' Fine company,
fine company for a country bumpkin to keep! But you'll find it
finer than you think for one of these days! Ho! ho! ho!"
Lord Claud did not appear to hear or heed this newcomer's talk; but
he showed that he had taken all in by just quietly shifting the
long whip into Tom's hands, whilst himself drawing tighter the
reins.
Tom understood him in a moment. He took the whip, and the next
moment it had whistled through the air, and caught the bully a
stinging lash right across the face. At the sound of the crack of
the lash the horses started forward, and in a moment the carriage
was spinning away over the dusty road, followed by roars of
laughter from Lord Claud's friends, and by roars of a different
character from the indignant and outraged bully.
"You will have to shoot those fellows one of these days," remarked
Lord Claud coolly. "They are becoming a nuisance. Men who are a
nuisance ought to be put out of the way. London would be well rid
of them."
"They have been mine enemies from the very outset," said Tom, "from
the day when first we met, and you came to my rescue when they were
baiting me. They have owed me a grudge ever since; but hitherto I
have had the best of our encounters."
"Drunken sots have no chance against sober fellows with thews and
sinews like yours, good Tom; yet they can give trouble in other
ways, and are better under ground than above it.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259