lately, from laughing at poor Carroway."

"You are very careless now. You quite frighten me almost. The
coast-riders might come back at any moment. And what could you do then?"

"Run away gallantly, as I did before; with this little difference, that
I should be fresh, while they are as stiff as nut-cracks. They have
missed the best chance they ever had at me; it will make their temper
very bad. If they shot at me again, they could do no good. Crooked mood
makes crooked mode."

"You forget that I should not see such things. You may like very much to
be shot at; but--but you should think of other people."

"I shall think of you only--I mean of your great kindness, and your
promise to keep my ring for me. Of course you will tell nobody, Carroway
will have me like a tiger if you do. Farewell, young lady--for one week
farewell."

With a wave of his hat he was gone, before Mary had time to retract her
promise; and she thought of her mother, as she rode on slowly to look
for the smuggler's trinket.

CHAPTER VIII

CAPTAIN CARROWAY

Fame, that light-of-love trusted by so many, and never a wife till a
widow--fame, the fair daughter of fuss and caprice, may yet take the
phantom of bold Robin Lyth by the right hand, and lead it to a pedestal
almost as lofty as Robin Hood's, or she may let it vanish like a bat
across Lethe--a thing not bad enough for eminence.

However, at the date and in the part of the world now dealt with, this
great free-trader enjoyed the warm though possibly brief embrace of
fame, having no rival, and being highly respected by all who were
unwarped by a sense of duty. And blessed as he was with a lively nature,
he proceeded happily upon his path in life, notwithstanding a certain
ticklish sense of being shot at undesirably. This had befallen him
now so often, without producing any tangible effect, that a great many
people, and especially the shooters (convinced of the accuracy of their
aim), went far to believe that he possessed some charm against wholesome
bullet and gunpowder. And lately even a crooked sixpence dipped in holy
water (which was still to be had in Yorkshire) confirmed and doubled
the faith of all good people, by being declared upon oath to have passed
clean through him, as was proved by its being picked up quite clean.

This strong belief was of great use to him; for, like many other
beliefs, it went a very long way to prove itself. Steady left hands now
grew shaky in the lev