Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

i3$2 of the clouds, and in a shorter space of time than he had expected he found that they had crept over the whole firmament, leaving not one single patch of blue to be seen. The rain then began to fall—not gently at first, but it poured down at once with its full force, with such effect that everyone in the party was in an instant drenched to the skin. Sir Marmaduke especially felt very uncomtortable for the rain was driven directly in his face, and struck against it with pelting force, each rain-drop seeming almost like a hailstone. Then the hollow mutteringsof thunder could be heard, followed shortly by a feeble flash of lightning. All this only served to give an indication of what was to come, and the least experienced of the party knew well enough thatastorm of unusual violence was going to break forth. Sir Marmaduke, keeping the rain out of his eyes as well as he could, looked anxiously around him, hoping to perceive some place of shelter, CHAPTER DCCCL. TUB OFFICERS STOP FOR SHELTER AT THE BAG OF NALLS INN, AND DICK TORPIN RESOLVES TU AVAIL HIMSELF OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO ESCAPE. Tus others looked around them too, with the same in- tent, but at present there was not a human habitation, or even a barn, within sight; and yet there might have been one at no great distance, for such was the velocity with which the rain reached the earth, that it caused a kind of mist to arise, which effectually prevented them from seeing any other objects than those which were close at hand. The officers took their ducking rather complacently, for they were used to exposure to the weather. Not so Sir Marmaduke and Sir George, however. They gave vent to their annoyance in very audible terms. As for ‘I'vrpin, he said nothing. His mind was occupied just then in devising some means by which he could release himself from his pre- sent unenviable position. But as yet he could see no opening, and all he could do was to hold himself in readiness to take advantage of any accident that might take place. All at once Sir Marmaduke, still peering through the mist and rain, perceived before him the dim outlines of a building of some kind, ‘- What place is that ?”’ he asked, addressing himself to one of the police officers, and pointing in advance while he spoke. ‘That, sir,’’ was the answer, “is the Bag of Nails Inn, orl am much mistaken. It is kept by one Timothy Goodall—a rare fellow, I can assure your honour, and his house affords the best possible accommodation for man and beast.” ‘Then, in the devil’s name, push on!” shouted Sir Marmaduke, impatiently, for he had tried in vain to stem the officer’s loquacity. * Will you stop there, sir P”’ “ Yes, certainly, till this storm be past. Besides, you cannot perform the Journey to London without halting somewhere.’ ‘True enough, sir. The horses will be glad of some- thing to eat, and a rub down,” “ Then just tell those fellows in front to push on ata little better speed, will you ?”’ The officer rode forward to obey this injunction, and Sir Marmaduke bent his head before the storm, the vio- lence of which had now very much increased. Dick Turpin overheard this conversation with seoret pleasure. He was qnite delizhted to think the storm had broken forth, although by it he had suffered some passing in- convenlence, A stoppage at an inn would be, he felt certain, an event that offered him a favourable chance of making his escape. The distance to the Bag of Nails was only tritling, so that, as the officers increased their speed, it was quickly reached. As they drew up in front of the horae-trough, they Ve é ai BLACK BESS; OR, — perceived the landlord standing at one of the low win- dows, looking out. He witnessed the stopping of so many persons before his door with great surprise. “This will be quite a wiudfall for old Timothy,” said the loquacious officer. ‘‘ He won’t quarrel with the storm, i’ll be bound, for, except by chance like this, he does no sort of trade at all.” This piece of gratuitous information was silently re- ceived, the fact being that each and all were anxiously endeavouring to get beneath the roof of the inn as quickly as possible. The landlord appeared at the front door. ‘* Jim—Jim!”’ he cried. ‘‘ Whereon earth 1s the lazy rascal? Jim— Jim, | say !”’ ‘* Here | be, master. What’s the row fr” Avery peculiar-looking individual made hisappearance from therearof theinn. His hair was filled with bits of straw, as though he had just been lying down in the loft. Without another word he ran forwa'd and took charge of the horses. ‘“‘See to them well,” said the commanding officer. ‘“ And especially to this one of mine,” added Sir George. | Sir Marmaduke said nothing. He was too busy oc- ecupied in watching Dick Turpin’s every movement to think about anything else. With great care and caution the officers dismounted their prisoner. Dick was careful not to offer the least show of resis- tance, for he hoped, by submitting quietly to every- thing, to throw the officers «ff their guard. While they continued to watch him as vigilantly as they had done up to the present moment, it «as ridicu- lous to think of making an escape. The officers seemed by their looks to be a good deal surprised at his demeanour. They expected to have a vast deal of trouble, and when they found Dick eubmit so easily, they really felt quite injured and disappointed. Deusely surrounded by his foes, Turpin was hurried into the inn. As they crossed the threshold, Dick’s reflection was: ‘“* Now, if old Matthew kept this inn, what a difference it would make to besure! Hewould get me out of this scrape in no time. However, it is no good to think about that, I must rely npon my own resources.”’ From this it will be seen that Dick treated his present dangerous position very lightly. The fact was, the more he thought upon the subject the more reliance he was disposed to place in the locket that had been presented to him. It would have been an additional satisfaction to him if he could have opened it and just taken one peep, but that was quite impossible. In fact, we may go the length of saying that, but for one circumstance, he would have felt more careless still. But he thought of Maud and his comrades. He knew how much grief and alarm the first would suffer when she had heard what had taken place; and with regard to his comrades, he feared, not unnaturally, in their strong desire to rescue him, that they would run themselves into great and unnecessary danger. ‘“No,’’ he muttered, ‘I won’t trust to the locket if I can possibly escape, if only for their sakes. ‘The sooner I am back among them the better. Yes—yes, I will escape.’ When Dick Turpin once made up his mind to a thing it was strange indeed if he did not accomplish it. No- thing short of absolute impossibility would have stayed him. Upon entering the Bag of Nails Inn, ‘he police officers at once betook themselves to the largest room in the place. They were pleased to find that it was vacant. A huge fire, however, was burning on the spacious hearth, and they looked at it pleasantly, as it promised to dry their soaked apparel rapidly and effectually. Before attending to this or anything else, their first care was to see that their prisoner was quite secure. With this view a strong chair was called for, which was placed beside the fire. In this Dick Turpin was seated, secured behind him. ai A rope was produced, and then wound round him im with his hands still EO JOO Sjo(E(e)