CHAPTER V.
HELEN DILT.
There are thousands of people in New York, to whom some portions of themetropolis are as much of a mystery as Paris, or Bagdad, or Calcutta,or Cairo in Egypt.
This may seem like a singular statement, yet it is a perfectly true one.
Along the East River front of the city many sights are to be seen,which could not but be as surprising as interesting to those to whomthis section of the city is a sealed book.
Here junk-shops flourish in all their glory, side by side with old ironand old chain shops.
Groggeries of the lowest kind abound, and here is the lair of theriver-pirate.
Sometimes blocks occur on which not a single building is to be found,save small offices in connection with iron or lumber yards.
At night no section of New York is more lonesome, or more inviting tothe performance of deeds of darkness.
Just opposite a tumble-down pier, not far from Grand street ferry,stood, and still stands, a little shanty, built in the rudest manner,only one story in height.
Into this shanty we wish to convey the reader, at least in imagination.
There are but three rooms in the shanty, the front one being about halfof the entire floor, and two smaller rooms, answering as bedrooms, tookup the other half.
In the outer or larger room an old acquaintance--McGinnis--may be seen,seated at a deal table, before him a half-emptied soda-bottle and aglass. The bottle, however, did not contain soda, but what may well betermed "liquid fire."
"Well, that was a good job," McGinnis was saying to his wife, who wasbustling around to get him something to eat. "A bully good job, and nomistake. I don't know as I ever had one before that paid so well for solittle trouble."
"That Brown is a foine, liberal gintleman, I'm a-thinkin'," remarkedMrs. McGinnis, as she turned the slice of ham in the frying-pan.
"He doesn't throw any money away, ye can depind on that," McGinnisabruptly rejoined. "Whin he pays me that sum of money jist to capturethe girl, yez can jist bet your life he's a-goin' to make more money bythe operation than he gives me."
"Ah, McGinnis, you're a sharp one, that's what ye are," said his wife,admiringly. "Now, shure, I'd never a-thought of the likes of that. It'san alderman ye'd ought to be, instead of what ye are."
"Whist!" interrupted McGinnis, bringing her to a halt. "Niver mindmentioning me occupation. Walls sometimes have ears, so they do. But, Isay, be lively, old woman, for the boss is a-comin' to-night to have alook at the gal."
The ham had been discussed, and McGinnis had just lighted his pipe,when a low knock came at the door.
"That's him!" exclaimed McGinnis, as he started for the door. "He's ontime, jist."
Surely enough, it was the highly respectable-looking lawyer, who hadasked Helen if he had not seen her somewhere before, and also what hername was.
As the door was opened, he glided in swiftly, and himself hastilyclosed the door, and stood by until it was secured.
"Well," said he, as he advanced into the center of the apartment,rubbing his hands, "well, you were successful?"
"That I was!" with a hoarse laugh.
"This is your wife?"
"It is, sor."
"She can be depended on?"
"Every bit as much as meself, sor. No fear of her--not a bit."
"And the girl?"
"Is below," was the reply, as McGinnis pointed downward, to signifythat Helen was somewhere beneath the floor.
"Good! Excellent!" and the rascally lawyer laughed quietly.
"Would ye be after wantin' to see her?" McGinnis now inquired.
"Yes."
At a sign from her lord and master, Mrs. McGinnis lighted a candle,then took a look at the two small windows to see that the curtains wereclosely drawn, and then handing the lighted candle to McGinnis, shebent and raised a trap-door.
This disclosed a dark-looking hole, up from which came a rush of damp,cold air, which almost chilled the marrow in the lawyer's bones.
But he must descend, if he wished to see the girl, for it would hardlybe safe to bring her up.
An idea that flashed across his brain just as he was about to descendcaused him to suddenly pause and bend a keen gaze on the rascally pair.
The life of McGinnis was in his hands.
Suppose the villain should take this opportunity of putting it foreverout of his power to again threaten him?
It was a startling reflection.
Brown had come there secretly; nobody knew of where he was going,nobody had seen him enter this shanty--facts concerning which McGinniswas as well posted as himself.
But in the faces of man and wife no sign of treachery was to be seen.
He could trust them.
"There is no danger," Brown mentally said. "They will not kill thegoose that lays the golden eggs--they are too avaricious for that."
He judged them rightly.
Brown descended into the sort of half-cellar beneath the house, of solittle depth that it was necessary to bend the head to move about.
"Careful, sor," said McGinnis, who was ahead. "Bad cess to it----"
Splash!
"There ye go!" McGinnis went on; "I forgot that the tide is up, andthat the hole was filled with water."
"Deuce take it!" growled Brown. "I'm wet up to my knees. Does the waterrise in here with the tide?"
"It do, sir. In the spring tides the water comes up close to the flureof the rooms above."
A few steps further, and then the villainous abductor of Helen Diltsaid:
"Here we are, sir!"
They had reached one corner of the cellar, and when McGinnis held upthe light, Brown saw the fair young girl, stretched on a pallet ofstraw, which kindness even the cruel McGinnis had not been able to denyher.
"Is she dead?" asked Brown, in a hoarse whisper.
"I think not. She wasn't less than two hours ago when the old womanbrought down some grub to her."
So very still did Helen lie that the lawyer thought she surely wasdead, until having drawn very close it became evident that she was onlysleeping.
Poor Helen!
It was the first time that her eyes had closed in slumber in the threedays which had elapsed since she had been forcibly brought to thisplace.
Approached by McGinnis, he had told her some plausible story, and ledher away from the more public thoroughfares, and then had suddenlyturned on her, and putting a revolver to her head had threatened tokill her did she make any outcry.
He had hurried her into a "ranch" where he was known, had kept herthere until after midnight, and then had forced her through thedeserted streets to his own shanty.
The flashing of the light into her face woke her up.
One moment she seemed confused in mind, and then appeared to recognizeher surroundings.
She did not know, could not guess, why she had been brought here at theexpense of so much trouble and risk, but she could not but feel certainthat it was for the furtherance of some evil design.
She started to a sitting position and glanced at her visitors.
The light of the candle shone across Brown's face, and before he couldturn and hide his features in shadow she had recognized him.
"Sir, what have I done to you that you should persecute me thus?" sheasked, in a tone that trembled with a mixture of indignation and fear."I know you; you bought a _Herald_ of me once, and asked my name."
"Curse the luck! I had not intended this," muttered Brown. "All Iwanted was to see the girl and make sure he had abducted the right one.Well, since you know me, then, let me ask you a question: _What do youknow of your early life?_"
For a minute Helen was silent.
Why this peculiar question?
Earnestly she gazed at him, but she could find no clew from his face,for he kept it in the shadow.
"I know nothing at all of it," she finally answered.
"Positively nothing?"
"Nothing whatever, save that a sad, sweet face seems sometimes to ri
sebefore me, as if seen through a mist. But it never lasts long, for themists thicken until it has disappeared again."
An evil and exultant smile flitted across the lawyer's face.
"Come," he said, and he and McGinnis ascended to the rooms above,leaving Helen alone in that dark and damp and dank place--left herthere alone to encounter a terrible ordeal.
It was a time of neap or spring tide, besides which the wind was in theright direction to make the water rise very high.
Helen slept again. And so heavily that she was not awakened by thewater which crept up around her and saturated her clothing, until itreached her lips, and partially strangled her by being drawn in alongwith a breath.
She started up with a wild shriek.
"Quiet down there!" bellowed the harsh voice of McGinnis, as he raisedthe trap-door a little. "Quiet, I say, or I'll keep my word and murderyou if you make any noise."
And Helen was silent, even though so horrified, and stood theretrembling, with lips pallid and heart at almost a standstill, as thecold and treacherous tide mounted higher and higher.
It reached her knees, her waist, her arm-pits, and even here did notstop. Higher still it mounted, until it reached her pallid lips.