ey for it too, whereupon yonder scurvy knave gives me small beer,
thin as water. And I, being somewhat hot and choleric of temper, threw
the measure at him, and rewarded him for his insolence. So now I will go
on my way, for 'tis a brave step from here to Marazion, and I love not
ye north-country folk."

"Not so fast," quoth John Broad. "Thou must needs see Sir Thurstan
before we let thee go."

"What want I with Sir Thurstan?"

"Marry, naught; but he may want something with thee. We allow not that
wandering rascals shall break the peace in our village."

"If thou talkest to me like that, Master Constable, I shall break thy
head, and in such a fashion that thou wilt never more know what peace
is. We men of Devon and Cornwall allow no man to lord it over us."

"Thou shalt to Sir Thurstan, anyhow," said John Broad. "We will see what
the law says to thee. I fear me thou art a man of lawless behavior; and,
moreover, there are strange characters about at this moment."

"Dame Good had two fowls stolen last night," said a voice in the crowd.

"Yea, and there are two fine linen sheets stolen from the vicarage
hedge," piped another.

"He looks a strange mortal," said a third.

"And wears gold rings in his ears," cried a fourth. "A' must be a
foreigner, and maybe a Papist."

"Foreigner or Papist I am not, good folks, but a true-born Englishman,
and a good hater of all Frenchmen and Spaniards. So let me go forward
peaceably. As for the clout I gave Master Peter, here is a groat to mend
it. I have but a round dozen, or I would give him two."

With that he would have moved forward, but John Broad barred the way.

"Not till I have taken thee before his worship," said he. "What, am I
not constable of this parish, and duly sworn to arrest all suspicious
persons, sturdy beggars, and what not?"

The sailor paused and drew his breath, and looked at the constable's
round figure as if in doubt what to do.

"I am loth to hurt thee," said he, "but if I hit thee, Master Constable,
thou wilt never more drink ale nor smell beef. Know that once in
Palermo there came upon me a great brown bear that had got loose from
his ward, and I hit him fair and square between the eyes, and he fell,
and when they took him up, his skull it was cracked. Is thy skull harder
than the bear's?"

At this John Broad trembled and shrank away, but continued to mutter
something about the law and its majesty.

"You had better go with him before my uncle,