Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 117 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 117: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful novel titled "Mystery" (page 101). The text depicts a dramatic confrontation in a cabin between characters named Tom, Hornbuckle, and Egger. Tom, who appears to be a captive, has been burned and demands release; Hornbuckle accuses Egger of involvement in Tom's kidnapping and imprisonment. The passage reveals that Egger has orchestrated a plot against Tom and is connected to schemes undermining "the Anderson fortunes." The scene concludes with Tom observing the morning star (Lucifer) through cracks in the cabin logs and philosophizing about fate, employing melodramatic dialogue heavy with dialect and sensational emotion typical of the genre.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MystTERY IOI hearth. The kidnapper burst into the cabin, his face as white as a sheep’s. ‘“Hornbuckle! he done it!’’— Egger choked with excite- ment. ‘“Hornbuckle,’’ screamed Tom, mad with pain and the sense of his wrongs, “he dropped fire on my bare skin. | knocked his torch out of his hand! Untie me, man—for one minute! Give me a white man’s chance, and I'll defy him to torture me!”’ Hornbuckle was stamping out the last smoking fiber. He turned on Egger. “ Nuver tuk ye fer a fool afore!” “None er my doin’ —”’ geo devilment! Stalks ketched along er yo’ devil- ment.” He pointed a shaking finger at Tom. “Keep yer han’s offen him-un!”’ ‘Had n't been fer me ye’d nuver knowed —”’ “Shet up,’ holding him with those smouldering, wildcat eyes. “This-here’s my shack. That-thur’s my pris’ner,” with deadly significance. “Be a-gwine.” But, as he went, Egger looked back at the object of his hate, pushed up his bristly upper lip, and exposed the gap in his big red gum. Egger, then, had been at the bottom of the plot to kid- nap and imprison him! Accident had delivered him into Hornbuckle’s hands, but Egger had previously acquainted Hornbuckle with his schemes. This was Tom’s conviction. How important his capture to the furtherance of Egger’s plots, — how big and daring those plots were, — lom did not dream. The extent of the overseer’s machinations, the activity with which he was undermining the Anderson fortunes, was still Egger’s secret! This’ last revelation of the man’s ferocity was a shock to Tom. “ Hornbuckle’s an outlaw, but Egger’s something worse. And I’m at the mercy of both.” The fire burned lower and lower. Throws a crack in the logs the blue-white morning star blazed forth, the star-in- armor, Lucifer. “Lucifer is up and doing. Wonder if that’s the star of my fate. Some devilish planet must have sunned my cradle!” GOMmMmiGcsoo eS (C(O) mn