too. I'm half-starved."

"'Elp yourself, can't yer?" he snarled. "Oo'm I to wait on yer?" Then,
very cunningly, he put in, "'Ave you got a knife on yer?"

"No," I said cautiously, "I've got no knife," which was a lie; I did not
wish my knife to go the same way as the money. He gave me some cold
pig, very excellent ham it was, too, for which I was very thankful. He
watched my greediness with satisfaction. I ate heartily when I saw that
my confident way with him had made him more tender towards me.

"Yes," he snorted. "Per'aps you ain't been lying to me after all. Now
'ow long will these blokes be up the 'ill 'ere?" I did not know that;
but I supposed that they would go home directly the Duke's army had got
as far, say, as Taunton. "But," I added, "the Duke may be beaten. If
he's beaten, all this part will be full of troops beating every bush for
the rebels." He swore at this; but his curses were only designed to hide
his terror.

"Could a fellow get to sea," he said in a whining tone. "Could a poor
fellow in trouble slip away to sea, now, at one of these seaport towns?
Boy, I been livin' like a wild beast all the way from Bristol, this two
months. I didn't kill the feller; not dead. The knife only went into 'im
a very little way, not more'n a inch. I was raised near 'ere at a farm.
So I knowed of this 'ere burrow. I got 'ere two days ago, pretty near
dead. Now I been penned up from the sea by these farmers comin' 'ere,
doin' swottin' sentry-go all round me. I tell yer, I'll cut up sour, if
they pen me in, now I'm so near got away. I been with Avery. They call
Avery a pirate. They said I was a pirate. It's 'anging if they ketch
me. Do yer think I could get away to Lyme or some place, to get took
into a ship?" I told him, no; because I knew from what Lord Grey had
told me, that the Channel was full of men-of-war searching every
ship which hove in sight; besides, he did not look to me to be a very
promising hand for a captain to take aboard.

"All the same," he said, "I got to risk it. You say there may be troops
coming?"

"As for that," I answered, "the troops may be here at any moment from
Exeter or Honiton. They've arrested hundreds of people everywhere
around. You'd better stay in the burrow here." He did not pay much
attention to what I said. He cursed violently, as though he were a
bag-pipe full of foul words being slowly squeezed by some player. At
last he crawled to the passage, foaming out incoherently that