LONDON -- to
a slave -- was a sufficiently
interesting place. It was merely
a great big village; and mainly
mud and thatch. The streets
were muddy,
crooked, unpaved. The populace was an ever flocking
and drifting swarm of rags, and splendors, of 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
way. We saw knights and grandees whom we knew,
but they didn't know us in our rags 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 front of
our old barrack in a square, while we were enduring
the spectacle of a man being boiled to death in oil for
counterfeiting pennies. It was the sight of a newsboy
-- and I couldn't get at him! Still, I had 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 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,
hitch him to the slave-chain,
assume possession of the property,
march to Camelot, and --
But you get 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, whenever
I might choose. 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
ever to belong to him, for the
price asked for me from the time
I was first enslaved was exorbitant,
and 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 admired,
because of his grand physique,
but his kingly style was against
him, and he wasn't salable; nobody
wanted that kind of a slave.
I considered myself safe from
parting from him because of my
extravagant price. No, I was
not expecting to ever belong
to this gentleman whom I have
spoken of, but he had something
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 missed it
he thought he had lost it on
the way.
I had 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 I will 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:
"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
to inspect us for the night,
we will seize 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 as far as I went,
but the king was charmed and
satisfied. That evening we waited
patiently 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; 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, 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 walkingstaff
in the other. 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 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 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. 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!
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