"Then it was I understood that the red-coats wasn't the only snags in the road, an' I gave him one clip on the jaw that I counted would knock him down an' out; but my calkerlations was wrong. Instead of topplin' over as a decent man would have done after gettin' the full weight of my fist, he began to screech an' yell fit to raise the dead. My legs moved mighty lively jest then, for a blind man could have seen what might happen; but the Britishers had me foul before I'd more'n got well started. No less than six grappled me, an' I hauled down my flag, 'cause there wasn't any sense in makin' a bad matter worse. "Them soldiers must have had orders in advance to lug any prisoners they might take, to the shanty back of the arsenal, for they steered a straight course for the place without stoppin' to ask any man's advice, an' what chafed me more'n everythin' else was that rat of a Macomber, close at my heels, as he told what he would do now that his friends had taken possession of the country. I contrived to give him one kick on the shins which I'll guarantee he remembers this minute, an' then he kept well back in the rear. That's the end of the yarn, lads." "But where did you meet Bill?" I asked. "In the jail. He was brought up with a sharp turn durin' the retreat, bein' so stuffy that he kept well in the rear, instead of pushin' ahead as he might have done." "Did Macomber succeed in getting into the prison?" "He wasn't inside, an' that's a fact; but he stood at the window, an' kept shoutin' all kinds of threats till one of the sentries drove him away, havin' had too much of his yip." "You saw me quickly enough." "Well, you see, lad, I had my eye on the window, countin' to throw my shoe through the glass when he showed his ugly face again, hopin' that he'd get cut a bit, an', besides, I somehow had it in my head that you an' Jerry would flash up sooner or later." "But how did you contrive to come at the scuttle?" Captain Hanaford asked.