The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 262: what you’re looking at

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

256° Puggy, : rv out for getting me into quad. I’ve had it in for her for a long time.” - When the Pug arrived at 18 flower, Alley, he did not find Matty as he expected, - and was in an awful‘rage. But he found a person he did not expect, namely,’ the’ landlord, who, with! a’ rent-book in his hand, was very clamorous for hisrent. | 10 fre “Moré than anything else which added to the rage of Barney was, that upon opening the room ‘door, he) found nearly all his'furniture had’ disappeared. Matty had sold what she could to a broker, who had gone that very morning early, and took) off all that was of any value. bo : ‘‘T'have boughtand paid for everything,” thought | Matty, “and before I go toservice [’l] sell all can, and pocket the money.” FEO Des I 2M And so she did. eae genie HN) } Except an old chair with two legs, a rusty poker, a broken wash-bowl, and’a straw mattress, every-" thing had disappeared, and’no one knew whither. The landlord was as ‘much surprised as the Pug ;” but the latter gave’ vent-to his feelings in a volley” of oaths, and swore he would’ kill Matty directly he» laid eyes on her. + * Hungry and thirsty as he was, and with nota he knew’ not what to do or. penny in’his pocket, where to go. ~ | He had neither money, nor work, nor home. Something must be done he thought, so loitered round the public-house down the’alley, and lived as best he could until nightfall upon occasional drops of beer and pipes of- tobacco with which several old acquaintances presented him. When night came on Barney tock a long walk to a dismal, unlighted neighbourhood, where stood a row of unfinished houses,- © ~~ Into one of these huge monuments;of a) bank-” rupt’s building mania the Pug directed his footsteps cautiously and slow. . ter!) Some months before the time of which we speak Barney had assisted in the robbing of a house, and, in the kitchen of this untenanted, half-finished dwelling, he had concealed several articles of silver until such time the affair had blown over. ‘‘T can sell ’?em:now,”’ thought Barney, ‘‘ without being dodged by the ‘slops.’ .Old Daddy Moss down the lane will give me half a ‘quid’ for it. They ain’t got any crest stamped on ’em, so old Daddy will give more.”’ In a short time Barney soon returned from the kitchen and secured his plunder under his waist- coat and in his hairy cap, With hasty strides he made his, way towards old Daddy Moss’s ‘‘fence,” but, to the Pug’s great. dis- appointment, the old Jew was not,at home and would not return until midnight. ‘‘ Where’s he gone to?” asked Barney. always out.” “You'd better leave whatever you've got,’’ said the old woman, Moss’s wife, in a weezing, coughing tone. ‘Leave ’em, eh? No, not me; I’m too ‘downy’ for all that. When I came back half on ’em would have vanished,” “No, they wouldn’t,” snarled old Mother Moss, sharply ; “‘there’s better men than you leaye things and call again.” “Dothey? Ah, I dare say you and old,Moss are all on the square, but you don’t ‘ fiddle’ me.’’ ‘ Tf you don’t leave ‘em the slops may collar you as youreturn. Little Isaacs just ran in and told me two plain clothes policemen had spotted you as you came along,”’ ) S _ : it He’s Ji 630 punch her head ‘off.’ I’ll serve her | his lodgings in Cauli-" dollar for the lot. old Moss’s hands than the ‘slops.’ ”’ THE BOY SOLDIER; 'OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. ~ —————————— ee ‘“ You don’t mean'that?”’ said the Pug, «pricking up his ears in alarm, a ‘“T do, though ; ask young Isaacs here. Wasn't it, Isaacs ?’”’ said Mother Moss, with a sly wink. “?*Pon my shoul!” a little cunning Jew urchin replied, on the instant. “There,” said old Mother Moss, in triumph; “I told you'so,”’ Quicker than might be expected the Pug pro- duced the silver ware. : ‘Here, stow it away somewhere,” said.he, with | asigh; “be quick about it. Give us half a dollar! on account! ‘I shall'give old Moss a’ call to-night ~ or to-morrow, I dare say; but I know he'll swear they ain’t true metal, and, perhaps, hand me over a No matter; I’d better fall into | With asigh Barney received the half-dollar which the old Jewess reluctantly handed over to him, and he went away moralizing, as the greatest rogues -will’sometimes do, on the trials, vicissitudes, and _troubles of a thief’s life. And well might Barney moralize. | For if a thief purloins a guinea’s worth and sells. it to a receiver and gets but one-sixth of its value, he is lucky; indeed ; but nine chances to one if he refuses the receiver’s offer, however miserable the trifle may be, the police are quietly put upon the rogue’s track, and he is sure to fall a victim sooner or later to the receiver’s hate. Barney, it must be confessed, felt very low and flat. hay oS Mee He had never been so hard-up before, yet the half dollar which old Mother Moss had given him on account, seemed like a little fortune to him at | that moment. _ He went down the Lane, but could see nothing | of the “slops ’’ which Isaacs, the cunning little Jew boy, had spoken of. ° Yet, as he turned the corner, he perceived a man in plain clothes, who grinned as Barney passed, as much as to say, ’ You've commenced again already, I see; well, goon a little longer, you’ll weigh your weight soon, my lad.”’ | Barney did not heed this person whoever he was, but passed on rapidly, until he came to a cheap cook-shop. _He squatted down at one of the tables, and, in his own style of expression, had a “rousing feed.” The “feed” consisted of several plates of meat and potatoes, peas pudding, and such like delicacies, and having satisfied the long cravings of his appetite, he sallied forth to the “‘ Pig and Whistle,” near by, and called for “a pot of four half and half,” | which, with a short pipe and half an ounce of threepenny shag,” made a large hole in the half dollar, the old Jewess had given him. While Barney was waiting for@foss, in the “ Pig and Whistle,” the old Jew was out on important business with “a friend from the country.” This friend was Warner. He had got the trunk safely from the railroad station, and, according to appointment by letter, nad ridden over to. Aldgate church in a Hansom Moss had been on the look-out for Warner, or some such passenger, from ‘his friend in the ae for at least a week, but was surprised no When,. therefore, he received Warner’s letter explaining what his message was about, the ‘old ew rubbed his hands with joy, and danced about his rag and bone and escaped lunatic, nd bottle warehouse like some GEomicboo <SriGOim