somewhat change your thought of him and he handed to the earl sir letter to lord the effect upon the earl s countenance was instant he lowered like an angry lion and his hand with a sudden movement clutched at his dagger ye have read this also he asked even so said dick it is your s own estate he offers to lord it is my own estate even as ye say returned the earl i am your for this letter it hath vn me a fox s hole command me master i will not be backward in gratitude and to begin t york or true man or thief i do now set you at freedom go a mary s name but judge it right that i retain and hang your fellow lawless the crime hath been most open and it were fitting that some open punishment should follow my lord i make it my first suit to you to spare him also pleaded dick it is an old condemned rogue thief and vagabond master said the earl he hath been this score of years and whether for one thing or another whether to morrow or the day after where is the great choice yet my lord it was through love to me that he came hither answered dick and i were and to desert him master ye are troublesome replied the earl severely it is an evil way to prosper in this world and to be quit of your i will once more humour you go then together but go and get swiftly out of town for this sir daniel whom may the saints confound most to have your blood my lord i do now offer you in words my gratitude trusting at some brief date to pay you some of it in service replied dick as he turned from the apartment the black arrow chapter vi again when dick and lawless were suffered to steal hj a back way out of the house where lord held his the evening had already come they paused in shelter of the garden wall to consult on their best course the danger was extreme if one of sir men caught sight of them and raised the view they would be run down and instantly and not only was the town of a mere net of peril for their lives but to make for the open country was to run the risk of the a little way off upon some open ground they a standing and hard by that a very large with open doors how if we lay there until the night fall dick proposed and lawless having no better suggestion to offer they made a straight push for the at a run and concealed themselves behind the door among some straw the daylight rapidly departed and presently the moon was the frozen snow now or never was their opportunity to gain the goat and unobserved and change their tell tale garments yet even then it was advisable to go round by the outskirts and not run the of the market place where in the again of people they stood the more imminent peril to be recognised and slain this course was a long one it took them not far from the house by the beach now lying dark and silent and brought them forth at last by the margin of the harbour many of the ships as they could see by the clear had weighed anchor and by the calm sky proceeded for more distant parts to this the rude along the beach although in defiance of the law they still shone with fire and candle were no longer thronged with customers and no longer echoed to the chorus of sea songs hastily half running with their to the knee they plunged through the deep snow and the of marine lumber and they were already more than half way round the harbour when as they were passing close before an the door suddenly opened and let out a of light upon their fleeting figures instantly they stopped and made believe to be engaged in earnest conversation three men one after another came out of the and the last closed the door behind him all three were unsteady upon their feet as if they had passed the day in deep and they now stood wavering in the moonlight like men who knew not what they would be after the of the three was talking in a loud lamentable voice seven pieces of as good as ever a q the black arrow he was saying the best ship out o the port o a virgin mary parcel gilt thirteen pounds of good gold money i have bad losses too interrupted one o� the others i have had losses of mine own gossip t was robbed at of five shilling and a leather well worth dick s heart smote him at what he heard until that moment he had not perhaps thought twice of the poor who had been ruined by the loss of the good hope so careless in those days were men who wore arms of the goods and interests of their but this sudden encounter reminded him sharply of the high handed manner and ill ending of his enterprise and both he and lawless turned their heads the other way to avoid the chance of recognition the ship s dog had however made his escape from the wreck and found his way back again to he was now at s heels and suddenly and his ears he darted forward and began to bark furiously at the two sham his master followed him hey he cried have ye ever a penny piece for a poor old clean destroyed by i am a man that would have paid for you both o thursday morning and now here i be o saturday night begging for a of ale ask my man tom if ye 