have fallen into the hands of those who will have as little regard for her
feelings and wishes as I had. I think she has been taken from the cave by
some of our number, but with what design is more than I can tell."

"Where is the cave?"

"I am bound by the most solemn oath never, under any circumstances, to make
known its location, and if I were to do so, it would avail you nothing now;
she is not there."

"Well, can't you give us some clue to its whereabouts?"

"No, I dare not. I know how great must be your anxiety to learn the fate of
Eveline, but I can assist you no further in prosecuting a search for her.
She is either safe, or her doom is sealed, and I know not which is the most
probable, safety or destruction. In fact I am as much in the dark as you
are in relation to her last disappearance; it is a mystery which I can only
account for on the supposition already stated, that there is treason in the
League."

All this was said with difficulty by Duffel, who suffered great pain from
his wound, but would not allow himself to be disturbed until he had
revealed what was on his mind. He now permitted himself to be placed on a
rude litter, which was prepared by the men out of the branches of trees,
and was carefully borne toward his home.

But before they had emerged from the swamp he motioned them to stop, and
they did so.

"I am going!" he said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper. "I thank you
for your kindness. Whoever bears the tidings of my death to my mother,
please break the news to her as gently as possible."

The thought of his mother seemed to awaken the better part of his nature,
and at the same time to quicken his pulses. He grew stronger under the
excitement, and ejaculated in a louder tone:

"Oh, my God! that I should come to this! I fear the intelligence will kill
her!"

He covered his face with his hands and groaned in agony. Every eye in that
solemn group around him was moist with tears.

"Take me on!" said the sufferer, after a pause. "Possibly I may be able to
hold out till I reach home. If I do not, Mr. Mandeville, and you should
ever see Eveline again tell her that almost with my dying words I craved
her forgiveness."

Duffel the man and villain was subdued, and Duffel the boy was again come
to life. The memory of a mother's love opened the long-sealed fountain of
affection in his sin-encased heart, and he felt once more, in a little
degree, as he had done in the days of his innocence