“No! it is not. They don't forbid you to hang him, or to sear him with a hot iron, but they tell you in this paragraph what punishments you may inflict, and that excludes all punishments of your own invention. You may neither hang him nor burn him nor famish him nor crucify him, all these acts are equally illegal. So take warning, all of you here--you are all servants of the law--don't let me catch you assaulting a prisoner contrary to the law, or you shall smart to the uttermost. Evans, I command you, in the name of the law, release that prisoner.”
Evans, thus appealed to, fidgeted and turned color, and his hands worked by his side. “Your reverence!” cried he, in an imploring tone, and stayed where he was. On this Mr. Eden made no more ado, but darted to Josephs' side and began to unfasten him with nimble fingers.
Hawes stood dumfounded for a minute or two, then recovering himself he roared out:
Fry and Hodges advanced upon Mr. Eden, but before they could get at him the huge body of Evans interposed itself. The man was pale but doggedly resolved.
“Mustn't lay a finger on his reverence,” said he, almost in a whisper, but between his clinched teeth and with the look of a bulldog over a bone.
“No, sir,” answered Evans softening his tone, “but nobody must affront his reverence. Look here, sir, his reverence knows a great deal more than I do, and he says this is against the law. He showed you the Act, and you couldn't answer him except by violence, which ain't no answer at all. Now I am the servant of the law, and I know better than go against the law.”
“There, I want no more of your chat. Loose the prisoner.”
“Go to the 5-lb. crank, Josephs, and let me see how much you can do in half an hour.”
“That I will, your reverence,” and off he ran.
“Now, sir,” said Hawes sternly, “I put up with this now because it must end next week. I have written to the visiting justices, and they will settle whether you are to be master in the jail or I.”
“Neither, Mr. Hawes. The law shall be your master and mine.”
“Very good! but there's a hole in your coat; for, as clever as you are, every jail has its customs as well as its rules.”
“Which customs, if illegal, are abuses, and shall be swept out of it.”