ced
to find and fit the keys; and, penetrating at once to the cell of Ralph
Colleton, he soon made the youth acquainted with as much of the
circumstances of his escape as might be thought necessary for the
satisfaction of his immediate curiosity. He wondered at the part taken
by Munro in the affair, but hesitated not to accept his assistance.
Though scrupulous, and rigidly so, not to violate the laws, and having a
conscientious regard to all human and social obligations, he saw no
immorality in flying from a sentence, however agreeable to law, in all
respects so greatly at variance with justice. A second intimation was
not wanting to his decision; and, without waiting until the landlord
should unlock the chain which secured him, he was about to dart forward
into the passage, when the restraining check which it gave to his
forward movement warned him of the difficulty.

Fortunately, the obstruction was small: the master-key, not only of the
cells, but of the several locks to the fetters of the prison, was among
the bunch of which the jailer had been dispossessed; and, when found, it
performed its office. The youth was again free; and a few moments only
had elapsed, after the departure of Munro from the house of the pedler,
when both Ralph and his deliverer were upon the high-road, and bending
their unrestrained course toward the Indian nation.

"And now, young man," said the landlord, "you are free. I have performed
my promise to one whose desire in this matter jumps full with my own. I
should have been troubled enough had you perished for the death of
Forrester, though, to speak the truth, I should not have risked myself,
as I have done to-night, but for my promise to her."

"Who?--of whom do you speak? To whom do I owe all this, if it comes not
of your own head?"

"And you do not conjecture? Have you not a thought on the subject? Was
it likely, think you, that the young woman, who did not fear to go to a
stranger's chamber at midnight, in order to save him from his enemy,
would forget him altogether when a greater danger was before him?"

"And to Miss Munro again do I owe my life? Noble girl! how shall I
requite--how acknowledge my deep responsibility to her?"

"You can not! I have not looked on either of you for nothing; and my
observation has taught me all your feelings and hers. You can not reward
her as she deserves to be rewarded--as, indeed, she only can be rewarded
by you, Mr. Colleton. Better, therefore,