The pain of his wounds lent him wings ; and he had no sooner got upon the level than he took to his heels and ran straight before him in the dark , without a thought for the direction of his flight . For a few steps missiles followed him , but these soon ceased ; and when at length he came to a halt and looked behind , he was already a good way from the Moat House , though he could still see the torches moving to and fro along its battlements . He leaned against a tree , streaming with blood and water , bruised , wounded , alone , and unarmed . For all that , he had saved his life for that bout ; and though Joanna remained behind in the power of Sir Daniel , he neither blamed himself for an accident that it had been beyond his power to prevent , nor did he augur any fatal consequences to the girl herself . Sir Daniel was cruel , but he was not likely to be cruel to a young gentlewoman who had other protectors , willing and able to bring him to account . It was more probable he would make haste to marry her to some friend of his own . `` Well , '' thought Dick , `` between then and now I will find me the means to bring that traitor under ; for I think , by the mass , that I be now absolved from any gratitude or obligation ; and when war is open , there is a fair chance for all . '' In the meanwhile , here he was in a sore plight . For some little way farther he struggled forward through the forest ; but what with the pain of his wounds , the darkness of the night , and the extreme uneasiness and confusion of his mind , he soon became equally unable to guide himself or to continue to push through the close undergrowth , and he was fain at length to sit down and lean his back against a tree . When he awoke from something betwixt sleep and swooning , the grey of the morning had begun to take the place of night . A little chilly breeze was bustling among the trees , and as he still sat staring before him , only half awake , he became aware of something dark that swung to and fro among the branches , some hundred yards in front of him . The progressive brightening of the day and the return of his own senses at last enabled him to recognise the object . It was a man hanging from the bough of a tall oak . His head had fallen forward on his breast ; but at every stronger puff of wind his body span round and round , and his legs and arms tossed , like some ridiculous plaything . Dick clambered to his feet , and , staggering and leaning on the tree-trunks as he went , drew near to this grim object . The bough was perhaps twenty feet above the ground , and the poor fellow had been drawn up so high by his executioners that his boots swung clear above Dick 's reach ; and as his hood had been drawn over his face , it was impossible to recognise the man . Dick looked about him right and left ; and at last he perceived that the other end of the cord had been made fast to the trunk of a little hawthorn which grew , thick with blossom , under the lofty arcade of the oak . With his dagger , which alone remained to him of all his arms , young Shelton severed the rope , and instantly , with a dead thump , the corpse fell in a heap upon the ground . Dick raised the hood ; it was Throgmorton , Sir Daniel 's messenger . He had not gone far upon his errand .
A paper , which had apparently escaped the notice of the men of the Black Arrow , stuck from the bosom of his doublet , and Dick , pulling it forth , found it was Sir XXXXX 's letter to Lord Wensleydale .
Daniel House Throgmorton betwixt dagger fro gentlewoman hawthorn morning plaything