isfaction. "I should
like to try a run with him. I warrant me, I'd not be far behind."

"I should like to get a peep at him," quoth Titus.

"So should I," added Coates. "Vastly!"

"You may both of you be gratified, gentlemen," said Palmer. "Talking of
Dick Turpin, they say, is like speaking of the devil, he's at your elbow
ere the word's well out of your mouth. He may be within hearing at this
moment, for anything we know to the contrary."

"Body o' me!" ejaculated Coates, "you don't say so? Turpin in Yorkshire!
I thought he confined his exploits to the neighborhood of the
metropolis, and made Epping Forest his headquarters."

"So he did," replied Jack, "but the cave is all up now. The whole of the
great North Road, from Tottenham Cross to York gates, comes within
Dick's present range; and Saint Nicholas only knows in which part of it
he is most likely to be found. He shifts his quarters as often and as
readily as a Tartar; and he who looks for him may chance to catch a
Tartar--ha!--ha!"

"It's a disgrace to the country that such a rascal should remain
unhanged," returned Coates, peevishly. "Government ought to look to it.
Is the whole kingdom to be kept in a state of agitation by a single
highwayman?--Sir Robert Walpole should take the affair into his own
hands."

"Fudge!" exclaimed Jack, emptying his glass.

"I have already addressed a letter to the editor of the _Common Sense_
on the subject," said Coates, "in which I have spoken my mind pretty
plainly: and I repeat, it is perfectly disgraceful that such a rascal
should be suffered to remain at large."

"You don't happen to have that letter by you, I suppose," said Jack, "or
I should beg the favor to hear it?--I am not acquainted with the
newspaper to which you allude;--I read _Fog's Journal_."

"So I thought," replied Coates, with a sneer; "that's the reason you are
so easily mystified. But luckily I have the paper in my pocket; and you
are quite welcome to my opinions. Here it is," added he, drawing forth a
newspaper. "I shall waive my preliminary remarks, and come to the point
at once."

"By all means," said Jack.

"'I thank God,'" began Coates, in an authoritative tone, "'that I was
born in a country that hath formerly emulated the Romans in their public
spirit; as is evident from their conquests abroad, and their struggles
for liberty at home.'"

"What has all this got to do with Turpin?" interposed Jack.

"You will hear," replied the attorney-