The
only result of the effort was to precipitate him, with an impetus not
his own, though deriving much of its effect from his own weight, upon
the person of the enfeebled Tongs: the toper clasped him round with a
corresponding spirit, and they both rolled upon the floor in utter
imbecility, carrying with them the table around which they had been
seated, and tumbling into the general mass of bottles, pipes, and
glasses, the slumbering youth, who, till that moment, lay altogether
ignorant of the catastrophe.
Munro, in the meanwhile, had possessed himself of the desired keys; and
throwing a sack, with which he had taken care to provide himself, over
the head of the still struggling but rather stupified jailer, he bound
the mouth of it with cords closely around his body, and left him
rolling, with more elasticity and far less comfort than the rest of the
party, around the floor of the apartment.
He now proceeded to look at the pedler; and seeing his condition, though
much wondering at his falling so readily into his own temptation--never
dreaming of the mistake which he had made--he did not waste time to
rouse him up, as he plainly saw he could get no further service out of
him.
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