Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

mpanied by the men from whom ho hiul borrowed tho machine,
and May recognized nmoug their faces sumo of the most
anil 6ll-kncrwn smugglers
011 the const men of lives
so .;. ihat at other time she -\vonld have shrunk from
their contact, but at, this moment she cared not who or what
on the man who had spoken,
" Yours, achorra !" cried Daniel. " No ; rather than that, I
will try it myself ; and, Miss May, darlin', I know I needn't
say a word about the little ones at home, for you war always
tindher and kind, and a mother like to them as had no other,
and so were all yer race afore you, for the matther of that, bar-
riu' the ould rogne up nt the hall my heavy curse on him for
the shame and sorrow he has brought on the name !" While
speaking these words as rapidly as ever they could come
out of his mouth, Daniel busily employed himself in arranging
the rope and the basket for an immediate descent, but
May Netterville touched him on the shoulder. "I thank you,
Daniel; but I put no man's life in peril mine will be sufficient.
"
" You will perish in the attempt, Miss May. See what a
depth it is below ; and if the rope should twist ever so little
you will be dashed into atoms against the rocks."
" Men do these things everyday for birds' nests," said May,
speaking rapidly, but rather to herself than her companion,
" and sliall not I do it for Agnese ?"
" Only look down, Miss May," continued Daniel. "Iv yer
senses fail iv the rope break ; look down, alauna ! look
down I"
May Netterville did look down, and felt her brain grow dizzy
as she looked, The descent was fearful, and the rocks beneath
all the more terrible for the darkness in which they were
partially enveloped, while tho roar of the winds and of
waves, coming up iu hollow and confused murmurs from
the
out
of the depths below, seemed to tell of the certain death await-
ing her among them. '
" Think of the ould lady, think of his riverence what
would they say ?" pleaded Daniel in his most imploring ac-
cents.
Miss Netterville made no reply ;
mighty
she was battling wilh the
terror which had seized on her, and which almost
threatened to deprive of her senses but the ;
struggle was over
in a moment down to the ; very bottom of her heart she sent
her fear, down so deep that she herself was no longer conscious
of its existence.
" What would they say, Daniel I They would say I had
done my duty."
" Lower away, my men, lower away !" she cried, seating her-
self iu the basket, her free, firm voice belying the deadly paleness
of her lip and brow.
"
Stop, for the love of the great God above ye stop," cried
Daniel, laying fast hold of her by the skirt of lur dress. " Let
me go in your room, Mi-s May, and sure I will bring her back
to you iv I have to go look for her at the bottom of the say
only let me go in your room, a-chorra !"
"Away, away !" cried May Netterville, struggling violently
to free herself from his grasp.
" I um (nlJ, and it's no great matther to anyone when I go,"
sobbed the poor fellow, falling on his knees, and puttiutr hia
.
arms around her and tho bnskel, NO that Klip, could not move.
lin', all your you
fore you; do not cast them from you, as if you \v-re ungrateful
i r Giver. "
ad back, man, stand back," cried May; "you peril tho
they wore, BO they could give her assistance in her need.
"I see her, I think," she said to Daniel. "She must bo
saved, Daniel, she must be saved."
Daniel cast a despairing glance, first down into the deep
chasm, then on the old and knotted rope by which tho basket
was to lie suspended.
"
It is sartiu death to whoever times it," he muttered between
his teeth. "
" She must be "
saved," repeated May. Will they hold the
rope firm and life of my
steady, Daniel ?'
"The rope '11 hardly bear a man's weight, let alone a child
along wid him," said one of the smugglers giving the basket a
contemptuous kick with his "
foot. It is worn and twisted almost
out iv its strength already."
"
It will bear mine, then," said May, fixing her brave eyes
sister in those vain delays."
The suddenness of the announcement threw Daniel off his
guard; he cast up his eyes and anus to heaven in t-hn excess of
meiit; the smugglers seized the favorable moi
and May Xetterville was half-way down the chasm before ho
had in any degree recovered the UKO of his senses. Short time
had she for thought or terror, while hanging thus fearfully
midway iu tho air. Sight and sound, the boiling surge, tho
beetling rocks, tho howling stoim, all passed confusedly
through her brain; and not until she was safely lauded on the
altar rock, not until she had clasped her blind sister with all
the wild energy of her nature, to her bosom, did she fully realize
the danger of her situation.
" I knew you would come I knew you would come," sobbed
the child, twining her arms round her sister's neck, and more
moved, as it sometimes happens, by the prospect of rescue
than she had been in the presence of danger. "I knew lie
would send you to me."
"Yes, ye-i, dearest child, but we must hasten away now, for
the tide is rising fast. Ah !" cried May, recoiling from
another hand laid upon her garments; "you here !" she added,
when, her eyes becoming accustomed to the dim light, she
recognized the terror-stricken features of Squire Netterville.
"
Unhappy man ! pray well to God, for death is coming fast
on yonder breakers. "
"
Save me, savo me," gasped the wretch, already almost
choked in his agony.
"
I came to save my sister, and I will save her, so help me
God !" said M ty, resolutely, unbinding the girdle from her
waist and fastening Aguese to her own person with it.
"
May Netterville, May Netterville ! by the blood that flows
in both our veins, have pity on your father's brother."
"Agnese first," said May. "I will' sent the rope for an-
other turn."
" "
There will be no time no time ! shrieked the squire, as
a huge wave struck him on the shoulder.
"And what of my life what of the child? " said May, almost
fiercely, in her deep disgust for his selfish egotism.
" It is not my life I crave," sobbed the renegade at her feet ;
'lit is my salvation."
May hesitated : she saw thero was indeed but little time to
lose. A few more such breakers as tho last would clear the
rock of its ;
living occupants and her ; human nature sti
hard with the holy inspiration which suggested the sacn
her own life, and that of the child she so dearly loved, for the
sake of one who had been, not merely tho destroyer of her own
earthly prospects, but who could scarcely be held innocent of
the lives of her parents.
" Water may drown fire will not burn you," murmured
the unhappy man.
" You are innocent you may go to God ;
"
but I have the sin of Judas on my soul !
"
Save him, save him, dearest Grace," Agnese whu
now.
May looked at her, and for a moment thought of sending her
up with the squire ; but she changed her mind, fearing tl
in his selfish terror, he might seek to lighten the rope b_\
ing her from. him.
"Even now," thought she, "ho is so mad with fear, ho
sees not how easy it would be for him, a strong man, to n >b it
potr girl like me of the rope, which is our only chance of
safety."
"Save him, save him," Agueso once more pleaded, as she
saw her sister's hesitation.
But it needed not tlio urging. The large noble portion or
1
her nature had conquered the
thero:-
little inferior part. May put
\( tti Tville's hand, say
" l'i If in thxj basket, and hold fast tbo rope it is
"
ehuiice.
your only