"Oh, no; they had better reasons than that for letting us alone," replied the boy, who knew that he might as well tell the whole story himself as to leave them to hear it from somebody else. "A moment or so after the chandelier came down on the head of one of the robbers, a party of armed and masked men came into the room and rescued us." It was right in the point of Tom Allison's tongue to say to Mark, "Didn't I tell you so?" but he caught his breath in time, and tried to look surprised. "Who were they?" he managed to ask. "Didn't I say they were all masked?" inquired Marcy. "Well, they said something, didn't they." "They spoke about half a dozen words." "And didn't you recognize their voices?" "I did not. Let Mark put his handkerchief over his mouth and speak to you, and see if you can recognize his voice." "But haven't you an idea who they were?" "You know as much about them as I do," answered Marcy; and he knew by the expression of astonishment that came upon Tom's face that he had hit the nail squarely on the head. "How do you explain the burning of those two houses?" inquired Mark. "In the same way that I explain the raid that was made upon our house. The men who were responsible for one were responsible for the other." "You don't mean to say that the robbers did it!" exclaimed Tom. "I mean to say that they were the cause of it. If you won't ride with me I shall have to say good-by." "What do you think now?" asked Tom, as he and Mark stood watching Marcy's filly spatter the mud along the road. "I hate to say what I think," was Mark's reply. "I'm sorry to say it, but it is a fact that that villain holds every dollar's worth of property in this county between his thumb and finger." "Well, he shall not hold it there forty-eight hours longer," said Allison savagely. "How are you going to help it?" "By writing a note to the commanding officers at Plymouth and Roanoke, and telling them what sort of a fix we are in," replied Tom. "Don't you do it!" cried Mark. "Don't think of it, for if you do you will see worse times here than you ever dreamed of. If you are not hanged to one of the trees on the common you will be driven out of the country." Wait a few minutes, and we will tell you whether or not Mark Goodwin had reason to be frightened at Tom's reckless words. CHAPTER VIII. THE ARRIVAL OF THE FLEET.