University of Virginia Library

11. CHAPTER XI.
The Burglar's Discovery.

Herman remained a few moments after this
hold charge from Wild buried in deep and
troubled thought. At length he raised his
head, and fixing hts eyes full upon him
said,—

`Wilkins, you have guessed right. You are
my friend, and I will tell you the whole story!
He then went on to relate in detail the incidents
as they occurred.

When Herman had ended his recital, the
events given in which have already been made

known to the reader,[1] the burglar captain.
started up with an exclamation of surprise
and admiration.

`This then is the way Shears came to his
end!' he at length said with deep emphasis.
`Well, I am glad this mystery is solved. I
never had anything perplex me so in my life
as accounting for his death! Well, Herman,
it was a bold deed and like yourself! Now
what have you in view touching this young
girl? It is plain that the one I saw you fight
so bravely for in the tap at `the Saracen,' and
the one you rescued from Shears, are one and
the same, though you have not yet acknow
ledged so much to me. You have read the
advertisement! It describes her exactly. A
thousand dollars isn't got every sunny morning!'

`What does your language mean?' demanded
Herman, his brow darkening. `Do I understand
you?'

`There is no use fooling the matter Herman
between us. You acknowledge the young
girl to be the same advertised here?'

`I do; what then?' he demanded haughtily.

`That we give her up and go shares, half
and half in the reward!'

`Wild, are you in earnest?' he asked in a
tone fearfully subdued by his efforts to suppress
his deep wrath.

`Yes, my boy!'

`So am I,' thundered Herman. `Dare to
think of carrying out this hellish plan of
yours, and you shall die by my hand! This
maiden has been reared and educated by my
mother as my sister! Such she is to me, and
as such I will protect her! Hear me—for now
you have unmasked yourself—I will deal in
plain words with you! By accident you have
recognized this person to be the original of
the picture you saw at Mr. Carrol's, and you
are the only one that recognises her to be the
one sought for by those who penned this advertisement.
Who they are, or why it is
written, I know not, nor do I care! But this
I say, that if you breathe a word of your knowledge
to any living soul, I will be your murderer!'

`I do not fear your menaces, Herman,' responded
Wild, with a reckless laugh; and at
the same time he began to move towards the
door, with the inward purpose to hasten at
once to the Astor House to give the information
sought. But Herman divined his object,
and placed himself between him and the
door.

`By the Creator that made me, Wild, you
shall not stir out of this room till you have
sworn to keep silence touching this discovery
you have made!'

`Herman, this is going a little too far,'
cried Wild through his clenched teeth, his
eyes glowing with rage. `Let me pass out,
for I swear to you I will take no oath of yours
or any other man's dictation!'

`You will not!'

`No!' firmly answered the burglar captain,
and with the utterance of the words he drew
a pistol from his bosom and cocking it, levelled
it at Herman's heart. `Stand back and
let me pass forth, or I pass across your body!'

Quick as this act of the burglar-captain had
been, the motion of Herman's hand, with
which he knooked the weapon from his grasp,
was quicker! Flying into the air it struck
the ceiling and exploded, while the two
men fiercely grappled with each other. Herman
was struggling for the preservation of
her whom he loved better than life, and he
was resolved that the burglar should not betray
her existence to those who would take
her from him forever! for he believed her parents
were at length moving in this search
after her, and well aware that she must be of
a superior condition in life, he felt that her
discovery by them would prevent forever a
barrier to the union which (notwithstanding
all his crushed hopes) he still trusted might
be brought about according to his soul's desire;
for true love never desponds.

The contest was short but terrific. After a
little more than a minute from their first falling
together upon the floor, the young man
rose to his feet, and wiping the red blood from
a seaman's clasp-knife, he closed it and returned
it to his pocket! The burglar-captain
moved not! He lay upon his back with his
face upward! From his heart bubbled forth a
torrent of blood which formed a pool around
him. His features were fixed and his eye
glazed. He was dead!