guard on
either side. A few steps further, and another order was issued, followed
by the pressing up of the men that went on foot so as to form a complete
square about the three riders.

Robin put a question, but the men gave him no answer. He could see that
they were preoccupied and anxious. Then, as step by step they made their
way forward and gained the corner of the market-place, he saw the reason
of these precautions; for the whole square was one pack of heads, except
where, somewhere in the midst, a great bonfire blazed in the sunlight.
The noise, too, was deafening; drums were beating, horns blowing, men
shouting aloud. From window after window leaned heads, and, as the party
advanced yet further, they came suddenly in view of a scaffold hung with
gay carpets and ribbons, on which a civil dignitary, in some official
dress, was gesticulating.

It was useless to ask a question; not a word could have been heard
unless it were shouted aloud; and presently the din redoubled, for out
of sight, round some corner, guns were suddenly shot off one after
another; and the cheering grew shrill and piercing in contrast.

As they came out at last, without attracting any great attention, into
the more open space at the entrance of Friar's Gate, Robin turned again
and asked what the matter was. It was plainly not himself, as he had at
first almost believed.

The man turned an exultant face to him.

"It's the Spanish fleet!" he said. "There's not a ship of it left, they
say."

When they halted at the gate of the prison there was another pause,
while the cord that tied his feet was cut, and he was helped from his
horse, as he was stiff and constrained from the long ride under such
circumstances. He heard a roar of interest and abuse, and, perhaps, a
little sympathy, from the part of the crowd that had followed, as the
gate close behind him.

II

As his eyes became better accustomed to the dark, he began to see what
kind of a place it was in which he found himself. It was a square little
room on the ground-floor, with a single, heavily-barred window, against
which the dirt had collected in such quantities as to exclude almost all
light. The floor was beaten earth, damp and uneven; the walls were built
of stones and timber, and were dripping with moisture; there was a table
and a stool in the centre of the room, and a dark heap in the corner. He
examined this presently, and found it to be rotting hay covered with
some ki