SCENE i PART FIRST
FIRST PASSENGER
There seems to be a deal of traffic over Ridgeway, even at this time o' year.
SECOND PASSENGER
Yes. It is because the King and Court are coming down here later on. They wake up this part rarely! . . . See, now, how the Channel and coast open out like a chart. That patch of mist below us is the town we are bound for. There's the Isle of Slingers beyond, like a floating snail. That wide bay on the right is where the " Abergavenny," Captain John Wordsworth, was wrecked last month. One can see half across to France up here.
FIRST PASSENGER
Half across. And then another little half, and then all that's behind—the Corsican mischief!
SECOND PASSENGER
Yes. People who live hereabout—I am a native of these parts—feel the nearness of France more than they do inland.
FIRST PASSENGER
That's why we have seen so many of these marching regiments on the road. This year his grandest attempt upon us is to be made, I reckon.
SECOND PASSENGER May we be ready!
FIRST PASSENGER
Well, we ought to be. We've had alarms enough, God knows.
17 c