you other men, look to your loading and
come on with me. I've been fired at by a waggon load of them." The five
unposted men hastened out into the road and away after the detective to
the left. After going a short distance, the adjutant called a halt, and
told the veteran to advance in military order. "Now, min," said Mr.
Terry quietly, "extind about tin paces from aich another to the lift,
an' Oi'll be the lifthand man. Thin kape wan eye on me an' the other
before yeez, and advance whin Oi advance undher cover av the stumps and
finces and things. Riddy now--extind!" The movement was well executed,
and, as the veteran was eager for the fray, he led them more rapidly
than it could be thought the old man had the power to run, until they
reached the spot where the waggon had halted. It was gone, without a
sign; so the gallant skirmishers re-formed in the road and marched back
to quarters. When they arrived at the gate, Coristine could not resist
the temptation of a challenge, unnecessary as it was. The dominie was
leading, and him he hailed: "Who goes there?" With momentary hesitation,
Wilkinson answered in the same undertone:--

"Friends."

"The word, friends?"

"Idiot."

"The countersign, Idiot?"

"Boy."

"Pass, Idiot Boy, and all's well!"

The schoolmaster could have boxed that sentry's ears, have slapped his
face, have caned him within an inch of his life; for there was a light
in an upper window, and he knew that bright eyes were looking down
through the slats of the closed green shutters, and that sharp ears had
caught the sound of the obnoxious words. He could detect the accents of
a voice, which he knew so well, pleading the cause of silence with
another that trembled with suppressed laughter as it made ineffectual
promises to be quiet. The two clergymen also heard the friendly
altercation at the window, so still was everything else, and chuckled as
they filed past the legal sentry, now on the broad grin. The Captain and
Mr. Terry were above taking notice of such trifles, for they were
eagerly persuading each other to take just the least drop before going
out into the heavy night dews. No sooner had the five entered the
guard-room than the Squire re-formed them and marched them off to
relieve the old sentries. The lawyer's place was taken by the dominie,
Toner's by the Captain, that of Sylvanus by Perrowne, that of Timotheus
by Errol, and Rufus' post of honour by the veteran, who would accept no
other. Th