Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-10

HANG, MY LAD:'
eyes were on me, I had the presence of
mind to walk though cold shivers ran
down my back and my hair crept and
every second 1 fancied-for 1 was too nerv-
Gus to look back-that 1 felt Dyson's hand
1all on my collar. Arriving safely at the
gate, however, and the road turning out
by good luck to be empty. I took to my
heels and ran a quarter of a mile along If.
then leaping the fence that bounded it on
the right, l started recklessly across coun-
Try, my aim being to strike the Little
Parndon highway. to which my lord had
referred, at point beyond the crossroads
and so avoid passing the latter.
am aware that this mode of escape,
TINS walking through a window and run
ming off unmolested, sounds bald and COM
monplace, and that if l could import into
my story some touch of romance or wo-
manlsh disguise, such as-to compare great
things with small-marked my Lord Niths-
GALES escape from the Tower three years
ago, l should cut a better figure. Where
as in flight across the fields on a quiet
afternoon. with the sun casting long shad-
ows on the meadows, and for my most in
slant alarms, the sudden whirring up OF
partridge or plover before me, few 1will
md anything heroic. But let them place
themselves for moment in my skin and
remember that as l sweated and painted
and stumbled, and rose again. as I splash
ca IN reckless haste through sloughs and
ditches and tore my way through great
blackthorns. 1 had death always at my
heels! Let them remember that in the
long shadows that crossed my path I saw
the gallows. and again the gallows, and
again the gallows, and fled more quickly,
and that it needed but the distant bark of
dog or the shout of a boy soaring birds
10 persuade me that the hue and cry was
of fear.
believe that the adventurer, and the
kn1ght OF the road, when 1t falls to their
an hJpv.t tod
though more commonly such a one is taken
securus ct ebrius In the arms of his mis-
tress, find some mitigation of their pains
IN the anticipation of conflict. and in the
stern joy which the resolve to sell his life
dearly imparts to the man of action But
was unarmed. and worn out by my exer-
tons: no soldier and with no heart to fight
MY Hight therefore across the quiet fields
was pure terror, the torture of unmitigated
Tears. Fear spurred me and whipped me :
and yet had known it, might have SPAR
ed my terrors. For darkness found me
weak and exhausted, but still free, in the
neighborhood of Epping, in Essex, where 1
passed the night III the forest; and before
ne on next day, believing that they would
watch for me on the Tottenham road
had found courage to stink into London. by
way of Chingford, and in the heart Of that
great city, whose magnitude exceeded all
my expectations, had safely and effectually
lost myself.
Chapter X.
At this point, I mean my arrival in Lon
don. 1T becomes me to pause. 1 set out, the
reader will remember, to furnish such q
narrative of the events attending my first
meeting with my honored patron, as, taken
with brief account of myself, might en-
able all to pursue with insight, as well as
advantage, the details of my later connec-
ton with him. And this now being done
and bearing in mind that Sir John Fen
wick did not suffer from his conspiracy un-
til 1857, and that consequently a period of
thirteen years divided the former events.
which 1 have related. from those which
follow. and which have to do. as 1 init
mated at the outset, with my lords alleged
ccgnizance of that conspiracy, some may.
and with impatience look to me to proceed
at once to the gist of the matter which I
propose to do, but first to crave the read
ers indulgence while, in a very hasty and
perfunctory manner. 1 trace my humble
fortunes In the interval. whereby l think
that time will in the end be saved
Inat' arriving In London, as have re-
lated, fugitive. penniless and homeless,
l contrived to keep out Of the beadle's
hands. and was neither whipped for a
vagrant at Bridewell. nor starved outright
IN the streets, l attribute to most singular
good fortune. which not only rescued me.
statlm, from a great and instant danger
that all but engulfed me- but within a few
hours found for me honest and constant
employment. and that Of an uncommon
kird.
1t so happened that. perplexed by the
clamor OF the great city, wherein all faces
were new to me and all ways alike I came
to stand about noon in the neiehborhood
OF Newgate Market where, confident that
IN the immense and never-ceasing tide OF
lie that GIBBS and flows in that quarter 7
was safe from recognition, l ventured to
sell an undergarment In a small shop In an
alley. and. buying a loaf with the price
SATISFIED my hunger. But the return Of
strength was accompanied by no return of
nope: rather, my prime necessity supplied
l felt the forlornness of my position more
acutely. In which condition, having no re-
source but to wander aimlessly from one
street TO another while the daylight lasted
and after that no prospect at all except
10 pass the night in the same manner-I
came presently into Little Britain and
stopped, as luck would have it, before one
! OF the book shops that crowd that part. A
NUMBER OF persons were porting over the
books. and l Joined them. But 1 had NOT
stood a moment, idly scanning the backs NJ
the volumes before one of my neiehhors
touched my elbow, and when 1 turned and
met his eyes. nodded to me. "a scholar pr
he said, smiling pleasantly through a not
OF glasses. "Ah, how i'll does the muse re-
quite her worshipers. From the countrv
my friend?" -
1 answered that / was, and. seeing hin,
to be man well on in years. clad In cool
broadcloth. and OF sober, Substantial n
pect, 1 saluted him abjectly.
To be sure" he said. again noddino
eheerfuliy: And stranger to the town
I expectw
Yes / said.