Jim had no objection to treating facts with the imaginative coloring proper to his temperament, but he recognized the prudence of discrimination in this case. Miriam must not be led to suppose that Jack had neglected her; and yet, if she learned of the complication with Zarga, she might feel some distress.
“Dis here is de age uv splittin’ jobs, miss,” he explained. “Me an’ Sol is tendin’ dis end, an’ de boss an’ de Sattum gang is busy fixin’ up t’ings fer de getaway when we’s t’rough here. De lab-ratories,” he hastened on, “has got deirs befo’ I seen yer. I can’t tell no lies; I chops ’em down wid me lil crutchet, like de fader uv his country! I picks up a bunch o’ bums here an’ dere as I comes roun’, an’ gives ’em de tip to fire de pop’lar heart an’ work a French revolution stunt on Torpy to distrac’ his min’; an’ by the rumpus dey’s raisin’,” he added, breaking off as a noise of tumult made itself audible outside the castle, “I figgers me orders is bein’ obeyed!”
The door opened and Jenny, her pink cheeks streaked with pallor and her eyes round with consternation, ran into the room with a tale of terror:
“Oh, if your please, miss, the mob is broke loose and we’ll all be murthered in our beds! They’ve fetched ladders and torches, for all the world like the history-books, and the garrison is parleying with the ringleaders, and us without our traveling-dresses! Oh, wurra-wurra! Whatever will become of us?”
Miriam was not inaccessible to imaginative fears; but anything like a menace of actual danger restored her composure. She silenced Jenny with a contemptuous gesture and walked to the window.
A disorderly crowd of strange-looking people, constantly increasing in numbers, was collecting in front of the castle. They evidently meant mischief; but Miriam recognized at once that only the treason of those who composed the defenders could involve any immediate peril. She had no reason to doubt that Torpeon was competent to impose order, in any case; and, assuming that he was still in the castle, she expected him to appear. But he was nowhere to be seen. She recalled that she had been expecting him to visit her at the moment when Jim entered. She was now aware, of course, how he had been prevented.
A shower of stones hurled by the mob smashed some windows in the lower part of the castle. The garrison made no counter-demonstration; and there were signs which might indicate that Jenny’s statement about a parley was not all fancy.
Jim, at Miriam’s side, was contemplating the scene with grunts and chuckles of manifest satisfaction. But he did not lose his critical acumen.
“Dese here guys don’t know de ropes,” he remarked. “What’s brickbats an’ hollerin’ in a play like dis? Dinnermite’s de stuff! But I figgers Torpy’s cornered de supply! He’ll show his han’ befor’ long!”
“Will I be after makin’ a rope of the bedclothes to let down the back winder, miss?” suggested Jenny, still palpitating.