Monty
came next, clinging to Sylvanus and Mr. Terry, while Timotheus and Rufus
brought up the rear. Mrs. Richards had furnished the woman and her boy
with two shiny waterproofs, called by the young Richards gum coats, so
that Coristine and Sylvanus got back their contributions to the wardrobe
of the insane, but, save for the look of the thing, they would have been
better without them, since they only added a clammy burden to thoroughly
water-soaked bodies.
Still the rain fell in torrents. It trickled in many rills off the
penthouses of the pedestrians' headgear; from the lapels of coats and
from waistcoats it streamed down, concentrating itself upon soggy knees.
Broad sheets, like the flow of a water-cart, radiated from coat tails of
every description; and rivers descending trouser-legs, turned boots and
shoes into lakes, which sodden stockinged feet pumped out in returning
fountains. Happily there was no necessity for using gun or pistol, since
these weapons shared in the general pervading moisture. Yet the corporal
marched erect, with his left hand on his prisoner's shoulder.
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