them from thence along the street. But when he had got thus far
in his discourse, the sound of voices in the yard showed plainly that
the mob had returned and were coming that way; and directly afterwards a
violent crashing at the grate below, gave note of their attack upon the
cells (as they were called) at last.

It was in vain the hangman ran from door to door, and covered the
grates, one after another, with his hat, in futile efforts to stifle
the cries of the four men within; it was in vain he dogged their
outstretched hands, and beat them with his stick, or menaced them
with new and lingering pains in the execution of his office; the place
resounded with their cries. These, together with the feeling that they
were now the last men in the jail, so worked upon and stimulated the
besiegers, that in an incredibly short space of time they forced the
strong grate down below, which was formed of iron rods two inches
square, drove in the two other doors, as if they had been but deal
partitions, and stood at the end of the gallery with only a bar or two
between them and the cells.

'Halloa!' cried Hugh, who was the first to look into the dusky passage:
'Dennis before us! Well done, old boy. Be quick, and open 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.'

'Four devils!' cried the hangman. 'Don't you know they're left for death
on Thursday? Don't you respect the law--the constitootion--nothing? Let
the four men be.'

'Is this a time for joking?' cried Hugh. 'Do you hear 'em? Pull away
these bars that have got fixed between the door and the ground; and let
us in.'

'Brother,' said the hangman, in a low voice, as he stooped under
pretence of doing what Hugh desired, but only looked up in his face,
'can't you leave these here four men to me, if I've the whim! You
do what you like, and have what you like of everything for your
share,--give me my share. I want these four men left alone, I tell you!'

'Pull the bars down, or stand out of the way,' was Hugh's reply.

'You can turn the crowd if you like, you know that well enough,
brother,' said the hangman, slowly. 'What! You WILL come in, will you?'

'Yes.'

'You won't let these men alone, and leave 'em to me? You've no respect
for nothing--haven't you?' said the hangman, retreating to the door by
which he had entered, and regarding his companion with a