Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 380: what you’re looking at

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

EE SE age A LO WEY” <pehihs ..b OS eR 710); SPL, ba : a eno ld ace 5 evr = ‘‘o start npon their errand with any misapprehension of the information they had received would be to ruin all. Therefore, George Wild determined not to go an inch further until all was straightforward and clear in his mind. The man prepared to reply to his questions, and George interrogated him as follows, Jonathan, of course, paying the utmost attention, and quite delighted with the manner in which his son was setting about that businesa wiih hitherto he, with all his cunning and finesse, had not been able to accomplish. ; ; “You say Ross was watched into Poet’s-corner by one of your companions ?” €¢ *¢ And he called you and told you so, giving you instrac- tions to take his place, and keep careful watch, while he went to apprize Mr. Wild of what had occurred ?” ‘That's it, sir.” ‘© Well, then, you say that while yon were watching and keeping guard you heard some one approaching ? ” ‘Yes, sir.” P ‘¢ And you recognised that person as Blueskin ?” Yes, sir.” : And he took the same route as Ross had done P” “ Tust the same, sir; thatis, up the dark narrow kind of passage between the walls of the Abbey, which leads to the door opening into Poet’s-corner.”’ “ Just so; that part of your information is very precise indeed. We will assume they are there still.”’ They cannot have gone withont Tomlins seeing them, and, if he had, he would soon have despatched a messenger with intelligence to that effect.”’ “Very good. You say the thought occurred to you that if Blueskin was there Jack Sheppard was very close at hand P” ‘* Just so.” ‘And after a time—now, please be particular aoout this—after a time you discovered a boat close to the water’s edge, in which were seated two persons, who, you say, were Jack Sheppard and some girl he called Edgworth Bess ?” ** That is it, sir.” “Now, guy’ner,” said Wild, junior, addressing his father, ** there is no doubt about the correctness of the mforma- tion. I was disposed to think that we had not heard aright, for it seemed too good news to be true.” ‘** It does seem too good to be true.” ** But it’s all right, guv’ner. You see now I have joined you the tide of fortune will set altogether in your favour,” © T hope it will.” ‘So do I, guv’ner. But we have already wasted quite ag much time as we can afford to spare. We must make up cur minds as to what we are to do.” * Do?” asked Wild. ‘‘ Capture them at once.” “Easy docs it, guv’ner—easy does it! You are too rash by far. You must decide before you attempt to do anything, if you wish to be successful in what you under- take. Now you are ina position to decide upon a course of action. What are you going to doP”’ ‘Can you suggest anything P”’ Yes. I should recommend you to make up your a which of these two bits of game you are going to lave.” *€ Both—both.” **Ah! now, guv’ner, there you are. That’s the secret of your having failed to succeed. You let your attention be divided between two objects, and the consequence is you get neither.” Wild looked rather surprised at these increasing proofs of his son’s abilities, but the surprise was altogether of a pleasurable character. He could not shut his eyes to the fact that hé perfectly right. - “Guv’ner,” he continued, “if you want to accompush auy difficult thing, you must fix your eyes upon that one thing, and no other. If you don’t, failure is certuin, of course. Now ofthese two parties, which would you rather have? Just say, and be quick about it, and then we will go in a body to that place, aud it will go hard with us if we do not achieve something.” It was not the easiest matier for Wild to decide this point. “L was (Aa Oe Ge re TN a a, I a a Mg BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE. Yet still be feit that if he did not come to a determina. tion quickly he would be like the sportsman in tne favie, who, seeing two flocks of birds, was uncertain which to fire at, and in this state of indecision pulled the trigger— of course hitting neither. Now, for Wild to say which he desired most to wreak his vengeance upon—Blueskin or Jack Sheppard—was almost an impossibility. But there were one or two things which assisted him to come to a decision. In the first place, then, he looked upon Blueskin and Ross as being tolerably secure for a little while in the place they had chosen to occupy, and the only outlet to which was guarded by one of his (Wild’s) men. In the second place, Jack Sheppard had with him Edg- worth Bess, of whose person Jonathan Wild was above all things desirous to obtain possession. This last decided him. ‘* To the river!’ he said, “ to the river. We will cap- ture J ack Sheppard first, and leave Blueskin till after. war GC ] CHAPTER CCLIII. JACK SHEPPARD AND EDGWORTH BESS ARE ATTACKED IN THE BOAT BY JONATHAN WILD. ‘ALL right, gnv’ner,” said Wild, junior, with all the cool- ness imaginable, *‘ but don’t make such a rumpus. Easy does it, you know.”’ ‘* Forward!” said Wild to his janizaries. ‘‘ Follow me at full speed. And you, Tomlins, lead the way to the spot on the river-bank, close to which you say you saw the boat.” Allright, Mr. Wild. This way, if you please. not very far from here, sir.” Jonathan did not deign any reply to this speech, but pulled out a pistol and put it on full cock. In this way, then, they proceeded to the spot of which the man had spoken. Of course, the reader having been put in possession of all precedent circumstances, knows well how terribly correct was the information which had just. been given. When we last saw Blueskin and Ross, they were in the narrow passage we have described, and with the tall walls of the Abbey on either side of them; and those of our readers who feel curious enough to visit the spot will see how difficult the tasit would be to escape if the one narrow outlet was well guarded. When we last saw Jack Sheppard and Edgworth Begs they were seated in the frail and heavy-laden vessel just as Wild’s spy said they were, awaiting the return of thcir faithful companion, Blueskin. With no thought of the danger—the terrible danger with which they were menaced, for they had not seen the dusky, shrinking figure of the spy upon the river’s bank —with no suspicion that their arch enemy, Jonathan Wild, was so close upon their track, they spoke to each other upon the many strange occurreuces of the past, and speculated upon the future. Alas! the prospect spread out before them was desolate and drear. Nowhere could they see the least gleam of hope in the dark clouds which obscured their future. All was uncertainty. But Jack, although he felt all this, strove to put as good a face upon the matter as he could, and, though the grounds he had for doing so were slight, yet he cheered and encouraged his companion to the best of his ability, and spared no effort to rouse her drooping spirits. And he succeeded, though to a partial extent only. They had heard the old Abbey clock peal forth the hour of midnight, and then they began to look for Blueskin’s return, though, of course, they could not tell whether or not he would be kept waiting for Ross, who might havo been prevented from reaching the place of assignation at the appointed time. ; So, as the time slipped by, they took scarcely any notice of it. Besides, they were deeply engrossed by their conversa- tion, and did not note the flight of time. They bad been separated from each other for a long time, and many strange events happened to both of them during the interval, as all we have recorded will testify. It is EO DOO C S 5} (SO) ee ae