There be times when I say that I am happiest dressed as tonight, a good horse beneath me, a bright moon above, and a booty worth having well in view.

It is so full of rare surprises and delight; and, if a man but have his wits about him, it is so monstrous easy, too!" Tom seemed to catch the spirit of his comrade.

Those were days when crime was lightly thought of, though so heavily punished.

A strain of recklessness in Tom's blood made the notion of even robbery on the king's highway fascinating rather than terrible--at least when he could say to himself that he was but "taking his own." It was plain enough now that this was the secret of Lord Claud's life--hinted at more or less plainly by many before, but never altogether understood by Tom.

Yet Lord Claud was received, feted, made much of in the society of the gay city, even by those who more than suspected where his influx of wealth came from.