Adventure stories; Boys -- Fiction; East End (London, England) -- Fiction; Grandfathers -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction
A rustle, that was not of any tree, began when the snore was at its
steadiest; a gentle rustle indeed, where something, some moving shadow
in the black about it, crept over the river wall. Clearer against a
faint patch, which had been white with lime in daylight, the figure grew
to that of a man; a man moving in that murky darkness with an amazing
facility, address, and quietness. Down toward the riverside he went, and
there stooping, dipped into the water some small coarse bag of cloth,
that hung in his hand. Then he rose, and, after a listening pause,
turned toward the shed whence came the snore.
With three steps and a pause, and three steps more, he neared the door:
the stick he carried silently skimming the ground before him, his face
turned upward, his single eye rolling blankly at the sky that was the
same for him at night or noon; and the dripping cloth he carried
diffused a pungent smell, as of wetted quick-lime. So, creeping and
listening, he reached the door. Within, the snore was regular and deep.
Nothing held the door but a latch, such as is lifted by a finger thrust
through a hole. He listened for a moment with his ear at this hole, and
then, with infinite precaution, inserted his finger, and lifted the
latch....
* * * * *
Up by the George Tavern, beyond Stepney, Henry Viney was hastening along
the Commercial Road to call Dan Ogle to immediate business. Ahead of him
by a good distance, Musky Mag hurried in the same direction, bearing
food in a saucer and handkerchief, and beer in a bottle. But hurry as
they might, here was a visitor well ahead of both....
* * * * *
The door opened with something of a jar, and with that there was a
little choke in the snore, and a moment's silence. Then the snore began
again, deep as before. Down on his knees went Dan Ogle's visitor, and so
crawled into the deep of the shed.
He had been gone no more than a few seconds, when the snore stopped. It
stopped with a thump and a gasp, and a sudden buffeting of legs and
arms; and in the midst arose a cry: a cry of so hideous an agony that
Grimes the wharf-keeper, snug in his first sleep fifty yards away,
sprang erect and staring in bed, and so sat motionless for half a minute
ere he remembered his legs, and thrust them out to carry him to the
window. And the dog on the wharf leapt the length of its chain,
answering the cry with a torrent of wild barks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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