He took the first chance, therefore, of dodging around the corner of the
bar, intending to pass around the north gable of the house and dart up
the stairs by the unwatched door; but he had barely got out of sight
when a loud hurrah burst from the crowd as a feeble voice was heard
crying "Enough, enough!" followed by jeers rapidly approaching.
The large outside chimney, where Phoebus now was, had an arched cavity
in it large enough to contain a man, being the chimney of two different
rooms within, whose smoke, uniting higher up, ascended through one stem.
Into this cavity Phoebus dodged, in time to avoid the beaten party to
the fight, the grown man, who staggered blindly by towards a well, his
face dripping blood, and he was sobbing babyishly; but the concealed
sailor heard him say, in a whining tone:
"She set him on me; I'll make her pay for it."
Several of the partisans or tormentors of this craven followed after
him, and Jimmy himself fell in at the rear, and, instead of going with
the rest towards the well, where the loser was bathing his face,
Phoebus softly stepped over the low sill of the back door, the woman's
back being turned to him, and, as he had anticipated, a stairway
ascended there out of a large room, which answered the purposes of
parlor and hall, dining and gambling room, as Jimmy drank in at one
glance, from seeing tables, dishes and cards, bottles and whips, arms
and saddles.
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