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Full Title
Custer's Last Shot; or, the Boy Trailer of the Little Horn : a Romance of the Terrible Ride to Death / Col. J. M. Travers.
Author
Travers, J. M.
Date Added
9 January 2014
Format
Journal
Language
English
Publish Date
1883-07-11
Publisher
New York : Frank Tousey
Series
Wide Awake Library > v. I, no. 565
Source
Dime Novels and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
Wide Awake Library, v. I, no. 565, July 11, 1883.
Topic
Dime novels > Specimens. Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876 > Fiction.
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OCR
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17
Be
CUSTER’S . LAST. SHOT.
There he became acquainted with a gentleman
who had recently left New Orleans for his health,
« having slain his disiinguished foeman in a duel,
and who intended staying away until the affair
blew over.) | - .
ina conversation with this man, the giant be-
came acquainted with several things that entirely
changed ‘the tenor of his ideas, and an under-
, Standing followed between them.
When Red Goliath started on the trail of venge-
ance, he had no intention of restoring Adele to
her mother fora ransom, as a much larger sum
had been offered him than he could eyer expect
from the lady,'to carry her away to a point from
whence she should ‘never return, and the duelist
~ had even hinted that he should not weep very
much should news of her death reach him.
‘The truth of the matter was that Adele Pierre-
pont and her brother, Mason, stood between Luke
Camden, the duelist. and an immense fortune,
and the idea of getting rid of the two had only
- entered his head when he heard through the giant
that the girl had already been carried away.
Red Goliath proved a true traitor.
He had tracked his treacherous companion all
the way from the plains of Texas to the pastures
in the north, where the white man joined teams
with Sitting Bull’s gang of plunderers and thieves,
where his merits in the peculiar line of business
he dealt in were duly appreciated.
No wonder, then, that the creole shivered in
dread when he saw the man whom he had at-
tempted to murder standing before him with a
deadly reyolver in his kand, and cruel vengeance
flashing from his eyes. .
At first Pedros hands failed to do their duty,
and hung limp by his sides:
“Aha! it is thus we meet, my fine chicken,”
said the giant, who evidently had a tinge of the
dramatic in his nature.
By the light of the torch it could now be seen
that his hair and beard gave rise to the first half
of his name, being of a Hery hue.
His eyes were small and deep-set, glittering
slike a sp7Ke’s. .
~“Fetiro Sanchez was actually too frightened to
say a word in answer to this implied question.
He could only stand and glare like a wild beast
at bay and powerless to help itself.
The giant seemed rather talkative in his tri-
umph, o !
“Pushed Red Goliath down a gulch, half a
mile deep. Thought he'd die like a rat in its
hole. Aha! my fine fellow, bushes are great in-
ventions; thanks to them I am here now—here
to claim my vengeance. Five thousand dollars
tempted you, did it? Well, I want to tell you I’m
offered double as much to keep the gal away for-
ever: kill her if I like. Now, Brutus, your time
has about come, Are you ready to meet your
just doom?” .
Pedro was shivering as only a man can who
sees instant death before him, and his chattering
teeth precluded the possibility of a reply.
The giant smiled derisively, and turned his
eyes on Hoskins.
At this critical period the individual proved
himself the possessor of more courage than the
boasting creole.
Perhaps this arose from his ignorance of the
giant’s power, which Pedro was well acquainted
~ With. *
“Who the deuce are you that comes breakin
into a man’s house, and talking about doom and
-all that sort of thing? By George! I’ve a notion
to——” began Hoskins in a blustering tone, but
he came to an abrupt pause, for the giant seeing
where it was most needed had swung the revolver
around until it covered his form.
“You’re mistaken. You hayen’t any notion at
all, and it’ be better for your health if you don’t
have any. Asked me what I came hero for; you
invited me; declared you would like to see the
man that was going to take the gal from you, so
Ishowed myself. Now, my rooster, what's what
with you?”
Hoskins seemed to have some epirit in him a
any rate. .
. “Fool,” said he, “one shot from your pistol
would put youin a hornet’s nest. If I choose
fo shout, a hundred braves will surround the
lodge.” :
‘As to the alarm, I caro nothing forthat; knew
I couldn’t do any work without raising it; but I
swear you shan’t shout’ again in this world,
os though you may in the one below us. Die, you
. og?
_ Golial
The sudden startling crack of a revolver rang
out, .
Red Goliath had fired. There was an awful
shudder on the part of Hoskins; a gurgling
sound as if he was trying to curse his slayer, and
then the stricken man fell to the ground shot
through the heart. Turning on the creole, ed
1 again raised his death-dealing revolver,
Pedro had slunk away and was crouching on
the ground. . . .
At this contemptible display of cowardice, the
giant gave him a hearty kick of derision, in order
to induce him to stand erect; but it only had the
effect of flattening the miscreat out still more.
There was no time to waste, as the Indians
must already be alarmed.
Firing two shots into the dark corner where
Pedro had crouched, the giant hurriedly replaced
his weapons.
Then like a flash he seized upon Adele, lifted
her light form as easily as if she had been a
feather, and dashed out.
An Indian met him just beyond the lodge,
One sweep of the giant’s disengaged arm sent
him to the ground like a ten-pin overwhelmed by
a ball.
Although braves were appearing in every direc-
tion, Red Goliath sped onward. like an antelope,
the burden he carried appeared as nothing. *
The village was soon left behind, and when the
open ground was at length gained, two shadowy
figures flitting close behind him proclaimed the
fact that these were his only pursuers,
To get rid of them was an easy task to a man
like the Hercules; who was well versed in every
detail of fight and strategy, and armed into tho
argain. :
Again the revolver came into play.
Suddenly halting, and wheeting in his tracks,
he presented the Weapon. .
With its first crack one of the pursuers de-
scribed a parabola in the air, as if he had leaped
from a spring-board, and upon touching the
ground lay very, very quiet.
The second attempted to dodge, but soon found
out that lead can travel mortally fast when driven
by powder.
He made his way into camp half an hour later
witha broken arm, and the bullet lodged in his
side,
Having thus rid himself of both pursuers, the
giant once more rushed along,
The river bank was’ gained, and also the
canoe,
“Whoop! hurrah! won it, by George! run the
gauntlet too,” said the daring man to himself, as
he placed Adele, too powerless with terror to re-
sist, in the boat; and after pushing the craft off,
sprang in himself,
Young Mason had been 86 taken aback by the
giant’s sudden shots and his. rapid flight’ that
even had he so wished he could have done noth-
ing to prevent him.
fore he actually realized what had occurred,
Red Goliath had vanished from the lodge, carry-
ing the boy’s darling sister with him,
Itreemed but half a minute had passed, and
Mason was about to rise up from his place of
concealment and follow on the giant’s trail, when
half a dozen Indians burst into the lodge to see
what damage had been done here.
Hoskins would never steal another horse, he
had gone to that bourne from whence no traveler
e’er returns; in a word he was dead.
Pedro came crawling out of the dark corner
with a hole in him large enough to Jet the life out
of anycommon man, but which did not appear
to inconvenience him at all. .
For several moments they jabbered away in a
ngue unknown to our hero, much to his dis-
st, for he was impatient.
When they at length left tho lodge, Pedro se-
curing the gold his late companion possessed
fore doing so, Mason gave a sigh of relief, and
made haste to throw off the warm furs in which
he had been wrapped.
Then he boldly stalked from the lodge, walk-
ing as if he had‘a perfect right in the village.
Several times he came across braves, and on such
occasions grasped hold of a revolver, ready for
service, but his bearing must have deceived the
red-skins, for he was not molested. ’
After gaining the outskirts of the village, Mason
struck at once for the river,
He knew that it was too late to reach the place
whero the canoe had been left before the giant,
and had resolved to wait for it ata point below.
he wisdom of his course was soon made ap-
parent, for his sharp eyes caught sightof a dark
object moving slowly down the river near the
other bank,
It was Red Goliath’s canoe.
CHAPTER XII,
WHITE THUNDER ON THE RAMPAGE,
WueEn Bolly Wherrit left the great Indian camp
behind him, and headed for the distant hills, he
had no intention of leaving the vicinity.
An object had attracted bim hither, which,
though backed by a golden reward; had some-
thing else behind it asan invigorator that proved
far more potent-with the old ranger than the _
money inyolved.
His own words had proclaimed that the cause
of his hastening north, leaving his chum Pandy
Ellis in the thick of some business that concerned
them both, was a beautiful woman’s tears.
Bolly always was weak as regarded the.other
sex, and knowing this reverenco of his, which
can hardly be called a failing, it has been a con-
tinual wonder to me why the ranger never mar-
ried, especially as he must have been a fine-
looking feilow in his younger days, judging from
the grand old face he possesses at the present
writing.
Istrongly suspect, however, that in his youth
Bolly had loved and been deceived, and although
he never ceased caring for the ladies, he regarded
them with suspicion when he came to the point,
As he rade along Bolly was engaged in various
conjectures, the main subject of which wa3 the
rescue of Adele, for the reader must know by this
time that this was the object that had sent Bolly
from New Orleans to this northern province in
such haste,
The sun was sinking down in the western sky,
and the shadows were growing very long, when
Bolly reached the hills,
stream of water, so cold that one could
almost believe it an ice spring, murmured among
the stone, and’ pursued its tortuous way through
the neighboring ravine, heading for the Little
Horn, where its waters were quickly engulfed by
the larger stream.
At this Bolly came to a halt, and allowed Black
Bess to drink all that she wished, dismounting
first to quench his own thirst.
The ranger did not attempt to climb the hills,
as it would havo provena diMcult task, and one
which there was no necessity for, as he intended
doing some work before morning came on.
Longer grew the shadows, and moro gloomy
the ravines between the elevations, as the prairie
ranger galloped slowly along the foot of the
range,
Nicht at length closed around him; the peaks
were dimly outlined against the sky in which the
stars began to appear. :
In the west the infant moon looked like a silver
bond of promise to the good welfare of man, and
smiled upon the earth as if in pity ab its forlorn
and unlighted condition.
All of these things Bolly noticed with the air of
& man whose mind is preoccupied, and whose
thoughts have no range beyond a certain point.
- Now that quite a distance separated him from
the huge Sioux village, the usual sounds that ac.
company a night upon the plains came to his
ears, and it really seemed as though the wolves
howled and the coyotes barked louder than ever
on this particular occasion.
Perhaps with their more than human instinct,
these beasts of carrion knew of the feast for their
hungry maws, that the setting sun had shone
upon, and which was not yet ready for them be-
cause of the many moving figures in that terrible
ravine of death.
A whippoorwill sending forth his plaintive ery
near by, and the shrill scream of a night hawk
from a neighboring tree, aroused Bolly from the
stupor as it might almost be called, into which he
had unconsciously fallen.
For the first time he noticed that Black Bess
had carried him into the midst of a forest that lay
at the foot of the hills.
As he made this discove
of running water came to
not be made by a creek.
Undoubtedly it was the river that he was near-
ing, and as thisjwas just whathe desired, Bolly let
his sable steed continue her own course.
h Five minutes Jater he brought the animal toa
alt. .
, the distant murmur
is ears, which could
Before him rolled the Little Horn with its shady,
banks, the starlight glinting from the tiny waves
that the adverse wind gave rise to. .
g and earnestly Bolly looked at the water.
Nn,
He had built his schemes upon.the river, and.
being ina contemplative mood, he was wondering
whether the morning would see him successful or
the reverse,
From this serious state he was abruptly aroused
by a sound that to ears of experience. like his be-
spoke danger,
Only atwig snapped by some incautious foot,
but itthad a world or meaning to the ranger.
As if it affected him like electricity, Bolly slid
from the back of Black Bess, and crouched on
that side of the horse nearest to the seat of
danger, .
The rifle he held was laid gently upon the
ground, and in its stead he quickly laid hold of .
the formidable knife taken from the Indian who
had been placed over his prison as a guard,
Although these movements were accomplished |
with all the noiscless powers of a tiger, Bo
ly was
not unobserved. _