The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-08-07
CHAPTER xxx.

king, and his suspected share In defeat
ing their purposes, made him increas-
ingly obnoxious to the party of ener-
getic action. He became marked
man with them; they began to talk one
with another about him; to curse his
meddlesomeness, and to ask who he
was and where he came from.
All unconscious of this dangerous
suspicion and irritation, Ralph had
been necessarily active throughout the
troubled day. He had the warmest of
interests for the safety of the royal
party, for with it was bound up the
safety of one who was dearer to him
than anything else. '9
The news of the capture of the Tower
and the murder of his chancellor met
the king as he re.entered the city from
Mile End, riding by the side OF his
mother i'm her whirlicote, and exchang-
ing congratulations ON the happy issue
of the conference.
For a moment there was consterna-
ton. The Tower was in the hands OF
the mob, the king of England no longer
master of his capital, no longer master
of its central stronghold; rebels With
out and rebels within. After brief
consultation the royal party decided to
trust the people. They had hardly an
alternative, except to escape from Lon
don altogether; and even that was haz-
ardous, for the whole peasant popula-
tion of England was up in arms. But
instead of trusting to any of the minor
fortresses of London, they rode along
to the unfortitied residence of the prin.
cess on st. Andrews Hill, the house
known as the Kings Wardrobe.
Ralph accompanied them to the
house, and then, seeing no sign of dis.
turbance there, hurried off to the
Tower. The princess. when she heard
OF the archbishop's fate, had offered his
brother shelter in her service, but
Ralph doubted if he should find him
alive, and sought for him anxiously
through the pillaged building. At
last he found the wounded squire in
the hands of barber, who had dressed
his broken head, ana at his own re-
quest lent him a gown to cover his
livery. Thus doctored and disguised,
Reginald, in answer to his brothers.
inquiries, confessed to being little
dazed, but announced his intention of
going out to see the sport ------------ 4
They arranged to go different ways
and meet again in an hour at the
Wardrobe.
Riot ran wild in the streets. Terri
fed wretches were flying for their lives,
shreiking for mercy, with roaring mobs
at their heels, in loud enjoyment of
their terror. The hunted foreigners
made for the churches, but no sanctu-
airy was respected; they were dragged
out and butchered on the steps or in
the streets. Reginald counted forty
l,eadless bodies in the Vintry. There
especially, before the doors of the
Flemish wine merchants, hellish con-
fusion and savagery were rampant, and
drunken rioters competed in deeds of
CHASTITY brutality. Casks were rolled
from the cellars and preached, and
ruffians maddened with drink made
mock auction of the contents, with CORY
heads for bush, and men and women
screaming and scrambling round them.
Here and there fugitives gained the
roofs. Whenever such desperate
wretch was seen, packs of tiends gave
chase, threw stones, shot arrows and
swarmed upon to the tiles in pursuit.
One hunted fugitive was seen to spring
like wildcat on his nearest pursuer,
and leap with him off the roof.
Another, driven to frenzy by the noise
of the Internal chase, raved and Missed
and spat and hurled tiles in mad fury
on the crowd below, till merciful ar
row put an end to his agony.
Through such sickening horrors the
two brothers made their several ways to
the Wardrobe. Ralph hurried along
with much ado to escape the prevailing
madness and throw his life away in i'm
potent interference. Once or twice he
essayed to speak and pray the madmen
for the love of Christ 10 forbear, but
the authority of his religious dress,
though il saved him from violent re-
sentiment, was powerless to stay the
smallest fraction of the iniuriated rout.
Reginald was of cooler temperament,
but even he, with all his cynicism,
found it difficult to hold his hand, and
he was pale and client when they met.
The disorder was appalling enough,
yet the two reconnoiterers were able to
reassure the princess as to its scope and
limits. There WAS nothing as yet like
general plumber of the shops, and
none of the great houses had heen at
tackled. Further, there were few
smock-frocks to be seen among the riot
ers; the active portion of the mob be-
ing composed mainly of the lower work
men Of the CITY