Poor Anthony's pistols were gone--filched, no doubt, by the Captain:
but you may guess my satisfaction, when on thrusting my hand deeper,
I touched a heap of coins, and found them to be gold.

'Twas certainly a rare bargain I had driven with Captain Settle. For
the five or six gold pieces I scatter'd on the road, I had won close
on thirty guineas, as I counted in the moonlight; not to speak of
this incomparable Molly. And I began to whistle gleefully, and taste
the joke over again and laugh to myself, as we cantered along with
the north wind at our backs.

All the same, I had no relish for riding thus till morning. For the
night was chill enough to search my very bones after the heat of the
late gallop: and, moreover, I knew nothing of the road, which at
this hour was quite deserted. So that, coming at length to a tall
hill with a black ridge of pine wood standing up against the moon
like a fish's fin, I was glad enough to note below it, and at some
distance from the trees, a window brightly lit; and pushed forward
in hope of entertainment.

The building was an inn, though a sorry one. Nor, save for the
lighted window, did it wear any grace of hospitality, but thrust out
a bare shoulder upon the road, and a sign that creaked overhead and
look'd for all the world like a gallows. Round this shoulder of the
house, and into the main yard (that turn'd churlishly toward the
hillside), the wind howled like a beast in pain. I climb'd off Molly,
and pressing my hat down on my head, struck a loud rat-tat on the
door.

Curiously, it opened at once; and I saw a couple of men in the