The stranger turned towards Robin, but made no reply; it is sometimes
given to the simple to disconcert the wise, and that alone by their
simplicity.

A long silence followed; each ruminating on his own prospects and
projects: it was at length broken by Walter, who abruptly asked if Robin
was sure he had taken the right path.

"Mercy, sir, am I sure of the sight of my eyes! Behind that tree runs
the road we must cross, and then on to Stony Gap! Ah, many's the signal
I've hung out for the Fire-fly from that same spot; but, if perilous
times are past, and we live in days--as Master Fleetword hath it--of
peace, poor Hugh's trade will be soon over. I wish he were back--the
coast looks lonesome without him."

"So it does, Robin; but canst tell me what it was that made you look so
dull, and astonishingly religious after the hop, step, and jump you took
through the hollow oak?"

"Ah, master!"

"Well, Robin----"

"Why, you see, when I sprang through, 'thinking of nothing at all,' as
the song says, I found myself on the opposite side of the tree,
close--as close as I am to you, or nearly so--to----" As Robin had
proceeded thus far with his recital, a sudden turn brought them to the
high road, which led into a kind of hollow, flanked on either side by
close brushwood. About a hundred yards from where they stood, three men
were engaged in violent feud. The scene, at such a moment, and in such a
place, seemed produced by the wave of a magician's wand. The Cavalier
rubbed his eyes, as if to be assured of its reality; while Robin stood
aghast, bewildered, and uncertain how to act:--the moon was shining in
all its brightness, so that they could see as clearly as at noon-day.

"By heaven, 'tis two to one!" exclaimed the youth, casting off his
cloak, and unsheathing his rapier with the rapidity of lightning.

"So it is!" gasped Robin; "but two to such a one! Save us, sir! you're
not going to draw sword for him--?" But ere the sentence was concluded,
his companion was in the thick of the fray. "Oh!" exclaimed Robin, as in
agony, "that I should live to see true blood stirred in such a
cause!--How he lays about him! Poor boy, he little knows who's who! What
a noble thrust! hand to hand--how their swords glitter!--A murrain on
my shrivelled carcase! they would but laugh to see me among them! O that
I could be even with Nature, and hate her as she has hated me! Yet, to
be thus without a weapon!--Ah! one murderer's down, and the a