Breaking the silence they had hitherto preserved, they raised a great cry as soon as they were ranged before the jail, and demanded to speak to the governor.

This visit was not wholly unexpected, for his house, which fronted the street, was strongly barricaded, the wicket-gate of the prison was closed up, and at no loophole or grating was any person to be seen.

Before they had repeated their summons many times, a man appeared upon the roof of the governor's house, and asked what it was they wanted.
Some said one thing, some another, and some only groaned and hissed.

It being now nearly dark, and the house high, many persons in the throng were not aware that any one had come to answer them, and continued their clamour until the intelligence was gradually diffused through the whole concourse.

Ten minutes or more elapsed before any one voice could be heard with tolerable distinctness; during which interval the figure remained perched alone, against the summer-evening sky, looking down into the troubled street.
'Are you,' said Hugh at length, 'Mr Akerman, the head jailer here ?' 'Of course he is, brother,' whispered Dennis.