Oldal 155 [155]
111
Gilés, who at once owned that he was
afraid ; upon which they all three faced
about and ran back with the com¬
letest unanimity, ti r. Giles (who
the shortest wind of the party, and
was encumbered with a pitchfork) most
handsomely insisted upon stopping to
make an apology for his hastiness of
speech.
. But it’s wonderful,” said Mr. Giles,
when he had explained, “what a man
will do when his blood is up. I should
have committed murder, I know I should,
if we "d caught one of the rascals.”
As the other two were impressed with
a similar presentiment, and their blood,
like his, had all gone down again, some
speculation ensued upon the cause of this
sudden change in their temperament.
s | know what it was,” said Mr. Giles;
“it was the gate.”
“T shouldn’t wonder if it was,” ex¬
claimed Brittles, catching at the idea.
s You may depend upon it,” said Giles,
“that that gate stopped the flow of the
excitement. I felt all mine suddenly
going away as [ was climbing over it.”
By a remarkable coincidence the other
two had been visited with the same un¬
pleasant sensation at that precise mo¬
ment; so that it was quite conclusive
that it was the gate, especially as there
was no doubt regarding the time at which
the change had taken place, because all
three remembered that they had come in
er re of the robbers at the very instant
of its occurrence.
This dialogue was held between the
two men who had surprised the burglars,
and a travelling tinker, who had been
sleeping in an outhouse, and who had
been roused, together with his two mon¬
1 curs, to join in the pursuit: Mr.
iles acted in the double capacity of
butler and steward to the old lady of the
mansion, and Brittles was a lad of all
work, who having entered her service a
mere child, was treated as a promising
young boy still, though he was something
past thirty.
Encouraging each other with such con¬
verse as this, but keeping very close
together notwithstanding, and looking
apprehensively round whenever a fresh
gust rattled through the boughs, the
three men hurried back to a tree, behind
which they had left their lantern, lest its
light should inform the thieves in what
direction to fire. Catching up the light,
they made the best of their way home at
a good round trot; and long after their
dusky forms had ceased to be discernible,
it might have been seen twimkling and
dancing in the distance, like some exha¬
lation of the damp and gloomy atmo¬
sphere through which it was swiftly
borne. ;
The air grew colder as day came
slowly on, and the mist rolled along the
ground like a dense cloud of smoke ; the
grass was wet, the pathways and low
places were all mire and water, and the
damp breath of an unwholesome wind
went languidly by with a hollow moan¬
ing. Still Oliver lay motionless and in¬
sensible on the spot where Sikes had left
him.
Morning drew on apace; the air be¬
came more sharp and piercing as its first
dull hue—the death of night rather than
the birth of day — glimmered faintly in
the sky. The objects which had looked
dim and terrible in the darkness grew
more and more defined, and gradually re¬
solved into their familiar shapes. The
rain came down thick and fast, and pat¬
tered noisily among the leafless bushes.
But Oliver felt it not, as it beat against
him, for he still lay stretched, helpless
and unconscious, on his bed of clay.
At length a low cry of pain broke the
stillness that prevailed, and uttering it,
the boy awoke. His left arm, rudely
bandaged in a shawl, hung heavy and
useless at his side, and the bandage was
saturated with blood. He was so weak
that he could scarcely raise himself into
a sitting posture, and when he had done "
so, he looked feebly round for help, and
groaned with pain. ‘Trembling in every
joint from cold and exhaustion, he made
an effort to stand upright, but shuddering
from head to foot, fell prostrate on the
ground. :
After a short return of the stupor m
which he had been so long plunged, Oli¬
ver, urged by a creeping sickness at his
heart, which seemed to warn him that if
he lay there he must surely die, got upon
his feet and essayed to walk. His head
was dizzy, and he gered to and fro
like a drunken man; but he kept up
nevertheless, and, with his head drooping
onward he knew not whither.
And now, hosts of bewildering and
confused ideas came crowding on his
mind. He seemed to be still walking
between Sikes and Crackit, who were
angrily disputing, for the very words they
said sounded in his ears: and when he
caught his own attention, as it were, by
making some violent effort to save hunt
self from falling, he found that he was