JER. Millicent, now dost thou? MIL. Sir, very well. I would to God we were at Brian's lodge. Y. CLARE. We shall anon; nouns! hark! What means this noise? JER. Stay, I hear horsemen. Y. CLARE. I hear footmen too. JER. Nay, then I have it: we have been discovered, And we are followed by our fathers' men. MIL. Brother and friend, alas! what shall we do? Y. CLARE. Sister, speak softly, or we are descried, They are hard upon us, whatsoe'er they be; Shadow yourself behind this brake of fern, We'll get into the wood, and let them pass. _Enter_ SIR JOHN, BLAGUE, SMUG, _and_ BANKS; _one after another_. SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! we are all mortal: the keeper's abroad, and there's an end. BANKS. Sir John! SIR JOHN. Neighbour Banks, what news? BANKS. Zounds, Sir John, the keepers are abroad; I was hard by 'em. SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! where's mine host Blague? BLAGUE. Here, metropolitan; the Philistines are upon us, be silent: let us serve the good Duke of Norfolk. But where is Smug? SMUG. Here: a pox on you all, dogs; I have killed the greatest buck in Brian's walk: shift for yourselves, all the keepers are up; let's meet in Enfield church-porch. Away, we are all taken else. [_Exeunt._ _Enter_ BRIAN, _with his man_ RALPH _and his hound_. BRIAN. Ralph, hear'st thou any stirring? RALPH. I heard one speak here hard by in the bottom. Peace, master, speak low; nouns! if I did not hear a bow go off and the buck bray, I never heard deer in my life. BRIAN. When went your fellows into their walks? RALPH. An hour ago. BRIAN. Life! is there stealers abroad, and we cannot hear of them? Where the devil are my men to-night? Sirrah, go up and wind toward Buckley's lodge: I'll cast about the bottom with my hound, And I will meet thee under Cony-oak. RALPH. I will, sir. [_Exit._ BRIAN. How now! by the mass, my hound stays upon something; hark, hark, Bowman! hark, hark there! MIL. Brother, Frank Jerningham, brother Clare! BRIAN. Peace; that a woman's voice! Stand! who's there? Stand, or I'll shoot. MIL. O lord! hold your hands, I mean no harm, sir. BRIAN. Speak, who are you? MIL. I am a maid, sir. Who? Master Brian? BRIAN. The very same: sure, I should know her voice? Mistress Millicent! MIL. Ay, it is I, sir. BRIAN. God for his passion! what make you here alone? I looked for you at my lodge an hour ago. What means your company to leave you thus? Who brought you hither? MIL. My brother, sir, and Master Jerningham who, hearing folks about us in the Chase, feared it had been Sir Arthur my father, who had pursued us, and thus dispersed ourselves, till they were past us.