The Skeleton Crew; Or, Wildfire Ned — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

THE SKELETON CREW; OR, WILDFIRE NED. *T know it, uncle; but I hope to gain my own living ere many months have passed over my head. But whether I am rich or poor, I shall hate Phil Redgill all the same,” ‘Why, sir?” “ He is arank coward. I despise him.” “Coward !—despise him! What mean you? Do you know he may one day inherit my fortune?” “JT do. Idon’t hate him for that; but he is a coward and a cunning knave into the bargain. He is much older than I am ; but I couldthrash the very life out of him in ten minutes, if he’d only stand up like a man. I have told him that more than once, uncle, and have shoved my fist in his face often and often ; he is a sly thief and a liar, uncle,”’ said Wildfire Ned, getting red and very passionate, ‘Tim and I know what he has done before now. Charley and he are very thick, I hear, in London ; but, if brother took my advice, he would shun Phil Redgill like a snake in the grass. If he don’t come to the gallows in time, why, then, he must have more lives than a cat, that’s all,” The knight was astounded at this; but while he stood staring at Ned, the door opened, and in walked the footman and Tim the boy groom, leading in the one-legged sailor. Timothy, the groom, or Tiny Tim, as he was called, on account of his small stature, looked pale and frightened. His staring eyes, and hair standing on end, told plainly that he had been frightened by something or somebody on the road from Portsmouth. “ What’s the matter, Tim ?” Ned asked, laughing. “Why, you look as if you had seen a dozen ghosts | on the road,” “So I have, Master Edward, more than a dozen.” “More than a dozen ghosts, lad?” asked the knight, laughing. ‘“ Did you bring the letters safe ?”” ‘‘ Yes, sir,” answered Tim ; “here they are, sir; but I had to ride for my dear life like the devil.” “What does the lad mean ?” the knight asked. “Surely he is not crazy? Sit down and compose yourself,” ‘Well, sir,” said Tim, “ directly I got the letters I started back home again; but as I was trotting along I saw a man on horseback waiting for me ; he looked like a highway robber, so I turns my horse down another road to get out of his way.” ‘Well, what then ?” “ “Thadn’t gone far, sir, and was just passing the Red Man’s gibbet, as they calls it, at the cross roads, when the wind began to howl and cry like so many living voices,” “You were not afraid of all that, I hope?” “No, sir, but the vultures were flying about the gibbet, and their eyes sparkled in the moonlight like so many coals of fire.” “Well?” “IT didn’t care much about that, but when I got fairly under the gibbet, and was about to pass by, I looked up, and I saw the Red Man’s eyes glaring on me, and he seemed to shake himself, for his chains rattled awfully.” “ Nonsense | he has been dead this many a-year ; it was all fancy, Tim,” said Wildfire Ned, chuckling, ‘No, it wasn’t, sir, all due respect to you, sir ; he was alive.” * Alive?” “Aye, gentlemen, alive; I could swear it as sure as I live.” “You were timorous, that is all, and fancied so,” ‘No, Sir Richard, I never was so brave in all my life, although I felt my blood run cold, J¢t spoke to me,” ‘Spoke to you?” SS ee ne ‘Yes sir.” “What did it say ?” ““<Halt!’ it shouted, and on the instant my horse stopped, and would not budge aninch, ‘Halt!’ it said, in awful tones, glaring down on me with its fiery eyes. ‘I am one of the Skeleton Crew,’ it said ; ‘go, tell your master that Farmer Bertram is murdered !’” “‘ Dead ?” “Murdered ?” said several in surprise. ‘‘When did this;foul deed take place?” asked the old knight. ‘“< Murdered last night,’ said the Red Man from the gibbet, ‘as the Darlington village clock tolled the hour of one! Ha! ha! the Skeleton Crew still lives, and rules the seas, and will long defy the power of man. Fly from this spot, or become one of the dead !’” ‘‘This-is a most horrible revelation,’ said the old knight, ‘“‘T did not stop to hear more, for I shouted with fright, and galloped madly away, feeling as if frozen to the very marrow, for J had spoken mith the dead!” Tiny Tim looked exhausted, and shivered in every limb. He could not proceed with his story very quickly, for his teeth chattered again. ‘Give the lad a stiff glass of brandy, Ned,” said the kind-hearted knight. Ned did so; a very “stiff”? one indeed, it was, which made the groom’s eyes twinkle again. The one-legged sailor was treated in like manner, when Tim continued— “T galloped along till I reached the edge of the wild and barren heath, but then I felt faint, for I perceived another horrid sight in the distance! I was compelled to cross the heath, for it was my only way here to the Hall. Unable to guide my horse, I sat still shivering in the cold, knowing not what to do, when all of a sudden the one-legged sailor seemed to spring out of the earth close beside me, : “The next moment I found him sitting on the horse beside me ! ‘He took the reins, and the mare dashed onwards like lightning, as if neither of us were heavier than two straws, ‘“‘ All I remember is that as we galloped along we came up to three fires on the roadside which burned with a dark blue flame, and around them were, shrieking and dancing—the Skeleton Crew ! ‘‘T fainted. When I came to my senses again we were at the Lodge gate.” Sir Richard, Ned, the footman, and other members of the household, who had now gathered around, listened to Tim’s story with bated breath. The footman looked terror-stricken, and trembled so, that, during the groom’s story, his pigtail (the fashion in those days) gradually rose, until at last it stood stiff and erect above his head, a powdered pillar of horror. “Ts the lad dreaming, or is he turned crazy ?” said Sir Richard. “No ; the lad is right, sir,” said the one-legged sailor, making bold to speak. ‘‘My name is Ralph Spray, your honour, late of the king’s navy ; and, if so be as how I’m not intruding, I well tell you all about it. This ’ere good-natur’d lad, the groom, is almost turned grey wi’ only havin’ a peep at some on ’em, but how must it be wi’ me, who has fought with the Skeleton Crew ?” “Ts it true, then, that there is such a crew?” asked the knight, in surprise, “ Aye, true, sir, a8 I sits here, for I lost my other leg among ’em, I ought not to forget ’em, for they boo (E(0) nn)