"Very well," said the Golden Farmer, "and if I should find any money about you, and converted it to my own use, that would be merely actionable?"
"That would be highway robbery," rejoined the man of law, "and would require no less satisfaction than a man's life."
"A robbery!" exclaimed the highwayman. "Why, then, I must e'en commit one for once; therefore deliver your money, or this pistol shall prevent you reading Coke upon Littleton any more!"
"You must be joking!" exclaimed the lawyer, edging away.
But the Golden Farmer, presenting the pistol to his breast, advised him to "down with the rhino, or he would get his mittimus by summary process." The man of law still hesitated.
"Do you think," said he, "there is neither heaven nor hell?"
"Why," rejoined the highwayman, "thy impudence is surely very great to talk of heaven or hell to me! D'ye think there's no other way to heaven but through Westminster Hall? Come, come, down with your rhino this minute, for I have other customers to mind than to wait on you all day!"
Thus adjured, the lawyer reluctantly handed over "thirty guineas and eleven broad pieces of gold," besides some silver and a gold watch.
The "Red Lion," Hillingdon, is standing to this day, and the crowds who frequent it in these times when the electric trams pass its door, may feel a romantic thrill as they connect the house with this story.
Hillingdon Heath figures also in the next adventure.