Half the men rose to their feet. "What is he doing here?" they cried, one boldly, the others with the quaver very plain in their voices.
"I do not know; but he recognized me. Why he took no steps to detain or arrest me I cannot tell. He rode away by the north road."
They gazed at one another and we at them. The wolfish look which fear brings into some faces grew stronger in theirs.
"What is your other bad news?" said Kingston, with an oath.
"A person outside, a friend of the prisoner, has a list of our names, and knows our meeting-place and our plans. She threatens to use the knowledge unless the man Clarence or Crewdson be set free."
There was a loud murmur of wrath and dismay, amid which Kingston alone preserved his composure. "We might have been prepared for that," he said quietly. "It is an old precaution of such folk. But how did you come to hear of it?"
"My friend here saw the messenger and heard the terms. The man must be set free by sunset."
"And what warranty have we that he will not go straight with his plans and his list to the Council?"
Master Bertie could not answer that, neither could I; we had no surety, and if we set him free could take none save his word. His word! Could even I ask them to accept that? To stake the life of the meanest of them on it?
I saw the difficulties of the position, and when Master Kingston pronounced coolly that this was a waste of time, and that the only wise course was to dispose of the principal witness, both in the interests of justice and our own safety, and then shift for ourselves before the storm broke, I acknowledged in my heart the wisdom of the course, and felt that yesterday it would have received my assent.