Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

Dames RSE, gL TS £5 O REGE, URI aR“ rae pereah a xt 7 Zam Te a Te, lm Ge Bie heb Cs er SS CSE D.Or Gara oe t <= —_— 58 BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE. bre rE ented ™~ oo oY E= This contrivance, insufficient as it was, was for the pur- | sue a state of mental confusion that he could only pose of ventilation. partially comprehend what was taking place around The beams of the lantern which Jonathan carried made | him. 4 the exact locality of this opeuing in the wall apparent, and | He huddled himself up into as small a.compass as he Jack came to a sudden determination to try to reach it, | could, and shrank close against the wall. and so be not merely an auditor but a spectator of what... He clasped his hands together. was going on in the adjoining cell. _ The predominant expression upon his features was mute He carefully estimated the distance, and shool his and indefined terror. head. : + Whether to look upon Sheppard asa friena or perse- He felt that to reach it without something to sca2d upon | cutor he knew not, and so remained helplessly awaiting would be an impossibility. the result. The height from the floor to the bottom part of the} Butwe have said when Jack heard Jonathan coming aperture was at least ten feet, and although it was just | he took up a position to receive him. possible that he might by a vigorous spring reach it with; That position was against the wall by the door. the tips of his fingers, yet he would not be able to take a| | With both hands he held Wild’s formidable bludgeon firm hold. above his head. He cast his eyes about him for some means of accom- Blinded by passion, Jonathan made a rush into the phishing his purpose. cell. But he could find nothing. There was a sickening thud—the sound thatis produced A quantity of straw, in a very humid state, littered | by violently bringing down some hard and heavy instru- down ip one corner, was all there was to provide him with } ment upon some softer object. a bed. Jack had struck Wild on the head with his bludgeon. To be sure, against the wall opposite to the door there; He fell down like an ox at the shambles. was a kind of stone settle similar to that in Sir Marma+| Jn all probability had such a blow alighted upon any duke’s cell, but this was of no service to him, since it was | Other head than the thief-taker’s, it would have been a q fixture. fatal one. At last he found a pitcher, which had probably been} But not only had prescient Nature bestowed upon Wild used to convey water to some former inmate of the cell. a skull of unusual thickness ; he had adopted measures to It was empty, and Jack thought that by turning it | guard agamst any such little contingency as that which bottom upwards he would, by placing it under the hole | had ?.st happened. he was so anxious to reach and standing upon it, be able| ‘bis meaus was to have placed inside his hat a frame- by giving a spring to take firm hold of the stone-work work of steel, so cunningly contrived that it was almost with his hands. as great a protection from a blow'as a helmet would have He made the attempt, and was successful. been. The muscles in Jack’s arms and wrists were very strong, But the unexpectedness and suddenness of Sheppard’s and his body light, so he was able, after shifting his hands | attack, coupled with the force of the blow itself, made a little, to draw himself up; a feat which he had seen fre- | him reach the floor in a state bordering closely upon quently performed by mountebanks. insensibility. When he had done this, he found he was able to see Strong as the bands of steel inside his hat were, they what was going forward. were not strong enough to wholly exempt him from the Sir Marmaduke had taken the pen in his hand, and was } effects of such an attack. about to affix his signature to the deed. No sooner did Jack see his foe prone upon the floor Jonathan was standing behind him. than he threw away the cudgel and sprang upou him, in- The lamplight fell upon his visage. tent upon recovering and destroying the deed Sir Marma- Its expression was truly awful. duke had signed. It was at this moment Jack shouted out the warning to With no little difficulty he rolled the inert body of the the baronet not to sign the deed. thief-taker over on to his back. : But, as we have seen, he was too late. No sooner, however, did he accomplish this feat than Sir Marmaduke, with the rapidity of thought, signed he perceived Jonathan suddenly recover from his swoon. his name. Wild’s first impulse was to clutch Jack by the throat. The accents of Jack’s voice were only too well-known But the latter, although no match for Wild, had an ad- to Wild, and he comprehended in a moment what had | vantage that made him more—far mora. taken place. He was uppermost. Therefore, the cry of terror which first came from his Quick as thought Jack caught hold of Jonathan by the mouth quickly changed its note to rage, and he rushed | ears and hair near them, and then, pressing his knee upon from the cell. his chest, banged his head upon the dungeon-floor. Clearly his intention was to pay Jack a visit, and wreak | Crack,! crack! crack! his vengeance upon him. Those were the ominous sounds produced by the con- But Sheppard had found that the hole in the wall was | tact. large enough for him to force his slender body through, | Jonathau’s hold relaxed. and, before Wild could get the fastening of his cell door Jack lifted his head up an inch or so higher, and undone, he had crawled completely through the opening. | brought it down with additional force, in order to give To drop down then into Sir Marmaduke’s dungeon was | what the French term the coup de grace. a matter of no difficulty whatever. This time Wild was thoroughly insensible. Jonathan Wild uttered another yell when he found the | Jack now proceeded to look for the deed, and seeing a cell was empty. piece of roughly-folded paper projecting from Wild’s He knew well enough there was no other means than| pocket, he, making no doubt it was what he sought, the hole near the roof by which Jack could have left the | transferred it to his own. cell, and he could scarcely believe it posstble anyone could His next care was to look after Sir Marmaduke Osborn. have got through such a contracted aperture. Still crouching, like some wild animal at the end of his With more rage swelling in his heart than he had ever | chain, was this one of many victims of Wild's brutality. before felt, the thief-taker rushed back to Sir Marmaduke’s | Who, to gaze upon that trembling and emaciated form, cell. s | would imagine it to he that of a gentleman of rank! But Jack heard him coming, and was prepared to reerive | No one. him. Jack Sheppard shuddered as his eyes rested on this The first thing almost that Jack saw on reaching the | piteous sight. ground was the bludgeon Jonathan was so fondof carrying! ‘‘ A day of reckoning for work of this sort must surely about with him. come at last,’ he said, ‘Sand then will Jonathan have te He could scarcely contain his delight at the lucky chance | beware.” by which so formidable a weapon had been placed in his | He picked up the lantern as_he spoke, and made a step hands. forward in the direction of Sir Marmaduke, who, however, He took a firm hold of 1. | with a faint moan of terror, endeavoured to shrink closer As for the unfortunate victim of Wild’s rapacity, the | to the wall. wofcxtnnate baronet Sir Marmaduke Osborn, he was in{ His demeanour was abject in the extreme ‘Bitenmewwareee.*5-- ee eee «wee Se as SS SS SSS SS SS ST SG Sy n.d cr. ont Pree LE 5} COMmMICHOokKS.C©