The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 153: what you’re looking at

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

“ It’s at a distillery, they say, down by one of the streets turning out of Leather Lane,” said the cab man, bea et own glass ; “if any body likes to see it Pll drive em down as near as I can for a shilling.” * J will take your offer,” exclaimed Bazzisi, who, from this information, could not help acting upon a presen ee that the 5 of Borelli was in dang uick, let us lose no time.” “eA ri ight, sir,” rejoined the cabman, bustling zh the door, as he added, for the satisfaction of the a a “T always likes to catch a fare : clambering up to his box whilst threw himself on to the seat inside, the orse Was t Beg rapidly round, and away went the icle, splashing and tearing along in the direction 1e conflagration was visible, Bazzin leaning out of the window, anxiously ; towards the neighbourhood where the fire broken out, he was, with every step that brought A nears to the spot, more and more convinced hig etl was the scene of the disaster; and knew that the premises extended to the back |e oe which Borelli inhabited, he was doubly anxious to encounter the padrone before the confusion tik the place made the chances of their meeting less ely. tt barrier formed by a dense crowd pushing on to the same destination brought the cab to a stand-still at the end of Gray’s Inn Lane, and alighting from the vehicle, ‘Bazzini gave the amount of his fare to e driver with impetuous haste, and forcing his way into the ae of the mob, he worked out a path towards the squeezed himself into the foremost ranks, and arrived at the head of the throng. The sky, illumined with the red glare, and overspread with a stifling canopy of smoke, through which myriads of sparks shot wildly upwards in a burst of brilliant reflected a lurid light on the upturned faces of the multitude, and gave a distinct cutline to the features of each, that rendered them as distin- guishable as in the broad daylight. At rapid inter- vals sheets of quivering flame obtained a momentary ascendancy ; and then, as the torrents of water poured down upon the burning mass stopped for an instant the raging element of fire, a dark cloud of smoke would pass over the blazing pile, and the glittering recket-like burst of sparks returned. Amidst all this was heard the crash of falling tim- bers, and the deafening shouts of the throng, who seemed, with careless jest and delighted eye, to wel- come the event as a revel in which they had a right to participate, and the sight of the conflagration as a glorious exhibition got up for their especial enter- tainment, The efforts of the police to keep back the crowd, the roaring sound of the water as it fell upon the seething beams, the tearing up of fresh engines to the spot, the cool bravery and unflinching intrepidity "of the untiring firemen, and the other innumerable -* 4 = * id rat Sg 4 i « a € | | the , . ‘ - * i 4 ‘i ~ a . 7 : - * 5 *F , ~ 7 Ba x ; : concomitants of a scene of this kind, too familiar to need repetition, imparted to Bazzini a share of the frenzied excitement that was possessed by the spec- ors. He broke through the crowd at his side, fought his way into the court, and having reached the house rented by Borelli, which was at the back of the blaz- ing building, he dashed into the interior to see if he could mest with him. A boy, crouched upon the staircase, cowering down in alarm, and too much stupefied by terror to escape, told him that the padrone bad goze to the top of the house to watch ~ LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF LONDON LIFE. 147 the progress of the flames, and thither accordingly Bazzini followed in pursuit. ‘The staircase was lit up with the glare of the conflagration; and readily finding his way to the roof, he sprang out upon the leads, and sought the man whom he had mentally taxed with being his betrayer. LBorelli, however, was not visible; and as, in answer to his call, there was no response, he was on the point of returning, when he fancied that he caught a view of the padrone’s figure passing over the wall, and receding amidst the smoke, as if he had retreated when he saw the Italian approach. Confirmed in his supposition by this apparent wish of the fugitive to avoid a collision, Bazzini darted after him in the same direction; and with the agility of a cat, and at heart the ferocity of a tiger, he made his way along the top of the wall surrounding the distillery, and strove to overtake him. A sudden blaze of light shot like lightning across the ruins; at the instant he came upon an iron gallery that spanned what appeared to him to be a vast cylinder below, and this had revealed to him Borelli’s form standing at the opposite extremity. With the design of there wreaking the terrible ven- geance he contemplated, he ran across the bridge, when, deceived by the false shadows that were cast upon his path, his foot slipped, his body swirled over into the huge round copper vessel below, and his weight striking against the metal base, sent a hollow ringing reverberation around the towering sides of the gigantic vat in which he was engulphed, As seon as he regained his footing, the tremendous horror of his situation became apparent. He found himself in a large empty cylinder, that, from the in- tense heat that was encircling it, had now become nearly red hot. - In vain he essayed to clamber up the sides. The effort burned and blistered his hands as he touched the almost incandescent metal, and there seemed to bs no refuge open to him from the most acute and agonising death—that of being burned alive. Ho shouted for rescue, but his voice was drowned in the clattering echo of the horrible prison in which he had become entrapped; yet, though his throat was parched and scorching, he still continued his fruitless cries for release. The corrosive poison that he had gone that day to administer would have produced, he knew, — exactly the same torture that he was then undergoing ; but the struggle for existence was here rendered more appalling from the conviction that, as the heat grew still greater, he might count the duration of his life by minutes, A few moments passed away, in the course of which he suffered an ege of remorse, and he felt the soles of his feet, that rested on the lower surface of the metal, were becoming blistered by the overpowering heat. The smoke, too, that filled the cylinder, had grown so dense and suffocating, that though he had twisted a handkerchief across his month to prevent being choked and stifled with the sultry vapour, the difliculty of breathing was getting more painful with the lapse of every second, ani all hope of attracting attention by his voice was consequently at an end. New torments now followed. A steam exuded from the dampness of his hair, and then left it so dry and crisp that he could feel it crumble into powder between his fingers ; his nails got brittle and charred with the intensity of the fire, and his eyeballs seemed to have been scorched into blindness. Dizzied with the maddening con- templation of his position, despairing of relief, and writhing under the frightful agonies that he was -_—— GOMIIGIOO <S (E() m oe