“I hope, gentleman,” said Brogten, bluntly, “that you’re not going to believe that blackguard’s word against ours.”
“You forget, sir,” said Mr Norton, the tall don, “that what the blackguard, (as you are pleased to call him), said is confirmed by a gentleman here.”
“And impugned by three gentlemen,” said Bruce, who felt how thoroughly he was in disgrace.
“Do you mean to deny, Bruce, that you swore at the man first, and then cut his ropes, when he was already stopping his barge?” asked Lillyston.
“I mean to say he wouldn’t move when we told him.”
“I appeal to Home,” said Lillyston; “didn’t the man instantly stop when he understood why we wanted him to do so?”
“Yes,” said Julian, who, still dizzy with Brogten’s blow, was standing a little apart, “I am bound to say that the man was entirely in the right.”
“I am inclined to think so,” said Mr Norton, with scorn in his eye; and so saying, he took the little proctor’s arm, and strode away, while the crowd of undergraduates also broke up, and streamed off in twos and threes.
“Do you mean to pay that fellow for his rope, Bruce?” asked Lillyston; “if not, I do.”
“Pay!” said Brogten, with an explosion of oaths; “I’ll pay you and your sizar friend there for this, depend upon it.”