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"Christian," I cried, pointing to the seared spots on the leather. Jud crushed the cap in his fingers. "He's got back," he said. "Was he ridin' a horse?" "Footin' it," answered Ump, "an' by himself. That's what makes me leary. Them others are up to somethin' or they'd a come with him. He's had just about time to make the trip on Shank's mare by takin' short cuts.
"I can't tell you how glad I am, Mrs Leather, about Shank's good fortune," said Charlie, with a gentle shake of the hand, which Mr Crossley would have appreciated. Like the Nasmyth steam-hammer, which flattens a ton of iron or gently cracks a hazel-nut, our Herculean hero could accommodate himself to circumstances; "as your son says, it has been a lucky wreck for us."
"Waal, then, jes' leave my filly in the barn whar she be now; ye kin travel on Shank's mare!" Thad started off up the steep slope. "Ef ye ain't a-hankerin' fur me ter ride that thar filly, ez air ez bridle-wise ez ye be, jes' let's see ye kem on, an' hender!" "I hopes she'll fling ye, an' ye'll git yer neck bruk," Ben called out after him.
"No; let me drive you as far as old Shank's, and if you like to remain I will take you on to Triton Cottage. Miss Sally will not know what has become of you." Mary was glad to accept this offer, and the lawyer's gig being brought round, she took her seat between him and his clerk. "I will wait outside," she said when they reached Mr Shank's door.
"A mule," repeated the wine-seller, his eyes fixed on that quaint and snuffy figure. . . "No, senor officer! Decidedly no mule is to be got in this poor place." The coxswain, who stood by with the true sailor's air of unconcern in strange surroundings, struck in quietly "If your honour will believe me Shank's pony's the best for this job.
That all comes o' my drivin' by the store so fast on account o' the boys hectorin' of me, so 't when I got to the turn I was so kind of het up I jogged right along the straight road. Haste makes waste 's an awful good motto. Pile out, young ones! It's only half a mile from here to the Falls, 'n' you'll have to get there on Shank's mare!"
Benson was alone in it, and he came to a stop alongside. "Where are you bound?" he inquired of Billy, with a quick, measuring glance at Saxon. "Monterey if you're goin' that far," Billy answered with a chuckle. "I can give you a lift as far as Watsonville. It would take you several days on shank's mare with those loads. Climb in." He addressed Saxon directly. "Do you want to ride in front?"
Ye were lucky to get the only drop o' drink in the hoose, and that was true enough, for the time they had been talkin' and Meg kiltin' her skirt tae kind o' divert the stranger's attention, the lads had the keg in a safe place. Aweel, and so he had just to take shank's mare for it. We were now close to a white house, stone built and thatched, set among big plane-trees, and looking to the sea.
David and Samantha Milliken drove by in Miss Cummin's neat carryall, two children on the back seat, a will-o'-the-wisp baby girl held down by a serious boy. Steve Webster was driving Doxy Morton in his mother's buggy. Jabe Slocum, Pitt Packard, Brad Gibson, Cyse Higgins, and scores of others were riding "shank's mare," as they would have said.
Soon, however, he seemed to feel fatigue, for he drew his feet and head within his shell, which he tightly closed, and after that no poking or prodding had the desired effect. "I suspect we must depend on shank's mares for a time," said Bearwarden, cheerfully, as they scrambled down.
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