On his left hand ran the long line of the Sussex downs in graceful outline—rising at Firle Beacon to a lofty height of some seven hundred feet. Before him lay the dense forest, the deep embowered shades of Chiddingly woods. Ralph was in high spirits, and as his stout cob gaily cantered along the trackway he broke into song, as if in emulation of the sweet-toned larks rising into the deep-blue sky on quivering wing. He was now nearing the point of the rendezvous, and he checked his song as he caught sight of one of his stalwarts trudging along in front of him. "You are in good time, Roger," he cried to the man as he overtook him. "Yes, Mr. William, and the others are all in front of me. I am the rear- guard." "Good," cried Ralph, "but tell me, Roger, why do you call me Mr. William?—alas, he is not here." "I beg your pardon, sir," replied the man with a laugh. "I thought for the moment that Mr. William had joined us—it was your grey cap which misled me." Ralph pulled the cap from his head and looked at it with an air of astonishment. "It is true," he said, "I have put on my brother's cap; it was dark when I left home, and I did not mark the colour of it." Then he rode rapidly ahead, and in a few minutes he arrived at the rendezvous. The spot was admirably chosen for the object in view. Here the track narrowed to a breadth of sixteen or seventeen feet, and the branches of a giant oak spread right over it. On each side of the track grew a stout young sapling, as if nature was conspiring on behalf of the stalwarts. Ralph drew a whistle from his doublet and blew a shrill note. In a minute a rustling noise arose in the dense wood, and there emerged from it nine of his men. Ralph dismounted, and putting his bridle rein into the hands of one of the men, said— "Take him to the hut and tie him up carefully; see that you shut the door after you." "Aye, aye, sir," said the man. Then Ralph began to unwind from his body the stout cord he had brought with him, with the assistance of his men. One end of it was securely fastened to the sapling on the right of the road, at a height of one foot from the grassy soil. The other end was made sure at the foot of a tree on the left-hand side, and the rope was drawn taut. The rough grass which grew luxuriantly on the trackway obscured it sufficiently from view. Every man of the band carried a short cord round his waist, and Ralph carefully inspected these cords to see that they were ready for immediate use. "Now listen, all of you, to my final instructions," said Ralph, as the men gathered round him. "You, Tom and Jim, will mount the oak-tree, climb along that limb which crosses the track, and be ready to drop on the Pursuivant at the moment he passes beneath you. Bring him to the ground and bind his arms and legs with your cords.