Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 144: what you’re looking at

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“Spare me!” said Steggs, in louder and mae suppli- } cating tones, for, having overheard Blake’s words, he gathered he was an enemy of Wild’s. ‘Spareme! Let me go free from this place, and I will bless you. Time back, before I became the tenant of that frightful dun- geon, I was an evil man, and ready to commit any deed, however desperate. But all thatis altered now. Spare me !”’ ‘Spare me, too!’ said another voice, which came trom the man he had first released. ‘‘ Spare me, acd I tea will bless you, and do all I can to serve you.” ‘“Stand aside, then,’”’ exclaimed Blueskin, ‘and let me pass, or I shall be a companion in your captivity. You can follow me if you choose.&I should not think of hindering you, but you will most likely find that you will have to fight your way to freedom.”’ “ We will do that—we will do that!’’ they cried, as they rose to their feet; and having allowed Blake to ass them, they followed him along the corridor iu the rection of its exit. Had Blueskin only been in possession of the secret means of leaving Wild’s houseat the back, and making his way through the old n.arket,all would have beeu easy, and he would have escaped a frightful danger. But he did not know of it. Grasping his sword firmly by the hilt, and holding in his left hand a double-barrelled pistol, he ran up the steps to the iron grating. Ere, however, he reached the top, he heard a well- known sonnd. It was a key rattling in the lock. He felt that a crisis had now arrived. Discovery was inevitable, for it was Jonathan Wild himself who was seeking an entrance to hisown domicile. CHAPTER XCVII. JACK SHEPPARD PRACTISES A SUCCESSFUL MANCUVRE, WHICH RESULTS IN WILKINSON’S TOTAL DISCOMFI- TURE. Despite the perilous position in which our friend Blueskin is placed, on the staircase leading to the cells, we shall be obliged to leave him for a short time, while we devote a portion of our attention to the considera- tion of the fortunes of one of the chief actors in the story, and who has not for some time appeared in our pages. The reader will gness that the person in question is Jack Sheppard—that strange compound of good and evil—who, it will be remembered, we last saw as he darted round the corner of Warwick-lane, fearful that Wild would alter his mind. Why he took this direction, his heart alone couldgtell. It was the street into which he knew Edgeworth Bess would emerge when she left the market. With that remarkable cunning, of which Jonathan possessed so large a quantity, he had allowed him to go free, or rather appeared to do go, from the conviction that he would find Edgworth Bess quicker than anyone else, because he would have a powerful motive to urge him on to make every exertion. And in this calculation he was most unquestionably correct. Then, as for Jack himself,{motwithstanding the hypo- critical sentences he had uttered, his feelings and intcen- tions towards him were still unchanged, and he had, in a manner of speaking, set him about as free as a cat sometimes does a mouse—that is, takes care the prey does not get out of its reach. So with Wilkinson, who, as the reader knows, he had set to dog Jack’s footsteps. His orders were that he should follow him every where—not lose sight of him for a moment, but, as frequently as occasion required, or opportunity offered, report his exact whereabouts. By this means it is easy to see what a-tool Jack was made of. & - That Jonathan’s plan would be crowned with eauccess there seemed every indication. All that was necessary was for Wilkinson to perform his part, and one would have thought that was easy enough. We shall see how he got on. : As we said, Jack darted round the corner of Warwick- lane, but before he had gone a dozen steps down it, he aused to listen whether any sounds of pursuit reached 8 ears. BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE, Nothing, however, broke the silanes. He rubbed his head thoughtfully. ‘**¥ can’t make it out,” he said; “ F can’t make itout at all! What is Jonathan’s game? Was he really in earnest in what he saidaboutme? Ele seemed sincere; besides, why did he let me gofree ? It is clear he meant to do so, or he would have sent some oneafter me. I’ve half a mind to go back and tell him how vexed I am that I lefthimasI did. No, I won't, though: that will keep till another time, especially as he is a man that does not care much about politeness. I must find Bess. Where can she have gone? Not far, perhaps. She may even be somewhere nearjthe market. I will go and see, for all seems quiet and safe.”’ Thus speaking, or rather thinking, Jack made his way down the narrow, unsavouryithoroughfare, until he reached the large gateway leading into the market, Here he waited and listened. All, however, was as still as the grave. The place itself was quite empty and deserted, for it was the hour when the latest stayers had gone, and the earliest comers had not arrived. Finding all so silent, he ventured to raise his voice, aud call upon Edgworth Bess—first, only just above a whisper, and then rising in toneuntil it became a shout. But the echoing reverberations of his voice was the only response which he obtained. ‘There was a dull, oppressive feeling of coming ill about his heart, when the fact wasforced npon him that the girl he sought was nowhere within hearing of his voice, and he looked up and down the empty street, fearfully and forebodingly. ‘Where has she gone?” he cried—“* where has she gone? Unknowing her course, or what may have be- fallen her, what chance haveI of finding her agam? Oh! if Blueskin had but been spared—if I had him now by my side to advise me and consult with—I should be glad. But such regrets are useless, though I can yet avenge hisdeath. AndI will do it, evenas he would have avenged mine.” He was silent for a moment. ** But first,’ he said, ‘‘ the whole of my energies—the whole of my attention—shall be devoted to the task of finding the poor girl, who has, in so short a period of time seen so much suffering. If ill befalls her, Jona- than Wild, beware! for you shall bitterly rue the day when you took part against her.’’ | The shght accession of passion which he felt, soon passed away, and then he set about the task of search. ing on the ground, in the hope that by so doing he might discover something that would give him a clue to the route she had taken. But in the hope of doing this he was disappointed. There was not the smallest object that would serve to guide him anywhere to be seen. With the conviction pressing upon him that he must trust to chance alone to aid him, he walked slowly and dejectedly towards Paternoster-row. At Amen-corner he halted. Two roads lay before him—either of which might have been taken by the object of his search, and both leading in opposite directions. One was Paternoster-row. The other Ave-Maria-lane. He was irresolute. In her perturbation of mind, he thought it probable enough that she might have taken either of them, with- out giving it a thought which would be the safest. “Tf sho considered at all,’ he said, ‘‘ she would try to find her way to Drury-lane. The only friends she knows of are there. I will go and see if she has done so.”’ Having come to this determination, he walked on as far ag Ludgate-hill; and, although he knew it not, treading almost in the footsteps of Edgworth Bess. The clock in St. Panl’s cathedral chimed three- quarters past something, but what the hour was, Jack had not an accurate idea. ‘She must have gone to Drury-lane!’’ he repeated, ag he turned the corner. ‘* The more I think of it the more certain I feel that that is what she would do. How foolish it ws3 of me to feel so alarmed asI did! It is all right enough! Quite!—What’s that ?’’ A slight sound from gomewhore behind him now arrested his attention, COMICDOOKS.CO© Cc 5}