Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 256 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

14 _—— Such short periods of somnolence as she now and then sunk into, were troubled by dreams that were torturing; all bearing upon Roy Ran- dolph, who, in her visions, was continually in danger from some dread cause. The happiness she had felt when in his pres- ence, since be had declared his love, seemed too blissful to continue; and when he bade her good-night, and vanished from her view in the dark shades, the most harrowing apprehensions became hers. She now feared that the cowardly enemy, who had attempted his life, would again discover that Roy had escaped, and be at once on bis track. From entertaining these distracting thoughts, Rosa’s dreams were of much the same character. It was quite late in the morning, when the Belle of the Brazos, not having made ber appear- ance at the usual hour, was summoned by her maid to breakfast; and Rosa was worried by her own delay, as wellas being fearful that her father and aunt might notice ber haggard appearance, and be somewhat inquisitive in consequence, That any suspicions should be entertained by them, in regard to the past night’s experiences of their darling, was simply absurd; but it was natural for the child-like Rosa, who had never before ventured from the house at such an hour, and whose adventures had been so startling and remarkable, to think that it was impossible for such events to occur, and none of her people know augbt in regard to them. Besides this, her conscience troubled her greatly; for not only had she formed an inti- mate acquaintance with a young man, but he and she had exchanged mutual vows of love and constancy. Rosa well knew that her father would be frantic, poms? furious, did be know but a very slight portion of that which had occurred; and that aunt Roxie would in all probability, be immediately seized with spasms, if not paralyzed. Under these circumstances, she felt very much relieved at knowing that her father had eaten en early breakfast, and bad ridden out into the cotton and corn fields, to superintend the gathering of the same; it being the busiest time of the year. pecsequently. Rosa and her aunt were the only ones at the breakfast table; and, as the Venetian blinds were closed, to exclude insects, thus darkening the room, the tired and worried appearance of our heroine was not noticed by her relative. Jhosa was not as much disposed to conversation as usual, either, but she forced herself into assumed joyous apirita, when she perceived that her aunt was observing her de- pression. The meal passed off, however, without any _ serious annoyance to, Rose, and she also got through reciting her lessons to her aunt with much more credit than she had anticipated; she being surprised that a single idea or thought, yond those that were connected with Roy, had been retained. Her lessons being over, and others assigned her, our heroine hastened through the gardens and magnolias to tho landing. And her faith- ful dog, Hero—so aptly named—was not for- gotten; for Rosa called him from his napping- place, and after feeding him with some delica- cies from her own almost untasted breakfast, she proceeded to arrange a bed of leaves near that of the pet fawn, Lulu, and bude him lie there, while she patted him lovingly, and spoke words of commendation and praise. The intelligent animal seemed to comprehend why these unusual attentions were bestowed upon him, and that the pest night’s expedition had been the means of forming a new bond be- tween him and his young mistress, But the attention of Rosa was not long given to her pets; for, not only was she extremely sleepy and fatigued, but every movement gave her pain, as she had exerted herself quite be- ond her strength, and had walked much fur- ther than ever before at one time. She felt that she would be more composed, and could sleep if she was in her hammock; and, with this idea, she had soon taken possession of it, and was swinging slowly in the balmy per- fumed air, and wooing the drowsy god. She had not been long thus, when a thought of the hideous face, she bad seen in the tree on the opposite side of the Brazos flashed upon her mind; and instinctively she turned her head in that direction. Suddenly her eyes dilated, the rich blood dyed her cheeks, and mingled joy, relief, and aston- ishment were imprinted upon her fair face, as she sprung to a sitting posture, ber gaze fixed upon a most unexpected and most welcome tableau. It was nothing else than the handsome form of Roy Randolph, who emerged from the un- dergrowth at the very instant that Rosa bent her gaze over the river; he, undoubtedly, hav- ing viewed the landing, and decided that it would be safe thus to venture, and relieve Rosa of the doubts she had expressed on the previous night, in regard to his safety, if he advanced up the river. Fora moment only did he stand us exposed, mag eo a pair of oars over his , and pointing down the Then, throwing a kiss, head, with one han river with the other, Double Dan, the Dastard. he stepped backward, and disappeared in the undergrowth. From this pantomime, Rosa knew that Roy was now on his way to recover the two boats; this again giving her cause for apprehension, as he would be forced to swim the river, and she had not forgotten that dreadful alligator. She was satisfied that Roy had been up the river to the cove from whence he had been sent adrift, and had there recovered his own oars, which had probably been secreted by the villain who had sought his life, but she knew he had not been to his home, as the time would not admit of such a journey, even at headlong speed, Be- sides he was still without a hat. The young girl understood the object of her lover in thus exposing himself, and she rejoiced that he had relieved her mind. At length she came to the conclusion that he meant to form a raft of deadwood, upon which to cross the river, and this banished her fears for his safety. She then sunk into a deathlike slumber, from which she was awakened by the dinner-horn, and, not until evening approached, did she again repair to the landing, as her recitations and reading to her aunt, occupied the entire in- terval until then. Rosa felt positive that Roy would not row up the river with the boats until darkness would hide hismovements. That as he had been de- prived of sleep the previous night, he would slumber during a part of the day in his boat; therefore, she did not have any anxiety from none forced to spend the afternoon with aunt oxie. She had romped and frolicked with her father when the latter came in from the fields to his dinner; in fact, she showed much more life and spirit than usaal, to please the parent who idolized her, for she was greatly troubled be- cause she had disobeyed his frequently-repeated commands in regard to forming the acquaint- anes of any of the young men in the neighbor- ood, Asa matter of course no anxiety was enter- tertained by Captain Ray in this respect when his daughter was at home at the Bend, conse- quently he had not the remotest idea that any man had or would visit his plantation without being observed by himself or the servants. It was certain that none could, unless screened by the timber, or by boat on the river, and there were but few boats on the Brazos at the time of which we write, and those few owned by the most wealthy planters. Just before sunset Rosa repaired to the land- ing, but as Roy had made no appointment with her until the next evening, she decided that she would not risk remaining longer than usual. Roy evidently did not intend to waste time or to leave an opening for discovery by her people, and intended to go to his own home during the night. She fortunately had another pair of oars, and if the absence of the pair she had been using was noticed, she could say that they must have fallen from her boat and drifted away, although she hoped there would be no occasion for her to say anything on the subject, eturning to the house she sat with her father while he enjoyed his evening pipe, her aunt having retired early. An hour later all were in their beds, but a had not gone to ens for she had determined to repeat her visit to the landing to ascertain if Roy had left her boat. But this time she prayed that she might be drawn into no such dread experiences as on the previous evening. She had been quite anxious during the after- noon, fearing that aunt Roxie would propose a walk to the landing, as she sometimes did, and notice that the boat was gone, and she felt very thankful that the day had passed without any one having discovered its absence. She had taken her reserve oars down to the landing at her evening visit without having been seen by any one. or full an hour after her return our heroine waited; then, as all was silent in the mansion, she stole stealthily down the stairs through the hall and out upon the veranda, She then stepped to the garden path and walked slowly toward the magnolias, in order if any one did observe her from the windows that they would suppose her to have no object in view, except a short promenade in the cool night air. As on the previous night, Hero followed close behind her, wagging his tail in his delight at being near his young mistress, A strange and indefinable feeling of dread, for which she could not account, oppressed Rosa as she entered the dark shades of the bottom timber, but she finally attributed the feeling to a nervous doubt in regard to Roy’s having safe- ly crossed the river, secured the boats, and rowed up-stream. If her boat was in its usual place, she rea- soned, this feeling would vanish, The moon shone brightly, as on the previous night, silvering the river, and Rosa, gazing through the foliage upon the sheen of waters, as she descended the decline to the landing, felt her eyes blinded by it to such an extent, that she could not for a moment distinguish, in the semi- darkness of the cove, whether the boat was there or not. However, she went on until the sii a Se outlines of the little skiff were discernible, ang felt great relief; for she now knew that Roy had passed another day in safety, and was row- ing up the river toa point as near his home as was possible, and from which he could take horse to his plantation, As the young girl stood on the platform, she noticed, with some astonishment, that the oars which she had brought down on her previous visit, and placed in a thicket near the bank, were in the boat. This puzzled Rosa, for she did not understand why Roy should have put himself to this trou- ble, unless with a purpose. Could it be possible that he wished to have her step into the boat? That he had left a note for ber in the skiff, which he feared she would not notice unless he placed the ours in a position where they would be liable to fall into the water if a breeze sprung up, and which he felt assured she would notice if she came to the aire. ¥ Most certainly the oars were in a position where they would be easily knocked overboard by @ movement of the boat, and Rosa decided that she was right in her surmise—Roy must have left a letter for her! Stepping forward to the edge of the platform, our heroine she ti to grasp the rope and draw the skiff toward her; but at this instant she heard a low growl, mingled with the rush of something through the air, and then a horrible sound, as of some hard substance striking and crushing through bones. All this was in an instant. The next, as she sprung upright and turned in terror, a strong arm encircled her, binding her own arms tight- ly to her side, while a gag was thrust imto her mouth! ; She was quickly bound and her eyes blinded by a kerchief before she had caught a view of the assaulter, she being able to catch but a faint outline of the form of a man. Her blood ran chill, her tongue seemed par- alyzed, and a deathly faintness almost over- came her as she was lifted into and laid in the bottom of her own boat. She knew that the skull of her faithful dog had been crushed by the fearful blow, and that she was a captive; but to whom? " . Who, in Heaven’s name, could the miscreant ) ** How dare he? “What would her poor father do now? ** ‘Where was ¢ ‘What was to become of her?” These questions Rosa asked herself mentally and then she heard the sound of the oars, and knew thet she was being rowed upon the river; but, whether up or down, she could not tell. Little had she thought that she was fated to take another ride on the river so soon—that her position would be many times worse than on the previous night! Then the thought flashed upon her that the same dastard who had sent Roy Randolph adrift, and afterward attempted bis life ce shooting bim, that he, the man of the hideous. face that she had seen in the tree, was her ab- ductor, She was, then, in the power of an inhuman, merciless fiend; a murderer, an assassin! This so overpowered the poor girl, that she became faint, and then fainter; finally sinking into insensibility. This relieved, for a time the terrible torture of mind engendered by her: position—a position most appalling, and appar- ently hopeless! wn ht CHAPTER XVI. THE PLOT AND ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT, Upon discovering that Louis Le Grand ha@ escaped from his position in the banging lariat, which Roy had supposed to be impossible for him to do, in his apparently weak condition, our hero and the young men who accompanied him, returned to the camp and buried old Dan. They then kindled a fire, and all partook with a relish, of the juicy steaks cut from the bear. They well] knew that it would be impossible to trace the miscreant at night, and so made the best of their disappointment. The horses were relieved of their equipments, and staked in an opening to graze; and then all, excépt Roy Randolph, lay down upon their blankets, and sunk quickly to sleep. In the morning, our hero, who had guerded the sleeping men, be being secreted in an ad- joining dark thicket, proceeded down the bank of the cove, 1m search of his oars. These he found among the reeds, and he also discovered the trail of Le Grand, on the opposite side of the cove, which he followed. He decided that, after the villain’s escape, he had proceeded at once to the camp, and there had doubtless heard all that had been said about him. Indeed, there could be no mistake in this ree spect, as the ‘‘sign” was more fresh than that which had been made in the evening, besides be- ing on the east side of the cove; and it showed a stealthy, creeping approach, This was told to the young men on their awakening; and, after a breakfast of bear- steak, they all repaired to the thicket on the bank of the river, and from which Le Grand had fired his rifle at Roy. The gun was secured com GOmicoooks