sounds of approaching
footsteps and ready at a moment to stand back to back and defend
themselves.

But no one appeared to disturb them, and they pushed on steadily for
five miles till they found themselves on a slight eminence and close to
a farmhouse which they had seen from their hiding-place that morning.
They were on the point of moving on and stealing past it, when a
groaning sound caught Jack's ear, and he stopped abruptly, detaining Guy
with a tug at his coat.

"What was it?" he asked. "I heard a groan, or something of the sort.
Did you hear anything?"

"No, nothing," Guy answered.

"Well, let us wait a moment and listen."

Standing perfectly still, and almost holding their breath, they craned
their heads in the direction from which the sound had come, and strained
their ears to listen for it.

There was deep silence for a minute, and then a low, sobbing groan broke
the stillness, seeming to come from the interior of the house.

"What is it, Guy?" Jack asked again; and then, as the sob was heard
again and broke into a loud wail, he blurted out in a hoarse whisper:
"There's something wrong there. Come along, and let us find out what's
the matter."

Creeping noiselessly across the ground, they reached the house, and
skirted all round it till they came to the back, where a broad stream of
light showed through a window. The window was wide open, and as they
stood watching it the sobbing wail once more reached their ears, and
told them that they were close to some woman in distress.

"Come along, Guy. We'll see what is up," Jack whispered, and at once
stole forward and looked into the room.

The sight which they witnessed was one which neither will ever forget.
Over the figure of an infant, sleeping peacefully in a cot in the middle
of a dismantled room, was a distracted woman, weeping bitterly, with big
sobs which showed her to be heart-broken. At any other time she would
have been described as a comely woman, for she had young and pleasant
features and was tastefully dressed. But now grief seemed to have
utterly unhinged her mind, and she bore upon her face deep lines of
sorrow and despair which would have made the hardest villain pity her.

Jack was on the point of risking all and calling to her, when a change
of temper seemed to alter her. From a grief-stricken woman she suddenly
became a tiger, and, leaving the child, flung her arms wildly into the
air and called down the wrath of heaven u