Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine — page 124: what you’re looking at

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

466 Thetis then believed that she saw a solu- tion to the enigma. “Tf it’s not the Indians,” she muttered, “it’s that mulatto, and if it’s not the mulat- to, it’s that nasty, stinkin’ little foreigner. May the Lord help her! I wish Charles or some one were here to tell me what to do.” In this disorganized state the garrison at the Carrington house. remained, until about twelve o’clock that night when Fred and his party returned. CHAPTER XXIII. THE PRISONER. AN ETER allowing Mary Ann and her four companions to pass in safety, De Car- dac and Jude held a long consultation. The result of which was to bind the two schemers more closely together. Paul had promised that, no matter what happened, he would stand by Jude until Frederick Pope was killed. The creole had vainly endeavored to discover why Jude bore such enmity toward Fred. The ex-slave would not reveal his secret; but he solemnly prom- ised De Cardac that, come what might, he would not desert him until Mary Ann was his. The conspirators had overheard most of the discussion at Fred’s cabin and they knew where the party of armed women had gone. They followed them and secreted themselves in the neighborhood of the Car- rington house. For four days they spied upon the place, during which time it just happened that Mary Aor never left the house. Paul and the mulatto took turns at watching. They dared not make an open attack, but bided their opportunity. De Cardac was like one possessed; hectic in his intentions to achieve the fiendish purpose upon which he had staked every- thing, and toward which Jude, with the cunning of the devil himself, was constant- ly inciting him. The mulatto hated, and the white man loved; these two opposite passions burned in them at white heat and produced the same result: the desire to compass the de- ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE. struction of the life and happiness of Fred- erick Pope and the undoing of his wife. Nothing was too low, nothing too mean for them to stoop to in order that they might gratify their evil lusts. On the night of the panther scare, when Mary Ann emerged from the house, De Cardac had been hiding very near the door. As the woman rushed out into the dark- ness, she was clearly revealed in the bright light which streamed through the open door. Paul realized his advantage; Mary Ann had only taken a few steps when he -crept after her; skirting the path of light, he stole through the darkness. * Divesting him- self of his coat, he sprang upon the unsus- pecting girl and threw the coat over her head. ' At first she was so astonished that she made no cry, nor did she struggle to free herself. Her gun slipped from her relaxed fingers and dropped silently upon the grass. De Cardac pinioned her arms tightly to her sides, and, lifting her off -her feet, ran with his burden toward where the horses were hidden. Paul was far from having recovered his usual strength, but Mary Ann was light, and besides, now that he was achieving vic- tory, he seemed possessed of an almost su- perhuman power. The woman, taken so completely by sur- prise, could make little resistance. The arms that held her seemed made of iron and were so hot that they seemed to burn through her clothes. She was dazed more than she was frightened. She attempted to cry out, but no sound escaped through the heavy coat. In a few minutes Paul had joined Jude. Then Mary Ann was bound; her arms strapped to her sides, her feet tied together. The coat was not taken from her head and Paul continued to hold it tightly in place while he whispered directions to the mulatto. Mary Ann could scarcely breathe and gasped pitifully for air, trembling and twist- ing as she was changed from the hands of one.of the captors to those of the other. Then, like a sack of meal, she was lifted onto a horse and placed in the arms of Paul de Cardac. All this had taken place before Thetis conmiclooolkks.conn