Penny Blood Serial Cover — page 123: what you’re looking at

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

ALFRED DE ROSANN. ltd those in front. The sentries, therefore, received or- ders to. remain quiet for the present. But the dilemma in which the Governor was placed,, soon became more and more deplorable. It was in vain that he attempted to address the infuriated mul- titude—his voice was drowned amidst the cries of “ Vengeance !”’ and shouts of “ Slaughter !??—the re- volt soon became general. To increase the disagree- ableness, if not danger, of his position, Edouard now implored protection on his knees before him, and only added to the irresolution of himself and the other au- thorities. They had not, however, many minutes to deliberate ; for the continued clanking of the chains, and occasional hurrahs, proved that some of the galley- slaves were endeavouring to divest themselves of those impediments. | “Fire! fire indiscriminately !’? cried the Governor to the sentries ranged around the enclosure ; and in an instant the stunning report of half-a-dozen muskets proclaimed the commencement of the work of death. A. pause in the shouts and the rush of the convicts ensued upon this explosion: but it was momentary; for the extreme measure adopted by the Governor only excited, instead of terrifying, the minds of those who had seen and done too much in their lives to be well acquainted with fear. The barriers were knocked down, the sentries driven back, the Governor and the inspectors were mingled with the crowd ; and as the destructive billows of a boisterous main earry all be- fore them, so did spars, platform, railing, and the other appendages of the gwzllotine, wave for a mo- ment, like the masts of a foundering vessel, above the. heads of the disorderly multitude, and then suddenly disappear. The space, where the scaffold ere now stood, was soon covered over by the waves of> that living ocean, which was poured out in such wild con- fusion all around; and the hoHow murmur of a thou- sand voices, succeeding to the harsh cries that had hitherto rent the air, sounded to the ear like the dis- tant rush of a vast torrent. Cconnicoooks (C@