"Well, Nabb, the constable, had a writ agin him, and he was ciphering
a good while how he should catch him; at last he hit on a plan that
he thought was pretty clever, and he scheemed for a chance to try it.
So one day he heerd that Bill was up at Pugnose's inn, a-settling
some business, and was likely to be there all night. Nabb waits till
it was considerable late in the evening, and then he takes his horse
and rides down to the inn, and hitches his beast behind the hay
stack. Then he crawls up to the window and peeps in, and watches
there till Bill should go to bed, thinking the best way to catch them
'ere sort of animals is to catch them asleep. Well, he kept Nabb
a-waiting outside so long, with his talking and singing, that he well
nigh fell asleep fist himself; at last Bill began to strip for bed.
First he takes out a long pocket pistol, examines the priming, and
lays it down on the table, near the head of the bed.
"When Nabb sees this, he begins to creep like all over, and feel
kinder ugly, and rather sick of his job; but when he seed him jump
into bed, and heerd him snore out a noise like a man driving pigs to
market, he plucked up courage, and thought he might do it easy arter
all if he was to open the door softly, and make one spring on him
afore he could wake. So round he goes, lifts up the latch of his door
as soft as soap, and makes a jump right atop of him, as he lay in the
bed.
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