The Brown Mask | Page 3

that, bishop or no bishop, there's humour enough, I warrant."
The health was drunk with laughter, and the air of depression which
had followed the landlady's recital disappeared like clouds from an
April sky. Each one had some story to tell, some item to add to the
accumulated glory of the road.
"Ay, it's a merry life," said the man who had had doubts about the
bishop's company, "and the only drawback is that it comes to an end
when you're at the top of your success. The dealers in blood-money
never hunt a man down until he's worth his full price."
"And isn't that the best time to take the last ride?" exclaimed
Gentleman Jack. "Who would choose to grow old and be forgotten?
What should we do sitting stiffly in an armchair, wearing slippers
because boots hurt our poor swollen feet? What should we be without a
pair of legs strong enough to grip the saddle or with eyes too dim to
recognise a pretty woman, lacking fire to fall in love, and with lips
which had lost their zest for kissing?"

"But we come to that last ride before we lack anything--that's the
trouble," was the answer.
"Not always," said another man. "Galloping Hermit was feared on all
the roads before I had stopped my first coach, and he is still feared
to-day." The speaker was young, and he mentioned the name of the
notorious highwayman with a kind of reverence.
"They say he's the devil himself, and that's why he's never been taken,"
said another. "Did any of you ever see him?"
"Once." And they all turned quickly towards the man who spoke. "My
mare had gone lame, and I had dismounted in a copse to examine her,
when there was the quick, regular beat of hoofs at a gallop across the
turf. I was alert on my own account in a moment, crouching down
amongst the undergrowth, for with a lame animal I could have made
but a poor show. There flashed past me a splendid horseman, man and
beast one perfect piece of harmony. The moon was near the full. I saw
the neat, strong lines of the horse, the easy movement of the rider, and I
could see that the mask which the man wore was brown. This happened
two years ago, out beyond Barnet."
"And without that brown mask no one knows him." said the man who
had first spoken of him. "He has been met on all the roads, north, south,
east and west--never in company, always alone. He never fails, yet the
blood-feasters have watched for him in vain. Truly, he disappears as
mysteriously as the devil might. He may go to Court. He may be a
well-known figure there, gaming with the best, a favoured suitor where
beauty smiles. He may even have been here amongst us at the
'Punch-Bowl' without our knowing it."
"It is not impossible," Gentleman Jack admitted, smiling a little at the
others' enthusiasm.
"I envy him," was the answer. "We seem mean beside such a man as
Galloping Hermit."
"I do not cry 'Yes' to that," said Gentleman Jack, just in time to prevent

an outburst from the landlady, who appeared to fancy that the quality of
her entertainment was being called in question. "The brown mask
conceals a personality, no doubt, but before we can judge between man
and man we must know something of their various opportunities. Were
he careful and lucky, such a man as my bishop would be hard to run to
earth. Galloping Hermit is careful, for only at considerable intervals do
we hear of him. The road would seem to be a pastime with him, rather
than a life he loved. For me, the night never comes that I do not long to
be in the saddle, that I do not crave for the excitement, even if there be
no spoil worth the trouble of taking. This man is different. He is only
abroad when the quarry is certain. True, success has been his, but for
all that the fear of Tyburn may spoil his rest at night, and when he gets
there we may find that the brown mask conceals a coward after all."
"Had you seen him that night as I did you would not say so," was the
answer.
"I like speech with a man before I judge his merits," said Gentleman
Jack, rising from his chair and flicking some dust from his sleeve. He
appeared to resent such slavish admiration of Galloping
Hermit--perhaps because he felt that his own pre-eminence was
challenged. It pleased him to think that his name must be in everyone's
mouth, that his price in the crime-market must for months past have
been higher than any other man's, and he was suddenly