The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 253: what you’re looking at

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

226 REYNOLDS’ WORKS and a search throughout the neighbourhood was ordered. Constables were despatched in every direction, while the in- spector, with some of the most intelligent of his acolytes, lost no time in surveying the premises in the neighbourhood of the cells. Ladders were procured; they ascended to the roofs of the adjacent houses, the bent pipe was observed, and though the officers could scarcely persuade themselves that they had thus discovered the track taken by the Burker, yet they failed not to act upon the suggestion which it might seem to afford. By means of the ladders they quickly reached the top of the house to which that bent pipe led up, and beneath the roof of which the Burker was actually at that very moment concealed. But it was on the roof of the adjacent house that the old Jewish gabardine was discovered, and then the inspector exclaimed, ‘‘ By Heaven, after all, the fellow did climb up that pipe! ” Next the cord was found, and the natural conclusion was that it formed another link in the clue which the officers had obtained to the track taken by the Burker. ‘“‘ You see,”’ said the inspector, ‘‘ there was that flat-roofed building betwixt the cells and those yards down below, which prevented the scoundrel from getting into them at once, so he had to climb first of all up to the roofs of these houses here, and then let himself down by this cord into the yard below. But it is no use our remaining here to chatter. Down the ladders again, over all those walls, and we may catch him yet! ”’ The descent was quickly made. One of the constables, speeding back to the police court, gave orders for several officers to institute a special watch in Hart Street, which was the quarter where it was supposed the Burker would en- deavour to find a means of making his exit. The inspector and the constables who remained with him proceeded to examine all the premises in the rear of Covent Garden Theatre, with the hope of finding some fresh trace of the prisoner, but we need hardly say without any result. We did not interrupt the thread of those explanations to state, as we must now do, that the occupants of the highest rooms of the houses to the roofs of which the constables ascended were considerably alarmed, many indeed being startled from their slumber, by the heavy trampling of feet overhead as well as by the sounds of voices. At first there ECORNIClIOOKS (E(0)