Esdale listened with that sort of anxiety which prudent men betray when
they feel themselves like to be drawn into trouble by the discourse of
an imprudent friend.
"If you desire to be personally righted in this matter," said he at
length, "you must apply to Leadenhall Street, where I suspect--betwixt
ourselves--complaints are accumulating fast, both against Paupiah and
his master."
"I care for neither of them," said Hartley; "I need no personal
redress--I desire none--I only want succour for Menie Gray."
"In that case," said Esdale, "you have only one resource--you must apply
to Hyder himself"--
"To Hyder--to the usurper--the tyrant?"
"Yes, to this usurper and tyrant," answered Esdale, "you must be
contented to apply. His pride is, to be thought a strict administrator
of justice; and perhaps he may on this, as on other occasions, choose to
display himself in the light of an impartial magistrate."
"Then I go to demand justice at his footstool," said Hartley.
"Not so fast, my dear Hartley," answered his friend; "first consider the
risk. Hyder is just by reflection, and perhaps from political
considerations; but by temperament, his blood is as unruly as ever
beat under a black skin, and if you do not find him in the vein of
judging, he is likely enough to be in that of killing. Stakes and
bowstrings are as frequently in his head as the adjustment of the scales
of justice.
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