Arthur O'Leary Part 16

'A sudden thought struck me that I had done wrong. The fellow had evidently some dark intention by his going back, and I repented bitterly having allowed him to leave me. But then, what were easier for him than to lead me where he pleased, had I retained him! and so I reflected, when the noise of many voices speaking in a half-subdued accent came up the street. I heard the sound, too, of a great many feet. My heart sickened as the idea of murder, so a.s.sociated with the place, flashed across me; and I had just time to squeeze myself within the shelter of the doorway, when the party came up.

'"Somewhere hereabouts, you said, wasn't it?" said one in a good accent and a deep clear voice.

'"Oui-da!" said the man I had spoken to, while he felt with his hands upon the walls and doorway of the opposite house. "Halloa there!" he shouted.

'"Be still, you fool! don't you think that he suspects something by this time? Did the others go down the Rue des Loups?"

'"Yes, yes," said a voice close to where I stood.

'"Then all's safe; he can't escape that way. Strike a light, Pierre."

'A tall figure, wrapped up in a cloak, produced a tinder-box, and began to clink deliberately with a steel and flint. Every flash showed me some savage-looking face, where crime and famine struggled for mastery; while I could mark that many had large clubs of wood, and one or two were armed with swords. I drew my breath with short efforts, and was preparing myself for the struggle, in which, though I saw death before me, I resolved to sell life dearly, when a hand was pa.s.sed across the pillar of the door, and rested on my leg. For a second it never stirred; then slowly moved up to my knee, where it stopped again. My heart seemed to cease its beating; I felt like one around whose body some snake is coiling, fold after fold, his slimy grasp. The hand was gently withdrawn, and before I could recover from my surprise I was seized by the throat and hurled out into the street. A savage laugh rang through the crowd, and a lantern, just lighted, was held up to my face, while he who spoke first called out--

'"You didn't dream of escaping us, _bete_, did you?" 'At the same moment hands were thrust into my various pockets; the few silver pieces I possessed were taken, my watch torn off, my hat examined, and the lining of my coat ripped open--and all so speedily, that I saw at once I had fallen into experienced hands.

'"Where do you live in Paris?" said the first speaker, still holding the light to my face, and staring fixedly at me.

'"I am a stranger and alone," said I, for the thought struck me that in such a circ.u.mstance frankness was as good policy as any other. "I came here to-night to see the cathedral, and lost my way in returning."

'"But where do you live--in what quarter of Paris?" '"The Rue d'Alger; No. 12; the second storey." '"What-effects have you there in money?"

'"One English bank-note for five pounds; nothing more."

'"Any jewels, or valuables of any kind?"

'"None; I am as poor as any man in Paris."

'"Does the porter know your name, in the house?"

'"No; I am only known as the Englishman of No. 12."

'"What are your hours--irregular, are they not?"

'"Yes, I often come home very late."

'"That's all right. You speak French well. Can you write it?"

'"Yes, sufficiently so for any common purpose."

'"Here, then," said he, opening a large pocket-book, "write an order, which I'll tell you, to the _concierge_ of the house. Take this pen."

'With a trembling hand I took the pen, and waited for his direction.

'"Is it a woman keeps the door of your hotel?"

'"Yes," said I.

'"Well, then, begin:--"

'"Madame La Concierge, let the bearer of this note have the key of my apartment----"

'As I followed with my hand the words, I could mark that one of the party was whispering in the ear of the speaker, and then moved slowly round to my back.

'"Hush! what's that?" cried the chief speaker. "Be still there!" and as we listened, the chorus of a number of voices singing in parts was heard at some little distance off.

'"That infernal nest of fellows must be rooted out of this, one day or other," said the chief; "and if I end my days on the Place de Greve, I'll try and do it. Hush there! be still! they're pa.s.sing on."

'True enough, the sound began to wax fainter, and my heart sank heavily, as I thought the last hope was leaving me. Suddenly a thought dashed through my mind--"Death in one shape is as bad as another. I'll do it!"

I stooped down as if to continue my writing, and then collecting my strength for the effort, and taking a deep breath, I struck the man in front a blow with all my might that felled him to the ground, and clearing him with a spring, I bounded down the street. My old Indian teaching had done me good service here; few white men could have caught me in an open plain, with s.p.a.ce and sight to guide me, and I gained at every stride. But, alas! I dared not stop to listen whence the sounds proceeded, and could only dash straight forward, not knowing where it might lead me. Down a steep, rugged street, that grew narrower as I went, I plunged, when--horror of horrors!--I heard the Seine plashing at the end; the rapid current of the river surged against the heavy timbers that defended the banks, with a sound like a death-wail. A solitary, trembling light lay afar off in the river from some barge that was at anchor there; I fixed my eye upon it, and was preparing for a plunge, when, with a half-suppressed cry, my pursuers sprang up from a low wharf I had not seen, below the quay, and stood in front of me. In an instant they were upon me; a shower of blows fell upon my head and shoulders, and one, armed with desperate resolution, struck me on the forehead and felled me on the spot.

'"Be quick now, be quick!" said a voice I well knew; "into the river with him--the filets de St. Cloud will catch him by daybreak--into the river with him!"

'They tore off my coat and shoes, and dragged me along towards the wharf. My senses were clear, though the blow had deprived me of all the power to resist, and I could calculate the little chance still left me when once I had reached the river, when a loud yell and a whistle was heard afar off--another, louder, followed; the fellows around me sprang to their legs, and with a muttered curse and a cry of terror darted off in different directions. I could hear now several pistol-shots following quickly on one another, and the noise of a scuffle with swords; in an instant it was over, and a cheer burst forth like a cry of triumph.

'"Any one wounded there?" shouted a deep manly voice, from the end of the street. I endeavoured to call out, but my voice failed me. "Halloa, there! any one wounded?" said the voice again, when a window was opened over my head, and a man held a candle out, and looked into the street.

'"This way, this way!" said he, as he caught sight of my shadow where I lay.

'"Ay, I guessed they went down here," said the same voice I heard first, as he came along, followed by several others. "Well, friend, are you much hurt? any blood lost?"

'"No, only stunned," said I, "and almost well already."

'"Have you any friends here? Were you quite alone?"

'"Yes; quite alone."

'"Of course you were; why should I ask? That murderous gang never dared to face two men yet. Come, are you able to walk? Oh, you're a stout fellow, I see; come along with us. Come, Ludwig, put a hand under him, and we 'll soon bring him up."

'When they lifted me up, the sudden motion caused a weakness so complete that I fainted, and knew little more of their proceedings till I found myself lying on a sofa in a large room, where some forty persons were seated at a long table, most of them smoking from huge pipes of regular German proportions.

'"Where am I?" was my question, as I looked about, and perceived that the party wore a kind of blue uniform, with fur on the collar and cuffs, and a greyhound worked in gold on the arm.

'"Why, you're safe, my good friend," said a friendly voice beside me; "that's quite enough to know at present, isn't it?"

'"I begin to agree with you," said I coolly; and so, turning round on my side, I closed my eyes, and fell into as pleasant a sleep as ever I remember in my life.

'They were, indeed, a very singular cla.s.s of restoratives which my kind friends thought proper to administer to me; nor am I quite sure that a _bavaroise_ of chocolate dashed with rum, and friction over the face with hot Eau de Cologne are sufficiently appreciated by the "faculty"; but this I do know, that I felt very much revived by the application without and within; and with a face somewhat the colour of a copper preserving-pan, and far too hot to put anything on, I sat up and looked about me. A merrier set of gentlemen not even my experience had ever beheld. They were mostly middle-aged, grizzly-looking fellows, with very profuse beards and moustaches; their conversation was partly French, partly German, while here and there a stray Italian diminutive crept in; and to season the whole, like cayenne in a ragout, there was an odd curse in English. Their strange dress, their free-and-easy manner, their intimacy with one another, and, above all, the _locale_ they had chosen for their festivities, made me, I own, a little suspicious about their spotless morality, and I began conjecturing to what possible calling they might belong--now guessing them smugglers, now police of some kind or other, now highwaymen outright, but without ever being able to come to any conclusion that even approached satisfaction. The more I listened, the more did my puzzle grow on me. That they were either the most distinguished and exalted individuals or the most confounded story-tellers was certain. Here was a fat, greasy little fellow, with a beard like an Armenian, who was talking of a trip he made to Greece with the Duke of Saxe-Weimar; apparently they were on the best of terms together, and had a most jolly time of it. There was a large handsome man, with a short black moustache, describing a night attack made by wolves on the caravan he was in, during a journey to Siberia. I listened with intense interest to his narrative; the scenery, the danger, the preparation for defence, had all those little traits that bespeak truth, when, confound him! he destroyed the whole as he said, "At that moment the Archduke Nicholas said to _me_----" The Archduke Nicholas, indeed!

very good that! he's just as great a liar as the other.

'"Come," thought I, "there's a respectable-looking old fellow with a bald head--let us hear him; there's no boasting of the great people he ever met with from that one, I'm sure."

'"We were now coming near to Vienna," continued he, "the night was dark as pitch, when a vedette came up to say that a party of brigands, well known thereabouts, were seen hovering about the post station the entire evening. We were well armed, but still by no means numerous, and it became a grave question what we were to do. I got down immediately, and examined the loading and priming of the carbines; they were all right, nothing had been stirred. 'What's the matter?' said the duke." ("Oh,"

thought I, "then there's a duke here also!") "'What's the matter?' said the Duke of Wellington."

'"Oh, by Jove! that beats all!" cried I, jumping up on the sofa, and opening both my hands with astonishment. "I 'd have wagered a trifle on that little fellow, and hang me if he isn't the worst of the whole set!"

'"What 's the matter; what's happened?" said they all, turning round in amazement at my sudden exclamation. "Is the man mad?"

'"It's hard to say," replied I; "but if I 'm not, you must be--unless I have the honour, which is perfectly possible, to be at this moment in company with the Holy Alliance; for, so help me, since I've sat here and listened to you, there is not a crowned head in Europe, not a queen, not an archduke, amba.s.sador, and general-in-chief, whom some of you have not been intimate with; and the small man with a red beard has just let slip something about the Shah of Persia."