Life in the Red Brigade: London Fire Brigade by R. M. Ballantyne (korean novels in english txt) đ
- Author: R. M. Ballantyne
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âWill you not consent to give up a thorough scoundrel, who every one condemns?â demanded Mrs Dashwood, with sudden indignation.
âWell, that dependsââ
âBloater,â said Mary, with increasing earnestness, âI cannot bribe youâI have not the means even if I had the will; but I would not if I could. I scorn bribery. If you will not aid me for the sake of a poor, helpless, infatuated girl, who is on the brink of ruinââ
âMissis Dashwood,â said the Bloater, with a look of serio-comic dignity, âI scorns bribery as much as you does. âNo bribery, no câruptâons, no Popery,â themâs my mottoesâbesides a few more that thereâs no occasion to mention. Wâether or not I gives âim up depends on circumstances. Now, I sâpose you wantâs âim took anâ bagged, âcause âe ainât fit for your friend Martha Readingâweâll drop the âMissâ if you please. Well, wot I want to know is, does Martha think as you does?â
âOf course not, boy. No doubt she knows that he is an unworthy scoundrel, but she canât prevail on herself to forsake him; so, you see, I want to help her a little.â
âAh, I seeâyesâI see. Well, missis, Iâll take it into consideration. Come along, Jim.â
Without waiting for a reply, the Bloater quitted the house abruptly, followed by his friend. He walked very fast towards the Cityâso fast that Jim was compelled to trotâand was unusually silent. He went straight to the abode of Martha Reading, and found her sewing and weeping.
âHa! heâs bin with you, I see,â said the Bloater. âDid âe ask you to let âim âide âere?â
âYeâes;â said Martha, hesitating; âbut I refused to do it. God knows how willingâhow willingâI would be to shelter and save him if I could!â
âWould you shelter a guilty man?â demanded the Bloater, sternly.
âI donât know that he is guilty,â said Martha, evasively. âBut, tell me, what did Mrs Dashwood want with you?â
âThatâs a private matter,â said the Bloater, frowning. âYou canât turn me off the scent like that. I ask you, ainât it right to âand a guilty man over to justice?â
âIt is,â replied Martha, wiping her eyes, âbut it is also right to temper justice with mercy.â
âI say, thatâs drawinâ it rather fine, ainât it?â said the Bloater, screwing up one eyebrow and turning towards Little Jim; but that small youth was so touched with the poor girlâs sorrow and so attracted by her countenance, that he had quite forgotten his patron for the moment. Going towards her, he laid his dirty little hand on her knee, and looked up in her face.
âGod bless you, dear boy,â she said, patting him on the head, âyou are the first that has given me a look of sympathy for manyââ
She broke down suddenly, burst into a flood of tears, and, seizing the child in her arms, absolutely hugged him!
âHallo! hallo!â cried the Bloater, when Little Jim was released. âI say, you know, come, this sort oâ thing will never do. Wây, its houtrageous. Come along with you.â
Saying which he seized Little Jim by the collar, dragged him out into the street, and hurried him along. Presently he released him, but without slackening his pace, and said, âNow, Jim, you anâ I shall go and pay another wisit.â
They traversed several small streets, which seemed to be influenced by a tendency to gravitate towards the Thames; while the river, as if in sympathy, appeared to meet them more than half way in the shape of mud. As they proceeded, huge warehouses frowned above, having doors high up on their blank faces where windows ought to have been, with no steps leading thereto, but in some cases with huge block tackles pendent therefrom, suggestive of the idea that the owners were wont to drop the enormous hooks and fish for passers-by. These streets naturally became more nautical in some respects as they neared the river. Old bits of timber lay here and there among old cordage in little yards, where the owners appeared to deal in small-coal and miscellaneous filth. Elsewhere, worn-out anchors held tenaciously to the mud, as if afraid of being again pressed into service and carried off to sea. Everything was cold, dismal, dreary, disreputable; and here, in the dirtiest corner of the smallest possible yard, the Bloater found a half-concealed door that might have been the portal to a dog-kennel or pig-sty. Opening it he entered, and Little Jim followed.
The aspect of things inside was not attractive. Dirt, damp, and rubbish prevailed in the room, which was just big enough to permit of a tall man lying down, but not high enough to admit of his standing up. An uncommonly small four-post bed almost filled the apartment, at the foot of which, on the floor and half-reclining against one of the posts, lay Phil Sparks, either dead-drunk or asleep, or both.
The Bloater glanced back at Little Jim with a look of satisfaction, and held up his finger to enjoin silence. Peering round the room, which was lighted by a farthing candle stuck in the neck of a pint bottle, he observed a piece of rope lying among some rubbish.
âHa! thisâll do,â he whispered, as he took it up, and, with wonderful rapidity, made a loop on it.
âNow, Jim, you be ready to cut and run if he should waken before I âave âim fast. Donât mind me; Iâll look arter myself. Anâ wotever you do, donât holler for the bobbies. Mind that, else Iâll strangle you.â
With this advice and caution, the Bloater advanced toward the recumbent man, and passed the rope softly round his body, including his arms and the bedpost in the coil. Drawing it suddenly tight, he hastily made it fast; but there was no occasion for haste, for the sleep of the man was so profound that the action did not awake him.
âHall rightâfusâ rate,â said the Bloater aloud, as he wound the rope round and round Sparks, so as to make him doubly secure. âNothinâ could be better. Now, Jim, Iâm goinâ for to preach a sermon to-nightâa sort oâ discoorse. You never heard me preach, did you?â
Little Jim, who, despite his love of mischief, was somewhat alarmed at the strange proceedings of his friend and patron, looked at him with a mingled expression of fear and glee, and shook his head.
âWell, you shall âear. Moreover, I âope that youâll profit by wot you âears.â
Saying this, he advanced his hand towards the sleeping manâs face, and, causing his thumb to act as a trigger to his middle finger, gave him such a flip on the point of his nose, that he awoke with a tremendous roar. Suddenly he became pale as deathâsupposing, no doubt, that he had betrayed himselfâand glanced towards the door with a bewildered stare.
âOh, you neednât alarm yourself,â said the Bloater, placing a stool in front of his victim, and sitting down thereon, with a hand on each knee, âit ainât the bobbies. If you keep quiet, thereâs no fear of them in this neighbourhood. I can call âem wâen I wants âem. Thereâs nobody but me and Little Jim âereâyour friends, you know.â
Becoming suddenly convinced of the truth of this, Phil Sparks, who was very drunk, made so desperate an effort to free himself that he nearly overturned the bed.
âOh, you are anxious to see the bobbies, are you? Well, go anâ call âem in, Jim.â
Jim rose to obey, and the man became instantly quiet.
âHo! youâre reasonable now, are you? Thatâs well. You neednât call âem in yet, Jim. Weâll grant âim a reprieve. Fetch that stool, anâ sit down beside meâthere. Now, Mr Sparks, alias Blazes, no doubt youâre a precious specimen of hinnocent âunmanity, ainât you?â
Sparks made no reply, but scowled at the boy with a look of deadly hatred.
âWell, upon my word,â resumed the Bloater, with a smile, âif I kepâ a menagerie, Iâd offer you five âundred a year to represent a Tasmanian devil. But look âere, now, Iâve no time to waste with you; I come âere to give you a bit of my mind. Youâre a fire-raiser, you are. Ah! you may well wince anâ grow wâite. Youâd grow wâiter still, with a rope round your neck, if you wos left to my tender mercies, you wâite livered villain! for I knows you; Iâve watched you; Iâve found you hout; anâ Iâve only got to âold up my little finger to cut your pretty little career prematoorly short. You donât seem to like that? No, I didnât expect you would. This young man, whose âart is big, if âis bodyâs small, knows as much about you as I do. Two witnesses, you see; but you ainât left to our tender mercies; and if you wants to know who delivered you from us, and from the maginstrates, and Jack Ketch, alias Calcraft, I replies, Martha Reading. Ha! you look surprised. Quite natâral. Youâve deserved very different treatment from that young ooman, anâ didnât expect that sheâd return good for evil, I sâpose. Thatâs because you donât know âer; you donât understand âer, you miserable lump of selfish stoopidity. âOwsâever, as I said before, I ainât a-goinâ to waste no more time with you. But let me, before biddinâ you adoo, give you a caution. Remember, that Iâve got my eye on you. Just one word more. Wâen you thinks of me, donât think of one as âas got any tender mercies, for I ainât got none; not a scrap of âem, nor nothinâ of the sort. Wâen you wants to know the true cause of your beinâ let off, just think of two wordsâMartha Reading! She knows nothinâ oâ wot Iâm doinâ, nevertheless, sheâs done it! Let âer name ring in your ears, anâ thunder in your brain, and burn in your âart, till it consooms your witals or your willany! Now, Jim,â concluded the Bloater, rising and opening a large clasp-knife, âyou go to the door, open it wide, anâ stanâ by to cut, and run. This genâlmân ainât to be trusted wâen free. Are you ready?â
âHall ready,â replied Jim.
The Bloater cut the cord that bound Phil Sparks, and darted from the room. Before the man could disentangle himself from its coils, the boys were safe from pursuit, quietly wending their way through the crowded thoroughfares of the great city.
Several months passed away. During this period Phil Sparks kept in close hiding, because, although the Bloater, true to his promise, refrained from giving information against him, there were others who knew and suspected him, and who had no visions of an imploring Martha to restrain them in their efforts to deliver him into the hands of justice.
During this period, also, Ned Crashington recovered his wonted health and vigour, while his wife, to some extent, recovered her senses, and, instead of acting as an irritant blister on her husband, began really to aim at unanimity. The result was, that Nedâs love for her, which had only been smothered a little, burst forth with renewed energy, and Maggie found that in peace there is prosperity. It is not to be supposed that Maggie was cured all at once. She was not an angelâonly an energetic and self-willed woman. She therefore broke out now and then in her old style; but, on the whole, she was much improved, and the stalwart fireman no longer sought martyrdom in the flames.
During this period, too, the men of the Red Brigade held on the even tenor of their furious fiery way; not, indeed, scatheless, but with a much smaller amount of damage to life and limb than might have been expected in a service where the numerical strength was so lowâonly about 380 menâand where the duty, night and day, was so severe and hazardous.
About this time, their Chiefâs âReportâ for the past year was issued, and it revealed a few facts which are worthy of record. It stated that there had been altogether 1946 fires in London during the past
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