sness of the West and the
responsibility of its Justices of the Peace.

Sir John took his sneers very quietly. "My dear Tillie," said he,
"I am with you to support the law, and you will remember that I advised
your bringing thrice your strength. But I tell you that the law is doing
this man a wrong, that all these people are convinced of it, and are
innocently scandalised to see me here; and that I at this moment am
undoing myself in their esteem, destroying a good feeling of over thirty
years' growth, and all for a cause I detest. Get that into your head; and
then, if you will, we'll ride round and examine the defences."

Meanwhile, as if the bonfires had given a signal to half the population of
West Cornwall, the roads were beginning to swarm with people. They poured
down from the north and up from the south, they spread over the fields and
lined the hedges. They carried no weapons, they made no demonstration of
anger. There was no attempt to hustle or even to jeer at the red-coats,
who stood with grounded arms in a clear space of the roadway and fretted
under the slow curious scrutiny of thousands, of eyes. Neighbours nodded
and "passed the time of day,": acquaintances from the two coasts of the
Duchy met, exchanged greetings and enquiries, lit their pipes and strolled
about together. It might have been a gathering for a horse-race or a game
of hurling, but for the extreme orderliness of the throng and a note of
strained expectancy in its buzz of talk; and the likeness was strengthened
about nine o'clock, when, in the broad field to the south-west, half a
dozen merchants began to erect their sweet-meat booths or "standings,"--
always an accompaniment of Cornish merrymaking.

It was just then that Sir James rode back from his reconnaissance. He had
fetched a circuit of Steens without discovering a weak spot, and his
temper had steadily risen with the increase of the crowd. His dignity now
stood fairly at stake. He moved his soldiers up the road and gave orders
to attack the gate.

As they fell into rank, an old man, perched on the hedge hard by, rose
lazily and turned to the crowd on the far side. "Here, help me down, some
of ye," said he; "I knawed that there Sheriff was a fool the moment I set
eyes on 'en."

Sir James heard and rode straight on. If a fool, he was no coward.
The soldiers carried axes at their belts, and, dismounting, he led them up
to the gate and showed them where to attack. Blow a