Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 256 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

' . — a — ee eee z as a ———————— ee _——- Dou = b dened with vines and moss, which clung to the |} stricken him, he was resolved to gain a view of very tops of the dense undergrowth, Leaving bis horse at a distarc> which would prevent a snort or neigh from being heard from the river, the miscreant grasped his rifle and stole cautiously toward the Rio Brazos. On he went, half-bent, darting glances sus- iciously around, his coward heart being appre- ensive of there being otber lurkers in the bof- tom, although this was unlikely; in fact, he well knew that it was very doubtful if there was a human being within hearing of a shot from his rifle, except his intended victim. Yet his com- rades, who had deserted him, might, for all he knew, be still in the vicinity. Thus on glided the murder-bent villain, intent, resolved, indeed, that he would assassinate one whom he knew to be far bis superior in everything that makes man noble, honest and humane. At times he would start like the guilty thing that he was, as some bird flapped its wings above his head, or a small animal shot through the bush in affright at his approach, at such times clutching his rifle in desperation, and then giving vent to a low, hoarse and unnatural laugh at his absurd timidity. At length be cocked his rifle, the snap of the lock shooting through his nerves like an electric stroke, When the spring flew back in its place would it be the signal of death to his bated foe? Louis Le Grand had little doubt in this respect, for he was a crack shot, Once before, however, he recalled the fact that he had missed the same man’s heart at fif- teen paces, and he now cursed himself for trem- bling, and for entertaining any doubtful thonghts. His bullet must enter a vital part, or he would be a felon. an assassin, before the world; for, did Roy Randolph recover, he would move heaven and earth to trace out the man who had attempted his life, More cautiously, as he neared the river, the ruffian proceeded, feeling his way more than seeing it, as the arrows of moonlight that shot aown here and there served not to lighten his path to any extent. Soon he heard the ripple of the river and saw the silvery sheen upon the broad waters, and far below his covert where that sheen was broken, the boat of Roy Randolph plowing through the water, causing long and sweeping ripples to extend on either side, as the vigorous stroke of the rower shot the little craft forward on its way—forward toward the covert of the assassin, forward toward death!” Why do not the fragile oars snap in twain? Why are they not, belonging as they do to Rosa Ray, instilled with something of har love for him who grasps them, and sufficient knowl- elge of the danger that lurks beneatb, to warn him of his peril? Whereis thy guardian angel Roy Randolph? Let us hope and pray that some such being boversover the assassin’s head, awaiting the proper moment to draw the tips of her wings across his eyes, and thus destroy his aim! On sped the little boat; Roy’s head uncov- ered, his wavy brown hair hanging to bis broad shoulders, his sinewy arms tt gt with the regularity of a machine; his mind, heretofore filled with thoughts of Rosa Ray, xow turning to dwell he outrage, which, although it upon had sraved to him a blessing, was nevertheless a most cowardly deed. Thus on,skiinming over the silvery sheen, corrugated by the current, glided Roy Ran- do!ph; his mind busy in concocting plans to ex- pose the perfidy, the cowardly character of the very man who now crouched within the under- rowth he was nearing, bent upon his murder, Had he turned about in his seat, Roy might have seen the glint of the moon on a rifla barrel which the assassin was obliged to thrust out from the screen of foliage; the direction in which the weapon was pcinted proving that the lurking dastard did not intend to wait until his victim had reached a point directly abreast of him, but would sboot bim before ‘even his profile became outlined to bim. But Roy Randolph turned not. His eyes were fastened down the Brazos, toward Bend Plantation; al‘hough his thoughis were of the man who had sent bim adrift. At last the rifle of the assassin was thrust further outward, the fiendish face of Louis Le Grand appearing from among the bushes, and a murderous glare in theeye that glanced along the deadly tube. ' Only for an instant thus. Then the night- wrapped solitndes rung with the sharp crack of the rifle; the reportechoing startlingly up and down the river, amid the natural arches of the timber, | A puff of smoke, slowly rising, betrayed the spot where the dastard had been when he fired; but no human eye was there to see the tell- vapor. ata te o sooner Grand pull trigger than he oy in his rifle and apedtic proud peering oward the oat. His face was frightful in ex- hori but his form was trembling from head foot, as be looked in the d rection of bis vic- tim. Hesaw him spring up partially turning about as if, when death had his murderer. Then he fell backward, almost burying the prow of the boat beneath the waters; the oars falling from his grasp, as he lay cone and senseless, and apparently dead. is head rested on the forward triangular seat, in the same position that be had occupied when, as be lay asleep, he had been sent floating down the river. Now the boat shot again forward, impelled by its momentum, and the fallof its owner but a moment; it then came to a stop and slowly glided sternways with the current, soon being forced around, and pela Sa ih the river. As it whirled in the waters, Le Grand distinetly saw the face of bis victim; bis own features be- coming ghastly, and his form quivering, while cold chills ran through his frame to the very marrow in bis bones. Down the handsome face of Roy Randolph, now plainly lit up by the moon, ran little streams of blood, rnd between these streams the skin was as white as that of a corpse. Le Grand strove to make an outcry, to re- lieve his overburdened brain, but naught except a gurgling sound escaped his lips; aud, jerking his flask from his hunting-shirt be glued the nozz'e to his lips, and drank enough to madden any one who was unaccustomed to such indul- gence, He was a murderer, an assassin; and already, he imagined the deadly rope about his neck. He gazed out from his covert again; bis eyes now wild and staring unnaturally, Roy Randolph was gliding down the Brazos again; this time, in the night, when discovery was next to impossible—this time, in the chains of a sleep that knows no waking! Down the rapid current, the corpse must glide, through dark shadows and silvery sheen —on, and still on, until embraced and swal- mitin up by the raging waters of the Mexique ulf! Louis Le Grand felt that at last, revenge was his own; but it gave him no relief. Just the opposite; for fiends seemed to laugh and hiss, and jeer and howl from the dark shades. Strange sounds were in hisears; and, hurling his rifle into th river, he darted toward the spot where he had left his horse, tearing through the undergrowth as though the avenger of blood was on his track. Springing upon bis snorting steed, the beast affrighted at his headlong approach, the assassin drove deep bis spurs, throwing tbe reins over the horn of his saddle, and caring little which way he went, provided it was only away from the scene of his crime, and from the corpse of his victim! CHAPTER VII. COMES HE IN DEATH. NEVER before had Rosa Ray been troubled with thoughts that banished sleep. Never be- fore had she left the house to walk the —— paths in the still night. But now she felt no fear, even after she had entered the dark shades of the bottom timber; the torturing unx- iety, that had taken possession of her on ac- count of Roy, crowding every otber feeling into the background. She knew that he must be yet on the river, that he could not yet have reached a favorable point in the same, from which he could walk or ride to his home; which was fully thirty miles away, as she had more than once heard from her father. His course was up the river, against the cur- rent; and must, in consequence, be slow and tedious, Thus the young girl reasoned, as she walked briskly toward the landing; the huge watch- dog walking behind her—the animal, as they passed the moonlit garden ths, gazing up into her face, in mingled wonder and affection, rubbing his large head at times against her band, as if craving a caress, and filled with pleasure at being permitted to accompany her. Asa matter of course, Rosa bad no idea that she should see or bear aught of Roy; but she felt that ber mind would be more composed by a walkin the open air, and that to pass over the ground he had trod, to stand upon the same sward that his feet had pressed, would be hap- piness in itself. She thought over and over again, when she paused at length, and gazed into her little skiff, satisfying herself that her oars had been taken, that the strange experien- ces through which she had passed since awaken- ing in her hammock, were real, and not a mere dream, or the imaginings of a disordered brain, Her head was hot and feverish, her cheeks flushed end burning, and the cool air of the bottom timber, relieved by «a glance upon the rolling river, was most refreshing. The scene was very beautiful, and the maiden vowed that this would not be the lest walk of the kind she would take to the boat landing. Jt was well worth sitting up half of the night, to gaze over the silvery sheen, the dark, somber background of timber, and the dense undergrowth; and to listen to the soothin music of the waters, as they rippled through and then forward; | the reeds. Gazing upward, Rosa was greatly surprised, le Dan, the Dastard. ee eg ee ee ee meee ees ee ae wr her form 7 oy indeed astonished; for, from the position of the moon, she knew that but a short space of time had expired since she had gone to her chamber soon after tea, for sbe bad then looked up at the Queen of Night frem ber window. It had, however, seemed to ber, that mornin must be near at hand; the state of her min causing but a few minutes to seem an hour. She knew that the household bad retired but a little time ago, and she was troubled much when that fact occurred to her; for she had frequently heard her father assert that many nights he had lain for hours before be could compose bimself to sleep. Especially was this apt to be the case after te bad been riding over the plantation, which sbe knew to have been the case the Jay just past. What could she say in explanation of ber he- ing at the landing at such a time, should her fa- ther arise, and seek the veranda to enjoy’ bis pipe, when he would discover that Hero, the watch-dog, was not at his post? In the event of such a thing happening, Rosa well knew that ber father would become quite excited about the absence of the dog, and pro- ceed at once to investigate it, Although the strange occurrences of the pre- vious afternoon bad been most vividly im- meee upon the young girl’s mird, and she cnew them to be real in every detail, yet she felt relieved when she discovered that ber oars had been taken. Then she fell to pondering as to whether Roy had departed immediately upon taking leave of her, or had he possibly lingered in the shades for a time, to think over bis adventure, And now it seemed strange to her again that be had not explained to her bow it hed bappened that he was afloat in such a belpless condition, Then again she thought of the: probability of her father arising from b‘s bed for a smoke; and she turned about to basten up the path and to her home, seeing now how foolish she had been to leave it. At this moment, however, a low grow], fol- lowed by long-drawn, whining sighs, came from Hero, and Rosa glanced bebind ber in fright and apprebension, for she well knew that the dog bad scented something strange, and that had puzzled bim. | She was obliged to step back and to bend over the dog to ascertain at what point the animal’s attention was attracted, for they were beneath the dense foliage where the moonlight did not penetrate, She perceived that he was scenting something just beyond the point where the Ls a swept into view around the Bend to the wes Sprirging quickly erect, cur beroine swept the moonlit waters from direetly abreest the landing, up and arcund to the timber line; but there was naught that broke the silvery surface except the natural rippling of the current. Rosa was about to turn and chide the dog when a moving object caught ber view, seeming to shoot out from the dark shades over the moonlit waters; and the next instant she staggered backward, tremblivg as if stricken with palsy, and clutching a sapling for support. Then she Grew her hand across ber eyes and brow, her breath coming in short, quick gas her eyes shining unnaturally and filled with superstitious lorror; while from her lips, ina hoarse whisper, struggled the words: **Oh, my God—my God!” There before ber, gliding over the silvery sheen of waters, noiselessly, and exactly as she — bad seen it when she awakened in her hammock —there, in mid-channel, was the self-eame boat: and reclining in the same position that Roy ha occupied was a human form, whose face she could not yet discern, but who she felt was the same man, Roy Randolph. “My God—my God! Again came the words, in a strange and un- natural voice. The girl was dumfounded; ber brain wes tortured by a terrible and super- stitious dread; end no wonder was it that she was thus affected. On swept the boat, the con- tour of the man’s head becoming clearly visible, and the long, wavy bair preparing Rosa for the soon-to-be-revealed face, The branches of the sapling quivered above the head of the appalled maiden, and it was a wonder tbat she retained ber senses; perbaps Fe: she would not but for a reaction cccasioned Hero, who stretched his neck, his muzzle in the air, and gave vent to a low bowl, which would bave been loudly given bad not bis mistress, by a herculean effort, summoned strength to caus . tion the brute by word and pat of the hand. A moment more and slow ly the boat swung around the opposite landing, revealirg the face of the outstretched occupent; that face turned directly toward ber, the eyes wide open, fixed and glaring in the moonlight, from out a net- werk of little streams and splashes of blood. It was a horrible sight. That boat slowly gliding over the placid waters, with a flood of moonlight which revealed but too vividly, in all its ion details, the seeming corpse of olph, i nd seen by Rosa Ray, When the face was oe she sprung forward, both bands pressed upon her throbbing temples, her face pallid as death, , and her features, in their Eomicbooks. ‘ . =