Page:Doctor Syn - A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh.djvu/175

 Show me the man wot could size up Clegg, and I'd make him Leveller of Romney Marsh, aye, King of England, supposin' I had the power. There was only one man wot I ever seed wot made Clegg turn a hair, and that was a rascally Cuban priest, but then he had devil powers, he had. Ugh!" And the sexton relapsed into silence. His listeners watched him, and, watching, they saw him shiver. What old scene of horror was flashing before that curious little man's mind's eye? Ah, who could tell? No living body, for the crew of the Imogene had all died violent deaths one after another in different lands, and since Clegg was hanged at Rye, why, Mipps was the only veteran left of that historical ship of crime, the Imogene.

"Pray get on with the business in hand, Mister Mipps," said Mrs. Waggetts, "for though I declare I could a-listen to you a-philosphizin' and a-moralizin' all day long, young Jerk is all agog. Ain't you, Jerry?"

"That's so," replied young Jerk. "Please get on, Mister Sexton."

"I will," said Mr. Mipps. "You may wonder now, Jerry Jerk, how it has been possible for a swaggerin' adventurer like I be, or rather was one time, when I was a handsome, fine standin' young fellow aboard the Imogene—I say you may fall to wonderin' how I come to be a sexton and to live the dull, dreary life of a humdrum villager. Well, I'll tell you now straight out, man to man, and when I've told you, why, you'll