It was the Colonel beyond doubt, and Margaret had limned him to the
life. The hawk-eyes, the hook nose, the leathery skin, the orange-tawny
campaign-wig with the grizzled hair peeping under the rim of it, the tall,
thin, supple figure, all were there. And if I had been in any doubt of it,
Sultan would have settled the matter, for his pleasure at finding his
master was delightful to witness.
In hot blood I did not mind a pistol, and in the coldest blood I could
easily have kicked loose from the men who had got hold of me. But Margaret
kept my limbs idle and my mouth shut. There was no real danger, for that
matter, unless Margaret and Master Freake failed to turn up at the "Rising
Sun," and there was no reason to suppose they would fail. The Colonel gave
me no chance to speak to him privately, and to speak to him publicly might
upset his plans. How he had got here a free man, what strange turn things
had taken in his favour, I could not imagine. Margaret would be here in an
hour and put matters right, so for her sake it would be best and easiest
to say nothing. I simply made up my mind that the varlet on my right,
whose dirty claws and beery breath were sickening me, should have the
direst of drubbings before the day was out.
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