onor and wealth; for
we have heard good things of your courage and prudence. If,
however, you remain stubborn, we shall find means to compel you to
do that which we would fain that you should do of your free will;
and if you still defy, at once, the kindness and the chastisement
of the church, you will receive that doom which awaits all who defy
its authority."

The attendants now touched the lads on the arm, in token that the
audience was over, and led them back to the room in which they had
first been confined. When left alone the boys examined this
closely, although seeming to be looking without motive at the
walls. The windows were placed high up from the ground, far beyond
their reach, and were thickly barred.

The door was of massive oak; and the room, although in appearance
but an ordinary apartment, was truly a dungeon as safe, and as
difficult to break out of, as if far below the surface of the
earth. Later on, when an attendant came in with the bread and
water, which formed the substance of each meal, as he placed it on
the table he said, in a low muttered whisper:

"Hope always. Friends are working."

This intimation greatly raised the spirits of the prisoners, as
they felt that their friend the Spaniard had already succeeded in
corrupting some, at least, of the familiars of the Inquisition; and
that no means would be spared to secure their escape, should the
worst occur.

For three days they were visited for many hours daily by a priest,
who endeavored to explain to Ned the points of difference between
the two religions, and to convince him of the errors of that of
England. Ned, however, although but a poor theologist, gave answer,
to all his arguments, that he could in no way reply to the
reasonings of the priest; but that he was, nevertheless, convinced
of their error, and sure that a divine of his church would have
found replies to difficulties to which he could see no outlet. The
priest strove earnestly with him, but at the end of the third day
he retired, exasperated, saying angrily that he now left them to
other hands.

Chapter 16: The Rescue.

The next day they were again brought before the tribunal, and the
grand inquisitor, without this time entering into any length of
speech, informed them briefly that he gave them another three days;
and that if, at the end of the third day, their obstinacy did not
yield, he would use the means at his disposal--and he pointed to
various instr