Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 332 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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Spring-Heel Jack. now I am a beggar, with nothing between Old Mother Spring was growling over the me and ruin.” pot she was stirring; her gray-headed hus- ‘‘That is where you are wrong. There is | band was swearing away in his native a great deal between you and ruin. The | Romany, and the swarm of little black- first title in England is worth a good deal. | headed children that were always running Why, there are scores of women in the land, | round under the wheels of the cart, was, to- who would jump at the chance of becoming | day, unusually full of weeping and wailing, a duchess if they were able to pay for it, as in consequence of the temper of the elders. Rose Reid is. The fact is, Howard, if you | A very handsome black-eyed witch of are a wise man, you will go to General Reid | twenty, John Spring’s wife, was rocking to and make him a formal offer. I will guar- | and fro, with a baby in her arms, and an- antee that he does not say ‘no.’ ” other girl, of the same regular features and Howard had sunk into a brown study, | dark olive skin, with the same splendid, but while the doctor was speaking; but when the | wicked-looking eyes, was rocking beside her, other had finished, he raised his head and | as if in sympathy, while the old woman, told him what had occurred that very even- | from her fire, dealt them occasional flings, ing. | with a possible intention of comforting them, Tatham did not seem to be at all surprised, | but with the result of making them weep but made light of the snub that Lady Bal- | louder than ever. carras had administered, and the result of his The cause of the trouble seemed to be that visit was that he put George in a frame of | old Mathias was the only man left in the mind much more comfortable than when he | camp, the two able-bodied: members of the had come in, and went away, leaving the | male sex, who had formerly been the sup- young Officer with an injunction to goto | port and consolation of the female portion, sleep and forget all about Spring-Heel Jack | having both taken their departure together, and the rest of his troubles, as soon as he ** Warn’t it enough that one boy should go could. and be a lobster. but my nephew must do Sleep has wonderful influence on the | the same?” groaned the elder Mr. Spring, as young; and George woke the next morning | he stared at the fire moodily. ‘‘Jasper’s a with a confused recollection of the affair of | fuol, and, if the officers don’t make ‘im see the night before, till it was recalled to his | it, afore ’e’s a week older, I ain’t no true memory by the sight of his orderly, Spring, | Romany. ‘To think that, arter all the advice at the foot of his bed. I gi’n them boys, they should go and do the Then he remembered and sent for the | likes of this, it—it's disgusting, that’s what sergeant of the guard, to find what had hap- | it is.” pened, and whether he had been mistaken And the elder Mr. Spring spat in the fire, in believing that it was Spring on guard the | to signify the extent of his disgust. night before, when the orderly had denied Old mother Spring sneered. being out. ‘‘Thou wert the same, when thou wert a The sergeant of the guard made his ap- | lad,” she said. ‘‘Doan’t I mind the time pearance, and surprised the young officer by | when ye took the bounty in three regiments, saying that the man that had fired at Spring- | when wars were a-goin’ on, and thou never Heel Jack, the night before, was a new re- | fired a shot fur the king? What's bred i’ th’ cruit, and not Spring, at all. He was ready | bone, woan’t but coom out i’ th’ flesh. Tl to swear to that. back John to get out of the ’obble they got Howard grew angry. un in; and as fur Jasper, ’e’s my brother's ‘Then bring the man here at once, that I | son, and the Winterbothams won't go back may see him,” he said. ‘‘If that was not | on the Springs, no day i’ th’ week.” Spring, last night, then it must be his twin; Here the handsome girl that was rocking brother.” the baby turned her head quickly, with a The sergeant went away, and soon re- | sudden cessation of her weeping that was, to turned with a man who was, indeed, like | say the least, curious, as showing the lack of Spring; but as clearly a different man, depth to her feelings, and snapped out: He was a Gypsy, as one could see from his ‘‘Oosh thy ’eads, boath on ‘ee. Don’t ’ee face, and the sergeant said: ‘ear a gorgio a-comin’? Listen to the ’orse- ‘* Here’s the man, your honor, that fired at | ‘oofs.”’ Spring-Heel Jack, last night.” There was an instant stoppage of all signs ‘‘ What is your name?” asked George curi- | of grief in the Gypsy camp, and the children ers were bundled off out of sight, while the keen “ Jasper Winterbotham, your honor,” said | sense of bargaining, inherent in the singular the py PS, saluting awkwardly. ‘I seen | race, was made apparent by the way in the thing a-comin’ and I thought it were my | which every one began to put the camp into dooty to fire at it. ‘Ope your honor didn’t | the picturesque order in which it was cus- think 1 did wrong. I warn’t the only one | tomary to receive visitors. For the hoofs of a horse were indeed audi- George shook his head. < his ble on the heath, and a horse meant a man ‘‘No, you did right, I suppose. That is | rich enough to ride a good animal; for there all. You can go.” were few or no farmers left in that part of And then he lay back in his bed and won- | England. dered how it came that he had not recognized retvy soon they saw the horseman over the man, the night before. the tops of the furze-bushes, and he had the The ei ere whom he had sent for, still dress and appearance of a rich man. stood at the foot of the bed, fidgeting, and| He wore a laced hat and a riding-suit of presently asked respectfully: green velvet, while his animal was a hunter, Does your honor want anything more of | of blood and bone that made old Mathias say me to himself as he saw it: | ‘‘No—yes, sergeant, how long has that ‘‘Moast ha’ cost a couple of ’unner, at t’ man been in the service?” Pe Only a few days, your honor. °E were sent to the company yesterday, and I wouldn't ’a’ put ’im on guard if one of the men ’adn’t been took bad, andI’ad to put some one in ’is place. I ’ope your honor ain’t angry with me. The pore bloke didn’t know it warn’t the thing to fire, without alarmin’ the gyard fu’st.”’ ‘*No, sergeant, that is all right. You can oT Mr least.” he cavalier was riding carelessly along, as if on a ride for health and amusement; but, as he was passing the camp of the Gyp- sies, he caught sight of the smoke, and turn- ed his horse's head that way, riding up to the fire as if he wanted to see who they were that had made the blaze, Before he could get near the place, the irl who was Winterbotham’s wife ran out fore the horse’s head and began to cry: “Ah, now, handsome gentleman, come and cross the poor on palm with silver, and ’ave yer fortin told true. We don’t never make no mistakes, and I can see that ye’r’ goin’ to ‘ave the beautifulest lady in all the me. fur your wife, God bless your ‘andsome ace. ' It was indeed a very handsome face that looked down on her from the hotse’s back. Not unlike her own in its dark beauty, with the same oval contour, and dark, lus- trous eyes. ' A black mustache shaded the lip with a downy bloom that increased the good looks 0. ? And then the sergeant was gone, and George had nothing to think of but how Spring-Heel Jack had foiled him again and ven him a hurt that was likely to stop him rom doing duty for some days. ‘But he shall not escape me much longer,” he said aloud. CHAPTER XXX. HAMPSTEAD HEATH. Ovr on Hampstead Heath, the Gypsy camp, to which Soring had come, the day after he enlisted, was in a state of excite- ment, amounting to mutiny, Cn o_O EEE eee SS esssssssesnsshetsnsnsnsessssssessstigeeeeeestneeeeer OO of the young cavalier, and he smiled with @ singular sweetness, as he said: ‘* You are the true Romany; but I need no. fortunes told to-day. 1 can tell them myself, if | would.” The Gypsy girl stared at him with an ex- pression of bewilderment as she asked him; ‘* Bain’t ye Romany, vernon 2 He had the outline and coloring of the race, as she could see; and the old Gypsy by the fire was eying him with a singular stare, as if he was trying to recognize the features of the strange horseman. The stranger smiled at the question of Mrs. Winterbotham. “There are no Romany but those who. live in tents and rove the tee in wind and weather. I can be no Romany, according to that.”’ ‘‘ But fur all that ye ’ave the face and the voice and—can ye talk Romany?’ she asked him suddenly. The horseman nodded and answered in her own tongue. ‘If I could not talk the tongue of my mother and father,” he said, “‘1 should be no Romany. | am seeking for Mathias Spring.” The accents of his tongue were those of the rest of the band, and old Mathias instant- ly came forward to the side of the horse. ‘‘ Who asks for me?” he said. The horseman looked at the old Gypsy with as much interest as the other had been looking at him, as he said: ‘‘ Are you Mathias Spring?” The Gypsy nodded. ‘Then you ought to know me,” said the horseman with asmile. ‘‘I am the Romany heir.” The words seemed to let in a flood of light on the old Gypsy’s mind, for he burst out into a flood of welcoming words at once, and cried: “Then ye must get off the beast and eat with the people of your tribe at once, that the heart of the gergio may not take the heart of the Romany away forever. We have heard about you, and the Romany are glad that one of their race is to go amon the proud gorgios at last, as the proudest o all.” The young stranger laughed as he got off his horse. “The work is not over yet,” he said; ‘‘and that is why I come to see you all, The gorgio heir is still alive, and, till he dies, Iam nothing. Where are the brother and cousin that should be here? They must do the rest, before the Romany duke can take his seat.” The old woman called Mother Spring came forward to look at him carefully. He seemed to be a little uneasy under her gaze, and asked Mathias: ‘* Who is this, then?” Old Mathias favored him with a peculiar smile. “That is the woman to whom ye owe all ye are, and it behooves ye to do her reverence.” The young man stared uneasily at the old ag. CHAPTER XXXI1. THE INTERVIEW. GENERAL REID Was pacing his room in the Tower, like an uneasy bear in a cage. George Howard was seated in a chair near him, his face pale; but the hurt of the pre- ceding night being concealed by the thick — of the day, with its lace-fringed ends. George had been saying something to the old general that had agitated him consider- ably; for, as he paced the floor, he kept on muttering to himself all sorts of disjointed sentences. ‘‘It is infamous, that he cannot be found! It is unheard of! He must be, he must be!” ‘« He shall be found, before I have done with him,” said George Howard slowly; *‘ but, in the mean time, general, the best advice I can give is that you remove the young lady from where she is now. She would be better, in a private house, where there is no chance for the scoundrel to hide among a lot of men, as there is here and in the palaces of his majesty. If you would be warned, I would say that Sir John Savage can better take care of her than any one I know.” ‘And why, sir?” asked Reid. 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