dog gave tongue again, and kept on
barking, coming nearer and nearer, and more rapidly as the scent grew
hotter: while before another dozen yards were passed the lad had to
seize the first block of stone he could lift, and turn at bay, for the
dog had sighted him and rushed forward, as if to leap at his throat.

There is many a dog, though--perhaps taught by experience--that will
face a staff, but shrink in the most timid manner from a stone; and it
was so here. At the first threatening movement made by Ralph, the dog
stopped short, barking furiously, and the lad glanced downward once
more. But to proceed meant to turn his back upon his four-footed enemy,
which would have seized him directly.

There was nothing then to be done but face it, and he prepared to hurl
his missile, but, to the lad's despair, the second dog, which had been
silent, now rushed up, and he had to keep them both off as he stood at
bay, the new-comer being more viciously aggressive than the first.

"I can't help it: I must make a dash for freedom," thought Ralph; and,
raising his stone higher, he hurled it at the bigger dog, which avoided
it by bounding aside. Then turning, he dashed downward, right into the
arms of a man.

There was a sharp struggle, and the latter was getting worsted, being
lower down, and having to bear the shock of Ralph's weight in the bound,
but the next moment unexpectedly the lad felt himself seized from
behind, two more men came panting up, and, utterly mastered, he found
himself upon his back, with one enemy seated upon his chest, another
holding his arms outspread, and the others his legs, thoroughly
spread-eagled upon the sloping rock.

"Got you now," said the leader of the little party. "You, Tom, we can
manage him.--Get out, will you, dogs!--Here, take them with you. Run to
the mine hut, and get some rope to tie him. Be as smart as you can.
The master'll give us something decent for a job like this."

The man addressed called the dogs to him, and was unwillingly obeyed,
but a few stones thrown by the rest overcame the animals' objections,
and they trotted off, leaving the prisoner relapsed into a sulky
silence; his captors chatted pleasantly together about his fate,
banteringly telling him that for certain he would be hung over the
castle wall.

Ralph paid no heed to what was said, and after a time the men grew tired
of their banter, and began to wonder among themselves whether their
companion would say a