Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 332: what you’re looking at

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

2704 —-"-— of doing so, bct at last I hit upon the plan. They kept ee ee 2 ae BLACK BESS; OR, eee — Ul lh ——~ 88 Me This scene was imperfectly beheld by litunch, wac me closely confined here, not allowing mo te leave the | projected his head a little way through the partially open remises, but I found out how w baffle them—ha, ha! i made a pen with a piece of sharp-pointed wood, and with the blood that I purposely made to flow from one of my fingers J wrote a letter to the magistrate at Bow Street, describing the situation of this house and the awful deeds enacted in it, requesting him to send down & trcop of officers with all possible secrecy and despatch. They have arrived now., Hark! how they hammer at the door! doorway and peeped down the staircase. In his interest there is no knowing how long he might have stood a spectator, oblivioas of aught else Suddenly he felt a slight touch upon his arm. Turning round, ks caught sight of the pallid face of Mand close to his own. ‘ Tba officers have entered ?” she said, inte: *.gatively. ‘“ Yes,” replied Hunch, whose astonishment was un- Nunky must know who they are, and is frightened to | bounded at the calm manner in which Maad now spoke admit them! Ha.ka! Oh, it’s good—it’s good !” To nay that Mata listened to this explanation with speechless horror would be only to convey a very ‘ceble idea of the state of her mind. So appalled was she that her lungs refused to perform their usual functions—respiration was cuompietely stopped. Her eyes started from their sockets. Her teeth ckattered, and she stood slightly bending forward in an attitude of intense fear. Hunch observed the effect of his disclosure wyth an astonishment that was ludicrous. “ Have you heard aright, lady ?” he inquired at length —*‘*have you understood me ?” She nodded. Spéech was denied her. “What, then, causes this terror? There must be a mistake somehow.” By making a great effort, Maud managed to murmur: ‘* No, no—no mistake !” ““ Why, then, this terror?” “Because the presence of officers is to the full as perilous to me as it can be to your uncle.” “ But—you—you do not—mur ” gasped Hunch. “No, no—not that! But 1 have been arrested and tried for a crime of which I was and am perfectly innocent; nevertheless, I was pronounced guilty.” “ And you escaped ?” “ Yes, by the aid of friends I escaped, and since then have, with the utmost difficulty, eluded the officers. Now they are here, and I cannot escape. At the first glance they will recognise me. I shall be powerless to resist them! Then—then—oh, then all—all will be lost!” As she uttered these last words, in tones of indescrib- able agony, Maud threw her arins up above her head, and, with a cry of intense anguish, sank sobbing and fainting upon a seat. [lunch gazed at her for a second or two in silence; then, by that time being able to comprehend pretty well what mischief he had caused, he went deliberately to the wall, and dashed his head a great many times against it. This action diverted Maud’s attenticn, and caused her to look up. ‘Good heavens!” she ejaculated, about ?” “Only serving myself out, lady, that’s all,” replied Hunch, pausing in his self-inflicted puniskment. “ Do not be so foolish ss that! What you did was for the best.” “But that does not make matters any better for you, lady.” “ No, but——” What Maud would have said then Y. uncertain, for she was interrupted by a terrific crash, which came from the Yttom of the house, and which completely drowned all uther sounds. “ What—what is that?” she gasped, as soon as the noise ceased. Hunch ran immediately to the door, and opened it to the extent of two or three inches The crash was caused by the yielding of the front door, which had given way before the furious blows rained upon it by the police officers. There was then a hasty rush of fext, and a voice cried : “TLights—lights! Lights, I say—at once Then, almost immediately, the same voice exclaimed: “Seize them—seize them both, and bind them securely! Beyond a doubt they are the miscreaBis of whom we are in search J” A slight scuffle ensued, but the officers were so over- powering in their numbers that after a brief struggle the mean and the woman were securely made prisoners. “what are you “ Then—then, you must assist me to escape!” “ How—how ?” “Cannot you suggest the means ?” “T fear, lady, itis impossihle! Oh, I wish I had died a thousand times before I had lived to bring you into so much peril!” Some loudly-uttered words now struck upon the ears of both and arrested their attention. “That is right,” said a voice below. ‘ Nowsearch the place thoroughly from top to bottom, and particularly an old well situated in one of the cellars. We shall then soon know whether we have been deceived by false in- formation, or whether what we have heard is quite correct.” An immediate movement followed these words, and the voice continued: “Two or three of you keep a sharp look-out on the outside of the building, so that no one shall leave the premises unperceived. Then as for the rest, let them follow me upstairs, where I fancy the most important dis- coveries are to be made.” No sooner were these injunctions utterec than the sound of heavy footsteps informed the listeners that they were in the act of ascending the staircase. “Fasten the door,” said Maud, calmly, though she spoke only with the calmness of despair—‘‘ fasten the door; end that, if it does no more, will impede their pro- press, ng give us a little time to think what can be one.” CHAPTER MXVI. THE OFFICERS ADOPT SOME ENERGETIC MOVEMENTS AT THE INN. HuNcn rapidly complied with Maud’s command, though when she gave it she really knew not what would be the good actually effected. At any rate, it would prevent the officers from entering so speedily as they would otherwise have done. “What next, lady?” said Hunch, turning round to her. ‘‘ Escape!” she cried. ‘I must escape!” ‘You heard what the officers said ?” «TT did.” “Then how is it to be managed ?” Maud only shook her head. Hunch was anxious and bewildered. ‘I rust—I must escape,” Maud murmured, *‘ no matter what risk I incur in doing so! Not only my own life and liberty, but also the lives of those near and deaz to me depend upon my gettirg away! Aé all hazards it must be done!” “] fear it is impossible.” Maud just at this moment darted to the window. In the tumult of her mind she had torgotten atl about it. Now it presented itself to her as an outlet for escape. - Dashing open the casement she looked out, but the intense darkness appalled her. ‘*F don’t know how you can get that way, lady.” ‘ Did nov you ascend ?” said Maud, overcoming as well € she could her sensations of terror, and endeavouring te afstinguish the nature of the various objects outside “T climbed up,” said Hunch; “but it was by clinging to the branches of the old cherry-tree. You could never make such a descent.” 7 It was just at this moment that the ofticers, havirg made a hasty search of the other rooms, came to the one in which Maud and Hunch were. They tried the door and found it fast. Tbe souud of ber foes boing su uea: to her endued Gomicbooks