Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 483 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

ih 20 —— on when he knew it would be sure death to me. When I fell, prostrated in body and mind, shat- tered by something over which I had no control, Iwas picked upas if I was no better thana nigger, instead of being taken to Bramwell Stacey’s house to be nursed and cared for, and was carted away to this infernal hole, where I am treated worse than a State Prison convict. Oh, Bramwell Stacey is a black hearted villain, -and I will live to expose bim and get even with him yet.” ‘TY am very sorry for you,” said Eva, who understood but little of the invalid’s complaint against his cousin. “And now, poor child, he bas been play- ing one of his rascally games against you. I don’t know for certain what it means, but am ‘sure that it means harm to you. He don’t play such games for nothing.” ‘‘ What am I[ to do?” inquired Eva, thoroughly frighteaed by these ominous words, ‘I must get away from here.” ‘“So you shall, my poor child. You just stay around here, and step into my room now and then to give me my medicine, and when night comes 1 will show you how to get away from here without any trouble. Trust me for that,” Eva did not know that this was merely the scheme of a victim of alcohol, by which he hoped to secure for himself a continual supply of the stimulant he wanted, and she was so encouraged by the promise given her, that she was willing to wait patiently for the night. This determination was afterward miade stronger by the discovery that all the ways of egress were guarded, There was a heavy step in the hall,and Mrs, Allstrup entered the room. She was manifestly surprised and alarmed at finding Eva with the invalid. ‘* You here, miss?” she exclaimed, ‘‘ How did you git in here?” ‘| walked in, of course,” answered Eva, ‘‘ just as you did.” ** How did you git out of your room, then?” ‘‘T mereiy walkeJ out, ou need not think of locking me up, Mrs. Allstrup. I goand come as I please, Doors and locks are nothing to me.” “Tt looks like it, sure enough. Whar’s the key of your room?” *“ A witch hung it on her broomstick last night and flew away with it.” ‘*That beats me. Well, miss, I reckon you ean have the run of the house if you want it; but you needn’t try to get outside.” Mrs, Allstrup turned her attention to the in- valid. ‘* How are you gittin’ on, major?” she asked. ‘Very nicely,’’ he answered, with no sign of his recent wildness and agitation. ‘*Gracious sakes! and so you are, know what’s come over him, miss?” ‘* The young lady has had a very soothing ef- me upon me,” said the major, answering for va. ‘* That’s most astonishin’, It looks like some sort of witchcraft. Why, miss, last night he was so obstreperous that we was afeard we'd have to tie him down, Hain’t he been seein’ fm ne nor men chasin’ him, nor nothin’ like tha ‘‘Nothing of the kind,” answered Eva. ‘‘ He has has been as gentle as a lamb since I came in here.” ““Tt’s a wonder. to be locked up no more, but, 1 Do you oin’ Well, miss, YS ain’t : ac ou’ll go to your room and wait thar while I[ fix up the old gentleman, I'll come in arter a bit and take you down to breakfast.” - Eva readily complied with this request, as she had decided that she would make no at- tempt to escape until night, trusting to the promise of the nearly insane Major Stacey. ‘*She soon discovered, as has been stated, that the honse was carefully guarded, and that she was closely watched. Therefore she occupied the day mainly in eat- ing and sleeping, with occasional excursions to Major Stacey’s room, hoping to get strength to endure the trials that might be before her. CHAPTER XXIX, JAKE TOLLIVER’S VIGILS. THERE were some points connected with the intentions of the Staceys which they had over- looked, or which had not turned out exactly as they had wished them to, and this statement is made without any allusion to the sericus events, ‘so disastrous to them, which had occurred, or were to occur, at Staceyville. Dr. Randolph Stacey, the physician who was attending the major, came to visit him in the morning, and Mrs, Allstrup accompanied him up-stairs. They found the patient sleeping pore and his sleep was apparently restful and healthful. Doctors do not know everything, and the ignorance of some of them is amazing, when we consider how much is trusted to them. In this case there was nobody to help Dr. Randolph Stacey to a diagnosis, and he did not that innocent Eva had been supplying is patient pretty freely with the forbidden stimulant. “+This is much better than I had expected,” he said as he felt the wrist of the slumbering major, ‘‘He is sleeping well, and he has devel- oped a mild perspiration, which is a good symp- tom, and his pulse is much stronger than it was, He is really getting on better than we could have hoped for, Mrs, Allstrup, and my remedies have had a good effect. Can you tell me when he began to improve?” ‘© Ho was powerful bad the realy part of last night; but this morning that young lady came in, and he picked up wonderful,” ‘¢ What young lady?” | Mrs, Allstrup told of Eva Bramwell’s arrival, and of her visit to the invalid, not forgetting about the “ witchcrafty” way in which Eva bad got out of her room when the door was locked. ‘‘ The major said that the young lady had a soothin’ effect onto him,” she remarked. Dr. Randolph Stacey hummed and hawed and looked wise. ‘(We physicians read,” said he, ‘‘that there are some persons who exert a sort of magnetic influence upon other persons, and perhaps it may be true, though I have never met a case of the kind. In this instance my remedies have been judiciously prepared, and [ trust that they have been carefully administered, and therefore we see this improvement in the patient. You may leave off the nervine in thesmall bottle, but may continue to give him the mixture in the big bottle, and, perhaps, Mrs. Allstrup, you may as well let that young lady come in here to visit him as often as she cares to.” It may be permitted to the historian of the Stacey war to remark that ‘‘ jackleg” physicians are not confined to the Stacey family or to the State of Mississippi. They are indigenous, and crop out in many places. It was verv well for Dr. Randolph Stacey to plume himself upon the effect of his remedies and general treatment; but the plain truth was that the apparently-improved condition of the patient was due to Eva Bramwell’s injudicious but innocent use of the whisky bottle. Of course the improvement was only tempor- ary, and when the reaction set in—as topers say, when the whisky ‘died in him”—then some- thing else might be expectad. Bramwell Stacey could not have supposed that any such development would follow Eva's ar- rival at the lone house in the bills, nor could he have guessed that the ag tak who had escaped from the trunk-room in his house would have closely followed Eva and her abductors, with the intention of making all the mischief he could for her benefit. Jake Tolliver had no difficulty in following the arty, as he trotted easily at a little distance ehind them, taking to the woods or behind a fence when there was danger that they might look back and see him. If they did look back, they failed to see him, and he followed safely and silently to the house in the Staghead Hills, a region with which he was thoroughly acquainted, When he got there, he could not see bis way clear to serve the young lady, or even to get near her for the purpose of learning whether she wanted his help. Each door of the house was guarded by an armed man, aud another walked about the build- ing as a patrol. This might not have prevented the vagabond from effecting an entrance, if he could have lo- cated the room that was occupied by the young lady; but he had no means of reaching a conclu- sion on that point. There were lights in two of the upper rooms on opposite sides of the house; but there was no telling which was Miss Bramwell’s, and it would not do for Jake to get shut up in the house and arouse the wrong party. He watched the house closely, but without learning anything further that interested him, until he was inwardly admonished that he need- ed food and rest. Though he hal expected to go to Charley Taintor’s hotel in Staceyville for his supper, he had brought away from there some scraps of bread and meat, to serve him in an emergency, or to belp him pass the time. The emergency had arrived, and the scraps had all been eaten, and he had not the where- withal tosatisfy bis hunger. Jake Tolliver, however, was not a lad who would go hungry when there was provender within the reach of an enterprising grasp There was a ben-house on the premises, and there were.fowls in the hen-house. ; ea da was one less in the hen-bouse after Jake eft it. He took his chicken to a hollow, well out of the way of the house, where he picked and cleaned it, and cooked it at a fire he built, after a fashion of his own. Having satisfied bis appetite with part of the food, he stowed the remainder in his ragged garments, and suffered bimself to drop into a snooze that served him as well as a long nap would have done, He had supposed that in the small hours of the morning, or in the dark and drowsy time short- ly before daylight. the vigilance of the sentries at the house might be relaxed, and he crept about the house to see whether there might be ee SE a PER SIE SI SRR RM A CE nk a SM OER AT es ree OSC TO Flush Fred, the River Sharp. a chance for him tu get inside without danger of discovery; but he fou.id no such chance. The sentries were still on duty, and were ap- parently as wakeful as ever. Jake waited until morning, when he at last got a little encouragement, He saw Eva Bramwell seated at the window of one of the rooms which had been lighted the previous night. He was unable to attract ber attention, and it would probably have been of no advantage to him if he could have done so, as she did not know who he was or anything about him, and he could not explain himself at a distance, A. more impracticable place to get at than that house, he was obliged to admit, he had seldom seen. It stood alone and bare, with no outbuildings near it, nor any trees, nor even as much asa vine or a shrub. lt was impossible for him to reach the upper windows, and equally impossible to get in at the lower windows in daylight, and the house was continually watched, the doors being guarded with special care. Jake considered the question whether it would be possible for him to go to Stacey ville and re- sort to Mr. Henning, and get back by dark, and e was soon forced to the conclusion that he could not begin to do it. Anyhow, he meant to get the young lady away from there at night, if she were willing to go, and that would be the best way of reporting to bis employer. During the day he finished his chicken, and caught and cooked another one that was incon- siderately straying about, He was not likely to suffer with bunger as long as there was anything eatable going around on two legs, or even on four, and it would be a smart bird or beast that could get away from him. At the same time he did not fail to keepa watchful eye upon the house, to note any changes that might take place there. There was no visible change, and at last the night came, when he must use his shrewdest and best endeavors in the task which he had un- dertaken. CHAPTER XXX. THE SPY’S SUPREME EFFORT, It was about as easy to pet into the house after dark as in the daylight—that is to say, about Ge res impossible. Jake Tolliver tried the lower windows, elud- ing the vigilance of the patrol to do so, but only succeeded in discovering that they were nailed down, and there was no chance to climb to the upper ones, ut there was something in the way of stra- tegy that he could do, and he had aiready de- cided upon what that should be, in the event of failure of other means. At a little distance from the front of the house was a wooded hollow, and thither the vagabond turned his steps. e built and lighted there a brush fire, and, as soon as it was started, he bastened away from the spot, going as near to the house as he could get aud keep under cover. There he waited and watched, and the effect of bis strategy was soon tee ar The fire in the hollow blazed up, and natural- ly attracted the attention of the guards, as it was something so peculiar and causeless and out of place, that they could not even guess why or by whom it was made. The patrol came around and spoke to the man at the front door. asking him if ke had no- ticed the light, and what he supposed it meant “Of course I’ve noticed it,” answered the guard; “ but [ bain’t got the least idea what it means, As you're about here, Sam, I’ve a mind to run over thar and see what makes the light.” ** Reckon you’d better, as it may mean some deviltry, and we ought to know all that goes on near this bouse.” The guard hastened down to the hollow, and the other man stcod around a corner of the house and watched bim, being extremely anx- ious to learn the meaning of that strange light. This was Jake Tolliver’s opportunity, just what he had been working and waiting for, and he at once availed himself of it. Creeping to the cther corner of the house, he slid around it silently, reached the tront door, opened it, sneaked inside, and closed it softly behind him. The guard whu had gore down to the hollow soon returned to his pest locking puzzled and solemn. ‘What was it?” inquired his comrades. ‘“Durned if I understand it yet, I found a brush fire down thar, but nothin’ eise. If thar’d been anybody near it, I'd soon have found out what it meant; but thar wasn’t the least sign of the feller who started it, and that beats me.” ‘Reckon we'll bave to give it up, Joe.” ‘““Tt’s a conundrum that I can’t begin to uess, Somebody or somethin’ is around that on’t ought to be, and we'll have to watch closer than ever—that’s all.” ‘“ That reminds me, Joe, that somethin’ queer a a c= . es re —_ ps O Ch ee SS et aa