In another minute the fugitives were out in the street, which was fortunately quite deserted at the time, and the lodge gate being locked outside, immediate pursuit was impossible. Bidding each other a hasty farewell, the fugitives then separated, each seeking the asylum which he knew had been provided for him. Mr. Hepburn was uncertain where to go, when a light in a window at that late hour attracted his attention, and he perceived an antique silver tankard of peculiar shape, which he knew belonged to his family. Without hesitation he entered the house and found his wife, who had placed the cup in the window, hoping it might catch his eye. Forster's flight from Newgate was completely eclipsed by that of Brigadier Mackintosh and his companions. That the first escape had been effected by bribery, very few persons doubted; but this was a bold dashing affair, well calculated to excite public admiration, and nothing else was talked about for a few days. As previously mentioned, the trial of the rebels was to have taken place in Westminster Hall on the following day. The court and juries met, but no prisoners were forthcoming, and an adjournment took place; but though a reward of one thousand pounds was offered for the apprehension of the brigadier, and five hundred pounds for each of his associates, they were not retaken. After a temporary concealment, Mackintosh succeeded in making his escape to France, where he remained for several years; but being unable to resist the impulse to revisit his native land, he ventured back to Scotland--a very hazardous step to take, since, being an outlaw, he was excluded from the benefit of the Act of Indemnity. The consequence was that the veteran warrior spent the remainder of his life as a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle. It is not our intention to follow the executioners in their sanguinary circuit through Lancashire--not shall we even particularise the insurgents who suffered the utmost rigour of the law at Lancaster, Garstang, Preston, Wigan, Liverpool, and Manchester--but we will halt for a moment at the latter place to allude to Tom Syddall, who was barbarously put to death with four or five others at Knot Mill. His case may stand for all the rest, since it was in no respect exceptional. Taken on a hurdle to the gallows, partly hanged--but not till life was extinct, he was drawn and quartered, and his head fixed on the market cross. Such was the punishment inflicted upon all the rebels of lower rank, who were not transported to the colonies. END OF COOK THE TENTH, _BOOK THE ELEVENTH_--THE SCAFFOLD. [Illustration: 0312] I.--THE LAST PARTING BETWEEN THE EARL OF DERWENT-WATER AND THE COUNTESS. |The last sad parting between the Earl of Dervventwater and the countess must now be detailed. The interview took place in the prison-chamber in the Devereux Tower, and on the day before the execution.