mes of my fellow-passengers. Now and then one
would bend forward and whisper to his neighbour, who answered with a
grunt or a motion of his head; but for the most part, and for mile
after mile, we all sat silent, listening only to the horses' gallop,
the chime of the swingle-bars, the hum of the night wind in our ears.
The motion and the strong breeze together lulled me little by little
into a doze. My neighbour on the right wore around his shoulders a
woollen shawl, against which after a while I found my cheek resting,
and begged his pardon. He entreated me not to mention it, but to
make myself comfortable; and thereupon I must have fallen fast
asleep. I awoke as the coach came to a standstill. Were we pulling
up to change teams? No; we were on the dark high-road, between
hedges. Straight ahead of us blazed two carriage-lamps; and a man's
voice was hailing. I recognized the voice at once. It belonged to a
Mr. Jack Rogers, a rory-tory young squire and justice of the peace of
our neighbourhood, and the lamps must be those of his famous light
tilbury.

"Hallo!" he was shouting. "Royal Mail, ahoy!"

"Royal Mail it is!" shouted back the coachman and Jim the guard
together.

"Got the boy Brooks aboard?"

"Ay, ay Mr. Rogers! D'ye want him?"

"No; you'll take him along quicker. My mare's fagged, and I drove
along in case the letter missed fire." He came forward at a foot's
pace, and pulled up under the light of our lamps. "Hallo! is that
you, Harry Brooks?" He peered up at me out of the night.

"Yes, sir," I answered, my teeth chattering between apprehension and
the chill of the night. I longed desperately to ask what had
happened at home, but the words would not come.

"Right you are, my lad; and the first thing when you get home, tell
Miss Plinlimmon from me to fill you up with vittles and a glass of
hot brandy-and-water. Give her that message, with Jack Rogers's
compliments, and tell her that I'm on the road making inquiries, and
may get so far as Truro. By the way"--he turned to Jim the guard--
"you haven't met anything that looked suspicious, eh?"

"Nothing on the road at all," answered Jim.

"Well, so-long! Mustn't delay his Majesty's mails or waste time of my
own. Good night, Harry Brooks, and remember to give my message!
Good night, gentlemen all!"

He flicked at his mare. Our coachman gathered up his reins, and away
we went once more at a gallop towards the dawn. The dawn lay cold
ab