John Deane of Nottingham: Historic Adventures by Land and Sea. William Henry Giles Kingston

said Master Pearson. “We have had such splendid weather, that the corn has been got off the fields, otherwise it would be a bad look out for the farmers. The fair-keepers have a right, you must know, to trample it under foot, and to lay out their streets, and set up their booths on the ground, whether it is standing or not. However, you’ll know all about the fair when you have been there. You’ll have extensive dealings in one way or another for your employer, I doubt not.”

      “Yes, probably,” observed Jack. “We shall have a good sum to lay out, I know; for we have done very well with beasts. They say that the drovers from the north have had great losses from the attacks of Ben Nevis and his gang, who have been bolder than ever this year. It is a pity a fellow of that sort cannot be caught and hung. I have no fancy for allowing rogues to disturb honest men in their proper trade. For my part, I should like to organise a bold band of fellows and hunt down the robber. I have learned one thing—that black is black, and white is white; and though, maybe, he is a bold fellow, that is no reason he is not a rogue, and richly deserves hanging.”

      Master Pearson laughed as Jack spoke.

      “You must catch your hare before you cook him; remember that, lad,” he observed.

      “There is the difficulty,” answered Jack. “They say that no one has caught sight of him except at a great distance; and I am told his horse flies like a meteor, and is as light as the wind. He can follow his master up-stairs as easily as a cat, and up a tree for that matter, I verily believe, and will leap down precipices high enough to break the bones of any ordinary man or horse. Thus there is scarcely a chance of coming up with him, although the country has been scoured again and again, and even some of his rogues have been caught and hung.”

      “A valuable animal that you speak of,” observed Master Pearson coolly. “I dare say his master is as proud of him as I am of my poor beast, who, though he has no great speed, is a trusty friend on the road, and has carried me many a long mile. ‘Slow and sure’ is his motto.”

      “I do not fancy that you always ride at a slow pace though, Master Pearson,” observed Jack, laughing carelessly. “Your legs cling too tightly to your horse’s sides, and you have too easy a seat in your saddle to care much for a slow beast, sure as he may be.”

      “I was bred in Yorkshire, Master Jack Deane,” answered Pearson with a peculiar glance at Jack. “Every boy there knows how to bestride a horse as soon as he can run; though, to be sure, I won’t deny that I have taken a gallop now and then in my day. And now I think we understand each other. You remember our meeting down by the river-side: I took a fancy to you on that night, and I told you I had something to talk to you about. Are you willing to hear it now? But I have no fancy that any passer should hear the chance words we may let drop: so speak low when you reply my ears are sharp enough; and you will give me your word of honour that you will not repeat what you hear of me, unless I give you leave.”

      Jack, whose curiosity had been aroused by what Master Pearson had said, gave the required promise, and without further circumlocution his companion proposed to him a scheme which Jack would have been the wiser had he at the first refused to listen to.

      Master Pearson showed himself to be an able diplomatist, and Mr. Harwood would have been thoroughly satisfied had he heard the way in which his wishes were carried out.

      “Think of what I have been saying, my lad,” he continued. “You have got the right qualities in you, depend upon that, and it’s your own fault if you don’t rise in the world in the way I have pointed out. And now, farewell; we shall meet again before long, I doubt not; but I have some business to settle a short distance off the road, and I must get free of this crowd.”

      Saying this, Pearson shook Jack by the hand, and trotted past him at a quick rate. A wide ditch and hedge divided the road from a large field, along which the way was free and open. A few drovers only were in sight, urging on their cattle. Jack, who had kept his eye on his late companion, was somewhat surprised to see his seemingly sorry jade take a spring which cleared both hedge and ditch, and then to observe him cantering along the field at a rate which would have distanced many horses at a gallop.

      “He is a strange person,” thought Jack, “but he seems good-natured and well-intentioned. I cannot make him out, but as to doing what he advises, I must take time to consider about that.”