Varney the Vampire 2(106)

 

"You shall command the squadron, doctor," said the admiral, "and have it all your own way, you know, so here goes! Come along, Henry, and let's show ourselves; we are both armed too!"

 

They walked out into the centre of the garden, and they were soon convinced that the hangman saw them, for a face appeared at the window, and was as quickly withdrawn again.

 

"There," said the doctor, "now he knows he is a prisoner, and we may as well place ourselves in some position which commands a good view of the house, as well as of the garden gate, and so see if we cannot starve him out, though we may be starved out ourselves."

 

"Not at all!" said Admiral Bell, producing from his ample pockets various parcels,--"we came to bring you ample supplies."

 

"Indeed!"

 

"Yes; we have been as far as the ruins."

 

"Oh, to release Marchdale. Charles told me how the villain had fallen into the trap he had laid for him."

 

"He has, indeed, fallen into the trap, and it's one he won't easily get out of again. He's dead."

 

"Dead!--dead!"

 

"Yes; in the storm of last night the ruins have fallen, and he is by this time as flat as a pancake."

 

"Good God! and yet it is but a just retribution upon him. He would have assassinated poor Charles Holland in the cruelest and most cold-blooded manner, and, however we may shudder at the manner of his death, we cannot regret it."

 

"Except that he has escaped your friend the hangman," said the admiral.

 

"Don't call him my friend, if you please," said Dr. Chillingworth, "but, hark how he is working away, as if he really intended to carry the house away piece by piece, as opportunity may serve, if you will not let it to him altogether, just as it stands."

 

"Confound him! he is evidently working on his own account," said the admiral, "or he would not be half so industrious."

 

There was, indeed, a tremendous amount of hammering and noise, of one sort and another, from the house, and it was quite clear that the hangman was too heart and soul in his work, whatever may have been the object of it, to care who was listening to him, or to what conjecture he gave rise.

 

He thought probably that he could but be stopped in what he was about, and, until he was so, that he might as well go on.

 

And on he went, with a vengeance, vexing the admiral terribly, who proposed so repeatedly to go into the house and insist upon knowing what he was about, that his, wishes were upon the point of being conceded to by Henry, although they were combatted by the doctor, when, from the window at which he had entered, out stepped the hangman.

 

"Good morning, gentlemen! good morning," he said, and he moved towards the garden gate. "I will not trouble you any longer. Good morning!"

 

"Not so fast," said the admiral, "or we may bring you up with a round turn, and I never miss my mark when I can see it, and I shall not let it get out of sight, you may depend."

 

He drew a pistol from his pocket, as he spoke, and pointed it at the hangman, who, thereupon paused and said:--

 

"What! am I not to be permitted to go in peace? Why it was but a short time since the doctor was quarrelling with me because I did not go, and now it seems that I am to be shot if I do."

 

"Yes," said the admiral, "that's it."

 

"Well! but,--"

 

"You dare," said he, "stir another inch towards the gate, and you are a dead man!"

 

The hangman hesitated a moment, and looked at Admiral Bell; apparently the result of the scrutiny was, that he would keep his word, for he suddenly turned and dived in at the window again without saying another word.

 

"Well; you have certainly stopped him from leaving," said Henry; "but what's to be done now?"

 

"Let him be, let him be," said the doctor; "he must come out again, for there are no provisions in the place, and he will be starved out."

 

"Hush! what is that?" said Henry.

 

There was a very gentle ring at the bell which hung over the garden gate.

 

"That's an experiment, now, I'll be bound," said the doctor, "to ascertain if any one is here; let us hide ourselves, and take no notice."

 

The ring in a few moments was repeated, and the three confederates hid themselves effectually behind some thick laurel bushes and awaited with expectation what might next ensue.

 

Not long had they occupied their place of concealment, before they heard a heavy fall upon the gravelled pathway, immediately within the gate, as if some one had clambered to the top from the outside, and then jumped down.