pinch. After a few moments of silence, no one
knowing what to do in such an unusual dilemma, the Captain walked up to
Sir Wiley, and offered, if the Baronet were not satisfied, to fight
either Mr. Chanticleer or the Baronet himself, whichever was preferred.
But Sir Wiley replied very politely that he was perfectly satisfied with
Captain Bulldog, and that he only regretted that the Captain should act
for such a coward as Mr. Thomas Leverett. On this the Captain began
abusing poor Tom so terribly, that I thought it best to beat a retreat
and see after my runaway friend. When I arrived home I found him sitting
in my little back-parlour, just as I expected. He had covered his face
with his hands, and was crying bitterly. I comforted the poor fellow as
well as I could, and did not give him the least grounds for suspecting
that I had been a witness of his behaviour. In a little time he became
calmer, and then he told me that the report of his own pistol had
frightened him so much, that, for his life, he could not help running
away.

It was not many days after this that Tom came to me again, evidently in
great pain; and, from the broken sentences that escaped him, I learned
that as he and his brother Bob were walking in the public road,
Chanticleer had met them; and after calling Tom by every abusive name he
could think of, had ended by thrashing him with a riding-whip, till the
unfortunate youth could scarcely stand. I thought this was carrying the
matter too far, so I walked home with him to speak to his father about
it. The old gentleman was very much excited at Tom's account of the
quarrel; he had not heard a word about it till that day, and said that
Chanticleer should pay dearly for what he had done; and as for Tom's
mother, she fainted away at first, and ended by urging her husband to
prosecute that rascal Chanticleer, even if it cost them their last grain
of food. She thought but little of what she was saying then, but she
remembered it afterwards.

On that very afternoon old Mr. Leverett and Bob took the railway to
Gloucester, and went at once to the celebrated lawyer, Mr. Sharpe
Vulture, of Billocost Row. Mr. Vulture, who was just going home to
dinner, and was both hungry and savage, heard their story with great
impatience, told them to come again the next morning, and bade them good
day. He thus saved his dinner hot, and pocketed an extra fee for an
additional consultation. His client, little used to lawyers'
ple