Desmond and three or four others, who had gathered to see the
members of the council come out, had been ordered off by the
sentries as soon as the first chair was called, but remained near
enough to hear the names. To his satisfaction, Godolphin's chair
was carried off in the direction they had anticipated, and he at
once ran on and joined his companions.

Presently, the lights carried by the two link men were seen
approaching, and, as the chair came abreast of him, he shouted:

"Now!"

Almost simultaneously, the four heavy cudgels alighted on the
heads of the four men, levelling them senseless to the ground; and
O'Neil and Desmond sprang to the chair, and wrenched the door
open, while O'Sullivan and Mike bound the four men, and thrust the
gags into their mouths. Lord Godolphin had been thrown from his
seat by the sudden fall of his bearers, and was seized and bound
before he was conscious of what had happened. Then his captors
assisted the others in carrying the fallen men to some distance
from the path.

A couple of minutes sufficed to cover the gilding and armorial
bearings upon the chair. The torches were still burning on the
ground. One of these was stamped out. Desmond took the other. Mike
and O'Sullivan went between the poles, and adjusted the leathern
straps over their shoulders, and started.

Emerging from the park at Charing Cross, past the old church of
Saint. Martin's in the Fields, and keeping round the walls to
Holborn Bars, they made their way to their lodging, and Godolphin
was carried into their room, which was on the ground floor. Mike
and O'Neil then took the chair away, and left it in a narrow
alley, where it was not likely to attract attention until the
morning.

Not until they returned was anything said to their prisoner. It
had been agreed that O'Neil, as the senior, was to be spokesman of
the party.

"Lord Godolphin," he said, "I regret that circumstances have
obliged us to use force towards you, but our necessities compel us
to leave the country at once, and it has appeared to us that in no
way could we get away so expeditiously as with the aid of your
lordship. We will now set you free. I must tell you, beforehand,
that if you attempt to raise your voice and give the alarm, we
shall be constrained to blow out your brains."

Mike now released him from the bonds, and removed the gag from his
mouth, but for a time the minister was incapable of speech, being
choked by anger at the