DICK ROOK. 1?5 



and had met with much rough usage on several 

 of these occasions. Dick had, however, his own 

 peculiar notions on some subjects, and nothing 

 could induce him to give his evidence against 

 poachers, provided there was a fair stand-up fight 

 with sticks between them and the party he accom- 

 panied. If, however, a gun was called in aid of 

 the marauders, or he could detect any skulking 

 fellow in the act of setting snares, he had no 

 hesitation in appearing as a witness against the 

 offenders. This had been the case the day before 

 I had met him, and was the occasion of my be- 

 coming acquainted with some parts of his cha- 

 racter, previously to his accompanying the party I 

 have referred to. 



The first sight of Dick Rook impressed me 

 with the conviction that he was no common man, 

 and the conversations I subsequently held with 

 him, only served to confirm this impression. At 

 the time I am speaking of, he assured me that 

 there was no place he could call his home, and 

 that he never wished to sleep in the inside of a 

 house. A barn, a cow-shed, or the shelter of a 

 hay-rick were his nocturnal places of resort, and 

 in summer, he said, there was nothing like sleep- 

 ing under a tree. Amongst the many questions 

 I put to him, one was whether he ever went to 

 Church. " No,'* said Dick, " I never go to those 

 places I have no right there." No right, why 



