Page 184 - A Jacobite Exile

"We thought he was dead. Two or three of us looked at him, and I could
have sworn that life was out of him."

"Well, then, you would have sworn what was not true, for he managed to

crawl to Ramsay's, where he lies, I am told, dangerously ill, and an official
has been to him, to obtain his account of the fray. It was a bungled
business, from beginning to end."

"We could not have calculated on the fellows making such a resistance,"

the other grumbled. "This one seemed but a lad, and yet he killed three of
our party, and the other killed one. A nice business that; and you will have
to pay their friends well, Ben Soloman, for I can tell you there is grumbling

at the price, which they say was not enough for the work, which you told
them would be easy."

"It ought to have been," the Jew said sullenly. "Fifteen or twenty men to
overpower a lad. What could have been more easy? However, I will do

something for the friends of the men who were fools enough to get
themselves killed, but if I hear any grumbling from the others, it will be

worse for them; there is not one I could not lay by the heels in jail.

"Well, as to this young fellow, I shall not come again. I do not want to be

noticed coming here. Keep a shrewd lookout after him."

"There is no fear about that," the man said. "It will be long ere he is strong
enough to walk."

"When he gets better, we will have him taken away to a safe place outside
the town. Once there, I can make him say what I like."

"And if he does not get well?"

"In that case, we will take away his body and bury it outside. I will see to
that myself."