"Not a bad ankle, that," observed Patching, looking at the rapidly
retreating form of the rescued woman. Patching, artist-like, was always
discovering beauties where nobody else looked for them.
Marcus had no eye for the charms of nature that morning, and he
responded not to the remark which the artist had addressed to him.
Whereupon Patching determined not to speak to Marcus again that day.
They followed the mysterious female down the road which led to the
village. On the fences, every few rods, were plastered posters
announcing the "Panorama of Africa" for that evening, at "Washington
Hall"--"Tickets, twenty-five cents"--"Children under twelve years of
age, half price," &c., &c. As B. Persimmon, P.M., had said, in one of
his letters, some of the posters were stuck upside down. This
circumstance did not seem to prevent the population from reading them;
for the party observed at least two boys (half prices) in the act of
spelling them out between their legs.
Tiffles was so absorbed in the contemplation of the posters, Patching in
a critical survey of the scenery on both sides of the road, and Marcus
Wilkeson in an introspection of his troubled heart, that none of them
observed how often the thin, nervous female, walking rapidly ahead,
looked over her shoulder at one of their number.
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