Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 106 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

SS ae it ai rE! — I -~ _= =: —_— I = 18 of them Fenians from across the say, and it is a ras nt big hape of gould that they would give safe jafther putting salt on the tail of such a ‘* But I do not understand this arrangement at all!” O’Brien persisted; ‘‘from what you say it would appear that you have succeeded, in some way, in deceiving the captain, and from what I know of Desmond Burke, I take it that so to do is no easy matter. Explain, if you please.” “ That is a clear impossibility!” O’Glory has- tened to respond. ‘“‘It isall right; trust us, and before midnight you shall be free.” “Not a single step will I stir until I know all!” O’Brien replied. CHAPTER XXVI. THE WHISPERING CELL. “‘SHurgE, Mister O’Brien, you’re not in your right sinses when you do be afther saying such a thing as that!” the old lawyer continued. ‘“*Phat is your r’ason, and phat do ye mane?” **T am not satisfied!” ** Not satisfied!” cried O’Glory, like an echo. **No, sir; not at all satisfied.’ ** But, Shamus, what do you mean?” the heir- ess inquired, anxiously. ‘‘ Surely, you will not refuse to avail yourself of this chance of escape that lies open before you?” “My dear Maggie, I know, well enough, that you are thoroughly in earnest in the matter, and that you believe you are acting for the best, but I am not so sure in regard to others.” ‘* M’aning me, of coorse, Mister O’Brien!” and O’Glory bristled up. $ Upon me word, young man, I am much obliged to you for your polite- ness. I have forgiven and forgotten the dislike that has existed betune us; I have put meself out of the way to sarve Nes and this is the manner in which I am paid. i suppose it sarves me right, and I am a fool for my “*Mr. O’Glory Lam averyf man, both to foes and friends,” Shamus remarked, firmly, ‘‘and I have always counted you among the first, and never in the list of the second. hy, then, should you now change front, and entirely without reason? When the leopard changes its spots, or the wolf ne a its cruelty, or the fox its cunning, then will I believe that you will forget the hatred that bas always existed be- tween us, and do mea friendly turn.” ‘‘ But, Shamus, you trust me, de you not?” the heiress asked, in a sweet, pleading voice. “Trust you!” O’Brien exclaimed, fondly. ‘‘Why, my poor girl, I would willingly trust what is dearer than life, my honor, into your keeping; but, what worth are you in craft to these wolves and vultures by whom you are surrounded! None at all! I fear that you are the victim of some deep-laid plot, and not a foot will I stir from this place until I know all the circumstances connected with this proposed bs ** Oho, by the sowl of me body! it isa foine, acute r’asoner ye are, Mister Shamus O’Brien?’ and the old lawyer betrayed his deep disgust. ‘“‘Waix! the way ye are here, I should think that you would be afther jumping at any chance to tout. No matter what may happen, ye can’t well worse off than ye are now.” ** Very true, and yet there isan old proverb about jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire, which, ancient, as it is, lingers still in my memory. If I remain here I know what is be- fore me; a good, fair trial by the English gov- ernment, and if I can succeed in roving my innocence, which is not the most unlikely thing in the world, I shall not suffer.” O’Brien spoke qutenly and calmly. ‘I see, now, that I acted ke a madman in not standing my trial in the first place, instead of fleeing from the country like a thief in the night. O’Glory, you cannot deceive me in the least; you are no friend of mine, and never will be; if you could aid me to escape from the trials that surround me by so simple an operation as holding up your little a I doubt if you would take the trouble unless you were sure that you would be well d for the service. You can easily deceive his simple, loving, trusting girl, but as far as your arts are concerned, | laugh them to scorn; you cannot hoodwink me.” Then he addressed the girl: ‘*‘ Maggie, dear wife, tell me the whole story. Never mind what this man says; let me know the truth. Give me to understand why this man, my bitter, mortal enemy for years, now takes so much pains to prove himself my friend.” ‘*’ve been converted, maybe!” O’Glory sug- ested, witha sardonicgrin. ‘‘Shure! ain’twe uld to love our inemies, and if lama good Christian isn’t that phat I ought to be afther daing ?’”’ rave lory was terribl Sanged at the doubt so openly expressed byt e captive, and, to do the old lawyer justice, he was really trying to ins.”’ et ‘the epee out of the hobble, into Re a had allen, to the best of his power. Of course he had a powerful motive for so acting, and was not all disinterested in his action, as we have already seen. “Come, the truth, darling; let me know the bargain, if there is a bargain!” O’Brien repeat- “Faix) and do you give no wan in the world ' growled him | —— 2 eee ‘= Shamus O’Brien. — s [= a ee ae ee een —-- credit for decency except yerself?’ the old man rowled. ‘*Not you, O’Glory, for one,” the captive re- plied, instantly. ‘‘ You are a lawyer, and I never knew a lawyer yet to give anything to anybody. Vampires don’t flourish on air.” _ ‘There is a bargain, Shamus dear!” the heir- ess cried, impulsively, ‘not with Mr. O’Glor here, to do him justice, although it is throug **Oh, he gets his little rake from the other party, then?” O’Brien concluded, sarcastically. ‘“By me sowl! I get nothing from you !” the angry lawyer retorted. * Nor will you through me, either; just re- member that, will you!’’ and the prisoner’s eyes flashed fire, ‘* Captain Burke is heavily in debt; he needs money badly; and Mr. O’Glory said that he had no doubt if I would give him a check for ten thousand pounds he would be able to arrange with the captain to wink at your escape.” “Ten thousand yt By Jove! they price my oy | highly!” O’Brien declared. ‘‘ What care I for the money? I would give twice ten thousand pounds—ten times the amount to save you from harm,” was the wife’s watts C assurance. ‘* You are a perfect jewel of a woman, Mag- ie, but these cunning plotters do not intend to oot ay with you! ** Why do you say the likes of that?” the old lawyer demanded. ‘‘Isn’t she here in your dungeon convarsing wid you? Would she be here if I hadn’t the power to twist the captain around me fingers like a lock of hair, thanks to the tin thousand pounds that I held up to dazzle his eyes? Isn’t this the key that will unlock those purty bracelets on be wrists?’ and O’Glory held up the key of the handcuffs as he spoke. ‘‘And hasn’t ivery sentry been re- moved, too, so that whin ye git out of here there’s a clear road for ye to the hills, and once there, if ye can’t show leg-bail to all the sodgers in the land, thin ye’re not the bye that I think ye are! ‘“* You see, Shamus, you douhted wrongfully ; all has been well planned—every —— made for your escape! Oh, you will not refuse accept the heaven-born chance?’ the lady cried, eagerly. * Upon my life, O’Glory, I believe that you are acting honestly in this matter!” Shamus confessed. ‘‘But come, now, make a clean breast of it: what do you make out of this af- fair? O’Glory saw that he had better tell the truth. ‘‘Troth, I have a wee bit of an interest. The captain owes me a trifle of money.” ‘Aha! and that is the cat in the meal-tub, eh? ,When he gets this money he is to pay ou? ‘* Vis, sur; but all this is to be as saycret as the grave, you know,” the old lawyer warned. ‘*It would be the ruin entirely of both the cap- tain and meself if the authorities should get wind of the affair.” ‘Oh, you needn’t trouble yourself to worry about the matter,” O’Brien reassured. ‘‘ You may be y beges to cheat the Government but the captain will only cheat you. When is the money to be paid?” ‘“‘The moment you are free of the hall,” O’Glory answered. ‘But, phat is the matter? Don’t you think that Captain Burke will be as good as his word?” “To a certain extent, yes; but only to a cer- tain extent. He will wink at my escape from this dungeon in order to gain the money, but because he is almost certain that I will be retak- en before I can gain a hiding-place in the hills,” ** And how do you know that?’ asked the old lawyer, in wonder. + O’Glory, you are not so well acquainted with your own house asl am, I believe. As a boy I played amid the ruins, long before you spent a fortune to fix them up and put them in habitable shape again. Do you know the old name of this cell?” ‘‘Sorra a bit! *Deed I niver knew that it had a name.” j “Oh, it has one! It is called the Whispering Cell and possesses a peculiar property. Go to this east wall here, as I do now, and propound a uestion, and like tbe ancient prophets of old the wall will answer you.” The lawyer stared, while the lady listened in amazement. ‘Oh, it is dreaming yo are! Phat ye say isa clear impossibility!” O’Glory protested. ‘Listen then and be convinced!” Shamus approagied the east wall; he stood on tiptoe placed his face close to the stones, then whistled shrilly. Back came another whistle like an echo! ” Min there, oh, spirit of the wall?” oar and Iam, Shamus, me bye!” the wall replied. ’Glory could hardly believe the evidence of his ears. CHAPTER XXVILI. THE PROPHET SPEAKS. THERE was no mistake about it-—the voice came distinctly from the wall. Now O’Glory was ashrewd man of the world, he had traveled, too, and in his tours abroad had witnessed the performance of some of the most celebrated ventriloquists that the world had ever seen; therefore he jumped to the con- clusion that the prisoner was a professor of that art, and so was fooling him. ‘* Bedad, Mister O’Brien, you are a true Irish- man, and you bate a fox for ’cuteness!” he aver- red; ‘* but I am an Irishman, too, and not a gos- soon by long odds, and ye can’t pull the wool over my eyes afther this fashion! I know your thrick, and divil a hair can you decave me!” O’Brien laughed; the idea amused him, for he had perfect faith that the old lawyer was not shrewd enough to guess at once the mystery of the whispering cell. ‘Oho! ye may laugh!” O’Glory continued, “but I’m aqual to yees, any way ye may take me! ‘‘No doubt, no doubt!” Shamus replied, still laughing. ‘Ye can’t fool me wid yer Yaga cell!” ‘* No! you do not believe in it, then?’ **Do you think that I ama child, or a natural rl the old lawyer asked. ‘‘ Be me sowl, ister Shamus, I te ve right to yer face that it is mighty early ye’ll have to get up in the morning afore ye'll pull the wool over the eyes of Timothy O’Glory, yer humble servant to command!” ‘*Oh, I know you of old, sir; your reputation is not unknown; and so you think that 1 am fooling you?” ‘*Bedad! I know it! I don’t think anything about it at all. I know that ye are fooling me, and I give you credit for pe oh little wit for to be thrying such a simple thrick upon me.” ‘* Trick or no trick, it is an honest prophet, O’Glory, and he can tell you some things of which you are in ignorance—that is, if you are dealing fairly in the matter and are not in league with Desmond Burke to rob this lady of ten thousand pounds without bestowing upon her any equivalent for such a sum,” “Tf she is willing to give it to secure your freedom, where’s the harm?” ‘* Ah, {am afraid that in this matter, as the t says, you are keeping ‘the word of prom- ise to the ear to break it to the hope.’ Desmond Burke does not intend that 1 shall escape.”’ “Thin be won’t finger the tin thousand unds!” O’Glory protested, resolutely. ‘‘ By his and by that! I swear to you, Mister Sha- mus O’Brien, that as I am an honest man, I am acting fairly wid ywu in this matter. You go scot free from this place before the check goes aie 19 2 a, , Oe ; clever bit of ju ut I am fore- warned and so Seen ‘“Phat do ye mane?” The lawyer was per- plexed. ‘** Ask the prophet!” ‘Oh, bad luck to ye!” O’Glory cried, an- noyed; “‘ don’t be afther fooling wid me! Don’t e think that [am upto ye and yer trick? It s yerself that’s sp’aking; and ye do it finely, J will go bail for that! aqual to the chap that } saw in Dublin, at the Royal.” aye Farin “ Ah, you think that I'am a ventriloquist? “'Yis; I belave that is phat they call it.” ‘*That’s nonsense, and I will prove it to you. Ask your question of the wall and I will hum a tune all the time. I can’t very well speak and hum both at the same time.” The old lawyer looked amazed; this extreme- ly fair offer astonished him. ‘** And phat will I ask?” **Suppose I put the pam and the mo- ment I am through I will furnish the music to accompany the answer of the sibyl Shall I proceed?” “Tf you pl’ase.” ‘“Captain Desmond Burke offers to connive at the escape of Shamus O’Brien, provided he receives the sum of ten thousand pounds the moment that O’Brien is clear of O’Neal Hall,” the prisoner said, addressing the words to the wall as before, and then he immediately com- menced to hum the old Irish song, written by no one knows who, but which is and ever has been, since the days of 98, dear to the heart of every true Irishman: ‘* Oh, the Frinch are on the say, Says the Shan Van Vaigh— The Frinch are in the bay, Says the Shan Van Vaigh; They will be bere widout delay, Says the Shan Van Vaigh— They'll be here by break o’ day, What’ll these poor yeoman do? Says the Shan Van Vaigh.” No strain in all the world so distasteful to rte a ears as this rebel war-song, which from the early days, when the struggle agains England’s power commenced, has always kin- dled the patriot fire in the breasts of Erin’s children. But the grunt of disapproval which came from the lips of the old lawyer was sud- denly checked, as the strange voice sounded clear in the dungeon cell: ‘‘Vesmond Burke is a black-hearted ea gard,” the voice declared, ‘‘and the bullet is run that will be afther cuttin’ short his thread of life wan of these days. He don’t mane to Yave Shamus O’Brien escape from the net in whieh he is. He has him on the book and he manes to play him as the fisherman plays the comicbooks co . .