“Yes! yes! Much good may the knowledge of it do you.”
“How fortunate that this silly fellow concluded to let you off on such a promise. What an ass!”
“Yes! but he may grow wiser! Put spurs to your jade, and let us see what her heels are good for, for the next three hours. I do not yet feel secure. The simpleton may grow wiser and change his mind.”
“He can scarcely do us harm now, if he does.”
“Indeed!” said Stevens—“you know nothing. There's such a thing as hue and cry, and its not unfrequently practised in these regions, when the sheriff is not at hand and constables are scarce. Every man is then a sheriff.”
“Well—but there's no law-process against us!”
“You are a born simpleton, I think,” said Stevens, with little scruple. He was too much mortified to be very heedful of the feelings of his companion. “There needs no law in such a case, at least for the CAPTURE of a supposed criminal; and, for that matter, they do not find it necessary for his punishment either. Hark ye, Ben—there's a farmhouse?”
“Yes, I see it!”
“Don't you smell tar?—They're running it now!”
“I think I do smell something like it. What of it?”