Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 62 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 62: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose from "The Taking of Helen," a Victorian penny dreadful (page 50). The text depicts an officer interrogating someone about a man digging, then departing. After he leaves, a girl speaks with a man named Nireus about having "changed them" to avoid discovery, and mentions rewards being offered. The scene then shifts to girls arriving at a house and one girl bringing urgent news about identifying mysterious people—specifically identifying a woman as the wife of "old Lord Halys" from the hills. The passage concerns what appears to be a kidnapping or abduction plot with concealment and investigation elements typical of sensation fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
50 THE TAKING OF HELEN “Who is that man digging there?”’ the officer said. “The girl’s brother, sir.’’ “You examined him?” “Yes, sir.” “It’s my belief,’’ the officer said, “that this boy was put up to bring us back here as a blind. We’ll search round where we met the boy.” They rode slowly away. When they had gone, the girl came out to speak to Nireus. “Tf I had not changed them,” she said, “they would both have been found.” ‘Perhaps the worst is past now,” he said. ‘“They’ve been offering rewards, they say,’’ she said. “They will try hard for the rewards yet.” “T’d better go back to my digging,” he said. “You are not much used to digging, I think. You will find fat in the tallow room if your hands are sore.” She went into the house and he returned to his dig- ging. Presently some girls came to the house and chattered with Myrtle at the door. After some min- utes, another girl came hurrying up with important news. “Girls,’”’ she said, ‘‘I’ve heard who the people are.” “Who? Who are they?” “She was the wife of old Lord Halys, who lived up in the hills, a long way from here, and they had a young GOMIGIOOKS (C(O)