Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 322 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

20 Ce eee | The Crimson Coyotes. ome ee Se ee ESET EES TS La EES 8 almost as much as if she had gazed upon himself by a “pull” at his whisky-bottle, | that had greeted her gaze, when she first re- ga y y g them in reality. But, time passed, and the sun sunk in the ‘West. The kind old negro cook prevailed upon her young mistress to take some refresh- ment. But they seemed tasteless to the poor girl, whose despondency deepened, as the shadows of night fell upon the earth; and grew deeper yet, when she found herself robed in the sable suit she had ordered. The mansion was now closed and the doors locked; but the windows of the par- lor, within which was the corpse, opened upon the front veranda, and were raised to | prehension, anxiet allow free ventilation. | The thick damask curtains, however, were ' closed, and the apartment was illumined by four wax-candles; which light, as the coffin Nora Norrington was the perfect personifi- was open, caused the corpse of the old bank- | cation of mute suffering; her drooping head, er to appear more like an image of wax than | ghastly face, and broken, hopeless expres- what it was. Although old ‘‘ Uncle Jake,” the faithful | negro servant, had volunteered to watch | with the body, it was a most terrible task to | him; for, he was as superstitious as his race generally are. But, for all that, Jake wished | consideration of her absent lover, as a to be able to say, with pride and boasting, | daughterly duty to him who was, on the that he had ‘‘bin wid ole Mars’ Norman froo | morrow, to be laid in the earth, from her de las’ night what he war on dis hyer | sight, forever. yearth.”’ All the thousand and one acts of kind- It would serve as something for him to | ness extended to her since her infancy, brag about, as long as he lived; being a | were recalled, and magnified in his favor. proof of his bravery, and also of his love Ever cold, reserved, and even stern, to and respect for the old banker. , others, he had been tender, affectionate, and He could look down, in the future, with a | considerate with her—granting her every consciousness of superiority, upon the other | reasonable wish and desire. servants, who would not fail to regard him Since death had claimed her mother, he with awe, and great respect. had tried faithfully to fill both places. Uncle Jake had thought long upon the} Nora could not me realize that he was subject, before he came to the conclusion | dead; gone from her life forever, stricken that he would brave the ‘‘spooks,’’ which, very possibly, might have a silent fandango around the coffin; but he resolved to keep as far as he could from the corpse, and near to an open rear window, through which he could beat a hasty retreat, in case things got | “*too hot” for him, and he could not “ stand in the general demolition of things he would be forced to close companionship with the | Tae corpse of his old master in the final col- ' lapse. | eanwhile, Nora Norrington paced slowly | back and forth across her chamber, her beau- tiful eyes fixed upon the carpet betore her as she glided ghest-like, her naturally angelic | face: more seraphic still from its pallor. lips that, but a few hours before, rivaled the — = eee and horror that had that had been crowded into the last twenty- four hours. sight that was full of silent pee She was; at times, ruled entirely by thoughts of her dead father, banishing all and favored; stabbed in a cowardly manner, in his own home; déad, his lips motionless for all time, without a word of farewell, | without time to pray, or even te cry out for help, when the cruel steel pierced his breast! the rffle.” Sober second thought, however, caused old Jake to ehange his plan somewhat; for, it occurred to him, that the ghosts might enter at the very window from which he proposed to make his escape, and so terrify him, and Nora shuddered, her blood chilled, as she chill his old blood, that he would be incapa- | thought of his cold and silent corpse, now lying coffined in the room below her. She would go to him! Her place was with him, beside the casket in which they had placed him, on this, his last night upon earth. This was her duty. Why had she not thought of this before? Her tears had refused to flow, so intense had been the bitter anguish of her heart since darkness had enveloped the earth—a dark- ness that was typical of the death that had ble of tlight. Consequently, he seated himself upon the floor, with his back to the wall, between the two rear windows; and braced his nerves by a stiff horn ot whisky, from a flask which he had the forethought to provide. Thus it was that the old wrinkled negro, with his snow-crowned head, seated himself in a position which placed him under the necessity of looking upon the coffin continu- ously; he, at times, refraining from winking for so long a time—depriving his eyes of the natural lubricating moisture—that objects danced and quivered before him, and at times filled him with terror. Articles of furniture assumed fantastic shapes, and seemed to be imbued with life, while Uncle Jake afterward repeated several times: “‘[ hopes I may die ef ole mars’ didn't raise up in de box an’ peep ‘roun’ de room! Den, ‘pearin’ ter think he'd jist stay whar he war an’ git shed o’ ‘arthly troubles, he'd flop | ack ag’in!’” Upon these occasions, Uncle Jake's wool | before him. seemed to squirm like scorched snakes, his| There he sat, between the windows, the blood to become cold and cease cireulation, | and “his muscles powerless, thus forcing him | | | less despair that at times ruled her entire be- ing In the same slow, unearthly ¢ | downcast gaze, her arms hanging listlessly, thus-she stole noiselessly down the stairway, leaving the door of her room open to partial- ly light the hall. and glided to the side of the coffin. Poor old Uncle Jake, who had not seen his young mistress since her great bereavement, and had not thought of her in sable robes, really believed that a ghost—a genuine, bona glued to the roof of his mouth, his eyes starting, and fixed upon, the supposed spec- ter! to remain where he was. Time passed, old Jake becoming more and more frightened, indeed terrified; and from this fear and superstitious horror, och one sitting so long in the same position, he be- : : : carte stiff in his joints. He was deprived of Rett ee ra the power even to speak or yell had the! THe marble silence of that dead face was corpse really sprung from the coffin and at- | awful for Nora to look upon. tacked him. Slowly her head bent, and the unconfined So it was that the old negro was of no} wealth of her sunny tresses fell upon the more service as a watch or guard than one of | breast, and mingled with the gray locks of the marble statues on the mantle, which | the dead. Then, slowly the form of the CHAPTER XXYVI. seemed to have become instilled with life and | maiden arose to an erect posture, her hands | to be pointing their fingers in scorn at the | unclasped, and with her fingers she smoothed, charcoal image in front of them. ‘gently and lovingly, the gray locks of her Singularly startling and terrifying trans- | dead parent. formations of scene occurred rapidly before | ihe disordered vision of the old servant, and ' now hidden by the vestments of the grave. Her most terrified man on earth; his tongue — ne | Ithough it was an absurdity, an impossi- sl st ruby were now almost colorless, while her | features bore plain traces of the anguish, ap- | been hers, through the awful experiences | sion, with the senile twitching of her fingers | and the dull gleam of her eye, made up a_ lest the whole world would go to smash, and | covered consciousness, and found herself bound to her chair. She dared not dwe!] upon these, for she feared the mere thought would drive her mad. As she now stood, she presented a most impressive picture; indeed, there could be few imagined that could be more impressive. While she stood thus, the damask curtains were slightly agitated, and then slowly held aside, revealing the swarthy and demoniacal face of none other than Rodney Reed; whose hands, now holding those curtains, were red with innocent blood! There lay the man he had murdered in so dastardly a manner—the man, who had taken him into kis confidence when he had friends—there lay his victim, prepared for the grave! And, beside that coffin, stood the bereaved daughter; pale, nearly, as the one who lay within it. | Gazing upon both, was Red Reed! Truly it seemed that the Evil One had sent his favorite fiend to crush the flower, even as the parent stem had been crushed. And poor old Uncle Jake saw that terrible face, and those blood-stained hands, and recognized at once the murderer of his mas- ter! This was a real, tangible danger; and the old negro, fully believing that Red Reed would murder him, crawled silently out by an assassin, by one whom he had trusted | It was dreadful—too dreadful; and poor | from the window, over the veranda floor, and threw himself headlong into the garden. There, he darted within a clump of shrub- bery, and lay panting and exhausted with fear and horror. Red Reed remained but a moment at the window. With a stealthy movement, he passed in- side, and stole toward Nora and the coffined corpse. Not the slightest sound betrayed his approach—the thick, soft carpet thus favoring him. He reached the side of the coffin, and stood within a pace of the now kneeling maiden, It was a sight to melt a heart of stone; yet only the most fiendish glee was expressed in the demon’s face. Then came an act, in accordance with the inhuman character of the monster. of the corpse. claimed her father, and of the almost hope- | glide, with | and her white hands clasped before her— | The parlor door was open, and Nora en- tered the room without the slightest noise, | | fide visitant from the unknown world—was | : } Quickly he clutched the hands of the dead, and forced the stiffened arms to bend up- ward; and pressing the hands over the face He then stepped back, be- hind Nora, whose mind being concentrated upon her condition, heard not the slight movements, made by the monster. But, it was a wonder she did not feel the horrible presence of her father’s murderer, and her own would-be destroyer. The clasped hands of Nora slowly descend- ed to their former position; then her head lowered and sunk upon her breast, and her heavy aye slowly unclosed. Not slow, however, was the transformation of the emotions and expressions of the poor girl’s mind and face. Like a flash, her head was lifted from her breast, her lips parted, her eyes started from their sockets in dumfounded horror and in- stinctively she stepped backward. Who can concelve—even approach in im- agination—the horror, the chilling dread, the nameless emotions that ruled the hapless maiden at that moment? When last she had looked upon her father’s corpse, his hands were clasped upon his breast; but now, when she opened her eyes, were covering the dead face! bility, yet she had no time to thus feason. Nora thought that her father must have re- turned to life—that he had not been really dead—and she sprung forward and clasped her hands about his wrists; but on the in- stant, she started back, for they were stiff and cold. She strove to cry out, but only a gasping sound was the result. She knew that the hands and arms of the dead had been moved; hs a matter of course, not by the corpse itself, There was no one in the room but herself, and she had not laid her hands upon the still form in the casket. As these thoughts came instantly into the She dared not think of that cruel wound, poor girl’s mind, she shuddered in every nerve. All the superstitions—from which no jie dared not move a finger, even to brace' She dared not think of the horrible sight human being on earth is entirely free—of her (E com ‘