d faithfully taken the
oath required of her.

The elder man laid his insensible burden in the boat, and then climbed
in after her.

The last was a difficult feat, for the water was brimming to the window
sill, and the boat was above it.

As the man stepped into the boat, his weight caused it to tip so much
that it cast a shower into the cell.

Miss Tabby shrieked out that she was going to be drowned, although not a
drop of water had touched her.

Raphael soothed her and helped her into the boat, and put her in a seat
near the elder man.

"That's the thing! Now do you support this lady's head on your lap, for
I shall have to row," said the man, as he transferred Sybil Berners from
his own arms to Miss Tabby's, and then took up the oar.

Raphael took up the other oar, and they were rowing away from the prison
walls when their attention was attracted by the sound of a dog's whining
in the cell. They looked up and saw Sybil's little Skye terrier on the
window sill, with her fore-paws in the water. And at the same instant
little Nelly struck out, swam towards them, jumped into the boat, and
nestled at her mistress' feet.

The rain had ceased, and the clouds were breaking away from the eastern
horizon, where the first crimson streak heralded the rising sun.

They rowed swiftly towards the heights, which now appeared not so much
like the boundaries of a valley as the hilly shores of an inland sea.

Yes, the Black Valley seemed indeed transformed into a black lake,
surrounded with wooded hills, and dotted with wooded isles; but these
seeming hills were really mountains, and these seeming isles were the
tops of submerged trees.

They rowed to the nearest point of land and stopped the boat, where a
little path led up the steep ascent.

"Do you see that path?" inquired the elder man of the old woman.

"Yes, my dear gentleman, I do," said Miss Tabby.

"Do you know where it leads?"

"Yes, my dear gentleman; it leads to a cluster of quarrymen's cottages."

"Then get out of the boat and go up there; there you will find shelter."

"But, my good sir, my sick lady?" inquired Miss Tabby, hesitating.

"Never mind her. She will be a blamed sight better taken care of by us,
than she has been lately by any of you! Come, get out with you!"

"But, sir, I daren't desert my sick lady."

"I'm blest, if you don't get out of this boat in double quick time, if I
don't pitch your head foremost into the water, and drown you. We