Jesse James' Bold Stroke; Or, The Double Bank RobberyWard, William (Author at Arthur Westbrook Co. (Cleveland, Ohio))
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Jesse James' Bold Stroke; Or, The Double Bank Robbery
Ward, William (Author at Arthur Westbrook Co. (Cleveland, Ohio))
James, Jesse, 1847-1882 -- Fiction; Western stories
The silence was, after what had seemed an age to the men whose nerves
were tensed by the strangeness of the cave, broken by the voice of the
Indian girl.
"Pale faces git down um bellies," she directed tersely. "Me go first."
Suiting the action to the word Dew Drop threw herself down and crawled
through a hole in the rock. But Jesse, who followed, did not succeed in
passing the narrow opening with the same ease that Dew Drop had, but
he finally accomplished the feat with sundry exclamations of disgust
beneath his breath.
Texas, more ample of girth, got stuck in the hole, which he had
attempted to get through feet first, and he could not move either way.
Jesse solved the difficulty quickly by grabbing the unfortunate outlaw
by the feet and jerking him in beside him.
But with Frank the task was still more difficult.
"Easy there," commanded the bandit-chieftain. "Put him through head
first and I will draw him in."
This they did, and though Frank groaned and begged piteously the move
was quickly executed.
Dew Drop now led the way again, which Jesse observed led slowly upward
and that the air was freshening as they proceeded.
At last the Indian maiden came to a quick stop.
"Light um fire," she directed tersely.
It was the work of a moment for Jesse to strike a match and to his
intense satisfaction he discovered a pile of dry limbs in one corner
of the chamber where they had halted, and a blazing fire was burning
quickly.
The men uttered an exclamation of surprise.
What they saw challenged the admiration of every man present.
Millions of brilliant stalactites hung suspended from the domed arch
above them, and gave back scintillating flashes from the light of the
flames. For the moment they forgot the real purpose of their presence
there.
"Diamonds, by Judas," exclaimed Homely Harry in open mouthed wonder.
"Diamonds, your eye," returned Texas. "Them ain't no diamonds. I know
the kind, I've seen them before."
But Jesse had given no heed to their expressions of admiration.
Instantly the fire was started, he dropped down by the side of his
wounded brother, making a hurried examination of his wounds.
"Give me a piece of lariat," he commanded.
Tony passed over a strip of tough leather. With this the
outlaw-chieftain bound the leg just above the wound, administering a
drink from his own flask, and turned to Dew Drop.
"Got any saw bones around here?" he demanded sharply. "That's what I
brought you back for."
The Indian girl looked at him blankly.
"Pale face medicine man," he explained.
Dew Drop smiled understandingly, but shook her head.
"Two suns journey," she explained, pointing to the north.
"Got a medicine man in your village, then? We've got to have some one
here quick and I guess a medicine man of one color is about as good as
another."
"Great Bear him got medicine man," explained the girl. "No get medicine
man. Great Bear kill white man; Great Bear kill me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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