ehind us but slowly on
yonder sturdy steed.'

Humphrey dismounted in the yard of the hostel and gave orders to his groom,
while George went into the kitchen and bid the hostess spread a good meal
for the whole party.

Humphrey waited outside till the baggage horse, on which Ned was seated
came up.

Poor Ned was entirely unused to travel on horseback, and had found jolting
and bumping on the sturdy mare's back over the rough road far more painful
than his long march of the previous day and night. He was the butt of the
other servants, who laughed more loudly than politely as he was set on his
legs in the yard.

He was so stiff from the confined position, that he staggered and would
have fallen, amidst the boisterous jeers of the spectators, had not
Humphrey caught him, and, trying to steady him, said,--

'Peace, ye varlets; this good fellow has done me a real service, and
deserves better at your hands than gibes and scoffs. Come hither, Ned. I
have yet something further for you to do for me.'

Ned followed Humphrey with halting steps, shaking first one leg and then
another, as if to assure himself that they still belonged to him.

'I'll do all you ask, Master,' Ned said, 'but ride a-horseback. I will walk
fifty miles sooner. My legs are full of pins and needles, and it will take
a deal of shaking and rubbing before I can call 'em my own again.'

Humphrey could not resist laughing, for Ned's face was comical in its
contortions, as he stamped his feet and rubbed his shins with muttered
exclamations that, as long as his name was Ned, he would never get upon a
horse's back again.

'You've got a fit of the cramp,' Humphrey said, 'it will soon pass. Now,
after you have had a good meal, take this letter which is tied and sealed,
and put it into the hands of Mistress Gifford. It will tell her all I can
yet tell her in answer to the letter you brought me. At least she will know
by it that I will do my utmost to serve her, and find her son.'

Ned took the letter with his large brown fingers, and, putting it into the
pouch in the breast of his smock, he said,--

'I'll carry it safe, Master, and I'll be off at once.'

'Not till you have broken your long fast in the kitchen of the hostel.'

'An it please you, Master, I would sooner be off, if I get a cake to eat on
the way, and a draft of ale before I start; that will serve me. Do not
order me, I pray you, to sit down with those gibing villains--no, nor order
me, kind