can certify if we shall meet again below, I give you my last

counsels now at your riding. Keep an eye on Sir Daniel; he is

unsure. Put not your trust in the jack-priest; he intendeth not

amiss, but doth the will of others; it is a hand-gun for Sir

Daniel! Get your good lordship where ye go; make you strong

friends; look to it. And think ever a pater-noster-while on Bennet

Hatch. There are worse rogues afoot than Bennet. So, God-speed!"

"And Heaven be with you, Bennet!" returned Dick. "Ye were a good

friend to me-ward, and so I shall say ever."

"And, look ye, master," added Hatch, with a certain embarrassment,

"if this Amend-All should get a shaft into me, ye might, mayhap,

lay out a gold mark or mayhap a pound for my poor soul; for it is

like to go stiff with me in purgatory."

"Ye shall have your will of it, Bennet," answered Dick. "But, what

cheer, man! we shall meet again, where ye shall have more need of

ale than masses."

"The saints so grant it, Master Dick!" returned the other. "But

here comes Sir Oliver. An he were as quick with the long-bow as

with the pen, he would be a brave man-at-arms."

Sir Oliver gave Dick a sealed packet, with this superscription:

"To my ryght worchypful master, Sir Daniel Brackley, knyght, be

thys delyvered in haste."

And Dick, putting it in the bosom of his jacket, gave the word and

set forth westward up the village.

BOOK I--THE TWO LADS

CHAPTER I--AT THE SIGN OF THE SUN IN KETTLEY

Sir Daniel and his men lay in and about Kettley that night, warmly

quartered and well patrolled. But the Knight of Tunstall was one

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