' 'They
are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets on
Ridgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other may
go hang, ay, and they may hang me too.'
'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' said
someone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, and
spoil his face for him.'
'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir was
there too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, that
when his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.'
Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being
terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in
one place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling across
the roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell
and taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were black
with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without making
too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave such
a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name.
'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought was
Parmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy of
Trenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard,
and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking out
to sea.
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