for knighted I shall be , or die for ` t. ` Sir Richard Shelton , Knight ' : it soundeth bravely . But ` Sir John Matcham ' soundeth not amiss . '' `` Prithee , Dick , stop till I drink , '' said the other , pausing where a little clear spring welled out of the slope into a gravelled basin no bigger than a pocket . `` And O , Dick , if I might come by anything to eat ! -- my very heart aches with hunger . '' `` Why , fool , did ye not eat at Kettley ? '' asked Dick . `` I had made a vow -- it was a sin I had been led into , '' stammered Matcham ; `` but now , if it were but dry bread , I would eat it greedily . '' `` Sit ye , then , and eat , '' said Dick , `` while that I scout a little forward for the road . '' And he took a wallet from his girdle , wherein were bread and pieces of dry bacon , and , while Matcham fell heartily to , struck farther forth among the trees . A little beyond there was a dip in the ground , where a streamlet soaked among dead leaves ; and beyond that , again , the trees were better grown and stood wider , and oak and beech began to take the place of willow and elm . The continued tossing and pouring of the wind among the leaves sufficiently concealed the sounds of his footsteps on the mast ; it was for the ear what a moonless night is to the eye ; but for all that Dick went cautiously , slipping from one big trunk to another , and looking sharply about him as he went . Suddenly a doe passed like a shadow through the underwood in front of him , and he paused , disgusted at the chance . This part of the wood had been certainly deserted , but now that the poor deer had run , she was like a messenger he should have sent before him to announce his coming ; and instead of pushing farther , he turned him to the nearest well-grown tree , and rapidly began to climb . Luck had served him well . The oak on which he had mounted was one of the tallest in that quarter of the wood , and easily out-topped its neighbours by a fathom and a half ; and when Dick had clambered into the topmost fork and clung there , swinging dizzily in the great wind , he saw behind him the whole fenny plain as far as Kettley , and the Till wandering among woody islets , and in front of him , the white line of high-road winding through the forest . The boat had been righted -- it was even now midway on the ferry . Beyond that there was no sign of man , nor aught moving but the wind . He was about to descend , when , taking a last view , his eye lit upon a string of moving points about the middle of the fen . Plainly a small troop was threading the causeway , and that at a good pace ; and this gave him some concern as he shinned vigorously down the trunk and returned across the wood for his companion .
CHAPTER IV -- A GREENWOOD COMPANY XXXXX was well rested and revived ; and the two lads , winged by what Dick had seen , hurried through the remainder of the outwood , crossed the road in safety , and began to mount into the high ground of Tunstall Forest .
Dick Kettley Matcham Prithee Shelton causeway fen islets night soundeth