Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“We had a tussle. I wrested the whip from his hand, and gave him a sharp blow over the legs with the butt end of the weapon.

“Arter this we had a set-to. I floored him twice, when up comes my new master.

“‘Leave the lad alone,’ said the swell, addressing himself to my antagonist. ‘You’re a deal too fast.’

“‘He tried to break my leg,’ answered the man.

“‘I’ve seen the whole affair from the garden. You were the aggressor,’ said the gentleman, who then bade me follow him into the house.

“He took me into a fine room in which were seated several gentlemen, I s’pose they called themselves; and found them to be a fast lot. But I was a little surprised to hear them ‘my lord’ my master, and he ‘Sir Edgar’ and ‘Sir Thomas’ them.

“Well, the upshot of it was that they made bets that I would lick the groom, whom they called Andrew.

“We had a set-to. The fight lasted over five and twenty minutes, and I was declared victor.

“After this I had a chair among the swells, and drank wine out of a tumbler, and the footman brought me some sandwiches, while they talked of a lot of things in slang that puzzled me.