there was something in the tone of crotchet that made the magistrate confident he suspected something very peculiar, and he followed him without a word.
the track or trail upon the ground was very peculiar, it was broad and defined, and had turned in the direction that it went every little weed or blade of grass that was within its boundaries. a number of decayed leaves from the forest trees had likewise been swept along it; and the more any one might look at it the more they must feel convinced that something heavy had been dragged along it.
what that something heavy was, mr. crotchet had his suspicions, and they were right.
"this way, your worship," he said, "this way; it goes right into this hedge as nicely as possible, though the branches of these bushes are placed all smooth again."
as he spoke, crotchet began to beat the obstructing branches of a wild nut tree and a blackberry-bush, that seemed, by their entwining arms, to have struck up a very close sort of acquaintance with each other; and then he suddenly cried out—
"here it is, sir."
"what, crotchet?"
"the dead 'un."
"dead! you don't mean to say that one such is here, and that the dead body of todd is in the thicket?"
"come on, sir, i don't think it is him. it don't seem long enough; but here's somebody, as safe as possible, sir, for all that. push your way through sir: it's only prickles."
the magistrate did push his way through, despite the vigorous opposition of the blackberry-bush; and then—lying upon its face—he saw the dead body of a man.
the readers of this narrative could have told sir richard blunt what that body had been named while the breath of life was in it; but neither he nor crotchet could at first make up their minds upon the subject.
"do you know him?" said sir richard.
"i guess only."
"yes, and you guess as i do. this is lupin, todd's prison companion, and the companion in his escape."
crotchet nodded.
"i went to newgate," he said, "and had a good look at him, so that i should know him, sir, dead or alive; so i'll just turn him over, and have a good look at his face."
with this, crotchet carefully—by the aid of his foot—turned over the body, and the first glance he got at the dead face satisfied him.
"yes, your worship," he said, "lupin it is, and todd has killed him. you may take your oath of that."
"not a doubt of it: such is the result of the association of such men. todd has found him, or fancied he should find him, an encumbrance in the way of his own escape, and has sought this wood to take his life."
"that's about it, sir."
"and now, crotchet, we may make certain of one thing, and that is, that todd is not in this wood, nor in this neighbourhood either. i should say, that after this deed, the first thing he would do would be to fly from this spot."
"not a doubt of that, your worship; but the deuce of it is to find out which way he has gone."
"we must be guided in that by the same mode of inquiry, crotchet, that brought us here. we were successful in tracing him to this wood, and we may be equally successful in tracing him from it. we must go into the village of hampstead, and give information about this dead body; and we will make there what inquiries we can."
they were neither of them very anxious to remain in caen wood, after discovering how it was tenanted; and in a very short time they were mounted again, and went along the lane until they emerged upon hampstead heath, and so took the road to the village, where sir richard gave information to the authorities concerning the finding of the body of lupin.
there, too, he heard that a man answering the description of todd had passed through the village, and refused to partake some questionable brandy, at a public-house, on its outskirts. this man was evidently proceeding to london. crotchet heard this information with great attention; and when he and sir richard blunt were alone, he said—
"i tell you what it is, sir—the country will never suit todd."
"how do you mean, crotchet?"
"i mean, sir, that, in my opinion, he has gone back to london again. the country, sir, ain't the sort of place for such men as he is. you may depend upon it, he only came to the little wood to get rid of lupin, and he has gone back to try and hide in london till the row is over."
"you really think so?"
"i do, sir; and if we want to find him, we must go, too."
"well, crotchet, of one thing i am pretty well convinced, and that is, that he is not in this part of the country, for after the murder in the wood, which he will be in continual fear of being discovered, it is not likely he would stay about here; and so, as we have traced him a little on the road to london, we may as well, for all we know to the contrary, assume that he has gone there at once."
"come on, then, sir," said crotchet; "i feel's what you call's a sort of a—oh, dear me, what is it? a presentment—"
"a presentiment, crotchet."
"ah, sir, that's it. i feel that sort of thing that old todd will try and hide himself in some old crib in london, and not at all trust to the country, where everybody is looked at for all the world as though he were a strange cat. lord bless you, sir, if i had done anything and wanted to hide, i should go into the very thick of the people of london, and i ain't quite sure but i'd take a lodging in bow street."
sir richard blunt was himself very much of crotchet's opinion regarding todd's proceedings, for his experience of the movements of malefactors had taught him that they generally, after their first attempt to try to get away, hover about the spot of their crimes; and it is a strange thing, that with regard to persons who have committed great crimes, there is a great similarity of action, as though the species of mind that could induce the commission of murder from example, were the same in other respects in all murderers.
to london, then, with what expedition they could make, sir richard blunt and crotchet went, and although they made what inquiry they could, they found no news of todd. and now we must leave them for awhile, thrown completely out in all their researches for the escaped criminal, while we once more proceed to the house in fleet street, where we left todd in rather an uncomfortable situation.
it will be recollected that, locked in the grasp of the officer, todd and that individual had gone down with the chair through the opening in the floor of his shop.
this was the first time that todd had undertaken that mode of getting into the cellars of his house; and when he found the chair going, he gave himself up for lost, and uttered a cry of horror. it seemed to him at that moment as if that were the species of retribution which was to come over him—death by the same dreadful means that had enabled him so often to inflict it upon others.
no doubt todd's anticipations of being dashed to destruction upon the stones below would have been correct had he gone down alone, or had there been no one already immediately beneath the trap-door in the shop flooring; but as it was, he fell, fortunately for him, uppermost, and they both, he and the officer, fell upon the other man who had gone down only a short time previous. that saved todd; but he was terribly shaken, and so was the officer, and it was a few moments before either of them recovered sufficiently to move a limb.
the lives of those two depended upon who should recover his strength and energies first. todd was that man. hate is so much stronger a passion than every other, and it was under the influence of that feeling that todd was the first of the two to recover; and the moment he did so, the yell of rage that he uttered really might have been heard in fleet street. it was very indiscreet of todd, but at that moment he thought of nothing but revenge. his own safety became a secondary consideration with him.
he grasped the officer by the throat!
at the moment that, by the feel only, for that place was in the most profound darkness, todd felt sure that he had the officer by the throat, he knew that his triumph was certain. it would have been as vain a thing to attempt to escape the chances of destiny, as to dream of avoiding the grasp of that iron hand that now closed upon the throat of the unfortunate officer.
it was just then, though, that the officer began to recover a little from the shock of his fall. it was only to recover to die. better for him would it have been had he slept on in insensibility to the pangs that were awaiting him; but that was not to be.
"ah, wretch!" shrieked todd, "so you thought you had me? down—down to death!—ha!—ha!"
the officer struggled much, and dashed about his feet and arms, but all was in vain.
"ha!—ha!" laughed todd, and that hideous laugh awakened as hideous an echo in the dismal place. "ha!—ha! i have you now. oh! but i should like to protract your death and see you die by inches! only that my time is precious, and for my own sake, i will put you quickly beyond the pale of life."
the man tried to cry out; but the compression upon his throat of those bony fingers prevented him. he had his hand at liberty, and he caught todd by the head and face, and began to do him as much mischief as he could. there was for a few seconds a fierce struggle, and then todd, keeping still his right hand clasped about the throat of his victim, with the left laid hold of as much of his hair on the front of his head us he could, and raising his head then about six inches from the stone floor on which it had rested, he dashed it down again with all his might.
the officer's arms fell nerveless to his sides, and he uttered a deep groan.
again todd raised the head, and dashed it down, and that time he heard a crashing sound, and he felt satisfied that he had killed the man.
there was now no further use in holding the throat of the dead man, and todd let him go.
"ha!—ha!" he said. "that is done. that is done—ha! now am i once more lord and master in my own house—once again i reign here supreme, and can do what it may please me to do. ha! this is glorious! why, it is like old times coming back to me again. i feel as if i could open my shop in the morning, and again polish off the neighbourhood. it seems as if all that had happened since last i stropped a razor above, had been but a dream. the arrest—the trial—the escape—newgate—the wood at hampstead! all a dream—a dream!"
he was silent, and the excitement of the moment of triumph had passed away.
"no—no," he said. "no! it is too real—much too real! oh, it is real, indeed. i am the fugitive! the haunted man without a home—without a friend; and i have this night nor any other night any place in which i may lay my head in safety. i am as one persecuted by all the world, without hope—without pity! what will now become of me?"
a low groan came upon todd's ear.
he started, and looked around him. he tried hard to pierce with his half-shut eyes the intense darkness, but he could not; and muttering to himself—"not yet dead—not yet dead?" he crept to an obscure corner of the cellar, and opened a door that led by a ladder to the floor of the back parlour, where there was a trap door, under which the large table usually stood, and which he could open from below.
in the parlour todd got a light, and feeling then still disturbed about the groan that he had heard below, he armed himself with an iron bar that belonged to the outer door, and with this in his right hand, and the light in his left, he crept back again to the cellar.
a glance at the two men who lay there was sufficient to satisfy him that they were no more; and after then taking from them a couple of pairs of pistols, and a small sum of money, he crept back again to the parlour. as he did so, he heard st. dunstan's clock strike the hour of four.
"four!" he said. "four. it will not be light for nearly two hours yet, and i may rest myself awhile and think. yes, it is necessary now that i should think; for i have time—a little time—to do so, and much, oh, so much to think of. there's some of my own brandy, too, in the parlour, that's a comfort."
the fire was still burning in the parlour grate. todd raked the glowing embers together with the iron bar, and then he took a good draught at the brandy. it revived him most wonderfully, and he gave one of his old chuckles, as he muttered—
"oh, that i could get a few whom i could name in such a position as i had yon man in in the cellar a short time since. that would be well, indeed. ha! i am, after all, rather lucky, though."
a sharp knock come, at this moment, at the outer door of the shop, and todd sprang in alarm to his feet.
