In Honour's Cause Part 79

An exultant roar rose now from the dense ma.s.s of people which filled the wide street, and, separated from each other, as well as from their officers, the dragoons ceased to use their swords, while the men round them who held them fast wedged waved their sticks and hats, cheering madly.

"Told you so, sir," shouted some one close behind them; and Frank turned, to see a dragoon, capless and bleeding from a cut on his forehead, sitting calmly enough on his horse.

"Can't do any more, sir," said the man, in answer to a frown from Captain Murray. "They've got my sword. It's the same with all of us.

We couldn't move."

The cheering went on, and in the midst of it the carriages began to move, dragged by the crowd, for there was not a soldier within a dozen yards. The clumsy vehicles were being dragged by hand, and the horses led away toward a side street, while the cheering grew more l.u.s.ty than ever, and then changed into a yell of execration.

"What does that mean?" said Captain Murray excitedly.

"I don't know," said Frank, having hard work to make himself heard.

"Let's try and get to the carriage."

"Impossible, my lad," said Captain Murray. "Great heavens! what a gehenna!"

The yelling rose louder than ever from the direction of Cheapside, and directly after the cause was known, for a heavy, ringing volley rang out clear and sharp above the roar of the crowd, and went on reverberating from side to side of the street.

Hardly had it died away when another rattling volley came from the other direction; and in answer to an inquiring look from Frank, Captain Murray placed his lips to the boy's ear.

"The foot guards," he cried; "the mob is between two fires."

The pressure was now terrible, the crowd yielding to the attack from both directions, and yells, wild cries, and groans rose in one horrible mingling, as for a few minutes the seething ma.s.s of people were driven together in the centre formed by the carriages; and from where he sat, gazing wildly at the chaos of tossing arms and wild faces, whose owners seemed now to be thinking of nothing but struggling for their lives, Frank could see men climbing over their fellows' heads, das.h.i.+ng in windows, and seeking safety by climbing into the houses, whose occupants in many cases reached down to drag people up out of the writhing ma.s.s beneath. In half a dozen places streams could be seen setting into the side streets; and mingled with the attacking party, dragoons of the escort, perfectly helpless, were pressed slowly along, and in every instance with one, sometimes with two men mounted behind them.

Frank caught these things at a glance, while his and the captain's mounts were being slowly forced farther away from the carriages, which were once more stationary, jammed in by the densest portion of the crowd.

And now, without a thought of his own safety, the boy's heart began to beat high, for not a single dragoon was near the prisoners, and some strange movement was evidently taking place there, but what, it was some moments before he could see.

It seemed to him that several people there had been injured, and that those between him and the first carriage had been crushed to death, while the crowd were pa.s.sing the bodies over their heads face upward toward the narrow side street up which an effort had been made to drag the carriages.

As far as he could make out by the lamplight, that was it evidently, and so strangely interested was the lad, so fascinated by the sight, that he paid no heed to a couple more volleys fired to right and left. For the moment he hardly knew why he was watching this. Then it came home to him as he twice over saw a gleam as of metal on one of the bodies which floated as it were over a forest of hands and glided onward toward and up the side street.

"Look, boy! Do you see?" said Captain Murray, with his lips close to the lad's ear. "They have dragged the prisoners out, and are pa.s.sing them over the heads of the crowd."

Frank nodded his head sharply without turning to the speaker, for he could not remove his eyes from the scene till the last fettered figure had pa.s.sed from his sight.

And now at length the awful pressure began to relax, for the half-dozen streams were setting steadily out of the main street, while in several spots where dragoons had sat wedged in singly two had drifted together.

Then there were threes and fours, and soon after a little body of about twenty had coalesced, stood in something like order, and were able to make a stand. Right away toward Cheapside there was now visible beneath a faint cloud of smoke, which looked ruddy in the torch- and lamplight, a glittering line above the heads of the still dense crowd, and Frank grasped the fact that they were bayonets. Then turning in the other direction he saw, far up the street toward Islington, another glittering line, showing that a second body of infantry barred the way.

And now once more came the sound of firing, and Frank's heart resumed its wild beating, for it came rolling down the side street nearly opposite to him, that up which he had seen the prisoners pa.s.sed, and he knew that troops must be guarding the end.

This was plain enough, for the steady stream pa.s.sing up it grew slower, then stopped; there was a tremendous shouting and yelling, and the human tide came slowly rolling back, then faster and faster, till it set right across the main street, and joined one going off in the opposite direction.

Soon after, to the boy's horror, he caught sight of one of the prisoners being borne along over the heads of the returning crowd; then of another and another. And now, as the two lines of dimly seen bayonets drew nearer in both directions, there was once more the sound of the trumpet; and in half a dozen places the dragoons began to form up, and, minute by minute growing stronger in the power to move, swords were seen to flash, and they forced their way through the stream, cutting it right across, and hemming in the portion of the crowd over whose heads the perfectly helpless prisoners were being borne.

This manoeuvre having been executed, the rest proved simple. Knot after knot of the dragoons forced their way up to what had become their rallying-point, the foot guards were steadily advancing up and down the main street toward the carriages, and another company was steadily driving the people back along the side street up which the prisoners had been borne.

"A brave attempt, Frank," said Captain Murray; "but they have failed.

Come along;" and, dizzy with excitement, the boy felt his horse begin to move beneath him toward the escort which formed a crescent round the carriages in double rank, through which they pa.s.sed slowly the men of the crowd they had entrapped, till some forty or fifty only remained, whose retreat was cut off by the bristling line of bayonets drawn across the side street down which they had come.

Frank had no eyes for the scene behind him, now shown by the light of many smoky torches,--the roadway littered with hats, sticks, and torn garments, trampled people lying here and there, others who had been borne and laid down close to the houses, whose occupants were now coming out to render the a.s.sistance badly enough needed, for even here many were wounded and bleeding from sword cuts: of the ghastly traces of the firing, of course, nothing was visible there. He did not heed either the state of the dragoons, who had not escaped scot free, many of them being injured by sword and cudgel; some had been dragged from their horses and trampled; others stood behind the double line, separated from their mounts, which had gone on with the crowd; most of them were hatless, while several had had their uniforms torn from their backs.

Frank had no eyes for all this; his attention was too fully taken up by the proceedings near the carriages, where the fettered and handcuffed prisoners--five--were being pa.s.sed in by men of the foot guards, who then formed up round the vehicles, toward which the two teams of horses were now brought back, the men roughly knotting together the cut traces, and fastening them ready for a fresh start toward the prison.

"One of the prisoners has been carried off, Frank," whispered Captain Murray then; and in a weak voice the lad said:

"My father?"

"No, my lad; he is in the second carriage now." The next minute orders were given, and the dragoons advanced to clear the way for the carriages, now surrounded by the bristling bayonets of half a regiment of foot guards, who refused pa.s.sage to Captain Murray and the boy, so that they had to be content with riding in front of the rear guard of dragoons.

And now once more the yelling of the crowd arose from the direction of Cheapside, where the mob had again gathered strongly; but no mercy was shown. The heavy ma.s.s of dragoons that formed the advance guard had received their orders to clear the way, and, finding a determined opposition, the trumpet rang out once more, and they advanced at a gallop, trampling down all before them for a few minutes till the crowd broke and ran. The way was clear enough as at a double the Grenadiers came up, and pa.s.sed round the angle at Newgate Street, the escort driving the mob before it; and the wide s.p.a.ce at the west end of the Old Bailey was reached.

This was packed with troops, who had preserved an opening for the carriages, and into it the Grenadiers marched, and formed up round the ma.s.sive prison gates. And now Frank made an effort, with Captain Murray's a.s.sistance, to get to the carriage door again for one short farewell. But in the hurry and excitement of the time, the pa.s.s from the Palace and the military uniform the captain wore went for nothing, the dense ma.s.s of Grenadiers stood firm, and very few minutes sufficed for the prisoners to be pa.s.sed in and the gates closed. A strong force of infantry was stationed within and without, for the authorities dreaded an attack upon the prison; and the regiment of dragoons that had been detailed to meet the escort and guard the road to Islington patrolled the approaches, while the rest marched off to their quarters amidst the hooting and yelling of the crowd.

Captain Murray turned off at once into a side street, and rode beside Frank for some distance, respecting in silence his young companion's grief, hardly a word pa.s.sing till they reached the Guards' stables and left their horses, which looked, by the light of the men's lanthorns, as if they had pa.s.sed through a river. Then the pair hurried across the Park, feeling half-stunned by their adventure, Frank so entirely, exhausted that he would have gladly availed himself of his friend's arm.

But he fought hard, and just as the clock was striking twelve he made his way to his mother's room, wondering whether he was to be called upon to face some fresh grief. But he found Lady Gowan lying awake, and ready to stretch out her hands to him.

"You saw him, Frank?" she whispered; and the disorder of his appearance escaped her notice.

"Yes, mother; I rode beside him, and he spoke to me."

"Yes, yes; what did he say?" cried Lady Gowan.

Frank delivered his father's loving message, and his mother's eyes closed.

"Yes," she said softly, "to meet again in happier times." Then, unclosing her eyes again, she moaned out, "Oh, Frank, Frank, my boy, my boy!" and he forgot his own weakness and suffering in his efforts to perform the sacred duty which had fallen to his lot.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

AFTER THE FAILURE.

That next morning, after a long sleep, the result of exhaustion, Frank Gowan awoke with the horrors of the previous night seeming to have grown so that they could no longer be borne. He hurried across to his mother's apartments, to find from the nurse that she was sleeping, and must not of course be disturbed; so he went over to Captain Murray, who received him warmly.

"Better, my lad?" he said.

"Better?" cried Frank reproachfully.

"I mean rested. Frank lad, we had a narrow escape of our lives last night. I hear already that about fifty dragoons were more or less injured."

"And how many of the people?" said Frank bitterly.

"That will never be known, my boy. It is very horrible when orders are given to fire upon a crowd. Many fell, I'm afraid. But there, don't look so down-hearted."

"Have you heard who was the prisoner that escaped?"

"Yes. They have not taken him again yet; but I don't think he will be able to get right away."