Beadle's Dime Library No. 386 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

against the bayonets, a voice—the voice of Clarisse—whispered encouragingly from some- where at the side. “‘ Courage!” it said; “‘the pit but blazes with phosphorus, the bayonets are but shams—these are but stage-horrors in the initiative ceremonies of our Order.” ‘¢ One more chance is left you,” continued the terrible voice. ‘‘ Swear!” ‘‘Never!” repeated Hawk, of course more stoutly than before, The pit suddenly became pitch-dark, and he felt himself whirled up in the void. Then he was once more inthe small room from which he had been shot out over the pit. But before he could take much note of his sur- roundings, he was again bound and blindfolded, while he felt the grapnels unhooked from be- tween his shoulders. ‘Master, what shall we do with him?’ he heard one of the conspirators say in a low voice, ‘*He already knows too many of our secrets, Death alone can effectually silence him.” ‘* Not yet,” he heard Kotzka’s voice respond, ‘¢T may be able to make use of him before con- signing him to the inevitable.” ‘¢ But he has murdered our servant, the Eng- lishman, Tibbs. Rudolph has found the dead body in the tunnel, with a bullet in the breast.” ** True.” ‘¢ There must be blood for blood, master, It is our law.” ‘ren ‘Fear not but that it will be maintained, brother. How fared it with this enemy’s com- panious in the tunnel?” ‘Both were killed, master. The bodies of both have been unearthed, shap2less and muti- lated beyond recognition.” It seemed to Hawk that this whispered collo- quy was carried on with no intention of his overhearing it. This last announcement, therefore, caused him the most poignant grief, but he held bis peace. ‘“‘Capital!” the voice of Kotzka went on; “‘thus you see we can afford todefer our revenge with regard to this enemy,” ; ‘* But, master, in the two struggles below, he fought like a madman—five of our brethren have been seriously disabled by his terrific blows.” ‘Patience, I tell you! A torturing death shall ultimately be his reward,” ‘‘ Master, we submit.” “Take him up among you, and bear him hence,” Hawk, who was as helpless as a log, felt him- self taken up by numerous powerful hands. ‘* Whither, master?” } There was something appallingly suggestive in the hollow-voiced response: “To the coffin-cell—the iron tomb,” Hawk instantly felt himself borne away, and up, up an apparently interminable flight of steps. esently, however, there was a halt. Then there was a clanging of bolts and bars, as he was violently thrust forward the bandage and cords were torn from his eyes and limbs, there was another clanging of bolts and bars, and he found himself incarcerated in a strange dungeon. ; It was dimly illuminated ina mysterious man- ner. This illumination and a brief examination showed him that he was the inmate of a perfect- ly coffin-shaped cell, about ten feet long by six wide and six high, the walls, ceiling and floor of which were of smooth, rivetless and apparently immovable iron plates. ; At one end—the end corresponding with the foot of the coffin—thers was a narrow, heavily- barred window, having a sort of overhang that caused it to look downward as well as outward, With this exception, there was not an aperture of any sort, not even the slightest chink, to re- lieve the cold, black, forbidding bareness of the iron casing. Hawk’s minutest examination could not even discover the outlines of the door by which he had been thrust into the cell. But the mysterious light revealed at last one object that was gratefully suggestive to his ex- hausted frame. This was a rather comfortably provided straw pallet, the only sign of furniture the cell con- tained. ; ‘¢'There’s nothing like a good level-headed rest and sleep te prepare oneself for the unknown erils of the future,” said Hawk, half-aloud, as e rapidly divested himself of part of his cloth- ine. ‘**God bless the man who first invented sleep,’ said good Sancho Panza, and so say I.” He threw himself upon the pallet, drew its coverings around him, and was soon wrapped in deep sleep. pany ‘ , When # awoke, the sun was shining into his cell so broadly that he conjectured he must have slept far into the day. Beside his pallet, on the floor of the cell, was a tray containing a hot and substantial breakfast. Rolling Bp the pallet so as to form a sort of seat, Hawk lost no time in taking the tray across his knees, and disposing of its contents with a igorous appetite. : Whil e thus engaged, and at the same time re- flecting upon his situation, he broke in half a meen roll, and a twisted piece of paper fell out of it, ** Aha!” thought Hawk, eagerly smoothing it out; ** lam not wholly deserted, it seems,” The paper contained writing, to the following effect: “Since they have you caged at last in the Iron Tomb, I fear youare beyond my aid. Alas/ there is no sham, no merely theatrical horior, in your present situation, Wowever, hope on, and on no account, as you value your life, attempt to communicate with any one in the street below. CLARISSE.”’ There was certainly not much satisfaction to be derived from this communication, However, he concealed it upon his person, fin- ished his breakfast, and then resumed such of his own garments as he had discarded, leaving the disguise he had worn lying on the floor. Then, standing on the bimitied pallet, he for the first time looked through the bars of his cell window. He first looked down into a street that was far, far below him. This, together with the fact that the level out- look extended high over the roofs and chimneys of neighboring buildings of great hight, afford- ed him some idea as to the extraordinary alti- tude of his cell. ‘“ Why, I must be caged up here fully a hun- dred feet in the air!” he soliloquized. ‘‘ Now let me take my municipal bearings, and see if I can form some idea as to the nature and locali- ty of my prison-house,” He did so, casting his eyes in every possible direction for landmarks. At last a look of intelligence sprung into his face, and he slapped his thigh. ‘“*T have it!” he exclaimed to himself, in the enormous brewery building of Poppen- heim & Co., that was half-burnt out two years ago, and subsequently abandoned altogether for more commodious quarters up in Morrisania,” He paused, and reflected. ‘**'Yes, there can be no doubt of it,” he con- tinued, ‘* These socialist conspirators, these throne-upsetters, have doubtless leased the abandoned premises for the prosecution of their solemn mummeries and impracticable schemes,” Another pause, and then, with renewed satis- faction: ‘Ha! And this theory explains the tower rison of Olga, that 1 got a hint of from Kotz- a’s stormy .conversation with Clarisse. There was just such a tower—a clock tower—on the northwestern angle of the old brewery, and which must even now be directly over my head. Heavens, to think of it! Olga in captivity, and almost over my head! Oh, to speak to her, or even look up at the place in which she is con- fined!” The window formed a deep embrasure. He partly climbed into this, and strove to turn his gaze aloft, but, the window itself being a sort of overhang, this was impossible. Hawk cast his eyes anxiously back into his coffin-shaped cell. **T have a watch-spring saw in my sleeve,” he thought, ‘‘ with which, were I sure of not being secretly watched, I could soon make light of these iron bars. However,” despondently, ‘* what could that avail me at this tremendous hight, and with the roof above perhaps even more inaccessible than terra firma ?” He returned to the interior of his ominous cell, and seating himself on his pallet, gave him- self up to bitter and despondent reflections, which lasted for hours, Presently he roused himself to remark cortain tokens of the day’s decline, ** Why should I heed Clarisse’s warning?’ he thought, with sudden renewed energy. ‘A truce to it! I will apprise some one in the street below of the korrors of my position.” Clambering once more partly into the em- brasure, he again looked down. How deep, deep down it seemed, A couple of teams were passing along the nar- row street, and, oh, joy! there was a police- man standing on the sidewalk almost directly beneath the casement. Hawk leaped back into the cell, reseated him: self, and began to pencil a message on the back of the paper Clarisse had conveyed to him, His back was to the window, He had not written six words before a rapid darkening of his light caused him to turn and look up. ; : He started to his feet in consternation. The entire cell was moving noiselessly, smooth- ly along the wall of masonry, against which it abutted. . In a moment, the light of the window was blotted out, ; Then the cell came to a pause, leaving its in- mate in total darkness. Hawk sunk back upon his pallet-seat, for the first time almost completely unnerved, panic- stricken, The darkness that had supervened was abso- lute—a veritable blackness of darkness, He remained literally cowering in it for a pe- riod which seemed an age. At last, however, he became aware of a light **Tam scratching sound on the wall of his cell nearest which he was sitting. He listened attentively, and then made aslight ' 15 noise by altering his attitude. Then there came to his ears through the iron wall, a low, but in- cisive voice. **For the moment you are unwatched, and I can communicate with you,” was the burden of that voice. ‘*Can you hear me?” ‘‘ Hal” exclaimed Hawk, starting up in the darkness; ‘‘ it is Clarisse!” CHAPTER XV. DUNGEON WHISPERS, “Yrs, it is I, Clarisse,” continued the voice. ‘But bend down closely to this side of the cell, and beware that you do not elevate your voice to that pitch again.” ‘*Speak on, then,” said Hawk, following her instructions, ‘‘ In the first place, God bless you for coming!” ‘*Thanks! But did you not get my note?’ ‘“*T did get it.” “Why, then, did you disregard its solemn warning?” ‘* Did I so?” ‘Yes, with regard to attempting communica- with the street below,” ‘‘ Ah, yes; but the solitude was becoming a torture!” ‘* Do you find it any less tormenting, with the addition of darkness?” ‘*No; but a thousand, a million times worse!” ‘*Let the penalty you have incurred, then, make you more careful in the future—that is, if much of any future be vouchsafed you,” An inexpressible sadness invested the conclud- ing words, ‘Clarisse, what do you mean?” ** Alas! I fear for you—I fear!” ** Heavens! but are you in earnest?” “‘In deadly earnest! Alas! out of that iron sepulcher in which you are now entombed no prisoner ever yet—but I can say no more!” . But are you mad, Clarisse? Speak, Ientreat ou! ‘*Tn the first place, swear!” *'To what?” “To never injure, by word or deed, any mem- ber of the Order, into whose mysteries you have accidentally obtained a slight insight.” ‘** But Kotzka is a member of that Order,” - Ay, and a great one.” “What! and you would have me include him—the monster criminal, the world’s arch- enemy, as well as my own—in that sweeping immunity !” The answer came very faintly, but it was un- mistakable, st Yes,” ‘*“TImpossible!” exclaimed Hawk, indignantly. ‘Why, Clarisse, you rave! The manis a mur- derer! I ho paralleled iniquity!” Then there was a sudden eagerness in the re- sponse, ‘* Ah! only prove him that—apart from the interests of the Order—and you are at wes to exclude him from the oath’s protection I for, Hawk reflected a moment. ‘‘T engage to do more than that,” said he. A: engage to prove him a traitor to the Order itself,’ ‘Ah! if you might but do that.” “Doubt me not. With this reservation, Clarisse, I will take the oath you require,” ** What will you swear by?” **By what has become. to me the sacredest thing on earth.” “* And that is—” ‘** My love for you!” There was a long pale. When she szoke again it was very gently. ‘You swear, then?” if I do.” ‘* Good! I have registered the oath,” ** Where?” ** In my heart.” Hawk gave a joyous cry. **Clarisse, do you really mean it? Ah, this is rey revert * Listen: Now that you are in the iron tomb, you are beyond my immediate aid. I can only watch over you.” ‘* Is there more than one secret connected with this coffin-shaped cell?” ‘Yes, a fatal, a horrible one!” ‘* Tell it me,” ‘“‘T dare not—I am oath-bound, I can only warn,” ** Well, what do you warn?” “Do not, on your life, let sleep overtake Mieke again, even though your eyelids are as ead, ‘*T shall remember. What more?” ‘Should the worst threaten, remember the embrasure of the window.” ‘* But there is no longer any window,” ‘*1t will be restored to you.” ‘‘T shall remember. What more?” ‘* Alas! nothing. Have you no friend who might be brought to you under a pledge of secrecy?” Hawk suddenly thought of Blithers as the friend for the emergency. But before speaking his name he wished to relieve his mind of a heavy anxiety. “Tell me, first, Clarisse,” said he, “if you to prove him a criminal of un- Gomicbooks (Elo) —— ee