Again she went into fits of jerking and nodding.
'She's mighty sure of it, that she be,' said Aaron. 'What say you, mates and chums? Is it proved?'
'Now then,' said Chevell, 'it is for Pip Beamish to answer in his defence.'
'I never had more than twenty pounds. Search me if you will.'
'You may have been too sharp for that,' said Isaac Harley. 'Mates, he ain't got a defence. I vote for condemnation. This Pip Beamish has been terribly stuck up, and has given himself the airs of a dook, and has been ordering us about. I vote that he is a thieving rascal. What say you?'
'Hear! hear! We say the same!' Then ensued shouts of, 'Kick him down! Duck him! Chuck him into the Lark!'
In a moment Beamish was plucked out of the waggon, flapping his long arms in protest and entreaty, was jostled, beaten, kicked, and finally thrown into the dyke—the one honest and sincere man among the leaders of the rabble.
'Now then, mates,' called Chevell, 'it is right and proper that we should elect another commander.'
'We want no commanders!' shouted the mob. 'We know what we want! We will all be commanders! Are we not the general public?'
'Then I vote,' cried Harley, 'that we lose no more time, but move on to Ely.'
Zita was helped out of the cart. The improvised torches were set in motion, forming a line of fire as the whole mob of rioters left the farm, and marched along the dark embankment, whilst the waggon bounced below on the drove.
As Zita stood by the van, which she had thrust back with the aid of Jewel into the shed, a hand was laid on hers.
'Zita, here are your ten pounds. I did not give them to Beamish.'
'Mark! and he has been deposed, and cuffed and beaten, for having stolen it.'
'He has been thrown into the dyke, and I have helped him out of the water. Do not be disconcerted. I could not have done him a better turn than this, to get him out of association with men who are running their heads into hangmen's nooses.'
'Mark, how was it that you did not give them my ten pounds?'
'Why, my dear Zita, I thought I could get them off without it. I gave them Drownlands' twenty. He escaped cheap at that price, and twenty pounds is nothing to him. I made sure I could induce them to leave your van alone without payment to do so, and when I saw them harness Jewel to it, then I was quite certain they would have to leave it; you do not suppose I would have suffered those rascals to take your money except in an extremity? To rob you was to rob me, Zit—for I never would have suffered you to lose those ten pounds. If I had been constrained to give them up, I would have refunded this sum to you out of my own pocket.'