n their traces, or give testimony which would cost the life of a
fellow-creature. The citizens of London were loud in their complaints
against the discharged soldiers, for it was upon them that the loss
mainly fell, and it was on their petitions to the king that the sheriffs
of Middlesex and Hertford, Essex, Surrey, and Kent, were generally
stirred up to put down the ill-doers.

Sometimes these hunts were conducted in a wholesale way, and the whole
posse of a county would be called out. Then all found within its limits
who had not land or visible occupation were collected. Any against whom
charges could be brought home were hung without more ado, and the rest
were put on board ship and sent across the sea to the army. Sometimes,
when they found the country becoming too hot for them, these men would
take service with some knight or noble going to the war, anxious to take
with him as strong a following as might be, and not too particular as to
the character of his soldiers.

Walter, being of an adventurous spirit, was sometimes wont of a summer
evening, when his work was done, to wander across the marshes, taking
with him his bow and arrows, and often bringing home a wild duck or two
which he shot in the pools. More than once surly men had accosted him,
and had threatened to knock him on the head if they again found him
wandering that way; but Walter laughed at their threats, and seeing,
that though but an apprentice lad, he might be able to send an arrow as
straight to the mark as another, they were content to leave him alone.

One day when he was well-nigh in the heart of the swamp of Lambeth he
saw a figure making his way across. The hour was already late and the
night was falling, and the appearance of the man was so different
from that of the usual denizens of the swamp that Walter wondered what
business there might be. Scarcely knowing why he did so, Walter threw
himself down among some low brushwood and watched the approaching
figure. When he came near he recognized the face, and saw, to his
surprise, that it was a knight who had but the day before stopped at
the armourer's shop to have two rivets put in his hauberk. He had
particularly noticed him because of the arrogant manner in which he
spoke. Walter had himself put in the rivets, and had thought, as he
buckled on the armour again, how unpleasant a countenance was that of
its wearer. He was a tall and powerful man, and would have been handsome
had not his eye