He rode away next day with his troop: but my uncle Philip not being
caught yet, and the Government set on making an example of him, we
hadn't seen the last of these dragoons. 'Twas a time of fear down in
the town. At dead of night or at noonday they came on us--six times in
all: and for two months the crew of the _Unity_ couldn't call their
souls their own, but lived from day to day in secret closets and
wandered the country by night, hiding in hedges and straw-houses.
All that time the revenue men watched the Hauen, night and day, like
dogs before a rat-hole.
But one November morning 'twas whispered abroad that Uncle Philip had
made his way to Falmouth, and slipped across to Guernsey. Time passed
on, and the dragooners were seen no more, nor the handsome
devil-may-care face of Sergeant Basket. Up at Constantine, where he had
always contrived to billet himself, 'tis to be thought pretty Madam Noy
pined to see him again, kicking his spurs in the porch and smiling out
of his gay brown eyes; for her face fell away from its plump condition,
and the hunger in her eyes grew and grew. But a more remarkable fact
was that her old husband--who wouldn't have yearned after the dragoon,
ye'd have thought--began to dwindle and fall away too.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145