Adventure Magazine Cover — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

te Thre O oh es ne Mountain returned, ical she was yet unable to identify her- self or tell whence she had come. _ “ SjJameda’—that’s all I _remember—and ‘con- vent,’ ” she said. Uncle Dick decided to name her ““MaryjJ une.” She was, however, able to draw a sketch of a place which seemed to stand foremost in her memory. This sketch showed a narrow trail along the right bank of a river, and on the edge of the trail stood a stunted pine, twisted and distorted by the elements, behind which were several human skeletons. Though Uncle Dick did not recognize the place, he believed it to be along the Purgatory River and decided to set out in quest of it. First, however, he told Joe Peace, who had fallen in love with Mary June, that he must keep his affection to himself until the girl had recovered her past. Also he set several friendly Arapaho Indians to guard the girl. These had heard of the woman who traveled with the road-agents, but refused to talk of her, believi ing her a medicine-woman. Deciding first to visit Baptiste, a mixed-blood trader who was usually well informed concerning what was happening in that part of the country, Uncle Dick set out early the next morning. As he paused beside a small lake, a bullet whizzed by his head and plumped into the water before him. From the shelter of the woods he saw ten horse- men round the turn behind him. He took a shot at the leader. The troop was thrown into confusion and Uncle Dick galloped off. At Baptiste’s trading-post he found that breed en- gaged in a duel with a newly established trader across the river, and, covering both with his revol- vers, Uncle Dick halted the fight. . Here he found that the night before a wounded man had staggered to the trader’s and there had died. The two were now quarreling over the con- tents of a bag suspended from the dead man’s neck, Determined to settle the argument, Uncle Dick went to the body and took the bag. The body he identified as that of Boy Charlie, but Baptiste re- fused to admit that he had known the road-agent. When the other two were not looking, Uncle Dick extracted from the bag a slip of paper on which was drawn the same-sketch as that by Mary June, ex- cept that the skeletons were lacking and in their place was a small cross and beneath it the figures 56. Also he found in the bag a little gold-filled cross which, with the permission of the traders, he kept. He could get no information from them, however, concerning the mysterious white woman. Keene, Baptiste’s rival, he believed really knew nothing, and Keene, despairing of success as a trader, de- cided to join Joe Peace at the toll-house and try prospecting. Continuing on his way, Uncle Dick met a band of Kiowas headed by Satanta, the most dreaded of the Kiowa chiefs. Realizing, however, that most Indians were friendly toward him and resolved to see what information he could get, Uncle Dick advanced boldly into the camp. Satanta was friendly but suspicious, and Uncle Dick received no information concerning the road- agents or the mysterious woman. That night, concealed near the Indian camp, he saw some twenty Dakotas ride up and hold confer- ence with Satanta. He realized that trouble was coming and decided to drop his own quest in order to go to Colonel Leavenworth for Se ARLY thé next morning Uncle Dick Wooton ce : spread a blanket, thinking to catch a few min- utes’ sleep. “Help! Help!” Cautiously t the mountaineer crawled to the place whence the cry had come, and tnere ne found a man lying flat on his back, his flannel shirt caked | with blood. At a glance Uncle Dick saw that the man had no chance for life. Realizing this himself, the dying man revealed to the old mountaineer that he was one of the gang of bandits under Gentleman Ralph. He also dis- closed the fact that he was the uncle of Mary June, whose name, he said, was Isobel. She had not known that her uncle was a bandit, so far as he knew, and he had joined the gang so that he could collect enough money to take her East. Boy Charlie had shot the dying man afterethe latter had revealed the spot where his niece had discovered the gold nuggets which Uncle Dick had found on Boy Charlie’s body at Baptiste’s trading- post. This man had fired on Boy Charlie at the time, but did not believe he had hit him. Uncle Dick, however, assured him that Boy Charlie was - dead and that his niece was safe at the toll-house. The mountaineer learned that Chuckle-Luck also knew of the discovery of the nuggets but did not know where they had been found. To Uncle Dick the dying man described the spot—between the twisted pine and the hole under the cliff. Before Uncle Dick could discover Isobel’s last name the man died. Back at the toll-house the mountaineer dis- patched a messenger to Colonel Leavenworth to warn him of the threatened Indian uprising. In the house he found Joe Peace and Sam Keene quarreling over the girl, both apparently in love with her. Uncle Dick intervened but could not prevail upon the two to shake hands. He warned them both, however, that he considered the girl his daughter and that they must keep away. That evening the north-bound coach came tear- ing down the grade toward the toll-gate. From the driver, “‘One-Eyed”’ Cassidy, Uncle Dick learned that the coach had been held up and the driver ordered to deliver a note to Wooton. The note de- manded that Uncle Dick send the girl out to the bandits; this note was signed by Gentleman Ralph. Uncle Dick scrawled a reply in which he told the bandit to go to When the coach left, Joe Peace and Sam Keene decided to follow behind in the hope of shooting a few of the outlaws. That night Uncle Dick was suddenly aroused from his sleep by a sharp cry. Rushing to Isobel’s room he found the girl gone and her Indian nurse, “the Quail” with a deep scalp-wound. Rushing from the house, he met Joe Peace, One- Eyed Cassidy and the passengers, all returning on foot. The coach had been taken by the bandits, apparently for the purpose of carrying off the girl. Sam Keene, who had gone out with Joe Peace, had disappeared just before the hold-up and at the same time Joe Peace’s horse had been shot from under him. "THAT: night Joe Peace and Uncle Dick set out after the bandits. At some distance down the road they found the empty coach, and here Uncle Dick decided to wait for daylight to continue the search. Joe Peace, however, impatient at the de- lay, finally set off alone. The next morning, as Peace did not return, Uncle 4 ‘) : - i) ua | . J syne A Ve: aA sek . ry : a 7 toil ean! , si \ ’ Ae aN ts sybase oat OMB MD od fa Wilkyak a ‘ vs heh % sass BP re ils