What cheer, Jack!" said Dick. "It was no leper, after all; it was Sir

Daniel! See!"

"Swallow me a good draught of this," said the knight. "This will give

you manhood. Thereafter, I will give you both a meal, and we shall all

three on to Tunstall. For, Dick," he continued, laying forth bread and

meat upon the grass, "I will avow to you, in all good conscience, it irks

me sorely to be safe between four walls. Not since I backed a horse have

I been pressed so hard; peril of life, jeopardy of land and livelihood,

and to sum up, all these losels in the wood to hunt me down. But I be

not yet shent. Some of my lads will pick me their way home. Hatch hath

ten fellows; Selden, he had six. Nay, we shall soon be strong again; and

if I can but buy my peace with my right fortunate and undeserving Lord of

York, why, Dick, we'll be a man again and go a-horseback!"

And so saying, the knight filled himself a horn of canary, and pledged

his ward in dumb show.

"Selden," Dick faltered--"Selden"--And he paused again.

Sir Daniel put down the wine untasted.

"How!" he cried, in a changed voice. "Selden? Speak! What of Selden?"

Dick stammered forth the tale of the ambush and the massacre.

The Black Arrow