“Did you hear it roar, Mr Mark, sir?” said Billy, still fencing with the question.
“Of course I did. What was it like?”
“Well, you see, I didn’t, as I may say, exactly see it, Master Mark, sir, so I wouldn’t venture to say what it was like.”
“But you saw something?”
“Well, I won’t deceive you, Mr Mark, sir; I didn’t see nothing.”
“I wish you had, Billy. But what an escape! The thing must have been asleep when we went there last night, and did not wake till we came away. But we’ve found out its hole.”
“Yes,” said Billy, dolefully, as he rubbed one leg; “we’ve found out its hole, Mr Mark, sir, only, as you may say where is it?”
“Why, we could find our way back there, surely?”
“I don’t believe nobody could find their way. I can’t, sir. You’re always going where you don’t want, and turning up somewhere else. I feel like the needle in the bottle of hay, sir, and give it up.”
Mark stood listening, but all was still.