The Highway Men of Bumbletoad Way

Upon the coach entering this gap in the leafy canopy, the horseman rode down the hill and to a point where Bumbletoad Way made an abrupt turn to the south to avoid a particularly large oak tree. Harrison smiled as the rider entered the trees. The highwayman was about to spring his trap, and shortly, Harrison would spring his.

Harrison listened carefully for any sound. At his distance from the site of the ambush Harrison heard only a few muffled shouts, but knew the highwayman was in the process of robbing the coach passengers. Several minutes later, his assumption was proven valid. The highwayman galloped his black horse from the trees and onto the lea. Harrison swung into Zandar's saddle and urged the big horse down the hill and into the trees.

Harrison lost sight of the other rider until he likewise entered the lea. He spied the galloping horse just before the rider made a turn back into the forest. Marking the spot by the canopy of a large yew, Harrison galloped over the lea and upon arriving at that same large tree, looked for the trail left by the highwayman.

Most people would not have noticed the slender branch snapped from a low-growing maple, but as a result of his many conversations with the huntsmen, Harrison did. He followed the trail of a snapped branch here and there and the darker colour of leaves on the ground disturbed by the hooves of the highwayman's horse. So intent was he in searching for these tiny indications of a horseman passing, he did not see the small river until he exited the trees that lined the bank.

The river, in actuality more large stream than river, flowed from an opening in the rocky hill some distance upstream. There in the middle of the narrow stream was a young girl. She was turned away from the direction of his approach and her bare shoulders and slender waist made it obvious she was undressed. The long, wet mane of bright red hair that clung to her back told Harrison the blood of some Irish ancestor flowed in her veins.

Harrison approached quietly, but at the instant he arrived at the bank of the stream, Zandar snorted.

The girl started and then turned toward the sound. Upon seeing Harrison, she shrieked and plunged down into the water to her neck, but not before he caught a fleeting glimpse of her full breasts and softly rounded belly. He rode Zandar out onto a slab of rock that formed the bank at that point and grinned at the girl.

"Good day to you Miss, for this has certainly just become a good day for me."

Her face looked fearful, but her voice did not quaver.

"Who are you and why do you disturb my bath?"

Harrison grinned again. The water was as clear as the air, and he could see the girl's breasts bobbing gently beneath the water.

"Who I am is of little importance and my reason for being here has nothing to do with your bath, though the sight of such a beautiful young woman bathing is a welcome one. I am in search of a friend I was to meet near here. I believe he must have ridden into the forest for I found indications of such. I have been following the path of his horse and that path exited the forest at this very spot. Have you seen a rider on a large black horse?"

The young girl raised her right hand to brush a strand of hair from her eyes, and in doing so caused that breast to rise from the water. Harrison could see a darker pink area on her soft skin but not the nipple that he knew rose from that pebbled surface.

"Yes, Sir, I have. I was behind a thicket removing my clothing when he burst from the trees. I remained behind my thicket lest he see me and do me some harm. After turning to look behind him, he rode into the stream over the rocks where your horse now stands, and then rode away with the flow."

Harrison frowned. In order to find where the highwayman had left the stream, he would have to ride downstream while watching both banks. Even then, he might not find it. The stream seemed to flow mostly through rock banks, as if some ancient, giant plowman had dug a jagged furrow in the stone. If the highwayman had chosen to exit the stream over one of the rock slabs, it would be very difficult to again sight his trail. He looked at the girl again.

"Did you see his face?"

"No, Sir, I did not. The man wore a mask of black, the same colour as his clothing, and did not remain here but for a very short time. He seemed to be in a great rush."

So, thought Harrison, this highwayman spied me in my pursuit and has eluded capture this time. No matter. There will be another time. I need only continue my evening visits to the inn for a glass of ale until another coach is expected. He turned to the girl and smiled.

"It would appear I shall not join my friend today. Perhaps, though, we could become better acquainted as a result. I do not know the area well, but unless I am mistaken, this stream is on the grounds of Brumley Manor. I know of no commoners who reside on these grounds. Lord Brumley prefers to keep his lands free of fields that the hart and grouse may thrive for his hunting pleasure. I am certain your presence would capture his interest."

The girl hung her head.

"Oh, please, Sir, if you have even an ounce of compassion, do not speak to Lord Brumley of my presence here. I am but the poor milkmaid who milks Lord Brumley's cows of a morning and evening that he may have cream for his morning oats and butter for his daily bread. If he should learn of my baths in the stream, I will be discharged and cast out of the estate. I know not where I should go or how I should live were that to happen."

Harrison smiled. It was possible she was telling the truth. Lord Brumley was known for his small herd of jersey cattle. He had imported them from the Isle of Jersey for their rich milk, and it was logical that he would have a milkmaid to milk them.

"If that is so, how is it I find you in this stream naked instead of caring for Lord Brumley's herd?"

"I do care for them, Sir, and very well if I do say so. Every morning before the cock crows, I rise and empty their udders, then turn them out into the lea to graze. Every afternoon, most come back to the estate, for their udders are again full and the pressure must be relieved or they suffer. There are two, Esmerelda and Bossie, who did not calve this year and feel no such reason to leave the rich grass of the lea. I must go in search of them to bring them home.

"It is not a lacking in dedication to stop for a few minutes to rinse the stench of the cow barn from my skin and hair. Esmerelda and Bossie graze the lea behind me. When I complete my bath, I shall lead them back to the stable and then commence with the milking. No time has been lost and no work will have been left undone. Please, Sir, I have done nothing wrong and I beg you - go in search of your friend and leave me in peace."

Harrison found this girl to be more forthright than most women he knew, and not nearly so modest. She used her hands and arms when she spoke almost as much as she used her lips. With each lift of an arm, a soft, pale breast would rise from the surface and one time, he saw a taut nipple sitting upon its wrinkled nipple bed. The girl seemed to not take notice, though Harrison was certain she would have felt the tightening and extending.

He frowned.

"It would seem I have two choices from which to choose in searching for my friend. I can ride down the stream in hopes of finding him, or I can return home to find him another day."

Harrison grinned then.

"I believe there to be a third choice for my afternoon activities, however, and one much more to my liking. I can continue to stand here until you exit the stream to dress and then take your cows to the barn."

The girl shook her head.

"Sir, I beg you. Leave me in peace or I will be forced to remain here in the stream in order to preserve my decency. In doing so, I will be late arriving at the barn for the milking and the cows will be in a frightful state. If not for me, please leave that those poor cows may find the relief they require."

Because of her knowledge of cattle, the same understanding of their needs and moods Harrison himself had acquired by living at the manor, he believed she was the milkmaid she claimed to be. Part of him wished to remain in order to see how long it would take before she arose from the water and showed him the rest of her young body.

That would be a sight he would absolutely enjoy, though he would not attempt to take any liberties with her. His personal beliefs would forbid that even were she not of significantly different social status. In Harrison's quest to be as he wished -- master to none but himself -- imposing his desires upon a milkmaid would have dashed that wish and made him just another man of higher social class forcing himself upon a woman less fortunate.

He was puzzled by her logical way of speaking. Most women were fairly scatter-brained when discussing topics other than the running of a household or raising children. This woman spoke more as a man would speak, explaining in clear terms why her bath did not constitute a slacking of her duties but was merely a way in which to rid her body of the smells of the cow barn.

"Very well, my fair young maid. I shall leave you to your bath and return home. May your cows still await you and may you not be punished if you are a bit late. I bid you farewell."

So saying, Harrison turned Zandar back into the trees, and a few minutes later was traveling at an easy lope in the direction of his hide.

Elizabeth waited until she could no longer hear the steady clop-clop of the horse's hooves as the man rode back to the lea. Even then, she waited still for another several minutes lest he trick her and come back. After satisfying herself he was truly gone, she rose from the water, picked up the long sharp dagger she had held under her right foot, and then walked out of the stream and into a thicket on the other bank.

When she had galloped from the trees after robbing the coach, she had seen another horseman from the corner of her eye. He was dressed in black, as was she, and after another glance, she knew he was following her. To what end he was following her, she did not know, but were he to catch her and find the pouch of coins and jewelry tied to her belt, her situation would not be for the better. At best, he would steal the results of her robbery. At worst, he might discover she was a woman and do with her as men often did with women, then turn her over to the authorities.

She had spurred Alcazar to maintain his rapid gallop until she entered the trees near the stream. After splashing across, she arrived at a small clearing some distance from the source of the stream. She had lept from Alcazar's back and tied him to a sapling, then raced back to the stream. As she quickly removed the black shirt and trousers, her black hat, mask and boots, she heard the galloping hooves of the other horse approaching.

Elizabeth picked the long sharp dagger from her belt and waded into the stream. After placing the dagger under her foot lest she lose it, she sank down into the water and awaited the man's approach. The man would assume the rider he was chasing was another man and would never suspect a young woman, especially if that young woman was naked.

She chuckled to herself. Men were such slaves to their desires they had only one thought once they saw even so much as the curve of a breast in the low neck of a dress. The man dressed in black had done as she anticipated. She had seen the light in his eyes when she absently let one breast or the other rise slightly from the water as she spoke.

Yes, he was no different than the monster she had escaped. Just a brief sight of her left nipple had turned his mind from catching a horseman in black to desiring a young girl squatting naked in a stream.

Her only fear had been the man would act upon that desire, and hence the dagger beneath her foot. Were he to approach, she would take the dagger and thrust it into his heart before making her escape.

Elizabeth donned her shirt, trousers, and heavy boots, then picked up the rest of her clothing and her pistols and walked to where Alcazar was tied. She had hoped the stallion was far enough from the stream he would not scent or hear another horse, and when he hadn't made his presence known with a loud neigh, she was thankful. She patted the large horse on the neck after placing her belongings over the front of the saddle.

"Alcazar, my friend, you have saved me from a terrible fate. I have no other friend but you, and after my experiences, doubt I ever shall."

}{

As Harrison exchanged his black shirt and trousers for a shirt and trousers befitting a gentleman of leisure out for a ride, he reflected upon his lack of success. The highwayman had determined Harrison was chasing him, and had resorted to the same trick he himself had used upon occasion. Once on a rocky surface, a horse and rider left no trail to follow. It was the same once the horse entered a stream. Hoofprints in the bottom of a stream were nearly instantly washed level by the flowing water.

In order to catch the thief of his robbing ground, Harrison could not hope to overtake the scoundrel on the lea. His black horse appeared to be as fast as Zandar. Harrison would have to lie in wait for the highwayman to enter the trees. He now knew the location of the man's entry point, and he would be at that point the next time the highwayman struck.

After two more nights of traveling to the inn for a glass of ale, Harrison learned of a coach arriving at the inn in two days with the family of a wealthy banker from London on the way to examine the progress on his new country house east of Greenway. It was nearly certain the banker would travel with a significant purse, for the workers would expect to be paid regularly for their efforts.

It was an opportunity Harrison would not have allowed to pass him by, and he doubted the other highwayman would do so if he knew. The man had somehow known about the prior coach, and it was likely he also knew of this one by the same means, whatever those means might be.

This time, Harrison would wait on his hill until the highwayman appeared, then ride to the path in the forest the highwayman had taken after his last robbery. When the highwayman appeared in the trees, Harrison would drag him from the saddle and threaten him with his life if he did not give up his booty and agree to seek other grounds for his ambushes.

After a lunch on the day the coach would travel Bumbletoad Way, Harrison rode his mare to the ruins of the farm house, changed his garments, and then saddled and mounted Zandar. Half an hour later, he was sitting on his hill and watching the road.

Just as had happened previously, the highwayman rode to a small hill overlooking the road, and when the coach trundled into view, took up the same position after the bend.

Harrison rose, mounted Zandar, and loped across the lea to the opening in the forest. After tying Zandar some distance from that opening, he climbed the oak nearest the trail and waited on a limb that overhung the path.

Presently, he heard the sound of galloping hooves and then the soft rustle of a horse walking upon the leaves that littered the forest floor. A moment later, the highwayman appeared, riding slowly and looking behind him as if suspecting he was being followed. Harrison waited until the highwayman was directly below the branch upon which he crouched, then sprang down and pulled the man from the saddle.

Harrison was prepared for a strenuous struggle, but instead found the slender body lying under him offered little in the way of a fight. He felt small fists pummel his back, but the force was not that of a man. He rose slightly and pulled the hat and mask from face that snarled at him. When the long locks the color of polished copper spilled out onto the leaves, Harrison laughed.

"I thought to catch the thief who is robbing me of my income. Instead, I have caught me a milkmaid who dresses as a man and bathes in a stream. What ever should I do with you?"

The girl spat her reply.

"Only a coward would drag me from my horse and then hold me to the ground. Let me up that I might properly defend myself."

Harrison grinned.

"I do believe the lady would enjoy shooting me with the pistols I feel in her belt."

"Shooting you would be a better fate than you deserve. I saw your eyes when you looked at me in the stream. I would relish cutting off your manhood more than shooting you."

Harrison chuckled again.

"My lady, if I may go so far as to give that name to one be behaves quite the opposite, any man seeing the soft curves of a naked woman's body would react in the same manner."

The woman screeched and tried to gouge out Harrison's eyes, but he caught her wrists and pinned them to the ground, then smiled at the green eyes that glared back at him.

"I do believe 'lady' is much too civilized a title for you. You are more mink than maid. I shall hold you down until you yield or grow too tired to resist. Then, we shall go to where you hide that which was rightly mine to steal."

The woman snarled, "Never, never will I give you anything of mine."

Harrison squeezed her wrists tightly until she yelped in pain.

"I did not ask you to give me anything. I said I would take what I want from you. As you can plainly feel, I would have no difficulty doing with you as I wish."

She attempted to kick him in the groin with her knee then, but Harrison deflected the kick with his thigh, then spread her legs with his.

The girl screamed at him, but Harrison heard fear along with outrage.

"If you do this, I will hunt you down and kill you, and I will do so that you die as slowly as possible.

That statement caused Harrison to frown quickly before again smiling.

"You believe I intend to force myself on you? I assure you that no matter who the woman, I have never and would never do such a thing. I only seek to protect myself from your feeble, but very irritating assault. If you cease your struggles, perhaps I could be convinced to release you."

Elizabeth looked up at the man's face. He was laughing at her, but there was something else in his eyes. He held her at his will, and could have taken her there on the forest floor, but his eyes told her he would not. There was a softness in them, a softness that belied their steel-gray color.

Elizabeth had no intention of yielding to his demand to give him that for which she had risked life and limb over the past weeks, but the man could overpower her any time he wished. She had forced herself to become strong over those weeks, much stronger than at Coventry Manor, but that strength was of her mind, not her body. Now, she felt as weak as a newborn kitten.

Perhaps if she feigned submission and agreed to take him to her hiding place, she could discover a means of escape along the way. If not, she would enter her hide first, take the saber that hung on the wall just inside the opening, and run the man through before he could react.

Elizabeth looked up at those grey eyes again.

"I will stop my struggles if you swear you will harm me no further."

The man chuckled.

"Your struggles tell me I have harmed nothing save your pride, but I so swear. I warn you, though. Should you attempt to flee or to attack me, you will quickly find yourself pinned to the ground again and I shall not be so careful about injuring you."

With that, the man released his grip upon Elizabeth's left wrist, pulled the pistols and dagger from her belt and stuck them in his, and then stood and offered her his hand.

"Up with you. We must find your secreting place before you are late for your milking. I would not wish your precious cows to suffer."

Harrison allowed the woman to mount her horse, but kept the reins in his hand. After walking to where Zandar was tied, he mounted the gelding and handed the woman the reins.