e large fortune
which was to have been mine; for even the one-half of the sum which had
been taken from the gamester's pocket would have been sufficient to have
enabled me to live for the future in affluence.

"I became perfectly maddened at the idea that so large a sum had passed
out of my hands. I constantly hovered about Bannerworth Hall, hoping and
expecting that something might arise which would enable me to get
admittance to it, and make an active search through its recesses for the
hidden treasure.

"All my exertions were in vain. I could hit upon no scheme whatever; and
at length, wearied and exhausted, I was compelled to proceed to London
for the sake of a subsistence. It is only in that great metropolis that
such persons as myself, destitute of real resources, but infinitely
reckless as regards the means by which they acquire a subsistence, can
hope to do so. Once again, therefore, I plunged into the vortex of
London life, and proceeded, heedless of the criminality of what I was
about, to cater for myself by robbery, or, indeed, in any manner which
presented a prospect of success. It was during this career of mine, that
I became associated with some of the most desperate characters of the
time; and the offences we committed were of that daring character that
it could not be wondered at eventually so formidable a gang of
desperadoes must be by force broken up.

"It so occurred, but unknown to us, that the police resolved upon making
one of the most vigorous efforts to put an end to the affair, and in
consequence a watch was set upon every one of our movements.

"The result of this was, as might have been expected, our complete
dispersion, and the arrest of some our members, and among them myself.

"I knew my fate almost from the first. Our depredations had created such
a sensation, that the legislature, even, had made it a matter of
importance that we should be suppressed, and it was an understood thing
among the judges, that the severest penalties of the law should be
inflicted upon any one of the gang who might be apprehended and
convicted.

"My trial scarcely occupied an hour, and then I was convicted and
sentenced to execution, with an intimation from the judge that it would
be perfectly absurd of me to dream, for one moment, of a remission of
that sentence.

"In this state of affairs, and seeing nothing but death before me, I
gave myself up to despair, and narrowly missed cheating the hangman of
h