`` I vow a candle to St. Mary of Shoreby if he come before the hour ! '' `` Y ' are in a hurry , Master Dick ? '' asked Greensheve . `` Ay , good fellow , '' answered Dick ; `` for in that house lieth my lady , whom I love , and who should these be that lie about her secretly by night ? Unfriends , for sure ! '' `` Well , '' returned Greensheve , `` an John come speedily , we shall give a good account of them . They are not two score at the outside -- I judge so by the spacing of their sentries -- and , taken where they are , lying so widely , one score would scatter them like sparrows . And yet , Master Dick , an she be in Sir Daniel 's power already , it will little hurt that she should change into another 's . Who should these be ? '' `` I do suspect the Lord of Shoreby , '' Dick replied . `` When came they ? '' `` They began to come , Master Dick , '' said Greensheve , `` about the time ye crossed the wall . I had not lain there the space of a minute ere I marked the first of the knaves crawling round the corner . '' The last light had been already extinguished in the little house when they were wading in the wash of the breakers , and it was impossible to predict at what moment the lurking men about the garden wall might make their onslaught . Of two evils , Dick preferred the least . He preferred that Joanna should remain under the guardianship of Sir Daniel rather than pass into the clutches of Lord Shoreby ; and his mind was made up , if the house should be assaulted , to come at once to the relief of the besieged . But the time passed , and still there was no movement . From quarter of an hour to quarter of an hour the same signal passed about the garden wall , as if the leader desired to assure himself of the vigilance of his scattered followers ; but in every other particular the neighbourhood of the little house lay undisturbed . Presently Dick 's reinforcements began to arrive . The night was not yet old before nearly a score of men crouched beside him in the gorse .
Separating these into two bodies , he took the command of the smaller himself , and entrusted the larger to the leadership of XXXXX .
Ay Dick Greensheve Unfriends first gorse knaves minute night sentries