Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

w ee ee 84 —eew fF weer aer Mo ee 9 ee ee ee ee SC tr, SPRING-HEEL’D JACK: THE TERROR OF LONDON. Ome : “a ¥ _ i - - “Well, I'm jiggered,” he muttered, ‘* where did that come from? There’s nobody here, and Jerry couldn’t have done it, when he ain’t up the trap.” Jack stuck close to the chimneys, and hidden completely in the stack, he continued to smother his Jaughter. “Oh, I see what it was,” he muttered, ‘‘ I must have been fool enough to shove my head agin one of them ’ere chimneys.” Jack grinned. | The ruffian again approached the trap. Jack measured his distance. Out went his hand again, and the burglar re- ceived a smart blow on the cheek. Round he sprang like a top. Fury was in his glance. But he saw nothing. He dropped his upraised hand to his side— staggered back a step, and muttered— ‘* Well, I’m licked !” 7 The man was certainly becoming frightened now. Unable to trace the source from whence the blows came, it was evident that his ignorance was leading him to look upon it as the work of a supernatural being. “It must have been the devil,” he said, scratch- ing his head with one hand, and rubbing his smarting face with the other. ‘It couldn’t have been anybody ‘else, or I must have seen ’em. Jerry—Jerry ?” . He had again turned to the trap. | ‘““Confound the fellow, why don’t he come— he can’t slope off the other way, for the peelers is on the watch—hist, Jerry, all square up here ?” Jack had got down from the chimney-stack, and darting quickly and silently forward, he administered a tremendous kick at the bottom of the burglar’s back as_he was stooping to call his comrade, which sent him staggering along the roof for several feet. - Ere he had gained his equilibrium, Jack had once more made for his place of concealment, where he crouched, watching the fellow with great amusement. . ~ Thunder me blue!” roared the burglar, for- getting that silence was a virtue in his situation: “if you'll only show yourself, [1 chuck you off the cursed house.” ~ ‘Very kind of you, I’m sure,” muttered Jack to himself. , , * I will—so help me never, I will,” continued the excited man, placing himself in a fichting attitude, and squaring at the air. Jack now picked a piece of loose mortar from behind the chimneys, and with unerring ain, threw it at the eye of the burglar. The man uttered a horrible curse, and sprang forward. “I'll find out who it is, I will by ——’ he yelled. Another piece, larger than the one before, struck him on the nose. Unable to trace the spot from where the came, or discover the hand that hurled them with such precision, the burglar had become utterly bewildered and alarmed, and turned first one way and then the other, anxious to escape yet not knowing which way to fly, -_ + —~ oo ef Oe eee — . - At this moment menced bawling for the police loudly from the window, and the burglar once more became alive to his danger, and the prospects of his capture if © he did not beat a hasty retreat. Still, he was evidently loth to go without his pal, who still lingered behind—from some cause or other. | “ Jerry—Jerry !” he cried, “if you don’t come I must go without you. We shall be nailed if we stop here any longer—cuss the swag, never mind that—let it go to the devil !” “TJ don’t want it,” said Jack, gliding*from his concealment, and standing upon the roof, holding the folds of his cloak out at arm’s length. | The man turned quickly on the very edge of | the trap, and stood face to face with our hero. His rough visage blanched with terror and dismay. | His eyes and mouth opened till they could stretch no wider. ) His short-cropped hair stood up like porcu- pine’s quills, and lifted his cap upon his head. He trembled as if seized with the palsy, and his cruel heart throbbed as though it would burst through his bosom. “ Je—Je—Jerry !” he gasped. de—de—devil !” “ Glad to see me, are you not ?” asked Jack, in his hollow tone, and turning so as to allow the “ Here’s the ‘moonlight to fall on his mask. ‘* No—no—no !” stammered the man. -. “Sorry for that, because I’ve come for you, you see.” , | ““Co—co—come for me ?” z “Just so. Are you ready to go ?” “No, .no, no !” “ Well, it’s all the same, you must come,” said Jack. - And he advanced with extended arms, as if to clasp the burglar in his embrace. . The man uttered a short, sharp ery of terror, and stepped back hastily. That was a fatal step for him, and also for his companion, who was now making his way up the ladder to the roof to join his comrade. The burglar had found no resting-place for his foot.as he fell back before the advance of Jack. He had stepped into the traphole in his terror, and, losing his balance, fell backwards through it on the head of his friend, dashing him to the landing with fearful violence, and, rolling over him, pitched head first down the flight of stairs to the first floor, where he lay groanin agony, having broken his collar-bone in the fall. Jerry was more fortunate than his friend and fellow-burglar. That personage had certainly received an injury of the neck. but it did not prevent him rising hastily to his feet and making up the ladder to the roof, in the hopes of escape. Of course he knew nething of what had caused his pal to fall back upon him. He doubtless attributed it to accident, and feeling that his best — course would be to ensure his own safety and y | leave his companion’to himself, he sped on till he reached ‘the roof. As he was about getting on the pots through the opening: on to the moonlit tiles, he was confronted by Jack, who had again sprung on to the stack of chimneys, and with a shout of OOO re eS et ee aa ——™ Tene oe sae Ow * ee rn a tere =k — ‘ comicboo “ee = ~-_-e «« the aroused inmates com-— with |