"That will do!" he panted. "I give in! It's a fair cap! But if that white-livered hound had stood by me, I'd have beaten the lot of you! As it is, I've given as good as I've got, I fancy!" and he nodded tauntingly as he glanced to where Dick knelt beside Falconer.
Drake tore off the mask, and Ted shrugged his shoulders.
"You can take your knee off my chest, my lord," he said; "you're a tidy weight. Oh, I'm not going to try to escape. I know when I'm done. But it was a near thing."
Sparling and a couple of grooms with lanterns came running toward them, and Drake rose.
"Look to him," he said quietly. "He is not armed."
Ted took the cases from his pockets and flung them down as the men surrounded him; then he drew out a cigarette case, and, with a cockney drawl, said:
"Can one of you oblige me with a light?"
Sparling knocked the cigarette out of his hand, and one of the grooms growled:
"Shall I give him one over the head, for his cheek, Mr. Sparling?"
"Yes; that's about all you flunkeys can do; hit a man when he's down," said Ted. "But you needn't trouble. Here comes the peelers."