, 
 and Beck, having unloaded his train, started on the 
 return trip. When John and Melinda came together 
 the camp laughed, but the good old soul was far 
 above the jest ; the wifely care which for many years 
 hoarded her little store in some nook of the lonely 
 cabin, the sterling trait which upheld her to bear 
 through strife the homely gift to her spouse, far away 
 in the grim solitude, stamps her sense of duty as 
 something better than impulse, something deeper than 
 emotion. Of such qualities are heroes made, and none 
 bettor have given fame and ennobled a race. 
 
 Fairly under way, homeward bound, Whack turned 
 to Beck for leave to ride on, that he might free him 
 self of the drag of the train and the creak of the 
 
 o 
 
 wheels. 
 
 " Mind your eye," said his cautious leader, " keep 
 the road and open country ; if thar s Spiders in the 
 bush they ll spot you, boy." 
 
 Whack rode on for hours a heedless truant ; he 
 forded the river and spurred away to the Butte, that he 
 might look in upon the rifle-pit or over the cliff where 
 the savage fell. 
 
224 SNAP. 
 
 A few of the Spiders had escaped in the battle s smoke 
 to hide from its rash and fearful vengeance. They 
 had lain in ambush for hours to dress their wounds, or 
 to chant at times their death-songs over the slain. 
 As they lay there they heard the tramp of a rider s 
 horse, and nearer and nearer it came upon them 
 skulking, as closer they crouched to spring Whack 
 rode round the rocky point on the hillside ; his mount 
 shied, when, with yells, they seized his bridle and 
 dragged him from his seat. Before he could fairly 
 realize his danger, they had bound him hand and foot 
 to set about the work of his torture, with devilish 
 devices and with cruel haste. He was stripped to the 
 waist ; they singed the quivering flesh with hot 
 arrow-points, scourged him with bow-string and thorn- 
 brush, then bending a sapling with their combined 
 weight, they fastened his feet thereto, and let the tree 
 spring back. His head hanging down, and his body 
 within reach, they stung and bruised it with a hundred 
 blows. The strain on each young, strong fibre a 
 racking, acute tension as if one and all would snap 
 knotted the pain-wrought muscles, Moments were 
 told off in long flights of agony ; he panted for breath, 
 the veins swelled to bursting, the foam stood on his 
 lips and his eyes grew dim. One last, fainting look 
 into the upper depths, like one sinking in the waves 
 deeper, deeper. 
 
 " Get back, back, you painted hell-cats," screamed 
 a voice, and the feeble sight of Whack saw the wild 
 man rushing to his rescue, club in hand, with which he 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 225 
 
 struck down savage after savage. Again he heard 
 another, manlier voice. 
 
 " Stand aside," it said, and the sharp crack of the 
 rifle was heard as he swooned. 
 
 Beck had followed Whack, giving his horse free rein 
 to seek him out, and he came upon the scene as the 
 wanderer struck down his tormentors. He cut the 
 cords, taking up the body in his arms, and he bore it 
 away to a spring. 
 
 Looking about for the wild man, he was seen far off, 
 his arms held high in the flurry of madness. 
 
 When the train came up Whack was put to bed in a 
 covered wagon ; his wounds were many and sore, and 
 long weeks would come of restless fever before he 
 could again scour the plain. 
 
 The book Mary gave the scout was a small copy of 
 the Bible she had taken from the shelf, with the marker 
 between the leaves. It was her law of the household, 
 that it should be read in the long hours of a winter s 
 evening. So little else in print ever found its way to 
 the frontier cabin, the lessons of its text had given 
 strength to many manly hearts. In camp, a few days 
 after Whack s adventure, the scout drew forth the little 
 volume as he sat alone at rest. The marked page was 
 spread before him, and the words which the marker 
 pointed to were these : 
 
 rf And thy people . . . . " the trite lines in the old 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Beck was startled. He drew back as though a blow 
 had been aimed at him, but he did not suspect Mary 
 
226 SNAP. 
 
 of design, for she had not, in truth, looked at the page, 
 but still the words stared him in the face boldly. Nor 
 was he tempted to peruse them again, for they troubled 
 him, and he closed the tell-tale chapter, hid the book 
 in his blouse and rose with a sigh. 
 
 Whack s was a fine face, the more so as he lay in his 
 wagon-tent half asleep. The tan of his cheeks shaded 
 the glow of health, and the rich brown hair in waves 
 lay on the white roll under his head ; the repose of the 
 young, manly features was broken by a smile at some 
 fancy of his thoughts ; the smile enriched the picture. 
 While with a lazy content he felt the return of strength, 
 on the rear-porch at the home Mary was seated with 
 Lu. She turned once from her sewing, to glance at the 
 lovely girl sitting near her, as a stray beam stole in to 
 alight on her golden braids. 
 
 At dawn the train rolled out, taking a cut-off to 
 reach the Big Backbone, and at noon on the next day 
 Beck called a halt. 
 
 "Whack, do you know this yer spot?" he said, as 
 he raised the wagon cover. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Look down in the valley at the crib." 
 
 " I see the same old landmarks." 
 
 " Do you see smoke ? " 
 
 "No; do you?" 
 
 " Thar s a way to find out all I want to know." 
 
 "How?" - 
 
 " I m going to see." 
 
 He rode off just as once before he had taken a 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 227 
 
 sudden flight ; as before, he drew up near the pirates 
 camp, and tying his mount, he began again a search cf 
 the grotto. He was about to give it up, when his eye 
 caught sight of a pair of spurs hanging on the door 
 frame, and at last he saw a pack-saddle. Still not 
 satisfied, grasping his rifle he ventured nearer ; as no 
 sound came to his ears, he went on until he stood in 
 the door of the cabin. He sprang back, with a 
 blanched face, and covered his eyes with his hands. 
 On the floor within lay the dead bodies of the packers, 
 each man slain by a stab in the darkness of a night 
 attack. About the door were signs of a hard-fought, 
 hand-to-hand fight, and Beck would have turned away 
 in haste, but he must know if Cartwright was one of 
 the slain. This done, and assured that the thief had 
 escaped, he strode out of the loathsome place. As he 
 did so his foot struck a shining object ; he picked it 
 up, to find it a blood-smeared knife ; on the handle 
 rudely cut, was the name : FEKATI ! Beck leaped into 
 his saddle, joined his train, and " rolled out." Cart- 
 wright was still at large and he rode far away from 
 the trail, getting down to search for foot-prints, and 
 his search was not in vain. 
 
 Jumper had his own way to make in the world, and 
 he had himself to blamo if he set about doing so by a 
 bad method. The value of Lu s real estate to the 
 uttermost farthing, her goods and chattels, as well 
 as that in prospect, he had found out, in detail, 
 and as she had not once set him back in his preten 
 sions, as a matter of course, he pressed them upon 
 
228 SNAP. 
 
 her. She was a very pretty prey for just such a 
 flatterer. When she left her friends, the light 
 headed coterie, she had vowed in a maidenly way 
 never to come back without having taken a scalp 
 the border phrase of the day for catching a beau in 
 some sort of heroic fashion, and Jumper was quick to 
 cross her trail that she might seize upon him as a 
 victim. That two young persons with so much in 
 common should come together often, was only natural. 
 They had been known to each other for a long time as 
 Lu and Harry. 
 
 About a dozen miles below the post on the river s 
 bank, was a woodchopper s camp. Jumper had urged 
 Lu to trust herself with him on a visit to this place, 
 and she had consented. They mounted their horses, 
 Lu upon the frisky Kitty, and rode away in the early 
 morning; she, the pretty, blue-eyed, simple little girl, 
 and he, the mannish, over-smart boy, side by side. 
 Just so, through the world they go in pairs, lured on 
 until real life, like a savage in the bush, flies its 
 arrows, and regret mocks them, like the laugh of 
 drunken men. They had ridden a long stretch from 
 the post, and already Jumper began to reckon upon 
 chances. 
 
 " Harry dear," said the weak voice at his side, "is 
 there any danger away out here ? " 
 
 " Can you trust to me ? " he replied ; " if there s 
 danger ain t I with you?" laying stress upon the ego. 
 
 "I do wish so much we were safe on the steamer." 
 
 " I ll put you there, Lu ; all creation can t stop me." 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 229 
 
 " How brave you are," she said, with a simpering, 
 childlike trust. 
 
 Now in the rapture of an idle day-dream, the rose- 
 tinted gossamer which veils the sight of youth, they 
 drew near a thicket. Love s soft nonsense was quickly 
 hushed in fear, for they had, without warning, ridden 
 into a camp of Indians maddened by drink. Lu s 
 horse sprang aside, dashed ahead, and Jumper s fol 
 lowed : 
 
 " Dear, dear Harry, what shall we do?" 
 
 On looking back he saw that the Indians were pur 
 suing them. They gave chase for sport, and in the 
 muddle of his wits, Jumper said to Lu, almost rudely; 
 
 "Run." 
 
 The band came on hooting, laughing and springing 
 their arrows into the air, after the fleeing couple. 
 
 "Oh, I shall faint; help me, Harry; help me;" 
 cried the girl, in a really pitiable plight. 
 
 " Pinch yourself, Lu ; stick yourself with a pin ; " 
 he said to her, losing what little sense was left to him. 
 Such an answer at such a time was cruelly careless, 
 but it was the spur to her escape, as it proved. She 
 loosed the rein and Kit bounded away. As she looked 
 back at Jumper, there rang in his ears a parting 
 answer. 
 
 "You re a coward, Harry Carver," she said, as she 
 swept on, and he saw the graceful form of his sweet 
 heart taking wings and fast fading from his sight. 
 
 Jumper was not a coward, for as his flurry calmed, 
 he outwitted the Indians with skill. He was riding an 
 
230 SNAP. 
 
 old cob, and as they neared him he quietly let himself 
 down, that his horse might fall into their hands ; he 
 knew they would be content with the capture and he 
 would cover his flight by the ruse. And so it hap 
 pened ; catching the mount, they turned and rode 
 back. 
 
 Kitty carried Lu out of danger ; on the skirt of the 
 wood she heard the sound of the axe and saw the land 
 ing on the river; she drew rein thanking her good 
 angel, for the ride of the two was a runaway match. 
 Jumper, by dint of long coaxing, won Lu s consent, 
 and she, to carry back to her friends the trophy she 
 had vowed to seize, had thought the youth not a poor 
 catch. On that day a boat "downstream" and the 
 one coming to Cheviteau s would meet at this camp. 
 In the first they were to sail away to Gretna Green, 
 sending the horses to the post by the other. Jumper 
 planned it all, but the emeute changed Lu from a 
 foolish little maiden to a sensible being in a trice ; the 
 good angel s very best \\ hisper. 
 
 She returned in the boat, refusing to speak with the 
 crest-fallen hero. How he squared his profit and loss 
 account the Colonel knew best, but Lu, the penitent, 
 threw herself into Mary s arms and told everything. 
 
 A few days after, while the captain of the "Pioneer" 
 refreshed himself at the sideboard, he asked to take 
 Carver into his service, and the trader made no serious 
 objections. 
 
 The Judge was still a guest at the post ; his stay, in 
 his own excuse, was to attend to politics ; but the Doc- 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 231 
 
 tor, a worldly-wise man, let his pretext pass lor what 
 it was worth, weighing it against a heavy doubt. 
 
 At an earlier hour of the same day, he, the Judge, 
 went forth also, but took some pains to cover his trail 
 from the eyes of the family ; he had a written permit 
 from the Colonel to pass the patrol, which he handed 
 to the one he met and rode on. 
 
 The Judge knew and felt that there was some dan 
 ger ahead, but he would take care not to provoke the 
 few Indians left behind from the annual hunt. He was 
 bent upon knowing, with the keen eye of a speculator, 
 the lay of their lands. In taking his bearings, he 
 would keep strict account \vhere_best to plant his own 
 stakes, if the future gave him a chance, caring little, 
 though he thought of it, that his rash act might cause 
 a deadly feud. He had framed a petition to have tho 
 treaty with these Indians annulled, and to open their 
 reservation to the settler, for sale. The scheme was to 
 be bolstered by a resolution of the State Legislature 
 and then to be hurried through Congress. 
 
 The sky was as brass, the earth ashes. The Judge 
 dropped his bridle and his horse walked lazily through 
 the brown grass. The noon blaze scorched ; the whirr 
 in the trees, the gleam on the plain were no check to 
 his scheming thoughts. He straightened himself in 
 the stirrups, and was about to coach himself aloud in 
 tho cut-and-dried cant of a speech, when a yell paused 
 his hand in mid-air, and he lost his seat in the saddle. 
 
 Before he could rise, the band of drunken braves, 
 on their way to their village after their fright to Lu and 
 
232 SNAP. 
 
 Jumper, pounced upon him. They painted his face, 
 twisted his hair into a coil, pinned it with feathers, and 
 tying his arms, they drove him off with laugh and jeer. 
 In this disgraceful fix, late in the evening, the Judge 
 met the trader, who smiled broadly, for he knew that 
 the Indians had taught his guest to mind his own 
 business. 
 
 p What kinder chief did them redskins make you, 
 Jedge? You look like a Pache." 
 
 " Never mind the looks, Colonel ; behavior s every 
 thing. I scattered em, seh." 
 
 " Oh, you did? Well, if you did, how d they come 
 to paint your face ? " 
 
 " Well, they had reinforcements, yes " 
 
 " But whar s your horse ? " 
 
 " The patrol caught him." 
 
 The Judge hurried off to avoid the Doctor, who 
 came up. 
 
 The train was on the road skirting the lands of the 
 Colonel s unfriendly neighbors. Beck had good reason 
 for alarm. 
 
 Cartwright and the gang, after their desertion of the 
 Spiders, hastened on to the crib. There they had been 
 attacked by Ferati s cow-boys and "wiped out," the 
 thief escaping to the lodges of these Indians, with 
 whom he was then living as a squaw-man. He was in 
 their village when Beck stole upon the crib and* came 
 away from the horrid sight with white cheeks. 
 
 The pirate had caught a glimpse of the Judge on 
 his ride, and had vowed to the savages that the man 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 233 
 
 was there to survey their lands, and was nearer the 
 mark than he knew ; he clothed the Judge with author 
 ity to dispossess them ; he likened him to a prowling 
 wolf, spoke of him as the trader s agent, and the trader 
 an agent of others in a plot to deprive them of then- 
 rights. It was a scheme, they were told, to which the 
 government had given its encouragement. 
 
 Even now the speculator was ready to repeat his ad 
 venture ; in truth, he had need of haste to leave the 
 post, as the Doctor seemed curious about him. His 
 former ride awed his purpose but little, and he now 
 hired two axemen at the camp, a compass and chain, 
 and so soon as he was ready for the work these men 
 would serve him. He felt at ease, that the small band 
 when sober would not molest him, if he guarded his 
 movements. Success required that he should know 
 the area of the timber land, so as to exhibit, in good 
 shape, the best attractions of the steal. He knew the 
 depth by a measurement along the bluff, and now to 
 obtain its length he started out again. He had been 
 careful to hide his plans from the trader and the 
 scout. 
 
 His aides were found in waiting, the survey began, 
 and while running his lines through the high grass, he 
 was seen by Cartwright. The night before, the chief 
 had returned from the hunt, and the thief wanted no 
 better evidence than this to convict the trader of bad 
 faith in the eyes of the Indian. He rode fast, concealed 
 by the woods, to find the savage, who was easily led to 
 a hiding-place, where both eyed the shark unseen. In 
 
234 SNAP. 
 
 thiit brief moment the redskin became a bloodthirsty 
 foe. 
 
 The Colonel, during the absence of his train, had 
 spare moments to spend with his daughter on the porch. 
 Mary s long formed, most earnest wish was to gain her 
 father s consent to the building of a church and school- 
 house, but he with some indecision had put it aside. 
 He now gave way, willing to yield on condition that 
 she would come round a little to his own crotchet. 
 His age had called to. mind that she ought to be 
 settled and cared for. 
 
 "So you want to see me married?" She spoke 
 frankly, after he had said as much by hint. 
 " Shure, child, why not? " he answered. 
 "So you shall, all in good time, father; wonder 
 what Mister John would think to hear you talk in that 
 way." 
 
 She rose, whispering in his ear some secret of her 
 heart, and he turned suddenly. 
 
 " Not Charley? " he asked in surprise. 
 "No, no, father; would you have me marry a 
 brother?" 
 
 She saw the Judge standing near, and she hastily 
 entered the house. 
 
 While Mary and her father stood on the porch at a 
 later hour, a patrol rode up ; gun-tiring had been heard, 
 and when he left his line the train was in sight. 
 
 " All right," the old man said with a pleased face ; 
 " Now, Mary, give the boys the best in the house when 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED, 235 
 
 they come ; call Chloe an have a set-out ; I ll tend the 
 sideboard." 
 
 Whack was brought in and put to bed in charge of 
 the Doctor and Mary, while Lu, whose sympathy was 
 quickly warmed, fell into the kindly office of nurse, 
 without so much as the asking. Wha<-k, after long, 
 long hours of her tender care, thought he had never 
 seen her look so sweet, as when she came on tip 
 toe to his bedside. It is more than likely, she had 
 never before taken so much pains to look her best. 
 Mary too, seemed to take an amiable delight in bring 
 ing the two together, and as she had once rebuked his 
 fancy for Jane, she seemed to make amends with Lu, 
 and Whack began to wonder. 
 
 For her adopted brother Mary had a very lovable 
 respect ; she knew his good traits, few faults, and that 
 her father liked him ; but she knew and felt too, that 
 his own fancy was for other scenes than those to which 
 her own heart was bound, so long as her father lived. 
 Whack felt a twofold pleasure in being nursed, and in 
 nursing his wonder; he threw aside his banter, for 
 Jumper was long since out of his way, and with the 
 natural humor of youth, gave back to Lu look for 
 look. Never before, in her young, staid life, had 
 Mary felt the luxury of doing good, with such pecu 
 liar joy. Lu, in the daily whisperings with Mary, 
 shared her secret with another, and under such re 
 straint became timid in the arts of her sex, and was 
 artless and purely herself. Thus allured, Whack was 
 moved to a frank, open manner ; in tu. ii his words 
 
236 SNAP. 
 
 moved her heart, and thrilled it with a music even 
 her dreams had never heard. Little blue-eyes was in 
 love. 
 
 Mary may have heard some stray note of the rhap 
 sody, at least she felt it, and she caught Lu at times 
 and held her. She talked to her often of a true wife s 
 life as her own rare faith believed it should be. .Her 
 friend was happy as her love grew deeper, stronger, 
 and trustingly Lu felt the pride of her sex, in the 
 counsel of one among the truest. 
 
 Even the old man began to suspect, and he would 
 tease Lu, and beg her to tell him exactly what she 
 thought of Charley ; the scout too looked askant at 
 Whack. 
 
 Sitting by his cot the Colonel said : 
 
 " Charley, thar s nuthen in the warehouses." 
 
 " I know, and fall trade s open in New York." 
 
 "Will you go back thar?" 
 
 "Right off, as soon as I m well." 
 
 "If thar s anything in the way, you ken say to the 
 girl for me, that I ll give you both a fair start in life ; 
 now git well soon." 
 
 The young man s emotion kept him still, and the 
 trader went on : 
 
 "Lu has got sumpin of her own, but let her reckon 
 it all up, boy, an I ll kiver it all for you, do you hyar." 
 
 The lad who had always shown to him a ready 
 obedience, harsh as the order sometimes was ; who 
 had fought his way across the plains, and was thereby 
 " edicated," had claims upon him he was ready to 
 
REBUKED BUT NOT REBUFFED. 237 
 
 meet. Whack was about to speak, but the old man 
 had his say without allowing his thanks : 
 
 " Sparking is a good enuf sort of thing in its way, 
 but bisnis is bisnis, sell ; " he turned back from the 
 door to add, with a twinkle in his eye: "An she s 
 pooty, Charley, an a very good sorter girl." 
 
 What passed between the young people after this 
 was theirs to keep, but one evening, as time sped on, 
 the light and shade flung from the vine lay golden on 
 her head ; she heard the cool, fresh ripple of the 
 stream, and his words were like it, so delicious are 
 love s first minutes. She sprang up from the cotside, 
 and her kiss-warmed cheek was as bright as a fleck of 
 the sunset. 
 
 Mary heard Lu s quick step in the hall ; she turned 
 and saw her standing in the doorway, her eyes all 
 deeply blue. Her words were spoken over the form 
 she drew close to her breast, and Lu s whispered an 
 swer was : 
 
 "He s mine ; he s mine." 
 
 Whack was easily captured, bound down as he was 
 by plaster and splint. The little trapper, in whose 
 heart love lighted its camp-fire, took the young man s 
 scalp with a glance of her eyes. 
 
238 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IN THE WING. 
 
 After breakfast the Judge made his appearance, tak 
 ing a seat near the trader, on the porch. 
 
 rf You look kinder tired, Jedge," said the old man ; 
 "jine me in a smoke." 
 
 "I don t mind," he replied, as he drew up his chair. 
 
 " What about my horse ? " 
 
 "I gave him to the patrol." 
 
 "So they stripped you, did they, Jedge?" 
 
 " Well, yes ; you see, Colonel, they rallied after being 
 routed." And he whipped round to the first subject his 
 wits caught at, and said : " How has trade prospered 
 with you ? " 
 
 "Wellenuf." 
 
 " Before long you ll be a millionaire ? " 
 
 "No, seh; not half, an it s cost blood and sweat 
 enuf for the other half, an no thanks neether. How 
 do you get on, Jedge ? " 
 
 "I ve done well, but it was shrewdness, nothing 
 else ; we ve got to be smart, you know. Why, you 
 see, Colonel, I buy land grants, and lend money, and 
 when a settler comes to squat on a hundred and sixty 
 acre tract, at one dollar twenty-five cents an acre, I 
 let him have the money to pay for it, on credit ; uovv, 
 
IN THE WING. 239 
 
 you see, I take his note for twelve months, at two per 
 cent, interest a month, and a mortgage for security. 
 You know, Colonel, no settler can make it up in a 
 yeah, on raw prairie ; they break the sod, grow sick 
 from malaria, die or move away. Well, I foreclose ; 
 get land, improvements and all; first cost to me, next 
 to nothing. The law only lows me one tract, as a 
 settler, but in this way, Colonel, why, I own whole 
 townships ; " and the Judge s air was that of one well 
 pleased with himself, but the Colonel bit his tongue to 
 keep the word " shark " from slipping. He made ex 
 cuse, at once, to part with the Judge s company and 
 hastened off. 
 
 Whack was ordered to New York ; Lu was to go 
 with him, and with her aunt s consent they were to be 
 married at her own home. As the boat was expected 
 he sought Mary in her retreat, and found her sewing 
 on a piece of needle finery, a souvenir for Lu. Now 
 and then she held it up in the light and smiled at the 
 witchery of each stitch, and on the lovable little things 
 entwined in its meshes. Looking up she saw Whack 
 standing near. He was no longer a dread for womanly 
 caution to hold at arm s length ; he was no longer to 
 be feared, when he was the captive of another, so she 
 dropped her work, and laid her hand on his should 
 ers : 
 
 "Ain t you happy, Whack, old fellow? and your 
 scalp is clean gone ; well, now in our happiest hour 
 you will let Mary say to you, with all her heart, God 
 bless you." 
 
240 SNAP. 
 
 What followed the veriest spinster might guess ; they 
 kissed of course. 
 
 Lu was packing her trunk, and having closed the lid 
 she sat musing. She had come to the post a tickle 
 little being with views of life childlike and vain, but 
 the friendship of Mary had so gained upon her, she 
 had grown stronger and better every day, and now 
 with a truer spirit she found a happier heart. 
 
 Whack had a parting talk with the trader in his 
 office, and he remembered it gratefully all his after life. 
 The old man believed in early marriage ; it gave a 
 young man, he thought, a purpose in life, raised his 
 ambition and trained him for serious work. Whack, 
 in his, the trader s belief, was the beau ideal of a can 
 didate. 
 
 Beck met Whack as he came away from the office, 
 and with warmth of feeling he said : 
 
 " I m sorry you re going ; come back as soon as you 
 can, this yeah s the best place for you." 
 
 When the whistle was heard the old man took Lu in 
 his arms, Mary and she embraced in tears and Chloe 
 cast the shoe as they all went down to the landing. 
 Whack and Lu were seen far away side by side on the 
 deck of the boat, and as they in turn looked back, 
 they saw the form of the scout ; he leaned on his 
 rifle. 
 
 " Come Mary, let s go to work," said Doctor Tom 
 after her friends had gone ; he saw that she longed for 
 them and was lonesome. 
 
 "Where will we go, Doctor?" 
 
IN THE WING. 241 
 
 " Into the wing ; we can assort and arrange your 
 father s collection ; and make the place a sort of 
 museum." 
 
 Together they went to the little room stored with 
 the odds and ends of savage customs and warfare, oi 
 the border garb and weapons, and the Doctor sat down 
 in a chair. Above his head, the steel-pointed spear 
 and arrows and a Navajo s battle club, hung on a 
 quaintly woven blanket. 
 
 " Just see, Mary, with what labor these savages 
 work to destroy ; those weapon-points are beaten into 
 shape with stones ; what must their hate be?" he said, 
 looking up. 
 
 " I ve just read a book written in the East ; it throws 
 all the blame for all the strife on us ; that s not 
 right," she answered, taking up a reed whistle of the 
 Seminole, and a long, sinew-bound bow of the Apache, 
 which she hung up side by side ; the one listless, the 
 other unstrung. 
 
 "Eastern people are educated by reading novels, to 
 a romantic admiration of the red man ; their philan 
 thropy is safe because it is distant ; they re sincere 
 because they are ignorant, but we know ; we have had 
 our goods and children stolen, our houses burned, our 
 wives and people murdered." 
 
 The Doctor was hanging, on a scalping knife driven 
 into the plaster, the feathered head-gear of a Sioux 
 warrior, and with it his tomahawk, pipe, moccasins, 
 wampum and bullet-pouch ; they were laid on a 
 dressed fawn skin embroidered with stained quills ; 
 
242 SNAP. 
 
 these he circled with a hide thong, the bridle of these 
 horsemen. 
 
 "Now, this is the dress and outfit of what they call 
 a brave," he said, as he finished the group ; tf he was a 
 warrior, and the best that can be said of him is, that 
 he was enduring, self-reliant, cunning; a lazy loafer 
 about his camp one day, he was a swooping demon the 
 next ; an abject beggar or a daring thief as circum 
 stances warrant ; lying to him was one of the fine arts ; 
 licentious without generosity, treacherous in all his 
 acts and dealings, most cold-blooded, and full of in 
 ventions in the refinements of cruelty, he was a most 
 dangerous and terrible animal ; he fought to the death 
 when cornered, but it is as the wolf fights, who neither 
 gives nor expects mercy ; there is a total lack of that 
 courage which prompts men to fight from a sense of 
 duty ; craft with him was better than courage." The 
 Doctor was standing on a chair as he warmed up to 
 his subject, and he resembled an auctioneer crying 
 down the things before him. "Hand me up the lot to 
 your right, Mary, which I have assorted." 
 
 One by one she gave him the outfit of the Mexican ; 
 calzoneros trimmed with round plated buttons ; kirge 
 roweled spurs, like those the vaqueros wore, with little 
 bells that tinkled at every motion ; the faded poncho, 
 the scarlet sash, the horse-hair cord bridle, the cruel 
 bit, the black, glazed sombrero of brigandish cut ; 
 these the Doctor set in the coil of a split hide lasso, 
 flexible as a whip-lash. 
 
 " Well, then, Doctor, why should these people write 
 
IN THE WING. 243 
 
 and talk this way ? I have great sympathy for the In 
 dian children and women," said Mary, taking up the 
 thread of the conversation. 
 
 "Well, Mary, it is just this: a man surrounded by 
 the influence of a moral, cultivated society has no 
 conception of the Indian character; the truth is simply 
 too shocking, and the revolted mind takes refuge in dis 
 belief; as to the children, take the Indian as a boy; 
 his models are men great and renowned in degree as 
 they are ferocious from the number of scalps they have 
 taken, or the thefts they have committed ; there is no 
 right or wrong to him, his own will is law ; his only 
 instruction is to fit him best to act a part in the 
 chase, in theft, and in murder; he is taught all that is 
 necessary to savage life, nothing more ; privation 
 teaches endurance ; when he has food he eats to reple 
 tion, when he has none he hunts for it ; if he has 
 clothing he wears it, if not, he is happy in leggins and 
 paint ; he is patient, for time is nothing to him ; he is 
 never homesick, because all places are equally his 
 home ; virtue, morality, generosity, honor are words 
 not only absolutely without significance to him, but 
 are not accurately translatable into an Indian language 
 of the plains." 
 
 " I hope you don t do them injustice, Doctor," said 
 Mary. 
 
 " Oh, no, my young friend, not injustice. I wish my 
 voice could be heard all over the land, for it is only 
 by knowing what the Indian really is, that ever he will 
 be pitied ; if he is left as he is, he ll be annihilated. 
 
244 SNAP. 
 
 No, Mary, it is a mistake that will prove most cruel to 
 the Indian ; he must be known as he is ; the grandest 
 exploits, and the noblest virtues to the Indian are com 
 prehended in the English words, theft, pillage, rapine, 
 murder ; he can expect no honor from man or love 
 from woman, until he has taken a scalp or stolen a 
 horse, and he who crawls upon a sleeping enemy and 
 kills him before he can awaken, is a better warrior and 
 entitled to more praise, than he who kills his enemy in 
 a fair fight ; a scalp is a scalp with him ; the tender 
 cuticle of an infant, the " long, foir hair " of a helpless 
 woman, are as dearly prized as the grizzled scalp-lock 
 of the veteran of a hundred fights.* 
 
 o 
 
 "Now hand me that collection, Mary, near you; 
 that s the rig of the fellows who have tried to open the 
 way for civilization ; what blood it has cost." 
 
 Piece by piece she gave him the costume of the 
 American frontiersman ; the deerskin hunting-shirt 
 with fringed skirt and leggins alike, shoes of parfleche, 
 the coon-skin cap with fox-tail drooping from it ; the 
 long-stocked Kentucky rifle, the hunting-knife, from 
 which the Bowie was a copy, and other things of the 
 outfit. 
 
 " How I wish the strife was over ; " she said with a 
 sigh, "this has been my wish all these long years, but 
 you give me little hope." 
 
 * The substance of this conversation, wherein the Doctor speaks of the 
 Indian, is borrowed almost verbatim from " The Plains of the Great We&t; " 
 Lieut -Col. R.I. Dodge, U. S. A, and the introduction to the same, by 
 William Blackmore. The author has taken the broad liberty to appropriate 
 and adapt, so that his own opiuioii of the Indian, which coincides, may not 
 stand unsupported. 
 
IN THE WING. 245 
 
 "Well, child, it s only the story of the world, of the 
 race of mankind ; it has been written, you know, in 
 blood; heroes and martyrs, the strong to slay, the 
 weak to perish ; man to be great must dare and suffer 
 so long as there is cruelty or wrong ; when there is 
 none then comes the millenium." 
 
 Mary had come to her father simply taught in the 
 principles of duty, by those to whom the sense of it 
 was inherent ; she had taken her place scarce knowing 
 what she did beyond the impulse of that duty ; it was 
 a part whose trials she little kneAV, and would have 
 shrunk from them as little, had she known. Her 
 presence was the first sign of social form through which 
 has come the after rule of church and school, the after 
 peace of law and order ; and whatever her trials be, 
 though floodlike they come, there is another tide to 
 bear to her a blessing for every tear. 
 
 She and the Doctor were now assorting the minor 
 curios; the wide-spreading horns of a Texan, the 
 antlers of a moose, the twisted butters of a mountain- 
 goat, the hoof of a lead-ox, labelled "Blaze," a grizzly 
 bear s claws, the tail of a stallion, the wicker cradle of 
 a papoose, the guarache of a peon, rifles, short and !<>ng, 
 of scout and trapper ; and the Doctor hung up an ante 
 lope s head, vis-a-vis with a grinning catamount s. They 
 kept at their work steadily, for it seemed to please 
 Mary to hear the Doctor talk. 
 
 The redskins near by were " showing their teeth," 
 and the scout knew that the pirate s malice was work 
 ing the mischief. Stray cattle and horses were stolen, 
 
246 SNAP. 
 
 the vaqneros and patrols were shot at, a hay-stack was 
 set on fire ; the men were growing restive. It was 
 these alarms that had taken him away so often. Beck 
 had tried to bring about a parley to pacify the few, and, 
 by presents, to win them to friendliness ; but he found 
 them cross and hateful, and, in degree as they became 
 more and more so, he measured the infamy of the thief. 
 The scout also thought he might put danger aside by 
 seeking the chief on the plains, to arouse against Cart- 
 wright a counter feeling, and he was about to take 
 the trail when the patrol sent word of the tribes 
 return. 
 
 All this wore upon the man s manner, and Mary saw 
 under an unreal cheer, his trouble of mind ; her eyes 
 followed and haunted him with a thousand ugly fears. 
 Happily for those who sped the glad hours under the 
 trader s roof, the chief was slow to act ; he let his tem 
 per grow hot by degrees, kept his own counsel and 
 waited. 
 
 "Good bye, Mary," said Beck, as he rode up on his 
 horse to the window of the wing. 
 
 "Where are you going, Mister John?" 
 " To look about for pirates ; mus go ; " and he spoke 
 wearily, as one needing peace and rest. 
 
 She gave him an anxious glance. "Must go?" she 
 asked, "when will the time come to say you won t 
 go?" 
 
 "Jus when the law says so, and the government sees 
 that the law is carried out ; then we won t have to take 
 the law in our hands, and it ll hunt and hang a thief 
 like Cart wright." 
 
IN THE WING. 247 
 
 " That ll be a long time, John Beck ; it has been put 
 off up to our time, and the children of to-day, out here, 
 will say the same thing when they are Town." 
 
 " Will we never have peace ? " asked Mary. 
 
 "Not till we make it by fighting down its foe," said 
 the Doctor. 
 
 "if your father and me, Mary, hold back, they d 
 come like wolves and chaw us up ; " the scout added. 
 
 "Who, the Indians?" she asked. 
 
 "Not allers the Injins, they re bad enough; but the 
 sharks and pirates." 
 
 "Beck means the squaw-men, the Indian name for 
 what wo whites call the pirates," said the Doctor. 
 
 "What s a squaw-man?" she asked. 
 
 " Bill Cartwright ; " answered the speaker. " Living 
 among these tribes are outcasts, American, French, 
 Mexican, the lowest refuse spewed out by the society 
 in which they were born ; they bring with them horses, 
 sufficient not only to make friends, but to buy one or 
 more squaws and a tepee, to enable them to set up 
 housekeeping ; the squaws draw rations from the 
 Agencies for themselves and their children. Having 
 more natural shrewdness than the Indian, they soon 
 gain ascendancy. These are the men who furnish arms, 
 and supply whiskey. At his own best game, in lying, 
 stealing, drinking, and debauchery, the squaw-man is 
 so far superior to the Indian, as to gain admiration ; it 
 is from these men that the Indians get their ideas of the 
 character, capacity, morality, and religion of white men. 
 These ruffians, with their half-breed children, are fed 
 
248 SNAP. 
 
 and fostered by the government ; they are adepts in the 
 Indian language, and all the intercourse between the 
 government and the Indians is filtered through them, 
 and partakes of their character; full of duplicity, 
 treachery, and evasion." * 
 
 "Good by, Mister John," Mary said, as Beck turned 
 his horse to ride off, " a batter day will come." 
 
 "May be," he answered, as a sudden shade passed 
 over his face ; he turned and rode away. Mary sat 
 down, and over her own fair features a shadow swept, 
 from the strong man s mood. The talk of the Doctor 
 and the scout had chilled her spirits ; suddenly she 
 seemed to take in the wider scope of the dangers 
 about them. She knew, as all on the border knew, 
 that the braver pioneers fought the battles and were 
 swept away ; passed away from the memory of a 
 thankless government. It was a solemn truth for a 
 young woman to think upon ; hate was burning in the 
 heart of the white and the red man, a consuming fire, 
 like the gust-flames of the prairie. How soon would 
 her fair dream vanish, her hopes to blackened cinders 
 turn, and the scene so dear to her, withered and 
 scorched, be scattered to the winds? 
 
 " I am sorry, Doctor, for all you have said about the 
 Indian ; and I wonder where Mister John is gone ? " 
 the thought of him raised a spirit of womanly cour 
 age, and she caught a gleam of the brighter side. " I 
 reckon," she added, "we ll fight it through." This 
 was a new phase of faith ; hitherto her prayer had been 
 
 * " The Plains of the Great West." 
 
IN THE WING. 249 
 
 that peace would come, to spring like early flowers 
 around a church and school; now had dawned upon 
 her an idea of a struggle ; it found her armed in soul 
 for the bitterest moinent^and all that courage needed 
 lay deep and warm. 
 
 While the Doctor and Mary were still at work, 
 Judge Smith, sauntering by, came into the room. To 
 the Doctor his appearance was always a provocation ; 
 not that he hated the man, but he mistrusted him, and 
 the Judge always managed in some unhappy way to 
 wake the other s ire by touching upon some unpleasant 
 subject ; he was prone to take the part of the Indian, 
 in order, as the Doctor believed, to cover up some 
 hidden scheme wherein the Indian was concerned. 
 
 "Hello, Doctor," he said, in a manner to irritate, 
 "you re at work among your friends." 
 
 " Who do you mean by my friends ? " 
 
 "The Indians." 
 
 "I m a better friend of the Indian, Judge, than you. 
 I m not an intermeddler, seh, trying to break up what 
 the law and treaty have established ; what little law we 
 have and whatever sense there may be in a treaty with 
 
 a savage." 
 
 The Judge winced, for the Doctor, perhaps without 
 knowing, was treading heavily on his corns. 
 
 "Well, the Indian feels that he is being crowded 
 and pushed back ; that s only human nature." 
 
 " I tell you there s very little of human nature about 
 him, seh ; its all inhuman. Trade is a pioneer, and 
 while it seeks to open a way for civilization, it has not 
 
250 
 
 been hard on the Indian. Its motive has always been 
 to conciliate ; it Avould have profited by friendly 
 alliance with him." 
 
 " Oh, he don t understand these things." 
 
 " He understands only too well the law of his own 
 rights ; can t he be made to feel the law that values 
 human life and sets a penalty on murder? If the 
 white man was not a brave, patient enemy, and should 
 he rise to resent in force, he would reform the evils 
 with the snap o the whip and the crack o the rifle ; he 
 would reform them altogether." 
 
 * You expect too much of the Indian, and not enough 
 of the white man." 
 
 " 1 don t consider a man white who tampers with the 
 passions of a savage, or in any way incites him to 
 revenge." The Doctor was growing warm. " There are 
 too many Cartwrights on the highways of our progress, 
 seh ; we want scouts, honest, fearless guides on the 
 open plain of action ; sentinels to cry the hour and 
 the " all s well " of peaceful pursuits ; that s what we 
 want, seh." 
 
 Just then the voice of Chloe was heard screaming, 
 which at once broke up the squabble between the Doc 
 tor and the Judge, and brought them to the door. 
 Mary was there first. 
 
 " What s the matter?" she asked. 
 
 " He s begunned agin, honey." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " Dat chicken ; dar now, foh de lah chile, he s gone 
 
IN THE WING. 251 
 
 an done it agin." She was watching the rooster, and 
 he had climbed the fence to the mystical number of 
 three times ; each time he had crowed lustily, and she 
 was in a sore strait of mind. 
 
252 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE OUTBREAK. 
 
 Cheviteau had striven through all his life to keep 
 alive good feeling and good faith with the Indian ; not 
 alone from prudence but from a really generous nature ; 
 he was sure to punish those under him for an infraction 
 of this rule. There had been many vicious, spiteful 
 tricks played upon him by the redskins near the post, 
 but with a manly disregard he let them pass. He was 
 not blind, and he knew that his gifts to them were re 
 ceived, not as gratuities, but as tributes he was 
 bound to pay to placate a secret foe. In degree as 
 success helped him on, as his trade and thrift grew to 
 a blooming bay-tree, the jealousy of the savage warmed, 
 his hate deepened, and he stared with eyes full of tire. 
 It was by the strictest cautions that the trader lived in 
 peace ; it was in waiting a chance that the Indian per 
 mitted this peace by sufferance, and the old man felt 
 that there was a spark burning low, anou to burst into 
 flame. 
 
 On the morning after Lu and Charley had departed, 
 Mary was seated under the vines, and saw Beck mount 
 his horse, ride off, and she watched him until he was 
 seen to take a trail to the prairie. 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 253 
 
 Cartwright dogged the steps of the chief whispering 
 his venemous and deadly lies ; he urged, he plead, and 
 at last he saw the lines in the face of the savage fixed 
 for revenge. What he would do was soon known. 
 He smeared his breast that his band might behold 
 a mark true to their own malice. He folded a 
 blanket over his shoulders, snatched up his rifle and 
 tomahawk, and strode away. They looked after him 
 on the trail he had taken to the post. 
 
 Later in the day, while Mary and her father stood 
 on the porch, a patrol rode up to say, that a chief 
 had been halted on their line ; he wanted to have " a 
 big talk" with the white man, "the man with the 
 whip." A guard was sent for, and as the patrol rode 
 away, Mary spoke to her father, quickly : 
 
 "I don t like this." 
 
 "Why, child?" 
 
 " I don t like it ; something tells me that this Indian 
 means no good." 
 
 " You re kinder outer sorts, Mary, that s all." 
 
 "I hope so, father, indeed." 
 
 " Go in then ; he won t come nigh you." 
 
 The chief was well known to the trader ; known to 
 be taciturn, and suspected of being a thief. He was 
 crafty; a little more so than most of his kind, which 
 passed for a better trait ; he kept hidden but hot the 
 antipathies of his race. The patrol came with him and 
 stayed near at hand with the guard. 
 
 " How ! " was the blunt greeting of the trader. He 
 felt sore at the thought, that by the aid of this tribe 
 
254 SNAP. 
 
 Mary had been stolen, and the. scout knew that it was 
 now in collusion with the pirate. Hence the old man 
 was civil, nothing more. 
 
 To the white man s words the chief was cold and 
 stiff", and turned his eyes away, fixed on the cabins in 
 the distance. He walked to the rear of the dwelling, 
 and then spoke to the Colonel in broken English : 
 
 "Heap house," he said, pointing to those in the 
 circle. 
 
 The trader nodded. 
 
 "Heap blanket?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Me he see urn." 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Me him no see um . " 
 
 A shake of the head was the answer ; the chief eyed 
 the other and paused. 
 
 " Heap ox ? " he went on. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Heap mens you ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "How much heap mens you?" 
 
 "Heap;" said the Colonel, not caring to give him 
 an inch, as the Indian would be sure to grasp at an 
 ell. 
 
 Mary brought some food, and her father, in the hope 
 that it might move the visitor to a better temper, said 
 she might offer it ; Mary motioned the Indian to the 
 shade of a tree, but to the surprise of both he drew 
 himself up, refolded his blanket, and turned his back. 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 255 
 
 Cheviteau was quick to see and to speak, almost 
 angrily : 
 
 " Take it away ; " then turning his steps towards the 
 office, the Indian followed him. The quick, bold 
 glance of the one, was much at variance with the calm 
 manner of the other as he offered a pipe ; it was re 
 fused. 
 
 Big Ian you heap ? " 
 
 The old man rose from his seat to point through the 
 open window to the far-off line of his estate, miles 
 away, where it lay close upon the timber of the tribe. 
 
 " Injin s you steal um," said the chief, looking 
 over the trader s shoulder, and hissing his words. 
 
 "No ; " answered the other tirmly. 
 
 " No steal um you." 
 
 " No, me heap Ian." 
 
 " Injin, he no go." 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Big father, you tell um." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Injin go way." 
 
 "No," the trader said, with a glimpse at the evil 
 lodged in the other s mind, "No; me Injin s fren ; 
 good fren, me no lie." 
 
 " Good," was the reply given with a grunt. 
 
 The savage was about to leave the office with a more 
 friendly disposition, when his eye searched out in a 
 corner near the door, the compass and chain which the 
 Judge, in the trader s absence, had placed there. 
 
 Cheviteau, much surprised, not knowing that these 
 
256 SNAP. 
 
 harmless tools were fraught with cruel evils, treated the 
 matter lightly ; but on sight a fiend entered the soul 
 of his foe. As the trader stooped to look at them, 
 the savage clutched his tomahawk ; he would have 
 dealt a death-blow, but the guard looked in at the 
 window. When the Colonel raised up, the chief had 
 stepped aside, and casting back upon him a look of 
 fierce enmity he strode out of the room. The old man 
 shook his head. 
 
 While this "talk" took place at the post, the patrol 
 at a distant point had caught thieves with cattle belong 
 ing to the drove, and in trying to reclaim them shots 
 were fired and an Indian killed. 
 
 It was the chief s son. 
 
 The trader closed his oifice to seek his daughter, to 
 whom he always came when in trouble, to borrow a 
 little of her calm courage. 
 
 " I don t like the looks of that chief, father," she 
 said, " but then, we have nothing to fear, for we ve 
 tried to be just to them." 
 
 rf Oh, he s like all of em ; they hate the whites." 
 
 A commotion in the camp drew their eyes in that 
 direction, and they saw the scout on Kitty turn away, 
 riding with mad haste towards the house. 
 
 " Sumpin s gone wrong," the Colonel said. Beck 
 drew up before them, and getting down, he said to his 
 employer : 
 
 " Has the chief been heah? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " Tell me all about it ; quick, Peter." 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 257 
 
 Mary stepped down from the porch, and alarmed at 
 the scout s manner, she laid her hand on his arm, as if 
 about to speak. He looked into the pale face at his 
 side and said : 
 
 " Thau s no great danger now, Mary." 
 
 " But what is it? " she asked. 
 
 " You ll know as we go on ; how was it, Peter? " 
 
 " Well, the redskin wanted to see inside the ware 
 houses." 
 
 "Didn t you let him?" 
 
 No." 
 
 "Wrong, wrong, Peter; thar s nothin in em, and 
 he d seen thar was nothin to steal." 
 
 "You know my rule, John." 
 
 " Go on." 
 
 " I brought him something to eat," said Mary. 
 
 "Didn t he take it?" 
 
 " No ; he refused it with scorn." 
 
 " Bad." 
 
 " I saw," Mary added, " as he unfolded his blanket, 
 the black and red stripes on his breast." 
 
 " Bad ; war-paint." 
 
 " He axed me," said her father, " if I wanted his 
 lans." 
 
 " Go on, I see." 
 
 " I said no." 
 
 " Well." 
 
 " He was moving off, when he seed in a corner that 
 ar compass and chain." 
 
 " What ! Who put em thar ? " 
 
258 SNAP. 
 
 "That s what kinder puzzles me; the Jedo-e, I 
 reckon." 
 
 " The cold-blooded idiot ! Whar is he ? " 
 
 " Gone ! " said the voice of Doctor Tom, who had 
 come up unnoticed and stood before them. "Yes, seh, 
 the shark is gone. AVhat have I told you all along? 
 You ve been feeding and feasting a scoundrel in dis 
 guise, Peter ; a heartless sneak, who, having stirred 
 the hate of these Indians by an act of treachery and a 
 mean, secret scheme, has left us to bear the brunt." 
 He strode off in a bad humor. 
 
 They all remembered now that for a day or two the 
 Judge had not been seen about the place. He had, 
 after months of waiting, accomplished his purpose and 
 had taken the first boat to steal away from the hospita 
 ble house. 
 
 "If the shark was heah, I d hang him," said the 
 scout, stamping the earth in anger. " What did the 
 chief say and do ? " 
 
 " All at once, with a face as black as a cloud, he left 
 the office, John." 
 
 " And he s raised the war-whoop and will fio-ht us 
 Peter." 
 
 " Is that so ? " 
 
 "True as you live." 
 
 " What do yer know, John ? Tell me all." 
 
 " Twix the shark and the pirate it has been brought 
 about." 
 
 " I treated these Injins well." 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 259 
 
 " So you did. Even Cartwright couldn t stir em up, 
 till this pinch-faced shyster took a hand." 
 
 ft What has the Jedge been do in ? " 
 
 " Surveyi u their lans, and the thief made em believe 
 it was meant to steal them away." 
 
 " The Judge is a fool." 
 
 " A fool ! that Judge is as bad as a pirate." 
 
 " Can t we parley with em ? " 
 
 " No, it s too late ; while you and the chief were 
 talking, his son was shot by the patrol." 
 
 " Shot ! I told the patrol never to fire less they was 
 fired on." 
 
 " Jus so ; they were fired on, and they fired back ; I 
 was on the plains when all this was going on, and when 
 I came in sight they had jes brought in the body, and 
 thar was a big rumpus. You could heah em, Peter, 
 for a mile. I saw the chief when he came back. I 
 saw him raise his tomahawk before the tribe, and I 
 fled. Now, Peter," he added slowly, " they ll be 
 down on us like h 11 broke loose." > 
 
 If the scout had thought of Mary s presence, he 
 would have held back his words. She was still stand 
 ing near him as he spoke, biting her almost bloodless 
 lips. 
 
 "What must I do, Mister John? Show me what I 
 must do, I won t flinch." 
 
 " Well, Mary," he answered, and taking her hand in 
 his, he led her to the door of the house, " I ll see that 
 you re safe." She called Chloe, and went about her 
 work, looking sad, but calm. 
 
260 SNAP. 
 
 " John Beck," said the old man, as the scout joined 
 him, "this hyar s my fight, an we ll give no quarter. 
 The hound fus stole my chile, then he struck my 
 trains, slayed the men ; now he s comin down on us 
 with them panthers. I se got no marcy in my heart. 
 
 " Fight we must, Peter, and fight our best, for 
 they re more n five to one of us." 
 
 " Before mornin we ken hold our own ; they ll have 
 their pow-wow an war-dance." 
 
 rt That ll give us time to choke em off. I ll yoke up 
 the teams." The scout leaped to his horse s back and 
 rode away. 
 
 The old man entered his house, and he, who but an 
 hour before had shown in his step the slow but sure fail 
 ing of age, now moved with a firmer tread ; the eyes, 
 that now and then drooped aweary, shone with the 
 sparkle of his youth ; changed, as by magic, the face 
 of the man was of iron ; the lips closed tightly over 
 the jutting chin. Throwing down his coat on the 
 porch, he hurried through the hall in search of his 
 daughter. The heavy, riveted shutters were closed 
 and barred, and a dim light struggled through the 
 round loop-holes, pierced at the top. He found Mary 
 and Chloe ; in every corner they had placed muskets 
 brought from the attic arsenal. They had provisions 
 at hand, and candlesticks and candles in handy 
 places. 
 
 Mary saw the change in her parent s face ; she threw 
 her arms about his neck, saying : 
 
 "Let us trust in God, father; that s best." 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 261 
 
 He drew her close to him, with a fond look ; then he 
 spoke to Chloe : 
 
 "You re a good soul, old woman, an I won t forget 
 you, neither." 
 
 " Oh, sah," she answered, with a shake of her head, 
 " ets dat chicken, nuffin else ; I dun tole yer so." 
 
 On going out again he met Beck coming from the 
 camp with a number of men, and his horse was stand 
 ing ready for him. 
 
 " Scout, I ll start the drove down country, an let the 
 drivers give the alarm as they go." 
 
 " Right, Peter." 
 
 " Have you yoked up ? " 
 
 tf Yes, I ll send the stock after the drove." 
 
 " Good." 
 
 "Whar s the axes, Peter?" 
 
 " In number three, an muskets an powder enuf fer 
 a rigiment," he answered, mounting his horse, and 
 then galloped off . 
 
 Loud were the whip-snaps as the train came up in 
 line ; Beck s commands were heard above the din , and 
 the sound of the axe broke in upon the babel of voices. 
 Standing in position to direct its movements, with his 
 sleeves rolled to the elbows, his glossy beard filling his 
 open collar, and his form drawn to its full height, John 
 Beck looked his best. 
 
 " Lively," he called out ; w every minit counts." 
 
 Again the whips snapped fiercely. The lead team 
 had neared the space between the office and adjoining 
 house, when he again called out : 
 
262 SNAP. 
 
 " Wheel in on the run." 
 
 The first wagon grazed the side of the house, the 
 cattle coming into the circle, and when on line with its 
 front, he ordered : 
 
 "Halt." 
 
 They were then filed in, one after the other, locking 
 wheels, until the space between the two houses, begin 
 ning at the office, was compactly closed ; all the spaces 
 were shut up in this way, completing a circular and 
 strong barricade around the dwelling. 
 
 While this was in progress the drive of the cattle 
 was heard ; the vaqueros spurring hither thither, on 
 the road to the river, and thick clouds of dust rose and 
 darkened the scene. Cheviteau was seen on his horse, 
 and when the drove took the stream, rising the oppo 
 site bank, he rode back to the post. Beck pushed his 
 work, and each team was taking its place, closing up 
 the spaces. 
 
 "Now Peter," he said, in haste, "look to the 
 wagons, I ll go to work with the axes ; heah, come on 
 a dozen of you ; fall to, an let the chips fly." 
 
 Beck planted his heels where he stood ; he raised 
 his arms and his frame swayed, with his weight and 
 strength combined ; his body moving on a pivot, the 
 axe was driven to the eye in the yielding fibre, and 
 blocks of the green, juicy wood, flew about him. 
 
 All but one of the open spaces were closed, and 
 Beck now hitched his teams to the fallen timber, drag 
 ging it to the barricade. Long and strong poles were 
 trimmed, drawn up and thrust between the spokes of 
 
THE OUTBREAK. 263 
 
 the front wheels, the ends resting against the storehouse 
 fronts, holding each wagon from being drawn back ; 
 then crotches were cut, driven into the ground and set 
 against the front axles to prevent their being forced 
 forward ; they were thus locked and blocked. This 
 done, the tree-tops were also trimmed; poles were 
 propped against the houses across the spaces by longer 
 crotches, planted ; then the brush was piled above the 
 beds, interlapped between the poles and forced into a 
 twisted mass ; the abattis of sharp points reaching to 
 the roofs. 
 
 The trader had ordered his patrol forward on the 
 plain as skirmishers, to fall back upon a sign of the 
 enemy. He now looked about to every need of the 
 garrison, and with a squad drove to the river. Filling 
 his casks, on his return two oxen were slaughtered. 
 
 Beck had thrown open the warehouses and made 
 openings between the logs for the muskets, to drive 
 back the savage with his torch. He found an old, but 
 good-sized cannon, which had been bought from a 
 wreck, and had been used on its deck as a swivel. 
 Thrown aside as junk, Beck now put it to use. 
 
 The road to the house from the river was deeply cut 
 into the bank, a wide defile, and led into the inclosure. 
 Beck thought it the weakest spot of his defiance to the 
 foe. He had crossed it with timbers and tree-tops, 
 still it would require many men to defend it, so he 
 masked the swivel in the brush, and having loaded it, 
 he felt sure of its terrible aid. 
 
 Wagons were ranged inside of the barricade, from 
 
264 SNAP. 
 
 one point to another across the space, in front of 
 and to the rear of the dwelling, in two lines, between 
 which the men would be stationed, and where their 
 muskets were now stacked. 
 
 Cato and Chloe worked with a good will at the oven, 
 and Mary overlooked the baking. She came now and 
 then to the door of the cabin to gaze about her with 
 restless eyes, and her father and the scout saw the look 
 with doubt and pain. 
 
 At last, as the work was done, Beck mounted a 
 wagon, and casting down his hat as he wiped his brow, 
 he said, with a brave, proud smile : 
 
 "Now, d n em, they can come ; boys, take rest." 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 
 
 As Beck threw down his hat, ordering his men to 
 take rest, Mary rushed from the cabin kitchen, to make 
 her way, in haste, to the mare. 
 
 " We ve forgotten the women and children ; come 
 along, Mister John." 
 
 In another moment she mounted Kitty, and rode 
 off through the one opening in the barricade. The 
 scout on the trader s horse, rode after her. 
 
 Arriving at the hamlet she soon stilled the fears of 
 the camp-folk, and taking up a babe from a mother 
 who had a number of little ones clinging about her, 
 she placed the young rogue on the saddle-bow 
 with its smiling face turned wonderingly up to her 
 own. She led the crowd to the house within the safer 
 limits of the fortified inclosure, and found that her 
 father had served to the wearied men a substantial 
 meal. They loaded their guns as they ate. The use 
 of buckshot and slugs was a sign of close, hot work 
 at short range. 
 
 In the dwelling Mary looked to the comfort and 
 needs of her small colony ; the rooms were turned into 
 a camp. In her dread, that the house might finally be 
 made as the fight grew to be desperate and the 
 
266 SNAP. 
 
 numbers of the foe overpowering a place of retreat 
 or last resort, she put the women to work, and cleared 
 away every convenient space for full, free action. 
 This done, they sat down in silence, listening for the 
 yell of the foe, and the crack of the rifle. 
 
 Leading a few of the feebler children to her own 
 room, Mary placed them on the bed to be cared for 
 by their mothers. In a corner of the room, on a 
 stand, rested the old family Bible. She had brought 
 with her a musket, which she took up and held to the 
 dim tlame of the candle. Handling it firmly the light 
 flared and threw a fitful gleam on the features of the 
 heroic girl. 
 
 " An wat wud ye be doin wid the gun, chile ? " asked 
 a tremulous voice in the darkness. 
 
 " Heaven only grant that I need not do anything ; 
 but, if I must defend these babes from the knife, with 
 God s help, I ll use it." 
 
 She placed the gun near the Bible stand, and passed 
 out into the hall. The Doctor s parrot followed her ; 
 the patter of its feet on the bare hall-floor and the 
 screech of its broken voice were dismal sounds in the 
 solemn peace of the place. 
 
 All the day long, at the Indian village, the worst 
 excess of the savage orgies was kept to the height of 
 fury. The dead brave was borne from the cattle foray 
 on the shoulders of his fellows. They strode into the 
 dark, damp, leaf-covered abode stealthily, through lines 
 of wailing squaws, stared at by eyes " snapping fire." 
 Hours were given to the wild, weird rites over the 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 9(37 
 
 slain ; the chant of a few old women was caught up 
 in the shouts of the crazed wretches. Fires high- 
 heaped flamed aloft, and the furies leaped about them, 
 blackening their bodies with cinders. Through it all, 
 now and again, was heard the shriller war-whoop ; the 
 wolf-growl of the beasts. The chief sat apart, a 
 moody ringleader of the blood-thisting crew ; he was 
 silent, conning the cruelest wiles to slay. The corpse 
 was given up, and as the stars came out one by one, 
 the embers of the pyre grew gray. 
 
 The savage rose, motioned to form a council of his 
 braves, and they came together squatting in an inner 
 circle of the wider one of the tribe beyond. The 
 chosen few were ranged near him, to whom he drew 
 the picture of a midnight slaughter ; his appeal 
 drew them closer, standing on their feet, to join the 
 onset, knife in hand. The thief looked on ; each 
 painted ruffian held the best improved fire-arm of the 
 pirate s traffic. The hour of his vengeance drew 
 nigh. 
 
 Beck and the trader had mounted to the outlook, 
 and watched during the long hours after dark. Just 
 at midnight patrol-firing was heard ; the scout leaped 
 from his post, stepped into the camp and ordered the 
 men in place. The old man followed him, standing 
 near the opening to be ready to close it up as the 
 mounted men rode in, and as they passed in a squad 
 fell to work and blocked the gap. 
 All heah?" asked Beck. 
 All," they answered. 
 
268 SNAP. 
 
 " Down and tie up behind the wagons," he ordered. 
 
 " Is the redskin near ? " asked the trader. 
 
 "Right on us," they said. 
 
 " Light the beacon," commanded the scout, and soon 
 the flames flashed upon the black curtain of the dark 
 ness. 
 
 In the house, the watchers waited with beating 
 hearts. 
 
 "Hark," whispered a voice, "did yees hear the 
 guns?" 
 
 In the dim, restless light of the candle, Mary rose 
 and listened ; listened till her face by the awful still 
 ness paled, grew sadder, whiter, as she stood intent and 
 breathless. Calmly she knelt down, saying: 
 
 " We will pray ; " and about her they knelt, even 
 the little ones, turning their eyes in awe upon her form, 
 her gentle features, as upon one sent to shield them. 
 
 Save in the snapping of a twig the cat-like step of 
 the foe was unheard ; there was a spell-bound hush in 
 the pause of caution. Through the screen of the wagons 
 the eyes of the men were bent upon the barricade. 
 The savages had crept from the council-fire, and they lay 
 in sight of the white man s magic reared to foil them. 
 Vexed to madness at what he saw, the chief gnashed 
 his teeth, for, fearing his tribe, who would turn and 
 rend him on the least sign of cowardice, he was com 
 pelled to fight. Whispering the signal, he took his 
 stand on a knoll, that his voice might reach each sec 
 tion of the tribe. Then in the silence that dwelt around 
 the low-breathing camps, broke in the challenge ; three 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 269 
 
 shrieks sped by an infernal chorus. And now the 
 barriers swayed to the wild tiger-like assault ; the 
 devils let loose sprang to the wagons ; they tugged at 
 the wheels, leaped to the abattis, strained at the twisted 
 tree-tops ; through every gap and crevice whizzed their 
 balls and arrows ; they yelled like hungry demons, 
 snarled like wolves, and heaped and pent upon the 
 outer circle, they swarmed like ants. 
 
 Now was heard the sturdy voice of Beck : 
 
 " Ready fire ! " Every gun replied ; the rattling 
 shot, the singing slugs tore through the squirming 
 mass ; they fell in scores. 
 
 Outside there was a scurry of many feet, and the 
 tribe drew back ; then after a brief halt, with shrill 
 and flurried shrieks, the redskins threw themselves 
 again upon the barricade ; they rushed to the attack 
 through the blood- wet grass, they climbed on the 
 bodies of the slain, scaled the housetops, hurled the 
 tomahawk, and sent a shower of arrows ; some crept 
 under the wagons and fired ; they fired from the roofs. 
 
 Once more, the calm, loud voice : 
 
 " Ready fire ! " Again the guns of the white men 
 rattled ; it was a deadly chorus ; a summons of awful 
 meaning, and the balls cut through with a singing hiss ; 
 the foe fell until all about the outer side of the defense 
 they lay in heaps. The chief forced the fight, hurling 
 his bands in reckless haste upon the barricade, only to 
 be slaughtered. It was hot, close, mortal work, such 
 as the Indian knew little about, save that in his mad 
 ness he fought like a wild beast, and fearing that some 
 
270 SNAP. 
 
 agency of the daylight might bring succor to the 
 whites, he fought on. They strained with, desperate 
 strength to tear away the twisted, web-woven lattices of 
 green boughs ; they were bent and borne down in 
 many places by the weight hurled upon them, but they 
 would not break, and as they leaped in bands to the 
 wagons, Beck s voice rang out : 
 
 "Ready fire!" 
 
 Foiled with heavy losses, driven back at every 
 assault, the chief drew away his stricken tribe. 
 
 "Stand fast, men, thar s more to come," said Beck, 
 as he placed his men under the trader s .orders, and 
 hastened to the house. Here he put guards at the 
 doors, that they might be kept open, in case he had 
 need to fall back and take shelter behind them. 
 
 The sounds of the struggle had gone out far beyond 
 the post ; every surge of the angry river caught up the 
 crash of the guns, mingling with the yells of the horde, 
 and bore them away for miles. They were heard by 
 the " Pioneer s " captain, who stood still and listened 
 long. Again he heard the crack of the muskets louder 
 than before, and he ordered silence on deck. Now the 
 far-away volley came clearly to his ears. 
 
 "Did you hear that, Carver?" he said to his clerk. 
 
 " I heard it, captain." 
 
 " What do you make it out to be ? " 
 
 " Don t know, sir, but I fear " 
 
 " Well, your fears ; quick." 
 
 " Then Cheviteau s post is struck by the Indians ; 
 that s my belief." 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 271 
 
 The d 1," he answered, in his rude, off-hand manner, 
 "we must take a hand," 
 
 On the lower deck he said to his mate : 
 
 " Send the gang aft." 
 
 "Who, Captain?" 
 
 " The roustabouts, be quick." 
 
 When they came to him, and he had drawn the 
 rough crowd around him, he first warmed up their 
 courage with a friendly grog, and had stirred their 
 mettle with an oath or two, when he told them that the 
 savage was at his hellish trade, and the defenseless 
 trader at his mercy. He was answered by a shout. 
 The captain steamed up till the boiler hummed, and 
 dropped his landing plank on the wharf. Under the 
 bluff he had moved along unseen by the Indians, 
 unheard in the clamor of the fight. 
 
 " Go, voung man," he said to Carver, who had volun 
 teered to lead, "you owe this to your old employer; 
 go, and you ll never need a friend while I live." 
 
 Jumper led noiselessly up the roadway at the head 
 of the crew. The captain stayed by his craft, as he was 
 in honor bound. Tim Murphy, with a lighted torch, 
 stood at the swivel, and catching a glimpse of the 
 steamer s lights, and hearing the English of those who 
 drew near, he let them pass under the logs. 
 
 " Who s this? cried Beck, as the young man stood 
 before him. 
 
 " It s me, Jumper." 
 
 "Jumper; well done, boy." 
 
 "Where s the Colonel?" 
 
272 SNAP. 
 
 "Come here." The scout went with him to the 
 trader. 
 
 " Here I am, sir," he said to the old man ; " I ve 
 come, and have brought help with me to do what I can 
 in the fight." 
 
 "An I like you for it, Harry ; it s right manly in you 
 to come; put him to work, scout; but mind, lad, it s 
 death work." 
 
 " Come heah, Jumper ; bring your men," said Beck. 
 Carver had jumped at the chance to regain the good 
 will of the trader; he had felt abashed from the day he 
 left the post, and the scout now stationed him at the 
 swivel, with his men filed behind in the brush, on 
 guard over the road. As Beck turned away, the 
 sudden alarm of the crowd stayed his steps. 
 
 "Look there," said one. A bright red flame-flare 
 fell upon the camp ; it lighted the wide expanse, and a 
 stream of light, thrown back from the hamlet of cabins, 
 disclosed them all ablaze. In the glow of their burn 
 ing homes the men saw the red foe, a countless swarm, 
 ten to one of them they seemed, piling the fagots and 
 leaping from house to house. The keen sight of the 
 scout singled out the chief; at his side was Cartwright, 
 the evil spirit of this terrible, hell-bred madness, who 
 urged him on. And now as the flames rolled up out 
 of the darkness, they drew from gray-capped clouds the 
 gleams of day ; morning burst upon a scene of blood, 
 of smoke and ruin. 
 
 The dawn-light turned the savages to another on 
 slaught ; the scout saw that the pirate had planned it. 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 273 
 
 One section of the tribe, led by the chief, moved along 
 to the front of the inclosure. They came on in a run, 
 and the raking fire ordered by Beck checked them but 
 an instant; they passed on at safe distance, around to 
 the left of the barricade, to crouch behind a building, t 
 which the scout had found locked. 
 
 " See, Peter," he said, " they ll burn that storehouse 
 to make a breach." 
 
 " They ken do it, John ; but jes look out." 
 
 "For what?" 
 
 The trader bent his head to the other s ear and 
 whispered ; his face grew dark as he spoke : 
 
 "It s full of powder, man." 
 
 " But the men " 
 
 He strode off to each armed group of his brave 
 fellows, cautioned them in haste, and moved the wagons 
 in readiness to bar the gap. 
 
 The Indians clung close about the house ; a few ran 
 off, and the scout said : 
 
 " They ve gone for wood to light the fire." 
 
 Creeping back from cover to cover, those who 
 bore the fuel for the fated building stole from bush to 
 bush under a galling fire ; a few fell, some fled, but a 
 number reached the powder-house. Soon the roarirg 
 of the flames was heard, and on the margin of the 
 black, close cloud of smoke, the pirate and the chief 
 were seen. The lingering climax of the fight was the 
 slow burning fire. 
 
 On the floor of the magazine grains of powder lay 
 scattered, by careless handling, much like a bait to a 
 
274 SNAP. 
 
 hidden trap, and as the blaze lapped the bark and 
 crept through each chink and crevice, a lighted coal 
 dropped down. There was a sound of thunder, a 
 cloud-burst tremble of the air, earthquake and storm, 
 and through the battle-smoke and the sunshine a thou 
 sand flaming splinters fell, like a miracle ; the rent frame 
 reeled and came down, the barrier was broken. Clan 
 after clan sprang on the blackened ruin in the teeth of 
 an enfilade of slug and buck-shot; files aimed and 
 fired ; others toiled with amazing strength and closed 
 the break with wagons ; the Colonel cheered " his boys," 
 his white head seen above their line. 
 
 JS T ow a yell rang through the swivel-guarded defile, 
 and Carver saw a horde leap into the roadway, coming 
 on with knife and tomahawk along the bluff line 
 from right and left to tear away his ambush and 
 strike him down. He had but time to snatch a coal 
 and fire the cannon ; a stern, terrific sweep it was, 
 hurled by the rusty piece. The pass was choked with 
 the dead and dying; still another band leaped into the 
 gorge, while the whites with frantic haste reloaded, as 
 the Indians, crowding close, came on again. Carver 
 touched the match and, boy-like, cheered ; his men 
 once more seized the swivel to repeat ; the foe in 
 crowds gained ground, firing as their numbers doubled ; 
 they pressed hard. Torch in hand, in the flush of 
 youthful pride, the young man fired his gun again, 
 leaping to the front to see the havoc of its loud 
 mouthed vengeance. He waved his hat rash fellow ! 
 A dozen rifles covered his form, and in an instant 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 275 
 
 stricken down, he fell into the arms of the .scout, who 
 reposed the lifeless body and covered it with his 
 blouse. 
 
 The swarm bore down the tree tops, but the deck 
 hands were an ugly lot to handle. Caught at large on 
 the wharves of the western cities, they were no mean 
 , hand-to-hand fighters ; they fought with sheath-knives, 
 clubs and musket-butts, and one, a buffer, struck out 
 from the shoulder, felling his man at every blow. Beck 
 was in the thick of it ; he had borne the brunt all day, 
 and hemmed in, his form rose up like a giant s, his 
 voice calm, but his strength prodigious. Once he was 
 seen to seize a savage bodily, and dash him with a 
 deadly force back into the pass. 
 
 Loud screams were now heard coming from the 
 house, the cry of the little ones and the shrill, pleading 
 voices of the women. Beck s grip relaxed, the brave 
 man s heart was stilled ; breaking through the lines of 
 hate-hot men, he ran wildly to the door of the dwell 
 ing. 
 
 A few of the red dare-devils stole to the porch, 
 climbed it, passed through the windows and down to 
 the floor below, and as the scout forced his form into 
 the hall he helped the guards to fight back the intruders ; 
 he saw them driven to the field ; all but one. At the 
 door of Mary s room a long-remembered sight thrilled 
 him ; a tall, fear-stricken savage drew back amazed ; 
 within the darkened place, where the low light of the 
 caudle flared, Beck saw a group of babes behind the 
 form of Mary ; she stood still, poised like a marble 
 
276 SNAP. 
 
 image, her long black hair uncoiled and her dark eyes 
 fixed upon the lean, cold steel of the musket. Not a 
 tremor of her little white hands, not a twitch in the 
 sad, rigid face, not a muscle moved ; a death-like, 
 daring moment ; the travail of a woman s strength, the 
 acine of human courage. 
 
 The Indian leaped through the door and was gone ; 
 Beck, speaking fast, said : 
 
 " Well Mary ! good God ; stand fast, you re worth 
 a hundred men ; it ll soon be over ; " he, too, was gone, 
 for the fi^ht lagged without him. 
 
 O CO 
 
 At the garret window, during all this fatal turmoil, 
 the parrot looked on, and in a loud, cross screech, 
 cried out : 
 
 " Stop t Mary stop t stop t," 
 
 In a corner near by the imp had crept behind a bed, 
 the space that held him smaller than his proper self, 
 and never before had spook or witch so paled the 
 color of his skin. 
 
 Doctor Tom was busy ; many were wounded, many 
 slain ; he turned the storerooms into hospitals, as 
 they brought the brave fellows to him, one by one. 
 He was seen here and there with lint and bandage, and 
 now and then his face grew almost black with rage ; 
 they heard his whispered wrath. 
 
 " D n shark ; curse him." 
 
 At the gap where the trader fought there was des 
 perate fighting ; there the thief skulked, watched with 
 eager eyes, and as the Colonel s "boys" fell back to 
 load their guns, he made a dash, tripped the old man s 
 
THE ATTACK THE BUGLE-BLAST. 277 
 
 feet and fell upon him heavily. As he raised his knife 
 a hundred hands seized him ; they lashed him to a 
 wheel, and but for the scout they would have shot him 
 to death. Hurt deeply, the Colonel on rising reeled 
 like a drunken man ; helped on by Tim, he dragged his 
 feet to the house. Mary saw him coming : 
 
 "Father, lather, are you shot?" As she spoke, her 
 cheek was paler than when the savage came upon her. 
 
 "No, chile," he said, feebly; "in here, in here," 
 and entering a door, he fell upon a bed in a faint. 
 
 The redskins drew back for the final rally, and were 
 divided as before, into two bands. The sleuth-hounds 
 sprang from cover, with the cry of a hungry pack. 
 Again they tugged at the abattis ; again they choked 
 the narrow channel, and the larger band, led by the 
 chief, made a last and furious onset. The tug had 
 come ; the odds against the whites began to tell in the 
 hoarse cries of the infuriated men, as they fell, and the 
 scout be^an to feel the cold chill of doubt : 
 
 "Ready! " 
 
 Hark ! Like a voice from heaven, a bugle s note 
 was heard faintly in the far bright distance ; louder 
 and louder on the air it sped its challenge. 
 
 Mary heard it ; she ran to the porch and in an 
 ecstasy of hope she climbed upon a wagon, her hair 
 the sport of the wind ; she clapped her hands, waved 
 them over the head of Cartwright. 
 
 The savages broke away ; Beck drew himself up to 
 the tree tops, and the men saw a troop of horsemen 
 swooping down upon them. 
 
278 SNAP. 
 
 "Thank God," he cried, as he threw up his hat; 
 "Hoop-ee, Bob Harkness is on hand." 
 
 On came the furious riders, sweeping the plain, 
 tearing down upon the fleeing redskins, firing their 
 pistols with shouts, their horses leaping to the charge 
 with snort and kick, unreined. The men within the 
 barricade laid down their arms to listen. 
 
 And now Beck heard the old familiar war-cry, 
 " Draw sabres I " and he knew that the agony was 
 over. 
 
TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY, 279 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY. 
 
 Captain Harkness rode up to meet the scout. 
 
 " Who sent you to us ? " 
 
 " Good luck, I reckon, Beck." 
 
 " What brought you in from the fort, Captain? " 
 
 " They say I have slaughtered women and children ; " 
 the rich, round laugh was tinged with scorn. 
 
 "They lie, I ll swear," said Beck, and while he 
 thought upon the recall of so good an officer, he knew 
 that some confederate of the Judge had aided it, and 
 that the charge against him was an old slander of the 
 sharks and pirates. 
 
 "I ll camp my men, Beck." 
 
 " Down and let em shake the kinks out." 
 
 " Not now." As the troop moved away one of the 
 riders said to his file : 
 
 rf They se had a high old time, them boys." 
 
 Beck with his doubts alive as to the trader s condi 
 tion, wrote a line to Whack, and sent it with the Cap 
 tain s despatches by the "Pioneer." 
 
 The worn-out men had stretched themselves to rest 
 about the barricade, and Beck borne down alike, threw 
 himself on the ground ; as the stars shed a pale light 
 on the camp where the day had seen the flames of 
 
280 SNAP. 
 
 strife, sleep enthralled him where he lay. Late in the 
 night Mary came to the door to catch the sweet, cool 
 breeze from the plain, and saw the huge form lying at 
 full length ; she went out to look upon the brave giant 
 as he slept like a big, overgrown boy ; she turned 
 about hastily and came again with a robe, which she 
 spread over the sleeper with gentle care. She sat for 
 the rest of the night, with the Doctor, at her father s 
 bedside. 
 
 Just after the fight, the threats of the men, over 
 heard by Beck, cautioned him that the thief might be 
 lynched, and fearing it, he laid hold on Cartwright, 
 saying : 
 
 " Come with me ; you ll swing for this business, if I 
 have to ride a hundred miles." 
 
 Forcing the pirate ahead of him to the haunted 
 cabin, he there bound him to the logs inside, and 
 placed an armed teamster on guard. 
 
 The night to the wretch had been one of sore trial ; 
 in the ghasiliness of his guilt his fears of the super 
 natural took strange and hideous forms, and the dying 
 out of an unnatural strength from strong drink, left 
 him in the throes of a fevered brain. Every sound 
 that came to his ears resembled the tramp of some one 
 he feared ; he raved with deadly blasphemy, and en 
 dured the ferocity of suffering. The scout s strong 
 hands had tied his arms and fettered his ankles. What 
 might rise in judgment before his captive, Beck had 
 not thought of, but the darkest dungeon never con 
 jured spectres such as came to haunt the prisoner s 
 
TWO DEATHS BECKYS DUTY. 281 
 
 vision ; sights which only the besotted ever see. Out 
 of the ruined chimney-place came an accusing spirit in 
 the grave-shroud, and Cartwright cowered like a 
 shrinking dog. Throwing up his arms in piteous 
 fright, great drops of sweat fell from him ; he dragged 
 at his cords. 
 
 In the summer storm a poor, drenched outcast 
 crept from bush to bush. The troopers had met him far 
 out on the prairie, as they rode in a slow trot coming 
 East, but he was then so common a sight to all who 
 travelled the road, they would have passed him by 
 but for his pitiful pleading. When they gave ear to 
 his words, they heard that the post was attacked, and 
 throwing him bread from their haversacks, with a 
 shout they sprang forward on the run. Fast as his 
 limbs could move he followed them. 
 
 Far aloft in gloomy grandeur the storm-clouds rose ; 
 curve sweeping curve to towering peak darkening 
 deeper and blacker ; the lightning glared on the 
 shadowy cloud-cliffs and sharp-lined slopes, and now 
 its hot floods rolled like lava ; the winds came and a 
 howling chaos of rain and flame caught up the wan 
 derer like one consumed in fire. From its fury he 
 had stolen near the cabin, and when the shower was 
 spent he stood near enough to be heard in his mut 
 tering : 
 
 "Just sixteen years to-day," he paused ; " and she 
 was just sixteen," he paused again ; " and then that 
 viper came. Come clown, come down, give me strength 
 to smite to slay." Now tugging at his girdle he drew 
 
282 SNAP. 
 
 forth the trooper s pistol, looked at it closely as time 
 and time again he had done, since he found it. 
 
 Now the sun shone brightly and the scout had calle^ 
 the prison guard to breakfast ; he was about to take tl 
 man s place when the trader sent for him. 
 
 Among the ruins of his former home lurked the 
 crazy tramp. He gazed upon them, his sight resting 
 on the form of Cartvvright, and in imagination he saw 
 the demon of his long years of misery. For the 
 moment it was an insane vagary, for the thief s silence 
 fed the delusion. The wanderer fell to work to dispel 
 it by lighting a fire. 
 
 Every chance meeting of the thief with his fright had 
 been such as to increase his fears, and to strengthen his 
 belief in a ghost; he had crossed the lunatic s path 
 suddenly at all times, in places lonely and obscure, and 
 was halted by him with startling threats. Now the 
 dread presence that he feared the most had come upon 
 him, and he was held by thongs that would not yield ; 
 it glared at him and seemed to gloat upon his plight. 
 Where he stood he seemed drawn to the horror ; then 
 with all his strength he tugged and strained again, like 
 an animal entrapped ; worn down, his head fell like a 
 bull s ; he swore aloud. The fire was kindled at the 
 log to which the rope that held him was fastened, but 
 his tongue* let slip his only chance of escape. 
 
 While the scout stayed with her father, Mary made up 
 her mind to visit the prisoner; she had filled her bas 
 ket, and under the napkin, resting on ripe fruit, was 
 
TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY. 283 
 
 laid the Bible ; she was near the ruin, when, looking 
 up, she saw the smoke and heard high words. 
 
 The curses of the pirate, his voice, his manner and 
 his face awakened the wild man s Avits ; in a lucid instant 
 he saw writhing before his eyes the living, actual 
 tiu ng his hate had held to for long, long years ; he 
 snatched his pistol and leaped to the cabin door. Just 
 then the rope that held the prisoner parted ; he sprang 
 up, loosed his toils, and drew one free breath, one 
 only. There was a snap, a flash ; the dull thud of a 
 fallen body. Strengthless and bloody it lay stricken in 
 its full force ; the limbs flexed, an outstretched arm ; 
 dead as one before the flood dead as a stone. In 
 the smoke of his weapon stood the unhappiest among 
 the living ; the fire of his passion out, the ashes cold 
 and gray on his heart. 
 
 Mary cried for help, and turned from the sight, 
 shading her face ; the scout soon joined her, he 
 glanced at the victim and the slayer. 
 
 " Bad as the worst may be, Mister John," said the 
 voice at his side, (f He pitied and forgave." 
 
 ff As you say, Mary," he answered, then turning and 
 taking her hand, he led her away. 
 
 The crowd seized and bound the lunatic, and hardly a 
 word was spoken, for the majesty of death was terribly 
 enthroned on the lifeless trunk. 
 
 " Thou dost avenge, 
 
 In thy good time, the wrongs of those who know 
 No other friend ; 
 
 The wicked but for Thee 
 Had been too strong for the good of earth." 
 
284 SNAP. 
 
 Captain Harkness and his men left the post, taking 
 with them the wild man, to be placed in an asylum at 
 Saint Louis. 
 
 Some weeks further on Lu and Whack Mr. and 
 Mrs. Charles Marshall arrived by boat. 
 
 Mary s looks had altered much during ihe little while 
 they had been absent, and care had worn deeply into 
 her spirit. 
 
 " So much strife and misery, Lu, since you left us," 
 she said ; " and the worst is yet to come," turning her 
 streaming eyes to the bed where her father lay. 
 
 f? You will let me be nurse now, Mary, won t you ? " 
 her friend asked, throwing her arms about Mary s 
 neck. 
 
 Doctor Tom came in, and feeling the patient s pulse, 
 he said as he withdrew : 
 
 " You need not repeat the medicine, Mary." 
 
 The scout followed him from the room, where he 
 had taken his turn in watching. 
 
 " He may not last through the day," the Doctor 
 answered gravely to the question put to him ; " he has 
 internal injuries, Beck, which cannot be reached." 
 
 " And thar s no chance for his life ? " asked the lat 
 ter, with much feeling in his voice. 
 
 "None; and Beck, you must tell his poor child; 
 I ve not the nerve to do so." 
 
 In a few moments after this conversation Beck met 
 Whack. 
 
 " The Doctor has jus told me that Peter can t live." 
 
 "I feared so, " Whack replied in a spasm of grief, 
 
TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY. 285 
 
 and his friend left him in sorrow so keen he would not 
 disturb it. 
 
 "Come, Mary," he said, in his straightforward 
 way when prompted by a sense of duty as he entered 
 the room, and his voice was very kind ; " come out for a 
 breath of air, Lu will stay till you come ; " he took her 
 hand in his, leading her to the porch. There they 
 were seated, and raising her head her face was so 
 purely pale, the scout, who was about to speak, fal 
 tered. 
 
 "Do you think that father is better or worse, Mister 
 John?" she asked, with a searching glance into her 
 friend s face. 
 
 Taking her hand again in his, he said slowly, as if 
 each word was a pain : 
 
 " He never can be better, Mary." 
 
 The long suspense was broken by the touch of the 
 simplest words ; for a brief second the blackness of 
 despair seemed to hold her eyelids down ; again the 
 manly tones of his voice were heard, and she felt the 
 tight-drawn misery of her heart relax ; she wept 
 aloud. 
 
 Beck rose, and suddenly he laid his big, broad, 
 tender hand, with a touch as gentle as the girl s, on 
 her brown hair, and pressed it down ; again and again 
 he pressed it, as if the touch drew to his heart some of 
 her sorrow, and he said : 
 
 "You ll never want a friend, Mary, while John 
 lives." 
 
 She turned her tear-wet face with a look that sank 
 
286 SNAP. 
 
 into his sight to be held there always ; and she an 
 swered him : 
 
 "I know it, Mister John ; God bless you." 
 
 When the two went back to the room the sick man 
 lay in an easy sleep ; the pain had passed away, and 
 had left an eager innocence 011 the aged features, the 
 stamp of a frank, single-hearted nature. His form 
 was the remnant of an athletic life, sinewy and strong 
 even now ; all was calm, there was no passion to throb 
 the heart ; in truth he had but two passions through all 
 his life, a love for his child, a pride in his trade ; the 
 first had tamed the sharp points of his character ; the 
 latter had given him a method to do the best at once ; 
 with both he seemed to have grown lighter hearted as 
 he became older headed. His thoughts were far away 
 from his people ; he spoke to his horse in his dream, 
 the horse on which he was again crossing the plain ; he 
 urged him on with feeble voice. His friends stood 
 about his bed, and outside on the green, groups from 
 the camp sat and Avaited with downcast looks. 
 
 Still the sleeper sped on over the waste, the howling 
 savage at his heels ; he raised his form suddenly from 
 the bed, waving his hand, and falling back, he mur 
 mured : 
 
 " Safe ; safe/ 
 
 "The Indians were after him in his vision," said 
 Mary, in a whisper ; "he has crossed the river again." 
 
 "True, my child," replied Doctor Tom, touching 
 the patient s forehead, "he has crossed the river of 
 Life/ 
 
TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY. . 287 
 
 With a low, choking sob, and with a tearless face 
 growing fixed, Mary stood up : 
 
 ff l know he s safe on the other side," she faltered, 
 when Beck with manly haste caught her up in his arms, 
 as he would a child, and bore her from the room. 
 
 " She s my baby now," said old Chloe, following 
 them. 
 
 The crowds from the camp came and stood about the 
 place, with every token of a deep respect, and on the 
 morning of another day, in .line they moved away from 
 the house, passing out under the bison s head to the 
 prairie. They rested the bier where in life he had 
 wished to lie. Each man, in turn, cast a handful of 
 earth <>n the coffin, and from the silence of the sleep 
 eternal they moved away. In the sunset glowing with 
 rich, warm beauty on the mound their hands had 
 raised, they left the aged sleeper. 
 
 " And greatly would their hearts rejoice 
 To hear again, his living voice." 
 
 Far away from the sick man s couch, while he lay in 
 pain : from the wretch s hell while he writhed in toils ; 
 from the cots of the wounded, the Judge and his 
 fellows feasted. The lobby s scheme lay before them ; 
 they laughed and drank and were merry. The plot on 
 the table was a demand for the Indians land, drawn by 
 the Judge ; he considered it the cleverest effort of his 
 smartness. Whether he knew that graves had been 
 filled to pay for a sharper s folly, or that the kind host 
 whose friendship he had trifled with, had been snatched 
 
288 SA T AP. 
 
 away by Death, matters little ; would matter but little 
 to him. Type of the trickster, all the world over a 
 trickster is a sneak ; a sneak, the meanest thing on earth. 
 
 There were legal as Avell as business needs that the 
 will should be opened ; Beck and Whack felt that it 
 must be attended to. 
 
 " Jus say what we shall do, Mary," said the scout. 
 
 "I believe father has named some of the men in the 
 will, and it ought to be read aloud before all." 
 
 "If you say so, to-morrow morning I ll bring em 
 here." 
 
 When they had come together, Beck unfolded the 
 brown paper envelope, and read : 
 
 TlIE LAST W r ILL AND TESTAMENT OF PlERRE CHEVI- 
 
 TEAU, TRADER. It had been written by some careful 
 agent, and very little that had ever moved his respect 
 was left out. First, his beloved daughter claimed "his 
 whole heart," and to her he willed the bulk of his 
 property; to Beck and Marshall, equal shares in the 
 trade with Mary, and large sums of money. The will 
 set apart a tract, upon which stood the post and camp, 
 for a town site to be called MARYSVILLE ; also sums in 
 trust for the building of the school-house and the 
 church. To old Chloe he gave a house and a small 
 dowry ; to the imp his freedom ; to each of his faithful 
 men who had served him a given time, he gave a tract 
 of land with money, and when it was the wish of one 
 or all to work the soil on their own account, a team of 
 cattle to each, " to begin as he had done, in the snap o 
 the whip." 
 
TWO DEATHS BECK S DUTY. 289 
 
 At the last clause Beck folded the paper without 
 reading further, and placed it in his blouse ; his face 
 changed and his hands were unsteady, but Whack said : 
 
 "I think that the will should be sent below, at once, 
 and I should be in New York ; don t you think Mary 
 ought to go with us, as far as Saint Louis, to stay 
 there with her friends till her troubles are over ? " 
 
 " Jus so ; I wanted to say that ; get your wife to tell 
 her." 
 
 He left Whack hurriedly, entered the office and 
 closed the door behind him ; he locked it, placing a 
 chair at the table, and laid the paper before him as he 
 sat down ; he read the last sentence aloud : 
 
 "Before bidding fare well to those so dearly beloved 
 in life, it is the long-cherished wish of my heart that 
 John Beck and Mary, my daughter, should become 
 man and wife, as I believe it to be the wish of their 
 own hearts." 
 
 He read the words again and again, then turning 
 down the sheet, he laid his head on it and groaned. 
 
 It was agreed that Mary would go with her friends 
 to Saint Louis, and remain there some time, and the 
 Doctor, seized with what they all thought to be a 
 whim, joined the party. 
 
 "Beck," he said, "when I m gone, open that ma 
 hogany case of mine, and read what you find there. 
 If I don t turn up soon, you are at liberty to keep the 
 papers, or burn them, as you please." 
 
 " Why are you going ; what s the matter ? " asked 
 Beck. 
 
290 SNAP. 
 
 "I don t mind saying to you, old fellow, that I m 
 going to find the Judge." 
 
 " What for, Doctor? he ain t worth looking for." 
 
 " Ain t he? He ll think so when we meet, sell ; I m 
 going to call him out ; call him out, do you understand 
 me?" 
 
 No persuasion of the other to cool the fire in the 
 veins of the little, old man, availed the least. The 
 next boat bore them away, and the scout stood gazing 
 after them until the steamer dwindled to a speck on 
 the shining surface of the river. Beck turned about, 
 and with strange emotion he said : 
 
 " I must do my duty ; when it s done and she knows 
 all, I ll take to the road again." 
 
 Through the long winter he toiled late and early to 
 cany out every project or purpose expressed by his 
 former patron. He tore down the abattis ; the store 
 houses were moved away and turned into dwellings ; 
 rebuilt and whitened, they dotted the green outlying 
 knolls. The camp was moved beyond the thickets, 
 and where the corral stood was now an open common. 
 A saw-mill on the river bank was kept busy ; the 
 wharf was widened by cutting into the bluff; the school 
 and the church were begun, and the arch over the 
 portal of the latter bore Mary s chosen inscription : 
 
 Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty ." 
 
 Tim Murphy turned an eye to the main chance, and 
 drawing on his legacy, he laid out some of it, in 
 material for "The Bullwhacker * Inn." In time it was 
 completed, hastened on by the personal labor and 
 
T WO DEA THS BE CK S DUTY. 291 
 
 care of the owner, with a swinging sign the wonder 
 of the village, and its two stories the marvel of the 
 rustics. Then a farmer started a line of road-wagons, 
 called stages, and noised his coming through a tin horn 
 to the alarm of the urchins and the colored folk ; next, 
 a barn was needed. One of the larger log-houses was 
 furnished with rude store fixtures ; a large storehouse 
 at the landing finally bore on its broad, white front, in 
 deep, black letters : 
 
 BECK,- MARSHALL & Co. 
 
 with Mary as the silent partner. 
 
 Beck never wearied ; the labor he had set about to 
 perform, and what he believed would have been his old 
 friend s wish, had requited but little the pain he seemed 
 to suffer. The man was worn to a shadow and the 
 smile from his fine face was gone. He had tugged on, 
 holding his course without a word of complaint, not 
 caring for praise, nor for censure. He had earnestness, 
 and his strength was untamable, but the trial seemed 
 almost deadly in the traces it left on his form and 
 features. Coolness and restraint, the habit of a life 
 full of peril, were still his, but his lips seemed to be 
 sealed, by as strong a clasp as honor. He toiled on 
 with a strength he never felt before through a wild, 
 strange longing ; it was neither the lash of self-rebuke 
 nor sell-hate ; no sign of remorse tinged his unhappi- 
 ness. 
 
 In the brighter, warmer days of the early spring, he 
 put the painters to work on the house and brightened 
 
292 SNAP. 
 
 the old place in and out. Then he sat down, wrote a 
 line to Mary, saying : 
 
 "Come." 
 
 She started for home in company with Marshall and 
 his wife, and Mr. Foster, a preacher, came with them on 
 an errand to consecrate the new church. Beck led 
 Mary from the boat. What he said was, as of old, 
 the frank greeting of a companion, a little grave but 
 still hearty. He went with her to a seat on the rear 
 porch in the purple light strained through the morning- 
 glories, and left her there, charmed with her surprise, 
 and in the arms of old Chloe. 
 
 He found Whack for such he would ever be to 
 Beck and showed everything new, and dwelt upon, 
 as they passed along, the future wants of the trade. 
 
 "It s all just as it ought to be," said Whack, "I 
 could almost manage things myself." 
 
 " Could you ? " asked the other quickly, and when his 
 partner started at the sudden answer, and turned 
 his face to his friend s, he was forced to say : 
 
 " You ve worked too hard, scout, you show the 
 strain." 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE MAHOGANY CASE. 
 
 Doctor Tom was put ashore at a little village and 
 taking a stage from thence, soon reached the capital 
 of the State. 
 
 Bad news travels fast, but it had not been swift 
 enough to outrun the Doctor. He would have been 
 the first messenger to deliver the ill-tidings of the dis- 
 
 O O 
 
 aster at the post, had he not thought best to keep 
 silent. 
 
 Judge Smith, and the combination of which he was 
 the moving spirit, had heard good news from Wash 
 ington. They had been assured by a letter received 
 on the day of the Doctor s arrival, that steps would be 
 taken in the near future, to remove the Indians from 
 the reservation which adjoined Cheviteau s. The sub 
 ject, it went. on to say, had received the attention of 
 the Department, and it was thought expedient, owing 
 to the too close proximity of the savages to the whites, 
 to remove them to a less exposed location. Such was 
 the pompous phrasing of an extract from an official 
 letter received by one of their friends from the Indian 
 office. 
 
 The knot of speculators came together in a back 
 room of the town tavern and held council. At such a 
 
294 SNAP. 
 
 conference, the prerequisite to formulate their pro 
 ceedings was a liberal supply of " corn-juice." 
 
 Judge Smith was particularly happy, in fact de 
 lighted, and showed his satisfaction by an eager claim 
 of leadership, and an over allowance of credit for 
 "working the thing through." 
 
 " It s the finest piece of wild land in the West," he 
 said, "and I ve been all over it; the soil is a black, 
 rich loam, ten feet in depth, and as for the timber, 
 gentlemen, there ain t a wood that grows but can be 
 found there." 
 
 "There won t be much trouble with Injins, I reckon," 
 suggested one of the cabal. 
 
 " Not much," said the Judge with a knowing look ; 
 "you know the army has to carry out the order." 
 
 "Is there any good town sites?" queried a third. 
 
 " Town sites ! " laughed his honor ; " why, the first 
 thing I intend to do is to run opposition to old Chevi- 
 teau ; set up a post against his, work him out of his 
 landing and build up a town right under his nose." 
 
 " Yes, he s too old and slow for these times ; have 
 you staked your claim, Judge?" 
 
 "Certainly, and I reckon you ll all admit my claim 
 to the best as just." 
 
 "Thar s jes one thing I don t like about this move," 
 said a gruff speaker, and a man who, by his manner, 
 seemed a little cautious. 
 
 " What s that? " asked one near him. 
 
 "Why, jus this; if them Injins get an inkling of 
 this, they ll like as not get red hot and then " 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 295 
 
 "Well, what then?" spoke up the Judge. 
 
 "They ll murder every man, woman and child at the 
 post." 
 
 The speaker s words were cut short, for without so 
 much as a knock, an officious waiter threw open the 
 door, and in w r alked the small, well-knit form of Doctor 
 Tom. 
 
 Glancing about him restlessly, as some of the party 
 rose from their chairs, he singled out the Judge and 
 made up to him with short, quick steps. 
 
 "Hello, Doctor Tom, is that you?" said the Judge 
 in a free flow of humor, as he offered his hand. 
 
 " Drop your hand, seh," said the Doctor, halting ; " it 
 is stained with blood ; it s the hand of a coward. 
 Gentlemen," he said, turning to the crowd, "the In 
 dians on the border have risen and they have attacked 
 Cheviteau s post. This man I charge with being the 
 prime cause of the massacre. Don t you believe me? 
 he continued, turning round ; "go out then, the mail- 
 stage is at the door ; it brings the news." This was a 
 ruse of the Doctor to clear the room, and hardly a 
 moment elapsed, even while he spoke, when they all 
 hurried off. The Judge was about to follow, forgetful 
 of the affront put upon him in his haste to learn the 
 worst, but with a spring the Doctor reached the door, 
 closed it, locked it and placed the key in his pocket. 
 He had shut out all except himself and the Judge. 
 
 "Now, seh," he said, turning to the other, "we can 
 have it out alone. Peter Chcviteauis dead, and scores 
 of his brave men have been slaughtered through your 
 
296 SNAP. 
 
 infernal trickery. You enjoyed the hospitality of my 
 friend s house to betray him to the fiendish malice of 
 the savage. You knew the evil your secret scheme 
 might bring upon him, upon the heads of helpless 
 women, upon babes and children. I repeat, seh, 
 you re a coward." 
 
 The Judge had been so suddenly confronted with 
 the irate little man, and his announcement of so start 
 ling a nature, he was slow to recover. But the Doctor 
 while he spoke had drawn from the inside pockets of 
 his coat a pair of pistols, and laid them on the table 
 before him. 
 
 Now a rap was heard at the door. 
 
 rt Take the choice of these weapons, seh. I am the 
 friend of Peter Cheviteau, and over his grave I de 
 mand satisfaction of you." 
 
 The noise at the door of voices and confusion in 
 creased. 
 
 f Take one," said the Doctor, " I ll give you a chance . 
 for your life ; if you don t, I ll shoot you down like a 
 
 dog." 
 
 A voice outside cried : 
 
 "Let us in or we ll break down the door." 
 
 Whether it was the nearness of his companions, or 
 the fear of showing cowardice, which even they would 
 not brook, the Judge plucked up courage, and at last 
 found voice to say : 
 
 " If nothing else will do, take your place. " He spoke 
 loudly, and taking up one of the pistols he turned to 
 wards the end of the table. 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 297 
 
 The door was pounded heavily, and a number of men 
 without talked in an excited manner. 
 
 " Are you ready ? " asked the Doctor, in a steady 
 voice. 
 
 Just then the door gave way, and the crowd rushed 
 in to seize the Doctor s upraised arm with the finger on 
 the trigger. Both men were disarmed, and pocketing 
 his weapons the excited old man hastened from the 
 room. 
 
 At the door he turned and said : 
 
 "Judge Smith, I here publicly challenge you to 
 fight this out, and leave you with your friends to de 
 cide upon the time and place. If you do not accept, 
 seh, you are what I have denounced you for, a trick 
 ster and a poltroon ;" and he walked away. 
 
 " Oh, I would have shot him," said the Judge 
 boastingly to the group ; "in another minute, gentle 
 men, he would have been a cbad man. Immediately 
 after he locked the door and offered the pistols, I 
 seized one, covered him, and made him take back his 
 insult; if he hadn t he would have been slain." 
 
 The end of the affair was inglorious. Doctor Tom 
 waited several days for the satisfaction he had so rashly 
 sought, but the friends of the Judge, upon due con 
 sideration, with his ready acquiescence, declined the 
 meeting. 
 
 The Doctor was also kindly persuaded by some of 
 the wiser heads of the place to forego a duel with a 
 man who was not in any sense his equal, and to whom 
 he gave an equal chance for life with himself as the 
 
298 SNAP. 
 
 party aggrieved. Not entirely satisfied with (he logic 
 of such advice, the Doctor was, nevertheless, content 
 to post the Judge in a weekly paper, and shaking the 
 dust of a place he contemned from his feet, he soundly 
 abused his adversary and departed. The next seen of 
 the fiery little champion, he was on his way to the post. 
 
 On entering the house Beck called to mind the last 
 words of Doctor Tom, and going into the deserted 
 chamber he found the mahogany case on the window 
 sill. It was unlocked and he raised the lid. Two 
 compartments which from their shape he knew had 
 held a pair of duelling pistols, were empty ; in another 
 a closely folded manuscript, which showed its age in 
 the brown tinge of the paper, caught his eye ; as this, 
 h supposed, was uliat his old friend desired that he 
 should read, he took it out to peruse it. 
 
 It was a document of some length, written in a 
 round, legible hand, and began, without preface, the re 
 cital of an episode in the fitful career of the writer. 
 
 " My father," the writing began, " inherited a very 
 comfortable income which he spent early in life through 
 the temptations of youth and a love of display. He 
 had just entered manhood, and a fortune misspent at 
 such a time clouds the future and dampens the ardor 
 of the bravest. At this trying time to be deeply, 
 madly in love with a very poor but a very pretty wo 
 man was unfortunate, and his infatuation carried him 
 into wedlock with scarcely enough between the two to 
 set the pot boiling. The match was sneered at by his 
 friends and relatives, and truth to say he found little 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 299 
 
 in common with the partner of his bosom. She was 
 illiterate, coarse, and their married life, though of short 
 duration, was not happy. The wife died and left a son. 
 My father s fortunes improved but little during the 
 infancy of the child, and through boyhood his educa 
 tion was sadly neglected. The lad was bright and apt, 
 and not to grow up a dolt, he taught himself much of 
 what he knew ; not a little, for he was a close reader. 
 
 " It was said of my parent that he was a handsome 
 mnn, of winning manners, and some accomplishments, 
 and with such, in those days when beaux were few, was 
 to be much admired. 
 
 " Some years further on, he ceased to be a widower. 
 Having met a lady, between whom and himself there 
 sprung up a mutual and decided admiration, he paid 
 her his devoirs with the most assiduous gallantry. 
 She possessed a very large estate ; he literally nothing, 
 with the incumbrance of the boy aforesaid. But they 
 were married in good time, and in the further course 
 of events I was the fruit of that union. 
 
 "To pass over much that belongs to a truthful his 
 tory it will suffice to r< ach the purpose of this memo 
 randum to say, that both my parents died leaving me 
 in possession of a fortune. I pass, over also the inter 
 vening years of my college training. 
 
 "Meanwhile my half brother, Tobias, had grown 
 up to be a quiet, inoffensive sort of fellow, but like 
 his lather before him, had taken hold on matrimony, 
 with the same disregard of proprieties, and with the 
 same penniless risks, My own remonstrance was all 
 
300 SNAP. 
 
 in vain, and besides we became in a measure estranged. 
 The woman he married was by no means his equal in 
 any respect, but he married ; that was the long and 
 short of it. 
 
 " There was a large barbacue near by the town in 
 which we lived, and very distinguished men were in 
 vited to address the people. The best people of 
 that section were there also, and altogether it was the 
 most notable event of the year. My brother was 
 there with his wife ; my mother s relations were pre 
 sent also, and while he was kindly and courteously re 
 ceived he made little progress in helping himself to 
 their better acquaintance. It was while we were both 
 standing in the group of happy faces, he with a bash 
 ful hesitancy of manner, that the young sprig of a 
 wealthy lawyer, much the worse for his libations, 
 rudely broke in upon our company. Tobias, who 
 until then had given but little sign of interest in what 
 was passing, now rose to his feet, and in a very re 
 spectful way tried to persuade the intruder to pass on. 
 What was my surprise, and not less that of the entire 
 assemblage whose notice had been drawn to the loud 
 voice of the tipsy upstart, when he turned suddenly and 
 in a violent rage struck my brother full in the face. 
 Not content with this gross affront, he coupled it with 
 language /the most vile, insulting the name of my 
 brother s mother, and heaping upon him the rudest 
 abuse. Friends interfered, the men were separated, 
 but not before I had gone to a brother of the rowdy 
 and said : 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 301 
 
 " So soon as he is sober he must apologize or fight. 
 
 "Days passed and the town talk, as well as the whis 
 pers which passed from the lips of the men of note who 
 had seen the insult, all agreed that there was nothing 
 my brother could do, but to demand from his assailant 
 the proper satisfaction. To learn how far he was pre 
 pared for this just demand in the vindication of his 
 honor, I went to see him. 
 
 " I had not known until told by others that Tobias 
 was a member of a church, and a strict conformist to 
 the morals of his faith. This, however, made no im 
 pression on my well conceived ideas of his duty as a 
 man. 
 
 "On meeting him he made no hesitation in saying 
 that he should let the matter pass, and that he forgave 
 the rudeness in the belief that the man was not him 
 self. I urged in vain, that he had no right to evade 
 the responsibility ; that the affront was an open insult 
 to the family name ; that his alternative would drive 
 him from the community branded as a coward, and 
 that if he did not himself challenge the offender forth 
 with, I would myself do so, and take upon myself the 
 sole charge of the affair But, I added, it would cause, 
 of course, a severance of all affectionate relations be 
 tween us. 
 
 " He begged to be allowed to consider, and I left 
 him with the conviction that I would have to fight the 
 fellow myself. In station he was my equal, and fully 
 equal to the mischief he could make out of it. Time 
 passed and my brother was fast becoming a butt, 
 
3)2 SXAP. 
 
 sneered at and shunned by his associates, and publicly 
 avoided as one disgraced. But the crisis came in a 
 most unexpected way, and put an end to the strain and 
 fever I endured. 
 
 "My brother s insulter was a born bully, and with 
 out provocation and only to gain notoriety had he com 
 mitted the assault. Now to gain a little more bad 
 eminence, and to flaunt another feather of the bravado 
 with his like, to prove the cowardice which he said 
 belonged to us, he challenged my brother, making a 
 pretense of some fancied wrong. 
 
 "On the instant, much to my surprise, Tobias accepted 
 the challenge, and by right of what had passed be 
 tween us he insisted that I should second him in the 
 field. We went out, and on the first fire he shot his 
 antagonist dead." * 
 
 At this point of the reading, Beck impatiently spoke 
 his thoughts aloud. 
 
 " That s all stuff," he said, "brave men know better ; 
 every time that bully showed up he oughter been put 
 down ; I d a lammed him outer his boots." 
 
 The scout gave a long-drawn sigh, either in disgust 
 of his surroundings, or in his contempt of the wing 
 less Florimel, which the Doctor spoke of as honor. 
 His thoughts ran astray, and the old sore seemed to 
 
 *The writer prefers to interpret the feeling of the time, in regard to the 
 duel, as near as may he in the words of one who favored the barbarous 
 practice That one professing religion could engage in mortal combat of the 
 kind, persuaded to it by his own brother, and return to the fold after slaying 
 his adversary, is not an overdrawn picture, and is founded on a fact. It 
 needs no garnishing. 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 303 
 
 bleed afresh ; his eyes were set upon the floor before 
 him, but arousing from the reverie, he turned to the 
 paper and read on. 
 
 " Tobias Shorter after this became a changed man. 
 His soul seemed to have been moved deeply. He be 
 came a schoolmaster, and it was his habit to read the 
 Bible to his pupils, and this so often repeated, with 
 ponderings upon the text, he laid by in memory the 
 best of its traditions and in his heart all of its lessons. 
 It happened, at this time, that a religious panic seized 
 the minds of the people, wherein masses were swayed 
 by an unwonted fervor, and he, a sensitive and pro 
 found believer, was swept into the frenzy. At large 
 musters, in camps and meeting-houses, none exhorted 
 with the fiery vehemence of Tobias ; none so ardently 
 besought to repentance, or prayed with the same in 
 tense and frantic ecstasy of faith. He went about from 
 house to house ; along the roads he was seen at un 
 seemly hours, halting the traveller to warn or to 
 upbraid him ; in class and church he led in praise and 
 protestation. His school was closed ; he was really 
 already mad, but induced to seek the wilderness, with 
 the promise of work in the vineyard, he left the town, 
 and it is said that his reason failed. I never saw him 
 after this." Here the manuscript ended. 
 
 As Beck refolded the screed and was about to re 
 place it in its place, he kept repeating the name of 
 the Doctor s brother as one he had surely heard before. 
 
 " Tobias ; Tobias Shorter ; I ve heard that some- 
 whar : let me see ; then suddenly he remembered to 
 
304 SNAP. 
 
 have heard the Colonel tell the story of the haunted 
 cabin, wherein he spoke of one Tobias, and weighing 
 the coincidence he followed out the trace to the wild 
 man of the plains, and further to the lunatic in the 
 asylum. " Sure enuf that s him I reckon, an the Doc 
 tor doesn t know it, neither. Well, well," he said, as 
 he was about to close the case. But his eye dis 
 covered another manuscript, and taking it out he read 
 what seemed to be the Doctor s suggestions as to the 
 proper mode of treating the Indians. Without head 
 ing or a word of comment, the unexplained notes laid 
 down certain ideas which were those which he often 
 expressed openly : 
 
 "Put the tribes so far apart that they can t form 
 combinations. 
 
 " What s the use or sense of a treaty with a savage ? 
 
 " No more treaties should be made with the Indians ; 
 those now binding should be abrogated. 
 
 " The system should be changed, and the Indians 
 brought directly and individually under the laws. 
 
 " Magistrates should be appointed* to enforce in each 
 tribe, or on each reservation, the criminal laws of the 
 United States, with power to call upon the army at 
 any and all times to carry out their decisions and 
 orders. 
 
 " The squaw-men (pirates) , whites, Mexicans and 
 negroes, should be put away from the reservations and 
 not be permitted to live with or go among the 
 Indians. 
 
 * The Indian boys now being educated, if trustworthy. 
 
THE MAHOGANY CASE. 3()5 
 
 "Cohabitation, miscalled marriage, with Indian wo 
 men should be punished. 
 
 "Liquors, arms, ammunition and property of any 
 kind, taken without authority into the Indian country, 
 for traffic with the Indians, should be destroyed on the 
 spot ; the owner, if captured, should be punished by 
 imprisonment and fine. 
 
 " Congress should pass laws making it penal to sell 
 or give arms or ammunition to Indians, even by agents, 
 and thus gradually disarm the Indians. 
 
 " Give an Indian enough to live on. (lands in 
 severalty) and see that he gets it. 
 
 "When a marauding party is trailed to a reservation, 
 force the tribe to deliver up the individuals composing 
 it for punishment. 
 
 " Punish murder, pillage and other similar crimes ex 
 actly as they would be punished among the whites." * 
 
 Having read the last slip hastily, Beck took from 
 his pocket a pencil, and scrawling on the back of the 
 Doctor s advice the letters "O.K., "he returned the 
 papers and closed the lid. For the first time he ri ad 
 the inscription on the gold plate : " Shoot folly as it 
 flies;" then he left the room. He glanced at Mary, 
 from the rear door, in her place at her knitting, and 
 then as if rebuked for his weakness, he turned about 
 and strode off to the office. 
 
 * Taken in part from a code laid down in " The Great Plains " 
 Col. Dodge, U. S. A. Very mnch the same opinions were held by 
 intelligent Western men, at the date of the story, and borrowing 
 from this very comprehensive work, to be used in this connection 
 and way, will not be much out of place. 
 
306 SNAP. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 
 
 The men for a long time had noticed the changed 
 appearance of Beck ; they asked him if he was ill, but 
 with a shake of the head he passed on, annoyed ; Mary 
 saw in his looks, in his silence, his awkward way of 
 avoiding her, at times, and more than all, in the feel 
 ing he so often threw into his words, that an old, deep 
 sorrow lay behind his manner. It was to her a vexed 
 mystery, such as she could not solve and dare not 
 probe. 
 
 Taking up a pen at the office table, Beck sat do^vn 
 and wrote rapidly ; pausing now and then to wipe his 
 brow, he wrote on as if each word pained him to trace 
 it. and then raising the paper to the light, he read it. 
 
 It was a letter written to Mary and told the secret 
 of his life, and ran thus, in a free-hand plain English ; 
 
 DEAR MARY : When you receive this I will be far 
 away. I would have come to you to say what I have 
 to say, but that would only make things worse, and I 
 want to take all the trouble to myself and take it away 
 with me. You have had trouble enough. I send your 
 father s will along with this, and you will see what 1 
 
THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 307 
 
 did not read, and what I cannot carry out. It almost 
 kills me to say so. 
 
 Now I must tell you why. You will not think less 
 of me when you know all, I hope. When I was jus of 
 a^e, I had a good farm well stocked down in Kentucky, 
 and was comfortable. Thar was no young man of my 
 inches could hold a rifle, swing a whip or ride a horse 
 alongside of me. They tried it often and was beaten, 
 and that s how it all come about. 
 
 There was a young girl in our parts, and she was 
 called the belle of the neighborhood. All the boys 
 took a shine to her, I among the rest ; and among so 
 many she hardly knew how to choose. At a shooting 
 match she gave me an open preference after I had won 
 the prize. 
 
 Well, we was married and I was a happy man, too 
 happy, mebbe, for I loved her well ; but I soon found 
 that I had let my heart run away with my head. She 
 was not a good wife ; no, not even a true wife, Mary. 
 You have known me long, and you know it was only 
 my wrongs that could drive me away, so I left her. I 
 left everything jus as it stood, after I had told her we 
 could never live together, and I journeyed West, 
 become a soldier and a scout. 
 
 She still lives, and you know I am in duty bound, 
 so long as she bears my name, to live as I am. You 
 will say that never by word or sign have I ever said a 
 word against her. And now that everything is jus as 
 your good father would have liked it, all but this, you 
 will see that it cannot be. Sooner than deceive you, 
 
308 SNAP. 
 
 Mary, I would take my own life, the little that is 
 left that is worth taking. God bless you and good 
 bye. From your friend in life and death, 
 
 JOHN BECK. 
 
 There were moments to the lonely writer of acute 
 and cruel misery. He loved Mary with a love as pure 
 as the purest, but there was not a word nor line of his 
 letter that disclosed it. In all his long and brotherly 
 intercourse with her, there had never been a look or 
 sign to warm or awaken in her an attachment stronger 
 than friendship. And yet through all these long, 
 manly years, the smothered passion burned like a 
 slow, consuming fire ; it had nearly destroyed him. 
 By the gentle instinct of woman, Mary was guarded in 
 her liking for Mister John, and never but once had a 
 spoken word, by any one who knew them, touched the 
 chord that lay so deeply hidden. The Colonel, in his 
 friendly, familiar way, said just before the attack on 
 the barricade : 
 
 " John, sumthin or nuther tells me that this fight 
 may put me outer ther way; we can t none of us 
 tell, but thar s iny darter, John ; I bleeve that she 
 loves, you, John, leastwise I think so, and I kinder 
 bleeve you love her " 
 
 His speech was cut short by the yell of the savage, 
 and never finished, but his words <! bleeve that she 
 loves you " rang in Beck s ears night and day ; these 
 coupled with the lines of the will which Mary must, in 
 time, see, drew from his honor the cruel sacrifice 
 
THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 309 
 
 which he had begun. He read his letter several times, 
 folded it and placed it in his blouse pocket. 
 
 He went about quietly taking a last look ; at the 
 cabins he took up the little ones and talked to them ; 
 he spoke good wishes to the men that each might 
 remember ; he stroked the face of a favorite ox ; he 
 stood by the grave of his patron and tore himself 
 away to find Kitty, and saddled her. 
 
 The guard who came on his rounds in the evening 
 was Sandy. 
 
 The teamster at Beck s call joined him. 
 
 "I ll be off on a long scout pooty soon, Sandy, and 
 when I m gone, hand these papers to Miss Mary ; " 
 here he drew from his breast the will and the letter, 
 and placing them in the hand of the messenger, he 
 went on : "Bout an hour from now she ll come into the 
 dining-room and you ll see the light thar ; go in and 
 hand them to her; that s all. Good-bye, Sandy." 
 
 They shook hands ; in a moment more the clatter 
 of the mare s hoofs was heard out on the road, and 
 the guard surprised peered after the rider into the 
 blackness of night. 
 
 "He s not afeerd o the deil hissef; but it s mesel 
 that dinna loike the looks of things nor of him 
 nyther : shure and the lassie has worrit a bit too 
 much, and if it be to worrit more I ll wait a bit." 
 
 The scout gave free play to his spurs, with a reckless 
 dash into the dark, but his limbs fell out of the stir 
 rups, he dropped his rein, and his head sank low on 
 his breast. The vigor of his free, open nature was 
 
310 SNAP. 
 
 gone ; never before in the sweep of the wild gallop 
 had he come to so sudden a halt. He sat on his 
 horse in the darkened solitude as one stricken ; never 
 before had he dreamed with his eyes open, and never 
 had his strong pulse grown feeble at the touch of a 
 sudden chill. He felt something clearer to him than 
 he had ever known, something more bitter than his 
 heart had ever felt. In the stillness, heavy upon him, 
 he listened ; a sound far away had caught his ear, and 
 somehow it cheered him like the whisper of a better 
 fate ; again he heard it, now louder and nearer, like a 
 blast of the harvest-horn heard over the meadows. 
 He turned his horse s head, he knew not why, and rode 
 back to the landing. The boat tied up and he stepped 
 aboard. 
 
 ;f Any letters for the post?" he asked quickly. 
 
 "Yes," said the clerk, "here s one for r John Beck, 
 Cheviteau s Landing. " 
 
 "That s me; let s have it." Taking the missive he 
 tore it open. 
 
 It read as follows : 
 
 * LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 " Mr. JOHN BECK : 
 
 " Dear Sir, After a long search I have found out 
 your present abode, and this is to inform you of the 
 death of Mrs. Beck, which took place six years ago. 
 She left all the property unencumbered and subject to 
 your disposal. 
 
 " Will you please send me word, in what way you 
 
THE S TR ONG MAN S TRO UBLE HIS RE WARD. 3 1 1 
 
 wish the estate attended to ; whether to be held in 
 trust for you, or sold? 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 " GEO. THATCHER, Attorney" 
 
 Not even a word of regret as a dying legacy from 
 the woman who had embittered his youth ; only a 
 formal notice ; only this, as cold as the slab that cov 
 ered her. 
 
 Beck sprang to the wharf, leaped to his mare s back 
 and dashed forward ; as he came in sight of the house 
 he saw Sandy on the porch, and the light in the 
 window. 
 
 "Stop," he cried as he jumped down; "come heah, 
 Sandy, quick." 
 
 The man turned and came to him. 
 
 " Whar s the papers ? " he asked in trembling 
 haste. 
 
 "It s me wat has em, shure." 
 
 The scout snatched them almost rudely. 
 
 rc Take the mare to the corral, Sandy," he said ; " I ll 
 be guard to-night " 
 
 As the man rode away Beck tore up his letter to 
 Mary, and with the open will in his hand he entered 
 the house. Mary glancing at him, as he came to her 
 through the dining-room door she asked : 
 
 " What s the matter, Mister John, you re so very 
 pale ? " 
 
 " Am I pale ? Well, Mary, a word from you will 
 bring me right." 
 
312 SNAP. 
 
 "Come, sit down, do," she said, with a tremulous 
 voice ; "I fear you re ill." 
 
 He sat down at her side as he placed the will in her 
 hand, laying his finger on the final clause. 
 
 "Read, Mary," he said, "the last words of your 
 father; answer me, as you would answer him if he 
 said these words to you." 
 
 She glanced at the sentence and conned each word 
 as the color came to the sweet, sad face ; in the light 
 from the shaded lamp, to Beck s eyes it changed to 
 that of a seraph s, purely beautiful ; she raised her gaze 
 and softly it fell upon his own, and her speech was 
 gentle and calm : 
 
 "No voice, not even the dead s, Mister John, can 
 command my love for you ; it s yours," she paused 
 but an instant, " and you know it, don t you? " 
 
 Like a little saint s her arms were folded on her 
 bosom as his girdled her form. 
 
 " For better, for worse, as my wife? Well, Mary ; " 
 and suddenly she wreathed her arms about his neck. 
 
 He drew forth from his pocket the Bible that had 
 lain there many days, and opening it on the page where 
 the marker pointed to the old, trite lines, he read them 
 aloud ; he closed the book and kissed her ; and the 
 man s pent-up nature was forever freed by the one she 
 gave back from her soul. 
 
 On a sunny morning, John Beck and Mary Chevi- 
 teau joined hands in the village church, and passed out 
 to begin life s errand. 
 
 Peter Cheviteau had served his day and purpose, 
 
THE STRONG-MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 313 
 
 and had served them well, somewhat in the fashion of 
 all who needed caution more than prowess to get 
 round the perils that beset them. The savage was too 
 stern a foe at first to face and resist, so Peter and his 
 like with prudent steps moved slowly. They endured 
 much, and bore up tinder bloody provocations in the 
 hopeful belief that time would strengthen the whites. 
 
 They were not disappointed. From the seaboard 
 striding westward, with an impulse that knew no 
 pause, trade crossed the mountains of the Middle 
 States, and where the snap of the wagon-whip grew 
 faint, the louder snap of the ox-train began ; trade 
 pushed its agents to the front to widen the road ; 
 bolder men were sent or came to beat down and over 
 ride, to break away the barriers, to "pull through" 
 straightly. Beck, a born captain, was found in the 
 lead ; and now, with the way clear, at once sprang up 
 the thrift of a new era ; under the aegis of safety, scat 
 tered groups in waiting far away came together, set 
 tled down in content, and began the town. 
 
 A few years rolled by ; Tim Murphy with busy feet 
 waited on all comers to his inn. Looking in on his 
 guests at a table where " a squar meal " was served, he 
 turned about to wait on a stranger who- stood at his 
 bar. The man s high beaver was a day s wonder 
 thereabout, and his speech was that of the East. 
 
 "A cocktail," he said to Tim, as he stroked his 
 beard. 
 
 "Apfat?" 
 
 "A cocktail," repeated the other. 
 
314 SA AP. 
 
 Not to be outdone by any show of genius in his line, 
 which the East might claim, Murphy made up a drink, 
 known in those remote corners as an " eye-opener," 
 a cross between aquafortis and "Thompson, No. 6, : 
 and placed it on the counter. 
 
 " Jabers, an is t that ye cl be afther, me boy," he 
 said with a show of triumph, "it ll raise the feders of 
 a pay cock ; " and truth to say it satisfied. 
 
 Tim had lived well and had prospered ; the path 
 which the villagers called a street, wormed its crooked 
 length past his door, and Mary Beck, as of old, walked 
 daily over it by the inn. If Tim caught a glimpse 
 of her as she came, nothing could stay him, not even 
 the profits of his house. He said he was in duty 
 bound, and his bow was low. He bade her good 
 morning as one would thank a princess, and if there 
 were few or many to notice him he never failed to 
 add : 
 
 " Whist, d ye mind ; that s the lady, an may she live 
 a tousen yeahs." 
 
 An aged pilgrim came one day from the " sterang 
 kontree ; " with her came also the " gude man jon, 
 and the savings of years in his pocket. In a little 
 while thereafter they rented the store, and with Mary s 
 help carried on a brisk sale of trifles. It was John s 
 rule not to allow his gifts to droop, so at odd times he 
 managed all the rough jobs that were needed. He 
 painted the logs in plain white, and in shining contrast 
 touched up the chinking between with a blazing red. 
 It Was something near a marvel to the eyes of those 
 
THE S TR ONG MA A r S TR O UBL E If IS RE WARD. 315 
 
 who gazed on the old fellow s art, and he spoke of it 
 proudly, as a conceit to hand down his reverence for 
 the flag, which, at a distance, the colors resembled. 
 
 In his useful way, to fetch and carry, and to lend a 
 ready hand in all things, he once set about to make the 
 place look new ; to brighten the shelving and to scrub 
 the floor. It was during his wife s absence that he fell 
 to work with soap and brush. Her pencil marks 
 against certain of their creditors, were kept in hidden 
 spots on the white surface. All unknown he wiped 
 out the " pV and "q s, and settled accounts without 
 striking a balance. On Melinda s return, her first 
 concern was to look up these debits, and her scream 
 brought John to " about face " standing at present. 
 
 "Yuse gone and spy led us," she cried. 
 
 "How?" he answered, bringing his hands to his 
 side, the little fingers touching the seams of his pants. 
 
 " We se busted, John, sho," she said, speaking fast 
 like one with a peck of trouble, and was about to berate 
 him when voices were heard at the door. It was the 
 talk of the men in her debt who came to pass an hour 
 over their mugs. To one she said at once, with easy 
 wit and tact : 
 
 " Them chalks of yourn run up to twenty, arn t that 
 right?" It was a venture near the mark, not under it. 
 
 !f Yes," each in turn replied, to hold on to her favor. 
 She put back tLe scores as debts acknowledged, with 
 out causing a doubt. 
 
 Months before one of the boats had set Tobias on 
 shore at the landing. Sent home to his friends as a 
 
316 SNAP. 
 
 harmless simpleton, and as all things have their uses, 
 in time the poor wreck found much for his hands to 
 do. He ran errands for the store ; was stableman on 
 shares with Cato, the jockey ; a companion of the 
 school-boys in their games. Under his care the vines 
 grew greener about the porch, and the flowers, more 
 deeply tinted, shut out the heat where .Mary sat. One 
 freak, fashioned out of a mental chaos, he held to 
 always as a link with his former misery. He dug a 
 grave and covered it with a slab, a tomb in miniature, 
 wherein he said his lost child slept. At times, he 
 delved in the debris of the old cabin and carried a 
 spadeful to his cave and buried it. A pitiful sight, 
 that of a mortal bending over the ashes of a ruined 
 past entombed in the remorse of the present, and a 
 truth might have been written on the stone ; the 
 pursuit of so low a passion as revenge never elevates, 
 but degrades even as low as the helpless idiot. 
 
 Doctor Tom returned to the post ; at Beck s request 
 he became an inmate again of the house, and one of 
 the shutters bore the rude "shingle" of the physician. 
 
 At first sight of him, the parrot cried : 
 
 "Hello!" and skipping from its perch with an 
 expression almost human, stroked its wings and face 
 on the Doctor s feet. 
 
 Beck had said on meeting him : 
 
 "I ve read the papers in the mahogany case, and I ve 
 found your long-lost brother." 
 
 It was not hard to trace the resemblance between the 
 Tobias Shorter of the Doctor s notes and the poor 
 
THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 317 
 
 simpleton, and when this and that were put together, 
 the old man felt the force of each coincident. He had 
 not seen the wanderer for many years, but when 
 brought face to face with him, the recognition was 
 complete. Ever after it was touching to see the 
 meeting of the two, as there seemed to be a glimmer 
 of some past episode that caused the feeble-minded 
 man to smile. And the Doctor strove hard to arouse 
 some recollection through which he might be better 
 known, but he dropped the hand of the other with a, 
 sigh. 
 
 Doctor Tom Shorter had always been judge in the 
 disputes among the men, and the umpire of their 
 wagers. When the ruder forms of meting out justice 
 had passed away and the first steps of political govern 
 ment were taken, it seemed the proper thing that he 
 should be made a magistrate. There were many per 
 plexing r ifs and buts " to be squared in knotty questions 
 that came before him, but he managed well and kept 
 the peace. 
 
 Two men in the town fell out about a small debt. 
 On the day of trial before his honor he proposed to 
 them a basis of settlement to which they agreed on 
 condition that there should be no costs, to which the 
 Doctor, in his official capacity, consented. But a diffi 
 culty arose. Heinrich, who had been duly appointed a 
 constable, and who had a right to his fees, was 
 unwilling to give them up. The Doctor tried to pre 
 vail with him, but in vain. Finally growing impatient, 
 as he considered the constable a mere attache, he gave 
 
318 SNAP. 
 
 a peremptory order to consent, and on his refusal fined 
 him the exact amount of his fees for contempt, entered 
 up the judgment on the basis of the compromise and 
 adjourned the court ! * 
 
 Beck dropped in at the school very often. 
 
 "Schoolmaster," he said, one day, "I ll bet these 
 boys a pony they can t tell the duties of a citizen." 
 
 One lad looked up with a cheerful face and seemed 
 to wrestle with the question. 
 
 " If you know speak out, sir," said the teacher. 
 
 " First," he answered, " is to fear God." 
 
 " Spoken like a man ; what next ? " 
 
 " To love his country." 
 
 "Right, sir; look out, Mister Beck, your pony s in 
 danger ; go on, little man." 
 
 The lad faltered ; it was an idea of his own at which 
 he halted. 
 
 " Go on," said Beck, " you shall have the pony ; 
 what s the next duty of a citizen ? " 
 
 " To shoot an Injin ; " the boy answered boldly, and 
 believed what he said. 
 
 " That s not exactly it," the teacher said, but Beck 
 was pleased and gave up. 
 
 " He can have the pony," he added, laughing. 
 
 On the fourth of July following the little horse was 
 presented as a gift from John Beck, and during the holi 
 day the recipient and his chums put the pony to use, boy 
 fashion, and bantered Mrs. Garrulson to a mount. They 
 helped her to her seat, and one went so far as to kneel, 
 
 * Adapted from " Western Character McConnell." 
 
THE STRONG MAN S TROUBLE HIS REWARD. 319 
 
 v 
 
 that she might step from his back to the saddle, while 
 another applied a match to an explosive which hung 
 from the pony s tail. What followed belongs to the 
 chronicles of the town ; a legend in after years told the 
 story of a horse flying by, its tail on fire, and puffing 
 smoke from its nostrils. The old woman, it was said, 
 waited her turn with patience, but before the year was 
 over she had thrashed every boy in that school. 
 
 Charles Marshall the Whack of other days and 
 his charming wife Lu made their home at the old place ; 
 the trade called him away often, and she travelled with 
 him. The baptismal name of the blessing which 
 heaven sent them was Mary Cheviteau Marshall ; a 
 blue-eyed baby beauty. 
 
 Tim Murphy, not once or twice, but many times to 
 many strangers, as he stood on the village street, 
 called up its history ; it was over this path, he would 
 say, that Mary came to visit the sick, and near it she 
 sung, when the infant was buried ; along it she sped to 
 the help of the women and children ; over it ran the 
 savage with his torch, and about it glared the rash, 
 red flames of that terrible midnight ; here rode the 
 rough riders to the bugle s note, and madly in pursuit 
 drove the invader back. 
 
 "Ah, be jabes, me boy, yees may look at me, 
 what s lift av coorse ; an yandcr s the stone-pile, whar 
 under it slapes a score of me frens ; an we font like 
 tigers, do ye mind ; rest to their sowls." 
 
 " John, said Mary, in the early morning, as she sat 
 on the old porch, "look there ! " 
 
320 SNAP. 
 
 He came and stood at her side, looking down the 
 walk; a broad, bright flood of the summer sunrise- 
 light, in broken glints through the foliage, fell on the 
 porch of the inn, on the steps of the cabin-store ; it 
 gleamed on the little mound, stole into the school-house 
 window; it shone all radiant on the poplars, and 
 glanced to the grave of the trader ; in one lone ray, 
 golden and glad, it clung to the church s spire. 
 
 " It is beautiful, John," she said. 
 
 "Yes, Mary," he answered, as one who had found 
 his content, for his face was young again and full of 
 hope ; " the sun seems to think it good what the law 
 has made ; and the law calls it Mary svi lie." 
 
 Just then their baby boy came running to out 
 stretched arms ; she raised him to her shoulder, turning 
 the fresh, fair face to the beams of the morning ; every 
 feature was his mother s. Type of a new generation, 
 the little fellow gazed out on the wide, green wonder 
 and clapped his hands ; looked long on the waste whose 
 spectres his father had felled, that he, of a race to 
 come, might live and be happy. 
 
 Near enough to please him with the whirl of the 
 whip, Beck stood, a proud, true, sturdy man, as he 
 sprung the lash with the old, sharp snap ; the signal 
 of after years, when the Pathfinder and the Goldseeker 
 led the way, which was heard in one commingling 
 sound from lines of trains continuous, beginning at the 
 river to halt by " the deep sounding sea." 
 
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 Cheap, convenient, and by popular authors. Epis. Methodist, 
 Baltimore. 
 
 Bright and breezy, and above all, pure in sentiment. Boston 
 Transcript. 
 
 Breezy, bright, little books, always unexceptionably pure in 
 sentiment. Cincinnati Commercial. 
 
 The brightest and best brief works by American authors who 
 are well known to the reading public. They have proved very 
 popular. Boston Home Journal. 
 
 The convenient form of the books in this series, and their brev 
 ity, lit them especially for reading upon railway trains or in idle 
 half-hours anywhere. N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 The "Satchel Series" a significant title, as the handy size, 
 clear print, and reasonable length of each book seem to qualify 
 it for being read in railway cars and slipped into the convenient 
 satchel, safely out sight. Phila. Xews.