idly to their feet, and stood undecided. Before they had time
to get their courage about them, or even to form an idea of the number
and mettle of their assailants, a similar shout of onslaught sounded in
their ears from the far side of the enclosure. Thereupon they gave
themselves up for lost, and ran.

In this way the two small troops of the men of the Black Arrow closed
upon the sea front of the garden wall, and took a part of the strangers,
as it were, between two fires; while the whole of the remainder ran for
their lives in different directions, and were soon scattered in the
darkness.

For all that, the fight was but beginning. Dick's outlaws, although they
had the advantage of the surprise, were still considerably outnumbered
by the men they had surrounded. The tide had flowed in the meanwhile;
the beach was narrowed to a strip; and on this wet field between the
surf and the garden wall, there began, in the darkness, a doubtful,
furious, and deadly contest.

The strangers were well armed; they fell in silence upon their
assailants; and the affray became a series of single combats. Dick, who
had come first into the mellay, was engaged by three; the first he cut
down at the first blow, but the other two coming upon him hotly he was
fain to give ground before their onset. One of these two was a huge
fellow, almost a giant for stature, and armed with a two-handed sword,
which he brandished like a switch. Against this opponent, with his reach
of arm and the length and weight of his weapon, Dick and his bill were
quite defenceless; and had the other continued to join vigorously in the
attack, the lad must have indubitably fallen. This second man, however,
less in stature and slower in his movements, paused for a moment to peer
about him in the darkness, and to give ear to the sounds of the battle.

The giant still pursued his advantage, and still Dick fled before him,
spying for his chance. Then the huge blade flashed and descended, and
the lad, leaping on one side and running in, slashed sideways and
upwards with his bill. A roar of agony responded, and before the wounded
man could raise his formidable weapon, Dick, twice repeating his blow,
had brought him to the ground.

The next moment he was engaged upon more equal terms with his second
pursuer. Here there was no great difference in size, and though the man,
fighting with sword and dagger against a bill, and being wary and quick
of fence, had a certain super