ke a
bonfire--and then, in a good hour for Dick, slipped off, plumped into
the moat, and was instantly extinguished.

It had served its purpose. The marksmen had had time to see the willow,
and Dick ensconced among its boughs; and though the lad instantly sprang
higher up the bank, and ran for his life, he was yet not quick enough to
escape a shot. An arrow struck him in the shoulder, another grazed his
head.

The pain of his wounds lent him wings; and he had no sooner got upon the
level than he took to his heels and ran straight before him in the dark,
without a thought for the direction of his flight.

For a few steps missiles followed him, but these soon ceased; and when
at length he came to a halt and looked behind, he was already a good way
from the Moat House, though he could still see the torches moving to and
fro along its battlements.

He leaned against a tree, streaming with blood and water, bruised,
wounded, alone, and unarmed. For all that, he had saved his life for
that bout; and though Joanna remained behind in the power of Sir Daniel,
he neither blamed himself for an accident that it had been beyond his
power to prevent, nor did he augur any fatal consequences to the girl
herself. Sir Daniel was cruel, but he was not likely to be cruel to a
young gentlewoman who had other protectors, willing and able to bring
him to account. It was more probable he would make haste to marry her to
some friend of his own.

"Well," thought Dick, "between then and now I will find me the means to
bring that traitor under; for I think, by the mass, that I be now
absolved from any gratitude or obligation; and when war is open, there
is a fair chance for all."

In the meanwhile, here he was in a sore plight.

For some little way farther he struggled forward through the forest; but
what with the pain of his wounds, the darkness of the night, and the
extreme uneasiness and confusion of his mind, he soon became equally
unable to guide himself or to continue to push through the close
undergrowth, and he was fain at length to sit down and lean his back
against a tree.

When he awoke from something betwixt sleep and swooning, the grey of the
morning had begun to take the place of night. A little chilly breeze was
bustling among the trees, and as he still sat staring before him, only
half awake, he became aware of something dark that swung to and fro
among the branches, some hundred yards in front of him. The progressive
bri