It is all very well for a man to boast that, in all his life, he has never been frightened, and believes that he never could be so. There may be men of that nature—I will not dare to deny it; only I have never known them. The fright I was now in was horrible, and all my bones seemed to creep inside me; when lying there helpless, with only a billet and the comb of fern to hide me, in the dusk of early evening, I saw three faces in the gap; and what was worse, three g*n-muzzles.
'Somebody been at work here—' it was the deep voice of Carver Doone; 'jump up, Charlie, and look about; we must have no witnesses.'
'Give me a hand behind,' said Charlie, the same handsome young Doone I had seen that night; 'this bank is too devilish steep for me.'
'Nonsense, man!' cried Marwood de Whichehalse, wh
