Excerpt from The Poacher and His Family If it was cold without doors, the more need was there of a good fire within. So thought Sam Giles at the Crooked Billet; and, accordingly, he heaped fresh logs on the wood which was blazing on the hearth and, sitting down in the chimney corner, he went on smoking his pipe, which he had laid aside when he made up the fire. The Crooked Billet was the name of a low sort of public-house, and Sam Giles was the landlord Black Giles he was called by some who had read or heard of the story of Black Giles the poacher; and the name was appropriate enough in more respects than one, for Sam was a dark man in complexion he had also a gloomy black cast of countenance, never looking straight before him, or good-humoured, or open, as an honest man should and his character too well corresponded with his face. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.