CHAPTER XVIII.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 343, 16 February 1889, Page 4

CHAPTER XVIII.

AN UNLOOKED-FOR TURN IN AFFAIRS. As the day drew towards its close, Conrad Kilcullen, learning from one of the servant^ fchafe his master was engaged with Lady Blanche, answered to the earnest call of hi s companions of the troop that he would go with them and look through the old armory ot the castle where, they had been informed, were collected one of the most extensive and most curious collections of ancient Celtic arms— offensive and defensive, — to be found anywhere. It will be remembered that of the men our hero had called up from the village, on the occasion of the holding of the mock court, he had retained only six besides his lieutenant. So now, these six men, with the lieutenant in company, sought admission to the armoury, for the purpose of inspecting the curious things there to be seen. They left their swords behind, their chief having requested that they should not appear armed in the keep ; and the only arms they bore were their short daggers — a weapon which every trooper carried when in uniform. The armourer of the castle was Ralph Logan, a brother of Lady Blanche's maid, Bertha. Him Conrad found, and he gladly went with them to the armoury, of which he had the keys in custody. The party had been half an hour in the midst of the interesting collection. Conrad had in his hands a quaint old breastplate of boar's hide, thickly studded with knobs of iron ; one of his companions held the long rectangular shield, belonging with it ; and the others were gathered around while the armourer told them the story of its capture. The suit had been taken from a Danish chief, who had been made prisoner by a baron of Ravendale more than a century before.

Ralph had crot thus far wibh his story I when u noise, like the tramp of many feet, sounded in the direction of the outer room, whore tho modern arms were kept. They looked, and beheld a sight that startled them. They saw armed men — at least a dozen of them — large, strong men, grim-visaged and ugly, their leader wearing in his bonnet a single eagle's feather. They advanced until the foremost — it was Rupert Redburn, better known on the mountain as ' Red Rupert ' — had crossed the threshold, wibh his followers close behind him, when he stopped and spoke : ' Conrad Kilcullen, and those of your comrades with you, in the name of the lord of the castle X arrest you ! If you will quietly surrender, all may go well with you, saving only a short time of durance. It you prefer to resist, or raise an alarm, it shall be very bad tor you. What say you ? Do you surrender V At that moment our lieutenant saw, from where he stood, what Red Rupert could not see. He was Ralph Logan, the young armourer, who he knew was devoted to his mistress and to Sir Malcolm, gliding away by a small aperture that communicated with another suite of apartments beyond. This gave him assurance that his master would be quickly warned. Then ho remembered the means of communicating with the troop at the inn, and he did not long hesitate. His thoughts were rapid and to the point. Resistance to these men, unarmed as his party were, would be worse than useless. Still, he would like to know for what be and his companions were to be arrested ; and he asked the question. 'Our master,' answered Rupert, 'is one whose orders we obey without asking why they aie given. Doubtless you will know in good time. The question now is, Do you surrender V ' Under the present situation,' returned Conrad, Avith a broad smile, ' I see no other alternative. You are many, we are few ; you are well armed, we are not armed at all ; you are, I presume, on your own territory, while we are strangers, simply tarrying here through the kindness ot our host.' ' Who is your host?' demanded the other, significantly. Conrad could have blessed him for the question. Eveiy moment gained was priceless. One poor minute no moie, no less — might mean to hi-s ma&tei life or death. So he smiled again as he answered : ' I referred to Reynard Bevern when I spoke. ' ' Umph ! Yes. 1 didn't know but you might have had another man in mind. But that matters not. If you surrender in good faith, and will come with us quietly, and without opposition of any kind, you shall not be bound, nor shall any force be used. What say you T Conrad answered promptly that he would ero as had been suggested. Rupert then put the same questions to the others, and they, having all confidence in their lieutenant, answeied as promptly as he had done. Upon that Rupert sent his men forward, there being just the number requisite to give two to each prisoner, ho himself leading the officer. Whether the aimourer had not been seen, or whether they gave him no thought, we cannot bay. At all events, no attention was given him. When all was ready, the party set forth, with Rupert and Conrad in advance. From the aimoury they passed out into a large training-room, where the force ot the castle could be assembled for arming ; thence, through a broad passage to an old banquet hall, now unused ; and thence to a narrower passage, at the end of which was a flight of stone steps leading down to the regions bolow. At the foot of these they were met by Duff Murtagh, who was armed with a good lantern, and who, without speaking, started on ahead to further lead the way. Ere long another flight of stairs, quite long, and slightly winding, bore them down to the region of the dungeons ; and when Duff stopped, it whs before the same iron door, behind which he had, not many hours previously, been placed by two of the very men who were now following him to the same situation. ' There, gentlemen,' said Rupert, a& the last man of them filed into the gloomsome place, ' you can make yourself as comfortable as you please. Of course, you will not be starved.' ' Are we to have no light?' asked Coniad, when he had seen that the place would be utterly dark with the lantern gone and the iron door closed upon them. 'Ye gave no light to me, and I was alone and solitary,' said Duff, in an injured tone. Without appearing to pay any attention to this remark, Rupert informed the prisoner that he had no light to leave, and he thought they would do very well without. 'At all events,' he added, ' you will be vastly better oft than poor Duff was in the same place, with only the darkness for company. Don't worry about your food. That's all.' And with this Rupert stepped back, and in a moment more the door was> closed, and the bolts shot into their sockets, leaving the seven arrested men in a darkness as denso and impenetrable as the night of utter chaos. And not one of thorn, at that moment, gave especial thought to his own situation. Conrad voiced the thoughts and feelings of all when he said : ' Kind Heaven save the colonel, and give him timely warning.' After the others had mu mured their fervent ainens, he added : 'lam very confident the armourer, who was with us when these men came, is friendly to him. It was because I had seen him quietly and secretly slipping away that I so readily spoke the word of surrender. If he is true, as I think him, he may at least put Sir Malcolm on his guard.' Then by-and-by he took a more despondent view. Ho was led t>y arguments of i his companions to fear that no amount of warning could avail. Bevern had the power, and if he chose to use it, there could be no such thing as resisting him. The only hope must be help from the village. Aye — that was it. And could he get it ? We shall see. We have seen Ralph Logan slip away from the old armory. As soon as he had gained the next apartment beyond, he sped on as swiftly as his legs would carry him, and he had the good fortune to meet Nelly Nichol in one of the passages near the servants' quarters. He and old Sandy Graham bad been the two maJe servants whose promise of help she had received. In few words Ralph told his story, making his statement as plain and explicit as language could make it. Nelly listened to the end : then asked just two questions, which were promptly answered ; then spoke her thanks with a look, and sped away. She did not stop to seek either the knight or her mistress. She had no need. Moments were precious. Away to a nook in the great tower, where she had hidden the friar's robe which Lady Blanche had prepared. She found it safe, caught it, and flew up the winding stairs — up, up, up, until the broad flagging of the roof was reached, with the embattled parapet around her. On the side next the village she took her stand, mounting upon a ledge on which defenders stood to drop hea\ y missiles upon an enemy below; and, standing theie, she gave to the breeze the broad, black ensign of danger ; shook

it out and opened it wide, until the wind, blowing from the west, outspread its inky surface to the viow of any who might be looking that way from the village inn, or from anywhere in that vicinity. By-and-by her eagerly - strained eyes caught sight of awhite speck on the roof of the inn piazza. A moment so, and then the white speclt was lifted higher, and presently it opened and a white ilag floated plainly on the breeze. That was enough. Jt told her that her signal had been seen, and would be attended to without delay. She had taken in her Stygian banner, and was looking to see if she could distinguish the man who had thrown the answering signal to the breeze, when her eye caught what appeared to be an unusual number of horses in and around the court of the hotel. She stepped back upon the higher perch, and raieed her open hand over her eyes. Yep, there could be no mistake. There were more than a hundred strange horses, and the gilded and burnished tiappings of their caparisons gleamed brightly in the rays of the setting sun. O! if the full complement of Sir Malcolm's troop had arrived ! And why not? He had been expecting it, knowing it to be on the way. But she could wait there no longer. She must go down now, and find the colonel and give him warning. And down she sped, throwing the black signal into its hidingplace as she went. First, she made her way to the boudoir of her mistress, where she found Bertha alone, and in evident trouble. She had been crying, and was moaning bitterly when Nelly entered. 'Bertha, what is it?' The poor gh-Ps answer was spasmodic and incoherent, but the woman made out from it that Sir Malcolm had been informed, by Sandy Graham, only a few minutes before, that his lieutenant with all his men had been seized by Eeynard Bevern's orders, and thrown into one of the deepest dungeons. vVhat more could Nelly do? She could only pray that what she had already done might be of avail. Yes, there was one thing more : She could find her mistress, and tell her that her dear lover's friend in the village had been warned in a measure. And without further delay she set forth to put her kindly de.sign into execution. On reaching the head of the main stairway she thought of the baron's chamber, l'cmcmbering that her lady often sought it when in trouble ; so she kept on to the door we have seen opened so often, and passed into the chambei, but no one was there. On glancing towards the old cabinet she saw that the last rays of the setting sun were resting upon it. The clay was almost done. As she turned back into the passage she looked out through one of the embrasure.", and saw the bright orb disappearing. More than half its disc had already settled below the horizon. Back to the head of the main stairway — the stairs leading down in the principal hall of the keep— she retraced her steps, and staited down. She had gone half the distance when she beheld a scene that caused her to stop, and her heart to sink. Sir Malcolm and Blanche, when they had left the boudoir, as Bertha had repotted, had gone first in search of Nelly Nicbol, to see if she had thought of the signal, or, rather, if she had received the warning. Of this they were not sure. Sandy Graham, who had brought the intelligence to them, had not seen her ; so, to make sure, they went in search of her. Not thinking of the tower— and it is very strange, as they afterwards confessed, that they did not — of course they failed to find her. They had thought of the servants' quarters below, and were on their way to the main hall, having descended the great stairway, when they were met by Reynaid Bevern, at the head of at least a dozen armed men. They were in fact the same men who had arrested Conrad Kilcullen and his comrades with Red Rupert as chief of the squad. And this was what poor Nelly saw. She knew she could be of no assistance, and, as she had not been yet" discovered, she turned quickly back and glided out of sight. Blanche, when she saw Reynard with his following, and caught the expression of his face, was for the moment inclined to faintness ; but quickly her native spirit returned to her aid, and she stood by her lover's side pi'oudly. Yet a low, quick cry of alarm had escaped her lips, and Bevern had heard it. With a smile utterly hendish he said [ to her — they were his first woi"ds : ) 'Sweet lady, let me hope you have enjoyed to the utmost the society of your old-time lover ; for I have come to take him away from you. Oh ! my bold soldier,' as Malcolm started, with quivering lips and flashing eyes, and instinctively dropped his band toward his hip where his sword usually rested; ' would you oppose me ?' c Reynard !' spoke the brave girl, before her lover could find words for reply, c what foolish thing are you thinking of ? What high-handed outrage would you commit ? I tell you, to your face, you dare not harm this gentleman who has accepted our hospitality ; and who, I verily believe, has more right under this roof than you have. Aye, before Heaven, 1 know it !' c Well done, sweet cousin '.' sneered the dark chieftain, with a loud, bitter laugh. ' But you have missed the mark. Now hold your peace for a little time, if you can do such a thing, and allow me to say a few words to this gentleman.' They stood facing each other — ■ Reynard andMalcolm — Blanche standing closeby the side of the latter, while Rupert and his men were gathered close behind the former. They ■were near to the foot of the great stairway, and opposite to that, only a few yards distant, was the wide door opening into the vestibule, and thence into the court. 1 Colonel MacGregor I' Reynard said, bending upon the knight a look of hatred that was deadly, • my fair cousin says you have accepted our hospitality. Upon my ! word, a pretty return you have made of it ! What did you when you knew I had left my castle upon a mission of business ? Bah ! I but waste words in recounting your doings. The lady talks of high-handed outrage. I would ask you what name you would give to the diabolical — (that was not the adjective he used, nor anything like it ; and the same may be said of other parts of his speech) — plot ym hatched up against me in my absence, if another had done the same to you ?' ' Reynard,' answered the young colonel, calmly and steadily, though it had cost him an effort to control himself, • I did only what, under the circumstances, I had a perfect right to do. Has your servant — Duff Murtagh— told you the story of his experience at my hands ?' 1 Oho ! You acknowledge that it was at your hands ?' ' I do. Has he told you ?' 'Yes.' 1 Then lot me say to you,' pursued Malcolm, 'if he had told you the whole truth you never would have willingly opened the subject to me.' Reynard was foramomentstartled. There was something in the speaker's look that told more than his words expiessed. He knew, too, Duft's proolivity to falsehood. It Hashed upon him that Duff had told MacCU'egor about the ghost ; and that look upon the laoter's face plainly signified that he had told a great deal more which

ho had nob been willing to confess, and about which he had lied. If that should be the case, the sooner he brought the present interview to an end the better. He reflected for a very briet space, and then burned to one of the men who stood near to Rupert. ' Dugan,' he said to him, 'go you to the great gate, and tell the warden or whoever may be there to shut ib fast and raise the drawbridge. See, also, that the posterns are closed and locked ; and give the order that no person shall be admitted from this time without permission from me. iVlake haste, and let me know when it is done. The man deparbed, and Bevern burned next to his lieutenant. ' Rupert, you know your duty. Let it be done without further delay.' 'Be not alarmed, my gentle sir,' he added, turning to our hero, with another of those diabolic smilos on his face ; ' we will deprive you of your liberty bub a shorb time ; bub, while I will it so, you will find your qu alters a little more confined than they have been. Make no opposition. If you do it shall be worse for you. 'Go on, lluperb. Let him have a bed to lie upon ; bub he mustn't expect luxuries." Reynaid had taken a step back, and Red Rupert had taken two steps forward, when the pair of them were startled and brought to a stand by the sudden entrance of the man Dugan, who had just been ordeiod to see the gates closed and secured. He came with terror in his face, and his whole fiarae quaking. ' Dugan, w hat is it V Before the man could answer the great door was again thrown open, and a man in the unifoim of a captain otcavahy entered, and behind him, pressing close, as though eager to gain speedy entrance, came man after man, giim, battle-scarred warriors, fully armed. Thty came pouring in until the hall was literally tilled by the steelclad cohort. ( To be continued. }