[CHAPTER IV.]
FALLEN AMONG THIEVES.
IT is possible that if Miles and his servant had not been so intent upon gaining the shelter that would be afforded by the university, they might have noticed the rustling of twigs and the movement in the bushes bordering the lane down which they were travelling, but, as it was, they were taken wholly by surprise when a party of men sprang out upon them. While two seized the heads of their horses and brought them to a standstill, others seized Miles and his servant, dragged them to the ground, and proceeded to pinion their arms behind, though they fought and struggled, and kicked and swore, and made every effort to throw off their captors. The party was too large for them to do anything beyond giving the robbers a few ugly blows that did but madden them the more, while they bound their captives and carried them into the shelter of the adjacent wood before other travellers should come along and try to effect a rescue.
Miles had tried to shout while he was being bound, but his efforts were effectually stopped by a rag of some sort being thrust into his mouth, and his servant was treated in the same way when he tried to help his master.
The whole affair had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that it had passed in comparative silence; and they were being carried like trussed poultry into the heart of the wood before Miles had time or thought to notice very particularly who his captors were, but, after the first shock of the capture was over, he began to notice some of these particulars, and the sight was not reassuring. The whole party were evidently robbers, who would stick at nothing in carrying out their purpose, and whether he would ever see the walls of Oxford again was very doubtful, he thought, for, having stolen the horses, they would very likely murder their prisoners on the principle of dead men telling no tales.
As he caught sight of the face of his servant, Reuben Patter, he saw from the white, terror-stricken look in it that the same thought had occurred to him, but neither could speak, they were both too effectually gagged; and so they were half-carried, half-dragged, over the briery ground until they were suddenly met by a scattered crowd, who had evidently been out begging in spite of the rigorous laws against this practice, and were making their way to some common centre by different woodland paths that converged near this place.
Some of these were strong, stalwart men, unkempt and ragged, whose faces were stamped with misery and despair rather than vice. There were blind men being led by snappish little curs, and others who bore on their cheeks the cruel marks of the searing iron, branding them for ever as beggars and vagabonds and rogues, from force of circumstances if not from choice. The motely throng gave a faint cheer at the sight of the prisoners, for although they might not be of so much use to the hungry crew as a good fat sheep or a couple of hogs, still they knew their captors well enough to feel assured that they would not be allowed to escape without a good stiff ransom being paid, and so they stepped on more cheerfully and briskly.
From the muttered words and oaths that were uttered by the party who had captured them it was evident to Miles that this meeting with the beggars and less determined rogues of the band was by no means welcome to their captors, and a hasty parley was held, but Miles could not make out much of what was said, for it was conducted in thieves' and beggars' language. But the outcome of it was that their eyes were bandaged the next minute, and, as it seemed to them, the course of their journey was altered.
But before they had gone far they were met by another party of beggars returning with what they had been able to beg, steal, or earn by plying the trade of tinkers, and they kept with these to the great relief of Miles.
Judging by the sound rather than by what they could see, they were carried into a large cave a few minutes later, and deposited at the back of it, both helplessly bound still, but the bandages were taken off their eyes, and the dirty rags out of their mouths, and, for the first time, Miles was asked his name and where his friends might be found.