The witty officer lifted at his left ear with his thumb, made a rasping noise in his throat, and said:
"Out of prison -- yes -- ye say true. And free likewise to go where ye will, so the Devil's sultry realm."
I kept my temper, and said, indifferently:
"Now I suppose you really think we are going to hang within a day or two."
"I thought it not many minutes ago, for so the thing was decided and proclaimed."
"Ah, then you've changed your mind, is that it?"
"Even that. I only THOUGHT, then; I KNOW, now."
I felt sarcastical, so I said:
"Oh, sapient servant of the law, condescend to tell us, then, what you KNOW."
"That ye will all be hanged TO-DAY, at mid-afternoon! Oho! that shot hit home! Lean upon me."
The fact is I did need to lean upon somebody. My knights couldn't arrive in time. They would be as much as three hours too late. Nothing in the world could save the King of England; nor me, which was more important. More important, not merely to me, but to the nation -- the only nation on earth standing ready to blossom into civilization. I was sick. I said no more, there wasn't anything to say. I knew what the man meant; that if the missing slave was found, the postponement would be revoked, the execution take place to-day. Well, the missing slave was found.
Chapter 38 Sir Launcelot and Knights To The Rescue
NEARING four in the afternoon. The scene was just outside the walls of London. A cool, comfortable, superb day, with a brilliant sun; the kind of day to make one want to live, not die. The multitude was prodigious and far-reaching; and yet we fifteen poor devils hadn't a friend in it.