culators, for the
accommodation of the people. A low bank which skirted the field was soon
occupied, and every swell of the ground was taken advantage of. Soon the
rain fell in torrents, and the earth became sodden and yielding; but no
pelting shower, no sinking clay, could drive the anxious crowd from the
attractive spectacle. Still on they came, men and women together;
laughing and joking; their clothes tucked about them, and umbrella-laden.
Over the field; on to the slippery bank, whence, every now and again,
arose a burst of uproar and laughter, as some part of the mound gave way,
and precipitated a snugly-packed crowd into the swamp below.

Venders of fruit, sausages, bread, and spirits, occupied every eligible
situation, and from the early hour, and the unprepared state of the
spectators, found abundant patronage.

A clatter was heard from the city side, and a body of mounted police
galloped along the high road, halted at the gallows, and formed
themselves into a hollow square around it. The gibbet was unlike our
own, it had no platform, and no steps; but was a simple frame formed by
two strong upright, and one horizontal beam. There was a little
entanglement of pulleys and ropes, which I learned to understand at a
later hour.

Still the rain came pouring down, in one uninterrupted flood, that
nothing but the excitement of a public execution could withstand. And
still the people clustered together in a dense crowd, under the open air
and pelting rain, shifting and reeling, splashing and staggering, till
the field became trodden into a heavy, clinging paste of a full foot
deep. But no one left the spot; they had come for the sight, and see it
they would. Over the whole field and bank, and rising ground, a perfect
sea of umbrellas waved and swayed with the crowd, as they vainly sought a
firmer resting place among the clogging clay. An hour went by, but there
was no change, except a continued accession to the crowd. It was
wonderful how patiently they stood under the watery hurricane; helplessly
embedded in a slimy swamp; feverish and anxious; with no thought but the
looming gallows, towards which all eyes were turned, and the miserable
culprit, whose sudden end they were awaiting to see.

Fagged, at length, and soaked with rain, I left the slough, and gaining
the highroad, pressed towards the city to meet the cavalcade. A rushing
of people, and a confused cry, told me of its approach. "There he is!"