"My dear, sir, you are a very reasonable man, and I don't see any reason
on earth that we should not be capital friends from this moment. Just
help me to move another of these stones and I shall be able to creep
through the opening into your cell." Todd very kindly assisted the Reverend Mr. Lupin, and in the course of a
few minutes, another of these large square blocks of stone that formed
the wall of the cell being removed, he was able to creep through the
aperture with the assistance of Todd. "All's right," said Lupin, as he shook himself. "And now, my new friend,
I will borrow the same file with which you released yourself from your
fetters, and git rid of mine." "Here it is," said Todd; "you work upon one leg, and I will work upon
the other, for I have two files here, although one of them is a little
blunted by the work it has already done. Yet it will help, and time is
everything." "It is," said Lupin. "Work away, for I am not able to think of anything
until I am free of these confounded irons." They worked in real earnest, and to such purpose, that in a much less
space of time than anybody would have thought it possible to accomplish
the process in, the fetters of Mr. Lupin dropped from him, and, like
Todd, he stood so far free from restraint. "Now," he said, "I have some first-rate picklocks, and if
providence--Tush! tush! I mean if we are lucky, we shall get on
capitally. The next thing we have to do is, to get out of here, and by
far the shortest way is to work through the wall. Have you any other
tools beside the files, for they are not much use now to us?" "Yes, a chisel." "A chisel? Oh, my friend, you are indeed a wonderful man. A chisel? What
may not be done with a chisel! A strong, good chisel, too. Oh, if we do
not chisel our way out of Newgate now, it will be very hard indeed. Come, you shall see an old hand at work. Perhaps you have not had much
experience at prison-breaking?" "Certainly not," said Todd. "Well, this will be a good lesson to you. Now you will see how nicely I
will get one of these old square blocks of stone out of its place." Todd smiled grimly. Perhaps he thought he could have given the Reverend
Josiah Lupin a good lesson in some things; but at that time he was only
too happy to meet with a companion who promised such great things in the
way of immediate escape. Certainly Mr. Lupin showed great dexterity in handling the chisel, with
which he had been furnished by Todd; and in a much less space of time
than any one would have thought the work could have been performed in,
he had loosened the stone in the wall that he wished to dislodge. "Let us both push it," he said, "and we shall get it through easily." "But its fall will make an alarm," said Todd. "Oh, no. The distance is too short, and it will go down easy. Now for
it." They pressed upon the stone both of them, and by a skilful joggling
movement, Lupin got it to move along until it was beyond its centre of
gravity, and then, with a heavy bump, down it went on the other side. They both now paused for some moments, and spoke not a word, for they
were anxious to discover if the fall of the stone into the passage
beyond the cells had made any noise sufficient to attract the attention
of the prison officials. All was still. "It's as right as possible," said Lupin. "They are asleep, the greater
part of them. The pretended vigilance in this place, and the sleepless
watchfulness, is all a fudge. Turnkeys, and police officers, and
Governors of Newgate, are but flesh and blood, and they will take things
easy if they can." "You are quite a man of the world," said Todd. "Oh, yes; I have seen a little of it. But I say, Master Todd, deal
candidly with me now. Have you not some secret hoard of cash, upon which
we can make ourselves comfortable, when we get out of this mousetrap? I
have not a penny piece; but you ought to have something, I should say. I
don't mean to say but that I had money, but it was not hidden, and the
police have got hold of that. If I were acquitted, they kindly said they
would let me have it. But if found guilty, of which they did not
entertain the smallest doubt, I could not want it." "Curses on them!" said Todd; "they had enough of mine to have made us
both rich men--very rich men. Oh, that I had been off a month ago!" "Don't fret about that. We are all in the hands of a gracious
provi--Psha! I am forgetting again. Whatever you do, Todd, in this
world, don't turn parson to a parcel of old women, for the phraseology
will stick to you as long as you live, if you do. But come--tell me now. You do know where to lay your hand upon money?" Todd thought that it would be very indiscreet to say no to this little
proposition, so with a nod and a smile he replied--

"Only a few hundreds. That's all." "A few hundreds? That is a pretty good all, and will do very well
indeed, my dear friend. Is it an understanding that we go halves?" "Quite, quite." "Then, if we don't get out of the stone-jug pretty soon, it will be a
strange thing to me. Now let us work away like bricks, and we will show
them that two determined men can laugh at their bolts, and bars, and
stone walls." "How confident you are," said Todd. "You surely forget that we must go
through much, before we can see the outside of the walls of this
dreadful place. I wish I could be as sure of the result as you are, or
as you seem to be." "It is one-half the battle to make sure; there goes another of the
stones. Now follow me through this opening in the wall. It leads to a
passage from which we can reach one of the smaller inner courts; and
from that we shall get on through the chapel to the Governor's house,
and if we can't get out there, it's a bad case." Mr. Lupin, who had, in a great measure, now that he no longer had any
sanctified character to keep up, thrown of his timid nature, ventured to
scramble through the opening in the wall, and he assisted Todd to follow
him. [Illustration: The Two Murderers, Todd And Lupin, Escaping From The Cell
Of Newgate.] They both now stood in a narrow vaulted passage, and then they paused
again for several minutes to listen if any noise in the prison gave
intimation that any one was stirring; but everything was perfectly
still, and so death-like was the silence, that, but that they well knew
to the contrary, they might have supposed that they were the only living
persons within that gloomy pile of building. The little bit of wax candle that had been brought to Lupin by the pious
lady, and which he had lit in his own cell, for the purpose, at first,
of having a good look at Todd, was now upon the point of going out; but
he was very well provided with wax candle-ends, and he speedily lighted
another, as he said in a tone of irony--

"The sheriffs will write a letter of threats to the pious lady, when
they find how much she aided us in escaping." "They ought," said Todd. "We will pray for her."