and next
removed the stains of the crime from his knife. He then pushed on again
rapidly until he struck another road, and begging a lift from a passing
wagon, lay full length on top of a load of straw and nervously scanned
the landscape as they travelled. Half a dozen miles farther on the wagon
halted before a comfortable farmhouse, and the cook, after bestowing on
the carter two of the few coins left him, went his way, losing himself,
with a view to baffling pursuit, among a maze of small lanes, turning
right or left as the fancy took him, until nightfall found him tired and
famished on the outskirts of a small village.

Conscious of the power of the telegraph, which he had no doubt was
interesting itself in his behalf over the surrounding districts, he
skulked behind a hedge until the lights went from the ground floor to
the first floor of the cottages and then went out altogether. He then,
with the utmost caution, looked round in search of shelter. He came at
last to two cottages standing by themselves about half a mile beyond the
village, one of which had a wooden shed in the garden which seemed to
offer the very shelter he required. Satisfied that the inmates of the
cottage were all abed he entered the garden, and, treading on tiptoe,
walked towards the shed, fumbled at the hasp and opened the door. It was
pitch dark within and silent, till something rustled uneasily. There was
a note of alarm and indignation. The cook tripped on a stone, and only
saved himself from falling by clutching at a perch which a dozen
fowls instantly vacated with loud and frenzied appeals for assistance.
Immediately the shed was full of flapping wings and agitated hens
darting wildly between his legs as he made for the door again, only to
run into the arms of a man who came from the cottage.

"I've got him, Poll!" shouted the latter, as he dealt the cook a blow
with a stick. "I've got him!"

He fetched him another blow and was preparing, for a third, when
the cook, maddened with the pain, struck at him wildly and sent him
sprawling. He was up again in an instant and, aided by his wife, who
had stopped to make a slight concession to appearances in the shape of a
flannel petticoat, threw the cook down and knelt on him. A man came out
from the adjoining cottage, and having, with great presence of mind,
first found a vacant spot on the cook and knelt on it, asked what was
the matter.

"After my hens," said the first man breathlessly. "I