The Argosy — page 375: what you’re looking at

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

The Village Blacksmith. 357 Was she hiding? He searched every hole and corner of the cot- tage in which it was possible for Janet to conceal herself ; and at last, satisfied that she was not in the house, he left it by the same window he had entered by, and returned through the Rectory grounds to the old tree, resolved to take charge of the baby ; not from any philan- thropic motives, but because he thought if he had the child he possessed a most powerful means of forcing Janet to consent to his wishes, Instead of flying from him, she would rush to him to recover her infant, if she heard it was with him. The baby was a magnet whose power of attraction he was certain Janet would be unable to resist. He might repel; the child would attract ; and its influence would counterbalance his. ' Inspired with this idea, he ran like a hunted fox down the hill to the canal, But when he reached the greensward the first object that caught his eye was the great form of the blacksmith lying prone in front of the hollow tree, the light of the moon shining full on his face. ‘‘Is he dead?” muttered Mark, as he bent over the prostrate figure. Reuben had fallen on his side with his arms stretched up over his head, his mighty fists clenched as in agony. Mark touched one, half expecting to find it cold and stiff; but the fingers relaxed when he touched them, and, though unconscious, Reuben was breathing heavily. Satisfied that he was not in the presence of a corpse, Mark’s thoughts reverted to the infant, but on looking into the tree he found the child was gone ; only Reuben’s coat remained. Mark gnashed his teeth with rage when he found the child was gone, and, consequently, his plan frustrated. “Fool that I was not to take it with me,” he muttered; “she has got it herself now, I’ll be bound ; but where the dickens is she? ” Neither the unconscious giant at his feet, nor the trees which surrounded him were able to answer this question, and Mark now bethought him that the best thing he could do was to turn his attention to Reuben. ‘To move him alone was impossible ; he must knock up some of the neighbours if the blacksmith did not recover consciousness. But before doing this Mark doubled up the coat and put it under Reuben’s head for a pillow, turned him over on to his back, and then fetching some water in his own hat he tried to bring him back to life ; but in vain. “ He hasn’t fainted. I count he is in a fever,” said Mark, desisting from his efforts and running to the nearest cottage for help. It was now about three o’clock, and the inmates of the cottage Mark went to were hard to wake. At length a sleepy head appeared at a window to ask what was the matter, and on learning that Reuben Foreman was lying unconscious close by, Tom Liddiatt, the owner of the head, consented to come and give what assistance he could. “Call Jim, too; we can’t lift him alone,” said Mark. Jim was @ COMM AOC Ss (GO)