212 MY APPRENTICESHIP. 



gate, a lad whose bruises and wounds I had often dressed after many 

 a pugilistic contest in which he had been engaged. He was a thin, pale 

 looking fellow, of a most determined aspect, marked by the small-pox, 

 with a deep sunk eye in his head, and a very peculiar squint ; one of 

 those fellows upon whose foreheads rogue is written, in very legible 

 characters ; from his inveterate obstinacy in fighting, he always went 

 by the name of " cutting Tom." I said, " Well, Tom, have you 

 had any Gretna jobs lately ?" " No, not this long time, Sir ; folks 

 has no spirits for this here kind of jobs now a days. I wishes we 

 had a job of that here kind. I've got a pair of rare horses now, such 

 spankers, my eyes, give me five minutes law, and catch me if they 

 can." It made my heart leap with joy to hear this. I felt myself 

 bounding away at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Assuming a 

 very serious look, I said, "Tom, can I trust you?" "To be sure 

 you may. Trust me? I never splits on nobody." I now told Tom 

 to have his horses ready at ten o'clock at the appointed spot, that I would 

 get into the chaise about fifty yards before the spot fixed on, to take up 

 the lady. Tom's wicked eyes sparkled with joy. As a great deal de- 

 pended upon Tom's address, I agreed to give him three guineas for the 

 first stage, for he said he should go like lightning over the road ; nay, 

 he even undertook to have another chaise ready at the next stage, and 

 for this purpose he should send a most trusty old friend, a kind of half- 

 idiot, a man who was never known either to foreget or neglect any mes- 

 sage he was sent upon only tell him what to do, and that Silly Billy, 

 as he was called, would do. He was a kind of automaton, into which 

 you infused your will, and nothing could turn him from what he had 

 undertaken. * Well, Billy took the note to our fellow-labourer, another 

 worthy, a friend of Tom's, who was ordered to have a chaise ready to 

 convey us on to the next stage. Every thing appeared favourable to 

 my views. I had heard nothing from the young lady, and therefore all 

 was right, I thought, in that quarter. As soon as evening came, I gave 

 Tom my portmanteau. I counted my guineas, and I counted the 

 minutes too, from the hour that was to emancipate me from the pestle 

 and mortar. My heart beat with anxiety and joy, as I anticipated the 

 hour that was to give me possession of so fine a girl, and so great a for- 

 tune. Oh, what an evening! In that evening, in the brief space of a 

 few short hours I seemed to live years ; time appeared to stand still ; 

 hundreds of ideas rushed through my mind ; I looked at my watch, and 

 when I looked again, and thought the greater part of an hour was gone, 

 I found that but a few minutes had elapsed. Those who have been 

 engaged in similar affairs well know the truth of this. However, the 

 hour approached, and about ten minutes before the time I walked into 

 the old surgery to have a last look at my house of bondage to bid a 

 long and last farewell to pots and gallipots, to pills and potions. I 

 slipped quietly out of the house unobserved, hurried down the lane that 

 led to Mrs. Von Tromp's, and, after waiting a few minutes, heard a 

 chaise driving gently down the lane. It was cutting Tom : he stopped 

 to let me into the chaise at the appointed place, and all I could say was 

 " Well done, Tom." We drove gently to the spot where we were to 

 take up the young lady. I must confess that at this moment I became 

 very much agitated ; my heart beat most violently ; my breathing be- 

 came quick, and my hands trembled. We had not stopped half a minute 

 when I saw the young lady gliding along the walk that led to the car- 



