Five years went by, and Edward Chester remained in the West Indies and prospered1. For five years Joe Willet fought in the war in America. And for five years Barnaby Rudge with his mother and Grip, the raven2, lived unmolested in their little village and were happy.
At the end of the five years three things happened at about the same time: Edward started back to England from the West Indies with a fair fortune in his pocket; Joe was sent back from America with one arm gone, and Barnaby and his mother left their village home again, secretly, and set out for London, hoping to lose themselves in its hugeness. The wily blind man, the companion now of Rudge, the murderer, had found them out![Pg 90]
He came one day and made Mrs. Rudge give him all the money she had been able to lay by in these five years except a single gold piece. He told her he would return in a week for more and that if she had not got it then, he would entice3 Barnaby away to join in the evil life of his father. So she left the village the very next morning, and she and Barnaby trudged4 afoot all the weary way to the great city.
Though they knew nothing of it, there was great excitement in London. Lord George Gordon, a well-meaning but crack-brained nobleman, led astray by flatterers till he believed he had a God-given mission to drive all Catholics out of England, had, sometime before this, begun to hold meetings and to stir up the people with the cry of "No Popery!"
He declared that the religion of the country was in danger of being overthrown5 and that the Pope of Rome was plotting to make his religion supreme6. And this idea he talked wherever he went. He was a slender, sallow man who dressed in severe black and wore his hair smoothly7 combed, and his bright, restless eyes and his look of uncertainty8 made it clear that he was no man to lead, but was rather himself the misled dupe of others.
One of these schemers who ruled him was his secretary, Gashford, a man of ugly face, with beetling9 brows and great flapped ears. He had[Pg 91] been a thief and a scoundrel all his life, and had wormed himself into Lord George's confidence by flattery. He easily fooled his master into believing that the rabble10 who flocked to hear him, and the idle loungers who yelled themselves hoarse11 at what he said, were crowds of honest citizens who believed as he did, and were ready to follow his leadership. Gashford had added to his followers12 even Dennis, the hangman of London, and the foolish nobleman not knowing the ruffian's true calling, thought him a man to trust.
For many weeks this banding together of all the lawless ragamuffins of London had gone on, till one had only to shout "No Popery!" on any street corner to draw together a crowd bent13 on mischief14. Respectable people grew afraid and kept to their houses, and criminals and street vagabonds grew bolder and bolder.
As may be guessed, Simon Tappertit, the one-time apprentice15 of Varden the locksmith, rejoiced at this excitement as at a chance to show his talent for leadership. His apprentice society had now become the "United Bulldogs," and he himself, helping16 the schemes of Gashford, strutted17 about among the crowds with an air of vast importance.
Sir John Chester watched the trouble gathering18 with glee. His old enemy Haredale, he knew, was a Catholic, and as this movement, if it grew bold enough, meant harm to all of that religion, he hoped for its success. He was too cunning to aid[Pg 92] it publicly, but he sent Maypole Hugh, who was still his spy, to Gashford; and the brawny19 hostler, who savagely20 longed for fighting and plunder21, joined with the secretary and with Dennis the hangman to help increase the tumult22.
A day had been set on which Lord George Gordon had vowed23 he would march to Parliament at the head of forty thousand men to demand the passing of a law to forbid all Catholics to enter the country. This vast rabble-army gathered in a great field, under the command of these sorry leaders—the misguided lord, Dennis the hangman, Tappertit, Hugh the hostler, Gashford the secretary, and other rowdies picked for their boldness and daring. The mob thus formed covered an immense space. All wore blue cockades in their hats or carried blue flags, and from them went up a hoarse roar of oaths, shouts and ribald songs.
Such was the scene on which Barnaby and his mother came as they walked into London. They knew nothing of its cause or its meaning. Mrs. Rudge saw its rough disorder24 with terror, but the confusion, the waving flags and the shouts had got into Barnaby's brain. To him this seemed a splendid host marching to some noble cause. He watched with sparkling eyes, longing25 to join it.
Suddenly Maypole Hugh rushed from the crowd with a shout of recognition, and, thrusting a flagstaff into Barnaby's hands, drew him into the ranks.[Pg 93]
His mother shrieked26 and ran forward, but she was thrown to the ground; Barnaby was whirled away into the moving mass and she saw him no more.
Barnaby enjoyed that hour of march with all his soul, and the louder the howling the more he was thrilled. The crowd surrounded the houses of Parliament and fought the police. At length a regiment27 of mounted soldiers charged them. Barnaby thought this brave work and held his ground valiantly28, even knocking one soldier off his horse with the flagstaff, until others dragged him to a place of safety.
That night the drunken mob, grown bolder, tore down, pillaged29 and burned all the Catholic chapels30 within their reach, and, with Hugh and Dennis the hangman, poor crazed Barnaby ran at its head, covered with dirt, his garments torn to rags, singing and leaping with delight. He thought he was the most courageous31 of all, that he was helping to destroy the country's enemies, and that when the fighting was over he and his mother would be rich and she would always be proud that he was so noble and so brave.
The golden cups, the candlesticks and the money they stole from the burned chapels Hugh and the hangman buried under a heap of straw in the tavern32 which they had made their headquarters, and left Barnaby to guard the place. He counted this a sacred trust, and when soldiers came to arrest all[Pg 94] in the building he refused to fly in time. He even fought them single-handed and felled two before he was knocked down with the butt33 of a musket34 and handcuffed.
While he had been resisting, Grip had been busily plucking away the straw from the hidden plunder; now his hoarse croak35 showed them the hoard36 and they unearthed37 it all. At length, closing ranks around Barnaby, they marched him off to a barracks, from which he was taken to Newgate Prison, where a blacksmith put irons on his arms and legs, and he and the raven were locked in a cell.
While Barnaby was guarding the tavern room, Hugh, egged on by his master, Sir John Chester, had proposed the burning of The Warren, where Haredale still lived with Emma, his niece, and Dolly Varden, now her companion.
The crowd agreed gladly, since Haredale was a Catholic and that same day in London had given evidence to the police against the rioters who had burned the chapels. They rushed away, marched hastily across the fields, tied the old host of the Maypole Inn to his chair, drank all the liquor they could find and then rushed to The Warren. There they put the servants to flight, burst in the doors, staved the wine-casks in the cellar, split up the costly38 furniture with hammers and axes and set fire to the building, so that it soon burned to the ground.
Haredale, in London, saw the red glare in the sky and rode post-haste to the place, but found on his arrival only ruins and ashes. He believed that Emma and Dolly had had time to escape to safety; but while he was searching the grounds for some sign of them he saw in the starlight a man hiding in a broken turret39.
He drew his sword and advanced. As the figure moved into the light he rushed forward, flung himself upon him and clutched his throat.
"Villain40!" he cried in a terrible voice, "dead and buried as all men supposed, at last, at last I have you! You, Rudge, slayer41 of my brother and of his faithful servant! Double murderer and monster, I arrest you in the name of God!"
Bound and fettered42 in his carriage, Haredale took Rudge back to London and had him locked in Newgate Prison.
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1
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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3
entice
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| v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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6
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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7
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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8
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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beetling
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| adj.突出的，悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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10
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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12
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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13
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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14
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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15
apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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19
brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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pillaged
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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32
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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36
hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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39
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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40
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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41
slayer
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| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
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42
fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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