Auriol | Page 9

along the blank and dreary walls, the Tinker, who was now a
little in advance, stopped before a door, and pushing it open, entered
the dwelling. His companion followed him.
The extraordinary and incongruous assemblage of objects which met
the gaze of the Sandman, coupled with the deserted appearance of the
place, produced an effect upon his hardy but superstitious nature.
Looking round, he beheld huge mill-stones, enormous water-wheels,
boilers of steam-engines, iron vats, cylinders, cranes, iron pumps of the
strangest fashion, a gigantic pair of wooden scales, old iron safes, old
boilers, old gas-pipes, old water-pipes, cracked old bells, old birdcages,
old plates of iron, old pulleys, ropes, and rusty chains, huddled and
heaped together in the most fantastic disorder. In the midst of the
chaotic mass frowned the bearded and colossal head of Neptune, which
had once decorated the forepart of a man-of-war. Above it, on a sort of
framework, lay the prostrate statue of a nymph, together with a bust of
Fox, the nose of the latter being partly demolished, and the eyes
knocked in. Above these, three garden divinities laid their heads
amicably together. On the left stood a tall Grecian warrior, minus the
head and right hand. The whole was surmounted by an immense
ventilator, stuck on the end of an iron rod, ascending, like a
lightning-conductor, from the steam-engine pump.
Seen by the transient light of the moon, the various objects above
enumerated produced a strange effect upon the beholder's imagination.

There was a mixture of the grotesque and terrible about them. Nor was
the building itself devoid of a certain influence upon his mind. The
ragged brickwork, over-grown with weeds, took with him the
semblance of a human face, and seemed to keep a wary eye on what
was going forward below.
A means of crossing from one side of the building to the other, without
descending into the vault beneath, was afforded by a couple of planks;
though as the wall on the farther side was some feet higher than that
near at hand, and the planks were considerably bent, the passage
appeared hazardous.
Glancing round for a moment, the Tinker leaped into the cellar, and,
unmasking his lantern, showed a sort of hiding-place, between a bulk
of timber and a boiler, to which he invited his companion.
The Sandman jumped down.
"The ale I drank at the 'Two Fighting Cocks' has made me feel drowsy,
Tinker," he remarked, stretching himself on the bulk; "I'll just take a
snooze. Vake me up if I snore -- or ven our sperrit appears."
The Tinker replied in the affirmative; and the other had just become
lost to consciousness, when he received a nudge in the side, and his
companion whispered -- "He's here!"
"Vhere -- vhere?" demanded the Sandman, in some trepidation.
"Look up, and you'll see him," replied the other.
Slightly altering his position, the Sandman caught sight of a figure
standing upon the planks above them. It was that of a young man. His
hat was off, and his features, exposed to the full radiance of the moon,
looked deathly pale, and though handsome, had a strange sinister
expression. He was tall, slight, and well-proportioned; and the general
cut of his attire, the tightly buttoned, single-breasted coat, together with
the moustache upon his lip, gave him a military air.

"He seems a-valkin' in his sleep," muttered the Sandman. "He's
a-speakin' to some von unwisible."
"Hush hush!" whispered the other. "let's hear wot he's a-sayin'."
"Why have you brought me here?" cried the young man, in a voice so
hollow that it thrilled his auditors. "What is to be done?"
"It makes my blood run cold to hear him," whispered the Sandman.
"Vot d'ye think he sees?"
"Why do you not speak to me?" cried the young man -"why do you
beckon me forward? Well, I obey. I will follow you." And he moved
slowly across the plank.
"See, he's a-goin' through that door," cried the Tinker. "let's foller him."
"I don't half like it," replied the Sandman, his teeth chattering with
apprehension. "We shall see summat as'll take avay our senses."
"Tut!" cried the Tinker; "it's only a sleepy-valker. Wot are you afeerd
on?"
With this he vaulted upon the planks, and peeping cautiously out of the
open door to which they led, saw the object of his scrutiny enter the
adjoining house through a broken window.
Making a sign to the Sandman, who was close at his heels, the Tinker
crept forward on all fours, and, on reaching the window, raised himself
just sufficiently to command the interior of the dwelling. Unfortunately
for him, the moon was at this moment obscured, and he could
distinguish nothing except the dusky outline of the various objects with
which the place was filled, and which were