Tom Bullkly Of Lissington.

Clutha Leader, Volume XII, Issue 598, 1 January 1886, Page 5

Tom Bullkly Of Lissington.

;., ! CHAPTER XXXV. .

ft *- By B. Mounteney Jephson.

.— Continued.

| CHAPTER XXXIV

% THK '/' LARKSPUR'S " EXTRA HAND. t 'Look here, my friend,' said Tom; I* you'll, have to guide us to this place, I whether you like it or not,' so I'd ! advise you to do it willingly !' I , Shall Ibe rewarded, signor V f ' • Pah !' ejaculated Tom, with disgust. % « Yes, when you guide us to this place 1 . I How did you know anything about ImeT -„ ■ . I" - 1 told Signor Clennell 1 was going i to make my escape, and he wrote your \ name down on a piece of paper.' I- And Francesco pulled out of his • pocket; a..- dingy scrap .of paper, on which was scrawled Tom's" name andf address 1 in feeble, shaky characters.-. >••. - « He said I was to write to you, and ? tell you about him, if I got away I .' '' l l " • And why. didn't you 'V said Tom, with .flashing eyes. There was no answer. '"."']' 'Why didn't you, I say? repeated. Tom, in a voice and tone that allowed of no evasion or subterfuge. > • Because I was afraid, your excellency/ mumbled- the wretched Francesco, 'that if I said anything about it, I would have to do what you're going to make me do now — guide you to. the cursed place. Oh, holy Maria ! my life won't be worth a wax taper.'. • Tom's lip curled. 'If you could escape yourself, why couldn't you have assisted him to do the same 1' 'Because, signor, he was watched, I wasn't. And besides, he couldn't have crawled a yard, he was so ill and weak, and he used to do nothing but cough all night.' : ' Poor Fred ! We may be to late, after all/ said Tom, as he turned contemptuously from his informant and walking aft, descended to the cabin. 4 Kit, I've got some strange news. IVe found out where Fred Glenneli is. J Kit Trevor jumped from his seat, and exclaimed, ' Good God ! Where V Tom told all that he had just learned, and concluded his relation with ' Isn't it queer ? I knew that fellow had something to tell me. I say, Mountnessing, I wish you would have him watched, or he may give us the slip, for he is in a mortal funk of going to this place. How provoking ! The mail passed through for Malta this very day.' Tom then put on his considering cap, and all remained silent. Mounfcnessing running over in his mind these arguments. •. ' I certainly did promise Blanche, and a promise ought to be kept ; but circumstances alter cases, and when it's a case, as it is now, of a life being in -one scale, and a mere -crotchet of a jealous brain in the other, why it would be much worse to keep the promise than to break it The yacht is the only thing, and I know that's what Tom and the others think, but don't like to say after my putting them off as I did., • I tell you what, Tom,' he then said aloud, * myself, my yacht, and my crew are quite at your disposal. We need not say anything about our object to our mother and sister. We can put in at Brindisi, just opposite to the Albanian Coast, and telegraph at once from here to Vereker to meet them there and take them home, overland.' ' It's just the very thing,' my dear fellow,' replied Tom. 'There's nothing like being independent, and we. could be so only with a yacht. We'll take the law into our own hands, and we four, with some of your crew, well armed, will be a match for these scoundrels.' • You fellows will have to see about your leaye, then, pretty sharp/ said Mountnessing. J Oh, let Torn manage that !' saidBrunton, ' The chief and the old general will do anything for him. 1 ' I'll do my best, and how the sooner we get! up to barracks and make our arrangements, the better/ said Tom, and the party at once broke up. The next morning Blanche was up betimes, and on deck. '■■ .{• .'Good morning, Blanche. .Why -are you Up so early V asked her brother, with a little awkwardness in his .manner, as if he felt himself rather a traitor. 'I wanted to finish this letteY to Fane, Harry. Will you send some one ashpre. with it .to be posted > at once, please?' she asked, holding out an encyelppedic sort of digest of the previous day's proceedings. •All right. I say, Blanche, Tom Bullkley and those other fellows are coming. with us, after all.' \ •Coming with us! And you promised, Harry 1' € Yes, I know I did. But, under the circumstances, I was quite justified in breaking my promise. And, afjer all, Blanche, it really was too nonsensical a thing to stick to.' i "And you really mean that they are j to go, Harry V she asked reproachfully. \ f Yes,' of course, Blanche ! Aad clon't, for goodness sake, make s\lch a fuss over a trifle. We'll telegraph from here to Fane, and he can meet you both at Brindisi — we are going lip the Adriatic — and take you home. "There now, do make the best of it.' ' Is your mind made up, Harry V *Yes.' * I

'Well, so is mine. I J3hall land here before you go. Mamma will stay with, me if I beg her to, I'm sure, and Fane can come liere and fetch us.'

■ f Mountnessing did everything in his power to dissuade her from this step ; but nothing could move her. Her mother added her entreaties to his, but without success; and, at last, it was arranged that the two ladies were to land and remain at the hotel until Fane, summoned by telegraph, should arrive to escort them home to England.

| As Mountnessing wished his sister .' good-bye,' he could not bear to think that she should imagine him capable of wilfully and wantonly breaking his promise ; and, at the last, he confided to her that they had heard news of Clennell, and that it was to recover him they were going. ; .Later in the day, the Larkspur spread'" her snow-white wings to the afternoon breeze blowing off the ' Rock,' and was soon out of sight on her errand of mercy.

; TO THE RESCUE. | Swiftly over the deep blue waters of the lovely inland sea bounded the Larkspur, as if aware of the urgent service she was on, she was" straining every timber to carry promptly to the rescue those brave hearts, beating high i with hope and eagerness for action. ! So propitious were the elements that on the twelfth day after leaving Gibraltar, in the first blush of the summer morning, the gallant little vessel dropped her anchor off the squalid Albanian town, throwing Her Majesty's ViceConsul into the same state of fluster as when, some months before, Leonard Helstone, bound on a very different mission, had made his appearance there. There was no Union Jack flying at first from the old bent flagstaff. The Consul guarded the honor of his flag even more jealously than his country expected of him — so jealously, in fact, that he took it to bed with him. There had been no one to be impressed with its grandeur as it flaunted in the breeze, so it had lately been doing duty as the Consul's counterpane, an arrangement which gave that official, as he slumbered, a ghastly appearance of lying in state. Not long, however, after the Larkspur anchored, it reverted to its proper position, and proclaimed with tattered flutterings, the presence of Her Majesty's Representative. '. This national demonstration was not .responded to by our party, as Tom, who was commander -in - chief of. the expedition, had decided upon not wasting a moment. He knew well enough the Consul of such a place could afford no material assistance, but, on the contrary,, would be more likely with official • humming and hawing ' to be a hindrance to the undertaking ; even if he did not set his veto on it altogether ; which, however, would have been, of course, totally disregarded. The best plan was to strike promptly and sharply, and the only. way to carry this out was to be independent of everybody but themselves.

Their number amounted to twelve, including Francesco, the guide. There four of themselves, and seven of the yacht's crew, staunch, stalwart fellows, delighted with the service before them, and eager for the fray. Of course they would be outnumbered, the strength of the band being estimated by Francesco at about thirty-five ; but this numerical inferiority would be more than counterbalanced by the superiority of their pluck, physique and armament. The banditi were armed only with matchlocks, old-fashioned pistols, and daggers; while the other party bristled with breech-loading rifles, revolvers, and cutlasses. Tom also calculated that if he pushed on to the spot with all possible speed, it was improbable that the whole of the band would be concentrated in time to oppose them, as a portion were certain to be. absent on some marauding expedition.

Without a moment's loss of time they landed at a part of the bay most remote from the town, and pushed on briskly under the guidance of Franceco, who led the way in fear and trembling. At each step he promised a single candle, but at any uriusuaf result or sound the number ran up, to fabulous amounts. In this way they proceeded without encountering any obstacle or ad ventures for about four 'miles, and then>they halted; for their frugal breakfast ; after which they pushed on as before.

Not a human . being or living thing did they see ; but now and then they could hear the crashing, in some adjacent covert, of a wild boar as he sped furiously from them, or the hissing as it glided away at their approach.

At about midday the sun struck so fiercely on the barren hill-sides, up and down which they had to trayel in a wearying succession of ascents and declivities, that they were obliged, as soon as they could find a spot sheltered from the rays, to cry another halt.

They were all more or less by this time thoroughly fatigued. The heat, for the last few hours, had been intense, and they were all heavily laden, each one carrying two days' provisions as well as his arms and ammunition.

It was no use, Tom thought — and very properly too — taking it too much out of themselves, and, perhaps, finding that the toughest work was bof ore them they would be least fit for it. A short council of war was held, and it was de-

termined that they should stay wnere they were until the sun descended lower, and then then proceed in £he cool of the evening ; an arrangement which would possess the additional advantage of affording them, under the cover of darkness, more chance of taking the bandiWhy surprise.. . Francesco had some doubts of his ability to find his road in the dark, but these kept to himself. Indeed^he was the lasb. person to have thrown any obstacle in the way of this plan, for it commenced itself strongly to him by reasonof its being a much safer one for himself than the original. He conjectured, and rightly so, that, in the dark, there would be less chance of his being recognized by any of his* former associates, and he would also be able, in case of any fighting, to keep well out of the way, after having concluded his duties as guide. The sailors, too, were nothing loth to having a few hours', rest. They had hardly got their shore legs 'yet, and, for the lrisfe few-miles, had -been rolling about in even a.hyper r nauticar manner. After attending to the. wants of the inner man, they lounged and lay about, some smoking, some sleeping, and some chewing their quids with that gentle ecstasy which only a nautical palate can know ; while, a little apart from them, sat Tom, Mountnessing, Kit Trevor, and Brunton discussing the plan of operations, also with the assistance of tobacco, which is, after all, a very material aid to discussion, and is frequently, at the root of a sapient remark which but for its mystic influence, might have lain dormant for ever.

• Isn't it strange, Tom, to think that we're only within a few miles of Fred Clennell ? I can hardly believe it.'

1 Yes ; and what's more, I hope, Kit, those few miles won't be between us much longer. We've got our work cut out. for us, though. Francesco says these scoundrels have half-a--dozen hiding-places amongst these mountains, but if they had fifty we'd find him. My mind's made vp — I shan't return, without Fred Clennell, if he's in the land of the living ; or if they've murdered . him, or killed him by bad treatment, without avenging his death. I'm not are vengeful sort of a beggar/ continued Torn, a hard sternness cropping up through his usual easy-going manner, ' but "an eye for an eye ■" is the principle I shall go upon on this occasion.' This sentiment was very much applauded by Tom's three friends, and they, one and all, pledged themselves in energetic terms to ' stick to him through thick and thin.'

In this way, sleeping, conversing, and smoking, they passed the time until about four o'clock, when the sun had lost some of its power. Just at this time,. too, a refreshing breeze came sweeping down .the Adriatic towards them, and, with renewed life and vigor, the staunch little party gathered up its weapons, and continued its march.

By sunset they had walked about ten miles more, and then there was another: short rest. The twilight was of short duration, and the shades of evening now quickly closed in around them. . Soon after this Francesco's countenance, in which, as a rule, there was more cunning than intelligence, began to wear an expression totally innocent of either one or the other. For a little while longer he led the way, looking helplessly idiotic, and then, at last, he confessed, with much trepidation, that he was at fault, and could guide them no longer.

This was a crushing announcement, and while it brought the entire party to a most, dispiriting standstill, it also brought down ugon Francesco's matted head a few sotto voce blessings and terms of endearment from the sailors. N

They happened to be now in a deep gully* where it was much darker than on the higher ground, and Tom suggested that, at all events, they should make for the summit of the next hill, from which, perhaps, Francesco might spy out Some familiar landmark which would jog his memory. N With this object in view, they emerged from the gloom of the ravine, and were clambering up the hill within a short distance from its summit, when a quick /rustling set them all on the gui vive,..' '.In another moment a fierce and strong dog of the Albanian breed came quickly into view on the brow of the hill, his wolf-like form looming big in the dusk, and cut out sharply against the sky-line. As he passed; them, at. only a few yards' distance, he put on a spurt, and showed his fangs savagely, as much as to say it was want of time, not of inclination, that prevented him from making more use of them.

' Chico, Chico !' yelled out Francesco j but the dog only answered with a growl, and sped on all the faster.

Francesco carried a gun loaded with slug, which he instantly brought to his shoulder, and in one fell moment Ohico's career was arrested/ The dog, who one second had been going so swiftly and strongly, in the next rolled over with a howl of agony, and lay panting on his side with one of his hind legs shattered, and hanging uselessly. • What the deuce made you do that V roared. Tom, whose sympathies were always with the brute creaton, and whose indignation was arouse i to the utmost by what looked very much

like a piece of wanton arid cold-blooded cruelty, as well a:3 .ah act of reckless fool-hardiness in proclaiming" their presence to whomsoever it might concern, by the report which t ; went . echoing amongst the hills far. away.-

' No, signor, it's, all yight.' . That dog was taking a warning to. them that, would have made them a^l ready for us. I know him well. His name's Chico. He was taking a message from some of the band; on the. look out, to the chief. Just look at the piece of ' paper tied , round, his neck, signor !' , . .

The group, closed round Chico, who snarled and made several futile attempts to resume his -journey.

' Now, signor,' said/ Francesco, with a proud consciousness, of. regaining public confidence, w^ieli. had been terribly shaken.. '1-11 soon "tell you what the look-out have told about us. Chico! poor Chico, the%V* He knows me .well, signon I'.ve^giveja him many a scrap. Now, signor, lo jik l^ „ . ' , -So saying," he apj)raache^,,clp?e to the dog, with £he interitibtf.of taking the piece of : paper .whicß-'WasKtied rourid his "'neck 2 ; ; -but^M -he .shopped down for that purpose, having j>reyiously given a self-satisfied little -nod to the group, Ohico's jaws suddenly opened and closed with a sharp snap within half an inch;.\.of his- starry, fingers, upon which Francesco, almost turned a back summersault, and, pitching oil some loose stories, rolled seyeral yards down the hill, bis other barrel going off in the act.

It was impossible to repress a laugh all round, at their guide's discomfiture, and Chico,. taking advantage- of the temporary diversion from himself, got up, whimpering in his agony,, and dragged himself on.

He had not got many yards when the group were up with him again.

' Anyhow,' said Tom, ' we'll put the poor faithful brute out of his agony.'

'No, no, signor !' said Francesco, '/can't guide you now it's dark,. but he can. He can only go slowly now; and we can keep up with him.. He'll take us to wherever they are.'

Tom's nature at first revolted against such a measure. The brute creation, of all species and kinds, that he had ever come across had always been friends of his, and the sight of the dog, struggling on in his agony, " appealed touchingly to him. But there was something precious in the balance which outweighed these considerations for poor Chico— Fred Clennell's life, which might depend on their reaching destination within the "next few hours.. So Tom reluctantly determined to follow Francesco's advice.

'In any. case we'll do all we can. for you, my poor fellow,' lie said, patting Chico, who, somehow, :,j did not this time snap . at the hand that touched him ; but lay on his side and whined plaintively. Tom took his handkerchief and bound the shattered leg with it as gently and as -Avell as he could, and when he had finished, before he got ' up, he quietly took hold of the piece of paper round. the dog's neck.

Chico ■ did not try to bite, but he gave a low, expressive growl.

' All right, my faithful old boy !' said Tom, ! we won't rob you of your despatches, which you guard so Well. Now see if you can get on any better.'

Chico got up, and limped on rather more easily, followed by the party at a few yards' distance. >Qn they went, slowly, certainly, but still surely. Sometimes their unwilling guide .would, with a brave effort, break into a lame, feeble canter, and then, when exhausted he would turn-round and see that it had been all in .vain, and . that he had not succeeded in shaking them off, he would snarl, and gnash his teeth together as if his heart were bursting with rage and pain, and then go on again. \

In this manner, they continued on for about a couple of -hours. The night was now pitch dark, j&o much so that they could not afford to let Chico get more than two or three yards ahead of them . But : at time's"? ■• when he, by a mighty effort, managed to put more than that distance between himself and his persecutors, anc^.; succeeded for a moment in veiling himself in the night, some of the party," 'pressing onwards rather too hastily, woffid suddenly find to their extreme agitation,' a snap, like the click of machinery,, going off in startling proximity to fcneirMegs. - * This darkness :is -a^ good friend' to us now that we'veifouhd' a guide who doesn't mind it, poor brute. ! ; eh, Kit 1' said Tom in a whisp f er, for Francesco had told them that .lie thought they were getting near: the leave, and the party proceeded witfi the utmost caution, and when anybody, had. anything to say, he said it in a- whisper.

' Poor old brute, yes ! Never mind, Tom!' replied Kit -Trevor. < It's all for Fred Clennell's good — it can't be helped.' . ; ; ' Well, I hope the end will justify the means — I say, hush ! did you notice the dog seemed to change his tune t6 a little sort of whimper of recognition just then % Francesco !'

The party came to a stop, and Francesco, who had been hanging a good deal in rear, came up in . obedience to Ton's summons: „

' Do you think we're near the. place ? I fancy there's someone in front. Did you hear' anything 7. ' Ye-yes, signor,' replied Francesco, whose teeth were rattling like castanets, as .he poured hjg tremulous notes into

Tom's ear. "' I think we must be quite near nqw, signor. I think, perhaps, signor, you might find the way now without me; I'm' not frightened, signor. It's the cold makes my teeth chatter. I. once got the ague, signor, in the Butrinto marshes, not far from here, and I get like this sometimes in the night air. I think I should be better, signor, if you^were to give me a little out . of your flask. No, signor, it's not fright, it's ague.' ' Well, a little Dutch courage is better than none, I suppose,' muttered Tom contemptuously, as he handed his flask. 4 Look here !' he continued in a whisper, and drawing the party close around by a movement of his arms. 'Have a look at your rifles and revolvers all of you. I believe those rascals are hanging about closty dnd we may want them at any moment.'' The words were hardly out o£ Tom's, mouth, when half-a-dozen, pieces of blazing , pine came whirling through the air in different directions, lighting up with a, lurid , glare a sm all portion of the landscape' ardundthein. ( ; l r :jr^ • . "yourselves !'. shouted Ton}, his' voice half drowned fey the' of three (: matchlocks which went off in rapid succession immediately after the sceine had. been lit up. „ : * Oh, .Santa Maria P whined Francesco, { I*m shot, sigribr ! I'm shot !'

\ Hold yer row, yer beggar !' said a gr6at,' burly sailor, who in the sudden light had discovered Francesco crouching down close to the ground in front of him, and had administered a sharp kick to make him get up, producing, thereby, a shock to Francesco's frame which that individual, with the lively imagination of terror, attributed to a musket ball.

The guide's frights was the only harm done, for luckily the bandits' bullets, instead of crashing and tearing through bone and flesh, went skimmering along harmlessly— -like Mr Winkle's small shot on that memorable first of September — until they buried themselves in the bosom of mother. earth.

' Forrard !' screamed Tom, in true Leicestershire style, as he took, the lead in the race of who should first close with the foe. Hard upon his heels followed Kit Trevor, Brunton, and Mountnessing ; while the sailors of more clumsy build and gait, doubled up as well as they could. The only one who at. all. equalled Tom in fleetness of foot, was Francesco, but then it was in the opposite direction. ' Forrard ! • Don't lot the beggars have time to load again,' shouted Tom. '

Notwithstanding the speed with which the Englishmen diminished the distance between themselves and, the enemy, the latter would probably: have had time to re-load before they had closed, and the chaaces are that this time the matchlocks would have been discharged with more deadly precision, and Tom, as being the foremost and most conspicuous figure, would, in all human probability, have been the first to bite the dust; but, just at those critical moments, the firebrands flickered out, and darkness', for once, instead of favoring, arrested a wicked deed.

' Here's a go !' remarked Com-mander-in-chief Tom. 'We were nearly .up with them too. 1 can hear them scuttling away in the dark like a lot of rats.'

' Let's have a slap into 'em. Might pink a fellow by chance, you know,' said Beggy Brunton, raising his revolver, and, with characteristic recklessness, suiting the action to the word. The flash offered a mark. for the.bandits' aim, which they were not slow in taking advantage of, and the report of Reggy's pistol had not died away, when half-a-dozen bullets came whistling about him in most disagreeable proximity.

• Here a few of you ! Fire a volley into where you saw those flashes!' said Tom.

A number of the men obeyed, and a wild shriek of agony which rung out told them that, at all events, owe bullet had found its billet.

The fighting devil which lurks in the heart of every man was now thoroughly aroused, and they pressed : onward eagerly. Their progress, however, was not in proportion to their zeal.. In the. pitchy darkness they were constantly floundering arid tumbling over loos^e stones, or stunted shrubs and bushes, until it seemed that, notwithstanding all their efforts, the foe, who knew the ground better, would get clear away from them, and all chance of following him right up to his stronghold be lost. Luckily, though, just ab this ...time, the moon peeped over the distant hills, as if to see what was the meaning of all this noise in a spot where she was accustomed to look down upon nothing more exciting than the dark shadows cast by herself, or a solitary traveller ' scragged ' every now and then. * Bravo !' exclaimed Tom. 'Here's her chaste ladyship going to give us the light of her countenance, just in -the nick of time — though, why she 1 should be supposed to have the pull of the sun in chastity I can't make out, for I should think she sees a great many queerer sights than Ac.docs.' - , For instance, look at this,' said B-eggy, as he nearly tumbled over a white mass which lay huddled up on the ground. • It's the fellow we bowled over, I suppose" said Kit. ' Poor beggar !' The corpse— -for life had fled with .that scream, — was dressed in ; the A\-

banian fasfiidn, but not after the manner of Albanians of fancy-dress balls. There was no costly embroidery in silver and gold, no richly-colored clothes, Everything, nearly, was made of the coarsest white cotton, from the roughly embroidered cap which still adhered to the fuzzy head, down to the gaiters, soiled and stained with many a trudge over mountain and through marsh. His life-blood still, oozed from a wound in his back, and his voluminous white petticoats, reaching as far as his knees, were bedabbled with blood which flowed not from his death-wound but from his right hand, the four fingers of which had recently been hacked off.

It only required a few seconds' thought to explain the mutilation. It had evidently oeen the most expeditious way of extricating the matchlock from the death-stiffened grasp of the poor wretch, to whom, however; a few fingers more or less were, then of but little consequence. The body was that of a small spare man, The limbs were w^astedand thin* and the small ankles, which were bare and begrimed with, dust, looked mean poor. In fact, altogether, it was a and pitiable r sight, and there was not one, even amongst the rough sailors, in that group who would not have' recalled, if he had been able, that random' shot which had done the mischief.

' Poor little beggar ! he could not

have done us much harm if he , had lived,' said Tom with a shrug of his shoulders.

They did not waste more than a few moments over the ghastly sight, but pushed on for a spot where they had seen the robbers, in the first, friendly rays of the moon, disappear round a projecting mass of rock. As they approached this, they gave it a wide berth on their flank, so as not to find themselves suddenly entrapped in some ambush. Arrived in a line with the place, the coast appeared all clear, and they followed the direction taken by the brigands, no doubt congratulating themselves upon just having got out of sight before the moon rose to betray them.

' I expect it's the way up to the cave, and we should never have twigged it if we had not caught sight of nearly the last fellow as he turned round. There seems to be a regular little footbeaten path.'

They were following, as one of them had said, a small path, made along the side of a hill which* above them, rose precipitously, and, below, descended into a deep gorge.

'_Here's some blood !' remarked some one else.

' Perhaps one of them wounded by that volley.'

* Or the dog very likely.' 1 Look out !'

As the warning was shouted out, a huge mass of rock from above came bumping down towards them with concussions that shook the ground, and a fearful velocity that increased with every leap.

' Get close under the hill !' roared Tom.

The little party obeyed with wondrous alacrity, and posted themselves up against the cutting like flieson a wall.

A few yards before it reached them, the enormous bounding mass struck against a projecting shoulder of rock, and while the splintered fragments flew about them like grape-shot, the main body bounded high into the air, and, clearing them by several feet, fell crashing into the gorge below.

'We won't wait for any more of those,' said Tom. • Come along ! We'll make a rush for it.'

As they ran along, in Indian file, many more of these detached masses were launched at them from above, but, providentially, they all either leaped over them, or fell harmlessly behind, and a few minutes' running brought them suddenly, but unmistakably, in front of the cave.

There was not a living soul outside, but through the rough barricade which had been run up hastily at its mouth, shadows of men could be seen flitting about.

• Get under cover !' said Tom, at the same time not practising exactly what he preached. 'There are loop-holes in j;hat barricade, which they'll very soon make use of, I should think.'

' c Well, don't be potted like a garden thrush yonrself X said Mouiitnessing, pulling Tom's long figure behind a ledge of rock.

' I wonder if Fred's heard the shots, and if he has any idea df what's going on?' said Kit. 'Let's give him a " holloa," Tom, to let him know we're here V

"* ' No. We had better begin;operations with a parley, I think,' rejoined Tom. * Where's Francesco V

There was, of course, no response from that individual, who by this time had accomplished with astonishing rapidity about three miles of the homeiward journey.

* Never mind. : He said tlie head scoundrel could talk English, so here .goes,' and, raising his voice so as to reach the occupants of the cave, Tom announced that the object of their coming was to" deliver the Englishman in captivity, adding, that if he were not given up to them at once quietly, they would take him by force, and that any harm done to him would be visited on his captors tenfold ; and then ended by inviting the chief to make his appearance and reply.

Tom had barely concluded when the venerable white beard, and thd patriarchal visage of old Pomp made their appearance above the barricade, and that worthy, opening his mouth, let fly a torrent of English oaths and curses — an accomplishment for which he was indebted to the late Captain Helstone — that put even the sailorssome of them old men-o'-war's men, too — quite on their mettle.

'Hulloa, Tom, old fellow! You said he talked English, but you weren't prepared for such a masterpiece of the vernacular as that, were you ? said Brunton, as the hoary old reprobate's curses died away in deep bass tones, like the muttered growling of distant thunder. *

Then up and spake an old sailor, as he turned his quid in his cheek, and touched his cap to Tom. 'Let ma, have a fling at him, sir, in that there lingo T

' No,- no,' replied Tom with a quiet smile, as he drew his revolver from its case. 'We'll apeak to him now in a. more forcible lingo still. .Gome along !' . . ." ' '■

There was a rush forward, and in a few more moment's 1 reports of firearms, shouts,: curses, shrieks and groans filled the air.

(To be continued)