They hurt emselves more'n
me. I bluv I'm a better man above the waist nor ever I were. All the
juice like goes to my arms now I've no legs--that's how I reck'n it
be."
"We must get in before they come again. Quick!"
"Ah, they won't come again, sir. Easy satisfied, the Gap Gang. Got no
guts because they got no God.... Ah, here's Mr. Joy!"
The Parson was coming across the greensward, high and mighty as a
turkey-cock.
The Gentleman was standing among the sycamores, laughing.
He waved his hand to the boy.
"Congratulations, Little Chap," he called.
"Don't accept em," snarled the Parson. "Posing impostor!--coxcomb!--
cad!"
"What! has he wounded you, sir?" asked old Piper.
"Pinked me in the calf, the coward!" snapped the Parson. "He's not a
gentleman. I always knew he wasn't!--Frenchified feller!"
He looked round with grim satisfaction.
"So you've been busy, too. I reckon they're half a dozen short o what
they were before the sally. And we've got our man through, too!"
He pointed across the plain.
From the foot of the Downs a string of Grenadiers were coming back at
the double.
They had no prisoner.
III
THE SHADOW OF THE WOMAN
CHAPTER LVII
THE PARLEY
I
The door was shut, and all once again darkness in the cottage of the
kitchen.
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