Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 332 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

om aan i i. — nes a ee. ~~ See t | i Oe mee- — ——— - - oo eee a The door had been left wide open, and they saw the strange thing take a flying leap in the air, turning a somerset in the operation, and clearing the broad moat as if it had been a gut- ter in the street. The next minute it was flying away over the broad-paved space toward the river, and they had the pleasure of hearing a wild yell, as it lunged in the Thames, followed by a shower of Pulle , which they fired when it was just too late to hit anything. CHAPTER XII. ‘* YOGA.” THE excitement in the Tower after this, the second visit of Spring-Heel Jack, was higher than ever. When the soldiers got back from their fruit- less chase, after carefully barring the postern, so that no person could possibly get in that way, they found the doors of the Constable’s apartments wide open, and everything in confusion. The general was tearing his hair, as he regard- ed the insensible figure of his daughter, and as Howard came in he said wildly: “Tt is infamous, this persecution! She will die, and, that wretch will be her murderer. Howard, this cannot goon. She must be taken away from here, or the shock will kill her. Where is Tatham? Hc ought to be here. Send for him at once, She shall not stay in bate accursed building another night, if 1 can elp it.’ oward sent off a soldier after the doctor and, while he was waiting, asked what had happened. e story was short and simple. Rose had .gone into her own room and found Suryia there, from whom she had ascertained, on questioning her, a little of what had hap- yened, The ayah had tried to keep her secret, but her mistress had seen her face and air of terror and had not rested till she had got it out of her, The effect of the news on Rose had been to send her into a spasm of terror, and she had rushed out into the passage, with a wild impulse to call for Howard, whom she thought, in ae frenzy of fear, to be on guard that night. o sooner had she got into the passage than the monster had made his appearance out of a niche right behind her, and clutched her in a way that had drawn from her the shriek they had all heard. The old general had been by his daughter and had made a pass at the thing with his sword, when the other had grabbed at the blade, in the same way he had done in the Armory. This time, however, the old soldier had been too quick for the monster, and had esca the grip of the other, dealing it a blow with the edge of the blade that struck it on the head and must have inflicted a wound, for it turmed and fled just as the soldiers came running to the sound The rest they all knew; but the effect on the Constable’s daughter had been to throw her into a state of insensibility, and to frighten her father, on her account, to that extent that he hardly knew what he was doing. That he was determined to take her away from the Tower, that very night, was the only clear idea in. his head, and this he prepared to do at once, while she had not yet recovered her senses, Dr. Tatham arrived, while they were still ie of any pepe ip and = saphena prised Howard by agreeing wit ne id, that it was best to take Rose away, before she recovered her senses, so that she might wake up in a place where she would not be reminded of the past, in any way. He had seen so much of her weak health and impressible nature, on the first occasion when she was frightened, that he feared that, if she waked up in the Tower, the remembrance would come over her at once, and perhaps affect her mind permanently. Ie Luckily there were willing hands in plenty to do anything the commandant ordered and Rose was taken up and put into a litter from the hos- ital, in which she was carried off from the ower into the open air, and thence to the house of an old friend of the general’s, named Sir John Savage, who lived not far from the Tower, ina large house, where he and the general often layed chess together, for Sir John was as en- husiastic in his way as Reid, in the noble game of chess. They had got her into the house, and she had not yet given any symptoms of recovering her senses, til the doctor set himself to work, and, by the usual means, managed to bring her back to life. They had arranged that she should be laid on a sofa, in the large drawing-room of Sir John’s house, and Lady Savage was by her side, when she opened her eyes. The doctor warned them that it would never -of the shriek. do to admit, before her, that she had been again attack started ed by the monster; so, when she awake, with a look of fear, Lady Savage at once Why, my dear, what was the matter with Spring-Heel Jack. SS ou, to go and fall asleep in the way you have? 9 within a week. If any one can get to the bot- id you have a headache? Never mind now. | tom of the affair, he is the man, if he be not act- Your father agrees with me that the best rule for you, till you get back your old rosy cheeks, is, early to bed and early to rise.” Rose seemed bewildered. ‘‘ Where am I?” she asked. ‘I thought I was in the Tower, and that the—” Here she stopped, and shuddered violently. The memory of the hideous visitor, who had now twice ighted her, came back; and the doctor, with a warning glance at Lady Savage, broke in glibly: ‘‘ My dear child, you must be getting out of your head. Don’t you remember that we were all playing whist, when you dropped off in a faint? I suppose you haven’t recovered from that fright you had. But we will make it all right, thanks to Lady Savage’s kindness. If your ladyship will be kind enough to call the et we will see the young lady taken care of.” The quick-witted Lady Savage took the hint; and Rose, who seemed to be dazed at the way nae spoke, passed her hand across her fore- 1€a “Tt is very strango,” she murmured. “T don’t remember— Was not Mr. Howard here, or—’ Then she stopped; and Dr. Tatham answered, as glibly as before: ‘“Mr. Howard? That shows you must have been ill, my dear child. Mr. Howard is not here. Itis nearly ten o’clock, and time for in- valids to bo in y * And you are sure that I did not see the— the—thing?” she asked, trembling. The doctor laughed. “The thing? What thing can you have seen? I am suro there was nothing here to frighten any onc, unless it was Sir John’s snor- ing after dinner. You must have been asleep and dreaming. Now, I insist that you don’t talk any more.”’ And he carried his point, and had Rose taken off to bed, with Lady Savage and her maid to attend on her: for the baronet’s wife had been informed of the whole affair, and was willing to do anything for the Reids to save the poor child from the terror of Spring-Heel Jack, of whom she had heard in common with all London. When the girl had been taken up-stairs, and the gentlemen were left alone in the drawing- room, Sir John said gravely: ** Reid, the trouble about all this is that the scoundrel who is do these pranks is a man who knows the places strike every time he comes,” “What makes you think so?” asked the gen- eral, in a dreary tone of voice. ‘I think he must be the devil himself, who has a special against me for something I have done. hy should he single out my daughter, of all the people in London, to frighten? What has the poor child done to h any one? I am ready to have the scoundrel hanged or burned alive, if we could only catch him; but he seems to be unfindable.” Sir John, who had had a great deal of ri- ence in India, where he had held many high commands, drew his friend aside to say, out of the doctor’s hearing: ‘* Reid, there is something in all this we don’t understand; but I think there is 0 in it.” General Reid started and stared at his friend. He had been long enough in India to know the meaning of the word ** yoga,” which is used by the Hindoo devotees to describe a mysteri- ous power possessed by the fakirs, that has puz- zled European scientific men, who cannot ac- count for the phenomena they behold, but are compelled to admit their genuineness, The fakirs, under the influence of the “ yoga,” have allowed themselves to be buried alive for months, the grave being put under the guard of English sentries,and when they have been ex- humed at the expiration of the time for which they had a to be buried they have been found alive, and retsored to full health. They perform all sorts of singular tricks, quite beyond the reach of the cleverest Euro- pean conjurers, and do their tricks in the open air, almost entirely naked, with no robes to hide their movements, and no false light to confuse the spectators, The modern revelations of mesmerism and spiritualism have many of the same peculiarities, but they have not yet been brought to the same pemgouon that is shown by the rudest of the indoo conjurers; and General Reid, as soon as his friend spoke of “ yoga,” seemed to get a ran light on the subject, for he said, in a low ne: ‘IT shouldn’t wonder a bit, Savage. But is there ay one in London who is able to do the ng Sir John nodded. “That is just what I don’t want Tatham to hear. He doesn’t believe in such things, and would only laugh at us about it. There is such a man, and hisnameisRam Mandana. Did you never hear of him?” ‘**In India I did. Who has not? But how do you know he is here?” Sir John lowered his voice. ‘*T have seen him on the streets, and that “knew to be ually in the secret.” Reid nodded his head, as if the idea pleased him, and answered: “Tf you will go with me, we will go and see him to-morrow.” CHAPTER XIII. RAM MANDANA, In a little back street of London, not far from the river, in a low and squalid quarter of the city, where sailors and watermen congregated, and fish-women scolded from their doors at each other, stood a small house, not distinguish- ed from its neighbors by anything in tho way of external architecture, though it had an air of silence about it, caused by the fact that the =" of the windows were closed, day and night. That the house was uninhabited, would have been the inference of a stranger; but the in- habitants of the quarter knew better, for they had seen a light burning at an upper window at night, and the inmate come fo in the early morning, before people were stirring. They knew also that he was a * furriner,” as they called him: but of what nationality few were competent to judge, save the sailors who had been to the Indies, who told the rest that he was a “nigger.” Yet he was as white as the people in the quarter, most of them being sunburned sailors of all nations. When he was seen abroad in the daytime, which was very seldom, he wore a long robe, like that of a Roman oeree the color benig dark brown, and on his head a turban of white, of the broad, flat shape which prevails in India. He spoke little unless he was addressed, but he always treated everybody with perfect polite- ness, and he spoke excellent English. How he lived no one knew, for he was never seen at any of the shops in the quarter in which he lived, and purchased no food, to any one’s knowledge. No one knew his name, and no one was ever seen to onter his house, though there were those who said that he had visitors at night, when everybody else was asleep. — Therefore it was quite an excitement to the street, when two gentlemen were seen to knock at the door of the little house,the day after Spring-Heel Jack’s third visit to London. The visitors were *‘ gentlemen,” as the word was then understood—that is to say, persons of rank and position, indicated by their They were both old men, and, though they came on foot, the rude sailors and fish-wives of the street did not offer to treat them with rude ness, from spying certain persons whom: they “Bow street runners,” i about in sight of the two strangers, as if to take care of them, if there was any threatening de- monstration of hostility against them. This was by no means a matter of impossibil- ity; for the street in which the two gentlemen had come to visit was full of bad characters, as well as sailors; and had the reputation of har- boring more than one professional] thief. But the two strangers went to the door and knocked, when, after a short interval, it was opened to them by a person the people in the t had never seen before, and in whom they recognized a real “‘ nigger,” quite dark in color, but dressed in white, from head to foot. There was a short talk between him and the strangers at the door, and the nearest of the curious loungers said that they spoke m“* some outlandish tongue, that no Christian ought: te know.” ‘Then the door was shut, and the strangers disappeared into the house, while the gaping gazers had to console themselves for the disappointment of their curiosity by staring hard at the outside of the dwelling, as if the ‘bricks and mortar could tell them what was going on inside its precincts. Meantime the two gentlemen, who were Gen- eral Reid and Sir John Savage, were ushered by the dark man, who was only a common: Hindoo servant, through a narrow and dark passage, up a rickety flight of stairs, to an re cham- a which was provided with a skylight in the roof. It was a large room for the size of the house, but totally devoid of windows. At one side was a door, covered with a cur- tain; and the walls were hung with Eastern tapestry, of the graceful but meaningless pat- terns and general blending of harmonious colors that has been a characteristic of Oriental woven-work, for many centuries. Here their guide told them, in Hindoostanee, to ‘wait and the master would come to see them, ina little while.” Then he salaamed low, and disappeared, while Sir John said to hiscom- panion: ‘The Ram doesn’t live very luxuriously, Reid. I should say that a little soap and water would be a good investment for him on the house in general. It doesn’t smell any too "They had noticed, i th ey noticed, in coming up the stairs, a strong odor that reminded - of the Tana they both lived in for so many years, where Cor GOomiGcyee “S