Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 1: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

mm y | | AX QW << a Ay eS Tie INN MX. SRB= Go J! tL ln Ul i a na a \ Copyrighted in 1877, by BEADLE AND ADAMS, Vor 2. Price, 5 Cents. BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, No. 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. Single Number. No. 2. Yellowstone Jack; Trappers of the Enchanted Ground, BY JOSEPH E. BADGER, the devil an’ all to pay when the animiles feel the fust lick—they'll stampede, shore!”’ ““Too late—we haven’t time—our only chance is the rocks yonder. Maynard—look to the democrat —push on ahead and save the girls—quick!" ith hoarse shouts, angry curses and impreca- tions, mingled with and given foree by the ing a5 Madrona” the sharp crack of which echoed from side to side of Shicha-chetish* pass, the teamsters urged on their snorting, terrified mules, pausing not The sixth vehicle—that which the ‘‘boss" had called a ‘‘democrat’”—was a light, four-wheeled 8 ind wagon, with oil-cloth cover, drawn by two stylish horses, The driver, a fiery-crested little fel- low, evidently had his hands full, though manfully struggling to bring the maddened animals under wonted control. The unusual noise and confusion had so alarmed them that the utmost endeavors of Terence M’Carthy only served to keep their heads directed toward the overhanging cliff beyond. to pick the smoothest way, but bounding recklessly over the. bowlders that thickly strewed the level bottom. Of the six vehicles, five were huge, clumsy, deep- bedded wagons—true ‘prairie schooners ’’—heavil loaded, drawn each by six stout mules. The Shicha-chetish pass, or canon, as it might almost as well be termed, closely resembles a gigantic letter Y, with its base pointing nearly due west. Upon either hand, divided by nearly one hundred feet of chalky soil, thickly strewn with bowlders of various sizes and shapes that had fallen from the sides of the drivers, each bestriding his “‘near-wheeler,’’ plied | pass, rose abruptly the walls of the canon, in a se- tongue, spurs and whip without cessation. Other | ries of gigantic steps or plateaus. The first and men ran alongside fogging the bewildered animals, | largest step was considerably over a hundred feet in On—whip up Beep 3 them with ves until their sides and | hight, clear-cut and perpendicular, so smooth and aunches were washed with blood. r ar that a cat could not have scaled it, unless aided by the scanty, straggling growth of parasitic plants that clung to the face of the c rock. Above this rose another and another step, until the CHAPTER I. THE POUDHRER. “Tt’s no use—in less’n three shakes we’ll ketch it, hot an’ heavy!” “But, Harris, we must reach the shelter of the rocks. Look yonder—’tis a hurricane! It will be death to meet it here, unprotected. Look beyond the point—see! the trees uprooted, the very rocks carried like feathers before the blast! there—it’s life or death now, boys!” : “ Mules is poor critters to buck ag*inst the wind in a race, boss—but hev it so, though I ‘vise ye to turn the critters head in, like a corral, sorter. ar’ll be * Literally, ‘‘Bad Wolf,” though why so called, I do not know. = SS “wh'vVE STRUCK A FAT STREAK IN HYAR. A PELT A TRAP FER A WEEK RUNNIN’ AIN'T TO BE SNEEZED AT.” Oo COnnicloo®