There was still a desperate struggle going on on the ground.
"Here, lads," Ralph said to two of his men. "Secure this red fellow, he
is their leader. One of you bring a torch here."
The light was brought. It was seen that the man who had sprung upon the
Red Captain's back had pinioned his arms to his sides, and held them
there in spite of the efforts of the ruffian to free himself. Two of
the soldiers took off their belts and fastened them together, passed
them between the back of the man and his captor, and then strapped his
arms firmly to his side. The man who held them then released his grip.
"Stand over him with fixed bayonets, and if he moves run him through.
Now, where's Captain O'Connor?"
"I don't know, sir. He and Mr. Desmond and the lieutenant went down the
hole in front of us. We were following when the naval officer shouted
up to us to run round to this entrance and make our way in there, for he
could go no further."
"I am here, Conway," a faint voice said from the other end of the cabin;
"but I have broken my leg, I think, and Desmond has knocked all the wind
out of my body."
Ralph hastened to the spot from whence the voice came, and found Captain
O'Connor lying on the ground, and Lieutenant Desmond insensible beside
him.
"What has happened?" Ralph exclaimed. "Have they shot you?"
"No. Hold the torch up and you will see the way we came."
The soldier did so, and Ralph, looking up, saw a hole in the top of the
cave twenty feet above.
"You don't mean to say you came through there, O'Connor?"
"I did, worse luck to it?" O'Connor said. "The passage got steeper and
steeper, and at last my foot slipped, and I shot down, and came plump
into the middle of a peat fire; and a moment later Desmond shot down on
to the top of me. We scattered the fire all over the place, as you can
imagine; but I burnt my hands and face, and I believe the leg of my
breeches is on fire--something is hurting me furiously."
"Yes, it is all smouldering!" Ralph exclaimed, putting it out with his
hands.
"Have you got them all?" Captain O'Connor asked.
"Every one; not one has made his escape. It would have fared badly with
us, though, if Lieutenant Adcock had not sent down the men to our
assistance."
*A WIFE'S STRATAGEM.*
*FROM "IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE."*
[This story concerns the interesting period of Scottish history when
Robert the Bruce was slowly wresting Scotland from the power of England.
The great Edward I. ("Longshanks, the Hammer of the Scots") had died,
and his son, Edward II., had succeeded him, and was advancing to
Scotland with the immense army that was to meet destruction at
Bannockburn.
Archie Forbes, a Scottish gentleman who had fought under Wallace and
Bruce, was made prisoner by the English and taken to Berwick Castle,
where he was confined in a cage fixed outside the wall, and opening into
a small cell in which he passed the night. During the daytime he
remained in the cage in sight of the passers-by.]
The position of the cage was about twenty-five feet above the moat. The
moat itself was some forty feet wide, a public path ran along the other
side, and people passing here had a full view of the prisoner. There
were still many of Scottish birth in the town, in spite of the efforts
which Edward had made to convert it into a complete English colony; and
although the English were in the majority, Archie was subject to but
little insult or annoyance.
Although for the present in English possession, Berwick had always been
a Scotch town, and might yet again by the fortune of war fall into
Scottish hands. Therefore even those most hostile to them felt that it
would be prudent to refrain from any demonstrations against the Scottish
prisoners; since in the event of the city again changing hands a fearful
retaliation might be dealt them.
Occasionally a passing boy would shout out a word of contempt or hatred,
or throw a stone at the prisoner, but such trifles were unheeded by him.
More often men or women passing would stop and gaze up at him with
pitying looks, and would go away wiping their eyes.
Archie, after the first careful examination of his cell, at once
abandoned any idea of escape from it. The massive bars would have
defied the strength of twenty men, and he had no instrument of any sort
with which he could cut them. There was, he felt, nothing before him
but death; and although he feared this little for himself, he felt sad
indeed as he thought of the grief of Marjory and his mother.
The days passed slowly. Five had gone without an incident, and but two
remained. He knew that there was no chance of any change in the sentence
which Edward had passed, even were his son (Edward II.) more disposed
than Edward himself had been towards merciful measures to the Scots.
That this would be the case Archie had no warrant for supposing.
The new king's time would be too closely engaged in the affairs of
state, the arrangement of his father's funeral, and the details of the
army advancing against Scotland, to give a thought to the prisoner whose
fate had been determined by his father.
Absorbed in his own thoughts Archie seldom looked across the moat, and
paid no heed to those who passed or who paused to look at him.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, however, his eye was caught by two
women who were gazing up at the cage.
In a moment he started violently and almost gave a cry, for in one of
them he recognized his wife, Marjory. The instant that the women saw
that he had observed them they turned away and walked carelessly and
slowly along the road.