DENOUNCED F 47

nothing. Mr. Jervoise had seemed to think that it was out
of the question to attempt a rescue from Lancaster; but
surely if he could get together forty or fifty determined fel-
lows, a sudden assault upon the place might be successful.
Then he set to work reckoning up the grooms, the younger
tenants, and the sons of the older ones, and jotted down
the names of twenty-seven who he thought might join in
the attempt.

“If Harry could get twenty-three from his people, that
would make it up to the number,” he said. “Of course I
don’t know what the difficulties to be encountered may be.
I have ridden there with my father, and I know that the cas-
tle is a strong one, but I did not notice it very particularly.
The first thing to do will be to go and examine it closely.
No doubt ladders will be required, but we could make rope-
ladders and take them into the town in a cart hidden under
faggots, or something of that sort. I do hope Mr. Jervoise
will come to-morrow. It is horrible waiting here in sus-
pense.”

The next morning the hours seemed endless. Half a
dozen times he went restlessly in and out, walking a little
distance up the hill rising from the valley, and returning
again with the vain idea that Mr. Jervoise might have
arrived. Still more slowly did the time appear to go after
dinner. He was getting into a fever of impatience and
anxiety, when about five o’clock he saw a figure coming
down the hillside from the right. It was too far away to
recognize with certainty, but by the rapid pace at which
he descended the hill he had little doubt that it was Harry,
and he at once started at the top of his speed to meet him,
The doubt was soon changed into a certainty. When, a
few hundred yards up the hill, he met his friend both were
almost breathless. Harry was the first to gasp out:

“Has my father arrived?”

“Not yet.”