Following the direction of her gaze, I felt a sudden thrill of fear pass
through me as I perceived a human face surveying us from behind one of
the trees--a man's face, every feature of which was distorted by the
most malignant hatred and anger. Finding himself observed, he stepped
out and advanced towards us, when I saw that it was none other than the
general himself. His beard was all a-bristle with fury, and his deepset
eyes glowed from under their heavily veined lids with a most sinister
and demoniacal brightness.
CHAPTER VI
HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE
GARRISON OF CLOOMBER
"To your room, girl!" he cried in a hoarse, harsh voice, stepping in
between us and pointing authoritatively towards the house.
He waited until Gabriel, with a last frightened glance at me, had
passed through the gap, and then he turned upon me with an expression so
murderous that I stepped back a pace or two, and tightened my grasp upon
my oak stick.
"You-you--" he spluttered, with his hand twitching at his throat, as
though his fury were choking him. "You have dared to intrude upon my
privacy! Do you think I built this fence that all the vermin in the
country might congregate round it? Oh, you have been very near your
death, my fine fellow! You will never be nearer until your time comes.
Look at this!" he pulled a squat, thick pistol out of his bosom. "If
you had passed through that gap and set foot on my land I'd have let
daylight into you.
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