ls must be posted in groups for
mutual comfort and assistance, seeing that the tangible danger of
Basil's dagger was to be feared as much as the intangible perils that
sprang from the imagination. To group the watchers was to narrow the
guarded area, and it was plain to the council that, at night
especially, little of the rolling tract of hill and valley could be
patrolled; the foe would have fairly free range.

One precaution could be taken, and that was promptly done. Orders were
issued that no bracken was to be cut except with the direct sanction of
the admiral. When cut it was to be carried green, and dried away from
the trees. Large rewards were also offered to any man who could bring
any "man in black," alive or dead, to the admiral. Visions of high
preferment were opened out to those of gentle blood. Suspected persons
in the forest area were to be closely watched, and most houses
professing the Romish faith were under suspicion.

Johnnie Morgan spent but little time in the society of the volatile
Dorothy. His heart was full of love, but his head was overloaded with
affairs of state, and the pain in his arm filled the air with
"phantoms" in black that blotted out the sweeter picture of a teasing
"fairy" in white. The admiral, never so happy as when on the water,
went back to Gatcombe on the tide. Sir Walter tramped through the
woods with Morgan, and, now that the council was over, he came back to
the lighter topics of poetry and love-making.

"Well, Master Morgan," he cried merrily, "and how didst thou fare in
the pretty arbour in the garden?"

Johnnie's face dropped to a gloomy length. "But indifferently, sir
knight. The maid will not be wooed. She is as fickle as April."

"Then catch her just when she melts into tears; 'tis the more
propitious time. Surely there was one little shower over thy wounded
arm. What advantage didst thou reap from it?"

"Why, none," mourned Johnnie. "'Twas like this. I had wit enough to
see that my unfortunate condition gave me a chance, and, I give thee my
word, I manoeuvred to make the best on't. The wench seemed melting
with pity, and her eyes were moist with kindness, so I made the plunge.
But, gramercy! I found myself in a very thorn bush, and hardly escaped
without a scratching. She'll ha' none of me!"

Johnnie's brown face was a study. Raleigh glanced at it, and laughed
heartily.

"Keep heart, friend," he said. "Thou wilt find that 'tis as hard a
m