For half a minute or so it rocked and swayed against the sky-line.

HIGHWAY PIRATES

OR, THE SECRET PLACE AT COVERTHORNE

By

HAROLD AVERY

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD.
LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
1920

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

For half a minute or so it rocked and swayed against the sky-line . . . Frontispiece

There was a funny twinkle in his eyes as he spoke

Deserted

HIGHWAY PIRATES.

CHAPTER I.

A DAY OF TROUBLE.

"They've seen us! Run for it!"

My chosen friend, Miles Coverthorne, was the speaker. He sprang to his feet as he uttered the words, and darted like a rabbit into the bushes, I myself following hard at his heels. The seasons seem to have come earlier in those days, and though May was not out, the woods and countryside appeared clothed with all the richness of leafy June.

At headlong speed we dashed through the underwood, stung by hazel switches which struck us across the face like whips, and staggering as our feet caught in thick tufts of grass.

"Who is it—keepers?" I inquired.

"No; 'Eagles'!" was the quick reply.

If anything had been needed to quicken my pace, this last word would have served the purpose. We both rushed wildly onward, as though our very lives were at stake.

It may be guessed that Miles did not mean to imply that a number of real eagles were swooping down upon us with the intention of bearing us away to some rocky crags, there to form an appetizing repast for their young; the word had, in this case, a special meaning, to explain which a slight digression will be necessary.

Many things have altered since the year 1830, and in no direction are greater changes manifested than in the schools and school life of that period compared with those of the present day. What the modern boy at Hobworth's School