“Other's cleared, Thorns. Got that one safe?”
“All serene.”
The man from above dropped down into the road, a clumsy, cloaked figure. He turned his lanthorn upon me, in a painful yellow glare.
“What! 'Tis the young 'un,” he grunted, after a moment. “Read the warrant, Thorns.”
My captor began to fumble in his pocket, pulled out a paper, and bent down into the light. Suddenly he paused and looked up at me.
“This ain't———Mr. Lilly white, I don't believe this ain't a Jack Spaniard.”
The clinks of bits and stirrup-irons came down in a waft again.
“That be hanged for a tale, Thorns,” the man with the lanthorn said sharply. “If this here ain't Riego—or the other—I'll …”
I began to come out of my stupor.
“My name's John Kemp,” I said.
The other grunted. “Hurry up, Thorns.”
“But, Mr. Lillywhite,” Thorns reasoned, “he don't speak like a Dago. Split me if he do! And we ain't in a friendly country either, you know that. We can't afford to rile the gentry!”
I plucked up courage.
“You'll get your heads broke,” I said, “if you wait much longer. Hark to that!”
The approaching horses had turned off the turf on to the hard road; the steps of first one and then another sounded out down the silent hill. I knew it was the Free Traders from that; for except between banks they kept to the soft roadsides as if it were an article of faith. The noise of hoofs became that of an army.
The runners began to consult. The shadow called Thorns was for bolting across country; but Lilly white was not built for speed. Besides he did not know the lie of the land, and believed the Free Traders were mere bogeys.
“They'll never touch us,” Lillywhite grumbled. “We've a warrant … King's name. …” He was flashing his lanthorn aimlessly up the hill.
“Besides,” he began again, “we've got this gallus bird. If he's not a Spaniard, he knows all about them. I heard him. Kemp he may be, but he spoke Spanish up there … and we've got something for our trouble. He'll swing, I'll lay you a———”
From far above us came a shout, then a confused noise of voices. The moon began to get up; above the cutting the clouds had a fringe of sudden silver. A horseman, cloaked and muffled to the ears, trotted warily towards us.
“What's up?” he hailed from a matter of ten yards. “What are you showing that glim for? Anything wrong below?”
The runners kept silence; we heard the click of a pistol lock.
“In the King's name,” Lillywhite shouted, “get off that nag and lend a hand! We've a prisoner.”
The horseman gave an incredulous whistle, and then began to shout, his voice winding mournfully uphill, “Hallo! Hallo—o—o.” An echo stole back, “Hallo! Hallo—o—o”; then a number of voices. The horse stood, drooping its head, and the man turned in his saddle. “Runners,” he shouted, “Bow Street runners! Come along, come along, boys! We'll roast 'em. … Runners! Runners!”
The sound of heavy horses at a jolting trot came to our ears.
“We're in for it,” Lillywhite grunted. “D———n this county of Kent.”
Thorns never loosed his hold of my collar. At the steep of the hill the men and horses came into sight against the white sky, a confused crowd of ominous things.
“Turn that lanthorn off'n me,” the horseman said. “Don't you see you frighten my horse? Now, boys, get round them. …”
The great horses formed an irregular half-circle round us; men descended clumsily, like sacks of corn. The lanthorn was seized and flashed upon us; there was a confused hubbub. I caught my own name.
“Yes, I'm Kemp … John Kemp,” I called. “I'm true blue.”
“Blue be hanged!” a voice shouted back. “What be you a-doing with runners?”
The riot went on—forty or fifty voices. The runners were seized; several hands caught at me. It was impossible to make myself heard; a fist struck me on the cheek.
“Gibbet 'em,” somebody shrieked; “they hung my nephew! Gibbet 'em all the three. Young Kemp's mother's a bad 'un. An informer he is. Up with 'em!”
I was pulled down on my knees, then thrust forward, and then left to myself while they rushed to bonnet Lillywhite. I stumbled against a great, quiet farm horse.
A continuous scuffling went on; an imperious voice cried: “Hold your tongues, you fools! Hold your tongues! …” Someone else called: “Hear to Jack Rangsley. Hear to him!”
There was a silence. I saw a hand light a torch at the lanthorn, and the crowd of faces, the muddle of limbs, the horses' heads, and the quiet trees above, flickered into sight.
“Don't let them hang me, Jack Rangsley,” I sobbed. “You know I'm no spy. Don't let 'em hang me, Jack.”
He rode his horse up to me, and caught me by the collar.
“Hold your tongue,” he said roughly. He began to make a set speech, anathematizing runners. He moved to tie our feet, and hang us by our finger-nails over the quarry edge.
A hubbub of assent and dissent went up; then the crowd became unanimous. Rangsley slipped from his horse.
“Blindfold 'em, lads,” he cried, and turned me sharply round.
“Don't struggle,” he whispered in my ear; his silk handkerchief came cool across my eyelids. I felt hands fumbling with a knot at the back of my head. “You're all right,” he said again. The hubbub of voices ceased suddenly. “Now, lads, bring 'em along.”
A voice I knew said their watchword, “Snuff and enough,” loudly, and then, “What's agate?”
Someone else answered, “It's Rooksby, it's Sir Ralph.”
The voice interrupted sharply, “No names, now. I don't want hanging.” The hand left my arm; there was a pause in the motion of the procession. I caught a moment's sound of whispering. Then a new voice cried, “Strip the runners to the shirt. Strip 'em. That's it.” I heard some groans and a cry, “You won't murder us.” Then a nasal drawl, “We will sure—ly.” Someone else, Rangsley, I think, called, “Bring 'em along—this way now.”
After a period of turmoil we seemed to come out of the crowd upon a very rough, descending path; Rangsley had called out, “Now, then, the rest of you be off; we've got enough here”; and the hoofs of heavy horses sounded again. Then we came to a halt, and Rangsley called sharply ïrom close to me:
“Now, you runners—and you, John Kemp—here you be on the brink of eternity, above the old quarry. There's a sheer drop of a hundred feet. We'll tie your legs and hang you by your fingers. If you hang long enough, you'll have time to say your prayers. Look alive, lads!”
The voice of one of the runners began to shout, “You'll swing for this—you———”
As for me I was in a dream. “Jack,” I said, “Jack, you won't——”
“Oh, that's all right,” the voice said in a whisper. “Mum, now! It's all right.”
It withdrew itself a little