'
'What man?'
'The robber; him that the stars winked at. We have waited for him
after dark these many nights, and we shall have him. I'd know him in a
thousand. Mother, see here! This is the man. Look!'
He twisted his handkerchief round his head, pulled his hat upon his
brow, wrapped his coat about him, and stood up before her: so like the
original he counterfeited, that the dark figure peering out behind him
might have passed for his own shadow.
'Ha ha ha! We shall have him,' he cried, ridding himself of the
semblance as hastily as he had assumed it. 'You shall see him, mother,
bound hand and foot, and brought to London at a saddle-girth; and you
shall hear of him at Tyburn Tree if we have luck. So Hugh says. You're
pale again, and trembling. And why DO you look behind me so?'
'It is nothing,' she answered. 'I am not quite well. Go you to bed,
dear, and leave me here.'
'To bed!' he answered. 'I don't like bed. I like to lie before the fire,
watching the prospects in the burning coals--the rivers, hills, and
dells, in the deep, red sunset, and the wild faces. I am hungry too,
and Grip has eaten nothing since broad noon. Let us to supper. Grip! To
supper, lad!'
The raven flapped his wings, and, croaking his satisfaction, hopped to
the feet of his master, and there held his bill open, ready for snapping
up such lumps of meat as he should throw him.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244