Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 112 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 112: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful titled "Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil" (page 96). The text describes Tom and a character named Billy discovering a man sleeping in a graveyard, which leads to a violent physical struggle between Tom and the mysterious man. The passage employs dialect and sensational language typical of the genre, culminating in the two combatants crashing through rotting masonry into an underground brick-lined structure. No illustrations appear on this page.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
96 Tom ANDERSON, DarE-DEVIL bit. ‘London Town”’ was the finest rifle in the Common- wealth. ‘“Bull’s-Eye” had made more friendly Indians than a few. To find the plantation Fool hugging to his breast a pistol was an incredible thing. ‘Where ’ve you been, Billy?”’ “Up yonder. Me en’ de witches sets roun’ en’ gambles on de led er ole man Passmo’s grave — dee’s er blue racer up dar — quiled up in er tree” — “Come on, Billy; show me where you got this.” “He sleep.” 66 Who?” “Haid mos’ too big ter tell it.” There flashed across Tom’s memory Billy’s story about “the man who sleeps in the long grass up in the Ole Buryin’-Groun’.” Something at the bottom of all this. He whisked the goblin up behind him, and turned Ma’y Jane’s nose away from her stable. A few minutes later she was tethered to a limb on top.of a dismal, wind-swept hill. ‘om whispered Billy to be mov- ing. The Fool wound through “the yellow brooms and cold mushrooms”’ and stepped lightly across that queer gaming-table. He beckoned Tom. Stretched between two slabs — the nodding sedge almost meeting above him — lay a man with a blanket around him, his hat over his eyes. Only mouth and chin were visible. Was he alive? Very cautiously Tom bent down. A pair of long arms swung upward — were clenched around the boy’s neck! His head was dragged down till he was forced to his knees. [he struggle on the ground was short. In thirty seconds the fellow was on his feet, Tom fast in a grip that pinned his arms to his sides and made his ribs crack. And his feet were dangling “like tassels”’ —in Tom’s own words —so much taller than [om was the enemy. The latter’s advantage seemed complete. But on a sudden, one of the dangling feet was driven between the man’s shins, an adroit twist, and l’om had tripped him. But that terrible hold was unrelaxed. Together they crashed down on a surface of old brickwork. The rotten masonry gave way under the impact. [hey went to the bottom of an old brick-lined EGomicbooksrGo m