Pagina 513 de 788

Baptist bent down, seized the carbine by the barrel, and,

brandishing it like his sprinkling-brush, lifted it aloft; he

whirled it about and straightway smote two privates on the

shoulders and gave a corporal a blow on the head; the rest,

terrified, recoiled in dismay from the log: thus Sprinkler

sheltered the gentry with a moving roof.

Then they pulled apart the logs and cut the cords; the gentry,

once free, descended upon the waggons of the Alms-Gatherer, and

from them procured swords, sabres, cutlasses, scythes, and guns.

Bucket found two blunderbusses and a bag of bullets; he poured

some of these into his own blunderbuss; the other gun he loaded

in the same way and gave over to Buzzard.