The streets were now a dreadful spectacle. The shouts of therabble, the shrieks of women, the cries of the wounded, and theconstant firing, formed a deafening and an awful accompaniment tothe sights which every corner presented. Wherever the road wasobstructed by the chains, there the fighting and the loss of lifewere greatest; but there was hot work and bloodshed in almost everyleading thoroughfare.
At Holborn Bridge, and on Holborn Hill, the confusion was greaterthan in any other part; for the crowd that poured out of the cityin two great streams, one by Ludgate Hill, and one by NewgateStreet, united at that spot, and formed a mass so dense, that atevery volley the people seemed to fall in heaps. At this place alarge detachment of soldiery were posted, who fired, now up FleetMarket, now up Holborn, now up Snow Hill--constantly raking thestreets in each direction. At this place too, several large fireswere burning, so that all the terrors of that terrible night seemedto be concentrated in one spot.
Full twenty times, the rioters, headed by one man who wielded anaxe in his right hand, and bestrode a brewer"s horse of great sizeand strength, caparisoned with fetters taken out of Newgate, whichclanked and jingled as he went, made an attempt to force a passage at this point, and fire the vintner"s house. Full twenty timesthey were repulsed with loss of life, and still came back again;and though the fellow at their head was marked and singled out byall, and was a conspicuous object as the only rioter on horseback,not a man could hit him. So surely as the smoke cleared away, sosurely there was he; calling hoarsely to his companions,brandishing his axe above his head, and dashing on as though hebore a charmed life, and was proof against ball and powder.
This man was Hugh; and in every part of the riot, he was seen. Heheaded two attacks upon the Bank, helped to break open the Toll-houses on Blackfriars Bridge, and cast the money into the street:
fired two of the prisons with his own hand: was here, and there,and everywhere--always foremost--always active--striking at thesoldiers, cheering on the crowd, making his horse"s iron musicheard through all the yell and uproar: but never hurt or stopped.
Turn him at one place, and he made a new struggle in anotlter;force him to retreat at this point, and he advanced on that,directly. Driven from Holborn for the twentieth time, he rode atthe head of a great crowd straight upon Saint Paul"s, attacked aguard of soldiers who kept watch over a body of prisoners withinthe iron railings, forced them to retreat, rescued the men they hadin custody, and with this accession to his party, came back again, mad with liquor and excitement, and hallooing them on like ademon.
It would have been no easy task for the most careful rider to sit ahorse in the midst of such a throng and tumult; but though thismadman rolled upon his back (he had no saddle) like a boat upon thesea, he never for an instant lost his seat, or failed to guide himwhere he would. Through the very thickest of the press, over deadbodies and burning fragments, now on the pavement, now in the road,now riding up a flight of steps to make himself the moreconspicuous to his party, and now forcing a passage through a massof human beings, so closely squeezed together that it seemed as ifthe edge of a knife would scarcely part them,--on he went, asthough he could surmount all obstacles by the mere exercise of hiswill. And perhaps his not being shot was in some degreeattributable to this very circumstance; for his extreme audacity,and the conviction that he must be one of those to whom theproclamation referred, inspired the soldiers with a desire to takehim alive, and diverted many an aim which otherwise might have beenmore near the mark.
The vintner and Mr Haredale, unable to sit quietly listening to thenoise without seeing what went on, had climbed to the roof of the house, and hiding behind a stack of chimneys, were lookingcautiously down into the street, almost hoping that after so manyrepulses the rioters would be foiled, when a great shout proclaimedthat a parry were coming round the other way; and the dismaljingling of those accursed fetters warned them next moment thatthey too were led by Hugh. The soldiers had advanced into FleetMarket and were dispersing the people there; so that they came onwith hardly any check, and were soon before the house.
"All"s over now," said the vintner. "Fifty thousand pounds will bescattered in a minute. We must save ourselves. We can do nomore, and shall have reason to be thankful if we do as much."
Their first impulse was, to clamber along the roofs of the houses,and, knocking at some garret window for admission, pass down thatway into the street, and so escape. But another fierce cry frombelow, and a general upturning of the faces of the crowd, apprisedthem that they were discovered, and even that Mr Haredale wasrecognised; for Hugh, seeing him plainly in the bright glare ofthe fire, which in that part made it as light as day, called to himby his name, and swore to have his life.
"Leave me here," said Mr Haredale, "and in Heaven"s name, my good friend, save yourself! Come on!" he muttered, as he turned towardsHugh and faced him without any further effort at concealment: "Thisroof is high, and if we close, we will die together!"
"Madness," said the honest vintner, pulling him back, "sheermadness. Hear reason, sir. My good sir, hear reason. I couldnever make myself heard by knocking at a window now; and even if Icould, no one would be bold enough to connive at my escape.
Through the cellars, there"s a kind of passage into the back streetby which we roll casks in and out. We shall have time to get downthere before they can force an entry. Do not delay an instant, butcome with me--for both our sakes--for mine--my dear good sir!"