"Sakes alive, no, sir! But I be mortal afeard o’ William’s blunderbuss. It do look a terrible deathly instrument, to be sure; and what would happen to us if it went off by accident goodness only knows." William was the gardener, who, though too old and bent to make an efficient yeoman, had been armed, like Overcombe, the butler, with a blunderbuss, Mr. Bastable having thought it worth while to give the men of his household weapons of defense. "You never know," he said to Jack; "Boney may land or he may not; if he lands, the more men we have to fight him, the better; and a blunderbuss behind a wall may do some damage. I’m going to exercise ’em every day." "And what about Monsieur de Fronsac, cousin? Will you arm him, too?" "Well, I didn’t intend to. I thought I could hardly expect him to fight against his own countrymen. But he is so bitter against the Monster that he declares he won’t remain neutral. While his countrymen lick the feet of the Monster, he says, he disowns ’em. He’s got a pistol, and uncommon handy he is with it, too. There he is," he added, as a loud report was heard; "he’s practising behind the coach-house. Let us go and see what he can do." De Fronsac smiled when he saw them. "You see, Messieurs, I exercise myself," he said. As he spoke he stooped and lifted a horn button from the ground. Walking up to the wall he placed the button edgewise against a brick; turned, stepped a dozen paces, swung round, and almost without seeming to take aim, fired. The button was shattered into small fragments. Jack could not but envy the Frenchman’s skill. "You must have had plenty of practice, Monsieur," he said. "Yes, truly. Ve of the noblesse know to use de pistol, assuredly." Next day there was to be a yeomanry parade at Wickham Ferrers. Arthur begged off his lessons for the day, wishing to go with Jack to see the training. There were no horses for them to ride or drive, Mr. Bastable’s three being required to mount himself and his men, so they had to walk. It was only six miles; they started early, and were on the field before the troops arrived. They got a good deal of amusement out of the scene. Many of the yeomen were raw recruits who found the management of horses and arms at the same time somewhat beyond them. Falls were frequent, and the officers got very red in the face with the exertion of commanding and countermanding. When the parade was over, the two boys had early dinner with Mr. Bastable and the other officers at the _Wickham Arms_, and started to walk back in the cool of the evening.