Then, when the boy was free and had darted off to the woods.

Sir Ludar, with a grim smile, locked up the beadle in his place, and flung the key into the pond.

Then as the watch and a posse of the townsfolk turned out to see what the uproar was, we ran for it and got clear.
This last proceeding did not please me.

For it was defying the Queen's law, and as I said to my comrade, it was not for us to set ourselves up against authority.
But Sir Ludar would listen to no reason.
"The lad was miserable where he was," said he.
"So is the beadle now," said I.
"The better the lesson for him," said Ludar.
There was no use arguing, so we trudged on some miles further till night fell, and we took shelter again in a barn.
The next day, guiding ourselves chiefly by the river, we came to Windsor, where I had much ado to hinder my comrade from going a-hunting in her Majesty's forest.

Had it not been that I persuaded him we might almost reach Richmond that night, I think, for mere spite of the law, he would have stayed.
As it fell out, we were far from reaching Richmond that night.