FUGITIVES FROM THE LAW.
On Saturday evening I addressed a stormy meeting at Stepney.
Since I bade adieu to Mrs. Hartmann much had occurred to rouse the
sleeping tigers in the country. Riots had been reported from many great
towns, while handbills of the most violent sort were being thrust on the
workers of London. Revolutionary counsels had been long scattered by a
thousand demagogues, and it appeared now that the ingathering of the
harvest was nigh. A renewal of anarchist outrages had terrorized the
well-to-do and fanned the extremists into vehemence. A terrible
explosion was reported from Kensington, three houses, including that of
the Home Secretary, Mr. Baynton, having been completely wrecked, while
ten of their inmates had been killed and some fourteen more or less
severely injured. A disastrous catastrophe had been narrowly averted
from the Mansion House. It may be imagined, therefore, that it was with
a grave face that I ascended the platform that evening; my course being
rendered so difficult by reason of the extremists—on the one hand by the
Conservatives, who, to my thinking, were perpetuating the conditions
whence anarchy drew its breath, namely, a wretched proletariat exploited
by capital; on the other by the extreme socialists, who despaired of
effective advance by way of ordinary parliamentary reforms. Both parties
were strongly represented that night, and, political feeling running so
high, the prospect of an orderly meeting seemed shadowy. I had some
unpleasant truths to press home, and was not to be deterred from this
duty.
Before rising to speak I glanced anxiously around the hall, and imagine
my feelings when I found that Burnett was missing. This breach of his
engagement was ominous. That he had a hand in the outrages was
possible—his tone had of late been most threatening, and the influence
of Schwartz was malefic—though the supposition was one I did not like to
entertain. At any rate he might well have been suspected of complicity,
and forced to seek refuge in flight. It was with a heavy heart that I
obeyed the behest of the chairman and rose to address the meeting.
What I said matters little. Severe condemnation of the outrages, a sharp
critique of the individualist—Conservative groups, an appeal for unity
and order in our agitation, were the points upon which I laid emphasis.
I had spoken for about half-an-hour when my audience refused to let me
proceed. Previously to this, interruptions had been frequent, but now a
violent uproar arose, the uproar led to a fight, and a rush was made for
the platform, which, albeit gallantly defended, was speedily enough
stormed. I had the pleasure of knocking over one ruffian who leapt at me
brandishing a chair, but a brutal kick from behind sent me spinning into
the crush by the steps. Severely cuffed and pommelled, I was using my
fists freely when the gas was suddenly turned off, and the struggle
being summarily damped, I managed somehow to get into the street.
And now came the exciting business of the night. In the mass of shouting
enthusiasts outside it was useless to look for Burnett. I determined,
therefore, to track him down to his own quarters. Passing back into the
committee-room I hastily scribbled some rather indignant lines to my
chairman, and then pulling my hat over my eyes elbowed my way through
the press.
By the time I got clear of the street I was considerably flushed and
heated, and the rate at which I was going by no means conduced to
refresh me. After ten minutes’ sharp walk I plunged down the narrow
street where Burnett’s house lay, and a few seconds later had kicked
back the gate and marched up to the door. I was startled to find it
ajar. Burnett was so habitually cautious that I knew something must be
amiss. Pushing it slowly open I stole noiselessly into the passage and
glanced through the keyhole of the door which led into the little
parlour. It was well I had not tramped in. Two policemen and a man in
plain clothes were standing round a hole in the floor, and the whole
apartment was strewn with prized-up planks. On a chair close by was a
heap of retorts, bottles, and canisters, while three ugly-looking bombs
lay on the hearthstone.
Burnett, then, had really been mixed up in these outrages, and the
police were on his trail, if indeed they had not already arrested him.
And what about my own position? The best thing for me was to make off in
a trice, for the entanglements, troubles, and disgrace in which capture
there would plunge me were too appalling to contemplate. Instantly I
glided to the door, and gently—this time—revolving the gate, slipped out
hurriedly into the street. Fortunately there was no one on watch, or my
arrest would have been speedy. As it was I rapidly gained the main
street and was soon lost in the broad stream of pedestrians.
Having still three hours before me, I turned into a confectioner’s, and
over a substantial tea endeavoured to think the matter out. That I was
furious with Burnett goes without saying. Only his fanatical theories
separated him to my mind from the common murderer. But that he should be
caught was a thought utterly revolting, for I had liked the man warmly,
and had owed my life to his pluck. No; our friendship must cease
henceforth, but it was at least my duty to warn him, if still at large,
of the discovery. But how? There was only one course open to me.
Outrages or no outrages, police or no police, I must be present at the
meeting in the park that night. It was quite possible that Burnett,
ignorant of the search made at his house, might be still strolling about
London, a prize for the first aspiring police-officer who should meet
him. Yes, I would go and chance meeting the group, for I should mention
that the _exact_ spot for the _rendezvous_ was unknown to _me_. All I
knew was that it was somewhere near the pond to the left as you enter
from the Queen’s Road. The best thing I could think of was to idle
outside the park, until I could climb the palings unnoticed.
The sky was overcast with clouds, and so far the project was favoured.
Hazardous as was the affair, my resolution was speedily made and
fortified. Leaving the shop I sallied out for a stroll and passed the
remaining interval as best I could. Then I called for a hansom, and,
leaping in, ordered the driver to take me to the Marble Arch. He
demurred at first, saying the journey was too much for his horse at that
time of night, but his scruples were silenced by the offer of a
half-sovereign for his pains. The mute objections of his steed were
quashed with a sharp cut of the whip, and I was whirled swiftly on to an
adventure which was to beggar the wildest creations of romance.
At the Marble Arch I dismissed the cab and walked briskly along the Hyde
Park side in the direction of Notting Hill. I had gone some few hundred
yards when a hansom sped by me rapidly, and a well-known face within it
flashed on my vision like a meteor. It was Burnett, of all persons!
Shouting and waving my stick I rushed wildly in chase of the vehicle,
and, by dint of desperate efforts, succeeded at last in stopping it. As
I approached the window, the trap flew up. “Drive on, man, drive on,
never mind,” growled a hoarse voice, and I heard the click of a
revolver. “Here I am,” I said, getting on the step and rapping the
window just as the man was about to whip up. Burnett stared. “What, you
here!” he said, flinging apart the leaves. “Come in quick. I don’t know
who may be behind.” I mounted in a trice, and the cab flew on faster
than ever.
“Look here,” I said, breathlessly, “I have come to warn you. The police
are on your track.”
“I know it, my boy,” he rejoined, “but I think they have some way to run
yet. No fear. I leave London in an hour.”
What was the man talking of—was he raving, or boasting, or what?
“Hi, stop!” We got out, and the cab rolled away complacently.
“Now over the palings,” cried Burnett. “You will see Hartmann?”
“Yes, for an instant.” The demon of curiosity was urgent, and the coast
seemed clear.
“All right. Come, sharp.”
It was no easy task for me, tired as I was, but with the help of my
companion I got through it somehow.
[Illustration: A SALVO OF CRACKS OF REVOLVERS.]
“Hallo! Look!” A second cab (probably informed by ours) was bearing down
rapidly with two occupants, one of whom stood excitedly on the steps.
“Detectives! We’re spotted!” I leapt to the ground desperately. Heavens!
where had my curiosity landed me?
“Put your best leg foremost and follow me,” yelled Burnett, and his
revolver flashed in the gas-light.
In my foolish excitement I obeyed him. As we rushed along I heard the
men leap out and their boots clink on the iron of the palings. I felt
like the quarry of the wild huntsman of German legend. If arrested in
such a plight, and in such company, a deluge of disgrace, if not worse,
awaited me. I ran like a deer from a leopard, but I felt I could not
hold out very long at so break-neck a speed.
“Keep—your—pecker—up,” shouted Burnett brokenly. “Hartmann—is—waiting.”
“To be arrested with us,” was my thought, or was more murder imminent?
God! how I cursed my foolhardiness and useless sacrifice!
“Here—we are—at last!” cried my companion, looking back over his
shoulder. “One—effort—more.”
Half dizzy with fear and fatigue I made a despairing sprint, when, my
foot striking a root, I was hurled violently to the ground. All I
remember is seeing two dusky forms rushing up, and Burnett hurriedly
wheeling round. Then from some unknown spot broke a salvo of cracks of
revolvers. A heavy body fell bleeding across my face, and almost at once
consciousness left me.
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