re
followed him. The blackness grew thicker and thicker; only here and
there, in open places, they saw the sky, dotted with small stars. In the
distance, the noise of the rout of the Lancastrian army still continued
to be faintly audible; but with every step they left it farther in the
rear.

At the end of half an hour of silent progress they came forth upon a
broad patch of heathy open. It glimmered in the light of the stars,
shaggy with fern and islanded with clumps of yew. And here they paused
and looked upon each other.

"Y' are weary?" Dick said.

"Nay, I am so weary," answered Matcham, "that methinks I could lie down
and die."

"I hear the chiding of a river," returned Dick. "Let us go so far forth,
for I am sore athirst."

The ground sloped down gently; and, sure enough, in the bottom, they
found a little murmuring river, running among willows. Here they threw
themselves down together by the brink; and putting their mouths to the
level of a starry pool, they drank their fill.

"Dick," said Matcham, "it may not be. I can no more."

"I saw a pit as we came down," said Dick. "Let us lie down therein and
sleep."

"Nay, but with all my heart!" cried Matcham.

The pit was sandy and dry; a shock of brambles hung upon one edge, and
made a partial shelter; and there the two lads lay down, keeping close
together for the sake of warmth, their quarrel all forgotten. And soon
sleep fell upon them like a cloud, and under the dew and stars they
rested peacefully.

CHAPTER VII

THE HOODED FACE

They awoke in the grey of the morning; the birds were not yet in full
song, but twittered here and there among the woods; the sun was not yet
up, but the eastern sky was barred with solemn colours. Half-starved and
over-weary as they were, they lay without moving, sunk in a delightful
lassitude. And as they thus lay, the clang of a bell fell suddenly upon
their ears.

"A bell!" said Dick, sitting up. "Can we be, then, so near to Holywood?"

A little after, the bell clanged again, but this time somewhat nearer
hand; and from that time forth, and still drawing nearer and nearer, it
continued to sound brokenly abroad in the silence of the morning.

"Nay, what should this betoken?" said Dick, who was now broad awake.

"It is some one walking," returned Matcham, "and the bell tolleth ever
as he moves."

"I see that well," said Dick. "But wherefore? What maketh he in Tunstall
Woods? Jack," he added, "laugh at me