“What a terrible fellow! And did they take him at last?”
“You shall hear. Sometimes Jack suddenly appeared among the negroes when they were assembled before the plantation house, two or three hundred of them together, just as if he had sprung up from the ground, and when he held up his three-fingered hand they would fall prostrate before him. Unawed by the overseer or proprietor, he levied his contributions, demanding and receiving what he wanted. At last Quashi, a Maroon negro, one of the race of coloured men, who for a long time dwelt in the strongholds of the Blue Mountains, undertook to destroy him.”
“And did he? It was no easy matter to kill Three-fingered Jack. Did he really kill him?”
“He did; for, taking a nephew to assist him, he hunted him from cover to cover, until, after two or three times grappling with him, he shot Jack as he was climbing a hill; severed his head from his body, and obtained a large reward.”
CHAPTER XIV.
Motto for a soldier.—Glory.—Reply to a challenge.—The caricature.—Discharges.—A picquet, sentinel, vedette, advanced guard, and flag of truce.—Crossing rivers.—Presentations.—Camps of instruction.—Comfort of a cigar.—Tribute to the brave.
“The love of country is creditable to every heart; and I would have you, boys, cherish it in yours. I would, if I could, have every soldier, and indeed every Englishman, take for his motto,
‘Old England for ever!
The land, boys, we live in!’