Part 17 (1/2)
Armitage looked rather foolish at this; and one or two who knew the joke t.i.ttered slightly.
”Hallo, what's the jest? Trundle it up, Naylor, we don't often catch Jack napping,” said Claverton.
”Oh, I'll tell you myself,” exclaimed the victim of it, airily. ”Well, you know, I was down at Thorman's place one evening, and old Garthorpe came jogging up on that spindle-shanked nag of his. It was just about feeding time, so he off-saddled and got his head well into the trough in no time. Daring the evening we were talking a lot about the war scare, and the old chap stuck out that it was all bosh, in fact insinuated that we were a pack of funks. _He_ wasn't afraid of the Kafirs, he said, not one of them would hurt him, and so on. This rather put our backs up, you know; there was myself, and Johnson, and Gough, and a couple of Dutchmen, so we hit upon a little scheme to give the old fellow a bit of a funk when he left. It was as dark as pitch--”
”'And smelt of cheese,'” put in Claverton. ”Why not do justice to the quotation?”
”Confound it, if you can spin the yarn better than I can, do so, by all means,” retorted Armitage, in mock dudgeon.
”He wants to get out of it,” said Ethel. ”It won't do, though, we insist upon hearing it.”
”Well, then, as I was saying, when that fellow interrupted me, it was as dark as pitch, but the moon would soon be up. I and Johnson laid our heads together, and arranged that we two and Gough should blacken our faces and go and waylay old Garthorpe in the drift about half a mile from the house. Well, we slipped out one by one and got ourselves up in style, red blankets and all, looked as thorough-paced cut-throats as ever you clapped eyes on--”
”Can quite believe it,” murmured the former interrupter.
”There he is again,” exclaimed Armitage, wrathfully. ”Well, we got down into the drift and soon we heard the horse's feet, and old Garthorpe came mooning along, concocting some sermon or other for the next day, which was Sunday. The moon had just risen, but was not bright enough to betray our ident.i.ty. We jumped out of the bush. Johnson collared the bridle, and the other two of us drew up in line across the path. What does the old chap do, but quick as lightning pull out a revolver and poke it into Johnson's face. He dropped the bridle like a hot potato and skipped into the bush, and then old Garthorpe levels it dead at us.
We looked sharp to follow Johnson's example, and then the old chap rode quietly on, chuckling to himself. Gough swears he heard him say 'somethinged scoundrels,' but that may have been part of the sermon he was concocting. Anyhow, he turned the tables on us most completely.”
”Probably the revolver wasn't loaded,” suggested Claverton.
”Revolver! Sorra a bit. It was a pipe-case. We three skedaddled for our lives before a preaching old humbug at the f.a.g-end of an old pipe-case.”
A roar went up from his auditors at the picture.
”Fact,” repeated Armitage. ”Tell you what, though; that thing looked plaguey like a pistol in the moonlight. Besides, it's just the sort of thing a fellow would bring out, you know, under the circ.u.mstances. Old Garthorpe went bragging about it all over the shop, and very soon the joke got wind. But this is all very well. How about our bet, Claverton?”
”Oh, all right, I'll take you. Two to one in half-crowns there won't be a cloud in the sky by two o'clock.”
”Done,” said Armitage. ”Any one else game?”
But no one was. ”We are not going to encourage anything so disreputable as that betting mania of yours,” said Ethel.
”Well, good people,” called out Jim's jovial tones, as he swung himself out of his dripping mackintosh, and stamped and sc.r.a.ped to rid his boots of the mud before entering, ”how about a start this morning? Not much chance of it, is there, unless you are ready to swim for it.”
”Well, _we_ must,” said Naylor; ”I must be home to-day. I'm expecting Smith round my way about those slaughter-oxen this afternoon, and if I'm not there, away goes a good bargain.”
”Besides, we shall be all right in the trap,” said his wife. ”Laura, why not come with us, if you are in a hurry to get back? We could manage to make room for you and Ethel, and your horses could be led.”
”Thanks; but I don't think we ought to desert our escort in that way,”
she answered. The plan suggested in no wise fell in with her views-- nor, we may add, with those of Ethel.
”It'll be outrageously shabby of you if you do, and in fact we shan't allow it,” said Claverton.
”The d.a.m.ned Britishers are made of salt--afraid of a little rain,”
growled Thorman, in a low tone, at the other side of the room.
Jeffreys, to whom the remark was addressed, and who had reasons of his own for abhorring the ”imported” element, acquiesced in the sneer, and just then they were summoned to breakfast. It cleared in the afternoon with startling suddenness, and as the equestrians started for home, the blue sky was without a cloud.
”This is lovely,” exclaimed Ethel, as they cantered along; ”but,”--and the bright laughing face clouded--”isn't it a nuisance? Will Jeffreys is going back with us.”