What next ?" "This," I replied, and with the other thong fastened him, despite his struggles, to the young maple beneath which we had wrestled.

When the task was done, I first drew his sword from its jeweled scabbard and laid it on the ground at his feet, and then cut the leather which restrained his arms, leaving him only tied to the tree.

"I am not Sir Thomas Dale," I said, "and therefore I shall not gag you and leave you bound for an indefinite length of time, to contemplate a grave that you thought to dig.

One haunted wood is enough for one county.

Your lordship will observe that I have knotted your bonds in easy reach of your hands, the use of which I have just restored to you.