Prince and the Pauper (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Mark Twain Page A

bonfires stretching as far as one could see, up and down the Thames; London Bridge was illuminated, Southwark Bridge 24 likewise; the entire river was aglow with the flash and sheen of colored lights; and constant explosions of fireworks filled the skies with an intricate commingling of shooting splendors and a thick rain of dazzling sparks that almost turned night into day; everywhere were crowds of revelers; all London seemed to be at large.
    John Canty delivered himself of a furious curse and commanded a retreat; but it was too late. He and his tribe were swallowed up in that swarming hive of humanity, and hopelessly separated from each other in an instant. We are not considering that the prince was one of his tribe; Canty still kept his grip upon him. The prince’s heart was beating high with hopes of escape, now. A burly waterman, considerably exalted with liquor, found himself rudely shoved, by Canty, in his efforts to plow through the crowd; he laid his great hand on Canty’s shoulder and said:
    “Nay, whither so fast, friend? Dost canker s thy soul with sordid business when all that be leal † men and true make holiday?”
    “Mine affairs are mine own, they concern thee not,” answered Canty, roughly; “take away thy hand and let me pass.”
    “Sith that is thy humor, thou‘lt not pass till thou’st drunk to the Prince of Wales, I tell thee that,” said the waterman, barring the way resolutely.
    “Give me the cup, then, and make speed, make speed!”
    Other revelers were interested by this time. They cried out:
    “The loving-cup, the loving-cup! make the sour knave drink the loving-cup, else will we feed him to the fishes.”
    So a huge loving-cup was brought; the waterman, grasping it by one of its handles, and with his other hand bearing up the end of an imaginary napkin, presented it in due and ancient form to Canty, who had to grasp the opposite handle with one of his hands and take off the lid with the other, according to ancient custom. t This left the prince hand-free for a second, of course. He wasted no time, but dived among the forest of legs about him and disappeared. In another moment he could not have been harder to find, under that tossing sea of life, if its billows had been the Atlantic’s and he a lost sixpence.
    He very soon realized this fact, and straightway busied himself about his own affairs without further thought of John Canty. He quickly realized another thing, too. To wit, that a spurious Prince of Wales was being feasted by the city in his stead. He easily concluded that the pauper lad, Tom Canty, had deliberately taken advantage of his stupendous opportunity and become a usurper.
    Therefore there was but one course to pursue—find his way to the Guildhall, make himself known, and denounce the impostor. He also made up his mind that Tom should be allowed a reasonable time for spiritual preparation, and then be hanged, drawn, and quartered, according to the law and usage of the day, in cases of high treason.

XI
    At Guildhall 25
    T he royal barge, attended by its gorgeous fleet, took its stately way down the Thames through the wilderness of illuminated boats. The air was laden with music; the river-banks were beruffled with joy-flames; the distant city lay in a soft luminous glow from its countless invisible bonfires; above it rose many a slender spire into the sky, incrusted with sparkling lights, wherefore in their remoteness they seemed like jeweled lances thrust aloft; as the fleet swept along, it was greeted from the banks with a continuous hoarse roar of cheers and the ceaseless flash and boom of artillery.
    To Tom Canty, half buried in his silken cushions, these sounds and this spectacle were a wonder unspeakably sublime and astonishing. To his little friends at his side, the Princess Elizabeth and the Lady Jane Grey, they were nothing.
    Arrived at the Dowgate, the fleet was towed up the limpid Walbrook, whose channel has now been for two centuries buried out of sight