The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-13 00:00:00

CHAPTER XV.
THE CAPTURE.

That dark some cave they enter, where they find
That cursed man, low sitting on the ground,
Musing full sadly in his sullen mind.
CARRIE flew to her lover's aid when she saw him
lying thus completely at the old man's mercy, but
Joe Bradley held her off with his outstretched hand,
and bade her with a rough oath to leave him to
settle matters with his antagonist.
"But you are choking him, father !" piteously
cried the girl, clasping her hands and looking at
him with tearful entreaty. " See —he cannot breathe
—what do you think he has done to deserve y ur
anger? Ah ! for mercy's sake take your hand from
his throat."

"I should only be sarving him right if I squeezed
all the breath from his body,, " growled Joe Bradley,
but at the same time slightly relaxing his grasp, and
so enabling Alick to breathe more freely and raise
his head a little. " What has he done? Ask him-
self that question, and how much he is to get for
having sold us all?"
" Sold us ! He!"

"Yes—see whether he attempts to deny it, or that
he set the peelers on to nab The Swell and Dick
Turvey last night."
"No, that I'll swear I did not," asserted Alick,
who had recovered sufficiently to speak. " What
makes you accuse me? As to selling you—l don't
understand what you mean; at least, I can't make
out what has put such an idea into your head."
"Oh, no! of course not! You'se such an innicent
honourable cove, you is !" mockingly returned Joe,
still retaining his hold of the prostrate youth,
though allowing him a little more freedom. "It
was quite by accident, now, wasn't it, that you were
talking to the bobby at Charing-cross; quite by ac-
cident that you dropped in at the Jolly Bargeman,'
with your face hid; and quite by accident as
another bobby was there who had a word or two to
say to you ? Oh! there never was such a innicent
party as you, was there, now
te'l you I haven't a notion what you mean,"
sullenly reiterated Alick.
"That's a lie, you miserable cur !" savagely re-
torted Mr. Bradley. "Why, you can't look at me
fair and square while you say it. Now just listen to
me. I'll leave the rest of your pals who you've
betrived to settle affairs with you when we'va
finished the batch. It's all ready to be turned out,
and if the crushers do come down on us--so much
the worse for them, and you too. Do you know
what's underneath you? No ?—then I'll tell you.
There's enough powder in the cellar to blow us all
over to Chelsea, and if your good friend Mr.
Pounceby and his crew puts foot inside this crib to-
night it'll be nigh about time for them and you to
be looking out for-squalls, that's all I've got to
say."
"Don't be a fool, Joe," exclaimed the young
man, his face palinc, with alarm, while Carrie
utterred a low cry of terror at the murderous threat
implied in her father's speech. "You're mistaken,
I swear! Only let me go, and I'll soon prove it to
you.'
"Oh, yes! I'll let you go," answered Joe Bradley,
with savage irony, but allowing his foe to rise. "If
you can get out, that is."
Alick darted to the door, only to find that it was
securely fastened on the outside.
. . . _

go, my pippin," said the old ruffian, with a
laugh of malicious enjoyment at Alick's discom-
fiture. "I'll forgive you if you get out of this with-
out my leave. And now you know what to expect.
If you're telling truth, and you've been belied,
you're safe enough; but if you've played the traitor,
why—l'd sooner go to smash at once than be lagged
for life, and we'll all go in company."
And with this parting warning Joe Bradley lifted
the trap and descended, casting a menacing look at
the young man as he went.
" Alick !" cried the girl, clinging to his arm.
"What does he mean?"

" Hush ! do not speak,'' he answered in a hoarse
whisper, "I must End some way of escape, or we are
both lost."

And, first retreating a little distance to gain
greater impetus, he threw himself against the door,
reckless, in his desire to escape, of the danger that,
should it give way to his assault, he must go head-
long on the ground below.
But, old and worn as was the tenement, it had
been built of solid materials, and the heavy wooden
bar which Joe Bradley had placed across the ex-
terior of the door was proof against such strength
as Alick could bring to boar upon it, till, finding his
efforts useless, he desisted and turned to his terrified
companion with a gloomy brow.
"There's no help for it; we must take our
chance," he said. "The only hope I have is thlt
Pounceby will be too sharp for the old madman,
and stop him before he has time to do any mis-
chief."

" Pounceby!" repeated the girl, with a bewildered
air, and then, as her father's words recurred to her,
and she remembered who bore the name, turning a
sharp, questioning ga7e upon her lover. "Do you
moan the policeman P.'
yes.,,
"He is coming, then ?"
"I hope so. It is likely to go hard with us—
with me, at all events—if he does not."
"And you—you have done this ? Is it true?—
that which you swore was false—you have betrayed
my father and the others —you:"
"If you like to put it that way, yes," answered
Alick sullenly • "I have."
She looked at him fixedly for a moment, as though
incredulous even yet.
" You !" she repeated at length, shrinking from
him with a look of horror, as the conviction forced
_ltself upon her that she was not mistaken. "Oh,
no; you could not be so base, so—"
" Dah !" impatiently broke in the young man,
"every one for himself. What's the good of making
a fuss, Carrie? I had to make my choice, either a
prison-or freedom; and was it likeli I should throw
such a chance away? I tell you I was sick and
tired of the life: I was meant for something,better,
and you too. If the whole gang is sent across the
herring-pond, so much the better for both of us,
Carrie. We can begin a new life without any fear
of being found out and dragged back to--this. I've
got the promise of enough money
"The reward, I suppose ?"
"Yes, the reward, if you like," answered Alick
defiantly. " I have earned it at risk enough to my-
self, and Pm willing to share it with you, if you'll
go with me."
Carrie recoiled still further from him.
‘.‘ What you ." she exclaimed scornfully— 44 a spy,
a cowardly Informer! Keep away from. me—don't
touch me! I'll let my father know at once,

cntion, and smothered the cry with which she
sought to alarm those beneath by placing his hand
over her mouth.

"For heaven's sake, be silent !" he whispered,
in hoarse, anxious tones. "Would you be my
murderer and your own as well? It was as much
for your sake as my own, Carrie, that I consented,"
he went on, when he found her struggles to escape
grew fainter. "I could not bear to see you as you
are ;"think of what might befall you, when the
means of saving you was offered me. Just think a
moment, Carrie. Is this a life suited for you; and
yet, if you remain here, what have you to look
forward to but shame and disgrace? They must
come, sooner or later. I want to save you from
such a fate, because I love you. Perhaps I have
not chosen the best way, but 1 could find no other.
Never mind, that, you shall do what you please,"
and he released heras he spoke; "nil not prevent you
—go and let them know that the police may be here at
nv moment, and that it was I who put them on the
track; and see me murdered before your eyes—for
you know how much mercy I am likely to get
be ause I love you too much not to trust my very
Me in your hands.'

(To be continued.)