Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 364: what you’re looking at

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

t ) a a tap en reer tcc act NS PA A SPST Po i GATE Ly eNO PIAL» AGA PERE LE IEF aS GT SOIL GIS IEICE SEF IO GE EE RD, SED SLD Cac A aT TT CT ATTN TT a CDE A, F POC ci | eaPmnniane Behe mynd ee Vay ge. an | Er en ee AE) ee eal) Yo SU Ta SS Pe dot BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE. On reaching the passage, Jonathan stalked to the front door of the inn. It was closed. But he lifted the lateh, and opened it The aspect of the w cather without rat her dismaved him. ‘* Show us into the largest room you have gct, and then iwe will do our best to make shift.” , the landlord rubbed his head, and pretended to be eon. user “f The , largest room in the house, Mr. Wild, is the As we have before said, Jonathan Wild haw «ateear ay; kitchen! horror of thunder and lichtning. Not only this, it was quite certain if ever he went out while that rain continued he would be wet t! ‘rough to the skin in Jess than a moment. A curse came from his lips as he saw this. He hated to be interfered with by anything or anybody. He wished to make his way to Newgate-strect with his prisoncrs with all speed, and on arriving there, to iramure them in one of Ins dungeons, taking such precautions as would effectually preclude all possibility of their making their escape. But under the present aspect of affairs it seemed next to an impossibility for him to do this. And yet he felt that to remain at the inn until the violenee of the storm had abated, would be to expose him- selt toa very great risk. But the reader must not for a moment fall into the mis- take of supposing that it was throngh any clement feeling upon Wald’s part with regard to his prisoners that made him hesitate about proceeding direct to London. ‘To be sure, Edgworth Bess was only of value to him while she was alive, and that manifestly it was his best poliey to take all the eare of her he could. TLe elnef thing, however, that was present to his mind was the terrifie nature of the storm. Aud this was scarcely to be wondered at. a aD CHAPTER CCLY. JONATHAN WILD AND HIS GANG FALL EASY VICTIMS TO ROSS'S CLEVER FLAN. IT is only at very rare intervals indeed that such a storm as that was desolates the plains of England. Jonathan was quite sure that never in all his life had he seen or heard anything like it. The brilhant flashes of lightning seemed to show them- selves without intermission, while the thunder roared in- cessantly, And the rain. it came down perfectly straight, and when it reached the ground, so violent was its deseent, that it rebounded several inches, The road, too, in front of the house, soon became quite flooded, for the earth eould not absorb the moisture, neither could it run off in the provided channels as quickly as it came down. For almost two minutes Jonathan Wild stood at the door of the inn beholding the strife of the elements. Then, not being able to pereeive the least signs of its abatement—faneying, on the contrary, that it increased— he turned away, closing the door after lim. Ross, the landlord, who still held the eandle in his hand, came towards him. The j janizarics, keeping a tight hold upon the prisoners, had not moved from their station 4 the foot of the stairs. Ina most respectful tone of voice, Ross addressed the thief-taker. ‘This is an awful storm, Mr. Wild,” he said, ‘*a truly awrul storm, and I am afraid it is going to last a good while longer yet. Would you like to stop here a little while, Mr. Wild, for, if you were to go out, you world be quite drenehed and blinded Pp”? ‘This is an inn, isn’t it P”’ growled Wild. ** Certainly, sir. 7 Then I ean stay if I choose without anyone’s per- niission.’ “Certaimly yon eould, Mr. Wild,” replied Ross, deter- inined, for the sake of our friends, not to take offence at him, no matter how offensive his remarks beeame, *‘ Cer- tainly you could stay, but: I merely spoke out of civility. T only meant yon were quite weicome to make nse of my house if you thought proper. “Oh! very well. We will stay until the storn: gives over a little, or, at all events, until it shows soma siens of doing so. “Which it certainly does not at present. But where would you like to stay, for I am arraid T have 6 room large enough to accommodate the whole of you? OS CE IP apc en GE not gotl evening w ‘hen things looked so bliel The kitchen ?” ‘* Yes, Mr. Wild, the kitehen.” “Then take us there at once, the kitchen will do ag well as anywhere.” “Pl tell you what it is, 3 Mr. Wild, and, then, after- wards, if you like to go down in the kitchen, you can.” “What is it?” “Why, we are doing a great deal in the cooking way.’ ‘Ts that all P” T4 Yes, 93 “Then, that does not matter, ‘fF All richt, Mr. Wild, I am lad to hear you say so, only I thought I had better mention it.” “Baht! stuff! Lead the way, aud we will follow. If we are to stop here half-an-lour we can’t stand in the passage,’ “Gt course vou ean't, Mr. Wild. Be good enongh to follow me, and I will lead the way.” Jonathan took no further heed ef Ross, but called out to his men— “Look sharp after your three prisoners, my lads, and follow me. They are slippery customers, you know.” * All right, Mr. Wild,” was the response, and, as they spoke, tho janizaries tiehtened their grasp upon their prisoners. On their part, however, the fugitives offered no re- sistance, and had no thought of offering any. They saw that, just at present, it would be worse than useless, for not only would it be impossible for then: to release themselves, but, by making the attempt, they would only be likely to bring down upon themselves additional ill-usage and sever ity. Aceordingly, with a manner that was hnmble enough, they followed the j janizaries whither they led them. Poor Edgworth Bess was quite cast down with grief. All the terrible efforts she had made to escape from the evil genius of her life had been in vain. She was once again in his power, and this time there was still less hope that she should be able to eseape from him, because he would redouble his precautions to retain her in his custody. Besides which, es two defenders and protectors were in the same predicament as herself. So it was no wonder the poor girl felt so cast down as she did. On the other hand, Blueskin was full of hope. Tle relicd upon Ross finding an opportunity to put them in the way of effecting their escape if they remained long in the mn. He looked upon the eonversation respecting the hitenen from tlis point of view, and felt convinced that it was but the prelude to some scheme which Ross had formed. Whether he was correct or not, we shall very quickly ee The whole party proceeded to this place, which was a long room, apparently added to the main structure of the inn “by being built out into tue yard. As soon as they cutered, their nostrils were saluted with a most savoury and appetizing smell, whieh pis ceeded from the culinary operations of which Kuss her? spoken. The fire-grate was a huge one, and occupied tha whole of one end of the kitehen. By the direetions of the landlord, additional chairs and benches were brought in, upon which the janizaries and their prisoners could sit down. Then the apartmeut was still further illaminated by lichting some candles, whieh were stuck in tin sconces along the walls. By the aid of these Wild was able to take in the generat aspect of the place, which he did before he sat down. Whien he did so, he placed a chair in such a position that, as he occupied it, he conld observe every movement f the three prisoners, “and, by holding out his arm at full ong! h, almost tonch them. This, then, was the aspect of vifairs on that eventful < against our friends, And still the storm continued with uninitigated fury. a ST a a ee a IPO TSR a Ce aE ME a ENN TE RE aT II a | EO DOO SS o(CO) >