slackened speed until the pony's head was up to his saddle.

"Have I not heard, archer," said he, "that an outlaw has been
loose in these parts?"

"It is true, fair sir. He was villain to Sir Peter Mandeville,
but he broke his bonds and fled into the forests. Men call him
the `Wild Man of Puttenham.'"

"How comes it that he has not been hunted down? If the man be a
draw-latch and a robber it would be an honorable deed to clear the
country of such an evil."

"Twice the sergeants-at-arms from Guildford have come out against
him, but the fox has many earths, and it would puzzle you to get
him out of them."

"By Saint Paul! were my errand not a pressing one I would be
tempted to turn aside and seek him. Where lives he, then?"

"There is a great morass beyond Puttenham, and across it there are
caves in which he and his people lurk."

"His people? He hath a band?"

"There are several with him."

"It sounds a most honorable enterprise," said Nigel. "When the
King hath come and gone we will spare a day for the outlaws of
Puttenham. I fear there is little chance for us to see them on