CHAPTER XXXII
AN ANXIOUS SEARCH
Early the next morning Mr. Force, Leonidas and Wynnette, who begged to make one of the party, left Enderby Castle for Lancashire.
The gray-haired coachman drove them in an open carriage to the Nethermost Railway Station.
On this drive they retraced the road on the top of the cliffs which they had traversed on the previous day.
They reached Nethermost just in time to jump on board the “parliamentary,” a slow train—none but slow trains ever did stop at this obscure and unfrequented station.
Mr. Force secured a first-class compartment for himself and party, and they were soon comfortably seated and being whirled onward toward Lancaster.
For some miles the road followed the line of the coast in a southerly direction, and then diverged a little to the eastward until it reached the ancient and picturesque town of Lancaster, perched upon its own hill and crowned with its old castle, which dates back to the time of John of Gaunt.
Here they left their train, and on consulting the local time-table in the ticket office found that the next train on the branch line going to the station nearest Angleton did not start until 3 P.M.
This, as it was now but 11 A.M., gave the party an opportunity of seeing the town, as well as of getting a luncheon.
A chorus of voices offered cabs; but Mr. Force, waving them all away, walked up the street of antiquated houses and brought his party to the ancient inn of “The Royal Oak.”