"Nay," said Father Brisdone, "I think two will suffice. King James must have felt like I when he wrote his work on this wondrous weed. It strikes me as strange that man should care to burn this herb when it is so medical in its effects." "Ay, it is," said Master Peasegood. "It reminds me of my sensations when I was once prevailed upon by Dame--nay, she was Mistress Beckley then, for Sir Thomas had not paid a thousand pounds for his title--by Mistress Beckley to drink of a wonderful decoction of hers, made of sundry simples--agrimony, rue, marshmallow, and dandelion. It has always been my custom to drink heartily, Father Brisdone, so I drank lustily from the silver mug in which it was placed. Poor mug, it was an insult to the silver to put such villainous stuff therein. The very swine would have turned up their noses and screwed their tails; and I forsooth, for good manners' sake, gulped it down. Here, father, drink some of this honest ale, and let us take the taste of the Indian weed from our lips." He passed the big mug to his friend, and he drank and returned it to Master Peasegood, who quaffed most heartily; and then, with doleful visages, the two friends sat and gazed in each other's eyes. "I don't feel any better, Father Brisdone," said Master Peasegood at last. "If this be a sin, this smoking, it carries its own punishment. Let us out into the open air." "Yes," said his visitor, "the fresh night wind may revive us. But where got you this tobacco, did you say?" "From Captain Gil," replied Master Peasegood; and then, as they strolled out of the gate into the soft night-air, he continued, "My mind misgives me about that lad, father. What are we to do about him?" "Warn him if he be in the way of ill, which I hope is not the case, for he is a brave, true lad, ready to help one of my faith in trouble. Many is the fugitive he has taken across to peace and safety in his ship." "For which, were it known, he would be most surely hanged or shot." Father Brisdone sighed. "It is strange," he said, "that we should become such Mends, Master Peasegood." "Ay, it is strange," said the other; and feeling refreshed by the night-air they walked softly up and down conversing upon the political state of the country, the coming of King James's messenger, and his stay at the Pool-house, till suddenly Master Peasegood drew his companion's attention to a sound. They were standing in a narrow path, running at right angles from a well-marked track; and as Master Peasegood spoke there was the snort of a horse and the rattle of harness, followed by much trampling; and, going a little forward, they could dimly see the figures of armed men by the light of lanterns which two of the horses carried at their head-stalls. "Why, they are loaded with something, father," said the stout clerk. "And, good--"