CHAPTER XXV.
"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!"
Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated inour last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory linesto the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to thereal Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custodyof Halloran.
Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from himand disappeared can better be imagined than described.
In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind ofinducement, but the man was inexorable.
Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here,"he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding:
"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, LesterArmstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively."
"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester.
"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "Whenyou were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school onCanal Street."
"Yes," said Lester, still mystified.
"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded,owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of theneighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins ofthe poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?"
"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance,"replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowlingface growing more foreboding with each word he uttered.
"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was aragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weaknessfor purloining your pencils and other like articles."
Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this manrecalled.
"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was theenvy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, newfive-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistlesduring recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "andyou also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you,believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, insertedhis hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife.
"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he hadwhittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving himtime to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealedand brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out tothem what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed withthe knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day,but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned theknife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to aState reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent inrigid discipline--stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years thebitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you--whowere responsible for all this.
"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act ofyours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make yousuffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell youwhy.
"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, LesterArmstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom,through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted.
"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, LesterArmstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do youthink if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I wouldrelease you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from yourlips is music to my ears.
"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose ofthat same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turnpale, as well you may!
"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it fromall that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch youdie, inch by inch, day by day!
"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York,challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during whichtime neither food nor drink should pass his lips.
"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's timewill be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless itwould be to plead with me."
"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man ofnerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me handand foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not begreeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you havemapped out will fall short in that."
A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire thedauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admittedit for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang inLester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him,sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door afterhim.
It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of hislife. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemedturning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets.
Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head,exclaiming:
"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: YourCousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holdingher in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envythe lucky dog; don't you?"
The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with hisbitter thoughts.
"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried outin an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered onhis forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he torturedme to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that myinnocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in thatdastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if Ibut had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst thesecruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!"
But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering himpowerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way.
Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder tofind each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gonemad.
But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him;Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation inthat isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way.
He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath apiece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing upthe piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endlesssupply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear,cool, fresh, bubbling spring water.
In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow.
From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from hisfoes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discoveryfrom Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day.