On the instant, however, and before he was aware of any treachery, Redgill fired at him.
The ball grazed Ned’s cheek.
“Cowardly hound!” he cried, and rushed on his foe with the fury of a fiend.
In an instant, the whole place was in an uproar.
Bob Bertram, Tim, and the landlord were surrounded by Captain Jack’s followers, and a deadly encounter took place.
The clash of swords, the report of fire-arms, and the shouts and cries of all in the house, awoke wild echoes in the silent night.
To add to the confusion all the lights were overturned and extinguished.
At the first opportunity Master Tim crept under the table out of harm’s way.
But Bob, the publican, and Wildfire Ned, pushed their antagonists so fiercely that in less than ten minutes Phillip Redgill was carried out into the yard bleeding and pale.
Captain Jack and his men were thoroughly beaten, but they continued the fight outside the house, on the spacious green in front of the doorway.