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52 JEEMOIES OF JOSEPH GEJ1UIDI.

broadsword, and laid it by his side, drew another easy-chair
near the door, and there mounted guard.

All had been quiet for some time, and they were falling asleep,
when they were startled by a long loud knocking at the back-
door, which led into the garden. They all started up and gazed
upon each other, with looks of considerable dismay. The females
would have screamed, only they were too frightened; and the
men would have laughed it off, but they were quite unable from
the same cause to muster the faintest smile.

G-rimaldi was the first to recover',the sudden shock, which the
supposed return of the robbers had communicated to the party,
and turning to Lewis, said, with one of his oddest looks,

" You had better go to the back-door, old boy, and see who
it is." < •••>".

Mr- Lewis did not appear quite satisfied tipon the point. He
reflected for a short time, and looking with a very blank face at
his wife, said he was much obliged to Mr. Grimaldi, 'but he
would rather not.

In this dilemma, it was arranged that Lewis should wait in the
passage, and that Grimaldi,should creep softly up stairs, and re-
connoitre the enemy from the window above—a plan which
Lewis thought much more feasible, and which was at once
put in execution. - . ;

"While these deliberations:were going forward, the knocking
had continued without cessation, and it nowJbegan to assume a
subdued and confidential tone, which, instead of subduing
lielr alarm, rather tended to increase it. Armed with the
two pistols and the broadsword, and looking much more like
Babrnson Crusoe than either the " Shipwrecked Mariner," or the
"LMeGbwji," Gcrimaldi thrust his head out of the window, and
hailed the people below, in, a.voice which, between agitation and
a desire to communicate to the neighbours the full benefit of
the discussion, was something akin to that in which his well-
known cry of "Here we are!" afterwards acquired so much
popularity.



	52 JEEMOIES OF JOSEPH GEJ1UIDI. broadsword, and laid it by his side, drew another easy-chair near the door, and there mounted guard. All had been quiet for some time, and they were falling asleep, when they were startled by a long loud knocking at the back- door, which led into the garden. They all started up and gazed upon each other, with looks of considerable dismay. The females would have screamed, only they were too frightened; and the men would have laughed it off, but they were quite unable from the same cause to muster the faintest smile. G-rimaldi was the first to recover',the sudden shock, which the supposed return of the robbers had communicated to the party, and turning to Lewis, said, with one of his oddest looks, " You had better go to the back-door, old boy, and see who it is." < •••>". Mr- Lewis did not appear quite satisfied tipon the point. He reflected for a short time, and looking with a very blank face at his wife, said he was much obliged to Mr. Grimaldi, 'but he would rather not. In this dilemma, it was arranged that Lewis should wait in the passage, and that Grimaldi,should creep softly up stairs, and re- connoitre the enemy from the window above—a plan which Lewis thought much more feasible, and which was at once put in execution. - . ; "While these deliberations:were going forward, the knocking had continued without cessation, and it nowJbegan to assume a subdued and confidential tone, which, instead of subduing lielr alarm, rather tended to increase it. Armed with the two pistols and the broadsword, and looking much more like Babrnson Crusoe than either the " Shipwrecked Mariner," or the "LMeGbwji," Gcrimaldi thrust his head out of the window, and hailed the people below, in, a.voice which, between agitation and a desire to communicate to the neighbours the full benefit of the discussion, was something akin to that in which his well- known cry of "Here we are!" afterwards acquired so much popularity.