Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 69: what you’re looking at

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

ee mm a er ET A PP 2 pn ne ore ee OY ee On 8 eee ee OO =, 4 a oe —— > BLUESKIN : pa a a taneously seize it with his right. Jack Sheppard rose ap like a ghost. If the man who had charge of the iron-grated door had turned Iffs head in the least degree he must have seen him. But he did not. Surely he must have slept. With as much silence and secrecy as he could, Jack, vith a beating heart, put the key into the lock. He could not avoid making a slight noise. Besides, he was so excited that his whole body trembled. Slowly, slowly, with a steady, constant motion, he turned the key round in the lock m the hope that he might unfasten it unheard. ut after going quietly for some time the lock, as he feared from its construction it would do, went back with a sharp snap. The man who was sitting so close to him uttered a cry of dismay. But Jack, with great promptitude, the moment the bolt of the lock went back in its socket, dashed the door violently and suddenly open. The consequence was that the man, before he had time to escape, found himself almost crushed to death between the we and the wall, for Jack pushed with all his might, he man who was on the lock, or in other words, who had charge of the street-door, set up a loud shout, and drawing a pistul from his belt, he shouted,—~ ** Stand where you are, or I fire.” Jack saw now that all was discovered, and that he would have to fight his way to the street. Sir Marmaduke kept behind him. Whispering a word of encouragement, Jack, who had come to a halt upon the sudden command to do so, swung the heavy wooden bar round his head, and dashed forward. The man on the lock was as good as his word, for he fired his pistol instantly. But it was done too hurriedly for him to take an aim, and the bullet went with a crash through one of the balustrades of the staircase leading to the upper portion of the house. Ere the echoes of the pistol-shot could die away, Jack reached this man, and with one terrific blow with the bar, laid him prostrate. Then a terrible sound smote his ears. It was a hideous howling cry, and such as some wild and ferocious denizen of the woods might be supposed to utter upon finding himself in the toils of the hunters. Jack knew that there was but one human being who could give vent to such a sound. That one was of course Jonathan Wild. How he had got out of his cell he could not imagine, but that he had done so was a fact quite patent. Quick as thought Jack turned to the fastenings of the door. Could he get them undone all would be well. Jonathan Wild, with his huge hanger in his hand, rushed up the staircase. _ Never before was he, or had he been, in such a state of infuriation. Blood and foam were on his face. His coat was torn in many places, his hat and wig were off, and his bald cranium had clots of blood upon it. But though Jack did not know how the thief-taker had contrived to escape from the call, there is no reason why the reader should remain <u a similar state of igno- rance, Upon first awaking from the swoon induced by the blows he had received from Jack, Jonathan was quite ata loss to account for what had occurred. In fact, his senses had only partially come to him. He was, however, half conscious that hands were moving busily about bis breast, and then percepti~n fuiled him altogether. That was when Jack had taken the key from him. This time he soon aroused, nor was he long in coming to a correct conclusion as to the actual state of a‘fairs. The first thing his hands touched, as he placed them on the floor, to assist himself to rise, was his bludgeon. Quite a gush of delight came over him,at once more having in his grasp his favourite and bloodthirsty weapon. In fact, the possession of it went further towards ru- storing him to his senses than aught else, ow RE ee ye a gy UN me A ROMANCE. 57 In the first blind fury of the moment, he rushed at the door and commenced battering at it. But, finding what folly it was to exhaust himself in a way that could do him no good, and being struck with a new idea, he dropped the bludgeon, and drew with grcat rapidity the heavy hanger which he habitually carried at 1s side. ; Then with this weapon he renewed his assault on the oor. Of course he now stood a much better chance of achieving some beneficial] result than he had done before. The sharp steel sank into the wood. Chips flew about in all directions. He bruised his hands against the oaken panel in his frantic haste, but he heeded it not. The splinters struck him in the face, but he did not cease his labour for a moment. One idea only was present to his mind, and that was to escape from the cell with as much speed as possible. , Horrible curses, levelled at Jack Sheppard, came from is lips. And so he kept on until, as the reader is aware, Jack tapped at the door with the haft of his clasp-knife. ‘that it was either of the prisoners he did not fora moment imagine. It was about the last thing they would be likely to do. But when Jack left him, the suspicion entered his mind, and renovated by the brief rest he had had, he set about his work with redoubled energy. The task he had set himself was to cut a large enough hole in the door for him to craw] through. This, with the weapon he held, had he possessed sufft- cient command over himself, and set about it coolly, would not have taken one-fourth of the time it did. But the desperate state of Jonathan's mind required just then that he should have some means of expending his superfluous strength. Harder and harder, faster and faster, rained the blows upon the door, until, at last, he had the satisfaction of seeing into the passage. Having once made a breach, the rest of the work was much easier, and he cut away the wood im long strips. As soon as ever the hole was large enough, and, 1n fact, almost before it was, he began to crash through it. It was in this way that his apparel got torn in the way it was. He wriggled himself through, leaving behind him in the cell the best part of his coat. He raised himself to his feet, and, then struck with a sudden thought, put his hand into his pocket and pro- duced a flask. . From the strong odour which it spread around when he unscrewed the top it was pretty evident it contained brandy. He placed it to his lips and took a long draught. . The alcohol had the effect of endowing him with thrice the strength he had possessed a moment before, and utter- ing a yell, he rushed along the passage to the secret door. To one so well acquainted with its mechanism as he was, it took not a second to fling it open, and he dashed through. . Along the corridor through the massive door, which Jack had incautiously left open, instead of closing and locking as he ought to have done, and up the stone steps went Wild with undiminished speed. . Then he uttered that one frighful, howling yell, which was sufficient to strike dismay and terror ivf’) the hearts of all who heard it. err a> CHAPTER XLVI. SHEPPARD AND THE BARONET MAKE A TEMPORARY STAY AT THE “JOLLY SAILORS.” THE state of affairs in the hall of Jonathan Wild’s house was both peculiar and critical. The report of the pistol as well as the cries of the man on the lock had the effect of rousing those members of the thief-taker’s gang who happened to be indoors at thé time, and they hastened with all the speed they could to the scene of action. Jack Sheppard fumbled at the fastening of the door. ee of am erp ES eg comicboookks (SO) 5}