It had been taken off between the elbow and the shoulder, and his
empty coat-sleeve hung across his breast.
It was probably this circumstance which gave him an interest beyond any
that his companion could boast of, and attracted Barnaby's attention.
There was something soldierly in his bearing, and he wore a jaunty cap
and jacket. Perhaps he had been in the service at one time or other.
If he had, it could not have been very long ago, for he was but a young
fellow now.
'Well, well,' he said thoughtfully; 'let the fault be where it may, it
makes a man sorrowful to come back to old England, and see her in this
condition.'
'I suppose the pigs will join 'em next,' said the serjeant, with
an imprecation on the rioters, 'now that the birds have set 'em the
example.'
'The birds!' repeated Tom Green.
'Ah--birds,' said the serjeant testily; 'that's English, an't it?'
'I don't know what you mean.'
'Go to the guard-house, and see. You'll find a bird there, that's got
their cry as pat as any of 'em, and bawls "No Popery," like a man--or
like a devil, as he says he is. I shouldn't wonder. The devil's loose
in London somewhere. Damme if I wouldn't twist his neck round, on the
chance, if I had MY way.
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