Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 395: what you’re looking at

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

393 i$ ag ati} Ciereet Wii i | | | | | MM (JACK SHEPPARD AND EDGWORTH BESS ARE ATTACKED BY THE THAMES PIRATES. ] bat I must die in that vault a lingering death of starva- ion, that it would be in vain’ for me to shriek and ery for ielp, beeause no human ears would hear my cries, ag hose vaults were very rarely used or visited. He told me hat I was already dead, that hi@®revenge was accom- lished, and he left me to my fate. ‘In vain I shrieked and implored his mercy. I suppli- ated him and used every argument which I thought vould induce him to sct me at liberty. But all in vain, le answered me only with a mocking laugh, which chilled he life blood of my veins when I heard it, and then he trode away along the passage. * I listened tothe sound of his retreating footsteps until, hongh I strained my hearing to the utmost, [ could hear bem nolonger. I need not describe my sufferinga—they cere horrible. You have already seen a part; providence, 1owever, Interposed and prevented the consummation of ¢ much villainy. You are the instrument of that myste- tous power, and I have escaped the most awful of all deaths.” CHAPTER CCLXI. BLUESKIN DETERMINES TO MAKE AN EXCURSION UPON THE HIGHWAY. As the stranger uttered the words with which the last chapter concluded, he pansed. The stand for hackney carriages was reached. He panted for breath, and he wiped the perspiration from his face. It stood upon it in huge clustering beads. To the extraordinary narrative he had just related, Blneskin listened with an all-absorbing interest. It seemed to lift him, so to speak, above his own troubles, and produced that effect upon his mind which a romance will at times produce. Ard, indeed, tle story was well calculated to produce such an effect upon any one who listened to it. It possessed all the elements needed in a relation of any wild and wonderful adventure. ; Moreover, Blneskin had the advantage of hearing the werds from the lips of the man himself. ee ee ee Ee CO DOO Cc SS (SO)