agin; so don't be takin' on."
"But what if he's been taken prisoner?" said the
widow.
"Ay, that's jest wot I've comed about. Ye see it's
not onlikely he's bin took; so about thirty o' the lads
o' the valley are ready jest now to start away and give
the red riptiles chase, an' I come to tell ye; so keep up
heart, mistress."
With this parting word of comfort, Jim withdrew,
and Marston soon followed, leaving the widow to weep