The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 142: what you’re looking at

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

where Harold and his captains sat, and that portion of the room where the others were collected, there was a clear space which was - generally fally occupied. The assembly on this night, however, was nothing near go large ag on ordinary occasions, and those who were present had crowded them- selves near the door, When the terrible crash took place, therefore, not one of them was over the vault, and conse- quently not one was killed. The force of the explosion, however, was such that amid the smoke and flame the timbers of the flooring were dashed in fearful confusion hither and thither ; the ceiling in several places fell in with a crash, and large pieces being harled down npon the heads of the young apprentices struck them from their chairs to the ground. So sudden was the crash and the explosion that no one could prepare for it, It was over in an instant ; and the Apprentices were, many of them, still seated, when the smoke cleared away and a yelling crowd of what at this moment seemed demons burst into the room. Quelf was at their head. “ At length,” he shonted, “as he roshed up towarda the raised platform where Harold andhis friends sat, “at length I shall have my revenge,’” He had h to find the Young A ntice or oped g Appre He was wrong. Instantly, upon seeing and hearing the explo- sion, Harold Fordyce sprang up and drew his sword. , , Btand back, coward and villain !”” he shouted, springing down from the platform and meeting Qaelf half way, “stand back |! Again Pro- vidence has watched over the innocent and thwarted the guilty! Look around you! Are any of my friends injured? No; they live—live to give the lie to your promises and to reven ge their wrongs,” _Quelf had no time to give utterance to the bitter speech which sprang to his lips. The Young Apprentice attacked him furiously. The distorted assassin fought well and with rage and energy; but he was no equal to the well-practised arm of the armourer's ap- prentice, and after a short fierce fight he was urled in among the still curling smoke. Staggering, wounded, and half blinded by the flamea, he fell almost into the arma of a eon man who was feeling his way towards the scene of the catastrophe. It was old Buckland, the landlord of thé “‘ Leathern Bottle.” “Ha! you devil’s son,” he cried, “it is you who have done this! I have you now.” J Quelf turned on him savagely and spran forward. y rpms Any one else might have been deterred from any unnecessary brutality by the aspect of the old man, with his pained expression of face, his and hia long white hair falling over bowed form, his shoulders. THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. 127 To Quelf, the sight of him brought different feelings, Here was a victim whom he could sacrifice to his fury. Rashing on the unarmed man, therefora, he raised his gleaming sword, and bringing it down with all the strength of his insatiate rage, clove the old man’s skull in twain. “ Would it were the head of Harold!’ mut- tered he, as the spurting blood fell like hot rain upon his face. “* It ia not, for he is here !” cried a voice, and Harold was again upon him. Amid the desperately struggling crowd the Young Apprentice had forced his way. ‘This time you shall not escape me,” he ex- claimed, furiously, as he made a terrible lunge at his foe. If Providence watched over him, however, an evil genius seemed to watch over Quelf. He eluded the terrible lunges made at him by the Young Apprentice, and retreating across the floor—slippery with blood, and covered too with the smoking and blazing pieces of timber— he reached the edge of the chasm, which still belched up smoke and flame. Here he was compelled to make a stand. On one side was Harold Fordyce, eager for his blood ; on the other, was the dark vault whence the destructive explosion had burat forth, which now, perhaps, was half fall of water, and the entrance to which was, in all probability, choked up with the floating wood. On the very brink of the chasm he halted. Tottering, and unable from his wounds and the blinding smoke, to stand up against the desperate attacks cf his adversary, the dwarf shouted aloud— “Help! help! for your captain | help { help !” In an instant the Young Apprentice found himaelf attacked from behind, bat not in time to save Quelf. Staggering before, he was now fiung violently backwards, as it were by the suddcn recoil of his own weapon, and he fell with a loud, long, despairing ory, headlong into the blasing gulf | Harold had no time to watch his movements, or to see bis fate. Those who assailed him, having seen the landlord fall, weltering in blood, thought this hideous deed the commencement of their victory, and, disregarding altogether the fall of their leader, they were eagerly anticipating the moment when the plundering might begin. But this was not to be. The Young Apprentice and his friends, now recovered from their first. surprise and warmed by the battle, fought like lions. Harold was like a miniature of the giant. His flashing sword clashed on the steel of his foes like a hammer on the aavil. His merry voice, too, resounded through the ‘* Ho—ho—there! One for the apprentices ! Ha—ha! a goodly hit that! Another yet! Back, back, hounds! Charge, my friends! charge them! Drive them into the fire! such reptiles should be burnt alive !” His words were in many cases literally obeyed, p ~ ad ~~ ~ “s COMED OOKSEEON er eee elk = .