“We will carry him in, Tony,” Charlie said, “if you will get the door open.”

They carried him in through the door, at which a woman was standing, into a room, where they saw, to their satisfaction, a blazing fire.  The prisoner was laid down on the ground.  Leaving him to himself, Charlie and his friends sat down to the table, which was laid in readiness.  Two cold chickens, and ham, and bread had been placed on it.

“Now, Tony, sit down.  You must be as hungry as we are.”

“Thank you, gentlemen.  I am going to have my breakfast in the kitchen, with my wife.”

As he spoke, the woman came in with two large tankards full of steaming liquid, whose odour at once proclaimed it to be spiced ale.

“Well, wife, we have done a good night’s work,” Tony said.

“A good night’s work for all of us,” Charlie put in.  “Your husband has done us an immense service, Mrs. Peters, and, when our fathers come to their own again, they will not forget the service he has rendered us.”

When they had made a hearty meal, Tony was called in again.

“Now, Tony, we will proceed to business.  You have got pen and ink and paper, I suppose?”

“I have everything ready, sir.  I will clear away this table, so as to have all in order.”

When this was done, the highwayman was lifted up and placed in a chair, and the gag removed from his mouth.

“You don’t remember us, I suppose, my man?” Charlie began.  “The last time I saw you was when I brought my stick down on your head, when you were listening outside a window at Lynnwood.”

An exclamation of surprise broke from the prisoner.

“Yes, I am Charlie Carstairs, and this gentleman is Harry Jervoise.  By the way, I have made a mistake.  I have seen you twice since then.  The first time was in a wayside tavern, some twelve miles beyond Barnet, nine days ago.  The second time was at another tavern in Barnet.  You will remember that a mischievous boy threw a stone, and broke one of the lattice panes of the window, where you were sitting talking over this little affair of the North coach.”

A deep execration broke from the lips of the highwayman.

“Now you see how we know all about it,” Charlie went on.  “Now, it entirely depends on yourself whether, in the course of another hour, we shall hand you over to a magistrate, as the leader of the gang who robbed the North coach, and took part in the robbery near Dorking—­we have found some of the watches and other plunder in your bedroom—­or whether you escape trial for these offences.  You may be wanted for other, similar affairs.”

“Yes, sir,” Tony put in.  “Now I see him, he answers exactly to the description of a man the officers have been in search of, for a long time.  He goes by the name of Dick Cureton, and has been engaged in at least a dozen highway robberies, to my knowledge.”

“You see,” Charlie went on, “there is no doubt whatever what will happen, if we hand you over to the officers.  You will be hung at Tyburn, to a moral certainty.  There is no getting out of that.