embrandtish scene, all light and
shadow, with the men stretched about asleep, and two more seated upon a
bench busily trickling spirit from the little keg into a small horn,
from which they drank in turn with a sigh of satisfaction.

The others slept on, one now and then making an uneasy movement; but it
was evident that there were to be no more partners in the coming
drinking bout, and Hilary began to calculate how long it would be before
they would have drunk enough to make them sleepy and ready to join their
companions upon the floor.

He had no means of judging, but he concluded that it must now be nearly
three o'clock, and in an hour's time it would be getting light. And
yet, near as he was to safety, it seemed that he was to be disappointed,
and to wait there till somebody or other came to the place and gave the
alarm.

By keeping the door just ajar he was able to watch the two men; but a
couple of hours had passed before he saw them stretch themselves upon
the floor, after carefully hiding away the little keg, and at last
Hilary felt that he might venture to cross the great kitchen again and
endeavour to find another outlet.

The day had broken some time before, and the cold grey light that shone
in through the iron grating showed him that he was correct in his
surmises, and that the place had been a dairy; but the window was too
strong for him to break through, and there was nothing for it but to
cross the party of sleeping men.

He was some little time before he could make up his mind to the effort,
and when he did, and began to slowly open the door, he let it glide to
once more, for one of the men suddenly uttered a loud yawn, jumped up
and stretched himself, before giving a companion a kick in the side.

It took several kicks to induce the man to get up; but when he did it
was in a morose, angry disposition, and he revenged himself by going
round and kicking every other man till the whole party was awake, and
Hilary saw his chances fade away, while, to add to his misery, the next
act of the party was to go to a great cupboard, from which a ham and a
couple of loaves were produced, upon which they made a vigorous
onslaught, each man opening his jack-knife and hewing off a lump of
bread and cutting a great slice of ham.

They ate so heartily that a feeling of hunger was excited in the
prisoner's breast; but this soon passed off, and he sat there wondering
how long it would be before one or other of the