"I could leave it behind me," Roger said.

"You have not much on underneath, Roger; and your bareness, in such
weather as this, would be as noticeable as your gown. Mind, before it
gets light, get the ladies up, and carry our bag of victuals and the
water skin over the crest. You may be sure that, as soon as it is
light, there will be many sharp eyes watching the hillside, all along
here."

The man who had come up with them had already wrapped himself in the
blanket he had brought with him, had crawled in among the bushes, and
was, as they could hear by his heavy breathing, already sound asleep.
After a time Oswald said that, as they had nothing more to settle, he
would try and get a few hours' rest. There was not the slightest fear
of surprise, and Roger and he were not long before they were both sound
asleep. Oswald woke two or three times and, at first sign of dawn,
shook Roger.

"You had better wake the ladies, in a few minutes, Roger, and get them
over the crest. Let their man, as soon as he has seen them, start at
once, keeping along behind the ridge, and warn him not to go down into
the valley until he is fully a mile beyond Parton. Tell him to look
carefully along the road, before he begins to descend, and to see that
it is clear. Even then, let him hide as much as may be, behind
brushwood and rock, until he gets down. When he has swum the river, let
him make a wide detour round Parton, so as to come down to the stables
without being noticed.

"I shall not be very long away. 'Tis scarce likely, among these hills,
that I shall find any place that we can crawl into; and I think we
shall have to content ourselves with lying down among the heather. I
must find a spot where no one, on any hill above, can look down on us.
We shall be quite safe from any party moving along on the same level as
ourselves."

Oswald had gone but a little distance, when he determined that no
better place could be found than the plateau itself. This extended, for
two or three hundred yards from the edge, looking down into the valley.
Beyond, the ground sloped sharply down again into a deep hollow; and
beyond, it was broken into rounded swells, rising one above another. A
party lying among the heather, where he was standing, could not be seen
by watchers from any other point. Moreover, it was most important that
all should be in shelter before it was fairly daylight. He therefore,
as soon as it was light enough to take in the princi