ome one ought to sit up with Mr Marston?"

"No: he is sleeping like a top; and after our bad time with him
yesternight, I mean to have some sleep."

Five minutes after, the squire's nose proclaimed that it was the hour of
rest, and Dick heard it as he stole from his bed-room, to see how the
wounded man was; and this act he repeated at about hourly intervals all
through the night, for he could not sleep soundly, his mind was so busy
with trouble about the injury to their visitor's arm, and the wonder
which kept working in his brain. Who was it fired that shot?

The doctor was right; the wounded man's arm soon began to mend; but
naturally there was a period when he was unable to attend to his duties,
and that period was a pleasant one for Dick Winthorpe, inasmuch as it
was the commencement of a long friendship.

John Marston was for going back to his lodgings near the outfall or
_gowt_ as it was termed; but the squire and Mrs Winthorpe would not
hear of it, and to the boys' great delight, he stayed.

He was an invalid, but the right kind of invalid to make a pleasant
companion, for he loved the open air, and was never happier than when he
was out with the boys and Dave or John Warren, somewhere in the fen.

"It's all gammon to call him ill, and for the doctor to keep coming,"
said Tom Tallington.

"Oh, he is ill!" said Dick; "but you see he's only ill in one arm."

Dick had only to propose a run out, and John Marston immediately seemed
to forget that he was a man, became a boy for the time being, and
entered into the spirit of their pursuits.

One day it was pike-fishing, with Dave to punt them about here and there
among the pools. At another time ordinary tackle would be rigged up,
and Dave would take them to some dark hole where fish were known to
swarm, and for hours the decoy-man would sit and watch patiently while
the three companions pulled up the various denizens of the mere.

One bright April morning Dave was seen coming out of the mist, looking
gigantic as he stood up in his boat; and his visit was hailed with
delight, for the trio had been wondering how they should pass that day.

"Morning, Dave!" said Marston as the fen-man landed slowly from his
boat, and handed Dick a basket of fresh ducks' eggs.

"Morn', mester! Tak them up to the missus, Mester Dick. They be all
noo-laid uns. Straange thick haar this morn," he continued, wiping the
condensed mist from his eyelashes. "Re'glar sea-haar." [s