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Updated: June 8, 2025
Night came down upon us, and the stars were blinking in the dark vault above when we awoke. Uncle Moses brought us food birds the negroes had snared and roasted, and root plants they had grubbed up; and as we ate we talked. "Bold," said Cludde huskily, "you've returned good for evil. You don't want my thanks; you hate me."
I sat silent, still too much under the shadow of my great loss to comprehend the full bearing of his words. "Did you put it to Cludde?" he asked suddenly. "I did, sir, with all the force of which I was capable. I begged him to acquiesce in the known wishes of our friend, to accept the draft of the will here it is taken 'down by myself from his lips.
One of them, who Uncle Moses told me, was a bad character, we bound and placed with the overseers in one of the wagons, which we then drew into the copse out of sight from the road. Cludde and I deliberated for a moment whether we should mount the overseers' horses and ride on with the wagons. But we decided not to tempt fate.
He will have every attention, and a report of his condition shall be sent to his captain Captain Vincent, is it not? I fear Mr. Bold may not have recovered before the fleet sails; it is likely that he may be very ill indeed; 'tis possible he may die! And Captain Vincent shall know how tenderly he was nursed yes, by Mistress Lucy Cludde " "Don't name her name, you hound!"
'Tis true that ere the day was over I regretted in cool blood that things had come to this pass; but I could not think I was in the wrong, and believing myself more than a match for Cludde in swordsmanship I resolved to disarm him quickly, when his friends would no doubt declare him satisfied.
That she would willingly wed him I did not for a moment believe; but in her helpless position I feared what she might be compelled to do under constraint. "I know we have treated you very ill," said Cludde. "I was not thinking of that," I said, interrupting him. "You can make amends, Cludde." "And I will, Bold, on my honor I will, as soon as ever we get back to England." "Before then," I said.
He dragged me to his outhouse, and having shut the door, said: "I say, Joe, there's a storm brewing, and we may need your fists. You remember I told you about my cousin riding over from Shrewsbury? Well, his father came today Sir Richard Cludde, a big red-faced bully of a man. He's Lucy's uncle, you know; her father was his brother, and they quarreled, and hadn't seen each other for twenty years.
"Ah! there they be," he added, as my pursuers appeared in the doorway. "Good afternoon to you, and what might you be pleased to want?" "Out of the road, Joe Punchard!" cries Cludde, walking into the shop. "I'll teach that little beast to run away." And he came forward to where I stood, sheltering myself behind Joe's thick-set body. "Bide a minute," says Joe, lurching so as to shield me.
'Twas lucky Cludde did not know that, for as soon as the decision was made, he posted off with the decree in his pocket, making no doubt that he would seize her here and carry her off in triumph. Ha! ha! you should hear Giles tell how he raved and cursed when he found she was not here. He demanded to know where she was, but not a man or maid would tell him; I've raised their wages all round.
Before I could close and bolt the door I heard a crash and a cry of pain, and caught a glimpse of Cludde, who, in leaping from the coach, had fallen awry and lay sprawling in the dust. Then I shut him from sight and ran to the other door, by which Mistress Peabody had gone into the garden. This I slammed and barred, dashing afterwards to the window to do the like with it.
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