"They are forbidden to go about alone."
"Why?"
"I don't know—some fancy of the ladies. They think that the brigands are always lurking about, ready to drop upon their boys."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Hunston; "a very good joke."
"Is it not? Although I must tell you that there is some reason for fear, for I have twice come across the—"
"Across who?"
"The brigands."
"Impossible."
"It is true."
"The miscreants. Did they steal any thing?"