er.

"See this, lads!" he cried. "See this! Don't hurt me, mester! Say,
lads, I never felt so scared in my life."

The leader's laugh was contagious, and the crowd took it up in chorus;
but the more they laughed, the more angry grew Dick. He could not see
the ridiculous side of the matter; for, small as was his body in
comparison with that of the man he had assailed, his spirit had swollen
out as big as that of anyone present.

"I don't care," he cried; "I'll say it again--You're a set of great
cowards; and as for you," he cried to the fellow whose weapon he had
tried to wrest away, "you're the biggest of the lot."

"Well done, young un--so he is!" cried the nearest man. "Hooray for
young ganger!"

The men were ready to fight or cheer, and as ready to change their mood
as crowds always are. They answered the call with a stentorian roar;
and if Dick Winthorpe had imitated Richard the Second just then, and
called upon the crowd to accept him as their leader, they would have
followed him to the attempt of any mad prank he could have designed.

"Thank ye, Mester Dick!" said Hickathrift, placing his great hand upon
the lad's shoulder, as the squire forced his way to their side. "I
always knowed we was mates; but we're bigger mates now than ever we was
before."

"Ay, and so 'm _I_," said the big drain delver. "Shake hands, young un.
You're English, you are. So 'm I. He's English, lads; that's what he
is!" he roared as he seized Dick's hand and pumped it up and down. "So
'm I."

"Hooray!" shouted the crowd; and, seeing how the mood of all was
changed, the squire refrained from speaking till the cheering was dying
out, when, making signs to the men to hear him, he was about to utter a
few words of a peacemaking character, but there was another burst of
cheering, which was taken up again and again, the men waving their caps
and flourishing their cudgels, and pressing nearer to the house.

For the moment Dick was puzzled, but he realised what it all meant
directly, for, looking in the same direction as the men, it was to see
that the young engineer had disregarded the doctor's orders, and was
standing at the open window, with his face very pale and his arm in a
sling.

He waved his uninjured arm to command silence, and this being obtained,
his voice rang out firm and clear.

"My lads," he cried, "I know why you've come, and I thank you; but these
people here are my very good friends, and as for the squire