case, and about the hall near
it. Line the gallery with mattresses, two deep, leaving spaces to fire
through. Light all the lamps, and get more candles to fix about; we
shall not see very clearly after the smoke of the first dozen shots.
When you have finished, come to me. Now, shall we go back to dinner?"

I am not ashamed to own I had little appetite; nevertheless, I sat down.
Kate had gone to her room. If her courage was failing, she did not wish
to show it.

Suddenly our host got up and went to the window. His practiced ear had
caught the tread of the horse which Maddox was taking out as quietly as
possible. We watched him stealing along under the trees till their
shelter failed him. Then he put Sunbeam to speed, and rode boldly at the
rails. A yell went up from the road, and we saw dark figures running;
then came a shot, just as the horse was rising at the fence, he hit it
hard, and the splinters flew up white in the moonlight, but he was over.
We held our breath, while several flashes told of dropping shots after
the fugitive. They did not stop him, though; and, to our great relief,
we heard the wild rush of the frightened horse subside into a long
stretching gallop, and the wind brought back a cheery hollo--"Forr'ard,
forr'ard away!"

"So far so good," said Ralph Mohun, as he sat down again, and went in
steadily at a woodcock. "Don't hurry yourselves, gentlemen. We have
three quarters of an hour yet; they will take that time to muster.
Clontarf, some Hock?"

The boy to whom he spoke held out his glass with a pleasant smile. The
coming peril had not altered a tint on his fresh, beardless cheeks--rosy
and clear as a page's in one of Boucher's pictures.

A good contrast he made with the miserable attorney, who had followed us
uninvited (it seemed he only felt safe in our presence), and who was
crouching in a corner, his lank hair plastered round his livid convulsed
face with the sweat of mortal fear.

It struck Mohun, I think. He laid his hand on Clontarf's shoulder, and
spoke with a kindliness of voice and manner most unusual with him--

"We'll quell the savage mountaineer,
As their Tinchell cows the game:
They come as fleet as forest deer;
We'll drive them back as tame."

Even at that anxious moment I could not help laughing at the idea of
Ralph quoting poetry--of that grim Saul among the prophets.

I went in to keep up Kate's spirits. She bore up gallantly, poor child,
and I le