As the man spoke, he moved round the back of the gig, as if with the intention of going away. It was the first time he had uttered a word, and his voice struck Grimaldi as being a familiar one, though he could not, in his confusion, recollect where or when he had heard it. He had no time to reflect on the matter, for the man at the horse's head demanded of the man on his left whether he had got his watch.
"No," said the fellow, "I forgot his watch. Give it here!" With these words he again raised his pistol, which had been all this time, and still was, on full cock.
Grimaldi gave it up, but not without a sigh, for it was the very watch which had been presented to him with his own portrait on the dial-plate. As he put it into the man's hand, he said,
"If you knew who I am, you would not treat me in this manner."
"Oh, we know you well enough, Mr. Grimaldi," said the man at the reins; "we have been waiting for you these three nights, and began to think you would not come to-night."
The other men laughed, and the man whose voice had struck him, recommended his companion to give the watch back again.
"Oh yes, I dare say!" said the man, with a sneer, who held the horse.
"Well, I don't know," said the fellow who had been addressed as Tom; "I don't think it's worth a couple of pounds."
"No, no, it is not; and besides, I say he shall have it again," cried the man, whose voice, familiar at first, now seemed perfectly well known to Grimaldi. "Here!" He snatched the watch from his comrade's hand, who made no effort to retain it, and handed it into the gig. Grimaldi gladly received it back; but, in the act of doing so, he saw that the hand from which he took it had, or appeared to have, but two fingers upon it.
The watch was no sooner returned than the robbers made off with great rapidity, and he was once again alone, in a far greater state of alarm and trepidation than when the robbers surrounded him. The revulsion of feeling was so great, that he felt as if his existence depended upon instant flight, and that his flight would be far more speedy if he ran than if he rode. Acting upon the impulse of his disordered nerves, he sprang at once out of the gig, but, not jumping sufficiently high to clear it, was thrown, into the road, head foremost, with great force, and struck his temple heavily against a flint. The blow and the previous fright quite bewildered him, but did not render him insensible; he was up again directly, and found himself, at the expiration of some ten minutes, stopped by the patrol, to whom he was well known. He had no recollection of running, but he had run for a long distance, and the first thing he was conscious of, was the being half-supported by this man, and receiving many eager inquiries what had befallen him.