I turn’d away, pondering. Two days on the road had put me sadly out of conceit with myself. For mile upon mile I trudged, dragging the horse after me by the bridle, till my arms felt as if coming from their sockets. I would have turn’d the brute loose, and thought myself well quit of him, had it not been for the saddle and bridle he carried.
’Twas about five in the evening, and I still laboring along, when, over the low hedge to my right, a man on a sorrel mare leap’d easily as a swallow, and alighted some ten paces or less in front of me; where he dismounted and stood barring my path. The muzzle of his pistol was in my face before I could lay hand to my own.
“Good evening!” said I.
“You have money about you, doubtless,” growled the man curtly, and in a voice that made me start. For by his voice and figure in the dusk I knew him for Captain Settle: and in the sorrel with the high white stocking I recognized the mare, Molly, that poor Anthony Killigrew had given me almost with his last breath.
The bully did not know me, having but seen me for an instant at the Crown, and then in very different attire.
“I have but a few poor coins,” I answer’d.
“Then hand ’em over.”
“Be shot if I do!” said I in a passion; and pulling out a handful from my pocket, I dash’d them down in the road.
For a moment the Captain took his pistol from my face, and stooped to clutch at the golden coins as they trickled and ran to right and left. The next, I had struck out with my right fist, and down he went staggering. His pistol dropped out of his hand and exploded between my feet. I rush’d to Molly, caught her bridle, and leap’d on her back. ’Twas a near thing, for the Captain was rushing toward us. But at the call of my voice the mare gave a bound and turn’d: and down the road I was borne, light as a feather.
A bullet whizz’d past my ear: I heard the Captain’s curse mingle with the report: and then was out of range, and galloping through the dusk.
V
My Adventure at the Three Cups
Secure of pursuit, and full of delight in the mare’s easy motion, I must have travelled a good six miles before the moon rose. In the frosty sky her rays sparkled cheerfully, and by them I saw on the holsters the silver demi-bear that I knew to be the crest of the Killigrews, having the fellow to it engraved on my sword-hilt. So now I was certain ’twas Molly that I bestrode: and took occasion of the light to explore the holsters and saddle flap.
Poor Anthony’s pistols were gone—filched, no doubt, by the Captain: but you may guess my satisfaction, when on thrusting my hand deeper, I touched a heap of coins, and found them to be gold.
’Twas certainly a rare bargain I had driven with Captain Settle. For the five or six gold pieces I scatter’d on the road, I had won close on thirty guineas, as I counted in the moonlight; not to speak of this incomparable Molly. And I began to whistle gleefully, and taste the joke over again and laugh to myself, as we cantered along with the north wind at our backs.
All the same, I had no relish for riding thus till morning. For the night was chill enough to search my very bones after the heat of the late gallop: and, moreover, I knew nothing of the road, which at this hour was quite deserted. So that, coming at length to a tall hill with a black ridge of pine wood standing up against the moon like a fish’s fin, I was glad enough to note below it, and at some distance from the trees, a window brightly lit; and pushed forward in hope of entertainment.
The building was an inn, though a sorry one. Nor, save for the lighted window, did it wear any grace of hospitality, but thrust out a bare shoulder upon the road, and a sign that creaked overhead and look’d for all the world like a gallows. Round this shoulder of the house, and into the main yard (that turn’d churlishly toward the hillside), the wind howled like a beast in pain. I climb’d off Molly, and pressing my hat down on my head, struck a loud rat-tat on the door.
Curiously, it opened at once; and I saw a couple of men in the lighted passage.
“Heard the mare’s heels on the road, Cap—. Hillo! What in the fiend’s name is this?”
Said I: “If you are he that keeps this house, I want two things of you—first, a civil tongue, and next a bed.”
“Ye’ll get neither, then.”
“Your sign says that you keep an inn.”
“Aye—the Three Cups: but we’re full.”
“Your manner of speech proves that to be a lie.”
I liked the fellow’s voice so little that ’tis odds I would have remounted Molly and ridden away; but at this instant there floated down the stairs and out through the drink-smelling passage a sound that made me jump. ’Twas a girl’s voice singing—
“Hey nonni—nonni—no!
Men are fools that wish to die!
Is’t not fine to laugh and sing
When the bells of death do ring—”
There was no doubt upon it. The voice belonged to the young gentlewoman I had met at Hungerford. I turned sharply toward the landlord, and was met by another surprise. The second man, that till now had stood well back in the shadow, was peering forward, and devouring Molly with his gaze. ’Twas hard to read his features, but then and there I would have wagered my life he was no other than Luke Settle’s comrade, Black Dick.
My mind was made up. “I’ll not ride a step further, tonight,” said I.
“Then bide there and freeze,” answer’d the landlord.
He was for slamming the
