He's got his eyes in his head, has this lad!'
'They're down in the leasowe, between the Firspinny and Ragleth Hill,'
continued Stephen; 'and they're just prime, I can tell ye. And I know,
too, what he doesn't know himself. I know to some black game, far away
up the hill. He'd give his two eyes to see them, with their white
wing-feathers; and if he hadn't'--
Stephen stopped, with quivering lips, for he could not speak yet of
Snip's murder.
'Never take on, my lad,' said Black Thompson, clapping him on the back;
'we'll spoil his sport for him. Come thy ways with us; it'll be dark dusk
afore we gain the spinny, and Jones is off to the Whitehurst woods
to-night. We'll have as rare sport as the lord of the manor himself. Thee
art a sharp one. I'd lay a round wager, now, thee knows where all the
sheep of the hillside fold of nights.'
'Ay, do I,' answered Stephen, walking briskly beside Black Thompson; 'I
know every walk and every fold on the hills; ay, and many of the sheep
themselves. I keep my eyes wide open out of doors, I promise ye.'
'I'll swear to that,' said Black Thompson, glad to encourage the boy in
his foolish boasting.
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