st be mad!"

"Nay," cried Percy, "'tis so, 'tis so, indeed. Fawkes is captured.
Nothing is left for us but flight. Come, to horse! to horse! I say.
Even now the soldiers are on the road, and any moment the sound of
hurrying hoofs in pursuit of us may fall upon our ears."

In an instant the utmost disorder reigned. Chairs were overturned in
the eagerness of the men to take in hand their swords, which rested
against the wall. Glasses, swept from off the board, fell with a
crash, adding to the general din. The floor was strewn with eatables
and wine, carried from off the table in the mad rush. Panic ruled, and
it had placed its sign-manual upon each face.

At last, above the uproar, the voice of Catesby can be heard, and
standing by the door he addresses the fear-stricken men. "Gentlemen!"
he cried, "has the grasp of terror seized upon and turned you all mad?
Why should we fly, and by that course brand our deeds as sinful? Are
we criminals? Have we stolen aught? Are we creatures to be hunted
through the country? Come! play the part God has given to each, and at
the end, since success is not ours let us meet death here, hand in
hand, as becomes brothers in one faith--like martyrs!"

The words of the speaker had small effect upon the men, and did not
check the general confusion. Those who had just arrived were in the
garden attending to their jaded steeds, knowing full well that upon
them depended their lives.

Rookwood burst again into the room, attired in a heavy riding
mantle. "Come," he cried to his host; "to horse while there is time!
'Twould be a wickedness to tarry longer; it meaneth naught but
self-destruction. Our steeds have been resting, and many miles may be
placed between us and London ere break of day. Endanger not all our
lives by thy foolish scruples."

At last the finer sentiments of Catesby were overruled by the words
and entreaties of his companions, and he with them, hurried to the
stable. With trembling fingers the bridles were fastened, the girths
drawn, and in a moment all were ready for the flight. With a clatter
the cavalcade sped out of the gate and thundered down the road at
breakneck pace, disappearing in the darkness.

So ended the day which was to see the culmination of a deed which
these fleeing men once dreamed would set the world on fire! And what
had come of it? For them, nothing but the dancing sparks struck out by
the hoofs of galloping horses, bearing their guilty riders from unde