"What do you want?"
"Silence!" shouted the first one again; "let me explain, you dogs, before you bark again."
There was a pause, and the polite gentleman began again in his mellifluous voice:
"We are travellers belated. We require corn for our horses, food for ourselves. There is no occasion for alarm; my friends are noisy, but harmless, I assure you, and the favour of admittance and entertainment here will be duly appreciated. To refuse your hospitality—the hospitality of a Pemberthy—is only to expose yourselves to considerable inconvenience, I fear."
"Spoken like a book, Captain."
"And, as we intend to come in at all risks," added a deeper voice, "it will be better for you not to try and keep us out, d' ye hear? D' ye—Captain, if you shake me by the collar again I'll put a bullet through you. I—"
"Silence! Let the worthy folks inside consider the position for five minutes."
Not a minute longer, if they don't want the place burned about their ears, mind you," cried a voice that had not spoken yet.
"Who are you?" asked Sophie, still inclined to parley.
"Travellers, I have told you."