Roving Jack, The Pirate Hunter — page 279: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee ee se ROVING JACK, THE PIRATE HUNTER. 299 ee recoverin § power to speak through his emotion, I cannot at present promise,” sc At that moment there was the clank of arms and tramp of horses, showin g that orders had been given to the calvalcade to proceed. | “Mother! I must leave We. Sheppard. you now,” cried Jack The words seemed almost to choke him in their utterance, ) The recluse turned pale, “Oh, heavens! what say’st thou?” she ex- claimed, “T had forgotten ; they are searching for thee. What hast thon done?” ; “Tam condemned to die,” uttered Jack Sheppard, in utter forgetfulness, _. Die!” shrieked the maniac mother, reeling as if stricken by a thunderbolt, “Die!” she repeated, slowly fixing her glazed eye upon her gon. “Yes,” he replied, “they mean to put me to death, The gibbet is waiting for me.” For some moments the recluse stood motionless as a statue. She then shook her head doubtingly, and with sudden emotion burst into a loud laugh, Her old terrific and appalling laugh. ‘No, no! thou must be dreaming. It cannot be, it shall not be! Thy father died thus, but you must escape. One man hanged in a family is quite enough,” - With these words, the mother, with that cunning peculiar to insanity, contrived to place a small packet in the hand of her son, without the action being seen or suspected, i ‘““ With those means at your disposal,’ whispered the maniac, ‘‘you may defy Jack Ketch and his accursed associates,” © But—” ‘* Not another word, Where?”’ *T am forbid to tell, Jack, Rest satisfied that you have learnt thus much,” Before any were aware of her absence, the re- cluse had departed. Whither she had vanished none could hear or tell, Tyburn is now reached, You will see me again,” Discernable, and towering above the dense con- © course surrounding the spot, is one sombre object, It is a scaffold, whose massive timbers are hid by a sable covering of cloth, and crowned by a gibbet. This gibbet had been known from the time of the fourth Henry as Tybnrn gallows, or Tyburn tree (a deadly nevergreen), ‘* i’ve heard sundry men oftimes dispute Of trees that in one year will twice bear fruit ; But if a man note Tyburn ’twill appear That that’s a tree that bears twelve times a yeare.” Taylor the Water Poel, ‘‘ The Praiseand Virlue of a Jayle and Jaylers, 1623.” On the platform stands a young man, Jack Shep- pard, about to be launched into eternity. _ At the terrible juncture he maintains his com- posure and wonted daring. ; A smile imperceptibly plays upon his features as he witnesses the scene around him and its com- pleted arrangements, Beside the condemned culprit, his hangman, Wirth Wolfgang, is seen. He wears a dress half gray and half brown, and leathern sleeves, being the habiliments used by exe- cutioners in the countries of the continent at this period, His hair is lank, his figure burly, and he carries a coil of rope in his huge fist, As he eyed Jack Sheppard, he murmured to himself, “Prave boy. All hope is not at anend. Assist: ance vill not come too late,’’ In a musing attitude the eyes of the Dutchman became wild and fierce. And they were seen to wander fearlessly over the soldiers who had taken up a position around the fatal beam, His swarthy lineaments became ashy pale, as he drew a clasp knife from his thigh pocket, and seeming to bend as if in search of something, opened it with his teeth. ‘My trusty knife,” he said, in an underbreath, “must sever de rope, and cut down de body.” Jack Sheppard, who had been for some minutes engaged with the chaplain of Newgate, and further nerved by his pious exhcrtations, now bid the diyine farewell as he advanced to the gibbet. Wirth Wolfgang hastened to adjust the rope. As he did so, the eager crowd pressed nearer and nearer to the centre of attraction, The storm which had preceded the calm now burst forth in all its fury from the populace. The groan which assailed the hangman seemed to him as some infernal imprecation, The myriad of voices rent the air like a saw. Maledictions thronged and echoed from every throat and mouth, This outburst was but the event of a moment. The next involved the executioner and his victim in a dense clond of smoke. There was a flash, a report of fire-arms, and a piercing scream. As the mist cleared off, it was discovered that a bullet from a fire-arm had passed through Jack Sheppard’s body. By whose hand he had fallen, or from whom he had received'his death-wound, seemed alike a matter of amazement and distrust to the vast multitude who beheld this mysterious occurrence, CHAPTER CXXXI, RESCUED FROM DEATH, ONE tremendous shout of indignation followed the event related in the last lines of the previous chapter, No sooner had Jack Sheppard fallen than a deadly fire was poured on the guards that sur- rounded him, and an attempt made by Blueskin and his followers to bear off the body of the renowned ‘ captain.” The enterprise was successful, despite the furious opposition of the soldiery and constables, who, enraged by the sudden massacre of their comrades, fought like lions, No person in the melee seemed so great an object of aversion as the hangman. Bullet after bullet whizzed past him as he stood upon an elevated point, but he seemed, as by some miracle, to avoid each missile and to bear a charmed life. Even when the crowd had pressed forward and taken possession of the scaffold, the executioner was spared from their fury, for he eluded their vigilance and contrived to escape by means which appeared to all mysterious. The body of Jack Sheppard, as already stated, had been borne off by Blueskin and his trusty SOMITE OOS. colin