CHAPTER VIII.
_The worn-out Captive.--Light Slumbers.--Fearful Wakening.--Thestealthy Step.--The overmastering. Horror.--The lone Boy confrontedby his Enemy.--The hungry Eyes.--Is it real, or a Nightmare?--Thesupreme Moment._
The darkness of the night and the impossibility of escape filledBob with the most gloomy and distressing thoughts, which at firstquite Overcame him. But at length other thoughts came, which wereof a less distressing character. His mind once more reverted tothe idea that he was held for ransom, and that for the present, atleast, he was in safety; and not only so, but well cared for. Thesepeople certainly had given him of their best. They had made himshare at the common meal, and though this bed of straw was not veryelegant, it was at least comfortable, and was no worse than theythemselves used to sleep upon.
He flung himself down upon the straw, and found that it was asoft and a refreshing couch. Far better was this fresh strawthan any formal bed could have been, for in such a house as that,a mattress or a bed would certainly have been hideous thing, asdirty, as greasy, and as squalid as the people of the house. Onthe whole, Bob was pleased with his bed of straw, and with itsclean, fresh smell.
Escape being thus cut off for the present, Bob's frame of mind grewmore placid. As long as he entertained the idea of immediate flight,his mind was constantly on the strain; but now, when that idea hadbeen dismissed, he grew calmer, and thought over his circumstanceswith more deliberation. He remembered that one of the brigandshad already gone away, and, as he supposed, to Salerno. If so, hewould, no doubt, either see his friends, or at least hear fromthem, some time on the following day.
The more he considered his situation, the more free from allimmediate danger did it seem, and the more did his hopes increase.He looked forward with eager hope, to the following day. That would,without doubt, bring him news of his friends, or, perhaps, restorehim to liberty. Under the pleasant influence of thoughts like these,his mind grew more calm and cheerful every moment, and passed intoa state of tranquil contentment Besides, he was tired, and hisweariness brought on drowsiness. As long as his excitement lasted,he could not feel the drowsiness; but now, as calmness returned,the weariness and sleepiness became stronger, and by degreesoverpowered him.
Gradually the thoughts of his mind became intermingled with thefancies of dreams, and blended the realities around him with thingsat a distance. All was still, outside and inside. No sound whateverarose from below. The family seemed all asleep. At last Bob dozedoff also, and passed into the land of dreams.
His sleep was not heavy. Many things conspired to keep his sensessomewhat on the alert even in that slumber of his, and he was inthat condition which is called sleeping with one eye open. The factis, the extraordinary excitement of his donkey ride, and especiallyof his last adventure in thus falling into captivity, had so rousedhis faculties, so affected his nerves, and so sharpened his senses,that even in his sleep there still predominated the thoughts andthe purposes of his waking hours.
In this state he remained for some time, sleeping, yet vigilant,the body gaining rest and refreshment, but the wary soul on thealert, as though to guard against danger.
How long this sleep continued, whether minutes or hours, Bob couldnever afterwards remember; but with a sudden shock through all hisnerves, he opened his eyes. He was lying, as he had flung himselfon the straw, on his back, with his head elevated against a bundleof straw, in such a way that he could see the length of the room.
It was a noise that he heard. He listened breathlessly, and lookedwith all his eyes.
Around him all was dark. It might be near morning, or it might beearly night; he could not tell. All was still, outside and inside--theblackness of darkness and the stillness of death.
Yet now, in the midst of that black darkness and that deathlystillness, he became aware, of a sight and a sound.
It was a low, creaking sound, which was repeated at short intervals,accompanied by a sliding, shuffling noise. It sounded in thedirection of the opening by which the ladder led up from below.Looking there, he saw a ray of light, faint and flickering, yetvisible enough in that deep darkness; and as the grating, shufflingsounds succeeded one another at regular intervals, even so did thefaint, flickering ray of light grow brighter and brighter.
As Bob looked at this and took it all in, one thought came to himin an instant,--
_Somebody was coming up the ladder!_
The thought went through him with a pang.
Somebody is coming up the ladder!
Who?
What for?
That mysterious somebody was coming slowly and stealthily. It wasthe tread of one who wished to come unobserved.
On waking out of sleep suddenly, the mind is often confused; butwhen, after such a sudden awakening, it is confronted by somehorrible presence, the shock is sometimes too great to be endured.So was it with Bob at this time. His awaking had been sudden; andthe horror that he found in the object that now presented itselfwas, that the shuffling sound that arose from the ladder was thestep of Doom,--and the mysterious visitant was stealing towardshim to make him its prey. There arose within him an awfulanticipation. His eyes fixed themselves upon the place where thelight was shining; all his soul awaited, in dreadful expectation,the appearance of the mysterious visitor, and as the stealthy stepdrew nearer and nearer, the excitement grew stronger, and morepainful, and more racking.
At length the figure began to emerge above the opening.
Bob's eyes were fixed upon the place.
He saw first the light. It emerged above the opening--an old oil-lampheld in a bony, grisly, skinny hand. Then followed an arm.
Bob's excitement was now terrible. His heart beat with wild throbs.His whole frame seemed to vibrate under that pulsation which wasalmost like a convulsion.
The arm rose higher! Higher still!
_It_ was coming!
There arose a matted shock of greasy, gray hair. The light shonedown upon it as it was upheld in the bony hand. The hair came tip,and then, gradually, a face.
That face was pale as ashes; it was lean and shrivelled; the cheekswere sunken; the cheek bones projected; and a million wrinkles werecarved upon the deep-seamed brow and corrugated cheeks. Over thathideous face the gray hair wandered. Bob's blood seemed to freezewithin his veins. The old fable tells of the Gorgon, whose faceinspired such horror that the beholder stiffened into stone. Sohere. Bob beheld a Gorgon face. He felt petrified with utter horror!
As the face came up it was turned towards him. It emerged higherand higher, and at length stopped about a foot above the opening.Here it fixed its gaze upon Bob, bending itself forward, and holdingforth the light as far as possible, so that it might light up theroom, and peering through the gloom so as to see where Bob was.
There seemed something indescribably evil, malignant, and cruel,in those bleary eyes which thus sought Bob out, fastened themselvesupon him, and seemed to devour him with their gaze. There was ahideous eagerness in her look. There was a horrible fascinationabout it,--such as the serpent exerts over the bird. And as thebird, while under the spell of the serpent's eye, seems to loseall power of flight, and falls a victim to the destroyer, sohere, at this time, Bob felt paralyzed at that basilisk glance,and lost all power of motion. He could not speak. He tried toscream. No cry came. He was dumb with horror. He was like one ina nightmare; but this was a waking night-mare, and not the fancifulterrors of dreamland.
But the horror was too great to be endured. He closed his eyestight, and thus shut out the sight.
But though he shut out the sight, he could not shut oat sound; andsoon he became aware of something which brought a fresh terror overhis soul.
It was a stealthy step.
It was advancing towards, him.
Slow, cautious, cunning, yet steady, and nearer and still nearer,came the awful step! Bob opened his eyes, to assure himself oncemore of the worst. He opened them by a resistless impulse.
The figure was now half way between the opening and the bed. Theo
ld hag stood now fully revealed. Her bleary eyes were fixed onBob. One hand upheld the flickering lamp, and in the other was asharp weapon.
Bob closed his eyes in an anguish of horror. He was dumb. He couldutter no cry. He could not move. The blow was coming. The destroyerwas here, yet he could not make one motion to ward off that blow.His brain whirled, his heart seemed to stop beating.
There was a terrible moment of dumb, motionless, breathlessexpectancy.
The old woman knelt by his side.
She put the lamp on the floor.
Then she reached out one of her long, lean, bony, skinny, shrivelledhands, and took Bob by the hair of his head, while with the othershe raised her sharp weapon.