_A chase by night, and the death of Jerry Clink._
“Whither are we bound?” demanded Mr. Woodruff of Colin, as soon as they
had reached the open air.
“To Kiddal Hall,” replied he. “My father, Mr. Lupton, charged me, in
case our attempt succeeded, to convey you there for the present, where
most probably he will meet us either on, or shortly after, our arrival.
I have provided a vehicle at a village near the forest, which will be
ready the moment we reach it, and then all fear of pursuit will be at an
end.”
The night was still dark, but clear, transparent, and fresh. A healthy
breeze swept across the waste, and sighed through the branches of the
trees around.
“How I thank God for this!” exclaimed Woodruff, “and you, friendly
strangers, whom I can never compensate; for the delight I feel in this
liberty is beyond all estimation. It seems incredible to me even now;
and the world looks a new place, as if I had risen into another life
after a grave. Yet how magnificent it is!--how beautiful it is! The very
feel of the earth under my feet, the live wind in my face, and those
glorious stars that I have so long and so often looked on, though
without this rare and goodly prospect below them!--O God! O God!”
He stretched his hands to heaven, and sunk upon his knees, while the
three friends stood silently by unwilling to interrupt him while he
poured out his heart in thankfulness and prayer. Fearful, however, of
lingering too long, Colin used his influence to urge him onward, or he
would have remained in this mere ecstacy of adoration none can tell how
long. Accustomed to darkness, the night suited him; individual flowers
and leaves, which to his companions appeared as masses, he could see
with separate distinctness; he plucked them with the eager delight of a
child; as they strode forward he would linger occasionally to gather the
wild berries as though they had been delicious fruit.
This excitement, and the unaccustomed exertion of such walking, at
length overcame him, after they had traversed two or three miles of the
forest, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours, Mr. Woodruff became
incapable of proceeding farther without assistance. Under these
circumstances, Mr. Roger Calvert and Peter Veriquear volunteered to
carry him, a task which they performed admirably, while Colin sometimes
marched before, selecting the most level ground, or lingered behind in
the endeavour to ascertain whether old Jerry had contrived to give any
alarm, and set a pursuing party after them.
This precaution of his proved not to be altogether needless As he
crouched down amongst the heath, in the endeavour so far to bring the
ground over which they had passed into a horizontal line with the sky,
so as to enable him to detect whatever upright objects might present
themselves upon it, he fancied he beheld certain moving figures in the
direction in which they themselves had come. Hereupon Colin requested
his friends to hurry forwards as rapidly as possible, while he remained
where he was still farther to reconnoitre. His suspicion soon proved to
be just. The figures rapidly advanced, until he could distinctly discern
five men, one of whom, by his voice, Colin instantly recognised to be
Jerry himself. He was exclaiming passionately, and, as far as Colin
could catch broken words, was calling down imprecations on his own head,
and devoting it with frantic rage to perdition for having so completely
disabled him from following in pursuit with all the expedition which
otherwise he could have used.
All his doubts being now satisfied, Colin had nothing to do but press
forwards, and hurry his companions also onward. This, however, their
burden in great part prevented; and as Mr. Woodruff partly ascertained
the cause of so much haste, he became excited to an extreme, and begged
of them rather to let him be killed upon the spot in resisting, than
ever again see those horrible walls, or endure aught like what he had
endured before. Every effort was made to pacify him, and assure him that
no power should seize him again; but his new and long-lost liberty was
now so dear to him, that the very thought of a possibility of being a
second time deprived of it made him tremble like a terrified infant.
As the pursuing party rapidly gained upon them, and our friends found it
impossible to advance with equal celerity, Colin recommended that they
should turn aside amongst the brushwood, and endeavour to seek security
by hiding, until the other party should have passed, a proposition which
was at once adopted; and they soon found a convenient harbour beneath
the boughs of an elm, that bent down from a high bank at the foot of
which lay a pool of water collected from the rains. While silently
standing there, the parties approached, and the voice of old Jerry could
distinctly be heard, as he swore that he thought his skull was broken,
and he should never survive it; while his discourse in other respects
seemed to bespeak a somewhat disordered mind.
How the circumstance happened Colin never could distinctly ascertain;
but true it is, that scarcely were they silently congratulating
themselves on the success of their stratagem, when a loud cry from Jerry
Clink, accompanied by a wild rush upon them, announced the fearful fact
of their discovery. Mr. Woodruff had previously been seated against the
bank, and before him the three friends now stood, prepared and resolved
to defend him to the last. Within a few moments a tremendous scuffle and
fight ensued, during which Roger Calvert and Peter Veriquear conducted
themselves most gallantly, and severely beat three of the assailants
between them. Jerry grew half frantic, and yelled with rage, more
like a savage uttering his war-whoop than any being of civilised mould.
During the confusion, the old man unluckily chanced to receive from
some unrecognised hand, whether of friend or opponent was never known,
another blow upon the crown, which completed that work which the former
had left undone. He was seen to stand stock-still a moment, as though
stunned; he tried to utter a curse upon the arm of him who had struck
the blow; but exhausted nature refused the evil promptings of that
savage spirit; his tongue sunk for ever silenced, and old Jerry dropped
suddenly upon his back, dead. This event, combined with the lesson which
Colin and his friends had given to Jerry's associates, put a termination
to the engagement. The body of the old man was carried off by them, and
Colin and his friends were left to pursue their journey without farther
molestation.
In due time the latter party arrived at the village of which Colin
had previously made mention, where the vehicle he had provided was
immediately put in requisition, and the whole were driven off to the
Hall of Kiddal, where they arrived safely in the afternoon of the
following day.
As for old Jerry, a coroner's inquest was subsequently held over
his body, when the facts of having met his death in the manner above
described being clearly established, the usual verdict was returned.
His corpse was committed to the ground, and after that time the matter
gradually subsided until it became utterly forgotten.