The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 113: what you’re looking at

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

“ - —— s . =. THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. 107 She rose from her seat the instant Frank appeared and pulled out a pistol. ““ Approach !” said she, in hissing tones, “and I fire | My life depends on it.” Not heeding her threat, Frank rushed towards her, She snapped the pistol full in his face. Tt missed fire. © \ The next moment she was struck a heavy blow in ats face by Frank’s clenched fist, and fell upon the oor. The noise awoke Agnese, In an instant ske recognised her young deliverer, and with a faint cry of joy rose bolt upright in bed, and flung her arms around him. There was no time for explanation now. Haste was necessary, and caution. He took the half-fainting maid upon his arms, and bore her away. | . He had not got far along the passage when the old hag rose to her feet like a wild woman. She tossed down the pillows on the bed. Under them were concealed a pair of pistols. She seized them, and ran after the fugitives. She fired both weapons along the dark passage, The balls could be heard rattling along the stone gallery. , _ They whistled close to Frank’s head as he hurried along with his precious burden. Not content with this the old hag began to scream and shout most horribly until the echoes of her cracked voice resounded in terrible tones of fright and alarm. “ Haste, Frank, haste !” said the faithful Ambrose, ** or you will be pursued.” “Oh! that I had killed the witch,” said Frank, “Thad half a mind to do so; but I hate to shed a woman’s blood.” “ But she is not a woman,” said Ambrose. “ Wild cat is what'I call her. _A perfect she-devil,’” Still the old hag’s cries could be heard resound- ing, and still onward sped the fugitives. Ere long, however, and when nearly exhausted with the burden, Frank heard the uproar and noise of many voices, : The clanging and slamming of doors, the sounds of heayy feet, curses and oaths were now audible behind him, ae : “ Hscaped ! escaped!’ were the shouts which now pursued him, The old hag’s cries {had alarmed ‘many of the bandit band, who were grouped under trees outside the cave. Almost falling from sheer weakness, Frank at last reached the end of the gallery, and Agnese was passed through the large hole to his companions outside. “‘ Now that you are safe, farewell,” said Ambrose. He waived his hand as_ he said, ‘‘ Descend the mountain ; quick, for your lives; run, along the gorge, and you arejsafe. We shall {meet shortly again.’ | Frank and his followers did not need this good advice, They descended the mountain-side as nimbly as monkeys, and soon reached the gorge. In winter time this gorge was deep with water that flowed from the mountain range, and was im- passible, thus making this side of the bandit’s ren- dezvous impregnable. Now, however, it was quite dry, Mark, the strongest of the party, carried Annette, But Frank would entrust none with Agnese ; he carried her himself, Love seemed to lighten his load, and he followed his companions at a rapid pace, They had gone on some distance ‘in safety and silence, and began to think that all danger was over, ei te least expected, a wild ‘shout assailed their ears ! Their flight had been disccvered ‘by several of the bandit band on the look-out on the mountain-side. “Haste,” said Frank ; “haste, my lads, we are discovered and pursued, They are close upon us !” This was true, The bandit band on the mountain-side no sooner caught sight of the fugitives, than they hastened down towards the gorge, and began to fire rapidly. Notwithstanding the danger, Frank refused to allow any one to help him, He persisted in bringing up the rear, and man- fully did he do it. With a revolver, he frequently stopped, took de- liberate aim, and shot down several of the dusky vagabonds, But this was not all the danger. The bandit band had now surrounded the Boy Soldiers, and in all directions were firing upon them |! The moment was critical and terrible. It seemed as if every one of them would be cut down by the galling fire of the brigands. ‘‘ We are lost ! we are lost !” cried several. “Hope on, fight on,” said Frank, bold’ as ever. “Do you hear that?” said he, with a face flushed with pleasure and triumph. They apiened. / It was the Boy Soldiers rushing to the rescue, led on by Fatty and Buttons, and directed in their course by Teresa, the spy. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST MR, ‘CASPAR—THE FALSE WITNESSES—MR, SCHMIDT.’ MEETS WITH A VERY PLEASANT AND CHATTY COMPANION IN THE THHATRE—HE SITS’ FACE TO FACE WITH A DETECTIVE; BUT DOESN'T KNOW IT— THE WHOLE TRIAL READ AND EXPLAINED BY THE STRANGER, TO MR. SCHMIDT’S GREAT DELIGHT—THE MYSTERIOUS SERGEANT GALE— MISCHIEF BREWING. WE return once more to the Detective ! Most people would naturally suppose that the very first thing Gale did when. he discovered the whereabouts of old Flint, was to knock at the door, put his hand on the cunning old lawyer’s shoulder, and say, ‘‘ Mr. Flint, lam a detective, and you are wanted on the charge of wilful murder.” Nothing of the kind. Detectives are not like other mortals, nor do they accomplish their ends in an ordinary manner, When, least expected; they pounce down upon their unconscious prey, although they may hover around it for months ere doing so, The first thing which Detective Gale. did was to slip away from his .companions—the negro minstrels, As he strolled down the streets he espied a police- man, He gave a peculiar sign by which they might know each other; but the constable looked; and stared, and looked again harder than ever at the black-faced fellow in astonishment, ** Don’t you know me ?”' said Gale. ‘‘ Know you, of course, 1.do, You're one of the street darkies,”’ “My name is Gale, and——” Comicbool CO inn