The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

( ‘ wo és O 6) f 128 Several of the band of Quelf, the dwarf, were hurled or beaten back into the gaping vaalt, where the black waters of the Thames were now to’ be seen seething in among charred and broken timbers, At length the young assassins were compelled to give in. “Mercy | quarter ! surrender !” were the cries which were a prelude to the cessation of the fight. ea afew moments the sounds of strife had Not #0 the sounds of pain. THE YOUNG APPRENTICE. The wounded and the dying were strewn. about in hideous confusion. | There, a blackened mass of timber; here, a dead body, still grasping in its stiffened hand the aword it had wielded so fiercely a few. . moments before ; here, a headless corpse ; here, . @ wounded lad groaning in excess of ‘agony ; hére, another scnseless with pain. | ~ Tt was a terrible scene—almoet a realization — of the dream which Harold had dreamed at the armourer’s, except that in this case Quelf took the part of Lord ‘Raymond. The risohérs whom the Young Apprentice ahd his companions secured were fifteen in number, the reat were either killed or had es- ca ;‘ Pe harold’e side four of his best men were dead and many wounded. ‘ “The jaw must punish them for this,” said he, as he sent ons of his companions in, search of the watch ; “ what I can do would be simply re- venge. I must do more. I must crush out this agoiety ‘for ever.’’ ‘While the disarmed prisoners were watghed by a bady of the young apprentices, the rest set themselves to work to-cendeavour to ex- tinguish the flames. . . ‘In this they experienced great. difficulty, for although the house overhung the river, there were but few appliances for raising water, However, by dint of great exertion#, one half of the “ Leathern Bottle” was sayéd, and by the time that Haroldand his frien persed z there was nothing left of the configgration but. the ruinous half of the tenement, the smoke atill curling up‘here and there, the weeping wife and Ganghters of the murdered landlord, and ths d bodies lying in silence and darkness in the dismal, blackened room. The raid and the fre were over. As far as Quelf’s eager wishes were concerned all had been useless, - Bat, useless as the attack was in itself, the coincidence it brought about was a strange and terrible one, f 3 ° ® CHAPTER XIII. 7 QUELF’S AWAKENING—THE ROLLING WAVES— THE FOREIGN SHIP—THE GREEN, THE WHIBE - ‘AND THE RED LIGHTS—THE GREEN, WHITE, AND RED ROOKETS—THE STRANGE MEETIXG—" THE DUTCH CAPTAIN AND THE FRENCH AD» VENTURERS—THE MOUNTEBANK AND HIS DAUGHTER—THE INK, I HAVE said that an evil genius seemed to be ever at the side of Peter Quelf, inciting him to - —" ( (7. of = he | U9 Oy yp NOTION.—THRER MORE BEAUTIFUL COLOURED ~ will be GIVEN AWAY with our next Number. evil and protecting him from the consequences of his crimes ;‘and now, though plunged headlong into the black flaming vault, he was not déad. Thé waters of -the Thames, roughened by a strong wind and plunging in and out of the dreary place in consequence of being broken by roughly-planted piles, seized him, as it were, in their gloomy arms, and whirled him away in spite of all his efforts at resistance, Weak and wounded as he was, he would cer- tainly have been drowned had it not been that he caught sight of a huge, blackened piece of timber which was floating by his side. He seized it with the e of despair. It was well that he held it tight—well that he clasped his ficgers almost savagely era for scarcely had he trusted himeelf to % when his head was dashed violently against one of the piles and he became insensible.. : | The rush of the water upon his brow at length roused him, and: he found that he was being whirled away in the mid stream and rapidly approaching London Bridge, whose fantastic shadows fell heavily and gloomily over the Thames, . After rushing with the tide beneath the dark archway, be became suddenly locked in a mass of work which held him for a moment, and then releasing him suddenly, as it were, turned course for awhile across stream, Here he camein sudden collision with the side of a vessel, and he eagerly canght hold of the chains, 7 As he did so, and rested for an instant ere he ded, he was suddenly dazzled by a bieze of ight—a red, bright light which gleamed ont close to his head Then it revolved and threw out ¢ white light, ch, after amoment, changed to a dee : ci cignala,” sali Quel T “ These are evidently signals,” said Qu have come upon a discovery.” . Then he heard a confosed murmur of voices as if anumber of persons were engaged in eager discussion. - g . ‘ Quelf waited for no more, for his strength was failing, atid,’as rapidly as le Gould, he clambered up gn deck. / “ok te, Peter Quelf, woundéd and fainting, glanced round hjm as soon as he had reached the deck to-see if any one had observed him. . No one was near him but one, and‘ he was fast asigap with his head-leaning ‘on the bal- _ The dwarf's pain was great; and he was, of | course, anxious to procureaid as soon as possible ; - but there was in His Heart. natural .love of in- trige®- which made him edger to learu what was boing on on-board... -° |. ae deliberating as to the best ; Just as he wis “ pontre 1 pprenes he. daw: that ned, ‘grea, sant hite Ye ts were not without ther, signifi« a:figz, and a white ee cm ye Qs ’ . © Or rv . Kirst there wag a.whler and light shot up into the afr n light, and then‘a ‘red one. “Fortune has led me into a nest of conspira- tors,” thought Quelf. “I am in luck.” The idea had scarcely formed iteelf in his mind, when the hand of some one behind him seized his throat with a grasp of iron. ES will follow in a few weeks. fhe then followed & COPED OO \G eS we [Ss y BN 2 n'( ‘ > are in preperation. The First . oy wo » - CO