Fresh bumpers, and immense cheering.
Silence being in a measure restored, Zoroaster claimed Turpin’s promise of a song.
“True, true,” replied Dick; ‘I have not forgotten it. Stand to your bows, my hearties.”
THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY
Now Oliver54 puts his black nightcap on,
And every star its glim55 is hiding,
And forth to the heath is the scampsman56 gone,
His matchless cherry-black57 prancer riding;
Merrily over the common he flies,
Fast and free as the rush of rocket,
His crape-covered vizard drawn over his eyes,
His tol58 by his side, and his pops59 in his pocket.
CHORUS
Then who can name
So merry a game,
As the game of all games—high toby?60
The traveller hears him, away! away!
Over the wide, wide heath he scurries;
He heeds not the thunderbolt summons to stay,
But ever the faster and faster he hurries.
But what daisy-cutter can match that black tit?
He is caught—he must “stand and deliver”;
Then out with the dummy,61 and off with the bit,62
Oh! the game of high toby for ever!
CHORUS
Then who can name
So merry a game,
As the game of all games—high toby?
Believe me, there is not a game, my brave boys,
To compare with the game of high toby;
No rapture can equal the tobyman’s joys,
To blue devils, blue plumbs63 give the go-by;
And what if, at length, boys, he come to the crap!64
Even rack punch had some bitter in it,
For the mare-with-three-legs,65boys,
I care not a rap,
‘Twill be over in less than a minute!
GRAND CHORUS
Then hip, hurrah!
Fling care away!
Hurrah for the game of high toby!
“And now, pals,” said Dick, who began to feel the influence of these morning cups, “I vote that we adjourn. Believe me I shall always bear in mind that I am a brother of your band. Sir Luke and I must have a little chat together ere I take my leave. Adieu!”
And taking Luke by the arm, he walked out of the tent. Peter Bradley rose, and followed them.
At the door they found the dwarfish Grasshopper, with Black Bess. Rewarding the urchin for his trouble, and slipping the bridle of his mare over his hand, Turpin continued his walk over the green. For a few minutes he seemed to be lost in rumination.
“I tell you what, Sir Luke,” said he; “I should like to do a generous thing, and make you a present of this bit of paper. But one ought not to throw away one’s luck, you know—there is a tide in the affairs of thieves, as the player coves say, which must be taken at the flood, or else—no matter! Your old dad, Sir Piers (God help him!), had the gingerbread, that I know; he was, as we say, a regular rhino-cerical cull. You won’t feel a few thousands, especially at starting; and besides, there are two others, Rust and Wilder, who row in the same boat with me, and must therefore come in for their share of the reg’lars. All this considered, you can’t complain, I think, if I ask five thousand for it. That old harridan, Lady Rookwood, offered me nearly as much.”
“I will not talk to you of fairness,” said Luke; “I will not say that document belongs of right to me. It fell by accident into your hands. Having possessed yourself of it, I blame you not that you dispose of it to the best advantage. I must, perforce, agree to your terms.”
“Oh, no,” replied Dick, “it’s quite optional; Lady Rookwood will give as much, and make no mouths about it. Soho, lass! What makes Bess prick her ears in that fashion?—Ha! carriage-wheels in the distance! that jade knows the sound as well as I do. I’ll just see what it’s like!—you will have ten minutes for reflection. Who knows if I may not have come in for a good thing here?”
At that instant a carriage passed the angle of a rock some three hundred yards distant, and was seen slowly ascending the hillside. Eager as a hawk after his quarry, Turpin dashed after it.
In vain the sexton, whom he nearly overthrew in his career, called after him to halt. He sped like a bolt from the bow.