"Here!" he cried. "This way! here is help! Nay, run, fellow--run!"

But just then a second arrow struck Selden in the shoulder, between the
plates of his brigandine, and, piercing through his jack, brought him,
like a stone, to earth.

"O, the poor heart!" cried Matcham, with clasped hands.

And Dick stood petrified upon the hill, a mark for archery.

Ten to one he had speedily been shot--for the foresters were furious with
themselves, and taken unawares by Dick's appearance in the rear of their
position--but instantly, out of a quarter of the wood surprisingly near
to the two lads, a stentorian voice arose, the voice of Ellis Duckworth.

"Hold!" it roared. "Shoot not! Take him alive! It is young
Shelton--Harry's son."

And immediately after a shrill whistle sounded several times, and was
again taken up and repeated farther off. The whistle, it appeared, was
John Amend-All's battle trumpet, by which he published his directions.

"Ah, foul fortune!" cried Dick. "We are undone. Swiftly, Jack, come
swiftly!"

And the pair turned and ran back through the open pine clump that covered
the summit of the hill.

CHAPTER VI--TO THE DAY'S END

It was, indeed, high time for them to run. On every side the company of
the Black Arrow was making for the hill. Some, being better runners, or
having open ground to run upon, had far outstripped the others, and were
already close upon the goal; some, following valleys, had spread out to
right and left, and outflanked the lads on either side.

Dick plunged into the nearest cover. It was a tall grove of oaks, firm
under foot and clear of underbrush, and as it lay down hill, they made
good speed. There followed next a piece of open, which Dick avoided,
holding to his left. Two minutes after, and the same obstacle arising,
the lads followed the same course. Thus it followed that, while the
lads, bending continually to the left, drew nearer and nearer to the high
road and the river which they had crossed an hour or two before, the
great bulk of their pursuers were leaning to the other hand, and running
towards Tunstall.

The lads paused to breathe. There was no sound of pursuit. Dick put his
ear to the ground, and still there was nothing; but the wind, to be sure,
still made a turmoil in the trees, and it was hard to make certain.

"On again," said Dick; and, tired as they were, and Matcham limping with
his injured foot, they pulled themselves together, and o