"We must have a care," said Hal, looking round with an air of caution; "we have two clever and unscrupulous rogues to deal with. If we are to catch them as well as their victim, we had better lie low till night has fallen, and then sally forth and see if we cannot take them red-handed in some of their villany. If we breathe a word of this abroad, we shall find that they have escaped--and perchance have made away with their victim, or hidden him elsewhere--and we shall be foiled in our purpose." "And we do but suspect the hiding-place," said Leofric. "If we are wrong, and have given them warning, we shall lose them utterly. We shall have much ado, methinks, to catch them as it is. If we make any stir and let them hear so much as a whisper, they will be off, and we shall see them no more." "True," said Amalric, whose first impulse had been to speak to the Constable of the Castle and ask for a guard to go and search the tower; "we might defeat our own ends by publicity. And then if our surmise were to be wrong, they would have time to remove their prisoner and betake themselves elsewhere before we discovered our error. We will band together, all of us, and to-night we will meet here once more, and set forth on our errand. Meantime let us not breathe outside these walls one word of what has been resolved upon. Let us spend our day as we are wont to spend it; but let each man revolve in his mind some course of action, and come provided with that which he judges to be most needful to the success of the enterprise. Arms, of course, each must carry, and anything else that may seem well. To-night at curfew--or perchance an hour later--we will meet, and then make for the tower with all speed and secrecy." They rose with one accord as if to go. "Then," said Hal, "let our meeting-place be just without the South Gate, under shelter of the wall hard by St. Michael's. There in the shadow none will note our gathering; and the sentry knows us all, and will let us pass without comment." "So be it," said Amalric, who from his rank naturally took the lead in this matter. The young men saluted Joanna, Amalric thanked her for her information and praised her for her courage, and then they went forth one by one, to note that Tito Balzani, lounging in the door of the inn a little higher up the street, watched their exit with lowering brows and a sullen mien. Leofric and Jack passed him by as they walked towards their own quarters. He looked at them with suspicion. "Whither away so fast?" he asked, with an air of would-be good fellowship; "come and have a drink, and tell the news. What has taken thee to Master Seaton's house to-day? The city is as dull as a stagnant pool after the fair." "How goes it with Mistress Linda?" asked Leofric, ignoring the question; "we heard from Joanna but now that she was sick of some fever of the brain."