hould go on by a road with which I was unacquainted to
Cambridge through Bishop's Stortford, or take a route I knew through
Royston. The choice fell upon the Stortford road, and later I was glad
I had taken it, for about a mile to the south of Stortford I discovered
that I was upon the right track.

I was bowling along at about fifteen miles an hour when I came upon two
horses grazing at the road-side. They galloped off at my approach, and,
a few seconds later, I came upon a specimen of the Pirate's handiwork,
which at first sight was irresistibly ludicrous. A brougham was drawn up
at the side of the road, and, bound to the wheels, were a coachman and a
footman, clad in gorgeous liveries. The coachman was fat and florid, the
footman a particularly fine specimen of flunkeydom, and their faces, as
the light of my lamps fell upon them--they could not speak, for they
were both gagged as well as bound--were so convulsed with terror, that I
could see they did not look upon me as a friend. As I dismounted from my
car to go to their assistance, I heard a dismal wail from the roof of
the vehicle and, looking up, I perceived a portly old lady perched upon
the uncomfortable eminence.

I made an attempt to explain that my intentions were purely pacific, but
as I could elicit nothing from the old lady but appeals to spare her
life, I turned my attention to the two men, and speedily released them
from their bonds. By the time they were loose they had realized that I
was a friend; but it was some time before I managed to obtain from them
an account of how they got into such a mess. Even when their powers of
speech had returned they were unable to give a lucid account of the
affair.

Of course it was the work of the Pirate. They had been returning with
their mistress--the old lady on the roof of the brougham--from some
local coming-of-age festivities, when they had met the rascal. He had
bound the servants, set the horses free, and, after robbing the old lady
of all the jewellery she wore, he had compelled her to climb to the
position where I discovered her, threatening to return and kill her if
she moved from her position for an hour. It needed much persuasion
before she ventured to descend from her perch; but with the assistance
of the coachman, I managed to get her inside the brougham, and further
assisting in securing the two horses, I left them.

This incident delayed me for nearly half an hour, and it was a good deal
past one