Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 294: what you’re looking at

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

an a ree ie me SI e + = ome mo eee ea —— —<— ~=s5 992 BLUESKIN: a aaa an a a a ae) CHAPTER CCIII. BL. EBKIN ANB JACK SHEPPARD ESCAPE JONATHAN WILD BY A HAIR'S BREADTH. ‘6 Never heed him,” said Blueskin, when Jack called his attention to their old enemy, and turned round. ‘“ This way; follow me quickly.” oo Jack obeyed; for of course he wished to gave hiv life, if such a thing was possible. Blueskin led him to a small closed door. Vhere were no fastenings to it visible, but Blueskin pressed upon it in a peculiar manner with his thumh, and it flew open. They passed through instantly, and shut the door behind them. They were now in absolute darkness; they had not even the torches which Jonathan’s men carried to aid - them. ‘Put your hand against the wall, Jack,” said Blueskin. ‘Weare in a passage. Step forward carefully, for we shall come to some stairs presently.”’ “Going up or down P”’ asked Jack. 6é U 2? ° ‘¢ Should we be safe, do you think, without going any further ?”’ “No; Jonathan will be alinost sure to find us.” ‘T can’t hear much noise uow.” “ Nor can I.” The sound of the fighting, which had before sounded very plainly in their ears, now almost ceased. ‘What do you make of that, Blue ?” T don’t know.” ‘Perhaps Jonathan has changed his tactics.” Likely enough.” “Ah! stop!” <The stairs!” a6 gs.” “ Allright. Go ap.” How many?” “ Thirteen.” In the most profound darkness our friends ascended a flight of thirteen stone steps, which, either from the moisture of the contiguous river, or some other cause, were dangerously slippery with damp. The top was, however, reached in safety, and here Blueskin paused a minute or two to listen. But all was comparatively still. There was fighting going on somewhere, but it seemed to be below them. “Where now?” asked Jack. “There is a door here. Ah! we must be quick. Jonathan lg upon us quicker than I thought he would be.” There was a war of voices and a crushing sound. The door at the bottom of the steps, which fastened with 1 secret spring, was broken down. Jonathan Wild was the first to dash through the opening. He held a torch in his left hand, and the hanger, which he carried in the other, was dripping with blood. He saw the stairs, and his eye travelled up them with the rapidity of thought. He caught sight ot two dusky figures at the top. To do this—drop his hanger, draw a pistol from his belt, aim it and pull the trigger, were events that succeeded each other so quickly that no appreciable vapextal of time intervened between the first and the ast. The report of the pistol, which was of cnormous size, sounded intensely loud in that confined space. Wild did not wait to see what effect his shot had taken. Mingling with the last reverberition of the explosion they heard h?3 voice, crying— “Follow! Follow! Up the steps! Quick! Quick! We shall have them yet!” A small portion of Jonathan’s band, who had succeedad i forcing 4 passage across the vault, where the others wore still struggling, obeyed his commands, and carted up the slippery steps after him. When our friends saw their invincible enemy so close apon their track, Blueskin opened a door, and, as soon as neand his companion had passed through, secured it as well as he was able. They found themselves in a long passage. -— |) eee Oe a a we te MO me A OT, IS TO Aiea — 28 > 2 oe &A ROMANCE. ‘* Here my knowledge of the place ends,” said Blueskin, “and which way I am to turn I really do not know, and as there is no one here of whom we can inquire, we must trust to our luck, and rely upon that to guide us If Jonathan was not so close behind us, we should be ahle to make an examination of the place, and see what had best be done. But it is no good to think about that now.” ** Quite waste of time,” said Jack. “Surely I must be bullet-proof, for that was the nearest touch I ever had. Look here!” Jack pointed to a scratch along his left temple, from which the blood was slowly oozing. One-eighth of au inch more and the wound would have been fatal. ‘I did not know you were hit, Jack.” “Oh! it’s nothing. Rather a close shave, that ie all.” ‘* Rather too close to be pleasant. Contound him, there he is at the other door! That will be down in a noment !” While speaking, our friends had made their way hastily along the corridor in a right-hand direction, but when Blueskin spoke, Jonathan had reached the door which they had fastened, and struck it such a succession of heavy and violent blows, that its demolition was threatened every moment. Then the end of the passage was reached. There was no outlet to it. On the left-haud side, however, there was a half-open door, which led into a room. This offered them at least 2 chance of escape, so they rushed in. Fortunately it was vacant. Then Jonathan and his men burst into the passage. The thief-taker was just in time to see the shadow of their forms pass through the doorway, and he was on their track at once. Perspiration started from every pore in his body, and down his face and neck it ran in tiny streams. Occasionally he would dash his hand across his eyes as he found the falling drops obscured his vision, but that was all the heed he paid to it. Blueekiu’s first act when he entored the room was to lock the door. A lock was the only fastening it had, and that was a very cracky affair. ‘The key was in it, however, and he turned it. There was no time to seek for other securementa. ‘Ts there any way out, Jack?” he asked. * None, except the window.” * Curses!” He glanced round the chamber as he spoke. There were signs about it which made it clear that it had ouly recently been occupied, and it would seem, too, that those who were last in the place had left it rather hurriedly. Then he looked up at the window. It was a large latticed casement, with two folding €aves. “We must either stand here and fight Jonathan Wild and bis crew, or jump through the window. Which shall it be ?”’ * Where will the window take you to?” “7 don’t know, but I will soon see.” As he spoke, Blueskin pushed the table close under the window, and mounting upon it, looked out. Or rather, he endeavoured to look out, but he found there was such a collection of dirt upon the panes that it was impossible. He ran his hand up the middle, and felt for the tastener, which he undid, and then swung beth leaves of the window open. At this very moment Jonathan Wild, who had reached the door, and finding that it was only secured by a lock, placed one of his pistols against the keyhole, and blew the lock off at one blow. “ Quick!” said Jack. ‘ He is here.” “All right,” answered Blueskin from the window-aill. “On to the table, and through the window. There’s the river Thames not above twelve feet beneath, so we shall get off, for I know you can swim. Here goes!” Blueskin sprang out of the window before he had well finished speaking. A heavy splash fethowed, ts Oe a <2 III ec — i eR ae Me OS — — (S(O) NG (0) AUUG SS > (SO)