26 A JACORITE EXILE

crash that for a moment he was unable to rise. He heard
a rustling in the bushes, and then his father leapt down be-
side him.

“Where are you, my boy? Has the scoundrel hurt you?”

“He has given me a shake,” Charlie said as he sat up;
“and what is worse, J am afraid he has got away.”

“Follow me, gentlemen, and scatter through the gar-
dens,” Sir Marmaduke roared; “the villain has escaped!”

For a few minutes there was a hot pursuit through the
shrubbery and gardens, but nothing was discovered.
Charlie had been so shaken that he was unable to join the
pursuit, but having got on to his feet remained leaning
against the wall until his father came back.

“He has got away, Charlie. Have you any idea who he
was?”

“Tt was Nicholson, father; at least I am almost certain
that it was him. It was too dark to see his face. I could
see the outline of his head against the window, and he had
on a cap with a cock’s feather which I had noticed the man
wore.”

“But how came you here, Charlie?”

“T will tell you that afterwards, father,—don’t ask me
now;” for at this moment some of the others were coming
up. Several of them had torches, and as they approached
Sir Marmaduke saw something lying on the ground under
the window. He picked it up.

“Here is the fellow’s cap,” he said. “You must have
hit him a shrewd blow, Charlie, for here is a clean cut
through the cloth and a patch of fresh blood on the white
lining. How did he get you down, lad?”

“He fell so suddenly when I hit him that I thought I had
either killed or stunned him; but of course I had not, for
it was but a moment after, when I was speaking to you,
that I felt my ankles seized and I went down with a crash.
T heard him make off through the bushes; but I was for