Byerly purses his lips thoughtfully. Then he tilts his head towards the ferryman, and says to him, "He was trying to kidnap a girl. Dreadful villain, isn't he?"

The ferryman grunts, and seems generally unimpressed with the villainy of the monster he's taking towards the Gallows.

Then Byerly looks back to the lad. "Would you like to be under arrest? Sometimes it makes this process all a great deal less complicated for the fellow involved." That's perhaps not a perfect characterization of what things had been like for Benedict, but Byerly fancies that it's not fully off, either.