SIR RICHARD BLUNT AND CROTCHET COMMENCE THEIR SEARCH FOR TODD.
When Sir Richard Blunt left Chelsea, he felt that he had given a
sufficient warning to all who could feel in any way personally
interested in the escape of Sweeney Todd from the punishment that his
numerous crimes merited.
He rode direct to the office of the Under Secretary of State for the
Home Department, and his name at once procured him an interview. This
was not the supercilious personage who once before, upon an occasion of
Sir Richard Blunt calling upon him regarding Sweeney Todd, had exhibited
so much indifference upon the subject, and Sir Richard was received as
he ought to be.
"I have waited upon you, sir," said the magistrate, "to say that I have
now made every arrangement that is possible for the purpose of
counteracting any mischief that the man, Todd, might strive to do; and I
think it very likely that I may not have the pleasure of seeing or
communicating with you for some time."
"Then you still think, Sir Richard, of going personally after the
notorious ruffian?"
"I do, sir. I feel that in some sort I am bound to rid society of that
man. I had so large a share in his former apprehension, and in his
conviction, that I feel his escape quite a personal matter; and I have
no hesitation in saying that I shall not feel at ease until I have again
placed him in the hands of the law."
"It is most desirable that he should be so placed, Sir Richard, and I
have only two things to say to you upon the subject. One is, that I hope
you will be careful of your own safety in the affair; and the other is,
that anything we can do or any facilities we can throw in your way, you
may most unhesitatingly command in the prosecution of your most
praiseworthy enterprise."
"I thank you, sir. I shall take one man with me. His name is Crotchet;
and I should wish that in your name I might tell him that, in the event
of our search for Todd being successful, he may count upon an adequate
reward."
"Certainly! He shall have the whole reward, Sir Richard; and as for
yourself, the ministry will not be unmindful of your service in a way
that I am sure will be more gratifying to you than an offer of money."
"Sir, I thank you. The government has already, upon more than two or
three occasions, been sufficiently liberal to me as regards money to
place me in a good position, and I have now no further desires of that
sort. I will bid you good morning, sir, and at once start upon the
expedition in search of Sweeney Todd. If he be alive and above ground in
this country, I will have him."
"If anybody will, you will, Sir Richard."
The magistrate left the place, and repaired at once to his private
office, which was close at hand, in Craven Street. There our old friend,
Crotchet, was waiting for him.
"Well, Crotchet," said Sir Richard, "I have just seen the Secretary of
State, and if we catch Todd, you are to have all the money."
"All on it, sir? Oh, my eye! No, I doesn't want all on it, Sir Richard.
I isn't a pig."
"I never thought you were, Crotchet; but you may make up your mind to
the whole of the reward, as the government will provide for me in
another way; so you know now, at starting, what you have to expect, and
it will keep you in good heart during all the botheration we may have in
looking after this man."
"Why, so it will, sir, you see, so it will, and if I do catch him and
get all this tin as is offered as a reward for him, I shall retire from
the grabbing business, you see, sir."
"What will you do then, Crotchet?"
"Set up a public-house, sir, and call it 'The Crotchet's Arms,' to be
sure. That's the sort of ticket for me."
"Well, Crotchet, you will be quite at liberty to do what you like; and
now let us at once start on our errand. We will, from the door of
Newgate, see if we cannot trace the progress of this man, with his new
friend, that rascal, Lupin."
A tap sounded on the panel of the door of the room in which Crotchet and
Sir Richard were conversing.
"Come in," said the magistrate, and his clerk entered with a written
paper in his hand.
"Here, sir," he said, "is a report from a city officer, which will give
a clue to the route that Todd and Lupin have taken, sir."
"Ah, that is welcome. Let me see it. 'Two men broke into the house of
Alderman Stanhope; one a tall man with a large face--the other,
shorter.' Humph! Not a doubt of it. I will go and see about it. No doubt
it was Todd and his new friend Lupin. This is something of a clue, at
all events however slight, and may, after all, put us upon the right
track. Come on, Crotchet, we will do the best we can in this matter.
Have you your pistols in good order?"
"Yes, yer honour, and a pair of darbies in my pocket, that if once they
get on the wrists of old Todd, he will find it no such easy matter to
get them off again."
"That is right. I only want to get face to face with the ruffian, and
then I will engage that he shall not be much further trouble to society
or to individuals."
Sir Richard Blunt and Crotchet proceeded then at once to the house in
the City, into which Lupin and Todd, it will be recollected, had made a
violent entry, and from which they had been so gallantly repulsed by the
young lady. Then, from the description of the assailants, not a shadow
of a doubt remained upon the magistrate's mind that they were the
parties he sought; but there all clue seemed to be lost.
He and Crotchet stood in the street looking about them rather
despairingly; and then they thought of going to the round-house close to
Finsbury; and when they got there, they found an officer, who reported
that two men answering the description of the fugitives had been seen
making their way westward; and he had met a woman who had passed them,
and who had heard the words "money," and "Caen Wood."
This was, in good truth, most important intelligence, if it could be
relied upon; and that was the only kind of doubt that Sir Richard had.
He spoke to Crotchet about it.
"What do you think, Crotchet? Is it worth while to follow this seeming
clue to Highgate?"
"Yes, yer honour, it is. We can go there and back again while we are
considering about it here. It's clear enough as we shan't get any other
news in this part of the town; and so I advises that we go off at once
to Highgate, and calls at every public-house on the road."
"Every public-house?"
"Yes, yer honour. Todd won't do without his drops of something strong to
keep him a-going. These kind of feelings go down--down, till they
haven't the heart to say don't, when the hangman puts the noose round
their necks, if they haven't their drops. It's brandy, yer worship, as
keeps 'em a going."
"I do believe, Crotchet, that there is a great deal of truth in what you
say; and that it is only by use of stimulants that they keep up a kind
of artificial strength, as well as drowning reflection; and so they go
blundering on in the career of crime."
"You may depend upon it, sir. They'd cut their own throats in a week, If
it wasn't for the tipple, yer honour."
Acting then upon the practical advice of Crotchet, which in a great
measure accorded with his own convictions, Sir Richard Blunt repaired to
a livery-stable, and hired two good horses. He found no difficulty in
getting them, upon declaring who he was; and so, well mounted, he and
Crotchet went upon the very road that had been so recently traversed by
the two culprits, Todd and Lupin.
At the first public-house they came to they got no news; but at the
second they were told, that two men, answering the description they gave
of those they sought, had called and had some brandy.
The magistrate no longer doubted but that he was upon the right track
now. With such a feeling, he pushed on, making what inquiries he could
on the road; but until Highgate was reached they got no further news,
and then, by dint of diligent ferreting out, they found a woman who had
seen two men go down Swains Lane, and from the description she gave of
them, there could be no doubt but that they were Todd and Lupin. Now as
Swains Lane led direct to Caen Wood, it was a great confirmation of the
former intelligence; and Sir Richard made up his mind to search the
wood, as well as it could be done by him and Crotchet.
They engaged a lad from Highgate to come with them, and to take care of
the horses, while they should go into the wood; but they did not say one
word to him regarding their object in going there, nor could he possibly
suspect it. Sir Richard and Crotchet both thought it would be much more
prudent to keep that to themselves, than to put it in the power of a boy
to gossip about it to every one who might chance to pass that way, while
he was minding the horses.
When the wood was reached, Sir Richard said to the lad--
"Now, my boy, we shall not be very long gone, but you will bear in mind
that if we are absent longer than you expected, you will be paid in
proportion; so don't be impatient, but walk the horses up and down this
bit of the lane; and think that you have got a very good job."
"Thank you, sir," said the boy. "Across that there meadow is the nearest
way to the wood. I seed two fellows go that way, early this morning, and
one on 'em was the ugliest fellow I ever saw, and he calls out to the
other--'Come along Lupin, we shall be all right in the wood now. Come
along, Lupin--Ha! ha!'"
"You heard that?"
"Yes, sir, I did. You see, I was sloe-gathering in the hedge, and they
don't let you do it, cos they say you breaks down all the young twigs,
and spoils the hedge, and so you does; and so, sir, when I heard
footsteps a-coming, I hid myself right down among the long grass, so
that they did not see me."
Mr. Crotchet gave a long whistle.
"Very good," said Sir Richard; "we shall be back with you soon. You take
good care of the horses."
"I will, sir."
"What do you think of that, Crotchet?" said Sir Richard, as they made
their way into the very meadow across which Todd and Lupin had run to
get to Caen Wood.
"It's the finger o' Providence, yer worship."
"Well, I cannot deny, Crotchet, but that it may be so. At all events,
whether it be Providence or chance, one thing is quite certain, and that
is, that we are on the track of those whom we seek."
"Not a doubt o' that, sir. Into the wood here they have been, but
whether they have staid here or not, you see, sir, is quite another
affair. But it's worth looking well to; at all events yer worship, and I
shan't leave an old tree in this here place as we is coming to, that I
shan't walk right round and have a jolly good look at, somehow or
another."
"Nor I, Crotchet. They may know of some hiding-place in this wood, for
all we know to the contrary, and if they do, it strikes me we shall
ferret them out."
"In course we shall, sir; and here we is."
They had reached the wood by this time, and before plunging into its
recesses the magistrate looked carefully about him, and Crotchet did the
same.
"Do you think, your worship, there's a chance of such a fellow as Todd
staying long here?"
"Why do you think that?" said Sir Richard.
"Why, sir," said Crotchet, putting his head on one side, "this here is a
sort of place that makes a man think; and always when I am in a quiet
place like this, with the beautiful trees all about me, and the little
birds a singing, and the frogs a croaking, it makes me think of things
that I don't always think of, and of those as has passed away like
spirits, and as we may meet in t'other world nor this, sir."
"Indeed, Crotchet, I do not wonder that the silence and solitude of
nature should have that effect upon you."
"Exactly, sir. In course, it ain't for me to say whether in this ere
world there ought to be prigs, and sneaks, and cracksmen, and all that
sort of thing or not; but I will say, sir, as I'm not a little surprised
how anybody can do anything very wrong, sir, in the country."
"Indeed, Crotchet?"
"Yes, sir; it has an effect on me. When I gets among the old trees and
sees the branches a waving about, and hear the wind a moaning among 'em,
it makes me think as there ain't a great deal in this world as is worth
the bothering about, you see, sir; and least of all is it worthwhile
doing anything that ain't the right thing."
"You are quite a philosopher, Crotchet, although you are not the first
nor the only one upon whom the beauties of nature have produced an
elevating effect. The reason I fear is that you are not familiar with
such places as these. You are town-bred, Crotchet, and you pass your
life among the streets of London; so such places as this affect you with
all the charm of novelty, while those who are born in the country know
nothing and care nothing for its sights and sounds."
"That's about it, sir, I shouldn't wonder," said Crotchet; "but I feels
what I feels and thinks what I thinks."
They now had fairly penetrated into Caen Wood; and we may here
appropriately remark, that Caen Wood was much more of a real wood then,
than it is now, when it is rather an imitation of one than one in
reality. The smoke and the vegetation-killing vapours of London have
almost succeeded in begriming the green trees even at that distance off;
and in a few short years Caen Wood, we fear, will be but a thing of
tradition in the land.
So time works his changes!
Sir Richard Blunt, with long practised sagacity, began his hunt through
the wood. It could scarcely be said that he expected to find Todd there,
but he would be satisfied if he found some conclusive evidence that he
had been there, for that would show him that he was upon the track of
the villain, and that he was not travelling wide from the course that
Todd had taken. The idea that he might have at once, on foot, made his
way to some part of the coast, haunted Sir Richard, notwithstanding all
the seemingly conclusive evidence he had to the contrary; and knowing
well, as he did, how very little reliance ought to be placed upon
personal descriptions, he did buoy himself up with many hopes consequent
upon the presumed identity of Todd with the person who had been seen by
those who had described him.
Taking a small piece of chalk from his pocket, the magistrate marked a
few of the trees in the different directions where they searched, so
that they might not, amid the labyrinths of the wood, give themselves
increased trouble; and in the course of half an hour they had gone over
a considerable portion of the wood.
They paused at an open spot, and Crotchet lifted from the ground a thick
stick that appeared to have been recently cut from a tree.
"This is late work," he said.
"Yes; and here are the marks of numerous footsteps. What is the meaning
of this strange appearance on the ground, as if something had been
dragged along it?"
Crotchet looked at the appearance that Sir Richard pointed out, and then
with a nod, he said--
"Let's follow this, Sir Richard. It strikes me that it leads to
something."