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diff --git a/old/66193-0.txt b/old/66193-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4f099a4..0000000 --- a/old/66193-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4637 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Phantom Rider; or The Giant Chief's -Fate, by Maro O. Rolfe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Phantom Rider; or The Giant Chief's Fate - Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 70 - -Author: Maro O. Rolfe - -Release Date: August 31, 2021 [eBook #66193] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Edwards, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois - University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM RIDER; OR THE GIANT -CHIEF'S FATE *** - - - - - THE - Phantom Rider; - OR, - THE GIANT CHIEF’S FATE. - - - A Tale of the Old Dahcotah Country. - - - BY MARO O. ROLFE, - Author of Pocket Novel No. 47, “The Man Hunter.” - - - NEW YORK. - BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, - 98 WILLIAM STREET. - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by - FRANK STARR & CO., - In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - I Vinnie’s Peril 9 - II Clancy Vere and His Trouble 14 - III Vinnie’s Stratagem 19 - IV The Phantom Warrior 25 - V The Maybob Twins 30 - VI Out in the Storm 36 - VII Over the Precipice! 41 - VIII The giant’s Story 48 - IX Lost in the Forest 56 - X A Baffled Vengeance 61 - XI A Welcome Visitor 67 - XII The Forest Rose 75 - XIII The Face at the Window 78 - XIV Vinnie a Prisoner 81 - XV What the Scouts Found 87 - XVI The Phantom Rider! 91 - XVII A Reunion of Hearts 95 - XVIII Conclusion 100 - - - - - THE PHANTOM RIDER; - OR, - THE GIANT CHIEF’S FATE. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - VINNIE’S PERIL. - - -The scene of our story is laid in the great North-west. - -It was a bleak, windy day in November. The shrill blasts wailed through -the forest trees like the last despairing cry of a lost spirit, and gust -after gust beat and roared around the little log cabin standing so -silent and lonely, half buried in the midst of the Titanic oaks that -spread their long branches protectingly over its low roof, and whose -sturdy trunks environed it, seeming to keep silent and untiring guard -over its four rough walls. - -The scene within the cabin was in striking contrast with the wild aspect -without. - -It was a rude but homelike place, and despite the chinked walls and -rough furniture, there was such an air of plain comfort as one might -expect to see in the abode of the sturdy western pioneer. - -A young girl sat by a table engaged in embroidering a broad strip of -dressed deer-skin with fancifully colored beads and quills—a blue-eyed, -slender-looking little woman with shining masses of golden-brown hair -falling unconfined about her small, shapely head, and down over her -shoulders until it reached the waist of her dress, which fitted her -willowy form to perfection, and whose ample folds half concealed, half -disclosed a small, neatly-clad foot and well-turned ankle. - -Her sunny blue eyes held a soft, loving light, and a bright smile played -continually upon her dainty face and around her rosy little mouth, with -its ripe lips half parted from the rows of small white teeth. - -But the azure eyes could flash with courage and determination, and the -pretty mouth could be hard and stern with its strawberry lips tightly -drawn and its tiny, gleaming teeth hard-set. - -The settler’s daughter was very lovely, and she possessed a nerve and -courage far beyond her sex. - -A tall, powerfully-made man of fifty stood near the great wide-mouthed -fire-place, in which a ruddy blaze leapt and glowed fantastically, -shedding a pleasant radiance over the homely place that could not but be -grateful to one who, like Emmett Darke, was preparing to leave it and go -out into the wind and cold of the chill November day. But the settler, -long used to the perils of border life, thought little of this. - -His sharp gray eye and firm through pleasant mouth bespoke indomitable -courage and strength of will; and as he stood there in the red glow of -the dancing firelight, buckling on his deer-skin belt in which he thrust -the borderman’s trusty companion, a long, keen-edged hunting-knife, with -a brace of heavy pistols, he looked the personification of the ideal -hunter of the far western wilds. - -A huge blood-hound lay on the floor at his feet—a large, red-eyed -creature with white, gleaming teeth—a brute that might be a true and -faithful friend, but could not but be a terribly dangerous enemy. - -The object in the room most likely to attract the attention of a casual -observer was a small square box of polished wood, standing on the table. - -Besides the tall clock ticking in a corner, this casket was the only -visible thing that bore evidence of having been made by hands more -skilled than those of the settler, or with tools other than those common -implements ever ready at the pioneer’s grasp, the ax and the auger. - -What this curious little box contained, will appear hereafter. - -Soon the hunter’s preparations were completed, and slinging a long -rifle, which he had taken down from its place on three pegs in the wall, -across his shoulders, he turned to his daughter who had wound the soft -deer-skin belt, upon which she had wrought innumerable fancy devices, -gracefully about her waist and shoulders, and stood regarding him with a -merry light sparkling in her blue eyes. - -“How do I look, papa?” she asked. “Like some dusky forest princess?” - -And she finished by placing a jaunty turban in which were fastened -several bright-colored plumes, which drooped down until they touched her -beautiful golden hair, coquettishly on her head. - -“More like a regular angel, wings and all!” he exclaimed, admiringly: -for Emmett Darke loved his beautiful motherless child more than his -life. “That hair and those eyes of yours don’t look very Injiny. -Wouldn’t that red lover of yours go wild if he saw you now? I don’t -wonder he’s half-crazy and calls you ‘Sun-Hair!’ How about that -youngster, Clancy Vere, eh, Vinnie? Has he an eye to beauty?” - -The maiden blushed rosy red; but the laughing eyes became thoughtful in -a moment. - -“Do you know, papa, that I often think of him—the Indian? Oh, if he -should come some day when you are gone! He is wild and bloodthirsty and -his passions are ungovernable. He has taken a solemn vow to make me his -wife!” - -“He shall never fulfill that vow!” cried the old man, with a dangerous -light in his cold gray eyes. “I’ll have his life, first! If he comes -here again I’ll give him a free pass to the happy hunting-grounds!” - -Emmett Darke’s face was almost white with rage, and he brought the heavy -stock of his long rifle down on the floor with a sharp bang. - -“Just so sure as that red devil has the misfortune to be caught anywhere -near my cabin, I will shoot him down like the coward he is! My daughter -is never to become a squaw, eh, Vinnie?” - -“Never, father! Never will I become the Indian’s wife! I would sooner -shed my own heart’s blood!” - -She spoke so calmly and yet determinedly that her father half-shuddered. -He knew that she meant every word, and he breathed an inward prayer that -God would watch over his lonely child and guard her from all peril -during his absence. - -The hunter stood silent and motionless for a few moments, thinking -intently. Arousing himself at length, he said, turning to the -blood-hound, who was on his feet in an instant, running around him and -licking his hands: - -“Come, Death! We must go.” - -In a few minutes they had passed out, and were walking rapidly and -silently through the forest. - -As Darke went away, a face appeared among the thick bushes close by the -cabin—a red face, hideously daubed with black and yellow paint, with -long, coarse black hair, hanging down the sunken jaws, and fierce black -eyes flashing triumph and exultation as the hunter disappeared from -view. Darke did not see this face, and the bushes closed over it in a -moment, concealing it as suddenly as it had appeared. - -After her father was gone, Vinnie went and stood before the fireplace, -looking down into the red mass of leaping flames. - -She was deeply buried in thought, and she heard no sound save the -hissing of the fire and the wailing of the wind around the corners of -the cabin, and through the bare branches of the great oaks outside. - -She little thought what a lovely picture she made as she stood thus, -silent and motionless—one might almost imagine breathless—with a dreamy, -far-off look in her soft eyes, and the glancing blaze lighting up her -fair face till she looked, in fantastic guise, like some beautified -Fairy queen, some incomparable silvan goddess. - -Rarely, radiantly lovely she appeared, strangely out of place in that -homely room. - -She was unconscious of this—unconscious, also, of another presence in -the cabin until the back-log fell suddenly with a dull thud, throwing -out a shower of red sparks and arousing her on the instant from the fit -of abstraction into which she had fallen. - -With a quick start, she turned her head and saw a tall form close behind -her—so near that it might easily have touched her. - -It was the form of an Indian, powerful and massive. The face was the -same that had peered through the shrubbery at Emmett Darke a few minutes -before. - -There was a strange light glowing in the fierce eyes fixed so steadily -on the lovely face before him—a look of wild passion as dangerous as it -was intense. - -The savage did not speak nor even stir; but the hard, cruel lines on his -forehead and about his mouth relaxed a little as he tried to twist his -ugly visage into the semblance of a smile—a semblance that was even more -loathsome than its habitual scowl—that was nearer the leer of an -exultant fiend than the smile of a human being. - -Vinnie’s face was deathly pale, and her heart seemed for a moment to lay -still in her bosom; but she tried to meet the gaze of those devilish -eyes calmly. She stood quite still, looking into the cruel face, but she -dared not trust her voice. - -The Indian spoke at length, in a tone harsh and rasping, like the snarl -of some wild animal: - -“Ku-nan-gu-no-nah has come for his squaw. Sun-Hair is very beautiful. -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is a mighty warrior. He has always loved the white -maiden since he met her in the forest many moons ago. The great chief’s -heart has been burning for Sun-Hair. He has prepared his wigwam. It is -hung around with the scalps of his slain foes. Sun-Hair will be a queen. -The Indian women will bow down their heads in shame before the beautiful -Sun-Hair! Is she ready? Will she go with the great chief? His warriors -are waiting to see their queen!” - -For a moment Vinnie did not speak, then the words came clear and sharp -from her white lips: - -“No! I will never go!” - -The chief’s face was fairly demoniac in an instant—the sickish leer was -gone, and the savage teeth shone through the drawn lips in two white, -gleaming rows. He advanced with a quick motion, and laid his hand -roughly on her arm. - -“Come!” said the harsh voice, “Sun-Hair must go!” - - - - - CHAPTER II. - CLANCY VERE AND HIS TROUBLE. - - -“Here I am!” - -It was a young man who spoke, standing on the bank of a small stream -that had its course through the forest at a point about two miles -distant, as a bird flies, from Emmett Darke’s cabin. - -He was tall and well-formed, with hazel eyes and dark-brown hair. His -face was clear-cut and handsome, open and frank in its expression, while -it indicated a goodly stock of firmness and courage. - -This is Clancy Vere, the young hunter, an allusion to whom had brought -the rich blood to Vinnie’s face that very afternoon. - -He was clad in a complete suit of dressed deer-skin, elaborately -ornamented about the shoulders with bright-colored beads and quills, his -hunting-shirt being gathered about his waist with a wide belt from which -protruded the stock of a heavy revolver and the silver-mounted hilt of a -long bowie-knife, while a powder-horn and bullet-pouch were slung by a -leathern cord under his left arm. - -As he spoke, he dropped the butt of his rifle, a trim, -beautifully-mounted weapon, until it rested on the turf at his feet; -then he stood leaning on it for a long time, looking intently down into -the depths of the eddying stream before him. - -He was thinking—of a girl with blue eyes and golden brown hair—of Emmett -Darke’s beautiful daughter, Vinnie. - -Clancy Vere loved Vinnie devotedly, and not hopelessly, she had led him -to think; though, as yet, he had never made any formal declaration of -his passion. - -Still, as a look is oftentimes fraught with more meaning than the most -high-sounding speech, and the pioneer’s daughter had not, upon certain -occasions which he could recall, been chary of these looks, Vere was -very far from being despondent. - -He lived at a small settlement a half-dozen miles away, and had set out -that morning to visit the cabin of the hunter. His errand there may be -easily surmised. - -He had proceeded thus far on his way without adventure worthy of note, -and intended to cross the stream in a canoe that he knew Darke kept -concealed in the undergrowth at a place a hundred yards below the spot -where he now stood. - -So intent was he upon his musings, that he heard no sound save the -rippling of the water and the roar of the wind through the trees. - -He did not see the bushes part close behind him and a dusky form emerge -from its concealment, to be followed by another, then another, until six -Indians had entered the little grassy space in which he was standing, -and began stealthily to take different positions around him until his -chances of escape were cut off on all sides. - -He was brought to realize his situation in a moment. - -A chorus of shrill, exultant yells rung out on every hand. - -He turned on the instant, and his quick eye measured the strength of his -savage foes. They were too near at hand for him to bring his rifle to -bear; but gripping it firmly around the barrel, he brought the ponderous -stock down on his nearest assailant, crushing in his skull like an -egg-shell. - -There was a muffled thud as the deadly weight fell a second time, and -another savage sunk over on the ground without a groan. - -An Indian was creeping up stealthily behind him. As Vere raised his -clubbed rifle a third time, throwing it high above his head, in order -that the blow might be more effective, the savage, who had been -crouching down on the ground a moment close beside him, sprung high in -the air, and clutching the gun-barrel near the lock, wrenched it from -the young hunter’s hands just as it began to descend. - -This quick, hard pull upon the weapon, which he gripped with all his -strength, caused him to stagger a trifle, and before he could regain his -footing and draw his bowie-knife, the three remaining Indians sprung -upon him and bore him to the ground. - -In a moment his elbows were pinioned behind his back, and his weapons -were transferred from his belt to those of his captors. - -They pulled him roughly to his feet, and an Indian took his place on -either side, leading him along by the arms. The brave who had disarmed -him walked behind, while the remaining savage, who was evidently a -warrior of some importance, to judge from the number of eagle’s feathers -which ornamented his head and the many trophies of the war-path and the -chase which were hung about his neck and secured to his belt, led the -way up the stream, pausing ever and anon to give some guttural command -in his native dialect to his followers, who clutched their captive’s -arms firmly, as if they feared that, bound and almost helpless as he -was, he would attempt to escape. - -They had seen evidence of his prowess, and wisely concluded that he was -a safer prisoner well guarded than when allowed to walk alone. - -For an hour they kept on, over fallen trees and heaps of rock, through -tangled masses of undergrowth, now bearing a little to the right, then -to the left; but always keeping within hearing of the stream, whose -monotonous murmurings seemed to grow louder and hoarser as they -proceeded, until they changed to a wild, sullen roar, like the impetuous -rushing and dashing of a cataract. - -At length, after a long silence, the leader of the party turned toward -Vere and said, impressively: - -“Does the pale-face hear the song of the waterfall? It is chanting his -death-song! The black waters laugh because they will swallow up the -pale-face!” - -Soon the sun appeared through an opening in the leaden gray clouds that -had drifted lazily through the sky until they were gathered together in -a dark, lowering mass overhead, and its bright rays trembled for a -moment upon the surface of the water. - -“See!” continued the Indian, pointing to the falls just visible through -the trees. “See the waters smile! They laugh because the red men will -give them a pale-face victim! Let the white man hear them sing! ‘Ha! -ha!’ they say, ‘the pale-face must die!’ It is his death chant! The -great Manitou is speaking through the laughing waters. He is happy with -his red children when a pale-face dies. The white hunter is brave. He is -not afraid to fight. But his heart will grow small within his bosom when -he must go down into the black waters—the river of death! Will he be -brave when he meets the unknown dangers of the dark valley? He will find -it hard to die now. He is young and the world looks bright to his eyes. -Perhaps a white woman will weep when he is dead. The Indian women have -mourned for their husbands and brothers when they have gone out to fight -the Long-knives and never returned. The laughing waters are crying aloud -for their victim. The white man must die!” - -“We all must die,” said Vere, calmly, not caring to show the concern he -really felt. “Men have died before, why should I fear death?” - -An expression of surprise flitted over the Indian’s painted face. - -Few men could meet death so calmly. - -The young hunter had resolved not to die without a desperate struggle; -but he preferred that his captors should think him resigned to his -fate—the horrible fate which seemed inevitable. - -A few rods above the falls a tree grew far out over the water, rushing -madly to the cataract below. - -The bank at this point was rough and jagged, its steep and rocky sides -jutting out full twenty feet above the black, roaring mass underneath. - -The party halted here. - -“The pale-face hunter’s feet must be tied,” said the Indian who had -spoken before. “He must not fight with the laughing waters.” - -Producing a stout leathern thong, about twelve feet in length, one of -the savages advanced to coil it around the captive’s ankles. - -As he stooped, Vere drew his foot back suddenly and planted it with -tremendous force squarely in his face, flattening his long nose and -knocking out several of his sharp white teeth. - -The Indian rolled over on the ground with a wild screech. - -The pain was terrible, and he lay for a moment, pressing his disfigured -face and giving utterance to a series of hoarse, agonized groans. - -Then he sprung up suddenly with a wild yell of rage and vengeance. - -He was upon Vere in an instant, his long fingers entwined in his hair -and his scalping-knife circling with lightning rapidity around his head. - -The young hunter’s arms were securely pinioned. - -He was utterly powerless in the red fiend’s hands. - -Death—sudden and terrible—seemed certain; but he did not flinch. - -His fearless eye was fixed on the Indian’s face, and his own did not -change when he felt the keen knife-point pricking the skin upon the -crown of his head. - -He was not afraid to die. - -He thought of the terrible, because unknown life beyond the grave—and of -Vinnie! - -Would she weep when he was gone? - -He trusted so, and stood calmly awaiting the great change. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - VINNIE’S STRATAGEM. - - -Vinnie’s face was very pale, but she did not cry out. A wild fear, an -awful terror, was tugging at her heart, but she would not give way to -it. She knew she would need all her native courage and coolness in the -ordeal which she foresaw she must endure. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s hand retained its rough grip on her arm, and his -harsh voice repeated: - -“Come. Sun-Hair must go!” - -Resistance would, she knew, be of no avail. It would only serve to -arouse the Indian’s passions to a still higher pitch of intensity—to -make him, if possible, still more demoniac, and still more determined -than ever to fulfill his vow, and carry out his intention to abduct and -bear her away to his wigwam. - -She must have recourse to stratagem. - -So, to gain time, she said as calmly as possible, but with a wild -throbbing at her heart which she tried in vain to still: - -“So the great chief loves the pale-face maiden? He would make her a -queen? He would spend his whole life to make her happy? Is it not so?” - -“Yes,” he said, eagerly. “Ku-nan-gu-no-nah loves Sun-Hair as the bird -loves its mate. He will always make her happy. She shall never know what -it is to weep. Her life shall always be pleasant. It shall be like a day -when the green grass is new on the ground, and the dancing waters, freed -from their cold bonds of ice, are laughing in the bright sunlight.” - -“And my life shall be like one long day in the bright spring-time?” she -said, as bravely as she could, smiling through all her fear. - -“Yes,” again said the chief, with a searching look in her white face. - -He had expected tears and opposition, and he received instead, smiles, -and apparent acquiescence, and he was surprised and partially thrown off -his guard. - -“May be the white maiden will go with her Indian lover,” said Vinnie. -“Give her time to think. It is very hard for her to leave her home and -her kind old father. Does the chief think he can make Sun-Hair happier -than she has been here? Can he make her forget her father and her home?” - -“Did not Ku-nan-gu-no-nah tell the beautiful Sun-Hair that she should be -a queen? She shall wear robes as dazzling as the light of the sun. She -need not work like the Indian women. She need do nothing but sit and -sing like a bird all day long. The red-women will bow their heads in -shame before her bright face, and the warriors will sing songs about her -beauty. They will think of their beautiful queen when they go on the -war-path, and they will always return with the scalps of their dead -enemies hanging in their belts. What more can Sun-Hair wish?” - -“I think I will go,” said the girl, slowly. “Only give me time to -think.” - -“Ugh! It is well!” grunted Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, with another of his sickish -smiles. Then frowning darkly, and with a significant tap on the handle -of his tomahawk: - -“But Sun-Hair no fool the chief! If she does he will kill her! She can’t -get away. Take care!” - -The Indian let her free now; and he sat down on a low stool near the -door, as if half fearing some treachery on Vinnie’s part, but he was -pretty well assured, after all, that she would go with him without much -resistance. Vinnie stood for some time, striving to think of some plan -by which she might escape the Indian, who watched her every motion from -under his heavy, overhanging brows, as closely as a cat watches a mouse. - -There was such a look of half-suspicious triumph on his dark face and in -his cruel eyes as is sometimes seen in the eyes of the panther, as it -sits quietly by, watching its prey, and suffering it to live and exult -in a few moments more of life that the moment of its annihilation, when -it comes suddenly and unlooked for, may be the harder to bear. - -But the poor girl rejected plan after plan as impracticable. At one time -she thought of making some excuse to enter an adjoining apartment and -secure a pistol which she knew her father kept there; but she feared -that the savage would discover her intention and tomahawk her at once. -Then she contemplated making a rush for the door at the cabin and -escaping into the forest; but her reason told her that the chief would -overtake her before she was fairly outside the door. - -At last, when she had nearly given up in despair, a thought suggested -itself to her brain—how, she never knew, it was so wild and strange—that -made her heart leap with a newborn hope—a hope that she might yet outwit -her captor and gain time until something—she know not what—should -intervene to save her from the fate he had marked out for her. - -She sat down by the table and opened the small box of polished wood, of -which mention was made in our first chapter, the Indian watching her the -while from his place near the door. - -This casket, on being opened, prove to be a small galvanic battery; and -Vinnie was but a moment preparing it for action. - -When all was in readiness, she took a pair of electric slippers from a -drawer in the table and placed them beside the battery. - -Then, knowing the superstition of the Indian race, she arose, and waving -her hands several times very slowly around her head, seemed to be -invoking a charm. Her eyes were fixed apparently on vacancy, and she -stood motionless for several minutes; then smiling sweetly, she turned -to Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, who had advanced to the center of the room, and -stood regarding her mystic performance with a sort of awed wonder, she -said in a low, soft voice, that sounded to him like the murmuring of a -distant brooklet: - -“Does the chief know that the Great Manitou has given the white maiden a -mysterious power, greater than is possessed by any of the Indian -medicine-men? Would Ku-nan-gu-no-nah like to see evidence of the white -maiden’s power?” - -The Indian stood quite still while she was speaking, with a look of -mingled doubt and awe on his face. At last he said in his harsh voice: - -“Ugh! Let Ku-nan-gu-no-nah see what Sun-Hair can do. She is not a great -medicine-woman. There is but one who has a mighty power from the Great -Spirit, and that is Yon-da-do, the great conjuror of my tribe. Sun-Hair -can’t get away. The chief will kill her if she tries. Let -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah see!” - -“Let the chief look and be convinced!” - -Vinnie attached the slippers to the conductors leading from the battery, -and set them side by side on the cabin floor. - -Then, taking up her position behind the table, she commenced to operate -the machine slowly at first, then faster, until the slippers began to -skip about, dancing a sort of shuffle, which caused the Indian’s face to -take on a look of still greater wonder. - -“See,” she said, turning the little crank faster, causing the magic -slippers to jump higher and oftener than before. “Do you longer doubt my -power? You, Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, strong brave though you are, can not hold -those dancing moccasins when I command them to move!” - -The chief’s face lighted up in an instant with a look of scorn and -contempt. No one had ever doubted his strength before. Surely he could -hold those skipping bits of leather. - -“Look!” he said. “Let Sun-Hair see the chief hold them so fast they can -not tremble.” - -He stooped down and raised them from the floor, holding one in each -hand. - -He clutched them firmly, and then went on: - -“See the chief hold them. A pappoose could do it. See—” - -His words were cut short suddenly, the slippers dropped from his hands, -and with a wild shriek of terror, he ran to the further side of the -room. - -He stood motionless several minutes, his dusky face the picture of blank -amazement, looking at the palms of his hands as if he would see what had -acted upon them with such powerful effect. He could not conceal his -chagrin as Vinnie said, tauntingly; - -“Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is a great brave. He is very strong. He can not hold a -pair of moccasins. They jump out of his hands, and he runs away like a -whipped dog! The big chief is very strong. What a warrior he must be!” - -“It is a lie!” yelled the Indian, almost beside himself with rage and -mortification. “I _can_ hold the dancing moccasins!” - -“Try it,” said the beautiful magician, sententiously. Ku-nan-gu-no-nah -advanced timidly, and took the slippers up daintily between his thumbs -and fore-fingers. - -“Get a firm hold,” said Vinnie. “You will need all of your boasted -strength. Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, a great chief and a brave warrior, has said -that a pappoose could hold the dancing moccasins. Let us see if he can -do what a pappoose could do. He says that Sun-Hair has no mysterious -power, more terrible than that of the Indian medicine-man, Yon-da-do. He -will see. Is he ready?” - -The savage gripped the magic slippers with all his strength, seeming -determined that this time he would give the fair conjuror no opportunity -to taunt him with lack of success. - -“Ugh!” he grunted, “Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is ready.” - -“You have them fast now, have you?” - -Vinnie could not repress a smile as he answered, clutching the electric -slippers tighter than before: - -“Yes; they not stir now.” - -She muttered a few words in a low tone, passing her hands backward and -forward before her face, and commanded the slippers to dance. - -At the same instant she set the battery in action, and the chief’s -hands, acted upon by the electricity, which she had made more powerful -than before, seemed to clutch the slippers like a vise. - -A horrible expression of mingled rage and pain crossed his distorted -face, and he gave utterance to a shrill scream of fear and agony that -might have been heard, so loud and resonant was it, fully a mile away. - -At last Vinnie ceased to turn the machine, and Ku-nan-gu-no-nah reeled -back and sunk down in a corner of the cabin almost exhausted. - -His eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, his mouth twitched nervously, -his long, coarse black hair stood half-erect, and he trembled with an -awful, superstitious fear in every fiber of his being. - -“What does the chief think now of the white maiden’s power?” asked -Vinnie. “What does he think of the little box and the dancing moccasins? -Where now is his vaunted strength? Can the great brave do what a -pappoose can do? Does he want to try again?” - -“No! No!” panted Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, with chattering teeth. “Sun-Hair is a -great conjuror. She has a power from the Great Spirit! She has a -_devil-box_, and moccasins such as are worn where the Long-knives go -when they die—where there is fire always! Hell, they call it. The white -maiden is a greater conjuror than Yon-da-do. She has a _devil-box_ and -_hell-moccasins_!” - -At this moment there were sounds of footfalls outside the door. The -noise came nearer, and there was a sharp, scratching sound on the door -like that produced by some keen-pointed instrument. - -Vinnie felt a terrible fear forcing its way to her heart. - -“My God!” she thought. “What if it should be some of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s -warriors? Would they show me any mercy after the trick I have played on -their chief?” - -The scratching noise was repeated, louder than before, and she could see -the heavy door tremble. With a white face, she stood awaiting—she knew -not what! - -The Indian still cowered down in the corner, apparently heedless of what -was passing around him. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - THE PHANTOM WARRIOR. - - -But it was not fated that Clancy Vere should die by the scalping-knife. - -The Indian who had acted as the leader of the party leaped forward with -a sharp cry, and with a quick blow of his powerful hand, sent the knife -flying from the maddened brave’s grasp into the water tossing and -roaring twenty feet below. - -“What would Bear-Killer do?” he said, giving the baffled savage a sudden -push that sent him staggering back against the tree. “Has he forgotten -the laws of our nation? Does he forget that the great chiefs have said -that when a number of warriors take a captive all shall have a share in -putting him to death?” - -Bear-Killer was cowed; but he stood with lowering brows, glowering upon -the young hunter with a look of fierce hatred that made him appear, with -his dark face bruised and bleeding, absolutely diabolical. - -“Wy-an-da is right,” he said, at length. “Bear-Killer forgot. The -pale-face must die hard! Bear-Killer must be avenged!” - -“We will give the white hunter to the laughing waters,” said Wy-an-da. -“He must die!” - -“He must die!” - -The four Indians repeated these three ominous words in a hoarse chorus, -and began to circle slowly around the captive, brandishing their -tomahawks and knives furiously and screaming the wild scalp-halloo of -their tribe. - -Several minutes passed thus, Vere standing in the circle of screeching -braves calm and unmoved; then all became suddenly silent, standing still -and dropping their hands by their sides as if moved by a common impulse. - -“Is the pale-face ready to die?” asked Wy-an-da. - -“I have said that I do not fear death!” replied the young hunter, -calmly. “I am ready!” - -The last faint ray of hope was extinguished now. He was bound and -helpless—they could do with him as they would; and as calmly as possible -he resigned himself to his fate—the horrible fate that seemed -inevitable! - -“Wy-an-da will tell the pale-face hunter how he must die,” said the -chief. “It is not a pleasant death. He will be afraid. His heart will -grow small within his bosom and his face will be white as the snow in -winter. He will not like to die so. Will he be brave at the last -moment?” - -“I tell you I am ready to die!” shouted Vere. - -He knew that the savage was trying to torture him, and he would not let -him see what pain it really gave him—the anticipation of this sudden and -terrible departure from the life that had just begun to seem so happy to -him. - -“Why do you wait?” he added, stolidly. “I tell you I am ready!” - -“It is well,” said Wy-an-da. “The white hunter is a brave man. He shall -die thus: he will be hung by a lasso, head downward, from the branch of -that tree there that reaches out over the laughing waters. Then the -Indian that can throw his tomahawk the truest will cut the lasso, and -the white man will fall down and the laughing waters will sweep him over -the rocks. Then his body will be dashed to pieces on the sharp stones -below! Is it pleasant to think of? Will the pale-face be brave?” - -This speech was greeted by a chorus of satisfied grunts from the -savages. - -A shudder ran through Vere’s frame and his spirits sunk as he heard the -chief pronounce his fearful doom; but it was only for a moment. Then he -appeared calm and apparently unmoved. - -A more diabolical torture could not well be conceived. - -It was terrible—this standing face to face with death; but the young -hunter showed no signs of fear. - -Five minutes later he was swinging, head downward, over that black flood -hastening on with a wild roar to the precipice below. - -The chill autumn wind, wailing in fitful gusts through the forest trees, -his body gave an oscillating motion, and it seemed, as he swayed at that -dizzy height, as if every vibration would precipitate him into the water -below. - -After the lasso was securely fastened to the protruding branch, the -Indians drew back about twenty paces from their swinging victim and -prepared for their trial of skill in hurling the tomahawk. - -Each was anxious to have the first throw. - -At length it was decided that Wy-an-da should have the precedence. - -He took his place with a confident air, like one who is assured of -success. - -Carefully noting the distance, he drew his tomahawk back, and, taking -deliberate aim, gave it a quick jerk; and it went whirling out of his -hand. - -They watched its flight eagerly. - -It missed the lasso by six inches. - -The swaying hunter was saved thus far. - -He had been watching Wy-an-da as he only could look whose life hung on -the issue. - -He closed his eyes as he saw the weapon whizzing through the air, and -awaited the end. - -A tall Indian of massive frame stepped forward. - -“O-wan-ton try,” he said. - -He measured the space accurately with his keen eye; but his tomahawk -flew wide of its mark, burying itself to the eye in the limb to which -the lasso was secured. - -The victim of the laughing waters was saved again. - -Next came Wolf-Nail. - -The young hunter watched him with a white face and a heart wild with -despair. - -He stepped forward slowly, and hurled his tomahawk without much care. - -The swinging cord was a difficult target. - -Vere felt the lasso jerk, and thought the end had come. - -But he was saved again. - -The handle of the tomahawk struck the lasso, and the weapon glanced off -and fell with a muffled splash into the water. - -Bear-Killer was the last to try. - -He was yet half-wild with rage; and with the blood still streaming from -his disfigured face, he made ready to hurl his tomahawk, hoping to sate -his vengeance and send the young hunter to eternity. - -Vere was looking at him, and his heart seemed for a moment to stop its -pulsations. - -This time death seemed certain. - -He saw that the red demon did not intend to throw at the cord. - -He was taking deliberate aim at his head! - -The young hunter saw him draw back his weapon, and closed his eyes. - -There was a moment of terrible agony to the man vibrating, as it were, -between earth and eternity—and then all became dark! - -He seemed to be shooting down—down—and he knew no more. - -He had fainted. - -Those few terrible moments of suspense—ages they seemed to him—had been -more than he could bear. The constantly tightening noose around his -ankles was excruciatingly painful, and the position in which he hung -caused the blood to flow to his head. None but a man young and strong -like Vere could have retained his consciousness so long as he had done. - -Bear-Killer was exultant. A moment more, and his fiend-like longing for -vengeance would be satisfied. - -He noted the distance carefully with his practiced eye, and with a grim -smile of triumph on his blood-streaked face, raised his tomahawk and -prepared to make the fatal throw. - -Suddenly a wild, unearthly cry, like a prolonged wail, rung out on the -wind, sounding strangely ghastly above its moanings. - -Bear-Killer’s tomahawk slipped from his grasp, and a sickly pallor -overspread his face, and those of his companions blanched to an ashen -hue. - -The four Indians gave utterance to wild cries of fear and consternation. - -“_The Spirit Warrior! The Spirit Warrior!_” - -A white steed was flying across a small opening in the forest directly -toward them, and mounted upon its bare back, guiding it with neither -bridle nor reins, rode a ghastly human skeleton of gigantic proportions. - -With cries of terror, the stricken little band of savages turned to fly. - -On came the terrible Phantom Rider with the speed of the wind! - -As it drew near, it sprung up suddenly, and standing upright on the back -of its flying steed, threw something round and black high in the air; -then, with another unearthly scream, rode on and disappeared in the -forest. - -The thing went up with a hissing noise, a broad, brilliant streak of -flame marking its course, and then fell with a terrific explosion in the -very midst of the Indians. - -Then there came a chorus of agonized shrieks, and three of the savages -were laid dead on the ground. - -Bear-Killer escaped, and fled with a loud, terrified howl into the -forest. - -The dead Indians were horribly mangled, and Wy-an-da’s head was blown a -rod from his body. - -Then all was silent save the roaring cataract and soughing wind. - -Not a being was in sight, save the unconscious one who swung by a small -cord between this life and the one beyond the grave! - - - - - CHAPTER V. - THE MAYBOB TWINS. - - -Emmett Darke went into the forest in search of game; and he was -successful, for in an hour’s time he had shot and dressed a large buck. - -He only took the choicest portions of the deer, which he rolled -carefully up in the skin, leaving the remainder to the wolves, panthers, -and other beasts of prey that infested the forest. He bound the pelt -around the meat he had selected by means of deer-skin thongs through a -firmly tied loop, in which he thrust his gun-barrel; and throwing his -burden across his shoulder, set out for home. - -He was very anxious to reach the cabin; for he could not keep his mind -from dwelling on his conversation with Vinnie that afternoon, and he did -not like to leave her alone longer than was necessary. - -The blood-hound, Death, who had rendered his master valuable service in -securing the deer, trotted along after him, as if pleased with the idea -of returning to the cabin so soon. - -The hunter had proceeded but a short distance, however, when he met with -an accident that nearly cost him his life. - -As the afternoon advanced, the chill November wind blew harder and -colder, till its moanings changed to a fierce roar, and it was evident, -even to eyes less accustomed to weather signs than Darke’s, that a -fearful storm was approaching—one of those cold, gusty rains peculiar to -the North-west. - -As he was passing a dead oak, whose barkless, decayed trunk and bare, -broken branches bore marks of the storms and winds of a hundred years, -he was startled by a loud crash overhead. - -Looking up, he saw that a fearful gust of wind that just then swept -through the wood, blowing the dried leaves and twigs hither and thither -and everywhere in wild confusion, had broken off a massive limb, which -was falling with lightning velocity directly toward him. Dropping his -burden, he sprung aside, but though the movement saved his life, he did -not escape the full force of the blow. - -The ponderous mass came whirling down, one end of it striking him on the -back of the head. - -He reeled and staggered two or three steps, and then sunk down -insensible among the fallen leaves. - -After surveying his fallen master a minute or two, the blood-hound -advanced and lay down by his side, as if to keep guard over him. For -several minutes he remained in this position, then probably not noting -any signs of vitality in the unconscious man, he arose, and, after -whining several times in a low key, the sagacious creature took the -sleeve of his hunting-shirt between his teeth and pulled it gently. This -action was repeated several times; and at last, receiving no reply from -his master, the faithful dog set out as fast as his feet would carry him -for the cabin. - -Had he forsaken his master, or gone after assistance? - -How long Darke remained unconscious, he knew not. - -When consciousness returned, he found himself in a sort of cavern fitted -up as a hunter’s lodge, apparently, for great piles of skins were to be -seen in different parts of the place, and a couple of rifles leaned -against the rocky wall at one side, while a small keg, that evidently -contained powder, stood near by, half concealed by a deer-skin -hunting-shirt, which was thrown carelessly over it, with a bullet-pouch -and powder-horn secured to the belt. - -He noticed also that the cave was divided into apartments, for a curtain -made of the skins of various wild animals was suspended from a cord -overhead. - -A dull, hard pain in his head caused him to think of himself, and he now -saw, for the first time, that it was bandaged, and he was reclining on a -bed made of the pelts of the bear and the panther at one side of the -place. - -If any further evidence was required to satisfy the hunter that the -place was inhabited, it was forthcoming in the shape of a savory odor of -broiling venison that was wafted from the inner apartment. - -“Where was he? Who had brought him to this place?” - -These and many other questions he asked himself, but after five minutes -had been consumed in vain conjecture, he was as far from the solution of -the mystery as at the moment when he first awoke to consciousness. He -remembered the circumstance of the falling limb in the forest, and after -that, all was blank. He did not know when he came, or who had brought -him to this place. He was familiar with the country for miles around, he -thought, and yet he did not know that there was such a cavern in the -vicinity of his cabin. - -Of one thing, however, he was assured. - -The people who occupied the place must be friendly, else why had they -brought him here and cared for him so tenderly? - -Soon he heard a voice in the other part of the cave—a coarse, heavy -voice, evidently that of a man. It said: - -“Give us the whis’, ’Lon. I guess he’s comin’ round all correct. A good -pull at this’ll fetch his idees back, I reckon.” - -A corner of the curtain was raised, and a man appeared, carrying a small -bottle of liquor—so Darke inferred from the words he had just heard. - -“Well, stranger, how do you feel?” said he, approaching the hunter. “I -reckon you got a right smart of a swat along side yer poll with that ar’ -twig out yender. I shouldn’t wonder if it’d ’a’ splintered when it -struck _terry-firmy_ if you hadn’t ’a’ happened along jest in the nick -o’ time to break its fall. I was a witness of the lamentationable -catastofy, and see the stick when it broke off; but I obsarved that -’twas bound to fall, and knowin’ I couldn’t stop its wild career, I let -it fall; and then started to go to you, but I had to stop and watch that -ar’ pup o’ your’n. He’s a nation cute plant, he is, and I reckoned he -was a-goin’ to snake you home; but after awhile he give up and started -off for help. Then I went out and picked you up and brought you here and -laid you out. Here, take a little pull at the whis’. It’ll kinder -regulate yer pulse, set yer heart in stidy operation and ile up yer -thinkin’ merchine. Don’t say a word. I ain’t ready for you to talk yet, -and, besides, I don’t b’lieve as how you’re a nat’ral talker anyhow. Now -I’m a nat’ral-born talker. When I was an infant and didn’t weigh but -fourteen pounds, my uncle Peter informed my ma that he thought I’d -become a preacher or an auctioneer with the proper advantages—and my -uncle Peter was a physionologist and a powerful judge of live-stock!” - -Darke took the flask, drank some of its contents, and handed it back to -the man, whom he had been regarding attentively from head to foot all -the while he had been speaking. - -He was very tall—nearer seven feet than six—and his frame was massive in -proportion. He was, to judge from his face, which was partially obscured -by a thin growth of sandy beard, thirty-five years of age, though one -might easily have called him five years older or five years younger. He -had pale watery-blue eyes; a capacious mouth, from which projected the -points of a few large, scraggy teeth; very high and sharp cheek-bones; -enormous ears; long, sunken jaws, with hollow cheeks, and a high, -sloping forehead, blowing about which, and streaming down his back, were -a few long, thin locks of red hair, escaping from beneath the rim of a -battered and dirty old silk hat that had once been white, though -evidently a good while since. - -This ancient tile was secured to the giant’s great head by means of a -light strap of deer-skin, which was lost to view under his chin among -his sparse, bristling whiskers. - -He was dressed in a fur garment, part coat, part pantaloons, that -enveloped his entire person from his chin to his feet, which were -enormously large, and incased in a pair of cowhide boots that looked, so -extensive were they, and at the same time so old, as if they might have -seen service, in the removal of the baggage of the patriarchal Noah and -his sons and daughters from the family mansion to the ark, when they -were compelled to pull up stakes and emigrate at the time of the -universal deluge. - -“Where am I? Who are you?” - -This Darke asked after the “natural talker” had stopped to take breath. - -“Why, stranger, or Mr. Darke, I might say—for I’ve known you by sight -this four year—you’re right here, and safe, I reckon. I’ve lived here -six years, and I’ve never seen any r’al ginewine ghosts yet. I’m Leander -Maybob, formerly of Maybob Center, down in old Massachusetts. If I was -real up in etiquette, I s’pose I’d ’a’ introduced myself afore; but I -ain’t polite. Now my uncle Peter was a master polite man. I remember -once, when he went down to Bosting to sell his wool—wool was ’way down -that season, he lost on that wool awful—and got kinder turned ’round -like. Well, he kept wanderin’ all over for a right smart of a while, but -he couldn’t nohow see his way clear back to the ‘Full Bottle Inn’—he was -a-puttin’ up there. My uncle Peter was a master polite man, and didn’t -consider it proper to speak to folks as hadn’t been introducted to him, -and so he kept right on wanderin’ about without inquirin’ the way till -late in the afternoon, when he begun to experience the gnawin’ pangs of -an empty stummick; and he made up his mind as ’twould be better to be -guilty of a breach of politeness than to starve. But he wasn’t quite -certain, and so he took out his etiquette book—he always carried one, my -uncle Peter did, Deacon Checkerfield’s, I believe—and looked to see if -there was any rules touchin’ this very peculiar case o’ his’n. Well, he -set down on a bar’l in a shed, for ’twas a-rainin’ hard by this time, -and studied his book till it got so dark he couldn’t see to read any -longer, and then he concluded to break etiquette or bu’st. Etiquette was -a master fine thing, he argu’d, the very foundation o’ society; but -’twasn’t hardly the thing for an empty stummick. So he got up and went -into a big house right across the way. Here he see a feller as looked -kinder nat’ral. ‘Pardin,’ sez he, ‘your countenance looks f’miliar.’ He -made a master bow as he spoke. ‘Will you be so kind as to tell me the -way to go to the Full Bottle Inn?’ ‘’Tain’t no way in p’tickler’, sez -the feller. ‘Beg pardon,’ sez my uncle Peter. He was a master polite -man. ‘But I want to know how fur ’tis to the Full Bottle Inn.’ ‘’Tain’t -no distance at all,’ sez the feller, ‘It’s right here.’ My uncle give in -and begged the feller’s pardon—he was a master polite man, my uncle -Peter was. He’d been settin’ right in front of the inn for hours -studyin’ his etiquette book, cause he didn’t know nobody to ask. He -didn’t tell of it for five years afterward.” - -At this moment the curtain which divided the cavern was pushed back at -one side, and another person advanced toward Darke and his Titanic -companion. - -He came and stood by Leander Maybob, and the hunter looked from one to -the other in astonishment. - -He was scarcely four feet in hight, the top of his head barely reaching -the giant’s waist. - -His apparel resembled that of his more portly companion, with the -exception of the covering for the head and feet. - -The dwarf’s round little pate was surmounted by a grotesquely -broad-brimmed wool hat, and he appeared, as his small keen eyes flashed -quick, nervous glances about, not unlike the traditional “toad under a -cabbage-leaf,” while his lower extremities were adorned by a pair of -nicely-fitting deer-skin moccasins. - -“He’s my little brother,” the giant said, by way of introduction. “We’re -the Maybob twins. We ain’t much alike you see. He’s a little mite of a -feller, and I’m big enough to be his daddy; he’s dumb—can’t speak a -word—and I’m a nat’ral talker. Now uncle Peter said as how he thought -’twasn’t hardly fair, makin’ me so big and so complete in every way, and -him so little and scarce; but says daddy, says he—and he was a univarsal -smart man daddy was—says he it’s all in the family, and they’ll both -together make a couple of middlin’ good-sized men—they’ll about average, -and it’s all in the family. My little brother’s name’s Alonphilus. But -if we’re different in sich respects, we’re alike as fur as the one great -principle of our lives goes. Ain’t we, ’Lon?” - -There was a scintillant glow in the dwarf’s little black eyes as he -nodded assent. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - OUT IN THE STORM. - - -Trembling herself with a fear all the more terrible because of its -vagueness and uncertainty, and with her beautiful face pale as death, -Vinnie stood and watched the trembling of the heavy cabin door, as the -scratching noise was repeated for a third time. - -The sound was louder, more imperative than before. - -The chief seemed suddenly to arouse from the state of frightened -inactivity into which he had fallen, and rising on his feet, walked, or -rather staggered, toward the shaking door. - -He seemed to have lost all his strength, for he reeled across the floor -like a drunken man. - -For two or three minutes the sound was not repeated, and Vinnie and the -savage stood waiting with bated breath. - -They had not long to wait. - -Again came that harsh, grating sound, as though some one was digging the -point of a knife, or some other hard, sharp instrument into the door. - -Almost simultaneously with this noise, came a long, low whine, evidently -that of a brute. - -Vinnie started. - -The look of wild fear left her face, and she advanced toward the door, -while the low wail was repeated in a louder key and more prolonged than -before. - -She gave utterance to a glad exclamation. - -“It is _Death_!” - -It was evident in a moment that Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, also, had discovered -the cause of the strange sounds. - -He seemed to gain new strength. - -“It is the dog!” he said harshly, laying hold of the girl’s hand, just -as she was about to open the door to admit Death. - -Vinnie nodded. - -“He is large and strong,” continued the chief, “and his teeth are like -the points of knives!” - -She knew her power over his untutored, superstitious mind, and she was -no longer afraid. - -She nodded again and said: - -“Yes, he is very strong, and his teeth are like needles. If he sets them -into an Indian’s flesh he will die. Shall I let him in to you? His name -is Death!” - -The savage gripped her hand tighter. - -“No,” he said, with evident alarm. “Sun-Hair must not let the dog in.” - -Giving her a quick, sudden pull, he drew her across the room and through -the other apartment to a rear door. - -Her face changed color and she tried to release herself from his hold, -but without avail. - -Here he unhanded her, and went back and closed the door between the two -rooms. Barring it securely he returned, and laying his heavy hand on her -shoulder, he bent over till his dark face almost touched hers, and -fairly hissed through his set teeth: - -“Sun-Hair has a mighty power from the great Manitou. She has escaped -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah this time, with her devil-box; but let her beware! If -the dog could get at the chief he would kill him, but Ku-nan-gu-no-nah -is safe. Before Sun-Hair can open both doors he will be away in the -forest. Let the pale-face medicine-woman beware!” - -Vinnie did not try to detain him. She could not. All the time he had -been speaking, his hard, bony fingers were closed on her shoulder like -an iron vise. - -He let go his hold suddenly, and an instant later was running across the -little open space at the rear of the cabin. - -Vinnie saw him disappear among the trees, and then turned and opened the -door that led into the other apartment. - -In a moment she had undone the fastenings of the other one, and the -blood-hound sprung into the cabin. - -He stopped before Vinnie, and looking up into her face, gave utterance -to a long, low whine. - -She patted his head and caressed him, but he would not be satisfied. - -Still whining piteously he turned, and with his red eyes fixed on her -face walked toward the door. - -She did not heed this mute appeal. - -He turned again and going up to her, took hold of her dress with his -teeth and pulled it quietly. - -“Why, Death, old fellow!” she said, caressing the sagacious brute again. -“What is the matter? Where is your master?” - -When she mentioned her father the dog pulled harder at her dress, almost -pulling her along toward the door. - -A wild fear seemed suddenly to force its way to her heart. There was -only one way in which she could account for the strange demeanor of the -dog. - -Surely something must have happened to her father! - -She was sure of this when she remembered a story that he had told her -once, about the blood-hound’s saving her life when she was a child of -five or six. - -The chill wind was blowing harder than when the hunter set out from the -cabin, and the black, angry clouds, hanging low in the sky, threatened -momentarily to open and shower down the cold, half-frozen November rain -over the earth. - -Suddenly, while Vinnie looked out, there came a fierce gust of wind -tearing through the great oaks and rattling their heavy leafless -branches against the walls of the cabin. - -Twigs and leaves were flying in wild confusion through the air, and it -was growing darker every moment. - -“A wild and fearful storm is approaching,” said the girl, shudderingly; -“but I must not hesitate. My father is in danger—may be he is—” - -She paused a breath, as if fearful to say the word; and then went on: -“Maybe he is dead!” - -The dog was tugging at her dress again. - -“Yes,” she said, in reply to his dumb, eager look. “Yes, I am going. -Come!” - -And shutting the door after her, she followed her brute guide out into -the storm, which had now begun to fall, and away through the forest till -they arrived at the place where the hunter had met with the accident -from the falling limb a short time before. - -Here the dog stopped, and after sniffing about for a moment, readily -found the trail which the giant hunter had made as he carried Darke away -to the cavern, where we left him at the close of our last chapter. - -Then he turned, and pulling again at Vinnie’s dress, trotted slowly away -on the track he had just discovered. - -The storm had been steadily increasing, and it had been growing darker -all the time, till the forest was indescribably somber and gloomy. - -The brave girl did not shrink; but drawing a blanket she had thrown -around her on leaving the cabin closer about her slender form, to shield -her in a measure from the sleet that dashed against her person, cutting -almost like a knife, she pushed on after the blood-hound, increasing her -speed to keep up with him. - -By and by Death stopped suddenly at the foot of a steep, rocky -acclivity. - -He seemed, all at once, to have lost the trail. - -Vinnie drew her blanket closer about her face and shoulders, and -crouching close up against the trunk of a large tree, watched him -eagerly. - -He ran back and forth several times along the base of the acclivity, -searching for the lost trail; then paused at last, with a quick, glad -yelp, before a large rock that, almost hidden by the thick overhanging -shrubbery along the hillside, seemed to be firmly imbedded in the earth. -Then for several minutes he made no sign. - -Had he lost the trail again? - -He whined, and began to scratch away at the earth about the bottom of -the bowlder. - -Vinnie, at a loss to account for his strange behavior, drew the blanket -up over her head, and creeping closer up under the friendly shelter of -the great tree-trunk, looked on in wonder. - -It did not occur to her that the flat stone might conceal the entrance -to the cavern beyond—for she was indeed at the opening that led into the -place where Leander Maybob, the giant hunter, had carried her father but -a little while before. - -Soon the blood-hound stopped digging, and sat down, with another long, -low whine, keeping his red eyes fixed immovably on the dark surface of -the rock before him. - -“What can it mean?” Vinnie asked herself. “He does not search for the -trail any longer. Why does he stop here? What is there about that rock? -I wonder if it is immovable. Perhaps it covers the trail some way. I am -going to attempt to move it. It looks very ponderous. It must be very -heavy.” - -She examined the bowlder closely, but could see nothing to indicate that -it had ever been stirred from the place where it seemed so firmly -imbedded into the earth. - -She laid hold of a corner that appeared to project more than any other -portion of the rock, and pulled with all her strength. - -The stone remained immovable. Of what avail were her weak little hands? - -“I can not stir it,” she said. “It is as firmly fixed as masonry. I am -not strong enough.” - -When the dog saw that she was trying to remove the bowlder, he -recommenced scratching at the dirt at its base, giving utterance ever -and anon to quick, glad yelps. - -She tried once more; but her second efforts were as unavailing as her -first. - -“It is no use,” she said, half to herself and half to the blood-hound. -“I can not stir it. But what does it mean? In what manner does it cover -the trail? It does, somehow; or Death would surely pick it up and follow -on. What a fearful storm! I never saw one like it before. How the sleet -cuts my face and hands!” - -And she shrunk back into her old shelter. - -The dog kept his place before the bowlder, from which he never removed -his eyes till his quick ear caught a strange sound, which even Vinnie -heard plainly above the roar of the storm. - -Following the direction of the brute’s gaze, the girl saw a sudden and -unexpected sight. - -Some one was approaching on a white horse. - -She cowered down out of sight behind the tree-trunk and watched. The -storm half blinded her; but she could see that it was a man, and that -something, wrapped in a thick, black cloth, hung limp and helpless -across the horse before him. It was like a human being. Was it alive or -dead? - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - OVER THE PRECIPICE! - - -The minutes—ten—thirty—sixty, dragged slowly by, and Clancy Vere knew -naught of them. All this time he had hung by a cord between this life -and the next; but he comprehended it not. He was still insensible. - -The wind increased in force until it swayed the great tree from which he -was suspended, and swung him backward and forward, pendulum-like, over -the turbid, roaring flood below. - -Still he knew it not. - -By and by a lithe, dark form, with great fiery eyes and ravenous jaws -drew its dark length out of the cover of a thicket near by, and creeping -stealthily along the ground, ascended the tree, and crouched menacingly -on a branch directly above him. - -It was a panther. - -For ten minutes the terrible brute eyed him with its red, fiery eyes, -and then, settling further back on its haunches, prepared to pounce upon -him. - -Still he knew not his peril! - -Closer down on the branch of the tree crouched the panther, its great -red eyes seeming fairly to blaze, while its long tail waved to and fro, -lashing first one of its sleek, shining sides and then the other. - -It was all ready to spring—in an instant it would dart from its perch on -the limb and shoot like an arrow down upon its swaying prey; every -muscle of its lithe body was contracted. One breath—and then? - -There was a dull, cutting sound, as a tense-drawn bow-string was jerked -straight, and a long, slender arrow came whizzing out of a copse near at -hand, and, pierced to the heart, the panther rolled off of the limb and -fell quivering to the ground at the very moment when its victim seemed -so secure and its triumph so complete. Its powerful limbs straightened -out, and the ravenous brute was dead. - -In a moment a form emerged stealthily from the thicket and crept across -the opening to the foot of the tree. - -It was Bear-Killer! - -His ugly face still bled from the effects of the kick he had received -from the young hunter a couple of hours before. His purpose in returning -so soon to the scene of his late discomfiture and the death of his -companions, is easily surmised when the reader remembers that he was as -vindictive and vengeful as a fiend. - -He gave the panther a kick with the toe of his moccasin, and saw at once -that it was quite dead. - -“The panther would cheat the red-man out of his revenge,” he said, -savagely. “It must not be so. Nothing can save him now. He must die! The -revenge of Bear-Killer is near at hand. The white hunter’s time has -come.” - -As the Indian ceased speaking, he drew his tomahawk, and stepped back a -few paces where his aim at the head of the swinging and senseless young -hunter would be true and certain. - -He noted the distance accurately with his practiced eye, and poised his -weapon. - -“How quick he will die!” he muttered. “How easy Bear-Killer will slay -him!” - -“Bear-Killer will not slay him!” said a deep voice, close at his side; -and a heavy hand was laid on his arm, so suddenly and with such force -that the tomahawk fell from his grasp and half buried itself among the -leaves at his feet. - -Bear-Killer turned with a sharp grunt of rage and surprise. His -mutilated face expressed nothing, but his small, baleful eyes -scintillated like those of a cowed and baffled wolf. - -The hand on his arm tightened its hold, and the deep, stern voice -repeated authoritatively: - -“Bear-Killer will not slay him!” - -The speaker was an Indian, tall and massive in build, and manifestly the -superior of Bear-Killer in strength. - -His dress and equipments indicated him to be a chief. Bear Killer seemed -to recognize his superiority, either of rank or strength, or both. - -It was Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, who had but just now made his escape from the -cabin of Emmett Darke, and the terrible power which he believed Vinnie -possessed; and he was making his way back through the forest toward the -Indian village, when he discovered Bear-Killer in the act of -consummating his dreadful vengeance on the unconscious white man. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah recognized this white man at a glance. - -He knew it was Clancy Vere. - -And he had particular reasons for not wishing Bear-Killer to become his -slayer. - -Perhaps his chief reason was that he wanted to put the young hunter to -death himself. - -He was aware that Clancy Vere was his successful rival in the affections -of Vinnie Darke, or Sun-Hair, as he was wont to call her. - -Jealous and vindictive as he was, this was sufficient to make him hunt -his pale-faced rival to the ends of the earth, if he could not compass -his death without. - -Many times when he had seen Clancy go to the hunter’s cabin, had he -vowed in his fierce, jealous rage to kill him, but something had -heretofore always intervened to baffle him; but now he was exultant. The -time for which he had so long waited had come. The young hunter was -bound and insensible in his power. He asked nothing more. His triumph -seemed almost complete. His discomfitures and rebuffs at Vinnie’s hands -that afternoon had more than ever determined him to wreak vengeance on -her lover, since he stood in too wholesome awe of the lovely magician to -think for a moment of again attempting to obtain forcible possession of -her person—at least not at present. - -With a sudden movement, Bear-Killer wrenched himself free from the -chief’s grasp, and faced him half angrily, at the same time picking up -the tomahawk out of the leaves at his feet. - -“Why does the chief interfere?” he asked. - -“Because,” said Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, “he would slay the pale-face hunter -himself. He has cause for revenge!” - -“And has not Bear-Killer cause for revenge?” the Indian almost yelled. -“Look at his face! Yonder white man did this. The pain is like a -thousand tortures. What says the chief? Has he greater cause for revenge -than Bear-Killer?” - -“The chief has greater cause for revenge than Bear-Killer,” said -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah. - -“He has not!” said the Indian, decisively. “Bear-Killer will not be -cheated out his vengeance! He saved the pale-face from the panther that -he might kill him himself!” - -“And the chief has saved him from the vengeance of Bear-Killer that _he_ -might have _his_ revenge!” said Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, with a grim, devilish -smile. “Let the warrior wait, and he shall see the vengeance of a -chief.” - -He advanced toward the tree; and, as he neared it, his gaze fell on the -dead and horribly mangled bodies of the savages who had fallen before -the terrible charge of the Phantom Rider. - -The undergrowth had concealed them from his view until now. - -He started back with a loud cry of surprise and wonder. - -“Did he do it?” he asked, pointing toward the swaying white man. - -“No,” said Bear-Killer, in a voice that was half a gasp. “No; it was—” - -“Who then?” interrogated the chief, in an awed whisper. - -“The Spirit Warrior.” - -“_The Spirit Warrior!_” - -The chief reiterated the words in a dazed sort of way, like one under -some subtle spell, while for an instant a shudder seemed to convulse his -massive frame, causing it to shake like an aspen. - -“Yes,” said Bear-Killer, “it was the Spirit Warrior—the spirit of the -outcast chief, Meno. When will Meno’s vengeance be complete?“ - -“When Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and all his braves are no more! When the sons of -the red-men who tortured their own chief to death are all numbered with -the dead! Then, and not before, will the vengeance of the outcast and -murdered sachem, Meno, be complete. Every day brings it nearer the end!” - -The two Indians started as though a keen-edged knife had pierced their -vitals. Then they stood transfixed with fear, staring into each other’s -eyes as if to inquire the source of the answer that had come to -Bear-Killer’s question almost before it had left his lips. - -The tones of the voice that had spoken the words were hollow, and the -weird and terrible menace seemed to be borne to them on the winds from -afar off, in a wild, ghastly chant that thrilled every fiber of their -superstitious beings with a vague horror that they could not shake off. - -The dismal wailing of the wind through the forest trees, the sullen roar -of the storm which had set in a little while before, and the monotonous -dashing of the cataract below, all combined to inspire them with a sort -of awed dread, that the spirit voice, crying out to them above the crash -of the wind and storm, augmented into a wild, ungovernable fear. - -For several moments, the two Indians stood silent and motionless, -neither daring to speak or stir. - -For a few seconds the wind was hushed and the dashing storm seemed to -have spent its fury. - -Then in an instant it seemed as if the storm demon had sent forth all -his forces of wind and sleet. Trees were blown over, limbs were flying -hither and thither, and the wind increased to a perfect tornado, wailing -and shrieking like a regiment of fiends. The Indians saw that the white -man was swinging to and fro at a fearful rate. It seemed as though the -lasso must break at every oscillation. He vibrated backward through a -space of fully twenty feet. They could not keep their footing, and were -obliged to throw themselves prostrate on the ground. - -High above the fearful roar, and crashing of uprooted trees and fallen -limbs, loud and clear above the shrieking of the wind, was borne to them -again the voice of Meno, the Spirit Warrior: - -“Let Ku-nan-gu-no-nah beware! Meno’s vengeance will overtake him. He -will die a more horrible death than even his devilish mind can -comprehend! Let him beware!” - -The two Indians remained motionless upon the earth, trembling at every -joint. Although giant trees were being uprooted on every hand and -massive limbs were falling all around them, they were unharmed. - -Clancy Vere’s peril was imminent. - -The tree, from a branch of which he was suspended, groaned and cracked -under the force of the storm, threatening momentarily to break loose -from its place in the bank and go crashing over the precipice. - -Even if the stout roots remained firm in their hold on the earth, the -cord by which he hung was liable to be jerked asunder at any oscillation -of his body; and he would shoot headlong down into the seething flood -underneath and be swept to destruction over the waterfall below. - -A quarter of an hour passed, during which the two savages did not arise -from their recumbent position and the spirit voice did not again speak. - -The tree remained firm and the lasso seemed to deride all attempts on -the part of the tempest to break it. It would crack, but it would not -part. - -Thus far, Clancy Vere had been saved; but he was still unconscious, and -had not realized the terrible danger that had menaced him. - -Soon the storm began to abate somewhat. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and Bear-Killer got upon their feet by-and-by, when the -fury of the storm was in a measure spent. - -Their sharp sense of bearing had been keenly alert to catch any further -words from the Spirit Warrior. But they did not hear the terrible, -menacing voice again. - -“It has gone,” said the chief. - -“Yes,” assented Bear-Killer, in a tone of relief. “We shall hear it no -more to-day. It went away on the storm.” - -“The vengeance of Meno is terrible!” said the chief, with a shudder. -“But we are safe now. Now for my revenge!” - -“Stop,” said Bear-Killer. “We will draw lots. I, too have come here for -vengeance on the white hunter.” - -The chief grunted a guttural and very unwilling compliance to this -proposition. - -“We must hurry,” he said, “or he will be dead. He is almost dead now.” - -Bear-Killer made a very small mark on the trunk of the tree. - -“The one that throws his tomahawk the nearest to the mark wins,” said -he. - -They took their places almost on the verge of the high bluff on which -they were standing. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah threw first. - -His tomahawk buried itself in the tree-trunk, within half an inch of the -mark. - -There was a baleful glow in Bear-Killer’s wolfish eyes as he poised his -weapon, a treacherous glitter that the chief did not fail to notice. -Just as the handle of the tomahawk was slipping out of his grasp, the -chief dealt him a powerful blow on the side of the head. He staggered a -moment and his body swayed to and fro as he tried to regain his balance -on the very edge of the bank. The next instant his wild death-yell came -up from below! - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - THE GIANT’S STORY. - - -Darke noted the angry flash in the dwarf’s little black eyes, as he -nodded an eager assent to his brother’s strange question, and wondered -not a little what the “one great purpose” of this queerly assorted -pair’s lives was; but he forbore to question the giant, not doubting -that, if it was not some secret that they did not wish to disclose, he -would explain himself in good time. And this belief was not far from -correct, as the giant hunter’s next words attested. He sat down on a -stool near at hand; and as Alonphilus came and stood at his side, he -said: - -“Yes; wer’e livin’ for some purpose. We have given our lives up to -revenge! Wer’e a-gittin’ revenge every day, hain’t we, ’Lon?” - -The dwarf’s round little pate was bent forward again until Darke just -caught the glitter of the dusky eye under the broad rim of his slouch -hat; and this he interpreted to be a token of assent to the giant’s -question. As his face was raised to view again, he thought he saw the -dwarf’s mute lips move, as if in an attempt to speak, and he imagined -that volumes of vindictive, vengeful words were struggling for -utterance. But the dumb tongue was incapable of expressing even a tithe -of the dark passion that was written on every lineament of the pigmy’s -face. - -“And we’ve anuff to be revenged for, God knows!” Leander Maybob went on. -“We can’t never wipe out of our memories our old father and mother that -the red devils murdered in cool blood; we can’t never forgit the awful -sight our eyes rested onto, when we came home from a hunt one morning; -we can’t never wipe this out of our minds. But, the just God helpin’ us, -we’ll wipe every one of their murderers off o’ the earth before we die! -The devil that led them shall die a more horrible death than even his -own hellish mind has planned for his poor helpless victims! We’ve done a -deal t’ward fulfillin’ our vow in the past six years; eh, ’Lon? We’ve -made many a savage bite the dust in that time!” - -The dwarf’s hand darted into the bosom of his hairy vestment; it came -out again in an instant, and he held up to Darke’s view a deer-skin -string about four feet in length, which was knotted almost from one end -to the other. - -He touched each knot in succession with the forefinger of his right -hand, accompanying every motion with a nod of the head. - -“There’s just a hundred an’ forty-eight knots,” said the big hunter; -“and every one on ’em is a red-skin’s eppytoph!” - -That slender strip of deer-skin, simple and harmless as it appeared, -told a ghastly story of conflict and of death and of half-sated -vengeance! - -“We’ll git our hands on him yet,” the big hunter went on. “We’ve had -chances to kill him of’en enough; but jest a common death ain’t enough -fer him. He desarves more; an’ I want to give him his jest desarts. He -must die an awful death! Our vengeance’ll overhaul him yet, ’Lon. Then -you may tie a double knot! We’ll give him two varses to his eppytoph; -eh, ’Lon?” - -The dwarf nodded, touched the hilt of his hunting-knife significantly, -and made motions as if to tie a knot in the string which he still held -in his hand. - -“Of whom do you speak?” queried Darke, as he supported himself on his -elbow. - -“The red fiend that led the attack on our cabin! The devil that shot my -mother and carried my old father’s white scalp away in his belt! Hain’t -we got reason plenty fer vengeance? Do ye wonder that we hunt, and kill -Indians as you would kill serpints? Do ye think it’s strange that we -don’t want to let that red imp die a common way?” - -The big hunter had arisen while he spoke, drawing his Titanic form up to -its full hight. The expression on his face was terrible to look upon. As -he finished, he brought his ponderous clenched fist down, striking it in -the horny palm of his other hand. - -Drake half shuddered. - -“No—_no_!” he cried. “No death—no torture on earth is horrible enough to -be meet punishment for the atrocities of such a fiend incarnate! Is he -an Indian chief?” - -The giant nodded. His ungovernable rage seemed to have entirely spent -itself, and he did not speak; but stood with folded arms and downcast -eyes, his massive frame as motionless as though carved out of the solid -rock around them. - -Alonphilus seemed to partake keenly of this feeling of undying, -inveterate hatred of the Indians. His face wore a hard, implacable look, -and he kept drawing the record of their vengeance slowly through his -fingers from one hand to the other, as if he longed to tie the short end -of it that was yet unmarked by the little death register into one great -hard knot, that could never be entangled, in commemoration of the -passage from this life to the next of the murderer of his parents and -the triumphant consummation of their terrible work of vengeance. - -The spell that was on the big hunter was only momentary, and it was but -a minute or two before he was himself again; and he signified his -willingness to resume the conversation by saying, as he reseated himself -on the stool at the side of the couch of skins on which Darke reclined: - -“Well, I heerd Elder Fugwoller say onc’t—and he was college l’arnt—‘It’s -a long tow-path, or cow-path, or suthin’, as hasn’t got no turns into -’em;’ and I believe it’s true as gospil.” - -The dwarf turned and walked across the cavern, and, pushing aside the -dividing curtain, disappeared within the inner apartment, replacing the -death record in his bosom as he did so. - -“The day of retribution is sure to come at last. It is not often that -the guilty escape punishment,” said Darke. “It is sure to overtake them -sooner or later. God’s justice is certain!” - -“I’m a-thinkin’,” returned Leander Maybob, “as how Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s -tow path or cow-path’ll take a mighty unexpected turn some day!” - -“Ku-nan-gu-no-nah!” - -The big hunter seemed surprised at Darke’s sudden exclamation. - -“Yes,” he said, “that’s the devil’s name. Do you know him? Have _you_ -got an account ag’in’ him?” - -“Yes,” cried Darke, sitting bolt upright on the couch, while a hard, -stern look settled on his face. “Yes; I believe I have. And I am going -to present it for settlement the very first time I see him!” - -“What do you mean?” the other asked, evincing no small degree of -interest in the words and actions of Darke. “Has he ever—” - -“I’ll tell you,” interrupted Darke. “Then you’ll understand how it is. -We—I mean Vinnie, my motherless daughter, and myself—live alone in our -little cabin. There is no one to keep us company and no one that I can -leave with her when, as I am often compelled to do, I go in search of -game out into the woods. Sometimes I am absent a whole day together; but -I never stay away over night. Some time last summer, while Vinnie was -wandering through the edge of wood that skirts our little clearing, -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah saw her and conceived the idea of making her his wife. -Always choosing times when I was away, he has several times come to my -cabin; trying to persuade Vinnie to go with him to his wigwam and become -his squaw. He has never offered her violence, but the last time, failing -to induce her to do as he wished, he threatened to abduct her and bear -her away to the Indian village. I have left her a pistol to be used as a -protector, and she has not been brought up on the frontier without -learning how to handle it. I am staying away to-day, I fear, longer than -I ought to. I hope I shall be able to go home soon. How long is it since -you brought me here? I begin to feel stronger, as if I could walk easily -enough now. Have I been here long, did you say?” - -“I lugged ye in here som’eres about the middle of the a’ternoon,” -replied the other, “and it’s purty near night now. ’Lon’s comin’ back -with the glims now. You’ve b’en here som’ere’s about three or four -hours. D’ye b’lieve yer fit to travel now?” - -“Yes,” said Darke. “I think all my strength has come back. I do not feel -weak or faint; but my head aches terribly—that’s all. I must go.” - -The dwarf entered at this juncture, bearing four or five pitch-pine -torches, which he lighted and stuck into niches in the rocky walls of -the cavern. - -“I s’pose ye calkilate to shoot him?” said Leander Maybob, eagerly. “I -s’pose ye’ll kill him. ’Twould only jest be in the natur’ of things fer -ye to do so; but I wish ye wouldn’t. I wish ye wouldn’t harm a hair of -his head. Ye see he can’t die only onc’t; and if you kill him he won’t -suffer only one death. If we wipe him out, he’ll hev to die a hundred -deaths in one! If ye jest load a gun in the common way and fire it off, -that’s all there is of it; but if ye puts in a good many loads and rams -’em down good till ye’ve got it chuck full cl’ar to the muzzle, and then -manage some way to git out of danger and gives the trigger a leetle -jerk, why then ye’ll bu’st the ’tarnal thing. Ye see when we tech -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah off, we calkilates to bu’st him. I wish ye’d jest let -us pay it all off together—your score and our own. What d’ye say?” - -“You know a man always feels better for taking his own revenge,” said -Darke. “It’s more satisfactory.” - -“Yes, I know ’tis,” replied the big hunter. “I know ’tis, and I wouldn’t -nohow let any man take our job outen our hands; but when I tell ye our -story, I b’lieve ye’ll agree as we’re the ones that ought to have the -prime chance at Ku-nan-gu-no-nah. If I’ll tell it to ye, ye’ll jest give -the subjick a few minutes thort, won’t ye?” - -“I should like very much to hear your story,” said Darke; “and I’ll -consider what you have proposed.” - -It is unnecessary that we should follow Leander Maybob through the -somewhat tedious length of recital, during which he made many pauses and -numerous repetitions; but we will give the reader the substance of his -sad story. - -The giant hunter had, with his dwarf brother and his parents, -considerably advanced in life, come from the East seven years before, -and erected a pioneer’s cabin at a place down the river twenty or -twenty-five miles from their cavern lodge. They commenced making a -little clearing, and for several months all went well; although the -Indians made almost daily visits to their forest home, they never -molested any thing or offered any violence. The days went by and they -began to fancy themselves secure from any harm from the savages. But -they put too much faith in their treacherous natures. When Darke heard -how a band of the dusky fiends, led by Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, attacked the -old settler’s cabin one dark, stormy night in the absence of his -sons—when he heard how the stout-hearted, gray-haired old man and his -feeble wife had been driven out, after defending their cabin and their -lives gallantly for nearly two hours, by the flames which were devouring -their little log home, whose rough walls had warded off the Indians’ -bullets, which had rallied harmlessly from their sides; how they had -been butchered as they came out from the roaring, crackling mass—when -the giant avenger told him with a moisture suffusing his eyes of the -return next morning of himself and Alonphilus and the heart-sickening -sight they beheld; when he heard all this, he could not wonder that -these strange brothers had taken a solemn and fearful vow to avenge -their parents’ death. He knew that their claim on the life of the chief -was greater than his; so he said, as he arose from the couch—for he was -much stronger now: - -“I will promise you this. Unless I find it absolutely necessary to -protect myself or mine, I will try to forego my revenge on -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and leave him to your disposal. Is this satisfactory? I -believe you have a better right to kill him than I.” - -“Thank ye!” said the big hunter, grasping Darke’s hand and squeezing it -almost painfully in his bony fingers. “Thank ye, Mr. Darke. It seems as -how I can’t thank ye enough!” - -“Never mind the thanks,” said Darke. “I am your debtor. You took me in -when—” - -“There! that’ll do,” interrupted Leander. “Come.” - -As he ceased speaking, he turned and led the way into the inner -apartment of the cavern. - -Darke felt quite well now, with the exception of an acute pain in his -head, and he followed his strange entertainer with no difficulty -whatever. - -The place where he now found himself resembled the outer cavern a good -deal, only it was much smaller and contained a sort of rude fireplace, -on the hearth of which a bright fire was blazing merrily, sending -showers of sparks up a narrow fissure that served as an outlet for the -smoke; in short, it was a natural chimney, and could not have answered -its purpose better had it been built up of stone and mortar in the usual -way. Another small apartment was curtained off from this in the same -manner that the two larger apartments of the cavern were separated from -each other, only the curtain of pelts was closely drawn, as if special -pains had been taken to shut out the interior from the view of any one -in the other part of the cave. - -The big hunter motioned Darke to a seat on the stool near the fire, and -then, followed by the dwarf, passed into this smaller room, if such it -might be called, carefully closing the curtain behind him. Soon Darke -heard him say something in a subdued tone that he could not understand. -A moment later he caught a few words that caused him to wonder greatly. -Evidently there was a mystery connected with the little apartment. He -heard the rough voice of the big hunter say: - -“Does he show any signs of life yet? Can’t be he’s dead!” - -The next moment they returned, but the giant offered no explanation of -the mystery, whatever it was, and Darke thought best to act as though he -had not overheard the strange words quoted above. A large oaken chest -stood nearly in the center of the place; and on its lid Alonphilus had -arranged a savory supper of broiled venison. - -The brothers each drew a stool up by the side of this strange table, and -Leander invited Darke cordially to do the same. - -After he had partaken of the food so hospitably proffered by his -new-found friends, he announced his intention to depart at once for -home. The big hunter told him that it was already growing dark outside, -and he knew that he must have been away from Vinnie at least five hours, -now; and he feared that she would grow uneasy if he did not return soon. - -He thanked the twin avengers for their kindness and was about to go, -when he saw Alonphilus raise one end of the chest as if to carry it to -some other part of the cavern. He stood close at hand, and he laid hold -of the other handle to assist the dwarf in its removal. - -They had gone but a few paces, however, when Alonphilus tripped and -fell, dropping his part of the burden to the ground; and the sudden jar -caused the other handle to slip from Darke’s grasp. The chest -overturned, the cover flying back as it did so, and its contents rolled -out at the woodman’s feet with a weird, ghastly rattle as it struck the -rocky floor. Darke, strong, brave man though he was, started back with a -quick, sharp cry of alarm. - -White and terrible at his feet, lay _a grinning, horrible skeleton of -gigantic proportions_! - -“Our secret! Our secret!” cried the big hunter, hoarsely. “You hev -diskivered our secret!” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - LOST IN THE FOREST. - - -Still crouching down by the great tree-trunk at the entrance of the -cavern lodge of the Maybob twins, in whose care her father, of whom the -reader recollects she came out in search, was at that very moment, -though she knew it not, and had no knowledge of the cave itself, Vinnie -watched, as best she might, through the blinding storm, the approach of -the rider of the white horse and his mysterious burden. Death, desisting -for a moment from his persistent pawing of the earth at the base of the -rock that had defied the girl’s weak attempts at removal a few minutes -before, came, and standing close beside her, poked his sharp nose out -through the bushes that grew thick around the foot of the tree, and -watched with his keen eyes the horseman, who was coming nearer every -moment. - -She could not see the man’s face very distinctly, for he wore a wide, -slouch hat that, when he bent far forward on his horse, to prevent the -sleet from beating into his eyes and mouth, almost entirely concealed it -from view. - -But the mysterious burden that he carried before him was plainly -visible, and seemed, perhaps because of its very mystery, to have a sort -of weird fascination for her. - -She could not see the object, itself; it was so closely rolled in and so -carefully protected from the driving storm by the heavy black wrap that -entirely enveloped it from head to foot—for she had firmly determined -that it was a human form. Only one question remained unsolved in her -mind now. - -“Was it alive or dead?” - -While she yet pondered on this mystery, and with her eyes on the -horseman, every thing—the white horse—its rider—the man or woman, or -corpse, that he had carried before him—whatever it was that was hidden -from sight so effectually within the folds of that _pall_—she could not -believe it was any thing else—while yet she saw him coming toward the -place of her concealment, all vanished from her sight as suddenly and as -surely as though the earth had opened and swallowed them up. - -She uttered a little cry of consternation. Then she rubbed her eyes and -looked again. - -But there was nothing there, where the man and the horse and that other -_thing_ had been, only the falling storm, still raging with all its -fury. - -What could it mean? - -She asked herself this question shudderingly, while, in her fear, she -clung around the neck of her great brute companion, glad in the terror -that possessed her of the company which he, dumb animal though he was, -could be to her. - -The blood-hound had never, for an instant, removed his gaze from the -place where the mysterious horseman, with his black burden, had so -unaccountably disappeared a few moments before; and while Vinnie’s arms -were yet around his neck he tore himself from her embrace and darted out -of sight among the shrubbery that grew dense and heavy about the spot. - -Vinnie called to him repeatedly, but he did not come back. She waited, -then called again and again with a like result. The dog did not come; -nor could she hear him beating about the undergrowth. - -Had he deserted her? - -She would not believe it; and she cried again, her voice almost losing -itself in the roar of the storm: - -“Death! Death! Death, come back! Here, Death—good old fellow! Come -back!” - -Again she waited and listened. - -The wind and storm were all the sounds she heard. - -Then it seemed to come to her all at once that she was alone. Even her -brute protector had deserted her. - -All alone in the tempest that was raging through the forest like a -thousand furies! - -“He has gone!” she quavered, hugging the tree-trunk closer, as a gust of -wind wilder than any before swept through the forest, uprooting a large -sycamore not far away, and blowing the covering off from her head; -letting the sleet dash in its sharp, cutting way into her face. “He is -gone,” she repeated with slow iteration, “and I am all alone!” - -She thought of returning to the cabin; but she dared not face the storm. -It was almost certain death to attempt to make her way home with the -storm at its hight and while trees were falling almost constantly, and -branches flying hither and thither all the time, crashing through the -tree-tops and whirling in mid-air as though they had been but feathers -instead of massive pieces of wood. - -She dared not venture out of her shelter. So she shrunk back as far as -possible and waited. Perhaps the storm would abate somewhat after a -while. She hoped it would; and this was her one bit of comfort. - -In an hour’s time the tempest seemed to have spent its fury. The wild -roar of the wind had dwindled to a low, mournful moaning, and the sleet -had ceased to fall; but the rain fell in a slow, monotonous drizzle that -seemed likely to continue through the night. - -The afternoon was now very far advanced, but it lacked more than an hour -of nightfall. - -Vinnie arose to her feet now, and walked slowly back, as nearly as she -could find her way, over the trail she had come. She followed it without -much difficulty for a short distance, but by and by when she lost sight -of the indistinct pathway that led away from the cavern, she was obliged -to be guided solely by her judgment of what direction she ought to take -to reach her father’s cabin. - -For nearly an hour she kept on, picking her way through the thick -undergrowth, and climbing over fallen trees and heaps of the _debris_ of -the storm which was scattered through the length and breadth of the -forest. It was beginning to grow dark, and the cold November rain kept -falling slowly and steadily. The sky was overcast with black clouds. -Vinnie felt that she made but slow progress, hasten as she might. The -night, when it came, would be very dark, and she dreaded lest it might -overtake her before she reached home. - -With wildly beating heart she pressed on; and soon the landmarks began -to grow familiar to her. She was weary and almost heartsick; but she -began to feel more hopeful. Things along her way looked more and more as -though she had seen them before every minute. Was she nearing the cabin? -She thought so. - -She had kept a sharp look-out for the clearing that her father had made -around their forest-home, but she could see nothing to remind her of it. - -She kept on bravely, though, never doubting one minute that she would -catch a glimpse of the cabin through the trees the next. - -The trees on either hand appeared familiar. She was feeling really -hopeful now. - -“I’ll be there in a few moments, I’m sure,” she said to herself as -cheerily as she could. “That old crooked sycamore there looks like an -old acquaintance! The clearing must be just ahead!” - -She pressed onward quite hopefully now; and, five minutes later, she -found herself—just where she had started from an hour before. There was -the rock that she had tried in vain to move, and the great tree behind -whose sturdy trunk she had found a partial shelter from the storm! - -She staggered back, clutching at a bush for support. - -“My God!” she moaned, “I am lost!” - -She sunk down on the wet earth almost despairfully. - -Then her old brave spirit reasserted itself. - -“What a poor miserable little coward I am!” she exclaimed, almost angry -with herself. “What can I do that is more likely to get me out of my -trouble than to try again?” - -It was growing dark very fast now and the cold rain was falling as -slowly and monotonously as ever; but she would not allow herself to -think of either the coming night or the drizzling rain—and she set out -for home a second time quite bravely. - -It was no desirable task that she had before her, and she did not look -upon her weary walk as a mere pleasure trip, by any means. Still that -bold, hopeful spirit that had borne her up through her adventures with -the chief that afternoon was with her now; and she was far from being -despondent. - -“If I try, and keep trying,” she mused, as she hurried on, “I may reach -home in safety by-and-by; and if I am really lost and must stay in the -forest, I suppose there is very little choice in sleeping-places. So, -upon the whole, I think I had better keep traveling about as long as I -can. I will try and not get faint-hearted again, anyway.” - -In twenty minutes it was dark as Erebus! - -Still the girl pressed bravely forward through the night. She could no -longer see with any certainty. Keeping any specific course was out of -the question; and it was with great difficulty that she kept her feet, -at times, among the fallen trees and tangled undergrowth. But she tried -to keep a bold heart. - -Glancing ahead, through the blackness, to a dense thicket just in -advance, she saw something that made her pause in terror. It was a pair -of eyes! - -Vinnie stood quite still, too much frightened to stir or cry out. That -pair of fixed, fiery eyes had a sort of weird fascination for her. - -All at once, while she yet looked at them, she felt the blood leaving -her heart, and an awful terror took possession of her whole being. - -The eyes were slowly and unmistakably advancing toward her! - -She tottered back a step or two with a low cry. Just then there was a -loud report near at hand. An unearthly screech, half-human, rung out on -the night-air. The eyes seemed to shoot up a few feet and then they -disappeared. - -A man came dashing through the undergrowth, and in a moment he stood -beside her. - -“Vinnie!” - -“Oh, father!” - -“Don’t be afraid, little one,” Darke said, reassuringly. “It was a -panther; but it is dead now. It is a fearful night. Let us hurry home. -When we get there, you must tell me how you came here.” - -He took her hand in his and they hastened on through the night. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - A BAFFLED VENGEANCE. - - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah had not intended to push Bear-Killer over the bluff. He -knew that treachery was one of his strongest characteristics, and -fearful lest in some manner he should lose his revenge, or rather his -chance for revenge, on his white rival, he watched him narrowly as he -made ready to hurl his tomahawk in the trial of skill he had proposed to -determine which of the two should put the unconscious young hunter to -death; and he detected almost instantly the intention of Bear-Killer to -act in accordance with this his most prominent trait of character. - -He saw that the treacherous brave was poising his tomahawk to throw, not -at the mark on the tree-trunk, but at the head of their victim! - -All the quick, wild passion of his fierce nature was aroused in an -instant. - -He was not one to brook treachery. - -With a cry of rage, he struck Bear-Killer a sudden powerful blow with -his fist. - -The doomed savage lost his balance and toppled over the precipice. - -While yet his wild death yell rung out on the storm, Ku-nan-gu-no-nah -threw himself flat on the ground, and craning his neck out over the -bank, looked down into the foaming water below. - -At first he saw nothing but the jagged rocks and the tossing flood. -Then, a little down-stream, the dusky face of his victim was visible for -an instant amid the eddying waters, then it sunk from sight forever. - -“He will be carried over the waterfall,” said the chief. “He will lodge -on the rocks below. I will send the pale-face after him, and he can take -his revenge down there. He will not dispute my right to the first -chance. I will take my revenge now. He can have his afterward—all he can -get!” - -There was no place in the red fiend’s heart, for remorse for any evil -deed. He had looked upon the whole affair as a fortunate accident that -had rid him of one who stood in his way—nothing more! - -He arose from the ground and turned his gaze upon his hated and -senseless rival. - -It would be impossible to depict the fierce rage and triumph that -flashed from the chief’s eyes, as he regarded his victim. - -Clancy was still swaying slowly backward and forward over the whirling, -roaring waters far below, that seemed to be filled with hoarse, -clamorous voices, crying aloud for his life. - -The motion of his body was more gentle now that the wind had died down. -The lasso no longer jerked and cracked, threatening to break and let him -down into the jaws of death, gaping wide below. - -He hung pulseless and heavy, like a man that was dead—there was neither -a tremor nor a pulsation to tell if he lived or not. - -A hand placed on his heart would have felt the faintest kind of a -flutter; that was all! - -He was alive, but for how long? - -It was impossible for Ku-nan-gu-no-nah to touch him from the bank. - -He was uncertain whether he was yet alive. - -But if he clove his head with his tomahawk, he would be sure that he was -dead. - -Was he going to wreak vengeance for a fancied wrong, on his vital, -breathing rival, or on his soulless body? - -He did not know. He knew that the soul would leave the body before his -vengeance was accomplished! If the form swaying before him was alive now -he would leave it dead. - -Was he going to tomahawk a man or a corpse? - -He did not know, and he did not care! - -With an expression of fiendish exultation on his dark, evil face, he -took a position not more than twenty feet distant from Vere, and drew -his tomahawk. - -Long practice had made him an adept in the use of his favorite weapon, -and he poised it instantly, without any apparent care. He was sure of -his aim at such close range, and in a second the tomahawk went whirling -out of his hand. - -But it missed its human mark by six inches, and fell with a dull splash -into the water. - -The wind and the swinging motion of the young hunter had baffled him! - -He uttered a deep curse, and drew a small pistol from his belt. - -To cock it and bring the sights to a level with his eye was but the work -of a moment. He pulled the trigger. There was a click as the hammer came -down—that was all. - -It was not loaded! - -Clancy Vere remained unharmed. - -The hand of Providence was in it! - -With a low cry of baffled rage, he set about loading the pistol. He had -accomplished it in a minute. Would any thing baffle him now? - -He cocked it, put on a cap, and took careful aim at Clancy’s head. - -There was a flash and a sharp report. - -He ran to the edge of the bank and examined his intended victim’s face -critically; and there was nothing to indicate that the shot had been -effective. Surely it had not touched his face, and there was nothing -that looked like a bullet-hole in any part of the young hunter’s -deer-skin clothing. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah was almost frantic with impotent rage. - -In his ungovernable passion, before, at being twice baffled, he had -neglected to put a ball in the pistol! - -This explained why he had, as he thought, although he had taken accurate -aim, missed his mark. - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah was a great warrior in his tribe. When he went on the -war-path he always returned laden with scalps and other ghastly trophies -of rapine and murder. Besides this he was looked upon as the best shot -among all the braves who acknowledged his authority as chief and leader. - -Now he seemed to have lost his skill, and his rage and chagrin were -unbounded. - -With a snarl like that of a caged tiger, he threw the pistol over the -bluff. - -“Maybe it will go down to Bear-Killer,” he said. “It’s good enough for -him! He won’t do much fine shooting now, I guess! Maybe he will have his -revenge on the pale-face with it. I’m going to cut the lasso and send -him down, too, now. I think Sun-Hair, the squaw magician, has saved him -to-day with her devil-box, some way. I’ll cut the lasso, and see if she -can keep him from falling into the water! A tomahawk won’t kill him, and -a pistol is just as powerless to do him harm!” As he ceased speaking, he -drew his hunting-knife and ran his finger along its edge. - -The result of the examination was apparently satisfactory—the blade was -sharp. - -“I don’t believe she can hold him up in the air after the lasso is cut,” -he muttered. - -Replacing the hunting-knife in his belt, he advanced to the root of the -tree, and began climbing up its trunk. - -In two or three minutes he had gained the limb to which the end of the -lasso was secured. - -Crawling slowly along it—for it was not large, and the waters pitching -and tossing underneath made his head swim just a trifle—he worked his -way out to the place where the lasso was tied. How the water roared and -rung in his ears! - -He swung himself astride of the limb, clutching it with his left hand to -make his position more secure, while with his right he disengaged his -knife and dropped its keen edge on the lasso where it was passed several -times around the projecting branch. - -Just then a sudden gust of wind swept past, causing the tree to sway a -little. - -Quick as thought he placed the end of the horn handle of his knife -between his teeth and with both hands clung to the branch on which he -sat. It swung from side to side two or three times, and the chief reeled -for a moment as if he had lost his balance, he gripped the branch with -the energy of desperation, his sharp nails sinking into the rough bark, -and his swarthy face turned to an ashen hue. - -In a minute or two the branch became motionless and he was once more -securely seated, with one hand clinging to the limb and one foot twisted -in the lasso in such a manner that he could disengage it at the instant -of cutting the knot. - -His situation was a perilous one, but his mind was so intent on the -hellish work he was braving so much to accomplish that he heeded it not. - -The least motion of the tree—a sudden gust of wind—a false movement on -his part—the merest trifle would bring upon him the death he had planned -for the man swinging below, who, until the lasso should be severed, was -more secure than he. Again he clutched the keen-edged hunting-knife, and -was about to draw it across the coils of the lariat. - -A strange sound arrested his attention. - -It was the voice of a man. - -Steadying himself in his seat, he turned his head. - -He beheld a sight so startling that he almost loosened his grip on the -limb. The knife slipped from his grasp and he held on with both hands. - -A white man stood on the bank not ten yards distant, with a rifle -leveled at his head. - -He was a very tall and very massive man, of very grotesque appearance; -and when the reader is told that it was Leander Maybob, the giant -hunter, and no one else, a personal description is unnecessary. The -muzzle of his rifle pointed steadily at the Indian’s head, and he said -in a rough tone of command that the chief was afraid to disobey, and, at -the same time fearful to obey: - -“Come down!” - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah realized that the time occupied in the passage of a -bullet from the big hunter’s unerring rifle to his brain would be very -short. - -He attempted to hitch backward along the limb and came near losing his -hold and shooting down into the roaring water below. - -He looked at the giant in a half despairful way, which he only noticed -by saying: - -“Come down, or I’ll shoot!” - -Again he essayed to move himself backward along the limb. It was a -perilous undertaking, but death stared him grimly in the face, let him -look whichever way he would. - -Once more. This time he swayed so far to one side that it was with the -greatest difficulty that he regained his equipoise on top of the branch. - -Now he turned his gaze for an instant again to the man on the bank who -held his rifle in his hands—the man whose father and mother he had -murdered, though he knew it not. - -If he had known the terrible oath of vengeance that the giant hunter had -registered against him, he would have chosen to strangle in the stream -underneath rather than to fall into his hands. - -He paused a moment, shuddering as he half lost his hold on the limb. - -Again that stern command rung in his ears: - -“Come down!” - -His efforts at moving along the branch toward the body of the tree were -attended with better success, now that the limb began to grow larger and -his seat more secure. Still his progress was very slow. He could have -moved forward easily enough, but he dared not turn around. - -When he paused to take breath a moment, he heard the big hunter say in -his implacable voice: - -“Come! D’ye want ter be shot?” - -He exerted himself to the utmost, and five minutes later slid down the -trunk of the tree and stood doggedly before his captor. - -“Ku-nan-gu-no-nah is a great chief, ain’t he?” the giant said, -tauntingly. “He climbs trees and can’t get down ag’in without help. -Ain’t ye glad I happened along ter help ye down? He is a mighty warrior! -He goes with twenty or thirty of his greasy braves in the night to kill -and scalp a white-haired old man and a decrepit old woman! Some time I’m -goin’ ter wipe ye out, ye cowardly red divil! but not now. I’m goin’ ter -let yer live a little longer, and then when I git ready to kill ye, -you’ll suffer as many awful deaths as all of your victims put together! -Yer can go, now. I’m done with yer for the present. Come, don’t stand -there! Go!” - -He drew his rifle to his face and kept it aimed at the Indian’s head -till he had gone out of sight. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - A WELCOME VISITOR. - - -Hand in hand Vinnie and her father hurried on through the storm and -darkness. The way was intricate and difficult to travel; but a good -half-hour’s walk brought them to the edge of the clearing, and the weary -girl greeted the sight of the cabin, which looked like a large square -patch of blackness, through the gloom, with feelings of grateful -satisfaction. - -It was the work of but a few moments for Darke, while Vinnie lighted a -candle, to rekindle the fire that had burned out during their absence. -The girl set the light on the table, and almost exhausted with the -vicissitudes of the past few hours, threw herself upon a seat. The fire -was now crackling merrily on the hearth, sending showers of sparks up -the wide chimney, and Darke, divesting himself of his hunting-shirt and -belt, stood before its genial blaze to dry the water that adhered to his -deer-skin apparel. When he took off his wide-rimmed hat and, after -shaking off the rain, tossed it into a corner, Vinnie noticed for the -first time that his head was bandaged about with a white cloth. The hat -had concealed it before, and he had not spoken of it, or asked her any -questions as they came home; his mind being filled with the mystery of -the oaken chest and its horrible contents and the strange words of the -giant hunter in regard to his discovery of their “secret.” He had made -no reply to these words. He could make none except to regret the -accident that had brought to his notice any thing that the twin avengers -did not wish him to see; and thanking them again for the kindness they -had extended to him, he came away. - -Vinnie arose and coming over to where he was standing put her hand on -his arm, saying, anxiously: - -“You are hurt, papa! I knew something had happened to you, or Death -would never have acted so strangely. Tell me about it, won’t you? Does -it pain you much? What can I do for you?” - -“Nothing, little one. It is well enough now. The pain is very slight, -and it is well cared for already. I don’t think of any thing that would -make it any better. But where is the dog? I don’t see him here. I know -he came here after I was hurt. Did he go out with you into the forest?” - -“Yes,” she replied with a smile. “Or I went with him, rather. I would -not have gone if it had not been for him.” - -“Tell me about it, child,” said the woodman, eagerly. Then noticing for -the first time, the electric machine on the table which Vinnie had left -open just as she had used it that afternoon, and the magic slippers -still attached to the battery and lying on the floor near by, he went -on. “Have you been taking a private shock or enjoying an electric jig -all by yourself?” - -“No,” she replied, coolly enough, as though it was the most trivial of -incidents she was speaking of, instead of a struggle for more than life -with a bloodthirsty savage. “I have not been electrizing myself; but -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah called here this afternoon while you were gone and I -guess I shocked him considerably. He seemed to be not a little affected -by the experiments of which he was the subject. I think he entertains -quite an exalted idea of my attainments as an electrician.” - -“What do you mean, girl?” he asked, excitedly, placing a hand on either -shoulder and looking down into her face in a curious, half-startled way. -“I don’t understand you. Has that bloody-hearted devil been here to-day? -Explain yourself! Tell me what you mean!” - -Seating herself before the fire, while her father listened eagerly, -interrupting her often with exclamations of surprise and anger, she told -him the story of the afternoon’s adventures from the time of his -departure from the cabin to the moment when he came to her deliverance -in the forest as she recoiled in terror before the approach of that pair -of lurid eyes, not omitting the mysterious disappearance of the white -horse and its rider, and the limp, helpless burden that, rolled in the -pall-like cloth, he carried before him across his saddle, and her -subsequent unaccountable desertion by the blood-hound. - -Darke was convinced from her description of the place, that she had -witnessed this strange scene somewhere in the vicinity of the twin -avengers’ cavern lodge; and he recalled to mind the words that he had -overheard the big hunter speak in the small, closely-curtained apartment -of the cave. - -He seemed to hear them again, so vividly were they impressed on his -mind: - -“Does he show any signs of life yet? Can’t be he’s dead!” - -Was there any connection between these unexplained words and the mystery -of the white horse and its rider? Were they in any way identified? - -Darke thought so. - -He stood leaning against the rude mantelpiece over the fireplace for -several minutes, his mind busy with conjectures. But no satisfactory -explanation came to the relief of his mystified mind; and the mystery of -the oaken chest, the secret of the Maybob twins, the strange words of -the giant hunter, and the disappearing horse and man, persisted in -remaining as deep a mystery as ever. - -Vinnie, who was naturally anxious to learn the particulars of her -father’s accident and subsequent protracted absence and fortunate though -unlooked-for appearance in the forest at the very moment when he could -be instrumental in saving her life, had been regarding him attentively -for a while, waiting for him to speak and not wishing to break in on his -musings. - -“Strange!” he said, at last, looking up suddenly. “What can have become -of the dog? I never knew him to behave so before! It must be that—” - -He was interrupted by a slight noise at the door. He listened intently; -and a moment later the blood-hound’s well-known appeal for admittance -greeted his ear. - -“It is Death!” said Vinnie, hastening to open the door. “He’s come -back!” - -The next moment he sprung into the room, shaking the water in a little -shower from his dripping coat, and leaping gladly against his master, -who returned his tokens of regard with a pat on the head. - -“You deserve a good whipping, you ungallant fellow,” Vinnie said, half -in earnest and half playfully, “for running off and leaving me to get -lost in the woods!” The dog paid little heed to her rebuke, and she -continued, addressing her father: “Maybe if Death could only talk, he -would have a story to tell, too. Perhaps he has discovered the mystery -of the disappearing horseman! But you have not told your story yet. I am -very anxious to hear about your accident, and every thing else that has -happened to you since you went away. You’ll tell me all about it now, -won’t you?” - -And she unclosed his lips with a kiss; and he began at the beginning, -and related his adventures to her, leaving out only that portion which -bore directly on the mysterious secret of which the big hunter had -spoken. He had blundered into a partial knowledge of the private affairs -of his newly-found friends and entertainers, and his rigid ideas of -honor forbade him to make so questionable a return for their -disinterested hospitality as the disclosure of their privacy even to -Vinnie, whom he would not have hesitated to intrust with the keeping of -a life-and-death secret, had it been his own. - -“It has been an eventful afternoon to us both,” said Vinnie, after she -had heard him through, “and as far as I am concerned, I do not know that -I am very much the worse for my share of its trials. If you are not -severely injured, I think we may thank our stars for having escaped as -well as we have.” - -“I think so too,” replied her father. “But, my child, you look upon the -perils through which you have passed too lightly. It is no trivial -matter. I shudder when I think of what might have been the ending of -either of your adventures. I believe, of the two, the ravenous, -half-famished panther and that fiend incarnate, Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, the -latter was much more to be dreaded. To the ferocity and -blood-thirstiness of the beast of prey, is added the treachery and -vindictiveness of a devil, and the reasoning powers of the human mind; -and, in his hellishness and subtlety, the chief falls but little short -of Lucifer himself! Do you realize what you have escaped, Vinnie? What -should I have done, little one, if I had lost you to-day? And, Vinnie, -there is another who, I am sure, would find life very void and destitute -of joy did he not dream that some day you might consent to share it with -him. I allude to Clancy Vere. He is a true man in every sense of the -word, and I know of no one to whose loving care I would rather resign -you than his.” - -He had no need to ask her if Clancy Vere’s suit would be successful. He -could read it in her blushes. - -It was growing late now, and as they were somewhat rested, Vinnie set -about the preparation of the evening meal, singing in a low voice, and -building rosy air-castles as she worked, while her father busied himself -with cleaning and reloading his trusty rifle, of which he felt justly -proud; for a truer or more unerring weapon was not to be found for many -a long mile, travel which way soever one might. - -After they had partaken of the supper which Vinnie’s deft hands had -spread neatly upon the table in an incredibly short space of time, Darke -fastened the cabin doors and windows securely for the night. As he -barred the rear door he noticed that it was even darker than when they -came home, and the chill rain was falling yet in a slow, persistent -drizzle. The wind had died down. - -The next morning the storm had ceased, but the sky was overcast, and -every thing as far as the eye could reach bore witness to the fury of -the tempest of the night before. - -Nothing unusual transpired at the cabin during the day; and its inmates -seemed very little worse for having endured the vicissitudes of the -previous afternoon. Vinnie had got up in the morning completely -refreshed by her night’s sleep, and the pain was entirely gone from her -father’s head, leaving nothing to remind him of the injury it had -sustained but a slight bruise on his temple that would go away in a day -or two. - -Toward the middle of the afternoon, as they were seated cosily by their -fire of hickory wood, recounting little incidents of their adventures -that had escaped them the night before, they were startled by a loud rap -on the cabin door. Darke hastened to open it, and was no less surprised -than gratified to meet Clancy Vere. - -“Welcome, boy!” he exclaimed, giving the youth a handshake and a -greeting smile in which there was no conventionality, and which was as -heartily returned by Clancy, whose eye wandered over the old man’s -shoulder in quest of Vinnie. - -The vivid blush that mantled cheek and brow, as her eyes met his, in no -way deteriorated from the prettiness of her face, Clancy thought; and -when she stepped forward half-shyly and put her trembling little hand in -his for a moment, I think he may be pardoned for allowing his heart to -look out of his eyes and wishing, as he choked back words that struggled -for utterance now harder than they had ever done before, that just a -little while his old friend Darke was in China, or Jericho, or anywhere -but there, witnessing and, in his quiet way, enjoying the young people’s -happy confusion. I am sure any of my readers who may ever have been -placed in a similar situation will exonerate him from all blame. - -The young hunter looked pale and worn, and Darke noticed that when he -came forward to take the seat Vinnie had placed for him before the fire -he walked with considerable difficulty. - -In reply to the woodman’s inquiries in regard to his jaded appearance -and the manifest trouble he experienced in walking, Clancy told the -story of his capture by the Indians the day before very substantially as -it has already been told the reader in the preceding pages of our story. - -It is not necessary that we should weary the reader with a -recapitulation of what has already been stated; but taking up Clancy’s -narrative at the point where consciousness returned, we will follow it -to its close. - -“When my senses came back,” said he, “I found myself reclining on a -couch of skins and blankets in what appeared to be a very small -apartment of a cave. I was watched over by a dwarf, who was not much -more than four feet high and as dumb as a door nail. This diminutive -watcher strengthened me by a liberal use of spirits, and as soon as I -was able to speak, summoned his giant brother, who, unlike himself, was -gifted with a ready tongue and introduced himself to me as Leander -Maybob, of Maybob Center down in old Massachusetts. He said he was a -‘natural talker,’ and proceeded to substantiate the statement by a very -wordy account of the sayings and doings of his uncle Peter and an old -Massachusetts minister named Tugwoller, interspersed with snatches of an -old love affair between Elder Tugwoller’s niece, Sally Niver, and -himself. It seems that the young couple, who were, of a verity, true -lovers, were separated for life in consequence of a ludicrous blunder on -the part of my giant host. - -“After awhile I gathered from his voluble flow of words that he had -rescued me from my perilous situation and brought me to his cavern -lodge. When I had sufficiently recovered from the effects of my swing, I -partook of some strengthening food that my new-found friends prepared -for me. That was early this morning. As the day advanced, I found myself -rapidly gaining strength; and an hour or more ago I felt myself strong -enough to come on here, and, thanking my strange entertainers for their -kindness, I took my departure. As I passed out through the cavern I saw -that it was also divided into two larger apartments, one of which was -used as a sort of home by the two strangely contrasted twin brothers, -and the other was fitted up as a kind of store-room for trophies of the -chase, for it was well supplied with arms and ammunition, while the -skins and pelts of various animals were deposited in piles about the -place.” - -“How much the latter part of Clancy’s story is like yours!” exclaimed -Vinnie to Darke when he had finished. “He was rescued by the same -strange person and taken to the same place and nursed back to life in -the same manner!” - -“Yes,” assented Darke, “it is a singular coincidence.” Then turning -quickly toward the young hunter he said, “You must have lain insensible -in the smallest part of the place while I was there—I think you did. -They did not tell you that I had been there before you came away, did -they?” - -“No,” said Clancy, who had been wondering all along at the strange words -of the woodman, “they did not tell any thing of the kind. I never knew -it till now.” - -“Strange!” replied the other. “And although I am sure I was there for -quite a length of time while you lay unconscious in the little place -curtained off at the back end of the cavern, the giant did not tell me -of your presence. It can not be that there was any cause for this -concealment; and concealment does not seem to be a predominant trait of -the big hunter’s.” - -“I do not understand you,” said Vere wonderingly. “Do you mean to say -that we were both at the cave at the same time? Please explain -yourself.” - -And Darke told Clancy the story of his accident the day before, and how -Leander Maybob had carried him to the cavern lodge of his brother -Alonphilus and himself, cared for him till he was able to come home, -carefully guarding against any allusion to the oaken chest and its -ghastly contents, but telling him of the strange episode of the little -apartment, and repeating the mysterious words of the giant hunter, whose -meaning he had until now vainly tried to discover. They held no hidden -portent now. He knew instinctively that the words he had so vainly -wondered at, “Does he show any signs of life yet? Can’t be he is dead!” -referred to Clancy Vere. - -One mystery was solved! - -For several minutes both men remained silent. Darke was ruminating over -the discovery he had just made and Clancy was thinking what a lovely -picture Vinnie made as she leaned carelessly against the mantle, looking -intently into the dancing blaze of the fire, whose red glow lit up her -fair face till it seemed fairly radiant in its fresh young beauty. - -Was she building air-castles again? - -Clancy was! - -Raising her long lashes suddenly, she met his ardent, passionate, yet -respectful gaze. - -Both pair of eyes sought the floor simultaneously; and it would have -been no easy task for one to have determined which face flushed the -deepest—the maiden’s or her lover’s; for Clancy Vere knew he did love -Vinnie Darke with all his heart. - -Darke had not noticed this little by-play, and he asked, suddenly, as -the pretty air-castles both had been rearing up vanished as air castles -are wont to do when they are rudely jarred: - -“How long do you think you were at the cavern before your consciousness -returned?” - -“I am not quite certain—two or three hours I guess.” - -“And it was Leander Maybob that rescued you?” - -“Yes; but he did not himself carry me to the cave. It was more than a -mile away that he found me; and although he is very strong, he could not -lug me on his back all that distance. When consciousness returned he -told me about it. Alonphilus the dwarf conveyed me to the cave.” - -“How?” asked Darke. - -“Oh, Leander told me all about that, too. I was brought on a horse—” - -“What color was the horse?” interrupted Vinnie. - -“On a white horse!” pursued the woodman. - -“Yes.” - -“You were rolled up from head to foot in a heavy black cloth, were you -not?” Darke went on, eagerly. - -“I do not know,” said Clancy, surprised at so many questions. “But he -carried me before him across the saddle.” - -Father and daughter uttered simultaneous cries of surprise. - -Another mystery was solved! - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - THE FOREST ROSE. - - -Ku-nan-gu-no-nah walked swiftly away with the deadly rifle of Leander -Maybob, the giant hunter, still leveled at his head, fairly demoniac -with wild and impotent rage. The workings of his dark face were -fearfully suggestive of the denizens of the bottomless pit. - -Had he been armed he would not have left the vicinity without first -attempting the life of the man who had him in his power and who held his -very life at his disposal; but he was powerless, having no weapons -except a short, sharp-pointed knife which he always carried in addition -to his hunting-knife, and this would be useless, except in a -hand-to-hand conflict, which even in his wild passion he had not the -hardihood to dare. - -In an hour’s time he came to the boundary of the wilderness and the -broad prairie stretched its level surface before him as far as he could -see. Not a tree or a bush was there visible in all this vast plain; only -the tall grasses, beat down and tangled by the fearful tempest that had -raged through the afternoon. - -Turning from the nearly direct course he had been pursuing, the chief -made his way, with long, rapid strides, to the place where, in the midst -of a dense growth of bushes in the center of which there was a little -plat of smooth, grassy ground, destitute of undergrowth, he had tethered -his horse early in the afternoon. In less time than it takes to tell it, -he was mounted and galloping away over the plain. - -In a little while he struck an indistinct, scarcely worn road, or rather -broad track—one of the emigrant routes of the North-west. He followed -the track for an hour or more and then making a gradual _detour_ to the -left, kept on at a swift rolling gallop which he never slackened till he -reached the Indian encampment, situated at the foot of a steep, rocky -hill that loomed up through the storm and darkness, in dull relief -against the leaden sky. Throwing himself hastily from his horse, he -stalked rapidly along and entered a wigwam at the further end of the -encampment. An aged Indian sat on a roll of skins at one side of the -place, in an attitude of deep grief or despondency. He simply glanced up -as the chief entered, then dropping his face again into his hands, -sitting silent and apparently in great agony of mind. - -“How is the Forest Rose to-night?” the chief asked, glancing toward a -couch of skins and blankets on the opposite side of the lodge, on which -he could see the form of a female reclining by the dim fire-light that -illuminated the wigwam. She lay silent and motionless as though life had -fled. - -“The Forest Rose is very ill,” replied the old Indian, mournfully, “and -she will die! Yon-da-do, the great medicine man, has said so. He has -made use of all his ceremonies and mystic arts, but he can not save her. -The lovely Forest Rose must die!” - -As he ceased speaking he arose, and lighting a small pitch-pine torch in -the fire, went over to the side of the couch. Throwing aside the -covering from her face, he allowed the light to fall upon it for a -moment. It was a beautiful face, darkly lovely—the face of an Indian -maiden in the first flush of womanhood. She was rather light for one of -her dusky race, with heavy masses of raven-black hair falling in lovely -confusion about her statuesque face, in whose contour the hard -angularity of the Indian type was not discernible, and down upon her -perfectly-shaped neck, and softly-rounded shoulders. Her long, heavy -lashes lay upon her cheeks, which were very pale, hiding her dark -lustrous eyes, which, when lighted up with health, added not a little to -her almost bewildering beauty. But now the lovely Forest Rose lay like -one dead. - -“Let my father look up and be happy!” said the chief. “Ku-nan-gu-no-nah -has seen a medicine-woman to-day, that can surely bring back life to the -Forest Rose. The medicine-woman that I saw was a mighty conjuror. The -Great Spirit has given her greater power than that of Yon-da-do!” - -“Who is this mighty magician?” - -“She is a pale-face maiden, as beautiful as the Forest Rose,” replied -the chief. - -“Would she come?” asked the old Indian, while a hopeful light flashed -out of his aged eyes, undimmed by the flight of time. “Would a white -medicine-woman come to give life back to an Indian girl!” - -“She would not come willingly,” said the crafty chief, “but she must be -brought! If she is not, the Forest Rose will die!” - -“Then she must be brought!” said the old Indian, decisively. “I will -call a council of braves in the morning, and a party shall be sent to -bring the white magician. The Forest Rose must be saved!” - -The aged Indian was the real chief of the tribe—that is, although he was -too old to go on the war-path, leaving the active fighting to the -younger and more warlike Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, he was the real moving -spirit, always planning and ordering all important movements of the -band. The languishing Forest Rose was his daughter. - -“It is well,” said Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, as he went away. - -“The great medicine-woman will save the Forest Rose, and again she will -sing like the birds in the trees to gladden the heart of her father, the -great chief.” - -Wild Buffalo, the aged sachem, called a council of braves early in the -morning, and at midday, the subtle Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, at the head of a -dozen picked warriors, was riding over the prairie in quest of -“Sun-Hair,” the beautiful magician. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - THE FACE AT THE WINDOW. - - -“So the mystery of the disappearing horseman is explained very -satisfactorily at last, Vinnie,” said Darke, after their surprise had -subsided somewhat. - -“Yes,” she replied, “all but the mystery of his disappearance.” - -“True,” said her father; “we are still in the dark concerning that. How -could it have been accomplished?” - -“I know not. It vanished before my very eyes!” - -“It was doubtless owing to some peculiar turn of the path he was -following, or something of that sort,” reasoned the woodman. “A very -sudden turn among the dense growth of shrubbery that is so thick about -the place might have concealed the white horse and his rider from view -almost instantly.” - -“I think very likely it was owing to that or a similar cause,” returned -Vinnie. “I suppose we shall have to accept that explanation till a -better one presents itself. It is strange that I should have allowed -myself to be alarmed at so trivial a matter. I do not think I am -superstitious. But that limp, helpless-looking black thing did appear -ghastly through the storm!” - -It will be remembered that Clancy had not heard of Vinnie’s adventures -and perils of the day before; and he did not understand the conversation -that the others had kept up for the past few minutes. Noting the -questioning look on his face, the woodman said: - -“There is still another story of peril and escape that you are yet to -hear. I believe I will take a short bout in the forest in search of a -turkey; and if I am successful we’ll have a supper fit for the -President. Vinnie can tell you the story while I am gone. Be sure you -don’t leave out any of the important points, and don’t forget to mention -your lover’s visit yesterday. A truthful account of the _shocking_ -manner in which you treated him ought to be a caution to sparks! If I -was a young fellow, now—” - -“There now! stop!” said Vinnie, with a vivid blush. “I think you’re -really too bad! And besides, you are not fit to go out to-day, after -your hurt, and—” - -“That will do,” interrupted Darke, banteringly, examining the lock of -his rifle the while. “I am well enough for any thing now, and I mean to -take just this one more hunt while I’ve an opportunity. I dare not leave -you here any more alone, you know, and I’m going while I’ve got Clancy -here to keep guard over you! So good-by, and don’t think of my coming -back for two hours at the very soonest!” - -She went up to him for her customary kiss. - -“There,” said he, as he bent and pressed his lips to hers. “Good-by, -little one. And, Clancy, I want you to see that no one repeats this -operation during my absence. She’s all I’ve got, and I leave her in your -care. Don’t forget the story, Vinnie!” And a moment later he passed out, -closely followed by the blood-hound. Vinnie seized hold of one of the -great brute’s long ears, and bending low over him, to hide her flushed -face from Clancy’s view, said, playfully: - -“There, Death, don’t run away from him as you did from me yesterday!” - -Then, while the young hunter thought she was putting herself to a great -deal of useless trouble, considering that the room was very warm -already, she went and busied herself at the hearth, for what seemed to -him a very long time, stirring the fire and putting on more wood. - -“What story does your father mean?” he asked, when she had at last -finished. “I thought from what you said that you saw the dwarf when he -was carrying me to the cave. It can not be that you were out in that -terrible storm?” - -“But I was,” said Vinnie, with a smile, “and I half think I was the -victim of almost as serious a series of accidents as yourself. Papa told -me to tell you the story, and I suppose I must obey. Are you sure it -will be of interest to you?” - -“Yes,” he replied, eagerly. “I know it will be of interest to me. Tell -it, please.” - -And, half shyly at first, Vinnie complied with his request. He -interrupted her many times during her recital, with exclamations of -surprise and wonder; and when she had finished, and sat demurely before -him, with her little hands folded in her lap, and her lovely face sober -and thoughtful, he said: - -“Heaven be praised for your deliverance! What if you had not escaped?” - -“Why, then, I suppose—” she began, surprised at his excited manner. But -he cut short what she would have said, by saying, vehemently: - -“If you had not, I would not now account my life worth as much as a -burnt charge of powder!” - -Vinnie glanced up at him quickly, but her long lashes drooped as she met -his ardent look. - -He arose to his feet, and standing up before her, went on in rapid, -eager tones: - -“I love you, Vinnie Darke, as I can never love another woman in the -whole world! I ask for your love in return. Can you—will you give it to -me, Vinnie darling?” - -She sat silent a moment—a moment that seemed interminable to the anxious -young hunter—with flushed face and downcast eyes. The next, she was -clasped in his strong arms, and he pressed a tender kiss on her brow, as -he said, in a low voice: - -“Do you love me, Vinnie?” - -The lovely, golden-brown head bent down until it was pillowed on his -bosom, the red, full lips were pressed half timidly to his, the deep, -loving blue eyes looked trustfully up into his own, and Clancy knew that -she was his till death! - -“My own darling Vinnie!” said he, proudly. - -“Yes,” she whispered, “yours always!” - -I am afraid if the woodman could have seen the little episode that was -taking place in the cabin then, he would have thought Clancy just the -least bit forgetful of the injunction he had put upon him when he went -away—of course he would not willfully ignore it! - -There was a slight, almost imperceptible sound outside the cabin, that -escaped the young hunter’s usually quick ear, and a dark face was -pressed for an instant against one of the lower panes of the little -window at the side of the door. It was withdrawn almost as soon as it -appeared. - -“And you will be my wife, Vinnie—mine to love and cherish always?” -Clancy went on. - -“Yes.” - -“And your father? What will he say?” - -“I do not think he will oppose us very strongly,” she said, remembering -his words to her that afternoon. - -“We will ask him and see, when he comes back.” - -Again that dark face peered into the room a moment and then vanished as -it had done before. - -But so engrossed were they with each other—their minds so filled with -their new-found happiness—that they had no time to think of any thing -else. - -“How hard I shall try to be worthy of your priceless love, and to make -your life happy!” said the young hunter, as she released herself from -his embrace. As she stood up, her eyes were turned toward the window. - -The face was flattened against the glass again! - -“Merciful Heaven!” she cried, “there is Ku-nan-gu-no-nah! Oh, Clancy, -save me!” - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - VINNIE A PRISONER. - - -Darke had been gone but a little while from the cabin, before he was -startled by the report of fire-arms, and the shrill war-whoop of the -band of Indians who, under the leadership of the wily Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, -had been sent out to capture Vinnie and bring her to the relief of the -suffering Forest Rose, who, although they knew it not, was dead, having -dropped quietly and peacefully away soon after they left the encampment. - -These sounds came from the direction of the cabin, and by a kind of -intuitive perception, he knew in an instant what was taking place there. - -He had just discharged his rifle at a fine turkey that the blood-hound -had come upon in a dense thicket; and reloading it as he ran, he dashed -with his utmost speed through the tangled undergrowth and over fallen -trees and heaps of half-decayed brushwood back toward the scene of the -conflict, which still continued, as the sharp, oft-repeated reports of -guns and the appalling screeches of the Indians attested. - -The terrible suspense and agony of mind that he suffered in the few -minutes that passed before he reached the edge of the clearing, it would -be impossible to depict. He knew that the young hunter was as brave as a -lion, and would not give up while life lasted; but he judged from the -steady and rapid fire kept up by the savages that the odds against him -were fearful. - -“My God!” he gasped, as he bounded forward, holding his long rifle ready -for use at an instant’s warning, “the bloody fiends will butcher them -both! If I could only be there to help them!” - -Suddenly, as he ceased speaking, the firing, which for two or three -minutes past had been almost incessant, stopped. There was a moment of -awful silence to the listening woodman, then there came a loud crash. - -Darke knew what this was. - -“Heavens!” he cried, “the devils have forced the door! Nothing can save -them now! Their doom is sealed! Oh, Vinnie! Vinnie!” - -His agony was terrible. - -He had reached the boundary of the clearing. It was rapidly growing dark -now, and he had little fear of discovery. He paused a moment to -reconnoiter. Only two Indians were visible outside the cabin. He raised -his rifle to his face; his aim was quick and sure; and an instant later -one of the savages threw up his arms, and with an ear-splitting screech -of agony, fell on his face, dead. - -Almost simultaneously with the report of the woodman’s trusty weapon, -another rung out inside the cabin. - -“It is Vinnie’s revolver!” muttered Darke as he stepped quickly out of -sight behind a clump of bushes and proceeded to reload. “Thank God she -yet lives!” - -Peering out, he discovered that the remaining Indian had set fire to the -cabin and was skulking around the other side, probably to get out of -range of his unerring rifle. - -It was nearly dark now, but the settler fired again, and a bullet went -crashing through the savage’s brain, just as he had almost gained the -coveted shelter. - -Vinnie’s revolver cracked again inside the cabin as Darke rammed home -another load; and he uttered another fervent “Thank God!” as he thought -that she had been saved thus far. At his request, she had placed it upon -her person that morning, and he had reason to think that it was being -fired by her own hands. He could not distinguish the sound of Clancy’s -weapon from the Indians’; but he knew him well enough to be certain that -he would not yield except with his life. - -The fire was creeping up the side of the cabin, gaining ground rapidly -in the dry timber of which it was constructed. In a few moments the -whole building would be in a light blaze. An attempt to extinguish the -flames would, Darke saw, be fruitless. - -There was no one to oppose his advance across the clearing since he had -slain the two savages left on the outside to fire the cabin and guard -against a surprise by any one from without, and closely followed by -Death, he dashed over the intervening space to the open door of the -cabin. - -Looking within he saw, by the light of the fire blazing on the hearth, -that Clancy Vere was engaged in a desperate, hand-to-hand struggle with -three Indians. His back was against the wall, and with an almost -superhuman effort he forced them back and kept them at bay with his -clubbed rifle. Their guns were not loaded; but the young hunter detected -one of the trio in the act of charging his rifle, while the two others -vainly tried to get at him with their knives, and, quickly whipping out -his six-shooter, one chamber of which held a leaden bullet that soon -proved a quietus to this most dangerous of his assailants, he discharged -it and had only two enemies to contend with. - -The next moment the young hunter’s clubbed weapon fell with deadly force -upon the head of one of the Indians, crushing it like an egg-shell, -while at the same instant the other fell, pierced through the brain by a -ball from Darke’s unerring rifle. - -Clancy had fought like a tiger, and though he had not been dangerously -wounded, he had not escaped unscathed. A bullet fired through the -window, before the Indians had forced an entrance through the -battered-down door of the cabin, had grazed his temple, making an ugly -though not dangerous furrow, and carrying away a portion of his ear. The -blood was trickling down his face, and dropping upon the floor at his -feet. - -Darke sprung into the room at a single bound. - -“Vinnie!” he cried. “Where is Vinnie?” - -“Gone!” gasped Clancy. - -“Gone! My God! what do you mean?” - -“The Indians made her a prisoner!” - -“Vinnie! My Vinnie a prisoner in the hands of those devils! And you let -them take her?” - -“Stop!” exclaimed the young man, while an expression of keen pain swept -across his face. “I could not help it! I would gladly have laid down my -life to save hers! For a time we fought them side by side. There are -five dead Indians here on the floor. She killed two of them. Only two of -the chambers of her revolver were loaded; and after they were emptied I -fought them alone, shielding her form with mine. Then I was set upon -from all sides at once, and she was snatched away from me. I did all I -could. She was _my_ Vinnie, too, Mr. Darke, and I will wrest her from -the power of that red demon or die in the attempt! You do me injustice!” - -“Pardon me, boy,” said the woodman, extending his hand, which was -readily taken by Clancy. “I was mad! I did not mean what I said—please -forget it if you can. If we can not get her back, I believe I shall go -crazy!” - -“Oh, we _can_ get her back—we _must_!” cried the young hunter. “We must -get help and follow them and take her out of their hands or die!” - -“How many are there in the party?” asked Darke. - -“I am not certain. At the beginning I think there were about a dozen or -fifteen—I do not know exactly. Five are dead.” - -“There are seven dead!” replied Darke. “I shot two outside!” - -“Then there must be a half-dozen, more or less, that have escaped, -taking Vinnie with them.” - -“They have been gone twenty minutes,” said the woodman; “and we must act -at once!” - -“We can not follow them to-night,” said Clancy. - -“Not to-night! Why?” and Darke evinced disappointment. - -“Because they are mounted. They left their horses at the edge of the -forest. It is scarcely three miles away. Before we could overtake them -they would be miles out on the prairie, riding at their horses’ best -speed. We can do nothing alone, and horses are indispensable—we must -have them.” - -“Where can we get them?” Darke asked, admitting to himself the truth of -Clancy’s reasoning. - -“At the settlement. We can have every thing ready to-night and start -before daybreak.” - -“Who do you think we had better get to go with us?” asked Darke. “We -must have good men.” - -“I think we can do no better than to have Pete Wimple for one,” said -Clancy. “A truer and braver man can not be found in the North-west.” - -“True,” said the woodman. “And the big hunter for another!” - -“If we could only get him!” exclaimed Clancy. - -“I’m sure he will go. He hates the Indians with an undying hatred, and -is glad of any opportunity to wreak his terrible vengeance on them for -the cold-blooded butchery of his aged parents.” - -“Yes,” said the young hunter, “he told me his story. What a fiend -incarnate the chief is!” - -“You mean Ku-nan-gu-no-nah. Was he with the party?” - -“He led them,” said Clancy. “I think he instigated the attack to get -possession of Vinnie.” - -The youth shuddered as he thought what might be her fate in such hands. -How he longed for the morning. - -Darke remembered the promise he had made to Leander Maybob the day -before, and wondered if he could restrain himself from shooting the red -demon at sight. - -“Do you think we will need any one else?” he asked. - -“I think not. There will be four of us; and Pete Wimple and the giant -hunter will be a host in themselves.” - -“We must make all our preparations to-night,” said Darke, “so as to be -far on our way at daylight.” - -“Yes. We must— What’s that? It sounds like fire!” - -A strange sound had arrested his attention. - -“It _is_ fire!” replied Darke. “I saw one of the devils fire the cabin. -It must be all in a light blaze before this time!” - -“Then it was fired before you came in?” - -“Yes. It was set at the rear, and that is the reason you have not seen -or heard it till now. The flames were climbing the roof as I crossed the -clearing. But we must not stay here. One of us must go to the settlement -and the other to the cavern to-night. Do you think you can walk well -enough to undertake to get to the settlement? Your ankles must be—” - -“Yes,” and the look on his face confirmed what he said, “I could do any -thing—brave any thing for her! There is nothing that I would not attempt -to save her from pain—nothing that I would not dare, to make her happy! -Vinnie is more to me than my life, Mr. Darke! To-day, before those red -devils came to tear her away from me, she promised to become my wife.” - -“I believe you, boy!” exclaimed Darke. “I could not intrust her to the -protecting love of a better man. If we can only save her she shall be -yours!” - -“Thank you,” said the young man, earnestly. “We _must_ save her from -that demon’s power! The thought that she is in his hands is maddening! -But we must act. I will go to the settlement and obtain horses and -enlist Pete Wimple in our cause, while you proceed to the cave to secure -the services of the big hunter. I’m sure he will not refuse us his aid.” - -“Right,” assented Darke. “Where shall be our place of rendezvous?” - -“Near the big pine tree at the edge of the forest. We must be mounted -and on our way before daylight.” - -The fire had caught in the great oak trees that had been left close up -by the walls of the woodman’s home as a partial protection against wind -and storm, and the flames, shooting heavenward, cast a lurid glow over -the dark forest for quite a distance in every direction. - -The two men hastened away, the burning cabin lighting their way through -the wood, Death, the blood-hound keeping close to Darke and manifesting -his sense of the calamity that had overtaken them by giving utterance -ever and anon to low, sorrowful whines. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - WHAT THE SCOUTS FOUND. - - -When the sun rose the next morning—for the day broke clear and cloudless -with a keen, frosty atmosphere—its rays fell on a heap of smoldering -ruins, encircled by a dozen charred trees burnt and blackened to their -very tops. This was all that remained of Emmett Darke’s cabin home. - -The four men, Darke, Clancy Vere, Leander Maybob, the giant hunter, and -Pete Wimple, a tried and trusty scout and Indian-fighter, were at the -appointed place of rendezvous at a very early hour, and, well mounted on -four fleet, strong horses that Clancy and the scout had obtained at the -settlement, they were at daybreak dashing over the smooth, level prairie -in pursuit of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and his party. - -For hours they kept on at a rapid, even gallop, which they neither -quickened nor slackened. Clancy and the scout, riding side by side and -keeping a sharp look-out ahead for any signs of the enemy, while Darke -and the giant hunter were ever on the alert to guard against the -approach of any hostile party from the rear. - -None of the four had spoken more than a few words since they left the -big pine, hours before, even Leander Maybob, usually so loquacious, -maintaining a thoughtful and unbroken silence. - -The day continued as it had dawned, clear and sun-shiny, the pure, -bracing air inspiring the little band to more than common vigilance and -alertness, while it added fresh vigor to their steeds, and they kept on -at the same quick, regular rate of speed until mid-day without meeting -with adventure of any kind. - -Then Pete Wimple drew his horse up suddenly, and in obedience to his -low-spoken command, the three others reined in their horses. - -“What is it, Pete?” asked Clancy. - -“I don’t know for sartin,” and the scout, shading his eyes with his -hand, looked long and earnestly across the wide, grassy plain before -them. Following the direction of his gaze, the others saw dimly in the -distance a thin blue cloud of smoke rising from the surface of the -prairie. - -“It’s a fire!” said Darke. - -“That it are!” confirmed the big hunter. - -“Can it be a camp-fire?” asked Clancy. - -“Very likely,” said the scout. “I think as how it’s some-’eres ’long the -line of the emigrant trail. We’ll strike it purty quick—it’s jist ahead -thar—and we’ve got to foller it for severil hours. We’ve got to pass -that fire, and afore we get too cluss, I want to know what it means!” - -“It mought be whites, an’ ag’in it mought be reds!” said Leander Maybob, -riding to the front and examining the thin, vapory cloud for a moment or -two. “It mought be emigrants takin’ thar grub and it moughtn’t, ye see. -Prob’ly ’tis and prob’ly ’tain’t, as my uncle Peter said when Elder -Tugwoller axed him if his youngest-born son war a boy or a gal!” - -The others could not restrain a laugh at this; and when their merriment -had subsided Darke asked: - -“What do you think is best to be done, Wimple? You and Leander are -learned in every department of prairie life and warfare, while Clancy -and I are the merest novices. We shall trust ourselves and our -enterprise in your hands.” - -“I think, as it’s about grub time, you and me had better ride ahead and -diskiver, if we can, whether there’s white men or Injuns or suthin’ else -around that are smudge, or whether its jest a muskeeter smoke, while -Low-lander, as you calls him, and the boy busies ’emselves about gittin’ -suthin’ for our appetites ag’in’ our return.” - -“I agree with ye thar!” said the giant, “as Elder Tugwoller remarked to -my daddy when he expressed his opinion as how donations was a good -institution; but my name ain’t Low-lander.” - -“What’s in a name?” laughed Darke as he and the scout rode away. - -“Thar’s a good deal in names, I notice,” said the big hunter, half -musingly, as he swung his long left leg over his horse’s head and -slipped to the ground. “I reckon thar’s a sight o’ valler in names. If -’twasn’t for folks bein’ named so’s to tell ’em apart, they’d git all -mixed and twisted up so a feller couldn’t tell w’ich from t’uther or -t’uther from w’ich! Now I don’t go very strong for seein’ things git all -mixed and twisted up so’s ye can’t discrimernate w’ich from w’ich. If it -hadn’t been fer jest sich a durn’d mixin’ and twistin’ of two different -things together in my head, I’d likely now be a married man, livin’ as -happy as a hornet in yer breecherloons, down to old Maybob Center in -Massachusetts, the Bay State and capital of Bosting, the hub of the -univarsal _terry firmy_. It’s an awful world we’re livin’ in,” he went -on, as he tied his horse, as Clancy had already done, by means of -lariats they had brought with them. “It’s an awful world! I never know’d -a man to go cl’ar through it ’ithout gittin’ the wind knocked outen him -somehow! It’s this mixin’ an’ twistin’ as does it all! It’s that as -caused all my misery and pains and heart-longin’s, and sighin’s and so -forth and so on. I know folks in gin’ral wouldn’t go for to take me for -a lovyer—you, now, youngster, look more like a lovyer than I do; sorter -like a despondin’ lovyer, more’n any thing. But don’t ye git -down-hearted now. We’re a-goin’ to git yer sweetheart back to-day! I’ll -tell you how I found out about it,” he explained, noting Clancy’s look -of surprise, “I heerd ye talkin’ about her afore ye come to, fairly, -yisterday. I didn’t mean ter hear yer, and didn’t go fer to pry into any -of yer secrets; but I couldn’t help hearin’ ye say ev’ry few minits, -‘Vinnie!’ ‘Vinnie!’ I heerd Darke say his gal’s name was that to-day; -and so I put this and that together and know’d you was her lovyer. I’ll -tell you ’bout my gal an’ my love affair, and then we’ll be even. All -our trouble come of this mixin’ an’ twistin’, as I told you afore. Elder -Tugwoller’s niece, Sally Niver, as purty a gal as ever wore caliker—she -used to live along o’ the Elder and his wife—and me got acquainted with -each other to singin’ school, and afore we know’d it we was both on us -purty nigh as deep into love as Lord Lovel and the Lady Nancy. The Elder -didn’t ’prove of the match, and Sally an’ me uster spark on the sly. The -Elder found it out and licked Sally and forbid her ever to speak to me -ag’in. She cum right straight and told me, and said as how the Elder and -Miss Tugwoller would be away Saturday night over to the widder Mork’s -and wanted me to come down an’ see her while they was gone. I rigged up -and went down; and jest as I got inside the yard I see Sally cummin, -down the path to meet me, and the tears was a-streamin’ down her face. -‘They ain’t gone, deary!’ sez she, ‘and if they see you we’ll be in an -awful pickle!’ I couldn’t go away without inquirin’ what was the matter. -‘Oh!’ sez she, ‘I’ve had to take—uncle’s bin a-givin’ me—’ ‘Another -lickin’ I’ll be bound!’ sez I. ‘Sally, yer mine, afore Heaven, and I’m -a-goin’ to trounce that old cuss within an inch of his life for abusin’ -ye so, if he is the preacher!’ ‘Oh dear!’ sez she. ‘You don’t understand -he—oh, what’ll you do? Thar he comes now!’ And sure enough, I looked up -and thar come the Elder down the path a-makin’ motions and a-swingin’ a -big hosswhip. I thought he was a-goin’ to lick Sally ag’in, and she -screamed and I jumped afore her. Jest then the hosswhip cracked round my -legs. ‘Young man,’ sez the Elder, ‘you’ve got things kinder mixed and -twisted up, like, in your mind. Your mind’s considerably mixed and -twisted. You don’t understand as how I don’t want ye here at all, and -you’ve got mixed and twisted up about the lickin’, like. I hain’t bin -a-givin’ my niece a cowhidin’; I jest give her a dose of peppersass for -a cold, and that’s what brings the water outen her eyes. I’m goin’ to -give the cowhidin’ to you!’ And he axed the blessin’ and commenced. The -gad played kinder lively for a minit, then I jerked it outen his hand -and throw’d it over into the garden, and sez I, ‘Elder, if you think I’m -goin’ to stand sich you must be kinder mixed and twisted up, like, in -your idees!’ Then I knocked him down and kissed Sally good-by and walked -away. I hain’t never seen her since. The Elder sent her away to school -and I come West—and that’s the end on’t all. I s’pose she’s married long -ago!” he finished, sadly. “She was jest the sort of gal as ketches men! -It was all owin’ to my mixed and twisted state of mind concernin’ the -lickin’ and the peppersass!” - -By the time they had prepared the noon-day meal, Clancy saw Darke and -Wimple coming back; and in less than ten minutes they threw themselves -from their horses a few rods away, and after tethering them, came up -with rapid strides. - -“What did you find?” asked Clancy eagerly; “any signs of Vinnie or her -captors?” - -“We found some of the devil’s own handiwork!” answered the scout, a -dark, fierce look on his usually pleasant face that the young hunter -never saw there before. - -“The smoke we saw arises from two burning emigrant wagons that the -Indians have plundered and then set fire to!” said Darke. “One man, -evidently the guide, lay dead and scalped, his body, with those of three -savages who had been shot in the affray, half burned up in the fire! The -remainder of the party, which I should judge was not very large, have -either escaped or been made prisoners.” - -“It is Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s work!” said Clancy. - -“I’ve made up my mind to settle with him purty soon!” said Leander -Maybob, sternly. “His time’s most up!” - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - THE PHANTOM RIDER! - - -Five minutes later the little party was on the move again. - -About the middle of the afternoon they halted for a moment’s -consultation. Darke was not surprised when the scout informed him that -the Indian encampment was not more than a half-dozen miles distant. He -had long been anxious to reach the village. The suspense was growing to -be almost unendurable to him. - -At first, Leander Maybob took little part in the conversation and bent -his gaze anxiously every few minutes upon the horizon in the direction -whence they had come. - -“Would you advise a bold charge through the Indian encampment?” asked -Clancy. “Do you think we would be likely to accomplish our object in -that way?” - -The scout thought not. The savages might be on the look-out for some -such movement as that, as they would probably expect that an attempt -would be made to rescue Vinnie, in which case they would run great risk -of falling into some trap set for them by the Indians, if they -approached the encampment boldly and in the full glare of the sunlight. -Their party was too small to hazard being taken at so great a -disadvantage. They dared not show themselves openly in the camp of their -enemies. The odds would be too great against them. - -“No!” said Wimple, emphatically. “We mustn’t try such a plan as that. It -would be worse than useless! What we do must be done by stratagem. -There’s a steep bluff, only ’tain’t a bluff, neither—thar ain’t no river -under it—jist back of the Injin camp. This hill’s all grown over with -low scrub-oak and other stuff so thick ye can’t see a rod any way. If we -could only git up there and hide till arter dark, and then two or three -of us jist step quietly down and release the prisoners, leaving some one -to have the horses ready to mount at an instant’s warnin’, I think we -could git the gal cl’ar without much blood-lettin’, and maybe the other -prisoners, whoever they are. It’s the best plan I can think of now.” - -Darke agreed with the scout that nothing could be done by daylight, but -he was getting very impatient. - -“I think,” said the big hunter, “as how ye’re partly right in yer -calkerlations and mayhap partly wrong. I don’t believe as how us four -rushing into the imps’ nest would do much good. We’d be very likely to -git our little lump of lead, every one on us, and that’d be the end on’t -all; but instid o’ climbin’ the hill, if ye’ll jist take the advice of -one who has fit Injins some, and stop in the border of the wood, down -level with the edge of the prairie, and wait and see what happens, I -b’lieve we can do suthin’ as ’ll amount to suthin’. I’ve knowed some of -the best kind of jobs to be did in gittin’ away prisoners from the reds, -jist by watchin’ and takin’ advantage of accidents and the like. If -you’ll all do jist as I say and not git flustered or go to gittin’ away -up there on top of the hill, I’ll promise that every prisoner in the -Indian camp shall be safe before sundown—yes, in less than two hours. -You don’t know what amazin’ helps accidents is sometimes, in sich cases -as this one!” - -“Can you do it?” asked Darke, eagerly. - -“Yes.” - -“What do you mean by accidents?” inquired Pete Wimple. “What d’ye -expect’s goin’ to happen to-day?” - -“Thar’s no tellin’ exactly,” replied the big hunter. “A feller can’t -most always tell what is goin’ to take place. But I’m safe in -guaranteein’ thirty or forty of them reds one of the tallest accidents -in a little while—’bout as soon as we can git to their camp—they ever -had any ijee of!” - -“Do you expect to kill as many as that?” asked Clancy, in some -wonderment. - -“I calkerlate as how, if yer a mind to foller my lead, we can e’en -a’most clean out the nest and git yer gal and the rest of the prisoners -away safe, besides! What do ye say? Shall I go ahead?” - -“Yes,” cried all three with one voice. “You shall lead us!” - -“I believe you can do what you say!” added Darke. “But remember that a -mistake on our part might prove fatal to Vinnie and the others!” - -“There shan’t be no balks or mistakes!” said the giant, in a tone of -assurance, taking his place at the head of the party. “We’ve got to -leave this emigrant road here and take to the left a little. An hour’s -sharp ridin’ ’ll bring us to the Injun camp. Let’s be movin’ on.” - -And tightening their reins, the quartette dashed away. - -There was a plain trail, left by Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s band, leading -directly to the encampment of the savages. The little party followed -this for a while at a swift gallop, and then in obedience to a low, -tersely-spoken command from their leader, left it suddenly, and bearing -still further to the left, dashed for a few minutes through the edge of -a broad belt of timber lying along the base of a range of low hills, -halting at last in a chapparal not more than a hundred yards distant -from the Indian village. - -“Here we are,” said Leander Maybob, throwing himself off his horse. -“Jist git off yer nags and stretch yerselves a little, while I take a -look outside. Make the most outen your restin’-spell, for I can tell yer -that ye won’t have long to lay idle. I’m expectin’ an accident soon!” - -And with these strange words which the three men were assured held more -meaning than they expressed, the giant strode away and disappeared from -view among the shrubbery. In less than five minutes he came back, and -his face showed that the result of his reconnoissance was satisfactory. - -“There’ll be an accident soon,” said he. - -“How soon?” queried the scout. - -“Inside of a quarter of an hour.” - -“Will it assist us in any manner?” inquired Darke. - -“Yes; it’ll be the makin’ of our job.” - -“How?” asked Clancy. - -“It’s onsartin,” replied the big hunter. “Accidents is onsartin things; -but this one ’ll be sartin to help us if we’re ready to help ourselves. -I’ve noticed as how the same accident don’t happen twice, any more’n a -boy takes his fust chaw of terbacker twice. ’Tain’t anyways likely this -’ere accident we’ve been waitin’ for ’ll happen more’n onc’t. So we must -be ready to take advantage of it jest at the right minit! Now then, how -many shots have we got altogether?” - -“I’ve got a six-shooter and a rifle, both loaded,” said the scout. - -“Seven,” said Leander, counting. - -“And I’ve got six,” said Clancy. - -“Thirteen,” counted the big hunter. - -“And I’ve got two revolvers and a rifle,” said the scout. - -“Twenty-six,” said the giant, “and I’ve got seven more—thirty-three in -all. If there ain’t any of ’em wasted, we can shoot jist thirty-three -Injuns without stopping to load! Now git on yer horses and stick yer -pistols in yer belts and hold yer rifles ready for instant use. I want -to take one more look-out, and I’ll be with ye in a minit.” - -The big hunter’s prompt manner and cool, baffling way of talking had -inspired the three men with the utmost confidence in himself and his -power to bring their enterprise to a successful termination, and they -obeyed his orders implicitly. In a moment they were mounted, their -unerring rifles ready for use at a moment’s warning. - -“Are we going to dash into the encampment?” asked Clancy, examining the -lock of his revolver. - -“It looks like it,” answered the scout, sententiously. - -“What can the accident be?” questioned Darke. - -“That’s a riddle!” said Wimple. - -“And a hard one to guess!” added the young hunter. - -Just then the giant came running through the chapparal, and hastily -seizing his ride, which he had left standing against a tree, threw -himself upon the back of his horse and rode to the head of the little -band of wondering, anxious men. - -“Wait a minit!” he half whispered. - -There was a moment of dead silence, the four men almost holding their -breath in their suspense. - -Then a shriek rung out on the air—a shriek that was half a wail, half a -curse—so weird and so unearthly that for a moment the blood seemed to -stand still in the veins of the three startled men. - -“My God! What is that?” cried Darke. - -“It’s the accident we’ve bin waitin’ for,” said the big hunter, calmly. -“It’s purty near time for us to take advantage of it. Git ready.” - -At that moment there came from the direction of the Indian encampment an -almost deafening report, followed instantly by cries of agony and fear. - -“Now’s our time!” cried the big hunter. “Shoot down every red-skin you -see! But don’t harm a hair of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah’s head if you can help -it! Take him alive!!” - -As they cleared the chapparal, they saw a sight for which even the -terrible cry of a moment before had not prepared them. - -It was a gigantic human skeleton, standing upright on the back of a -milk-white horse that moved with more than the speed of the wind. In the -bony, grisly arms of the Phantom Rider was _Vinnie Darke_! - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - A REUNION OF HEARTS. - - -“It is Vinnie!” cried Darke, wildly. “Oh God, save my child!” - -“Heavens!” exclaimed the young hunter, in the same breath. “What is -that? Oh! my darling! She is lost! lost!” and he reeled in his saddle. - -“Easy!” said the giant. “She is safe, and you shall both speak with her -in a few minutes. It is Meno, the Spirit Warrior! He never harms the -whites—he is their friend; and he’ll carry the gal to a place of safety. -Git yer rifles ready. When ye see Injuns, fire sure, and don’t miss a -shot. After yer rifles are emptied, git out yer pistols and shoot down -ther devils as long as yer have a load left! They won’t show fight much -after the accident that’s jist happened to ’em!” - -A moment later they had left the timber behind, and were dashing across -the little strip of prairie that lay between it and the encampment, but -a few rods distant. - -The four unerring rifles rung out almost simultaneously, and four -savages lay dead or dying on the ground. - -“Now yer pistols!” shouted the giant, plunging his spurs into his -horse’s flanks, and drawing and cocking his heavy Colt’s revolver. - -On they sped, their firearms keeping up an incessant rattle, dealing -death on all sides. - -They charged through the encampment, then, whirling, came back, -separating and shooting down every brave in their path, as long as they -had a load left. - -The giant caught sight of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah trying to hide himself behind -one of the lodges, and leaping from his horse, dragged the cowed and -trembling fiend out into the middle of the encampment, shrieking and -howling with fear. - -“It’s time we had a sort of a settlement!” said the giant, grimly. “I -guess we’ll look over our accounts now.” - -The Indians, men, women and children, such as had not fallen before the -terrible Phantom Rider and the subsequent charge of the four hunters, -had sought refuge in the forest and thick brushwood growing on the -summit of the steep, rocky acclivity at the back of the encampment. - -To the credit of our friends, be it said, that they shot down only the -braves. For the most part, the squaws and children escaped unharmed, but -with the exception of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah and a half-dozen others, every -warrior was slain. - -“Where’s the whites?” the giant asked the chief, with his long, bony -fingers choking out the answer: - -“Yonder, in the council-house.” - -Following the direction of the chief’s eye, they saw a log building, the -only one in the encampment, about twenty yards distant. It had the -appearance of being very strongly put up, and had evidently been built -with a view to use as a council-house. - -Darke and the scout hastened to liberate the captives, while Clancy, -attracted thither by the loud snarls and yelps proceeding from the -interior, went and looked over the top of a small stockade, or rather -pen, about ten feet square, standing a little at one side. - -“My heavens!” he cried. “It’s full of wolves!” - -“Wolves!” repeated the big hunter, as he finished binding his cowed and -terrified captive to a stake near by. “How many on ’em?” - -“Eight,” returned Clancy, counting. “Shall I shoot them?” - -“No,” said the giant avenger, a sudden thought entering his mind. “We -may have use for ’em bimeby!” - -“Use for them! How?” asked the young hunter. - -For answer, the giant pointed to Ku-nan-gu-no-nah! - -“Come,” he said, “let’s go and take a look at the prisoners. They’re -free now. Thar’s two men and a woman; and one of the men’s got on a plug -hat and a white shirt and a swaller-tail coat and a standin’ collar and -a dirty choker,” he went on, as they drew near the liberated emigrants. -“He looks for all the world like a preacher!” - -Just then the face of the man described by the giant—a smooth-shaven, -sanctimonious face, that had not been wrinkled with a smile for ten -years—was turned toward them, and the big hunter stopped and stood still -in his tracks a moment, overcome with astonishment, staring hard at the -emigrants, who, with Darke and Wimple, were advancing toward them. - -Clancy regarded him with amazement. - -“Gracious!” he said, at last, “it’s Elder Tugwoller! And oh, Lordy! -thar’s Sally! My Sally, I mean! Oh, Lord! it’s Sally! _Sally!_ Sally!” -he cried, and a moment later he had picked her off her feet, and was -holding her in his great, strong arms, as if she had been a baby. - -She had recognized him when he called out to her, and flew to meet him. - -The elder and the other man, as well as the rest of the party, were -regarding them with astonishment. Catching sight of the stranger, -Leander set Sally down as suddenly as he had taken her up, saying -anxiously, as he thought he might have been hugging another man’s wife: - -“Are ye married, Sally? Is that yer man?” - -“No, Leander,” she replied, throwing herself again into his arms; and -after vainly trying to reach her hands around his neck—for she was very -short, her head reaching but a little above his elbows—she buried her -blushing face, not in the orthodox style in his bosom, but in his fur -vestment somewhere below. “No, Leander, I hain’t married. I wouldn’t -never marry no man but you! I’ve had fifteen offers since I see you -last, and I refused ’em all! I thought we’d meet ag’in sometime, the -good Lord willin’!” - -“And he _was_ willin’, Sally! Yer mine now, ain’t ye?” - -“Yes,” she replied, “your’n allers—till the Bunker Hill monument -crumbles to dust!” - -“And we won’t never git things mixed and twisted ag’in?” - -“No,” said she; “nothin’ shan’t never part us ag’in!” - -And the long-sundered hearts were reunited. - -“Sarah,” said the Elder, through his nose, “are you going to marry with -that ungodly man of strife?” - -“Yes, uncle Tugwoller,” she answered; “I’m a-goin’ to marry that same -ungodly man of strife, an’ be jist as good a wife to him as I know how!” - -Darke was beginning to evince great anxiety to see his daughter once -more, and the ludicrous reunion of the big hunter and his old-time -sweetheart, that he had just witnessed, somehow made Clancy long to meet -Vinnie. - -“Come,” said the woodman, “let us go at once.” - -“Wait a few minits,” answered the now happy Leander. “We’ve got a little -bizness to attend to yet. I’ve got Ku-nan-gu-no-nah tied to a stake down -thar, and it’s about time he retired from bizness. He’s committed -crimes—blacker ones than ye can imagine—and he must have his punishment. -We’ll give him a trial before we finish him off. Come on.” - -And he led the way back to the open space in the center of the -encampment, where, to the same stake to which Ku-nan-gu-no-nah had so -often bound his captives, he was himself tied so securely that, struggle -as he might, he could not get free, and knowing that his doom was at -hand, he had made superhuman efforts to break his bonds, but without -avail. He was completely cowed; at the last, all his courage and -hardihood seemed to have left him, and he stood, quaking with terror, -his dusky face blanched to an ashen hue! - -“Now,” said the big hunter, laying his hand on the Indian’s shoulder, -“ef any one here has got any charges to prefer ag’in’ the prisoner at -the stake, the court is ready to attend to the case.” - -“The prisoner pulled off my dicky to-day,” said the Elder, dolorously, -“and otherwise disarranged my apparel. I think he deserves condign -punishment!” - -But other charges of graver import were to come. - -“He shot our guide,” said Sally Niver; “and put his arm round my waist, -when he lifted me out of the wagon, and no decent man would do -that—unless he had a right to,” she added, with a glance at Leander. “I -think he ought to be hung for murderin’ the guide, anyway!” - -“He killed my brother John!” said Wimple. - -“He butchered my old father and mother!” said the giant, “and he’s got -to die an awful death for it! If any one here thinks he ought to live -after committin’ all these crimes, let him speak!” - -There was no voice to speak against the execution of the giant’s -sentence, and he said: - -“Shall he live or die? I’ll give him one more chance.” - -“Let him die!” was the answer; and almost before the startled spectators -realized what had taken place, Leander Maybob had cut the thongs that -bound the doomed chief to the stake, and rearing him above his head, -hurled him over the low stockade, among the snarling, half-famished -wolves! - -Retribution had come at last! He had expiated his many crimes! The -vengeance of Leander and Alonphilus Maybob was accomplished! - -A few moments later, the whole party rode out of the almost depopulated -Indian village, the liberated captives mounted on some Indian ponies -that they had found tethered near by. - -“Now, Mr. Darke, we’ll go to yer gal!” said Leander. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - CONCLUSION. - - -In a little chapparal not far away they found Vinnie, and near her, -sitting on the ground, was Alonphilus, the dwarf. At a little distance -was tethered the white horse—there could be no mistaking it—the same -milk-white steed that had carried the ghastly form of Meno, the Spirit -Warrior, as he rushed by them a little while before, bearing the girl in -his grisly embrace. - -Pete Wimple approached the animal, as it stood quietly picking at the -beaten-down prairie grass, and then kindly touched it once or twice on -the back. - -“What ye doin’?” asked Leander. “Tryin’ to see if it’s well groomed?” - -“No; I was tryin’ to make up my mind if ’twas ra’al, ginuine hoss-flesh, -or jist a shadder.” - -“It’s a real hoss!” said the giant, stooping, while all their eyes -followed every motion curiously, and stretching up the ghastly length of -the bony frame of a large, powerfully-built man from out of the thick -grass at his feet. “And here’s the Spirit Warrior as has killed and -scart to death more Injins in the last six years than ten men could -finish off in the old-fashioned way in ten years! My little brother, -thar on the ground, a-tyin’ a big knot in the end of that string, ain’t -very wide acrost, as ye can see, and the space atween the ribs of this -’ere thing is big anuff for him to crawl in all over. So, when he gits -inside of it, and stands upon that white hoss and flings bomb-shells, -and fires off rockets among a pack of reds, I guess they think he’s one -of the tallest kind of spirit warriors, and about the worst _accident_ -as ever befell ’em! I’m a sort of a vantriloquizer, and I uster hide in -the woods, and holler like Meno, the spirit, is said to.” - -Darke, leaving Vinnie and Clancy to the enjoyment of each other’s -society for a few moments, had come forward while the giant was -speaking, and as he finished, he said: - -“And that explains the mystery of the oaken chest, also, does it not?” - -“That’s all there is of the hull mystery and the hull secret,” said the -giant, in reply. “I don’t mind tellin’ about it now, cause I’m a-goin’ -to marry and retire from bizness. My uncle Peter—and he was a -unavarsal—” - -“But your brother is dumb. How did he produce that awful screech?” - -Alonphilus raised a small, curiously contrived whistle to his lips, and -a moment later, the same wild, terrifying cry that they had heard -before, rung out on the air. - -Ten minutes more, and they were again mounted and ready to set out for -the settlement. - -“Sarah,” said the Elder, in his nasal voice, “I ask you again if you -contemplate becoming the helpmeet of that worldly man of conflict?” - -“Yes, Uncle Tugwoller,” she replied, sweetly, reining her horse up by -the side of Leander’s. “You’ll marry us to-morrow, won’t you?” - -“If I must,” he said, dolorously, tugging away at the corner of his -disarranged dicky, “if I must, and my remuneration is forthcoming.” - -“You’ve triumphed, Sally,” said the giant lover, with a tender -intonation on the name. “My uncle Peter uster say as how a female would -if she wanted to, and if she didn’t, she wouldn’t. I hope the Elder -ain’t a gittin things mixed and twisted.” - -It was after nightfall before the party arrived at the settlement. At -times along the way, the Elder experienced much difficulty in -maintaining his place on the back of his horse. Once he lost off his -dicky, but he bore the trip with surprising equanimity. - -The Elder was alone in the world now, save for Sally, his wife having -died two years before. - -With his niece, in company with Henry Black—the man whom, in our last -chapter, Leander suspected might be the husband of his sweetheart—the -Reverend Tugwoller was on his way to join a colony of eastern people -then forming in the far North-west, whither he had been called to act in -his ministerial capacity. Of course now that Sally had so happily—or -unfortunately, he would have said—met with her first and only love, and -they had been so felicitously reunited, this plan was abandoned; and the -next morning he pronounced them man and wife, at Pete Wimple’s, where -the company spent the night in the presence of our assembled friends. He -settled quietly down with his niece and her husband, who abandoned the -wilderness soon after and took up the life of a farmer in the interior -of Michigan. He tried in vain to bring Leander to a realizing sense of -his innate wickedness, and began to think at last that Sally might have -done worse, after all, when it came to his knowledge that the beatified -fellow was the fortunate possessor of two or three hundred acres of fine -land, clear of all claims, besides about five thousand dollars hard cash -that his father had received for his place in the East. - -The dwarf dwelt with them and was tenderly cared for by his giant -brother and his kind-hearted sister-in-law, to the end of his life. He -always kept the death-record with the big knot at one end in -commemoration of the terrible charge of the four men through the Indian -encampment and the awful death of Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, the slayer of his -parents. - -Clancy and Vinnie were married in due time, and, with Emmett Darke, they -went farther south, and purchasing a farm lived very happily indeed. - -Pete Wimple, the scout, is a gray-haired old man now; but his eye is as -clear and his form as erect as in the days of yore; and his story of the -chase and the war-path are the delight of all the boys in the -settlement. - -Death, the blood-hound, died of old age twenty years ago. - - - THE END. - - - - - DIME POCKET NOVELS. - - - PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY, AT TEN CENTS EACH. - - 1—Hawkeye Harry. By Oll Coomes. - 2—Dead Shot. By Albert W. Aiken. - 3—The Boy Miners. By Edward S. Ellis. - 4—Blue Dick. By Capt. Mayne Reid. - 5—Nat Wolfe. By Mrs. M. V. Victor. - 6—The White Tracker. By Edward S. Ellis. - 7—The Outlaw’s Wife. By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. - 8—The Tall Trapper. By Albert W. Aiken. - 9—Lightning Jo. By Capt. Adams. - 10—The Island Pirate. By Capt. Mayne Reid. - 11—The Boy Ranger. By Oll Coomes. - 12—Bess, the Trapper. By E. S. Ellis. - 13—The French Spy. By W. J. Hamilton. - 14—Long Shot. By Capt. Comstock. - 15—The Gunmaker. By James L. Bowen. - 16—Red Hand. By A. G. Piper. - 17—Ben, the Trapper. By Lewis W. Carson. - 18—Wild Raven. By Oll Coomes. - 19—The Specter Chief. By Seelin Robins. - 20—The B’ar-Killer. By Capt. Comstock. - 21—Wild Nat. By Wm. R. Eyster. - 22—Indian Jo. By Lewis W. Carson. - 23—Old Kent, the Ranger. By Edward S. Ellis. - 24—The One-Eyed Trapper. By Capt. Comstock. - 25—Godbold, the Spy. By N. C. Iron. - 26—The Black Ship. By John S. Warner. - 27—Single Eye. By Warren St. John. - 28—Indian Jim. By Edward S. Ellis. - 29—The Scout. By Warren St. John. - 30—Eagle Eye. By W. J. Hamilton. - 31—The Mystic Canoe. By Edward S. Ellis. - 32—The Golden Harpoon. By R. Starbuck. - 33—The Scalp King. By Lieut. Ned Hunter. - 34—Old Lute. By E. W. Archer. - 35—Rainbolt, Ranger. By Oll Coomes. - 36—The Boy Pioneer. By Edward S. Ellis. - 37—Carson, the Guide. By J. H. Randolph. - 38—The Heart Eater. By Harry Hazard. - 39—Wetzel, the Scout. By Boynton Belknap. - 40—The Huge Hunter. By Ed. S. Ellis. - 41—Wild Nat, the Trapper. By Paul Prescott. - 42—Lynx-cap. By Paul Bibbs. - 43—The White Outlaw. By Harry Hazard. - 44—The Dog Trailer. By Frederick Dewey. - 45—The Elk King. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 46—Adrian, the Pilot. By Col. P. Ingraham. - 47—The Man-hunter. By Maro O. Rolfe. - 48—The Phantom Tracker. By F. Dewey. - 49—Moccasin Bill. By Paul Bibbs. - 50—The Wolf Queen. By Charles Howard. - 51—Tom Hawk, the Trailer. - 52—The Mad Chief. By Chas. Howard. - 53—The Black Wolf. By Edwin E. Ewing. - 54—Arkansas Jack. By Harry Hazard. - 55—Blackbeard. By Paul Bibbs. - 56—The River Rifles. By Billex Muller. - 57—Hunter Ham. By J. Edgar Iliff. - 58—Cloudwood. By J. M. Merrill. - 59—The Texas Hawks. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 60—Merciless Mat. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 61—Mad Anthony’s Scouts. By E. Rodman. - 62—The Luckless Trapper. By Wm. R. Eyster. - 63—The Florida Scout. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 64—The Island Trapper. By Chas. Howard. - 65—Wolf-Cap. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 66—Rattling Dick. By Harry Hazard. - 67—Sharp-Eye. By Major Max Martine. - 68—Iron Hand. By Frederick Forest. - 69—The Yellow Hunter. By Chas. Howard. - 70—The Phantom Rider. By Maro O. Rolfe. - 71—Delaware Tom. By Harry Hazard. - 72—Silver Rifle. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 73—The Skeleton Scout. By Maj. L. W. Carson. - 74—Little Rifle. By Capt. “Bruin” Adams. - 75—The Wood Witch. By Edwin Emerson. - 76—Old Ruff, the Trapper. By “Bruin” Adams. - 77—The Scarlet Shoulders. By Harry Hazard. - 78—The Border Rifleman. By L. W. Carson. - 79—Outlaw Jack. By Harry Hazard. - 80—Tiger-Tail, the Seminole. By R. Ringwood. - 81—Death-Dealer. By Arthur L. Meserve. - 82—Kenton, the Ranger. By Chas. Howard. - 83—The Specter Horseman. By Frank Dewey. - 84—The Three Trappers. By Seelin Robbins. - 85—Kaleolah. By T. Benton Shields, U.S.N. - 86—The Hunter Hercules. By Harry St. George. - 87—Phil Hunter. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 88—The Indian Scout. By Harry Hazard. - 89—The Girl Avenger. By Chas. Howard. - 90—The Red Hermitess. By Paul Bibbs. - 91—Star-Face, the Slayer. - 92—The Antelope Boy. By Geo. L. Aiken. - 93—The Phantom Hunter. By E. Emerson. - 94—Tom Pintle, the Pilot. By M. Klapp. - 95—The Red Wizard. By Ned Hunter. - 96—The Rival Trappers. By L. W. Carson. - 97—The Squaw Spy. By Capt. Chas. Howard. - 98—Dusky Dick. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 99—Colonel Crockett. By Chas. E. Lasalle. - 100—Old Bear Paw. By Major Max Martine. - 101—Redlaw. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 102—Wild Rube. By W. J. Hamilton. - 103—The Indian Hunters. By J. L. Bowen. - 104—Scarred Eagle. By Andrew Dearborn. - 105—Nick Doyle. By P. Hamilton Myers. - 106—The Indian Spy. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 107—Job Dean. By Ingoldsby North. - 108—The Wood King. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 109—The Scalped Hunter. By Harry Hazard. - 110—Nick, the Scout. By W. J. Hamilton. - 111—The Texas Tiger. By Edward Willett. - 112—The Crossed Knives. By Hamilton. - 113—Tiger-Heart, the Tracker. By Howard. - 114—The Masked Avenger. By Ingraham. - 115—The Pearl Pirates. By Starbuck. - 116—Black Panther. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 117—Abdiel, the Avenger. By Ed. Willett. - 118—Cato, the Creeper. By Fred. Dewey. - 119—Two-Handed Mat. By Jos. E. Badger. - 120—Mad Trail Hunter. By Harry Hazard. - 121—Black Nick. By Frederick Whittaker. - 122—Kit Bird. By W. J. Hamilton. - 123—The Specter Riders. By Geo. Gleason. - 124—Giant Pete. By W. J. Hamilton. - 125—The Girl Captain. By Jos. E. Badger. - 126—Yankee Eph. By J. R. Worcester. - 127—Silverspur. By Edward Willett. - 128—Squatter Dick. By Jos. E. Badger. - 129—The Child Spy. By George Gleason. - 130—Mink Coat. By Jos. E. Badger. - 131—Red Plume. By J. Stanley Henderson. - 132—Clyde, the Trailer. By Maro O. Rolfe. - 133—The Lost Cache. By J. Stanley Henderson. - 134—The Cannibal Chief. By Paul J. Prescott. - 135—Karaibo. By J. Stanley Henderson. - 136—Scarlet Moccasin. By Paul Bibbs. - 137—Kidnapped. By J. Stanley Henderson. - 138—Maid of the Mountain. By Hamilton. - 139—The Scioto Scouts. By Ed. Willett. - 140—The Border Renegade. By Badger. - 141—The Mute Chief. By C. D. Clark. - 142—Boone, the Hunter. By Whittaker. - 143—Mountain Kate. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 144—The Red Scalper. By W. J. Hamilton. - 145—The Lone Chief. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - 146—The Silver Bugle. By Lieut. Col. Hazleton. - 147—Chinga, the Cheyenne. By Edward S. Ellis. Ready Feb. 10th. - 148—The Tangled Trail. By Major Max Martine. Ready Feb. 24th. - 149—The Unseen Hand. By J. Stanley Henderson. Ready March 9th. - 150—The Lone Indian. By Capt. Chas. Howard. Ready March 23d. - 151—The Branded Brave. By Paul Bibbs. Ready April 6th. - 152—Billy Bowlegs, the Seminole Chief. Ready April 20th. - 153—The Valley Scout. By Seelin Robins. Ready May 44th. - 154—Red Jacket, the Huron. By Paul Bibbs. Ready May 18th. - - BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - -—Silently corrected a few typos. - -—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook - is public-domain in the country of publication. - -—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by - _underscores_. - -—Created a Table of Contents based on the chapter headings. - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM RIDER; OR THE GIANT -CHIEF'S FATE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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