Stopped at last! A clever blow. He is
down upon the pavement; and the crowd eagerly gather
round him: each new comer, jostling and struggling
with the others to catch a glimpse. ’Stand
aside!’ ‘Give him a little air!’
’Nonsense! he don’t deserve it.’
‘Where’s the gentleman?’ ’Here
his is, coming down the street.’ ‘Make
room there for the gentleman!’ ’Is this
the boy, sir!’ ‘Yes.’
Oliver lay, covered with mud and dust, and bleeding
from the mouth, looking wildly round upon the heap
of faces that surrounded him, when the old gentleman
was officiously dragged and pushed into the circle
by the foremost of the pursuers.
‘Yes,’ said the gentleman, ‘I am
afraid it is the boy.’
‘Afraid!’ murmured the crowd. ’That’s
a good ‘un!’
‘Poor fellow!’ said the gentleman, ‘he
has hurt himself.’
‘I did that, sir,’ said a great
lubberly fellow, stepping forward; ‘and preciously
I cut my knuckle agin’ his mouth. I stopped
him, sir.’
The follow touched his hat with a grin, expecting
something for his pains; but, the old gentleman, eyeing
him with an expression of dislike, look anxiously
round, as if he contemplated running away himself:
which it is very possible he might have attempted
to do, and thus have afforded another chase, had not
a police officer (who is generally the last person
to arrive in such cases) at that moment made his way
through the crowd, and seized Oliver by the collar.
‘Come, get up,’ said the man, roughly.
’It wasn’t me indeed, sir. Indeed,
indeed, it was two other boys,’ said Oliver,
clasping his hands passionately, and looking round.
‘They are here somewhere.’
‘Oh no, they ain’t,’ said the officer.
He meant this to be ironical, but it was true besides;
for the Dodger and Charley Bates had filed off down
the first convenient court they came to.
‘Come, get up!’
‘Don’t hurt him,’ said the old gentleman,
compassionately.
‘Oh no, I won’t hurt him,’ replied
the officer, tearing his jacket half off his back,
in proof thereof. ’Come, I know you; it
won’t do. Will you stand upon your legs,
you young devil?’
Oliver, who could hardly stand, made a shift to raise
himself on his feet, and was at once lugged along
the streets by the jacket-collar, at a rapid pace.
The gentleman walked on with them by the officer’s
side; and as many of the crowd as could achieve the
feat, got a little ahead, and stared back at Oliver
from time to time. The boys shouted in triumph;
and on they went.
TREATS OF MR. FANG THE POLICE MAGISTRATE; AND FURNISHES
A SLIGHT SPECIMEN OF HIS MODE OF ADMINISTERING JUSTICE
The offence had been committed within the district,
and indeed in the immediate neighborhood of, a very
notorious metropolitan police office. The crowd
had only the satisfaction of accompanying Oliver through
two or three streets, and down a place called Mutton
Hill, when he was led beneath a low archway, and up
a dirty court, into this dispensary of summary justice,
by the back way. It was a small paved yard into
which they turned; and here they encountered a stout
man with a bunch of whiskers on his face, and a bunch
of keys in his hand.
