suppress, "I thought you would have accused me of diminishing your
honour, if I brought you aid against a single man. But cheer up!
the villain took foul odds of you, your horse not being well at
command."

"That is true--that is true," said Oliver, eagerly catching at
the apology.

"And yonder stands the faitour, rejoicing at the mischief he has
done, and triumphing in your overthrow, like the king in the romance,
who played upon the fiddle whilst a city was burning. Come thou
with me, and thou shalt see how we will handle him. Nay, fear not
that I will desert thee this time."

So saying, he caught Jezabel by the rein, and galloping alongside
of her, without giving Oliver time to express a negative, he rushed
towards the Devil's Dick, who had halted on the top of a rising
ground at some distance. The gentle Johnstone, however, either
that he thought the contest unequal, or that he had fought enough
for the day, snapping his fingers and throwing his hand out with
an air of defiance, spurred his horse into a neighbouring bog,
through which he seemed to flutter like a wild duck, swinging
his lure round his head, and whistling to his hawk all the while,
though any other horse and rider must have been instantly bogged
up to the saddle girths.

"There goes a thoroughbred moss trooper," said the smith. "That
fellow will fight or flee as suits his humor, and there is no use
to pursue him, any more than to hunt a wild goose. He has got your
purse, I doubt me, for they seldom leave off till they are full