Arrived at the rock, I looked around me. There were no signs of pursuers; indeed all was silent as death, save for the sound of our panting horses. I looked up towards the masonry at the summit of the rock, which looked like a chapel, and eagerly sought for some signs of life. In my eagerness to get there, I had scarcely thought of the improbability of any one taking up abode at such a place. I had obeyed the impulse of the moment, without recking its wisdom. Meanwhile Mistress Nancy stood by Chestnut's head looking at me doubtfully.
"Uncle Anthony," I said; and as if some one rose from the dead, I heard sounds which seemed to come from the heart of the great rock, and a minute later I saw Uncle Anthony's face appear at a small window.
"Uncle Anthony," I repeated, "I want your protection. There are helpless women here who are fleeing from danger."
His eyes rested on me for barely a second, then he turned to the maid Nancy.
"The shadow of a great rock in a weary land," he said softly. "Come, my lamb."
A few minutes later he had descended to the base of the rock. "Come, my lamb," he said again.
With an agility of which I should not have thought him capable, he climbed up the steep side of his resting-place, carefully helping Mistress Nancy all the time, until he came to a doorway seemingly hewn out of the rock; having told her to enter, he rendered a similar service to Amelia Lanteglos, while I stood and watched him like one dazed.