The sleeping man was Hugh; and perhaps it was not unnatural forDennis to feel in a state of very uncomfortable suspense, and towish with his whole soul that he might never wake again. Tired ofstanding, he crouched down in his corner after some time, andrested on the cold pavement; but although Hugh"s breathing stillproclaimed that he was sleeping soundly, he could not trust him outof his sight for an instant. He was so afraid of him, and of somesudden onslaught, that he was not content to see his closed eyesthrough the chair-back, but every now and then, rose stealthily tohis feet, and peered at him with outstretched neck, to assurehimself that he really was still asleep, and was not about tospring upon him when he was off his guard.
He slept so long and so soundly, that Mr Dennis began to think hemight sleep on until the turnkey visited them. He wascongratulating himself upon these promising appearances, andblessing his stars with much fervour, when one or two unpleasantsymptoms manifested themselves: such as another motion of the arm,another sigh, a restless tossing of the head. Then, just as itseemed that he was about to fall heavily to the ground from his narrow bed, Hugh"s eyes opened.
It happened that his face was turned directly towards hisunexpected visitor. He looked lazily at him for some half-dozenseconds without any aspect of surprise or recognition; thensuddenly jumped up, and with a great oath pronounced his name.
"Keep off, brother, keep off!" cried Dennis, dodging behind thechair. "Don"t do me a mischief. I"m a prisoner like you. Ihaven"t the free use of my limbs. I"m quite an old man. Don"thurt me!"
He whined out the last three words in such piteous accents, thatHugh, who had dragged away the chair, and aimed a blow at him withit, checked himself, and bade him get up.
"I"ll get up certainly, brother," cried Dennis, anxious topropitiate him by any means in his power. "I"ll comply with anyrequest of yours, I"m sure. There--I"m up now. What can I do foryou? Only say the word, and I"ll do it."
"What can you do for me!" cried Hugh, clutching him by the collarwith both hands, and shaking him as though he were bent on stopping his breath by that means. "What have you done for me?"
"The best. The best that could be done," returned the hangman.
Hugh made him no answer, but shaking him in his strong grip untilhis teeth chattered in his head, cast him down upon the floor, andflung himself on the bench again.
"If it wasn"t for the comfort it is to me, to see you here," hemuttered, "I"d have crushed your head against it; I would."
It was some time before Dennis had breath enough to speak, but assoon as he could resume his propitiatory strain, he did so.
"I did the best that could be done, brother," he whined; "I didindeed. I was forced with two bayonets and I don"t know how manybullets on each side of me, to point you out. If you hadn"t beentaken, you"d have been shot; and what a sight that would have been-afine young man like you!"
"Will it be a better sight now?" asked Hugh, raising his head, withsuch a fierce expression, that the other durst not answer him justthen.
"A deal better," said Dennis meekly, after a pause. "First,there"s all the chances of the law, and they"re five hundredstrong. We may get off scot-free. Unlikelier things than thathave come to pass. Even if we shouldn"t, and the chances fail, wecan but be worked off once: and when it"s well done, it"s so neat,so skilful, so captiwating, if that don"t seem too strong a word,that you"d hardly believe it could be brought to sich perfection.