amous
trial and execution.

Amyas pondered awhile, thrusting his hands into his long curls; and
then--

"Will, my lad, have you been watching at the Deer Park End of late?"

"Never."

"Where, then?"

"At the town-beach."

"Where else?

"At the town-head."

"Where else?"

"Why, the fellow is turned lawyer! Above Freshwater."

"Where is Freshwater?"

"Why, where the water-fall comes over the cliff, half-a-mile from the
town. There is a path there up into the forest."

"I know. I'll watch there to-night. Do you keep all your old haunts
safe, of course, and send a couple of stout knaves to the mill, to watch
the beach at the Deer Park End, on the chance; for your poet may be a
true man, after all. But my heart's faith is, that this comes just to
draw you off from some old beat of yours, upon a wild-goose chase. If
they shoot the miller by mistake, I suppose it don't much matter?"

"Marry, no."

"'When a miller's knock'd on the head,
The less of flour makes the more of bread.'"

"Or, again," chimed in old Mr. Cary, "as they say in the North--

"'Find a miller that will not steal,
Or a webster that is leal,
Or a priest that is not greedy,
And lay them three a dead corpse by;
And by the virtue of them three,
The said dead corpse shall quicken'd be.'"

"But why are you so ready to watch Freshwater to-night, Master Amyas?"

"Because, sir, those who come, if they come, will never land at
Mouthmill; if they are strangers, they dare not; and if they are
bay's-men, they are too wise, as long as the westerly swell sets in. As
for landing at the town, that would be too great a risk; but Freshwater
is as lonely as the Bermudas; and they can beach a boat up under the
cliff at all tides, and in all weathers, except north and nor'west. I
have done it many a time, when I was a boy."

"And give us the fruit of your experience now in your old age, eh? Well,
you have a gray head on green shoulders, my lad; and I verily believe
you are right. Who will you take with you to watch?"

"Sir," said Frank, "I will go with my brother; and that will be enough."

"Enough? He is big enough, and you brave enough, for ten; but still, the
more the merrier."

"But the fewer, the better fare. If I might ask a first and last favor,
worshipful sir," said Frank, very earnestly, "you would grant me two
things: that you would let none go to Freshwater but me and my brother;
and that whatsoeve