was over, the captain led his guests forth to their
respective bedrooms, each carrying a lighted candle from the table. At
the top of a stair was a closed door, which he unlocked with his key,
and locked after the others had passed through. Along the passage which
ran from this door were doors at intervals in the walls, and these he
opened, one after another, showing one of his guests each time into a
bedroom and leaving him there. On the stair, Aunt Amanda had whispered
into Toby's ear the words, "Don't go to bed. Pass it along." And these
words had been passed in a whisper from one to another of the captives.

Aunt Amanda, in her own room, now sat herself down to wait. She blew out
her candle, and sat watching the shaft of moonlight which came through
the slit that served for a window. She must have fallen asleep, for she
came to herself with a start, and found the shaft of moonlight gone. She
limped to the door, and found it locked. She took from her dress the
pigeon-pie key and unlocked the door. The passage-way outside was silent
and dark. She felt her way along the wall to the next door, and found it
locked. She quietly unlocked it with her key. Toby was sitting within,
waiting. He rose without a word, and followed her. They tiptoed from
door to door, finding each one locked, and silently released each of the
prisoners.

The key fitted every lock on their way down stairs. They reached the
ground floor without an accident, and there in the passage which they
had first seen they stopped to listen. They heard the click of a latch
at the rear; a door there opened quietly on a crack and a light shone
through; every heart stopped beating for a moment. The door opened
wider, and a lighted candle appeared, and over it the wrinkled face of
an old woman; she peered out into the passage, shading the candle with a
trembling hand; the party of quaking runaways stood as still as mice,
and held their breath; the old woman blinked for a moment into the
darkness, and blew out her candle. All was dark again, and the latch of
the door clicked.

The runaways lost no time. They crept silently but rapidly to the
entrance door. Aunt Amanda unlocked and opened it, and they pressed out
hurriedly. They were standing on the grass in a flood of moonlight.

Aunt Amanda, whose lameness had been almost forgotten in her excitement,
now leaned on Toby, who was holding Freddie's hand, and who led the way
to the rim of the forest where the trail