‘What do you say?’ cried Mr Haredale.
‘I say,’ said Joe, ’first, that
it was a bold thing to be in the crowd at all disguised
as one of them; though I won’t say much about
that, on second thoughts, for that’s my case
too. Secondly, that it was a brave and glorious
action—that’s what I call it—to
strike that fellow off his horse before their eyes!’
‘What fellow! Whose eyes!’
‘What fellow, sir!’ cried Joe: ’a
fellow who has no goodwill to you, and who has the
daring and devilry in him of twenty fellows. I
know him of old. Once in the house, he would
have found you, here or anywhere. The rest owe
you no particular grudge, and, unless they see you,
will only think of drinking themselves dead.
But we lose time. Are you ready?’
‘Quite,’ said Edward. ’Put
out the torch, Joe, and go on. And be silent,
there’s a good fellow.’
‘Silent or not silent,’ murmured Joe,
as he dropped the flaring link upon the ground, crushed
it with his foot, and gave his hand to Mr Haredale,
‘it was a brave and glorious action;—no
man can alter that.’
Both Mr Haredale and the worthy vintner were too amazed
and too much hurried to ask any further questions,
so followed their conductors in silence. It seemed,
from a short whispering which presently ensued between
them and the vintner relative to the best way of escape,
that they had entered by the back-door, with the connivance
of John Grueby, who watched outside with the key in
his pocket, and whom they had taken into their confidence.
A party of the crowd coming up that way, just as they
entered, John had double-locked the door again, and
made off for the soldiers, so that means of retreat
was cut off from under them.
However, as the front-door had been forced, and this
minor crowd, being anxious to get at the liquor, had
no fancy for losing time in breaking down another,
but had gone round and got in from Holborn with the
rest, the narrow lane in the rear was quite free of
people. So, when they had crawled through the
passage indicated by the vintner (which was a mere
shelving-trap for the admission of casks), and had
managed with some difficulty to unchain and raise
the door at the upper end, they emerged into the street
without being observed or interrupted. Joe still
holding Mr Haredale tight, and Edward taking the same
care of the vintner, they hurried through the streets
at a rapid pace; occasionally standing aside to let
some fugitives go by, or to keep out of the way of
the soldiers who followed them, and whose questions,
when they halted to put any, were speedily stopped
by one whispered word from Joe.
While Newgate was burning on the previous night, Barnaby
and his father, having been passed among the crowd
from hand to hand, stood in Smithfield, on the outskirts
of the mob, gazing at the flames like men who had
been suddenly roused from sleep. Some moments
elapsed before they could distinctly remember where
they were, or how they got there; or recollected that
while they were standing idle and listless spectators
of the fire, they had tools in their hands which had
been hurriedly given them that they might free themselves
from their fetters.
