“Come,” said Lord Claud, “take your saddle and bridle and walk softly.  It is time we were off now.”

They stole through the silent house, and round to the stable, where the horses were lying on beds of clean straw.  They got up at the sound of their master’s voice, but were so quiet in all their movements that it seemed as though they knew what was in the air.  In five minutes they were free from the buildings, and the travellers mounted.  The road lay before them in dappled lights and shadows from the brilliant moon overhead.  It was as easy to see the way as though the sun had been up.

Once clear of the inn, and Lord Claud sprang forward at a steady, swinging hand gallop, a pace to which the horses settled down as though well habituated to it.

Then he began to speak to Tom of the project on which they were bent.

“There is gold on its way from the bank to the coast.  It is guarded by four soldiers.  They have been instructed to travel fast to catch a certain sloop.  Today they will have met with many hindrances upon the way.  All that has been arranged for.  So they will profit by this clear moonlight night to prosecute their journey, which will not lie through what is thought to be dangerous country.  Forest land and wild heath make men very careful, but quiet country roads where villages are frequent give them confidence.  And yet it is just as easy to fall upon the prey in the latter as in the former locality.  In sooth, I think it is easier.  The men in charge rush back for help, thinking the more easily to track and follow us;” and then Lord Claud broke into a soft laugh, and began to whistle cheerily as they galloped forward.

These horses were wonderfully strong and fleet.  Tom could not but remark it as they galloped mile after mile with unwearied energy.  Lord Claud smiled in the moonlight as he replied: 

“Oh yes, that is necessary.  It is well to prove an alibi, if you know what that is, good Tom.  The honest folks where we come from will swear that we and our steeds were abed all night over yonder; but even if that should not be enough, there will be many who will declare that if we did not leave St. Albans till past ten, we could never be at the spot I am aiming for and back again before break of day; and I shall take care to call mine host up betimes, so that there will be plenty of evidence that I have not been abroad this night.”

Tom had heard often enough of the good understanding existing between innkeepers and the highway robbers who infested the roads, and now he began to see the workings of it, and to understand how easy it made some of these excursions, and how difficult it must afterwards be to obtain evidence against the freebooters.  Lord Claud’s handsome person, his freedom of speech, and his lavishly-spent gold, made him a favourite everywhere; and now he seemed about to employ his fascinations of mind and body for other purposes.  Tom was to see how they served him in a different sort of life.