In this woeful situation, though extremely weak, I was not deprived of
sense. I tore my shirt from my naked body, and endeavoured, with some
success, to make of it a bandage to staunch the flowing of the blood. I
then exerted myself to crawl up the side of the ditch. I had scarcely
effected the latter, when, with equal surprise and joy, I perceived a
man advancing at no great distance. I called for help as well as I
could. The man came towards me with evident signs of compassion, and the
appearance I exhibited was indeed sufficiently calculated to excite it.
I had no hat. My hair was dishevelled, and the ends of the locks clotted
with blood. My shirt was wrapped about my neck and shoulders, and was
plentifully stained with red. My body, which was naked to my middle, was
variegated with streams of blood; nor had my lower garments, which were
white, by any means escaped.
"For God's sake, my good fellow!" said he, with a tone of the greatest
imaginable kindness, "how came you thus?" and, saying this, he lifted me
up, and set me on my feet. "Can you stand?" added he, doubtfully. "Oh,
yes, very well," I replied. Having received this answer, he quitted me,
and began to take off his own coat, that he might cover me from the
cold. I had however over-rated my strength, and was no sooner left to
myself than I reeled, and fell almost at my length upon the ground. But
I broke my fall by stretching out my sound arm, and again raised myself
upon my knees. My benefactor now covered me, raised me, and, bidding me
lean upon him, told me he would presently conduct me to a place where I
should be taken care of. Courage is a capricious property; and, though
while I had no one to depend upon but myself, I possessed a mine of
seemingly inexhaustible fortitude, yet no sooner did I find this
unexpected sympathy on the part of another, than my resolution appeared
to give way, and I felt ready to faint. My charitable conductor
perceived this, and every now and then encouraged me, in a manner so
cheerful, so good humoured and benevolent, equally free from the torture
of droning expostulation, and the weakness of indulgence, that I thought
myself under the conduct of an angel rather than a man. I could perceive
that his behaviour had in it nothing of boorishness, and that he was
thoroughly imbued with the principles of affectionate civility.
We walked about three quarters of a mile, and that not towards the open,
but the most uncouth and unfrequented part of the forest. We crossed a
place which had once been a moat, but which was now in some parts dry,
and in others contained a little muddy and stagnated water. Within the
enclosure of this moat, I could only discover a pile of ruins, and
several walls, the upper part of which seemed to overhang their
foundations, and to totter to their ruin. After having entered however
with my conductor through an archway, and passed along a winding
passage that was perfectly dark, we came to a stand.
At the upper end of this passage was a door, which I was unable to
perceive. My conductor knocked at the door, and was answered by a voice
from within, which, for body and force, might have been the voice of a
man, but with a sort of female sharpness and acidity, enquiring, "Who is
there?" Satisfaction was no sooner given on this point, than I heard two
bolts pushed back, and the door unlocked. The apartment opened, and we
entered. The interior of this habitation by no means corresponded with
the appearance of my protector, but, on the contrary, wore the face of
discomfort, carelessness, and dirt. The only person I saw within was a
woman, rather advanced in life, and whose person had I know not what of
extraordinary and loathsome. Her eyes were red and blood-shot; her hair
was pendent in matted and shaggy tresses about her shoulders; her
complexion swarthy, and of the consistency of parchment; her form spare,
and her whole body, her arms in particular, uncommonly vigorous and
muscular. Not the milk of human kindness, but the feverous blood of
savage ferocity, seemed to flow from her heart; and her whole figure
suggested an idea of unmitigable energy, and an appetite gorged in
malevolence. This infernal Thalestris had no sooner cast her eyes upon
us as we entered, than she exclaimed in a discordant and discontented
voice, "What have we got here? this is not one of our people!" My
conductor, without answering this apostrophe, bade her push an easy
chair which stood in one corner, and set it directly before the fire.
This she did with apparent reluctance, murmuring, "Ah! you are at your
old tricks; I wonder what such folks as we have to do with charity! It
will be the ruin of us at last, I can see that!"--"Hold your tongue,
beldam!" said he, with a stern significance of manner, "and fetch one of
my best shirts, a waistcoat, and some dressings." Saying this, he at the
same time put into her hand a small bunch of keys. In a word, he treated
me with as much kindness as if he had been my father. He examined my
wound, washed and dressed it; at the same time that the old woman, by
his express order, prepared for me such nourishment as he thought most
suitable to my weak and languid condition.
These operations were no sooner completed than my benefactor recommended
to me to retire to rest, and preparations were making for that purpose,
when suddenly a trampling of feet was heard, succeeded by a knock at the
door. The old woman opened the door with the same precautions as had
been employed upon our arrival, and immediately six or seven persons
tumultuously entered the apartment. Their appearance was different, some
having the air of mere rustics, and others that of a tarnished sort of
gentry. All had a feature of boldness, inquietude, and disorder,
extremely unlike any thing I had before observed in such a group. But my
astonishment was still increased, when upon a second glance I perceived
something in the general air of several of them, and of one in
particular, that persuaded me they were the gang from which I had just
escaped, and this one the antagonist by whose animosity I was so near
having been finally destroyed. I imagined they had entered the hovel
with a hostile intention, that my benefactor was upon the point of being
robbed, and I probably murdered.
This suspicion however was soon removed. They addressed my conductor
with respect, under the appellation of captain. They were boisterous and
noisy in their remarks and exclamations, but their turbulence was
tempered by a certain deference to his opinion and authority. I could
observe in the person who had been my active opponent some awkwardness
and irresolution as he first perceived me, which he dismissed with a
sort of effort, exclaiming, "Who the devil is here?" There was something
in the tone of this apostrophe that roused the attention of my
protector. He looked at the speaker with a fixed and penetrating glance,
and then said, "Nay, Gines, do you know? Did you ever see the person
before?"--"Curse it, Gines!" interrupted a third, "you are damnably out
of luck. They say dead men walk, and you see there is some truth in
it."--"Truce with your impertinence, Jeckols!" replied my protector:
"this is no proper occasion for a joke. Answer me, Gines, were you the
cause of this young man being left naked and wounded this bitter morning
upon the forest?"
"Mayhap I was. What then?"
"What provocation could induce you to so cruel a treatment?"
"Provocation enough. He had no money."
"What, did you use him thus, without so much as being irritated by any
resistance on his part?"
"Yes, he did resist. I only hustled him, and he had the impudence to
strike me."
"Gines! you are an incorrigible fellow."
"Pooh, what signifies what I am? You, with your compassion, and your
fine feelings, will bring us all to the gallows."
"I have nothing to say to you; I have no hopes of you! Comrades, it is
for you to decide upon the conduct of this man as you think proper. You
know how repeated his offences have been; you know what pains I have
taken to mend him. Our profession is the profession of justice." [It is
thus that the prejudices of men universally teach them to colour the
most desperate cause to which they have determined to adhere.] "We, who
are thieves without a licence, are at open war with another set of men
who are thieves according to law. With such a cause then to bear us out,
shall we stain it with cruelty, malice, and revenge? A thief is, of
course, a man living among his equals; I do not pretend therefore to
assume any authority among you; act as you think proper; but, so far as
relates to myself, I vote that Gines be expelled from among us as a
disgrace to our society."
This proposition seemed to meet the general sense. It was easy to
perceive that the opinion of the rest coincided with that of their
leader; notwithstanding which a few of them hesitated as to the conduct
to be pursued. In the mean time Gines muttered something in a surly and
irresolute way, about taking care how they provoked him. This
insinuation instantly roused the courage of my protector, and his eyes
flashed with contempt.
"Rascal!" said he, "do you menace us? Do you think we will be your
slaves? No, no, do your worst! Go to the next justice of the peace, and
impeach us; I can easily believe you are capable of it. Sir, when we
entered into this gang, we were not such fools as not to know that we
entered upon a service of danger. One of its dangers consists in the
treachery of fellows like you. But we did not enter at first to flinch
now. Did you believe that we would live in hourly fear of you, tremble
at your threats, and compromise, whenever you should so please, with
your insolence? That would be a blessed life indeed! I would rather see
my flesh torn piecemeal from my bones! Go, sir! I defy you! You dare not
do it! You dare not sacrifice these gallant fellows to your rage, and
publish yourself to all the world a traitor and a scoundrel! If you do,
you will punish yourself, not us! Begone!"
The intrepidity of the leader communicated itself to the rest of the
company. Gines easily saw that there was no hope of bringing them over
to a contrary sentiment. After a short pause, he answered, "I did not
mean--No, damn it! I will not snivel neither. I was always true to my
principles, and a friend to you all. But since you are resolved to turn
me out, why--good bye to you!"
The expulsion of this man produced a remarkable improvement in the whole
gang. Those who were before inclined to humanity, assumed new energy in
proportion as they saw such sentiments likely to prevail. They had
before suffered themselves to be overborne by the boisterous insolence
of their antagonist; but now they adopted, and with success, a different
conduct. Those who envied the ascendancy of their comrade, and therefore
imitated his conduct, began to hesitate in their career. Stories were
brought forward of the cruelty and brutality of Gines both to men and
animals, which had never before reached the ear of the leader. The
stories I shall not repeat. They could excite only emotions of
abhorrence and disgust; and some of them argued a mind of such a stretch
of depravity, as to many readers would appear utterly incredible; and
yet this man had his virtues. He was enterprising, persevering, and
faithful.
His removal was a considerable benefit to me. It would have been no
small hardship to have been turned adrift immediately under my
unfavourable circumstances, with the additional disadvantage of the
wound I had received; and yet I could scarcely have ventured to remain
under the same roof with a man, to whom my appearance was as a guilty
conscience, perpetually reminding him of his own offence, and the
displeasure of his leader. His profession accustomed him to a certain
degree of indifference to consequences, and indulgence to the sallies of
passion; and he might easily have found his opportunity to insult or
injure me, when I should have had nothing but my own debilitated
exertions to protect me.
Freed from this danger, I found my situation sufficiently fortunate for
a man under my circumstances. It was attended with all the advantages
for concealment my fondest imagination could have hoped; and it was by
no means destitute of the benefits which arise from kindness and
humanity. Nothing could be more unlike than the thieves I had seen
in ---- jail, and the thieves of my new residence. The latter were
generally full of cheerfulness and merriment. They could expatiate
freely wherever they thought proper. They could form plans and execute
them. They consulted their inclinations. They did not impose upon
themselves the task, as is too often the case in human society, of
seeming tacitly to approve that from which they suffered most; or, which
is worst, of persuading themselves that all the wrongs they suffered
were right; but were at open war with their oppressors. On the contrary,
the imprisoned felons I had lately seen were shut up like wild beasts in
a cage, deprived of activity, and palsied with indolence. The occasional
demonstrations that still remained of their former enterprising life
were the starts and convulsions of disease, not the meditated and
consistent exertions of a mind in health. They had no more of hope, of
project, of golden and animated dreams, but were reserved to the most
dismal prospects, and forbidden to think upon any other topic. It is
true, that these two scenes were parts of one whole, the one the
consummation, the hourly to be expected successor of the other. But the
men I now saw were wholly inattentive to this, and in that respect
appeared to hold no commerce with reflection or reason.
I might in one view, as I have said, congratulate myself upon my present
residence; it answered completely the purposes of concealment. It was
the seat of merriment and hilarity; but the hilarity that characterised
it produced no correspondent feelings in my bosom. The persons who
composed this society had each of them cast off all control from
established principle; their trade was terror, and their constant object
to elude the vigilance of the community. The influence of these
circumstances was visible in their character. I found among them
benevolence and kindness: they were strongly susceptible of emotions of
generosity. But, as their situation was precarious, their dispositions
were proportionably fluctuating. Inured to the animosity of their
species, they were irritable and passionate. Accustomed to exercise
harshness towards the subject of their depredations, they did not always
confine their brutality within that scope. They were habituated to
consider wounds and bludgeons and stabbing as the obvious mode of
surmounting every difficulty. Uninvolved in the debilitating routine of
human affairs, they frequently displayed an energy which, from every
impartial observer, would have extorted veneration. Energy is perhaps of
all qualities the most valuable; and a just political system would
possess the means of extracting from it, thus circumstanced, its
beneficial qualities, instead of consigning it, as now, to
indiscriminate destruction. We act like the chemist, who should reject
the finest ore, and employ none but what was sufficiently debased to fit
it immediately for the vilest uses. But the energy of these men, such as
I beheld it, was in the highest degree misapplied, unassisted by liberal
and enlightened views, and directed only to the most narrow and
contemptible purposes.
The residence I have been describing might to many persons have appeared
attended with intolerable inconveniences. But, exclusively of its
advantages as a field for speculation, it was Elysium, compared with
that from which I had just escaped. Displeasing company, incommodious
apartments, filthiness, and riot, lost the circumstance by which they
could most effectually disgust, when I was not compelled to remain with
them. All hardships I could patiently endure, in comparison with the
menace of a violent and untimely death. There was no suffering that I
could not persuade myself to consider as trivial, except that which
flowed from the tyranny, the frigid precaution, or the inhuman revenge
of my own species.
My recovery advanced in the most favourable manner. The attention and
kindness of my protector were incessant, and the rest caught the spirit
from his example. The old woman who superintended the household still
retained her animosity. She considered me as the cause of the expulsion
of Gines from the fraternity. Gines had been the object of her
particular partiality; and, zealous as she was for the public concern,
she thought an old and experienced sinner for a raw probationer but an
ill exchange. Add to which, that her habits inclined her to moroseness
and discontent, and that persons of her complexion seem unable to exist
without some object upon which to pour out the superfluity of their
gall. She lost no opportunity, upon the most trifling occasion, of
displaying her animosity; and ever and anon eyed me with a furious
glance of canine hunger for my destruction. Nothing was more evidently
mortifying to her, than the procrastination of her malice; nor could she
bear to think that a fierceness so gigantic and uncontrollable should
show itself in nothing more terrific than the pigmy spite of a
chambermaid. For myself, I had been accustomed to the warfare of
formidable adversaries, and the encounter of alarming dangers; and what
I saw of her spleen had not power sufficient to disturb my tranquillity.
As I recovered, I told my story, except so far as related to the
detection of Mr. Falkland's eventful secret, to my protector. That
particular I could not, as yet, prevail upon myself to disclose, even in
a situation like this, which seemed to preclude the possibility of its
being made use of to the disadvantage of my persecutor. My present
auditor however, whose habits of thinking were extremely opposite to
those of Mr. Forester, did not, from the obscurity which flowed from
this reserve, deduce any unfavourable conclusion. His penetration was
such, as to afford little room for an impostor to hope to mislead him by
a fictitious statement, and he confided in that penetration. So
confiding, the simplicity and integrity of my manner carried conviction
to his mind, and insured his good opinion and friendship.
He listened to my story with eagerness, and commented on the several
parts as I related them. He said, that this was only one fresh instance
of the tyranny and perfidiousness exercised by the powerful members of
the community, against those who were less privileged than themselves.
Nothing could be more clear, than their readiness to sacrifice the human
species at large to their meanest interest, or wildest caprice. Who that
saw the situation in its true light would wait till their oppressors
thought fit to decree their destruction, and not take arms in their
defence while it was yet in their power? Which was most meritorious,
the unresisting and dastardly submission of a slave, or the enterprise
and gallantry of the man who dared to assert his claims? Since, by the
partial administration of our laws, innocence, when power was armed
against it, had nothing better to hope for than guilt, what man of true
courage would fail to set these laws at defiance, and, if he must suffer
by their injustice, at least take care that he had first shown his
contempt of their yoke? For himself, he should certainly never have
embraced his present calling, had he not been stimulated to it by these
cogent and irresistible reasons; and he hoped, as experience had so
forcibly brought a conviction of this sort to my mind, that he should
for the future have the happiness to associate me to his pursuits.--It
will presently be seen with what event these hopes were attended.
Numerous were the precautions exercised by the gang of thieves with whom
I now resided, to elude the vigilance of the satellites of justice. It
was one of their rules to commit no depredations but at a considerable
distance from the place of their residence; and Gines had transgressed
this regulation in the attack to which I was indebted for my present
asylum. After having possessed themselves of any booty, they took care,
in the sight of the persons whom they had robbed, to pursue a route as
nearly as possible opposite to that which led to their true haunts. The
appearance of their place of residence, together with its environs, was
peculiarly desolate and forlorn, and it had the reputation of being
haunted. The old woman I have described had long been its inhabitant,
and was commonly supposed to be its only inhabitant; and her person well
accorded with the rural ideas of a witch. Her lodgers never went out or
came in but with the utmost circumspection, and generally by night. The
lights which were occasionally seen from various parts of her
habitation, were, by the country people, regarded with horror as
supernatural; and if the noise of revelry at any time saluted their
ears, it was imagined to proceed from a carnival of devils. With all
these advantages, the thieves did not venture to reside here but by
intervals: they frequently absented themselves for months, and removed
to a different part of the country. The old woman sometimes attended
them in these transportations, and sometimes remained; but in all cases
her decampment took place either sooner or later than theirs, so that
the nicest observer could scarcely have traced any connection between
her reappearance, and the alarms of depredation that were frequently
given; and the festival of demons seemed, to the terrified rustics,
indifferently to take place whether she were present or absent.