The Carrion Crow hath a coat of black, Silky and sleek like a priest's to his back; Like a lawyer he grubbeth--no matter what way-- The fouler the offal, the richer his prey. _Caw! Caw! the Carrion Crow!_ _Dig! Dig! in the ground below!_ The Carrion Crow hath a dainty maw, With savory pickings he crammeth his craw; Kept meat from the gibbet it pleaseth his whim, It can never _hang_ too long for him! _Caw! Caw!_ The Carrion Crow smelleth powder, 'tis said, Like a soldier escheweth the taste of cold lead; No jester, or mime, hath more marvellous wit, For, wherever he lighteth, he maketh a hit! _Caw! Caw! the Carrion Crow!_ _Dig! Dig! in the ground below!_ Shouldering his spade, and whistling to his dog, the sexton quitted the churchyard. Peter had not been gone many seconds, when a dark figure, muffled in a wide black mantle, emerged from among the tombs surrounding the church; gazed after him for a few seconds, and then, with a menacing gesture, retreated behind the ivied buttresses of the gray old pile. _CHAPTER III_ _THE PARK_ _Brian._ Ralph! hearest thou any stirring? _Ralph._ I heard one speak here, hard by, in the hollow. Peace! master, speak low. Nouns! if I do not hear a bow go off, and the buck bray, I never heard deer in my life. _Bri._ Stand, or I'll shoot. _Sir Arthur._ Who's there? _Bri._ I am the keeper, and do charge you stand. You have stolen my deer. _Merry Devil of Edmonton._ Luke's first impulse had been to free himself from the restraint imposed by his grandsire's society. He longed to commune with himself. Leaping the small boundary-wall, which defended the churchyard from a deep green lane, he hurried along in a direction contrary to that taken by the sexton, making the best of his way until he arrived at a gap in the high-banked hazel hedge which overhung the road. Heedless of the impediments thrown in his way by the undergrowth of a rough ring fence, he struck through the opening that presented itself, and, climbing over the moss-grown paling, trod presently upon the elastic sward of Rookwood Park. A few minutes' rapid walking brought him to the summit of a rising ground crowned with aged oaks and, as he passed beneath their broad shadows, his troubled spirit, soothed by the quietude of the scene, in part resumed its serenity.