"I suppose
a message must have been brought to the house."
Then, as he stood still, hesitating, a noise of voices arose suddenly
round the corner of the street, and a group of men with pitchforks ran
out from a gateway on the other side, fifty yards away, crossed the
road, and disappeared again. Behind them ran a woman or two, a barking
dog, and a string of children. But Robin thought he had caught a glimpse
of some kind of officer's uniform at the head of the running men, and
his heart stood still.
IV
Neither of the two spoke for a moment.
"Wait here with the horses," said Robin. "I must see what all this is
about."
* * * * *
Mr. Arnold was scarcely more than a boy still, and he had all the desire
of a boy, if he saw an excited crowd, to join himself to it. But he was
being a servant just now, and must do what he was told. So he waited
patiently with the two horses that tossed their jingling heads and
stamped and attempted to kick flies off impossibly remote parts of their
bodies. Certainly, the excitement was growing. After he had seen his
friend walk quickly down the road and turn off where the group of
rustically-armed men had disappeared in the direction where newly-made
haystacks shaded their gables beyond the roofs of the houses, several
other figures appeared through the opposite gateway in hot pursuit. One
was certainly a guard of some kind, a stout, important-looking fellow,
who ran and wheezed as he ran loud enough to be heard at the inn door.
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