"Better that you should tell me your part of the story first or I may be giving you stale news." "Truly, I have little to tell," Crosby said. "I am no rebel, though the charge might with some show of reason be brought against me. To-day--or yesterday rather, for it must be long after midnight--my house was secretly surrounded. My servant told me when I returned in the afternoon, and informed me also that a man was waiting to see me." "Who was it?" Fairley asked. "I must keep faith with him since so far he keeps faith with me. He bid me say nothing concerning him." A short ejaculation came from the fiddler. Perhaps his horse gave him trouble at that moment, but it seemed to Crosby that his companion did not believe him. "You doubt what I say?" "Did I say so?" asked Fairley. "I am used to strange tales, and I have only heard a part of yours. Finish it, Mr. Crosby." "The flight from Sedgemoor had let licence loose in the West, and I have reason to think that I am a victim of private vengeance. Be this as it may, my visitor had a scheme for my deliverance. He proposed facing the enemy who had now come to the door, arranged that I should give him a few minutes' start, and then make my way to the village from the back of the house. I should find a horse ready for me there, and he told me to ride to 'The Jolly Farmers,' where I was to await the coming of a fiddler who would direct me further. He was most insistent on the exact road I should follow, that I should leave my horse at a certain place in the village, and reach the inn on foot. My escape was cleverly arranged." "This man did you a service," said Fairley. "I wish I knew his name." "I cannot tell you. I can tell you nothing further about him; but now that I have escaped I feel rather as if I were playing a coward's part by running away." "Why? You are not a rebel." "True; yet I count for something in my own neighbourhood and might stretch out a protecting arm." "You were caught like a rat in a hole, and would have been powerless; whereas now you are free to fight your enemies, thanks to your strange visitor." "You speak of him as if you doubted his existence," said Crosby with some irritation. "Doubt! I do assure you I am one of those strange fellows who see and hear things which most folk affirm have no existence. I find doubting a difficult matter. With ill-luck I might get burnt for a wizard. I promise you there is more understanding in me than you would give me credit for, and certainly I should not call such a flight as yours cowardly." "I shall be able to judge the better perhaps when I have heard your part of the tale," said Crosby. "That is by no means certain, for my part is as vague as yours," Fairley answered. "You were in danger, that I knew, but the exact form of it I was ignorant of. I was instructed to find you and bring you to a place of safety, and was told that I should meet with you at 'The Jolly Farmers.'" "By this same man, I suppose?"