THE MONEY COINERS. 119 



visited old Dick's pub, and there passed a 

 quantity of bad coins. 



One morning, when I was in the yard clear- 

 ing out the dog kennels, I saw two men on 

 Suthrey's Hill Mr. Lownde's land chasing 

 three other men. I knew the two men well ; 

 one was Squire Lownde's shepherd, and the 

 other was Sam Smith, the under constable. Sam 

 Smith called out to me, at the same time 

 pointing to the three men who were running 

 away, and off I went, full speed. My father 

 caught sight of me, and shouted, but I pre- 

 tended not to hear, and kept on. By the time 

 I reached the two men they were breathless, 

 and gaspingly informed me that the three men 

 they were pursuing were those who had been 

 palming off bad money all over the place. 

 They had run them from within a mile of 

 Chesham, up to the Devil's Den Wood. 



I joined in the chase, but, as the other two 

 were dead beat, they asked me to stop 'till they 

 recovered their breath. Under the circum- 

 stances I thought we had better turn back, and 

 pretend to give up the pursuit as hopeless. 



