How long he continued thus he scarcely knew; but just before dawn, he
managed to regain his legs, and, crawling up a bank, perceived he
was within a quarter of a mile of Tottenham. A short way off in
the fields he descried a sort of shed or cow-house, and thither he
contrived to drag his weary limbs. Opening the door, he found it
littered with straw, on which he threw himself, and instantly fell
asleep.
When he awoke it was late in the day, and raining heavily. For some
time he could not stir, but felt sick and exhausted. His legs were
dreadfully swelled; his hands bruised; and his fetters occasioned him
intolerable pain. His bodily suffering, however, was nothing compared
with his mental anguish. All the events of the previous day rushed to
his recollection; and though he had been unintentionally the cause
of his mother's death, he reproached himself as severely as if he had
been her actual murderer.
“Had I not been the guilty wretch I am,” he cried, bursting into an
agony of tears, “she would never have died thus.”
This strong feeling of remorse having found a natural vent, in some
degree subsided, and he addressed himself to his present situation.
Rousing himself, he went to the door. It had ceased raining, but the
atmosphere was moist and chill, and the ground deluged by the recent
showers. Taking up a couple of large stones which lay near, Jack
tried to beat the round basils of the fetters into an oval form, so
as to enable him to slip his heels through them.
While he was thus employed a farming man came into the barn.
Jack instantly started to his feet, and the man, alarmed at his
appearance, ran off to a neighbouring house. Before he could return,
Jack had made good his retreat; and, wandering about the lanes and
hedges, kept out of sight as much as possible.
On examining his pockets, he found about twenty guineas in gold, and
some silver. But how to avail himself of it was the question, for in
his present garb he was sure to be recognised. When night fell,
he crept into the town of Tottenham. As he passed along the main
thoroughfare, he heard his own name pronounced, and found that it
was a hawker, crying a penny history of his escapes. A crowd was
collected round the fellow, who was rapidly disposing of his stock.
“Here's the full, true, and particular account of Jack Sheppard's
last astonishing and never-to-be-forgotten escape from the Castle
of Newgate,” bawled the hawker, “with a print of him taken from the
life, showing the manner, how he was shackled and handcuffed. Only
one penny--two copies--two pence--thank you, Sir. Here's the----”
“Let me have one,” cried a servant maid, running across the street,
and in her haste forgetting to shut the door,--“here's the money.
Master and missis have been talking all day long about Jack Sheppard,
and I'm dying to read his life.”
“Here you have it, my dear,” returned the hawker. “Sold again!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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