It is a mere matter of my duty towards him; and I'll be obliged if
you keep him, as far as possible, out of my sight. Now about those
dials--"
Captain Barker understood, but replied only by tightening for a
moment the hand that rested on his comrade's sleeve. The old friends
moved on beside the flower-borders and fell into trivial converse to
hide a joy as deep as that of sweethearts who have quarrelled and now
are reconciled.
CHAPTER V.
A SWARM OF BEES.
The green volumes in which, for the next thirteen years, Captain
Barker kept accurate chronicle of Tristram's progress, and of every
fact, however trivial, that seemed to illustrate it, have since been
lost to the world, as our story will show. There were thirty-seven
of these volumes; and as soon as one was filled Dr. Beckerleg
presented another. It is our duty to take up the tale on the 1st of
May, 1691--the very day upon which misfortune stopped Captain
Barker's pen and (as it turned out) closed his _magnum opus_ for
ever.
Let us record only that during these thirteen years Tristram added so
much to his stature as to astonish his friends whenever they looked
at him; and that he took little interest in the affairs of the world
beyond the privet hedge--affairs which just then were extremely
unsettled and disturbed the sleep and appetite of a vast number of
people.
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