“Yes, Jerry,” said Dick, dismally; “but I ran away like a coward, and that was like a tacit confession of guilt.”
“Like a what confession o’ guilt?”
“Silent.”
“No, sir: you said something else.”
“Tacit, man—tacit.”
“Oh, was it, sir. Well, if you say it was tacit, I ’spose it was. Never heered o’ that sort o’ confession before; it was always open confession. But, as I was a-saying, one day I thinks as I just said; next day it’s all the other way. I don’t want to put you out o’ heart, sir; but, as you very well know, being quite a scholar, and having read o’ these things lots o’ times, there’s an old saying about possession being nine points of the law. He’s got possession tight, and, if you go and tell him he must give it up now, he’ll say—”
“Well, what, Jerry?”
“Don’t like to tell you, sir, for fear of giving offence.”
“Speak out, man; speak out, and don’t say ‘sir’ to me again while we are equals here in the army.”
“Ekals, sir? Bein’ both in the ranks don’t make us ekal.”