`` Y ' have a long start , and we are near the ferry . And it is I , methinks , that am unhorsed . '' `` Alack , I shall be taken ! '' cried the fugitive . `` Dick , kind Dick , beseech ye help me but a little ! '' `` Why , now , what aileth thee ? '' said Dick . `` Methinks I help you very patently . But my heart is sorry for so spiritless a fellow ! And see ye here , John Matcham -- sith John Matcham is your name -- I , Richard Shelton , tide what betideth , come what may , will see you safe in Holywood . The saints so do to me again if I default you . Come , pick me up a good heart , Sir White-face . The way betters here ; spur me the horse . Go faster ! faster ! Nay , mind not for me ; I can run like a deer . '' So , with the horse trotting hard , and Dick running easily alongside , they crossed the remainder of the fen , and came out upon the banks of the river by the ferryman 's hut . CHAPTER III -- THE FEN FERRY The river Till was a wide , sluggish , clayey water , oozing out of fens , and in this part of its course it strained among some score of willow-covered , marshy islets . It was a dingy stream ; but upon this bright , spirited morning everything was become beautiful . The wind and the martens broke it up into innumerable dimples ; and the reflection of the sky was scattered over all the surface in crumbs of smiling blue .
A creek ran up to meet the path , and close under the bank the XXXXX 's hut lay snugly .
Dick FEN Holywood Matcham Shelton White-face betideth crumbs ferryman martens