"A' has so, like a eel off the hook."
"Ha! ha! Stap me! eels are slippery things. But 'tis a rub for you, master constable. You'll lose your place, i' faith, you will."
"Why now, it be no sin o' mine. I left un snug in lock-up, I did, door double-locked and bar up, an' went to take my forty winks like a honest poor man; an' no sooner my back turned than out skips the pris'ner, like Simon Peter in the story. There be witchcraft in't, an' that 'ee ought to know, Cap'n, seein' as the villain be your own sarvant."
"Eh, fellow?"
"Sakes alive, I thowt as 'ee knowed that all the time! Sure 'twas John Simmons, your honour's own body-slave, so to speak. An' I was main glad to see 'ee, Cap'n, 'cause now 'ee know un for what he is, 'ee'll help me to cotch un, in the Queen's name."
"Knows where he be, I'll be bound," said one of the group in a low tone. The captain sprang from his chair, ran round the table, and, before the speaker could defend himself, he caught him by the throat and hurled him to the floor.
"Zounds, loon!" he cried in a passion, "what do you mean? Will you affront me, eh? will you mouth your cursed insults to my very face? Odzooks, I'll slit your weazand, hound, and any man of you that dares a hint o' the sort, so 'ware all!"
The men looked abashed and uncomfortable; the hostess was pale with apprehension, and the constable edged away from the irate captain. His burst of passion over, he turned to Mrs. Joplady and spoke in quieter tones.
"I brook no insolence, mistress. I don't answer for my servant's deeds behind my back. I've been away all day, as poor Jenny will bear me witness; was I to know my fool of a servant would play highwayman in my absence? 'Tis a useful fellow, civil, too, beyond most; I picked him up in London; he was in truth commended to me by no less than his grace the Duke of Ormond, who tapped me on the shoulder in the Piazza at Covent Garden, and said, 'Aglionby, my bawcock, you want a servant; I know the very man for you!' Could I suspect a man after that? How he got mixed up in this business beats me. And as for helping master constable to repair his carelessness—adsbud, 'tis not likely. The man in truth is no longer servant of mine. I am on my way to serve the Queen in Flanders, and this very day arranged with my friend Sir Rupert Verney to take the fellow off my hands. You may hang him, for me!"
"There now, Sam," said the hostess, turning to the man who had been felled, and was now at the door glowering; "your tongue runs away wi' 'ee. Beg the cap'n's pardon, and don't go for to make a ninny o' yourself."