The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 280: what you’re looking at

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

~ THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. He leaped up at once, and, rushing to the door, opened it. Catherine was without. ‘' They ave escaping by the window,”’ she said. Oome quickly, and you will be able to catch them.” He lost no time, Following the gir], who had remained dressed, and was quite as awake, and almost as excited, as he was, he passed along the passage of the inn, now buried in profound darkness, and hur- ried down the staircase towards the door which led to the backyard, He was about to fling it open and rush out, when the girl drew him back. ‘‘Sctay,” she cried, “you do not wish these men to see you ?” sf No, no,”? ‘Then be quiet; they are only now at the further end of the yard. They will see you if you go out now. We must open this door cautiously, and then, as soon as they have scaled the wall, you can follow, Let me open it; I understand it better than you,” She opened it noiselessly. She had often done so before, when her lover, Gilbert, had outstayed her father. The moonlight was falling broadiy over the yard, and on the top of the wall could be seen the forms of Lord Raymond and his attendant. They passed over it just as the door was opened. “We came in the nick of time,” said the Young Apprentice. “Farewell. I yill follow them now; and remember, if I succeed, I will reward both you and your father, or my name is not Harold Fordyce.” He hastily kissed her hand and sprang lightly across the yard. Light and active as he was, he had no difii- culty in following in the steps of Lord Raymond, and he was soon on the other side of the wall, in a broad, moonlit meadow, that stretched away uninterruptedly for quite a quarter of a mile, Running rapidly acroes it were the forms of his:two foes, and he at once, therefore, gave chase at full speed. His object was not, af courac, to overtake them, but to keep them within such a distance that they could not dodge out of his path. 50 on he ran. They seemed not to observe him. Hurrying forward at an even pace, they kept side by side, and at length, when the: meadow- land was crossed, they passed out into a broad and rugged road, This, hardened as it was by the wind, was not a place where the sound of footfalls could be deadened, and the steps of the Young Appren- tice, a3 he ran eagerly on, rang clearly out npon the criap night air. But they kept on, Never once did they look back. A suspicion, at length, entered the mind of the Young Apprentice, Were they leading him into a trap? Did they know he was following them, and did they desire to lead him on? It mattered not. ‘‘T must he on my guard,’’ thought he; “but, no matter what betides, I will atill go forward.” And go forward he did. Leaving, at length, the hard highway, Lord Raymond and his attendant plunged through a hedge, and broke out at full speed across a wild heath, which was evidently well known to them, but which was so full of holes and obstructions of all kiads that almost at every step Harold Fordyce stumbled and fell. Here was a deep rut, as if a heavy cart had been dragged along. There a pile of stones-waa in his way, Then there was a hole, into which he plunged amid mud and water. Then tangled undergrowth, which flang him on his face. But on he went resolutely. He was not to be beaten. His heart was strong with courage and with love, and on -he pressed, keeping the two dark forms of his enemies in view, though now at some greater distance. Presently, however, they came to more level ground once more. Here his youth and activity befriended him, and he made up for lost time. Again came another space of more than half a mile of meadow. ‘Are they running thus to tire me out?’ thought the Young Apprentice. Scarcely had the idea formed itself in his brain, when they made & sudden turn to the right, plunged behind some trees, and came out before a high and gloomy-looking mansion. ‘Here we have arrived, at last,” thought the Young Apprentice, halting. As he did so both Lord Raymond and his companion turned, and, ere Harold knew what to suspect, they fired. Their shots were useless. The life of the Young Apprentice seemed truly as if it were charmed. The report of the two pistols awoke the dull echoes of the night, and frightened bata and small birds from their hiding-places, but that was all. Harold Fordyce remained unharmed, Drawing his pistol from his belt he was about to fire also. But prudence restrained him. There were no revolvers in thoac days, and, if he expended his charge uselessly, he stood the risk of placing himself in the power of the foe. He, therefore, re-placed his weapon, and as Lord Raymond and his companion centered hastily through a wide gate which clanged to after them, hc advanced nearer to reconnoitre, The closing of the heavy portal had sent somewhat of a chill to the heart of the young man, but he was not to be dispirited. After satisfying himself by a rapid survey that there were no windows from which treache- roun shots could be fired, he began to make a tour of the mansion. It was a large place, with strange gables and towers, and here and there remains of a moat, which in most places had been filled up. Presently—he had almost given up in despair all idea of being able to force himaelf into the place by stratagem or otherwise—he saw a sight which almost took his heart away with aur- prise. GOVE OOO CO