"Jeph Kenton! Why, he's a canting Roundhead. The only Elmwood man
as is! More shame for him."

"But was he there?" demanded Stead.

"There! Well, Captain Venn's horse were there, and he was in them!
I have seen him more than once on outpost duty, prating away as if he
had a beard on his chin. I'd a good mind to put a bullet through him
to stop his impudence, for a disgrace to the place."

"Then he was in the fight?" reiterated Steadfast.

"Aye, was he. And got his deserts, I'll be bound, for we went smack
smooth through Venn's horse, like a knife through a mouldy cheese,
and left 'em lying to the right and left. If the other fellows had
but stuck by us as well, we'd have made a clean sweep of the canting
dogs."

Hodge's eloquence was checked by the not unwelcome offer of a drink
of cider.

"Seems quiet enough down there," said Nanny Lakin, peering wistfully
over the valley where the shadows of evening were spreading. "Mayhap
if I went down I might find out how it is with my poor lad."

"Nay, I'll go, mother," said a big, loutish youth, hitherto silent;
"mayn't be so well for womenfolk down there."

"What's that to me, Joe, when my poor Harry may be lying a bleeding