g inside
of it; the other maid, and two serving-men (each man with a great
blunderbuss) mounted upon the outside; and upon the horses three Exeter
postilions. Much had been said at Dulverton, and even back at Bampton,
about some great freebooters, to whom all Exmoor owed suit and service,
and paid them very punctually. Both the serving-men were scared, even
over their ale, by this. But the lady only said, 'Drive on; I know a
little of highwaymen: they never rob a lady.'"

"Through the fog and through the muck the coach went on, as best
it might; sometimes foundered in a slough, with half of the horses
splashing it, and some-times knuckled up on a bank, and straining across
the middle, while all the horses kicked at it. However, they went on
till dark as well as might be expected. But when they came, all thanking
God, to the pitch and slope of the sea-bank, leading on towards Watchett
town, and where my horse had shied so, there the little boy jumped up,
and clapped his hands at the water; and there (as Benita said) they met
their fate, and could not fly it.

"Although it was past the dusk of day, the silver light from the sea
flowed in, and showed the cliffs, and the gray sand-line, and the drifts
of wreck, and wrack-weed. It showed them also a troop of horsemen,
waiting under a rock hard by, and ready to dash upon them. The
postilions lashed towards the sea, and the horses strove in the depth of
sand, and the serving-men cocked their blunder-busses, and cowered away
behind them; but the lady stood up in the carriage bravely, and neither
screamed nor spoke, but hid her son behind her. Meanwhile the drivers
drove into the sea, till the leading horses were swimming.

"But before the waves came into the coach, a score of fierce men were
round it. They cursed the postilions for mad cowards, and cut the
traces, and seized the wheel-horses, all-wild with dismay in the wet and
the dark. Then, while the carriage was heeling over, and well-nigh upset
in the water, the lady exclaimed, 'I know that man! He is our ancient
enemy;' and Benita (foreseeing that all their boxes would be turned
inside out, or carried away), snatched the most valuable of the jewels,
a magnificent necklace of diamonds, and cast it over the little girl's
head, and buried it under her travelling-cloak, hoping to save it. Then
a great wave, crested with foam, rolled in, and the coach was thrown
on its side, and the sea rushed in at the top and the windows,