Beadle's Dime Library, No. 261 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

ac oa “Oh, no, no! I abhor him!” “Then never bint again that we must run off and leave you to his mercy, That would be a | pretty wind-up, indeed!” ** But--but—you will all be killed—and for me! And it will all bein vain.” ‘* Not in vain, Birdie—provided we all die to- gether. Like the old Roman, I say, ‘ How can a man die better than fighting for those be doves?’ But you take too dark a view of the ' situation. We are not dead yet, nor do we ex- pect to be—for some time, at least.” ‘* How are we to escape, though? We might ‘as well be in a dungeon, chained and guarded, as shut up thus in the bosom of the cliffs,” ‘‘There isa difference, known to our enemies, and by watching our chances we may find some loop-hole of escape.” ‘We may do better yet than that,” put in Montezuma. ‘‘ Oue of us can.slip out and bring a troop of soldiers to our release, while the oth- ers remain hidden.” * But,” said the lieutenant, ‘‘if one of us can lip out why not all?” ** When I said one, I meant myself. I can find a way alone where it would be impossible for ‘you to follow.” ‘* What way?” asked Moore in wonderment. ‘* A way I have not time to describe, for if I hear rightly, the bandits are returning down the steps.” Montezuma was right, for Sam at this mo- ament entered with the same annouacement, ‘Now, then, is my time,” said the Indian. ‘“* While they are below us Tecan make my way out above.” * But,” put in the lieutenant anxiously, ‘it ‘will take you several days to go and return with the soldiers from Santa Clara. If only the col- onel te my note!” ** What note?” Moore explained his sending a note by the miner, in which he requested bis commander to come to bis aid in two days. **Good!” said Montezuma, ‘If he got the mote [ shall probably find him all ready for starting.” *‘ But what shall we do for food and water in ithe mean time?” “TIT had entirely forgotten that,”—here the mysterious Indian approached a corner of the room where asmall bronze hook projected. Giv- ing this a sudden twist he pulled open a door, disclosing a small closet whose shelves were fill- ed with different shaped vessels, ‘‘ Here,” he said, ‘tis food and water sufficient ‘to last you weeks if need be, It is a secret store I have provided for myself. Now I must go; I have no time to lose.” oe) A friendly clasp of the hand with each was his adieu. He left the lighted chamber and rapidly traversing the larger one without, let himself through the yet undiscovered door up- von the narrow stairway. CHAPTER XXXIIL MONTEZUMA ESCAPES, ‘Tue Indian carefully surveyed the stairway “above and below; or, rather, the dense darkness preventing this, he listened intently in either direction for any sign of his enemies. Far below he could hear harsh voices discuss- ing the matter in hand. Many did not seruple to assert that they were chasing ghosts, and that they might as well try tocatch moonshine as persons who bad the power of vanishing through stone walls. , Montezuma smiled to himself and the quaint words of the man suggested to him an idea.) From the freedom of languege indulged in he guessed that Balboaz was not with them and hence must be somewhere above. This did not cause him to hesitate even a mo- ment in carrying out his mission. His devotion to the man who had twice res- cued him from a fearful torture was too great for bim to falter in his service; were death ever so near. With that noiseless s peculiar to the In- dian, Montezuma ascended the narrow stair- way. It was not till.he bad accomplished almost the entire distance that he came upon signs of a liv- ing pr.sence. As he turned the last angle in the winding ascent a ray of light streamed down from the landing above. bi From his stand-point he could see without danger of being seen. Still his position was full of peril. Should any one of the band attempt to pass either up or down, his discovery was inevitable from the narrowness of the staircase. ° : On the landing above he distinguished three persons, Balboaz himself and two of his followers. he former of whom seemed to be searching diligently for the secret door, through which the two scouts had gained access to bis prize. Montezuma recognized in the two other Mex- icans the men who had pursued him from the torture-chamber. Balboaz had sent the rest of his men below, that there might be no possibility to the fugitives of escaping by the waterfall. He bimself remained with these two that. he Our dungeon is un- | ee ee ee am, the Prairie | might bunt out the other entrance to the hidden | Stairway, He was still engaged in this search while one of the Mexicans held a lighted torch for him, when a startled cry, or rather sbriek from the other Mexican caused both to turn their heads. Right before them stood the tall, gaunt form of the Indian, clothed as in life, whom they supposed buried fathoms deep in the ‘‘ Bottom- less Pool.” He stood, motionless as a statue with one long om outstretched and finger pointed at Bal- oaz, The erfect of this sudden apparition upon the guilty trio was aetoniehings The Mexican who had first given the alarm, sprung past the gkostl] y figure and darted, four ere at a time, down the steep stairway. he other, dropping bis torch with a wild cry of despair fell prostrate on the stone floor and hid bis face in his hands, Balboaz alone remained silent, staring in mo- tionless horror at the supposed victim of his cruelly, Meanwhile the torch in falling had become extinguished and total darkness fell upon the scene, This even the hardened Balboaz was. unable to bear. A few minutes, passed in darkness and with that awful presence, would have driven him insane, He knew this himself and with wonderful nerve struck a match upon the stone wall and relighted the torch, Then he turned resolved to question his ghost- ly visitant. But the tall form of the Indian had vanished —faded away as completely as though it had been of mist or thin air, , The terrified Mexican still lay cowering upon the floor, howling atintervals ‘‘ Mercy! mercy !” “Get up, coward!” said Balboaz, roughly kicking him. ‘‘Do you not see the ghost has vanished?’ Not fora moment had he doubted that the strange apparition was really a ghost and not the bona-jide Montezuma, For with his own eyes had he not seen him leap into the ‘' Bottom- less Pool?” *‘Ts it really gone?” exclaimed the Mexican in a weak voice, as be ventured slowly to raise himself from the floor, ' ‘* Have I not said so, idiot?’ Get up and let us look for this cursed door again.” Balboaz tried to put a bold faca upon the matter, though his beart sunk within him as he pictured a second spectral visit from the dead Indian, As for his subordinate he resolutely shook his head at Balboaz’s suggestion; and turned to de- scend to his companions, ‘““Will. you disobey me?’ shouted the chief, now infuriated. ‘' Return this instant or expect to be hung as a traitor to our mutual oaths.” ‘“‘ When I entered the band,” said the Mexi- ean in a calm voice, ‘I swore obedience to you and death to your enemies; but if by ene- mies you " ean ghosts, as well as living persons, I must take it back and leave the band; for I never was gapd at putting a hole through nothing, either with knife or pistol.” The chief smiled at this remark, and the Mexican, taking courage, tried still further to soften his wrath. ‘“‘Tt pointed its long finger directly at you. If you value ycur safety, cap’n, leave this place at once, You have received fair warning. A warning from the spirit-world, if not heeded, will bring woe and disaster,” ‘** How do you know what the warning was?” said Balboaz, *‘ Did it speak?” : “No; but appearing just at this time and place showed plainly enough its meaning.” ‘*T see you are. incorrigible, Sancho. But I sball not give up for all that. I shall descend and see if there are any of the band not quite 9) great cowards as you,” ‘Your, efforts will be vain, cap’n. If they have beard of the ghost, as I s’pose they have, a thousand pesos wouldn’t induce them to come.” Sancho was rigbt. When Balboaz descended to the room behiud the waterfall he found the story of Montezuma’sspecter had already been industriously circulated by the Mexican who had run at first sight of the ghost. There was no moving the men to further search in the mysterious passages. Their super- stitious minds recoiled from the idea of spectra] encounters in dark labyrinths, The despotic leader of the bandits found that if he would prosecute the search further for Birdie Lester and her brave rescuers, he must do so alone, Daring as be was, he was hardJy prepared to do this in the face of both material and imma- terial foes He did the next thing to this, which was to order a strong guard to be kept night and day in the little nook they were then in, Also that a patro] should be maintained con- tinually ia the corridor opening upon the cliff above, and into which the two scouts must have penetrated to rescue the captured girl. He had scareely sent some of the men epon this last duty when one of the band who had undaerpoit. been acting as sentinel on the cliff above came | running toward him. e By his frightened face and gesture Balboaz guessed that he must haye something important to communicate, ‘What is it!” be asked, as the man, an In- dian, paused to recover breath. The man responded in his guttural voice, first pointing to the ground, then making an up- ward gesture. ‘Spirit of Aztec has risen. He walks the earth. He will not rest till he bas vengeunce.” ‘What spirit?’ said Balboaz harshly, while his face grew pale. ‘Speak out, fellow, and don’t keep us waiting. “The spirit of Montezuma.” , ** When—where?” ‘On the cliff above, not ten moments since.” ‘* Where did it come from?” . . Out of the door that leads into the moun- ain. ‘Then, what became of it?” Balboaz bent forward in his eagerness to hear the answer. “Tt walked as peacefully as though in the Spirit Land, It came to the edge of the ‘ Bot- tomless Pool,’ here it threw up its hands with a wild shriek, and plunged into the dark waters,” CHAPTER XXXIV. IMPRISONED. AN awed silence fell upon the group of Mexi- cans and half-breeds as the Indian gave in this ominous message. Balboaz bimself was no little impressed, though he took pains to conceal it, This second appearance of the spectral figure, coinciding as it did with the first as seen by the two Mexicans and their leader, went far to convince the superstitious bandits that their mpregnable abode was haunted, and would soon perhaps become tenantless to earthiy be- ings. alboaz saw what fatal seed was being sown . in the minds of his men, and that rapid dis- union in the band would follow unless some- thing were done, and that quickly, to check it. He made a short, terse speech, declaring the whole thing a deception of the senses. That the Indian had conjured up the vision in his lonely vizil. That he himself had seen the same apparition; but, like a sensible man, ascribed it at once to a delusion brought on by long-continued excitement and wakefulness, He then dismissed the men to their posts—a part to guard the waterfall] entrance, while others should accompany him to keep watch in the corridor above, The men PeROnataG shaking their heads. Nevertheless, they obeyed their chief's orders with all their old alacrity. Thus constant guard was kept at either end of the passage—the only ayenue of escape to the three persons immured in the heart of the mountain, “ Richard Moore, Birdie Lester, and the negro Sam,’thus found themselves, as it were, close prisoners in the mysterious chambers hewn out centuries before by the Aztec, One thing they wondered at, that they heard no further sign of their enemies passing up or down the stairway without. Why they had so sujidenly abandoned the search was a mystery they were unable to solve. Once only Richard Moore ventured out- side of the two hidden rooms, Montezuma had pave him the secret of opening the secret oors. : He had traversed the stairway from top to bottom, At either end, by placing bis ear to the stone wal) or flooring, he had heard the steps and voices of armed men, hen he knew that the crafty Balbooz was on his guard, and that escape withcut caterior aid, was impossible. His greatest anxiety was concerning Monte- zuma—whether he had escaped, or been dis- covered, and put to death, The suspense of waiting whole nights and days in those gloomy stone chambers, without a sign from the outer world, at times became almost uneudurable. Had if not been for the society of Birdie Lester, with whom our hero was becoming more intimate, he wouid sot have endured it; but would bave rusbed forth, either to fight his way out by sheer force of valor, or fall a victim to his rashness. hy As it was, the young people who were rapidly gliding into the mazes of ‘ Love's. oung Dream,” found alleviation in each other’s society, for the anxiety and suspense pressing upon their minds, | Sam, baying no similar companion with whom to while away the hours, had the hardest lot to bear. His volatile spirits became morose and gloomy under the unaccustomed restraint. He who bad been used to foaming the boundless prairies and forests in unrestrained freedom was now doomed to four narrow walls, shut ouG from the very light of day. | Two weeks of such confinement would have driven Sam insaye. In fact, he bad already proposed, more than once, making bis, way out alone, 4 ComMichOors: 4 Tt & = 8 me ¢ +5. 4 : > -* - 1 , = x >.