The fugitives who had accompanied
us, and those who followed, a multitude in all, did not stop here, but
flowed on along the road and vanished into the wooded country behind.
I suggested to Brother John that he should take his wife and daughter
and the three beasts and go with them. He seemed inclined to accept
the idea, needless to say for their sakes, not for his own, for he was
a very fearless old fellow. But the two ladies utterly refused to
budge. Hope said that she would stop with Stephen, and her mother
declared that she had every confidence in me and preferred to remain
where she was. Then I suggested that Stephen should go too, but at
this he grew so angry that I dropped the subject.
So in the end we established them in a pleasant little hollow by a
spring just over the crest of the rise, where unless our flank were
turned or we were rushed, they would be out of the reach of bullets.
Moreover, without saying anything more we gave to each of them a
double-barrelled and loaded pistol.
CHAPTER XX
THE BATTLE OF THE GATE
By now heavy firing had begun at the north gate of the town,
accompanied by much shouting.
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