Bracebridge Hemyng

“ At these words Harkaway slipped back into his room, and reappeared armed with a pair of pistols.
"Now, what is it you require, my girl?" he demanded of Theodora.
"A few words with you."
"Don't trust her," shrieked the servant; "I saw a knife in her girdle. Don't trust her."
Theodora smiled faintly.
"I am alone, unarmed," she said; "the great Mr. Harkaway, the hero of the day here, is surely not afraid of me."
"I am afraid of no one," returned Jack; "but I warn you, my girl, that if any treachery be meditated, each of these pistols carries a man's life." ”

“ Her eyes sparkled, and the colour rushed into her pale cheek at the word. "Vengeance—aye, vengeance. Well spoken, my bold Tomaso; vengeance is something to live for, after all; vengeance we'll have too. We'll glut ourselves with it; a feast of vengeance we'll have." "We will, we will!" shouted the brigands, as though with one single voice.
"These English and these Americans shall die."
"They shall!"
"We'll exterminate them, root and branch."
"Aye, aye."
"Firstly, these Harkaways shall fall, then—"
"They die."
"Does Mathias owe his death to Harkaway's band?" demanded Hunston. ”

“ And as he spoke, he brought his gun up to his shoulder with an ominous gesture.
"Hold, Toro!" ejaculated an English voice. "Your hasty imprudence will spoil us."
"Bah!" said Toro, replying in the same tongue. "You are over prudent, Hunston. Why should we not destroy them while they are in our power?"
"What if one escapes?"
"One should not," retorted the Italian savagely; "no, nor half a one."
"And where is the good if we succeeded, as you say?"
"Good!" reiterated Toro, passionately. "Are they not our sworn foes? Are they not here in pursuit of us? ”

“ PRISON—MATHIAS THE BRIGAND.
Tomaso, before the day was over, changed his garments and abandoned crutch and stick, and when he turned out with flaxen-dyed hair and spectacles, and presented himself at the other great entrance of the prison, as a German traveller who desired to go over the place, no one could possibly have imagined it to be the old cripple whose paternal lamentation had so touched the doorkeeper's heart.
"You have got here a notorious brigand, as I have heard tell," said the visitor.
"We have, sir," was the governor's reply; "a very remarkable man he is, too." ”

“ I, Jack Harkaway, proclaim war to the knife against the murderers of my boys. The villains Hunston and Toro will tell you all that I never threatened in vain. One of your number shall die daily until I have exterminated you root and branch. No amount of precaution upon your part can avert your doom. You claimed a ransom of five hundred pounds for my son. I have paid the sum demanded, and you have played me false; therefore, you die. To the last man you shall perish. You shall learn to look forward to your fate in fear and trembling ”

“ Indeed, horrible as it may sound, they killed a brigand with as little compunction as they would have slaughtered a wolf.
"Surrender!" cried Harkaway, for the second time. "Yield now, or by Heaven, you shall all die on the field."
The Greeks looked around for assistance.
They were five.
The enemy only three.
As a rule, these ruffians were not deficient in bulldog courage and ferocity, but this desperate fighting had surprised and frightened them.
"Yield, ruffians, to better men than yourselves."
They paused.
"To pause is death," cried Jack Harkaway, in a loud voice. ”

“ Mole?" said Harry Girdwood, slyly.
"Not if it flies too high," said young Jack.
This chaff goaded poor old Mole to fury, coming as it did from the boys.
"Really," he said, with a lofty sneer, "I don't see what you have to laugh at in the idle nonsense of these children."
This made them grin more than ever.
"The wit of the rising generation," sneered Mole.
"Mr. Mole would like the young generation never to rise, I think," said Harry Girdwood.
"That's it," laughed Harkaway; "Mr. Mole was always so conservative in his ideas." ”

“ Captain Mathias, you have never tasted the sweets of civilisation."
"And, Signor Hunstani, how much the better are you through having tasted those sweets?"
"Peace, peace!" growled the giant. "Let us unite in thought and action, and to-night obtain our long-sought revenge."
"Well, Toro, I am sure I don't want to quarrel with anyone, except Harkaway."
"Curse him! and especially that American."
"Hush! let your curses be not loud but deep; you'll awake the town if you swear so." ”

“ Why, Jack, you will hardly believe me when I tell you that I scarcely sleep without dreaming of Hunston. And what is there wonderful in that, after all that has taken place? It was enough to shake the strongest nerves, to startle the bravest man that ever lived."
"You allude to the attempted execution of ourselves?" said young Jack.
"Yes; and in spite of that brave brigand girl's assurances, there was great danger when we stood upon the brink of our grave with a firing party aiming at us." ”

“ Jack, Harvey, Emily, that Yankee braggart—curse him!"
And Hunston sat brooding in the black and evil-smelling hold day after day.
The only companion of his solitude being his own dark thoughts, his vicious resolves for vengeance.
"It is my own cursed ill-luck," he would say to himself again and again, "to be beholden to this Harkaway for my life. Why, even now, he has saved me again, saved me in spite of himself. That's the merry side of the question." ”

“ Mathias was not to say a bashful man, so he did not draw back.
On the contrary, he stared with all his eyes.
Pretty Marietta little thought, as she stood before the glass, that such a desperate villain was watching every movement.
Marietta, wholly unconscious that she was watched by the vile brigand chief, walked up and down before the glass, shooting admiring glances at herself over her white and well rounded shoulders.
"Dress, and rank, and money do wonders," she said. "Why are we not all about equal? I'm as good as the best of them, I'm sure, and very much better looking." ”

“ The girl passed before each of the unhappy victims and shook them by the hand one after the other. "Courage," she said, in a low but firm voice, "courage, brave hearts."
"Bandage their eyes," said Hunston.
"No; let us look upon our fate," said young Jack.
"The old Harkaway brag to the very last," said Hunston, with a sneer.
"You don't like to look a Harkaway in the face, assassin!" retorted the boy.
"Fool!" exclaimed Hunston, "since you want it, you shall have it. Fire at the middle first. They can have an opportunity of seeing a real man die before their eyes. ”

“ Yet I am content to bide my time; you should have patience, Toro."
"Come, come to business, my friends," said Captain Mathias; "there is the house where our foe resides. How are we to proceed?"
"Quietly; hush!" said Hunston. "Confound it, how still the air is; the whole street seems to echo back the lightest whisper."
"Let me get once inside, and I care not if all the street hears," muttered Toro.
"Which proves you care not if you are unsuccessful," said the Greek. ”

“ Strange dreads and doubts filled Hunston's mind, dread of the future, dread of a lingering illness through his arm, which daily grew worse, dread of death, which he felt convinced must be the end, and doubts whether eventually his enemy Harkaway would not triumph.
For Hunston's hatred of Harkaway knew no abatement; living or dying, the same fierce, unquenchable thirst after vengeance would fill his soul. ”

“ Shall we admit this man in as a brother and a comrade?"
"We will," shouted the brigands.
"Agreed on all hands?" said the Italian chief.
"Agreed."
It was answered as if with a single voice.
"Good," said Toro; "do you, Boulgaris, prescribe the oath."
The oath, which was administered in Greek, was not at all understood by the novice, but he subscribed to it cheerfully.
"You swear to devote your life to the destruction of your enemies," said Hunston.
"I do," responded the new brigand, with fervour.
"Enough. What is your name?"
"Geoffrey Martin." ”

“ I shall be quite another man when I have had a brush with these beasts."
"Right, sir," cried the detective; "they will find a powerful foe in you."
"Yes, Nabley," cried Jack, "my arm is nerved for this fight, and it shall go hard with me, but I will have my revenge on those Greek devils for the murder of my poor boys."
The door opened and Jefferson entered.
"The very man!" exclaimed Harkaway.
"What, Nabley!" said Jefferson. "What news of Harvey?"
"Mr. Harkaway will tell you all," answered the detective; "my time's up. Follow me as quickly as you can." ”

“ And when they were all assembled, Jefferson and Dick Harvey ranged them round in position, while Harkaway, with Hunston close by his side, stood forward to address them.
"My men," said he, "I have had you called together upon no pleasant errand. But it is a question of duty, and, therefore, pleasant or unpleasant, must be done. What we have to do is an act of justice, and I don't wish that anyone should be able to impugn my motives. I would not leave it in the power of any man to say that I ever behaved unjustly to my worst enemy." ”

“ Dick laughed at this.
"That is the very first thing to raise my doubts," replied Dick. "Why, we have known Hunston all his life, and never found him any thing but the most notorious liar."
"True; but—"
"He told lies as a boy—lies as a youth—lies as a man. His life has been one long lie, and yet you choose to make yourself wretched and all of us too upon the strength of such a vagabond's word. Bah!"
Harkaway hung his head and sighed.
"That is not all, Dick," he said; "I have the direst presentiment upon me—"
"Presentiment!" ejaculated Dick, interrupting him. ”

“ He, with fiend-like satisfaction, noticed the sickly pallor of the two boys' faces, and it gladdened his black heart.
"They aren't quite so happy now," he muttered. "Now it is they suffer. Oh, if Harkaway were here too. It would make me drunk with joy."
The girl turned to young Jack.
"Courage," she whispered, "courage; be bold."
And then turning to the firing party, she said—
"Come, do not delay. It is needless to prolong the sufferings which these poor boys feel already."
"Silence, and begone!" exclaimed Hunston fiercely. "You have no right to speak to the men." ”

“ But hunger is an intruder whose importunities there is no denying for any length of time, and so it fell out that, in spite of their brave and manful efforts at keeping up each other's pluck and spirit, he gnawed at their vitals in a way which reduced not only their stamina, but their spirits.
"This is to be our prison," said Harry Girdwood gloomily; "I feared it would be."
"It is rather like the Lethe than anything else," said young Jack, pointing to the silent water below. "If we remain here long, we shall forget all that has gone before, you may be sure. ”

“ Harkaway started up at the mournful sound.
"Hark!" he exclaimed. "Do you hear that?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"An execution."
"Where?"
"At the prison."
"Of whom?"
"The brigands."
"The villains have earned their fates right well."
"Yes, yes," exclaimed Jack Harkaway, hurriedly; "but this execution must not take place, though Tomaso was shot yesterday."
"Tomaso, the brigand," cried young Jack, "then why not the rest of the brigands."
"Why? Because it is unjust, for the men condemned to suffer death have been sentenced for murdering you, my own boys." ”

“ Poor girl! If prayers and tears could move men's hearts, hers should have saved the boys."
Geoffrey Martin coughed and blew his nose loudly.
"Ahem!" he said, staring at Boulgaris. "You are a soft-hearted fellow for a brigand."
"Not exactly that either," replied Boulgaris, grinning. "I feel incensed at this deed for its brutality, and for exposing all the band to risks and dangers for the sole purpose of gratifying their revenge."
"Theirs; you mean Hunston's?"
"No; for Toro was interested also in it."
"Toro, Toro," muttered Martin; "why, the name sounds, familiar to me. Of course. ”

“ Hunston's pale face grew crimson at these words.
"That's good," he said; "they're men of spirit."
"That they are."
"And the rest of the crew; what do they say of it?"
"Why, they are all up about it; all to a man. So if you have a good thing to offer, I'll undertake to say as they'll volunteer to a man."
"Good."
"And leave them Harkaway folks in the lurch here, as they deserve, the mean beasts."
"Mean, indeed," echoed Hunston, secretly chuckling. "Why, they're worse than mean." ”

“ At this point Harvey turned from the two lads towards Jefferson.
"The astrologer is right," he said, gravely.
"What the devil do you mean?" exclaimed Jefferson.
"You are right, sir," added Dick to the magician himself.
The latter bowed.
"I doubt it not," he said; "the stars do not speak falsely."
"No, no."
"And so you may convince your friend that I say no more nor less than the truth."
"I can," said Dick, in a voice as solemn as that of the necromancer himself, "for I am a mesmerist, and I have here with me a clairvoyant of great power."
The conjurer started. ”

“ Mole, sir," said Joe Basalt, "for they eats their own mothers and fathers and children likewise."
"Why, Bill Longbow told me a yarn once, your honour," said Sam Mason, "about a white shark. I mean," he added, nodding at Mr. Mole respectfully, "a squally cockylorium—a blessed rum name for a shark—as devoured all his family for dinner, supped off a Sunday school out for a pleasure-trip in a steamboat, and was a-goin' to wind up with a meal off his own blessed self, when his dexter fin stuck in his swaller, and he brought hisself up ag'in." ”

“ Poor boys! poor boys!"
"But you must," insisted Harvey. "I don't mean to leave them in the lurch."
"What do you mean?"
"What I say. We must not give up the search."
"Ah, Dick, you would persuade me, if you can't persuade yourself."
"You are wrong," replied Harvey. "I have the deepest conviction on the point."
"To what effect?"
"That they live—both live."
Jack Harkaway looked positively frightened at this reply.
"Dick, Dick," he exclaimed, mournfully, "what are you saying, old friend?"
"What I mean. They yet live," returned Harvey boldly. ”

“ At this moment a loud peal of laughter greeted the second dicer.
"Ace—two."
"My chance is worthless," said the man.
"Worthless!" muttered Pike to himself. "Aye, you are indeed worthless, compared with some of the English villains I have hunted down and fought for life or death. I could die like a man if I only had to die in a fair hand-to-hand fight with such a man as Birmingham Bill, the very first murderer I ever coped with; but I'll show them how an Englishman can die."
"Double six!" shouted one of the brigands, as he threw the dice. ”

“ I am armed by experience, which you lack."
"True, true," exclaimed several of the brigands.
"That sounds fairly enough," replied Tomaso, "but you have ever met with such signal discomfiture that I, for one, should have small confidence in your leadership. I don't speak to uphold myself; let any other leader be chosen—let one of ourselves to wit, not an Italian, or any other foreigner. Why should not a Greek lead Greeks?"
"Hurrah!"
A general cheer greeted this speech. "Tomaso! Tomaso!" they cried; "Tomaso for leader!"
Toro's face flushed blood red. ”

“ Now I am the worst man in the world at half confidences. Tell me, are you a good man to keep a secret, doctor?"
"I am."
"Then I may tell you something that will rather startle you."
"You will?"
"Yes. That poor wretch you have the charge of is the worst enemy that I have. It is my old schoolfellow, Hunston."
"Hunston!"
"Yes. You remember the name, I perceive."
"I do. But is it possible that the villain has the audacity to venture here?"
"No; that is just what he would not do. He took to the water, being hardly pressed by his enemies." ”

“ Jack and Harry have Fleon's words, and the cruel jokes of Barthes, still ringing in their ears, and they know, alas too well what it means.
A shark.
With the energy of despair, both boys strike out, diving lower.
And now for a moment their fate seems sealed.
They discover that their rapid movements are stopped by the sack, which they have not got quite clear of, and which, puffed, follows them up through the water in their progress to the air and light. ”

“ The tragic events of the past few weeks, and the murder of Marietta in Mrs. Harkaway's bedchamber, had led them to distrust every body and every thing.
"I must see him," gasped Theodora.
"Impossible," returned the girl curtly; "call to-morrow in the afternoon."
"Afternoon," returned Theodora. "After six in the morning will be too late. It is life and death, I tell you. Go and tell him."
"Obstinate girl, I tell you Mr. Harkaway has serious business on at daybreak, and has gone to rest, giving the strictest orders that he is not to be disturbed." ”