Meantime Andrew Barton hawks off the Port of Rye . And why ? To take those very serpentines which poor Cabot must whistle for ; the said serpentines , I 'll wager my share of new continents , being now hid away in St Barnabas ' church-tower . Clear as the Irish coast at noonday ! '' `` They 'd sure never dare to do it , '' I said ; `` and , for another thing , selling cannon to the King 's enemies is black treason -- hanging and fine . '' ' `` It is sure , large profit . Men 'll dare any gallows for that . I have been a trader myself , '' says he . `` We must be upsides with 'em for the honour of Bristol . '' ` Then he hatched a plot , sitting on the limewash bucket . We gave out to ride o ' Tuesday to London and made a show of taking farewells of our friends -- especially of Master John Collins . But at Wadhurst Woods we turned ; rode home to the watermeadows ; hid our horses in a willow-tot at the foot of the glebe , and , come night , stole a-tiptoe up hill to Barnabas ' church again . A thick mist , and a moon striking through . ' I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian full length in the dark . ' `` Pest ! '' he says . `` Step high and feel low , Hal . I 've stumbled over guns before . '' ' I groped , and one by one -- the tower was pitchy dark -- I counted the lither barrels of twenty serpentines laid out on pease straw . No conceal at all ! '
`` There 's two demi-cannon my end , '' says XXXXX , slapping metal .
Barnabas Bristol Collins Rye Sebastian night pease tower-door upsides willow-tot