Keith had gone over to the next village and was hiding in some bushes. He heard the mayor addressing the town.
“Look out! There’s danger all about! You had better beware,” he called out to them. “He will come on the full moon, underneath the darkening skies.”
“Who will come?” Someone yelled from the crowd.
“There’s a highwayman about!” he said gravely. The audience gasped. “No traveller is safe on the road! He will emerge from the shadows and you will hear his cry: Stand and deliver! He has the choice between your money, or your life.”
Keith chuckled to himself in the bushes, glad to know he’d given himself the correct reputation. He decided to stay a little longer and then surprise them.
“A coach was attacked while it was crossing Branaghan’s Moor,” the mayor continued. “The couple in the coach stated that he took the lady’s necklace and earrings and the gentleman’s pocket watch.”
“Well, no doubt the gold is going to the poor,” came a new voice. The audience turned to see Keith casually leaning against a shed. The crowd gasped and a few men looked as though they were about to threaten him, until Keith calmly moved the edge of his coat back to reveal the handle of his pistol.
“The poor are being bettered for money everyday. If you ask me, it’s your turn to pay,” he said as he got up and very casually walked towards the mayor’s stand.
“Beware the gentry and the rich! I have taken an oath!” he jumped up on the podium and called out to the people. “It doesn’t matter who you are, I will steal from both of you. Who else is going to stand up for the weak?
“Just remember! I will take your money or your life. And maybe tonight, I might just take your wife!” He cheerfully winked at the crowd before dashing for his horse near his bush. The crowd was now hot on his tail. He chuckled as he galloped away.
