TONY. No, no. Only mother is confoundedly frightened. She thinks herself forty miles off. She's sick of the journey, and the cattle can scarce crawl. So if your own horses be ready, you may whip off with cousin, and I'll be bound that no soul here can budge a foot to follow you. HAST. My dear friend, how can I be grateful? TONY. Ay, now it's dear friend, noble 'squire. Just now, it was all idiot, cub, and run me through the guts. Damn _your_ way of fighting, I say. After we take a knock in this part of the country, we kiss and be friends. But, if you had run me through the guts, then I should be dead, and you might go kiss the hangman. HAST. The rebuke is just. But I must hasten to relieve Miss Neville; if you keep the old lady employed, I promise to take care of the young one. _Exit_ HASTINGS. TONY. Never fear me. Here she comes. Vanish. She's got from the pond, and draggled up to the waist like a mermaid. _Enter_ MRS. HARDCASTLE. MRS. HARD. Oh, Tony, I'm killed. Shook. Battered to death. I shall never survive it. That last jolt, that laid us against the quickset hedge, has done my business. TONY. Alack, mamma, it was all your own fault. You would be for running away by night, without knowing one inch of the way. MRS. HARD. I wish we were at home again. I never met so many accidents in so short a journey. Drenched in the mud, overturned in a ditch, stuck fast in a slough, jolted to a jelly, and at last to lose our way! Whereabouts do you think we are, Tony? TONY. By my guess we should be upon Crackskull Common, about forty miles from home. MRS. HARD. O lud! O lud! the most notorious spot in all the country. We only want a robbery to make a complete night on't. [Illustration: TONY.—"_Don't be afraid, mamma._"—_p._ 371. ] TONY. Don't be afraid, mamma, don't be afraid. Two of the five that kept here are hanged, and the other three may not find us. Don't be afraid. Is that a man that's galloping behind us? No; it's only a tree. Don't be afraid. MRS. HARD. The fright will certainly kill me. TONY. Do you see anything like a black hat moving behind the thicket? MRS. HARD. O death! TONY. No, it's only a cow. Don't be afraid, mamma: don't be afraid. MRS. HARD. As I'm alive, Tony, I see a man coming towards us. Ah! I'm sure on't. If he perceives us we are undone. TONY (_Aside._) Father-in-law, by all that's unlucky, come to take one of his night walks. (_To her._) Ah! it's a highwayman, with pistols as long as my arm. A damn'd ill looking fellow. MRS. HARD. Good Heaven defend us! He approaches. TONY. Do you hide yourself in that thicket, and leave me to manage him. If there be any danger I'll cough, and cry—hem! When I cough, be sure to keep close. MRS. HARDCASTLE _hides behind a tree, in the back scene_. _Enter_ HARDCASTLE.