In the King's Name Part 28

Sir Henry dropped the hand he held in astonishment, completely taken aback, and a heavy frown came upon his brow.

"Are you mad, Hilary?" he exclaimed. "Do you know what you are refusing?"

"Yes, Sir Henry, I know what I am refusing; but I hope I am not mad."

"Honour, advancement, liberty, in place of what you are enduring now."

"Yes, Sir Henry, I can see it all."

"Adela's friendship--my friendship. Oh, my dear boy, you have not considered all this."

"Yes, Sir Henry, I have considered it all," said Hilary firmly; "and though you are angry now, I am sure that the time will come when you will respect me for being faithful to my king, just as you would have learned to despise me if I had broken my word."

Sir Henry did not reply, but turned short upon his heel and walked to the door, rapped loudly till the key was turned, and then without glancing at Hilary again he left the place.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

HILARY'S WAY OF ESCAPE.

Hilary stood in the centre of the old chapel, gazing at the closed door, and listening to the rattle of the bolts. He was full of regrets, for, left early an orphan, he had been in the habit of looking up to Sir Henry somewhat in the way that a boy would regard a father; and he was grieved to the heart to think that so old and dear a friend should look upon him as an ingrate.

But at the same time he felt lighter at heart, and there was the knowledge to support him that he had done his duty at a very trying time.

"I should have felt that every right-thinking man had looked down upon me," he said, half aloud, "and little Adela would have been ashamed when she knew all, to call me friend."

He stood with his eyes still fixed upon the door thinking, and now his thoughts were mingled with bitter feelings, for he was still a prisoner at the mercy of a set of lawless men, Sir Henry being no doubt merely a visitor here, and possessed of but little authority.

"And I know too much for them to let me go and bring a few of our lads to rout out their nest," he said, half aloud. "Never mind, they won't dare to kill me, unless it is by accident," he added grimly, and then he ran to the window to see if Adela were in sight.

Practice had made him nimble now, and leaping up, he caught the bars, drew himself into the embrasure, and peered between the bars.

"Pst! Adela!" he cried eagerly, for he could just see her light dress between the trees.

She looked up, and came running towards the window, looking bright and happy, and there was an eager light in her eyes.

"Why, Hil!" she cried. "I did not think you would be there now. Papa said he thought you would soon be at liberty, and that perhaps you would stay with us a little while before you went away."

"And should you like me to stay with you?" he said, gazing down.

"Oh, yes; so much!" she said naively. "This old place is so dull and lonely, and I am so much alone with an old woman who waits upon us. Why don't you come out?"

"Because I am a prisoner," he said quietly.

"But I thought--I hoped--papa said you were going to give your parole not to escape," said Adela; "or else that you were going to join our cause and fight for the true king."

He shook his head mournfully.

"No, Addy. I cannot give my word of honour not to escape," he said; "because I hope to get away at the first opportunity."

"Then join our cause," cried Adela.

"No," he said, shaking his head, "I cannot join your cause, Addy, because I am an officer appointed in the king's name to serve in one of King George's vessels. I should be a traitor if I forsook my colours."

"But I want you to come," cried Adela, with the wayward tyranny of a child. "It seems so stupid for you to be shut up there like a wild beast in a cage. Oh, Hil, you must come on our side! Do!"

"Adela! Adela!" cried an imperious voice.

"Yes, papa, I am coming," she cried; and looking up quickly at the prisoner, she nodded and laughed, and the next moment she had disappeared.

Hilary sat watching as if in the hope that she would come back; but he knew in his heart that she would not, and so it proved at the end of quite a couple of hours.

"He has told her that she is to hold no communication with such a fellow," he said to himself. "Poor little Addy! what a sweet little thing she is growing, and what an impetuous, commanding way she has!"

He sat watching the place still, but without hope. Now and then the girl's words came to him.

"I seem like a wild beast in a cage, do I?" he said laughing. "Very good, Miss Addy; then I must gnaw my way out."

As he spoke his eyes fell upon the bit of worsted that was secured to the cutla.s.s, and he was about to draw it up when he heard footsteps approaching from the interior, and he leaped lightly down and began walking about the place as the door was opened, and Allstone held it back for some of his men to enter with a couple of trusses of straw, a couple of blankets, a rough three-legged table, and a rougher stool, which were unceremoniously thrown or jerked down, and then, after a suspicious look at his prisoner, Allstone motioned to the men to go.

"Is there anything else your lordship would like?" he said with a sneer.

"The best feather-beds are damp, and the carpets have been put away by mistake. What wines would your lordship like for your dinner and would you like silver cups or gla.s.s?"

"Now then, old Allstones, or Allbones, or n.o.bones, or whatever your name is," cried Hilary, putting his arms akimbo, and taking a step nearer to the jailer, "you are a big and precious ugly man of about forty, and I'm only a boy; but look here, if I had you on board my ship I'd have you triced up and flogged."

"But you are not on board your ship, my young c.o.c.kerel," said the man mockingly.

"No," cried Hilary, "but I'm all here, and if you give me any of your sauce when you come in, I'll show you why some fellows are made officers and some keep common seamen to the end of their days."

"And how's that?" said the ruffian with a sneer.

"Because they know how to deal with bullies and blackguards like you.

Now then, this is my room, so walk out."

He took another step forward and gazed so fiercely in the man's eyes, that, great as was the disparity in their ages and strength, Allstone shrank back step by step until he reached the doorway, when, if not afraid of Hilary, he was certainly so much taken aback by the young man's manner that he was thoroughly cowed for the moment, and shrank away, slipping through the door and banging it after him, leaving the prisoner to his meditations.

"Come, I've got a bed," he said, laughing, "and a chair and a table, and--hurrah! the very thing."

He then seized the table and turned it upside down to gaze beneath, and then replacing it, ran to the window, pulled up the cutla.s.s, and going to the table once more, turned it over and inserted the point of the weapon between the side and the top, with the result that it stuck there firmly, and upon the table being replaced upon its legs it was quite concealed.

"There!" he cried, "that will be handy, and I daresay safe, for they will never think of searching that after bringing it in."

This done, he proceeded to roll up his worsted for future use, and placed it in one pocket, the piece of cord with which he had drawn up the milk being in another.

"Why, I might have used that instead of the worsted," he said, as he remembered it for the first time; but he recollected directly after that it would have been too easily seen.

Then he inspected the two trusses of straw, and made his bed close beside the opening he hoped to make by raising the slab; and then, having carefully examined the spot, he listened to make sure that he was not heard, and taking out his pocket-knife, went down upon his knees and began to pick out the hard dirt and cement that filled the cracks around the broad, flat stone.