A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence,particularly in a large city. Where it comes from or whither itgoes, few men can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equalsuddenness, it is as difficult to follow to its various sources asthe sea itself; nor does the parallel stop here, for the ocean isnot more fickle and uncertain, more terrible when roused, moreunreasonable, or more cruel.
The people who were boisterous at Westminster upon the Fridaymorning, and were eagerly bent upon the work of devastation in DukeStreet and Warwick Street at night, were, in the mass, the same.
Allowing for the chance accessions of which any crowd is morallysure in a town where there must always be a large number of idleand profligate persons, one and the same mob was at both places.
Yet they spread themselves in various directions when theydispersed in the afternoon, made no appointment for reassembling,had no definite purpose or design, and indeed, for anything theyknew, were scattered beyond the hope of future union.
At The Boot, which, as has been shown, was in a manner the headquarters of the rioters, there were not, upon this Friday night, adozen people. Some slept in the stable and outhouses, some in thecommon room, some two or three in beds. The rest were in theirusual homes or haunts. Perhaps not a score in all lay in theadjacent fields and lanes, and under haystacks, or near the warmthof brick-kilns, who had not their accustomed place of rest beneaththe open sky. As to the public ways within the town, they hadtheir ordinary nightly occupants, and no others; the usual amountof vice and wretchedness, but no more.
The experience of one evening, however, had taught the recklessleaders of disturbance, that they had but to show themselves in thestreets, to be immediately surrounded by materials which they couldonly have kept together when their aid was not required, at greatrisk, expense, and trouble. Once possessed of this secret, theywere as confident as if twenty thousand men, devoted to their will,had been encamped about them, and assumed a confidence which couldnot have been surpassed, though that had really been the case. Allday, Saturday, they remained quiet. On Sunday, they rather studiedhow to keep their men within call, and in full hope, than to followout, by any fierce measure, their first day"s proceedings.
"I hope," said Dennis, as, with a loud yawn, he raised his bodyfrom a heap of straw on which he had been sleeping, and supportinghis head upon his hand, appealed to Hugh on Sunday morning, "thatMuster Gashford allows some rest? Perhaps he"d have us at workagain already, eh?"
"It"s not his way to let matters drop, you may be sure of that,"
growled Hugh in answer. "I"m in no humour to stir yet, though.
I"m as stiff as a dead body, and as full of ugly scratches as if Ihad been fighting all day yesterday with wild cats."
"You"ve so much enthusiasm, that"s it," said Dennis, looking withgreat admiration at the uncombed head, matted beard, and torn handsand face of the wild figure before him; "you"re such a devil of afellow. You hurt yourself a hundred times more than you need,because you will be foremost in everything, and will do more thanthe rest."
"For the matter of that," returned Hugh, shaking back his raggedhair and glancing towards the door of the stable in which they lay;"there"s one yonder as good as me. What did I tell you about him?
Did I say he was worth a dozen, when you doubted him?"
Mr Dennis rolled lazily over upon his breast, and resting his chinupon his hand in imitation of the attitude in which Hugh lay, said,as he too looked towards the door:
"Ay, ay, you knew him, brother, you knew him. But who"d suppose tolook at that chap now, that he could be the man he is! Isn"t it athousand cruel pities, brother, that instead of taking his nat"ralrest and qualifying himself for further exertions in this herehonourable cause, he should be playing at soldiers like a boy? Andhis cleanliness too!" said Mr Dennis, who certainly had no reasonto entertain a fellow feeling with anybody who was particular onthat score; "what weaknesses he"s guilty of; with respect to hiscleanliness! At five o"clock this morning, there he was at thepump, though any one would think he had gone through enough, theday before yesterday, to be pretty fast asleep at that time. Butno--when I woke for a minute or two, there he was at the pump, andif you"d seen him sticking them peacock"s feathers into his hatwhen he"d done washing--ah! I"m sorry he"s such a imperfectcharacter, but the best on us is incomplete in some pint of view oranother."
The subject of this dialogue and of these concluding remarks, whichwere uttered in a tone of philosophical meditation, was, as thereader will have divined, no other than Barnaby, who, with his flagin hand, stood sentry in the little patch of sunlight at thedistant door, or walked to and fro outside, singing softly tohimself; and keeping time to the music of some clear church bells.
Whether he stood still, leaning with both hands on the flagstaff,or, bearing it upon his shoulder, paced slowly up and down, thecareful arrangement of his poor dress, and his erect and loftybearing, showed how high a sense he had of the great importance ofhis trust, and how happy and how proud it made him. To Hugh andhis companion, who lay in a dark corner of the gloomy shed, he, andthe sunlight, and the peaceful Sabbath sound to which he maderesponse, seemed like a bright picture framed by the door, and setoff by the stable"s blackness. The whole formed such a contrast tothemselves, as they lay wallowing, like some obscene animals, intheir squalor and wickedness on the two heaps of straw, that for afew moments they looked on without speaking, and felt almostashamed.
"Ah!"said Hugh at length, carrying it off with a laugh: "He"s arare fellow is Barnaby, and can do more, with less rest, or meat,or drink, than any of us. As to his soldiering, I put him on dutythere."
"Then there was a object in it, and a proper good one too, I"ll besworn," retorted Dennis with a broad grin, and an oath of the samequality. "What was it, brother?"
"Why, you see," said Hugh, crawling a little nearer to him, "thatour noble captain yonder, came in yesterday morning rather theworse for liquor, and was--like you and me--ditto last night."