The landlord came out.

Belward had some beer brought.
A half-dozen rustics stood gaping, not far away.

He touched his horse with a heel.

Saracen sprang towards them, and they fell back alarmed.
Belward now drank his beer quietly, and asked question after question of the landlord, sometimes waiting for an answer, sometimes not--a kind of cross-examination.

Presently he dismounted.
As he stood questioning, chiefly about Ridley Court and its people, a coach showed on the hill, and came dashing down and past.