ltivation; fruit trees and pot
herbs ran wild among the thicket; a sun-dial had fallen in the grass; it
seemed they were treading what once had been a garden. Yet a little
farther and they came forth before the ruins of the house.

It had been a pleasant mansion and a strong. A dry ditch was dug deep
about it; but it was now choked with masonry, and bridged by a fallen
rafter. The two farther walls still stood, the sun shining through their
empty windows; but the remainder of the building had collapsed, and now
lay in a great cairn of ruin, grimed with fire. Already in the interior
a few plants were springing green among the chinks.

"Now I bethink me," whispered Dick, "this must be Grimstone. It was a
hold of one Simon Malmesbury; Sir Daniel was his bane! 'Twas Bennet
Hatch that burned it, now five years agone. In sooth, 'twas pity, for it
was a fair house."

Down in the hollow, where no wind blew, it was both warm and still; and
Matcham, laying one hand upon Dick's arm, held up a warning finger.

"Hist!" he said.

Then came a strange sound, breaking on the quiet. It was twice repeated
ere they recognised its nature. It was the sound of a big man clearing
his throat; and just then a hoarse, untuneful voice broke into singing.

"Then up and spake the master, the king of the outlaws:
'What make ye here, my merry men, among the greenwood shaws?'
And Gamelyn made answer--he looked never adown:
'O, they must need to walk in wood that may not walk in town!'"

The singer paused, a faint clink of iron followed, and then silence.

[Illustration: _In the fork, like a mastheaded seaman, there stood a man
in a green tabard, spying far and wide_]

The two lads stood looking at each other. Whoever he might be, their
invisible neighbour was just beyond the ruin. And suddenly the colour
came into Matcham's face, and next moment he had crossed the fallen
rafter, and was climbing cautiously on the huge pile of lumber that
filled the interior of the roofless house. Dick would have withheld him,
had he been in time; as it was, he was fain to follow.

Right in the corner of the ruin, two rafters had fallen crosswise, and
protected a clear space no larger than a pew in church. Into this the
lads silently lowered themselves. There they were perfectly concealed,
and through an arrow-loophole commanded a view upon the farther side.

Peering through this, they were struck stiff with terror at their
predicament. To retreat