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“Ye be cutting up m’nerves loike ribbons,” Jeremy told him anxiously.
“Stubble it and let me listen. Oi ain’t got any of ye caught when we go poaching, cuz Oi’m careful Oi am.”
“Aye, that’s the truth of it,” Al replied.
“Hold … those be horses,” Billy said and walked right up to them. “Oi knows this one … ’tis Miss Serena’s horse, Brandy.”
“Be ye sure, then?” Al asked.
“Aye, Oi’m sure. Now whot be she up to in the dead of night?” he said, looking around.
“Sneck up!” Al said suddenly on a hushed note. “We be in for it now … there be the reverend coming this way.”
“Shake yer shambles,” Billy told his crew, and he hurriedly took his friends out of the way and out of sight, but he had no intention of leaving the area until he discovered where Serena had gone off to. What if she was in trouble?
The boys huddled together at a distance and low to the ground but not so far that they didn’t hear what next transpired.
* * *
Eustace and Joe Reed went right up to Freddy and Serena’s horses and undid their tethers. The reverend was visibly distraught as he studied one of the horses and exclaimed, “I know this horse … ’tis Miss Moorely’s horse … Serena … what the deuce is this?”
“She must be in the tomb then with the other one,” Joe suggested. “Oi thought they be both lads, and if she be a mort, well then, she seems to be breaking all her flash rules, cuz she was in britches.”
“Shut your filthy mouth,” Eustace exclaimed angrily. “Don’t speak of her that way. Miss Moorely is a lady.”
“Lady or no, ye said yerself, here is her horse,” Joe answered, apparently unafraid.
“You know nothing of the matter. There are any number of reasons her horse might be here.”
“Well then, Oi’ll hold the horses, and ye go see to our flash covey visitors in the tomb …” A rustling of leaves, a twig breaking, and Joe Reed dove through the brush and found Al, caught him by the collar, and shook him till he squealed a flurry of youthful oaths and demanded to be released. Al made a hard show of it, kicking, fists flying all the while.
Billy stepped forward and said on a hard note, “Let him go.”
Joe Reed grinned. “Whot ye young lads doing here at this hour?”
“Whot ye think we are doing? Poaching, and why not? How are we to eat if the gentry keeps us from hunting, tell me that?”
Eustace’s eyes narrowed. “Indeed and why then did you hide and how much did you hear?”
“We hid so ye wouldn’t catch us and turn us in, and hear? Hear what?” Billy said and was certain he put on an excellent face.
“Aye, go and poach then, and make sure it is far away from here, right?” Joe Reed said.
“Don’t let them go yet …” Eustace said.
Billy put his hands together in supplication and put on a show. “Please, please sir … we only meant to get a rabbit or a pheasant or two … nothing more.”
“Look, we best get them far away from here,” Joe Reed suggested. “We don’t need no one else about now, do we?”
“No, we don’t. I suppose you are right.” Eustace eyed the boys. “You better do your poaching somewhere else. Get out of here, and don’t let me see you around here again.”
“No, no … never again,” said Billy, helping Al up as Joe Reed had thrown him to the ground. “Come on,” he told his friend, and they started off at a quick pace.
* * *
His lordship sat upright in his chair. How the devil had he fallen asleep? Damn, damn, and bloody damn.
He got up and went to find Freddy. Not in his room. With another oath, he threw his cloak over his shoulders and tied it in place as he took up his gloves and made his way outside and to the stables.
