They could not meet the blaze of his eyes.

For a moment it seemed as if no one breathed.
In the silence that followed, Bill, who had kept gut of sight up to this moment, piped out in a high, weak falsetto, with a comically questioning accent: "All quiet along the Potomac, boys ?" Lime unbraced, wiped his face and laughed.

The others joined in cautiously.

"No, thank yez, none in mine," said Sheehan, in answer to the challenge of Lime.

"Whan Oi take to fightin' stame-ingins Oi'll lit you knaw." "Well, I should say so," said another.