An Encounter in the Dark
London—Ⓐemendation to a slave—was a sufficiently uninterestingⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note place. It was merely a great big village; and mainly mud and thatch. The strees were muddy, crooked, unpaved. The populace was an ever flocking and drifting swarm of rags, and splendors, ofⒶalteration in the MS nodding plumes and shining armor. The king had a palace there; he saw the outside of it. It made him sigh; yes, and swear a little, in a poor juvenile sixth-centuryⒶemendation way. We saw knights and grandees whom we knew, but they didn’t know us in our ragsⒶalteration in the MS and dirt and raw welts and bruises, and wouldn’t have recognized us if we had hailed them, nor stopped to answer, either, it being unlawful to speak with slaves on a chain. Sandy passed within ten yards of me, on a mule—hunting for me, I imagined. But the thing which clean broke my heart was something which happened in [begin page 407] front of our old barrack in a square, whileⒶalteration in the MS we were enduring the spectacle of a man being boiled to death in oilⒺexplanatory note for counterfeiting pennies. It was the sight of a newsboy—and I couldn’t get at him!Ⓐemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS Still, I hadⒶalteration in the MS one comfort; here was proof that Clarence was still alive and banging away. I meant to be with him before long; the thought was full of cheer.
I had one little glimpse of another thing, one day, which gave me a greatⒶalteration in the MS uplift. It was a wire, stretching from housetop to housetop. Telegraph or telephone, sure. I did very much wish I had a little piece of it. It was just what I needed, in order to carry out my project of escape. My idea was, to get loose some night, along with the king, then gag and bind our master, change clothes with him, batter him into the aspect of a strangerⒶemendation, hitch him to the slave-chain, assume possession of the property, march to Camelot, and—
ButⒶemendation you getⒶalteration in the MS my idea; you see what a stunning dramatic surprise I would wind up with, at the palace. It was all feasible, if I could only get hold of a slender piece of iron which I could shape into a lock-pick; I could then undo the lumbering padlocks with which our chains were fastened,Ⓐalteration in the MS whenever I might chooseⒶemendation. But I never had any luck; no such thing ever happened to fall in my way. However, my chance came at last. A gentleman who had come twice before to dicker for me, without result, or indeed any approach to a result, came again. I was far from expecting to everⒶrejected substantive belong to him, for the price asked for me, from the time I was first enslaved, was exorbitant, andⒶalteration in the MS always provoked either anger or derision, yet my master stuck stubbornly to it—twenty-two dollars. He wouldn’t bate a cent. The king was greatlyⒶalteration in the MS admired, because of his grand physique, but his [begin page 408] kingly style was against him, and he wasn’t saleable; nobody wanted that kind of a slave. I considered myself safe from parting from him because of my extravagantⒶalteration in the MS price. No, I was not expecting to ever belong to this gentleman whom I have spoken of, but he had somethingⒶalteration in the MS which I expected would belong to me eventually, if he would but visit us often enough. It was a steel thing with a long pin to it, with which his long cloth outside garment was fastened together in front. There were three of them. He had disappointed me twice, because he did not come quite close enough to me to make my project entirely safe; but this time I succeeded; I captured the lower clasp of the three, and when heⒶalteration in the MS missed it he thought he had lost it on the way.
I hadⒶemendation a chance to be glad about a minute; then straightway a chance to be sad again. For when the purchase was about to fail, as usual, the master suddenly spoke up and said what would be worded thus—in modern English:
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’m tired supporting these two for no good. Give me twenty-two dollars for this one, and I’ll throw the other one in.”
The king couldn’t get his breath, he was in such a fury. He began to choke and gag, and meantime the master and the gentleman moved away, discussing.
“An ye will keep the offer open—”
“ ’Tis open till the morrow at this hour.”
“Then will I answer you at that time,” said the gentleman, and disappeared, the master following him.
I had a time of it to cool the king down, but I managed it. I whispered in his ear, to this effect:
[begin page 409]“Your grace will go for nothing, but after another fashion. And so shall I. To-night we shall both be free.”
“Ah! How is that?”
“With this thing which I have stolen, I will unlock these locks and cast off these chains to-night. When he comes, about nine-thirtyⒶemendation, to inspect us for the night, we will seizeⒶemendation him, gag him, batter him, and early in the morning we will march out of this town, proprietors of this caravan of slaves.”
That wasⒶemendation as far as I went, but the king was charmed and satisfied. That evening we waited patientlyⒶalteration in the MS for our fellow slaves to get to sleep and signify it by the usual sign, for you must not take many chances on those poor fellows if you can avoid it. It is best to keep your own secrets. No doubt they fidgeted only about as usual, but it didn’t seem so to me. It seemed to me that they were going to be forever getting down to their regular snoring. As the time dragged on I got nervously afraid we shouldn’t have enough of it left for our needs;Ⓐalteration in the MS so I made several premature attempts, and merely delayed things by it; for I couldn’t seem to touch a padlock, there in the dark,Ⓐalteration in the MS without starting a rattle out of it which interrupted somebody’s sleep and made him turn over and wake some more of the gang.
But finally I did get my last iron off, and was a free man once more. I took a good breath of relief, and reached for the king’s irons. Too late! in comes the master, with a light in one hand and his heavy walking staff in the other.Ⓐalteration in the MS I snuggled close among the wallow of snorers, to conceal as nearly as possible that I was naked of irons; and I kept a sharp lookout and prepared to spring for my man the moment he should bend over me.
But he didn’t approach. He stopped, gazed absently toward our dusky mass a minute, evidently thinking about something else; then [begin page 410] set down his light, moved musingly toward the door, and before a body could imagine what he was going to do, he was out of the door and had closed it behindⒶalteration in the MS him.
“Quick!” said the king. “Fetch him back!”
Of course it was the thing to do, and I was up and out in a moment. But dear me, there were no lamps in those days, and it was a dark night. But I glimpsed a dim figure a few steps away. I darted for it, threw myself upon it, and then there was a state of things, and lively! We fought and scuffled and struggled, and drew a crowd in no time. They took an immense interest in the fight, and encouraged us all they could, and in fact couldn’t have been pleasanter or more cordial if it had been their own fight.Ⓐalteration in the MS Then a tremendous row broke out behind us, and as much as half of our audience left us, with a rush, to invest some sympathy in that. Lanterns began to swing in all directions; it was the watch, gathering from far and near. Presently a halberd fell across my back, as a reminder, and I knew what it meant. I was in custody. So was my adversary. We were marched off toward prison, one on each side of the watchman. Here was disaster, here was a fine scheme gone to sudden destruction! I tried to imagine what would happen when the master should discover that it was I who had been fighting him; and what would happen if they jailed us together in the general apartment for brawlers and petty law-breakers as was the custom; and what might—
Just then my antagonist turned his face around in my direction, the freckled light from the watchman’s tin lantern fell on it, and by George, he was the wrong man!
patiently] followed by canceled ‘and long’.