At this they all cried together that they were to be hanged on thenext day but one; and again implored his aid.
"Aid! For what!" said Mr Dennis, playfully rapping the knuckles ofthe hand nearest him.
"To save us!" they cried.
"Oh, certainly," said Mr Dennis, winking at the wall in the absenceof any friend with whom he could humour the joke. "And so you"reto be worked off, are you, brothers?"
"Unless we are released to-night," one of them cried, "we are deadmen!"
"I tell you what it is," said the hangman, gravely; "I"m afraid, myfriend, that you"re not in that "ere state of mind that"s suitableto your condition, then; you"re not a-going to be released: don"tthink it--Will you leave off that "ere indecent row? I wonder youan"t ashamed of yourselves, I do."
He followed up this reproof by rapping every set of knuckles oneafter the other, and having done so, resumed his seat again with acheerful countenance.
"You"ve had law," he said, crossing his legs and elevating hiseyebrows: "laws have been made a" purpose for you; a wery handsomeprison"s been made a" purpose for you; a parson"s kept a purposefor you; a constitootional officer"s appointed a" purpose for you;carts is maintained a" purpose for you--and yet you"re notcontented!--WILL you hold that noise, you sir in the furthest?"
A groan was the only answer.
"So well as I can make out," said Mr Dennis, in a tone of mingledbadinage and remonstrance, "there"s not a man among you. I beginto think I"m on the opposite side, and among the ladies; though forthe matter of that, I"ve seen a many ladies face it out, in amanner that did honour to the sex.--You in number two, don"t grindthem teeth of yours. Worse manners," said the hangman, rapping atthe door with his stick, "I never see in this place afore. I"mashamed of you. You"re a disgrace to the Bailey."
After pausing for a moment to hear if anything could be pleaded injustification, Mr Dennis resumed in a sort of coaxing tone:
"Now look"ee here, you four. I"m come here to take care of you,and see that you an"t burnt, instead of the other thing. It"s nouse your making any noise, for you won"t be found out by them ashas broken in, and you"ll only be hoarse when you come to thespeeches,--which is a pity. What I say in respect to the speechesalways is, "Give it mouth." That"s my maxim. Give it mouth. I"veheerd," said the hangman, pulling off his hat to take hishandkerchief from the crown and wipe his face, and then putting iton again a little more on one side than before, "I"ve heerd aeloquence on them boards--you know what boards I mean--and haveheerd a degree of mouth given to them speeches, that they was asclear as a bell, and as good as a play. There"s a pattern! Andalways, when a thing of this natur"s to come off, what I stand upfor, is, a proper frame of mind. Let"s have a proper frame ofmind, and we can go through with it, creditable--pleasant-sociable.
Whatever you do (and I address myself in particular, toyou in the furthest), never snivel. I"d sooner by half, though Ilose by it, see a man tear his clothes a" purpose to spile "embefore they come to me, than find him snivelling. It"s ten to onea better frame of mind, every way!"
While the hangman addressed them to this effect, in the tone andwith the air of a pastor in familiar conversation with his flock,the noise had been in some degree subdued; for the rioters werebusy in conveying the prisoners to the Sessions House, which wasbeyond the main walls of the prison, though connected with it, andthe crowd were busy too, in passing them from thence along thestreet. But when he had got thus far in his discourse, the soundof voices in the yard showed plainly that the mob had returned andwere coming that way; and directly afterwards a violent crashing atthe grate below, gave note of their attack upon the cells (as theywere called) at last.
It was in vain the hangman ran from door to door, and covered thegrates, one after another, with his hat, in futile efforts tostifle the cries of the four men within; it was in vain he doggedtheir outstretched hands, and beat them with his stick, or menacedthem with new and lingering pains in the execution of his office;the place resounded with their cries. These, together with thefeeling that they were now the last men in the jail, so worked uponand stimulated the besiegers, that in an incredibly short space oftime they forced the strong grate down below, which was formed ofiron rods two inches square, drove in the two other doors, as ifthey had been but deal partitions, and stood at the end of thegallery with only a bar or two between them and the cells.
"Halloa!" cried Hugh, who was the first to look into the duskypassage: "Dennis before us! Well done, old boy. Be quick, andopen here, for we shall be suffocated in the smoke, going out."
"Go out at once, then," said Dennis. "What do you want here?"
"Want!" echoed Hugh. "The four men."