ecalled.

"Do you know anything about the character of the youngest prisoner?"

"Yes, sir. We have had our eye upon him for some time. He was brought
before your honors a week ago charged with being drunk and disorderly in
this town, and was fined 5 pounds. He is constantly drinking with some
of the worst characters in the place, and is strongly suspected of
having been concerned in the fray between the poachers and Sir Charles
Harris' gamekeepers. Two of the latter said that they recognized him
amongst the poachers, but as they both declined to swear to him we did
not arrest him."

John Knapp was then recalled, and testified to Bastow's drinking habits,
and that the landlord of the alehouse at Crowswood had been ordered by
the Squire not to draw any liquor for him in future on pain of having
the renewal of his license refused.

"Have you any more witnesses to call?" the chairman asked the head
constable.

"Not at present, your honor. We have sent up to town, and on the next
occasion the coachman will be called to testify to the shooting of the
guard, and we hope to have some of the passengers there to identify the
articles stolen from them."

"It will be necessary that the Rev. Mr. Bastow should be here. He need
not be called to give evidence unless we think it to be of importance,
but he had better be in attendance. The prisoners are remanded until
this day week."

An hour later the three prisoners, handcuffed, were driven under an
escort of three armed constables to Croydon Jail. When again brought up
in court the passengers on the coach identified the articles taken from
them; the coachman gave evidence of the stopping of the coach, and of
the shooting of the guard. The head constable testified that he had
searched the Rectory from top to bottom, and found nothing whatever of
a suspicious nature. None of the passengers were able to testify to the
two elder prisoners as the men who had robbed them, as these had been
masked, but the height and dress corresponded to those of the prisoners;
and the two Bow Street runners then came forward, and gave evidence
that the two elder prisoners were well known to them. They had long been
suspected of being highwaymen, and had several times been arrested when
riding towards London on occasions when a coach had been stopped the
night before, but no stolen goods had ever been found upon them, and in
no case had the passengers been able to swear to their identity. One was
k