e says that next time the men come to rob her, they'll
find she has two pots of boiling water ready for them."

Ralph laughed, and went off, crossed the river at the shallows, and
climbed the ascent to where the old woman lived in her rough stone cot,
in its patch of garden; and as soon as he had given his present, with an
addition from his own purse, and the fierce old lady had secured it in
her pocket, she turned upon him angrily, upbraiding him and his for
allowing such outrages to be committed.

"But there," she cried, when quite out of breath, "it's of no use to
speak: there are no men now, and no boys. When I was young, they'd have
routed out those wretches and hung them before they knew where they
were. But only let them come here again, and they shall know what
boiling water is."

"They'll be well punished before long," said Ralph, as soon as he could
get in a word.

"I don't believe it," cried the old woman. "Don't tell me! I want to
know what my boy, Nick, is about for not making his master do something.
It's shameful. But I see how it is: I shall have to go and do it
myself."

Ralph was not sorry to get away from the ungracious old dame, who stood
at her door, shouting messages to his father about his duty and her
intentions, till the lad was out of sight, when he could not help seeing
the comic side of the matter, and wondered, laughingly, what his father
would say to her if she kept her word, and came up to the castle to ask
him why he and her son, Nick, did not go and punish those wicked men for
coming and stealing her bag of meal.

"I should like to be there," said Ralph, half-aloud, as he tramped on:
and then his thoughts took a serious turn again, and he began to ponder
upon the possibilities of his father and their men attacking Captain
Purlrose, and the chances of success.

"It ought to be done," thought Ralph, as he began to climb the path
leading to the shelf upon which Master Rayburn's cottage was built,
half-a-mile farther on, "so as to take them by surprise when part of the
men are away. It can hardly be called cowardly with men like them.
Then we could hide in the cavern, and wait till the rest came back, and
take them prisoners too. What's that?"

He listened, and made out the sound of a horse galloping, wondering the
while who it could be. Then his interest increased, for the track was
narrow and stony, and ran along like a shelf beside the cliff, with a
steep descent to the