Neither do I purpose to explain it farther . Suffice it , that if ye be weary of your old gossip , Daniel Brackley , publish it abroad that y ' are to wed Joanna Sedley , and I give you my word ye will be quit of him right soon . Ye will find him with an arrow in his back . '' Meantime the two gentlemen were walking briskly forward over the down ; the three torches going before them , stooping against the wind and scattering clouds of smoke and tufts of flame , and the rear brought up by the six archers . Close upon the heels of these , Dick followed . He had , of course , heard no word of this conversation ; but he had recognised in the second of the speakers old Lord Shoreby himself , a man of an infamous reputation , whom even Sir Daniel affected , in public , to condemn . Presently they came close down upon the beach . The air smelt salt ; the noise of the surf increased ; and here , in a large walled garden , there stood a small house of two storeys , with stables and other offices . The foremost torch-bearer unlocked a door in the wall , and after the whole party had passed into the garden , again closed and locked it on the other side . Dick and his men were thus excluded from any farther following , unless they should scale the wall and thus put their necks in a trap . They sat down in a tuft of furze and waited . The red glow of the torches moved up and down and to and fro within the enclosure , as if the link bearers steadily patrolled the garden . Twenty minutes passed , and then the whole party issued forth again upon the down ; and Sir Daniel and the baron , after an elaborate salutation , separated and turned severally homeward , each with his own following of men and lights . As soon as the sound of their steps had been swallowed by the wind , Dick got to his feet as briskly as he was able , for he was stiff and aching with the cold . `` Capper , ye will give me a back up , '' he said . They advanced , all three , to the wall ; Capper stooped , and Dick , getting upon his shoulders , clambered on to the cope-stone . `` Now , Greensheve , '' whispered Dick , `` follow me up here ; lie flat upon your face , that ye may be the less seen ; and be ever ready to give me a hand if I fall foully on the other side . '' And so saying he dropped into the garden . It was all pitch dark ; there was no light in the house . The wind whistled shrill among the poor shrubs , and the surf beat upon the beach ; there was no other sound .
Cautiously XXXXX footed it forth , stumbling among bushes , and groping with his hands ; and presently the crisp noise of gravel underfoot told him that he had struck upon an alley .
Brackley Capper Daniel Dick Greensheve Sedley archers fall storeys torch-bearer