Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 408 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

ee human souls,” she said, struggling to keep the imastery of her reason. ‘‘ Nor am I asleep and dreaming. comes of weakness.” She sought to steady herself. something to fix her eyes upon. She recalled the gleam of light, and looked to see if it would reappear. Yes! there it was again! and thor gh she be- lieved it an illusion and that it would presently vanish as it had done before, she gazed at it as a castaway on the lone ocean stares at a dim speck on the horizon, which may prove to be a sail, or only a film of vapor which will shortly dissipate in the air. No! no! it is the flightiness which | | but— Eh? If she only had | ‘‘ But it is blue!” she suddenly cried aloud. | ‘** And see! there is a point of light in the middle | of it! It is the sky!—it is the blue sky! heard that, looking up from the bottom of a well, one can see stars in the daytime! Yes! yes! it is no illusion, but a glorious reality! I see the tiling heavens once more, and that is my star { promise!” A wild ecstasy thrilled through and through her. A flood of grateful tears sprung to her eyes. Shedashed them away, lest for an instant she should lose sight of that shimmering point of hope. [ have | | So there, on her knees in the darkness, with | her hands clasped as in prayer and her eyes straining upward, she waited, panting and sob- bing and murmuring— “Oh God! you are good to me! You will send deliverance in your own time and way!” While she waits thus, let us explain the source of the voice with which she has been holding Converse. The blizzard having blown itself out by mid- night was followed before morning by a furious rain-storm, which washed away every trace of suOW., At dawn two parties went in search of Belle Briggs—one consisting of her friends, and the other of the vindicators of the law. The distracted mother insisted upon being one of the former party, and as her despair increas- ed with the evidence that there was no trace of Belle to be found, she toiled among the crags, frantically crying her name until she was car- ried home completely exhausted. Those under the lead of Jason Ashmead met with no better success,and both parties were equally jeered by old Mumbo Jumbo. Meanwhile, almost himself again after a night’s rest, Little Leather-Breeches had gone out alone, resolved if he found the girl alive to take her beyond the reach of the Jaw at all haz- ards. Apparently little the worse for his fall, the Mad Millionaire had gone in search of his run- away horses. By the middle of the afternoon he had not met with any better success than the others in their more important quest; but his fortune took him into the heart of the hills, where, as he was about to step over a hole upon which he had come unexpectedly, he heard issuing up through it the muffled sounds of a human voice. His diseased imagination at once caught at this, a glance into the black orifice showing him that it was the opening into some subterranean chamber. ‘* Ho! it’s brownies!” he cried, eagerly. ‘‘ I’ve wanted to see them all my life. Now’sas gooda time as any to make their acquaintance. ‘I'll speak to them!” So he knelt and thrust his face close down over fhe hole, entirely cutting off the light that streamed through it. He rose from his interview with Belle believ- ing that it was some underground spirit in trou- ble, and went in quest of Little Leather- Breeches. He did not find © “il! Fosdick at home, but the distracted mother sa” rocking her body to and fro, or paced the floor, or was now and then forced to lie down for a few minutes by the sympathetic women who surrounded her. At sight of the Mad Millionaire, she sprung up and seized hold of him. ‘‘What have you done with my child?” she screamed. ‘‘ Where isshe? You were with her last! You tore her away from all who loved her! Where is she now?” The lunatic took the contagion of her excite- ment as tinder ignites from a spark. ‘* Yes! yes! yes!” he cried with the rapidity of lightning, fairly dancing. ‘‘That was a famous ride, with the devil at the end of it! Ha! ha!” ‘You fiend!” cried the mother, enraged at his laughter, so that she shook him with all her strength. cried, “But I say!” he Little ‘‘ where's | i Little Leather-Breeches. Leather-Breeches? He’s the man for my money! Say!” and he lowered his voice to a mysterious whisper, ‘‘ don’t you give it away; You understand?” And winking and bobbing his head rapidly, | he poked her in the side with his finger, with a knowing look, and throwing back his head, shrieked out his wild laugh once more. Then glancing around at the other women who | | shrunk from him with fear, he sidled up to her and whispered in her ear: “It’s ail right, between you and me and the graveyard. Little Leather-Breeches is the best non in the c rcus. Eh? he’s the one to fix it all right!” Then the mother began to tremble with a wild hope. She too suddenly became apprehensive of the women, as seizing him with both hands she whispered back: * You have found—” ‘* Ha! ha! ha!” he shrieked, throwing his head back, and then winking and nudging her again, added: ‘*‘ What some folks would give their eye-teeth to find! But, mum’s the word! Where’s Little Leather-Breeches? I can’t man- age it myself, what with the crick in my head, you know.” ‘*God bless you, you faithful creature!” sob- bed the mother, overcome with the new hope. ‘**Oh, be careful! Do not trust any one. They are all her enemies! Do not even let it be known that you are in search of Will, or you may be followed. But you will find him some- where among the hills. You must search un- ceasingly until you do find him.’ So, “building better than he knew,” he left the mother with a priceless boon of joy and gratitude, while he went back to the hills. The sun bad almost touched the horizon when he came upon the object of his search, looking haggard and desperate. ** Hello!” he cried. ‘* Yowre just the chap I'm looking for. I say!—I haven’t found the horses yet, but I’ve found what I’ve never lost. Ha! ha! ha! You don’t believe in witches and devils and. fairies, do you? Well, there’s the witch over yonder among the crags. You can’t deny that she told you all this trouble about the murder beforehand; and it’s my opinion that she had a hand init. It would be an easy matter for her to make you all believe that Abe Seaver was shot, when it wasn’t him at all, but only one of her familiars that had taken the form of his body, and lay there as if he was dead. You see, she couldn’t spirit off a real body, but if it was a cheat, I reckon it van- ished before Ashmead and the rest of them had got half-way to the house. ‘* If that isn’t the business of a witch, I don’t know what is. ‘* As for devils, you can see them dancing in the fire any stormy night, and hear them shriek- ing and laughing down the chimney. ‘*But now, [ve got something else to show you—something that you don’t get a chance to see every day. I’ve been on the lookout for them all my life, and this is the first time I ever had the ghost of a show to get at one of them. ‘We're all very independent when we're all right, ain't we? But when we get into trouble, we're glad of some one who will help us out. ‘* And now, who do you think has got into a hole— Ha, ha, ha! That’sa good one. Intoa hole! Ha! ha! ha-a-a-ah! ha! ha!” ‘*Look here, Barclay!’ said Will, wearily, ‘*T haven’t any time to listen to your nonsense! What has become of Belle Briggs? That’s what I want to know.” ‘*Oh, yes! Belle Briggs. It was queer about that, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t have believed she had it in her. She was always so quiet, you know. But then you can never tell.” Little Leather-Breeches turned away in de- spair. Pt But, say!” continued the Mad Millionaire, following him up. ‘ You’re a good fellow, You'd help anybody out of a scrape, wouldn’t you? Well, ve found a fairy shut up in a tomb under ground. Her folks have actually buried her alive—I don’t know what for; she didn’t tell me. But there she is, and she asked me to help her out. That’s the queerest thing I ever Lvard. I always thought thatthese ground folk could come and go as they pleased, and that they preferred to stay down there. But I suppose she knows best whether she feels com- fortable. So I told her that my head-piece wasn’t good for much, but I knew a likely young fellow who would be glad to render her any services that lay in his power; and that if he couldn’t find a way of getting her out, there was no use in looking to any one else. So I’ve come for you. Now’s your chance to see a | g I thought you wouldn’t want to 1 never saw one before, my regular fairy. miss the sight. self.” ‘‘ Barclay,” said Little Leather-Breeches;: ‘come, be a good fellow and try to think what happened after you left Jason Ashmead’s’ house with Miss Briggs.” It was plain that he was not impressed by what he considereé one of the madman’s va- raries. But the Mad Millionaire was full of his one idea, and he urged it with every argument he could think of, going over the details of his in- terview when Little Leather-Breeches showed his incredulity, until our hero, impatient at having this nonsense, as he supposed, thrust upon his grief, repelled him angrily, and shook him off, But soon after he was alone something that had been said came back with startling force. His attention once arrested, the whole situation suddenly flashed upon him in a new light, and he stopped abruptly with a cry of wonder. The next instant he was flyimg back toward the spot where he had left the madman, shout- ing his name at the top of his lungs. he Mad Millionaire quickly forgot his disap- seem eae, and delightedly led Little Leather reeches to the crevice in the rock. Trembling in every limb, our hero knelt with the setting sun shining full in his face. He had not time to speak, when a wild cry came up from the opening. ‘Will! Will! oh, Will! thank God, you have come at last!” CHAPTER VIII. AN UNKNOWN FATE. Wits his heart in his mouth, Little Leather- Breeches asked: ‘* Belle, darling, is it you?’ “Yes! yes!” she panted. nearly died of fright!” “Well, it is all over now,” he said, sooth- ingly: ‘*Oh, I am sure it is, now that I have you with me.” ‘“But how did you get down there in so strange a place?” ‘*T’m sure I don’t know.” ‘*Try to think. You were with the Mad Mil- lionaire, you know.” “Yes. I shudder at that fearful ride! But I do not remember how it ended. I must have lost consciousness. When I came to myself I was in this terrible place all alone!” ‘*T think you were thrown from the wagon.” ‘*That may be. I feel bruised and sore.” “Then you must have got up in a half-con- scious state and sought shelter from the cold in the mouth of some cave. But I do not know of anything of the kind anywhere near our home. Do you?” +s No. 9? ‘* However, the first thing to think about is how to get you out. Can’t you find your way out as you got in?” ‘““Oh,no! I have wandered about in the dark ness until I am nearly wild! This is the only gleam of light I have seen since I have been in this horrible place!” ‘“‘ Well, we must try some other way.” Little Leather-Breeches reflected. ‘* Belle,” he said, after a pause, ‘ you need not suffer any more anxiety, for now that I know where you are, you are perfectly safe. But it will be impossible to get you out at once. You cannot be got up through this small opening, nor can I get to you. And it is probable that, with a light and proper means of keeping track of the ground you have gone over, you can find the way out much sooner than I could find the way in to you. ‘* But first, you must be hungry.” ‘“‘T have been too greatly frightened to think of hunger, though I am weak and faint for want of food. But 1 am famishing with thirst! If you could get me some water first!” ‘*'You will not be afraid to be left alone?” ** Oh, no!” ‘* Well, I will be back as soon as possible.” He rose, to find the Mad Millionaire staring at him in wonder. Little Leather-Breeches felt that it would be safer to leave the lunatic in his delusion than to tell him the truth. | He therefore got rid of him on the pretext that he had frightened the fairy by his wild laugh, and with the promise that, when he had got her out, and she had got used to human beings so as not to f@r them, he would tell her — her rescuer was and ask her to let him see er. The Mad Millionaire thereupon resumed the ‘*Oh, Will, I have COr Ic p00ks. a aoe en, a ee =_ e lL,’ 2 » * Ls % om