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Article THE BRASS THUMB. ← Page 6 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
which went so many times round him , that he was full ten minutes before he had succeeded in rolling himself up in it . On his head he wore a sugar-loaf hat with a broad brim ; his legs , from his knees downwards , were cased in wide boots ; and he had mounted a pair of awful moustaces and a long pointed beardof so singular and direful character that the
, very sight of them might have slain an infant . His disguise was admirably chosen to strike terror into the breast of anybody who might interfere with him , ancl he reached the corner of the church where St . Piebald stood , firm in spirit , and resolved to win that for which he had come , or die in the attempt .
The night was lovely . The full moon , bright as a plate of steel , shone in the sky , and handfuls of stars were scattered over the soft , placid purple ; one glittered bright , like a fairy shield , near the great island of light . The scene close at hand was quite of the up-and-down , in-and-out , quaint Dutch character . The tall , peaky houses , with innumerable
outlandish lattices ; the galleries with their grotesques for trusses ; the cut pediments and carved penthouses ; the queer gateways , which , as you approached , seemed a whole well of moonli ght ; the weathercocks on the gable points , and chiefly the fine old Gothic church , looking a little hill of priceless fragments , with its hihair-hung steeplewhich seemed of laceworkand its
g , , , rows of statues gleaming like a shadowy battalion , all these objects were striking and imposing . The streets were silent , and nothing was moving but the dusky figure of a watchman , who glinted like one of the statues stepped down to take a moonlight walk .
Hans slunk along in the shadow of the buttresses of the church , like somebody bent upon no good , and , by the time he had reached the statue , the watchman had disappeared with his crossbow in his hand ; for , let the reader know , that the faithful watchmen of the period carried crossbows as more Christian weapons , and forbore guns and suchlike unhol y lements
imp , in the use of which is required that devilish compound—gunpowder . A strange fear , not unmixed with awe , took possession of Hobbler ' s mind when he arrived before the effigy of St . Piebald . There stood the worthy , with a singular , sunken , and yet majestic visage . His eyes , though far lost in the hollow
caverns which contained them , were penetrating and mysterious to a degree . His high mitre rose above , his right hand was extended , with the far-famed thumb pointing up-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
which went so many times round him , that he was full ten minutes before he had succeeded in rolling himself up in it . On his head he wore a sugar-loaf hat with a broad brim ; his legs , from his knees downwards , were cased in wide boots ; and he had mounted a pair of awful moustaces and a long pointed beardof so singular and direful character that the
, very sight of them might have slain an infant . His disguise was admirably chosen to strike terror into the breast of anybody who might interfere with him , ancl he reached the corner of the church where St . Piebald stood , firm in spirit , and resolved to win that for which he had come , or die in the attempt .
The night was lovely . The full moon , bright as a plate of steel , shone in the sky , and handfuls of stars were scattered over the soft , placid purple ; one glittered bright , like a fairy shield , near the great island of light . The scene close at hand was quite of the up-and-down , in-and-out , quaint Dutch character . The tall , peaky houses , with innumerable
outlandish lattices ; the galleries with their grotesques for trusses ; the cut pediments and carved penthouses ; the queer gateways , which , as you approached , seemed a whole well of moonli ght ; the weathercocks on the gable points , and chiefly the fine old Gothic church , looking a little hill of priceless fragments , with its hihair-hung steeplewhich seemed of laceworkand its
g , , , rows of statues gleaming like a shadowy battalion , all these objects were striking and imposing . The streets were silent , and nothing was moving but the dusky figure of a watchman , who glinted like one of the statues stepped down to take a moonlight walk .
Hans slunk along in the shadow of the buttresses of the church , like somebody bent upon no good , and , by the time he had reached the statue , the watchman had disappeared with his crossbow in his hand ; for , let the reader know , that the faithful watchmen of the period carried crossbows as more Christian weapons , and forbore guns and suchlike unhol y lements
imp , in the use of which is required that devilish compound—gunpowder . A strange fear , not unmixed with awe , took possession of Hobbler ' s mind when he arrived before the effigy of St . Piebald . There stood the worthy , with a singular , sunken , and yet majestic visage . His eyes , though far lost in the hollow
caverns which contained them , were penetrating and mysterious to a degree . His high mitre rose above , his right hand was extended , with the far-famed thumb pointing up-