d abrupt stop there was something very singular
indeed. No station was near. The country seemed wild and deserted,
and no cause was likely to stop the train at such a place except some
serious accident.

The priest started up with a quick movement, thrust the breviary into
his pocket, and peered cautiously out of the window, looking first
backward and then forward. It was this movement that first roused
Ashby. He too started up and looked out.

The sight that he saw was so startling that it served most
effectually to chase away all morbid fancies, and give him something
to think about of a far more serious character.

CHAPTER V.

HOW THE WHOLE PARTY COME TO GRIEF, AND ARE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE.

It was, in truth, a strange and startling sight that met Ashby's eyes
as he looked out of the window. The train had been stopped in the
middle of a plain, where the road ran along an embankment about three
feet high. A crowd of armed men were here, gathered about the
locomotive, and already forming lines along each side of the train.
All looked shabby, none had any pretensions to uniforms, and their
appearance was not sufficiently picturesque for brigands. In fact,
they looked like a gang of goatherds who had just taken to
brigandage.

"A hard lot," muttered Ashby to himself.

Soon the tatterdemalions reached the spot, and extended their lines
on both sides to the end of the train. At every window they shouted,
"Back! back! Be quiet, and no harm will be done!" Shouting such words
as these, they aimed their guns so recklessly and with such furious
gestures at the windows, that the passengers all shrank back, not
only into their seats, but even into their boots.

The lines of armed men thus stood guarding the train, while the
passengers cowered inside. After a time a cry was heard from some one
who was passing along, and who, as he passed, kept shouting into each
carriage,

"This train has been stopped in the name of his Majesty King Charles.
All passengers are ordered to come out forthwith. Arms and weapons of
all kinds must be left behind. Resistance will be punished with
death. God save the King!"

After this the guards came and opened all the doors, and the
passengers stepped forth in obedience to orders. Of these there were
about a hundred altogether, and each one remained on the spot where
he alighted, and was forbidden to move in any direction. From where
Ashby stood he could see the whole crowd--the