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By the bright moonlight I saw that I carried Marwood de Whichehalse. For his father's sake I spared him, and because he had been my schoolfellow; but with every muscle of my body strung with indignation, I cast him, like a skittle, from me into a snowdrift, which closed over him.
And so about fifty years before the time of which I am writing, there were few names in the West of England thought more of than De Whichehalse. But now they had lost a great deal of land, and therefore of that which goes with land, as surely as fame belongs to earth I mean big reputation.
Upon fighting I can never dwell; it breeds such savage delight in me; of which I would fain have less. And with them died poor young De Whichehalse, who, in spite of his good father's prayers, had cast in his lot with the robbers. Carver Doone alone escaped.
Stupid as I always have been, and must ever be no doubt, I could well have told Uncle Reuben that his journey was no wiser than that of the men of Gotham; that he never would get from Hugh de Whichehalse a warrant against the Doones; moreover, that if he did get one, his own wig would be singed with it.
Jeremy Stickles was a man of courage, and presence of mind, and much resource: otherwise he would not have been appointed for this business; nevertheless he trembled greatly when he heard what I had to tell him. But I took good care to keep back the name of young Marwood de Whichehalse; neither did I show my knowledge of the other men; for reasons of my own not very hard to conjecture.
And indeed he was kind to everybody, and all our people spoke well of him; and so much the more because we knew that the house was in decadence. For the first De Whichehalse had come from Holland, where he had been a great nobleman, some hundred and fifty years agone.
But De Whichehalse, our great magistrate, certified that there was no proof of unlawful importation; neither good cause to suspect it, at a time of Christian charity. And we knew that it was a foul thing for some quarrymen to say that night after night they had been digging a new cellar at Ley Manor to hold the little marks of respect found in the caverns at high-water weed.
"No dog, no man, is the rule about here, when it comes to coppice work," continued young de Whichehalse; "there is not a man would dare work there, without a dog to scare the pixies." "There is a big young fellow upon this farm," Carver Doone muttered sulkily, "with whom I have an account to settle, if ever I come across him. He hath a cursed spite to us, because we shot his father.
'Nonsense, man! cried Marwood de Whichehalse, who to my amazement was the third of the number; 'only a hind cutting faggots; and of course he hath gone home long ago. Blind man's holiday, as we call it. I can see all over the place; and there is not even a rabbit there. At that I drew my breath again, and thanked God I had gotten my coat on. Even his chopper is gone, I see.
And by this time there was no man, at least in our parish, but knew for the Parson himself had told us so that it was the devil groaning because the Doones were too many for him. Marwood de Whichehalse was not so alarmed but what he saw a fine opportunity. I hope he did not, because that to me would seem not the deed of a gentleman, and he was of good old family.
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