Jack Sheppard. Vol. 2. Ainsworth William HarrisonЧитать онлайн книгу.
in the caldrons of boiling tar and oil. Every gibbet at Tyburn and Hounslow appeared to have been plundered of its charnel spoil to enrich the adjoining cabinet, so well was it stored with skulls and bones, all purporting to be the relics of highwaymen famous in their day. Halters, each of which had fulfilled its destiny, formed the attraction of the next compartment; while a fourth was occupied by an array of implements of housebreaking almost innumerable, and utterly indescribable. All these interesting objects were carefully arranged, classed, and, as we have said, labelled by the thief-taker. From this singular collection Trenchard turned to regard its possessor, who was standing at a little distance from him, still engaged in earnest discourse with his attendant, and, as he contemplated his ruthless countenance, on which duplicity and malignity had set their strongest seals, he could not help calling to mind all he had heard of Jonathan’s perfidiousness to his employers, and deeply regretting that he had placed himself in the power of so unscrupulous a miscreant.
Jonathan Wild, at this time, was on the high-road to the greatness which he subsequently, and not long afterwards, obtained. He was fast rising to an eminence that no one of his nefarious profession ever reached before him, nor, it is to be hoped, will ever reach again. He was the Napoleon of knavery, and established an uncontrolled empire over all the practitioners of crime. This was no light conquest; nor was it a government easily maintained. Resolution, severity, subtlety, were required for it; and these were qualities which Jonathan possessed in an extraordinary degree. The danger or difficulty of an exploit never appalled him. What his head conceived his hand executed. Professing to stand between the robber and the robbed, he himself plundered both. He it was who formed the grand design of a robber corporation, of which he should be the sole head and director, with the right of delivering those who concealed their booty, or refused to share it with him, to the gallows. He divided London into districts; appointed a gang to each district; and a leader to each gang, whom he held responsible to himself. The country was partitioned in a similar manner. Those whom he retained about his person, or placed in offices of trust, were for the most part convicted felons, who, having returned from transportation before their term had expired, constituted, in his opinion, the safest agents, inasmuch as they could neither be legal evidences against him, nor withhold any portion of the spoil of which he chose to deprive them. But the crowning glory of Jonathan, that which raised him above all his predecessors in iniquity, and clothed this name with undying notoriety—was to come. When in the plenitude of his power, he commenced a terrible trade, till then unknown—namely, a traffic in human blood. This he carried on by procuring witnesses to swear away the lives of those persons who had incurred his displeasure, or whom it might be necessary to remove.
No wonder that Trenchard, as he gazed at this fearful being, should have some misgivings cross him.
Apparently, Jonathan perceived he was an object of scrutiny; for, hastily dismissing his attendant, he walked towards the knight.
“So, you’re admiring my cabinet, Sir Rowland,” he remarked, with a sinister smile; “it is generally admired; and, sometimes by parties who afterwards contribute to the collection themselves,—ha! ha! This skull,” he added, pointing to a fragment of mortality in the case beside them, “once belonged to Tom Sheppard, the father of the lad I spoke of just now. In the next box hangs the rope by which he suffered. When I’ve placed another skull and another halter beside them, I shall be contented.”
“To business, Sir!” said the knight, with a look of abhorrence.
“Ay, to business,” returned Jonathan, grinning, “the sooner the better.”
“Here is the sum you bargained for,” rejoined Trenchard, flinging a pocket-book on the table; “count it.”
Jonathan’s eyes glistened as he told over the notes.
“You’ve given me more than the amount, Sir Rowland,” he said, after he had twice counted them, “or I’ve missed my reckoning. There’s a hundred pounds too much.”
“Keep it,” said Trenchard, haughtily.
“I’ll place it to your account, Sir Rowland,” answered the thief-taker, smiling significantly. “And now, shall we proceed to Queenhithe?”
“Stay!” cried the other, taking a chair, “a word with you, Mr. Wild.”
“As many as you please, Sir Rowland,” replied Jonathan, resuming his seat. “I’m quite at your disposal.”
“I have a question to propose to you,” said Trenchard, “relating to—” and he hesitated.
“Relating to the father of the boy—Thames Darrell,” supplied Jonathan. “I guessed what was coming. You desire to know who he was, Sir Rowland. Well, you shall know.”
“Without further fee?” inquired the knight.
“Not exactly,” answered Jonathan, drily. “A secret is too valuable a commodity to be thrown away. But I said I wouldn’t drive a hard bargain with you, and I won’t. We are alone, Sir Rowland,” he added, snuffing the candles, glancing cautiously around, and lowering his tone, “and what you confide to me shall never transpire,—at least to your disadvantage.”
“I am at a loss to understand you Sir,”, said Trenchard.
“I’ll make myself intelligible before I’ve done,” rejoined Wild. “I need not remind you, Sir Rowland, that I am aware you are deeply implicated in the Jacobite plot which is now known to be hatching.”
“Ha!” ejaculated the other.
“Of course, therefore,” pursued Jonathan, “you are acquainted with all the leaders of the proposed insurrection,—nay, must be in correspondence with them.”
“What right have you to suppose this, Sir?” demanded Trenchard, sternly.
“Have a moment’s patience, Sir Rowland,” returned Wild; “and you shall hear. If you will furnish me with a list of these rebels, and with proofs of their treason, I will not only insure your safety, but will acquaint you with the real name and rank of your sister Aliva’s husband, as well as with some particulars which will never otherwise reach your ears, concerning your lost sister, Constance.”
“My sister Constance!” echoed the knight; “what of her?”
“You agree to my proposal, then?” said Jonathan.
“Do you take me for as great a villain as yourself, Sir?” said the knight, rising.
“I took you for one who wouldn’t hesitate to avail himself of any advantage chance might throw in his way,” returned the thief-taker, coldly. “I find I was in error. No matter. A time may come,—and that ere long,—when you will be glad to purchase my secrets, and your own safety, at a dearer price than the heads of your companions.”
“Are you ready?” said Trenchard, striding towards the door.
“I am,” replied Jonathan, following him, “and so,” he added in an undertone, “are your captors.”
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