Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

et ee ee el a4 ——— ge This was true on the part of both. Already, for their safety, had they wasted too much time. With this conviction pressing upon their minds, they were not long reaching the passage. They paused here tor a1 moment and listened, but all was still, with the exception of a hammering which Wild sept up with untiring energy. Iiowever, as is not unfrequently the case, the pre- cautions he had taken to prevent the penetration of sound through the door of that gloomy region now mulitated against him. Jack Sheppard and his companion paid no attention to this. They knew well enough that it was out of their power to prevent Wild making as much noise as he thougt proper, lo have simply asked him to desist would have been ndiculous, and the means, in all probability, of causing him to make more. There was no small amount of satisfaction to be derived ake Ne 2 circumstance that no alarm had as yet been raised. The other dungeous, which Jack would insist upon thoroughly examining, did not repay them for their trouble, for they were without occupants. They were, however, at ease upou one point. And that was, with the exception of the villainous thief-taker himself, there was no living being in any one of those cells. Once more, then, they stood near to that secret door, which, however, was anything but secret on the side upon which they stood. Before, however, Jack ventured to press upon the spring, ho thought it would be only prudent to ascertain by lhisten- ing whether the coast was clear. He therefore applied his ear to the woodwork. . The hammering noise Wild was making rather confused um, But he listened as attentively as he could. LTothe best of his belief there was no one inthe passage on the other side. This locality has already, in a former chapter, been described, but yet we think there can be no great harm doue by reminding the reader that this passage, having a secret door at one end of it, had a very massive one at the other. Beyond this there was a flight of stone steps, which conducted to the hall of Jonathan Wild’s house. At the end of these steps was an iron-door, made after the fashion of a gate. This door was very strong indeed, besides which, night and day, a man always sat there on guard, who was able at once both to see and to hear whether anyone ascended the steps. That a person would be able to do so without aioe ® luis attention was almost an impossibility, unless, indee he had been sound asleep. But Wild, who omitted no precaution to prevent a prisoner’s escape, and knowing full well that sleeping on their lonely posts was a thing his men were much addicted to, he took measures to guard against this con- tingeucy by making it out of the question for anyone to open the iron door without waking hin. This he accomplished by connecting his seat iu such a manner with the gate, thatif he sat upon it, while the door was opened, he would inevitably fall to the ground, which circumstance, it is only fair to infer, could scarcely Jul ot having the desired effect of arousing him. Beyond this iron gate again was the street-door, at which, as we have often had occasion to state. a man was invariably stationed. The street-door was always fastened, and the _.ovenings themselves were of such a complicated description, that anyone not acquainted with them, would have no small amount of dithculty in removing them. Truly was Jonathan deserving of some amount of praise for the cunning steps he had taken to prevent the escape ot those who might be unfortunate enough to fall into his clutches. The contemplation of such obstacles would surely nave the effect of daunting anyone. To hope to overcome such a complication ot defences must be little short cf madness. From this it will be apparent, that though Jack had actually made his way out of his cell, and knew the Owens. a Fe mm BLUESKIN : aw «<7? © DA! 2 WU, A ROMANCE. — means by which the secret door might be opened, yet he was a very long way indeed from having achieved his freadom, ww Es» CHAPTER XLIV. FRESH OBSTACLES RISE UP BETWEEN THE P&iben (KS AMD FREEDOM, Tie longer Jack listened at the panel of the secret door, the more certain he became that there was no one in the passage on the other side of it. ‘““ All’s well!” he said, as he once more assumed a standing posture. ‘* Are you sure?”’ asked Sir Marmaduke, anxiously. ‘Sure of what ?”’ “That all is well.” “Yes. At least, as well as we could expect. no one in the passage.” “Then all is well, surely.” ‘So far, I say, it is; but there are other circumstances which require to be taken into consideration.” ‘““Speak—speak!” said Sir Marmaduke, over whom there came a fresh access of his former terror. ‘‘ Let me hear the worst at once!” “Do not agitate yourself, sir,”’ said Jack. ‘‘ You must, if you wish to succeed in the present enterprise, be calm and cool.” “You are right, my friend. Time was when I should have taken the lead im an affair like this; but my long sojourn here, deprived of light and the common necessaries of life, as weil as suffering the most horrible persecution, has completely shattered ine.” ‘“Not so—not so,” rephed Jack, soothingly. ‘‘ You have borne up bravely against it all. It is only by chance you lose command of yourself, that is all.” ‘* But what where you going to say when I allowed my- self to be so foolishly overcome with apprehensive dread ? Speak, and let me know all.” “It igs principally this,” said Jack. an incessant din Wild makes ?”’ ** T cannot fail to do so.” “This secret door, you understand, by fitting so elosely in its setting as it doubtless does, prevents the sound from going further thau where it is, but the momeut we open that door to pass ont, we cannot at the same time avoid the sound escaping also.”’ a Marmaduke was silent for a moment, and then he said— ‘“ Tt is, indeed, a serious matter, and one deserving of deliberation, and yet how to prevent it I cannot tell.” ‘Nor I, because there is not the faintest hope of getting Wild to desist.” “You think not?” ‘““T am sure of it. The only thing we can do is to open the door, and pags out as quickly as possible.” “But let us do this as quickly as we will, we cannot prevent the poise reaching the ears of some of his men, who would, of course, surmise that something wasamiss.” “T know all that. But what is tobe done? We can- not stay here.’ [ ‘That is quite evident. Could you not manage, thin you, to cause Wild to desist for ever so short a time ?™ Jack shook nis head slowly. ‘“] fear not,” he said. ‘“‘ And yet it is worth a trial; because, if you could only devise some stratagem to keep him quiet for a few seconds, we should be ali mght, and he could hammer away then to his heart’s content.” ‘* But what stratagem can we adopt ?” ‘There [am ata loss. I can see only the necessity of one of some kind; for, from what you have said, I think There is ** You hear what it. is pretty clear our discovery is inevitable if we open the door while he keeps making that noise.”’ “IT ean only think of one plan,” said Jack, after a mi- bute or two's thaught, ‘‘ and that 1s so defective that it 1s as bad as no plau at all.” ‘“‘ Let me hear it, my friend; perhaps 1 can furnish you with a hint or two.” “Itisthis. 1 thought of showing you bow to open the door, and theu myself going back to the cell door, and endeavour to get Wild into conversation, In the mean- time, you would open the door and pass through it. As soon as you had done this, I would follow your example, and perhaps be able to shut the door before Wild quite pe Ne en NOOKS. ECON COMNMUC