"There was Lord Lovat now, you must have heard of him, John Stich, he was beheaded a few days ago, and so was Lord Kilmarnock ... they were lords, you see, and had a headsman all to themselves on Tower Hill, that’s up in London: some lesser folk have been hanged, and now there are only three rebels at large, and there are twenty guineas waiting for anyone who will bring the head of one of them to the nearest magistrate." The smith grunted. "Well, and who are they?" he asked roughly. "Sir Andrew Macdonald up from Tweedside, then Squire Fairfield, you’d mind him, John Stich, over Staffordshire way." "Aye, aye, I mind him well enough. His mother was a Papist and he clung to the Stuart cause ... young man, too, and hiding for his life.... Well, and who else?" "The young Earl of Stretton." "What! him from Stretton Hall?" said John Stich in open astonishment. "Jim, lad," he added sternly, "thou art a clumsy fool." The young man had started involuntarily at sound of the last name mentioned by the Corporal; and the bellows which he had tried to wield fell with a clatter on the floor. "Be gy! but an Act of Parliament can make thee a lawful assassin, it seems," added honest John, with a laugh, "but let me perish if it can make thee a good smith. What think you, Master Corporal?" "Odd’s life! the lad is too soft-hearted mayhap! Our Derbyshire lads haven’t much sense in their heads, have they?" "Well, you mind the saying, Corporal, ’Derbyshire born and Derbyshire bred...’ eh?" "’Strong i’ the arm and weak i’ th’ head,’" laughed the soldier, concluding the apt quotation. "That’s just it. Odd’s buds! they want some sense. What’s a rebel or a traitor but vermin, eh? and don’t we kill vermin all of us, and don’t call it murder either—what?" He laughed pleasantly and carelessly and tapped the side of his wallet where rested His Majesty’s Proclamation. He was a young soldier, nothing more, attentive to duty, ready to obey, neither willing nor allowed to reason for himself. He had been taught that rebels and traitors were vermin ... egad! vermin they were, and as such must be got rid of for the sake of the rest of the kingdom and the safety of His Majesty the King. John Stich made no comment on the Corporal’s profession of faith. "We’ll talk about all that some other time, Corporal," he said at last, "but I am busy now, you see..." "No offence, friend Stich.... Odd’s life, duty you know, John, duty, eh? His Majesty’s orders! and I had them from the Captain, who had them from the Duke of Cumberland himself. So you mind the Act, friend!" "Aye! I mind it well enough." "Everyone knows _you_ to be a loyal subject of King George," added the Corporal in conciliatory tones, for John was a power in the district, "and I’m sure your nephew is the same, but duty is duty, and no offence meant." "That’s right enough, Corporal," said John Stich, impatiently. "So good-morrow to you, John Stich." "Good-morrow."