All listened. The sound was repeated, and none of them spoke but the man in the chimney-corner, who said quietly, "I've often been told that in this county they fire a gun at such times, but I never heard it till now." "I wonder if it is _my_ man?" murmured personage in cinder gray. "Surely it is!" said the shepherd, involuntarily. "And surely we've seen him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and quivered like a leaf when he seed ye and heard your song." "His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body," said the dairyman. "And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone," said Oliver Giles. "And he bolted as if he'd been shot at," said the hedge-carpenter. "True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink, and he bolted as if he'd been shot at," slowly summed up the man in the chimney-corner. "I didn't notice it," remarked the grim songster. "We were all a-wondering what made him run off in such a fright," faltered one of the women against the wall, "and now't is explained." The firing of the alarm-gun went on at intervals, low and sullenly, and their suspicions became a certainty. The sinister gentleman in cinder gray roused himself. "Is there a constable here?" he asked, in thick tones. "If so, let him step forward." The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out of the corner, his betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. "You are a sworn constable?" "I be, sir." "Then pursue the criminal at once, with assistance, and bring him back here. He can't have gone far." "I will, sir, I will--when I've got my staff. I'll home and get it, and come sharp here, and start in a body." "Staff! never mind your staff--the man'll be gone!" "But I can't do nothing without my staff--can I, William, and John, and Charles Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a-painted on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, so as when I raise en up and hit my prisoner't is made a lawful blow thereby. I wouldn't 'tempt to take up a man without my staff--no, not I. If I hadn't the law to gie me courage, why, instead o' my taking him up he might take up me!" "Now, I'm a king's man myself, and can give you authority enough for this," said the formidable person in cinder gray. "Now then, all of ye, be ready. Have ye any lanterns?" "Yes; have ye any lanterns? I demand it," said the constable. "And the rest of you able-bodied--" "Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye," said the constable. "Have you some good stout staves and pitchforks--" "Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law. And take 'em in yer hands and go in quest, and do as we in authority tell ye."