Stranica 250 [250]
OCR
190 was something to him. He regained his strength and energy at the prospect of personal danger, and springing to his feet, rushed into the open air. The broad sky seemed on fire. Rising into the air with showers of sparks, and rolling one above the other, were sheets of flame, lighting the atmosphere for miles round, and driving clouds of smoke in the direction where he stood. The shouts grew louder as new voices swelled the roar, and he could hear the cry of fire—mingled with the ringing of and the crackling of flames as they turned round some new obstacle, and shot aloft as though refreshed by food. The noise increased as he looked. ‘There were people there— men and women — light, and bustle. It was like new life to him. He darted onward—straight, headlong, dashing through brier and brake, and leaping gate and fence, as madly as the dog who careered with loud and sounding bark before him. He came upon the spot; there were half-dressed figures, tearing to and fro, some endeavouring to drag the frightened horses from the stables, others driving the cattle from the yard and out-houses, and others coming laden from the burning pile, amidst a shower of falling. sparks, and the tumbling down of hot beams. The apertures where doors and windows stood an hour ago, disclosed a chaos of raging fire; walls rocked and crumbled into the burning well; the molten lead and iron poured down upon the ground: women and children shrieked, and men encouraged each other with noisy shouts and cheers. The clanking of the enginepumps, and the spouting and hissing of wood, added to the tremendous roar. He shouted too till he was hoarse, and, flying from memory and himself, plunged into the thickest of the throng. Hither and thither he dived that night, now working at the pumps, and now hurrying through the smoke and flame, but never ceasing to engage himself wherever noise and men were thickest. Up and down the ladders, upon the roofs of buildings, over floors that quaked and trembled with his weight, under the lee of falling bricks and stones — in every part of that eat fire was he—but he bore a charmed ife, and had neither scratch nor bruise, nor weariness nor thought, till morning dawned again, and only smoke and blackened ruins remained. turned with tenfold force the dreadful consciousness of his crime. He looked suspiciously about him, for the men were conversing in groups, and he feared to be the subject of their talk. The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off stealthily together. He passed near an engine where some men were seated, and they called to him to share in He took some bread and meat, and as he drank a draught of beer, heard the firemen, who were from London, talking about the murder. “He has gone to Birmingham, they say,” said one, " but they'll have him yet; for the scouts are out, and by to-morrow night there’ll be a cry all through the country.” He hurried off, and walked till he almost dropped upon the ground; then lay down in a lane, and had a long, but broken and uneasy sleep. He wandered on again, unresolved and undecided, and oppressed with the fear of another sollitary night. Suddenly he took the desperate resolution of going back to London. * 'T’here’s somebody to speak to there, at all events,” he thought. “A good hiding place, too. They’ll never expect to nab me there, after this country scent. Why can’t I lay by for a week or so, and forcing blunt from Fagin, get abroad to France? Damme, I'll risk it.” He acted upon this impulse without delay ; and choosing the least frequented roads, began his journey back, resolved to lie concealed within a short distance of the metropolis, and entering it at dusk, by a circuitous route, to proceed straight to that part of it which he had fixed on The dog, though—if any descriptions of him were out, it would not be forgotten that the dog was missing, and had probably gone with him. This might lead to his apprehension as he passed along the streets. He resolved to drown him, and walked on, looking about for a pond; picking up a heavy stone, and tying it to his handkerchief as he went. ihe animal looked up into his master’s face while these preparations were making, and, whether his instinct apprehended something of their purpose, or the robber’s sidelong glance at him was sterner than ordinary, skulked a little further in the rear than usual], and cowered as he came more slowly along. When his master halted at the brink of a pool, and looked round to call him, he stopped outright.
