That which followed was so utterly bewildering that I scarce know how to set it down with clearness. Fearing, doubtless, lest help might be at hand, and bent on ending matters ere it could arrive, my adversaries made a sudden furious rush, which forced me back, waist-deep, into the sea. Next moment, as it seemed, a man came running from the bottom of the cliffs with upraised sword. "What now? What now?" he shouted. "Have at you for rank cowards!" and reaching my would-be slayers, he laid on with such a right good will that they turned and fled at headlong speed towards Charmouth. Hot, breathless, and confused, I staggered from the water, and sinking down upon a rock, sat staring at my rescuer like one bedazed. He was a sturdy, well-set man, some few years older than myself, with a fine, bold face and manner. "Why, thou art wounded, friend," said he, pointing with his sword at the blood which trickled slowly from my sleeve. "Nay, ’tis but a prick," I answered. "Well, we had best make sure of that," said he, and kneeling down, pulled up my sleeve and found the wound. A small vein had been pierced, but nothing more. Taking a kerchief from his neck, he bound it tightly round the spot, then, rising, said: "You were hard pressed, methinks." "Yes, I have fought with five this night," I answered, "and have slain three of them--two here, and one up yonder." "Good, now, by my life! Most excellent!" cried he. "I dearly love a man who wins to victory against such odds." "The victory was far from being mine," I answered; "for, had you not thus come in the nick of time, I should most surely have been lying dead beneath the sea by now. You saved my life, sir, and I owe you much." "Nay, ’twas naught," he murmured, sheathing his sword and gazing out across the moonlit water. "Faith, I scarcely struck a blow; ’twas but a nimbleness in coming down yon cliff-path. But to have killed three men out of five! Ah! that was lovely; that was worth the doing. Yes, by my life, such lusty deeds as those have made Old England what she is, and will, methinks, make her still greater and more feared in years to come." "Well, well," said I, not wishing to dwell further on my work of death, "and whither go you, pray?" "To Lyme, to join the Duke." "Ah! I also go to Lyme, though not to join the Duke; but rather to my bed." "Good, then by your leave I’ll bear you company," said he. "So, when you are ready----" "And that is now," I answered, rising. He paused a moment to gaze down upon the two dead men, then off we went together. "Know you who those coward rascals were?" he asked me as we strode along. "Some of Duke Monmouth’s men," I answered. He stopped and looked at me, then broke into a laugh. "What now?" I asked. "Why, just to think of it," said he, "that I should start my fighting for the Duke’s cause by drawing sword against his followers! But, say, why did these fellows thus attack you?"