“Was anybody in the house?” demanded the officer of the guard.
“The place was deserted,” answered one of the soldiers. “A back window was wide open and on the window sill was some mud, the same as that of the passageway down here.”
“Was anybody with you?” demanded the officer, turning to Henry.
“No, sir. But there may have been somebody down here with Prent.”
“At it again!” howled the soldier mentioned. “I was never down here until now. I am an honest man.”
“We will see about that later. At present I arrest you both and will have you taken to the guard-house. We must find out something about the rascal who escaped—if we can.”
The officer of the guard was obdurate, and inside of half an hour Henry found himself at the guard-house, which, in this case, was a small private dwelling, from which the owner had fled when first Quebec was bombarded. He was placed in one room, while Prent was placed in another.
As luck would have it, Prent was well acquainted with one of the guards at the house, and through this fellow he managed to send a message to Fenley and Harkness, in which he asked to see one or the other. Fenley came, and saw him for a few minutes on the sly, and a scheme was concocted by which all promised to stand by Prent in the affair, declaring Henry the sole guilty one.
It is easy to imagine that Henry felt thoroughly miserable when he found himself in solitary confinement in the temporary prison.
“Instead of taking chances with Prent, I should have had him arrested on the spot,” he thought dismally. “Now he has turned the tables on me, and how I am to clear myself I do not know.”