"Oh, Oswald, from what have you saved us! How brave and good of you to risk so much!"
"Tut, tut, Janet, as if we should leave you here, in the hands of the Bairds, without making an effort to free you! Now, come along, dear. Be very careful how you walk, till we get down to the bottom. It is pretty steep and, if you were to set a stone rolling, we might have them after us, in no time. As it is, we shall only have an hour and a half start, for the sentries will be relieved at midnight. However, by that time we shall be on horseback, and of course they won't know which road we have taken."
As soon as they came to level ground, they set off at a run. They were but a mile from the village when they heard, on the still night air, distant shouts, followed half a minute later by the winding of a horn; then, almost immediately, a glimmering light appeared on the highest turret of the hold, and this rapidly broadened out into a sheet of flame.
"They have discovered our escape, by some misfortune or other," Oswald exclaimed, "and they will be after us, before many minutes have passed. You must run in earnest now, girls."
"Do you run on, Oswald," Janet said, "you and Roger. We will turn and walk back. They will do us no harm."
Oswald thought of the murder of the girls' mother, and knew that, in their fury at having been tricked, the Bairds were capable of anything.
"It is not to be thought of," he said. "Such a watch would henceforth be kept that there would be no possibility, whatever, of effecting your rescue. We must take our chance together.
"What think you had best be done, Roger?"
"In sooth, I know not. I am ready to do whatever you think best."
"We cannot hope to reach Parton, before they overtake us," Oswald said. "Besides, the Bairds are sure to have many friends there, and the lighted beacon will warn all the countryside that something unusual has happened. No, we cannot think of going there."