nd went
along the bank. They had gone down the path some sixty or seventy
yards, and had made their halt at a point where there was a strip of
grass some ten yards wide between the hedge of a field and the bank of
the brook.

Half an hour before the boys arrived, a pair of tramps had turned down
the same quiet side track, intending to eat the food they had begged in
a hamlet near at hand. They had gone some distance beyond the spot
where the scouts halted, and did not discover the presence of the
latter until they were on their way back to the high-road. The younger
tramp was leading the way, and when he saw the boys lying on the bank
with their haversacks at their feet, he stepped back into cover, and
the two rascals took counsel with each other.

'Might be the price of a pint or two on 'em,' said the elder, a
villainous-looking rogue, his tiny bloodshot eyes firing at the thought
of drink.

'Mebbe,' said the other; and they went back a score of yards, found a
gate, climbed over it into the field, and crept stealthily up on the
other side of the hedge. Crouching behind the boys, they heard Dick
speak of the money he had about him, and they looked at each other with
evil, greedy joy on their scoundrel faces.

The assault was made at once, and through a gap close at hand. It was
the stout, heavy man who led the way. With an agility no one would
have suspected in his bulky, clumsy-looking figure, he bounded nimbly
through the gap, caught up the haversacks, tossed them three yards to
the other side of the fire, leapt the fire himself, then stood on guard
between the haversacks and their owners. He was followed by the tall
young man, who posted himself in front of the scouts, and threatened
them with a heavy stick which he held in his hand.

The attack was so sudden, so unexpected, that the scouts, stretched
comfortably at full length, could do no more than sit up before their
enemies were in position.

'Kape still!' roared the long-legged tramp. 'If e'er a one on yer
tries to get up, I'll land 'im one acrost the nut!'

It was quite clear that he was in very savage earnest, and the two
scouts sat still and looked upon their foes.

The younger tramp was solemnly ferocious in looks, but the bulky, elder
man was grinning all over his drink-blotched face, his broken yellow
teeth all on view between purple lips. He had a huge bulbous nose, far
ruddier than the cherry, and it shook as he laughed harshly at the