"
"The rebuke is harsh, I must observe, Captain Borroughcliffe," said the
colonel, "but I pardon it because it is military. No, no, Kit these nice
points must be left to martial usages. Be not impatient, my cousin; I
doubt not the hour will come, when you shall hold the scales of justice
and satisfy your loyal longings on many a traitor. Zounds! I could
almost turn executioner myself in such a cause!"
"I can curb my impatience, sir," returned Dillon, with hypocritical
meekness, and great self-command, though his eyes were gleaming with
savage exultation. "I beg pardon of Captain Borroughcliffe, if, in my
desire to render the civil authority superior to the military, I have
trespassed on your customs."
"You see, Borroughcliffe!" exclaimed the colonel, exultingly, "the lad
is ruled by an instinct in all matters of law and justice. I hold it to
be impossible that a man thus endowed can ever become a disloyal
subject. But our breakfast waits, and Mr. Fitzgerald has breathed his
horse this cool morning; let us proceed at once to the examination."
Borroughcliffe motioned to the sergeant to open the door, when the whole
party entered the vacant room.
"Your prisoner has escaped!" cried the cornet, after a single moment
employed in making sure of the fact.
"Never! it must not, shall not be!" cried Dillon, quivering with rage,
as he glanced his eyes furiously around the apartment; "here has been
treachery! and foul treason to the king!"
"By whom committed, Mr.
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