Jack and His Seven Foes — page 147: what you’re looking at

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133 sufficient adieu of your parents, and I feel that you and I must part now. Annie, good-bye.” “ Good- bye, dear Jack.” She held up her face, and their lips met in a loving kiss. | Then he drew back a little. “Tf I come not back in two years,” he said, “I shall be dead. Do not mourn, but forget me.” And then, with a wave of the hand, he was gone into the darker shadows of the wood, and lost to view. % * Jim Black, the Settler, had been at work, and the day being warm, he laid his coat upon the ground. It lay there all day, and at night he put it on and went off to the shanty for a drink. The Swaggerer and the Panther had _# % % JACK AND HIS SEVEN FOES. just come in, and they brought with them some specimens of the ore they had been working upon. “ The richest vet found,” they said. Jim Black looked at the pieces they showed him, but thought he had a better specimen. “T put it in my pocket to-day,” he said. ‘“‘I have it here. Hullo! what is this ?”’ , A square note, neatly fclded and addressed to the Settler. ~ “T think I know what that 1s,” the Panther. The Settler, with a shudder, opened it, and read— said ‘You were spared once, but you have elected to return to your old companions —youare unchanged. I therefore warn you that I may come to-morrew. So be prepared—be ready for me at any moment, day or night. J ACK.” CPUDPILD2 EPA CDA PUPP UUM of— — PA EPR NDINOVDAAUNTt OU" CHAPTER LY. THE SETTLER MAKES THE BEST OF A BAD JOB, AND STARTS ON A JOURNEY—A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE. Tue Settler did not betray so much emotion as one might have expected, for he had developed into a bit of a stoic. ‘‘T wish he had named the time,’ he said, ‘‘and then I should have known when to expect him; but I don’t hke a eursed uncertainty.” His old companions no longer desired his society. The Swaggerer in par- ticular showed a shrinking from him. “It L were you, Settler,’ he said, ““T’d bolt at once, and get across the sea. You've got the tin.” “ Look at what I leave behind,” the Settler. “Don’t forget that your shares are good while you live,” remarked the Panther. “Or until I sell out.” “Look here,” said the Swaggerer, “Panther and I can help you with some tiny Can't we; Panther ? *’ The Panther nodded. ‘“ Between us we can lend youa thou- sand dollars, and that will keep you going, with your own money, until you've settled somewhere.” “And what then?” said | good it will be to you. “You drop usa line. We get a find now and then, and we'll arrange for your share of tin to be sent on.”’ “ What will Tom Jordan say?” “ We'll get up a yarn to satisfy him, trust us,” said the Swaggerer. ‘ You have got a sweetheart you are bu’sting to see, or a mother—” “No, not a mother,’ said the Settler ; “don’t come that soft tusiness with me.” “ Well, a sweetheart, then. Come over to our crib, and we will give you the money:;” “J know,” said the Settler, looking steadily at them, “that there’s no real friendship in this ; but—”’ “Come, Settler, ‘don’t be ungrateful.” “im truthful for once, and I know, and you know, that your game is to get me as far away as possible.” ‘“Tsn’t it your game, too? ”’ “Yes; but you are thinking of the You know that he will follow me if I went to the heart of China.” “We don’t deny it.” “And the longer he is away, the longer peace ton you; and Ill bet a comicbooks.conm