and by its
doubtful aid, some might be dimly seen taking up the pavement of the
road, while others held great upright posts, or fixed them in the holes
thus made for their reception. Some dragged slowly on, towards the rest,
an empty cart, which they brought rumbling from the prison-yard; while
others erected strong barriers across the street. All were busily
engaged. Their dusky figures moving to and fro, at that unusual hour,
so active and so silent, might have been taken for those of shadowy
creatures toiling at midnight on some ghostly unsubstantial work, which,
like themselves, would vanish with the first gleam of day, and leave but
morning mist and vapour.

While it was yet dark, a few lookers-on collected, who had plainly come
there for the purpose and intended to remain: even those who had to pass
the spot on their way to some other place, lingered, and lingered yet,
as though the attraction of that were irresistible. Meanwhile the noise
of saw and mallet went on briskly, mingled with the clattering of boards
on the stone pavement of the road, and sometimes with the workmen's
voices as they called to one another. Whenever the chimes of the
neighbouring church were heard--and that was every quarter of an hour--a
strange sensation, instantaneous and indescribable, but perfectly
obvious, seemed to pervade them all.

Gradually, a faint brightness appeared in the east, and the air, which
had been very warm all through the night, felt cool and chilly. Though
there was no daylight yet, the darkness was diminished, and the stars
looked pale. The prison, which had been a mere black mass with little
shape or form, put on its usual aspect; and ever and anon a solitary
watchman could be seen upon its roof, stopping to look down upon the
preparations in the street. This man, from forming, as it were, a part
of the jail, and knowing or being supposed to know all that was passing
within, became an object of as much interest, and was as eagerly looked
for, and as awfully pointed out, as if he had been a spirit.

By and by, the feeble light grew stronger, and the houses with their
signboards and inscriptions, stood plainly out, in the dull grey
morning. Heavy stage waggons crawled from the inn-yard opposite; and
travellers peeped out; and as they rolled sluggishly away, cast many
a backward look towards the jail. And now, the sun's first beams came
glancing into the street; and the night's work, which, in its various
stages a