Jas. (listening). They've wheeled about, and their hoofs are
dying away in the distance. Eeuben, let the old beggar go ;
he may give tongue now till he split his lungs, if he will. We
are safe, at least for the present, Eeuben ; and see to thy pistol
— we may have to stand a siege yet, and this door must be
barricaded ; but with what ?

Ban, (taking up an iron bar from the fireplace and holding
it in a threatening attitude). Go your ways, both of ye ; or as
I am a man 111 brain ye with this bar I



DAIPL DRUCE, BLACKSMITH, it;

Ja&. The very thing ! ( Wrenches it easily out of his hand
and barricades the door with it, while Reuben shows Dan'l
a pistol,) There ! why, it's made for it ! A thousand thanks,
olil gentleman, (Dan'l recovers himself, flies at Jaspeb, who
pushes him away; he falls on to a stool,) Now, master^ listen
to me, and if you have any respect for yourself, keep your ears
open, for Fm speaking words of life and death. We are
desperate men in a desperate strait, and little disposed to stand
on ceremony, as you may perhaps have remarked. We are
flying for our lives, and we desire to cross to France, where my
lady is, and where we shall be safe. To carry out this design
we have worked our way to the coast, sleeping under hedges
and ricks for six bleak days, and tramping in the wind's eye
for six stormy nights, till the fire of life seems to have died out
of our bodies, and our legs to have withered from their trunks.
