In the King's Name Part 26

"We'll see about that," said Hilary to himself, as he gave the cutla.s.s a flourish; and then, as the steps died down the pa.s.sage and he heard the farther door close, with the steps of the men pa.s.sing over the empty boarded room, he laughed at the change that had come over the scene during the last quarter of an hour.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

TEMPTATION.

There was something ludicrous in the struggle that had taken place, especially as Hilary had so thoroughly won the day; but at the same time there was a very unpleasant side to his position. It was in the middle of the night and very dark, save in one corner of the stone-floored place where the remains of the heap of straw displayed a few sparks, and sent up a thin thread of smoke, which rose to the ceiling and there spread abroad, the rest having pa.s.sed away, driven out by the draught caused by the open door. He had not a sc.r.a.p of furniture; the straw was all burned, and the floor of his prison was stone.

Still there was one good thing upon his side--one which afforded Hilary the most intense satisfaction, and this was the fact that he had secured the cutla.s.s. Not that he wanted it for fighting, though it might prove useful in case of need for his defence; but it suggested itself to him as being a splendid implement for raising one of the stones in the floor, with which help he might possibly get into the cellars or vaults below, and so escape.

"But I don't like going to sleep on the stones," said Hilary to himself, and tucking the cutla.s.s under his arm, he felt the flooring in different places.

To his surprise he found it perfectly dry, for the intensely strong spirit had burned itself completely out, leaving not so much as a humid spot; and after climbing up to look out at the dark night, Hilary saw that the fire was as good as extinct, and ended by sitting down.

The stones were very cold, but he felt weary, and at last so intense a desire to sleep came upon him that he lay down, and in spite of the hardness of his couch and the fact that he had no pillow but his arm, he dropped off into a heavy sleep, from which he did not awaken till the sun was shining in through the window upon the smoke-blackened walls.

Hilary's first thought was concerning his cutla.s.s, which was safe by his side, and jumping up, he listened. Then he went to the door and listened again, but all was perfectly still.

What was he to do? he asked himself. He felt sure that Allstone would come before long, and others with him, to obtain possession of the weapon, and he was equally determined not to give it up. He might fight for it, but, now that he was cool, he felt a repugnance against shedding blood; and, besides, he knew that he must be overcome by numbers, perhaps wounded, and that would make a very uncomfortable state of things ten times worse.

The result was that he determined to hide the cutla.s.s; but where?

He looked around the place, and, as far as he could see, there was not a place where he could have hidden away a bodkin, let alone the weapon in his hand.

Certainly he might have heaped over it the black ashes of the straw and the few unburned sc.r.a.ps; but such a proceeding would have been childish in the extreme.

It was terribly tantalising, for there was absolutely no place where he could conceal it; and at last, biting his lips with vexation, he exclaimed, after vainly looking out for a slab that he could raise:

"I must either fight for it or throw it out of the window; and I'd sooner do that than he should have it back. Hurrah! That will do!" he cried eagerly, as a thought struck him.

Laying down the cutla.s.s, he leaped up to the window, pressed his face sidewise against the bars, and looked down, to see that the gra.s.s and weeds grew long below him.

He was down again directly and seated upon the floor, where, after listening for a few moments, he stripped down one of his blue worsted stoutly-knitted stockings, sought for a likely place, cut through a thread, and, pulling steadily, it rapidly came undone. This furnished him with a line of worsted some yards long.

Leaping up, he rapidly tied one end round the hilt of the cutla.s.s, climbed to the window, and lowered the weapon down outside, till it lay hidden amongst the gra.s.s close to the wall. Then he tied the slight thread close down in the rusted-away part of one of the bars, descended again, and raked up some ashes, with which he mounted and sprinkled them over the thread, making it invisible from inside; after which he descended, feeling quite hopeful that the plan would not be discovered.

This done, he seemed to have more time for a look round at the effects of the fire; but beyond a little blackening of the ceiling and the heap of ashes, there was nothing much to see. The strong spirit had burned itself out without doing more than scorch the bottom of the door; but he had a lively recollection of the strange scene as the little blue tongues of fire seemed to be fluttering and dancing all over the place.

Just then he noticed the corner where he had placed the remains of his previous night's meal, and there were the empty plates--for not a sc.r.a.p of the food was left; and this satisfactorily indorsed his ideas respecting the touch that had so startled him into wakefulness.

"Better be awakened by that than by the blaze of fire," he said half aloud. "Oh, won't I give Sir Henry a bit of my mind about the treatment I meet with here, and--here he is."

For just then he heard the tramp of feet over the boarded floor, the flinging open of the first door, then the steps in the pa.s.sage, and he altered his opinion.

"No!" he exclaimed; "it's old Allstone coming after his cutla.s.s."

He was quite right, for, well-armed, and followed by four men, Hilary's jailer entered the place, glanced sharply round, and exclaimed:

"I've come for that cutla.s.s."

"Have you?" said Hilary coolly.

"Hand it over."

"I have not got it," said Hilary coolly.

"Don't tell me lies," said the fellow roughly. "Here, lay hold."

Five to one was too much for resistance, so Hilary submitted patiently to the search that was made, to see if he had it concealed beneath his clothes.

"There's nothing here," said one of the men; and Allstone tried himself, flinching sharply as the prisoner made believe to strike at him.

Then he carefully looked all round the place, which was soon done, and the fellow turned to him menacingly:

"Now then," he cried, "just you speak out, or it will be the worse for you. Where's that cutla.s.s?"

Hilary looked at him mockingly.

"I'll tell you the strict truth," he thought; and he replied, "I dropped it out of the window."

"It's a lie," cried the ruffian savagely; "I don't believe you."

"I knew you would not," said Hilary laughing. "Where is it then?"

"I swallowed it."

"What!" said the fellow staring.

"Hilt and all if you like. Now, do you believe that?" The man stared at him.

"Because you would not believe the truth, so there's what you asked for--a lie."

The fellow stared at him again, seized hold of him, and felt him all over in the roughest way. Then, satisfied that the weapon was not concealed about the lad's person, he looked round the place once more, walked to the side of the room so as to get a view of the window-ledge, and then he turned to Hilary once more.

"When did you drop it out?" he said sharply.

"As soon as I awoke this morning," replied Hilary. "Just before you came."

"Come along, my lads," said the fellow, who then withdrew with his followers. The door clanged to, was locked, and as Hilary listened he heard them all depart, securing the farther door behind them; and, satisfied that they were gone, he nimbly climbed up to the window, raised the cutla.s.s by means of the worsted, and having taking it in he descended once more, unfastened and rolled up the thread for further use, and then thrust the weapon down under his vest and into the left leg of his trousers, feeling pretty sure that they would not search him again.

A few minutes later he heard voices, and going beneath the window, and raising himself up till his ear was level with the ledge, he could hear all that was said, and he knew that the men were searching for the sword.

"Don't seem to be about here," said one of the men.

"Look well," Hilary heard Allstone say.

"That's just what we are doing. Think he did throw it over?"