CHAPTER XI.

HOSKINS PAYS NATURE'S DEBT--ABOUT THE FIRST HE EVER DID.

Hoskins may have been astonished at this sudden intrusion and answer to the vain question he asked. I have no doubt but what he was, more especially when his eyes took in the huge form of the giant, but his surprise was as nothing when compared to the consternation exhibited by the creole.

Pedro Sanchez had appeared in the jolliest possible humor a few moments before; now, the smile that had illuminated his face at the time of the giant's entrance seemed frozen there.

Pedro Sanchez had good cause to remember Red Goliath.

The two had been comrades in crime, and together they had committed many of the deeds that made the city of New Orleans tremble to its center.

Between them they had carried off Adele, hoping to secure a heavy ransom from her mother.

At this time the treachery so natural to Sanchez exhibited itself.

A desire to obtain the whole reward, on which he could retire from business, possessed him, and he attempted to get rid of his comrade by pushing the giant over the edge of an abyss on the southern plains.

The creole really thought the other dead, but in some way Red Goliath escaped with severe injuries, that laid him up for months at a cabin.

There he became acquainted with a gentleman who had recently left New Orleans for his health, having slain his distinguished foeman in a duel, and who intended staying away until the affair blew over.

In a conversation with this man, the giant became acquainted with several things that entirely changed the tenor of his ideas, and an understanding followed between them.

When Red Goliath started on the trail of vengeance, he had no intention of restoring Adele to her mother for a ransom, as a much larger sum had been offered him than he could ever 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 Pierrepont 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 attempted to murder standing before him with a deadly revolver in his hand, and cruel vengeance flashing from his eyes.

At first Pedro's 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 fiery hue.

His eyes were small and deep-set, glittering like a snake's.

Pedro 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 triumph.

"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 inventions; 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 forever: 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 breaking 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 haven't any notion at all, and it'll be better for your health if you don't have any. Asked me what I came here for; you invited me; declared you would like to see the man that was going to take the gal from you, so I showed myself. Now, my rooster, what's what with you?"

Hoskins seemed to have some spirit in him at any rate.

"Fool," said he, "one shot from your pistol would put you in a hornet's nest. If I choose to shout, a hundred braves will surround the lodge."

"As to the alarm, I care nothing for that; knew I couldn't do any work without raising it; but I swear you shan't shout again in this world, though you may in the one below us. Die, you dog."

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, Red Goliath 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 miscreant 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 direction, 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 the bargain.

Again the revolver came into play.

Suddenly halting, and wheeling in his tracks, he presented the weapon.

With its first crack one of the pursuers described 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 with a 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 resist, in the boat; and after pushing the craft off, sprang in himself.

Young Mason had been so taken aback by the giant's sudden shots and his rapid flight that even had he so wished he could have done nothing to prevent him.

Before he actually realized what had occurred, Red Goliath had vanished from the lodge, carrying the boy's darling sister with him.

It seemed 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 let the life out of any common man, but which did not appear to inconvenience him at all.

For several moments they jabbered away in a tongue unknown to our hero, much to his disgust, for he was impatient.

When they at length left the lodge, Pedro securing the gold his late companion possessed before 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, walking 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 where the canoe had been left before the giant, and had resolved to wait for it at a point below.

The wisdom of his course was soon made apparent, for his sharp eyes caught sight of a dark object moving slowly down the river near the other bank.

It was Red Goliath's canoe.