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he went before him with the swift and assured footsteps of a man who
sees. Next moment he had disappeared into a little thicket.
The lads, at the first glimpse, had crouched behind a tuft of gorse;
there they lay, horror-struck.
"Certain, he pursueth us," said Dick--"certain! He held the clapper of
his bell in one hand, saw ye? that it should not sound. Now may the
saints aid and guide us, for I have no strength to combat pestilence!"
"
What maketh he?" cried Matcham. "What doth he want? Who ever heard
the
like, that a leper, out of mere malice, should pursue unfortunates? Hath
he not his bell to that very end, that people may avoid him? Dick, there
is below this something deeper."
"Nay, I care not," moaned Dick; "the strength is gone out of me; my legs
are like water. The saints be mine assistance!"
"
Would ye lie there idle?" cried Matcham. "Let us back into the open.
We have the better chance; he cannot steal upon us unawares."
"
Not I," said Dick. "My time is come, and peradventure he may pass us
by."
"Bend me, then, your bow!" cried the other. "What! will ye be a man?"
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