Spring Heeled Jack | Page 6

against it, and
that is that if I ever saw murder in anyone's eye it was in your cousin's
just now. But never mind, lad, we'll stick together, and we shall
circumvent the old villain, never you fear."
So it was arranged, and Ned Chump and Jack Dacre soon seemed to
have become part and parcel of the establishment at Dacre Hall.
The sailor's ready ingenuity and willingness to oblige made him rapidly
a great favourite among the servants and employŽs generally, while
Jack's sunny face, and flow of anecdote about the strange places he had
been in and the strange sights he had seen, rendered him a decided
acquisition to what was, under the circumstances, a somewhat sombre
household.
So time passed on, and the first reply was received from India.
This reply came from Alfred Morgan, the late Sir Sidney's trusted
representative.
This letter destroyed in an instant any hope, if such ever existed, in
Michael Dacre's breast that Jack might be an impostor.
But there was one gleam of hope in the cautiously-worded postscript to
the letter.
"Do not mention this to anyone. I am on my way to England, and I may
identify the boy and produce the necessary papers--or I may not. It will
depend a great deal upon the first interview I have with you; and that
interview must take place before I see the boy."
"What did this mean?" thought Michael Dacre. "Did it mean that here
was a tool ready to his hand, who would swear away his cousin's
birthright?"
Time alone would show.

Then again the improbability of such a thing occurring would sweep
over him with tenfold force, and he decided to take time by the fore-
lock and remove Jack from his path.
Michael Dacre had not the pluck to do this fell deed himself, but he had
more than one tool at hand who would fulfil his foul bidding for a
price.
The man he chose on this occasion was one Black Ralph, a ruffian who
had been everything by turns, but nothing long.
He was strongly suspected of obtaining his living at the time of which
we are writing by poaching, but nothing had ever been proved against
him.
In the days when Jack's grandfather had been alive, Michael Dacre,
who acted as steward and agent on the estate, always pooh-poohed any
suggestion of the kind, and sent the complaining gamekeepers away,
literally "with a flea in their ears."
The arrangement was soon made between Michael Dacre and Black
Ralph.
The former was to admit the latter to the house, and he was to ransack
the plate pantry, taking sufficient to repay him for his trouble.
He was then to pass to Jack's bedroom, which Michael pointed out, and
to settle him at once.
He was then to proceed to Newhaven, where a lugger was to be in
waiting, and so make his way with his booty over to France.
This the cousin thought would make all secure.
But he had reckoned without his host.
Or shall we say his guest, as it was in that light that he regarded the real
Sir John Dacre?

The lad was a light sleeper, and on the night planned for the attack he
became aware of the presence of Black Ralph in his chamber almost as
soon as the would-be assassin had entered it.
Brave though Jack was, he felt a thrill of terror run through him as he
thought of his utterly helpless condition, for Ned Chump had been sent
on some cunningly-contrived errand to keep him out of the way, and he
had not yet returned.
That murder was the object of the midnight intruder Jack Dacre never
doubted.
There was but one way out of it, and that was to rush up into the bell
tower which communicated with a staircase abutting on his chamber.
Once here he could ring the bell, if he could only keep his assailant at
bay.
At the worst, he could but jump into the moat below, and stand a
chance of saving his life.
In an instant he had left his bed, and dashed for the door.
But the assassin was upon him.
Jack just managed to bound up the stairs, and enter the tower.
Ere he could seize the bell-rope he felt Black Ralph's hot breath upon
his neck. In an instant the lad had sprang upon the parapet. Then an
instant later he was speeding on his way to the moat below, having
made the terrible leap with a grace and daring which he never
afterwards eclipsed, even when assisted by the mechanical appliances
which he used in the adventures we are about to describe in his
assumed character of Spring-Heeled Jack.
Our hero suffered nothing from his perilous jump worse