What make ye here, my merry men, among the greenwood shaws?'

And Gamelyn made answer--he looked never adown:

O, they must need to walk in wood that may not walk in town!'"

The singer paused, a faint clink of iron followed, and then silence.

The two lads stood looking at each other. Whoever he might be, their

invisible neighbour was just beyond the ruin. And suddenly the colour

came into Matcham's face, and next moment he had crossed the fallen

rafter, and was climbing cautiously on the huge pile of lumber that

filled the interior of the roofless house. Dick would have withheld him,

had he been in time; as it was, he was fain to follow.

Right in the corner of the ruin, two rafters had fallen crosswise, and

protected a clear space no larger than a pew in church. Into this the

lads silently lowered themselves. There they were perfectly concealed,

and through an arrow-loophole commanded a view upon the farther side.

Peering through this, they were struck stiff with terror at their

predicament. To retreat was impossible; they scarce dared to breathe.

Upon the very margin of the ditch, not thirty feet from where they

crouched, an iron caldron bubbled and steamed above a glowing fire; and

close by, in an attitude of listening, as though he had caught some sound

of their clambering among the ruins, a tall, red-faced, battered-looking

man stood poised, an iron spoon in his right hand, a horn and a

formidable dagger at his belt. Plainly this was the singer; plainly he

had been stirring the caldron, when some incautious step among the lumber

The Black Arrow