been laid in a room
on the farther side of the kitchen if they chose to use them; but with
the door on the latch Hunt had a shrewd suspicion that they would sit up
and watch. They soon fell silent, however, and though the remembrance of
the events which had happened since he last lay there kept him long
waking, and in miserable mood, he heard neither voices nor movements.
For himself he was sick at heart thinking of the girl and her lover, and
furious at the treachery of the hound who pursued her. Nevertheless,
Nature would have its way, and he was in the act of sinking into slumber
when a cry which pierced the night and was followed by a discord of
voices, raised in sharp contention, brought him startled to his feet.

He had little doubt that Eubank and his men had seized Fayle in the act
of entering the house; and enraged, yet bitterly aware of his impotence,
he huddled on some clothes, and in a twinkling was out of his room. But
in the kitchen, of which the outer door stood wide open to the night,
was only Eubank; who, without his wig, and with a pistol poised in his
uncertain hand, had entrenched himself in the angle between the settle
and the hearth. The smuggler, seeing no one else, vented his wrath on
him.

"You dog!" he cried. "Are honest men to be kept awake by such as you?
What does this mean?"

"It means that we have got your fine son-in-law!" the other retorted
with venom. "And we are going to keep him. So your distance, if you
please. I know you of old, and if you come within a yard of me I will
put a ball into you. Now mark that!"

"You have got him?" said Hunt, restraining himself with difficulty.
"Where?"

"They are bringing him," Eubank answered. "You will see him soon
enough." And then, as one of the soldiers appeared in the doorway, "Have
you got him?" the apothecary cried eagerly.

"Ay, ay," the man said.

"But where is he?"

"Hughes and Lort are bringing him."

"Are they enough?" Eubank cried anxiously.

"Plenty," the soldier answered with some scorn. "He made no fight."

"I'll lay you caught him under her window?" Eubank returned, licking his
lips.

The man nodded; then stood twiddling his cap, and looking ashamed of
himself. For Kate Hunt had just appeared at the open staircase door,
and thence, raised a step above the floor, with a hand on each post, was
taking in the scene.

Eubank--who did not see her--chuckled. "I thought so," he said, with an
evil grin; and between his bald