Jim Davis | Page 4

(some thirty or forty), I could see, even in that light, that
most of them were led. There were not more than a dozen men; and
only one of all that dozen carried a lantern. Something told me that they
were out for no good, and the same instinct made me cover my lantern
with my coat, so that they passed me without seeing me. At first I
thought that they were the fairy troop, and that gave me an awful fear;
but a moment later, in the wind, I felt a whiff of tobacco, and of a
strong, warm, sweet smell of spirits, and I knew then that they were the
night-riders or smugglers. After they had gone, I forced old Greylegs
forward, and trotted on, against the snow, for another half-mile, with
my heart going thump upon my ribs. I had an awful fear that they
would turn, and catch me; and I knew that the night-riders wanted no
witnesses of their adventures in the dark.
About four miles from home, I came to an open part of the road, where
the snow came down in its full fury, there being no hedge to give a

little shelter. It was so thick that I could not get Greylegs to go on. He
stood stock-still, and cowered, though I beat him with my hank of cord,
and kicked his ribs. It was cruel of me; but I thought of Mrs Cottier,
with her beautiful kind face, lying in a drift of snow, and the thought
was dreadful to me. I got down from the saddle, and put my lantern on
the ground, and tried to drag him forward, but it was useless. He would
not have stirred if I had lighted a fire under him. When he had the
instinct to stand still, nothing would make him budge a yard. A very
fierce gust came upon me then. The snow seemed to whirl upon me
from all sides, so that I got giddy and sick. And then, just at the
moment, there were horses and voices all about me, coming from
Salcombe way. Somebody called out, "Hullo," and somebody called
out "Look out, behind"; and then a lot of horses pulled up suddenly,
and some men spoke, and a led horse shied at my lantern. I had no time
to think or to run, I felt myself backing into old Greylegs in sheer fright;
and then some one thrust a lantern into my face, and asked me who I
was. By the light of the lantern I saw that he wore a woman's skirt over
his trousers; and his face was covered by one of those great straw
bee-skeps, pierced with holes for his eyes and mouth. He was one of
the most terrible things I have ever seen.
"Why, it's a boy," said the terrible man. "What are you doing here,
boy?"
Another man, who seemed to be a leader, called out from his horse,
"Who are you?" but I was too scared to answer; my teeth were rattling
in my head.
"It's a trick," said another voice. "We had best go for the moor."
"Shut up," said the leader, sharply. "The boy's scared."
He got down from his horse, and peered at me by the lantern light. He,
too, wore a bee-skep; in fact, they all did, for there is no better disguise
in the world, while nothing makes a man look more horrible. I was not
quite so terrified by this time, because he had spoken kindly.
"Who are you?" he asked. "We shan't eat you. What are you doing

here?"
As well as I could I told him. The leader strode off a few paces, and
spoke with one or two other men; but I could only catch the words,
"Yes; yes, Captain," spoken in a low, quick voice, which seemed
somehow familiar. Then he came back to me, and took me by the throat,
and swayed me to and fro, very gently, but in a way which made me
feel that I was going to be killed.
"Tell me," he said, "I shall know whether you're lying, so tell the truth,
now. What have you seen to-night?"
I told him that I had seen a troop of horsemen going through the snow
towards the moor.
"That settles it, Captain," said another voice. "You can't trust a young
chap like that."
"Shut up," said the man they called Captain; "I'm master, not you."
He strode off again, to speak to another man. I heard some one laugh a
little, and then the Captain came back to me. He took me by the throat
as before, and again shook me. "You listen to me," he said, grimly. "If
you breathe so much as one word of what you've