CHAPTER CLXXII.

THE PURSUIT OF TODD ON THE LONDON ROAD.

The whole of these proceedings had really come with such a rush upon the

senses of Mark Ingestrie, that he might well have been excused had he

not been able to act with the energy that he did; but the strong desire

to capture Sweeney Todd, and so to put an end to all the doubts and

fears that were felt concerning him, upon the parts of those to whom he

was fondly attached, roused the young man to action.

Colonel Jeffrey was cooler than Ingestrie in the affair; but he was not

a whit the less determined upon that account.

In the course of seven or eight minutes at the outside, they were both

mounted, and as there were plenty of people who could tell them in which

direction Todd had gone, they were soon upon his track.

[Illustration: Todd Pursued By The Colonel And Mark.]

Todd had taken the London Road, and had really got a considerable

distance onward, and if he had been, which he was far from being, a good

horseman, there is very little doubt but that he would either have led

his pursuers a long distance, or possibly escaped them altogether, for

the animal that he rode was one that in skilful hands would have done

wonders.

It was no small aggravation to Colonel Jeffrey to be pursuing his own

horse, while he himself was mounted upon a hack that was by no means

equal to it.

Skill, however, will get more work out of an indifferent steed than

absolute ignorance will achieve from a first-rate one, so that after

getting to the top of a rising ground about three miles out of Brighton,

our friends saw Todd not three quarters of a mile in advance, coasting a

little water-course to find a safe place to cross at. Notwithstanding

the distance was great, the colonel knew his own horse in a moment.

"Come on, Ingestrie," he said. "There he is!"

"Are you sure?"

"Quite. That's the rascal. Ah, there he goes through the water! The

horse will carry him well across it, but he did not know that, so it is

a bold step. On--on!"

They had let their horses come rather easy up the ascent, for the

colonel was too good a horseman to break down his steed, merely with an

useless burst, when there might be a chase before it of some twenty or

thirty miles yet, for all he knew to the contrary; and so, as the

country, from the hill-top, sloped very gently right away to the north,

they got on wonderfully, and without giving the cattle too much to do.

To keep Todd in sight was everything now, for in that case they felt

certain that they must eventually have him. From his actions, it did not

seem that he was at all aware of his being so closely pursued, but

suddenly they saw him pull up on an eminence and turn his horse's head

in the direction of Brighton. They saw him shade his eyes with his

hands, and take a long look, and then by the sudden start that he gave,

and which caused the horse to plunge in alarm, they knew that he had

seen them, and that from that moment he would strain every nerve to

escape.

The slight pause that Todd had made in order to look back and see if he

were pursued or not, had given his foes the advantage of about one

hundred yards, for they had pushed on during that pause with renewed

vigour; but now bending low in the saddle, it was evident that he was

doing his best to urge the colonel's horse onwards, and it went like the

wind.

"There he goes, colonel!" cried Ingestrie. "That pace will do for us

pretty quickly. He is leaving us behind fast enough."

"He is, by Heaven, and if he gets to a turn of the road, there is no

knowing what fox-like trick he may play us. On--on, Ingestrie! There is

no help for it, but to do our very best."

For another minute and a half, now, not a word was exchanged between the

friends. The road did take a turn, and for some time they were out of

all sight of Todd, but the moment they themselves got round the elbow of

the road, the colonel raised a shout of gratification, and then cried--

"There he is! He has had a fall. On--on!"

Todd was in the middle of the road-way trying to mount the horse, from

which it would appear as though he had been thrown, for the creature was

rearing in evident alarm, and swerving every time that Todd put his foot

in the stirrup. Maddened, then, at the idea that each moment his foes

were gaining upon him, Todd made such a vigorous effort to mount, that

he succeeded in doing so, although both his feet were out of the

stirrups. He clung to the horse with desperation, and kicked it

violently with his heels, striking it at the same time on the head

violently with his clenched fist.

The animal was driven half crazy by such unusual treatment, and after

plunging and rearing for a few seconds, set off at such a gallop as no

one could have believed any mortal horse could have achieved.

"Off again!" cried the colonel. "I could have shot him, I think,

Ingestrie, just now."

"Then, why, in the name of all that's tantalising, did you not do so?"

"Why, to tell the truth, I was afraid of hitting the horse. If it had

kept still for a moment, it would have been all right; but I could not

be certain of my aim as it was. Now, mind, we must have him, and I think

he begins to find that fact out."

Certainly, if any judgment could be come to, by the desperate manner in

which Todd rode, it would appear as though he considered his career as

all but at an end. Oh, how at that time he roared and raved that he had

no fire-arms, by the aid of which he might turn and cope with his foes!

If he had only had but a pair of pistols, he thought that not only would

he have escaped, but escaped likewise with the intense gratification of

destroying two of his enemies; but, then, he was totally unarmed, and if

they should succeed in coming up with him, he had not even the means of

self-destruction about him.

Indifferent horseman, however, as Todd was, even he could not help

seeing that he was far better mounted than those who were pursuing him

and so, from that circumstance, he gathered just a faint hope that he

might distance them by knocking up their steeds. From what he had

already experienced of the mettle of the horse he had got hold of so

providentially for him, he felt certain that if his pursuers were

obliged to come to a pause only for a quarter of an hour, he should be

able to place such a distance between him and them, that he might

consider himself to be in comparative, if not absolute safety.

To accomplish such a result, then, he felt that his plan was to keep

right on within their sight, and let them sooner be tired out by the

unwonted exertions that they would compel their inefficient cattle to

make, with the vain hope of overtaking him. But Todd had to do with a

man, in Colonel Jeffrey, who was quite equal to such an emergency.

A stern chace is a long chace, but an escape even at considerable speed

is a weary affair, with a foe directly behind; and the colonel

calculated that allowing Todd all the difference in speed between the

horses, it would be yet a long distance before he could throw them back

so far that they would not be in a position to take advantage of any

accident that might occur to him.

"Cool and easy, Ingestrie," he said; "it's a question of time, now. The

longer we can keep our horses on their legs, the better for us. Don't

urge your horse too much."

Todd had now reached a very wild and romantic part of the road. It wound

through a cutting in a mass of chalk, which, as it would be impossible

to surmount, and a tedious thing to go round, had been very roughly

levelled to the width of a road, and the sides were covered with rank

vegetation, for successive rains had washed down upon the face of the

chalk a facing of loam, from which had sprung up gigantic weeds, and

innumerable wild flowers.

Todd had got about half way through this place, when, from the other end

of it, there came a party of five horsemen.

One man rode at the head of the party upon a black horse, which had

evidently gone far that day. Todd and this man met face to face, and

they simultaneously pronounced each other's names.

"Sir Richard Blunt!" shrieked Todd.

"Sweeney Todd!" said the magistrate.

"Stop him!" shouted Ingestrie, as he and the colonel just got a sight of

the horsemen beyond Todd. "Stop him!"

With a yell, like that which might be supposed to come from a fiend,

Todd swerved from the grasp of Sir Richard Blunt, who made a dart at his

throat, and then, drawing up his knees, he gave his horse the rein, and

darting past Sir Richard, he dashed right into the midst of the party of

officers, who were behind, and fairly broke his way through them.

"Not yet--not yet!" he shouted. "Ha!--ha! not yet!"

"Fire!" cried Sir Richard Blunt.

The sharp report of four holster-pistols sounded in the narrow road-way.

Todd fell from his horse, and, terrified by the shots, the steed went

off without him at a mad gallop.

Twice Todd rolled over, and grasped handfuls of chalk and dust from the

road; and then he lay upon his back profoundly still. In an instant, Sir

Richard Blunt dismounted; and then Colonel Jeffrey and Mark Ingestrie

rode up to the spot.

"You have--have--" cried Ingestrie.

"Yes, at last, Mr. Ingestrie," said Sir Richard. "I had some information

that he was hovering about the coast, and came here to see you all. I am

sorry to defraud the gallows of its due: but there lies Todd!"

A couple of the officers now dismounted, while the others held their

horses, and they dragged the wretched man to the side of the road.

"Is he dead?" said Ingestrie.

"No," said Todd, opening his eyes. "He still lives to curse you all!

I--"

It was evident that he wished to say more; but he was bleeding

internally, and he began to struggle with the volumes of blood that rose

to his throat. With a horrible shriek, he rolled over on to his face,

and then, after one sharp convulsion of his limbs, he lay perfectly

still.

One of the officers turned him round again. One glance at the face was

sufficient. The guilty spirit of Sweeney Todd had fled at last to its

account!

"Dead," said Sir Richard Blunt. "Let the body lie here, and we will all

ride on to Brighton, and from there send some conveyance for it. Mr.

Ingestrie and you, Colonel Jeffrey, are witnesses of his end, and I can

only say that I feel now as if a heavy weight were lifted off my breast.

The good, and the kind, and true, need no longer live in fear of the

wild vengeance of this man. Let us hope that Heaven will have more mercy

upon his guilty soul than ever he had consideration for the sufferings

of others."

[Illustration: The Death Of Sweeney Todd.]