University of Virginia Library

32. CHAPTER XXXII.
JACK SHAY AND HIS GANG.

When the distracted Gertrude fled from the scene of her young
friend's capture to seek for aid, she ran, as has already been narrated,
with great rapidity towards the residence of Mr. Strong,
but soon exhausted by excitement, and by the violence of her
exertions, she was obliged to abate her speed to a fast walk. Even
this velocity her failing strength compelled her to diminish, until
her progression became like that of one who, in a dream, attempts
to fly from danger, and finds each step more difficult than the
last, until his limbs seem chained by some viewless power to the
earth. Compelled to pause, she looked back to see if the kidnappers
had yet emerged from the shop with their prisoner, but
seeing nothing of the crowd, she took courage, and with recovered
breath again darted forward, heedless of the wondering gaze with
which she was followed, and of the hasty questions of sympathy
as she passed, for she had now reached the more genteel portion of
the street, but she dared not again trust to the championship of
strangers.

She did not see that doors were thrown open, and that windows
of stately dwellings were thronged with fair faces to behold her
flight; she did not heed that a gust of wind snatched the rich
tippet from her neck, and sent it whirling down the street; she
only saw the near residence of the friend whose aid she sought, and
into whose office, panting, but speechless, she burst.

The amazed lawyer rose hastily from his book-strewn table; the
pens of half a dozen clerks became suddenly stationary, and all
eyes were turned upon the fair client, who stood supporting herself
by the open door, vainly essaying to speak.

“Why, Miss Van Kleeck,” exclaimed the barrister, advancing
quickly to her, and placing a chair at her side; “pray be seated,
and tell me what is the matter. A glass of water here, George!
and Edwards, please to step into the house and bring some
wine.”

Gertrude shook her head, and pushed aside the proffered water,
without thanks.

“You must go with me quickly,” she said; “I will tell you as
we go along.”

“We shall lose nothing by knowing our business before we
start,” replied the lawyer, coolly taking his hat and cane as he
spoke, but waiting for further information.

Gertrude was obliged to explain, but it was far from a lucid
statement which her agitation permitted her to make, yet by a
few rapid questions the barrister obtained all the facts whieh he
deemed it necessary to know.

“I can do nothing without process,” he said; “but I will”—

“Oh, no, no; I cannot wait for that; they will take her away;
I must seek help elsewhere.”

“I will accompany you instantly; but let me first leave directions
which will render my interference of service to you.”

He quickly wrote on a slip of paper the names of the necessary
parties, and handed it to his most advanced student.

“A habeas corpus, Mr. Jones,” he said, “as quick as pen can
draw it—Edwards will go for an officer while the writ is being
prepared, and one of the young men will be on the watch to tell
you as nearly as possible where to follow us; I only know that it
is somewhere down this street. Mr. Thompson, you and Mr.
Smith may accompany us, if you choose.”

This permission, which was equivalent to a command, was accepted
with great alacrity by the individuals named, who, Gertrude
did not fail to observe, were two of the stoutest young men
in the room, and who became at once the objects of envy to their
less favored companions.

“I say, Tom,” said Thompson, lingering at the door a moment
until the lady and the barrister had passed out of hearing, “don't
hurry with that writ, you know; give us a chance, and we'll do
it up without the sheriff. Here, Sam, give us that other shillelah;
that stupid Smith has actually gone with nothing but his
fists.”

The students, each swinging a heavy cane, quickly overtook
their companions, and the whole party proceeded on a very rapid
walk down the street—the impatient Gertrude fairly dragging the
lawyer, whose offered arm she had accepted.

“Faster! faster! they will be gone,” she said, “and then I
know I shall never see dear Ruth again—and he would be so
grieved if she were lost.”

“You mean Mr. Vrail, I presume.”

“Yes; a little quicker—we are almost there now.”

“We cannot go quicker without positively running,” replied
the panting barrister, “and I really do not like to do that.”

“The young lady gave a slight scream at this instant, exclaiming,
“Oh, there is Garry!” and slipping her arm from that of her
grave companion, she darted across the street to meet her cousin,
and inform him of the great disaster.

The story was quickly told, and in another instant the alarmed
young man had joined the pursuers, or, rather, had preceded them,
and was the first to reach the shop designated by Gertrude as that
where she had left Ruth in charge of her kidnappers.

But here all was now quiet. The red-faced proprietor stood
behind his counter, leaning his elbows upon it, and watching a
game of draughts between two of his customers, who were seated

on a bench, while a third was lazily lingering over the remains of
a glass of ale at the bar, and looking wishfully at the inaccessible
decanters behind it.

“No one else was there, and Garret, who thought he had mistaken
the place, waited for the remainder of the party to come up,
which they did very quickly.

“They are gone! they are gone!” exclaimed Gertrude in despairing
accents. “Oh, why did I leave her?”

“Are you quite certain that this is the place, Miss Van Kleeck!”
asked the barrister.

“Yes, certain; that is the very man who asked them to come
in.”

Mr. Strong stepped into the shop, and questioned the grocer,
who affected much ignorance on the subject.

There had been a great many people in his shop, he said, and
he had heard something about a young girl who had run away,
but he had been to busy waiting upon his customers to pay much
attention to the matter.

“Which way did they go with the girl?”

“I did not rightly notice, but I think in that direction,” he said,
pointing down a street in which he knew they did not go.

“He said the girl would be a hundred miles from here to-morrow
morning,” said one of the draught-players, “and he would see
that she did not get away again. He was a-going to send her
home with one of his neighbors to-night—that man, I suppose,
that helped to catch her.”

“To the steamboat! to the steamboat!—it leaves at five o'clock!”
shouted Garret, leaping from the shop, and coursing the streets
like a greyhound on the chase.

The clerks followed at a less rapid pace, but still running, and
Mr. Strong, having the good fortune to catch sight of an unemployed
hackney coach, immediately engaged it for himself and
Gertrude, giving orders to drive with speed to the steamboat landing.

There was need of haste, for it lacked scarcely a quarter of
an hour of the stated time for the vessel's departure.

The hackman did not spare his horses, but they did not overtake
the fleet Van Vrank, whose desperate efforts were caused
by the painful reflection that if Ruth were lost it would be through
his remissness. Never for a moment abating his headlong velocity,
and seeming by intuition to select the shortest routes, he
arrived, panting, at the crowded pier, long in advance of the impeded
vehicle, and of his pedestrian followers. He was none too
soon. Scarcely had he stationed himself beside the passage-plank
which stretched from the wharf to the boat, where with flashing
eyes, he peered closely into the approaching throng of passengers,
when, to his great joy, he discovered Ruth among them, closely
surrounded by her escort, and evidently quite submissive to them.

Fortunately, he was not seen, or, at least, was not recognized
by Shay or his friend, who, having accomplished so much of their
way without interruption, seemed no longer to anticipate trouble;
and as they came to the plank they fell, for the first time, into
single file, for the purpose of more easily passing the return current
of porters, draymen, and others who were going out.

It was at this critical moment that Ruth felt an arm passed
gently around her waist, and found herself lifted up and borne
quickly in a lateral direction from the crowded gangway, where
she was set down in a comparatively open space.

She half uttered a scream, but catching a glimpse of her
friend, and hearing his well-known voice, she became silent, and
with quick perception and ready tact she obeyed him when he
directed her to stand behind him, for she saw her captors rushing
furiously after her.

Shay, although in front of the child at the time of her seizure,
had retained hold of her hand, and when she was snatched away,
he, of course, became aware of it, while Hull and the porters,
who were close behind, saw the whole transaction, which was too

quickly done to admit of their interference. But they now rushed
pell-mell upon the daring intruder, and without a word of parley,
three of them assailed him at once, while the fourth, Shay himself,
dodged around the combatants, seeking to seize upon and
regain his prize.

Garret, nothing daunted, succeeded, by a few well directed and
ponderous blows, in speedily grounding two of his enemies, but
the pugilistic ostler, who was, unfortunately, a well-trained boxer,
proved a more serious antagonist, dealing him some heavy hits,
and affording little opportunity for any effective return.

A crowd, of course, gathered around them, some greatly enjoying
the sport, and some seeking to terminate the combat, but the
absence of police force, as usual on such occasions, prevented any
effectual interference with the affray. Van Vrank was impeded
by the necessity of retaining a position which should shield Ruth
from her watchful adversary, who was too wary to come within
the sweep of his long arms, and who resorted to invective as a
substitute for valor. He denounced Garret as a scoundrel Yankee,
who had stolen his niece, and wanted to carry her off to the
States, and he asked the people if they would stand by and see it
done.

“Shame! shame! do you want more than four to one?” shouted
a porter, who stood, with a heavy trunk on his shoulder, watching
the combat, and a laugh among the crowd indicated a sympathy
with the weaker party.

“She isn't his niece, gentlemen,” said Garry, knocking down
the venturous Hull, for the second time, as he spoke, and then
continuing his remarks, with a watchful eye upon the ostler, and
apparently without much fatigue; “he stole the child himself,
and I am her friend and protector.”

A shriek from Ruth at this moment indicated some new danger,
and, at the same instant, Garret felt himself grasped from
behind by the resuscitated porter, while the two other assailants

at once grappled with him in front, and despite the most Herculean
efforts, he was borne to the ground.

“Now's your time!” shouted Hull; and Shay, who seemed to
be of the same opinion, improved the moment to rush forward
and grasp the trembling girl's arm, and by some threatening
words, in that voice so sure to subdue her, he compelled her
silence, (who was there now to appeal to?) and half led, half
dragged her onward. Hull followed, leaving the prostrate man to
the care of the two menials, for the boat's bell was ringing for
the last time, and there was but a few remaining minutes to
secure their passage.

But at that instant other actors came upon the stage. The students,
Thompson and Smith, made their appearance, panting, in
the crowd, and confronted the luckless Shay, at the moment that
he was about to step for the second time upon the vessel.

“Stand back here, if you please!” shouted Thompson; “I
have a writ for you, sir!” (The writ was half a mile behind.)
“No kidnapping here, if you please!”

“Not on British soil,” interposed Smith, bluffly, taking hold
of one arm of the bewildered girl, while his companion grasped
the other. “Please to consider yourself in our custody, and follow
us.”

The air of authority with which the young men spoke,
and their genteel dress and bearing, had an effect for a
moment, but the cunning Shay, after an instant's reflection,
demanded to see the process by virtue of which they assumed to
act.

“Oh, you'll see it soon enough; come along, sir!” said Thompson,
who was quite willing that his orders should be disregarded,
if they could succeed in getting off with Ruth, with whom they
had begun to retreat through the crowd.

“All ashore that's going!” shouted a voice from the boat, and
the amazed Shay, who saw himself so nearly foiled by what he

began to believe a mere trick, rushed desperately after the young
men, accompanied by Hull, and calling loudly also upon his
other allies for help.

They were quite at liberty, for Garret had shaken them off,
and regained his feet, and was at the side of Ruth and her new
protectors, quite willing and ready to encounter them afresh when
they came up, but fortunately the tardy arrival of a pair of police
officers prevented a new collision.

Shay appealed vociferously to the men in authority to restore
to him his niece, who, he assured them, was being forcibly taken
away from his rightful control, and as his companion Hull and
the two porters seconded his assertions, he seemed likely to prove
successful.

“Ask the girl herself whether we are taking her against her
will,” said Thompson to the officer.

“Oh, no, no,” cried Ruth; “don't let him get me again,” and
she clung close to the side of the protecting student, as Shay
advanced towards her.

“It's no matter what she says, you know,” added Hull; “she
is but a child, and he is her uncle and lawful guardian. She
wants to run away with them chaps. Be quick, now, my men, or
the boat will be off.”

“Don't hurry,” said Garry, laughing; “here comes a man who
can tell you the whole story, gentlemen, and who can tell you
what you ought to do. Here's 'Squire Strong.”

The lawyer's carriage, which had been long impeded by the
throng of vehicles on the wharf, stopped at their side as he spoke,
and Gertrude gave a shout of joy as she saw Ruth so near her.

Mr. Strong leaped out, and speedily learning how affairs stood,
he said to the officials, who knew him well—

“You perceive that there is no proof of any kind that this
man is what he claims to be, a relation and guardian of the child.
Let her, therefore, decide for herself with whom she will go. If

with me, I will be responsible for her appearance, whenever
legally called upon.”

“All right, sir; we know you; let the girl choose,” replied
one of the officers.

“Who will you go with, Ruth?”

“With Gertrude! with Gertrude!” she exclaimed, giving a
frightened look at Shay, and then darting to the carriage, the
door of which had been left open, and springing in, she threw
herself sobbing into the arms of her delighted friend.

Utterly baffled and discomfited, and conscious that he had not
even a pretext for any proceedings to recover his lost slave, for
she was nothing more to him, the enraged Shay muttered some
idle threats, and turned away, accompanied by his coadjutors,
while a very decided cheer arose from a portion of the crowd who
had been interested spectators of the scene.

Garry, bruised, soiled, and with torn habiliments, was compelled
to accompany his friends in the carriage, but he was too much
delighted with the successful result of his championship, and with
the very evident gratitude of Ruth, to think of the sorry figure
which he made.

As to the students, it would be difficult to say, whether they
best enjoyed their own share in the exploit, or the great chagrin
of their colleague, Young, who came up, with his dilatory writ
and a pair of sheriff's officers, just at the moment when all parties
were starting for home.