lure as they
walked sharply back to the Castle.

"You don't say anything, Master Rayburn," cried Ralph at last. "Do you
think we were so very much to blame?"

"Blame, my boy?" cried the old man. "I always liked you two lads, and,
wrong or right, I think you've done a grand thing."

"What?"

"I never felt so proud of you both in my life."

Ralph smiled.

"That's very good of you, Master Rayburn," he said, "and it's a bit
comforting; but I've got father to meet by-and-by."

"And so have I, my boy," cried the old man warmly, "to take the blame of
it all. For it was my doing from beginning to end. I incited you lads
to go and do this, and I shall tell your father it is only what he and
Sir Edward Eden ought to have done months ago."

"But we failed--failed," groaned Ralph dismally.

"Failed! You have not done all you meant to do, but you have read those
ruffians a severe lesson, and next time--"

"Ah! next time," sighed Ralph.

"Come, Ralph! Be a man. Nothing great is ever done without failure
first. Your father will be angry, and naturally. He'll scold and
blame, and all that; but I know what he is at heart, and he'll think as
I do, that he need not be ashamed of his son, even if he has failed."

The quarters were reached soon after, and the sufferer who had been
carried back received the first attention, the others all having their
turn; and just as the last bandage had been applied, Sir Morton, who had
been having a walk round, came upon the pikes, stained and blunted,
leaning against a buttress of the wall. This brought him to the men's
quarters, and in utter astonishment he stood gazing at the scene.

"Ah! good morning," said Master Rayburn, in answer to his wondering look
from his son to the injured men and back. "They'll be easier now. Only
one hurt much, and he'll be all right again after a few days' rest."

"But what does this mean?" said Sir Morton; and his son stood out, and
in a frank, manly way, once more related the adventures of the night.

Sir Morton's face grew sterner and harder as he heard everything to the
finish; and he was just about to speak, when Master Rayburn broke in:

"My doing, from beginning to end. I told them they ought to do it."

"And a nice business your interference has made, sir!" cried Sir Morton
angrily. "You see now that it is impossible for two such adverse
elements to get on together. The brutes! to turn upon those who had
been fighting by their si