, in Heaven's name, that ye
reply not!"

"Nay," cried Greensheve, pulling an arrow from his leather jack. "We are
in no posture to fight, it is certain, being drenching wet, dog-weary,
and three-parts frozen; but, for the love of old England, what aileth
them to shoot thus cruelly on their poor country people in distress?"

"They take us to be French pirates," answered Lord Foxham. "In these
most troublesome and degenerate days we cannot keep our own shores of
England; but our old enemies, whom we once chased on sea and land, do
now range at pleasure, robbing and slaughtering and burning. It is the
pity and reproach of this poor land."

The men upon the hillock lay, closely observing them, while they trailed
upward from the beach and wound inland among desolate sandhills; for a
mile or so they even hung upon the rear of the march, ready, at a sign,
to pour another volley on the weary and dispirited fugitives; and it was
only when, striking at length upon a firm high-road, Dick began to call
his men to some more martial order, that these jealous guardians of the
coast of England silently disappeared among the snow. They had done what
they desired; they had protected their own homes and farms, their own
families and cattle; and, their private interest being thus secured, it
mattered not the weight of a straw to any one of them, although the
Frenchmen should carry blood and fire to every other parish in the realm
of England.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] At the date of this story, Richard Crookback could not have been
created Duke of Gloucester; but for clearness, with the reader's
leave, he shall so be called.

BOOK IV

THE DISGUISE

CHAPTER I

THE DEN

The place where Dick had struck the line of a high-road was not far from
Holywood, and within nine or ten miles of Shoreby-on-the-Till; and here,
after making sure that they were pursued no longer, the two bodies
separated. Lord Foxham's followers departed, carrying their wounded
master towards the comfort and security of the great abbey; and Dick, as
he saw them wind away and disappear in the thick curtain of the falling
snow, was left alone with near upon a dozen outlaws, the last remainder
of his troop of volunteers.

Some were wounded; one and all were furious at their ill-success and
long exposure; and though they were now too cold and hungry to do more,
they grumbled and cast sullen looks upon their leaders. Dick emptied his
purse among th