"Never mind, my good woman," said Aglionby loftily. "The yokel knows no better. Now, I'm tired out; give me a bed, good soul, for I must away at sunrise—and egad, 'tis past one o'clock! Good-night to 'ee, men; and I hope Sir Godfrey will forgive you, constable."
He went from the room, and soon afterwards the hostess bade the villagers get to their beds, and closed the inn for the short remnant of the night.
Before seven o'clock next morning the captain was on horseback. The ground was wet; it had been drizzling for several hours, but a misty sun was now struggling up the sky, and Tom ostler foretold a fine day. The captain rode off, answering with a bold stare the suspicious and lowering glances of the few villagers who were on the spot. He was in high spirits; the anxieties of the past night were gone; and as he rode he hummed a careless tune. He had ridden but little more than a mile when, from an intersecting lane, a man stepped out and gripped the horse's reins.
"Get off that there horse!" he said bluntly.
"Gads so, Sherry, you gave me quite a turn," said the captain with unusual mildness. "Don't hinder me, man; I'm off to Flanders, and, i' faith, that's where you ought to be yourself, if all was known. Come, what's the meaning o't?"
"Get off that there horse!" repeated Sherebiah. "I'm a man o' peace, I be, and I settles all scores prompt."
There was a look of determination in his eyes, and in his right hand he grasped a knobby cudgel.
"Right! but we've no accounts to settle.—What!" he cried, as he saw Sherebiah's cudgel raised, "you play the bully, eh? Gadzooks, I'll ferk ye if——"
He was drawing his sword, but the cudgel fell with a resounding whack upon his knuckles, and with a cry of pain he scrambled to the ground and stood, a picture of sullen rage, before his intercepter.
"I'll thank 'ee for your pistols," said Sherebiah, removing them from the holsters as he spoke. "Nay, don't finger your sword; I be a man o' peace, and you know my play with the quarterstaff. Jenny, old girl, crop your fill by the roadside while I have a reckonen wi' Cap'n Aglionby." He laid a curious stress upon the title. "Now, Ralph, you be comen wi' me into wood yonder. 'Tis there we'll settle our score."