The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-10
tCopyright secured according 10 iatc.l
For the National Era.
JASPER: A ROMANCE.
BY EDWARD SPENCER.
XIII.
How jasper Spent his Gold.
[copyrighs secured according TO ,a,,.l
BY EDWARD SPENCER.
lcHAPrER THIRTEENTH CONCLUDED I

Ho~ jasper Spent his Gold.
IcHAPrER THIRTEENTH CONCLUDED
| Scene Third.-Locale. The notorious Bella
Union Present: Jasper's faithful friends (;
gamblers horse-theives; Sydney "coves," fresh
from the chain-gang or the "bush )" Sonora
cutthroats New York shoulder-hitters !"
Pike county border-ruffians +" Sam Roberts
hounds )" CHILEAN outlaws Texan murderers
women, gathered from the purlieus of London
and our Atlantic cities, from New Orleans, from
Santa Fe, from Lima, from Sydney, from the
Sandwich Islands, from Canton the sweepings
and off-scourings of brothels, boozing- pam
el-houses, andangohauntsa and dance cribs; and
Jasper with them, but not of them ; a victim or
a plaything, not fellow 1t was not in ~
their INSCRIPTIONS and sneering fendishness.
Yet he is there, tolerated, not liked; but not
assailed, for they are afraid of those two faith
full guardians who wait on his steps so closely.
| He is troublesome to them. His money is all
gone; his mistress has left him for some one
whose favors more golden; why does he not
go Also they think? He is wild tonight, his
red eyes flashing furiously, but his humor is not
of the furious kind at least, not in its outward
manifestations, though he pours brandy down
his throat. He is sarcastic, haunting, bitter,
just now affects my Lord Timon; passes cut
ting remarks upon "sunshine friends" and
comments in audible tones upon fools, who fly,
moth-like, to the flame that has just now singed
their wings.
Ho, b. B., says he, lend me some money
l am so besinged now, that even these hell
flames cannot mar my beauty, and / think /
can win tonight l feel in the humor of it,
anyhow"
But, Jasp. lad, whispered Brawny Back.
in his ear, don't you know that you spent our
last dollar here last night? 1 have never a
cent, and | mean to go to work to morrow"
so will |. Tomorrow or-to-morrow. All
gone, Ell? I'm your son and heir, you know,
good B. b., and the proved says:
"Hpadrs ganadOr, h5s despendsdOr!"
which may be rendered: the stocking that the
sire has filed piece by piece, toilingly, is ript
open at the toes by his heirs. Bella taught me
that; and it is not the only piece of Spanish
wisdom | learned from her perjured red lips.
All gone? Well. Better scatter tonight.
Here, my Abdullah, hast no tribute to offer to
thy sovereign liege?"
Abdullah took from his ears the large rings
that hung there, and laid them in Jasper's
hands. They were rich and unique; each a
large pink pearl, suspended beneath hoop
heavily wrought in Arabesque. Jasper placed
them on card at the faro table, saying to the
dealer:
Il offer against two hundred. They are
worth fully a thousand, and they will tickle tile
eyes of your mistress"
ga't a,saS iiri5 10 HnauIriI, urvIIsd
what he had won with Brawny Back, and then
sent them away, telling them that he would Join
them at home Immediately. AS soon as they
were gone, he resumed playing losing what he
had reserved IN the course of a deal or two. He
rose, made the motion Of wiping his hands, and
remarked, in pleasant tone
"There. Just as L hoped. Now shall gam
bic no more. Please to make note of my dec
! laratiOn, Senior Pedro of the sombre counte
nance: | shall never gamble any more"
| Then you'd better 90 home" said the man
addressed an ill-favored ruffian, who was deal
ing at monte.
$50 home - laughed Jasper, as if he had
heard some amusing joke. q Go home de-
| prive myself of your pleasant company Retire
| to my low, dark, hea-bitten bunk, when | can
have such entertainment here, such music, and
! glare of light, and such charming society of
| gentlemen and ladies Pshaw, Senior, you can
not mean It, You cannot be so unreasonable
as to expect it; can he, Signorina Belladonna-
thou whom once | so passionately- -hum-.
| Nay, nay, carissima Bella, turn not away those
| glorious orbs of thine from me in disdain.
| Though may not have loved thee as thou didst
wish, still, ii cuts me to the core to think that
thou entertain'st uncharitable feelings towards
me. Dost thou know, oh carissima what sig
Indication thy lovely name has in our prosalc
dialect ? .ltropa bella donna, lovely lady by
Interpretation deadly night-shade That ma
keith the eye to glow with unnatural fire, and
courses through the veins with the fierce fury of
the CobraS fatal venom. Thou are not such a
bella donna, though, oh ANNA mia, OH no
Thus he ratified madly on, provoking the
| gamblers exceedingly, for nothing worries that
class of people worse than to perceive them
selves the subject OF ridicule without being able
clearly to see the full drift of the sarcasms
launched at them. Their own selfconscous-
ness, and the degraded position to which they
feel themselves consigned, makes them supreme
| ly skinned. 1t requires far greater pune
tllousnesS, and much more scrupulouS OBJ
servance of social form, to propitate gambler,
than it would to court Prince or make friends
with Senator.
After q while, Jasper approached table,
where mere lad, fresh from the mines, hut al
ready haggard with the fierce excitement ofplay,
was losing heavily. Watching the game for a
little while, Jasper said, in his reckless jeering
| tones:
Behold feel the prompting within me- ]
| hov OnIS oofh olYnIi frog
me. ! am a prophet. 'The voice of one cry
ing in the wilderness Then he touched the
young man suddenly on the shoulder;
Sir" said he, pardon the abruptness OF
my interruption. Desperate diseases, you are
aware, always require desperate remedies. Have
you read the motto which this very candid fra
ternity here have set up over their door? No
Well, it is an exceedingly fine one:
'Ldseiate ogn speransa roi chi e entrate.'
1t is borrowed from the Inferno of that bitter
old chap, Dante, and means something about
the impossibility of getting out of He'll with a
whole skin, If one is SO unfortunate as to have
ventured over the threshold, although he may
have gone there with the best of motives. In
i stance: Orpheus, who came out crazy as a
March hare. And, if i am not mistaken have
seen people go out Of here crazy, too, and some,
who came in hearty and joyous, have been car
l ried out feet foremost, as Senior Pedro, who is
scowling SO hercely at me over there, can testi-
fly. So, you see, there is some correctness, a
species fpoetical justice, in the motto especial
l ly as we have here, male and female, about the
nearest approach to devils of any that ever as
sumed the human shape. You Will observe the
diabolical very plainly stamped upon their
countenances Just now, if you note the way in
which they are regarding me. The fact is, |
have been experimenting little, here and else