"
Hamish, the cook, and the two maids burst into a torrent of
exclamations in their strange language. "Yes," said Tinker, "a man in
brown who shouts and waves from the top of the tower, and when you come
to it, no one's there."
He kept his story to this, and presently came back to his father,
assured that the more loudly Mr. Lambert yelled, and the more wildly he
waved, the further would any inhabitant of Ardrochan fly from the
Deil's Den. He went to bed in a gloating joy, which kept him awake a
while; and it was during those wakeful moments that a memory of "Monte
Cristo" suggested that he should gain a practical advantage from what
had so far been merely an act of abstract justice.
It was past eleven when Tinker came riding over the hills at the head
of his merry, but imaginary men. Horribly hungry, but warmed by the
sun to a quite passable malignity, the money-lender watched his coming
from the top of the tower, pondering how to catch him and thrash him
within an inch of his life. He did not know that far more active men
than he had cherished vainly that arrogant ambition, but Tinker's
cheerful and confident air afforded little encouragement to his purpose.
"Halt!" cried the robber baron, reining up his pony.
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