nd that sent a terror to his heart, no less from a love of his head
than from anxiety for his hair. The shock staggered him for a moment;
and a second shot from the hands of Mauleverer would have probably
finished his earthly career, had not the third robber, who had hitherto
remained almost inactive, thrown himself from his horse, which, tutored
to such docility, remained perfectly still, and advancing with a bold
step and a levelled pistol towards Mauleverer and his servant, said in
a resolute voice, "Gentlemen, it is useless to struggle; we are well
armed, and resolved on effecting our purpose. Your persons shall be safe
if you lay down your arms, and also such part of your property as you
may particularly wish to retain; but if you resist, I cannot answer for
your lives!"

Mauleverer had listened patiently to this speech in order that he might
have more time for adjusting his aim. His reply was a bullet, which
grazed the side of the speaker and tore away the skin, without
inflicting any more dangerous wound. Muttering a curse upon the error of
his aim, and resolute to the last when his blood was once up, Mauleverer
backed one pace, drew his sword, and threw himself into the attitude of
a champion well skilled in the use of the instrument he wore.

But that incomparable personage was in a fair way of ascertaining what
happiness in the world to come is reserved for a man who has spared no
pains to make himself comfortable in this. For the two first and most
active robbers having finished the achievement of the horses, now
approached Mauleverer; and the taller of them, still indignant at the
late peril to his hair, cried out in a stentorian voice,--

"By Jove! you old fool, if you don't throw down your toasting-fork, I'll
be the death of you!"

The speaker suited the action to the word by cocking an immense pistol.
Mauleverer stood his ground; but Smoothson retreated, and stumbling
against the wheel of the carriage, fell backward; the next instant, the
second highwayman had possessed himself of the valet's pistols, and,
quietly seated on the fallen man's stomach, amused himself by inspecting
the contents of the domestic's pockets. Mauleverer was now alone; and
his stubbornness so enraged the tall bully that his hand was already on
his trigger, when the third robber, whose side Mauleverer's bullet had
grazed, thrust himself between the two.

"Hold, Ned!" said he, pushing back his comrade's pistol. "And you, my
lord