Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 229: what you’re looking at

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

Penang 008 + be ee enn epereeengee Eee panera enews = - = BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE, in the crowd was one man who, among the rest, was unnoted. He waa tall, and muscularly formed. But, by stooping, be strove, as much as possible, to dis- guise thia height and robustness of frame. _ Hia desire, evidently, was to escape observation as muah as possible. But in this he was only to a partial extent successful. Those whe were nearest to him could not help noticing the peculiar appearauce of his physiognomy. It wore a strange dark tint. But this man, whom the reader, from this description, wil] doubtless recognise, did not stay long in one place, or afford any of the cnrious gazers much opportunity of studying his features, for he hurried on, forcing a way through the thickest of the crowd. This was Blueskin. After leaving Stegga in the manner we have related, at the public-bouse in the Borough, he had gone from one place to another in search of Jack. From reasons well known to the reader he did not suc ceed in his search. Wearied out and exhausted by all the multitndinoua eventa of the night, be was passing along Wych-street, when he heard a great disturbance. Any unusual circumstance, of course, attracted his im- mediate attention. Hurrying forward, then, he found a smal] crowd of people assembled before a house. e knew it at a glance. It wea the house of John Roots, the carpenter. With a forboding feeling at his beart that all was not well, Blueskin paused and mingled with the crowd, which very moment kept increasing. hat he saw while he waited, the reader already knows. He heard, too, that murder had becu committed. When the three burglars had darted out of the house in the manner we have described, he lent all the aid he could to assist them to escape. But, single-handed, he could do little or nothing against sgeh numbers, and he was fearful of being arrested with them. As things stood, it was clearly his best policy to keep out of danger. Immured in one of the cella in Newgate, what assistance contd be be to bia young comrade ? Bat free, he would doubtless be able to accomplish much. Therefore, when he saw them all three made prisoners, he followed the cvach, in order to see whether Jack es really taken to Newgate, or to Jonathan Wild’s ouse, Paes! CHAPTER CLVII. JACK SHEPPARD IS DULY CONVEYED TO NEWGATE, AND PROVIDED WITH AN EXTRA HEAVY SET OF JEWELRY. Tur officers, however, who had taken Jack prisoner were not Jonathan Wild’s men, but regular Bow-streat runners. They had been spccially sent out to apprehend Jack sheppard for his daring escape from the prison. Therefore, being armed with a special warrant, they drove him to the Old Bailey direct, instead of taking him to the lock-up, having him brought before a magis- trate in the morning, and then fully committed for trial. The hackney-coach lumbered up to the chief entrance of the old prison-house, and the officer who sat by the side of the driver got down and knocked at the portal. The man or the lock, who was ina kind of half sleep, had heard the carriage stop, and, anticipating from that the arrival of some one of consequence, he quickly responded to the summons for admission. y the time the door was open, however, the officers had got down off the roof and opened the door of the coach. WV Then the others alighted. The mob formed round in a dense cucfe, and they pressed forward so much that it was found necessary to obtain additional assistance from the prison to keep them ut a respectful distance. Then, one by one, the prisoners were handed out. Blewitt happened to be nearest to the door, so he came first.’ 223 He-was dogged and sullen, and made not the least attempt at resistance. Aga matter of course, his presence was greeted by a yell of execration. The distance from the coach door across the pavement to the door leading into the prison was but short, so be was not exposed for long to the popular indignation. He was hustled in. Jack and Flood sat opposite to each other, so there wag nie to choose who should come out first, but Jack hung ack. It 1s possible that he had some insane idea of making his escape, for when Flood was dragged out, and while he imagined the attention of the officers was occupied by so doing, he looked through the window of the coach, next to which he sat. But, if he had any idea of making his escape, it vanished mule he saw how completely he was hemmed in by hostile acea. Ife uttered, however, a slight exclamation, though he stifled the sound as much as he possibly could. Among the crowd of faces he saw one that had not an unfriendly expression upon it, It was a face well known to him. He waa evidently there to bid him be of good cheer. It wus Blueskin’s face. ‘The next moment, however, he was seized by the officers and dragged out. His ankles had been tied together with a cord, but, in order that he should be able to walk into the prison, these bonda were severed. The moment Jack found these limbs at liberty, the first use he made of them was to salute his captors with several Healey kicks, each one of which drew loud curses from their 8. But there were too many of them for him to gain much by resistance. By main force he was dragged out and hurried into the lodge, where a dozen or so of turnkeys had assembled, and where Flood and Blewitt still stood. The moment he was fairly in, the ponderous door was closed after him with a clang, at once shulting the world out from him. The first thing that attracted Jack’s attention after his arrival, was a shght bustle and confusion at the other end of the lodge. He was well enough acquainted with the interior of Newgate already to know what it meant. The governor was coming. His old enemy, Mr. Noakes. Excited and out of breath, for, upon receiving the intel- hgence that Jack had been recaptured, he had jumped out of bed, hastily attired himself, and hurried down to the lodge. “Ha! ba!” he said, with an air of triumphant satis- faction, the moment he perceived Jack, and was convinced by ocular demonstration that the agreeable intelligence which had been brought to him was true. ‘“‘ Ha! ha! my young spark, so we have got you safe back again, have we! Well—well, I thought so. It was very unwise of you to escape; you might have known you would be taken again. You won't get away this time, Ill take good care of that. There’s Godfrey, the turnkey, that you murdered in the corridor. You will have that to be tried for.’’ ‘* But he has committed another murder since that, Mr. Noakes,’’ said the chief police-officer. ‘** Another murder!” cried the governor, starting back astep. ‘“‘How? where?” ** He has committed a burglary as well, and these two men, who belong to Jonathan Wild, assisted him.” ‘* But who has he robbed ?—who has he murdered?” asked the governor. ** His old master, John Roots, the carpenter, in Wych- street.” C6 Ha ! dD “1 hava lett atx of the men there in charge of the premises, to watch that nothing is touched.” ‘* Quite right, Mr. Skellum—quite right.” “He will have to be brought before a magistrate in the course of the morning, I suppose P ” = Oh! yes.” ‘Then I must be in attendauce to give my evidence, which, of course, will procure the committal of all three of them {to the assizes,” ean cComiclboooks GO