“I believe it is not,” I replied. “But it is imprisonment, I’m sure.”
“What are we to do, then? We were caught poaching; there seems to be no doubt about that. We didn’t intend it, of course, but I’m afraid Sir Anthony may not take that into consideration; he appears to be so hot against poachers. And for that matter, we may not have a chance to tell our side of the story at all, because in England, I’ve heard, a prisoner is not allowed to give evidence in his own defence. So, there we are, you see. Four witnesses against us and none for us. Our chance of imprisonment, it seems to me, is pretty good—or pretty bad, rather.”
Our case certainly did look serious when Percy thus laid it out for my inspection.
“As far as I see,” said I, “there is nothing left but to run away. I don’t want to run away, you may be sure, but I don’t want to be hung or transported or put in jail either. I wish my father and mother were here, so that we might ask them what we ought to do.”
It happened that my parents had that evening driven off to dine and sleep fifteen miles away, and Percy’s father being too far off for us to communicate with him, we were thus deprived of our natural advisers. It did not occur to either of us to lay the matter before old Moseley, for the head-masters of English schools, at that time at least, seemed to their younger pupils to stand upon too high and unapproachable an eminence to be regarded by them as friends and counsellors.
“I’ll tell you what we must do,” said Percy, after sitting in profound thought for the space of five minutes—“and considering that we got into this scrape by no fault of our own, I believe our parents won’t blame us for doing it. We’ll run off down to Southampton—we can get there before morning—and slip on board a steamer going over to France. From there I’ll write to my father and tell him all about it, and he will arrange the matter somehow; or, if it is not to be arranged, he will tell us what to do next. What do you say?”
“I think it is a first-rate idea, and I vote we do it.”
Doubtless we were a foolish pair of youngsters to decide upon such a course, but I think, considering the circumstances, it is not so much to be wondered at that we should run away and conceal ourselves for a time until we should find out whether we were to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, or otherwise made to suffer, for an offence we had never intended to commit.
“But, Percy,” said I, as the thought occurred to me, “what about those fellows up at the castle? We can’t leave them to starve to death.”
After some consideration Percy thought of a plan.