The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 273: what you’re looking at

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

THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. 267 “Oh, indeed,” said the officer, valuable into his pocket. ' "You need not search any further,” said’ old Moss, very nervously. ‘They have left nothing behind ; there is nothing here but rags and old iron.’ “To you call this old iron ?” said the second officer, holding up a coffee- “pot he had ‘discovered under some dirty sacking. “\“ Why, this as Te silver.” “Any name on it,” asked ‘his companion. “Yes, Ford; the’ Red House.™ *© ibeonae “ Ford, the Red House,” said'the other, thinking for a moment, “ Surely it’ Cannot’ be any of the plate which was stolen from that: murdered Bente man’s premises a little while ago'?”?' *"' _ “Have you~ got 2a description of coe nissing property ?” ‘Yes, somewhere in my notebook, rane got the description from the murdered man’s’ old ‘séryant. ee it 1s,” said the officer, reading over a Jong ist , emery eit corresporids' exactly,” said’ the ! first _ officer, es ‘So it does. Where did you get this, MéKs eg “ Don’t know anything about tue) This was a lie, for it'’was“one' of the aie which he had bought from Barne — “But you must know som iiething about it, or how did it get here?” ©" “ Somebody must have Biante It, 80 as to roin me,” said old’ 088, trembling. “Oh, that is’ a very unlikely tale)” said’ the officers, laughing, “We must search the: awirotle _ place now,” ‘No, dén’t ;’ there’s io occasion, Tm agit you 1 find nothing.” APE EN § “We don’t know that) We’ must také you into custody for having stolen’ ‘property in your "pos- session, Moss.”’ “Me?” gasped the Jew, 9) °°) ) > ra: 66 Yes: ; you.” 10) ff if The Jew sank upon a bag of ast 4 He felt that his course was ‘run; and that he was in the hands of thé law, from’ which there Was now no possible hope of escape, | He offered bribes to the two officers. But those worthy men. page pany. refused his tempting offers, One of them stood by guarding Mose b The other prosecuted his séarch’ thoroughly, and, in less than half-an-hour, ‘found’ a number of valuable articles in precious métals. Before they took the old Jew down to the station one of them called two constables, and took pos- session of his shop in the Lane. Amid a gaping crowd two other officers conducted old Moss to! prison, and, so weak was he, that he almost fell upon the way, He was not searched, but charged with having stolen goods upon his prerises, and all bail refused. He was cast into a cell, and there left to his dismal meditations, and, ere ‘long,’ the old rogue wept like a child ; not out of sorrow for years of crime, but because he felt that he was now utterly powerless to haye any, revenge on his enemies, who- ever they were, | ‘Who could have done all this?” he mused, as, with his head between his hands, he thought for hours on the events of that, unlucky day. He took out of his pocket.an old red tattered rag of a handkerchief fo wipe his eyes, and a letter fell upon the floor. ‘This came this morning, but I was. 80. low- spirited I could not open it,”’ “putting the | However, to divert his thoughts, old Moss tore the envelope and read as follows :— **Moss.— You have played,the old villain. Jong enough; you are not content to buy swag and make hundreds out of it, but you must needs try and get your money back again by robbin =: “‘ Now I and my pals have liad our eyes on you for a long time, and played the same trick that you would have played on us; that is to say, we have stolen our.‘ metal’ again, besides other valuables, and‘have kindly informed the police of the event by. letter. When you are lagged, and enjoying your lifer, think of this, and your old pal, “TREY. “The devil seize and an dict him !” gasped Moss, and he raved and swore in such a terrible rage for more ‘than: half an hour, that he foamed at the mouth like ai a, and: tried to destroy: himself in his cell). But the enolans soon put.a stop to his wild pranks, for they handcuffed him and tied him down. “Wish I was dead! I wish I was dead |” groaned the Jew, in great agony. The: tight griprof the law was on him, ‘He wriggled -and ‘writhed aoe a wounded worm agsihe was, 0 Hundreds had’ suffered. for iter sake, and now he had to suffer for theirs, He had been making money and dancingto plea- sant music all his life... - The moment was fast approaching when, he had to pay the fiddler... 0: 4 0189 | OHAPTER Oil: EXTRACT FROM FRANK FORD'S JOURNAL, IN MEXICO. ABOUT BIRDS, WILD FOWL, AND THB LIKE, . WHICH HE. AND. HIS BOY SOLDIERS OFTEN MET WITH, AND SHOT AND STUFFED FOR THE PURPOSE; OR, HORMING, A_MUSEUM..FOR THE BOYS.IN, ENGLAND, ins. “Dwar BROTHER LOMj— 294 “T received a letter from: you hefexs you sailed towards Hngland, and I hasten to answer it. “ T shall, according’ to your directions, send: this to the Grosvenor Hotel, London, where you intend to stay should ‘you land in England, ‘JT have much to tell you about our military affairs here in Mexico’; but'before I speak of those things, I shall continue my journal, and,,as you and the boys wish it, will describe what else I saw upon the broad prairies, and then ‘continue my narrative of our Mexican campaign. “ Tn the first place, then, cranes and herons ofall kinds—black, white, and gray,crested and without crest—are common’ heré,’ Pelicans but rarely are seen in the laguns. One immense bird, called a Borignon, is common enough : it has a body bigger than a swan, and mederately long legs, but with almost no neck, and an immense’ beak projecting from a small head, set deep between his shoulders, “This bird is white, and has his wings .edged with black, his legs, head, aud .beak- being also black. “ Bitterns are very common, and beautiful birds they are, ‘’Curlews. and~ snipes, great, small, abound, “ These last are absurdly tame. They never fly over twenty yards; and, dropping in the open plain, even after being fired at and missed, feed without any fear of being again molested, ‘‘ Divers and water-rails frequent all the lakesiand streams in myriads: some of the former are very graceful and elegant birds. :. “ Tlamingoes, spoonbills, and birds of that kind and jack, AMiclo@ol< CO