[1] Dree=three, still used in Wilts and Dorset.
[2] "Stuck wi' a Bridport dagger".--A local witticism meaning to be hanged, Bridport being noted for the manufacture of hempen rope.
The smugglers looked at one another in amazement. Clearly there was a Judas amongst them.
"Stand out, Ned Crocker!"
There was a scuffling in the farther corner of the cavern, and presently a man was roughly hauled out into the centre of the assembly. I could see him distinctly; he was a little, under-sized apology for a man, with sharp, pointed features, a nose resembling a bird's beak, a loose, weak-natured mouth, and small, shifty eyes. His complexion was dark, almost of a dirty yellow, while his face was covered with blotches and pimples.
In his terror his skin turned almost a greyish white, while his thin legs, which struck me as being too weak for even his undersized body, were bent and shaking like a reed in a March gale.
Several of the rogues hurled imprecations at him, but their leader silenced them by raising his hand.
"I bain't a done nothin'!" cried the miserable wretch.
"I don't know as 'ow ye've been taxed wi' aught," ejaculated the captain, "but I'll do it now. Look you, Ned Crocker, have ye at any time been unfairly done by? No? Then why did ye blab on the run we made nigh Dancing Ledge, when Thompson, John Light, and Long Will of Corfe were taken?"
"'Tweren't me, maaster!" answered the rogue sturdily and doggedly, though his bearing did not fit with his manner of speech.