The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 141: what you’re looking at

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

enemies, I allude to Frank Leslie, the armourer, who, but for him, would have suffered a merited and ignominious death on Tower Hill, ‘We muat defeat him, my friends; we must show him and his followers what determination and courage can cflect, And now, since you are unavimous in approving of my scheme, I will give you the various details of it.” He then detailed to each the part he was ex- pected to playin the game of death they were preparing; after which, the ghastly assembly broke up, and the old house and its hidden secret were left alone to the night winda, On the following night at the same hour the thirty youthful assassins once more assembled within its gloomy walls, To Edgar Mortimer, a blacksmith’s apprentice, had been entrusted the task of bringing up the two heavy boats which were necessary for their conveyance to the scene of their ghastly ad- venture. He had brought them to the moment, for, eager for plander, he was looking forward to the burning of the “‘ Leathern Bottle,” less as a friend of Quelf’s than in the anticipation of being able to pocket some of the landlord’s hoarded treasures. The thirty apprentices were soon afloat on the river. Their young hearts, avimated by a hideous desire for plunder and murder, beat high as they approached the spot where their enemies were supposed to be. Their eyes glanced eagerly at the house, and presently the twinkling lights in the large room proclaimed that the apprentices were assembled. “We have them,” said Quelf, exultingly ; ‘this night shall prove their destruction. If there are any faint hearts amongst you, keep from this enterprise, Return at once, when we touch land, Such a glorious chance of punish- ing our enemies mast not be allowed to let slip because of cowardice.” To this a suppressed cheer was the only re- sponse. The adventure might be a bad one, but the courage of those who were engaged in it was worthy of a better cause. Presently the boats, impelled by a long, strong, yet silent pull, were brought up to the shore at a point where the shadow of tho old house fell darkly on the water, and where, too, they were hidden beneath a portion of the building that overhung the water. Here they noiselessly disembarked, and crept along the cozy ground to adoor which admitted them to a large vault. Thia vault had once been used as a boat-house, but the river had for some time encroached 20 much upon the land that it had rendered the place useless for such a purpose. It was a dank, unwholcsome, murky cellar, quite unadapted, certainly, to the preservation of gunpowder; but Quelf's perseverance had re- moved all difficulty arising from the details, in- asmuch as be had by diligent labour brought in the refuse of wood that had floated in from the Thames and made a buge pile in the centre of the brick vault, THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; OR, It was on the summit of this that he had placed his barrels of powder, stolen from a ship lying in the river. The kegs were here, of course, protected from all damp, and nearer the flooring, which was to be burst in by the explosion. The thirty apprentices having landed, Peter Quelf led them to a spot where they could hide themselves out of reach of any explosion which might occur. Then the arch conspirator approached the place, creeping, like Guy Fawkes, to the spot where his cowardly and desperate deed was to It is these deeds which render men despicable, and their lives uninteresting, Brave men, like Cromwell, and Wat Tyler, and Hampden ; and even bold imposters and pre- tenders, like Perkin Warbéeck and Monmouth, and Bolingbroke and Lambert Simnel, can be re- spected and admired, and their lives may prove salutary reading for youth. But coward assassins like Guy Fawkes, who would have sacrificed the lives of innocent men while he revelled in perfect safety and obscurity, must fail to excite sympathy, unless their lives are falsified and their violence misconstrued. If read truly, they excite horror; if turned into romance, they are pernicious, Quelf was just such another, Brave he had proved himself; but open at= tacks having failed, he was not above resorting to the treacherous idea of blowing his unsus- pecting victims to destruction, while those who did eacape he could attack in the midst of their terror and confusion. The slow match was soon applied, and the dis- torted wretch, delighted at his work, crept back to the spot where hia friends were eagerly watch- ing for him. “See,” he said, “they are now all gathered above that spot. A few moments’ patience and we shall see them, and the place in which they are gathered, flung upwards into mid-air,” Among the thirty there might have been some whose hearts misgave them, but they were now too far gone to recede, To approach the vault would be to court certain death ; 80, in spite of all their inward thoughts, they waited and watched for—death | Meanwhile, we will introduce our readers to the room where Harold and the Apprentices were gathered together. They had met together for a purpose which gave all of them promise of pleasure. It waz for the purpose of arranging for pre- senting a testimonial to the armourer after the terrible scenes through which he had gone, and for arranging for s triumphal reception of Cromwell on his entry into London. Taey had just decided npon presenting Frank Leslie with a splendid hammer, inlaid and in- scribed, and a gigantic sword worthy of his brawny arm, when there was a terrific crash—a volume of smoke and flame burst through the splintered floor, Providence seemed truly to watch over them. It so happened that between the raised seat GOVE OOO