Page 192 - A Jacobite Exile

along the path. The charcoal burner carried a heavy axe, while the Jew,
whose head was bound up with a cloth, had a long knife in his girdle. They

went as far as the end of the forest, and then retraced their steps slowly.
They were talking loudly, and Charlie could gather, from the few words he

understood, and by their gestures, something of the purport of their
conversation.

"I told you it was of no use your coming on as far as this," the Jew said.
"Why, he was hardly strong enough to walk."

"He managed to knock you down, and afterwards to drag you into the
house," the other said.

"It does not require much strength to knock a man down with a heavy club,

when he is not expecting it, Conrad. He certainly did drag me in, but he
was obliged to sit down afterwards, and I watched him out of one eye as he
was making his preparations, and he could only just totter about. I would

wager you anything he cannot have gone two hundred yards from the
house. That is where we must search for him. I warrant we shall find him

hidden in a thicket thereabouts."

"We shall have to take a lantern then, for it will be dark before we get

back."

"Our best plan will be to leave it alone till morning. If we sit outside the
hut, and take it in turns to watch, we shall hear him when he moves, which
he is sure to do when it gets dark. It will be a still night, and we should hear

a stick break half a mile away. We shall catch him, safe enough, before he
has gone far."

"Well, I hope we shall have him back before Ben Soloman comes," the
charcoal burner said, "or it will be worse for both of us. You know as well

as I do he has got my neck in a noose, and he has got his thumb on you."

"If we can't find this Swede, I would not wait here for any money. I would
fly at once."