Roving Jack, The Pirate Hunter — page 281: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ROVING JACK, THE PIRATE HUNTER. 301 Wirth Wolfgang, holding the vessel still in his hand, advanced and leant over the prostrate body of the highwayman. He first passed his hand, moistened by a portion of the fluid, over the dead man’s temples, then forced the remainder down his throat. The livid corpse in a moment quivered under the potency of the medicament as if it had received an electric shock. This was followed by a violent trembling motion so powerful that the limbs of the sufferer moved to and fro as if they belonged to those of a vigorous being. His brow, cold as marble, became presently warm with life, and beaded with sweat, as if in intense agony. The effect of the elixir appeared to Roving Jack wonderful and instantaneous. His hair stiffened where he stood, and he seemed for the time being transformed into some statue of stone, He soon observed a blue flame issuing from the quickening clay, _The sightless orbs were lit up with the power of vision, The discoloured and distorted features assumed their natural hue and expression, while the stiffened and rigid joints regained ther wonted suppleness, “You must swear,” said the Dutchman, address- ing our hero, ‘‘never to divulge what you are about to behold, and the charm will be complete.” “Most solemnly, I pledge myself,” returned Roving Jack. Hnough,” exclaimed Wirth Wolfgang; “your oath accomplishes my purpose. Beware! lest you break it,” “T never will.” The Dutchman now flung some drugs upon the fire, and strong odour prevailed in the apartment. Oo this thejspell of death seemed entirely broken, and that one*of the miracles of old had been wrought. The apparently lifeless form of Jack Sheppard rose from his cerements with a convulsive start. It resembled that of a sleeping man arising from a hideous dream. He had thrown off his entranced thraldom, and had issued forth once more to the world of temporal creatures. He gazed vacantly around the room as if he were the tenant of some supernatural abode ; in fact the chamber, strewed with the implements used by its necromantic occupant, might have justified such a supposition in a mind far less excited than Jack Sheppard’s under present circumstances. As the highwayman gradually recovered con- sciousness his brain still reeled, and for some moments he had to press his hand before his eyes to exclude the terrible phantasma that pictured itself to his sense of sight. ae Having at length overcome the failing, Jack Sheppard was at once amazed and delighted to hear the voice, and find himself in the presence of Wirth Wolfgang. “ Wirth Wolfgang, my scattered senses serve not to recount the incidents of the past hour. Tell me first, where am I?” ‘In safety,” was the Dutchman’s curt reply. “But what has happened is——” “All for de best,” continued Wirth Wolfgang, doggedly. “ After a fearful doom beneath the tree of Tyburn,” exclaimed Jack Sheppard, “I ceased to think, feel, or suffer. Say,’ continued the high- wayman, whose surprise seemed to increase every moment, “have I passed the realm of death? Do I awake to another being and a new life?” “Ja, mein friend, you have been snatched from de grave dat vas yawning to receive your body.” ‘*T do not dream, then ; I still exist?” “Yes; I am de instrument in de hands of heaven to restore you once more to dis trouble- some world,” “But how have you effected such a seeming im- possibility ? Armed with the weapon my distracted mother had placed in my hand, I fired into my own breast,” rejoined Jack Sheppard. “Bat you will not marvel when I tell you, mein friend,’ cried the Dutchman, “that the secret of prolonging life is within my reach, and I dare grasp it.” ‘You have leagued yourself with the powers of darkness.” “A man may be an adept in alcbymy, and yet no sorcerer, mynheer,” replied Wirth Wolfgang, dryly. ‘‘I possess the ingredients of a potion handed down by the fathers of ancient lore that confers to some great extent perpetual being to man.” ‘‘He who exists on such a condition,” replied Jack Sheppard, “must be deemed the most wretched of his species.” ‘‘ How so?” “Ts he not a stranger to the earth who outlives his race? The dearest tie which binds mortal to life, the love of progeny, is broken,” ‘‘There are other pleasures.” “But not to equal the one——’ “You talk like a boy, as you are,” interrupted the Dutchman, with peevishness. “Say, is it nothing to be young again, to enjoy eternal youth, to bask for ever in the smiles of beauty ?”’ “ He who loves truly loves but once.” “Think of the man who has liyed a century only,’ continued Wirth Wolfgang, rapturously, “scarcely one soul of the thousands breathing is existent a hundred years after that. The being still lives on, though ten generations have gone to the grave.” “Sooner than suffer such a doom,” replied the highwayman, “I would willingly again embrace the death from which you have snatched me.” “You will not regret your fate, Jack Sheppard, when you learn how it has been purchased,” said a voice in close proximity. It was that of Roving Jack. He had retired from the chamber previously to the last conversation, deeming his presence at the moment of his friends resuscitation might be pre- judicial to its completion. We will pass over the cordial greeting that took place between our hero and the highwayman, and go at once to the discourse that followed upon it. When they were left alone, Roving Jack addressed his companion as follows— “T can readily see that you are troubled at the means which have been used to revivicate, or recal you to life.” “Yes, Sir John,” replied Jack Sheppard ; “though I have been a bad and desperate man, I have ever respected the great truths that have been revealed tous. The divinity shapes our ends, and it is im- pious to endeavour to avert those laws which im- mutably govern the human race.” “ Will you rest assured,” said our hero, “ if I tell you that your escape from death has been effected by no supernatural recourse?” Jack Sheppard’s breast dilated with rapture on hearing this avowal. ‘Superstition has endowed untutored minds,” GComicbooksncom