"By the authority of our Master!" answered the leader of the band in an extraordinary deep voice. "This youth is an heretic, and belongs to our Master as his rightful prize. Over you we have no power unless you resist us, but if you do so you are ours;" concluding with a deep growl, "Ride on, and look not back, and we shall do you no harm."
The sumner and his companions lost no time in obeying the command, nor did they once look backward till they had left the dreadful wood far behind them.
Arrived at home, they told fearful tale of a band of robbers, at least twenty in numbers, and of unheard-of height and appearance, who demanded the prisoner as an heretic in the name of their master. The sumner more than insinuated that the leader was no mortal man and that the heretic had been carried off by the devil whom he served.
Our readers will naturally desire an explanation of this sudden change of affairs. The day on which Thomas Sprat was condemned, Father John who seemed suddenly to have grown twenty years younger, rode over to visit his old friend and college companion, the bishop. After some gossip, Father John spoke of Father Barnaby's return and the clean work he was making of heresy over in Bridgewater.
The bishop was an old man, very infirm, and somewhat childish, but excessively jealous over his episcopal dignity, and very indignant at any infringement thereof, especially by the monks and preaching friars. He grew angry at once, wondered what that upstart was thinking of, and declared that he would not have his poor people hunted and imprisoned by any Jack in office of them all, and that Father Barnaby should know. Just at this juncture arrived Lord Harland, ostensibly with a present of rare and valuable foreign books, but really on the same errand as Father John. He understood the hint on the instant, and took pains to blow the coal already kindled, till the bishop was roused to the point of summoning his secretary and dictating a sharp letter to Father Barnaby, which he declared should be sent the first thing in the morning.
The next day the young Harlands contrived to fall in with the messengers, and by judicious and liberal treatment, secured all the information they wanted. The rest may easily be guessed.
When Father Barnaby heard the tale, he pronounced it an evident and gross case of rescue, and hinted that the sumner had made his account of the transaction. He tried to rouse the bishop to investigate the matter, but the bishop, satisfied with having vindicated his dignity and snubbed the monk, declared it was not his business to catch footpads, and that if Father Barnaby wanted the heretic back, he might go to the woods and look for him.
The sumner and his companions declared point blank that Jack had been carried off by the devil; and gave a fearful description of the giants who had stopped them in the road, and the fearful screams and yells they had heard while riding away. The preaching friars repeated the story with many and wonderful additions all over the country, till it was at last declared that the heretic had been torn to pieces on the spot and his bones scattered far and wide. Father Barnaby might, perhaps, have investigated the matter more fully, but a few days after he was gratified at receiving an appointment of dignity in the Cardinal's own splendid household. He left Bridgewater forever, and it may safely be said that nobody regretted his departure.
[CHAPTER XXIV.]
CONCLUSION.