Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 332 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

- | —~ - oo ~~ e@< > i—.? . > «ss - “~ —s=— a Se ee ee ae - r4 - : aren oe ee ~~ —_—< te os Oe . = . a ere SS 2 U t ' he ‘ 4 a , > “Ty ag , 5 of torches, as if they wan | eK Hea a great light; but when they got in and ‘no sign " every place he could think of _ of the king from the horse _ sible that some one ara ye be there yet, xh the wooden figure that all that was found, 4 _— name of the ‘‘ ghost of the Tower” had frigh- tened them half out of their wits, brave though they were at most times, being all veterans of active service, ‘‘Stand your ground, men,” he said, sharply. ‘‘It isonly a trick of some scoundrel who has got in here, and is hidden ’somewhere. Don’t you know there are no such things as ghosts?” But the words were hardly out of his mouth when one of the men uttered acry of fear, and pointed to the Cprests wall of the room, on ary the shape of a figure was slowly outlining itself. And a horrible figure it was, with long skinny fingers, like claws, outstretched, glaring eyes, that glowed like fire; while more groans were heard in every quarter of the room, and one of the soldiers fell down in a fit. Then even the restraints of discipline gave way, and first one fled, with a shout of terror, out of the doorway which was furthest away from the horrible thing on the wall. Then there was a stampede of all the men, and the officers were left alone with the shadowy form on the wall before them. Even George Howard’s nerves were tried to the utmost, though he was not superstitious, but he drew his sword and made a rush at the specter, when it vanished with a mockin laugh, and the next moment old General Rei called out, in a tone of fear and amazement: ‘* My God! what’s that?” He been —— at the long lines of men in armor, and one of them had suddenly be- come alive, besides changing its appearance in a very wonderful manner. It was the very statue in the armor of Ed- ward III. at whose feet he had found his daughter, and the whole figure was now lighted up with a pale flame of fire, while the man in the armor risen to his feet in the saddle, and stood there. Then came a great clash, as the creature, whatever it was, leaped from the back of the wooden charger turning a somerset and came striding toward them. The old general drew the sword he had put on when he started on the search, and made a pass. at the figure; when, with a wild laugh, that had a hollow sound in the recesses of the helmet, the 6 being put out one of the long claws with which they now saw that its hands were armed; caught the weapon by the blade, and wrenched it from the nerveless hand of the old man, when it caught him with tremendous strength, threw him on the pavement half stunned, and made a grab at the doctor who was unarmed. Th great claws were almost on the physician, when the latter, with a happy inspiration, threw his snuff-box at the creature, and the deed had its effect. The man in armor turned round and ran away with the swiftness of an antelope, making huge leaps as he went, and at every leap utter- a cry as if in pain or terror, oward, who had seen the whole thing, now ve chase to the flying figure; but, with a sud- Staines that was the most amazing part of the whole apparition, it turned round on him, came at him with a bound, and caught at his naked sword with its long talons, as it had done at that of the old general. But George Howard was young and vigorous a wing different antagonist to the general, an he did not let the sword be caught. On the con- trary he made ew after pass at the strange thing opposite to him, more than ever convinced that it was human, till the sounds of shouts, in the e outside, showed that the soldiers were coming back, ashamed of their fears, and that help was at hand. ‘* Now I have you, you scoundrel!” he shout- ed, and with that he pressed his antagonist closer than before. Then the queer being he was fighting suddenly back and turned a somerset in the air, kicking the swinging lamp, which was the only illumination of the place, so that it went over with a clash, leaving the long Horse Armory in total darkness. Then George felt something strike him in the darkness, which he knew to be one of the big gauntlets of the strange being, and when he struck at it with his sword, the monster was gone. _ Where it had gone to, no one could tell. _ The soldiers came rushing in, with a quantity to gain courage by picked up the Constable of the Tower, there was t anything had been disturbed. The statue of Edward III. was still in its op and there was no symptom that the armor had been tampered with. Howard, sorely puzzled and alarmed at the _ whole affair, went over the whole room again, with all the men, the light of torches shining in but in vain. ory was absolutely untenanted, and The no one could tell which way the eerie being, that had left such tokens of its presence on their faces _ and bodies, had gone. Howard even had the soldiers take the armor to see if it were always occupied it was Spring-Heel Jack. imam gpd puzzled at the whole thing, he re- luctantly gave the order to march the guard down-stairs, and left only a single sentry at the door, to give the alarm if anything occurred during the night. Then he went to the guard-room, and passed the rest of the night awake, but with no result, as far as the return of the mysterious visitor was concerned, When the morning dawned over the city of London, and the long Armory was fully visible, he paid it a special visit, just after sunrise. he light of day revealed something that had not been visible by the light of the torches. The statue of King Edward ITI. (or rather the suit of armor which had once been worn by the king) was in its place as before; but the back- piece of the cuirass had a smoke-stain on it, as if some flame had been applied thereto, and Howard remembered that the figure that had startled them so much had come from thence. The stain was a small one, but plain, when looked at by the light of day, and it set Howard to thinking. He had recognized the fact that the ghost, which had so terrified the superstitious soldiers, must have been produced by a magic lantern or something of the sort, and the smoke-mark on the back of the cuirass showed him where the lantern had probably been placed. But this left him as far as ever from the ques- tion where the person who had held that lantern had gone to, That he had been a real person, and one of eat strength and agility, he knew, from the erce fight in which he had himself been en- gaged, with the monster. is face was still marked with a long scratch which had been inflicted by the huge claws, and yet the creature had disappeared from the midst of the soldiers, without leaving a trace behind! Where was it gone to, and what was it? Thinking over this, he was startled by the voice of his brother, Oliver Howard, who had just come into the Armory. CHAPTER V. TWO BROTHERS. OLIVER HOWARD was the younger brother of the officer of the guard, and as great a contrast to him as could be imagined in personal appear- ance and character. George was tall and broad-shouldered, with blue eyes and fair hair, which he wore long, in the fashion of the time, but unpowdered; while Oliver was slender and dark, with the most bril- liant of black eyes and olive skin. George was quiet and reserved in his manner, stiff in his demeanor at most times; while Oliver was a t talker, restless in his movements free and easy in his behavior, to an extent that scandalized a good many worthy people. The only thing in which they resembled each other was in the fact that both were handsome men in face and figure, though in such very dif- ferent styles. George was English, of the old Norman-Saxon type, big and brawny; while Oliver looked and acted so much like a Gypsy that most people were convinced that he must have Gypsy blood in his veins in some mysterious way, Those who were acquainted with his parent- age, however, knew that he was the brother of George, by the same mother and father, so that the idea was never alluded to by any but stran- . Oliver looked like a G , and acted like one. He was an inveterate gambler and horse-racer, given to low taverns, where his more aristo- cratic brother never deigned to be seen, while his many eccentricities had given him the name, among his brother officers of the Coldstreams, of ‘‘ Oliver the Devil,” or ‘Oliver Imp.” The last had been generally shortened to ‘‘ Imp,” ure and simple, and he actually seemed to glory in the title rather than otherwise. George had not heard him coming and was star- tled by the sound of his voice, close behind him; for Oliver had a light, stealthy step, and a way of coming on one by surprise, which was one of the things that repelled rge, though he could hardly have told why. Now he came behind his brother, and saluted him with a rallying, sarcastic sneer: ‘‘ Holloa, Sobersides, what makes you so full of duty this morning? Has the devil broken loose, or has old Stick-in-the-mud ordered a gen- eral scouring of the tin plates?” George turned round on him sternly, ‘‘T don’t understand you, sir,” he said, He always called his brother “‘ sir,” and sel- dom greeted him save when the other forced the conversation on him. In fact, the coldness between the brothers was marked by every one who knew them; and George, being the silent one, usually got the blame of being an unnatural brother, Oliver laughed, with a sneering sound, ‘‘Don’t know what I mean? I mean old Reid. Has he been ordering the armor cleaned up, or what has brought you here at this time of morning?” 3 think, Mr. Howard, that it would be fitter — a —_—_———_...aaa I Sw ’ - for a mere ensign of the Coldstreams to speak of the Constable of the Tower with more re- spect than you are showing,” said George, se- verely. ‘‘I am here to investigate something which happened last night, and if you had been here, I might have been inclined to lay the blame on some of your wild pranks, seriously alarmed by some scoundrel who hid in the Armory, and if he be found it will go hard with him.” Oliver looked surprised, and grew grave at once. ‘* Why, brother,” he said: *‘ I was but jesting, and rou should know as much, What has hap- pened?’ George gave him a short account of the mysterious appearance of the night before, and the younger Srcther listened to it attentively. When rge had finished, Oliver said: ‘*And how do you suppose the fellow got. out of here, after he frightened you all so famously ?” ‘‘ That is the mystery,” said George, thought- fully. ‘‘ There is no way I can see.” Oliver whistled in his usual thoughtless fash- ion, and walked up and down the room, look- ing at the different places that had been men- tioned by his brother, in the story he had heard. ‘There is no way he could have said at last, ‘‘ but out of the window. George cast a glance in that direction. ‘‘He could not have done that,” he said. ‘The windows are sixty feet from the ground, at least.” Oliver whistled again. ‘‘Then it must have been the devil himself,” he said, carelessly. ‘‘ Anyway, 1 can’t stop think about it. By the by, George, I had a famous time, last night, at the Fives Court. There was little Jimmy Spring, the butcher, beat a man forty pounds heavier than he in twenty rounds, and I won a pot of money on the event.” George drew himself up, for he hated the low associates of his brother. ‘*T am sorry,” he said, severely, ‘‘ that a bro- ther of mine, who bears the name of Howard, should so far forget himself as to go to such places. I have no desire to hear anything as to the deen ice of this kingdom.” Oliver laughed sneeringly. ‘‘Ay, ay, you were always a milksop. If a chairman was to give youa crack on the crown, you would not know how to take care of your- self, 'll warrant. Well, I haven't time to spare to talk to you now, for it is my turn to goon guard to-day, and I feel so uncommonly sleepy, after being up all night, that I must positive- ly take a snooze, before guard-mount. Good- y. And he sauntered off, whistling, while George continued his search over the room, but with no further result. Then, as a last resort, he examined the win- dows, the careless suggestion of his brother hay- ing directed a vague suspicion that way. hey were, as he said, at least sixty feet from the ground of the great Tower, and there was a moat at the bottom, with a draw-bridge and all the apparatus of medieval war, which had been preserved in the modern time. Nothing came of his visit, save the discovery, on one of the window-sills, of a mark in the a that covered it, as if some one had been there. It was in one of the windows rarely visited, being high above the floor, and George had been tempted to let it go; for he had to take a step- ladder to get up to it. When he saw the mark in the dust, he con- gratulated himself on having gone there, and opened the casement to look out. As he did so, something dropped out, and, by a rapid glance, he saw that a rope was hanging from the window, from where it had been jammed in a crevice, and that it had fallen into moat of the Tower below, The way of escape of the strange creature that. had made such a scare in the garrison was now plain, and Howard hastened to the guard-room to tell Sergeant Hodge, and get the news spread in the garrison; for 2 knew that their supersti- tion had been greatly excited by the apparition of the previous night, and a natural explanation of the the thing would, he thought, go far to making a repetition of the visit impossible. The sight of the window and the rope had its effect on the soldiers, and made more than one of them ashamed of his terror of the previous night, now that it was brought home to him in the hght of day. They did not say much before Howard, for they were all old soldiers, and used to the restraints of discipline, which forbid them expressing any opinion before an officer, but he saw in their faces that the story relieved them, and went to his room, comfo by tke thought that, if he persevered, he would eventually find out the secret, He ventured to call at the doors of the Constable’s rooms to ask after the health of the young lady who had suffered so severely by the fright of the previous night, and was Wilovad to hear that Rose was sleeping still, not ha recovered from the effect of the powerful opiate. got off,” he Miss Reid was. cS (ECON MUCE| 8O NO)