HIGHWAY PIRATES.
It did not take me long to arrive at an understanding of the true state
of affairs. The convicts had risen, overpowered their guards, and
seized the coach. From scraps of conversation which passed between
them, I subsequently learned that the man whom I had seen appear and
disappear so mysteriously outside the Sportsman Inn was a friend of one
of the prisoners, and, under the pretence of wishing him good-bye, had
handed up a couple of small files, with which several of the men had
freed themselves from their fetters. Once or twice I had heard a
slight grating noise, but, as I have already said, I had attributed the
sound to the swaying of the lamp.
By some method of communication such as criminals seem always able to
establish, the three convicts inside had been informed of what was
about to take place, so that at the same moment the outbreak took place
on the roof they flung themselves on the warder who rode with them, and
succeeded in holding him down and wresting from him the pistol with
which he was armed.
To a certain extent stupefied by the shock of this sudden surprise, I
had but a confused notion of what took place during the next ten
minutes. Together with George Woodley, who had also been seized, I was
thrust to the side of the road, while a man told off to keep watch over
us ordered us gruffly to sit down facing the hedge with our feet in the
ditch, as a greater precaution against our making any sudden attempt to
bolt.
In this position we could only judge by the sounds and conversation
going on behind us what was actually taking place.
"Better keep still, Master Eden," whispered George. "We'd be safer in
a cage of wild beasts than among these men at this moment."
Obtaining the keys of the handcuffs from the pockets of their guards,
those men who had not already freed themselves from their fetters were
speedily liberated; the warders were now gagged, chained, and, as a
further precaution, bound with the broad straps used for securing
luggage on the coach roof. Not till this had been done was any heed
paid to poor Tom Barker, who lay in the road exactly where he had
fallen.
"Is he dead?" I heard a voice inquire callously.
"Can't say," was the gruff reply. "There's blood from his head on the
stones. Hand down that lamp, and let's have a look. He's breathing,"
continued the speaker after a pause. "I should say he'll come round
again before long."
At that moment a man, whom I recognized at once as Rodwood, bade every
one be silent and listen to what he had to say. The hum of voices
ceased, and the men gathered round the speaker, who raised himself by
standing on one of the steps of the vehicle.
"Whatever happens now, there's no turning back," he began; "and what's
to be done must be done quickly. The mail to Welmington will pass
before long; and what's more, they'll be expecting us at the end of
this stage, so after a while they'll send a man back to find out what's
happened. For the present we're all in the same boat, and we'd better
all pull together. The thing will be to choose a leader. Now, who'll
you have?"
"Yourself," cried a voice, and to this there was a unanimous murmur of
approbation.
"Very well," exclaimed the newly-appointed captain, jumping down into
the centre of his gang. "Then the first thing is to get these two
'screws' out of the road. They'd have shot us if they could have got
at their barkers, and I propose to serve 'em the same way. It's the
safest plan. Hand me the pistols!"
The awful coolness with which the man made this terrible proposal
thrilled me with horror. Left to himself, the fellow would, I feel
sure, have carried out his abominable intention; but his comrades,
hardened and reckless offenders as some of them were, could not be
persuaded to follow him to such extremes of crime.
"No, no, Rodwood," cried one and another; "there's no need to risk
being scragged. Hoist them inside this empty cottage; that'll give us
a fair start before they're likely to be found. Put the coachman in
there too, and tie his legs; he won't find voice enough to shout for
help for some time yet, even if any one chanced to hear him."
The warders and poor Tom were accordingly half lifted, half dragged
inside the ruined cottage, and the men came back to decide what was to
be done next.
"Where are we going?" asked several voices.
"Well, we must clear out from here," answered Rodwood. "The whole
countryside will be raised up against us before morning. We've got a
coach and horses at our disposal, so why not go off in that? I'll
drive, if no other man wants to handle the ribbons."
"That's all very well," muttered a man named Ned Arch, the convict to
whom the file had been given. "That's all very well, but we can't go
farther than the end of this stage. They'll be on the lookout there to
change the horses, and they'll see at once that something's wrong if we
try to drive through without stopping."
"True," answered Rodwood. "We must get off the main road."
It was at this point that I heard Lewis suddenly break in on the
conversation.
"If there's no better plan going," he said, "why not make for the
coast? We ain't above four miles from Rockymouth, I reckon, and once
there I'll undertake to hide you all in a place where you can lie for a
time with no danger of being found. I've got friends there to whom,
with a bit of care, we can apply for help; and with anything like luck
we ought to be safe across the water, every one of us, by this day
week."
"Bravo!" cried Rodwood. "Trust a bold 'free trader' for finding a way
out of a tight corner. There's our plan of campaign all ready made."
"Look here," broke in the man who had been standing guard over myself
and George Woodley. "What's to be done with this pair, I'd like to
know? You don't mean to leave 'em sitting here, I suppose?"
"I'd forgotten about the guard and that boy," exclaimed Rodwood. "Take
them across the field, and tie them each to a tree in the copse yonder;
but gag them first."
Fortunately for us, this suggestion on the part of their leader did not
meet with the approval of the other convicts.
"Don't be hard on the lad," said one. "If he hadn't pulled up the
horses, we should most of us have had our necks broken."
"Woodley's a good fellow too," remarked another: "he gave us all the
baccy he had on him. Tied to a tree, that youngster will be dead of
cold before morning; as for the 'screws,' why, they must take their
chance."
"Well, these must take their chance too," returned Rodwood angrily.
"If they come to be mixed up in this business, that's their own
lookout, and not our fault."
"The boy will be frozen on a night like this," said a voice. "He did
us a good turn, so why not take him with us? We shall find a chance of
dropping him, and the guard too, later on."
"Take him with us!" retorted the leader. "We shall have enough trouble
to get off as it is, without dragging a couple of informers round the
country with us."
A heated discussion followed. Strange and out of place as it seemed in
the breasts of such rascals, a sense of gratitude for what I had done,
and for sundry little tokens of commiseration on the part of the
kind-hearted George, mingled with their delight at finding themselves
so far on the road to freedom, prompted them to show some return in
preserving us from injury. It was freezing hard, and the cold was
likely to increase still more before morning; therefore it was more
than likely that a boy like myself, already tired out with the journey
and the long day's adventures, if tied to a tree without the chance of
moving about to keep up the circulation, would ultimately perish from
the effects of the exposure, if he did not actually die before he was
discovered. For the warders there was certainly more hope: the walls
of the cottage afforded them a certain amount of shelter from the
cutting wind, and, as I afterwards discovered, they had been flung down
on some straw, which added to the warmth of their clothing. Rodwood
might have ordered us to be put in the same place, but he feared that,
if too many prisoners were huddled together in such a confined space,
they might roll together on the floor, and in some way contrive to
loosen each other's bonds.
It need hardly be said that I listened with straining ears and beating
heart as the discussion proceeded. From Woodley's attitude I could
tell that he, too, was on the alert; and but for the fact that our
captors were now in possession of firearms, I think he might have
attempted to spring to his feet and break away from the group with a
sudden rush. At length Lewis turned the balance in our favour by
declaring that unless we were allowed to accompany the party he would
not act as guide, at the same time promising to hold himself
responsible for our safe custody until the gang should have effected
their escape.
Rodwood perhaps knew that his authority over the party was, after all,
of a very nominal kind; and fearing to risk a mutiny before he should
have made his position as captain still more assured, he at length gave
in, merely insisting that we should be secured in some way to prevent
the possibility of our escape.
"Once they get free we're as good as lagged again.--But," he added
menacingly, turning in our direction, "you'd better try no tricks on
with me, d'ye hear? There's no turning back as far as I'm concerned.
It's life or death for me, and I'll make it a life-or-death matter for
any one who tries to come between me and liberty."
Without further discussion Woodley and I were, accordingly, ordered to
take our places inside the coach, where, to make doubly certain of our
safekeeping, we were handcuffed together. It was no good
expostulating; we could only submit, and feel thankful at receiving no
worse treatment at the hands of these desperate men. But the grip of
that cold steel on my wrist made me realize, more than anything else
had done hitherto, the perilous nature of our situation. There was no
knowing how long the friendly attitude on the part of the convicts
would last, or what would be our fate if they were pursued, or were
hard pressed in their attempt to escape.
Precious as every moment was to them, they still delayed making a
start. One fellow, in whom the plundering instinct seemed to rise even
stronger than that of personal safety, had opened the hind boot, and
discovered, stowed away there, a large Christmas hamper which, among
other things, contained two bottles of wine. Breaking the neck of one
of these, and using a metal cup belonging to a flask found in the
pocket of the coachman, the men drank all round, pledging each other
with rough jests and hoarse laughter. Rodwood alone chafed at this
waste of time, but once more found his authority of too brief duration
to enforce obedience to his wishes. The men would probably have
insisted on discussing the contents of the second bottle, had not
something happened which drove even the thoughts of liquor from their
minds. Clear and distinct on the frosty air came the clatter of
horses' hoofs, and at the same moment the man who had been standing at
the heads of our leaders called back the unwelcome news that a coach
was coming from the direction of Tod's Corner.
It was then that, for the first time, Rodwood really asserted himself,
and proved his natural capacity as a leader. Among his followers the
sudden alarm created something like a panic; left to themselves they
would certainly have abandoned the _True Blue_ where it stood, and made
off over the neighbouring hedges and fields--a proceeding the fatal
consequences of which, as far as their own interests were concerned, it
was not difficult to realize. With curses, and even with blows,
Rodwood dashed here and there, seizing the men who were already turning
to fly, and forcing them to take their places on the coach.
"As for you two," he said hurriedly, poking his head through the coach
window, "if you value your lives, keep your mouths shut.--You
understand, Nat?" turning to the man who rode inside to act as our
guard.
"Yes, I understand," muttered this ruffian grimly. "They won't have
the chance to say much, I'll warrant!"
The speaker was one of the least friendly disposed towards us of the
whole gang. He had armed himself with a big stone, and sitting
directly opposite Woodley and myself, would certainly have brained one
or the other of us if we had made the faintest attempt to give an alarm.
In another moment there was a jerk as the vehicle started and went
slowly grinding down the steep hill. About half-way we met the other
coach coming up, and for one moment, as the glare of the lamps shone
full upon us, I held my breath, wondering whether the escape would be
discovered. The man Nat raised his stone in a threatening manner, but
neither George nor I had any intention of risking a smashed skull by an
outcry which would probably be lost amid the clatter of hoofs and the
noise of the wheels.
The tension lasted only a few seconds. Rodwood, who had picked up and
put on poor Tom's characteristic beaver hat, played his part well,
returning the gruff salutation of the driver of the mail with the
greatest coolness. We slipped by into the darkness, and the crisis was
past.
So, handcuffed to Woodley, the captive of a gang of highway pirates, I
entered on the third stage of that eventful holiday journey.