The Child of Waterloo, or, The Horrors of the Battle-Field — page 204: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CHILD OF WATERLOO. 201 ‘¢ And you heard no one come in, did you?” inquired the first speaker, in a louder tone of voice. ‘*T did not.” ‘“‘And yet you were much more likely to do that than the former, since they would be nearer to you.” ‘‘ Well, well, we may as well return; but I'll take d care nobody else gets in or cut without my knowledge; I’ll manage that all right enough.” | So saying, the two men left the room, and the mendicant heard them descend the stairs and pass the street door, at which they were occupied for some time ir doing something which he could only guess at. ‘There, they cannot get that undone at all from the outside,” he said, ‘‘and as for the inside, I shall be soon called up by the noise, and Iam a match for any man, and you for another; eh, is it not so?” ‘“‘T should say so; or at all events, I .will try.” , ‘‘ Here are the pantiles; would you like to save one of them as a keepsake ?” ‘‘Oh, no, I don’t need one of them to remind me of them; ’m not so forgetful as all that.” The men descended below, but they were heard no more. The mendicant came out again into the room he had left, aad pondered over what he had heard, and tried to regain his com- posure, for his recent exertions were not to be easily forgotten, | nor would he be likely at all to recover from them. He stood in that attitude for more than one hour, with his eyes fixed upon the floor, as if in deep meditation; but yet not the lightest sound passed unnoticed by him. ‘“* What can be the meaning of this?” he muttered. ‘‘ When I was here last, there was no soul breathing here, por were there even any signs or traces of its having been used for any purpose whatever; but it is all altered. There are nosigns of occupation on the outside; the boards are up before the windows, and it seems, in fact, as if boarded up, because it was dangerous and uninhabitable. Would these men have talked so much, if they came like myself, hiding? No, I think not; and yet they may be merely securing a retreat; and if they are disturbed, the would endeavor to find out the cause somehow or other. Til remain here at all events; they seem to occupy the lower part, and I'll occupy the upper; a fair division is no cause of quarrel, if they should discover me. Anything but being taken—that would be utter destruction. All things considered, I had better die resisting than undergo the slow torture preparatory to an execution; for if I be taken, that will be the inevitable result.” Thus, haviug satisfied himself entirely that the steps he had taken, and was about to take, were the best that could be adopt- ed under the circumstances, he determined to make a more ex- tended but careful search over the upper part of the house, so that he might be forearmed by being forewarned as to what was to be expected from any quarter of the house. He went up- stairs a flight higher, and found nothing that in any way excited his suspicions, and he returned below, and looked very carefully comicbooks. com