HiDifiiig in the Golden Days. 27 



brought to a standstill. At first they were unaware 

 that anything unusual had happened, and thought 

 that the guard had dismounted to put the skid 

 on for the descent of a hill, or that one of the 

 horses had fallen lame with a stone in its shoe ; 

 but surmises were at once set at rest on the 

 point by the appearance at the coach doors of two 

 highwaymen. They were both disguised with black 

 masks and mounted on magnificent cattle. Many of 

 these gentry had seen better times and knew what a 

 horse ought to be, but had been driven to this mode of 

 obtaining money as a last resource, through having lost 

 their fortune over the throtv of a dice or turn of a card. 

 They were doubtless bold men, who carried their lives 

 in their hands, for no one knew better than themselves 

 the risk they ran of a bullet through their skins, and the 

 tree at Tyburn as their finale. 



Our two gentlemen opened the door of the carriage 

 and politely requested the passengers to dismount, and 

 to deliver up any valuables they had about them. 

 Fortunately for Miss Betty, Charley Yaverton was in 

 attendance, and this friend in need not only carried a 

 brace of horse-pistols in his belt under his cloak, but was 

 also endued with presence of mind. He began to 

 parley with the ruffians, assuring them that none 

 of the passengers in the coach carried any valuables. 

 This their aggressors would not be satisfied with, 

 and they were about to search the party, as Miss 

 Betty explained it^ — forsooth, a most ungallant crew 

 — when by a move ot strategy Charley withdrew round 

 the coach, and mounting to the seat which should 

 have been occupied by the guard had not that worthy 

 decamped at the first sign of danger, he fired the 

 blunderbuss carried by the coach full in the face of one 



