er some consideration the duke assented, and, promising to return on
the following day and report what had occurred he took his leave, and
went in search of the archer in question. Finding he had taken up his
quarters at the Garter, he sent for him and proposed the matter.

Shoreditch heard the duke's relation with astonishment, but expressed
the greatest willingness to accompany him, pledging himself, as Richmond
demanded, to profound secrecy on the subject.

At the appointed hour--namely, midnight--the duke quitted the castle,
and found Shoreditch waiting for him near the upper gate. The latter was
armed with a stout staff, and a bow and arrows.

"If we gain sight of the mysterious horseman to-night," he said, "a
cloth-yard shaft shall try whether he is of mortal mould or not. If he
be not a demon, I will warrant he rides no more."

Quitting the Home Park, they shaped their course at once towards the
forest. It was a stormy night, and the moon was obscured by thick
clouds. Before they reached the hill, at the end of the long avenue, a
heavy thunderstorm came on, and the lightning, playing among the trees,
seemed to reveal a thousand fantastic forms to their half-blinded gaze.
Presently the rain began to descend in torrents, and compelled them to
take refuge beneath a large beech-tree.

It was evident, notwithstanding his boasting, that the courage of
Shoreditch was waning fast, and he at last proposed to his leader that
they should return as soon as the rain abated. But the duke indignantly
rejected the proposal.

While they were thus sheltering themselves, the low winding of a horn
was heard. The sound was succeeded by the trampling of horses' hoofs,
and the next moment a vivid flash of lightning showed a hart darting
past, followed by a troop of some twenty ghostly horsemen, headed by the
demon hunter.

The Duke of Richmond bade his companion send a shaft after them; but the
latter was so overcome by terror that he could scarcely fix an arrow
on the string, and when he bent the bow, the shaft glanced from the
branches of an adjoining tree.

The storm continued with unabated fury for nearly an hour, at the
expiration of which time it partially cleared off, and though it was
still profoundly dark, the duke insisted upon going on. So they pressed
forward beneath the dripping trees and through the wet grass. Ever and
anon the moon broke through the rifted clouds, and shed a wild glimmer
upon the scene.

As th