Page:Marriott Watson--Galloping Dick.djvu/172

 buss, and ere his dangling corpse had time to fall off the coach, I sent a bullet through his neighbour. I heard, too, the crack of a piece from the other side, and guessed that Danny was at work. But the top was a bad place for a siege, and the King’s men in their fury came rattling down to the ground, shouting, and priming their weapons as they came. The first that landed came at me with a muzzle up, and I, having no shot left for him, must needs meet him with the cold iron, which was an ugly case for me, if his excitement should leave him any aim. But at that very moment down came the clouds upon the moon, and the sky fell thick with darkness. I had spurred Calypso to run him down, and just as the blackness spread there was the noise of his barker, and flop she went upon her foreknees, rolling over in the dust. My shoulder came with a smack upon the road, but in a trice I was out of the saddle and on my feet, and ere he could draw on me had spitted him like a fowl. Suddenly, to my surprise (for I thought she was done for) Calypso got to her legs, and with a whinny