and crew
that had once served under Captain Walladmor, instantly left the port
of Antwerp--and sailed, upon good information as to the place and
circumstances of his confinement, to the coast of North Wales. On this
Monday she had communicated with the shore; and soon after night-fall
she stood in for the bay of Walladmor.

He however who was acquainted with the strength of the castle, and had
witnessed the preparations of the sheriff, might reasonably despair of
a liberation that was to be effected by force. The castle itself,
strengthened by such a garrison as now occupied its defences, was
capable of making some resistance: but the Falcon tower, with its
succession of iron doors, its narrow and difficult approaches, and the
aerial situation of its prison, might be considered absolutely
impregnable to any thing short of an army with a regular train of
storming artillery.

Confiding in this superabundant strength, the sheriff--to whom Sir
Charles Davenant had resigned the disposal of the soldiers--had not
thought it necessary to take any other precautions than that of locking
all the doors in the tower, and placing a guard of five men in the
little guard-room which opened upon the rocky gallery. There was no
possibility of any attempt on the part of the prisoner to escape; nor
of any sudden alarm in this quarter: the men were therefore allowed to
sleep; with directions to admit nobody who did not produce an order
bearing the seal of the sheriff or the lord lieutenant. One centinel
was placed inside the great gate; and, in case of any alarm, he was to
ring the great bell of the chapel.

It was now midnight: profound silence reigned in the castle: and the
sheriff, finding that all was quiet on the outside, retired to rest.

Meantime in what state was the prisoner? He knew nothing of any designs
to liberate him: but he was more cheerful notwithstanding than he had
been for some time past. Compared with that in which he had surrendered
himself, his present state of mind might be called a happy one. He had
learned that Miss Walladmor had not disregarded his letters, still less
rejected him, in the way he had been made to believe. His own letters
to her had been duly delivered: but her replies, which (by his own
desire) were entrusted to Mrs. Godber, had been intercepted by her:
some communication between her son Tom and Grace Evans had raised a
suspicion of that nature; Tom had made a search in a neighbouring
cottage