Desmond paid his penny and crossed. He sauntered along up Strawberry Hill, taking a good look at the snug little house upon which Mr. Horace Walpole was spending much money and pains. Wandering on, and preferring by-lanes to the high road, he lost his bearings, and at length, fearing that he was going in the wrong direction, he stopped at a wayside cottage to inquire the way. He was further out than he knew. The woman who came to the door in answer to his knock said that, having come so far, he had better proceed in the same direction until he reached Hounslow, and then strike into the London road and keep to it. Desmond was nothing loth. He had heard of Hounslow and those notorious "Diana’s foresters" Plunket and James Maclean--highwaymen who a few years before had been the terror of night travellers across the lonely Heath. There was a fascination about the scene of their exploits. So he trudged on, feeling now a little tired, and hoping to get a lift in some farmer’s cart that might be going towards London. More than once as he walked his thoughts recurred to the scene at the _Waterman’s Rest_. They were a rough, villainous-looking set, these members of the crew of the _Good Intent_! Of course, as supercargo he would not come into close contact with them; and Mr. Diggle had warned him that he would find seafaring men somewhat different from the country folk among whom all his life hitherto had been passed. Diggle’s frankness had pleased him. They had left the _Four Alls_ early on the morning after that strange incident at the Squire’s. Desmond had told his friend what had happened, and Diggle, apparently surprised to learn of Grinsell’s villainy, had declared that the sooner they were out of his company the better. They had come by easy stages to London, and were now lodging at a small inn near the Tower: not a very savoury neighbourhood, Diggle admitted, but convenient. Diggle had soon obtained for Desmond a berth on board the _Good Intent_ bound for the East Indies, and from what he let drop the boy understood that he was to sail as supercargo. He had not yet seen the vessel; she was painting, and would shortly be coming up to the Pool. Nor had he seen Captain Barker, who was very much occupied, said Diggle, and had a great deal of trouble in keeping his crew out of the clutches of the pressgang. Some of the best of them had been sent to the _Waterman’s Rest_ in charge of the chief and second mates. It was at Diggle’s suggestion that he had been deputed to convey the captain’s message to the men.