" The guard-room company
joined in a laugh at the military joke, after which they dispersed, with
the exception of the Captain, whom it was a pity to disturb, and
Carruthers, who lay down upon a sofa, while the colonel went out to
inspect his posts.
The pedestrians occupied a large, double-bedded room at the right corner
of the house, above the verandah. The dominie was sleeping peacefully,
but the lawyer had not even removed his clothes, with the exception of
his boots, if they may be so called, as he lay down upon his bed to
rest, with a window half open in front of him. Precisely at the moment
when, the night before, he had discovered the incipient conflagration,
there came to his nostrils the smell of unctuous fire. Pocketing his
loaded revolver, he stepped out of the window on to the sloping verandah
roof, off which, in spite of his efforts, he slid heavily to the ground.
At once he was seized with no gentle hands by at least three persons,
who turned out to be Mr. Hill, the colonel, and Maguffin. "Catch that
boy," he cried, as soon as they perceived their mistake, referring to a
juvenile figure that he had seen slipping back towards the meadow.
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