sking a smashed skull by an
outcry which would probably be lost amid the clatter of hoofs and the
noise of the wheels.

The tension lasted only a few seconds. Rodwood, who had picked up and
put on poor Tom's characteristic beaver hat, played his part well,
returning the gruff salutation of the driver of the mail with the
greatest coolness. We slipped by into the darkness, and the crisis was
past.

So, handcuffed to Woodley, the captive of a gang of highway pirates, I
entered on the third stage of that eventful holiday journey.

CHAPTER XI.

THE LAST OF THE "TRUE BLUE."

Under the guidance of Lewis, who acted as pilot, we must have turned
down a lane before reaching Tod's Corner, and on leaving the main road
our two large lamps were promptly extinguished. The wonder was that
the cumbrous vehicle was not overturned twenty times in the first mile.
Any ordinary driver might have refused to make the attempt in broad
daylight, and on a dark night it needed skill as well as courage, both
of which, however, Rodwood seemed to possess in a marked degree. I
heard afterwards that in his palmy days he had owned and driven a coach
of his own, which no doubt accounted for the masterly way in which he
handled the ribbons.

The hour would now have been considered late by country people. There
was little chance of any one being about; the chief risk, and that a
remote one, lay in the possibility of encountering and being challenged
by a "riding officer," a branch of the preventive service whose duty it
was during the night to patrol and examine lanes and byroads near the
coast, and thus hamper the movements of the smugglers on shore. Though
I did not know it till later, this chance of being stopped had been
discussed by Lewis and the leader of the gang, who, in the event of
such a thing taking place, was fully prepared to resort to desperate
measures, and drove with a pistol ready cocked lying on the seat by his
side.

On and on we went, jolting and lurching like a fishing-smack in a
choppy sea. There was no singing now; the men, as might have been
expected, were watchful, and intent on making good their escape. The
coach's disappearance from the highroad might not be discovered for
some hours yet; on the other hand, any belated farm-labourer, hearing
or seeing us as we lumbered past in the darkness, would surely guess
that something unusual was happening, and might raise an alarm.

It is difficult for me to reca