There was not much time to be lost. Was there any? They, who had made that stealthy visit to Stone Dean, would be sure to repeat it; and soon—not secretly as before, but openly, and in force.
Why had they not returned already? This was the only question that appeared difficult to answer.
Why the arrest had not been made at once—a wholesale capture of the conspirators—could be more easily answered. The spies might not have been prepared for a coup so sudden, or extensive.
But since there had been time—
“By Heaven!” exclaimed the cavalier, suddenly interrupting the train of his conjectures; “there’s no time to be lost! I must from here, and at once. Garth!”
“Master Henry?”
“Saddle my horse, on the instant! Oriole!”
The Indian stood before him.
“Are my pistols loaded?”
Oriole made sign in the affirmative—pointing to the pistols that lay on the oaken mantelshelf.