y three or four candles. He was partly stunned by the
heaviness of his fall, but vaguely heard shouts of surprise and alarm,
and was, a minute later, roughly seized and dragged along. Then he felt
that he was being tightly bound. For some minutes he was left to
himself, but he could see three men with guns in their hands standing
near the door by which he had entered, listening attentively. Presently
he heard steps coming down the passage and two other men came through
the door, shut and bolted it carefully, and then came down the steps
into the cabin.

They spoke to their comrades as they came in, and the news was evidently
satisfactory, for the men leaned their guns against the wall and came to
the table. There was some talk for a few minutes, and then Julian was
raised and placed in a sitting position on the head of a cask by the
table. One of the men then addressed him in French. Julian, who by this
time had recovered from the effects of his fall, shook his head. The
other then spoke to the poacher, who had seated himself opposite Julian,
and the latter then said:

"You are the young fellow who was tried in court three weeks ago, are
you not?"

"Yes, I am."

"I thought so; I was there. It was the very day I got to Weymouth. Well,
what the deuce are you doing here? You are the chap who has followed me
all the way up the hill?"

Julian nodded.

"What did you follow me for?"

"Because I was in the road when you shot Faulkner. I heard the gun, and
ran in and found him dead. I caught sight of you in the wood, and went
in chase of you."

"What did you intend to do, you young fool?"

"I intended to capture you," Julian said fearlessly.

"What for? I have done you a good service as well as myself. You had no
reason to bear him any good-will, and some of the men who were there
told me that though Downes got you off, it was true that you were going
to throw Faulkner into the fire."

"So I was; but he had just struck me and I was in a furious passion; but
that was a different thing altogether to shooting a man in cold blood."

"He got me two years' imprisonment," the man said, "which to my mind was
a good reason for shooting him when I got the chance; and another thing
was he would never leave us alone, but was always on our heels. There
are two or three men in prison now that he got sent there, and eight
more are waiting their trial. He made war on us, and I have turned the
tables on him.

"I heard that you