The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 119: what you’re looking at

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

oft i ie THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. 113 , rid —— “an PN ae S| : yi AVY Wi. KEENE _ Ut ii feds in iD) Ys), ; A Yj y a” i ¥ os) J ; : Y / y wad (fay? ty with a sagacity that would have shamed a Temple carefully prepared for the ensuing attack of his canine ticket-porter, and had snatched a child from the burn- | enemy. The cue was the customary ‘Ah! what do I ing ruins with a bravery that might have put the see?’ but Neptune, instead of rushing furiously at whols fire-brigade to the blush, But the crowning | him,wagged his tail, squatted down upon his haunches, triumph was to come. . The unjust usurper, who had | and looked knowingly at the leader, who was running lorded it over the ‘rightful heir’ during the earlier | his fingers up and down the violin with a celerity part, was now to receive his ‘just reward,’ and ex- pectation was on tiptoe to know how this retribution was to be awarded. ‘7 need only tell those present who are uninitiated that outstripped the banjo- player in the railway over- ture. The unjust usurper furiously shook the red cravat with his left hand and his fist with the right, making in the meantime as much as he could of the in these matters, that when this kind of moral venge- |‘ Ah! r-r-r!’? using the sound of the canine letter ance has to be inflicted, it is customary to enclose @ | perhaps for the animal’s better comprehension; but it small piece uf raw meat in the red handkerchief which | was still a failure. No longer making any preliminary the unjust usurper is always sure to wear loosely round | inqniry, the villain, eager to be strangled, rushed his neck, By a stage fiction, the efforts of the dog to | down to the footlights, and determined to discover get at the provender are supposed, during the fall of| what he saw himself. Nervously untwisting his the curtain, to afford unequivocal evidence of success- | cravat, he shook the eads of it under the very nose ful strangulation. of the dog, but his anticipated adversary would “ Decoyed by a soft whistle from the prompter, and | have none of it, and with an indignant and disgusted a feint of something being held in his hand, the dog look Neptune at once gave up business, and retired, had duly fallen into the right position at the wing, The audience, of course, hissed, hooted, yelled, and and the ruthless villain had crossed the bridge over | laughed by turns; the unstrangled villain made a the ravine at the back, with the red handkerchief stumbling apology to the audience that this was the a I re TR Te AO Bal ta nt i Ne A Tt a TE 15 EComicbookssGo