Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 22 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 The New York Library. She heard a suppressed exclamation, and turning, belield Ralph Quimby. There was fear aud dismay in his expression. “ You have unlocked the fatal door !"’ he said, excitedly. ‘‘ You have obtained a secret that will do you no good.” pa poe which I value not!’ she answered. “ What is this dust tome? I have but one am- bition, and that is to be restored to my friends.” “You have identified yourself with ws,’’ re- plied 1 “ You have become a part of our family. You have stepped within the charm- ed circle of our lives, and cannot recede.” “What do you mean?” asked Miss Danton, filled with sudden apprehension at Ralph's sin- gular language and manner. “That you hold a Shibboleth that links vou to me ferever! You can never leave this mine !”’ Ralph folded his arms, and looked steadily at the terror-stricken girl. “Never leave this mine!’ she repeated, me- chanically. “T have said it!” answered Ralph, with firm- ness. | “ But you will unsay it!” cried Miss Danton, * It is impossible that you can form such a ter, rible purpose. It surpasses the cruelty of hu- man nature. Can this wretched dross pay you for such a crime 2” “ Dross!” exclaimed Ralph. ‘ Don’t it pur- chase everything? Does it not rule the world? Is it not life and death? Is it not fame, and ease, and honor? Girl, you know not its power!” “ With bad men, it is an evil power; but with the good, it is beneficent. Think what it is to be shut out from the sir and the sunlight, and the flowers and the trees, and the songs of birds ? It is dreadful! It would be a merey to kill me at once. This is a tomb, not a place of human habitation.” Mary Danton advanced a step, and stood in a beseeching attitude before the miner. The lJat- ter contemplated her in silence. That some- thing whieh had sprung into existence within him on the previous night, grew more defined. Her figure and face were more pleasing to his sight. e You can go out of this mine,” he said, pres- ently. “IT ean go out! You but jested with me! It was unkind to play with my fears.” “ You can go out’’—he paused, and looked at her inquisitively. “T can go out?’ repeated Mary, interroga- tively, startled by something in his expression. “ You can go out, as my wife !” Ralph bent forward to see how this announce- ment would affect her. A chill went over her, which did not come from the dampness of the mine. “T am afraid,” answered Mary Danton, with a ghastly smile, ‘‘ that I shall never go out!” If she had shrieked and made noisy demon- citement of your mind. You shall liave, to- day, that solitude which you ask.” ite advanced to a niche, in which were placed some rude shelves. ‘Here you will find our larder, which I have taken some pains to replenish this morning. Don’t starve yourself, my fair friend! Here isa pail, and yopcer you will find a little stream of clear, cold water oozing from the ground. Re- member that you are not so miserable as you might be. You are as much in my power as the poor fly is, in the spider’s web. Look at me, and see liow strong I am.” | He held up his arms, and the swelling muscles proved that his boast was notin vain. —. ‘here's an arm that is stronger!” she said, with an instinctive shrinking from the man. “Ah! nowI touch your fears. You are gasp- ing with terror. Be assured of present safety. I leave you, trusting that reflection will make you wiser.” “Stay!” cried Mary. “J will bind myself by a solemn obligation never to reveal your se- ceret,”’ “ The thought is natural, butfoolish. Think no more of it. You cannot break from the cir- cle. You belong to those who hold the mighty Shibboleth of gold,” Mary Danton heard the ladder adjusted from above, and Ralph ascend, when it was again drawn up. She was alone once more, and gould think without interruption of what she had heard. CHAPTER XIX. THE GOLD-DIGGER’S GRAVE, Mary Danton resolved not to yield tamely to despair, but to male an effort for freedom. To sit and bewail her misfortunes, was certainly of nouse, She endeavored to take a philosophical view of her situation, and act like a creature en- dowed with reason. The very thought of at- tempting to baffle the miner, gave her strength. Having determined to bear up instead of yield- ing supinely to cireumstances, she looked over Ralph’s larder, and mide atolerable meal. She then replenished one of the miner's lamps with oil, and set out with fresh courage to examine her subterranean prison. She soon satisfied herself that the mine had not been worked for many years, save in the spot where she had dis- covered gold. This fact led her to hope that she might possibly find a peanegs somewhere— crooked, narrow, and difficult of ascent, per- chance, leading to the surface. She knew that ores were found in veins, running in various di- rections, which were followed by those seeking precious metals. On this slight basis she con- tinued her search. She found vario excavations, more or less extended, some shallow, some deep. She en- tered, finally, a narrow tunnel, a portion of which was cut through solid rock, and which was longer than any she had found. She fol- strations of i, renee Ralph would have liked | lowed it.a considerable distance. To her disap- it better than her pallid, passive calmness. “T will nof tell you that I love you,” he re- - sumed, “ because the tale would fall on scornful ears. I will make no promises of being your willing slave, and gratifying every wish that gol’ can supply. J will not speak .of travel in oreign countries, and the splendors of wealth. I will spare you all that. You will choose be- tween light and darkness—the dull monotouy of this tomb, and the charm and novelty of all the world.” “This mine,” said Mary Danton, “ begins to look like a palace. These walls are quite cheer- ful, and the arelied roof, methinks, is hung with ©pe®- diamonds!” _ looked mockingly at Ralph, who was less ca m. with an impatient gesture. much bur.jened with these revelations. You will reflect a few days. a terrible thing it is to share our secret.” ‘Let us go out of this dampness ; it must warmer where the fire burns,” said Mary, shiv- | Ralph stood in the narrow passage; she brushe:! by him, and he followed her tw the fire. “I’m sure this is quite comfortable,” she add- ed, holding her white hands to the blaze. “If you give me food and fire, and never show me our face, existence may be endured, even here. ut the sight of you and your friend would soon kill me.” t ‘‘ It's a woman’s pe to have her say,” muttered Quimby. “It 16 the misfortune of our sex that we cannot prevent yours from talk- ing. But] will make dus allowance for the ox- } | | ’ ‘ ' i pointment, it ended abruptly. It had been long since the miners’ tools had resounded there. The sides of the pit were covered with green uryvuld and moss. Mary placed her lamp on the ground and sat down to rest, with her back against the end of the passage, cushioned upon the soft and yielding lichens. She noticed, as she threw her light weight upon the flinty wall, that a portion of it seemed to vibrate and move a little. She tried the experiment several times, with thesame result. This led her to push upon one side with her hands ; it yielded, and by ex- erting all her power, a stone door swung slowly The stone was about chree feet square, and hung by the centre on copper or iron bolts ; so that when it was open, it was poised in the _ middle of the passage. To convince herself there ‘ ]’ll not hear your decision to-day,” he said, | W48 20 mistake, she closed and pushed it open ‘‘ Your mind is too) repeated! . A thick, suffocating air came out, nearly ex- You will realize what tinguishing the lamp, She waited till it burned up brightly ; then, stooping, entered with some be hesitation this hidden chambers Having pass- ed the portal, the passage widened and grew more lofty; she was soon able to stand erect. She advanced a few yards slowly, examining the vault with searching curiosity, She saw, scat- tered here. and there, various implements of mining; but they were covered with rust, The wooden handles of the picks and spades were crumbling with age. Years had elapsed, m&u- ifestly, since human hands had wielded them. She proceeded a few steps further, and per- ceived something white upon the earth. She approached it with seoret awe; tremblingly thrust forward her lamp ; its rays fell upon a skeleten | Mary Danton neither shrieked’ nor droppe® her lamp, but she did recoil with terror and yield for a moment to a natural weakness that was quite pardonable. A set of bones, without their dress of flesh, is never an agreeable ob- ject, and there are circumstances under which a skeleton. becomes positively frightful; and if this was not one of them, the approximation was certainly very close. . It was some time before Mary could summon fortitude to take a nearer survey of tis mourn- ful memento of what was once a senticut b ings She conquered, as much as possible, her sper: -stitious fears; she stood beside the skeleton. She held the lamp over it ; it lay on the black- ened and decayed remains of a blanket. On each side, beneath the bony fingers, were two discolored canvas bags, which fell in pieces when she touched them with her foot, leaving heaps of yellow ore! The conviction flashed upon Mary Danton, that Ralph Quimby and his associates were not, the first that had held the gold-seeret. Here was theswreck of one who had evidently made that important discovery, and worked the vein that contained the precious dust. . Ile had died with his treasure, in silence and darkness, On a stone near him was a rusty lamp, without oil, and a copper vessel, from which he had doubt- less often drank, | She continued her explorations. A little fur- ther on she found where a fire had. been. built ; the ashes and charred brands remained as on the day when it burned out, Perhaps the vital spark of the gold-seeker went out with it. He had, clearly, taken up his residence there, and had, perhaps, spent years in accumulating treas- ure that was never to benefit him. The spot was quite dry and habitable, com- pared with other parts of the mine. Miss Dan- ton resolved to turn this discovery to some. use ; it would do for a hiding-place. She laid her plans immediately. Her first care was to dis- pose of the skeleton, which was no agreeable task. Following the passage still farther, she. found a wide seam in the vein-stone; into this, overcoming her shivering repugnance, she drew. hither the remains 6f the gold-diyger, which went rattling down out of sight. ‘She turned away, astonished at her own resolution. The gold which the canvas bags had contain= ed, she scraped up into the copper vessel. There were several pounds of it, but for her it possess- ed little value. In a short time she lad remoy- ed every vestige of the unsightly object she had found there. This nerve-trying ordeal, passed, she returned to the place where she had passed the night. She took away, in the first place, all the miners’ lamps and oil; next, the blankets, then the provisions ; and continued her jour- neye to and fro so industriously, that in a couple of hours she had conveyed everything of pos- sible utility to the secret vault. et to carry to her hiding-place the ‘alph had mentioned, full of water from rivulet. : The excitement of these proceedings raised her spirits wonderfully, and she was far more hopeful when all this was done. Before euter- ing finally this invisible chamber, she closed the stone door carefully, to see if it went firmly to its place, leaving nv sign of its uses, Itshut closely upon the moss, bidding defiance to the most inquisitive eye. Nothing but actual man- ipulation could discover the seeret of the ewing- ing stone. Satisfied on this point, Mary Dan« ton entered the gold-digger’s chamber, and shut herself in. spot, rendered gloomier by the fate of its form- er occupant. To make the door unyielding, in case the miners should accidentally push against it, in searching for her, she braced an iron bar against it, after which sbe spent some time in nil that the trying to give an air of comfort to her retreats She spread blankets upon the stony floor, and hung others across the passage, to slut out the spot where the miner had died. She kept but. one lamp lighted, not knowing how long she: might be obliged to remain there, and feeling how dreadful darkness would be in. such a place. Her work done, with nothing more to busy her mind, time began to weigh heavily upon her, The hours were painfully irksome, the dull mon. otony bing worse than the severest | labor. | From sheer idleness, she examined every inch. of the vault.. While thus employed, she made. a little wooden» another discovery: she foun door in the wall, which she opened without dif- ficulty,. It was the place where the goat , aa had hoarded his riches! The space eontaine number of copper boxes, which she knew. by | theip weight, were full of gold But these were “S She did not fors. True, it was an isolated and silent, (E(@) eom ~