should be told to you privately, since the men concerned might well have
sent a friend to the court to hear if aught was said which might endanger
them."

"I will give you a letter to a magistrate of Surrey, and he will despatch
some constables under your guidance to catch these rascals. I fear there
have been many murders performed by them lately besides that in question,
and you will be doing a good service to the citizens by aiding in the
capture of these men.

"I will go willingly," the smith assented.

The Lord Mayor said, after a moment's thought. "It will be quicker; I will
tell the justice that if he will come to the meeting of the roads on
Kennington Common, at seven this evening, you will be there with your
apprentice to act as a guide."

"I will," the armourer said, "and will bring with me two or three of my men
who are used to hard blows, for, to tell you the truth, I have no great
belief in the valour of constables, and we may meet with a stout
resistance."

"So be it," the Lord Mayor said; "and luck be with you, for these men are
the scourges of the river."

That evening the armourer shut up his shop sooner than usual, and
accompanied by Walter and four of his workmen, and all carrying stout oaken
cudgels, with hand- axes in their girdles, started along the lonely road to
Kennington. Half an hour after their arrival the magistrate, with ten men,
rode up. He was well pleased at the sight of the reinforcement which