By this time the highwaymen had come up.  With loud oaths, two of their number held pistols to the heads of Leonard and Blaize, and demanded their money.  The apprentice replied by drawing forth his purse, and besought the fellow to whom he gave it not to maltreat his companion.  The man rejoined with a savage imprecation that he “would maltreat them both if they did not instantly dismount and let him search the saddle-bags;” and he was proceeding to drag Amabel from the saddle, when Leonard struck him a violent blow with his heavy riding-whip, which brought him to the ground.  He was up again, however, in an instant, and would have fired his pistol at the apprentice, if a masked individual, who was evidently, from the richness of his attire, and the deference paid him by the others, the captain of the band, had not interfered.

“You are rightly served, Dick Dosset,” said this person, “for your rudeness to a lady.  I will have none of my band guilty of incivility, and if this young man had not punished you, I would have done so myself.  Pass free, my pretty damsel,” he added, bowing gallantly to Amabel; “you shall not be further molested.”

Meanwhile, Blaize exhibited the contents of his pockets to the other highwayman, who having opened the box of rufuses and smelt at the phial of plague-water, returned them to him with a look of disgust, and bade him follow his companions.  As Leonard was departing, the captain of the band rode after him, and inquired whether he had heard at what hour the king meant to leave Whitehall.

“The court is about to adjourn to Oxford,” he added, “and the king and some of his courtiers will cross the heath to-day, when I purpose to levy the same tax from his majesty that I do from his subjects.”

Leonard replied, that he was utterly ignorant of the king’s movements; and explaining whence he came, the captain left him.  The intelligence he had thus accidentally obtained was far from satisfactory to the apprentice.  For some distance, their road would be the same as that about to be taken by the monarch and his attendants, amongst whom it was not improbable Rochester might be numbered; and the possibility that the earl might overtake them and discover Amabel filled him with uneasiness.  Concealing his alarm, however, he urged his steed to a quicker pace, and proceeded briskly on his way, glad, at least, that he had not lost Solomon Eagle’s gift to Nizza.  Amabel’s weakly condition compelled them to rest at frequent intervals, and it was not until evening was drawing in that they descended the steep hill leading to the beautiful village of Henley-upon-Thames, where they proposed to halt for the night.