"Why, my lord," replied Sir----, "I and my learned friend who is with me in the cause, think that four or five hours would be quite enough for us; but if there is to be a long reply, of course the business cannot be concluded to-night."
"I cannot limit myself as to my reply," said Sergeant ----. "Having an important duty to perform, and not knowing what will be the line of defence, I can make no promise as to time; and I can see clearly that my reply cannot be very short."
"Then the court will adjourn," said the judge, somewhat sulkily; and at the same moment he rose to retire.
Let it be remembered, that this day was marked in the calendar as the ninth of the month; for dates may be important things even in a novel, and in this instance a man's life hung upon the events of a single day.
CHAPTER XXXI.
It was on the tenth of the month, in a very beautiful valley, between bare hills, which, carrying their bold heads high above the rich cloak of vegetation that clothed both sides of the dell, seemed to cool them in the calm blue sky. Just above a waterfall, the same which has been before described, two large irregular masses of stone, differing in size, but both enormous, reared themselves up as gigantic door-posts, to the entrance of a small amphitheatre of cliff, not less than two hundred feet in height. The one rock had somewhat the appearance of a chair of colossal size, the other, fancy might shape into a reading-desk; and thus, amongst the people of the neighbouring districts, the former had acquired the name of "the Pope's Throne;" while the other was called "the Puritan's Pulpit." Between them there was a narrow pass, of not more than ten feet in width, and on either side was piled up a mound of loose shingly fragments, forty or fifty feet high, with a tree or a shrub here and there, where some vegetable earth had accumulated, forming a sort of natural wall, which joined the rocky portal to the spurs of the amphitheatre of crag. At several points, it is true, a man might easily climb over the mound, either to enter or issue forth from the space within; but the only smooth way was between the two great masses of stone, where was a carpeting of soft mountain-turf, with not a blade of grass more than an inch long in anyplace, while in one appeared the evident marks of often-treading feet, in a narrow line worn nearly bare.
With his back leaning against the base of the Pope's Throne, and the sunshine and shadow of a spring day chasing each other across his brow, was seated a stout gipsey, of four or five and twenty. Half-way up the mound, on the right, reclining upon the shingle, might be perceived another, somewhat older than the former, in such a position that his eyes could rest from time to time, upon his companion below. The mound on the left hand had also its man; but he could not be seen from without the natural enclosure, for he had stationed himself just over the top of the heap, obtaining a view into the little enclosure; and there he sat from six o'clock in the morning until eight, with a number of green osier twigs beside him, and a half-finished basket between his knees, at which he worked away like on honest, industrious man.
From within the circle, came forth at times the sounds of merry voices; and at one period of the morning there curled up a quantity of light bluish smoke. Shortly after, there trudged forth from the entrance an elderly man, with a pair of bellows slung over his shoulders, and an old spoutless tin kettle in his hand. Then all seemed quiet, and the man who had been making baskets, without changing his position, changed his attitude, and suffered himself to drop quietly back upon some mossy turf which had gathered round the root of a tree, planted, Heaven knows how, amongst the stones.
About half-past eight o'clock, the figure of a tall stout man appeared, close beside the basket-maker. His step was slow and cautious; and the gipsey man did not move. He was sound asleep. The other stood and looked at him for an instant, with a look not altogether friendly: but the moment after he moved quietly on again, passed behind the tree and began to climb the ridge of the mound, towards the spur of the cliff. He took a step higher, and another, and another, with great care and precaution, often looking back at the man he had passed, often looking down into the little amphitheatre: but still he advanced steadily towards a part where there was not a space of more than ten or twelve feet between the summit of the cliff and the top of the shingly mound, with an ash-tree waving its branches under the shelter of the bank. He was within half-a-dozen paces of the top, when some of the loose stones giving way beneath him, rolled down, and startled the sleeper from his slumbers.
In an instant he was upon his feet. The next, he gazed up and gave a loud shout. The scene of confusion that followed was wild and strange. From a number of gipsey tents which had been pitched in the circle below, issued forth some twenty or thirty persons, men, women, and children, all in a state of great excitement, and all looking in the direction from which the shout had proceeded. The basket-maker sprang up after the climber of the hill, half-a-dozen young men followed from below; and one of the other watchers joined in what was evidently a pursuit.