Having uttered which threat he strode on, scowling and snorting, now and then, in a very disturbing manner, so that I ventured no further remark and we walked a great way in silence until, suddenly venting a snort fiercer and louder then ever, he spoke: "Honest!" he ejaculated. "Honest--why, curse your carkis, who are you to talk o' honesty? d'ye know as you're liable to be took by any o' these honest uns--took an' appre'ended as my accomplice afore an' arter the fact--d'ye know that?" "God help me!" I ejaculated, in agonised dismay. "Oh, heaven help me!" "Let's 'ope so!" he nodded grimly. "Meantime, I intend to do a bit for ye that way meself--seein' as you 'elped me t'night wi' that cursed knot. I'd managed 'em all but one an' that were out o' reach--so because o' that theer knot an' my good mother, I'm a-goin' to--do the best I can for ye." "How--when--what do you mean?" I questioned eagerly. "Never you mind, only I am--an' no man can say honester or fairer, an' I'm a-goin' t' do my best for ye because, bein' the son o' my blessed mother, I'm that tender-'earted that, though I'm th' son o' my feyther I've knowed myself to drop a tear in the very act o' business. She were an' old lady in a pair-'oss phaeton wi' plenty o' sparklers an' nice white hair: a rosy old creetur, comfortably plump and round--'specially in front. 'O Mr. 'ighwayman!' says she, weepin' doleful as she tipped me 'er purse an' the shiners, ''ow could ye do it?' 'Ma'm,' I says, wipin' my eyes wi' my pistol--and--'ma'm, I don't know--but do it I must!' An' I rode away quite down-'earted." Here he turned to regard me with his wry smile. Thus we held on, by field paths and narrow muddy tracks until the moon was down and I was stumbling with weariness. At last, my strength almost spent, we entered a wood, a dismal place where a mournful wind stirred, where trees dripped upon me and wet leaves brushed my face like ghostly fingers, while rain-sodden underbrush and bracken clung about my wearied limbs. Through this clammy dreariness I followed my tireless companion until suddenly his dim form vanished and I was groping amid damp leaves; but through this dense thicket came his hand to seize and drag me on until I found myself in a place of utter darkness. "Stand still!" he commanded. A moment after I heard him strike flint and steel and presently he lighted a candle-end by whose welcome beam I saw we stood in a roomy cave. And an evil place I thought it, full of unexpected corners, littered with all manner of odds and ends and divers misshapen bundles. Having set down the candle, the highwayman drew a dingy blanket before the cave mouth and turned to scowl at me, eyeing my shrinking person over from dripping hat to sodden boots; and well might I shrink, for surely few waking eyes have beheld such a wild and terrifying vision as he presented, his battered face, his garments mired and torn, his hands hidden in the pockets of his riding-coat.