He took his sword from where it lay, and left the room.
"Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow!" said Venus, running after him, as her contribution to the family excitement.
Harry opened the front door, desiring Charley to guard it till his return, and Venus, after sniffing under it, rushed out of the house with him, barking loudly on the terrace, in a state of great perturbation. Harry came back after an absence of twenty minutes, during which the Squire had several times "wondered what on earth was keeping the boy."
"All right," he said, laying down his sword; "there are no robbers about."
"It has taken you a precious time to find it out," growled his father.
Harry sat down again to his game. "I walked round the terrace to make sure," he said.
"Which you might have done in five minutes," grumbled the Squire again. "Now then, 'tis your move."
Harry placed one of his three kings in dangerous proximity to his adversary's forces.
"Thank you, Sir," said his father, satirically, capturing the imperilled potentate.
Harry tried to retrieve himself, and succeeded in placing the second king in the same position.