I am tired of it I will shake my legs, and then you must let me
down,' said he.

The Black Rogue drew up the rope, but in half a minute the Shifty Lad's
legs began to shake, and he quickly let it down again.

'You can't imagine what a funny feeling hanging gives you,' murmured
the Shifty Lad, who looked rather purple in the face and spoke in an odd
voice. 'I don't think you have every tried it, or you wouldn't have let
me go up first. Why, it is the pleasantest thing I have ever done. I was
shaking my legs from sheer delight, and if you had been there you would
have shaken your legs too.'

'Well, let me try, if it is so nice,' answered the Black Rogue. 'But be
sure you tie the knot securely, for I don't want to fall down and break
my neck.'

'Oh, I will see to that!' replied the Shifty Lad. 'When you are tired,
just whistle, and I'll let you down.'

So the Black Rogue was drawn up, and as soon as he was as high as the
rope would allow him to go the Shifty Lad called to him:

'Don't forest to whistle when you want to come down; but if you are
enjoying yourself as I did, shake your legs.'

And in a moment the Black Rogue's legs began to shake and to kick, and
the Shifty Lad stood below, watching him and laughing heartily.

'Oh, how funny you are! If you could only see yourself! Oh, you ARE
funny! But when you have had enough, whistle and you shall be let down';
and he rocked again with laughter.

But no whistle came, and soon the legs ceased to shake and to kick, for
the Black Gallows Bird was dead, as the Shifty Lad intended he should
be.

Then he went home to the Black Rogue's wife, and told her that her
husband was dead, and that he was ready to marry her if she liked. But
the woman had been fond of the Black Rogue, thief though he was, and she
shrank from the Shifty Lad in horror, and set the people after him,
and he had to fly to another part of the country where none knew of his
doings.

Perhaps if the Shifty Lad's mother knew anything of this, she may have
thought that by this time her son might be tired of stealing, and ready
to try some honest trade. But in reality he loved the tricks and danger,
and life would have seemed very dull without them. So he went on just as
before, and made friends whom he taught to be as wicked as himself, till
they took to robbing the king's storehouses, and by the advice of the
Wise Man the king sent out soldiers to catch the band of thieves.

For a long while they tr