ise when Fred fell asleep, to dream of being
in the dense thicket, carrying Nat, the Hall gardener, on his back to
the hole broken through into the secret passage, where he threw him
down, and covered him up with bushes to be out of the way till he got
better; but, as fast as he threw him down, he came back again,
rebounding like a bladder, till Samson came to his help, drew his sword,
and pricked him, when he sank down to the bottom and lay still. Then
Scarlett seemed to come out of the hole and reproach him for being a
coward and a rebel, seizing him at last and shaking him severely, and
all the while, though he struggled hard, he could not free himself from
his grasp. So tight was his hold that he felt helpless and half
strangled, the painful sensation of inability to move increasing till he
seemed to make one terrible effort, seized the hands which held him,
looked fiercely in his assailant's eyes, and exclaimed, "Coward,
yourself!"

"Well, sir, dare say I am," was the reply; "but what can you expect of a
man when you take him out of his garden and make a soldier of him all at
once."

"Samson!"

"Yes, sir. Breakfast's ready, sir, such as it is. What's the matter
with you? I never had such a job to waken you before."

"I--I was very sound asleep," stammered Fred, rising hastily. "Did--did
I say anything?"

"Pitched an ugly word at my head about not being so brave as you thought
I ought to be, that's all."

"Don't take any notice of what I said, I must have been dreaming."

"That's what I often wake up and feel I've been doing," said Samson. "I
often don't know whether I'm on my head or my heels; it seems so
strange. Wonder how that Nat is. He always gets the best of it. Lying
there with nothing to do. Just his way, sir, curling himself up snug,
and letting other people do his work. There you are, sir, bucket of
clean water from the lake. Have a good wash, and you'll feel like a new
man. What a difference it must make to you, sir, dressing yourself out
here, after having your comfortable room at home, and you so near it,
too. Why, sir, the colonel might have told you to go home to sleep.
Say, sir!"

"Well?" said Fred, taking his head out of the bucket of clear cold
water, and feeling afterwards, as he rubbed himself dry, that new life
was running through his veins.

"Wouldn't it be nice for you to run down to the Manor to breakfast, sir,
and bring back a few decent things to eat? I wouldn't