The Highwayman Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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THE CACHE IS NOT LOCATED AT THE POSTED COORDINATES. I hope you enjoy this tragic, treacherous tale of true love. Alas, they come to the end of their road. Come for a pleasant drive in the country.
PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THE BIRDHOUSE! WHAT YOU SEEK IS NOT THERE.
The Highwayman
Alfred Noyes
Part One
The wind was a torrent of darkness amog the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cludy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moo,
And he higwayman came riding-
Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
He'd a rench cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at hs chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They itted 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.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shuters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a ark rd love-knot into her lon black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his ace was white and peaked;
His eyes were hllows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlod's red-lipped daugher,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber sa-
"One kiss, my bony sweetheart, I'm 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 moonlght,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her had,
But she loosened her hair in 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 rin in the moonlight, and gallope away t he West.
Part Two
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at non;
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moo,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching-
Marching-marching-
King Gorge's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale intead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casment, with muskets at their side!
There was death at eery window;
And hll at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casemet, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggring jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, wth the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep ood watc!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say-
Look for me by moonligh;
atch for m by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell hould bar the way!
She twised her hands behind her; but all the knots held god!
She writhed her hads till her fingers were wet with swat or blod!
They stretched and strained in the darkess, and the hours crawled by like yars,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one inger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of ne finger toched it; she stove no more for the rest!
Up, she stod up to attention, wit the muzzle beneath her brast,
She would not risk ther hearing; she would not strive aain;
For the road lay bare in the moonligt;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight hrobbed to her love's refrain.
Tlot-tlot; tlot-lot! Had tey heard it? The horse-hoofs
ringing clar;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they eaf that they did
not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brw of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to heir riming! She stood up stright and still!
Tlot-tlot, in the fosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing nigh!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face as like a lght!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one ast deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her reast in the moonlight and warnd him-with her death.
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did nt kow who stood
Bowed, with her head o'r the muske, drenched with her on red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlrd's daugher,
The landlord's black-eyed daugter,
Had watched for he love in the moonlight, and did in the darkness ther.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to he sky,
Wth the white road soking behind him and his rapir brandished high!
Blood-red were his purs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When hey shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highay,
And he lay in his blod on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throt.
* * * * * *
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the win is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tosse upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman coms riding-
Riding-riing-
A highwayman comes riding, up to he old inn-dor.
Over the cobbles he claters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
And he taps wit his whip on the shuttrs, but all is ocked and brred;
He whisles a tune to the window, and who should be wating there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, he landlord's daghter,
Plaiting a ark red love-knot into hr long black hair.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jura gbyq gb nqq.. nqq gur ahzore gb pnyphyngrq abeguvat qrpvzny cneg gb trg gur jrfgvat qrpvzny cneg.