Breaking the silence they had hitherto preserved, they raised agreat cry as soon as they were ranged before the jail, and demandedto speak to the governor. This visit was not wholly unexpected,for his house, which fronted the street, was strongly barricaded,the wicket-gate of the prison was closed up, and at no loophole orgrating was any person to be seen. Before they had repeated theirsummons many times, a man appeared upon the roof of the governor"shouse, and asked what it was they wanted.
Some said one thing, some another, and some only groaned andhissed. It being now nearly dark, and the house high, many personsin the throng were not aware that any one had come to answer them,and continued their clamour until the intelligence was graduallydiffused through the whole concourse. Ten minutes or more elapsedbefore any one voice could be heard with tolerable distinctness;during which interval the figure remained perched alone, againstthe summer-evening sky, looking down into the troubled street.
"Are you," said Hugh at length, "Mr Akerman, the head jailer here?"
"Of course he is, brother," whispered Dennis. But Hugh, withoutminding him, took his answer from the man himself.
"Yes," he said. "I am."
"You have got some friends of ours in your custody, master."
"I have a good many people in my custody." He glanced downward, ashe spoke, into the jail: and the feeling that he could see intothe different yards, and that he overlooked everything which washidden from their view by the rugged walls, so lashed and goadedthe mob, that they howled like wolves.
"Deliver up our friends," said Hugh, "and you may keep the rest."
"It"s my duty to keep them all. I shall do my duty."
"If you don"t throw the doors open, we shall break "em down," saidHugh; "for we will have the rioters out."
"All I can do, good people," Akerman replied, "is to exhort you todisperse; and to remind you that the consequences of anydisturbance in this place, will be very severe, and bitterlyrepented by most of you, when it is too late."
He made as though he would retire when he said these words, but hewas checked by the voice of the locksmith.
"Mr Akerman," cried Gabriel, "Mr Akerman."
"I will hear no more from any of you," replied the governor,turning towards the speaker, and waving his hand.
"But I am not one of them," said Gabriel. "I am an honest man,Mr Akerman; a respectable tradesman--Gabriel Varden, the locksmith.
You know me?"
"You among the crowd!" cried the governor in an altered voice.
"Brought here by force--brought here to pick the lock of the greatdoor for them," rejoined the locksmith. "Bear witness for me, MrAkerman, that I refuse to do it; and that I will not do it, comewhat may of my refusal. If any violence is done to me, please toremember this."
"Is there no way (if helping you?" said the governor.
"None, Mr Akerman. You"ll do your duty, and I"ll do mine. Onceagain, you robbers and cut-throats," said the locksmith, turninground upon them, "I refuse. Ah! Howl till you"re hoarse. Irefuse."
"Stay--stay!" said the jailer, hastily. "Mr Varden, I know you fora worthy man, and one who would do no unlawful act except uponcompulsion--"
"Upon compulsion, sir," interposed the locksmith, who felt that thetone in which this was said, conveyed the speaker"s impression thathe had ample excuse for yielding to the furious multitude who besetand hemmed him in, on every side, and among whom he stood, an oldman, quite alone; "upon compulsion, sir, I"ll do nothing."
"Where is that man," said the keeper, anxiously, "who spoke to mejust now?"
"Here!" Hugh replied.
"Do you know what the guilt of murder is, and that by keeping thathonest tradesman at your side you endanger his life!"
"We know it very well," he answered, "for what else did we bringhim here? Let"s have our friends, master, and you shall have yourfriend. Is that fair, lads?"
The mob replied to him with a loud Hurrah!
"You see how it is, sir?" cried Varden. "Keep "em out, in KingGeorge"s name. Remember what I have said. Good night!"
There was no more parley. A shower of stones and other missilescompelled the keeper of the jail to retire; and the mob, pressingon, and swarming round the walls, forced Gabriel Varden close up tothe door.
In vain the basket of tools was laid upon the ground before him,and he was urged in turn by promises, by blows, by offers ofreward, and threats of instant death, to do the office for whichthey had brought him there. "No," cried the sturdy locksmith, "Iwill not!"
He had never loved his life so well as then, but nothing could movehim. The savage faces that glared upon him, look where he would;the cries of those who thirsted, like wild animals, for his blood;the sight of men pressing forward, and trampling down theirfellows, as they strove to reach him, and struck at him above theheads of other men, with axes and with iron bars; all failed todaunt him. He looked from man to man, and face to face, and still,with quickened breath and lessening colour, cried firmly, "I willnot!"
Dennis dealt him a blow upon the face which felled him to theground. He sprung up again like a man in the prime of life, andwith blood upon his forehead, caught him by the throat.
"You cowardly dog!" he said: "Give me my daughter. Give me mydaughter."
They struggled together. Some cried "Kill him," and some (but theywere not near enough) strove to trample him to death. Tug as hewould at the old man"s wrists, the hangman could not force him tounclench his hands.
"Is this all the return you make me, you ungrateful monster?" hearticulated with great difficulty, and with many oaths.
"Give me my daughter!" cried the locksmith, who was now as fierceas those who gathered round him: "Give me my daughter!"
He was down again, and up, and down once more, and buffeting with ascore of them, who bandied him from hand to hand, when one tallfellow, fresh from a slaughter-house, whose dress and great thighboots smoked hot with grease and blood, raised a pole-axe, andswearing a horrible oath, aimed it at the old man"s uncovered head.
At that instant, and in the very act, he fell himself, as if struckby lightning, and over his body a one-armed man came darting to thelocksmith"s side. Another man was with him, and both caught thelocksmith roughly in their grasp.
"Leave him to us!" they cried to Hugh--struggling, as they spoke,to force a passage backward through the crowd. "Leave him to us.