Page:George Dobson's expedition to hell.pdf/5

 And he then asked George if he did not perceive a gate with a number of men in black standing about it.

'Oho! is yon the spot?' says George; Then I assure your honour, yon is no toll gate, but a private entrance into a great man's mansion; for do not I know two or three of yon to be gentlemen of the law, whom I have driven often and often; and as good fellows they are too, as any I knew—men who never let themselves run short of charge. Geod day,—Twelve o'clock to-morrow ?

'Yes, twelve o'clock noon, precisely;' and with that George's employere vanished in the gloom, and left him to wind his way out of that dreary labyrinth the best way he could. He found it no easy matter, for his lamps were not lighted, and he could not see an ell before him—he could not ever perceive his horses ears; and what was worse, there was a rushing sound, like that of a town on fire, all around him, that stunned his senses, so that he could not tell whether his horses were moving or standing still. George was in the greatest distress imaginable, and was glad when he perceived the gate before him, with his two identical friends of the law still standing. George drove boldly up, accosted them by their names, and asked what they were doing there; but they made him no answer, but pointed to the gate and the keeper. George was terrified to look at this latter personage, who now came up and seized his horses by the reins, refusing to let him pass. In order to introduce himself in some degree to this austere toll-man, George asked him, in a jocular manner, how he came to employ his two eminent friends as assistant gate-keepers?

'Because they are among the last comers,' replied the ruffian, churlishly. 'You will be an assistant here to-