"Drink it, sir--hot rum an' a slice o' lemon--nought like it--drink it. Lord, Mr. Vereker, sir--'ere be a go sure-ly!" he exclaimed, smiling and nodding, as I sipped the fragrant beverage. "Awhile agone comes an 'orse into the yard, a-stampin' and a-neighin', so up I jumps and looks out o' winder. 'Lord, old woman,' I sez, 'yonder's Mr. Vereker's Wildfire,' I sez, 'I'd know 'im anywheers,' I sez; 'but what beats me,' I sez, 'there ain't Mr. Vereker.' So down I comes, rubs down the 'oss, takes the lanthorn an' is about to start lookin' for you when in you comes an' wi' you this poor lass--so wot I says now is, Lord, Mr. Vereker, sir, 'ere 's a go, sure-ly!" "It is!" said I. "What of the girl, poor soul?" "All right, Mr. Vereker, sir--she'm wi' my old woman, y' see, consequently she'll be right as ninepence in the morning, bless your 'eart, sir." "I doubt it, George. You see, I found her--in the pine wood yonder, close beside that damnable gate in the wall." "Did ye so, sir, did ye so?" said he in altered voice. Then, clenching his brawny fists, he raised frowning eyes to a bayonet above the mantel, a long, deadly-looking thing that glittered with constant cleaning. "Ah, by God!" he growled fiercely, "by God, Mr. Vereker, sir--there's them as I'd like t' have wrigglin' their beastly lives out on the end o' my old bagnet--" "Hot water, Jarge!" commanded the buxom Mary from the stairs. "Comin', old woman--comin'! Get a nap, Mr. Vereker, sir; your wet clo'es won't hurt 'ee now--I've slep' in wetter many a time in the Peninsula--nothin' like rum took 'ot an' plenty on 't sir. Comin,' old woman--comin'!" and whisking the heavy kettle from the fire, he nodded and hurried up the stair. CHAPTER VI I AM HAUNTED OF EVIL DREAMS Either George was of different fibre to me, or the rum had been neither hot enough nor sufficiently strong, for on awaking I found myself full of pain, the least movement an agony, my head throbbing woefully and I burning with fever. George looked at me and, shaking his head, hurried for his wife, who, having taken my pulse and felt my brow, clucked over me like a distressed and motherly hen and ordered me immediately to bed, whither, after some argument and faint reluctance on my part, I was promptly conducted by the indefatigable George, and where, having been duly physicked by his Mary, I sank to a restless slumber. And now ensued a dim period of troubled dreams and horrible nightmares.