alleys into which Wild now plunged, would have perplexed any one, not
familiar with their intricacies, to thread them on a dark night.
Jonathan, however, was well acquainted with the road. Indeed, it was his
boast that he could find his way through any part of London blindfolded;
and by this time, it would seem, he had nearly arrived at his
destination; for, grasping his companion's arm, he led him along a
narrow entry which did not appear to have an outlet, and came to a halt.
Cautioning the knight, if he valued his neck, to tread carefully,
Jonathan then descended a steep flight of steps; and, having reached the
bottom in safety, he pushed open a door, that swung back on its hinges
as soon as it had admitted him; and, followed by Trenchard, entered the
night-cellar.

The vault, in which Sir Rowland found himself, resembled in some measure
the cabin of a ship. It was long and narrow, with a ceiling supported
by huge uncovered rafters, and so low as scarcely to allow a tall man
like himself to stand erect beneath it. Notwithstanding the heat of the
season,--which was not, however, found particularly inconvenient in this
subterranean region,--a large heaped-up fire blazed ruddily in one
corner, and lighted up a circle of as villanous countenances as ever
flame shone upon.

The guests congregated within the night-cellar were, in fact, little
better than thieves; but thieves who confined their depredations almost
exclusively to the vessels lying in the pool and docks of the river.
They had as many designations as grades. There were game watermen and
game lightermen, heavy horsemen and light horsemen, scuffle-hunters, and
long-apron men, lumpers, journeymen coopers, mud-larks, badgers, and
ratcatchers--a race of dangerous vermin recently, in a great measure,
extirpated by the vigilance of the Thames Police, but at this period
flourishing in vast numbers. Besides these plunderers, there were others
with whom the disposal of their pillage necessarily brought them into
contact, and who seldom failed to attend them during their hours of
relaxation and festivity;--to wit, dealers in junk, old rags, and marine
stores, purchasers of prize-money, crimps, and Jew receivers. The latter
formed by far the most knavish-looking and unprepossessing portion of
the assemblage. One or two of the tables were occupied by groups of fat
frowzy women in flat caps, with rings on their thumbs, and baskets by
their sides; and no one who had liste