sman on this
occasion," said Mr. Tyrrwhit. "We certainly cannot do any good if we
attack the captain all at once. Now, Captain Scarborough, we don't want
to be uncivil."

"Uncivil be blowed!" said Mr. Hart; "I want to get my money, and mean to
'ave it. I agreed as you was to speak, Mr. Tyrrwhit; but I means to be
spoken up for; and if no one else can do it, I can do it myself. Is we
to have any settlement made to us, or is we to go to law?"

"I can only refer you to Mr. Barry," said Mountjoy, walking on very
rapidly. He thought that when he reached the house he might be able to
enter in and leave them out, and he thought also that if he kept them on
the trot he would thus prevent them from attacking him with many words.
Evans & Crooke were already lagging behind, and Mr. Spicer was giving
signs of being hard pressed. Even Hart, who was younger than the others,
was fat and short, and already showed that he would have to halt if he
made many speeches.

"Barry be d----d!" exclaimed Hart.

"You see how it is, Captain Scarborough," said Tyrrwhit; "Your father,
as has just been laid to rest in hopes of a a happy resurrection, was a
very peculiar gentleman."

"The most hinfernal swindler I ever 'eard tell of!" said Hart.

"I don't wish to say a word disrespectful," continued Tyrrwhit, "but he
had his own notions. He said as you was illegitimate,--didn't he, now?"

"I can only refer you to Mr. Barry," said Mountjoy.

"And he said that Mr. Augustus was to have it all; and he proved his
words,--didn't he, now? And then he made out that, if so, our deeds
weren't worth the paper they were written on. Isn't it all true what I'm
saying? And then when we'd taken what small sums of money he chose to
offer us, just to save ourselves from ruin, then he comes up and says
you are the heir, as legitimate as anybody else, and are to have all the
property. And he proves that too! What are we to think about it?"

There was nothing left for Mountjoy Scarborough but to make the pace as
good as possible. Mr. Hart tried once and again to stop their progress
by standing in the captain's path, but could only do this sufficiently
at each stoppage to enable him to express his horror with various
interjections. "Oh laws! that such a liar as 'e should ever be buried!"

"You can't do anything by being disrespectful, Mr. Hart," said Tyrrwhit.

"What--is it--he means--to do?" ejaculated Spicer.

"Mr. Spicer," said Mountjoy, "I mean to leave it