"Are you sure our noble friend will be so soon at hand?" said Tomlinson, patting his steed, that now pawed in excited hilarity.
"Sure! I saw him change horses; I was in the stable-yard at the time; he got out for half an hour, to eat, I fancy;—be sure that I played him a trick in the mean while."
"What force?" asked Ned.
"Self and servant."
"The post-boys?"
"Ay, I forgot them. Never mind, you must frighten them."
"Forwards!" cried Ned, and his horse sprang from his armed heel.
"One moment," said Lovett; "I must put on my mask—soho—Robin, soho! Now for it—forwards!"
As the trees rapidly disappeared behind them, the riders entered, at a hand gallop, on a broad track of waste land interspersed with dykes and occasionally fences of hurdles, over which their horses bounded like quadrupeds well accustomed to such exploits.
Certainly at that moment, what with the fresh
