Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

124 res BLUESKIN : A ROMANCE. | That house in which was contained so vast a2 amount | off his boots, it would not have endangered his being of villainy, cruelty, suffering, and sin. : That house, whose tenant was an arch fiend im human orm, That house the reader of this history so well knows. Jonathan Wild’s house. It was on to this roof that Jack Sheppard alighted, and without loss of time set about the task of discovering some means of entering it. This he was not long in doing. Tn the tiles was the covering of a large trap do Jack stooped down and tried to raise it. It was fast. re CHAPTER LXXXIV. JONATHAN WILD’S SECRET ENTRANCE TO TIiE CELLS IS DISCOVERED BY JACK, WHO AVAILS HIMSELF OF IT. WITH a sudden wrench, and putting forth all his strength, Jack caused the door to partially give way. The woodwork of which it was composed was old and rotten. Another such an effort, and he would be able to enter. To enter! How strange it seemed, after using such incredible exertions, going through so many perils, having so many hairbreadth escapes of death and capture, to leave one prison, that he should voluntarily enter another —for such Jonathan Wild’s house indisputably was. But Jack had an incentive powerful enough to make him willing, nay, anxious, to endure all danger that could possibly exist. He had not forgotten that the last time he saw the girl he loved so well, and who so unreservedly returned his affection, was when Jonathan had borne her struggling into his dwelling. Since then what had occurred to her he did not dare to think of, Ifer enemies he knew were dead enough to all human pity te hesitate to take her young and innocent life, and he trembled and sickened at the thought that even at that very moment she was no longer of tlus world, If this was so, he fet that life would have no further charms for lim. The only sunshine it had ever knowu was shed upon it by her presence, and if he lost her he felt he should lose all that made existence at all endurable. But despite all he knew of Wild’s capabilities to commit any atrocity, he could scarcely reeoncile himself to the belief that he would be able to slay her. Ob! could it but have been whispered to him that the danger which menaced her was a thousand times worse than death itself, what prompt and effectual measures he would have taken to prevent it. Jaek raised the trap-door, and leid it back upon the tiles. A square of pitchy darkness was at his feet. Now was the time the lantern whieh he carried would be valuable, and it was in anticipation of some such event as this that he had taken the pains and run the risks he had to keep it burning. Cautiously kneeling down ou the tiles, and screening the light to the utmost of lis power, so that no wandering beam should indicate lis presence, he drew the lantern from beneath his ample overcoat, and lowered 1t anto the abyss. He could see the floor. It was about six fect below him. This was enough. Replaowg the lantern, he took up the trap-door, and, at the lower portion, fixed it in its place, then let it fall, and to his pleasure saw that, to a casual glance, it bore no traces of being tampered with. This done, he raised the yper end a little way, and slid his body through feet foremost. Then holding for a moment by the framework with his hands to steady himself a little, and feeling sure the fi,oring could not be above six inches from his feet. he let z9 his grasp, and dropped the distance. As he did so the trap-door fell into its proper place, though the feat was performed at the expense of the skin ou the baek of his fingers. heard by any one. It was not too late to act upon this int. It might be of the utmost importance to bim that his footfalls should should not be heard, so he immediately sat down, took off his boots, and stuffed them into his coat-pockets. Then, partially masking the lantern with his coat, he stole forward upon tip-toe to the head of the staircase. Here he listened for a moment, and finding all was still, descended with the silence of a spectre. The upper portion of Wild’s house was but hittle used. Of this fact, however, Jack was ignorant. Had he not been so, he might have been spared some trouble. To be over-cautious, though, was but to err on the right side. “She would, of course, be taken to the dungeons,” thought Jack, “but in what way am I to reach them? Not by the ordinary mode, that is quite certain, for there would suro to be a man at the grating. How shall I manage it? My best course, I should faney, would be to get to the back of the house. If I find the yard, I may stand «a chanco of discovering some means of getting m!” These were the reflections that crossed Jack’s mind as he crept down the second flight of stairs. Hearing and seeing nothing, he ventured to take out his lantern, and look about him. Facing him on the landing was a little wmdow, which, from its position, be felt certain looked out on the back of Wild’s house. He covered the lantern again, went towards it, and silently opened it. To have now shown the hght, although it would have been of great service to him, would be too hazardous, se he eontented himself with straining his eyes to see what was outside. Below him he could faintly distinguish the roof of some outbuilding, but it was too far off for it to be safe for him to drop from that window upon it. But he calculated that he should find on the landing beneath a similar window, aud such proved to be the case when he deseended. As he expected, he found the tiled roof of this out- building was in its highest part just about level with the window. This was the very thing, so he cautiously got through, and closed it after him. : On his hands and knees, and clutching tightly to the tiles, he crept down. When he reached the bottom, he found he should have no difficulty in reaching the yard, which he could see was one of unusually limited dimensions. Tu faet, as the quondam mistress of the house, Mary Milliner, had many a time in days past, when speaking upon the size of it, elegantly remarked that it ‘‘ wasn’t large enough to swing a cat in.” dack reaehed the ground in perfect safety. From no one of the windows he could sce came the least light. The inmates of all had apparently retired to rest. Perceiving this, he ventured to take out his lantern to make an examination of the place. The first thing that he noticed was a door in the wall. It was sec: red with two massive bolts—one at the top and one at the bottom. A long time must have elapsed since they were used, for they were rusted in thei settings. Now, whether this door would lead him at all in the direction he wished to go, or whether it was merely some disused mode of exit from W32ld’s house, Jack could not tell, and the only way by which he could arrive at such knowledge would be to withdraw the bolts and see. This he did at once, though it gave him a great deal or trouble. At last, however, he got the door open. No words could convey an adequate idea of the anxiety with which he proceeded to look where the door led. He felt somewhat, but not altogether disappointed. His last surmise was the correct one. The door opened into a long, narrow passage, and the odour that saluted his nostrils was sufficient proof that it had a direct communication with Newgate-market, which The noise he made in alighting was very trifling, but | was then in a much worse sanitary condition than it is yet he thought if he had only taken the precaution to pull | now. (SO) comicbooolkks am