CHAPTER XXXVII.
RESTORED--GENERAL REJOICINGS--HOW MR. MOLE WAS CRUELLYMALIGNED--FATHER AND SON--THE DEATH KNELL AND THE REPRIEVE--"SOON WEWEIGH ANCHOR"--GOODBYE TO GREECE.
"Mrs. Harkaway?"
"Who's there?"
"Me; your obsequious humble to command."
"Good gracious!"
And then upon the other side of the door Mrs. Harkaway was heard towhisper--
"It's Mr. Mole. I declare he is quite tipsy."
"You are right there, my dear Mrs. Harkaway," responded the gallantIsaac; "more than tipsy--obfuscated, groggy--excuse the slangyphrase--tight--not with liquor, but yet full of spirits--figurativelyspeaking."
"Whatever is he talking about?" muttered Mrs. Harkaway.
"About introducing a young gentleman to you," replied Mole, whooverheard every word, but who was too overjoyed with recent events totake umbrage at any thing now.
"Excuse me just now, Mr. Mole," replied the lady, "I--I am dressing."
"Humph!"
Young Jack was bursting with impatience to push him aside and rush intohis mother's arms.
But Mr. Mole restrained him.
"The young gentleman I would introduce, my dear Mrs. Harkaway, bringsus news of our young Jack."
"Hah!"
A cry of joy, delight, anxiety, fear, hope, all commingled, burst fromthe mother of our young hero.
The door was opened, and Mrs. Harkaway stood upon the threshold.
She stared confusedly at the two boys.
"Mother!"
"Jack!"
No more.
In a moment they were locked in each other's arms.
"Oh, Jack, Jack!" exclaimed the astonished mother. "Where have youbeen? Now that you are come back, I may tell you I feared I shouldnever see you again."
Jack's eyes filled with tears.
He kissed her tenderly and held out his hand to Harry.
"Here, mother dear," he said; "there is a sweet little cherub that sitsup aloft to keep watch over the life of poor Jack--and Harry is thecherub."
"Hush! Jack."
"I shan't hush, Harry; you know that it's true. You are the cherub, andyou know it. Why, mother, now that it's all over, and I am here, I musttell you that I never should have been here if it hadn't been forHarry."
"Bless you, Harry," said Mrs. Harkaway, squeezing his hand.
Just then, Mr. Mole, who had felt a tingling sensation at the nose, andfearing that he was about to disgrace his manly reputation by a tear,had retired, came stumping back with some news.
"Here comes Jack--old Jack, I mean. Here's luck for us."
A well-known footstep was heard, and Jack Harkaway entered the room.
As his eye fell upon Harry Girdwood, he started back, and the colourforsook his cheek.
Then he caught sight of his boy, and he gave a cry of delight as heheld open his arms.
Young Jack flew to him
"Come here, Harry," cried Harkaway; "here, my boy--for you are a secondson to me."
And the two boys were soon locked in his arms.
For some minutes not a word was spoken.
His heart was too full for speech, but whilst they were thusengaged--engrossed by their own happiness--a deep sound was heard.
A dismal, moaning sound.
A bell that sounded like a distant funeral knell.
What was it?
Harkaway started up at the mournful sound.
"Hark!" he exclaimed. "Do you hear that?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"An execution."
"Where?"
"At the prison."
"Of whom?"
"The brigands."
"The villains have earned their fates right well."
"Yes, yes," exclaimed Jack Harkaway, hurriedly; "but this executionmust not take place, though Tomaso was shot yesterday."
"Tomaso, the brigand," cried young Jack, "then why not the rest of thebrigands."
"Why? Because it is unjust, for the men condemned to suffer death havebeen sentenced for murdering you, my own boys."
As the word was uttered, there was a loud commotion, and Theodora burstinto the room.
She gave a cry on seeing the two boys, and rushed up joyfully to HarryGirdwood.
"Thank Heaven you are safe," she said hysterically; "but my own braveboy, do you hear? Do you know that that bell sounds the death-knell ofmen who, bad and wicked as they are, have been wrongfully condemned?"
"I know."
"Yes, my girl," said Harkaway; "we know--but there is yet time to savethem. Come on, to the prison."
They all left precipitately, and in a very brief space of time theywere at the prison and the brigands respited.
As young Jack said, they had earned the full penalty of the law.
But they would not have it upon their consciences that these lawlessruffians should suffer for a crime which they had not committed.
"There is one strange fact about this," said the governor of the prisonto Harkaway, "and that is, that one of the prisoners has taken theliberty of respiting himself."
"Which one?"
"The Englishman Hunston."
"What, Hunston escaped!"
"Impossible."
"Indeed it is not."
"But how?--when? Why Hunston any more than the others?"
"We can only give a guess," said the governor, "but it is a good one.His gaoler has disappeared with him; the rest is not a difficult matterto guess."
It was quite true.
Hunston, Harkaway's old schoolfellow and bitter foe, had once morecontrived to elude justice.
Both had disappeared--prisoner and gaoler with him.
"I'm sorry for that," said Harkaway, "for it would have been a goodthing to take care of that double-dyed traitor, but no matter, we shallhave nothing to fear from him now; we have had enough of this place."
"Are we, then, to leave Greece, dad?"
"Yes, all our preparations are made, and in a few days, we will weighanchor and get away from romantic Greece, and its precious scoundrelsand brigands."
Jack Harkaway and His Son's Escape from the Brigands of Greece Page 38