He gave me details of the struggle, which I need not write down here, and which I thought, in spite of the fact that he seemed to hide the truth, told that he had fought well. "And did not this hermit help you?" "Michael is weaker than a child," replied Anthony, "he did nothing but pray." "And how long since this took place?" "Four hours ago." "Four hours!--only?" "That is all." "They can be followed, she can be delivered!" "No, no," murmured Uncle Anthony; "tell me, Roger Trevanion, why would you deliver her?" "Because, because!----" then I stopped, I could not formulate the thought in my mind. "Did she go willingly?" I asked. "Nay," cried the old man bitterly, "I--I think they gagged her; they bound her to her horse. She cried out sorely while she could, she struggled--and I--I could do nothing." My blood ran through my veins like streams of fire; there were many questions I wanted to ask, but there was no time. I seemed to see her struggling with the Killigrews. I pictured her look of loathing as she talked with them. "Trevanion or no Trevanion," I cried, as I hurried up the valley, "I'll strike another blow for the maid's liberty. I know she doth not trust me; but I'll free her from Otho Killigrew. Some one must have seen her--I'll follow them. They cannot well get beyond Padstow to-night!" A little later I had taken the road which the landlord of the inn at St. Mawgan had told me led to Padstow. I rode hard till I came to a roadside inn. It was the first house I had noticed since I had left Mawgan. A light was shining from one of the windows, and I decided to stop. "If they have passed here some one will have seen them," I mused, "and I must not go farther without inquiry." I accordingly dismounted, and called for the landlord. An elderly man appeared, and in the light of the moon, which had just risen, I saw that his shoulders were bent, and that he craned his neck forward while he scanned my face. "What'll 'ee plaise to 'ave, sur?" he asked in a wheedling tone of voice. "A bottle of wine," I replied. "Iss, to be sure, I'll tell 'em, sur. Your hoss do look flighty, sur. You wa'ant caare to laive un." "He will stand quietly," I replied; "but I'll fasten him to your crook here. I should not advise you to go near him." "You be'ant comin' in, sur, be 'ee?" "Just a minute," I replied. "Ah iss, to be sure," he answered, leading the way into a dark room. "But you have a room with a light here," I objected, as he pushed a candle into a smouldering fire. "Iss, sur, but tes used, sur. To tell the truth, sur, for I can zee you be a gen'leman, my wife's sister is there. She's terble bad weth small-pox, sur." "Small-pox!" I cried aghast. "Aw, iss, sur. I doan't go ther' myself, and tes makin' terble 'ard agin my custom." All the while he was pulling out the cork from a bottle of wine.