Hed a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the [claret] velvet, and [breeches] of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His [rapier hilt] a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
III

Over the [cobbles] he [clattered] and [clashed] in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But [the landlords] [black-eyed] daughter,
[Bess], the landlords daughter,
[Plaiting] a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
IV

And dark in the old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the [ostler] listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were [hollows] of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlords daughter,
[The landlords] red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say-
V

One kiss, my [bonny] sweetheart, Im after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
Ill come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.
VI

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i the [casement]! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his [rein] in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.
[Part Two]
I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o the [tawny] sunset, before the rise o the moon,
When the road was a [gipsys] ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching-
Marching-marching-
[King Georges] men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
II

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with [muskets] at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.
III

They had tied her up to attention, with many a [sniggering] jest;
They bound a [musket] beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
Now keep good watch! and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say-
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
Ill come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
IV

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till here fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like
years,
Till, now, on the [stroke of midnight],
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
V

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight [throbbed] to her loves refrain.
VI
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs

ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did
not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their [priming]! She stood up strait and still!
VII

Tlot-tlot, in [the frosty] silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night
!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him-with her death.
VIII

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head oer [the musket], drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlords daughter,
The landlords black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
IX

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his [rapier] brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
[Down like a dog] on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
* * * * * *

                        X

And still of a [winters] night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding-
Riding-riding-
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
XI

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlords black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlords daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.