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

"I cannot," said the squire; "my arm is useless. I pnt
> out tlif siniiiliU'r in > 'I climbing rock."
"
This then is i
( your suliini-ssivi-iii'ss," thought
May. But she said nothing, merely passing the ropo round
tin- waist of her enemy, and securing him as well as sho could
to the basket.
"
Save yourself, also, dearest Grace," cried "
Aguese. Indeed,
I am not afraid to stay alone."
"
No, dear child, wo. will live or dio together," said May,
folding her arms round her sister, and giviug the preconcerted
signal for the hoisting of the rope.
Up went the basket directly, and a shout of execration hailed
the appearance of the squire overhead; but May Nettervillo
heard it not. With her blind sister bound tightly to her
bosom, ono hand yet clasping her for greater security, while
the other grasped the stone cross of the altar, all her energies
of soul and body were concentrated in the effort to preserve
herself and her precious charge from being swept away by the
breakers. Quicker and stronger every minute they came dash-
ing over her; one had scarcely retired, before another, yet
more terrible, leaped into its place, threatening to bury her
beneath its waters; and scarcely able to breathe, half drowned,
half blind beneath the merciless showers of spray, her bodily
power was rapidly failing, and even her high courage almost
exhausted, when something dark passed through the air, and
the rope and the basket lay at her feet. Too late, too late
all her strength was gone; sight and sense had nearly failed
her; the hand that grasped the cross fell powerless at her side;
and the next wave would have borne her far from her rook of
refuge, had not a strong arm been thrown around
her and a strong hand bound her and her half-dead
safe, Daniel. I never should have felt happy again, if you
had lost your life in my service."
" Now, may heaven's blessiu' be upon you for that very
word, Miss May," said the poor fellow, gratefully. "And
niver think, a-chorra, that I risked your precious life by puttin'
mv clumsy self in the basket along wid ye. No, no ; I
knew better nor that, I hope. Manners, says I to myself ;
Misther Daniel, Indies first, iv you plaise. So with that I
made the rope tight round your own purty little waist; and
stuck like an oyster to the rock, whilst they were hoisting yez
up."
"I am, indeed, most grateful for your generous devotion,"
murmured May, still speaking and feeling like one in a dreain,
BO completely had her strength been exhausted in the struggle.
" May I never sin, Miss May, if I didn't think the good people
had been at: gome of their tricks, when, instead of the sweet
little dove that w: nt down in the basket, I seed the ugly ould
squire, lookiii' forJthe world like a carcumvinted magpie half
drowndtd in its nest.
"The squire ! the squire!" cried May, springing to her
feet, as all the particulars of her adventure now flushed on her
ry.
"Ah! now you look likeyom
'
MifsMny; so I may
AUXL'XV. 23
venture (o toll you, I'm nfonrd there'll bo wild wnrlc nm
i'TS this nioriiin'. !
nliunti. >f them for OroppieB th*e six months, s.
swore tluy would spoil his sport for the future. And troth,"
continued Daniel, not locking, it must bo confessed, mm
tressed at the prospect, " it's like enough they'll bo as (.'.'
their word, for Shan;; iv the, Lift Hand is among them, and he
fears neither man or devil, when he has a mind for a bit of
reviugc. "
" Good God, Daniel! and whithor have they brought him ? "
" Down yonder to the Dead Man's Cave, Miss May and a
;
bad place it is ; and many a bud deed it has seen ; and not t!io
least, either, I'm thinkin', for Shane is a terrible man for a bit
iv revinge ; and he says the squire sworn three of his sous to
to the gallows for lebels ; and . But
off to in such a hurry, Miss May ?"
"To prevent murder, to be sure," cried May.
where ore you startin"
" Kun, Dnn-
iel, to my uncle, and bring him hither direetly. Moya, stay
with the child or rather take her to my grandmother's. And
you, Daniel, run for your very life."
And having rapidly given these directions, May Nettervillo
darted off like lightning in the direction of the Dead Man's
Cave. She was not a minute too soon. By the light of a
torch which one of the smugglers held in his hand, she beheld
her unhappy uncle, bound hand and foot to a projecting portion
of the rook, and gagged so tightly to prevent him from
screaming, that his face was completely distorted, and his eyes
almost starting from his head by the pressure. The smugglers
were crowding fiercely round him, with many a muttered threat
and half-suppressed execration and a ; vessel full of tar, and a
great heap of feathers, too plainly proclaimed the terrible fate
in store for him. As she entered the cave, the quick eye of
May Netterville took in all this at a glance ; and without bestowing
a thought on her own safety, or the risk she was running,
she passed light through the crowd, and interposed her
sister to the basket; and when next May Netterville
opened her eye-, she found herself lying on the rocks, from
whence she had descended only half an hour before. Wilh
the exception of one old woman, busily occupied in the care of
Agnese, there seemed no one near her. May felt as if slie had
been in a terrible dream.
"
"Daniel, Daniel ! she cried, sitting up, and trying to recall
"
her scattered senses. Surely, Daniel was with us among the
waters."
"To be sure he was to bo sure he was," cried Daniel,
darting from behind the rocks, which had kept him out of
sight, and crying and laughing both at the same time, in the
excess of his delight at once m6re hearing her speak. "And
did you think, a-lanna, that poor Daniel was going to let you
be dhrowued, for the sake of the precious ould rogue you sent
"
us up in the basket ?
"Hush! hush!" said May, something like a smile playing
round her own pale lips, while she took her still insensible
sister from the arms of old Hoy a. "But I thank God you are
slight form between them and their victim.
" What are you about, my men," she "
cried. Would you
commit murder 1 "
" We would give to the duoul his own," said Left-hand
Shane, eyeing the squire with savage malignity.
" Then you should give your own necks to the hangman,"
retorted May, fearlessly. "Think you not the whole country
would rise to avenge such an outrage as this? "
" The whole country would belie its own thoughts and feelings,
then," muttered Shane. "From the young girl, who,
they say, is still to the fore, to step into his shoes, dpwu to the
poorest craythur on the estate, not a man, woman, or child
that wouldn't dance with joy over the renegade's grave."
"Now, at least, you lie, man," said May, drawing her slight
form to its utmost height, and looking proudly on the wonder-
"
ing men, For I am the young girl of whose will you prate
BO freely; and I swear to you, if you do this deed, I will pursue
you to the gallows. Yes; though the broad lauds of Netterville
were to be sold for the money."
"You talk big, Miss Netterville," said Shane, a shade of
respect unconsciously mingling with his former manner; "but
you forget that yon also are in our power."
"I do not forget it," said May; "you shall kill me before
you touch one hair of his head; and see if the country will be
as lenient upon you for the murder of the niece as for that of
the uncle. Now, man, come on ! You may tar and feather ua
both together if you will."
And in her lofty self-forgetfulnesa, May actually flung her
arms round the neck of the man, from whose touch she would
at any other time, have recoiled with as much loathing as sh
would have done from that of a serpent.
"Miss Netterville," said Shane, impatiently, "I mane you
no harm, but I have sworn to have the life of this man; and by
the dark duoul I will have it; so stand back iv you value your
own."
Miss Nettervillo, however, stirred not an inch.
'Work your will, if you list, ''she contented hwssJf with saying,
" but it must be upon us both. '"