Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 79: what you’re looking at

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

. THE KNIGHT oe ee ea? Ss & : > jen as AD 2 4 * =" = = * ee ed ee SS a corer sine ie: _ OHAPTER DOCCLXXXVIII ___—sO#DICK FYRPIN MAK7S AN UNEXPECTRD DISCOVERY IN ONE | OF TILE CORRIDORS OF OLD NEWGATE. “4 4 . _— eo. " A phe Os a é: ~ . >. 3 oo? k > »' o . . _ ‘ne rapidity with which the intelligence spread ail over Newgate that Dick Turpin had mysferisusly dissppsarsd trom his cell was something astonishing. From mouth to mouth the strange story went, until in ee huge pile of building there wag not a singl> person unacquainted with it, the prisoners alone exceptad. ~ The utmost consternation was the result, and many Bec: were the strange, ridiculous speculations indulged ia. a} ___ of which were very far indeed from the mark. _ «Mr. Moses Moses had quite decié2d_ upon the necessity of asearch, and he suggested to the Governor that until the building was thoroughly looked over the news of the ‘3 escape should not be svifered to reach the esr of any __- persons outside. The Governor, of course. readily fell into kis viows, for he had no reason to oppose them; consequsntiz, the - search baving been agreed upon, means were taken to set about it without delay. “Tf T might suggest, Mr. Moses,” said the Governer. Oh, certainly, suggest what you lilce.” _ “Well, then, I would propose that we ail go to the -. gestibule and begin our search from that point, because - it is from there that all paris of Newgate can be ~~ . reached.” Y - This proposition seemed such a reasonabie one that the sheriffs at once adopted it. ‘Fo the vestibule accordingly they went, and, the neces- . gary keys having been provided, they began their diffien!s r and tedious task. ‘Yet they persevered, for the sheriffs really felt quite a -_—-*personal interest in the matter, and it would have -- _- vexed them exccedingly had the prisoner got out of their —__ elniches. ~ Bxt there is no necessity for us to accompany them in their search through the vaults and corridors, sinev we know very well that the scarch could only resuli in a failure. - ___ Down to the lowermost vaults and up on to the top of the roof of the building went the sheriffs, the Geverior, and a party of turnkeys. But nowhere could they discover a single trace of she ~ . absent prisoner. Without appearing to have any such design, the Gover- nor carefully avoided going to those damp, underground cells communicating with old Newgate, and as the ac- : -quaintance of the sheriffs with the prison was very super- ficial indeed, they were none the wiser in this respect—in | fact, the door at the top of the long flight of steps descend- -__ ing to the ceils was always kept locked, and the key was never out of the Governor’s possession. After searching for upwards of an hour, the sheriifs, tired, vexed, and hot, were obliged to come to the con- clusion that by some means, supernatural or otherwise, the prisoner had vanished. It was then that the news was first sutfered to go forth, and it was then the assembled crowds in the Old Bailey _ outside learned the cause of the delay. Shs: It was then the whisper circulated: “Dick Turpin has escaped !” ___ _Hiis position, however, notwithstanding the faimre of 3 a tte in __ the sheriffs to discover his retreat, was by no means a a oe . 32@e ’ * : - b= jee ein ae comfortable or enviable one. oe _ For aught he could tell, still closer search would be made, or so close a watch might be kept epon all the out- S lets of the prison that he would be unable to wet away. ae All these thoughts pressed heavily upon him as he en- deavoured to while away the time by thoroughly explor- ing the strange place he was in. As we have already stated, he took the pic: aution of : making the arrow mark at every few vards, so that ks ert should be in no danger of losing his way. - For a long time he found »«thing, however, to regara- «< 2 baer _ pense him for his treuble. ~—~——s All at once, however, he perceived before him some- thing that looked like a bright, glittering star. ot _ His first impression was that a huge diamand m ust be ee ing in his path, of such lustre that it caught the faint ; ht from the lamp he carried and reflected it & ith re- doubled brilliancy. 4 ese = hv if GF THE Roan, 1451 id Not long, however, did he remain under thia impres+ sion. With great suddenness he understood thes marniag of what he saw, ) It was some opening or other looking out upon the day Noht—perhaps some opening by which he might escape. Vo carry his lamp forward with him towards this aper ture wonld have been unwise in the extreme, as he woul be in great danysr of discovery, nor could he exstinguis it, for he had not the materials with him to relight it. All he zould do was to piace it down upon the groun in a spot where it was sheltered somewhat from th dranght, and then, wth his eyes fixcd upon the light in fron«, to grope slowly and cautiously towards it. Tis prececding he carried out, and found the distanea he had to go much less than he had anticipated, for the opening was very small,and as he drew close he per- ceived that it was crossed and recrossed by bars of iron. It was also high up in the wall above him, and al- though he could see through it, yet he did not, as ho ex- pected, catch a glimpse of the blue sky. On the contrary, all he saw was something lovding very much like the roof ef some chamber in the prison All at once he arrested his steps, for the murmur of voices came most distinctly upon his ears. Clearly, then, he was near some portion of the new prison. As persons were so close at hand, there was a double. reason for silence and caution. On tiptoe, therefore, and pausing between every step, he crept nearer to the opening, hoping that he might overhear some of the conversation that was being carried on, He was successful, for, without making any noise what- ever, he managed to place himself close against the wall, just under the grated aperture we have mentioned. One of the voices speaking he immediately recognised as beine that of the turnkey who had turned out so truea friend to him. In the conversation itself there was nothing important or interesting, chicfly because it did not concern him or his proceedings. Yet Dick listened to it intently. That dreadful feeling of loneliness which had settled at his heart now passed away—lhe once more felt as though he belonged to this world. To him there was an inexpressible pleasure in listening to the rude voices and coarse jests of these turnkeys. After some speculation, Dick decided that he must be close to the vestibule of the prison, forin no other part would the turnkeys be likely to assemble. Ags he after- wards found, he came to the correct conclusion. In former times there had been a door close ta whers he stood, communicating with a portion of the old prisen, but becoming disused, the door was taken down and the wall built up. In its stead the grated opening above fer some reason or other was left. Folding his arms and leaning against this wall, Dick remained for some time. | He was disappointed at the result of his explorations so far, and he felt, besides, that he would rather stay there close to human beings than he would remain in some dark lonesome portion of the vaults. Here, then, he stood when the Governor azd sheriifs entered the vestibule as we have just described. It may be imagined, perhaps, with what intorest Dick listened to all that passed between them. He had expected that Newgate would be searché-, «ad yet when he found they were setting about tt in such a determined manner, he could not control a eonsideralle amouryt of uneasiness that crept over him. Bt at length he heard from the turnkeys tue delictste ful intelligence that the search had been given up as aie together kopeless, though there was a probabilit# thet i¢ would be renewed. Having heard that much, Dick was content. He found himself weary, too, of remaining 9 long in one place and in one position, and. therefore, sreering uvisolessly away, went back to the spot wke@e be hsd left his lamp. It was burning steadily and clearly. : Near him was 4 passage Liunching off bo the wicht, en’ Brackets LIBRAR 0 Bn a