Stranica 262 [262]
200 OLIVER
TWIST.
“They have him now,” cried a man
on the nearest bridge. “ Hurrah!”
The crowd grew light with uncovered
heads, and again the shout uprose.
“T promise fifty pounds,” cried an old
gentleman from the same quarter ; “ fifty
unds to the man who takes him alive.
will remain here till he comes to ask
me for it.”
There was another roar. At this mo¬
ment the word was passed among the
crowd that the door was forced at last,
Jadder had mounted into the room. The
stream abruptly turned as this intelligence
ran from mouth to mouth, and the people
at the windows seeing those upon the
bridges pouring back, quitted their sta¬
tions, and running into the street, joined
the concourse that now thronged pell¬
mell to the spot they had left, each man
crushing and striving with his neighbour,
and all panting with impatience to get
near the door and look upon the criminal,
as the officers brought him out. The
cries and shrieks of those who were
pressed almost to suffocation, or trampled
down and trodden under foot in the con¬
fusion, were dreadful: the narrow ways
were completely blocked up; and at this
time, between the rush of some to regain
the space in front of the house, and the
unavailing struggles of others to extricate
themselves from the mass, the immediate
attention was distracted from the mur¬
derer, although the universal eagerness
for his capture was, if possible, increased.
The man had shrunk down, thoroughly
quelled by the ferocity of the crowd and
the impossibility of escape, but seeing
this sudden change with no less rapidity
than it occurred, he sprang upon his feet,
determined to make one last effort for his
life by dropping into the ditch, and at the
risk of being stifled, endeavouring to
creep away in the darkness and confu¬
sion.
Roused into new strength and energy,
and stimulated by the noise within the
house, which announced that an entrance
had really been effected, he set his foot
against the stack of chimneys, fastened
one end of the rope tightly and firmly
round it, and with the other made a strong
running noose by the aid of his hands
and teeth almost in a second. He could
less distance of the ground than his own
height, and had his knife ready in his
nand to cut it then and drop.
At the very instant that he brought the
beneath his arm-pits, and when the old
gentlemam before mentioned (who had
clung so tight to the railings of the
bridge as to resist the force of the crowd,
and retain his position) earnestly warned
those about him that the man was about
to lower himself down — at that very in¬
stant the murderer, looking behind him
on the roof, threw his arms above his
head, and uttered a yell of terror.
c The eyes again!” he cried, in an un¬
earthly screech. Staggering as if struck
by lightning, he lost his balance and tum¬
bled over the parapet: the noose was at
his neck ; it ran up with his weight tight
as a bow-string, and swift as the arrow it
speeds. He fell for five-and-thirty feet.
There was a sudden jerk, a terrific con¬
vulsion of the limbs, and there he hung,
with the open knife clenched in his stif¬
fening hand.
The old chimney quivered with the
shock, but it stood it bravely. The mur¬
derer swung lifeless against the wall, and
the boy, thrusting aside the dangling body,
which obscured his view, called to the
ore to come and take him out for God’s
sake. “iam
A dog, which had lain concealed till
now, ran backwards and forwards on the
parapet with a dismal howl, and, collect¬
ing himself for a spring, jumped for the
dead man’s shoulders. Missing his aim,
he fell into the ditch, turning completely
over as he went, and striking his head
against a stone, dashed out his brains.
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH,
Affording an explanation of more mysteries than
one, and comprehending a proposal of marriage,
with no word of settlement or pin-money.
THE events narrated in the last chap¬
ter were yet but two days old, when Oli¬
ver found himself at three o’clock in the
afternoon, in a travelling carriage rolling
fast towards his native town. Mrs. May¬
lie and Rose, and Mrs. Bedwin and the
good Doctor, were with him, and Mr.
Brownlow followed in a post-chaise, ac¬
companied by one other person, whose
name had not been mentioned.
They had not talked much -upon the
way, for Oliver was in a flutter of agita¬
tion and uncertainty, which deprived him
of the power of collecting his thoughts,
and almost of speech, and appeared to
have scarcely less effect on his compa¬
nions, who shared it in at least an equal
degree. Ile and the two ladies had been