The man spoke with visible emotion and Tom was moved also, he scarce knew why.  A sudden sense of liking—­almost of love—­sprang up in his heart towards this freebooter.  He laid a hand upon his arm.

“Take me clear of this forest,” he said, “and I will leave Wildfire in your hands as a token of gratitude.  I have bethought me often that in London town he would pine his heart away.  He loves the green glades of the woodland, and the free air of the fields and forests.  Methinks you would be a kind master; and he is a loving and faithful creature.  I might even lose him in London, where, they tell me, rogues abound.  I would sooner leave him in your hands; and if I want him back some day, I will ask him of Captain Jack.”

The bargain was struck.  Captain Jack accompanied Tom to the farthest limits of the forest, giving him meantime much information about life in London, and astonishing him by the intimate knowledge he possessed of life in every grade of society.

Tom listened in wonder and amaze; but Captain Jack answered his questions in such a way as to leave him little the wiser.  He managed, however, to make friends with Wildfire almost as quickly as with his master; for the two men rode by turns, and Captain Jack’s horsemanship was of that finished kind which every horse understands and responds to.

“You are right not to take such a creature into London,” said Captain Jack, after trying the paces of Wildfire over a stretch of springy turf.  “Some sharper would soon make away with him; but it will be a clever man who filches him from me!  I will guard him as my greatest treasure, and he will be worth more to me than the guineas you carry in your bag.”

“And his brother is somewhere in the forest,” said Tom; and he told the story of Robin and Wildgoose, to which Captain Jack listened with a look of amusement.

“Clever fellow! clever fellow!” he muttered, “he will make one of the brotherhood one of these days!”

Tom began to realize, with a grim sense of humour, that he was aiding and abetting the mischievous schemes of some notorious highwayman, and that his father’s two favourite young horses, by which he set such store, were destined to become the property of the gentlemen of the road!

At the limits of the forest Tom and his companion parted.  He had been put upon the highroad, and given careful instructions as to the way he must take.  Moreover, Captain Jack had given him a password, which, he said, would protect him from molestation; although a traveller on foot was not in the same danger as one who rode a fine horse.

It cost Tom a pang to turn his back on Wildfire; but he felt so certain that the horse would pine in London, or be stolen away, that he preferred to leave him in the hands of a kind master who would treat him well.

“Take your fill of life.  Keep open eyes, and believe every man to be a rogue till he prove himself an honest fellow,” was the parting advice of his companion, for whom he had already taken rather a strong liking; “and if ever town becomes too hot, come and join Captain Jack; and if ever you should chance to knock up against Lord Claud, tell him that his old master sends him greeting and felicitations, and is watching his career with admiration and delight.”