Wilder

“ Wilder thoughtfully answered.
“That is as it may be. I am an old fellow, and fitter to point out the way than to go ahead. But you are like a newly fitted ship, with all your rigging tight, and your spars without a warp in them. What say you to make your fortune by selling the knaves to the King? It is only giving the devil his own a few months sooner or later.” ”

“ But Wilder’s reputation soared on higher voices than those of the journalistic crowd, and he was, beyond dispute, a person of genius—one of those odd distorted bundles of broken nerve who help to establish the theory that fine thinking, a noble vocabulary, deep scholarship, and foolish living are neighbours and hard to separate. ”

“ The timber was so close, the darkness was so dense, and the overhanging boughs were so troublesome, that Wilder did not make such progress as he wished to make, and he knew that his pursuers were gaining on him. The dog would keep them on the trail, in spite of the darkness, and it was evident that they must overtake him, unless fortune should favor him in some way. ”

“ To save Wilder and Easton from the danger of a more serious organization. They encourage it. Once a year the cottagers meet and talk things over, and rail at their oppressors and become very indignant. Then they go home with the idea they've performed their full duty. Those meetings are good fun, Mr. Jarrod. Wilder always attends them and welcomes every cottager as cordially as if he were giving a party. Then he sits in a front seat and laughs heartily at the rabid attacks upon himself and his partner. ”

“ In a trial of this kind Walt Wilder, at least, has nothing to fear. The Colossus, with his long strides, would be almost a match for the giant with the seven-leagued boots.
Their only uneasiness is that the savages may have gone out upon the track they are themselves taking, and, appearing in their front, may head them off, and so intercept their retreat. As there is yet no savage in sight—no sign either of man or animal—their confidence increases; and, after making a mile or so across the plain, they no longer look ahead, but backward. ”

“ She seated herself by the side of the invalid, and waited anxiously and impatiently for the issue of her plans. Wilder told her that a yell would be the signal of the onset, and both listened, eagerly and painfully, for the savage slogan.
Wilder said nothing more of his fears concerning the probable loss of Dove-eye, and Flora did not mention the subject. Both were too much absorbed in listening for the yell, which she longed but almost dreaded to hear. When it came, at last, their nerves had been so strained by their long suspense, that it fell upon them like a thunderbolt. ”

“ The start with which Wilder received this hardy proposal was far too natural to proceed from any counterfeited emotion.
“You are not so mad as to run the risk!” he exclaimed when words were at command.
“If you fear for yourself, I can go alone.”
“Fear!” echoed the youth, a bright flush giving an additional glow to the flashing of his kindling eye. “It is not fear, Captain Heidegger, but prudence, that tells me to keep concealed. My presence would betray the character of this ship. You forget that I am known to all in yonder cruiser.” ”

“ The only prospect for the escape of Wilder and his charge was on foot, after the lapse of the months that would be required for her recovery, and after the snow was gone.
Innumerable domestic perplexities presented themselves to the young man’s mind. His charge, being perfectly helpless, must depend entirely upon him for her every want. Would she have the wisdom and goodness to accept the situation cheerfully, or would its humiliation and hardships gnaw constantly at her strength and patience, and delay her recovery or precipitate her death? ”

“ I must conceal both of you in some other place, as my father is going to the spirit-land, and this lodge will be full of warriors.”
“What do you mean?” asked Wilder. “Is the old medicine-man so near dead? I had not known that he was sick.”
“He is not sick. He goes to the spirit-land when he wishes to go, and the warriors come and look at him while he is dead, and go away. Then he comes back from the spirit-land, and they visit him again, when he tells them what he has seen and what will happen to them.” ”

“ But it's a small place, you see, and no man's so energetic that he can get more than there is. So I work every season just to accommodate the people. When you've been here a little while you'll find that out. I'll cash your checks, lend you money, run your errands, settle your quarrels with your wife, reconcile your hired girl to sleeping in the basement and play blind-man's-buff with your children. That's Wilder—everybody's friend but his own, and too honest for his own good."
"Indeed, Mr. Wilder," said Jarrod, "I can see already that you are a remarkable man. ”

“ He was not slow to detect among them the forms of Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude, attired in such a manner as to leave no doubt that they were at length on the eve of embarking.
A cloud, driving before the sun, does not produce a greater change in the aspect of the earth, than was wrought in the expression of Wilder’s countenance by this unexpected sight. He was just implicitly relying on the success of an artifice, which though sufficiently shallow, he flattered himself was deep enough to act on the timidity and credulity of woman ”

“ I advise you to go."
"I intend to," said Jarrod. "By the way, how do Wilder and Easton agree with each other?"
"Not at all. They constantly quarrel over one thing or another. Wilder resents the fact that old man Easton is pocketing two-thirds of the profits, while Easton resents Wilder's habit of laying every unpopular act to his partner, who is therefore bitterly hated while Wilder is considered by many a good fellow. Each would be glad to get rid of the other, if that were possible, but neither wants to be got rid of." ”

“ We would have had a big dance over that scalp, if we had not lost two warriors in the fight. It is the scalp of the white-haired chief.”
“And who was he?”
“I thought you knew him. You call him Robinette, the trader.”
“Whew! The old fellow is dead, then,” said Wilder, musingly. “He was a strange man, shrewd, daring, but rather unscrupulous, as I have heard. Did your braves capture his train?”
“No. They came across his party, and stampeded the horses. As they had surprised the camp, they thought they might do more; but the white men beat them off at last. The men who came to-night were his men. ”

“ The Rover smiled calmly, as he continued,—
“Young gentlemen of your years are apt to carry no small portion of their hearts in their hands. But, notwithstanding this seeming sympathy, in order that you may have sufficient respect for the discretion of your leader, it is necessary that I should say we have met before. I was apprised of your intention to seek me out, and to offer to join me.”
“It is impossible!” cried Wilder, “No human being—”
“Can ever be certain his secrets are safe,” interrupted the other, “when he carries a face as ingenuous as your own. ”

“ Declare to me, that, while in the town of Newport, you will inform no soul of the true character of this ship.”
“I will swear it,” eagerly interrupted Wilder.
“On this cross,” rejoined the Rover, with a sarcastic laugh; “on this diamond-mounted cross! No, sir,” he added, with a proud curl of the lip, as he cast the jewel contemptuously aside, “oaths are made for men who need laws to keep them to their promises; I need no more than the clear and unequivocal affirmation of a gentleman.” ”

“ Would you slay a man who has been stricken by the Great Spirit? I say that they shall not be burned while I live, and I know well that more than one of you will fall before I die.”
It is said that a wild beast will shrink from the steady glance of a brave man. So did the savages quail before the fearless eye and undaunted demeanor of Fred Wilder. ”

“ Certain plants he has found growing in the valley, well known among his people as poisonous, will furnish him with the means of death—a slow, lingering death, therefore all the surer to avert suspicion from the hand that has dealt it.
To all appearance, Walt Wilder is doomed. He has escaped the spears, arrows, and tomahawks of the Tenawa savages to fall a victim to a destroyer, stealthy, subtle, unseen.
And is the noble Texan—guide, ranger, and hunter—thus sadly to succumb? No. Fate has not decreed his death by such insidious means. ”

“ And why do you imagine the young man to be so much our inferior?”
Wilder thought there was a melody in the intonations of the youthful voice of the maiden, which in some measure excused the personality, as she answered.
“I am certainly not so fastidious in my notions of birth and station as aunt de Lacey,” she said, laughing; “but I should forget some of your own instructions, dear Mrs Wyllys, did I not feel that education and manners make a sensible difference in the opinions and characters of all us poor mortals.” ”

“ Why this reluctance to be within a mile of a vessel of the Crown?”
“Because I know her force, and the hopeless character of a contest with an enemy so superior,” returned Wilder, firmly. “Captain Heidegger, you cannot fight yon ship with success; and, unless instant use be made of the distance which still exists between us, you cannot escape her. Indeed, I know not but it is already too late to attempt the latter.”
“Such, sir, is the opinion of one who overrates the powers of his enemy, because use, and much talking, have taught him to reverence it as something more than human. ”

“ The imagination, the sweeping grasp of the clear-thinking mind that had lifted Bill Wilder from the depths of the whirlpool of humanity that had early flooded the gold regions of the North, to the highest pinnacle of success in a traffic wherein vision and courage were the chief essentials, had served him now far better than he knew. ”

“ Wilder's chair, ready to serve.
"Hop Joy, this is Mr. Larry and this is Mr. Tom," said Mrs. Wilder.
"Whatever they ask you to do, you must do it."
The celestial, who was cook, washman and general factotum on the
Half-Moon Ranch, bowed gravely to each of the boys.
"That sounds very fine," laughed Mr. Wilder, "but you must be careful what you ask Hop Joy to do. If you disturb him when he's cooking he's apt to throw a pail of water at you."
"Hop's all right, father," declared Horace loyally. "He only throws water when the boys try to steal his doughnuts. Um—m, but Hop can make doughnuts! ”

“ The old man spoke with energy, and a great show of honest indignation, which did not fail to make an impression on the ladies, at the same time that it brought certain ungrateful admonitions to the conscience of the understanding Wilder.
“You perceive, sir,” said Mrs Wyllys, after waiting in vain for the reply of the young seaman, “that it is very possible for two men, of equal advantages, to disagree on a professional point. Which am I to believe?” ”

“ Marshall P. Wilder had just come off the stage at Shea's in Buffalo. His act had not gone at all to suit him, and he stood shaking his head and wondering what was the matter. A big, fat acrobat who was closing the show noticed him and said,
"What's the trouble, Kid?"
"I don't know," said Wilder, "but I can't seem to make them laugh."
"Augh, don't you worry about that; you ain't supposed to; you draw 'em in; we'll make 'em laugh." ”

“ Gertrude coldly answered. “Pray tell me, Mrs Wyllys, is the vessel we are approaching a King’s ship? She has a warlike, not to say a threatening exterior.”
“The pilot has twice called her a slaver.”
“A slaver! How deceitful then is all her beauty and symmetry! I will never trust to appearances again, since so lovely an object can be devoted to so vile a purpose.”
“Deceitful indeed!” exclaimed Wilder aloud, under an impulse that he found as irresistible as it was involuntary. ”

“ As for Guinea, here, the chap makes fair weather with you, blow high or blow low, whereas it is no hard matter to get up a squall between us, as might be seen in that small affair about the boat;”—
“Say no more of it,” interrupted Wilder, whose feelings appeared sensibly touched, as his recollections ran over long-past and bitterly-remembered scenes: “You know that little else than death can part us, unless indeed you choose to quit me now. It is right that you should know that I am engaged in a desperate pursuit, and one that may easily end in ruin to myself and all who accompany me. ”

“ Flora detailed the plan of the proposed ambuscade and attack upon the Arapahoes as they returned from their visit to the medicine-lodge. Wilder listened with a pleased countenance, but became grave at last.
“Very well planned!” he said. “No one could have hit upon a better idea. There is only one difficulty.” ”

“ Would you run foul of a single man, and he an officer and such an officer as ye never set eyes on be fore, except, mayhap, in the fashion that a cat looks upon a king? I should like to see the man, among ye all, who can handle a heavy ship, in a narrow channel, as I have seen master Harry here handle the saucy”—
“Stand back,” cried Wilder, forcing himself between his defenders and his foes. “Stand back, I say, and leave me alone to meet the audacious villains.
“Overboard with him! overboard with them all!” cried the seamen, “he and his knaves together!” ”