"Faix, and I don't know that same. I shall always be freckened about him till a dacent praste has tied us two together toightly, and then I sha'n't be happy till I know that Black Mazzard's nailed up bechuckst four boards; and if I've annything to do wid it they shall be as thick as trees and nailed wid screws." "He has made his escape somewhere?" "Not he, sor; and I don't like the look o' things. I've been too much shut up to see annything, being more like a cockroach in a whishky bottle and the cork tied down than annything else. But I'm skeart, captain darlin'; and if annything happens--whisht! have ye kept my saycret?" He put his lips close to the prisoner's ears, and whispered as he gave a knowing look at the couch. "It is a secret still, Dinny." "Good luck to ye, sor! Thin, if annything happens, just you go there and lie shnug till I come to ye; and if ye'll tak' my advice ye'll keep on putting a dhrop o' wine in the cellar and shtoring up a bit o' food; and if it isn't wanted, why ye're no worse off." "Explain yourself, my lad," said the prisoner, for the lively chatter of the Irishman relieved the tedium of his confinement. "Hist!" "Murther!" ejaculated Dinny, as a faint signal came from overhead. "Sure an' I was niver cut out for a prophet afther all." "Dinny!--Captain Armstrong!" came from above. "Good luck to ye, darlin'! kape on shpaking," whispered Dinny, excitedly. "It does me good to hear ye; but niver mind the captain, darlin'. Shpake to me." "I came here--at great risk," came down, as if the speaker was panting heavily. "There's something wrong--I want to put you on your guard. Tell the captain. Quick! I dare not stay." "But, darlin', what's wrong? Whisht! shpake out, and let's hear ye. Look at that, now! Why, she's gone!" For there was a faint rustling overhead, and then all was silence once again. "Sure, sor, would ye look at me," cried Dinny, with a most perplexed expression of countenance, "and tell me if I'm awake or it's only a dhrame." "Dinny," said Humphrey, "she would not have come in such haste if there had not been good cause. Go and warn the captain. Quick!" The day passed without news, and, weary with his tedious pacing of his great cell, Humphrey Armstrong threw himself upon his couch, where he lay, with the great solemn face of the old stone idol seeming to loom down mysteriously from above. It was not until the next morning that he saw Dinny again. The night had passed quietly, and the day found Humphrey still watching. He, however, dropped into a pleasant slumber as the sun rose, in which sleep he was still plunged when Dinny came. "Jist nawthing at all, sor," he said. "The darlin' must have got a craze in her head, for when I told the captain he trated me wid scorn, and Bart asked me if I was playing the fool." "Then there is no danger!" "Divil a bit, sor, that I can think out," said Dinny. "But Mistress Greenheys." "What about her, sor?" "What did she say?"