The Mysteries and Miseries of San Francisco / Showing up all the various characters and notabilities, (both in high and low life) that have figured in San Franciso since its settlement.

by A Californian

CHAPTER XVI

A rude chorus that was being sung, or rather shouted by several coarse and desperate-looking men, who were seated around a table in a back room of a very low cabaret, and which was never visited only by the most depraved persons who resided in, or resorted to the neighborhood. They were thieves, and if anything could be judged from their countenances, they were capable of doing the most desperate deeds. The table was covered with glasses containing gin, rum, and brandy, and of which they had all been evidently partaking very freely, and they were smoking as hard as they were able.

There was a large wood fire upon the hearth; and the red glare it cast upon their features, gave them almost a supernatural appearance, and altogether the scene was as effective as one of those that are often represented in a melodrama. Obscene jokes and songs had been freely indulged in, and it did not seem as if they were inclined to leave off for some time. It was night, and the wind blew boisterous without, but the ruffians were making such a riot, that they heeded it not; and they were evidently determined to enjoy themselves to the most unlimited extent.

‘Drink away, my lads,’ said one Mike, raising the glass to his lips as he spoke;—‘drink away; we ought to be merry, for Fortune never smiled more brightly upon us than she has done for some time past.’

‘Ay, you say right, Mike,’ observed a tall, dark whiskered man, whom the thieves called Joe; ‘but leave us alone for doing business, and for availing themselves of fortune’s favors when they are to be obtained. Cap’n a toast!’

‘Ay, a toast; a toast;’ responded the others.

Mike raised a large glass, filled to the brim in his hand, and said;—

‘Well, my lads, I will give you a toast, and that shall be, Success to our dare-devil gang!’

‘Bravo! bravo!’ shouted the thieves. ‘Here’s to the dare-devil gang!’

‘A capital toast,’ said Mike; ‘and well responded to. With your leave, I will propose another.’

‘Ay, ay, a toast from Mike,’ shouted two or three of the thieves, amongst whom he was a particular favorite; ‘a toast from Mike.’

‘Fill your glasses then, my boys,’ said Mike; ‘bumpers! bumpers!’

The thieves needed no second invitation to do as Mike desired, and the glasses were very quickly replenished.

‘Here’s confusion to the Vigilance Committee!’ was Mike’s toast; and it was followed by loud shouts from every one in the room; the landlord of the house at that moment entering, and joining loudly in acclamation of it.

‘Ah!’ observed Joe,—‘they have found us rather troublesome customers to deal with, and will again if they should venture to attack us.’

‘I don’t think that there is much fear of that,’ returned Mike; ‘for we keep too well out of their clutches, and have met with such a career of success, that we may set them at defiance!’

‘Ay, ay,’ answered Mike; ‘and may we be always able to do so; and all those daring fellows, who will run the risk to live a free life.’

‘But Jenkins,’ asked Mike, ‘do you not think that it was a very foolish thing for us to loose so much time in affecting the accomplishment of this plot of Blodget’s?’

‘Certainly not,’ returned Jenkins; ‘Blodget has well rewarded us, and it will ultimately pay us much better than a trip to the mines would have done.’

‘How?’ demanded Mike.

‘Why, Blodget must continue to do the thing that’s liberal, or else his game will be up,’ replied Jenkins. ‘The lady is in our power, and we must continue to keep her so; if Blodget does not come to our terms, why, Old de Castro, no doubt, will, and, therefore, we are sure of a reward one way or the other.’

‘Yes, the gallows!’ observed one of the thieves, who had been sitting apart from the rest, and smoking his cigar heartily, did not seem to feel any particular interest in what was passing.

‘There’s Ben at his croaking again,’ said Mike; ‘he seems to take a delight in—’

‘Speaking the truth,’ added Ben, in a quiet tone; ‘it is very unpleasant to hear it sometimes.’

‘Pshaw! don’t make yourself a fool, Ben,’ exclaimed Jenkins; ‘any one would suppose, to hear you talk, that you had become tired of a thief’s life. But what think ye of my determination, my lads?’

‘It is a famous one,’ answered Mike, ‘and cannot fail to work us good.’

‘It must add much to our coffers one way or another,’ resumed Jenkins; ‘and I take no small credit to myself for the thought; besides, you know that we have the fellow, Blodget, entirely in our power, that murder, which—’

‘Right, right,’ interrupted Mike; ‘if that were known, it would not be long before Mr. Blodget would swing upon a gallows.’

‘Indeed it would not,’ returned Jenkins; ‘and he knows that, and dreads us. The lady is a beautiful woman, and I almost envy him his prize; but something may yet happen to place her in my possession instead of his, and I do not know that I should be over nice about availing myself of such an opportunity.’

At this moment, between the pauses of the blast, they heard a loud knocking at the door, and they looked at each other suspiciously, and starting involuntarily to their feet, placed their hands upon their revolvers, and prepared for action in case they should be surprised.

‘Who is there?’ demanded the landlord.

‘It is only I, Blodget,’ was the answer, and being satisfied that it was his voice, the door was cautiously opened, and the villain entered. He greeted them all heartily, and then, by the invitation of Jenkins, having taken his seat at the table, the mirth of the gang was resumed, and carried on with increased spirit, Blodget joining in with as much freedom as if he had been one of the gang.

‘Well, Mr. Blodget,’ asked Jenkins, ‘and don’t you think I managed this business very well for you?’

‘Aye, Jenkins,’ answered Blodget; ‘you did everything that I could wish; but think you she will be safe where she is?’

‘Safe!’ repeated Jenkins; ‘as safe as when she was buried deep in the bowels of the earth. Gordon is just the man who will take care of her.’

‘That is well,’ replied Blodget; ‘but it is not unlikely that I shall not have any occasion to trouble him long.’

‘Why, you would never be such a fool as to attempt to remove her from a place of security?’ demanded Jenkins.

‘Circumstances may compel me so to do.’

‘I understand you; but we must see about the best means of preventing all chance of that,’ said Jenkins; ‘you have been a lucky fellow, Blodget, to get the lady in your power and at your mercy; it is glorious revenge.’

‘It is, it is!’ answered Blodget; ‘but not sufficient to gratify me.’

‘No?’

‘No!’

‘What would you, then?’

‘I would have the life of Monteagle.’

‘Ah! would you, then, again commit murder?’

‘Hold!’ said Blodget; ‘mention not my former crime; I cannot think of it without horror.’

‘And yet you can contemplate another deed equally as sanguinary?’

‘Yes, the death of the detested Monteagle I can contemplate, coolly contemplate; and I shall never rest satisfied until it is accomplished.’

‘And would you dare to perpetrate it yourself?’ asked Jenkins.

‘I dare,’ answered Blodget; ‘were he to cross my path; but were I to follow him to the Mission, or wherever he may be, I should in all probability be discovered, and taken prisoner, and then all my schemes would at once be frustrated. If any one would undertake to commit the crime, I would not fail to reward them handsomely.’

‘I see,’ said Jenkins; ‘you would have me or one of my men perpetrate the deed of blood!’

‘I care not who it is, so that it is a man on whom I can depend.’

‘And the reward?’

‘A thousand dollars!’

‘It shall be done.’

‘Ah! say you so? when?’

‘Come, come, you are in too much of a hurry; and there is never anything done well where so much precipitation is used. We must first ascertain where Monteagle is.’

‘And that we may have some difficulty at present in finding out,’ said Blodget, ‘for, doubtless, he has gone in search of Inez. My heart throbs impatiently for the accomplishment of the deed, and I shall not rest until I am sure that Monteagle is no more.’

‘On your promise of the reward you have mentioned, the deed shall, by some means or other, be despatched,’ replied Jenkins; ‘but you must wait with patience, and we will not lose any time or opportunity to discover where he is, and to put our plans into execution.’

‘This assurance gratifies me, and I am satisfied that you will not deceive me!’

‘You have had no reason to doubt me hitherto,’ returned Jenkins; ‘and, therefore, there is no occasion to do so now, I believe.’

‘But have you any idea how to proceed?’ asked Blodget.

‘In the first place,’ returned Jenkins—‘It will be the best plan to send one of the gang to the Mission, in disguise. He may be able to learn the proceedings of Monteagle, and probably find out where he is.’

‘I agree with your design,’ said Blodget, in reply; ‘and should it meet with success, I shall not be very particular in giving a few additional dollars to the sum already promised. But Inez, for whom I have run such a risk, still remains obstinate; and I do not think I shall be able to conquer her aversion in a hurry.’

‘And of what consequence will that be as she is in your power, she must yield to your wishes, or you can gain your desires by force.’

‘Force! but I would rather that persuasion would prevail; as notwithstanding my passion, I cannot bear the idea of violence.’

‘Why, true, it would be much better if it were avoided,’ observed Jenkins, ‘but come, drink!’

‘Here’s success to all our undertakings,’ said Blodget; and he quaffed off the contents of his glass.

‘Success to all our undertakings,’ responded the thieves and the toast was drank tumultuously.

‘You have been a fortunate fellow, Blodget, throughout your whole career, and have, no doubt, accumulated some money.’

‘Why,’ returned Blodget, with a self-satisfied grin; ‘I have not much cause to grumble. But then I have had to depend upon my own wit and ingenuity.’

‘Well, certainly, Blodget, you are a most perfect villain.’

‘I believe I may lay some slight claim to the character.’

‘Not a very slight one either,’ remarked Jenkins.

‘You pay me a very high compliment.’

‘Ha! ha! ha!’

‘But who among your gang will undertake the murder?’

Jenkins looked round upon his fellows, but in not one of their countenances, reckless and determined as they were, did he notice any signs of a desire to undertake the sanguinary deed.

‘Who among ye is willing to earn this reward?’ he asked.

There was no answer. Blodget became impatient.

‘What! are ye all silent?’ asked Jenkins.

No one offered to speak.

‘What say you Mike?’

‘I like not the shedding of human blood when it can be avoided,’ he answered; ‘if, however, Jenkins, you order me to perpetrate this crime, although it is against my inclination, I will obey you: if I am permitted to use my own free will, I say I will not commit the crime. Will that answer suffice?’

‘It will,’ said Jenkins; ‘but Joe, you will not refuse the thousand dollars?’

‘I would not stain my hands with innocent blood for twenty times one thousand dollars, unless it was by your command,’ was the answer.

‘And Ben, what say you?’

‘I am a robber, ready to defend myself and my comrades from an attack; but I am not a cold-blooded deliberate murderer;’ replied Ben.

‘Damnation!’ cried Blodget, fiercely; and he arose from his seat and hastily traversed the room.

‘Be patient,’ said Jenkins; ‘this matter will be arranged, quicker than you could possibly expect. You see, Blodget, although they are desperate men, they are not quite such atrocious monsters as they have been thought by many.’

‘They are cowards if they shrink from the—’

Before he could finish the sentence, the thieves were all upon their feet, and by their menacing looks, threatened vengeance.

‘Hold!’ cried Blodget, and they all immediately resumed their seats, although it was very evident that the observations of Blodget had greatly enraged them, and there were many scowling brows, which convinced the villain that he had proceeded almost too far.

‘Blodget,’ continued Jenkins, after a pause; ‘you should be cautious in what you say, my men are not used to hearing such terms applied to them, nor do they merit it.’ If Jenkins thought he had a coward amongst his gang, he would hang him up to the first tree he came to.

‘I was wrong; I was wrong;’ hastily apologized Blodget; ‘and I hope they will pardon me.’

‘That is enough,’ observed Jenkins; then turning again towards his men, he demanded—

‘And, so you all refuse to do this deed?’

‘We do;’ was the answer from them all; ‘we shed not human blood only in our own defence.’

‘One amongst ye shall do the deed, since I have promised this man, and will not recall my word;’ said Jenkins peremptorily.

There was a discontented murmuring arose from among the thieves.

‘What means this murmuring?’ demanded Jenkins, and his eyes glanced fiercely upon them; ‘is there one among ye who would dare to disobey my commands?’

‘I will answer for all my comrades, and say, no,’ said Ben; ‘but we would avoid an unnecessary deed of blood, and especially under the circumstances.’

‘I have given my word, and it shall be kept;’ said Jenkins firmly; ‘you must cast lots!’

The thieves still looked dissatisfied at this determination, and glanced significantly at each other, but they did not say a word. They scowled upon Blodget, who, however, did not take much heed of them, certain as he was, that while the captain of the gang was on his side, he had nothing to fear from any act of violence they might otherwise contemplate towards him.

Reluctantly they were about to cast lots, when there was the well-known signal heard at the room door, which being opened, Gordon was admitted.

‘Ah!’ exclaimed Blodget, ‘you have just come in time, Gordon; I have a proposition to make to you.’

‘Name it,’ answered the ruffian.

Jenkins repeated the question he had put to the others. Gordon appeared to catch at the idea, and the thieves eagerly awaited his reply, anxious to be released from the perpetration of a crime, from which they all revolted.

Gordon did not make any immediate answer, and he appeared to be meditating upon the proposal.

‘Do you also hesitate, Gordon?’ inquired the captain;—‘you were not always so particular.’

‘I do not hesitate, only for one reason;’ returned the miscreant.

‘Name it!’ said Blodget.

‘Let Blodget give two thousand dollars, and the deed shall be accomplished,’ was the villain’s answer.

‘It shall be yours,’ ejaculated Blodget.

‘Enough!’ said Gordon, ‘I have your word that the money shall be paid, and Jenkins, no doubt, will be answerable that you do not fly from your agreement?’

‘I will,’ returned the captain.

‘There is no occasion for it,’ observed Blodget, ‘if you do not deceive me, I will not deceive you.’

‘You had better not,’ said Gordon, with a sinister look.

‘You have good security for my keeping my promise,’ added Blodget; ‘let the deed be done, and the money shall immediately be yours.’

‘But if I should fail?’

‘If you do not wilfully fail, then one half the money shall be your reward for your trouble,’ said Blodget.

‘Enough,’ replied Gordon, ‘then the bargain is sealed; I will undertake the hazardous deed.’

‘Thanks, thanks!’ said the blood-thirsty Blodget; ‘perform your task well, and you will have my eternal gratitude.’

‘Pshaw!’ cried the ruffian, with a sardonic grin; ‘of what use is gratitude to me? It is not a marketable commodity. But what about the care of Inez?’

‘Blodget will reside in the house during your absence, and I will leave Joe to assist him in his charge,’ replied the captain.

‘That arrangement will do,’ said Gordon, after a pause.

‘When will you start on your expedition?’ inquired Blodget.

‘Immediately. There is no necessity for delay,’ answered Gordon.

‘’Tis well,’ observed Blodget; ‘but you will go disguised?’

‘Oh, leave me alone for that,’ returned Gordon. ‘I have more reasons than one not to wish to be known; or the first news that you heard of me would, in all probability be, that I was the inmate of a prison. I will so disguise myself that it must be a penetrating eye, indeed which could recognize me.’

‘To-morrow, then?’

‘I quit this place, and make my way for the Mission,’ rejoined Gordon.

‘True; and to meet with success, I trust.’

‘It shall not be my fault, if I do not.’

‘You will forward us intelligence when you arrive there; for I shall be all impatience till I hear from you;’ said Blodget.

‘I will,’ replied Gordon, ‘unless I see that there would be any danger in so doing.’

‘Certainly.’

‘And now that this business is settled,’ observed Jenkins, ‘let us proceed to enjoy ourselves—come, my lads, replenish your glasses.’

The thieves obeyed this order with hilarity, and the villain Blodget being satisfied with the inhuman design he had formed, and the atrocious wretch who had undertaken to accomplish it, joined heartily with them in their revelry, which they kept up for more than an hour afterwards, when Blodget, Gordon, and Joe returned to the house, and the captain and the rest of the thieves departed.

Blodget felt a savage sensation of delight fill his bosom, at the prospect of the full consummation of his most diabolical hatred and revenge against Monteagle; and he entertained the most sanguine anticipations of the success of his plot. Gordon was a deep, designing, and determined villain, and he had no doubt but that the reward which he had promised him, would induce him to exert himself to the uttermost.

‘Yes,’ he soliloquized, when he was alone in his chamber, after parting with Gordon and Joe for the night; ‘I feel confident that Gordon will not fail, and, that ere many weeks have elapsed, my hated foe will be no more. Oh, this will be goodly revenge. Inez, too, will then be securely mine, and nothing will release her from my power!’

The wretch paced his chamber, as he thus spoke, and his eyes sparkled with exultation. He pictured to himself in imagination, the unbounded bliss that was in store for him in the gratification of his sensual and disgusting passions, and he determined that but a short time should elapse, ere he would have the full accomplishment of all his wishes. He slept but little that night, for thinking upon his villainous stratagems, and when he reflected that he was beneath the same roof with the unfortunate Inez, and had it in his power to force her to an immediate compliance with his wishes, he could with difficulty keep his ecstasy within the bounds of reason.

In the morning Gordon, after having so disguised himself that no person could by any possibility recognize him, and having received some fresh instructions and injunctions from Blodget, took his departure on his inhuman errand, and Blodget and Joe, with an old woman, were left alone in the house.

We need not inform the reader of the distracting hours of misery Inez had undergone since her incarceration in the house. Her sufferings were almost too powerful for human endurance, and it was wonderful how she could retain her senses. Her agonizing thoughts were divided between her own situation and that of her father, and her disordered imagination pictured them, if possible, more dreadful than they actually were.

‘I shall never behold him again,’ she sighed, and scalding tears chased each other down her pale cheeks; ‘alas! I am torn from them forever. Or, if we should be again destined to meet, under what circumstances may it not be? Myself, perhaps, dishonored—heart-broken; my poor father a raving maniac. Oh, Heavens! the picture that arises upon my imagination is too horrible for contemplation.’

She wrung her hands, and traversed her gloomy chamber with a trembling step.

‘To be beneath the same roof with a murderer, too,’ she added, ‘and that, too, a murderer of the blackest dye! Oh, God! have I not good reason to be distracted? That terrible night when I overheard the wretches conversing upon the monstrous crime of which they had been guilty—when I saw them inter the mangled body of the poor white-haired old man, their unfortunate victim, comes fresh upon my memory as if it had only been just enacted. My heart seems chilled to ice; oh, surely the misfortunes that have since attended me have been a curse upon me for not having given such information of the circumstance as might have led to the apprehension of the assassins. The unfortunate old man’s bones moulder in unhallowed ground, and his blood calls to Heaven for retribution.’

She trembled violently, and almost imagined that she heard a melancholy sigh breathed close to her ear. She staggered to a chair and leant upon it for support, fearing to look around her, lest she should encounter the ghastly and blood-stained face of the murdered man.

All was profoundly still in the house, and the miscreants who inhabited it seemed to be locked in the arms of sleep. Sleep! how could wretches whose consciences were burthened with such a heavy weight of crime, sleep?

The light in the lamp burnt dim, and imparted a still more gloomy appearance to the chamber; and the wind howled dismally without, increasing the horrors of that solemn hour. Inez seated herself by the side of her bed, and, after a pause, did once more venture to look around the room, but nothing but of an ordinary description met her observation.

‘What dreadful crimes may they not have perpetrated in this house! in this very chamber!’ She once more reflected, and again her terrors arose to a pitch almost insupportable.

The light in her lamp, which had for some time only been faintly glimmering, now suddenly died away, and our heroine was left in utter darkness. How she longed for the morning, and that she had some female companion near her in that dismal place, if it was only the repulsive old woman; some one to whom she could speak; but silent and dreary was everything around her, it was like being confined in a tomb. She had kept the embers of the fire together as long as she could, but that had also become extinguished, and the room felt cold as it was dismal and cheerless.

At length she crept into the bed with her clothes on, and covered her head with the counterpane, filled with a sensation of terror, she found it utterly impossible to conquer. She endeavored to sleep; but her mind was too much distressed to suffer her to succeed, and she tossed to and fro in a state of agitation, which no one but those who have been placed in a similar situation, can form an adequate idea of. The interview she had had with Blodget, rushed upon her memory, and she recollected every word that he had spoken, and which had given her every reason to apprehend the worse consequences from his determination. Even the sight of that inhuman man inspired her with a feeling of horror no language can do justice to, and she dreaded a meeting with him as much as she would have done the most fearful calamity which could have befallen her.

‘But I will be firm,’ she reflected; ‘I will muster up all my woman’s fortitude, strong in the defence of her honor, to meet him, and oppose his importunities in a manner that shall deter him from proceeding to violence. Providence surely will not forsake me in this moment of bitter trial, but will throw its protecting shield over me, and defeat the brutal designs of the libertine and the miscreant! Yes, I will put my trust in Heaven, and prepare to meet my heavy trials with a firmness and resolution becoming of me!’

These thoughts somewhat composed her spirits, and after a short time spent in further rumination, she did at last sink into a disturbed slumber, in which she remained until the sun had risen in the eastern horizon.

She arose, not in the least refreshed, and had not been up many minutes when she heard the key turning in the lock, and soon afterwards the old woman entered with the breakfast.

She placed them on the table, and then fixed upon our heroine a scrutinizing look, and shook her head.

‘Well,’ said she, in her usual disagreeable tones;—‘pale cheeks and red eyes; no sleep again, I suppose, it puzzles me how you young women can live without rest? when I was your age, nothing could ever prevent my sleeping.’

‘When the mind is oppressed with such unprecedented and heavy sorrows as those that disturb mine,’ answered Inez—‘if it is not entirely insensible, sleep may be courted in vain.’

‘Pho! how very melancholy and dismal you do look, to be sure,’ answered the old woman; ‘any one would imagine that you had experienced all the troubles in the world; but stop till you become my age, and then you may have cause to complain.’

‘Some person’s troubles,’ returned Inez; ‘are brought on them by themselves; by their own vices, and—’

‘Ah!’ interrupted the old woman, snappishly; ‘no doubt you think that a very pointed and sarcastic observation, but, as the cap don’t happen to fit me, I shall not wear it. Mr. Blodget will pay you a visit presently, and perhaps you may deem it prudent to behave a little more civil to him.’

Inez shuddered.

‘Oh, tell me,’ she said; ‘is he in the house?’

‘Oh, yes, to be sure he is,’ answered the old woman; ‘for he has taken up his quarters here altogether now, and therefore you will have plenty of his company.’

‘Living in the same house,’ muttered our heroine to herself, and she trembled more violently than before; ‘alas! what will become of me?’

‘Oh, no doubt he will take plenty of care of you, young lady,’ answered the old woman, with a bitter sneer.

‘He shall find,’ said Inez, mustering up sudden firmness, and speaking in a tone that astonished and abashed the old woman, ‘he shall find that I have both the spirit and the virtue to resist his importunities, and Heaven will aid me to defeat his design. The guilty wretch; surely for his many crimes a terrible retribution must be now pending o’er his head.’

‘The spirit you boast of, young lady,’ said the old woman, ‘I have no doubt will be very quickly turned, or Mr. Blodget is not half so accomplished as I take him to be.’

Inez darted upon her a look of disgust and indignation, but she could not make her any reply, and after making two or three observations of a similar description, the old woman quitted the room.

We need not attempt to describe the feelings of our heroine when the old woman had gone: the disgusting observations of the old woman, and the fearful prospects which was before her, filled her bosom with the utmost consternation, and although she tried very hard to rally her spirits, and prepare to meet Blodget with fortitude, it was some considerable time before she had it in her power to succeed. To know that Blodget was an inmate of the same house with her, was sufficient of itself to excite the greatest agony in her bosom; and when she reflected that it was not probable that he would longer be able to restrain his wild, unbridled passions, and that any resistance on her part, would be completely futile, she became almost distracted.—Alas! she thought, how much more preferable would death have been to the state of agony in which she was thus constantly kept. It was only for the sake of Monteagle and her father, whom she could not entirely despair of beholding again, that she clung to life, and had she not had them to occupy her thoughts, and her heart’s warmest affections, she would have met death with fortitude, nay, even pleasure. What had been the last few days of her life, but of misery? All mankind had seemed arrayed in enmity against her, and few indeed were the real friends she had found. Her tears flowed fast at these thoughts, and they gave relief to her overcharged bosom.

At length she struggled with her emotions, and so far regained her composure, that she was enabled to partake of the repast which the old woman brought her, and to prepare to meet Blodget, whom she had no doubt, and indeed the old woman had said he would, visit her in a short time.

She had but just risen from her knees having implored the protection of the Holy Virgin, when she heard footsteps ascending the stairs, and directly afterwards, her room door was unlocked, and the object of her fears and detestation entered.

He stood in the doorway for a minute or two, and it was hard to perceive whether he was awed and abashed by the calm dignity and firmness of her demeanor, or lost in admiration of her superlative beauty—still most exquisite, although her once blooming cheeks were pale and wan with heavy care.

Inez had mustered up uncommon fortitude, and, as Blodget entered, she fixed upon him a look which was sufficient to penetrate the most insensible breast. It was one of the most cutting reproach, while resentment, and a firm reliance upon the strength of her own virtue, and the protection of heaven, shown predominant in the general expression of her resistance, and approaching her with a look of admiration which could create no other sentiment than one of hatred in her breast, he attempted to take her hand and press her lips, but she hastily withdrew it and, spurning him scornfully away from her, exclaimed—

‘Begone, sir, your presence is disgusting to me. Dare not thus to insult the victim of your guilt.’

‘Who’s the master, now, fair Inez?’ demanded the villain, and a look of exultation overspread his features; ‘who triumphs now?’

‘Oh, villain—heartless villain!’ cried Inez, her bosom swelling with agony, ‘can you stand there and talk to me thus? Are you not afraid that the vengeance of the Almighty will immediately descend upon your head, and render you powerless to do further harm?’

‘I scorn it.’

Inez shuddered with horror at the words of the wretch; who, however, presently altered his tone, and once more endeavoring to take her hand, which she successfully resisted, he assumed an insinuating smile, and in a voice of gentle persuasion, said—

‘Pray pardon me, beauteous Inez, if I have been led into the expression of words that have caused anguish to your feelings; but the injuries I have received from Monteagle—’

‘’Tis false!’ scornfully replied our heroine, and her brilliant eyes appeared to flash fire; ‘Monteagle never injured you, but you was ever the serpent in his bosom, waiting an opportunity to destroy his peace, and you have yourself acknowledged the same, and expressed your inhuman exultation at the misery which you have caused him.’

‘Well,’ returned Blodget, with the utmost coolness, and the boldness of his manner increasing, ‘I will not deny it, because there is no necessity for my so doing, as the power is now mine. I have already had a terrible revenge, but still it is not complete, and never will I rest until it is wholly accomplished.’

‘Oh, Blodget!’ ejaculated Inez, her fortitude failing her when she saw the villain’s recklessness and determination, and reflected that she was entirely in his power, and left solely to his mercy, or the interposition of Providence, ‘will nothing induce you to relent in your cruelty?’

‘Nothing,’ answered Blodget, ‘until I have gained the full gratification of my wishes, and the consummation of all my hopes. Then only shall I be satisfied.’

‘What mean you?’

‘You will behold Monteagle no more.’

‘Oh, God!’ ejaculated Inez, and her heart throbbed heavily against her side, her cheeks turned ashy pale, and her limbs trembled violently as a dread of something terrible about to take place, through the guilty machinations of the wretch who stood before her, darted upon her brain; ‘cruel as you are, surely you would not seek his life?’

A grim and sardonic smile passed over the features of Blodget as she gave utterance to these words, but he returned no answer; his looks spoke more than words, and had a thunderbolt at that moment descended upon her head, Inez could not have felt more paralyzed and awe-struck than she did at that time. With distended eye-lids, she fixed upon him a look which was sufficient to have penetrated even the most obdurate heart, and to carry awe to the guilty soul; her features became stern and fixed; her lips parted but she uttered no sound, and, suddenly approaching the astonished Blodget, she grasped his arm vehemently, and looked full upon him. Blodget could not help, in spite of all his hardihood, shuddering beneath her gaze, and the singularity of her behavior, but he was not a minute before he completely recovered himself, and looking coolly and indifferently upon her, awaited what she had got to say without first offering any observation of his own.

‘Blodget!’ at length ejaculated our heroine, in a solemn tone of voice, and with her brilliant and expressive eyes still fixed with the same earnestness of expression upon his countenance; ‘Blodget, in the name of that Almighty power who guides all our actions, and before whose dread tribunal you must some time or the other appear, however much at present you may despise His name—by all your hopes of forgiveness for the many and heinous crimes you have committed, I charge you tell me—solemnly tell me, what are your wicked designs?’

‘Psha!’ cried Blodget, and a fearful smile again overspread his countenance.

‘Nay, I command you, in the name of the most High, to set my horrible fears at rest, and tell me,’ demanded Inez, and her heart throbbed more violently than ever, and her whole soul seemed to be wrapped up in the answer which Blodget would return to her; and she appeared as if she would drag the secret from his heart with her eyes.

‘Enough of this,’ at last said Blodget, ‘I came not here to talk upon a subject like this, and—’

‘Heartless miscreant!’ interrupted Inez, ‘too well can I read in your dark and portentous looks the base design you have in contemplation. But Heaven will interpose to prevent the execution of your infamous intention, and to save Monteagle from your monstrous machinations.’

‘We shall see,’ returned Blodget, with the same consummate coolness he had before evinced; ‘we shall see. But hear me, Inez—’

‘I will not listen to you, until you have answered my question,’ observed Inez ‘your very words are as poison to my soul.’

‘But you must and shall hear me,’ exclaimed the other, with a determined air, and once more endeavoring to take our heroine’s hand; ‘you are securely in my power, and think you that I will be frightened from my purpose by an obstinate woman’s heroics. I come to offer you my love; you reject it, but that shall not avail you, for force shall make you comply with my wishes. As for Monteagle, I tell you once again you will see him no more.’

The courage of Inez completely failed her, tears gushed to her eyes, and, sinking upon her knees, with clasped hands, she supplicated the ruffian’s forbearance; but she pleaded to a heart callous to every sense of feeling: he gazed upon her emotion with indifference, and he exulted at the manner in which he had subdued her spirit, and flattered himself that, in time, she would be entirely conquered, and made to yield subserviently to his will. However, he endeavored to disguise his real feelings, and, assuming as mild an expression as he could, he raised Inez from the posture in which she had been kneeling, and affected to smile kindly upon her. For the moment she was deceived by his looks, and hope suddenly darted upon her mind.

‘You will relent,’ she ejaculated, ‘that smile assures me that you will. You cannot, surely, be so cruel as to seek the life of Monteagle. Has not the anguish you have already caused him, and the miseries he is at present undergoing, all through you, been the means of sufficiently appeasing your vengeance? Oh, Blodget! repent ere it is too late, and restore me to my friends, and again I promise you that you shall receive my pardon and that of those who are dear to me, although the injury you have inflicted on them and me is almost irreparable. If there is one spark of humanity in your breast, if there is the smallest portion of that feeling remaining in your heart, towards that sex who claims protection from every man, I shall not supplicate in vain; you will accede to my request, and once more open to me the doors of liberty; and suffer me to fly once more to the arms of my father—my poor bereaved parent!’

‘Beauteous Inez,’ returned the wretch; ‘this is madness, and a silly waste of time. Think you, then, that after all the trouble I have taken, the risks I have run, and the plans I have laid down to get you in my power, that I will now quietly resign you? Think you that I would place myself at the mercy of my enemies? No, no! you must give up all idea of such a thing, and, henceforth, look upon me in the same light as your husband, for you and I must not again easily separate! You must yield to my wishes, and that speedily; I would have you do so of your own free will; but if, after a given time you still remain foolishly obstinate, then must I, however much it may be against my wishes, use force. Resistance, you perceive, will be in vain, and therefore, I advise you to make up your mind to assent without it; then shall you receive every attention from me, and I will behave in a manner that shall leave you no cause to regret your separation from your father.’

‘Fiend in human shape,’ ejaculated Inez, ‘leave me! My soul freezes with horror as I listen to you! But I will not entirely despair, although you have bid me to do so; Heaven will interpose to prevent the execution of your base threats.’

‘Did Heaven interpose to prevent my getting you in my power?’ inquired Blodget, with a sardonic grin. ‘Once more I tell you, you shall be mine, and nothing shall save you!’

‘Never, villain!’ cried Inez.

‘Be cautions what you say, lady, lest you exasperate me,’ returned Blodget, with a threatening frown, which made our heroine tremble; ‘you forget that I could this day—this very moment—force you to a compliance with my wishes, and where is there one near at hand who could come to save you?’

‘By Heavens I would die first!’

‘Bah!’ sneered Blodget; ‘but I am tired of this useless contest of words; you know my determination, and rest assured that I will only await a very few days for your answer, and then, if you do not consent, you know the consequences.’

‘Once more I pray your mercy,’ said the distracted Inez, with clasped hands, and looks of earnest supplication; ‘beware! oh, beware! ere you proceed to extremities.’

‘You have it in your power to move me to pity and love, fair Inez,’ returned Blodget; ‘one smile from you, one word of affection from those ruby lips would act with the influence of magic upon me and make me quite a different man. Blodget would then live alone for love and you; and there should not be a pleasure which it should not be my constant endeavor to procure you.’

Inez turned from the villain with a look of the utmost disgust, and she groaned aloud in the intensity of her anguished feelings. Blodget advanced nearer to her, and sought to put his arms around her waist, but the action immediately aroused her, and retreating to the further end of the room, she fixed upon him such a look as awed him into immediate forbearance.

‘Still madly obstinate!’ he exclaimed; ‘but time must alter this proud beauty, and you must yield to the desires of Blodget, however repugnant it may be to your feelings. At present I leave you, but shortly you will behold me again, and then I trust that you will see the policy of giving me a more favorable reception than you have done this morning.’

As he spoke, Blodget fixed one glance of expressive meaning, and then quitting the room, he securely fastened the door after him.

‘The perverse woman,’ he soliloquized, as he walked away; ‘but she must be subdued;—she must be subdued; Blodget cannot much longer endure her resistance. Oh, did she but know the plot I have formed against the life of Monteagle—but I said quite enough to arouse her fears, although I now wish that I had not done so, as it would be sure not to promote my wishes. I wish not to have to use violence, or I could do so directly; no, my greater triumph would be to prevail upon her to give her own free consent, and that would add to the gratification of my revenge. Blodget, if you fail in this, it will be the first time that you have failed in any of your undertakings.’

The villain walked away, and after giving strict injunctions to Joe to keep safe watch over his charge, he bent his footsteps towards the cabaret, at which he and the thieves had been the night before carousing, and where, in a back room, he could commune with his own thoughts, without any fear of interruption.

---

CHAPTER XVI
The Critical Move—Attempted Escape.

When Blodget had retired from the room, our heroine gave vent to the painful feelings which her interview with him had excited in her bosom; and hope seemed to have faded entirely away from her mind; for if the villain remained obstinately resolved to put his diabolical threats into execution, what means had she of resisting him? None! Then again the hints he had given convinced her that he had some base design in his mind.

She was aroused from these reflections by the entrance of the old woman who had come to do something in her apartment, and whose disagreeable looks assured our heroine that she took a pleasure in tormenting her, and saying anything which she thought might excite her feelings, and Inez, therefore, determined to avoid conversing with her, as much as she possibly could. The old woman, however, appeared to be determined that she should not escape so easily; for the words she had so pointedly directed to her in the morning, remained in her memory; and after having eyed her with an insolent glance for a second or two, she ejaculated, in her usual harsh but querulous tones:—

‘I hope your ladyship feels happier after the interview you have had with your lover, and that the observations he has addressed to you, have met your approbation. Oh, he is a very nice gentleman! He! he! he!’

And the disgusting old woman croaked forth a laugh, which could scarcely have been imagined to have been uttered by anything but a witch; and appeared to think that she had spoken very wittily and sarcastically. But Inez did not deign to condescend her any answer, and she averted her eyes, for there was something so remarkably disagreeable in the woman’s face, that she could not bear to look upon it.

The old woman saw plain enough that her observations annoyed Inez, and although she felt rather vexed and disappointed that she did not answer her, she determined to follow them up.

‘It seems that you have lost your tongue since your interview with Mr. Blodget,’ she said; ‘but that is of very little consequence, I can talk enough for you and I too, and as Gordon has left the house, you will, in all probability, have a little more of my company than you otherwise would have done.’

‘Gordon left the house?’ repeated our heroine eagerly; ‘thank Heaven!’

‘Indeed!’ said the old woman; ‘then, if his absence affords you pleasure, I can tell you that it will not be of long duration;—he is only gone some distance on a secret mission, for which he is to receive a handsome reward from Mr. Blodget!’

‘Ah!’ cried our heroine, turning very pale, and a feeling of horror coming over her; ‘on a secret mission for Blodget? In what fresh plot of villainy is he engaged?’

‘Oh, that I do not know; and if I did, it is not very likely that I should inform you. It is something of importance I dare say, or else Gordon would not have been employed; and no doubt concerns you.’

Inez felt her horror increase, and she trembled so that she could scarcely stand. The old hag observed her emotion with much satisfaction, and a savage grin overspread her features.

‘Something that concerns me;’ she exclaimed, and her terrible forebodings convinced her that the old woman did not make use of these observations without good reason.

‘Oh, my dear friend!’ she added, as she recalled to her memory the dark hints which Blodget had given utterance to, and covering her face with her hands, she sobbed hysterically. ‘Oh, my unfortunate rescuer;’ she continued, ‘I tremble for you; surely this is some dark plot against you. Heaven protect you and avert the evil fate destined to you by your implacable enemy!’

‘If Blodget only plays his cards successfully, as he has hitherto done, I do not think that there is much chance of your seeing your poor unfortunate lover again;’ said the hag with a sneer, and a look which was perfectly hideous.

Poor Inez gazed upon the unnatural old beldame with a look of horror and disgust.

‘Inhuman woman;’ she ejaculated, ‘thus to take a pleasure in tormenting one of your own sex, who has never offended you, and whose misfortunes and oppressions ought to excite your pity and sympathy.’

‘Pity and sympathy,’ repeated the woman, with bitter sarcasm; ‘they are qualities that none but fools would retain possession of; I never experienced them from any person yet, and I have banished mine from my breast many years since.’

‘I do believe you,’ sighed Inez; ‘but I can sincerely pity you, for there will be a time come when you will be brought to a terrible sense of your iniquities, and awful will then be the punishment you will have to undergo.’

‘Hey day!’ exclaimed the beldame; ‘I declare you’re quite an adept at preaching a sermon, but its beauties are entirely lost upon me; and I do not think that you will find Mr. Blodget any more ready to approve of them than I am.’

‘Leave the room,’ said Inez, in a tone of resentment, ‘and let me alone to my reflections; your language is brutal, and I will not listen to it.’

‘But I am afraid you will have to listen to it very frequently,’ returned the old woman, ‘as disagreeable as it may be. As for leaving the room, you will please to recollect that you are not mistress here, consequently I shall not attend to your orders until it pleases me.’

Inez walked away, and throwing herself into a chair, once more covered her face with her hands, determined not to pay any future attention to what the old harridan might say. The latter laughed sneeringly, and after muttering a few spiteful remarks that our heroine did not hear, she applied herself more assiduously to the task she had to perform in the room, and at the same time hummed, in discordant tones, snatches from different vulgar songs, which fell listlessly upon the ears of Inez, who was too deeply engaged by her own melancholy thoughts to pay any attention to them.

At length having, much to the satisfaction of our heroine, completed her domestic duties in the room, the woman fixed upon Inez a spiteful look, and then retired from the apartment. When she had gone, our heroine immediately sunk upon her knees, and, with upraised hands, she implored the mercy of the Supreme Being, and that He would protect her father and her lover from any danger by which they might be threatened. She arose more composed and confident, and endeavored to hope that, after all, the wicked designs of Blodget might be foiled, and that something would yet transpire to release her from her present incarceration, and the future persecution of the villain Blodget, for whom no punishment could be adequate to the different crimes he had been guilty of.

Frequently did her thoughts revert to home, and she could well imagine the grief experienced at her mysterious disappearance. The idea of the deplorable condition of Monteagle was maddening nay, perhaps he was no more, and she was not present to receive his last sigh, or to enfold him in a dying embrace.—The thought was almost past endurance; and it was a fortunate thing for our heroine that a torrent of tears came to the relief of her overcharged heart.

Three weeks elapsed without any material change taking place in the situation or prospects of Inez. Blodget visited her every day, and she was annoyed by his disgusting importunities; and frequently was he so worked up by the opposition which she offered to him, that he was half tempted to proceed to violence; but a secret power appeared to restrain him, and to watch over his unfortunate victim.

Blodget was in a state of considerable anxiety and suspense, for he had not yet heard anything from Gordon, and sometimes he was fearful that he had been detected and was in custody; but again he thought, if he had been so, he should see some account of it in the newspapers, and he, therefore, at last endeavored to conclude that Gordon thought it prudent not to write to him, and that he was in a fair way of being ultimately successful in his blood-thirsty designs.

The thieves had made several successful hauls, since the departure of Gordon, and they were not less anxious than Blodget was to know what had become of him, and whether he was safe, for Gordon was acquainted with many circumstances that might greatly endanger them, should he be tempted to divulge them. Such is the doubt and suspicions that ever exist between the guilty.

At length, however, after another fortnight, a message arrived at the ranch of Gordon, which came from him, and it may well be imagined with what eager haste Blodget broke the seal, and glanced his eyes over the contents. They afforded him the most unbounded satisfaction.

‘Ah! by the infernal host! this is capital,’ exclaimed Blodget, when he had concluded perusing the letter; ‘my vengeance will soon be complete; and I have no doubt that Gordon will shortly be able to discover Monteagle, and to accomplish the deed for which my soul pants.’

He immediately sought out Jenkins, who was at his usual place of resort when he was not on his expeditions, and showed him the letter from Gordon. The robber captain perused it with satisfaction, and his apprehensions were now at rest.

‘What think you of the suggestion which Gordon has made?’ asked Blodget, when Jenkins had finished reading the letter.

‘Why, that it is a very excellent one,’ answered the captain.

‘True,’ coincided Blodget.

‘You will avail yourself of it, then?’

‘Why, think you not I should be foolish to miss such an opportunity?’

‘I do.’

‘Gordon deserves an extra reward for this.’

‘He is a shrewd fellow.’

‘And one who does not stand particular about trifles.’

‘No, crime and he are familiar. But how would you accomplish this design?’

‘I have not as yet had time to consider it properly,’ answered Blodget; ‘can you give me any advice, captain?’

‘Gordon I do not think can do it without assistance.’

‘Probably not.’

‘If I and a crew run the risk of going in a boat to Mission Creek, and bring the fellow away, of course you will reward us?’

‘Certainly; but that course will be attended with much danger, for should the real character of your boat be known—’

‘Oh, I can manage it so that there will be no danger of a discovery taking place,’ replied Jenkins.

‘Ah, then, be it so, and we will not fall out about the reward.’

‘Agreed,’ answered the captain, ‘an answer must, therefore, be despatched to the place where Gordon is staying, acquainting him with our intentions, so that he may make the necessary preparations for carrying our designs into execution.’

‘It shall be done immediately. But think you that success is at all likely?’

‘It is all but certain.’

‘And had Monteagle better be brought to the house where Inez is confined?’

‘That you can use your own pleasure in,’ replied Jenkins.

Blodget reflected for a few moments.

‘No,’ he at last said, ‘it shall not be so at present; I think it would be as well not to let Inez know anything about it for a short time.’

‘Why so?’

‘Why,’ returned Blodget, ‘in the first place, the sudden shock might be attended with fatal consequences to her; and in the next, I think it would be better to break it out to her by degrees, and make the circumstance subservient to my designs upon her.’

‘That is my opinion,’ remarked Jenkins, ‘but you are a fool, Blodget, to delay the indulgence of your desires so long, when you have it in your power to gratify them immediately. If you wait until you prevail upon the lady to consent, I think you will be likely to tarry a long while.’

‘That is your opinion?’

‘It is.’

‘Mine is a different one.’

‘You must have a very high opinion of your powers of captivation, if that is really your belief,’ returned Jenkins.

‘Perhaps so,’ said Blodget, ‘but time will show; and now that I have the prospect of getting this fellow into my power, I am the more disposed to wait patiently and give my plans a fair trial.’

‘And wait until de Castro or his friends discover the retreat of the lady, force her from your power, and bring you to punishment,’ rejoined Jenkins.

‘If Gordon is successful, there will be no fear of that.’

‘Maybe so; but you remember the old proverb—“a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”’

‘At any rate, I have made up my mind to run the chance of it.’

‘Well, of course, you are at liberty to do as you think proper,’ observed the captain; ‘but if you succeed in getting this youngster in our power, where do you think of placing him?’

‘Know you of any person that can be trusted with him?’

‘I do.’

‘And does he reside far from this place?’

‘Close upon the spot.’

‘Is the place obscure?’

‘It is little frequented.’

‘And who is he?’

‘One of my gang; you may depend upon him.’

‘’Tis well; and you think he will accept of the charge?’

‘I am certain of it; he would do it gladly.’

‘Perhaps you will see him and make the proposal; it would come better from your lips than mine.’

‘I will do so.’

‘You have my thanks, captain.’

‘’Pshaw! I don’t want them. But, mark now, he must be well paid for his trouble, and keeping the secret.’

‘I have no objection to that.’

‘This will be an expensive job for you.’

‘Were it to cost me twenty times as much, I would not begrudge it to gratify my revenge.’

‘You are a most implacable foe.’

‘So my enemies have good reason to say.’

‘But come, there is no necessity for delay; have the letter written and forwarded to Gordon as quickly as possible.’

‘It shall be done.’

‘In the meantime I will go down to Kitson, and make the proposal to him.’

‘Ay, do; and do not be afraid to promise a most liberal remuneration.’

‘I will do so, depend upon it.’

‘And when do you propose starting on this expedition?’

‘By the night after to-morrow, at the latest.’

‘Your promptitude pleases me.’

‘Delay is dangerous; that is always my motto.’

‘And a very good one; I will adopt it on this occasion; farewell.’

‘Good night; although I shall probably see you again.’

‘Well do, if you can, for I shall be anxious to know whether or not this Kitson, as you call him, will undertake this charge.’

‘Oh, there is very little doubt but that he will do so.’

Having arrived at the conclusion of this brief colloquy, the two worthies separated, and Blodget bent his way to the ranch, to write the letter to Gordon; elated at the prospect of the success of his diabolical stratagems, and determined at any expense or danger to prosecute them.

In the epistle he gave Gordon all the information he could require, and highly praised his indefatigability, at the same time encouraging him to further exertions, by the promise of rewarding him accordingly.

The letter was immediately forwarded to the proper quarter, and had not long done so, when Jenkins returned.

‘Well, captain, how have you succeeded?’ asked Blodget.

‘As I anticipated.’

‘Then the man is willing.’

‘He is.’

‘And think you we may depend upon his secrecy?’

‘There is no fear of that!’

‘Did you not bind him by an oath?’

‘There was no necessity for that! Kitson’s word is his bond.’

‘And did you make him acquainted with the particulars?’

‘I was compelled to, to enable him to be more upon his guard.’

‘Ay, true! And you mentioned the reward?’

‘It is not so much as I anticipated.’

‘What is it?’

‘He demands two hundred dollars.’

‘It shall be his freely, immediately the fellow is placed in his care, one hundred more to that, if he well perform his task, and keeps the secret inviolable.’

‘I tell you again, there is no fear of his not doing that.’

‘Then all, so far is well,’ observed Blodget.

‘It shall be so; and now we will have a glass or two together, to drink success to this undertaking.’

‘With all my heart,’ replied the captain; and taking his seat, bottles were immediately placed upon the table, and they proceeded to drink with much alacrity, toast after toast following each other in rapid succession, while the deep potations which they quaffed, took but a trifling effect upon them, so accustomed were they to habits of intemperance.

‘Perhaps,’ said Blodget, after a pause, ‘it would have been much more satisfactory had Gordon succeeded in despatching him.’

‘I like not the unnecessary shedding of human blood.’

‘Then you have never felt the sentiments that I do.’

‘You know not that; but, villain as I am, and have been from a boy, I never yet shed the blood of my fellow man, unless it was in a fight and in self defence.’

‘And yet you would have insisted up on one of your fellows committing murder, had not Gordon undertaken to do it.’

‘Because I had pledged my word to you that it should be done, and nothing would have induced me to break it.’

‘Ha! ha! ha!’ laughed out Blodget; ‘there’s honor for you, in the captain of a desperate gang of robbers.’

‘Ay you may mock me, if you think proper, but I have spoken the truth.’

Blodget made no further observation, but walked away, and Jenkins rejoined his companions at their rendezvous.

In the meantime Inez’ situation was just as helpless as ever, and Blodget daily continued to annoy her with importunities, and hourly became more bold and confident in his manners towards her, and she noticed it, and could not help thinking that something had happened to occasion this alteration in his behavior, and at times her mind felt some severe misgivings, which she found it impossible to comprehend. Blodget had not, however, yet mentioned anything, and, therefore, she could not entertain any positive suspicion.

So well secured was every place, that our heroine had long ago given up all idea of escaping, and rested her only hope of deliverance upon her friends discovering her place of confinement; but a circumstance, a short time after this, happened, which gave her some reason to hope.

Notwithstanding the utter disgust which our heroine ever evinced in the company of the old woman, she persisted in obtruding her society upon her at every opportunity, and, as we have before stated, it was very evident that she felt a pleasure in making Inez miserable. Guilt is always envious of the virtues it never possessed, and feels a delight in evincing its hatred of its possessor in every possible way. This, however, she concealed from Blodget, well aware that he would not approve of it, and Inez considered it too contemptible to take any notice of it, and if she had, she would not have troubled herself to mention it to her persecutor, who might feel little disposed to trouble himself in the matter.

The woman would make any excuse to be in the same room with our heroine, and when she was tired of talking to her, Inez seldom condescending her a reply, she would sing portions of vulgar songs, in a manner which would have done honor to Sydney Valley in its darkest days. The mind of Inez, however, was so fully occupied with her own thoughts that she seldom paid any attention to her, and not unfrequently was she almost entirely unconscious of her presence.

It was one evening, a short time after the events which we have been recording had taken place, that the hag paid our heroine her accustomed and unwelcome visit, and, as soon as she entered the room, Inez could perceive that she had been drinking and was quite intoxicated. This circumstance rather alarmed her, for she was afraid that the old woman being thus excited, might be guilty of some excesses; but still she reflected, she had nothing to apprehend from her, as the persons who were in the ranch would be sure to come to her aid, and thus she was in safety. But to be alone, and in the power of wretches who cared not what crime they committed, was sufficient of itself to fill her mind with terror, and she had great difficulty in supporting her feelings.

The old woman staggered to a seat, for she could scarcely stand, and having dropped into it, she raised her blood-shot eyes towards the countenance of our heroine, and fixed upon her a look expressive of her usual malevolence. Inez averted her head, and, taking up a book, pretended to be reading; but the old woman was not to be diverted that way, and, after several ineffectual attempts to speak, she stammered out—

‘They are all gone out but one man, and he has fallen asleep by the fire, and so I thought I would come up stairs and keep you company, you are fond of my company, I know.’

This speech was accompanied by sundry hiccups, and the disgusting old woman rolled about in the chair apparently in the most uncomfortable manner. Inez trembled, but she endeavored to conceal her fears as much as possible, and pretended to be continuing to read the book she held in her hand, and did not make any reply.

‘Mr. Blodget is a very foolish man,’ continued the old woman—‘he is a very foolish man, or he would not stand shilly-shallying and dilly-dallying with you, my fine lady, in the manner he has. Such squeamish minxes, indeed; poh!’

We need not attempt to describe the feelings of our heroine, while the old woman was thus proceeding; she endeavored to close her ears to the words she was giving utterance to, but in vain, and the disgust which she felt was most unbounded.

‘Why don’t you answer me?’ demanded the beldame in a surly tone; ‘I suppose you think yourself above me, don’t you? But I can tell you you are not. You are a prisoner, but I am not, and—’

A very long yawn stopped the old woman’s tirade, and her head dropped upon the table. She muttered two or three incoherent words, and shortly afterwards her loud snoring convinced our heroine that the effects of the liquor she had been drinking had overpowered her, and that she had fallen off to sleep.

Inez laid down her book; a sudden thought darted across her mind, and her heart palpitated with emotion. She remembered what the woman had said about there being but one man in the house, and that he was asleep below.—The room door was open—the old woman slept soundly, and she was not likely to be awakened easily—a famous opportunity presented itself for her to attempt to make her escape. The chance was worth encountering any danger in making the effort, and she determined to avail herself of it.

Hastily putting on her shawl, Inez mentally invoked the assistance of Heaven, and then, with noiseless footsteps, approached the chair on which the old woman was sitting, to make sure that she was not assuming drunkenness and sleep, and she was soon convinced that she was not. She now lightly stepped on to the landing, and closing the door gently upon the unconscious old woman, locked it after her, and thus left her a secure prisoner. She then leant her head over the bannisters, and listened attentively, but hearing no noise below, she was in hope that all was right, and ventured to begin to descend the stairs.

Having passed down one flight, she once more paused and listened attentively, but all remained as still as death, and her hopes became more sanguine.

At length she reached the door of the parlor, which was closed, and Inez hesitated, and her heart beat so vehemently against her side that she could scarcely support herself.

‘Courage, Courage!’ she whispered to herself, ‘this is the critical moment. Let me be firm, and I may escape.’

Her trembling and hesitation decreased as these thoughts crossed her mind, and she laid her hand on the handle of the door. It opened with a creaking noise, which again excited her fear, lest it should arouse the man; but her alarm was, fortunately groundless. A light was burning on the table, and the fire cast forth a cheerful blaze, and by their light our heroine beheld a ruffian seated in the chair, his arms folded across his chest, and fast asleep.

Inez’s heart bounded, and hope was strengthened tenfold. The near prospect of liberty excited in her breast a feeling of extacy which may be conceived but cannot be described. The moon shone brightly in at the window, and its silvery beams seemed to smile encouragement upon her. Another moment, she reflected, and she might inhale the pure air, and be as free. The thought nerved her on; and knowing that every moment was fraught with danger, she determined to act with promptitude. But the sleeping ruffian was so seated that she could not gain the door without passing him closely, and then she must act with the greatest caution or she might arouse him. She advanced one step, but hastily retreated again, hearing him yawn, and he seemed as if he was about to awaken. She stood in trembling suspense, but it was not for long; the man having stretched out his arms, and yawned two or three times, sunk back on his chair again, and his loud snoring soon convinced her that he was again asleep.

She now once more commended herself to the protection of Heaven, and again advanced towards the door. She had passed the sleeping ruffian—the door was in her hand, and liberty was just before her; when there was a loud noise, like that of some heavy weight falling, from the room above; and Inez was so alarmed that she had not the power of moving one way or the other, but stood at the door trembling violently.

The noise immediately aroused the man, and, hastily starting to his feet, he rubbed his eyes, and stared eagerly around the room. They instantly rested on our unfortunate heroine, and, giving utterance to a dreadful oath, he rushed towards her, and seizing her fiercely by the arm, dragged her back. Inez sunk upon her knees, and in terrified accents exclaimed—

‘Oh, mercy, mercy! spare me—save me, for the love of Heaven, save me!’

‘Ah! you would escape?’ exclaimed the ruffian; ‘speak, answer me—how did you contrive to leave the apartment in which you have been confined?’

The ruffian looked ferociously upon her while he spoke, and Inez trembled more violently than before when she gazed upon the frightful features of the man. Her lips quivered, and in vain did she endeavor to articulate a syllable.

‘Speak, I tell you again!’ demanded the villain; ‘how came you hither? By what means did you contrive to leave the room?’

‘The door was left unfastened,’ faltered out Inez; ‘oh, do not harm me.’

‘The door left unfastened?’ repeated the man; ‘who left it so?’

‘The woman.’

‘Ah! the old hag—if she has done this she shall answer for it. But where is she?’

‘In the room I have just quitted, and asleep,’ replied Inez.

‘Ah! I see how it is; myself and her have been indulging ourselves rather too freely, and both are equally to blame; we must be more cautious for the future. Come, my girl, you must allow me to escort you to your old quarters, and depend upon it, you will not have such another opportunity as this. Come!’

‘Oh,’ supplicated our heroine, not thinking in the despair of the moment, of the uselessness of appealing to the flinty heart of the wretch, ‘do not consign me, I beseech you, to that dismal apartment again, take pity upon me, a deeply injured woman as I am, and suffer me to escape. Believe me, you shall be amply rewarded for such an inestimable service.’

‘Oh, no,’ returned the ruffian and a malignant grin overspread his countenance; ‘it won’t do, I’m not to be caught in that way; I can very well understand what my reward would be, but they must catch me before they give it me. Ha! ha! ha! Come, come, you must come with me, or I must use force—that’s all about it.’

Poor Inez clasped her hands in the intensity of her grief, and finding that it would be useless to entreat any further, with a despairing heart, she slowly retraced her footsteps to the chamber from which she had so recently escaped, followed by the wretch.

On opening the door they found the old woman stretched at full length upon the floor; and it was evident that it was from her that the noise had proceeded, which so unfortunately aroused the man, and prevented her escape, at the very moment when the chance was before her.

It was some time before the thief could arouse the old woman to sensibility, and when she did so, he commanded her sternly to follow him.

‘Hey day!’ cried the hag, rubbing her eyes, and looking with stupified amazement at our heroine, who had sunk despairingly in a chair, and leaning her elbow upon the table, and her head upon her hand, was weeping bitterly; ‘what’s the matter now?’

‘What’s the matter!’ reiterated the man, ‘why, that through your infernal stupidity, the bird had nearly flown.’

‘Ah—what, do you mean to say that she had nearly escaped?’ croaked forth the old woman, and she looked more savage than ever at Inez.

‘Yes, I mean to say that she would have escaped,’ replied he, ‘and a pretty scrape we should then both have got into.’

‘Why, where was I at the time?’

‘Fast asleep, and a safe prisoner in this room, locked in.’

‘Locked in!’ ejaculated the beldame, ‘oh, I see it all now, that confounded gin got the better of me, and you too, I think, and, therefore, one is as much to blame as the other. We ought to thank our lucky stars that it has turned out as it has. But the artful jade, to lock me in, to—to—’

‘There, that’s enough,’ interrupted the fellow, ‘you would stand talking here all night. We will leave the lady to her own reflections, which, doubtless, will not be very pleasant. Blodget will be home shortly, I expect, and, should he find us together, he might suspect something wrong. Good night, my lady, and when you next try to escape, you had better use a little more expedition with your caution. Come, we must see and arrange this business somehow or another.’

The old woman fixed upon Inez one more malicious look, and appeared to exult in the agony she was undergoing at having been thwarted in her attempt, and then following the wretch, they both quitted the room, and secured the door after them.

They both congratulated themselves when they had got below, that Inez had not been successful, and were determined to be more cautious in future. Another moment, and our heroine would have been at liberty, and they trembled when they reflected upon the consequences that would have been certain to follow her escape. They both, however, considered that it would be better for them not to mention anything about it to Blodget or the others, as it would only excite his suspicions that all was not right, and probably deprive them of his confidence and friendship, which, as he was very liberal, was not to be treated lightly. Thus the affair was amicably arranged between the two worthies, and the old spitfire determined to annoy our unfortunate heroine more than ever, for the ‘audacious’ (as she termed it) attempt she had made to escape, and moreover, for her unparalleled presumption and atrocity, in having actually made her a prisoner in the very place where she had been herself confined.

As for poor Inez, she was completely overwhelmed with the intensity of her anguish and disappointment, and for some time after the man and the old woman had left her, she remained in almost a state of unconsciousness.

‘Alas,’ she at last ejaculated, beating her breast, ‘fate has conspired against me, and I am doomed to perpetual misery. Am I never to escape from the power of these wretches? Has the Omnipotent Being entirely forsaken me? Oh, God! let me die rather than live to endure this succession of miseries and disappointments.’

She clasped her burning temples, and arising from her chair, traversed the room in the greatest possible agony. If Blodget should become acquainted with the circumstance, she could not help thinking that he would be induced to adopt even more stringent measures towards her; but then she consoled herself with the reflection that it was not likely that the man or the old woman would let him know anything about it, as they would be blamed for neglect, and Blodget would deem it prudent to remove her to some other place of confinement. She passed two or three hours in the greatest state of agitation, and could not venture to retire to rest, but listened to the slightest sound which proceeded from below, fearing to hear the villain Blodget return home.

At length all was still in the house, and tired out with thinking, Inez committed herself to the care of Providence, and undressing herself, hastened into bed, and, in spite of the state of her mind, after the painful event which we have been detailing, she was so weary, that it was not long ere she sunk to sleep.

---

CHAPTER XVII
The Seducer Resisted.

We left our heroine in a calm slumber, into which she had sunk after the fatigue of thinking and the anguish of her mind. She continued in it until a storm arose, which awoke her, and jumping up in the bed, she scarcely knew where she was. Confused thoughts darted across her perturbed imagination, and she had in an instant a foreboding, a presentiment, that something particular was about to occur to her. She heard no one but the old woman moving below, and recollecting that she had seen Blodget quit the house at an early hour in the morning, she thought it was probable that he had not yet returned, and she became rather more composed. Then, however, she remembered some dark hints which the hateful old woman had thrown out to her in the morning, and again were her utmost apprehensions of some fresh misery excited. Sometime she continued in this manner, when she heard a confusion of voices from below, among which she distinguished that of a female and Blodget’s, but she could not understand a single word that they gave utterance to.

She now endeavored to calm her feelings, and prepare for the meeting which she had no doubt would take place between her and Blodget; who she resolved to meet with all the fortitude she could possibly muster. She knelt down, and supplicated the aid of the Almighty; and implored that He would frustrate the designs of the wicked, and not suffer her to fall a victim to the diabolical stratagems of the miscreant who at present held her in his power.

As it ever is the case, when the sincere heart breathes its prayers to Heaven, our heroine felt almost immediately more tranquil and prepared to meet her oppressor, and she arose from her knees with a determination to support herself with an air of fortitude, which should abash rather than encourage the villain’s nefarious hopes.

She had not long come to this resolution, when she heard a footstep ascending the stairs, and shortly afterwards the door of her apartment was unbolted, and the door was opened, and the object of her hatred and her fears presented himself before her. She met his looks firmly, and with an air of becoming dignity, and it was evident, although he endeavored to disguise it, that something of more importance than usual occupied his thoughts.

He stood for a second or two in the doorway, and seemed anxious to address her, yet at a loss how to begin. Then he seemed abashed at the calm dignity of Inez’s manner, and at the same time lost in admiration of her extreme beauty, which, although much impaired by the ravages of care, was still most superlative.

Notwithstanding the firmness which she assumed, Inez felt a trembling apprehension of the interview; and had much difficulty in conquering her feelings.

At length Blodget advanced nearer to our heroine, closing the door after him, and after several ineffectual attempts to speak, he observed, in as insinuating tone as he could assume—

‘Beauteous Inez, after a temporary absence from your presence, which has appeared an age to me, I again come to bask in the sunshine of your beauty—again to solicit a return of that passion which I so ardently feel for you.’

‘Villain!’ ejaculated Inez, ‘receive my answer in the utter contempt, disgust, abhorrence I feel for you; and rest assured that no other feeling can ever inhabit my breast towards a wretch who has proved himself destitute of every feeling of humanity.’

‘This violence is useless,’ returned Blodget; ‘I have given you plenty of time to consider: this day I come hither to decide: I have waited patiently long enough.’

‘Monster!’ cried the distracted lady, and her eyes at the same time beamed an expression which seemed as if it would penetrate to his soul; ‘where is my poor father, from whom you have so mercilessly torn me? Can you recollect the unparalleled act of cruelty you have been guilty of, and yet stand there and talk to me, the affianced bride of another, about love?’

‘To all these passionate expressions I pay little or no attention; for they affect me not,’ returned the hardened villain. ‘It is enough that I have fixed my mind on you; I have labored hard, and risked much, to get possession of you—you are now in my power, and mine, in spite of all entreaties and tears, shall be!’

‘Oh, heartless miscreant.’

‘Nay, think not that I would willingly resort to violence,’ observed Blodget, in a milder tone of voice; ‘no, I would win you by my actions; by my love;—I would be to you the most ardent and affectionate companion that woman desire; I—’

‘Cease!’ interrupted Inez, in a commanding tone of voice, which seemed to enforce immediate obedience; ‘I will not listen to your guilty language, it disgusts me. Your presence makes me feel as if a fiend, instead of a human being, were standing before me; begone! and leave me again to the solitude of my unjust confinement.’

‘Not yet, fair Inez,’ returned Blodget, with a supercilious smile; ‘you and I must not part until we understand each other.’

‘I perfectly understand you, sir,’ said Inez, ‘and depend upon it, all that you can say will but add to the utter abhorrence which I bear towards you.’

‘But you must yield!’

‘Never!’

‘How can you save yourself? Are you not in my power?’

‘True; but I have a friend in Providence who will not suffer me to fall a victim to the nefarious designs of a diabolical villain like you.’

‘Upon my word you are very liberal with your compliments;’ said Blodget, with a half-sneering laugh, although it was very plain to be seen that he was very much chagrined at the manner in which our heroine addressed him.

‘Is there any epithet strong enough that I can apply to a man like you?’ demanded Inez. ‘Has not your conduct proved you to be a miscreant, too—’

‘Come, come,’ interrupted Blodget, and a slight scowl passed over his brows, ‘I do not mind a little flattery, but when it proceeds to extremes, I must acknowledge that I have not a stomach to take it. Any epithet that you may apply to me, you must be aware cannot have any other effect than that of exasperating me to that which I might afterwards be sorry for. But how can you be so foolish as to remain thus obstinately opposed to the wishes of a man who would make it his unceasing study to render you happy?’

‘Happy!’ exclaimed Inez, ‘and dare you talk to me of happiness, when I am torn from all that renders life desirable? Wretch, unnatural monster you must think me, to be capable of listening to the licentious vows of a man who has been the author of all my miseries! Talk to me of happiness, and keep me confined in this awful house, surrounded only by the votaries of guilt, who would not hesitate to dye their hands in my blood.’

‘They dare not; they act alone by my orders,’ answered Blodget. ‘But why thus delay the time in conversing on matters of no immediate interest? Again, Inez, I solicit your love. Say that you will be mine, all but that which the idle ceremony of wedlock can make you, and there is not a pleasure which gold can purchase, or this world supply, which you shall not have at your command. We will hasten far from hence, and in a place where we are unknown, forget that there are others than ourselves in existence.’

Inez shuddered with horror at the coolness and effrontery with which the libertine uttered these expressions, and she could scarcely believe that she was standing in the presence of a human being.

‘Oh, no,’ replied Blodget, ‘think not that I can be induced to leave you so soon this day, at any rate. Upon your determined answer your fate depends.’

‘You have already had my answer,’ returned Inez.

‘Will nothing persuade you to alter it?’

‘Nothing, by Heaven!’

‘Beware! take not an oath!’

‘I can with safety, for nothing would induce me to swerve from it.’

‘You had better bethink yourself.’

‘I have thought sufficiently, and I am decided.’

‘Recollect that, if you refuse, I shall be compelled to resort to force.’

‘I will die first.’

‘You will not have the means.’

‘Almighty God surely, will never suffer so black a deed.’

‘Bah!—that is all idle cant. Think, too, that if you refuse, you will still be kept here a prisoner, deprived of every comfort, and yet subservient to my wishes.’

‘Oh, horror! You cannot surely be the monster!’

‘I would not willingly, but you would drive me to it.’

‘Oh, repent, repent!’

‘Pshaw! Will that gratify my desires?’

‘It will afford me a far greater gratification.’

‘I shall not try it.’

‘Alas! you are indeed a guilty miscreant.’

‘Thank you, again, for your compliment; I have pointed out to you the horrors that will attend your refusal; say, shall I point out to you the happiness that will attend you, if you comply with my request?’

‘I want not to hear them, they cannot make any alteration in my determination,’ answered our heroine, covering her face with her handkerchief, and sobbing aloud with her disgusted and wounded feelings.

‘Still must I think that you will change your mind;’ returned Blodget with the same guilty expression of countenance in which his features were almost constantly clad—‘remember the sweets of liberty will then be yours.’

‘And of what use would liberty be to me, when it would be purchased by a life of infamy?’ demanded Inez; ‘could anything ever reconcile it to my conscience, to become the base paramour of a guilty being like you? The bare thought fills me with a sensation of the utmost dread, and death in its most horrible form would be preferable to such a course of life.’

‘But is there nothing that could prevail upon you?’

‘Nothing;’ answered Inez, with a look of the greatest disgust and horror.

‘Think again!’

‘I have nothing more to say upon the detested subject.’

‘If, by so doing, you could purchase the life of Monteagle—’

‘Ah!’ grasped forth Inez, turning deadly pale, and clutching the arm of Blodget, and with distended eye-lids;—‘what mean you? Speak! speak!—I know you have something of a particular nature to impart to me! Reveal it! I beseech you, and keep me not in suspense!—Oh, Blodget if you have indeed any regard for my feelings, tell me, what of Monteagle?’

‘Calm your feelings!’

‘You rack me!’

‘Compose yourself!’

‘Talk not to me of composure!’ shrieked Inez.

‘He is in my power.’

Poor Inez tried hard to speak, but she could not; she was transfixed to the spot, and gazed upon Blodget with a look in which the greatest astonishment and horror were depicted. The announcement of Blodget came like a thunderbolt upon her, and her faculties seemed to be all bound up in the suddenness and unexpectedness of the circumstance.

‘If you are not a monster of the blackest dye,’ exclaimed Inez at length, ‘you will not delight in thus harrowing my feelings! but tell me have you spoken the truth? Do not keep me in suspense! Oh, do not! Have you indeed said that which is true?’

‘I have,’ answered Blodget;—‘Monteagle is now in my power.’

‘Are you bent to drive me mad?’ exclaimed the frenzied Inez, as, with clasped hands, she gazed vehemently and supplicatingly in the countenance of her oppressor.

‘No, no! I would restore you to happiness,’ replied Blodget.

‘Happiness!’ groaned Inez; ‘oh, cruel mockery to talk to me thus; and to continue to keep me in this state of agony and suspense.’

‘Compose yourself,’ again remonstrated Blodget, in a gentler tone, than he had before spoken, and at the same time venturing to approach her closer; ‘compose yourself. Consent to my wishes, and Monteagle shall at once be free.—Refuse he dies!’

‘Never, miscreant!’ cried Inez, and fell powerless to the floor.

Blodget was alarmed,—so still and marble-like did the fair girl lie. No motion of her white bosom gave the slightest evidence that she breathed.

The villain trembled, and for an instant remorse touched his heart. But no sooner did a slight convulsive shudder show that she still lived, than he turned and left the apartment.

Blodget sent the old woman to Inez, who succeeded in restoring her to consciousness.

The next morning Jenkins returned. He seemed in haste.

Sending for several members of his gang he was soon engaged in earnest conversation.

‘Gordon, say not a word to Blodget,’ said Jenkins.

‘Should he try to escape?’ said Gordon.

‘Shoot him, as you would a mad coyote,’ said Jenkins.

‘Had we not best confine him?’

‘No,—wait my return. He will probably send for Kay, Maretzo, and others of his old cronies. If he tries to bribe one of you to take a message for him to them affect to be won over by his gold, carry the message for him, and then hasten to me at the Mission.’

‘But where are you to be found, captain?’

‘Joaquin will inform you of my whereabouts.’

‘But, captain, why do you wish Kay and the rest of them to be engaged in this affair?’

‘In order that they may be captured in the actual commission of a daring crime—as they will doubtless hasten to assist Blodget to carry off the lady.’

Jenkins then visited Blodget.

To the great surprise of Blodget, Jenkins instead of greeting him with friendly warmth, rejected his proffered hand, and addressing him sternly, said: ‘I am about to leave this place for a few days, if during my absence you insult Miss Inez by word or look, or ever approach the rooms she occupies, you shall as surely die as my name is Jenkins!’ Then turning to a young girl, who had accompanied him to the house, the robber-captain addressed her thus: ‘Alice, you will I know do all you can to make this poor young lady as happy as possible while I am away. I do not promise you any reward, for I know your own goodness of heart has induced you to volunteer to be her friend and companion.’

Jenkins then gave the old woman instructions to obey Alice on every point, and whispering a few words to Gordon, Jenkins left the apartment, and soon after the house.

Blodget was astounded at this change in the behavior of Jenkins, and concluded that he had informed upon him, and thus made his own peace with the authorities. He was confirmed in this, when he went to step from the house, for Gordon stepped up to him, and placing a revolver at his breast, threatened to shoot him if he crossed the threshold. Finding an attempt to escape would only lead to his instant death, Blodget determined during Jenkins’ absence to consummate his intentions on Inez, and then devise some mode of gaining Gordon to allow him to escape.

The girl whom Jenkins had addressed as Alice, had seen some seventeen springs, the apple-blossoms of which were not more beautifully tinted than her fair cheeks; nor their skies a deeper blue than her love-lit eyes. Her form was perfect—her step light and springy as an antelope’s. Her name was Alice Hewlett, and she was known in the neighborhood as ‘the Squatter’s Daughter.’ She had heard of a lady’s being confined in Gordon’s house, and readily availed herself of the request of Jenkins to be the fair captive’s companion, until she could be restored to her friends.

Alice immediately went to Inez.

‘My dear young lady, I come to stay with you.’

Inez gazed inquiringly upon her fair, ingenuous face.

‘You may safely trust me, Miss.’

‘I do—I do—dear girl. Vice never wore so fair a front.’

‘Lady, I will not leave you, but at your request.’

‘Oh, thanks, thanks. You know not what a load you’ve taken from my sad heart.’

Jenkins went to the old crone, and gave her some directions, adding sternly, ‘Mind and do as I have told you!’

The old woman muttered an obedience to his orders, and he immediately quitted the room.

He had not been gone many minutes, when she retired to her own little closet, where she always had a bottle or two of ‘the best,’ and was soon in a fair way to enjoy herself, and to become entirely unconscious of all that was taking place; and Blodget hailing the so long-looked for opportunity with pleasure, he ascended the stairs on tiptoe, and having reached the rooms appropriated to the use of Inez, he knocked.

Alice, probably thinking it was the woman, quickly opened the door, but started back with no little amazement, when she beheld the villain Blodget.—He instantly stepped into the room, and Inez hearing the exclamation which Alice had given utterance to came from her room, but on seeing Blodget, she turned very pale, and trembled so violently that she could scarcely prevent herself from sinking on the floor.

The forbidding features of Blodget relaxed into a smile, which he meant to be one of kindness, but he could not conceal his exultation, and the guilty passions that raged like a tempest within his bosom, and turning to Alice, he said, in an authoritative tone—

‘Leave the room.’

Alice hesitated, and looked at our heroine.

‘Do you hear?’ demanded Blodget, in a louder tone;—‘begone, I’ve something to say to this lady, which must not meet your ear.’

‘You should have nothing to say to me, sir, which should be kept a secret from a second person. Alice, I desire you to remain where you are; Mr. Blodget can have no authority for obtruding his hateful presence upon one whom he has already so deeply, so irreparably injured. Do not depart, Alice!—I desire you!’

‘These mandates are of no avail,’ cried Blodget; ‘I have long sought this interview, and I will not now be foiled. Begone, I say!’

‘I’ll remain where I am, sir, while it is the wish of the lady,’ returned Alice, in a firm tone.

‘Ah!’ exclaimed Blodget; his eyes expressive of fierce anger, ‘dare you?—Then you must go by force.’

Immediately seizing Alice, as he spoke, by the shoulders, he pushed her violently from the room, and closing the door, locked it, preventing her return. He advanced towards Inez, who, upon the impulse of the moment, was in the act of retreating to her chamber, and fastening herself in, when the villain sprang quickly forward, and seizing her vehemently by the arm, he drew her back.

‘Unmanly ruffian!’ cried Inez, ‘unhand me, or my cries shall reach the ears of those who will punish you for your boldness and cruelty! What is the meaning of this savage outrage?’

‘It means, fair Inez,’ replied Blodget, forcibly throwing his arm around her waist, and drawing her towards him, ‘that, finding I have too long been a forbearing fool, when I had you in my power, I am determined that I will no longer wait for the gratification of my wishes. I have condescended to sue to you, where I might long since have enforced your compliance; I have made you every reasonable proposal, and have submitted patiently to your scorn, and contemptuous rejection of my suit, but I am now roused to a full sense of my folly, and am determined at all hazards, that you shall be mine!’

‘Brutal monster!’ exclaimed Inez, violently struggling; for the expressions of Blodget, and his determined demeanor, filled her with the utmost terror—‘are you not satisfied with probably having murdered my unfortunate father, and inflicted upon me a series of miseries almost unparalleled in the annals of inhumanity, but that you would now add to your barbarity by so atrocious a crime as you threaten? Oh, help! help!—Holy Virgin, I call upon thee for thy protection!—Oh, save me! save me!’

As the distracted and terrified lady thus screamed, she struggled violently to extricate herself from the embraces of the ruffian Blodget, but her efforts were for some time entirely ineffectual, and with every endeavor she made, the passions of Blodget increased, and his cheeks glowed and his eyes flashed with the guilty desires that raged within his breast. He sought, however, to stifle her cries, but in vain.

‘Nay,’ he cried, ‘you scream for help in vain; there is no one at hand to interpose to save you! The triumph so long protracted, now is mine! This hour; this very moment gives you to my arms!’

‘Almighty God! protect me! save me!’ again shrieked our heroine, in the most frantic accents, and, with a desperate effort she released herself from Blodget’s hold, and retreated to the farther end of the apartment, where, on a table, was a knife. Scarcely knowing what she did, she snatched it up, and, as Blodget approached towards her, she flourished it menacingly, and exclaimed:

‘Villain! advance but an inch towards me, and this knife shall stretch me a bleeding corpse at your feet!’

Blodget was completely staggered by the determined air which Inez assumed, and he was transfixed to the spot whereon he stood, not knowing what course to pursue.

Our heroine still flourished the knife menacingly, and kept the villain at bay.

‘You see I am resolute,’ she cried; ‘and, by Heaven, sooner than I will be dishonored, I will put my threat into execution! Death is preferable to the dreadful, the disgusting fate which you have threatened me. Nay, nothing can move me from my purpose! Quit the room, miscreant; unless you would have my death to answer for, in addition to your other numerous crimes!’

‘Inez,’ ejaculated Blodget, offering to approach her; ‘hear me!’

‘Not a word,’ firmly replied Inez; ‘nothing whatever can shake my resolution; begone!’

At that moment a loud noise was heard at the chamber door, and immediately afterwards the voices of several persons.

Blodget turned pale and trembled.

‘Ah!’ he ejaculated.

‘Open the door, or it will be worse for you,’ now demanded the voice of Gordon.

‘Never!’ cried Blodget, desperately, and placing his back against it as he spoke.

‘Then we must use force,’ returned Gordon; ‘now, lads, your aid.’

In an instant the door was burst open, and Gordon, followed by three rough-looking men, entered the room.

‘Seize him, my lads; and bear him hence!’ cried Gordon, and in a moment the men rushed upon Blodget, who made a desperate resistance, but was quickly overpowered, and was conveyed, struggling, swearing, and foaming at the mouth, from the room, and being dragged to one of the dark vaults underground, was, by the orders of Gordon, locked in, and left to his own reflections, the nature of which may be readily conjectured, but cannot be properly described.

Alice, immediately on being thrust out of the room by Blodget, had hastened below, where, ascertaining that Gordon was from home, although it was very reluctantly that the old woman furnished her with the information, she made the best of her way to the cabaret, where she fortunately found him, in company with the men before mentioned, and having informed him of the perilous situation of our heroine, he left the place, and, as has been shown, arrived just at the critical juncture, to save her from destruction.

Blodget had no sooner been forced away from the room, than our heroine, overpowered by her feelings, and the unusual excitement she had undergone, fainted, and Alice Hewlett was once more left alone with her, and immediately set about the means of restoring her sensibility.

It would be impossible to portray correctly the disappointment and ungovernable rage of Blodget, when he found himself not only foiled in his diabolical attempt, but made a prisoner in that gloomy vault. He raved; he stormed; he cursed and swore, and breathed the most fearful maledictions against Alice, Gordon, and Jenkins. Then he made the place re-echo again with his cries to be released, but the hollow reverberations of that subterranean place, were the only answers he received, and he traversed the limited space in which he was confined, in a state bordering upon madness. He now at once saw that he was caught, trepanned, defeated, and all his well laid schemes rendered abortive, and himself left entirely at the mercy of Jenkins and his associates, and when he recollected the threats which the former had held out to him, if he should make any attempt against the peace of Inez, during his absence, he felt that he had every reason to apprehend the most terrible consequences through his mad impetuosity. All the horrors of an ignominious death rushed upon his mind, and his anguish was so great, that he completely sunk under it. He crouched down in one corner of his cell, and became the image of despair. It appeared as though his career of guilt was fast drawing to a close, and, that fate had destined, that every attempt he should in future make should be frustrated.

In this state he remained for more than two hours, without any one appearing to interrupt him, when he heard some one unbolting the door of his cell, and immediately afterwards it was thrown back on its hinges, and Gordon, accompanied by one of the men who had been his companions in the seizure, entered.

He brought with him a stone pitcher, containing water and a loaf, which he placed on the ground, and then eyed Blodget with a look of the most malignant exultation.

Blodget sprang to his feet; fury gleaming in his eyes, and advancing towards Gordon, he cried, in a hoarse voice:—

‘Dastard!—why am I thus seized and made a prisoner in this dismal place?’

‘Recollect your recent conduct,’ said Gordon coolly, ‘and you are answered.’

‘And what authority has either he or you for detaining me?’ demanded Blodget.

‘Upon that point I dare say you will be satisfied at a future time,’ returned Gordon, in the same deliberate and careless tones.

‘But you will not dare detain me?’

‘That has to be proved.’

‘Villain! you will have to answer dearly for this,’ said Blodget.

‘Previous to which,’ retorted Gordon, ironically, ‘you will probably be called to a slight account for the abduction and unlawful detention of the lady, also for a certain crime since, and—’

‘Confusion!’ interrupted Blodget;—‘am I then placed in the power of every wretch? Oh, Jenkins! Jenkins! for this, my heaviest malediction light upon your head.’

‘Trusting that you may soon feel at home in your new apartment,’ said Gordon, with a most provoking grin, ‘I will now leave you to the enjoyment of it. Come on.’

And thus saying, before Blodget could give utterance to another syllable, although his looks evinced the torturing feelings of chagrin, disappointment, and resentment he was undergoing, Gordon and his companion quitted the cell, and slammed and bolted the door after them, leaving Blodget involved in utter darkness, for they had not supplied him with a lamp.

Blodget threw himself on the hard ground, and he groaned aloud with the agony of his feelings, but his present suffering was nothing compared with the horrors of anticipation, and he dreaded the return of Jenkins, fearing that the terrible result would be that which he promised him.

Three days and nights passed away in this manner, and Blodget was still kept a prisoner in the subterranean vault, and was daily visited by Gordon, who came to bring him his scanty allowance of provisions, and to taunt him with his degraded and altered situation. The unhappy wretch was at length completely subdued in spirit, and was incapable of answering the ruffian, and he was at last so humbled as to entreat Gordon’s mercy, and to pray that he would release him from his present place of confinement to one less dismal. This request, however, Gordon only treated with scorn and derision; so true it is that none feel greater pleasure than the guilty in torturing one another. Although Blodget had never given the ruffian the least cause for offence, but, on the contrary, according to his own admission, had liberally rewarded him for the nefarious actions in which he had employed him, he now felt the most savage delight in adding to his misery as much as possible; and the more he saw him suffer, and the more humbled he was, the greater did he exult. He had no doubt he should receive great praise, and something far more substantial from Jenkins for the manner in which he had acted, and he anticipated his return with much impatience. He was not made thoroughly acquainted with Jenkins’ intention as regarded Inez, but he had not the least doubt it was to restore her to her friends, and he imagined he would ensure from them a rich reward, in which he also expected to become a sharer to no small amount for the services he had rendered. How far his expectations were realized, will be seen anon.

When our heroine had quite recovered from the shock which she received from the behavior of the villain Blodget, she returned her most heartfelt thanks to the Almighty for her preservation, and for the fortitude with which she had been imbued to resist him. She then expressed her warmest acknowledgments to Alice, to whose presence of mind in hastening for the aid of Gordon, she might, in a great measure, attribute her preservation. The conduct of Gordon, who, there could not be the least doubt, acted entirely by the orders of Jenkins, left her no longer any room to doubt but that the latter was really the friend and protector he had told her was, and now that Blodget was thrust into confinement, from which they were assured he would not be released until the return of the captain, our heroine felt that she was safe.

‘What ready means guilt often unthinkingly takes to defeat its own designs:’ observed Alice; ‘Blodget thrusting me out of the room, was the very cause of bringing about his own confusion, and frustrating his evil intentions; for, had he placed me in another room, and confined me therein, he might easily have silenced the old woman, had she been inclined to oppose him, and thus he would have been almost certain to have obtained his object.’

‘Oh, no,’ returned Inez, ‘my mind was made up; never did I feel more determined, and he perceived it; I would have plunged the knife to my heart, sooner than he would have triumphed in his disgusting and diabolical purpose!’

‘Oh, Miss,’ said Alice, ‘the idea of that makes me shudder with horror! Heaven be praised, that preserved you from such a dreadful and untimely end. But the wretch will no doubt be amply punished for his crimes, and for all the sufferings that he has inflicted upon you.’

‘And how think you that Jenkins will dispose of him?’ interrogated Inez.

‘Deliver him up to the Vigilance Committee,’ replied Alice.

‘How can he do so without getting himself into trouble?’

‘Oh, there is no doubt but that he will readily hit upon a plan,’ said Alice; ‘I dare say that he has already arranged that, without knowing anything of the late circumstance. Clear up, Miss, for depend upon it, your troubles are fast drawing to a close, and not many days will elapse ere you will be again restored to your friends.’

‘Alas,’ ejaculated Inez, tears gushing to her eyes, ‘perhaps I have no dear friends to receive me! Oh, how my poor heart chills at the thought.’

‘Pray, Miss,’ said Alice, ‘do not encourage fears which, after all, may prove unfounded. Great, no doubt, as has been the sufferings of Monteagle and your father, I firmly believe that they are still living, or Jenkins and the others would have heard of it.’

‘My unhappy lover may have been able to withstand the severity of his accumulated and unparalleled calamities,’ observed Inez, ‘but, my poor father; oh, well am I convinced that his mind must have now become a wreck, in which case, it would be a mercy if the Almighty should be pleased to take him to Himself. Poor grey-haired old man, fondest of parents, best of human beings, shall I ever again be enfolded to thy paternal bosom, with the conviction that thou art conscious it is thy poor persecuted daughter thou dost embrace?—Alas! I fear never!’

‘Oh, yes, Miss, you will,’ ejaculated Alice, energetically, ‘Heaven in its infinite mercy will not deny you such a blessing after the many afflictions you have so undeservedly undergone. Have you not every reason to place the firmest reliance upon its goodness, after the manner in which you have ever been preserved in the moment of the most imminent danger?’

‘Yes, my good girl,’ replied our heroine, drying her tears, ‘indeed I have, and it is ungrateful in me thus to give way to despair. But my mind is so continually tormented, that I scarcely know what I am saying.’

‘At any rate,’ observed her companion, ‘now that Blodget is made a prisoner you may rest yourself secure, and Jenkins, I dare say, will not be long before he returns; when you will speedily be made acquainted with intentions, which, as I have all along predicted, depend upon it, will be all in your favor.’

The ideas of Alice were too reasonable to be rejected by Inez, and she looked forward to the return of Jenkins with the greatest anxiety.

A fortnight had now waned away, and still Jenkins and his companions did not return, and Gordon, who did not expect that they would be gone so long, was fearful lest some accident should have befallen them. He still kept the wretched Blodget confined in the same place, and he now became the complete victim of despair. His form had wasted away, and his countenance betrayed the deep, the intense agony which perpetually tortured his mind. How dreary were the days and nights passed in that dark cell, where he had nothing to commune but his own dreadful thoughts, and where the horrors of his own guilty conscience constantly brought to his imagination the many crimes he had committed. Conjecture cannot form but a weak picture of the mental sufferings of that man of crime. Oh, who would be guilty, did they but think upon the horrors that must sooner or later overtake them?—For the gratification of some moment of sensual pleasure; for the transitory indulgence of some ambitious wish, the unhappy wretch falls into crime, to pay for it by years of mental suffering, and ignominious death, and an eternity of torment!—Oh, how fearful the price, would but erring mortals pause and think!

It was on a stormy midnight, when nearly three weeks had elapsed since Jenkins had left, when a party who were in company with Gordon in the little back room, smoking, were suddenly aroused by hearing a shrill whistle. The cigars were removed from their lips in an instant, and they jumped hastily to their feet.

‘Jenkins’s signal, by all that’s fortunate;’ exclaimed Gordon, advancing towards the door, ‘they have come back at last, and all safe, I hope!’

‘This has, indeed, been a long trip captain,’ said Gordon, ‘and I had began to fear that you were never going to return.’

‘Better late than never,’ answered Jenkins; ‘but how is all at the house?’

‘Quite safe, captain,’ replied Gordon, with a peculiar grin, ‘the lady is in her own apartments with her companion, Alice, and that arrant scoundrel Blodget, confined in one of the vaults underneath, where he has been since two or three days after your departure.’

‘Ah!’ exclaimed Jenkins, ‘has he then dared to scorn the warning that I gave him?’

Gordon briefly related what had taken place between Blodget and our heroine.

‘Why, the damned villain!’ cried Jenkins, passionately; ‘after the strict injunctions which I laid upon him, and knowing that he was placed entirely at my mercy. But he shall pay dearly for it; his doom is sealed.’

‘I did not know whether you would approve of the lodging I had given the fellow,’ answered Gordon.

‘You have acted perfectly right,’ said Jenkins; ‘and I commend you for what you have done. Blodget shall quickly have another berth, and his career he may reckon at an end. And is the lady quite well?’

Gordon answered in the affirmative.

‘I am happy to hear that,’ said Jenkins; ‘she shall not much longer remain in the position she is now placed in.—Poor lady, I shall for ever regret having been instrumental in any way towards her unhappiness; but I knew not who she was, or the villain Blodget should not have retained possession of her. However, his time of shame is fast approaching, and bitterly will he have to pay for all.’

‘It is, then, your intention to restore the lady to liberty?’ asked Gordon.

‘Certainly,’ answered Jenkins, ‘and to her friends.’

‘But you will run a great risk in so doing, will you not?’

‘No; leave me alone for that; I have arranged everything in my own mind,’ said Jenkins.

‘But how do you propose to dispose of Blodget?’ inquired Gordon.

‘I have not exactly made up my mind, although I did threaten him with death,’ answered Jenkins. ‘To-morrow night, or the next, I shall convey the scoundrel far away from hence.’

‘You would not deprive him of life?’

‘No,’ replied Jenkins, ‘not by my own hands; besides it would be a pity to deprive the hangman of a job.’

Gordon did not return any answer to this, for when he recollected the crimes of which he had himself been guilty, he thought that it was not all unlikely that he should himself afford employment for that functionary, sooner or later.

In the morning early, the robber captain was traversing his way along the vaulted passages, and at length stopped at the door of the vault in which Blodget was confined. There he paused and listened, for he could not help feeling that he was only justly punished for the part he had played towards the unfortunate Inez and her friends.

At length he withdrew the bolts, and entered the cell. The dim light which was emitted by the lamp which Jenkins carried, could but faintly penetrate the gloom of the miserable place, so that Blodget did not at first perceive who it was that had entered, and no doubt, did not think that it was any one else than Gordon; and the robber stood contemplating him for a minute or two in silence, but resentment was strongly portrayed in his countenance.

‘So, villain,’ he at length said, ‘you have dared to brave my threats, to disobey my injunctions, and have again offered to—’

He was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Blodget, who, upon recognizing his voice, sprang forward, and in the most abject manner knelt at Jenkins’s feet, and looked up in his face with the most earnest supplication.

‘Oh, Jenkins,’ he cried, in the most impressive tones; ‘spare me;—pity me;—pardon me!—I will own my guilt;—I will acknowledge I was wrong; but let the agony I have for the last fortnight endured in this place satisfy you, and do not, oh, do not proceed to extremities.’

Jenkins fixed upon him a look of the utmost contempt, as he replied:

‘And have you, then, the effrontery to crave pardon, after setting all my injunctions at defiance? I gave you sufficient warning of what the consequences would be, did you not obey me; you have scorned it, and those consequences you must abide by.’

‘No, no;’ groaned the poor terrified wretch, still remaining on his knees, and looking the very picture of death, with the excess of his fears; ‘you will not surely do as you say?—You will not deliver me up to justice?—Consign me to an ignominious and violent death! Pause ere you do so!—My death will avail you nothing. Suffer me therefore to live to repent, and I promise you that neither Inez or her friends shall receive any further annoyance from me!’

‘I will take especial care that they do not;’ returned Jenkins with a sarcastic grin.’

‘My life will at any time be in your hands,’ added the poor, trembling coward; ‘should I again break my word, Jenkins, I beg of you, I supplicate to you, in the most humble manner do not doom me yet to death!’

‘Despicable scoundrel!’ ejaculated Jenkins; ‘so dead to the sufferings of others; and yet so fearful of suffering himself. Wretch! you deserve to die the death of a dog, and you will do so.’

Blodget groaned and covered his face with his hands.

‘Prepare yourself to depart from here in my custody to-morrow night,’ said Jenkins, as he moved towards the door of the cell.

‘Whither, Jenkins, and for what purpose? Oh, tell me! tell me!’ entreated Blodget, his whole frame violently convulsed with the power of his emotions. Jenkins looked at him for a moment in silence, and then replied,—

‘You will know soon; at present I shall leave you to form your own conjectures, and to ask your conscience what ought to be your destiny.’

‘Stay, Jenkins, I beseech you!’ cried the unfortunate prisoner, in delirious accents; but Jenkins had immediately quitted the cell, and securing the door was quickly far out of hearing.

‘inquire whether Miss Inez will do me the favor to grant me an interview,’ said Jenkins, addressing himself to Gordon, soon after he had entered the parlor, after he quitted the place in which Blodget was confined.

Gordon, without offering any observation, hastened to do as he was bid, and quickly returned with an answer in the affirmative. Jenkins then hurried up stairs, and knocking at the door, was ushered into the presence of Inez.

He paused at the door, and bowed to our heroine with an air of the utmost respect, and he was altogether lost in the admiration of Inez’s beauty. Her cheeks had become flushed immediately on her hearing the message from Jenkins, and her heart palpitated violently against her side with rekindled hopes.

‘Miss,’ at last observed Jenkins, in a respectful tone of voice; ‘I have no doubt suffered much in your opinion, from the part which I at first unfortunately enacted in the plot against you by your enemy, Blodget.’

Our heroine attempted to reply, but she was too much confused to do so, and Jenkins continued,

‘I am now, however, anxious to make all the reparation in my power, by restoring you to liberty and your friends!’

Inez uttered an exclamation of mingled delight and gratitude, and instantly sunk at the feet of Jenkins, and while the tears gushed from her eyes, she sobbed:

‘Oh, thanks! thanks! kind sir, for this—’

Jenkins interrupted her, and gently raised her from her knees.

‘Nay, my dear lady,’ he said, ‘I merit not your thanks; for, probably, had it not been for a certain discovery I by accident made, I might still have taken no interest in your fate.’

‘A discovery!’ repeated Inez, with a look of astonishment.

‘Ay,’ answered the captain; ‘that you are the daughter of one who once befriended me.’

‘Know you then my dear father?’

‘Lady,’ answered Jenkins, in peculiar accents, ‘I have reason to know him, to be unceasing in my gratitude towards him.’

‘Oh, say, does he still live?’

‘He does!’

‘Heaven receive my thanks!’ cried our heroine, fervently, clasping her hands, and raising her eyes.

‘Miss de Castro, I will at once inform you the nature of the kindness your father did me, and you will then see why from being the accomplice and abetter of Blodget, I have become his enemy and your friend. Some three years since, I crossed the plains from Missouri. By the time we had crossed the mountains our teams had given out—our provisions were exhausted—and many of our people dead. It was at this time that your father, with a party, met with us, and not only aided us with mules and provisions, but remained several days attending my children who were prostrated by fever. It was only during my last visit to the Mission that I met your father and learned that his name was de Castro, and that you were his child. I managed to have word conveyed to him that his daughter was safe, and would soon be restored to his arms. I have now hastened here to carry you back, and devise means to give Blodget up to Justice. This cannot be done so speedily or easily as I could wish, for the villain is master of too many secrets involving perhaps the lives of members of my band, for me to proceed rashly in the matter. Meanwhile be cheerful, Alice will remain with you, and in a few days you will be with your father.’

Inez fervently thanked Jenkins, and throwing herself on her knees poured out her fervent thanks to that power that had shielded her from outrage worse than death.

---