appy guidance,
he was seriously wounded, and whence he presently regained England to
his own undoing.

So long as he kept to the road, his life was one long comedy. His wit
and address were inexhaustible, and fortune never found him at a loss.
He would avert suspicion with the tune of a psalm, as when, habited
like a pious shepherd, he broke a traveller's head with his crook, and
deprived him of his horse. An early adventure was to force a pot-valiant
parson, who had drunk a cup too much at a wedding, into a rarely
farcical situation. Hind, having robbed two gentlemen's servants of a
round sum, went ambling along the road until he encountered a parson.
'Sir,' said he, 'I am closely pursued by robbers. You, I dare swear,
will not stand by and see me plundered.' Before the parson could
protest, he thrust a pistol into his hand, and bade him fire it at the
first comer, while he rode off to raise the county. Meanwhile the rifled
travellers came up with the parson, who, straightway, mistaking them
for thieves, fired without effect, and then, riding forward, flung the
pistol in the face of the nearest. Thus the parson of the parish was
dragged before the magistrate, while Hind, before his dupe could
furnish an explanation, had placed many a mile between himself and his
adversary.

Though he could on occasion show a clean pair of heels, Hind was never
lacking in valiance; and, another day, meeting a traveller with a
hundred pounds in his pocket, he challenged him to fight there and then,
staked his own horse against the money, and declared that he should
win who drew first blood. 'If I am the conqueror,' said the magnanimous
Captain, 'I will give you ten pounds for your journey. If you are
favoured of fortune, you shall give me your servant's horse.' The terms
were instantly accepted, and in two minutes Hind had run his adversary
through the sword-arm. But finding that his victim was but a poor squire
going to London to pay his composition, he not only returned his
money, but sought him out a surgeon, and gave him the best dinner the
countryside could afford.

Thus it was his pleasure to act as a providence, many a time robbing
Peter to pay Paul, and stripping the niggard that he might indulge
his fervent love of generosity. Of all usurers and bailiffs he had
a wholesome horror, and merry was the prank which he played upon the
extortionate money-lender of Warwick. Riding on an easy rein through the
town, Hind heard a tumul