the whole of these proceedings had really come with such a rush upon the senses of mark ingestrie, that he might well have been excused had he not been able to act with the energy that he did; but the strong desire to capture sweeney todd, and so to put an end to all the doubts and fears that were felt concerning him, upon the parts of those to whom he was fondly attached, roused the young man to action.
colonel jeffrey was cooler than ingestrie in the affair; but he was not a whit the less determined upon that account.
in the course of seven or eight minutes at the outside, they were both mounted, and as there were plenty of people who could tell them in which direction todd had gone, they were soon upon his track.
todd pursued by the colonel and mark.
todd pursued by the colonel and mark.
todd had taken the london road, and had really got a considerable distance onward, and if he had been, which he was far from being, a good horseman, there is very little doubt but that he would either have led his pursuers a long distance, or possibly escaped them altogether, for the animal that he rode was one that in skilful hands would have done wonders.
it was no small aggravation to colonel jeffrey to be pursuing his own horse, while he himself was mounted upon a hack that was by no means equal to it.
skill, however, will get more work out of an indifferent steed than absolute ignorance will achieve from a first-rate one, so that after getting to the top of a rising ground about three miles out of brighton, our friends saw todd not three quarters of a mile in advance, coasting a little water-course to find a safe place to cross at. notwithstanding the distance was great, the colonel knew his own horse in a moment.
"come on, ingestrie," he said. "there he is!"
"are you sure?"
"quite. that's the rascal. ah, there he goes through the water! the horse will carry him well across it, but he did not know that, so it is a bold step. on—on!"
they had let their horses come rather easy up the ascent, for the colonel was too good a horseman to break down his steed, merely with an useless burst, when there might be a chase before it of some twenty or thirty miles yet, for all he knew to the contrary; and so, as the country, from the hill-top, sloped very gently right away to the north, they got on wonderfully, and without giving the cattle too much to do.
to keep todd in sight was everything now, for in that case they felt certain that they must eventually have him. from his actions, it did not seem that he was at all aware of his being so closely pursued, but suddenly they saw him pull up on an eminence and turn his horse's head in the direction of brighton. they saw him shade his eyes with his hands, and take a long look, and then by the sudden start that he gave, and which caused the horse to plunge in alarm, they knew that he had seen them, and that from that moment he would strain every nerve to escape.
the slight pause that todd had made in order to look back and see if he were pursued or not, had given his foes the advantage of about one hundred yards, for they had pushed on during that pause with renewed vigour; but now bending low in the saddle, it was evident that he was doing his best to urge the colonel's horse onwards, and it went like the wind.
"there he goes, colonel!" cried ingestrie. "that pace will do for us pretty quickly. he is leaving us behind fast enough."
"he is, by heaven, and if he gets to a turn of the road, there is no knowing what fox-like trick he may play us. on—on, ingestrie! there is no help for it, but to do our very best."
for another minute and a half, now, not a word was exchanged between the friends. the road did take a turn, and for some time they were out of all sight of todd, but the moment they themselves got round the elbow of the road, the colonel raised a shout of gratification, and then cried—
"there he is! he has had a fall. on—on!"
todd was in the middle of the road-way trying to mount the horse, from which it would appear as though he had been thrown, for the creature was rearing in evident alarm, and swerving every time that todd put his foot in the stirrup. maddened, then, at the idea that each moment his foes were gaining upon him, todd made such a vigorous effort to mount, that he succeeded in doing so, although both his feet were out of the stirrups. he clung to the horse with desperation, and kicked it violently with his heels, striking it at the same time on the head violently with his clenched fist.
the animal was driven half crazy by such unusual treatment, and after plunging and rearing for a few seconds, set off at such a gallop as no one could have believed any mortal horse could have achieved.
"off again!" cried the colonel. "i could have shot him, i think, ingestrie, just now."
"then, why, in the name of all that's tantalising, did you not do so?"
"why, to tell the truth, i was afraid of hitting the horse. if it had kept still for a moment, it would have been all right; but i could not be certain of my aim as it was. now, mind, we must have him, and i think he begins to find that fact out."
certainly, if any judgment could be come to, by the desperate manner in which todd rode, it would appear as though he considered his career as all but at an end. oh, how at that time he roared and raved that he had no fire-arms, by the aid of which he might turn and cope with his foes! if he had only had but a pair of pistols, he thought that not only would he have escaped, but escaped likewise with the intense gratification of destroying two of his enemies; but, then, he was totally unarmed, and if they should succeed in coming up with him, he had not even the means of self-destruction about him.
indifferent horseman, however, as todd was, even he could not help seeing that he was far better mounted than those who were pursuing him and so, from that circumstance, he gathered just a faint hope that he might distance them by knocking up their steeds. from what he had already experienced of the mettle of the horse he had got hold of so providentially for him, he felt certain that if his pursuers were obliged to come to a pause only for a quarter of an hour, he should be able to place such a distance between him and them, that he might consider himself to be in comparative, if not absolute safety.
to accomplish such a result, then, he felt that his plan was to keep right on within their sight, and let them sooner be tired out by the unwonted exertions that they would compel their inefficient cattle to make, with the vain hope of overtaking him. but todd had to do with a man, in colonel jeffrey, who was quite equal to such an emergency.
a stern chace is a long chace, but an escape even at considerable speed is a weary affair, with a foe directly behind; and the colonel calculated that allowing todd all the difference in speed between the horses, it would be yet a long distance before he could throw them back so far that they would not be in a position to take advantage of any accident that might occur to him.
"cool and easy, ingestrie," he said; "it's a question of time, now. the longer we can keep our horses on their legs, the better for us. don't urge your horse too much."
todd had now reached a very wild and romantic part of the road. it wound through a cutting in a mass of chalk, which, as it would be impossible to surmount, and a tedious thing to go round, had been very roughly levelled to the width of a road, and the sides were covered with rank vegetation, for successive rains had washed down upon the face of the chalk a facing of loam, from which had sprung up gigantic weeds, and innumerable wild flowers.
todd had got about half way through this place, when, from the other end of it, there came a party of five horsemen.
one man rode at the head of the party upon a black horse, which had evidently gone far that day. todd and this man met face to face, and they simultaneously pronounced each other's names.
"sir richard blunt!" shrieked todd.
"sweeney todd!" said the magistrate.
"stop him!" shouted ingestrie, as he and the colonel just got a sight of the horsemen beyond todd. "stop him!"
with a yell, like that which might be supposed to come from a fiend, todd swerved from the grasp of sir richard blunt, who made a dart at his throat, and then, drawing up his knees, he gave his horse the rein, and darting past sir richard, he dashed right into the midst of the party of officers, who were behind, and fairly broke his way through them.
"not yet—not yet!" he shouted. "ha!—ha! not yet!"
"fire!" cried sir richard blunt.
the sharp report of four holster-pistols sounded in the narrow road-way. todd fell from his horse, and, terrified by the shots, the steed went off without him at a mad gallop.
twice todd rolled over, and grasped handfuls of chalk and dust from the road; and then he lay upon his back profoundly still. in an instant, sir richard blunt dismounted; and then colonel jeffrey and mark ingestrie rode up to the spot.
"you have—have—" cried ingestrie.
"yes, at last, mr. ingestrie," said sir richard. "i had some information that he was hovering about the coast, and came here to see you all. i am sorry to defraud the gallows of its due: but there lies todd!"
a couple of the officers now dismounted, while the others held their horses, and they dragged the wretched man to the side of the road.
"is he dead?" said ingestrie.
"no," said todd, opening his eyes. "he still lives to curse you all! i—"
it was evident that he wished to say more; but he was bleeding internally, and he began to struggle with the volumes of blood that rose to his throat. with a horrible shriek, he rolled over on to his face, and then, after one sharp convulsion of his limbs, he lay perfectly still.
one of the officers turned him round again. one glance at the face was sufficient. the guilty spirit of sweeney todd had fled at last to its account!
"dead," said sir richard blunt. "let the body lie here, and we will all ride on to brighton, and from there send some conveyance for it. mr. ingestrie and you, colonel jeffrey, are witnesses of his end, and i can only say that i feel now as if a heavy weight were lifted off my breast. the good, and the kind, and true, need no longer live in fear of the wild vengeance of this man. let us hope that heaven will have more mercy upon his guilty soul than ever he had consideration for the sufferings of others."
