Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 44: what you’re looking at

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

RS a OI —_ ~~ es EE ES forth his hand to save him ; but the poor fellow, fearful of his touch, started violently, and, with a cry of horror, fell backwards off the barge into the river. With a ery which echoed that of the man, and mingled with the loud plash of the waters, as the poor fellow sank within them, Jack sprang forward, and gazed down upon the spot where he had disappeared. “Curse the mask!” cried Jack, tearing it from his face, and thrusting it savagely into the pocket of his saturated coat. Curse the mask, I say! It has, indeed, played the devil to- night. But the girl—the girl! I had forgotten her. The fellow will no doubt be able to save himself,” He was about to spring off the barge into the stream, when the man rose to the surface, with a loud, despairing shriek, which caused Jack to hesitate in his purpose. As the man rose higher up out of the water, Jack saw that his movements were hampered, aud that he was endeavouring to shake off some object which clung to his neck. ; Shriek after shriek broke from the man’s lips, and echoed from shore to shore, and the next instant our hero’s heart bounded with joy as he perceived that the arms of Ellen Folder encircled the neck of the affrighted man. ‘‘ Hor God’s sake, don’t shake her off!” cried Jack. Don’t shake her off.” But the man only struggled the more to release himself. ) “ Fool!’’ cried Jack, enraged, as he knelt down on the edge of the barge, and bending over it, stretched forth his hand, with the intention of aiding the man aad his burthen up on to the vessel; *‘ would you sacrifice the life of a woman to your terrors ?” Either the man did not hear or paid no heed to his words, for he succeeded in releasing the hold of Ellen from his neck, and like a stone she instantly disappeared in the river. | Insensible to everything, in a dying grasp she had clutched at the neck of the man as he sank into the water, and had been drawn up by him to the surface when he arose. Such a circumstance would no doubt have viving a sudden shock to the bravest when un- expected, as it was in the case of the bargeman, ind the man’s terror may be well accounted for when he was naturally of an illiterate and super- stitious nature. It was the last despairing yet unknown action of the poor girl, that grasp she had made at his veck, and redoubled the terror which the sight of Jack’s mask had already inflicted. The thought that he might save a life never for an instant entered his mind, he only thought of losing his own. As Ellen again disappeared, Jack gave vent (o an exclamation of disgust and horror, and in lis indignation he struck at the fellow as he frantically grasped the cable which moored the barge in the river, and caused him ‘to relax his hold, and once more disappear beneath the surface. Without waiting to think what might be the consequences of his act, Jack sprang from off the barge into the water, and succecde 3 in grasping ——— 6 20 SPRING-HEEL’D JACK ; THE TERROR OF LONDON. at the form of the poor insensible girl, as the | under-current was bearing her away. He would have uttered an exclamation of joy had he dared to open his mouth. However, his heart beat with the feeling as his left arm encircled her waist, and together they shot upwards to the surface. He had expected to rise just under the rope by which the barge was moored. In this, however, he was disappointed. As his anxious glance swept the surface of the river, he found that himself and his insensible burthen had risen at least a dozen yards further towards the centre of the stream. The tide was now running rapidly out, and Jack struggled hard to swim towards the barge. This he found, hampered as he was by Ellen, to be a task impossible, and he changed his course, hoping to be enabled to reach the shore alittle further down. ~ “There is no fear of her struggling,” he thought. ‘ She is too far gone for that, poor thing. So Ineed have no fear that any indis- creet action of her own may carry us both to eternity ; yet every moment is precious, and her life hangs now upon a thread. Come, Jack, you have done enough harm, now is your time to atone for it.” | He shifted Ellen, so as to render her weight the more easy to bear, and struck manfully out. For a time he seemed to get along as he could wish, but the exertions of that night were telling upon him, and every moment his strength sank lower and lower, and the weight of the poor seamstress became greater and greater. Still he struggled on. | But the strength of the current was too much even for his endurance. His strokes became shorter, he laboured more heavily, his frame was exhausted, and despair now took the place of hope. | Moments flew by, and on, on, the swiftly running stream bore Jack and his insensible burthen nearer and nearer to the lines of trad- ing vessels, which every instant loomed up larger and clearer to his anxious view. On, past wharves ard barges—on, on, till faintness and exhaustion made every stroke a work of such arduous labour, that it seemed as if it must be the last. On, till, with a ery of joy, Jack perceived a small beat moored to the stern of a little collier, which, with a cry of gratitude, he graspedat, | and thanked heaven they were saved. CHAPTER XY, JACK AND THE RIVER POLICE—THE CAPTURE AND — ESCAPE—DISCOMFITURE OF THE OFFICER. WHILE supporting himself and Ellen Folder by clinging to the boat, a sudden ray of light flashed across Jack’s eyes, and a gruff voice saluted his ears, | “Ahoy there! Who the devil are you?” | Jack cast his eyes upwards, and by the light of a lantern held over the stern of the vessel, he | perceived a bronzed and bearded face looking | down upon him. : “Bear a hand here,” said. | : ck Ae T have a } y/ | a _ —y SS - “pie. -