much as if he were shooting at a mark, and remarked, "I
calkerlate yer waan't at the meetin', squire?"

"Not I," averred Mr. Meredith.

"Yer see," explained the constable, "they voted that there
should n't be no more of the king's law till we wuz more
sartin of the king's justice, an' that any feller as opposed that
ere resolution wuz ter be held an enemy ter his country an'
treated as such. That ain't the persition I'm ambeetious ter
hold, an' so I did n't open the court-house."

"What?" gasped Mr. Meredith. "Are ye all crazy?"

"Mebbe we be," spoke up one of the listeners, "but we ain't
so crazy by a long sight as him as issued that." The speaker
pointed at the king's proclamation, and then, either to prove
his contempt for the symbol of monarchy, or else to show the
constable how much better shot he was, he neatly squirted a
mouthful of tobacco juice full upon the royal arms.

"And where are the other justices?" demanded the squire,
looking about as if in search of assistance.

"The old squire an' the paason wuz at the meetin', an' I
guess they knew it 'ud only be wastin' time to attend this
pertiklar sittin' of the court."

"Belza take them!" cried the squire. "They're a pair of
cotswold lions, and I'll tell it them to their faces," he added,