MISCHIEF AFOOT 89
The storekeeper drew back, cringing. “ I-—I meant no offence, sir, to an officer of his Majesty.”
The Captain smiled and snapped his fingers. “ Very well, then, Tilly, crack your face with a smile, and tell us What’s the news.”
“ I’ve heard none, sir, unless it’s about Anton. He’s up in court for hearing, the skipper says.”
“ Anton? Anton? Who the devil is he? ”
“ A King’s enemy. Attempted the life of Davy Grumper.”
“ Pooh ! A King’s enemy, eh? Too many of that breed around. A few heads taken off would quiet ’em ; don’t you think so, Moffatt? ” He made a stroke as though the trick were as easy as quartering a rabbit.
“ judges and juries be not so hasty as you, Drawglare,” replied the skipper.
“ No, nor half as certain.”
“ No, by thunder, when Robert Thorne stands a’tween a prisoner and the gallows.”
“ Phew I ” whistled the soldier. “ Is Thorne defending him? ”
“ He is.”
“ Poof ! That means another scoundrel’s neck saved.”
“ Likely. He cleared Shriver, six months ago,” replied Moffatt, joining the conversation. “ All the treason-mongers, when caught, run to him.”
“Mr. Throne,” defended Tilson, “is a man to set stock by, gentlemen. A man of much taste, I may say, for I have the honour to sell to him ”
“ And young Warwick,” interposed Moffatt, “ isn’t he climbin’ the ladder, two at a time? Cuss me if he’s not meddlin’ with politics, one of these days. Headin’ that way, isn’t he? ”
Drawglare turned quickly and twirled his moustache. “ What’s this about Warwick? ” he asked.
“ I say he has a sharp turn for law,’ answered the skipper. “ You’d think, by jupiter, he was an orphan nephew, the way Thorne pets and for’ards him.”
“ Oh ho! That’s so, eh? The high-minded young coxcomb. I know him and his whole rebel pedigree. Foreigners of his grain need watching.”
Tilson gasped. He disliked and feared Drawglare, and seeing an opportunity of getting away, so that he could more leisurely calcu- late what to offer Moffatt for his smuggled imports, he went to the opposite side of the store, pretending to examine hogsheads and demijohns. The Captain turned to the skipper. “ liloffirtt,” he
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