Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 380 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

eras =~ _-— —= + justice to the symmetry of figure, and Dan ord’s feet dropped from the desk, his hat came off, his newspaper was laid aside, and he stood doar a chair and bowing with the grace of a ancing-master. ‘* Beg pardon, madam! Pray be seated,” he said. ‘** Gracias, senor,” replied the lady, in tones of liquid music. And with a gliding motion peculiar to the Spanish-Mexican she accepted his courtesy. ** Hem!” coughed Dan, behind his hand. ‘To —ah—see No. 29?” ‘*Senor Hameeltonn, if you please.” “Kh? I beg your pardon.” “* He is known to you as Tigair Deek!” * Ah—exactly! But—ah—you are aware, madam, that he is held under a capital charge?” ** Ah Dios!” And the lady lifted her hands slightly with a deprecating gesture. ‘And that therefore greater care is taken in admitting visitors to his cell?” ‘* But, the eredentials, senor?” ** Tf you represent one of the churches—” A quick, almost impatient, shrug of the shoul- ders repudiated this assumption. ‘**T represent only humanity.” ** Or have the indorsement of any well-known citizen?” ** Alas! I know no one,” ** His relatives, of course—” ‘* No, no, senor!” was the low—it seemed sad— dissent. Dan Ford frowned and passed his hand down = face, as is embarrassed by the duties of his office, ‘* But, senor!” cried the lady, with a sudden impassioned ontburst, “is there no place for his friends?—those upon whom this unheard-of act of self-immolation has fallen as an irrepar- able calamity?’ And sweeping aside her vail, she leaned for- ward in her chair in the earnestness of her yi an Ford fairly caught his breath. Never be- fore had such sloe-black eyes bent their melting gaze upon him. There was an exquisite purity about the mouth, with its tremulous lips apart; and through the olive of the rounded cheeks glowed the warm tropical blood! There is a certain discretionary power which I will be glad to extend to your case!” he said, with a low bow. ** Ah! Senor is too kind!” He might have handed her over to the waiting turnkey, and gone on with his reading. In- stead, he said to the attendant: ~ “Go to Twenty-nine, and say that a lady will call upon him presently.” So he had her to himself for a moment; and while he apologized for the precautions neces- ry to prison discipline, he made the most of her beauty and the music of her voice, ~ “Tf madam will please to follow me,” he said, rising, when he could no longer in all con- ‘science detain her, * Gracias !” she murmured, and rose with the flowing, sinuous motion that is seen nowhere ‘beyond the tropics. **Confound him!” muttered Dan Ford, en- viously. ‘* Hang me if I don’t wish I was in his shoes! I'd take his chances, with this screamer thrown in!” ~ He wanted to see their North. Would she ‘throw herself into his arms? hese Spanish women were so delightfully demonstrative! “Tt can’t be the beauty for whose sake he ‘made such a queer dicker with Farnsworth, ‘either. Jim said she was a Yank. Blank his * eyes! he’s got more than his share!” e threw open the cell door. Tiger Dick stood waiting expectantly. ** A lady to see you,” said the warden. The prisoner acknowledged his service with a ‘nod, and then bowed more deeply to his visitor, with the questioning look on his face unaltered. As the lady passed him, Dan Ford glanced ‘down at her, and saw that she had dropped her vail before her face. — “Sold!” he muttered to himself, and closed the cell door between her and himself. She turned with a quick start, as the bolts age ge place. A little gasping cry escaped er lips. “ She just realizes what it is to be locked up,” reflected Dan. “It goes to her heart to have her lover behind the bars.” He thrust bis hands deep into his pockets, and bh back to his office with a discontented rown. 7 CHAPTER VII. AN AWKWARD INTERVIEW. MEANWHILE the lady had turned again toward ‘Tiger Dick, and stood regarding him in silence through her vail. + RSG ae that you will accept this stool, the best I have to offer you,” he said, politely. Instead of seating herself at once, she gazed about the cell. She shuddered at its blank walls; but her eyes rested at last on a bouquet which graced a small shelf, flanked by a Bible. She compressed her lips, her nostrils dilated, and her eyes flashed, at sight of the flowers. She swept aside her vail, and revealed only = - es ry . — The Golden Serpent. pleading deprecation and humility in the place of that flitting shadow of jealousy. “It is I!” she said, and reratted: his reception as if she were a culprit and he her judge. ae are you here?’ asked Tiger Dick, coldly. Was her beauty impotent to relax his frown of displeasure? Her head sagged a little on one side. A tear started in her eye, hung tremulously on her long lashes, and then trickled down her now pale cheek. ** Santa Maria! can you ask?’ she sighed. **T know of no reason to expect such kind- ness,” said the Tiger, with a faint sneer of sar- casm. ‘*Is it not evident that I come for love of you?” asked the suppliant. Tiger Dick dropped his eyes to the floor of his cell. He had no reply for so unreserved a con- fession. ‘Senor Hameeltonn!” breathed the lady, with a cadence of tenderness that should have moved the heart of an anchorite. With an impatient wave of his hand, Tiger Dick said: ** Enough of this, madam! You will pardon my frankness; but we might as well understand each other once for all.” “You will be gentle with me? And—and—if I might sit—” ** Accept my apology for not having insisted!” She sunk into the seat, and dropped her face into her hands. Tiger Dick frowned and fidgeted. These wo- men turn the point of our brutality by baring their bosoms to the blow. | But he thought of Beatrice—her so free from | these tricks of coquetry. What right had this creature to thrust her | CEE EEE i odious passion between him and his pure love? Still, she was a woman; and it was an amia- ble fault to love him according to her nature. So he left unsaid the harsh speech that had risen to bis lips. ‘“Why are you here? I ask again,” he sub- _ stituted. | ‘*To save you!” she replied. ‘‘ Listen! I — money ; and with money anything can be one. + No one needs to be told that the Golden Ser- pent— **Hush! hush! Would you betray me? Is this the place to utter that name?” **T beg your pardon!” **Did you fancy that I came with letters of introduction to these people? Would it not make the fortune of some listening turnkey—” *“*Once more I beg your andor: But you are running a useless risk.” ‘** Useless+—with hope of saving you from your strange infatuation!” ‘*T cannot be saved, as you express it, in that way?” ‘“What! You refuse to be my debtor? Madre de Dios! when I would pour out my blood for you as freely as a mother would nourish her child! And yourefuse! It is worse than death that you hate me! Ah Dios !” “You are strangely blind,” said the Tiger impatiently. “Is it not plain to you that would not have given myself up if I had been willing to escape again by strategy?” ‘**But you redeemed your pledge to Senor Farnsworth. It was that you should give yourself ie not that you should remain a prisoner, if the chance of escape were offered you. Are ae under obligation to the authori- ties here? It is for them to look out that you do not outwit them.” ‘*Enough!” replied Dick, annoyed at her very clearsightedness, ‘‘When I leave this pace I shall go to the gallows, or to perfect reedom before all men.” nocence?” ‘*No. To you I confess my guilt, I have ! ss hope but the ordinary uncertainties of the | law. ‘*But this is madness! If you were an un- _ mitigated rogue, the chances would be favora- | ble enough for your escape through the im- _becility of some jury; for one cannot take | twelve men at random without getting one or more fools. But one so noble—one capable of such unparalleled integrity to his plighted word | —my faith! it goes without saying that your | fate would be sealed, innocent or guilty!” ‘Nevertheless I am resolved,” replied the a — a.m ger. **Has life then lost all charm to you, that you seek suicide thus?” ‘‘Tshall never return to the old life. If I be- gin again, it must be with my past record of crime obliterated, so that I dare look any man in the face!” “ ** Ah Dios!” The woman sat helpless before this uulooked- for resistance, For a long time she was mute. The Tiger left her in her dilemma, heartily wishing that she would leave him. . | Suddenly she started to her feet, so power- fully was she affected by a new thought. “ tsay you?’ she cried. ‘‘If you are ac- quitted, you will accept your freedom?” ‘* Is it then that you hope to establish your in- | “Why not?’ he asked. ‘‘I am not in love with death.” **One would think so. But let that pass. You leave me some nope Money, as I have said, will do anything. ou shall be acquitted, if it takes all the gold in the State of California: and if that is not enough, there is more beyond its borders.” ‘You do not understand me. I am done with crime in all its forms. I refuse to profit. by bribery. I will frustrate any attempt on your part to tamper with the jury, by warn- ing the attorney for the State, and my own also.” ‘* Santissima Virgen !” cried the Golden Ser- pent, with a sudden burst of fierce anger, “It is J that you spurn from you! Anything com- ing from my hand is contaminated! What have I done to you, that you should so scorn my love? Do ask for a return? Will it polscn your life, to remember that a woman aid her hair under your feet, that you might walk over it to safety?” ‘*T have told you that it is crime that I refuse to benefit by,” repeated the Tiger, coldly. ‘“‘Tf freedom were offered you honorably, yet: through my instrumentality, would you ac- cept it?” he Tiger frowned and tapped the floor im- patiently with his boot. She had him cornered. Without looking up he could feel the glow of her great eyes fastene upon him. Why did he lack the courage to tell her frank- ly, that the most acceptable office she could per- form for him would be to concern herself no further with his affairs? It was such a simple thing, and yet—and yet—well, she was a woman! That made all the difference. ** Come!” she cried. ‘* You have said it was: the crime. Do you affirm the implication, that it is not the hand that offers you freedom?” ‘* All this is to no purpose,” said the Tiger, evasively. ‘‘Since nothing can be done but to leave matters to take their course, what is the use of discussing a purely hypothetical case?” “Tf it were true, you might grant me this: little crumb of comfort,” said the woman, with gentle reproach in her sad voice, ‘Well, then, have it so!” said the Tiger, with ill grace enough in all conscience. ‘‘If an hon- orable release were to come to me through your means, I should accept and thank you for it.” ** Ah Dios !” And with a cry of delight, the impulsive creature cast herself on her knees at his feet, and threw ber arms about him, He withdrew her arms resolutely, yet as gent~ ly as a be, and put her away from him. Denied the poor privilege of pressing him to her heart, she fell kissing his hands—the hands: that repelled her! ; What could he do with somad acreature? — He thought of Beatrice; and his cheeks flamed scarlet. is seemed like treachery in some sort to her—and he so loyal; he without a thought that was not wrapped up in her! : Yet, once more, what could he do with this: embodiment of self-abandoning passion? A mam he might have hurled from him without scruple. 'Buta woman? He could not rebuff her with ‘the same kind of violence—always remember- ing that it was her love he was putting away _ from him. | Stop!” he said, striving to keep harshness as: much as might be out of the firmness of his tone. ‘‘ Whatever your feelings, they must find no _ further expression of this sort.’ - “Tt is enough!” cried the woman, with her eyes agleam. ‘ You who stand by your word -even unto death—you cannot repudiate this: 'promise when its fulfillment is demanded of ou!” a Tiger Dick remained silent. He was half afraid that she would find some means of effect- | ing his release. And then how could he go to | Beatrice, and offer her the life which he owed to- ' her irrepressible rival? Here was the most exasperating complicatiom of his life. : There was one chance in—we]]l, it was impos~ sible to say how many, that he might slip through the meshes of the net of the law, and here was this woman ready to snap at it and rob him of that one poor chance for real freedom! 4 “Wait!” she cried, with a ring of triumph in her voice. ‘‘When your jailers open the door 'and say, ‘Go! you‘are free! I ask but one thing of you. Say in your heart, with pity, if ‘not some little throb of tenderuess: * Poor little: thing! she loved me!—whatever her faults, she: loved me!’ Say that! say that!’ ' Tears were streaming down her face, yet with her hands pressed upon her besom she gazed at him with a smile of upapentable, devotion. Suddenly she dropped her face into her hands: and stood with bowed head, shaken by a storm Oreos Dick was human, and nothing in the form of man could have looked upon this pic- ture unmoved. | "He put his hand, kindly on her shoulder, and’ | dropp g his voice to a tone of gentle com- tion, said: mi ipa, this may be the last time we shall ever exchange words. Let us part, then, with as ¢om EGhooks col