"
"Bless me!" exclaimed the surprised veteran, "that such an engagement
should happen within musket-shot of the abbey, and I know so little of
it! My faculties are on the wane, I fear, for the time has been when a
single discharge would rouse me from the deepest sleep."
"The bayonet is a silent weapon," returned the composed captain, with a
significant wave of his hand; "'tis the Englishman's pride, and every
experienced officer knows that one thrust from it is worth the fire of a
whole platoon."
"What, did you come to the charge!" cried the colonel; "by the Lord,
Borroughcliffe, my gallant young friend, I would have given twenty
tierces of rice, and two able-bodied negroes, to have seen the fray!"
"It would have been a pleasant spectacle to witness, sans disputation,"
returned the captain; "but victory is ours without the presence of
Achilles, this time. I have them, all that survive the affair; at least,
all that have put foot on English soil."
"Ay! and the king's cutter has brought in the schooner!" added Colonel
Howard. "Thus perish all rebellion for ever more! Where's Kit? my
kinsman, Mr. Christopher Dillon; I would ask him what the laws of the
realm next prescribe to loyal subjects. Here will be work for the jurors
of Middlesex, Captain Borroughcliffe, if not for a secretary of state's
warrant. Where is Kit, my kinsman; the ductile, the sagacious, the loyal
Christopher?"
"The Cacique 'non est,' as more than one bailiff has said of sundry
clever fellows in our regiment, when there has been a pressing occasion
for their appearance," said the soldier; "but the cornet of horse has
given me reason to believe that his provincial lordship, who repaired on
board the cutter to give intelligence of the position of the enemy,
continued there to share the dangers and honors of naval combat.
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