feet. He was trembling
from head to foot and caught Father Holland roughly by the shoulder.

"Speak out, Sir! What of Miriam?" he demanded in dry, hard, rasping
tones.

"Well, well, safe and inviolate. So's the boy, a big boy now! May ye
have them both in y'r arms soon--soon--soon!" and again he fell to
studying the fire with an unhurried deliberation, that was torture to
Hamilton.

"Are they with you? Are they with you?" shouted Hamilton, hope bounding
up elastically to the wildest heights after his long depression. "Don't
keep me in suspense! I cannot bear it. Tell me where they are," he
pleaded. "Are they with you?" and his eyes burned into the priest's like
live coals. "Are--they--with--you?"

"No--Lord--no!" roared Father Holland, alarmed at Hamilton's violent
condition. "But," he added, seeing Eric reel dizzily, "but they're all
right! Now you keep quiet and don't scare the wits out of a body!
They're all right, I tell you, and I've come straight from them for the
ransom price."

"Get it, Rufus, get it!" shouted Hamilton to me, throwing his hands
distractedly to his head, a habit too common with him of late. "Get it!
Get it!" he kept calling, utterly beside himself.

"Sit down, will you?" thundered the priest, as if Eric's sitting down
would calm all agitation. "Sit down! Behave! Keep quiet, both of you, or
my tongue'll forget holy orders and give ye some good Irish eloquence!
What d' y' mane, scarin' the breath out of a body and blowing his ideas
to limbo? Keep quiet, now, and listen!"

"And did they," I cried, in spite of the injunction, "did they do that
to you?" pointing to the scar on his brow.

"Yes, they did."

"Because they saw you with me?"

"No, that's a brand for the faith, you conceited whelp, you--they
stopped their tortures because they saw you with me. Now, swell out,
Rufus, and gloat over your importance! I tell you it was the devil,
himself, snatched my martyr's crown."

"Le Grand Diable?"

"Le Grand Diable's own minion. I saw his devilish eyes leering from the
back o' the crowd, when I was tied to a stake. 'Bring that Indian to
me,' sez I, transfixing him with my gaze; for--you understand--I
couldn't point, my hands being tied. Troth! But ye should 'a' seen their
looks of amazement at me boldness! There was I, roped to that tree, like
a pig for the boiling pot, and sez I, 'Bring--that Indian--to me!' just
as though I was managing the execution," and the priest paused to enjoy
th