Beadle's Dime Library No. 51: Red Rob, The Boy Road-Agent — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Red Rob, The Boy Road-Agent. 13° gaged a hundred savages.to capture. You and. your allies have shot down innocent men who never thought of harming you, then you hide your faces beneath masks and your forms beneath gowns of white... But mind you, sirs!” and the old man glanced. menacingly and fiercely at the different forms around the room, ‘‘the eye of the inscrutable Good. seeth every face here, and searcheth every heart!” The form of the noble old. man seemed to grow taller in its majestic grandeur, while his face was surrounded with & halo of that exalted humanity which fills. the heart with profound admiration, and which. seemed to radiate the sub- dimity of a soul bearing the image of its Maker. When Basil, Walraymond,sat down, the judge again arose, and in a tone that trembled with manifest fear or anger, said: ‘hat captive has insulted the tribunal of Phantom Az- tecs, and I pronounce upon him the sentence of death in the tiger-pit at midnight/ Have the other captives any thing to pay?” ‘‘T wish to say—” said young Sheridan, springing to his feet, but here his lips became sealed, as if his courage had failed him in further utterance. This was not the cause, however, of brave Asa Sheridan’s sudden silence. Behind the judge was a small, square opening in the wall, intended, no doubt, as a window, and iu this opening he saw an object suddenly appear that seemed to seal his lips with the silence of death, and petrify his form to a stony rigidness, CHAPTER X,. WHAT SHERIDAN SAW. A wuitr face, set in aframe of golden hair, and clear-cut as an ancient cameo, Dark-blue, eyes with long,, drooping lashes. Ripe red lips, to which was pressed a snowy, taper- ing finger—in fact, the face of a lovely young girl wag the object that had appeared at the opening behind the judge's stand and sealed the lips of Asa Sheridan, Her finger was pressed upon her lips, and this, and the imploring look on her beautiful face, was plainly significant as an order for, si- lence on his part. He obeyed the silent, appeal with an in- voluntary impulse; and the face instantly disappeared. ‘‘ Why does this captive hesitate?” demanded the judge of he Phantom Aztecs. ‘Because I consider this, court,beneath my notice,” re- sponded Sheridan, seating himself. ‘But he regretted his hasty words, the moment they were spoken. There was something that now threw an air of the deepest gravity and earnestness around the judgment hall to Sheridan. It was not the white robed figures, nor the emblems of mortality that decorated — the walls in repulsive ghastliness, nor the ghostly light around them that had thus impressed him, It was that angelic face that he had seen at the window, and the order which the silent lips had given. But it was too late to recall his words now. . The judge rose and said: ** I sentence that man to the Dungeon of Darkness. has the other prisoner to say?” ‘* Nothing,” replied Nathan Wolfe, ‘‘ more than that I would give a great deal to fathom the secret of that Centaur we saw to-night in the valley.” ‘That, man,” said the ‘‘ most high,” ‘ will be held in bonds for further trial,” What And thus ended the court of the Phantom Aztecs. The F, lights were extinguished, and each of the captives led away in a different direction through the ruins, ‘The blindfold was replaced over Walraymond’s eyes, and while it was being tied, the voice of the judge said to his com- panions in Spanish ** Yo conoceis, que anciano,’ But Basil A dhcetai knew enough of the language to understand what the judge said; viz.: ‘*I know that old man,” | It sent a shiver to the old man’s heart. It recalled a bits ter thought of the past. But he said nothing, nor showed sizns of the terrible emotions surging in his breast. He was conducted along a narrow, damp passage to a door which at once wheezed upon its rusty hinges, and admitted the prisoner and his conductor into the open air; yet this air seemed filled with the resinous vapor of burning pine; and . he could hear the crackle of fire, and the flutteriug of the © flames. ‘* You are now in the tiger-pit,” said his conductor; ‘* stand ob your guard, senor.” Then the adiai teal was removed, and the glare of a dozen torches blinded the old man for full a minute; but when his eyes had become accustomed to the light, he glanced around him. He saw that, he was in an open courtyard, around which rose the massive walls of one of those ancient ruins which had doubtless been used by its founders asa temple or monastery, The main entrance—an arched doorway — was blocked up with stone. On three sides, the buildings had crumbled to ruins, leaving only about ten feet of the basement walls standing. Onthe fourth side rose the old building from which he had just come, and which looked as though it might tumble down at any moment, These seamed, scarred and time-worn walls, however, bore evidence of skillful arché tecture, “Tall, rank weeds grew on the top of the ruins, and para sites clambered over and down the wall like a curtain of green, as if nature had designed that the deformities of the ruing should be concealed from view. Blazing torches were fastened in niches and crevices in the wall, and these threw a wavering yellow light over the place. The ground beneath the prisoner’s feet was covered with white sand, and bore evidence of a late struggle—a bloody combat. And it must have been desperate, for here and there amid the footprints that were twisted deep into the sand, were dark spots where the thirsty earth had drunk up the life- ‘blood of the contestants. | From the top of the ruins a dozen “ Phantom Aztecs,” in their venerable masks and white robes, looked down upon the old man, who stood there with folded arms, his tall, mar- tial figure appearing Titanic in the uncertain glow of the dim torches, Basil Walraymond knew not what was to come, but the footprints and dark stains on the ground carried his thoughts back to the gladiatorial days of ancient Rome, This gave him hope. He felt that he was the equal of any man in physcial power and in the use of the sword. Fifty years had — blunted none of his fine sensibilities nor reduced his wonderful energy and strength. While he stood waiting for the appearance of his antago- nist in the ‘‘ tiger-pit,” as the place had been denominated, something bright flashed suddenly across his vision, and was — immediately followed by the metallic clink’ of something against the wall behind him. He turned around without manifesting the least curiosity and glanced downward. A small knife—a_ kind of poignard—lay. at the’ base of the wall. What was this for? Was he indeed to be made a prey to wild beasts, with a poignard only for a weapon? As if in answer to the question, a small door in the base- ment of the wall on the east side of the court was suddenly opened, and a huge gray panther, already goaded to frenzy— __ with dripping mouth and bloodshot eyes, sprung out mn the inclosure with Basil Walraymond! CHAPTER XI, THE ARENA ‘OF DEATH. A MURMUR of excitement escaped the lips of those shroud ed figures on the top of the walls, and they pressed. nearer the edge of the arena, ‘ The door through which the panther had been. driven from its cage into the inclosure, was immediately closed be-_ hind the beast. The panther landed in the arena in a crouching position, His mouth was covered with bloody foam which told that he : had been maddened before he was turned out. His eye balls burned with that deadly, greenish hue so peculiar to this species of animals. The creature’s’ head turned from side to side as though it, were studying its new situation, | The Jight blinded it at first, but it soon became accustomed to this. Then it espied the tall, majestic form of Basil Wal- raymond. A quiver seemed to thrill through the | its nose fell between its paws and its tai beast’s “whole, form; . res il slow, ser: pent-like movement: which warned the ol er. that de worst. was soon to come. Basil Walraymond knew now shat was meant by the “tiger * pit;” and when he remembered that his captors had spoker in Spanish, he was satisfied they were Spanish outlaws from the South, whose hereditary and barbarous love for the sport of bull-fighting was being gratified by turning wild beasts loose with captives in the court of the ruined monastery— EON NOOO KS (E(@)