with vengeful purposes against the King. He had two plans, in
particular. One was to inflict upon the lad what would be, to his
proud spirit and ‘imagined’ royalty, a peculiar humiliation; and
if he failed to accomplish this, his other plan was to put a crime
of some kind upon the King, and then betray him into the
implacable clutches of the law.
In pursuance of the first plan, he purposed to put a ‘clime’ upon
the King’s leg; rightly judging that that would mortify him to the
last and perfect degree; and as soon as the clime should operate,
he meant to get Canty’s help, and FORCE the King to expose his leg
in the highway and beg for alms. ‘Clime’ was the cant term for a
sore, artificially created. To make a clime, the operator made a
paste or poultice of unslaked lime, soap, and the rust of old
iron, and spread it upon a piece of leather, which was then bound
tightly upon the leg. This would presently fret off the skin, and
make the flesh raw and angry-looking; blood was then rubbed upon
the limb, which, being fully dried, took on a dark and repulsive
colour. Then a bandage of soiled rags was put on in a cleverly
careless way which would allow the hideous ulcer to be seen, and
move the compassion of the passer-by. {8}
Hugo got the help of the tinker whom the King had cowed with the
soldering-iron; they took the boy out on a tinkering tramp, and as
soon as they were out of sight of the camp they threw him down and
the tinker held him while Hugo bound the poultice tight and fast
upon his leg.
The King raged and stormed, and promised to hang the two the
moment the sceptre was in his hand again; but they kept a firm
grip upon him and enjoyed his impotent struggling and jeered at
his threats. This continued until the poultice began to bite; and
in no long time its work would have been perfected, if there had
been no interruption. But there was; for about this time the
‘slave’ who had made the speech denouncing England’s laws,
appeared on the scene, and put an end to the enterprise, and
stripped off the poultice and bandage.
The King wanted to borrow his deliverer’s cudgel and warm the
jackets of the two rascals on the spot; but the man said no, it
would bring trouble–leave the matter till night; the whole tribe
being together, then, the outside world would not venture to
interfere or interrupt. He marched the party back to camp and
reported the affair to the Ruffler, who listened, pondered, and
then decided that the King should not be again detailed to beg,
since it was plain he was worthy of something higher and better–
wherefore, on the spot he promoted him from the mendicant rank and
appointed him to steal!
Hugo was overjoyed. He had already tried to make the King steal,
and failed; but there would be no more trouble of that sort, now,
for of course the King would not dream of defying a distinct
command delivered directly from head-quarters. So he planned a
raid for that very afternoon, purposing to get the King in the
law’s grip in the course of it; and to do it, too, with such
ingenious strategy, that it should seem to be accidental and
unintentional; for the King of the Game-Cocks was popular now, and
the gang might not deal over-gently with an unpopular member who
played so serious a treachery upon him as the delivering him over
to the common enemy, the law.
Very well. All in good time Hugo strolled off to a neighbouring
village with his prey; and the two drifted slowly up and down one
street after another, the one watching sharply for a sure chance
to achieve his evil purpose, and the other watching as sharply for
a chance to dart away and get free of his infamous captivity for
ever.
Both threw away some tolerably fair-looking opportunities; for
both, in their secret hearts, were resolved to make absolutely
sure work this time, and neither meant to allow his fevered