Whether he was hurt or not, Wilkinson could talk, for he was pouring out scurrilous epithets.
Charnock laughed as he stamped through the mud.

His antagonist had got the worst of it, and there was a satisfactory explanation of their quarrel.

They had met on a narrow path and neither would give way, but as Charnock was carrying the load he had put the other in the wrong.
Wilkinson could not revenge himself by circulating the story he had told before because it would interest nobody at the camp, and Charnock's friendship with Festing would prove it untrue.

In fact, he imagined Wilkinson would think it prudent to leave him alone.
He delivered the bag, and going back stopped at a spot where Festing and some others were fitting the end of a heavy beam into a pole.

Charnock watched while the men dragged out the beam and then replaced it after deepening the hole.