Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 959 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

The Four Commanders. poinutes could not distinguish what was being said, ' §$00n, however, the voices grew louder and angry, and some began to accuse the man who tat been killed of being engaged in robbing the intended victims, and demanded that another be sent after him. ; “There is another coming!” whispered the dwarf, taking his position behind the doorpost, and leaving the door slightly open, All thought the same tragedy was to be en- acted, but it was not to be, The second spy came at once, contrary to the dwarf’s expectation, and so quickly and noise- lessly that the latter was surprised and unpre- pared when he pushed open the door, and stood erect at the threshold. ** Holy Virgin!” shrieked the brigand, and be- fore the dwarf could reach him, tumbled 'back- ward down the stairs, rolling into the bar among his astonished comrades. . _ The dwarf had noticed the man start back on looking into the room, and turning, bimself, while liste ning to the clamor below, saw the cause. While awaiting the appearance of the second brigand Harry bad bode fumbling in his pockets, an feeling the vial given him by the dwarf, ulled it out, To his t astonishment, he ound it threw considerable light, but baving seen it used before while in school, he quickly realized it was phosphorus, and immediately re- membered that the time he had seen it, was when one of his schoolmates had frightened the wits out of half the school by daubing his face with it, If intelligent boys could be so frightened, why not these ignorant, superstitious fellows below? It was but a moment’s work, yet even the dwarf, who knew what he had given Harry, was startled at the sight of the dead robber sit- ting bolt upright in the chair, a bluish flame pares Soogt his eyes and mouth and issuing m his nostrils. **A good idea!” exclaimed the dwarf, while Harry explained what he had done, The clamor down-stairs was increasing, and the dwarf, by listening, gathered that all the second spy could or would say was that he had seen the spirit of Luigi—possessed of the devil. **Quick! The beds to the door! Paulo is getting impatient!” cried the dwarf, closing the oor. ** Now place the bottles on top,” he continued when the entrance was caded : ** they will be within easy reach when the door is forced. ‘* Hark! Here comes Paulo himself!. Push with all your strength—our only hope of safety lies in delaying them.” An awful roar caused the dwarf’s exclamation, and then there was a terrible clatter on the stairs as Paulo, maddened by the cowardice of his followers, dashed up, and, striking the door with tremendous force, almost drove it back; but the obstacles on the other side, backed by the united strength and weight of the besieged, was too much, and he began to thunder on the frail door with his ax, **Tt will not last two minutes!” warned the dwarf, ‘You ” (to Harry), ‘fire, and keep firing at him as soon as there is an opening. We must use the bottles— Ha! Here come the rest of the cut-throats!” The noise on the stairs proved the speaker correct. Encouraged by the example of their chief, the frightened brigands were coming to his assist- ance, _ At that moment the ax crashed through the heed making & good-sized opening, and Harry A furious curse followed the shot, but it ap- peared to increase the energy of the infuriated giant, and, seeing the door would be speedily demolished, Laurie said: ‘* Pull the beds back into this angle when I give the word. They will come in. tumbling over each other, and we can dese them a volley of bottles, Then, while two load and fire pistols, we will keep the others off with our swords, ** Ready, now—pull!” f Back came the beds with a rtsh, just as Paulo delivered a mighty stroke; but the door had swung inward, and the impetus of the blow, which met no opposition, caused the giant to tumble headlong into the room, followed by those behind him. In all, there were some eighteen or twenty in the besieging party, and a half-dozen of these, who were not very eager, remained erect when the door gave way, but the sight of the fiery- faced figure in the c was enough to drive them down-stairs, howling prayers and curses, so that the besieged Vth their sole attention to those struggling - rom the floor. ‘* Now, then! Fire away!” cried Laurie, and bottle after bottle—heavy-bottomed and weight- ed with wine—was hurled among the bewildered pe ete oon the bottles and flagons were exhausted, and while Laurie and George stood sword in hand, the dwarf and Harry fired four shots each before the expected rush came, The brigands, fortunately, were armed with short swords and knives only—except the leader —but the mode of attack was an unexpected one, With a shout to his men to drag the beds away, Paulo dashed at the besieged with his ax —with which he could easily reach across the beds—and gave them all they could do to avoid his terrific stroker, The giant brigand seemed impervious to lead, and the fury of the assault caused his followers to pass the still-flaming figure of their comrade unnoticed, while dragging the barricading beds away. Lanta, who had depended a great deal on the effect of the phkosphorus-painted figure, now gave up all hope. ** Nothing for it but do and die, boys!” he cried, as the beds were ess away. Discharging his pistol as he spoke, and hurl- ing the useless weapon at the nearest brigand, Laurie sprung forward, sword in hand, It so happened that the tion he took—and his companions followed him—was beside the chair in which was the dead brigand, and even Paulo shrunk back on seeing the painted re, na moment Paulo recovered from his fright, and, with a savage curse, sprung forward again per ing his terrible ax, shan es the blow at urie. The momentary hesitation of Paulo probably saved Laurie’s life, as it enabled the dwarf to produce a long-barreled, wide-mouthed pistol, omc he fired at the instant the brigand chief i) Cc + It was nothing worse than bird-shot, but the dwarf aimed upward, and, with a roar of horrible agony, the giant staggered back, blinded! A dull red glare now illuminated the room, and noticing it, Laurie exclaimed: “** Courage, boys, courage! See the light from the torches! Help is at hand!” ‘* Ay—help for these cut-throats!” returned the dwarf. ‘*D’ye remember the half-dozen that cleared away ?” The words, necessarily sousrepeken = Seues in English—seemed to revive the ferocity of the blind giant, and with a savage cry to his follow- os, he came forward swinging his ax right and There was no time for pistols—the brigands pressed on every side, and the end seemed very, very near, but the besieged fought like tigers—fought with a desperation born of de- spair, Paulo, the blind giant, was the most dan- gerous of all—to both friend and foe, and, to re hp 2 his terrible strokes, Laurie cried: ‘Jump into the midst of them. We can die there as well as here! Good-by!” Ne right and left, with Spence and H at his back, Laurie fought his way from the chair near the window into the center of the brigands, ere the three friends made a gallant fight— such as was possible for four to one—but it was only a question of a very few minutes, for all three were already wounded, when suddenly em floor was shaken by the fall of a heavy y. It was Paulo. The dwarf had kept him off for a moment or two, untila favorable oppor- tunity presented, and then diving between his legs, tossed him over his head. Then, like an undersized Vulcan, using only bis brawny arms and bare bands, the dwarf scattered the dum- founded brigands right and left until he reached the three Americans, who, believing the giant dead, resumed the fight with renewed courage. They were quickly undeceived, however, for within a minute the giant was on his feet, ax in hand, and at the same moment sbouts and cries of a Paulo! a Paulo! mingled with pistol-shots and clashing of weapons, reached them from the roadway in front of the inn, a ae the brigands, as I said!” cried the Wi « CHAPTER X. AT DEATH’S DOOR. Up to the moment the cry of ‘‘a Paulola ---5---+5-—-----—-_r_ +--+ + i err eee eS Se wf Paulo!” reached the besieged, Laurie had fought coolly and ae oan’ watching every chance ) and making most of ev opportunity, ' hoping against hope that help would reach them, ' but now hope vanished, and springing forw like a madman, he cried: *“Come on! Don’t give’ up till you're dead |” ‘“* By St. David!” roared the dwarf, ‘‘ Pll die with you!” Laurie’s aim was Paulo—next to Galileo, he wanted him dead before he, himself, died, and regardless of the cuts and thrusts aimed at him, the lieutenant somes his way to the giant, cry- ing as he neared him: ‘Beware, Paulo! hand!” Warned by this, the giant struck out blindly, driving his followers away, and when Laurie reached him he was alone—an easy victim to a skillful swordsman, but it was not his fate to finish the brigand chief, The latter, guided only by the lieutenant’s voice—for his chivalrous nature made him give constant warning—aimed a swinging blow at Laurie, but it failed to reach the mark, because a strong hand threw Laurie aside, and as the giant reeled from the unopposed force of his own blow, a sword passed through his gullet. ** At’em, my lads} At’em!” ** Come, Laurie, jump in!” When Laurie was thrown out of the way of the swinging ax, his head struck up against that of one of the brigands, and for a moment he saw stars, but the sound of two familiar voices re- called him from the clouds, and he saw Decatur, with Maxwell and a dczen of the Enterprise crew. It was all over, however, and Decatur’s in- vitation to “‘jump in” was worthless, for the Beware, your end is at brigands surrendered at once, and the seamen were not butchers. nding with Decatur to the bar, Laurie found the landlord, with a newly-engaged assist- ant serving wine to an excited and omar crowd, eager to get at those who had offended— not tosay attempted the murder of—their friends, the Americans. Following close at the heels of Decatur and Laurie, were George and Harry, and the dwarf. The last-named, still holding his long, bloody knife, marched to where the dlord was servy- ing acustomer, and grasping him by the arm, addressed the crowd, saying: ‘This scoundrel is the worst of the band. His cellar is the grave of manya true man woman and cbild! If you doubt me, search it! The dwarf’s h created a tremendous up- roar, and, but for the sailors from the Enter- prise, who ap at this time and formed un- der Decatur’s orders, the landlord would have been torn to pieces, A few minutes later, while a number of people under the guidance of the dwarf were searching the cellar, a body of poem guided by the inn- keeper’s wife arrived, and took charge of the prisoners. This was a fortunate circumstance for the wretch who kept the inn, for pram aca 4 after, the searching pasty appeared with enough skulls and bones to hang twenty men, and it was all the troops could do to save him and the others— although they suffered ultimately. Accompanied by the Americans, the officers in command of the troops made a visit to the room above, They found it a Ven Gee tet hones, and the officer could scarcely believe that four men had wrought all the destruction, and live to tell the tale. Six dead men lying on the floor, and one sitting in a chair, with a dozen prisoners down- - stairs—all of the most desperate character—gave the Italian captain a rather high opinion of the Americans as fighters. As they were leaving the scene of slaughter, one of the soldiers who carried torches to light the party uttered an exclamation that drew attention to the figure in the chair, and, on Closer examination, it was found to be Galileo, the sergeant, who had been the first of the cut- , throats to pay the debt of nature, “Ah! A sergeant, too!” exclaimed the Italian captain. ‘‘ It is impossible to say who may not be in league with the Carbonari. I, myself, might belong to it.” ‘Indeed you might!” returned Laurie, when Harry had interpreted the speech to him, and, turning to Decatur: “ Steve, Pm sick of this—let’s get away! Be- sides, we’re all pretty well cut up.” Decatur immediately left the room on hearing this, and, collecting his men, de for Syracuse—the dwarf joining them at the last moment, IcpDOoO a> ’ i é M4 ee /, t? * > et ee : ; - = P tats ay > m