Page:Lady Barbarity; a romance (IA ladybarbarityrom00snai).pdf/236

 my son, had got him by the muffler, and my knee was a kneelin' in the middle of his shirt. We dropped him in the hole, simple an' easy as a child. He might 'a fell upon his nose, but I judge from the crackin' sort o' sound he made that it liker was his head. But he'll take no hurt, my lady; no, not he, for that Corp'ral's the toughest tooth that ever chewed up bull-beef."

"And did you abstract the paper?" I inquired.

"Here it is," says he, and gave it to me with a proud appearance.

I dismissed the honest fellow with a purse and a few compliments on his exceptional ability, which even the best of men are greedy to receive; and gave him some instructions touching their captive's entertainment. You may take it that I never was more complacent in any battle than in the signal victory my arms had achieved in this. The Captain's wit might be considerable, but it was indeed a satisfaction to hold the proof that my own resources were, after all, despite my foe's unscrupulosity and keenness, good enough to thwart him. His emissary, his special messenger, his wretched tool, was under lock and key; the dread instrument he had so diligently waved above my head, and had disturbed my dreams with, had not yet reached the Government, but lay upon my writing-table, a prisoner of war. 'Twas a very triumph. I picked up this red-sealed horror and brandished it before the blaze. "The Secretary of State, Whitehall, London." I insulted that elegant inscription in