286 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



Turpin, after committing several other highway 

 robberies, was pursued by the officers of justice, and to 

 escape from them he had to set forth on his celebrated 

 ride to York. In a scuffle he and King had with the 

 Bow Street runners before he started on his journey, 

 he by accident shot his old friend and ally Tom King. 

 The shot was intended for the celebrated Bow Street 

 runner Bayes, but in the scuffle that ensued between 

 Bayes and King, Turpin being mounted, the shot 

 miscarried, and entered the breast of King, who imme- 

 diately afterwards expired. He called out to Turpin to 

 shoot Bayes in order to prevent his being taken ; but 

 in the uncertain light, and the heat and excitement of 

 the scuffle, the bullet intended for Bayes put an end 

 to the life of King. " Fly, Dick," he cried ; " it is all 

 up with me." A shudder, a groan, and the gay, ex- 

 pressive features of the celebrated highwayman had 

 settled into the changeless quietude of death. 



" Fifty pounds to the man who stops Turpin," cried 

 Bayes, but Turpin was off and away, whilst the bullets 

 from several pistols whizzed round his head. On he 

 rode through county after county, the shouts of his 

 pursuers (who procured fresh horses in the King's 

 name at each town through which they passed) 

 being often heard by him in the far distance 

 whilst Black Bess held bravely on. He only stopped, 

 when he had distanced his pursuers, to refresh his 

 horse with such stimulants as his long experience 

 of horseflesh could suggest, until, within nine miles of 

 York, the gallant Bess sank down exhausted on the 

 road. 



Turpin stood for a while watching her death- 

 struggles. He loosened her bridle, he slipped the 

 bit from her mouth, whilst, with gaping jaws and 



