By the time they had reached the Lodge, both Jack and Ralph were thoroughly exhausted with their exertions; but here help was at hand.
The Earl himself was there, and with him quite a band of grooms and keepers, all about to start in different directions, to look for the young heir.
The old man's gratitude to the young clerks was simply unbounded. He insisted on their spending the night at the Castle, and here, dressed in some of the young heir's suits, they sat down to what Jack afterwards described as a Lord Mayor's banquet; and, later on, in the drawing-room, Lady Ravensmere herself, with tears in her eyes, thanked them warmly for saving her son, and told them they should never forget what they had done.
The Earl himself drove the lads to the station next morning, so they did not miss the Christmas dinner with their friends, after all.
AFLOAT ON THE DOGGER BANK.
A Story of Adventure on the North Sea and in China.
CHAPTER XX.
In the room in which the fugitives now found themselves, there were several garments hanging.