.

"Drive as hard as you can go to the Proiory, me man," said the major.

The sulky ostler made no remark, but a look of surprise passed over his
phlegmatic countenance. For years back so little had been heard of the
old monastery that its very existence had been almost forgotten in
Bedsworth. Now whole troops of Londoners were coming down in
succession, demanding to be driven there. He pondered over the strange
fact as he drove through the darkness, but the only conclusion to which
his bucolic mind could come was that it was high time to raise the fare
to that particular point.

It was a miserable night, stormy and wet and bitterly cold. None of the
five men had a thought to spare for the weather, however. The two
foreigners had been so infected by the suppressed excitement of their
companions, or had so identified themselves with their comrades' cause,
that they were as eager as the others.

"Are we near?" the major asked.

"The gate is just at the end o' the lane, sir."

"Don't pull up at the gate, but take us a little past it."

"There ain't no way in except the gate," the driver remarked.

"Do what you're ordered," said the major sternly. Once again the
ostler's face betrayed unbounded astonishment. He slewed half-way round
in his seat and took as good a look as was possible in the uncertain
light at the faces of his passengers. It had occurred to him that it
was more than likely that he would have to swear to them at some future
date in a police-court. "I'd know that thick 'un wi' the red face," he
muttered to himself, "and him wi' the yeller beard and the stick."

They passed the stone pillars with the weather-beaten heraldic devices,
and drove along by the high park wall. When they had gone a hundred
yards or so the major ordered the driver to pull up, and they all got
down. The increased fare was paid without remonstrance, and the ostler
rattled away homewards, with the intention of pulling up at the county
police-station and lodging information as to the suspicious visitors
whom he had brought down.

"It is loikely that they have a watch at the gate," said the major.
"We must kape away from there. This wall is a great hoight. We'd best
kape on until we find the aisiest place to scale it."

"I could get over it here," Tom said eagerly.

"Wait a bit. A few minutes can make no difference one way or the other.
Ould Sir Colin used to say that there were more battles lost by
over-haste th