"To your swords, and away, gentlemen!" cried Roland, unhooking his rapier from the wall; "'tis a woman in distress! Meanwhile, Lintstock, away thou to the castle, seek my firemaster and his matrosses, and desire that two pieces of cannon and sixteen men in their armour, with horses and all in fighting order, be before the palace by daybreak to-morrow; look well to my own horses and new coat of mail too. And now, sirs, let us go, in God's name!" and with their mantles rolled round their left arms, and swords unsheathed, they sprang down stairs, and dashed up the south back of the Canongate, towards the base of St. John's Hill. They saw no one: the place was desolate, and perfectly silent. The moon, which had been partially obscured, shone forth for a moment, and revealed a pool of blood on the dusty road which skirted the base of the hill. Near it lay a lady's glove, and a man's bonnet of coarse blue cloth, but no traces of a fray. On the bonnet was a pewter badge. "'Tis the cognisance of Redhall," said Roland, tossing the bonnet away, and placing the glove in his belt. After frequently hallooing, and searching long and fruitlessly, the three friends again sought St. Ann's Yard, but not to finish the remaining flasks; for Roland and Leslie had to prepare for their march by daybreak on the morrow, and now the hour was late. CHAPTER XVII. A LORD ADVOCATE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. "_Camilla_. Thou execrable man, beware!-- "_Cenci_. Of thee? Nay this is idle:--We should know each other. As to my character for what men call _crime_, Seeing I please my senses as I list, And vindicate that right with force of guile, It is a public matter, and I care not If I discuss it with you."--_The Cenci_. The young earl and Lady Sybil were loth to part, for they had met but recently; and after a long and painful separation--painful by its danger and uncertainty--and full of themselves and their plans for the future, the hours stole swiftly past them. Thus the earl delayed so long in accompanying his impatient sister, that the dusk had almost set in before they left the house, on their promised visit to her friend at St. Katherine's, where Jane proposed remaining until the noon of the next day. The night was cloudy, and the streets were dark and misty, so that two men, who emerged half tipsy from the _Cross and Gillstoup_, following them softly and warily, and at the gate of Redhall's house were joined by five others, were quite unobserved.