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Show 222 niC'lTARD HURDTS. and while he passionntcly took the proffer<'d money, and looked upon the uncouth and mystic sign which the other _made before him, in conferring hiR first degree of Hlemben;lnp: the :old sweat stood upon his face in heavy drops, fill(~ nn 1cy we1ght seemed contracting nbout his heart. He felt as 1f.he had bound himself, hand and foot, and was about to be del1vered OYer to the executioner. ~lOnE SNARES. CHAPTER XXXII. MORE SNARES. --""Te shoulJ know ench other: As to my ehnl'l\cter fot· whnt meu cull crime, Seeing I plcnse my senses ns I list~ And viudiente Lhnt. right. with force or guile, [tis a public mntte•·, nnd I cnre not If I discuss i~ with you."-'l'lt6 Cc1wi. 223 Tu~ emissary of the Mystic Brotherhood, which had just conferred the honors of its membership on one who so ricl•ly deserved them, though pmsuing his labors with the rigid directness of an ordinary bnsiness habit, and confining himself thereto with a degree of strictness and method not common to the wicked, wns yet by no means a niggard in his communications. He unfolded much of the history of that dangerous confederacy, wbieh it is not tltonght necess:ny to deliver here; and his hearer became gradually and fully informed of the extent of its resources and ramifications. Yet these gave him but little satisfaction. IIe found himself one of a clan numbering many hundred persons, having the means of procuring wealth, which had been limitC(l to him heretofore simply because of his singleness, and not because of any better principle which he possessed; and yet he shuddered to find himself in such a connection. The very extensiveness of the association confounded his judgment, and filled him with terrors. Tic was one of those petty villains who rely upon cunning nnd trick, r<1ther than audacity mul strength, to prosecute their 1mrposes; and while the greater number of the clan found their chief security in a unity of purpose :mel a concentration of numbers, which in the end enabled them for a season to defy and almost overthrow the laws of society, he regarded this very circumstance as that which, above all others, must greatly contribute to the risk and dangers of |
