adge, whom I have sent to her
master in a chariot of fire?"

"I heard her confession of that particular crime."

"So did I, through eavesdroppers. Well, thou knowest too much; and
shalt never see the sun again. It is pleasant is it not--the fresh
air of the green woods, the sheen of the sun, the songs of the
birds, the murmur of the streams, the scent of the flowers.

"Ah, ah!--thou feelest it--well, it shall never again fall to thy
lot to see, hear, and smell all these. Here shalt thou linger out
thy remaining days; thy companions the toad, the eft, the spider,
the beetle; and when thou diest of hunger and thirst, which will
eventually be thy lot, this cell shall be thy coffin. Here shalt
thou rot."

"And hence shall I rise, in that case, at the day of resurrection.
Nay, Drogo, thou canst not frighten me. I am not in thy power. Thou
canst not tame the spirit. Do thy worst, I wait God's hour."

Drogo was beside himself by rage at this language on the part of a
captive, and he would have struck him down on the spot but for
something in Martin that awed him, even as the keeper, who calls
himself the lion king, tames the lion.

"We shall see," he said, and left the cell.

"My lord, do not harm him," said the man. "If a hand be laid upon
him the men-at-arms will rebel. They fear that it will bring a
curse upon them."

"The fools, what is a friar but flesh and blood like others?"

"I would sooner hang or fry a hundred wretched burghers, or behead
a score of knights, than touch this friar."

"I see how it is. I must contrive to starve or poison him," thought
the base lord of the castle.

As he ascended the stairs he heard the sound of a trumpet, or
rather a horn. Loud cries of surprise and alarm greeted his ears.

He went out on the watch tower. The woods were alive with men: they
issued out on all sides--the "merrie men" of the woods.

Drogo saw at once that they had come to seek Martin. He took hold
of a white flag, and advanced to the tower above the central
gateway--to parley--for he feared the arrows of the marksmen of the
woods.

"Whom seek ye?"

"One whom thou hast wrongfully imprisoned. The friar Martin."

"I have not got him here."

"But thou hast, and we have come to claim him."

"Choose three of your number. They may come and confer with me in
the castle upon his disappearance. God forbid that I should lay
hands on His ministers."

"Dost thou pledge thy honour for their safety?"

"Do ye