He then turned down the first opening he came to on the right,
and he did so, not because he was making for any known place of safety,
but because he knew that a labyrinth of small streets were thereabouts,
amid the intricacies of which he hoped to baffle his pursuers; and it
was certainly under the circumstances very good policy in him to take
the course he did. From the moment of so abruptly turning out of Barbican, they were both
out of sight of their pursuers, who had been able to keep them steadily
in view up to this; but although that was the case, they were not
without their perils, for a watchman met them both and aimed a blow at
Lupin's legs with his stick, crying in an Irish brogue--

"Stop that, my beauty--Stop that any way!" Lupin sprang upon him like an enraged tiger, and turning the stick from
his hands, he laid him flat with one blow of it and on he rushed,
carrying it with him as a defence against the attack of any one else. They now turned a corner and met a string of half-drunken gents of the
period, arm-in-arm, and occupying the whole breadth of the pavement. Lupin avoided them by swerving into the road-way, but they caught hold
of Todd, crying--

"Here's the devil. Let's make him an offer for his tail!" Certainly, Sweeney Todd was not at that moment disposed for trifling,
and he laid about him with his immense fists in such style that the
gents were all rolling in the kennel in a moment or two; and then,
however, before Todd could again reach Mr. Lupin so closely as he had
been, he heard a loud shout of--

"There's one of them. Come on!--Come on!" That was no drunken shout, and Todd immediately felt that the danger was
imminent. He rushed on at increased speed, and just got up to Lupin at
the corner. They turned it together, and then Todd managed to say--

"They come--they come!" "Officers?" said Lupin. "Yes, I think so. On--on. Oh, push on!" "This way." Lupin crossed the road, and sprung down a narrow court; but even as he
did so, came that voice, crying--

"There they go. Stop them--stop them! There they go! Fifty pounds
reward!" A frightful oath burst from Todd's lips, as he emerged from the court
still close upon the heels of Lupin. They were now in a tolerably wide
street, and they saw but one individual in it, and he was evidently, by
the curious manner in which he sometimes favoured the curb-stone by
walking upon it for a few paces, and then lumbered up against the house,
just a little gone in intoxication. This individual, after some fumbling in his pocket, produced a latch
key, and having staggered up the steps of a house, he made some
ineffectual attempts to open the door. "Hold!" said Todd to Lupin. "Anything is better than this race for life. We can hide in the passage of that house until the pursuit is past. Come." "A good thought," said Lupin. By this time the inebriated individual had succeeded in opening the
street-door with his latch-key, and he was so elated at having performed
the feat, that he stopped to laugh before he entered the house. The
moment, however, that he did get into the passage, Todd sprung up the
steps, and very adroitly placed his foot against the door, so that when
the person from within slammed it as he thought shut, it was a good two
inches off that condition. It was then amusing to hear him, with drunken
gravity and precision, as he thought, shooting the bolts into their
sockets, after which, often tumbling on his way, he went along the
passage, and up stairs. Todd opened the door. "Come," he said. "All's right," said Lupin. "Stop thief! Stop thief!" cried a chorus of voices at the corner of the
street. "Indeed," said Lupin, "The Lord be good to you all." He stepped into the house after Todd, and very quietly closed the door. The passage was profoundly dark, and there they both stood, those two
convicted murderers, listening to what was taking place outside their
place of refuge. They heard the sounds of several voices, and it was
quite evident that just about that spot the pursuers were baffled, and
did not know now which course to take after the fugitives, who were so
snugly ensconced so near them. CHAPTER CXXXVI. TODD AND LUPIN ESCAPE TO CAEN WOOD. "What's to be done?" said a voice. "I'll be hanged if I know," said another, "and yet I feel sure that they
came this way. I thought how it would be when they took to all these
streets. Lord bless you, we might have passed them in some doorway easy
enough--a dozen times." "So we might," said the other voice. "All we can do now, is to go round
to the different outlets of the city, and give an alarm." "Well, I won't give it up yet," said a third person; "I feel quite sure
they are lingering somewhere about here, and I'll be on the watch yet
for a time, and hunt about quietly. You be off and give the notice to
the watch, and leave Johnson and I to do what we can." "Very good--I wish you luck." There was a scuffle of feet, and it was quite clear that some of the men
had gone off at a quick pace, leaving, no doubt, the two only in the
street. "Well," whispered Lupin. "Well, my friend, what do you think of all
this?" "I don't know what to think," said Todd. "I'm very tired." "Ah, and so am I, but that can't be helped. I ain't used to such a run
as we have had. But it won't do us any harm. If we can get off, it will
be a world's wonder, I can tell you. It ain't now every day that a
fellow gives Newgate the go-by." "No--no, and I must say that I did not myself expect it. But I was
prepared to cheat the hangman." "Pho! That's a poor-enough look out." "Yes, but it's a something. She did it." "She? Who the deuce is she?" "Mrs. Lovett." "Oh, I recollect. I have heard of her--I have heard of her. She was the
nice creature who lived in Bell Yard, wasn't she, and accommodated the
folks with pies?" "Yes," said Todd, and if Lupin had seen the horrible contortion of
visage with which he accompanied the word, even he, with all his nerve
in such matters, might well have been excused for a sudden accession of
terror. "Well," added Todd, after a pause, "you are a man of judgment
Mr. Lupin, and all I want to know now, is what you mean to do?" "Get away from here as soon as possible. But it won't be quite safe to
try it yet. This house is very quiet, and no doubt everybody is in bed
and asleep, so I shall get a light and look about a little. It would be
quite a providential thing to find something to eat." "Yes, and to drink," said Todd. "Just so. I would give something handsome now, if I had it, for a good
glass of brandy. That run has made me first hot and then shivery all
over; but who knows what luck may be in store for us? Come now--here's a
light, and we shall soon, by the help of providence, see what sort of a
crib we have got into." It was lucky for them both that Lupin had retained about him the means
of getting a light, for if he had not, they would have been left to
conjectures merely regarding their position.