“I don’t know for certain, but I heard it was no less a man than Colonel Blood himself.” “Colonel Blood! impossible,” said Jack, snapping his fingers. “Are you sure it was the colonel, young man?” said old Bates. “No, gentlemen, I am not quite certain; but old Harmer has seen the body of the murdered man, and he swears it is just like the gentleman who used to come prowling about the mill after Ellen.” “Then what makes you think it _was_ Colonel Blood?” “From cards and notes found in his pockets.” Jack and Bates looked at each other in a very knowing manner. “How did it all happen?” asked Captain Jack. “Here, sit down, my lad, and let’s hear all about it.” “Yes, yes, landlord, give us another bottle; you needn’t mind telling _us_ the whole truth, you know,” said Bates, with an air of much importance, “for we are Crown officers, and no harm can befal you.” “Well, you see, gentlemen,” the post-boy began, “since Ellen Harmer has been stolen away from her father’s house, Andrew, her lover, recovered from his wounds, but is thought to be raving mad at times, and goes raving about in all sorts of holes and corners. “The people take pity on him, and treat him kindly; but all he thinks of is revenge for the injuries he has received. “Last night he was sitting in a public-house by the roadside, about two miles this side of Darlington, when who should stop to bait his horse but a person very much like the man who stabbed him on the bridge the night Ellen Harmer was carried away. “Directly he entered the parlour, poor Andrew began to rave, and the stranger laughed at him. “Poor Andrew began, as usual, to tell the stranger his troubles, like he does to all who will listen to him; but still the stranger laughed, and began to mock him. “With eyes glistening like two burning coals, Andrew peered closely into the stranger’s face, but made up his mind that, though very much like, he could not be the man who had so cruelly wronged him. “The stranger pretended to be ignorant of the country he was passing through. “Yet, at the same time, the landlord says he spoke of Sir Richard Warbeck, and of Wildfire Ned’s famous doings, as if he had been acquainted with them for years. “He knew all about old Bertram’s murder, and whatever had happened to Ellen Harmer, who, he said, was safe and sound in London. “He had plenty of money, and said he was sent down from London on a secret mission to capture one Captain Jack, a famous rogue, who was supposed to be hiding somewhere thereabouts. “He pulled out rolls of notes and a bag of money, and made such a display of it that the landlord begged him to be very careful, for it might excite the passions of those around. ‘_He_ did not care,’ he said; ‘_he_ wasn’t afraid of all Darlington put together,’ he swore more than once. “While he was talking, Andrew went out of the parlour, and went along the road towards home.