But before Dick could answer , a voice spoke in the darkness from close by . Dick could see the speaker 's black and white badge , and the respectful salute which he addressed to his superior . `` My lord , '' said he , `` if these gentlemen be unfriends to Sir Daniel , it is pity , indeed , we should have been at blows with them ; but it were tenfold greater that either they or we should linger here . The watchers in the house -- unless they be all dead or deaf -- have heard our hammering this quarter-hour agone ; instantly they will have signalled to the town ; and unless we be the livelier in our departure , we are like to be taken , both of us , by a fresh foe . '' `` Hawksley is in the right , '' added the lord . `` How please ye , sir ? Whither shall we march ? '' `` Nay , my lord , '' said Dick , `` go where ye will for me . I do begin to suspect we have some ground of friendship , and if , indeed , I began our acquaintance somewhat ruggedly , I would not churlishly continue . Let us , then , separate , my lord , you laying your right hand in mine ; and at the hour and place that ye shall name , let us encounter and agree . '' `` Y ' are too trustful , boy , '' said the other ; `` but this time your trust is not misplaced . I will meet you at the point of day at St. Bride 's Cross . Come , lads , follow ! '' The strangers disappeared from the scene with a rapidity that seemed suspicious ; and , while the outlaws fell to the congenial task of rifling the dead bodies , Dick made once more the circuit of the garden wall to examine the front of the house . In a little upper loophole of the roof he beheld a light set ; and as it would certainly be visible in town from the back windows of Sir Daniel 's mansion , he doubted not that this was the signal feared by Hawksley , and that ere long the lances of the Knight of Tunstall would arrive upon the scene . He put his ear to the ground , and it seemed to him as if he heard a jarring and hollow noise from townward . Back to the beach he went hurrying . But the work was already done ; the last body was disarmed and stripped to the skin , and four fellows were already wading seaward to commit it to the mercies of the deep . A few minutes later , when there debauched out of the nearest lanes of Shoreby some two score horsemen , hastily arrayed and moving at the gallop of their steeds , the neighbourhood of the house beside the sea was entirely silent and deserted . Meanwhile , Dick and his men had returned to the ale-house of the Goat and Bagpipes to snatch some hours of sleep before the morning tryst .
CHAPTER III -- ST. BRIDE 'S CROSS St. Bride 's cross stood a little way back from XXXXX , on the skirts of Tunstall Forest .
Cross Daniel Dick Shoreby Whither ale-house hours mercies right tryst