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e hired team and wagon of the innkeeper, and a man to paddle up-river and return with the horses.
I had a brief talk with our tall prisoner while they were making ready.
"A word of business, your Lordship," I said as he came out, yawning, with the guard.
"Ah, well," said he, with a shiver, "I hope it is not so cold as the air."
"It is hopeful; it is cheering," was my answer.
"And the topic?"
"An exchange—for the ladies."
He thought a moment, slapping the dust off him with a glove.
"This kind of thing is hard on the trousers," he remarked carelessly. "I will consider;
