“Have you roused Mr. Simmonds?” was his first query.
“The butler has proved unworthy of the trust reposed in him,” returned Lewis; “he has admitted these men into the house, and they are now in his pantry, preparing to carry off the plate.”
As he spoke his companion’s colour rose, and with flashing eyes he exclaimed, “Let us go down and prevent them; there’s plate worth £500 under his care.”
Lewis held the lamp so that it shed its light upon the young man’s face and figure. He was a tall, well-grown youth, and his broad shoulders and muscular arms gave promise of strength; his eye was keen and bright, and an expression of honest indignation imparted firmness to his mouth. Lewis felt that he might be relied on, and determined to trust him accordingly.
“They have worse designs than merely stealing the plate,” he said; “they intend to carry off Miss Grant, and murder me. Chance enabled me to overhear their plan; I mean, therefore, to wait at the top of the stairs and use any means to prevent their ascending them: will you stand by me?”
“Ay, that I will; a man can but die once,” was the spirited reply.
Lewis grasped his hand and shook it warmly.
“You are a brave fellow,” he said, “and if we succeed in beating off these scoundrels, it shall not be my fault if your fortune is not made. There is a carabine hanging in the General’s bedroom, is there not?”
Receiving an answer in the affirmative, Lewis continued, “Fetch it, then, and the sword with it, if you think you can use it.”
As Robert departed on this mission, Lewis, surprised at the delay on the part of Hardy and his associates, glided lightly down the staircase to reconnoitre their proceedings. The lower part of the house was of course in total darkness; but as he approached the butler’s pantry a bright stream of light issued from a crack in the door, while the tramp of nailed shoes on the stone flooring inside, together with an occasional muttered word or oath from one of the party, proved that they were busily engaged in some toilsome occupation, which Lewis rightly conjectured to be conveying the plate to a cart outside. Returning as cautiously as he had advanced, Lewis rejoined his companion, whom he found waiting for him at the top of the stairs, carabine in hand. Having ascertained that the charge had been removed from this also, he reloaded it with some of the slugs intended for his pistols, and placing the lamp so that it cast its light down the staircase, leaving the spot where they stood in shade, he handed one pistol to Robert, reserving the other for his own use in any emergency which might occur; and thus prepared they awaited the approach of the robbers. Their patience was not in this instance destined to be severely taxed, for scarcely had they taken their stations when the creaking of a door cautiously opened, and the tread of muffled footsteps announced that the crisis was at hand; and in another moment Hardy and his associates were seen stealthily advancing towards the foot of the stairs. As they perceived the light of Lewis’s lamp they paused, and a whispered consultation took place. At this moment the rays fell strongly upon the upper part of the poacher’s figure, and Lewis, levelling his carabine, could have shot him through the heart. It was a strong temptation. Hardy once dead, Lewis had little fear of being able to overcome or intimidate the others. He knew that it was life for life, and that by all laws, human and divine, the act would be a justifiable one; but he could not bring himself to slay a fellow-creature in cold blood. Besides, although since his unmanly attack on Annie, Lewis had felt in the highest degree irritated against the poacher, he compassionated him for the loss of his daughter, and could not entirely divest himself of a species of admiration for his strength and daring: so, though he still held the carabine directed towards the group, he did not pull the trigger; and thus, by a strange turn of fate, Lewis spared Hardy’s life, as Hardy had on a former occasion spared his, when the motion of a finger would have sent him to his long account. At this moment the butler joined the party, and Lewis caught the words, “They have fire-arms!”