Wildcat Bob, the Boss Bruiser — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

* . 8 . "hed No. 6 ee o. 6. ie Sa > end broke into bubbles, and steadily er as the tree descended lower. the tres’s length had already descended below the surface, and it wouid not take long for the remainder to follow. ““My God!” groaned the land-agent con- | vul by a terrible spasm of fear, “I shall be | buried alive. This accursed tree will be the cause of my death. Oh! that I had never yen- | tured up here. Nor would I but for the base in- gratitude of another. with the fools.” ment, forgot the danger that-each instant grow gearer and more menacing. The tree was sink- ing faster ant faster. Was there no way in which he could free him- if from this torturing imprisonment and make ais escape? in vain he cast about him for some sign that might offer even the faintest ray of hove. t, no! all around him boiled and the waters that the descending tree was forcing ah out of their hitherto concealed depths— | around him yawned a sheet of the yielding ind yet pitiless quicksand, in whose depths lay ‘ertain death, There was nothing to hope for. He conld not leap across the treacherous sands, wor dare he attempt to lea waters and swim ashore. Tho sands would be sure to draw him down ers he could swim twice the length of his body, No! he would not hasten his destruction. If | % came to the worst, ho might as well go down | with the tree as to precipitate his death by jumping off at first. Up and down the tree he climbed, now shout- | ing frantically for help, now cursing, then showering invectives on the fuzitive lovers who kad led him all this lony chase, and finally into a death-trap. Butitdid no good to curse. The tree sunk steadily, and the bubbling wa- ters rose higher. Iiaif of tho tree’s length was now below the surface. Nerved with desperation, he clambered up in- | to tho very topmost branches. Hero ho seated himself, and droppinz his head in his hands ho wept—wept loud and bitterly. Charles Seton had comiitted deeds at diifer- ent periods of his existence that he well knew he would be required to answer for, before his God, and now he feared the summons before that Master. What was repentancs for his past | sins now? But he could not even repent—he was constantly much trouble. Night feil darker and denser over the Frog Paradise, and the music from the croaking pests | was almost. deafening. Night-birds screamed | and fluttered among the reeds, and away off on the prairie the howl of the wolf was faintly au- dible. And Thorpe and Amber—wiiat of them? The captive in tho tree-top, as his thoughts re- | verted to them, could only think in impreca- biens. | ] Lower and lower sunk the tree, and as the waters crept about his feet, and further aseent was intpossible, the land-agent felt chill after | Showscerun through his frame; and he | looked into the dread hereafter with an agony let in pursuit of the f chill of that was awful. The tree was now but the length of his body | “Wildéat Bob, the Bo voice and spur to its swiftest crept high- speed. One-third of tall, handsome, and reckless of young man ring, and the other a young woman, with light <i hia and complexion, who clung to the man, her face white with terror. Darkness enveloped the land, and yet be- neath the faint glow of a few stars, a wild, ex- | citing race was taking piace this same night. | they were urging on the animal for dear A thousand curses go | i ** Get! getl? was s In his horrible rage he nearly, for the mo- | cursing the memory of those | ¢wo loving hearts who had been the cause of so | worst, ru First came the flying steed with its two og e though not a word more than the occasional ken, Not five hundred yardsin the rear were two other horsemen, in het pursuit, lashing their steeds furiously, and yoiling hoarsely for the fugitives to slow up. They were old Jim Bings, and a companion styled Hard-Up, and were the only two of their party, save he whom Charles Seton had seen young Bloodgood shoot, that | had given chase after the fugitives. Indeed, they had not taken up pursuit until gurgled | by chance they had seen the daring Thorpe mount their companion’s horse and spur away. and, under the cover of night’s dark vail, we | now see the pursued end pursuers skimming the level prairie at high speed. Thorpe Bicodgood’s face was perfectly calm _and composed, as his animal bore him along, | into the bubbling | ss Bruiser. One was a | lay our murder at your father’s door. Then they had followed at their topmost rg 17 that moment. “It seems to me as if we were doomed to be chased to death, for our marriage.” ** And it’s all because of your father’s hatred for my family,” said Thorpe, bitterly. “If we die, darling, it will be together, and God will Villain, that he is, he would gloat over the fact that we were dead.” “You kuow him, then?” ‘‘Know him—know Charles Seton? Well, £ rather reckon Ido. Iand my father hold a se~ cret that would hang him before any court im the States. But, do not tremble, dearest. His crimes need not blot your pure life. You are your mother’s child, more than his, and if you feel any love forsuech a monster, you had best banish it from your heart: He is a vile, bad man, and no good can come from loving him, I assure you, a! My God?” Just then there was a sharp crack—the report of a rifle, and as yong Bloodgood clasped one hand to his left side and reeled in his saddle, the shot was answered by a triumphant yell from the two pursuing ans. ‘**T am hit,” gasped Thorpe, a deathly pallor overspreading his features. ‘‘ They’ve done the work for me, I fear.” In an instant Amber Seton’s presence of mind asserted itself. She reached quickly forward and he sent back a defiant laugh at his enemies’ | and reined the horse back upon its haunches, rantic shouts, as they lashed their horses. ‘Why do you laugh?” asked Amber Seton, shuddering and trembling, as the frightful im- precations of the pursuing wretches were borne to her ears. us!” ‘*T rather think not,” was the reply, and: the young Intn gave a satisfied chuckle. ‘ They’ll ling, and after they overhaul usit’s m y universal opinion that there'll be fun before they collar me.” “Quick! quick,” she whispered, “slip from the saddle and crawl out of the way. I wil} ride on further, and also abandon the horse, and | then return to you.” “Those terrible men will murder Just then, as if to favor the plen, a mass of cloucs skurried across the face of the heav leaving the darkness more impenetrable than | before, and taking the brief respite, the wounded 1ave to get Up more steam on their racers than | they’ve got there now, to even catch us, dar- | man dropped to the ground. Instantly Amber slipped into his placeinthe saddle, and jerked the horse off at a sharp right- | angle, and when the ruffians were again able ta discern her whereabouts she was to their right, “* But you cannot brave two such heartless ruf- | bending low in the saddle, and speeding away fians—? **Can’t I, though? Well, that remains to be seen. If Ido not overestimate my manly skill | and lashed their animals furiowsiy end power, I wouldn’t stump much that I am | capable of laying out half a dozen or so of that | sortof bummers, without any serious difficulty.” | ‘Tam afraid that you do overestimate your- self in that,” replied Amber, clinging Closer ebout his neck, ‘‘They are bad, and will stop at nothing—” “Short of a pepper-box, or a carver, in full operation,” laughed Thorpe, bending and kiss- | ing her ripe rosy lips. ‘ I think, however, that a little of those remedies would stop them. Pep- a from a straight tubed box is sometimes in- allidle in such cases of foilow-afterativeness, and if I only had a couple of shots left in my revolver, [ am confident I could check those howling fools immediately.” ** But you have no shot left?” “Naryashot. I gave five shots at the painter in the marsh, you know, and countin’ the one at the outlaw it leaves me empty.” ** You have your knife.” ‘Yes, I have that yet, and if worse comes to try my hand at fancy carving, at which I am good, especially on buifalo-steak {” At this moment one of the rnffians sent a bul- itives, but as the dis- tance was too great it fell far short of the in- tended mark. it caused a faint smile of con- above the surface; in a few moments the quick- | tempt to pass over the features of Roar | Blood- sand would swaliow up ail with a and the suspense would be over. rs ankles, and he ceased cursing, mighty gulp, | go Seething and boiling, the waters crept about | the am 3 | ting between his animal and theirs. If I were as he glanced back over his shoulder. ‘The fools are rather free with their lead!” he said, chuckling over the distance he was put- end, Hike one entranced, he watched the slow | they I would wait till I gota few hundred yards advance of inevitable doom—watched, his heart | nearer, beating faster as he realized that the hand of already Jain ts hand with chilling | death pon him. at least. So long as they keep as far distant as they are at present, we need have no. fears from that quarter, my darling.” ‘Oh! Iam so glad; but will they not gain on coldness u Up, up, up, crept the waters, until they were | Th = ‘whouk his Readiee The aatenty ae char wt T rather reckon not, at the pace they are = Be his forehead told of the agony and horror | on, now. I think by this time their animal that moment. He spoke not, nor did he | must be pretty nearly used up.” writhe and struggle, bah pocunedt resigned tothe | On, under the cover of the night's gloom dash- awful fate, | ed ers. and , but, although young her crept the waters, and, when. they | Bloodgood knew it not, his enemies were gain- were bling at his chin, and he felt his lower | ing on him—very slowly to be sure, yet enough oxtremities t in the treacherous sand, and | to satisfy the observant eye that they were gain- at as b mighty hand, his horrified | ing. sont cave tos long te ad his last mortal ut- | Onsenbsodtatnd louder and more triumph- | ant grew the yells of Bings and his ruffianly ves help! oh! merciful God, help!” he | companion—so much louderand so seemingly » and the echoes of the grim swamp an- | victorious, that the purstied glanced back over in weird voices—‘‘ God—help! his shoulder in alarm. ; But hark! his ear catchos an answering cry;| “Get! get!” he yelled, using the on his not the guttural croak of the noisy frog; not the panting steed with renewed force. “We've got angry scream of the night-bird, but a human | to get out of this in better shape than this, or cry—a chee; ingi out, that the sinking there will be some tall fen, presently!” _ man “dishes readily Shi all other Souuie | Amber clung to his neck, her terror again get- He looks; he sees a horseman urging his steed ting the better of her. Had she been armed and into the waters; he sees a long curling , mounted herself, she would have yelled at these line shoot out the darkness, and amo- yelling enemies; or, had her lover been armed, it settle into the waters and about she would not have felt so much fear. his neck. Then it tens, and he is in the “It's nip and tuck, now,” said Thorpe, as he Seat; pranna e enemies, Life and drew his knife and pricked his horse into faster and both are for the mastery. s . ‘Those fellows hang to it like bulldogs. die: | Thi ge begin to have an ap t look.” on the stretch of green| ‘‘I am afraid it is no use praireBetore rode two ona race,” replied Amber, shuddering “ele horse, that was being uspel bout with ' -yective one of the ruffians burled « “ ms vs , Pt ‘ wy “a * a -_ : , if wy. S82 kN Or rey, = incase s pe ote me like the wind. With yells of rage they changed their course, vy in purssit. On—on, and the curses they uttered made the desperate girl tremble lest they should overtake her after all, and murder her in cold blood. On—on, and now she was dashing down a | swell in the ee and for a moment was hid from view of her savage pursuers. It was her | right and only moment to act. ne ie horse again upon his haunches, she slipped earth, and struck him a blow that sent him rushing madly down the slope. Then she threw herself into the grass and crept quickly to one side. And not a moment too soon, for the next instant the ruffians came over the summit and rushed past her like the wind. Up and away she sprung, taking the course that she thought would bring her to the spot where had dismounted her wounded husband. She could hear the exultant yells of the rnf- fians, but well reasoned that soon they would discover their mistake, and then turn back. So = sped on, until suddenly she stumbled and fel It was over the senseless body of her wounded —_- husband, who a: just where he had sli g from the horse. With a cry of horror, she ent over him. Blood was flowing from his side, and his face was ay in its Yee **Oh! Thorpe! Thorpe! speak to me—are you hurt very Ff’ she moaned, brushing back his dampened hair. ‘‘ Tell me!” But no answer came. To all appearances he was quite dead. Just then there came a wild shout, The ruffians had discovered the riderless horse, and were coming back! Almost mad with desperation, Amber seized her insensible husband with a strength that was born of terror and love, and, under the load which she had thrown upon her bent back, she suddenly came upon a swift-rumning, narrow stream of water. umunoning all her strength the brave girl lifteé her helpless cha into the little shel], and gt it out into the stream, sprung in her- se Away—away, the craft was borne over the waters, at an astonishing . Away—and in her devotion and attention to her unconscious loved-one she heard not the roar of egy ithe iE not she was being borna on age urled over a cataract a shorn ol tank in CHAPTER XVL A QUICK TRIAL. AT the head of his men rode the lieutenant, and seeing that the ruffians were scattering, he gave the order to charge. With curses and yells of the Blood- t nor left, as hounds fled, looking ‘neither they across the glade and into the woods Full half thelr number fell bemeath a destructive fire from the rifles of their enemy, and the remainder faltered; then turned and @& forest, Perton now or. , ,