2. The smugglers got off clear, but they say the hue and cry is up
already, and that a head-price will be fixed of twenty pound. So if I
sell you a fowling-piece, maybe I shall do wrong, and have the Government
upon me as well as my master.' The surprise in his voice was changed to
suspicion, for while he spoke I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot,
though I tried to keep it in the shadow; and that he saw the boot clotted
with blood, and the kerchief tied round my leg.
''Tis for that very reason,' says Elzevir, 'that I want the firelock.
These smugglers are roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stop
such wicked rascals on a lone hill-side. Come, come, _thou_ dost not want
a piece to guard thee; they will not hurt a boy.'
He had the guinea between his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the gold
was too strong to be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs,
and powder, and the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with his
hand in his pocket, and a guinea and a crown-piece in his hand.
His whistle sounded innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caught
his eye when he was looking at my bloody foot; and so I said as much to
Elzevir, who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. But
from where I sat I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap,
and see without being seen--and there was my young gentleman walking
carelessly enough, and whistling like any bird so long as Elzevir's head
was above the wall; but when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a careful
look round, and seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistling
and made off as fast as heels would carry him.
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