Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 104 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

> ss 8 the old man eame the following morning with more food—the same as before. But he found that which he had brought twenty-four hours before untasted. ‘¢- You must eat, senor.” ‘Not until I hunger; speak, old man, what hope?” Senor there are many locks to open—a handful of gold will not go above the seeond tier of jailers.” ** Here is more—take the belt.” ‘You have more, senor?” “Yes, twenty onzas, here,” and Merle drew forth a buckskin purse. ‘“This may be sufficient—I will see first,” and the old man again left the cell, and twenty-four long and dreary hours dragged their tiresome | ee She was lovely beyond compare—she was immensely wealthy, and her family were pow- erful in the land. If he failed m a plot he had to gain treasure untold, why the widow would suit him. If his plot for vast riches proved successful he would cast the widow off, leave Mexico, and seek = earth’s center—Paris, the great French capital. irst he must see if his well-laid plan would miscarry or not, and he gave the bell a pull that brought a servant in a twinkling. ‘‘Send the Captain of the Guard here.” ** Si, Senor Hacellenza,” and the servant went off like the wind. Nor did the Captain of the Guard tarry in obeying; he did what no officer had before length away. 'done in the castle, except on urgent busi- en the jailer again appeared, bringing more | ness—he came at a trot, and arrived breathless, olla podrida, — and water. yet dared not breathe aloud. ‘*T would go to the deep-sea cells, senor; con- duct me there!” ‘Your servant, Kecellenza,” and the captain doubled himself up like a harlequin. In fifteen minutes more Governor Cosala stood at the door of Dungeon Number One, and Lamas, the jailer, with somewhat nervous fin- poor prisoner held hope for the morrow; but | gers, for he had heard of the velvet paw and alas fe brought the jailer but not freedom. iron claws beneath, was fumbling for his keys. ** You have no more gold, senor?” | At last the narrow iron door was opened, and ** None; I have given you all I had with me.” | taking the lamp from the jailer’s hand, the Gov- | | ‘* The senor has eaten of ‘his dish, I see?” ** Yes, I care not to starve. Weill?” ‘‘Té was not enough, senor.” “ Here, I have not hnother peso,” and Merle gave away bis last piece of money. ‘¢To-morrow, senor.” So saying, the man again departed, and the “ Gracias, senor; it will not be long before I | ernor said sternly to those in attendance: @an cease to be a jailer. Adios.” ‘* Await me at the end of the corridor!” ‘* And am I forgotten?” said Merle, the words Then he stepped into the terrible den, and ef the man sending an icy chill to his heart. turned the light of the iron lamp upon the pris- ‘The world has forgotten you, senor, or will | oner. forget you; but I will bring you your daily Merle was seated upon his rude cot, both an- bread.” kles in irons, but his arms free, and he turned his e es upon the Governor as he entered. * And this is all that I may expect from you?’ ell, Senor Merlino, these are not cheerful “The bread, the olla podrida and the water | —all, senor.” quarters I find you in; but with the death of “« Diablo !” overor Guarena, and other duties, I had al- It was all that Merle could say; but the old | most forgotten you,” said the Commandant, wretch stepped back from the reach of his arm, | with courtly grace. as he caught his flashing eyes. ‘‘I would ask, senor, why I am here, and “The Governor Guarena is dead, senor ; your | what power you have, as a mere Yas mead to hand killed him, and you will find this your | hold me here?” heughtily returned Merle. tomb. Adios.” ‘* My power is great, senor, as you will know So saying, he turned away, and Merle was | for, like Othello, ‘My occupation’s gone,’ as I alone. am now Governor of this Castle.” ‘You! How has Mexico fallen, when a low devil, such as you, can hold high rank among her people! ‘Your position should have been that of executioner, or to supersede this jailer who cares for me daily. By Heaven! what a princely scoundrel you are.” CHAPTER IX. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. TEN days passed away—ten days of long agony to the poor prisoner in his dismal dungeon, ‘** Senor, we are not now in your room at the to whom no change came—only the darkness by | hotel; there, I told you that wn cabello haze night, the semi-darkness by day, and the matu- sombra,* and you will find it so.” who came ata | tinal visit of Lamas, the er g the same dish of | ** Perhaps; and you are the Governor of the certain hour, always San Juan de Uloa?’ asked Merle, with a sneer.” podrida, the coarse bread, and fresh water. “Si, senor, contra fortuna no vale arte But changes had taken place in the castle, for | ninguna.” (There’s no fence against Fortune). Governor Vistal Guar whose life had been a ‘*Or the devil,” laughed Merle, and then he short and merry one, had been carried to his added, quickly: “‘ There is an old Italian pro- grave, Benito Mejia having earned his blood- | money, and the old pile had been for a short | while without a Governor. | came a new one, and to the surprise of verb, Senor vernor, which ~~. a cader va chi troppo alto sale.’” (Who climbs too high gets a fall). Then “I understand you, senor, thanks to pone | all, it was Felipe Cosala, the Monte Prince! | bad an Italian wife in early life, who taugh The r Senora Guarena had been almost me her sweet language; but when I fall, great stanned by her age widowed bride, just as | will be the crash thereof, for I will crowd hell she had crossed the threshold of happiness. with those who go with me.” But in her sorrow Don Felipe, the new Gov- Governor Cosala spoke with the intensest dis- ernor, had been to her all that a brother could _ tinctiveness of vindictiveness which made Merle be, and begged that she would retain her rooms mutter again in Italian: “Jl Diavolo lo fece, e in the castle as ong on she desired, whilehetook poi ruppe la stampa.” (The devil made him up his tren in the officers’ _. | and then broke the mold). But senora could not remain there with- § With his hand upon his heart, Governor Felipe out adding to her grief, and she procured a_ Cosala bowed low: small house in the outskirts of Vera Cruz, and ‘I thank you, senor, I am glad that Iam not thither she moved several days after the burial | like other people; it is such a bore to always of her husband. remind one of somebody else.” ‘* Yet strange, Senor Governor, with all the When her bright face had at length gone from the castle Don Felipe took up his quarters | people in the world, that there are not more ex- actly alike. With one model for man and in the rooms set apart for the Governors, and i another for woman, it strikes me as remarkable, the began to rule with a velvet paw, be- neath which were claws sharp and deadly, that men and women should beso unlike, among millions of imitations of the original.” ready to tear the flesh of any unfortunate that . “The senor is inclined to enter upon a lengthy offended. Don Felipe was a man who kept his own discussion on the dissimilarity of mankind; but counsel, and what he did he took the responsi- | I came not here for that purpose,” sneered the bility of; hence he made Benito Mejia chief | Governor. “True, I forgot that his Satanic Ma had at once, and gave to Real Juarez the. mere on he had occupied under Vistal Guarena, | just returned to Hades to torture a victim,” and erle glanced around him at his dungeon and while he made other changes, chopping off and — tting on heads—figuratively speaking —to then upon the Governor, to whom, with hand _ on his heart, he bowed ving in mock respect. pu meet his own humor and plans. _ | With a talent for ruling, an iron will, and | ‘‘ You are inclined to be facetious, senor.” fearless of all consequences, Governor Felipe | “ And you to object to my every humor. Cosala, the Colone] Commandant, had the Cas- | Pray tell me why you have come here? tle San Juan de Uloa in perfect order, and un- | place is bad enough without your presence.” der unswerving discipline, twenty-four hours _ ‘‘T have come to offer you your freedom.” after he took command, and, from the jailerof | ‘Yes, devil-like, give my body freedom if the water, or deep-sea dungeons, to the senti- | you can keep my soul. Your terms, senor!” nels on the towers, all knew that they had to ‘‘Ah! you understand, then, that I have chalk a line on the edge of a precipice, over | terms to offer?” which the slightest swerving would hurl them. | ‘‘I know you, Don Felipe Cosala—you never ' } What the poapte a what the army | act without some hellish motive.” said, at his appointment, Governor Cosala did | ‘ Merle Freelance, I know you, too!” not care; he played for power, and he The words were hissed from the lips of the hed won the game, and now he was about to now infuriated Governor; but they did not shuffle his cards, so to speak, and begin a new create the shock he expected. deal, for there was another stake he was to ‘IT see that you know me, and I would re- ble for—the widow of his own son—the | Beautiful Senora Victorine, * The least hair mekes a shadoy, Montezuma, the Merciless. - * os - ~ ee -_— ———_—— SO mind yu that I escaped from the Moro Castie,* was the reply. “You can never escape from my power, Merle, son of Freelance the Buccaneer.” ‘*T doubt it, amigo Felipe ; | was never born to be drowned, hung, or to die in a dungeon. Fate has been unkind to me, but I am not sub dued or hopeless.” ‘You have a brave heart, senor,” said the Governor, struck with admiration at the pluck of his prisoner. ‘**And you a coward heart, Governor Felipe Cosala.” ‘This to me?” yelled the Governor, ‘* Ay, and more, were I free from these chains, incarnate fiend that you are.” ‘‘Ha! ha! ha! I am a fool to argue with a man over his own grave,” ‘Then cease the argument, senor, and t@l me why you called me Merle Freelance!” _‘* For I know you to be the son of that famous pirate. You are the image of your father, in more ways than one.” ‘You had the honor of knowing Captain Freelance, then?” ‘Yes, to my cost; he had me hung to the yard-arm,” ‘““How well he knew what you deserved! Tel me why you did rot remain hung?’ ‘““T escaped—no matter how, and I sought re venge on him, through you, boy.” ‘* Yes; you killed those who protected me, ! know your face well, senor; it was stamped on my memory never to be erased; but I woul-: know more of your history; why did my father have you hung?” ‘‘For murdering my wife. I was an officer upon his vessel—perhaps you have heard 6f Red anuel?’ and Felipe Cosala seemed to gloat in telling of his wickedness. | ‘Yes, I know you now, well, by hearsay, for your name was often on the men’s lips; but I never knew that you escaped death when hung to the yard-arm. You were fortunate and man- kind unfortunate.” ‘‘T escaped because I would not die, and I. have lived to revenge myself upon bei : “So be it; you have the power; but, tell me; how did you know me, as I was an infant, when you left Mexico with my father in the schooner?” “T kept track of you, boy, and when I return- ed to Mexico, I looked you up and took you from those who had charge of you; but there ig one thing J would know—who took you from the Mexican fisherman with whom I left you” ‘“‘The Buccaneers of the Caribbean. I wag left by them at Kingston, Jamacia, to He; but I drifted on board of some vessel bound to Ey- rope, and thus floated from ship to ship until I was found by my father. I had es those days and scenes of my early childhood until your hated face recalled them vividly from the _ I knew you as my enemy, the night I drove that knife rahe P bey band. at a mistake I made then! ould have driven it into your beart!” ‘Tt would have been impossible, as you would _ find out, if you were armed now,” and the Goy- ernor smiled. Then he continued: ‘As we both know each other, senor, I trust We can core to terms. As indifferent as you appear, you love life?” ‘Yes, senor.” ‘‘Then you can go forth from this cell in feet freedom, if you accept the terms I offer,” ‘‘ Name your terms, Governor Cosala.” ‘You have with you the diamond ring, neek- lace, ruby anchor, and the jeweled dirk, which I te the night we played at the Palace of For- tune! “T have not; I had with me some gold when { came to visit your castle, dear Governor; and one of your hirelings robbed me of it—new I have nothing.” ‘* Upon your honor, senor?’ ‘* Upon my honor!” Governor Felipe Cosala turned away witha muttered curse, and started to pace a-ross the cell; but he stumbled over the skull and fell a Ere he could rise, Merle’s iron gripe «was upon his throat. The courtly villain who was ’/overner of the Castle of San Juan de Uloa, wuld have fared badly in the iron clutch of Merle, bad not Lamas, the jaiJer, just then appeared in the doorway, to say that a lady awaited to see the Commandant, upon urgent basiness., Ata glance he saw the tall form of the Gov. ernor upon the stone floor, and the prisoner’ hands upon his throat, and, with a yell back te the Captain of the Guard at the end of the sapeway, he rushed to the aid of Don Felipe, 0 loosen Merle’s was no matter, and the Governor was biack in the face before he found himself freed from bis danger. Those in attendance e d the order to slay the prisoner then and there, as Merle said, calmly: ‘* Fools! if you had not been in such haste, I would have given the castle another Governor, and rid Mexico of this curse.” dice ‘his throat quietly, and upon the stool, out of reach of GOmicodoo wating him- ‘SS COM