Bracebridge Hemyng

“ Any one who's got pluck enough to slay his enemy and risk the gallows can do anything," answered Alfonso.
"What do you want me to do?" inquired Jack.
"If I die, cut it out."
"And then?"
"Hide it somewhere. I can't tell you where. We must think."
Suddenly a mine-boss came along, with gentle, cat-like footsteps.
"What are you two skulking for?" he asked, exhibiting a rattan, his badge of office.
"Who's skulking?" asked Alfonso, savagely.
"You are."
The murderer looked at him with a foreboding gleam in his eye.
"Pedro," he said, "I warned you once before not to interfere with me." ”

“ The convict bared his right leg and advanced to the lamp which gave them the light by which they were working.
"Any one around?" he asked.
"I can't see any one," replied Jack.
"You never can tell when the overseers come around. They're on the spy all the time."
"We are alone," Jack said.
"See here, then."
Alfonso took his hand and placed it on his flesh. Jack felt a lump under the skin.
"What's that?" he asked.
"The diamond," replied Alfonso, under his breath.
"Impossible! how could it get there?" Jack asked, incredulously.
"Didn't I tell you they brought me down with a bullet?" ”

“ Harkaway, I'm glad to know you," said the captain. "I'm a Forty-niner, and you can bet I'm solid."
"Indeed?" remarked Jack, with a smile.
"Yes, sir. I own real estate, and I'm interested in a mine. How do you like our climate?"
"Pretty good in the morning, but rather cold and dusty in the afternoon."
"What do you think of our seals?"
These are the two first questions that San Franciscans always ask strangers.
"Oh, the seals didn't strike me as being anything wonderful," replied Jack.
"Aren't, eh?"
"They seem quiet, inoffensive-looking creatures as they lie on the rocks basking in the sun." ”

“ Mole had gone outside in the corridor, and all at once Jack and Harvey heard a great uproar.
They rushed out, and found the professor attacking a man with his crutch.
"Hold on, sir!" cried Jack. "What is all this about?"
Mr. Mole stopped beating the man, who instantly ran away.
"I can't stand it, Jack," said Mr. Mole. "I'm an old man and my nerves are weak."
"What has occurred to ruffle your feathers?"
"I have only been half a day in San Francisco, and this man whom I was chastising asked me, for the twentieth time, how I liked the climate and what I thought of the seals." ”

“ I was a fool to listen to your rose-colored stories about fortunes made at a faro-bank."
"Come, come! no kicking."
During this conversation Mr. Smith was leaning against the wall, half concealed in the shadow, and smoking a cigar, while he was ostensibly engaged in jotting down some memoranda with a pencil on a scrap of paper, yet not a word was lost upon him.
"You can bully me as much as you please, Dan Markham!" exclaimed Clarence Holt. "But I warn you that I am getting tired of it."
"Tired, eh?"
"Yes, sir; there is a limit to human endurance." ”

“ He stooped and picked up the pistol which Pedro had allowed to drop from his hand.
"You do not mean that you will take your own life?"
"That is precisely what I do mean."
"How?"
"Look here!" exclaimed Alfonso. "I take you to be a sensible man, though young. What have I, a slave, to live for? Is it any pleasure to me to exist, as I have been existing for the last year, since I have been in this infernal place?" ”

“ Lord Maltravers gave him the gold, and at the same time Jack took a step in advance.
"You shall not escape me in that way," he said.
"Hold on there," cried the volunteer.
"Oh, I'm not afraid of you," cried Jack.
"I'm Nappa Bill," said the man, "and if I can't make you squeal, I want to go home."
"Listen to me," said Harkaway. "This fellow is a notorious murderer, and is wanted in New York."
"New York be darned!" said Nappa Bill. "If he has killed his man, there are lots of us in this room who has done the same thing, and his money is as good to me as any other chap's. ”

“ With these words he banged to the door with a hollow, sepulchral sound, which to Jack sounded like the knell of doom.
He recognized the fact that he was indeed a slave.
"Well," he muttered, "I must admit it was cleverly done; to repine is useless. I will make the best of the situation. Harvey, if not mortally wounded, will come after me. Thanks to what Elise said, my friends know where I am."
He deliberately ate his breakfast, and then attired himself in the hideous yellow suit of a convict sent to the mines. ”

“ Harkaway could not see any valid reason why he should prolong his miserable and forfeited existence.
"You are right," he said. "It is clear that suicide in your case is an atonement, if not a virtue."
"Comrade," exclaimed Alfonso, "they say that those who are about to die see future events clearly."
"I have heard that," replied Jack.
"I can see you free and happy."
"Ha!" cried Jack. "When?"
"Before long. I congratulate you. Do not forget what I told you about the diamond."
"I will not."
"Cut it out as soon as I am dead, and then give the alarm at the mouth of the shaft." ”

“ Jack looked round and saw that they were surrounded.
"What shall we do?" he asked of Foss.
"Got to weaken," replied Foss.
Mr. Mole appeared very indignant and drew a pistol, which he discharged at Nappa Bill.
The bullet missed the mark, and Bill laughed loudly.
"Put up your iron, you old fool," he said; "we only want Jack Harkaway out of your crowd, and if we don't have him step down and out, right away, there'll be a circus here, with some dead bodies in it, mighty quick."
"Look at here," replied Foss. "I don't want people to think that I'm in this thing. ”

“ Alfred Vanhoosen was dead, so was Vasquez and his two followers, Maltravers was dying, and Lena was in a like condition, while the shepherd would never speak again.
Frantic with grief, Jack threw himself on the body of his beloved.
"My darling, my baby!" he exclaimed; "speak to me."
Lena raised her fast glazing eyes to him, but she could not utter a word.
With bitter, scalding tears, Jack watched her die.
Let us draw a vail over this affecting scene.
Jack and Harvey went back to the hotel at Clark's Station and sent men for the bodies. ”

“ Jack and Alfonso were supplied with a pickax, a shovel and a basket.
They first picked down the earth or diamond-studded dirt, then shoveled it into the basket, afterward carrying it to the nearest shaft, where it was taken in hand by others, and sent up to the surface.
"What are you in for?" asked Alfonso.
"They say I took a man's watch, and I got five years," replied Jack.
"That's nothing," continued Alfonso; "I killed my man, and I was sent 'down' for life."
Jack shuddered.
He was in the company of a murderer. ”

“ Pedro discharged his pistol, as he had threatened to do, but Alfonso received the bullet in his left shoulder without flinching. With his right hand he drove the sharp point of his pick into the skull of the keeper.
Pedro fell with a groan.
Again and again the infuriated convict struck him until, in his mad frenzy, he had smashed his skull into a jelly.
"What have you done?" asked Jack.
"Settled him, any way. There is one mine-boss gone, and the world is rid of another petty tyrant," replied Alfonso. ”

“ It was seldom that a mine slave lasted longer than five years.
The wretches, cruelly tasked and badly fed, broke down and perished miserably.
The government worked the mines for its own benefit, entirely by convict labor, and made a handsome profit out of it, for the labor cost them nothing but what they paid for food, and often diamonds of large size, first water, and great value were found when the mines were reached. The prisoners were detailed to certain sections, and Jack had to work underground with a desperate-looking ruffian whose name was Alfonso. ”

“ Clarence stepped back at this shot.
"Subterfuges will not avail you, sir," he replied. "This is my wife's handkerchief you hold in your hand. You are a villain and a trickster!"
"No man shall call me that," cried Jack.
He raised his fist and knocked Clarence down, which was precisely what that pliant tool of Lord Maltravers wanted.
Elise shrieked.
The attention of the whole house was quickly transferred to the occupants of Box B.
"Help! help!" shouted Clarence. ”

“ On being informed of the tragedy, the governor of the mines held an examination.
Harkaway told his story with such a straightforward, truthful air, that he was instantly believed.
No blame attached to him.
"It wasn't your quarrel, my good fellow," said the governor, "and I do not see how you could have interfered successfully. These affairs must occur in such a population as ours. It was clearly Pedro's own fault for not using his pistol with more celerity and not taking a better aim. You are discharged."
"Thank you, sir," replied Jack. "Might I ask you one favor?" ”

“ Smith were closeted together for over an hour, when the latter left.
"You fully understand?" said his lordship, at parting.
"Perfectly."
"I leave for Calistoga this afternoon, and depend upon you."
"I will do my best, sir," replied Clarence, respectfully.
Closing the door, he sank into a chair and wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead.
"He is not a man," he muttered; "he is a fiend."
Elise had entered the room.
"What is that you say?" she asked.
"Nothing," replied Clarence, evasively. "I have to go out. This evening I shall take you to the theatre." ”

“ Clarence did not move; he picked up his hat and left the pistol where it had fallen.
"Be a man," continued Mr. Smith. "Don't be afraid of the world and the world won't hurt you."
Humiliated, and with his head in a whirl, Clarence quitted the room, and Mr. Smith re-entered the gambling-saloon, in which was a noisy party of miners who, having come into town with plenty of money, could not resist the fascinations of faro. ”

“ Jack laughed in a quiet, satisfied manner.
"They reckoned without one thing," he exclaimed. "They thought I was still working in the mines of Brazil, and little imagined that Jack Harkaway was on their track."
"They'll find it out, though, before long," said Harvey, with a grin.
"You bet."
"Now, let us go ahead. They haven't much the start of us."
"I'm ready."
Jack turned to the shepherd.
"Can you follow a trail?" he asked.
"I guess so, boss," was the reply. ”

“ Your enemy wishes to get you out of the way for a time. That is all."
"I heard," said Jack, "that I was, in some mysterious way, to be sent as a slave to the diamond mines."
"Not by me, at all events," laughed the captain.
"Are you sure?"
"Perfectly. My instructions are simply to land you at Rio, and there will end my duty as regards you."
Jack could not make this out.
He was forced, however, to be content with the assurance given him by Captain Moreland, and there the conversation ended.
There were plenty of books in the cabin. He messed with Moreland. ”

“ Harkaway, and that's all there is in it."
"That is true, Foss; you are as square as they make them."
"Let us go on, then."
"Not till Harkaway gets out."
Harvey now leveled his pistol at Nappa Bill.
"You scoundrel," he said; "take that."
As before, the bullet flew wide of the mark.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Nappa Bill; "the ball isn't molded yet that can hit me."
Just then some one fired from behind, and Harvey fell into the stage with a bullet in his shoulder.
"My God, I'm hit!" he cried.
Jack rose up.
"We are overpowered," he exclaimed. "I do not wish my friends to suffer for my sake." ”

“ Harkaway is an honorable and elegant gentleman in every sense of the word, and by no means a pauper. He can support Lena just as well as you have supported her, and there is no reason why he should not marry her. ”

“ He carried the knife between his teeth.
The seals, who could be numbered by hundreds, had crept out of the sea and were lying in various places on the rocks, apparently asleep.
Some must have been awake, however, for every now and then a loud bark was heard.
What Captain Foster had said about the seals being dangerous was perfectly true.
They had been bearing young, and were perfectly ready to repel any invasion of their territory.
This Jack did not know.
No one ever interfered with them, as it is a penal offense to shoot them, they being one of the shows of the city. ”

“ Smith, alias Lord Maltravers, who is your enemy."
"Ha!" ejaculated Harkaway.
"You expected to meet Lord Maltravers here this evening," pursued Elise.
"Candidly, you are right."
"He is gone to the Geysers to make terms with Vasquez, the bandit, to kidnap you."
"And then?"
"You are to be shipped to Rio de Janeiro, where for the remainder of your days you will work as a slave in the diamond mines of Brazil."
"But how is all this to be done, my dear girl?" asked Jack, smiling.
"I know not; they have their plans all made up. It is horrible." ”

“ Harkaway's escapade, as it would be called, could be sent to Miss Vanhoosen, and her mind be poisoned by reading how Jack was caught in a box at the theatre with another man's wife.
This was part of his deep-laid plot.
Jack returned to the Palace Hotel, where Mr. Mole and Harvey were awaiting him.
They could not help laughing when they heard how Maltravers had succeeded in tricking him, after all.
"Never mind; there will be no harm done," said the professor. "You can write to Miss Vanhoosen, and your word will go further than anything he can say."
"It isn't what he can say," exclaimed Jack ”

“ Captain Moreland hastily settled the bill and followed his victim.
A magistrate was sitting on the bench, and Jack soon had a specimen of how swiftly justice is administered in Brazil.
Moreland told his story, stating how he had given the prisoner a passage from San Francisco, and how he had returned his kindness by stealing his watch, while under the influence of liquor.
"He is drunk now," he added, "or perhaps he would not have done it."
"Do you press the charge?" asked the court.
"It is my duty to society to do so." ”