An answering howl came from the street, and, sliding, running and stumbling, the pursuers began to follow the fugitive across the housetops. Then they lost sight of him, and for a while completely baffled, searched in a scattered line, slowly advancing, investigating each possible hiding-place as they came to it, urged on by the growling of the mob patrolling the street below. Suddenly one of their number, the lad armed with the huge bottle, tripped over a broken clothesline and fell headlong into the V-shaped trough formed by the eaves of the two adjacent houses. He found himself rudely precipitated on the body of the hunted man, who had lain snugly concealed at the very bottom of the roof-made angle, but before he could do more than utter one choking scream, the fugitive, despairing of further concealment, silenced his discoverer with his fist, and with the rest of the pack in full cry at his heels, began again his wild flight over the roofs. Fortune favored him once more, and the band hunting him was forced for a second time to pause and scatter in close scrutiny of the ground over which the fleeing gallant had made his way. Then Buster saw a tall figure creep out of the gloom cast by a huge chimney, which, shadowing a roof near by, had enabled him to crawl undetected from the hiding-place that he had found beneath the eaves of an unusually tall building, near the house from the attic of which the boy was now excitedly tracing his line of flight. Buster's sympathy was all with the fleeing man. To sympathize was to act, and having found the rope-ladder which used to serve his master as a means of exit by the window when prudence dictated such an evasion, he tumbled it out, at the same time attracting the hunted gentleman's attention with a friendly hiss.
"This w'y, sir, this w'y," whispered Buster, silencing the threatened outcry of Lord Castlereagh with a commanding gesture. "Keep low has you can till you gets 'ere. The big chimbley 'll keep 'em from seeing you till you 're safe hup, sir."
Crawling rapidly along on his hands and knees, the much-sought gentleman managed to gain the necessary distance without being discovered, and sheltered by the grim outlines of the huge chimney Buster had indicated, he climbed laboriously up the ladder to the window of Moore's attic. The boy held out a welcoming hand and assisted him to enter. Once in, the stranger gave a sobbing sigh of relief, and groped his way to a chair. The moon, till now providentially bedimmed, came out from behind the froth of clouds and the light entering the window fell full on the new-comer's flushed face.
"Blow me!" cried the boy in astonishment. "Hif it hain't the Prince hof Wyles!"
Chapter Twenty-Seven
THE POET REGAINS ROYAL FAVOR
"You know me?"
"Hi just does, your 'Ighness," replied the boy, dragging up the ladder as he spoke.
This he deposited in its usual hiding-place before turning to his royal guest, who was still panting from the exertion of his flight.
"Put out the light," directed the Prince, pointing to the candles on the mantel.