As I saw Mr. Fenwick come out I put into execution a design I had formed just now; and slipping from my horse I got out a guinea and begged in a low voice the fellow before me—­for I was just by the sled on which Mr. Harcourt and Mr. Whitbread would be bound—­to let me through enough to speak a word with him; and at the same time I pressed the guinea into his hand:  so he stood aside a little and let me through, on my knees, enough to speak to Mr. Whitbread.  Mr. Harcourt was already laid down on the sled, on the further side from me, and Mr. Whitbread was getting to his knees for the same end.  As he turned and sat himself on the sled he saw me, and frowned ever so little.  Then he smiled as I made the sign of the cross on myself and he made it too at me, and I saw his lips move as he blessed me.  He was not an arm’s length from me.  That was enough for me; and I stepped back again and mounted my horse once more.  The fellow who had let me through looked at me over his shoulder once or twice, but said nothing; for he had my guinea; and, as for myself I sat content, though my eyes pricked with tears, for I had had the last blessing (or very nearly) which that martyr of God would ever give in this world.

* * * * *

When they were all ready, and the five were bound on the sleds, with their beads to the horses’ heels, I looked to see how I could best follow; and it appeared to me that it was best for me to keep close at the tail, rather than to attempt to go before.  When the word was given, the whips cracked, and the sled nearest me, with Mr. Whitbread and Mr. Harcourt upon it, began to move.  Then came Mr. Turner and Mr. Gavan, and last Mr. Fenwick all by himself.  The minister whose name was Samuel Smith, as I learned later, and who was the Ordinary of Newgate, followed on foot, and behind him came the guards to close them all in.

My fellow in front, whom I had bribed, seemed to understand what I wanted; for in the confusion he let me through, and my man James forced his way after me; so that we found ourselves with three or four other gentlemen, riding immediately behind the guards, as we came out of the court into the street outside; and so we followed, all the way to Tyburn.

That adventure of mine was I think the most observable I have ever had, and, too, the greatest privilege to my soul:  for here was I, if ever any man did, following the Cross of Christ in the passion of His servants—­such a Via Crucis as I have never made in any church—­for here was the very road along which so many hundreds of the Catholic martyrs had passed before; and at the end was waiting the very death by which they had died.  I know that the martyrdom of these five was not so evident an one as that of others before them, since those died for the Faith directly, and these for an alleged conspiracy; yet before God, I think, they died no less for Religion, since it was in virtue of their Religion that they were accused.  So, then, I followed them.