The Squire went for water-pails,
while Nash and the veteran followed the course of the incendiaries
towards the bush guarded by Rufus. But the lawyer and the parson,
seizing stout poles, which were apparently Tryphena's clothes props,
knocked the blazing sheds to pieces with them, and scattered the burning
boards over the ground. Before the water came, the report of a rifle, a
fowling piece, and of several pistol shots, rang through the air. No
more signs of fire were discovered, so the water was poured upon the
still burning boards, and the firemen waited for the report of the
pursuers. While thus waiting, they heard a groan, and, going to the
place whence it proceeded, discovered Timotheus, with a gag plaster on
his mouth and an ugly wound on the back of his head, lying close to the
garden fence below the fired shed. Some water on his face revived him,
and at the same time moistened the plaster, but as it would not come
off, Coristine cut it open with his penknife between the lips of the
sufferer. Even then he could hardly articulate, yet managed to ask if
all was safe and to thank his deliverers.
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