towards
the window; with one vigorous effort he hurled the lifeless form
from him, and the heavy mass was heard as it fell crashing among the
brushwood that covered the precipice.

[Illustration: frontispiece]

Mark gazed for a few seconds into the black abyss beneath, and then
withdrawing, he closed the window, and barred it. By the aid of his
pistol he struck a light, and relighted the candles, and then approached
the sofa where Kate lay.

"Have I been ill, Mark?" said she, as she touched his band--"have I been
ill, and dreaming a horrid dream? I thought Hems-worth was here, and
that--that--but he was here--I know it now--you met him here. Oh, Mark,
dearest Mark, what has happened--where is he?"

Mark pointed to the window, but never spoke.

"Is he killed--did you kill him?" cried she, as her eyes grew wild with
the expression of terror. "Oh, merciful heaven, who has visited us so
heavily, why will reason remain when madness would be mercy! You have
killed him!"

"He did not die by my hand, though he well deserved to have done so,"
said Mark, sternly; "but are our hours to be so many now, that we can
waste them on such a theme. The French are in the Bay--at least a
portion of the fleet--sixteen vessels, nine of which are ships of the
line, are holding by their anchors beneath our cliffs; twenty more are
at sea, or wrecked or captured by the English, for who can tell the
extent of our disasters. All is against us; but against all we might
succeed, if we had not traitors amongst us."

"The Government is aware of the plot, Mark--knows every man engaged in
it, and is fully prepared to meet your advance."

"Such is the rumour; but there's no truth in it: the people hold back,
and give this as the excuse for their cowardice. The priests will not
harangue them, and the panic spreads every moment wider, of treachery
and betrayal. Lanty Lawler, the fellow who should have supplied horses
for the artillery, is an informer; so are half the others. There's
nothing for it but a bold plunge--something to put every neck in the
halter, and then will come the spirit to meet all difficulties--so
thinks Tone, and he's a noble-hearted fellow, and ready for any peril."

A loud knocking at the door of the tower now broke in upon the converse,
and Kerry O'Leary called aloud--

"Open the door, Master Mark; be quick, the soldiers is comin'."

Mark speedily withdrew the heavy table from its place across the door,
and opened it. K