第231章

WHAT BEFELL MR.PICKWICK WHEN HE GOT INTO THE FLEET;WHAT PRISONERS HE SAW THERE; AND HOW HE PASSED THE NIGHTM R.T OM R OKER , the gentleman who had accompanied Mr.Pickwick into the prison, turned sharp round to the right when he got to the bottom of the little flight of steps, and led the way, through an iron gate which stood open, and up another short flight of steps, into a long narrow gallery, dirty and low, paved with stone, and very dimly lighted by a window at each remote end.

"This," said the gentleman, thrusting his hands into his pockets, and looking carelessly over his shoulder to Mr.Pickwick, "This here is the hall flight.""Oh," replied Mr.Pickwick, looking down a dark and filthy staircase, which appeared to lead to a range of damp and gloomy stone vaults, beneath the ground, "and those, I suppose, are the little cellars where the prisoners keep their small quantities of coals.Unpleasant places to have to go down to; but very convenient, I daresay.""Yes, I shouldn't wonder if they was convenient," replied the gentleman, "seeing that a few people live there, pretty snug.That's the Fair, that is.""My friend," said Mr.Pickwick, "you don't really mean to say that human beings live down in those wretched dungeons?""Don't I?" replied Mr.Roker, with indignant astonishment; "why shouldn't I?""Live! Live down there!" exclaimed Mr.Pickwick.

"Live down there! Yes, and die down there, too, wery often!" replied Mr.Roker; "and what of that? Who's got to say anything agin it? Live down there! Yes, and a wery good place it is to live in, ain't it?"As Roker turned somewhat fiercely upon Mr.Pickwick in saying this, and, moreover muttered in an excited fashion certain unpleasant invocations concerning his own eyes, limbs, and circulating fluids, the latter gentleman deemed it advisable to pursue the discourse no further.Mr.Roker then proceeded to mount another staircase, as dirty as that which led to the place which had just been the subject of discussion, in which ascent he was closely followed by Mr.Pickwick and Sam.

"There," said Mr.Roker, pausing for breath when they reached another gallery of the same dimensions as the one below, "this is the coffee-room flight; the one above's the third, and the one above that's the top; and the room where you're a-going to sleep to-night is the warden's room, and it's this way--come on." Having said all this in a breath, Mr.Roker mounted another flight of stairs, with Mr.Pickwick and Sam Weller following at his heels.

These staircases received light from sundry windows placed at some little distance above the floor, and looking into a gravelled area bounded by a high brick wall, with iron chevaux-de-fvise at the top.This area, it appeared from Mr.Roker's statement, was the racket-ground; and it further appeared, on the testimony of the same gentleman, that there was a smaller area in that portion of the prison which was nearest Farringdon Street, denominated and called "the Painted Ground," from the fact of its walls having once displayed the semblances of various men-of-war in full sail, and other artistical effects achieved in bygone times by some imprisoned draughtsman in his leisure hours.

Having communicated this piece of information, apparently more for the purpose of discharging his bosom of an important fact, than with any specific view of enlightening Mr.Pickwick, the guide, having at length reached another gallery, led the way into a small passage at the extreme end: opened a door: and disclosed an apartment of an appearance by no means inviting, containing eight or nine iron bedsteads.

"There," said Mr.Roker, holding the door open, and looking triumphantly round at Mr.Pickwick, "there's a room!"Mr.Pickwick's face, however, betokened such a very trifling portion of satisfaction at the appearance of his lodging, that Mr.Roker looked for a reciprocity of feeling into the countenance of Samuel Weller, who, until now, had observed a dignified silence.

"There's a room, young man," observed Mr.Roker.

"I see it," replied Sam, with a placid nod of the head.

"You wouldn't think to find such a room as this in the Farringdon Hotel, would you?" said Mr.Roker, with a complacent smile.

To this Mr.Weller replied with an easy and unstudied closing of one eye; which might be considered to mean, either that he would have thought it, or that he would not have thought it, or that he had never thought anything at all about it: as the observer's imagination suggested.Having executed this feat, and re-opened his eye, Mr.Weller proceeded to inquire which was the individual bedstead that Mr.Roker had so flatteringly described as an out-an-outer to sleep in.

"That's it," replied Mr.Roker, pointing to a very rusty one in a corner.

"It would make any one go to sleep, that bedstead would, whether they wanted to or not.""I should think," said Sam, eyeing the piece of furniture in question with a look of excessive disgust, "I should think poppies was nothing to it.""Nothing at all," said Mr.Roker.

"And I s'pose," said Sam, with a sidelong glance at his master, as if to see whether there were any symptoms of his determination being shaken by what passed, "I s'pose the other gen'l'men as sleeps here, are gen'l'men.""Nothing but it," said Mr.Roker."One of 'em takes his twelve pints of ale a-day, and never leaves off smoking even at his meals.""He must be a first-rater," said Sam.

"A, I ," replied Mr.Roker.

Nothing daunted, even by this intelligence, Mr.Pickwick smilingly announced his determination to test the powers of the narcotic bedstead for that night; and Mr.Roker, after informing him that he could retire to rest at whatever hour he thought proper, without any further notice or formality, walked off, leaving him standing with Sam in the gallery.