Willy Burke, or, The Irish orphan in America - Digital Repository ...

190 WILLY BURKE; OR,
moreover muffled up so closely about the neck and face,
that it would have been difficult to ascertain his identity,
even if quite close to him ; but yet Dawson exclaimed,
in an audible whisper
—
" Why, Willy", and he caught his arm, " look there I
I 'm not here if that ain't Wilson".
" Hush, hush", said the other quickly ; " never mind
who it was : let us run to help the poor man that 's lying
on the ground ".
All this had been the work of a moment ; and as it
chanced that very few persons were passing that way at
the time, Willy and his friend were the first that reached
the fallen man. He was lying with his face downwards ;
for the ruffian had struck him from behind, and as he ap-
peared entirely motionless, Willy cried out in alarm
" O Dawson, he 's dead ".
By \
this time several persons had gathered around
and it was proposed to carry the gentleman to the nearest
— ;
surgeon. He was taken up by three or four stout men,
who were walking off as fast as their bodies would
permit, when, having caught a glimpse of the face, on
which death seemed already to have placed his seal,
Willy and Dawson cried out together—" My God ! its
Mr. Weimar". And for a moment both were so terrified
that they could not utter a word. The men, seeing that
they knew who the gentleman was, instantly stopped,
and Dawson, as soon as he could find voice to speak,
cried out— " Don't take him to any hospital ; if you '11
only be good enough to come with us, we '11 show you
his home." They then proceeded to Mr. Talbot's, where
poor Weimar resided with the family, having himself
neither wife nor child. When Dawson rang the door