The Adventures of Roderick Random

A Nighttime Disturbance

At midnight, Roderick is jolted awake by violent trembling of his bed. His companion Strap is drenched in sweat and trembling through every limb, having discovered that a dangerous highwayman occupies the adjacent room. Strap guides Roderick to a small chink in the board partition through which they can observe a thick-set, brawny fellow with a fierce countenance sitting at a table with Betty, pistols placed before him. The discovery throws both travellers into a state of great alarm.

Rifle the Highwayman

The highwayman, whose name is Rifle, reveals through his conversation with Betty that he has just missed a substantial prize: four hundred pounds in cash intended to recruit soldiers for the king, along with jewels, watches, swords, and money from passengers. He expresses particular outrage at a coachman named Smack who has betrayed him. Rifle boasts of his other acquisitions that day—a pair of silver-mounted pistols, a gold watch, ten Portugal pieces taken from a Quaker’s shoes, and a gold snuffbox with a picture inside, taken from a lady’s garment. When the pedlar’s loud snoring alerts Rifle to their presence, Betty vouches for the travellers, though Rifle threatens to send them all to destruction before being persuaded to stand down.

The Pedlar’s Flight

Awakened and informed of the danger, the pedlar peeps through the hole in the partition and becomes so terrified that he falls to his knees to pray, promising Heaven to reform his dishonest practices if delivered from present peril. When Rifle and Betty fall asleep and begin snoring in concert, the pedlar quietly unties a rope from his pack, opens the window with great dexterity, and lowers his goods into the yard below. He then bids farewell to Roderick and Strap, bidding them sleep safely and inform the landlord of nothing, before dropping from the window to the ground just a yard below.