Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 4 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

' ? ; ; ‘ ’ he — ——— ee ee te ee - = i - =~ ew ee 6 eee oe — - -- - —_—_-- -- eae i A EL ALL LLL LA ALL I LE _ — = - - — as - - — . — - ~ —— -_— . ee - — + —— © —=— - -_ —_—_ —— ee ——— ~<a oe —— - ee Crouching on the floor beside her father, she upon it, watching its subtle approach inch by inch, witha sort of fascination. And so they Waited. Presentiy, Burly Ben paused before the mouth of the last corridor. Great beads of sweat stood upon his forehead, and he looked haggard and drooping. In truth, he stood appalied before the terrible issue of this last hope. A fearful suspense held the others breathless while they watchedhim. ‘l'hey were all crouch- ing lowz; yet the amorphous monster had fol- lowed them down! down! and in its oscillations, so close above their heads it seemed to reach out its shapeless hanis, envelope in the folds of its shadowy robe, as if impatient to clutch them. It was terrible to see them shrink from its ap- proach, as if it were a living thing! After a moment’s deliberation, Burly Ben turned, and in a voice which startled them all by its unnaturalness, said: ‘Squire, you and Miss Blanche might as well , come with us now. If this passages leads no- wheres, like the rest, there won’t be no good of our comin’ back to this place.” The brevity of his words, the solemnity of his voice, left them nothing to reply. Silently, al- most creeping of their dreaded foo, they followed him. ** Put out your torches,” ho said. ‘*‘ We don't want but one now, an’ perhaps we can’t sparo the air they breathe.” That brouzht the realization of death orie step nearer. Had the life-sustaining fluid, so boun- teous that they had never given it a serious | thought before, now become so precious that. they must economize it? Almost unconsciously,» Walter found himself trying to do with a littlo air, that the woman of his love might have more! But shall we follow them, step by step, whilo _the cold walls confront them on every han 1, seeming to mock at their wretcheIness, until hope dies out into icy despair, and the amazed | soul cries dumbly to heaven: “My Father, Aast thou forgotten me?” Suffice it, they stood at last in a slightly en- largel space wuich formed a litfie chamber at the extrem? end of the last corridor. A dark crevice in the roof of theehamber showed whers | | over the floor to escape the touch | ; The New York : Library. a re eo ee ee ——-+ eee Cte swimming in crystal tears. She strove tospeak, but her tongue failed her. Nothing was lost, however; every fiber of her being spoke with a tongue most eloquent! To Walter it was as if he were enveloped in a halo of peace. He, too, wasdumb. With his great love flowing out to her like a perennial spring, he sunk upon one knee and bent over her cold hand, to warm it with his kisses and lave it with his tears. No one was witness to this save the God who had attuned their hearts to vibrate in harmony ; for Burly Ben was busy struggling with the tears so unaccustomed to his eyes; and Mr. Bur- bank had turned to address Hal, who was grov- . eling on the floor of the cave in abject despair. ‘““Harry! my schoolmate’s son! my son that was tohave been!” said the father, tenderly. That last phrase caused Blancho to start; and, . dropping her hand Walter rose to his feet with a gasp, as if an icy hand.had gripped his heart. ** Don’t! don’t! for God’s sake!” cried Hal, shuddering and hiding his face more perfectly. ‘* It’s wretched var he 1,to Lave to die like adog! Let’s make an end of it!” Shocked, yet compassionate, Mr. Burbank started back. ‘‘ Harry, good-by!” murmured his affianced, timidly. : But the churl groaned without replying. ‘*Oh, papa!” whispered the daughter, gliding into her.father’s extended arms. —~ “My child! my child!” wept Mr. Burbank, now breaking down. | seemed to eflectually choke the wa | the ' acrid smoke smote ‘him in the face, rushing on Vol. I, _he was soon at work over a rude tinder-box, which consisted of merely a hollow in the rock with the necessary articles for striking a light— flint, steel, and gun-cotton. It seemed an age before he had a torch burn- ing; but mechanically he paused a moment to pee cover on his tinder-box (a flat rock fit- ing the hollow) before “he rushed head] down the passage. It ended at a bowlder, whic | ) only af- _fording passage for smoke serpents which ‘urled upward from severai crevices, . ‘ They’ll be suffocated, poor devils! whoever _they are,” muttered ‘the scout, and then he _ shouted. cheerily: ‘Courage! courage! comrades! We'll beat . the powers o’ darkness yet!” : his while he was rushing toward the end of assage®; and no sooner was the bowlder reached than his shoulder was against it, with every musclein play. | The push was eyen too vigorous, having thrown into it the energy of cesperation; for the bowlder rolled fory ard, over-riding an ob- | struction which was meant to check it, and bumped down into the eave below with a grind- _ ing sound which made the blood run cold. An instant the scout recoiled, as a prff of past him up the yassage he had opened for it and-maling his torch Lurndim. Then he leayed boldly down the slight descent into the cave, and fell upon. his hands and knees. There was still a thin stratum of fetid air be- And clinging to him the girl’s heart went forth | tween the smoke yall end tke ficor of the cav- ih a new cry: ‘*Mamma! mamma! mamma! mamma!” ‘* Hush! hush, my darling!” sobbed the father, rocking his grief-stricken child on his breast. ‘God will comfort her until we meet again! Death is not the greatest misfortune which could have come to us. Gur cnemy has not triumphed utterly, since he has not succeeded in parting us. **And now may the God who rave us life with its many blessings take it back to himself, in- er our hearts to bow to his inscrutablo wis- om! ‘* Amen!” came in solemn response from Wal- ter, supplemented by a groan from Fal. Mr. Burbank signaled Ben to extinguish the their spirits might pierce to the free air and sun- | tore shine of the world above; but hore as elsewhere egress was denied to their iy re = parts. Sileatly Burly Ben waved his head. ‘hey looked, but asked no question. Silently he pointed tothe corridor through which hey hal just come. Following them like a ser- p2nt, a tongue of smoks crept along the roof of the corridor, and wound its cruel spiral as it be- | | breathing of the party and Blanche’s | which the vaulted rocks took up and_ passed gan to ascen1 to the roof of the apartment. Shuddering, they watched it until, stopped by the vault of the rock, it bezan to accumulate, and, resuming the form of their old foe, ap- proached again in those hideous oscillations! ‘** We'll live the longer if we- put out this | torch,” said Ben, with th calm of despair. | ** Extinguish it imm>liately!” exclaimed Hal, starting out of a drooping lethargy into nervous | trepidation. ‘* Let us hold on td the last mo- ment! Halp must come in some form! Or Swan- ton may relent!” Mr. Burbank smiled sadly and eae ** Friends,” he said, solemnly, ‘let us take our final leave of each other. Our last of earth is sad; but what matters tt—are we not still in the hands of our Father? Good-by! and may God deal with us all in his infinite mercy!” He extendeda hand to Burly Ben and Walter, ed it. ‘* T hope you won’t lay it up ag’in’ mo, ’squire, | if I’ve fell short in anythinz,” said honest Ben, . cow done the best I could, accordin’ to my ig it. ‘* Ben,” said Mr. Burbank, much moved, “you have been more than faithful to me and mine. My thanks—Bianche, thank him for us both!” ‘i have not words to thank you, Ben, for all the dangers you have incurred for my sake,” said the girl, taking his rough hand between her vel- vet palms. ‘* Will you let me kiss you?” The rude son of the forest sobbed aloud, as she slipped her arm about his neck and drew his face | hain’t nobody but Bantam that down until she could touch her lips to the little | pass spot of unbearded cheek just below his eye. ‘*God bless you for the angel that you are!” he cried. ‘‘If I had a thousand lives, the Injins | mizht roast em all out o’ me,,if it ’w’d only git | you ont 0’ this box!” | And now the girl turned slowly toward Wal- | ter. Her whole mannerchanged. The freedom | of her intercourse with the hunter was ex- | changed fo. shy restraint, which shrugged her shoulders slig “tly, drooped her head to one side, and bent her .orm into willowy e. Every | curve was a revelation which would have thrill- | ed an anchorite! Her bosom rose and fell in | u.ck undulations, Her lips were wag by a | sigh in which all her soul exhaled to him. Her | fluttering heart made the roses play in her fair cheeks, as sunbeams, sifted through moving fo- | liage, flit on the ground. The sweet languor which stole over her showed in the flexure of arm | and wrist as she extended her hand tohim. Her | CEN Seti ; torch above his | a _ horrified wonder. A moment the scout held it above his head, taking one last look, then dropped it to the floor, and put his foot on it. “Oh, God!” cried Hal, as he half started up, and then fell back, trying toshut out the specter that looked at him from the darkness with such by tho w sobs, Then the silence was broken only O hither and thither fitfully. But in that almost palpable gloom Walter Weston’s soul was flooded with an inward light. Silently he knelt, and, covered by the darkness took a fold of the dress of the woman he ador and held it to his lips. So light was his touch that even she knew nothing of it. And so they waited God’s summons hence! CHAPTER XXV. SHANG TO THE RESCUE. AND all this while where were Shang and Bantam? Let us answer briefly. Failing in his search for Shang the bowlegged scout discovered the danger of his newly-formed | friends, and would have gone to their relief but who, moved by kindred impulses, bent and kiss- fha } i pes, and was obliged to fly. t he fell into a perfect hornet’s-nest of sava- When he had final- y effected his escape, the distance which lay | between him and the cave, and the time already consumed told him that his friends would now be dead by suffocation long before he could hope to reach them. But another was at work. Shang, returning for Mrs. Burbank, learned of her recapture, and, while looking for an opportunity to make a second attempt, came in sight of the smoke as- cending from the mouth of the cave. ‘* Blest if the children o’ Baal hain’t smokin’ somebody out o’ the cave!” ‘he muttered. ‘‘ Thar ows the secret e, an’ if he ain’t with ’em—” Without finishing the sentence he turned back on his course, retracing his steps with a look of —s anxiety. Gliding by the spot where the ndians kept somewhat disdai ard over the lackadaisical Jerusha, he on round the hill, and soon came to a bowlder, which, from it# great bulk, seemed immovable to any one-man power. ' Is he a Titan, then, that he applies his shoulder with such confidence to the monster? It is a strain for even his schooled muscles; but once started, the bowlder rolls so easily over the flat rock on which it-rests that we are led to suspect that it has been nicely poised for this very pur- pose, the more so as in moving it aside it discov- ers an unsuspected opening in the hillside. _ Into this the scout rushed as soon as there was room to squeeze his body through, before the bowlder ceased rolling. He had penetrated searcely two rods of the descending way, when at a turn in the passage he was enveloped in darkness. Here, recallection guiding his ee be ye?’ | eo was not afraid of being heard on the out- ern. With his head in this he called: “Tio, comrades! This way to life! Where side of the cave. The yells of the Indians, who were having a war-dance before the fire which ra at the mouth of the cave, were plainly audible; and he knew that if his voice were heard, it would only make them yell the louder, mistaking it for the cries cf their dying victims. But what made him anxicus was, that there was no response within the cave, though he shouted again and again.. Were tkey all dead, or Lad the Indians Leen deceived into smoking an empty cave? ie was just about to lavgh at this solution, when he Ciscovercd cn the flecr ef the cavern, within a few feet of Lim, tiecks which he knew were nct his own cr Lantem’s; and cne of them at least could rct kave kecn rece by Welter. rowing ceveral «cep kicaths, and retaining the last, the scont rcse to-his fect, and holding the torch near the ground, ran hither and. - cr about the chamLer until satisfied t cown one of the corridors; in th to escape the pte gphbeensg : fce, e they taken? And, even if he found them, ce le hope to drag to life a single one of theinn ler, an uncensciovs man, fbrcugh @ in which he knew there was nct @h eir but that vas nexicvs with rerk Feire any event, he mvst breathe hin self Fefc jroceeded further; and for this rary cropped again on his hands end knees—to aes discovery aoe ‘ie of a Geb’cateahor, ceping company wi e print of an ¢€ delicate foot unshod! % eal ** By the God of Mcses an’ of Aaron! Pll save her, if it’s in mortal man to do it!” he cried; cnd springing to his fcet again, and ke his tcrch close to the trail, he followed it straight to the last ccrridor, BAF aang taken insufficient breath, he was cbliged to stop half-way down the corridor, where he again called: | ‘‘Here I come, lady-bird! Baal, Beelzebub en’ Apollyon can’t bender me!” | ‘This time there came a response, and a ring- ing one too! | ‘Shang! Hurrah! we're saved!” CHAPTER XXVI. OUT OF THE JAWS OF DEATH, A MOMENT thore, and the scout staggered into the little chamber, where he found them crouch al loo ggard an -e and helda weapon with which, in his half-de rious terror, he might have taken Shang’s life, had not Wal- r sprene forward apd wrested it from him, i is our friend,” he cried, ‘‘come to save ‘is , There was no time for explanatic , ““ Give me the lady-bind cried the “ooo, in- ah upon the idea which had brought him to em. | “Go on, Shang! We can follow,” said Walter in those quick, firm tones, which carry uncon. sclous command with them. ‘All right!” replied Shang, yielding instantly, ‘* Come on!” | nr had already started in advance of the scout. | A flush of indignation mounted to Walter's cheek at this desertion. . “The poltroon! He’s not worthy of her! was the ery of his soul; and in it he found justi- fication for his next: : “Let me take ner, sir, I ata younce: aan, (efoag omiecbook —- —